Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
A Luther-like Moment
I am reminded of Martin Luther's many attempts to eradicate the horrible stain of sin from his life. We were all born under the same death sentence of sins bondage, and subsequently find much joy in contributing to this folly, whole heartily our entire lives, unless and until we are quickened by God's Spirit. Luther thought it was extremely hard to follow after God and His impeccable standards of righteousness. How true this is for all unconverted souls. It is hard to follow after God without the Holy Spirit first causing us to be born again.
Luther was hounded by the fruitless attempts and endless endeavors to obliterate sin from his bountiful life, lived in flagrant disobedience to God's Word. He did penance, self-flagellation, and spent numerous hours in the confessional, to the point where many of his roommates, in the monastery, thought him a bit unhinged. He was obsessed with the onerous task of scrupulously living up to standards of righteousness that no man could possibly live up to. He beat his body into submission along with torturing his mind endlessly to work out his ill-fated, ill-informed heart‘s desire to be good enough for God to accept him. All his attempts to eradicate sin from his life, of his own doing, by good works and self-flagellation, proved to be the insanity of Luther’s well-deserved, early-on reputation. Until that one bright and shining moment, when he lit upon the doctrine of justified by faith alone. It was a turning point for Luther in every respect.
He realized that “all men have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23),” and that, "there is none righteous, no, not one (Rom 3:10).” And only by resting in the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross is any man justified and declared righteous before God. He knew God had very high, unattainable standards, and felt it was impossible to live up to such extreme standards of sinless perfection. All this time salvation was available to him, but God in His infinite wisdom needed to demonstrate to Luther why he could do NOTHING to accomplish his own salvation, nothing to obtain or merit the free gift of redemption. Luther had to stop white washing the outside and allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse and renew the inward man and allow Christ to pay his sin debt in full, so he could rest peacefully in Christ’s finished work, knowing that it was finished, and he needed to do nothing but believe in the ONE who justifies.
And this is how it is for all of us, thus the reference to the bitter sweet state of affairs of the life of the ever-mercurial Luther. It IS hard to follow after God without the Holy Spirit to guide and help us, God’s perfect standards seem insurmountable, like a mountain too high for the saintliest of saints to traverse, but with Christ all things are possible (Matt 19:26).” This is why we need to be reminded that: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:3).” We do not rely on our own efforts, but we rest in Christ alone for the remittance of sins.
God's yoke is easy, if we rest totally in Jesus' work alone, on the cross. This was the full, demonstrable testimony of Luther’s whole life experience for all of Christendom to stand up and take note of. We are justified by faith alone.
Luther's experience is a common one among all true Christian's, we find our stain of sin unbearable, and find no relief from our own ill-fated attempts to procure a remedy. We all have a Luther-like moment. Even the publican experienced a moment such as this, when he deemed himself unworthy to even come to the temple. "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 8:13)."
And some people find Luther unimportant.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Mark Gaither on lust, sin, divorce...
Dear Jordan:
Mark is a theologian who used to post over at Shepherd's Fellowship, he also wrote the book Redemptive Divorce. He DOES (sorry, I said earlier he didn't) speak about the verse you referred to over at teampyro; I hope this helps explain it some for you. Mark is also the son-in-law of the well known preacher, Chuck Swindoll.
The Sin of Lust
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus commented on the teaching of the rabbis concerning the Law and then offered His clarification as the divine Author. “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). He then took the opportunity to breathe new life into some Old Testament laws in order to correct the teaching of the Pharisees. Note how He presented His lessons:
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 21), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 22), followed by teaching on murder and resentment.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 27), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 28), followed by teaching on adultery and lust.
* “It was said . . .” (v. 31), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 32), followed by teaching on divorce and fidelity.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 33), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 34), followed by teaching on vows and integrity.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 38), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 39), followed by teaching on justice and kindness.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 43), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 44), followed by teaching on fair play and grace.
In each case, Jesus extended the application of the Law given through Moses to include what the rabbis had omitted. Furthermore, He amplified the divine revelation in the Old Testament to reveal the full measure of God’s standards. Not only must we refrain from murder, but we must also avoid hatred. Not only is adultery an abomination, so is lust.
While the laws of the Old Testament reflect God’s righteous character, they were primarily intended to regulate the public affairs of a nation, much like the laws of our own government. But we generally understand that a person must be more than merely law-abiding to be considered moral. Obedience to the law is a minimum standard. The rabbis in Jesus’ day not only reduced righteousness to mere obedience to the Law, but they also played clever word games with Scripture to lower the standard even further! They lowered the standard of righteousness in order to call themselves righteous.
