Habit Training: The Path to Maturity in Christ

Do we really do habit training at Clapham? It is undeniable that some clear effect is gained; observing a Clapham classroom is an altogether different experience from any other school. Yet it is also true that the methods we employ in habit training are often not what immediately comes to our minds when we hear the phrase ‘habit training’. This is in large part due, no doubt, to the reality that incredibly few of us have actually been trained by a healthy version of it. I certainly did not!
However, there is another reason: the under-cover character of much habit training. You see, habit training is not to be isolated from the rest of the learning process that goes on at Clapham. It is secretly lurking throughout all our subjects as we facilitate their interaction with living ideas. The intellectual and moral power of distinguishing between good and evil—and loving the good—is a natural twin of habit training. And both have the ultimate goal of maturity. The writer of Hebrews implies as much in an aside to his readers in 5:11-14:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

At Clapham we are endeavoring, by the constant use of all knowledge in a morally committed way, to train our students to distinguish good from evil, in order that they might grow up into maturity and not remain infants. In spiritual terms maturity does not come naturally; time itself will not bring it as a matter of course. An education, defined as the coupling of spiritual interaction with living ideas and habit training, is the thing that is suited to that purpose in the life of the Christian child.

Rembrandt van Rijn's "The Return of the Prodigal"

“Rembrandt van Rijn was the greatest Dutch artist of his time, and ranks as one of the master-painters of the world. He worked within the pious Protestant ethos of the 17th-century Netherlands, yet his art has a rare universal quality that is capable of appealing to all men and women,” opens Douglas Mannering’s The Art of Rembrandt.
Thus far we’ve been studying for Picture Study in my class at Clapham one of his most well-known and celebrated biblical paintings, “The Return of the Prodigal,” which portrays the touching moment from Jesus’ parable when the wayward son is clasped by his loving, waiting father, even as the elder brother and servants look on. While it is not how many of us might have pictured the scene, Rembrandt’s vision is undeniably vigorous in its expression and its message must have been powerfully felt by Rembrandt himself.
John Durham provides moving a moving interpretation from the perspective of faith in his book The Biblical Rembrant: “it is the father’s face that is the heart of this painting: a face of such compassion and tenderness, a face suffused with so much relief mingled with love, a face glowing with a transcendent light.”

Elementary English Composition

At Clapham School I am using this as our textbook for teaching composition. This marvelous composition course of study published in 1902 is no idle compilation. Written by Fred Newton Scott, Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Michigan, and Joseph Villiers Denney, Professor of Rhetoric and English Language in Ohio State University, this is a textbook that has been rigorously and painstakingly planned out. EEC aims to build great writers on a solid and comprehensive foundation, beginning with overviews of oral and written composition, proceeding to description, narration, explanation and argument both oral and written.
The preface explains its unique methodology, which beautifully complements Clapham’s reliance on Charlotte Mason’s pedagogy: “the indifference of the pupils to their English composition is due in part to the isolation of written from spoken discourse. The artificial separation of two things which naturally belong together takes the heart out of both of them. Hence we find in the schools writing that is feeble and impersonal, and oratory that is flamboyant and insincere. That the simple utterances of daily desires and needs are as truly compositions as the most labored essays, that essays are best when they are the simple utterance of daily desires and needs, are lessons which pupils, if they have not already learned them, cannot learn too early in their secondary education.” Scott and Denney have laid out a plan to raise the level of all of students’ discourse, so that composition becomes for them as natural as life itself.

Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism"

Alexander Pope represents one of the greatest poets of the period known as the Restoration, as well as the Eighteenth Century. His work stands at the pinnacle of a whole classical tradition of poetry, shortly before the Romantic period subverts almost everything that came before it. At Clapham School our class is navigating that transition this year by studying Pope for the first half, and following up with William Wordsworth for the second.
Pope's "An Essay on Criticism" is a poem on a grand scale, an essay of heroic couplets in fact, reaching the length of 18 pages in Times New Roman font on a Word Document. Pope boldly and humorously criticizes the critics and scholars of his day. At the same time, he presents a whole philosophy of what makes for good poetry, good criticism, good sense, and good art.
We've been memorizing the first 3 paragraphs in class, and I've been quite pleased with how much the students have grown in their ability to understand Pope, as we've studied this poem. Take a moment to read through the first three paragraphs and see what you can make of it:

'Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill,
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence,
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense:
Some few in that, but Numbers err in this,
Ten Censure wrong for one who Writes amiss;
A Fool might once himself alone expose,
Now One in Verse makes many more in Prose.

'Tis with our Judgments as our Watches, none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
In Poets as true Genius is but rare,
True Taste as seldom is the Critick's Share;
Both must alike from Heav'n derive their Light,
These born to Judge, as well as those to Write.
Let such teach others who themselves excell,
And censure freely who have written well.
Authors are partial to their Wit, 'tis true,
But are not Criticks to their Judgment too?

Yet if we look more closely, we shall find
Most have the Seeds of Judgment in their Mind;
Nature affords at least a glimm'ring Light;
The Lines, tho' touch'd but faintly, are drawn right.
But as the slightest Sketch, if justly trac'd,
Is by ill Colouring but the more disgrac'd,
So by false Learning is good Sense defac'd.
Some are bewilder'd in the Maze of Schools,
And some made Coxcombs Nature meant but Fools.
In search of Wit these lose their common Sense,
And then turn Criticks in their own Defence.
Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write,
Or with a Rival's or an Eunuch's spite.
All Fools have still an Itching to deride,
And fain wou'd be upon the Laughing Side;
If Maevius Scribble in Apollo's spight,
There are, who judge still worse than he can write.

The Armor of God: How to Put God's Armor on

This is the sixth and final segment in my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God", delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.

III. How to Put God's Armor on

Well, this leaves only one question to be answered, that Paul goes on to make clear for us. And that question is, how do we put this armor on? If it is really God's armor, how does this get applied to us in our daily lives? How do we put on Jesus' armor, with all its various pieces? Look with me at Paul's answer to this in verses 18-20.

(Eph 18-20) "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."

The chief way that we are to invest ourselves with God's armor, to put it on, to strap on all the various pieces, is to pray it on. Pray on the armor of God. This is mystical, spiritual armor that we have been talking about, and the only way to put it on is by something as mystical as prayer. There's no five-step method for putting on God's armor. It doesn't work that way. You must pray on God's armor. So Paul gives us four instructions about how to pray on God's armor: 1. Pray in the Spirit Always, 2. Keep Alert with all perseverance, 3. Make Supplication for All the Saints, 4. Pray for the Advance of the Gospel.

1. Pray in the Spirit Always

Paul tells us to pray at ALL times in the Spirit, with ALL prayer and supplication, in order to emphasize the fact that there is no time when prayer is not essential. All days, all hours, all moments are evil, and therefore we should always be praying in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need always to be relying on his strength and not our own, because it is only in HIS might and on the basis of HIS victory that we will be able to withstand the onslaught. Pray in the Spirit always.

