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MM – Lordship…

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I love that Abraham Kuyper quote:

“Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!'”

So, in light of yesterday’s message on the Lordship of Jesus Christ, how is Christ’s Lordship reflected in your marriage?

Piper’s Counsel Regarding Tomorrow’s Election…

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Here’s a video (thanks JT):

(Update: Justin charitably responds to Piper)

And a prayer:

Father in heaven, as we approach this election on Tuesday, I pray

1) that your people will vote,

2) and that they will vote with a sense of thankfulness for a democratic system that at least partially holds in check the folly and evil in all our hearts so that power which corrupts so readily is not given to one group or person too easily;

3) that we would know and live the meaning of

* being in the world, but not of it,
* doing politics as though not doing them,
* being on the earth, yet having our lives hidden with Christ in God,
* rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God’s;

4) that we would discern what truths and values should advance by being made law and which should advance only by the leavening of honest influence;

5) that your people would see what love and justice and far-seeing wisdom demand in regard to the issues of education, business and industry, health care, marriage and family, abortion, welfare, energy, government and taxes, military, terrorism, international relations, and every challenge that we will face in the years to come;

6) and above all, that we will treasure Jesus Christ, and tell everyone of his sovereignty and supremacy over all nations, and that long after America is a footnote to the future world, he will reign with his people from every tribe and tongue and nation.

Keep us faithful to Christ’s all important Word, and may we turn to it every day for light in these dark times.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

I hope these help encourage you in the spiritual task we have before us tomorrow.

TCT – World Mission

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As we continue our series of posts on the book Total Church, today we speak of world mission (chapter 6 in the book). As they introduce this section, the authors, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis say:

The centrality of the gospel and the gospel community apply not only on our doorstep but to the ends of the earth. God summons us both to “proclaim [his] excellencies” and to be “a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV). It is our responsibility and privilege as Christians to be engaged in world mission. (p.99)

What really stuck out to me in this chapter was the following quote:

In the contemporary and often confused scene, mission has become a non-specific and slippery term. But the words of Jesus that close Matthew’s Gospel provide us with a vital compass point. They make it clear that it is Jesus and his word that are the very heart of mission. He is the one to whom authority has been given; he is the one who commands his disciples to go; his name is among those into which people are baptized; it is his teaching that people are to obey; he is the one who will be with them as they go. At the heart of world mission is Jesus and the gospel word.

As we think about engaging the world on mission, let’s never lose sight of the fact that the Gospel Word must be central.

Luther on the Lesson of the Christian Life

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David Powlison in his book Power Encounters, gives the following quote by Luther:

This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
no being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet what we shall be but we are growing toward it;
the process is not yet finished but is going on;
this is not the end but it is the road;
all does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.

Well said and worth hearing!

MM – Sanctifiction

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Robin Boisvert, in the curriculum How Can I Change?, speaks of the following summary of Christian growth:

In a day when quick solutions to longstanding problems are too easily offered, we wish to recommend the old paths, having found them tried and true. There is no short course to Christian maturity. There is no crossless way to follow Christ, no instant secret to the Christian life. But like distance running, if the way of the cross is not easy, neither is it complicated. God presents us with a pathway that is narrow yet straight. He makes his ways plain to those who are sincerely interested in following him, and he will show himself strong on behalf of all whose hearts are fully his.

So, is this kind of growth taking place in your life? Have you availed yourself to the grace to be found by pursuing this in marriage?

Vote As If You’re Not Voting

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Only Piper could give us such a conundrum. His thoughts, though, are excellent. Using 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, he writes on this balance. Here’s his first point, which relates to my sermon on 9/19/08AM:

1. “Let those who have wives live as though they had none.”

This doesn’t mean move out of the house, don’t have sex, and don’t call her Honey. Earlier in this chapter Paul says, “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights” (1 Corinthians 7:3). He also says to love her the way Christ loved the church, leading and providing and protecting (Ephesians 5:25-30). It means this: Marriage is momentary. It’s over at death, and there is no marriage in the resurrection. Wives and husbands are second priorities, not first. Christ is first. Marriage is for making much of him.

It means: If she is exquisitely desirable, beware of desiring her more than Christ. And if she is deeply disappointing, beware of being hurt too much. This is temporary—only a brief lifetime. Then comes the never-disappointing life which is life indeed.

So it is with voting. We should do it. But only as if we were not doing it. Its outcomes do not give us the greatest joy when they go our way, and they do not demoralize us when they don’t. Political life is for making much of Christ whether the world falls apart or holds together.

Read the rest of this excellent article here. It will help you vote in a way that will honor Christ.