Discipline and backsliding

One of my interests... or former obsessions... was/is MMA or mixed martial arts. As well as being a keen viewer I was also a participant (and to some extent still am). Within my MMA experience there were several disciplines that needed attention. Principally these were Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (or submission wrestling), Thai Boxing (Muay Thai) and Wrestling. There were elements of Boxing and Judo thrown in also. So there were quite a range of skills to master.

To compete even at an amateur level requires a huge amount of time, attention discipline and fitness. I was fortunate enough to be able to compete professionally... I say fortunate as many people train for years and years and despite wanting to do so, never fulfil that desire. I fought 6 times between July 2007 and March 2009. In that time I was fully immersed in the sport. Everything took a back seat to MMA. I deified it in fact. MMA was my God I’m sad to say.

Diet, fitness, lifestyle... everything was committed to my MMA idol. It was clearly (in hindsight) the idol I needed to fill large gaps in my life as I didn’t have the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God to fulfil... well... everything.

This is not to say MMA didn’t teach me lots. It taught me an immense amount of self discipline and how to set and maintain high standards and also an appreciation of commitment. It also stopped me from indulging in even more ‘damaging’ or unhealthy idolatry (though that sounds somewhat contradictory).This is also rather ironic to say when one considers the object of the exercise is to punch, kick, knee, twist, choke and hyperextend anything your opponent will allow you to. I was good at it too. There are many aspects of that disciplined life I can apply in my Christian life, but I am also very mindful of how easy it would be to be drawn back into deifying MMA once again, or to substitute it for something else.

As it stands my body won’t let me. My back is injured, but not damaged. It’s like God has fitted a choker chain on my life of training and exercise. If I strain too hard at the leash, it tightens, as does my back and hip preventing me from doing too much. It is, thank the Lord, a limiter. As I’ve written this I’ve realised that maybe God is saying to me ‘you’re not as disciplined as you think’ – if I was so ultra disciplined I wouldn’t need to worry about backsliding would I?

This was intended to be a short post as it was prompted by reading a quote by a famous wrestling coach, Dan Gable. It made me wonder that if someone of this mindset could apply the attitude to the most important aspects of their Christian life (in love and obedience), how blessed they would be.

“I’m a big believer in starting with high standards and raising them. We make progress only when we push ourselves to the highest level. If we don’t progress, we backslide into bad habits, laziness and poor attitude."

Finally read this quote and substitute the ‘top priorities’ for a Christian’s priorities of prayer, studies, worship and preaching (or hearing) and ultimately and pre-eminently of course, glorification of our Lord.

“When you finally decide how successful you really want to be, you’ve got to set priorities. Then, each and every day, you’ve got to take care of the top ones. The lower ones may fall behind, but you can’t let the top ones slip. You don’t forget about the lower ones though because they can add up to hurt you. Just take care of the top ones first. In 25 years as a head coach and assistant, I think I might have missed one practice. Why? Because practice is my top priority. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t accomplish something in my family life or my profession because those two things are my top priorities."

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Analogies are a bit like...

I like Mr Herman Hoeksema. I like him a lot. He has a knack of using analogies that I understand. Now I use them a lot as you may have noticed but I am always conscious that in giving an analogy it is hard to appreciate how it will be received. I mean, I know what I’m talking about and in my own mind the analogical image is crystal clear... but does anyone else get it? Not always.


Mr Hoeksema doesn’t have this problem I don’t think, nor does Peter Jeffery. Each time I have read or heard an analogy by either of them I have re-wound or re-read it a few times, enjoying the laser beam accurate image I believe they intended to portray.

Most recently I liked Mr Jeffery’s example of our sin being like a big strong, nasty Rottweiler (it may have been a Doberman, but it hardly affects the analogy). We need to keep that vicious dog on a short lead and well under control. If we were to let out too much lead or to release it, it would cause untold damage and pain. So the danger needs to be disciplined and kept reined in tightly and under our control and command.

Mr Hoeksema provided another analogy for me this morning as I continued my reading of 'Wonder of Grace'. I shan’t paraphrase him though, this is what he wrote. The chapter was entitled ‘Believing through Grace’ and the particular section was referring to our faith in Christ.

“The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is not unlike that between a living young tree and a dead fence post. You can plant that fence post deep into the ground, but you do not expect that it will show signs of life and develop branches and fruit. On the contrary, it will rot in the soil in which it is planted. But plant a young sapling in the same soil, and it will strike its roots into the ground and draw nourishment from it, grow and bear fruit.”