2. Keep Alert with all perseverance

Think of the disciples, who could not watch with Christ and pray one hour, but fell asleep. Aren't you grateful that Jesus stayed awake, even when his disciples did not, so that we might be able to follow his example rather than theirs. If they couldn't stay awake, how can we? Unless the Lord by His Spirit gives us supernatural resources of alertness. May we be found on our knees and not on our backs when the hour of testing comes. Do not let the evil day find you in spiritual slumber, but awake and watchful. Keep alert with all perseverance

3. Make Supplication for All the Saints

Jesus knows the liberating joy of praying for others right in the midst of our own evil day. Remember how moments before his own betrayal he said to Peter, "Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail." There is a steadying in our faith that comes when we pray for others. It leads us out of being consumed with ourselves, and at the same time it applies to ourselves the very things that we are able to pray with so much more surety for others. Make supplication for all the saints.

4. Pray for the Advance of the Gospel

When we pray for the advance of the gospel, we get a vision for the bigger picture. It is hard for a soldier to man his post with watchfulness when he does not see the big picture of the war he is fighting in. We should often remind ourselves of the great advances of the gospel all around the world, and we should pray for the furtherance of God's purposes for the whole universe, in addition to their furtherance in our own heart. Pray for the advance of the gospel.

I'd like to close with a quote from Kent Hughes, the former Senior Pastor of College Church. He explains the importance of prayer for the spiritual battle we're in in this way at the beginning of the chapter on Prayer from his classic book, Disciplines of a Godly Man. Speaking of this passage from Ephesians he writes:

"The Scriptural setting for the classic text on petitionary prayer could scarcely be more dramatic -- it is a soldier preparing for battle. His heart pounds ka-thump, ka-thump under his metal breastplate. As he steadies himself, he hitches up his armor belt and scuffs at the earth like a football player with his studded boots, testing his traction. He repeatedly draws his great shield across his body in anticipation of the fiery barrages to come. Reflexively he reaches up and repositions his helmet. He gingerly tests the edge of his sword and slips it back into his scabbard.

"The enemy approaches. Swords pulled from their scabbards ring in chilling symphony. The warriors stand motionless, breathing in dreadful spasms.

"And then the believing soldier does the most astounding thing. He falls to his knees in deep, profound, petitionary prayer."

Kent Hughes is right. In a battle, not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil, nothing makes more sense in the evil day than to pray. Let's do just that now.

The Armor of God: How to Fight God's Enemies 2

This is the fifth segment in my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God", delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.

1. Belt of Truth

So then, buckling on the belt of truth is not first and foremost about trying harder not to tell lies. It's about Jesus living a life of perfect truth-telling, to the point of making the good confession at his trial that led to his crucifixion. It is about believing Jesus who is the Truth, and trusting his work in rescuing you from the Father of Lies who once held you captive as his child, so that lying was your natural language. Someone who is fastening on the belt of truth will certainly become more truthful, but in gratitude and because of a new nature, not just by trying harder.

2. The Breastplate of Righteousness

And having put on the breastplate of righteousness, then, is not about gritting your teeth into being more strictly fair with people. It's about getting the very righteousness of Christ that he wore throughout his earthly ministry. It's about his righteousness being reckoned to you by faith, and now serving to protect you from any spear-thrusts of accusation that the devil might throw at you. Pleading Jesus' perfect righteousness there is not a flaw in your armor that the enemy could exploit. Certainly you will become more righteous by putting on his righteousness, not least of which because you will have ceased trying to justify yourself through your own feeble efforts.

3. Shoes of Gospel Readiness

Slipping on the shoes of gospel readiness is not first about carrying tracts in your back pocket so that you'll be ready to share the gospel at the grocery store. It's about accepting the fact that Christ has made peace between man and God, that he has ended the war between you and God. No longer are you forced to fight on the devil's side! Of course, the joy of this fact will lead you to ready to snatch others out of bondage in any way that you can.

4. Shield of Faith

Taking up the shield of faith is not mainly about protecting yourself against the evil day by your positive attitude. It's not about manipulating your emotions or beliefs. It's about having a sure and certain hope that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is about your faith in God's promises, God's work, God's love extinguishing the flaming arrows of the evil one that would set any other defense on fire. Only the shield of faith will not be set on fire when Satan tempts you with either pride or despair.

5. Helmet of Salvation

Placing on your head the helmet of salvation is not first and foremost about telling yourself you're saved over and over again. It's not about looking back to that climactic salvation experience that you had. It's about the fact that Jesus took off the helmet of salvation, and received instead the crown of thorns, so that we might put on the helmet of the salvation that he accomplished for us. And if we have a God that did that for us, how will he not also continue the process of salvation that he began in us, until that last great day when we are saved to sin no more, to no more experience death or crying or pain.

6. Sword of the Spirit

And finally, arming ourselves with the only weapon in this list, the sword of the Spirit, is not entirely about my memorizing hundreds of different Bible verses, in order to shout them at the devil every time he comes at me. It's mainly about Jesus, the true embodiment of Israel, spending 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, hearkening back to the 40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness. And it's about this same Jesus when the devil came to tempt him in his evil day, rebuking the devil with all authority with three powerful quotations from Deuteronomy. It's about Jesus going forward on our behalf to fight on the ultimate evil day, the cross, 2000 years ago, in the power of the Spirit, with every word of his having been the very words of God, shouting forth on the cross from the Scriptures that foretold his suffering and death, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" And then, "Into your hands I commit my Spirit." And so on the basis of his victory over Satan, sin, and death, the victory of the Word who was God and who was in the beginning with God, we can now take up his sword, the Word of God, to battle against our defeated foe.

The Armor of God: How to Fight God's Enemies 1

This is the fourth segment in my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God", delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.

II. How to Fight God's Enemies

Proclaiming the gospel is only one of the ways that we take on God's enemies, and so Paul goes on to fill in more detail for us about how to fight God's enemies in the next section. How does each piece of God's armor help us to fight the devil and his minions? Let's look at that now in verses 14-17.

(Eph 6:14-17) "Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,"

Now we need to understand this catalog of the pieces of God's armor as more than just a list of things to try harder at. Paul's not just saying try harder to be truthful, work harder at being righteous, grit your teeth into being more peaceful and more ready to share the gospel with people, try really really hard to have faith, tell yourself over and over again that your saved, memorize a million Bible verses for every possible temptation that the devil could bring at you. But why not? Why isn't that what Paul's saying? Well, in order to understand why this isn't just a list of things that we have to do, it's helpful to know one of the many passages of the OT that Paul's drawing from here. This catalog of armor does line up well with what the average Roman soldier might wear as many have pointed out, but Paul is actually drawing more specifically from an OT way of describing God. Let me read for you from Isaiah 59.

(Isaiah 59:15-17)
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
¹⁶ He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. (Read 2x)

This means that instead of being about all that we have to do on our own, or in our own strength, this passage is all about what God has done, specifically what Jesus did. There was no one doing justice on the earth, and even with all the prophets, like Isaiah, there was no one to intercede, no one that could really mediate between God and rebel humanity. So God himself became a man, he added humanity to his divinity, and his own arm brought salvation for him, his own righteousness upheld him, when he died a sinner's death, smitten and afflicted for our transgressions. With his own strength he bore our iniquities and carried our sorrows in his own body on the cross. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, but he took a spear in his side so that we might receive that breastplate as a gift. He put on the helmet of salvation, but instead he let a crown of thorns pressed down cruelly into his head, so that our heads might be protected by the assurance of the free gift of salvation. Jesus put on this armor as garments of vengeance, and he fought and defeated the devil and his army of demons, rescuing us from their hold, and bringing us out as captives of war. And he did none of it begrudgingly, but he was zealous to do it, wrapping himself in zeal as a cloak, he did it willingly, for love.

