Skip to main content

Broken Heroes: What Can We Learn from the Life of John Chrysostom?

Image
By
John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407) was a fourth- and early fifth-century pastor and bishop who sought God with all of his heart for over forty years, and who exercised great influence over the church for many centuries. He was an extremist who was tempered by God and mightily used of him to exalt the glory of Christ and preserve the church, so as we look at his life, what lessons can we learn? I see at least three.

First, Christians must learn to rest in the finished work of Christ. As we have seen, John was an extremist who even lived in a cave for two years because he thought excessive self-denial was the highest way of seeking God. But God, in his grace, redeemed this time of John’s life by teaching him that Christ was punished for us so that we have no need to punish ourselves. As Paul has taught us, self-discipline is an important part of life in Christ (see 1 Corinthians 9:27), but this must be distinguished from self-punishment. The first is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), while the second is the teaching of demons (1 Timothy 4:1-3). May we learn the life-giving truth that John learned: the key to life in Christ is resting in the finished work of Christ.

Second, as we look at John’s life we learn that saturating our lives with the Word of God prepares us to be led by the God of the Word. While he was living in that cave, John memorized the entire New Testament and, among other things, this set him up to understand the true gospel which eventually set him free from misguided practices and prepared him for his life’s work as a preacher and teacher of the Word. If you are ever able to read some of his sermons, you will see that he came to embrace the gospel that sets people free from trying to earn the favor of God, and this is a fruit of the gracious work of God in his life. Like John, we all have serious misunderstandings of the life and work of Jesus, and these things will be corrected if we will humbly soak our lives in the Word of truth, for it is the truth that sets us free.

Third, John teaches us that we must combine love for the Word of God with obedience to the God of the Word. “For Chrysostom, solid doctrine and sound living remained an inseparable whole. What we know must deeply affect how we live. If not, the truth of the gospel is short-circuited and the watching world perceives a skewed picture of the gospel’s reality” (Christopher A. Hall, Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers, Downers Grove: IVP, 1998, page 95-96).

John perhaps best displayed this lesson near the end of his time in Antioch when, despite his desire to remain there and preach the Word, his superiors called him up to serve as Bishop of Constantinople. John chose to die to his desires and live to God’s, for he believed the gospel he preached and he knew that the spirit of humble submission is the Spirit of Christ. Like John, may we learn to combine solid doctrine and sound living, and thus exalt the glory of Christ.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worship Songs, October 15, 2017

By
We post these worship songs leading up to the worship service so that parents may listen to them in the house or in the car within the days leading up to the worship service. Our hope is that children will hear the songs prior to and it will prepare them to participate in worship on Sunday mornings. My Redeemers Love Hope Has Come I Will Glory In My Redeemer Blessed Be Your Name Here In Your Presence Your Glory Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) -- Sermon Text: John 11:1-16 That the next generation will set their hope in God and not forget the works of God (Psalm 78:7).
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vendi...
Post a Comment
Read more