Month: August 2012

12 Signs of a Transformed Life

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

What does a life transformed by the gospel look like? Well, in some ways that might depend upon what it looked like before gospel impact. Yet, Gordon MacDonald took a stab at describing a transformed life in an excellent article for Leadership Journal.

Below are the 12 marks MacDonald identifies:

  1. Has an undiluted devotion to Jesus
  2. Pursues a biblically informed view of the world
  3. Is intentional and disciplined in seeking God’s direction in life
  4. Worships, and has a spirit of continuous repentance
  5. Builds healthy, reciprocal human relationships
  6. Knows how to engage the larger world where faith is not necessarily understood
  7.  Is aware of personal “call” and unique competencies
  8. Is merciful and generous
  9. Appreciates that suffering is part of faithfulness to Jesus
  10. Is eager and ready to express the content of his faith
  11. Overflows with thankfulness
  12. Has a passion for reconciliation

To read MacDonald’s whole excellent article, click: How to Spot a Transformed Life

Cotton Candy Christianity Scorecard

/ Dennis Griffith / 5 Comments

I don’t want to become one of those bloggers who becomes known for what he is against, or for pointing out how wrong other guys are, but this was just too funny to pass up.  It is also important to distinguish the gospel from all its counterfeits. For as Paul warns in Galatians 1.6-7:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Upon further thought, it might not be as funny as I thought.  It would be funny, if it were not so serious & sad.

Thanks to the folks at Modern Reformation & White Horse Inn for the scorecard. As they said:

“It’s like Bingo… Only better.”

How Deep

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

VERSE 1
You were broken that I might be healed
You were cast off that I might draw near
You were thirsty that I might come drink
Cried out in anguish that I might sing

CHORUS
How deep is Your love
How high and how wide is Your mercy
How deep is Your grace
Our hearts overflow with praise
To You

VERSE 2
You knew darkness that I might know light
Wept great tears that mine might be dried
Stripped of glory that I might be clothed
Crushed by Your Father to call me Your own

From: Valley of Vision

Paradoxes of Grace

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

In his excellent, perspective shaping book, Broken-Down House, Paul Tripp reflects some of the amazing paradoxes of the gospel.  Take some time to ponder these; feel the tension. This is what genuine grace is and does:

So grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God’s character and it is your hope. Grace is a transforming tool and a state of relationship. Grace is a theology and an invitation. Grace is an experience and a calling. Grace will turn your life upside-down while giving you a rest you have never known. Grace will convince you of your unworthiness without ever making you feel unloved.

Grace will make you acknowledge that you cannot earn God’s favor, and it will remove your fear of not measuring up to his standards. Grace will confront you with the fact that you are much less than you thought you were, even as it assures you that you can be far more than you had ever imagined. Grace will put you in your place without ever putting you down.

Grace will enable you to face truths about yourself that you have hesitated to consider, while freeing you from being self-consciously introspective. Grace will confront you with profound weaknesses, and at the same time introduce you to new-found strength. Grace will tell you what you aren’t, while welcoming you to what you can now be. Grace will make you as uncomfortable as you have ever been, while offering you more comfort than you have ever known. Grace will drive you to the end of yourself, while it invites you to fresh starts and new beginnings. Grace will dash your hopes, but never leave you hopeless. Grace will decimate your kingdom as it introduces you to a better King. Grace will expose your blindness as it gives you eyes to see. Grace will make you sadder than you have ever been, while it gives you greater cause for celebration than you have ever known.

Grace enters your life in a moment and will occupy you for eternity. You simply cannot live a productive life in this broken-down world unless you have a practical grasp of the grace you have been given [in Christ].

Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

 

Surely one of the greatest problems of our times is that we have become so nonchalent about the Lord of the cosmos.  Certainly if we were more immersed in God’s splendor we would find ourselves thoroughly “lost in wonder, love, and praise”.  With all the amazing sights and sounds of our cyberspace world, however, many of us no longer recognize that if we but catch a glimpse of GOD – the imperial Lord of the cosmos, the almighty King of the universe – we will be compelled to fall on our faces.  Our awareness of God’s absolute otherness would give us the sense that we could die now because we have seen God.  We would shout with the prophet: “Woe is me, for I am annihilated”. (Isaiah 6.5; Martin Luther’s rendering.)

