Draw Near

SHEPHERDING THE FLOCK OF GOD

2012-01-23T05:10:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago our elders communicated with our church family that we are making a commitment to a more organized and better effort in shepherding the people of God at Patterson Park. In our worship services on Sunday, January 22, we began a short series of sermons on the subject of Shepherding God’s Flock. In the final chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus told Peter to shepherd his flock; feed my sheep. In Paul’s final words to the Ephesian elders, he spoke of his own example to them and admonished them to: Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
What I want you to notice in that statement is not so much the responsibility of the elders, though we will talk about that, but the reference to whom the elders are to care: the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Though we probably know the facts about the death of Christ, his blood that was shed for our sins, the fact that our redemption from sin was accomplished at the cross, I think we sometimes still lose sight of the fact that we are so treasured by God, so loved by him, so precious to him, that he bought us and made us his very own by the price of the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, who died for us. By virtue of Christ’s death on the cross for our sins and our faith in him as our only Savior, we are the church of God. We belong to him. He obtained us with his blood.
Patterson Park Church is not our church, though we often refer to the church we attend as our church. The church does not belong to us, though many of us have supported the church financially. The church does not belong to the leadership, though we in leadership carry a responsibility for the well-being of the church. We are the church of God and so treasured by him that he obtained us by the blood of his Son.
Scripture describes those who belong to Christ the following ways: God’s chosen people; the bride and the body of Christ; a people for his own possession; members of the household of God; a dwelling place for God by his Spirit.
Therefore, the role of Christ’s under-shepherds is incredibly important. We are called to care for, feed, nurture, and lead those whom Christ has obtained by his blood. It is a weighty and sobering responsibility. As our Shepherd, everything God does in our lives reveals his loyalty to us and how deeply he cares for us and for our spiritual well-being. Consequently, the goals and roles of shepherds ought to be the same; to work toward the spiritual well-being of those God has entrusted us to serve.
Our elders look forward to a renewed effort to serving the people of God at Patterson Park Church as Christ’s under-shepherds.

RESOLUTIONS

2012-01-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Making resolutions for the New Year is a common practice for many of us. Many of our resolutions are an attempt at correcting bad habits of the past year. One web site suggests that the most common New Year’s Resolutions are related to eating habits, physical exercise, financial and time management, etc. For most of us, changes in regard to bad habits in those areas will be healthy and productive.
For followers of Christ, resolutions center around spiritual matters. We resolve to read through the Bible, pray more, get involved in a ministry, and focus more on that has eternal value and brings glory to God.
At the young age of 18 to 19 years old, Jonathan Edwards, a relatively new believer, wrote 70 purpose statements for his life that have commonly come to be known as “Resolutions.” Below are the first of his resolutions, which speaks in a comprehensive way of all his resolutions. Thought the language is characterized by the day in which he lived, 1703 to 1758, the truths he communicates are worthy characteristics for us to embrace.
“ Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.”
May God grant us all the wisdom to know what glorifies him most, and pursue that with all our might.

TEMPTATION

2011-11-14T07:28:00.000-08:00

In his moment of weakness, Peter, who affirmed his love for Christ and boldly stated that he would die for Christ, denied being his disciple. His denial is puzzling. It does not appear that the girl who asked him was a threat of some sort; that there was some impending danger to him should he acknowledge that he belonged to Christ. Yet, in the moment, he denied knowing Christ. None of us plan to yield to temptation. We all believe that, should the occasion arise where we are forced to acknowledge or deny Christ, we will gladly and confidently acknowledge that we belong to Christ; that we are his followers.
It is the unplanned moment, the moment we falsely think will never be a problem, that men have marked their lives with poor decisions and sinful acts. In the moment, the weakness of our flesh captures us and we yield to unholy and forbidden things. In the moment, things that look like they will bring incredible pleasure bring devastation and heartache.
Satan’s first act of tempting took our first parents from the purity of sinlessness to the corruptness of the human race. God’s entire creation was marred as a result. In a moment, God’s word was denied and everything God made and declared good became objects of his wrath. History was changed, in a moment.
No wonder Jesus taught us to pray regularly: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13); and, keep them from the evil one (John 17:15).
James Montgomery Boice, longtime pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, wrote this in his commentary on John’s account of Peter’s denial: “We can hardly miss the conclusion that if we indulge ourselves in such over-confidence, if we think that we are invulnerable because we are strong, have certain obvious talents, are wise or can analyze the tendencies and dangers of our culture, then we are well on our way to falling. Jesus said, ‘Without me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). Nothing means nothing! Whenever we forget that, we are in trouble” (James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, pages 1259-1260).
The challenge is for all of us to recognize the intensity of the spiritual battle. Peter would later warn us with the following: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

Pat Robertson Repudiates the Gospel | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

2011-09-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Pat Robertson Repudiates the Gospel | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Do You Doubt Yourself? Good! Tullian Tchividjian

2011-08-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

A shift has taken place in the Evangelical church with regard to the way we think about the gospel–and it’s far from simply an ivory tower conversation. This shift effects us on the ground of everyday life.

Shifting Away from Salvation

In his book Paul: An Outline of His Theology, famed Dutch Theologian Herman Ridderbos (1909 – 2007) summarizes this shift, which took place following Calvin and Luther. It was a sizable but subtle shift that turned the focus of salvation from Christ’s external accomplishment to our internal appropriation:

While in Calvin and Luther all the emphasis fell on the redemptive event that took place with Christ’s death and resurrection, later under the influence of pietism, mysticism, and moralism, the emphasis shifted to the individual appropriation of the salvation given in Christ and to it’s mystical and moral effect in the life of the believer. Accordingly, in the history of the interpretation of the epistles of Paul the center of gravity shifted more and more from the forensic to the pneumatic and ethical aspects of his preaching, and there arose an entirely different conception of the structures that lay at the foundation of Paul’s preaching.

Donald Bloesch made a similar observation when he wrote, “Among the Evangelicals, it is not the justification of the ungodly (which formed the basic motif in the Reformation) but the sanctification of the righteous that is given the most attention.”

Focusing On the Individual

With this shift came a renewed focus on the internal life of the individual. The subjective question, “How am I doing?” became a more dominant feature than the objective question, “What did Jesus do?” As a result, generations of Christians were taught Christianity was primarily a lifestyle; that the essence of our faith centered on "how to live;" that real Christianity was demonstrated in the moral change that took place inside those who had a “personal relationship with Jesus.” Our ongoing performance for Jesus, therefore, not Jesus’ finished performance for us, became the focus of sermons, books, and conferences. What I need to do and who I need to become became the end game.

“

Sanctification feeds on justification, not the other way around.
”

Believe it or not, this shift in focus from “the forensic to the pneumatic,” from the external to the internal, has enslaving practical consequences.

When In Trouble Or In Doubt

When you’re on the brink of despair, looking into the abyss of darkness experiencing a dark-night of the soul, turning to the internal quality of your faith will bring you no hope, no rescue, no relief. Every internal answer will collapse underneath you. Turning to the external object of your faith, namely Christ and his finished work on your behalf, is the only place to find peace, re-orientation, and help. The gospel always directs you to something, someone, outside of you instead of to something inside of you for the assurance you crave and need in seasons of desperation and doubt. The surety you long for when everything seems to be falling apart won’t come from discovering the dedicated “hero within” but only from the realization that no matter how you feel or what you’re going through, you’ve already been discovered by the “Hero without.”

As Sinclair Ferguson writes in his book The Christian Life:

True faith takes its character and quality from its object and not from itself. Faith gets a man out of himself and into Christ. Its strength therefore depends on the character of Christ. Even those of us who have weak faith have the same strong Christ as others!

Trust in Jesus, Not Yourself

By his Spirit, Christ’s continuing subjective work in me consists of his constant, daily driving me back to his completed objective work for me. Sanctification feeds on justification, not the other way around. To be sure, both doctrine and devotion go hand in hand, but the gospel is the good news announcing Christ’s devotion to us, not our devotion to him. The gospel is not a command to hang onto Jesus. Rather, it’s a promise that no matter how weak your faith may be in seasons of spiritual depression, God is always holding on to you.

“

The gospel always directs you to something, someone, outside of you instead of to something inside of you for the assurance you crave and need in seasons of desperation and doubt.
”

Martin Luther had a term for the debilitating danger that comes from locating our hope in anything inside us: monstrum incertitudinis (the monster of uncertainty). It’s a danger that has always plagued Christians since the fall but especially Christians in our highly subjectivistic age. And it’s a monster that can only be destroyed by the external promises of God in Jesus.

Peace with God Rests on the Work of Christ

Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is a bonafide peace that’s built on a real change in status before God—from standing guilty before God the judge to standing righteous before God our Father. This is the objective custody of even the weakest believer. It’s a peace that rests squarely on the fact that we’ve already been “reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (v. 10), justified before God once and for all through faith in Christ’s finished work. It will surely produce real feelings and robust action, but this peace with God that Paul describes rests securely on the work of Christ for us, outside us. The more I look into my own heart for peace, the less I find. On the other hand, the more I look to Christ and his promises for peace, the more I find.

So, when pressed in on every side, look up. In God’s economy, the only way out is up, not in.

The Sequoias

2011-08-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

The following is an excerpt from The Root of Riches by Chuck Bentley one of our members sent me this past week. Bentley captures the heart of the relationships we have with each other as members of the body of Christ with his analogy.

I picked up a Giant Sequoia cone once on a trip to the Sequoia National Forest in California. I stood in awe as I looked up the trunk of the massive tree pondering the magnificent structure that was once a tiny seed like those contained in the cone I held. Sequoias can grow to over 300 feet tall, the height of a 30-story building. They are the largest living things on earth, but they originate from a tiny seed the size of an oat flake. The Giant Sequoia can grow to over 33 feet in diameter. Twenty average people linking hands would barely circle the base of a mature tree. Their branches can reach seven feet in diameter and their bark has been measured up to 31 inches thick. The oldest recorded Giant Sequoia is estimated to be 3,200 years old. Scientists aren’t sure why the Giant Sequoia lives so long, but I have my own theory. Besides their great size and age, these trees have unusual root systems. Although quite shallow, given the immense size of the trees, their roots seem to interlock with those of other trees around them. I think these majestic, towering examples of strength and beauty stand firm because beneath the surface their roots are joined together, which gives them the stability they need to endure wind, ice, snow, and even earthquakes! They do not stand alone. Is that not a beautiful picture of the Body of Christ? (The) trees do not stand alone. With common roots that feed on God’s enduring love, they allow their love to flow out and nourish others. (The) trees grow to become towering examples of Christ’s love and produce the same glorious, priceless fruit wherever they are planted. When we become He Trees, we join a family. We’re the same species of tree as every boy and girl, man and woman, adult or child who has ever entered the kingdom of God. God designed us with interlocking roots that hold us together as a worldwide community. This unique support system eliminates loneliness as we depend upon each other to weather the storms of life. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Bentley, Chuck (2011-07-20). The Root of Riches (Kindle Locations 2143-2144). FORIAM Publishers in association with Crown Financial Ministries, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

If You Preach the Gospel

2011-08-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

From the Ligonier Ministries Blog

Posted: 25 Jul 2011 06:45 AM PDT

There is something deeply mysterious about Christian preaching, both in terms of its communication and in terms of its content. After all, what we preach is not what the world expects to hear. It is not a message they will hear anywhere else. No human wisdom, no school of philosophy, no secular salesman, no TV commercial speaker selling his CDs is ever going to come up with this on his own. Take a look at what is selling in the bookstores and who is hosting the big conferences. You'll realize that if you can tell people how to buy property and profit from its renovation, you can sell your messages. If you can tell people how to lose weight, you can sell just about anything. If you can tell people how to become handsome and wise, raise children who are well-behaved, and have their pets like them, you will find yourself to be a very popular speaker. You could put your DVDs and CDs together and write books that would be sold in bookstores and hawked on television.

But if you preach the gospel, you just might discover that it is not quite so popular. But it is powerful and it is mysterious. Why? Because it was a mystery that God hid from previous generations in order that it might be displayed publicly at the time of the Lord Jesus Christ

Excerpted from Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching.

Why Do You Have to Be So Precise?

2011-07-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Why Do You Have to Be So Precise?

