Reformed Christianity

You Might Be Reformed If…

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Reformation Wall @ Geneva

As one who dwells firmly within the Reformed wing of Evangelical Christianity, I found the following to be astute, accurate, and a little bit amusing:

You might be Reformed …

  • If you think prayer is more than just trying to manipulate God into giving you what you want …
  • If you think that there are things more important to God than your comfort …
  • If you think the Bible has more to say about the Church than just what is found in the second chapter of Acts …
  • If you suspect that how you “think” about God might be at least as important as how you “feel” about God …
  • If you believe that the fact that a doctrine is described in the Bible supersedes your personal feelings about that doctrine…
  • If you feel that nagging suspicion that something isn’t right when the pastor can preach an entire sermon series without ever opening a Bible…
  • If you think that all of those letters that Paul, Peter, James and John wrote to the churches have something to do with how the Church should look today…
  • If you think that there has to be more to the Christian life than just being nice…
  • If you have always suspected that the pick­-and­-choose belief buffet can’t really reflect Christianity as it is expressed in Scripture…
  • If the theology of, “God has a plan, and it’s all about you!” makes you suspicious…
  • If you like the hymns unrelated to “tradition,” but because they are meaningful and true; in contrast with the mindless drivel of many “modern worship” songs…
  • If you accept God’s election because you find the doctrine clearly stated in Romans, even if you don’t necessarily  “like it” …
  • If you get a little creeped-out when someone stands up in church and declares: “I’ve had a revelation from God” …
  • If a “worship service” comprised of 45 minutes of near ­meaningless, highly repetitive songs leaves you hungering and thirsting for something real and meaningful…
  • If you’ve secretly abandoned Dispensationalism for not making sense, and gone searching for an eschatology that actually reflects what is taught in Scripture.

***

Thanks to Timothy J. Hammon.  This post originally appeared on his blog: The Things That Matter

Gospel-Driven Sanctification

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

by Jerry Bridges 

Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, “The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct.” Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily the message of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ, with everything in Scripture before the cross pointing to God’s redemptive work and everything after the cross–including our sanctification–flowing from that work.

There is an element of truth in this statement, however, and the Holy Spirit used it to help me to see that the Bible is not to be read just to gain knowledge. It is, indeed, to be obeyed and practically applied in our daily lives. As James says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

With my new insight, I prayed that God would use the Bible to guide my conduct. Then I began diligently to seek to obey it. I had never heard the phrase “the pursuit of holiness,” but that became my primary goal in life. Unfortunately, I made two mistakes. First, I assumed the Bible was something of a rulebook and that all I needed to do was to learn what it says and go do it. I knew nothing of the necessity of depending on the Holy Spirit for his guidance and enablement.

Still worse, I assumed that God’s acceptance of me and his blessing in my life depended on how well I did. I knew I was saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from any works. I had assurance of my salvation and expected to go to heaven when I died. But in my daily life, I thought God’s blessing depended on the practice of certain spiritual disciplines, such as having a daily quiet time and not knowingly committing any sin. I did not think this out but just unconsciously assumed it, given the Christian culture in which I lived. Yet it determined my attitude toward the Christian life.

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