Identities of a Christian Pilgrim in a Fallen World, Part 2

11. I am fighting for joy as I face trials of many kinds. It is important for me to realize that earth is not heaven, so when living on earth seems unbearable it is merely making the many joys of heaven appear sweeter to me. No believer experiences a trial-free Christian life on this planet. Therefore, I see a need to fight for joy relentlessly in order to keep my desire transfixed on God and the reality of my future redemption constantly before me. "The fight for joy in Christ... is a fight for strength to live a life of self-sacrificing love. It is a fight to join Jesus on the Calvary road and stay there with Him, no matter what. How was He sustained on that road? Hebrews 12:2 answers, 'For the joy that was set before Him [He] endured the cross, despising the shame.'" - John Piper. (Hebrews 12:2)

12. I am trusting in God, not in my faith. My faith in God is a gift of His grace. Yet the gifts have imperfections. There are still times when, like doubting Thomas, I cry out to my Lord, "I believe! Help my unbelief." I display woeful inconsistency in my ability to trust Him to work out each detail of my life. If my faith were in my faith instead of in my God, I would be a goner. Yet He is a never-changing God. "Never try to arouse faith from within. You cannot stir up faith from the depths of your heart. Leave your heart, and look into the face of Christ." - Andrew Murray. (Mark 9:24; Ephesians 2:8-9)

13. I am representing Christ to this broken world. When someone who is not in Christ sees me and knows that I am a Christian, I reflect an imperfect picture of a perfect Christ to that person. Hence, I have a great need to live blamelessly and above reproach so that it gives Christ a good name to those around me. "Service in the name of Christ isn't a proof of salvation. ... Saying you represent Christ is not enough. I'll tell you, there are a lot of people who say they represent Jesus Christ, but when their life gets exposed, you ask the question... do they? Just because you say you do doesn't mean you do. Just because you preach Christ doesn't mean you really know Christ. There have been a lot of people, false people, preaching a true message, right?" - John MacArthur. (Matthew 7:14, 1 Timothy)

14. I am a tool in the hand of my God, like clay in the hand of a Potter. But the end is not in being used for something "great"; the end is Him. He will use me for what He will. "Don't overestimate yourself; glorify God. Don't think, 'That couldn't happen to me.' You're a clay pot. A clay pot could be discarded in a second. In and of yourself, no value. But the fact that God has placed the treasure in you gives you value and worth beyond compare. That's totally, totally tied into the treasure you have in Jesus Christ." - Larry Smith, "A Treasure in a Clay Pot". (Isaiah 64:8)

15. I am enjoying the Provider more than the provisions. When the provisions don't come, that cannot shake my faith or my joy. God has not promised me prosperity or guaranteed that I will have everything that I think I need. He knows what I really need and will provide for it in the time that He sees fit. And if He gives me much in the eyes of the world, chances are that I will not be able to enjoy Him because the things that He has allowed me to have will have stolen my affections. If He gives me only my daily bread - a dangerous prayer! - then He teaches me daily dependence on Him and a greater degree of trust in Him as my Father. "Money can’t give you any of the things you ultimately need. It can’t make you holy. It can’t make you righteous. It can’t save you from your sins. Wealth is a sign of blessing, but it’s also one of your biggest temptations because it entices you to boast in yourself." - Kevin DeYoung. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

16. I am sensitive to the sinfulness of my sin. Becoming a Christian means that the Lord has brought me to a point of realizing the sinfulness of my sin against a holy God and has granted me repentance from that sin - repentance, not to switch to another sin but to leave all sins and run hard after Christ. The Lord progressively increases my sensitivity to sin, and there are times when He makes me so aware of my sinfulness that my sinlessness in heaven attracts me more greatly than even the chance to continue living life in this world. "But in a sense, when a Christian sins / It's more sickening than sins of wicked men (why?) / 'Cause we've tasted His goodness as recipients of grace / So every time we sin, it's like we're spitting in His face." - Timothy Brindle, "The Sinfulness of Sin". (Romans 7:24-25; 1 John 3:6)