The Shepherd and His Sheep

2011-06-06T04:41:00.001-07:00

Glenn Wagner has written a book entitled Escape from Church, INC.: The Return of the Pastor-Shepherd. He wrote the book at a time in which there was a growing movement which viewed churches from a corporate model and pastors as CEO’s. Wagner tells the story of a pastor who was approached by a member following a sermon in which he repeatedly referred to elders as shepherds. The individual’s concern was that no one in our day understands shepherds and sheep and the pastor needed to replace his ancient culture language with a more modern analogy. The pastor took up his friend’s challenge but came to the conclusion that there was no modern metaphor that was suitable. This is what he told this member: “I can’t find any figure equivalent to the shepherd idea in our modern, urban world. Besides, if I drop the shepherd and flock idea, I would have to tear about five hundred pages out of my Bible, plus leave the modern church with a distorted – if not neutered – view of spiritual leadership” (Glenn Wagner, Escape from Church, INC.: The Return of the Pastor-Shepherd, pages 112-113).
Do you recall the words of Jesus to Peter in John 21? Jesus asked Peter three times, do you love me? After each affirmative answer by Peter, Jesus told him to feed and tend Christ’s sheep. Whether you like the analogy or not, Scripture is filled with this analogy in which the people of God are pictured as sheep. The most famous and perhaps beloved chapter in the entire Bible, Psalm 23, paints this picture: The Lord is my Shepherd. What does a shepherd do for his sheep? He cares for, loves, watches over, guards, feeds, and leads his sheep. The concepts of feeding and guarding are prevalent thoughts in the Pastoral Epistles. The focus in I Timothy is guarding the truth against those who would lead the sheep astray by feeding the people of God with his truth. The elder must be able to teach. So much is said in these three books about the teaching and preaching of the Scriptures which feeds the people of God.
Elders must have a deep love and spiritual concern for the people of God so that they minister according to the needs of the people. After all, the sheep belong to Christ, the Great Shepherd, who laid down his life for us.

Tim Challies' Recommendation of our Book

2011-06-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

Elder Governance: Insights into Making the Transition by Daniel Evans & Joseph Godwin. This book speaks about making the sometimes-difficult transition from a board-run church to a church governed by elders. Here is the publisher’s description: “When the leadership of Patterson Park Church looked for a book explaining the process of transitioning from a board-run church to an elder led form of church government, a structure they had come to believe was more in line with Scripture, they found none. God honored their efforts and two of their elders decided a book still needed to be written. Elder Governance: Insights into Making the Transition examines church government from a biblical and historical context and tells the story of Patterson Park’s transition. The authors are hopeful that God will use their experience to help others considering such a transition.” It comes endorsed by R. Kent Hughes, James Grier and Alexander Strauch.

Suffering Well

2011-05-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I preached the funeral of a church member and friend in whcih I made the statement that Craig knew how to “suffer well.” For many this seems like a strange statement. For the believer, this is a view of life we understand. We have watched many dear friends at our church suffer well recently; individuals suffering with terminal illnesses; families who have lost loved ones to disease; individuals who in desperate times of need have trusted God and demonstrated incredible faith and perseverance. These all understand that the sovereign God reigns over all things and makes no mistakes.
I recently attended the memorial service of a long-time friend who died of cancer. His family members spoke of how well he lived and how well he endured the suffering God allowed in his life. He lived well and he died well.
Our small group is reading the book, Humility: True Greatness, by C.J. Mahaney. Chapter 11 in entitled, “Responding Humbly to Trials.” Mahaney speaks of the fact that trials and suffering are inevitable. We will all suffer. How will we handle this suffering? When pain grips our bodies; when relationships go sour; when needs are increasing rather than decreasing, how will we respond? What will others learn about our faith in those crucial moments of our lives?
Mahaney exhorts first us to practice God-centered prayer. We must be passionate about God himself and his glory, even in the midst of suffering. Secondly, we should focus on salvation rather than on suffering. By his mercy, God sent his Son into the world to die for our sins. We should make so much God’s redeeming grace. Thirdly, wait quietly for the Lord. What is he doing? What is he teaching me? How is he conforming me to the image of Christ through my experiences? Finally, humbly rejoice. James reminds us that we are to consider it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (James 1:2-3).
We do not take our trials and suffering lightly, nor that of others. We rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:14). We do trust God will do his sanctifying work in all our lives through the trails we experience.

Love, Forgiveness, and Basketball

2011-05-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

Love, Forgiveness, and Basketball

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

2011-04-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

The central theme of the Scriptures and the heart of the gospel are Christ and his cross. Nothing is more prominent throughout the God’s written declaration. Jesus said of himself regarding his incarnation, "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he announced Christ with these words: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29)! Mark tells us that "Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again" (Mark 8:31). In the following chapter, he repeated the statement: "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise" (Mark 9:31).

Paul understood the centrality of Christ and the cross. "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (I Corinthians 2:1-2). In regard to our relationship to each other within the body of Christ, Paul stated the following: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near" (Ephesians 2:13-17).

Long before the predictions of Christ concerning his crucifixion, the Old Testament prophets spoke of the cross of Christ as a future event. Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 are lengthy discourses that speak prophetically of the cross. These vivid descriptions are another reminder of the centrality of the cross in all of Scripture

As we think of the cross with the approach of Good Friday, may we be reminded that the cross should be the driving motivation for our entire lives.

Sproul and Piper

2011-03-31T04:52:00.000-07:00

I first read Desiring God in the early 90's. The book was a birthday gift from an associate pastor and my administrative assistant. I was captivated by what Piper wrote and consequently his writing and preaching have impacted my view of Scripture and ministry of the Word. It was probably around the same time that I became acquainted with R.C. when I listened to video series on the Holiness of God.

I have heard both men speak numerous times both in large conferences and in smaller contexts (one of my my most treasured experiences is the Doctor of Ministry class with R. C. on the subject of Justification - a whole week with just twelve us us listening to him lecture and interacting with him). Many of their books on on my shelves.

Below is Justin Taylor's comparison of the two men and their ministries.

Piper & Sproul

At one level, all Christians are the same. We are made in the image of God, saved by the grace of God, and live for the glory of God. We are blood-bought brothers and sisters, members of the same family, children of our heavenly Father.

On another level, we are each unique. The apostle Paul said that the body of Christ is like, well, a body: many parts, each with different shapes and sizes, each indispensable in characteristic and function.

The differences between R. C. Sproul and John Piper are easily discerned, even for the casual observer. I’m tempted to enumerate some of them, but it will be more fruitful to focus on the common threads that tie together their remarkable ministries.

Young R.C. SproulBoth men became Calvinists during seminary, as their resistance was overcome by God using a professor who insisted on taking God at his word. Both men discovered and were deeply impacted by Jonathan Edwards during their seminary days. Both men pursued doctorates in Europe before returning to the United States to teach at the college level. Both men started ministries—Ligonier and Desiring God—designed to serve and strengthen the church of Jesus Christ. The landmark books for both men —The Holiness of God (1985) and Desiring God (1986)—are about trembling before and delighting in the one true God. And both men found their ultimate calling not in the classroom but behind the pulpit (though it happened for Dr. Piper at the age of 34 and for Dr. Sproul at the age of 58.).

Theology is not something they merely study and teach. It is something they breathe. The Bible is not something they only read and preach. It is the food upon which they feed. R. C. Sproul and John Piper love Jesus Christ. They love to glory and revel in their Redeemer. Yes, they are extraordinarily gifted preachers, prodigious authors, talented theologians. But they have never gotten over the stunning fact that they were treasonous rebels who were graciously summoned to the King’s banqueting table and clothed with the righteous robes of the King’s Son. They have now walked with Jesus for decades, but they have never lost their childlike wonder that they have been called God’s sons. For them, to teach and preach God’s Word is not a duty but a delight. And they will continue to do so, as Dr. Sproul has said, until someone pries the Bible from their cold dead fingers.

Young John PiperSome thought it was hyperbole a few years ago when Time Magazine’s feature on Top 10 Ideas Shaping the World included “New Calvinism” (a contrast not to “Old Calvinism” but more to doctrinally ambivalent “Old Evangelicalism”). But in reality, Time had stumbled upon something true. Each year thousands of young people are discovering and celebrating the doctrines of grace and having their world turned upside down. Ligonier Ministries and Desiring God have been two of the means God has used to shape and transform our view of God.

As believers in secondary causation, it’s appropriate for us to ask why. Why, under God, are people attracted to the teaching of Dr. Sproul and Dr. Piper? Why do so many folks see them as “spiritual fathers”?

One reason is that younger believers, in particular, have highly attuned “boloney detectors” (to use the technical term). They are hypersensitive to hypocrisy and phoniness. And when they hear Dr. Sproul and Dr. Piper teach and preach, they hear authority and authenticity, truth and love, passion and power, combined in a compelling and arresting way. It’s not merely the God-centered, biblically saturated content. It’s that this deep theology is creatively presented and passionately believed. These men do not merely teach; they herald, they summon, they exhort, they plead, they yearn. In a way that’s difficult to describe in a non-clichéd way, the timber of their voices contains both sorrow and joy. And in that sense, I think they echo the tone of their sorrowful-yet-always-rejoicing Savior.

John Piper turned 65 this year, and R. C. Sproul recently turned 72. They will not be with us forever. What will we say of them when they pass from the evangelical scene? Their mutual mentor Jonathan Edwards put it best when he instructed his flock about the blessing of godly pastors:

Useful men are some of the greatest blessings of a people. To have many such is more for a people’s happiness than almost anything, unless it be God’s own gracious, spiritual presence amongst them; they are precious gifts of heaven… .

Particularly, I would beseech and exhort those aged ones that yet remain, while they do live with us, to let us have much of their prayers, that when they leave the younger generations, they may leave God with them.

When their earthly course is completed, I believe this will be the legacy of R. C. Sproul and John Piper: they labored by the grace of God to leave us with a vision of God.

To Him alone be the glory.

Click here to see John Piper and R.C. Sproul in conversation at the 2011 Ligonier Ministries National Conference.

Justin Taylor is vice president and editorial director of Crossway Books & Bibles in Wheaton, Illinois, and is author of the blog Between Two Worlds.

Elder Governance: Insights Into Making the Transition

2011-03-23T12:26:00.001-07:00

Three years ago, Patterson Park Church, where I serve as a vocational elder and teaching pastor, transitioned from a "church board" form of church government to an "elder led" form of government. That transition took place over a one-year period. Our board, the deacons and the associate pastors, studied the Scripture's teaching on spiritual leadership and concluded that an elder led form of church government was more in line with Scripture. After six months we formed a committee to flesh out what this would look like and how it would impact our congregation and our constitution.

During the process we looked for resources to help us through the process. We read some very helpful books related to the concept of elder governance (Alexander Strauch, Gene Getz, etc). As far as making the transition, we did not find any resources to help direct us through the process. God was gracious and our congregation responded with an overwhelming affirmation (95%). After the transition took place, Dan Evans, one of our non-vocational elders, and I talked about how our experience could help other churches considering such a transition. We decided to write a book, a first for both of us. Wipf and Stock agreed to publish it under their Church Resources division. Kent Hughes wrote a very gracious introduction. Alexander Strauch and Jim Grier both wrote kind endorsements.

The book is available on the Wipf and Stock website as well as at Amazon.

Dan and I are most grateful to all who contributed to the publication. Our sincere desire is that God would use it for his own glory and for the help of churches considering such a transition.

2011-03-23T12:24:00.001-07:00

2011-03-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

Great Advice on Preaching from a Great Preacher

2011-02-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

The preacher’s danger:

To love to preach is one thing, to love those to whom we preach is quite another.

The golden rule:

At this point there is one golden rule, one absolute demand–honesty. You have got to be honest with your text.

The definition of preaching:

It is theology on fire.

The purpose of preaching:

What is the chief end of preaching? I like to think it is this. It is to give men and women as sense of God and His presence.

The romance and the realism of preaching:

Any many who has had some glimpse of what is it to preach will inevitably feel that he has never preached. But he will go on trying, hoping that by the grace of God one day he may truly preach.

