It’s a Wonderful Life, The Sequel

Being in the Christmas spirit, yesterday I pondered It’s a Wonderful Life and whether George Bailey’s sacrifice was joyful or bitter.

Today, I ponder whether George’s end-of-the-movie transformation was temporary or lasting. 

Temporary or Lasting Transformation 

You know the story and the scene.

The angel Clarence shows George how his life impacted many. Despondent George decides to stick around.

He returns home joyfully looking for his family. Soon he finds that his wife has asked all his friends to come through for him.

Standing in front of the family Christmas tree, money pours in to replace the money stolen by old Mr. Potter. George is joyful.

Or, is he? Is he simply happy?

Is he a changed man? Or is he a man changed by circumstances?

The Sequel

I’ve often wondered (and even thought about trying to write it!) what It’s a Wonderful Life, The Sequel might be like.

Would George be able to sustain his new-found excitement about life?

I don’t want to be a Scrooge at Christmas, but I don’t believe George’s “change” would have been sustainable.

Yes, George did likely have an emotional change. And that’s not bad.

And, yes, George likely even had some thought-life change—a new perspective. And that’s not bad.

But did George have a heart change? And, was his heart changed by God—transformed, renewed, regenerated?

Not to get too theological here (well, why not?), but…

• Changing our external circumstances is not enough for lasting internal change.

• Changing our emotions is not enough for lasting internal change.

• Changing our mental perspective is not enough for lasting internal change.

Secular rational-emotive therapy can offer those sorts of short-term fixes.

In the sequel, I suspect (I’m writing it, so I can suspect whatever I want!) that George’s change would have been short-lived.

Happy for a while, but what happens the next time or the tenth time that Uncle Billy messes up? Can George, in his own power, continue to “manage his moods”?

Or, what happens the next time or the tenth time that George sacrifices for others and they don’t reciprocate? Can George, in his own power, continue to maintain a new perspective on life?

George (and Me and You) Need a Transformation

Here comes some more theology.

George needs mind renewal flowing from regeneration—he needs to become a new person in Christ. By grace through faith, George needs to be born again, born from above.

His old ways of relating, thinking, choosing, doing, and feeling need to be crucified with Christ.

George needs a new, God-given, Spirit-engrafted, Christ-empowered nature. A new way of Christ-like relating, thinking, choosing, doing, and feeling needs to be resurrected with Christ.

That’s the only hope for lasting transformation and true joy.

Let me say it plainly. For George to truly change, George truly needs to be saved. By God. In Christ.

He can’t simply be “saved” by circumstances. Or new feelings. Or a new way of looking at life.

A Changed and Changing George

Saved by grace through faith, then George can begin the process of growth in grace—sanctification.

In the sequel (my sequel), George would seem to be “different” at first. But, little by little, the old George would seep out, come to the surface.

In despair, he would cry out to God again. But this time not simply to save him from his circumstances.

George would cry out that God would save him from His sins, including his self-centered motivations for sacrificing. And, most importantly, from his sin of unbelief and rejecting God in Christ and living on his own power for his own kingdom.

George would acknowledge that he was just as much in need of salvation as Mr. Potter!

And, saved and changed, George would need to cling to Christ to keep changing…to keep growing.

The movie would not “get boring” now with George never struggling again.

Not at all. The movie would “get exciting” now with George, like the Apostle Paul, saying:

“To this end [living for others for God’s glory] I labor, struggling with all his [Christ] energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col. 1:29).

But I don’t want to spoil the whole sequel!

I think you get the picture about how the picture would go and flow.

George would be a truly transformed, new man in Christ. And, like the rest of us changed by Christ, on a daily (moment by moment) basis, George would by faith through grace need to put off the old man and put on the new man in Christ.

That’s a movie I’d like to see.

That’s a life that is truly wonderful.

Join the Conversation 

How would you write the sequel to It’s a Wonderful Life?

What sequel insChrist writing in your life since he saved you?

