Fear
July 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
Check out this photo I found on Challies’ website. Then consider that it is an infinitely more terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Praise be to God that in Christ He has rescued us from the wrath to come!
Larry
Philip the Calculator
July 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
I figure I can’t go wrong starting the week with a little Tozer. These comments are comical, but at the same time, desperate to be heeded. Here is Tozer commenting on John 6:7.
Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” –John 6:7
Here in the New Testament was Philip the Calculator–Philip the Mathematician, Philip the Clerk. There was need for a miracle, and Philip set out to calculate the odds. Probably every Christian group has at least one person with a calculator. I have sat on boards for many years, and rarely is there a board without a Philip the Calculator among its members. When you suggest something, out comes the calculator to prove that it cannot be done….
As I say, I have been sitting on these boards for many years, and there are always two kinds of board members: those who can see the miracle and those who can only see their calculators and their strings of calculations….
The people with the calculators have seen the problem, but they have not seen God. They have figured things out, but they have not figured God in.
Philip the Calculator. He can be a dangerous man in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every suggestion made in the direction of progress gets a negative vote from this man.
Now Lar, even if we aren’t one to give a negative response to any God-sized ideas, we might at least be inclined to give a fellow brother a certain kind of look that states the same. Let us ask ourselves: what are we praying and working towards right now that is impossible without God? May the Lord grant us the grace to be men of faith, men who are not afraid to do that which only God can do. May the Lord grant us the grace to, in William Carey’s words, expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. Nothing less is worthy of Him.
Praying big prayers with you,
Joe
What Makes Jesus Great?
July 13, 2007 | 2 Comments
Joe,
I’ve just finished my preparation for the message I hope to preach on July 22nd on the Cross reconciling us to God. I had to prepare this one a bit early, as I want to leave time for the arrival of our baby girl Halle Charissa, who is due on the 18th. As I’ve prepared the message, one of the questions on my mind has been, What makes Jesus so great?
So I want to encourage our readers to respond to this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts (our readers, and you too, Joe) about why Jesus is so precious to you. What is it about Him that grips you with a sense of His greatness?
I’ll post the fruit of my reflection on that question after I preach on the 22nd. Until then, I hope everyone will encourage one another with thoughts of the Savior’s greatness.
Larry
PS — Jim W., since I am sending you my manuscript in preparation for your part in leading the service, you better not leak any information!!
Update from DG
July 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I received this praise/prayer request today by email from Desiring God:
From a writer this past week:
Thank you so very much for your sale! What a crazy amazing thing that you did. I am chronically ill and suffer pain constantly. I run a small support group of women who suffer from chronic pain and illness. We are a Christian group. I was able to order “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God” for the five charter members. I was also able to order my sister a Bible. My husband is an excellent provider and we do have health insurance but things are still extremely tight financially. So, I cannot afford to buy many books. I know that to some it was just a great deal and it was. But, to some of us it was…like a miracle. I could have never done something special like this for my group…or bought a Bible for my sister.
We thank God for the response to our $5 book sale! Here are some highlights:
- Total orders: nearly 11,000
- Total books ordered: 127,115
- Total number of countries represented: 24
- Orders were placed from all 50 states, two military APOs, two territories and Washington, DC
We are very grateful for this overwhelming response. But those are only the numbers and it is the souls that matter. Please pray that God would powerfully work through these books to bring hundreds of people to himself and to strengthen the faith of those who already believe.
Wisdom from Al Mohler
July 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
Justin Taylor linked to Al Mohler’s post today on his blog, but I also wanted to do the same. In it he discusses the recent Papal statement that the there is no true church outside the Roman Catholic Church. This should come as no surprise to us really, but I do think it is good for everyone involved. For it certainly clarifies our division in this ecumenical day. Make no mistake about it, the gulf is huge and the stakes are high in this divide–even today.
More could be said and maybe will be said later. Until then….
Joe
The Truth of the Cross
July 12, 2007 | 1 Comment
Lar,
We (and everyone else!) need(s) to check out R.C. Sproul’s new book, The Truth of the Cross. Should you order it or should I?
Thankful for the Lord’s mercy,
Joe
Wisdom from MLJ
July 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment
These words from Martyn Lloyd-Jones were spoken over 50 years ago, and yet they are full of fresh meaning for us today:
It is being said that the chief need of the Church today is to repent because of its ‘lack of unity’… we would suggest that before she repents of her disunity, she must repent of her apostasy. She must repent of her perversion of, and substitutes for, ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’ She must repent of setting up her own thinking and methods over against the divine revelation in Holy Scripture. Here lies the reason for her lack of spiritual power and inability to deliver a living message in the power of the Holy Ghost to a world ready to perish.
