God loves us because he loves us

In a sermon on John 3:16 (“God so loved, that he gave…”), Puritan Thomas Manton makes the following point on God’s indescribable love towards sinners in sending His Son:

“Love is at the bottom of all. We may give a reason of other things, but we cannot give a reason of his love, God showed his wisdom, power, justice, and holiness in our redemption by Christ. If you ask, Why he made so much ado about a worthless creature, raised out of the dust of the ground at first, and had now disordered himself, and could be of no use to him? We have an answer at hand, Because he loved us. If you continue to ask, But why did he love us? We have no other answer but because he loved us; for beyond the first rise of things we cannot go. And the same reason is given by Moses, Deuteronomy 7:7-8: ‘The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you…’ That is, in short, he loved you because he loved you. All came from his free and undeserved mercy; higher we cannot go in seeking after the causes of what is done for our salvation.”

-Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, 2:340-341.

“Show me your faith by your joy”

“Live by faith; again I say, always live by it. Always rejoice through faith in the Lord! It is neglecting this exercise that allows your own low moods and Satan to interrupt your happiness and spiritual cheerfulness and to hold you in the dumps and in gloominess.

What if you have a natural inclination to melancholy? Cannot faith correct nature? Does it not have power to clear the mind of all cares, fears and griefs? Can it not exhilarate the whole man? But what good is this faith if it is not used? It is like a soldier, with a sword at his side, not drawing his weapon when he is attacked. If a discouragement overtakes, cannot your faith say to your soul, ‘Why are you disturbed? Know and consider in whom you believe.’ Would not the master rebuke the winds and the storms and bring calm to your mind again? Do not most men have something they use to counteract their discouragements, like David with his harp? Some seek refreshment in company, or wine, or tobacco. They would not go far without a supply of these! But would not the least taste of faith be far better?

Should not the wise Christian rather take in the sweet air from the precious promises of God? Keep your faith, and it will keep your joy. It will keep it in an even, ever-flowing current, without ebb and flow, clouds or eclipses, turning ever upon the hinges of heavenly and solid joy. How can it be otherwise?

Do not Christians consider how unsuitable it is for them to go about drooping and hanging the head? Is it not becoming for the righteous to rejoice? What is a Christian but one who is joyful? Does not the kingdom of heaven consist in joy? Does not heaviness drive people away while joy draws and wins? Men wonder to see a rich man, who has all his heart’s desire, in a fit of heaviness. But I wonder a thousand times more to see one that has Christ as his friend, and God as his shepherd, and knows that all must work for the best, to be any time out of tune or out of sorts. For a Nabal to be as dead as a stone is no surprise to me, but if Nehemiah’s countenance is changed, there must be some extraordinary cause.

Can you be sad when you have all possible treasures laid up in heavenly places, where moth and rust and thieves may not come? Our treasures are out of the devil’s reach, and not only for a number of years, but for ever and ever!

O vain man! Show me your faith by your joy. If you say you have faith and live a life of sadness, I will not believe you. Use your faith, and have joy; increase your faith and increase your joy.

Faith and a Mature Christian

I must now draw you a little higher. It is a small thing for you to be cheerful at an ordinary level. Your joy should exceed the happiness of those in the world both in quantity and quality. If your joy is not sweeter, and higher, and more pure, more constant than that of a carnal man, you dishonour your faith and show you are young in the kingdom of heaven, which is joy unspeakable and full of glory in the Holy Spirit. Do you not have living water flowing out of your soul? Should you that have tasted of the grapes of Canaan, pine for the onions and garlic of Egypt? Do you need to stoop to the world’s puddle to drink when you have tasted faith’s sweet fruits?

Certainly God gives us ordinary and lawful delights in the world, the wine and oil, music, recreations, etc. These God allows us to enjoy for the sake of bodily health, but not to stuff ourselves with them. We enjoy them, but we can be happy without them. We do not live for them, but live by faith.

It is sad to see a Christian pursuing joy in coarse and earthly pleasures when he has more noble and angelical delights, second only in degree and manner of enjoyment to heaven itself. Our faith takes us to the third heaven. We roll and tumble our souls in beds of roses, that is, our meditations of justification, sanctification, and salvation through Christ. No day should pass without these enjoyments. Should not our soul have her due drinks, breakfasts, meals, snacks, and desserts, as well as our body? Cannot such meditations make pleasant work of our daily tasks? They would make time pass by like a boat with full wind and tide, needing no oars. They would make all of our days like holidays and celebrations.”