Taken from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers.

thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/

THE FATHER AND THE SON ARE ONE

2011-02-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise (John 5:19).
This is NOT a statement of humility, though Jesus certainly demonstrated humility; nor of inadequacy. This is a statement of equality with the Father; a statement of oneness and unity with God.
Leon Morris says this: “It is not simply that he does not act in independence of the Father; he cannot act in independence of the Father… the things the Father does, that the Son does too, not in imitation, but in virtue of his sameness of nature” (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, page 277).
There is never a conflict between the Father and the Son. They exist in perfect harmony. There are not two wills in which each yields to the other but their wills are in perfect unity because they are one. One’s will is the other’s will.
John Piper uses this phrase: “they act in perfect synchronization.”
The unity of the Father and Son is such that what the Father does the Son IS doing as well because they are one and do not act independently of each other. In other words, as S. Lewis Johnson put it in a sermon on this text, "the Father and the Son are not simply one in will, but one in essence."

Calvin on John 3:30, "He Must Increase"

2011-01-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

“John the Baptist proceeds farther; for, having formerly been raised by the Lord to the highest dignity, he shows that this was only for a time, but now that the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2) has arisen, he must give way; and, therefore, he not only scatters and drives away the empty fumes of honor which had been rashly and ignorantly heaped upon him by men, but also is exceedingly careful that the lawful honor which the Lord had bestowed upon him may not obscure the glory of Christ…he declares that he will most willingly endure to be reduced to nothing, provided that Christ occupy and fill the whole world with his rays; and this zeal of John all pastors of the Church ought to imitate by stooping with the head and shoulders to elevate Christ” (John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries, Volume XVII, Gospel According to John, pages 135-136).

When Has a Preacher Crossed the Line into Plagiarism in His Sermon? Don Carson

2010-12-20T04:53:00.000-08:00

First: Taking over another sermon and preaching it as if it were yours is always and unequivocally wrong, and if you do it you should resign or be fired immediately. The wickedness is along at least three axes: (1) You are stealing. (2) You are deceiving the people to whom you are preaching. (3) Perhaps worst, you are not devoting yourself to the study of the Bible to the end that God’s truth captures you, molds you, makes you a man of God and equips you to speak for him. If preaching is God’s truth through human personality (so Phillips Brooks), then serving as nothing more than a kind of organic recording device in playback mode does not qualify. Incidentally, changing a few words here and there in someone else’s work does not let you off the hook; re-telling personal experiences as if they were yours when they were not makes the offense all the uglier. That this offense is easy to commit because of the availability of source material in the digital age does not lessen its wickedness, any more than the ready availability of porn in the digital age does not turn pornography into a virtue. (Occasionally preachers have preached a famous sermon from another preacher, carefully noting their source. That should be done, at most, only very occasionally, but there is no evil in it.)

Second: Taking over the structure, perhaps the outline in exact wording, and other significant chunks, while filling in the rest of the substance yourself, is not quite so grievous but still reprehensible. The temptation springs from the fact that writing a really good outline is often the most creative and challenging part of sermon preparation. Fair enough: if you “borrow” someone else’s outline, simply acknowledge it, and you have not sinned.

Third: In the course of diligent preparation, you are likely to come across clever snippets and ways of summarizing or formulating the truth of a passage that are creative and memorable. If you cite them, you should acknowledge that they are not yours, either with an “As so-and-so has said” or an “As someone has said.” This discipline keeps you honest and humble.

Fourth: If you read widely and have a good mind, that mind will inevitably become charged with good things whose source or origin you cannot recall. Often such sources can be tracked down fairly easily. On the other hand, do not become paranoid: a well-stocked mind is the result of decades of reading and learning, and ought to overflow easily and happily with gratitude toward God to the blessing of God’s people.

Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752): “Apply yourself wholly to the text; apply the text wholly to yourself.”

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2010/12/20/tgc-asks-don-carson-when-has-a-preacher-crossed-the-line-into-plagiarism-in-his-sermon/

Tell Us Your Stories by Collin Hansen

2010-12-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes younger Christians give the impression that we have things figured out. We’re the future. We’ve found the old methods wanting, so we’ve developed new ones. We’re the generation that will strike the right balance where our forebears fell over to one side or the other. We’ve learned from your mistakes. And we don’t mind telling you.

Older believers recognize this youthful arrogance for what it is. You’ve been there, done that, grown out of it. You wait patiently for us to do likewise. But I want to encourage you not to let us younger believers off the hook so easily. Don’t berate us, for we excel at tuning out what we don’t want to hear. Don’t patronize us, as our pride will kick in and make us defensive. Still, there is one thing you can do: Tell us your stories.

Your stories give us the perspective we haven’t yet gained with experience. We don’t yet understand how much we don’t know. Our youthful bluster masks insecurity. We stand tall against withering attacks from our peers, but we’ve hardly been tested. We fear that when harder times come our faith will prove ephemeral. But your stories gird us against these doubts. So look underneath our confident exterior. You’ll find that younger Christians actually want to hear from older believers about how God demonstrated His faithfulness in their generation.

I’m worried, however, that these stories will be lost. Evangelicals suffer from self-inflicted amnesia. Our churches segregate age groups in order to foster relationships between peers. If you’re not deliberate about developing intergenerational friendships, they will not happen. Worse, our relentless effort to contextualize the gospel by chasing new cultural trends leads us to disparage the past. After all, what can the past teach us about spreading the gospel in the age of social media? Innovation is indeed necessary as we take the gospel into all the nations. And those committed to semper reformanda will always re-evaluate their practices by the standard of Scripture. But the line between innovation and fashion appears dangerously faint these days.

Exceptions give me hope that this unfortunate trend may be reversed. Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, killed by the Nazi regime, continues to inspire young Christians to forsake cheap grace and follow the path of costly discipleship. The Ecuador martyrs’ courage has prodded many young believers to reach the unreached with the gospel. Their story gives remarkable power to Jim Elliot’s famous quote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” And I won’t soon forget sitting in Park Community Church on Chicago’s North Side in April 2009 as hundreds of trendy young evangelicals listened to D.A. Carson and John Piper for nearly four hours. Carson and Piper did little more than share their stories of God’s providence displayed over decades of faithful ministry.

There is consistently strong biblical warrant for encouraging one another by telling these stories of God’s grace. In his charge to Israel, Moses told God’s people: “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you” (Deut. 32:7). And oh, what a story the elders could tell of the God who heard the cries of His people, delivered them from Egypt, destroyed their pursuing enemies in the Red Sea, and sustained them in the wilderness. Yet Psalm 106 details the sad saga of how quickly and often the Israelites forgot what God had done. When still in Egypt, “they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love” (Ps. 106:7). Even after the Red Sea miracle, “they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel” (v. 13). Then, when Moses ascended Mt. Sinai, they worshiped a golden calf. “They forgot their God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt” (v. 21).

We Christians live according to the new and better covenant ratified in the blood of Jesus Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. But we are similarly sinful. We need constant reminders that God is good no matter our circumstances. Scripture is the ultimate deposit of these faith-forming stories. So we mine the Scriptures, which were “written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

But our own testimonies to God’s persevering grace build up the body as well. I can attest to this effect while researching the history of revivals. As I read about the heaven-sent awakenings that broke out during president Timothy Dwight’s tenure at Yale University during the early 1800s, I was inspired to pray boldly that God would set college campuses aflame with revival today. I mourned over the darkness that has since enveloped North Korea but gave thanks for the Pyongyang revival that spread into China and eventually transformed South Korea.

Maybe God hasn’t used you to lead a revival. But he has revealed his sovereign goodness to you in countless ways both big and small. So tell us your stories. We’re listening.

www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/tell-us-your-stories/

The Barna Group - Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010

2010-12-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

The Barna Group - Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010

Ten Reasons for Expository Preaching

2010-12-13T06:02:00.001-08:00

Expository preaching
Fri, 2010-12-03 06:30 — Adrian Reynolds

I've not long finished reading a book for a review in Evangelicals Now. The book is called The Shepherd Leader by Timothy Z Witmer. You'll have to wait for EN to read the review, but one of the book's strengths is a top-ten list of why preachers should preach expository sermons. You can argue that one or two of the points are the same, but here it is anyway:

1. Expository preaching identifies exactly what is at the heart of the Christian message
2. Expository preaching requires that the shepherd concern himself with the intent of the Divine Author for every text.
3. Expository preaching respects the integrity of the textual units given through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
4. Expository preaching keeps the pastor from riding his favourite hobby horses.
5. Expository preaching requires the preacher to preach the difficult or obscure texts and challenging truths of the Bible.
6. Expository preaching will encourage both pastor and students alike to become students of the Bible.
7. Expository preaching gives us boldness in preaching for we are not expounding our own fallible views but the Word of God.
8. Expository preaching gives confidence to the listener that what he is hearing is not the opinion of man but the Word of God.
9. Expository preaching is of great assistance in sermon planning.
10. Expository preaching provides the context for a long tenure in a particular place.

Enough said?

http://www.proctrust.org.uk/blog/2010-12-03/expository-preaching-948

TRANSFORMATION by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

2010-10-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Recently I ran into a woman I had not seen for several weeks. I hardly recognized her. Her hair, normally blonde, had turned completely white. The transformation was dramatic. All it took was forty minutes and some bleach.

If only spiritual transformation were that easy. Just read a book, see a counselor, attend a conference, make a fresh commitment, shed a few tears at an altar, memorize a few verses … and, presto, out comes a mature, godly Christian.

To the contrary, the experience of many believers looks like this.

Commit. Fail. Confess.
Re-commit. Fail again. Confess again.
Re-re-commit. Fail again. Give up.

After all the struggle and effort, we tend to want a “quick fix”—a once-for-all victory—so we won’t have to keep wrestling with the same old issues.

In my own walk with God, I have discovered some helpful principles about how spiritual change takes place.

1. Deep, lasting spiritual change rarely happens overnight. It is a process that involves training, testing, and time. There are no shortcuts.

We hear of people being dramatically delivered from drug or alcohol addiction, and we may wonder, “Why doesn’t God do that for me? Why do I have to struggle with this food addiction, with lust, worry, and anger?”

Before the children of Israel could possess the Promised Land, they had to drive out the pagan nations that occupied Canaan. Ultimate victory was assured if they would “trust and obey,” but it would take time. “I will not drive them out in a single year,” God said. “Little by little, I will drive them out before you” (Exodus 23:29-30).

God is committed to winning the hearts and developing the character of His people. That requires a process.

2. Spiritual change requires desire. We must ask ourselves: Do I really want to change, or am I content to remain as I am? How important is it to me to be like Jesus? What price am I willing to pay to be godly?

Godly desires are nurtured by prayer and by meditation on Christ, who is the object of our desire. As I read the Scripture and gaze on the Lord Jesus, I find my heart longing to be like Him—humble, holy, compassionate, surrendered to the will of God, and sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit.

When our desire to be holy is greater than our willingness to stay where we are, we have taken a big step toward spiritual transformation.

3. Spiritual change flows out of an intimate relationship with Jesus. The more we love Him, the greater will be our motivation to obey Him and to make the choices that please Him.

The ultimate issue in life is who or what we worship. The process of true change takes place as we are weaned from our love and worship of self, pleasure, and this world, and our hearts become wholly devoted to Christ.

4. Spiritual change requires discipline. I can remember sitting in tiny, windowless practice rooms for hours on end as a college student, playing the same piece of music over and over again. I knew I would never reach my goal—to make beautiful music—without that rigorous discipline.

Discipline for the purpose of godliness is not the same as self-effort. Rather, it means consciously cooperating with the Holy Spirit—yielding to Him so He can conform us to the image of Christ.

The problem is, we want the outcome without the process. We want victory without the warfare.

It is futile to pray and hope for spiritual change, while sitting glued to a television set or neglecting the means God has provided for our growth in grace. Bible study, meditation, worship, prayer, fasting, accountability, and obedience are disciplines that produce a harvest of righteousness in our lives.

Spiritual change is brought about by the Holy Spirit, as we exercise faith and obedience. There were occasions when God promised to drive out Israel’s enemies for them. But sometimes He said, “You must drive out the enemy.” Sometimes God said, “I will fight for you.” At other times, He said, “You must fight.”

So which is it? Does God do the fighting, while we “rest in Him,” or do we have to fight against the enemies of our souls? According to Scripture, the answer is, Yes. “Work out your salvation … for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).

