John Newton: Overruled

"If the evils we feel were not capable of being overruled for good, He would not permit them to remain in us."

John Newton: A Gospel Irony

It's a sad irony in our response to the gospel that, though we claim God's mercy is free, we keep trying to pay for it. We say the cross opens access to the throne of grace, yet whenever we stumble we are afraid to approach. We say that nothing we can do can earn God's favor which is already ours in Jesus, and yet we are still insecure in his love. Do we really believe this gospel?

"I am invited to take the water of life freely, yet often discouraged, because I have nothing wherewith to pay for it."

John Newton: The Pleasure and Business of My Life

"I embrace it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; and it is the main pleasure and business of my life, to set forth the necessity and all-sufficiency of the Mediator between God and Man, and to make mention of his righteousness, even of his only."

John Newton: Vile in Our Own Eyes

One of John Newton's recurring themes, well-proved in his own life, is that the more we know of our sin, the more we will love our Savior. This is not to say that a morbid depression over our failings is what is in order; no, every look at our sin should be accompanied by a look to the cross. If we even scratch the surface of self-awareness of our sin, that should mean many, many looks at the cross every day. "The one who is forgiven much, loves much."

"The more vile we are in our own eyes, the more precious He will be to us; and a deep repeated sense of the evil of our hearts is necessary to preclude all boasting, and to make us willing to give the whole glory of our salvation where it is due."

John Newton: Indwelling Sin

"Even the distressing effects of the remnants of indwelling sin are overruled for good. By these experiences the believer is weaned more from self, and taught more highly to prize and more absolutely to rely on him, who is appointed to us of God, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption."

John Newton: Mark Driscoll

The evangelical blog, Twitter, Favebook circles that I run in, as well as (sadly) the secular news, has been alight the last few weeks over the reported failings of Mark Driscoll, pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. His fall from prominent Refirmed pastor, speaker, and author to current pariah has been grievous and, apparently, a long time in the making. While we may be saddened when our faith heroes fall, we shouldn't be surprised. John Newton, 250 years ago, had similar experiences, as has the Church throughout her tumultuous, sinful history. Newton's advice on this subject is particularly timely:

"When we hear that others fall it should make us thankful and watchful for ourselves. Thankful, for it is grace alone that makes us to differ. Watchful, for our hearts are equally deceitful and Satan is continually plotting and practicing against us likewise."

John Newton: What Trifles

It is sadly true that we simultaneously confess that Jesus is our Savior, Lord, and Treasure; and then ignore Him so frequently, and are drawn away from Him by such insignificant trifles, that it seems we hardly believe that at all. Oh, that my cold, sinful heart would treat Him as He deserves!

"Ah! what trifles are capable of shutting Him out of our thoughts, of whom we say, He is the Beloved of our souls, who loved us, and gave himself for us, and whom we have deliberately chosen as our chief good and portion!"

John Newton: Beyond Death

"This God is our God forever and ever!  He will be our guide even unto death; and beyond death, to the land of life and joy, where we shall hear the voice of war no more."

An Initiative To Get Serious About Pro-Life

What if Christians opposed to abortion not primarily with protests but by opening our homes and lives to vulnerable mothers and children?

What if pro-life people were known not by our picket lines but by our radical, sacrificial efforts to provide homes for unwanted babies?

What if every woman who was considering an abortion could walk into a crisis pregnancy center and find that her pregnancy and delivery costs would be covered and her baby able to be adopted by a loving family? What if pro-life organizations and churches banded together to fund and streamline adoptions for families willing to radically love like this? What if there was an initiative, a program, a ministry, that could fund and coordinate these efforts by uniting donors, churches, families, and government adoption agencies? What if this is the way that Jesus is calling us to take a stand for life-- not just voting a certain way, but living and sacrificing for this cause?

Seriously: what can we do to make this happen?

