Pastor’s Blog
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September 2, 2010
A Bitter End
I read an article this morning about the recent cancer diagnosis of renown atheist Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens is dying a very public death after crawling onto the world stage by denying the existence of God and then writing a book denying the greatness of this One who, according to his rhetoric, doesn’t exist.
Cancer is no respecter of persons. It comes to the godly as well as to the ungodly. For those who are spiritually deaf to the sound of the gospel, cancer may be a megaphone ordained by God to arrest their attention before they descend into a Christless eternity. However, God is sovereign over all abilities and inabilities that attend our terrestrial life.
God is sovereign over this atheist, just as He is sovereign over all of His creation. And God certainly could change the heart of this man and open his spiritually blind eyes. I pray that He would do just that and be glorified by His amazing grace to save wretches like Hitchens and me.
It takes no greater miracle for God to save Christopher Hitchens than it takes to save you or me.
Nothing is harder for God than anything else. For God, all things are equally effortless.
It takes no more or less effort for God to create a butterfly or a single blade of grass than it takes for Him to create the entire universe with the words of His mouth.
God can do anything He pleases with effortless authority… including the redemption of atheists.
So in the case of this atheist, God will be glorified either way, according to His will… and not according to the will of His dying creatures.
Consider how God would be glorified either way… by redeeming Christopher Hitchens or by letting him perish in his sin.
God would be glorified by saving the undeserving soul of an atheist as an example of how He saves the undeserving souls of every believer in Jesus Christ; or He will be glorified through the wasting-away death of this embittered and pathetic man.
God always has the last word.
Hitchens is certainly no less deserving of God’s grace than I am… and as for his vitriolic atheism, there but for the grace of God go I.
That said, some atheists are easier to engage in dialogue than others. Even for an atheist, Hitchens strikes me as a most unlikable fellow; angry, sad, bitter. His personality is the emblem of his doctrine. This is the final epitaph for every enemy of God who dies in their sin.
However, for God’s called and chosen people, sin and human autonomy do not have the last word; God ordains our end from the beginning.
“But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8-10).
God reconciles sinners through the death of His Son. They are His before creation; loved and chosen and called to be adopted as sons before the foundation of the world.
Sometimes God saves His elect at the end of a long and tumultuous life. This is not the general rule, but it does happen. He gets added glory by shining the light of redemption on a darker stage. The world takes greater note and God gets greater glory.
Yet Hitchens said any idea that he has made a “deathbed conversion” to Christ in his last days should be relegated to a man under duress from drugs and a disease that has attacked his brain.
In some quiet moments, this man must look back at the way he spent his years on earth, and internally sigh with regret, “It was all a colossal waste.” Hitchens recently said,
“I can’t see myself smiting my brow with shock or hear myself whining about how it’s all so unfair: I have been taunting the Reaper into taking a free scythe in my direction and have now succumbed to something so predictable and banal that it bores even me. Rage would be beside the point for the same reason. Instead, I am badly oppressed by a gnawing sense of waste.”
Atheist Bertrand Russell entered hell in 1970 after a brief bout with influenza. In 1957, he published his best known book, “Why I Am Not a Christian.” But compared to Hitchens, Russell’s atheism was a trifle more modest.
Russell once said “I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.”
God is being glorified even now as mockers mock and as atheists shake their fists at the heavens and curse the pestilence their sin has incurred. God remains on His throne.
“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, “As for me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill” (Psalm 2:4-6).
Amazed by His grace to save wretches,
Pastor Kevin
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August 16, 2010
God’s Word on Physical Health
Next Sunday evening, the Providence elders will be answering some of the questions that have been submitted to our Ask the Elders Q&A box. Many of the questions require several minutes of explanation and that process takes time. Since we won’t have time to answer all of the questions in the box, I wanted to answer one of them here.
The question I’ll answer here asked about physical health and what God’s word says about maintaining it. Here’s what we know from Scripture.
God says through Paul in 1 Timothy 4:7-8,
“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
The reference to bodily training means exercise and maintaining physical fitness. God says here that such maintenance “is of some value;” in other words, good health is not worthless to Christians and we should be good stewards of our health. But our real pursuit is to be spiritual health – called “godliness.” The Bible says this is of value in every way.
The New Testament understanding of physical health is that it is a temporal blessing from God; it isn’t the determining factor in whether we can give glory to God or not.
In other words, I can glorify God with a healthy body and thank Him for it and use my health to spread the gospel while I still have life; but I can also glorify and magnify God in my brokenness when my health is gone, or in my disabilities (like Joni Eareckson Tada who is a paralyzed quadriplegic who has brought glory to God from her wheelchair for over 42 years).
God can be glorified through birth defects, through deafness, through congenital heart malformations, through mental retardation, even in our cancer, in our diabetes, in our blindness, even while the outer man is wasting away as the years roll on.
In Exodus 4:11, the Lord reminded Moses that He creates the mute, the deaf, the seeing, and the blind for His own good pleasure… “the Lord said to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
Here’s how we glorify God through our physical brokenness or disease: by esteeming what we have in Christ as better and superior to the temporal enjoyments of physical health.
I am to be a good steward of whatever health I have and I should take care of my body as a steward (bodily training is of some value), but I am not to make attaining health my goal or purpose in life and I am not to make comfort and youth my idols.
These are temporal blessings to be managed and invested for the glory of God in my body.
In the Scripture above (1 Timothy 4:7-8), God is saying that believers should be training themselves in godliness with at least as much zeal as those who exercise morning and evening, jogging all over town, going to the gym all the time, etc. for godliness has value in every way (unlike bodily training).
Pressing toward the prize,
Pastor Kevin
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August 5, 2010
Sovereignty and Assurance
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28, ESV
Knowing that God is lovingly and purposefully in control of all circumstances is a wealth of assurance for the believer in Christ! This is especially true when our circumstances are dark and our experience is painful.
The great London Baptist, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, wrote of this truth:
“Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure. He knows, for instance, that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel when it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world’s tiller, and that wherever providence may drift, God steers it.”
“That re-assuring knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters and sees the Spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice saying, ‘It is I, be not afraid.’”
When you feel overwhelmed by painful circumstances in this life as a Christian, remember the truth… our God is in full control. Nothing can enter the life of a believer unless it has first passed through the sovereign permission of a nail-pierced hand.
Resting in that confidence,
Pastor Kevin
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July 27, 2010
Divine Strength Perfected in Human Weakness
After being away from this blog for almost two weeks for the birth of our first son, Matthew, I wanted to come back and offer a much needed word of thanks to those who sacrificed their time and effort to help my wife and me during this life-changing transition.
