The Holy in our Holiness - Kevin DeYoung

This is a book, as DeYoung puts it, written because "we don't seem to care much about holiness. Or, at the very least, we don't understand it. This is a book for those of us who are ready to take holiness seriously,

ready to be more like Jesus, ready to live in the light of the grace that produces godliness. This is a book about God's power to help us grow in personal holiness and to enjoy the process of transformation."

Ephesians 1 states that God saved us so that we would "be holy and blameless before him." If he saved us so that we would become holy, I think that holiness and the pursuit of holiness is more important than we tend to show by our actions. However, holiness comes from the heart not from a checklist. DeYoung says that "mere rule keeping is not the answer because holiness cannot be reduced to a little ethical refurbishment." God doesn't give us commands so that we legalistically follow to please him, He gives us commands "as a means of grace so that we might grow in godliness and show that we love him."

So how do we balance the fact that we are no longer "under the law" and yet still are called to "obey all that (Jesus) commanded?" First of all, obeying the law CANNOT save us, however, obeying the law is how Christ says that we can know that we are in Him and are true disciples. "Our good works are accepted by God, not because they are 'wholly unblameable and unreproveable in God's sight," but because God is pleased through Christ to accept our sincere obedience, although it contains many weaknesses and imperfections." It is solely by his grace that our imperfect obedience is acceptable in his sight.

When we sin, it's not that our salvation is in jeopardy but sinning affects our communion with Christ. I have seen this in my life, when I sin, I feel my fellowship with Christ suffer because I don't desire to be in the word or in prayer as much as when I am walking closer to Him. We pursue communion with Christ in 4 distinct ways, through prayer, through the Bible, through fellowship with other believers and through taking the Lord's Supper. As John Owen said trying to be holy "from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world." The fact is, we can't obey in our own strength to the end that we try to justify ourselves in the presence of God. Both are impossible. Obedience to the God the Father is only possible through the work and help of God the Spirit and justification to God the Father is only possible through God the Son. The trinity is essential to our salvation and obedience.

However, this is not saying that we don't need to put any effort into obedience because it is all a work of God. As Paul says, we need to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling (us working) for it is God who works in you (God working)". Both-and not either-or.

Another main reason we are able to live a life of obedience is that we belong to Christ and we are joined to Him. Therefore, we are "dead to sin and alive to righteousness", "new creations", "no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness" and we can "walk as he did."

From here, DeYoung tackles sexual immorality and points out that just like in the Old Testament you had Israel who was unaware of their blind spots because they had become so pressed into the mold of the culture around them that it became normal and they were no longer sensitive to it, this is the same as the 21st century church and sexual sin. We need to flee from sexual immorality, not walk, not dabble...run! Why? One big reason is in 1 Corinthians where Paul basically says because we are one body with Christ now, when we engage in sexual immorality, it's like dragging Christ into it as well.

Finally, we need to realize that perfect holiness is not achievable on this side of heaven but we need to see continuing sanctification so that we are becoming more and more like Christ. We also need to realize that "direction matters more than position." I think it can be easy to point fingers at people sometimes and wonder why they aren't where we are spiritually (or at least I have seen this unfortunately happen in my life) but we we need to see the grace of God in everyone's life and see that we are all progressing in sanctification. Some are progressing slower than others, some seem to be more behind than others but that could be because perhaps their starting point was a lot lower than others so even though they are "behind", the progressive sanctification that God has miraculously performed in their lives is something to rejoice and praise God for.

