Holiness - Week 4

Today was the fourth installment of the class on J.C. Ryle's book Holiness. We discussed Chapters 4 & 5 (The Fight; The Cost);

One point, among excellent points made by class members had to do with the cost of following Christ. One person, who actually submitted her comment in absentia, mentioned that we could never know the cost of following Christ before we do so (unlike a business transaction where the cost is somewhat well known). It was brought up that the cost will be different for all of us. Some are called to die for their faith in Christ. Others aren't. Yet, there is some cost we face for what we believe. We know that Christ will accompany us and give us the strength, in prayer, to fight the battle and count the cost.

My concern is that what passes for evangelism in many American churches today is to downplay or neglect mentioning that there is a cost to count in following Christ. I likened to it chemotherapy. In this approach, the gospel is so watered down or preached piecemeal that the impact is hoped to call us to gradually and painless kill our old sinful nature. I pointed out that the gospel should be regarded as chemotherapy in which all doses are given at one time. In a physical context, that would kill the patient as well as the cancer. However, the Gospel is a call for us to put to death our old self, not give it a gradual cure.

We also talked about the fight. One point which I made has to do with a quote from Ryle (found below in italics). It is about a "deeds not creeds" approach to the faith which Ryle recognized in Britain in 1879. My point was about someone who walked into a Red Cross blood drive, watching many people on the tables who were donating blood. Please understand. Doing such a thing is noble. But what is the motive for giving? Merely getting the juice and cookies at the end? Getting out of an hour of work? Giving because there is the need? Reducing blood volume to make it easier and faster to drunk that night? (That actually was the stated objective of two other donors during the very first time I gave blood during my college days many years ago). If we judged by deed first, all are doing noble things. If we judge by the "creed" going into it, we see a variety of motives. Some good; Others bad.

About this, Ryle wrote:

A general faith in the truth of God’s written Word is the primary foundation of the Christian soldier’s character. He is what he is, does what he does, thinks as he thinks, acts as he acts, hopes as he hopes, behaves as he behaves, for one simple reason—he believes certain propositions revealed and laid down in Holy Scripture. "He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

A religion without doctrine or dogma is a thing which many are fond of talking of in the present day. It sounds very fine at first. It looks very pretty at a distance. But the moment we sit down to examine and consider it, we shall find it a simple impossibility. We might as well talk of a body without bones and sinews. No man will ever be anything or do anything in religion unless he believes something. Even those who profess to hold the miserable and uncomfortable views of the deists are obliged to confess that they believe something. With all their bitter sneers against dogmatic theology and Christian credulity, as they call it, they themselves have a kind of faith.

This Sunday's Readings

Chapter 4 - The Fight

Chapter 5 - The Cost

Next Sunday's Readings

Chapter 6 - Growth

Next Sunday's Readings on Audio

Start at 41:15 of Part 7

End at 9:00 of Part 9

Please remember that these can be listened to online or downloaded as free mp3s. (courtesy of Still Waters Revival Books in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

Sermon Audio of Holiness - Part 7

Sermon Audio of Holiness - Part 8

Sermon Audio of Holiness - Part 9

Where is Jesus?

Several years ago, there was a famous game called "Where's Waldo?". On this day, each of us needs to ask "Where's Jesus?" If he died and stayed dead, Christians believe their faith in vain. A failed teacher of mere morals would have been a failure in history.

If He is not in a Jerusalem grave this day, where is He? If He is in heaven, as the Bible indicates, the implications are staggering. A human who is also God, who lived, died and lives again in resurrected glory for 20 centuries, right up until today, demands our attention. Once He has that, He rightly demands worship and control of our lives.

Where do you think Jesus is, right now? If His tomb in Jerusalem is truly empty, you must realize what that means to your life, both here and for eternity.

Happy Easter from the School of the Solitary Place!!!

