Brown Blog

Has anyone Heard of Justification by Faith?

A quick observation, 5 chapters into Galatians with Park Church... There has not been a week go by, since we started Galatians 11 weeks ago, that someone (and many weeks it has been several people) has not approached me during the week over coffee, or after our service, to comment on how they had never heard about justification by faith. Many of these people had been in churches all of their lives, and yet, had never been told that Jesus died in their place, and that his righteousness is their's before the Father. All of these people, to one extent or another thought that the Christian life had something to do with a particular moral code, or earning God's love. That has been, one of the more shocking observations I've noticed since we started the church. The doctrine is so fundamental- so essential- to Christian proclamation and life that I really had taken for granted over the past several years that most people understood it to be basic to confessional Christianity. But nothing could be further from our experience thus far. It has been a wonderful encouragement to see people's reactions once they hear Paul, yet again, explain justification (and sanctification) by faith in Galatians. It has caused atleast two things to be awakened in my own soul: 1) Deep gratitude. I was raised in a church and family where this doctrine was neither assumed or questioned. Instead it was reinforced from the pulpit, dear saints who poured into children's sunday school classes and a youth group. It was so much a part of my church upbringing, that it is terribly difficult for me to imagine growing up in a 'christian' church that neglected it. 2) Luther was right. This truth must be pounded into people's heads constantly. We must sing about it, proclaim it, give thanks for it, shape small groups around it, illustrate it, write about it in everything we do. If Paul is right in Galatians, not only are we justified freely by grace through faith in the sustitutionary life and atoning death of Jesus, but we are also sanctified by the Spirit through that same faith, then it is never enough to simply preach the cross as a prelude to the real stuff of the Christian life. Believing in Christ's imputed righteousness and substitutionary death produces the kind of  life and community that will bring glory to Jesus in the world. There is no graduation beyond these central truths.

The words of God with John Piper

John Piper on The Morning He heard the Voice of God

(HT: CJ @ T4G)

Christian Life

On making demands of Jesus...

"...thus the demand for signs becomes the prototype of every condition human beings raise as a barrier to being open to God. I will devote myself to God if he heals my child. I will follow this Jesus if I can maintain my independence. I will happily become a Christian if God proves himself to me. I will turn from my sin and read the bible if my marriage gets sorted out to my satisfaction. I will acknowledge Jesus as Lord if he performs the kind of miracle, on demand, that removes all doubt. In every case, I am assessing him: He is not assessing me. I am not coming to him on his terms. Rather, I am stipulating terms that he must accept if he wants the privilege of my company."
- Carson, The Cross & Christian Ministry, p. 21

Again

I want to offer this again, especially after writing that last post. If you haven't had a chance to read this article by N.T. Wright, please do so, it is excellent.

Holy Spirit in the Church.pdf