"God wants you to be holy. Through faith he already counts you holy in Christ. Now he intends to make you holy with Christ"

Memorable Quotes

"First God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, then he gave them the law. God's people were not redeemed by observing the law, but they were redeemed so that they might obey the law." (Page 45)

"The truth is God's people can be righteous - not perfectly, but truly, and in a way that genuinely pleases God" (Page 64)

"Our good works are accepted by God, not because they are 'wholly unblameable and unreproveable in God's sight,' but because God is pleased through Christ to accept our sincere obedience, although it contains many weaknesses and imperfections" (Page 67)

"When every sing is seen as the same, we are less likely to fight any sins at all" (Page 72)

"When we sin, our union with Christ is not in jeopardy. But our communion is" (Page 74)

"If we understand all that God has done for us in Christ, we will be happy and eager to please him" (Page 83)

"Some Christians are stalled out in their sanctification for simple lack of effort" (Page 90)

"Sin may get in some good jabs. It may clean your clock once in a while. It may bring you to your knees. But if you are in Christ it will never knock you out. You are no longer a slave, but free. Sin has no dominion over you. It can't. It won't. A new King sits on the throne. You serve a different Master. You salute a different Lord." (Page 105)

"Don't think of Christianity as having to do what a peevish God demands. Think of it as now being able to do what a good God demands. Through union with Christ we are empowered for holiness" (Page 112)

"Sleep is such a dull, stupid state of existence, that even amongst mere animals, we despise them most which are most drowsy. He, therefore, that chooses to enlarge the slothful indulgence of sleep, rather than be early at his devotions to God, chooses the dullest refreshment of the body; before the highest, noblest employment of the soul; he chooses that state which is a reproach to mere animals, rather than exercise which is the glory of Angels" (Page 130)

"When it comes to sanctification, it's more important where you're going than where you are. Direction matters more than position." (Page 138)

Think - John Piper

Piper's main point in the book is that thinking is indispensable in our pursuit of God however that thinking must be "soaked in prayer, carried by the Holy Spirit, tethered to the Bible, in pursuit of more reasons to
praise and proclaim the glories of God and in the service of love." We are encouraged to think but without the help of the Holy Spirit, we will not be able to find the knowledge of God. As we think and learn about God it fuels the fire of our love for God which then in turn fuels the fire of wanting to know God more and they both continue to fuel each other.

As we read the Bible, we need to think in order to truly "receive what God has to give us from the Bible." "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything" (2 Tim 2:7) and "Seek (understanding) like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures...for the Lord gives wisdom" (Prov 2:4-6).  Thinking and asking God for understanding is not either or but both and. We can't think and not ask for God's help in understanding and expect to truly understand and we can't not think and just expect God to reveal.

In Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus is approached by the Pharisees and he said that they can use the skies to determine the weather and they could use the same reasoning to know Christ but their hearts are hardened so that they cannot use it to "draw true inferences from what is really there." This is where we need God to change our heart so that we can see the glory of Christ in the gospel.

Piper continues on to discuss how thinking is related to loving God. Loving God is only possible when something changes inside of you so that He becomes compellingly attractive and he becomes your surpreme treasure so that you love Him. This overflows into a love for others. This "second commandment" isn't equal to loving God but is the overflow of our love for Him. Our thinking  should be "wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express this heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things."

From here he goes on to take on relativism and anti-intellectualism. Relativism (the belief that there is no set truth, everyone has their own truth) is treason against God because God has clearly revealed himself (Romans 1) but since relativists state there is no standard of truth, it commits treason against God. The fact is, even relativists aren't true relativists because if they were in a court setting on trial, they would rely on set truths about their innocence.

For anti-intellectualism, if we give up on "raising a generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible." We need to think and use human reason in order to present and see Christ clearly.

In Luke 10:21, Jesus states that God has hidden the truths of the gospel from the "wise and understanding" but revealed them to "little children." The wise and understanding are those who have human wisdom which is prideful whereas "little children" are those who are humble and submit to Christ. If we were able to find God through human reason and human thought, we would have reason to be prideful and would have reason to boast. Therefore, as Christians and "little children" the only thing that we boast in is the cross.

To wrap it up, Piper wants to "encourage serious, faithful, humble thinking that leads to the true knowledge of God, which leads to loving him, which overflows in loving others."