—Samuel Ward, Living Faith (Banner of Truth, 2008) pp. 25-30.

The Cross in the Preaching of Jonathan Edwards

“The great eighteenth-century New England preacher was no preacher of moralism—he was no peddler of ethics without the gospel. He was a preacher of the gospel of Christ; and it is his powerful and undeniably beautiful Christocentricity that both establishes his evangelical orthodoxy and distinguishes him from the moralists of Rome and (more significantly still) from the moralists of the eighteenth century.

It is, therefore, very important to note that the New England preacher, whose reputation rests so powerfully on the minatory, also excelled in the consolatory. It is, moreover, precisely because of the recalcitrant issue of the general perception of Edwards as a preacher of judgment, and even of terror, that it is so important to note the sweetness and the beauty of his descriptions of Christ. It was clearly a fundamental part of his homiletical philosophy that he should not only provide what might be described as ‘the element of attack’, but that he should also administer the healing ‘balm of Gilead’ to the soul. Indeed, his sermons, considered in toto, reveal what might be described as a kind of homiletical pincer movement. ‘For by the law is the knowledge of sin, insists the Apostle; and Edwards’ great concern in preaching the law of God was that men should ‘flee from the wrath to come’ into the open arms of Christ. Thus, if in his sermons there is often great emphasis upon the terrors of Mount Sinai, there is also great emphasis upon the wonder and the glory of Calvary’s hill. This balance may not always be evident in the same sermon; it is, however, evident in his preaching ministry as a whole. The sweetness of his preaching at this point is, of course, no saccharine sentimentalism about the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. The New England preacher never says, ‘Peace, peace, when there is no peace’; he never ‘heals the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly’.

The encouragement, the consolation, and the peace that Edwards offers in his preaching are always on the basis of the gospel of Christ. It is important to note that he has no encouragement or consolation to offer apart from Christ; he has, therefore, no hope to offer to those who persist in remaining outside of Christ. The encouragement and the consolation that he repeatedly holds forth in his sermons are rooted and grounded in ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’.

Moreover, it is this rare ability to depict the beauty and the glory of Christ that many have found to be so attractive and so winsome in Edwards’ preaching. In 1825, on the morning of his sudden death, John Williams, the first pastor of the Oliver Street Baptist Church in New York City, made this observation to a friend: ‘I love President Edwards; he always speaks so sweetly of Christ.’”

–John Carrick, The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards (Banner of Truth, 2008) pp. 111-112.

Related: Edwards, Cross-Centeredness, and Application (7/16/08)
Related: Was Jonathan Edwards Cross-Centered? (7/11/08)
Related: A Sense of Christ’s Sufficiency (7/9/08)

The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards by John Carrick

I would argue Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian in American history. Whether you agree or not, at some level we can all admit he was a unique theologian with few rivals. But Edwards the preacher? Was he dynamic? Did he read from his sermon notes in drab monotone? Were his sermons as complex as his books? For a man so widely respected for his theology, there remain many questions about the nature of his preaching.

With the completion of the Yale edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards, scholars are set to take Edwards research to a new level. John Carrick, a professor at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, was one of the first to jump at the opportunity. Carrick’s new book The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards (Banner of Truth, 2008), helps answer a number of these questions about Edwards the preacher. But the book reaches far beyond the style of Edwards as Carrick explores the theology, application, content, style, structure, motive, delivery, literary features, logic, and legacy of Edwards preaching. Whew. And Carrick includes a load of direct quotes from Edwards’s manuscripts to illustrate his conclusions.

I was encouraged to see Carrick work closely with Yale scholars. Kenneth Minkema, the Executive director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, and George Marsden, author of the definitive Edwards biography, answered questions and reviewed chapters of this book. And it shows. Carrick’s book captures some of the best research completed by the Yale folks on Edwards’s preaching, while giving Carrick a solid foundation to take a further step of evaluating Edwards from a reformed—and often a more spiritually substantive—perspective. For example, Carrick concludes chapter nine with these words: “’The power of most of Edwards’s sermons,’ insists Marsden ‘was their logic’—logic (we might add) sovereignty set ablaze by the Spirit of power” (p. 150). I applaud Carrick’s use of Yale research and his willingness to add deeper spiritual explanations when appropriate.

I found a number of excerpts helpful and instructive–Edwards use of logic in preaching; his belief that application was both mental (to think) and practical (to do); his ability to apply sermons to many hearers in diverse circumstances and heart conditions; a glimpse into the goals and motives behind his preaching; his use of imagery; his eternal perspective; and his use of the doctrine of hell to cause sinners to flee into the hands of the beautiful Savior.