17. I am denying myself daily. Christ lives in me. He has taken all of me. This leaves no room for myself anymore. So self-denial follows from that. John Piper defines this in terms of Mark 8:35 as Jesus' saying, "What I mean is - My disciples, My loved ones - lose your life in the sense that you lose everything but Me. 'Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.' Die to the world. Die to prestige, die to wealth, die to sinful sex, die to cheating to get ahead, die to the need for people to approve you. Die, and have Me." (Luke 9:23; Galatians 2:20)

18. I am pointing my enjoyment of creation back to the Creator. I find "self-esteem", "self-fulfillment", "self-actualization", and so on to be idolatry. The answer to this is not to complain to God about how He made me, but to take a Biblical view of myself. Yes, in spite of my flaws, the Lord made me in His image, fearfully and wonderfully. But His glory far surpasses mine. I am, by far, not the most glorious human on the earth. The creatures on this earth are not as glorious as those in Heaven. Yet the creatures in glory never go on an ego trip. As holy as they are, they continue to play their part in praising the Creator: "All Thy works shall praise Thy name / in earth, and sky, and sea." - Reginald Heber. (Psalm 139:14; Romans 1:25)

19. I am becoming sanctified in stewardship. Rather than telling me to use my income to support an endless pursuit of the American Dream, the Lord is making me more aware of the needs of the global body of Christ and how materially rich I am as an American. At the same time, I wonder how the vast majority of American Christendom - who pursue these treasures that will pass away - will pass through the needle's eye. "My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is going to take me to himself. To live is Christ and to die is gain. I'm here on earth to spread the gospel. I'm going to keep my life as wartime as I can in order to maximize my effect for showing Jesus as valuable, not things as valuable." - John Piper. (Matthew 19:24)

20. I am hoping in the second Adam, though I am of the first Adam's race. Since the first Adam brought sin into the world, I must leave sin - and self - in order to follow the Lord; a lifestyle of sin has no place in His kingdom. Praise God that there is a second Adam, a perfect replacement for the fallen first one! "We are like Adam now in weakness and pain, and we shall soon be like him in death, returning to the ground whence we were taken; but we shall rise again to a better life, and then we shall wear in glory and incorruption the image of the second Adam. Conceive the beauties of the risen Redeemer. .... We shall behold His glory, we shall be with Him where He is, and we shall be ourselves glorious in His glory. Is He exalted? you also shall be lifted up. Is He a King? you shall not be uncrowned. Is He a victor? you also shall bear a palm. Is He full of joy and rejoicing? so also shall your soul be filled to the brim with delights. Where He is every saint shall be ere long." - Charles Spurgeon. (Romans 5)

17 Things To Be As a (Future) Husband.

"Finally, pray less that God would show you who is the right husband or wife and pray more to be the right kind of spouse. Dump your list of seventeen things you need in a husband/wife and make yourself a list of seventeen things you need to be as a wife or husband."

- Kevin DeYoung.

Recently, I reread one of my favorite books, Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung, in its entirety. Having been in a courtship for most of the past year and not knowing which way it will go, now is a good time for me to fill out what I must be. I have also been reading John Piper's Report on His Leave of Absence (http://desiringgod.org/blog/posts/john-pipers-report-on-his-leave-of-absence) and trying to incorporate that into my list.

1. I must be continually abiding in Christ and satisfied in Him. Romantic love is not to be my ultimate source of satisfaction. Christ must be. If I become obsessed with what a woman thinks of me, even if it is my wife, I am actually committing the sin of idolatry before a holy God. Not to mention, it will drive me insane. I know this from my courtship.

2. I must be obedient to the commands of Scripture. This only includes full obedience, because partial or delayed obedience is disobedience. I must be willing to risk rejection by the world and take risks for the sake of the gospel.

3. I must have a good and regular spiritual diet, using the Bible most of all but also doctrinally sound Christian books. Books, I have found, are amazing sources of wisdom. I must read Scripture both systematically and to specific passages, as the Lord leads.

4. I must be constantly aware of my own inadequacies and failures and not be self-righteous. An asawa would do much to show me about my own failings before God and before her and expose my imperfections. Being binata at the moment, no particular person can clue me in to my own failures to the same level that an asawa can.

