Church is More than "Showing Up"

Here is a great quote from an article entitled "Are You Leeching the Local Church?"

I continue to grow in my love for the local church. One of the ways God has grown my love for the church is by teaching me that worship is more than showing up.

How amazing is God’s design in creating the church! God could immediately and directly pour his grace into us, giving us all the nourishment we need for this Christian life. But in his wisdom, he chooses to operate through people, not just private devotions. And specially so when local church is gathered in worship.

The concluding words are a helpful reminder

Gather this weekend expecting to receive from God in a hundred different ways, through dozens of different people. And consider how God might have you give of your gifts so that he can bless others through you.

Sermons on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Since we just talked about roles of men and women, I thought I'd point you to several sermons by John Piper. These will encourage you and help you better understand God's design for men and women. Maybe it would be good to download some and listen to them while you drive home for break of while you work out. Redeem the time.

God, Singleness, and Marriage: Introduction

This is part of the series God, Singleness, and Marriage: How the Bible Gives Purpose and Direction to Singles.  

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                                             Introduction
 

Within the first two chapters and last four chapters of the Bible we find marriages (Gen. 2; Rev. 19). At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry we find him attending a wedding (John 2). Weddings and marriages seem to turn up at important moments in biblical history. 

They are probably part of your experience, too. Maybe you have attended a few and the thought of weddings strikes a note of hope and joy as you look forward to your own marriage. Maybe you have attended many weddings and are tired of the recurring and painful question that inevitably comes during the reception: “So, when are you getting married?”  For you, weddings bring up the painful fact that you may never be married. Or, it could be that you enjoy attending weddings but have little desire to get to married. 

The Most Important Thing about You

As we begin our journey to see what the Bible has to say about singleness and getting married, I want you to realize that, if you are a Christian, the most important thing about you is not your marital status. It may feel that way at times. As many singles have noted, they feel like a single person in married person’s world.  Every time you go out to eat and have to ask for “a table for one,” you feel as if your most defining characteristic is the label “single.”

However, the Bible makes it clear that the most important thing about you is that you are a Christian.[1] You are not a single Christian. You are a Christian who is unmarried. This is not semantics. I am trying to get at what the Bible says is the most defining reality for you, and it is not your marital status.

The Goal of This Book

That being said, your marital status does affect the way you live and experience life. And the Bible does say much about the topics of marriage, singleness, and relationships. My goal in the pages that follow is to bring some of the rich truths of the Bible on this issue to light. 

If you are single and content, I hope that the words in this book will encourage and empower you for even greater fruitfulness and joy in serving the Lord. If you are single and hopeful of marrying in the near future, I hope that you will be encouraged to maximize your time as a single and to pursue marriage in ways which glorify God. If you are single and struggling to be content, wondering if you have missed the opportunity to be married, I hope you will be encouraged to trust God and thrive under His care for you.

Where We Are Going

This book is divided into three main sections. The first is all about how the biblical storyline and the character of God give purpose and hope to singleness. It begins by tracing singleness through the Bible and demonstrating how God has redeemed the state of singleness for His glory and our good. The second chapter examines the most robust passage on singleness in the entire Bible, First Corinthians chapter seven, in order to give you a vision for how to glorify God and utilize your singleness. The third chapter applies the doctrine of God to your understanding of singleness in order to strengthen your faith in God during an undesired time of singleness. Reader, you may be tempted to skip over this part. You might find it hard to read through these early chapters because you long for quick and practical steps to marriage. Let me encourage you to do the hard work of studying theology – only then will you find true hope and right practice.

The second major section of the book is about the dangers and temptations that seem most pronounced during the single season of life. All temptation is common to man, but we do well to examine what specific temptations Satan may use to lure us away from our devotion to Christ. Again, you may be tempted to skip this section, thinking that reading about sin is not encouraging. But remember that our enemy seeks to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8), and Jesus called us to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation (Matt. 26:41). You would not go to war with an enemy and ignore the specific points of vulnerability that he might seek to exploit against you. Neither should we expect to live the Christian life in this fallen world without examining our own weak points and shoring up our defenses.

The final major section gets into the practical aspects of living in the single season of life. The first chapter addresses issues that apply to all Christians while the last two look more specifically to Christians who are single but desire to be married. However, I do think that those who are not seeking marriage will still find these chapters beneficial. 

We will conclude with a chapter about a wedding reception that all Christians will attend, which will be the most joyful wedding feast ever. Maybe you hate going to wedding receptions and being reminded that you lack what you so badly want. But I guarantee that this is one reception you will be glad to go to. We have a lot of pages to cover before we get there. So, get reading.   

