Remnant Conclusion
At the Together for the Gospel Conference, I was greatly encouraged to worship with 3,000 like minded pastors. Yet, at the same time, you can feel isolated that you are only worshipping with 3,000 like minded pastors. Certainly, others were not there who agree with the doctrines that were discussed, but each of us experience times where we feel like we are an insignificant minority. This series will look at the existence of remnants, the dangers of believing you are in a remnant and the rewards of truly being in one.
I had entire long post created, but have felt conviction that I have not seen enough victory in my self-righteous attitude. I was reminded of this quote from CJ Mahaney at the Together for the Gospel Conference:
I am a very arrogant man. I can try to pass off my propensity for critical viewing as a "difference in giftedness between CJ and myself. However, there are two problems with that excuse:
I praise God that He has given me a passion for His Word and for true doctrine (for I certainly was not out seeking that passion on my own). However, I pray that He protects me from myself, and my tendancy to become self-righteous and boastful of myself. My heart breaks for those I see abandon genuine Biblical doctrine for pragmatism or trendiness, and I used to think maybe I was the person to help inact some change. Lately though (even in the last two days), God has been showing me that I will probably not be the person to accomplish any such task.
For God desires that the boast of the remnant would be Him. I still desire too much (and any amount at all is too much) of the boasting to be about me.
I had entire long post created, but have felt conviction that I have not seen enough victory in my self-righteous attitude. I was reminded of this quote from CJ Mahaney at the Together for the Gospel Conference:I try to ignore that which is discouraging as much as possible. And also, I carry a concern that I would easily become self-righteous if I study too much that which is worthy of criticism. So, I want to study it, I want to impart discernment, but I also want to be encouraged by the evidences of grace that I think are present right here and draw encouragement from God's work in the hearts of so many people in the 20's and 30's that stood here.Bottom line: God chooses to work in a remnant because then He receives the glory.
I am a very arrogant man. I can try to pass off my propensity for critical viewing as a "difference in giftedness between CJ and myself. However, there are two problems with that excuse:
- 1. CJ is clearly a very discerning man...he has the ability to see things with a critical eye.
- 2. I know my critical eye can easily lend toward an attitude of superiority.
I praise God that He has given me a passion for His Word and for true doctrine (for I certainly was not out seeking that passion on my own). However, I pray that He protects me from myself, and my tendancy to become self-righteous and boastful of myself. My heart breaks for those I see abandon genuine Biblical doctrine for pragmatism or trendiness, and I used to think maybe I was the person to help inact some change. Lately though (even in the last two days), God has been showing me that I will probably not be the person to accomplish any such task.
For God desires that the boast of the remnant would be Him. I still desire too much (and any amount at all is too much) of the boasting to be about me.
posted by danny2 @ 7:10 AM
2 Comments:
At 7:16 AM,
Anonymous said…
I feel ya, brother.
Consider this: None of us is going to be "the" person to effect the kinds of changes you're longing to see. But each of us with the same vision can be "a" person God uses to bring them about. T4G should be enough to demonstrate that you're not alone in your heartbreak for the church. I'm tellin' you there are more than a handful of such persons in your own backyard, and all of us extremely prideful.
If the doctrines of grace teach us anything, it is that God uses us despite our weaknesses, including our propensity to pride.
When God gifts men and gives them a passion for Christ's church (as he obviously has you) I don't believe those men have the option of saying "Sorry. Have to hold back. Too proud." If you have to repent between every other word you write, so be it; repent and keep going. Don't bury this stuff in a napkin, brother. Our Master is an austere man.
By the way, new-Calvinist pride usually takes about ten years to wear off; at least that's how long it has taken me to acheive the perfection of humility I now enjoy.
At 8:43 AM,
Anonymous said…
I have found that John's Owens book "The Mortification of Sin", which if you have not read you must read it soon. It is an awsome book. Anyway in that book he gives a great illustration of what it is like to truly mortify sin. Basically, it is like a body on the cross. When you first decide to mortify a particular sin you will find that it raises its head everywhere and constantly. Just like a body that fights to stay a live on the cross, so does sin once it is "crucified". After some time the sin will weaken and will show itself less often, and when it does it is more easily defeated. I have seen this true in other areas of my life that I have worked on.
Keep up the fight. You and I are both mortifying pride at the same time, brother, I guess we will see which one of us is the most prideful by how long it takes to weaken. And I think this is one area where I unfortunately have got you beat.
If you haven't read mortification of sin, get it and read it next.
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