This Mother’s Day, I want to honor a woman who is an example to me of the sacrificial love and kindness of Christ. She is truly one of a kind.  As the mother of twin 12 year old boys with autism, my sister-in-law demonstrates every day a type of selfless giving and humble serving that astounds me.  And she didn’t have to do this in the first place.  Her twin boys came into her life when they were two and half years old, and at that time, by God’s providence and grace, she made a decision to love and embrace them as her own children.  She hasn’t looked back since.  For several years, she chose to stay at home rather than work in order to be available for her sons who depended on her completely for help in areas of developmental, emotional and intellectual growth.  Not only has she been a tireless and humble advocate for her children in the public school system, she has also prayerfully sought developmentally appropriate biblical teaching for her sons within the church, a goal that has been difficult to fulfill as of yet.  But she hasn’t given up, and her hope continues to be in God Himself whom she confesses has made her two boys perfectly in His own image.

Anne, we love you and Joe, and we are so blessed and humbled by your example of sacrificial mothering.  We have learned much of Jesus’ selfless love through the ways in which you faithfully serve your family with compassion, gentleness and kindness.  We thank God that you are not only our family but also our sister in Christ.  Happy Mother’s Day, Anne!

This past weekend, we were incredibly privileged to have George and Carolyn Snyman, the founders of Hands at Work in South Africa, visit our church for the second time. A godly couple, George and Carolyn are a living example of faith and obedience to the Lord. Three teams have gone from our church to South Africa and Mozambique since 2005, and there will be another, Lord willing, going in September.

George shared on Sunday from Micah 6:8 about God’s call to us to walk humbly with Him by humbly serving the poor and dying. The stories of desperation he shared were overwhelming and the statistics staggering. There are 6000 new orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa everyday with a total of 14 million orphans who are orphaned by AIDS. Hands at Work is a unique organization in that its mission is to work through the Church through a Gospel-driven ministry of servanthood in community-based care to minister to the sick and dying orphans and widows.

So, how should I respond to this information and opportunity, I’ve been asking the Lord. Sam, my husband, who’s been to Africa with our teams the past three times has informed me that it’s my turn to go.

I was moved, inspired and convicted by everything I heard this weekend. I know the Lord desires for us to know His heart of compassion for the fatherless and the widow. I’ve prayed many times the prayer, “Break my heart with the things that break your heart, O Lord.” But now that the door seems to be opening for me to go, how will I respond?

At first, admittedly, there was a struggle within. My conscience was seared as I resisted at first. There were so many questions, all stemming from unbelief and the fear of man. Some were serious and some were silly.

What about my kids? They have a hard time letting me go down the street for a couple of hours to run an errand, let alone letting me go for several weeks halfway around the world. One of them is especially sensitive about feeling overlooked, so I don’t want her to think that I prefer being with other children to being with her.

What about school? September is an important time when a new year of school at home begins. This year we’ll have three in school full-time. Do I put school on hold?

What about Sam? What will Sam do with the kids while I’m gone? Who will help him?

That means I’ll have to go up in front of people. Can’t I just remain behind the scenes and not go up on stage and report everything in front of everyone? What if I cry?

What about the food there? I’m not sure I can stomach goat liver and raw kudu (wild antelope).

What about my make-up? This means I’ll have to find something I can put on super quickly to get ready in a matter of five seconds!

All of these concerns I laid before the Lord, and by his grace he granted me the assurance of his love and presence. He knows all things, and all I need to do is to surrender my life to him and make myself available to him. I was reminded of Matthew 10:37-39, where Jesus says, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

I trust that the Lord will show Sam and myself how to include our children wisely and lovingly in this journey to the land of Moz. Carolyn has already given us some brilliant ideas of studying the history and people of South Africa and Mozambique together in school, learning the Portuguese language together, and prayerfully inviting our kids to set aside some of their allowance to help feed some orphans regularly. This way our kids will feel that they are taking part in the trip as well. Having access to Mommy through an international phone doesn’t hurt, too!

So, what is my response to the Lord? If it be your will, Lord, send me. I trust in your ways. Your lovingkindness is better than all of life, your word says. I am so far from living as though I understand this truth, but I do so want to know it more. And if it would be through this trip that I would come to experience just a little bit of this truth, then I welcome it and embrace all that you have for me.

