Your COMPASS for the Journey…on the PATH of Discipleship: June 12-18, 2011
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Discipleship, Puritans, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation
Your COMPASS for the Journey on the PATH of Discipleship is a daily resource designed to help you find direction in your walk with Christ. This week, the COMPASS continues with an exploration of the heart of redemption. Your guide is the seventeenth century Puritan pastor, John Flavel. The book, The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety, by J. Stephen Yuille is being used as a resource.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 SALVATION IN THREE TENSES
Compass:
Romans 8:29-30 ‘…He predestined…he called…he justified…he also glorified.’
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Map:
The Scriptures speak of three tenses in our union with Christ: (1) a past action (justification, or being declared right with God), (2) a present process (sanctification, or being made holy by God), and (3) a future perfection (glorification, or being complete in Christ). John Flavel saw justification as a ‘relative’ change, sanctification as a ‘real’ change, and glorification as a ‘perfect’ change.
Journey:
We are justified (declared right with God) by our faith in Christ. We are sanctified (made holy) as we trust Christ again and again to deliver us from temptation and to lead us in paths of righteousness. Can you think of a time recently when Christ strengthened you for obedience?
Monday, June 13, 2011 SANCTIFICATION
Compass:
Hebrews 2:11 ‘…One…makes men holy….’
Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Map:
Stephen Yuille says that, ‘when it comes to discerning the Holy Spirit’s work upon our souls, sanctification is of first importance: it is “real” change that produces visible fruit.’ It’s the fruition of sanctification (the Spirit’s work of making us holy) that we will look at today.
Journey:
Jesus said, ‘I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last’ (John 15:16). Fruition, of course, is a process, and we don’t always see evidence of it. Pray today that God will make you fruitful, and trust that He is doing so…even though you may not be able to see immediate results.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 MARRIAGE TO CHRIST
Compass:
Romans 7:1-3 ‘…She is released from the law….’
1 Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
Map:
Stephen Yuille notes that, in Romans 7:2-3, Paul uses marriage to illustrate two principles: (1) Law has jurisdiction over us (seen in the fact that, in marriage, a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives). (2) Death frees us from law’s jurisdiction (seen in the fact that a woman is released from marriage when her husband dies).
Journey:
Paul’s point is that, just as death ends the obligations in marriage, even so death ends the Law’s jurisdiction over us. Christ died, thereby satisfying the Law’s penalty. And God considers us dead to the Law, since we are one with Christ. We are free now to ‘belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead.’ Today, renew your ‘marriage vows’ to Christ.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 FRUIT FOR DEATH
Romans 7:4-6 ‘…You…died to the law through the body of Christ….’
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Map:
Stephen Yuille says that, according to verse 5, prior to our marriage to Christ, we produced only ‘fruit for death.’ Why? Because, in a stated of degeneration, our understanding is controlled by a preference for darkness rather than light and our affections are focused on evil rather than good.
Journey:
John Flavel says a deed may be civilly good (good in others’ sight) without being morally good (good in God’s sight). Remind yourself from time to time that what makes your good deeds good is not your goodness but Christ’s, for truly good deeds flow from him.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 FRUIT FOR GOD (Part 1)
Compass:
Romans 7:6 ‘…We serve in the new way of the Spirit….’
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Map:
Since we are ‘married’ to Christ, we produce fruit by the Holy Spirit. Paul says: ‘We serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code’ (v. 7). The ‘old way of the written code’ is life with the old ‘husband,’ that is, the Law (or works). The ‘new way of the Spirit’ is life with our new ‘husband,’ Christ, under the covenant of grace.
Journey
We are saved by the grace of God, not by our works (our best efforts). Reaffirm your faith in the adequacy of Christ’s death and resurrection to save you.
Friday, June 17, 2011 FRUIT FOR GOD (Part 2)
Compass:
Galatians 5:22-23 ‘…The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace….’
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Map:
For John Flavel, the essence of fruit for God is Christ-likeness, which he views as consisting of eight ‘patterns:’ (1) Christ’s purity and holiness, (2) Christ’s obedience to his Father’s will, (3) Christ’s self-denial, (4) Christ’s diligence in finishing the work of God, (5) Christ’s delight in God and in his service, (6) Christ’s inoffensiveness, (7) Christ’s humility and lowliness, and (8) Christ’s contentment.
Journey:
Ask God today to replicate in your life these qualities of Christ-likeness.
Saturday, June 18, 2011 REVIEW
By his Holy Spirit, Christ produces ‘fruit for God’ in us. He is the vine; we are the branches. Jesus says, ‘If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). Stephen Yuille says that ‘just as the character of the vine is produced in the fruit of the branches, even so Christ’s character is produced in us. This is the real change of “sanctification.”’
Photo Credit: The Soul Your Power by Advertise2win
