Magnifying God: The Legacy of John Calvin in the 21st Century
Looking forward to it, but the weather may not comply. We’re expecting 5-8 inches of snow tomorrow, so I should make the trip fine tonight, but trekking back up there tomorrow may be sketchy. I’d hate to miss the second day of the conference, but I don’t want to get stuck in East Lansing
I often wonder if I think like this as I ponder and pray about planting a church? Do I want to do it so that I’m cool and fit in, or do I really feel called by God to die to self?
HT: Kevin DeYoung
I have a very difficult time taking criticism. My reaction is often more hurt than defensive, or at I think so. I do know that receiving criticism graciously and humbly is something I need to work on and pray about. I just found this great article about the cross and criticism. (HT Michael McKinley)
Here are some key insights:
Criticism is commended all throughout Scripture
Prov. 12:15, Prov. 13:10, Prov. 17:10, Prov. 13:13, Prov. 9:9, Prov. 15:32, Psalm 141:5
How can we move from always being quick to defend ourselves against any and all criticism toward becoming instead like David who saw it as gain? The answer is through understanding, believing, and affirming all that God says about us in the cross of Christ.
Paul summed it up when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ.” A believer is one who identifies with all that God affirms and condemns in Christ’s crucifixion. God affirms in Christ’s crucifixion the whole truth about Himself: His holiness, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth as revealed and demonstrated in His Son, Jesus. Equally, in the cross God condemns the lie: sin, deceit, and the idolatrous heart. He condemns my sinfulness as well as my specific sins. Let’s see how this applies to giving and taking criticism.
First, in Christ’s Cross I Agree With God’s Judgment of Me
I see myself as God sees me—a sinner. There is no escaping the truth: “No one is righteous, not even one” (Rom. 3:9-18). In response to my sin, the cross has criticized and judged me more intensely, deeply, pervasively, and truly than anyone else ever could. This knowledge permits us to say to all other criticism of us: “This is just a fraction of it.”
Gal. 3:10, James 2:10, Gal. 2:20, Rom. 6:6
If the cross says anything, it speaks about my sin. The person who says “I have been crucified with Christ” is a person well aware of his sinfulness. You’ll never get life right by your own unaided efforts because all who rely on observing the law are under a curse. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law” (Gal. 3:10). Thus the cross doesn’t merely criticize or judge us; it condemns us for not doing everything written in God’s law. Do you believe that? Do you feel the force of that criticism? Do you appreciate the thoroughness of God’s judgment?
The crucified person also knows that he cannot defend himself against God’s judgment by trying to offset his sin by his good works. Think about this fact: whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10).
To claim to be a Christian is to agree with all God says about our sin. As a person “crucified with Christ,” we admit, agree, and approve of God’s judgment against us: There is no one righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10).
Second, In Christ’s Cross I Agree With God’s Justification of Me
I must not only agree with God’s judgment of me as sinner in the cross of Christ, but I must also agree with God’s justification of me as sinner. Through the sacrificial love of Jesus, God justifies ungodly people (Rom. 3:21-26).
Gal. 2:20, Rom. 3:20, Rom. 3:22,
The cross of Christ reminds me that the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. And because of this, God has thoroughly and forever accepted me in Christ. Here is how grace works: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit (Gal. 3:13f).
What a sure foundation for the soul! Now, I don’t practice self-justification, but boasting—boasting about Christ’s righteousness for me.
If you truly take this to heart, the whole world can stand against you, denounce you, or criticize you, and you will be able to reply, “If God has justified me, who can condemn me?” “If God justifies me, accepts me, and will never forsake me, then why should I feel insecure and fear criticism?” “Christ took my sins, and I receive His Spirit. Christ takes my condemnation, and I receive His righteousness.”
Implications for Dealing with Criticism
f I know myself as crucified with Christ, I can now receive another’s criticism with this attitude: “You have not discovered a fraction of my guilt. Christ has said more about my sin, my failings, my rebellion and my foolishness than any man can lay against me. I thank you for your corrections. They are a blessing and a kindness to me. For even when they are wrong or misplaced, they remind me of my true faults and sins for which my Lord and Savior paid dearly when He went to the cross for me. I want to hear where your criticisms are valid.”
The correction and advice that we hear are sent by our heavenly Father. They are His corrections, rebukes, warnings, and scoldings. His reminders are meant to humble me, to weed out the root of pride and replace it with a heart and lifestyle of growing wisdom, understanding, goodness, and truth. For example, if you can take criticism—however just or unjust—you’ll learn to give it with gracious intent and constructive results. See the sidebar, “Giving Criticism God’s Way.”
I do not fear man’s criticism for I have already agreed with God’s criticism. And I do not look ultimately for man’s approval for I have gained by grace God’s approval. In fact, His love for me helps me to hear correction and criticism as a kindness, oil on my head, from my Father who loves me and says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone He accepts as a son” (Heb. 12:5-6).
Applying What We’ve Learned
- Critique yourself. How do I typically react to correction? Do I pout when criticized or corrected? What is my first response when someone says I’m wrong? Do I tend to attack the person? To reject the content of criticism? To react to the manner? How well do I take advice? How well do I seek it? Are people able to approach me to correct me? Am I teachable?
