Finally alive by John Piper (available from Amazon or free on the internet here)
In Chapter Twelve Piper looks at how Christians deal with sin while living in full assurance of salvation. The answer is not to disengage the spiritual from the physical - you are still meant to behave righteously. But when you do sin, fly to your advocate - Jesus Christ.
I liked how Piper turned around the statement from 1 John that God's commands are not burdensome to reflect the positive meaning, they are desirable: 'And if the commandments are not burdensome, what are they? They are desirable. What you desire to do with your whole heart is not burdensome to do. Listen to the psalmist. Psalm 40:8: “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Psalm 119:24: “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.” Psalm 119:35: “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.” Psalm 119:92: “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” Loving God means admiring and valuing and treasuring and desiring him with such ardency and authenticity that his will is our delight and is not burdensome.'
We should delight in the law, not despise it.
Next week's reading
Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
2 comments:
it was a blessing to learn about the righteousness that faith produces, but also to learn that we cannot expect sinlessness. Piper says at the end of ch 12 that there is both warning and comfort in Johns words. Here is my favorite quote "The new birth brings a spiritual discernment
that senses how to use John’s teaching: The new birth
is chastened and sobered by the warnings, and the new birth is
thrilled and empowered by the promise of an Advocate and a
Propitiation."
I enjoyed Piper’s handling of: ‘if you love me, you will keep my commandments’ – that the one leads to the other. I especially liked when he said: ‘the new birth is the creation of new life that sees Christ for who He is, and receives him; and that receiving severs the roots of the craving of the world and sets us free to love.’
His treatment of Jesus as the Advocate – I really enjoyed eg. ‘My standing with God does not go up and down or in and out with my walking and stumbling. My standing with God is the righteousness of my Advocate. My perfect Advocate, Jesus Christ.’
And on perfectionism, the Apostle John assumes that if you sin, you have an Advocate.
Then, with repentance, Piper explains our ‘love for Christ is renewed and the sweetness of our relationship is recovered and the hatred of sin is restored and the joy of the Lord again becomes our strength’, which he then explains, keeps us from despair.’
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