Thoughts.
• Saturday, July 1, 2006 - A radio program that feeds my faith
I listen frequently to Desiring GOD
Radio with John Piper, downloading programs from the internet.
These have been greatly used of God in my life. I have learned so
much truth, and my faith has been greatly strengthened from the sound
doctrine he teaches.
These programs are biblical!
They have been my "seminary", my theological pattern and my doctrinal
mold. They have encouraged me deeply, and grounded my faith.
If you all were nearby I would have probably passed you a CD already,
but since I can't do that, I would highly encourage anyone to listen to Desiring GOD Radio Here are a few past programs that are really good:
I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious
The Faith Grace Certainty Connection
Faith and the Imputation of Righteousness
The more recent ones are, I'm sure, very good, but I haven't listened
to them yet! So if you go to the link, I'd love to hear what you
learned from other programs, too!
"Remember
your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the
outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." - Hebrews 13:7-8 ESV
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• Thursday, June 29, 2006 - Not a cup - the moon! What it means to be a human in God's image.
Here's another noteworthy statement from Ed Welch's book, "When People are Big and God is Small"
"The
object of God's greatest affections is God himself: the Father, Son,
and Spirit. He wants his glorious holiness to fill the earth.
Therefore, our prayer should be 'Hallowed be your name.' People are most similar to God when he is the object of their affection.
People should delight in God, as he does in himself...Instead of the
image of God in human beings taking the form of a love cup or a hollow
core of longings, the image is more accurately that of Moses literally
reflecting the glory of God (Ex. 34:29-32) like the moon reflecting the
light of the sun..."
We need God. But He was not made for us. We
were made for Him. He did not make us to be little need-cups, but little
mirrors, little moons, facing Him, the radiant Sun of Righteousness,
and reflecting His glory.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to
another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. - 2
Corinthians 3:18 ESV
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• Saturday, June 24, 2006 - There's an old name written down in glory
There's a gospel song called,
"There's a new name written down in glory"
I'm not sure who wrote it, but they didn't know their Bible very well!
I was listening to it the other day on a tape (yes we still use those
ancient mechanisms called cassettes! :-) and I thought, "That doesn't
sound right. God isn't so subjected to man's will that he waits
until someone accepts Christ to write their name in the book of
life. Can you imagine God sitting in heaven and waiting for
people "dead in transgressions and sins" to come to him of their own
accord so he can write down their name?
"Oh look, the white-robed angels sing the story - a sinner has come home! Now,write it down in the book of life."
I knew that was not so,
but I was having a hard time finding the Scripture text that proves
it. Well, on Sunday mornings in church, we are reading through
the book of Revelation, just reading a chapter each week as a Scripture
portion. Last Sunday - Eureka! There it was! The text I'd been
searching for: Revelation 17:8 "...The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come."
Here is the foundation of my salvation: "Written in the book of
life from the creation of the world." Decided before-hand, "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to
the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the
Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace..." - Ephesians 1:4-7
My salvation was worked outside me in the finished work of Christ, and
then worked inside me when God gave me new birth by the Holy
Spirit and called me, enabling me to believe in the work of
Christ. At the moment I was justified by faith in Christ (saved)
I was not then recorded in the book of life - I was proven to already have been in there from the creation of the world.
Or as Romans 8:28-30 more aptly puts it:
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image
of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. And
those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he
also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
There's an old name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes, it's mine In God's perfect plan for His own glory To bring this sinner home! There's an old name written down in glory And it's mine, oh yes it's mine With my sins forgiven, I am bound for heaven Never more to roam!
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• Thursday, June 22, 2006 - Theology - you have it whether you know it or not.
These days I'm reading two extra-biblical books - Fox's Book of Martyrs and When People are BIG and GOD is Small by Ed Welch.
In the latter book, I read the most interesting statement:
"our lives proceed out of our theology"
That statement struck me because it is so true.
What we do is a result of how we view God and what we believe about
him. This theology is not necessarily a stated creed (though such
things can be very good) or what we would write on a theology
examination; it is what we really think of God in our deepest heart. Our lives proceed from this.
It doesn't matter if I can say God is good, or can quote Romans 8:28 to hurting people, if I don't believe in my heart that God really is good.
Do I believe firmly that He keeps His promises? Are they my rock
in difficult circumstances? Or do I think they are nice-sounding words
that can't have meaning when my heart is aching? My life will show it.
Do I really believe that since the righteousness of God in Christ is
mine by faith, that my righteousness cannot fluctuate, and that God
looks at me as righteous in Christ all the time? Or do I think that when I sin He gets angry at me?
Do I really believe that if I confess my sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive and cleanse? Or do I think that Christ's death was not
enough for my sins, and I have to feel morbid and guilty for at least a
whole day to "make up" for my failure?
Do I really believe that "If God is for us, who can be against us?" and "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32 ESV) It will make a difference in how I live. What I believe about God is the basis of my life, whether I realize it or not.
Do I believe that God is great and awesome - really? I could sing "I
Stand in Awe of You" on Sunday, but unless I believe in God's
all-surpassing might and value in my heart, on
Monday I could go to the mall with one thought pre-eminent in my mind:
"What are people thinking of me?" and care more about that then about
God. What is my theology then? What about being in awe of God? If
I claim to stand in awe of Him, why doesn't His presence consume my
every thought?
