Do not grow weary of doing good

On a very limited number of occasions — once, maybe twice — I have felt like I had reached the limits of my physical abilities.  My arms and legs trembling with weariness, I was nearing the end of what my body could do.

On a few of occasions I’ve watched sporting events and seen athletes expend themselves to such a limit that they had to be carried off the field by their teammates.  They had not suffered an injury; their exhaustion simply prevented them from physically continuing their activity.

I have numerous times stood at a bedside and seen someone at the end of life — his or her body failing from weariness and the cumulative effect of a lifetime of ills and weaknesses bringing them to the brink of death.

All these manifestations of weariness, and more, are not uncommon experiences to us.

But there is another kind of weariness as well — a spiritual weariness that tempts one to say, “I quit — I’ve done all that I can do.  I can’t do it any longer.”  The image of one who has left the church, a marriage, a family, a job, a friendship is too common.  We’ve heard the lament from some who have tasted of Christ and the gospel, “I’ve tried that obeying and following Christ — it didn’t work…”  And with those words they spew Christ from their lives, and walk away, weary of doing good.

What is notable is that there is a significant difference between physical weariness and spiritual weariness.  Both have the same lament, “I can’t…” but for the one who has reached the end physically, there is no amount of cajoling, encouraging or commanding that will enable him to respond affirmatively to the statement, “don’t be weary.”  But for the one who is spiritually weary, it is possible to exhort and command him, “don’t be weary,” and have him respond.

When we are weary, how can we not be weary?  How do you continue to love when it is unreturned?  How do you continue to forgive when it is abused?  How do you continue to give and provide when recipients take advantage of generosity?  How do you continue serving in ministry when you feel as lonely as Elijah?

Endurance to forsake weariness is not a matter of self-will and “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality.  It comes from the application of spiritual principles and gifts.  Paul provides several such instructions throughout the Thessalonian letters.

Ask the Lord for His strength (3:1-3).  James would say, “you do not have because you do not ask” (4:2).  The successful spiritual life is not dependent upon the ability of a man, but on God who saves him (Phil. 2:13).  Sometimes our weariness is because we have not availed ourselves of the power of God, who will (that’s a promise) strengthen you.

Cultivate a love for God (3:5).  Paul indicates that there is a direct correlation between our love for God and the steadfastness we experience for Christ.  Perhaps we live weakly because we love inadequately.

Remember the end of those who do not believe in Christ (1:5-10).  When hardship endures, there is a temptation to believe that the trial is literally unending (eternal).  It is not.  There is something worse than enduring great hardship — a greater tragedy is to be the one who inflicts temporal persecution and faces eternal destruction.  When tempted to weariness under persecution remember that it will end and your hope is eternal and your weight is light.

Excel still more (1 Thess. 4:1).  The word “excel” or “abound” is a favorite of Paul — he uses it 26 times in his letters.  We can abound in our work because it is not vain (1 Cor. 15:58).  However much we have sinned, we have received grace for forgiveness that is far more abundant (Rom. 5:15).  No matter the amount of our suffering, we receive even more abundant comfort from Christ (2 Cor. 1:5).  The giving of God’s grace is given to believers to make much more glory abound to God (2 Cor. 4:5).  The Lord gives abundant grace so that there is abundant ability to carry out good deeds (2 Cor. 9:8).  All these and more demonstrate the sufficiency of God’s power and grace to make weak men strong so they might continue in endurance.

So Paul’s command is not illegitimate — it is given not only as a responsibility that is to be obeyed, but with the promises of God’s provision to enable us to sustain.  Do not grow weary in doing good or in any part of your spiritual life — because God has given you the grace and power you need.

Today’s Quote – Idolatry (Keller)

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods:

What many people call “psychological problems” are simple issues of idolatry.  Perfectionism, chronic indecisiveness, the need to control the lives of others — all of these stem from making good things into idols that then drive us into the ground as we try to appease them.  Idols dominate our lives.…

The way forward, out of despair, is to discern the idols of our hearts and our culture.  But that will not be enough.  The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one.  The living God, who revealed Himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if you find him, can truly fulfill you, and, if you fail him, can truly forgive you.