Carrick’s chapter on Christ-Centeredness (pp. 97-112) is a superb synopsis of the beauty of Christ set forth in Edwards’s sermons. “It is important to note not only that Edwards constantly points to Christ in his preaching, but also that he provides what must rank as some of the loveliest detailed descriptions of Christ in the whole range of homiletical literature” (p. 103). The chapter concludes with an affirmation of what I have thought for some time: Edwards’s preaching ministry, when accumulated, reveals a man who was thoroughly cross-centered (pp. 111-112).

Banner of Truth has graciously granted us permission to post the table of contents, preface, and the entire first chapter—“The Edwards Legacy”—as a PDF download by clicking here (2.7MB). Take a moment to download and print this lengthily excerpt for a firsthand glimpse into this book.

The Banner of Truth has published another gem in 2008! John Carrick’s The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards will finish the year as one of our top 10 books of the year.

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Title: The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards
Author: John Carrick
Boards: hardcover; black cloth and gold gilding
Pages: xi + 465
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: yes
Binding: sewn
Topical index: no (a big bummer)
Scriptural index: yes (though not very important for a work like this)
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Banner of Truth
Year: 2008
Price USD: $28.00 / $16.80 at WTSBooks
ISBN-13: 9780851519838

LeRoi Moore (1961-2008)

Yesterday saxophonist LeRoi Moore died from what appears to have been complications related to his June ATV accident. He was 46. LeRoi could rock the flute like no other. He will be missed.

Lady Wisdom

The dusty Palestinian city was abuzz, despite the blazing morning sun. The city streets were lined with leaders, buyers, sellers, and laborers. Another workday was in full swing as men gathered at the gate to discuss matters of trade and government.

Robed women walked through the dry and dusty streets, scrutinizing lines of chickens and vegetables for the meals of the day. Unsteady wooden carts clicked along the rough streets to bring fresh produce from nearby villages. The city was fully awake with the chorus of conversation and commerce.

With the amount of people lining the streets, it was difficult to see and hear the woman standing where the city gate connected to main street. But she was better dressed than anyone, more sharply fitted than those out for another day of trading and business. In contrast to the men and women walking the streets with their heads bowed down to the street-level bustle, her eyes were raised upward to the burning desert sky.

This woman stood in the middle of the street, visibly removed from the produce, clothing, and other wares. She stood alone in the city square when she started to speak.

Her voice rose in intensity, and at times she would break into a yell–yet her voice barely broke through the accumulated commotion of the market. Turning to the left and to the right, she raised her voice to the people, now buried in their daily routines, who passed around her on all sides.

But apart from the sneering glances, the men, women, and children walked along uninterrupted. The woman now raised her arms, cupped her mouth with her hands, and yelled louder to the disinterested crowd. Many of the people, intently focused on the day, continued with little interest in the pleading woman. Yet it was those ignoring her—even those opposing her—to whom she showed deep concern.

Facing the growing resistance of the crowd, her heart filled with compassion and her voice grew even more strained. She approached two men standing in conversation and cried out, “Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.” The men, annoyed at the interruption, walked away. She continued walking along the streets for one soul to listen and heed—just one! Yet those gathered as spectators of this now ardent woman began to ridicule and mock her as the town crazy. Still others walked on, avoiding eye contact. Others grew angry and lobbed derogatory responses as they passed, telling the woman to shut up. Yet the woman continued, her voice now pleading ever more urgent, with tears filling her eyes. She walked up to groups and spoke with specificity. “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”

In the bustle of our day, God in his compassion and mercy is walking among us, offering the same sweet fruit of wisdom [Prov. 1].

Herding Emerging

“Trying to define the Emerging church is a bit like herding cats.”

-Todd L. Miles, “A Kingdom without a King? Evaluating the Kingdom Ethic(s) of the Emerging Church,” SBJT (Spring, 2008 ) p. 88.

Pocket Puritans

I’m a big guy who drinks big cups of coffee and collects and reads heavy, shelf-warping books of theology. But I still prefer tiny books—ultra-thin, ultra-short, compact thinline ESV Bibles (like the one pictured), and those old Bible and Tract Society books from a century past that fit nicely in the palm. So I couldn’t help but express a bit of excitement over the new Puritan Paperback series from the Banner of Truth, a line of tiny books with a big wallop that will make the Puritans less intimidating and more readable for a new generation of readers.

