True Repentance

"Yea; but, friend, thou hast neglected prayer or reading; thou hast been vain and loose in thy conversation in other things, that have not been of the same nature with that lust wherewith thou art perplexed. These are no less sins and evils than those under which thou groanest. Jesus Christ bled for them also. Why dost thou not set thyself against them also? If thou hatest sin as sin, every evil way, thou wouldst be no less watchful against every thing that grieves and disquiets the Spirit of God, than against that which grieves and disquiets thine own soul. It is evident that thou contendest against sin merely because of thy own trouble by it. Would thy conscience be quiet under it, thou wouldst let it alone. Did it not disquiet thee, it should not be disquieted by thee. Now, canst thou think that God will set in with such hypocritical endeavours, — that ever his Spirit will bear witness to the treachery and falsehood of thy spirit? Dost thou think he will ease thee of that which perplexeth thee, that thou mayst be at liberty to that which no less grieves him? No. Says God, “Here is one, if he could be rid of this lust I should never hear of him more; let him wrestle with this, or he is lost.” Let not any man think to do his own work that will not do God’s. God’s work consists in universal obedience; to be freed of the present perplexity is their own only."

John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

So often repentance gets pushed to the back seat of our thoughts, relegated to a simple, "I'm sorry Lord, I've done this or that thing, and it's bothering me." Or in salvation, how Christian culture has relegated repentance to, "I've done some bad things in my life." How great a disservice has been done to Christians, even to me in my life, to have sin dumbed down to merely sins. How I so struggled in the past with this sin or that sin, crying out to God saying, "If only you'd relieve me of this, then I'd be fine." And yet, he allows us to continue on in it because we've so misconstrued the true terror of sin to such a degree that if we were relieved, we might as well forget God, because we'd be fine. He would never hear from us again. 

Sin cannot be limited to this act or that act. To this passion or that. To this lifestyle or that. In sin my mother conceived me. The whole of our humanity has been so tainted, so wrecked, so defiled on account of Adam apart from our own choices that if we were locked in a blank room all our lives it would still be enough to convict us of being only the most detestable of creatures. Only by recognising this true identity of sin, that of the totality of its defilement, can we approach God in true repentance, recognising that apart from the Grace shown us in his Son, and by the indwelling of the Spirit are we able to have any peace with him at all.

This peace does not come from a simple, shallow, freedom from being annoyed by our own consciences, but by a renewing desire to be so totally transformed that sin hasn't a single foothold by which to overcome. Daily looking to the Father in repentance of sin, both recognised and unrecognised, seen and unseen, so that we may be in total and complete submission to him, in obedience of both will and action, mind and body.

What great glory is the Grace of God! What peace that comes from knowing the nature of that from which I've been saved! What great hope there is in knowing that day by day, repentance becomes only more perfect until that day when I see my Lord and Saviour, and become conformed to his character to the Glory of the Father through the Sanctification of his Spirit, so graciously given as a pledge to those who have come to him as children!

So then, take care that repentance not become about this or that issue, this circumstance or that; but rather, that we are so helpless that without the Grace of God moment by moment, our lives would be ruined and we would come to that firey end without hope. But we have a hope not found in relief from grief, for faith is not that which is seen, but a hope founded in knowing what is, and what is yet to be.

Grace and peace,

Mike Senders

A prayer offered up to the God of all.

Oh dearest God, our Father, Thou art Ruler of all; high and lofty, above all things.

Holy, holy, holy is the One who sits on His throne. Praise be to Him!

By the wisest counsel of Thy will, was Thy plan for the ages, ratified.

By the word of Thy power, was all that is visible, made.

By Thy sovereign will, didst Thee allow rebellion, to become.

By Thy love and mercy, didst Thou take on flesh and taste death, for all who art Thine.

By Thy power and might, didst Thou quash death, and rise from the grave.

In Thy infinite wisdom, willst Thou return in judgment against the armies of earth, which remain against Thee.

In Thy glory, we shall live, forever.

Forthwith: let us consider and favor the glory of Thy Being and the wondrous works of Thy Hands. Let us be sanctified in Thy truth and set apart unto life. May Thee be our subsistence; may Thy Word be our sustenance. Shine the light of Thine countenance upon us oh Lord, and doth make visible the path of Thy will afore us. It is in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask this.

Amen.

Does it make sense to pray to saints?

