Grace Tasters

This Sunday I have the great pleasure of preaching one of the sermons in our series Town Takers. It feels like forever since I preached; it isn't but when you always want to do it every extended period when one doesn't get a chance can feel an age. It is critical for our church and for the ongoing development of the brilliant guys brought here to us at X1 that others get to preach (or learn to preach, or teach - long discussion!).

I am preaching on Grace with this fundamental premise: Grace Tasted is Grace Treasured is Grace Transferred. Sadly there can be a vicious disconnect between those three or between two of the the three at the very least. As part of my exhortation that Grace must be tasted I felt it helpful to expose us to the glorious articulation - the effusive overflow really - of several of my 'Giants of Faith" as they tasted grace. So without further ado, ingest these delights!
(Note Jonathan Edwards has an obligatory feature!)

"But where was my free will during all those years and from what deep and secret retreat was it called forth in a single moment, so I gave my neck to your "easy yoke" and my shoulders to your "light burden," O Christ Jesus, "my Strength and my Redeemer"? How sweet did it suddenly become to me to be without the sweetness of petty things! And it was now a joy to put away what I formerly feared to lose. For you cast them away from me, O true and highest Sweetness. You cast them away, and in their place you entered in yourself -- sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood; brighter than all light, but more veiled than all mystery; more exalted than all honor, though not to them that are exalted in their own eyes. Now was my soul free from the gnawing cares of seeking and getting, of wallowing in the mire and scratching the itch of lust. And I talked like a child to You, O Lord my God -- my light, my riches, and my salvation." - St. Augustine

“One day as I was passing into the field, with some dashes on my conscience, fearing yet that all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, “Your righteousness is in heaven.” I thought I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s right hand. There was my righteousness. Wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me that I lacked His righteousness, for that was ever before Him. Moreover, I saw that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, “the same yesterday, today, and for ever”.
“Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons, my temptations also fled away.” - John Bunyan

"I remember that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things that I have lived much in since, was on reading those words, I Tim. 1:17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen. As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before ... I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in him for ever! ...
From about that time, I began to have a new kind of apprehensions and ideas of Christ. and the work of redemption, and the glorious way of salvation by him. An inward, sweet sense of these things, at times, came into my heart; and my soul was led away in pleasant views and contemplations of them. ... The sense I had of divine things, would often of a sudden kindle up, as it were, a sweet burning in my heart; an ardor of soul, that I know not how to express." - Jonathan Edwards

You tasted grace, can you articulate it, does it look like you have?

Simon

Heed These Words

Listening to a stunning sermon by C.J. Mahaney in preparation for our Grace Series at X1 Watford and this is a quote he finishes with that is so very powerful. Hear this:

“There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. . . This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ doesn’t cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His ‘blood and righteousness’ alone that we can rest.”

- B. B. Warfield

Nothing I add, grace, grace, grace!

Simon

Peter's denial

I wonder if there has been a 'darker night' in the soul of any other man. Think of it, not only have you shot your mouth off about the mighty measure of your boldness, but you've told Jesus Christ that he does not know what he's talking about when he exposes your false bravado. Then you go ahead and deny your friendship with the man who actually defines all that friendship is and should be - in front of a servant girl no less. Could it get any worse, any darker, any more bleak? Answer: Yes!

As you deny your association with the incarnate God, the one who is on a predetermined mission to give His life for you to ensure eternal oneness with your creator and give the gift of abundant life which we all long for - he looks over at you and 'looks straight' at you!
What do you do? Where do you run? Do you ache with every ounce of your entirety that maybe just maybe this is all a dream? Do you fake a 'so what, I never really was in on all this discipleship following Christ stuff any way?'
No you do exactly what Peter did (yeah it's Peter I'm talking about, you're free to read all about it in the 22nd Chapter of Luke) - you "weep bitterly.' Looking up the understanding of these words in the original Greek you come to see that this was no passive, gentle, quit sob. No this was loud wailing: heart-broken, emotion-releasing, tragedy-realizing wailing.

Not sure about you, but may I tell you that this pastor has stood in those shoes, maybe not to anywhere near the same degree, and of course without the incarnate Christ there to look into my eyes and display to me His deep, loving sorrow. But, I've lived in such a way, thought in such a way, been silent in such a way that I've denied my Lord. So what now... what about Peter? Is this the end of the story.

No it isn't. You see God is incomprehensibly forgiving to those who turn to Him in Godly sorrow - maybe too forgiving for many as they are unable to forgive themselves. The story goes on. Peter's does. Look at the restoration in John 21; see his participation in the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 (he's not left out cause he 'failed'); see just a little later as he displays the inner transformation that takes place with repentance, reconciliation, and Holy Spirit endowment.

O the grace of God, "He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I Jn. 1: 9)
How can you not love this one?

