Jesus is the Great Burden-bearer

"Jesus is the great Burden-Bearer of His people. No other arm, and no other heart, in heaven or upon earth, were strong enough, or loving enough, to bear these burdens but His! He who bore the weight of our sin and curse and shame in His obedience and death — bore it along all the avenues of His weary pilgrimage, from Bethlehem to Calvary — is He who now stretches forth His Divine arm, and makes bare a Brother’s heart to take your burden of care and of grief, dear saint of God, upon Himself."

— Octavius Winslow

The Ministry of Home

(HT: Tony Reinke; Of First Importance)

Why Theology Matters

A good summary post from Kevin DeYoung on why faithful churches and faithful Christians should be unapologetically theological.

What it means to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord

“’Trusting in Jesus’…means firmly believing certain things to be true about Jesus – that he came into the world as God’s Son, that he died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, that he rose again to be God’s king, and that he is the only one who can stand as a priest before God on my behalf – and then acting in dependence and reliance upon those things about him….

“Because I know and trust that Jesus is God’s good and  perfect king, I  will fall down before him and submit my entire life to him, knowing that whatever he tells me to do will be excellent and for my good.  And because I know and trust that Jesus has died and risen and ascended to God as my priest, I will completely depend upon him for the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life.  I will place my life in his hands, knowing that he will save me from the judgment I deserve and that submitting to him as my king will mean ‘life’ with a capital L.”

“What part does the Spirit play in this?  He’s the one who changes us on the inside so that we put our trust in Jesus….  By his Spirit, God brings us to  the point where we put our trust in Jesus, making him the king and savior of our lives….  When the Spirit brings you to trust in Jesus, he actually begins a new life in you….  God works in you so that you start living how you were meant to live – with Jesus as the king of your life.  God makes you his by joining you to Jesus in such a way that his death is your death – all your sins are paid for; and his life is your life – you begin to live as someone who loves God.”  

-- Paul Grimmond, "Right Side Up: Life as God Meant It to Be" (Matthias Media, pp. 71-73)

God's ability to bless

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think . . . .” Ephesians 3:20

“Not above some things that we ask, but all.  Not above some of our dimmer conceptions, our lower thoughts, but above all that we think.  Now just put together all that you have ever asked for.  Heap it up, and then pile upon the top thereof all that you have ever thought of concerning the riches of divine grace.  What a mountain! . . . High as this pyramid of prayers and contemplations may be piled, God’s ability to bless is higher still.”

-- C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1950), III:419.

HT:  Ray Ortlund, Jr.

Beloved children, keep yourselves from idols...

From David Powlison:

The relevance of massive chunks of Scripture hangs on our understanding of idolatry. But let me focus the question through a particular verse in the New Testament which long troubled me. The last line of 1 John woos, then commands us:

“Beloved children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

In a 105-verse treatise on living in vital fellowship with Jesus, the Son of God, how on earth does that unexpected command merit being the final word?

Is it perhaps a scribal emendation?

Is it an awkward faux pas by a writer who typically weaves dense and orderly tapestries of meaning with simple, repetitive language?

Is it a culture-bound, practical application tacked onto the end of one of the most timeless and heaven-dwelling epistles?

Each of these alternatives misses the integrity and power of John’s final words.

Instead, John’s last line properly leaves us with that most basic question which God continually poses to each human heart.

Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?

It is a question bearing on the immediate motivation for one’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings. In the Bible’s conceptualization, the motivation question is the lordship question.

Who or what “rules” my behavior, the Lord or a substitute?

The undesirable answers to this question—answers which inform our understanding of the “idolatry” we are to avoid—are most graphically presented in 1 John 2:15-17, 3:7-10, 4:1-6, and 5:19. It is striking how these verses portray a confluence of the “sociological,” the “psychological,” and the “demonological” perspectives on idolatrous motivation.

The inwardness of motivation is captured by the inordinate and proud “desires of the flesh” (1 John 2:16), our inertial self-centeredness, the wants, hopes, fears, expectations, “needs” that crowd our hearts.

The externality of motivation is captured by “the world” (1 John 2:15-17,4:1-6), all that invites, models, reinforces, and conditions us into such inertia, teaching us lies.

The “demonological” dimension of motivation is the Devil’s behavior-determining lordship (1 John 3:7-10,5:19), standing as a ruler over his kingdom of flesh and world.

In contrast, to “keep yourself from idols” is to live with a whole heart of faith in Jesus. It is to be controlled by all that lies behind the address “Beloved children” (see especially 1 John 3:1-3,4:7-5:12). The alternative to Jesus, the swarm of alternatives, whether approached through the lens of flesh, world, or the Evil One, is idolatry.

HT: Justin Taylor

Unbelief in three tenses

Guilty regret is unbelief regarding God’s grace and goodness, aimed at the past; envy is that same unbelief in the present, and worry is the same doubt about his goodness, aimed at the future.

President George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

THANKSGIVING DAY 1789

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - A PROCLAMATION

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be – That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks – for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation – for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war –for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually – to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed – to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord – To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us – and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

GEO. WASHINGTON.

