Father's Day Meditation

Today is Father’s Day.

For some that is a glad and easy celebration and remembrance. For others it is a day mixed with sorrow and regret for a relationship that once was and now is gone or for a desired relationship that was never possessed. That makes worship easy for some and difficult for others.

So whether Father's Day is either glad or sad, we must find the object of our worship to be greater than our earthly relationships. And that is why I have grown fond of the oft-told story of Jonathan Edwards who wrote the following to his daughter Lucy shortly before his death:

Dear Lucy, it seems to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you; therefore give my kindest love to my dear wife, and tell her, that the uncommon union, which has so long subsisted between us, has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever: and I hope she will be supported under so great a trial, and submit cheerfully to the will of God. And as to my children you are now to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement to you all to seek a father who will never fail you.

Who is this Father in heaven that will never fail that a dying man can take great comfort in Him and offer Him as an encouragement to his children?

On one occasion, the disciples heard Jesus praying, and the significance of that prayer so impressed them that their immediate response was: “Teach us to pray!” [Wouldn’t you like to have heard that prayer!]

So Jesus taught them. What followed was not a formula for us to pray, but a model to teach us how to pray. And it begins not with confession, not with a petition for our needs, and not with thanksgiving, but with a recognition of and commitment to our relationship with God — our Father.

Those two little words “our Father” (Mt. 6:9) are so commonly used in prayer today, that the significance of Jesus’ use of them is now lost. But the turn of a few pages in the Bible back to the Old Testament quickly reveals that with this phrase, Jesus was inaugurating a radical understanding of God. In the Old Testament, God is never directly called “Father,” and in fact there are less than seven references to Him as Father!

So to the ears of His listeners, not only did it appear presumptuous that Jesus should call God “Father,” but it was preposterous to suggest that anyone could have such an intimate relationship with the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of the universe that He could be called “Father.”

Then something even more amazing happened. Following the resurrection of Christ and His appearances, which were delightfully shocking in themselves, He spoke words to Mary in the garden which were equally as shocking as His appearance.

“…go to My brethren and say to them,
‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

Throughout the gospel of John, the emphasis had been made that Jesus was singularly unique because of His heavenly authority that had been granted by the Father, and that He had been sent as an emissary of the Father. [Aside: search for the word “Father” in the gospel of John, and see how many times Jesus alludes to the supremacy of His relationship with God the Father.] And then, after the resurrection, He astounded Mary and the disciples with this truth — they have the same Father! They have the same eternal security, they have Christ as their brother, they have the same indwelling Spirit. They do — and so do all believers!

Further, by not only being allowed, but encouraged to call Him “Father,” God demonstrates that He has a Son-like love for us. Not only are we called His sons, but we are His sons (1 Jn. 3:1). No longer is there a love that needs to be earned, or an angry father to be appeased. As believers in Christ, we are eternally secure in His love for us, content that His wrath has forever been appeased by Christ’s work on the cross.

So on Father’s Day, whether you are sad or glad, let this be your deep satisfaction and joy — God in heaven, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace, He is your Father! You are completely secure in His unchanging love. He delights in your fellowship and in giving abundantly all that you need (be sure to understand that your great need is for spiritual food not refrigerator food). He is your Father.


Sermons on fatherhood worth hearing…

• Alistair Begg, “Redirecting Our Families” (a number of very helpful sermons about fatherhood and manhood are on the website www.cbmw.org).
• Alistair Begg, “Missing in Action: The Failure of Men in the Modern Church”
• Al Mohler, “Being Men, Raising Men”
• Al Mohler, “The Seduction of Marriage and the Integrity of Christian Marriage” (manuscript)
• John Piper “Marriage Is Meant for Making Children...Disciples of Jesus” (part two of that sermon was preached today and should be posted within a day or two).

Something about fatherhood and manhood worth reading…

• R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man.
• R. Albert Mohler, “From Boy to Man — The Marks of Manhood” (part one | part two)

Seven Facts About Fatherhood

A couple of years ago, Alistair Begg noted seven facts about fatherhood that are good reminders that will help every father shepherd his family with more wisdom and grace:

• Fact 1: I am a Dad - even on the mornings when I don't feel like it; even when I know I blew it, even when I think I'd rather be doing something else, the central fact of my existence is that I am a husband and a father.
• Fact 2: The home is the single most important influence on my family. I can delegate my responsibilities at work, but I can't delegate the hopes for my family.
• Fact 3: Because of its inherent difficulty and importance, fathering is the most dignified role I will ever play.
  
• Fact 4: Being a parent is one of the greatest sources of joy we can ever know.
• Fact 5: We all can improve - for there isn't a father this morning on Father's Day when we get the card…you don't feel a bit of the heel ("Oh honey, why did you write that nice thing about me?"). And you get in your car and you say, "If only I could be what it says in the card. If only I could live according to their approximation [of me]."
• Fact 6: Everyone is unique. You can't be the father down the street, you can't be the Dad up the road…You're unique. Just be yourself.
• Fact 7: It is difficult to be a good parent. There are no magic potions, no special formulas. One of the myths of our society is that we can be great parents without the real investment of our time and energy. And the great truth is that there is no substitute for time and effort.

Permanence and Marriage

For all that was said in three sermons on marriage from 1 Peter 3:1-7, little was said about a commitment to the permanence of marriage. These three statements are an encouragement and exhortation to keep on practicing godly disciplines within the context of marriage.

We only regard those unions as real examples of love and real marriages in which fixed and unalterable decision has been taken.…If men or women contemplate…an escape, they do not collect all their powers for the task. In none of the serious and important tasks of life do we arrange such a 'getaway.' We cannot love and be limited." [Alfred Adler.]

"Before marriage, each by instinct strives to be what the other wants. The young woman desires to look sexy and takes up interest in sports. The young man notices plants and flowers, and works at asking questions instead of just answering monosyllabically. After marriage, the process slows and somewhat reverses. Each insists on his or her rights. Each resists bending to the other's will.
"After years, though, the process may subtly being to reverse again. I sense a new willingness to bend back toward what the other wants — maturely this time, not out of a desire to catch a mate but out of a desire to please a man who has shared a quarter-century of life. I grieve for those couples who give up before reaching this stage." [Philip Yancey, on the occasion of his 25th anniversary.]

"When Hyung Goo and I were deciding whether we wanted to marry each other, I noticed how everybody, Christians included, thought that the only sane way to step into marriage was if you could maintain your fantasy that everything will be fine forever. That meant we shouldn't do it because marriage is supposed to be this pathway strewn with rose petals. And you have to be able to pretend that it will be only that way for the foreseeable future. But it's not. And knowing that is actually helpful for making marital decisions.
"You're not choosing a particular future when you decide to get married, you're choosing a partner for whatever the future brings. And you're choosing to look upon a potential marriage partner as the person that, no matter what happens, I want to do this together with you. That can help to lay a more solid basis for a marriage. You're always going to be hit by curve balls and even the things that you expect are always going to be more challenging when they arrive than what you had imagined." [Margaret Kim Peterson, reflecting on her decision to marry a man dying of AIDS.]

