Hearts More Deeply Gripped By Reality

"At the root of all our disobedience are particular ways in which we continue to seek control of our lives through systems of works-righteousness.

The way to progress as a Christian is to continually repent and uproot these systems the same way we become Christians, namely by the vivid depiction (and re-depiction) of Christ’s saving work for us, and the abandoning of self-trusting efforts to complete ourselves.

We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ-crucified, so that our hearts are more deeply gripped by the reality of what he did and who we are in him,"

— Tim Keller, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (New York, NY: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), page 61

HT: Of First Importance

Cut to Size

Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.

                  - John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians, 179.

HT: Vitamin Z

Living From Approval

"The Christian is assured of God's love and approval. God is pleased with us in Christ. So the Christian longs to obey God, not for himself,so that God will save him, but out of gratitude to God who he knows has already saved him....God's approval liberates us to live in a way God approves of. The gospel is both a powerful assurance and a powerful motivation to live in radical obedience. We do not live God's way in order to become His children, but out of gratitude that we are already God's children."

                   - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 34-35
   

We Love to Be Our Own Saviors

"..the biblical gospel - Paul's gospel - is clear that salvation, from first to last, is God's doing. It is His calling, His plan,. His action, His work. And so it is He who deserves all the glory, for all time.

This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity  we love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you'll experience blessing now). The gospel comes and turns them all upside down. It says: You are in such a hopeless position that you need a rescue that has nothing to do with you at all. And then it says: God in Jesus provides a rescue which gives you far more than any false salvation your heart may love to chase."

         - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 17

Reading "Galatians For You"

I'm currently reading Timothy Keller's new book, Galatians For You, Over the next few days I will be posting some quotes and then a review. First thought - a very good book. First quotes below.

 "The gospel is the A to Z of the Christian life. It is not only the way to enter the kingdom; it is the way to live as part of the kingdom. It is the way Christ transforms people, churches and communities."  (page 9)

"The gospel - the message that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope - creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth, for obedience, for love." (page 10)

It is not simply non-Christians, but also believers who need continually to learn the gospel and apply it ot their lives." (page 11)

And that's just from the introduction!

Keller's New Book- Galatians For You

Tim Keller has a new book on The Epistle to the Galatians - I'm looking forward to reading this book! The following is from Tim Chailles' review of the book.

As with all of Keller’s books, this one is full of the gospel and full of powerful quotes. Here are just a few favorites:

• “This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity. We love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you’ll experience blessing now).”
• “If you add anything to Christ as a requirement for acceptance with God—if you start to say: To be saved I need the grace of Christ plus something else—you completely reverse the ‘order’ of the gospel and make it null and void. Any revision of the gospel reverses the gospel.”
• “The Bible judges the church; the church does not judge the Bible. The Bible is the foundation for and the creator of the church; the church is not the foundation for or creator of the Bible. The church and its hierarchy must be evaluated by the believer with the biblical gospel as the touchstone or plumb line for judging all truth claims.”
• “Christians tend to motivate others with guilt. We tend to say: You would do this if you were really committed Christians, indicating that we are committed and all that is needed is for others to become as good as we are! This is why so many churches quench the motivation of people for ministry. In our shoes, Paul would say: Remember the grace God has showered on you—what does living out and enjoying that grace look like in this situation?”
• “For a promise to bring a result, it needs only to be believed, but for a law to bring a result, it has to be obeyed.”
• “Without the gospel, we may obey the law, but we will learn to hate it. We will use it, but we will not truly love it. Only if we obey the law because we are saved, rather than to be saved, will we do so “for God” (Galatians 2:19). Once we understand salvation-by-promise, we do not obey God any longer for our sake, by using the law-salvation-system to get things from God. Rather, we now obey God for His sake, using the law’s content to please and delight our Father.”

That is just a small taste of what is a fantastic book.

 Makes my mouth water in anticipation!

The Way In = The Way On

This extract is from Tim Keller's new expository guide, Galatians For You: For Reading, For Feeding, For Leading. As part of this curriculum, Keller has also written an accompanying Bible study, Gospel Matters: The Good Book Guide to Galatians.

How do we change and grow as Christians? In the same way we became Christians. That's why in Galatians 3 v 1-3, Paul reminds the Galatian Christians how it was that they came to Christ. And in essence, “Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (v 1). This portrayal was achieved through preaching, through “what you heard” (v 2, 5). Paul isn’t referring to a literal picture, but a metaphorical one.