First, I want to let everyone know that although sleeping at night is now a thing of the past, we are all doing well. Jennifer is recovering amazingly well and Baby Matthew is getting more accustomed to his routine of eating and sleeping.
After Jennifer endured a very difficult and protracted labor and delivery process, this good transition and smooth recovery has been all by the grace of God. Yet we know that God not only ordains the ends of His good purposes for us, He also ordains the means to those ends.
In a very large way, the wonderful members of Providence have been used by God as a means of helping us in both tangible and spiritual ways. We are SO grateful to you!
I wanted to title this blog, “Divine Strength Perfected in Human Weakness,” because this has been a primary lesson for me these past two weeks. I have been bound in weakness of every type and sort. My mental and physical capacities have been pushed to the outer limits.
It is during this period of weakness and inability that God has provided fellow believers in our church, our brothers and sisters in Christ, to minister to our weakness with Christ’s strength.
In several practical ways, they have been our eyes and ears, our hands and feet, our voices and our wisdom when we couldn’t make sense of our circumstances or help ourselves in any way.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, the apostle Paul wrote:
But Jesus said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. [ESV]
So for the sake of Christ and for the health of His body, the church, some of us are made inescapably weak so that the glory of His wisdom, power, and strength may be displayed by His redeemed people in a more magnificent way through our weakness.
For that reason, I am learning to delight in my weakness these past few weeks and in days to come. I am grateful that the occasion of my weakness has become an occasion for the body of Christ to grow stronger on our behalf through sacrificial service and selfless volunteerism.
Therefore, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice! Thank you for everything you have done!
In His strength,
Pastor Kevin
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July 13, 2010
What’s the big deal about attending church?
This week’s blog is continuing a theme I began in the previous entry (see below). We were considering aspects of the DNA of salvation and what genuine faith looks like in the world. In this entry, I want to go deeper into one aspect of genuine Christianity… namely, regular fellowship with an identifiable local church.
Although this isn’t a problem at Providence, there’s a growing trend among 25-35 year-olds to drop out of church completely. My wife and I are troubled over the implications of this trend.
These individuals claim to be Christians and most consider themselves to be spiritually healthy… they just don’t go to church.
This is not a question of membership in a local church (which is another issue) – this is about whether a Christian will even attend the weekly gathering of Christ’s people at any church.
For some, TV church and the internet church have become preferred stand-ins for personal gathering with other members of the body of Christ.
Even though there are some excellent teachers available online and even though those online messages are better than nothing, there’s a major factor being neglected when Christians habitually neglect the weekly gathering of Christ’s people.
What was God intending when He exhorted Christians through the writer of Hebrews,
“Do not neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:25).
Was this a divine suggestion… or a sovereign command for all who belong to Christ?
To neglect going to church on a regular basis for reasons other than health or necessary travel while claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ is living in dangerous disobedience to the explicit Word of God.
Contrary to popular opinion, disobedience to God is not a sign of spiritual health, but of sickness. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Believers shouldn’t follow their hearts; they should lead their hearts!
In spite of this exhortation in Hebrews and the warning of Jeremiah, many people believe their deceitful hearts that tell them “It’s no big deal to skip church;” “I can worship God just as well on the golf course as with God’s people;” or “I’ll go back to church again one of these days.”
What is it that takes place in the local gathering of Christ’s redeemed people at an identifiable local church that cannot take place when we are alone with our Bibles in our homes or playing golf on a fairway?
One missing ingredient is the physical presence of other forgiven sinners who are living by God’s grace where we are reminded of our own weakness and need for each other.
Another factor we can’t get alone in our home on Sunday morning is loving accountability. Even though this is hard to find at many churches, it’s non-existent when we’re away from Christ’s people. We need people who love us enough to confront us and exhort us when we’re drifting from Christ.
A third item we can’t produce apart from the church is found in Hebrews 10:24, which is right before the verse about not neglecting our meeting together as a body.
Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works…”
You can’t consider one another and stir others up when you neglect the local church.
When you isolate yourself, you can’t practice the “one-anothers” in Scripture (even if you’re married, in which case you are also preventing your spouse from obeying Christ); nor can you obey or submit to your leaders (Hebrews 13:17); nor can you minister to those who need grace and love from you in the local assembly.
For believers in Christ, the church is not like a restaurant, where we visit periodically to suit our tastes while frequenting other options in town for variety. The church is a family of committed believers who know and love one another. We gather to both receive ministry as well as to give ministry to others.
Where commitment to the local church is weak, the health and stability of that local church is also weak.
For Christians to willfully neglect the local gathering of Christ’s people out of laziness or ambivalence is to amputate themselves from the Christian body. Such amputation hurts the church… but it destroys the amputated member.
For those who habitually forsake the local gathering with Christ’s people at a particular church where God’s Word is faithfully preached, I want to ask you, are you truly a follower of Christ? I ask that because of what Scripture teaches about the nature of those who follow Christ.
The apostle John informed the church regarding those who departed from the fellowship of believers: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 Jn 2:19).
For those who habitually neglect the church, 1 John 2:19 should sound an alarm in their souls!
We need the church and the imperfect gathering of Christ’s redeemed people. Instead of becoming more Christ-like and loving, isolation from the church causes us to become more self-focused and ingrown in our thinking.
It becomes an act of sinful self-indulgence where my preference in music or my desire for peer-fellowship trumps my desire to minister to others in the church and be fed by the Word with the old and young.
The result of such self-focused thinking is that even when we choose sermons on the internet in place of church, we tend to select messages that subjectively appeal to our “felt needs” rather than submitting ourselves to a prophetic confrontation from God’s written word of our true needs in the presence of Christ’s gathered people.
The fact that all true Christians should regularly gather with other believers at church is understood by believers in every culture where Christ is named. In fact, most countries do not have the freedom to worship Christ openly in a comfortable ornate building as most Americans do.
Many believers meet together in secret places, huddled around a page of Scripture, and softly sing hymns of praise and offer prayers of thanks and confession together. They risk their lives to not forsake their meeting together and to encourage one another all the more as they see the Day approaching.
To habitually neglect such gatherings with Christ’s people is spiritually unhealthy at best and sinful disobedience at worst, especially after you know what God says in His Word.
Hebrews 10:26-27 go on to say: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”
The privilege of gathering with other believers to worship through hearing and obeying God’s Word is a major part of the dangerous duty of delight in Christ.
Gathering with the very old and the very young and hearing from believers at different stages of life is other-focused and Christ-honoring and should be the normal pattern of behavior for every believer in Christ as we learn to lay down our “rights” and esteem others as better than ourselves.
Pastor Kevin
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July 7, 2010
The DNA of Salvation
We cannot emphasize too often that genuine faith in Jesus Christ changes a person.
