Sean Cordell on 1 Peter 3

My pastor here in Raleigh, Sean Cordell, preached a sermon on 1 Peter 3:12-17 yesterday. We missed it because we were out of town, but I am listening to it today. He has some wonderful quotes:

"The American culture is shot through with the epidemic of comfort, and the problem is we don't even see it."

"There is a massive amount at stake in what you are passionate for."

"We must believe that, at the end of the day, Jesus has everything in His hands. Satan only acts by permission, not by sovereignty."

Sean did a beautiful job of summing up Peter's call to suffer well for the name of Christ.

Halloween or Reformation Day?

Since tomorrow is Reformation Day, on which many will instead celebrate this strange festival known as "Halloween," I thought it wise to post today on "Halloween" and tomorrow on Reformation Day and save the best for last.

My thoughts on Halloween are summed up as follows:

• It is clearly a holiday with pagan, even demonic, roots
• Generally, it is clearly not practiced as such in modern America
• But, it is still pagan in the sense that it does not honor the Triune God
• It overshadows the real meaning of October 31, Reformation Day (see tomorrow)
• It is the only holiday in which children will show up unannounced and uninvited to my door
• Thus it is one of the best opportunities for loving our neighbors and preaching the Gospel with our whole lives

Tomorrow night, my wife and I will be meeting children, handing out candy, building relationships, and talking about Jesus and the men who point us to Him.

Kris Lundgaard on the Fight of Faith

Kris Lundgaard has written (or rewritten) one book on John Owen's practical theology of fighting sin in the Christian life, The Enemy Within, and another on the life-changing power of seeing Christ, Through the Looking Glass. He recently spoke on these topics at Omaha Bible Church in Omaha, NE. I checked out his first session, and it was ultra-Biblical and helpful.

In opening, he says, linking the introductory story of a video game to our own lives, "I realized that skipping the story was actually a mortal error, because the story gives the objective, it gives the mission, it gives the context, it gives the goal that you're going after in the game . . . Without that story, without a sense of what you're going toward, you fight the same battles over and over again."

Later, he quotes Isaiah 40, telling us that God begins with the end in mind, and so should we. This is wonderful for me to hear, as I am in the midst of writing a long, difficult paper, not to mention living with indwelling sin. Amen to looking toward the prize in Christ Jesus.

The Creative Hands of Christ Jesus

Created this masterpiece in the land and sky.

You Are Not Hopeless Enough

And neither am I.

Bob Kauflin, Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries and one of the pastors at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, blogs about his battle with hopelessness and the truth with which God changed in his life.

Back in the mid-90's I went through a significant battle with hopelessness. I would wake every morning with this thought: "Your life is completely hopeless." My day went downhill from there. For about three years I experienced frequent panic attacks, itching and numbness, shortness of breath, and a hollow feeling in my chest.

There were a number of contributing factors, but a major root was the fear of man. I "feared" that others wouldn't share the same high opinion I had of myself. I "feared" they would reject me, or think of me unfavorably. Those thoughts, repeated hundreds of times every day, led to bouts with anxiety, depression, and hopelessness.

One morning I was confessing to a pastor and good friend from another Sovereign Grace church that I felt hopeless all the time. He looked at me with compassionate boldness and said, "I don't think you're hopeless enough." At first I thought he was kidding; but then I realized he was completely serious. He went on. "If you were completely hopeless, you'd stop trusting in what you think you can do to change the situation, and starting trusting in what Jesus Christ has already done for you at the cross.

A light went on. I realized that I hadn't been embracing the fact that apart from Jesus, I truly do have no hope (Eph. 2:12). For months following that conversation, every time I would start to feel anxiety or hopelessness, i would say to myself, "I am a hopeless person. But Jesus Christ died for hopeless people." I began to see that my inability to live in the good of the Gospel was rooted in my desire to find hope in something I had done rather than in what my Savior had done. I wanted some kind of credit, some kind of recognition, some kind of acknowledgment that God knew what he was doing when he chose me to be his son.

Fortunately, the Gospel brings better news than that. My acceptance before God isn't rooted in anything I've done or ever will do.

This is a feeling we all can certainly relate to, but especially those of us bent toward legalism (which, in one way or another, all of us are). Jesus Christ is once and forever my standing before God and not myself or my works. If you trust Him, know that He is rock-solid, freeing, and grace-filled. Meditate on Him the next time you read the Bible, spend time with God in prayer, or feel tempted to look at yourself for your assurance, forgiveness, or satisfaction.

A Life-Changing Book on the Gospel of Mark

Is right here. Reading Peter Bolt's book on Christ's atonement in Mark's Gospel has already fundamentally changed the way I think about the cross, the Savior, and the book of Mark, and I'm only halfway through it.

One of Bolt's main points (he spends a whole chapter on it) is that Mark 13, the so-called "Apocalyptic Discourse" of Jesus, needs a fresh look in light of Mark's narrative. He basically makes a strong extended argument that the whole speech is meant to set up the impending passion narrative. That is, Jesus is speaking of His own crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation in this speech and not in any way the destruction of the temple nor His second coming. He does this by noting the close parallels between His speech and the rest of Mark's narrative, the context in which it is given, and the audience to whom it is addressed within the story.

Specifically, Bolt points out that Christ's speech

• is about "the coming of the Son of Man,"
• is addressed to his disciples on the Mount of Olives before it is addressed to the reader,
• and has specific details (time, wars, earthquakes) that are fulfilled in His crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation.

Of special note is the observation that Mark heightens the expectancy of the Son of Man's coming by his use of the same time periods that Jesus gives in Mark 13:35in his narrative descriptions of the events of His last night in the following chapters:

• "evening" ----> Lord's Supper
  
• "midnight" ---> Gethsemane
  
• "cock crow" --> trial before high priest
  
• "dawn" ------> trial before Pilate
  

Bolt also points out that we out to read Mark 13:19 with a Christ-centered view. As he says, surely the suffering of the sinless Son of God under God's own wrath at the hands of the Gentiles is the worst suffering that has ever and will ever come upon anyone in this world. All of these bear explaining, but I want you to read this speech on your own in light of what Mark says, not what Peter Bolt or Britt Treece says, so get after it the next time you read Mark (or Matthew or Luke for that matter).