True spiritual change is initiated and enabled by the indwelling Spirit of God; it is all of grace, which we receive as we persevere in humility, obedience, and faith.

5. Spiritual change is possible (and assured) because of the new life we received when we were born again. According to God’s Word, at the point of regeneration, we became “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). For the believer, holy living is not a matter of trying harder, but of walking in the reality of a supernatural change that has already taken place.

Sanctification is the process by which the change God has wrought within us is worked out in our daily experience, as “we are being transformed into [Christ’s] likeness” (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is a life-long—and sometimes painful—process. But we have the confidence that one day the transformation will be complete and “we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

www.challies.com/guest-bloggers/transformed

An Open Letter to My Pastors on Glenn Beck

2010-09-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to My Pastors on Glenn Beck

Tom Nettles on the Importance of Building Life-giving Doctrine into the Ethos of Your Congregation

2010-07-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

The conviction that doctrine is a transformative power must be present from the beginning. It cannot be a subsequent development. If piety and doctrine are developed separately, it becomes extremely difficult to put them back together from a pastoral standpoint. The effort will seem artificial, contrived, and as optional for the Christian life. The “practical” will always seem more manageable for the supposedly ordinary Christian, while doctrinal issues and discussion will be seen as the province of a few heady folks. The fostering of this perception is fatal to the health of the body and to the robust faith of each individual Christian. Pastoral counseling suffers in difficult situations from shallow doctrinal development. A worshiping body, convinced to the person of the divine insistence on his own glory as a right, good, and glorious thing, and the consequent joyful approval of divine sovereignty in creation, providence, and redemption can be a strong and mighty outpost of kingdom labor and worship. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” will receive the sound and hearty “Amen” in the souls of the saints. Whining and perplexity over the difficulties of life will be minimized, courageous consistency in the face of sorrow and tragedy will grow as a witness that confounds the expectations of the world, and oneness develops in the entire congregation in genuine sympathy for each other as they experience together the multi-faceted grace of God. They will not think it strange at any fiery trial that comes to them but will consent that “this is the will of God concerning you.” Pastoral counseling builds naturally off the instruction, admonitions, exhortations of a proclamation ministry. A clear and forceful integration of the biblical doctrines of the Trinitarian existence of God, the intrinsic glory of the Godhead, Christ’s infinite condescension, humanity’s fall and consequent just condemnation and punitive corruption, divine sovereignty in election, reconciliation and redemption, calling, resurrection, and eternal occupation—all of these and others constitute the pastoral task from the very beginning of establishing a worshiping congregation.

www.joethorn.net/2010/07/05/theology-nettles/

The Glory of Plodding by Kevin DeYoung

2010-06-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.

What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.

My generation in particular is prone to radicalism without followthrough. We have dreams of changing the world, and the world should take notice accordingly. But we’ve not proved faithful in much of anything yet. We haven’t held a steady job or raised godly kids or done our time in VBS or, in some cases, even moved off the parental dole. We want global change and expect a few more dollars to the ONE campaign or Habitat for Humanity chapter to just about wrap things up. What the church and the world needs, we imagine, is for us to be another Bono — Christian, but more spiritual than religious and more into social justice than the church. As great as it is that Bono is using his fame for some noble purpose, I just don’t believe that the happy future of the church, or the world for that matter, rests on our ability to raise up a million more Bonos (as at least one author suggests). With all due respect, what’s harder: to be an idolized rock star who travels around the world touting good causes and chiding governments for their lack of foreign aid, or to be a line worker at GM with four kids and a mortgage, who tithes to his church, sings in the choir every week, serves on the school board, and supports a Christian relief agency and a few missionaries from his disposable income?

Until we are content with being one of the million nameless, faceless church members and not the next globe-trotting rock star, we aren’t ready to be a part of the church. In the grand scheme of things, most of us are going to be more of an Ampliatus (Rom. 16:8) or Phlegon (v. 14) than an apostle Paul. And maybe that’s why so many Christians are getting tired of the church. We haven’t learned how to be part of the crowd. We haven’t learned to be ordinary. Our jobs are often mundane. Our devotional times often seem like a waste. Church services are often forgettable. That’s life. We drive to the same places, go through the same routines with the kids, buy the same groceries at the store, and share a bed with the same person every night. Church is often the same too — same doctrines, same basic order of worship, same preacher, same people. But in all the smallness and sameness, God works — like the smallest seed in the garden growing to unbelievable heights, like beloved Tychicus, that faithful minister, delivering the mail and apostolic greetings (Eph. 6:21). Life is usually pretty ordinary, just like following Jesus most days. Daily discipleship is not a new revolution each morning or an agent of global transformation every evening; it’s a long obedience in the same direction.

It’s possible the church needs to change. Certainly in some areas it does. But it’s also possible we’ve changed — and not for the better. It’s possible we no longer find joy in so great a salvation. It’s possible that our boredom has less to do with the church, its doctrines, or its poor leadership and more to do with our unwillingness to tolerate imperfection in others and our own coldness to the same old message about Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s possible we talk a lot about authentic community but we aren’t willing to live in it.

The church is not an incidental part of God’s plan. Jesus didn’t invite people to join an anti-religion, anti-doctrine, anti-institutional bandwagon of love, harmony, and re-integration. He showed people how to live, to be sure. But He also called them to repent, called them to faith, called them out of the world, and called them into the church. The Lord “didn’t add them to the church without saving them, and he didn’t save them without adding them to the church” (John Stott).

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). If we truly love the church, we will bear with her in her failings, endure her struggles, believe her to be the beloved bride of Christ, and hope for her final glorification. The church is the hope of the world — not because she gets it all right, but because she is a body with Christ for her Head.

Don’t give up on the church. The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. The invisible church is for invisible Christians. The visible church is for you and me. Put away the Che Guevara t-shirts, stop the revolution, and join the rest of the plodders. Fifty years from now you’ll be glad you did.

www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/glory-plodding/

The Ten Commandments of Preaching - Josh Moody

2010-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

I recently did a seminar on preaching for the European Leadership Forum in Hungary--http://euroleadership.org/. I used the pneumonic ‘E-X-P-O-S-I-T-O-R-Y’ for the ten commandments of preaching. These are some of the notes from which I spoke.

E—Evangelistic. Gospel preaching must have an evangelist edge. You might not have an altar call but you’ve got to call people to the altar.

X—Excellence. It’s hard work. You need sweat to make it sweet.

P—Proclamation. Certainly, all preaching is dialogic in mood though monologic formally. But there is an essential authority to the preaching of God’s Word. God’s Word need be preached winsomely but must not be preached wimpishly.

O—Organization. Structure and lack of it is the hidden failing of many an otherwise good sermon.

S—Scripture. Preaching is to bleed the Bible. If as JI Packer says the Bible is God preaching then preaching is re-preaching the Bible. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for: not just the authority of Scripture but the sufficiency of Scripture is the mandate of the preacher (2 Tim. 3:16 etc.)

I—Inspiration. I mean here the inspiration in the sense of anointing, and in the sense of the work of the Holy Spirit. Great preaching has the sense that the Holy Spirit is at work, that God the Holy Spirit is speaking (“The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God”), and that the preacher – mysteriously – is talking about me with a word from God.

T—Teaching. The British preacher Dick Lucas makes the point that the difference between the seed that fell on the good soil and produced many times what was sown and the other soils was that the good soil “understood” the Word. Clarity, teaching, instruction. Preaching is not just a vision moment; it is instruction. Clarity. Crystal clarity. Preach not to be understood but so that you cannot be misunderstood.

O—Oratory. There is a false fake rhetoric, and there is a sublime biblical rhetoric, what the Puritans used to call “Plain Preaching.” Not boring preaching, but plain as in ‘straightforward.’ Paul describes the same thing at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 2 and 2 Corinthians 4.

R—Relational. Preaching as a pastor, and to some extent all preaching, has a relational subtext. Preaching is to be an expression of love (“Christ loves compels us”) not an expression of control. The counseling room informs the pulpit, and vice versa.

Y—You. Having written a book called ‘The God-Centered Life’ this might be a surprising point to finish on. But preaching if it is not merely truth mediated through personality, in the famous Haddon Robinson phrase, is at least a personal encounter. It is “live.” Lloyd-Jones used to say that his ambition was to be himself, or words to that effect. Don’t copy someone else; strive to be you in the pulpit, in the sanctified, Holy Spirit filled, godly sense of ‘you.’

drjoshmoody.com

A Leader's Mic Is Always On

2010-05-13T09:08:00.001-07:00

A Leader’s Mic is Always On

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Contextualization - What are we really after?

2010-05-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

Contextualization - What are we really after?

R.C. Sproul's Prayer for the Nation

2010-05-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Our Father and our God, indeed You are our God, and Your sovereignty extends over all things. That as God, Your relevance and Your dominion can never be restricted merely to the realm of the spiritual or the religious, but that your sovereignty extends over all creation, over every aspect of our life and of our culture, over our government, over our church, over our schools, over our health, over our wealth, over our thinking, our planning, and our crying. And so we, as your people, are pleading with you to have mercy upon us, to give us leaders who have a regard for You, who will regard Your name as holy, and who will understand that in whatever office they hold, they are to be your servants, for you have ordained them. And we ask that you would bring new life to your church and that we may begin our repentance at our own house and in our own churches as we plead with you to have mercy upon us as a nation, as a people, as a culture that the light of Christ may be rekindled with great glory and intense brightness in our land, and that there would be a revival of a knowledge of Thee without which our land will mourn and our people will perish. And we ask these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Harvard Lesson in Humility

2010-04-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

If you’ve not heard of William Stuntz before, I encourage you to get to know him. Stuntz, 52, is an accomplished, highly regarded professor at Harvard Law School. He is also a Christian (he attends Park Street Church) who speaks very honestly and winsomely about his Christian faith.

And one other thing about Stuntz: he is dying from cancer.

His reflections on death are poignant, thoughtful, and hope-filled (here’s one interview at Patheos; here’s an abbreviated version at WSJ; and here’s his testimony given at Park Street).

There’s a lot that can be said about Stuntz, but I was struck by “one of his famous phrases” as reported in a recent article about him. The phrase is this: “I hadn’t though of that.” One of Stuntz’s former students reflects on the power of these simple words: “Think of how much he accomplishes with that one phrase in the classroom…Somehow, his students managed to come out of of every conversation with him feeling like we were tenured Harvard professors, or could be, someday.”

I can’t recall when I’ve come across a more practical and challenging account of humility. Here’s a celebrated Harvard professor unafraid to admit to his young, inexperienced, less knowledgeable students that they could think of ideas he hadn’t thought of before. Count me convicted. How easily I can allow my congregation or my elders or my pastoral interns or my wife or my kids to keep on assuming that my knowledge of the Bible, of theology, of the Christian life in general is beyond tracing out.

Of course, they don’t really assume that. But any pastor or leader knows what I’m talking about. When you have a position of prestige or gifts of intellect, people make a habit of defaulting to your area of learning. And how comfortable we are to play the expert.

But if we’re honest (and why wouldn’t we be except for pride?), we don’t know it all. We aren’t models of everything. Even our youngest pupils will see things we haven’t seen before. So why not admit it?

What beautiful humility to utter that simple phrase: “I hadn’t thought of that.” It encourages others, may even inspire others, while also demonstrating a proper sense of our own finitude.

I’m grateful for William Stuntz, for his Christian faith, his vocation, and today, for his example of humility. I have much to learn and am glad to learn from others farther ahead in the race. I want to say “I hadn’t thought of that” more often, because, well, there are billions of things I’ve never thought of before. No sense in hiding the obvious. There’s only one Know-It-All in the universe, and he will not share his glory with another.

Kevin DeYoung
thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/

An Interview with Eric Metaxas on Bonhoeffer

2010-04-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Below are three questions I recently asked Eric Metaxas, author of the new major biography on Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor-theologian in Germany who was hanged for conspiring to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s popular works like Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship continue to be widely read, but few know the full story of his courageous, fascinating life. Metaxas tells the story and tells it well.
What drew you to write on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and what effect did this research have on your own life?

There seems to me to be absolutely no one like Bonhoeffer. He seems extremely modern somehow. Greg Thornbury at Union University has called him a “Church Father for the Post-Modern Era.” Somehow that captures it for me. I think of him as a hero in the faith we desperately need to hear about right now, at this time in history. He shows us how to be Christians, with courage, in a unique way.

