Life is an exercise in trust in Christ. Do we trust him to act on our behalf, to bless us and sustain us…or do we try to do it ourselves? Do we trust him to initiate our salvation and be faithful to finish what he started in us, or do we focus on our own behavior or good deeds or morality to justify us? I tend to rely on myself too much. But, I love it when Jesus decides it’s time to splash a little cold water in my face and wake me up.

We have worship team practice on Wednesday nights, and overall we’re pretty good. But sometimes we forget what it’s all about. Last week was a good example. We got caught up in the songs that were chosen (”I’mnot singing that.”), and in the parts we were singing, and completely ignored the whole ‘worship’ angle.  I caught myself a few times not even singing the words, but just humming along, because I was so worried about singing the right notes. (continue reading…)

I think a major obstacle I’ve set up to the work God is trying to do in me is that I’m far too often concerned with whether the present Me will like the future Me, rather than whether the future Me will be ashamed of the present Me.

My wife and I started a couples Bible study tonight.  We picked up a Fisherman Bible Studyguide today on marriage.  I’ve done a couple of these Fisherman studies before, even taught from them, and thought they were pretty good source material.

I never read the “How to Use This Studyguide” section, so I don’t know if what I read tonight was new:

Fisherman studyguides are based on the inductive approach to Bible study.  Inductive study is discovery study; we discover what the Bible says as we ask questions about its content and search for answers.  This is quite different from the process in which a teacher tells a group about the Bible - what it means and what to do about it. In inductive study, God speaks directly to each of us through his word.

I understand why people have a problem accepting teaching from others, particularly when they disagree.  It’s pride.  We all truly believe that our idea is better than the other guy’s. (continue reading…)

Not by itself:

Faith has absolutely no value in itself; its value lies solely in its object. Faith is the eye that looks to Christ, the hand that lays hold of him, the mouth that drinks the water of life. And the more clearly we see the absolute adequacy of Jesus Christ’s divine-human person and sin-bearing death, the more incongruous does it appear that anybody could suppose that we have anything to offer.  That is why justification by faith alone, to quote Cranmer again, “advances the true glory of Christ and beats down the vain glory of man.

From John Stott, The Cross of Christ

I’m rereading in preparation for my comments on Alister McGrath’s chapter of Four Views, and I just came across this gem:

Postliberalism has come to terms with the death of the Enlightenment, whereas liberalism, rather like a freshly decapitated farmyard chicken, stumbles pathetically and randomly across the intellectual terrain, looking desperately for an absolutely firm foundation in a world that no longer accepts its existence.

This came out of nowhere, since “postliberalism” is a completely foreign term to me. I’m not sure I’m on board with it, because, from what I’ve been able to pick up about it this evening, it stands against the existence of objective truth in doctrine.  I’ve also never thought of liberalism as attempting to find “an absolutely firm foundation,” but it’s absolutely true that liberal theology believes itself to be rooted in an epistemological bedrock outside of Christianity.  Unfortunately it’s a mirage.

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