Copyright Ben Khazraee. You may share this article with others, but please direct them to this blog rather than posting the text to your own website, blog, etc. You may share printed copies with friends as long as you do not charge more than the cost of producing the copies. 

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[1] Though maybe you are not a Christian. A Christian is not simply a person who goes to church or even likes Jesus. A Christian is a person who has recognized that they have sinned and rejected their Creator and are worthy of His just condemnation. They do not think they can earn God’s forgiveness by doing good things. They understand that Jesus, God’s perfect Son, lived the perfect life they failed to live and then died on the cross to satisfy the justice and wrath of God. They receive this blood-bought forgiveness by turning away from sin (repentance) and turning to Jesus as their only hope of salvation (faith). If you haven’t done this, you should spend some time studying the gospel (good news) of God by reading the Gospel of Mark, from the Bible, with a Christian friend.

God, Singleness, and Marriage: How the Bible Gives Purpose and Direction to Singles

About two years ago I began reading a lot on the subject of singleness and the Christian life. In a culture in which marriage in increasingly postponed, the period of living as a single person has increased. Add to that the confusion over the "gift of singleness" and the fact that this gift has been marginalized in the church. Consider how many young Christian men and women desire to get married but find themselves confused about how to pursue marriage. Put all this together and you have a good reason to want to know what God has said on these issues. 

As I read many books on singleness, I found that many were very good, but none did exactly what I wanted them to do. So, I began to write out a few thoughts (many of these thoughts are influenced by many who have already written on these topics). In the end, I had a short book. 

Over the next few weeks, I will begin posting sections of the book, God, Singleness, and Marriage: How the Bible Gives Purpose and Direction to Singles. My aim is to show the redemptive usefulness of singleness in a way which gives hope to struggling singles, encouragement to content singles, and direction for all singles. This book is intended for men and women, and it is even intended to benefit those who are married.  

I pray God is glorified and you are encouraged. 

Note: If you want to keep up with all the posts covering the book as time goes on, you can search the label God-Marriage-Singleness.

 

Shooting at FSU: What Are We to Make of "A Close Call?"

This morning a gunman shot three people at FSU's Strozier library. A place that was one of peace and studying has now been stained by violence. Thankfully, as far as I know at this point, all of these individuals will survive. This has not been the case with other shootings in the US or with attacks in other parts of the globe. Even though the FSU shooting could have been worse, its "close to home" aspect has no doubt shaken many in our community (as it should).

How are we to think about this event?

We Live in a Dangerous World

First, we should recognize that Christianity gives us the proper worldview to interpret this world. We live in a dangerous world, and it is one which seems to get more dangerous by the minute. 

Why is this? It is because we live in a world that is in rebellion against the Creator. As Romans 1 says, men and women suppress the truth in unrighteousness and from that flows all sorts of sin including murder (and attempted murder). While the media asks the why questions and people speculate on the reasons, we know that, while each individual's reasons for such violence may differ, it is all a symptom of the fact that we live in a world that is in rebellion against God.

What Are We to Do About it?

Second, we should recognize that Christianity tells us what we should do knowing that we live in a dangerous world. In Jesus day, a tower fell on some individuals killing them. About the same time, a ruler of the day had many Jews slaughtered. Why did this happen to them? Were they worse sinners than others? Well, they were sinners (we all are), but we do not know why a tower falls on that sinner and not me or you. If the tower fell on me I could not complain against God for I deserve nothing but his just wrath against my sin. So, how should we process the bad things that happen to those around us? How should we think about a close call? Jesus said that we should repent (Luke 13:2-5).

A close call is a reminder to us that death is coming for us all, and we must be right with our Maker. We must repent or turn away from our rejection of God and the disobedience to God's law and turn to Jesus as our only hope of forgiveness and salvation. He lived the life of obedience to God that we should have. He died on the cross to take the punishment sinners deserve. He was buried, but rose again having conquered sin and death for all who will trust in him. He is the only way to God (John 14:6). We will all die one day whether it is at the hands of a gunman, behind the wheel of a car, or quietly in our sleep. A close call is a call to repentance.

For those of us who have repented, we are to go about our daily lives knowing that physical death is a reality for us too but that it does not have the final word. God has not guaranteed us a life of ease. We still live in a sin cursed world, but we are not as those who have no hope. We have a Savior who has defeated the power of sin - eternal death. This frees us to serve God without fear for all the days of life he gives us knowing that when we die we will be in the presence of the Lord (Phil. 1:21-24).  

Let's carry on, not because it is the only thing we can do, but because Jesus is our hope. This is not a "keep calm and carry on" slogan.  Keeping calm makes no sense if you still have to fear death and God's judgment. But as those who know we serve a living Savior who has removed the sting of death, we have an imperishable hope. Let's live as those who have real hope, and let's call others to repentance so that they might have this hope too.