Simon

Michael Horton on our identity and calling

As I said, I'm reading tons of books on grace and just started. "Putting Amazing back into Grace" by Michael Horton. Great start I assure you.
While introducing the book and after stating clearly, "Grace is the gospel." He wrote these words on our identity and calling as followers of Jesus Christ. I liked it a lot so I thought I'd share it.

"Our sense of purpose, as individuals and as a church, depends largely on how clearly we grasp certain truths about who God is, who we are, and what God's plan for history involves. Christians form a new humanity, a spiritual race. Just as a rib was taken from Adam's side to create Eve, God has taken people 'from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God (Rev. 5: 9 1- 10). This new race exists for a purpose, a definite reason. It exists to make God's glory felt in a dark and drab world; the new race is to be found in every imaginable ethnic, cultural, social, economic, and national grouping. It is seen dispersed throughout every stratum: In hospitals and schools, in homes and offices, from the coastal beaches to the city skyscrapers."

Blessings

Simon

Grace - what a ring in that word.

As I tweeted earlier in the week I've got the great privilege as a teaching pastor here at X1 Watford to spend time studying the thoughts, arguments, and stunning expositions on God's word as I prepare to share with our people here. I mentioned that we are to enter into a series on 'Grace' as of Sept 19th and so I'm doing a lot of reading on that subject.
I hope to deposit several jewels from that reading over the next few weeks to enable others to enter into reading they may not have the time or motivation to do themselves. I'll start with something from Charles Spurgeon (not a bad place to start many would say) which is clear and concise on the beauty of God's grace:

"What a ring there is in that word grace. Why it does one good to speak it and to hear it; it is, indeed, a charming sound, harmonious to the ear. When one feels the power of it, it is enough to make the soul leap out of the body for joy.

Grace how good, how cheap, how free,
Grace, how easy to be found!
Only let your misery
In the Saviour's blood be drowned!

Grace, how it suits a sinner! How it cheers a poor forlorn wanderer from God!"

Sweet, and simple.

Simon

Wise words to preachers & bible teachers from Spurgeon

We do appear to live in an age of Christendom in the West that is at the very least shy of doctrine but can often actually be averse to it. Again and again I am confronted by this in my ministry. Here, in a sermon almost 144 years old, the wonderful Charles Spurgeon highlights his thoughts on preaching doctrine, and it's great importance:

"If we would influence thoughtful persons it must be by solid arguments. Shallow minds may be wrought upon by mere warmth of emotion and force of excitement, but the more valuable part of the community must be dealt with in quite another manner. When the apostle Paul was desirous to influence his son in the faith, Timothy, who was a diligent and earnest student and a man of gifts as well as of grace, he did not attempt to affect him by mere appeals to his feelings, but felt that the most effectual way to act upon him was to remind him of solid doctrinal truth which he knew him to have believed.

This is a lesson for the ministry at large. Certain earnest preachers are incessantly exciting the people, and but seldom if ever instructing them; they carry much fire and very little light. God forbid that we should say a word against appealing to the feelings; this is most needful in its place, but then there is a due proportion to be observed in it. A religion which is based upon, sustained, and maintained simply by excitement, will necessarily be very flimsy and unsubstantial, and will yield very speedily to the crush of opposition or to the crumbling hand of time.

The preacher may touch the feelings by rousing appeals, as the harper touches the harpstrings; he will be very foolish if he should neglect so ready and admirable an instrument; but still as he is dealing with reasonable creatures, he must not forget to enlighten the intellect and instruct the understanding...
...I do not doubt but that a far greater power for usefulness lies concealed within the doctrines of grace than some men have ever dreamed of. It has been usual to look upon doctrinal truth as being nothing more than unpractical theory, and many have spoken of the precepts of God's Word as being more practical and more useful; the day may yet come when in clearer light we shall perceive that sound doctrine is the very root and vital energy of practical holiness, and that to teach the people the truth which God has revealed is the readiest and surest way of leading them to obedience and persevering holiness."

- Salvation Altogether by Grace, July 29th 1866.

Simon

The 's' word!

About 25 minutes ago while making a juice for my gorgeous little girl (it is baking hot here in Watford) I heard the words that I hear far too often and which disgust me to put it mildly. Through our lounge windows which open on to the road to a kids' school a mother said to her little girl, "Well you're stupid..."

Parents, any of you, and my word even more so if you're believing parents, may I just make something overtly obvious to you: In the above equation there is only one person exposing their blatant stupidity and that is the parent.
To call a child stupid as part of the 'parenting package' exposes incivility, lack of grace, lack of wisdom, immaturity, impatience, and a form of barbaric nastiness.

It brings to my mind a marvelous little section of a superb book by C.S. Lewis called The Four Loves where I think Lewis expresses a similar incredulity at parenting of such a nature. Let him speak to us...

