Not by Might, but by My Spirit says the Lord

Life presents all types of challenges…in many settings…from various directions. Have you ever faced such a challenge, namely one assigned to you by someone? Maybe at work or by a parent or even a neighbor whom you are helping? Imagine jumping into the project, believing you have all the needed info, yet you are a little uncertain of how to move forward. In this hypothetical challenge what you thought you understood from the person who assigned it turns out to be misunderstood…things aren’t coming together or resulting as anticipated. Tools and information necessary to complete the task seem to be missing. Somewhere along the way you must have missed something.

In a lot of ways this can be the Christian when he thinks that the New Covenant Life is merely God saying: Ok, you are forgiven and now possess eternal life, good luck. Now live the rest of your days doing your best to meet my perfect expectations…see you at the finish line.

Honestly, I start more days with that mentality than I do with the mentality which I want to unpack over the next several minutes. My brain for the most part says, as I am getting out of bed: “Yesterday did not go so well (some days I don’t even want to think about yesterday because it was that bad), but today I have to try harder to live well in this life that God has given me.”

Real quick, let me be clear. I am not down playing the believers striving after holiness and hungering for righteousness. However, the information and tools we utilize will greatly impact the fruitfulness of that pursuit.

In short I want us to have a right understanding of obedience in this New Covenant Life. Here is a link to a sermon in which I was first introduced to this idea. Please take time this Lord’s Day to watch it. May it bless you: Paul Washer: Four Pillars of Walking with God. (very encouraging).

Truth unto Joy leading to Obedience

Today I want us to see what fuels the Christian in his New Covenant Life. I wish to share three truths that I hope will enflame your heart with joy as they have for me.

The Father Makes it His Business

I sat there in the conference center, February of 2014, listening to a man who had been uniquely graced by God for preaching. I had heard him a handful of times before but what would be said here would forever impact my soul. John Piper was preaching on John 15:1-5…and as always he takes you deep…way down deep into the text. As he pointed our eyes to the various gems of Christ’s words he made this observation about the role of the Father. Jesus said,

“…My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:2

Sean…what does it mean that he cuts off branches that do not bear fruit? Can I lose my place in Christ? Can I fall away from grace?

I make note of that question because it is quite common. I have my thoughts on that text yet they will not to be addressed here, that is outside the scope of this entry.

What I want to point us to, or what Piper pointed out to us in that conference center in the heart of Minneapolis was that God the Father, Creator and King of all makes it his personal and fatherly business to prune his children. That is to say that God Almighty tends to and cultivates our souls with the skill and eye of a master gardener.

In the New Covenant Life we are grafted into Christ as branches grafted into a vine. The health and prosperity of our New Life in Christ is the prerogative and goal of the one who both created us and grafted us into the Son. When we get out of bed in the morning one of the first things we must remind ourselves of is how God is perfectly and effectively at work to prune us so that our salvation is more fruitful.

So as you pursue holiness do so with the confidence that the God of all grace is working with His powerful and invisible hand for your good and His glory. He never fails; He always keeps his word. Rest in Jesus’ words: “My Father is the vinedresser… every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

The Father makes this his business.

“I ask not only for these…”

During my few years as a bachelor I would take advantage of the nearness of my home church to my apartment. I would go there around 9or10pm after work 2or3 nights a week and read 5-10 chapters aloud from the pulpit. It was refreshing to hear the word. One night I was struck by a statement of Christ (one which came shortly after His word regarding the vine). I was reading from John 17, The High Priestly prayer. The words that grabbed me were words that were about both me and you. Yes, Jesus mentioned you in his High Priestly prayer. I was blown away. I stared at the page for several seconds…not continuing further but basking in the moment. Jesus said the following after He had prayed for His twelve disciples:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

John 17:20-21

Do you see it??? You are “those who will believe in Jesus through their (the apostles’) word!!!!” Jesus had the big picture of redemption in mind as he prayerfully prepared Himself for the cross as well as strengthened His followers. Jesus worked for our good from both Golgotha and Gethsemane. He knelt to pray unto his Father for many things, and amid those petitions were the names of his people. Yet, his prayer and help is not limited to this time and place, for the hymn is right,

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea;

a great High Priest whose name is Love,

who ever lives and pleads for me.

Before the Throne of God Above

The writer of Hebrews would tell us in various ways and in many places of that epistle that Jesus’ ministry to plead petitions on our behalf goes on even now. We have this confidence based on at least two statements from the epistle of Hebrews. God the Father says of his Son:

“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 5:6 (quoting Psa. 110:4)

…and

“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 7:25

Dr. Thomas Schreiner notes that Christ’s intercession for his people is unto both atonement and assistance. There in heaven, The Man, The Priest stands in the presence of God bearing the wounds of the cross (Rev. 5:6) thus ever reminding the Father of the sacrifice made by which “he…saved to the uttermost those who draw near to God through” Christ. We never need worry that God would forget the forgiveness won at the cross, not that God could, but our assurance is all the more when we remember that our Great High Priest stands in the presence of the Judge of all the earth interceding by his blood. The Perfect Priest is ever petitioning the throne of Grace.

Yet, he also petitions for our assistance according to Schreiner. He perfectly pleads for the Father to provide every grace we need, both the felt need and the one for which we are unaware.

Child of God, brother and sister of mine in the faith, there is not a breath of a need you have that Jesus is not aware of and calling on his Father on behalf of. The praying begun in Gethsemane continues, yet in a greater way for you now. The Father’s delight in the Son is such that He will not deny his petitions. The Son of God, the great Priest is for you today, and He will plead, petition, and pray until you join Him in the presence of the Father.

By this hope we may seek lives that honor the Lord, and do so without losing heart. This ministry of the heavenly Priest is a reality we enjoy as those who have New Covenant Life. The Priest of the New Covenant serves on behalf of His people.

The Spirit Never Stops Warring Against My Flesh

Do you have a favorite devotional? I love kicking off my day with a good read from a short devotional (Day-by-Day with Ryle & New Morning Mercies by Tripp…either make for a great start in the morning). On December 20 I was reading Tripp and once again had a “lightbulb moment.” The devotional for the morning addressed how dangerous sin is yet how often we are blind and find it attractive. Tripp graciously yet clearly demonstrated our ignorance with regard to the filth and poison of sin. Then he preceded to make this earth shattering point:

“God not only forgives, but he also gets inside me by his Spirit. The Spirit that now lives inside of me is a Warrior Spirit, who by grace does battle with my sin even in moments when I don’t care to. His redemptive zeal is unstoppable.”

New Morning Mercies (Dec. 20)

That Spirit is part-and-parcel to the New Covenant Life. From one of the very first explicit promises of such a life given by God this is what we read:

“I will put my Spirit within you,

and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Ezekiel 36:27…(go read 36:22-32)

The “Warrior Spirit” is the reason we have part in the New Covenant Life, and it cannot be pursued nor enjoyed without him. Good news…he isn’t going anywhere. He “does battle with your sin even in moments when you don’t care to. His redemptive zeal is unstoppable.” Therefore you have hope.

The Big Picture

Do you see the big picture? The glorious triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirt, are simultaneously and harmoniously working out the redemption in your life. Your sin is forgiven, and the damage it has brought is being rehabilitated by the Almighty God of all grace.

You are…I am weak. We suffer from passivity in our walk with Christ. Our love grow cold. We wonder from time-to-time: “Am I really saved?”

Let us look away from our failures and sin and unto our Father who is the Vinedresser, the Son who is our Great High Priest ever pleading for us, and the Holy Spirit who is ever sanctifying our mind and heart. Let us look to this God so as to have a fuller assurance of our redemption.

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