Bono & Christmas

oh by the way.... Baby, Please Come Home from Very Special Christmas 1 is classic....

This reflection on Christmas occurred after Bono had just returned home, to Dublin, from a long tour with U2. On Christmas Eve Bono went to the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Jonathan Swift was once dean. Apparently he was given a really poor seat, one obstructed by a pillar, making it even more difficult for him to keep his eyes open…but it was there that the Christmas story struck him like never before.

He writes:

“The idea that God, if there is a force of Logic and Love in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw . . . a child . . . I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry . . . Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was sitting there, and it’s not that it hadn’t struck me before, but tears came streaming down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this.”

Isn’t it compelling? The logic and love of a personal God revealing himself, accounting for our personality, our propensity to love. And oh, the mercy of God, born in shit and straw, to rescue us from ourselves, our godless gift-giving, and our arrogant disregard for God and for others so that we might know and enjoy him and his new creation forever. And that he, the infinite God, would do it in Christ, in time, in space, in confounding condescension to pivot the course of the entire creation project from despair, destruction, and dereliction to a hopeful, whole, and happy future.

Will you ponder the poetry of Christmas this year, the genius of the incarnation?

Some Amazing Cookies

I'm gonna try THIS recipe.... with Olivia's help

Marty Freese, a member of Christ Community Church, is in basic training for the Navy.


Hey Everyone, Its Marty. I’m writing to you from boot camp which surprisingly isn’t as bad as everyone says it is. The only thing that is bad is the snow, (which I now dislike with an extreme passion). And the fact that your family and friends are like a world away. The food here is O.K. Its just like cheap cafeteria food from Williston High School which means it is better than Bronson’s cafeteria food. Big Red, Trooper, Peach, Mello, Bama, and Georgia say hi, they are some close shipmates of mine. If there are any who want to join the Navy come here in the warm months. Just saying. But I want you all to know that I miss all of you even if you haven’t written me yet*.

Signed, your favorite sailor since Popeye,

Marty Freese


*Marty's Address:

SR Freese, Martin
Ship 11, Division 059
Recruit Training Command
3505 Sailor Drive
Chicago, IL 60088-3505

Any words of encouragement would mean a lot in this challenging time.

Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal

The Incarnation... illustrated

Great article by Philip Yancey on the life of Henri Nouwen... and how Nouwen helped him see the profundity of Jesus' coming to us

excerpt:

Unable to talk, walk, or dress himself, profoundly retarded, Adam gave no sign of comprehension. He seemed to recognize, at least, that his family had come. He drooled throughout the ceremony and grunted loudly a few times.

Later Nouwen told me it took him nearly two hours to prepare Adam each day. Bathing and shaving him, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, guiding his hand as he tried to eat breakfast-these simple, repetitive acts had become for him almost like an hour of meditation.

I must admit I had a fleeting doubt as to whether this was the best use of the busy priest's time. Could not someone else take over the manual chores? When I cautiously broached the subject with Nouwen himself, he informed me that I had completely misinterpreted him. "I am not giving up anything," he insisted. "It is I, not Adam, who gets the main benefit from our friendship."

All day Nouwen kept circling back to my question, bringing up various ways he had benefitted from his relationship with Adam. It had been difficult for him at first, he said. Physical touch, affection, and the messiness of caring for an uncoordinated person did not come easily. But he had learned to love Adam, truly to love him. In the process he had learned what it must be like for God to love us--spiritually uncoordinated, retarded, able to respond with what must seem to God like inarticulate grunts and groans.

-- whole article by Yancey

excerpts from article on Handel's Messiah

Philip Yancey (who i once met in an airport restroom... it was totally legit, i promise) wrote a classic article of how God met him through Handel's Messiah... along the way he gives a great overview of the tremendous piece

Part 1: Bethlehem
As I ... listened to the familiar beginning of Messiah, it was easy to understand how the oratorio came to be associated with the Advent season. Handel begins with a collection of lilting prophecies from Isaiah about a coming king who will bring peace and comfort to a disturbed and violent world. The music builds, swelling from a solo tenor ("Comfort ye my people ... ") to a full chorus joyously celebrating the day when "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed."

Part 2: Calvary

Part 1 ends with a scriptural invitation ("Come unto him") based on a paradox; Part 2 explains the paradox of how his yoke can indeed be easy, and his burden light. It is because of a transfer of suffering. At the cross, the pain and sorrow of humanity became the pain and sorrow of God. The chorus early on states it well: "Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ... and with his stripes we are healed."

Furthermore, in that act death itself died. What happened next, on the day of resurrection, was a miracle deserving of all praise, deserving of the "Hallelujah!" chorus.

Part 3: Eternity
Handel's Messiah could not rightly end with the "Hallelujah!" chorus. The Messiah has come in "glory" (Part 1); the Messiah has died and been resurrected (Part 2). Why, then, does the world remain in such a sorry state? Part 3 attempts an answer. Beyond the images from Bethlehem and Calvary, one more messianic image is needed: the Messiah as Sovereign Lord. The Incarnation did not usher in the end of history—only the beginning of the end. Much work remains before creation is restored to God's original intent.


Read the whole (it is long) article here
fyi... Messiah can be enjoyed this Sunday evening at Holy Trinity downtown

Mary's Song

Mary's Song

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast
keep warm this small hot naked star
fallen to my arms. (Rest …
you who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies
the body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies
whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps
whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems
no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps
to sprout a world. Charmed by doves' voices,
the whisper of straw, he dreams,
hearing no music from his other spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes
he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,
all years. Older than eternity, now he
is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed
to my poor planet, caught
that I might be free, blind in my womb
to know my darkness ended,
brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
and for him to see me mended
I must see him torn.

Luci Shaw

Joy Has Dawned.... Help us see

By Keith Getty & Stuart Townend:

Joy has dawned upon the world,
Promised from creation--
God's salvation now unfurled,
Hope for ev'ry nation


Oh, give us that hope!

fyi

Messiah Sing-Along

Sunday, December 21, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
100 NE 1st St, Gainesville, FL
$5 donation requested

Continuing a tradition that has become part of the holiday season in Gainesville, the Gainesville Civic Chorus once again invites everyone to join us in singing many of the beloved choruses from George Frederick Handel's magnificent Messiah. Over the past twenty years, hundreds have participated in this opportunity to sing this wonderful music, which will be accompanied this year by pipe organ. Please bring your own score if you have one.

Put down your torches...

This week we are going to be looking at what it means that
Jesus Comes to us as: The Light

One thing it means is that only he can bring health & wholeness to our lives... we are so tempted to think that we know what would bring meaning and joy to our lives... and we go after it... or we are constantly fighting against going after it... Isaiah wrote to some folks like us:

Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.

Is there anything harder than trusting God when you are in the dark? When you can't make sense of what is going on and you think you can live another day if only you light this little torch... that will bring peace to my soul. I can always wait for His light tomorrow, right? Ahh, friend ...

wait.... rely.... trust... HOPE!