I want to understand the atonement more. I want to grasp more deeply and clearly the meaning of my Savior’s death on the cross and how this affects me, a pardoned sinner. Sam just brought home from the “Together for the Gospel” conference a book by J. I. Packer and Mark Dever called, In My Place Condemned He Stood, and I’m so excited to read it. In the foreword, Ligon Duncan writes that the book is offered as an aid and encouragement “to Christians who want more deeply to understand the nature and accomplishments of Jesus’ death and thus to be lost in wonder, love, and praise to the gracious Father who gave and delivered up his only begotten Son on our behalf”. When I read that, I thought, “That’s me!” Oh, how I long to know Christ and be found in Him.

On pages 25 and 26, J. I. Packer sums up the Gospel in nine points:

1 . God, in Denney’s phrase, “condones nothing,” but judges all sin as it deserves: which Scripture affirms, and my conscience confirms, to be right.

2. My sins merit ultimate penal suffering and rejection from God’s presence (conscience also confirms this), and nothing I do can blot them out.

3. The penalty due to me for my sins, whatever it was, was paid for me by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in his death on the cross.

4. Because this is so, I through faith in him am made “the righteousness of God in him,” i.e., I am justified; pardon, acceptance, and sonship [to God] beocme mine.

5. Christ’s death for me is my sole ground of hope before God. “If he fulfilled not justice, I must; if he underwent not wrath, I must to eternity” (John Owen).

6. My faith in Christ is God’s own gift to me, given in virtue of Christ’s death for me: i.e., the cross procured it.

7. Christ’s death for me guarantees my preservation to glory.

8. Christ’s death for me is the measure and pledge of the love of the Father and the Son to me.

9. Christ’s death for me calls and constrains me to trust, to worship, to love, and to serve.

I love how #9 flows from #1-8. J. I. Packer writes, “Only where these nine truths have taken root and grow in the heart will anyone be fully alive to God.”

“Get near the Savior’s cross, if you would accomplish anything in this great and necessary work of mortification. The Spirit effects it, but through the instrumentality of the atonement. There must be a personal contact with Jesus. This is the only means to draw forth His grace. When the poor woman in the gospel touched the Savior, we are told that multitudes thronged Him. And yet, in all that crowd that pressed upon His steps, one only extracted the healing virtue… of how few can Christ say, ‘Somebody hath touched me’!”

- Octavius Winslow, Morning Thoughts, p. 153.

Elisabeth Elliot writes in A Lamp for My Feet, “One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy. Lord, help me to take your yoke on my shoulder, not a yoke of my own making. May I learn from You to be gentle and humblehearted. May I find that your load is light.“

One day, after feeling harried and hurried for several weeks, I decided to go through a little booklet I’d picked up at a past CCEF conference called “Priorities: Mastering Time Management”. Written by James C. Petty, the booklet proved to be a very constructive exercise, helping me to focus on the core priorities of each major area of life found in Ephesians 5:18-6:18, such as worship and fellowship, church functioning, marriage, duties of children, parenting, employees, bosses and personal spiritual priorities. With the help of the “Assessing My Priorities Worksheet”, I listed all of my current activities related to my relationship with God, with the people of God, and with God’s work in the world. I was shocked to find that I was over-committed by 169 hours every month!

So, with Sam’s help, I went through my list and determined which commitments actually were my true priorities as a wife, mother and member of our church. I found that I spend too much time on the internet during the day (I need to focus on the kids and school during the day), in the kitchen cooking and cleaning (I need to find time-saving remedies) and on the road driving (we need to figure out which activities are beneficial for the entire family). Sam also helped me to see that rather than teaching in the toddler Sunday school class, I should cut back to assisting only, and I also learned that I need to ask for more help with the women’s ministry.

Overall, it was a humbling exercise. As C. J. Mahaney says, “Only God gets to accomplish His to-do list everyday.” So, I pray that God’s will would be accomplished in my life and not my own daily agenda.

I’ve just started reading Instructing a Child’s Heart by Tedd and Margy Tripp, and I can’t seem to put it down. It is completely filled with compassionate, practical, biblical wisdom that flows from a gospel-centered perspective on parenting. What a blessing this resource is, and I thank God for the Tripps!

Here’s an inspiring morsel: “Your children must see that you delight in God. If your children were asked, “What makes Dad or Mom tick?” their answer should be your love for God. Live so that your children are drawn into the presence of God.” p. 106.

