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Professor Or Example?

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I love reading the prayers found in the Valley of Vision.  Yesterday, in a prayer “Living For Jesus” I read this line and was struck:

Make me…to be not only a professor but an example of the Gospel…
displaying in every relation, office, and condition its excellency, loveliness, and advantages.

Now, many of us (who profess Christ) have no problem doing this on Sundays. We gather with other believers and come to church, putting on a rather good show as to how spiritually impressive we really are.

But, are we examples of the Gospel in our lives?  Surely this is the true evidence of whether or not we have been gripped by the Gospel.  For instance, in your marriage, are you an example of the Gospel?  No matter what difficulty you face, no matter how hard things are with the kids, no matter what things pull at you, does the Gospel get a hearing in your life together?  Or are you a mere professor?  Think of this: is the Gospel on display in your life in every relation (spouse, children, coworkers, In-Laws!), in every office (every responsibility you have), every condition (this about covers the rest of it)?  Do each of these places allow you to show the excellency, loveliness and advantage of the Gospel?

The convicting thought I had in reading this was that often I am a mere professor and not an example.  Oh, for grace from God to be one who not only believes the Gospel, but lives it out.

Weekend Preview – “Stop Being So Immature”

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… at least that’s what the warning of Hebrews 5:11-14 sounds like.  Here’s a great summary from George Guthrie’s excellent commentary:

In [these verses] the author offers a bald assessment of his hearer’s current condition. They exhibit a dullness as learners of God’s truth, even though they have been engaged in the Christian walk long enough now to be teachers of others. The preacher likens them to infants [still drinking milk], who cannot handle more substantive fare.”

I wonder where you struggle to be a learner?  It might be that some of us don’t like the deep things, because they will require some effort, and, quite frankly, we don’t want to put it forward.  It might be a matter of priorities for some of us.  Others struggle to just get passed the milk.  Regardless of where we’re at on the journey.  The writer of Hebrews (read: God) wants us to wake up and realize that not choosing to deepen in the truth is a choice to stay immature.  These things simply shouldn’t be.  Oh, that God would give grace this coming Lord’s Day as we look into these things.

Weekend Recap – Qualified

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The sermon from 7/24/11 entitled Qualified from Hebrews 5:1-10 is now online.  In this sermon, I sought to unfold what is an amazing text of Scripture, showing how amazingly qualified Jesus is to not only be our great high priest, but, deeper, to be our Savior for all of eternity.  We need this truths as anchors for our souls.  I hope you profited from this message.

In the evening, many of our church’s small groups gathered.  It was an enriching Lord’s Day.  I hope you were blessed.

Walking In “Truth”

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As a pastor in the Bible church context, it seems that what could be the favorite verse for people in our neck of evangelicalism is something like 3 John 4: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”  It’s truth, truth, truth, always the truth.  But, the problem is, often, that our definition of truth is a narrow bit of interpretive secondary issues and not the “truth” that John spoke of at all. 

You see, John had personally encountered the “Truth” when He walked on earth.  He even quotes Jesus in a verse we love: “Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one gets to the Father except through Me.'”  We love this verse.  But, when we think about walking in the truth, we often aren’t thinking of walking more precisely in the Gospel, we are thinking about moral or very specific doctrinal confines. 

Therefore, today, let’s heed those words of that grandfatherly apostle in 3 John.  There is no greater joy than to be walking in the truth, than to be walking in Jesus and all the implications that the Gospel has for us.  The Gospel changes us.  Let’s walk in that joy.

Helpful Links – Week of 7/17/11

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Here are some helpful things I saw on the web this week:

The Resurgence had a good word for wives, as well as some moving reflections of a parent to a blind child.

Someone in church recommended I read Dr. Gangemi’s site and I’ve found the articles fairly helpful in terms of diet, health and that glorifying God in one’s body piece.

And, evidently owling is the new planking.  As Jared Wilson said, this is proof that we are officially bored to death.

Weekend Prep – You Need Real Hope

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Prepping for this coming Lord’s Day (7/24/11) and a sermon on Hebrews 5:1-10, I listened to a sermon by Piper entitled He Is the Source of Eternal Salvation for All Who Obey Him from Hebrews 5:4-10.  In explaining why this passage is so important, he said at one point:

All hell will rage at you one day with this one message—especially when you are nearing death: your salvation is not sufficient; your guilt remains; condemnation hangs over your head; and the wrath of God is not removed. At that moment you will need truth about the foundation of your eternal salvation. And one truth that will strengthen your confidence in that hour is the truth that you have no ordinary High Priest, but one who has the infinite dignity of the Son of God, and he has therefore become the source of eternal salvation.

I was really excited when I heard Piper say this, because this was exactly why my heart was excited. There is quite simply no Savior like the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope as you think about His perfections, you see how qualified He is to be THE source of our salvation.

Weekend Recap – Prayer, Prayer and Christ

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Yesterday’s sermon, Clinging To Christ, from Hebrews 4:14-16 is online.  The sermon was led by this big idea in this portion of Scripture about Jesus being our high priest and the exhortations to hold fast our confession and draw near to the throne of grace with confidence.  It was an encouraging and needed word in my life.

In the PM, we met for corporate prayer praying together for some needs that are pressing in our congregation.  We typically do this once a quarter and have found it to be most productive when the Elders lead out with some specific requests.

At any rate, we enjoyed a tremendous Lord’s day and I’m grateful that I got to participate in it.

Some Helpful Links From TGC…

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This week, I’ve found a couple of links on The Gospel Coalition Blog helpful…
First off, last week Don Carson answered a question on how Peter handled the OT in a sermon in the book of Acts.  Particularly, this question alleged that Peter mishandled the text.  And, with the brilliance we’ve come to expect from him, Don answered and in his answer unfolded much helpful teaching on how we understand the NT use of the OT. 
The blog is also posting a series of posts on Pastors and Depression.  (One, Two, Three, Four, Five)  I doubt if many I have the privilege of serving believe pastors “don’t do anything but preach.”  But, it’s easy to think that because we have a sit down job of assembling things for public speaking each Sunday that it happens easily.  These posts will help give you ways you can particularly care for and understand the shepherds God has entrusted to you in the local church.  Seek to serve them so that their ministry to you is a joy.

Family Decline…Are you helping?

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I was challenged by a recent post on the Resurgence entitled The Decline of the Nuclear Family.  Among other things, this post highlighted how the demographics of families have changed and how the church should respond.  The point:

Perhaps the most loving, most prophetic thing the church can do is to call men in their 20s to love Jesus, read their Bibles, get a job, to leave their parent’s house, and to love one woman—according to the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and the New York Times, no one is doing that.

Creating a culture of manhood is, evidently, not that hard. Let’s call men to this high standard and watch the fruit it produces.