Holiness - Week 3

Today was the third session in this quarter's Sunday School class on J.C. Ryle's book "Holiness." Today we discussed Chapters 2 & 3 (Sanctification, Holiness). One point that was made was asking if Ryle is trying to place a legalistic burden on Christian believers. While the person asking the question did see where Ryle was going with his arguments, the point is a good one. Justification is by grace alone through faith in Christ. Sanctification has its' origin in Christ also. However, unlike justification, sanctification is a joint effort between God and the believer. We do need to struggle and to use "means" (such as prayer) to grow in sanctification. It was mentioned that the writer of the Hebrews implies that many of his first listeners to his letter had actually stalled their progress in sanctification. (See Hebrews 5:11-14)

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
(Hebrews 5:11-14 NIV)

I want to include a reference which Ryle makes to the 17th century English Puritan John Owen:

That great divine, John Owen, the Dean of Christ Church, used to say, more than two hundred years ago, that there were people whose whole religion seemed to consist in going about complaining of their own corruptions and telling everyone that they could do nothing of themselves. I am afraid that after two centuries the same thing might be said with truth of some of Christ’s professing people in this day. I know there are texts in Scripture which warrant such complaints. I do not object to them when they come from men who walk in the steps of the apostle Paul and fight a good fight, as he did, against sin, the devil and the world. But I never like such complaints when I see ground for suspecting, as I often do, that they are only a cloak to cover spiritual laziness and an excuse for spiritual sloth. If we say with Paul, "O wretched man that I am," let us also be able to say with him, "I press toward the mark." Let us not quote his example in one thing, while we do not follow him in another (Rom. 7:24; Phil. 3:14).

This week's readings can be found at

Links for today's readings
Chapter 2 - Sanctification
Chapter 3 - Holiness

Links for next Sunday's readings
Chapter 4 - The Fight
Chapter 5 - The Cost

As promised to my class, I have the links for Sermon Audio to bring in next Sunday's readings on downloadable mp3 (courtesy of Still Waters Revival Books in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

You can listen directly from the links or do a FREE download of the mp3s.

For next week's readings, start at 29 minutes 40 seconds into Part 5 and end at 41 minutes 15 seconds of Part 7.

Sermon Audio of Holiness - Part 5
Sermon Audio of Holiness - Part 6
Sermon Audio of Holiness - Part 7

Enjoy!!!

Holiness - Week 2

Today was the second week of our church Sunday School class on J.C. Ryle's book "Holiness." We read through the Introduction and Chapter 1 for today. For next Sunday, we will be reading Chapter 2 on Sanctification and Chapter3 on Holiness.

One quote which we covered in class had to do with sin. The doctrine of sin seems to be avoided in so much Christian preaching and teaching today. Ryle sensed the same thing in his own time and place (1879 England). His observations would apply to good Christian teaching in any era. He wrote:

Now, I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern plague as constant clear statements about the nature, reality, vileness, power and guilt of sin. We must charge home into the consciences of these men of broad views and demand a plain answer to some plain questions. We must ask them to lay their hands on their hearts and tell us whether their favorite opinions comfort them in the day of sickness, in the hour of death, by the bedside of dying parents, by the grave of a beloved wife or child. We must ask them whether a vague earnestness, without definite doctrine, gives them peace at seasons like these. We must challenge them to tell us whether they do not sometimes feel a gnawing "something" within, which all the free inquiry and philosophy and science in the world cannot satisfy. And then we must tell them that this gnawing "something" is the sense of sin, guilt and corruption, which they are leaving out in their calculations. And, above all, we must tell them that nothing will ever make them feel rest but submission to the old doctrines of man’s ruin and Christ’s redemption and simple childlike faith in Jesus.

Links for today's readings

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Sin

Links for next Sunday's readings

Chapter 2 - Sanctification

Chapter 3 - Holiness

Operation World

A great resource to learn about the nations of the Earth and their particular needs in prayer can be found at the website for Operation World (Operation World Website link here) Through it, you can learn about the nations of the world with information which is kept current. It is also a reminder that God's concern and work is not limited only to our own nation and people group but is truly a global effort. Operation World has a specific link which will take you to the information for that day's specific focus. Find the link here.

Revival on University Campuses

A trend which I have been noticing within the last few years has been that of revival on university campuses across the United States. Becky Tirabassi, who has been a speaker to college youth concerning revival during the last few years has published some of her observations in articles in Christianity Today. See here and here for two articles regarding this wonderful trend. See also the sidebar link here in this blog (right hand side of this page) to Campus Transformation.

