Our Own Hands

"The sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ, that we must take matters into our own hands."     

Martin Luther

Past Faithfulness versus Present Circumstances

Very Powerful Post by Jared Wilson: 

"It is increasingly obvious that people are prepared to tolerate Christianity up until the point that it begins to define its terms."  --- C.J. Mahaney

What does it mean when Jesus says "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword"?

Let us connect the Exodus event to the cross of Christ, in the way that it literally and historically marks the intersection of God's wrath and his mercy, his judgment on sin and his redeeming his children from bondage. Let's also connect, then, the Lord's telling Moses and the children of Israel to remember this event (as a sign on their right arm and between their eyes) with our need to remember the cross of Christ in the same way.

Mere days after this enormous demonstration of God's awesome power, his proof that he is mighty to save, the children of Israel were complaining about food. Them is us. This is why I think we need the gospel every day. Because we are constantly, naturally, idolatrously choosing to forget the cross and look to God in a sort of "What have you done for me lately?" sort of attitude.

Modern sermons and teaching that do not center or focus on the cross only reinforce this for us. Without meaning to, the church itself can support our error of judging God's faithfulness to us based on our present circumstances, rather than on the great love he has shown to us in the past. Which is why we must always bring the glory of that past moment into our present worship and obedience. That's the need for the call to a cross-centered life.

When John the Baptist was languishing in prison, awaiting execution, perhaps he began to have doubts. At one time he was sure his cousin was the messiah, the king of the kingdom of God. But it's only natural that sitting in jail with death hanging over his head could have driven him to make doubly sure. He sent a message to Jesus asking if he was indeed "the one."

Jesus' response was peculiar, but heavy in its implications. It began thusly:

"The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."

I can imagine John then thinking, "Well, awesome. But I'm in jail."

The second part of Jesus' reply message was not "As such, we are forming a posse, and we're coming to bust you out of prison." No, instead he said:

"Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

What does that mean? Why send that to John?

I think it is because Jesus obviously knew John was going to his death, and obviously Jesus did not mean to work to prevent that, but he nevertheless wanted to reaffirm that the call to follow Jesus is the call to die. Following Jesus means renouncing comfort, safety, and happiness in circumstances as the prime virtue of life.

That is the dividing line for many. That is the point of departure for us whenever we are tempted to think, based on discomfort or grief or stress, that God has forsaken us (something he promised he would never do). We are like the wayward children of Israel in the Exodus desert, faithful one moment, doubting like forgetful morons the next.

What does it mean to remember the cross of Christ as a sign upon our right hand, between our eyes, and in our mouth? It means that Jesus is our way, Jesus is our truth, and Jesus is our life, and when the way, the truth, and the life heads toward crucifixion, we don't part ways. We remember. We commemorate. We look to the cross like a pillar of cloud by day and to the empty tomb like a pillar of fire by night, the signs to follow. Where the world walks the wide path away from the point at which Christ defines his terms, the disciple continues on the narrow path into the way of the cross.

Quote of the Week - Martin Luther

Someone asked Martin Luther what we contribute to salvation, and he said, "Sin and resistance!"

-Michael Horton, in a Christianity Today interview by Mark Galli

A Prayer About the Spiritually Distressed

O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. 

I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. (Jeremiah 20:7) 

Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? (Jeremiah 20:18)

Dear heavenly Father, as I meditate on Jeremiah’s painful prayer, I’m praising you today for the freedom you give us to bring our unfiltered and unfettered feelings to you. For if we don’t bring our anguish, angst and anger to you, we will take these feelings somewhere. Someone will have to pay the price for the poor stewardship of our pain and confusion.

You alone have a big enough heart and broad enough shoulders to walk with us through the chaos and confusion of our seasons of spiritual distress. I praise you for your welcoming and gracious heart.

     

This record of Jeremiah’s lament is such a gift to us. What a comfort it is to know that the same prophet who assured others of your gracious promise and good plan—a plan for prosperity, not harm (Jeremiah 29:11)… the same prophet who gave us a vision of the glory and the grace of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34)… this same prophet, like us, experienced seasons in which he felt deceived, betrayed and abandoned by you—even grieving the day he was born.

This gives me courage as I’ll seek to be a better steward my own feelings. But today, it gives me compassion as I pray for a few friends who’re feeling exactly what Jeremiah felt. Father, for the friend I sat with yesterday who’s feeling set up, chewed up and spit out by you… bring the gospel to bear. He loves you, but he feels abandoned by you. He knows better, but he feels bitter. My instinct is to fix him, but the way of the gospel is to listen and to love. Give me patience and kindness, as I trust you to restore him to gospel sanity.

