Worship the God of History

John Stott:

Somebody once suggested that "the most accurate chart of the meaning of history is the set of tracks made by a drunken fly with feet wet with ink, staggering across a piece of white paper. They lead nowhere and reflect no pattern of meaning." Similarly, Rudolf Bultmann wrote that "the question of meaning in history has become meaningless."

Christians who look to Scripture as their authority profoundly disagree with these gloomy assessments. For the God of the Bible is the God of history. He has entitled himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." He chose Israel out of the nations to be his covenant people and took about two thousand years to prepare them for the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham in the coming of their Messiah. Above all, he came to us in Jesus Christ when Augustus was emperor of Rome, and "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried." Then on the third day he rose again and, having sent his Spirit, has for two further millennia been pushing his church out into the world to take the good news to its furthest extremities. One day (known only to the Father), when the gospel has been preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations" (Mt. 24:13), the end will come. For Christ will return in glory, terminate the historical process and perfect his reign.

From The Gospel and the End of Time

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Resolutions from the Book of James

Sinclair Ferguson:

The book of James has at least 20 resolutions that need to be part of the Christian’s covenant with God about how the believer is going to employ the tongue and lips, and master the heart in such a way that the beauty of Jesus is expressed:

I resolve to ask God for wisdom to speak out of a single-minded devotion to him (James 1:5).

I resolve to boast only in the exultation I receive in Jesus Christ and also in the humiliation I receive for Jesus Christ (James 1:9-10).

I resolve to set a watch over my mouth (James 1:13).

I resolve to be constantly quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19).

I resolve to learn the gospel way of speaking to both rich and poor (James 2:1-4).

I resolve to speak in the present consciousness of my final judgment (James 2:12).

I resolve never to stand on anyone’s face with the words I employ (James 2:16).

I resolve never to claim as reality in my life what I do not truly experience (James 3:14).

I resolve to resist quarrelsome words as evidence of a bad heart that needs to be mortified (James 4:1).

I resolve never to speak decided evil against another out of a heart of antagonism (James 4:11).

I resolve never to boast in any thing but what I will accomplish (James 4:13).

I resolve to speak as one subject to the providences of God (James 4:15).

I resolve never to grumble. The judge is at the door (James 5:9).

I resolve never to allow anything but total integrity in everything I say (James 5:12).

I resolve to speak to God in prayer whenever I suffer (James 5:13).

I resolve to sing praises to God whenever I’m cheerful (James 5:14).

I resolve to ask for the prayers of others when I’m in need (James 5:14).

I resolve to confess it whenever I have failed (James 5:15).

I resolve to pray with others for one another whenever I am together with them (James 5:15).

I resolve to speak words of restoration when I see another wander (James 5:19).

Wherever you are, it’s not so much what you say while you're in the room, it’s the questions people have when you leave the room. “Where do you come from?” This is someone who has been with Jesus. By God’s grace, James says that we may so grow to maturity that we may begin to speak like our blessed Lord Jesus.

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We Rejected Him

Colin Smith:

We live in a Christ-rejecting world. “He came to His own and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). That truth from the Bible helps me make sense of the news.

When natural disasters happen, people say, “Why doesn’t God do something about that?” But when He came and calmed the storm, we rejected Him. When gunmen are terrorizing schools, we say, “Why doesn’t God do something about that?” But when He came and cast out demons, we asked Him to leave. When we see cancer, we say, “Why doesn’t God do something about that?” But when He came and healed the sick, we rejected Him.

He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. But thank God it doesn’t end there. “Yet to all who received Him … He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11, 12).

Working Hard as You Depend on God

Josh Harris:

The Spirit-filled life is not a toil-free life. It's not a life without struggle. The Spirit-filled life is toil and struggleenergized and enabled by the Spirit.

So if you feel like you're struggling against sin and having to work as you follow Christ, don't think you're doing something wrong. That is the Christian life! Becoming a Christian and being filled by the Spirit doesn't mean that God doesn't remove all need for effort and struggle. Instead he promises to give power in the struggle. And that is what gives us joy in the midst of our work--knowing that our ultimate hope is the power of the Holy Spirit.