Here’s one example of a helpful, practical suggestion: “Use a simple decision tree before enrolling your child in an activity. What will it cost? What is the commitment required? How many hours each week will we be ‘on call’? Does this activity conflict with things of higher priority (i.e. family worship, family meals, corporate worship at church? What is the worldview of the coaches (i.e. language, values, view of the family)? How will this impact the rest of the family? Do the benefits outweigh the costs?” p. 107.

“Now, God wants you to think that the only end of a gospel ministry is that you may be holy. Believe me, God Himself could not make you happy except you be holy.”

“To gain entire likeness to Christ, I ought to get a high esteem of the happiness of it. I am persuaded that God’s happiness is inseparably linked in with His holiness. Holiness and happiness are like light and heat. God never tasted one of the pleasures of sin. Christ had a body such as I have, yet He never tasted one of the pleasures of sin. The redeemed, through all eternity, will never taste one of the pleasures of sin; yet their happiness is complete. It would be my greatest happiness to be from this moment entirely like them.”

Robert Murray M’Cheyne from his Memoir and Remains by Andrew Bonar, pp. 88, 154.

Here is Jerry Bridge’s first message given at our church retreat. The quiet humility with which Jerry spoke could not  be captured in print. I found his personal prayer that he prayed at the end to be powerfully moving. All of his messages can be downloaded for listening at www.wccc.net. The theme was “Living By Grace”.

Galatians 3:10-13

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Galatians 2:15-21

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Most Christians know that we’re saved by grace, but most Christians let grace stop at that point. They don’t think in terms of living by grace.

I. What Is Grace and Why Do We Need It?

What is grace? A pastor of a large mega-church with 9500 members was quoted in a Christian magazine: “I don’t believe that obedience earns God’s salvation for our souls. But it certainly earns God’s favor in our lives.” But as we look at the text of Gal. 3:10, we see that this cannot be possibly be true. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, and do them.”

How good is good enough? On an exam in college, it depends on the major. Jerry had to get Cs to pass his core courses. But the apostle Paul is not satisfied with a C, B, or even a 99. What Paul is saying in an academic analogy, if you get a 99, you flunk the course. Paul says, cursed (not just failing a course), but cursed by God is everyone who doesn’t abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Paul says that what is required is an absolutely perfect life. Not only do you not earn God’s blessings with a 99, but you actually earn God’s curse by not doing everything written in the book of the law. “Everything” is an absolute word. When Paul says “cursed is he who does not continue to do everything that’s written in the book of the law, you’re under a curse”. In Deut. 28, Moses gave Israelites blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. But these do not apply to us today for Deut. 28 was for the nation of Israel. They were temporal blessings and curses, as opposed to spiritual blessings and curses. For e.g., the blessings were about the crops that would prosper, and the curses were about the time that would come when under siege the famine would be so great that parents would cannibalize their children. Here, it was relative – people basically had to be obedient. But Paul here is talking in absolute terms: all of us were under God’s curse. In Eph. 2:3, Paul said that by nature we were all objects of God’s wrath. It’s important to understand this in order to understand grace.

There are commonly accepted bad understandings and definitions of grace. What do you understand God’s grace to be? Jerry asked some campus workers. Campus workers said their students would say grace is God cutting me some slack, God letting me get away with a few things, overlooking faults, not being insistent about perfection. The worst definition of grace is by a well-known football coach in his autobiography: “The idea that we are accepted and loved by God just as we are, and that God’s approval doesn’t have to be earned. It’s simply there…” This is universalism – God accepts us all, God loves us all, and it doesn’t matter how good or bad we are. God’s approval doesn’t have to be earned and it is for everyone. So, following this to its logical conclusions, God approved of Hitler and Stalin and all the wicked people because there is no distinction. It is true that God does accept us just as we are, but God does not leave us just as we are. Titus 2:11, 12 teach us that the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us also to deny ungodliness and wordly passions and so forth.

Jerry started with Gal. 3:10 because if we don’t believe that we deserve the curse of God (not that we’re under the curse of God because v. 13 says that we were redeemed from the curse of God by Jesus who took our place), then we cannot understand grace because grace is only for people who deserve God’s curse, which of course is all of us. But in order to appropriate and understand and live everyday by the grace of God, we need to understand that we actually deserve God’s curse. So, it’s astonishing to Jerry that an evangelical pastor said that his obedience earns God’s blessings, except for the fact that Jerry used to believe this himself. Grace and obedience were relative. But then how good do you have to be? In our understanding of the grace of God, we have to start with the fact that we really deserve the curse of God.

