He’s right.  And his counsel imitates what Christ did for His disciples while on earth, and what His Word repeatedly does for its readers even now.

Persecution and suffering are inevitable for the follower of Christ (2 Tim. 3:12).  Make a choice to live godly — to refuse to lie when a lie seems advantageous, following through on a promise when it results in significant trouble and hurt for you, giving benevolently so that you have to sacrifice wants and even needs, carrying a baby to term when the doctor advises abortion because of the likelihood of the baby’s significant disability or disease — and you will be mocked, ridiculed, castigated, and in some areas of the world even beaten and killed.

So how should we think about this persecution and suffering?  Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 (numerous other NT passages also apply, but for today, we’ll be attentive only to this chapter).  Here are a few principles to glean from Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

• Suffering is only really suffering when it is done because of Christ (v. 11).  Suffering is not suffering when people say evil things about me (I could be an obnoxious jerk and rightly deserve all that is said about me); suffering is suffering when evil things are said about Christ because of my godly living.
• Suffering is a means of experiencing the blessing and happiness of God (v. 11).
• It is better to suffer the insults of men than the condemnation of God (vv. 11-12).
• Suffering will be endured (and rejoiced in) when we anticipate our heavenly reward for our suffering more than our earthly release from our suffering (v. 12). (Which also means, as C. S. Lewis has argued, that seeking God’s reward is a fitting motive for our actions.)
• When we suffer, we are not enduring anything unusual, but we simply join a long line of godly men and women who have suffered before us (v. 12).
• Suffering provides believers in Christ an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that the inner law which controls us is different from the principles that guide the world (v. 43).
• The appropriate response to suffering is not indignation and argument, but love and prayer (v. 44).  Specifically, we are to express love for our enemies (committed to seeking what is best for them, regardless of the cost to us) and to pray for our persecutors.  Could it be that one reason we are ineffective in evangelism is that we resist persecution and fail to love and pray for our oppressors?  Does not God sovereignly design our persecution to teach us to love and pray for our enemies and to afford us gospel opportunities with them?  (I think the answer to that is “yes.”)
• Love is really demonstrated when we love the unlovely and the hateful — those who are the cause of our suffering; it is truly a mark of transformation when we love those who hate us (vv. 46-47).
• Our suffering is a means of demonstrating our sonship to the Father (v. 45); adoption to God is not gained through suffering, but suffering reveals that adoption has already taken place.

We are not commanded or encouraged to pursue suffering, but we are to anticipate suffering.  And when it comes, it is to our advantage, as it transforms us into the likeness of Christ.  Heed the words of Christ and suffer well for His sake.

But these daily blessings and woes are not ultimate; they are simply a foretaste of what is to come.  In contrast, there are blessings and there are woes that are ultimate and final.  They will come when one leaves this life.  The wise man is the one who seeks the blessings that are ultimate and does not concern himself with the woes that are temporary.  This is the message of the beatitudes given by Christ in Luke 6.

What is of interest about the beatitudes as Luke records them is that he also records a series of corresponding woes given by Christ.  Stated simply, they look like this:

Those who seek the blessing of God are willing to endure earthly loss and temporal sorrows knowing that what they have lost is not ultimate, so that they could gain that which is eternal.  They would rather be humbled here to know the riches of God’s blessing later.

In contrast, those who seek pleasure on earth are seeking pleasures here that can only be found in Christ and heaven.  They turn earthly treasures into ultimate desires and quests, and in so doing, they lose eternal riches and joys.

In every day, our responses to every minor blessing and woe reveal what we are living for.

Always live for the treasures that are ultimate.  Live for Christ and eternity, and the things you lack and lose here will never be a final grief and sorrow.

Title: Bringing the Gospel Home:  Witnessing to Family Members, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well

Author: Randy Newman

Publisher:  Crossway, 2011, 216 pp., $14.99

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

Summary: Newman not only tackles the difficult and guilt-producing topic of evangelism, but he specifically addresses the topic of how to evangelize those to whom you are closest — family members.

