Saving Faith necessarily Treasures

Philipians 3:7-11 is a familiar passage to most Christians. But in that brief excerpt there is a sentence that never really hit me like it did recently during my time at my fellowship retreat. Here it is:

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish SO THAT I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,” (Phil. 3:7-9, NAS95S)

This passage hinges upon this "so that." Notice how the passage breaks into two parts on either side of it. Preceding this "so that" Paul in summary is saying "I count everything as refuse!" and following it Paul says "I gain a righteousness apart from my own works in Christ" Do you see it? To put it another way more generally, preceding the "so that" there is a section on Treasuring, and following it there is a section on Justification. When these two statements come together via this "so that" it is what we call a purpose clause. In the greek, it is the "hina" which sits in between two statements presenting the first statement as a basis for the which the second exists, i.e. the first statement is the thought or action and the second is the reason for it.

Very simply. Paul is saying that one must consider everything as loss in order to gain the alien righteousness of Christ. The Apostle Paul counted all things as rubbish because he knew that if he did not he would not "gain Christ" which Paul explains to mean he would not then be covered in Christ's "righteousness."

Therefore, saving Faith MUST Treasure the object of Faith or else it is not a faith that saves.

The great and necessary exchange between our Sin and Christ's righteousness is conditioned on this one thing: Loving Christ more than all else and considering all else simply.. poo.

more than words (not a tribute)

and by tribute, I mean in relation to that song…

Getting a grip on theological terminology is not about looking smart. Granted, many people, myself included often fall prey to making those things like pokemon badges which we wear on our chests and flaunt before our friends. Don’t do that. However, on the flipside, when you can read a passage like Romans 3 and understand the words and catch even a glimpse of the depth of their meanings it will change your life. Now for example, Propitiation is a common word we use and also a word rarely understood, as is justification, condemnation, and imputation. Let me give you an example, read v.23, many people read it and for lack of understanding translate:

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation by His blood through faith.”

as

“For all have done wrong and fallen short of some sort of …Holy requirement, and are somehow made… innocent, by God’s unmerited favor by means of the …salvation in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed in public as a…something…by His blood to be received by faith!”

Is that your translation? it’s vague huh. it’s okay, we all start somewhere. But dig deeper!

Just this last sunday, the sermon given by professor Andy Snyder was excellent. Though it was something more of a lecture than a sermon, it was more devotional than many of the expositions of the Scriptures that I have heard before. Why?

Professor Snyder did not preach on a new text. He did not go off explaining some obscure theological concepts. Neither did he bust out the language stick and whack people on the head. There was no self-assured shining of his theological armor. All he did practically was to lead us through Scripture and dwell upon what was there. But how did he dwell? by taking the time to understand the words and to work hard at feeling! that’s right, feeling!!! the appropriate impact of the Scriptures. You can go read all you want but until you work at feeling the impact of the text, all you are doing is reading. It’s not transformation until your heart says “Yes! I love it, I feel it, it’s real to me!”

We often leave the text vague. It’s true. Nobody seems to care that there are words floating in the Bible that they don’t understand. We don’t work very hard at digging deep. Yes we dig wide, but not deep. Yet we all know wellsprings are not found 2 inches from the surface. Even if you dig a mile radius, all you’ll get is dirt. But if you dig even within just one square foot and get deep enough, you’ll get more water than you can handle.

Likewise. Take time to learn what the words of Scripture mean. You don’t have to know formalized definitions, but you need to know the Biblical meanings. Studying the Bible is not about becoming a theologian, it is so that you might become a worshipper (yes yes, there are other benefits too I know.) But the best and most mighty motivation is so that you might worship the Living God with a heart more full of joy than yesterday.

excerpts from “The Call to Ministry” by C.H. Spurgeon

(taken from Ray kwan's rockin xanga site, entry Aug 14 2004) 

1. “The first sign of the heavenly calling is an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work.”

a. “Do not enter the ministry if you can help it.”

b. “If any student in this room could be content to be a newspaper editor, or a grocer, or a farmer, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a senator, or a king, in the name of heaven and earth let him go his way; he is not the man in whom dwells the Spirit of God in its fullness, for a man so filled with God would utterly weary of any pursuit but that which for which his innermost soul pants.”

c. “We must feel that woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel; the word of God must be unto us as fire in our bones, otherwise, if we undertake the ministry, we shall be unhappy in it, shall be unable to bear the self-denials incident to it, and shall be of little service to those among we minister.”

2. “In the second place, combined with the earnest desire to become a pastor, there must be aptness to teach and some measure of the other qualities needful for the office of a public instructor.”

a. “If any man be called to preach, he will be endowed with a degree of speaking ability, which he will cultivate and increase.”

b. “I should not complete this point if I did not add that mere ability to edify, and aptness to teach, is not enough; there must be other talents to complete the pastoral character. Sound judgment and solid experience must instruct you; gentle manners and loving affections must sway you; firmness and courage must be manifest; and tenderness and sympathy must not be lacking. Gifts administrative in ruling well will be as requisite as gifts in teaching as well. You must be fitted to lead, prepared to endure, and able to persevere. In grace you should be head and shoulders above the rest of the people, able to be their father and counselor…If such gifts and graces be not in you and abound, it may be possible for you to succeed as an evangelist, but as a pastor you will be of no account.”

3. “In order to further to prove a man’s call, after a little exercise of his gifts, such as I have already spoken of, he must see a measure of conversion-work going on under his efforts, or he may conclude that he has made a mistake, and therefore, may go back by the best way he can.”

a. “Surely it were better to be a mud-raker, or chimney-sweep, than to stand in ministry as an utter barren tree.”

b. “Brethren, if the Lord gives you no zeal for souls, keep to the lapstone or the trowel, but avoid the pulpit as you value your heart’s peace and your future salvation.”