However, I have found Bolt's argument very convincing here. Whatever way you go with this, though, the entire book is worth reading. Praise God for His Word and for people who call us back to reading it for what it really says !!!

D.A. Carson on the Supremacy of Christ and Love

I'm listening to this sermon delivered by D.A. Carson at Desiring God's recent national conference on postmodernism. He has several good analogies and shows his vast array of Johannine knowledge in John 17, but the best part for me so far has been the story of his Pakistani Muslim friend.

That story makes me want to speak up more for the name of Jesus in public places, and God is using Carson's exposition of John 17 to give me life by His Word. Check out the whole thing, it's worth the time invested.

One quote from D.A.:

"Before we start thinking of God's love for us, or Christ's love for us on the cross, we must think of the eternal Father's love for the Son, and the love of the Son for the Father, so that whatever the Father does the Son does, and the Son does whatever the Father has for Him to do, which of course issues in Gethsemane itself."

But Can You Wait?

In our neighborhood (I don't know about yours), we have several "wanderers." They are the men and women of our area who, whether they have a home or not, always seem to be wandering the streets. I'm not saying this is, of itself, necessarily good or bad, but simply fact. In Hebrews 11, the Bible actually commends similar wandering because it is by faith in Christ's superiority. Last night, God gave me another opportunity to talk to one of our neighborhood's wanderers, who is also one of my friends. Let's call him T.

Our conversation came to a head about midway through. After we discussed faith in God's provision, T was explaining to me why he was having such a hard time going without a job or a house. "Man, I want to be married and have a family and have a home, like you, Britt. And, look at these shoes (he grabs his actually fairly nice pair of basketball shoes), I need better shoes. I just, I like nice things. I can't live like this," he explained.

I simply looked him in the eye and said, "But can you wait for it? Even if you never have your own house for the rest of your life, Jesus has promised us mansions better than this world could ever offer, better than the richest man in the world has ever had. Can you wait for it and look there instead?"

So, can you wait? Can I?

Are You Mighty in the Scriptures?

One of my former pastors preached an excellent Sunday school sermon on Acts 7 (Stephen's sermon and death) last Sunday at Providence Baptist Church's college ministry. This was one of his closing applications:

"Stephen had the whole Biblical narrative within his grasp at any moment he needed, and he was able to direct it (in) pointed application to his hearers. . .

Are you mighty in the Scriptures? If you're not, you're probably not going to be very bold in life. So the fires of this kind of passion are kindled over the pages of the Bible."

What an encouraging line to hear! It makes me want to be mighty in the Scriptures! To preach at a moment's notice the story of the Bible! To be kindled by the words of Scripture!

Thank God for the pastors of Providence. How I miss being with them and their teaching. I praise God for them.

Meet Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll

The God of heaven and earth has been blessing me through the preaching and teaching of two particular pastors a lot lately. Their names are Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll. They are different in ministry setting, age, tone, and style, and yet very alike in theology, God-centeredness, and heart application.

Check out Tim Keller on:

• Preaching the Gospel
• Born of the Gospel: 1 Peter 1
  
• The Supremacy of the Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World

And check out Mark Driscoll on:

• Death by Love: Reflections on the Cross
  
• The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World
  
• Habakkuk 2:4 (go to Downloads > Sermons > Books of the Bible > Habakkuk)
  

I have listened to all of these and a few more, and loved them all. If you only have time for one or two, I highly recommend the first in each list. For further research and resources, here is the page for Keller's church, and here is Driscoll's. Also, here is a page of resources for Rev. Keller, and here is one for Rev. Driscoll. I have found these very helpful and will post more from these Godly, God-gifted, God-pursuing men on their greatest Passion.

Ten Facts about the "Prosperity Gospel"

1. The "prosperity gospel" is destructive.
"But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." 1 Timothy 6:9

2. It is deceptive.
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6:10

3. It is decisive. You either believe in the things of this world, or you believe in God. One or the other.
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." Matthew 6:24
"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." Psalm 20:7

4. It is decrepit.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

5. It is decreasing.
"And the world is passing away, along with its lusts; but he who does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:17

6. It is declarative. Believing in this false gospel says something about your faith.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15

7. It is defective.
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life?" Mark 8:35-37

8. It is delightful to sinful ears.
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching, for the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." 2 Timothy 4:2-4

9. It is deductive. That is, it takes away from the truth of the Gospel.
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

10. It is defeated. The lies about the Gospel are already finished off.
"As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:5
"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!" 2 Timothy 2:8-9

Tom Ascol on Christian Training of Children

The Founders Blog is one of my favorites. My friends and I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Tom Ascol speak almost two years ago, and God blew us away with his words. Recently, he posted some thoughts on false and true Christian training of children:

Christians must take seriously our responsibility to train our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Merely exposing them for an hour or two a week to religious instruction will not adequately prepare them for a life of true discipleship. We must teach them, love them, show them and blaze a trail in front of them that enables us to say, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ " (1 Corinthians 11:1). Parents and pastors must learn to labor as a woman in birth pangs until Christ is formed in the children under our care (Galatians 4:19). This means that we will guard against encouraging superficial decisions to give mental assent to certain facts and call such decisions conversion.

All of this will require a mentality significantly different from that which too often prevails in evangelical children's ministries where fun is featured more than faith. Catechetical instruction as well as doctrinal and ethical training should be reclaimed as useful tools in the effort to ground our children in the Word of God. We must not hesitate teaching them the whole counsel of God and speaking plainly to them about the cost of discipleship.

Richard Wurmbrand, who suffered for the faith in Romania during the last half of the 20th century, describes his farewell to children in the church before he left his troubled homeland.

"I remember my last Sunday School class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions I told them, "Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to suffer at the hands of men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ." They had tears in their eyes when they said, 'Yes.'"

This is a far cry from whipping children into an emotional frenzy and then asking them, "How many of you want to be those who will give up their lives for Jesus?" Maybe we should hold more Sunday School classes in front of caged lions.

Yes, friends, that's actually what the Bible teaches about following Jesus. Why would we not teach our children about the God who is worthy enough for us to give our very lives?

For further reading, as Ascol suggests, see Psalm 78:1-8. There we are told to teach our children to have confidence in God so they are not unfaithful like their fathers.

Is This Other Gospel Really Any Gospel At All?

