My Grace is Sufficient

As another New Year now draws close, with all the many possibilities for clear and encouraging blessings and for the faith-stretching challenges that will inevitably come, in what or in whom shall we trust for our wisdom, our strength, our comfort, our security, our solace, our encouragement, our peace, our hope throughout 2013?  Ray Ortlund points in the right direction with this timely quotation from Scottish Victorian scholar, Marcus Dods.

“I am the Almighty God, able to fulfill your highest hopes and accomplish for you the brightest ideal that ever my words set before you.  There is no need of paring down the promise until it squares with human probabilities, no need of relinquishing one hope it has begotten, no need of adopting some interpretation of it which may make it seem easier to fulfill, and no need of striving to fulfill it in any second-rate way.  All possibility lies in this: I am the Almighty God.”

Marcus Dods, The Book of Genesis (New York, 1902), page 161.

The Gettys: Joy to the world!

Sunday sermon: 'The road to Bethlehem'

This morning the children and young people led the service with the theme, "The Road to Bethlehem" - highlighting some of the OT prophecies and promises about the coming Messiah.
I showed this clip...

Most of my comments afterwards were culled from Tim Keller's famous piece:  'Jesus, the true and better...' (text available here).

All hail, Sam Kass!

Priceless!

The filthy rags of self-serving righteousness...

...but it is funny!       

HT:  Bill Watterson

Sunday's sermon: Great Expectations (Matthew 24)

You can listen to the sermon here.

A Social Network Christmas

This is doing the cybernetic rounds.  I think it's quite good ...

Why the sad things are said

A year ago John Piper was preaching from John 12:37-50, containing what Piper contends are some of the saddest, most painful parts of the Gospel of John.  And after listening to his exposition, it's hard to disagree with his analysis.
However, in his introductory comments, Dr Piper gives a most helpful and illuminating insight as to why the sad things are said.

"The last thing the aged Simeon said to Mary when he blessed Jesus was this:
Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34–35)
"In other words, it will not all be happy. The truth in many hearts will be revealed. Jesus will be opposed. Many will rise because of him. And many will fall. And a sword will go through Mary’s heart. Many will fall because of Jesus. 
"But make sure that you know and embrace this truth: Jesus and John don’t tell us sad things to leave us in sadness. Make sure you embrace that. They tell us sad things, in the end to make us glad.

• The dark things in the Bible are spoken for the sake of light.
• The ugly things in the Bible are spoken for the sake of beauty.
• The painful things in the Bible are spoken for the sake of comfort.
• The sorrowful things in the Bible are spoken for the sake of joy.
• And conflict in the Bible is pictured for the sake of peace.

"We know this, because Jesus said in John 15:11 that he speaks his words so that our joy might be full, and many of those words were painful. And John says in John 20:31 that the reason he wrote his Gospel was that we might have eternal life;  and many of those words that are painful are aimed at life. So we know those words of Jesus and the stories of John have dark and sad things in them. But we know those dark, sad things are for our joy and for our life."

Sunday morning's sermon outline

With thanks to Geoff Bradford, Daniel Wallace, David Jackman and Derek Tidball (to name a few) for their insightful assistance.
When uploaded, the talk may be heard here.

'Tis the season to be jolly!

Thanks to TW for this!

The "gods" that will never forgive...

'When people say, “I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself,” they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important to them than God’s. Idols function like gods in our lives, and so if we make career or parental approval our god and we fail it, then the idol curses us in our hearts for the rest of our lives. We can’t shake the sense of failure.'

Tim Keller: Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

The hubris of leadership ...

16 signs a leader has lost his mind ...

