Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should some one ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answer would be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbor at all if I did not keep to the deep channel."
So, it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection.
Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows."
Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!
"Trials must and will befall—
But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all;
This is happiness to me."
Monday, November 17, 2008
"He shall choose our inheritance for us"
A devotional meditation on Psalm 47:4 from Charles Spurgeon:
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Evangelicalism, Pop Culture and "The Search for the Sacred"
Another excerpt from Michael Horton's "Christless Christianity."
“Citing examples from television, pop music, and best-selling books, an article in Entertainment Weekly noted,
‘Pop culture is going gaga for spirituality…. [However,] seekers of the day are apt to peel away the tough theological stuff and pluck out the most dulcet [sweet/pleasing] elements of the faith, coming up with a soothing sampler of Judeo-Christian imagery…, Eastern meditation, self-help lingo, a vaguely conservative craving for “virture,” and a loopy New Age pursuit of “peace.” This happy free-for-all, appealing to Baptists and stargazers alike, comes off more like Forrest Gump’s ubiquitous “boxa choclits” than like any real system of belief. You never know what you’re gonna get.’
“The search for the sacred has become a recurring cover story for national news magazines for some time now. Although this search is often identified as an encouraging sign of interest in God, it may be more dangerous than atheism.
“At least atheism makes arguments and shows an interest in a world external to the feelings of the inner self. Furthermore, after each round of this quest for the holy grail, evangelicalism itself looks more and more indistinguishable from the ooze of pop spirituality more generally.” (pp.159-160)
“Citing examples from television, pop music, and best-selling books, an article in Entertainment Weekly noted,
‘Pop culture is going gaga for spirituality…. [However,] seekers of the day are apt to peel away the tough theological stuff and pluck out the most dulcet [sweet/pleasing] elements of the faith, coming up with a soothing sampler of Judeo-Christian imagery…, Eastern meditation, self-help lingo, a vaguely conservative craving for “virture,” and a loopy New Age pursuit of “peace.” This happy free-for-all, appealing to Baptists and stargazers alike, comes off more like Forrest Gump’s ubiquitous “boxa choclits” than like any real system of belief. You never know what you’re gonna get.’
“The search for the sacred has become a recurring cover story for national news magazines for some time now. Although this search is often identified as an encouraging sign of interest in God, it may be more dangerous than atheism.
“At least atheism makes arguments and shows an interest in a world external to the feelings of the inner self. Furthermore, after each round of this quest for the holy grail, evangelicalism itself looks more and more indistinguishable from the ooze of pop spirituality more generally.” (pp.159-160)
"The Stone Will Be Rolled Away for Each of Us"
“He came back.
"After that brutal Friday, and that long, quiet Saturday, he came back. And that one intake of breath in the tomb changes everything. It changes the very reason I drew breath today and the way I move about in this world because I believe he’s coming back again. The world has gone on for more than two millennia since Jesus’ feet tread the earth he made. What would they have said back then if someone had told them that some two thousand years later we’d still be waiting? They would’ve thought back to that long Saturday and said, ‘Two thousand years will seem like a breath to you when you finally lay your crown at his feet. We don’t even remember what we were doing on that Saturday, but let me tell you about Sunday morning. Now that was something.’
"These many years of waiting will only be a sentence in the story. This long day will come to an end, and I believe it will end in glory, when we will shine like suns and stride the green hills with those we love and the One who loves. We will look with our new eyes and speak with our new tongues and turn to each other and say, ‘Do you remember the waiting? The long years, the bitter pain, the gnawing doubt, the relentless ache?’ And like Mary at the tomb, we will say: ‘I remember only the light, and the voice calling my name, and the overwhelming joy that the waiting was finally over.’"
The stone will be rolled away for each of us. May we wait with faithful hearts.”
—Andrew Peterson, CD liner notes for Resurrection Letters Volume II (Centricity Music: 2008)
posted at "Of First Importance"
"After that brutal Friday, and that long, quiet Saturday, he came back. And that one intake of breath in the tomb changes everything. It changes the very reason I drew breath today and the way I move about in this world because I believe he’s coming back again. The world has gone on for more than two millennia since Jesus’ feet tread the earth he made. What would they have said back then if someone had told them that some two thousand years later we’d still be waiting? They would’ve thought back to that long Saturday and said, ‘Two thousand years will seem like a breath to you when you finally lay your crown at his feet. We don’t even remember what we were doing on that Saturday, but let me tell you about Sunday morning. Now that was something.’
"These many years of waiting will only be a sentence in the story. This long day will come to an end, and I believe it will end in glory, when we will shine like suns and stride the green hills with those we love and the One who loves. We will look with our new eyes and speak with our new tongues and turn to each other and say, ‘Do you remember the waiting? The long years, the bitter pain, the gnawing doubt, the relentless ache?’ And like Mary at the tomb, we will say: ‘I remember only the light, and the voice calling my name, and the overwhelming joy that the waiting was finally over.’"
