Romans 7 (and 8!) is normal

I think John Stott is wrong.

There, I said it. If you knew what a huge fan of Stott I am you would know how hard those 6 words are for me to type.

But I'm reading through his commentary on Romans 7 and he is dealing with the BIG question of Romans 7.... Who is the "I" of Romans 7... the cat who seems to do what he doesn't want to do and can't do what he wants to do

Options SEEM to be:
1.) An unconverted man (a nonXn)
2.) An Old Testament Christian
a.) Who loves the law. Only true Christian can
b.) but who lacks the Spirit
3.) A normal Christian
4.) An abnormal Christian, struggling too much with sin

Stott says he thinks Romans 7 is written from #2 perspective. If it is... I am toast. I'm so thankful that other heavyweights see it as #3. (John Murray, J.I. Packer, John Piper, James Boice, et al)

For what it is worth, the standard Puritan understanding of our Christian experience in this world, was Romans 7 & 8. Like this:
Romans 7: we sin like crazy, even against what we know and want often
Romans 8: but we have a rescuer who is granting us life in the Spirit, to put our sin to death... little by little

John Murray clarifies this state in his Principles of Conduct:

The believer is a new man, a new creation, but he is a new man not yet made perfect. Sin dwells in him still, and he still commits sin. He is necessarily the subject of progressive renewal; he needs to be transfigured into the image of the Lord from glory to glory.

Fred Malone writes:
Do not deny that Rom. 7:14-25 is the Christian. You will despair if you are honest with your soul. Do not think that you will ever (totally) get out of Rom. 7 into Rom. 8. If you do, you will chase a figment of men's theological imaginations which will destroy your assurance of salvation and blind you to the work of God in your soul or else it will foster a spiritual pride and antinomianism which may end up destroying your soul in hell. Rather, look into Rom. 7:14-25 and see the work of God begun in the Christian soul and rejoice that He has not left you alone to harden your conscience against sin. Rejoice that the dominion of sin is broken and he is leading you into deeper repentance, increased holiness, and greater dependence upon Christ and joy in His free and ever available grace. Then do with your people what Bunyan did: "I preached what I smartingly did feel."

The poor, struggling sinner who is erroneously told that the struggle with sin he or she is currently experiencing is a sign of defeat and that the person is not yet a Christian, or else has chosen not to take advantage of the victory offered to all those in Christ, should instead see the struggle with sin as proof that sanctification is actually taking place. --Kim Riddlebarger

sources:
http://www.founders.org/journal/fj02/article1.html
Romans 7 and the Normal Christian Life by Kim Ridddlebarger, in Modern Reformation

A picture

Wondering if this is helpful... i've just been trying it on since hearing it a few weeks ago in a sermon by John Piper:

Picture your marriage as a grassy field. You enter it at the beginning full of hope and joy. You look out into the future and you see beautiful flowers and trees and rolling hills. And that beauty is what you see in each other. Your relationship is the field and flowers and the rolling hills. But before long, you begin to step in cow pies. Some seasons of your marriage they may seem to be everywhere. Late at night they are especially prevalent. These are the sins and flaws and idiosyncrasies and weaknesses and annoying habits in you and your spouse. You try to forgive them and endure them with grace.

But they have a way of dominating the relationship. It may not even be true, but it feels like that’s all there is—cow pies. I think the combination of forbearance and forgiveness leads to the creation of a compost pile. And here you begin to shovel the cow pies. You both look at each other and simply admit that there are a lot of cow pies. But you say to each other: You know, there is more to this relationship than cow pies. And we are losing sight of that because we keep focusing on these cow pies. Let’s throw them all in the compost pile. When we have to, we will go there and smell it and feel bad and deal with it the best we can. And then, we are going to walk away from that pile and set our eyes on the rest of field. We will pick some favorite paths and hills that we know are not strewn with cow pies. And we will be thankful for the part of our field that is sweet.

Our hands may be dirty. And our backs may ache from all the shoveling. But one thing we know: We will not pitch our tent by the compost pile. We will only go there when we must. This is the gift of grace that we will give each other again and again and again—because we are chosen and holy and loved.

Sunday we sing "It is Well With My Soul"

This hymn was writ­ten (you are looking at the original) af­ter two ma­jor trau­mas in Horatio Spaf­ford’s life. The first was the great Chi­ca­go Fire of Oc­to­ber 1871, which ru­ined him fi­nan­cial­ly (he had been a weal­thy bus­i­ness­man). Short­ly af­ter, while cross­ing the At­lan­tic, all four of Spaf­ford’s daugh­ters died in a col­li­sion with an­o­ther ship. Spaf­ford’s wife Anna sur­vived and sent him the now fa­mous tel­e­gram, “Saved alone.” Sev­er­al weeks lat­er, as Spaf­ford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daugh­ters died, the Ho­ly Spir­it in­spired these words. They speak to the eter­nal hope that all be­liev­ers have, no mat­ter what pain and grief be­fall them on earth.