1. He refuses to admit his mistakes.
2. He begins to blame the problems on people or circumstances rather than actually seeking out what the problem might be.
3. He refuses to listen to the team assembled around him.
4. He fights every idea that isn’t his own, thinking his originality is what must keep the church afloat.
5. He refuses to face reality.
6. He is unwilling to make the necessary changes because it would be highly unpopular.
7. He tries to listen to what everyone has to say about every situation.
8. He begins to believe that God’s favour on his life is because of how good he is rather than because of how good God is!
9. He believes that he can’t learn anything from churches that are smaller than his. (This would be arrogance!)
10. He abuses his staff (or volunteer s) to accomplish his agenda rather than leading them to accomplish God’s.
11. He fears asking for commitments from people because of how he thinks they perceive him.
12. He becomes obsessed with the way things are rather than how they should be.
13. He views himself as an expert.
14. He tries to motivate with fear rather than vision.
15. He doesn’t seek fresh inspiration from God and often goes back to what has been done instead of seeking direction for what has never been done.
16. He stops taking risks and becomes obsessed with playing it safe.

Good Lord, deliver us!
HT:  The Resurgence 

Justice, mercy, grace - and the Gospel

Justice:  duly receiving what I rightly deserve
Mercy:  never receiving what I justly deserve
Grace:  unduly receiving what I could never deserve

Thanks, as ever, to BW

Update: see also here

Glen Scrivener's 'Anti Santy Ranty'

Some seasonally provocative thinking by one darned good Aussie ...

More food for thought here.

Sunday sermon: When God shares His heart

This morning's sermon outline.

You listen to the sermon here.

The journey begins ...

In New Zealand, the "unexpected journey" begins today.  
17 days and counting ...

Can't wait!!

HT: The Hobbit blog

The law rightly understood

“The law, rightly understood and thoroughly comprehended, does nothing more than remind us of our sin  and slay us by it, and make us liable to eternal wrath … The law is not kept by man’s power, but solely through Christ who pours the Holy Spirit into our hearts.  To fulfil the law … is to do its works with pleasure and love … [which are] put into the heart by the Holy Ghost.”

Martin Luther

HT: Gospel Centered Life

Happy Thanksgiving Day

With my American blog-browsers in mind, have a blessed time today!















Apostle Paul:  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2: 6-7

Vintage Lucas

Masterful exposition from Dick Lucas.
Here.

Luther: Do not deny God the pleasure of saving sinners, like you!

“The fatuous idea that a person can be holy by himself denies God the pleasure of saving sinners.  God must therefore first take the sledge-hammer of the Law in His fists and smash the beast of self-righteousness and its brood of self-confidence, self wisdom, self-righteousness, and self-help.  When the conscience has been thoroughly frightened by the Law it welcomes the Gospel of grace with its message of a Saviour Who came….not to break the bruised reed, nor to quench the smoking flax, but to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, and to grant forgiveness of sins to all the captives.” 
Martin Luther
HT: Graced Again

"A plague on both your houses!"

Even from this side of the "Pond", I know how this little one feels ...

Piper: "I want you to come starved to get God!"

So, why do you come to church?  Do you come primarily to give to God?  Do you come out of a sense of duty? Or ...might there be another reason?  In a recent sermon, John Piper offers his own perspective...

HT: Tony Reinke (Desiring God)

Compassion fatigue anyone?

Written a long time ago, in fact decades before the appearance of pandemic wall-to-wall, 24 hour  news coverage, this piece from the wise old head that was CS Lewis, is a helpful counter to the 'guilt' we often sense when overwhelmed with both an awareness of growing global needs (spiritual and physical) and our lack of resources to meet to rise to the challenge of such needs.  Lewis seems to be saying, if I understand him properly, that we respond to such needs by simply lovingly doing what God providentially enables us to do. He does not expect us to carry the crushing weight of the burdens of the world on our shoulders.  In faith, we leave that with Him... and then get on with life.  
Thanks for this Dane.  

Lewis, 1946 letter-- 

It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning. I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. (This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.)

A great many people (not you) do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don't think it is. We must, if it so happens, give our lives for others: but even while we're doing it, I think we're meant to enjoy Our Lord and, in Him, our friends, our food, our sleep, our jokes, and the birds' song and the frosty sunrise. 

