Humility and Love

Some of you probably know by now of my affinity for John Newton.

One of the reasons I appreciate him so much is because of his letters. He was prolific in his letter writing. He wrote to all sorts and all comers. What I find so wonderful about his letters is that in them you truly see how his rich theology and experiential knowledge of God’s love in the gospel both come to bear in his pastoral care. His letters exquisitely exhibit theology applied. He truly was a shepherd to admire.

Recently, I was reading one of Newton’s letters to the Reverend Mr. Whitford, his friend and a fellow minister. In this letter, Newton was encouraging Mr. Whitford in his cooperative gospel ministry, and there was one sentence that stood out to me: “I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ, and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master.”[1]

I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ, and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master. — John Newton

What an assessment of the distinguishing marks of the Christian! Are these the characteristics that first come to mind when we think of what should mark a Christian? Perhaps we think of holiness or joy or one of the many other characteristics that distinguish the Christian life. But Newton hangs spiritual maturity on these two marks, humility and love. This sent me running to the Scriptures to find what humility and love for the Christian look like.

 

Christian Humility and Love

In Ephesians 4:1–3, Paul urges the Ephesians to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [they] have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Here, humility and love go hand-in-hand with gentleness or meekness and patience. Let’s take a closer look at these fruits.

 

Gentleness

Paul makes clear in 2 Corinthians 10:1 that gentleness and meekness are distinguishing marks of Jesus himself writing, “I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…”. These are Christlike characteristics. To get an idea of what a gentle and meek person looks like, it’s helpful to consider what Scripture sets gentleness and meekness over against. Paul encourages Titus to remind the flock “to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2), as opposed to not being submissive to authorities, speaking evil of others, and being quarrelsome. Likewise, in 1 Timothy 3:3, Paul calls for gentleness rather than violence. Indeed, it is this type of gentleness and meekness that marks reasonableness as opposed to divisiveness (Philippians 4:1–5).

So, gentleness and meekness do not look like: speaking evil of others, a quarrelsome spirit, a lack of appropriate submissiveness, violence, and/or divisiveness—the distinguishing marks of sinful man. Rather, Scripture tells us that gentleness and meekness are the hallmarks of godly wisdom (James 3:13, 17).

 

Patience

Humility and love also go hand-in-hand with patience. The patience referred to here does not speak to the type of perishable patience we typically exercise when we are waiting for our food order to come to the table or when we are standing in a long line. Rather, it speaks to the enduring, unwavering patience that God exercised toward us in order to save us (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:15).

 

Gentleness and Patience Mark Christian Humility and Love

So, if you are seeking the fruits of Christian humility and love, they can be found in the same garden row as their closely related counterparts of gentleness and patience. Christian humility and love run counter to divisiveness, quarreling, and violence. And Christian humility and love exercise the same long-suffering that God graciously showed and shows toward us. Indeed, Christian humility and love fight for the very unity that human sinfulness would undo (Ephesians 4:3). Let’s look more closely at both humility and love.

 

Humility

Paul sets humility over against selfish ambition when he addresses the Philippians, writing, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3). Selfish ambition is not an internal, victimless characteristic. Rather, selfish ambition by nature works itself out externally in hostility and contentiousness toward others, inflicting harm on others (2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20; Philippians 1:17; James 3:16). Christian humility, on the other hand, considers others more significant—of a surpassing worth—when compared to self (Philippians 2:3). Moreover, Christian humility is not kept to oneself but has natural outward effects. Taking into account the gentleness and patience that mark humility, Christian humility, like a rock thrown into water, sends out ripples of gentleness and patience toward others that promote fellowship and unity (Ephesians 4:3).

Christian humility, like a rock thrown into water, sends out ripples of gentleness and patience toward others that promote fellowship and unity.

 

Love

In like manner, Christian love bears with others in a spirit of gentleness and patience. This love “is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:1). This is the very bearing with love that binds together all godly qualities that foster a culture of forgiveness. Christian love is love that bears with others, loving and forgiving them in the same way that God loved and forgave us in Christ. (Colossians 3:12–13). This forgiving love, then, fans the flames of fellowship and unity (Ephesians 4:3).

