"There is a widespread need for (preaching that produces inner prostration of the hearts of listeners). We have an equal need as preachers to catch the vision for it in an overly pragmatic and programmatic society that believes it is possible to live the Christian life without either the exposing of our own hearts or the accompanying prostration of ourselves before the majesty of God on high.
"It is just here that one notices a striking contrast between the biblical exposition one finds in the steady preaching of John Calvin in the sixteenth century and preaching in our own day. It is clearly signaled by the words with which he ended virtually every one of his thousands of sermons: 'And now let us bow down before the majesty of our gracious God...' Reformed biblical exposition elevates God and abases man. By contrast, much modern preaching seems to have the goal of making man feel great, even if God Himself has to bow down.
"So a leading characteristic of preaching of to their heart will be the humbling, indeed, prostration of hearts before the majesty of god on high. This is simultaneously the true ecstasy of the Christian, and therein lies the paradox of grace: the way down is always the way up.
"But if, through the preaching of the gospel, we want to see people prostrated with mingled awe and joy before God, the essential prerequisite is that we ourselves be prostrated before him. John Owen's words still ring true even after three and a half centuries: ' a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul....If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.'"
Yesterday's sermon was from Philippians 2:1-11 and dealt with fact that pride is often a stumbling block to the unity which Christ expects from His Church. But if we are to call ourselves followers of Him who went to the cross, we have no other option than to humbly love one another.
It wasn’t just the painful, physical humiliation. It wasn’t just the degrading, emotional humiliation. It was the fact that Christ Jesus became a curse for us, taking upon himself the sins of the world. Paul says (quoting Deutoronomy 21:23), "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). On the cross, Jesus Christ not only bore the curse for us, he became a curse for us. And that’s what makes it all the more incredible that Paul can say, ”far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
He can boast in the cross, because at the cross, Christ didn’t just endure suffering, he didn’t just endure ignomy, he didn’t just endure the curse. Acts 20:28 tells us that at the cross he also purchased the church for his own possession with his own blood. So we have nothing to commend ourselves to God – we only have faith (as a gift from him) that Christ Jesus paid for our sins. So we trust in him.
And a second application is this: If Christ Jesus so loved the church so much that he not only took on human flesh, but he went to the cross for her -- if he loved the church that much -- then we must love the church as well.
“The main objective of preaching is to expound Scripture so faithfully and relevantly that Jesus Christ is perceived in all his adequacy to meet human need. The true preacher is a witness; he is incessantly testifying to Christ. But without humility he neither can nor wants to do so. James Denney knew this, and had these words framed in the vestry of his Scottish church, ‘No man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time. No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save.’”
I had two different, conflicting reactions. The first was to wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment it espoused as it is essentially something that I have long maintained. I can disagree with some aspect of your life (be it found your in your beliefs, words, thoughts or actions) and not be anti-you. All the people I love most at times say, think and do things with which I disagree. Heck, I sometimes even do things with which I disagree!
My second reaction though was to ask the following question: Why is it that so often when we say, "I disagree" some people hear "I hate you" instead? Some would contend that it is because none of us likes to be told we are wrong (especially when it comes to overarching things like lifestyles), and if we can recast valid moral criticism as hateful rhetoric, it frees us from feeling guilty. This likely is part of the problem for all of us in facing criticism, but I fear that often when social liberals write off conservative critiques as self-righteous, hateful and judgmental, it is in large part precisely because conservative critiques (regardless of their level of validity) are often self-righteous, hateful and judgmental.
On both sides of the equation, compassion and conviction are often set against each other. As Christians, we must do all we can to work against this. While we must stand firm in our biblical convictions, if we are to call ourselves followers of Christ we must stand firm in a Christ-like manner, more concerned about GOD'S glory than about either OUR rights or our BEING right.
In a blog post today, David Crabb makes the following helpful observations:
Christians follow a Savior who looked out upon a sinful, hard-hearted multitude and had compassion on them, because he saw them for what they were–sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). This is hard for us. Holding compassion and conviction together in healthy tension is not something that comes naturally. We tend to either be compassionate and sinfully permissive, or conscientiously upholding Biblical standards of holiness but self-righteous.
And yet the same Jesus who threw the money-changers out of the temple, wept over the city of Jerusalem. In both our public discourse and in our personal relationships, may we have more of the spirit of Jesus.
