Saturday, June 23, 2007
Thoughts from Staff Orientation
I've been at InterVarsity staff orientation in Madison for almost a week and have 5 days left. My mind has been wandering a bit, but today is a day of rest for us so it's OK. I find myself being very thankful for the men's bible study Jeremy and i led this year through Romans. I am reading John Owen's The Mortification of Sin in Believers right now and he is using Romans 8 and Romans 9:30-32 to explain the work of killing sin can only be done by the Holy Spirit. The term for it is monergism, and the base idea of it is that the Holy Spirit is the only agent which can truly affect regeneration in believers. It is such an important doctrine today, as we seem to often be inundated with Christian literature focused on self-help and making the best of ourselves with what God has given us. It's true that the first books we see when we walk into most Christian book stores are this genre. I write "the first books we see" because sometimes it takes a while to get past all of the Christian scented candles and crafts and whatnot. But anyway, Owen states that "Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world." The Holy Spirit is the cause and the means for the mortification of sin in our lives, for without Him we would have no desire nor much reason to do the task. In Romans 8:1-11 this fact is proclaimed, and the Spirit and His work is mentioned 11 times, while the futility of attempting any good in the flesh is mentioned about the same number of times. To deny the fact of monergism is to make an attempt to rob God of His power (if that were possible) and transmit some of that power to ourselves. Our flesh desires this power, and i know attempting to believe we have some of it is a big downfall. But David once said (in my favorite passage to use in defense of free will, 2 Samuel 24:14), "Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for His mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man." Charles Spurgeon once wrote "I fear most my being left to my free will." We are in the hands of a God who is great and merciful, worthy of our fear and adoration no matter what our circumstances are. His are the glory and the power forever and ever. I'm thankful for the rock that He is and the work He does in us. What do you think?
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3 comments:
Sounds like you're getting good food for thought. Digest it well. Pastor Jonathan did Paris Readhill in church today, very nice. You should listen to the tape when you're home.
You're reading some great works. Concepts like monergism are so important to our understanding of God's sovereignty. Although some might say that it diminishes our freedom to the point of oblivion, in reality, our freedom actually increases. The more we agree with the Scriptures, the more our minds are renewed, the greater our wills are conformed to the will of God. Then we will be free indeed.
God bless...
(PS. The Paris Readhill tape your mom mentioned was very, very good. Pastor did a good job of integrating his sermon into it.)
So true. It is a joyful walk when we submit to God's Word. "I say these things to you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete." -John 15:11
But who is this Paris Readhill guy? I bet if you looked for Paris Reidhead you'd have better luck. If you've never heard of him, check out a sermon of his on www.sermonindex.net.
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