Grace and our Mediator, Jesus Christ.

As we begin this new week, let us remember our constant need for grace. But let us remember as well that the New Testament always links grace with the person and work of the Mediator, the God-Man Jesus Christ. "Grace...came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17; c.f. 1 Pet 1:10). "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 2:1).Grace abounded...so that, as sin reigns in death, grace also might reign through righteousness (Jesus' obedience to death) to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom 5:20f.). It is in union with the person of Jesus, crucified, risen, and ascended, and by virtue of His atonement, that men know grace, and it is faith in Christ--belief of the "message of the cross" (1 Cor 1:18), and trust in the risen Christ--that is the means by which we enter into it.

Let's walk in this grace this week. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (Col 3:16).

The Epistle of James: A Wrap-up

Tonight we completed a 19 week study in James. I thought it would be fitting to offer this helpful synopsis of James by Sinclair Ferguson that I think helpful and challenging.
In this overview, Ferguson discerns 20 resolutions that should characterize one who has been brought forth by the word of truth (James 1:18):

James 1:5 To ask God for wisdom to speak and with a single mind
James 1:9-10 To boast only in exaltation in Christ, & humiliation in world
James 1:13 To set a watch over my mouth
James 1:19 To be constantly quick to hear, slow to speak
James 2:1-4 To learn the gospel way of speaking to poor and the rich
James 2:12 To speak always in the consciousness of the final judgment
James 2:16 To never stand on anyone’s face with my words
James 3:14 To never claim as reality something I do not experience
James 4:1 To resist quarrelsome words in order to mortify a quarrelsome heart
James 4:11 To never speak evil of another
James 4:13 To never boast in what I will accomplish
James 4:15 To always speak as one subject to the providences of God
James 5:9 To never grumble, knowing that the Judge is at the door
James 5:12 To never allow anything but total integrity in my speech
James 5:13 To speak to God in prayer whenever I suffer
James 5:14 To sing praises to God whenever I am cheerful
James 5:14 To ask for the prayers of others when I am sick
James 5:15 To confess it freely whenever I have failed
James 5:15 To pray with and for one another when I am together with others
James 5:19 To speak words of restoration when I see another wander

6 Unbiblical Trends Concerning our View of the Church

R. Kent Hughes in his book Set Apart: Calling a worldly church to a Godly life says there are at least 6 trends that are common in American Christianity that undermine the picture of what the church is to be:
(1) Hitchhiker Christians—Evangelicalism is blanketed with a trend of conditional loyalty that has produced an army of church hitchhikers (you buy the car, pay for the repairs, insurance, and gas and I’ll ride with you. But if you have an accident, you are on your own and I might sue).
(2) Consumer Christians—What’s in it for me? Church shoppers attend one church for preaching, send their children to a second church for its youth program, and go to a third church’s small group.
(3) Spectator Christians—There are always those who hang at the church's fringes as spectators. They have bought that lie that virtue can come and grow merely through viewing and listening (Fans who cheer the players on while they themselves are in desperate need of engagement.
(4) Drive-through Christians—The nice things about drive through is that you can get what you want in a minimum of time with no more effort than turning your power steering. The result is a drive through nation of unfit people with an addiction to fast foods. Drive through Christians get their church fix out of the way either on Saturday nights or early Sunday services so there will be time for other activities. Of course, there is a high price to pay over time in the habits and spiritual arteries of a flabby soul--a family that is unfit for the battles of life and has no conception of being Christian soldiers in the great spiritual battle.
(5) Relationless Christians— The Bible pictures Christians as people who live in relationship to Christ and to one another by virtue of their being members of Christ's body, the church. But in this erroneous view, the best church is the one that knows you least and demands the least--that is, no accountability or demands.
(6) Churchless Christians--The current myth is that a life of worship is possible, even better, apart from the church. The loss of commitment to the church has naturally produced a casual observance of Sunday as the Lord's Day. What in the Old Testament is called a holy day has become for many professing Christians a holiday.

Christian Parenting: Modeling the Gospel

The parents’ duty, is in effect to live out the gospel to the child: that is, to assure their children that they are loved and accepted and valued for who they are, not for who they ought to be, should have been, or might become. Obedience must never be made the condition of parental love; a love so conditioned would not deserve the name. When the parent is obedient to the vocation of genuine love, the child’s obedience may become, like that of the Christian to God, a glad and loving response. Such obedience is pleasing to the Lord (N.T. Wright).

