Deeper E-Book

Dane Ortlund

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Union
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." —2 Peter 3:18 How do Christians grow? Few question the call of the Bible to grow in godliness, but the answer to exactly how this happens is often elusive. In this book, Dane Ortlund points believers to Christ, making the case that sanctification does not happen by doing more or becoming better, but by going deeper into the wondrous gospel truths that washed over them when they were first united to him. Drawing on wisdom from figures throughout church history, Ortlund encourages readers to fix their gaze on Jesus in the battle against sin, casting themselves upon his grace and living out their invincible identity in Christ.

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“This lovely, easy-to-read primer by Dane Ortlund grounds our discipleship in the glowing center of Christianity—our Lord Jesus. It’s easy to think that as we grow as Christians, we move on to ‘higher things’ (whatever that means!), when in fact we simply need to learn the beauty and depth of Jesus and all that he’s done for us. That’s what Ortlund helps us do here. This book will bless you!”

Paul E. Miller, author, A Praying Life and J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life

“That angst in your soul for more is a part of the growing process—a gift of hunger and thirst that Jesus, the inexhaustible well, will fill. In Deeper, Dane Ortlund reminds us that the angst is satisfied not by behavioral modification or some quick fix but by the beauty of friendship with Jesus and the peace more deeply accepted in our souls. If you are hungry and thirsty for more life, more joy, more peace, and more Jesus, this is a book for you.”

Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor, The Village Church, Dallas, Texas; President, Acts 29 Church Planting Network; author, The Mingling of Souls and The Explicit Gospel

“Jesus said that our greatest ‘work’ is to believe. As much as any living author, Dane Ortlund has helped me to believe again by reacquainting me with the stunning tenderness and beauty of Jesus. As I read his words, I can sense my heart growing in trust, devotion, and godly affections, grounded in the Savior’s love for me. In this incredibly helpful, pastoral book, Dane works out the implications of that vision of Jesus for personal growth, showing us how the key to going further with Jesus is going deeper in his finished work.”

J. D. Greear, Lead Pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

“Having marinated in the wisdom, beauty, and encouragement of Dane’s new book, I totally understand why my friend chose deeper as the primary image for the title. How does God change us as his beloved daughters and sons? Think less of climbing a mountain and more of swimming in a deep ocean of the always-more-ness of Jesus. If you’ve ever wondered what the Bible really means by ‘fixing our gaze on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,’ this should be the next book you spend time with. Dane helps us understand that the gospel is more of a person to adore and know than theological propositions and categories to master.”

Scotty Smith, Pastor Emeritus, Christ Community Church, Franklin, Tennessee; Teacher in Residence, West End Community Church, Nashville, Tennessee

Deeper

Union

A book series edited by Michael Reeves

Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord, Michael Reeves (2021)

What Does It Mean to Fear the Lord?, Michael Reeves (2021, concise version of Rejoice and Tremble)

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners, Dane C. Ortlund (2021)

How Does God Change Us?, Dane C. Ortlund (2021, concise version of Deeper)

Deeper

Real Change for Real Sinners

Dane C. Ortlund

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners

Copyright © 2021 by Dane C. Ortlund

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

Cover image: Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund / Bridgeman Images

First printing 2021

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-7399-6 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7402-3 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7400-9 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7401-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ortlund, Dane Calvin, author.

Title: Deeper : real change for real sinners / Dane C. Ortlund.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2021. | Series: Union | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021002495 (print) | LCCN 2021002496 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433573996 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781433574009 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433574016 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433574023 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Sanctification—Christianity. | Spiritual formation.

Classification: LCC BT765 .O78 2021 (print) | LCC BT765 (ebook) | DDC 234/.8—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002495

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002496

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2022-01-06 03:18:10 PM

Affectionately dedicated to

the faculty of Covenant Theological Seminary, 2002–2006,

who taught me about real change from the Bible,

then showed me with their lives

“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”

“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.

“Not because you are?”

“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction

1  Jesus

2  Despair

3  Union

4  Embrace

5  Acquittal

6  Honesty

7  Pain

8  Breathing

9  Supernaturalized

Conclusion: What Now?