Oh Jesus, give us grace to stomp out the little torches we--in our idolatry--try to walk by... convince us you are with us in the darkness.

happy bday johnny M

no less than four times this morning i've been reminded that Today is the 400th birthday of John Milton, the Puritan literary giant who wrote Paradise Lost.

i have the audio on my ipod and have listened (months ago) to the first 10 seconds... and i was lost

So maybe during commute today i'll turn off what has been happening:
sports talk am 1230
cell phone
carols of the nativity by cambridge singers, cond.John Rutter

and listen to the of what most critics would agree is the greatest poem in the English language

(Also... this is one great thing about promise of new heavens and new earth... the BEST of our art will be there and be enjoyed! )

The person of Jesus is the quiet resting-place of his people, and when we
draw near to him in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the word,
the searching of the Scriptures, prayer, or praise, we find any form of
approach to him to be the return of peace to our spirits.

10am Sunday

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Join us on Sunday, December 14 for a special worship service celebrating the divine person of Christ. This is a chance to share the true meaning of Christmas! A light brunch will follow. We are asking families to bring low maintenance breakfast items like fruit, bagels, cinnamon rolls or danishes. Items can be delivered to the fellowship hall before the service.

A reminder...

This is a reminder for you of the powerful touch that a follow-up to prayer can be.

This morning at 7:15 I emailed (from my fabulous Curve) 3 friends to ask them to pray for my 2nd grader who was experiencing extreme--i'm talking paralyzing--fear about doing his part as the Wolf in his school play this morning.

I got a hit back from my brother-in-law saying he was on it. Just now he emails me asking "How'd it go?"
Stupid play at school that will be forgotten in a week... but i can't express what it means that he cares for me and my son.
So... remember how powerful a follow-up can be.

O my soul, knock hard!

Spurgeon y'day morning...
Go to Christ and find: forgiveness, clothing, weapons... all your needs supplied!

If all these things are to be had by merely knocking at mercy's door, O my
soul, knock hard this morning, and ask large things of thy generous Lord.
Leave not the throne of grace till all thy wants have been spread before
the Lord, and until by faith thou hast a comfortable prospect that they
shall be all supplied. No bashfulness need retard when Jesus invites.
No unbelief should hinder when Jesus promises.
No cold-heartedness should restrain when such blessings are to be
obtained.

Please God, make me like Jesse Jackson

Dare I link to a Jesse Jackson youtube?
As Palin might say, "You betcha!"

In meditating on Isaiah 11 this week and the world we all want that Jesus has inaugurated...
I've thought about an image from the recent US Presidential election night. Jesse Jackson was in Chicago at the celebration of Obama's victory. An African-American had been elected to the highest office in the land. The land that has degraded them for so long. Jackson seems to be soaking in the experience in a way that the white folks around him just can't experience... for they haven't known Jackson's longing. JJ was on the balcony when Dr. King was shot in Memphis. There have been times when hoping for "the coming of this day" had to seem ludicrous. Yet here it is.



In order for me to enjoy the consummation of the Kingdom of God (the vision of Isaiah 11)...
I must yearn for it. And that kind of yearning, my friends, is Spirit-wrought. Ask!

Reminder... Communion is not tomorrow Dec 7 but next week Dec.14

i need something like morphine only better
i need something like a kiss that lasts forever
i need something like money that will not burn
i need something and i need more than i can earn -
i need something what can i do i need something i need you -
i need something like a cure for my soul
i need something like amnesia for things i know
i need something like a mother cause i'm just a child
i need something like an asylum cause i go wild -
i need something i need you -
i need something like dynamite for the mess i'm in
i need something like a tattoo underneath my skin
i need somebody more than a lover in my bed
i need somebody here with me in my head
i need something bad and i need it now
i got something wrong with me you better fix it cause i don't know how -
i need You

--(Julie Miller “I Need You” from her album “Broken Things”)

Jesus, King of Angels

I have long-loved a song by Fernando Ortega called "Jesus, King of Angels". Y'day i heard an interview with him and he was asked why this song is on his new Christmas album.

"Because I got the title from a Christmas song! You know:
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;"

anyway, here are some lyrics that help me remember that this One we await is Glorious and Near:

Jesus, King of angels, heaven's light,
Shine Your face upon this house tonight.
Let no evil come into my dreams;
Light of heaven, keep me in Your peace.

Remind me how You made dark spirits flee, And spoke Your power to the raging sea.
And spoke Your mercy to a sinful man;
Remind me, Jesus, for this is what I am.

CHORUS:
The universe is vast beyond the stars,
But You are mindful when the sparrow falls, And mindful of the anxious thoughts That find me, surround me, and bind me . . . .

With all my heart I love You, Sovereign Lord.
Tomorrow, let me love You even more.
And rise to speak the goodness of Your name Until I close my eyes and sleep again.

Jesus, King of angels, heaven's light,
Hold my hand and keep me through this night.

The Inconsolable Secret

In speaking of this desire for our own faroff country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name. Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. --C.S. Lewis

In verse 1, Messiah was a shoot of Jesse. Here in verse 10, he is the root of Jesse.
Verse 1 affirms his humanity. Verse 10 affirms his deity. Its why his resting place, his
dwelling among us here in this world, will bring us nothing less than the glory of God. --Ortlund

Christ is creating a world without hurt, without destruction. When the earth is full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, the scars of our ugly utopias will
disappear forever under the overflowing healing of Christ. The very environment will
breathe with the peace of God, and we will never hurt one another again. Jesus Christ, he
will lead us into everything safe and pleasant, with no dark side, no forced laughter, no
guilty conscience, no unhealed wounds.

This is what Isaiah wants us all to see. The triumph of Jesus will not put us up in
the clouds, playing harps and singing in massed choirs forever. The victory of Jesus will
be the awakening and purifying and restoring and gladdening of all things human.
--Ray Ortlund

Jesus knows every human heart. The apostle John saw him as having eyes “like a
flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). Jesus begins each of his seven letters to the early
churches with the words “I know” (Revelation 2-3). Jesus knows you. He knows what
you’re going through. He knows what you need. He knows how to defend you. You can
trust him. --Ray Ortlund

This Sunday we are looking at Jesus Comes To Us As:
A Stem from a Stump... a tremendous picture in Isaiah 11 where Jesus is from the stump of Jesse:


Who was Jesse? Jesse was the father of King David, and David prefigured the
Messiah. But isn’t it interesting that I have to explain to you who Jesse was? Messiah
didn’t come from the Caesars or the Romanovs or the Hapsburgs or the Dale Earnhardt
dynasty. The Savior of the world came into history through an unknown family and
inherited a defeated throne. But from those origins, unimpressive by any standard, God
gave us a new David. God wants us to know where we can find our only hope. And it’s
not in the laboratories of science or the lecture halls of philosophy or the corridors of
human power. The only hope of the world was born in a stable in a remote corner of the
Roman Empire 2000 years ago. He was a nobody. How was that little boy qualified to
rule the world? That’s where Isaiah goes next. --Ray Ortlund

This is a very helpful document by Sinclair Ferguson on the Christ as the center of the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures).

"God's reckless grace is our greatest hope, a life-changing experience, and the subject of this book."

--Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

8:30 in Wal-Mart Parking Lot this Saturday

be there... If you would like to help decorate the Arbor House for Christmas... great way for all ages to serve

Good Article on Santa

In our worship (family or congregational) at Christmas we may varnish the staggering truth of the incarnation with what is visually, audibly, and aesthetically pleasing. We confuse emotional pleasure -- or worse, sentiment -- with true adoration.

