Unconditional Election by Grace

In considering the depths of God’s grace we come face to face with the Bible’s teaching on God’s election and predestination to eternal life of undeserving sinners.   All without exception are lost in the guilt and bondage to sin.  The deepest sin beneath all our sins, flaws and mess-ups is our addiction to our own autonomy or self-rule.  This is the taproot sin of which all the others are just the fruit.  We are helplessly guilty before a holy God and helplessly enslaved to our waywardness and we prefer it this way although at times the consequences of our rebellion break into our lives with devastating effects. 

God is under no moral obligation to remedy our sinful guilt or bondage.  Yet the only way anyone is rescued from the total depravity and the total inability due to sin is by the sovereign grace of God.  In fact if we have any degree of sensitivity to just how lost we are as slaves to our passions and pride we would yearn for God’s mercy.  Yet even such a yearning comes only as God graciously brings us to the end of ourselves and convicts us of our guilt and bondage to sin.  So the question we need to consider is a simple one: who saves sinners?  Is salvation a joint work where God does his part by sending his Son to die on the cross to make salvation possible and we do our part by responding in faith?  Many sincere Christians hold this view but it begs these questions.  How can those in bondage to sin liberate themselves?  How can those who are dead in trespasses and sins make themselves come to life?  How can those who are blind make themselves see, or deaf make themselves hear or lame make themselves walk?

The Bible teaches that salvation is wholly and solely the work of the Triune God and that this work of salvation is from start to finish accomplished by his powerful and unmerited grace and it has its origin in the eternal purpose of God to elect a people in Christ and predestine them to become his adopted sons and daughters thus delivering them from the guilt and bondage of sin.   We see this in the two major texts that teach this doctrine: Ephesians 1:3-14 and Romans 9:1-24. 

The Bible’s teaching on election has been called unconditional election.  What this means is that God’s choice of who of Adam’s fallen race he would save is not conditioned by anything within the them.  The elect are just as lost in their sin as the non-elect.  They are just as deserving of condemnation and just as enslaved to their addiction to their own autonomy.  In fact many of the elect are, at least on a human level, worse sinners apart from grace than the non-elect.   God’s choice on whom he will have mercy and who he will harden – i.e. let them stay in their bondage to sin and its guilt – is rooted in God’s sovereign purpose to bring glory to his name in both the vessels of mercy and in the vessels of wrath (Romans 9:19-24). 

Now some would affirm that the Bible does teach the doctrine of election but deny that the Bible teaches unconditional election.  Based on a passage like Romans 8:29 – “Those whom God foreknew, he also predestined” – they would stress that God’s work of election is based on God foreknowing who would respond in faith to the Gospel.  God elects to salvation those who accept the Gospel.

Yet what God is said to “foreknow” is not the response of those he predestined but the persons he predestined.  It is not the action of the person but the person that God foreknew.  Certainly God foreknows what a person will do or not do.  Yet this is not what “foreknew” means in this text.    Based on texts like Galatians 4:9; Psalm 1:6; Jeremiah 1:5 and others, the Bible’s teaching on the concept of God’s foreknowledge when applied to people is a synonym for election.  The idea really is that of God fore-loving or loving beforehand those he predestines to eternal life.  This is reflected well in a passage like Ephesians 1:4-5, “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.” 

God’s election is unconditional.  It is based in his free and sovereign grace and not upon anything that comes from us.  God’s election is not based on his foreknowledge of our faith in Christ.  Certainly, his election is not based on anyone’s moral goodness or intellectual prowess.  We are all lost in our sins – enslaved to our passions and pride.  So election is unconditional and rests solely upon God’s own purpose and grace.

Having stated the doctrine it must also be said that many have taken a wrong turn with it.  This doctrine must never be separated from the Gospel.  Here is what this means.

1.       The Bible’s teaching on election by grace must never be used to undermine the Bible’s clear teaching on passionate evangelism or prayer for the lost.  Rather when understood it gives us every incentive to be deliberate in sharing the gospel and confident that by God’s grace there will indeed be fruit from our prayers and labors. 