Sunday Leftovers (6/10/07)

Call this, "How to listen to a sermon about marriage (or any sermon)."

There is a temptation when a pastor announces his sermon topic as being "the roles of husbands and wives in marriage," for a husband or a wife to inwardly cheer, thinking, "Wonderful! I am so glad we came this morning for my wife/husband to be able to hear this. She/he needs to change…"

Is this profitable listening and worship?

I am struck by the fact that God approaches the subject of marital roles and attitudes in the same way through two different pens: Paul and Peter. In Ephesians 5:22ff and 1 Pt. 3:1-7, both writers address both husbands and wives separately and distinctly. Both write in this manner: "In the same way, you wives…" (1 Pt. 3:1). And, "Husbands, love your wives…" (Eph. 5:25). With those particular addresses, God is not only drawing the attention of both husbands and wives to their particular responsibilities and calling them to be especially attentive to the words, but is also affirming that the words are for husbands or wives alone. The wife is not responsible to obey the words to the husband, nor is the husband responsible to follow the words to the wife. That's obvious enough.

But this is also true: nor are these words written to give the husband a figurative hammer to hold over his wife's head (nor a wife over the head of the husband). The husband should be encouraged that God has clearly written about the role of the wife, but it is not his "responsibility" to enforce her obedience. That is not worshipful listening to a sermon.

Worshipful listening to a sermon says, "This word is being spoken to me. How can I take this truth and use it to be transformed into greater Christlikeness this week?"

The Word of God is powerful and able to do at least four things in the life of the believer. As we listen to sermons, we should always be asking at least these four questions:

• Is there some truth being revealed which I did not know? (Learn it!)
• Is there some sin in my life which needs to be addressed? (Confess it!)
• Is there some spiritual weakness which needs correction? (Obey it!)
• Is there some righteousness which I need to put on and in which I need training? (Put it on!)

So, go back to the moment when a husband and wife, who are struggling in their marriage, here this topic announced by the pastor: "This morning's sermon addresses a Biblical understanding of how a husband graciously leads and a wife humbly submits in a godly home." How shall they respond? "Wonderful! I am so glad we came this morning, because we are struggling in our marriage, and I know that the primary responsibility is mine. I want to hear this word so that I can be changed and honor God more righteously in my home. Lord, will you give me ears to hear and a heart to obey the truth that I hear this morning?"

That will be both profitable listening and worship!

Trouble Arising Early to Pray?

Do you have trouble arising early in the morning to pray?

This word of encouragement and exhortation from John Calvin is a good encouragement to continuance in the discipline of prayer:

“Although we ought always to raise our minds upwards towards God, and pray without ceasing, yet such is our weakness, which requires to be supported, such our torpor, which requires to be stimulated, that it is requisite for us to appoint special hours for this exercise, hours which are not to pass away without prayer, and during which the whole affections of our minds are to be completely occupied; namely, when we rise in the morning, before we commence our daily work, when we sit down to food, when by the blessing of God we have taken it, and when we retire to rest. This, however, must not be a superstitious observance of hours, by which, as it were, performing a task to God, we think we are discharged as to other hours. It should rather be considered a discipline by which our weakness is exercised and stimulated.…

“It must be our anxious care, whenever we are ourselves pressed, or see others pressed by any trial, instantly to have recourse to God. And again, in any prosperity of ourselves or others, we must not omit to testify our recognition of God's hand by praise and thanksgiving. Lastly, we must in all our prayers carefully avoid wishing to confine God to certain circumstances, or prescribe to him the time, place, or mode of action. In like manner, we are taught by [the Lord’s] prayer not to fix any law or impose any condition upon him, but leave it entirely to him to adopt whatever course of procedure seems to him best, in respect of method, time, and place. For, before we offer up any petition for ourselves, we ask that his will may be done, and by so doing place our will in subordination to his, just as if we had laid a curb upon it, that, instead of presuming to give law to God, it may regard him as the ruler and disposer of all its wishes.”

(HT: CQOD)

These words echo the chapters I read this week in Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students ("The Minister's Private Prayer," and "Our Public Prayer"). They are both well worth reading.

Sunday Leftovers (6/3/07)

A fundamental means of surviving — no, thriving — in marriage is by cultivating love in that marriage.

Husbands are called to love their wives (Eph. 5:25-30).

Wives are called to love their husbands (Titus 2:4).

In the classic passage on love, all believers (including both husbands and wives) are called to a life of love and self-sacrifice (1 Cor. 13:4-8a).

And in Peter's summation of the responsibilities to each other, both husband and wife are to be "brotherly" in their love for each other (1 Pet. 3:8).

So how might we define love?

I have always liked a sdefinition provided by Tim Kimmel that I slightly modified:

"Love is a commitment of my will and my affections to your needs and best interests, regardless of the cost to me."

Every word of that definition is important.

• Love is a commitment of the will. It is not something that just happens to someone, but love is intentional and volitional. It is a decision made repeatedly and constantly.
• Love is a commitment of the affections. Love is not just a cold decision, but is a decision that is made with a commitment to be warm and tender. Someone once asked me, "I know I have to love her, but do I have to be her friend?" Scripture knows no such distinction. To love is to be fully engaged and tender towards another.
• Love is a commitment to the needs of another. To love is to say that I am committed to suppressing my needs in order to meet the needs of another. Her needs are more important than my own.
  
• Love is a commitment of the other's best interests. That is, not only are we committed to serving the one we love to provide what she needs, but also things that may not be a "need," but will be in her best interests — to stimulate her love for Christ, to encourage her heart, to demonstrate gratitude, to equip her for service.
• Love is a commitment, regardless of what it costs me. This is where many marriages fail — there is a limit to how far one will commit his will, affections, or service. But love that is genuine has no limitations. It always forgives, it is always kind, it always is patient, it always perseveres. Love never fails. [You might read 1 Cor. 13:4ff again.]

So survival in marriage is rooted in a love that is ever upheld and practiced with full joy and faithfulness. That will produce a marriage that not only "makes it," but one that also thrives!

Sunday Leftovers (5/27/07)

As is often the case, I didn't finish my sermon on Sunday.

Not only did I not complete the sermon, but I left unsaid a number of things along the way. Here are a few of them (saving still a few for this coming Sunday)…

Peter's words to wives and husbands in 1 Peter 3 is in the immediate context of how to persevere in difficult and even unrighteous circumstances, answering the question, "How can a believer live a holy life as light to a dark world when treated unjustly?"

But these words also sit in the broader context of all Scriptural instruction on marriage. And particularly, these admonitions are rooted in the account of creation and the creation of the institution of marriage. There is no understanding 1 Peter 3 (or any other injunction on the home) without understanding Genesis 2.

So when Peter commands husbands to "live with your wives…" (3:7), it is with the backdrop of Genesis 2 in mind. To live with your wife means that the husband lives with her in such a way that reflects their oneness and unity. They are not two separate identities with two different objectives and two different purposes and passions who just happen to have the same address. A husband and wife are two people who have been brought together in the most unique relationship with a singular objective, purpose and passion. In every sense of the word, they are one, and everything the husband does in leading his wife demonstrates that he is one with her.