Night and Day
July 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
I know I have been so MIA lately that some in the Blog Nation may think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, but I’ve just been a bit busy with moving, and we’re without internet over at the house now. So eventually I hope to return to a more normal habit of blogging, but it still might be a few days or a week (and then of course there is a baby due next week!).
But here is something that I hope will feed the soul. Michelle has been reading Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening lately, and the other day she pointed me to this devotional thought. I think some biblical exegetes may cringe at all that Spurgeon draws out of Genesis 1:5, but it is worthy of reflection and a great encouragement to us who have been made new by the Spirit, yet still wage war against the flesh.
“And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
–Genesis 1:5
The evening was “darkness” and the morning was “light,” and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness.
This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, “Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?” Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining.
Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, “That which is last, lasts for ever.” That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; “thy sun shall no more go down.” The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon.
Full but not Too Full
July 11, 2007 | 1 Comment
Lar,
My final reading this morning was in the book of Joshua, chapters 14 and 15, which cover a part of the allotment of land for the nation of Israel. Upon turning to these chapters, I confess that I was somewhat ready to just call it a day for my reading. After all, these were my final two and I wasn’t expecting much to come from it. But even as I had that thought, I realized that the Lord might have something special for me. That’s usually how it works right? We often find the greatest blessings and lessons in the places where we would least expect. So I read on….
And the lesson I gained was this: the Lord never gives us more than we can be faithful with, but at the same time, He will give us more than we might think we can handle in order to show us our need for His help.
This thought struck me as I was reading these chapters, because I was thinking about the amount of land the Lord chose to give the Israelites. In light of their numbers, the Lord ordained a certain, central plot of land in the world for their use and cultivation and enjoyment. In the past I have wondered why the Lord didn’t give His people a greater amount of land. After all, even at their peak, Israel wasn’t nearly as great as the Roman Empire or the Greek or the Babylonian or whoever. And this was God’s chosen people. So why not more?
Well, as those empires (and subsequent ones) have proved, there is a limit to how much one empire can manage. Some historians say that the Roman Empire began to fall because they couldn’t keep up with their borders. They had spread themselves too thin. Well, the Lord in His mercy, preserved His people from that right from the beginning. He gave them boundaries, a wide set of boundaries for the nation as a whole and within that nation, smaller allotments for the individual tribes. No one got more than they could handle. But they would be challenged as they sought to be faithful with what they were given.
The parallels for us today should be obvious Lar. The Lord never gives us more than we can be faithful with, but that which He calls us to be faithful with will serve to stretch in ways that we clearly see our need for His help. It is very possible to do too much. It is also very possible to do too little. Our days should be full. But not crazy full. We should have time to relax, but not too much time to relax.
We need to beware of stretching ourselves too thin. All of us see tons of things we could do. But the question is: what are we called to do? How big is our allotment of land really supposed to be? What our priorities? And if we have our answer, does our schedule reflect those priorities, or are we busy putting out whatever ‘fire’ seems to come next?
A full day is a good day Lar. But not too full. Just full enough for us to see our great need for the grace of God. Full enough for us to pray hard for the grace to do what we know we should and to trust the Lord for His mercy when we continually falter in our faithfulness. Pray for me brother. I need grace to discern my allotment of land. And I am sure I am not alone.
Seeking to be faithful to the glory of God,
Joe
Mere Mortals?
July 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
I got a little caught up in the schedule today (which included you brother!). But I didn’t want to miss a day, so here is a thought provoking quote from C.S. Lewis. He writes.
“You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations–these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
It’s an incredible reality isn’t it? What changes might take place in our lives if we would meditate upon this more and more? For one, the gospel will surely become more central, for it is the only message through which anyone can become an everlasting splendor rather than an immortal horror. Let’s aim for faithfulness brother. May we never be shy with the gospel for the good of all and the glory of God.