While it’s true that every Christian is unique and that there exists broad diversity within the body of Christ, God Himself produces certain consistent traits within His called and chosen people. These traits are produced by God and transcend every culture.
For example, a true believer loves Jesus Christ and the things that please Him. They love their fellow Christians for reasons beyond subjective camaraderie. They love the Church and do not forsake their assembly with the body of Christ for mutual encouragement and edification.
They are growing more and more in love with God’s Word and yearn to obey what He says in His Word. Selfishness begins to wane and sacrificial other-focused ministry begins to enlarge within our hearts.
When a person is justified (made right with God through faith in Christ’s finished work on their behalf and therefore declared righteous by God), then they begin to grow in the lifelong process called sanctification.
One faith, when it is genuine, does it all. The same faith that justifies a person also sanctifies a person. Justification and sanctification cannot be separated. A person who is truly justified is now in the process of being sanctified by God.
A person who experiences no sanctification gives no evidence of having true justification. Justification is the root that bears sanctification as its fruit.
Not only that, but a justified person who is being sanctified by the indwelling Holy Spirit will ultimately be glorified in the presence of Jesus Christ after death. The same faith effects all three elements (justification, sanctification, and glorification).
No truly justified person can ever become unjustified. Since God chose and predestined to life all of those for whom Christ paid an atonement for sin on the cross, none of them can ever be lost.
In other words, salvation that isn’t earned by us cannot be lost by us. Our salvation (justification) is earned by Christ and kept by Christ.
Jesus never lets go of His sheep and no being can snatch them from His hand. Jesus said,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” [John 10:27-30, ESV]
The statement of Paul in Philippians 1:6, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” makes it clear that God begins the work of salvation and God completes that work in us.
A justified person looks like a person who is in the process of being sanctified day by day and who will ultimately be a glorified person in the presence of Jesus Christ.
Working with you for your joy,
Pastor Kevin
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June 29, 2010
Words and their Power
In my preparation for teaching on James 3, I’ve been gathering insights about the incredible power of words, both spoken and written. The following is a true story about the influence of our communication and the sobering consequences of falsehoods.
In 1899 four newspaper reporters from Denver, Colorado set out to tear down the Great Wall of China. They almost succeeded. Their tool of choice: words.
The four met by chance on a Saturday night in a Denver railway depot. Al Stevens, Jack Tournay, John Lewis, and Hal Wilshire. They represented the four Denver papers: the Post, the Times, the Republican and Rocky Mountain News.
Each had been sent by his respective newspaper to dig up a story—any story—for the Sunday editions; so the reporters were in the railroad station, hoping to snag a visiting celebrity should one happen to arrive that evening by train.
None arrived that evening, by train or otherwise. The reporters started commiserating. For them, no news was bad news; all were facing empty-handed return trips to their city desks.
Al Stevens declared he was going to make up a story and hand it in. The other three laughed.
Someone suggested they all walk over to the Oxford Hotel and have a drink. They did.
Jack said he liked Al’s idea about faking a story. Why didn’t each of them fake a story and get off the hook?
John said Jack was thinking too small. Four half-baked fakes didn’t cut it. What they needed was one real whopper they could all use.
A phony domestic story would be too easy to check on, so they began discussing foreign angles that would be difficult to verify… China was distant enough, it was agreed. They would write about China.
John leaned forward, gesturing dramatically in the dim light of the barroom. Try this one on, he said: “Group of American engineers, stopping over in Denver en route to China. The Chinese government is making plans to demolish the Great Wall; our engineers are bidding on the job.”
Harold was skeptical. Why would the Chinese want to destroy the Great Wall of China?
John thought for a moment. “They’re tearing down the ancient boundary to symbolize international goodwill, to welcome foreign trade!”
By 11:00 p.m. the four reporters had worked out the details of their preposterous story. After leaving the Oxford Bar, they would go over to the Windsor Hotel.
They would sign four fictitious names to the hotel register. They would instruct the desk clerk to tell anyone who asked that four New Yorkers had arrived that evening, had been interviewed by reporters, had left early the next morning for California.
The Denver newspapers carried the story. All four of them. Front page.
In fact, the Times headline that Sunday read: “GREAT CHINESE WALL DOOMED! PEKING SEEKS WORLD TRADE!”
Of course, the story was a phony, a ludicrous fabrication concocted by four capricious newsmen in a hotel bar.
But their story was taken seriously, was picked up and expanded by newspapers in the Eastern U.S. and then by newspapers abroad.
When the Chinese themselves learned that the Americans were sending a demolition crew to tear down their national monument, most were indignant; some were enraged.
Particularly incensed were the members of a secret society, a volatile group of Chinese patriots who were already wary of foreign intervention.
They, inspired by the story, exploded, and besieged the foreign embassies in Peking, and slaughtered hundreds of Christian missionaries.
In two months, twelve thousand troops from six other countries joined forces, invaded China with the purpose of protecting their own countrymen.
The bloodshed which followed, sparked by a journalistic hoax invented in a barroom in Denver, became the white-hot international conflagration known to every high school history student… as the Boxer Rebellion.
The power of our words cannot be overstated. Words can build up and words can tear down. They can inspire… as well as destroy.
In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
May our hearts – and mouths – be mastered by Jesus.
Pastor Kevin
June 22, 2010
Dangerous Praying
“In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers
and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able
to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through
what He suffered. 9 And being made perfect, He became
the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…”
Hebrews 5:7-9, ESV
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“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…”
1 Timothy 2:1, ESV
I have a confession. Too many times in my life, I have prayed “safe” prayers.
We all do… especially in a group setting where we aren’t quite sure we want everyone to know the vulnerability in our heart.
Safe prayers are those petitions which require little personal disclosure and reveal even less about our personal walk with Christ.
Many times, it’s easier (and safer!) to limit our public petitions to concerns in the physical realm, such as health needs, other people’s problems, and routine daily circumstances.
But what would happen to the dynamic of a group prayer time if we asked for prayer concerning a spiritual desire in our own life… for ourselves or our family? Or a burden we feel for the church, having been awakened to needs that the Lord has uniquely equipped us to meet?
Or what about voicing an awareness that God has called us to serve Him on the mission field and that we’re willing to go wherever the Lord sends us?
Or even confessing a mournful lack of humility in dealing with others, or an unbiblical set of priorities that has governed our life for too long?
That’s dangerous praying!
When our prayers and supplications include not only our petitions in the realm of health and physical well-being (which is natural and legitimate), but move beyond that into the hidden spiritual desires of a heart being transformed by Jesus Christ, such vulnerability can revolutionize a prayer meeting.
I want to remember that I’m praying to the omnipotent King of the Universe!