I was browsing through one of my favorite blogs when I came across this link to the front-page article of the latest Time magazine which asks the question, "Does God Want You To Be Rich?" (Here's the CNN.com summary.) More and more of our country's "Christian" leaders are answering, "Yes, oh yes."

Some of the Leaders
Joel Osteen, while appearing on Larry King Live, says, "I think what sometimes you see is it's just all about money. That's not what I believe. It's the attitude of your heart, and so you know, we believe - but I do believe this, that God wants us to be blessed. He wants us to be able to send our kids to college, excel in our careers. But prosperity to me, Larry, is not just money, it's having health. What good is money if you don't have health?"

Popular speaker and author Joyce Meyer is more obvious when she says, "Who would want to get in on something where you're miserable, poor, broke and ugly and you just have to muddle through until you get to heaven? I believe God wants to give us nice things."

Atlanta, GA, pastor Creflo Dollar says on his website, "We believe that God wants us to have a full life, free from poverty, sickness and disease." Dollar recently told his TV audience,"When you understand what you have a right to, you won't tolerate being broke, in debt, living in shortage."

The Biblical Response
What is troubling about these questions and responses is not that they are coming out, but that very few biblical, Christ-loving voices are speaking up against them. This is what the Scripture, speaking through Paul, calls those who love the Jesus of the Bible to do: "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound!" (2 Timothy 2:9)

I want to first make it clear that I love each and every word of faith, prosperity "gospel," health and wealth, or otherwise God's-good-gifts-seeking person I have ever met. I regularly pray for many of them to be turned from their vain pursuit of things that will fade away and to the only treasure that will last - Christ Jesus. I have spent much of my life with many of them, and they are very near and dear to my heart.

So, dear reader, please hear me out on this one. I am more grieved and saddened than angered and frustrated at such developments in local churches and ministries. False teaching always hurts the sheep of God. Wolves in sheep's clothing will arise, even out of the true church, Paul tells the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-30, and we must be on the lookout. If you become convinced of the Bible's witness to this subject, please ask and beg your friends and family to stay away from such false teaching! It will certainly lead many to destruction (1 Timothy 6:9)!

So, I have your eyes for the time being, now let us turn them toward God in His Word and let us pray that He would seek out any wicked way in us and lead us in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:24).

A Few Readings
Probably the plainest teaching on the subject of the temporal quality of life for the Christian comes, fittingly, from Jesus Himself in the Gospels. Take Mark 8:33-38, for example. Here Jesus responds to Peter's attempt to divert Him from the cross by saying,

" 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' "

He effectively tells Peter, the disciples, the crowd, and every reader who would every read the book of Mark that to follow Him is to (1) deny yourself, (2) take up your cross, and (3) follow Him to the cross where you will die a death like His.

Is this not what Christ Himself tells Peter again at the end of John's Gospel? "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me." (John 21:18-19) So John inserts a comment to explain to us, the readers, that Jesus' words were specifically meant to tell Peter that he would die a helpless death by following Jesus. Folks, it doesn't get much plainer than that.

What links these two passages together is clear: following Jesus. The Gospel is how we follow Him. And the Gospel is clear - it is about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for all the sinners who will ever believe in Him (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus is saying in these passages that those who follow Him will follow Him to His death. But all of His own will also follow Him to eternal life.

All Christians claim to follow Jesus. But, at the same time, all people in their sin and even many of us in our professed Christ-ianity still want to avoid the cross. So many Christians, and beware of them, dear friends, construct a theology in which the cross is something that only Jesus did, while life is what we all get. And that is simply false. The Bible tells us that those who follow Jesus will follow Him to His death in this life, and into His eternal life of perfection and happiness and eternal treasure after their death, not before.

Dear reader, I know your heart longs for a life of true joy and lasting happiness and no more crying or pain or sorrow, but the only way that is acheived is through the shed blood of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. So look for Him, hope for His eternal life, see it shining through into this sinful world. But the Bible warns us not to attempt to skip Jesus' cross in this life. He paid for sins in love on that cross, and we do not pay for sins but do love Him and others by following Him there to suffer and die. Believe it. Believe it is the way to true joy and lasting happiness in Him.

But why? Why would Jesus call us to such a life and such a death? Why does He say we must lose everything in order to gain everything? Why can't we have it both ways? Because in Matthew 13:44 He explains to us that the kingdom of heaven, not of earth, is the treasure for which we must give up everything. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

And what is so great about heaven? It is not the golden streets or the missed loved ones, the perfected character or the endless feasting on food. It is Christ Himself. When the Jews questioned how Jesus could give them His own flesh to eat in John 6:52-58, He responded:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."

Do you hear him sounding like Isaiah 55 when He says, "Eat on Me! Drink on Me! I am your sustenance! I am your bread and your water! Me!"? He sounds so inviting, so trustworth, and so treasurable - because He is. And nothing and no one else is.

But Someone Would Say . . .
Some would still respond, "But this life He speaks of, isn't that supposed to be your best, richest, fattest, happiest life now?" And the Bible responds, "Not exactly. It depends on what you mean by each of those words. Because meanings matter." So let us compare and contrast a few definitions for a moment.

If by, "best life," you mean, "the most possessions for the most worldly enjoyment possible, with the happiest emotions for the maximum amount of time possible," then Bible answers, "No. That is not the life that Jesus means. Have you not read the prophets? The Gospels?" But if by, "best life," you mean, "the maximum amount of happiness in Christ and His ways because of the cross that I can have in this life no matter what the cost," then the Bible answers, "Yes, exactly."

If by, "richest life," you mean, "the maximum amount of money I can have in this life so I can feel safe and secure in my bank account," then the Bible answers, "No. No. Not at all. Have you not read Hebrews 13?" But if by, "richest life," you mean, "the deepest and richest enjoyment I can have in Jesus Christ in this life and the next because of His cross so I can be safe and secure in Him for all eternity," then the Bible answers, "Yes, forever He is your refuge."

Ephesians 1:3 says that believers already have "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," including all the fullness of God's riches given in love by election, adoption, forgiveness, reconciliation, and His Holy Spirit. So, as Al Mohler says, "The saddest aspect of that question is its focus on material prosperity at the expense of the limitless spiritual riches we are given in Christ. The problem with prosperity theology is not that it promises too much, but that it promises so little - and promises that so falsely."