The Armor of God: How to Stand in the Evil Day 2

This is the third segment of my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God", delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.

3. Wrestle Against God's Enemies
-Paul states it negatively, reminding us that flesh and blood, people, are not our ultimate enemies. It is not our personal enemies or the enemies of some pet issue that we have taken up that we are to wrestle against. We should not waste time fighting over trivial human affairs, when there is a supernatural war of such cosmic magnitude that must be fought. How often do we get caught up in party spirit or in useless dissensions or vain speculations! This too is one of the enemies tactics for getting us off balance. If he can get us to fight about trivialities, then he can blaspheme the truth by making it seem like the heart of Christianity itself is nothing but speculation, the type of thing that dissenters love to argue about and push on other people. What a tragedy it is when the devil brings disrepute on the church of God by infecting her with party spirit, not to mention actual violence against those who believe differently. Our war is not against flesh and blood, but for them.

-Alright, so we're not supposed to wrestle against people, but who are we to wrestle with then? Paul says we are to actively wage war "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places". In short, we are to wrestle against the devil and his army of demonic forces. C. S. Lewis wrote in his book The Screwtape Letters, "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." Well, we don't want to make either of those mistakes here, disbelief or excessive interest. Very often we fall on the side of disbelieving in their existence, at least practically. We never think about the fact that we're in a war, or that, as Peter says, "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." C. S. Lewis also expresses an important insight in The Screwtape Letters about how one of Satan's tactics, esp in cultured middle class America, is to hide his existence from view. He can get an advantage over you if you just ignore his existence. I would add that this doesn't mean he's any less at work in Wheaton than in, say, pagan tribes in Africa. The demons just go under the names of more culturally acceptable gods here: Money, Sex, Power, Comfort, Education, Art, Tolerance.

-Our work as believers is to actively fight against the demoniacally inspired lies of our society. Everybody around you is either worshiping the true God or they are worshiping false gods, idols. And behind every idol is a demon. That's why Paul calls them rulers and authorities and cosmic powers over this present darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. They are the big dogs above all the human big dogs. They are the ones in charge of the darkness of this world. They are the demons that have put themselves in the heavenly places, throwing God off his throne, at least in the hearts and minds of people all around you. The good news in all of this is that its our job to proclaim their defeat, snatching flesh and blood out of their grasp. When I preached about the mystery of the gospel to you many weeks ago, Paul made this point about the Mystery of Gospel Proclamation: Paul says in Eph 3:10 "so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." One of the ways we wrestle against God's enemies is by proclaiming their defeat. We do this on the basis of what Jesus has done. Paul says near the beginning of the letter in Eph 1:19-21 that he wants us to know "what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come." On this basis, Jesus' victory and ascension to the right hand of God, we can be strong in God's strength, we can put on God's armor, and we can wrestle against God's enemies, so that we will stand in the evil day.

The Armor of God: How to Stand in the Evil Day 1

This is the second segment in my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God", delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.

I. How to Stand in the Evil Day
Well, Paul picks this theme back up, that the days are evil, and in our passage he begins to answer the question for us of how to stand in the evil day. All days are evil, he said in ch 5, but right here he makes clear, and we know it from experience, that some days are more particularly evil than others. There is a certain ebb and flow in this battle over the souls of men and women, like you and me. And most of us, if we're honest, feel a fair amount of anxiety when we think about the passage of time and evilness of days to come. We wonder, "How, O how am I going to stand in the evil day?" Let's look at how Paul answers that question in verses 10-13.
(Eph 6:10-13) "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm."

In this passage Paul gives us three answers to the question of how to stand in the evil. 1. Be strong in God's Strength (Don't rely on your own strength or power. Don't rely on your own resources of strength or ability but on God's.) 2. Put on God's Armor (Get prepared for the battle with the armor that God gives you. Wear the armor of the Lord.). 3. Wrestle Against God's Enemies (Actively engage in the battle with Satan and his demons. Don't stand on the sidelines, or even fight your own battle with your own enemies, but fight against God's adversaries.)

1. Be strong in God's Strength
-Now it would be very easy to come at this passage as many have done throughout the centuries, and to basically tell you, "Time is passing quickly. The days are evil. There's a war going on. So try harder. Fight harder. Work harder." And that would be in one sense true. It would be a great sermon. Everybody would clap the preacher on the back as he descended from the pulpit and every body would go away convicted of their sin, and raised to a liveliness of resolutions to do better the next time an evil day comes around. But you know, I think, if we did that, we would have missed an essential point of what Paul's trying to say to us in this passage. This isn't a try harder, fight harder, muster up more strength, gather together more of your resources passage. And those of us who have done that, who have tried harder and harder over and over again, and I have, know deep down that it doesn't work. That's why Paul goes out of his way to emphasize something else, by saying, "Finally, be strong in the LORD and in the strength of HIS might." Your high emotions and confidence are going to fade after the sermon if all you hear is, "Be stronger in your own strength", and all the anxiety about the evil day is just going to come flooding back in. Learn this lesson of the war of the Christian now instead of wasting any more time mustering up your own strength: Be strong in God's strength.

2. Put on God's Armor
-Paul says to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For you and I to be confident that we are going to stand in the evil day, we need to prepare for it. We need to ready ourselves by putting on the right equipment: the armor of God. And not just some of God's armor but all of it: the whole armor of God. Paul goes into great detail on this panoply of armor later and we will get there in due course. Right now, I merely want to point out to you how Paul claims that putting on this armor is going to help us stand in the evil day. In other words, why do we need it in the first place? The reason we need to put on the armor of God is so that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. There is a devil and he is at war with us, and so he's got schemes, tactics, battle plans for how to get you to fall in the evil day. His tactics are geared towards your weaknesses; he's not omniscient like God, but he has been observing humanity for a long time, and so he's incredibly knowledgeable about how to bring us down. He's much smarter than you or I. So we need God's armor, we need his strength and resources, we need the armor of God, which has been perfectly suited by the one who knows all the devil's schemes to thwart them and protect his beloved warriors. And what exactly is God's armor, as Paul sees it here? In Eph 4:14 Paul describes the goal that apostles and preachers are working for: "so that you may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes." We teach the Bible so we won't be tricked by deceitful schemes. This is why it's so sad that many in our day are trying to deemphasize the importance of sound doctrine. Faithful teaching of the Bible, sound doctrine, is designed to help us stand against the schemes of the devil and the human teachers that he uses. The devil uses false teachers to preach lies in order to bring us down. Part of what putting on the armor of God means is being equipped with the knowledge of the truth so that you don't lose your footing when you hear something false.

The Armor of God: Introduction

This is the first segment of my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God" delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.