This is the aspect of life that Ed Welch's book deals with. Here is the context of the first quote: "Perhaps
you weren't expecting a theological excursion on the path to dealing
with the fear of other people, but our lives proceed out of our
theology - our understanding of God and ourselves."
Sometimes...we have pretty bad theology, and sometimes we supress good
theology. I believe those are the times we sin. So what I desire
to do (and encourage anyone reading this to do) is to fix in my heart
and mind who God really is - what He has really done and what He is really like. And that comes through His Word.
Wow - it comes back to reading the Bible.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence"
(2 Peter 1:3 ESV)
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• Monday, June 5, 2006 - What is heavenly reward like? Thoughts from Jonathan Edwards.
We hear alot, in sermons and in
reading the Bible, about reward in heaven. But what does it consist of?
I heard it explained at one time, I think by John Piper quoting
Jonathan Edwards, so I ransacked Google to find it. Finally I turned up
a page entitled "The Glory of Heaven", which is not by Edwards, but
quotes him, and so I have entered this piece, which states the same
analogy I once heard, because it presents itself well to me:
"..."For
we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may
be recompensed for his deeds in the body, whether good or bad."... It
is apparent that free rewards are promised to believers in glory which
will be equivalent to what we have done in our labors for the Lord here
on earth....
Other Scriptures state quite clearly that a difference
will be made between believers in glory. Daniel is told that "those who
have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of
heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars
forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3)... This is plainly taught in the
parable of the talents as well, where one man was put in authority over
ten cities and another over five (Luke 19:12-19).
(Now here's the analogy that I liked):
"The
saints are like so many vessels of different sizes cast into a sea of
happiness where every vessel is full: this is eternal life, for a man
to have his capacity filled. But after all tis left to God's sovereign
pleasure, tis His prerogative to determine the largeness of the
vessel."[Jonathan Edwards] Each person will be filled to their capacity
with blessedness and joy. None will lack anything. But there will be
those who have a greater capacity for joy than others. Christopher Love
explains: "Though there be degrees of glory, yet this doth not imply,
that there shall be defects or want (lack) of glory in heaven to any
glorified persons, but every person shall be as full of glory as he can
hold, or is capable of. Perkins explains it by a clear demonstration.
Take a little vessel and a great vessel, and cast both these into the
sea, both these vessels will be full, yet there is not [as much] in the
little vessel as in the great, though both are full. So, saith he, the
godly are like two vessels, yet one, by reason of the enjoyment of God,
is more capacious (spacious) to take in more of God than the other is,
yet the least saint shall be full of glory; he that hath least glory,
shall have glory sufficient, though not glory equal with some glorified
saints: so that degrees of glory doth not argue any defect in those
persons that have less glory than others have."...Jonathan Edwards
believed that the degree of glory or reward would be determined by four
factors: degrees of grace and holiness here, degree of good that is
done, self-denial and suffering, and eminency in humility... ".
I cannot think of any better analogy of eternity and its rewards than this one of jars in a sea.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. - Psalm 16:11
The Glory of Heaven is a copyrighted work taken from The Narrow Way © 1993 by William C. Nichols
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• Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - A Little Picture of Perseverance
On Sunday I was with Mother in the car
- now I have to explain to any readers our unique situation. We
have a little church that meets in a decrepit building on the corner of
the main road. (It's decrepit partly because we don't own it, and
every service we have no assurance that it won't be our last one in the
building - so we don't spend much money on upkeep. We are trying and
praying toward buying the building but the owner is a rather moody
Hindu man who wants more money out of us than we can give.
Thankfully, neither he nor his demands are greater than our God.)
Anyway, after service mother was taking a lady home in our car while
everyone else waited at the church - except for me. I decided to go
along. It was raining, and after dropping off the lady, we were
going along the muddy road back toward the church building when we saw
a sight. Both Mother and I wished we had the camera, but a word
picture must suffice:
A young boy of about seven years was coming down the road. He was barefoot and wearing only underpants (which is very normal
in Guyana - and probably better for walking in the rain!) He had
probably just ridden the family bike to the local shop to buy ice and
was now returning. The bike was a full-size adult bike and he was
pushing it with both hands. His head was slightly down, gripping
the top of the bag of ice between his front teeth, while rain streamed
down his face. His face was a picture of grit and determination
as he slowly pushed the bike toward home. What a picture! I hope his
mother thanked him when he got home.
Sometimes life is like that.
What kept that boy going? The command of his parent and the end of his trip - home! (and maybe
a soft drink with ice when he got there.) Something better awaits
believers in Christ - God. Our dwelling place, our eternal home and our
fountain of delight forever. He will fill us with joy in His presence,
with eternal pleasure at His right hand.
And if we have to tramp barefoot through mud in life, our hands so full, we wish we had three... we can keep
on going, one step at a time. Jesus will keep us persevering in
grace and our God will bring us safely home. I know that no
analogy is a perfect one - our lives aren't always tramping
through mud. There is earthly joy many times in our way.
But when we have to drudge, the joy of the Lord is our strength and the
end of the journey is our hope.
"...strengthening
the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith,
and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of
God." - Acts 14:22 ESV
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