Marinating our hearts in the Gospel

Chapter 11 Humility: Responding Humility to trials

2008-09-21T23:38:00.001-07:00

This chapter raises several provoking questions to all Christians when faced with battle of sufferings:

“When you encounter trial and suffering, what’s the content of your prayer?” And in turn, how do you respond?

CJ insightfully points to Habakkuk’s experience with suffering through his bleak circumstances to his transformation from despair to rejoicing in the Lord. But how does this happen?

The book of Habakkuk is relatively short (only 3 chapters) yet there is a clear view of the sanctification of a man who was absolutely disheartened by his dark situation, where he doubted God’s goodness and had forgotten about His salvation. The story continues to unfold as Habakkuk’s man-centered approach turns to God-centered approach through remembering and acknowledging what God has ALREADY done and what He will continue to do through His promises and faithfulness, and ultimately placing his trust in God and rejoicing in Him. That is the nutshell of it.

But this chapter had things that provoked my thoughts and my sinful patterns when facing difficult circumstances: do I ultimately want God to remove my sufferings for the sake of relief or is it to earnestly seek God in patience and humility? In other words, is my greatest desire God Himself or my well-being? While it is NOT unbiblical to pray for relief during sufferings or times of trouble, often times my initial reaction and greatest desire are relief from these tough circumstances. Outwardly, this may look somewhat spiritual because I may be praying to God and that is a good thing. However, my attitude is often filled with entitlement and pride as though God is not doing His job of making my life easier. There is no sense of remembering what He has done for His continual provision for me. Thus, in many ways, there is this false implication that God is ignoring me and He isn’t good anymore, and He simply cannot execute His sovereignty over my situations. Thus, not only am I forgetting God’s great salvation in Christ, there is also the deceiving heart that is ultimately man-centered prayer.

BUT thank God it doesn’t end there. I love what CJ says about what Habakkuk learned through his trials:

“Those who know true joy in the midst of suffering are those who recognize that, in this life, our suffering is never as great or as serious as our sins.”

And the quote from J. Edwards:

“How far less [are] the greatest afflictions that we meet with in this world…than we have deserved!”

Indeed, that is the divine and Biblical perspective of suffering that I need to remind myself daily. So practically what can we do?

1) We need to remember what Christ has accomplished through the Cross. We need to go here again and again to explore how great our sins are and how great His mercies and grace is to us in Christ!

2) Actively waiting in patience. CJ says waiting is NOT resignation but an active trust in God to provide fulfillment in His perfect timing. Remembering that God is indeed sovereign over every path that I take on earth and He will forever be in heaven! (Phil. 1:5-6)

3) That I may find comfort and rest in that sovereignty and in turn, leading to rejoicing. We should all read Habakkuk 3:17-18 and pray through this Scripture together because it is amazing that one can actually and genuinely rejoice when he is about to face great desolation. Habakkuk isn’t insane nor was he part of the Moonies. God was so gracious to Him as Habakkuk remembered God’s promises and thus engaged in God-centered faith (which I really believe that it is the only way to battle through).

Sorry folks, once again I’m too verbose here but I would like to hear your thoughts on this chapter. So please share! God bless.

Chapter 8 Identifying Evidences of Grace in others

2008-08-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

This chapter addresses our need to identify the evidences of grace in others (text from 1^st Corinthian 4-9), especially since we are so prone to be critical of others. Here, CJ explains several key reasons why we need to apply this spiritual discipline:

Because it reminds us how we were once “called” (effectual calling) by God and therefore saved by His grace alone in Christ alone;
Because we are saved by His grace and not by our works (i.e. Ephesians 2:8-10), we should be succumbed to nothing except to boast in our Lord Jesus Christ (i.e. Galatians 6:14);
Because it reminds us that God is at work despite our limited views; and
Because it helps us place our trust not in men or ourselves or our abilities to change people but in the faithfulness of God.

This doesn’t mean that we just passively sit back and tolerate sin. Quite the contrary! We should be humbled that God chose and saved us! And we know that it is not by our own merits but simply by His grace and mercy. Again, this is where I think exploring and learning total depravity of sin could enrich my limited understanding of God’s total and unchanging election. And this is indeed humbling for me.