The Lord of the Storm 

When the wind and waves of life

Drove my soul to find relief,

I was guided by the storm

To find Jesus underneath.

When the storms of life betray

All the promises You’ve made,

I will cling to Calvary’s place;

I will trust Your sovereign grace.

Though Your presence with me goes,

I seem to still be tossed and turned

By an unseen enemy

And I know I need to learn.

When the storms of life betray

All the promises You’ve made,

I will cling to Calvary’s place;

I will trust Your sovereign grace.

And when life is finally o’er

And I stand before You, Lord,

I’ll see the storms that stirred despair

Were the winds that blew me there.

When the storms of life betray

All the promises You’ve made,

Let me cling to Calvary’s place;

Let me trust Your Sovereign Grace.

Michael Anthony Milton, “Your Sovereign Grace,” He Shall Restore (Chattanooga: Music for Missions, 2005), CD.

Michael Milton is the Chancellor/CEO-elect and James M. Baird Professor of Pastoral Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He is the author of Songs in the Night: How God Transforms Our Pain to Praise. 

Originally posted at the Gospel Coalition

When God Wants to Drill a Man

I first came across this poem shortly after I came to Christ at age 14. I read it almost daily as I kept it posted on the basement wall where I lifted weights and worked out to stay in shape for wrestling. I was reminded of it last week when Shirley and I heard a speaker at Baptist Bible Colelge quote it. Perhaps it will minister to you the way it has to me.

When God wants to drill a man,

And thrill a man,

And skill a man

When God wants to mold a man

To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart

To create so great and bold a man

That all the world shall be amazed,

Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!

How He hammers him and hurts him,

And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which

Only God understands;

While his tortured heart is crying

And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks

When his good He undertakes;

How He uses whom He chooses,

And which every purpose fuses him;

By every act induces him

To try His splendor out-

God knows what He’s about.

Author Unknown

Independence Day 

Note: The following material is developed from Soul Physicians.

Your Spiritual July 4th

As we celebrate Independence Day Weekend in the US, are you celebrating your freedom in Christ? Or, do you ever wonder why that same besetting sin repeatedly defeats you? Despite your continual decision to stop sinning in that same old way, do you find yourself returning again and again to the identical sin? Why can’t you find the victory over sin promised in Christ?

The Apostle Paul answers your life questions in 2 Corinthians 10:3-7 as he explains that strongholds are fleshly mindsets burned into our minds through the world, the flesh, and the Devil. They are destructive patterns of thinking and habitual false ways of looking at life without spiritual eyes. Over time they become embedded in our minds like a mental fortress suppressing the truth and habituating our wills to evil.

My mental stronghold sin takes a unique shape because I manufacture or carve my idol in my image—according to my non-God story of my life, according to my personally chosen perception of reality. Each particular act of sin is a branch off the tree from which I carve my idol. The root of the tree is my sinful imagination. The fruit of the tree is what I choose to nourish myself with—God or non-god. In the strongholds of my mind I form and shape the very idol of self that I worship instead of God (Isaiah 44:14-17).

Practical Life Questions

Personal sanctification require us to identify and expose person-specific strongholds. They force us to ask and answer questions like:

 “What is my image of God?”

 “What is my pattern of dethroning God?”

 “How do I typically try to make life work apart from God?”

 “What does my style of relating say about my underlying beliefs about life?”

Since strongholds involve longstanding patterns of thinking, we also need to probe questions such as:

 “Where was I recruited into this false belief about God?”

 “When did I begin to surrender to this lie?”

 “What sinful pleasure have I taken in this lie?”

Repenting of Sinful Strongholds: Our Ultimate Freedom

Repentance literally means a change of mind. I change my mindset from a fleshly one to a spiritual one. I change my mind from a stronghold ingrained in the flesh through the enticement of the world and the allurement of the Devil, to a mindset in which I take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

Dallas Willard explains the prominence of repentance and it’s connection to our spiritual independence from sin as new creations in Christ. “The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will allow or require our minds to dwell upon” (Willard, Renovation of the Heart, p. 95). Repentance is the choice to reject the mental set of our old mind, replacing it with a mental focus in harmony with our new mind.