How to Think Biblicaly about the Sexuality Crisis

It is an understatement to say that our culture is in the middle of a confusing crisis in the area of sexuality. We have addressed some of this in our study of 1 Corinthians on Thursday nights and seen that there is nothing new under the sun (the culture of Paul's day had issues in this are too). Rod preached from Hebrews 11:3 and Romans 1:18-27 this past Sunday on the issue of sexual ethics as well.

As a follow up to all this, I encourage you to read Al Mohler's article "Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis." In addressing the issues of the day, we need a solid understanding of the overarching story of the Bible and how that story answers the confusion of our day.

In Defense of Marriage and The Rule of Law

Albert Mohler has a great article on the recent ruling by the US 6th Circuit Court. Judge Sutton, writing for the majority opinion (it was a 2-1 decision) explains with amazing clarity and sanity why he and other judges do not have the right to decide the issue of same sex marriage for a democratic nation. The whole article is worth a read.

"Just Stop It"

On Sunday night I taught on the topic of Christian growth from Colossians 3:1-17. We discussed how Christian growth is not behavior modification (merely). It does involve changes in behavior, but that is not where it starts or ends. As a funny contrast, check out this video of Bob Newhart playing a psychologist.

If you want to hear more about the actual biblical change process, check out the audio at the church website (the link for the How Can I Change Pt. 2 isn't up yet, so keep checking).

"7 Things Your Church Needs from You"

Tim Challies has a great article addressed to young men and women entitled, "7 Things Your Church Needs from You." Below are the headings, but you should really read the article.

1. Be Humble
2. Prioritize the Church
3. Consider Giving God a Day
4. Live Like a Christian All Week Long
5. Get to Know People Not Like You
6. Learn Generosity
7. Be a Great Church Member

He concludes by writing, "Find the place you can serve your church, and serve there without fail, without excuse, without requiring praise and accolades. Do it for the good of others and the glory of God."

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #5 Creating an Intimidating Atmosphere for Visitors or New Believers

I am continuing the series on potential dangers we face in regards to being a church that loves the Bible. We now come to the fifth one. In case you missed the earlier ones, they are:

1. Forgetting the Importance of Reminders
2. Failing to Apply the Word
3. Missing the Goal of the Bible
4. Speaking the Truth without Love 

The fourth one and the one we will look at today both deal more with how we interact with others while the first three have dealt more with our individual spiritual life.

Danger #5 Creating an Intimidating Atmosphere for Visitors or New Believers
As with all the other "dangers," this is not a problem inherent to a church that loves the Bible. In otherwords, it does not automatically follow that a church that loves the Bible will struggle in these areas. It is simply the case that we might be more prone to fall short in these ways.

In this case, the danger is that we are so biblically literate that we might put off an intimidating attitude to those newer to the Bible. We can quickly find the book of Habakkuk (maybe not). We can use the proper theological terms to refer to the great doctrines of the faith (harmatology, theology proper, Christology, etc.). We can (hopefully) remember a pertinent passage when trying to help a friend.

There is nothing wrong with these abilities. We should all strive to grow in our biblical agility. We should know more today than we did two years ago. We do not need to try and hide our knowledge, but we don't need to boast about it either.

Furthermore, we don't need to make someone who is relatively untaught feel like a second rate Christian. We should not look at them like they are crazy for using a translation of the Bible that is not as "solid"  as ours.

To be clear, we should encourage one another to grow in our knowledge and ability to handle the Bible. But we must also be gracious and hospitable. Hospitality is the act of welcoming a person and showing them kindness. When people come to church, and they are not as well versed in the Scripture, we out to welcome them and enjoy seeing them grow as their hunger for the deep and accurate teaching of the Word is satisfied.

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #4 Speaking Truth without Love

I am continuing the series on potential dangers we face in regards to being a church that loves the Bible. The first dangers I covered all dealt with issues which mostly affect us as individual Christians:

1. Forgetting the Importance of Reminders
2. Failing to Apply the Word
3. Missing the Goal of the Bible

Now, I want to consider some potential pitfalls in how we relate to the Bible and other people. Like the first dangers, these do not imply that there is a problem with our deep love for God's Word. On the contrary, our love for God's Word is necessary if we are to really love others.  Those who have a low view of the Word will come very short in loving others (no matter how loving they might feel). We, however, as those who know the Bible very well, are prone to our own specific ways of failing to obey God's Word in our relationships. (It is ironic that all these "dangers" are ways we are not obeying the Word we love).

Danger #4: Speaking the Truth without Love
It is interesting how we can love God's Word which tells us to love other people, but then not love other people. This is a further reminder of our indwelling sin and ongoing need of God's gracious work in our lives.