Acknowledgments

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

Our inner convictions and values shape our lives and our ministries. And at Union—the cooperative ministries of Union School of Theology, Union Publishing, Union Research, and Union Mission (visit www.theolo.gy)—we long to grow and support men and women who will delight in God, grow in Christ, serve the church, and bless the world. This Union series of books is an attempt to express and share those values.

They are values that flow from the beauty and grace of God. The living God is so glorious and kind, he cannot be known without being adored. Those who truly know him will love him, and without that heartfelt delight in God, we are nothing but hollow hypocrites. That adoration of God necessarily works itself out in a desire to grow in Christlikeness. It also fuels a love for Christ’s precious bride, the church, and a desire humbly to serve—rather than use—her. And, lastly, loving God brings us to share his concerns, especially to see his life-giving glory fill the earth.

Each exploration of a subject in the Union series will appear in two versions: a full volume and a concise one. The idea is that church leaders can read the full treatment, such as this one, and so delve into each topic while making the more accessible concise version widely available to their congregations.

My hope and prayer is that these books will bless you and your church as you develop a deeper delight in God that overflows in joyful integrity, humility, Christlikeness, love for the church, and a passion to make disciples of all nations.

Michael Reeves

series editor

Introduction

How do Christians grow?

The question itself immediately elicits different feelings among us. Some of us feel guilt. We’re not growing, and we know it. And the guilt is itself self-perpetuating, further paralyzing us in spiritual stagnation.

For others of us, longing erupts. We deeply desire to grow more than we are.

Some of us, if we’re honest, become smug when the question of spiritual growth arises. We are pretty confident we’re doing fine, though this self-assessment is largely shaped by quietly comparing ourselves with others, and a less-than-penetrating understanding of what really motivates us in our Christian lives.

The question ignites low-grade cynicism for others of us. We’ve tried. Or at least it seems that way. We’ve attempted this strategy and that one, read this book and that, been to this conference and that. And at the end of the day, we still feel like we’re spinning our wheels, unable to get real traction in our growth in grace.

None of us questions the need to grow. We see it in the Bible: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). “We are to grow up in every way” (Eph. 4:15). And we see the need for growth not only in the Bible but in our own hearts. The painful exercise of honest self-examination surprises us. We discover that so much of our lives, so much even of the ways we are blessing the world around us, flows subtly from the fountain of Self. The gift is given, the service is rendered, the sacrifice is made, not out of the large-hearted motives we present to others, and to God, and even to ourselves, but for self-serving purposes. And that’s only considering what others see. What about the ugliness of our lives when no one’s looking? How do we kill the sins done in the dark?

The question, then, isn’t whether we need to grow but how. And for everyone who has been born again, somewhere amid these diverse reactions there will always be a seed of sincere desire for growth.

How then does it happen?

The basic point of this book is that change is a matter of going deeper. Some believers think change happens through outward improvement—behaving more and more in accord with some moral norm (the biblical law, or the commands of Jesus, or conscience, or whatever). Others think change happens mainly through intellectual addition—understanding doctrine with greater breadth and precision. Others think it comes centrally through felt experience—sensory increase as we worship God.

My argument is that all three of these elements are included in healthy Christian development (and if any is missing, we are out of proportion and will not grow), but real growth transcends them all. Growing in Christ is not centrally improving or adding or experiencing but deepening. Implicit in the notion of deepening is that you already have what you need. Christian growth is bringing what you do and say and even feel into line with what, in fact, you already are.

This is roughly the way Henry Scougal outlined the Christian life in his little book The Life of God in the Soul of Man.1 Scougal was a professor of divinity at the University of Aberdeen who died of tuberculosis at age twenty-eight. In 1677 he wrote a lengthy letter to a discouraged friend which later became the book. It was the catalyst in the conversion of British evangelist George Whitefield, who said, “I never knew what true religion was till God sent me this excellent treatise.”2 In that book Scougal says that some Christians think we grow through purer behavior, others through sharper doctrine, and others through richer emotions, but real change occurs through this reality: the life of God in the soul of man.

