Why I Belong to The Past

“Still another one of those huckster questions that we ask when we hear the voice of Jesus calling us onward is this: ‘Will it be fun?’

I am sure you know my reaction to this one. No one who asks this question about spiritual advance will ever be anything but a common Christian. He will be mediocre until he dies. He will never be recognised in any way for significant spiritual qualities and he will never be oustanding for any gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It is because there are so many of these ignoble saintlets, these miniature editions of the Christian way, demanding that Christianity must be fun, that distinct organisations have been launched to give it to them. Yes, there are organisations that exist for the sole purpose of mixing religion and fun for our young people.

In answer to this, I happen to know that young people can be just as responsible before God as older people. The youth who meets Jesus and is converted is just as ready and responsible for inconvenience and cost to himself as is the man of 70. Jesus Christ never offered entertainment or amusement for His disciples, but in our day we have to offer if we are going to get the people – because they are common Christians.”

- Tozer

The Cost of Discipleship

As I was “slouching around” as my dad would put it, but really thinking about a lot of things – like what it means to be turning 21, the concept of grace, about being serious with God, the question of obedience, and understanding certain things about the decisions people make even when they know they’re going against God – I felt God asking me to read “The Cost of Discipleship”. So I’ve been  [very slowly haha trying to get INTO the idea of reading again] rereading “The Cost of Discipleship” and I feel like everything is new to me! And for the first time in a long long time, I’ve actually read stuff that I felt like I must use a highlighter to mark! This is a book I must read once every year.

“Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship. An abstract Christology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace or on the forgiveness of sins, render discipleship superfluous, and in fact they positively exclude any idea of discipleship whatever, and are essentially inimical to the whole conception of following Christ. With an abstract idea it is possible to enter into a relation of formal knowledge, to become enthusiastic about it, and perhaps even to put it into practice; but it can never be followed in personal obedience. Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. And a Christianity of that kind is nothing more or less than the end of discipleship. In such a religion there is trust in God, but no following of Christ. Because the Son of God became Man, because he is the Mediator, for that reason alone the only true relation we can have with him is to follow him. Discipleship is bound to Christ as the Mediator, and where it is properly understood, it necessarily implies faith in the Son of God as the Mediator. Only the Mediator, the God-Man, can call men to follow him.

***

When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person. The grace of his call bursts all the bonds of legalism. It is a gracious call, a gracious commandment. It transcends the difference between the law and the gospel. Christ calls, the disciple follows: that is grace and commandment in one. “I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy commandments” (Psalm 119:45).

***

And they went to another village. And as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, I will follow thee withersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury the dead, but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God. And another said, I will follow thee, Lord; but suffer me first to bid farewell to them that are at my house. But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand unto the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:57-62)

… The third would-be disciple, like the first, thinks that following Christ means that he must make the offer on his own initiative, as if it were a career he had mapped out for himself. There is, however, a difference between the first would-be disciple and the third, for the third is bold enough to stipulate his own terms. Unfortunately, however, he lands himself in a hopeless inconsistency, for although he is ready enough to throw in his lot with Jesus, he succeeds in putting up a barrier between himself and the Master. “Suffer me first.” He wants to follow, but feels obliged to insist on his own terms. Discipleship to him is a possibility which can only be realised when certain conditions have been fulfilled. This is to reduce discipleship to the level of the human understanding. First you must do this and then you must do that. There is a right time for everything. The disciple places himself at the Master’s disposal, but at the same time retains the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is no longer discipleship, but a programme of our own to be arranged to suit ourselves, and to be judged in accordance with the standards of a rational ethic. The trouble about this third would-be disciple is that at the very moment he expresses his willingness to follow, he ceases to want to follow at all. By making his offer on his own terms, he alters the whole position, for discipleship can tolerate no conditions which might come between Jesus and our obedience to him. Hence the third disciple finds himself a loggerheads not only with Jesus, but also with himself. His desires conflict not only with what Jesus wants, but also with what he wants himself. He judges himself, and decides against himself, all this by saying, “suffer me first.” The answer of Jesus graphically proves to him that he is at variance with himself and that excludes discipleship. “No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”"

Behold! [And Be Ashamed]

I read this and felt very ashamed of myself.

“What are you looking at? Where are the anchors in your life? In these uncertain times, I imagine for many of us these questions are more than rhetorical or philosophical; they are truly heartfelt.