So the Bible must not only be our guide in asking and answering questions, but in how we ask and understand questions and define words. Words really do matter. That's how God has spoken and is speaking to us - in His Word. And if someone twists and contorts God's words to give them meanings that He did not mean, then that person is a false prophet teaching a false gospel and they are to be marked and avoided.

False gospels do no good, only harm. So watch out. Watch out for wolves in shepherd's clothing. Watch out, in love for Christ, love for your neighbor, love for your family, and care for your own soul.

Concluding Thoughts
All of this is not to say, "Start blasting away at the false gospel of prosperity," but rather, "Believe that God's best for you is to suffer well with Jesus in love for others." Believe it. Don't believe in money and don't let your neighbors do it either. Plead with them, beg them, pray for them to turn away from the deceit of this world and toward the truth of Christ. His worth cannot be measured in money so stop trying. He supercedes everything this world has to offer. All He created is good, and it is to be received with thanksgiving (not as though we are deserving) and sanctified by the Word and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

Let us close as Paul does to Timothy in his second letter, keeping in mind that he is building upon the Gospel of Christ and His death and resurrection. See if this sounds like a taking up of Christ's cross for the display of Him in truth to the church and to the world:

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time--he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge," for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

1 Timothy 6:6-21

Surprising Means and Imperfect People

Mark Dever is preaching through the book of Ruth for his church, Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington, D.C. Here's a few lines:

"Do you see all the blessings God wrought through that small reflection of His character? Untold blessings because Ruth was kind, in initiating that kind of care for someone else (Naomi)."

"Friend, if you are here today and you're not a Christian, just realize there are things that you need that you are not yet aware of."

Then, here is the kicker for me on God's use of surprising means and imperfect people:

"In this book, an alien, childless widow is the crucial person to bring blessing to Naomi and eventually to the nation, and in, God's plan, ultimately to the whole world. Do you see how God delights to act through surprising means? That brings God more glory! It makes it clear that something more than, something other than, human power is at work, and that's what we see in this book of Ruth. Thank God for all the ways He does that.

Thank God for how He does that in this church. Do you realize how important you members are who are not ideal people? You are especially valuable to us as a congregation, you non-ideal members. I think at last count we had 536 of them. [536 is their entire membership.] You see, when we are full of what appear to be only ideal people, God gets no glory. We look like the civic society. We look like some secular, successful meeting on Capitol Hill. It is exactly in our pain, in our brokenness, around our sins, and where our needs are displayed, that we have, then, platforms for God to glorify Himself through His provision for our need.

So, if you want, you can hide your need, so you won't feel personally ashamed, and so that you will not have to have difficult conversations with other people, but then, of course, you do diminish the glory of God. Or you can be open and honest about, 'yes, I know, I do appear perfect, but in fact I do struggle with this and this and this.' And you realize that what will happen is that God will be glorified as people see you continuing to live and live in this direction and live in joy, even as you're trusting Him and as He is fulfilling you in Him despite this painful relationship or that problem at work or this thing you don't understand spiritually or this physical ailment. "

I appreciate Mark's ability to make clear, Biblical distinctions, applications, and clarifications when preaching through books of the Bible. We all would do well to listen to the Lord's words like this.

(Originally posted at old site 9/5/2006.)

Music: This Day and Age

I found this band on purevolume.com a few days back, and their music has surprised and blessed me. Check these lines from "Second Star to the Right":

Don't give up on me
Your love is like the sea
Surrounding me

Of course, both secular and Christian bands can become obsessed and sugary about love in very vague terms, but I appreciate the music and the musicians who can explain the Biblical truth of the merciful, everlasting, all-encompassing love of God in fresh and new ways.

(Originally posted at old site 8/31/2006.)

The Dangers of Raising Children to Be Pharisees

John Loftness over at the Married Life blog writes:

Pharisees find their righteousness coming from their own works—what they do and what they avoid doing. They prefer to measure themselves by the standards of other people, either living in guilt that they have not attained self-righteousness or condemning those who do not measure up to their level of goodness.

We can feed this to our children. They need to know that based on God’s standards, we are all failures: that no one attains to righteousness by his own works; that the only remedy for our mounting sins is Jesus’ payment on the cross.

We train a child to be a Pharisee by:

* Calling her a “good girl”—despite her whining, or referring to him as a “basically good kid”—despite his recent rascally behavior.

* Accepting his grudging compliance to end correction rather than a willing heart.

* Allowing him to think that mouthing the words, “Please forgive me,” reflects a contrite heart that recognizes the need for forgiveness.

* Comparing him favorably to other children: “Don’t be like that nasty boy…”

This is a great article on parenting. Please read it. For our own hearts and those of our children, church, and neighbors, we would do well to examine our views and applications of Biblical, Christ-centered, heart-focused grace over against our own rampant self-righteousness and Phariseeism.

Are You Immersed in "Christian Subculture"?

"And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples."
Matthew 9:10 (see also Matt. 11:19, Mark 2:15, Luke 5:30)

"The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’"
Luke 7:34

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is pictured as the Son of God who spends time, even a great deal of time, with the known sinners of His day. In this Desiring God National Conference 2006 video, Pastor Mark Driscoll says,

"Many Christians don't have significant experience outside their Christian world. They listen to Christian radio; they listen to Christian music; they watch Christian television; they read Christian books; their kids go to Christian school; they go to Christian church; they go to Christian events; they go to Christian concerts; their friends are Christian; they go to community group or home Bible study with their Christian friends; they vacation with their Christian friends; and meanwhile their neighbors don't know Christ.

But the Bible says we're supposed to love our neighbor and we're supposed to practice hospitality, which is the welcoming of our neighbor. Well, to do that, we need to get to know our neighbor. And I think that is an attentiveness to the lives of lost people."

I am very convicted by this, and I suspect many of you are, too. It is sad that so many of us think that holiness before God consists in being around or not being around certain people and situations rather than in the blood of Jesus alone. This legalism is both sickening and deadly, and our very own "evangelical" churches are the ones who have perpetuated it.

So I asked myself, and I ask you now, "When was the last time you spent significant time with an unbeliever? A sinner? A tax collector? An atheist? And if you can't remember, or you haven't, why not?"

(The best thing I've ever read on Christian liberty is a paper by Martin Luther, called Concerning Christian Liberty.)

