A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing;
I come with Your righteousness on, my humble offering to bring.
The judgments of Your holy law with me can have nothing to do;
My Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

The work which Your goodness began, the arm of Your strength will complete;
Your promise is yes and amen, and never was forfeited yet.
The future or things that are now, no power below or above,
Can make You Your purpose forgo, or sever my soul from Your love.

My name from the palms of Your hands eternity will not erase;
Impressed on Your heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace.
Yes I to the end will endure, until I bow down at Your throne;
Forever and always secure, a debtor to mercy alone.

– Augustus Toplady, A Debtor to Mercy Alone, as modified by Bob Kauflin

Tags: Augustus-Toplady, Bob-Kauflin, Christ, Christian-living, Christianity, cross, debt, forgiveness, gospel, gospel-centrality, grace, hymn, judgment, justification, law, mercy, ransom, redemption, righteousness, salvation, sin, thankfulness, union-with-Christ

How are we to think of the Incarnation? The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God for the love that was shown in it. For it was a great act of condescension and self-humbling. “He, who had always been God by nature,” writes Paul, “did not cling to his privileges as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man. And, plainly seen as a human being, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, to the point of death, and the death he died was the death of a common criminal” (Phil 2:6-8 Phillips). And all this was for our salvation. . . .

The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it till we see it in this context. . . . The taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should ever view it — not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.

– J. I. Packer, Knowing God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993; pp. 58-59.

Tags: Christ, Christianity, Christmas, cross, God, gospel, grace, humiliation, humility, incarnation, James-Packer, lovingkindness, obedience, Philippians, quotation, redemption, salvation

Doug Wilson has written a series of posts on what he learned in the land of Narnia:

• True authority is obedient
• Confessing sin in Narnia
• Nobility in Narnia
• Spiritual disciplines in Narnia
• Love of story
• Narnian grace
• Love for Aslan

He writes,

I have learned far more in Narnia than I can ever begin to explain, and so all I am going to try to do here is give you a small taste of some of the more important lessons I learned there. I hope that readers of these small sketches will be able to do what I have done, and read these books over and over for the rest of their lives. Each reading offers additional wisdom, but the wisdom is never simplistic—rather it is richly textured, reflecting the many different sources of Lewis’ insight.

Consider his reflections on Lewis’s wisdom, and let it inspire you to reread the books!

Tags: Aslan, authority, C.-S.-Lewis, Christ, Christian-living, Christianity, Chronicles-of-Narnia, confession, Douglas-Wilson, grace, joy, love, Narnia, nobility, obedience, quotation, sin, spiritual-disciplines, story

This I give you to share, and to defend all your life, the one Godhead and power, found in the three in unity, and comprising the three separately; not unequal, in substances or natures, neither increased nor diminished by superiorities or inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of three infinite ones, each God when considered in himself; as the Father, so the Son; as the Son, so the Holy Spirit; the three one God when contemplated together; each God because consubstantial; one God because of the monarchia. No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendour of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of any one of the three I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light. — Gregory Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism

As quoted by Robert Letham in The Holy Trinity.

Tags: Christ, Christianity, early-church-fathers, Father, fatherhood-of-God, Gregory-Nazianzen, Holy-Spirit, quotation, Robert-Letham, Trinitarianism, Trinity

In his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, the late John Murray presents an excellent summary of what it means that believers live in union with Christ. He writes that “if we did not take account of [union with Christ], not only would our presentation of the application of redemption be defective but our view of the Christian life would be gravely distorted. Nothing is more central or basic than union and communion with Christ” (p. 161). On the following pages he goes on to enumerate what it means to be united with Christ:

The fountain of salvation itself in the eternal election of the Father is “in Christ.” . . . The Father elected from eternity, but he elected in Christ. . . .

It is also because the people of God were in Christ when he gave his life a ransom and redeemed by his blood that salvation has been secured for them; they are represented as united to Christ in his death, resurrection, and exaltation to heaven. . . .

It is in Christ that the people of God are created anew. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). . . .

But not only does the new life have its inception in Christ; it is also continued by virtue of the same relationship to him. It is in Christ that Christian life and behavior are conducted. . . .

It is in Christ that believers die. They have fallen asleep in Christ or through Christ and they are dead in Christ (1 Thess. 4:14, 16). . . .

Finally, it is in Christ that the people of God will be resurrected and glorified. It is in Christ they will be made alive when the last trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:22). It is with Christ they will be glorified (Rom. 8:17).

Tags: 1-Corinthians, 1-Thessalonians, Christ, Christian-living, Christianity, cross, Ephesians, ethics, Father, glorification, God, John-Murray, new-creation, quotation, ransom, redemption, resurrection, Romans, salvation, union-with-Christ

[Peter] wants them to live by faith in the finished work of Christ. He knows that mere commands do not give hope. He is not opposed to specific obedience. He is opposed to self-sufficient obedience.

This takes me back to this point in Gospel-centrality. The Gospel is not the entry to the Christian life — it is all of the Christian life. It is not the ABC’s but the A to Z (to quote Keller). I can find no other NT method or model for ministry. I find myself asking this — do I lead my people and my family and myself FIRST in fresh faith toward the Savior and all that he has won; and only SECOND to the specifics of application?

— Mark Lauterbach

Read the whole thing. Then bookmark Mark’s blog.

Tags: 1-Peter, application, Christ, Christian-living, Christianity, commands, cross, ethics, faith, gospel, gospel-centrality, Mark-Lauterbach, obedience, quotation, salvation, self-sufficiency, Tim-Keller

John Stott quotes Archbishop Michael Ramsey in his lecture “Reflections of an Octogenarian.” Ramsey gave a series of lectures entitled “Sermons addressed to young men on the eve of their ordination,” and which are collected in the book The Christian Priest Today. Stott quotes Ramsey’s main points on humility as follows:

• Always be expressing gratitude to God: “thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.”
• Always be aware of our sin: “take care about the confession of your sins.”
• Whether they are trivial or big, “be ready to accept humiliations, they can hurt terribly but they help you to be humble . . . these are opportunities to be a little nearer to our humble and crucified Lord.”
• “Do not worry about status; there is only one status that our Lord bids us be concerned with, and that is the status of proximity to himself.”
• “Use your sense of humor; laugh about things. Laugh at the absurdities of life; laugh about yourself and about your own absurdity . . . You have to be serious of course, but never be solemn, because if you are solemn about anything, there is a danger of your becoming solemn about yourself.”
• Lastly, “it is at the foot of the cross that humility finally grows.” Consider Galatians 6:14, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Tags: Christ, confession, cross, Galatians, gratitude, humiliation, humility, Humor, John-Stott, Michael-Ramsey, quotation, sin, status, thankfulness

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” — Abraham Kuyper

Tags: Abraham-Kuyper, Christ, Christianity, lordship, quotation, sovereignty, worldview