But it doesn’t stop there. When we encounter every believer in Christ, we should remind ourselves, “This individual has been preciously acted upon by God.” In other words, that same grace that saved me also saved him/her! Therefore our affection for others would be radically different. Admittedly, this chapter strikes a chord in my heart because too often I’m grumbling about how things are not changing fast enough whether it be my family or Church or etc. This really implies that I can do better than what God has already been doing in these areas. What a fool am I!

There’s another great sermon by CJ on this topic from Resurgence Conference website. I recommend that you listen to it if you get a chance.

It would be good for us if we could finished this chapter before we meet on the 23^rd. But meanwhile, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Chapter 7 Humility

2008-08-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

This chapter continues to discuss practical ways to explore the riches of God. More specifically studying in these following areas:

Attributes of God
Doctrines of Grace
Doctrine of Sin

I personally appreciate how CJ gives us some recommendations for available resources through specific titles of books. One thing that I’ve been richly blessed was studying attributes of God through P. Sam’s Bible doctrine class. For example, studying God’s immutability and sovereignty in light of God’s election and suffering has really challenged my narrow perspectives of God. Also keep in mind that studying systematic theology is NOT JUST for full-time ministers or those involved in teaching. I would say that EVERYONE who desires to pursue God (i.e. Christians) should be open to learning attributes of God since it would only help us understand our Lord with more clarity. It can’t answer every question that you may have about God, but He is indeed mysterious and beyond our understanding (Deut 29:29) but it shapes our faith through understanding some critical attributes mentioned above. The problem for me is that I’m often too lazy and excuse myself with busyness of this world.

Lastly, studying the doctrine of sin has also been humbling to me. And this is a daily battle since my sinful nature is so prone to be entitled to God’s grace. But I encourage you to listen to John Piper’s sermon on TULIP or the Mortification of Sin by J. Owens to discover how sin is really THAT bad and how much we NEED God’s grace.

There are tons of articles on these topic so if you don’t want to purchase books, then you can check out Monergism website and find bunch of free stuff.

I’m think we should meet late August to discuss, pray and reflect together on what we have learned thus far through this book. We can either meet at my house or (somewhere quiet) for few hours. How about tentatively August 23 after 1 or 2PM at my crib?

Let me know your thoughts and if you happened to cross good articles/resources/books.

Thanks!

Chapter 5-6 Humility

2008-07-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

The next two chapters explore the practical applications of humility in the light of the Gospel. CJ reminds us that it is a DAILY battle against our natural tendencies to drift away from the Truth. Like every morning, I “feel” like an unbeliever again (despite my perfect standings with God via Christ) and need to preach the Gospel to myself. Here are some practical ways done at beginning of day:

Start the day with acknowledging your NEED for God
Express your gratitude to God in all things that He has done for you
Practice spiritual disciplines: prayer, study of God’s Word, worship

Here are some practical ways done at end of the day:

Transfer the glory to God by thanking Him for all His grace demonstrated throughout the day for you!
Accept the gift of sleep! Yes, it is a gift!
Be thankful endlessly regarding the Savior’s sacrifices on the Cross.

Couple things that hit me like a brick. One, too often I tend to listen to myself rather than talking to myself. CJ (originally from ML-Jones) shares with us that we need to intentionally talk to ourselves about the Truth! That means when I’m having a difficult day because of (tough circumstances or situations or blatant sins that I’ve committed and feel overwhelmingly guilty) then I need to remind myself that the great Savior has saved me from the wrath that I totally deserve! And yes, I’m THAT BAD but Christ has clothed me in perfect righteousness! But I find myself these situations more rapidly evolving throughout the day as I’m working…(esp. when I face unlikable/angry patients or feeling self-righteous because of my ability to handle work, etc.) It’s everywhere, not just work.

Two, the gift of sleep! Man, ain’t this the truth! The fact that I’m tired and I cannot live (at least physically and functionally) without sleep! Thank God for this! But I think overall, the biggest challenge is practicing my spiritual disciplines DAILY rather than haphazardly.