2.       The Bible’s teaching on election by grace must always be set side by side with the Bible’s teaching on the free offer of the Gospel.  Since the number of the elect and non-elect is kept from us and God does not place a mark on people’s foreheads, we are called to freely offer the Gospel to all without respect to election or non election.   

3.       The warrant or reason to believe the Gospel is not based on one having to ascertain his or her election.  Rather the warrant to believe the Gospel is everyone’s need for the Gospel.  The Gospel invitation (Isaiah 55; Matthew 11:28; John 3:16; 5:35-37; Acts 16:20) is made to sinners.  It is for those who need Christ and all without exception do.  In fact all are commanded to repent and to believe the Gospel. 

4.       This means that if you are convicted of your need for Christ and want him to be your savior you may indeed come to Christ and he will not turn you away.  All you need do is see your sin, confess such to him and tell him that you believe that his word is true and that he came for sinners and he will not turn sinners who come to him away.  This is the only way you will discover your election!

5.       The caricature of election by opponents of the teaching, as well as, the way some who accept the doctrine have mishandled it give the impression that there are many who want to come to Christ but cannot because they are not of the elect and there are others who don’t want to come to Christ but since they are elect they will come even against their wishes.  This is not the case at all.  All those who indeed want to come to Christ may.  He will not cast anyone away from him who wants to come.  Likewise those who don’t want to come to Christ will not be forced against their will to come. 

Those of you who have believed on Jesus Christ as your redeemer from the guilt and bondage of sin – continue to look to Christ.  Hold fast your faith in him and make every effort to make your calling and election sure by a life of faithful obedience and endurance.  Genuine saving faith holds Christ continually precious to the soul and grows in assurance and in obedience.  This is how we make our calling and election sure.  Don’t presume that you possess Christ based on a mere decision but rather make sure your faith is alive in you and that Christ is most precious to you – give evidence of this in humble obedience to His Word.

For you who have not yielded to Jesus.  I urge you to hear the offer He makes to you even now.  Jesus came not for the well-adjusted or those who wrongly think they are okay and have no need of God.  Jesus came for those who know they are damaged goods (and everyone truly is).  If you are convicted of the deeper sin of your addiction to your own self-rule and are troubled by this as the root cause of all your other flaws and sins – the good news is that Christ welcomes you and will indeed rescue you from the guilt of your sins and your bondage to sin.   He said “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  This is a certain and clear promise from the Lord Jesus Christ addressed to all people without distinction or exception.  It is the offer of the Gospel!  

Repudiating the Flesh to Gain Christ

"Followme" by Brent Nelson

Musings on Philippians 3:4-8

The “flesh” is one of those words that the New Testament uses (this is especially true of the Apostle Paul) that needs some explanation.   The Old Covenant sign of circumcision was in reality a cutting away of a portion of a male child’s flesh.  The Lord had given this sign to Abraham.  It was the sign of the special relationship or covenant that the descendants of Abraham had with Jehovah.  It marked them as his special covenant people.   Yet it in itself was never intended to become the source of their confidence of acceptability with God.   It was to be a reminder of the fact that as God’s chosen people they were to live out this relationship with the appropriate heart-response.   Moses reminded them of this in Deuteronomy 10:15-16. 15 “The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.”