Repentance and mortification walk hand-in-hand. Repentance is the daily putting off and breaking up of the whole complex of conformity to the world, the flesh, and the Devil. In mortification through repentance, I’m involved in the life-long process of detecting my characteristic fleshly mindsets and turning from them. 

Uproot Sin’s Power through the Cross

To repent of a mindset, I must first recognize its insanity, see its vileness, and sense its ugliness. The Puritans labeled this process, “loading the conscience with guilt.” John Owen, in his classic work The Mortification of Sin, describes the process. “Get a clear and abiding sense upon thy mind and conscience, first, of the guilt, secondly, of the danger, thirdly, of the evil, of that sin wherewith thou art perplexed” (Owen, The Mortification of Sin, p. 107). 

Owen pictures a Christian struggling to defeat a besetting sin. Victory is stalled. The believer is perplexed, feels trapped, senses defeat. How can this Christian uproot sin? What will motivate this believer to hate sin with a holy hatred? Owen suggests the following principles of loading the conscience with guilt.

 Consider the danger of this particular sin. See the danger of being hardened by its deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:12-13) (p. 110). See the danger of God’s discipline (p. 111). See the danger of loss of peace and strength (p. 112).

 Consider the evil of it. It grieves the Holy Spirit (p. 115). The Lord Jesus is wounded afresh by it (p. 117). It will take away your usefulness in this generation (p. 117).

 Charge your conscience with the guilt of law breaking. Consider the holiness, spirituality, severity, inwardness, and absoluteness of God’s holiness (pp. 119-120).

 Consider the infinite patience and forbearance of God toward you in particulars (specifics) (p. 123). Remind yourself of his gracious withholding of judgment (p. 123).

 Pray for and pursue a constant longing for deliverance (p. 124).

 Ponder what occasions led to your giving in, and guard against them (p. 128).

 Reflect on the excellencies and majesty of God and how far short you are of him in holiness (p. 131).

 Place faith in Christ for the killing of your sin (p. 161).

Magnify Christ’s Graciousness

To break the stranglehold of strongholds, I must expose my unique strongholds, repent of my sinful mindsets, load my conscience with guilt, and enlighten my mind to Christ’s grace and truth. As important as it is to load the conscience with guilt, unless we lighten the conscience with grace, we would be terrified to ever come before our holy God.

Yet we can and should come boldly into his presence having had our conscience cleansed by Christ (Hebrews 10:19-23). Even as I load my conscience with guilt, I do so surrounded by the awareness that God is gracious even when I am sinful. I face the horror of my sin in light of the wonders of Christ’s grace.

A Prayer of Rational Repentance

“Father, I’ve finally come to my senses. I confess as sin my foolish belief that I can make life work apart from You. I’ve arrogantly suppressed the truth of how perfectly well You care for me. I’ve denied Your fatherly love for me. I’ve sinned against You by believing Satan’s smaller story, fleshly mindset that You are not my Supreme Good. I’ve allowed my view of reality to become filled with contemptuous images of You. I’ve allowed my mind to be squeezed into the mold of this temporal world, living according to the dominant plot theme of the earthly story. I’ve been like a deaf man straining to hear the Gospel story. I’ve denied the Cross. I return to You now repenting of these idols of my heart. Though I am not worthy in myself to be called Your child, by faith I claim my adoption in Christ. Thank You for forgiving me and accepting me in Christ.”

Join the Celebration

This Independence Day, will you celebrate your spiritual independence in Christ over sin?

Trust and Obey 

Note: This is part five in a blog mini-series on the relationship between our salvation and our daily growth in Christ (sanctification). Read part one How We Grow in Grace, part two How to Disagree in an Agreeable Way, part three How People Change, and part four Applying Our Complete Salvation.

So Far…

What have we said so far?