5. I must be a capable provider who can always have or readily find good work to provide for my asawa and the kids. In providing for them, I must realize that my asawa must have a husband and my children must have a father. Work must never take the top priority in my life.

6. I must be consistently loving and compassionate to my asawa in words, actions, and truth. She will not always like me, and I will not always like her. But I must love her at all times, and she needs to know that. She needs to know that my love, romantically speaking, is only for her and for no one else.

7. I must seek wise counsel from my asawa and from my kuyas and ates in the faith in order to make wise decisions. Although God has called me to biblical headship and will ultimately hold primarily me (not her) responsible for the family that (God willing) He will eventually entrust to me, He has given my asawa a brain too. I am to see her as a helpmeet. And I am to see fellow Christians as people who can help me and who I can help.

8. I must be a consistent student of her language and culture. This includes regular study of Tagalog and being aware and respectful of cultural differences between the US and the Philippines. My goal regarding Tagalog is to eventually make her and me comfortable using either Tagalog or English in the home, so that language is not a barrier. However, I must not see our cultures as the rule in our home. We must give Scripture full authority in our lives and not do things just because our cultures say so if the Bible speaks convincingly to the contrary.

9. I must be disciplined in regards to my body. This means I must have self-control over my eyes and my sexuality. I must also have good exercise habits and a disciplined, healthy diet in order to look physically attractive to my asawa. I should not expect her to make an effort to be beautiful while I let my body go to corpulent, couch-potato waste.

10. I must give entertainment its proper place in life. The average American spends several hours each day watching television. The vast majority of television shows are terrible for me spiritually, and even what is good must have its proper balance. I must determine to not live and die according to how my sports teams are doing.

11. I must choose my words carefully when speaking to her, when speaking to others, and when I am alone. My tongue leads me into so much sin. I often sound uncaring with my words and must make sure that I do not damage others by what I say. If I correct someone, it should be obvious to them that I give them hard words because I love them, not for the sake of being hard. Although known among my friends for doctrinal correctness, I can't be known as critical or exacting. God has forgiven me of much. I must forgive others as He has forgiven me.

12. I must be gracious when people do nice things for me and understanding of their good intentions when they do something kindly that does not ultimately please me. I must repay them for their kindnesses based not grudgingly on a debtor's ethic but based joyfully on the kindness and mercy that God has shown me in redeeming even me.

13. I must meditate frequently on the promises of God and must hope in Him. Ultimately, this includes His redeeming me from the presence of sin. I must make others aware of that redemption - for God's glory and for my joy in that glory.

14. I must worship God as much as possible, with a great deal of passion, faith, and understanding. This includes both public and private worship. He must be my first love.

15. I must be living in community with other believers and seeking godly fellowship. My natural tendency is to withdraw. I am alone when I write. But staying alone all the time is not good for me. I need face time with my friends more than one day a week. And it is important to pray for them and with them. This will permit me to be more caring toward them and seek to please God in this sphere of life.

16. I must make my decisions regarding life with an eye toward my future asawa and future generations. I must be a wise steward of what God has given me, giving regularly to my local church and international missions efforts and avoiding unnecessary purchases and debt. I must consider the long-term effect of decisions related to my career, family life, and ministry, making decisions with my future asawa in mind.

17. I must have a "women and children first" attitude in regards to protecting them. This involves self-sacrifice and willingness to put myself in danger ahead of any woman or child. And this still applies to me even though I don't have an asawa or children right now.

Ah, after writing this, I wish there were, in fact, only 17 things that I had to be!

Godly Fellowship, Part 10: Some Closing Meditations.