--The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume 2 (ed. Walter Hooper; HarperCollins, 2004), 747-48; emphases original

Scotty Smith's prayer for wisdom and peace when making big decisions

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all. James 1:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Prov. 3:5-6
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Col. 3:15
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10:31
For this is the will of God, your sanctification. 1 Thess. 4:3

     Dear heavenly Father, you number our hairs and determine days; you hang the stars and feed the sparrows; you open doors no one can shut and shut doors no one can open. Surely, we can trust you when the time comes for making big decisions, or for that matter, any decisions. I’m in just such a season again, Father, and I know I’m not alone. We will trust you for generous wisdom, straight paths and peaceful hearts, all for your glory.
     How we praise you for being the decision-making-God. It’s not our decisions, but yours that make all the difference. We will plan, but we trust you to order our steps. We will pray, but ask you to fix our prayers en route to heaven. We will seek counsel, but count on you to overrule faulty or incomplete input from our most trusted friends and mentors. We will search the Scriptures, but not looking for proof texts but for you, Father. All we want and need is you.
     Free us from the paralysis of analysis—wanting make the right decision, more than we want to be righteous people; wanting to be known as wise people, more than we want to know you. Free us from the idolatry of assuming there’s only one “perfect” choice in any given situation. Free us from making decisions primary for our comfort and other’s approval, or fear their disapproval. Free us to know that good choices don’t always lead to the easiest outcomes, especially at first. Free us from second and twenty-second guessing our decisions.
     Father, no matter if it’s wisdom about buying or selling, vocation or vacation, this place or that place, this person or that person, we know that in ALL things, your will is our sanctification—our becoming more and more like Jesus. Give us this passion; make it our delight.
     So, Father, make us more and more like Jesus, even as we trust you for the opening and closing of doors that are in front of us. All for your glory—in our eating and drinking; and in our whatever’s, whenever’s and wherever’s. So very Amen we pray, in the name of our reigning King, Jesus.
HT: Scotty Smith's daily prayer blog

Sunday Sermon: When God seals the deal (Genesis 15)

Outline of this morning's sermon ...

Ok, so we didn't get as far this morning as this outline might suggest!  One point done, two more to come.  This morning's thoughts will be uploaded soon.
Update:  so we eventually finished.  Both sermons can be heard here.  In addition to commentaries and other books consulted, I deeply acknowledge my indebtedness for these ideas to the musings of Gilbert Lennox, Geoff Bradford and Tim Keller.

Coming to Christ - leaving our badness and goodness

Some helpful insights from Dane Ortlund as to the paradox of sinful behaviours that are rooted in each of our hearts:

. . . the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived [anestraphemen pote] in the passions of our flesh . . . (Eph. 2:2-3)
For you have heard of my former life [anastrophen pote] in Judaism . . . I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I . . . (Gal. 1:13-14) 

These are the only two places where Paul uses these two words together. Anastrepho: Conduct, walking, living. And pote: former, once, at that time.In Ephesians 2, he speaks of his former conduct as immorality. In Galatians 1, he speaks of his former conduct as morality. Rule-breaking, rule-keeping. Which was it?

Both. And not swiveling from one to the other--rather, at the same time. His Jewish zeal was wicked. His goodness was bad. In coming to Christ, we leave behind both our bad and our good. We don't leave badness and come to goodness. 'Goodness,' if considered strictly as conforming to a norm, may be done in pure evil, utter Self. We leave both our badness and our goodness and come to Christ. Being good can be just as resistant to the gospel as being bad, the only difference being that goodness doesn't know it's resisting the gospel.

Jesus: "If anyone would come after me ..."