For those of you who have long commutes to work, how do you spend your time in your car? Do you practice these spiritual disciplines regularly? If so, with joy of Christ? As you survey your work hours, do you have some ‘down time’ where you can periodically practice these spiritual disciplines? I find this to be difficult…mainly because I tend to forget. Please feel free to share with us.

Summary of Chapter 4 “Greatness Demonstrated”

2008-07-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

From chapter 3 we learned how humility is an act of true greatness that was exclusively demonstrated by Christ Himself. In chapter 4, CJ points us to some really key truths of our understanding of the Gospel:

Our former captivity in sin: we were once enslaved/bondage to sin and therefore rightfully condemned to death…that is until
Jesus Christ as a “ransom” for many: Jesus became the ransom through the death on the Cross to appease God’s wrath for us…
Implications of His Sacrifice on the Cross: we are now free in Christ, meaning no more bondage/enslaved to sin but free to obey for the glory of God for our joy in serving others.

(Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I just listed three key things above. But if I’ve missed something crucial details please inform and post it!)

There were couple things that hit me like a brick. One, in the act of true humility, “our own serve to others is always both an effect of His unique sacrifice and the evidence of it.” How often do I really remind myself about the sacrifice of His precious blood when I see others demonstrating humility? But here CJ stresses and reminds us that it was indeed His sacrifice that allows us or enables us to actually experience and demonstrate true humility. By reminding this truth to ourselves, it leaves no room for pride of self-glorification or man-centered perception of self-righteousness because it was Christ ALONE who had done the work for us on the Cross. Plus, God takes His glory seriously and does not delight in glory-robbers. Two, the great implications of the word “random” for both the recipient (us, sinners) and the one who is acting as ransom (Christ). It reminded me again that a great payment was required to deliver us from serious condemnation (His judgment) due to our sins and from our seriously sorry-state of deprived sinful nature. CJ reminds us that we “cannot free ourselves from pride and selfish ambition; a divine rescue is absolutely necessary.” Three, we see that Christ’s death is really central to Christianity. Without His death on the Cross, there would be no opportunity for us to serve others in humility, let alone act in obedience through faith in Christ (sanctification) that would please God. It was ultimately His death that made it possible for us to emulate the Savior’s example in true humility.

In nutshell, we are full beneficiaries of His death in that we are not only reconciled to Christ but we also have the privilege to participate in the awesome glory of His Son. And it doesn't matter what kind of serving opportunities available because in any circumstances that entails true humility, it should reminds us of His death and the evidences of it. Does that make sense? Sorry it's late so I shall clarify later.

I don’t have any specific questions for now (mostly because I’m still thinking about this) but I encourage you to post them! Thanks.

Summary of Chapter 3 “Greatness Defined”

2008-07-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Summary of Chapter 3 “Greatness Defined”

* Pride attempts to compare oneself to another in order for self-glorification, and “claim greater importance” and acknowledgement from others.
* True humility is an act of greatness that was fully demonstrated by Jesus.
* Biblical definition of “greatness:” Serving others for the glory of God!

There were two things that hit me this chapter. First, Jesus does not forbid the desire to be great (Mark 10:43-44). However, Jesus defines for us what it really means from God’s perspective to be great: “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” Imagine that, a slave of all…everyone. When was the last time I thought to myself, “I’m going to be a slave of all” in serving others, Church, my wife, and family? Perhaps, all of us have some competing passion inside of us that desires to be great in something. It could be work or ministry, desiring to be acknowledged by
parents, friends, etc. But here Jesus is defining for us what a real, eternally worth greatness is and how one can really achieve that. The question is how do we do this? I believe chapter 4 answers this shortly so stay tuned.

Secondly, I was struggling (in my own sinful nature) to accept this true definition of greatness defined by CJ: Serving others for the glory of God. For one, I quickly became burdened by the thought of serving others because it sounded like so much like work without joy. Also in my mind
was the question of “why should I do this? Just because Jesus did it?” I guess in the past, I would’ve just gone along with the notion that I must do what Jesus asked me to do simply because He did it. But this is where chapter 4 nails me in the head and wakes me up.

