D. A. Carson:

If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, He would have sent an economist.

If He had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, He would have sent us a comedian or an artist.

If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, He would have sent us a politician.

If He had perceived that our greatest need was health, He would have sent us a doctor.

But He perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from Him, our profound rebellion, our death, and He sent us a Savior.

—D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), 109.

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

Several years ago I read a book by Jerry Bridges entitled, Respectable Sins. In it Bridges says this:

On the whole, we appear to be more concerned about the sins of society than we are the sins of the saints. In fact, we often indulge in what i call the "respectable" or even "acceptable" sins without any sense of sin. Our gossip or unkind words about a brother or sister in Christ roll off our tongues without any awareness of wrongdoing. We harbor hurts over wrongs long past without any effort to forgive as God has forgiven us. We look down our religious noses at "sinners" in society without any sense of a humble "there but for the grace of God go I" spirit.

Sin is sin. Even those sins that I call "the acceptable sins of the saints" - those sins that we tolerate in our lives - are serious in God's eyes. Our religious pride, our critical attitudes, our unkind speech about others, our impatience and anger, even our anxiety (see Phi. 4:6); all of these are serious in the sight of God.

This book was timely in my life and really blew me away by helping me see my own besetting sins, and helped me come to a better, real, grasp of "sin is sin".

Sometimes it's those "respectable sins" that lie beneath the surface, because we simply didn't realize that they were sin to begin with. Maybe this is new information for you, but self-pity is sin. I agree with Justin Taylor when he says, "It seems like a neglected and respectable sin that has been downplayed". Self-pity is sin, and it's root is pride. It is the propensity to feel sorry for yourself because you are not getting what you think you deserve. One Biblical Counselor, says it like this, "Self-pity assumes that you deserve good treatment from God and other people, It assumes this because it decrees that you are good, and you are entitled to good. Self-pity exposes self-centeredness."

Self-pity can manifest itself in varying ways and in varying people (most at one time or another?). I read an article recently though from Kevin DeYoung about this category of sin and then also enjoyed Justin Taylor's interaction with it. What struck me to the core was his connection that leaders can often be the ones who can struggle with it the most. Here is Taylor's helpful interaction:

A great word here from Kevin DeYoung:

This is one of the irrefutable laws of leadership: the broader your influence flowing down, the more frequent the complaints can flow back up.

Parents: can you relate to this experience? Your child spontaneously goes into nuclear meltdown, in the back of Target, with a shopping cart full of items that really need to be purchased? On top of that, there are, of course, plenty of spectators around. They seem to be watching intently, analyzing and scrutinizing your parenting skills as you address this "code-red" situation.

Well, if you're like me, you can tend to immediately succumb to the temptation of fear of man and, desiring the approval of others, become completely embarrassed. It's at this point when your desires can quickly change from wanting to parent your child with grace that points them to Jesus, to a desire to elude the title of "that parent". And of course the resulting parenting techniques are often times laced with harshness and graceless discipline.

If you can relate to this with me, we're not alone either. Christina Fox recently wrote an excellent article sharing her same temptations to give into the fear of man and how she, by God's grace, sees these as opportunities for her to "recognize, acknowledge, and remove the idols" of her heart. Here is how she explains it: 

When my children do something childish, without thinking, and even out of ignorance, I am often embarrassed. Even when they are flat-out disobedient in public, doing something they know they shouldn't do, I am embarrassed. I've come to realize that too often I respond to them out of that embarrassment. In those situations, I care more about what other people think of me than about responding to my children's heart. While their behavior often requires correction and even consequences, I also need to pay attention to what is going on in my own heart. When their behavior becomes about me and how it makes me look to others, I need to do a heart check.

In reality, my responses can often reflect the idols lurking in my heart. The ones I've established on a throne to worship, crafted out of my own wishes and desires. These idols are not made of metal or stone, but they are idols just the same. Because when I care more about the thoughts and affirmations of other people than about what God thinks, I've created an idol. When I measure my value and success by the verbal accolades from others about my boy's good behavior, I've created an idol. And when I react out of embarrassment to my children's behavior, it just might be because I've put my idol in first place before God.

Opportunities to Remove Idols

Before I had children, I didn't realize how much I desired and yearned for affirmation from others. God has used my boys as mirrors, reflecting back to me the pride and selfishness I didn't know were hiding in the deepest crevices of my heart. Situations like the "catapult incident" provide the opportunity for me to recognize, acknowledge, and remove the idols.