Make My Mouth a Fountain of Life

Proverbs 10:11 says, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence." (See also 13:14, 14:27, 16:22)

This is so often my prayer because I know that my mouth is often not a fountain of life, but instead gives the "sword thrusts" that Proverbs also speaks of (12:18). So, wanting to get into a God-given habit of encouragement and knowing that believing precedes and requires doing, I post many of them here for you to read and be encouraged. May God use these word for His glory in Jesus. He is the only way I could write such words.

My wife, my love, the Bible says that you are God's gift to me (Prov 18:22, 19:14, 31:10), and I am believing it more and more every day. God's grace is so evident in the way you help, follow, encourage, and listen to me, and in how care for our neighbors and our church. You are my best friend, my #2 always to Jesus, my wife, my love, my song, His greatest gift in the flesh to me, and a great cook. I can see that your love for Christ and for me grows daily as we work Him out in more and more of our details. He is surely at work in you to pour out His love and make you more like His Son. I am excited about whatever length of time God gives us together.

Stephen, your notes over the summer have been just what my heart has needed. Your fellowship and conversation over the last two and a half years is just what the good Lord Jesus ordered for me. He has given you such a gift of encouragement, listening, and preaching. I miss you, my brother, and can't wait for you to get back.

Gary, I spoke with you this morning and you are always an encouragement. "There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother," (Prov 18:24) is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus but He is certainly using you as one of my closer-than-brothers. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, a brother is born for adversity." That is you.

John Aaron, you always have something funny to say. You often lighten my heart. It is God's blessing on me to be able to see you - the brother I have long prayed for - grow up into His man.

Mom, I am growing more and more thankful for your involvement in our lives. You always want to help and encourage and share, just like the Holy Spirit comes along to help us. Your faith in God's enduring faithfulness is a constant testimony to your sons and daughter.

Dad, you always have some sort of practical advice to give me. The Lord has given you a gift with people and taught me many of those things through you. I am excited for you as God grows your third son up into a man.

Mattrock, I just wrote you an email and was reminded that we are as close as ever, even when you're far apart. I am reminded of how Paul wrote that he was with his churches "in spirit," and I think that means in prayer, in heart, in mind - not in some ghostly way, but in a real, heartfelt way. That is how I would characterize our communication lately - with each other in spirit. May God keep it that way, that we may press on toward His upward call in Christ Jesus. The music will be much better there!

John Aaron, how I enjoy being your older brother! You have taught me so much. I am thankful for your frank and honest look at life, your sense of humor, your care for others, and desire for happiness. May you find it in God the Son.

TCC - the elders, the guys, the community group, the families - you all are a constant encouragement to us. God has given our church the gift of hope - living hope in the resurrection of His Son - and you all live it before us and speak it to us regularly. Thank God for you being the body of Christ with whom we want to live and raise our family. We look forward to the coming weeks and years with you.

Papa Ben and Dolores, the Dunlaps, Stan the Man, the Macdonalds, the Bill Treece family - I'm not even sure you guys would come to our blog; but if you do, please know how thankful B and I are for your help and support during our engagement, wedding, and marriage. You all mean so much to us and are a tangible evidence of God's love and comfort toward us.

The E Family, how I have loved learning to love you. Steve called me yesterday and it was one oof the high points of my day. Praise God for your steadfastness in love and prayer and your commitment to each other and to us. We look forward to our next family vacation.

Jason and Paul and Robert - the guys at work - I am thankful for you three keeping me sharp, productive, and accountable. It can be boring and tedious working alone downstairs, but God has given me you guys to keep me jumping.

I'm sure I forgot some people, and I should have added some since I began this a month ago, but may God use this to encourage your hearts and point you toward the Life - Jesus Christ. He is the One who says, "I am the resurrection and the life," (John 11:25).

(Originally posted at old site 8/21/2006.)

Reproof and Wise Men

"Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you."
Proverbs 9:8

I was reading in Proverbs yesterday, trying to hustle through this middle section of chapter nine to get back to the contrasting descriptions of Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly, when I noticed this section of verses. The writer of Proverbs wants us to know something about wisdom and something about wise men. He wants us to know that wisdom and wise men are the polar opposite of foolishness and fools.

The following verse goes even further. It says that wise and righteous men are teachable - they grow in knowledge. Scoffers show a foolish hatred towards loving, reproving messengers, while wise men receive these words with love. And not only are wise men teachable, they're imperfect! Wise men are not perfect! Only God is perfect! What a freeing thought! God's people are called to be wise and yet not perfect! Amazing! His Word tells us to love reproof! Oh, that we would remember this truth when we feel the pressure of perfection! Oh, to be freed from legalism! To know the fear of the Lord forever!

So what do we do with these truths? Go around rebuking people for their incessant foolishness? Not exactly. These verses teach us that we ought to be thankful for loving rebukes, for kind reproofs, for good and hard words. That's right - thankful. We ought to love the messengers more, not less. And ultimately, we ought to love the God who constantly shepherds us with His rod and His staff (Psalm 23:4). Both the rod and the staff are meant to comfort God's sheep.

After quoting Proverbs 3:11-12 in Hebrews 12, the writer goes on to explain the text:

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

So the sign of God's grace in a believer's life is not a nice, solitary, private life, but one in which there is love that disciplines and reproves. So the question for you and me is this: do you love reproof? Do you love the person who rebukes you in your arrogance and selfishness? Are you thankful for that person's kind words, or are you angry at them for breaking your bubble of self-righteousness and wounding your conscience?

The truth is that Jesus has already exposed our arrogance and self-rightouesness on the cross. He took upon Himself the wrath of God against all who would ever believe in Him and paid for their sins on His bloody cross. By His perfect obedience to God and at the price of His very life, He bought and gave to His people the ability to hear and believe the words of God - His Holy Spirit. Now, by trusting in Jesus's life and death and resurrection in our place, we can hear God's loving words - both the rod that breaks us and the staff that gathers us close. We can love the God who reproves us - both by His written Word and by His messengers, the very people around us. And we can even love those people, too. That, my friends, is the mark of wisdom.

