Category: Devotional

Devotional thoughts for my benefit and yours from here, there, and everywhere

Powerful Thoughts on Preaching

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

Adrian Warnock has been pumping out a whole host of great posts on expositional preaching over the last several weeks. I happened upon them, and basically read them all in reverse order. May the following excerpts and links awaken a hunger for God’s presence in your life. And I pray God meets you this Sunday in a glorious way.

I’ll begin by  an especially challenging quote for a Sunday, then I’ll arrange the links and excerpts in chronological order. They are all really good, so take a little bit of time and have your zeal increased through the reading of these posts!

There is nothing vital in the religion and in the worship of such people. They expect nothing, and they get nothing, and nothing happens to them. They go to God’s house, not with the idea of meeting with God, not with the idea of waiting upon him; it never crosses their minds or enters into their hearts that something may happen in a service. No, we always do this on Sunday morning. It is our custom. It is our habit. It is a right thing to do. But the idea that God may suddenly visit his people and descend upon them, the whole thrill of being in the presence of God, and sensing his nearness, and his power, never even enters their imaginations …

Do we go to God’s house expecting something to happen? Or do we go just to listen to a sermon, and to sing our hymns, and to meet with one another? How often does this vital idea enter into our minds that we are in the presence of the living God, that the Holy Spirit is in the Church, that we may feel the touch of his power? How much do we think in terms of coming together to meet with God, and to worship him, and to stand before him, and to listen to him? Is there not this appalling danger that we are just content because we have correct beliefs? And we have lost the life, the vital thing, the power, the thing that really makes worship worship, which is in Spirit and truth.

(quote by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones — read the whole post)

…the Word of God is written primarily to produce worship. This means that if that Word is handled like a hot-dish recipe or a repair manual, it is mishandled. And the people will suffer. The Truth of God begs to be handled with exultation. And our hearts yearn for this and need it. Something in us starts to die when precious and infinitely valuable realities are handled without feelings and words of wonder and exultation.

(quote by John Piper– read the whole post)

I can forgive the preacher almost anything if he gives me a sense of God, if he gives me something for my soul, if he gives me the sense that, though he is inadequate himself, he is handling something which is very great and very glorious, if he gives me some dim glimpse of the majesty and the glory of God, the love of Christ my Saviour, and the magnificence of the Gospel. If he does that I am his debtor, and I am profoundly grateful to him.

(quote by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones — read the whole post)

D. Martyn Lloyd Jones reflects on Charles Spurgeon and the relative importance of having sermon series.

The 3 types of expository sermons.

Adrian Warnock reflects on the pitfalls of long and slow expositional sermon series.

Dispassionate preaching is a lie. If the preacher is not consumed with [the] passage for the message, how can those who hear it believe it? This is what must be recaptured by the men at this conference who are not in danger of giving up the pulpit to entertainment, but who can become listless and lifeless in expositing the Scriptures.

(quote by Steve Lawson — read the whole post)

Adrian Warnock writes an excellent article on Technology in Preaching.

Think yourself Empty….Read youself Full….Write Yourself Clear….Pray Yourself Hot….Be Yourself, But Don’t Preach Yourself….

(quote by Alistair Begg — read the whole post)

Begin to tell the people what you have felt in your own heart, and beseech the Holy Spirit to make your heart as hot as a furnace for zeal.

(quote by Charles Spurgeon — read the whole post)

John Stott on sermon preparation (excellent!!).

On the dangers of expository preaching.

The practical effect of maintaining this human cultural distinctive where preaching is concerned is that large segments of the family of God are cut off from significant aspects to good preaching. Some are shaped into emotionally boisterous and doctrinally shallow Christians, while others are doctrinally heady and emotionally paralyzed. In the culture of God, we need truth set on fire so that we might be both rooted and grounded in the truth and stirred to compassion, love, and zeal . . .

(quote by Thabiti Anyabwile — read the whole post)

Warren ends by explaining that, in his view, the application of a sermon should aim to answer two questions: So What? (and) What now? He provocatively ends the article by saying, “If your preaching doesn’t ever answer these two questions, you haven’t applied the Bible to the lives of your listeners.”

(Adrian Warnock quoting Rick Warren — read the whole post)

Jesus, Our Sacrifice, Our Priest, and Our Tabernacle

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

I am remiss to say I don’t keep up with all my friend’s blogs as often as I should. And I confess I have not been reading my friend Nathan Pitchford’s recent Studies in the Gospel of John. But I have been blessed by reading his most recent study on chapter 17. It is a long post, but every inch of it is worth a spiritual mile. It is rich and precious food for your soul.

The post reminded me of the richness of our salvation and  the Glory of our Savior, as it explored  some of the riches of John 17.   And as  Nathan had promised (in a comment on my last post), his post touched  on the ultimate reasons God had for creating man. What I want to focus on in this post, is how Jesus fulfills the rich imagery of the OT sacrificial system.