This will be reiterated in v. 8, when Peter exhorts both husband and wife to let every aspect of their lives be harmonious — reflecting that unity of heart.

How might a husband demonstrate his unity with his wife? Writing in a different context, Samuel Logan Brengle wisely noted that:

"[Spiritual leadership] is not won by promotion, but by many prayers and tears. It is attained by confessions of sin, and much heartsearching and humbling before God; by self-surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every idol, a bold, deathless, uncompromising and uncomplaining embrace of the cross, and by an eternal, unfaltering looking unto Jesus crucified. It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves, but rather, like Paul, by counting those things that are gain to us as loss for Christ. That is a great price, but it must be paid by him who would be not merely a nominal but a real spiritual leader of men, a leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven, on earth, and in hell."

One final observation of the exhortation given to the husbands. Genesis 2 says that husband and wife are one flesh. And this passage emphasizes that the husband is to love his wife by living with his wife, while Ephesians 5 emphasizes that he is to love his wife by giving himself up (like Christ) for his wife. So in all he does — in both life and death — the husband demonstrates by word and deed that he is for his wife and the unity of their marriage.

Think About It

Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote these words in application of Ephesians 2:2 a generation ago, but they sound just as true today as in the day in which he wrote them:

Their little life is entirely controlled by the organization of the world. They think as the world thinks. They take their opinions ready-made from their favourite newspaper. Their very appearance is controlled by the world and its changing fashions. They all conform; it must be done; they dare not disobey; they are afraid of the consequences. That is tyranny, this is absolute control — clothing, hair style, everything, absolutely controlled. The mind of the world!…Most lives are being controlled by it and governed by it, all their opinions, their language, the way they spend their money, what they desire, where they go, where they spend their holidays; it is all controlled, governed completely…by this world, the mind of the world, the age of propaganda, the age of advertising, the mass mind, the mass man, the mass individual, without knowing it. Is it not tragic? But that is man in sin…he is controlled by the mind of the world.

(HT: DG Blog)

Lies We Believe

John MacArthur makes the good point that man likes to live according to five dominant lies — lies that constitute the attempt of man to rid himself of the influence and authority of God. These lies are:

• Life is random. We are all products of evolutionary chance with no purpose and no creator and no accountability. Nobody is in charge, no one put us here, and we are accountable to no one.
  
• Truth is relative. There are no absolutes and no standard. We are all free to possess our "own" truth and live our lives according to that truth which is of our own invention.
  
• People are basically good. If they go bad, someone else is to blame — they lack self-esteem or have psychological problems due to environmental failures.
  
• Everyone can change his own life. He can take control, take charge and become anything he wants to be.
  
• The goal of life is self-satisfaction.

But the truth is opposite that.

• God is sovereign and nothing random.
• The Bible is absolute truth.
• All people are basically sinful.
• Only Christ can change your life.
• Selfless submission to Jesus Christ is the goal of life.

People in the world have it completely backwards. And it is these lies that pull at the heart of every man.

Justification and Catholicism

With the reconversion last week of Francis Beckwith, the President of the Evangelical Theological Society, to Roman Catholicism, questions have arisen again about the relationship between Catholicism and Evangelicalism. Beckwith said (among a number of other things) that the reason for his reconversion centered around his understanding of justification:

I became convinced that the Early Church is more Catholic than Protestant and that the Catholic view of justification, correctly understood, is biblically and historically defensible. Even though I also believe that the Reformed view is biblically and historically defensible, I think the Catholic view has more explanatory power to account for both all the biblical texts on justification as well as the church’s historical understanding of salvation prior to the Reformation all the way back to the ancient church of the first few centuries.

Elsewhere he affirms declares that "I still consider myself an evangelical, but no longer a Protestant." In other words, the Catholic view of justification does not contradict the evangelical view of justification. As with the attempts over the past few years to minimize the distinctions between Catholicism and Evangelicalism (Evangelicals and Catholics Together), this kind of statement ignores a number of key issues. In fact, it is not possible to be both evangelical and Catholic because (this is a short, but critical list):

1. To accept the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification is to accept the role of Mary as co-redeemer with Christ.
2. To accept the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification is to accept the Roman Catholic practice of communion, which emphasizes that Christ is literally present in the elements of the bread and cup, meaning that the initial sacrifice of Christ was inadequate (invalidating passages like Heb. 10:11-14).
3. To accept the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification is to accept the doctrine of purgatory, which teaches that there is no security in salvation and that there is a dependence on works to produce salvation -- even the works of others can produce my salvation.
   
4. To accept the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification is to accept the Roman Catholic view of Scripture, which embraces the Apocrypha as Scripture; believes the Pope to be able to speak infallibly on theological issues, such that his words supersede the words of Scripture; and accepts tradition as having more authority than Scripture.
   

In fact, the second statement, "The Gift of Salvation," produced by Evangelicals and Catholics Together includes this statement:

While we rejoice in the unity we have discovered and are confident of the fundamental truths about the gift of salvation we have affirmed, we recognize that there are necessarily interrelated questions that require further and urgent exploration. Among such questions are these: the meaning of baptismal regeneration, the Eucharist, and sacramental grace; the historic uses of the language of justification as it relates to imputed and transformative righteousness; the normative status of justification in relation to all Christian doctrine; the assertion that while justification is by faith alone, the faith that receives salvation is never alone; diverse understandings of merit, reward, purgatory, and indulgences; Marian devotion and the assistance of the saints in the life of salvation; and the possibility of salvation for those who have not been evangelized.

With so many key issues left unresolved, there is and can be no "togetherness." The Roman Catholic doctrine of justification is far from an evangelical understanding of justification. And for Beckwith to minimize those issues is, frankly, foolish.

Additionally, for Beckwith to suggest that Catholicism teaches a Biblical view of justification is to ignore the Reformation and all those who died in defense of Protestantism. The central issue for Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and all the Reformers (many of whom died in defense of this) was the very issue of how a man comes to be declared righteous before God. To say that there is no distinction is to invalidate that entire movement as irrelevant and even wrong.

The issues that have been placed "on the discussion table" by Beckwith's return to Catholicism are of central importance to our faith. They must not be ignored. Our very faith depends on it.

--------------------------------

Other helpful responses:

• John MacArthur, "Explaining the Heresy of Catholicism"
  
• Carl Trueman, "Thoughts on the Return to Rome of Professor Beckwith"
• James White, "Head of the Evangelical Theological Society Swims the Tiber"
• Pulpit Magazine, "Mother Church?"
• ETS statement

Encouragement and Help for Parents

Christian parents sometimes undergo the sorrow of watching their children stray from the truth of Christ. How should they respond to that sinful waywardness? Abraham Piper (John's son), offers some counsel that serves as both an encouragement (there is hope for repentance!) and some help (what can I do??). Read it here.