Chapter 4 to be posted soon.

Humility True Greatness: Chapter 1 & 2

2008-06-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1 The Promise of Humility

(Disclaimer: I realized I’ve written too much. From here and on, I will try to cut down to 50% of verbage and be more concise and reflective to the reading)

There are three points from this first chapter:

The promises of humility from God
Biblical definition of humility
Different motivations for humility

· The promise of humility from God

· It draws God’s attention (Isaiah 66:2, 2^nd Chronicles 16:9)

· The promise of God’s grace (James 4:6)

CJ gives a brief background to the passage in Isaiah 66:2, where Israelites became proud of their status with God (being chosen as God’s people among nations) and possessing Torah (the Law of God). They had what other nations did not have which was God’s unmerited favor as chosen people (receiving of His Law and His temple), yet they lacked what CJ calls the most important thing, humility. But in verse 2, God promises to us that He will look to those who are humble.

There’s another divine promise from God for those who are humble; He will be gracious to those who are humble. So not only is He actively engaged with those who are humble, but He also promises us His grace, which is “His unmerited kindness” to us. That’s a great promise!

· Biblical definition of humility

· CJ’s definition of humility is concise and right to the point:

“It is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.”

So one cannot become genuinely humble (from Biblical perspective) without an understanding of both realities of our nasty sinfulness and God’s great holiness.

However, we could easily make a mistake in identifying and defining humility by our various outward appearances. For example, one may act in self-effacing, modest as well as “quiet, humble, reserved, shy, gracious, and mild-mannered” but that person may be deeply rooted in pragmatism rather than in the Biblical truth. What I mean by this is that since these characteristics may work or be effective in gaining success (or reputation from others) in the working world, one may never need to rely or trust God in order to exhibit these behaviors. So a person may simply exhibit these qualities to gain respect from others and ultimately for self-glorification.

But a true Biblical perspective denotes a much different view. CJ stresses that true humility begin with God in its understanding, rather than being “simply pragmatic.” I love what John Calvin wrote about humility:

“It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”

In other words, one cannot understand how sinful he/she really is until he/she gets a glimpse of God in his/her lowly state of being. It is not enough to causally say to oneself in a trite manner, “oh, I’m just a sinner” as though that justifies our sinful behaviors. No, because in that view, we are minimizing our view of God’s GREAT holiness and therefore, we can’t help but to minimize our “self-knowledge” of how desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9) we really are before the Cross of Christ.

· Different motivations for humility

CJ finishes the chapter with some critical self-evaluating questions. One thing that struck me was evaluating our motivation for humility (i.e. avoiding “pitfalls and perils” of pride or possibly avoiding punishment from God in fear or being available to receive God’s grace). Keep in mind that it’s God’s Word that evaluates us, rather than our evaluating God’s Word (as Steve Shank reminded us).

Chapter 2 The Perils of Pride

I promise I’ll make this section much shorter. :) Here are some key points from this chapter:

The birth of pride and its downfall to all mankind
The great implication of what pride means to God and us
The great consequences of what pride does to us
The holy hatred of pride from God
The mercy of God in protecting us from pride

· The birth of pride and its downfall to all mankind

o It was the very first sin (I.e. Isaiah 14), led by Satan AND it is core of all sin.

o Pride exists in every men – it is just matter of finding out where and how it is being “expressed” in our lives.

· The great implication of what pride means to God and us

o Pride is the most serious sin because it implies that one is contending for supremacy with God. In other words, the one who is prideful is attempting to be in the same status/position as God and thus denying dependence on Him and His authority and power. Yikes!

o The motivation of pride is to “rob God of legitimate glory” therefore pride’s ultimate end result is always self-glorification

· The great consequences of what pride does to us

o Pride divides Churches, saps our sweet communion with Christ, brings contempt to others (Luke 18:9), and potentially leading to hardening of hearts.

· The holy hatred of pride from God

o While God is deeply opposed to pride (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5)

· The mercy of God in protecting us from pride

o He uses the Scripture to warn us and protect us from the pitfall of pride. SO every time God reveals our ugliness of pride, He is acting out of His deep mercy to us, for our good and protection and ultimately for His glory.

