resolutions or sanctification

this is typically the time of year for new year’s resolutions…

it seems that every year i hear a lot about new year’s resolutions and whether or not we should make them. i think we need to look at our motivation for making these resolutions and what we are hoping to accomplish with them.

maybe you’ve found yourself in the place of making new year’s resolutions. the new year comes around and you decide this will be the year you read through the entire bible, lose those extra 15 pounds, be more diligent about sending birthday cards, attending church more regularly, and on, and on, and on. come february you find that you’re already a week behind in your reading schedule, you’re still eating like its thanksgiving, you missed sending your siblings birthday card, and have been so caught up in everything you don’t even know what your pastor is teaching on sunday mornings. in frustration and disappointment, you give up on these things entirely and resolve to do better next year.

why do we fail?  how is it that we fall behind, lose heart, become discouraged?  i think the question is motivation.  as with all things in our christian walk, we need to examine what our motivation is for doing the things we do.  maybe you overhear a co-worker mention that they are going to lose those extra pounds this year.  you think to yourself, “i’ve got a few extra pounds i could do without.  i resolve to lose them this year.”  what was your motivation?  only you can answer that.  really.  examine your heart.  better let, allow God to examine your heart.  did God by His Spirit speak this to you, knowing that it is necessary for your health to lose those pounds?  or was it just a spontaneous reaction in your flesh?

the same applies to your bible reading.  is it bad to resolve to read through the bible?  absolutely not!  but if you are doing it from the wrong motivation, it will lead to your discouragement, frustration, and leave you worse off than when you started.  why are you resolving to do this?  has the Lord been speaking to your heart, confirming through His Word, His people, and His Spirit, that you need to be more disciplined in your reading?  if so, then it would be sin for you to ignore God in this respect.

so why am i bringing up new year’s resolutions when it is only early december?  because i believe if you are going to make any resolutions for the new year, they need to be approached prayerfully and deliberately.  don’t wait until jan.1 to decide what you’re going to do better in the next year.  spend the next few weeks seeking the Lord through His Word and prayer as to what He might have you do this year.  you may even find He’ll have you start before jan.1.  maybe there will be something He will begin speaking to you that you won’t begin until mid-year.  be sensitive to His Spirit, obedient to His Word, and centered in His Truth.

i leave you with some words from charles finney.  this is an excerpt from a book i read titled, “power from on high”.

“But someone may say: “Does not the apostle exhort as follows: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure’?  And is not this an exhortation to do what in this article you condemn?”  By no means.  In the 12th verse of the second chapter of Philippians Paul says:  “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”  There is no exhortation to work by force of resolution, but through and by the inworking of God.  Paul had taught them, while he was present with them; but now, in his absence, he exhorts them to work out their own salvation, not by resolution but by the inward operation of God.  This is precisely the doctrine of this tract.  Paul had too often taught the Church that Christ in the heart is our sanctification, and that this influence is to be received by faith, to be guilty in this passage of teaching that our sanctification is to be wrought out by resolution and efforts to suppress sinful and form holy habits.  This passage of Scripture happily recognizes both the divine and human agency in the work of sanctification.  God works in us to will and to do; and we, accepting by faith His inworking, will and do according to His good pleasure.  Faith itself is an active and not a passive state.  A passive holiness is impossible and absurd.  Let no one say that when we exhort people to trust wholly in Christ we teach that anyone should be or can be passive in receiving and co-operating with the divine influence within.  This influence is moral, and not physical.  It is persuasion, and not by force.  Oh that it could be understood that the whole of spiritual life that is in any man is received direct from the Spirit of Christ by faith, as the branch receives its life from the vine!  Away with this  religion of resolutions!  It is a snare of death.  Away with this effort to make the life holy while the heart has not in it the love of God!  Oh that we would learn to look directly at Christ through the gospel, and so embrace Him by an act of loving trust as to involve a universal sympathy with His state of mind.  This, and this alone, is sanctification.”

may the Lord lead you and guide you, and cause you to be drawn closer to Him as you seek His will for you.

how would you define the emerging church?

this is something i’ve been rolling around in my head, so i figured i’d ask you…

i know its next to impossible to pinpoint exactly what the emerging church is, but in your own mind, how do you see it. when you think of the emerging church, do you think of radicals like mclaren or bell, or do you think of the church down the street from you that has an art gallery? the emerging leaders have said themselves that you can’t easily label or tag the emerging church. in fact, they say its more of a ‘conversation’ than it is a movement. ‘conversations’ will change depending on who is engaged in the conversation and what particular views they hold.

but as i’ve found myself in a few conversations lately, i’ve noticed that the way i would label the emerging church is different from others i’m conversing with. so this is a poll, a type of gather-information-from-my-blog survey, if you will. share with me your thoughts of, your views on, your perceptions about the emerging church.

oh yeah, i forgot this the first time around – happy thanksgiving!

new read (#2)

so i managed to start and finish a book without ever posting about it…

i guess its partly because i’ve been fairly busy lately, but also because i made it through the book pretty quickly. following sunday morning service, i was approached by a lady in our fellowship who asked me if i had read this book yet, which i hadn’t. she said she had an extra copy, so handed me the copy she had. you can view the book on amazon.com by clicking here. its called ‘faith undone’ by roger oakland.

i got home on sunday and started into it and didn’t put it down until i was 100 pages in. just so you don’t think i’m some kind of super-reader, i’ll tell you right now i’m not. in fact, i’m notorious for dragging books out over a month or more. somehow, though, this book really grabbed my attention. why? well, i guess this is where i should tell you one reason it took me so long to make it through the josh mcdowell book. i was two-timing josh. yes, i admit. while i was reading his book, i was also reading another book. you’ve probably heard of it. its called ‘the emerging church’ by dan kimball. sorry, josh.

but seriously, i just finished that book a week ago and immediately following was given this roger oakland book. and just to clarify, i wasn’t reading the dan kimball book because i’m thinking of entering the ‘emergent conversation.’ i’ve found myself in the past months in several conversations about the emerging church and felt that i was really lacking in my ability to speak intelligently about it, since i didn’t know exactly what it was about. reading dan’s book helped me understand a little more about the emerging approach.

alright, i digress. enough about dan’s book. back to ‘faith undone.’ i won’t get into the details here due to lack of space, but i would say if anyone is flirting with the idea of entering into the emergent conversation, they should definitely put ‘faith undone’ in their reading list. study up on the emerging church, see what they’re about and what approaches they take. maybe even read some books by dan kimball or brian mclaren, but follow them up with this book. have i stressed that enough? good.

as always, your comments are welcomed.