In addition, there are a number of helpful resources here, including a helpful summary by John MacArthur, "8 Ways Parents Provoke."

An Example of and an Exhortation to Endurance

In thinking about ministry and the role of the pastor and the role of the people in relation to 1 Thess. 5:12-24, I came across a story a read a few years ago and a statement about the importance of perseverance in ministry.

The story concerns a pastor, John Newton, and a troubled parishioner in his church, William Cowper. In order to minister to Cowper, a poet, Newton collaborated on a hymnal with him (which is how we came to possess "Amazing Grace" from Newton's pen and "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood" by Cowper, and approximately 250 more hymns). Newton spent much time with Cowper while he was his pastor, counseling, exhorting and encouraging. And that relationship continued even after Newton moved to another church in Olney.

What was the fruit of that relationship? Cowper told a friend about Newton, saying, "A sincerer or more affectionate friend no man ever had." And he would also write these words to Newton himself:

I knew you; knew you for the same shepherd who was sent to lead me out of the wilderness into the pasture where the Chief Shepherd feeds His flock, and felt my sentiments of affectionate for you the same as ever.

This is not only a high personal compliment, but a testimony to the value of endurance in ministry, which is affirmed by John Piper in When I Don't Desire God:

We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (I Thess. 5:14-16)

Admonishing, encouraging, helping, being patient, not repaying evil for evil, seeking to do good to all - this is a fruitbearing life. [Paul] is telling us to be like trees planted by streams of water that bring forth fruit. This is the effect of delighting in the Word of God in Psalm 1:3. Look at all these needy people draining you. The 'idle' are provoking you; the 'fainthearted' are leaning on you ' the 'weak' are depleting you. But you are called to encourage and help and be patient and not return evil for evil. In other words, you are called to have spiritual resources that can be durable and fruitful and nourishing when others are idle and fainthearted and weak and mean-spirited

How? Where do we get the resources to love like that? Verse 16 answers, 'Rejoice always.' That corresponds to 'delight' in Psalm 1. Presumably, this rejoicing is not primarily based on circumstances, but on God and his promises, because the people around us are idle and fainthearted and weak and antagonistic. This would make an ordinary person angry, sullen, and discouraged. But we are supposed to have our roots planted somewhere other than circumstance. The roots of our lives are supposed to be drawing up the nutrients of joy from a source that cannot be depleted - the river of God and his Word. The one who delights in the Lord is 'like a tree planted by streams of water.'

What then is the key to this rejoicing, or this delight, which sustains the life of fruit-bearing love? Verse 17 says, 'Pray without ceasing.' And verse 18 says, 'Give thanks in all circumstances.' So the answer seems to be that continual prayer and thanksgiving is a key to joy in God that makes a person durable and fruitful in relation to all kinds of people. Therefore one biblical key to maintaining joy in God and his Word is to pray without ceasing. [pp. 155-6.]

Sunday Leftovers (5/6/07)

Numerous factors in the culture of the church have led too many churches and too many people to believe and practice a theology that places the work of ministry on the shoulders of trained professionals and absolves untrained servants of ministry responsibilities. Yet the New Testament has a different view of ministry.

Ministry is the work of every believer.

That statement is supported by passages teaching about the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given to every believer (e.g., Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:7-13). And it is either directly stated or strongly implied throughout the rest of the Epistles.

For instance, when the NT writers use the term "brothers," they are affirming that what follows is for every believer in Christ, not merely the trained pastors. So when Paul urges his Thessalonian brethren to "admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone" (5:14) his words obviously are addressed to pastors. And they are also addressed to everyone else who is a believer in Christ — his brothers.

Ministry is the joyful and privileged work of every believer.

Kent Hughes points out a couple of truths related to God's use of "ordinary" people to accomplish His divine purposes:

"[God] can use a very small thing if it is committed to him. It has been said: 'God must delight in using ordinary people with ordinary gifts because he made so many of us!'"

"God chooses to use ordinary people to serve him! He chooses them so there will be no mistake where the power comes from and so human boasting will be excluded."

So be encouraged that God not only can use you in the work of ministry — but He has actually even designed you for His ministry.

The Holiness of God

The holiness of God is an oft-repeated theme in Scripture. It is demonstrated in His choice of Israel as His people (Dt. 7:6), the sanctification of that people (Lev. 21:8); His jealousy for that people and His holiness that would not allow Him to overlook their sin (Josh. 24:19); His unique character (1 Sam. 2:2); His physical salvation of men (1 Chron. 16:35); His omniscience (Ps. 11:4); His authority over all mankind (Ps. 47:8); His fatherly care of the fatherless (Ps. 68:5); His pure nature (Ps. 99:5, 9); his glorification in all the earth (Is. 6:3); His inability to dwell with sin in any form (Is. 6:5); and a host of others passages and circumstances.

Yet as we try to understand the holiness of God, A. W. Tozer rightly noted that

We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising that concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God's power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine. [The Knowledge of the Holy]

One resource that has helped me immeasurably in growing in my minuscule understanding of God's holiness is R. C. Sproul's book, The Holiness of God. And just yesterday I listened to the message he preached at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors this year on that topic and was again moved toward worship and convicted of my weak understanding and presumption upon His holiness. It is well worth your time to listen to this message.

Sunday Leftovers (4/29/07)

God has gifted every believer with at least one spiritual gift and at the same time He is also producing His fruit in that believer through the working of the Holy Spirit.

So the longer a believer walks with Christ, more and more fruit is produced. And the longer a believer serves Christ in the church, the more he uses his gift and the more refined the use of that gift becomes, and inevitably the more effective he becomes in the use of that gift. And when that happens, he also becomes more and more susceptible to believing that his adequacy is in himself and not in God.

When that temptation arises, he needs to hear again the words of the apostle Paul —

• For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? (2 Cor. 2:15-16)
  
• For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (Rom. 7:18-25)
  
• It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. (1 Tim. 1:15-16)
  
  

It is undoubtedly those kind of words that drove William Carey to write to his father:

I see more and more my own insufficiency for the great work I am called to. The truths of God are amazingly profound, the souls of men infinitely precious, my own ignorance very great, and all that I do is for God who knows my movies and my ends, my diligence or negligence. When I (in short) compare my self with my work, I sink into a point, a mere despicable nothing.

So there is a balance to be had for the believer — recognize our own inadequacy, and recognize the strength and provision that God is working in and through us to accomplish His purposes.

A Few More Thoughts on the Tragedy at Virginia Tech

This week we have learned the importance and reality of Rom 12:15 —

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

You could not read the headlines, watch the news or hear the reports of what happened at Virginia Tech and not be moved to compassion.

Amidst all the “analysis,” however, there has been little that has been helpful in understanding from a theological perspective, what transpired that day, and how we are to respond and how we are to think about God in the midst of this.