Words: Ho­ra­tio G. Spaf­ford, 1873.

Music: Ville du Havre, Phil­ip P. Bliss, 1876 (MI­DI, score). The tune is named af­ter the ship--Ville du Havre-- on which Spaf­ford’s child­ren per­ished, the S.S. Ville de Havre. Iron­ic­al­ly, Bliss him­self died in a tra­gic train wreck short­ly af­ter writ­ing this mu­sic.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

--his daughter Bertha Spafford Vester, born in 1878 later wrote:

In Chicago, Father searched his life for explanation. Until now, it had flowed gently as a river. Spiritual peace and worldly security had sustained his early years, his family life and his home....... All around him people were asking the unvoiced question; "What guilt had brought this sweeping tragedy to Anna and Hoaratio Spafford?" ..... Father became convinced that God was kind and that he would see his children again in heaven. This thought calmed his heart, but it was to bring Father into open conflict with what was then the Christian world........ On the way across the Atlantic, the captain called Mr. Goodwin and Father into his private cabin.

"A careful reckoning has been made," he told them, "and I believe we are now passing the place where the Ville du Havre was wrecked."

Father wrote to Aunt Rachel: On thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs, and there, before very long, shall we be too. In the meantime, thanks to God, we have an opportunity to serve and praise Him for His love and mercy to us and ours. "I will praise Him while I have my being." May we each one arise, leave all, and follow Him.

Now I (Rob) think of the people of CCC who will sing this Sunday... and so many of you who are so wonderfully living out your hope in Christ. Some of us have had weeks that have been full of joy: kids off to good start in school, perhaps some travelling, fine meals with friends & family.... and others of us have
had weeks we are glad to put behind us and we hope the coming week shall be less painful. For ALL of us in Christ we can say.... It is well with my soul!

Psalm & ANTI-psalm

ANTI-psalm 23

I'm on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing's quite right.
I'm always restless. I'm easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It's a jungle — I feel overwhelmed. It's a desert — I'm thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can't fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life's confusing. Why don't things ever really work out?
I'm haunted by emptiness and futility — shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
but I'd rather not think about that.
I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
I find no lasting comfort.
I'm alone ... facing everything that could hurt me.
Are my friends really friends?
Other people use me for their own ends.
I can't really trust anyone. No one has my back.
No one is really for me — except me.
And I'm so much all about ME, sometimes it's sickening.
I belong to no one except myself.
My cup is never quite full enough. I'm left empty.
Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
Sartre said, "Hell is other people."
I have to add, "Hell is also myself."
It's a living death,
and then I die.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Can you taste the difference?

You might want to read both antipsalm and psalm again, slowly. Maybe even read out loud. The psalm is sweet, not bitter. It's full, not empty. You aren't trying to grab the wind with your bare hands. Someone else takes you in His hands. You are not alone.

Dare I Write on this topic?

Below is a wonderful snippet from Peggy Noonan. She wonderfully expresses why I regularly:

1.) Have to repent of cynicism

2.) Rejoice that our KING IS slowly & stealthily bringing His Kingdom for all in need

3.) Release a silent, "YES!" when my child recently said to me, "We aren't democrats or republicans, are we Dad?"

Democrats in the end speak most of, and seem to hold the most sympathy for, the beset-upon single mother without medical coverage for her children, and the soldier back from the war who needs more help with post-traumatic stress disorder. They express the most sympathy for the needy, the yearning, the marginalized and unwell. For those, in short, who need more help from the government, meaning from the government's treasury, meaning the money got from taxpayers.

Who happen, also, to be a generally beset-upon group.

Democrats show little expressed sympathy for those who work to make the money the government taxes to help the beset-upon mother and the soldier and the kids. They express little sympathy for the middle-aged woman who owns a small dry cleaner and employs six people and is, actually, day to day, stressed and depressed from the burden of state, local and federal taxes, and regulations, and lawsuits, and meetings with the accountant, and complaints as to insufficient or incorrect efforts to meet guidelines regarding various employee/employer rules and regulations. At Republican conventions they express sympathy for this woman, as they do for those who are entrepreneurial, who start businesses and create jobs and build things. Republicans have, that is, sympathy for taxpayers. But they don't dwell all that much, or show much expressed sympathy for, the sick mother with the uninsured kids, and the soldier with the shot nerves.

