Joy in the Faith

Your joy in the faith will be in direct

proportion to the obedience of your faith.
As sin will always rob you of your joy.

Pressing On Toward the Goal

I press on toward the goal for the

prize of the upward call of God

in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:14

Since the Lord is at hand, the present duty of each Christian is to live in His likeness, to make urgent progress in holiness so as to have a harvest of righteousness ready for Him, and to long to bring others to faith so that they may be glad together before His throne.

Alec Motyer

The Message of Philippians

Page 22

Christ, Our Great High Priest

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood,

He Himself likewise also partook of the same...

Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren 

in all things, so that He might become a merciful

and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God...

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who

has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God...

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize

with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted 

in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 2:14, 17; 4:14-15

The beauty of Jesus Christ being our high priest before God, is that He came down and took our flesh upon Himself, and in so doing was tempted in every way, just as we are tempted.  From that perspective He operates as our intercessor before God because He can fully identify and sympathize with the yearnings and temptations of the flesh.  Now, of course, He did not succumb to the temptations, but He was tempted none the less.  So when He intercedes with God for us, when He pleads our cause before God, He does so from a position of familiarity and understanding of just what it is like to be in a body of flesh.  He intercedes with insight gained from living amongst us, and sharing our human condition.

Yes, He is our Savior, but once He becomes our Savior, He then assumes the role of our Advocate before God (I John 2:1), and what a role that is.  We know from Scripture that Satan is our adversary, and part of what he does as our adversary is accuse us (Christians) night and day before God (Revelation 12:10), and he certainly has enough ammunition to use against us as none of us is without sin (Ecclesiates 7:20, I John 1:8-10, James 1:21, 3:2, Romans 7:17-21); but for every accusation we have an Advocate (I John 2:1) who intercedes vigorously for us based on His death for our sin, His paying the penalty for that sin, His blood being shed for that sin; and that His death is the propitiation (satisfaction of the holy wrath and satisfaction of the justice of God) against that sin (Jeremiah 50:34, Micah 7:9).  His sacrifice and its accompanying propitiation is not just an adequate defense, but is an overwhelming defense, an impenetrable defense against all the accusations of the enemy.  

As our high priest, Christ knows and cares.  As our high priest, Christ is capable and qualified. As our high priest, Christ is indefeatable.  So don't let the guilt of your sin keep you from coming to God; and once you have come to Him, don't let the accusations and incrimination of the enemy weigh you down because Christ has vigorously pleaded your case and defended you, and therefore there is no longer any condemnation from God upon you (Romans 8:1).  

Praise be to God for His wondrous salvation and all of its benefits to men.

Being Holy, Walking Humbly

To be holy before God, 

you must walk humbly with God.

Micah 6:8

Numbers 12:3

Philippians 2:5-8

I Peter 5:6

Another Reason for Expository Preaching

When you preach sequentially and expositorially, 
you expose your people to the whole mind of God, 
and feed them with the whole counsel of God.  

Thinking About God

...the most significant factor in the life

of God's people is how they think about

God; and how we think about God is 

profoundly influenced by our proclamation

of God in worship and our acclamation 

of Him in praise.

Sinclair Ferguson

A Heart for God

Page 115

The Direction of Our Walk

In Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians Paul talks about our walk as Christians and non-Christians.  I really like this metaphor of life because it speaks to me of direction.  And in our life we are walking in one of two directions.  We are either walking toward Christ, or we are walking away from Christ.  We are walking toward the Light or we are walking away from it.

Those who are not seeking God are walking further and further away from Christ.  Just follow the downward march of depravity in Romans 1 to see how they walk further and further away from Christ in their heart and mind.  And Paul also tells us in Philippians 3 that many walk as enemies of Christ and His cross, whose god is their appetite, for whom shame is their glory, who set their minds on earthly things, whose end is destruction.  These people can walk so far away from Christ that the light that is in them becomes darkness.  

Christ has told us that no one comes to Father except through Him.  So those who have sought after God and found God, have not only walked toward Christ, but have walked into Christ.  And the further they walk into Christ, the more deeply they abide in Christ, the more fully they experience Christ, and the more complete in Christ they become.  In Colossians 3 Paul tells us the Christian walks toward Christ by fixing his gaze upon Jesus, seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and sets his mind on the things of Christ and not the things of this earth.  