The truth of the matter (pun intended) is that God's Word calls us to use the Word in our ministry to one another and to have a spirit of love. When writing about our need to be grounded in the Word, Paul says,

"speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." (Eph. 4:15-16).

Paul also makes it clear that knowledge of truth without love for fellow Christians is rather empty. In dealing with the issue of meat sacrificed to idols, he says, "we know that...an idol has no real existence" (1 Cor. 8:1, 4). That is true. But, in this case, they were using their knowledge to benefit themselves with no real regard for loving their brother. "This 'knowledge' puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Cor. 8:1).

The danger is that we can forget that loving the Word and speaking its truth does not automatically mean we are honoring God. Truth must come from an attitude of love for God and love for others. This doesn't mean we will never say hard things. It does mean we will aim at humbly helping others grow and at encouraging others.

Two failures are possible here. First, I can speak the truth in pride. I can say truth to you in order to build myself up. I can aim at making me look smart rather than at encouraging you. Second, I can speak the truth in self-righteousness. I can get a thrill out of correcting others because I think I am doing so well myself (contrast with Gal. 6:1: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted). 

The solution is not to change the definition of love. The solution is not to stop saying hard things. The solution is to learn humility and to reflect on God's grace towards my sin and failures (Matt. 7:3-5). From this posture we will be better able to speak the truth in love.  

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #3 Missing the Goal of the Bible

For the past couple of weeks I have been doing a series on dangers that we must watch for in ourselves as individuals in a church that loves God's Word. The first week I discussed the danger of forgetting the importance of reminders. Last week I wrote about the danger of hearing but not obeying the Word of God. 

Today, I will take up one more danger that mostly affects us as individuals (the next two will deal with dangers that we need to be aware of in terms of how we relate to others). Today I will discuss the danger of missing the goal of the Bible.

Danger #3 Missing the Goal of the Bible
What?!  Yes, even we who love God's Word can still miss the point of the Word. What is the point? The Bible aims at drawing us nearer to the Father through the Son, by the power of the Spirit.

This is connected to the importance of obeying God's Word too. Why do we seek to obey God's Word? Psalm 119:2 "Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart." Those who keep his testimonies are those who "seek him with their whole heart." We are after knowing and obeying God; not just knowing facts.

The Bible is not something we are to "master" but leads us to know our Master. If we are not careful, we can get so caught up in the facts that we forget this is not an English literature class or a study in ancient texts. It is a living Word that draws us to the Living God and His Risen Son by the Life Giving Spirit. Think about it. What is the purpose of our Creator giving us special revelation about himself? Is it not so that we would know Him?

Read Psalm 119 and ask yourself, "What is his goal in knowing God's Word?" For example, just look at verses 10-12:

¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you;
    let me not wander from your commandments!
¹¹ I have stored up your word in my heart,
    that I might not sin against you.
¹² Blessed are you, O Lord;
    teach me your statutes!

There is a seeking of God, a desire to obey God, and an overflowing desire to praise God by learning his Word. This is not how you would talk about Shakespeare or any other author. This is not the perspective you would have as you came to any other book. Why? Because this is God's Word. 

To be clear, I am not suggesting that we must go mystical and divorce the work of the Spirit from the Word he inspired. God's Spirit inspired the Word and uses the Word he inspired (otherwise why go to all the "trouble" of inspiring it?). So, I am not saying we need to stop reading and thinking deeply about the written Word. I am saying that we must be careful that the aim of our knowing the Word is loving God.

The danger is that if I lose sight of the purpose of the Bible, I can start judging my spiritual growth inaccurately. I can assume that personal time in the Word and prayer has as its goal mere attainment of more knowledge.  Perhaps instead of asking ourselves, "How often am I reading and praying?" we should ask, "Did I read something of the greatness of my God and the love of my Savior and the power of the Spirit as I read his Word?".  I am not saying that every time we read the Bible we are equally moved to trust and worship the Lord. Our hearts are often dull and cold. But, by God's grace, let us keep the goal of the Word in our view and pray that God helps us attain that goal.

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #2 Failing to Apply the Word

Last week I began a short series on "Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word". Let me assure you that being in a church that loves God's Word is not a danger. In fact, it is one of the greatest gifts of God to us, because a church that loves God's Word is one which will hear often from God in his Word.  When I mention "dangers," what I mean is that there are potential pitfalls for how we interact with the blessing we have. Our flesh often twists blessings in ways which can be dangerous. So, we must "take heed, lest we fall."

Danger #2 Failing to Apply the Word We Hear
The second danger I want to point out is closely associated with the first one, but it is distinct. Not only can we forget the the importance of remembering, we can also fail to obey what we hear from the Word.

