Memorizing Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4

I know it's already August 6th, but I would like for you all to join me this month in memorizing 2 Corinthians 4. It's a rich passage of Scripture and I look forward to joining you all in hiding this word in our hearts.

Here it is:

4 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Fruits of the Flesh and Spirit

Sorry that I'm posting this on Wednesday and not Monday. My attention has been devoted elsewhere this week.

Last week, I talked about how Galatians 5 tells us to walk by the Spirit and not by the desires of the flesh. When we have depended on Christ for our salvation, we are no longer slaves to the demands of God's law, but free to obey Him in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit, there will be evidences, or fruits that are borne out in our lives. It is these fruits that Paul enumerates to end this chapter and where I'd like to end this blog series.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to look at what Paul says are the results of walking by the Spirit. Ponder on these fruits and how they are contrasted with the desires of the flesh. Prayerfully consider these things and see if they are evident in your life. And lastly, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to grow them more in your daily walk as you try to keep in step with Him.

Paul says that these are the works of the flesh:

-sexual immorality
-impurity
-sensuality
-idolatry
-sorcery
-enmity
-strife
-jealousy
-fits of anger
-rivalries
-dissensions
-divisions
-envy
-drunkeness
-orgies
-things like these

In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is:

-love
-joy
-peace
-patience
-kindness
-goodness
-faithfulness
-gentleness
-self-control

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit" (v. 25)

Saturday Smorgasbord

An important but neglected distinction: Carl Trueman discusses the difference between childlikeness and childishness.

Some thoughts of prayer: Adam Ford shares a web comic about prayer. Good stuff.

Stop boiling Jesus: Barnabas Piper warns against reducing the purpose of Jesus' work.

Write music!: I ran across this quote looking through some old blog posts this week. So good. And no, it doesn't have to do with literal music.

America's coming demographic disaster- a conversation with Jonathan V. Last- transcript: This was a great conversation between Albert Mohler and Jonathan Last. Last dispels a lot of widely believed myths and helps us normal people to understand current demographics better. You can also listen to it here.

We are all virgins now: Challies shares some much needed insight on an important issue.

Earthiness

I can't go too far into anything without mentioning the influence of my mentor Brad Chittenden. I first met Brad when I was around the age of 10, shortly after my parents divorced. God used the divorce to lead my mom back to Himself and to church. There is much I can say about how God was moving in my life at this time, but one of the key things was that He was placing godly men in my life to love, instruct and give an example to me.

In steps Brother Brad. Brad was an ordained pastor without a church to shepherd. What this meant for our church was that any time our pastor was sick or on vacation or had some other reason that he was unable to preach, Brad (and others) would step in. The first time I heard one of his sermons, I was instantly drawn to him. I'm not sure if it was because of his simplicity or his clarity or just the gentle warmth that seemed to exude from him, but I liked him and I wanted to be like him.

There's much more to the story and much more that can be said about Brad. He is chiefly responsible for saving me from a life of pride in my intelligence. He instilled in me my love and desire for balance. He helped form things in me that I didn't even understand at the time. The limited time that I was able to spend with him (we lived over an hour apart) had a far greater impact than I can begin to tell in a single blog post.

What I would like to focus on for the remainder of this post is a quality in Brad that I have often marveled at. It is a quality that I hope to emulate, one in which I have always seen Jesus. It is a quality that I have no better name for than "earthiness."

Earthiness is similar to humility. It certainly includes the idea of being "down to earth." An earthy person is approachable and kind, someone who genuinely listens to you, no matter your place in life. They show no partiality toward those who are rich or "wise" or anyone else. They associate with the lowly and downtrodden.

Earthy people are not stupid, but they speak simply and with gentleness. Their knowledge is not their master, but a servant, a means to loving God and others better. They are wise and give wisdom where it is warranted. They love to help others because they love seeing others do well.

An earthy man or woman is aware of their weaknesses and Christ's infinite strength. They are not afraid to take on any task to which God calls them, but will not go forward into anything in their own strength. Obviously though, they're not perfect, and you never feel that they are. They're real people through and through, made of bone, flesh and spirit.

