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

Pride and Humility

...God is opposed to the proud, 

but gives grace to the humble.

For though the Lord is exalted,

yet He regards the lowly, but 

the haughty He knows from afar.

James 4:6, Psalm 138:6

Here are ten things the Bible teaches us about pride and humility. 

  1. Pride ultimately exalts itself over God, and humility ultimately makes itself low before God.  

  2. Pride pushes God away, while humility draws near to God.  

  3. Pride depends on itself, while humility depends on God.  

  4. Pride boasts on itself, while humility boasts on God.  

  5. Pride credits itself, while humility credits God. 

  6. Pride follows its own path, while humility follows God's path.  

  7. Pride is self-seeking, while humility is God-seeking.  

  8. Pride always leads to disobedience, while humility always leads to obedience.  

  9. Pride is the opposite of godliness, while humility promotes godliness. 

10. The proud will be destroyed from the earth, while the humble will inherit the earth.

A Working Definition of Legalism

Legalism is a morality, a code of conduct,
which holds to a form of godliness, which 
smells of religion, which promises acceptance;
but ultimately is not grounded in Christ, in 
His person and His completed work.

Whitefield and Pastoral Leadership

In his biography of George Whitefield (Volume II page 155), Arnold Dallimore gives us some insight into George Whitefield as a leader.  

...Whitefield did exercise an effective leadership of this movement. It was not, however, a leadership by domination and the giving of commands; rather it was one of affection and example. Most of the exhorters had been converted under his ministry and looked on him, as many of them stated, as a spiritual father  In turn, holding him in such high esteem and seeing in him an embodiment of so much of their own Christian ideal, they delighted to be his co-laborers and to co-operate with his plans. Whitefield was inflexible in matters of moral rectitude and expected the men to maintain a life of strong Christian discipline and tremendous activity, but in general his relationship with the people and exhorters throughout his movement was by his heart-felt concern, his unfailing encouragement, and his personal example. (Italics mine)

If you think about it, this is where pastoral leadership, spiritual leadership starts. And these elements should never depart or be de-emphasized.

Christmas and the Incarnation

As we celebrate the incarnation, the appearing of God in the flesh, I thought this quote from Charles Spurgeon would be appropriate, both for its profundity, and its succinctness.  It is taken from Steve Lawson's book The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon page 91.

"He is not humanity deified.

He is not Godhead humanized.

He is God. He is man. He is all

that God is, and all that man is

as God created Him."

And because Jesus Christ is both God and man, He then is solely and uniquely qualified to be the the Savior. The Word became flesh. He was the only begotten God, the Savior born for us in the city of David, Christ the Lord.  So along with the angels let us praise God by saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." (Luke 2:14).  

Let us preach this Savior and His salvation.  Let us tell the world of the appearing of the grace, kindness, and the love of God for mankind in the birth of Christ.  For Christmas is the heart of the gospel message.

Christ, Our Example

but so that the world may know that I love the Father,

I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.

John 14:31a

As Christians, we know that Christ is our model, our exemplar, and as such view Him as the example of how we are to live our Christian life.  While this is true and right, what we miss so often is that He is the model for how our relationship with our heavenly Father should look, as well.  

I don't know if you have ever thought about what your relationship with God should look like, but to know what it should look like you have to look no further than Christ.  In going through the Gospel of John, you will see Christ in a much more personal way than in the other gospels, and one of things you will notice about Him is His relationship with the Father; and how He fulfills all righteousness by first fulfilling the greatest commandment, which is to love the Father above all else.  

Loving the Father was His greatest desire and was the springboard for all that He did.  As you go through the Gospel of John you will come across verses that give you insight into His love of the Father and how that is manifested in His life here on earth.  Let's look at some of them:

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish all His work.

John 5:19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son does in like manner.

John 5:30 I can do nothing on My own initiative....I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 8:28b-29...and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father has taught Me.  And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.

John 12:49-50 For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.  I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.  

So we see in these verses that the things Jesus did were what He saw the Father doing and the things He said were what the Father gave Him to say.  We also see that what sustained and nourished Him was doing the will of the Father, and that He always did what pleased the Father.  And what was His motivation, His foundation, if you will, for this great desire to please God and accomplish the Father's will in His life.  We see it expressed in John 14:31 above. Out of His great love for the Father came forth the desire to please the Father, and the desire to please the Father manifested itself in His obedience to the Father.