The danger is that we get so focused on knowing more, but we forget to take the time to apply what we know. We hear so much teaching, but sometimes we fail to sit down and ask God to help us apply what we have heard. Our pastor or teacher does the hard work of studying and communicating the Word to us and we do the hard work of listening, but then we stop there. The problem is that the Word has not completed its intended work, and we miss out on blessing. Read James' classic text on the issue and pay attention to the last verse

²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  (James 1:22-25)

How Can We Apply the Word?
When we go to apply the Word, we are not simply saying "stop doing this and start doing that." The Bible does give us that sort of application. But it also gives us things to believe and new ways of thinking. God gives us promises that we must battle to believe and hope in. He gives us new ways to think about our joys, struggles, and identity. Think about our struggle against sin as described in Romans six. Even before telling us to put off sin and put on righteousness (which he does in 6:12), God tells says to "consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11). This is a truth about our identity which must be rightly understood and believed.

So, let's take some time to prayerfully reflect on what we heard on Sunday or at Bible study and ask is there a promise to believe, a truth to apply, a behavior to stop or start, or a new way of thinking to embrace? Let's really believe that God has sovereignly placed us under the teaching we are hearing so that we will be blessed in obeying it.

Dangers of Being in a Church that Loves God's Word: #1 Forgetting the importance of reminders

God's Word is vital to our lives individually and as a body of believers (local church). And a church that loves and teaches God's Word accurately and on a regular basis is an unmitigated good thing. In fact, it is one of the marks of a healthy church. However, there are still dangers to watch out for. Every blessing and trial comes with its own potential dangers in this fallen world. In fact, it is often in great blessing that we find great temptations. The problems are not the blessings but our propensity to go astray.

So, are there any dangers to the unambigiously good gift of a church that loves God's Word? I would say there are some. Over the coming weeks I'll list several dangers.

Danger #1 Forgetting the importance of reminders
A church that loves God's Word usually is a church that loves to learn new things from God's Word. There is a potential danger here though. We can get to a point where we hear each sermon and Bible study as falling into the categories of "I already knew that," verses, "I learned something new."  We can then assume that the whole point of the teaching of the Word is to merely give us new information. We then define "getting something" from the message as "I learned something new." In other words, a good message is one which gives us new facts.

While we should learn new things often, that is not our only goal in hearing the Word or reading it. The Apostle Peter is clear that his teaching (even inscripturated, God-inspired teaching) aimed not only at teaching new things but at reminding believers of things they already knew.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 2 Peter 1:12-15

He writes to "remind" believers of truths they already knew in order that he might stir them up to greater faith and the obedience it produces (2 Pet. 1:3-11).  It could be that we often "don't get anything out of the message" because we fail to see that our foolish hearts are prone to go astray and need constant reminding and exhortations and encouragements to run the race of faith (Heb. 3:12-13).

Advice on How to Face Hostility towards the Gospel

I hope and pray that as the semester is off to a start that you are finding opportunities to share the gospel with new friends and professors. As you seek to be faithful to speak the good news of Christ, you might (and at times will) find yourself facing hostility. Recently, I was reading in Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students" on the topic of a minister's conversation. As I read it, I noticed that what he said would apply to sharing the gospel in the face of hostility. He writes,

In all probability, sensible conversation will sometimes drift into controversy, and here many a good man runs upon a snag. The sensible minister will be particularly gentle in argument. He, above all men should not make the mistake of fancying that there is force in temper, and power in speaking angrily. A heathen who stood in a crowd in Calcutta, listening to a missionary disputing with a Brahmin, said he knew which was right though he did not understand the language- he know that he was in the wrong who lost his temper first. For the most part, that is a very accurate way of judging. Try to avoid debating with people. State your opinion and let them state theirs. If you see that a stick is crooked, and you want people to see how crooked it is, lay a straight rod down beside it; that will be quite enough. But if you are drawn into arguments, use very hard arguments and very soft words. Frequently you cannot convince a man by tugging at his reason, but you can persuade him by winning his affections.

The point is not to avoid using reason. Spurgeon used reason and made clear arguments. But, the point is that reason does not change those who "suppress the truth in unrighteousness."

Remember, your goal is not to protect your pride. Your goal is to put the gospel on display in word and deed. The powerful message of the gospel is best communicated by those who entrust themselves to God and do not seek to revile. In the classroom, remember that it is the professor's class. In humility seek to winsomely and accurately lay the straight gospel beside crooked philosophies of the world. Finally, don't forget to pray that God will open blinding eyes to see the beauty of himself in Jesus Christ.

Is Football an Idol?

