If we would stop treating Sunday as a second Saturday, one more day to run to Home Depot, one more day for the kids' soccer games, if we would rediscover Sunday as The Lord's Day, focusing on him for one day each week, what would be the immediate impact between today and one year from today?
By one year from today, we will have spent 52 whole days given over to Jesus. Seven and a half weeks of paid vacation with Jesus.
He's a good King. Maybe we should put him first in our weekly schedules.
"[Grace is] my favourite word in the lexicon of the English language. It's a word I'm depending on. The universe operates by Karma, we all know that. For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. There is some atonement built in: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Then enters Grace and turns that upside down. I love it. I'm not talking about people being graceful in their actions but just covering over the cracks. Christ's ministry really was a lot to do with pointing out how everybody is a screw-up in some shape or form, there's no way around it. But then He was to say, well, I am going to deal with those sins for you. I will take on Myself all the consequences of sin. Even if you're not religious I think you'd accept that there are consequences to all the mistakes we make. And so Grace enters the picture to say, I'll take the blame, I'll carry the cross. It is a powerful idea. Grace interrupting Karma."
"Let us not dictate to God. Many a blessing has been lost by Christians not believing it to be a blessing, because it did not come in the particular shape which they had conceived to be proper and right. To some the divine work is nothing, unless it assumes the form which their prejudice has selected."
Here is a competition where we can rightly fight for first place in line: in honoring one another. Not just tolerating one another, but honoring one another.
Every church should be a culture of honor. The gospel is all about honor replacing shame. Every Christian will be forever glorious with the glory of the risen Jesus: "To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Let's see one another not as we are now but as we will be then. Our future glory makes Romans 12:10 an obvious thing to do.
It is also rare. Romans 12:10 might be the most ignored Scripture in our churches today, which are too often cultures of shaming rather than cultures of honoring.
But who wouldn't want to walk into church this next Sunday morning to a hero's welcome? And why not? We may not be the greatest Christians in the world. But by God's grace we didn't go apostate in a whole week.
"God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We however, says Peter (2 Peter 3:13), are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins?"
Martin Luther, writing to Philip Melanchthon, 1 August 1521.
No one laughs at God in a hospital No one laughs at God in a war No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor
No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests No one's laughing at God when it's gotten real late and their kid's not back from that party yet
No one laughs at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake No one's laughing at God when they see the one they love hand in hand with someone else and they hope that they're mistaken No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door and they say "We've got some bad new, sir" No one's laughing at God when there's a famine, fire or flood
But God can be funny At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they're about to choke
God can be funny When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious Ha ha
No one laughs at God in a hospital No one laughs at God in a war No one's laughing at God when they've lost all they got and they don't know what for
No one laughs at God on the day they realize that the last sight they'll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes No one's laughing at God when they're saying their goodbyes
But God can be funny At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they're about to choke
God can be funny When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus God can be so hilarious
No one laughs at God in a hospital No one laughs at God in a war No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor
No one's laughing at God We're all laughing with God
Our local deity is not Jesus. He goes by the name Jesus. But in reality, our local deity is Jesus Jr.
Our little Jesus is popular because he is useful. He makes us feel better while conveniently fitting into the margins of our busy lives. But he is not terrifying or compelling or thrilling. When we hear the gospel of Jesus Jr., our casual response is “Yeah, that’s what I believe.” Jesus Jr. does not confront us, surprise us, stun us. He looks down on us with a benign, all-approving grin. He tells us how wonderful we really are, how entitled we really are, how wounded we really are, and it feels good.
Jesus Jr. appeals to the flesh. He does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. He is not able to understand them, much less impart them, because Jesus Jr. is the magnification of Self, the idealization of Self, the absolutization of Self turning around and validating Self, flattering Self, reinforcing Self. Jesus Jr. does not change us, because he is a projection of us.
It is time to tear down Jesus Jr. It is time to rediscover the real Jesus. Still today, even to us, his invitation stands: “Come to me” (Matthew 11:28).