Grace and peace to the saints, that is, the invisible church, the body of Christ.

Today I am asking a question: Does it make sense to pray to saints? It was the question I posed to my wife one of the first times we hung out together, when she was still a Roman Catholic. Asking that question seemed to mark a turning point (from what I could tell) in her conversion to Protestantism; it sparked a moment of visible doubt in her. This is because the question must be logically answered with a no, and it doesn’t take much thinking to come to this conclusion.

Some background: The Roman Catholic system is a hierarchical system that sees us - the laypeople, common folk - at the bottom of the pyramid, and progressively goes up through all sorts of various positions such as priests, bishops, arch bishops, cardinals, the pope, saints, the virgin Mary, etc. and eventually making its way to God Himself. The general understanding amongst most Roman Catholics is that the higher up the pyramid you go, the closer to God you get. Delivering your prayers to those who are closer to God (veneration) gives you a better chance to have those prayers answered. To those who haven’t thought too deeply about this concept, it makes some amount of sense. But it is not hard to shoot it full of holes.

Now there are all sorts of angles to be taken on this, let alone the fact that it is incredibly similar to henotheism - the belief that while there is one God, there are other lesser gods that are worthy of our worship and who are able to answer our prayers (while God is busy with other more important things). But the question of “does it make sense to pray to saints” is ultimately a theological question, and more specifically, anthropological. What we know about humanity and our own finite existence must be considered here. If humans are in fact finite, then what change takes place in death that allows us (or certain humans who are blessed) the ability to receive prayers, and to do so in what would seem to be an infinite manner? For example, let’s take one of the most popular saints: Saint Patrick. Let’s consider how many people must say prayers to Saint Patrick, not just at any given time, but on the one and only Saint Patrick’s day. How many do you think that would be? In the millions? Now let’s also consider how much time there is in a day, in seconds - 86,400. Even if Saint Patrick only received 1,000,000 prayers on his famous day, he would be receiving, on average, a prayer every 0.08 seconds. In order for Saint Patrick to do anything about all of these prayers, he needs to be something more than human - he needs to be a god. He needs to shed the limitation of finite existence and put on the infinite ability of fielding the requests of many, many people at once. But he IS only a man, and a dead one at that; alike all the other saints.

Does glorification alone solve this issue? The simple answer is “no”. It would be correct to conclude we do not become infinite or no longer subject to the constraints of time just because we have passed from this life to the next. Only God can be described as atemporal; humans, whether having been just created as Adam was, procreated as we are, or glorified as we one day will be, are finite beings limited to the temporal existence God has created for us.

For there is One alone who is God, One alone who is infinite, One alone who is able to hear our prayers and answer them. While it is good for us to share each other's burdens and pray for one another, this is something entirely different than praying to those who are deceased as if we can somehow communicate directly with them. Our understanding of who God is, and in retrospect, who we are, tells us that prayers delivered to men, whether alive or glorified, is a misguided and dangerous practice. Let our prayers be to God, and to God alone.

In Him,

Joel Senders

Towards a Modern Monasticism and Self-Denial

Hey all,

So if you've been following the podcast at all, you've noticed that I've been recording audiobooks, and have been focusing on two areas, the Patristics, and Owen's Mortification of Sin. This has got me thinking about the relationship between killing sin in our current lives  and living a monastic lifestyle.

Usually when people think of monasticism, they think of Roman Catholic monks who wear brown robes and take ridiculous vows. I want to think of monasticism in a more general way, a way that relates to our everyday living; putting ourselves to death daily, through the denial of earthly desires and toward a devotion to heavenly desires.

There is an obvious issue with balance here. I personally do not think that Scripture teaches for there to be monks, nuns, eunuchs, etc., within the church body. These things go against the communal nature of the church. Neither does Scripture teach asceticism, that goes against the grace given to all Christians that all things are permissible, though maybe not profitable. Also, what Scripture does not teach, and I think that this is where American Christianity fails, is there to be a carefree attitude about partaking in anything even mildly attractive. I'm not talking about taking part in sin per se, and neither am I talking about over indulgence. What I'm talking about is simply denying the flesh for the sake of bridling it. Denying myself something simply because I want it. To what am I a slave? Do I want to be a slave to my desires? Or should I make my body hunger, thirst, want, or be deprived of things that though permissible, may not be profitable?

Matt 18:8-9 says,

“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell."