The stone will be rolled away for each of us. May we wait with faithful hearts.”
—Andrew Peterson, CD liner notes for Resurrection Letters Volume II (Centricity Music: 2008)
posted at "Of First Importance"
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
"Trapped in Neverland"
Another worthwhile essay from Carl Trueman: "Trapped in Neverland." Here is an excerpt:
"The world of my grandfather was evil because it made him grow up too fast; the world of today is evil because it prevents many from ever growing up at all....
"...Pascal put his finger on the problem of human life when he saw how entertainment had come to occupy a place, not as the necessary and momentary relief from a life of work, but as an end in itself.
"When entertainment becomes more than a pleasant and occasional distraction, when time and income become devoted to entertainment and to pleasure, when sports teams become more important to us than people - even the people to whom we are close - then something has gone badly wrong.
"The frothy entertainment culture in which we live is a narcotic: not only is it addictive, so that we always want more; it also eats away at us, skewing our priorities, rotting our values as surely as too much sugar rots our teeth.
"My grandfather was lucky in this one thing: he did not have time to be immature because he did not have the surplus income that would have granted him that luxury. That is not to exalt the virtue of poverty - poverty is an evil - but it is to underscore the dangers that come with wealth in abundance."
HT: Justin Taylor
"The world of my grandfather was evil because it made him grow up too fast; the world of today is evil because it prevents many from ever growing up at all....
"...Pascal put his finger on the problem of human life when he saw how entertainment had come to occupy a place, not as the necessary and momentary relief from a life of work, but as an end in itself.
"When entertainment becomes more than a pleasant and occasional distraction, when time and income become devoted to entertainment and to pleasure, when sports teams become more important to us than people - even the people to whom we are close - then something has gone badly wrong.
"The frothy entertainment culture in which we live is a narcotic: not only is it addictive, so that we always want more; it also eats away at us, skewing our priorities, rotting our values as surely as too much sugar rots our teeth.
"My grandfather was lucky in this one thing: he did not have time to be immature because he did not have the surplus income that would have granted him that luxury. That is not to exalt the virtue of poverty - poverty is an evil - but it is to underscore the dangers that come with wealth in abundance."
HT: Justin Taylor
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sinclair Ferguson: Six People You Meet En Route to Calvary
Justin Taylor introduces a sermons series from one of my favorite pastor/authors, Sinclair Ferguson.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Checkmate
“Inasmuch as the Cross is eschatological, the world of evil forces is also judged.
"It is as if two people were playing chess. At a certain point, one of the players rises from the table, leaving his opponent to ponder his next move. The opponent struggles with all the possibilities because he is determined to win. What he has not realized is that there are only a limited number of moves that he can make, and not one of them can change the outcome of the game. No matter what he does, he will lose.
"Just so at the Cross, the outcome of the chess game between God and Satan was decided. God will certainly win. Satan, however, is presently playing out every conceivable option, imagining that somehow his rebellion will triumph. It will not.”
—David F. Wells, God the Evangelist (Carlisle, UK: World Evangelical Fellowship, 1997), 67
posted at "Of First Importance"
"It is as if two people were playing chess. At a certain point, one of the players rises from the table, leaving his opponent to ponder his next move. The opponent struggles with all the possibilities because he is determined to win. What he has not realized is that there are only a limited number of moves that he can make, and not one of them can change the outcome of the game. No matter what he does, he will lose.
"Just so at the Cross, the outcome of the chess game between God and Satan was decided. God will certainly win. Satan, however, is presently playing out every conceivable option, imagining that somehow his rebellion will triumph. It will not.”
—David F. Wells, God the Evangelist (Carlisle, UK: World Evangelical Fellowship, 1997), 67
posted at "Of First Importance"
Saturday, November 8, 2008
"Christless Christianity" -- another excerpt
In his new book, "Christless Christianity," Michael Horton critiques the ministry and teaching of Joel Osteen as one of the most prominent contemporary examples of the 'moralistic, therapeutic deism' that is the 'alternative gospel of the American church:'
"A TIME magazine story in 2006 observed that Osteen’s success has reached even more traditional Protestant circles, citing the example of a Lutheran church that followed [Osteen’s book] ‘Your Best Life Now’ during Lent, of all times, when, as the writer notes, ‘Jesus was having his worst life then.’" (p. 71)
It is striking and sad when secular magazines like TIME are more discerning than many evangelical Christians.
"A TIME magazine story in 2006 observed that Osteen’s success has reached even more traditional Protestant circles, citing the example of a Lutheran church that followed [Osteen’s book] ‘Your Best Life Now’ during Lent, of all times, when, as the writer notes, ‘Jesus was having his worst life then.’" (p. 71)
It is striking and sad when secular magazines like TIME are more discerning than many evangelical Christians.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Billy Graham's 90th Birthday
Tullian Tchividjian (a pastor and author himself) writes about his grandfather's 90th birthday. Tullian invited readers of his blog to share how God has used Billy Graham in their lives, and I was happy to do so, along with many others. Here is what I wrote:
First of all, years before I came to faith in Christ, it was Dr. Graham’s preaching via his televised ‘crusades’ that planted the seeds for me in terms of coming to know that I was lost and needed a Savior.