Calvin on Ephesians 4

"11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Ephesians 4:11-16

I was reading John Calvin's commentary on Ephesians and found his words on these verses to be particularly helpful. In this section's overview he says,

He [Paul] returns to explain the distribution of gifts, and illustrates at greater length what he had slightly hinted, that out of this variety arises unity in the church, as the various tones in music produce sweet melody. The meaning may be thus summed up. 'The external ministry of the word is also commended, on account of the advantages which it yields. Certain men appointed to that office, are employed in preaching the gospel. This is the arrangement by which the Lord is pleased to govern his church, to maintain its existence, and ultimately to secure its highest perfection.'

On verse 11 he comments,

The government of the church, by the preaching of the word, is first of all declared to be no human contrivance, but a most sacred ordinance of Christ. The apostles did not appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ; and, at the present day, true pastors do not rashly thrust themselves forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord. In short, the government of the church, by the ministry of the word, is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God. As his own unalterable law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ its Author. It is himself who gave them; for, if he does not raise them up, there will be none.

He goes on to explain in verse 12,

What is more excellent than to produce the true and complete perfection of the church? And yet this work, so admirable and divine, is here declared by the apostle to be accomplished by the external ministry of the word. That those who neglect this instrument should hope to become perfect in Christ is utter madness. Yet such are the fanatics, on the one hand, who pretend to be favored with secret revelations of the Spirit, — and proud men, on the other, who imagine that to them the private reading of the Scriptures is enough, and that they have no need of the ordinary ministry of the church.

If the edification of the church proceeds from Christ alone, he has surely a right to prescribe in what manner it shall be edified. But Paul expressly states, that, according to the command of Christ, no real union or perfection is attained, but by the outward preaching.

Finally, on verse 14 he comments on the state of being "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,"

Such must be the changeable and unsteady character of all who do not rest on the foundation of God’s eternal truth. It is their just punishment for looking, not to God, but to men. Paul declares, on the other hand, that faith, which rests on the word of God, stands unshaken against all the attacks of Satan.

This section of Calvin is not only the definition of good exposition, but, more importantly, explains that this text reminds us of God's good governance of His Church by His Word. "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it," says the author of Hebrews. Let us listen up to the all-growing, all-maturing, all-pointing-to-Christ Word of God.

How a Saint Spends a Sabbatical

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31

In this article, Pastor John Piper explains how he spent his 5-month sabbatical. I was encouraged in a number of ways to learn how a father in the faith, a mature man in Christ, spent his time off. Check it out for real-life examples of:

• family worship
• personal devotion
• Godward sightseeing
• thankfulness to God and others (and God for others)
  
• a God-centered view of history
• a God-centered, church-helping view of scholarship and writing
• balanced reading across many genres
  
• dates with the wife and time with the family
  

Many would consider a sabbatical to be a vacation. It wasn't for Pastor John; he didn't waste his sabbatical.

More of Owen on the Love of God

I promised to post more of Owen's Communion with God. Here is his continued explanation of how God's love to His children and their love to Him differ:

2dly. They differ in this:— The love of the Father unto us is an antecedent love; our love unto him is a consequent love.
(1st.) The love of the Father unto us is an antecedent love, and that in two respects:—
[1st.] It is antecedent in respect of our love, 1 John iv. 10, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” His love goes before ours. The father loves the child, when the child knows not the father, much less loves him. Yea, we are by nature θεοστυγεῖς, Rom. i. 30, — haters of God. He is in his own nature φιλάνθρωπος, — a lover of men; and surely all mutual love between him and us must begin on his hand.
[2dly.] In respect of all other causes of love whatever. It goes not only before our love, but also any thing in us that is lovely. Rom. v. 8, “God commendeth his love towards us, in that whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Not only his love, but the eminent fruit thereof, is made out towards us as sinners. Sin holds out all of unloveliness and undesirableness that can be in a creature. The very mention of that removes all causes, all moving occasions of love whatever. Yet, as such, have we the commendation of the Father’s love unto us, by a most signal testimony. Not only when we have done no good, but when we are in our blood, doth he love us; — not because we are better than others, but because himself is infinitely good. His kindness appears when we are foolish and disobedient. Hence he is said to “love the world;” that is, those who have nothing but what is in and of the world, whose whole [portion] lies in evil.
(2dly.) Our love is consequential in both these regards:—
[1st.] In respect of the love of God. Never did creature turn his affections towards God, if the heart of God were not first set upon him.
[2dly.] In respect of sufficient causes of love. God must be revealed unto us as lovely and desirable, as a fit and suitable object unto the soul to set up its rest upon, before we can bear any love unto him. The saints (in this sense) do not love God for nothing, but for that excellency, loveliness, and desirableness that is in him. As the psalmist says, in one particular, Ps. cxvi. 1, “I love the Lord, because!” so may we in general; we love the Lord, because! Or, as David in another case, “What have I now done? is there not a cause?” If any man inquire about our love to God, we may say, “What have we now done? is there not a cause?”

We all could stand to meditate on God's love the way Owen does here.

The Time of Our Exile

The Bible talks about exile and exiles quite a bit:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Hebrews 11:13

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia . . .
1 Peter 1:1

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile . . .
1 Peter 1:17

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
1 Peter 2:11

And that's only from Hebrews and 1 Peter. Yet this is something that we have struggled with quite a bit - how do we live as exiles on this earth? How do we keep in mind the fact that this place is not our home? How do we wander on toward heaven?

A friend's post helped me a good bit today. I remembered how I wept in longing for heaven, how I often feel a stranger here, how I feel helpless to get home. These are all good reminders - beautiful signposts God has placed along our journey as husband and wife. They scream out, "Come home," "My home is where your heart is!" and "I am the only who can get you here!"

Our hearts are there, our hope is in the enthroned Christ, and our eyes are fixed on Him. May He encourage us and bring us finally home. Home is where Jesus is.

"Fountain of Life" in Psalms and Proverbs

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Psalm 36:9

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Proverbs 10:11

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. Proverbs 13:14

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27

Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly. Proverbs 16:22

Michael Lawrence on Creation

"The story of creation is a story in which God makes a claim on your life. The story of creation is a story in which He stakes out ownership rights on you and on me."

Michael Lawrence is preaching through the story of the Bible at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Check it out.

Jesus is the very Word of God, "(so) this means that whenever and whatever God creates, whether it's light or human life or spiritual life, it is an act of powerful, irresistible grace."