This doesn't mean God's Spirit can't powerfully transform someone in an instant. The Holy Spirit can do whatever he wants to do! There are times where the Spirit powerfully frees people from a specific pattern of sin or addiction. There are moments when the Spirit works so that we're given faith or joy and changed in an instant. That's wonderful and we should ask for that and rejoice when it happens.

But the majority of time it seems the Spirit chooses to involve us in the process of transformation. So he doesn't immediately remove the area of temptation--instead he empowers us to resist and pray and fight sin. We're called to "walk by the Spirit" in Galatians 5, which means to be guided by and empowered by the Spirit. We participate in living a life that pleases God's Spirit and turns from our sinful, fleshly desires. And the wonderful reality is that it's in this process of working and yet relying that we see him powerfully working in us both to "will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). In these moments we see his power in our weakness and we glorify God. Though this ongoing work of sanctification is slower and involves real effort on our part it's no less wonderful than instantaneous freedom. God is glorified in both.

Next Sermon - Matthew 21:18-46

Here's the text for this coming Sunday's sermon, as we return to our series in the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 21:18-46

18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Show and Tell

It's true-- they don't make 'em like they used to. Originally published in 1962 and rerun yesterday, click the image below to see it in all its glory (and without getting ink on your hands).

More Mystical

"America has become somewhat less Christian, but much more mystical," says Ross Douthat, and he's got a graph from the Pew Forum to back it up here.

Sufficient Grace

Iain Duguid on the story of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego from Daniel 3:

As a child and a young person, I sometimes used to wonder and worry about what it would be like to be in their position. What would I do, if I were faced with a similar choice between denying Christ and a painful death? I doubted whether I would be so bold in service of the Lord as these young men were; I feared rather that I would cave under the pressure. As I have grown older, however, I have come to realize two things. First, God has not promised to give us the grace to face all of the desperate situations that we might imagine finding ourselves in. He has promised to sustain us only in the ones that he actually brings us into. He therefore doesn’t promise that we will imagine how we could go through the fire for his sake, but he does promise that if he leads us through the fire, he will give us sufficient grace at that time. Like Manna, grace is not something that can be stored up for later use; each day receives its own supply.

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Glory to God in the Highest

Ray Ortlund:

Isn’t it interesting how in Christmas cards and on public displays we often see the words, “Peace on earth, good will toward men”? But how seldom we see the prior words, “Glory to God in the highest”! But there is no peace, there is no good will, unless there is glory to God in the highest first. We forget to put God’s glory first. Fortunately, he does not. God will be glorified.

Would you or I have begun this announcement the way the angels did, with glory to God first? Obviously, the angels did not understand the importance of relevance and contextualization and meeting felt needs. They started with God, not with peace on earth! Why? Because the most relevant message to this sin-ruined world was, is, and always will be, “Glory to God in the highest.” Our whole problem is our God-neglect. But the best news for sinners like you and me is that, whatever we might do, God is still God, God is glorious, and God’s glory is supreme over all other realities. And when his glorious kingdom is finally consummated, then there will be perfect peace on earth, good will toward men.

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For Such As You

Matthew 1:21

"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

C. H. Spurgeon on Matthew 1:21:

Who are his people? We are eager to know who they are, and we are glad to find that his people need to be saved, and will be saved, for it is written, "He will save his people." It is not said, "He will reward his people for their righteousness," nor is it promised that he will "save them from becoming sinners," but "He will save his people from their sins." . . .

If you are righteous in yourself, you are not one of his people. If you were never sick in soul, you are none of the folk that the Great Physician has come to heal. If you were never guilty of sin, you are none of those whom he has come to deliver from sin. Jesus comes on no needless errand and undertakes no unnecessary work. If you feel yourselves to need saving, then cast yourselves upon him, for such as you are he came to save.

From The Treasury of the New Testament
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The X in Xmas

Why is X Used when it Replaces Christ in Christmas?

R. C. Sproul answers:

First of all, you have to understand that it is not the letter X that is put into Christmas. We see the English letter X there, but actually what it involves is the first letter of the Greek name for Christ. Christos is the New Testament Greek for Christ. The first letter of the Greek word Christos is transliterated into our alphabet as an X. That X has come through church history to be a shorthand symbol for the name of Christ.