Sermon for February 27: "By the Gospel for the Gospel" (Col 3:16-17)

Please pray for our worship time on Sunday as we consider what may be the most central reality for the Christian. That is, the Christian life isn't mere self help derived from good advice principles from the Bible. No, the Christian life is a supernatural life, empowered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Col 3:16).
How do we know if we are living this kind of Spirit/Gospel generated life? Our motives and ambitions are centrally focused on the glory/name/fame of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col 3:17); not on our on self-serving agendas.

Kingdom Living: Wisdom from C.S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis: If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead...Does it matter to a man dying in a desert by which choice of route he missed the only well? ('A Slip of the Tongue,' in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses [Touchstone, 1975], 141-42).

A Game Plan for Anxiety

Proverbs 25:28 gives a good description of what happens with anxiety: Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit. How do you get a grip when fear and anxiety have taken over? Nothing seems safe or certain. Its an experience that is no respecter of persons. Anxiety is universal in scope.
However, there are things to use as a game plan when we do start to worry. David Powlison gives us six things to do (Seeing With New Eyes, 122-24):
1. Name the pressures. We always worry about "something." In the midst of worry, it may seem as if a million things are pressing at us. But really, we're only obsessing about a few things, maybe even just one. It helps to name the one thing or the few things. Anxieties feel endless--but they're infinite and specific.
2. Identify how you express anxiety. How does it show up in your life? For some people it's the feeling of panic or maybe just a vague uneasiness. For some people the sign is anger. They get irritated. For other people, worry shows up in their bodies (e.g. a tension headache)or in the cheap remedies that sin manufactures to make us feel better (e.g. gorging on food or a stiff drink).
3. Ask yourself, Why am I anxious? Worry always has its reasons. Anxious people are "you of little faith." If I've forgotten God, who or what has started to rule in his place? Identify the hijacker. What do I want, need, crave, expect, demand, or fear either losing or never getting?" Anxious people "eagerly seek" the gifts more than the Giver. They deposit treasure in the wrong place.
4. Which promises of Jesus speaks to you most? Take to heart those seven promises (see post below). It may be tough to remember all seven at once, so pick one.
5. Go to your Father. Talk to him. Your Father cares about the things you worry about. Your Father knows what you need. Cast your cares on him, because he cares for you. You'll have to leave your worries with him--they are always outside of your control! How will your kids turn out? Will you get Alzheimer's? What will happen with the economy? Will gas prices continue to increase? Will your dad or loved one come to know Christ? You have good reasons to be concerned about such things, but you have better reasons to take them to Someone who loves you and can actually do something about it.
6. Give. Do and say something constructive. Care for someone else. Give to meet human need. In the darkest night, when life is hardest, there's always some way to give yourself away.

7 Reasons Jesus Gives Not to Worry

I met with a young man today who is distraught over the betrayal of his fiance. He is anxious and hardly able to function. Maybe you have been there, in some capacity. David Powlison helpfully points out seven reasons Jesus gives from Luke 12:22-34 not to be anxious (Seeing With New Eyes, 116-122).
1. Your life is so much more than food or clothing. A worrier is storing "treasure" in the wrong place. If what you most value can be taken away or destroyed, then you set yourself up for anxiety.
2. Jesus tells people to look around at the world. In this case, look at crows. Jesus says, Consider the ravens. God feeds them even though they don't put a single seed on the ground. They don't ever water their crops.
3. Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Jesus is saying worry does nothing. It accomplishes zero.
4. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory is not clothed like one of these. This promise is far more than God will take care of you. This is God will clothe you in nothing less than his radiant glory! God is giving you a life that is radiant, indestructible, and full of glory.
5. Don't seek what you are going to eat and drink. The word for worry here means more than feeling anxious; it means to be obsessed, driven, preoccupied. Yes, we do have economic needs. You do need a job. It's not wrong to provide for retirement, to pay your bills, to own a car. But what are you going to be about? Is your life about money? Everyone else's life is: The nations of the world eagerly seek these things. Jesus says, Your Father will give what you need.
6. God promises you himself. This is the climax of Jesus' argument. In effect, what Jesus says is, your Father knows you need these things. If you are preoccupied with his kingdom, then the other things you need will be added on. Get your life to be about what your Father is about.
7. Having given you so much, your Father calls you to the radical freedom of giving your life away. We become anxious because we want to get. We don't want to lose what we've got. Everything is get, got, gotten. But the end of Jesus' message is all give. All thing things we worry about are what we want but could lose. That's why we worry. The best thing you could ever want you will never lose, and you can always give it away. If you die for Christ, you will live. Your Father will provide, so you can give cheerfully and generously.