– Marva Dawn, A Royal “Waste” of Time

Help My Unbelief

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

If I had a favorite hymn from Red Mountain Music, this would probably be it.  It reflects the common duality of our hearts, simultaneously Believing and Struggling to Believe; simultaneously Saints & Sinners.  (See Mark 9.24) It reflects and explains the cause of Paul’s dimemma: Failing to do what he wanted to do, and doing what he hated.  (Romans 7.15) It points us to the answer: Resting in the Grace & Power of Christ.

When God…

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

When God had mercy on us, when God revealed Jesus Christ to us as brother, when God won our hearts by God’s own love, our instruction in Christian love began at the same time. When God was merciful to us, we learned to be merciful with one another. When we received forgiveness instead of judgment, we too were made ready to forgive each other. What God did to us, we then owed to others. The more we received, the more we were able to give; and the more meager our love for one another, the less we were living by God’s mercy and love. Thus God taught us to encounter one another as God has encountered us in Christ.  “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”  (Romans 15.7)

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Schaeffer’s Theorem

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

Francis Schaeffer was a prophetic voice to Christianity for the latter half of the 20th Century.  His treatises such as Mark of the Christian and Two Contents, Two Realities were excellent primers for Gospel-Centered & Missional Christianity long before either Gospel-Centered or Missional were coined terms.

The premise behind his philosophy has been has been summarized in this mathematical equation:

  • Truth – Love = Ugliness
  • Love – Truth = Compromise

How might this theorem, if lived out, effect the church? How could it impact your life?

the-mark-of-the-christian-francis-schaefferDownload

Tough Questions From a Pre-Teen Girl

/ Dennis Griffith / 3 Comments

The following are answers to questions asked by a then-12 year old girl.  This young lady had had a very, very difficult life, but was very bright and determined.   At the time she wrote the note to me asking these questions, she had only recently come to live with her father – a godly man.  Now twenty-something, she has grown into a beautiful and sharp young woman.

She has given her permission to use our correspondence for this post.

***

1.      Why do people look so depressing, sad, and miserable when we pray? 

This is a good question.  There is no good reason to be sad & miserable when we pray, but I think you are right that sometimes we look that way.

I guess the reason is that people want to be reverent, or to be serious, when they approach our Holy God.  This is a good thing, since the Bible calls us to “Fear the Lord”.  (Deuteronomy 6:13; Proverbs 9:10)   BUT, if Christians do not have joy as they pray, then they are forgetting that God loves us; that He is our Father, and wants us to come to him with joy & thanksgiving.  We are unbalanced between Fearing God & Loving God.

 2.      Why does God choose some people, but not all, to spread His Word?

I am guessing that you have two questions combined here.

First, Why does God not call everyone to be a Christian?  The answer is that everyone is to hear the call to follow Christ, but only those God chooses are able to become Christians.  Why does he choose some but not others? We don’t know.

Second, Why are not all Christians called to spread his Word?  The answer: All are called to spread his Word, by teaching and by our actions.  Some are called to spread his Word to other countries. Some are called to spread his Word by preaching in the church. Some to spread it by teaching Sunday school. Others are called to spread it to their friends, neighbors, and family.  Not everyone does it, but all are called to spread the Word somewhere & somehow.

3.      Why did God flood the earth when not everybody was being bad? 

Romans 3:10 and 3:23 tell us that there is no one who is good.  This is difficult to hear, but it is true. It is also important to help understand my answer to your question.

If you read Genesis 6:5 it says “The Lord saw …man’s wickedness…” There was no one good on the earth, everyone was being bad. Romans 6:23 says: “The wages of sin is death.”  This means that anyone & everyone who sins deserves death – in this case by drowning in a flood.

In Genesis 6:8-9 it says “Noah found favor in God’s eyes…” and “…he walked with God”.  This does not mean that Noah was perfect, and that he was not doing bad – though he was better than most men. (Remember Romans 3:23 “All sinned… fall short of the glory of God.”) That he “found favor in the eyes of the Lord” means that God chose to love him even though he was a sinner.  Genesis 6:9 says: “Noah was a righteous man”… this means that he believed in God, and trusted God for his salvation. Noah did not believe he was good enough, and knew he needed God’s grace.  (Romans 1:17 tells us that righteousness comes by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God…”)

Now the great thing about this is that God does the same thing with us.  You & I, and everyone else, are sinners.  We may be better than many people, but we are still not perfect like God wants us to be.

But read Romans 5:6-8… Is that great or what?!!

The important thing, though, is to believe what God has provided for our salvation from his punishment.  For Noah it was the Ark, but really it was a Savior.  For us (and for Noah, too, really) it is Jesus – a person not a boat!