I am sure he delves deeper into an explanation of this in his prior posts, but let me quote  Nathan’s first paragraph which states how John’s Gospel presents Jesus as the Fulfillment of the OT Tabernacle (think John 1:14 “dwelt” = “tabernacled”).

During the course of our journey through the gospel of John, we have also taken a journey through the tabernacle, and we have seen how all of its imagery is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the Lamb of God, offered upon the brazen altar at the entrance to the courtyard. He is the laver by which the priests were cleansed, and in him is the water of everlasting life. He is the table of the bread of the presence, nourishing those who eat of him with the true life of fellowship with God. He is the candlestick, the tabernacle’s only source of light. And now, just before he offers himself up for our sins, we see that he is likewise the fulfillment of the symbolism in the altar of incense.

The post on chapter 17 goes on to detail how Christ was both the Sacrifice (offered on the brazen altar for the sins of the people) and the High Priest (who would take of the blood of that altar and offer it before the LORD, at times on the altar of incense). We do have a full salvation, as Jesus our Great High Priest can “save to the uttermost” all who come to Him in faith. And as the prayer of Jesus reminds us, God is sure to preserve and keep His own people perfectly.

Before I bow out, and ask you to read Nathan’s post, let me quote what Nathan wrote concerning the importance of the prayer in John 17 to John’s Gospel as a whole.

…The fact that all of Jesus’ specific requests, as to what precisely his imminent death and resurrection should accomplish, are things that John’s gospel has emphasized, tells us that John must have considered this prayer so important that he intentionally designed his gospel account around fleshing out the truths which he had heard in Jesus’ prayer. This chapter is not the summary of John’s gospel, it is the fountain and foundation for everything that John wrote. Really, it would be hard to overestimate the importance of this prayer: who would know better what specific effects to look for from the most important event of all history (indeed, the event for which all of history was designed) than the one who actually accomplished this all-important event of redemption through his sacrificial death on the cross? Do we want to know what God intended for Christ’s death and resurrection to accomplish? We have no further to look than right here.

Allright, I don’t think there is any more enticement needed for you to go read Nathan’s post. Read it today on Sunday, if you can. Read it and rejoice in our Savior.

Was Sin a Mistake??

~ fundyreformed ~ 20 Comments

Any thoughtful Christian has stumbled over the question, “Why did an all powerful God permit sin? Why does sin exist?”

Before I go on to “answer” that question, let me affirm that we humans have limited minds and limited abilities to grasp such “why” questions. Ultimately, God is the potter and can do what He wants. But there are some Biblically faithful answers to these questions.

The Standard Answer

The standard, or typical evangelical answer goes like this. God wanted to have people who truly loved Him. He wanted to share fellowship with created beings. He wanted this so much, he was willing to risk the presence of sin to make us. He did not want to make mere robots, but creatures with a free will. So although God knew sin was going to happen, and He knew sin would have devastating effects on His creation, He was willing to allow it in order to have some people love him freely. He died to save as many as would come. God wants all to come and desires all to be saved, but knows that only some will. And he is happy with all who come and share fellowship with Him. He works all things for the good of His people, because He loves them above all things.

I think this is a pretty good answer, really. Yet there are problems. First, it presents God as limited. Sure the limitations are self-imposed, but the picture we get is that God is frustrated that not all are saved, and that many reject His offer of salvation. Second, it presents God as needy. God wanted fellowship so much, he permitted sin to get it. That makes it seem like God was not totally self sufficient. Given God’s infinitely glorious attributes, why would He really need a creation? Third, it prsents God as loving man above all. God does everything he can to save man. God wants to do everything for man. These views sound right to me, a man. But does God really operate in such a man-serving manner? Is God all about us? Is God man-centered?

A Better Answer

I propose a different answer, but one that is Scripturally sound, I trust. God was totally self-sufficient in the Trinity. He experienced total joy due to an absolute knowledge of all of His infinite perfections. This knowledge produced a great approval of and love for Himself. God loved His own image as represented in His Son’s face. The Holy Spirit participated in this love and joy. (I refer you to Jonathan Edward’s view of the Trinity, here.) In short, God was completely happy to be God, all by Himself: no creation needed.

But since God was experiencing great joy, He wanted to experience even more. And joy increases in the spreading. So God hatched a glorious plan. God would create in order to display His glory, and reveal knowledge about His infinite perfections. This knowledge would lead his chosen people to share in His joy in Himself and cause them to love God.

But intimately connected to his plan was the importance of knowledge. God had to spread a true and correct knowledge of Himself in order for others to really love and find joy in Him. This desire to spread knowledge was definitely proud and self-serving. God wants His own praise to be trumpeted! (Just scan through Isaiah 40-49, for proof.) And who else should God be proud about? To be proud in anything that is not the ultimate best there is, is sin. But God is the ultimate best. So God is selfish and that is okay. But this knowledge also necessitated the existence of sin. Without sin God could not reveal his attributes of love and mercy and longsuffering, and holiness and wrath against sin. There had to be a black backdrop against which the brightness of God’s glory could shine.