"After the show, after the set, after the music stops, what's next?
Will there be fellowship, prayer, disciples, will you open your Bibles after the music stops?
After it’s over, after it ends, after the music stops, what then?
Will you understand that Christ is King?
Or will you just like the words we sing after the music stops?"
- Lecrae, "After the Music Stops"

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"The fellowship of the church is part of God's good news to men. It imparts to the gospel one of its most thrilling notes—that when Christ saves a man He not only saves him from his sin, He saves him from his solitude."
- Frank Colquhoun, Total Christianity

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"[O]ur thoughts and words and feelings concerning our fellow men are His test of our humility towards Him."
- Andrew Murray

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²⁰"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one as We are one: ²³I in them and You in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. ²⁴"Father, I want those You have given Me to be with me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because you loved Me before the creation of the world. ²⁵"Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. ²⁶I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them."
- John 17:20-26

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"In and of itself, your longing for acceptance isn't a bad thing; God, in fact, created you for acceptance. This longing, however, was meant to be satisfied by God alone. But because of sin, we look to things smaller than God for it - things incapable of providing this infinite approval we crave. Your deep longing for acceptance can only be satisfied when you're accepted by the One Who made you for Himself. If you embrace what Christ has done on the cross for sinners, you're in! Your infinite hunger for approval will be forever satisfied, because you'll be unchangeably accepted by the only One Who offers eternal acceptance. You'll no longer have to depend onfinite things like your size, your stuff, or your smarts to get you in so that your life will matter. Once you understand that in Christ you're accepted by God, you're free and empowered to live unfashionably, because you won't need the acceptance of the world around you. You won't care if you're in with them, because you'll already be in with Him."
- Tullian Tchividjian, Unfashionable.

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"O Lord, we honor you for the gifts you have given in our churches - all of these men and women of whom the world is not worthy. And if we could do just a small part in our small days to be another stone - another living stone - in Your building, we would be thrilled with that - as long as we are built on the cornerstone."

- Kevin DeYoung.

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"You know, I have talked to so many old missionaries - seen them in nursing homes, seen them buried.... I have never in my life heard a missionary that regretted that he gave so much or that he invested too much in eternal things! But I have met countless men who have regretted investing everything in this world. You want to live for that which is profitable. Listen: Every Bible study, every bit of prayer, every Godly fellowship, every sitting under Biblical preaching is an investment in eternity. ... Everything lost for the sake of Christ is not lost at all! Everything kept outside of His name is lost! We shouldn't live as fools but should live as wise. We should walk circumspectly, knowing that time is fleeting, strength is fleeting, physical beauty is fleeting, wealth is fleeting; it's all fleeting. But he who does the will of God abides forever."

- Paul Washer, “Things Applicable for God’s Servants”

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"We also tend to worry [too much] about being good examples to the outside world... We ought to also concern ourselves with being examples to our brothers and sisters in Christ. How my life has benefitted from examples! I have known men and women who glowed with Christ. What an example they have been to me! The greatest thing I could do for the world: if I could just somehow bring them all onto one platform and just let you look at them - the glory, the kindness, the love, the knowledge! And I need them! ... We ought to surround ourselves with godly men and women who are alive, and with godly men and women who are dead - because though they are dead, they still speak."

- Paul Washer, “Things Applicable for God’s Servants”

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“Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.”

- Jonathan Edwards.

Godly Fellowship: Part Two: It All Goes Back to Day One.

“‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ He said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.’

”Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’”

- Genesis 22:12-14

As Tedashii says in his song "Hollywood", did you not find it beautiful to "look behind the bush to see the Ram"? This refers to a picture in the book of Genesis of salvation - the most important thing in the Christian life! As believers, it is important to keep in mind what we were saved from and whose sake we were saved for.

We do not need a Savior because having one will make all of life’s problems magically disappear. (If anything, Christianity can introduce whole new sets of problems to one’s life.) We need Christ because of how utterly depraved and lost we are without Him. Someone had to die in my place. Only Christ could.

Without His saving grace, I would be a God-hating, greedy, covetous, lustful, idolatrous wretch, sentenced to the worst torment in hell. And without His common grace, I might have become the wickedest man alive. I had “stumbled in one point of the Law”, and actually in many; so I was “guilty of all” (James 2:10). But God, being infinitely rich in mercy, determined in eternity past that He would declare me “not guilty”, looking on His Son Jesus and pardoning me. I cannot say that He, sentimentally, “saw anything good in me that made Him love me”. There was nothing good whatsoever. Christ would have thrown out my nicest deed ever as filthy in His sight. I had to turn from sin and self and throw myself upon Him to be saved.