After expounding Ezekiel 36 and John 11: "The bones in that dry valley didn't say, 'Oh, I don't feel like getting up today.' Lazarus didn't say to Jesus, 'Ask me again tomorrow when I'm ready.' No, friends, when the voice of God rings out in gracious, active, creative power, not even death can say resist! Not even unbelief can say no! Oh, friends, God's voice is irresistable, because it is powerful."

(Originally posted at old site on 7/31/2006.)

Nick Roark on God's Love and Ours

My friend and former teacher Nick Roark preached this sermon on 1st John for Providence Baptist Church's College Ministry this past Sunday. Here are a few of his excellent God-given lines:

"Think of it like this, our love is a trickling stream, a mountain stream, it's small . . . that flows down the mountain and finds its source in God's love. Whatever love you have this morning, give glory to God, because He is the source of love."

"God's love is not a lip-service love - He has done something for you, He has accomplished something for you, by His love . . . God is not like us - when God says, 'I love you,' He demonstrates and accomplishes glorious things for the one He loves."

"God's love is always previous to our love."

"Sin isn't just things that you do to one another; sin is an affront to God. We were sinful, we were hopeless, we needed a Savior, we were headed for death; and God looks upon us and sends His only Son to be our Savior."

"This is the Gospel . . . this is the greatest news, this is worth living for, this is worth dying for - that the God who made us has sent His Son to save us."

Thanks for the tip, Gary! I was encouraged. Hope you all are.

John Owen on the Love of God

Last night I was reading Communion with God, by the Puritan great John Owen, and I came across these amazing and humbling paragraphs. After showing the likeness between God's love to believers and theirs to Him, Owen turns to explaining how these two loves differ:

There are sundry (various) things wherein they differ:—
1st. The love of God is a love of bounty; our love unto him is a love of duty.
(1st.) The love of the Father is a love of bounty, — a descending love; such a love as carries him out to do good things to us, great things for us. His love lies at the bottom of all dispensations towards us; and we scarce anywhere find any mention of it, but it is held out as the cause and fountain of some free gift flowing from it. He loves us, and sends his Son to die for us; — he loves us, and blesseth us with all spiritual blessings. Loving is choosing, Rom. ix. 11, 12. He loves us and chastiseth us. [It is] a love like that of the heavens to the earth, when, being full of rain, they pour forth showers to make it fruitful; as the sea communicates its waters to the rivers by the way of bounty, out of its own fulness, — they return unto it only what they receive from it. It is the love of a spring, of a fountain, — always communicating; — a love from whence proceeds every thing that is lovely in its object. It infuseth into, and creates goodness in, the persons beloved. And this answers the description of love given by the philosopher. “To love,” saith he, “ἔστι βούλεσθαι τινὶ ἃ οἴεται ἀγαθά καὶ κατὰ δύαμιν πρακτικὸν εἶαι τούων," - He that loves works out good to them he loveth, as he is able. God’s power and will are commensurate; — what he willeth he worketh.

(2dly.) Our love unto God is a love of duty, the love of a child. His love descends upon us in bounty and fruitfulness; our love ascends unto him in duty and thankfulness. He adds to us by his love; we nothing to him by ours. Our goodness extends not unto him. Though our love be fixed on him immediately, yet no fruit of our love reacheth him immediately; though he requires our love, he is not benefited by it, Job xxxv. 5–8, Rom. xi. 35, Job xxii. 2, 3. It is indeed made up of these four things:— 1. Rest; 2. Delight; 3. Reverence; 4. Obedience. By these do we hold communion with the Father in his love. Hence God calls that love which is due to him as a father, “honour,” Mal. i. 6, “If I be a father, where is mine honour?” It is a deserved act of duty.

I pray that these words from God's Word encourage you today as they do me. What a blessing it is to be loved by God! Nothing else is even in the same universe of comparison! His is the sun, all else is but a match!

(I plan on posting more of Communion with God, and you can read it or download it in its entirety here.)

Only Grace Can Save Your Life . . .

"If it is by works, then it is no longer by grace," says Paul in Romans 11, yet I for one don't spend enough time thinking about God's grace over against my own works.

Check this out. May it help you meditate on Biblical grace and be freed from legalism.

(Hat Tip: Tim Challies)

Incarnating the Christ of the Gospel

God used Mark Driscoll's words to convict me yet again of gnostic, separationist sin. He said that we need to be getting to know the lost people around us, and I realized that I don't care enough for my lost neighbors. This was after hearing Tim Keller talk about how lost people feel like aliens in church groups because they cannot identify with Christians, not over Gospel issues, but over simple things like concern for neighborhoods and justice. Wow.

I quickly realized that we evangelical Christians have such gnostic tendencies that we think we should be completely separate from the rest of the world. But, as Driscoll points out, God has placed us as missionaries in a particular culture. Christ Himself has called us to do as He did and immerse ourselves in that culture as much as possible without sin.

He ate with sinners and tax collectors! We ought to be like Him and care for the sinners around us! May God's Spirit move in power on us to hear this cry to love our God-given neighbors.

(Originally posted at old site 7/18/2006.)

Jonathan Edwards on Matthew 5:8 (Part 2)

Matthew 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

Edwards wrote much on this topic, especially in a sermon in his works, volume 2. Another great point from that sermon:

This joy is without mixture, not only as it brings not bitterness with it, but also as it will not suffer any. The sight of God excludes every thing that is of a nature different from delight. This light is such, as who He excludes darkness.

It is not in the power of any earthly enjoyment to drive and shut out all trouble from the heart. If a man has some things in which he takes comfort and pleasure, there are others that yield him uneasiness and sorrow; if he has some things in the world that are sweet, there are others that are bitter, against which it is not in the power of his pleasures to help him. We never can find any thing here below that shall make us so happy, but that we shall have grief and pleasure mixed together. This world, let us make the best of it, will be spotted with black and white, varied with clouds and sunshine, and to them who yield their hearts to it, it will yield pain as well as pleasure. But this pleasure of seeing God can suffer no mixture; for this pleasure of seeing God is so great and strong that it takes the full possession of the heart, it fills it perfectlyfull, so that there shall be no room for any sorrow, no room in any corner for any thing of an adversenature from joy. There is no darkness that can bear such powerful light. It is impossible that they who see God face to face, who behold his glory and love so immediately as they do in heaven, should have any such thing as grief or pain in their hearts. When once the saints are come into God’s presence, tears shall be wiped from their eyes, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. The pleasure will be so great, as fully and perfectly to employ every faculty; the sight of God’s glory and love will be so wonderful, so engaging to the mind, and it shall keep all the powers of it in such strong attention, that the soul will be wholly possessed and taken up.