Tim Keller writes in Counterfeit Gods that once we remove an idol, we have to replace it with love for Christ. When I saturate my mind and heart with the truth that God loves me more than I could ever understand, I cannot help but respond to him with love and gratitude. When I realize the great lengths he went to so that I could be his child, my heart is overwhelmed. The more I remind myself of who I am because of Christ, the affirmations from others pale in comparison. Because the truth is, being his child is all I've ever wanted. It's what I was made for and what my heart desires most. Everything else is just a false substitute.

I'm sure my children will continue to do the unexpected, have poor manners, and even act out in public. When I realize that I am angry and embarrassed because desire for affirmation is trying to reign in my heart, I must run straight to Christ. Only in his presence and in the shadow of his grace do the idols in my heart begin to crumble. And when I dwell on Christ's great love for me, my idols fall from their throne, freeing me to love him as the first thing in my heart.

This past Sunday, we had the great joy of witnessing two baptisms! Baptism is God's grace on display.

Romans 6:3-5: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."

In these verses, the Apostle Paul is saying that God the Father considers the believer's unity with Christ to be from the time of His death and resurrection and credits the believer with their benefits. Simply put, God considers what happened to Jesus to have happened to you, if you've placed your faith in Christ alone.

When you believed, you were united with Christ by faith, and you now share in the accrual of His work. In His love, He assumes the debt of all your sin against God and pays what is due. But He also allows you to share in His wealth – acceptance by God and eternal life. The value and accomplishments of what Jesus did two thousand years ago became yours now and forever when the Spirit of God wed you to Christ.

Water baptism symbolizes this unity. It is an external expression of faith of what happened to you internally by the Holy Spirit - that you have been placed into Christ, united to Him spiritually. Receiving baptism with water expresses your belief that you have received the baptism by the Spirit into Christ. Baptism is the sign of the eternal union with Jesus Christ that was established at the moment God saved you.

Have you been baptised? If you're interested in being baptised, please contact the church office at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or call 703-339-7292

by R.W. Glenn, originally posted @ DesiringGod 2013

The New Testament is full of commands for us to obey. Full of them. The Sermon on the Mount is no exception. Something like sixty-six commands sound from Jesus's mouth as he calls us as his people to live a life in step with the gospel.

The Beatitudes, Jesus's introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, are a different story. There you'll not find a single imperative. Not one.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
• Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

No Commands Here

Jesus never tells us to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness. His beatitudes never demand that we be merciful, pure in heart, or peacemakers. And, of course, we aren't commanded to be persecuted for righteousness' sake. That doesn't even make any sense! You can't control whether or not people will raise their eyebrows, or their fists, at you for your faith.

No commands here. Just declarations — declarations of who the blessed people are and where that blessedness leads them.

So then, what is Jesus doing as he introduces the greatest sermon ever given? If he's not giving us a checklist to complete that will lead to a blessed life, if he's not giving us the rungs on the ladder we ascend to true satisfaction with God, if he's not telling us what we must do in order to experience life in the kingdom — then what on earth is he doing?

What Happens When Grace Works

The context makes it clear that Jesus is describing what happens in a person's life when they come to understand God's grace in the gospel (see Matthew 4:23).

• God's grace in the gospel shows you your moral and spiritual bankruptcy. You must be spirit-poor if the cross is what it took to rescue you.
• God's grace in the gospel makes you mourn. To know that your sin nailed Jesus to the cross breaks your heart.
• God's grace in the gospel makes you meek. How can you be touchy and defensive now that you've seen Jesus dying for you? There's nothing in you worth defending.
• God's grace in the gospel lets you see how hungry and thirsty you are for a righteousness that will open the door to God's acceptance. Jesus is that righteousness given to you freely as a gift.
• God's grace in the gospel makes you merciful. How can you choke your neighbor over what they owe you when both hands are already occupied receiving the mercy of Jesus Christ?
• God's grace in the gospel makes you pure in heart. Knowing that God has accepted you on the basis of Jesus's blood and righteousness frees you to live honestly before God and people, admitting who you really are and how desperate you are for Christ.
• God's grace in the gospel leads you to be a peacemaker. Your experience of God's grace puts so much joy in your heart that you cannot help but tell others how they can be at peace with God.
• And finally, your experience of God's grace in the gospel will get you persecuted. There is something simultaneously beautiful and repulsive about a gospel-centered life. In the fallen human heart, there is a deep aversion to salvation not based on our own resume — if we didn't have to earn a seat at the table, it's not worth much. So when non-Christians hear that all their efforts to make themselves acceptable to God are a galactic waste of time, they're going to get angry, and we will be the object of that anger.

The grace of God produces two responses: infatuation or infuriation. Those who are infatuated by God's grace display the beauty of the Beatitudes. Those who are infuriated with it, lash out at those whose very existence represents the futility of their project of self-salvation.