Christ-likeness: The Purpose of God for His People

July 28, 2011July 28, 2011 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

I remember very vividly, some years ago, that the question which perplexed me as a younger Christian (and some of my friends as well) was this: what is God’s purpose for His people? Granted that we have been converted, granted that we have been saved and received new life in Jesus Christ, what comes next? Of course, we knew the famous statement of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: that man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever: we knew that, and we believed it. We also toyed with some briefer statements, like one of only five words – love God, love your neighbour. But somehow neither of these, nor some others that we could mention, seemed wholly satisfactory. So I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth and it is – God wants His people to become like Christ. Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.

So if that is true, I am proposing the following:

First to lay down the biblical basis for the call to Christ-likeness;
Secondly, to give some New Testament examples of this;
Thirdly, to draw some practical conclusions.

And it all relates to becoming like Christ.

So first is the biblical basis for the call to Christlikeness. This basis is not a single text: the basis is more substantial than can be encapsulated in a single text. The basis consists rather of three texts which we would do well to hold together in our Christian thinking and living:

Lets look at these three briefly.

Romans 8.29 reads that God has predestined His people to be conformed to the image of His Son: that is, to become like Jesus. We all know that when Adam fell he lost much – though not all – of the divine image in which he had been created. But God has restored it in Christ. Conformity to the image of God means to become like Jesus: Christlikeness is the eternal predestinating purpose of God.

My second text is 2 Corinthians 3.18: ‘And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness, from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’ So it is by the indwelling Spirit Himself that we are being changed from glory to glory – it is a magnificent vision.

In this second stage of becoming like Christ, you will notice that the perspective has changed from the past to the present, from God’s eternal predestination to His present transformation of us by the Holy Spirit. It has changed from God’s eternal purpose to make us like Christ, to His historical work by His Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus.

That brings me to my third text: 1 John 3.2. ‘Beloved, we are God’s children now and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.’ We don’t know in any detail what we shall be in the last day, but we do know that we will be like Christ. There is really no need for us to know any more than this. We are content with the glorious truth that we will be with Christ, like Christ, for ever.

Here are three perspectives – past, present and future. All of them are pointing in the same direction: there is God’s eternal purpose, we have been predestined; there is God’s historical purpose, we are being changed, transformed by the Holy Spirit; and there is God’s final or eschatalogical purpose, we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All three, the eternal, the historical and the eschatalogical, combine towards the same end of Christlikeness. This, I suggest, is the purpose of God for the people of God. That is the biblical basis for becoming like Christ: it is the purpose of God for the people of God.

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NOTE: The above address was the last message John Stott gave at the Keswick Convention. This address was given in Summer 2007

My Spiritual EKG

July 14, 2011July 14, 2011 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

“How are you doing, Spiritually?” That is an important question.

The Great Physician, by both direct and indirect statements in his Word, repeatedly encourages us to examine our hearts. But while many may be aware that it ought to be our regular practice to take a Spiritual pulse, I suspect that relatively few know how to read the gauges even if they try. Consequently, if we are not certain what we are looking for, it follows that we are not always quite sure how to answer our opening question. So, it seems, the typical response we might give, even to those who may genuinely care, is an awful lot like the responses we give to the stranger on the street, or the hotel clerk we see each morning on vacation, when they ask “How are you today?” “Fine, thanks. And you?” But this is too important a question to simply perpetuate the standard reflex response.

I have benefited from regularly asking myself 10 Questions I learned from Don Whitney and his short but helpful book: 10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. Asking myself these questions, or considering observations people have offered about me as they relate to these questions, serves as a good spiritual check-up.

Each of the 10 Questions below is a link to an excerpt of respective chapters from Whitney’s book:

This Present Communion

May 13, 2011May 13, 2011 / Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

“We are justified if we have accepted Christ as Savior. But present communion with God requires continual bowing in both the intellect and the will. Without bowing in the intellect, in thinking after God; without acting upon the finished work of Christ in my present life; and without bowing in the will in practice, as the waves of the present life break over me, there is no sufficient communion with God. Without these things I am not in my place as the creature in a fallen and abnormal world. These three things are absolutely necessary if there is to be real and sufficient communion with God in the present life.”

