A short summary of yesterday’s sermon on John 19:17,18: As the ultimate demonstration of His holy love, Jesus willingly went outside the camp and bore the humiliation of His cross. True believers must now, in the power of all the blessings that are theirs because of His humiliation, take up their crosses and follow Him outside the camp (Luke 9:23,24; Hebrews 13:12-14). Please consider these further insights from English pastor J.C. Ryle: “The practical lesson which all true Christians should gather from the fact before us, is one that should be kept in continual remembrance. Like our Master, we must be content to go forth “outside the camp,” bearing His reproach. We must come out from the world and be separate, and be willing, if need be, to stand alone. Like our Master, we must be willing to take up our cross daily and be persecuted both for our doctrine and our practice. Well would it be for the Church if there was more of the true cross to be seen among Christians! To wear material crosses as an ornament, to place material crosses on churches and tombs, all this is cheap and easy work, and entails no trouble. But to have Christ’s cross in our hearts, to carry Christ’s cross in our daily walk, to know the fellowship of His sufferings, to be made conformable to His death, to have crucified affections, and live crucified lives–all this needs self-denial; and Christians of this stamp are few and far between. Yet, this, we may be sure, is the only cross-bearing and cross-carrying that does good in the world. The times require less of the cross outwardly and more of the cross within.” (J.C. Ryle, commentary on John 19:17) Let’s keep praying and carrying our cross together - all for the glory of the one who gave Himself for us!
Black and white. Dead and alive. High and low. Light and Dark. Hot and cold. Sooners and Longhorns. Life is filled with stark contrasts. But there is one ultimate contrast that supersedes all others, the contrast between that which is true and that which is false. This is the contrast between Jesus Christ, who is truth incarnate (John 14:6), and Satan, who’s very nature is false and devoid of the truth (John 8:44). The best definition of “truth” I’ve come across is that it is “the way things really are, as established by God.” Jesus Christ, in His person, words, and works, exposes all that is false and gives absolute clarity to the way things really are. Here’s the way things really are: every human being has been created by God, for His glory. Every human being is alienated from God and under His wrath because of sin. And every human being can be reconciled eternally to God through faith in Jesus Christ. As Christ came to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37), so now those of us who belong to Him through faith likewise are to bear witness to Him who is true (John 15:26,27). This means that as we faithfully speak and live the Gospel in the power of His Spirit, we help others to see the way things really are. Praying with you to be all the more alert and diligent in our truth-proclaiming calling!
With annual predictability, most churches and non-profit organizations in America experience a significant decline in financial giving during July and August. Our church is no different. Summer vacations, changes in routine, and other factors usually make these months the leanest in terms of giving. Add to this the already challenging economic times we live in, and the impact on the church budget and ministry is that much greater.
While giving often declines during the summer months, financial needs and obligations for the church continue as normal. For this reason, let me encourage you to prayerfully stay faithful and sacrificial in your financial giving to RCG – for the glory of God and the advancement of the Gospel.
2 Cor. 9:6-15 is an always timely exhortation and promise:
Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousnessenduresforever.” Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
A sermon I preached a number of years ago on this passage might be helpful. Additionally, you might be helped by two different series I’ve done in the past on possessions and stewardship, both of which can be found in the sermon archives of our church website. One series begins in August of 2004, the other in January of 2008.
Praise God for the abundant riches He has given us in Jesus Christ!
Through the Apostle Paul in Phil. 4:8, the Lord exhorts His children to cultivate Gospel-centered thinking:
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (NASB)
A wonderful online resource that can help you fulfill this gracious mandate is “Grace Gems.” Based on mostly Puritan writings, you’ll find numerous Christ-exalting resources. Among other things, you can sign up to receive daily devotional quotes via email. I’ve been greatly refreshed in receiving these for a number of years.
The Lord has left us a rich collection of godly literature from previous generations. Take advantage of it – for the nourishment of your soul, the blessing of others, and the glory of God!
The prophet Jeremiah expressed his delight in God’s word by telling God, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jer. 15:16).