Neither party ever gets it quite right, the balance between the taxed and the needy, the suffering of one sort and the suffering of another. You might say that in this both parties are equally cold and equally warm, only to two different classes of citizens.

We Can Sing Through Days of Sorrow

There is so much brokenness... in my heart, in the world, in the church. Sometimes I can be tempted towards despair & discouragement. This morning God met me and was the lifter of my head... with these great promises. Et toi?

All Must Be Well

Through the love of God our Savior........All will be well
Free and changeless is His favor....All is well

Precious is the blood that healed us
Perfect is the grace that sealed us
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us

All must be well

Though we pass through tribulation.....All will be well
Ours is such a full salvation.........All is well

Happy still in God confiding
Fruitful if in Christ abiding
Steadfast through the Spirit's guiding

All must be well

We expect a bright tomorrow..... All will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow...... All is well

On our Father's love relying
Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living or in dying

All must be well

--All Must Be Well by Mary Bowley Peters (alt Matthew Smith)

Oh by the way... if you don't own the CD Wake Thy Slumbering Children... why not?

new Powlison article

David Powlison is one of the people who has seriously & deeply impacted my thinking/praying/living. Powlison helps me:
<> know my heart without becoming too introspective or despairing
<> know Christ in a way that is very earthy and far from "pie in the sky"
<> hope

He has written a new article--in three parts--for Boundless.org:

• part 1
• part 2
• part 3

Unbelief Fears While Faith Treads

“Satan, with all his wits and wiles, shall never defeat a soul armed with true grace. Let the devil choose his way. God is a match for him at every weapon. The devil and his whole council are but fools to God.

Be still, troubled Christian, and know that the contest is not between the church and Satan, but between Christ and Satan. These are the champions of the two sides. Stand still, army of saints, by faith, to see the all-wise God wrestle with a subtle devil. You shall behold the Almighty smite off this Goliath’s head with His own sword, and take this cunning hunter in the trap of his own schemes.

That faith which ascribes greatness and wisdom to God will shrink up Satan’s subtlety into a thing of nothing. Unbelief fears Satan as a lion; faith treads on him as a worm.”

—William Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour

I read ahead

this is Spurgeon's Evening for August 22

"Sing, O barren."
- Isaiah 54:1



Though we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ, and have a joyful
hope that we are "plants of his own right hand planting," yet there are
times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is
weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are
like flowers in the hot sun, requiring the refreshing shower. In such a
condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a
state. "Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud." But what can I sing
about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of
barrenness. Ah! I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits which the
Redeemer has aforetimes paid to me; or if not of these, I can magnify the
great love wherewith he loved his people when he came from the heights of
heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul,
heavy laden thou wast once, and thou didst lose thy burden there. Go to
Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross which gave thee life may give thee
fruitfulness.

What is my barrenness? It is the platform for his fruit-creating power.
What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of his everlasting love.

I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell him that I am still his child, and in confidence in his faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.


Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the hearts of other
desolate ones. Sing on, for now that thou art really ashamed of being
barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee loath to be
without fruit he will soon cover thee with clusters.

The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord's visitations are delightful.

A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need to be, for in him is our fruit found.

Be at peace with one another

Sounds boring doesn't it?

I don't know why but it can have a blah sound to it. Yet it is vital and life-giving and when you've experienced conflict with someone... to be at peace is not boring at all. It is a joy.

The next couple of weeks I will be speaking on How the Gospel Transforms Personal Relationships (even marriage)

Why?
1.) The words of Christ resonated with me as we went through Mark 9 and I was pricked to consider.... "Should we park here for a couple of weeks?"
2.) Christ Community is undergoing many changes. And these are NOTHING compared to the changes we'll experience when we move into the building on Parker Road.
3.) September 7 is a communion Sunday and preaching on this topic prior to communion seems wise.

Pray for me, as I pray for you. May God use these two messages to help us all grow in grace.
Rob

When temptation assails,
when care darkens,
when trial oppresses,
when bereavement wounds,
when heart and flesh are failing,
who throws around us the protecting shield,
who applies the precious promise,
who speaks the soothing word,
who sustains the sinking spirit,
who heals the sorrow,
whodries the tear? -Jesus!

Octavius Winslow

An effective church should have all types of sexual sinners!