Catch you more tomorrow,
Joe
Monday Morning Quotes and Commentary
July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
“A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a big thing.” - Hudson Taylor
“We look for the big things to do–Jesus took a towel and washed the disciples’ feet. We presume the place to be is the mountaintop of vision–he sends us back into the valley. We like to speak and act out of the rare moments of inspiration–he requires our obedience in the routine, the unseen, and the thankless. Our idea for ourselves is the grand moment and the hushed crowd–his is ordinary things when the footlights are switched off. ” - Os Guinness
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” - Jesus Christ (Luke 16:10).
There is a great deal of kingdom wisdom in these quotes, wisdom that we all need to inundate ourselves with. Often I think we forget that though Jesus Christ ministered to thousands and died for billions, He was prepared to do so by faithfulness in the mundane. For thirty years He walked this earth and lived a normal existence, so much so that when He burst upon the scene, people asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph and Mary?” He did His work day after day–all to the glory of the Father. He hung out. He played. He ate. He drank. He was faithful with His ever-waking moment to the glory of our great God. He always did the things that were pleasing to the Father.
May we take pains to remember that Jesus knows full well what it means to be faithful in the drudgery of life. Let us meditate on His great work at the cross. Absolutely. But let us never forget that He walked as we must walk to the glory of God. For only when we see Him in this light (as well), can we truly be faithful in our every moment.
Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God. O Lord, grant us the grace to live this command–all for the sake of Your name!
Seeking Him with you,
Joe
Our Call to the Ordinary
July 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
Good quote the other day from Luther. I love my books, but realize that that is a risk! A healthy one I believe, but a risk nonetheless. As I said to you yesterday, I have plans for a good blogging week this week. Today will be light of course, but the weekdays certainly need greater focus.
As you know, I am currently reading The Call by Os Guinness. It’s a great book, one that I heartily recommend and may write more about in the coming days. However, in it, he cites Oswald Chambers’ words, words that I definitely need to hear (all the time).
“Walking on the water is easy to impulsive pluck, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he followed Him afar off on the land. We do not need the grace of God to stand crises, human nature and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.”
I wonder, do we see God in the details? Are we joyful in our drudgerous activities? Is our ‘common life’ anything but common? Surely the answer, no matter where we are on the spectrum is….“not enough!” Yet the more we come to know the Lord, the more we will live, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Let’s be in it for the long haul brother. For the lessons worth learning take a liftetime to learn.
Seeking to honor Him in all things,
Joe
A Precious Reminder
July 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
What a great reminder I read today, in a quote from Martin Luther. It is a great gift that we have so many Christ-exalting books to nourish our faith with, but how tragic it is when we exalt books over the Word of God:
The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no measure or limit to this fever for writing; every one must be an author; some out of vanity, to acquire celebrity and raise up a name; others for the sake of lucre and gain. The Bible is now buried under so many commentaries, that the text is nothing regarded. I could wish all my books were buried nine ells deep in the ground, by reason of the ill example they will give, every one seeking to imitate me in writing many books, with the hope of procuring fame. But Christ died not to favour our ambition and vain-glory, but that this name might be glorified.
The aggregation of large libraries tends to divert men’s thoughts from the one great book, the Bible, which ought, day and night, to be in every one’s hand. My object, my hope, in translating the Scriptures, was to check the so prevalent production of new works, and so to direct men’s study and thoughts more closely to the divine Word. Never will the writings of mortal man in any respect equal the sentences inspired by God. We must yield the place of honour to the prophets and the apostles, keeping ourselves prostrate at their feet as we listen to their teaching. I would not have those who read my books, in these stormy times, devote one moment to them which they would otherwise have consecrated to the Bible.
I once read of George Mueller that for every one page of a non-biblical book, Mueller would read 10 pages of Holy Scripture. May we always be more enthralled with the words of Scripture more than the words of men.
Larry
Schreiner on the Atonement
July 6, 2007 | 2 Comments
Joe,
This interview with Tom Schreiner about the doctrine of penal substitution is very relevant, especially in light of the message that we will hear at our church this coming Sunday from Anthony. ‘Penal substitution’ may sound like theological jargon, but without it there is no gospel. And it is being attacked a great deal in our day, by confessing evangelicals. As Christians we ought to always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have. We must know what we believe, lest our churches become filled with heresies.
Larry
Widows in India
July 5, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
As I wrote earlier, I read a portion of James 1 this morning during devotions, including the familiar words, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
After reading God’s heart for orphans and widows, I could not have read a more timely article than this one about the plight of widows in India. It certainly gives fresh urgency to the powerful words of James 1:27.
Larry
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Joe's Current Book
Larry's Current Book