For another friend whose spiritual melancholia is heading to an even darker place, Father, give me wisdom to know how to care for him. What’s purely physical? What’s to some degree demonic? What’s just plane ole pity-party? I don’t know, I just don’t know. Help me stay present in the mess while I trust you to bring your mercy to bear. Heal my friends, Father. Meet them as you met Jeremiah. So very Amen, I pray, in Jesus’ strong and loving name.

- Scotty Smith at the Gospel Coalition

Only One Argument I Can Make

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
(Psalm 51:1 ESV)


"What's actually true is that when I come to the Lord after I've blown it, I've only one argument to make. It's not the argument of the difficulty of the environment that I am in. It's not the argument of the difficult people that I'm near. It's not the argument of good intentions that were thwarted in some way. No, I have only one argument. It's right there in the first verse of Psalm 51, as David confesses his sin with Bathsheba. I come to the Lord with only one appeal, his mercy. I've no other defense. I've no other standing. I've no other hope. I can't escape the reality of my biggest problem - me! 

So I appeal to the one thing in my life that's sure and will never fail. I appeal to the one thing that guaranteed not only my acceptance with God, but the hope of new beginnings and fresh starts. I appeal on the basis of the greatest gift I ever have or ever will be given. I leave the courtroom of my own defense, I come out of hiding, and I admit who I am. But I'm not afraid, because I've been personally and eternally blessed. Because of what Jesus did, God looks on me with mercy. It's my only appeal; it's the source of my hope; it's my life. Mercy, mercy me!"

- Paul David Tripp, Whiter than Snow

Hand Sanitizer

Now, We Know That You Love Us

“God saw Abraham’s sacrifice and said, ‘Now I know that you love me, because you did not withhold your only son from me’ [Gen. 22:12]. But how much more can we look at his sacrifice on the Cross, and say to God, ‘Now, we know that you love us. For you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from us.’ When the magnitude of what he did dawns on us, it makes it possible finally to rest our hearts in him rather than in anything else.”

- Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Will You Not Tell me the Facts?

“What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saves me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?”

J. Gresham Machen, Christian Faith in the Modern World, 57

(HT: John Fonville)

Jesus More? Football Less?

 Kevin DeYoung at Gospel Coalition quotes J.C. Ryle and then asks the tough question:

“The man whose soul is “growing” takes more interest in spiritual things every year. He does not neglect his duty in the world. He discharges faithfully, diligently, and conscientiously every relation of life, whether at home or abroad. But the things he loves best are spiritual things.

“ The ways, and fashions, and amusements, and recreations of the world have a continually decreasing place in his heart. He does not condemn them as downright sinful, nor say that those who have anything to do with them are going to hell. He only feels that they have a constantly diminishing hold on his own affections, and gradually seem smaller and more trifling in his eyes.

“Spiritual companions, spiritual occupations, spiritual conversation, appear of ever-increasing value to him. Would any one know if he is growing in grace? Then let him look within for increasing spirituality of taste.”    - J.C. Ryle

So I ask myself: Do I love Jesus a little more this year and football a little bit less? Do I love the word more and the world less? Do I love to long for spiritual things more and entertainment, politics, and hobbies less? Are the things that truly taste best tasting better to me?

Love Things Heavenly

Grant that I, Lord,
may not be anxious about earthly things,
but love things heavenly;

and even now, while I am placed among things that are passing away,
hold fast to those that shall endure; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- The Book of Common Prayer

Victory over Wealth

William Whiting Borden, second from right, heir to the Borden Dairy fortune, already a millionaire in high school, graduate of Yale, gave himself wholeheartedly to Christ with this motto: “No reserves, no retreats, no regrets.”  He died a missionary to Muslims in Egypt.

Dr. Samuel Zwemer said this at the funeral: “He won the victory over his environment.  By some the victory has to be won over poverty; by others over heredity or over shame and temptation; but Borden won the victory over an environment of wealth.  He felt that life consisted not in ‘the abundance of things a man possesses’ but in the abundance of things that possess the man.”

Quoted in Mrs. Howard Taylor, Borden of Yale ’09

William Borden, 1887-1913 is a post from: Ray Ortlund

“If Christ is not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all."

Martin Luther was once approached by a working man who wanted to know how he could serve the Lord. Luther asked him, “What is your work now?” The man replied, “I’m a shoemaker.”

Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price.”

He didn’t tell the man to make “Christian shoes.” He didn’t tell him to leave his shoes and become a monk.