February 20 Sermon: Colossians 3:15

Please pray for our worship time on Sunday. We will be considering one verse again as we make our way through Colossians: 3:15-And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in on body. And be thankful.

Countless billions of dollars are spend each year in search of peace. Every day thousands of people searching for personal or family peace flock to professional counselors. Diplomats fly around the world pursuing peace between nations. Our courts are packed with cases arising from a breakdown of peace between individuals, families, or corporations.

Christians are not immune to this turmoil. We also experience the anxiety of disquieting circumstances and the sting of broken relationships.

But peace should be and, indeed, must be the hallmark of the godly person and the local church. After all, we are God's trophies that demonstrate the victory achieved by the Lord Jesus Christ (Col 1:19-22). A "peace-less" Christian and church is false advertising.

So please pray as we consider this issue-and, by the way: Grace and peace to you from God the Father (Col 1:2).

A Christless Heaven: Would It Satisfy You?

The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? (John Piper, God is the Gospel).

Church Membership and Church Attendance

Most local Rotary clubs will take a person's name off the membership roll if he fails to attend the meetings for an extended period of time. Yet many churches will allow a person to stay on the membership roll for years after he or she has stopped attending! Membership should mean more in the church than it does in a Rotary club....Biblically, if a member shows prolonged negligence in gathering with God's people, how can he say he loves them? And if he doesn't love them, how can he say he loves God (c.f. 1 John 4:20-21)...When we allow prolonged nonattenders to keep their names on the membership rolls, we actually help deceive them into thinking they are saved when their behavior is in fact calling their salvation into question (Mark Dever, The Deliberate Church, 47-48).

Legitimate Desires Versus Ruling Desires

Have you ever wondered why you may often respond in a frustrated or even heated way when things do not go as you planned or desired? James tells us: James 4:2You desire and do not have so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. •

One of the things that makes us human is that we are always desiring: desires precede, determine, and characterize everything we do. It gets us up in the morning and makes us work with discipline. Furthermore, behind all worship, whether true or false, is a heart full of desire.

So let’s qualify this: James doesn’t say it’s wrong to desire. To stop desiring is impossible because to desire is human.

But when our desires aren’t shaped by the kingdom of God; but rather for something in creation (which may be something actually good), there are only 2 ways I can respond. If you’re helping me get what I want, I’ll be happy with you. But if you stand in my way, I will be angry, frustrated, and discouraged when I am with you.

The problem in that case isn’t the situation; the problem is that a legitimate desire has taken over my heart and is now in control. It has become an inordinate desire. So for an easy example it’s not wrong to desire relaxation at the end of the day; it is wrong to be ruled by relaxation in such a way that I’m irritated with anyone who gets in the way of it.

The morphing of my desire to “demand” changes my relationship to others. Now I enter the room loaded with a silent demand: You must help me get what I want. If you are an obstacle, I will immediately be angry and impatient with you.

As Ed Welch asserts: It is when desires are elevated to demands that there are detectable...idols in our lives. It is when desires become demands that we are more concerned about "our" desires than the glory of God.

The Law of God and the Christian

The law of the holy God is not a ladder of merit whereby sinners seek to come to God, to win his favor and climb "into his good books;" his holy law is, rather, his appointed and required pattern of life for those who, by redemption, have been brought to him already, who already belong to him and are already "in his good books." The law of God is the life-style of the redeemed (Alec Motyer, Look to the Rock, 41).

Parenting: A High Calling!

The most fundamental task of a mother and father is to show God to the children. Children know their parents before they know God. This is a huge responsibility and should cause every parent to be desperate for God-like transformation. The children will have years of exposure to what the universe is like before they know there is a universe. They will experience the kind of authority there is in the universe and the kind of justice there is in the universe and the kind of love there is in the universe before they meet the God of authority and justice and love who created and rules of the universe. Children are absorbing from dad his strength and leadership and protection and justice and love; and they are absorbing from mother her care and nurture and warmth and intimacy and justice and love—and, of course, all these overlap.