Five thoughts —

• This is the reality of what unrestrained sin looks like and is the natural result of the work of Satan. He is a destroyer (1 Pt. 5:8) and a murderer (Jn. 8:44; 10:10a), and we should not be surprised (though it is a work of grace that we are, since it indicates that sin is still a horror to us) that those who live under his control, authority and domain do such things. (And this is the potential for every man — Rom. 3; Mt. 5:21-22 — if you have ever known anger, you know what the heart of a murderer looks like.)
• The suddenness of their deaths serves as a reminder to the realities of eternity — heaven and hell and the truth that all men will go to one place or the other (Rev. 22:11-15).
• Thus, the events of the week also serve as a reminder about the urgency of the gospel and the need for the clarity of the gospel. We do not know how much time we have. We must be clear, and we must be clear, now. We want to give saving truth, not pacifying words that will leave them comfortable now and condemned in hell later.
• Even in this, there is an opportunity to glorify God. Job said it, didn’t he (in a situation not too dissimilar from what we’ve seen this week) — “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Situations like this will not destroy our worship; they will enhance it. That is why we intentionally sing the doxology when we remember events like this.
• God is sufficient to see anyone through any trouble (2 Pet. 1:3). What all men need is not so much the removal of trouble, but an awareness of the weight of glory that awaits those who trust in Christ (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

_____________________________


See also:

John MacArthur (audio)
Al Mohler — "Playing the Blame Game -- Who Is to Blame for Blacksburg?" and "On Faith"
Peggy Noonan
John Piper

Sunday Leftovers (4/22/07)

On the priority of a personal walk with God —

If you are unhappy and discontent or even angry with God, it is the fruit of a heart that has fed too lightly and too little at the table of God — you have learned to be happy with things that cannot satisfy.

Modern Christians lack symmetry. They know almost nothing about the inner life. They are like a temple that is all exterior without any interior. Color, light, sound, appearance, motion — these are thy gods, O Israel.

'The accent in the church today,' says Leonard Ravenhill, the English evangelist, 'is not on devotion, but on commotion.' Religious extroversion has been carried to such an extreme in evangelical circles that hardly anyone has the desire, to say nothing of the courage, to question the soundness of it. Externalism has taken over.…The old question, 'What is the chief end of man?' is now answered, 'To dash about the world and add to the din thereof.' [A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous.]

On discipleship —

We speak often of discipleship yet at times we minimize the consequences of discipleship (or the lack of it). Two corollary thoughts must be considered:

1. There is much to be gained when we live life faithfully (consider 1 Tim. 4:12b). That is, never underestimate the value of a well-lived life. You may be unaware of those who watch and are encouraged by your life of obedience.
2. There is much to be lost when we live life unfaithfully (consider 2 Tim. 2:17-18). Never underestimate the tragedy and sorrow that results from your wasted life. The tragedy is not just that your own life has been wasted, but you may also be discouraging the faith of others, compounding the tragedy even more. When tempted to sin (or tempted to remain in sin), it is always wise to consider the detrimental effect of your sin on the lives of others.
   

On marriage —

Is God sufficient for even a difficult marriage? The truth of the glory of God demands that He is.

If your dream for your marriage were to crumble, if your marriage were to appear dry and bare, could you still rise and say, 'I am full of joy because the Lord is Lord of my life, and gloriously, in the midst of struggle, I have him'?…Here's the reality: God's goodness, love, power, strength, and glory — and his call to you — do not change when your situation seems bleak and empty. He is there and he still satisfies. [Paul Tripp, Marriage: Whose Dream?]

Nine Reasons to Read the Puritans

At the recent Ligonier Conference, in a brief exhortation, Joel Beeke offered nine reasons to read the Puritans:

1. The Puritans will help shape your life according to the Bible.
2. Puritan writings will show you how to integrate Biblical doctrine into daily life by: addressing your mind, confronting your conscience by exposing specific sins and asking questions to press home the conviction of those sins and by engaging your heart with affectionate warmth.
   
3. The Puritans show you the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and exalt Him — the whole Christ for the whole man.
4. The Puritans will warm you and bring you the highlight of the Christian faith by showing you the Trinitarian character of theology. They were motivated by a deep sense of the holiness of the godhead.
5. The Puritans will teach us how to handle trials.
6. Puritans will explain true spirituality.
   
7. The Puritans will teach you how to live by holistic faith. Every subject, every doctrine they treat they bring into what they call "practical uses" — uses that will propel you into passionate and effective action for Christ's kingdom.
8. Puritan writings teach us the importance and the primacy of expository preaching. For the Puritans preaching was the highlight of one's life — it was the market day of the soul to go to God's house and worship Him.
   
9. Puritan writings show us how to live in two worlds. The Puritans said we should have heaven in our eye even as we have earth in our hands.
   

In summary, J. I. Packer wrote,

The Puritans were strongest just where Christians today are weakest. Their writings can give us real help — more real help than any other body of Christian teachers, past or present, since the days of the Apostles.

I have found these reasons to be true in my own life. My heart was whetted to an appetite for the Puritans through the pen of Thomas Watson. If you want to start reading them, I would suggest either his All Things for Good or The Godly Man's Picture. Another good place to begin is by reading some of their sermons, many of which may be found here.

On Humility

God says, "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3).

How might that kind of humility be developed and fed? After all, because pride is a primary underlying sin for all other sins, humility comes neither naturally or easily.

Jonathan Edwards provides some helpful insight in his eighth resolution —

Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

In other words, one means to cultivating genuine humility is to recognize that my sin is no less vile than the worst sins of the worst sinner I know — and let that awareness of such vileness produce godly repentance and confession.

Thabiti Anyabwile comments on Edward's resolution by saying,

A recovering Pharisee like me needs that. I need that grace. I need that recognition that I am like them. And I need to be driven to my knees in prayer — for them and for myself — that we might all progress in sanctification.

What to Say About Virginia Tech

The events today at Virginia Tech are tragic.

Several years ago, after the shootings at Columbine, John Piper compiled 21 ways to love and comfort the hurting. He later revised the list after the 9-11 tragedy. His words are just as appropriate for today. A condensed version of his essay may be found here.

Sunday Leftovers (4/15/07)

What you believe is reflected in what you do and how you do it.

Everything you do reveals something about your belief system.

Those two statements are important for individuals and churches as they make decisions about the future. To that end, we have identified a number of truths that are crucial to us as we think about ministry and the church. I was able to say much of what is essential in each of those areas yesterday, but a few random thoughts remain on my mind as I think about these topics —

1. We believe in the supremacy of God above all things.

If God is supreme, that means that He is also sufficient (as is His Word). And if God is sufficient, that has (at least) two implications for ministry: we don't need to resort to a pragmatic (dogs, whistles, and dancing bears) approach to ministry. A simple and articulate declaration of His truth is sufficient to sustain ministry without the application of secular principles and ideas. It also means that God is trustworthy. He is enough and He is able. That He is able to provide the greatest need of mankind (salvation), means that He is also able to provide all the lesser needs as well. As C. S. Lewis said, "He who has God and many other things has no more than he who has God alone."

And if God is supreme above all things, then He is also worthy of attentive worship:

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God.
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit 'round it and pluck blackberries. [Elizabeth Barrett Browning]

I don't want to be a blackberry plucker. Nor do I want our church to have the legacy of being busy but missing the chance to reveal and delight in God.


