Sibbes and Meditations of Death (YWS Week 11)

Nick Horton 3 Comments

richardsibbessmallWelcome to a year of reading Richard Sibbes together! The reading plan for the entire year can be accessed here. I encourage you to stick with us, allow yourself time to read, and soak in the riches of this gifted and prolific Puritan preacher. You will be edified and encouraged.

If you have trouble with how Sibbes used words, check out the Lexicons of Early Modern English for definitions from the period.

Summary/Engagement

Have you ever considered whether you should die or continue to live, as Paul did in Philippians 1:23-24? Paul desired, as every Christian assured of their salvation desires, to depart and be with Christ. It wasn’t that he wanted to be in Heaven, but that he wanted to be with Christ himself. As our author noted, “Heaven is not heaven without Christ.”

Paul’s mind was so firmly fixed in heaven that to die would have almost been a reunification of mind and body. His desires were for Christ and not for things of this world. He worked hard to keep the world in its proper perspective. Things and comforts were not near to his heart as indeed he worked only as was needful to support his ministry.

He desired, as I hope you desire, to be with Jesus Christ himself and experience the perfection of God face to face. Here on earth, we read, “our peace is interrupted with desertion and trouble. Here the joys of the Holy Ghost are mingled with sorrow. Here the grace in a man is with combat of flesh and spirit, but in heaven there is pure peace, pure joy, pure grace.” Given such truth, why wouldn’t we all, when we come to Christ, desire to die as quickly as possible and depart to be with him?

Because, Paul also believed verse 24; “But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”

Application / Further Discussion

What a picture of God’s good grace at work in the soul of men that we desire to stay and be of some good to others. Indeed, as we read, “Holy and gracious men, that are led by the Spirit of God, can deny themselves and their own best good for the church’s benefit.” If you are led by the Spirit of God you can best use your life in service to the Gospel and Christ’s church rather than the fulfillment of earthly desires. Indeed, “God reserves the best for the last.” The future glories of heaven are why we labor for Christ now. Not for our salvation, but for his glory.

Servants of God are his grace to others. Through our brothers and sisters in the Church we experience the beauty of communion. Our hopes and our sorrows are experienced together as we endeavor to serve God in this life. Through the godly witness of holy men the Holy Spirit uses them to sanctify us.

“Therefore if God convey so much good by other men that are good, let us make much of them, as public persons, as instruments of our good. Take away malice, and pride, and a poisonful spirit, and all their good is ours. What hinders that we have no good by them? Pride and an envious spirit, &c.”

He is not suggesting we make people celebrities. We are not to fall back in to the same error of the Corinthian church of dividing over a particular leader. However, we should honor and celebrate those public people that serve God well and thus benefit us. Our tendency is to be quite Corinthian and divide prominent pastors up in teams and root for them. No matter their failings or errors, once we’re on the team, we’re full in with foam finger and face paint.

We shouldn’t celebrate the man per se, but God’s grace at work within him. John Piper is a gifted preacher and author who has affected an entire generation of believers to treasure Christ above all. Yet, Piper is not his own team. He’s a bit part in the grand narrative of God’s sovereign work throughout all creation. We celebrate his usefulness to Christ and benefit to us, treasuring him as a brother and not merely a fringe benefit, while we serve Christ on this Earth. To continue the sports analogy, he’s a teammate, not the coach.

Conversely, we also put to death our pride and any negativity that would desire to destroy a godly servant. All goodness and truth come from God. We should celebrate and fan the flame of grace in this goodness and truth, keeping in mind that it is of God and not of whatever man it resides in. So then, celebrate those who serve Christ well, and honor them publicly.

Do you see yourself as mainly about you, or about what benefit you can have to others?

Is your desire to depart and be with Christ when He calls you, or are you not fully assured of your faith in him?

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Last week, we covered Sibbes’s sermon series, “The Glorious Feast of the Gospel”

Next week, we’ll read “Violence Victorious.” (What a title!)

Today in Blogworld 03.21.14

Mike Leake 1 Comment

12 Mistakes People Make in Their Twitter Bios

Amen.

4 Things of Learned from the (Hateful) Ministry of Fred Phelps

I found this an interesting reflection on Fred Phelps.

Outrage Porn and the Christian Reader

Outrage sells. Just like porn. Neither should…especially in the church.

9 Thoughts on Celebrity Pastors, Controversy, the New Calvinism, etc.

Kevin DeYoung weighs in on some of the recent controversy involving Driscoll, New Calvinism, etc. Personally, I believe he is spot on but I’d have some kickback on a few points. I’m probably more in line with what Carl Trueman says here.