“Consider Christ. He was of a meek and quiet spirit, and of a most long-suffering behaviour…He was very much the object of bitter contempt and reproach, and slights and despised as a of but little account. Though he was the Lord of glory, yet he was set at naught, and rejected…He was the object of the spit and malice and bitter reviling of the very ones he came to save…He was called a deceiver of people, and oftentimes he was said to be mad, and possessed with the devil…He was charged with being a wicked blasphemer, and one that deserved death on that account. They hated him with morbid hatred, and wished he was dead, and from time to time tried to murder him…His life was an annoyance to them, and they hated him so they could not bear that he should live… Yet Christ meekly bored all these injuries without resentment or one word of reproach, and with heavenly quietness of spirit pass through them all…On the contrary, he prayed for his murderers, that they might be forgiven, even when they were nailing him to the cross; and not only prayed for them, but pleaded in their behalf with His Father, that they knew not what they did.”  

(Jonathan Edwards, Charity and its Fruits, 1738)

HT: Graced Again

Passing on what is of first importance: an explanation of the Gospel

Gospel means “good news.” The good news is: you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe yet you can be more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope at the same time because Jesus Christ lived and died in your place. As the apostle Paul said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

That is the simple formulation of the gospel. More thoroughly we could say that the whole Bible is the gospel. It is a book about the God who rescues people from their moral and spiritual rebellion against him. The teaching of the Bible, the gospel, can be summarized under four heads: God, Man, Jesus Christ, and Our Response.

Firstly, the gospel teaches that God is our creator. Thus he has the right to rule and command us as he does in his law. God is also holy, that is, he is absolutely pure morally, and he hates and punishes rebellion on the part of his creatures. He is more holy than anyone would ever imagine.

Secondly, the gospel teaches us about human beings. We are creatures made by God and for God. We were originally created to live in relationship with God and we were morally pure. But because our first parents rebelled against God (just as we also all have done), human beings are now cut off from relationship with God and are subject to his condemnation. We are more sinful than we ever dared believe.

Thirdly, the gospel teaches us what Jesus Christ has done for sinners like us. He became a man and lived a life of perfect obedience to God’s law, and then died as a sacrifice in our place under the judgment of God. He was raised from the dead and now reigns in heaven. The condemnation that he suffered takes away the necessity that we suffer judgment for our own sins- “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” The righteous life he lived is credited to us, not because we are actually righteous, but because of God’s mercy and grace- “in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Fourthly, the gospel teaches us how to respond to the good news. We turn away from our rebellion and put our trust in Jesus Christ. Despairing of our own worthiness to stand before God, we believe the promise that those who trust in Jesus Christ will be forgiven and declared righteous. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ are accepted as loved sons and daughters of God, and God sends his Spirit to live in them.

Counterfeit Gospels

Martin Luther said that a sinner trying to believe the gospel was like a drunk man trying to ride a horse; he will always be falling off on one side or the other. The two errors that the sides of the horse represent are 1) legalism or moralism and 2) pragmatism or relativism or antinomianism.

Moralism is the view that a person is made acceptable to God through his own attainments. Moralists are usually very religious, and often very conservative in their religion. Legalism tends to stress truth without grace. Moralists are usually very rules oriented, and depending on their success in keeping the rules they will be either arrogantly self-righteous or depressed and morose. If they go to Jesus for forgiveness, it is just to ask him to fill in the gaps they have left in their own religious performance. For the moralist, the cross is not the only basis for acceptance by God, but is an adjunct to our performance.

Pragmatists are often irreligious, or prefer more liberal religion. They tend to stress grace over truth, assuming everyone is accepted by God and that we each have to decide what we think is true for us. Often relativists will talk about God’s love, but since they do not see them selves as deeply sinful people, God’s love for them costs him nothing. For them the cross is not the necessary condition of our acceptance by God.

The gospel holds out to us a whole new system of approach to God. It rejects our attempts to justify ourselves before God, to be our own saviors and lords. It rejects both our pragmatic presumption and our religious attempts to earn our way into God’s favor. It destroys the perception that Christianity is just an invitation to become more religious. The gospel will not let us think Jesus is just a coach to help us get stronger where we are weak. To be a Christian is to turn from self-justification of all sorts and to rely exclusively on Jesus’ record for a relationship with God.

