The Pastor's Bookshelf - Overcoming Sin and Temptation: Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Believers Ought to Make the Mortification of Indwelling Sin Their Daily Work. So here is the next installment of the Pastor's Bookshelf. My apologies for it coming so late. I attended the SCBO State Evangelism Celebration and then my family was struck with the stomach flu. There have been several views and a couple of comments left, so I pray this is somewhat helpful for those reading. Feel free to pass this along to others as well. So let's begin...

Summary

This chapter, as titled above, looks at mortifying sin daily in the life of the believer. The quote I love is:

Be killing sin or it will be killing you.

Here is the outline:
1. Indwelling sin always abides, therefore it must always be mortified.

2. Indwelling sin not only abides, but is still acting.

3. Indwelling sin is not only active, but will produce soul-destroying sins if not mortified.

4. Indwelling sin is to be opposed by the Spirit and the new nature.

5. The results of neglecting the mortification of indwelling sin.

6. It is our duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God and Grow in Grace every day.

Personal Thoughts

Needless to say, there is much here I could discuss. I am struck with a running thought throughout this chapter, which might just be me but here it goes. I kept coming back to the idea that many Baptists have clung to for decades, namely, "once saved, always saved."

"Be killing sin or it will be killing you."

"Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work."

"Others who have found out a new way to it, by denying original, indwelling sin, and tempering the spirituality of the law of God unto men's carnal hearts, as they have sufficiently discovered themselves to be ignorant of the life of Christ and the power of it in believers, so they have invented a new righteousness that the gospel knows not of, being vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds."

"Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head... There is not the best saint in the world but, if he should give over this duty, would fall into as many cursed sins as ever any did of his kind."

"Not to be daily mortifying sin is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who has furnished us with a principle of doing it."

"Sin sets its strength against every act of holiness and against every degree we grow to."

"... I cannot but by the way complain of many professors of these days, who, instead of bringing forth such great and evident fruits of mortification as are expected, scarce bear any leaves of it."

"To use the blood of Christ, which is given to cleanse us; the exaltation of Christ, which is to give us repentance; the doctrine of grace, which teaches us to deny all ungodliness, to countenance (approve) sin is a rebellion that in the issue (outcome) will break the bones."

[The bold print is my emphasis] When I read these statements it enters my mind we live in a church age where religion and spirituality are the rule of the day, but serious devotion and dying to self daily in order to follow Christ are the rare exception. It is fine for that person to live that way, and we expect the pastor to, but the deacons, or the Sunday School teachers, or other leaders... well, we can't tell them how to live! It makes we want to scream!!!!!!

We have dumbed down church for those who are ignorant and then allowed ignorance to trump sound doctrine. Don't read me wrong. I am not advocating installing a confessional booth in churches and paying penance for our wrong, however, if a believer is not dying to self, and living for Christ, then obviously one of two things exists: 1) they are living in unrepentant sin or 2) they are not saved.

What has happened within our churches that salvation implies raising a hand, walking an aisle and saying a prayer, followed with being dunked in water and the role of repentance and confession have been neglected?

Why do our church rolls continually remain filled with 'inactive' members who, when mentioned, receive more reverence at times than Jesus Himself?

When did it become ok to pick and chose which sins were tolerable and which ones were just not accepted by our church?

Why are believers so easily falling for this?

I don't have any profound answers, and if I did I would put them in a book and sale it making millions of dollars and start having sold out arenas hosting "An Evening with the Reverend Rick." But then I would have to repent of my pride and ego, my lust for fame and popularity, and then end up back in the same spot as every believer should be... mortifying sin in the body.

It is a daily work, just as growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus is. It is time we stop using Christ and His substitutionary atonement as a means to sin, just because we know we are forgiven, and begin living in light of that glorious truth. He did live the life I could never live, died the death I could not die, and provides for me the forgiveness and reconciliation with God I am not able to accomplish.

So what do I do? I need to examine myself and see if I am in the faith (this is biblical, lest we forget). I need to grow daily, which will allow me to see sin in my life and repent of it. When tempted, rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome them so I do not sin. To make sure what I profess is based on what I possess. Namely, that Jesus Christ died for my sins and because He loved me before I loved Him, He called me out of sin and darkness into His marvelous light. It was His work whereby I repented of my sin and confessed Him as Lord and Savior (that's right, He is both, not one and then later in life [if ever] the other).

For that I can only give Him thanks continually and grow daily, mortify sin daily, and share the life-saving gospel of Jesus Christ daily. Be killing sin or it will be killing you.

Next Week

Next week read chapter 3. I have already read it 3 times. It is very good and contains many impacting truths.

Your Turn

Again, thanks to those who shared thoughts about the first chapter. Feel free to share any thoughts, observations or what you learned from chapter 2. You might disagree, have questions, or just want to vent, so go ahead. Let's endeavor to do this together and see what God does with a few believers seeking Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!