4. “The will of the Lord concerning pastors is made known through the prayerful judgment of His church. It is needful as a proof of your vocation that your preaching be acceptable to the people of God.”

a. “Standing up to preach, our spirit will be judged of the assembly, and if it be condemned, or if, as a general rule, the church is not edified, the conclusion may not be disputed, that we are not sent of God.”

At the end of the chapter Spurgeon mentions John Newton’s criteria for the call to ministry. They are similar to Spurgeon’s:

1. “A warm and earnest desire to be employed in this service.”

2. “Besides this affectionate desire and readiness to preach, there must be in due season appear some competent sufficiency to His gifts, knowledge, and utterance. Surely, if the Lord sends a man to teach others, He will furnish him with the means.”

3. “That which finally evidences a proper call, is a correspondent opening in providence, by the gradual train of circumstances pointing out the means, the time, the place, of actually entering upon the work.”

Here are a few more convicting statements Spurgeon makes at the end of this chapter:

“Fervent lovers of souls do not wait till they are trained, they serve their Lord at once.”

“Jesus Christ deserves the best men to preach His cross, and not the empty-headed or shiftless.”

“We must try whether we can endure brow-beating, weariness, slander, jeering, and hardship; and whether we can be made the off-scouring of all things, and be treated as nothing for Christ’s sake. If we can endure all these, we have some points which indicate the possession of the rare qualities which should meeting in a true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

peace interrupted by school and sovereignty.

A season of peace, perhaps it will be brief.

For sure, I've been incredibly encouraged lately.  Perhaps it's getting out of a week-long sickness.  Perhaps it's enjoying C.S. Lewis imagination in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, perhaps its my smallgroup guys stepping up the pace in their own lives and seeking to be mature when the world around them says "you're young, there's time to waste".  Perhaps its reading books that force me to discipline my mind.  Or perhaps, this would be best of all, I've just been loving the Scriptures more.  Whatever it is, or whatever combination it is, the Lord has been doing great things for me and within me.  It is a season of peace.  

Here is a verse that I have been meditating on regarding the Fear of the Lord.  When I used to attend church in Junior high I was taught the fear of the Lord does not include dread or a sort cringing fear.  Isaiah has taught me differently.  The Lord is both terrible in Holiness as well as overwhelming in compassion.  The two attributes simply run together like water colors bleeding into one another.

"But the Lord of Hosts, Him you shall regard as Holy.  Let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread and he will become a sanctuary AND a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel." – Isaiah 8:13-14 

Reading Narnia.

simply delightful!

wolves.

Have you ever been afraid to invite your friend to a fellowship of believers because you're afraid that some of the guys will start hitting on her or trying to start a relationship with her?  or perhaps, if it is a guy, you're afraid some the girls might start whispering to one another about how handsome he is? 

Doesn't it make you feel sick?  It's like wolves feeding on a helpless ewe lamb.  

But to be quite honest, you and I sometimes join the pack.  I'm sorry.

Evolutionary Hymn by C.S. Lewis

Lead us, Evolution, lead us
Up the future’s endless stair:
Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us,
For stagnation is despair:
Groping, guessing, yet progressing,
Lead us nobody knows where.

Wrong or justice in the present,
Joy or sorrow, what are they
While there’s always jam to-morrow,
While we tread the onward way?
Never knowing where we’re going,
We can never go astray.

To whatever variation
Our posterity may turn
Hairy, squashy, or crustacean,
Bulbous-eyed or square of stern,
Tusked or toothless, mild or ruthless,
Towards that unknown god we yearn.

Ask not if it’s god or devil,
Brethren, lest your words imply
Static norms of good and evil
(As in Plato) throned on high;
Such scholastic, inelastic,
Abstract yardsticks we deny.

Far too long have sages vainly
Glossed great Nature’s simple text;
He who runs can read it plainly,
‘Goodness = what comes next.’
By evolving, Life is solving
Ail the questions we perplexed.

On then! Value means survival -
Value. If our progeny
Spreads and spawns and licks each rival,
That will prove its deity.
(Far from pleasant, by our present
Standards, though it well may be.)

it’s late.

it's a cold night.

I really appreciate cold nights after a hot shower. There is this feeling of being cooled down while simultaneously being comfy. It's paradoxical.

now to sleep. Under the watchful eye of our Father and Sovereign.

that pleasant feeling

It's hard to put your finger on.  But it's a good feeling.  And it comes after you have turned your eyes upon Jesus, having stopped your mind from thinking about all the doubts and fears which come when your attention settles upon yourself.  In Christ, all fears are truly relieved.  When the mind is fastened with faith upon the Sovereign, the heart must inevitably swell with trust, and immediately all the craziness of the day turns to powder and blows away.  I know it's always semi-cheesy to quote lyrics, but I must admit I am very partial to cheesines in this moment.

In you I have found the wealth of my life
Supreme in your beauty and grace
To my soul, you alone, are my portion and cup
my King and my Redeemer

In you, every hour, I shall strengthen my heart
You’re my rock, in the heart of the storm
Let the wind and the rain turn my fears into faith
My help and my deliverer

In you, there is peace for the darkest of days
There is rest, in the knowledge of God
Every fear, every doubt I surrender to You
To my Shepherd and my Sovereign

In you, is my crown, and my glory and name
I shall seek, what cannot fade away
Make me deep in my trust that your Chosen shall come
the Messiah and my Savior

In you, I shall find the release of my soul
When I sing with a body renewed
Every knee touch the ground, the whole earth shall resound
With the voices of all the redeemed
 
O In You, there is grace for the weakest of saints
For the downcast a joy that remains
There is rest for the broken and a hope for the faint
Our God and Our Salvation