As you can see, these are not your grandpa’s Banner books. Punchy, contemporary, relevant titles and sharp cover designs connect the timeless wisdom of Edwards, Baxter, and others to contemporary questions and in a format that looks more like a fresh CCEF counseling booklet than thou divines of olde. Current titles include, Heaven: A World of Love (Jonathan Edwards), Impure Lust (John Flavel), Anger Management (Richard Baxter), and Living Faith (Samuel Ward). Provocative topics and perfectly formatted for personal devotions.

And it was the author I was most unfamiliar (Ward on faith and unbelief) that I have most benefited!

The content of each Pocket Puritan has been carefully selected and distilled into a concentrated form of the original. These little volumes are packed with enough humbling punch to expose sin and bring a big guy down to his knees, and packed with enough grace for a tall guy to get even higher in the heavens. Small books, sharp look, concise content, and pointed message. Three big cheers for Banner’s new Pocket Puritans!

Dave Harvey: Don’t Waste Your Ambition

Dave Harvey, pastor, Sovereign Grace Ministries leader, and author of one of our favorite books of 2007—When Sinners Say ‘I Do’ (Shepherd Press)—was in town Sunday to preach on ambition. The topic informs the main theme of a book he is currently writing (proposed title, Wired for Glory: Ambitious for What Matters Most). It looks to be another excellent book.

For a little glimpse into the focus of the book you can listen to the message here:

Or download it here.

Here are my sermon notes from Sunday [not edited for exactness, but a snapshot of sermon flow and overview of content.]

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Don’t Waste Your Ambition
Dave Harvey
John 12:27-29, 36-44, Romans 15:19-20
August 10, 2008
Covenant Life Church; Gaithersburg, MD

Ambition is a frequently neglected topic in the church. Yet without ambition we all become lazy. But we don’t arrive at biblical understanding of ambition by going directly at it, but by building from a foundational understanding of glory.

We chase after what we value. In the text some followers of Christ, true believers, would not confess Christ publicly out of fear of the Pharisees (vv. 42-43). They believed in Christ but lived inconsistently because they loved their own glory, reputation, esteem, etc.

We are glory hunters. We are wired for glory. We are born with an instinct to chase glory. – We pursue what we value. The question is not about whether we seek glory, but where we seek glory. There is a greater glory than self-glorification. So how do we love God’s glory?

[1] The glory that comes from God is first in a Person. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s glory. Christ is the radiance of God (Hebrews 1:3). Back in John 12, for these believers the very embodiment of God’s glory is right there before their eyes, yet they are seeking their own glory (an irony, an absurdity). We are called to love the person of Christ and value Him above all else. This is more than finding Christ contemporarily “cool,” but about looking to the value of the Cross. Notice the future tense reference to God glorifying His name in Christ on the cross: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (v. 28). God is more glorified in the cross than anything else (creation, parting of the Red Sea, etc.). [Reminds me of Thomas Goodwin’s book, “The Glory of the Gospel,” where he argues the Cross is now where we now find the unmasked glory Moses so adamantly requested to see on Sinai.] At the cross, mercy and justice kissed. God says to us, “Don’t waste your ambition on anything but Christ.”

[2] The glory that comes from God demands pursuit. We are all familiar with ambition derivative of a zeal for personal glory. We need to learn to transfer glory to God, something modeled so well in C.J. Mahaney’s life. So do I seek my glory or do I seek transfer glory to God?

Ambition is not bad, in fact ambition is essential to godliness and humility. C.K. Chesterton writs, “The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a nail in his boot that prevented him from going on. For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.”

Scripture makes clear that ambition is not the problem, selfish ambition is. The problem is our aim. I am too “Davebitious.”

Godly Ambition

A. Perceive. We must see the value of God’s glory or we will fail to pursue it. Where we fail to see the value we fail to act.

B. Prize. Affections follow our perceptions. “Ambitions rise to what we prize.” In the Olympics we see athletes who sacrifice throughout their entire lives for one Olympic race that will last but seconds in length.

C. Pursue.

Application

So what does all this mean for tomorrow morning (Monday)?

1. The search for approval is over so ambition for God’s glory can begin. So much of our lives are spent to gain approval. Yet in the cross we have been freed from a life of attempts to meet the approval of God. Christians have all the approval we need. All the energy we invest in personal-image-management can now be redirected towards the glory of God. We now obey God from His approval not for His approval. Ambition for God’s glory can begin when our approval before God has been settled.