And all this is happening before the child knows anything about God, but it is profoundly all about God. Will the child be able to recognize God for who he really is in his authority and love and justice because mom and dad have together shown the child what God is like. The chief task of parenting is to know God for who he is in his many attributes, and then to live in such a way with our children that we help them see and know this multi-faceted God. And, of course, that will involve directing them always to the infallible portrait of God in the Bible. --John Piper

What if We Mistake God's Guidance?

The fear of spiritual ruin through mistaking God's guidance is a sign of unthinking unbelief...It may be stated as follows: "God's plan for your life is like an itinerary drawn up for you as if by a travel agent. As long as you are in the right place at the right time to board each plane or train or bus or boat, all is well. But the moment you miss one of these preplanned connections, the itinerary is ruined. A new one may then be revised, but it can only ever be second best compared with the original perfect plan." The assumption is that God lacks either the will or the wisdom or both to get you back on track; therefore a substandard spiritual life is all that is open to you now. Your one mistake sentences you to live and serve God as a second rate Christian forever.
Such a fear expresses unbelief regarding the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, who can and does restore the years that the locusts have eaten ("Wisdom Along the Way," J.I. Packer).

The good news: it is never too late to get back on course with God.

Zealous for Good Works

It has always intrigued me that Paul writes that Jesus didn't just die to redeem us from sin or merely to save us from hell (although both are true). He also "gave himself for us" to make us "a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14). This makes me wonder, when I consider the spiritual apathy that is common in our churches, if we have a low, non-scriptural view of what salvation really is.
Consider how J.C. Ryle describes the spiritually zealous person: He only sees one thing. He cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies,--whether he has health, or whether he has sickness,--whether he is rich, or whether he is poor,--whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offense,--whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish,--whether he gives blame, or whether he gets praise,--whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame,--for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God's glory....Such an one will always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, and work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray (J.C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 185).

Is this an overstatement? Not according to the Apostle Paul (Titus 2:14).

Religion Monday-Saturday

"In nothing has the Church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world’s intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion.” -Dorothy Sayers

February 13 Sermon: Colossians 3:14

Back in the 1980's one of my favorite shows was the "A-Team." One of the characters, Hannibal Smith (played by George Peppard) would always say after successfully completing a mission, "I love it when a plan comes together."
I do to, but having said that, I did not plan to preach on the subject of "Love" the day before Valentine's Day. It is completely God's providence that I do so (due to missing a Sunday to illness two weeks ago). We are working our way through Colossians and we "happen" to be on Colossians 3:14 this week, And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Please pray for our time together this Sunday morning as we consider the truth that Christian love is the gospel made visible.

The Cross and Forgiveness

Charles Colson tells of viewing a tv interview with Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler's confidant who after WWII was paralyzed with a deep sense of guilt for all the deaths he had been apart of. Speer was one of the few war criminals tried at Nuremberg to admit his guilt, for which he served 20 yrs in Spandau prison. In one of his books, he lamented that he would forever be seeking to atone for his sins. Commenting on this, Speer's interviewer asked him if it would ever be possible for him to be forgiven. Speer shook his head and said, I don't think it will be possible.
Colson remarks, I wanted to write Speer to tell him about Jesus and his death on the cross, about God's forgiveness. But there wasn't time. [That] interview was his last public statement; he died shortly after.

What Speer needed, and the blood of Christ provided is cleansing from his sin. The Apostle John states how the shed blood of Jesus answers this great need: If we walk in the light (faith in Jesus Christ) we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9).

One Difference Between the Christian and Non-Christian

The difference between an unconverted and a converted man is not that one has sins and the other has none; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins (William Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, 311).

