Chandler on Sanctification

Sanctification here at The Village begins by answering two questions. What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of those affections? Many of the things that stifle growth are morally neutral. They're not bad things. Facebook is not bad. Television and movies are not bad. I enjoy TV, but it doesn't take long for me to begin to find humorous on TV what the Lord finds heartbreaking.

The same goes for following sports. It's not wrong, but if I start watching sports, I begin to care too much. I get stupid. If 19-year-old boys are ruining your day because of what they do with a ball, that's a problem. These things rob my affections for Christ. I want to fill my life with things that stir my affections for him.

We want our people to think beyond simply what's right and wrong. We want them to fill their lives with things that stir their affections for Jesus Christ and, as best as they can, to walk away from things that rob those affections—even when they're not immoral.

Read more here.

The Plague of Passivity and the Hyper-Spiritualizing of Decisions

This is an excerpt from Kevin DeYoung's book "Just Do Something" [pgs 50-51].

Passivity is a plague among Christians. It's not just that we don't do anything; it's that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to God's leading. At times it may be; but it's also quite possible we are just lazy. When we hype-spiritualize our decisions, we can veer off into impulsive and foolish decisions. But more likely as Christians we fall into endless patterns of vacillation, indecision, and regret. No doubt, selfish ambition is a danger for Christians, but so is complacency, listless wandering, and passivity that pawns itself off as spirituality. Perhaps our inactivity is not so much waiting on God as it is an expression of the fear of man, the love of the praise of man, and disbelief in God's providence.

10 signs that let me know i'm getting old

• All I want to do now that the sun goes down later is take a drive somewhere in between 7:30 and 8:15 pm. I'm guessing my average speed is about 39 mph. Windows down, of course.
  
• How unusually flustered I get at my students' flagrant immaturity. This is just a handful of them, but why is the handful always the loudest?
• In the past year Sara and I have bought a house, bought a car, and made a baby. What in the heck am I doing?
  
• At all times, I try to use as little electricity in the house as possible [lights, fans, heat, AC, etc], thinking that it will drastically decrease my power bill.
  
• Whenever I ponder a new tattoo [a few times a month], I always talk myself out of it for financial reasons.
  

• My prayer journal includes thanks to God for stuff like rain, grass, mornings, and friends.
  
• I really really care about grass growing in my backyard.
  
• I really really complain about mowing the grass that I previously wanted to grow in my backyard.
  
• I actually forgot how old I was when a student asked me in class a couple months ago.
  
• More than several engaged couples have asked me to do their pre-marital counseling. This is just as hilariously scary as it is an esteemed honor.

more sanctification

the road to wisdom
well, it's plain
and simple to express:
err and err and err again
and less and less and less

balance doesn't eliminate passion

I often see the following paradigm applied all over the place. When it was first said, I believe it was strictly a spiritual analysis, but I think it can be pressed further.

Empty souls tend toward extreme opinion

You know, like guys flying planes into the sides of buildings and saying that they did it for God. Or people who will bet their whole soul that Jesus will come back on this or that date.

I might be stupid, but I feel like I also see this in the way people eat, vote, treat their family, and spend their money. I know it's not the case for everyone, but I promise you that I see it everywhere.

I guess I just really want to be balanced and not culturally knuckle-headed. I only want to see rigid allegiance and integrity in the way I live. This will have to be by grace. Holy Spirit, please help.

T4G

ROMANS 5-8 and the OT

Paul’s use of the OT in Romans is thorough and intentional. It is, after all, for instruction [Rom 15.4]. I was confused when I noticed the frequency of his OT quotations through Romans:

• chs 1-4 [about 15]
• chs 5-8 [only 1]
• chs 9-11 [about 25]
• chs 12-16 [about 15]

The whole epistle flows, but there are definitive indicators [thematic, grammatical, syntactical, theological] that prove that the above chapter divisions are good to keep in mind. Why then does Paul appear to depend so heavily on the OT in most of his argument, but not so much in chapters 5-8? Don’t get me wrong, his thinking is Jewish through and through. But still, why does he not lean upon the text itself in chapters 5-8 as much as he does throughout the rest of the epistle?

The New Covenant people of God live by different redemptive realities than the Old Covenant people of God did. Messiah has come! So, for those under the New Covenant, God put His “law within them and on their heart” [Jer 31.33]. This is of course in contrast to the law being written on stone. God likewise says that He will give His people under the New Covenant a new heart and He will put His Spirit within them [Ezk 36.26-27]. The boundary God set in the OT was the Law. But in the NT, the Spirit is the guide. Perhaps the reason Paul does not quote the OT in Romans 5-8 is because he is expressing a new way to live as one who belongs to God.

You can call this having your mind set on the Spirit [8.5-6]. You can call this presenting your members to righteousness [6.13, 19]. You can call this counting yourself as dead to sin [6.11]. You can call this serving in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of letter [7.6]. You can call this sanctification [6.19, 22]. Whatever this new way of life may be called, Paul cannot look directly to the OT for an explanation of it. Maybe, just maybe, this is why OT quotes are tough to find in Rom 5-8. But if not, I’m not surprised. Just thinkin.