Tag: Gospel

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Clint Gospel Puritans Spiritual Growth Theology

Different Views of One Object: The Gospel

The theologian Robert Haldane (1764-1842) wrote in his commentary on Romans that Paul always connects his teaching on Christian living to the mystery of redemption in Christ. This is how Paul can make multifaceted applications of the gospel. Haldane summarizes Paul’s approach in what follows. I have broken up this extended quotation by highlighting Haldane’s break in thought with various headings and numbering. Haldane writes the following:

1. On whatever subject Paul treats, he constantly introduces the mystery of Christ.

  • In writing to the Corinthians, he says, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” This is a declaration, that the doctrine concerning Christ is the whole of religion, in which all besides is comprehended.
  • In delivering his instructions to the saints at Corinth, respecting the incestuous person, he points out to them. Jesus Christ as the Lamb that was sacrificed.
  • If his subject respects the promises he has made, or the engagements he has entered into, he draws our attention to the promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus.
  • When he treats of the precepts to be obeyed, he regards them as connected with the knowledge of Christ;
  • all duties are considered in relation to him, as the only Saviour from whom we can derive power to fulfil them,
  • the only altar on which they can be accepted,
  • that model according to which they are to be performed,
  • and the motive by which those who perform them are to be actuated.
  • He is the head that gives life to the members,
  • the root which renders the branches fruitful.
  • Believers are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
  • Jesus Christ is the end and object of their obedience, in order that the name of the Father may be glorified in the Son, and that the name of the Son may be glorified in them.

2. Accordingly, the Scriptures speak of the commencement and the continuation of the life of believers as being derived from Christ;

  • of their being planted together with him;
  • buried and risen with him;
  • walking in him;
  • living and dying with him.

The principal motives to holiness, in general, or to any particular duty, are drawn from some special view of the work of redemption, fitted to excite to the fulfilment of such obligations.

3. The love of God in Christ is set before us in a multitude of passages, as the most powerful motive we can have to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.

  • When we are exhorted to look not to our own things only, but also to those of others, it is because we ought to have the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, humbled himself to do such wonderful things for us.
  • The duty of almsgiving is enforced by the consideration, that he who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.
  • Forbearance to weak brethren has for its motive the death of Christ for them.
  • If we are exhorted to forgive the offences of others, it is because God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven us.
  • The reciprocal duties of husband and wife are enforced by the consideration of the love of Christ, and the relation in which he stands to his church.
  • The motive to chastity is, that we are members of Christ’s body, and temples of the Holy Ghost.

In one word, the various exhortations to the particular duties of a holy life, and the motives which correspond to each of them, are all taken from different views of one grand and important object, the mystery of redemption.

— Robert Haldane, Exposition of Romans, 1858. pp 20-21

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Canada Clint Gospel Society

An Open Invitation to Pride Parade-goers (with Confidentiality).

It’s Gay Pride Parade Day. Since the parade is scheduled at the same time that our church service meets, then I’m guessing you may not make it to our service this time. 

But I want to extend an invitation for you to come. If you wish to just talk, I can preserve your anonymity and keep your confidentiality.

I recognize that it can be difficult to come out of the LGBTQ2 community. To even begin to question the orthodoxy of the Pride movement is seen as hostile, traitorous behaviour.

That’s why I want to invite you to an exploration of an alternative. Let me explain. 

I think that for many LGBTQ2 folks there is becoming less and less confidence in the success formula of the rainbow movement. Many people have found initial acceptance in the community, only to feel deeper loneliness because of transient relationships. Others pursue long-term relationships but they never seem to be enough.

I also think that there are some people who live with being sexually abused, but they are not allowed to connect that abuse with their feelings today. I want to invite people who have been sexually abused to talk about what it means to be sinned against, to live in a sinning world, and to ask where a sinless refuge can be found.

There is a lot of pressure to be gay today. I think a lot of people at the parade are secretly feeling burnt out trying to be gay enough, or gayer than the next person.  Or maybe it’s being more conversant with insider lingo or being more active in LGBTQ2 social issues. I think a lot of people are getting exhausted trying to be ‘enough’ for everyone else. They are tired of trying to meet impossible standards. I would like to talk with you about liberation from standard-keeping, through the perfect keeping of a higher standard; in fact the highest. What if there was a way to get a declaration that said you had done enough? That would be truly liberating.

I invite you to talk about your anger and your bitterness. I think that you feel you have been misunderstood, dismissed, and despised. And the result has been you’ve felt hurt, and your hurt makes you bitter and even angry. I’d like to talk with you about the possibility of forgiveness. It might seem crazy, and to your peers, it might seem to show weakness. Yet forgiveness of others is the only way that you can be released from the cancer of anger in your heart. I would also like to point out that until we are forgiven ourselves, having admitted our own offences against the Being who is supreme over all— only then can we objectively forgive others. To be honest about who is offending and offended brings clarity and the beginnings of hope.

If you are secretly having doubts about your identification with the LGBTQ2 movement, but you are too afraid to speak, then accept my invitation to speak anonymously and confidentially. 

But the one thing I must warn you about is that Jesus Christ, in all of his love, will hurt our feelings. He does it because we need to hear his loving truth, even when the truth hurts. 

Yet in his love, Jesus offered the first invitation long before mine. He said: 

Come to me, 

all who labour and are heavy laden, 

and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you, 

and learn from me, 

for I am gentle and lowly in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. 

For my yoke is easy, 

and my burden is light.”