Compassion and conviction is not an either-or scenario.
After all, if I am a Christian, my Savior commands me, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," (Matthew 5:44). And in humility, I must always remember, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Timothy 1:15).
As I’ve been studying the Scriptures lately, one of the themes I have seen cropping up time and again is the fact that life doesn’t revolve around me. Far too often, my first reaction to things is to ask, “How does this impact me?” And while it is a perfectly good (even necessary!) practice to look for ways to apply the Bible to our own lives, I would argue that we need to go much further than that in our application of God’s word.
Let me show you what I mean. Consider 1 Timothy 1:15-17…
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
In verse 15, we see Paul urging Timothy to maintain humility, realizing that he has received mercy instead of what he deserved. To remember this truth on its own would be good, but it is altogether insufficient to simply end there. Verse 16 goes on to explain that this mercy was not intended to terminate on him, but was to be an example to others so that they might trust in Christ as well, and similarly experience his mercy. At this point, it might be tempting for us to think that this is where Paul is going with what he is saying, but then verse 17 reminds us that it’s not even those other believers who are, in the end, the focus of God’s work. What is most important is that all honor and glory would forever be God’s alone.
Last Sunday I preached from Mark 6:45-52, which (falling right on the heals of Jesus feeding over 5000 from just five loaves and two fish) tells the story of Jesus walking on water. As Jesus climbs into the boat, Mark informs us that the disciples were utterly astounded, “for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” (v. 52). The reason they were astounded was not ultimately that Jesus had walked across the water nor that he had silenced the wind and the waves. As amazing as these things were, Mark suggests that if they had “understood about the loaves,” they would not have been so astounded at what Jesus had done.
The problem is that they (like the crowds) thought that what Jesus was doing in feeding the 5000+ was merely filling empty stomachs. Yet again though, Jesus intended for the glory of God to be made manifest. What he had actually done was display that the laws of nature do not govern him, but rather he governs them; he was showing them that he is God!
God is constantly at work meeting our needs. He does so with such frequency that quite often we don’t even notice it. When we do notice it though, let us remember that this is not all that he is doing. He is yet again drawing our attention to the fact “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).
Fellow Covenant Seminary alum Dane Ortlund had a great post on dealing with criticism yesterday at his blog, Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology. In it he shared two wrong ways to receive it ("overtly reject consideration of it" or "reject consideration of the critique inwardly, while receiving it outwardly"), before moving on to the appropriate way to deal with critical words from Christian brothers and sisters:
Receive the critical words, consider them. Fill your heart with a sense of God's undentable delight in you as his son or daughter, filter the criticism through wisdom, ponder what has been said, leave behind what was sincere but wrong as far as you can tell, seek the counsel of others if needed, remember that Christ's blood covers all offenses, and redirect your life accordingly.
The whole post is well worth reading as it is full of gospel-empowered wisdom and humility. Click here to check it out.
Dane Ortlund had a brief but insightful post yesterday at his blog, Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology. In it he pointed the reader to the following two passages of Scripture from the Gospel of Mark:
Mark 8:33, "Get behind me, Satan!" (spoken by Jesus to the Simon Peter), and Mark 9:38-39, where we find the disciples saying, "'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him.'"
Dane then wisely observed,
Even the chief apostle, the one on whom Jesus founded the church, is capable of falling into patterns of thinking that align with Satan rather than God (Mark 8). Yet shortly later, the disciples are concerned that strangers are casting out demons in Jesus’ name (Mark 9).
In Mark 8 we learn that the work of Satan can be done by those close to Jesus. In Mark 9 we learn that the work of God can be done by those far from Jesus.
May we all remember this lesson and pray that we might humbly and consistently walk in the good works that God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).
My friend Andy Kerckhoff, who has a wonderful blog called Growing Up Well, passed along this CNN piece the other day on facebook. It is a story about Four-star General Peter Chiarelli, the number two ranking general in the United States Army, and events which occurred at a recent dinner in Washington D.C.