A Summary of the Gospel Message

We have many who are involved in the gospel ministry of our Upward program. I think it would be fitting to offer a summary of the gospel message, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).
To Summarize:
A. Man was created to glorify God & Enjoy Him forever: Worthy are you, our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things. (Rev 4:11) Do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31)
B. Man has failed to glorify God & is under His just condemnation: For all have sinned... (Rom 3:23) The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction (2 Thes 1:9)
C. Jesus fully bore the wrath and suffered the punishment sinners deserve: Not wishing that sinners perish forever, God determined to save a people for Himself in the Eternal Son who became a man and lived the life we should have lived and died the death we justly deserve. God loves sinners and sent His Son to be the wrath absorbing sacrifice for their sin (1 John 4:10; John 6:37) he ...gave His life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45) & rose again from the dead (2 Cor 5:15) on their behalf.
D. All who, by the grace of God, turn to Jesus in submissive faith are forgiven: If you confess you are a sinner in need of Christ then God has begun to work in you a life-changing, eternally satisfying relationship with Himself! Repent and believe the gospel (Mk 1:5) In Your presence is fullness of Joy (Ps 16:11). So leave your self-righteousness, and your sins. Fly unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive his righteousness to be your covering, and his blood to be your atonement. If your trust is in Jesus alone for your salvation (that is, if you have no hope save for Christ's mercy alone) then you can be assured that your sins are forgiven and He has granted you eternal life.

Self Righteousness Versus God's Righteousness

Because all of us are inclined by nature to hypocrisy, a kind of empty image of righteousness in place of righteousness itself abundantly satisfies us. And because nothing appears within or around us that has not been contaminated by great immorality, what is a little less vile pleases us as a thing most pure—so long as we confine our minds within the limits of human corruption. Just so, an eye to which nothing is shown but black objects judges something dirty white or even rather darkly mottled to be whiteness itself. . . . For if in broad daylight we either look down upon the ground or survey whatever meets our view round about, we seem to ourselves endowed with the strongest and keenest sight; yet when we look up to the sun and gaze straight at it, that power of sight which was particularly strong on earth is at once blunted and confused by a great brilliance, and thus we are compelled to admit that our keenness in looking upon things earthly is sheer dullness when it comes to the sun. So it happens in estimating our spiritual goods. As long as we do not look beyond the earth, being quite content with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue, we flatter ourselves most sweetly, and fancy ourselves all but demigods.Suppose we but once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and to ponder his nature, and how completely perfect are his righteousness, wisdom, and power—the straightedge to which we must be shaped. Then, what masquerading earlier as righteousness was pleasing in us will soon grow filthy in its consummate wickedness. What wonderfully impressed us under the name of wisdom will stink in its very foolishness. What wore the face of power will prove itself the most miserable weakness. That is, what in us seems perfection itself corresponds ill to the purity of God (J. Calvin, Institutes, 1.1.3).

A Thought on Idolatry

When a finite value...[becomes] a center of value by which other values are judged...[and] has been elevated to centrality and imagined as a final source of meaning, then one has chosen what Jews and Christians call a god....To be worshipped as a god, something must be sufficiently good to be plausibly regarded as the rightful center of one's valuing...One has a god when a finite value is worshipped and adored and viewed as that without which one cannot receive life joyfully (Thomas Oden, Two Worlds, 95).

Love: The Greatest Christian Grace

I'm preparing for my Sunday sermon and am studying the Apostle Paul's understanding of "love." Paul says something quite intriguing to me in 1 Corinthians about the supremacy of love: So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor 13:13).
What does Paul mean when he says that love is greater than faith and hope?
To be sure, our love can't atone for our sins, or make peace with God. Moreover,love can't exist independently of faith. Certainly Paul is not intending to set up one grace against another grace so that one person might have faith, another hope, and another love, and that the best of these was the man who had love. The three graces are inseparable. Where there is faith, there will always be love; and where there is love, there will be faith.
J.C. Ryle, to me, explains as well as anyone why Paul would say love is the supreme Christian grace:
(a) Love is called the greatest of graces because it is the one in which there is some likeness between the believer and God. Conversely, God has no need of faith. There is no one superior to Him in whom He must trust. Additionally, God has no need of hope. To Him all things are certain. But God is love: and the more love His people have, the more like they are to Him.
(b) Love is called the greatest of the graces because it is most useful to others. Faith and hope, have special reference to a believer's own private individual benefit. Faith unites us to Christ, brings peace with God, and opens the way to heaven. Hope fills our souls with cheerful expectation of things to come. But love is supremely the grace which makes a man useful. It is the spring of good works and kindnesses. Love raises up workers for Christ and keeps them working. Love smooths quarrels, and stops strife, and in this sense covers over a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:8). Love adorns Christianity and recommends it to the world. A man may have real faith and yet his faith may be invisible to others. But a man's love cannot be hidden.
(c) Love is the greatest of the graces because it is the one which endures the longest. It will never die. Faith will one day be swallowed up by sight, and hope by certainty. Heaven will be the home of love. The inhabitants of heaven will be full of love.