2. We believe in the transforming work of the Holy Spirit

Since God is both supreme and sufficient there is nothing beyond the bounds of His authority. He is capable of transforming any man into a God-glorifying man. There is no individual beyond His redeeming abilities. That may be self-evident, but it's the kind of thing that many people today need to hear.

And many also view the end of the transformation process, when men are in the presence of God and can see Him — they are then fully redeemed. And while that ultimate redemption and transformation is our goal, it does not preclude the ongoing work of the Spirit now. He will not only change us finally in eternity, but He is changing us even now.


3. We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture

J. I. Packer summarized well why it is that we are so passionate to defend the inerrancy of Scripture:

When evangelicals call the Bible "inerrant", part at least of their meaning is this: that in exegesis and exposition of Scripture and in building up our biblical theology from the fruits of our Bible study, we may not (1) deny, disregard, or arbitrarily relativize, anything that the biblical writers teach, nor (2) discount any of the practical implications for worship and service that their teaching carries, nor (3) cut the knot of any problem of Bible harmony, factual or theological, by allowing ourselves to assume that the inspired writers were not necessarily consistent either with themselves or with each other. It is because the word "inerrant" makes these methodological points about handling the Bible, ruling out in advance the use of mental procedures that can only lead to reduced and distorted versions of Christianity, that it is so valuable and, I think, so much valued by those who embrace it.

If the Bible is errant or its truth obscured and indiscernible, then it is worthless. But since it is inerrant and since its truth has not been obscured and its wisdom is discernible, it has authority and is sufficient to address our needs (beginning with the greatest need — to know God).


What we do as individuals and as a church is rooted in what we believe about God. It all starts with a clear understanding about Him. When He is the focus of the ministry, then He also is the power and sufficiency for the ministry, and then people are equipped to know and love Him. It's His church. It's all about Him.

Sunday Leftovers (4/8/07)

The life of Christ has been called "The greatest story ever told," and the resurrection has been called "The greatest event in history" and "The key to everything." All those statements are not only true, they are crucial.

Christianity hangs on the validity of the resurrection, as Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 15. It is of first importance. There is nothing more important in the faith of the believer than the truth of the resurrection. If Christ was not resurrected, then our faith is worthless. Why would it be worthless? Because the fundamental thing that Christ came to do — to give His life as a ransom for many — was left unaccomplished. All men would still be in sin — entrapped and ensnared by sin, unable to live for the glory of God for even the briefest of moments and unable to do anything but sin. And of course if Christ is not victorious, then something and someone else must be — death would still reign, and Satan would be powerful.

Yes, if Christ is not resurrected, then we really are to be pitied more than any other men on earth. Everything would be wasted.

But thanks be to God that Christ is risen indeed!

And that has left us as humble and grateful recipients of the greatest treasure. As Spurgeon has noted, because of the resurrection of Christ, we have new life —

• We are made alive in Christ (and no longer remain dead in sin!)
• We are made alive in sanctification
• We are made partakers of a new life (e.g., as a contrast, Lazarus had the same life restored to him)
• We have a pre-eminent security for future perfection
• We have a life that is new in its principles, motives, objects, and emotions
• We have with this new life new possessions — we are rich in faith.
  

How rich we are because Christ became poor!

There can be no salvation from sin unless there is a living Saviour: this explains the emphasis [of the Epistles] on the resurrection. But the living One can be a Saviour only because He has died: this explains the emphasis laid on the cross. The Christian believes in a living Lord, or he could not believe at all; but he believes in a living Lord who died an atoning death, for no other can hold the faith of a soul under the doom of sin. [James Denney; quoted by John Stott, in The Cross of Christ.]

The Mortification of Sin (John Owen)

John Owen's The Mortification of Sin is considered a classic, and 350 years after it was published, is still probably one of the best books on hamartiology (the doctrine of sin) and specifically, how to mortify sin. It has taken me far too long to read it; I purchased it three years ago, and it has remained in my "to read" stack. But no more. I finished it today, and it will undoubtedly be one that I return to again and again to digest all its contents.

There are many useful statements in it — as one friend told me, "it is very quotable." It is also very helpful and practical.

Roughly half the book focuses on nine "particular directions" for mortifying sin. They were helpful in his day and they are helpful in ours —

1. Consider what dangerous symptoms thy lust hat attending or accompanying it: whether it hath any deadly mark or no. If it hath, extraordinary remedies are to be used; an ordinary course of mortification will not do it.
2. Get a clear and abiding sense upon thy mind and conscience, first, of the guilt, secondly, of the danger, thirdly, of the evil, of that sin wherewith thou are perplexed.
3. Load thy conscience with the guilt of it. Not only consider that it hath a guilt, but load thy conscience with the guilt of its actual eruptions and disturbances.
4. Get a constant longing and breathing after deliverance from the power of it. Suffer not thy heart one moment to be contented with thy present frame and condition.
5. Consider whether the distemper with which thou are perplexed, be not rooted in thy nature, and cherished, fomented and heightened from thy constitution.
6. Consider what occasions, what advantages, thy distemper hath taken to exert and put forth itself, and watch against them all.
7. Rise mightily against the first actings of thy distemper, its first conceptions. Suffer it not to get the least ground: do not say, 'Thus far it shall go, and no farther.' If it have allowance for one step, it will take another. It is impossible to fix bounds to sin.
8. Use and exercise thyself to such meditations as may serve to fill thee at all times with self-abasement, and thoughts of thine own vileness. As, (1) Be much in thoughtfulness of the excellency of the majesty of God and thine infinite, inconceivable distance from him.…(2) Think much of thine unacquaintedness with him: though thou knowest enough to keep thee low and humble, yet how little a portion it is that thou knowest of him!
   
9. In case God disquiet the heart about the guilt of its distempers, either in respect of its root and indwelling, or in repect of any eruptions of it, take heed that thou speakest not peace to thyself before God speaks it; but hearken what he says to thy soul.
   

How is this mortification done? Is it merely an act of self-will and self-improvement? Never! The "[Holy Spirit] only is sufficient for this work.…Mortification of any sin must be by a supply of grace. Of ourselves we cannot do it." So, he concludes,

"Act faith particularly upon the death, blood and cross of Christ: that is, on Christ as crucified and slain. Mortification of sin is peculiarly from the death of Christ.…He died to destroy the works of the devil; whatever came upon our natures by his first temptation, whatever receives strength in our persons by his daily suggestions, Christ died to destroy it all.…(Titus 2:14). This was his aim and intention, wherein he will not fail, in his giving himself for us. That we might be freed from the power of our sins, and purified from all our defiling lusts was his design.…Then, act faith on the death of Christ, and that under these two notions: [i] In expectation of power; [ii] In endeavours for conformity (Phil. 3:10; Col. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:15-19)."

