Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Chapell on Sharing in Christ's Identity

The nature and benefits of sharing Christ's identity could be seen in a comparison to the modern gas stations that allow us to use our credit cards at the pump. I have learned to appreciate these pumps not simply because I no longer have to hike into the office of the station to pay, but because I don't have to go to the station at all. If my son needs the car, I can give him my credit card to use at the pump. At his current economy he usually doesn't have the means to get what he needs, so he uses the card with my name on it. With my permission and according to my desire, he assumes my identity. Though he cannot fulfill the conditions required for payment, my son has all of my credit available to him. He meets the qualifications required to use that pump because the machine gives him the credit that is really mine. My son, though he could not provide it himself, acts with my identity and, thus, has all the credit that I have earned.

Bryan Chapell
Holiness by Grace

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Owen on Union with Christ

"Let us consider the justice of God in forgiving sins. All of God's elect are sinners. How can God be just, then, if he allows them to go unpunished, seeing he did not spare the angels who sinned, nor Adam when he sinned at the first? The answer is in the union between Christ and the church. Because Christ represents him for all their sins so they are all freely and graciously pardoned (see Romans 3:24-26). At the cross, God's holiness and justice meet with his grace and mercy. This is the glory which delights the hearts and satisfies the souls of all who believe. How wonderful for them to see God rejoicing in his justice and yet at the same time showing mercy by giving them everlasting salvation! In the enjoyment of this glorious truth let me live, and in this faith let me die."

John Owen
The Glory of Christ

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Berkhof on Union With Christ

"In view of what was said, it is quite evident that it is not correct to say that the mystical union is the fruit of man's believing acceptance of Christ, as if faith were not one of the blessings of the covenant which flow unto us from the fulness of Christ, but a condition which man must meet partly or wholly in his own strength, in order to enter into living relationship with Jesus Christ. It enables us to appropriate on our part what is given unto us in Christ, and to enter ever-increasingly into conscious enjoyment of the blessed union with Chris, which is the source of all our spiritual riches.

"This union may be define as that intimate, vital, and spiritual  union between Christ and His people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and salvation."

Louis Berkhof
Systematic Theology

How We See Other Denominations

The other day I saw this chart which, in a somewhat whimsical way, depicts how people of various denominations tend to see people differently based upon their denominations. 

I found it comical (and in many cases stunningly accurate).  Beyond this though, it caused me to think about how we should think of people who do not share our denominational affiliation. 

It occurs to me that the main issue in our attitude toward other Christians ought not to be one's denominational label, but whether they have been united with Christ through faith by God's grace.  Put simply, those who have, are in the family as our brothers and sisters.  Those who have not, are not.  As a result, we must always remember, there are many people outside our denomination who are in.  And sadly, there are people inside our denomination who are out.

Now I'm not saying we should eschew denominational affiliations.  I believe they are valuable as we seek to be encouraged and corrected in our efforts to faithfully live out our doctrinal understandings according to the Word of God.  But as we do this, let us always do so "with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (For) there is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:2-6)

Wednesdays Words of Wisdom...John Murray on Union with Christ

"Union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation not only in its application but also in its once-for-all accomplishment in the finished work of Christ...We are not able to understand all that is involved, but the fact is plain enough that there was no election of the Father in eternity apart from Christ.  And that means that those who will be saved were not even contemplated by the Father in the ultimate counsel of his predestining love apart from union with Christ -- they were chosen in Christ.  As far back as we can go in tracing salvation to its fountain we find 'union with Christ'; it is not something tacked on; it is there from the outset."
John Murray
Redemption: Accomplished and Applied

How We Approach God in Prayer

"Now, as it would be the folly and madness of presumption, to call God our Father, except on the ground that, through our union to the body of Christ, we are acknowledged as his children, we conclude, that there is no other way of praying aright, but by approaching God with reliance on the Mediator."

John Calvin

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Jerram Barrs on Our Identity in Christ

"Thank God, we have a representative, a champion who has faced the devil's worst attacks and has won a great victory for us.  Despite our failures in the face of temptation, the Father looks at us through his beloved Son, the One who has overcome the accuser for us.  Because we are in Jesus, he looks on us with love. Because we are in Jesus, he does not count our faults against us. Because we are in Jesus, he forgives us. Because we are in Jesus he lifts us up when we fall.  Because we are in Jesus, he strengthens us for each day's struggles. Because we are in Jesus, the day is coming when he will give us complete victory over our enemy, and then we will never fail or fall again."

Jerram Barrs

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

Often you will hear Christians speaking about how, when they die, they long to hear the following words spoken to them by God: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” It is a hope, a fond expectation, and a motivation to Godly living for many. I was thinking about it recently though and considering whether it is right for us to expect to hear these words. And as I did, my initial thoughts were that there really was no warrant to expect them.

For one thing, we have to consider the context in which we find the biblical statement. It appears twice in the Bible, both times as part of “The Parable of the Talents” in Matthew 25. We have to be careful not to lean too heavily on the precise words spoken by the master in the parable. It is straining beyond the point of reason to assume that just because certain words are found on the lips of the master in the parable, we can expect to hear those same words emanate from the mouth of God. For if we are to assign to God all that is true of the master, then we must assume that God is “a hard man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he scattered no seed,” as the servent alleges (25:24) and the master seems to admit (25:26).

We must be careful though not to overly allegorize each detail of a parable. While the individual parts of a parable may indeed serve as symbols pointing to various correlative truths, with a parable we must remember to always keep the main point the main point. In this case, for instance, as Calvin warns, “This harshness has nothing to do with the substance of the parable…Christ only means, that there will be no excuse for the indolence of those who both conceal the gifts of God, and waste their time in idleness.”

Even so, perhaps we are to understand the parable in such a way as to see that the servant is wrongly accusing the master, and the master’s reply is merely rhetorical in nature. If we do this though, we still have a problem. The reality of the situation is that no matter what righteous deeds we might have done, they can never serve to qualify us as “good and faithful.” Isaiah 64:6 tells us that before a perfectly righteous God, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (KJV = “filthy rags”), and Luke 18:19 reminds us that, “No one is good except God alone.”

As I considered these truths, I knew that there was nothing I could do that would cause God to rightly call me his “good and faithful servant.” But there is One to whom this label would rightly apply: Christ Jesus himself. And here is the really good part: My identity is no longer found in who I am and what I’ve done. My true identity is now found in who Christ is and in what he has done (Philippians 3:9).

So in the end, I’m not certain that God actually says those blessed words to individual people upon their arrival at the pearly gates. But if he indeed does, I certainly expect to hear them. It will not on my own account, but for the sake of Christ and as a result of my union with Him that I will rejoice in the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”