God’s election of Israel was not due to anything within them.   The Lord’s delight in them was for the sake of loving them.  Such love called for a response.  They were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts and be stiff-necked no longer.  Later in Deuteronomy 30:6 Moses says that the Lord will circumcise their hearts so that they will love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul that they might live (see also Jeremiah 4:4).   What happened over the course of time is that many of Abraham’s descendants began to depend upon their circumcision (and hence their ancestry and the very fact that God had given them the Law of Moses) as a mark of superiority to others and acceptance with God.   They in essence began to place confidence in the flesh i.e. in their circumcision.   Rather than see how far their hearts really were from what circumcision meant and cry out to God for a greater kind of circumcision that only God could give, they began to pride themselves on what they had and did.   The phrase “the flesh” in Paul’s writings became a way of describing human prowess and strength set over against God’s prowess and strength, which sinful and fallen people truly needed.  This prowess and strength of God is His grace given to sinful, weak, proud and self-centered people through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Since this wrong understanding of circumcision promoted human pride it reflected a sinful and twisted self-focus.  So Paul uses the idea of the flesh to underscore our self-centeredness over against what we should be and that is God-centered.  The flesh not only was to be seen in what we wrongly placed our confidence but also in what we wrongly desired and wanted.  So the New Testament speaks of the desires or lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:6; 2 Peter 2:10; 1 John 2:16).   The flesh therefore describes all human pride and passion that is self-focused and hence cut off from where our proper focus is to be and that is in God.  This is where we find ourselves.  We are dependent upon, in pursuit of, holding to and coddling the flesh.  This is first and foremost offensive to God.  He sets Himself in all his holiness and glory against our self-centeredness.  This is an offense to His glory.  He alone is worthy of such a focus from us his creatures.  Secondly, our love affair with self – the flesh - brings only death.   The greatest judgment in this life that we can experience is when God allows the flesh to work for us.  It is a severe judgment when He allows our broken cisterns to leak slowly rather than rapidly (see Jeremiah 2:12-13).  It is a terrible but just judgment when he gives us over to what our flesh wants.  Yet to remain self-focused will bring one to eternal loss before the judgment seat of Christ.  This is what Jesus meant when he said, “that whoever seeks to save his life will lose it.  For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and is himself lost?”  (See Matthew 16:20-28; Mark 8:30-9:1 and Luke 9:21-27)

Paul tells us here that there was a time in his life that he too had confidence in the flesh.  He saw his race, family, social status, attainment and accomplishment as what made him find approval in the eyes of others and what he thought also secured him God’s approval.  These things were not in themselves bad or necessarily wrong.  Rather it was how Paul viewed them in his heart and mind that was wrong for it promoted his pride and fostered his self-centeredness.  It offended God (although he thought just the opposite).  Yet Paul’s heart needed to be circumcised if his love affair with the flesh was to end.  It was the esteem and value Paul placed on the flesh that had to change.  He saw these issues as gain for his ego and he was not going to give them up for something he saw to be of less or even equal value. 

The truth that we need grace to see is that God is the only reality that is inherently valuable.   Due to our intrinsic self-centeredness we are blind to this glorious truth.  We fail to see that God as the fountain of living waters is infinitely more precious than any number of our broken cisterns.  We are fools devoted to our feeble self-centered and autonomous focus!  The Gospel’s message is that God graciously offers Himself to undeserving broken cistern drinkers in the Person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  What is even more astounding is that for God to do this and remain true to His holiness and glory His Son took upon himself human flesh to die in the place of sinners fulfilling God’s law that all who sin must die.  How wonderfully valuable and rich is God’s offer to us in Christ.  Yet to embrace this offer we must see it to be infinitely more valuable than our self-centered treasures.  We must see that all that we think is gain apart from Christ is really worthless.  Our attachment, dependence upon, desire for this earthly existence must be seen as utterly worthless.  Yet the only way this will happen is if we begin to see that knowing Christ far exceeds all the fleshly trinkets, baubles, badges and tin cups that we have amassed and secured in the treasure chest of our hearts. 

In order to gain Christ you must repudiate the flesh.  This is not hard to do if you see that knowing Christ is gain and that holding on to the flesh and its allies is in fact worthless refuse or dung.   To be justified before God a person must come to see that all that he has depended upon and desired that reinforced his self-centeredness has to be considered loss for the sake of gaining and knowing Christ.  Saving faith sees the superior and inherent worth of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Yet such faith continues to see this and continues to hold Christ as valuable and precious in contrast to all things that would tempt us to embrace them and once again secure a sinful self-focus and preoccupation.   As followers of Jesus Christ we need to continue to esteem the wonderful reality of our knowing Him so that we might continue to honor Him and in so doing overcome the pull and tug of the flesh. The Apostle John describes this self-centered focus as our twisted love affair with this world and life that consists of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and pride in what earthly stuff we possess. May we repudiate all of this to gain all of Christ!