So God permitted sin. But He created a world where God is not held responsible for sin. Man is. Satan is. Not God. God is good. But God is the creator and everyone else isn’t. In God’s world, no one is punished unjustly. People all sin (after Adam’s fall, which God knew and foreordained would happen), and they do so willingly. But in this world, God steps in and reveals Himself and saves a people for Himself. God chose these people before He created the world, so God is not frustrated that others besides them are not saved. God finds joy in them, and God’s praise and glory is increased through their sharing in His joy. God gets gloy by being the provider and sustainer of their life, their redemption, and their eternal joy and satisfaction in Him. And this is truly loving to them. He does not serve their selfish interests, but provides what will truly satisfy them–Himself as the Eternal Good they need. And he works things for thier good to show that He is truly good, and to prove His own glorious faithfulness.

Now, some might object to this answer. It makes God unloving to some, they might say. And I am aware there are questions and difficutlites presented here. However, I think the objections raised to the previous answer are just as big and actually bigger. And, most importantly, I think the Bible supports this second answer. It may not be exactly what I as a man (dedicated to my own interests naturally, as the case is with us all) might desire, but it is what God’s Word teaches. Consider Acts 4:27-28 as proof that God holds creatures responsible for their sin, even when God was the One who foreordained that sin to happen, and used it for His ends. And then consider these verses from Romans which capture the heart of this second answer:

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory– even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:19-24)

Before I close, I should encourage you to go check out William Dudding’s thoughts on this problem, as his post sparked mine. Also see Jonathan Edwards’ “On the End for which God Created the World”.

So, what do you think? Or have you thought about this issue? Please join the discussion.

Update: this post by Justin Taylor provides quotes by John Newton dealing with why God allows sin in the lives of believers. It is an edifying read, and I thought I’d add it here, since it relates to this topic.

Pastor John Piper's Father Receives, "Good and Faithful"

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

My pastor, John Piper, was priveleged to be with his father as he slipped away into heaven this week. As I read the obituary, which John Piper wrote himself, and as I read Pastor John’s moving testimony (a journal entry) of his father’s last moments, my soul was blessed and challenged.  

So I thought I’d encourage you all to read these as well. Desiring God Blog also posted a summary of a sermon Pastor John preached on Father’s Day 2005 where he paid special tribute to his father. Bill Piper served Christ faithfully, as an evangelist for most of his life. He graduated from Bob Jones University and remained associated with them his whole life, from what I can tell.  

It is a blessing to think that the far reaching and influential ministry of John Piper today was in a large part shaped by his faithful parents raising him to serve the Lord. May God give us grace to serve God faithfully all our days. And may He give us grace to raise our children in accordance with His will and for His glory.

May God get glory through the upcoming funeral celebration for Dr. Bill Piper, and may we all be encouraged to love Jesus more and live for Him more faithfully.

Unity, Churches, and Shopping

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

As you go to and return from  your church today, think about all the other churches you passed by. Do you think some of them have fellow believers who likewise were worshipping our Lord because of His grace today? Have you ever really thought about the church down the street?

In this age of church-shopping, and church-pew-sitting, we forget that fellowship is to be around the great truths of the Gospel. In New Testament times, there often was just one church in any given city. The church at Ephesus was probably too large to meet in one place, yet it was a single church with many elders. The NT also shows us how much real inter-connectedness and unity existed between the various churches.

Our day is not like that, sadly. We have fragmented so much that there is a Baskin Robins number of church-flavors in even the smallest cities. Now I know we should be connected, intimately with a body of believers. But I want to encourage you to think about a post my friend Nathan Pitchford has written regarding the possibility of purposing to extend Christian fellowship to other fellow Christians outside of our own church.

Nathan’s post is especially relevant for my blog since we’ve been discussing Ken Field’s questions about the label Fundamentalist, and how that label might be adding to schism in the body of Christ. Let me close this post with a quote from Nathan’s post, and one more encouragement to go read it.

It is an interesting observation that, in those areas of the world where the Church is being persecuted, or is significantly in the minority, such manifestations of unity and love among believers of different denominations and doctrinal convictions is much more commonplace — and yet without the compromise of all the particular doctrines which each one holds dear, but rather a labor to understand and be understood, or, in a word, to grow up together to greater doctrinal maturity and unity. Perhaps this is because, to them, the battle is real, the enemy is ferocious, and they feel most poignantly their need for one another. I would contend that, in America, the battle is just as fierce, the enemy is just as deceptive and strong, and our need for one another is just as desperate. If we could have the scales lifted from our eyes but for a moment, even as Elisha prayed for his minister (II Kings 6:15-17), what differences would we see in the attitudes and practices of the American church today?

From “Shopping for the Right Church” by Nathan Pitchford. The post is also posted at Monergism‘s blog Reformation Theology.