Rather than addressing how to approach the kinds of potential unbelievers in our lives (e.g., parents, children, extended family, spouses, etc…), Newman instead addresses character and spiritual attributes that will help every kind of witnessing scenario.  So he has chapters on grace, truth, love, humility, time, and eternity.

He is honest in his own difficulties and failures in evangelizing, and hopeful with the suggestions he makes about becoming better evangelists.  As he notes, the quest to be a better evangelist is not about finding a better “tool,” but in becoming transformed and changed spiritually so that evangelism more naturally flows out from our hearts.

It’s only January, but this may be the best book I read this year.  For a topic that produces guilt in most Christians, I found this book to be refreshing and helpful.

Representative quotes:

“I do believe that life is difficult, and I also believe that evangelism is difficult, and I especially believe that evangelizing family members is very difficult. But just realizing that does not reduce the difficulty. It only helps us tackle a problem with the depth of effort it needs. When you know the difficulty of running a marathon, you train for it, eat the right foods, get proper rest, etc. If you think it’s going to be easy, you’ll probably drop out of the race early on. And indeed many Christians do drop out of the race of witnessing (to family or anyone else) because they thought it was going to be easy.” [pp. 43-44]

“We need to love people simply because they are people, fashioned by God in his image; we should not show them love just as a way to evangelize them. Surely, we can find traits, common ground, unique gifts, personality nuances, and experiences we can affirm and, better still, enjoy. But we must not love them merely as a manipulative prelude to preach at them. They’ll smell such nonlove miles away. Instead, we must ask God to enable us to love them. Period. No strings attached. If they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop—a shoe in the form of a gospel presentation—they won’t feel loved by us because, in fact, they’re not.” [p. 119]

Read this book if you want to be encouraged and helped in your attempts to be more effective in evangelism.

Title:  John MacArthur:  Servant of the Word and Flock

Author:  Iain Murray

Publisher:  Banner of Truth Trust, 2011; 264 pp., $26.00

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

Summary:  This biography is somewhat unusual in that it is written prior to the subject’s death.  In fact, Murray has admitted that this biography was somewhat different and difficult for him to write because it was the first time his subject was still alive.

The value of this biography is that it provides a glimpse into one of America’s most well-known and influential pastors. Yet the book is not just a story of a man, but the story of a church that grew and developed in a remarkable way.  To understand John MacArthur’s story is to also understand how Grace Community Church was able to grow in the way it did.

The book also deals with the controversies that have surrounded MacArthur and his ministry.  The background to a pair of the larger of those controversies — the Lordship Salvation question and his book, The Charismatics — provide insight to MacArthur’s thinking in entering into those battles and encourage a deeper appreciation for his involvement in those issues.

However, this volume is not and will not be the definitive biography of MacArthur.  While Murray is a very good researcher, he refused to interview his subject directly, not wanting to have his perspective from his research inordinately influenced.  In fact, he not only did not interview MacArthur, he did not interview several other key men who spent years in close relationship with MacArthur.  The book suffers from the lack of those perspectives.

And the book also could have been helped if Murray had not injected his personal opinions (theological disagreements) into the narrative.  It is understood that he disagrees with dispensationalism, but this wasn’t the forum to voice those thoughts.

Overall, however, the book is interesting and provides insight into the man, John MacArthur, and the motives and influences that continue to compel him in life and ministry.  Even with my reservations about Murray’s research and his writing style, the book is well worth the investment of hours it will take to read this book.

Representative quotes:

“I use a system I call ‘planned neglect’:  I plan to neglect everything until my [sermon] study is done.” [MacArthur, p. 61]

“I have learned to embrace failure and criticism as probably the most productive work of God in my life.  I can exegete a passage, but what I cannot do is to refine myself.  I cannot crush my own pride.  So there is a sense in which the best things that have happened to me have been the disappointments and the misrepresentations.” [MacArthur, p. 61]

“My prayer is not unrealistic — not to reach large numbers, rather to have the teaching available for those who hunger and desire solid meat, and will be used to start a new movement of spiritual depth, strong commitment and doctrinal distinctness.” [MacArthur, p. 96]

Read this book if you want more insight into one of the most influential and godly pastors of the past century.

