Blog on the Lillypad
Thursday, October 28, 2004
What makes us beg with such good cheer?
Over on the The Jolly Blogger, Dave is quoting A. W. Pink:
This comes hard on the heels of Dead Man Blogging's recent disastrous post about trying to be good Christians, in which he urges reader to adopt the righteousness of the Pharisees without adopting their rebellion against God (an impossible thing to do, by the way, as their energy to "do good" was based entirely on their pride. Truly being good is simply not a part of our flesh or nature and can come about only by Christ at work in us, through faith in Him).
I was in my late 30's before it dawned on my that no matter how hard I try, I cannot please God. I realized that I will always hurt the people I care about most, always disappoint, always miss the needs of others. Grim despair (and even anger at God) settled over me, but over time, it started to make sense in terms of the Gospel. *I* was surprised and dismayed to realize how total my total depravity is, but God had it figured out ages ago. And still He saved me.
From then on, as CS Lewis wrote, the heart of the Jolly Beggar began to grow in me. It only hurts when I take my self seriously. But it's all joy when I am caught up in the consideration of my Saviour and His power to be my righteousness and my acceptance with God. There simply can be no keeping score with the Christian. If we are honest, we see that every day is fraught with sin, every action flawed by self interest and pride. On the other hand, if we see by faith, we recognize that the boundless good will towards us from God never abates, never abandons, is never deterred or dismayed, always works in us to draw us after Christ. We hope again because we hope in Him and not ourselves. Then jolliness comes, and our begging is in reality great riches. That's the big joke we play on the universe: being nothing, we have everything, because everything has been given to us. Beign mournful sinners, we have great joy; being poor in spirit, we inherit the kingdom of God.
Addendum
The example of the Pharisees is very badly chosen because their alleged good works were an offense to God. They had energy to do those so-called good works because it was all done for them to exalt themselves before men.
So if you want power to pray as regularly as the Pharisees prayed, then pray to be seen of men, and you will find that your flesh can be trained to support you in these efforts.
If you want energy to live a clean outward life as the Pharisees lived (hiding their corruption like whitewashed tombs), then base your efforts in the flesh and take pride in your outwardly clean life, and you will have a moral uprightness that will astound your neighbors.
If you want self-discipline to tithe even the herbs that come across your kitchen counter, then base your tithing on the power of the flesh, and you will learn to tithe everything down to your shoe laces.
If you want to emulate the righteousness of the Pharisees, consecrate yourself to Phariseeism, and you will succeed.
But if you want Christ’s righteousness, then drop confidence in the flesh. You cannot whip or reason or even force yourself to be the thing that by nature you are not. You can’t eat hay; you can’t walk on water; you can’t fly; you can’t be truly good enough to generate even one honestly good work. It simply isn’t in your nature. Christ has given you a second nature that thrives only by faith.
Christ can do good works. He does so effortlessly, and our life is lived by faith in Him. And that is why the righteousness of those who walk by faith far exceeds the righteounsess of the Pharisees and is acceptable to God so that He lets us into heaven and calls us sons. We have the righteousness of Christ. We live by faith, and faith proves itself by works, but those works are the works of One who overcomes our flesh and our will.
I document abuses in Independent Fundamental Baptist churches, and the category of this group (IFBx) that commits the grossest sins are the churches that demand good works without providing the doctrine of Sanctification by grace through faith.
There are preachers who hide incredibly gross sins while exhorting their people to attain to greater and greater good works: longer skirts on the women, shorter hair on the men, no rock and roll music, more time in prayer, being at church every time the doors open, more tithes and offerings. They break the hearts of God’s people and destroy their lives because they with hold the key to all the truly good works we can ever do, and that key is the power of Jesus Christ at work in us, which we apprehend by faith.
Let's not see a superficial or outright deceptive righteousness in the Pharisees and then commend the Pharisees. Commend Christ, and people will then focus on Christ.