For too long, abortion has been treated in the church as a political issue. It's not; it's a gospel issue. It's a discipleship issue. It's a "love as I have loved you" issue. Politics is easier than gospel-driven, lay-down-your-life discipleship. It's easier to hold a sign and shout slogans than to open your home and your heart and upend your life to heal to the hurting and rescue those being sent to slaughter. But Jesus has called us to more than slogans; he has called us to sacrifice. Only that kind gospel-driven discipleship changes hearts and changes nations. 

So here's what I'm proposing: let's take back the pro-life agenda from the pundits, politicians, and lobbyists by uniting churches and organizations around an explicitly gospel-driven mission to love vulnerable women and rescue vulnerable babies.

Here's what I see needs to happen:

1) we need individuals and families willing to be radical in their obedience to Jesus and their love for the least of these by adopting every baby who would otherwise be aborted. We also need families who will not just adopt babies, but who will "adopt," take care of, provide for, and love young women who would otherwise choose abortion.

2) We need donors and churches to sacrificially fund both these adoptions and the care for these young women. We need to cover pregnancy and delivery costs, as well as adoption costs.

3) We need to network with crisis pregnancy centers and government adoption agencies to streamline this process so that crisis pregnancy centers can smoothly and efficiently connect willing families with vulnerable women, and handle the paperwork, costs, and legal issues associated with adoption in the United States.

4) We need some sort of ministry, initiative, or program to coordinate all these moving pieces and raise funds and awareness for this vital work.

I don't know how to make this happen. I don't know who to talk to or what steps to take. Somebody who reads this: please, take this idea and run with it. Make this happen. What I do know is that it's time to stop talking the talk and time to start walking the walk, and laying down our lives for the least of these, as Jesus is calling us to:

"Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." ~John 13:34-35

"Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Behold, we did not know this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who keeps watch over your soul know it?" ~Proverbs 24:11-12

"Is not this the kind of fasting that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily... If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." ~Isaiah 58:6-10

John Newton: How Pleasant

"Oh, how pleasant to lean upon an almighty arm, and to commit ourselves without anxiety to the guidance of infinite wisdom and love!"

John Newton: Pearls and Pebbles

"When the Lord has put us in possession of the pearl of great price, the gain or loss of a pebble was hardly worth a serious thought."

John Newton: A Believer's Privileges

"What a mercy it is to know that all is in safe hands; that sickness and health, comfort and affliction, life or death, are equally in the inventory of a believer’s privileges- all equally blessings, though some in one view are apparent more so."

John Newton: Mourning, Rejoicing II

"We may well mourn that our love to the Lord is so faint and wavering; but oh! what a cause of joy to know that his love to us is infinite and unchangeable."

John Newton: Mourning, Rejoicing

Newton says we should be "sorrowful yet always rejoicing" when contemplating God's work in our lives, for we have so much evil remaining in us, and and endless supply of grace in him. 

"We have reason to mourn that there is such an opposition within us to all that is good; and we have reason to rejoice, for Jesus is all-sufficient, and we are complete in him."

John Newton: The Morning of Joy

"The Lord can easily give more than ever He will take… a time of weeping must come, but the morning of joy will make amends for all."

John Newton: Comforts and Crosses

I love how Newton connects God's sovereignty to the cross. Most of the time our doubts, fears, and sins fall into one of two categories: either we doubt God's sovereignty, or we doubt his goodness. At the cross, and in this quote, we see both of them together. What a comfort it is to know that the sovereign hand that guides every moment of our lives is the same hand that was nailed to the cross for us!

"As to daily occurrences, it is best to believe that a daily portion of comforts and crosses, each one the most suitable to our case, is adjusted and appointed by the hand which was once nailed to the cross for us."

John Newton: Assurance

This is longer quote, but worth reading in its entirety. John Newton wrote to a young believer who was questioning whether or not he was saved because of the dark season of struggling he was going through. Newton, with pastoral care and wisdom, told him that a comforting sense of God's presence is not the best measure of assurance; rather, passing through the fire of trials is what teaches us to rely on God and proves the reality of our faith. 