Title:  The Lord’s Supper

Author: Thomas Watson

Publisher:  Banner of Truth Trust (reprint), 2004, 86 pp., $7.00

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

Summary:  Puritan Thomas Watson offers a series of 11 brief meditations on the ordinance of communion.  Like many pastors and theologians of his day, Watson probably leans a little more towards mysticism in communion than most of us would embrace or affirm (though he does clearly reject trans-substantiation).

However, the sections where he is good, he is really good.  So this is a volume that will help one prepare his heart for partaking of communion.

I was nearing the end of the book and came upon one section that I particularly appreciated when someone came into my office.  And I joyously asserted to him that everyone should read at least one good Puritan paragraph each day.  This book will help you do that!

Representative quote:

“[Christ's sacrifice] was a sacrifice of infinite merit.…It is man that sins; it is God that dies.  This is a sovereign cordial to believers.  Christ having poured out his blood, now God’s justice is completely satisfied.  God was infinitely more contented with Christ’s sufferings at mount Calvary than if we had lain in hell, and undergone his wrath for ever. The blood of Christ has quenched the flame of divine fury.  And now what should we fear?  All our enemies are either reconciled, or subdued; God is a reconciled enemy, and sin is a subdued enemy.

Read this book if you want some help preparing for communion worship.

Title:  The Bookends of the Christian Life

Author: Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

Publisher:  Crossway, 2009, 160 pp., $14.99

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

Summary: There are two great spiritual principles that provide “bookends” to the way Christians live; all the “books” (events and circumstances) of life lean against these principles, or the spiritual life will succumb to being lived out by the enemies of the gospel:  self-righteousness, persistent guilt, and self-reliance.

These two bookends are the righteousness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.  For the believer to live free and liberated from guilt and self, he must live daily in recognition of the greatness of his sin, the wonder of Christ’s love that imputed righteousness despite his unworthiness, and the power of the Holy Spirit to daily sanctify and transform his life.

Of particular benefit to me was the chapter on the power of the Holy Spirit.  The author’s provide clear distinction between the Spirit’s synergistic work (the things the Spirit of God works in us in concert or synergy with our obedience) and Spirit’s monergistic work (the things He works in us apart from any cooperating work of ours).  This chapter does much to clarify the frequent questions of how the work of transformation takes place in the believer; they wisely balance the truths of obedience and the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to produce change in terms that all readers would find understandable and helpful, making this a beneficial book to both the new Christian and the mature Christian.

Representative quote:

“As we practice [the spiritual] disciplines, it’s of paramount importance that we keep two truths in mind.  First, the disciplines themselves are not the source of spiritual power.  Only the Holy Spirit is.  The disciplines are his instruments to transmit his power.  Second, the practice of the disciplines doesn’t earn us favor with God or secure his blessings.  Christ has already done that through his sinless life and sin-bearing death for us.  That’s why the grace we need to live the Christian life is ‘in Christ Jesus.’  It bears repeating:  we must be on guard to avoid seeing the practice of the disciplines as either the source of power we need or the meritorious cause of receiving the power.” [pp. 99-100]

Read this book if you want to know more about and experience what it means to live by the gracious power of the Spirit.

When you analyze your Christian walk:

1) Do you tend to live by a list of dos and don’ts?
2) Is it difficult for you to respect those whose standards aren’t as high as yours?
3) Do you assume that practicing spiritual disciplines should result in God’s blessing?
4) Do you feel you re better than most other people?
5) Has it been a long time since you identified a sin and repented of it?
6) Do you resent it when others point out your “spiritual blind spots”?
7) Do you readily recognize the sins of others but not your own?
8) Do you have the sense that God owes you a good life?
9) Do you get angry when difficulties and suffering come into your life?
10) Do you seldom think of the cross?

If you found yourself answering yes to at least half these questions, it’s likely you’re living under a stronghold of self-righteousness toward God. You need to see this for what it really is-a hideous enemy disguised as a satisfying glory.  It will let you down and leave you hanging.  Its satisfaction is as short-lived as an ice cube in the blazing sun; its glory has all the appeal of a well-dressed corpse.  And at the end of the day this fact remains:  no amount of personal performance will ever gain the approval of a holy God.