So what about you, my friend?  What direction is your walk taking you?  Are you walking toward Christ or away from Christ?  Are you becoming more like Christ or are you becoming darker on the inside?  If you will but walk toward Christ He will greet you with open arms and the entrance to heaven will be abundantly supplied to you.  What direction will you take?  Choose this day the direction that leads to life!

Church Growth Epiphany

In our country, there seems to be a preoccupation with youth, in most every area.  Marketers and marketing organizations hone in on the under 40 age group like a bee on pollen.  If you doubt it look at all the magazine ads and the age of the actors in the commercials on television.  However, it seems there has been a recent epiphany in the marketing world as they have discovered that older people buy stuff too, and there seems to be the start of a paradigm shift in the focus of marketers.

Well, the church culture has not been much different either.  So much pub (publicity) has been directed at many of the young guns in evangelicalism, and the numbers and ministry growth that some have achieved.  Many of the Christian conferences will highlight these younger men, and I have read some articles that said if you don't get these younger guys as speakers at your conference,  you won't have any drawing power.  Now this is not to detract from them, or to denigrate them in any way, as I think what many of them are doing is great; not only great for the kingdom in expanding its reach, but also in the area of encouraging many other younger pastors; and there are several whom I enjoy listening to and benefit from.  But before we get too far into the exaltation of all things younger, hipper, with skinny jeans, casual attire, funky hair and cooler flair, and overuse of the words relevant, authentic, missional, and social justice; we need to take a look at some statistics that have come to light.

 In this link, Who Pastor's Growing Churches? , Cynthia Woolever provides statistics that show the largest number of growing churches have pastors that are ages 51-60 (46%) and the second largest group of growing churches have pastors 61+ (24%).  The two age groups under age 50 only account for 30% of the growing churches.  I know one pastor in his 70s who has stated that the majority of the people joining his church are age 35 and under.  Now obviously there are several factors that play into these statistics, but even with other variables, there seems to be an overwhelming disparity between churches pastored by those over 50 versus those under 50.

Maybe this should be an epiphany for us in evangelicalism.  Maybe it should shift our paradigm a little...or a lot.  There has also been recent research done in which non-church goers were surveyed, and the response from them indicated that if they were to consider going to church, they wanted the church to look like a church and feel like a church.  This might be a reach, but maybe these same people want the pastor to look  and act like a pastor as well.

I think that those in the world expect the church to be different, and, in fact, know that it should be different.  So to attract more people, maybe we should stop trying to look and act and sound like the world.  Maybe when coming to church, the unchurched don't need it to be a seamless experience, but need to experience the difference.  Maybe being overwhelmed with the Biblical vernacular is good.  Maybe having an atmosphere that says they are coming before a transcendant Being is good.  Maybe a service that leaves them with a sense of accountability to that Being is even better.  Maybe being around a group of people that enjoy and celebrate and make no apologies for that difference would add to its legitimacy.  Maybe this is what the churches pastored by these older guys are offering, as the churches they pastor are not typically into the latest and greatest.   Maybe what the church needs to be is what it has always been....a different place, a safe haven, a place of mutual accountability and mutual encouragement, a place that knows its place before both God and men.

Just some food for thought as we move into the new year.




                                                                  

What Makes the Church the Church

What makes the church the church?  It is the same thing that makes me a Christian, and the same thing that makes you a Christian.  Christ in me, and Christ in you.  Christ is only present in His church, His called out ones, the ones who bear His name and who are being transformed into His image.  He does not abide in the world, but is present in the the world through His church..  So when we are gathered together to meet corporately, what then makes the church the church?  What should stand out about the gathering?  It is the presence of Christ.  So no matter the music or the dress, whether high church or low church, city church or cowboy church, African or Asian or American church, we should experience the presence of Christ.

Wait On the Lord

"Wait on the Lord" is a constant refrain in the Psalms, 

and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us

waiting.  He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it

is not His way to give more light on the future than 

we need for action in the present, or to guide us more

than one step at a time.  When in doubt, do nothing, 

but continue to wait on God.  When action is needed

light will come.

J I Packer

Knowing God

Pages 238-239