It's the Beginning, Middle, and End

Some good teaching by David Paul Dorr  on "Justification’s Beginning, Middle, and End:

Most of us learned justification as the beginning of our relationship with God, saying “we trusted Jesus alone for our salvation; we were declared “righteous” in God’s sight, given the very righteousness of Jesus as a gift.”

But what if justification by faith has a beginning, middle, and ending? Meaning this: when we initially believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior and receive Him by faith we are in, what Douglas Moo, calls, “the initial phase of justification.” But our justification is proved true as we walk out our life by faith, all the way to our death.....

After some more good teaching from Galatians (read it at the link) he concludes:

So how do you know if you are a living a life of faith after beginning by faith? Look at the fruit of your life. If the fruit of your life is fear then you are not living by faith. If what is coming out of you is the works of the flesh: jealousy, envy, strife, hatreds, sexual immorality, impurity and other things like these — then you can know that you are not living by faith. But if the fruit of your life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control as a whole, then you can know that you are living by faith.

These are not emotions. They are motives. If you are motivated by fear (If I don’t get life right then I won’t get the life I want) then you can must assuredly know that your initial faith is a of little use.. You are trusting the law, heaping condemnation on yourself.

Amen

Accepting Christ and Christ Accepting You

Do we "accept Christ" or does Christ "accept us"?  I like the comments quoted below from David Paul Dorr - Accepting Christ and Christ Accepting You:

Most Christians in America can look back and describe the day they “accepted Christ.” For most of us this meant some sort of physical act — a silent prayer, a walk down an aisle, a stick thrown into the fire to mark our new allegiance.

But the longer I have been a pastor the more “accepting Christ” rings hollow. It’s not because the phrase is not found in the Scriptures; there are lots of phrases we use that are not in the Bible, but are still accurate.

To me it sounds more and more like a work — something we do to earn the favor of God. It’s a commitment, but that doesn’t mean there is faith. A gap exists between us accepting Christ and Christ accepting us.

God never accepts us on the basis of what we do. Good works do not please Him or appease Him. Our favor with Him is based on our trust in His work, not ours. And is that not what most exhortations to accept Christ mean? “Make a commitment and then God will save you.” Not so subtly, we have preached commitment as salvation. And, then, even worse, growing in our walk with Jesus is reaching ever-higher planes of commitment.

But commitment is a result of salvation. Devotion to Christ flows from belief, not from volition. It is an act of heart, not will. Is it no wonder then, that so many question their salvation? They question because their justification with God is based on commitment and when their commitment wanes, they sense that they might not really be a Christian. And they are probably right! They are counting on their commitment to save them, not Jesus.

But this is a much better position to be in because the lack of commitment still might bring them to Christ. But woe to the one who is deeply committed and is blameless in their devotion — for, except grace, they will never see their grand mistake.

Pour Out Your Heart

I'm thinking about (and acting out) these comments by David Paul Dorr based on Psalm 62:8 -Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him ; God is a refuge for us.

This was such an important verse for my prayer life, because my prayer time knit my life back together; or to use a biblical phrase, “it drew my life up from the pit.” The tumor of self-righteousness had grown so big in my life that my soul dwindled.

And part of that journey was learning to be real.

Our prayer lives flounder because we feel like the “real” us can’t come to God. We can’t pray our desires. It’s too scary. Isn’t what we really want part of what is keeping us from God anyway? Shouldn’t we lay down our desires so that we can meet God authentically?

Yes, our desires are our gateway to idolatry. We forsake God as our prized possession and run after something in creation. But when God reveals this to us and we repent, we shouldn’t hide those desires as if they are secrets to be locked in a cellar. Bring them before God, let Him speak to them. Let Him inform them. Let Him rework your character as you pour out your heart to Him.

A quick example: I have always wanted a good reputation amongst Christians. It is something that motivates me. As I brought this desire to God in prayer He revealed some things about this desire that fueled pride.

There is nothing wrong with a good reputation in and of itself; I wanted a good reputation, not to serve, but to get revenge on all those who ignored me, hurt me, or didn’t believe in me. I could use my reputation as a way to rub people’s error in their face. I could gloat and they could feel ashamed.

God was burning away the impurities around my desire. My hope for a good reputation is not gone, but it is not center stage, and, God willing, if my reputation grows it will be to serve and not to fuel my sinful ego. All of this came through being honest about my desire and letting God do the good work.