Paul has just finished giving a lot of specific instructions to different people in all sorts of different situations or stages of life in what is often called a household code. He's given instructions to wives, husbands, children, and slaves, pointing in all of them to Christ as their great example, and not just their example but their Savior. Now Paul turns to give some concluding words of encouragement to everyone before ending his letter, and he writes here one of the most well-known and stunningly beautiful passages of the Bible on the armor of God.
As a young and inexperienced preacher this is one of those passages that I look at with wonder, and ask myself, "How am I supposed to preach on something like that? What can I say that could even come close to doing justice to it?" I think it's possible that a lot of young pastors steer away from passages like this for that very reason, and I feel tempted to myself. But I heard it once from a preacher I admire that perhaps there's a sense in which preaching the great passages of Scripture even as a young preacher is just the experience that one needs in order to be humbled before the Word of God. It's easy for us who preach the Word, and all of us who read it, to exalt ourselves over the Bible rather than to be humbled under it. And so as always when I preach but particularly with this passage, it is my hope that the Word of God will be magnified in your eyes, while the word of men is diminished and put in its proper place.
Back in chapter 5, verses 15-16 of Ephesians, Paul commanded the church at Ephesus, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." He tells us as believers to be very careful about how we walk, about how we live our lives. He tells us to not be unwise but to be wise, to make the best use of the time, to redeem it in the best way possible. And the reason that he gives us is that the days are evil. The days are evil.
I've been thinking recently about the passing of time. Even now as the summer draws to a close, it feels far faster than I could have anticipated. Our series through Ephesians has gone by so quickly. And many of you, I am sure, know far better than I how fast the days and months and years go by, how time has wings and flits away. It is gone before we know it, and all too often it is wasted. It never returns, the clock can never really be unwound. Time passes out of reach and is gone. Paul explains for us that it's important for us to be aware of the passing nature of time, because of the fact that the days are evil. If we lived in an idyllic heavenly land, if we lived in a paradise of summer days, there would be know need to be vigilant in our approach to time. But that is not the land we live in, is it. This is a war zone, and a slight misstep, a slight loss of vigilance, a slight irreverence about the day or the hour and there may be great consequences in the battle that rages about us.

Bible Study on Galatians 3:10-14

I led Bible Study for the College Group last Wednesday on Galatians 3:10-14, in preparation for Josh Moody resuming our study of Galatians in the main services at College Church. First, here is the passage (ESV):

"For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.' But the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'--so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith."

Here are the preparation notes that I used to lead our discussion:

What's the basis of Paul's argument? Can you follow his train of thought? Look at his Scripture passages in context (Deuteronomy 27:26; Habakkuk 2:4; Leviticus 18:5; Deuteronomy 23:21). How does the argument follow from these quotations?

-Initial look at the argument made in the passage, point by point.

-Go through how the quotations, in context, build up the argument.

-What are the big themes that coalesce in this passage?

-Contrasts: Cursed is contrasted with "justified before God" and "the blessing of Abraham"

Works of the law, abiding by the Book of the Law and living by doing the laws are contrasted with "living by faith"

-What gets us over the chasm of these contrasts, what gets us from curse to blessing, works to faith?

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us"

-What comes about as a result of Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law, or what does the blessing of Abraham include?

"we receive the promised Spirit through faith"

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 7

This is the seventh and final segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

III. The Work that is still before us: "Keep yourselves", "Guard yourselves"

1. There is a process of purging that is still to be done in our hearts. We need to relentlessly and rigorously be on watch for idols. We need to dig down into the depths of our hearts and confess the idols that we have in secret there. We need to stand sentry at the wall of our hearts, and be vigilant to protect it that no foreign power may enter in there. There is guarding to be done. We need to keep ourselves from idols.

2. The way we guard is by the gospel, by learning to cherish God's mercy to us more and more, so that we love him with more and more of our heart. The way we guard is by contemplating the saving power of God: all his excellence, all his greatness, all his love. In other words, we guard our hearts from idols not by the idol of self-righteousness, not by puffing up the idol of pride in our heart, but by exalting Jesus for all that he has done for us. We guard our hearts by the gospel.

3. The truth is "the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof"; everything in the world is owned by Jesus. There's nothing any of your idols can offer you that exceeds or even comes close to matching all that the Lord can give you. Jesus has conquered all the principalities and powers and they all must one day answer to him. And he is going to come again to restore all that is truly good and worthwhile in this world, and all of it is going to be the inheritance of the children of God. So why, why, why would you keep pursuing your idols? They have nothing to offer you but lies. They are empty, they are vain things, with no power to save. Why would you serve them when you could serve one who is mighty to save?

And so John's exhortation stands for us as one that is very timely, very suited to our dilemma, and very instructive about how to live in a culture such as ours. May we heed it on this day, smashing our idols for the glory of worshiping the Victorious Christ.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 6

This is the sixth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

II. The Good News: "Little children": This has all been bad news so far, but there is good news.

A. The Reality of the New Birth Changes Everything: For John, to call us little children brings attention to the fact that he assumes that his hearers have been born again, that they they have experience the new birth. Throughout 1 John, he points out many ways in which the new birth changes everything, how believers have been rescued from the self-destructive power of idolatry. Let me give you just three.

1. Because only the new birth can replace love for the world and things in the world with love for the Father. Those who have been born into God's family take on a new family resemblance, rather than the idolatry of our culture. They are instilled with a love for the true God rather than their old idols.

2. Because all these other gods operate on a covenant of works, and there is no mercy with them. If you don't worship your idol properly, that idol will make you unable to forgive yourself. False gods are ruthless masters. But with God there is forgiveness. God's mercy leads you to love him, rather than your old gods.

3. Because none of these other gods will really save you, will really give you what they promise. They promise all sorts of pleasures and rewards, but for some reason it always turns to sawdust in your mouth. But with God it's not like that. God's saving power leads you to love him, and to be satisfied in him more and more.

B. John teaches throughout 1 John that anyone who's truly been born again has been changed in their core.

1. A child of God's deepest desire is to love God; the deepest desire of our hearts, as Christians, is for godliness (If we truly worship God, then we will become like him!).

2. Now, if you have been born again, there may still be lesser desires in our hearts; in fact, we all have lesser desires for one or another of these gods, or many others. There's a whole pantheon out there. We may still have lesser desires, but one way you can know you've been born again is by whether your deepest desire is really for God, and for what he wants for you.

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 5

This is the fifth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

D. Wait a minute... some of those later ones especially are good things? Are you saying we shouldn't want justice, or family, or a good education, or romance or beauty? Those are good things. Shouldn't we want those things? Shouldn't we pursue them and even sometimes sacrifice to get them?

1. When any good thing, becomes a god thing, then it's a bad thing.

-If any of these good things becomes ultimate for you, then it begins to want to call all the shots in your life. It begins to want to make everything else bow down to it. You'll have to sacrifice to it everything else. What do you sacrifice for?

-The best things often make the worst and hardest idols to dislodge from our hearts. For instance, the idol of self-righteousness that the Pharisees had. The better the idol, the less obvious that its destroying you, the more subtle its deadly grip on you.