Grab bag

Some random posts and articles that I’ve accumulated recently from around the ‘net:

• Charles Spurgeon meditates on walking with like Christ (this classic book, Morning and Evening can be downloaded in its entirety for reading at your leisure).
• Luther posts the 95 theses (if you’ve never really understood what the theses were all about…)
• Tim Keller talks about Counterfeit Gods (a book I’m now reading)
• How John Piper was called to the pastorate
• Collision:  a movie I think I’d like to watch (the movie website; what piqued my interest in the movie)
• A pastor who loves his people
• “Let us Tell You a Story— Recovering the lost spiritual discipline of reading biographies” (also:  “The Mushroom Hunt — How to find a good biography”)
• John Piper articles:
  • “When You Don’t Want to Do What You Ought To” (related from Jon Bloom:  “When You Don’t Feel Like It, Take Heart”)
  • “Satan, World, Providence, Christ”

Sunday Leftovers (11/15/09)

Do we know the strength and power of God in our lives?

Do we know the strength and power of God in our praying?

Much of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is concerned with the matter of strength for living for the Ephesians (e.g., 1:19-20; 3:16, 20; 6:10ff).  Among the truths exposed by Paul are:

• God’s power is a gift for believers — made available and offered to those who believe:

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe (1:19a)

• The gift of God’s power is given in proportion to the wealth and extent of His glory (which is boundless): 
  

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man (3:16)

• God’s power, given to believers, is manifested supremely in the resurrection of Christ:

These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (1:19b-20)

• For all we know about the power of God, the extent of His power is magnificently, abundantly, infinitely more than we can imagine or postulate — for all we have seen of His power (think:  the cross, the resurrection, the Red Sea, feeding 5000 people, creation), we have seen only the small workings of His fingers:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us… (3:20)

• God not only commands us to find our strength in Him, but He also provides us with all the resources we need so that we might be strong in Him:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (6:10-11)

This unimaginable power of God has been given to believers that we might know it in our own lives, and it is also, like Paul, to be the content of our prayers for others.

Are we weak spiritually because we pray weakly?  Are our brothers in Christ weak because we have not undertaken to hold the ropes of prayer, asking for their strengthening in Christ?

Men’s Conference

Our men’s conference is now complete.

It was a wonderful morning with Tom Pennington.  He spoke three times and participated in a Q & A.  All the audio and a number of pictures are now available.  The links are below:

Audio

• A Man After God’s Own Heart
• God’s Design for Marriage, Pt. 1
• God’s Design for Marriage, Pt. 2
• Q & A

Pictures

Today’s Quote – Anxiety (Elliot)

Elisabeth Elliot:

Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now.

(HT:  Christianity Today)

Reflections on freedom and a week of remembrances

The past couple of weeks we have heard much about freedom.  This week the world recognized the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Our country also remembered the veterans who fought on her behalf, providing protection and freedom for all her citizens.

And last week we watched in horror the images of grieving families whose loved ones had their freedom taken away — by a gunman at Fort Hood.

All three of these images served, among other things, to remind us of the precious value of freedom.

Our country has been built on “Freedom events.”  A Boston Tea Party.  The first amendment.  Civil War.  Emancipation Proclamation.  “Remember the Alamo.”  Pearl Harbor.  D-Day.  Vietnam.

But the Christian life is built around a single freedom event — the Cross.  Aside from the afternoon being midnight black, for many it was an ordinary day.  For some it has become the extra-ordinary day.  God on the cross.  “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Loneliness.  Sin.  A last breath.  Death.  Willing, will-full death.  Resurrection.  Don’t forget the resurrection.

The cross without the resurrection would have been failure.  The cross with the resurrection is confident expectation (a.k.a. hope).  Victory.  Freedom.

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death,” Paul says, “certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:5-7).  Century after century it has been proven that man’s death provides only bondage.  The only death that provides freedom is Christ’s death.

And as with all freedom, Christ’s freedom came with an expensive price tag.  “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’” (Mk. 15:34).  The blackness of that lonely hour we will never know.  The emptiness will remain a mystery to us.  The horror will be eternally contained supremely in the mind of God.  But we will forever be recipients of Christ’s conquest.

By His obedience to the cross we are freed from both the penalty of sin and the power of sin.  This freedom is without cost to those who receive it — it is a gracious gift, liberally and freely given to them by God.  But our release from all the tyrannical implications of sin come at the expense of Christ’s death.