Christians and non-Christians both stumble over the two counterfeits of the gospel. Many Churches are deeply moralistic or deeply relativistic. Christians who understand the gospel very clearly still look like the drunk man on the horse, as the desire to justify ourselves and trust in our own performance continually reappears.

The gospel tells the pragmatist that he is more flawed and sinful than he ever dared believe. The gospel tells the moralist that he is more loved and accepted than he ever dared hope.
HT:  Dennis Griffith (with echoes from Tim Keller)

Sinclair Ferguson: the most alarming weakness in church - prayer

Sinclair Ferguson has recently been outlining what he considers to be some of the weakness in today's church life.  The following are his comments on a general dearth of vibrant, Spirit-empowered prayer ...

Again there is the lack of prayer and of the Church praying. This is to me the most alarming, for this reason: we have built apparently strong, large, successful, active churches. But many of our churches never meet as a congregation for prayer. I mean never! What does that indicate we are saying about the life of the Church as a fellowship? By contrast, the mark of a truly apostolic spirit in the church is that that we give ourselves to prayer and the Word together (Acts 6:4). No wonder “the Word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied” (Acts 6:7). If this is so, it should not surprise us that while many churches see growth, it is often simply reconfiguration of numbers, not of conversion. I greatly wish that our churches would learn to keep the main things central, that we would learn to be true Churches, vibrant fellowships of prayer, Gospel ministry and teaching, genuine mutual love. At the end of the day, such a Church simply needs to “be” for visitors who come to sense that this is a new order of reality altogether and are drawn to Christ.

HT Thabiti Anyabwile

Unbelief: selectively accepting reality

I don't know if Bill Watterson , creator of Calvin and Hobbes, is a Christian or not, but he is certainly insightful in exposing the workings of the unbelieving, reality denying human 'heart' from a Gospel worldview perspective.  See Romans 1: 18-21. 

Yes!

G'dnight y'all!

Sunday's sermon: When faith falters (Genesis 12: 10-20)

You can listen to or download the sermon here

Scotty Smith's Prayer for Gospel-Smitten Grace-Saturated Local Churches

  We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. Col. 1:3-6

     Gracious Father, we bring our church families before you today, with all their brokenness and beauty. It’s not only a privilege but a central calling to pray without ceasing for one another in the body of Christ. For until the day Jesus returns, the church is your chosen means for revealing your glory, lavishing your grace, and advancing your kingdom. No wonder she is constantly being assailed by the world and assaulted by darkness.

     In keeping with the way Paul prayed for every church he planted, we ask you to inundate, saturate, and liberate our churches by the gospel of your incomparable grace—new church plants and aging communities alike. There’s no other power sufficient for the task. There’s no other story, motivation, or resources adequate for the calling you’ve given your beloved people.

     By the glorious gospel, bear great fruit in our midst, Father. Deepen and strengthen our faith in Jesus. Stun us, over and over and over again with the mercy and magnificence of Jesus. It’s not the size of our faith but the object of our faith that matters most, so keep revealing more and more of the glory and grace of Jesus to us. Let us boast in his work, not ours; our brokenness and his sufficiency. May the name of Jesus be the most heard, loved, and trusted name in our churches.

     And by the powerful gospel, make us great lovers. Give us love for all the saints, and for the broad range of non-believers in our communities. Tear down our divisions; rescue us from our prejudices; eradicate our pettiness. Help us to demonstrate the difference the gospel makes in our worship, in our conflicts, and in our suffering. Don’t let us ever get used to loving poorly. Keep us from biting and devouring one another. Make and keep us humble, for you resist the proud but give grace to the humble.

     By the hope of the gospel, liberate our hands, hearts, and resources for the work of your kingdom in our cities and among the nations. Make us a generous servant people. With us or without us, the gospel will continue to bear fruit and grow throughout the world. We want it to do so with us, Father, not in spite of us. By the gospel, revive us, transform us, and free us for your sovereign and saving purposes. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ glorious and grace-filled name.

