THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

The Gospel is not the law and the law is not the Gospel. The law demands everything, but gives nothing. The Gospel gives everything, but demands nothing. The apostle Paul was accused of being antinomian or against the law of Moses when he entered the temple (Acts 21). After his road to Damascus experience, his days as a legalist ended (Gal. 1). If we mix law & Gospel we end up with Glawspel.

The first or political use of the law is grounded in texts such as 1 Timothy 1:9, where Paul says that the law is laid down “for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane.” This use of the moral law serves to restrain sin and encourage order in a community. It is the standard according to which wise rulers are to make and enforce the laws of their nations.

The second or pedagogical (teaching) use of the law is grounded in texts such as Romans 3; 7; and Galatians 3:15–29. In Romans 3:19–20, for example, Paul explains:

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

This use of the moral law serves to convict fallen human beings of their sin and drive them to Christ as their only hope.

The third or normative use of the law is grounded in texts such as Romans 7:22; 12:2; and Titus 2:11–14. This use of the moral law serves the regenerate, not as a means of justification, but as a norm that defines the way of righteousness. Christians are to be zealous for good works. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10 that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” If we were created in Christ Jesus for good works, we must know what a good work is. The moral law provides us with our inspired and infallible definition. The culture wants to reduce ethics to a vague notion of love. Yet we’re told by the Word: “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). What are the commandments? The precepts of the moral law.

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Dr. Keith A. Matthison, "The Three Uses of the Law," Ligonier, July 2023.

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The law's third use is a guide for believers in their daily lives, not a mallet for obedience. It is meant to gently shepherd our relationships along with our neighbors, which helps us fulfill the second great commandment, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Remember, Christ Jesus has kept the first and second great commandments on our behalf. We live in that knowledge so we can be gentle with others struggling--and yes, lazy in their faith.

We dare not bring the first use into the third use, which is what I've done and so many preachers do. In other words, how do we get "lazy" Christians to obey without the law? We attempt to "zeal" them with law. What this amounts to is a complete lack of trust in the Gospel's power itself to change us. When we do this, we play God, believing we know what our people need more than God does. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation, which includes sanctification.

semper fi (always faithful) in Jesus, Jim

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY April 8, 2024

Lk. 22:44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

I remember the night we heard Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the hero of Dien Bien Phu in May, 1954, had arrived at Khe Sanh with another 20,000 NVA (Communist North Vietnamese Army) troops. If I remember correctly, we gathered in Mike's bunker as Billy, our mortar squad leader, told us the news. I sat on the dirt floor and slowly closed my eyes. It seemed as if every day to that moment, we lost another Marine to incoming, and this news overwhelmed me. We only had about 200 Marines and a few Corpsmen on our hill. How many were they going to send up after us this time? We weren't getting off this hill alive. Prayer? No. Fight and die like a Marine. That was the only option.

It would have been safer if Jesus had gone to another place that night. Judas, who had left the supper, knew this place (Jn. 18:2) and would surely tell his co-conspirators and the Pharisees where to find Jesus. This night, Jesus will face the fury of the Sanhedrin and the people who cried out at His entry into Jerusalem, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” Worse still, the ones closest to Jesus, His disciples, will be tempted to disown their Leader. But Jesus will pray for them (“Holy Father, keep them in thy name,” Jn. 17:11)..

In that single High Priestly prayer, Jesus included your name and mine. Jesus, knowing He is about to die, prayed for us in our daily bouts with traumatic stress, but I have prayed for you (here, Peter), that your faith may not fail; and you (Lk. 22:32). Christ, the Son of God, co-equal with the Father, prayed for Peter, but He prayed for us as well, even in the deep agony of His soul. Nothing less than our faith in Jesus is at stake. After Jesus' ascension who is at the right hand of God, who also (continually) intercedes for us (Rom. 8:34), along with the Spirit of Christ Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; . . . intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Rom. 8:26, 27).

But as with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4), Jesus had to pass through this "Samaria" on his way to the cross. He comes as a lamb to the slaughter, laying down His life for His sheep. He knows His Father will pour all the divine wrath toward sin on Him for the sheep, and He is in agony of soul. The disciples, weary from sorrow, slowly gave in to their weariness over the situation Jesus had laid out for them in the upper room, where they partook of the Passover meal and fell asleep.

semper fi (always faithful) in Jesus, Jim

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY APRIL 15, 20241

Conformity to the image of Christ goes hand-in-hand with traumatic stress. How so? PTSD is the pathway to growth in Jesus because it involves suffering, and Christ has left us suffering to do, or rather, to "fill up" in His absence (Col. 1:24). I want you to grasp, like I did not, the purpose of the Church.

I knew the local assembly was essential and needed to attend each Sunday and Wednesday evening. However, I was taught early in my walk with Jesus that spiritual growth came from personal, spiritual disciplines. I got up early each morning, read my Bible, and prayed. Simple. These disciplines or formations formed the nucleus of spiritual growth. Every step in Christian maturity began on the couch in my living room rather than the pew. That was a Christian axiom. Unfortunately, it's not biblical.

