The Kind of Christians Today's Spiritual Climate Produces

“Evangelicalism as we know it today in its various manifestations does produce some real Christians. We have no wish to question this; we desire rather to assert it unequivocally. But the spiritual climate into which many modern Christians are born does not make for vigorous spiritual growth. Indeed, the whole evangelical world is to a large extent unfavorable to healthy Christianity. And I am not thinking of Modernism either. I mean rather the Bible-believing crowd that bears the name of orthodoxy.”

- A.W. Tozer, excerpted from Of God and Men

Tozer wrote this decades ago; I can only imagine what he would say today.

Joining in with the Worship of Heaven

"The worship of heaven, which we join when we gather as God’s people, is based on God’s revealed character and mighty works as Creator (Rev 4) and Redeemer (Rev 5). The only fitting response to such grace is that exhibited by the elders in heaven. They worshiped (i.e., adopted the protocol one does in the presence of such majestic selflessness). In the light of the cross we can only look away from ourselves and acknowledge in word and body language someone other than ourselves as the worthy one: the Lamb slain for us."

-- Graham Cole

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We aim to please Him...

“After conversion the motivation for all of life should be the desire to please Christ, who, as kurios [Lord], has proprietary rights over his willing douloi [slaves].” (2 Cor. 5:9,15; Eph. 5:10; Col. 1:10).

– Murray Harris, on 2 Cor.5:15 in NIGTC (Eerdmans/Paternoster)

"Your Times Are in God's Hands"

Here is a devotional from "Our Daily Bread" based on a message from Dr. Paul Dixon, who was president of Cedarville University when I attended there (he's now the chancellor).

"If we confess our sins...."

David Powlison provides a very helpful, complete guide to personal confession of sin. (It's also downloadable as a PDF file.)

He introduces it by writing, "When I counsel with people who struggle with deep feelings of shame, guilt, and regret, I sometimes suggest that they design a personalized liturgy. In what follows, I walk through the example of a woman who has had an abortion, and all that led up to that choice, and all that follows in someone whose conscience is alive. But you can tailor it to whatever struggle you or another person needs to deal with. Where is your struggle? Is it temper or bitterness? Sexual immorality? Amnesia toward God? Gluttony, laziness or greed? Judgmental words or thoughts? Gossip? Obsessive worrying? God welcomes all who are weary with sin."

Read the whole thing here....

How grace changes us

Another meaningful meditation from Ray Ortlund.

Three Strands of Prayer

Justin Taylor introduces David Powlison's characteristically insightful article on the three strands of prayer.

Here's a brief excerpt:

1. Sometimes we ask God to change our circumstances—heal the sick, give us daily bread, protect us from suffering and evildoers, make our political leaders just, convert our friends and family, make our work and ministries prosper, provide us with a spouse, quiet this dangerous storm, send us rain, give us a child.

2. Sometimes we ask God to change us—deepen our faith, teach us to love each other, forgive our sins, make us wise where we tend to be foolish, help us know You better, give us understanding of Scripture, teach us how to encourage others.

3. Sometimes we ask God to change everything by revealing Himself more fully on the stage of real life, magnifying the degree to which His glory and rule are obvious—Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, be exalted above the heavens, let Your glory be over all of the earth, let Your glory fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, come Lord Jesus.

"...if you can only groan, sob or sigh....

“My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.” Psalm 63:1

“Do not be afraid, dear children of God, you that have fallen into a mournful state, do not be afraid to cry out to God. I know we sometimes feel as if we must not and dare not pray. We have become so dull, so lifeless, so unworthy, that we do not expect to be heard, and feel as if it would be presumption to cry. But our heavenly Father loves to hear his children cry all day long. . . .

If you can cry out to Jesus, he will joyfully hear you. If you will give him no rest, he will give you all the rest you need. The Lord finds music in his children’s cries.

‘Oh,’ say you, ‘I would cry, but mine is such a discordant and foolish cry.’ You are the very man to cry, for your sorrow will put an emphasis into your voice. Of all the cries your children utter, that comes closest home to you which arises out of their pain and deep distress. A dying moan from a little one will pierce a mother’s heart. See, she presses the babe to her bosom! She cries, ‘My dear dying child,’ and weeps over it. You too shall be pressed to the bosom of everlasting love if you can only groan or sob or sigh.”

-- C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Old Testament (London, n.d.), II:663.

HT: Ray Ortlund

"A day when I utterly died" (George Mueller)

When asked what God had taught him most deeply about life, George Mueller (1805-1898), pastor and philanthropist, explained:

“There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will, died to the world, its approval or censure, died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends, and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.”

-- Quoted in A. T. Pierson, George Mueller of Bristol (London, 1899), page 367.

Are you ready for Sunday?

from Chris Brauns...

Why not spend some time on Friday and Saturday plowing the ground in your life in preparation for Sunday?

"We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted. But we add, men ought not to hear without preparation. Which, do you think needs the most preparation, the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I would have the ground well-plowed and harrowed, well-turned over, and the clods broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation needed by the ground, than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher." -- Charles Spurgeon.

Quoted in the recommended, Expository Listening, by Ken Ramey.

Tuesday's post....

I've fixed the links on Tuesday's post about "How to write an awful worship song..." Sorry about the glitch.

"The Glory of Plodding"

From Kevin DeYoung: "What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency."

Read his entire essay here.

Good Points from a Parody

More Scriptural, practical, pastoral wisdom on music and worship from Bob Kauflin.

"How to Write an Awful Worship Song"

UPDATE: links are working now..sorry for the mistake

...from Stephen Altrogge at The Blazing Center...

Here's an excerpt:

Make the Song All About You:

The main point of your song should be your experiences and how God makes you feel. Don't bother with objective truth about God. I would suggest that you use the words "I" or "me" at least 12-15 times. For example, "I feel like singing, yes I feel like spinning, because You make me feel so good inside. Like it's my birthday, but more awesome."

Read the entire thing here.

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What are we building the church with?

"If the church is being built with large portions of charm, personality, easy oratory, positive thinking, managerial skills, powerful and emotional experiences, and people smarts, but without the repeated, passionate, Spirit-anointed proclamation of 'Jesus Christ and him crucified,' we may be winning more adherents than converts…Do not think that you can adopt the philosophies and values of the world as if such choices do not have a profoundly detrimental impact on the church. Do not think you can get away with it. Do not kid yourself that you are with it, and avant-garde Christian, when in fact you are leaving the gospel behind and doing damage to God’s church."

-- D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry (p. 80, 84)

With this in mind, reflect on 1 Corinthians 3:10-17.