But this story is very personal for me, too. My mother grew up in Germany, and she lost her father at age nine during the war. I see Bonhoeffer as a voice for those who couldn’t speak out. First for the Jews, of course, but also for the Germans like my grandfather, who knew that Hitler was evil. My research into Bonhoeffer somehow connected me to my own family history and to German history in a way that has changed me forever. This is my history and my family’s history.

Do you think Bonhoeffer was justified in conspiring to kill Hitler?

In a word: yes. Bonhoeffer knew what was going on with the Jews. His family was well-connected, and he knew the worst stories of what was happening. He saw it as the plain duty of a Christian to protect the weak and the innocent. To sit back while this was going on, while he knew it was going on, was simply unthinkable. It would have been nothing less than cowardice. He felt that God Himself was calling him to act boldly, in faith. To step out and act. It was what his faith and his theology led him to do. That’s very important to understand, and if I’ve finally clarified that somewhat in my book I think I’ve done something very valuable.

Bonhoeffer once famously advocated “religionless Christianity.” What did he mean by that?

What he meant by that is completely and shockingly different from what people have said he meant! This is another reason I’m so excited about people reading my book. For decades this has been misunderstood, and it’s muddied his legacy. What Bonhoeffer meant was that the German church had failed. Hitler’s rise and the horrors that attended that rise—especially in the Holocaust—were proof of that. Bonhoeffer was saying that the Church must really be the Church, must be a bold and uncompromising witness to Jesus. But what they had mainly been up to that point was merely “religious” in the negative sense. The difference between the dead religion of the German churches and the “religionless Christianity” of real faith in Jesus Christ is the difference between fig leaves (“dead religion”) and the Blood of Jesus Christ. One was a sham that did nothing. It certainly didn’t fool God. The other was the only thing that could stand against evil. “Religionless Christianity” was true faith and obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every sphere—not just some circumscribed “religious” sphere, but in every sphere of life. People have gotten this so wrong it’s staggering. I hope that will change once and for all when they read my book.

You’ve written a major biography on Wilberforce, and now one on Bonhoeffer. Who’s next for you?

Merv Griffin. Just kidding! I have so much else I want to do, but writing another biography is not one of them. This book took so much out of me I simply cannot think about doing another one. But I know the Lord will use it to His glory for His purposes. And He’ll show me what to do next.

From Justin Taylor, thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/04/26

The Blessings of Consecutive Expository Preaching by John Starke

2010-04-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Christopher Ash’s new The Priority of Preaching (Christian Focus) is a short and punchy book on the significance of the Word preached every Sunday. One of the highlights of this excellent book is the Appendix “Give God the Microphone.” Ash gives seven blessings of consecutive expository preaching. They are insightful and should encourage us to rely on the wisdom of God Sunday after Sunday. Here is the list:

1. Consecutive expository preaching safeguards God’s agenda against being hijacked by ours.
2. Consecutive expository preaching makes it harder for us to abuse the Bible by reading it out of context.
3. Consecutive expository preaching dilutes the selectivity of the preacher.
4. Consecutive expository preaching keeps the content of the sermon fresh and surprising.
5. Consecutive expository preaching makes for variety in the style of the sermon.
6. Consecutive expository preaching models good nourishing Bible reading for the ordinary Christian.
7. Consecutive expository preaching helps us preach the whole Christ from the whole of Scripture.

John Starke is the managing editor of TGC Reviews. He and his wife Jena live with their three children in Louisville, KY where John is a Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They are members of Clifton Baptist Church. John blogs regularly at John Ploughman.

Luther on John 14:6

2010-04-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

'I am the way.' --John 14:6

Christ is not only the Way on which we must begin our journey, but He is also the right and the safe Way we must walk to the end. We dare not be deflected from this. . . . Here Christ wants to say: 'When you have apprehended Me in faith, you are on the right way, which is reliable and does not mislead you. But only see that you remain and continue on it.' . . . Christ wants to tear and turn our hearts from all trust in anything else and pin them to Himself alone.

--Martin Luther, sermon on John 14:6, in Luther's Works, 24:47, 48, 50

Luther is teaching me that the Christian life can easily be boiled down into two simple steps.

1. Trust in Christ
2. See #1

Dane Ortlund, dogmadoxa.blogspot.com/2010/04/luther-on-john-146.html

Christian Fear and Health Care

2010-03-22T13:36:00.001-07:00

Christian Fear and Health Care

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A Prayer About Ultimate Health Care

2010-03-22T13:33:00.001-07:00

A Prayer About Ultimate Health Care

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Two great quotes from Tullian on the church

2010-03-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

The Church belongs to no man—it belongs to Christ. He bought her w/ his blood, therefore He alone has the right to be possessive over her.

Every pastor, regardless of his age, needs to be constantly reminded that the church he leads is not his church: it's Christ’s church.

twitter.com/PastorTullian

Counterfeit Gospels by Tullian Tchividjian

2010-03-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

In light of Paul Tripp coming to Coral Ridge this weekend, I’ve gone back through a lot of my Paul Tripp books–he’s such a huge gift to the church!

In one of his books (co-authored with Tim Lane), How People Change, he identifies seven counterfeit gospels—-”religious” ways we try and “justify” or “save” ourselves apart from the gospel of grace. I found these unbelievably helpful. Which one (or two, or three) of these do you tend to gravitate towards?

Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”

Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”

Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”

Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”

Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”

Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.”

Social-ism. “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”

As I said two weeks ago in my sermon, there are outside-the-church idols and there are inside-the-church idols. It’s the idols inside the church that ought to concern Christians most. It’s easier for Christians to identify worldly idols such as money, power, selfish ambition, sex, and so on. It’s the idols inside the church that we have a harder time identifying.

For instance, we know it’s wrong to bow to the god of power—but it’s also wrong to bow to the god of preferences. We know it’s wrong to worship immorality—but it’s also wrong to worship morality. We know it’s wrong to seek freedom by breaking the rules—but it’s also wrong to seek freedom by keeping them. We know God hates unrighteousness—but he also hates self-righteousness. We know crime is a sin—but so is control. If people outside the church try to save themselves by being bad; people inside the church try to save themselves by being good.

The good news of the gospel is that both inside and outside the church, there is only One Savior and Lord, namely Jesus. And he came, not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so that we might become truly free!

www.crpc.org/public/blog/

Packer's Distinction Between Calvinism and Arminianism

2010-03-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

In his introductory essay to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, J. I. Packer writes that Calvinism and Arminianism are “two coherent interpretations of the biblical gospel, which stand in evident opposition to each other. The difference between them is not primarily one of emphasis, but of content.”

Packer continues, (paragraphing added)

One proclaims a God who saves; the other speaks of a God who enables man to save himself.

One view presents the three great acts of the Holy Trinity for the recovering of lost mankind—election by the Father, redemption by the Son, calling by the Spirit—as directed towards the same persons, and as securing their salvation infallibly.

The other view gives each act a different reference (the objects of redemption being all mankind, of calling, those who hear the gospel, and of election, those hearers who respond), and denies that any man’s salvation is secured by any of them.

The two theologies thus conceive the plan of salvation in quite different terms.

One makes salvation depend on the work of God, the other on a work of man; one regards faith as part of God’s gift of salvation, the other as man’s own contribution to salvation; one gives all the glory of saving believers to God, the other divides the praise between God, who, so to speak, built the machinery of salvation, and man, who by believing operated it.

Plainly these differences are important, and the permanent value of the “five points,” as a summary of Calvinism, is that they make clear the points at which, and the extent to which, these two conceptions are at variance.

From desiringgod.org, March 17, 2010

Forgiveness

2010-03-11T05:08:00.000-08:00

An unforgiving spirit demonstrates that one has completely failed to grasp the forgiveness of God in his or her own life, even at the most basic level. Such a spirit is a complete contradiction to the character of God.
The implications of this should cause us to ask some serious questions about our spiritual condition:
• Can an unforgiving spirit and the Holy Spirit co-exist in the life of a person?
• In light of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:14-15, For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses, what does this mean in terms of my own forgiveness?

Al Mohler on Why We Hear So Little of the Bible

2010-02-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out." That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity -- an impatience with the Word of God.

The sentence above comes from Mark Galli, senior managing editor of Christianity Today in an essay entitled "Yawning at the Word." In just a few hundred words, he captures the tragedy of a church increasingly impatient with and resistant to the reading and preaching of the Bible. We may wince when we read him relate his recent experiences, but we also recognize the ring of truth.

Galli was told to cut down on the biblical references in his sermon. "You'll lose people," the staff member warned. In a Bible study session on creation, the teacher was requested to come back the next Sunday prepared to take questions at the expense of reading the relevant scriptural texts on the doctrine. Cutting down on the number of Bible verses "would save time and, it was strongly implied, would better hold people's interest."

As Galli reflected, "Anyone who's been in the preaching and teaching business knows these are not isolated examples but represent the larger reality."

Indeed, in many churches there is very little reading of the Bible in worship, and sermons are marked by attention to the congregation's concerns - not by an adequate attention to the biblical text. The exposition of the Bible has given way to the concerns, real or perceived, of the listeners. The authority of the Bible is swallowed up in the imposed authority of congregational concerns.

As Mark Galli notes:

It has been said to the point of boredom that we live in a narcissistic age, where we are wont to fixate on our needs, our wants, our wishes, and our hopes—at the expense of others and certainly at the expense of God. We do not like it when a teacher uses up the whole class time presenting her material, even if it is material from the Word of God. We want to be able to ask our questions about our concerns, otherwise we feel talked down to, or we feel the class is not relevant to our lives.

It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out. Don't spend a lot of time in the Bible, we tell our preachers, but be sure to get to personal illustrations, examples from daily life, and most importantly, an application that we can use.

The fixation on our own sense of need and interest looms as the most significant factor in this marginalization and silencing of the Word. Individually, each human being in the room is an amalgam of wants, needs, intuitions, interests, and distractions. Corporately, the congregation is a mass of expectations, desperate hopes, consuming fears, and impatient urges. All of this adds up, unless countered by the authentic reading and preaching of the Word of God, to a form of group therapy, entertainment, and wasted time -- if not worse.

Galli has this situation clearly in his sights when he asserts that many congregations expect the preacher to start from some text in the Bible, but then quickly move on "to things that really interest us." Like . . . ourselves?

One of the earliest examples of what we would call the preaching of the Bible may well be found in Nehemiah 8:1-8:

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading with their faces to the ground. [English Standard Version]

Ezra and his companions stood on a platform before the congregation. They read the scriptural text clearly, and then explained the meaning of the Scripture to the people. The congregation received the Word humbly, while standing. The pattern is profoundly easy to understand -- the Bible was read and explained and received.

As Hughes Oliphant Old comments, "This account of the reading of the Law indicates that already at the time of the writing of this text there was a considerable amount of ceremonial framing of the public reading of Scripture. This ceremonial framing is a witness to the authority of the Bible." The reading and exposition took place in a context of worship as the people listened to the Word of God. The point of the sermon was simple -- "to make clear the reading of the Scriptures."

In many churches, there is almost no public reading of the Word of God. Worship is filled with music, but congregations seem disinterested in listening to the reading of the Bible. We are called to sing in worship, but the congregation cannot live only on the portions of Scripture that are woven into songs and hymns. Christians need the ministry of the Word as the Bible is read before the congregation and God's people -- young and old, rich and poor, married and unmarried, sick and well -- hear it together. The sermon is to consist of the exposition of the Word of God, powerfully and faithfully read, explained, and applied. It is not enough that the sermon take a biblical text as its starting point.

How can so many of today's churches demonstrate what can only be described as an impatience with the Word of God? The biblical formula is clear -- the neglect of the Word can only lead to disaster, disobedience, and death. God rescues his church from error, preserves his church in truth, and propels his church in witness only by his Word -- not by congregational self-study.

In the end, an impatience with the Word of God can be explained only by an impatience with God. We -- both individually and congregationally -- neglect God's Word to our own ruin.