It's crucial for those of us who struggle with traumatic stress to learn early on not only how but also where our maturity originates. It's equally important to realize that the average church member won't understand our particular struggles, so we can learn how to live in God's organism for growth.

How does Christlikeness occur? I know what I was taught early in my walk with Jesus. You read your Bible daily--the earlier in the day, the better; you pray, you meditate on Scripture, etc. Such activities assure us of growth in Christ. Every Christian knows this. So why would I bring it up here? It's not Jesus's or His disciples' plan, despite what many in Christianity today espouse.

Listen to what the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians.

Eph. 4:1-13 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,

“When He ascended on high,He led captive a host of captives,And He gave gifts to men.”

(Now this expression, “He (Jesus) ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Our spiritual growth begins and ends with the appropriate means, v. 11, and ends, v. 12, in view. Jesus came to earth, not only to provide salvation, but to supply the means of grace for growth for the sheep. Paul desires God's people to walk in a manner worthy of the calling . . . with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. 

The question is, how? Where does humility and gentleness, patience and tolerance in love originate and how is it designated to the body?  Fair questions, all. The answer is quite simple. Grace was given by Christ in fullest measure, v. 7, and, And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, v. 11. For what purpose? for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, v. 12.

Another way of stating this is to go to church, where Christ displays His grace through the gifts He has provided if you want to grow as a Christian. Unfortunately, this is not what much evangelicalism has taught over the past centuries. Let me ask three questions I've taken from Theocast pastors John Moffatt and Justin Purdue. They brought this to my attention.

1. Can you name five spiritual disciplines? 

2. What do you believe is the most important discipline? 

3. What do you believe is the purpose of the disciplines?

Here are the typical answers.

1. To help us grow in Christ

2. To help us be more effective Christians

3. To help us meet requirements for sanctification

4. To earn God’s favor or blessing on earth

Do you remember that verb, perform? In other words, the evangelical Church has become Catholicized without knowing it. Growth is through external effort. But God has established one way of Christian maturity: through the means of grace provided by the local body of believers. What we as Christians want is a microwave-thirty-second pathway to spiritual growth. The Church takes too long. 

In this study, I aim to delve into the historical context that led to the promotion of spiritual disciplines or formations, a topic that remains relevant today. To illustrate this, I want to share with you some verses Paul wrote to the Colossian Church. These verses highlight Paul's personal struggle with the issue of spiritual disciplines in his time, a struggle that echoes in our present discussions.  

Col. 2:16-19 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

Don't ask me to tell you how to be better. Ask me to tell you how great a Savior Jesus is.

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1 Much of the material in this series of "Thoughts For The Day" are derived from notes transcribed from Theocast podcasts, Pastor Jon Moffatt, https://theocast.org/transcripts/3/. When I read these transcripts I recognized a common thread in my life as a believer struggling with traumatic stress. The churches I became members of promoted these disciplines as the most important means of spiritual growth. Going to church was one of the many ways a believer matures, as opposed to Church being the only true means of grace and maturity.

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY APRIL 19, 2024

I want to make sure that you hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying personal Bible reading, prayer, sharing your faith, etc., are of little value, so don't bother. That is the farthest thing from my mind. How else will we know Christ without reading His Word, praying, and telling others about Him? We aren't. These actions are effects of Him knowing us through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, but knowing Someone and growing in maturity to that Someone is different. 

As we have seen in Ephesians 4, God has given the Church gifts—apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers—to build up the body of Christ toward maturity. The apostles' letters are connected directly or indirectly to the Church. God expects His people to read their Bibles and pray.1 He has given the Church the means to grow them.

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1 However, it wasn't until the invention of the printing press in the middle of the 16th century A.D. that people could purchase a printed copy. Hand written copies were cost prohibitive for all but the rich. Most folks who sat in the synagogues, house and organized churches couldn't read, the priests became the only avenue for people to at least hear the Scriptures read aloud.

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We have also seen that the local churches of Paul's day promoted spiritual disciplines (Col. 2:16-19). Holding fast to the Church's Head, Christ, is critical. The problem comes when we attempt to hold fast to the Head by various means of our making. How we process 'holding fast to Christ' is crucial. The Spirit "holds us fast" to Christ. We cannot "partner" with the Spirit who "works Christ into" us. Our work for Christ is an effect of the Spirit's work in us. We call this process sanctification. 

Another way of speaking about the unfolding of Christ in the life of a believer is through self-help or spiritual disciplines. Faith, believing the preaching of the Word and beholding Christ in the elements of the Supper is not listed as a spiritual discipline even though Jesus said the only way to "work the works of God" (Jn. 6:28-29). Too many churches who preach and teach the Bible believe we are justified by faith, but sanctified by self-effort. Let us be relieved of this burden, for such performance based theology does not work, and therefore, cannot benefit someone with traumatic stress. Psychology, too, falls short in this regard.