*****

The idea of X as an abbreviation for the name of Christ came into use in our culture with no intent to show any disrespect for Jesus. The church has used the symbol of the fish historically because it is an acronym. Fish in Greek (ichthus) involved the use of the first letters for the Greek phrase "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." So the early Christians would take the first letter of those words and put those letters together to spell the Greek word for fish. That's how the symbol of the fish became the universal symbol of Christendom. There's a long and sacred history of the use of X to symbolize the name of Christ, and from its origin, it has meant no disrespect.

I post this because we needn't fear that everything like this is some kind of attack on Christmas. However, because so few people today know the information cited above, I personally wouldn't want to abbreviate the word Christmas in a way that would make Christ "invisible."

Waiting for Jesus

Mark Galli:

The crazy thing about this time of year—the time we remember Jesus growing in the womb of Mary, coming as love to this lonely planet—is that we don't have time to be still, let alone wait. It's like there's this conspiracy to prevent us from doing the one thing that can heal our hearts. Do anything, anything, says the Tempter,but don't be still.

I wasn't completely truthful when I said there is nothing we can do to be filled with the love of God. God, in fact, commands us to love him. So what's with that? He must think there is something we can "do." But it turns out that the one thing we "do" is, by its very nature, a non-doing. It's a relinquishment of all doing. We can be still. We can wait.

And this is why we continue to drag ourselves to church (even though most services do their best to quash stillness!). And why we get up in the quiet of dawn to pray. It's why we clear our neighbor's driveway of snow or volunteer at the food closet or spend an evening listening to the heartbreak of a friend. We put ourselves in places where God has been known to show up. In each of these acts, we are saying, "Okay, I'm here where you want me to be. Come, Lord Jesus."

That's Christmas!

That's Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

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Sharing Christ over Christmas

Chris Castaldo:

Many of us approach Christmas dinner brimming with fear. Such anxiety doesn’t come from Aunt Mary’s liver sausage pate or her sour-apple fruitcake so much as our sense of the challenge of trying to direct conversation toward the gospel. After all, last year’s attempt was a proverbial train wreck. How can this year be any different?

If I were to give one piece of advice, it would be to understand what evangelism is, and what it is not. The following definition and subsequent explication are intended to provide this sort of perspective, to help us approach Christmas dinner with a greater measure of optimism and hope.

“Evangelism is the activity in which the entire Church prayerfully and intentionally relies on God in sharing gospel love and truth, in order to bring people one step closer to Jesus Christ.”

Go here to read how he explains this definition.

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More Free Christmas Songs

Go here to download two free songs from Sovereign Grace Music's Christmas album entitled Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. Then you can go here to download one more freebie.

Religious Freedom Worldwide

From Christianity Today:

[On December 16] the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released what it claims to be the first quantitative worldwide study on how governments and societies infringe on the religious beliefs and practices of individuals.

The Global Restrictions On Religion report finds that only about one-third of the world's countries impose high restrictions on religion, but these 64 nations contain 70 percent of the world's 6.8 billion people (thanks to India and China). While almost half of the world's countries impose low restrictions on religion, this good sign is mitigated by the fact that they only account for 15 percent of world population.

God With Us

Charles Spurgeon, preaching on Isaiah 7:14:

“God with us.” It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, “God with us,” back he falls, confounded and confused. “God with us” is the laborer’s strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor, if that one word were taken away? “God with us” is the sufferer’s comfort, the balm of his woe, the alleviation of his misery, the sleep which God gives to his beloved, their rest after exertion and toil. “God with us” is eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky.

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Are You SAD?

Are you or someone you know affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? Here's a biblically faithful response.

Are you SAD? from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

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Good News

R. C. Sproul:

…This word euangelion, which means “good message” or “good news,” has a rich background in the Old Testament. There, the basic meaning of the term gospel was simply an announcement of a good message. If a doctor came to examine a sick person and afterward declared that the problem was nothing serious, that was gospel or good news. In ancient days when soldiers went out to battle, people waited breathlessly for a report from the battlefield about the outcome. Once the outcome was known, marathon runners dashed back to give the report. That is why Isaiah wrote, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news” (Isa. 52:7). The watchman in the watchtower would look as far as the eye could see into the distance. Finally, he would see the dust moving as the runner sped back to the city to give the report of the battle. The watchmen were trained to tell by the way the runner’s legs were churning whether the news was good or bad. If the runner was doing the survival shuffle, it indicated a grim report, but if his legs were flying and the dust was kicking up, that meant good news. That is the concept of gospel in its most rudimentary sense.