As Jesus himself declared, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

__________________________________

Mark Galli, "Yawning at the Word," Christianity Today [online edition], posted November 5, 2009. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/novemberweb-only/144-41.0.html

Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, vol. 1, "The Biblical Period" (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), pp. 98-99.

albertmohler.com

Richard Baxter on Preaching

2010-02-24T04:55:00.001-08:00

“I always preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.”

Why Expository Preaching?

2010-02-19T15:27:00.001-08:00

Why Expository Preaching?

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A Peculiar Proposal

2010-02-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

Adoniram Judson, the first Baptist missionary from America, married Ann Hasseltine on February 5, 1812. They boarded a boat 2 weeks later and headed to Burma, where they had a rich marriage and a fruitful ministry.

A month after he met her, Adoniram wrote Ann a letter asking for permission to be her suitor. This was close to what we would call a proposal. She did not answer it for several days. When she finally did, Ann evaded the question, saying he would need to ask her parents first. Here is the letter Adoniram promptly sent to her dad:

I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair. (Quoted in Courtney Anderson, To The Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson [Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987], 83.)

At least two things impress me about this letter:

1. Ann’s dad, John, impresses me. What a disturbing letter to receive! When I met with my wife’s Father, I can assure you I did not emphasize hardships, sufferings, dangers, fatal climates, or violent deaths. One of John Hasseltine’s friends said he would rather tie his daughter to the bedpost than let her go across the world. But John told Ann it was her decision. Anne married Adoniram. She died in Burma.

We need more parents who give their children to the service of Christ. How discouraging it is for a young man or woman to feel called to the mission field and have their Christian parents try to talk them out of it or forbid them to go. Will we raise our children and entrust them to God for His glory and the good of immortal souls?

2. I am impressed by the Judsons’ single-minded commitment to the cause of Christ. Adoniram was not exaggerating or being dramatic in his letter. Going to live in Burma was a very dangerous mission. They both knew they would probably die among strangers. Ann struggled with her decision but eventually decided to marry the man she loved. Soon after accepting the proposal, she wrote to her friend:

I feel willing, and expect, if nothing in providence prevents, to spend my days in this world in heathen lands. Yes, Lydia, I have about come to the determination to give up all my comforts and enjoyments here, sacrifice my affection to relatives and friends, and go where God, in his providence, shall see fit to place me. (Quoted in Anderson, To the Golden Shore, 84.)

Mark Rogers is a Ph.D. student in historical theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. A former college pastor and associate pastor, Mark is the editor of "Glimpses of Christian History" and is writing his dissertation on evangelical missions between 1925 and 1945.

thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2010/02/16/a-peculiar-proposal/

The Authority of Preaching by Thabiti Anyabwile

2010-02-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

Those who love preaching, who believe in the centrality of preaching, and who live by the preached word have little quibble with the authority of preaching. We believe that a certain exercise of God's rule comes along with the proclamation of His word. We are to hear and to obey, to give careful attention to "what thus saith the Lord."

But sometimes, those who love preaching most may abuse its authority most. That is, we may abuse the authority of preaching by forgetting or failing to make clear where that authority comes from.

Wayne Grudem helps us correct this omission or tendency:
Throughout the history of the church the greatest preachers have been those who have recognized that they have no authority in themselves, and have seen their task as being to explain the words of Scripture and apply them clearly to the lives of their hearers. Their preaching has drawn its power not from the proclamation of their own Christian experiences or the experiences of others, nor from their own opinions, creative ideas, or rhetorical skills, but from God's powerful words. Essentially, they stood in the pulpit, pointed to the biblical text, and said in effect to the congregation, "This is what this verse means. Do you see that meaning here as well? Then you must believe it and obey it with all your heart, for God himself, your Creator and your Lord, is saying this to you today!" Only the written words of Scripture can give this kind of authority to preaching. (Bible Doctrine, p. 40)

Gentlemen, preach the word! In season and out of season. Preach as it really is, the word of God. Call your hearers to receive it as it really is, the word of God, not the word of man. Challenge them to obey it as obeying God Himself. And let the authority of God thunder as the word of God falls like a hammer!

blog.9marks.org/

The Body of Christ

2010-02-04T08:18:00.001-08:00

Our union with Christ and with his body is so intrinsically tied together in Scripture that one simply cannot separate his or her relationship with Christ from a relationship with Christ’s body, the church.

The Missing Motive by Eric Alexander

2010-02-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

I am notoriously bad at remembering anniversaries, and last year it was quite a surprise to discover that 2008 marked the fiftieth anniversary of my ordination to the Christian ministry. Not that the occasion was other than memorable. Indeed it was a very special day for many reasons. But I am bound to say that the truly unforgettable part of a moving service was one of the statutory questions put to me by the presbytery: “Are not zeal for the glory of God, and a desire for the salvation of men, so far as you know your own heart, your great motives and chief inducements in seeking this ministry?” I had to answer, “They are.”

For the past fifty years that question has haunted me, especially as I have climbed the steps of various pulpits to preach, or attended the ordination service of others, or as I have reviewed the year each 31st of December. Abraham Kuyper, that extraordinary Dutch theologian who became the prime minister of his country, points out that the Reformation slogan is not just Deo gloria, but soli Deo gloria. It is a passion for the glory of God as the sole motive of everything.

Now in recent years I have been troubled by the tendency in the evangelical church to be more taken up with methods rather than motives. So I frequently hear of conferences where brethren meet to share insights into new and better methods by which we may fulfill our ministry. I’m sure they are very valuable, and I hope I am not so naïve as to think that methods are unimportant in God’s work. But I have almost never heard of a conference where brethren have met together before God to ask each other: “In all honesty, what are the compelling motives that determine the direction of my ministry?”

Yet Jesus laid great stress on motives: “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30). Looking back over His ministry He says, “I have glorified you by finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). The glory of the Father was the terminus of everything for Jesus. There was nothing beyond this. And He means it to be so for us.

That is why it is such a serious thing to rob God of His glory. He will not share that glory with another just because He cherishes His own glory above everything else and is jealous of it; it is the motive of everything He does (Isa. 48:11). Paul tells us that the Father’s motive in exalting Christ to the highest place and giving Him a name that is above every name is “the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11). If we have any other end in view, then quite simply we will labor without the blessing of God.

Zeal for the glory of God as the controlling motive of our thinking and working will deeply affect at least four areas of our life in the evangelical church. They are worship, evangelism, unity, and church growth.

Worship

What makes worship in heaven so remarkable and so different is that there is only one desire among God’s people there, and that is to bring glory to God and to the Lamb (see Rev. 4:11; 5:11–14). Our worship here on earth is intended to be a preparation for that pure and perfect worship in the glory. Yet, I suspect that in our concern to make our worship acceptable to those who come to our churches, we are more interested in their acceptance than God’s pleasure. The one quality that equips us to worship God in spirit and in truth is a hunger for His glory.

Evangelism

If you ask members of an evangelical church what the motives for evangelism are, they will almost certainly respond with two accurate and acceptable answers. One would be the Great Commission, and the other would be the condition of the lost who are without Christ. But neither of these is the ultimate motive. The ultimate motive is that throughout the world there are places where God is being robbed of His glory: in our own street, at our place of work, in professions and governments — wherever we turn it is true that men and women have “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Rom. 1:18–32). ]

Unity

The reason Jesus brings together in John 17 the glory of the Father and the Son and the unity of the disciples in the church is that the motive deriving from the former is the only effective way of securing the latter. Unless our entire motivation is set on fire by an overwhelming desire for the glory of God — all wills bowing in the same direction, all hearts burning with the same flame, all minds united by the same obedience — we shall never know the unity for which Jesus prays.

Church Growth

How is God most glorified in the growth of the church? Not primarily by growth in numbers but by growth in depth and in quality — growth in the knowledge of God.

So we really do need to allow that question to haunt us: “Are not zeal for the glory of God and a desire for the salvation of men, so far as we know our own hearts, our great motives and chief inducements in seeking this ministry?” God help us in the last day to reply, “They were.”

www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/missing-motive/

Ain’t No Shame, Kevin DeYoung

2010-01-30T15:36:00.000-08:00

Every once in awhile a little rant is called for. So here’s mine.

What ever happened to being called a Christian? Did I miss the ecumenical council that decreed the phrase “Christ follower” or “Jesus-disciple” be used for churchgoers under the age of 40? Of course, there’s nothing wrong with calling yourself a “Christ follower” or a “Jesus-disciple.” You can be a part of “Team Jesus” or walk in the “way of Rabbi Yeshua” if that floats your boat. There are plenty of justifiable phrases to go around.

Provided we don’t pick our phrases in order to avoid necessary unpleasantries.

I understand that “Christian” may feel stale, and that it carries baggage with some people. But the label is biblical (Acts 11:26). And the baggage is sometimes unavoidable. If you want to be a “follower of Jesus” instead of a “Christian” because the former implies only ethical emulation, while the latter suggests doctrinal and institutional commitment, then you need to check your motives not the baggage. Again, I don’t have a problem using “disciple of Jesus” to spice things up a bit. A phrase like that may even be prudent in extreme situations of persecution. But if we in North America are using it just to be trendy, or to gut Christianity of its theological center, or to simply avoid being one of those guys, we should really take a deep breath and learn to live with a term that’s been around since first century Antioch.

And while I’m at it, we should also be careful that we don’t make everything about “Jesus.” (Wait a second, did he just say that?!) Let me explain. I love Jesus. I love to pray to Jesus. I love to say the name “Jesus” in my sermons, a lot. I talk about following Jesus, worshiping Jesus, believing in Jesus, and having a big, glorious Jesus. No apologies necessary for saying “Jesus.” But then one time an older member of our congregation asked why I didn’t say “Christ” more often. I had never really thought about it before. I guess “Jesus” just packs a little more punch, has a little more edge, sounds a little fresher than Christ or Lord or the Son of God.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with referencing “Jesus.” The gospels do it a whole bunch. But we must not forget–and we must help our younger listeners remember–that we are not merely followers of a man named Jesus. We worship the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are disciples of this man Jesus, but this man is also our Savior and God. He is, after all, more than a carpenter.

Following Jesus is a movement. Believing in Christ is a faith. Let’s make sure we don’t have the first sentence without the second.

Don’t ditch the name that marks us out as his. Ain’t no shame in being called a Christian.

thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/

Postmodern Architecture

2010-01-29T13:01:00.001-08:00

Postmodern Architecture

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God Pursuing Us

2010-01-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

Henry Ward Beecher once said that he found God when he realized that his mother would move heaven and earth to rescue him from trouble even if that trouble was of his own making. God can do no less than a holy mother. The truth is, we may want to shut God out of our lives, but he can't shut himself out of them, can't be content to be left out and just leave it at that. Robed in flesh, God the Son weeps over a city that is ruining itself by rejecting him (Luke 19:41-45). If any of us has tried in vain to bring home a sinning child or husband or wife, one we loved more than life itself, we know why God's chest was heaving and great sobs were bursting from him. He can't stay away from us.

Jim McGuiggan, Celebrating the Wrath of God: Reflections on the Agony and Ecstasy of His Relentless Love.

Unction by Tullian Tchividjian

2010-01-16T02:04:00.000-08:00

I’m a die-hard believer in unction. Unction is an old fashioned word which describes an effusion of power from the Holy Spirit as one preaches. It is the one thing preachers need above everything else. It is the accompanying power of the Spirit. This is what Charles Spurgeon dubbed “the sacred annointing.” It is power from on high.

In his book on the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Sacred Annointing, Tony Sargent describes unction well. He writes:

'[Unction] is the afflatus of the Spirit resting on the speaker. It is the preacher gliding on eagles’ wings, soaring high, swooping low, carrying and being carried along by a dynamic other than his own. His consciousness of what is happening is not obliterated. He is not in a trance. He is being worked on but is aware that he is still working. He is being spoken through but he knows he is still speaking. The words are his but the facility with which they come compels him to realise that the source is beyond himself. The man is overwhelmed. He is on fire.

Oh how my heart burns for this sacred annointing, this unction! I hope and pray that preachers all over the world would spend much of their sermon preparation time begging God for this power on high. For, it is preachers who are borne along by the Holy Spirit that are used to effect a deep and sobering awareness of God and his truth that transforms.'