Christian love is love that bears with others, forgiving them in the same way that God loved and forgave us in Christ.

 

The Gospel: Jesus’ Humility and Love Saves Us

Surely, we can begin to see that John Newton was very much on the right track. Indeed, it was these very qualities, humility and love, that, as Paul notes, mean salvation for you and me. Jesus exercised perfect humility and perfect love toward us in order to save us when we were unsubmissive, speakers of evil, divisive, violent, quarrelsome—completely arrogant and completely hateful. Yet Jesus counted us as more significant than himself in humility and extended the comfort of his forgiving love toward us by dying in our place on the cross (Philippians 2:1–8).

If the Christian life is to look like Jesus, then Newton’s assessment is beautifully accurate. It is the humility and love of Christ that saves us, and it is our Christlike humility and love coupled with our gospel proclamation that God will continue to use to save and unite his people. So, in the spirit of John Newton, we must ask ourselves: Do Christlike humility and love mark our lives? Let’s strive in God’s power to ensure they do.

[1] John Newton, Letters of John Newton, ed. Josiah Bull (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018), 39.

John Newton on Assurance: Jesus Will Not Cast You Out

John Newton to the Rev. Joshua Symonds[1]

John Newton wrote a letter to Rev. Joshua Symonds to press him on a particular stance he took with regard to the gospel. Newton notes that Symonds observed, “I hope it my desire to cast myself upon the free promise in Jesus Christ; but this alone does not give assurance of my personal interest in his blood” (171).

 Newton takes issue with this and asks plainly, “Why not?” (171). Allow me to flesh out Newton’s question. Newton basically asks, “Why would your casting yourself upon the promise of salvation in Jesus not assure your salvation by his blood?” The rest of Newton’s response makes clear this is what he is indeed asking. Newton answers his own question, writing, “Because you lean to conditions, and do not think yourself good enough” (171). Newton then notes, “It appears to me, that if I cast myself upon his promise, and if his promise is true, I must undoubtedly be interested in his full redemption” (171). Newton then drops a gospel grace bombshell to back up his estimation noting that Jesus said, “Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out” (171) (cf John 6:37). Then Newton drives the point home: “If you can find a case or circumstance which the words in no wise will not include, then you may despond” (171).

Newton makes clear that for those who come to Jesus seeking his mercy and grace, they will certainly receive it. Newton then very pastorally points out to Symonds the dangerous game he is playing. Symonds runs the risk of turning the gospel of grace into a gospel of works:

“You tell me what evidences you want, namely, spiritual experiences, inward holiness, earnest endeavours. All this I may allow in a right sense; but in judging on these grounds, it is common and easy in a dark hour to turn the gospel into a covenant of works” (172).

So Newton is not pushing back against evidences of saving faith as a whole. They have their place, “in a right sense.” But he is pushing back against any notion that could hint at of the idea that resting one’s faith in Christ alone is not enough to gain an interest in his saving blood. Newton does this to guard the gospel. And, Newton does this because he does not want his friend to, because of fear and doubt, slip into despondency and the temptation of doubting Christ’s ability to save to the uttermost: “rejoice in Christ Jesus, and resist every temptation to doubt your interest in his love, as you would resist a temptation to adultery or murder” (173).

 

The Defiled Heart

Newton hears Symonds words and his gospel alarm bells go off. Newton rightly perceives in Symonds’ words a potential slippery slope to prideful legalism and despondency. Newton hears the words “but this alone does not give assurance of my personal interest in his blood” with regard to casting oneself on Christ in faith, and he perceives the seed stage of a Pharisaical outlook that questions Jesus saying, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (Mark 7:5). In context, we see that these Pharisees have completely reversed the order of their defilement (Mark 7:1–23). They believe they can cleanse themselves from the outside in rather than recognizing that their defilement erupts from the inside where they cannot reach. By reversing this order, the Pharisees have drastically underestimated the condition of their defiled natures. In all their study of the Law they failed to see what it was always pointing to: only God can cleanse a defiled heart.