2. You become like what you worship. As the Psalm says, "They who worship idols will become like them." They may be good things, but you don't want to become them. If you worship silver, you'll become cold and hard. If you worship success, you will devour your children like Cronos. If you worship freedom, you will become chaos, and your life will grow more and more out of control. If you worship technology, you will become a tool to be used by a capitalist economy. If you worship business, you will be come a ledger, losing the ability to give freely, losing the ability to be personal, everything will be business to you. If you worship mirth and a good time, you will become a wastrel and a drunkard for pleasure, you will eventually lose the capacity for gravity, for solid labor. If you worship romance or beauty, you will be nothing more or deeper than a pretty face, or a half-goat pleasure seeker. If you worship knowledge or skills, then you will eventually trap yourself in your own mind and your sense of your own worth, losing the ability to truly connect with people. If you worship the battle of ideas, then there will be nothing for you but fighting and bickering. If you worship marriage and family, parenting, then you will drown your spouse and children in your expectations for them, you will crush them with your need to be the perfect spouse or parent. In short, if you worship these gods, you will end up destroying yourself.

Some Lewis on my Birthday

The weekend before last I went up to Wisconsin to visit my beloved fiance Ashley and her family. While I was there I also preached at Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, where her family attends (the notes to my sermon on idolatry will be coming soon in segments). On Saturday, however, we celebrated each others' birthdays. I took her shopping to get some great finds at savers as well as a few pairs of jeans that she wanted. She took me out to Fazoli's, which is like a fastfood Italian restaurant; I'd never been there before, and it was really good.

She also got me two books off of my list of "Want to Read"s from Facebook's WeRead application. The first one is C. S. Lewis' Spirits in Bondage, a cycle of lyrics that he published when he was only twenty! Wikipedia gives a good introduction to it. Having read this cycle I feel as if I've been in the mind of a genius. He's so steeped in the classics, and I can see him struggling with the issues that his later conversion will ultimately resolve.

She also gave me Wayne Martindale's Beyond the Shadowlands: C. S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell, whom I studied under at Wheaton College. I took both his class on C. S. Lewis and his class on the Romantic Period, which might be said to have strongly influenced Lewis. Since this book was optional reading material during the class, and I knew I was swamped I opted not to buy it, but retained a great desire to read it. I've just begun reading it, and can already tell that its not only a great book, but it's also something I needed to hear now. Thanks Ashley!

Just yesterday I attended the ordination exam of Mark Brucato, and right behind me sat Dr. Martindale. We had a good conversation about Lewis, esp Spirits in Bondage. Near the beginning of our conversation he articulated exactly what I had been thinking about how so many of the themes in Spirits in Bondage resonate in more developed ways in his later works. I remarked on how Lewis' hard thinking as an agnostic in his earlier years, even railing against God, perhaps served to make him the great Christian apologist that he was. He had been through the train of thought of one who does not know God, so he was particularly clued in to how to answer an agnostic's objections. I almost wonder if he could have been so effective if he had been brought to faith earlier in his life... God's providence was surely at work.

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 4

This is the fourth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

Dionysus: Wine, Joy or Mirth, as well as Theater

-These are the theater people; they love a good laugh; they thrive in social situations, or at least love watching other people thrive. It seems as if these people are always in a show. The spotlight is a daily occurrence for them. They love being around interesting people, by which they mean people of their own sort. They make light of virtually everything, though at the same time they luxuriate in the whole gamut of emotions. Sadly, devotees of Dionysus are often prone to depression, and find themselves having to medicate themselves with social gathering after social gather, joke after joke, drink after drink. Most of all, people who worship Dionysus love a good time.

Aphrodite (G), Venus (R): Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Eternal Youth

-People who worship Aphrodite or Venus do so in perhaps the most varied amount of ways. First, there are those who worship beauty and hanker after eternal youth. Women spend inordinate amounts of money on skin creams and lotions, on heels and cute low-cut shirts. At the extreme they pay for face-lifts and tummy tucks, but at the more mild manifestations, it just looks like a strong discipline in their eating habits and getting regular exercise, constantly talking about and being aware of their appearance. Their god is in all their thoughts. For many bound by Aphrodite's ruthless demands, it no longer becomes possible for them to eat or enjoy food, and they are driven to anorexia or many other forms of eating disorders. But it's not just women, men become bound to the idol of the gym or some other way of being attractive or powerful. Maybe they run marathons or become great cyclists. But they are no less devoted to their form of eternal youth and beauty.

Second, there are those who worship her not to become beautiful, but to by satisfied by glancing those they regard as beautiful. In Greek myth Satyrs were Half-man, half-goat creatures and represented the embodiment of sensuality. Today, the spirit of the satyrs lives on in the porn addicts and restless fornicators. They are voyeurs and animalistic debasers of true beauty even if they think themselves devoted to it.

Lastly, people who worship romance see their only fulfillment in the right man or right woman who will come along and sweet them off their feet. They go from romantic high to romantic high, lover to lover, failed marriage to failed marriage, because the problem is always in their spouse not meeting their needs. They get lost in their fantasies about romance, and read the books to encourage them in their unrealistic game that is really a selfish preoccupation with their own feelings.

Athena: Wisdom and Skill

-People who worship Athena believe in the power of an education. Parents are more determined for their children to make grades than they are to lead them into a relationship of saving faith with the Lord. Their goals and logic are quite simple. Those who get a good education will get a good job and make lots of money, so that they can have a nice big house and be happy, so that their kids will grow up to get a good education, a good job and make lots of money. These parents often devote their children to the acquisition of lots of extracurricular skills; they bustle them from baseball, to football, to piano lessons, to gymnastics, etc etc. Sometimes they choose many, or sometimes offer them in full devotion to one. Some kids grow up to find their whole identity in their chosen area of expertise, whether academics or football or the arts, and they very often can relate to no one but those in their same field, or at the very least they have a certain snobbery about the superior value of their own field.

Ares or Mars: War,

-Perhaps, there are few who love the rage and carnage of battle, but only if we put our movies and or video games aside. The graphic violence in the film industry has only been getting worse. People are beginning to have blood-thirst that is similar to the Romans of old who loved to go to the Coliseum to see life ruthlessly taken for no good reason. But even if we set that aside, many still worship Mars because they delight in the Battle of Ideas. These people are always fighting something, they always have a cause, and if you cross them, they will argue with you till they're blue in the face. They are bitter fighters and trained to jump upon you at the slightest provocation; otherwise, they will be forcible to enlist you to their cause. "There's no sideline in wartime," they say, despite the fact that their pet ideologies are neither clear nor comprehensive enough to elicit true devotion.

Hera (G) or Juno (R): Marriage and Family, Matriarchy,

-Women who worship Hera are those women who are totally devoted to the service of their family. They give up everything to make sure the house is in order, their kids and husband are cleaned up after. They are the saviors of their household, they are modern-day martyrs in the making. They roll their eyes and look down on their silly little husbands, whom they pet on the back as they would a pet dog. Deep down they really love the fact that everybody is dependent on them because it gives them a chance to shine; they make sure that it will always stay that way, so that their pride always has that extra boost, and therefore they can never really serve husband or children, at least in the way that would allow them true independence and personhood. Their children either remain coddled as babies late into adulthood, or else drastically rebel and become estranged to her. Their husbands either become lazy lapdogs sated on fulfillment at work, perhaps, or they get tired of the game, and run off into their own idolatry.