My family had the chance to observe this first hand in the early summer of 2006. We were staying on the campus of Colorado State University for a competition in which my sons were participating. Every day we were there, we noted an open Bible study or worship event happening in our dorm building everyday we were there.

The 24-7 prayer movement which started in England in 1999 is working to bring continuous prayer to campuses in the United States. They too have noticed the trend in the U.S. See link

In a culture in which the news seems flooded with stories about celebrities and their often inane, immoral and illegal behavior, there is a very under-reported trend of campus revival. Please pray for God's Holy Spirit to move upon the hearts and minds of the youth in attendance at these schools to honor Christ in their thinking and studies.

A One Minute Prayer - UPDATED

Today, I received an e-mail from a member of the prayer circle of which I am a member at our local church. It was about a one-minute prayer which many in the United States are trying to organize for the safety of our troops, our citizens and a return to Godliness in America.

The e-mail was a call to set aside one minute at the same time each day. The e-mail mentioned 9pm Eastern time. I think this is a great idea and would like to suggest this to my readers in the United States. For those readers not in the United States, you may want to find out if there is any movement within your country to pray on behalf of your nation's people, leadership, etc.

I do need to offer a small bit of advice about the story which often accompanies the e-mail. It makes the following claim:

"Did you know that during WWII there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace?"

Having read a number of "urban legends" in regard to Christianity in America ("Joshua's Long Day" is a perfect example of an attempt to put forth a Christian point but to do so with an accompanying story with is actually not true), I thought that the reference to an unnamed "advisor to Churchill" followed the track of many urban legends. In such urban legends, there is an attempt to give authoritative emphasis to the account. However, there is typically the untrackable reference to an authority figure. I tried to find out who this advisor to Churchill was via an Internet search. In virtually every case, the advisor to Churchill portion is quoted, almost word-for-word, in every source I could find. There is NO information as to who this person was or the group of praying people. Perhaps, they did exist. Yet, I cannot confirm this. UPDATE of April 10 2008 - There may actually be some names which can be historically linked to this practice. See the rest of the April 10th update below.

Therefore, this will be a strange call to prayer on my part. I do believe that the one-minute prayer is very much worth doing for the sake of our nation. However, do keep in mind that its' original promoters MIGHT have been a little zealous to find/created a justification for this. So, I suggest that you consider practicing the one-minute at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central; 7pm Mountain and 6pm Pacific Time). However, please do this regardless of an advisor to Winston Churchill. The justification we need is already clearly stated in the Word of God: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2 NIV

Update - April 10 2008

One of the readers of the blog left a comment which contains a link to some information about the development of a Remembrance ceremony which involved remembering fallen soldiers at the 9pm chiming of Big Ben in London (as an aside, Big Ben turns 150 years old today).

Please read the page at the following link: Remembrance Ceremony

True Spirituality - Reverse Migrants

Back in December, I started writing on observations I had made while reading Francis Schaeffer's book True Spirituality. I'd intended to write a number of blog entries on that book. However, time and circumstances have prevented me from doing so for the last few months. I now have the opportunity to write more, so I will take that opportunity now. I will include here the notes I made during a spiritual retreat back in September. Those notes follow:

I've read through the chapter on Christ's resurrection in True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer strongly stressed the space-time element of Christ's resurrection AND ascension. He refutes well those who would place Christ's suffering, death, burial and resurrection to the realm of legend or an "other" category.

I especially found useful his discussion on the passages in Romans and Galatians in which Paul writes of our own death, burial and rising with Christ. Schaeffer understands these passages as stating that our present-moment Christian life must be lived as if we have already died physically, gone to Heaven and come back for our resurrected body. We must live by faith as dead to this world and live to the power and presence of God.

This brought to mind a number of thoughts. We should be living the life of the future world NOW! We should live as "reverse migrants." In today's world, there are people who migrate from one country to another, and, in many lives, live the life of their first country while living in their new country (i.e. style of dress, language, food, etc). They live the life of their past culture in the present day.

Christians are called to be "reverse migrants." Most definitely not in the sense of reverting to a pre-Christian set of beliefs and ethic but in the following: Christians are called to live the life of their future culture in the present day. We should live a life which anticipates the truth and reality of the age to come.

