Grace

What is your understanding of Grace? Does it absolutely humble you? Have you completely bent your knee under the understanding that you do not deserve the grace that has been dealt you?

Grace is given so we can magnify Christ's goodness. It is not given so we can decide what we think fair is. We do not want to ask for fair. We wouldn't want fair... we deserve eternal damnation for our willing rebellion against our good God. So getting what we deserve is not what I am after... I am after a deeper appreciation of grace. Let me point to a couple scriptures that help me to understand this:

"it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:5-8).

"he did this [namely extended grace] to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory- even us, whom he also called..." (Romans 9:23-24).

"then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:

"Worthy is the lamb, who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" 

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them, singing:

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!""

All of eternity we are going to look on The Lamb who was slain because of our sin and we are going to worship Him because He so graciously set His affections on us and made a way. We will not boast in heaven save the cross of Christ. There will be no ground to stand on save the ground of the Cross. The only boast and the only praise will be so intimately tied to the work of the Cross that to boast on your own achievements would be to emulate the Great Serpent. We are going to sing the song of the slaughtered Lamb that conquered death and stands! If that doesn't make your heart leap for joy then beg God that he would open your blind eyes to see the beauty and beg him to fibrillate your dull heart. When grace conquers it fills with joy and praise. Are you experiencing the riches of his kindness and magnification of the One who is Worthy because he had mercy on someone so unfit for mercy... you and I. Lord, I am a sinner. Lord have mercy on me. Let grace dwell in me deeply.

The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory
But on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel’s land.

God help us to marvel at the King of Grace. Help us to appreciate what He achieved for us at great cost on Calvary. Prepare us for our role of eternal celebration. Cultivate in us a spirit of gratitude.

Emmanuel's Land: The Sands of Time are Sinking

Here is a Hymn of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford and it is so beautiful that I have to share it with you. I love the fourth portion of this!

1. The sands of time are sinking,
The dawn of heaven breaks;
The summer morn I’ve sighed for -
The fair, sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark had been the midnight
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land.

2. The king there in His beauty,
Without a veil is seen:
It were a well-spent journey,
Though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb with His fair army,
Doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land

3. O Christ, He is the fountain,
The deep, sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I’ve tasted
More deep I’ll drink above:
There to an ocean fullness
His mercy doth expand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land.

4. The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory
But on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel’s land.

5. O I am my Beloved’s
And my Beloved is mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner
Into His house of wine
I stand upon His merit -
I know no other stand,
Not e’en where glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land.

My Bad

There is a little thing that I often forget to do: Pray. I know that sounds dumb and in fact, I am embarrassed even as I type this, that I am a youth pastor that neglects prayer. Yesterday, I was working on the message for the jr high youth group and I was beating my head against the text. It is a difficult one (2 Thess 2). I took tons of notes, wrote the entire chapter out by hand, tried to determine themes, wrote out some outlines, determined the thrust of the text, wrestled with what some of it means, and came up with what I thought would be a good treatment of the chapter.

As I began to preach it, I realized that nothing was happening. I was talking but the kids weren't engaged at all. Actually, they were more engaged with a student and leader scuffle that was taking place on one side of the room. The concepts that I was trying to preach seemed to be disjointed. My thoughts and words were failing me and I don't think Christ was magnified like he deserves. I struggled through and droned on the one verse that had any effect on me in preparation: "The Lord Jesus will overcome by the breath of his mouth and will destroy by the splendor of his coming" (2 Thess 2:8). I probably said that verse like 10 times. In fact, I didn't have much else to say. As I finished I had the wonderful feeling like finishing ministry. Anyone who preaches can probably relate. It is the feeling that it would be nice to clean toilettes for a living. 

Here is what I thought about on my way home last night. "[The apostles] devoted themselves to the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4). I left out an important word: Prayer. [The apostles] devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word"(Acts 6:4). Without the word prayer I wonder if we succeed in being Pharisees. Lovers of the law and completely reliant on our own strengths. "Scoot over God I've got this." No wonder sometimes God humbles me. I am bold enough to leave God out of the equation and it should not be surprising that He would leave me to myself to show my inadequacies... But, praise God that He doesn't entirely leave me to myself. Even though I neglect Him he does not neglect me or His ministry. "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself" (2 Tim 2:13). Regardless of my neglect of Him He still uses my weakness to demonstrate His might! He takes a message that hardly makes sense and maybe, by His grace, uses it to transform students.

Here is the point... we should pray much more. I know that is such a cliche saying. But it is absolutely true. If spent more time in prayer then I would radiate the glory of God because I sat in His presence, I would be more fit to teach others of Him, I would be more empowered to do what I do not have the skills to accomplish, and lives would be rescued for the glory of God.

Awe Man!?

So I was just convicted... I am reading a book by T. David Gordon titled Why Johnny Can't Preach (PS terrible idea to read a book on bad preaching when you have to preach that night). I will just quote him at length as he makes observations about what the content of the sermon should be made up of and he illustrates a few negative tendencies. Here is a negative tendency that he points out and I display regularly:

"Some of the neo-Puritans have apparently determined  that the purpose and essence of Christian preaching is to persuade people that they do not, in fact, believe. The subtitle of each of their sermons could accurately be: "I Know You Think You Are a Christian, but You Are Not." This brand of preaching constantly suggests that if a person does not always love attending church, always look forward to reading the Bible, or family worship, or prayer, then the person is probably not a believer. To the outsider, it appears patently curious to take an opportunity to promote faith as an opportunity to declare its nonexistence; but to the insider, this doesn't appear foolish at all, and people routinely do it.