"When young Christians are greatly comforted with the Lord’s love and presence, their doubts and fears are for that season at an end. But this is not assurance; as soon as the Lord hides his face, they are troubled, and ready to question the very foundation of hope. Assurance grows by repeated conflict, by our repeated experiential proof of the Lord’s power and goodness to save; when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope and suddenly been snatched from danger and placed in safety; and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply the word and power of God."

John Newton: Nothing in Himself

"Though the believer is nothing in himself, yet having all in Jesus, he may rejoice in his name all the day."

John Newton: A Crown

"Oh what a crown is prepared for every conquerer, which Jesus, the righteous Judge, the gracious Savior, shall place upon every faithful head with his own hand!"

John Newton: He is Rich

"Though we are poor, He is rich; though we are weak, He is strong; though we have nothing, He possesses everything."

John Newton: Sickness of the Soul

"Sin is the sickness of the soul, in itself mortal and incurable, as to any power in heaven or earth but that of the Lord Jesus only. But He is the great, the infallible Physician."

John Newton: Number Our Days

I'm only 27, and yet these last few years I have felt as though time was speeding up- weeks blink by, months melt away, one season fades quickly into the next. And I'm told that, the older you get, the faster it moves! I feel eternity's accelerating approach. 

The Psalmist prayed, "Teach me to number my days, that I may get a heart of wisdom." Wisdom views this world as it really is- temporal, fleeting, quickly fading away; and wisdom views eternity as it really is- everlasting in its duration, weighty in its significance, accelerating in its approach. And wisdom then lives accordingly. More and more, I want to live my life with eternity in view. "Set your minds on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God."

"How quick the time flies! Oh that we may have grace to number our days, and to begin to view the things of this world in the light which they will, doubtless, appear in when we are upon the point of leaving them. How many things, which are too apt to appear important now, and to engross too much of our time, and thoughts, and strength, will then be acknowledged as vain and trivial as the imperfect recollection of a morning dream!"

John Newton: He Does All Things Well

"Why should we not trust him at all times? Which part of our past experience can charge him with unfaithfulness? Has He not done all things well? And is He not the same yesterday, today, and forever? O my soul, wait thou only upon him."

John Newton: Let Us Praise Him

"Let us praise him that He has appointed means of grace and seasons of refreshment here below, for a throne of grace, a precious Bible, and returning ordinances."

John Newton: I Should Be Thankful

"I should be thankful; few have more evident causes: I should be humble; none can have greater reason."

John Newton: The Shadow of His Wings

"If He died and rose again, if He ever lives to make intercession, there must be safety under the shadow of his wings: there would I lie."

John Newton: Responsibility of Ministry

John Newton on the responsibility and burden of pastoral ministry:

"It is, indeed, no small thing to stand between God and the people, to divide the word of truth rightly, to give every one their portion, to withstand the counter tides of opposition and popularity, and to press those truths upon others, the power of which, I, at times, feel so little of in my own soul."

John Newton: Never Weary of Jesus

Jesus Chist is an inexhaustible topic. Writing to a friend, Newton explained that his letter-writing was a joy to him primarily because Jesus Christ was a joy to him. His deep love, tender care, and pastoral concern for others was sustained by the unending well of living water that he had found in Jesus. 

"Indeed, we should never be weary of writing and reading about Jesus."

John Newton: One Sight of Jesus

Oh to see Him! One day I will, and the night of weepjng will end as the light of His face dawns on the morning of unending, ever-increasing joy. 

"One sight of Jesus as He is, will fill up our hearts, and dry up all our tears."

John Newton: He Gives More Than He Takes

"He knows how to give more than He takes away, and to cause our consolations to exceed our greatest afflictions. And when we get safe home, we shall not complain that we have suffered too much on the way."

John Newton: Solid Joys, Lasting Treasure

From John Newton's hymn, "Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken," based on Psalm 87, which revels in the privileges of the believer and the precious promises held out to all who trust in Christ. This is the last verse. 

Savior, if of Zion's city

I, through grace, a member am

Let the world deride or pity;

I will glory in Thy name. 

Fading is the worldling's pleasure,

All his boasted pomp and show;

Solid joys and lasting treasure

None but Zion's children know