Fighting For Our Joy in Christ

Christians are new creatures who find their joy in Christ alone. The chief aim in their life is to glorify God and enjoy Him, or to put it in other words, it is to glorify God by enjoying Him. If God is nothing to you, chances are, you are not even a Christian. For the mark of a Christian is that He has come to know God in Christ Jesus and has started tasting His glory. Such a person cannot help but be joyful in Christ. Now it would be naive to say that this is always the case in our life. There is a battle involved and sometimes even genuine believers sink into a joyless, mere duty bound, sort of ritualistic Christian life.

What do we do in those times?

That is precisely what John Piper tries to answer in the book "When I don't Desire God?". Piper also preached on this during the Desiring God regional conference of 2005, which was based on this book. He explains some foundational matters regarding the Christian life, describing it essentially as one of enjoying God. Piper considers it an “apostolic mission” to help Christians find their joy in Christ.  He quotes Paul from  2 Corinthians 1:24 and Philippians 1:25 to justify this claim.

For those who have been skeptical about John Piper and his stress of finding joy in God, this sermon is a very good introduction to his theology. At the beginning of the message, Piper gives 4 clarifications on what he is not doing.  He says,

1. I am not coming with a health-wealth-prosperity gospel. I am not here to tell you that Christ will make you healthy, wealthy and prosperous in this life so that you can have joy. No that’s not my message. I am here to tell you that Christ will give Himself to you so that you do not need health, wealth or prosperity in order to have joy. But you can have so much invincible joy in the durable Christ that you can give up health, wealth and prosperity in the sacrifices of love, if God so calls.

2. I am not here to put the icing of joy on the cake of your Christian life. Joy in Christ is the cake and not just the icing.

3. I am not on a mission to put your joy above God's glory. Rather I am on a mission to put your joy in  God's glory. God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in Him.

4. I am not on a mission to make you feel good about yourself. I am on a mission to make you feel so good about the greatness of God that you forget about yourself and live a life of love making others glad in God.

The sermon is specially recommended to all Christians who need sound encouragement to find their joy in Christ. If one does not find one’s joy in Christ, then one will find it in sin.  So beware of taking this battle for our joy in Christ as a light matter.

How To Fight For Joy  Listen | Download

Daily Disciplines

The New year would be here in a couple of days and most Christians consider it as time for taking resolutions regarding spiritual disciplines in their personal devotion to the Lord. Jay. M Nair has written a timely article on these daily disciplines with the aim of  helping “Christians know and practice essential and daily disciplines involved in one’s personal communion with the Lord over His Word.”  He explains briefly the need of these spiritual disciplines in our lives and then considers each of these four disciplines to be done on a daily basis. They are – prayer, reading, meditation and memorization. In each case, he offers some helpful resources and suggestions.  May this article birth a sincere desire and commitment in Christians to be disciplined in our personal communion with the Lord.

The article can be read here.

Below is the outline of this article :

Daily Disciplines

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Introduction

-the aim of this document

-the organization of the document

Why Spiritual Disciplines?

-The nature of authentic Christian growth

-How this growth happens

-Spiritual disciplines as means of grace

1. Prayer

- two aspects of prayer

- prayer and the word

- John Piper's I.O.U.S model

- George Mueller's testimony

- D.A Carson on praying through Scriptures

2. Bible Reading

-The necessity of a reading plan in personal communion

-Consideration of popular plans

-The ill-effects of a lack of reading on Evangelicalism

-Suggestions for the head of a family and for a pastor

3. Meditation

-The primacy of meditation among all disciplines

-The Biblical evidence for the practice of this discipline

- Martin Luther's understanding of meditation

- How Christian meditation is different from other religious meditations

- Essential elements of the Evangelical method of doing meditations

  i. Reading and rereading to know the meaning of the text

  ii. Asking Questions to know the implications of the text

    * Joseph Hall's considerations

    * Don Whitney's Philippians 4:8 questions

  iii. Making personal applications of the text

     * Theological applications

     * Practical applications

   iv. Ruminating upon the text throughout the day

4. Memorization

-The distinct yet inseparable nature of meditation and memorization

-The Biblical evidence of this relationship between meditation and memorization

-Other benefits of memorization

-Practical considerations for practicing this discipline

Conclusion

-Summary

-The primacy and centrality of the Word of God in all disciplines

-A warning to Evangelicals and the cry of the Reformers - Sola Scriptura.

