1 Samuel on Success
August 23, 2006 | 1 Comment
Joe,
Thanks for the link, certainly that is a good way to look at success. It is a sad thing that in our day, so many churches measure success in terms of numerical growth. Will it really be successful for a church to have 20,000 people on Sunday morning, only to have 18,000 of them hear the Lord Jesus say on the last day, “Depart from Me, you evildoers. I never knew you.” If there is not a passion for the greatness of Jesus Christ, then it really doesn’t matter what appears to be going well to the external eye.
I have to battle this wrong notion of success as I serve the young people in Koinonia. How easy it is to fall into the temptation to evaluate the effectiveness of the ministry based on how many people are coming out each Sunday night. Yet how irrelevant that is, if they do not have a zeal for the glory of Christ that leads them to devote every area of their lives to the hallowing of His name!
We must always be mindful of the truth of 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.””
Longing for a heart that pleases Him,
Larry
PS — I think that was your personal record for shortest post!
Success
August 22, 2006 | 1 Comment
Lar,
Check out this post when you get a minute. It stirs the soul because he is right on. I need to listen to Matt Chandler a bit, so I will download those sermons. True success in the kingdom can only come when we love and delight in the King.
Seeking that sweet delight with you,
Joe
One Thing
August 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
One thing. Just one thing. I am convinced, very convinced I should say, that no matter what we might be called to as Christians, no matter what sphere of influence we might find ourselves in, one ultimate thing matters–how intimately do we know God through Jesus Christ? How much do we love Him? How rich is our delight in the riches of His Person? Our answer exposes the power of our life.
Of course, I don’t say that it is the only thing that matters. That is going too far. But it is the ultimate thing. And if I am going to err, I would rather err on the ultimate. I would rather risk becoming too caught up in God than becoming too caught up in a thousand other good things. For as far as I see it, this is where many sincere Christians (and churches and ministries and families) fail today. We are easily caught up in a thousand peripheral things, while the main thing–that one thing–is pushed off into the peripheral. It can be so subtle, but the effects are deadly. And I guess I would ask, is it possible to become too caught up in God?
Some might count me oversimplistic, but I don’t think this line of thinking really is. Think about it. Who can come to know and love God in the inner most reaches of their being only to live a life that ignores the highest good of their neighbor or their church or their world? It just can’t happen. The Spirit of God will not allow it. Love for God always overflows in love for the church and the world. It really is that simple.
Now, not everyone is called to live like David Brainerd, but everyone is called to have a heart for God like David Brainerd. We might not share in all his sufferings, but we can seek to share in his single-hearted devotion to the Lord (which, less face it, many times comes through suffering). If we learn nothing else from his life, we should learn this. And I would emphasize here that it doesn’t matter what vocation of life we might find ourselves in. A single-hearted devotion to God is not just for pastors or leaders. It is for every child of God. Indeed, the world is desperate for every child of God to live with such a heart for God–in the home, the neighborhood, the workplace, etc, etc. What might God do with a group (or groups!) of people who really live their life with this one aim? The possibilties stir my soul.
O Lord of Glory, I thank you that you love to spread Your fame. I thank you Father, that you have seen fit, in your providence, to bring us to a time and place such a this, and that you call us to serve our generation. Help us to do so faithfully Lord. Help us to do so fruitfully Lord. Give us wisdom. Give us discernment. Give us knowledge and understanding far beyond our years. But do so by giving us a single-hearted devotion of heart to you. Fill us up Lord. Make us love you the way you love you. Make us delight in you the way you delight in you. Make us men after your own heart for the sake of your great name. See fit, O Lord, to bless us with the knowledge of your Person so that we might bless others throughout the whole of your world. Raise up your people Lord. Raise up your people. Glorify the name of your Son that the Son may glorify you. Hear us because of Him. It is in His great name that we pray. Amen.
He promises us Lar, “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.” Let us persist in drawing near and be content with nothing less that the manifestation His presence. Both the church and the world are desperate for it.
Drawing near to Him with you,
Joe
A Hearty Amen
August 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
Of course you know that I give a big Amen to your recommendation of Brainerd’s life and diary. I have not read the whole thing in its entirety (and I will begin to do so as soon as you get me my copy back!), but I have read enough to have it pierce my heart with conviction. You were right in saying in your message last night that Brainerd pursued God as an unbeliever with a fervency that makes my current pursuit look pitiful. I read Brainerd’s writings — both his heights of joy and his depths of despair and longings when God seemed absent — and I myself long for the kind of communion that he experienced.
