Let us not be the spot-finders

Per Ray Ortlund's Blog:
We should be merciful to one another in seeking never to look at the worst side of a brother’s character. Oh, how quick some are to spy out other people’s faults! They hear that Mr. So-and-so is very useful in the church, and they say, ‘Yes, he is, but he has a very curious way of going to work, has he not? And he is so eccentric.’ Well, did you ever know a good man who was very successful, who was not a little eccentric? . . .

Do you go out when the sun is shining brightly and say, ‘Yes, this sun is a very good illuminator, but I remark that it has spots’? If you do, you had better keep your remark to yourself, for it gives more light than you do, whatever spots you may have or may not have. And many excellent persons in the world have spots, but yet they do good service to God and to their age.

So let us not always be the spot-finders, but let us look at the bright side of the brother’s character rather than the dark one, and feel that we rise in repute when other Christians rise in repute, and that, as they have honor through their holiness, our Lord has the glory of it, and we share in some of the comfort of it.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Treasury of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, n.d.), I:65.

The Whole of the Christian Life

Christians are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And that's it, that's the whole of the Christian life. The whole of the Christian life is coming to understand how I got to be baptized into that name, to a fellowship with God the Trinity; and who I am now that I have communion with God the Trinity, and how I am going to live as someone who has the name of the blessed God written over my life because I have been brought into his family (S. Ferguson).

Human Approval

The fear of man and the inordinate desire for human approval is a besetting sin for many of us. I found these thoughts from Ray Ortlund to be very helpful on the issue:

1. Human approval is divided. Some like you, others dislike you. A split vote. Who can you believe?

2. Human approval is shallow. None of them know your deepest heart. What if they did?

3. Human approval is distorted. Your friends overlook many failings. Your enemies can’t see anything right with you. How do you sort it all out?

4. Human approval is unsatisfying. The need of your heart for belovedness goes far beyond anything another sinner can say or do.

5. Human approval is a blessing. The loving favor of true friends is a gift from God. Receive it cheerfully, with thanks to him. And be sure to give it out to others in generous measure every day. They need it too.

sic transit gloria mundi (thus passes the glory of the world).

Tonight in my sermon I read this statement by Kevin DeYoung that reminds me of the famous Latin phrase sic transit gloria mundi (thus passes the glory of the world). Several people have asked me to post it. It is quite thought provoking:

Kevin DeYoung (7/10/09): I’m all for young people dreaming big dreams. Go out and change the world. Make a difference. Discover a cure for cancer. Write a best-selling novel. Become president. But remember, your “glory” will not last. Your great accomplishments will fall away–either in your lifetime, or in a generation, or at the end of all things. No one will care about your GPA and SAT scores in 10 years. If you win a state championship, you’ll be forgotten the next year you don’t. Your beauty will get wrinkles and trim figure plump. Write a great book and it will gather dust in a library some day. Have a big famous church, it won’t last forever. Be an important person in your field, you'll still be unknown to over six billion people in the world. Build an amazing house, it will crumble some day, if it doesn’t go into foreclosure first. All of our achievements and successes are destined to be like dead grass and faded flowers. But...the word of our God stands forever. . . All God’s declarations about himself and his people are true. All his promises will come to pass. Our only confidence is in the word of God.

Indeed, the glory of this world will pass. But let me share another Latin phrase that is just as true: sic durat gloria Dei (thus endures the glory of God). The wise person will believe this, and adjust his/her life accordingly.

The Good We Do: All of Grace

I spoke of "see saw" theology yesterday in the sermon. On a see saw, two parties can't be up at the same time. When humanity is exalted, God is brought low. When God is exalted, humanity is brought to its proper place.

In light of that thought, here's a statement by Matthew Henry to humble us and exalt God as we begin our week:

Whatever good we do, we must look upon it as the performance of God's promise to us, rather than the performance of our promise to him (Judges to Job).

Do We Display the Christian Grace of Humility?

A truly Christian love, either to God or men, is a humble, brokenhearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires: their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is a humble, brokenhearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior (Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, Yale, 1959, pp. 339f.).