2. Money, success, freedom, technology, trade and business, the theater mentality of joy and laughter, love, beauty, romance, wisdom or skill, the battle of ideas, marriage and family. Are these not your gods, O America? Are these not your gods?

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 3

This is the third segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

C. How the idols of the pagans map to our American pluralist culture

1. List of the gods of our culture: 10 gods of the pagan world and how they map to our culture; gods require sacrifices!!

Mammon or Artemis -- Silver and Gold, Materialism

-I begin with this because in some ways it is the most obvious. Didn't Jesus say, "You cannot serve both God and Mammon." People worship Mammon when they think that the only real problem with the world is poverty. They're not just the Scrooges out there. These people may be very into poverty relief, at least on the surface. Judas was like this, right. When Mary pours perfume on Jesus, he objects saying that this could have been sold for a year's wages and given to the poor. But at the same time he would help himself to the money bag of the twelve.You don't have to be rich to worship Artemis. You just have to think that money is the answer for everything.

Molech or Chronos (G) or Saturn (R) -- Success and Time - Child-Sacrifice

-Another obvious one, because we here in the OT about how people offered their children as sacrifices to Molech. Cronos devoured one of his own children. We know that child sacrifices were offered to Saturn among the more barbaric early Greeks and Romans. People who worship Molech, Saturn or Cronos will sacrifice anything to advance their career. They find their fulfillment by being on the top, by working hard. In ancient times it was kings or leaders who would be called upon to sacrifice one of their children in order to please the gods, in order to keep their empire stable, in order to bring prosperity to their land. It is regular for those who try to climb the corporate ladder to be literally owned by their company to the point where children must, of course, be neglected. Many women pursing a career make the choice to kill the baby inside them, because it would prevent them from finding fulfillment in climbing that ladder, or perhaps their husbands or boyfriends are too busy to want children or marriage and so they push them to it. Either way, this is the god that requires child-sacrifice to be appeased.

Chaos: Anarchists, Freedom

-You might think that nobody worship Chaos in our culture, but have you ever heard of anarchists? Anarchists are against every form of order, law or control. Now you might think, I'm not an anarchist, that's those crazy leftists out there. But there is a more mild form of anarchy, that goes by the charming name of freedom, or rights. People who worship chaos say things like, "I just want to be free to follow my heart... Nobody has the right to tell me what to do with my life... I call the shots... I have the right to do whatever I want with my life... As long as I'm not hurting anyone else, you can't force me to do anything..." The problem is that they are hurting other people, and they are hurting themselves. We live in a culture of rebels; we can't stand anybody seeming to have authority over us. So naturally when the Bible says, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men," we bristle and rationalize this command away.

Hephaestos or Vulcan: Metal-working, Technology

-In addition to being materialistic to the core, our culture is obsessed with our many technological achievements. We worship at the altar of a computer screen; the television is the god that entrances us. People who worship Hephaestos are always praying to him for more of his shiny metal objects that promise hours and hours of painless enjoyment. They are usually using Hephaestos and his creations in devotion to some other god, like lust or reputation or laziness, but they worship him for his benefits none the less. People will often worship Mammon only in order to exchange it for the latest, greatest iphone or digital camera or flatscreen with surround sound. Boys stay boys far too long as hour upon hour of video games steals away their courage to enter the real world.

Hermes or Mercury: Trade and Messenger God, Business, Economics

-People who worship Hermes or Mercury find their value in knowing what's going on in the economy. They may not worship the ledger, as the Mammon-worshipers do, but they are most definitely in the know. These, most often men, have their little sphere of influence and they just love watching the goods go in and out. They monitor the NY Stock Exchange, read the appropriate sections of the paper, and otherwise glory in the work of business. The economic downturn has turned these worshipers crazy, and they will be sure to tell all their thoughts on the current strange doings of their god.

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 2

This is the second segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

B. Warning us against Idols is really a timely word and not a strange word at all.

1. The issue of devotion to the one true God is everywhere in 1 John

-1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." When John says "do not love the world or the things in the world" he is saying, "don't make idols". What do you make idols from, except for things in the world.

-Warnings about Antichrists and false teachers in ch's 2 and 4 who are teaching people essentially to worship another god, not the God of the Bible, not the God who most fully revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Just like in Exodus Moses said you would know a false prophet by if they told you to go after another God, John is saying that you can know a false teacher, or an antichrist, by if they tell you to go after another Jesus.

-1 John really is all about idolatry of the heart. John doesn't have literal idols in view. But he is trying to wean the Christians off of their heart idolatry.

2. The NT is everywhere addressing the issue of heart idolatry

-The Pharisees were so smug about this very issue. They didn't have actual idols, just like we don't, and they thought that that fact vindicated them. They kept the law. And so they thought that they were worshiping the one true God.

-Ultimately, however, Jesus comes on the scene and he confronts them as worshiping their own reputation, worshiping their own "acts of righteousness", worshiping their honored seats in the synagogues. The fact that they didn't have literal idols didn't mean they worshiped God.

3. American Christians in 2009 are committing heart idolatry in a hundred different ways

-The root of all idolatry is heart idolatry. Heart idolatry puts my own wants/dreams/aspirations above God's glory. True worshipers worship God in spirit and in truth, and the truth part of that points to the fact that it is possible for us to think we're worshiping God, but actually be worshiping a god of our own making that we've put in his place. When we don't believe the truth about God, but believe the lies that our culture tells us about him, we do just that.

-The writer of Ecclesiastes discovered in his day something that I am convinced will help us understand why the idols that the pagans had long ago have not left us. The book of Ecclesiastes starts out this way:

"What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said,

"See, this is new"?

It has been already

in the ages before us." (Ecc 1:9-10)

So I'm convinced that for all the changes of our society, we are essentially the same in the gods that we worship. Even if we don't have literal idols and temples to offer sacrifices in, we have the same issues of heart idolatry as all people have had at all times everywhere.

"Little Children, Keep Yourselves from Idols." 1 John 5:21 Part 1

This is the first segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," delivered to Friendship Baptist Church in Mondovi, WI, on 8/9/09.

I. What does John mean by the term, "idols"?

A. A strange last word for John, or is it?

1. The book doesn't even mention idolatry, until here.

-Very rarely does anybody write a book, or a letter, and then add a completely new topic to the discussion at the very last sentence. It's just not good writing practice to do that. If you wrote an essay on love and at the very last sentence you talk about helicopters. You would get that paper back and your professor would have marked up that last sentence. You just don't do that. That would be like me talking about idols during this whole sermon, and then in my closing thought saying, but you know my favorite type of a dog is a rottweiler; flowers can be very pretty. It just doesn't relate.

2. The NT rarely talks about open idol worship.

-As Jesus interacts with people in the gospels, he never runs into anyone who's got a little statuette in their house. None of the Pharisees comes to him and asks him, "Rabbi, is it lawful for a Jew to worship Molech, or Baal, or Asherah in addition to Yahweh?" There were times in Israel's history where clear and open idolatry was prominent. This is not much the case in Jesus' time. When Paul, goes to the pagans we here about some idols. But idols are not mentioned very often in the NT.