--Sinclair Ferguson in Santa Christ?

Let this be another plug for you guys to take advantage of the Advent Scripture Reading Guide!
It is on the website if you don't have it already.

Information Meeting for...

parents interested in helping their children prepare for church membership

9am Sunday morning in the education wing

Spurgeon on Refiner's Fire

The Lord Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, is carrying on in believers daily a purifying work; for he sits as a refiner and he purifies the sons of Levi. He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. Let us pray that, however trying it may be to us, and whatever rough providences it may involve, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with us all in this respect. May our prayer be, "Refining fire, go through my heart!" Let the winnowing fan be used; let our chaff be driven away, there is not a particle of it we would wish to retain. We desire to be sanctified—spirit, soul, and body—through him who leads his people ... May we walk in the light as he is in the light, and so have fellowship one with another, and may the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, cleanse us from all sin. --CHS

You are His!

God wants his children to be sure that they belong to him, and does not want us to remain in doubt and uncertainty. So much so, that each of the three persons of the Trinity contributes to our assurance. The witness of God the Holy Spirit confirms the word of God the Father concerning the work of God the Son. The three strong legs of this tripod make it very steady indeed.
--John Stott

I'm praying today for you CCC... for your confident sense that you are His.

Today's Advent Scripture Reading is Genesis 22:1-18

Thoughts:

1.) What is said to Abraham in verse 12:
'...now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Does this mean that we will know when we are fearing the name of the Lord (Malachi 4 from y'day) when we are--like abraham--offering up to God that which is most precious to us? Oh God, give us grace and courage to "not withhold" any relationship, treasure, etc. from You.

2.) Abraham told his son that God would provide a lamb.
God provided a ram.

Does this mean that God will always provide (as Abraham wonderfully trusts) but that the WAY God provides for us is not what we anticipate?

These are some of the Scriptures you are encouraged to give your attention to this Advent. A sturdy printed copy is available to you when we gather tomorrow.
Sunday, November 30: Genesis 3:1-20 – Seed of Eve
Monday, December 1: Genesis 22:1-18 – Only Beloved Son and Sacrifice
Tuesday, December 2: Genesis 48:15-16; 49:8-10 – Lion of Judah
Wednesday, December 3: Numbers 23:18-24; 24:3-9, 15-19 – Star of Jacob
Thursday, December 4: Deuteronomy 18:14-22 – A Prophet Like Moses
Friday, December 5: 2 Samuel 7:1-17 – Son of David
Saturday, December 6: Psalm 2 – Messiah: Son of God and King
Sunday, December 7: Psalm 16 and Job 19:23-27 – Holy One and Resurrected Redeemer
Monday, December 8: Psalm 22 – The One Forsaken By God
Tuesday, December 9: Psalm 72 – Royal Son, Deliverer of the Afflicted
Wednesday, December 10: Psalm 110 – Priest and Lord at God’s Right Hand
Thursday, December 11: Isaiah 7:14; 9:1-7 – Immanuel, Mighty God and Prince of Peace
Friday, December 12: Isaiah 11:1-10 – The Branch from Jesse’s Root
Saturday, December 13: Isaiah 42:1-10 – Covenant and Light of the Nations
Sunday, December 14: Isaiah 49:1-7; 50:4-11 – Servant of Kings, Sustainer of the Weary
Monday, December 15: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 – Suffering Servant and Lamb of God
Tuesday, December 16: Jeremiah 23:1-6; 33:14-19 – Righteous Branch
Wednesday, December 17: Ezekiel 34:1-31 – The Good Shepherd
Thursday, December 18: Daniel 7:9-14 and Micah 5:2-5a – The Son of Man and Ruler
From Bethlehem
Friday, December 19: Zechariah 9:9-10; 12:10-13:1 – King on a Donkey and Pierced
Firstborn
Saturday, December 20: Malachi 3:1-4; 4:1-6 Covenant Messenger and Sun of Righteousness

Sunday, December 21: Luke 1:5-38 – Son of the Most High
Monday, December 22: Luke 1:39-80 – The Tender Mercy of God
Tuesday, December 23: Matthew 1:18-25 – Savior From Sin
Wednesday, December 24: John 1:1-14 – World Made Flesh
Thursday, December 25: Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12 – The Birth of Jesus

As You Head into Thanksgiving... 2 quotes

What stands between you and joy in Christ this Thanksgiving? What circumstances will the enemy seek to seize to hold before you as the very reasonable reasons why you cannot rest in Jesus and find joy?

My morning readings brought to mind at least two possibilities that I need to deal with in light of the gospel of free grace: self-pity and despair over sin...

Self-Pity:
“Feeling sorry for yourself is one of the strongest, most addictive narcotics known to man. It feels so good to feel so bad. Self-pity arises so easily, seems so plausible, and proves so hard to shake off.” - David Powlison

Discouragement from sin:
“Their being discouraged by their sins will cost them many a prayer, many a tear, and many a groan; and that because their discouragements under sin flow from ignorance and unbelief. It springs from their ignorance of the richness, freeness, fullness, and everlastingness of God’s love; and from their ignorance of the power, glory, sufficiency, and efficacy of the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ; and from their ignorance of the worth, glory, fullness, largeness, and completeness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and from their ignorance of that real, close, spiritual, glorious, and inseparable union that is between Christ and their precious souls.

Ah! Did precious souls know and believe the truth of these things as they should, they would not sit down dejected and overwhelmed under the sense and operation of sin. God never gave a believer a new heart that it should always lie a-bleeding, and that it should always be rent and torn in pieces with discouragements.”

- Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices

The Holy Spirit Helping us Enjoy Christ & His Salvation

That faithful Spirit who begins the good work, effectually carries it on, and completes it. Presently He leads him to the cross of Jesus—unveils to his eye of glimmering faith a suffering, wounded, bleeding, dying Savior—and yet a Savior with outstretched arms! That Savior speaks—oh, did ever music sound so melodious?—

“All this I do for you—this cross for you—these sufferings for you—this blood for you—these stretched-out arms for you. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest—Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out—Look unto me, and be you saved—only believe.

Are you lost?
I can save you.
Are you guilty?
I can cleanse you.
Are you poor?
I can enrich you.
Are you low sunk?
I can raise you.
Are you naked?
I can clothe you.
Have you nothing to bring with you—no price, no money, no goodness, no merit?
I can and will take you to me, just as you are, poor, naked, penniless, worthless;
for such I came to seek, such I came to call, for such I came to die.”

“Lord, I believe,” exclaims the poor convinced soul, “Help You mine unbelief.”
You are just the Savior that I want.

--Octavious Winslow

Rest Beside The Weary Road

... because Advent starts sunday I'm struggling not to fast forward through T'giving (see I even abbreviated the word!). I need, over the next few days to practice what a stanza from "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" exhorts... rest and listen to the angels sing of the Savior who comes to save us, again and again.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!