Now while this is primarily talking about sin, I think the point is denial.

Your hand or foot. This is referring to the things we set out to accomplish. "Their feet are swift to shed blood." It is referring to the means or ability to accomplish sin. Whatever it is that enables us to sin should be denied, cut off.

Your eye. Our senses. If looking at something is causing yourself to sin, don't look. If your heart is causing yourself to sin, stop longing. 

I think these concepts should be married practically to Owen's concept of mortification. One point he brings up is that to mortify sin does not simply mean to not take part in it. If the passions of youth dim with age, have those passions been mortified simply because they no longer appear desirable? No. If obedience to Christ is simply on account of my annoyance at the effects of sin, then it is not obedience. I am only bothering to put my sin to death because it bothers me. Rather, through denial, I daily reign in my senses, my faculties, my body, so that they come under my control to my perfection in Christ. 

1Cor. 9:26-27: Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Man have I failed at this. I look back at my youth, and how much time was wasted doing whatever I wanted at the time. Living the bachelor lifestyle, free floating, tied to nothing. How much of that still remains! Only through denial, only though the forced control of my body can I make it mine. And the thing is- I don't have to join a monastery or take stupid vows to do it. I can do it right now, everyday, in my own home. I do it by not giving into every fleshly desire at every moment. Perhaps sleep isn't needed sometimes. Perhaps I can do without food. Perhaps I can do without hobbies. Whatever it is my heart desires to do, I must bring that desire to my control, to the perfection in Christ, so that I am the one ruling it, and it is not ruling me. "Sin's desire is for you, but you must master it." 

In Him, 

Mike Senders

Keeping Our Mouths Shut

Hey everyone!

Wouldn't ya know? Two days in a row! I must be feeling sick. Or motivated. Whatever. Anyway, I've been reading quite a bit in Proverbs recently and today opened my Bible to stumble on this gem, which oddly enough has been on my mind anyway:

Prov. 12:23- A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly. 

One of the things I've pondered over the years is the impact of sitcoms and tv dramas being such a part of everyone's lives. I've wondered how much influence the television program standard of telling-everyone-around-you-everything-you're-thinking-at-all-times has had on our culture. Also, how that has impacted the idea that it's ok to wear all your emotions on your sleeve at all times. Like a child. Or an idiot. 

Like this guy. 

The problem manifests itself in multiple ways. In my life, my problem has always been wanting to be the Sheldon Cooper and tell everyone the history and mechanics of everything. My mom used to call me "Mr. Know-it-all." I remember standing up in kindergarten and giving directions to the class on how to do the homework. Wrong, of course. Honestly, I get embarrassed thinking about my younger days because I just couldn't seem to keep a lid on it and made an idiot of myself. 

"You're a Mr. Know-it-all!". 

Thankfully that problem had some healthy redirection and some of our friends started calling my brother and I "The Book of Knowledge Vols I & II," and we've been blessed with various teaching opportunities, like this one. It's been good for me to learn to keep my mouth shut and not always have something to say. 

One reason is that it gives me time to think. If I'm always talking, how do I have time to think about whether or not what I'm saying makes good sense or is even relevant? If I'm always spouting off my dang fool ideas, how am I actually helping anyone? Just another way to hear myself talk. 

Wish I had less dang fool opinions and more dang fool adventures.... 

Another thing shutting up helps with is my ability to listen. This goes for the mind too, not just the lips. Everyone has that one person they know that never seems like they're actually listening, but just waiting for the first pause so they can get to talking, and while you're talking, it seems like they're just thinking about what they want to say. Or while you're talking, they keep saying, "Yeah.. Uh huh...yeah... I know... Oh totally..." Stop. Stop talking and please listen to me. I guess there's a respect/common courtesy thing there too. 

As far as constantly expressing emotions goes, there's a similar proverb that speaks to that:

Prov 29:11- A fool utters all his mind: but a wise man keeps it in till afterwards.

The thrust of the words here isn't talking about speaking one's mind, but talking in the heat of passion. It's better to wait until the emotion has passed. We've all been there. Once it's been said, there's no taking it back... If only I'd stuck to all the lines I'd rehearsed...

In all, there's wisdom in silence. It's good to close our mouths from time to time. It's good to listen. It's good not to say too much. It's good to not let everyone know everything we're thinking. It's wise to craft our thoughts and words. 

