Discipleship

The Gospel of Grace | Luther

The Reformer, Martin Luther noted,

"the sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands"

...and that is why we must constantly teach the Gospel of Grace, repeat it, and work it out in our practice daily.

The Throne of Grace

Here’s a quote that I received the other day from Graced Again, by Jonathan Edwards:

The work of a true convert is not done. He finds a great work to do and great wants to be supplied. He still sees himself to be a poor, empty, helpless creature who still stands in great and continual need of God’s help. He well knows that without God he can do nothing.

After a true conversion, the soul is increasingly aware of its own impotence and emptiness. It is still aware of its universal dependence on God for everything. A true convert is aware that his grace is very imperfect and that he is very far from having all that he desires. Through conversion, new desires are produced in him that he never had before.

…So he still has plenty of business at the throne of grace: in fact, his business there increases rather than diminishes.

As we grow in our faith there is a tendency that we might have to despair as we see more and more of our sin. This sensitivity to our sin is beneficial, but not to the point where we begin to believe that our sin is beyond the reach of Christ's work on the cross. As we become more and more attune to our sinful patterns and behaviors, more aware of our failure to be Christlike in our actions, thoughts and words, we (as Edwards has stated) have more and more "business at the throne of grace".

Our loving Savior welcomes all who are weary and heavy laden, and he, Jesus, will give us rest. As we grow in our faith, let us grow in grace, not despair. May we continually and regularly present ourselves to Christ to receive the grace that he has promised. 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Luther

“...The sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands.” 

-Martin Luther

Rats in the Cellar

"Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. vIn the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light. Apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in the cellar of my soul.

Now that cellar is out of reach of my conscious will. I can, to some extent control my acts: I have no direct control over my temperament (emotions). And if what we are matters even more than what we do-then it follows that the change which I most need to undergo is a change that my own direct, voluntary efforts cannot bring about.

And that applies to my good actions too...I cannot, by direct moral effort, give myself new motives. After the first few steps of the Christian life we realize that everything which needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God...and in reality, it is God who does everything. We, at most, allow it to be done to us." 

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

$3 Worth of Gospel, Please.

From D.A. Carson, Basics For Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996/2005), pp. 12-13.

"I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much--just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don't want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don't want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don't want to love those from different races- especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars worth of gospel, please."