In his book Lloyd-Jones: Messenger of Grace, Iain Murray writes:

'Preaching under the annointing of the Holy Spirit is preaching which brings with it a consciousness of God. It produces an impression upon the hearer that is altogether stronger than anything belonging to the circumstances of the occasion. Visible things fall into the background; the surroundings, the fellow worshippers, even the speaker himself, all become secondary to an awareness of God himself. Instead of witnessing a public gathering, the hearer receives the conviction that he is being addressed personally, and with an authority greater than that of a human messenger.'

Given the fact that the ultimate factor in the church’s engagement with society is the church’s engagement with God, my earnest prayer is that, for the sake of the world, more preachers would come to know and understand what Andrew Bonar meant when he wrote: “It is one thing to bring truth from the Bible, and another to bring it from God himself through the Bible.”

Please pray, dear friends, that God would annoint my mind and mouth on Sunday as I preach so that God’s people would hear from God. Please pray that God’s Spirit would so inhabit my words that everyone would leave worship tomorrow being able to say, “God was surely in that place.”

I can’t manufacture unction regardless of how well crafted my sermon is and how well prepared I may be. The biggest work must come from God.

So, come thou fount of every blessing and do for your people what I cannot. Amen.

On Earth as it is in Heaven, January 15th, 2010

Piper on Natural Disasters

2010-01-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

The point of every deadly calamity is this: Repent. Let our hearts be broken that God means so little to us. Grieve that he is a whipping boy to be blamed for pain, but not praised for pleasure. Lament that he makes headlines only when man mocks his power, but no headlines for ten thousand days of wrath withheld. Let us rend our hearts that we love life more than we love Jesus Christ. Let us cast ourselves on the mercy of our Maker. He offers it through the death and resurrection of his Son."

— John Piper after the 2004 Indonesian tsunami

Bad Luck or Divine Plan?

2010-01-07T04:24:00.000-08:00

But the unpredictable exists because God created it. It suits his purposes that randomness exists; he wants it that way and insists that its reality be laid at his feet. He tells Job that he’s the one who sends the rain on desolate land where no people dwell (Job 38:25-27). What a waste of water, we might think. But God chose to do it, whether we think it wise or not, and it was God doing it even though we would speak of it as unpredictable and random.

Jim McGuiggan, Celebrating the Wrath of God: Reflections on the Agony and Ecstasy of His Relentless Love

10 Questions for the New Year by Donald Whitney

2009-12-31T05:18:00.000-08:00

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

2009-12-21T17:59:00.001-08:00

Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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The Ministry of Encouragement, by Ray Ortlund

2009-12-19T17:17:00.000-08:00

"If there is any encouragement in Christ . . .” Philippians 2:1

Tomorrow many of us will be preaching. What is our goal? Not bashing people over the head with the law. That may make us feel better about ourselves, as if our opinions were needed, but it is not the ministry of Christ. What do we find in him? Encouragement. It’s so obvious to Paul, it’s the first thing he mentions when he inventories our wealth in Christ here in Philippians 2.

Do we find encouragement in one another? Sometimes. But that supply is limited. We come together at church not to amass the encouragement we bring in but to receive the encouragement he is pouring out. If we come to church only to draw strength from one another, that’s all we’ll get. And we will end up empty and angry at one another. Putting community first destroys community. Our encouragement is in Christ, and he is inexhaustible.

Those of us who are preachers — tomorrow, through the gospel, let’s lavish on our fellow-sinners the endless encouragement that is right now exploding out of the glorious risen Christ. If attendance at your church is down because people are out of town for Christmas travels, that doesn’t diminish your ministry at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is rich with encouragement, he is a big spender, and he is the measure of your ministry.

thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/rayortlund/

Anticipation by Tullian Tchividjian

2009-12-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

Every year around this time people ask me what Advent is. The word “Advent” literally means “coming” or “arrival.” It’s the four weeks of the year leading up to Christmas when Christians all over the world look back to the first coming of Jesus and look forward to his second coming. In one sense, Christians are always to be doing this. But these four weeks are meant to be an intensified celebration of Christ’s first arrival which, in turn, is meant to fuel our anticipation of his second arrival. This means that Advent is a season marked by hopeful anticipation.

With Advent in mind, I was thinking a lot this week about the nature of anticipation. There were three things in particular that I was looking forward to, things I was anticipating: the wedding of a friend, a football game, and the arrival of out-of-town guests. Whether it’s something as significant as the wedding of a friend or something as trivial as a football game, the capacity to anticipate is a gift from God–God designed us to anticipate. So it’s fine to anticipate things like the ones I mentioned. But, as I thought a bit harder, I realized that those anticipations are never meant to serve as ends in themselves. They are intended to nurture and expand our God-given anticipatory capacities so that we will anticipate something greater: secondary anticipations are designed by God to point to the primary anticipation.

To borrow a thought from John Piper, the weakness of our anticipation for Christ’s return is not because it is uneventful or unimportant. It’s because we keep ourselves stuffed with smaller anticipations. As C.S. Lewis said, “We are far too easily pleased.” A friends wedding, a football game, and the arrival of out-of-town guests will never fulfill our deepest anticipations. These are shadow like anticipations; Christ is the substance. These are stream-like anticipations; Christ is the ocean. These are beam like anticipations; Christ is the sun.

So the next time you find yourself anticipating everything from a good meal to a good vacation, take a moment to trace that anticipation to its end: Jesus. This is what Advent is meant to do. Anticipating Jesus fulfills every other anticipation because the arrival of anticipated weddings and football games cannot change a human heart; they can’t take away our guilt and cleanse our conscience; they cannot make all things new. Only Christ can do these things.

May the remainder of this Advent season fill you with hope filled anticipation realizing that Christ’s first coming was his pledge that he will one day return to “make all things new.”

www.crpc.org/blog/

Key Points in The Trellis and the Vine

2009-12-08T11:06:00.001-08:00

Key Points in The Trellis and the Vine

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Counseling and Worship: Kauflin and Powlison

2009-12-05T07:21:00.001-08:00

Counseling and Worship: Kauflin and Powlison

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Packer

2009-12-01T18:43:00.001-08:00

Packer’s Advice for You

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John MacArthur: Witnessing to His Old Football Coach

2009-11-30T07:47:00.001-08:00

John MacArthur: Witnessing to His Old Football Coach

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Catherwood (daughter) on Lloyd-Jones (her father)

2009-11-30T05:48:00.000-08:00

Below is from the hand of my church's faithful receptionist/secretary, Kasey Gurley:

Last year when J.I. Packer was visiting Mark Dever, we had an informal Q & A with Dr. Packer in Mark’s study.

Knowing I might have an opportunity to ask Dr. Packer a question and knowing that Dr. Packer had sat under Lloyd Jones' preaching, I googled their names together before the Q&A to help me ask a more informed question. I came across this quote from the Desiring God website:

When J. I. Packer first heard Lloyd-Jones he said that he had "never heard such preaching." It came to him "with the force of electric shock, bringing to at least one of his listeners more of a sense of God than any other man" he had known.

I brought up this quote to Dr. Packer and asked him what set Dr. Lloyd-Jones apart from other preachers (understanding that ultimately the force behind his preaching was not Dr. Lloyd-Jones, but the Lord’s good pleasure to bless Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ life and ministry). Dr. Packer said that he had thought about this question himself and had boiled his thoughts down to three main things that permeated all of Lloyd Jones’ life and teaching.

This week when Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ daughter, Lady Elizabeth Catherwood, was asked a similar question during a similar informal Q&A in Mark’s study, she repeated many of the same themes Dr. Packer had noted. Those themes were:

1. The man deeply felt his conversion. Dr. Lloyd-Jones never got over the Lord’s mercy to him in saving him and this was clear in his preaching.
2. The underlining issue behind his preaching was the glory of God. Behind all of his preaching the main point and main issue was always that God be glorified and exalted. He never treated the Lord casually.
3. He had the presence of a man who dwelt with the Lord in prayer. When he preached, he sincerely preached as a man that had consistently lingered truly humbly before the Lord and had dwelt on the Truth of God in Scripture. He brought those meditations and that posture to the people.

by Matt Schmucker, blog.9marks.org

John Wooden: Love Letters

2009-11-27T05:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8jD8cZc8xU

How Did Paul Give Thanks?

2009-11-27T05:21:00.001-08:00

How Did Paul Give Thanks?

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National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

2009-11-24T13:19:00.001-08:00

National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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From Burk Parson's Tweet

2009-11-23T06:26:00.000-08:00

The soul's deepest thirst is for God Himself, who has made us so that we can never be satisfied without Him—FF Bruce

An Earnest Call For Evangelical Leaders to Recover the Gospel from Its Present Humiliation

2009-11-12T19:00:00.001-08:00

An Earnest Call For Evangelical Leaders to Recover the Gospel from Its Present Humiliation

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Distractions

2009-11-11T04:16:00.000-08:00

Good reminder of the importance of our focus by Mike Milton in By Faith Magazine: http://bit.ly/2iUW07

The Hypersocialized Generation

2009-11-06T13:41:00.001-08:00

The Hypersocialized Generation

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Failure and Success

2009-11-04T04:10:00.000-08:00

In his book, Crazy Love, Francis Chan shares this quote by Tim
Kizziar: "Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that really don't matter."

Rising from the Valley of Death | Music | Christianity Today

2009-11-04T03:17:00.001-08:00

Rising from the Valley of Death | Music | Christianity Today

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From Al Moher's Tweet

2009-11-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Talking about politics in a fallen world. Christians should always be mindful of political responsibility, but even more aware of its limits.

From Al Mohler's Tweet

2009-10-27T13:46:00.001-07:00

Evangelical churches gave avg. 6% to international missions during Great Depression, avg. 2% now. Retreat? Documentation http://bit.ly/oIrMq

Top Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible | Ligonier Ministries

2009-10-26T16:15:00.001-07:00

Top Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible | Ligonier Ministries

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A Test for How Well You Understand Christianity

2009-10-25T04:11:00.001-07:00

A Test for How Well You Understand Christianity

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Stott the Prophet

2009-10-23T04:21:00.001-07:00

Stott the Prophet

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Loving the Church - Ligonier Leadership Conference (X) | Ligonier Ministries

2009-10-22T17:28:00.001-07:00

Loving the Church - Ligonier Leadership Conference (X) | Ligonier Ministries

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Eschatology Is Christology - Ligonier Leadership Conference (XI) | Ligonier Ministries

2009-10-22T17:23:00.001-07:00

Eschatology Is Christology - Ligonier Leadership Conference (XI) | Ligonier Ministries

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How To Identify A Reliable Preacher

2009-10-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

October 22nd, 2009 by Tullian Tchividjian, On Earth as it is in Heaven Blog, www.crpc.org/blog/

Two weeks ago I mentioned in my sermon that God grows Christians by feeding them his Word. One way he does this is by providing the church with teachers and preachers. This means that if we are going to grow we need to be sitting at the feet of reliable carriers of God’s truth. This, however, begs the question: how can we identify a reliable carrier of God’s truth? The Bible makes it clear that there are many unreliable carriers of so-called truth. Satan masquerades as an angel of light seeking to deceive. So we need a lot of biblical discernment here. Just because a teacher or preacher comes in Jesus’ name with a Bible under his arm doesn’t automatically mean he is reliable.

Thankfully both the Bible and church history give us some direction here. So I want to provide you with a brief list of five questions (based on the five sola’s of the Reformation) that can help you discern the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.

Question 1 (Sola Scriptura): Does the preacher ground everything he says in the Bible? Does he, in other words, begin with the authority and sufficiency of Scripture? A reliable carrier of God’s truth seeks to revel in, wrestle with, and expound from, the Bible. He starts with the Bible. All of his comments flow from what a particular passage in the Bible says. He doesn’t simply use the Bible to support what he wants to say. That is, he submits to what the Bible says, he does not seek to submit the Bible to what he says. He cares about both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He refuses to take verses out of context. He recognizes the unity of the Bible. He acknowledges that both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell one story and point to one figure, namely that God saves sinners through the accomplished work of his son Jesus Christ.

Question 2 (Sola Gratia): Does the preacher freely emphasize that because of sin, a right relationship with God can only be established by God’s grace alone? Beware of any teaching that emphasizes man’s ability over God’s ability; man’s freedom over God’s freedom; man’s power over God’s power; man’s initiative over God’s initiative. Beware of any teaching which subtlety communicates that a right relationship with God depends ultimately on human response over Divine sovereignty.