Christ's Abiding Presence in Grief

I asked Whitney, my wife, permission to post something she wrote this week to encourage a friend she has been counseling. Hope it encourages you as it did me:


I have a friend who has experienced the recent estrangement brought about by her sibling's rebellion and rejection of the Gospel. I can only hope and pray alongside my friend that their relationship is one day mended, that her sibling is made aware of how great God is, and that that common bond can bring them together. In the fallen world we live in, it is not uncommon for us to experience the heartbreak that comes from loved ones who don't know Christ or who have abandoned us or have not been the loving and caring mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers that they were created to be.
But this is how great God is: even in our own broken relationships God teaches us something. When Jesus is talking to his disciples about the cost of discipleship, he says, "Anyone who loves his father of mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me..." (Mat. 10: 37-38). And, then later:" Someone told him, 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.' He replied to him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' Pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother'" (Mat. 12:46-49).
My friend's ordeal reminds her that God has sacrificed even more than she. Following Christ means that we cannot seek our salvation, our identity, or our security in any relationship other than our relationship with God through Jesus Christ! This news ought to make us rejoice and be thankful and wonder with the hymnist, "Lord, why was I a guest?"
I do not mean to be critical of the pain and grief that estrangement brings. While I may not be able to understand or grieve alongside my friend perfectly, I do know that our God can. Jesus experienced every kind of temptation and suffered imaginably greater than any suffering we ever will. Sometimes our grief feels so unbearable that we cannot even find the words to express it. And, yet, our God is sovereign and knows our troubles. Romans 8:26 says, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."
I think we experience this grief so deeply because we know what it means to be estranged from God, and his family. Right before that verse encouraging us about our intercessor, Paul says, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:22-23). We understand not only the joy of being welcomed into the family of God as we experience justification, but also we anxiously await our arrival in God's presence as we go about our sanctification.
While we may never experience family unity or family relationships in a perfect way here on earth, Proverbs 18:24 says that "there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother:" Christ, our perfect brother who makes it possible for us to called "sons of God" (1 John 3:1). And, even we, saved though we are, are anticipating a day when Jesus will say "Here is my brother and sister!" to us when we greet Him for eternity.

Influence and the Kingdom of Christ

Whatever power, interest, or influence, men have--they ought to improve it to the utmost for the preserving and advancing of the kingdom of the Messiah (Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible,vol. 2, Judges to Job).

Only Two Kinds of People: Which One Are You?

There are only two kinds of people—those who say “Thy will be done” to God or those to whom God in the end says, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell choose it (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 116; The Great Divorce, 69).

Our Present Existence: A Preface to Eternity

As we go in to our new week, consider these words from Scottish theologian Thomas Boston who once wrote, our present life is only a short preface to a long eternity (Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, in The Complete Words of the Late Rev. Thomas Boston of Ettrick, 8:244).

Sobering if you think it about, isn't it? This should remind us all that to be consumed with the temporal at the expense of the eternal is foolish, vain, and eternally shortsighted.

So, as you go into the week, set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col 3:2-4).

Are You Anxious? Despairing? Here's a Timely Word for You!

One day, perhaps, when we look back from God’s throne on the last day we shall say with amazement and surprise, “If I had ever dreamed when I stood at the graves of my loved ones and everything seemed to be ended; if I had ever dreamed when I saw the specter of atomic war creeping upon us; if I had ever dreamed when I faced the meaningless fate of an endless imprisonment or a malignant disease; if I had ever dreamed that God was only carrying out his design and plan through all these woes, that in the midst of my cares and troubles and despair his harvest was ripening, and that everything was pressing on toward his last kingly day—if I had known this I would be been more calm and confident; yes, then I would have been more cheerful and far more tranquil and composed (H. Thielicke, The Waiting Father, 88).

Christians and the Law

Christians still hear the law and are called to obey it, but as "the reasonable service" of their adoption as royal heirs, not as the condition of their receiving it. One becomes a beneficiary of the estate on the basis of another family member's achievements, received through faith, and then follows the "house rules" not as a way of gaining or keeping the inheritance but as a proper way of responding to our new surroundings in a new family (M. Horton, The Gospel Driven Life, 109-10).

Humankind's Longing for Paradise: Where does it come from?

A man’s physical hunger does not prove that man will get any bread; he may die of starvation on a raft in the Atlantic. But surely a man’s hunger does prove that he comes of a race which repairs its body by eating and inhabits a world where eatable substances exist. In the same way, though I do not believe (I wish I did) that my desire for Paradise proves that I shall enjoy it, I think it a pretty good indication that such a thing exists and that some men will (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 32-33)

A Thought on Worry

When we worry we are saying, "I know the way my life is supposed to go and God's not getting it right" (Tim Keller).

An Encouraging Word for Those Age 65 and Older

The "World Magazine" website has posted a very encouraging word from John Piper for those who have entered or are entering retirement years. Piper asserts that your life can still be very spiritually productive. Here's what he says:

Turning 65 in January has me all fired up to get busy. I am close enough to the finish line that the face of Jesus is coming into sharper focus. This is very exciting and makes me want to pick up the pace.

Of course, He is not the least impressed with frenzy. Nor is He pleased with boomer indolence. What His face says to me is: "I am your rest every day, and there is good work to do every day till you're home."

