Reading Classics Together: The Discipline of Grace, Chapter 1

I’m reading along with Tim Challies as he reads yet another Christian classic for his Reading Classics Together program. This week we started by reading the first chapter of The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. 

I’d sum up this chapter by saying it is a short defense of the central role of the gospel in discipleship. Most believers, Bridges says (and I’ll admit I’ve thought like this), feel confident that God will bless their efforts on days when they are spiritually well-disciplined—when they’ve read their Bible attentively and prayed thoroughly and done everything else they are supposed to do, but that He won’t bless them so much on the undisciplined days—when they’ve taken no quiet time and failed in their spiritual obligations.

But this is simply not true, and thinking like this sets us up for failure in one of two ways. Either we will become proud because we think we are doing well, or we will become discouraged because we feel that we are failures. This is the reason we must keep reminding ourselves of the gospel as we pursue holiness. Bridges puts it like this:

Preaching the gospel to ourselves every day addresses both the self-righteous Pharisee and the guilt-laden sinner that dwell in our hearts. Because the gospel is only for sinners, preaching it to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in need of God’s grace. It causes us to say to God, in the words of an old hymn, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” It helps us to consciously renounce any confidence in our own goodness as a means of meriting God’s blessing on our lives. 

Perhaps more important, though, preaching the gospel to ourselves every day gives us hope, joy, and courage. The good news that our sins are forgiven because of Christ’s death fills our hearts with joy, gives us courgage to face the day, and offers us hope that God’s favor will rest upon us, not because we are good, but because we are in Christ.

It is as we rest in God’s grace instead of our performance that we can truly pursue holiness out of the only pure motive there is—love for Christ—and not duty or guilt.

(Read Tim’s  reflections on this chapter.)

Theological Term of the Week

deacons
A group of officers in the New Testament church whose primary responsibilities were to assist the elders by taking care of the physical needs of the church so the elders could concentrate on preaching, teaching, and governing.

• From scripture:

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. (Acts 6:1-6 ESV) 

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:8-13 ESV)

• From A Display of God’s Glory: Basics of Church Structure by Mark Dever:

We should always be careful to maintain a distinction between the ministry of deacons and the ministry of elders. In one sense both elders and deacons are involved in “deaconing,” but that service takes on two very different forms. It is in the first seven verses of Acts 6 that we find the crucial passage where deaconing is divided between traditional deaconing (table-waiting, physical service), and the kind of “deaconing” of the Word to which the apostles (and later, elders) were called. The deacons described in Acts 6 are very much like the church’s waiters, at least in an administrative sense. They are to care for the physical needs of the church.

Deacons supported the teachers of the Word in their ministry. They were fundamentally encouragers and supporters of the ministry of the elders. If this is the case, then it is the most supportive people in the church who should serve the church as the deacons. We should look for gifts of encouragement, so that more, not fewer, people will be blessed by their service. 

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What are the responsibilities of deacons in the church?
2. John Piper: What Did Deacons Do?
3. Robert H. Thune: Deacons: A Theological Study (pdf)
4. Jamie Dunlop: Deacons: Shock-Absorbers and Servants
5. Benjamin Merkle: The Biblical Qualifications and Responsibilities of Deacons 
6. John MacArthur: Qualified Servants for the Church—Deacons, Part 1 - 1 Timothy 3:8 (mp3), Qualified Servants for the Church: Deacons, Part 2 - 1 Timothy 3:8-12 (mp3).

Related terms:

• complementarianism
• elders

Filed under Ecclesiology

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Round the Sphere Again: For Women

Complementarianism
Mary Kassian has begun a six-part series explaining how complementarianism and mutuality go together.

• Mutuality Is the Cha Cha of Complementarity
• The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
• The Game Winning Plan
• Sex in the Shadowlands

Look for the last two posts in this series later this week at Girls Gone Wise.

Discipleship
Luma Sims reminds us that 

Women are disciples of Christ also, right along with men… . We can never stop pursuing Christ first, not even when God in his goodness blesses us with a husband and children. Our fidelity belongs to Jesus Christ, from there all our doings flow.

You’ll want to read  all of Fanning into Flames the Gift of God at Gospel Grace.

Counseling
Kim Shay recommends the book Women Helping Women by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Carol Cornish: 

As Christian women, it is inevitable that at some point we will be in a position to counsel another woman. Whether it is in a formal setting or an informal one with family or friends, as women, we need to be prepared to answer questions and advise in a biblical manner.

Read her review at Blogging Theologically.