Kevin DeYoung has a helpful article to help you evaluate whether or not you might have made football into an idol. Here are the bullet points:

1. Is ministry and worship on the Lord’s Day compromised by my allegiance to football on Saturday and Sunday?

2. Are my emotions all out whack?
... If the good news of Jesus’ resurrection can’t outweigh the bad news of your team’s minus 3 turnover differential you’ve got some heart work to do...

3. Can my conversation go deeper than football?

"College Doesn't Change Your Heart, It Reveals It"

Sammy Rhodes has a good article over at desiring God. In the "heart" of the article, he gets to the biblical truth that we all need to take note of:

Woody Allen once famously said that “the heart wants what it wants.” Thomas Chalmers would agree. The problem isn’t that we desire, it’s what we desire, and why. Our hearts are fickle things, and more than anything, that’s what college reveals. As Paul Tripp might put it, it’s not that college changes your heart as much as reveals it. It isn’t the secularity, or the immorality that is to be feared. According to Jesus, it’s the propensity of our hearts to either want the wrong things or try to anchor themselves in the wrong places. All the while, Jesus is simultaneously the one we’re running from and looking for.

 I encourage you to read the whole article.


 HT: Challies

Acts 17 Sermon for the University

As school starts up again, I thought this rendition of Acts 17 is a good reminder to be actively sharing the gospel and bringing it to bear on the "gods" of our day. You'll remember that, in Acts 17, Paul is preaching an evangelistic message to the pagan culture of his day. He is speaking to the philosophers on Mars Hill (the place of learning and scholarly debate). Here is how it might have begun if he came to one of our universities today:

"Men and women of the university, I see that in every way you are very religious. As I walked around the university, I observed carefully your objects of worship. I saw your altar called the stadium where many of you worship the sports deity. I saw the science building where many place their faith for the salvation of mankind. I found an altar to fine arts where artistic expression and performance seem to reign supreme without subservience to any greater power. I walked through your residence halls and observed your sex goddess posters and beer can pyramids. Yet as I walked with some of you and saw the emptiness in your eyes and sensed the aching in your hearts, I perceived that in your heart is yet another altar, an altar to the unknown God who you suspect may be there. You have a sense that there is something more than these humanistic and self-indulgent gods. What you long for as something unknown, I want to declare to you now...." (Daniel Denk as quoted by Derek Thomas in Acts, pg. 503).

And give them the good news of Jesus who fulfills the standard of perfect righteousness and whose death took the punishment for sin so that any who trust in Jesus as their Savior-King will have his righteousness and the forgiveness of sins. Show them that the idols they have willing worshiped are empty and that that God calls all people everywhere to turn away from idols and to him, the one, true God.

"Dispatches from the Front"

Bible study begins this Wednesday. We will spend our first few weeks seeing Christians around the world and hearing their testimonies of the power of the gospel. We will hear of the Kingdom of Christ and its expansion in some of the most difficult to reach places (because of geography and because of resistance and persecution). We will do all this by watching several DVDs in the series "Dispatches from the Front." These videos will expand our vision of the Kingdom of Christ. Below is a video about the series:

You can find "trailers" for the episodes here: http://www.dispatchesfromthefront.org/

A Means to Wisdom

In my sermon on Psalm 71 on the struggle of aging, I made application to younger folks. If the older people in the congregation are to proclaim the might of God to us (Ps. 71:17-18), then we should listen to older, godly men and women talk of God's faithfulness and Word and power.

Psalm 90 reminds us of how short life is on this planet, and, in the midst of such reflection, the Psalmist cries out,

"teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” Ps. 90:12

Could it be that one means to our gaining wisdom is hearing about God from older saints? They have known God's Word, obeyed it, and seen his faithfulness for more years than we have been alive. If that doesn't help us gain wisdom what else will? If you want to know how to use your time and energy so as to fear and honor God (wisdom), then listen to some older believers who fear God.  

Happiness in God Alone Spares us Much Anxiety

Spare yourself some anxiety and believe that God is able to make you happy without anything but himself:

O what a blessed thing it is to lose one's will. Since I have lost my will I have found happiness. There can be no such thing as disappointment to me, for I have no desires but that God's will might be accomplished. Christians might avoid much trouble if they would only believe what they profess, viz., that God is able to make them happy without anything but Himself. They imagine that if is such a dear friend were to die, or such and such a blessing removed, they should be miserable, whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them. To mention my own case, God has been depriving me of one blessing after another, but as every one was removed He has come in and filled up its place, and now, when I am a cripple and unable to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before or expected to be, and if I had believe this twenty years ago I might have been spared much anxiety.

--Edward Payson, quoted in More Love to Thee by Sharon James

This is not the end of desires as a means to avoid anxiety. It is not the mystical thought of killing wants and desires. No, it is actually finding our full desire met in God as our ultimate joy. If he is the best Being the universe then the best gift he can give is himself. In believing that, and delighting in him through Jesus Christ, we find unshakable happiness.