And what kind of obedience was this? It was a loving obedience.  It is obedience that was born out of love and its accompanying desire to please the One who is the object of that love.  My friends, it is to be the same for us.  Our obedience to the Father should not be a legalistic obedience or the obedience of duty or the obedience of fear, but an obedience that springs forth from a heart full of love for our heavenly Father.  In fact, our obedience is directly connected to our love.  This is why Jesus told His disciples (and is meant for us, too), "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."  Jesus could make this statement without the slightest twinge of the guilt of hypocrisy, because that is exactly what He did.

So let us love the Father and the Son by being obedient to them, and may our obedience to them be an obedience born out of love; and may our love and its obedience know no bounds.

  

The Surpassing Value

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view

of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus

my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of

all things, and count them but rubbish so that 

I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:8

The other day I was thinking about my relationship with Christ, and how its value far surpasses anything else; and how He is worth the sacrifices I make for Him   And in the process of thinking about this, I had a scene come into my mind.  A scene that comes up occasionally when thinking on sacrificing for the Lord, and how He is worth sacrificing for.  It is a scene from my own imagination, that came about as a result of reading a missionary biography a few years back.  I wish I could remember the missionary's name, and where I read it, but here is the gist of it.  

There was a family that felt led of the Lord to go and witness to the natives of the New Hebrides, and were dropped off on the island to begin their ministry.  The inhabitants were cannibals, and were fierce warriors.  Over the next couple of years the children and the wife died and were buried, and the father/husband slept on their graves every night for fear that the cannibals would dig up their graves.  This man would later remarry and return to the island to continue to share the gospel with these people.  Of course, there is more to the story, but the scene that keeps coming to my mind is one where this man, having given up all his possessions, comforts, and security to come to this foreign and hostile land; and then losing his entire family, is alone in the darkness and stretched out over the graves of his wife and children.  And in my mind the man is proclaiming to the Lord, "You are worth it!  You are worth it!"

My friends, I don't know what you are giving up to serve the Savior.  I don't know what sacrifices you are making or have made; but I do know this, "He is worth it!  He is worth it!"  He is worth the work of our faith and the labor of our love.  He is worth the taking up of our cross. He is worth the suffering of shame for His name sake.  He is the pearl of great price who is worth all of what we have.  He is the One who paid it all, and so He is the one who is worth it all.  Let us take our lives and offer them up, so that along with Paul, we too may gain Christ and may be found in Him on that day. 

Thoughts on the Gospel

The gospel is not a sale to be made,

but a story to be told.

The gospel is not about man making his peace with God,

but about what God has done to reconcile man to Himself.


You don't speak the gospel at people,
but you share the gospel with people.

The gospel is not about what man must do

to come to God, but about what God has done

to bring man to Himself.

The true gospel will always point you
toward Christ and away from yourself.

The gospel presents salvation as the
need, and Christ as the answer.

Christ and Our Sin

...our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus

who gave Himself for us to redeem us

from every lawless deed.

Titus 2:13b-14a

Redeem, lutroo in the Greek.  It means to set one free by means of a ransom.  Every lawless deed (NASB)/all lawlessness (ESV), pas anomia in the Greek.  The phrase here means every type, every form , every kind of sin.

So this small section in Titus tells us that our great God and Savior Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, to ransom us and set us free from any and all sin.  This is not a broad brush of sins in a general sense, but sins in a particular sense.  Christ did not die for sins in general, but sins in particular.  He died for our particular sins, each and every one of them.  Therefore, it is not a universal salvation, but a particular salvation.  We have been freed from the penalty and power of every type and every form of sin.

The ransom has been paid and we have been set free from the bondage and power of each and every type of sin, every kind of sin.  Therefore there is absolutely no sin that can have dominion over us.  We are no longer slaves to sin, any sin, there is no longer any sin that can be master over us.  That means that we have been released from the power of pornography, immorality, homosexuality, bitterness, selfishness, gluttony, arrogance, lying, unforgiveness, and a host of other sins.  Christ has paid the price with His very own blood, and has effected our ransom so that we would be set free from the power and dominion of any sin. 

He has also redeemed us, set us free, from the penalty of each and every sin.  Each and every sin has a just recompense and each and every sin must be accounted for; and Christ has paid the penalty for each and every one of our sins for us.  Therefore we have been released from the damning effect of each and every sin, the eternal consequences of each and every sin, the eternal weight of judgment and the eternal wrath of God for each and every sin.