Jeremiah’s statement is compelling, particularly in light of the difficult and grievous circumstances under which he ministered. In spite of the pain and sorrow he experienced, it was the Word of God which nourished and delighted his soul.
The same should be true for every child of God, in an ever-increasing way. It is by means of His Word that God sanctifies His people (Jn. 17:17). And the more we behold the glory of God in Christ in His Word, responding to Him in faith and obedience, the more our souls will be full of true joy and satisfaction in Him. So God graciously commands us through Peter: “…like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord” (1 Pet. 2:2,3).
How do you learn to feed on and delight in God’s Word? Let me give some brief bullet points to encourage the nourishment of your soul in the Truth.
Be persuaded of the absolute importance of feeding on God’s Word. Meditate on the above passages, and others such as Ps. 119:98-100.
Make a priority of Bible reading, study, meditation, memorization, and application. Passionately follow the example of Ezra (see Ezra 7:10). Is knowing God through His Word your ultimate priority?
Have a plan for feeding on Scripture. On a daily basis, when will you sit down to eat God’s Word? Where will you read? Do you have a plan for memorizing God’s Word? Let me suggest two excellent plans for systematically reading through Scripture, both of which you can find with a simple “Google” search:
Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System
Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Continually pray for God to help you see and taste His glory and goodness as you devour His Word. Passages such as Ex. 33:18; Ps. 119:18,36, 37; and Mt. 7:7-11 are great encouragements in this regard!
Find someone to partner with you in this pursuit of devouring God’s Word. The accountability and encouragement of one or two others in this gracious discipline is a great help!
Be devoted to putting into practice what you are learning from God’s Word. Be a doer, and not just a hearer of God’s Word, lest you deceive yourself (James 1:22-25).
Be committed to persevering. Learning to feed on and delight in the Word of God is a Christ-exalting, Gospel-centered, faith-driven HABIT that must be cultivated! Some days you’ll do better than others. But don’t quit! If you are genuinely seeking Him with a hungry and teachable heart, He’ll meet you, feed you, and satisfy your soul with His infinite grace and truth in Christ. Press on!
It is highly significant and instructive that the great Apostle Paul, who was used so mightily of the Lord for the spread of the Gospel in the 1st Century, never ceased to ask God’s people to be praying for him. He understood the sobering realities of the spiritual battle he was engaged in, he understood his own inadequacy for the task, and he understood the indispensible need for God’s people to pray for him if he was to be found faithful. Hear his pleas to this end:
“…and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Eph. 6:19,20)
“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith.” (2 Thess. 3:1,2)
In this same way, and for the same reasons, I plead with you to continue to pray for myself and the other men who serve in leadership at RCG. All of us – Smokey, George, Sean, Eric, Pastor Steve, and I – desperately and continually need your prayers!
To spur you on in this blessed task, I commend to you an excellent booklet entitled “A Plea to Pray for Pastors”, by Gardiner Spring. You can “google” the title, and find the booklet online. Consider this excerpt from the booklet, apply it to all of us, and then pray, pray, pray!
And who and what are ministers themselves? Frail men, fallible, sinning men, exposed to every snare, to temptation in every form; and, from the very post of observation they occupy, they are an easier target for the fiery darts of the foe. They are not trite victims the great Adversary is seeking, when he would wound and cripple Christ’s ministers. One such victim is worth more to the kingdom of darkness than a number of common men; and for this very reason their temptations are probably more subtle and severe than those encountered by ordinary Christians. If this subtle Deceiver fails to destroy them, he cunningly aims at neutralizing their influence by quenching the fervor of their piety, lulling them into negligence, and doing all in his power to render their work burdensome. How perilous is the condition of that minister then, whose heart is not encouraged, whose hands are not strengthened, and who is not upheld by the prayers of his people! It is not in his own closet and on his own knees alone, that he finds security and comfort, and ennobling, humbling, and purifying thoughts and joys; but it is when they also seek them in his behalf, that he becomes a better and happier man, and a more useful minister of the everlasting Gospel!