~Francis Schaeffer

Offensive Grace

March 11, 2011March 11, 2011 / Dennis Griffith / 3 Comments

Why does not the faith of the average Christian seem to bring about the change we would hope? Could it be that many have a faulty understanding of the Gospel?

Dan Allender, in his book Bold Love, offers the following:

“If our sin is mere failure to conform – simply a mistake to do what is right – forgiveness is really the granting of an opportunity to try again. In that light, it is like forgetting to finish one’s homework. We deserve a low grace, and grace becomes merely the privilege of doing it over to get a higher mark. Such a view of grace might generate appreciation, but it would never drive us to worship. If, in fact, sin is not only failure to hit the mark of God’s perfection, but also a deep, insidious energy that desires to eradicate from our existence an affronting God who demands perfection, then forgiveness becomes breathtaking, incredible, and wonderfully insulting.”

It seems we underestimate our sin. Consequently we undervalue God’s grace.

Prevailing: An Honest Look at Philippians 4.13

January 22, 2011January 25, 2011 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Sometimes I want to scream! One thing that makes me want to scream is people, Christian people, who under the guise of faith, take scripture out of it’s God-given context and apply it to their own pretentious favor. ARGH!!

I wonder, is there any passage where this more frequently occurs than it does with Philippians 4.13:

“I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”

All too often, it seems, this is claimed as the “life verse” by athletes, coaches, and others facing various forms of adversity. Those involved in athletics so commonly claim this verse that I sometimes, tongue-in-cheek, refer to this mindset as FCA Christianity. (OK. I know that this is not fair to FCA. While this mindset may commonly be heard around FCA Huddles and events, there are also many faithful, deep, godly folks involved with FCA. In truth, I don’t know that this mindset is more prevalent with FCA-ers than it would be in my denomination, PCA, or even the church that I pastor.)

Philippians 4.13 is often invoked whenever the odds of success seem stacked against someone. The person reminds himself/herself: “I can do this… Like Rocky Balboa, I can defy the odds… I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength… I can win!!”

What is wrong with this perspective is not the desire to prevail, whatever the endeavor. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem is that to use this verse, and suppose the Bible here champions winning, takes this verse out of it’s context and redirects the aim of the gospel, the purpose of the Christian faith, to serve our agenda and goals. It assumes that our personal success is the goal of the Kingdom. It turns the gospel upside-down.

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Gospel-Centered Lives

January 18, 2011June 20, 2022 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

From time to time I am asked by some in our church what I mean when I repeatedly declare that we are – and we must be – a Gospel-Centered Church. I think it may be the hyphen that confuses people.

To be “something”-centered is simply to focus on the relation an individual or a church has to a central value. While there could be any number of things at the center of a persons or organizations values, in our case the point of emphasis is the Gospel (or the Cross).

As for what it means to be Gospel-centered, as an individual or as a church, I don’t think I could answer better than Joe Thorn did in a post titled: Gospel-Centered. One of the things Joe points out is:

[T]he gospel-centered life is a life where a Christian experiences a growing personal reliance on the gospel that protects him from depending on his own religious performance and being seduced and overwhelmed by idols.

Building a Bridge to Puritan Days

January 4, 2011January 7, 2011 / Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

In Building a Bridge to the 18th Century, author Neil Postman suggests that in many ways we have not so much advanced, as a culture, as we have drifted over the years. Postman seems to believe we would do well to return to and reconnect with our philosophical roots and rebuild upon them.

I might say the same thing Spiritually and Theologically.

Like Postman I look to the early-to-mid 18th Century. But I also go back a little further than he does. I suggest we return some of our attention to the 16th & 17th Centuries too.

In particular I believe we benefit by building a bridge back to the Puritans.

Now I realize, for many people the idea of learning from the Puritans is as appealing as black snow. For some, the very notion seems ugly and distasteful. (The Puritans were… well, puritanical, weren’t they?) But I wish this was not such a prevalent view. I am not ashamed to admit that the Puritans are part of my spiritual heritage. In some company I might even refer to myself as a Neo-Puritan. From my perspective, contemporary disregard for the Puritan is our loss.