The Goal of Atonement

"The atonement was about Christ's conquest over sin, death, and the devil so that the whole of life might be cleansed and restored, that Christ's reign might be established, uncontested, and unobstructed" (David Wells, "The Courage to be Protestant," 197).

We aren't there yet, but that is where we are headed. Our confidence is bound up in the all sufficient work of Christ in bearing our sin, in our place, and in that act bearing the penalty of our sin, and overcoming the powers of evil behind it (Col 2:13-15).

Wisdom for Young People

"Young man, do not run up bills which your riper years will find it hard to pay; do not eat today forbidden morsels, which may breed you sorrow long after their sweetness has been forgotten" (C.H. Spurgeon, "Flowers From a Puritan's Garden," p. 30).

Spurgeon is warning against compromising the permanent on the altar of the temporary. Wise words indeed!

The Gospel and the Christian Life

“The gospel is the heart of the Bible. Everything in Scripture is either preparation for the gospel, presentation of the gospel, or participation in the gospel. . . . Accurately understanding and continually applying the gospel is the Christian life” (Dave Hunt).

The Resurrection of Christ and our Justification

The resurrection of Christ represents the justification and vindication of believers. Since Christ bore the consequences of sin on behalf of his people on the cross, his resurrection was God's declaration of both his and his people's righteousness. The great and complex event of Christ's death and resurrection constitutes the basis for the positive verdict of justification for all who are in union with him through faith. In the death of Christ, the trespasses of his people were punished; in the resurrection of Christ, the justification of his people was declared. The justification of believers occurs by virtue of their participation in the reality of Christ's death and resurrection on their behalf (C Venema, The Gospel of Free Acceptance in Christ: An Assessment of the Reformation and New Perspectives on Paul, 44).

O Sweet Exchange!

The Letter to Diognetus was written in the second century around 125 A.D. We don't know who wrote it but it it the oldest existing statement on the work of substitution that Christ underwent for us. Read, reflect, and meditate on it. It is a beautiful statement.
Letter to Diognetus
O, the surpassing kindness and love of God! He did not hate us, or reject us, or bear a grudge against us. Instead, he was patient and forbearing; in his mercy he took upon himself our sins. He himself gave up his own Son as a ransom for us—the holy one for the lawless, the guiltless for the guilty, “the just for the unjust” (1 Pet 3:18), the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal. For what else but his righteousness could have covered our sins? In whom was it possible for us, the lawless and ungodly, to be justified, except in the Son of God alone? O the sweet exchange! O the incomprehensible work of God! O the unexpected blessings, that the sinfulness of many should be hidden in one righteous man, while the righteousness of one should justify many sinners!

Parents: A Sober Thought

A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started (Abraham Lincoln).

The Redeemed Life

"People tend to make 2 mistakes when they think about the redeemed life. The first is to underestimate the sin that remains; it's still there... The second is to underestimate the strength of God's grace. God is determined to make us new. As a result, all Christians need to say 2 things. We admit that we are redeemed sinners. But we also say boldly and joyously that we are redeemed sinners" (C. Plantinga, Beyond Doubt, 89).

Christian Maturity: From Duty to Delight

I think a mark of sanctification and Christian maturity is our gradual transition from mere duty to delight. Consider these colorful and insightful words from a couple of heavy-weight hymn writers:

John Newton: “Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, since we have seen his beauty are joined to part no more."

William Cowper: "To see the Law by Christ fulfilled, and hear his pardoning voice, changes a slave into a child and duty into choice."

Imitators of God

I don't know who said it first, but it is true: to return evil for evil is demonic. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine.

This truth is at the heart of God's salvation program (Rom 5:6-8). As recipient's of this divine goodness, we should gladly forgive other's evil as God has forgiven our's (Eph 4:31-5:2). We can only do this if we see ourselves as "big time" forgiven.

