Mar
5
Saved by his precious blood
Filed Under John Owen | Leave a Comment
J.I. Packer’s introductory essay for the Banner of Truth’s reprint of John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ is one of the most important short treatments of the purpose of the atoning death of Christ you can read. Our friends at Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church in Simpsonville, South Carolina have done us all a great service by posting it on their website. The time you take to read it will be amply rewarded.
Mar
5
ESV: the long-awaited Palmertree endorsement
Filed Under Bible | Leave a Comment
What is the best translation of the Bible? A good answer might be the one you are reading… I think a better answer is this: the English Standard Version (ESV).
A bit of personal history might shed light on why this is such a monemental statement for me to make. I grew up on the ‘King James’ translation from my church background and Christian day school memorization. I was reading the KJV when I was converted in 1983. A year or so later I bought a New American Standard Bible (NASB) because a small group Bible study leader was using it. I bought my first New International Version (NIV) in 1987 for the same reason. When the New Geneva Study Bible was released in 1995, the year after my ordination, I began teaching and preaching from it and found it a blessed and familiar friend, being so close to the KJV I cut my teeth on–and I was pretty satisfied with it (if you know anything about textual criticism, yes, NKJV presents some challenges and I felt this).
When the ESV was released in 2001, a lot of men I respected were quite enthusiastic about it and promoted it heavily. I was skeptical and reasoned sarcastically, Just what we need: ANOTHER Bible translation. My skepticism and anti-trendiness ran so deeply that I did not purchase one until January 2003. I put it to a 2-year trial as my daily read-the-Bible-through-in-a-year Bible. Then I caught on to what a good work this translation is. I first used it in the public ministry of reading and preaching in early 2005 in Macon, Mississippi, for an evening series on 2 Peter and Jude. I now use it exclusively in my private devotional reading, family worship, and public ministry and whole-heartedly encourage others to do the same.
Better than any explanation or endorsement I could conjure would be to refer you to some endorsements from some trustworthy fellow-laborers:
Philip Ryken, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church [special thanks to Joe Holland for pointing me to this one]
Mar
2
Holiness before 8am?
Filed Under Around the Church, Holiness | Leave a Comment
I wanted to again plug our early morning Men’s Book Study beginning next Tuesday at 6:45 am in the Jackson Room. We’re going to be studying JC Ryle’s book called, Holiness. Besides the Bible, this book has had the single greatest impact on my spiritual growth. My copy is well worn and well marked. I look forward to taking a journey through it again with our early morning warriors. I’ve been through this book a number of times with groups as well as on my own and have without fail learned new things and been challenged in new ways with each successive reading. In case any of you haven’t signed up yet, I ordered a few extra books that are now available.
See you Tuesday!
Mar
1
In my last post, I brought forward some thoughts about the command in Ephesians 5:18: Be filled with the Spirit…How does this work itself out? In v.19-21, Paul spells it out for us.
Fellowship Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…We stimulate one another to a greater and deeper love for Christ. There is perhaps no word more misused and misapplied than the word fellowship. It is often used of cokes and jokes, of visiting and talking about sports and politics and entertainment—the kind of talk one could hear at Rotary Club or the barbershop. The distinctive thing about Christian fellowship is our distinctive common possession. What draws us together? The Lord Jesus Christ, whose glory we seek above all else. That’s why we can go among Christians anywhere in the world and sense that we are immediately connected to these folk who speak a different language and see the world so differently. Do you see how Paul says that we speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs? Even as our worship is directed to the Eternal God, we sing also to help each other along. And so we sing, O magnify the Lord with me…How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord…Now thank we all our God.
Worship Singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts… When the Spirit fills you, you want to worship the Lord and sing to him. You find yourself adoring him and rejoicing in who he is and what he has done for you. Great views of a great Savior and views of the majesty and holiness and goodness and mercy of God make for great singing. The reading and preaching of Scripture and reciting the creeds lead us to sing, Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Thankfulness The Spirit-filled man is characterized by gratitude. He is always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. He can cope with unanswered prayer, with bad news, with unexpected events. David could cope with the valley of the shadow of death, with a table spread in the presence of his enemies because God was with him. Job could cope with personal grief almost unbearable, the death of his children, the loss of health and the bitterness of his wife. “The Lord gave and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Paul was locked to a soldier in prison facing a very uncertain future and yet he could say that he had learned in whatever condition he was in to be content. Spirit-filled men can cope with loneliness, imprisonment, hunger, disappointment, hearing bad new from beloved churches. So he writes, Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (v.20). In other words, there will be always something for which to give thanks to God. In the worst of all circumstances you must crane your eyes and take out your binoculars and search the horizon and you will find some things, even many things, for which to thank God.
Submission The Spirit-filled life is characterized by love and submission in our relationships. Submission is the great mark of the Spirit-filled life: submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (v.21). I once heard Dr. Eric Alexander observe that the world says, “Look out for number one,” and we never have to inquire about the numbering system, do we? We know who “number one” is! I want you to catch the argument here: if the King who saved you did so by submitting to the price of your redemption, and if that price was the death of the cross, if the great King of glory did that, submitting himself to save a nobody like you, how can you refuse to submit to fellow believers? Do you have any idea how insulting and offensive it is to God for you to strut around expecting people to submit to you when Christ submitted himself to the cross? But filled with the Spirit we submit to him and submit to one another out of love. We put others before ourselves. I don’t see a lot of that in churches. People have to get their own way, and if they don’t they’ll quit. The Spirit-filled man is constantly willing to submit his own interests to those of others. Do we see that? Not as often as we should. Paul is constantly calling us back to the Lord who was filled with the Spirit, and he didn’t look on the things of himself but the things of others. He made himself nothing because he put others before himself.
Where are the ranks of growing Spirit-filled Christians? Why do so many professing believers seem held back in spiritual kindergarten? They remain immature, ignorant and worldly. Others begin with great promisey and then stagnate. What’s wrong? They are not obeying what Paul says in our text, “Go on being filled with the Spirit.” Don’t be satisfied with memories of what you once were. Ask and seek and knock.