Expulsive Power

Yesterday I didn't mention the phrase... during the illustration about the oak that only sheds dead leaves when Spring buds push them out.. but I could have:

The Expulsive Power of a New Affection... a sermon by Thomas Chalmers is here

From Colossians 3 Sinclair Ferguson offers 5 things the Spirit will help us do to put sin to death (mortification)

1.) Recognise sin for what it is (Col.3:5,8,11)
2.) Bring your sin into the light of God's presence (Col 3:6)
3.) Recall the shame of past sin (Col 3:7)
4.) Remember that you are united to Christ (Col.3:1-4 and 9-10)
5.) Prayerfully seek the fruit of the Spirit (Col 3:12-17)


Even under certain circumstances (when we've fallen) we must even dare to say:
I can never be more justified than I am at this very moment--even with these thoughts and desires--for I am still trusting in Christ, and by His grace these sins will be put to death.

Justification is Complete; Sanctification is in process

JC Ryle on Growth in Grace... also describing the difference between justification and sanctification:

When I speak of growth in grace, I do not for a moment mean that a believer’s interest in Christ can grow. I do not mean that he can grow in safety, acceptance with God or security. I do not mean that he can ever be more justified, more pardoned, more forgiven, more at peace with God, than he is the first moment that he believes. I hold firmly that the justification of a believer is a finished, perfect and complete work and that the weakest saint, though he may not know and feel it, is as completely justified as the strongest. I hold firmly that our election, calling and standing in Christ admit of no degrees, increase or diminishing. If anyone dreams that by growth in grace I mean growth in justification, he is utterly wide of the mark and utterly mistaken about the whole point I am considering. I would go to the stake, God helping me, for the glorious truth, that in the matter of justification before God every believer is complete in Christ (Col. 2:10). Nothing can be added to his justification from the moment he believes, and nothing taken away.

When I speak of growth in grace, I only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigor and power of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer’s heart. I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage and the like may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble, and may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life. When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this—that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual–mindedness more marked. He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart. He manifests more of it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from grace to grace. I leave it to others to describe such a man’s condition by any words they please. For myself I think the truest and best account of him is this—he is growing in grace.

Quotes from the study

A legalistically faultless life lived without fellowship with God would be hollow. But a flawed life which struggles to maintain communion with God is still pleasing to Him and may be full of vital spirituality. --Richard Lovelace, Renewal

Mortification makes stronger our grasp of our justification and sonship, since only as we see more of the magnitude of our sin can we see more the magnitude of His grace. On the other hand, looking at our justification makes mortification deeper, since only as our conscience is infused with grace can we have the security to acknowledge the full extent of our sin.
--Tim Keller

If I may speak my own experience, I find that to keep my eye simply on Christ, as my peace and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling. . . . It seems easier to deny Self in a thousand instances of outward conduct, than in it ceaseless endeavors to act as a principle of righteousness and power.

-- John Newton

The Love of Christ

I think I've referenced this before... but Sinclair Ferguson gave a talk called Our Holiness: Abiding in the love of Christ where he basically says... you can't become holy (which includes mortification) without abiding in Jesus' love (aspiration). What kind of love do we abide in? Multi-dimensional love... but what arrested me was this one:

This is a “love of complacency” (term coined by John Owen). The Atonement is the stepping-stone and foundation of every other blessing. God delights in those who have been atoned. Because of the Cross we are now objects of His pleasure and satisfaction. John Owen says, “The love of Christ is a love of complacency.” This love and delight flows in more love and joy (Zeph. 3:14-17, John 15:11). [Owen defines “complacency” as the delight and joy displayed by one fully satisfied in the object he has fixed his love upon (See Communion with God, 1:25).]

Jesus promises, “My joy will be in you.” Once our sins are atoned, there is a love in Jesus’ heart that overflows in sheer delight over us. Bathe in this truth! We are prone to beat ourselves into the dust over our remaining sinfulness rather than abide in Jesus’ love. Remember, Jesus’ love towards us is a love of complacency.

You can download or hear the sermon here and read the sermon notes here

This is from Richard Lovelace's marvelous little book, Renewal.

The heart which is illuminated by the Holy Spirit's application of truth* is progressively set free from its bondage to sin and error. "You will know the truth," Jesus said, "and the truth* will set you free" John 8:32 NIV). As our hearts, the subconscious root of our personality, are increasingly filled with light, our minds are freed to discover and affirm truth, our wills are freed to obey God, and our emotions are released to feel about all things as God feels about them.

We should note that the immediate goal of illuminated faith is not works or spiritual achievement. Instead, it is fellowship with God, leading to fellowship with other believers.

* my flesh (RP) has such a legalist mindset that i've only ever thought of "truth" as primarily telling me how not to sin... thinking about aspiration & dwelling on the promises of God & resting in His revealed truth about His love towards us... helps me to see how the Holy Spirit applying truth can sound like:
"Rob, believe the gospel here. Don't you see you don't have to scramble to get whatever it is you are chasing (approval, reputation, comfort, etc). In fact, it won't satisfy. Rest in Jesus."

This sheds a whole new light on Jesus' words: The truth can set you free.

Do it, Lord.

Abba, Father

Abba.... this is indeed a very short word, but it includes everything. Not the lips,
but the feelings are speaking here, as though one were to say: “Even
though I am surrounded by anxieties and seem to be deserted and
banished from Thy presence, nevertheless I am a child of God on account
of Christ; I am beloved on account of the Beloved.” Therefore the term
“abba,” when spoken meaningfully in the heart, is an eloquence that
Demosthenes, Cicero, and the most eloquent men there have ever been in
the world cannot attain. For this is a matter that is expressed, not in words
but in sighs, which are not articulated in all the words of all the orators;
for they are too deep for words. --Martin Luther

Draw near the flame of Christ's love

John Murray
"The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and therefore as the Spirit of love He captivates our hearts by the love of God and of Christ to us. In the diffusion of that love there flows also love to one another. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11). The biblical ethic knows no fulfillment [sic] of its demands other than that produced by the constraint and claim of God's redeeming love (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15; Galatians 2:20). Our love is always ignited by the flame of Christ's love. And it is the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad in our hearts the igniting flame of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The love that is ignited is the fruit of the Spirit."

--found in Chapell page 155

The WHY is the HOW

Amazing...

As we try to explain to people how God can help them overcome entangling sins, we must help them see that the why is the how. Engaging in spiritual warfare because of a compelling love for God is how we secure victory over sin. A love for God made vital and vigorous by sensing deeply his compassion toward us is the primary means that enables believers to resisit Satan.

--Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace, page 153 and TK:

I believe the classical Reformed view—that on the one hand, sanctification is not by ‘works’ but by a continuous re-orienting ourselves to our justification. So sanctification is not moralistic. Yet it takes enormous effort (so it is not quietistic.)

When we feed on,
remember,
and live in accordance with our justification,
it mortifies our idols
and fills us with an inner joy and desire to please and resemble our Lord through obedience.
But the feeding on, remembering, and living in accordance—takes all our effort.

--timothy j. keller

I feel like all the heavies are weighing in on the themes of Romans 8 and the deep work of the Spirit to empower Mortification Through Joy... here's Jack:

"Where can you taste the joys of obeying unless He bids you do something
for which His bidding is the only reason?"
(C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, Chapter 9)

"A perfect man would never act from sense of duty; he'd always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs can do the journey on their own."