3. Do we even have to worry about idols as American Christians living in 2009?

-This brings the question to bear even more for us. We don't have big idols that we go and worship; I mean we've got American Idol, but that's not really the same thing... How does the issue of idolatry relate to us? We live in a cultured secularist culture. We're not superstitious; we don't believe in all these gods running around, making the crops grow, or the rain fall, or keeping disease away.

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 7) Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God overcome the world.

This is the tenth and final segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

7. Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God overcome the world.
John asks it as a rhetorical question: "Who is it that has overcome the world, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" The resounding answer that we should be screaming at the top of our lungs here is, "Of course, those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God must, must, must overcome the world." Here we have come full circle. It is belief in Jesus, both as Messiah (v. 1) and as the very Son of God, that ensures victory over the world.

God encourages us to fight this battle against the world by promising us the victory. Oh that we would know this confidence! That you and I would know in our souls how the battle is already won before we've begun! With what bravery would we then charge into the fray, with what steadfastness undergo the onslaught, with what peace of mind extinguish the flaming arrows of our Enemy! Like Christ we would sleep in perfect tranquility as the tempest rage about the boat. Like him we would walk through the valley of the shadow of death, fearing no evil, but entrusting our souls to our faithful Creator. Like him we would humble ourselves, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. To know the battle is won before we've even begun! What a joyous privilege!

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if we know that those who believe in Jesus overcome the world, then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we believe in Jesus?"

And really that's what John's been saying throughout this entire passage, and in a sense this entire book. He's writing this book to us who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that we might know that we have eternal life. And it is my hope and prayer that the Holy Spirit has done his work through this passage to warm many of your hearts and to testify within you that these things are in fact so for you, crying out "Abba, Father!"

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 6) The victory that has overcome the world is our faith.

This is the ninth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

6. The victory that has overcome the world is our faith.
Faith is the victory. This is astonishing, if we really understand what he's saying. Let me ask you: How do you think you're going to overcome the world? Is it through avoidance? Is your main tactic for overcoming the world to avoid its influence on you? Is it some game of 'what I don't see, can't hurt me'? Or is it through effort, sheer force of will? Do you try to overcome the world by the rigor of your personal devotions, the neat organization of your Christian lifestyle? Or perhaps it's through positive thinking? Is the world overcome by the mood that you manufacture, the smile that you smear on?

Well, against avoidance, against effort, against positive thinking, John says the victory is our faith. The writer of Hebrews describes faith this way: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:3) You see, faith is the conviction of things not seen. The problem with avoidance, effort and positive thinking is that they all rely upon things that are seen, namely our circumstances. Faith is not circumstantial; it is our victory and it has overcome the world, but it refuses to be defined by our circumstances. Paul puts it this way: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)
Our faith "has overcome the world" already. This is past tense. It's done. It's finished. It's accomplished. If you have been born of God, then through faith in him, he has overcome the world on your behalf. Christ says in John 16:32: "In the world you will have tribulation. (He does not promise us "victorious" circumstances, but plainly promises us tribulation.) But take heart; I have overcome the world." Take heart, believer, Christ has overcome the world. By faith that victory has been applied to you.

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if we know that the victory that has overcome the world is our faith, then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we have faith in Christ's victory over the world?"

The Faith that Overcomes the World (Audio)

http://www.college-group.org/sermons.php?p=Jason%20Barney

Check out my sermon on audio...

Sadly, because my sermon went so long (and they hadn't unloaded the two previous sermons...) they only got the first 2/3rds of my sermon. It's too bad because my sermon grew to a climax with the final points. The notes as I used them will continue to be posted here, so feel free to pick up reading where I leave off preaching. It may not be as lively but the content is still the same. Reading takes more energy to do correctly than hearing.

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 5) Everyone born of God has victory and overcomes the world.

This is the eighth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

5. Everyone born of God has victory and overcomes the world.
Notice what this statement implies about our relation to the world. This clearly implies that the world is hostile to us and we to world. The world is at war with us and we with it. John is picking back up the theme he started in 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." But now John adds the fact that those who are born of God have victory in this war against the world and its desires. John has made clear that those who are born of God, also love him and his children; they are those who love the Father, and therefore they can't, by their very nature, love the world anymore, because if they loved the world, the love of the Father would not be in them (v. 15). He also said that those who love God, also obey his commands, that is, as John says here, they "do the will of God", and thus will "abide forever". In other words, they overcome the world and its desires, which are passing away, and have eternal life.
So what John is saying is: Our new birth assures us of victory in overcoming the world. Not just some of those who are born of God overcome, but all. This is the doctrine that has been called the Perseverance of the Saints, which is the idea that all those who are born of God continue to the end, fighting the world, the flesh and the devil, keeping the faith, and are rewarded with eternal life at God's right hand. Those who are truly born of God persevere, they are victorious, they never lose their faith, they overcome the world.

This is such an important doctrine; this is an enormously practical teaching! How do you know that you're not going to wake up tomorrow and find that you don't believe anymore? How do you know that you're not going to wake up five years from now and the world will seem so desirable to you and the gospel so unappealing? How do you know? When you think about the scope of your life, all the possible trials and temptations that are before you, all the lures of the world, all the appeal of pride in possessions, how do you know it's not just going to sweep you off your feet and drag you into the abyss? What is the rock that you're going to stand on, what's going to steady you, when you're being persecuted, when people start making attempts at your life in China, when your spouse gets cancer and dies and your thirty and you don't know what to do with your life, when you get layed off from your job and you've got kids and there's no food to put on the table, when your spouse commits adultery on you and leaves the faith, just walks out? What's going to hold you in that time? What truth are you going to cling to? If not the fact that you know at the core of your being that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. That is a doctrine that will put steel in your spine.

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if we know that everyone born of God has victory and overcomes the world, then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Have we truly been born of God?"

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 4) Love of God is to keep his commands, which are not burdensome.

This is the seventh segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

4. Love of God is to keep his commands, which are not burdensome.
This phrase 'love of God' is what grammarians call an objective genitive. It is talking about our love for God, love that has God as its object, not about God's love for us, love that God has as the subject. So then we can see that John is expanding on his last thought to say that love for God and obeying his commandments are one and the same thing. This statement mirrors what Jesus says during the last supper, (John 14:15) "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
In human relationships we can and very often need to say to someone, "I love you, but I'm not going to do as you counsel or even command me to do." But this is never so with God. Since God is who he is, All-powerful, All-knowing, All-loving, because God is love, to say we love him but not to do as he says makes no sense. All that he commands you must necessarily be good and wise and ultimately to your benefit. The only possible reason for not obeying him is downright rejection of him.
How can John say that God's commands are not burdensome? I mean, most of us think that God's commands are hard; they are a heavy load to carry, impossibly difficult to obey. This is many a non-Christian's primary reason for rejecting Christianity. Yet those of you who are more theologically astute will quote to me from Rom 7, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin... For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out... So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." How can he say God's commands are not burdensome?
Jesus: "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls." Christ's commands are a yoke indeed, there is no denying it. But Christ seems to say that if you put it on, if you truly set your hand to the plow, you will find that it is easy, that the burden of his commands are light, and rest will flood into your soul, the likes of which you have never known before. The problem is that we all too often stop in Romans 7 and fail to go on to Romans 8 where Paul says, 8:1-4, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." John understands here that those who are born of God, are given the familial love for God and his children, and that therefore God's commands are no longer burdensome, but are instead, now, the delight of our hearts.