"We hear a great deal about the rudeness of the rising generation. I am an oldster myself and might be expected to take the oldsters' side, but in fact I have been far more impressed by the bad manners of parents to children than by those of children to parents. Who has not been the embarrassed guest at family meals where the father or mother treated their grown-up offspring with an incivility which, offered to any other young people, would simply have terminated the acquaintance? Dogmatic assertions on matters which the children understand and their elders don't, ruthless interruptions, flat contradictions, ridicule of things the young take seriously sometimes of their religion insulting references to their friends, all provide an easy answer to the question "Why are they always out? Why do they like every house better than their home?" Who does not prefer civility to barbarism?"

Let's love our little ones, and be so aware that 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words... break my heart."

Simon

On NOT speaking on 'Tithing.'

This week at X1 I had the joy/challenge of speaking, or NOT, speaking on tithing to our people. The reason it is a challenge is twofold really, I feel.
Firstly, you are entering into a great emotionally charged/ 'do not invade' space of the western believer's psyche. This is one of those 'do not go there' areas of our walk. The personal area where it is hard to determine how a church leadership displays any God-given authority.
Secondly, as I mentioned to the people of X1 on Sunday, it is a definite Spiritual Warfare battleground because we are confronting a very significant idol in the Western world. As a preacher and leader entering into this territory it is a case of 'get locked and loaded,' put on that 'heavenly armor' and get ready for some attack. As I suggested to the congregation it is akin to confronting biblically people from my home country of Zimbabwe about Ancestral Worship (African Traditional Religion) and declaring that these idols are to be knocked off their perches by the only true, living God. Some of you may know how that goes - speaking about money here is engaging in similar combat but the enemy here appears to wear far more inconspicuous clothing and one wonders where he is actively gunning people down.

My preaching was out of Joshua 21 continuing on in our series in Joshua - 'Living Life without the Fear.' Here we see the Levites given their cities out of the inheritance of their fellow Israelites and the obvious point is that without the God-honoring, other-centered obedience of the Israelites there would be no Levite cities to speak of.
Without them giving 48 of their cities and giving of their grain, livestock and income there would be no places of Spiritual input and direction within the nation of Israel. These Levite cities were the Spiritual Communities offering TRUTH, JUSTICE & MERCY within the Israelite community - which like any other human society (as seen by the tragic and dreadful Cumbria shootings of last week) was/is fragile and fractured and prone to soul-atrophying, rebel-making distance from God.

We too as God's people have the great joy and privilege (According to Paul in II Cor. 8 & 9) to give generously as tasters of God's grace in Christ to the building of Levite cities within our own fractured and fragile communities. And nowhere is it meant to be 10% - the NT makes absolutely no obligation along the lines of a percentile of your income it is purely as an overflow of being transformed by the grace of God and wanting true 'equality' for all people and 'investing' in such through their local 'home of spiritual sustenance' and hub for God's mission - the local Church.

I can only hope the people of X1 will arise to give much to see X1 truly be a Spiritual Community offering refuge, hope and direction to the community in Watford. It should not be my compulsion but a resposiveness to their tasting of the abundant, lavish grace of God.

Blessings
SLJ

All is Grace

It is not every day that I take a serious dip into the writings of the great American Puritan Jonathan Edwards, That's a bit of a pity really because then it is not every day that I get to read words like this about the astounding grace of God towards us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

"The grace of God, exhibited in the gospel, is glorious,

1st) Because of the greatness of it. Every circumstance of the gospel, grace surprisingly heightens it; let us look on what part we will, we shall see enough to fill us and all the angels in heaven with admiration forever. If we consider it as the grace of God the Father, and consider his greatness, his holiness, his power and justice, immensity and eternity; if we diligently consider how great a being he is, who took such pity and compassion on mankind, it is enough to astonish us. Or, if we consider ourselves, on whom this great God has bestowed this grace, we are nothing but worms, yea less than worms, before God; and not only so, but sinful worms, worms swollen with enmity against God. If we consider him by whom we receive [grace], the Son of God who made heaven and, by his almighty power, [is] equal with the Father; if we consider the greatness of what he did- he died most ignominiously and painfully in our nature it all infinitely heightens the grace of the gospel.

2nd) Because of the glorious fruit of this. No less than salvation and eternal glory are the fruits of this grace of the gospel; adoption, union with Christ, communion with God, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the heavenly happiness, the pleasure of the eternal paradise, the new Jerusalem, the glorious and triumphant resurrection of the body, and an everlasting reign with Christ in the height of glory, and pleasure and happiness: no less than these things are the effects of this marvelous grace.

What a vast difference is there between a poor, miserable sinner, full of sin, condemned to hellfire, and, a saint shining forth in robes of glory, and crowned with a crown of victory and triumph; but 'tis no less difference than this, is made in the same man by the grace of God in Christ."

Thank you God for rescuing me from my terrible state!

Simon