For us to move beyond trusting in Christ alone for salvation leads us to, just like the Pharisees, base our assurance on our own ability to follow a set of rules. When we find ourselves successful in these legalistic efforts, pride soars. When we find ourselves unsuccessful in these legalistic efforts despondency descends.

The man who bases assurance of salvation on personal performance drastically underestimates the defiled condition of the heart. While certainly there will be progressive sanctification and spiritual fruit, we will never be fully rid of temptation and sin in this life. So Newton says, “But if you will look for a holiness that shall leave no room for the workings of corruption and temptation, you look for what God has nowhere promised, and for what is utterly inconsistent with our present state” (172). Our continual struggle with sin and temptation should not lead us to try and move beyond Christ’s mercy, it should leads us to perpetually cast ourselves upon his mercy.

 

Jesus Does Not Cast Out

So we should not look like the Pharisees, who base their assurance on how well they have preened themselves, and who end up questioning Jesus’ whole approach to holiness. Rather, we should look like the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:14–30. Here is a woman, who, as a Gentile by birth, is utterly unclean before Jesus. But she comes to him humble and desperate, trusting not in anything of herself but only in Jesus’ mercy. And between her and the Pharisees, only she walks away from Jesus having received the cleansing she so desperately sought.

Here in the Syrophoenician woman we see undeniable evidence of faith. This is a faith worth emulating. And this is an assurance worth investing in. Newton agrees:

“Evidences, as you call them, are of use in their place; but the best evidence of faith is the shutting our eyes equally upon our defects and our graces, and looking directly to Jesus as clothed with authority and power to save to the very uttermost” (173).

Doubting soul chasing after assurance, cast yourself on Christ’s mercy, for he will not cast you out.

[1] John Newton, Letters of John Newton, ed. Josiah Bull (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018), 171–73.

The Foundation for a Thankful Heart

What leads to “spontaneous” gratefulness?

The middle of the night. Wakened – barely – by the sound of raindrops, I turn from my back to my side. My hand accidentally touches Beth’s shoulder. Resting it there, I pray, “Thank You, Lord, for this precious woman.”

The prayer was not the result of a logical chain of reasoning. It simply welled up within me in the moment. It was spontaneous in that sense.

However, if the same sequence of events had happened forty years ago, that prayer would not have occurred. So what has changed in me over these decades that leads my heart to thank God spontaneously?

Scripture tells us again and again that we must be grateful:

  • Psalm 52:9: “I will thank you forever.”
  • Psalm 105:1 (and seventeen other verses): “Give thanks to the LORD.”
  • Colossians 3:15: “Be thankful.”
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
  • 2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God … as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.”

Why are we to be overflowing in thanksgiving to God? Because He is the source of everything good:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (James 1:17).

In particular:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Yet I deserve neither good gifts nor everything needed for life and godliness. Rather, I deserve the opposite: punishment from God:

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”… All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. The wages of sin is death (Romans 3:10-12, 3:23, 6:23).

Yet in His mercy He shone the light of the Gospel in my heart, enabling me to see Jesus for Who He is (2 Corinthians 4:6); He laid my iniquity onto Jesus (Isaiah 53:6); and He therefore declared me righteous “by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

A gift! And how should we respond to gifts?

So salvation alone should lead to our giving abundant thanks to God.

Now, I understood the gift of redemption many years ago, and have thanked God for it regularly. That is the base of the foundation of “spontaneous” thanksgiving. But more layers were needed before such thanks would well up within me.

I had to see – and not only see but take to heart – that everything good in this world as well as anything good in me is the result of the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

I had to learn that apart from Him I could do nothing (John 15:5); apart from Him I could not succeed in any business or profession (Deuteronomy 8:17-18); apart from Him there are no beautiful sunsets, no glorious galaxies, no creative people; apart from Him there is no love, no hope, no joy, no peace. For the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), and when we display any goodness, we are reflecting the remnants of His image in us (Genesis 1:26-27).