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"We should aim to speak as in the sight of God. We are to ask ourselves not, 'what did the people think of me?', but, 'what was I in the sight of God?'"

- J. C. Ryle (note: in his sermon, his original context was preaching; however, this is still good advice for any of us as believers.)

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“My dear friend, everybody wants to go to heaven. They just don’t want God to be there when they get there. The question is not do you want to go to heaven. The question is this. Do you want God? Have you stopped being a hater of God? Has Christ become precious to you? Do you desire Him?”

- Paul Washer, “Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church in America”

This leads me to another question: How can I even consider someone else to be a believer if they have an apathetic, “Yeah, I did that”, view of their “salvation”? If someone sees nothing beautiful, nothing mind-blowing about the High King of Heaven – the universe’s ultimate Authority, who has no flaws at all and cannot accept sin in His Kingdom – sending His only Son to die in their place, so that He could declare them not guilty – has the Holy Spirit even done a work in them?

This goes back to a point Shai Linne made about the definite nature of Christ’s atonement; he said he believes in that because it ensures that not one drop of Christ’s blood was shed in vain. I would like to connect this to the work of the Holy Spirit. Suppose Christ comes in to one person’s life and the Spirit changed everything in their life. They stop getting drunk, get much better at loving other Christians, have a voracious appetite for Scripture, and want to grow spiritually as much as they can. Then suppose that Christ allegedly “came in” to somebody else’s life and the Spirit changed nothing at all. In fact, the second person only comes to church on Christmas and Easter to make an appearance; the rest of the year, they put work and hobbies above anything related to Christ. They never read the Word or seek any kind of fellowship with other Christians. And they’re still in love with all of the sins that they loved committing prior to “praying their prayer”.

Is the second person saved? The book of 1 John says plainly that they probably never were. And most people in America that claim the name of Christ, including most people that fill the pews, serve, and even preach in American churches, fall into that category.

So, then, going back to godly fellowship: it can’t be with just anybody. If you are a true believer in Christ – which means that 1 John describes you as a “child of light” – then you cannot have true “godly fellowship” with a non-believer or with someone who says they are saved but displays no interest in the things of God. This is why I find it so easy to have good godly fellowship with some people in my churches, but trying to have it with others is like running the Iditarod with a team of dead sled dogs. Although I am not the ultimate Judge of who is going to be saved, and some people who appear godly are “inwardly ravenous wolves”, the Word of God says that believers are known by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-16).

Realizing this has an impact on who I consider to be my close friends. To a believer, spiritual things are of the highest importance. So a close friendship with a non-believer could involve evangelism, but not kinship. But a close friendship with a believer would be between siblings in Christ.

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“ ³At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

- Titus 3:3-8

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"Daily discipleship is not a new revolution each morning or an agent of global transformation each evening; it's a long obedience in the same direction."
- Kevin DeYoung, Why We Love the Church

We must always live with that in view, and we must interact with each other with that in view – as we seek to progress from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. Do not be content to remain a baby. To remain a baby for twenty years in a human body would be a medical absurdity. With that in mind, babies do not learn to walk or run without help. Their parents, or others that can demonstrate what they need to learn, teach them. In the same way, we still need to be taught in matters of the faith. And hence, God has given us brothers and sisters in Him – to instruct us in the theory and the practice of showing off the glory of Christ in every area of life.

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“In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
Thy being and Thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor even the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part!

“Praise in the common words I speak,
Life’s common looks and tones,
In fellowship in hearth and board
With my beloved ones;
Not in the temple crowd alone
Where holy voices chime,
But in the silent paths of earth,
The quiet rooms of time.

“Fill every part of me with praise;
Let all my being speak
Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord,
Poor though I be, and weak.
So shalt Thou, Lord, from me, even me,
Receive the glory due;
And so shall I begin on earth
The song forever new.

“So shall each fear, each fret, each care
Be turned into a song,
And every winding of the way
The echo shall prolong;
So shall no part of day or night
From sacredness be free;
But all my life, in every step
Be fellowship with Thee.”

- Horatius Bonar, “Fill Thou My Life”