Nothing gives a people so much interest in their minister, and interest of the best kind, as to pray for him. They will love him more, respect him more, attend more cheerfully and gain more profit from his ministry, the more they commend him to God in their prayers. They feel a deeper interest in his work the more they pray for him; and their children feel a deeper interest both in him and in his preaching, when they regularly listen to supplications that affectionately commend him to the throne of the heavenly grace.
The essence of God’s love in Jesus Christ is an active, sacrificial love that secures the eternal well being of those He has chosen. All of God’s saving purposes in Christ are the outworking not only of His sovereign love for the elect, but His love for Jesus Christ (John 17:20-26). Those who have tasted God’s transcendent love through faith in Christ have done so because God did something. Of His own initiative and design, God acted. And in a way that fully reflected His holy, righteous, just, and loving character, He acted to do that which alone could bring permanent salvation to those He loves – He gave His own Son. Hear how the New Testament writers speak of this:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.(1 Peter 1:3)
As those who have received God’s love in Christ, Christians now have the privilege and responsibility of sacrificially loving others by His power and for His glory. Thus our love is radically distinct from the world’s ideas of love, because it is a love that is grounded in and flowing from the truth of all that God has given us in Jesus Christ.
This is what John goes on to speak of in 1 John 3:
16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:16-18)
The point is clear: if you claim to be a Christian – if you testify that you’ve been born again – are you showing evidence of this by laying down your life for the brethren? Are you opening your heart to the needs of those around you, and seeking to meet those needs with the resources God has given you? Do you actively strive to love others in deed and truth?
Very practically, and with reference to Christ’s body at RCG (though our love for others should certainly extend beyond our church family), are you prayerfully seeking to notice the needs of others with the intent of actively responding to those needs? Think about when we gather on the Lord’s Day. Are you reaching out to others, lovingly taking the initiative to learn of and respond to their needs for the glory of Christ? There are myriads of needs: physical needs, spiritual needs, relational needs, etc. We only have to look!
I thank God that there is distinct and everincreasing evidence of the love of God in Christ wonderfully at work in and through so many at RCG. May it continue to increase – all for God’s glory. To that end, let me encourage you to be continually praying that God will give you and others greater apprehension of His immeasurable love in Christ (see Eph. 3:14-21). Pray also that God will give you greater sensitivity and strength for how you can actively love others for His glory.
Bless the LORD , O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities;
Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit;
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 The LORD performs righteous deeds,
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive with us;
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more;
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To those who keep His covenant,
And who remember His precepts to do them.
19 The LORD has established His throne in the heavens;
And His sovereignty rules over all.
20 Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
22 Bless the LORD, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Praying you’ll know and live ever more fully in
the sure hope of God’s rich blessings in
Christ!
Another Christmas season is upon us and with it all the usual trappings, temptations, and distractions that conspire to destroy the wonder of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. While the winds of Christ-hating rebellion are ever blowing through our culture, they seem to intensify into a category five hurricane this time of the year. It’s the annual opportunity for homage to be given to a very domesticated and commercialized Jesus, all to the neglect of His true glory and power.
Scripture declares the radiant glory of God in Jesus Christ, and the significance of why He took on human flesh in the form of a baby. The full glory of Christ can only rightly be seen through God’s revelation in all 66 books of the Bible, but there are many short, simple statements in God’s Word that dramatically capture the essence of His person and work. One such statement is found in 2 Cor. 8:9 –
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
This profound statement is expressed by Paul as he is seeking to exhort the Corinthian believers to follow-through with a sacrificial gift they had purposed to give to impoverished believers in other places.
Paul commends the Corinthians eager desires, but he is concerned that temptations of greed and covetousness may thwart these desires from coming to fruition. Paul thus reminds them of the ultimate and incomprehensible sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and the spiritual riches (forgiveness, reconciliation to God, adoption, eternal life, etc.) they have inherited through His poverty. He wants their hearts and minds to be strongly fixed on Christ alone as the power and pattern of all true giving. The Corinthian believers needed to be reminded of this, and so do we.