• The Bible calls us to apply our salvation to our daily life, to our progressive sanctification. Sanctification is our daily, ongoing growth in grace—becoming more and more like Christ so that our inner life increasingly reflects the inner life of Christ.

• Many writers today are describing this connection as Gospel indicatives (who we are in Christ through our salvation) and Gospel imperatives (how we live out our newness in Christ).

And Now

Now I want to add a vital third major point:

• Gospel imperatives are not the Law; they are not legalism. Gospel imperatives are new covenant principles for living that flow from the reality of what God has done for us in Christ.

For examples of where some at times seem to confuse Gospel imperatives with the Law and legalism, read R. W. Glenn Red Meat for the Soul. One such example includes:

“The question is: Where does our power to obey God’s commands come from? Does it come from the gospel—from what God has done for us? Or does it come from the law—from what we must do?”

Glenn then notes:

“Here ‘the law’ refers to ‘God’s commands,’ and ‘what we must do,’ which is distinct from ‘the gospel,’ which refers to ‘what God has done for us.’”

I would add:

• Comparing a new covenant command to “the Law” is unhelpful to the conversation because it is theologically imprecise and incorrect.

• Comparing obedience to a new covenant command to “legalism” and automatically to self-effort is unhelpful to the conversation because it is theologically imprecise and incorrect.

What We Must Do Is Not Law; Obedience Is Not Legalism

The same Apostle Paul who despised legalism in Galatians, also insisted upon obedience. “You, my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature [sarx, flesh]; rather, serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). “Serve one another in love” is a command. It is an imperative.

The same Apostle Paul who despised works-based salvation in Ephesians, also insisted upon the truth that as new creations we are created to do good works. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

The same Apostle Paul who despised self-effort, who despised the idea that our power to obey God’s command comes from the flesh, and who insisted that our power to obey comes from the Spirit, also insisted that we obey.

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:15-18, 19b).

Clear and Precise

Let me be clear. I don’t think most people who use the Gospel Indicative/Gospel Imperative distinction (I use it) think or mean to imply that obedience = legalism. Nor do I think they believe in a “let go and let God” theology. Nor do I think they deny the importance of obeying new covenant imperatives. I think their emphasis is that we obey Gospel imperatives from a heart of gratitude for grace empowered by the work of the Spirit in our regenerated hearts (Gospel indicatives).

I’m simply saying we must be careful not to appear to be saying that obedience to Gospel imperatives shifts us from “grace” to “law,” from “new covenant living” to “old covenant living,” from “Spirit-dependence” to “self-sufficiency/works.” That would imply the ridiculous idea that somehow the Apostle Paul shifts from grace, Spirit-dependence, and new covenant living in Ephesians 1-3, to law, legalism, self-effort, works, and old covenant living in Ephesians 4-6! It would imply that the Apostle Paul shifts from grace to works right in the middle of Romans 6!

It’s not as if Paul himself shifts from Gospel/grace/Spirit-dependence to Law/works/self-effort when he moves from Ephesians 1-3 to Ephesians 4-6! Instead, Paul says:

• Motivated by gratitude for grace, on the basis of all that God has done for us in Christ (Ephesians 4:1), live a life worthy, obey, make every effort (Ephesians 4:2-3) in the Spirit’s power (Ephesians 5:18; 6:10).

• On the basis of our “old man” already having been put off (regeneration) (Ephesians 4:17-24; Romans 6:1-11; Colossians 3:1-10), daily put off the old ways, daily put to death what is already dead in Christ, daily rid yourselves of whatever belongs to your flesh (Ephesians 4:25-32; Romans 6:12-14; Colossians 3:10-17).

In Summary

We could summarize the truth about Gospel indicatives and Gospel imperatives this way:

• God’s commands, Gospel imperatives, new covenant principles for living are not the Law.

• We can twist and distort God’s commands and Gospel imperatives so that we obey motivated by gaining God’s approval rather than motivated by gratitude for God’s gracious approval in Christ (Romans 8:1-2; 12:1-2). That distortion results in legalism/works.