Jerry’s definition of grace: “Grace is all of God’s blessings through Christ to people who deserve His curse.” In Gal. 3:13, through Christ that we receive the blessings we don’t deserve and we don’t get the curse that we do deserve. If obedience earns God’s blessings, there’s only one person in all of history who has ever earned God’s blessings through his perfect obedience, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessings we receive do not come to us through our personal obedience; they come to us through the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we consider these blessings and as we consider living by grace, we need to consider the most important of the blessings of God’s grace, the grace of justification. In Romans 5:1, 2, Paul says, “therefore having been justified by faith we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand”.

II. Three Key Terms for Understanding Paul

In Gal. 2, the apostle Paul says we are justified not by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. There are three words we need to understand. “Justified”, “works of the law” and “faith in Jesus Christ” are three key terms to understanding what the apostle Paul is saying here.

“Justified” means to be accounted righteous by God. It is a declarative statement by God. It is not a reflection of our character one way or another. It is simply what God says about a person. God counts this person as righteous in His sight, declared righteous by God without condemnation (Rom. 8:1). We can understand why Gal. 3:10 says that no one is accepted by God through works of the law because no one except Christ has perfectly kept the law of God. Since 99 is still failure, and 99 gets us the curse of God, Paul can say, therefore, we are declared righteous by God not by works of the law.

In Gal. 3:15, 16, Paul says three times that we are justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Paul is guilty not only of repeating the same word but repeating the same thought. We’re justified not by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. He wants us to get that picture. We cannot be justified by works of the law because none of us has been perfectly obedient, but we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

How are we to understand this word “faith”? In the memoirs of the Queen of Jordan, she says that she took a leap of faith when, as a common American citizen of Arabic origin who was much younger, she married the King. She said, “I took a leap of faith and faith has richly rewarded me.” She used an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, because there is no such thing as a leap of faith. She was saying that she made a decision and hoped that it would turn out alright. That is about the furthest thing from faith that you could have.

Biblical faith is an assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things to come (Heb. 11:1). Biblical faith is rooted not in making a decision and hoping that it turns out alright, but it’s rooted in the promises of God. Faith in this context, then, means first of all, belief in the message of Jesus Christ, belief in the Gospel. When Paul says that all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, that those who trust in Jesus will be justified, that’s the gospel message. You must have the gospel message - that he lived and died in the place of those who trust in Him. And then we have to act upon that belief. Faith is not just hearing, but it involves responding to the gospel message which involves an attitude of renunciation of any confidence in our own good works. The average person in America either believes that everyone’s going to heaven or that they’re going to heaven because their good works outweigh their bad works. So, we must renounce our confidence in our own good works whatsoever.

Jerry had a difficult encounter with a man in the U.S. Air Force when he shared the gospel with him and dared to state that this man’s good works were not good enough. And he became absolutely livid, because he was so confident in his own goodness and moral uprightness. A man who has that kind of mentality cannot come to Christ. We cannot come to Christ unless we renounce our confidence in our own good works – whether it’s in our baptism, church membership, sponsoring the boy scouts troop, or whatever it might be - we must renounce our own good works. The flipside of the coin is complete reliance upon the death of Christ as payment for my sin and reliance upon his perfect obedience to be credited to me. So, it’s belief in the message and renunciation of any confidence in my own good works and reliance upon Jesus who is the subject of the message. That’s faith.

IV. How We Are Justified Through the Great Exchange

Paul says when this is true of us, when we rely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not on works of the law, we are justified. We are counted by God as being righteous. What does this look like? Visualize two ledger sheets in accounting, where we put down our debits and credits. One is mine with all of my sin from birth to death. We can think in terms of individual sins which would be incalculable with all of our life’s sins. Or, we could look at it another way. The prophet Isaiah said that even our righteous deeds are filthy rags. So what does this say about our ledger sheets? It’s our whole life of our sins.