HT:  Scotty Smith

Sunday sermon: When faith begins to walk

Sermon can be heard here

The deep roots of unbelief

“So deeply rooted in our hearts is unbelief, so prone are we to it, that while all confess with the lips that God is faithful, no man ever believes it without an arduous struggle. ... Certainly, whenever God thus recommends his word, he indirectly rebukes our unbelief, the purport of all that is said being to eradicate perverse doubt from our hearts." 
John Calvin, Institutes Christian Religion 3.2.15 
HT: Graced Again

Sunday sermon: When God comes calling

Sermon can be heard here

321: The story of God, the world and you

HT: Dave Bish and 321

Repost: Timothy Dalrymple's "Open Letter to a College Freshman"

For all you young'ns heading off to college or uni for the first time, or for those heading back for more of the same, here's some mature and very helpful counsel - from someone who clearly knows college life well - about making the most of your relatively short time there.  His main point is that your time in college/uni will have a transforming impact upon your life.  He writes, "The question is whether that transformation will be for the better... Unmoored from the people and places that once defined you, you’ll feel a fluidity in your identity that’s both thrilling and frightening.  You may feel as though you can be anyone and become anything.  I pray that you will become who you are — the individual you most truly and deeply are, the one God dreamt of when he made you — and not the person that you or your parents or your friends think you should be.  "  
For worthwhile life in this 'new world', here's his advice ...

1. Seek wisdom, not merely intelligence.
2. Seek mentors, not merely teachers.
3. Seek the truth, not merely prevailing opinion.
4. Seek answers, not merely questions.
5. Seek betterment, not merely achievement.
6. Seek fellowship, not merely friends.
7. Finally, seek first the kingdom and righteousness of God.

You can read the whole letter, and it really is well worth reading, here. 

Just before the paralympic spirit fades away ...

HT:  Zach Nielsen

Borden of Yale: "No reserves. No retreats. No regrets."

The story of William Borden had a huge impact upon me in my early twenties.  This short video is worth watching.

Sunday's Sermon: Mustard seeds and yeast ...

Update:  sermon available to listen to or download here

With apologies to (not St Francis!!, but) Reinhold Niebuhr (?!) ...

What do you pray for?
How interesting is your life?

HT: BW

40 years on...by faith, moment by moment

Forty years ago, the 20 August 1972 was a Sunday.  Where I was, in Annalong, Co. Down, it was a sunny Sunday.  A young minister, not long into his first charge, was giving a talk to a group of 50 or so young people from Belfast as they sat on his lawn outside his house.  His name was Desmond McCreery and he was the Rector of Annalong Parish.  His talk was based around the first question God asked as we have it in the Bible:  "Adam, where are you?" (Genesis 3:9).  

I don't remember the details of what he said, but I do clearly remember thinking afterwards that because of my sin, I was lost from God and that God had sent Jesus to find me, rescue me from sin and judgement and bring me back home to Himself.  The pieces of the Gospel that had been shared with me by friends all throughout that Summer, were falling into place in my mind and heart.
Whether I became a Christian that day, I can't remember.  In reality, I don't know.  Only eternity will tell.  Certainly by the Autumn, I was going to young people's meetings, attending Bible studies, enjoying church a bit more! etc, etc.  My life had changed:  its direction, its priorities, its activities all different, now focused - with so much learning, understanding, repenting and believing to do - on Jesus.  And it is certainly only the preserving, merciful, sufficient and sustaining grace of Christ that has held onto me these past 40 years.  To Him, be all the thanks, praise, adoration and worship!
Although I didn't begin to understand the richness of the Gospel until much, much later, Francis Schaeffer's own testimony echoes what to me in past years has been the source of much wonder and joy in my life - even throughout these past few, very difficult years: 

“I became a Christian once for all upon the basis of the finished work of Christ through faith;  that is justification.  The Christian life, sanctification, operates on the same basis, but moment by moment.  There is the same base (Christ’s work)  and the same instrument (faith); the only difference is that one is once for all and the other is moment by moment…If we try to love the Christian life in our own strength we will have sorrow, but if we live in this way, we will not only serve the Lord, but in place of sorrow, He will be our song.  That is the difference.  The ‘how’ of the Christian life is the power of the crucified and risen Lord, through the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit, by faith moment by moment.” 