The Problem with Valuing Moral Values

Some musings on Romans 2:17-29

The more I consider the political and cultural landscape of our country the more concerned I become that many professing Christians are confusing the fight for moral or traditional values with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Are we as followers of Jesus Christ to be engaged in what even some Christian leaders are calling the culture wars for “moral values?”  Certainly, the Gospel runs against the grain of our secular and post-modern western culture.  Yet where the lines seem to be increasingly drawn is on the political front where the Red states are viewed as “Christian land” and the Blue states are viewed as “Pagan land.”  Now I know that a great deal of those who would identify themselves as walking with a left leaning gait imbibe a pagan ideology, which is a world view that the Gospel confronts and challenges.  Yet it is biblically naïve to conclude that all those who walk with a right leaning gait are “the righteous in the land” whose values comport with the Gospel simply because they are wear red.  Does not the Gospel of Jesus Christ run against the grain of conservative ideologies and values also? 

Advocating moral values that are not rooted in the grace of God that comes to sinners in Christ is just as antithetical to that grace as is godless secularism.  The solution to liberal ideologies is not the advocacy of generic moral or traditional values.  The solution to both is the Lord Jesus Christ. To rely on one’s esteem of traditional values, moral values or family values can be as godless as atheism or paganism.  What we as professing Christians need to guard our hearts and minds against is to see ourselves as being somehow superior to the liberal elite and the Hollywood media because we hold to the Bible, or to morality or even to Jesus.  We can easily turn Jesus into a political and cultural billboard that declares our moral illumination over our culture and this means that we will have turned our hearts away from Jesus as the savior of sinners of whom we are the chiefs! 

The Jews of Paul’s day saw themselves as the guardians of moral values.  They saw themselves as taking the moral high ground and were thus in a superior position to give guidance to those poor liberals of Greece and Rome!  Yet in their pride they were failing to see that simply possessing God’s Law and having circumcision did not make them culturally or morally right.  In fact what Paul is saying is that unless in themselves they could obey all God’s Law then relying on the Law and circumcision put them on equal footing with all the Pagan Gentiles who had neither.  What seems so similar between the moral party of Paul’s day and many today, who are waving the flag of moral values is this air of superiority and pride that comes across in the public square of cultural discourse.   Now the problem with the conservatives of Paul’s day and many today is not in their valuing of the teaching of God’s Law, nor even in the particular traditions that are valued.  Rather the problem lies in the failure to understand the problem of the human heart and how all men and women are sinners in need of God’s grace.  This is the message of the Gospel.  Even we who value God’s Law cannot keep it in our own strength.  We need God’s grace and the work of the Spirit to give us new hearts.  It is Savior that we should be offering to our culture and not the Law of God for apart from knowing Jesus no one can even come close to keeping those laws.  Ministering to our culture with humility holding out truth and grace is what is needed!

Holding to moral values changes no one’s heart.  Paul said to the conservatives of his day, “Because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?  You who preach against stealing, do you steal?  You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?  You who abhor idols do you rob temples?  You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?  As it is written” God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”  Generic or even Biblical moral values offered as what will save the culture is not the commission that Jesus gives the church.  The Gospel enters the culture wars not as an ally to either the blue or the red but to the King who said that his kingdom is not of this world.  His Gospel alone is what confronts our culture with life-changing power and hope.  

Expulsive Power Of Holy Affections

It is seldom that any of our character flaws disappear by the force of mental determination. But what cannot be destroyed may be dispossessed— and one taste may be made to give way to another, and to lose its power as the reigning affection in the mind. It is thus that the boy ceases at length to be a slave of his appetite, but it is because another taste has brought it into subordination. The youth ceases to idolize pleasure, but it is because the idol of wealth has...gotten the ascendancy. Even the love of money can cease to have mastery over the heart because it is drawn into the whirl of politics and he is now lorded over by a love of power. But there is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object. Its desire for one particular object is conquered—but its desire to have some object...is unconquerable....