From Romans
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Free Song: "My Soul Will Magnify the Lord"

In his gospel, Luke records Mary's response to the angel's announcement to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Many have written musical arrangements of this text, and one of the latest is Stuart Townend and Keith & Kristyn Getty. Here is the way they put this passage into verse, and you can download a free recording of their version here (look for the link under the video).

"My Soul Will Magnify the Lord (Magnificat)"

My soul will magnify the Lord;
I rejoice in God my Savior,
In the wonder of His favor.
For He has done great things for me;
He was mindful of His servant.
Every age shall call me blessed.
The Hope of Abraham come
In the giving of a Son;
For He who promised is mighty
In remembering His mercy.

My soul will magnify the Lord
For His grace to those who fear Him
Through every generation.
The proud He scatters to the wind
As the ruler's strength is broken,
And the rich are left with nothing.
The humble lifted high,
And the hungry satisfied;
Our Portion and our Treasure,
Our Hope and Help forever.

From Luke 1:46-55
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend

Even into Christmas

C. S. Lewis:

Just a hurried line . . . to tell a story which puts the contrast between OUR feast of the Nativity and all this ghastly "Xmas" racket at its lowest. My brother heard a woman on a bus say, as the bus passed a church with a Crib outside it, "Oh Lord! They bring religion into everything. Look—they're dragging it even into Christmas now!"

From LETTERS TO AN AMERICAN LADY, (December 29, 1958)
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That Life Might Die

Hebrews 2:14-15 (referring to Jesus)

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Augustine:

Man’s Maker was made man
that the Bread might be hungry,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired from the journey,
that Strength might be weak,
that Life might die.

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Next Sermon - Isaiah 40:27-31 on 12/20/09

Here is our text for this coming Sunday's sermon, the remainder of Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40:27-31

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

The First Day of the Week

Thabiti Anyabwile:

A couple weeks back, my deacon of finance commented over lunch: "How different do you think things would be if Christians treated Sunday as the first day of the week rather than the last?"

It was a great question. The question puts its finger on our entire approach to the Lord's Day. Far too often we approach Sunday as the day we rest from the week gone by rather than the day of first fruits, of beginning with the Lord and shaping our hearts and souls for the week ahead. When that happens, God gets the leftovers and the world gets the best part of us.

On Sunday nights, most of us will begin routines designed to help us get off to a good start for the week. We'll select the children's clothes for school. We'll perhaps pack lunches. Spouses will coordinate schedules, being sure important meetings and outings are highlighted. Thoughts will turn to work: tasks to get done, meetings to attend, and so on. In short, we prepare for the week now that Sunday is over.

How would it affect our souls and our weeks to simply back the preparation up one day so that Sunday is the first day of the week and the Saturday the night of our preparation for all that's ahead? What if we invested considerable energy planning to get off to a good start with the Lord and His people, and planning to give the leftovers to lesser lords? How would we benefit if we lived for the Lord's Day rather than living for the weekend? I think the effect would be noticeable and almost immediate.

Discerning Your Idols

Our passage from Isaiah 40 highlights the folly of idolatry. Tim Keller has written recently on this topic, and here he attempts to answer the question, "How do we discern our idols?"

One way requires that we look at our imagination. Archbishop William Temple once said, "Your religion is what you do with your solitude." In other words, the true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention. What do you enjoy day-dreaming about? What is it that occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about? Do you develop potential scenarios about career advancement? Or material goods such as a dream home? Or a relationship with a particular person? One or two day dreams do not indicate idolatry. Ask rather, what do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart?

Another way to discern your heart's true love is to look at how you spend your money. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also." (Matt 6:21) Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart's greatest love. In fact, the mark of an idol is that you spend too much money on it, and you must try to exercise self-control constantly. As St Paul has written, if God and his grace is the thing in the world you love most, you will give your money away to ministry, charity, and the poor in astonishing amounts (2 Cor 8:7-9). For most of us, however, we tend to over spend on clothing, or on our children, or on status symbols such as homes and cars. This reveals our idols.