HT: Graced Again (20 August 2012)

Unbelief: "Not now, not here, not us"

“Unbelief says: Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us.  Faith says: Anything He did anywhere else He will do here; anything He did any other time He is willing to do now; anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!  With our feet on the ground, and our head cool, but with our heart ablaze with the love of God, we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey.  God wants to work through you!”

A. W. Tozer, The Counselor (Camp Hill, 1993), page 116.
HT:  Ray Ortlund Jr.

How great the Father's love for us

Jesus said: "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"  Matthew 7:11
HT: Vitamin Z

2012 Olympics: 'Inspiring a Generation'?

Just before we all get carried away with silly notions of thinking that all this fitness and sporty stuff looks easy, even for mid-lifers like me ("If Bradley Wiggins can do it, so can I!), pause, take a deep breath, do a few stretching exercises, and think again  ...

Thanks, as ever, to BW.

"Pray also for me ..."

The Apostle Paul was never shy when it came to requesting that others might pray for him and for his ministry labours (see for example Ephesians 6:20 and Colossians 4: 2-4).  It was neither struggling weakness nor self-effacing humility.  It was an expression of both a conscious dependence upon the Lord without whom nothing of eternal, God-glorifying worth would be possible (John 15: 5-8), and a desire to actively involve others in front-line ministry as co-workers together  (see 2 Cor 1:11).  But whatever the motivation, Paul believed in the efficacy of the prayers of others on his behalf, and asked that they would maintain this prayerful support.
Like apostles, pastors are similarly, deeply dependent upon the prayers of others.  But for what should they pray?
RW Glenn recently guest-blogged for Trevin Wax and addressed this very issue.  I think this is an important matter that I trust many will take to heart.  One might quibble about the order here and there, but it's a great place to start.  He writes:   

About nine years ago, I developed the following list of prayer requests that I gave to every willing hand. I haven’t passed them out in at least four years, but I decided to resurrect them. Why? I need prayer…badly! And so does your pastor. As leaders in the church, we have unique and often more intense temptations (“Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter”). So will you consider praying for your pastor the way I ask my people to pray for me?

1. That the gospel would be the focal point of my life and identity – not manhood, not being a husband, not being a father, not being a pastor, but who I am in Christ.
2. That I would not fear man by desiring the admiration of people; that the Lord’s “Well done” would be ever before my eyes.
3. That the Lord would not allow me to go long between repentances; that I would keep short accounts with Him and be sensitive to and ruthless with my sin.
4. That I would continue to grow in the character qualities of a man of God (1 Tim. 3:1-7; 2 Tim. 2:22-26; Titus 1:5-9).
5. That I would have a consistent, powerful, diligent life of private prayer; that I would grow in my dependence on the Holy Spirit.
6. That the Lord would give me great diligence in study and sermon preparation, making the most of my time.
7. That my preaching and teaching ministry would be empowered by the Holy Spirit; that the Lord would effect real change in our lives through it; and that by it we would be more endeared to Christ.
8. That I would boldly and faithfully and humbly and joyfully and intentionally share the gospel with the non-Christians in my social orbit.
9. That I would see Jesus as supremely valuable, my greatest treasure, and as my dear friend.

Amen and amen! 