And just as our world recognizes year-by-year and decade by decade significant events that mark the temporary freedoms of man, so believers recognize week by week in their regular worship the great gift of freedom accomplished by the cross of Christ.

The marks of manhood

With this weekend being our men’s conference — “The Reason You Live,” I’ve been thinking about a variety of topics related to men and manhood.  In the course of my thinking and perusing files, I came across this list of qualities compiled by Al Mohler several years ago about the indicators that a transition has taken place to move a child from boyhood to manhood.

These are also good reminders of (and opportunities for reflection on) the attributes that reveal my maturity as a man.

A boy has become a man when he has:

1. Spiritual maturity sufficient to lead a wife and children.
2. Personal maturity sufficient to be a responsible husband and father.
3. Economic maturity sufficient to hold an adult job and handle money.
4. Physical maturity sufficient to work and protect a family.
5. Sexual maturity sufficient to marry and fulfill God’s purposes.
6. Moral maturity sufficient to lead as an example of righteousness.
7. Ethical maturity sufficient to make responsible decisions.
8. Worldview maturity sufficient to understand what is really important.
9. Relational maturity sufficient to understand and respect others.
10. Social maturity sufficient to make a contribution to society.
11. Verbal maturity sufficient to communicate and articulate as a man.
12. Character maturity sufficient to demonstrate courage under fire.
13. Biblical maturity sufficient to lead at some level in the church.

You can access the full discussion by Mohler on his blog (Pt. 1, Pt. 2).

Today’s Quote – Prayer (Ryle)

J. C. Ryle:  “A Call to Prayer:”

Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.

(HT:  CQOD)

Today’s Quote – Anxiety (Mueller)

George Mueller:

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith; and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

Today’s Quote – Prayer (Mueller)

George Mueller:

For more than half a century, I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For 40 years, I have had annually about 30,000 letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands. I have nine assistants always at work corresponding in German, French, English, Danish, Italian, Russian, and other languages. Then, as pastor of a church with 1200 believers, great has been my care. I have had charge of five orphanages; also at my publishing depot, the printing and circulation of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles. But I have always made it a rule never to begin work till I have had a good season with God.

(HT:  bible.org)

Book Review: John Calvin

Title:  John Calvin:  A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine & Doxology

Editor:  Burk Parsons

Contributors Include:  Jay Adams, Jerry Bridges, Sinclair Ferguson, Michael Horton, Steve Lawson, John MacArthur, Philip Ryken

Publisher:  Reformation Trust, 2008; 257 pp. $19.00

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

This year, in honor of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth, I have focused more of my reading on Calvin — works both about him and by him.  And I have been much encouraged and helped in the process.

I purchased this book near the end of last year and it sat on my shelf for some time before I picked it back up, and I’ve spent the last month or so working my way through the 19 essays that make up the book.

Most of these essays are not as much about Calvin the person (though there are a couple of those), but about Calvin and his theology and spiritual legacy.  As noted above, the contributors to this volume make up something of a contemporary “who’s who” in the Reformed tradition (though conspicuously missing were R. C. Sproul and John Piper).  Each article had a contribution to make, though a couple seemed somewhat scant in their insights.

Two articles alone made the volume worth the purchase price for me:  “The Churchman of the Reformation,” and “The Principle Article of Salvation.”

In the former article, author Harry Reeder draws attention to Calvin’s role as a leader, preacher, teacher, writer, shepherd, and evangelist-missionary.  What was most significant in this article is that final role of Calvin, for a common lament against Calvinism is its lack of evangelistic emphasis.  Yet evangelism was central to his personal and ministerial life:

Calvin persistently evangelized the children of Geneva through catechism classes and the Geneva Academy.  Moreover, he trained preachers to appeal for men and women to follow Christ.  The visitation of the sick prescribed an evangelistic inquiry.  Even a cursory examination of Calvin’s sermons reveals an unquenchable zeal for men and women to be converted to Christ.

