The Church's Self-Corrective: BEHOLDING GOD!

In a culture saturated with the esteem of the "self" and marred by the decline of Deity, we stand in need of beholding God for who he is. We need desperately to be humbled and amazed at the infinite splendor of his unrivaled Greatness and the unspeakable wealth of his lavish Goodness. We must marvel at his blinding Glory and fall astonished at his benevolent Grace. If we are to escape the cult of self and find, instead, the true meaning of life and the path of true satisfaction, if we are to give God the glory rightly and exclusively owed to him - that is, if we are to know what truly promotes both our good and his glory - we must behold God for who he is.

BRUCE WARE, God's Greater Glory: The Exalted God of Scripture and the Christian Faith (2004).

Opposition a Sign of True Preaching

In his Prefatory remarks to the Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin warned that in general the church will not be well received and if it were, this would not be a good sign.

"Here is, as it were, a certain characteristic of the Divine Word, that it never comes forth while Satan is at rest and sleeping. This is the surest and most trustworthy mark to distinguish it from lying doctrines, which readily present themselves, are received with attentive ears by all, and are listened to by an applauding world. . . With the violent hands of men he tries to uproot that true seed, and seeks (as much as lies in his power) to choke it with his weeds, to prevent it from growing and bearing fruit. But all that is vain, if we heed the Lord our monitor, who long since laid open Satan's wiles before us, that he might not catch us unawares; and armed us with defenses firm enough against all his devices."

"Fight the good fight of faith." "No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him" (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:4).

And what of love, you ask? Fighting and love are not mutually exclusive. That were the ploy of Satan to get man to believe it. What greater love could there be than the preservation of the truth, even fighting for it, so that men may through a genuine gospel be saved. Indeed, it is the highest form of hatred to lead people into a false belief which not only CANNOT save them, but will even damn them. How many today have been deceived into soft-peddling the truth, mistaking love for selfishness. What a devilish scam to tempt man into betraying the truth while taking credit for love!!

Indeed, "fight the GOOD fight of faith."

Christianity IS a Fight!

Is this part of our counsel to would-be or new believers? We hope so. To enter salvation without this knowledge is to be "set up" for failure. Oh, how we need to warn the believer that though his blessings are immense in Christ, this world is not a friend to grace. Therefore, he will face opposition from many quarters (including his own heart). "To be forewarned is to be forearmed," they say. At church I have often quoted this from Spurgeon:

"Conversion is the first blow in a life-long conflict that will not end til we are in glory."

The Daily Spurgeon for Wednesday addresses itself to the fight and to endurance in it. I invite you to read that. But I will quote one paragraph here:

The believer is commonly compared to a warrior: he is engaged in a great battle, a holy war. Like Joshua, he has to drive out the Canaanites, that have chariots of iron, before he can fully take possession of his inheritance; but it is not the winning of one battle that makes a man a conqueror; nay, though he should devastate one province of his enemy’s territories, yet, if he should be driven out by-and-by, he is beaten in the campaign, and it will yield him but small consolation to win a single battle, or even a dozen battles, if the campaign as a whole should end in his defeat. It is not commencing as though the whole world were to be cleared by one display of fire and sword, but continuing, going from strength to strength, from victory to victory, that makes the man the conqueror of his foe.

May our Leader in battle shore us up in the fight, NOT against each other, but aiming all our spiritual powers against the foe, against sin, the world, and Satan! Victors in Christ.

Be Jealous for Your Heart

Let original sin [inherited from Adam] make us walk with continual jealousy and watchfulness over our hearts. The sin of our nature is like a sleeping lion; the least thing that awakens it makes it rage. The sin of our nature, though it seems quiet, and lies as fire hid under the embers, yet if it be a little stirred and blown upon by a temptation, how quickly may it flame forth into scandalous evils? Therefore we had need always to walk watchfully . . . A wandering heart needs a watchful eye.

--Thomas Watson, English Puritan (c. 1620-1686)

Run For Your Life

This is a 5 minute excerpt from a soul-stirring sermon preached on the Sunday after 9-11. The pastor is Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in Manhattan. It calls for the church to run into the conflict, not away from it! IT'S A MUST-HEAR! PLEASE.

Run For Your Life - posted by Kris Easters (Kebass2312) - tangle.com


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Facts and figures don’t always spell success

How do you spell "success?" The following may help:

written by Stephan Joubert

Facts and figures (the right ones!) usually impress people. When thousands of people show up to listen to a well-known preacher or a singer at events, many call it a roaring success. Well, I’m not against large crowds attending religious events or church services, but when attendance becomes the definition for success in Christianity, we are in serious trouble.

Far too many preachers are nowadays being marketed as crowd drawing celebrities on numerous church programs and flyers for upcoming religious events. But is this what religious leaders or churches should be known for? Did we all get stuck in that infamous bodies/budget/buildings = success syndrome? Why do we uncritically apply the rest of the world’s definitions of success in church time and time again?

Perhaps I’m the only stranger in Jerusalem, but I’m convinced that Jesus focused more on reaching individuals, outcasts, marginalised persons and the poor than on getting people to fill buildings, revival meetings, worship events, etc. Success to Jesus means sowing one mustard seed a time. Yes, I know that mustard seeds multiply, as Jesus teaches us in Matthew 13. But to uncritically equate this kind of growth with large crowds at Christian events is not correct. The real test for kingdom growth is discipleship. Followers of Jesus who make the right impact for him in their everyday lives are the correct answer.

Crowds and audiences don’t really change the world. Yes, they fill seats. Yes, they cheer, sing, celebrate and rejoice. But the real change-agents in our world are individuals and small groups of committed followers of Christ. They understand and embody the difference between fans and disciples.

Facts and figures don’t always spell success | echurch

A Warning About Bible Reading Plans

The following is from the beloved Scottish pastor Robert Murray M'Cheyne and deserves our attention. Answering the concern that Christians certainly do want to take in the Word of God, M'Cheyne points out that there is a warning attached. In our reading let us look out for:

1. Formality. We are such weak creatures that any regularly returning duty is apt to degenerate into a lifeless form. The tendency of reading the Word by a fixed rule may, in some minds, be to create this skeleton religion. This is to be the peculiar sin of the last days: “Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”(2 Tim. 3:5). Guard against this. Let the calendar perish rather than this rust eat up your souls.

2. Self–righteousness. Some, when they have devoted their set time to reading the Word, and accomplished their prescribed portion, may be tempted to look at themselves with self–complacency [or, self-satisfaction when danger really lurks around the corner]. Many, I am persuaded, are living without any divine work on their soul—unpardoned and unsanctified, and ready to perish—who spend their appointed times in secret and family devotion. This is going to hell with a lie in the right hand.

3. Careless reading. Few tremble at the Word of God. Few, in reading it, hear the voice of Jehovah, which is full of majesty. Some, by having so large a portion, may be tempted to weary of it, as Israel did of the daily manna, saying, “Our soul loatheth this light bread!” and to read it in a slight and careless manner. This would be fearfully provoking God. Take heed lest that word be true of you: “Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of Hosts”(Malachi 1:3).

4. A yoke too heavy to bear.—Some may engage in reading with alacrity [cheerful willingness] for a time, and afterwards feel it a burden, grievous to be borne. They may find conscience dragging them through the appointed task without any relish of the heavenly food. If this be the case with any, throw aside the fetter, and feed at liberty in the sweet garden of God. My desire is not to cast a snare upon you, but to be a helper of your joy.

If there be so many dangers, why propose such a scheme at all? To this I answer, that the best things are accompanied with danger, as the fairest flowers are often gathered in the clefts of some dangerous precipice.