I understand some of the stains on the Puritan reputation is deserved. It was earned by a representative few who were… idiots. (i.e. Salem Witch Trials) But those folks were not a sufficient sample group by which to judge the entire lot. Sure they held some of the same principles as their Puritan predecessors, but they were a warped expression, at the tail end of a movement, influenced at least as much by superstition and fear as by their Faith traditions. But because of the antics of these relative few fanatics the whole Puritan tradition has been getting a perpetual bad rap. And I suspect that mistaken notions about the Puritans will endure, at least for as long as our perceptions continue to be influenced by erroneous and distorted PR offered by such sources as Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter.

J.I. Packer, in an essay titled Why We Need the Puritans, which is also the Introduction to his book A Quest for Godliness, outlines a handful of lessons contemporary Christians would do well to learn from these besmirched people of the past:

Integration of Daily Life
Quality of Spiritual Experience
Passion for Effective Action
Program for Family Stability
Sense of Human Worth
Ideal of Church Renewal

A great introduction to the Puritans has been provided by the folks at The Resurgence. They have compiled a series of short articles, by Winfield Bevins, under the title Lessons from the Puritans:

Even if your impression of the Puritans has been shaped by Miller or Hawthorne, I hope you will give some consideration to these short introductory essays. I am confidnet you will be pleasantly surprised by the positive legacy these folks have left us.

Growth in Grace

October 6, 2010October 7, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

by Archibald Alexander

The following essay by Archibald Alexander, first president of Princeton Theological Seminary, is a masterpiece integrating sound doctrine, practice, and personal experience. I have appreciated Archibald Alexander’s insights for more than a decade now, perhaps none more than this classic. Christians in this generation would find great refreshment if only we would, at least occasionally, drink from the fountain that springs from the writings of Alexander and others of his day. – WDG

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WHEN there is no growth, there is no life. We have taken it for granted that among the regenerate, at the moment of their conversion, there is a difference in the vigour of the principle of spiritual life, analogous to what we observe in the natural world; and no doubt the analogy holds as it relates to growth. As some children who were weak and sickly in the first days of their existence become healthy and strong, and greatly outgrow others who commenced life with far greater advantages, so it is with the ‘new man’. Some who enter on the spiritual life with a weak and wavering faith, by the blessing of God on a diligent use of means, far outstrip others who in the beginning were greatly before them.

It is often observed that there are professors who never appear to grow, but rather decline perpetually, until they become in spirit and conduct entirely conformed to the world, from whence they professed to come out. The result in regard to them is one of two things; they either retain their standing in the Church and become dead formalists, ‘having a name to live while they are dead’—‘a form of godliness, while they deny the power thereof’—or they renounce their profession and abandon their connection with the Church, and openly take their stand with the enemies of Christ, and not infrequently go beyond them all in daring impiety. Of all such we may confidently say, ‘They were not of us, or undoubtedly they would have continued with us.’ But of such I mean not now to speak further, as the case of back-sliders will be considered hereafter.

That growth in grace is gradual and progressive is very evident from Scripture; as in all those passages where believers are exhorted to mortify sin and crucify the flesh, and to increase and abound in all the exercises of piety and good works. One text on this subject will be sufficient: ‘Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ (2 Peter 3.18) And this passage furnishes us with information as to the origin and nature of this growth. It is knowledge, even the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Just so far as any soul increases in spiritual knowledge, in the same degree it grows in grace. Persons may advance rapidly in other kinds of knowledge, and yet make no advances in piety, but the contrary. They may even have their minds filled with correct theoretical knowledge of divine truth, and yet its effect may not be to humble, but to ‘puff up’. Many an accurate and profound theologian has lived and died without a ray of saving light. The natural man, however gifted with talent or enriched with speculative knowledge, has no spiritual discernment. After all his acquisitions, he is destitute of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. But it should not be forgotten that divine illumination is not independent of the Word, but accompanies it. Those Christians, therefore, who are most diligent in attending upon the Word in public and private, will be most likely to make progress in piety.

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7 Maxims of Repentance

September 29, 2010September 29, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

Jesus said:

“This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 26.46-47)

Seemingly few recognize that repentance is part of the message of the Great Commission. But that is clearly what Luke records Jesus as saying. Not only is a call to repentance connected to the forgiveness of our sin, but I am convinced that repentance is one of the ways in which we express “obedience” to everything Jesus commanded us. As Martin Luther postulated in the first of his 95 Theses:

When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He willed that the whole life of believers be lived out in repentance.