You cannot jump out of your skin

"All things are intrinsically made to work in Christ’s way, and, if they do, they work well. The discovery of that fact is going to be the greatest adventure of the future. If we were created by Christ and for Christ, then he is inescapable. You cannot jump out of your skin. If you revolt against Christ, you revolt against yourself. God has us hooked. We may run away in short excursions of freedom, but he reels us in. The facts are against us."

— E. Stanley Jones, quoted by Darrell W. Johnson in

Discipleship on the Edge

(Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2004), 117-118

HT: Of First Importance

"When we watch our friends suffer...."

Gracious wisdom from Ray Ortlund, Jr.:

Eliphaz reveals how his suspicions of Job were confirmed.  “A spirit glided past my face” one night with a message (Job 4:12-16).  A profound insight came to him in this striking manner.  What was it?  Nobody’s perfect (Job 4:17).  Wow.  We really needed spiritual illumination to know that.

In Eliphaz’s mind, that glib moralism explains Job’s sufferings.  It gives Eliphaz, he feels, authority to needle Job, to go on and on about how Job should repent and if only he would own up everything would get better, etc.

But more, his simplistic outlook casts a shadow on God: “Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error” (Job 4:18).  In other words, God is the ultimate Fault-Finder.  That is the moral calculus of the universe.

“Nobody’s perfect” is indeed true, but not profound, nor even relevant in Job’s case (Job 1:1, 8).  It does, however, surround Job with an aura of suspicion in the eyes of others.  There is a social dimension to suffering, as friends gather around to insinuate their well-meaning but misplaced criticisms.  Inevitably, a mentality of judgment projects its darkness even onto God himself.  God saw it that way (Job 42:7).

Wisdom, by contrast, makes us suspicious of our own suspicions, critical of our own criticisms.  Wisdom stops, rather than spreads, a spirit of accusation.  Wisdom gives the benefit of the doubt.  Wisdom, like love, “believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7), filling in every blank with positive assumptions.

God does sit in judgment over us all — with perfect wisdom, for the sake of Jesus Christ his Son, the Friend of sufferers, the Accused in their place.

Our part?  “Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent” (Proverbs 11:12).  And, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Proverbs 16:24).

The mission of the church

A "Missional Manifesto" (from Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer...)

What "union with Christ" means in experience

So near, so very near to God

Nearer I could not be

For in the person of his Son

I’m just as near as he.

So dear, so very dear to God

Dearer I could not be

The love wherewith he loved his Son

Is the love he has for me!

-- a poem quoted by Ray Ortlund, Jr. in a tribute he wrote to his father

What matters most in a preacher?

"If the pulpit be declining in power, it is due in a great measure to the men who mistake error for freshness, self-conceit for culture, and a determination to go astray for nobility of mind. So far from despising brethren of small literary accomplishments who excel in spiritual power and life, it is our duty to have them in abundant honour, to cheer them under their difficulties, and imitate them in their industrious use of their few talents. They can arouse a conscience though they cannot elucidate a problem; they can stir the affections, though they cannot revel in poetic imagery; they can reclaim sinners, though they cannot mystify with subtleties."

-- Charles Spurgeon

(See the rest of this message here.)

What should we expect in our daily walk with God?

In this first post, Justin Taylor introduces teaching from Greg Koukl that examines the idea "that a true relationship of intimacy with God requires ongoing private and personal revelations as a normative part of the Christian life."

In this second post, John Koessler discusses a related concern, the possibility of disappointment when it comes to our expectations of 'intimacy with God.'

Receive the redemption God offers

To refuse to let God graciously redeem and restore you is the worst and last act of tragically needless unbelief.

Justification: Declared Righteous...

"This is the scandal of justification: How can God declare us righteous if we are not inherently righteous? Isn’t this a legal fiction? Doesn’t it make God a liar? But that’s like thinking that God cannot say, ‘Let there be light’ unless there is already a sun to give it. God himself creates the conditions necessary for the existence of his work. When he says, ‘Let there be light!’ the sun exists. When he says, ‘Let this ungodly person be righteous,’ ‘this barren woman be pregnant,’ ‘this faithless person embrace my Word,’ it is so.

"When we really understand justification, we really understand how God works with us in every aspect of our lives before him. Christ lived the purpose-driven life so that we would inherit his righteousness through faith and be promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world. He did gain the everlasting inheritance by obedience to everything God commanded, driven by the purpose of fulfilling the law for us, in perfect love of God and neighbor, and he bore its judgments against us. His resurrection guarantees that the law of sin and death does not have the last word over us. He fulfilled the original purpose and commission for human existence, glorifying and enjoying his Father to the fullest. And he did this as our covenantal head, our representative, not simply as a moral example. Just as we were ‘in Adam’ at the fall, we were legally included ‘in Christ’ as he fulfilled all righteousness, bore our sins, and rose from the dead in victory."

— Michael Horton

The Gospel-Driven Life

(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Baker Books, 2009), 141-142