Over on the The Jolly Blogger, Dave is quoting A. W. Pink:
"Just as the sinner's despair of any hope from himself is the first prerequisite of a sound conversion, so the loss of all confidence in himself is the first essential in the believer's growth in grace."
This comes hard on the heels of Dead Man Blogging's recent disastrous post about trying to be good Christians, in which he urges reader to adopt the righteousness of the Pharisees without adopting their rebellion against God (an impossible thing to do, by the way, as their energy to "do good" was based entirely on their pride. Truly being good is simply not a part of our flesh or nature and can come about only by Christ at work in us, through faith in Him).
I was in my late 30's before it dawned on my that no matter how hard I try, I cannot please God. I realized that I will always hurt the people I care about most, always disappoint, always miss the needs of others. Grim despair (and even anger at God) settled over me, but over time, it started to make sense in terms of the Gospel. *I* was surprised and dismayed to realize how total my total depravity is, but God had it figured out ages ago. And still He saved me.
From then on, as CS Lewis wrote, the heart of the Jolly Beggar began to grow in me. It only hurts when I take my self seriously. But it's all joy when I am caught up in the consideration of my Saviour and His power to be my righteousness and my acceptance with God. There simply can be no keeping score with the Christian. If we are honest, we see that every day is fraught with sin, every action flawed by self interest and pride. On the other hand, if we see by faith, we recognize that the boundless good will towards us from God never abates, never abandons, is never deterred or dismayed, always works in us to draw us after Christ. We hope again because we hope in Him and not ourselves. Then jolliness comes, and our begging is in reality great riches. That's the big joke we play on the universe: being nothing, we have everything, because everything has been given to us. Beign mournful sinners, we have great joy; being poor in spirit, we inherit the kingdom of God.
Addendum
The example of the Pharisees is very badly chosen because their alleged good works were an offense to God. They had energy to do those so-called good works because it was all done for them to exalt themselves before men.
So if you want power to pray as regularly as the Pharisees prayed, then pray to be seen of men, and you will find that your flesh can be trained to support you in these efforts.
If you want energy to live a clean outward life as the Pharisees lived (hiding their corruption like whitewashed tombs), then base your efforts in the flesh and take pride in your outwardly clean life, and you will have a moral uprightness that will astound your neighbors.
If you want self-discipline to tithe even the herbs that come across your kitchen counter, then base your tithing on the power of the flesh, and you will learn to tithe everything down to your shoe laces.
If you want to emulate the righteousness of the Pharisees, consecrate yourself to Phariseeism, and you will succeed.
But if you want Christ’s righteousness, then drop confidence in the flesh. You cannot whip or reason or even force yourself to be the thing that by nature you are not. You can’t eat hay; you can’t walk on water; you can’t fly; you can’t be truly good enough to generate even one honestly good work. It simply isn’t in your nature. Christ has given you a second nature that thrives only by faith.
Christ can do good works. He does so effortlessly, and our life is lived by faith in Him. And that is why the righteousness of those who walk by faith far exceeds the righteounsess of the Pharisees and is acceptable to God so that He lets us into heaven and calls us sons. We have the righteousness of Christ. We live by faith, and faith proves itself by works, but those works are the works of One who overcomes our flesh and our will.
I document abuses in Independent Fundamental Baptist churches, and the category of this group (IFBx) that commits the grossest sins are the churches that demand good works without providing the doctrine of Sanctification by grace through faith.
There are preachers who hide incredibly gross sins while exhorting their people to attain to greater and greater good works: longer skirts on the women, shorter hair on the men, no rock and roll music, more time in prayer, being at church every time the doors open, more tithes and offerings. They break the hearts of God’s people and destroy their lives because they with hold the key to all the truly good works we can ever do, and that key is the power of Jesus Christ at work in us, which we apprehend by faith.
Let's not see a superficial or outright deceptive righteousness in the Pharisees and then commend the Pharisees. Commend Christ, and people will then focus on Christ.