Don't Date a Fool

Here is an article that looks at some Proverbs to help you evaluate if you are dating a fool (or a fool who is dating). Don't date a fool.

"Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis"

Al Mohler has a great article over at 9Marks on how understanding the big picture of the Bible is key in understanding human life and sexuality (and in turn dealing with the modern push to normalize all sorts of sexual immorality). Here is a teaser:

As the church responds to this [moral and sexual] revolution, we must remember that current debates on sexuality present to the church a crisis that is irreducibly and inescapably theological. This crisis is tantamount to the type of theological crisis that Gnosticism presented to the early church or that Pelagianism presented to the church in the time of Augustine. In other words, the crisis of sexuality challenges the church’s understanding of the gospel, sin, salvation, and sanctification. Advocates of the new sexuality demand a complete rewriting of Scripture’s metanarrative, a complete reordering of theology, and a fundamental change to how we think about the church’s ministry.

 I hope you'll read the whole thing. 

What the Supreme Court Ruling on Hobby Lobby Means

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, giving an affirmation of religious liberty (in a narrow 5-4 victory). Al Mohler has some good thoughts on the case and what it means. Here is an excerpt (if you are unfamiliar with the details, he gives them at the beginning of the article).

...the lead dissent from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reveals a massive ideological divide on the Court that mirrors the divide within the nation at large. Her dissent leads with concerns about the need for contraception and birth control for women and proceeds to dismiss the Christian convictions of the Green and Hahn families as “too attenuated to rank as substantial.” She ignored the fact that the Obama Administration’s policy required the families to facilitate what they believed to be morally wrong, when the government could have accomplished the same result without this requirement.

In one of the most important passages in Justice Alito’s majority opinion, he sets the issue very well:

“The Hahns and Greens believe that providing the coverage demanded by the HHS regulations is connected to the destruction of an embryo in a way that is sufficient to make it immoral for them to provide the coverage. This belief implicates a difficult and important question of religion and moral philosophy, namely, the circumstances under which it is wrong for a person to perform an act that is innocent in itself but has the effect of enabling or facilitating the commission of an immoral act by another. Arrogating the authority to provide a binding national answer to this religious and philosophical question, HHS and the principle dissent in effect tell the plaintiffs that their beliefs are flawed.”

That is a stunning rebuke and a much-needed clarification. Justice Alito defended religious liberty and revealed the deep divide on the Court and in the nation — a divide in which some Americans are willing to trample religious liberty under the boot of sexual liberty, and to dismiss all arguments to the contrary as “too attenuated to rank as substantial.”

Also, some good thoughts on the decision from Russell Moore

This is not just a political issue. The Apostle Paul appealed to his Roman citizenship when he was charged with disrupting the peace. All the way through the appeals process, he not only plead for his freedom, but he also preached the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 25-26). We should do so as well. But that means teaching the next generation that following Christ will be costly, and that they will be often viewed as strange and even subversive by a culture in which sexual liberation is the highest god in the pantheon. A discount-rate prosperity gospel will not supply such grit. The gospel of Jesus Christ will. [emphasis added]

So let’s celebrate today. And then let’s remember that we prize religious liberty not preeminently because it keeps us out of jail. We prize religious liberty because we believe there is a court higher than the Supreme Court. No government bureaucrat will stand with us before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and thus no bureaucrat should seek to lord over the conscience.

"Why Making Decisions is So Hard"

Tim Challies has a good article on why it is hard to make decisions. I encourage you to read the whole thing (it is very short so it is not a tough decision of whether or not to read it). In the article he points out how we often want to know what the results of our decisions will be ahead of time and this is information that God, in his wisdom, does not give us. Instead, God calls us to trust him as we make decisions. Below is Challies' conclusion:

Decisions are difficult simply because we do not trust God with the results of our decisions. Decisions are difficult only because we are prone to misplace our comfort, to find our hope in a vision of the future more than in the one who holds the future. Your confidence in making decisions is directly related to your confidence in God himself.

How to Confess When You Sin against Someone

Confessing sin to someone you've wronged is a hard thing to do well, but it is an important part of our relationships in this fallen world. And it is a great picture of the gospel when done well. If you are looking for some help in this area, you might want to check out Peacemaker ministries.

I really appreciate their ministry (their book Peacemaking for Families is great- we use it in premarital counseling). Below is "The seven "A's" of Confession" that they have put together.  Maybe you'll find it helpful.