God took the sins on our ledger sheet and charged it to Christ (Isaiah 53:6). God took our sin that filled our ledger sheet and transferred it to Jesus Christ, and he bore our sin on the tree on his own body (1 Peter 2:24). 2 Cor. 5:21, Paul says that God charged our sin to Christ. When our ledger sheet which is filled with our sin, or filled with our life, and is transferred to Jesus Christ, we are left with a clean ledger sheet. The operative word for that clean ledger sheet is the word forgiveness. Col. 2:13, 14 says that God forgave us of all our sin by canceling the record of debt, that is the big ledger sheet, and he nailed it to the cross. Jesus was made to be sin. That’s why the Bible can say to us that blessed is the man or the woman whose sin the Lord will never count against him (Romans 4:8). Think of your worst sin you committed during this calendar week, and say Romans 4:8 to yourself: Blessed is [fill in your name] whose sin of [fill in the sin] the Lord will never count against you. Do you believe that?

If you don’t see that God will not remember our sins anymore, God assures us that He has absolutely forgiven us of our sin past, present, future because Jesus paid it all for our sins. God has taken our ledger sheet that is filled with all of our sin and charged it to Christ and left us with a clean ledger sheet. But that’s not good enough!

If you go to the bank to borrow money and say that you don’t owe anyone any money and that you have a clean ledger sheet, the bank will say that’s very good, but let’s see your assets and see what you’re worth to see what your ability is to pay for this loan you want from us. Just having a clean ledger sheet is not enough. You’ve got to have a positive balance. Who has this ledger sheet? Ours is filled with sin and Christ’s is filled with obedience. The greatest testimony to the sinlessness of Christ comes from John 4:29 where Jesus says, “I always do the things that please the Father.” God sees the motives, not only the actions and words, so the motives must be perfectly pure. Jesus never had a mixed motive in his life. Perfect obedience for 33 years. It’s hard to imagine Jesus growing up in a household with many half-brothers and half-sisters who are ordinary sinners and not sin even once against them. When they’re all adults, they still didn’t believe in Him. When we’re talking about Jesus’ obedience, we’re talking about his real obedience in a real, mucky world.

God looks at our empty ledger sheet which is clean but is not enough. He takes Christ’s perfect righteousness and transfers it to me. So, now I stand before God not only with my sins forgiven, not only with my ledger sheet wiped clean, but I stand before God filled with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Phil. 3:9 says, be found in Him, not with the righteousness that is from the law but with the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is from God and is by faith. God has imputed to me the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

There’s the play on the word “justification” that means “just as if I had never sinned.” Justification means “just as if I had always obeyed.” This is even better! Not just as if I’d never sinned, but just as if I’d always obeyed! I receive the blessings that Christ earned through His perfect obedience and He got the curse that I earned. This is the gospel. This is what it means to be justified.

V. The Key to Living By Grace Today

Let’s apply this to today, Friday October 19, 2007. How can we benefit from this today? How can we live this out today? The context of Gal. 2:20 is justification, not sanctification. Verse 21 shows he’s still on that subject. Here’s how we apply this today. The second sentence in verse 20 says, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” (The sentence divisions are not inspired. We should look at the whole paragraph.) Buy the English Standard Version! In the NIV, the word “now” does not appear; it is assumed because Paul is writing in the present tense. If you have the NIV, take your pen and write in the word “now”. Paul is talking about his present-day experience. If he were with us today, he would say “the life I am now living today on Friday October 19^th, 2007, I am now living by faith in the Son of God.”

We’re facing an apparent problem: If Paul is talking about justification and justification is a point-in-time event – i.e., the moment you trusted Christ you were justified by God at that exact moment – that’s a past event. We can perhaps give an exact date when we were justified. Paul says in Romans 5:1, “having been justified by Christ, we have peace with God.” He uses it in a past tense there. Justification is a point-in-time event that happened in your past. It’s an historic event. Yet the apostle Paul in speaking about justification in Gal. 2:20 speaks of it in the present tense. He says “the life I live now I live by faith in the Son of God.” So, how do we put these two together? For the apostle Paul, justification was not only a past event, it was also a present reality. And that’s the key to living by grace. You must live in the present reality of your justification. When God pronounced you righteous in Christ, that standing will never change. The moment you trusted in Christ, you were declared righteous before God. When we die one day, we’re going to go before God and shed our sinful nature. We’re going to be made perfect, and there will be no more sin. But even in all of eternity, you will stand in the presence of God not in your perfection but in the righteousness of Christ. You will be in your experience what you are now in your standing with God, that is, perfectly righteous. But you will always stand in the presence of God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is a point-in-time event in the future.