Experiencing God

My mother died last Friday. It has been a time in which thoughts of God, the afterlife and what we are called to do on Earth to glorify Him have filled my mind. One thought that has been on my mind has been what I've noticed as a stronger emphasis in Christian media (and other media) about the importance of experiencing God.

I do agree that it is important to have a devotional life in which experiencing the reality of God plays a crucial role. It can be seen in church history that there are cycles in which Christians approach God as a set of principles rather than as the ultimate infinite being who created us for relationship to Him. Yet, as one of my theology professors once pointed out, the attempt to correct an error in one direction can often lead to an excess in the opposite direction. It occurred to me that this may apply about the topic of experiencing God.

In our western culture, there has been a move toward having an experience versus increasing the amount of information you take in via the form of a written text. One example is that of museums. A generation ago, many museums had displays with text that accompanied each display. While that has not gone away today, there is a stronger emphasis in these museums of providing a hands-on experience within their displays.

With this in mind, it occurred to me that as I've heard and read more about the desire by Christians to experience God, there could be something missing. Since we are becoming more experience oriented. I fear that this may possibly lead to a relationship with God which takes in far less for us than He intends. Let me explain.

First, let me state clearly that I see NO problem with any believer desiring to experience God in a deeper way. Providing that such a desire is worked out in ways that go along with a good understanding of who God is as laid out in the Bible, I think that is a great thing. However, my concern centers on what would happen if someone's relationship to God is limited ONLY to their experience.

The life of the mind is crucial also to Christian growth in God. Biblical meditation is one of these means. We are commanded to meditate on the Scriptures (14 times in the Psalms we are instructed to ponder God's Word and God's wonderful works). In these thoughts, we are led to an understanding of the depths of God's glory,holiness, love, mercy, wrath against sin, etc. that we might never encounter, or be able to encounter, in our own personal experience of Him. I cannot know, by experience, God's tender care for those who give birth. Yet, I can praise him for His mercy upon child-bearing mothers even if I can never experience this myself.

I am a Christian. Yet, I am also a male, an American, and one whose life has been lived in parts of the 20th and 21st centuries. If I were to limit my relatioship to God to my own experience, I would miss out on so much. I have much to learn about God from other Christians. I can learn from other male and female Christians. I can learn from other American Christians, as well as from those who are not. I can learn from other Christians who have lived in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as those who lived before my time. Thankfully, many of their journals and writings exist to this day.

God's command to us in this regard was echoed by the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testamant: "You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37 NASB quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 ). Note that all three components are needed: heart, soul and mind. As you grow in your relationship to God and experience Him more deeply, grow also in your knowledge of aspects of God which you might never encounter in your own personal experience. Loving Him with your mind will allow you to know and appreciate God's wonders beyond your own personal experiences.

Recap of the 24 Hour Prayer Vigil

Here are some pictures taken during our 24 Hour Prayer Vigil held from December 31st to January 1st. The first picture was taken at a prayer station having to do with our contributions to the body of Christ. Individuals could add a piece of stained glass to help show how the individual contributes to the whole.

The second picture is that of a barbed-wire cross which reminded us of the cruelty of what the Lord Jesus faced to pay for our sins. On this cross, we would place a piece of dirty cloth and would take a piece of clean cloth in its place, to remind us of the great exchange which Christ made in which He paid for our sin and we are given His perfect righteousness in its place.

Around midnight, it started to snow. And did it snow. It was a powerful reminder of God's peace in our surroundings. It did make for some interesting stories among us as we exchanged stories of the challenges of getting to church during a middle of the night snowstorm. We were so blessed to see some of our fellow intercessors braving the snow at 4am to 6am to get to church.

This is a long view of the labyrinth we used in our fellowship during the Prayer Vigil. There were seven stops (prayer stations) which were powerful and vivid reminders of God's love.

We know that some folks who wanted to come to the Prayer Vigil simply could not get there due to the snow. Yet, we sensed that God did indeed want us to do what we were doing. There was a sense of quiet and peace both outside (with the falling snow) and inside with the labyrinth and in the sanctuary. In the church sanctuary, there was silent prayer for repentance and reflection, both on the end of one year and start of a new one.

Happy New Year 2008 from the School of the Solitary Place .