"The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own."-Charles Spurgeon, Sermon: Paul, His Cloak And His Books
God commands what he wills and grants in measure what he commands, but we should always pursue what he commands. He says, "Work out your salvation...for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). God does not say, "Since I work, you shouldn't." He says, "Because I do, you can." God's gift does not replace our effort; it enables and carries it.
A healthy church has a pervasive concern with church growth--not simply growing in numbers but growing members. A church full of growing Christians is the kind of church growth I want as a pastor. Some today seem to think that one can be a "baby Christian" for a whole lifetime. Growth is seen to be an optional extra for particularly zealous disciples. But be very careful about taking that line of thought. Growth is a sign of life. Growing trees are living trees, and growing animals are living animals. When something stops growing it dies.
Growth may not mean that you negotiate this rapid in half the time you negotiated the last; it may simply mean that you are able to continue in the right direction as a Christian, regardless of the adverse circumstances. Remember, it is only the things that are alive that swim upstream; the dead things all float along with the current.
Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology is an excellent resource for Christians (personal study and reference) and churches (pastors, church libraries, group studies). I recommend it to everyone - layperson, seminary student, high school student - anyone who is seeking to go deeper in the knowledge of God...It's a great resource for new believers, for anyone who wants to strengthen their doctrinal foundation, and I especially think it would be terrific for a study group.The book is divided into 20 chapters on major topics like the Bible, God, the Trinity, creation, prayer, the atonement, the Resurrection, etc. Each chapter is about 5 pages long and hits the high points of the doctrine with ample Scripture references, and also shows the importance and relevance of the doctrine to the Christian life. There are also review and application questions at the end of each chapter. These are sometimes a little trite, but many could be good discussion starters.
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing; and obtains favor from the Lord."
1. Study Jesus & The Gospel. Read and study one of Gospels this summer. Read your Bible!2. Have breakfast everyday….Don’t waste your mornings. Get up before 9.
3. Read a Good Book this Summer.
4. Get Discipled or get a Disciple.
5. Share the Gospel with someone.
6. War with your sin.
7. Serve in your Church or Go to Church!
8. Tithe..if you have a job already, or if you are getting a summer job.
9. Pray for other people.
...For more depth on each of these 9 resolutions, see the full post here.
Ever so subtly, we start to think that success more critically depends on thoughtful sociological analysis than on the gospel; Barna becomes more important than the Bible. We depend on plans, programs, vision statements - but somewhere along the way we have succumbed to the temptation to displace the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of strategic planning. Again, I insist, my position is not a thinly veiled plea for obscurantism, for seat-of-the-pants ministry that plans for nothing. Rather, I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry.- From D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons From 1 Corinthians (1993), p. 26.
Is it enough to “believe in Jesus” in some amorphous sense that divorces “faith” from any particular doctrine about Him, or is doctrine—and the content of our faith—really important after all?Scripture plainly teaches that we must be sound in the faith—which is to say that doctrine does matter (1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 4:2-3; Tit. 1:9; 2:1). It matters a lot.
“If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing” (1 Tim. 6:3-4, emphasis added).
Sound, biblical doctrine is a necessary aspect of true wisdom and authentic faith. The attitude that scorns doctrine while elevating feelings or blind trust cannot legitimately be called faith at all, even if it masquerades as Christianity. It is actually an irrational form of unbelief.
I resisted at first....As we become increasingly Jesus-centred we'll become increasingly other-centred.
There are many seasons to life. You are in the season of new ministry and the cares and concerns of a new family. There will be other seasons of life as you and your family mature and even grow old. It is important that you are a predictable, stable leader with integrity. Your wife and family will draw strength from seeing you live as a man who is dazzled by God and who is, therefore, full of joy and confidence in all the seasons of life.- Tedd Tripp, Love Your Family. Chapter 3, p. 61, in Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry.
Teaching that lasts - and books that last - will be the kind that "bleed Bible." C. H. Spurgeon said of John Bunyan, "Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God." God wills that there be human teachers of his divine Word, but he wills that teachers be "full of the Word of God." The Bible should "flow from them." Their blood - and their books - should be "Bibline."
I love the words of John Wesley: "I am a creature of a day. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God. I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. He has written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book! At any price give me the book of God. Let me be a man of one book." That book is the Bible, the precious Word of God. Only there do we find the way to heaven. Only there do we learn a Godward life.
This morning, as I was finishing one devotional book (Pierced by the Word) and beginning another (A Godward Life), the thought came to me to share with you what I use for devotional readings - at least what I have been using lately...Earlier this year, best-selling author Max Lucado published a book with the unusual title, "3:16", quite obviously based on the famous verse in John's gospel. On November 6-7, 2008, a conference titled "John 3:16" will be held at First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Georgia. The primary focus of this gathering will be to respond to each of the five points of Calvinism. Evidently those in charge of this conference believe that John 3:16 is inconsistent with the so-called doctrines of grace or what is otherwise known as Reformed theology. The presence of the word "world" and John's assertion of God's love for it is thought by many to preclude the distinguishing and sovereign love of God as taught by those who call themselves Calvinists.
