Posted on 28 Jun 2022 by CERC
Hi! My name is Jeanelle, I am from Tertiary Growth Group (TGG) Original and here’s what I’ve been learning in the Christian Life series on Sundays and in TGG.
In the earlier parts of the Christian Life series, I had a lot of assumptions about the doctrinal content that we learned. When left alone, I fell into this thinking time and time again: “There’s no need to think through God’s plan of salvation. What is important to know is that I am already saved. I don’t need to dive into the theology of our Christian life. But if you want to learn about it, good for you! I completely respect you but we can live without it”.
To help put things into perspective, Sinclair Ferguson, the author of the Christian Life, started off the first chapter in his book helpfully by challenging my assumption which was that deeply knowing the counsel of God was only reserved for those people who specialise in it – the pastors and theologians.
But as I heard the sermons and attended TGG each week, it made me realise that I was wrong. Regular people like you and I can’t get through life when we set aside the knowledge of God.
The Christian Life series made me ask the important questions: In the busyness of the world, without the knowledge of God, how can I not burn out and keep persevering in service towards God and His church as a Christian? How can I remain faithful as a Christian? It’s by immersing myself into the word of God. Or as Ferguson puts it: Knowing is for living.
And so, it’s helpful to start with God’s election. The fact that God set out the destiny of His people before we were born was because He planned it out before even the creation of the world! This is what makes me thankful to God.
Take a look at Adam and Eve, the first man and woman who walked the earth. To say that they messed up badly is an understatement.
Check out David, who was regarded as a man after God’s heart by God Himself. As much as he was pointing forward to the Messiah, he was not the Messiah. He couldn’t have been as he too struggled with sin and rebelled against God. History goes on and on, sin is a reality of us defacing God’s image when we choose to rebel against His Word.
If God takes this so seriously, I would then be wrong to shrug doctrine aside as irrelevant telling to myself “since I am already a Christian now”. In fact, to come to this realisation and be convicted of my sin is the Holy Spirit’s work.
The Christian Life series is therefore a necessary study to understand how our Trinitarian God works together as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit to effect our salvation.
Learning about our God protects us who identify as Christians from believing what is in fact a completely different religion from Christianity. For how can we have a true relationship with someone whom we don’t know? How can we love God if we don’t know what our relationship is all about? How can we be confident in calling ourselves Christians if we don’t know what being Christian means?
In the Christian Life series, I learnt that my relationship with Christ is based on my union with Him, adopted as God’s son. From being a sinner whom God righteously wanted to destroy now to someone who shares in His inheritance in Christ. This is superabundant grace. Soli Deo Gloria.
My entire life, from beginning to the end, is God’s work. I saw that when I worked painstakingly hard on knowing God, I could see that this whole process isn’t ultimately just working out the mechanics of Christianity, but it helps me work out who I am in relation to God.
Only through many many hours of reading and listening and reflecting on the truth, I can be set free from my sin! By knowing this truth, I can be humbled, have faith in God and repent, as a response that doesn’t merit my salvation, but rather a display of God’s work in my life.
If you wish to know God and know yourself to the glory of God, come and check out The Christian Life sermon series here.
As a church, we meet regularly in Growth Groups to dig deep into the Scriptures to grow in maturity. Click here to find a Growth Group near you.