An effective church should have people struggling with all types of sexual sins! Because
of the love of Christ, the church should pursue
all sexual sinners. And through its exaltation of Christ in
preaching, corporate prayer and worship, the church
should attract all types of sexual sinners. It should minister the Word
to those who are already in church by flushing out the
self-deceived, exposing the dishonest, confronting the
rebel, offering forgiveness to the guilt-ridden, and giving
hope. The church should also welcome and hold the
attention of those who struggle with sexual sin but
have never been part of the church. With such people we
can add that the church should minister by surprising
them with love, a sense of family, and the absence of self-righteous
judgment. It should offer truth in such a way
that it is convicting, attractive, and radically different
from anything else the sexual sinner has ever heard. --adapted from Ed Welch

Victorious King, Stretch out Thine Arm

“Stretch out Thine arm, victorious King, My reigning sins subdue
Drive the old dragon from his seat, with all his hellish crew

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall
Be thou my strength and righteousness, My Jesus, and my all”.

Manland is Thursday

Yep

7pm

brian schackow & pat sell are your peeps if need more info... but check website 1st

Misc on y'day

There was a teenager in our midst who had NEVER been to church before... what a privilege to be the 1st place someone comes... also let it motivate you to remember there are many many truly UN-churched folks in our n'hoods.

Parents, your kids would do well to enjoy the music of derek webb and his wife Sandra McCracke (i can never remember how to spell her name?!)
Chris Hiatt sang a derek webb song y'day that is taken almost directly from Ezekiel 16... see if you can read ez.16 without blushing!

Manland Thursday night

Monday

Justification (its source God and his grace, its ground Christ and his cross, and its means faith alone, altogether apart from works) is the heart of the gospel and unique to Christianity.  No other system, ideology or religion proclaims a free forgiveness and a new life to those who have done nothing to deserve it but a lot to deserve judgment instead.  On the contrary, all other systems teach some form of self-salvation through good works of religion, righteousness or philanthropy Christianity, by contrast, is not in its essence a religion at all; it is a gospel, the gospel, good news that God's grace has turned away his wrath, that God's Son has died our death and borne our judgment, that God has mercy on the undeserving, and that there is nothing left for us to do, or even contribute.  Faith's only function is to receive what grace offers.
John stott

That's a nice day.

Regarding marriage.... 30's & 40's and up... you must resist cynicism and despair in your marriage... but, young people--gah gah over each other .... recognize that it is possible that the veterans have a slightly nuanced view of marital bliss than you. A weak illustration may help:

Sam Elliott plays a crusty & seasoned St. Major in We Were Soldiers. Plays it brilliantly! The kind of man who eats oatmeal while chewing on a cigar.

Early in the movie there are two tone-setting and funny exchanges as the SGT. MAJOR passes a Staff Sgt

Sgt: "Good morning, Sgt Major"
Sgt Major: How the do you know what kind of a day it is going to be?"

another day...
Sgt: "Beautiful Morning, Sgt Major."
Sgt Major: "What, are you the weatherman now?"

after a day and half of battle, in which the young seargeant's platoon gets trapped behind enemy lines and is later rescued.... as the sun descends...
The young seargeant is not so green anymore. He is tested. He's still alive. The eyes of the Sgt and the Sgt Major meets and the voice of experience says:

"Now that is a nice day."

I take it to mean... you've fought the good fight, and you are alive... and you haven't given up.

Vision Night... the morning after

Joy Joy

Simply a great time to see and visit with new and old CCC'ers. Jamie & Lindy Gordon & Chris Hiatt did a tremendous job. The evening dripped with excellence & creativity.

If you weren't there. We missed you and will update you on the huge news tomorrow morning. Better yet, phone a friend who was there!

excerpt from vision night

How is Christ Community experiencing & extending the grace of Jesus Christ?

From a Children's Sunday School teacher...

I am always moved by their honesty. Recently we were discussing obeying God, how hard it can be to trust Him. We read Jesus' words, "If you love me you will obey my commandments." Then our lesson was from 1st Samuel and showed King Saul's disobedience of God, his lack of hoping in God. Then I asked, "How do you struggle to obey?"

The answers were raw and real... and after everyone--teacher & assistant included--had shared... we went to Jesus and asked Him to HELP!

I meet Christ with these kids. In fact, community is one tangible aspect of our time together. Last year there was one child in particular who really benefited from having a place where weekly they could ask for prayer, report on God's work, and be loved.

MMMM.... good stuff.

Vision Night is ON !!

Friends,
While we recognize the storms are not over and that some of you may be prohibited from attending... we are having Vision Night tonight from 7-9pm as scheduled.