I also want to remember to pray the kind of prayers that Jesus would want to have prayed in His name and with His authority.
John Newton, the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, also penned these words on prayer:
Thou art coming to a King
Large petitions with thee bring!
For His power and grace are such
None can ever ask too much!
God-sized petitions are requests faith makes to please the abundant heart of the One entreated.
I want to remember to season my prayers, both public and private, with such requests that make God smile, reminding me once again that I am weak and He is strong!
For praying more dangerous prayers,
Pastor Kevin
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June 16, 2010
“For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection
of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more,
with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent,
and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the
fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ,
to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:8-11, ESV
Excellence. I’ve been thinking recently about how attractive the pursuit of excellence is in the lives of those who follow Christ. A spirit of excellence is attractive everywhere, but especially among those who call themselves Christians.
This is such a rare commodity in our world. All that is excellent shines brightly amidst a dreary landscape of mediocrity. Excellence goes further, works harder, puts in the extra hours, rests deeply, loves greatly, sings often, laughs heartily, reads diligently, pursues truth, keeps promises, fulfills commitments, says ‘thank you,’ gives generously, and worships passionately.
I want to rise to the call of excellence in Christ Jesus. Excellence in growing proportions, with increasing passion, over expanding areas of life. I see this in the life of Paul… and I want to see it more in my life also.
In Philippians 1:8, Paul wrote about yearning for these believers with the affection of Christ Jesus.
This word for “yearn” means to desire something very deeply; and he yearns for them with what he calls “the affection of Christ Jesus.” Affection refers to a visceral compassion related to the heart and will (quite literally, he yearns for them from the gut).
As an apostle and preacher of the gospel, Paul wants the Philippians to abound in their love more and more, with knowledge and all discernment (so it’s not ignorant love or indulgent love).
And he wants this to lead them to approve what is excellent – spiritually excellent, physically excellent, artistically excellent, financially excellent, professionally excellent, you name it.
One of the manifestations of the gospel taking root in our lives is a growing pursuit of personal excellence in all matters of life. Perfection is not our goal, being out of our reach; but excellence is well within our grasp.
However, such a pursuit is not just for advanced believers.
In the remainder of verse 10, Paul links our pursuit of excellence with being “pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
In short, this means that our daily pursuit of excellence is the way we pursue purity and blamelessness for the day of Christ and are filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
We need this. We ought to desire this. We must ready ourselves for this pursuit each day. Discouragement and a lack of faith are the greatest obstacles to our pursuit of excellence. Therefore, our preparation must include prayer to our Lord and time in His Word, which is the fuel of Christian excellence.
Excellence adorns the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the church, in the home, in the classroom, at the office, in public as well as private. Nothing is off-limits to the rule of Christ.
With you in pursuing excellence for Christ’s glory,
Pastor Kevin
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June 5, 2010
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I
might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:10-11, ESV
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Regular time in God’s Word requires effort and discipline. It takes diligence to prevent unwanted distractions and even worthy goals from usurping our time in Scripture. This is our ongoing battle.
I have experienced both victory and failure on this battleground for more than thirty years now. I have fallen off this horse many times only to get back on and ride again.
Faithful reading of God’s Word is necessary to strong and vibrant faith. Scripture is oxygen for the soul.
However, storing God’s Word in our heart goes beyond the cursory glance. Scripture memorization is a wonderful discipline that strengthens both the mind and the heart.
I have known individuals who have told me they couldn’t memorize Scripture because their minds didn’t work that way. What an interesting affliction.
However, I noticed these same people were able to memorize sports scores, jersey numbers of their favorite players, yards run, batting averages, race car numbers, and a hundred other bits of recreational trivia. So their inability only applied to memorizing Scripture? Hmmm.
Why did their minds have the ability to memorize sports averages but not Scripture?
The answer has nothing to do with their mental capacity or intelligence. It has everything to do with what a person deems valuable. You can memorize anything you deem to be valuable.
Apart from sports scores, people memorize their phone numbers, their home address, social security numbers, their bank account numbers, pin numbers, passwords, sometimes they even memorize their credit card numbers, all because they deem those things to be valuable.
What do you deem to be valuable?
If God’s Word is valuable to us, then memorization becomes much easier; when we don’t value God’s Word, then memorization becomes tedious drudgery.
My wife and I try to have a regular devotional time in God’s Word every morning as part of our daily routine. Sometimes things get hectic and we have to play “catch-up” later on.
Additionally, I try to have my own private study time in other portions of Scripture where I’m not preaching or reading in the other devotional time. My current reading plan takes me through the prophetic books of the Old Testament and the epistles of the New Testament.
If you don’t have a reading plan or want to begin memorizing Scripture, the summer is a great time to begin. Perhaps you should read an entire book of Scripture in depth for the summer, like the epistle of First John; or maybe a deeper study of Psalm 119 would be most profitable.
From anywhere in Scripture, memory verses abound. Store God’s Word in your heart.
The entire Bible is a field of treasures. But be warned! The greatest gains do not come to the lazy reader; life-changing truths and observations are usually the result of hard labor and faithful digging in the Word.
For an added blessing, join a Bible study in your area or start one at your church with friends who want to go deeper into the text and enjoy mutual accountability on a weekly basis.
Such joyful labor in the Word is the fruit of faith. God’s Spirit produces this kind of fruit in the lives of His redeemed. Believer’s have a new heart that hungers for God’s Word and thirsts for His presence.
The psalmist said, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Your partner in storing God’s Word in our hearts,
Pastor Kevin
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May 21, 2010
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart;
I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33, ESV
Jesus was preparing His apostles on the night before He was to be crucified. He was about to bear the sins of all who would ever believe in Him and yet He was comforting them! How like our Savior to comfort others when He was the One facing the greatest moment of trial.
In John 16:33 He told these men that in Him they may have peace. It is only in Christ that we may have peace in this life. It isn’t in having all the answers to our questions. It isn’t in knowing there will be no more problems in the days to come. Real peace comes only from having Jesus.
In fact, Jesus said in the next sentence, “In the world you will have tribulation.”
This word for tribulation has the idea of being confined in a tight place; severe restriction, crushing, or pressing together. Affliction has a strangling effect on us. Jesus said we would all have these times of strangling and oppressive constriction in this life. Sometimes, life seems to fall apart and dreams are dashed to pieces.
At the end of verse 33, Jesus says, “But take heart, I have overcome the world.” The word He used for overcome is from the word nikao; it means to be a conqueror or a victor. The Nike brand name is actually based on this Greek word for victor. Jesus is the victor over the world.