As Christians, we can serve God in a variety of vocations. And we don’t need to justify that work, whatever it is, in terms of its “spiritual” value or evangelistic usefulness. We simply exercise whatever our calling is with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and standards.

Outwardly there may be no discernible difference between a non-Christian’s work and that of a Christian. A transformational approach to culture doesn’t mean every human activity practiced by a Christian (designing computers, repairing cars, selling insurance, or driving a bus) must be obviously and externally different from the same activities practiced by non-Christians.

Rather, the difference is found in the motive, goal, and standard. John Frame writes, “The Christian seeks to change his tires to the glory of God and the non-Christian does not. But that’s a difference that couldn’t be captured in a photograph.”

So, while Christians are to separate from the self-glorifying motives and God-ignoring goals of the world (our spiritual separation), we’re not to separate from the peoples, places, and things in the world (a spatial separation). We’re to be morally and spiritually distinct without being culturally segregated. In the famous words of Abraham Kuyper, “There is not one square inch in the entire domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

For church leaders, this means that we make a huge mistake when we define a person’s “call” in terms of participation inside the church—nursery work, Sunday school teacher, youth worker, music leader, and so on. We need to help our people see that their calling is much bigger than how much time they put into church matters. By reducing the notion of calling to the exercise of spiritual gifts inside the church, we fail to help our people see that calling involves everything we are and everything we do—both inside and, more importantly, outside the church.

I once heard Os Guinness address a question about why the church in the late 20th century was not having a larger impact in our world when there were more people going to church than ever before. He said the main reason was not that Christians weren’t where they should be. There are plenty of artists, lawyers, doctors, and business owners that are Christians. Rather, the main reason is that Christians aren’t who they should be right where they are.

“Calling”, he said, “is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction.” When we reduce the notion of “calling” to work inside the church, we fail to equip our people to apply their Christian faith to everything they do, everywhere they are.

As has often been said, “If Christ is not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all.”

Because God created peoples, places, and things, and because sin has corrupted peoples, places, and things, God intends to redeem people and their cultural sphere. In Christ, God intends to redeem not only environmentalists but also the environment; not just lawyers but also law; not simply government officials but also government itself (Isa. 9:6-7).

The most startling aspect of God’s mission is that he has presently enlisted his imperfect people (the church) to carry out his work of revitalization—right where they are!

As Paul says, “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called …. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (1 Cor. 7:20, 24, ESV). As we do this, we fulfill our God-given mandate to reform, to beautify, our part of the world for God’s glory.

Therefore, God calls preachers and church leaders to disciple and direct people inside the church to understand just how effective they can be outside the church when they understand their calling in terms of everyone, in everything, and everywhere.

That is our calling.

Our Calling, Our Spheres is a post from: Tullian Tchividjian

Drops of Tears Can Never Repay

Not Going to Make Me a Better Swimmer

"I was a drowning man whose rescue depended on stopping all efforts to swim and trusting someone who was not going to make me a better swimmer, but would drown in my place." 

      - Michael Spencer in Mere Churchianity

God and Dog

He prayed like Moses

I have to admit that these words trouble me.  Do they you?  Prayer like this seems impossible to me.  Am I the only one who feels weak and ineffectual in prayer more often than not?

By Max Lucado

One of our Brazilian church leaders taught me something about earnest prayer. He met Christ during a yearlong stay in a drug-rehab center. His therapy included three one-hour sessions of prayer a day. Patients weren’t required to pray, but they were required to attend the prayer meeting. Dozens of recovering drug addicts spent sixty uninterrupted minutes on their knees.

I expressed amazement and confessed that my prayers were short and formal. He invited (dared?) me to meet him for prayer. I did the next day. We knelt on the concrete floor of our small church auditorium and began to talk to God. Change that. I talked; he cried, wailed, begged, cajoled, and pleaded. He pounded his fists on the floor, shook a fist toward heaven, confessed, and reconfessed every sin. He recited every promise in the Bible as if God needed a reminder. He prayed like Moses.

When God determined to destroy the Israelites for their golden calf stunt, “Moses begged the Lord his God and said, ‘Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with your great power and strength. Don’t let the people of Egypt say, “The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt for an evil purpose.” . . . Remember the men who served you—Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You promised with an oath to them’” (Ex. 32:11–13 NCV).

Moses on Mount Sinai is not calm and quiet, with folded hands and a serene expression. He’s on his face one minute, in God’s the next. He’s on his knees, pointing his finger, lifting his hands. Shedding tears. Shredding his cloak. Wrestling like Jacob at Jabbok for the lives of his people. And God heard him! “So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he had said he might” (v.14 NCV).