When Jesus equated lust with adultery, He was not suggesting the men apply the Law accordingly. It was to point out their hypocrisy. It was to confront the wayward rabbis for lowering the standard of righteousness. It was to convict the self-righteous of their sin.
Correlating the Teaching of Christ on Lust and Divorce
As we examine the teaching of Christ on the Law, we must apply it in the New Covenant sense rather than under the Old Covenant. If we are to apply the Old Covenant strictly (Lust = Adultery = Grounds for Divorce), we must do so consistently: Lust = Adultery = Grounds for STONING!)
When Jesus confronted the rabbis, His purpose was to show that no one can be called righteous, even those who are not guilty of murder or adultery. Our hearts are thoroughly polluted with sin; even our thoughts make us guilty. Therefore, ALL are guilty before God and ALL need His grace.
If we apply the teaching of Matthew 5:27–28 in the same spirit Jesus gave it, then equating lust with adultery is the kind of confrontation needed by men viewing pornography. They want to rationalize their sin by stating it doesn’t involve actual contact with another. We must help them raise the standard of righteousness, not lower it if they expect God to bless their marriages and hear their prayers (1 Peter 3:7)
Mark's blog is http://www.redemptiveheart.com/. I forgot to mention this earlier.
Mark is a theologian who used to post over at Shepherd's Fellowship, he also wrote the book Redemptive Divorce. He DOES (sorry, I said earlier he didn't) speak about the verse you referred to over at teampyro; I hope this helps explain it some for you. Mark is also the son-in-law of the well known preacher, Chuck Swindoll.
The Sin of Lust
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus commented on the teaching of the rabbis concerning the Law and then offered His clarification as the divine Author. “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). He then took the opportunity to breathe new life into some Old Testament laws in order to correct the teaching of the Pharisees. Note how He presented His lessons:
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 21), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 22), followed by teaching on murder and resentment.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 27), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 28), followed by teaching on adultery and lust.
* “It was said . . .” (v. 31), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 32), followed by teaching on divorce and fidelity.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 33), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 34), followed by teaching on vows and integrity.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 38), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 39), followed by teaching on justice and kindness.
* “You have heard . . .” (v. 43), “But I say to you . . .” (v. 44), followed by teaching on fair play and grace.
In each case, Jesus extended the application of the Law given through Moses to include what the rabbis had omitted. Furthermore, He amplified the divine revelation in the Old Testament to reveal the full measure of God’s standards. Not only must we refrain from murder, but we must also avoid hatred. Not only is adultery an abomination, so is lust.
While the laws of the Old Testament reflect God’s righteous character, they were primarily intended to regulate the public affairs of a nation, much like the laws of our own government. But we generally understand that a person must be more than merely law-abiding to be considered moral. Obedience to the law is a minimum standard. The rabbis in Jesus’ day not only reduced righteousness to mere obedience to the Law, but they also played clever word games with Scripture to lower the standard even further! They lowered the standard of righteousness in order to call themselves righteous.
When Jesus equated lust with adultery, He was not suggesting the men apply the Law accordingly. It was to point out their hypocrisy. It was to confront the wayward rabbis for lowering the standard of righteousness. It was to convict the self-righteous of their sin.
Correlating the Teaching of Christ on Lust and Divorce
As we examine the teaching of Christ on the Law, we must apply it in the New Covenant sense rather than under the Old Covenant. If we are to apply the Old Covenant strictly (Lust = Adultery = Grounds for Divorce), we must do so consistently: Lust = Adultery = Grounds for STONING!)
When Jesus confronted the rabbis, His purpose was to show that no one can be called righteous, even those who are not guilty of murder or adultery. Our hearts are thoroughly polluted with sin; even our thoughts make us guilty. Therefore, ALL are guilty before God and ALL need His grace.
If we apply the teaching of Matthew 5:27–28 in the same spirit Jesus gave it, then equating lust with adultery is the kind of confrontation needed by men viewing pornography. They want to rationalize their sin by stating it doesn’t involve actual contact with another. We must help them raise the standard of righteousness, not lower it if they expect God to bless their marriages and hear their prayers (1 Peter 3:7)
Mark's blog is http://www.redemptiveheart.com/. I forgot to mention this earlier.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
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