Letters Of Lamech
Six years and counting of on and off blogging... current events, Christianity, fun
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Justification Brings Peace
John Bunyan tells us in Grace Abounding that he was in that condition and in an agony of soul for eighteen months. The time element does not matter, but any man who is awakened and convicted of sin must be in trouble about this. How can he die and face God? He is aware that he cannot in and of himself, and therefore he is unhappy and troubled. There is no peace; he does not know what to do with himself; he is restless. Having 'peace with God' is obviously the opposite of that. It implies first and foremost that the man's mind is at rest, and he has that rest because he now sees that this way of God, as provided in Christ, is really a way that satisfies every desideratum. Now he can see how this satisfies the justice and the righteousness and the holiness of God. He can see how in this way God can justify the ungodly, as Paul has already put it in [Romans] chapter 4. He thinks it out and he says, 'Yes, I can rest upon that; because God "justifies the ungodly" He can justify even me'.

You notice that I put this intellectual apprehension and understanding first. There is no peace between man and God until a man grasps this doctrine of justification. It is the only way of peace. And it is something that comes to the mind, it is doctrine, it is teaching. In other words we are not just told, 'All is well, do not worry. All will be all right in the end; the love of God will cover you.' That is not the Gospel. It is all stated here, in detail, in this explicit manner; and it comes as truth to the mind. The first thing that happens is that the mind is enlightened, and the man says, 'I see it. It is staggering in its immensity, but I can see how God Himself has done it. He has sent His own Son and He has punished my sin in Him. His justice is satisfied, and therefore I can see how He can forgive me, though I am ungodly and though I am a sinner.' The mind is satisfied.

You will never have true peace until your mind is satisfied. If you merely get some emotional or psychological experience it may keep you quiet and give you rest for a while, but sooner or later a problem will arise, a situation will confront you, a question will come to your mind, perhaps through reading a book or in a conversation, and you will not be able to answer, and so you will lose your peace. There is no true peace with God until the mind has seen and grasped and taken hold of this blessed doctrine, and so finds itself at rest.

-- Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Written at 8/29/2006 08:46:00 AM by Lamech.
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Monday, August 28, 2006
The Way Home
There is only one reason for our being here and that is to eliminate the enemy that has brought the war about. There is only one way to eliminate the enemy and that is to close with him. Let's all get on with the job we were sent here to do in order that we may return home at the earliest possible moment.
-- Col. James Rudder
Written at 8/28/2006 10:04:00 PM by Lamech.
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Sunday, August 27, 2006
The Sabbath Means Rest
From InternetMonk.com :
Go home. Stay home. You’re at church too much. Take some payback and take care of yourself. Take a sabbath from church.

Repeating that: Take a sabbath from church. Yes, a sabbath. God wants you to enjoy him, life, other people, maybe another church. He wants you to get your sour, guilt-ridden, manipulated, beaten down face out of that circus and save yourself.

Life will go on at church without you. If it’s a healthy church, they will support whatever will make you a better Christian. If it’s a sick church with no appreciation for what dealing with them is doing to you, attempting to explain your time away is waste of time anyway. When you return to being somewhat balanced and normal, you can explain it them, and suggest they do the same.

Find another church, or no church, or several churches. Take enough time off to find your boundaries. Stay away till that voice in your head that has all those little tapes running all the time goes away. You aren’t a bad Christian. You aren’t being selfish. You aren’t a bad witness. You aren’t letting people down. You are being a steward or your life and talents. You are answering to God, not one of his salesman.

Don’t waste this sabbath. Don’t become a worse mess. Just do it so you can remember where the line between yourself and church is. It’s there, trust me. When you promised to be a faithful member, you didn’t agree to blow yourself, your family and your faith up in the cause of a bigger megachurch or 40 Weeks of Purpose.

...

Take a sabbath from church jobs, church guilt trips, church gossip, church politics and church excuses. Enjoy God without knowing everything about what’s going on in the church and in everyone’s life. Get out of the “prayer chains” that spread church gossip, and pray for your church from a distance.

In fact, consider if you don’t need to be somewhere that understands the sabbath principle correctly; where the congregation gathers for good news, teaching and encouragement, not to keep the empire running. A church where doing nothing several nights a week is exactly the right thing to do. Think about going smaller, with less going on and all kinds of time to meet the lost, cook for them, drink with them and bowl with them. If that would scandalize your current church, it’s an even better reason to look elsewhere permanently.

Am I being too extreme? No. The current church growth, church guilt, megachurch wannabe mentality is damaging thousands and Christians. It’s messing up families and stealing years of time that isn’t coming back. It’s fostering codependency with sick church leaders who need help themselves.

God isn’t impressed. He didn’t sign on to this, and he isn’t requiring you to live like this.

OK. I'm doing it.
Written at 8/27/2006 11:24:00 AM by Lamech.
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