Recently I was struck by this announcement in John’s gospel: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29). John says, “Look, the Lamb of God.” My question to you is, what are you looking at? John emphatically directs our focus: “Look at Jesus.” In fact, he makes this declaration fifteen times in his gospel. This word is translated in the King James Version as Behold. Fifteen times he exhorts his readers to look at Jesus. Will you behold? This is astonishing. This is amazing. Look at Jesus.

My favorite hymnwriter is Charles Wesley and one of my favorite of his hymns is called, “Jesus! The Name High Over All.” In the final verse of his hymn, he sings,

Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His Name,
Preach Him to all and cry in death,
“Behold, behold the Lamb!”

Now an account of John’s death tells us that that is exactly what happened. As John lay dying, he uttered those words, “Behold the Lamb,” and then went to be with the Lord. John is telling us to look at Jesus–for our hope, for our provision, for our very lives.

In his gospel he invites us to behold Jesus through the lens of seven signs or miracles. That is, John deliberately chooses seven out of the many miracles that Jesus performed in order to give us a particular perspective of who this Jesus is. And the fourth miracle that he records is Jesus’s feeding of the five thousand. Jesus himself beholds the crowd–he looks attentively at their need–and he responds with compassion and provision. We encounter a dramatic miracle: Jesus multiplies fives loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people. Then John tells us, “When they had all had enough to eat, [Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten” (6:12-13). What a picture of amazing abundance: the Son of God demonstrating the abundance of God to a hungry people.

Perhaps as you look at our world today you wonder if God is still at work in such a way. I want to encourage you that He is, for in my work and ministry I have seen his provision. Having been involved in Bible smuggling in China, I was intrigued to learn of a man named Chris who had gone out from the UK to do the same. Every three seconds someone in China becomes a Christian, but there’s a real lack of the Word of God there. This is what happened to Chris: he and his team stood at the pickup point in China where they were to meet their contact, who would utter a password, and they would deliver their Bibles. They arrived with only minutes to spare, but the contact didn’t show up. Knowing they were being watched, the team started walking towards the edge of town as though leaving. Hot and tired, they stopped at a nearby park for a drink of water, rest, and prayer. It was hard to understand why after all the difficulties God had brought them through that something had gone so wrong. They had looked to Him for provision and direction, and yet their mission had seemingly failed.

Soon the team became aware of three very ragged and dirty men under a tree behind them. Chris felt the Lord leading him to go over with some water. When he offered it, one of the men suddenly spoke the password very clearly in English. The rest of the team hurried over in amazement and pieced together the men’s story from the little Chinese that they knew. Two years earlier, God had given a word to these Chinese men in one of their services that they should plan for this trip. He would lead them to this park, on this date, and have Bibles ready for them, which would be brought by white men from far away. Since they were all poor farmers, it had taken a long time for them to save the money for food and shoes for the trip. The men had walked for two and a half months, mostly at night to keep from being arrested. Coming from the far north of China near Mongolia, they had climbed a range of snowcapped mountains, traveled through the desert, and crossed several rivers without a compass or any knowledge of the country. All they could explain was that God had shown them where to go.

How did they know the password? How could they speak it in English when they knew no English? How did they survive the heat and the snow without protective clothing? It could only be God.

When the men saw the Bibles, they cried and praised the Lord for a long time. They had brought cloth bags with them to carry the Bibles home, and inside each one was a small watermelon that they had carried all those miles as a gift of appreciation. Even though they had been without food for several days, they didn’t eat a single watermelon. The team exchanged clothes with them and Chris explained what an honor it was to put on those dirty rags. The shoes were completely worn out, but the team chose to go barefoot and give up their own shoes, which fit the others perfectly. Apparently God had chosen each group member based in part on their shoe size. Many tears were shed as the team prayed for the Chinese and sent them back home with food and money for their journey.

Jesus is the God of abundance. He is the one within whom this provision, this abundance, is located. Look to him, behold him, and you will be amazed.”

- Amy Orr-Erwing

The Grace of God

Faithful: A work of grace in the soul manifests itself both to him who has it, and to all who know him.

