You are on the verge of wrecking your life.  I know that with certainty.  I’m not psychic, and I’m not reading your mind as you read this chapter.  I doubt this book will be in print long enough to be read by artificially intelligent androids; so for now, I’m assuming if you can read, I know you’re human.  And if you’re human you’ve been designed to picture God – more specifically to picture the union of God and humanity in the man named Jesus.

This means, if the ancient Scriptures are right (and I’m wagering my life, and the next one, that they are), unseen spiritual beings out there are disturbed by what you are reminding them of.  By the “you” in the last sentence, I don’t mean a generic colloquial use of “one” or “humanity” in general.  I mean you personally.

From The True Crisis of Our Times, by Malcolm Muggeridge:

“We look back on history, and what do we see?  Empires rising and falling; revolutions and counter-revolutions succeeding one another; wealth accumulating and wealth dispersed; one nation dominant and then another.  As Shakespeare’s King Lear puts it, “the rise and fall of great ones that ebb and flow with the moon.”  In one lifetime I’ve seen my fellow countrymen ruling over a quarter of the world, and the great majority of them convinced – in the words of what is still a favorite song – that God has made them mighty and will make them mightier yet.  I’ve heard a crazed Austrian announce the establishment of a German Reich that was to last for a thousand years; an Italian clown report that the calendar will begin again with his assumption of power; a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin acclaimed by the intellectual elite as wiser than Solomon, more enlightened than Ashoka, more humane than Marcus Aurelius.  I’ve seen America wealthier than all the rest of the world put together; and with the superiority of weaponry that would have enabled Americans, had they so wished, to outdo an Alexander or a Julius Caesar in the range and scale of conquest.

“All in one little lifetime – gone with the wind:  England now part of an island off the coast of Europe, threatened with further dismemberment; Hitler and Mussolini seen as buffoons; Stalin a sinister name in the regime he helped to found and dominated totally for three decades; Americans haunted by fears of running out of the precious fluid that keeps their motorways roaring and the smog settling, by memories of a disastrous military campaign in Vietnam, and the windmills of Watergate.  Can this really be what life is about – this worldwide soap opera going on from century to century, from era to era, as old discarded sets and props litter the earth?  Surely not.  Was it to provide a location for so repetitive and ribald a production as this that the universe was created and man, or homo sapiens as he likes to call himself – heaven knows why – came into existence?  I can’t believe it.  If this were all, then the cynics, the hedonists, and the suicides are right: the most we can hope for from life is amusement, gratification of our senses, and death.  But it is not all.”

“What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together because they have all been loved by Jesus himself. They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.”[1]

“It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ… It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or in the nature of faith, but in the object of faith.”[1]

John Murray defines faith as “knowledge, conviction, and trust.”  Does it matter what we believe, so long as we have “faith”? Murray points out that we must believe the right things in order to have saving faith:

“It might seem very confusing to say that faith is knowledge. For is it not one thing to know, another to believe? This is partly true. Sometimes we must distinguish between faith and knowledge and place them in contrast to each other. In our ordinary human relations do we trust a person of whom we know nothing? Especially when that for which we trust him is of grave importance for us we must know a good deal regarding his identity and his character. How much more must this be the case with that faith which is directed to Christ; for it is faith against all the issues of life and death, of life and eternity? We must know who Christ is, what He has done, and what He is able to do. Otherwise faith would be blind conjecture at the best and foolish mockery at the worst. There must be apprehension of the truth respecting Christ. Sometimes, indeed, the measure of truth apprehended by the believing person is very small, and we have to appreciate the fact that the faith of some in its initial stages is very elementary. But faith cannot begin in a vacuum of knowledge. Paul reminds us of this very simply when he says, ‘Faith is of hearing, and hearing of the word of Christ’ (Rom 10:17).” [1]

Murray goes on to point out that saving faith does not stop with knowledge, but this knowledge must progress into conviction and assent to truth and then to trusting in the Person of Christ. He says, “Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and it is conviction passing into confidence.” [2]

“Who then can comprehend the riches and the glory of the Christian life? It can do all things and has all things and lacks nothing. It is lord over sin, death and hell, and yet at the same time it serves, ministers to, and benefits all men. But alas in our day this life is unknown throughout the world; it is neither preached about nor sought after; we are altogether ignorant of our own name and do not know why we are Christians or bear the name of Christians. Surely we are named after Christ, not because he is absent from us, but because he dwells in us, that is, because we live in him and are Christs to one another and do to our neighbors as Christ does to us.”