The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one. It is only when the heart is brought under the mastery of one great and predominant affection that it is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, and the only way that deliverance is possible. Thus it is not enough to hold out to the world the mirror of its own imperfections. It is not enough to come forth with a demonstration of the evanescent character of your enjoyments...to speak to the conscience... of its follies.... Rather, try every legitimate method of finding access to your hearts for the love of Him who is greater than the world.

— Thomas Chalmers

Shining Lights - Sacrifice of Faith

Final Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:14-18

Working out your salvation entails cultivating by faith in Christ a life of Christ-like humility and maturity.   Such Christ-like humility and maturity will enable you to consider others to be more important than yourself so you can put their interests before your own.   This is what it means to have in you the mind of Christ.  This is the mark of genuine servanthood.  It is this Christ-like maturity that fosters real unity in the church and in our relationships as believers.  Working out your salvation entails cultivating the mind of Christ, the mindset of one who in love seeks to serve others for the sake of the Gospel and to the glory of God.  Now this not only will promote the unity of the church it will also strengthen and advance the witness of the church.

 

Not only are you to obey the Lord by cultivating the mind of Christ, you also are to obey the Lord in living out what having the mind of Christ means.  You are to obey the Lord in all things from this mindset and frame of heart.  Such Christ-like humility leads you to obey the Lord in all things without grumbling and complaining. 

Why is Paul concerned that you obey in all things without grumbling and complaining?  This is a concern because the spirit of true obedience is killed when we grumble and complain as we obey.  Paul has in mind the experience of the first generation of Israelites who were delivered from Egyptian bondage.  Here they were following the Lord who delivered them from bondage and was bringing them to freedom while murmuring and complaining at the first sign of inconvenience or trouble.  Such a carping spirit killed their faith and obedience.  You do not possess the mind of Christ when you grumble and complain.  This is contrary to the nature of Christ-like humility and maturity. 

The second reason that Paul is concerned about the matter of rendering obedience to the Lord with grumbling and complaining is the effect this has on your witness.  Grumbling and complaining is the language of the world – of the crooked and twisted generation.  Christ-like humility and maturity are demonstrated in speech that is gracious and filled with thanksgiving and praise to God.  The reason that Paul admonishes you not to grumble and complain is so that you might present a real overt contrast to the crooked and twisted generation that demonstrates their rebellion to God in speech marked by grumbling and complaining.

If you do all things without grumbling and complaining then in the eyes of the world you will be blameless and innocent.  You will be known as children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.  This is how Christ was seen by the generation to which he ministered.  Not all of them liked this about him.  Many hated him because of his humility and holiness.  Yet he offered a clear and overt contrast to his generation. 

To claim to be a follower of Christ at work, at your school, in your neighborhood or among your peers, yet complain and grumble about perceived hardships, setbacks, mistreatment by others or even inclement weather discredits your claim.  It is as you demonstrate Christ-like humility and maturity in your speech and conversation that people will take note of the contrast and will see you as children of God without blemish.  This is further described in terms of you shining as lights in the world.  This is the substance of your witness.  You in your own life, manner, conduct and especially your speech offer a stark yet bright contrast in the midst of the crooked and twisted generation.  By doing this you are doing what Jesus taught when he said, “You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house”  (Matthew 5:14-15). 

It is only as you work out your salvation by cultivating the mind of Christ, which includes gracious and God-glorifying speech that you become blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish.  Of course in your person there is still much darkness and need for growth but here you are offering a clear contrast to the men and women of this world.  In this way your life, which includes your responses, attitudes, behavior and speech means that you shine like lights in the world.  Being blameless and innocent, children without blemish parallels shining as lights in the world. 