Question 3 (Sola Fide): Does the preacher stress that salvation is not achieved by what we can do, rather salvation is received by faith in what Christ has already done? It has been rightly stated that there really are only two religions: the religion of human accomplishment and the religion of Divine accomplishment. Does the preacher emphasize the former or the latter? A reliable carrier of God’s truth always highlights the fact that God saves sinners; sinners don’t save themselves.

Question 4 (Sola Christus): Does the preacher underline that Christ is the exclusive mediator between God and man? Does the explainer both affirm and proclaim that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that nobody comes to the Father but by Christ? Does he talk about sin and the necessity of Christ? Preachers must learn how to unveil and unpack the truth of the Gospel from every Biblical text they preach in such a way that it results in the exposure of both the idols of our culture and the idols of our hearts. The faithful exposition of our true Savior from every passage in the Bible painfully reveals all of the pseudo-saviors that we trust in culturally and personally. Every sermon ought to disclose the subtle ways in which we as individuals and we as a culture depend on lesser things than Jesus to provide the security, acceptance, protection, affection, meaning, and satisfaction that only Christ can supply. In this way, good preachers must constantly show just how relevant and necessary Jesus is; they must work hard to show that we are great sinners but Christ is a great Savior.

Question 5 (Sola Deo Gloria): Does the preacher exalt God above all? A reliable explainer will always lead you to marvel at God. A true carrier of God’s truth will always lead you to encounter the glory of God. A God-centered teacher is just that: God-centered. He will preach and teach in such a way that you find yourself hungering and thirsting for God. You will listen to sermon after sermon and walk away with grand impressions of Divine personality, not grand impressions of human personality.

This is just a start, but I hope it serves as a resource to help you determine the reliability of a particular teacher or preacher.

From Piper's Twitter

2009-10-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

"God is more curious in observing the messages delivered by the heart, those delivered only by the mouth." Thomas Brooks

Saturn at equinox - The Big Picture - Boston.com

2009-10-20T18:14:00.001-07:00

Saturn at equinox - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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Does the number of people praying for something make God more likely to do it? :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

2009-10-18T19:03:00.001-07:00

Does the number of people praying for something make God more likely to do it? :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

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From my Niece's Blog, So blessed. So strong. So thankful

2009-10-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Time for A Change

Today I went for a run in my favorite Columbus park - Highbanks Metro Park. I discovered this park about a month or so ago since it's pretty close to my new place.

I almost chickened out of going because when I walked out the door I realized how chilly it was getting outside. But - I decided to stick to my promise to myself of working out/running three times this week.

Highbanks is my favorite so far because of their nature trails. They rock. They're not too flat, not too hilly - but still a challenge. The park is pretty big so it's nice to have variety in scenery each visit.

I couldn't help but stop a few times and just stare at all the oranges, reds, and yellows in the leaves. The trails run through several gorges, streams, etc so it's absolutely beautiful this time of year.

I stopped at the top of a hill that overlooks a ginormous gorge and wished so hard that I had a camera. It was almost like experiencing fall for the first time...and then I realized it was nothing new, this happens every year. Why have I not slowed down each fall to appreciate it?

I started thinking about what the leaves changing colors really means. The dominate word in my mind was 'change'. Something new is taking place all over the world of nature. It's something quite beautiful.

The same God who orders the universe and the leaves to change colors, is the same God who orders my footsteps and commands change in my life. I remember my eighth grade teacher always saying "change is good for the soul". Sometimes change sucks. Change only sucks when we're afraid or self-conscious or timid. Changes suck when everything is comfortable and change might really shake our perfect worlds to their sides.

I bet if leaves had brains, they would be self-conscious about their beautiful green selves turning yellow, orange, then red. I bet they would think, "But, I like being beautiful green!"..."I don't want to be yellow...I wonder if other people will like me when I'm orange"..."It was so much fun being green, it might be harder being red!".

Just like the leaves, we have seasons in our lives. When life is going great for us, we're just like leaves in the prime of spring and summer. And then all of a sudden, cold temperatures come along and we can sense God making a change in our lives. Just like the leaves, we wonder why life can't just remain perfect for a little while longer. We doubt ourselves, we might second guess our preparedness for a new season.

Don't get me wrong, I do love it when the leaves are the most lush green. But I am so much more in awe when I see the fall array among the once green leaves. Right now the leaves are at their beauty peak and I can't wait to see them again tomorrow because I know that soon they will turn brown and fade away.

I have to believe that just like those leaves, we are most beautiful and-awe inspiring while experiencing extreme change.

Who would we be if we never faced challenges? What would we ever accomplish if every day in our lives was a lush, green day?

More importantly, if every day was beautiful and green...how often would we think of God? How often would we need to put our trust in Him? How often would we fall down on our knees and beg Him for an answer? Or praise Him for a victory? If every day was green and perfect, we might start thinking we're the ones in control.

When you look down in a gorge during the winter time, it's very easy to see the tree trunks that have fallen and rest along the forest bottom. Similarly, when we go through seasons of winter in our own lives, it's very easy to see our past failures and mistakes.

But when the gorge is full of fall-colored leaves, the fallen trees only make the forest look more beautiful. When we're most beautiful is when we're overcoming and changing and using our past failures and mistakes as stepping stones.

Embrace change as a chance to become more beautiful, more passionate, more engaged in God's wonders.

Look forward to the person you are becoming.

Good faith - The Boston Globe

2009-10-18T15:25:00.001-07:00

Good faith - The Boston Globe

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Internal Idol Worship

2009-10-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

While traditional idol worship still occurs in many places, internal idol worship - within the heart - is universal.

RedeemerNYC Twitter

Ten Commandments: Pastor Preaches Not to Worship Modern Day Idols - ABC News

2009-10-14T05:32:00.001-07:00

Ten Commandments: Pastor Preaches Not to Worship Modern Day Idols - ABC News

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30 Years Ago Today: How God Called John Piper to Become a Pastor

2009-10-14T05:06:00.001-07:00

30 Years Ago Today: How God Called John Piper to Become a Pastor

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Autumn scenes - The Big Picture - Boston.com

2009-10-11T16:46:00.001-07:00

Autumn scenes - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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Tim Keller's Counterfeit Gods

2009-10-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

In his book Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller writes:

What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning in life is to fix someone else’s life, we may call it “codependency” but it is really idolatry. An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

What are those things, or who are those people, that you depend on more than Jesus to provide the meaning and purpose and security and significance you long for? In other words, what are your idols? Experiencing God’s deep rescue begins with identifying what idols you worship.

From On Earth as it is in Heaven

Eschatology Discussion: Piper, Storms, Wilson, and Hamilton

2009-10-07T05:15:00.001-07:00

Eschatology Discussion: Piper, Storms, Wilson, and Hamilton

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From Piper's Twitter

2009-10-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

Love: "The steady directing of the human will toward the eternal well-being of another" Stephen Neill. (Note "eternal")

Only For the Asking

2009-09-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

"How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13

In a sermon preached in 1740, Jonathan Edwards pointed out that we ask God for basically two kinds of things. We ask him for temporal blessings like health and jobs and family needs. We also ask him for spiritual blessings. But Edwards noted how much more frequently and fervently we ask for temporal blessings:

"They don't need any preaching to stir them up to take thorough care to obtain those outward things. . . . And if they begin to suffer for want of those things, how much do they make of their sufferings! . . . Had God nothing better to bestow upon you, when he had made you his children, than a little money or land, that you seem so much to behave yourselves as if you thought this was your chief good? . . . I am bold to say that God is now offering the blessing of his Holy Spirit to this town, and I am bold to say we may have it only for the asking."

From Christ is Deeper Still

From Redeemer Presbyterian's Twitter

2009-09-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

We can't pick up the Bible and obey its will for our lives without belonging to a community of people who are doing the same thing.

Packer on Trials

2009-09-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

In Knowing God (p. 97) J. I. Packer writes about how to understand the “unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things” that happen to us. What do they mean?

Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and he is dealing with us accordingly.

(Suggestion: resist the skimming temptation and read that line over again.)

Then Packer ponders the possible purposes God might have in mind for you:

Perhaps he means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility, or meekness, by giving us some extra practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions.

Perhaps he has new lessons in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us.

Perhaps he wishes to break us of complacency, or unreality, or undetected forms of pride and conceit.

Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself in conscious communion with him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest. . . .

Or perhaps God is preparing us for forms of service of which at present we have no inkling.

He goes on:

We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, he is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here. . . . Meanwhile, we ought not to hesitate to trust his wisdom, even when he leaves us in the dark.

But how should we respond to baffling and trying situations when cannot now see God’s purpose in them?

First, by taking them as from God, and asking ourselves what reactions to them, and in them, the gospel of God requires of us;

second, by seeking God’s face specifically about them.

“If we do these two things,” Packer writes, “we shall never find ourselves wholly in the dark as to God’s purpose in our troubles.”

From Between Two Worlds

Falling in Love with the Church -- again (Derek Thomas)

2009-09-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

“Love me, love my dog,” they say, and my poor dog has been sick all summer and continues to be in bad shape. But it is not dogs I am writing about here; it is the church. Jesus seems to say, again and again: “Love me, love my church.”
Something is terribly wrong when professing Christians do not identify with the church and love being a part of her. Something is wrong when professing Christians fail to be passionate about every aspect of the church and long to invest themselves in her, taking all that the church represents and does to heart. Listen, for example, to the way Paul instructs the Ephesians: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).
I fell in love with the church the moment I was converted as a freshman in college in 1971. Having never attended any church until then, I discovered a community that was, to me, like a family: caring, loving, and nourishing. The church I found was able to tell me that I was wrong about some things without driving me away. I knew that I was loved. The church showed me acts of kindness and fellowship that I recall with affection to this day. I was introduced to expository preaching from the start - a style of preaching that puts the Bible above the personality and idiosyncrasies of the preacher. I discovered communal prayer times, and joyful singing, all of which have been the mainstay of my Christian life ever since. True, I have had my share of worship wars, when Christians disagree over important things and sometimes trivial things; but for all that, I have taken delight in her rituals of song and sacrament, prayer and proclamation, more times than I can relate. I love the church. I fully endorse Calvin’s way of putting it (and the shadow of Cyprian that lies behind it): “For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels” (Inst. 4.1.4). In the church, I have discovered saints and angels (though not, as far as I know, real angels). I have witnessed deeds of extraordinary kindness done to myself and to others, and I have been the beneficiary of kindnesses done to me by those who remained anonymous.
Yes, there is a dark side to the church as there is to all things in this fallen world. The church is not perfect. It has her share of malcontents and killjoys, her energy-sapping attention-getters and despondent hearts. Adullam’s cave has nothing on some churches I have seen, but none of this robs me of my love for the church. Even at her most eccentric - the King James Version’s rendition of 1 Peter 2:9 as “ye are … a peculiar people” is painfully accurate, if quaint — she is still Christ’s body. “Love me, love my church” is what Jesus seems to say in the Bible. I would not have it any other way. Would you?

Reformation21 Blog

From Piper's Twitter

2009-09-17T14:38:00.001-07:00

If you have not chosen the kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead. William Law

The Love of God

2009-09-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

I continue to be amazed, humbled, and convicted by Jim Packer's book, Knowing God. Chapter 12 is a great explanation of God's love, a chapter he begins by telling us that his love "is one of the most tremendous utterances in the Bible - and also one of the most misunderstood."

Packer concludes the chapter with these provoking statements and questions: "John wrote that 'God is love' in order to make an ethical point, 'Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another' (I John 4:11). Could an observer learn from the quality and degree of love that I show to others - my wife? my husband? my family? my neighbors? people at church? people at work? - anything at all about the greatness of God's love to me?"

J.I.Packer, Knowing God

True Wisdom

2009-09-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

"True wisdom, James instructs us, is not determined by our intellectual ability (James 3:13-18). The wisdom of God is demonstrated by our godly behavior. If we are motivated by selfish ambition, and consumed by envy and jealousy, then we are not wise. If, on the other hand, we are full of humility, gentleness, love, mercy, and patience, then wisdom genuinely resides in our hearts" (Thomas Schreiner, SBTS Theological Journal, Fall, 2000).