"Your View of the Mission Determines How You Live the Mission"

This years State Evangelism Celebration had as its theme Breaking down the walls: Evangelism that Renovates a Community. It was a great time complete with excellent preaching. Some of the sermons were by Ed Stetzer, Eric Geiger, Emir Caner, Chuck Kelley, Willie Jacobs and Forrest Pollock. Unfortunately I did not get to hear all of the 10 sermons because I ended up with a stomach bug and left in the middle of the second day (in fact, my wife and daughters back home were sick as well, it just hit me later than them).

Again, all in all there was some great sermons and worship times. I enjoy getting preached to and encouraged when I go to these celebrations. Still being fairly new to Ohio, I do not know that many pastors across the state so there isn't much networking for me yet, but that might change in time.

The basic idea expressed throughout the conference was one I feel God has laid on my heart pretty heavy here lately, namely, we have been sent with a message by Him to take the gospel to the nations, panta ta ethne.

The nations are not defined by associational, regional, state, or national boundaries, but are comprised of people groups all around us. We must be willing and attempting to share the gospel in a context that will reach them.

Ed Stetzer reminded us the church has been sent (Ephesians 3:10). You can't love Jesus and hate His bride. Jesus says in essence that we have been sent, to all different kinds of people, with a message, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Emir Caner spoke on building relationships in the age of cynicism. He commented the attitude by many today is everybody has to be wrong and nobody can be right. Emir tends to speak quickly and with great passion, and Tom (the deacon chair at our church who went with me) and I had a difficult time taking notes. The passage was Acts 26, Paul's defense before King Aggripa.

Eric Geiger spoke on being an ambassador (2 Cor 5:20). We are to represent Christ to the culture for a specific period of time. One statement that stuck with me was, "Your view of the mission determines how you live the mission".

Forrest Pollock shared a monologue of an older pastor reflecting on the joys and challenges of the pastorate, and if given 10,000 lifetimes, would still desire to be a pastor for each of them. It was a great reminder of God's call on my life.

Ed Stetzer spoke again (in the evening session - yes, each of these sermons was day one!). He and Eric Geiger sort of tag teamed on the 2 Corinthians passage. Again, it was about representing Jesus and His kingdom in our culture. Ed has written some excellent books on church planting and being missional.

Day two, Chuck Kelley was first. He is the president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He shared about the experience of Hurricane Katrina. His challenge believing what we know about God. God is God. The NT church did not look at society around them they looked to Jesus. If we want to see people saved we must look to Jesus! The NT church believed in the power of God, something the 21C church may have forgotten about.

Wille Jacobs addressed racial reconciliation and evangelism. His passage was from John 4, where Jesus encounters the woman at the well. To break down racial barriers (or any other ones) we must engage our culture, use a simple approach, and expose the cure, of course that being Jesus.

I wasn't feeling too great and we decided to leave at the lunch break.

Again, great worship (by ThisHope and the Cedarville University teams), great preaching, great challenges, but the only thing that was missing for me was evangelism.

It seems that many state evangelism conferences/celebrations bring in great preachers to challenge pastors, yet we never leave the sessions and go into the city we are in and share the gospel.

Recently my wife and I took 2 youth to the Dare2Share conference in Columbus. This is an excellent youth conference that trains and equips youth to share the gospel and then as part of the weekend youth groups are assigned a part of the city and go door to door collecting canned goods and looking for opportunities to pray and share the gospel. If youth can do it, for God's sake, why can't pastors and church leaders!

Sorry to be winded, but that brings me back to Eric Geiger's quote:

Your view of the mission determines how you live the mission.

Have we as pastors, church leaders, and Christians defined our mission by sitting in the boundaries of an air conditioned/heated sanctuary with our piano and organ, our choir, and everything the way we like it; then we sit back and the mission is defined by going to church and maybe we will have a visitor drive by the church and pop in and they can then hear the gospel preached and have a chance to get saved?

Is that the mission? Looking at how many people are living their lives, it must be. The only question I have for that type of living is this: "Where is the scriptural basis for that mission?" I can't find one.

If Jesus has given us the mission of going out into the culture, then we need to live like that is what He has told us! It is time our churches have a passion for the life Jesus calls us to, a life that loves God, loves others, and shares Jesus!

State Evangelism Conference

For those who might be checking here to see the next installment of the Pastor's Bookshelf, don't give up on me. Tomorrow I will be leaving to attend the State Convention of Baptist's in Ohio State Evangelism Conference at Cedarville University. I will post about Chapter 2 of our book on Wed or Thurs. This will give everyone an chance to read it once more.

The conference is usually pretty good. There will be the usual schedule of speakers, ranging from ministry leaders, seminary presidents and pastors, but I am looking forward to hearing from Ed Stetzer again. I enjoyed hearing him last year at Southeastern and know he will be a treat. Here is what is on Cedarville University's website about him:

"Ed Stetzer is the Director of Lifeway Research and Lifeway's Missiologist in Residence. He has planted churches in New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia and transitioned declining churches in Indiana and Georgia. He has also trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds a doctor of philosophy degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Beeson Divinity School, as well as two master's degrees and a bachelor's degree. He has written dozens of articles and books -- 11 Innovations in the Local Church, Comeback Churches, Planting Missional Churches. Ed served for three years as a seminary professor at the Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and has taught at 15 other seminaries."

