Sanctification by Faith

Here is a good description of sanctification making clear that we work but we do so by grace and not to earn or maintain our salvation.

“As Americans, we live in a culture that looks for fast, simple solutions to all problems. … we must testify that no such solution exists for the process of sanctification. Rather, we must adorn our faith with serious discipline and continuous work to grow in grace. But that seriousness must not be grim. We pursue holiness not to earn our standing with God, but because we are filled with love and gratitude to God for the standing that is ours in Christ. We pursue holiness sustained at every point with the grace and support that our God gives us in his church and among his people. We pursue holiness with the confidence that on the day that we are with Christ forever, we will be perfectly holy.”
- (Robert Godfrey, An Unexpected Journey, p. 127)

Be Faithful

In a recent conversation a friend told me of the church experience of a mutual friend of ours. Our mutual friend is in his later 30’s like me and has been in church for about 16 years. During that time he has been in four or five churches and in everyone one of them the pastor has fallen in sexual immorality. How many today have this same experience that every pastor they have had has eventually had to step down due to immorality (sexual, financial, etc.)?!

Of course we are all sinful, but this cries out for us to be ‘above reproach’ (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:6). Brothers, we need to be diligent and to have other men around us who are ‘in our business.’ Do not allow yourself to be aloof and alone. That is a recipe for disaster, and it is not the biblical model for pastors. We need the Body as much as anyone else. Such accountability and openness will puncture our pride releasing the harmful gas which inflates our egos- which is to say it will encourage us to godliness and real joy.

The Beauty of Modesty

David and Diane Vaughan. The Beauty of Modesty: Cultivating Virtue in the Face of a Vulgar Culture. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 2005.

The issue of modesty is an important one for our churches today. Barry Maxwell a couple of months ago provided a helpful post on this issue in our churches and homes. At about the same time as Barry’s post I was reading this book by the Vaughans. I had first encountered David Vaughan through his excellent book on Patrick Henry. I was interested to see what he and his wife had to say on modesty and I was not disappointed.

This is an excellent, careful, biblical book that would be good to make available to the families at your church. The book develops in three parts: “The Need for Modesty”, “The Nature of Modesty”, and “The Nurture of Modesty.” They root this virtue solidly in the biblical teaching of holiness as a proper outworking of the gospel. There is no mere moralism here; rather there is exposition and exhortation to applying the gospel to all of life, to living purely unto God and to being aware of how our behavior impacts others.

The fact that there is too little difference between the modesty of the church and the world is a compromise of the gospel. The Vaughans write:

“If immodesty is the incarnation of a pagan worldview, then why are we seeing so much immodesty among Christians? ...The answer is that we are experiencing the cultural captivity of the church.” 39

“…what we are witnessing is a sweeping secularization of the church in her very mind and morals.” 44

“Modesty matters because it is an expression of our worldview and a measure of our sanctification.” 46

This is so true.
The book then discusses the need to be shaped by biblical truths and discusses in much detail the role of parents, particularly fathers, in training children in understanding the value and message of modesty. Along the way this is then a great book simply on parenting. I recommend this book highly.

In closing here are a few other representative quotes:

“In light of the value God places on marriage and fidelity, immodesty is no small sin. It is not simply a silly and vain form of self-display. It is a snare to serious sin.” 80

“When it comes to finding a man, no attention is better than the wrong attention….A modest woman, on the other hand, is not only communicating her respect for the institution of marriage, she is also telling all would-be suitors that she is not cheap.” 81

“… in teaching holiness we will be restoring modesty, for holiness is its soil.” 155

“an immodest worshiper is an oxymoron – a contradiction in terms. . . . It is a frightening thought, but if a woman comes to church dressed to get attention, then she is competing with Christ.” 157-158

Hating Sin, Again

Some time back I posted on the topic of hating sin including an exhortation I preach to myself. This is such an important topic for me- both to learn myself and to pass on to others. Here is a quote I have found helpful from Richard Sibbes commenting on Psalm 97:10:

Ver. 10. Ye that love the LORD, hate evil. It is evident that our conversion is sound when we loathe and hate sin from the heart: a man may know his hatred of evil to be true, first, if it be universal: he that hates sin truly, hates all sin. Secondly, true hatred is fixed; there is no appeasing it but by abolishing the thing hated. Thirdly, hatred is a more rooted affection than anger: anger may be appeased, but hatred remains and sets itself against the whole kind. Fourthly, if our hatred be true, we hate all evil, in ourselves first, and then in others; he that hates a toad, would hate it most in his own bosom. Many, like Judah, are severe in censuring others (Ge 38:24), but partial to themselves. Fifthly, he that hates sin truly, hates the greatest sin in the greatest measure; he hates all evil in a just proportion. Sixthly, our hatred is right if we can endure admonition and reproof for sin, and not be enraged; therefore, those that swell against reproof do not appear to hate sin.
—Richard Sibbes (from Spurgeon’s Treasury of David, on Ps 97:10)

Thoughts from Ray Ortlund, Jr.

Ray Ortlund was one of my professors in seminary and is a man I esteem in many categories including teacher, pastor, husband and father. He recently posted some weekend thoughts that I have found challenging and helpful. These are the sort of deeply searching, application oriented sort of questions I need to confront myself with often that I might truly progress in being shaped by the gospel not only in my words but in the depths of my being.

Live What You Preach

While rummaging back through variosu papers this evening looking for notes for some teaching tomorrow, I came across this quote sent to me by a pastor friend 8 years ago. He had mentioned it in a sermon and i had asked for it. It coems from T. H. L. Parker's book on Calvin's preaching, and, as I understand it, is a quote from Calvin:

"It would be better for him to break his neck going up into the pulpit if he does not take pains to be the first to follow God."

This quote grabs me as it did then as a good reminder of beign earnest about livign out ourselves what we preach to others. Let us be faithful in this as we enter pulpits in the morning.

Carl Trueman, on need for accountability

I met Carl Trueman while we were both at the University of Aberdeen- him as a professor, me as a PhD student. Carl is a good friend, able scholar and writer. He has just posted a piece on the recent moral scandal that has rocked the church. This piece is helpful reading with a warning against placing our faith in human leaders and a warning to those of us who serve in leadership. Here is an excerpt:

And it serves as a warning to all who aspire to be leaders: to whom do you make yourselves accountable? Who can tell you when you are crossing the line? Do you have even one person who can go toe-to-toe with you and tell you, if necessary, that your behaviour is out of bounds? If you are not careful, your gifts may long outlast the grace in your life. The tragedy of so many fallen Christian pastors is that they became too big to be accountable to anyone, and they mistake the acclaim of their congregations for true Christian grace and divine favour. And those errors are no respecter of theological or confessional position.

Oh, how we need to heed this advice. This is one great blessing in having a plurality of pastors and avoiding “senior” terminology.
(HT: JT)