Most people believe that their acceptance with God is based on their personal performance. That’s why this pastor of the mega-church said that he believes that his obedience earns God’s blessings. But our acceptance with the Father is based solely upon the righteousness of Christ.

The gospel fuels our Christian growth. B. B. Warfield wrote, “There is nothing in us or done by us at any stage of our earthly development that makes us acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we could never be accepted at all. This is true of us not only when we believe, it is just as true after we believe. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing, nor does the nature of our relationship to Christ, or to God the Father through Him, ever alter, no matter our attainment in Christian graces or our achievements. It is always on His blood and righteousness alone that we can rest.” That is, the blood that refers to the cross by which we’re saved, and the righteousness that has been credited to those who trust in Christ.

This is the way we learn to live by grace. We learn that our acceptance by the Father is purely on the basis of Jesus Christ.

Evangelism Explosion by D. James Kennedy has a diagnostic question: If God said to you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say? The only correct answer is, “because I’m depending on Jesus Christ”, not my works of obedience. Jesus Christ bought and paid for every answer to prayer you will ever receive. That’s what it means to live by grace. I’m still a practicing sinner. I sin every day in thought, word and deed, and more importantly, in motive. But I stand before you with my sins forgiven and my ledger sheet clean. Not only that, I stand before you clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

If that’s true, then does this affect how I live? If my performance doesn’t affect my standing, then why bother about the disciplines of the Christian life, why bother about performance, why bother about the pain of mortifying sin in my life? Jerry will answer that in the next session…

Here are the notes from Jerry’s third message. Again, I’ll be editing these once I listen to the mp3. The link between toiling in prayer and the Holy Spirit making our efforts effective was especially striking and helpful to me. Hope this message is encouraging for you, too.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”

I. Introduction and Recap

Grace is all of God’s blessings to people who deserve His curse, especially the blessing of His Son. God has credited us with the perfect righteousness of Christ. Our justification by Christ means “just as if I had never sinned”. But justification also means “just as if I had always obeyed”. What should our response to God be in light of this? It should be gratitude in which we present ourselves unreservedly to God for His disposal.

Not everyone is called to full-time ministry, but whatever profession I am in, I am to present myself to God through it and do my best because I am a servant of God. In Romans 1:1, Paul was called to be an apostle. Most Christians are called to temporal vocation, but we are still servants of Jesus Christ, and we are to fulfill our calling to the extent that we’ve experienced the grace of God.

We’ve been bought at a price. How do we put “want” into duty? Through the Gospel which gets us excited. If we want to be effective servants of Jesus Christ, we want to do what pleases God, but how do we get the power to do it? Ability is needed.

II. Looking Outside of Ourselves At All Times

Paul’s time of departure is coming. These are his last words to Timothy. Paul tells Timothy to be morally courageous in this letter. He tells him to be strengthened by the grace of Jesus Christ. Timothy is timid and fearful. Timothy is caught between two jaws: the jaw of his own temperament and personality of timidity and the jaw of his current situation which is going to get worse. 2 Timothy 3 says that difficult times are coming. How will Timothy cope in these two jaws? By the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The role of the Holy Spirit is to empower us, invigorate us. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul asked God to remove the thorn in his flesh three times. God answered, “My grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in your weakness.” Paul is saying to Timothy that he is the perfect specimen to be a recipient of God’s grace because he is timid and cannot do it on his own.

Paul said that he did not deserve to be an apostle, but he worked harder than the rest of the apostles, but not he but the grace of God that was in him. So Paul is saying to Timothy to not ask if he is adequate for the job, but to look to Christ for his strength, not to himself. He is not to believe in himself but look outside of himself for the grace that is in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Naturally speaking, he does not have the resources. The Holy Spirit will enable and empower.

We need to look outside of ourselves for our standing with God. We have to look to the perfect righteousness of Christ. In the same way, we have to look outside of ourselves for the enablement to live the Christian life. We always have to look outside of ourselves whether it is for our standing with God or for our ability to live. Most Christians look inside to their performance, and they try harder. We think we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. There is the assumption that we have the ability in ourselves to do what is needed for God.

III. How the Holy Spirit Works in Our Lives

A. Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit

There is the monergistic work of the Holy Spirit which He does by Himself without our help. Hebrews 13:20-21 says, “May God equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight. This work in us is what the Holy Spirit does in His mysterious way.

Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19. And yet, how the Holy Spirit dwells in our body is only known to God. If our body were cut open, we would not see the Holy Spirit within. Yet He is there, causing us to grow and change. He does this, and I should pray for it.

When we pray for this, it is as though we are giving the Holy Spirit a blank check. “Here’s my life, signed over to you. You fill it out. Lord, you know what I need. Would you do your work in me, whatever you desire.”

B. Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit

Synergism happens when two or more people work together. When one person asks another person for help to pick up the podium, he would move to one side of the podium to leave room for the other person to help him pick it up from the other side. The Christian life is a qualified synergism. We are not equally working together with the Holy Spirit by bringing our resources together. The Holy Spirit provides all the power while I do the work.

In Psalm 127:1 speaks of God building the house and watching over the city. But the builder and watchman are totally involved in the work of building and watching. God has to empower and enable them to build and to watch. Otherwise, they build and stay awake in vain. The watchman is totally dependent upon God. He is going to blow the trumpet, but unless God enables him, he will miss the enemy sneaking up.

These two words “building” and “watching” are two terms of the Christian life. We build by growing in our faith, and we watch against temptation and in prayer. Unless God enables us, we build and watch in vain. The Holy Spirit is the One enabling me to do what He wants.

We have a new nature within us (like a motor), but it has zero power. We are constantly dependent on the Holy Spirit for power.

C. The Principle of Dependent Responsibility

In Philippians 4:13, Paul says he learned to be content in any situation. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” The secret to contentment is dependence on the Holy Spirit who enables Paul to face whatever challenges come his way. Paul is the one being content. Paul is doing the work through Him who strengthens Paul to respond to challenges coming his way.

In Colossians 1:28, 29, Paul says that he toiled for the purpose of presenting everyone mature in Christ. He struggled with all of God’s energy that God powerfully worked within him. The word “toil” means to work to the point of exhaustion. In Colossians 2, Paul said that he had yet to meet some of the people. Therefore, he is struggling for people whom he’s never seen. Epaphroditus in Colossians 4:12 was always struggling on behalf of others.

What does it mean to struggle for people? It means to pray for them, to agonize for them. Paul was struggling in his prayers for the Colossian people. Do I struggle, toil, work to the point of exhaustion for people as I pray? Paul agonized and struggled in prayer. He was exhausted, but he did it with all of God’s energy. God’s power does not negate our efforts but makes our efforts effective. Paul did expend emotional, mental and physical energy, but what makes his toil effective and fruitful is the Holy Spirit’s power.

We are responsible, but we are dependent. This is the “Principle of Dependent Responsibility”. We cannot offload our responsibility to Christ. We trust Him to enable us to fight sin, to teach, to lead, to care, etc.

There are the two bookends in the Christian life: the bookend of our being justified by grace and the bookend of our being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The consistency between the two bookends is dependence. We are dependent upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ for our standing with God. We are dependent upon the Holy Spirit to have power to live the Christian life. We have to look outside of ourselves for the Holy Spirit’s power because my default setting is to try harder. We must learn to live by the righteousness of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We had the pleasure and privilege of hearing Jerry Bridges speak at our church retreat this past weekend. My husband and I took turns watching our two year old son who is going through selective separation anxiety , so we both got to hear two messages each. The following are the notes I took during the second message. I plan on editing these notes when I hear the messages again on mp3. But for now, here they are:

Romans 12:1-2: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

I. Introduction

If we’re standing in the perfect righteousness of Christ, then why do we need to seek to grow spiritually? In the Bible, there is the Gospel indicative of what God has done for us. Paul is basing his imperative in Romans 12:1-2 of what we have to do on the indicative of what God has done for us. But he couches verses 1 and 2 in an appeal, not as a command.

II. Definitions of Terms Paul Uses

A. “Sacrifice”:

The term “sacrifice” is borrowed from the book of Leviticus when through Moses God instructs the Israelites to make sacrifices. The first one mentioned is the burnt offering. It has two unique characteristics about it. The entire animal is burnt (except for the skinned hide which was disposed of outside of the camp). Therefore, it is called a whole burnt offering. All of the animal is consumed by fire.

