Aug
29
Holiness 101
Filed Under Christian Living | 1 Comment
We had the joy of considering together the topic of holiness this past Sunday evening. One of the things I wanted you to hear was that God’s sovereignty applied to our sanctification as well as our justifiation. OUr God will see that we are made holy. He will have His way with us. The questions then are, “Is their a typical pattern by which God works to make us holy? Can we look over the Bible and narrow down the means by which God makes us more Chirst like?” The answer to these questions is, “Yes there are.” The term we use for God’s usual method for perfecting His children is “the means of grace”.
What are the means of grace? Read more
Aug
28
Pro-life and end-of-life issues
Filed Under Ethics, Resources, Ten Commandments | Leave a Comment
In my sermon on the 6th Commandment I urged those over the age of 60 to take a special interest in the future of pro-life issues, because their lives are “next in line” to be counted as worth “terminating” because of economic and social pressures. Such is the progression of the culture of violence and death around us. We must develop and apply a biblically informed view these issues which many of us face (or will face): living wills, medical directives, managed care, physician-assisted suicide, deciding when to discontinue treatment, talking to children about death, and helping the grieving.
Later in the day I remembered an oustanding resource that I want to recommend. In 1998, First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi, the Christian Medical and Dental Society and Baptist Medical Center of Jackson sponsored a weekend seminar called Breathtaking Decisions. The seminar gathered physicians and other health care professionals, ethicists, theologians and pastors who delivered lectures on a wide range of end-of-life issues from a Christian perspective.
You can see the list of topics and speakers and find information on how to order individual lectures or the entire set from the library section of the First Church, Jackson web site. I would recommend purchasing the entire set. Click here.
Aug
25
Heaven - Vacation with Toddlers
Filed Under Christian Living, Family, Worship | Leave a Comment
I just returned from a few days in sunny FL with my family. It was an excellent time away with Hallie, the boys, and some of my extended family. Before I leave my vacation memories to sit and gather dust in the not so far reaches of my cranium, I wanted to offer up one thought on vacationing, heaven, and my children.
I think everyone harbors some fleeting thought that vacationing is a good deal like heaven. It is a release from all of our geographically tied worries. It is a time to leave behind our lives and go somewhere to do … nothing. But should we really equate “rest” with “doing nothing”? Or, on an even deeper level, should we equate “heaven” with “doing nothing”. Despite the pictures that adorn our tissue boxes with angels on clouds holding harps I think heaven is going to be the satisfying, strenous worship of God. Rest is going to be doing what we were created to do rather than doing nothing at all. Rest is going to be the active and lively worhsip of Jesus Christ. Where does my family enter into all of this? Well, vacationing with my three youngsters is a good deal like satisfying, strenous work. There was very little of the past four days where I sat still and did nothing. There, however, was much in the past four days that involved sand castles, jumping over waves, and tucking little ones into bed. In that I realized that I was being what I was made to be: a father. In that I got a glimpse of heaven and how it is a good deal like vacationing with toddlers. Because in both, we find the freedom to be actively and passionately what we were made to be.
Aug
25
Why Worship?
Filed Under Psalms, Worship | Leave a Comment
Do you find yourself less than enthusiastic about coming to church on Sunday morning? Are there times when you would rather just stay in bed? When you are in the pew, do you find it hard to remain engaged? Has Worship, for you, become just a spectator sport? The reason why we Christians struggle with our attitude toward Worship is because we forget who our God is.
Recently, in senior high Sunday school, we read and reviewed Psalm 146. It is one of many Psalms that we call “hymns of praise.” That’s right, there are different types of Psalms: hymns of praise, Psalms of rememberance, laments, kingship Psalms and wisdom Psalms. The primary features of a hymn of praise is a call to worship our God (found at the beginning and end of the Psalm) and reminders of who our God is. You see, God knows that we are weak sinful people with bad memories. He knows that we must constantly told why we are to give Him all the praise and glory. In Psalm 146:6-10, the psalmist reminds us that we gather to worship the Lord and Creator of all things, the faithful covenant keeper, the one who brings justice to the oppressed, who feeds the hungry, who sets the prisoner free, who gives sight to the blind, who lifts up the bowed down, who loves the righteous, who watches the sojourner, who upholds the widow and the orphan, and who brings ruin to the wicked. When we consider the nature and actions of our God, we can do nothing but worship!
So, Christian, remember who your God is. Remember that it is He who has saved you. Remember that you come each Sunday morning and evening to worship our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our audience. We are not spectators, but active participants in giving glory to God. None of us are “on the bench.” We are all “first string” participants in the worship of the one and only Almighty God.
Aug
25
Puritan pastor and theologian Richard Sibbes, whose nickname we have borrowed for our weblog (click on the left-hand column for the reason why), was a master physician of the soul. Here is a link to an article that first appeared in The Banner of Truth magazine in 1988, analyzing Sibbes’ main line of thought in his best-loved work The Bruised Reed. The Banner of Truth Trust has reprinted the work, and it is available in paperback at goodtheology.com.
Sibbes writes of our Lord Jesus Christ,
He is a prophet wise enough, and a priest full enough to make us acceptable of God. If we want any grace, he is a king able enough, rich enough, and strong enough to subdue all our rebellions in us, and he will in time by his Spirit overcome all.
Aug
23
Right ends, wrong means
Filed Under Christian Living, Family | Leave a Comment
At July’s Reformed Youth Movement conference, The Rev. Sandy Wilson, senior minister of the Second Presbyterian Church of Memphis, shared the following assessment of what teenagers are offered by the world in its rebellion against God:
- Acceptance through performance
- Popularity through conformity
- Happiness through anaesthesia
- Purpose through selfishness
- Protection through violence
- Provision through dishonesty.
Notice that there is nothing wrong with the ends–God does not hate acceptance, fellowship, happiness, etc. But God hates the aforementioned means–selfishness, violence, pride, etc. All around us we and our children are being told subtly (and not so subtly) that power and money, information and technology, lust and greed, pride and anger, manipulation and management are the ways to get things done. And a clever and determined person can get a lot done by these means. But such is not the way of Christ, who said to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here (John 18:36). You can build a kingdom by fighting. The Romans built a most impressive one. But it was not the kingdom of Christ.
We can build our families or church community through many means, and we can get things done. But are we employing God’s means–prayer, humble reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit, faithfulness to Scripture, putting others ahead of ourselves, suspicion of the world’s paths to ’success’?