This reflects something that I mentioned in my last blog about Mr Jeffery’s ‘Whitewash’ sermon. Someone can outwardly be gleaming white, a Doctor who has attended church for 40 years and does many good works... but he can be as dead as that fence post despite being buried deep in the ground of a church if he is an unbeliever. He may even frequently study the bible or expound its contents from a pulpit. But he’s still dead in his unbelief.

Take a believer however, an uneducated labourer who is that young sapling. He has no knowledge of the bible, little understanding of the nuances and details of scripture, he doesn't even think he is doing so... but that sapling starts to bear fruit. The love and grace in his life shines through and bears fruit. Burying his roots deep into Christ, the gospel and His church the sapling grows into a mighty solid oak, rock solid in faith in Christ.

To use Mr Hoeksema’s example (which I semi plagiarised in the last 2 paragraphs) the same said doctor and labourer are fed a meal. The doctor understands the nutritional value of the food, he is aware that the proteins, carbohydrates,  vitamins and minerals are essential for all manner of reasons. He knows the value of the food. But he has a terminal illness which sees him struggle to eat. The food will make him sick and nauseous. He can tell you the value of the food, but rejects the chance to eat it.

The labourer knows none of this. He knows he is hungry, he knows his appetite needs sating and he eats and eats and eats until his plate is as clean as a whistle. He is ignorant of the nutritional benefits of the food other than it makes him satisfied, but he still benefits from the content of what he has taken in - each meal making him stronger.

Oh to be a doctor who can labour during the mornings uprooting fence posts and planting saplings in their place, then spend the afternoons collecting and distributing the fruit collected from the mature, fully grown trees planted years before.

You can’t fault a good analogy can you? (That last one was mine... I do hope it made sense!!!!)

Being vague...

I listened to a Peter Jeffery sermon on my way to and from work today about 'Whitewashing' and Ezekiel 13. Effectively it was about false prophets and their perversion of the gospel. The whitewash reference being to how if a building is whitewashed it can camouflage the true state of the crumbling, damaged and weakened walls. The veneer of the church goer who isn’t saved – they whitewash their life in good works and regular church attendance, but inside are rotten and decaying.

Rather like the comparison made about (I can’t recall, or find, where it says so  ) the sepulchre being white and clean and well kept on the outside and rotten and dead inside.


Anyway, in Mr Jeffery’s sermon he said something which struck me as blindingly obvious, yet not always altogether clear to see. He said (here I paraphrase as best I can, hoping I can do justice to his words... and wincing at the thought of getting it wrong) that - if one is vague or ‘loose’ in one’s understanding of scripture, then so too will be one’s grasp and appreciation of what sin is and where it occurs in one’s life.

I certainly have experienced that feeling of realisation several times in the last year where I have been studying my bible only to come across a verse that allows aspects of my sin to drop firmly and clearly into focus. It was perhaps something which up to that point I hadn’t even realised was necessarily wrong.

I find it increasingly difficult to understand how Christians cannot spend more time trying to seek out and destroy sin in their lives. I realise I am ‘young’ and enthusiastic about the gospel, but its all there in His Word. All we have to do is read it! The task of ridding oneself of sin is never a finished task, until He does the job for us in Glory. But one feeds the other.


The more we know of the gospel = the more readily we can recognise and are equipped to kill sin in our lives.

The more we know of our sin = the less hypocritical we can be in living out our Christian lives and the greater our appreciation can be of the Grace God has afforded us in saving such wretches.

By Grace ye are saved

I have been reading the first few chapters of Herman Hoeksema's 'Wonder of Grace' and after 3 short chapters I would recommend it wholeheartedly. As you'd expect from the title Mr Hoeksema discusses all things regarding Sovereign Grace.

Thus far I have read the chapters on 'Salvation by Grace', 'Chosen by Grace' and 'Reconciled by Grace'. The second chapter 'Chosen by Grace' is essentially about election.

Now I'm aware that this topic (election) is one which causes a great deal of unease, debate and even division in the Church and I have no wish with my limited understanding of things scriptural to inflame anyone's ire over it.

However... Mr Hoeksema clearly falls into the electionist camp and I was taken by the following paragraph as it takes a slant on things I'd not encountered before. The 'truth' being the doctrine of election:

"It dare not be objected to this doctrine that this truth offers no comfort to poor sinners: for nothing could be farther from the truth. True, this doctrine has no consolation for the impenitent wicked. But we ask: is there any form of presentation of the gospel that could possibly comfort the wicked and the ungodly?"

