Jerry Bridges: a gospel-centered author to read for discipleship

A gifted Christian author went home with the Lord recently. On March 6th 2016, Jerry Bridges went to be “with Christ” (Phil 1:23). In case you are not familiar with him, I wanted to introduce you to a few of his writings by tracing when I was introduced to them, and how they shaped my life over the years. 

The first book I read was The Discipline of Grace. Someone recommended this to me when I was a young Christian. It was remarkably helpful since I didn’t fully understand the true depths of grace. He has a principle in that book that I love and try to live by: 

“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace” (p.18). 

In other words, every day we desperately cling to God’s grace. This helps us keep our focus each day on the gospel. This is the foundation for a life of discipleship. 

The second book I picked up was The Pursuit of Holiness. There was a study for college students that I was part of, and this was the book that we tackled. His basic call is for Christians to take the practice of holiness very seriously. This is probably his most popular book and I think and a good place to start if you are not familiar with his writings. Holiness is essential for discipleship growth. 

The final book of significance was Trusting God. The timing of this was fitting. I was just finishing up my undergraduate work in South Carolina. I was newly married and my wife was pregnant with our first child. At that time she was working full-time to get me through school and I was a full-time student. When our son was born, my bride had to stop working and we literally had zero income for several months until I graduated. Our small group at church studied Trusting God and it became a great theme in our life during that season. We saw God’s amazing provision as we learned to trust him. Trusting God was another essential discipleship lesson I needed to learn.  

Although I have not read them, other popular books of his are Transforming Grace and Respectable Sins. I have never been disappointed with any of his books. They are great for both personal study and small group discipleship. I thank God for Jerry Bridges and how his writings have helped so many in their Christian growth as they have for me.

*I originally wrote this for our church's monthly newsletter to honor Mr Bridges and to introduce others to his writings. Since then I have picked up Respectable Sins and in my opinion it is probably one of his best writings. 

2 Essentials for Being in the Center of God's Will

Many people consume themselves with the topic God's will. The Bible does emphasize what it looks like to be in the center of God's will, though this will not help someone who wants to know who to marry or what job to take. Here are two biblical truths about being in the center of God's will.

God’s Will for Eternal Life in Christ (John 6:40)
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 

So first, God’s will is to save a people for himself through the gospel. 

The gospel: [lit. good news] God has a plan to rescue sinners from his wrath. Every human is born in sin and under the judgment of God. Only Jesus Christ can save you from God’s wrath. The good news/gospel is that God has sent him to take your punishment on the cross--to be your substitute--to die in your place so you can be forgiven, find freedom from sin and eternal life in heaven.  

Yet there is a crucial word in this passage that some can miss: believe. The text says nothing about having Christian parents or growing up in the church. It simply says “believe.”

It is the same message that the apostles preached in Acts 10:43 “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 

So the first essential of being in the center of God’s will is to believe in Christ. Personal faith in Christ is essential. Do you have this? Have you personally turned from your sin and trusted in Jesus Christ? Are you a believer? 

God’s Will for a Holy Life (1 Thess 4:3)
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification...” 

God’s will for his children is this: “be sanctified” (that means be holy, set apart for God).

In case there is any confusion about what that looks like, the verse gets a little more detailed “that you abstain from sexual immorality.” 

If Paul’s day was sexually chaotic, ours is probably just as much if not more. Our culture has such a casual attitude towards sex and I don’t need to spend time trying to convince anyone of that. But God is looking for people who take holiness seriously. To be at the center of his will means to take holiness seriously. That is the second essential aspect of being in God’s will from the Bible. 

Yet often many people consume themselves with trying to find the right career path or right spouse to try to be in the center of God’s will.

But the Bible puts the emphasis in a different direction: believe in the gospel and pursue  a holy life. That is what being in the center of God’s will looks like. 

Again, these are essentials to being at the center of God’s will. The topic of God’s will is broad and there is much to consider with decision making and seeking guidance, like career and marriage. I would recommend the book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung for answers to those topics. 