Yet, just as seemingly few are aware that repentace is part of the Great Commisson, seemingly fewer realize repentance should be a way of life for the Christian. Building upon Luther’s observation, contemporary pastor/theologian Sinclair Ferguson declares:

“According to Scripture, the Christian Life is repentance from beginning to end! So long as the believer is at the same time righteous and yet a sinner, it can be no other way.”

In his masterful book on the subject, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel, Richard Owen Roberts offers a series of lists, including 7 Maxims of Repentance:

True Repentance is a Gift of God
True Repentance is NOT a Single Act but an Ongoing and Continual Attitude
True Repentance is NOT Merely Turning From What You Have Done but From What You ARE
True Repentance is Not What you Do for yourself but What You do for God
True Repentance is Not Merely of the Fruits of Sin but of the Very Roots
True Repentance is Not Secret but Open
True Repentance is Both Negative and Positive

While I would wholeheartedly commend the reading of Roberts’ book, merely pondering this list will itself offer some rewarding insights as to the nature and benefits of repentance. While some maxims are more immediately understood than others, all are discernable.

God’s Workmanship

September 15, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

One of the glories of Christianity is the assurance that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2.10).

This statement by Paul that we are “created” does not simply refer to our physical formation, as God has, of course, created all human beings (see Genesis1.26-27). Rather, Paul is talking about being “created in Christ.” It means that every person who believes in Christ does so because she or he is the object of a process of God’s “spiritual creation.”

The word workmanship is very important; it is the Greek word poema from which we get our word “poem.” It means that every believer is essentially a work of art – God’s art!

Consider how artists work, whether they are writers, musicians, painters, sculptors, etc. They labor long and hard and with the utmost care and detailed attention. Sometimes they do very little, only a stroke here or there. Other times they make massive changes. But always they seek to bring the raw material into line with an artistic vision. Thus Paul is telling us that God labors over all believers throughout our entire lives, intervening and guiding and shaping us to bring us into line with a vision he has for us. This is mentioned also in Ephesians 2.10 -“created to… good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Thus, God has a particular set of “good works” for us to do, for which he prepares us our whole lives.

Looking at Our Lives

It is therefore of utmost importance to look back on our lives and see everything that has happened through this grid, namely that:

God has been at work through the various influences of our lives – “created in Christ.” All of our experiences and troubles and our family and friends must be seen as the instruments of an artist used to mold and shape us. He has been at work all of our lives!
God has been at work to make us something beautiful – “workmanship.” God is out to make our beings something great—to give us characters of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, integrity, humility and self-control.
God has been at work to make us something useful – “good works… prepared beforehand.” God is also out to make our doings something great – to make us helpful and able to serve others in special ways.

Paul uses this “doctrine of workmanship” like a pair of spectacles through which to view his entire life.

First, in Galatians 1.13-23, he shows us that he now sees God at work throughout his whole life (“God, who set me apart from birth and called me,” v.15).

Secondly, he now sees that God used the gospel to make him something beautiful. He had been a fanatically intense person who felt superior in his self-righteousness and only criticized others (“intensely I persecuted… extremely zealous for the traditions,” v.14). But God humbled him and showed him he was nothing apart from undeserved grace (“called me by his grace and was pleased to reveal his Son in me”) so that now he loves to lead people to praise and thanks (“they praised God because of me,” v.24).

Thirdly, he realizes that though his obsessive study of the Bible and theology (“the traditions”) was originally motivated by self-righteousness and the need to feel superior, he was now, as a Christian, uniquely equipped to be a preacher, teacher and evangelist (“so that I might preach him among the Gentiles”). His scholarship and knowledge of the Bible enabled him to bridge the gap between Christianity and various pagan philosophies and religions.

-Taken from Tim Keller’s A Gospel Changed Life

Scandalous Freedom

September 9, 2010September 9, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / 3 Comments

In his book A Scandalous Freedom, Steve Brown provocatively writes:

They lied to you about being a Christian. When you first “joined the club,” they promised you’d be set free. But let’s get honest, you’re not free. In fact, you’re religious, afraid, guilty, and bound. What’s worse, now that you’ve been in the club awhile, you’re stuck pretending you’re better than you are. And worse than that, you prefer the security and rules of your self-imposed boundaries. It’s time for a change. You need Scandalous Freedom.