But what about missions?  In the Registry of the Venerable Company of Pastors, it is recorded that eighty-eight missionaries had been sent out from Geneva.  In actuality, there were probably more than one hundred.…The blessing of God upon the missionary endeavors of Calvin and the Geneva churches from 1555 to 1562 was extraordinary — more than one hundred underground churches were planted in France by 1560.  By 1562, the number had increased to 2,150, producing more than three million members.…

Calvin did not evangelize and plant churches in France alone.  Geneva-trained missionaries planted churches in Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Germany, England, Scotland, and the independent states of the Rhineland.  Even more astonishing was an initiative that sent missionaries to Brazil.  Calvin’s commitment to evangelism and missions was not theoretical, but as in every other area of his life and ministry, a matter of zealous action and passionate commitment.

So Reeder is helpful in debunking some of the misapprehensions and misnomers about the impact of Calvin’s theology on ministry and missions, making this article particularly helpful.

The other article that was especially helpful for me personally was Michael Horton’s essay, “The Principle Article of Salvation.”  Horton illustrates what Calvin centrally believed about justification, how believers are united to Christ, and what the implication of that justification and union is on sanctification.

As I told a couple people after reading that article, I felt that I had misunderstood sanctification for much of my life.  Quoting from The Institutes, Horton draws attention to this statement:

…sons, who are more generously and candidly treated by their fathers, do not hesitate to offer them incomplete and half-done and even defective works, trusting that their obedience and readiness will be approved by our most merciful Father, however small, rude, and imperfect these may be.

Horton then draws this conclusion:  “Once works are no longer presented to God for justification, they can be accepted despite their imperfections by a merciful Father for the sake of Christ.”

And later he adds that because we have in heaven not a Judge, but a gracious Father, we are freed “for the first time to obey God and serve our neighbor without fear of punishment for our shortcomings.…Although they play no role in God’s acceptance of us, even believers’ imperfect works are welcomed by the Father because their corruption ‘is buried in Christ’s purity and is not charged to our account.’”

So a believer’s works are “justified” in the sense that they are accepted entirely by God because of our union to Christ and His perfect righteousness being attributed and reckoned to us, yet they do not contribute to our justification.  The latter part of the previous sentence is widely acknowledged by evangelicals — our works do not merit our salvation.  Yet that the favor of God on all our works — even incomplete and imperfect works — is uncommonly known to believers (and misunderstood about Calvinism).

Because of the cross-work of Christ, we are justified, and because of the cross-work of Christ, we (and all our works) are entirely accepted by the Father.  This, of course, is not to produce in us apathy to works, but rest and contentment that failure will not produce judgment and disavowal, but rather the loving correction of the Father and the continued application of Christ’s righteousness to those failures.

Here is not only a chapter that I will continue to reference and re-read, but also an encouragement to continue reading The Institutes myself so I might read the entire context of Calvin’s words.

So purchase this book for these two chapters — it’s worth it — and then read the rest of the book as well and reap the extra blessing of added insights into Calvin and Calvinism.

Sunday Leftovers (11/8/09)

When we do not pray, there are a multiplicity of reasons that we offer for our waywardness:

• busy-ness
• weariness
• apathy and distractions
• lack of knowledge about what (or how) to pray
• sin

May I suggest also that one primary reason we do not pray is because we either do not know or do not believe the authority of the One to whom we pray and our access to Him.

In Ephesians 1, Paul is exceedingly careful to expound the activity of the triune God in our salvation — the Father has blessed, chosen, predestined, and adopted us (vv. 3-6); the Son redeemed and forgiven us, lavished His grace on us, revealed the mystery of His will to us, and given us an inheritance and hope (vv. 7-12); the Spirit has sealed us and been given to us as a pledge (guarantee) of our inheritance (vv. 13-14).

The entire Godhead is (and has eternally been) active in our salvation.

Then, as Paul summarizes the first three chapters in a prayer for the Ephesians, he notes the availability of the triune God in prayer.  Moreover, the three requests in this prayer correspond to the three persons of the Godhead:

• that they would know the power of the Spirit (vv. 16-17)
• that they would know the love of Christ (vv. 18-19a)
• that they would know the fulness of God (v. 19b)

This God who has eternally prepared and brought about our salvation not only makes Himself accessible to us through prayer, but He also offers His divine power, love and fulness for the daily living of our lives.  As I said, one reason we do not pray is because we do not know what has been made available to us.  This infinite, majestic, holy, powerful, wrathful, gracious and loving God is also the One who is our accessible Father!