I highly commend this book to you. It will take some time and effort to make your way through the old English, but it is well worth the effort — to paraphrase Thomas Watson, digging for gold is difficult, but worth the reward. So is this. [Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor have recently produced a compilation of three of Owen's works, including this one; the language remains the same, but they have provided helpful outlines, definitions of archaic words in footnotes, and a glossary. The title of that volume is
Overcoming Sin and Temptation and is widely available.

They Said It Better Than Me: Temptation

In a recent men's study on Proverbs 6, we dealt with the issue of temptation. In preparation, I came across a number of statements about temptation that were particularly helpful:

"When a man is confronted with the alluring temptation, he sees only the attractiveness of the desired object; only when his will has sanctioned the performance of the sinful act do the tragic consequences come into operation. We are free to choose, but not free to choose the consequences of our choice, for those are determined by the eternal purpose and laws of God." [D. Edmond Hiebert, The Epistle of James]

"Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is." [C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity]

"There is no spiritual duty, nothing godly you can set yourself to, in which you won't feel the wind of sin's resistance in your face." [Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within]

"Avoid idleness, and fill up all the spaces of thy time with severe and useful employment: for lust easily creeps in at those emptinesses where the soul is unemployed and the body is at ease; no easy, healthful, idle person was ever chaste if he could be tempted; but of all employments, bodily labor is the most useful, and of the greatest benefit for driving the Devil." [Jeremy Taylor]

"We are only poor for this reason, that we do not know our riches in Christ. In time of temptation, believe Christ rather than the devil. Believe truth from truth itself. Hearken not to a liar, an enemy and a murderer." [Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed]

"Temptation stirs the blood and influences the imagination. If we were revolted by it, it would not be temptation at all. Usually, though, temptation doesn't seem very bad, so we play with it, flirt with it, and invite it into our lives. When we pray about sins, it's not temptation that bothers us. It's the consequences of our disobedience that we want removed.…Only God can make us see sin for what it is. If temptation brought chains to bind us, we would resist it on our own. Instead, it brings flowers and perfume and offers life and good cheer, good times and enlargement. It bribes us with wealth and popularity and entices us with promises of prosperity and unbounded freedom. Only God can keep us from its charms." [Haddon Robinson, What Jesus Said About Successful Living]

John Calvin's Expository Genius

I recently finished reading Steve Lawson's first book in his new series, "A Long Line of Godly Men:" The Expository Genius of John Calvin. It is more than a biography; it is an examination of his sermon style that has as its aim "to raise the bar for a new generation of expositors."

Several things impressed me about Calvin as I read the book:

• the singleness of his devotion to Christ and the ministry. After his wife died after nine years of marriage, Calvin never remarried, but instead devoted himself to the work of ministry.
• how quickly after conversion he entered the ministry and began to have a significant ministry. Within one year he was preaching and within three years he had assumed the pastorate in Geneva, and two years later was banished from there. He quickly immersed himself in Scripture and so worked to demonstrate his giftedness that he was able to carry out significant ministries.
• the commonness of sin. He battled in Geneva many of the same kinds of sins that are prevalent today: gossip, adultery, licentiousness. Because of his influence in the Reformation, there is a tendency to think that the church in those days was more sanctified today. Yet the church battled with sin in its midst in its infancy and in the same kinds of ways today.
  
• his resolute commitment to the authority of the Word of God. One member of his church had been excommunicated for sexual sin and come back with friends and supporters bearing swords and demanding to be given communion. Calvin descended from the pulpit with these words: "These hands you may crush, these arms you may lop off, my life you may take, my blood is yours, you may shed it; but you shall never force me to give holy things to the profaned and dishonor the table of my God."
  

One more quote about Calvin:

"Calvin believed that biblical preaching must occupy the chief place in the worship service. What God has to say to man is infinitely more important than what man has to say to God. If the congregation is to worship properly, if believers are to be edified, if the lost are to be converted, God's Word must be exosited. Nothing must crowd the Scriptures out of the chief place in the public gathering."

One more quote by Calvin:

"We owe to the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God because it has proceeded from Him alone, and has nothing of man mixed with it."

Sunday Leftovers (4/1/07)

Every word in Scripture counts. Every word is used by God to reveal Himself and His purposes (which is why Jesus makes statements like "truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished," Mt. 5:18). Which is why even a simple statement like the one tucked at the end of John 7:44 is so important — "but no one laid hands on Him." It wasn't for lack of trying. They'd been trying at least for months, beginning in John 5:18, and they would continue to attempt to kill Him all the more in the six remaining months before Christ went to the cross.

First only the Pharisees wanted Jesus dead. Then the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin joined their ranks. And now in John 7:44, some in the crowds also seek His death. But no one could touch Him. Why? It wasn't His time. He was wholly sovereign over the events that would take Him to the cross. He came to give His life as a ransom for many, not to have it taken from Him by a group of rejecting enemies. (And the fact that no one can undo, subvert, or change the plan of God for Christ is a reminder that nothing can subvert His purposes for our lives either.)

That He came to work salvation for sinners and offer His life a ransom for many and that He continually offered to salvation to those who were rejecting it and that He wept over the people He came to save who despised Him anyway is a sober reminder about how we can and should respond to those who need the gospel.

He that saved our souls has taught us to weep over the unsaved. Lord, let that mind be in us that was in Thee! Give us thy tears to weep; for, Lord, our hearts are hard toward our fellows. We can see thousands perish around us, and our sleep never be disturbed; no vision of their awful doom ever scaring to us, no cry from their lost souls ever turning our peace into bitterness.

Our families, our schools, our congregations, not to speak of our cities at large, our land, our world, might as well send us daily to our knees; for the loss of even one soul is terrible beyond conception. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the heart of man, what a soul in hell must suffer forever. Lord give us bowels of mercies! "What a mystery! The soul and eternity of one man depends upon the voice of another! [Horatius Bonar, Words to the Winners of Souls]

It is worth reading and praying over that last sentence. [Aside: Bonar also had a clear understanding of why people, when presented with the truth, still do not believe. Read one helpful comment here.]

If that statement is true (and Scripture affirms that it is in multiple places, like Matt. 28:18-20 and Rom. 10:14-17), then it is also true that the gospel must be articulated accurately and clearly. An inaccurate gospel stated clearly and an accurate gospel stated unclearly are both damning — both will leave people confused about the truth and lead away from the cross and toward an eternity in hell. Which is why Al Mohler recently opined, "What could be worse than getting the Gospel wrong?" In a word, nothing.

Getting the message right, stating it clearly, sorrowing for those who do not know or believe the gospel, and gladly trusting the authoritative God to accomplish His purposes are paramount in the gospel cause.

Preparing for Passion Worship

A simple thing to do to prepare your mind and heart for worship during the Passion week is to read the gospel accounts of the story on a daily basis. Event by event, word by word, confrontation by confrontation, day by day, you will be presented with the essential character and purpose of Christ. The reality of His person is inescapable to those who read with open minds and hearts. And the greatness and gravity of what He did will likewise grow in impact on you as you read.

So several years ago, I compiled a daily harmony of the events of the week of Christ's death that I have found useful for doing that very thing. You may download a copy of it here. May it stimulate you into a deeper love and appreciation of our Lord.