Now it is as you do this that you give support and credence to the message and promises of the word of life, which is the Gospel.  It is as you shine as lights in the world due to having the mind of Christ within you that exhibits speech that is gracious and God-honoring that your holding out the word of life becomes effective.   If you hold out the word of life without cultivating the mind of Christ including doing all things without grumbling and complaining then your life and speech discredit the Gospel. 

Working out your salvation therefore by cultivating genuine Christ-like humility and maturity enhances the unity and witness of the church.  Yet the service that you render as you seek to follow Jesus Christ in this way is also likened to a sacrifice of faith.  Paul saw the suffering and hardship he endured in order to present all believers as mature or complete in Christ to be a drink offering poured out on the sacrifice and service coming from their faith.  In this sense having the mind of Christ and imitating Christ in your behavior will mean that your life and work are to be seen as a sacrifice coming from your faith.  It is not meritorious because it comes from your faith in Christ. Nor is it dreary and morbid.  Rather Paul encourages you that as you pour out your life in ministering from the mind and heart of Jesus Christ then there is real and lasting joy to be found.  So Paul reminds you that working out your salvation by cultivating Christ-like humility and maturity is for the purpose of shining as lights and offering your life as a sacrifice of faith.  This is what it means to be a Christ-like servant of others for the glory of God. 

Work Out Your Own Salvation

"Work" by Photomath

Even More Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:12-13

The main emphasis in this section of Philippians 2:1-18 is found in verses 3 and 4.  Here is a call to humility.  It is a call to be obedient by becoming humble before God in your dealings with one another.  It is a call to self-denial.  It is a call to consider others to be more important than you are and therefore to put their interests before your own.  Now this is not something that we naturally want to do.  We also do not have the capacity to do this.  We resist and come up with all kinds of objections.   Paul knew this and therefore he gives us three powerful incentives that help us to obey in this matter.  Here are our resources to take up and put on the servant’s garments.  The first is the impact the gospel should be having on our hearts (verse 1).  The second is the great two-fold example of Christ’s humble self-denial and his subsequent exaltation.  The third incentive comes from the fact that God is working in you.  This should promote within your heart a sense of godly fear and awe so that you will soberly and with determination be sure that you are in faith obeying this call.

The first question that may come to mind is what does Paul mean when he says that you are to work out your salvation?  There are two points that must be stressed.  First this salvation is something that you already possess.  You cannot work out what you do not already have.  Second, you are to work out your salvation not work for your salvation.  Paul is not teaching that justification, reconciliation or adoption, which are necessary gifts of salvation that come from Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, are to be worked for or earned.    Nor can you work or earn the gift of the new birth that produces by the presence of the Holy Spirit saving faith in your heart so that you trust in Jesus Christ for your forgiveness and justification.   What he is saying is that when it comes to your maturity, growth, endurance in faith and sanctification you have a part to play. 

You work out your salvation as you in faith press toward obeying God.  You work out your salvation by putting on a heart of humility and seeking to serve others for their good.  You work out your salvation by being sure you cultivate your faith in Christ and obey him.  You are justified by faith in Christ alone but true faith never remains alone but expresses itself through love.  You are justified by faith alone but you mature in personal holiness (you are sanctified) by faith in Christ, which leads to obedience.   You are sanctified as you in faith work out your salvation.  

There is a connection then between humility and obedience here.  In fact Paul is calling you to be obedient by cultivating humility.  There can be no humility (and hence obedience) apart from maturing in Christ.  You have a relationship with Christ but are you maturing in that relationship?  

The manner or frame of heart by which you are to do this includes the following responses and motives.

1.      You are not to do this with a concern to please or impress other people.  This is especially the case with your leaders.  God gives you elders and teachers to help you grow and to whom you are to be accountable but you are not to obey only or simply when you are with them.  

2.      You are to seek to cultivate humility and obedience in working out your salvation with fear and trembling because God is working in you.   Fear and trembling are not due to craven fear of condemnation but a holy love for the august majesty and glory of God.  If you have such fear due to you knowing that God is actually working in your life then this is a strong incentive to a life of humble self-denial and obedience as a servant for Jesus’ sake.