Obviously, you should use your own wisdom about venturing out this evening. We hope to see most of you there tonight.
Rob

Oh by the way.... Misc. on Vision Night

We are NOT serving a meal at Vision Night... there will be desserts & drinks.

Due to our oversight in making this clearer earlier, Chris Hiatt will have some beef jerky available to those who show up looking for something substantial

What is SMART CASUAL?
Basically, no ties or tees... unless you really want to.

for vision nite... you may need to know

Kinesthetic learning is a teaching and learning style in which learning takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration.

His arms of love & mercy

The kind of father I want to be, the kind of Father WE have!

O watch and wait with patience,
And question all you will
His arms of love and mercy,
Are round about thee still.

These lines from a great song grabbed me on the way to work today. Recent days God has been teaching me to trust Him... but these lessons come at great cost and many tears. As I spent 45 minutes with one of my children the other day struggling with them about why they have to do things that are hard and why they aren't allowed things that seem so good... God prepped me for that meeting because I've sat in the "son's" seat recently and benefited from a sweet and strong Father who does not give me what i want but says, "Question all you will. I'm here... and I love you and won't let you go."

TS Fay update

Fay update

Vision Night RSVP... confirmed

We just got word that he WILL be able to make it

Typical

The Lewis article on marriage is brilliant.... another excerpt:

People get from books the idea that if you have married the right person you may expect to go on ‘being in love’ for ever. As a result, when they find they are not, they think this proves they have made a mistake and are entitled to a change — not realising that, when they have changed, the glamour will presently go out of the new love just as it went out of the old one. In this department of life, as in every other, thrills come at the beginning and do not last. The sort of thrill a boy has at the first idea of flying will not go on when he has joined the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) and is really learning to fly. The thrill you feel on first seeing some delightful place dies away when you really go to live there.

Does this mean it would be better not to learn to fly and not to live in the beautiful place? By no means. In both cases, if you go through with it, the dying away of the first thrill will be compensated for by a quieter and more lasting kind of interest.

What is more (and I can hardly find words to tell you how important I think this), it is just the people who are ready to submit to the loss of the thrill and settle down to the sober interest, who are then most likely to meet new thrills in some quite different direction. The man who has learned to fly and become a good pilot will suddenly discover music; the man who has settled down to live in the beauty spot will discover gardening.

Misc.

OK, that last post was from my new blackberry and way too Pendley-ish

1.) basically, Spurgeon in Morning & Evening today is great
and you can sign up to receive daily emails of Romans 7 commentary at johnstott.org

2.) Romans 7 & Romans 8 really summarize the Christian experience in ways that can become so strengthening and help us remain assured of God's love in the midst of our struggles with sin. And Stott is a master teacher/explainer of God's word. I was stunned by how enlightening this morning reading was:
Paul lays down the principle which he assumes his readers know: *the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives* (1). Or better, ‘the law is binding on a person only during his life’ (RSV). The word for ‘is binding on’ or ‘has authority over’ is *kyrieuo*, which is rendered ‘lord it over’ in Mark 10:42, RSV. It expresses the imperious authority of law over those who are subject to it. But this authority is limited to our lifetime. The one thing which invalidates it is death. Death brings release from all contractual obligations involving the dead person. If death supervenes, relationships established and protected by law are *ipso facto* terminated. So law is for life; death annuls it. Paul states this as a legal axiom, universally accepted and unchallengeable.
RP: So, duh Rob, when I died with Christ.... my relationship was literally changed... I am not under its authority for salvation... all contractual obligations have ceased because.... somehow, mysteriously, I have begun the eternal life which Christ has given me. Given you! Can't you think of all the biblical passages impacting this? ("Christ has delivered us from the present evil age." etc)
Anyway, somehow, sitting there in Starbucks in between appointments... reading my email on my blackberry... the Holy Spirit birthed hope in me. And I need all the hope I can get. How 'bout you?

3.) CS Lewis in Mere Christianity has a chapter called "Christian Marriage". Excerpt:

The idea that ‘being in love’ is the only reason for remaining married really leaves no room for marriage as a contract or promise at all. If love is the whole thing, then the promise can add nothing; and if it adds nothing, then it should not be made. The curious thing is that lovers themselves, while they remain really in love, know this better than those who talk about love. As Chesterton pointed out, those who are in love have a natural inclination to bind themselves by promises. Love songs all over the world are full of vows of eternal constancy. The Christian law is not forcing upon the passion of love something which is foreign to that passion’s own nature: it is demanding that lovers should take seriously something which their passion of itself impels them to do.