The problem of evil - revisted

With thanks to CS and BW

Evil cannot, does not, must not 'make sense'

Because of the plethora of weddings I was involved with last week, I didn't manage to get across to the Portstewart - Keswick Convention where Dr Chris Wright was giving the morning Bible readings.  I have however, been richly exercised and stimulated over these past few days through reading the opening sections of his book, The God I Don't Understand, in which he addresses some of the Biblical issues that at times cause believers to question or query the character and purposes of God - either through his activity or more, his apparent inactivity - and which are often grist to the antagonist's mill. I don't agree with everything, but he is very helpful in a number of areas.  Take for instance, the 'mystery of evil'...
That God has chosen to reveal so much in His Word about Himself, creation, humanity, sin, Christ, redemption, heaven and hell, etc., indicates that where God has not given clear information about such as ultimate questions regarding the origin of evil, Satan, the suffering of the "innocents" etc, such silence is because he has deliberately determined to withhold answers to such questions.  The Bible gives the occasional hint, but there are no definitive answers.  And this, says Wright, is a wholly positive and necessary thing.
Like Alister McGrath, Chris Wright draws attention to our investigative rationality as part of what it means to be made in the image of God.  We have a fundamental drive to explore, to question, to understand and explain life, the universe, everything.  Even evil.  But our explanations for the presence and impact of evil do not and will not work because evil, simply, cannot be rationalised. He writes in summary conclusion: 

Aftermath of the Aurora cinema shootings

"God with his infinite perspective, and for reasons known only to himself, knows that we finite human beings cannot, indeed must not, "make sense" of evil.  For the final truth is that evil does not make sense. "Sense" is part of our rationality that is in itself part of God's good creation and God's image in us.  So evil can have no sense, since sense itself is a good thing.

"Evil has no proper place in creation.  It has no validity, no truth, no integrity.  It does not intrinsically belong to the creation as God originally made it nor will it belong to creation as God will ultimately redeem it.  It cannot and must not be integrated into the universe as a rational, legitimated, justified part of reality.  Evil is not there to be understood, but to be resisted and ultimately expelled.  Evil was and remains an intruder, an alien presence that has made itself almost (but not finally) 'at home'.  Evil is beyond our understanding because it is not part of the ultimate reality that God in his perfect wisdom and utter truthfulness intends for us to understand.  So God has withheld its secrets from his own revelation and our research" (p.42).

In subsequent chapters Wright develops his approach, and to be fair to his intentions, I need to point out that while he argues that the Bible compels us to 'accept' the mystery of evil and suffering as something that is beyond our understanding, this does not imply that we should just resignedly acquiesce to its presence;  rather, the Biblical call is to protest and lament at the offence of evil which contradicts the goodness and purposes of God; and by faith, look ahead with joy-filled hope at evil's present defeat and final and unequivocal destruction in the new creation (p.56ff) - all in consequence of Jesus' triumphant victory at the Cross and through his resurrection (Col. 1: 20).  

Discipleship: mapping the faithfulness of God in our lives

1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth—
    let Israel say—
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
    but they have not gained the victory over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed my back
    and made their furrows long.
4 But the Lord is righteous;
    he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
Psalm 129: 1-4 (NIV 1984)

Commenting upon this psalm, pastor-theologian Eugene Peterson writes:

"The cornerstone sentence of Psalm 129 is, 'The Lord is righteous', meaning not merely that He is always right (which he is and this, of course, is what the Bible assumes), but that he is always in right relation to us...

"That 'The Lord is righteous' is the reason that Christians can look back over a long life, crisscrossed with cruelties, unannounced tragedies, unexpected setbacks, sufferings, disappointments, depressions - look back across all that and see it as a road of blessing and make a song of what we see. 'Sorely have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me (v 2: RSV).  God sticks to His relationship. He establishes a personal relationship with us and stays with it.  

"The central reality for Christians is the personal, unalterable, persevering commitment that God makes to us.  Perseverance is not the result of our determination, it is the result of God's faithfulness.  We survive in the way of faith not because we have extraordinary stamina but because God is righteous.  Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God's righteousness and less and less attention to our own; finding the meaning of our lives not by probing our moods and motives and morals but by believing in God's will and purposes; making a map of the faithfulness of God, not charting the rise and fall of our enthusiasms.  It is out of such a reality that we acquire perseverance."

A Long Obedience in the Right Direction (Marshall-Pickering: London, 1989), p 128-9.  Slightly edited for brevity and clarity.
HT: Tullian