Thanks for serving us so well last night as you set before us the story of this remarkable instrument of God’s grace. Surely it is to the praise of God’s glorious grace that a man who lived, believed, and ministered for such a short time would have such a powerful impact on missions even more than 250 years after dying.
Thanks also for the reminder that in all my sermon preparations, in all my counseling meetings, and in everything, that I must make one thing central:
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
Life in ministry can be very time-consuming and distracting, and I need to be reminded over and over that I am in ministry for one thing: to bring others into the enjoyment of dwelling in God’s presence and gazing upon His matchless beauty. If I can keep that perspective constantly before me, it should make the frustrations of ministry much more bearable.
Devoted to the pursuit of One Thing,
Larry
Just Making the Cut
August 20, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
We aren’t missing a day! I am just squeezing in a post at this late hour. But the Lord is good. It is surely a joy to be held up in prayer with the saints!
So any idea what my weekend recommendation might be? How about The Life and Diary of David Brainerd? Surprise, surprise considering that is what I preached on tonight, huh. But really, how could it not be? For there can be little doubt as to its ability to stir up souls unto a greater and more fervent pursuit of God, especially considering that it has never been out of print for the last 250 years. Amazing.
For those who don’t know, David Brainerd was a missionary to the Indians in the 1740’s. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 29 and ministered for only 4 years. But he was a man who walked with God, and who struggled with all His might to make God known among those who didn’t know Him. His diary and journal have inspired many throughout the years. I have no doubt that anyone who reads this book will understand why.
The call of Christ to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily to follow Him can be a little abstract until you see it in action, whoever it might be. Brainerd is one who lost his life in order that he might gain it. He was one who pursued last place to the glory of our great God. You just cannot walk away from his life without being convicted and challenged and encouraged. I might put a quote up tomorrow, but I just had to get that recommendation in!
Seeking the grace to seek last place with you,
Joe
A Saturday Recommendation
August 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Saturday is the day for recommendations (at least that’s what Joe said a few weeks ago), so I thought I would take a few minutes to recommend a book I am currently reading called When People are Big and God is Small, by Ed Welch. I am reading the book to get my thoughts on the topic of the fear of man, which I will be preaching on for two upcoming Sundays at Joy.
Overall, this book is a good read. The only problem I’ve had with it is the title, or rather, the sub-title. When People are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency and the Fear of Man. The problem (which really isn’t so big of a problem) is that this sub-title seems to classify the problems of peer pressure, codependency and fear of man as separate things. Yet in the book, Welch makes pretty clear that peer pressure and codependency are just pop-psychology ways of diagnosing the biblical sin of fear of man. It seems to me, then, that his sub-title is a bit misleading. But as I said, that is a very minor issue.
The fear of man is a deeply serious issue, as the Scriptiures make clear. Heaven and hell is at stake in whether our highest desire is to be approved of by people or to seek the glory that comes from God alone. The Bible makes plain that both desires cannot co-exist:
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44). Jesus’ implication is, “You can’t believe; that is, you can’t be a follower of Me, if your thirst is for glory from one another rather than from Me.”
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). It is impossible to serve Christ faithfully if our desire is to be a perpetual people-pleaser.
Despite the warnings, many Christians seem to be enslaved to the opinions of others, and it manifests itself in countless ways. Welch does a good job of exposing the problem, and pointing us to the biblical solution: a healthy, robust, majestic sense of the fear of the Lord.
I won’t have time to share a lot of the insights from this book in my two messages, but if you know that you are a people-pleaser, and that your emotions go up and down based on how others perceive you, then I bet this is a book that you can profit from.
Please pray for me as I prepare to preach on this important subject on August 27th and September 3rd.
Longing to be satisfied with the glory that comes from the One and Only God,
Larry
A Desperate Need: Faithful Shepherds
August 18, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Lately I’ve been trying to spend time in prayer during my morning run, and God has been giving me some rich times of fellowship with Him as I’ve been doing that. Today as I was jogging, I passed by a certain church in town and was compelled to pray for Christ’s Church in this community. Not simply the one I attend, but the overall Church here in Pitman and its surrounding areas.