-Martin Luther The freedom of a Christian (1520)

This observation made by Luther 500 years ago is an exhortation to every generation -our present day included. Everything we do is done fearlessly, selflessly and joyfully because of Jesus. We become ineffective and delusioned in Christ-less Christianity. We have ultimate victory -but only by and through him.

“The believer feels no shame, as though he were still living too much in the flesh, when he yearns for the physical presence of other Christians. Man was created a body, the Son of God appeared on earth in the body, he was raised in the body, in the sacrament the believer receives the Lord Christ in the body, and the resurrection of the dead will bring about the perfected fellowship of God’s spiritual-physical creatures. The believer therefore lauds the Creator, the Redeemer, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the bodily presence of a brother. The prisoner, the sick person, the Christian in exile sees in the companionship of a fellow Christian a physical sign of the gracious presence of the triune God. Visitor and visited in loneliness recognize in each other the Christ who is present in the body; they receive and meet each other as one meets the Lord, in reverence, humility, and joy. They receive each other’s benedictions as the benediction of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if there is so much blessing and joy even in a single encounter of brother with brother, how inexhaustible are the riches that open up for those who by God’s will are privileged to live in the daily fellowship of life with other Christians!

It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.”[1]

Addressing the need for Christians to give attention to the kinds of clothes they wear, Gregg Allison offers five biblical principles for his readers to consider:

“(1) Understand that clothes communicate something about those who select and wear them. Thus, Christians should dress sensibly, being conscious of their selection in clothing. (2) Avoid ostentatious clothes that draw attention to one’s status of wealth and privilege. (3) Dress modestly, not sensually, avoiding seductive clothes that draw attention to one’s sexuality. (4) Dress properly, using good judgment, and avoiding clothes that associate the wearer with rebellion and evil. (5) Spend wisely and fittingly on clothes, guarding against purchasing so as to overtax one’s budget and considering what is appropriate in light of personal, family, church, and world needs. Clearly, these principles apply as much to men as to women. Even the clothes Christians wear should confirm their profession of godliness.”[1]



The generations preceding ours fought important theological battles concerning the Bible, specifically for inerrancy and infallibility.  The fight in our day will be for sufficiency.  The following quote is from Andy Naselli, a PhD student of D. A. Carson, from the recent book Don’t Call It a Comeback (Crossway: 2011), edited by Kevin DeYoung.  With these words Naselli addresses one of the most serious attacks on the sufficiency of Scripture today:

Some evangelicals believe that God continues to reveal himself with special words and special guidance.  Whether we agree that God still speaks like this or not, we must agree that these special words do not carry the authority of Scripture.  We can’t be absolutely certain that they actually come from God, so we should never treat these forms of communication the same way we treat God’s communication to us in the Bible.  Otherwise we would be adding to the Bible, which is already sufficient as it stands (Kindle edition).

“Yes, there will be some who don’t understand why you’d want to adopt. Some of them may even be related to you.  This is because for many who’ve never experienced adoption, adoption seems to be simply a Plan B for people who can’t have children.  They’re not able to see the beauty of adoption in and of itself.  So be it.  What better opportunity for you to model the God who adopts from every tongue, tribe, nation, and language and sets all the children together at the same table with the same inheritance and the same love?  When you get puzzled looks from people who don’t understand, just smile and tell them how happy you are for God’s kindness to you, that you’re grateful that he’s blessing you again.”

-Russell D. Moore, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches, 107.