Read 1 John 5, and it shows the importance of believing & trusting in Jesus for our salvation and forgiveness of our sin.

(A guy named Fritz Ridenhour has written a cool book for teenagers, How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious. It is about all this Romans stuff.  I have a copy if you want to borrow it from me.)

4.      Why does God make some peoples’ lives worse than others? 

This is a difficult question, and I am so sorry that you have had some very hard things happen in your life.  But the best way I can answer this is in two ways.

First, sin is in this world and hurts people –both those who sin and those they sin against.  It will continue to hurt people until Jesus returns to take us with Him.  This does not mean that God does not love us or care for us, or that he will not protect us.  He does, and He shows it all the time.  But what he also does is remind us that someday soon he will take us where there is no sin.

Look at it this way, before your Dad had you with him, he loved you, and cared for you. He gave you some good times, even though some bad things were happening around you. But he also told you that he wanted you to live with him.  Even before you got to live with him you had both good & bad times. You looked forward to when you could be with him, and this gave you hope.  Now that you have moved in with him many of the bad things are away from you.  God continues to give us this same type hope when he reminds us of heaven – except all bad things will be away from us in Heaven. Until then our lives will be mixed with good and bad.

Why are some worse than others? That I do not know. The book of Job is a good example of your question, but God does not totally answer it.  God simply says we should trust him, because we know He is good.

Second, some of our hardships come from decisions we make. There are consequences to our actions. If you commit a crime, you may go to jail. If unmarried teenagers are sexually active a pregnancy may result.

But even the consequences to our own actions are not all bad.  Hebrews 12:6 says: “The Lord disciplines those He loves.”  And please read 1 Peter 1:3-9 for encouragement.

Continue reading →

I Asked the Lord to Grow in Grace

/ Dennis Griffith / 4 Comments

This song comes from a beautiful poem by John Newton.  It is a powerful reminder to me about God’s grace and how God works.

Like Newton in the opening lines of this poem, I often ask God to grow me in grace and faith and the fruits of his Spirit.

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.

And like Newton expresses in the third stanza, in my mind this is something noble and therefore should be experienced mystically, gently and painlessly:

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Spiritual growth is easy, right? It should be automatic. Like sleeping, or breathing.  Certainly it should be no more difficult than eating, or learning to ride a bike or drive…

Continue reading →

Fear, Worry, and Our Sovereign God

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

In preparation for a message on Psalm 27, I began reading Ed Welch‘s book, Running Scared.  Penetrating. Convicting.  Comforting.  All of those words are appropriate, at least for me.  For as I have aged I have come to see how fear, often very subtle, effects my thought, actions, and reactions.  My fears may not show, but they are very present.  I have to regularly identify them and subject them to the Gospel.

Perhaps this does not seem to be a topic for you. You may feel you have no fears.  For a long time I would have said similarly of myself – not that I had no fear, but few fears.  But I learned differently about myself.

Interestingly, not long ago I was watching a rerun of the film First Knight, with Sean Connery & Richard Gere, set in King Arthur’s Camelot.  In one scene I overheard an interesting conversation between Connery’s Arthur and Gere’s Lancelot.  Arthur mused:

“A man who fears nothing is a man who loves nothing; and if you love nothing, what joy is there in your life?”

This was not the turning point in my thinking. But I did find it an interesting illustration of what I had learned. And while I do not think that it is necessarily a universally true, I do think it is a question worth pondering.

It may not be universally true because one who loves God with all of his heart, mind, and strength, loves what is good and yet should fear little.  After all, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4.18)   But then, which of us loves perfectly?

But I do think, in a sense, Arthur’s statement is widely, if not universally, true.  There are many who mistake apathy for peace.  It may be that some do not fear because they do not love; And they do not love because they fear fear.  I know that is a dizzying statement. But think of it as the opposite of Franklin Roosevelt’s famous words: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”  What if people do fear fear?  If one knows that love is often risky, and fears fear enough, could that person not repress love because of fear?

OK. Enough philosophizing… In short, I suspect there must be a reason God says 300+ times in the Scripture: “Do not fear.”  There must be a reason that this is the most frequently repeated command in the Bible.  My suspicion is it is because fear is a near universal component of our personalities in this fallen world. And we would be wise to recognize both our fears and their effects on our hearts and lives.

Above is a video preview of Running Scared, featuring the author, Ed Welch.  His insights and application of God’s Word to our plight are freeing.