A third way to discern idols works best for those who have professed a faith in God. You may regularly go to a place of worship where you are a member. You may have a full, devout set of doctrinal beliefs. You may be trying very hard to believe and obey God. However, what is your real, daily functional salvation? What are you really living for, what is your real—not just your professed—God? A good way to discern this is how you respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes. If you ask for something that you don't get, you may become sad and disappointed. Then you go on. Hey, life's not over. Those are not your functional masters. But when you pray and work for something and you don't get it and you respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then you may have found your real god. Like Jonah, you become angry enough to die.

A final test is for anyone to use. Look at your most uncontrollable emotions. Just as a fisherman looking for fish knows to go where the water is roiling, look for your idols at the bottom of painful emotions, especially those that never seem to lift and that drive you to do things you know are wrong. If you are angry, ask, "Is there something here too important to me, something I am telling myself I have to have at all costs?" Do the same thing about strong fear or despair and guilt. Ask yourself "Am I so scared, because something is being threatened, which I think is a necessity when it is not? Am I so down on myself because I have lost or failed at something which I think is a necessity when it is not?" If you are over-working, driving yourself into the ground with frantic activity, ask yourself, "Do I feel that Imust have this thing to be fulfilled and significant?" When you ask questions like that, when you "pull your emotions up by the roots," as it were, sometimes you will find your idols clinging to them.

From Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters
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Not the Same

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Revelation 2:4

John Stott:

As for orthodoxy, it is cold and dead and grim without the warmth and life and beauty with which love invests it. The Ephesians even hated the evil deeds and words of the Nicolaitans, so unimpeachable was their theological correctness. But to hate error and evil is not the same as to love Jesus Christ.

From What Christ Thinks of the Church
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Being Gospel-Centered

From an interview with D. A. Carson:

In a paragraph, what does it mean to be gospel-centered in one’s Christian life?

Some think of the gospel as so slender it does nothing more than get us into the kingdom. After that the real work of transformation begins. But a biblically-faithful understanding of the gospel shows that gospel to be rich, powerful, the wisdom of God and the power of God, all we need in Christ. It is the gospel that saves us, transforms us, conforms us to Christ, prepares us for the new heaven and the new earth, establishes our relations with fellow-believers, teaches us how to work and serve so as to bring glory to God, calls forth and edifies the church, and so forth. This gospel saves — and “salvation” means more than just “getting in,” but transformed wholeness. It would be easy to write many pages on how a gospel-centered ness affects all of life, but one must begin with a full-orbed understanding of what the gospel is and does.

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Playing Church

Take a look at this video. It's funny, yes, and for all I know it may very well be "real" and not a spoof. However, we should not too quickly focus on it as an indictment of a more sacramental religion (though I believe it is). We should take the time to consider how we ourselves can all too easily turn the practices of our faith into routine performances-- taking out the supernatural dimension and reducing them to motions and gestures. It becomes all about doing things "the right way" and doing them more efficiently, effectively, and (sometimes) spectacularly than the person sitting next to me. Not to mention the misguided notion that we can "do church" without actually being with The Church, God's people.

But maybe they get one thing right: If you're going to play church, you should do it on your own time.

Snowflakes

Jeanette Winterson:

They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it?

Photo courtesy of SnowCrystals.com (click through for many more stunning flakes)

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Treasuring, Pondering

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

Ray Ortlund:

The shepherds glorified and praised God for the birth of Jesus. That was good. But it’s one thing to get riled up about a dramatic event; it’s another thing to take that event into our hearts, so that it redefines the hope we’re living for. Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

The word translated “treasure” implies she said to herself something like this: “I must never forget what God has shown me. I will guard this in the deepest recesses of my being. What God has done is the treasure of my heart.”

She also “pondered” these things. Not even Mary understood Jesus fully. But she began to put together growing insight into the biblical prophecies about her Son, the earlier birth of John the Baptist, the report of the shepherds, the later visit of the wise men, and so forth. She thought it through, again and again.

The truth sustained her, while others just lost their enthusiasm.

Next Sermon - Isaiah 40:12-26 on 12/13/09

Here's the text for this coming Sunday's sermon, the third of four from Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40:12-26

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.

He's Here!

Here is a Christmas selection from one of our family's favorites, The Jesus Storybook Bible. It starts about 45 seconds in.



Source

Is It Still the Bible?

