Welcome to a year of reading Richard Sibbes together! The reading plan for the entire year can be accessed here. In February, we’ll learn more about the man behind the Bruised Reed as we tackle Mark Dever’s biography of Sibbes. (Purchase it 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

This week we come to a very important discussion of grace and sin in the believer. Sibbes begins by saying, “grace is little at first.” Little? Yes, little, though the conversion of a rebellious soul is glorious. It is from this glorious mustard seed that our faith is sparked, as a smoking flax, and has life. Christ gives birth to our faith and fans its flame to shine brightly for his glory.

In the process of the salvation of a soul, that soul holds to the glory of God with joy. Like new love it is infatuated with its beloved, and carried along through its early and fitful life, as Christ gently encourages the flame of faith without blowing out the fire, and grows yet brighter in grace.

We are carefully encouraged to trust in Christ and given the faith to withstand the storms of conviction. This “little” grace of conversion carries us through the reorientation of our minds to follow our Lord and Savior. We find in ourselves sin which causes humility, (Sibbes calls this the smoke of corruption), yet we rejoice in grace and seek to obey God, (which he calls the light). This “little” grace is of much use! “A pearl, though little, yet is of much esteem: nothing in the world of so good use, as the least dram of grace.” (50)

Sibbes asserts the encouraging truth, “Christ will not quench small and weak beginnings.” Praise God! How small and weak were our beginnings in Christ. No one begins their life in Christ as they will someday end up. We begin with but a “little” grace, glorious in its effect, to repent from our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary atonement. Justification is immediate, but our sanctification, our growing in grace, is ongoing. Christ will not quench the very flame he fanned in to existence in us. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6.

Sibbes completes this section with exhortations to the Christian minister. (Referred to also as Divine.) Keep the truth clear and plain and do not ever obscure it or cast doubt upon it. Ministers have a duty to the flock to be tender and humble in their proclamation of the truth and encouragement of the saints.

The ambassadors of so gentle a Saviour should not be over-masterly, setting up themselves in the hearts of people where Christ alone should sit as in his own temple. (53)

It’s not about the pastor who leads the church, in other words, but about Jesus Christ. Christ must have prominence in the church. He is the only “celebrity.”

Application/Discussion

With four chapters of Sibbes there is much to talk about. Yet, I want to focus in on the fifth chapter, the first in this week’s reading.

Grace is little at first.

Do we think of conversions as but a little grace? This is not to say it is not glorious. Sibbes said, “Nothing so little as grace at first, and nothing more glorious afterward: things of greatest perfection are longest in coming to their growth.” (49) Indeed, how glorious it is that God has taken hold of us, given us the knowledge of our sin and corruption, and turned our hearts to Jesus Christ. How glorious indeed that we can be reconciled with God!

The second part of that sentence is what Sibbes is driving at, and what we at times fail to apprehend. Grace is not done when we have repented and believed. Grace continues, “as a running stream fed with a spring holdeth out.” (48) Grace flows from the fountain of God without end. Conversion is but the first sweet drink. If you are dying of thirst, isn’t the first sip from your rescuer the sweetest, even though you will continue to drink?

So it is with Christ. Before he draws us we are dying of thirst in a hot and bitter desert. When he seeks and finds us, and gives us a drink of the waters of everlasting life, that first sip is achingly beautiful. Awesomely glorious. Thank God that he does not cut off the flow. We must have it continually!

We think of grace, oftentimes, as exactly opposite. Huge, and then nothing. We over-emphasize, if it were possible, the conversion of our souls and neglect our sanctification. Conversion is but the beginning of eternity with Christ. It is the first stone laid in a foundation of praise to God. As we labor with Christ to build our foundation in him, stone by stone, we begin to comprehend the enormity of his grace more and more.

“Let us only look on our imperfect beginning to enforce further strife to perfection, and to keep us in a low conceit.” (49)

Conversion is not the only thing. Let us not neglect grace driven effort (strife) towards sanctification. In the knowledge of our imperfection and sin, let us be humble.

Question: Are you ignoring your sanctification and neglecting to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? In what way has this reading of Sibbes changed your outlook on the Christian life?

Share in the comments your reflections on this, and share what insights you gained from this week’s reading.

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Last week, we covered chapters one through four.

Next week, we’ll be covering chapters nine through twelve.