It Starts With A Humble Heart

I have been blessed by a series of posts on the Gospel Coalition web site by Paul Tripp. And while his focus is primarily on folks in ministry, there is much truth and application to those who are not.  Here is one sample from his latest post, If You Still Think You've Arrived:

You live in the middle of the "already" and the "not yet." There is temptation all around. In the middle you are still susceptible to its draw. In the middle there is still an enemy lurking around looking for his next meal. In the middle we are capable of self-deceit and personal delusion. In the middle we still need to be rescued from ourselves. In the middle we must always live humble, concerned, and protective lives. In the middle we constantly need grace's rescue.

How true is this? I almost feel as if Tripp is writing about me. I think this because he has tapped into a reality that we all face, whether we admit it or not. By God's grace, we can (and do) face these temptations, but how often do we forget that we need to fight with the armor that Christ himself provides (Eph 6:10-20)?

My plea to God is for a serious reordering, refocusing of my own view of who He is, Father, Son and Spirit and who I am, a man of dry bones, dust and ashes. Can we be instruments in the Master's hands? Absolutely! And we should allow Him to make music with and through us. But we must always remember that even a Stradivarius receives its glory not from itself, but from the One who made it and the One who plays it.

Let me conclude with a final quote from Tripp:

The great spiritual war doesn't only rage outside of us. There is ample evidence every day that it still rages inside of us. Gospel-driven, Christ-centered ministry, one that gives grace to those who hear, doesn't start with theological knowledge; it starts with a humble heart. It starts with recognition of your own need and the acknowledgment that you and I are more like than unlike the people to whom God has called us to minister. And for this we have the grace of Jesus.

To God Alone be the Glory

Hit between the eyes.

Have you ever been hit between the eyes by God?

Do you know what I mean? You're just cruising along in life, reading or working or driving or talking when the thought hits you "I am off track" or "I've drifted way to far" or "My life and doctrine isn't what it was nor is it what it should be"? Visually, I think of this as walking in the woods, so intent on the trail that you're on that when you finally look up you realize you don't know where you are.

Such a moment came to me yesterday as I read a blog post by Paul David Tripp entitled Beware Your Delusions of Spiritual Grandeur. Based on previous posts by Tripp and the title, I thought of people to whom I should forward it to and others to whom I wouldn't forward, but who would really needed to read it.

Then I read it. And God hit me right between the eyes. Statements like the following brought me up short:

an attitude of arrival still shaped my ministry. 

when you think you've arrived, when you quit being convicted of and broken by your own weakness, failure, and sin, you will begin to make bad personal and ministry choices.

So I sit here today considering the ways my attitude of arrival has infected how I approach people and ministry. And, quite frankly, this attitude not only affects pastors and leaders, it affects us in the "rank and file" as well. Prayerfully consider this:

The reality and confession of personal spiritual weakness is not a grave danger to your ministry. God has chosen to build his church through the instrumentality of bent and broken tools. It is your delusions of strength that will get you in trouble and cause you to form a ministry that is less than Christ-centered and gospel-driven.  

Remember, the tender ministry of grace grows in the soil of constant awareness of your need for grace.

Read the full post here.

To God Alone be the Glory

Everything you have

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Cor 4:7)

Maybe its my continual battle with pride. Maybe its my ever growing sense of smallness in a universe created by a God who is so far beyond me that I cannot even grasp the edges of who He is (Job 26:14). Maybe it is simply the fact that the Bible is truth and whenever it speaks (and we happen to listen) there is a resonant chord in our hearts.

For whatever the reason, the verse above from 1 Cor 4, always presses on me each time I read it. In two simple and straightforward questions, Paul lays out and disarms pride. He establishes God's sovereignty over all  things. He demonstrates the deceitfulness of the human heart & mind. He confirms our utter dependence on God (whether viewed as King or Father). And he implies the need we all have (and due we owe) to worship God.

Yes, I know I've put a lot a weight on one verse. And yes, I know would have a hard time supporting these spiritual realities exclusively from this verse. Yet, as the Spirit teaches and guides, I think it is reasonable to say that these thoughts were in Paul's mind when he wrote this, if for no other reason that he brings these truths out explicitly in other places.

In order to avoid an extended discourse, here's my plan for the day. I'm going list the items again, one by one, with a few comments for each. My request of you is to prayerfully read and reflect. Ask God if He would use this verse or these truths to draw you closer to Him.

Paul lays out and disarms pride.  This is clearly the main thrust of the verse. "Why do you boast?" seems pretty obvious. And yet, how often do we stop in the midst of reading 1 Cor 4 and actually ask ourselves: why do we boast. So, friend, hit the pause button on your life and really ask yourself "If you've really received everything from God, why do you boast?"

Paul establishes God's sovereignty over all  things.  This is semi explicit, but in a way it is buried in the first rhetorical question: "What what do you have that you did not receive?" The implied answer is that there is nothing that I have, spiritual or physical, that I did not receive. If this is the case, who orchestrated my receiving? Who designed what I should receive and when and how much? Who is managing this process now? And the negative implication of all this is that if God is not sovereign, then everything is simply random and there is no purpose in the good or the evil or the ordinary events of our lives.