3.      You are to work out your salvation knowing that God is working in you to give you two gifts.  He works in you so that you have the desire and inclination to obey him and he works in you so that you have the ability to obey him.  Both are necessary if you are to work out your salvation.  You would not be able to work out your salvation if he were not working in you to will and to do!

4.      Finally, you are to work out your salvation with the heart’s desire to honor and promote the pleasure of God.  God works in you for his good pleasure.  He takes pleasure in the process of this work and it its final completion.  You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works and as such you are called to work under him and for his pleasure.

Your personal maturity in Christ is cultivated as you work out your own salvation.  This produces in your heart a growing humility toward others and before God.  This leads to greater unity in your relationships and in the church and with this a more significant impact on the world in which we find ourselves as a colony of heaven’s citizens.  Pray that the Lord will speak to your heart and encourage you to pour everything that you can into doing your part in working out your own salvation, which is seen in the lifestyle of a humble and loving servant of the Gospel.

Sharing in the Exalted Glory of Christ

The Cross Exalted by Lawrence OP

Still More Musings on Gospel Servanthood

Philippians 2:9-11

As we continue our journey into what it really means to be a servant to one another for Christ’s sake we have seen that there are tremendous incentives and glorious reasons to obey the call to consider others to be more important than you are.  There is not a command or call of God that you are able to do without the Gospel of God’s grace working within your heart.  There are no easy commands!   Each one requires God’s grace to do.  In fact all of Christ’s commands center on the issue of genuine love.  We are to love God and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ and even to love our enemies.  If you love then you are serving.  You are serving with the right motivation of heart. 

We object to serve and hesitate to show concern for one another (and especially for those difficult people) because we know that it will cost us something.  We will risk being hurt, rejected, shunned or at least not appreciated and thanked.  It also requires humility to serve this way.  Paul says, “in humility consider others to be more important than yourself.”  This call to serve exposes how self-centered we naturally are.  We are not more inclined toward genuine humility than we are to genuine servant love. 

It is for this reason that Paul reminds us and points us to the incentives of grace.  In verse one he reminds us of the impact that the Gospel should have on our hearts – our outlook and yes even on our affections and emotions.  In verses 5-11 he points us to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This example has two parts to it.  First we see the self-denial and willing humility and obedience of the Son of God given for our sakes.  In his coming, taking on human nature as a servant and his death on the cross he was putting our interests before his own.   How can we who have personally benefited from his sacrificial service refuse to serve one another?   He, who was and is infinitely superior to us in every way, nevertheless considered us to be more important than himself.   It is inconsistent for us who say we trust in Christ and his cross work to object and refuse to follow in our Master’s steps here. 

Now we look at the second part to Christ’s example for us.  It is the reality of his glorious exaltation. Here, as we see, is contained the truth that we find expressed in Romans 8:17 where Paul says that you are heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, provided that you suffer with him in order that you may also be glorified with him.   As Sinclair Ferguson says “only what goes down will go up.”  The path to glory is the same one traveled by our Lord Jesus.  The cross comes before the crown but here is the promise to you who take up the servant’s towel – the crown will come!    What goes down will go up because God the Father will see to it.  So we need to look to the reality of Christ’s exaltation as what we have to look forward to and find the hope to endure the hard, painful and lonely path of the servant.  Here we find reason to hope.  We need to believe that the path of humility if walked with faith in Christ and love for him is the safest of all paths to walk because it is the only one that leads to glory.  

 So we find two realities here.  First if we are to share in his glory we must be willing to share in his suffering.  This also means that being glorified together with him is where we are to set our gaze.  Second, that God’s way is that humility precedes glory. Yet for the humble of heart and mind glory is a certainty.  Only what goes down will go up!  So what about you?  Does the fact that Christ’s suffering led to his glory and ultimate relief and that it is presented to you in this text as a pattern of what you may expect from the Father encourage you to endure in serving others?  If this doesn’t what will!