Lastly, I want to share a little excerpt from John Piper’s sermon regarding fearing God.

“…Verse 17: “The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.” I think fearing God means that God is so powerful and so holy and so awesome to us that we would not dare to run away from him, but only run to him for all that he promises to be for us. So fearing God is not different from coming to the Messiah, Jesus. It’s the way we come. We come reverently. We come humbly. We come without presumption that God owes us anything. We come trembling—as we saw last time, we come broken and contrite.” (John Piper)

You can find the full sermon here:

But I love what JP says about fearing God. Sometimes I have this natural tendency to think that God is just waiting for me to fail and sin miserably and to rebuke me in most horrific and embarrassing manner possible. This of course, is due to my poor understanding of Godly fear in Psalm 103:17. In those times, it is obvious that it’s my man-made fear that separates and saps my joy in Christ. Also the great implication of pride towards God yet His great mercy to us in protecting from pride. I like what CJ does in those times of his proud moments where instead saying to himself, “oh Lord, I’ve been proud,” he uses the phrase “contending for supremacy” with God. This helps me really think about the how idiotic and foolish my actions look like in the eyes of God. Imagine a little man trying to out-duel God as those I can challenge His authority, His great work on the Cross, His total divine being. Yikes.

There's also the subtlety of pride. For example, even as I am writing this blog, I can easily be prideful in my heart thinking that I'm so spiritual or holy, becoming so self-righteous and ultimately want self-glorification. Yet God is so merciful because I’m so prideful! In next few chapters, we will look at how humility is demonstrated from the Scripture. But for now, I like to hear your reflection on these two chapter about this serious sin and perhaps share little bit about your outer/inner workings of this dreadful sin.

I’ve tried to gather some relevant questions from chapter 1-2 but please feel free to input your questions here as well. (Next time, I'll just post 2-3).

Given the definition of humility (from both CJ and John Calvin), do you see yourself increasingly becoming aware of your sins daily while growing your love and dependence on Christ?
What would your close friend (or your spouse) say about ways in which you exhibit pride at work, at home, relationship, Church, ministry, family, etc?
Will you be open to allowing others (i.e. Christian brothers, friends, etc.) to get involved in your weaknesses or your struggles with particular sin(s, i.e. pride) in your life?
Are you more motivated to come to God because you fear that something bad is going to happen to you or do you come with an understanding that Christ has already paid the FULL penalty for your sins? Do you rejoice over this truth or has it become trite and banal in your Christian life? If so, what is sapping your joy in Christ?
Where is the most vulnerable prideful spot in your life? Are you daily battling it with God’s Word or have you given up? I hope not!

Introduction to Humility

2008-06-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hello brothers!

First of all, thank you for taking the interests in reading the book, Humility, together. We know that we all live such busy lives and yet we MUST "marinade" ourselves continually in the Gospel by the transforming power of His grace. I'm truly excited about our time of feasting, digesting, sharing, confessing, fellowshipping and ultimately being transformed by this great Gospel of Christ for His glory and for our joy!

I just want to encourage you with 2nd Corth. 3:18 which says:

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

And all of us, with unveiled faces solely by the finished work of Christ, coming together as sinners "being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." Yes! That's an awesome promise by God to us as heirs of Christ! And what a privilege it is! So in the light of what Steve Shank spoke last week regarding humility, I pray that we will be honest with ourselves and allow God's Word to evaluate us, rather than deceiving ourselves into thinking we know everything about being humble.

There are total of 12 quick chapters in this book. Let's try to finish the book within 6-7 weeks. That means we will cover 2 chapters every week, starting next week (either Wednesday or earlier). If you haven't gotten the book, please order it soon! I will post a brief summary and some relevant questions on the first two chapters on this posting by Wednesday, and every two chapters after that.

We can discuss when we can also meet to pray together. I'm thinking half way and at the end of 6-7 weeks.

But please don't feel pressured or stressed about posting your thoughts. Remember, this is an opportunity to encourage one another through a book that challenges us about our battles with pride.

Thanks guys for your encouragement!

In Christ's precious blood,

Sam