As I prayed for unity, passion for the supremacy of Christ, more regard for holiness and genuine worship than big numbers, among other things, the Lord brought a verse to my mind that I’ve not given thought to in some time. In fact it’s been so long that I wasn’t even sure where it was; I thought it was Jeremiah 9, but after finishing the run and checking it out, it was actually Isaiah 9, verse 16:
“Those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.“
It is quite a sobering verse, and it drove me immediately to pray for a revival among pastors and lay leaders. As I look at the Church in this nation, and as I consider its many weaknesses at this point in time, I wonder how many can be traced back to this: the ones entrusted with leading God’s flock have been leading them astray, caring more about attendance, offerings and popularity than about feeding their sheep the Bread of Life. They have not, in the words of Paul, “guarded the good deposit that has been entrusted to them” (1 Timothy 6:20, 2 Timothy 1:14).
I felt convicted this morning of how little care and prayer I have given to the shepherds both in my church and in Christ’s Church as a whole. We must be in prayer for our leaders! In Jeremiah 23:1-4 we read,
“1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.“
Father, fulfill Your promise in our midst, of gathering the remnant of Your flock and setting shepherds over them who will care for them and lead them in the pursuit of Your glory!
What will such shepherds look like? I believe this quote from George Whitefield (which now sits on the desk in my office) is a faithful description of the shepherd after God’s heart. It is actually a prayer for God to raise up preachers, but I believe it can be used for shepherds as well. I’ve got no doubt that this is not the only thing that needs to be said to shepherds, but what a glorious thing it would be to see God raise up men like these in His Church:
Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.
Pray for me, that I would be such a man, and pray for your churches, that God would raise up many men of this spirit, whose chief aim would be to glorify God and lead others in living wholeheartedly for the worldwide renown of Jesus Christ.
Larry
Mercy
August 17, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Well, I must confess that today is a day in which I really don’t feel like writing anything on this blog. But Joe is in the midst of having to preach four times in five days, so I don’t expect that we’ll be hearing from him too much until next week. Unless of course he chooses to do what I do, which is use his notes from sermons to keep the blog going!
Anyway, Michelle and I have been reading through Job together, and today we read chapter 7. As we read, we were struck by the incredible mercy of God, that He did not simply strike Job dead because of his grumbling against the Almighty! Job says to God, “I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath….If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?” (7:16, 20).
I just can’t imagine being in a place spiritually where I would say to God, “Leave me alone.” I know I have had days where it felt like God had left me alone, but to actually ask God to leave you alone? You see how low Job’s condition really was.
And it just makes me marvel that God does not simply kill him right on the spot! It is amazing that He doesn’t kill us all on the spot! For to some degree, we have all grumbled at the providence of God at some point in our lives. I mean, when we grumble about a traffic back-up, what are we really doing but grumbling against our Maker, who works all things (even traffic jams!) after the counsel of His will? In a thousand ways every day, we receive blessing from His merciful hand. Yet the second something goes wrong (and granted, Job’s plight truly was terrible) we complain.
I walked away from Job 7 this morning marveling at God’s mercy, knowing that to whatever extent Job was guilty of sin here, I am 10,000 times more guilty. And only when we know the depth of our guilt can we truly delight in the riches of His grace.
Thankful for the One whose mercies are new every morning,
Larry
A Reminder
August 16, 2006 | Leave a Comment
INDIA 
(Compass Direct)
(Gospel for Asia)
In July, three students from a Gospel for Asia Bible College in Maharashtra were hospitalized after being attacked and severely beaten by a group of anti-Christian extremists. A month later, two pastors’ wives were stripped and beaten before a village council for their faith in Christ. Both incidents are evidence of the growing oppression of Christians in central India, reports Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan. The three students, along with a few Christians from a local church, were returning from sharing the gospel in a neighboring village when they were attacked. The Hindu fundamentalists beat the believers with belts and large sticks, and pummeled them with their fists. A group of local residents saw the attack and intervened to break up the beating and rescue the believers. The pastors’ wives in Chhattisgarh state were “dragged before the community council, stripped naked and beaten for accepting Jesus and following Him,” reported GFA regional leader M.A. Lalachan.
