Scripture

For He {God the Father} chose us in Him {Christ}, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.

~Ephesians 1:4, CSB

Quote

As children of God, we acknowledge the Father’s authority as a rule for our lives because we know this is what pleases Him.

~J.I. Packer

The term “Gospel Holiness” was unfamiliar to me; it was Puritan shorthand for authentic Christian living. The Puritans were not legalist; they believed we should be inspired by love and gratitude. They believed in a holiness that consisted of more than forms, rituals, outward appearances of doing good while the basic motivation was selfish and vain. They believed in pure devotion to Christ for His sake. Their goal was to be motivated by a spirit of grace. J.I. Packer relates this pure motivation to our adoption into God’s family. You see, we are sons and daughters of God. How are sons and daughters to relate to their father? They are to honor them; obey them and seek their blessing.

Wouldn’t you know it; we have the perfect illustration in Luke 15. The elder brother is typical of the legalist. He has perfect attendance; he doesn’t miss. He serves on several committees. He is seen doing good works and he talks often about his love for his father. In reality the Elder is selfish and vain. He serves but he serves himself. He may sneak in a little porn in late at night, but he would never sleep with a harlot because if word got out, it would destroy his reputation which he worships. I don’t know how many years he served his father, Jesus does not say, but he was actually serving himself and he had no deep passion to please his father. The prodigal has learned his lesson. He came home broken and ready to serve. For him, everything was about loving and honoring his father whom he had dishonored previously. He was not concerned about being chairman of deacons or being on the finance committee. He was ready and willing to go to the nursery if that was what his father wanted. It was all about loving the father and bringing him honor.

Extra

I can tell you how to draw a crowd; baptize four children. I bet we had 30-40 visitors yesterday and we are a small church. Of course, they came to see the Baptisms, but it was still a delight to see fewer empty chairs. Unfortunately, our counter got distracted and so we don’t know how many we had. Another huge crowd last night at the prayer walk [108]. Josh said we had five churches represented. GP had a good turnout.

Lord willing, I am breaking from routine today. I plan to do something a little different. Kids gave me a birthday party last night and one of the things they want to do is lift me over their heads, but I get nervous because I am afraid, they will drop me. It ended well.

Have a great week and thanks for reading the blog.