More on the Gospel Driven Life

Since we had a dual purpose in traveling to St. Augustine for the weekend, we were (sadly) only able to fit in two of the Saturday sessions of The Gospel-Driven Life Conference, but they were both outstanding and I'll share some of what we took away. Hopefully, Westminster will be posting audio so we can listen to the sessions we missed.

Robert Godfrey, president of WSC, spoke on the subject of "Gospel-Driven Hermeneutics: Distinguishing Law and Gospel." Despite the imposing title, it was a clear presentation that didn't require any specialized knowledge to understand. Shannon, who wasn't sure she'd be interested, found it fascinating and commented that she'd love to hear more from Godfrey on this subject. I'll try to summarize the main points from my notes:

- Often people who know a lot of the scriptures don't know how to interpret them. The Pharisees knew the scriptures forwards and backwards (you have to know them backwards in Hebrew haha) yet totally missed the point. Being able to distinguish law from gospel is crucial to correctly interpreting scripture, especially in the Gospels where it seems Jesus is going around preaching nothing but law, law, law. Godfrey said that before he understood this distinction he didn't like the Gospels all that much because "there didn't seem to be much gospel in the Gospels!" Shannon whispered to me that she used to feel the same way.

- Godfrey took as his first text Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus announces that the Year of Jubilee prophesied in Isaiah 61 is now fulfilled, then sits down. In the ancient world the preacher sat down and the hearers stood. In this passage Jesus is communicating the gospel in a summary way. Are you poor? Are you oppressed by sin? Then Jesus comes to bring good news.

- Godfrey made the great point that Jesus was a confrontational figure. He was constantly using irony and sarcasm to break through the self-righteous walls of his hearers. Which leads to one of the most famous and misunderstood stories in the Bible found in Luke 10:25-37. Godfrey spent a good deal of time interpreting this story, where we see and hear Jesus preaching the Law to the "lawyer".

- The phrase "to put him to the test" (Luke 10:25) is the same word used of Satan when he tempts Jesus in the wilderness. This wasn't a sincere question ("what shall I do to inherit eternal life?") but an attempt to embarrass and discredit Jesus. Of course, Jesus turns the tables and ends up embarrassing the lawyer and laying bare the sinful lovelessness of his heart. This lawyer despises Jesus (God) and the Samaritan (his neighbor), to the point where he can't even bring himself to utter the word "Samaritan", instead saying "the one who showed him mercy."

- Here is the Law in it's starkest terms. It's all or nothing. Love God with all of your heart/soul/strength/mind and your neighbor as yourself. 24/7, perfectly. Do this and live. It's as if Jesus is asking "how's it going with you?"

- We usually forget the story that immediately follows this one in Luke 10. It's the story of Martha and Mary. And here is Jesus preaching the Good News in purest form. Martha is actually the Good Samaritan here, but it's Mary who chooses the "good portion", simply to sit (as one who is poor) and receive the riches of Christ.

- Godfrey closed by decrying the church's concern with happiness over holiness, for instance in the way we've mostly lost any sense of Sunday as the Sabbath -- as a day "set apart" for the Lord. We have "more important things to do", like football "if you really love football...repent" (that line got some nervous laughter on the eve of the Super Bowl). But he was quick to remind us that "my holiness will never bring me to God."

I brought back Dr. Godfrey's book An Unexpected Journey: Discovering Reformed Christianity and am particularly looking forward to reading it since we too came to "Reformed Christianity" from the outside -- I was raised Wesleyan/Arminian and Shannon was raised Roman Catholic. God's Providence is often circuitous and always amazing.


The final session we attended was perhaps the most thought-provoking of all: R. Scott Clark speaking on "The Gospel-Driven Life: Union with Christ". I say thought-provoking because even though this doctrine of union with Christ is everywhere in the New Testament, it's not something I've thought a lot about, except perhaps in the abstract. Clark's presentation caused me to see more clearly the reality and centrality of this "essential, Biblical, mystical doctrine". Here are some highlights from his wide-ranging presentation:

- According to some Reformed theologians, one must understand "union with Christ" to understand everything else. That may be overstating it, but it is a "central Reformed doctrine". Louis Berkhof defined union with Christ as "that intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and his people"

- The Bible pictures our union with Christ in many ways: as a branch to a vine, as a wife to her husband, Paul even says in Ephesians that we're seated with Christ "in the heavenly places" (try to wrap your mind around that!) Clark used a very striking phrase: "what is true of Jesus is true of us" and he urged us to study 1 Peter 4 in connection with this.

- Yes, it's mysterious, but this is a real union, not a metaphorical one. Clark went on to explain that the Holy Spirit is the bond that unites us. Calvin spoke of the Holy Spirit as the vinculum "vine" that connects us to Christ.

- Clark further explained the nature of this union by using the examples of Pearl Harbor and 9/11. For instance, when the World Trade Center was attacked, what did that have to do with us in Florida? It's because we in Florida are "federally connected" with New York City that we can truthfully say that when the Twin Towers were attacked, we were attacked.

- Clark branched off to address some charges often made by folks from other theological persuasions about Reformed believers and churches. First, that we have no place for the Holy Spirit. Second, that our theology and worship lack mystery. Third, that we're "cold and dead" and have "a head religion not a heart religion".

- Clark passionately and movingly expounded on the huge view of the Holy Spirit that classical Reformed theology has and the profound mysteries at the heart of our faith...mystery found at the Lord's table, mystery found in our union with Christ, and mystery found in the dual nature of Jesus. Divine, yet so fully human that he had an umbilical cord. Dr. Clark (even though he's not a medical doctor "the kind of doctor that can do you some good") used a lot of biological imagery. Even talking about the time he went down to the basement of the dental school to inspect cadavers and hold a human heart in his hand. This is the picture Paul paints of us when we were dead in our sins, before the creative work of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that hovered over the face of the waters in Genesis 1.

- Clark finished up by spending some time unpacking the implications of Paul's use of the phrase "in Christ" in Ephesians 1:1-5 and Ephesians 2:10.

- How does union with Christ happen? How are we made "alive with Christ"? We can only explain so much to those who haven't experienced it. In the end it's enough to say with the man born blind of John 9, "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

For what it's worth, Dr. Clark is a Mac user. He had his Bible and notes on what looked to be a MacBook.

Special thanks to Ponte Vedra Presbyterian for hosting the conference! They had an army of friendly volunteers keeping everything running smoothly and the music was well-chosen. Opening night hymns included "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.