And they always remind of you of Jesus, because you see glimpses of him in their eyes and actions. This, of course, is because Jesus was the earthiest man who ever lived. He was the realest man who ever lived. In Him the fulness of God dwelled, but Christ was exactly as much a man as He was God. Their was a genuineness to him that baffles our understanding.

Perhaps it seems counterintuitive to hold up such an ideal and call it "earthy." Shouldn't it amaze us that Jesus was heavenly and divine? Yes, and earthy people have an unmistakable touch of heaven to them. But the great mystery of the incarnation is that one who existed in holiness and glory for endless ages would step into the constraints of time and not only act as a man, but really be one.

And when that God-man touches men and women, revives their soul and gives them eternal life, they don't become cerebral or esoteric. Though their mind turns to heaven, they don't walk with their head in the clouds. They don't become worldly or ascetic. They don't feel fake or hollow. They're don't become grandiose or gaudy. Nor do they become inaccessible or cryptic.

They become earthy.

Mid-Week Poetry: Prayer by George Herbert

This week, I listened to a lecture on George Herbert's life and ministry by John Piper. His main point was to make a "poetic effort" in seeing and savoring the glories of God. I strongly recommend the message to you. He ended his talk with this poem. I encourage you to take each image in slowly:      


PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age,
        Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
        The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner's tower,
        Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
        The six days world-transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear ;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
        Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,
        Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

        Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the souls blood,
        The land of spices, something understood.


*I have updated the spelling of several words for the ease of reading.

Galatians 5: Walk by the Spirit

As we continue to look at Galatians 5 this month, I want to focus our attention on verses 13-18:

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. 

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Paul gives us two basic exhortations in this passage. First, we are to not let our freedom in Christ provide an opportunity for the flesh to sin. Second, walk by the Spirit. I would like to explore each one of these in turn and show how they are really two sides of the same coin.

To begin with, let's look at what Paul says in verse 13: "do not let use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh..." As I discussed last week, when we are in Christ, we are given a freedom from keeping the demands of God's law. Christ has done that in our place and we are to trust in His obedience, which is perfect, and not ours, which is imperfect. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we are free from the guilt of sin brought on by God's law, which we have broken.

However, being free from sin's guilt does not mean that we are able to do whatever we want. Paul makes this abundantly clear in this passage. In addition to telling us not to allow our freedom to make an opportunity for the flesh (verse 13), he warns us against the desires of the flesh (verse 16). These, he says, are opposed to the desires of the Spirit.

The flesh and the Spirit are opposites. They each have desires which war within us (James 4:1). The desires of the flesh are evil and the desires that come from the Holy Spirit are good and pure, as He is pure.

Now, before we go on, I want to point one thing out. "The flesh" does not refer to our bodies. It is not wrong to be hungry or to want comfort or quiet or rest. No, our bodies are not evil. The Bible makes this clear. However, we are all born into sin and, by our sinful nature, desire things that are wrong and are slaves to those desires. When Christ sets us free, we no longer have to obey those desires. We are free to choose that which pleases God. But those sinful desires do not disappear. They are what Paul refers to as "the flesh."

This brings us to Paul's second point, that we walk by the Spirit (verse 16). It is the Holy Spirit dwelling within us that makes us free in Jesus. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

If we are free in Jesus, then we should walk in this freedom that He has given us. This is not a freedom to sin, to gratify our sinful desires. No, this is a freedom to fulfill the law by loving our neighbor as ourselves (verse 14). And this is only possible as we walk in the Spirit of God, who gives us the strength to do His will. And, as Paul says, if we are letting ourselves be led by the Spirit of God, then we are no longer under the law (verse 18).

Are you trusting in Jesus? Don't look to the law to save you or make you more acceptable in God's sight. Know that you are free from the demands of this law. Don't use this freedom to sin. Use your freedom to show your love for God and His people by fulfilling His commandments.