There was a message communicated—“Jesus Christ … crucified” (see 1 Corinthians 2 v 1-5). Notice that the essence of this message is not how to live, but what Jesus has done for us on the cross. The gospel is an announcement of historical events before it is instructions on how to live. It is the proclamation of what has been done for us before it is a direction of what we must do.

But it also says that this message gripped the heart. Jesus was “clearly portrayed”. The NIV translates the Greek as “clearly”; it also means “graphically”, “vividly”. This probably is a reference to the preaching’s power. It was not dry and lecture-like. It “painted a picture” of Jesus, giving the hearers a moving view of what Christ did. “Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:4). A Christian is not someone who knows about Jesus, but one who has “seen” Him on the cross. Our hearts are moved when we see not just that He died, but that He died for us. We see the meaning of His work for us. We are saved by a rationally clear and heart-moving presentation of Christ’s work on our behalf.

And this was what these Christians had heard and believed. But now, something has changed. Now, they are “foolish” and “bewitched” (v 1). What has gone wrong? In verse 3, Paul comes to his major “beef” with the Galatian Christians and the false teachers. He says that the way the Spirit entered your life should be the very same way the Spirit advances in your life. He says this twice, strongly: “After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (v 3).

In verse 5, Paul is even stronger. He moves into the present tense and says that right now the works of the Spirit—even miracles—occur “because you believe” (not “because you believed”) and because you no longer “observe the law”. The Spirit works as Christians don’t rely on their own works, but rather consciously and continuously rest in Christ alone for their acceptability and completeness. The Spirit works as you apply and use the gospel.

Barrier Destroyed

“When God poured out his justice on Christ, he was not only destroying his Son, but destroying the barrier between himself and us. How amazing! The more God vented his holiness on Jesus, the more he was venting his love for us.

On the cross, the holiness and love of God, otherwise in tension, were in complete, brilliant cooperation. The more his holiness expressed itself, the more his love was satisfied; the more his love expressed itself, the more his holiness was satisfied.”

— Tim Keller  Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
(New York, NY: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 65

Hat Tip:  Of First Importance

More than We Dared Hope

“The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time.

This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.”

— Tim Keller Paul's Letter to the Galatians: Living in Line with the Truth of the Gospel
(Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

Not Just the ABC's, But the A to Z

“The gospel shows us that our spiritual problem lies not only in failing to obey God, but also in relying on our obedience to make us fully acceptable to God, ourselves and others.

Every kind of character flaw comes from this natural impulse to be our own savior through our performance and achievement. On the one hand, proud and disdainful personalities come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are succeeding. But on the other hand, discouraged and self-loathing personalities also come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are failing.

Belief in the gospel is not just the way to enter the kingdom of God; it is the way to address every obstacle and grow in every aspect. The gospel is not just the “ABCs” but the “A-to-Z” of the Christian life.

The gospel is the way that anything is renewed and transformed by Christ — whether a heart, a relationship, a church, or a community. All our problems come from a lack of orientation to the gospel. Put positively, the gospel transforms our hearts, our thinking and our approach to absolutely everything.”

— Tim Keller
Paul's Letter to the Galatians: Living in Line with the Truth of the Gospel
(New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

Abridged Version

Fascinating! The entire Epistle to the Galatians summarized in 30 Tweets!

  

On-line Boasting

Hat Tip: Tony Reinke

On Nothing Less...

Excerpt from Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, Preface

So then, have we nothing to do to obtain righteousness? No, nothing at all! For this righteousness comes by doing nothing, hearing nothing, knowing nothing, but rather in knowing and believing this only–that Christ has gone to the right hand of the Father, not to become our judge, but to become for us our wisdom, our righteousness, our holiness, our salvation!

Now God sees no sin in us. For in this heavenly righteousness, sin has no place. So now we may certainly think, “Although I still sin, I don’t despair, because Christ lives–who is both my righteousness and my eternal life.” In that righteousness I have no sin, no fear, no guilty conscience, no fear of death. I am indeed a sinner in this life of mine and in my own righteousness, but I have another life, another righteousness above this life, which is in Christ, the Son of God, who knows no sin or death, but is eternal righteousness and eternal life. For if the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost…On this truth and only on this truth the Church is built and has its being.

Hat Tip: Tullian Tchvidjian (Love the picture!)
BTW, the Kindle version of Luther's Galatians is free at Amazon

One Verse for Christmas

Can the The Entire Christmas Story Be Told in One Verse? Ray Pennover says Galatians 4:4-5 will do the job.. Yeah, that's actually two verses, but who wants to be legalistic, especially when interpreting Galatians!

Check it out at the link.