I think it's very instructive to bring 4:19 into our understanding of what John's saying here, because John tells us there, "We love because he first loved us." If we combine that with this verse here we understand that, "We obey his commands out of love for him, which we have only because he first loved us." Obedience is the joyful response of love to a God who took the initiative in loving us. We do not obey as a prerequisite to being loved by God. We obey because we love him, because he first loved us.

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if we know that love for God fuels our obedience, making his commands no longer burdensome, but the very joy of our hearts, then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we truly keep God's commands in the burden-less joy of love for him?"

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 3) We know we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commands.

This is the sixth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

3. We know we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commands.
This is strange because it seems to contradict the order of the previous point. The previous point, that everyone who loves the Father is going to love his children too, seems to be telling us to check our love for the Father by whether or not we love his children. Whereas this point seems to be saying that we should check our love for God's children by how we love God and obey his commands. Which is it? Do we check our love for God by our love for Christians, or do we check our love for Christians by our love for God? And I think John would say... Yes! It's both! That's his point. It goes both ways. Love for God and love for his people are inseparable. The true presence of one necessitates the presence of the other. If you don't have one, you don't have the other. And if you do have one, you must also have the other. And anyone who thinks they just have one and not the other is wrong! And the same thing is true apparently if you throw obeying God's commands in there. You don't love God, nor do you love his children, unless you also are obeying his commands. After all, his commands are, as John puts it, to love God and to love his children.

Augustine: "The commandments of which John speaks are the two given by Jesus: Love God and love one another. You need not be afraid of doing harm to anyone, for how can you harm the person you love? Love, and you cannot but do well." Augustine is saying, basically: Love, and you will necessarily do well, because love and keeping God's commands come together or not at all, if you love you must keep his commands.

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if we know we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commands, then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we truly love God and obey his commands?"

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 2) Everyone who loves the begetter also loves the one who has been begotten from him.

This is the fifth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

2. Everyone who loves the begetter also loves the one who has been begotten from him.
In other words, if you love the Father, you're also going to love his child. There's no possible way that you can love God and not love someone born of him. Likewise, you cannot love the one born of God and not love God. It's just not possible. There is a natural familial love that must be present as a necessary indication of truly being born into God's covenant family. If you don't have this familial love for either begetter or begotten, you don't have it at all. If you do have it for the begetter, then you must have it for begotten, and vice versa.
The image John is drawing on is one familiar to us all and which Nathan addressed in his sermon on the "Great Family Resemblance". So I won't belabor the image of the family here, but only make a few comments. What's unique to this passage is the idea of familial love. We all know we're supposed to love those in our family. Parents love children; children love parents; siblings love each other. We're one big happy family. The interesting thing is that, I don't know if you noticed this, but people in our culture are so committed to this idea of family love that people who hate their family members, who can't stand them and want nothing to do with them, will still say they love their family, if you ask them. People can be absolutely brutal to the members of their family, doing things worse than a downright enemy would do, and yet still have the gall to say that they love them. It's really strange. I think in part it reflects the way God wired us--the family instinct, right; in part the fact that we know what we should do, even if we don't do it. And John is pointing to the fact that just by being born into a family, we owe our family love; there is a natural family bond that is engendered in us. We don't get to pick and choose our brother and sisters, but loving and obeying our Father means loving them.
Now some interpreters have tried to claim that because "the one born of him" is singular it must be talking about Jesus here. And in this case it would mean that everyone who loves the Son loves the Father, and everyone loves the Father loves the Son, which is very close to what Jesus says at several points in the Gospel of John, that anyone who receives him, receives the one who sent him, etc. And while it is true that love for the Father necessitates love for his only begotten Son supremely, I don't think that is John's primary meaning here. Why? 2 reasons from the immediate context: First, John has just got done saying in 4:20-1 "If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." The word 'brother' there clearly refers to fellow believers and not Jesus. Second, the way that John is using the term 'born of God' in this entire passage indicates that it is talking about people who believe in Jesus. And so, even though this is a singular expression it's got to refer to believers at large and not just Jesus.

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if love of the Father and of his children come as a package deal--you have to have one in order to have the other--then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we truly love those who are born of God?"

The Faith that Overcomes the World: 1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messian has been born of God.

This is the fourth segment of my sermon on 1 John 5:1-5, entitled "The Faith that Overcomes the World", delivered to College Group at College Church on 8/2/09.

Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.

V. The Points that John makes in this passage, So that We'll Know we have Eternal Life:

1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God.

2. Everyone who loves the begetter also loves the one who has been begotten from him.

3. We know we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commands.

4. Love of God is to keep his commands, which are not burdensome.

5. Everyone born of God has victory and overcomes the world.

6. The victory that overcomes the world is our faith.

7. Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God overcome the world.

1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God.
What does John mean by believing that Jesus is the Messiah? Well, let's first eliminate from our minds what he can't mean by that phrase given the context, given other things that John says.
First, believing can't be something that someone not born of God could do, because he says right here that everyone who believes has been born of God. So I conclude that no one who hasn't been born of God can by definition believe that Jesus is the Messiah. There might people who intellectually consent to the fact that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah that don't fit that category, but that's not what John's talking about. John is talking about a deeper kind of belief, than say James is talking about when he says, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!" (2:19). He's talking about the type of belief that only children of God have, not demons.
Second, this belief can't be something that you can lose. This can't be the type of belief that is sown in the soil, but then the world and all its pleasures come and choke it out so that it's not fruitful. Why do I say that? Because of what John says in verse 4: "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world." And if every one who believes has been born of God, and every one who has been born of God overcomes, then necessarily everyone who believes overcomes. So this belief can't be something you can lose. This is a belief that is victorious over the world.
So in light of all that, that this has to be child-of-God-belief, conquering-belief, we can now explain why John would say belief in this particular thing, that Jesus is the Messiah. God promised under the Law the restoration of all things through the Messiah. He was to be the fullfiller of the covenant, the one that would bring in the new age, the one that would turn away godlessness from Jacob and give them a new heart of flesh and write his commands on their hearts, so that God's people wouldn't rebel against him anymore. So to believe that Jesus is the Messiah is to believe that he fits that bill. He does all those things, and I think, John would say, accomplishes all those things in you in particular. Jesus is the Messiah, in the sense that he is your Messiah. He gives you a new heart, and writes his commands on your heart. So that's my explanation for what John means by believing that Jesus is the Messiah, having a true, born again, conquering belief that Jesus is the fullfiller of all that was promised in the law and the prophets for you, on your behalf.
One last comment about this point: Notice that true belief shows that regeneration has happened, that the new birth has already taken place. John says that everyone who believes, present tense, is currently believing, has been, past tense, born of God. So I draw the conclusion from that, that right belief doesn't cause you to be born again, it witnesses to the fact that you have been born again. Because no one can believe unless they are first born again. And no one is born again without also believing as a direct result.

So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, eternal life is one of the privileges of those who are born of God. And if everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, then the only question we need ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Do we truly believe that Jesus is the Messiah?"