Two primary points of application are clear, both of which are matters of active faith. First, believers must constantly grow in their appreciation and appropriation of all they have been given in Jesus Christ, and at what price this indescribable gift has been given to us. Second, believers must constantly imitate the same sacrificial life that Christ has modeled, solely by the power of His indwelling Spirit. Those who have been made rich through His poverty must be diligent in sharing these riches for the blessing of others and the glory of God.
May God give us grace to think rightly and live sacrificially in a Christ-centered, Christ-empowered, and Christ-glorifying way. May we enjoy and share in the special opportunities that this season of the year brings, and yet do so in a manner that intentionally magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we grow in apprehending by faith the great wonder of what 2 Cor. 8:9 declares– all to the praise of His glorious grace!
Rejoicing in Him with you,
As I’ve just completed a 6-week preaching series on sanctification, centered on Jesus’ prayer for the sanctification of His disciples in John 17:16-19, I want to pass along a couple of extended quotes on this theme that are both encouraging and convicting. May these perceptive and penetrating insights be of God-glorifying benefit to your soul!
From John Calvin:
“WHATEVER be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we should always consider the end of it to be, that we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the future life. For since God well knows how strongly we are inclined by nature to a slavish love of this world, in order to prevent us from clinging too strongly to it, he employs the fittest reason for calling us back, and shaking off our lethargy. Every one of us, indeed, would be thought to aspire and aim at heavenly immortality during the whole course of his life. For we would be ashamed in no respect to excel the lower animals; whose condition would not be at all inferior to ours, had we not a hope of immortality beyond the grave. But when you attend to the plans, wishes, and actions of each, you see nothing in them but the earth. Hence our stupidity; our minds being dazzled with the glare of wealth, power, and honours, that they can see no farther. The heart also, engrossed with avarice, ambition, and lust, is weighed down and cannot rise above them. In short, the whole soul, ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth. To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries…. We duly profit by the discipline of the cross, when we learn that this life, estimated in itself, is restless, troubled, in numberless ways wretched, and plainly in no respect happy; that what are estimated its blessings are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and vitiated by a great admixture of evil. From this we conclude, that all we have to seek or hope for here is contest; that when we think of the crown we must raise our eyes to heaven. For we must hold, that our mind never rises seriously to desire and aspire after the future, until it has learned to despise the present life.” (John Calvin, Institutes, iii. 9.1)
From C.H. Spurgeon:
“Every work of the Spirit of God upon the new nature aims at the purification, the consecration, the perfecting of those whom God in love has taken to be his own. Yea, more; all the events of Providence around us work towards that one end: for this our joys and our sorrows, for this our pains of body November 2009 and griefs of heart, for this our losses and our crosses—all these are sacred medicines by which we are cured of the disease of nature, and prepared for the enjoyment of perfect spiritual health. All that befalls us on our road to heaven is meant to fit us for our journey’s end. Our way through the wilderness is meant to try us, and to prove us, that our evils may be discovered, repented of, and overcome, and that thus we may be without fault before the throne at the last. We are being educated for the skies, [prepared] for the assembly of the perfect. It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we are struggling up towards it; and we know that when Jesus shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We are rising: by hard wrestling, and long watching, and patient waiting, we are rising into holiness. These tribulations thresh our wheat and get the chaff away, these afflictions consume our dross and tin to make the gold more pure. All things work together for good to them that love God; and the net result of them all will be the presenting of the chosen unto God, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Sermon #1890, March 7th, 1886, Jn. 17:17; “Our Lord’s Prayer for His People’s Sanctification”)
Pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus with you (Phil. 3:14),
Another Christmas season is upon us and with it all the usual trappings, temptations, and distractions that conspire to destroy the wonder of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. While the winds of Christ-hating rebellion are ever blowing through our culture, they seem to intensify into a category five hurricane this time of the year. It’s the annual opportunity for homage to be given to a very domesticated and commercialized Jesus, all to the neglect of His true glory and power.