T o L i V e I s c h r I s t
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To Karalee I thank the Lord if he makes my writings useful. I hope they contain some of his truths; and truth, like a torch, may be seen by its own light without reference to the hand that holds it. JOHN NE W T ON CON T EN T S Series Preface 13 Foreword by John Piper 15 Abbreviations 19 Introduction 21 1 Amazing Grace 33 2 Christ All-Sufficient 49 3 The Daily Discipline of Joy in Jesus 67 4 Gospel Simplicity 91 5 Indwelling Sin 107 6 Christ-Centered Holiness 127 7 The Growth Chart of the Christian Life 141 8 Seven Christian Blemishes 161 9 The Discipline of Trials 179 10 The Goal of Bible Reading 205 11 Battling Insecurity 219 12 Victory over Spiritual Weariness 237 13 Victory over Mr. Self 249 14 To Die Is Gain 265 Acknowledgments 271 General Index 273
Scripture Index 281
13 SERIE S PREFACE Some might call us spoiled. We live in an era of significant and substantial resources for Christians on living the Christian life. We have ready access to books, DVD series, online material, seminars—all in the interest of en- couraging us in our daily walk with Christ. The laity, the people in the pew, have access to more information than scholars dreamed of having in previous centuries. Yet for all our abundance of resources, we also lack something. We tend to lack the perspectives from the past, perspectives from a different time and place than our own. To put the matter differently, we have so many riches in our current horizon that we tend not to look to the horizons of the past. That is unfortunate, especially when it comes to learning about and practicing discipleship. It’s like owning a mansion and choosing to live in only one room. This series invites you to explore the other rooms. As we go exploring, we will visit places and times different from our own. We will see different models, approaches, and emphases. This series does not intend for these models to be copied uncritically, and it certainly does not intend to put these figures from the past high upon a pedestal like some race of super-Christians. This series intends, however, to help us in the present listen to the past. We believe there is wisdom in the past twenty centuries of the church, wisdom for living the Christian life. Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor 15 F ORE WORD One of the most remarkable things about this book is that the voice of Tony Reinke and the voice of John Newton have become almost indistinguish- able. This is not because Tony fails to cite Newton or give him credit. Quo- tations abound. It’s because Tony has absorbed the spirit and mind of John Newton. This makes for an uninterrupted immersion into the soul of “the old African blasphemer.” There are few immersions that would be more valuable for your soul. J. I. Packer gives part of the reason: “Ex-slavetrader John Newton was the friendliest, wisest, humblest and least pushy of all the eighteenth-century evangelical leaders, and was perhaps the greatest pastoral letter-writer of all time.” Tony has lived in those one thousand letters long enough to be the sweet aroma of this “least-pushy” of eighteenth-century giants. True humility can take dramatically different forms from one clay pot to another. The form it took in Newton was Christ-exalting tenderness. His own experience of “amazing grace” (he wrote the song) worked its way so deeply into his soul that the log of self-justification was chopped up, and Newton became a delicate surgeon for taking specks out of many sin- sick eyes. And since, as Tony demonstrates, “Newton is a master craftsman of metaphors for the Christian life,” we may listen as he illustrates the way tenderness arises from the experience of grace. A company of travellers fall into a pit: one of them gets a passenger to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out: instead, therefore, of reproaching them, he should show them pity. . . . A
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man, truly illuminated, will no more despise others, than Bartimaeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick, and beat every blind man he met. 1 So Newton is a double master: a master of tender pastoral surgery, and a master of metaphor. As Tony says, “a spiritual doctor” whose specialty is “cardiology,” and whose scalpel and sutures are Bible-saturated, image- laden words. It is not an inconsistency to say that Newton is “a delicate surgeon for taking specks out of sin-sick eyes,” and to say his specialty is cardiology. In fact, this juxtaposition of eyes and heart points to the essence of New- ton’s spiritual method of healing. The heart has eyes (Eph. 1:18). They are made for seeing Christ. But they are blind. Only God can open them. And he uses words. Through Newton’s words and Tony’s words—one voice—God does eye surgery on the heart, so that we see Christ more fully. And more fully means seeing him as more precious. And more precious means more powerful to heal us and change us. This is how Newton saw the Christian life: “Every step along the path of life is a battle for the Christian to keep two eyes on Christ”—the eyes of the heart. “If I may speak my own experience,” he said, “I find that to keep my eye simply upon Christ, as my peace, and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling.” 2 “I approach the throne of grace encumbered with a thousand distractions of thought, each of which seems to engage more of my attention than the business I have in hand.” 3 This is why Newton is such a good eye surgeon for us: he has done the work on himself first. With no formal theological education, he has studied his own soul, his own diseased eyes, until he knows us very well. As the Lord taught him how to see the Savior, he teaches us. And that is the essence of Christian living. “To know him, is the short- est description of true grace; to know him better, is the surest mark of growth in grace; to know him perfectly, is eternal life.” 4 The reason most of us “live so far below our privileges, and are so often 1 W, 1:105. (Direct quotes in this book from the works of Newton have been slightly modified to conform to current American standards of spelling, punctuation, and lowercase divine pronouns. Otherwise all quotes reflect the originals. Unless otherwise indicated, italics in quotations are original to the sources cited.—TR) 2 W, 6:44–45. 3 W, 6:179–80. 4 W, 6:73–74. Yüklə 2,91 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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