(C.S. Lewis, Letters - 18 July 1957)

Set Our Hearts At Liberty

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit into ev'ry troubled breast;
let us all in Thee inherit, let us find the promised rest:
take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith as its Beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

--Charles Wesley hymn "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" found in Bryan Chapell's Holiness by Grace p.150

Is conversion sudden or gradual?  If by 'conversion' is really meant regeneration, the answer can only be 'sudden', for if words have meaning, 'birth' is a sudden and dramatic crisis.  Of course, there are months of preparation before birth.  Of course, too, there are years of growth after birth, but birth itself is an almost instantaneous experience.  So it is with the new birth.  There may be months in which the Holy Spirit begins to convince a man of his sin and turn his thoughts to Christ as the Saviour of sinners.  There may be months in which a man feels himself drawn by the magnetism of Christ.  There will also be years of development in the Christian life after the new birth.  'As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby' (1 Pet. 2:2).  The New Testament speaks of a growth in knowledge and holiness, in faith and love.  A Christian's progress is likened to the gradual development of a child into maturity.  But the months of pre-natal preparation and the years of post-natal growth must not be allowed to disguise the suddenness of birth itself.  Further, what growth is to birth, sanctification is to justification.  Justification, like birth, is sudden.  Sanctification, like growth, is gradual.  Justification is a legal metaphor and indicates the judge's sentence when he pronounces the sinner righteous.  The trial may take some time, and when it is over the justified sinner will take a lifetime to manifest in character the righteousness he has been accorded in standing, but the judge's sentence of justification is pronounced in a matter of seconds.  God's initial work in the soul then, whether we call it regeneration or justification, the experience of a new birth or the reception of a new status, is sudden.  It cannot be anything else.
-- John Stott

There is no true life without the death called mortification, and there is no true life
without the discipline called aspiration. It is while we put to death the deeds of the
body that we shall live (verse 13); it is while we set our minds on the things of the
Spirit that we find life and peace (verse 6). So the Holy Spirit subdues the flesh as
we mortify it in His power, and as we set our minds upon the things of the Spirit.”

--John Stott, Men Made New, p. 92

O God the Holy Spirit

... this is from Valley of Vision, entitled "The Spirit's Work"

Move, I pray Thee, upon my disordered heart;
Take away the infirmities of unruly desires
and hateful lusts;
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief...

Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;

Through Thee may I daily learn more of
His love,
His grace,
His compassion,
His faithfulness,
His beauty

O Holy Spirit, write it on my heart.


(you can Read the whole prayer here)

“The cost for the recipient of God’s grace is nothing - and no price could be higher for arrogant people to pay.”

- Dan Allender

2 quotes hiatt gave me

knowing that we're doing mortification through joy on sunday, chris hiatt was reading John Owen and gave me these two quotes:

Now, in every promise there are three things to be considered: (1) The
faithfulness of the Father, who gives it; (2) The grace of the Son, which is the
matter of it; (3) The power and efficacy of the Holy Ghost, which puts the
promise in execution. And all these are engaged for the preservation of such
persons from the hour of temptation.


Fly to Christ, in a peculiar manner, as he was tempted, and beg
of him to give you succor in this “needful time of trouble.”

I'm not going to preach his sermon...

... but I am going to use his title.

Y'day i bought a Tim Keller sermon entitled "Mortification Through Joy"

I haven't listened to it yet... but the title alone has encapsulated for me what I was beginning to trying to get across at the end of last week's sermon... and what will be the entire focus of this week's sermon.

Mortification Through Aspiration just isn't "catchy" enough... but Mortification (Killing of Sin) through Joy (Delighting in Christ's salvation) is memorable and so now I've credited TK for that phrase.

written 1000 years ago...

I'm continuing to think about what Romans 8 says about mortification and aspiration...
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153) :

"Therefore, my advice to you, friends, is to turn aside from troubled and anxious reflection on your own progress, and escape to the easier paths of remembering the good things God has done. In this way, instead of becoming upset by thinking about yourself, you will find relief by turning your attention to God.... Sorrow for sin is, indeed, a necessary thing, but it should not prevail all the time. On the contrary, it is necessary that happier recollections of God's generosity should counterbalance it, lest the heart should become hardened through too much sadness and so perish through despair."

Christianity Explored

Here is a link to some FAQ about Christianity Explored... who is it for? what happens at a meeting? etc.
Put details about Christianity explore HERE and link

Spurgeon morning june 28 is what I read in sermon @ Holy Spirit helping us look away from self @ toward Jesus

Richard Lovelace in Dynamics of Spiritual Life

"We should make a deliberate effort at the outset of every day to recognize the person of the Holy Spirit, to move into the light concerning His presence in our consciousness and to open up our minds and to share all our thoughts and plans . . . . we should look to Him as teacher, guide, sanctifier, giver of assurance concerning our sonship and standing before God, helper in prayer . . ."

What the Spirit ASPIRES to persuade us of....

“There is therefore now no condemnation” … what important words they are! The words remind us of our position
now as Christians … There are many who misunderstand this. They seem to think of the Christian as a man who, if
he confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, is forgiven. At that moment he is not under condemnation. But then
if he should sin again he is back once more under condemnation. Then he repents and confesses his sin again,
and asks for pardon, and he is cleansed once more. So to them the Christian is a man who is constantly passing
from one state to the other; back and forth; condemned, not condemned. Now that, according to the Apostle,
is a wholly mistaken notion, and a complete failure to understand the position. The Christian is a man who can
never be condemned; he can never come into a state of condemnation again. “No condemnation” … that is the
meaning of this word “no”. It means “never” …

--- Dr. MLJ

Turkey Bowl '08 is 8 days away!!

not tomorrow...
but a WEEK from tomorrow...

Turkey Bowl 2008

There will be two games going simutaneously:
1.) A co-ed game for boys and girls 7th grade and below
2.) A male only (bring on the lawsuits!) game for grade 8 up to retirees

Immediately after the 10:45 service
Somewhere on the campus of Oak Hall

Christianity Explored

here is a one-minute overview of the course we're running in january 2009

"To worship God, know His truth, meet His people, serve His kingdom and honor His Son... these are the new desires we receive when we are born from above...
... these aspirations are not perfect... they ebb & flow.

At times we lament and grieve their weakness.

But however far short we confess ourselves to have fallen from what we ought to be, we are NOT what we once were." --Sinclair Ferguson

James Boice:
What does God the Holy Spirit do internally in Christians to lead them?

1.) He renews our minds
2.) He stirs our hearts
3.) He directs our wills

"The activity of the disciple is the evidence of the Spirit's activity, and the activity of the Spirit is the cause of the disciple's activity.". --john murray

Romans 8 is a dear dear old friend. The kind you go to when you need:
-- your heart warmed
-- your mind expanded
-- your future told
-- your suffering put in perspective
-- etc.

These next two Sundays I plan to look at Our Partnership With God's Spirit using Romans 8 as our text. Pray for me as I write, please.

"The trial of your faith."- 1 Peter 1:7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and itis likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers,
and
lightnings are her illuminators.
When a calm reigns on thesea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; foron a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howlingforth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so
brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky;
no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience.

You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and
you
would
never have known
God's strength
had you not been supported amid the water-floods.

Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.
Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities. --spurgeon, morning november 12

worth memorizing...

When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul. --Psalm 94:19

It is good to reflect on these principles at this time:
From Jn Stott commentary on romans:
Romans 13:1-7  Our relationship to the state: conscience citizenship.

     In Romans 12 Paul has developed our four basic Christian relationships, namely to God (1-2), to ourselves (3-8), to one another (9-16) and to our enemies (17-21). In Romans 13 he develops three more - to the state (conscientious citizenship, 1-7), to the law (neighbour-love as its fulfilment, 8-10), and to the day of the Lord’s return (living in the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’, (11-14).
(I will post more on this later)

Preaching On The Holy Spirit

I'm going to do a mini-series on "God, The Holy Spirit" over the next 3 sundays... Keeping in Step with The Spirit by JI Packer is a tremendous resource

(page 59)
"The truth of the Trinity is a New Testament revelation... But should anyone think that according to Scripture God was unipersonal during the Old Testament period and only became tripersonal when Jesus was born, he would be wrong. What is in question here is not the mode of God's being from eternity, but the manner of its revelation in history. I am not saying that the third person of the Godhead did not exist or was not active in Old Testament times; the New Testament writers assure us that He did and was. I am only saying that His distinct personhood is not expressed by the Old Testament writers; though God's triunity is an eternal fact, only through Christ was it made known." --JI Packer

--from Justin Taylor

No matter who you voted for--or whether you voted at all--it's important to remember that, as President, Barack Obama will have God-given authority to govern us, and that we should view him as a servant of God (Rom. 13:1, 4) to whom we should be subject (Rom. 13:1, 5; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).

• We are to pray for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
• We are to thank God for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
• We are to respect Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7).
• We are to honor Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:17).

(Author: John Piper)

How does the Bible instruct us to pray for "all who are in high positions"? It says,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:1-4).

A few observations:

1. Giving thanks "for kings" is hard when they are evil.

And, as Calvin said on this passage, "All the magistrates of that time were sworn enemies of Christ." This shows us that anarchy is a horrible alternative to almost any ruler.

We should give thanks for rulers because "non-rule" would unleash on us utterly unbridled evil with no recourse whatever.

Again Calvin: "Unless they restrained the boldness of wicked men, the whole world would be full of robberies and murders." The better we understand the seething evil of the human heart that is ready to break out where there is no restraint, the more thankful we will be for government.

2. The effect we pray for is "that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly, and dignified in every way."

Dignified means "serious and reverent," not stuffy. I suspect what Paul means is not that we can't live godly and serious lives during times of anarchy. We can. I suspect he means that peaceful and quiet lives, which are the opposite of anarchy, are often wasted in ungodly and frivolous actions.

So he is praying for a government that would give peace and quiet (not anarchy), and that Christians would not fritter away their peaceful lives with the world, but would be radically godly and serious about the lost condition of the world and how to change it.

3. Using our peace for radical godliness and serious action will lead to more effective evangelism and world missions.

This last observation is confirmed by the hoped-for outcome Paul mentions. Paul says that the reason God delights in such peaceful, Godward, serious action is that he "desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

More people will be saved if our government restrains the horrors of anarchy, and if Christians use this peace not to waste their lives on endless entertainment, but seriously give their lives to making God known.

Cling to the Lord Jesus in your feebleness, in your fickleness, in your nothingness; and abidingly take him to be everything to you.

from Spurgeon's sermon, "Preparation for the Coming of the Lord.

If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that
he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the
travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful,
till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. --Spurgeon

Call Out To Jesus

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout,
`Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more,
`Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

Kim Riddlebarger: "Somehow this blind man had heard of Jesus. His relentless cry of faith, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me,” is framed in the langauge of the Psalter.
This man believes that Jesus can help him
and he simply will not give up,
despite the crowd’s insistence that he do so.
He calls out to Jesus
over
and
over.
He is desperate.
And he just knows that Jesus can heal him."

My Jesus Makes All things New

Sunday we'll look at Jesus' healing of Blind Bart. This is a wonderful picture of Christ restoring Creation's intent.

Election time reminds me how low our hopes tend to be... Let us long for and rejoice that we have a King who calls for HIGH (really high!) hopes.

A. Peterson captures it well.......

Vs 1: Come Broken and Weary, come battered and bruised
my Jesus makes all things new, All things new

Vs 2: Come lost and abandoned, come blown by the wind
He'll bring you back home again, home again

Chorus: Rise up oh you sleeper awake
The light of the dawn is upon you
Rise up oh you sleeper awake
He makes all things new
All things New

Vs 3: Come frozen with shame, come burning with guilt
my Jesus loves you still, loves you still

Chorus

Bridge: The world was good, the world is fallen, the world will be redeemed, The world was good, the world is fallen, the world will be redeemed

Vs 4: So Hold on to the promise, the stories are true,
My Jesus makes all things new

Several Things

1.) Here is the FAQ page for Christianity Explored, the course we are gearing up now to run in January.


2.) quote of the day y'day:
“The mother never has such success in showing her affection to her child as when he is in distress, sick, poor, or imprisoned. So Christ shows His affection to His children when tempted, or when bested by temptation.

When His children lie in Satan’s prison, bleeding under the wounds of their consciences, this is the season He takes to give an example of His tender heart in pitying, His faithfulness in praying for them, His mindfulness in sending help to them, His dear love in visiting them by His comforting Spirit.

Thus Jesus Christ, whom Satan thought to bring out of the soul’s favor and liking, comes in the end to sit higher and surer in the saint’s affections than ever.”

—William Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour


3.) joy joy... y'day Hiatt and i took our annual roadtrip to Starbucks to discuss several things... we hit the baristas in a generous mood and scored 2 hot chocolates (man! those are good) and 2 small coffees for a grand total of $1.50
We drank like kings!

4.) See if God doesn't bump you into someone in the next 24 hrs ... someone you can invite to Fall Festival Sunday.

.

Fall Festival... images from last year

The notion which the phrase ‘penal substitution’ expresses is that Jesus Christ our Lord, moved by a love that was determined to do everything necessary to save us, endured and exhausted the destructive divine judgment for which we were otherwise inescapably destined, and so won us forgiveness, adoption and glory. To affirm penal substitution is to say that believers are in debt to Christ specifically for this, and that this is the mainspring of all their joy, peace and praise both now and for eternity. --JI Packer, from article The Logic of Penal Substitution



“The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.” --John Stott


“The cross is God’s way of standing worldly power and authority on its head… God’s way of putting us & the world to rights … The cross challenges and subverts all the human systems which claim to put the world to rights but in fact only succeed in bringing a different set of humans out on top.” –Tom Wright

“Only those who are aware of God’s wrath are amazed at God’s grace.” --C.J. Mahaney

Rec’d Resources… To look into “the cup of God’s wrath” further:
Christ Our Mediator, C.J. Mahaney (96 pages) The Cross of Christ, John Stott (380 pages)

Help for Parents! Dr. R.C. Sproul's newest story, The Prince's Poison Cup, is the story of a little girl, Ella, who is sick and must take yucky medicine to make her well. Ella wonders why something that will make her get well has to taste so bad. She puts the question to Grandpa who tells her the story of atonement and the terrible price that Jesus had to pay for our redemption by being willing to drink that awful cup. Great Christmas present!