Peace is found only in Christ. We will look in vain to find it elsewhere. When life falls apart at the seams and tragedy engulfs us, our peace comes by looking back to the cross; knowing that Jesus forever settled the question of His love for us on the cross. So that question has been answered.
If Jesus loves us, then why are we facing such trials and afflictions in this life even as His people? There are perhaps ten-thousand sovereign reasons on the other side of our questions.
God has a purpose in our trials. His purpose is both good and perfect, but for the most part God’s big purpose is undisclosed to us. God is designing His pattern on a canvas that is far bigger than anything we can perceive with our finite and limited perspectives.
God loves us and He is totally in control of everything… and yet horrific things and tragic events still come into our lives to serve a specific, transcendent purpose that God has ordained for our good and for His glory.
On that canvas God is designing a pattern of His grace in your life and mine that is infinite and wise and glorious! We will be so thankful for these afflictions when we understand what God is doing; but right now we trust Him by faith in the absence of full understanding. In this life, we have strangling afflictions that feel like they might choke us. Life in this world hurts and many tears will fall.
But take heart… Jesus really has overcome the world and in Him you may have peace.
Resting in Him,
Pastor Kevin
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May 10, 2010
While visiting the Memphis area this week, I’ve taken time to catch up on some long overdue reading. This may give you a little insight into the kind of reading I consider to be pleasurable.
I have in mind a book by Dr. James Montgomery Boice and co-authored by his successor, Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. It was the final book Dr. Boice wrote before he entered glory in 2000. The book is called “The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel.”
Although the book was first published back in 2002, it accurately describes the present evangelical church with all of its trends, fads, and ailments.
In the opening chapter, Boice asks and answers this critical question:
What happened to the grace of the gospel? It was lost in the church study, when the minister decided to give his people what they wanted rather than what they needed.
It was lost in the Christian bookstore, somewhere between the self-help section and the aisle full of Jesus merchandise.
And it was lost in our minds and hearts when we decided to accept the world’s theology of human achievement, saving room for our own personal contribution to salvation.
What has replaced the gospel of grace is a message that is partially biblical but ultimately self-centered. Like everything else in creation, the human soul abhors a vacuum.
When something essential disappears from our theology and our spirituality, something else rushes in to replace it. When God Himself disappears, what replaces Him is the self. Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of the fallen human nature.
This false confidence now fills the evangelical world – from the self-esteem gospel to the health and wealth gospel; from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. [Boice, pp. 22-23]
Those are sobering words… and by no means are they an overstatement.
The alarm has been sounded. Every station must be manned. All soldiers of Christ must brace themselves for the antagonism of the worldly church (and its adherents) toward the only saving gospel of Christ. Grace is only amazing to the extent that it is biblical. Frankly, there is nothing amazing about the man-centered message of human achievement and self-determinism.
Christ’s kingdom cannot fail. As His people, we must look to the Strong for strength. With supreme confidence in Jesus Christ and the absence of worldly methods, this gathering storm with all of its darkness and thunderings and lightenings might just herald the dawning of a new reformation, true to Scripture and enthralled with the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all things.
It begins with genuine regeneration and it follows through with absolute allegiance to the Word of God, line upon line and precept upon precept.
Semper Reformanda,
Pastor Kevin
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April 27, 2010
Sermons and their Matter
This week, I want to offer you a treat.
It’s the chance to read a gifted and seasoned pastor who has blessed my soul on many occasions in the past. His name is Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
If you know his name, then you already realize that you’re about to read something good. If you don’t know his name, then you’re about to be introduced to someone worth reading.
The following thoughts are from a lecture to the students at The Pastor’s College in London around the year 1874. This is from his lecture called, “Sermons – Their Matter.”
SERMONS should have real teaching in them, and their doctrine should be solid, substantial, and abundant.
Pastors do not enter the pulpit to talk for talk’s sake; we have instructions to convey important to the last degree, and we cannot afford to utter pretty nothings.
Our range of subjects is all but boundless. We cannot, therefore, be excused if our discourses are threadbare and devoid of substance. If we speak as ambassadors for God, we need never complain of lacking material, for our message is full to overflowing.
The entire gospel must be presented from the pulpit; the whole faith once delivered to the saints must be proclaimed by us. The truth as it is in Jesus must be instructively declared, so that the people may not merely hear, but know, the joyful sound.
We serve not at the altar of “the unknown God,” but we speak to the worshippers of Him of whom it is written, “they that know thy name will put their trust in thee.”
To divide a sermon well may be a very useful art, but how if there is nothing to divide? A mere division maker is like an excellent carver with an empty dish before him.
The true minister of Christ knows that the true value of a sermon must lie, not in its fashion and manner, but in the truth which it contains.
Brethren, weigh your sermons.
– C. H. Spurgeon
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April 20, 2010
Taking God’s Word Personally
The Word of God is often very convicting.
As we’ve been going through the letter of James on Sunday mornings at Providence, I think most of us feel that our sinful tendencies are being exposed and revealed by the Word of God.
People have half-jokingly asked me, “Have you been reading my mail?”
In the past two weeks especially, more than a few members have mentioned to me that these verses in James have been very convicting and challenging. I agree. In fact, my wife and I find ourselves feeling convicted even as I preach the Word. But I’m just a messenger.
Of course, it is the Spirit’s work to convict of sin (Jn. 16:7-8). The Spirit often does this by means of the preached Word. The truth will frequently hurt us before it heals us. The great Puritan pastor, Thomas Manton went so far as to say, “The best preaching wounds the heart.”
When we hear the Word of God brought to bear on our sin, we feel convicted (or at least we should feel convicted). There is a loving wound that chastens us where sin is being exposed. But there are also times when people needlessly wound us with sinful criticism or a careless rebuke.
Many times, when a critic is about to tell us something that is likely to hurt us, they will often preface their comment with the phrase, “Now don’t take this personally, but….” Then they proceed to say something that we can’t take any other way but personally.
Often such comments are best left unheard… and better still, unspoken.
The wise Christian learns to go through life with “one blind eye” and “one deaf ear.” This means we intentionally choose not to see and not to hear certain offenses that are calculated to hurt our feelings. You’ll discover the blind eye and the deaf ear to be the best eye and ear you have!
Yet, every time we hear the Word of God, there should be an unwritten preface to every truth in God’s Holy Word, namely: “You need to take this personally….”
Always strive to take God’s Word personally!
Was your conscience pricked? Was your pride rebuked? Rejoice!
Only the spiritually dead feel no pain when wounded by the truth.
Whether the Word of God is being read in private or heard in a sermon, you and I must learn to take it personally. The Bible is God’s truth and as such it is to be taken quite personally by every believer.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7 about the aim of godly grief in the heart of a believer:
8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. [1 Cor. 7:8-10, ESV]
The purpose of conviction (godly grief) is repentance from sin.