Secondly, the priests rotated and offered the sacrifice morning and evening so that the fire would not go out. Therefore, it was a continual burnt offering. The purpose of the burnt offering was to make atonement for the sins of the people. The sacrifice stood for the dedication of the offerer.

Why did Paul use the term “bodies” in this verse? He is referring to the entire person. He used this word because at the time the body was not considered important, and sexual immorality was common. But Paul says in Romans 6:13, “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

B. “To Present”

To present means to put at the disposal of the one to whom you are offering. For example, when their son and daughter-in-law were going to have a baby, Jerry and Jane offered to give them their car, since the baby’s car seat could not be used in the front seat of their son’s truck. When Jerry signed over the title to their car, he gave the car over to his son legally as well as emotionally. He did not give his prior ownership of the car a second thought. In the same way, we are called to turn over the legal and emotional ownership of ourselves to God. When someone goes on a missions trip, he might say that he is totally the Lord’s. But when he returns, he might say to God that he would like to take control of the strokes of his life. This is not what Paul means when he says we are to present ourselves to God.

God is asking for the whole burnt offering, the continual burnt offering. 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Objectively, we already belong to God. God wants us to acknowledge willingly what is objectively already true.

III. Putting Desire Into Duty

Paul does not say, “This is what you ought to do.” Rather, he is using an appeal. In the book of Philemon, Paul sends Onesimus, the runaway slave who came to Christ through Paul, back to Philemon the slaveowner who also had come to Christ earlier through Paul. Paul says that he could be bold enough to command Philemon to do what is required (v.8). But for love’s sake, Paul prefers to appeal to him and sends back Onesimus to ask for mercy. Paul knew that commanding him was not the way to restore the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus.

In the same way, in Romans 12 Paul is appealing to the Romans rather than commanding them a duty. Paul desires them to do what it is their duty to do. Quiet times, prayer, missions, etc. are all part of sanctification, and Paul desires us to want to do our duty.

The question is how do we put our desire into duty? The answer is “by the mercies of God.” The word “mercy” is a synonym for compassion and pity. It is addressed usually to a person in need of forgiveness. In Luke 18:13, the tax collector prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Mercy has to do with our pitiful condition. God’s pity is reaching out to us. Grace has to do with the reason why we’re in this pitiful condition. It addresses our guilt. These two arms of mercy and grace are reaching out to embrace us and draw us to Himself.

In Romans 9, Paul had been talking about the sovereign mercy of God. Therefore, this is a continual flow in chapter 12 of the same theme. “I appeal to you, in response to the gospel, to present your bodies…” G.C. Berkouwer said, “The essence of Christian theology is grace. The essence of Christian ethics is gratitude.” When we really understand that we deserve the curse of God, then out of gratitude to Him we would want to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Jack Miller said to “preach the gospel to yourself everyday” (which is the phrase that Jerry popularized). Why do we need to preach the gospel to ourselves everyday? Because our default mode is performance. We are accepted by God on the basis of Jesus Christ. We are clothed in His righteousness. We need to affirm everyday that we belong to Jesus Christ; we are consecrated to Him. “I affirm again today that I belong to You and that I am not in control. God is in control.” Going back to the gospel keeps our cutting edge sharp everyday. Gratitude should make me want to present my body as a living sacrifice. Then we won’t say, “Why should I? What difference does it make?” We stand in the perfect righteousness of Christ because He died for me. The gospel puts desire into duty. We must never get away from the gospel.

Paul gives specific instructions to the Roman church situation in chapters 12 to 15. Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world.” If I am passive, the world will conform me to itself. Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold, Paul is saying, which happens when I am not being pro-active. Being transformed is the pro-active part. You and I cannot transform ourselves. This happens by the renewing of our minds which is something that is done to us. This is in the passive imperative.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another. Our part is to bring our minds under the renewing Word of God and the Holy Spirit will do its work. We come to have new values in our lives as we do this. We come to have God’s values as we expose our minds to His Word. Our responsibility is to come to the Word, not only to the Word of His command, but also the Word of His gospel. The Bible is made up of the Gospel and the moral will of God. Paul is exhorting us to grow in the knowledge of the Gospel (which is the engine that drives us) and the moral will of God (which is the direction the engine goes in). Then God will use this to transform us into His Son’s image. When we are excited about the gospel, we will display what is our standing with God in Christ.

The Gospel is the motivation. However, motivation is not enough. We need power. This will come in Jerry’s next message…