2. Godly ambition should lead us to explore new paths and new opportunities to glorify God. Read Romans 15:19-20. Here we see the Apostle Paul moving outwards to find new opportunities for the spread of the gospel. There is too much of God’s glory to spread globally to stifle Paul’s ambition. Here is a model of godly ambition—innovation and initiation—that challenges us to ask how we can serve in the spread of the gospel. It is provoking to think of how we can take new ground for God’s glory today.

We are tempted limit ambition to our occupations and not to think of ambition within the realm of church. Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). We seek to align our ambitions with the ambitions of Christ. Ambition is not only played out in global missions. Take your ambition and apply it to the local church. Seek to serve this local church and perceive the paths available to glorify God in your life. Don’t waste your ambition.

Karl Barth: The Wickedness of “Morally Average”

Theologian Karl Barth [1886-1968] was a bright Swiss chap with much to say. The oldest son of a Reformed pastor, Barth was soaked in the Reformed faith throughout his life and with the writings of Calvin and Luther. It was Barth’s approach to theology—his firm belief that God’s Word alone, and not human reason, as the basis for theology—that propelled him into conflict with theological liberals.

In 1919, a time when theological liberalism was thriving, Barth published a commentary on Romans emphasizing the transcendence of God, the radical differences between God and man. The book landed on the contemporary theological liberalists like a bombshell (to use an appropriate, but overworked, war image). Barth found himself to be a spokesman for conservative theology which I assume helped launch what became a prolific writing career that includes one series of books [Church Dogmatics] that sprawls to a length of 6 million words!

But Barth was also neo-orthodox in his theology, which means a lot of what flew off the tip of his pen includes wild and un-Reformed views on a host of subjects too lengthy for this blog post. And because you’ve already paused from reading to investigate which Barth books are carried by Amazon, let me sound a caution. Anyone interested in reading Barth should (1) understand Barth’s theological mistakes before attempting to sift for his theological and exegetical gold (which there are). And (2) ask your local church pastor to see if he is familiar with Barth and what he would specifically recommend for reading (if anything). If you try and read Barth without (1) background discernment and (2) wise direction, you will become easily confused and wander down some theologically treacherous paths.

Let me be clear: I don’t recommend reading Barth. The proverbial baby has dissolved into the bathwater. And there are less expensive and more useful men like Calvin, Edwards, Bunyan, and Bavinck to invest your time and attention into. But what I am seeking to convey today is a specific glimpse into Barth’s Christological interpretation of theology, which is taken a bit far at times but interwoven into occasionally insightful, fresh, and helpful points (much like his writing in general).

The Morally Perfect Man vs. the Morally Average Man

One section in Church Dogmatics I have found beneficial is titled “The Sloth and Misery of Man” (vol. IV.2, pp. 378-498). In this section on defining the sinfulness of man, Barth reminds us that Christ is the incarnate Word, which makes Him the incarnate Law. The point being that Christ’s coming to earth was significant not merely for him to live and die for the salvation of man (which is primary) but also significant as the enfleshed God as the perfect contrast to sinful man.

Let me say it another way. We may, like the Pharisee, compare our moral goodness to other humans and decide we are above the average man (Luke 18:9-14). But this would be a false gauge because the One perfect Man has come. Because of Christ’s glorious perfections, his incarnate arrival on earth brings perfect man alongside non-perfect man as a living comparison. This fact reinterprets our concept of “the morally average man” to really be (in God’s divine perspective) a wicked sinner opposed to Christ.

Among a world of creatures bent on comparing ourselves and the worst sinners, Christ’s incarnation makes the “average man” a depraved sinner and really creates a world (in comparison to Himself) where “there are no outstanding villains, no titans of iniquity,” but all are somewhere about average (p. 390). Unlike the Pharisee, we can no longer compare our morality to other sinners to seek comfort in above-average morality. Like the tax collector, we can only compare ourselves to God and we are broken. Christ is the new moral standard. The perfect One has come and lived among us and we have seen his glory. Therefore all of us—slightly above or slightly below average morality—are all horridly wicked.

This uncovers, or so it seems to me, the heart of Barth’s argument in “The Sloth and Misery of Man”.

Which brings me to a small excerpt I wanted to share with you today. Read this quote in light of the theological liberalism he faced and that lives on today where the stress rests heavily upon moral conformity to the life of Christ as the center of Christianity. I suppose one illustration could be the widespread fascination of the WWJD theme that appears to have been pursued (at least by some) as license to shift the center of Christianity as following the moral example of Christ as opposed to focusing on the finished work of Christ.

Should we live hard for Christ-like holiness? Yes! But may we first realize what Christ’s actions say to our own moral failure.