When you and I take the Word of God personally and feel godly grief, the remedy prescribed by God is repentance. Such repentance leads to salvation without regret.
This is going to be the case wherever we turn in the Bible.
If there is never any conviction of sin in any passage of the Bible, the problem must be with the preacher. Surely he’s missing the point!
However, if the preacher clearly proclaims what the text actually means, it is the work of the Spirit to convict of sin where sin is present.
In a faithful exposition of Scripture there is conviction and correction for every member of God’s family, as well as encouragement, hope, and joy in the purpose of God through His Word.
May the faithful wounds of the truth produce repentance and healing for our eternal joy in Christ!
Taking James personally,
Pastor Kevin
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April 13, 2010
“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.”
James 1:27
James uses the word “religion” in an ironic way in these verses (James 1:26-27).
His opponents were using the word “religion” to refer to their own external conformity to the religious codes of Judaism. They were so proud of themselves for keeping their own rules of religious protocol and condescending toward those who observed a different standard.
Their hearts were self-righteous and self-deceived. So James pointed to the real essence of pleasing God, namely, the heart attitude. James expressed the motive of the heart in ministering to those who can’t reciprocate in any way.
Widows are women who have no husbands; orphans are children who have no parents.
If we interpret these labels with grace and charity, we would include ministering to older women whose husbands may be unable to provide for them as well as young people whose parents are not actively involved, either physically or spiritually.
One of the aspects of Providence church that first attracted my wife and I (in addition to PBC’s faithful commitment to Scripture) was their long-standing ministries to both widows and orphans in our area. They were intentionally focusing on these often neglected groups.
The two primary outreaches to widows and orphans in our church context are expressed through our ministries to Shawn Manor Nursing Home and to the American Legion Children’s Home.
The interaction in these ministries is not just perfunctory in nature; it’s a labor of love.
We are seeing God change lives through these ministries!
While the actual widows in our local church require varying levels of assistance, other widows (and older men) beyond our congregation also receive continual ministry and care. In a sense, this is what it means to “visit” widows and orphans.
James uses the word “visit” in a very particular way in verse 27.
This word doesn’t refer to just stopping by someone’s room or going to their house. The idea is that of ongoing ministry, both physically and spiritually. To “visit” in this sense is to minister to an individual’s spiritual and physical needs.
Though most of the young people at the children’s home are not literal orphans, they need spiritual guidance and direction as circumstantial orphans. The primary investment here is time.
In our elders’ prayer meetings we pray every week for these widows and orphans (as well as others in our local body) that God will use our interaction with them to meet their needs both spiritually and physically.
Of course, there’s always room for more to be done. More involvement and support from other members of the body means more needs will be met and more people will receive ministry.
For those who can’t get involved at this time, prayers and encouragement are treasured tokens of appreciation for those who do labor in these venues.
As you work to strengthen the local church through volunteering your time, giving of your resources, and encouraging the leaders, you are having an impact on those who are in greatest need of your help and least able to pay you back.
This is faith in action and is pure and undefiled before God.
Delighting in Christ,
Pastor Kevin
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April 8, 2010
Resurrection Bodies
The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints
who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs
after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Matthew 27:52-53, ESV
Last week, we celebrated Christ’s victory over sin and death… the vacant cross and the empty tomb. He is risen! He is risen, indeed!
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the decisive turning point in history. It stands alone as the greatest event this world has ever known, before or since. The resurrection of Christ is unique, but it also stands as a foretaste of what all believers will one day experience.
This is why Christ is called “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20).
The resurrection of both the just and the unjust is still yet to come. The timing of all prophetic events is crucial to an accurate interpretation of its fulfillment.
Yet in many instances, our timing must remain somewhat broad… as broad as the categories called “past” and “future.” Christ’s resurrection is past; the great resurrection is still future.
To insist that an unfulfilled future event is in the past can lead to dangerous misinterpretation. It can even lead to irreverent false teaching that can rightly be classified as heretical.
One such incident was apparently happening in Timothy’s church, the church at Ephesus.
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about those who say the resurrection of believers has already occurred. They placed a yet future event in the past. It was upsetting the faith of some.
In 2 Timothy 2:16-18, God warned through the apostle Paul about two men in particular who were heretically saying the resurrection of believers had already taken place. He wrote,
But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. [2 Tim. 2:16-18, ESV]
In addition to the sin of irreverent babble, ungodliness, and gangrenous talk, apparently these men were also teaching that the resurrection of believers was already accomplished and was therefore something other than a literal, physical resurrection.
According to Paul (and thus according to God), to say that the resurrection of believers has already occurred is to “swerve from the truth.”
It appears that this same warning would apply to those who somehow allegorize or spiritualize the resurrection as if it weren’t a literal—bodily event.
For years, I have been committed to avoiding this error in my teaching and preaching on the future resurrection of believers. The resurrection is physical in nature and future in time.
However, in laboring to avoid one error, I may have inadvertently opened the door to another.
There was an early harvest of resurrected saints recorded in Scripture following the resurrection of Christ. It took place just after the resurrection of Jesus and was recorded in Matthew 27:52-53.
I hadn’t associated this early resurrection of “many bodies of the saints” (Mt. 27:52) with the glorified bodies of believers in the future until I studied this text more closely after I preached on resurrection Sunday.
This past Sunday, I mentioned in the Easter sermon that Christ is the only One with a resurrected (glorified) body in heaven at present. I did so with the sober warning of 2 Timothy 2:18 clearly in view… namely, don’t “swerve from the truth” by saying the resurrection of believers has already taken place.
However, after the service, I was graciously reminded of this text in Matthew 27:52-53 by an observant listener who asked for clarification. With humility, he suggested I study that passage and then let him know what I think.
So I’ve been reading the text and seeking the wisdom of better minds than my own. One article by Dr. D.A. Carson was particularly helpful. Carson wrote,
According to Matthew 27:52-53, the “holy people” were raised, came out of the tombs, and were seen by many after Jesus rose from the dead. Where these saints ultimately went Matthew does not say. Were they “translated”?
Nor does he tell us who they were. However the language implies, though it does not prove, that they were certain well-known Old Testament and intertestamental Jewish “saints,” spiritual heroes and martyrs in Israel’s history.
If so, then Matthew is telling us, among other things, that the resurrection of people who lived before Jesus came as Messiah is as dependent on Jesus’ triumph as the resurrection of those who come after him. The idea is not fanciful, given Matthew’s grasp of prophecy and fulfillment.
John MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew says essentially the same thing. So having studied the passage in Matthew 27 from multiple reliable sources, I am now reconsidering my statement based on what this passage teaches.
