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A selfish hatred of sin
While reading John Owen’s excellent book, The Mortification of Sin in Believers, I was broadsided by these powerful words:
Hatred of sin as sin, not only as galling or disquieting, a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lies at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification. Now, it is certain that that which I speak of proceeds from self-love. You set yourself with all diligence and earnestness to mortify such a lust or sin; what is the reason of it? It disquiets you, it has taken away your peace, it fills your heart with sorrow and trouble and fear; you have no rest because of it.…If you hate sin as sin, every evil way, you would be no less watchful against everything that grieves and disquiets the Spirit of God, than against that which grieves and disquiets your own soul. It is evident that you contend against sin merely because of your own trouble by it.
Owen, of course, has the unique ability to write the biography of every Christian in the space of a paragraph.
My whole life is characterized by this failure. Last Wednesday, while speaking at prayer service, I was a bit too cavalier with a certain passage of scripture. I narrowly insisted on one interpretation when the passage was unclear. However, rather than being broken over mishandling God’s Word, I was more concerned that other people would see me mishandling God’s Word (which I did) and think worse of me for it.
On Thursday, our seminary instructor spoke about the importance of being diligent as a pastor. He pointed out how necessary it was to lead by example—to avoid a lazy approach to ministry. Because laziness is a sinful habit of mine, I was convicted by his words…but mainly because of the threat that other people would see me as lazy (which I am) and think worse of me for it. Seeing sin as sin had little to do with it.
And that was just in the space of two days.
In my case, the fear of man is much more powerful than the fear of the Lord. My goal is selfish: to preserve my reputation in the sight of others. Often, I hate sin for this reason only.
How we need to grow a proper fear of God—to understand how offensive sin is in His sight! How we need to cultivate “a sense of the love of Christ in the cross”! Without these, we will remain slaves to our own sinful nature, and we will not be conformed to the image of Christ. To become like Him, we must know Him and cherish Him as He is.
Evangelism of the elect
2 Timothy 2:10
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Rather than being a deterrent to evangelism, unconditional election should be a doctrine which encourages us to bring the gospel to the world. Why? Because there are many elect in the world who will “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.” It becomes less intimidating to realize that many unbelievers whom we interact with may be elect — that God has determined to save them. So we can bring the gospel to the world with confidence, knowing it is not up to us to persuade others with glitzy presentations or fine arguments, but rather to bring the gospel message regardless of our inadequacy.
I’m not trying to knock the means we use…obviously, God uses means to accomplish his purposes, and we are commanded to let our speech “always be gracious, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6). Thankfully, though, we can still impact others’ lives without half of our church budget going to the band, a laser show, and the church coffee bar. It’s God’s Spirit that changes hearts. That’s a cause that we can “endure everything” for.
It’s amazing how I have failed to believe and live out these implications of unconditional election. May God continue to teach us and conform us to his Word.
Friends
“May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.” –2 Timothy 1:16-18
“Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” –2 Timothy 4:11
“Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.” –2 Timothy 4:19-21
What fun would it be just to dwell on rejection? A neat thing about Christianity is the fellowship we have with one another. The fact that we hold this fundamental thing in common — the kingdom of God – unites us like nothing else can. It’s wonderful to be able to go to other countries and spend time with people you’ve never met, yet experience the bond of love that unites us all in the body of Christ. Other believers can encourage, aid, and equip us in our service for God.
It would be a serious mistake to adopt a “just me and Jesus” mentality. If we try to be Lone Ranger Christians, we neglect the body of Christ and therefore Christ himself. Moreover, we neglect our own spiritual health. Thank God for the friends that he brings into our lives!
Rejection
“You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.” –2 Timothy 1:15
“Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth….They are upsetting the faith of some.” –2 Timothy 2:17-18
“For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” –2 Timothy 4:9
“Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.” –2 Timothy 4:14-15
Paul had quite a list of enemies. He mentioned more of them by name in this book than anywhere else. Some of these were from outside the church, such as Alexander, while others rose from within the church. Most painful of all was Demas’ betrayal — the desertion by someone who was close to Paul.
Christianity is not meant for those who want to be friends with everyone. We will face rejection from without and within if we really believe the truth of the gospel in all its glory and offense.
Entitlement, suffering, and unconditional election
In 2 Timothy, Paul repeatedly charges Timothy with the ministry of the Word, urging him to suffer for the sake of the gospel. As I’ve been reading this book for the past couple of weeks, that charge has stood in sharp relief to my own life and to the life of those around me. Why in America are we so consumed with our own comfort? Why does it seem that anything is more important to us than the gospel?
Paul points out that our willingness to suffer is drawn directly from our theology — specifically, the doctrine of unconditional election.
2 Timothy 1:8-12
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do.
This is a doctrine that I used to hate because it stood opposed to my self-made concepts of who God was and how he should behave. I was shocked by the idea that God would choose some and not others for salvation. In an attempt to sidestep the clear scriptural teaching on this matter, I resorted to a common response: before the creation of the world, God looked down the tunnel of time and foresaw who would respond to his grace with repentance and belief; then, he chose the ones who would respond favorably.
This was nothing more than speculation, and it already stood on shaky ground because it has no scriptural support. It’s an invention of a desperate human mind. Moreover, it is contradicted by v. 9 above, which says that God did not call us to salvation “because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace.” Our election was not due to some action on our part. It was due entirely to God’s purpose, for God has a purpose in choosing some for salvation and not others.
If we really believed this, we would not have such a strong sense of entitlement in our churches. Deep down, we believe that in some way, we deserved to be saved. There was just something about me — maybe it’s because I was smarter than other people; maybe I was just more righteous than them. How lucky God is to have such a fine, intelligent man in his kingdom!
Appropriately, Charles Spurgeon mocked such a man-centered view of election with his “Arminian Prayer”:
Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not — that is the difference between me and them.
Rightly did Spurgeon call that “a prayer for the devil.” No one would be bold enough to say those things — instead, we imagine ourselves safe when we merely think them. Led by a high view of ourselves, we take our salvation for granted, abandoning it to pursue other trifles that are nothing but a vapor.
If there is something about me that brought about my salvation, then I am in some sense entitled to it. And if I am entitled to “life and immortality” (v. 10), then there is no reason to suffer for it. I’ll leave the suffering up to the other poor fools who aren’t as good as I am.
May God have mercy on us. We have neglected this doctrine for the sake of our own comfort. I pray that this teaching may soak into me, that this word may penetrate me to the core of my being, that I would always remember that I am saved apart from my own merit, ability, or wisdom. I pray that I may reject this entitlement mentality. I pray that I may gladly sacrifice and suffer for the God who has chosen me and loves me. O Lord, may you alone receive the praise for your great work of salvation!
In the light of this precious doctrine, let’s rejoice in the gospel of the power of God!
