Christ

New study on Revival

~ pjwenzel ~ Leave a comment

Dearest friends,

Tomorrow we begin a 12 week study on “revival”…

So much of what we study in our class and in our daily Bible reading is history. The history of how men and women have interacted with their Maker, and how He has interacted with them.

These interactions have many facets, and there are a panoply of topics which have resulted from the many thousands of years we have been in relationship with our God.

But what we are most interested in tomorrow, and during the course of this study, is not solely or specifically a salvific one related to how men have a relationship with God, nor is it an apologetic one about how we know God exists, or other of like variety of studies. But rather we will be focused on how someone who is already a child of God can further deepen that familial bond, or perhaps repent and reconcile ourselves to Him when we have continued in rebellion and hidden sin.

The goal here will be to create stronger, more humble, Christians.

In order to do so, we will be looking closely at some hard facts. We will take note of who we are, who God is, the nature of our sin, and the gloriousness of the gospel.

In the course of this study I have noticed that the authors have a very practical bent. This is a good thing, and we ought not to blunt the knife of truth from tearing our crooked hearts asunder from the love of this world. However, I wish to also exhort each one of you that while we study our relationship to God, that we remember who He is, and that He is a God who does what He does for His glory and pleasure. His love for us (which will be brought up throughout the study) flows out of His character – and frankly His love for His Son, of which we are partakers and beneficiaries.

In His abundant and infinite goodness, Christ has clothed us in His own righteousness (His own meritorious work). He has died and lived for us. We owe Him everything. Therefore it is natural for us to take a season to repair and repent – and also rejoice in these realities.

I hope we do not approach this study on “revival” with fear of guilt or perhaps even zeal for something revival isn’t. Revival isn’t making Christ lord again – He has always been Lord. Your sin doesn’t displace His power and place. But it can hinder your effectiveness for Him and the blessings of being His hands and feet in this life. Revival is simply submitting yourself once again to that form of obedience you once gladly and joyfully accepted. It is allowing and desiring and praying for the Holy Spirit’s work of renewing within you. It is knowing once again that “all I have is Christ” and celebrating this fact in joy. It is remembering afresh the gospel, and spending time at the foot of the cross, only to then spend time rejoicing at the foot of the throne of the resurrected King who has conquered sin and death in you and all His chosen children.

Romans 5:8 says this: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

PJ

Ferguson on Abiding in Christ

~ pjwenzel ~ Leave a comment

Great little post out today from Sinclair Ferguson on Abiding in Christ. Check it out:

What Does it Mean to Abide in Christ?
Posted: 01 Feb 2013 03:00 AM PST

The exhortation to “abide” has been frequently misunderstood, as though it were a special, mystical, and indefinable experience. But Jesus makes clear that it actually involves a number of concrete realities.

First, union with our Lord depends on His grace. Of course we are actively and personally united to Christ by faith (John 14:12). But faith itself is rooted in the activity of God. It is the Father who, as the divine Gardener, has grafted us into Christ. It is Christ, by His Word, who has cleansed us to fit us for union with Himself (15:3). All is sovereign, all is of grace.

Second, union with Christ means being obedient to Him. Abiding involves our response to the teaching of Jesus: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you …” (John 15:7a). Paul echoes this idea in Colossians 3:16, where he writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” a statement closely related to his parallel exhortation in Ephesians 5:18: “be filled with the Spirit.”

In a nutshell, abiding in Christ means allowing His Word to fill our minds, direct our wills, and transform our affections. In other words, our relationship to Christ is intimately connected to what we do with our Bibles! Then, of course, as Christ’s Word dwells in us and the Spirit fills us, we will begin to pray in a way consistent with the will of God and discover the truth of our Lord’s often misapplied promise: “You will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7b).

Third, Christ underlines a further principle, “Abide in My love” (15:9), and states very clearly what this implies: the believer rests his or her life on the love of Christ (the love of the One who lays down His life for His friends, v. 13).

This love has been proved to us in the cross of Christ. We must never allow ourselves to drift from daily contemplation of the cross as the irrefutable demonstration of that love, or from dependence on the Spirit who sheds it abroad in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). Furthermore, remaining in Christ’s love comes to very concrete expression: simple obedience rendered to Him is the fruit and evidence of love for Him (John 15:10–14).

Finally, we are called, as part of the abiding process, to submit to the pruning knife of God in the providences by which He cuts away all disloyalty and sometimes all that is unimportant, in order that we might remain in Christ all the more wholeheartedly.

This post has been adapted from Sinclair Ferguson’s book, In Christ Alone.