Now that I have studied Matthew 27:52-53 regarding the earthquake and tombs opening and a limited resurrection of Old Testament saints, I see that my listening friend was right and I was mistaken. I am so grateful for his humble and gracious clarification.
In my sermons on the resurrection in the future, I can now incorporate this truth into my affirmations about the resurrection of believers and our future glorified bodies.
Semper reformanda,
Pastor Kevin
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April 5, 2010
Saved from God
Every now and then, I come across an insightful tidbit in someone else’s blog. The following entry, written by Dr. John MacArthur, was found on Pastor Sam Crabtree’s blog. This is very appropriate to consider following our celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
“In order for the cross to mean anything to us, it must mean everything to God. As we understand this, we understand the cross. …
“Jesus died on the cross because a just penalty was required. God, the Lawgiver, executed that penalty on His Son. A death was owed to divine justice. What is staggering is that Christ suffered on the cross for only about three hours, then He died. How is it possible that He could bear the full penalty for sin for all who will ever believe in just three hours when, if we had to bear it, we would all spend eternity in hell and it would never be enough? Because He was a perfect sacrifice. …
“You may say … ‘Aren’t we saved from hell?’ In a sense, we are, of course. But even more important, we are being saved from God—by God, through God. …
“Christ died as God, sent from God to satisfy God that sin had been paid for.”
— John F. MacArthur, in Decision magazine, April 2007
Pastor Sam Crabtree is Executive Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN.
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April 2, 2010
Peter’s Transparency
In reading through Mark 14 and 15 about the arrest and trials of Jesus, I am always moved by Simon Peter’s humanity and vulnerability. Peter loved Jesus so much. Yet Peter also fell far short of even his own expectations at the moment of crisis.
We can trace his curious devotion through the passion narratives. Mark 14:53-54…
They led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.
Then a little while later, in Mark 14:66 and following, we read…
As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”
But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.
And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time.
And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
That last verse could also be rendered, “And when he had thought about it, he wept.” He wept because he fell so far beneath even his own expectations of loyalty to His Lord and Master.
Peter’s transparency and vulnerability move me. What moves me even more is the thought that Mark wrote much of his Gospel based on the eyewitness testimony of Peter himself!
In the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Dr. James M. Gray writes this insightful observation:
It will be seen that the story of Peter’s fall is thus related by all the Gospels, but, to quote another, “None have described it in a more heinous light, than Mark; and if, as is generally supposed, that Gospel was reviewed by Peter himself and even written under his direction this circumstance may be considered as an evidence of his integrity and sincere contrition.”
I translate that as, “Peter wanted everyone to know how weak and self-assured he was in order to point us to the everlasting strength and fidelity of Jesus Christ.”
Redeemed men become humble men. The proud become broken and contrite. The self-assured become Christ-dependent. The self-obsessed become joyful as they learn to serve others.
Peter is a timeless example of a transparent believer who used his failures and short-comings to make much of Jesus and to magnify His grace.
By faith, we are called to follow in his footsteps. Have a blessed Easter!
Because He Lives,
Pastor Kevin
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March 29, 2010
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First Things First
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This past weekend, Dr. John Piper made a seismic announcement at his church. He told his congregation that he and his elders had decided over the last two months that he needs to take an eight month “leave of absence” from all public ministry.
He made it clear that there is no scandal and no immorality involved prompting his decision. Rather, the reason appears to be a preemptive strike in light of a mounting concern.
The toll exacted by an unrelenting schedule of international ministry with preaching, writing, blogging, interviews, travel, conferences, articles, etc. have reached the point of encroaching on his primary relationships, his wife and family.
In a vulnerable and transparent statement from the pulpit, Piper said:
I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me.
In other words, the precious garden of my home needs tending. I want to say to Noël that she is precious to me in a way that, at this point in our 41-year pilgrimage, can be said best by stepping back for a season from virtually all public commitments.
By courageously putting first things first, Piper’s best “sermon” just may be his personal example of putting his wife and family before the international fame of his public ministry.
This is a needed example even for those of us who aren’t internationally famous or exposed to the limelight of public recognition. It sets a needed precedent for pastors and their churches to take special pains to make sure that first things always remain in first place.
I’m grateful that I pastor such a gracious and loving body of believers at Providence. Jennifer and I are so grateful for the privilege of ministering here.
I’m also blessed by the pastoral accountability I share with the godly men who serve with me as elders at Providence. Their Christ-like example of sacrificial service for the body of Christ, both publicly and privately, is both challenging and inspiring to me personally.
I pray that John Piper’s eight month leave of absence will be profitable and fruitful to his marriage and future ministry. I also pray that it will serve as a model for others to follow when our ultimate concerns become usurped by the tyranny of urgent demands.
As the pastor goes, so goes the church. Such is ministry… such is life.
For His glory,
Pastor Kevin
March 22, 2010
This past Sunday was the 325th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was a committed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and was wise to observe:
“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”
Bach’s understanding of music transcends chronology (the date in which the music was composed) as well as genre (the style of music).
In our day, the music of J.S. Bach is considered to be “classic” or “classical” because it has long withstood the test of time. But in Bach’s day, everything he wrote was considered contemporary, for he, like us, was a citizen of his time.
Regarding the Christian’s position on church music, it seems wise to remember the caution of C.S. Lewis against what he called “chronological snobbery.”
Lewis used this phrase for the error of thinking that our own religious and theological views are more advanced today than in previous generations simply because we imagine ourselves to be more enlightened and advanced than they were.
Yet the opposite warning is also true when applied to technology, style, or even music.
Sometimes believers may be guilty of reverse chronological snobbery by thinking that nothing praise-worthy or glorious can come from the modern pen or style book.
Music in general and hymnody in particular, are neither good nor bad because of their date of composition. There is plenty of bad hymnody that is old… and there are plenty of new hymns and choruses that are gloriously good.
As products of their time, hymns and choruses stand or fall on their own doctrinal fidelity in the marriage of good lyrics with good tunes.
Music plays a beautiful, yet subservient role in the church. It has the capacity to unite a multitude of diverse voices in one common theme for the glory of Christ.
Great hymnody allows the church to recite in beautiful poetry the wonderful truths about God. It serves to underscore good doctrine and sound theology.
Martin Luther said, “Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.”
I pray that a new generation of theologically informed young Christians will apply their creative genius to fill tomorrow’s repertoire with a glorious collection of new hymns and choruses that bring both glory to God and refreshment to the soul!
For His glory,
Pastor Kevin
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March 20, 2010
God’s Purpose will Stand
“If you want to make God laugh,” it’s been said, “just tell Him your plans for the future.”