God's Jealousy For His Glory (Name)

Did you know that one of the central themes of the Bible is God's passion for God? Many preachers and teachers today would have you believe that God is fundamentally man centered. In other words, the highest good is God making much of us. However, if God's priority isn't first and foremost himself and the pursuit and praise of his own name and fame, his love for you wouldn't amount to "a hill of beans" (to use Alabama slang). Let me prove my point. Notice the italics in each of these verses. It may surprise you to know that this idea (for his name's sake) is found in over 200 verses. Here is a sample:
Ps 23:3 "He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."
Ps 25:11 "For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great."
Ps 31:3 "For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me."
Ps 79:9 "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name's sake."
Ps 106:8 "Yet he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make known his mighty power."
Ps 109:21 "But you, O God my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name's sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
1 Sam 12:22 "The Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.
2 Sam 7:23 "And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things."
Jer 14:7 "Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you."
Isa 63:12 "...who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name" (see also Isa 48:9-11).
Ezek "But I [God] acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations" (see also Ezek 20:9, 22)
1 John 2:12 "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake."

Did you know that our greatest good is found in our enjoyment of God? Here's how this works: our greatest good consists of enjoying the most excellent Being in the universe (the Living God). Conversely, God's greatest glory is in being enjoyed. Therefore, for God to seek his glory (the fame of his name) in our worship of him is the most loving thing he can do for us. So as God devotes his energy to elicit from us heart praise, he gets the glory and we get the enjoyment.
I believe all sin stems from failing to believe or understand this. We were created for his glory. Therefore, unless we live for the sake of his name, we will end up malfunctioning in dysfunction.

The Proverbs 31 Woman and the Gospel

The Proverbs 31 woman:
is a major asset to her husband (vv. 10-11); is a trusted companion (v. 11); is for and not against her husband; she has his well-being and best interests at heart (v. 12); is industrious and hardworking (vv. 13, 27); procures and prepares food for her entire household (vv. 14-15); rises early (v. 15); locates and purchases real estate (v. 16); reinvests extra earnings from her home business (v. 16); is vigorous and energetic (vv. 17, 25); produces clothes for her family and as merchandise (vv. 13, 18-19, 21-22, 24); is kind to the poor, reaches out in mercy to the needy (v. 20); ensures that she and her children are properly and finely dressed (vv. 21-22); contributes to others' respect for her husband and oversees her household so he can devote himself to a role of leadership in the community (vv. 23, 27); is ready for the future and prepares for eventualities (vv. 21, 25); displays wisdom in speech, and in the teaching of kindness (v. 26); is praised by her children and husband (vv. 28-29, 31); is God fearing rather than relying on her physical beauty (v. 30).

Ladies: does this describe you perfectly? No, but that is the beauty of the gospel. Christ lived and died for us because all of us fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). But now, having our sins forgiven, covered, and taken away by the Lord Jesus Christ, you can aspire to this worthy Proverbs 31 goal joyfully, without fear of condemnation (Rom 8:1).

Biblical Headship Defined

The best definition I know of biblical headship: Biblical headship is the conscientious and loving use of the authority God grants a husband to ensure that a home (and all its members) honor God and experience his blessings (B. Chapell, Each For The Other, 34).

A Parody of Manhood

The Marlboro man and Michelob weekend represent true manhood about as well as a five year old in a cowboy hat resembles John Wayne (Bryan Chapell, Each For The Other, 26).

The Gospel and Love and Forgiveness

The gospel message is God's great YES over the repentant believer's whole life--past, present, and future. God is pleased with the believer because Jesus' death has taken away the condemnation he/she deserved, and it has also taken away God's anger toward him/her. The believer is his son/daughter forever. He/she is no longer a slave or an orphan.
Hence, it is time for the believer to stop acting like an orphan and to start loving others and forgiving others the way God loves and forgives him/her (Eph 4:31-5:2).

The Church as Foretaste

This is our role in our dying cultures--to be outposts of the heavenly people of God in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth. We are to be a taste of the kingdom (Mark Lauterbach, The Transforming Community, 43).

Sermon for February 6

I will again seek to preach the sermon: "Motivated by Mercy" from Colossians 3:12-13. I was out last week due to illness. Please pray that God would give me freedom, liberty, clarity, and power.