Papers I handed out today

Sanctification by JI Packer
b/c we are (subtly) focusing on sanctification during our worship services in October

Threefold Use of The Law of God by RC Sproul
b/c Jesus used one of them on the Rich Young Ruler

( by Preaching he means on sunday by a preacher to a crowd or tuesday
by a normal Christian to a friend... and--i think--the way we talk to
our children about being right with God! )
The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always
leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it.
There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the
New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might
misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to
this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at
all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it
will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and
presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that
misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel. Let me show you what I
mean.

If a man preaches justification by works, no one would ever raise this
question. If a man's preaching is, 'If you want to be Christians, and
if you want to go to heaven, you must stop committing sins, you must
take up good works, and if you do so regularly and constantly, and do
not fail to keep on at it, you will make yourselves Christians, you
will reconcile yourselves to God and you will go to heaven'. Obviously
a man who preaches in that strain would never be liable to this
misunderstanding. Nobody would say to such a man, 'Shall we continue
in sin, that grace may abound?', because the man's whole emphasis is
just this, that if you go on sinning you are certain to be damned, and
only if you stop sinning can you save yourselves. So that
misunderstanding could never arise . . . . . .

Nobody has ever brought this charge against the Church of Rome, but it
was brought frequently against Martin Luther; indeed that was
precisely what the Church of Rome said about the preaching of Martin
Luther. They said, 'This man who was a priest has changed the doctrine
in order to justify his own marriage and his own lust', and so on.
'This man', they said, 'is an antinomian; and that is heresy.' That is
the very charge they brought against him. It was also brought George
Whitfield two hundred years ago. It is the charge that formal dead
Christianity – if there is such a thing – has always brought against
this startling, staggering message, that God 'justifies the ungodly' .
. .

That is my comment and it is a very important comment for preachers. I
would say to all preachers: If your preaching of salvation has not
been misunderstood in that way, then you had better examine your
sermons again, and you had better make sure that you are really
preaching the salvation that is offered in the New Testament to the
ungodly, the sinner, to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, to
those who are enemies of God. There is this kind of dangerous element
about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation.

This is from Lloyd-Jones commentary on Romans 6, pp 8-9, and was
quoted by Chuck Swindoll in his book The Grace Awakening, pp. 39-40.

"When all Thy mercies O my God,

My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view I'm lost

In wonder, love & praise.

Unnumbered comforts on my soul

They tender care bestowed,

Before my infant heart conceived

From whom these comforts flowed.

When in the slippery paths of youth

With heedless steps I ran,

Thine arm unseen conveyed me safe,

And brought me up to man.

When worn with sickness oft hast Thou

With health renewed my face;

And when in sins and sorrows sunk,

Revived my soul with grace.

"In all the Scripture there is not one hard word against a poor sinner stripped of self-righteousness.". --puritan writer

What do we mean when we say that we're "saved"? In Scripture, salvation concerns three realities: First, we have been saved. By his atoning death Christ secured our acceptance before God and when we placed our trust in Christ we were immediately justified and adopted. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." But (second*) we are also being saved. At the same moment that the Holy Spirit creates faith by the preaching of the Gospel the believer is truly changed and his sanctification has already begun. Justification is a once-and-for-all declaration of right-standing because of an imputed righteousness; sanctification is a progressive growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through an imparted righteousness. As living branches of the Savior's Vine, we immediately begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit, although others may be more aware of it than are we. Justification is instantaneous, objective and complete. Sanctification is progressive, subjective and partial. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, "For even the holiest of Christians make only a small beginning in obedience in this life. Nevertheless, they begin with serious purpose to conform not only to some, but to all the commandments of God." The Westminster Confessions adds, "Even our best works, as they are wrought by us, are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment." The question arises, then, why pursue good works at all? Why should we even be interested in sanctification? --Mike Horton, whole thing here

*The 3rd reality of salvation is that we SHALL be saved, on the Day of Judgment

Amazingly Intimate Care from Our Majestic Father

You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?

--from Psalm 56

Tonight's Spurgeon

"He himself hath suffered being tempted." - Hebrews 2:18

It is a common-place thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart-Jesus was tempted as I am. You have heard that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood. It is a dark room
which you are going through, but Jesus went through it before. It is a sharp fight which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the same enemy. Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the load before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory may be seen along
the road which we traverse at this hour.

Who are the parents in Mark 10?

Sinclair Ferguson:

Jesus is speaking about children whose parents are already disciples (and will in turn 'disciple' them). Such parents know they need to teach their children the responsibilities of kingdom life, as well as the privileges of kingdom possession. If the blessings of God are rejected in disobedience, they are forfeited. Nothing that is said here implies ... that irrespective of their response to Jesus these children were automatically guaranteed salvation.... or any other position on the part of Jesus.

--Sinclair Ferguson, Let's Study Mark, p.162

Life-Changing Truth... I still remember first time I heard it

We all automatically gravitate toward the assumption that we are justified by our level of sanctification, and when this posture is adopted it inevitably focuses our attention not on Christ but on the adequacy of our own obedience.

We (wrongly tend to) start each day with our personal security resting not on the accepting love of God and the sacrifice of Christ but on our present feelings or recent achievements in the Christian life. Since these arguments will not quiet the human conscience, we are inevitably moved either to discouragement and apathy or to a self-righteousness which falsifies the record (lowers the standard) to achieve a sense of peace.

--richard lovelace

What is your view of sanctification? How does one avoid antinomianism and legalism as we grow in grace?

What is your view of sanctification? How does one avoid antinomianism and legalism as we grow in grace?

I believe the classical Reformed view—that on the one hand, sanctification is not by ‘works’ but by a continuous re-orienting ourselves to our justification. So sanctification is not moralistic. Yet it takes enormous effort (so it is not quietistic.)

When we feed on,
remember,
and live in accordance with our justification,
it mortifies our idols
and fills us with an inner joy and desire to please and resemble our Lord through obedience.
But the feeding on, remembering, and living in accordance—takes all our effort. --timothy j. keller

The Differences between Justification & Sanctification

Justification describes the position of acceptance with God which he gives us when we trust in Christ as our Saviour. It is a legal term, borrowed from the lawcourts, and its opposite is condemnation. To justify is to acquit, to declare an accused person to be just, not guilty. So the divine judge, because his Son has borne our condemnation, justifies us, pronouncing us righteous in his sight. 'Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus' (Rom. 8:1).
Sanctification, on the other hand, describes the process by which justified Christians are changed into the likeness of Christ. When God justifies us, he declares us righteous through Christ's death for us; when he sanctifies us, he makes us righteous through the power of his Holy Spirit within us.
Justification concerns our outward status of acceptance with God; sanctification concerns our inward growth in holiness of character.
Further, whereas our justification is sudden and complete, so that we shall never be more justified than we were on the day of our conversion, our sanctification is gradual and incomplete. It takes a few moments only in court for a judge to pronounce his verdict and for the accused to be acquitted; it takes a lifetime even to approach Christlikeness.

