Jul
26
The promise and the promiser
Filed Under Christian Living, Justification, Poetry, Prayer | Leave a Comment
In preparing to preach tomorrow on 2 Peter 1:3-4, I found this bit of verse in Octavius Winslow’s The Precious Things of God:
How oft have sin and Satan strove to rend my soul from Thee, my God!
But everlasting is Thy love, and Jesus seals it with His blood.
The oath and promise of the Lord join to confirm the wondrous grace;
Eternal power performs the word, and fills all heaven with endless praise.
Amidst temptations sharp and long, my soul to this dear refuge flies;
Hope is my anchor, firm and strong, while tempests blow and billows rise.
The gospel bears my spirit up; a faithful and unchanging God
Lays the foundation of my hope in oaths and promises and blood.
Jul
25
Baxter: Lord, it belongs not to my care
Filed Under Ave atque vale, Christian Living, Holiness, Puritans, Tragedy, Worship | Leave a Comment
Here’s some potent verse from English Puritan pastor Richard Baxter (1615-1691), who is generally better know for his prose than his poetry:
Lord, it belongs not to my care,
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve thee is my share,
And this thy grace must give.If life be long, I will be glad
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To soar to endless day?Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than he went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if thy work on earth be sweet,
What will thy glory be?Then shall I end my sad complaints,
And weary, sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
That sing Jehovah’s praise.My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But ’tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.
Jul
24
Shepherding and transformation
Filed Under Around the Church, Christian Living, The Church | Leave a Comment
1 Peter 5 says that elders are to shepherd the flock of God. Shepherding the flock involves defending and confirming the Gospel, pursuing lost and wandering sheep, restoring the repentant, equipping and building up the saints, and encouraging practical godliness. These are tasks your elders take seriously. It’s hard work. Our enemy is always on the prowl. Situations can be thorny. Needs are constant. People can be difficult (except for you and me, of course!).
Almost a year ago we began implementing a new shepherding system at FPC Kosciusko with the goal of helping the elders lead and care for the flock in a way that encourages mutual sharing of spiritual gifts and care for one another—in other words, developing a community of elder-led priests. The vision is for each adult Sunday School class to work together, under elder leadership, to identify and address needs. We must transform the “Why doesn’t somebody do something?” mentality into a “Why don’t we do something?” mentality, whether it involves outreach, enfolding prospects and new members, contact with members who are no longer attending and participating, or members with acute or chronic needs.
A year later I see that transformation taking place in some places, and I thank God. I also see areas where we still have our feet nailed to floor and are not moving toward each other and toward our community, and I ask the Lord to be merciful.
This transformation is ground war, not an air war. It involves ongoing effort and attentiveness. It involves elders and everyone else living sacrificially for our brothers and sisters, and not just out for ourselves (1 John 3:16). Take a moment to reflect on some of the people on your class roll: the elder-leader, a close friend, someone who hasn’t come to Sunday school or attended worship in a while, a difficult person you might usually try to avoid, or someone you just don’t know at all (and maybe don’t care to know!). With these people in mind, consider Christ’s grace and service to you. Consider the practical commands of Scripture. Think of ways you can serve these people in the coming weeks.
• Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10). We are united spiritually to each other through God our Father and our elder brother Jesus. Whom do you need to rally around as if they were “kin”?
• Honor one another (Romans 12:10). Are you treating them as people of value and taking them seriously?
• Accept one another (Romans 15:7). Whom do you tend to exclude? What non-essential, secondary convictions do you allow to get between you and another Christian? Who needs your acceptance right now?
• Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Where do you need to help shoulder someone else’s burden? How might that change the way you spend your time, talents and treasure?
• Bear with one another (Ephesians 4:2). With whom do you get easily irritated? If Jesus is being patient with you, can you be patient with others?
• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32). Forgiveness is costly, but not forgiving is more costly (Matthew 18:21-35). If you are a beneficiary of God’s costly grace in Christ, can you practice costly grace toward others?