And, of course, the promise, made when I am in love and because I am in love, to be true to the beloved as long as I live, commits me to being true even if I cease to be in love. A promise must be about things that I can do, about actions: no one can promise to go on feeling in a certain way. He might as well promise never to have a headache or always to feel hungry. But what, it may be asked, is the use of keeping two people together if they are no longer in love? There are several sound, social reasons; to provide a home for their children, to protect the woman (who has probably sacrificed or damaged her own career by getting married) from being dropped whenever the man is tired of her. But there is also another reason of which I am very sure, though I find it a little hard to explain. rest of chapter

Spurgeon this morning says psalms reach our soul because david experienced God in midst of messiness & confusion.... The pain & joy of life... Etc Also johnstott.org is emailimg me in daily bits his commentary on romans 7... So helpful

After all the talk of cutting off hands and feet, and really fighting sin... someone might wonder, "Why doesn't God just deliver us immediately?" "What is the purpose of our struggle with sin?" No one recently has helped me more than John Newton, who writes:

First,-How can these things be, or why are they permitted? Since the Lord hates sin, teaches his people to hate it and cry against it, and has promised to hear their prayers, how is it that they go thus burdened? Surely if he could not, or would not, over-rule evil for good, he would not permit it to continue.

1.) Teach us depth of our sin
By these exercises he teaches us more truly to know and feel the utter depravity and corruption of our whole nature, that we are indeed defiled in every part.

2.) Teach us to love Christ's gracious dealings with us
His method of salvation is likewise hereby exceedingly endeared to us; we see that it is and must be of grace, wholly of grace; and that the Lord Jesus Christ, and his perfect righteousness, is and must be our all in all.

3.) Display that He can accomplish His glorious will despite our sin

His power likewise in maintaining his own work, notwithstanding our infirmities, temptations, and enemies, is hereby displayed in the clearest light, his strength is manifested in our weakness.

4.) To taunt Satan by showing his limits

Satan likewise is more remarkably disappointed and put to shame, when he finds bounds set to his rage and policy, beyond which he cannot pass; and that those in whom he finds so much to work upon, and over whom he so often prevails for a season, escape at last out of his hands. He casts them down, but they are raised again; he wounds them, but they are healed: he obtains his desire to sift them as wheat, but the prayer of their great Advocate prevails for the maintenance of their faith.

5.) So that we might help others who struggle

Further, by what believers feel in themselves they learn by degrees how to warn, pity, and bear with others. A soft, patient, and compassionate spirit, and a readiness and skill in comforting those who are cast down, is not perhaps attainable in any other way.

6.) To increase our longing for the next world

And lastly, I believe nothing more habitually reconciles a child of God to the thought of death, than the wearisomeness of this warfare.

Death is unwelcome to nature; but then, and not till then, the conflict will cease. Then we shall sin no more. The flesh, with all its attendant evils, will be laid in the grave, then the soul, which has been partaker of a new and heavenly birth, shall be freed from every encumbrance, and stand perfect in the Redeemer's righteousness before God in glory. --John Newton, read the whole letter

Accountability Questions

Saw this today.... looks pretty good... I've added couple o' thoughts.

all too often, 'accountability' resides only in the surface realms of "Did you look at pornography" or "Did you drink too much?" instead of addressing the heart behind why we sin. The "sin beneath the sin" if you will.

Here is the link to Stephen Altrogge's 7 Tough Questions To Ask Your Friends, where he outlines the kinds of heart exposing questions he asks his friends as well as offers a bit of commentary on each. I've listed his questions below.

Have you been consistently pursuing the Lord through scripture reading and prayer?

Have you diligently pursued your wife/husband this week?

Have you seen any persistent patterns of sin in your life recently?

Last week you confessed struggling with [insert sin]. Have you taken steps to fight it this week?

When you gave into [insert sin], what were you believing about God in that moment? What were you believing about yourself?

What is the truth that you need to believe in this situation?

When you had the conflict with [insert person], what were you craving at that moment? (source)

RP tries to add:
Do you know God loves you?
Are you seeing Jesus in any ways that excite/secure/compel you?
and finally...
Can I tell you about Jesus?

I have found again and again that my legal & insecure heart will remind me of duty 10 times before it reminds me that Christ has purchased my acceptance with God.

I think this is a both and situation. We need BOTH the tough questions listed AND tender questions i've inserted.

His Love for You Never Changes

“Though we change every day, he changeth not. Could any kind of provocation turn His love away, it would have it had long since ceased.”

- John Owen, Communion with God

Praise God for New Life

Kristin & JT Burns welcome their new son who was born at 5:40 am Sunday morning, August 17th.