Now, over to Barth:

“Between us men it is not the case that the one encounters God in the other. It may well be that we mutually attest God, and therefore the fact that we are compared with Him and shamed by Him. It may well be that we can and must lead one another to shame before Him. But none of us is confronted with God Himself, or shamed by Him, in the existence of another man. This takes place only, but genuinely, in the existence of the true man in Jesus, the Son of God. It is in relation to Him—and we all stand in relation to Him—that there is the comparison with a man which is also our comparison with the holy God. And in this comparison with His of our actions and achievements, our possibilities and actualizations, the true expression of that which is within us, and the inwardness of that which we express, our whole whence and whither, the root and crown of our existence, we are genuinely shamed.

We are shamed because our own human essence meets us in Him in a form in which it completely surpasses and transcends the form which we give it. In Him we are not encountered by an angel, or a being which is superior and alien to our own nature, so that it is easy to excuse ourselves if we fail to measure up to it. We are confronted by a man like ourselves, with whom we are quite comparable. But we are confronted by a man in the clear exaltation of our nature to its truth, in the fulfillment of its determination, in the correspondence to the election and creation of man. We are confronted by the man who is with and for God as God is with Him, at peace with God and therefore with His fellows and Himself. But this means that we are all asked by Him who and what we ought to be as His brothers.

What about human life as we live it? What about our thinking and willing and speaking and acting? What about our heart and actions? What about the use we make of our existence, of the time which is given us, of our own distinctive opportunity both as a whole and in detail? What about our coming and going? What about our motives and restraints, our plans and attainments? What about the ordering of our relationship to God and our neighbors and ourselves? And finally and comprehensively, what about our life-act as God’s good creatures within the cosmos of God’s good creation? If we had the freedom to orientate and measure ourselves by other men, or by an abstraction that we regard as God, or by a law invented and established by ourselves, it might well be possible to acquit ourselves creditably, or not too discreditably, in face of these questions.

But we do not have this freedom. We can only imagine that we have it.

The measure by which we are measured is the true man in whom the true God meets us concretely in a living encounter. Compared with Him we stand there in all our corruption. The failure of all that we have and do is revealed. The lost state of our humanity is exposed. Our holiness, however great or small, drops away. Our brilliance is extinguished, our boasting reduced to futility, our pride deprived of its object. The untruth in which we are men is disclosed. The need in which God has accepted us in His Son, and which consists in the untruth of our humanity, is incontestable. This is our actual shaming, whether we see it or not, whether we are ashamed of ourselves or not. We stand there as those who are shamed in this way, in this shame, because and as the man Jesus is among us.”

-Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation (T&T Clark, 1958 ) vol. IV.2, p. 386-387.

This sobering insight has helped refocus my interpretation of the life of Christ. When I see His compassion for the lost, I am reminded of the hardness of my own heart at all of the lost souls I ignore. When I see the healing love of Christ given to the sick, I see my own neglect of the sick. In His genuine love for others I see my selfish pride. In His reverence, I see my flippancy. In His contentment with a stone pillow, I see my irritability when stabbed in cheek by the feather in mine.

If we see this side of Christ’s perfections in the Gospel stories we will be protected from the error of making an emulation of Christ’s moral example the center of Christianity.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). As we read and study the person and activity of Christ presented in the Gospel accounts, we should be reminded that Christ’s perfect life, perfect love, perfect obedience is not merely a model for us, but the Law in living flesh. Christ is the gold standard placed beside our dunghill.

Seeing the works and life of Christ from this angle …

(1) … gives us a fresh appreciation for our personal sinfulness. Before we jump to the conclusion that a story in the Gospels is intended for moral emulation, let’s first stop and interrogate off the contrast: “What does this reveal about me and my sinful heart?”

(2) … fills our hearts with thankfulness for what Christ has accomplished as our atoning sacrifice on the cross of Christ! What better way to go from the healing love of Christ extended to bleeding woman to my need for the Savior’s blood?

(3) … grants us eyes to discern theological liberalism (an enduring struggle for the church). Christ’s moral example first condemns us before it beckons emulation.

(4) … reminds us that our kind, morally average neighbors desperately need the gospel. I’ve always found it difficult to share the gospel with nice people who seem morally average, and easier to share the gospel with those I know have dark sin issues.

I could add some more lines—and Barth could add some more books—on the topic. But it’s good place to stop, reflect on the amazing morality on display in the life of Christ, and be reminded of amazing grace—how sweet the sound!—that saved a morally-average sloth like me!