• We can twist and distort God’s new covenant principles for living so that we attempt to obey in the power of the flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:3-17). That distortion results in self-effort/works.

• Gospel imperatives, just like Gospel indicatives, are grace-oriented and Spirit-dependent.

• Gospel imperatives, unlike Gospel indicatives, require grace-motivated, Spirit-dependent “effort” (as Paul says, “make every effort”—Ephesians 4:2-3). Salvation (Gospel indicative) is 100% solely the work of God. Sanctification (Gospel imperative) involves our grace-motivated and Spirit-dependent response to God in which we actively obey by cooperating with the work of the Spirit in our new heart.

Join the Conversation

What do you agree with in this post? What do you disagree with? Why is it important to see both the indicatives of the new covenant and the imperatives of the new covenant as Gospel indicatives and Gospel imperatives?

Applying Our Complete Salvation

Note: This is part four in a mini-series on the relationship between our salvation and our daily growth in Christ (sanctification). Read part one How We Grow in Grace, part two How to Disagree in an Agreeable Way, and part three How People Change.

Both/And/And/And

No, that’s not a typo. In How People Change, I emphasized the need for a both/and perspective where we highlight Gospel Indicatives (our salvation) and Gospel Imperatives (our sanctification). In today’s post, I will be emphasizing several aspects of our salvation.

I think some people who emphasize Gospel Indicatives seem to talk almost exclusively about justification. As amazing as the grace of justification is, it does not express the fullness of the Bible’s teaching on our salvation in Christ.

So in this post I want to express something of that fullness. I say “something” because no one blog post, no one book, not the entire ocean, could express the fullness of our glorious salvation. Still, I want to expand our thinking when we talk about Gospel Indicatives.

For a much fuller development of the following material, please see Soul Physicians where I devote eight chapters to these vital issues.

Our Complete Salvation and Our Daily Sanctification

The Bible calls us to apply our salvation to our daily life, to our progressive sanctification. Sanctification is our daily, ongoing growth in grace—becoming more and more like Christ so that our inner life increasingly reflects the inner life of Christ.

At times we mistakenly view ourselves only through the lens of depravity. This would be like a heart surgeon transplanting a perfectly healthy new heart into her patient, but then treating her patient as if he still has his old heart in his chest. To avoid this, let’s understand the comprehensive nature of biblical salvation and the implications for our daily growth in Christ.

Justification: New Pardon/Not Guilty—God the Forgiving Judge

Imagine the vilest offender. As cruel as Hitler, as depraved as Manson, as corrupt as Jack the Ripper. Desperately wicked. Self-deceived. Anti-social. Amoral. Mr. Mass Murderer. The day his trial begins, every major news network, cable news station, news magazine, and newspaper in the country, and hundreds around the world, join the coverage.

Shocking every reporter, every spectator, every member of the jury, and even his own legal team, Mr. Mass Murderer pleads guilty. Begs forgiveness. Asks for mercy.

Imagine the worldwide outrage as the judge responds, “Not guilty!”

“What a charade! Fool! He just said he was guilty. What is wrong with you? Have you gone mad? Retrial! Ethics probe! He must pay for his crimes.”

“His crimes have been paid for,” the judge retorts. “By my son. I have judged my son in place of Mr. Mass Murderer. They’ve exchanged places. My guiltless son, charged with nothing—his good standing I now transfer to Mr. Mass Murderer who is now free to go.”

You’ve not been watching The Twilight Zone. Not The Outer Limits. Not even reality TV. But reality. Spiritual reality. New Testament reality!

God our Judge justifies us, declaring us not guilty, forgiving us our trespasses, and reckoning His Son’s righteousness to our account, and our sin and guilt to His Son’s account. This is the amazing grace of justification.

How do people change? We must understand and apply our acceptance by God through grace by faith. For example, when Satan whispers his condemning lies into our ears, we need to remember the truth of Romans 8:1: “Therefore there is now no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” We are forgiven and accepted by God by grace through faith. Applying this one truth alone would cure so many spiritual struggles.