I’m pretty sure everybody in the world has already seen this, but if you were waiting for it to appear on here before viewing it, you might find this quite funny:

31 Days of Purity—Day Twenty-One

Mike Leake

Day Twenty-One: The Throne of Grace

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16) 

This passage tells us to come to Christ in our weakness and in our sin. Yet we often prefer a route that is opposed to Hebrews 4:16. I cannot describe it any better than Heath Lambert has:

Mental punishments are not helpful because they deal with sin in a self-centered way instead of a Christ-centered way. Meditating on how miserable and pathetic you are only perpetuates the sinful self-centeredness that led you to look at pornography in the first place. Condemning self-talk still has you standing center stage as you reflect on what you think you deserve because of what you did. … The only way to break this vicious cycle is to get outside of yourself to Jesus. You need to stop talking to yourself in categories of condemnation and begin talking to God in categories of confession. (Lambert, Finally Free, 26)

Jesus doesn’t need your condemning self-talk. Neither do you, for it accomplishes nothing good. What you need is to believe the gospel and boldly draw near to the throne of grace. It is here—in our Great High Priest—that you will find the healing that you long for. It is here that you will find the mercy and grace that you so desperately need. 

Lord, you were tempted just as I have been tempted. I am thankful that where I have failed, you have succeeded. You know how strong temptation can be. You know what it is like to be in a mortal body. You can sympathize with my weakness. I am grateful that you know my frame and remember that I am but dust (Psalm 103). Rescue me from foolish self-talk and replace it with your words of grace. You say that when I confess, I am clean. Help me to believe you. Today I draw near to your throne of grace confident that you will meet me with mercy and grace to help in this time of need.

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Mike Leake is associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Jasper, IN. He and his wife, Nikki have 2 children (Isaiah and Hannah). Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and regularly blogs athttp://mikeleake.net

The Problem With Victory Focus

Mike Leake 1 Comment

For the month of March I’ve joined with over 3,000 other men to focus on our pursuit of purity. As I’ve listened to and engaged in some of the many conversations on our Facebook group there is one word that I hear (and have likely even used) a fair amount of times. That word is “victory”.

I’m also preparing a six week series for our churches Sunday evening service. That series is on sanctification. I don’t believe I could do such a series justice without reading through Jerry Bridges’ book, The Pursuit of Holiness. One of his first paragraphs caught my attention as it relates to our pursuit of purity.

Bridges acknowledges that our experience of holiness and purity is often lacking and we end up discouraged. He then lists a few reasons why we experience frustration in Christian living more than success. His first reason is what grabbed my attention:

Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God. (Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, 16-17)

I can relate to this. So many times I want victory over sin not because I find it to be offensive to God but because I want to be like Rocky Balboa throwing my hands in the air after racing up a flight of stairs. I want to be able to shout, “Yo Adrian I did it!”  Bridges continues:

God wants us to walk in obedience—not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented towards self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there is a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we face this attitude and deal with it we will not consistently walk in holiness.  (17)

There is a difference between obedience and victory.

In my mind I picture a team of solider bunkered down behind enemy lines. They are mostly surrounded by enemies and at the point of frustration and despair; death seems certain. Then a most wonderful word is transmitted to them—a decisive victory has been won and rescue is coming. They are given instructions on how to do battle while they await ultimate rescue.

Now of course they are still surrounded by enemies and are not fully living in the light of this victory. The war is won but the battle isn’t quite over. If these soldiers become victory conscious and bolt out of their bunker doing a victory dance then they’ll be blown to pieces. Their victory will come as a by-product of them obeying the rules of battle. Bridges explains:

This is not to say God doesn’t want us to experience victory, but rather to emphasize that victory is a byproduct of obedience. As we concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, we will certainly experience the joy of victory over sin. (17)

As I’ve counseled many guys (my twenty-something self included) that are in the muck and mire of a battle with porn, I’ve noticed something. When they become obsessed with winning victory over lust, porn, etc. they inevitably continue living in defeat. Or even if they do gain little victories in this area their growth in Christ will be stunted in all other areas. Their whole walk with Christ is consumed by this one particular issue.

Yet whenever people “seek first His kingdom and its righteousness” something slowly happens. Porn loses its luster and impurity its grip.

If you are in Christ the victory over the defilement of pornography and lust has already been won. He’s dealt a death blow to the guilt, the shame, and the stains that come from every look that lasted too long, and every action that you regret only seconds after.

Focus your attention on abiding in Christ. Fan into flame your love for Christ and His kingdom. I’m not saying ignore the fact that you are sinning. But I am saying consider your sin in proportion to the greatness of Christ. Bask in the grace upon grace upon grace that He has given to us. Pursue obeying Him in the whole counsel of God and don’t be fixated on only this issue. Yes, it’s a big deal, but it’s not bigger than Jesus.

Focus on daily obedience and leave the victory dance up to Christ the Victor.