"The flight from worldviews in the political realm corresponds to the general flight from meaning. In this area, as in personal life, 'objectives' have taken the place of ends, and aims the place of meanings. Only worldviews hold meaning . . . . Objectives, on the other hand, point to nothing; they respond to short-term necessities."
I honor my country on this Independence Day. Why? For starters:
1. The USA grew historically out of spiritual struggle. A longing for Christ in the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers compelled them to risk all for him. A great beginning.
2. The USA embodies, very imperfectly, a conviction that every one of us has God-given dignity: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
3. The USA has been blessed with the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the revivals of 1858-59 and other movements of the Holy Spirit, converting many to Christ, growing churches and sending missionaries and money to the ends of the earth.
4. The "greatest generation" of the USA defeated tyranny at great personal cost. When in 1944 my grandfather, stationed in Tehran, got word that his son had died when his B-24 went down, grandpa could not come home to console the family. The war had to be fought. So he stayed put -- only the Lord knows how all-sufficient grace sustained him -- and he did his duty and won.
5. The USA falls so far short, we cannot lift our eyes to heaven for shame. But slapping my country down is not a redemptive response. I pray for my country, that the risen Christ would so pour out his Spirit again that the church will be cleansed and multitudes brought to Christ and our nation renewed. With God, there can be another great beginning.
"There are some things which are to be enjoyed, some which are to be used, and some whose function is both to enjoy and use. Those which are to be enjoyed make us happy; those which are to be used assist us and give us a boost, so to speak, as we press on towards our happiness. . . . But if we choose to enjoy things that are to be used, our advance is impeded and sometimes even diverted, and we are held back, or even put off, from attaining things which are to be enjoyed, because we are hamstrung by our love of lower things."
"God's goodness is near us. It is not a goodness far away, but God follows us with his goodness in whatever situation we are. He attaches himself to us, he has made himself close, that he might be near us in goodness. He is a father, and everywhere to maintain us. He is a husband, and everywhere to help. He is a friend, and everywhere to comfort and counsel. His love is a near love. He has taken upon himself the closest kinds of relationships, so that we may never lack God and the evidences of his love."
"[John's gospel] speaks in the clearest voice we have that sentence all humankind craves . . . : the Maker of all things loves and wants me. In no other book our culture possesses can we see a clearer graph of that need, that tall enormous radiant arc -- fragile creatures made by the Father's hand, hurled into space, then caught at last by a man in some ways like ourselves, though the ark of God."
"What is needed is something that cannot be explained in human terms. What is needed is something that is so striking and so signal that it will arrest the attention of the whole world. That is revival.
Now we of ourselves can never do anything like that. We can do a great deal, and we should do all we can. We can preach the truth, we can defend it, we can indulge in our apologetics, we can organize our campaigns, we can try to present a great front to the world. But you know, it does not impress the world. It leaves the world where it was. The need is for something which will be so overwhelming, so divine, so unusual that it will arrest the attention of the world . . . .
'Authenticate thy word. Lord God, let it be known, let it be known beyond a doubt, that we are thy people. Shake us!' I do not ask him to shake the building, but I ask him to shake us. I ask him to do something that is so amazing, so astounding, so divine, that the whole world shall be compelled to look on and say, 'What is this?' as they said on the day of Pentecost."
"One of the greatest errors to be dreaded and watched and prayed against is that of excessive caution, under the guise of prudence, in anxiety to avoid giving offense to worldly people who never can be reconciled, by all you can do, to anything in the shape of a revival of religion."
William C. Burns (1815-1868), Scottish minister, missionary to China, writing in The Revival of Religion, page 350.
Josh Harris has graciously posted a link to a letter my dad wrote to the family before he died. You can link here.
The day dad died two years ago, and he knew it was the day of his release, he called the family to his bedside at the hospital. Sadly, Jani and I were in Northern Ireland that day. But after the family sang hymns and read Scripture together, dad spoke patriarchal blessings to each one. Then he pronounced upon them the Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6:24-26. Then he fell asleep.
My dad lived and died a man in Christ, full of the Holy Spirit, to the praise of the glory of God's grace.