Paul demonstrates the deceitfulness of the human heart & mind. This is shown in the need for the questions, especially the second one. From a pure logic stand point, if we've received everything, we have nothing to boast about. We are not the canvas, we are not the paint, we are not the brushes, we are not the artistic skill and vision. We are the resulting painting. And yet we boast. Why? Is it not the deceitfulness of our own hearts? Even those who are redeemed in Christ continue to battle with the vestiges of this reality. We must never forget or relent in battling against what remains of our old self.

Paul confirms our utter dependence on God (whether viewed as King or Father). This item really overlaps with God's sovereignty. However, it needs to be distinct, because God's sovereignty can be viewed as cold, harsh, distant. But God is not cold, hard or distant. He gives rain to the just and the unjust. He gives life & breath to billions. He gives grace each day to people who are trusting Christ for the first time or surrendering their lives again as they roll out of bed. He listens to every prayer offered in name of His Son and is pleased to act  on behalf of his children. Without Him, we would be in the outer darkness, without hope in the world.

Paul implies the need we all have (and due we owe) to worship God. Yes, the proper response is worship. Isn't it always? Not always exuberant. Not always musical. But always joyful. Always grateful and humble. And it need not conform to any of the worship modes currently available to us. (Another topic for another day).

Well, it became a sermon anyway. I pray we will each take time, not just today, but every day to ask two simple questions:

What do you have that you did not receive?


If you've received everything, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it?

To God Alone be the Glory

The Root That Supports Us

Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. (Rom 11:18)

How often do we mentally assent to a truth like this, yet in very practical ways live exactly the opposite? "God holds the future" we might say. Yet we fret and worry and devote inordinate resources to plan our retirements (or college funds). "God's Word will never return void" is a great, churchy Bible-based cliche. Yet we fret and worry and orchestrate our preaching and our services and our witnessing so the we have the best chance of affecting the outcome.

What is it that is in us that needs so desperately to be in control. We do not want to be the branches, do we? None of us want to be the worker bee; we all want to be the queen. What drives this? And why does this invade all aspects of our lives?

The short answer is that we are sons and daughters of our father Adam and mother Eve. Their catastrophic sin and the heritage they passed down to us was that they wanted to be like God. And since God is the only true root, part of the implication of their sin was they wanted to replace God at the root of things. Be in control. Make the decision. Affect the outcome.

And now, we want the same. We want control, power and influence. We want praise, honor and glory. What is hardest of all to see and most painful to realize is that this not just about retirement or planning church services. This seeps down to our essence of our standing before God. I challenge you to take an informal survey of people who profess to be saved. Ask them, why they think they are saved. For the ones who are able to articulate this (don't be surprised if several can't), many (dare I say most) will answer along these lines: I trusted Christ or I put my faith in Jesus or I invited Jesus into my heart.

Now, I realize that a part of our salvation experience is accepting the free gift of grace and surrendering our lives to Christ. And yet to have our minds fixated on our side of the equation is to invert the root and the branches. If Jesus didn't die for our sins there is no sacrifice to accept. If Jesus, through the Spirit isn't seeking us there is nothing to open our hearts toward. Additionally this inverts the pride and humility components of the gospel. There is nothing for us to be proud of in the gospel. Spiritually, we are blind and lame and dead. God is the one who orchestrated everything and rescued, restored and redeemed us. The glory is His. The honor is His. The humility is ours.

This is part of Paul's thrust throughout Rom 11 and moving into 12. We must have full view of God's redemptive purpose and plan if we are going to be an effective part of it. We must see and know that He is the root. We must see and know that He graphs in the branches and cultivates them. We must see and know that His purposes and plans go way beyond what we see or can even conceive. We must see and know that everything He equips us for is fueled by and driven from His mercy.

So in the words of Romans 11: Do not be arrogant; remember the kindness and severity of God.


I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory

But when he was strong...

And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. (2 Chronicles 26:15-16 ESV)


In reading 2 Chr 26 today I was struck by Uzziah's progression of following hard after God to following hard after himself.  The turning point in his life is stated clearly in verses 15 & 16. Uzziah forgot that who he was and what he accomplished was from God and not from himself. Paul echoes a similar caution: "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7 ESV)

I am not picking on Uzziah, because his story is rife throughout the Bible.  Some men turn it around (i.e. David, while others don't (i.e. Gideon). Furthermore, this pattern repeats itself throughout our lives. God turns our life around and after a few years (or months, or weeks) we think that we have accomplished great things for Him. Worse, we somehow delude ourselves into thinking we can do this Christianity thing on our own. Or, if we're really humbly we think we can do it with "God as our co-pilot".

Into this delusion, Paul speaks emphatically: "Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3 ESV). May I make a bold statement? We cannot live the Christian life; We cannot do what Jesus did. We are utterly, completely and eternally dependent on God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit for salvation, sanctification and for glorification. The Bible is full of imagery, but look at John 15.  We are branches, but Jesus is the vine. Branches are completely dependent on the vine, both for their sustenance and for the quality of the fruit they produce.

The bottom-line? If God is causing growth in your life, praise and thank Him. But remember that He is our strength. If we leave Him, we will grow proud to our destruction.

To God Alone be the Glory.