When, through daily encounters with the Word of God over decades, the Spirit builds these truths in our hearts on to the foundation of redemption, we then thank God spontaneously when we notice a snapdragon in bloom, a chicken pot pie in the oven, or a loving spouse next to us in the bed. Spontaneously – but not so spontaneously. For the foundation was built up over many years.

So now I remind myself every morning and at every meal: This food, this day, this breath, even the ability to move – all of these are mine only because of Jesus. So I thank You, Lord, in His Name.

Do realize – I am not yet fulfilling Ephesians 5:20, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I must continue to grow in thankfulness, to God and to others. But I can look back forty years ago and say with John Newton, “Though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be– I can truly say that I am not what I once was…. ‘by the grace of God I am what I am!’” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

You too can grow in this grace. Go to the Word. Ask the Spirit to lay this foundation. Remind yourself daily of these truths. And then open your eyes! Notice His gifts! They are all around you.

Disagreements? In Church?

Disagreements? In Church? By Coty Pinckney

[This devotion is based on a talk given October 14 at the Treasuring Christ Together 2020 retreat. An earlier version of the paraphrase of Romans 14 is in this blog post. These two sermons from 2018 (first, second) provide more of the biblical foundation for the principles discussed here.]

Christians are one in Christ. God makes us one.

But although we are one, we differ. We disagree on trivial matters – should the Dodgers or the Rays win the World Series? But we also disagree about deeply held convictions: On political matters – should Christians vote Republican, Democrat, or neither? On education – should Christians send their children to public school, private school, or home school? On Christian behavior – how should we dress? What should we consume? On LGBT issues – how should we interact with family members who come out?

Furthermore, we not only disagree about such issues. We even disagree on whether such disagreements are important!

What does Scripture tell us about such disagreements?

The most helpful passage is Romans 14:1-15:7. Let’s draw five principles for how we handle disagreements from this great text. (more…)

John Newton – The Happy Debtor

Ten thousand talents once I owed,
And nothing had to pay;
But Jesus freed me from the load,
and washed my debt away.

Yet since the Lord forgave my sin,
and blotted out my score,
Much more indebted I have been,
than e’er I was before.

My guilt is canceled quite I know,
and satisfaction made;
But the vast debt of love I owe
can never be repaid.

The love I owe for sin forgiven,
for power to believe,
For present peace and promised heaven,
no angel can conceive.

That love of Thine, Thou sinner’s Friend!
Witness Thy bleeding heart!
My little all can ne’er extend
to pay a thousandth part.

Nay more, the poor returns I make
I first from Thee obtain;
And ’tis of grace that Thou wilt take
such poor returns again.

‘Tis well – it shall my glory be
(Let who will boast their store)
In time and to eternity,
to owe Thee more and more.

(John Newton, 1779)

Two Poems of the Cross

As you meditate on the biblical texts about Christ’s passion this week, consider also these two poems. Written by friends and published together in 1779, in quite different ways they bring out key biblical truths about the death of our Lord.

“Jesus, Whose Blood So Freely Streamed” by William Cowper:

Jesus, whose blood so freely streamed
To satisfy the law’s demand;
By Thee from guilt and wrath redeemed,
Before the Father’s face I stand.

To reconcile offending man,
Make Justice drop her angry rod;
What creature could have formed the plan,
Or who fulfill it but a God?

No drop remains of all the curse,
For wretches who deserved the whole;
No arrows dipped in wrath to pierce
The guilty, but returning soul.

Peace by such means so dearly bought,
What rebel could have hoped to see?
Peace by his injured Sovereign wrought,
His Sovereign fastened to a tree.

Now, Lord, Thy feeble worm prepare!
For strife with earth and hell begins;
Conform and gird me for the war;
They hate the soul that hates his sins.

Let them in horrid league agree!
They may assault, they may distress;
But cannot quench Thy love to me,
Nor rob me of the Lord my Peace.

“In Evil Long I Took Delight” by John Newton:

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp’d my wild career:

I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix’d His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem’d to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:

My conscience felt and own’d the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help’d to nail Him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!

–A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may’st live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now is fill’d,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill’d!