Upward

Please pray for our church family as we minister at Upwards tomorrow. Service to our Lord Jesus Christ is expressed in many ways at Upward: working concessions, mopping floors, coaching, refereeing, sharing the gospel to the parents/grandparents. Also pray that as the gospel is shared, preached, and taught through this Upward ministry, God will bring glory to himself through the salvation of sinners.

Children and the New Birth

Statistically, a large percentage of Christian parents assume their child's new birth. And this could be our biggest parenting mistake. Many Christian parents assume that church attendance, youth-group involvement, praying the "sinner's prayer,"or walking the aisle equates to the new birth. Even a child's testimony that he/she "accepted Jesus" or "asked Jesus into his/her heart" might mean very little. That is because God initiates the new birth. Of course, the child is responsible to respond to God with faith and repentance. But a child can takes these steps outwardly and not have true saving faith and repentance that points to new birth. That is why it is naive even foolish for us to presume upon new birth. New birth is a radical change of heart that issues into new desires, new loves, and a new life direction. As the Apostle John wrote: no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9).
Bottom line: new birth is known by its fruits and the most important fruit is hunger for God himself. Other signs are hunger for holiness, growing obedience to parents, and desire for secret prayer and Bible reading. Wise parents undestand this and patiently wait for sustained fruit before they exercise a verdict.

The Blessing of Relational Conflict (Marriage as a Case Study)

God's redemptive work in our lives always takes place within relationships: first, with him (our adoption); second, with others (our sanctification). This is why our relationships (with people) do not belong to us; they belong to the Lord...God uses them to prepare a people for himself. These everyday relationships are essential to the plan of personal transformation ordained before the world began. God daily gives us opportunities to serve the troubled, angry, discouraged, defeated, confused, and blind. This is the way he works and he calls each of his children to be part of it.
This view of our relationships must transform the way we respond to one another. A tense discussion about disappointments in marriage is more than a time of searing honesty between a husband and a wife. God is at work, revealing both their hearts. He is using the relationship to transform them both. If the couple remembers this, they will respond to each other in ways remarkably different from their normal pattern. But if their only goal is their own personal happiness, each spouse will say, "I want my partner to see how unhappy I am and to try harder to make me happy." If they both have this goal, the conversation will be nothing more than a self-centered war for personal happiness. They may claim to love each other, but at the level of their hearts' desires, both wife and husband are committed only to getting what they want out of the other person.
If this conversation takes place betwen two people who want to be part of God's work of transformation (sanctification), things dramatically change. It begins with their "attitudes." When they think of each other only from a horizontal perspective, they are discouraged, hopeless, and cynical. After all, they have done everything they can think of to get the other person to shape up, but nothing has worked. But when they are aware that God is present with his own redemptive purpose, they have every reason for hope. Yes, they are at the end of themselves, but the Redeemer is active in all of his power and glory. He has been changing them and will continue to do so. There is every reason to believe that he is up to something good in this marital difficulty (Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, 123-24).

The Kingdom of God and the Word of God

And he (Jesus) said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed ("the word"; 4:24) on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself (Mark 4:26-28a).

Note here that as the man "sleeps and rises", the fruit from the earth grows "by itself" (in the original language, "automate," lit., "automatically). In other words, the "seed" does the work. Our role as a church isn't to be the kingdom but rather to be the witnesses, custodians, and instruments of the kingdom. The "weapon" (and only weapon) in our arsenal is the Word of God, centered on the Gospel of Christ (the true and effective "sower").
Let's be people of the "seed."

Thankfulness for God's Grace

When you lose your sense of gratitude for your acceptance into God's Kingdom, you will lose your zeal for the work of that Kingdom. And you will live in daily pursuit and daily celebration of the purposes of some other kingdom (Paul Tripp, Broken Down House, 184).

Could it be that our frequent lack of zeal for ministry is due to the fact that we have lost our sense of awe, wonder, and thankfulness that God has mercifully and graciously saved us in Jesus Christ? But here is the kicker: we were created as the "image of God" to "celebrate" and "pursue." That is part of what makes us human and gives us the capacity to worship and glorify the living God. However, if Tripp is correct (and I think he is), when we fail to walk in light of God's grace, the default position is an idolatrous Babel Building project that in the end is vain, temporal, and under judgment (Rev 11:15).