Ergo, if one is saved, is the truth of election not wonderfully reassuring for us... reassurance of God's love and our personal salvation? Also this highlights that our squeamish concerns over the unelect hold no water as the gospel holds no comfort for them personally?

It is rather that we wish they could share in our comfort and our knowledge of a personal Saviour?
I may have made something out of nothing there and misjudged the entire context of the sentence. It did make me think though that any concerns one might have over election lie in the converts' concern over the 'fair' treatment of condemned unconverted sinners who remain blind to the gospel and stumble on in their impenitence.

We're all guilty of course... as charged. But by Grace we are saved.

Grace of course meaning unmerited favour.

Wow... don't you feel great about that Christian?

Please take a look at the bookshop here for the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. They have very good selection.

From faith to faith

Romans 1:17 in the KJV says this:


"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith."

I have pondered this verse with for some time and was prompted to do so by the book I bought on exegesis. That and my long term bible study on Romans (thus far 10 or 11 months and the first 4 chapters... though I am aware those months could easily be years a la Dr DM Lloyd Jones).

So what conclusion did we come to? I say 'we' as I had some considerable help from Richard B Ramsey, DM Lloyd Jones and Herman Hoeksema... and my Mum. Well initially I made the mistake of looking at the phrase 'from faith to faith' in isolation, without considering the context of the verse. Slightly ironic as verse 16 is one of my favourites!

Once I had read about the Greek for 'to faith' and 'from faith' I established a nice mental image of the process of sanctification. It gave me an illustration which since I explained it to my Dad I have been informed it is commonly used... at least I'm on the right track eh? I called it 'Sanctification Street'.

The Greek word in the original text means 'to come out of', rather like coming out of a house. As in my wonderful drawing pictured here. This is 'ek'.

'Eis' on the other hand means 'to enter into'. See the other picture.

The mental picture this gave me was of a street of houses, each fresher, cleaner and more satisfying to live in than the last. With each house representing a new area of faith.

The process of moving from one house to another is sanctification, as we grow and become richer in the faith we move to bigger, better decorated houses. The final move being to Glory, as co-owners of the greatest, most magnificent mansion in eternity. This fitted nicely with the concept of 'ek' and 'eis' in spiritual terms.

 

The vehicle for moving being the gospel (great mpg and safety rating... no need for airbags, the driver is perfect).

Another analogy I considered was given by RB Ramsey of the gospel bridging 2 islands (or areas) of faith, as you can see here. I like it but 'Sanctification Street' is better I think.

After much consideration... and a comment from my Dad I realised that this was not actually the meaning of the text, but still a worthwhile analogy of growing from faith to faith in our Christian lives. Herman Hoeksema had it nailed in his book 'By Faith Alone' (a must read). It puzzled me at first but after giving it some thought I think this is what he meant:

(Read the verse again first).

'For therein' - meaning the gospel (scriptural and figuratively in the message). '...is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith...' I took this to mean that we extract faith from (ek) the gospel and this in turn allows us to further our faith in (eis) the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Was something of a head scratcher at first. But it seems to fit well if you read the verses around it. Any other ideas on this verse will be gladly received. Either way I've spent some time looking at this now and have been blessed by it, I hope it does you too.

I'm really quite shocked it has been so long since my last post! My laptop screen decided to die... well in fact I murdered it... albeit accidently. Anyway I will be attempting to get back to my regular blogging ASAP I do, as ever, have much to say. Hopefull I will post shortly on the following:

Romans 1: 17 - "from faith to faith" and my 'Sanctification street and the car of Gospel' analogy. Additionally my crude attempt to explain (to myself as much as you) what Mr Herman Hoeksema has to say about it.

It's a good 'un.

Consider it yourself in the meantime, it is a complex verse.

I noticed this hymn the other week and shared it with my Mum. The words are really lovely.

Be still, my heart! these anxious cares

To thee are burdens, thorns and snares;

They cast dishonor on the Lord,

And contradict His gracious word.

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Brought safely by His hand thus far,

Why wilt thou now give place to fear?

How canst thou want if He provide,

Or lose thy way with such a Guide?

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When first before His mercy-seat

Thou didst to Him thine all commit;

He gave thee warrant from that hour

To trust His wisdom, love, and power.

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Did ever trouble yet befall,

And He refuse to hear thy call?

And has He not His promise passed,

That thou shalt overcome at last?

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He who has helped me hitherto

Will help me all my journey through,

And give me daily cause to raise

New Ebenezers to His praise.

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Though rough and thorny be the road,

It leads thee on, apace, to God;

Then count thy present trials small,

For God will make amends for all.

 

 

Amen to that!