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)
Forgive us, Father, for forgetting far too often.
Wisdom and Humility of Heart
August 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
Those are two good words right there. Amen to them both. Your earlier post regarding Edwards’ discernment in Religious Affections is right on the money. I don’t like the word ‘balance’ to describe it, but it might work. He understood so well that we tend to one of two extremes as human beings, no matter what topic we might be speaking of. In fact, he mentions that at the beginning of that book I believe. I appreciate that more and more as the days and years pass, because it is so rare. The moment we see error, we tend to jump all over it in an extreme sort of way, thinking we have to ‘balance things out’ or something. I know that I have been guilty of it often.
The way I see it, there are a few things we should focus on if we want to be more like Edwards. First, spiritual discernment. It is lacking. And I’m not sure I need to give any evidence for that statement. It is just so obvious. We are an external, shallow people. We have a hard time seeing the way God sees, a hard time going beneath the surface to see things for what they really are. This takes time, but more so, it takes deep thought on our knees over our Bibles. Meditation upon the Word of God is the chief means through which this discernment comes, b/c it is the chief means through which the Spirit of God renews our minds in such a way that we begin to think like God. We should read other books of course (like Religious Affections), and a lot of them I might add, but just reading those books won’t cut it. We need to pray for wisdom according to God’s promise in James 1 (”If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach…”). Then we need to seek the wisdom that comes by the Spirit through the Word of God. Again, reading good teachers (like Edwards) isn’t enough. Because apart from our own meditation on the Word of God, all we will be capable of is regurgitation. We need our thoughts to be our own. That is where the true wisdom and power comes from. Edwards is a clear example of this.
Second, we need to grow in humility of heart. When we are arrogant or proud, we tend not only to think that we have all the answers, but more so (and worse) to think that our spiritual experience should be the measure or rule for everyone else. This happens even to the best. We are wise to realize that we do not and cannot have all the answers. To set ourselves up as the last word in orthodoxy is to put ourselves in the same camp as those who killed Christ. That is dangerous truth that should bring every evangelical believer and teacher to their knees. Not only that, but we need to be very aware of our own natural dispositions and tempers, so that we can come to realize and appreciate those whose Christian experience does not obviously reflect our own. This is big and for this we need much grace. However, I would also emphasize that we need to pursue this humility of heart. We need to face our natural spiritual pride head on, to accept it and realize that it will color almost all our thinking and speech. The moment we think we have all the answers, we enter into a dangerous place!
There is more, but that is enough for now. Also, for anyone listening, Piper’s sermon at the Together for the Gospel conference is definitely worth listening to, even if you aren’t a preacher (which you probably aren’t). You begin to get a taste for the seriousness of not only preaching, but listening. And that is always a good thing. Alright, I’m out for now.
Seeking to grow in wisdom and humility with you,
Joe
Piper on Preaching
August 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment
One of the ways in which gracious affections (to use Edwards’ term again) are awakened in the hearts of His people is through the wonderful gift of preaching. And here lies another reason why the affections are so neglected and minimized in this day, because the vital importance of preaching is being marginalized in this day. People do not want to hear someone yell, it is reasoned, and so “seeker-sensitive” churches use other ways to make people feel comfortable. But there is something unmistakably beautiful about the glorious truth of Scripture being preached by a man “dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty, and holiness of God” (to quote George Whitefield). John Piper had this to say about the urgent need for a revival of powerful preaching at the Together for the Gospel Conference this past April:
“God did not ordain the cross of Christ or create the lake of fire in order to communicate the insignificance of belittling his glory. The death of the Son of God and the damnation of unrepentant human beings are the loudest shouts under heaven that God is infinitely holy, and sin is infinitely offensive, and wrath is infinitely just, and grace is infinitely precious, and our brief life—and the life of every person in your church and in your community—leads to everlasting joy or everlasting suffering. If our preaching does not carry the weight of these things to our people, what will? Veggie Tales? Radio? Television? Discussion groups? Emergent conversations?
“God planned for his Son to be crucified (Revelation 13:8; 2 Timothy 1:9) and for hell to be terrible (Matthew 25:41) so that we would have the clearest witnesses possible to what is at stake when we preach. What gives preaching its seriousness is that the mantle of the preacher is soaked with the blood of Jesus and singed with fire of hell.”