The grace of God in a person’s heart brings a conviction of sin, especially the sin of unbelief, and reveals the defilement of one’s nature; for which one feels sure he will be eternally condemned unless he finds the mercy of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This conviction and outlook works in him a deep sorrow and shame for sin. Then, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, is revealed to him the Lamb of God (the perfect sacrifice for sin, the Saviour of the world) and the necessity of accepting Him at once as the only way of salvation. This creates in him a hunger and thirst for righteousness, which leads him to repent and believe on Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Now, the depth of his joy and peace, his love and holiness, his increase in knowledge and service to Christ, are determined by the amount and strength of his faith. And one’s faith will grow with use, overcoming doubt and fear, self-condemnation, confusion, misunderstanding of inner experiences, and one’s selfish, carnal, distorted reason, judgement and imagination. All this is irrefutable evidence to oneself that he has the grace of God.

This grace manifests itself in two ways: First, by an open confession of faith in Christ and being baptized in His name and uniting with others who believe in Him. Second, by a life lived in harmony with His teaching; to wit, praying daily for guidance and strength, earnestly studying God’s Word to learn and do His will, witnessing to others of His saving grace, and giving of his time, and money for service to Christ and others. By this, his family and neighbours know that he loves God and humanity not in word only but in deed and in truth. A hypocrite can talk of these things, but to have them and do them one must be a child of God.

- The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan

Shame and Faithful

Christian: Did you encounter anyone else in the valley?

Faithful: Yes, I met one Mr Shame – he said his name was Shame – yet after I got a little acquainted with him I thought he had the wrong name and might be going under an assumed name. He was ashamed all right, but not of himself (which he might well have been), nor of anything he said or did; he was ashamed of me and the pilgrim way.

Christian: Why, what did he say to you?

Faithful: He objected to my religion. He said it was a pitiful, low, shameful business for a person to surrender his will and life to become a servant of religion; that a tender conscience was an unmanly weakness; and that for a person to watch over his own words, attitude and conduct, tying himself down to rules that destroy his liberty – which all brave people of these times have accustomed themselves to – would make him the ridicule and laughingstock of present-day society.

He pointed out that not many wise men, not many noble, not many great men of our times were out-and-out pilgrims. He said the pilgrims were mostly the unfortunate, the ignorant, and the low-income people; that those of the higher class who professed to favour the pilgrim way had an ax to grind; they did it for profit or selfish reasons.

He tried to make me ashamed of many things which pilgrims believe in and practice. He said it was a shame for a man to sit whining and mourning under a sermon and then come sighing and groaning home; that it was a shame to ask my neighbour for forgiveness for petty faults, or make restitution for wrongs done to others.

Christian: And what did you say to him?

Faithful: I hardly knew what to say at first. I felt the blood come up in my face; perhaps I was ashamed of myself for not having a good, ready answer. But, thank the Lord, at last I thought of the Master’s words: “That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” [Luke 16:15] Then I said, “Shame, you tell me what men are and what they will do, but you tell me nothing about God. On the day of judgement, I will not be asked what men thought of me; nor will I be judged by what you and the world think. But I will be judged by God’s Word. What God says is best, though all the world be against it. Seeing then that God has chosen this way for men and desires a tender conscience, and seeing that they who are willing to become fools in the eyes of the world for His sake are wisest and that the poor man who loves Christ is richer than the greatest man in the world who rejects Him, you may go your way and leave me! You are an enemy to my salvation. My Lord says, “Whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will I be ashamed when I come to the glory of my Father.” If I entertain you, an enemy of my soul and of Christ Jesus, against the sovereign will of my Lord, then how shall I face Him when He comes, and how shall I expect His blessings?”

But I found that Shame was a bold and persistent villain. He was not to be easily shaken off. He continued to follow me, whispering in my ear at times about my insincerity, my blunders, and all the imperfections of the pilgrims. But at last I told him he might as well shut up, that he himself was a hypocrite, that I gloried in my infirmities, and that all his talk was in vain. And at last I got past him, then I began to sing:

Temptations to a pilgrim given

(If he’s obeyed the call from Heaven)

From ev’ry side attack his flesh.

Then come, and then come back afresh

That they may overcome the man

And quite destroy him, if they can!

So, pilgrim, guard against the wrong,

And in thy mighty God be strong!

