From One Degree to Another

In Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones expounds Matthew 5:10 — “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” He says the following at the end of this chapter – “If you try to imitate Christ, the world will praise you; if you become Christlike, it will hate you.”

JT presents some books of which he is excited for ’08 (including new offerings from D.A. Carson, David Wells and Tim Keller).

Josh Harris explains that often his excellent teaching has been misapplied by some and encourages us that he isn’t out to ruin your dating life.

I have been encouraged so far in the free audio I have listened to from Sovereign Grace Church in Gilbert, AZ. The Pursuit was a men’s conference held recently. Guest Speakers included: Steve Shank, Rich Gamache, Craig Cabiniss, Rich Richardson, Pete Payne, Glynn McKenzie, Mark Alderton and C.J. Mahaney. The messages are available on SovCast or can be downloaded directly here.

For today’s Marriage Monday, I wondered what if any family traditions you celebrate during the holidays. In Disciplines of a Godly Family, Kent and Barbara Hughes emphasize how “family traditions can resonate with the festival spirit in commemorating God’s goodness.” They tell of their tradition during Advent:

Early on, we began the tradition of lighting the candles of Advent, a ritual that emphasizes self-examination in preparation for the two comings of Christ, first in the Incarnation and second in final judgment. The highlight of our children’s days was the progression of nightly Scripture readings and the relighting of each candle.

We coupled this Advent tradition with a Jesse Tree — a barren branch symbolizing that Christ came from the root of Jesse (i.e., in the Davidic line) and that he grew up like a tender shoot from dry ground (Isa. 53:2). Each evening one of the children had the privilege of placing on the tree a construction paper ornament reminding us of a prophecy about Christ while the appropriate Scripture was read. It would be misleading to give the idea that we did this every evening without fail and that the children were always angelic acolytes. We recall a few fights about whose turn it was and tears when little fingers got too close to the flame. But imperfect as we were, these traditions wonderfully enhanced our children’s Christmas focus. And we cherish the memory of their beautiful, candlelit faces, luminous with a curious combination of impatience and wonder.

Meg and I are consistently looking for new ways to enhance time together with Andrew. This suggestion is helpful, although it is a bit too complex for someone of Andrew’s age (do we want little ones playing with fire yet). Nevertheless, traditions can be established that have deep abiding spiritual influence. That is the focus. We all remember something like putting up a tree or licking the beaters from the mixer. What spiritual traditions are we passing on to the next generation?

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I will probably be out of the pocket and done with blogging until Monday. This coming Sunday, should be enjoyable as we look at Mark 8:27-30 and Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ. Who do you say that He is?

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving and are able to direct thanks to God for all the blessing He has brought upon you this past year.

Usually, midweek, I link to some sort of audio that I have listened to which might be interesting. Here are a couple of ideas for you…

Listen to the 1st message in John Piper’s new series on being born again. This was a wake up call to me personally as I pondered the ho-hum attitude of so many and the worldliness that exists within the church. I was convicted to do something pointing to the Biblical change the Gospel produces soon.

If you are in more of a Thanksgiving mood and maybe traveling looking for something fun to plug through an IPOD, Christian Audio is running a Thanksgiving special and have 10 free audiobooks to download for free…John Piper’s Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce would be excellent, as would The Legend of Squanto, a Radio Theatre Focus on the Family Production.

Enjoy!

I really enjoyed reading Thomas Chalmers’ sermon entitled The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. Chalmers hammers and hammers the truth of the Gospel into you as you read this. The first sentence is a theme oft-repeated in this work: “There are two ways in which to a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world; either by a demonstration of the world’s vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment; so as that the heart shall prevailed upon, not to resign an old affection which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one.” In other words, we can either preach against all the ways and reasons that worldliness is so horribly wrong in the life of a believer, or we can preach the remedy of the Gospel as the agent of change. He further states, “…in the Gospel do we so behold God as that we may love God. It is there, and there only, where God stands revealed as an object of confidence to sinners–and where our desire after Him is not chilled into apathy by the barrier of human guilt which intercepts every approach that is not made to Him through the appointed Mediator.” Summarizing toward the end of this great work, Chalmers says, “We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart than to keep in our hearts the love of God–and no other way by which to keep our hearts in the love of God, than by building ourselves on our most holy faith.”

These were definitely some incredible words to read. Too often we labor hard in Christian circles to decry and speak against all the manners of worldliness that seem to run rampant both within and without the church. Chalmers would say, rather than do that, labor to instill in the lives of your people strong affections rooted in the Gospel and God Himself. If your affections are here, then worldliness will not cohabitate long. This was an excellent insight. I encourage you to take time to read this work. It would be well worth it.

I have recently started buying many books through the Westminster Bookstore, which you can visit by clicking the above banner or the one to the right.

Why buy books through here?

1) There books are spiritually sound. When I am browsing books on Amazon, I usually have to be careful and make sure that I have a good foundation for something for which I am looking. At Westminster, I see the latest books that I need to read and can trust who is recommending them.

2) There are books you can’t get at Amazon available at Westminster. They have books published by Ligonier, Banner of Truth and some other publishing houses which Amazon doesn’t carry.

3) They have a section devoted to books by the CCEF. CCEF produces the Journal of Biblical Counseling as well as books by David Powlison, Paul Tripp and Ed Welch. These books are must reads for all Christians.

4) One low price of shipping. Their website boasts: “At Westminster Bookstore you pay one low fixed shipping charge no matter how many items you’ve ordered!” That is awesome!

5) Many books they offer include sample chapters online as PDF’s for free. This helps you to be confident in your decision.

I would heartily recommend you pay them a visit. Browse. Buy. Enjoy.

(Caution: Bibliophiles should use extreme caution when visiting this site.)

John Piper recently gave an address at ETS (the Evangelical Theological Society) related to his recent book The Future of Justification entitled Justification and the Diminishing Work of Christ. The audio, video and manuscript are online, thanks to the wonderful people at Desiring God.