Knowing About God is Not Enough!

The following from a John MacArthur sermon was a sobering reminder of the insufficiency and folly of those who seek to accrue more and more "knowledge" about God alone, without "mixing it with faith" (cf. Heb. 4:2, KJV):

A famous actor was once the guest of honor at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the Twenty-Third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor's recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis, for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher's voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room.  When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd." Salvation does not come from knowing about the truth of Jesus Christ but from intimately knowing Christ Himself.

As Leonard Ravenhill used to say, there is a great difference between knowing the Word of God, and knowing the God of the Word.

Indeed, there is a pervasively deceptive danger of faithless, lifeless knowledge that has crept not merely into many of our churches, but many of our pulpits.

May God rescue us from the deceptive lie that a mere & shallow head knowledge of the gospel is to be equated with a robust and living faith in our living Savior.

In Christ, God's Word incarnate,
Pastor Ryan

Life is More than Lip- Service

In a tiny little gem entitled, "A Guide to Christian Living", the eminent pastor-theologian John Calvin wrote the following which cut me to the quick.

In the first chapter, under the 4th subheading entitled "Life is More than Lip Service" he writes:

Something should be said at this point to those who, having only the name of Christ, wish nevertheless to be known as Christians. How bold they are to glory in His holy name, seeing that none enjoy His friendship save those who rightly know Him through the gospel...Clearly, when such people claim to know Christ, their claim is false. In the process they do Him much wrong, however persuasively they prattle on about Him.

The gospel is teaching intended not for the tongue, but for life. Unlike other disciplines it involves more than just the mind and memory: it must take full possession of the soul and must have its seat and home deep in the heart. Otherwise it is not really taken in. So let these people cease to shame God by boasting of what they are not, or let them prove themselves to be disciples of Christ.

In the matter of religion, we have so far given priority to what is taught, since that is the beginning of our salvation. But to bear fruit and to be profitable, what is taught must lodge in the heart and demonstrate its power in our lives. More than that, it must transform us so that its nature becomes ours.

I confess that often I am content to let the truth dwell in my mind and intellect, but never really worry about its transforming voyage into my heart and soul. Why? Because it's easier to look holy by quoting (or blogging or tweeting or Facebooking) a lot of other noble theologians or philosophers, or (gasp!), even the holy Scriptures themselves than actually living them out.  And the scary thing is this: we seemingly get away with it, and begin to harden our hearts further, resulting in a life that is utterly and completely hypocritical. Or as Jude warns, "clouds without rain." Scary stuff. This is perhaps one of the worst forms of God's judgment (i.e. giving us over to sin, even if outwardly everything looks "sinless").

Oh how I praise God for the gift of His Spirit's conviction! I praise Him that in His mercy, He has not let me go too far in my proud downward spiral. 

What is the life my Savior wants us to exhibit? The life of faith. Like Abraham, who simply took God at His Word and lived in light of it.  He didn't merely talk about God's promise in ivory towers when visiting theologians stopped by to talk shop.  No, he walked by faith. Or, as James puts it, Abraham showed he was right in the eyes of God because his works backed up his profession.

This is the life I want to live for my Savior.  I want to live like a little child, simply taking God at His Word and then obeying it immediately.  Paul was right: in those who are prone to pride (i.e. me), "knowledge puffeth up." Lately I have been so puffed up, and yet so empty inside.

Please deflate, or if necessary burst, my intellectual bubble, O God, if it draws attention to my intellect instead of Your glorious gospel, wherein Jesus, the Son of God, died a humiliating death at the hands of sinful men and bore the divine wrath my sin had heaped upon Him.

Thank You, glorious God, for giving us the gift of men like John Calvin, who point us back to Your Word afresh.  Forgive us for making men like him our boast, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Christ alone, through whom we have adoption as sons,
Pastor Ryan