I thought it might be helpful to post here what I wrote on John 3:16 in my book, Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election (Crossway). I hope it sheds some light on this glorious passage of Scripture.
Often the interpretation of John 3:16 begins with the term world, for it is believed that here lies the key to a proper appreciation of the dimensions of divine love. "Just think," we are told, "of the multitudes of men and women who have, do now, and yet shall swarm across the face of the earth. God loves them all, each and every one. Indeed, God so loves them that he gave his only begotten Son to die for each and every one of them. Oh, how great the love of God must be to embrace within its arms these uncounted multitudes of people."
Is this what John (or Jesus, as recorded by John) had in mind? It is undeniably his purpose to set before us the immeasurable love of God. But are we able to perceive how immeasurable God's love is by measuring how big the world is? I don't think so.
What is the finite sum of mankind when set opposite the infinitude of God? We could as well measure the strength of the blacksmith by declaring him capable of supporting a feather on an outstretched palm! The primary force of this text is certainly to magnify the infinite quality and majesty of God's love. But such an end can never be reached by computing the extent or number of its objects. Do we to any degree heighten the value of Christ's death by ascertaining the quantity of those for whom he died? Of course not! Had he but died for one sinner, the value of his sacrifice would be no less glorious than had he suffered for ten millions of worlds!
Rather, let us pause to consider the contrast which the apostle intends for us to see. John surely desires that we reflect in our hearts upon the immeasurable character of so great a love, and that we do so by placing in contrast, one over against the other - God and the world. What does this reveal? Of what do we think concerning God when he is seen loving the world? And of what do we think concerning the world when it is seen as the object of God's love? Is the contrast this: that God is one and the world many? Is it that his love is magnified because he, as one, has loved the world, comprised of many? Again, certainly not.
This love is infinitely majestic because God, as holy, has loved the world, as sinful! What strikes us is that God who is righteous loves the world which is unrighteous. This text takes root in our hearts because it declares that he who dwells in unapproachable light has deigned to enter the realm of darkness; that he who is just has given himself for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18); that he who is altogether glorious and desirable has suffered endless shame for detestable and repugnant creatures, who apart from his grace respond only with hell-deserving hostility! Thus, as John Murray has said,
"it is what God loved in respect of its character that throws into relief the incomparable and incomprehensible love of God. To find anything else as the governing thought would detract from the emphasis. God loved what is the antithesis of himself; this is its marvel and greatness" ("The Atonement and the Free Offer of the Gospel," in Collected Writings of John Murray [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1976], I:79 [emphasis mine]).
When we read John's Gospel (and Epistles), we discover that the "world" is viewed fundamentally neither as the elect nor non-elect but as a collective organism: sinful, estranged, alienated from God, abiding under his wrath and curse. The world is detestable because it is the contradiction of all that is holy, good, righteous, and true. The world, then, is the contradiction of God. It is synonymous with all that is evil and noisome. It is that system of fallen humanity viewed not in terms of its size but as a satanically controlled kingdom hostile to the kingdom of Christ. It is what God loved in respect of its quality therefore, not quantity that sheds such glorious light on this divine attribute. In summary, I can do better than note the explanation of B. B. Warfleld:
"The marvel . . . which the text brings before us is just that marvel above all other marvels in this marvelous world of ours - the marvel of God's love for sinners. And this is the measure by which we are invited to measure the greatness of the love of God. It is not that it is so great that it is able to extend over the whole of a big world: it is so great that it is able to prevail over the Holy God's hatred and abhorrence of sin. For herein is love, that God could love the world - the world that lies in the evil one: that God who is all-holy and just and good, could so love this world that He gave His only begotten Son for it, -- that He might not judge it, but that it might be saved" ("God's Immeasurable Love," in Biblical and Theological Studies, edited by Samuel G. Craig [Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1952], pp. 515-16 [emphasis mine]).
Warfield's definition of the term world needs to be carefully considered:
"It is not here a term of extension so much as a term of intensity. Its primary connotation is ethical, and the point of its employment is not to suggest that the world is so big that it takes a great deal of love to embrace it all, but that the world is so bad that it takes a great kind of love to love it at all, and much more to love it as God has loved it when He gave His son for it. The whole debate as to whether the love here celebrated distributes itself to each and every man that enters into the composition of the world, or terminates on the elect alone chosen out of the world, lies thus outside the immediate scope of the passage and does not supply any key to its interpretation. The passage was not intended to teach, and certainly does not teach, that God loves all men alike and visits each and every one alike with the same manifestations of His love: and as little was it intended to teach or does it teach that His love is confined to a few especially chosen individuals selected out of the world. What it is intended to do is to arouse in our hearts a wondering sense of the marvel and the mystery of the love of God for the sinful world - conceived, here, not quantitatively but qualitatively as, in its very distinguishing characteristic, sinful" (ibid., 516).
I think Warfield is right. Do you agree?
Sam
Posts