Do I harbor anger against the person who criticizes me? Do I immediately seek to defend myself, hauling out my righteous acts and personal opinions in order to defend myself and display my rightness? Can my spouse, parents, children, brothers, sisters, or friends correct me?- Ask the Lord to give you a desire to be wise instead of a fool. Use Proverbs to commend to yourself the goodness of being willing and able to receive criticism, advice, rebuke, counsel, or correction. Meditate upon the passages given above: Proverbs 9:9; 12:15; 13:10,13; 15:32; 17:10; Psalm 141:5.
- Focus on your crucifixion with Christ. While I can say I have faith in Christ, and even say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ,” yet I still find myself not living in light of the cross. So I challenge myself with two questions. First, if I continually squirm under the criticism of others, how can I say I know and agree with the criticism of the cross? Second, if I typically justify myself, how can I say I know, love, and cling to God’s justification of me through Christ’s cross? This drives me back to contemplating God’s judgment and justification of the sinner in Christ on the cross. As I meditate on what God has done in Christ for me, I find a resolve to agree with and affirm all that God says about me in Christ, with whom I’ve been crucified.
- Learn to speak nourishing words to others. I want to receive criticism as a sinner living within Jesus’ mercy, so how can I give criticism in a way that communicates mercy to another? Accurate, balanced criticism, given mercifully, is the easiest to hear—and even against that my pride rebels. Unfair criticism or harsh criticism (whether fair or unfair) is needlessly hard to hear. How can I best give accurate, fair criticism, well tempered with mercy and affirmation?
Sometimes I think I read books just to read them and don’t significantly interact with them and learn from them. I also am averse to marking up books. No idea why, just never have done it. Here are some helpful tips on reading with a pen in hand
I litter books with my indecipherable scribbles for three specific reasons:
- To highlight what I appreciate.
- To notate content progression.
- To critique what I don’t appreciate.
What helps me is reading books with people. I need to do that more.
Here’s Justin Taylor’s summary of Mortimer Adler’s classic, How to Read a Book
Stage 1: What Is the Book About as a Whole?
Rule 1. You must know what kind of book you are reading, and you should know this as early in the process as possible, preferably before you begin to read. / Classify the book according to kind and subject matter. (p. 60)
Rule 2. State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences (a short paragraph). State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity. (pp. 75-76)
Rule 3. Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole. / Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole. (p. 76)
Rule 4. Find out what the author’s problems were. / Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve. (p. 92)
Stage 2: What Is Being Said in Detail, and How?
Rule 5. Find the important words and through them come to terms with the author. / Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words. (p. 98)
Rule 6: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they contain. / Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences. (p. 120)
Rule 7: Locate or construct the basic arguments in the book by finding them in the connections of sentences. / Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences. (p. 120)
Rule 8: Find out what the author’s solutions are. / Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and as to the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve. (p. 135)
Stage 3: Is It True? What of It?
General Maxims of Intellectual Etiquette
Rule 9: You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, “I understand,” before you can say any one of the following things: “I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.” / Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book. (pp. 142-143)
Rule 10: When you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously. (p. 145)
Rule 11: Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment you make. (p. 150)
Special Criteria for Points of Criticism
12. Show wherein the author is uninformed.
13. Show wherein the author is misinformed.
14. Show wherein the author is illogical.
15. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete. [
My brother (in Christ) Graig Austin has been seeking God for His guidance about adopting one or two children from Kenya. He sent out an email today indicated that he, and his wife Sara, are going to go ahead with adopting two. I’m excited for them on this journey and for the faithfulness they’ve showed so far. Greg shared two email verses in his email and I wanted to share them here. They are great verses of encouragement for making decisions and trusting God.
Graig has been a great friend, especially during our search for a new church. His council is both wise and welcome, forthright and frequent. That two rather different guys can be brought together as brothers in Christ is a wonderful example of God’s grace. To Him be all glory and honor and power.
From The American Spectator: Paulson’s Instant Gratification
The root of the problem is a culture in which Americans live beyond their means, in the moment, without taking any responsibility for their actions, and assume that American ingenuity will find a way to fix the problem somewhere down the road — at somebody else’s expense.
The apple of Ed Young Jr. fell from a good tree.
Think Christian Horror Director is an oxymoron? Scott Derrickson — the interview
Televangelist Calls for Chavez’ Death:
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called on Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a “terrific danger” to the United States.
This is an inexcusable statement for a man who calls himself a Christian. Maybe he should be more concerned with what is referenced on theexcellent GetReligion Blog. What do we do when the only way to get a constitution adopted in Iraq is the inclusion of ties to a religion that has been used as a reason for jihad?
Iraq is such a mess I can’t believe there ever was a time where I thought it was a good endeavor.
ESPN.com – NCAA – NCAA bans American Indian mascots in postseason:
The NCAA banned the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams during its postseason tournaments, but will not prohibit them otherwise.
The NCAA’s Executive Committee decided this week the organization did not have the authority to bar Indian mascots by individual schools, committee chairman Walter Harrison said Friday.
Nicknames or mascots deemed “hostile or abusive” would not be allowed by teams on their uniforms or other clothing beginning with any NCAA tournament after Feb. 1, said Harrison, the University of Hartford’s president.
“What each institution decides to do is really its own business” outside NCAA championship events, he s
My thoughts? Correct decision, unless the name is tied to a particular tribe that would consent to the school keeping the name