A Moment of Honesty: Today I met Jerry Bridges

OK, so today I got to meet Jerry Bridges. I mean, the Jerry Bridges of ‘Transforming Grace’ fame. It was at a staff meeting at a church I used to work for. It was a privilege to be invited for such an occasion. He spoke to us on the topic of 'How to urge the Saints to Pursue Holiness without Forfeiting Grace.'

His story of legalism reminded me of my own journey. I remember as a teenager reading his book ‘The Pursuit of Holiness’. It was a very challenging book, and being a pious Christian at the time, I rose to the challenge of putting into practice some of the things he said in the book. But that's not the moment of honesty for me.

You see, today Jerry verbalized some things that God has been teaching me in my own walk with the Lord over the past year. If you've been reading these pages, you've been seeing stuff on humility and doing things in God's strength, living by faith, and indeed, just recently, claiming the rightousness of another as our own. In a word: GRACE. Jerry defined 'grace' as God giving to people He is rightly angry with what they don't deserve.

If you know me at all, you would know that I grew up with a pretty legalistic view of Christianity. It was easy for me to think that the Christian life was characterized by commands or by the word ‘ought’. I suppose I focused upon commands in my young adulthood, and my standing with God was based upon this. Surprisingly, this is what Jerry experienced as well!

Now I knew the answers about grace- in my head- but being compelled by grace and living by grace…actually doing it? Well, that’s another story. For me, its been a journey to live out the imputed righteousness of Christ. In other words, to live out the righteousness that has been handed to me on a platter. And the temptation is still strong to think that by my own efforts I can achieve this righteousness.

You see, because I have lived an upright life, (at least outwardly) its easy for me to be proud and to think that I have achieved something. But God won’t let me get away with that! Pharisee that I am- proud of my own righteousness! Jerry reminded me of what God has been teaching me of late (if you don’t believe me, see my previous posts!) - to look outside of myself for my acceptance. I need to see myself in the imputed righteousness of Christ. My righteousness comes from outside of myself, not from within myself. (Theologians call this ‘alien’ righteousness for the very reason that it comes from outside us, not from within).

And yet I still see the gap between my own sinfulness and my need to grow (something else Jerry pointed out today). I'm constantly reminded of what a great sinner I am. And Jerry reminded us to always look to Christ’s infinite righteousness, because that’s the righteousness that I have….please read that last sentence again. If you are in Christ, you have his infinite righteousness!!! He even mentioned the sinful woman, who anointed Jesus’ feet (a passage which spoke powerfully to me earlier this year, and a passage I intend to preach on later this year).

But its more than having the righteousness of Christ. Its also having the power of the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit I am able to live out the righteousness of Christ. Again, not by my strength, but the daily attitude of relying upon Him to do things in His strength. For me, the temptation is to constantly think I can do things in my own strength. But what I need to keep realizing is that I HAVE NO POWER WITHIN MYSELF! God is really not interested in my self-strength, but in my reliance upon His Spirit. Ahh grace…what a relief it is to live by you.

So there is the righteousness of Christ, the power of the Spirit, and if you really want to get Trinitarian about it (and I do!) the sanctifying work of God the Father. Rely on each of these Christian brother and sister!!!

One of the things that stood out for me was Jerry’s prayers. He shared with us things that he had prayed for during his life, and how God had answered those prayers. Here are some of them:
-I pray I would use the Bible to guide my conduct
-I pray I may be compelled by the love of Christ
-I pray I would be conscious of your forgiveness

Good things to continually pray for.

Jerry also commented upon how the church tends to compare their own sinfulness with the world's, rather than from within the church. As a result, we have a number of ‘respectable sins’. Sure the church doesn’t tolerate sins like adultery and homosexuality. But when it comes to gossip, pride, anxiety, bitterness and unforgiveness (I could go on) the church puts up with these sins. Again, its something God has been teaching me of late. I'm a 'respectable' sinner. But if you would see inside my heart, you would see that I'm no such thing.

So ya...God used Jerry to confirm/underline/highlight the journey I'm on at the moment. Its been a deeper grasp of the gospel for me. A deeper sense of my own sin. And a deeper sense of my need for forgiveness. Indeed, God has been showing me the pit that He has pulled me out of.

And I couldn’t help it- I had to ask Jerry to sign my copy of ‘Disciplines of Grace’. His verse: 2 Cor 5:21. Probably the topic of my evangelistic talk on Sunday night. And here's the proof.