John MacArthur well summarizes our position before our God and Father when he writes,

Because God is our heavenly Father, we do not come to Him in fear and trembling, afraid that He will rebuff us or be indifferent.  We do not come to God to appease Him as the pagans do to their deities.  We come to a tender, loving, concerned, compassionate, accepting Father.  A loving human father always accepts the advances of his children, even when they have been disobedient or ungrateful.  How much more does our heavenly Father accept His children, regardless of what they have done or not done?  Paul approaches the Father with boldness and confidence, knowing that He is more willing for His children to come to Him than they ever are of going to Him.  He knows that God has been waiting all the while with a Father’s heart of love and anticipation. [Ephesians, p. 101.]

So the appeal to us to pray is not out of guilt and obligation, but from a gracious, generous, and sweet invitation from God Himself that we might delight in Him and in coming to Him.  Come and pray because you can!

Today’s Quote – God’s family (Lloyd-Jones)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ:

…as Christians let us always remember that the Name that is on us is the Name of God, ‘from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named’.  What matters is no longer the family of David, no longer this tribe or that tribe, no longer this country or that country, this class or that class, this group or that group.  No!  The family name which I claim is the Name of God, and I am to live in this world as one who represents that family, as one who represents that Father.  His name is on me; so may it never be besmirched!  May men never think meanly of Him and His Name because of what they see in me!

Another violent tragedy

I didn’t have my radio on most of the day yesterday, so I heard no news during the day.  On my drive home I was listening to a sermon, so I likewise missed the news.  So when I got home one of the girls said something about Fort Hood, and I was confused about what she was saying.

Then I turned on the news.

Another violent shooting tragedy.

When I opened my web browser this morning, I saw an article I’d forgotten that I’d pulled up a couple days ago to read later:  “A Violent, Vicious Cycle.” It chronicled two recent violent killings that seemed particularly senseless.  One columnist is quoted as saying,

“This has got to stop,” Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote. But why doesn’t it? The cycle of death repeats itself again and again.

“The killing, the shock. The shouting, the weeping. The refreshed resolve to make it end. And then the urgency wanes.”

The urgency wanes.  It wanes, in part, because so many have such inadequate answers and so few have relevant answers.  What I said at a previous, similar event is still appropriate today:

• This is the reality of what unrestrained sin looks like and is the natural result of the work of Satan. He is a destroyer (1 Pt. 5:8) and a murderer (Jn. 8:44; 10:10a), and we should not be surprised (though it is a work of grace that we are, since it indicates that sin is still a horror to us) that those who live under his control, authority and domain do such things.  This is not to suggest in any way that this shooter was demon possessed or part of a Satanic cult; it is simply to say that the ruler of this world influences this world with his objectives and desires, and his desire is destruction — which we saw far too graphically again yesterday.
• The suddenness of their deaths serves as a reminder to the realities of eternity — heaven and hell and the truth that all men will go to one place or the other (Rev. 22:11-15).
• Thus, the events of the week also serve as a reminder about the urgency of the gospel and the need for the clarity of the gospel. We do not know how much time we have. We must be clear, and we must be clear, now. We want to give saving truth, not pacifying words that will leave them comfortable now and condemned in hell later.  Keith has been preaching the last three weeks about the gospel and evangelism.  This circumstance is an opportunity for us to speak relevantly and precisely and hopefully about the only resolution to these sin circumstances.
• Even in this, there is an opportunity to glorify God. Job said it, didn’t he (in a situation not too dissimilar from what we’ve seen this week) — “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Situations like this will not destroy our worship; they will enhance it. That is why we intentionally sing the doxology when we remember events like this.
• God is sufficient to see anyone through any trouble (2 Pet. 1:3). What all men need is not so much the removal of trouble, but an awareness of the weight of glory that awaits those who trust in Christ (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

Of course the common complaint in this circumstance often is, “how could God allow this?  How could He let all these innocent people die?”  Yet the greater and more penetrating question is, “why did He spare me?  Why did He extend His grace on me another day and allow me to live?”  Over the course of my life I have sinned enough against the standard of God’s perfection that He would have been fully just to have condemned me to hell decades ago.  It is only because of grace and Christ that He spares me.  I do not merit life; only His grace grants that life.  That any on earth this morning awakened to life is a manifestation of God’s kindness and grace.

So even in this tragedy, there is opportunity for the gracious intermingling of both the gospel and gratitude.