Scougal and other saints from the past will help us climb inside the Bible and see the riches that God has for us in his word for our day-to-day Christian lives. And we will bring to the table various sages from the past to help us really understand the Scriptures. The vast majority of wisdom available to us today is found among the dead. Though their spirits are now with Christ in heaven, the books and sermons of Augustine, Gregory the Great, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Sibbes, Goodwin, Owen, Bunyan, Edwards, Whitefield, Ryle, Spurgeon, Bavinck, Lewis, and Lloyd-Jones remain with us. So we will draw strength and insight from the great ones of the past far more than the famous ones of the present as we consider what Scripture gives us for growing in Christ.

And so we will be thinking in this book about “real change for real sinners,” as our subtitle puts it—as opposed to surface change for theoretical sinners. We’re not after behavior modification in this book. I’m not going to talk to you about setting your alarm earlier or cutting carbs. We’re not even going to reflect on tithing or church attendance or journaling or small groups or taking the sacraments or reading the Puritans. All of that can be done out of rottenness of heart. We’re talking about real change. And we’re talking about real change for real sinners. If you confess the doctrine of original sin but at the same time feel yourself to be doing pretty well as a Christian, you can put this book back on the shelf. This book is for the frustrated. The exhausted. Those on the brink. Those on the verge of giving up any real progress in their Christian growth. If you not only subscribe to the doctrine of original sin on paper but also find yourself proving the doctrine of original sin in your daily life, this book is for you.

A few things right up front.

First, I’m not going to hurry you. No one else should either. We are complicated sinners. Sometimes we take two steps forward and three steps back. We need time. Be patient with yourself. A sense of urgency, yes; but not a sense of hurry. Overnight transformations are the exception, not the norm. Slow change is still real change. And it’s the normal way God deals with us. Take your time.

Second, as you begin this book, open your heart to the possibility of real change in your life. One of the devil’s great victories is to flood our hearts with a sense of futility. Perhaps his greatest victory in your life is not a sin you are habitually committing but simply a sense of helplessness as to real growth.

Third, I encourage you not to consume this book but to reflect your way through it. Maybe that means journaling alongside reading. Maybe it means reading with a friend. Do whatever you can to process slowly, marinating, meditating, letting the Bible’s truths shepherd you into the green pastures you long for in your walk with the Lord. Fast reading, for a book like this, is minimally absorbing reading.

Fourth, this book is written by a fellow patient, not a doctor. It is written to me as much as by me. Out of failure as much as out of success.

1  Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 1996).

2  In Thomas S. Kidd, George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014), 28.

1

Jesus

This is a book about growing in Christ. The first thing to get clear, then, is what Jesus Christ himself is like. Our growth is not independent personal improvement. It is growth in Christ. Who then is he?

The temptation for many of us at this point is to assume we pretty much know what Jesus is like. We’ve been saved by him. We’ve spent time in the Bible over the years. We’ve read some books about him. We’ve told a few others about him.

And yet, if we are honest, we still find our lives riddled with failure and worry and dysfunction and emptiness.

One common reason we fail to leave sin behind is that we have a domesticated view of Jesus. Not a heterodox view; we are fully orthodox in our Christology. We understand that he came from heaven as the Son of God to live the life we cannot live and die the death we deserve to die. We affirm his glorious resurrection. We confess with the ancient creeds that he is truly God and truly man. We don’t have a heterodox view. We have a domesticated view that, for all its doctrinal precision, has downsized the glory of Christ in our hearts.

So we need to begin by getting clear on who this person is in whom we grow. And we start just there—he is a person. Not just a historical figure, but an actual person, alive and well today. He is to be related to. Trusted, spoken to, listened to. Jesus is not a concept. Not an ideal. Not a force. Growing in Christ is a relational, not a formulaic, experience.

Who then is this person?