Then as the Spirit drew me to faith, it was his book, “Peace with God,” that helped me to understand how to respond to the Gospel in repentance and faith, and what it meant to follow Christ as a new believer.
Also, his own powerful preaching was an early lesson to me about the centrality and efficacy of preaching God’s Word — a lesson that has stayed with me in my own pastoral ministry.
One other thing: your grandfather’s integrity, authenticity and faithfulness (along with that of your grandmother) has always been a heartening example to me. And when there were times that non-believers would point to the failures and hypocrisies of other ‘televangelists’ in order to cast reproach on the Gospel, I could always gently remind them of Billy Graham.
And so I’m sure there are so many, many others who are like me when I say that, when it comes to your grandfather, I thank God every time I think of him.
First of all, years before I came to faith in Christ, it was Dr. Graham’s preaching via his televised ‘crusades’ that planted the seeds for me in terms of coming to know that I was lost and needed a Savior.
Then as the Spirit drew me to faith, it was his book, “Peace with God,” that helped me to understand how to respond to the Gospel in repentance and faith, and what it meant to follow Christ as a new believer.
Also, his own powerful preaching was an early lesson to me about the centrality and efficacy of preaching God’s Word — a lesson that has stayed with me in my own pastoral ministry.
One other thing: your grandfather’s integrity, authenticity and faithfulness (along with that of your grandmother) has always been a heartening example to me. And when there were times that non-believers would point to the failures and hypocrisies of other ‘televangelists’ in order to cast reproach on the Gospel, I could always gently remind them of Billy Graham.
And so I’m sure there are so many, many others who are like me when I say that, when it comes to your grandfather, I thank God every time I think of him.
Excerpts from "Christless Christianity"
Here are some excerpts from Michael Horton's new book, "Christless Christianity" (described in the previous post).
"I think that the church in America today is so obsessed with being
practical, relevant, helpful, successful, and perhaps even well-liked that it nearly mirrors the world itself. Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups."
"…we are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American
church life where the Bible is mined for ‘relevant’ quotes but is largely
irrelevant on its own terms…." (pp.16-17)
"…There need not be explicit abandonment of any key Christian teaching, just a series of subtle distortions and not-so-subtle distractions. Even good things can cause us to look away from Christ and to take the gospel for granted as something we needed for conversion but which now can be safely assumed and put in the background. Center stage, however, is something or someone else." (p. 20)
"…So much of what I am calling ‘Christless Christianity’ is not profound enough to constitute heresy. Like the easy-listening Muzak that plays ubiquitously in the background in other shopping venues, the message of American Christianity has become simply trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant."
(p. 21)
"I think that the church in America today is so obsessed with being
practical, relevant, helpful, successful, and perhaps even well-liked that it nearly mirrors the world itself. Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups."
"…we are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American
church life where the Bible is mined for ‘relevant’ quotes but is largely
irrelevant on its own terms…." (pp.16-17)
"…There need not be explicit abandonment of any key Christian teaching, just a series of subtle distortions and not-so-subtle distractions. Even good things can cause us to look away from Christ and to take the gospel for granted as something we needed for conversion but which now can be safely assumed and put in the background. Center stage, however, is something or someone else." (p. 20)
"…So much of what I am calling ‘Christless Christianity’ is not profound enough to constitute heresy. Like the easy-listening Muzak that plays ubiquitously in the background in other shopping venues, the message of American Christianity has become simply trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant."
(p. 21)
Recommended Reading!
I highly recommend the new book by Michael Horton, "Christless Christianity." Horton insightfully analyzes what he calls "The Alternative Gospel of the American Church" which he describes as 'moralistic, therapeutic deism.'
I'll be posting occasional excerpts from this important book.
I'll be posting occasional excerpts from this important book.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
John MacArthur Sermons Available Online (Free)
Dr. MacArthur's "Grace to You" ministry is making his sermons available for free online.
HT: Justin Taylor
HT: Justin Taylor
Perspectives on the Election
Justin Taylor's blog has a wide range of posts reflecting on yesterday's election.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
"A Reasoning Trust"
“Faith is a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God.”
- John Stott, Your Mind Matters (London, England: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 30.
posted at Of First Importance
- John Stott, Your Mind Matters (London, England: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 30.
posted at Of First Importance
Monday, November 3, 2008
A Significant Post from Justin Taylor Regarding the Election
Justin's post is a response to an earlier post from John Piper.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Christ Intercedes for Us
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.”
—Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, ed Andrew Bonar (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth: 1960), 179
posted at "Of First Importance"
—Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, ed Andrew Bonar (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth: 1960), 179
posted at "Of First Importance"
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