Again. There will be in what they shall see, a sufficient antidote against every thing that would afford uneasiness, or that can have any tendency thereto. If there were sin in the heart before, that used by its exercise to disturb its peace and quiet, and was a seed and spring of trouble, the immediate and full sight of God’s glory will at once drive it all away. Sin cannot remain in the heart which thus beholds God, for sin is a principle of enmity against God; but there can no enmity remain in one, who after this manner sees God’s glory. It must and will wholly drive away any such principle, and change it into love. The imperfect sight that the saints have of God’s glory here, transforms them in part into the same image; but this perfect sight will transform them perfectly. If there be the hatred of enemies, the vision of the love and power of God will be a sufficient antidote against it; so that it can give no uneasiness. If the saint is removed by death from all his earthly friends, and earthly enjoyments, that will give no uneasiness to him, when he sees what a fulness there is in God. He will see that there is all in him, so that he who possesses him can lose nothing: whatever is taken from him he sustains no loss. And whatever else there may be, that would otherwise afford grief and uneasiness to the soul, it cannot affect him who is in the presence of God and sees his face.

What a beautiful truth! For those who trust in the cross of Jesus for forgiveness of sins, our happiness in God will forever be inexhaustible, incomprehensible, indescribable, insurmountable, incomparable! Nothing in this life or the next will ever be able to take us from the hands of Jesus or shake our joy in Him! And all of this life's pleasures mixed with pain are meant to remind us of this pure and final joy! Rejoice, O Christian, rejoice! Jesus is your forever-portion! And He is ultimately thrilling!

(Originally posted at old site 7/7/2006.)

Jonathan Edwards on Matthew 5:8 (Part 1)

Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Jonathan Edwards wrote many pages on this idea, and God used some of them to encourage us last night. Here are some of the best paragraphs:

The happiness of seeing God is a blessing without any mixture. That pleasure has the best claim to be called man’s true happiness, which comes unmixed, and without alloy. But so doth the joy of seeing God; it neither brings any bitterness, nor will it suffer any.

This pleasure brings no bitterness with it. That is not the case with other delights, in which natural men are wont to place their happiness; they are bitter sweets, yielding a kind of momentary pleasure in gratifying an appetite, but wormwood and gall are mingled in the cup. He who plucks these roses, finds that they grow on thorns; he who tastes of this honey is sure to find in it a sting. If men place their happiness in them, reason and conscience will certainly give them inward disturbance in their enjoyment. There will be the sting of continual disappointments, for carnal delights are of such a nature that they keep the soul, that places its happiness in them, always big with expectation and in eager pursuit; while they are evermore like shadows, and never yield what is hoped for. They who give themselves up to them, unavoidably bring upon themselves many heavy inconveniences. If they promote their pleasure in any way, they destroy their comforts in many other ways; and this sting ever accompanies them, that they are but short-lived, they will soon vanish, and be no more.

And as to the pleasure found in the enjoyment of earthly friends, there is a bitterness goes also with that. An intense love to any earthly object, though it may afford high enjoyment, yet greatly multiplies our cares and anxieties through the defects and blemishes, the instability and changeableness, of the object, the calamities to which it is exposed, and the short duration of all such friendships, and of the pleasures thence arising.

Oh, that God would remind us that all earthly pleasures are fleeting, that He is the only One who is perfectly pure and true! Praise be to Jesus for buying us this delight with His blood, and giving us the grace through faith to cling to Him! There have been some earthly stings in our life lately, and we were encouraged to stop, meditate on God's infinite-ness, be humbled by our finite-ness and fragility, and rejoice in God's pure glory and gladness. So stop and take some time to read a good dead theologian.G od often uses them to give us the grace of the knowledge of Him.

(Originally posted on old site 7/7/2006.)

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ is a book by John Piper that my wife and I really enjoy. In it, Piper strives to biblically show us the greatness and glory of Jesus Christ. We were especially encouraged last night by chapter three, "Indestructible Joy: The Gladness of Jesus Christ." You can read it here or purchase it here.

(Originally posted at old site 7/5/2006.)

Exodus 4-5

At the crack of O'eight-clock, I got up, not having to go to work today. So I had a sweet hour and a half to spend in God's precious Word. And I did just that. Exodus 4-5 was my text, and many insights abounded.

1. God will always come and deliver His people, even when we question His timing. The people got angry at Moses when their work increased, Moses questioned God, but God's plan never wavered for an instant. He told Moses exactly what would happen and it came to pass. Because of God's plan they saw the greatest event of the Old Testament - the very Exodus from Egypt, complete with rising and falling walls of water.

2. Human hearts are insanely wicked. That is one of the main points of the Pentateuch. God gives the Hebrews His good words and laws and commandments and wisdom, and they rebel against Him and worship other gods. This is just like you and me and every person we've ever met. Apart from the heart-change that only God can bring, we are not simply indifferent to God - we hate God. This in particular caused me to pray for myself, our family, our friends, our church, and our world.

3. The story cries out for a goal, an end, a consummation. Though in Exodus we God's great deliverance out of Egypt, the Hebrews still later rebel. And the story of Israel continues throughout the Bible as the story of a largely unbelieving people. They are accursed and cut off from Christ (Romans 9:4f)! They need salvation (Romans 10:1f)! And so do we (Romans 3:9-20)! May we who hope in Christ bring many more with us to look forward to the day of final salvation from judgement, final deliverance into everlasting fellowship with God Himself, and final ending of all pain and sorrow for those who believe. My brothers, let us look forward to His return!

(Originally posted at old site 7/4/2006.)

"Think About How to Make Jesus the Subject of More of Your Sentences"

This is just one of the many Scripture-soaked, honey-of-the-Word-dripping sentences that my friend Paul Curtis spoke by the grace of God as he preached at Capitol Hill Baptist Church a few Sundays ago. Here's another:

"On the cross Jesus was purchasing everlasting, soul-satisfying fellowship with God at great cost to Himself."

Listen to the whole thing. May God use it to bless your soul.

(Originally posted at old site 6/29/2006.)