Footnotes

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Strategies For Killing Sin

John Piper expounds Romans 6:11-14 to give 6 strategies for killing sin. Each one of them is exegetically sound and gospel based. As always Piper is both powerful and passionate in his preaching. This sermon is highly recommended as most Christians have been bombarded with sermons on sanctification which rarely takes into account what the gospel declares.  It is so characteristic of preachers to divorce the gospel from teachings on sanctification. This error is so grievous and only leads people to legalism and despair. However the Bible does not promote any false dichotomy between the gospel and the teachings on sanctification. Rather it teaches sanctification, in light of the gospel.  For without the gospel, no one can count God as precious. And without counting God as precious, no one can deny the lies of sin. Piper says “yes, there is a real engagement of our will. Choose to say, No! But it is so much more. It is based on what God did in Christ, and what happened to us in Christ, and who God is for us in Christ and who we know ourselves to be in Christ. We embrace all that as our treasure. And because of that, we say, No.”

The sermon begins with Piper summarizing part 1 of his exposition of this passage. He identifies the battleground and the participants involved in it.  From the text he thus points out eight things of warfare in these verses.  He then notes how the enemy works his way with us.  He shows how the main way sin does battle against us is to turn servants into traitors. This section is followed by his six strategies for battling against sin.

In this sermon, Piper proves how the secret to sanctification is nothing but the gospel. He shows how having our thinking and affections firmly rooted and guided by the gospel is the key to counting God alone as precious and preferring Him over sin’s fleeting pleasures.

Very highly recommended for all Christians.

Do Not Let Sin Reign in Your Mortal Body, Part 2  Read | Listen | Download

The Gospel in Everyday Life

Evangelical author and speaker Jerry Bridges addresses the issue of gospel in our daily life. He expounds Galatians 2:15 – 20, to show how the apostle Paul relates on a daily basis to his justification in Christ. Bridges shows how every believer should live consciously in the present reality of their justification in Jesus Christ. 

 

Bridges first lays the foundation of what the Christian doctrine of justification by faith is. After laying this foundation and showing how this serves as the context for understanding Galatians 2:20,  he ventures into expounding it. Perhaps you have never heard verse 20 quoted in light of the meaning of its context.  Very often Christians quote verse 20 as an isolated verse and completely forget about its context. However Bridges shows how this verse when interpreted in light of its context, teaches the glorious truth of living in the present reality of our justification in Christ.

Like the Galatians, we are so easily persuaded by our flesh that we can gain favor before God through our spiritual performance rather than solely depend on the performance of our Lord Jesus Christ for us. However Bridges reminds us that we should always look outside of us for our justification and this we have to do daily. For we do not earn favor from God by doing our spiritual disciplines, rather we humbly receive the favor which Jesus has earned for us. The central thought of Bridges’ sermon is summarized in the following quote, which should humble us and make us radically Christ dependent and gospel centered.

“Through His death on the cross and His sinless life, Jesus Christ has earned every blessing and every answer to prayer that you will ever receive.”

In these days of resurgence of a gospel-centered theology and methodology, especially among Reformed Christians, Bridges offers an excellent, wise, exegetically sound and deeply practical sermon on living the gospel-centered life.  He shows how this is not a novel concept we are inventing in our day and age, but rather one believed in and taught by Christians of past centuries. Bridges specifically notes how the Puritan John Owen used to teach the same things in his day. However Bridges reasons that living the gospel-centered life is older than even the Puritans and goes back 2000 years into apostle Paul’s teaching in Galatians 2:20.

This message will make the hearer deeply grateful for the gospel of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and will constrain him to live in light of the gospel everyday.

Very highly recommended.

The Gospel in Everyday Life Listen | Download

Jerry Bridges (born December 4, 1929, Tyler, Texas, United States) is an evangelical Christian author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators. He is author of several books, including, the Pursuit of Holiness, the Gospel for Real Life, and the Discipline of Grace. He has been on the staff of The Navigators since 1955 and currently serves as a resource person to the Navigators University Students Ministry in the United States. Jerry and his wife Jane live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have two married children and six grandchildren.