There is no question in my mind that Steve Brown is correct.

So many Christians are imprisioned by their own consciences. What I think is startling about this is that most don’t even seem to be aware of their spiritual and emotional bondage. In fact, since most people they know are in the same condition, they assume this is the norm, and that THIS is the freedom for which Christ came to set us free! And even more perplexing is that, when faced with the radical nature of the gospel, many seem to prefer this state of existence to the freedom offered and secured by the gospel!

I see it all the time. I do it all the time.

But Steve Brown winsomely, humorously, and profoundly, calls it like it is. And he offers us a path to freedom. It is not a path Steve has blazed. He is one, of many, who has simply labored to uncover the path for us that Jesus laid out. Sadly much of what Jesus paved seems to have been covered over by the garbage of religious tradition and fundamentalism.

Listen Steve Brown’s related podcast series: Scandalous Freedom.

10 Gospel-centered Questions

September 9, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Here are 10 questions to ask yourself – and maybe those few closest to you – that help uncover rivals of Christ as the functional savior of your heart:

What are you desiring more than anything else?
What do you find yourself day dreaming or fantasizing about?
What lies are you subtly believing that undermine the truth of the gospel?
Are you astonished with the gospel?
In what ways have you recently made much of yourself and little of God?
Is technology stealing attention from your family?
Is work replacing your spouse’s place in your heart?
Where do your thoughts drift to when you enter a social setting?
What fears are paralyzing your heart from enjoying God?
What consumes your thoughts when you have alone time?

Notice that many of these questions assumes some level of guilt. Others are simply good guages of our priorities. That’s what makes them good gospel-centered questions – questions that continually keep our hearts centered on the gospel.

Remember the gospel has two aspects – one positive, one negative. Paraprasing Jack Miller, the gospel reminds us:

You are much greater sinner than you would ever dare admit, even to yourself.
You are loved far more by God than you would ever dare dream.

Believing the gospel frees us to admit our flaws, and drives us to explore the love of God demonstrated in the Cross of Christ. So go ahead, ask yourself the above questions.

Measuring Up?

July 28, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Do you ever feel that you have to measure up?

Do you wonder sometimes how you are grading out in God’s eyes? I suspect the answer for most people is “Yes”. Our theology may tell us otherwise, but I think most people struggle with this from time to time – especially when we feel emotionally tired and as if we are coasting in neutral gear spiritually.

I’m not sure many people are even aware they feel this way. We know our theology well enough, and so we remind ourselves of the truth of the Gospel: That we are declared righteous in Christ. This is a wonderful truth. But sometimes we don’t really live in the light of this truth. This is the difference between our confessional theology and our functional theology.

In other words there is sometimes (often?) a gap between what we know to be the facts and the way we allow those facts to impact our heart and emotions. Put mathmatically, the difference between our confessional theology and our functional theology equals frustration. (F – C = Frus)

A few months ago I posted an excellent article by Paula Rinehart, that had originally been written for The Navigators’ Discipleship Journal. Because I know the tendency we have toward wandering onto what Jerry Bridges calls a Performance Treadmill, I wanted to post it again.

If you ever find yourself tired of trying to measure up, or if know others around you who seem to fall into that trap, you will appreciate:

Good Enough!

A Shelter in Time of Storm: Meditations on God & Trouble

July 21, 2010July 22, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

In this video Paul Tripp offers a true-to-life yet hopeful reflection of Psalm 27.

Christianity vs The Good Life

June 28, 2010June 29, 2010 / Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

My friend Gerald Robison writes:

The goal of popular Christianity today is to live “the good life” – not “a good life”. Much of 21st century preaching focuses on the blessings of God. Only in the lives of “others” is hardship, trials, persecution, suffering and martyrdom mentioned.

The focus of that popular teching is on the listeners, not the kingdom of Christ or the vast warfare taking place in the spiritual realms around us. According to Scripture, what occurs in those realms can impact, influence and alter lives in this one. Too often we act as if it doesn’t.

To many Christians today “Onward Christian Soldiers” is only a song, not a mind-set. Rarely do modern Christians think or act as if they truly are involved in a spiritual battle.

These words introduce the theme of his new book: The Beginners Guide to Spiritual Warfare.

GRACE & PEACE

mullings & musings of w. dennis griffith

Christian Life