The hearer falls into one of two categories: one category of listener assumes that the minister is talking about someone else, and he rejoices (as did the Pharisee over the tax collector) to hear "the other guy" getting straightened out. Another category of listener eventually capitulates and says: "Okay, I'm not a believer; have it your way. I'm just a horrible, terrible person who's going to hell." But since the sermon mentions Christ only in passing (if at all), the sermon says nothing of the adequacy of Christ as Redeemer, and therefore does nothing to nourish or build faith in him. So true unbelievers are given nothing that might make believers of them, and many true believers are persuaded they are not believers, and the consolations of Christian faith are taken from them" (Why Johnny Can't Preach, pg 83).

What to do with Sin?

Kill it. 

"There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so whilst we live in this world"... in short: Be killing sin or it will be killing you. - John Owen from The Mortification of Sin

The method is two fold:

1) Love God

"The love of God is the cure for sin." -Richard Baxter

Do everything within your ability to love God more than sin! He is greater and better than any momentary sin (ps. they have eternal consequences if not forgiven). This leads to my next suggestion:

 
2) Use your sword: "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17).

Know and love your bible. Use it to see the glory of God in the face of Christ(2 Cor 4:6). It will swell your heart with love for Christ and make sin seem what it is... a plunging of a spear into the side of your Savior. 

Quote the word in the face of temptation. If the Son of God used this as His strategy for the temptation of the Devil, how much more desperately do we need to employ this strategy?!

"Sins will not only be striving, acting, rebelling, troubling, disquieting, but if let alone, if not continually mortified, it will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous, soul-destroying sins." -John Owen

So... what sins have you killed today? If it takes you a minute to think of any that you killed or even can think of, then the subtle killers are probably killing you subtly.

Memoirs

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson

This is a superb book that I almost forgot to recommend and that would have been a mistake on my part and if you didn't hear about it from anywhere else you would be robbed of a great read. Well, the timing of reading this book was priceless for me. I have been on a Spurgeon kick lately. He is a hero of mine and his counsel to the students at his pastors college which can be found in All Around Ministry, Lectures to My Students, or the first six chapters of The Soul Winner, is incredible! I just finished a biography on him and it was superb but I couldn't help but feel like Spurgeon is a little too good. He is one of a kind and God's anointing on him was special. So, for an ordinary youth pastor it was refreshing to read about an ordinary pastor! 

This leads me to an observation that I have been aware of since my last trip to Africa; most faithful ministers go unnoticed. They don't write books, they don't pastor mega churches, and they don't have the glitz and glamour that draws attention to them. They are faithful gospel ministers. And for the most part they are ordinary. So, it was a breath of fresh air for me to read about Tom Carson. He is spectacular in his own right but it wasn't because he marketed himself or pastored a big church or even saw lots of conversions every year. In fact, his ministry might appear depressing. But, he was faithful and I know he has a bigger reward than most now that he is in glory. So read and be blessed. Not everyone lives a missionary life or a mega church pastor life, but we are all called to lead a faithful life.

What others are saying:

“How can the application of a Bible-saturated mind (Don’s) to a Bible-saturated life (Tom’s) produce an even more helpful story to encourage pastors? Let the ‘mind’ be carried on a river of love because the ‘life’ is his father’s. Then add a kind of narrative creativity. That’s how.”
John Piper, Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis

“A rare and precious gift from one of evangelicalism’s greatest scholars. How generous of Dr. Carson to bequeath his father’s quiet legacy to us all.”
C. J. Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries

“Carson strikes at the heart of what’s wrong when we forget that, as servants, we were meant to live ordinarily under the gospel of grace. Read this book. You will be deeply encouraged in your life and ministry.”
Michel Lemaire, Pastor of Eglise Baptiste de la Foi, Drummondville, 1984-2005

“This personal testimony is a healthy reminder of heavenly priorities in the pastorate and Christian ministry.”
Pierre Constant, Associate Pastor, Eglise Baptiste Montclair de Hull, 1982-1997

“Read this book and be strengthened. You hold in your hands history, humor, and an amazing amount of wisdom for the Christian life (especially for pastors!).”
Mark Dever, Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Acts 13: Worship, Prayer, and Fasting The Road to Greatness

What is your take on prayer? Francis Chan, Pastor and author, says of his staff, "if you're not praying at least one hour a day, let me know and I'll find someone else who will." What if you spent an hour in undistracted prayer each day? Would that be a waste of time? For the rest of the world this sort of 'inactivity' would be considered a waste... but for the Christian there is nothing more essential and more productive than sitting at the mercy seat.

Prayer is the power horse of the Christian life. That's what was happening in Acts 13. "While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting... after they fasted and prayed, [the believers] placed their hands on [Paul and Silas] and sent them off" (Acts 13:1-3). So we see a few things happening that led to their send off. First, they were worshiping. They were gathered together praising God. Secondly, they were fasting. Fasting is a purposeful refusal of something to get something greater. Fasting is a forsaking of things to gain a supremely valuable thing... Christ. And they prayed. I can't imagine this being a canned prayer. I bet there were tears. I bet there was meditation. I bet there was guidance and direction from on high. 

Those were the precursors to the greatest missionaries being sent out. Worship, praying, and fasting led to 14 of the most productive years in history where Paul was preaching Christ crucified to as many as possible so that he might win as many as possible. This little paragraph in the bible is the beginning of a send off, it is the fire that sparked in the heart of my hero the Apostle Paul. And, the result of these few lines in the text is a colossal life of suffering, rejoicing, ministry, and the gospel. 

Do not neglect these items: worship, fasting, and prayer. It is through these things that God might be enlisting you to greatness. And it is by these things that you might recieve training and equipping for a service you can't perform on your own.