Oklahombres

Here’s another quote from Respectable Sins. The thing that continues to amaze me about this small book is the powerful messages that emerge out of such simplicity. It’s not just that it is an easy read, which it is. The marvel to me is that Bridges is writing about things we all know, yet sadly, we fail to apply.

Our speech, whether it is about others or to others, tends to tear down or build up. It either corrupts the minds of our hearers, or it gives grace to them. Such is the power of our words. If I gossip, I both tear down another person and corrupt the mind of my listener. If I complain about the difficult circumstances of my life, I impugn the sovereignty and goodness of God and tempt my listener to do the same. In this way, my sin “metastasizes” into the heart of another person.

Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2007), p. 24.

My pastor has been using Respectable Sins, by Jerry Bridges, as a guide to a series of Wednesday-evening devotional messages. I decided to pick up a copy of the book, and have found it very helpful. Here is an early example. More to follow at a later date.

“In Greek culture, sin originally meant to “miss the mark,” that is, to miss the center of the target. Therefore sin was considered a miscalculation or failure to achieve. . . . Usually, however, our sinful actions stem not from a failure to achieve but from an inner urge to fulfill our own desires. As James wrote, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (1:14). We gossip or lust because of the sinful pleasure we get out of it. At that time, the lure of that momentary pleasure is stronger than our desire to please God.”

Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2007), p. 21.

“The one thing we have no right to do is to respond to [Jesus] mildly.”

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 230.

“Take away Easter and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring problems of the material world. Take it away and Freud was probably right to say Christianity is wish-fulfillment. Take it away and Nietzsche probably was right to say it was for wimps.”

—Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Dutton, 2008), p. 212.—quoted from N. T. Wright, For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church (Erdmans, 1997, pp. 65-66.