Unsearchable

Ephesians speaks of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). The Greek word underlying “unsearchable” occurs just one other time in the New Testament, in Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11 calls God’s wisdom and knowledge unsearchable. That makes sense. God is infinite and omniscient; of course his wisdom and knowledge are unsearchable. But Ephesians 3 calls Christ’s riches unsearchable. How so? What does it mean that there are riches in Christ and that these riches are unsearchable? That we can dig and dig but never hit bottom on them?

As you wade into this book, let me propose an idea. Let me suggest that you consider the possibility that your current mental idea of Jesus is the tip of the iceberg. That there are wondrous depths to him, realities about him, still awaiting your discovery. I’m not disregarding the real discipleship already at play in your life and the true discoveries of the depths of Jesus Christ you have already made. But let me ask you to open yourself up to the possibility that one reason you see modest growth and ongoing sin in your life—if that is indeed the case—is that the Jesus you are following is a junior varsity Jesus, an unwittingly reduced Jesus, an unsurprising and predictable Jesus. I’m not assuming that’s the case. I’m just asking you to test yourself, with honesty.

When Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean in 1492, he named the natives “Indians,” thinking he had reached what Europeans of the time referred to as “the Indies” (China, Japan, and India). In fact he was nowhere close to South or East Asia. In his path were vast regions of land, unexplored and uncharted, of which Columbus knew nothing. He assumed the world was smaller than it was.

Have we made a similar mistake with regard to Jesus Christ? Are there vast tracts of who he is, according to biblical revelation, that are unexplored? Have we unintentionally reduced him to manageable, predictable proportions? Have we been looking at a junior varsity, decaffeinated, one-dimensional Jesus of our own making, thinking we’re looking at the real Jesus? Have we snorkeled in the shallows, thinking we’ve now hit bottom on the Pacific?

In this chapter I’d like to mention seven facets of Christ, seven “regions” of Christ that may be under-explored in our generation. Dozens more could be considered. But we’ll restrict ourselves to these seven: ruling, saving, befriending, persevering, interceding, returning, and tenderness. The point of this exercise is to bring the living Christ himself into sharper, starker contrast, to see him loom larger and more radiant and more glorious than ever before—to trade in our snorkel and face mask for scuba gear that takes us down into depths we’ve never peered into before—and to seek Christian growth out of an accurate and ever-deepening vision of the Christ to whom we have been united.

Ruling

Jesus exercises supreme authority over the entire universe.

Just before his ascension he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). He is not hoping to be in charge; he rules supremely now. The world’s sidelining of his authority does nothing to reflect the reality of that authority. From heaven’s perspective, everything is going according to plan. Jesus Christ is overseeing all that happens, both in the church and in world history at large. Our perception of and ability to see his rule may wax and wane; but that’s perception only. His actual rule holds steady—supreme, strong, exhaustive, all-seeing. No drug deal goes down apart from his awareness, no political scandal unfolds beyond the reach of his vision, no injustice can be exacted behind his back. When today’s world leaders gather together, they themselves are held in the hand of a risen Galilean carpenter.

This supreme reign holds true not only for the cosmos and for world history but also for your own little life. He sees you. He knows you. Nothing is hid from his gaze. You will be judged one day not according to what was visible to others but according to what you really were and did. The Bible says that when Jesus comes to judge the world, he “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (1 Cor. 4:5). Not only what we did in secret, but even our very motives will be laid bare and judged.

We may not see Jesus with our eyes. But he is the most real thing in the universe. The Bible says that “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Subtract Jesus from the universe, and everything falls apart. He is not a bobblehead Savior, to be smiled at and merely added to an otherwise well-oiled life. He is the mighty sustainer of the universe, to whose supreme rule we will bow the knee in either this life or the next (Phil. 2:10).

Consider the depiction of him in Revelation 1. John is clearly attempting to capture in words what cannot be captured in words as he describes

one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. (Rev. 1:13–17)

Have you reduced the Lord Jesus to a safe, containable, predictable Savior who pitches in and helps out your otherwise smoothly running existence? Have you treated what is spiritually nuclear as a double-A battery? Might one reason we stall out in our growth in Christ be that we have unwittingly domesticated the expansive authority and rule of Jesus Christ over all things? Might we be lacking an appropriate fear of, wonder at, trembling before, the Lord Jesus, the real Jesus who will one day silence the raging of the nations with a moment’s whisper?