Our passionate prayers move the heart of God. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). Prayer does not change God’s nature; who he is will never be altered. Prayer does, however, impact the flow of history. God has wired his world for power, but he calls on us to flip the switch.

Most of us struggle with prayer. We forget to pray, and when we remember, we hurry through prayers with hollow words. Our minds drift; our thoughts scatter like a covey of quail. Why is this? Prayer requires minimal effort. No location is prescribed. No particular clothing is required. No title or office is stipulated. Yet you’d think we were wrestling a greased pig.

Speaking of pigs, Satan seeks to interrupt our prayers. Our battle with prayer is not entirely our fault. The devil knows the stories; he witnessed the angel in Peter’s cell and the revival in Jerusalem. He knows what happens when we pray. “Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places” (2 Cor. 10:4 NCV).

Satan is not troubled when Max writes books or prepares sermons, but his knobby knees tremble when Max prays. Satan does not stutter or stumble when you walk through church doors or attend committee meetings. Demons aren’t flustered when you read this book. But the walls of hell shake when one person with an honest heart and faithful confession says, “Oh, God, how great thou art.”

Satan keeps you and me from prayer. He tries to position himself between us and God. But he scampers like a spooked dog when we move forward. So let’s do.

  Let’s pray, first. Traveling to help the hungry? Be sure to bathe your mission in prayer. Working to disentangle the knots of injustice? Pray. Weary with a world of racism and division? So is God. And he would love to talk to you about it.
  Let’s pray, most. Did God call us to preach without ceasing? Or teach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? Or sing without ceasing? No, but he did call us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

Did Jesus declare: My house shall be called a house of study? Fellowship? Music? A house of exposition? A house of activities? No, but he did say, “My house will be called a house of prayer” (Mark 11:17 NIV).

No other spiritual activity is guaranteed such results. “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action” (Matt. 18:19 MSG). He is moved by the humble, prayerful heart.

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ.
(Colossians 4:2–3 NLT)

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you created all that exists, and you keep it running through your infinite wisdom and boundless power. Yet you invite me to come to you in prayer, boldly and with the expectation that you will hear me and answer me. Teach me, Lord, to take full advantage of this amazing privilege, especially in regard to reaching others with your love. Give me a heart for those who have yet to experience the fullness of your grace, and prompt me to pray for them and for their welfare, both in this world and in eternity. Lord, bring me to the front lines of this battle. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

___________________________
From Outlive Your Life
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2010) Max Lucado

Liar, Lunatic or Lord?

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.   John 14:6  

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”   C.S. Lewis

 

"Jesus leaves us with two options. Accept him as God or reject him as a megalomaniac. There is no third alternative.....Call him crazy or crown him as king. Dismiss him as a fraud or declare him to be God. Walk away from him or bow before him, but don’t play games with him. Don’t call him a great man. Don’t list him among decent folk . . . He is either God or godless. Heaven sent or hell born. All hope or all hype. But nothing in between."  - Max Lucado

Prayer

 John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer:

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will

put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for you or laid aside by you.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things

to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

The Gospel and the Avett Brothers

These boys have a lot of Gospel in their lyrics:

We came for salvation
We came for family
We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away
We came to break the bad
We came to cheer the sad
We came to leave behind the world a better way

 

And I would give up everything
And if you were to come up clean
And see you shine so bright in a world of woe
And they may pay us off in fame
But that is not why we came
And if it compromises truth then we will go

Suppose.....

“Now suppose both death and hell were utterly defeated.  Suppose the fight was fixed.  Suppose God took you on a crystal ball trip into your future and you saw with indubitable certainty that despite everything — your sin, your smallness, your stupidity — you could have free for the asking your whole crazy heart’s deepest desire: heaven, eternal joy.  Would you not return fearless and singing?  What can earth do to you if you are guaranteed heaven?  To fear the worst earthly loss would be like a millionaire fearing the loss of a penny — less, a scratch on a penny.”

Peter Kreeft, Heaven- page 183.

Suppose . . . is a post from: Ray Ortlund

When God Says to the Sun and the Moon: “Do It Again!”

G.K. Chesterton quoted by Justin Taylor:

"A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life.

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.

It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun: and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.

It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.

It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore."

It Will Be Finished

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  John 19:30

 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  Revelation 21:4

“Let all that suffer for Christ and with Christ comfort themselves with this, that yet a little while and they also shall say, ‘It is finished.’”       

Matthew Henry, Commentary, on John 19:30.