Finally, regularly pray for and express your appreciation and support to the elder(s) who serves you. Slap him on the back or write him a note or ask how you can pray for him. Such humble service is a mark of the Spirit’s work in you. May it be increasingly evident in all of us as we grow in grace.
Jul
21
What a team of friends we have through Jesus
Filed Under Christian Living, Holiness, Prayer, Trinity | Leave a Comment
Here’s some profound insight from Dr. J.I. Packer from a recent interview in Modern Reformation:
J.I. Packer: “I’m a great believer in the importance of Trinitarian thinking in discipling. A lot of what has weakened discipling is the result of thinking of only one person of the godhead at any one time–think about the Holy Spirit and what he does; think about Jesus and his death on the cross for us; think of the Father and of his love and goodwill. But you’re not thinking, you see, of the three together: the divine team which works in the unity of a single program and plan, each person in the team fulfilling his part in our salvation, so that the gospel is much less ‘what a friend we have in Jesus,’ but ‘what a team of friends we have through Jesus’–it’s the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our discipling instruction will be infinitely strengthened if we present it that way. Sometimes people say, ‘I’ve never heard it put like that before.’ People will be deistic unless they are taught the Trinity.”
Jul
16
A word from our namesake
Filed Under Christian Living, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Puritans | Leave a Comment
The Sweet Dropper is named for English Puritan Richard Sibbes (1577-1635). Read our tribute to Sibbes. These words come from Sibbes’ The Soul’s Conflict, and Victory over Itself by Faith:
It were an easy thing to be a Christian, if religion stood only in a few outward works and duties. But to take the soul to task, and to deal roundly with our own hearts, and to let conscience have its full work, and to bring the soul into spiritual subjection unto God, this is not so easy a matter, because the soul out of self-love is loath to enter into itself, lest it should have other thoughts of itself than it would have.
The words speak of the depravity of the heart and the deceitfulness of sin. It’s no easy or pleasant task to think rightly about our lives. Many of us may enjoy analyzing our problems, but are we doing so in the light of God’s Word? Perhaps we are analyzing our lives in a self-serving, self-justifying way. We replay the mental DVD of wrongs committed against us. We sooth ourselves with arguments that hide the truth and shift the blame to others. None of us wants to acknowledge things about ourselves that we would rather deny. How do you learn to see straight when something inside is bending in the wrong direction? My old campus minister, Hal Farnsworth, is fond of asking people, “If you were deceiving yourself, would you know it?”
Join me in asking God to overthrow self-righteousness–yours and mine. Ask the Spirit to help you have “other thoughts of yourself” and to see clearly the grace of Christ Jesus coming to you in your sin and misery. Face up, and find mercy.
Apr
22
Exegesis and lovers
Filed Under Bible, Books, Christian Living | Leave a Comment
Exegesis is what I do. I bring the text of Scripture to bear upon my life and upon the lives of others. A dictionary definition of exegesis looks something like this:
explanation, critical analysis, or interpretation of a word, literary passage, etc., esp. of the Bible
I strongly prefer Eugene Peterson’s definition from Eat This Book:
Exegesis is the furthest thing from pedantry; exegesis is an act of love. It loves the one who speaks the words enough to want to get the words right. It respects the words enough to use every means we have to get the words right. Exegesis is loving God enough to stop and listen carefully to what he says. It follows that we bring the leisure and attentiveness of lovers to this text, cherishing every comma and semicolon, relishing the oddness of this preposition, delighting in the surprising placement of this noun. Lovers don’t take a quick look, get a “message” or a “meaning,” and then run off and talk endlessly with their friends about how they feel.
I love the title Eat This Book. My children, unaware of the allusion to Ezekiel 3 and Revelation 10, look at me quizzically as I read it, with a look that says, “If you decide to do what the title says, I want to be there to watch.”