Jesus rules.

Saving

It may seem obvious that the real Jesus is a saving Jesus. But I mean something quite specific when I call him “saving.” I mean he is saving andnot only helping. As sinners we are not wounded but dead in our trespasses and we need not merely strengthening or helping but resurrection, a full-scale deliverance (Eph. 2:1–6).

As we consider our growth in Christ, do we have an impoverished view of the length to which God had to go in Christ to deliver us? And in our ongoing walk with the Lord now, do we functionally believe that the healthy Christian life is basically a matter of our efforts, baptized with a little extra push from Jesus?

Do we know what it means to be saved? In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable to make the point:

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:36–50)

Every human is five hundred denarii in debt. The point of the parable is that we tend to feel only fifty denarii in debt. The more obvious failures of a given culture sense their sinfulness more readily than others and are therefore readier and more eager for a deliverance that sweeps them up out of death with a full and total salvation.

One reason our spiritual growth grinds down is that we gradually lose a heart sense of the profound length to which Jesus went to save us. Save us. When we were running full speed the other direction, he chased us down, subdued our rebellion, and opened our eyes to see our need of him and his all-sufficiency to meet that need. We were not drowning, in need of being thrown a life-preserver; we were stone-dead at the bottom of the ocean. He pulled us up, breathed new life into us, and set us on our feet—and every breath we now draw is owing to his full and utter deliverance of us in all our helplessness and death.

Jesus saves.

Befriending

“No longer do I call you servants . . . but I have called you friends” (John 15:15). A heart sense of the friendship of Jesus with his own is a facet of his all-sufficiency without which vital growth cannot happen.

Some of us may have a strong sense of the transcendent glory of Jesus—as vital an aspect of who he is as any. We tremble at the thought of him. His resplendent greatness looms over our daily consciousness. We approach him with reverence and awe. As we should!

But he who is both Lion and Lamb is both transcendent and immanent, both far and near, both great and good—both King and Friend. I am asking you whether the Savior is your dearest and truest friend.

What does a friend do? A friend draws near in time of need. A friend delights to come into solidarity with us, bearing our burdens. A friend listens. A friend is available to us, never too high or important to give us time.

A friend shares his deepest heart. That’s precisely the point of the above quote from John 15, which more fully reads, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Incredible: the triune God brings us into his plans to restore the universe. He makes us part of his inner circle. He informs us of what he is doing and welcomes our participation in it.

Jesus was accused of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:34). Yet that very accusation, laced with contempt, is deep comfort to those who know that they fall into that category of “sinners.” That is why these two groups (tax collectors and sinners) were precisely those who “were all drawing near to hear him” in Luke 15:1. Around Jesus, sinners—those who know themselves to be sinners—feel safe. They find themselves both known to be guilty and embraced in love, rather than one or the other. Our felt shame is what draws Jesus in. He is the mighty friend of sinners.

And what other kind of Savior will do? Who of us could really get fresh traction in our lives if we were following a Savior who kept at a safe distance? Who treated us not like friends but like employees? But if this is a Savior who draws near to us, who is repelled only by self-righteousness but never by acknowledged shame and weakness, there is no limit to just how deep a transformation is possible in us. It is at our point of deepest guilt and regret that his friendship embraces us most assuredly, most steadfastly.

If he is the friend of sinners, and if you know yourself to be a sinner, then let him befriend you more deeply than you ever have. Open up to him as you do to no other earthly friend. Let him love you as the friend of failures, the invincible ally of the weak.

Jesus befriends us.

Persevering

It is the nature of all human relationships that they vacillate. We profess undying commitment to each other, and we truly mean it. But we humans are fickle. Even in marriage, we enter in by force of a covenant. Why? Because we know our feelings come and go. We need a bond that goes deeper than our feelings to bind husband and wife together.

Who is Jesus