This is a question that you may not have ever thought to ask, but if we believe the Bible to be God's Word, and we also want to help our young children or grandchildren to know the Bible, how can we be faithful to the very words of Scripture and teach our children in a way they can understand? Westminster Bookstore helps with an answer to this evangelical parental conundrum:

If I retell a Bible story in my own words, is it still the Bible?

This is the question that often comes to my mind when I consider the issue of children’s Bibles. Most children’s Bibles and “Story Bibles” for children involve some level of paraphrasing of the original text. Usually, this paraphrasing is loose enough to be called more appropriately, “retelling.” What are we to think of this? Is it good? Is it dangerous? The answer to both of those questions is, “Yes.” The “retelling” of a Bible story is, at best, a sincere attempt to communicate the Bible’s message to minds less-developed in language. Not to bring the Bible to children in language they can understand is, arguably, not to bring the Bible to them at all. But this means that children’s Bibles that retell the stories do more than just bring the text to children – they teach the story. They interpret; they theologize (whether self-consciously or not); they apply.

The best retelling of a Biblical story is not unlike a good sermon. It correctly understands the part of Scripture it is teaching. It correctly places the message of that story in the whole message and theology of the Bible. It leads children to Him to whom all the Scriptures testify – it points to Jesus. Unfortunately, many children’s Bibles have tended to show little effort to hear what a given text is actually teaching, little attention to how that text contributes to the Bible’s great redemption story, little attention to how it shows us Christ. It is much easier, and much more common, to simply draw moral lessons from good and bad examples in the behavior of Bible
characters.

As with sermons, there are other factors that contribute to quality; for a sermon, factors such as style of delivery, communication techniques, etc.; for children’s Bible stories, out-loud readability, quality of illustrations, etc. But we encourage you to consider first how faithful a children’s Bible story is to the message of the Bible. The way young children are taught the Bible will train them, correctly or incorrectly, how to read and understand the Bible when they are older.

- Jim Weidenaar, Westminster Bookstore

He Shall Feed His Flock

One more from Isaiah 40 as used in Handel's Messiah.


Isaiah 40:11 (KJV)

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV)

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

What Is Needed

Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

What is needed is something that cannot be explained in human terms. What is needed is something that is so striking and so signal that it will arrest the attention of the whole world. That is revival.

Now we of ourselves can never do anything like that. We can do a great deal, and we should do all we can. We can preach the truth, we can defend it, we can indulge in our apologetics, we can organize our campaigns, we can try to present a great front to the world. But you know, it does not impress the world. It leaves the world where it was. The need is for something which will be so overwhelming, so divine, so unusual that it will arrest the attention of the world . . .

"Authenticate thy word. Lord God, let it be known, let it be known beyond a doubt, that we are thy people. Shake us!" I do not ask him to shake the building, but I ask him to shake us. I ask him to do something that is so amazing, so astounding, so divine, that the whole world shall be compelled to look on and say, 'What is this?' as they said on the day of Pentecost.

From Revival
Source

To My Words Give Grace

Johann Heermann (1585-1647):

Lord, keep me from saying words that later need recalling;
Guard me, lest idle speech may from my lips be falling:
But when, within my place, I must and ought to speak,
Then to my words give grace, lest I offend the weak.

Source

O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings

Here we have another piece from Handel's Messiah, taken from Isaiah 40:9 (part of our text this week) and 60:1. The King James English text reads thusly:

Isaiah 40:9

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

Next Sermon - Isaiah 40:6-11 on 12/06/09

Here is the text for this coming Sunday's sermon.

Isaiah 40:6-11

6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

The War on the War on Christmas

I agree with Warren Cole Smith's take on the now annual fight over whether stores use the phrase "Merry Christmas" or the more neutral "Happy Holidays." Here are his three reasons why he's not joining this battle in the culture war (click his name to read it all):

First of all, Jesus is most certainly not the reason for the orgiastic spending spree modern Christmas has become. I certainly think anyone should be able to say “Merry Christmas” if he or she wants to. But given what this holiday has become, there’s a part of me—a big part of me—that wants to keep the Jesus I worship as far away from this commercial debauchery as possible.