1. Address everyone involved (All those whom you affected) 
2. Avoid, "if," "but," and "maybe" (Do not try to excuse your wrongs) 
3. Admit specifically (Both attitudes and actions) 
4. Acknowledge the hurt (Express sorrow for hurting someone) 
5. Accept the consequences (Such as making restitution) 
6. Alter your behavior (Change your attitudes and actions) 
7. Ask for forgiveness 

See Matthew 7:3-5; 1 John 1:8-9; Proverbs 28:13. 

See more at: http://www.peacemaker.net/site/c.aqKFLTOBIpH/b.958153/k.7417/Seven_As_of_Confession.htm#sthash.wiUzkGwb.dpuf

Are There Degrees of Sin?

At book club, as we discussed chapter 8 in The Holiness of God, we spent some time on the question, "Are there degrees of sin?". I tried to show from Scripture that there are different degrees of sin and yet all sin is equal in the sense that it leads to death. Here is a good video from Piper summarizing this too.

"Students, Don't Waste Your Summer"

Here is a good post from Jeff Brewer with 10 great ideas for how you can avoid wasting your summer.I suggest reading the whole thing (it is not long). Below are the bullet points.

1. Make a plan. 
2. Rehearse your need for the gospel daily.
3. Anticipate temptation.  
4. Recognize you need the church. 
5. Meet regularly with a brother or sister in Christ.
6. Look for ways to serve your family.
7. Turn off your phone.
8. Set a goal to read. (note: he mentions reading The Holiness of God by RC Sproul...nice)
9. Memorize a passage of Scripture.
10. Seek to be as bold with the gospel as you have been at college.

How Much Time Should You Spend on Entertainment / Internet?

Mark Dever has a great interview with John MacArthur about fellowship in the church. The whole thing is great and needful for the church of our era. During the conversation he discusses technology and the challenges of individualism. Here is a paraphrase of one thing that seemed so wise to me (it was not the main point of the interview, but I found it so simple and wise):

How much time should you spend on the internet? 

Let's not get mystical with it. As much time as you spend being entertained on the internet, spend an equal amount of time in the Word, prayer, and reading a good book on solid theology or a biography about a Christian who faithfully served the Lord.

Sounds like a good challenge to me. Think of the immense growth we might experience.

Some of us may want to resist this by crying "legalism," but exercising self-discipline is not legalism. If you follow this advice because you think it will make you right with God you be a legalist. But if you do it because you see it as a means to love God and grow in Christlikeness, you are simply "working out your salvation" (Phil 2:13-14). So, don't follow this advice because you have to.  Do it because you are free by the Spirit to be self-controlled in the area of entertainment and the use of your time. 

Let's take up this challenge together this summer for the good of our own growth and God's glory.

Summer Reading Suggestions

Each summer we (the pastors) recommend some good Christian books for those who have extra time to read. Even if you don't have "extra time" perhaps the summer is a good season to make time for reading.

First read your Bible. It should always be the main course. But do not neglect reading good books which help you better understand the Bible and how it applies to your life. I have benefited greatly from reading good Christian books.

Below is the summer reading list for this year (these are in the church library located by the McDaniel Street exit).

TheologyTaking God at His Word (Deyoung)

Church Life
Church Membership (Leeman)
Church Discipline (Leeman)

Men
The Gospel at Work (Traeger & Gilbert)

Women
Picture Perfect (Baker)

Youth
Growing Up Christian (Graustein)

Marriage

What did you expect? (Tripp)

Singleness

Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? (McCulley)

Sanctification
How Can I Change? (Mahaney & Boisvert)
Seeing with New Eyes (Powlison)

Finally Free (Lambert)

Biography
The Evangelistic Zeal of George Whitfield (Lawson)

Pray for the Persecuted Church in Pakistan & Nigeria

Rod mentioned praying for Pakistani believers in his sermon. Here is an article ("The hardest place on earth to be a Christian") on why this nation is probably the hardest one to be Christian in.

Here is an article ("They asked whether I was prepared to die as a Christian") about a man who was shot in the neck by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria for being a Christian and refusing to recant. He miraculously survived.

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body (Hebrews 13:3) 

Free Audio Book "Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God" by JI Packer

Take advantage of this free audio book (maybe listen to it while you drive around on vacation or during the day). This relatively short book is helpful in considering God's sovereignty and human responsibility in evangelism. It is free from Christian audio, but only until the end of this month.

Should You Read "Heaven is For Real"?

Here is a short video by David Platt about the "journey" to heaven genre of books you find in many Christian bookstores. (It gets really good at the 2:30 mark).

You may also be interested in this article over at Grace to You about this topic.

"What is Baptism and How Important is It?"

A baptism service is coming up this month. If you are a Christian who has not been baptized, this is a good time to obey Christ's command to be baptized. Below is a sermon by Piper on baptism. This is good for all of us (not just those who have not been baptized).