Cautious Freedom

Mike Leake 3 Comments

I’m still not confident of how theologically true his statement was. All I know is that I believed him at the time and it wreaked havoc on me as a fairly new believer. He was a godly man that from all appearances had a godly marriage. I was a college student that had only been a believer for a couple of years and only hoped that someday I could be married to a godly woman.

“It’s not wrong to appreciate beauty. Don’t beat yourself up for ‘just noticing’. It’s that second look that is lust.”

I think I agree with him. And had he said that to me today, I doubt it would have damaged my soul as it did back then. But back then I wasn’t ready for such a “freedom”. I had only been saved a little while and that old habit of objectifying women had not yet been conquered; you could say that I was still haunted by the question.

So I took his advice. And as a hormonally charged sophomore in college I stopped fighting “the look”. I told myself that as long as I didn’t look for too long then it wasn’t a sin. I thought that I could still play the game of measuring women by physical appearance. As you can imagine this re-opened the gates to sin that I thought was conquered.

My brother’s freedom to not beat himself up for ‘just noticing’ had done serious damage to my heart. I was weak. I wasn’t ready for such a freedom. As theologically true as his counsel might have been—it was terrible. My experience was similar to what John Newton explained when he said:

And I have known and conversed with some who I fear have made shipwreck of their profession, who have dated their first decline from imitating others, whom they thought wiser and better than themselves, in such kind of compliances. (Newton On Christian Liberty)

That was me. Thankfully that was me. The Lord rescued me anew from that rebellious way of viewing the world. But it was a painful time that I still deeply regret.

The Freedom Not to Exercise

I’ll cut straight to the point: I’m afraid that my generation is going to kill ourselves and the generations to come because of our supposed freedom. I believe there are many things that we have the right to do because of the work of Christ. But there are many things that we should not exercise our right to do because of the work of Christ in also uniting us to weaker brothers and sisters.

I agree with my freedom-flaunting brothers (was that too harsh?) that we must be careful of legalism. Yes, there are unbiblical fetters that people attempt to put on one another. But I also believe, with Newton, that “when the mind is more enlightened, and we feel a liberty from many fetters we had imposed upon ourselves, we are in danger of verging too far towards the other extreme”.

May the Lord keep us from extremes. May He also cause us to be free to lovingly not exercise our freedoms for the sake of our brothers and sisters. It is my prayer that our generation, the ones before us, and the ones to come will have the wisdom to know when to exercise freedom and when to abstain.

May we be cautious with our freedoms.

Today in Blogworld 08.07.13

Mike Leake

9 Statements That Will Destroy Your Small Group

I’m going to try all nine of these Sunday just to see if he’s right.

Christ-haunted Atheists

Interesting piece by Denny Burk reflecting on a NY Times piece.

How Much of Your Past Do You Share With Your Children?

What do you think?

7 Reasons for the Death of Sunday Evening Worship

We devote this night to Life Groups. So does that count as the death of Sunday evening worship?

I need to learn how to do this:

 

Pray For Your Wife: 31 Day Challenge—Day Six

Mike Leake 11 Comments

Day Six: That she would find joy in the mundane

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. –Ecclesiastes 6:1-2

It is a terrible evil to not be able to enjoy the good gifts that God has given to us. There are many things that our wives do every day that are tedious and mundane. Consider all of the things that your wife does today, that she also did yesterday, and she will probably do tomorrow. It is a grace for her to find joy in these things. In the middle of her everyday work she can be tempted to let her mind wander to more exciting things and her heart to become dissatisfied. The only rescue from the “meaninglessness” of life under the sun is to find our ultimate meaning in Christ.
Then, and only then, is the humdrum able to be truly enjoyed.

Gracious God, I pray today that you help my wife to find joy in the mundane. I know it is a curse for us to have many of our hearts desires but not the ability to enjoy them. Lord, I know that ability comes from you. Capture my wife’s heart with a deep delight in the simple things of life. Help her to find joy in you as she does the dishes, tends to our children, cooks supper, and all of the other routine things that she does. Help her to enjoy the gift of life and to live in the life that Jesus has purchased for her. Amen.

—

Yes, it is the quiddity of redemption that we are praying for today.

12 Truths to Help Us Grow In Our Hatred of Sin

Mike Leake

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. –Hebrews 11:24-25

Sin can seem quite pleasurable at the time. Even if we know that it’s wrong or unwise we still have a tendency to coddle our sin. This is because we do not see sin for what it really is. I’m convinced that we will not be as passionate about turning from sin unless we truly hate it.

With help from Richard Baxter here are twelve things to meditate upon that will help us grow in our hatred of sin. As you read through this I encourage you to make this practical. Keep in your minds eye that particular sin that the Spirit has been nagging you about.

  1. Meditate on the character of God. You cannot know the seriousness & ugliness of sin without knowing the beauty of the God of whom sin is against.
  2. Consider the work of Christ. Christ came to kill that sin that we are holding on to.
  3. Ponder the work of the Holy Spirit. He came to purify us—can we then abide with sin?
  4. Know the wonderful love and mercy of God. The ugliness of sin is shown in comparison to the great love of the God that we are sinning against. Every sin is a sin against the hand of mercy.
  5. Consider what you were created for. Knowing the “excellent, and high, and holy work, you were created for” shows from what height sin has made us to fall from.
  6. Think of the delights that come from holiness. Sin robs you of true delight, remember those seasons of delight that sin has robbed from you.
  7. Think upon heaven. There is no sin in heaven. If it doesn’t satisfy and give joy there—what makes us think it is worthwhile in the present?
  8. Look to the state of the damned. Consider the difference between angels and devils. “Holiness and sin do make the difference”.
  9. Consider what men say of sin at the last. What do men in heaven and hell say of sin? If it’s not applauded in hell, and it’s not, then it should not be applauded here.
  10. Look upon sin and judgment together. Remember that you must answer for this sin before God, and angels, and all the world.
  11. Consider the grave. “Sickness, poverty, shame, despair, death, and rottenness in the grave” is the consequence of sin.
  12. Look upon truly holy people and great sinners. Is there no difference? Sin is the foundational difference between the two.

As we consider the odiousness of sin let us also consider the beauty of Jesus. He rescued us from the muck and mire of sin. May we flee from it today and live in His redemption and not foolish rebellion.

Repent and run to Jesus.

Consider this from Spurgeon as you ponder the ugliness of sin:

Suppose I could find out a sinner so vile that Jesus Christ could not reach him; why then the devils in hell would take him through their streets as a trophy; they would say, “This man was more than a match for God; his sin was too great for God’s grace.” What says the Apostle? “Where sin abounded”—that is you, poor sinner;—”where sin abounded”—what sins you plunged into last night, and on other black occasions,—”where sin abounded”—what? Condemnation? Hopeless despair? No, “Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” I think I see the conflict in the great arena of the universe. Man piles a mountain of sin, but God will match it, and he upheaves a loftier mountain of grace; man heaps up a still huger hill of sin, but the Lord overtops it with ten times more grace; and so the contest continues till at last the mighty God plucks up the mountains by the roots and buries man’s sin beneath them as a fly might be buried beneath an Alp. Abundant sin is no barrier to the superabundant grace of God.