God has called me to this one great thing, and His face affirms it every day: With full courage, now (after 65) as always, Christ will be magnified in your body, whether by life or by death (Philippians 1:20). Live now to make much of Christ. Measure everything by this: Will it help more people admire Jesus more intensely and treasure Jesus more deeply?

The Bible says, "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty" (Psalms 90:10). But of course, "My times are in your hand" (Psalms 31:15). The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. We don't live one day longer or shorter than God appoints.

So at 65, I am still gagging at the pictures of leathery old sunbathers on white shores and green links. For 15 years, I have thrown hundreds of senior mailings in the recycle bag unopened. Not that I am opposed to saving 79¢ on lunch at Perkins. Just don't try to sell me heaven before I get there. There is too much hell left to fight.

Turning 65 has set me to pondering what people have done in the great years.

For example, I just received a copy of the first major biography of Charles Hodge in over a century: Paul C. Gutjahr, Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy (Oxford, 2011). On the first page, I read, "When people reach their seventies, they often think their work is done. Not so with Hodge. His last years were among this most productive as he sat ensconced in his study, wielding his favorite pen to compose literally thousands of manuscript pages, which would eventually become his monumental Systematic Theology and his incisive What Is Darwinism?" (p. vii).

So I started poking around on the internet. Here's some of what I found (for example, at museumofconceptualart.com/accomplished):

At 65 Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England, and for the next five years led the Western world to freedom.

At 69 English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson began his last major work, The Lives of the English Poets.

At 69 Ronald Reagan became the oldest man ever sworn in as president of the United States. He was reelected at 73.

At 70 Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence.

At 77 Grandma Moses started painting.

At 77 John Glenn became the oldest person to go into space.

At 82 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe finished writing his famous Faust.

At 82 Winston Churchill wrote A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.

At 88 Michelangelo created the architectural plans for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

At 89 Albert Schweitzer ran a hospital in Africa.

At 89 Arthur Rubinstein performed one of his greatest recitals in Carnegie Hall.

At 93 P.G. Wodehouse worked on his 97th novel, got knighted, and died.

And don't forget, if you are running this marathon with Jesus, you have a great advantage. God has promised you: "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save" (Isaiah 46:4). Nothing to be ashamed of here. We've been dangling in the yoke of Jesus ever since He called us. At our peak, we were totally dependent. So it will be to the end.

So, all you boomers just breaking into Medicare, gird up your loins, pick up your cane, head for the gym, and get fit for the last lap. Fix your eyes on the Face at the finish line. There will plenty of time for R&R in the Resurrection. For now, there is happy work to be done.

The Christian Response to the "Mercies of God"

Yesterday I addressed the truth that Christian doxology and duty stem from Spirit illumined Christian doctrine. I used Romans 12:1-2 to demonstrate that our spiritual worship (which involves both doxology and duty) is a response to the mercies of God, which are savingly communicated to us in Christ by the Spirit.

In light of these glorious truths, the Christian responds gladly, which is the heart of Romans 12. In fact, yesterday Justin Taylor posted all of the imperatives found in Romans 12. I thought they would be helpful to consider. These commands should be reflected in our lives as we gratefully and worshipfully respond to what God has done "for us" in Christ.

•present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God
•Do not be conformed to this world, but
•be transformed by the renewal of your mind
•he [ought] not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but
•think with sober judgment,
•let us use our gifts that differ according to the grace given to us
•Let love be genuine.
•Abhor what is evil;
•hold fast to what is good.
•Love one another with brotherly affection.
•Outdo one another in showing honor.
•Do not be slothful in zeal,
•be fervent in spirit,
•serve the Lord.
•Rejoice in hope,
•be patient in tribulation,
•be constant in prayer.
•Contribute to the needs of the saints and
•seek to show hospitality.
•Bless those who persecute you;
•do not curse those who persecute you.
•Rejoice with those who rejoice,
•weep with those who weep.
•Live in harmony with one another.
•Do not be haughty, but
•associate with the lowly.
•Never be wise in your own sight.
•Repay no one evil for evil, but
•give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
•live peaceably with all (if possible, so far as it depends on you)
•Never avenge yourselves, but
•leave it to the wrath of God. . .
•if your enemy is hungry, feed him;
•if he is thirsty, give him something to drink
•Do not be overcome by evil, but
•overcome evil with good.

The Order of the Christian Life: Doctrine-Doxology-Duty

In some of my previous posts, I have emphasized the need to be Word centered in all that we do. As the Word goes forth in power, the direction that the Word takes in the life of the believer begins with our understanding and extends to our affections and will (Rom 6:17b). That is, we obey from our hearts the doctrine or teaching from Scripture that is delivered to us. For the sake of memory, let's think of the order this way: first, doctrine; second, doxology; third, duty.