--John Stott

Might Show at Next Step Tonite

THREE ways, not TWO:





Missional versus Evangelistic



Gospel Imperatives & Indicatives, by Sinclair Ferguson

Clearly, Jesus loved the children,
he blessed them as members of his covenant, and he was very upset with the disciples when they tried to prevent
parents from bringing their children to him. Children are the perfect example of the kingdom of God,
because they don’t see the need to try and earn entrance, they just receive it. In fact, says Jesus, children
(even very little ones–infants and toddlers) are members of his kingdom. This is why we not only apply
to them the sign and seal of the covenant (baptism), but why we involve our children in our worship just
as soon as they are physically ready. Jesus’ attitude toward children should be our own. It was Jesus
who said, “let the little children come to me.” We must never hinder them from coming to their Savior! --kim riddlebarger

Yet I Sin

Eternal Father,
Thou are good beyond all thought,
But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel, and my ways reluctant to amend.
I bring my soul to thee; break it, wound it, bend it, mold it.

Unmask to me sin's deformity... My faculties have been a weapon of revolt against thee; as a rebel I have misused my strength, and served the foul adversary of they kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly...

Work in me more profound and abiding repentance;
Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears, yet ever trusts and loves, which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving cross.

--from Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers... see the whole prayer here

Our attitude is to be just like that of those children who Jesus picked up and
blessed. If we are Christ’s disciples, we will not claim the kingdom, we will not try and force our way
into it, we will simply receive it with the empty hands of faith. And never forget that in this kingdom
there is forgiveness of all of our sins–there is forgiveness for divorce, there is forgiveness for adultery,
and there is forgiveness for the sin of pride on the part of any who say to themselves, “I never committed
the sin of adultery and I never got a divorce,” therefore I am superior to those who have. In this
kingdom, God freely receives repentant sinners. But he turns away all those who think they’ve earned
their place with in the kingdom. Entrance into the kingdom of God is bestowed and received. Entrance
can never be earned. We must simply receive the blessings which Jesus gives us, as those children who
were brought to Jesus reveled in his blessing. 00 Kim Riddlebarger

O Friends, instead of thinking
yourselves more fit for Christ by growing bigger, grow smaller! Instead of getting greater, get less! Instead of being more
wise, be more completely bereft of all wisdom and come to Jesus for wisdom, righteousness and all things!
Sometimes when we are very feeble and our language is very simple, God may bless it all the more and I do pray He
may, this morning, set His seal upon this poor talk of His sick servant! Every particle of my flesh and every atom of my
bones is praying God to bless this sermon! Grim pain has been racking me while I have been speaking. May this discourse
be more honorable than its brethren because I bore it with sorrow! I long, I pine, I cry before God that He may bless this
feeble word of mine to your conversion and to the conversion of many dear children. Those of you who have never looked
to Christ and lived, do unto Christ, I pray you, just what these dear children did—He called them and they came and
were folded in His arms. Come along with you!
Do you half wish you could be a child, again? You can be! He can give
you a child’s heart and you can be in His Kingdom newly-born. May it be so, for His name’s sake! Amen. --SPURGEON

I love a good phrase....

.... Even if i disagree with the premise!
One of my heroes, Charles Spurgeon, was NOT a minister who baptized the children of believers. I am, with great joy. I have always thought his sermon on my text for Sunday had a catchy title...

• Mark 10:13-16 - Children Brought to Christ, and Not to the Font
  C.H. Spurgeon (pdf)
• 
  
• 
  
• Here is another sermon of his on this text...
  
• Mark 10:13-16 - Jesus and the Children
  C.H. Spurgeon (pdf)

Back into Mark 10

Jesus directs these words to the disciples who
continue to miss Jesus’ point. Little children are the model of how people enter the kingdom. God
bestows his kingdom upon the low, the helpless, those who can do nothing to gain entrance.
Entrance into the kingdom of God is not something which can be earned, or gained on the basis of human merit. As one commentator so aptly puts it, to receive the Kingdom is to allow oneself to be given it. ==Kim Riddlebarger

Sam Storms has a tremendous study of Romans 14 online here. Here are couple o' quotes:

Christian liberty may legitimately manifest itself in abstinence or asceticism. Christian liberty includes the right to abstain from otherwise legitimate pursuits if one is convinced in his/her own mind that such is the will of God for them personally. In other words, you may fully believe in the truth of Rom. 14:14a, yet choose to abstain anyway. Christian liberty does not include the right to insist that others likewise abstain simply because you do. Far less does it include the right to judge them as sub-spiritual for choosing a different course of action from you.


If someone says to me: "Your drinking of wine is sin," should I cease? To answer the question we must first determine if the one who protests is a weaker brother. As we have seen, by weaker brother Paul is thinking of someone who not only has a misconception of what is inherently right and wrong, clean and unclean, but is actually himself induced or led to perform the action in question because of your participation. Paul is thinking of someone who is led to violate his own conscience because he is either untaught or excessively timid and fearful. His concern over your reaction to his abstinence leads him to do what his conscience forbids. This must be emphasized, because the person who protests your expression of liberty may be a legalist. Legalists are in no danger of violating their conscience! They are not in the least tempted to engage in the activity in question. Their aim is not simply to refrain from a specified activity, but to persuade you to refrain as well, often through intimidation, shame, guilt, etc. --Sam Storms

We Have a Great Physician!

Sin is the sickness of the soul, in itself mortal and incurable, as to any power in heaven or earth but that of the Lord Jesus only. But he is the great, the infallible Physician.
Have we the privilege to know his name?
Have we been enabled to put ourselves into his hand?
We have then no more to do but to attend his prescriptions, to be satisfied with his methods, and to wait his time. It is lawful to wish we were well; it is natural to groan, being burdened: but still he must and will take his own course with us; and, however dissatisfied with ourselves, we ought still to be thankful that he has begun his work in us, and to believe that he will also make an end. Therefore while we mourn, we should likewise rejoice; we should encourage ourselves to expect all that he has promised; and we should limit our expectations by his promises. --John Newton
..

"Believers find within themselves contrary urgings."

Boy, that is the understatement of the year!

J.I. Packer's helpful overview of Sanctification is, as usual, helpful. Here are a few excerpts:

"The concept is not of sin being totally eradicated (that is to claim too much) or merely counteracted (that is to say too little), but of a divinely wrought character change freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues."

"God's method of sanctification is neither activism (self-reliant activity) nor apathy (God-reliant passivity), but God-dependent effort (2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 3:10-14; Heb. 12:14)."

"Believers find within themselves contrary urgings."

Read the whole thing

I am pardoned by the blood of Jesus---
give me a new sense of it, continue to pardon me by it,
may i come every day
to the fountain,
and every day
be washed anew... --from "Worship" in Valley of Vision

Secure in Christ

Justified believers enjoy a blessing far greater than a periodic approach to God or an occasional audience with the king.  We are privileged to live in the temple and in the palace ... Our relationship with God, into which justification has brought us, is not sporadic but continuous, not precarious but secure.  We do not fall in and out of grace like courtiers who may find themselves in and out of favour with their sovereign, or politicians with the public.  No, we *stand* in it, for that is the nature of grace.  Nothing can separate us from God's love (Rom. 8:38f.).
--John stott

Pictures from our Sept 14 Groundbreaking