White House adviser Valerie Jarrett was seated at a table and saw General Chiarelli walking by out of the corner of her eye. What caught her attention was the striped uniform pants he had on, which apparently looked quite similar to those which the waiters were wearing. Before she saw anything else, she asked him to get her a glass of wine. She was understandably mortified by her gaffe when she realized who he was, Gen. Chiarelli responded in a manner that is all too unfamiliar in our world today:
Rather than take offense, or try to make Jarrett feel small for her blunder, the general, in good humor, went and poured her a glass of wine. It was evident that he wanted to defuse the awkward moment, and to let Jarrett know that she should not feel embarrassed.
General Chiarelli would go on to say to a reporter who asked him about the incident,
"It was an honest mistake that ANYONE could have made. She was sitting, I was standing and walking behind her and all she saw were the two stripes on my pants which were almost identical to the waiters' pants -- REALLY. She apologized and will come to the house for dinner if a date can be worked out in March."
The CNN column by Bob Greene has some other examples of people showing graciousness to others and is worth reading. I enjoyed it, but there was one part I took issue with. It was the way that Greene began the piece:
Graciousness can pay priceless dividends.
And it doesn't cost a thing.
While I agree that the dividends of such graciousness are indeed priceless (for both parties involved), I think it must be realized that graciousness does cost something. General Chiarelli had to lay aside his pride and the benefits of his position. Instead of being served (as he had every right to expect), he had to be willing to serve another.
I am reminded of the example of Christ Jesus as spoken of by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV):
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
If we are to be truly gracious to others, we need to follow the example of Christ and die to ourselves. We need to sacrifice our self-importance and pride, and assume the roll of a servant. The cost is actually immense. And it is precisely the immensity of this cost that makes Christ's graciousness to us so astounding.
But in Paul's words, we see that Christ is not just the perfect example of how we should behave and the perfect motivation to such behavior. He is also the perfect atoning sacrifice for when we fail do so. That is why he had to humble himself to the most ignominious of deaths -- that of the cross. Because it is that death we deserved, and that death he took upon himself. And that is why "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
"Spiritual pride is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christianity. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind and mislead the judgment. It is the main source of all the mischief the devil introduces, to clog and hinder a work of God.
"Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself."
We are a people of entitlement. Look at and listen to advertisements and notice how frequently the phrase "you deserve" is used. Christ calls us away from such a sense of entitlement and calls us instead to a life of humility. John Piper speaks beautifully to this point below. It is well worth the two or three minutes it will take to watch.
Twenty years ago today, I was a freshman at the University of Missouri. It was Parents' Weekend and my father and I were at the Mizzou-Colorado football game. The Tigers had been pretty down for a number of years and Colorado was a team that would go on to win a share of the national championship that year. What happened on that day was one of the most stunning, disappointing, unfathomable games I've ever seen. In Tiger lore it lives on in infamy as "The Fifth Down Game."
If you don't know the details, you can read about them at length here. The long and short of it is that Mizzou was about to pull off an improbable upset, when a series of (ahem) questionable moves by the officials turned the thrill of victory into the agony of defeat. The winning touchdown scored (kind of) when Colorado's Charles Johnson (almost) made it into the end zone on fourth (well, actually it was fifth) down.
Colorado's coach back then was Mizzou alum Bill McCartney. At the time he was a high-profile figure, not just as a coach, but as the founder of Promise Keepers, a Christian ministry emphasizing the need for character among men. Unfortunately, after the game, he tried to turn attention away from the whole five downs thing, and place the focus on the field conditions that day. Admittedly, the field was terrible. For some reason, the Faurot Field omniturf had played as if it were an ice rink. But given McCartney's status as a supposed Christian leader, it was...well...let's say "unfortunate."
Not surprisingly, McCartney came under great criticism for his response. Here was a man who had talked so much about character, and yet he refused to admit that Mizzou got robbed and that his team was the beneficiary. He was called a hypocrite and worse, and to this day is largely villified by his fellow Mizzou alumni.
I was glad though to see the video below from McCartney today. In it he says what he should have said twenty years ago. I'm not sure if most Mizzou fans are willing to forgive him. And frankly, that loss will go on stinging for as long as we cheer for Ol' Mizzou. But I do take the following lesson away from the whole escapade: Be humble.
Even when it doesn't seem easy, it is the right thing to do; sometimes we need to forgo our "rights." Our failure to do so will, more often than not, cause us more pain in the long run. But this is not the only reason we should do this. We should be humble most of all because we follow one "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross," (Philippians 2:6-8, ESV).
May we all emulate Christ in humility, and find our glory in him.