Christian: I am glad you withstood this villain so well. I quite agree with you that he has the wrong name; for he is so bold to follow us in the streets and attempt to put us to shame before all men; that is, to make us ashamed of that which is good. He would not do this if he were not so brazen. But let us still resist him; for, notwithstanding all his seeming bravery, he is in reality the chief of fools: “For the wise shall inherit glory,” said Solomon, “but shame shall be the promotion of fools.” [Prov 3:35]

- The Pilgrim’s Progress [In Today's English], John Bunyan [Retold by James H. Thomas]

From Wikipedia:

“Bunyan had very little schooling (about 2-4 years).”

OMGA.

On Overcoming Sin and Temptation

“Crucial to resisting sin and temptation, according to Owen, was an understanding of what you were fighting. Although written a decade later, Owen’s exploration on these practical subjects are further unpacked in his book, The Nature, Power, Deceit and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin (1667). Here Owen focuses on the power of sin not as it exists “out there,” but as it exists “within” a person. By the time this volume was published, Owen’s context had significantly changed: he had been removed from the academic setting, had watched the return of Charles II, and had personally witnessed the governmental crackdown on noncomformist Puritan preachers. But for Owen, circumstances – whether amiable or painful – were not an excuse to stop resisting sin. The call of holiness was a call from God Himself, and thus not contigent upon the state of affairs in which one finds oneself.

***

The goal of the Christian life is not external conformity or mindless action, but a passionate love for God informed by the mind and embraced by the will. So the path forward is not to decrease one’s affections but rather to enlarge them and fill them with “heavenly things”. Here one is not trying to escape the painful realities of this life but rather endeavoring to reframe one’s perspective of life around a much larger canvas that encompasses all of reality. To respond to the distorting nature of sin you must set your affections on the beauty and the glory of God, the loveliness of Christ, and the wonder of the Gospel. Resisting sin, according to this Puritan divine, comes not by deadening your affections but by awakening them to God Himself. Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin.

***

Obedience rightly understood is always a response to God’s love.

***

A crucial work of the mind in the process of sanctification is the consistent consideration of God and his amazing grace. This does not mean considering God as an abstract metaphysical principle. Rather, the Christian meditates upon Him and with Him. This distinction makes all the difference, placing the discussion within the framework of RELATIONALITY, [okay this book is DEFINITELY calling out to me, SIGH] rather than mere rationality. Owen’s challenge is most instructive: “when we would undertake thoughts and meditations of God, his excellencies, his properties, his glory, his majesty, his love, his goodness, let it be done in a way of speaking unto God, in a deep humiliation…in a way of prayer and praise – speaking unto God.”

Notice that the love is preexistent, the blood shed and the grace extended. The believer is not working to secure these realities, but seeking to live in light of them. Christians stand in the shadow of the cross, having experienced the tender mercy of God. They aim not to convince God that they are worthy of His love, but to grow in their knowledge and fellowship with Him. It is through this ever-growing communion with the Father, Son and Spirit that the believer is most able to resist sin and temptations.”

- From the Foreword of “Overcoming Sin and Temptation”, John Owen [written by John Piper]

AH how I would love to be writing on things like these instead of postcolonial anxiety.

My brother-in-law told me about John Owen but now after talking to Daniel about Jonathan Edwards and all these ancient theologians, I REALLY want to read him. Also have tons of other books on my list – and it just so happens that I have to work on my silly project that will not have any bearing on how anyone sees the world, or make any practical difference in anyone’s life.

Daniel gave me a very exciting book, “Practising Faith in a Pagan World”, which offers an interesting and Word-centered, perspective [and in some ways, also a counter-response to the affected "emotionalism" of Charismatics] on dealing with of course, living in a pagan world after I showed him a book I bought called “The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World”.

Also also also, a book I should have read twenty million years ago, “THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS”! Didn’t have the courage to get the one in Old English though, HAHAHA, figured I’d give my mind a break and get the kiddy version.

And Uncle Joseph made me read this Christian thriller that he’s been raving about since August. I read 40 pages of it on the bus, it put me to sleep. There is something that is very artificial, almost mocking about it, and it irritates me in ways I cannot describe. But I don’t know – is that what happens when we fictionalise “reality”, or reality as we are unable to accept it?

And I can’t wait to go home and read “The Divine Conspiracy”!!!!

As you can see, I want to read EVERYTHING but what I’m supposed to be reading but I shall resist the temptation. Sigh. HOW GOD?

***

“Be acquainted, then, with thine own heart: though it be deep, search it; though it be dark, inquire into it; though it give all its distempers other names than what are their due, believe it not.” – John Owen