January 2009 - David Westerfield

Growing in Love – Jerry Bridges

On January 31, 2009

Excerpt from The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges, pgs. 122-23

How then can we develop this love for God so that our obedience is prompted by love instead of some lesser motive? The Scripture gives us our first clue, or point of beginning. when it says, “We love God because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love to God can only be a response to His love for us. If I do not believe God loves me, I cannot love Him. To love God, I most believe that He is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31), and that He accepts me as a son or a daughter, not a slave (Galatians 4:7).

What would keep us from believing that God loves us? The answer is a sense of guilt and condemnation because of our sin. Charles Hodge said,

The great difficulty with many Christians is that they cannot persuade themselves that Christ (or God) loves them; and the reason why they cannot feel confident of the love of God, is, that they know they do not deserve His love, on the contrary, that they are in the highest degree unlovely. How can the infinitely pure God love those who are defiled with sin, who are proud, selfish, discontented, ungrateful, disobedient? This, indeed, is hard to believe.

A tender conscience that is alert to sin, especially those “refined” sins such as pride, criticality, resentment, discontent, irritableness, and the like, is a great advantage in the pursuit of holiness, as it enables us to become aware of sins that lie deep beneath the level of external actions. But this same tender conscience can load us down with guilt, and when we are under that burden and sense of condemnation, it is difficult to love God or believe that He loves us.

Justified By Faith or Through Faith?

By David Westerfield

On January 30, 2009

In Theology

UPDATE: I’ve reconsidered some of the things I originally wrote in this entry and come to understand that Scripture itself, apart from people in general, speaks of both being saved “through” faith and “by” faith and meaning the same thing. The important distinction I wanted to make here was that faith itself a gift granted by God, not something we conjure up out of our dead, sinful hearts. We’re saved by God through faith, a faith that He gives. And at the same time, we’re saved by that faith, for without it, we’re lost.

The distinction between these two ideas may seem like a minute point to contest in the world of theology. But each understanding has dramatic implications for how we view our justification before God. If on the one hand we view ourselves as being justified by faith, we will see it as the ground of our justification, where our doing and willing is what saves us. From talking to many believers, it seems this is how many of us view our justification or standing before God. Yet if on the other hand we view ourselves as having been justified through faith, then we see that our justification itself, and the faith required to obtain it, all rests on Christ’s work alone.

Now of course, many people simply say we are saved by faith and the mean the same thing as through faith. I’m not here to contest that. I’m speaking here of the theological difference of these two words, because each changes our perspective on it once pondered, I believe.

If our faith is the ground of our justification, then we can often wonder if we’re believing correctly or coming to Christ in the right way (which I have often had to dismantle as a concept for a few friends who doubted they had actually believed). But if we see that our justification is rooted purely upon the work of Christ to justify us by the power of His blood alone, then we see that faith is God’s instrument to bring us to Himself; that is to say that faith is a gift of God, not something we work up from within our sinful, unregenerate human nature. Regeneration precedes faith, or the new birth of the Holy Spirit spoken of in John 3 causes, or comes before, or immediately gives rise to faith, not vice-versa.

What Do You Think About the State of Today’s Church?

By David Westerfield

On January 26, 2009

In Christian Culture, Church History, Philosophy of Ministry, Theology, Video

These are not just a bunch of Reformed people criticizing what’s “out there” as it were … these are people from various backgrounds, denominations and traditions within evangelicalism, including the emerging church, discussing what they see as the gutting of historic Christianity in America. The Reformed movement is not immune to these critiques either, I might add. I pray we can all realign our focus again in teaching, preaching, ministering, and counseling … all centered upon Christ and Him crucified as the central message we proclaim, in place of all the alternative, sub-par messages floating around out there.

Two ex-Guantanamo inmates appear in Al-Qaeda video

By David Westerfield

On January 24, 2009

In Culture, Politics, Terrorism

(Original): http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hZfIcWnHqBz4kQR90lC_pXaHeW4Q

(Archived): http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/terrorism/Two%20ex-Guantanamo%20inmates%20appear%20in%20Al-Qaeda%20video/

You see? This is what happens when you let terrorists go that were in your custody. The fundamental problem with the West is that we do not understand the Islamic, Middle Eastern worldview. And I think this is true for those on the left and the right. On the right, we presume we can impose a Western style government upon an already existing theocracy (such as in Iraq). On the left, we think that simply being nice and kind will win them over. But we are all projecting a postmodern, Western ideology and worldview upon their thinking and worldview when this is simply not how they live or make decisions. We think we can give them the benefit of the doubt, but then, just like this, they’ll turn around and try to kill us again. Unfortunately, these people only understand a bullet. They are ruthless and cannot be reasoned with. Give them an inch, and they’ll slash you with the extra room. They are, as the Psalms describes of men thirsty for blood, brute beasts. And sadly, as much as I hate it myself, that means war.

Radical Grace Produces Radical Forgiveness

By David Westerfield

On January 23, 2009

In Scripture, Theology

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.’ So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father gave this command before he died, “Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’ Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’ But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” – Genesis 50:12-21

Often people wonder how in the world they can possibly forgive someone who has injured them so deeply. Whether it was a parent (or parents), a boyfriend, a rapist, a boss, a spouse, or a murderer who took away their child’s’ life, how can we forgive from the heart and it not be a forced thing that we know we’re supposed to do? How can forgiveness just come naturally as a way you operate when offended?

A Question Proposed by Scot McKnight

By David Westerfield

On January 22, 2009

In Apologetics, Christian Culture, Church History, Culture, Theology

Today, Scot McKnight wrote a post on his blog in which he raised a question which I believe exposes the heart of much of the emerging/emergent/missional/post____/(fill in the next emerging title) church’s theology, perspective and modus operandi when approaching the Scriptures. In this particular entry, McKnight writes of a person named F.W. Newman in times past who was “disenchanted” with evangelicalism. The truth of the matter is that the guy couldn’t stand the doctrines of the Gospel, its truth claims, over a long process of entertaining personal doubts about their very truthfulness.

In a rant against doctrine itself (that is, propositional truth claims-such as, Jesus is Lord, He died in our place, He literally rose from the dead-something our culture abhors), Newman said, “Oh Dogma! Oh Dogma! How dost thy trample under foot love, truth, conscience, justice!” He couldn’t stand the justice of God as explained by Scripture (probably unlovingly by evangelicals, I grant that … though that doesn’t negate the truthfulness of the doctrines), substitutionary atonement, original sin, which inevitably renders the historic Gospel of Christ null and void. For the good news of the Gospel assumes there is a “bad news” backdrop that makes the good news, well, really good.

Sola Scriptura Debate Closing Statement

By David Westerfield

On January 22, 2009

In Apologetics, Theology, Video

Matthew Henry on Jesus’ Prayer Life

By David Westerfield

On January 21, 2009

In Scripture, Theology

I thought this was a timely quote from Matthew Henry’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, since our church is going through a study on prayer in the believer’s life. I pray this encourages you to seek private communion with the Lord. In our fast-paced, entertainment-driven, constantly distracted culture, it is very easy to neglect this practice, because there is always something else you could be doing. But it is necessary for the joy of our souls to be daily absorbed in God’s presence by His Holy Spirit, made possible by the cross of Christ. This is taken from here at CCEL.org.

He went up into a mountain apart to pray (Matthew 14:23). Observe here,

1. That he was alone; he went apart into a solitary place, and was there all alone. Though he had so much work to do with others, yet he chose sometimes to be alone, to set us an example. Those are not Christ’s followers that do not care for being alone; that cannot enjoy themselves in solitude, when they have none else to converse with, none else to enjoy, but God and their own hearts.