God bless,

Mike Senders 

A Practical Way of Dealing With Sin

Hey all,

Been a while since I've (read: anyone) has written anything here, so I thought I'd share some thoughts and post a little update. 

For those that have taken notice, I've been doing some recording of old Christian books on the podcast (You can find them on the Soundcloud page, in the section called "audiobooks"). One of those books I've been recording chapters of is John Owen's "Of the Mortification of Sin," which has gotten me thinking of more applicational ways of dealing with sin in our lives, and I'd like to share one method with everyone. 

One question that I think is common to any Christian in regards to their sins is, "Why do I do that?" While I could go into the theology and doctrinal reasons, which would take quite a bit of space, I want to address this in a more practical means that can be easily followed. What we're addressing, and what that common question is concerning itself with is analysing the situational aspects of our individual sinful actions and addressing them on a situation-by-situation basis to build awareness of what types of situations are lending themselves to our sins, and then through that awareness, being prepared ahead of time to counteract those temptations or perhaps even habits before they happen. 

The first thing is to address the difference between the actual problem and the surface, or felt problem. For this whole exercise, we'll use the example of anger as our sin that we're dealing with. So we've identified the sun, but often as is the case, when asked about a specific circumstance, "Why did you get angry?" The answer often given in response is going to be the circumstance itself. "I got cut off on the road," "I was late for a meeting," "Someone mouthed off to me at work," etc. See the problem here? These answers only address what happened, they don't actually get to the heart of the issue. These are the surface issues, or as psychologists like to call them, "triggers." The actual problem is always deeper than that.

So what I'm going to do is give everyone a practical solution, and explain our way through it and hopefully you'll see how this can be helpful in avoiding sin and getting to the root of the problems we all face.

This exercise revolves around journaling. I know, I know, we all hate journaling. I personally hate journaling. However, it is effective. It can be used as a means of meditation on your daily life, perhaps even as part of your quiet time as you contemplate your day and come before the Lord in prayer and repentance. So, I suggest doing this daily for several weeks, then going back and assessing  your overall journaling and looking for changes, trends, etc., and then continuing on but with a new perspective and awareness on why we're experiencing sin at the times we do. 

So our journal format is going to look like this:

1) Sin

2) Trigger or Felt cause

3) Actual cause

4) Spiritual or Theological solution 

5) Practical solution

Here's what each one of those headings refer to:

1) Sin- What is it I did? How did I sin?

2) Trigger or Felt cause- What was it that, on the surface, caused me to do what I did? What was the circumstance of my sin?

3) Actual cause- Here is where we want to go deeper. We've identified what it was that happened circumstantially, but what about inwardly? What are my [wrong] presuppositions about life that motivated me to do what I did in reaction to the trigger? Did I act as though the world revolves around me? Do I act as though I am always right and everyone is always wrong? Do I think that I should always get what I want? Do I not act as though others have/deserve respect and dignity? These are the true causes of sin, not the triggers or the circumstances. Once we become aware of these presuppositions, then we can start addressing them as the root problem. 

4) Spiritual or Theological solution- How do we address the issue Biblically? If I think the world revolves around me, how does this accord with God's sovereignty, or do I think that I can place demands upon God that he must meet? If I didn't get what I want, do I believe or disbelieve that God is working for me, and that he may have bigger plans/this may be more beneficial to me in the long run? If I find my problem is lust, am I viewing that person as a carrier of the image of God? As the image of God, do they deserve or not deserve the dignity of being treated as more than just a thing? So we want to assess the "actual problem" from the standpoint of things that we hold to Biblically, and recognise where our thinking errors are and correct those errors through right thinking which then should lead to right acting.

5) Practical solution- What are ways that I can practically avoid the situation next time? If I punched the wall because I was late to work, would it be wise to plan to leave earlier in the morning? If I find that I'm prone to gossiping when a certain person is around, should I try to avoid that person? There is always more than one response to any situation, but again, the point is to get ourselves thinking about it, becoming aware of the situation. Sometimes a change isn't even necessary, but being aware that the situation is approaching may give us the strength to endure it because we're not just going through the motions any longer. 

So I hope this article has been beneficial. I think this is a good, practical way to take an objective look at our life, at our day or week, and begin to analyse the ways that we aren't living for Christ and to use the tools he has given us to counteract those scenarios. I pray that all of you who read this are given the strength to resist sin and flee from any temptation. 

In Him,

Mike Senders