Disciplining Children and the Gospel

The good news teaches us that the record of the Wise Son (Jesus) has been given to believing children--and that doesn't change during times of discipline. Although some children compound their sin during discipline by being stubbornly angry or sullen, they can be reassured that Jesus suffered through his time of punishment perfectly, without sinning and that is their record if they truly believe. Times of correction are to be times of gospel witness, reminding children that Jesus knows what it is to be punished and that he submitted to it even though he didn't deserve it (Fitzpatrick and Thompson, Give Them Grace, 102).

When an Entire Church is Aroused to "Sacred Energy"

Great things are done by the Holy Spirit when a whole church is aroused to sacred energy: then there are hundreds of testimonies instead of one, and these strengthen each other (Charles H. Spurgeon).

How Much Would You Give to Know Your Bible?

"An enthusiastic young man once introduced himself to a well-known Bible teacher with the words, 'Oh, Sir, I'd give the world if I knew the Bible like you do.' The older man looked him straight in the eye and replied, 'Good, because that is what it will cost you.'" (Referenced from the new autobiography, John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock, pg. 17).

Sermon for June 12: "Behold the Priest-King" (Zechariah 6:9-15)

Please be in prayer for our worship service on Sunday as we consider this crucial Christological passage from Zechariah. One of the reasons we are looking at this passage is that we are preparing ourselves for the Gospel of Luke. The hope of Messiah doesn't come out of nowhere. We saw in Ruth and we see in Zechariah that the hope of Messiah was Israel's and the world's hope.

The problem with Judah (Israel) and the whole world since the Fall is that humanity has revolted against the reign of God and each of us prefers his own will to the will of God.

Furthermore, we are utterly incapable in and of ourselves of changing. Only the God-man, the last Adam, the true Davidic King, can rescue any of us from our revolt against the kingdom.

When we gaze and muse on what God has achieved in and thru his Son (and Zechariah and the Old Testament saints looked forward), we are gradually transformed and transferred from our pointless scripts and inserted into ultimate reality.

We fundamentally need this because this age of sin and death seduces us into thinking that this is the real world so that our pursuits, affections, and concerns are foolishly centered on earthly things that are transient, temporal, and vain.

Zechariah reminds us that the human condition hasn’t changed since Genesis 3. Hence, we have the same need: a messianic priest-king who will represent us as Mediator to God as God takes humans and creation to their intended divine goal.

In face, this is what all of the writing prophets are doing--setting forth the eschatological realities of God’s plan to encourage, warn, comfort, and exhort the people so that they will persevere with a “God’s story” mentality; a story that presses towards and culminates in a person, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Priest-King.

Christian Righteousness and the Benediction of a Holy God

Christian righteousness is that level of goodness that can withstand the scrutiny of a perfectly holy God and earn the benediction, "You are good!" It is perfect obedience in both outward conformity and inward desire. It is goodness for the sake of God's great glory motivated by a pure and zealous love for God and neighbor. It is the right action at the right time for the right reason (Fitzpatrick and Thompson, 45).

Does this describe you? It has to in order for you to go to heaven. Pure, unadulterated, consistent love for God and our neighbor is the standard and requirement.

Of course, this doesn't describe any of us. But put this way, it sure makes us more grateful for God's grace in imputing Christ's perfect righteousness and record to our (believers) account, doesn't it? That's the glory of the doctrine of justification.

Parents, "Morality Without the Gospel Is Not Our Goal"!

Every way we try to make our kids good that isn't rooted in the good news of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is damnable, crushing, despair-breeding, Pharisee-producing law. We won't get the results we want from the law. We'll get either shallow self-righteousness or blazing rebellion or both (frequently from the same kid on the same day!). We'll get moralistic kids who are cold and hycrocritical and who look down on others...or you'll get teens who are rebellious and self-indulgent and who can't wait to get out of the house. We have to remember that in the life of our unregenerate children, the law is given for one reason only: to crush their self-confidence and drive them to Christ (Fitzpatrick, Thompson, Give Them Grace, 36).

The Law Can't Save-But Grace Does!

Mormons, Muslims, and moralistic atheists all share the belief that law can perfect us, but Christians don't. Christians know that the law can't save us; what we need is a Savior. We need a Savior because every one of us has already demonstrated that we don't respond well to rules (Rom 3:23). We've been given a perfect law (Rom 7:12) but none of us--no, not one--has obeyed it (Rom 3:10)....In light of our dismal record, it should be obvious that our salvation and the salvation of our children must come from someone else. This person has to give us something other than more rules to obey. But what else is there? There is grace. And what he brings us is simply that--grace....Our salvation (and our kids' as well) is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Grace alone (Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson, Give Them Grace, 16-17).

Temptation and the Forgetfulness of God

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his short book Temptation gives an insightful and vivid description of the process by which to we give in to sin:
With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh…It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money…. Joy in God is…extinguished in us and we seek all our joy in the creature. At this moment God is quite unreal to us, he loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real…Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God…The lust thus aroused envelops the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us. The questions present themselves: “Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case?” “Is it really not permitted to me, yes—expected of me, now, here, in my particular situation, to appease desire?”…It is here that everything within me rises up against the Word of God (p. 33).

Anselm's "Prayer to God"

“Almighty God, merciful Father, and my good Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Grant me forgiveness of my sins. Make me guard against and overcome all snares, temptations, and harmful pleasures. May I shun utterly in word and in deed, whatever you forbid, and do and keep whatever you command. Let me believe and hope, love and live, according to your purpose and your will. Give me heart-piercing goodness and humility; discerning abstinence and mortification of the flesh. Help me to love you and pray to you, praise you and meditate upon you. May I act and think in all things according to your will, purely, soberly, devoutly, and with a true and effective mind. Let me know your commandments, and love them, carry them out readily, and bring them into effect. Always, Lord, let me go on with humility to better things and never grow slack. Lord, do not give me over either to my human ignorance and weakness or to my own deserts, or to anything, other than your loving dealing with me. Do you yourself in kindness dispose of me, my thought and actions, according to your good pleasure, so that your will may always be done by me and in me and concerning me. Deliver me from all evil and lead me to eternal life through the Lord.”The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm (Penguin Books, 1986), 93-94

Anselm's prayers our fruition of his reading and meditating on the Scriptures where he came to understand the wickedness of himself and the great majesty of God. We grow in humility the more that we read Scripture and see the grandness and greatness of Christ and our prayers our shaped by understanding our sinful state, our need for Christ, and the mercy we find at the Cross. Take a moment a read this prayer out loud and may we all find unison is praying "Help me to love you and pray to you, praise you and meditate upon you…"

Sister Thoughts on Overcoming Sin

Nobody sins out of duty. We sin because we believe sin’s promise of pleasure. So the path to holiness is a superior pleasure (John Piper)

Sufficient love of God is the power to overcome sin. If this is true, then the presence of such sins in our life reveals that we do not love God enough. In fact, we have loved our sin more than we love him, or it would not have a home in our hearts (Bryan Chappell)