Finally, one of the most important aspects of being in God’s will is to make it a regular part of our praying, which Jesus taught us to do:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 5:10). 

The Solid Gospel Foundation

The house I currently live in was built over 100 years ago. It fits our family well, but structurally has a foundation problem. The foundation is hodgepodge: a mixture of brick, cement and dirt. It looks as if it was put together in phases, using whatever material was available in the late 1800's. So our floors are quite uneven, which I occasionally use for putting practice. 

This phase in my life is foundational. In my early 30's with young preschool/elementary age children, we are building a foundation in our home.  Entering my third year of pastoral ministry, I'm building a foundation in the church. By the grace of God, I want to build a solid foundation of Christ and the gospel. Some of the Christ-centered gospel "material" I'm using is the book of Galatians, which I'm preaching though this fall, and Matt Chandler's book The Explicit Gospel which I'm reading now. Chandler noticed something troubling in his church among those who are in the foundational stage of life:

"What I found was that for a great many young twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, the gospel had been merely assumed, not taught or proclaimed as central. It hadn't been explicit" (p. 13).

It can be easy,convenient and cost effective to build a foundation with hodgepodge materials. But the problems are noticed years later, even a century later, as in the case of our house. The same is true with the foundation we build in our homes and churches now. It can be easy to build a hodgepodge foundation, using only the materials of our culture. A consumer mentality, with extreme self-focus and little thought about Christ is what the average twenty and thirtysomething is building with right now. Sadly, this is true in many of the homes and even churches in our culture. When Christ and the gospel are absent, the foundation will crumble at some point. It may be years down the road, but it will crumble eventually. 

Jesus said this very thing in Matt 7:24-27. A hodgepodge foundation did not work 2000 years ago, or 100 years ago, and it will not work today. Paul also understood the solid foundation was essential to build in life and ministry: 

"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6:14).

Seminary in Hindsight

It is coming up on two years since I finished my degree at Southern Seminary. I am thankful to be done and now be in full-time vocational ministry. It is nice not to have the continual pressure of papers and Hebrew vocab. On top of that, it is nice not working two jobs while being a full-time student and trying to keep my wife and kids a priority. It seemed that my life went from 110mph to a normal speed of 65mph since I graduated. I can actually work a 45 hour week and have energy left over. I love what I do and the church I serve in Iowa.

Recently I've asked myself if there is anything I regret in seminary? If I went back would I do anything different? Take different classes? Be involved in different ministry?

I don't believe that on an academic level I would do anything much different. SBTS is a fantastic place to be and I recall almost daily the encouragement from my classes. If I searched deep inside my soul, I suppose I would find that I did have some slight joy in memorizing Greek paradigms.

But there is one thing I know I would do differently if I could sneak into Doc Brown's time machine and go back to 2006: I would be more intentional to apply the gospel to my own heart first. Now I do believe I grew in my love for Christ during seminary. It was not the typical "cemetery" experience that some told me it would be. I saw my sin on many occasions and by God's grace repented. I sincerely believe I left with a greater love for Christ.

But the main focus for me during seminary was preparing for future ministry and not as much applying the gospel to my own life. I was getting the necessary tools so I could enter this thing called pastoral ministry when I got my M.Div. This is a noble pursuit but can still be lacking something significant--what Christ wants most from us is our heart's devotion to Him. He wants us to pursue Him first. He wants us to be applying the gospel promises to our lives wherever we are. Being a seminary student (or a pastor) is no exception. This should have consumed me all the time but I confess it didn't. Maybe some eager 26year old getting ready for his first semester at seminary will stumble on this post someday and it will help him pursue Christ and the gospel first as he prepares for ministry.

At the end of the day, the only degrees that the Bible calls us to are degrees of glory (2 Cor 3:18). We are not to seek a Master of Divinity more than we seek to be mastered by Divinity.