For example, I wouldn’t have thought that the first official day of spring would be accompanied by several inches of snow in a number of states (including Oklahoma).
“Our plan” was to have mild spring weather this Sunday with beautiful sunshine and the thought that winter was now in the rearview mirror.
So much for the plans of man!
Even the best weather forecast is still only an educated hypothesis. Meteorologists guess and revise and change the forecast right up to the very moment of what’s currently happening.
But weather forecasters aren’t the only ones who need to be careful when predicting what will or will not happen in the days to come. Believers are wise to commit all of our plans and intentions to the Lord.
Whether we actually say it or not, it also helps to remember the caveat of James 4:15, “…If the Lord wills we will do this or that.” This is the framework that ought to surround the plans of every wise believer.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
So, by faith, enjoy God’s sovereignty in all circumstances… even when it snows in spring!
Resting in His purpose,
Pastor Kevin
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March 15, 2010
God is Awesome
A few weeks ago, I did something I don’t usually do on the short drive from our church office back to where I live… I turned on the radio.
I won’t mention the station (in order to protect the guilty), but in the three minutes when I was listening, I heard the program host use the word “awesome” roughly 38 times (I don’t want to be accused of exaggeration, so I’m conservatively low-balling here).
Here’s how it went: “That song was awesome!” “I heard an awesome quote this week… isn’t that just awesome?” I had an awesome steak last night and it was awesome! I mean, awesome!” “Hello caller! It’s awesome to hear from you today! Are you having an awesome day?”
After about three minutes of this, I had to turn the radio off. I became weary of hearing the word “awesome” used so many times and so flippantly.
Aside from the tedium of repetition, I think there’s a deeper concern that bothers me. It is the fact that “awesome” is such a superlative word that it only rightly applies to God and His works. God is awesome! And the works of God are also truly awesome!
The song you hear may be melodic, inspiring, and perhaps even beautiful, but it isn’t awesome. A quote may be insightful, but it isn’t awesome. And your steak, however well prepared, may be great and delicious, and even succulent… but it isn’t awesome. God is awesome.
Scripture is teeming with the awesomeness of God:
“Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds doing wonders?” Exodus 15:11
“Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing to You.” Psalm 66:3
“Awesome is God from His sanctuary; the God of Israel — He is the one who gives power and strength to His people. Blessed be God!” Psalm 68:35
“For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord; a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around Him?” Psalm 89:7
There are many other Scripture texts extolling the superlative awesomeness of our God! The late Rich Mullins was right: “Our God is an awesome God!”
Perhaps I’m expecting too much when I turn on the radio in rush-hour traffic. Rather than trying to re-educate the hosts on radio programs, the better option may be to simply keep the radio off and get back to praying to our awesome God on the way back home.
Yours for His glory,
Pastor Kevin
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March 8, 2010
Precipitation and God’s Word
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11, ESV
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At this time of year, when winter’s chill begins to yield to the milder ways of spring, we typically see more than our share of cloudy days and rain. Lots of rain.
Gray days can be a source of discouragement, and for some, even depression. I pray that’s not your plight today. On the other hand, as believers the rain can be a reminder of the never-failing effect of God’s Word. In many ways, it’s like a living parable.
Isaiah 55:10-11 reminds us that God likens the rain and snow to the effective power of His Word. The precipitation never falls to the earth without accomplishing its intended purpose. It waters the earth, it causes the ground to bring forth produce, it gives seed to the sower and eventually bread to the eater.
Likewise, the Word of God never comes down from heaven without accomplishing its divine purpose. As the sower preaches the Word, the good seed is cast on various soils. The goal is fruit and life. Hearts need to be cultivated and prepared in order to produce maximum fruit for an abundant harvest.
God tells us His Word is like the rain; it will not return to Him empty. It will accomplish His purposes and it will succeed in the thing for which He sent it. There’s no hint of doubt; this is a sovereign promise.
From this perspective, every rainy day becomes a living parable of the power of God’s Word. We can trust His Word. His Word is to thrill us and delight us with its soul-satisfying truth!
But I think there’s another truth in this parable.
Even though it may appear gray and dreary when the rain is falling during these weeks, in reality, the sun is still shining hot and bright just above those clouds. Just a few miles upward, is all that separates our experience down here from the blazing reality above us!
When life’s experience appears dreary and dismal, remember the never-failing power of God’s Word. And second, remember that just beyond our view is the blazing reality of God’s Son who rules over all circumstances, all causes, and all effects with absolute perfection!
For our joy and for His glory,
Pastor Kevin
March 2, 2010
God’s Vision for His People
“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
[Proverbs 29:18, ESV]
Last month, the elders of Providence and our wives met together to discuss God’s vision for the church over which He has appointed us as undershepherds.
To begin our weekend, I was asked to present a brief devotional on “vision” from God’s perspective.
I went to the familiar verse quoted above from Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
For years, I’ve heard this verse used to justify just about every man-made vision statement and purpose statement concocted during the last 30 years. As if the text was teaching us, “If you don’t tell people where you’re headed in ministry, the people will perish… or the organization will fail.”
But such an interpretation would be nonsense. This Scripture text is not about church leaders casting an administrative vision before the people so they can follow it.
For starters, let’s understand what vision is and what it isn’t.
Let me begin with what it isn’t. “Vision” in the Hebrew mind was not about a prospectus for the future, the way IBM has a “vision” for the next five years or the way many organizations create “vision statements” about where they’re headed in the days to come. That’s not the idea here in Scripture.
The “vision” to which the inspired sage points is the revelation of God through His prophets. Vision equals God’s prophetically revealed Word.
That’s why I’m grateful that the translators of the English Standard Version used the words “prophetic vision” to give the correct sense of the original meaning. It refers to a prophetically given oracle of God for His people.
Without the revelation of God, His people cast off restraint. In other words, they become morally loose the way the Israelites became when Aaron fashioned a golden calf and they cast off restraint and danced around the idol.
God told Moses to go back down into the camp, “for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt are corrupting themselves” (literally, they are perishing) [Ex. 32:7].
In this sense, to “perish” means to rot from within. Without God’s revelation (prophetic vision), we rot morally from within (i.e. perish). Wherever the Word of God is not preached to God’s people, that church begins to perish… to rot from within.
Likewise, whenever families ignore God’s Word in the home, the spiritual life in that home begins to rot from within. When God’s Word isn’t the charter and foundation of Christian organizations and ministries, those organizations likewise begin to rot from within.
Man’s vision will invariably lead God’s people astray; but God’s vision is the revealed will of God made known through the prophetic writings of the Old and New Testaments. This is the vision of God for His people, the church. We live by God’s vision… and we perish without it.
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Pastor Kevin
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February 27, 2010