The Gospel and the Good Value of Guilt

John Owen (called by John Piper "the greatest Puritan Theologian") writes the following concerning the good role of guilt in mortifying sin:

Bring thy lust to the gospel, not for relief, but for further conviction of its guilt: look on him whom thou has pierced, and be in bitterness. Say to thy soul, 'What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace, have I despised and trampled on! Is this the return I make to the Father for his love, to the Son for his blood, to the Holy Ghost for his grace? Do I thus requite the Lord? Have I defiled the heart that Christ died to wash, which the blessed Spirit hath chosen to dwell in? And can I keep myself out of the dust? What can I say to the dear Lord Jesus? How shall I hold up my head with any boldness before him? Do I account my communion with him of so little value, that for this vile lust's sake I have scarce left him any room in my heart? How shall I escape, if I neglect so great salvation? In the mean time, what shall I say to the Lord? Love, mercy, grace, goodness, peace, joy, consolation; I have despised them all, and esteemed them as a thing of nought, that I might harbour a lust in my heart.

'Have I obtained a view of God's fatherly countenance that I might behold his face and provoke him to his face? Was my soul washed that room might be made for new defilements? Shall I endeavour to disappoint the end of the death of Christ? Shall I daily grieve that Spirit whereby I am sealed to the day of redemption?'

Entertain thy conscience daily with this entreaty. See if it can stand before this aggravation of its guilt. If this make it not sink in some measure, and melt, I fear thy case is dangerous.

As I read that this morning, I could not help but contrast it with something else I read this morning about another attack on the gospel. It is essential that we "get the gospel right," for only in understanding the gospel truly will we be able to live truly. This is the value of Owen's book — he understands the gospel and its power to change the lives of men. I've waited far too long to read this book, which is becoming a treasure to me in my daily battle against sin.

Additional Communion Thoughts

In preparation for communion, I often like to read a chapter out of a book on the cross, or an article that I have previously harvested from a magazine or journal. This week a friend gave me an article that I will undoubtedly read multiple times again. Russell Moore ("The Red Cross of Jesus" — unavailable online) makes a compelling argument that while our culture has become obsessed with blood (not just with violence in general or with crime show television, but in particular through a growing interest in vampires in mass-market romance novels), the church has become increasingly sanitized from blood:

American Christianity is far less bloody than it used to be. Songs like "Power in the Blood" or "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood," or "Are You Washed in the Blood?" are still sung in some places, but fewer and fewer, and there aren't many newer songs or praise choruses so focused on blood. The Cross, yes; redemption, yes; but blood, rarely.…

We're eager to speak of life, but hesitant to speak of blood. Some of this is the result of the lingering sting of liberal Christian hostility toward a 'slaughterhouse religion.' Some of it is the result of an age that fears blood, but doesn't know why. Some of it is the result of our ignorance, as we think that "blood" is just another metaphor, one we can easily replace.

And yet, bloodless Christianity leaves a void.…

There is power — wonder working power — in the blood. Our culture already sees that. They're simply looking in the wrong veins.

I also came across this week a very helpful article by Paul Tripp on confession, repentance and forgiveness ("Mercy Me: Psalm 51 and Everyday Life") that is not only helpful in preparation for communion, but is also valuable for rebuilding our earthly, horizontal relationships.

Sunday Leftovers (3/25/07)

All men thirst for God. They know they are thirsty — that they need something to satisfy their deepest desires — but they know not that their thirst is for God. This leads them to drink all manner of worthless and detrimental water. In Finding God in Unexpected Places, Philip Yancey recounts the following story that reinforces this truth:

John S. Dunne tells of early Spanish sailors who reached the continent of South America after an arduous voyage. The caravel sailed into the headwaters of the Amazon, an expanse of water so wide the sailors presumed it to be a continuation of the Atlantic Ocean. It never occurred to them to drink the water, since they expected it to be saline, and as a result some of these sailors died of thirst. That scene of men dying of thirst even as their shops floated on the world's largest source of fresh water has become for me a metaphor for our age. Some people starve to death while all around them manna rots.

So it was for the Israelites alive at the time of Christ. The leaders were indignant over His claims to deity and authority, and the people were alternately interested in Him for His miraculous works, and disinterested in Him because of His hard sayings.

It's not all that different in our own day. Anger by some, superficial curiosity from others, and disinterested boredom from still others. And the great (magnanimous) irony in all this is that He still offered (and offers) salvation to any who might come. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink" (Jn. 7:37). In Christ there is sufficient, overflowing grace upon grace (Jn. 1:16) for all who might trust in Him.

What John Piper Thinks About Television

What John Piper thinks about television is what believers needs to think and believe about television.

The television itself (the plastic case and the electronics inside it) is amoral. Those who produce the products (both shows and commercials) that will be aired on that television are largely immoral. Which is why Piper says,

There are millions who are numb to hope because of the God-belittling things they have done and how ugly they have become. They don’t lift lofty arguments against God’s Truth; they shrug and feel irretrievably outside. They don’t defy God consciously; they default to cake and television.

You can (and should) read other insightful evaluations of television and what it does to our God-pursuing minds and hearts here.

Sunday Leftovers (3/18/07)

While Scripture has a high view of Scripture, the goal of acquiring knowledge of Scripture, meditating on Scripture and listening to sermons is not the mere accumulation of more knowledge. The goal of Biblical instruction is not just more knowledge. Rather, true Biblical instruction and knowledge will culminate in people and in a church that are increasingly being transformed into the likeness of Christ, unified in their love for Christ and each other, and giving evidence of that love through pure living, clear consciences and real (unhypocritical) faith (1 Tim. 1:5).

To that end, for example, 1 Timothy is replete with examples and admonitions and encouragements to embrace the truth of Scripture. Among the approximately 40 references to Scripture (using words like "doctrine," "teaching," "instruct," "truth," "Scripture," "preach," and "true faith") in the book are repeated exhortations to uphold sound doctrine. Consider 3:15 — one fundamental purpose of the church is to uphold the truth of the living God. And 3:16 — the doctrine and truth of Christ and the Godhead are foundational to godliness. And in contrast to the apostasy that comes from willfully ignoring the truth (4:1-5) and the malnourishment that comes from weak and empty teaching (4:7), sound doctrine will provide constant nourishment for the soul (4:6).

These are vital statements. The church in America today is substantively weak and ineffective because both she and her members have little dependence on and respect for and commitment to and transformation from the Word of God. If the church will be the church in coming days, it will come from a joyful reliance on the Word of God.


Two more thoughts about the kind of people God is using in building His church, from two other pastors:

"There is no mistake more terrible than to suppose that activity in Christian work can take the place of depth of Christian affections." [John MacArthur in The Master's Perspective on Pastoral Ministry.]

"…many ministers of God meet with hard things which might discourage them, and trouble and grieve their spirits; but this consideration, that God is pleased to employ them in such service near to himself, that though they cannot do good themselves, yet they may do good to others, this should disquiet them." [Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.]