That’s well said, John! If anyone is reading this, nothing would make me happier than for you to pray consistently that God would mold me into such a preacher. Who knows what God could do with a few thousand men who were so burdened for the realities of heaven and hell that every sermon was “soaked with the blood of Jesus and singed with the fire of hell”?
To read Piper’s manuscript of the message in which this quote came from, click here. To Download the message for $2, see the Sovereign Grace Ministries Online Store. You can also snoop around there to get the regular audio version for $5.
Larry
Last Thoughts on Religious Affections (at least for now!)
August 15, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
What a feast the Religious Affections is! My day off of reading became a day of saturating myself with the thought of Edwards. I read 60-70 pages yesterday, and my heart was truly soaring. I am seeing something in how he is writing, an area that he emphasizes, which we would be wise to likewise emphasize: that just because you have affections for God does not mean you are truly born again.
I think that is why some people are very hesitant to embrace the centrality of the affections in the Christian life. This goes back to what we were talking about the other day, with why people are a bit “afraid” to embrace a ministry like John Piper’s or Jonathan Edwards. We often talk about the necessity of affections, and that if you do not have strong feelings for God, you cannot be assured that you really know Him. Right thinking about God and external obedience to God’s commands does not automatically make you a believer, if something profound has not happened in your heart which gives you a taste for the spiritual beauty of Christ.
We talk a lot about that, and well we should, given how much the Bible says about it! But far less do we say: Just because you have those strong emotions, and just because you cry at prayer meetings and shout joyfully your praises to God, etc. this does not necessarily make you a Christian. Edwards does a masterful job of showing that many “religious affections” cannot be used to determine whether a person is truly born again. Maybe the reason why so many people are hesitant to embrace the role of the emotions, is because they hear so many talk about spiritual experiences in which their hearts were greatly affected, yet the bulk of their lives reveal that no miracle of grace has really happened in their lives.
But Edwards uses much more balance in his presentation than we do! We say so often, you must feel, delight, treasure, rejoice, etc. And yes, we must! But Edwards shows biblically how to distinguish between “gracious” affections (ie. those that result truly from the work of the Spirit in salvation) and “natural” affections, which a person may have to a strong degree for God and Christ, and yet not truly be in the household of faith.
This post has probably generated more questions than answers, but hopefully that points readers to Edwards’ work. It really is a must read! To those who have only read books written in the 20th or 21st century it may take some slowing down in reading, but his language really is not that difficult for those who are willing to think. And what could be more important to think about, than discerning what the heart of a true Christian looks like!
Grateful to God for the great saints that have walked before us,
Larry
The Day’s Final Post
August 14, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Brother Lar,
If that wasn’t a blogging day, I’m not sure what is! Be assured that Blog Nation thanks you. I was excited reading each post. Of course, you quoted Scripture, C.S. Lewis and Jonathan Edwards all in one day. You have to like that. It is hard to go wrong there (unless of course, you quote some sort of Arminian stuff from Lewis).
As far as the religious affections go, I have been thinking along the lines of Edwards’ quote from your last post. I have used that quote before and love it, b/c it really is that simple. If the glorious realities of God and the Christian message and teachings are rightly understood, they must be felt. For someone (like us) to embrace them in a cold, distanced manner does not make one a Christian. The truths concerning God are not meant to be mere fuel for our intellectual consideration, but fuel for the inner reaches of our souls. They are meant to transform us in the innermost core of our beings, meant to bring change to that which needs most change, that which defines the whole of our existence from beginning to end. And where that change doesn’t take place there is no true Christianity.
This really is a humbling reality. The truth is the mind must do a work in the heart before one should consider himself a Christian. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we are all just caught up in heavenly rapture all the time. Life, we know, is a fight, a difficult fight. However, it is a fight for great joy, greater happiness in and love for Almighty God through Jesus Christ. It is a fight not simply for right thoughts, but right feelings. And O how this needs to be emphasized today! Right thinking is just not enough. There must be right feeling!
I fear for us Lar. We live in a day when most professing Christians believe that right thoughts concerning God are enough. But didn’t Jesus live in that same sort of day. And what did they do but hang Him on a cross? Tough stuff, but that is exactly why we need to deal with it. Fluff Christianity is killing more people than we know. So sad. So sad. Let us plead with the Lord to send forth His Spirit. Revive us again, O Lord, that your people may rejoice in You! Show us your steadfast love and grant us your salvation!