Secondly, there are the words themselves. “Christmas” is derived from “Christ’s Mass,” an expression first recorded in the 11th century. “Holiday” is a word derived from “holy day,” an expression that likely has an even more ancient, and no less religious, derivation. Indeed, the phrase “Merry Christmas” was unknown until the 16th century, and it connoted the idea of a Christmas that was—shall we say—festive. In other words, “Merry Christmas” may have been a medieval euphemism for “bottoms-up.”

These historical associations may have been why the Puritans banned Christmas. In fact, it is ironic that many of the defenders of Christmas, who often venerate our Founding Fathers, forget that one of the deciding battles of the Revolutionary War took place when George Washington forced his troops across the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776. He attacked Hessian troops at Trenton, routing them in a battle that lasted only an hour. The myth spread that the Hessian troops were unprepared for the battle because they were drunk from their celebration of Christmas. It’s likely that this story is not strictly true, but it caught on because of the American and Puritan disdain for the celebration of Christmas.

My third reason for sitting out the Christmas wars is simply the overall shrillness of the conversation. Several years ago, Tampa pastor Paula White—who has since found herself under investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley and the Senate Finance Committee—initiated the “To Hell With Happy Holidays” campaign, an attempt to stamp out the phrase “Happy Holidays.” It seems ironic in the extreme that anyone would think it shows the love of Christ by saying “To hell with Happy Holidays.” But these are the depths to which many have fallen.

I'd add another reason. This really isn't about keeping Christ in Christmas, because the most that can be accomplished through these boycotts and bad attitudes is keeping political correctness at bay. That's not worth a fight, especially when we'd rather win people to Christ than save them from being unnecessarily PC. For example, here's text from Focus on the Family's Stand for Christmas site:

Millions upon millions in our nation deeply value the great truths of Christmas and the holiday's inspiring place in American life and culture. We hope you will take a moment to "Stand for Christmas" by sharing feedback about your Christmas shopping experiences.

We're asking YOU to decide which retailers are "Christmas-friendly." They want your patronage and your gift-shopping dollars, but do they openly recognize Christmas?

Did you hear that? Jesus doesn't appear anywhere in there. There's no "Emmanuel, God with us." No "Unto you is born... a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." This website is concerned with things Americans "deeply value," not about Christian faith. This campaign is about "great truths of Christmas" but doesn't say what they are. It seeks to preserve "the holiday's inspiring place in American life and culture," making sure stores "openly recognize Christmas," but that really doesn't go all that far, does it?

That's because there's no way we could expect most stores to celebrate Jesus Christ's birth in the way that a genuine believer would. That's also why we should not expect all stores to greet their customers with a "Merry Christmas"-- because not all their customers are true believers.

Let's give retailers a reason to like Christians, not loathe them.

As Thankful for Their Pains as Their Pleasures

The Thanksgiving holiday is past, but here's one more post on thankfulness in trials.

Tullian Tchividjian:

I love reading biographies. And one of the things I’ve discovered in reading them is that the greatest people in history have been just as thankful for their pains as they have been for their pleasures. They’ve given gratitude for their desperations as much as their deliverances; their grief as much as their glory.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Health is a gift from God, but sickness is a gift greater still.” Throughout his time in this world, Spurgeon suffered with various physical ailments that eventually took his life prematurely. He longed to be well but he recognized the supreme value of being sick and he thanked God for it because it was his pain that caused him to desperately draw near to God.

Similarly, David Brainerd was a young missionary to American Indians who died in 1747 at 29 years old from tuberculosis. Toward the end of his struggle, he was on his deathbed coughing up blood and coming in and out of consciousness saying out loud, “Oh for Holiness! Oh, for more of God in my soul! Oh, this pleasing pain! It makes my soul press after God.”

The Puritans used to say that this life was the gymnasium, the dressing room, for the life to come and if suffering here and now better prepared them for the next world then it was welcomed.

To be thankful for our comforts only is to make an idol of this life. “God-sent afflictions”, says Maurice Roberts, “have a health-giving effect upon the soul” because they are the medicine used to purge the soul of self-centeredness and this world’s vanities. Pain, in other words, sharpens us, matures us, and gives us clear “eye-sight.” Pain transforms us like nothing else can. It turns us into “solid” people. Roberts continues, “Those who have been in the crucible have lost more of their scum.” All of this should cause us to be deeply thankful.