Robert Harris. 7lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long.

because you asked

several of you asked about the reading i did towards the end of 2nd service yesterday

it is by Paul Tripp and comes from his fabulous new little book
WHITER THAN SNOW which is a collection of brief meditations on Psalm 51

How good is it? Get it, read it and memorize it! here it is:

I am a mass of contradictions, I don’t want to be but I am.
I preach a Gospel of peace, but my life isn’t always driven by peace.
I talk about a Jesus who alone can fully satisfy the soul, but I am often not satisfied.
I celebrate a theology of amazing grace, but I often react in ungrace.
And if I rest in God’s control, why do I seek it for myself?
Even in moments when I think I am prepared, I end up doing what I didn’t want to do.
Irritation
Impatience
Envy
Discontent
Wrong talk
Anger
Self-focus
Are not the fruit of the new life, are not the way of grace.
So there is this law operating inside of me.
When I step out with a desire to do good, evil follows me wherever I go.
There is this war that rages inside of me, between a desire for good and sin that is anything but good.
There are times when I feel like a prisoner, held against my will.
I didn’t plan to be mad at the grocery store, but that guy made me mad.
I didn’t plan to be discontent, but it just enveloped me in the quietness of the car.
That discussion wasn’t supposed to degenerate into an argument, but it did.
I am thankful for God’s grace, but there is daily evidence that I'm still in need of help.
That battle inside me cannot be solved by
Theology
Strategies
Principles
Techniques
Plans
Preparation
Helpful hints
Outlines
I have been humbled by the war I cannot win.
I have been grieved by desires I cannot conquer.
I have been confronted by actions I cannot excuse.
And I have come to confess that what I really need is rescue.
So, have mercy on me, O God,
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions
And my sin is always before me.
I embrace the rescue that could only be found in you.
Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!

When WANT TO doesn't match the OUGHT TO

I am quoting from this menana

Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly
appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives… Many… have a
theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they
rely on their sanctification for their justification… drawing their assurance of
acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion,
their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious,
willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing
stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and
claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for
acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing
sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude… Much that we have
interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth
of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no
longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present
spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons… Their
insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own
righteousness, and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate
other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and
discharge their suppressed anger.
– Richard Lovelace

Hell? Yes

Because Mark 9 has the most graphic language about hell in it... but I'm just touching on it while preaching:
Yes, Jesus believes in Hell and so do His followers. Eternal punishment, not annihilation. Etc.

I do not want to be flippant. I too, have neighbors and friends who think this idea is outdated and mean. Therefore, I've put several resources on hell on this blog this week, just scroll down to find them.

One more is Tim Keller's little article:
Brimstone for the Broad-Minded, Preaching Hell in an Age of Tolerance
excerpt:
Moderns reject the idea of final judgment and hell.

Thus, it's tempting to avoid such topics in our preaching. But neglecting the unpleasant doctrines of the historic faith will bring about counter-intuitive consequences. There is an ecological balance to scriptural truth that must not be disturbed.

If an area is rid of its predatory or undesirable animals, the balance of that environment may be so upset that the desirable plants and animals are lost—through overbreeding with a limited food supply. The nasty predator that was eliminated actually kept in balance the number of other animals and plants necessary to that particular ecosystem. In the same way, if we play down "bad" or harsh doctrines within the historic Christian faith, we will find, to our shock, that we have gutted all our pleasant and comfortable beliefs, too.

The loss of the doctrine of hell and judgment and the holiness of God does irreparable damage to our deepest comforts—our understanding of God's grace and love and of our human dignity and value to him. To preach the good news, we must preach the bad. --TK

The quote below was about divine election, but works for the doctrine of Hell as well:

".... is to all other doctrines what the granite formation is to the other strata of the earth. It underlies and sustains them, but it crops up only here and there." --Charlese Hodge

Shrinking the Room

When the elders decided to move to two services in January 2008, the decision was made to "shrink the room" by blocking off the back two rows, which comprise 74 seats.


Reasons why we block off back two rows

1.) Creates tangible sense that we are gathering of people coming to worship God together. We are not individuals coming to consume religious services. (Coming to worship is different than coming to movies.)

2.) Helps with congregational singing… which is a means of grace.

3.) Makes preaching more personal as speaker can actually see faces of souls to whom he’s preaching.

4.) Diminishes distraction that is caused when large gaps of empty seats are between people. Passing anything (sign in sheets, communion trays, offering) is unusually distracting.