If you would like to accept this invitation please contact me at clint.humfrey@calvarygrace.ca

Faithfully,

Pastor Clint Humfrey

unsplash-logoToni Reed


Categories
Canada Church Clint Global Gospel Ministry Society Spiritual Growth

Being Expectant About the Coming Harvest

Summer is a gift of God to a people who live in a cold country. Our summers are short and so there is always a certain urgency. We have to take advantage of the warm (hot!) weather. 

The same is true for the Christian life. All people need to take advantage of the gospel offer in this season before the last Day. Paul reminds the Corinthians that “now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). 

A Sense of Urgency

It is also a season for calling people to believe in the gospel. This is not just your own personal belief in Christ, but the importance of bearing witness to this news of salvation. The season for this is brief too. And that is all the more reason why we need to have a sense of urgency, even as we are basking in the sunlight of the Son. 

Jesus knew this tendency to forget how brief the window is. He said to the disciples:

Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. (John 4:35)

The harvest was urgently upon them. And they needed to admit the facts. They couldn’t let themselves think that they still had lots of time before the urgency kicks in. 

The Unexpectant

In 1866, Charles Spurgeon preached on this passage and he noted how unexpectant Christians had become. He said: 

You know that this is the general feeling at present in the Christian church, not to expect any great things now, but to be waiting and watching for something or other which may one of these days, in the order of providence, “turn up.” 

We can be quite unexpectant. That is why we are fearful in evangelism, or we are apathetic in it. We just don’t expect that we can do it, or it will do any good. We almost completely take God out of the equation. All we end up seeing is the indifference or hostility of people toward the gospel. 

But could it be that the indifferent person is simply being ripened by God, so that their apathy will be arrested by the drama of God’s wrath that rests upon them? (cf. Rom 1:18). Maybe they’ll be shaken by the profound condescension and love of God in Christ Jesus? If you speak the gospel to them, they might be ready to burst in relief at finding a refuge to flee from the wrath to come.

You don’t know this for sure. But you can be expectant of God. 

As William Carey said, “Expect great things; attempt great things— for God”.

Enter the Harvest

Summer is a wonderful time. Let’s also remember that it is the precursor to the harvest.  Will you pray with expectancy for ways to enter into God’s harvest?

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10.2). 

Pray this way and God will make you an answer to your own prayer.

3 Ways You Can Expectantly Enter the Harvest:

  1. Prayerfully reflect on God’s undeserved favour to you, and start praying in concentric circles for the salvation of those closest to you, and progressively further out.
  2. Pray for the Word heard together, in your Sunday gatherings and as people apply it in small groups and one-to-one discipling. Pray that new people would be witnessed to and invited to come and hear the message of the gospel too.  
  3. Go and share the gospel with someone and invite them to your church.  

Let us pray to be more expectant of what God can do.

unsplash-logoVladimir Kudinov

Categories
Christel Gospel

Studying Mark’s Gospel: Good News for Imperfect Disciples

Credit: Steve Halama

At Calvary Grace, our women’s group has been studying the gospel of Mark. No matter how many times I’ve read it, I still find the gospel astounding.

Jesus consistently taught his disciples that his mission was to suffer many things, to be rejected and killed, and then rise again on the third day (e.g. Mk. 8:31). But his disciples didn’t know what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it (Mk. 9:32). I can’t really blame them. The whole episode that Jesus undergoes is both too horrific to contemplate and also too wonderful to comprehend. It’s horrific because the blood Jesus shed seems gory to my modern sensibilities, and the payment he made seems unbearable. And yet without blood there is no remission of sins (Heb. 9:22). This impossibly bad news is also paradoxically the best news: every sinful thought or deed that God’s children have ever done (or ever will do) is paid for in full by his “once for all” sacrifice (Heb. 10:10).

Leading up to the cross, the depth of human depravity is starkly juxtaposed with Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. The problem of sin is not whitewashed in Christianity. Even Jesus’ closest companions and star disciples fail him at every turn. The disciples sleep when they should pray. One betrays Jesus. Peter denies him. Nowhere is it implied that if people are given enough opportunity, they can eradicate their own sin problem.

Even the women who knew Jesus best–Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and others (Lk. 24:10) who traveled with Jesus and provided for him “out of their means” (Lk. 8:2)—were momentarily paralyzed by fear when confronted with the empty tomb. These women would have heard Jesus teaching on his death and resurrection, they were eyewitnesses of the former brutality, and of his burial, but still did not understand that Jesus would rise. When confronted with the empty tomb “they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid” (Mk.16:8).

Jesus disciples were far from perfect. The fact of this is both depressing and wonderful. As I read these final pages in Mark, I’m rooting for them. I want them to do better, and yet, I relate to their imperfections. I’m afraid when I should rejoice. I’m asleep when I should be praying. I’m silent when I should be speaking. But Jesus didn’t come to save perfect people, he came to save sinners.

The religious leaders of the time accused Jesus of blasphemy because “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk. 2:7) And yet, Jesus freely forgave sinners. Despite the unbelief of the Scribes and Pharisees, the gospel accounts all testify that Jesus is the Son of God, both fully God and fully man, and uniquely qualified to redeem humanity and provide deliverance from the weight of sin.

I’ve been a Christian for many years and I still can hardly grasp the gospel. The cost is both too great and too little. Jesus paid an inconceivably vast debt and I paid nothing at all. As the classic hymn says, “All the fitness He requireth. Is to feel your need of Him”.

Jesus came to save sinners, not those who imagine themselves spiritual superstars. When the religious leaders were angry with Jesus for eating with unworthy people (i.e. “sinners and tax collectors” (Mk. 2:16)), Jesus replied, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk. 2:17).

This is good news for imperfect people. Yes, sin is a great problem.  But Jesus is a greater Saviour.