(1) Doctrine (God’s deeds). Doctrine is a fancy word but it essentially means "teaching." The Bible fundamentally teaches us about what the Triune God has graciously done to achieve our salvation. So the doctrine of Scripture is principally about the key persons of the Drama of Redemption: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and the key turning points of the Drama: Creation, Fall, Redemption.

(2) Doxology (our thankful worship). When we come by the Spirit to a saving understanding of these realities, it animates us to worship. Our worship is our glad response to what God has mercifully accomplished for us.

(3)Duties (our reasonable service). Having savingly experienced the "tender mercies of God" (Rom 12:1), and understanding in this that our standing and favor with God is perfect, righteous, and complete in Christ, we now worshipfully present our "bodies as a living sacrifice" to God(Rom 12:1). Our service is not out of an oppressive, begrudging duty. Rather, it is a delightful, glad, grateful, humble duty that stems from our worship of the merciful, redeemer, God.

This is why we need the Word of God. It is only through the Word, centered on what the Father has done "for us" in Christ by the Spirit that worship and Christian service comes. Any other kind of religious activity is a parody of the Christian life and will not stand in the Day of Judgment.

Front Porch Ecclesiology

"I don't know my neighbor." How many of us have said this in recent years? Sociologists give many reasons for the decline of community in neighborhoods, but perhaps the most interesting culprit of seclusion is air-conditioning! Before the mid-20th century, when the heat of the afternoon came, you would make some lemon aid, go to the porch, and sit with the rest of your neighbors in a sea of porches. Now, most of us live in a world where we can easily find artificial relief from the heat with just the flick of a thermostat. Thus, we never sit outside; we never know our neighbor; and we never enjoy the community our grandparents knew.

Do non-Christians notice the community found among Christians? They should! You see, the Christian was smothering in a house heated by his sin. And, after trying to fan himself with a cheap, paper fan made of good works, he realizes the only hope for relief was to be found outside of himself- outside of his house. So he leaves his house, feels the breeze of God's grace on his face, sucks in his lungs His mercy, and basks in the wide-open space of His glory. Once on the porch, he finds others around him who too have abandoned the doom of their houses, and while they came outside for the redeeming, cool air, they realize this delighting in God happens in a neighborhood, in a community, in a church. So remarks Hughes Oliphant Old, "Here we see that the true worship of God, which is always theocentric, nevertheless edifies the neighbor." One can no more know God and not be in His church than one can step out of their door and not be in their neighborhood.

We, just like a pre-AC neighborhood, all have one thing in common; we have found delight in something we could not provide ourselves. This delight creates a close community, and when others see this community from their windows, they are drawn out of the artificial air of pleasure and self-ambition, and in to the life-giving air God provides. Old develops his point, "True thanksgiving is also a witness. It is precisely in its being theocentric that it is most philanthropic. The praises that celebrate his mighty acts, the witness to his salvation, the celebration of his works, the confession of his truth, and dedication to this service are the end of the experience that begins with adoration." To not know our neighbor is sad, but to not know the fellowship of the redeemed because we never stepped in to the cooling grace of our Redeemer is tragic. So may we live in such harmony and fellowship that others will be drawn to the mercy of God found in Christ.

The Small Heart Versus the Ministering Heart

Today in our sermon I addressed the two possible ways to live as a Christian: First, we can cultivate a small heart. This is the safe path. It costs us nothing. It is virtually pain-free. The other way is to cultivate a ministering heart. Be warned though. This way makes you subject to heart-ache and pain and requires your life.

As I stated in the sermon, C.S. Lewis tells us how to avoid the broken heart that comes from cultivating a minister's heart. I think it profound enough to make it available to everyone who reads this blog.

Hear the words of Lewis (and be sobered):

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable (The 4 Loves, 121).

The small heart is certainly safer--at least on the front end. But in time, the balloon payment comes due for the safe path. Its a high price to pay!

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled: So Don't Trust in the Created Order

Yesterday I posted on the vanity of trusting in and loving something in the created order more than we trust in and love the Creator. In this regard, I came across this quote from a great influence of mine, Martyn LLoyd Jones (via Dane Ortlund) who makes the same case:

The Bible tells us that in this life and world there is no such thing as final security apart from the message of the gospel.

So if we are relying for our final, ultimate happiness upon anybody or anything in this world alone, then we are certain to be disappointed. If our quietness of heart depends--oh, let me put it with almost brutal realism--if we are depending for happiness and joy and a quiet heart, in a final sense, upon any individual human being, upon our family, our home, our profession, our money, our health and strength, we are doomed to experience disappointment.

Every one of these things one day will be taken from us.--Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled (Crossway, 2009), 68