5.) Allows latecomers to see available seats. In the past we have created challenge for latecomers. If the congregation is standing—and the back two rows are occupied-- when they arrive, all the latecomer sees is shoulders and is unaware that the room is not totally full. (They can’t see the empty areas in the middle of aisles and towards the front.)

6.) Decreases workload for ushers and allows them to focus their hospitality on a smaller space.

7.) Decreases workload for our office staff when they go through the sign in sheets.

Objection
But I get claustrophobic. But I’ve got a physical/psychological condition that makes me need/prefer lots of space.

We understand and want to support you in your pursuit to worship God without distraction. There are chairs against the back wall and there is usually plenty of space in the front rows.

On 2nd Thought....

The Fallout good & bad of not preaching from a manuscript/getting carried away

#1. (This is how I plan to launch sermon this week, August 17)

Before I read the scripture passage I would like to say a brief word about last Sunday’s sermon. On two occasions I used a word that I'm not proud of using. In my zeal to get across a point I used vocabulary that is not appropriate for this setting, especially given the variety of ages in our midst. To those who were offended, please accept my apology. To parents, if this is an opportunity to explain that sin has infiltrated all of life (including Sunday morning), please use it. For those of you who weren’t here—or didn’t catch it—CD’s of the message are available in the foyer for $29.95… or you can pick it up on itunes or at the church website for free.

Now, if you are able, would you please stand for this reading of God's Word...

#2. Being offended at the wrong things
One person said to me on August 10, "Great sermon, Rob." I replied, "Thank you. But I shouldn't have said _____ twice." To which they said, "Rob, I've been in churches all my life where the minister never used the word ______. I've also never been challenged to repent of the arrogance with which I often hold my Reformed & Presbyterian theology."

May God give me the grace in the future to drop the former and keep the latter.

attempting

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

So hesitant to say, "I'm beginning to work through the WSC here." But I am. Just don't hold my ADD self to it.

Fortunately, this one doesn't need much commentary.

Repentance is our topic Sunday

...and Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all dreadfully cracked about the head and desperately in need of mending. --Herman Melville Moby Dick

We must not suppose that if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world. --C.S. Lewis

"God is God; He sees and hears
All our troubles, all our tears.
Soul, forget not, 'mid thy pains,
God o'er all for ever reigns."

It seems to me that teaching on the free grace of God in Christ makes it possible for sinners like us to hear the hardest things said about our sin patterns, and that can lead into a healthy sorrow which then leads back to sanity, i.e., repentance. –Jack Miller

Hell

Some of you may have noticed Jesus' language last week at the end of Mark 9


Always helpful to have resources on any Bible teaching that is--like hell--so foreign to many of our friends and loved ones.

Sproul, brief article

Tim Keller, sermon
Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an Angry Judge?
Tim Keller (mp3) - The Trouble with Christianity: Why It's So Hard to Believe It


JI Packer, brief article

Hell Teaches Christ's Love

The doctrine of hell is important because it is the only way to know how much Jesus loved us and how much he did for us. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says that no physical destruction can be compared with the spiritual destruction of hell, of losing the presence of God. But this is exactly what happened to Jesus on the cross-he was forsaken by the Father (Matthew 27:46.) In Luke 16:24 the rich man in hell is desperately thirsty (v.24) and on the cross Jesus said "I thirst" (John 19:28.) The water of life, the presence of God, was taken from him. The point is this. Unless we come to grips with this "terrible" doctrine, we will never even begin to understand the depths of what Jesus did for us on the cross. His body was being destroyed in the worst possible way, but that was a flea bite compared to what was happening to his soul. When he cried out that his God had forsaken him he was experiencing hell itself. But consider--if our debt for sin is so great that it is never paid off there, but our hell stretches on for eternity, then what are we to conclude from the fact that Jesus said the payment was "finished" (John 19:30) after only three hours? We learn that what he felt on the cross was far worse and deeper than all of our deserved hells put together. --Tim Keller, The Importance of Hell

Key Dates upcoming:

--THIS SUNDAY: WE move back to TWO services, and 2 sunday school offerings
9:00am
10:45am

--Manland, Thursday August 28

--Election of Deacons, Sunday August 24th at 12:15pm
--Ordination of Deacons, Sunday September 7 at 6:00pm

Mexico team returns today

heard from the team as they were at the first airport.... "great trip", they said via text

they plan to arrive in Houston 1:40pm and

arrive in Tampa Intl 6:25 pm

UPDATE: Spoke to them in Houston.... doing great!!!

ANOTHER UPDATE: They have arrived in Tampa!!!

6am Departure of Mexico Team