"[Athanasius'] approach to miracles is badly needed today, for it is the final answer to those who object to them as 'arbitrary and meaningless violations of the laws of Nature.' They are here shown to be rather the re-telling in capital letters of the same message which Nature writes in her crabbed cursive hand, the very operations one would expect of Him who was so full of life that when He wished to die He had to 'borrow death from others.'"
C. S. Lewis, Introduction to St. Athanasius on the Incarnation, page 9.
"Call to mind the fearful calamities of the church, which might move to pity even minds of iron. Nay, set before your eyes her squalid and unsightly form, and the sad devastation which is everywhere beheld. How long, pray, will you allow the spouse of Christ, the mother of you all, to lie thus prostrated and afflicted -- thus, too, when she is imploring your protection, and when the means of relief are in your hand?"
John Calvin, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, pages 197-198.
Click here to see photos from Saturday's Benefit Car Show at Immanuel Church. Great cars, great new friends, practical help for political refugees who have come to Nashville. Thanks to all who participated.
"I pray for the day when transvestites [and other gay people] can walk through our church doors and be greeted with genuinely warm smiles and Christian love. But before that day is likely to happen, they will need a Christian friend whom they have grown to trust; a person they know would never invite them to a place where they are going to be hurt or embarrassed publicly; a place where everyone is on level ground before the cross of Christ because all are sinners; a place where no one person’s sin is made out to be more repugnant than another’s; a place where all sinners can sit under the uncompromised preaching of holy Scripture and hear of the world’s only Savior and salvation in his name alone."
I love being involved with Acts 29. It is a privilege to lock arms with these heroic men for Christ. I want to give my life to this. It feels like revival. Imperfect, of course, but powerful with the power of the gospel. And I long for more gospel power for Nashville, for sure. Bring it on.
"There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love -- this eternal Three in One -- is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested and shines forth in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!"
Jonathan Edwards, "Heaven is a world of love," Charity and its Fruits, pages 327-328.
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John . . . . 'And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.' . . . And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:13, 29, 31
"Boldness" is the key word in Acts 4. The apostles had not been bold. Now they were, having seen the risen Christ and having been drenched with the Holy Spirit. But they needed still more boldness.
After the Council ordered them to shut up about Jesus, they were dismissed. Walking back through the streets of Jerusalem and seeing their faces on wanted posters here and there, they gathered with their friends to pray. What miracle did they ask God for? Not that the wanted posters would disappear. They prayed for the miracle of more boldness. And God gave it.
"Boldness" is a biblical word. That means God defines it. We are not bold witnesses when we think we're being bold; we are bold witnesses when God thinks we're being bold, when God looks down on us and turns to the angel Gabriel and says, "Gabriel, look at those guys. Now that's what I call bold!"
For people like us, that's a miracle. And God works miracles.
"Often the doctrine of 'Christ for me' appears common, well known, having nothing new in it; and I am tempted to pass it by and go to some scripture more taking. This is the devil again -- a red-hot lie. 'Christ for us' is ever new, ever glorious. 'Unsearchable riches of Christ' -- an infinite object, and the only one for a guilty soul."
Andrew A. Bonar, Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, page 152.
"Pseudo faith always arranges a way out to serve in case God fails it. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second way or makeshift substitutes. For true faith, it is either God or total collapse. And not since Adam first stood up on the earth has God failed a single man or woman who trusted him."
A. W. Tozer, "True Faith Brings Committal," In The Root of the Righteous, pages 49-50.
"We have already seen that in 1537 one of the four foundations for the reform of the Church was congregational singing. . . . We have seen in effect that Calvin placed singing at the heart of his theology of the Church. The reason is not far to seek. To put it with the utmost simplicity: The Church is the place where the Gospel is preached; Gospel is good news; good news makes people happy; happy people sing. But then, too, unhappy people may sing to cheer themselves up."
"Your danger and mine is not that we become criminals, but rather that we become respectable, decent, commonplace, mediocre Christians. The twentieth-century temptations that really sap our spiritual power are the television, banana cream pie, the easy chair and the credit card. The Christian wins or loses in those seemingly innocent little moments of decision.
Lord, make my life a miracle!"
Raymond C. Ortlund, Lord, Make My Life A Miracle, page 151.
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