So, how dare we take sin lightly, any sin, so as to not even speak of sin at all.  There is no such thing as a little sin, or an innocuous sin.  There is no such thing as an inconsequential sin.  Each and every sin must be, and will be, accounted for.  Each and every sin has its just penalty and must be atoned for.  Each and every sin merits the eternal wrath of God, and no sin is overlooked or swept under the rug by God.  Christ redeemed us, each and every one of us, by paying the redemption price for each and every sin for us all.  So let us not take our sin(s) lightly, don't blow them off, don't shrug them off because they seem too small.  Confess your sin, be broken and contrite over your sin, each and every one of them; because Christ died for each and every one, to pays its penalty and to set you free from that sin.

This is the great salvation we are not to neglect.  Let us pay great attention, and give great praise to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the greatness of His saving us.

Apart from His Word

The word of God is integral in living the Christian life.  In fact, it is the key to living the Christian life, and we can't live the Christian life apart from it. It is a necessary ingredient that must be included in our life.

So, the word of God is required...

To give us the wisdom that leads to salvation.
To live a holy life.
To live a life that pleases Him.
To live a spiritually fruitful life.
To live a meaningful life.
To live a life that produces eternal rewards.
To live a life that blesses others.
To live an exemplary life.
To live of life of integrity.
To live a life that has substance to it.
To live a life of joy.
To live a life that has eternal value.
To live a life that brings Him glory.
To live a life without regret.
To live a life that imitates Him.
To live a life that testifies of Him.
To live a life that proclaims I am a Christian.
To know His will for our life.
To grow in grace.
To grow in our knowledge of Him.
To increase our faith.
To enlarge our heart.
To grow in our love for God and for others.


Apart from His word, it is impossible to live the Christian life. It is truly the Christians's treasure.

The Key to Pressing On

In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul talks about his pressing on and reaching forward.  For Paul, this life was about preparing for the next.  What a great perspective, and Paul shares that perspective with Titus in Titus 2:13, when he talks about looking forward to the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.  This attitude of looking forward to heaven, looking forward to the resurrection, looking forward to glory, keeps the present in perspective.  It lets us know that there is something greater, something better, something richer, something more beautiful, something everlasting, and therefore something much much more than all this present world has to offer, which awaits us in the life to come.

While this is the perspective we are to have, what is the key for us in living out life, daily living out life, in the here and now; the pressing on for the upward call of Christ Jesus?  Again, Paul gives us the answer, and the key to us pressing on in this life, in both waiting and preparing, is faithfulness.  Not too sexy is it? But it is the key.  Paul gives us insight into this in I Timothy 1:12 when he tells us that the Lord put him into service because He considered Paul faithful.  Paul also mentions the issue of faithfulness in I Corinthians 4:2 when he said that the requirement for stewardship is faithfulness/trustworthiness (which parallels with the parable of the talents).  He echoes this in II Timothy 2:3-6 when he uses the metaphors of the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer; and what ties them all together is that they are all faithful in their undertakings.  Paul finishes this line of thinking later with a personal example in II Timothy 4:5-8 when he tells Timothy to fully complete his ministry, and then tells Timothy that is exactly what he, himself, has done..."I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."   In other words, Paul has been faithful to the Lord, faithful to his calling, faithful to fulfill to completion his ministry, faithful to the end of his life here on earth. 

Psalm 37:5 also speaks to the importance of faithfulness.  In this verse we get the picture that our faithfulness should both grow and flourish, and is part of our growing in the Lord.  In Hosea 4:1, what the Lord had against the inhabitants of Israel, is that they were not being faithful.

Christ, Himself,  talks about faithfulness in Luke 16:10 and 19:17, and the context is being faithful in the small things given now as a prelude to being entrusted with true riches in eternity.

Faithfulness can also be described and manifested in loyalty, fidelity,and trustworthiness, but it is not momentary loyalty, fidelity, and trustworthiness.  It is the loyalty, fidelity, and trustworthiness of a lifetime, not just when it is easy or convenient; but in season and out of season.  It is to put your hand to the plow and to not look back, and to continue until the plowing is finished.  It is faithfulness in pressing on, pressing on to the finish.

Without faithfulness, not only can there be no pressing on, there can really be no Christian life.  This is the true perseverance of the saints, the perseverance in faithfulness.