Pilgrim's Progress: The Delectable Mountains & Little Faith

This lesson was intended for last Sunday, but since we got winter-stormed out, it will be tackled this next Sunday. All of the other posts and calendar items intended for last Sunday will all be handled next Sunday also. We did actually have Sunday morning service. The turnout was light, but for those who came it was well worth the price of admission. You ought to go over to Bulldogs and Piggies and listen to the audio of Pastor Rod’s message entitled A Godly Perspective on Stuff from Matthew 6. In working our way through John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we come to that part dealing with Christian and Hopeful arriving at the Delectable Mountains, shortly followed by their encounter with Ignorance and Little-Faith. Concerning this last character, a very short piece of the exchange between Hopeful and Christian caught my attention:

Hopeful: Why did not LITTLE-FAITH pluck up a greater heart? He might, methinks, have stood one brush with them, and have yielded when there had been no remedy. Christian: But for such footmen as thee and I are, let us never desire to meet with an enemy, nor vaunt as if we could do better, when we hear of others that they have been foiled; nor be tickled at the thoughts of our own manhood, for such commonly come by the worst when tried.

Our discussion will center primarily around our attitudes in our Christian walk; how we view our and our brothers' standing in Christ:

• Don't despise a brother who has fallen, looking on him as somehow weaker or less spiritual than you are, because he is not. We should seek to hold up and restore, not to glory over another's fall into sin. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Galatians 6:1
• Don't be arrogant and think that it could never happen to you. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12
• Realize and understand that the God who saves us is also the God who sustains us and keeps us. It is not in our power to bring about our own salvation, and it is not in our own power to preserve ourselves, either. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
• Realize that anything we are or ever hope to be is not because of our own efforts, but God's But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10
• Lastly, we should realize that even though salvation, from first to last is of God, and even though we are told the believer is secure, we are commanded to work, to strive, to examine and test concerning our salvation. Philippians 2:12, Luke 13:24, 2 Corinthians 3:15