God has been placing upon my heart the urgency and a passion for evangelism and church planting. Those in church are hearing it very often. It is time we as Christians, and as the church, move from business as usual and start engaging our culture in prayer and intentional evangelism. I hope our church continues in that effort.

Pray for safe travel and renewal for me. I enjoy getting preached to. Pray also I will not fall into the trap of hearing about many good programs and then try to replicate them in hopes something will stick. It is tempting (and sometimes frustrating) to hear what one church does and think it is the answer for every church.

Jesus is the only answer for every church and as we continue to lift up the name of Jesus and make Him known to the nations, I know He will bless our church!

If I have the chance I will post during the conference, but if not I will give an update on Wed. Until then...

The Necessity of Mortification (Chapter 1)

Today we embark on a new project of sorts as we begin the first attempt at The Pastor's Bookshelf. This will be an online book club of sorts and we are reading John Owens work Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. I have to admit upfront, the idea for this came from another blog I read by Tim Challies. I emailed him and asked if I could have permission to use material from his blogs, and permission was graciously given. His blog is www.challies.com if you would like to check it out. Now to the first chapter.

Summary
The first chapter is an exposition of Romans 8:13 (NKJV)"For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Five main points are then pulled out of this verse:

1. A duty prescribed: "Mortify the deeds of the body." Here 'the body' refers to corruption and depravity of our natures. 'The deeds' that must be mortified (killed) are the inward causes, or the root of sin. Then, 'to mortify' is to kill something - to have its power, life, vigor and strength to produce its effect taken away.

2. The persons denoted to whom it is prescribed: "You" - "if you mortify." He proves that 'you' refers to believers who have the indwelling Spirit.

3. A promise annexed to that duty: "You shall live." This, according to Owens, does not refer to our justification, rather it speaks to the joy, comfort and vigor of the Christian life.

4. The cause or means of the performance of this duty - the Spirit: "If you through the Spirit." The only possible way to mortify, or kill, sin is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

5. The conditionality of the whole proposition, wherein duty, means, and promise are contained; "If you," etc. Life is given only when a choice has been made. All that is described from this verse is only possible by that one small word, "if."

Three times in Chapter 1 Owens provides a one statement conclusion:

1. The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.

2. The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers.

3. The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.



Personal Thoughts

All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit.

This statement jumped out at me for several reasons. It seems to me there are multitudes of TV personalities, TV and radio 'preachers', 'Christian' and secular doctors, and every type of doctrine out there today propagating the following: "Look within yourself and you will find all the answers to your life. Visualize what you want out of life and the more you repeat it the more likely it will happen." Everyone wants to look everywhere, including Christians, to find or discover some new source of redemption and enlightenment. The reality must be faced. Apart from the Holy Spirit bringing conviction of sin and then following conviction with repentance, it will continue to be a vain search.

It is not possible for man to mortify, or put to death, the power of sin in their lives apart from the Holy Spirit. When attempts are made to rely on the latest book selection by Oprah, or the most current thoughts from Joel Osteen, or implementing a plan of action by Dr. Phil, at the end of the day you still end up with sin having power over your body. A believer is no longer condemned (Rom 8:1) but the indwelling power of sin still remains, which is why John Owens states: "The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin."

Why are believers so easily falling into this mindset. Part of me has to believe it comes with the idea that once we have been forgiven, we are forgiven completely. I have heard some say their sins past, present and future are forgiven and covered and they do not need to worry about confessing any longer. While it is true genuine believers are no longer condemned and we stand before God justified by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, we still battle, on a daily basis, the presence or sin. We are still tempted and we still sin. Therefore, we are taught to confess our sin and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We will still be accountable for how we have lived the Christian life on this earth. Salvation is not a free pass to 'live your life how you want.'

That is why Paul writes in Ephesians to put off the old man and to put on the new man. It is a daily practice for believers! As John Owen summarizes, it "is the constant duty of believers."

Mortification, it seems, is a choice I must make. Will I repent of sin when convicted by the Holy Spirit, or will I rebel against God when tempted sin? I must first examine my own life and struggle to put off the old and put on the new, to mortify the deeds of the flesh, so I will have life.



Next Week

Next week we will continue with Chapter 2. If you would like to join us The Pastor's Bookshelf, there is still time to start. Send me your email and I can direct you to the book. Until then... enjoy



Your Turn

Feel free to comment on my observations or to share what you have gained from this chapter. You might disagree with what I think, have questions you want to ask, or just vent about what confused you. Let's endeavor to do this together and see what God teaches us!

panta ta ethne

the pastor's bookshelf

This begins a new series of blogs. It has been sometime since I have been on here. The plan is for some of my church members to read one of John Owen's works and each week I will post something from our reading. Others are free to post their thoughts here as well. I want to thank Tim Challis and his blog at http://www.challies.com/ for the idea for this. He has been using the same book and I have received permission to use some of the material from the posts to assist me in this venture. So to anyone else who is interested, we are reading Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. If you would like to know how to get a copy of this, just let me know...

panta ta ethne