But here’s the problem, sometimes that’s exactly what we do. We apply the truth of justification alone. We say, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.” But we are not just forgiven. To justification, God adds reconciliation.

Reconciliation: New Peace/Family—God Our Loving Father

Imagine that the spectators in the courtroom were to yell, “But he’s still evil through and through. A man like him can never change. He’s a danger to society. He must be locked up. Looked after.”

“He will live with me,” the judge replies. “Enjoying all the privileges my son enjoyed. I’ve adopted Mr. Mass Murderer into my family. He’s my adult son.”

God the Judge could have stopped at justification—forgiving us and then leaving us on our own. Left to our same old nurture we would return to our same old haunts—the world, the flesh, and the Devil. We would continue our maddening quest for relationship apart from God.

But God the Judge takes His legal robes off, replacing them with relaxed family attire and comfy slippers, inviting us into His home, into His family—reconciliation. Forgiveness (justification) as great as it is, would have been hollow had we remained separated from Father. The Judge becomes our adoptive Father, granting us access to His home and all the privileges of adult children—sons and daughters of God. This is the amazing grace of reconciliation.

How do people change? By applying the truth that God has already changed our relationship to Him from one of enemies to family!

Regeneration: New Person/Purity—Our All-Powerful Creator

The still insistent crowd in the gallery hollers, “That guarantees nothing. All your good intentions, all the love in the world, all the good nurture and best environment in the world does not guarantee that Mr. Mass Murderer will not continue his rampage.”

“I’m not finished. Hear me out,” the judge insists. “I’ve consulted the best medical, psychiatric, and psychological experts on the planet. Mr. Mass Murderer will receive a heart, brain, and soul transplant along with a DNA graft infusing into his very being my very nature.”

As the story of Mr. Mass Murderer correctly indicates, new nurture without new nature is insufficient to change us. What changes us? How do people change? God changes us. As new creations in Christ, we are already changed internally and we need to help one another to live out the new life already implanted within as we put off the old and put on the new.

The Judge of the criminal and the Father of the adult son becomes the Creator, Parent, Progenitor, Begetter, Life-giver of a newborn infant—regeneration. Like Father, like son. We are born again of incorruptible seed. Born from above to reflect the image of our Creator. We are reborn with a new nature—new soul, mind, will, spirit, emotions. Reborn with a renewed ability to relate (to God, others, and our self), think, choose, and feel in Christlike ways. We are reborn with a new heart—new capacities, disposition, inclinations, purity. The old dies. The new lives. This is the amazing grace of regeneration.

Redemption: New Power/Victory—God Our Invincible Champion

The shrill crowd is momentarily silenced. Totally stunned. Then a hand shoots up. “But that only means that he has a clean start. What about all his old acquaintances, his old habits? They will still come around clamoring for his attention, demanding his loyalty and affection.”

“Fair question,” the judge agrees. “We’ve thought of everything. I’ve jailed all his old acquaintances. His foes are defeated. Plus, we’ve infused his new heart, brain, soul, and DNA complex with core power to remain free from and victorious over these past tempters.”

This is the salvation grace of redemption. Freedom from the power of sin. Freedom from bondage and slavery to sin. We need victory. Resurrection power. The Judge of the criminal, the Father of the adult son, the Creator of the newborn infant, is also the Champion, Victor, Warrior, General, and King of the overcomer, of the empowered, freed, victorious soldier.

How do people change? Not through our own power but through tapping into Christ’ resurrection power.

We have been set free from the power of sin and death and united with the resurrection power of Christ. We have Christ’s resurrection power to be victorious over the world, the flesh, the Devil, sin, and death. We are new creations with a new nature: regeneration and redemption. God has implanted a new heart into the core of our being with new power to live godly lives.

These four salvation realities (justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption) about our newness in Christ are the foundation for our sanctification. How do people change? By applying justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption to our daily lives and relationships.

Join the Conversation

How would applying justification, reconciliation, regeneration, and redemption change how we approach our sanctification?