One more thing. I would like to emphasize how important this understand of the Christian life is not only for those who become Christians, but those who are Christians, those who possess a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. The Christian’s sanctification is dependent in great measure on their understanding of what they are seeking. If we do not understand the goal, how can we take adequate steps towards it? When Christians think that the only thing they need to seek is more information, what do we end up with, but more educated Christians who are bored or boring? We, as Christians, must understand that right thoughts are meant to stir up right affections. We simply will not be a passionate people unless we understand that we are supposed to be a passionate people. Vision is big. We must know what we are shooting for. I trust you understand what I am saying and agree.
Alright brother, I’m out for now. Don’t be shy with those Edwards’ quotes (or the Scriptures of course!).
Seeking a heavenly heart with you,
Joe
Great Edwards Quote
August 14, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Sorry, but I had to interrupt my personal reading party to share this great quote from Religious Affections. I suggest you read it slowly two or three times, then pray earnestly that God’s people would be full of both heat and light!
“Although to true religion there must indeed be something else besides affection; yet true religion consists so much in the affections, that there can be no true religion without them. He who has no religious affection, is in a state of spiritual death, and is wholly destitute of the powerful, quickening, saving influences of the Spirit of God upon his heart. As there is no true religion where there is nothing else but affection, so there is no true religion where there is no religious affection. As on the one hand, there must be light in the understanding, as well as an affected fervent heart; where there is heat without light, there can be nothing divine or heavenly in that heart; so on the other hand, where there is a kind of light without heat, a head stored with notions and speculations, with a cold and unaffected heart, there can be nothing divine in that light, that knowledge is no true spiritual knowledge of divine things. If the great things of religion are rightly understood, they will affect the heart. The reason why men are not affected by such infinitely great, important, glorious, and wonderful things, as they often hear and read of, in the Word of God, is undoubtedly because they are blind; if they were not so, it would be impossible, and utterly inconsistent with human nature, that their hearts should be otherwise than strongly impressed, and greatly moved by such things.”
Larry
Human Worth and the Necessity of Fellowship
August 14, 2006 | 1 Comment
As I wrote last night, the heart of my message from Psalm 139 was to show that God has uniquely fashioned each and every human being to reflect His infinite worth in a way that only that person can. No one else in the history of the world — past, present, or future, can display the glory of God the way each of us can. This truth is simply astounding!
And this truth has such huge implications for our every day relationships with family, friends, co-workers, especially those brothers and sisters who join us in the household of faith. If it is true that each of us was fearfully and wonderfully made to reflect the worth of God, then it is true that each of us has the ability to reflect the worth of God to our neighbor in a way that no one else can. Should this truth not transform the importance we place on relationships with other people, and should it not cause us to examine what our relationships are really built upon?
Should we not, then, saturate these relationships with the things that really matter in life? Should we not read Scripture together, and pray together, and share our hearts’ desires and dreams and fears and life experiences together? How often we waste this remarkable gift that God has given us, that He has put people in our lives who can reflect the glory of Christ to us in a way that no one else can! At the end of The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis says,
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations…There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”
What a heavy truth this is! Each of us has breath in our lungs to reflect the glory of God to one another, and we have been knitted together intimately and lovingly by God Almighty for that high calling. So what shall we do when we get together, watch movies together and eat food and talk about mindless triviality? The people we encounter daily (in all of life, but especially, I believe, in the household of faith) have been fashioned in the image of God, to reflect the infinite worth of the God that we claim to love and worship. Can we really treat one another with such indifference, or ascribe worth to each other based on the things that Jesus calls an abomination? How silly, that we should complement one another on our hair or outfit or athletic ability, and not affirm the things that really matter: passion for Christ and zealous ministry for the sake of making Him known!
It is folly to ignore one another and get excited about sun rises, because next to Jesus Christ Himself, nothing in all of creation bears witness to the glory of God more than the people we encounter every day. Let’s pursue fellowship together like we really believe that! And I thank you, Joe, for being one person in my life who constantly reminds me of how much is at stake in the relationships that we have.
Larry
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