Gal. 3:2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

We are justified or made right with God by faith. Receiving the Spirit changes everything. The gift of faith is the instrumental cause of our sanctification by faith in Jesus alone. The problem arises when we attempt to maintain our daily walk with Christ through spiritual disciplines.

III. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ.[Jn. 15:4-6; Ezek. 36:26-27] And that they may be enabled thereunto, beside the graces they have already received, there is required an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit, to work in them to will, and to do, of His good pleasure [Phil. 2:2:13; 4:13; 2 Cor. 3:5].2

Q. 89. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?

A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.3

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2 Westminster Confession of Faith; Good Works.

3 Westminster Shorter Catechism. Neh. 8:8-9; Acts 20:32; Rom. 10:14-17; 2 Tim. 3:15-17.

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So here you are, a First Responder or traumatized woman who has trusted in Jesus for salvation through the Gospel. But after saving faith or joining the "team" by faith, you continually hear coaches and team members say that to stay on the team and have the head "Coach" take a liking to you, you must perform at a certain level. And what does this cause-continual introspection. You can never rest assured that your spot on the team or your relationship with the Head Coach is secure.4 Have you done enough each day at "practice"? Have you let down on your performance, etc.? This mentality leads to the need for more assurance that you are actually on the team because of the fatiguing nature of spiritual disciplines.

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4 I played organized sports growing up. My illustration falls down very quickly. If you don't perform on the field of play, you can lose your starting position or be released from the team. I get it. That said, in Christianity, it is Jesus who chooses His players. He keeps them on His team despite the fact that they are worse than lousy players. They make egregious errors every inning. They throw their bat. They show up late for practice. Their attitude is often terrible. But because He has put that "Spark" of life within each of them--the Holy Spirit, He is over joyed at "seeing them each day" at practice. Remember David's sin of adultery and murder? What could be worse, right? Nathan the prophet confronts King David with his sin. 11This is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 Indeed, you did it (adultery & murder) secretly, but I will do this thing (the sword shall never leave your house) before all Israel, and in open daylight.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die. (emphasis added; See also Pss. 32; 38; 51.

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Another way of speaking about spiritual disciplines is by calling them a hybrid form of Christianity. Note what Quaker writer and theologian Richard Foster stated in his book Celebration of Discipline: "…inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours." Sounds orthodox. Foster continued, "God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life to receive his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us."5

Pastor Moffitt sees the fallacy of Foster's thinking: "Foster has added an element to our spiritual growth. Unless we practice certain actions, we will not be receiving the grace needed to progress in our spiritual growth. This is a perfect example of hybrid theology: mixing biblical teaching with Mystic and Jesuit practice."6 What spiritual practices does Foster promote? Simplicity, solitude, submission, and service, to name a few. We must ask, where are these concepts stated in Scripture, explicitly or implicitly?

Author Dallas Willard, another Spiritual Formation guru, wrote, "Today, for the first time in our history as a nation, we are being presented with a characteristic range of human behaviors such as fasting, meditation, simple living, and submission to a spiritual overseer, in an attractive light. Though still regarded by too few as essentials of Christian living, such practices are widely studied as possibly one important aid to being an effective Christian."7

Willard recognized that the Church has rejected such disciplines. Still, "Lectures, seminars, retreats, and books and articles on them enjoy a popularity that was utterly inconceivable fifteen years ago [emphasis added]. They are increasingly looked to as a reliable means of growth in spiritual substance toward maturity in Christ."8

From A.D. 1400 to 1977, one can find, via Google Search, about two pages of books that qualify under keywords such as “spiritual disciplines,” “formation,” and “exercise.” From 1978, when Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline, was published, one can find a book list of 27 pages on spiritual formations. 

What evangelical Christianity teaches today is not historic orthodoxy. The problem the Church faces is what "feels" normal is anything but true Christianity. Foster and Willard have become the Pied Pipers of Satan, introducing concepts the apostles never intended for the sheep to practice. Foster continues, "Today it is a rare person who has not heard the term. Seminary courses in Spiritual Formation proliferate like baby rabbits.”9

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5 Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 6.

6 Ibid, 7.

7 Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 17.

8 Ibid.

9 Richard J. Foster, Spiritual Formation: A Pastoral Letter. //web.archive.org/web/20100601012402///www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=744

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Most seminary grads and church members feel comfortable with this unbiblical methodology because it's been around for half a century. They promote it as God's message for spiritual maturity, which it is not. The faith, once and for all, delivered to the saints through the apostles and prophets, focusing on Christ and His work, has often been hidden from view. I know this from personal experience.

Many of us who struggle with PTSD will, at some future point, recognize faith will have turned into works for salvation. No rest is possible, and assurance of God's love becomes more challenging.