Additionally, the Scriptures warn against becoming hard-hearted (Dt. 15:7; Prov. 28:14; Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7).

And these are only the explicit examples of hard hearts.  Others could be noted where the concept is implied or articulated with other synonyms of unbelief.

One question for today, however, is what produces a hard heart?  How does a man become hard and rigid against the grace and work of God?  From a divine perspective, it is because God is the one who hardens men (e.g., Pharaoh, Ex. 4:21; 7:3 and unbelieving Israel, Is. 6:10; Jn. 12:40).

But from the human side, there are other components of hard-heartedness.  These are the characteristics that all people, even believers, must guard against (remember that the disciples also were characterized as being hard-hearted).

Mark 3 gives three suggestions about what turns men against God.

One contributing factor is pride (v. 2).  The Pharisees were fastidious in the keeping of the Law and their interpretation of the Law.  Their authority was well-established.  And then Jesus appeared and He was in the process of over-throwing all their traditions and rules and in doing so, their prideful, authoritative positions were endangered.  So they were intent on entrapping Jesus in some moral failure or religious faux pas.  Their concern was not the upholding of the Law, but the keeping of their position, so the more Jesus revealed the fallacies of their man-made laws, the more embittered and hardened they were against Him.

Another factor of hardness is being uncompassionate to the needs of others (and not recognizing one’s own need), and not wanting others to experience grace (vv. 3-4).  Here was this poor man with a paralyzed and useless hand.  The man’s problem was not just social ostracism because of his physical weakness, but potential poverty because of his inability to work, making him dependent on family, friends, and even strangers (would he have had to beg?).  When the Pharisees looked at this man, were they compassionate and tender towards him, seeking to help him and wanting provision and blessing for him?  It seems not.  In fact, it is possible that they even set him in the path of Christ, using him as a pawn for their evil and prideful desires, in a vain attempt to ensnare Christ in sin.  They were not wanting grace for this man; they did not really want him healed.  They only cared about his healing if that healing would result in Jesus’ condemnation.  Their hardness of heart was the result of not seeing this man’s dependence on grace — or their own need for grace.  “Who needs grace,” they seem to consistently reason in their hearts, “when one can fulfill all the requirements of the Law himself?”

A final factor in these hard hearts was bitterness and anger (v. 6).  Like an infant who has had a favored toy taken away, when they failed to obtain their desires, they seethed with murderous rage.  They hated Christ and wanted Him dead because they did not get their ungodly desires (cf. Js. 4:1ff).  When someone cultivates and feeds anger, it can only result in hardness.

Now it’s easy to condemn the Pharisees, but that too can easily become a form of self-righteounsess (“I am more compassionate than them…I am never angry with God…I may be proud, but my pride is not that bad…“).  But even these attitudes can lead to our own hardness when we don’t receive what we want.

If you and I live to please the Lord (2 Cor. 5:9), we will be vigilant against every sign of hard-heartedness.  So here are three questions for all of us today:

• Am I giving any signs of pride and self-righteousness in my interactions with others?
• Do I see my own daily need for grace, and do I rejoice when others receive the grace and favor of God?
• Are there any evidences of anger in my life?

You open the door and you are greeted by two smiling young men dressed in white shirts and dark ties.  And then you glance over their shoulders and see their bicycles.  The Mormons are evidently canvasing your neighborhood.  You know what’s coming.

They will engage you with pleasantries and literature and attempt to assure you that they are within the realm of orthodoxy.  They love Jesus, too, they will strongly assert.  They believe in grace and faith, they will affirm.  (I’ve even had them attest that they believe in faith and grace alone for salvation.)  But John 5 provides another test for them.  Do they love and embrace and honor Christ as much as they honor the Father?

“…so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” (Jn. 5:23)

It is impossible to honor the Father and embrace the Father and claim the Father while rejecting the Son as being one with the Father.  They deserve the same reverence because they are One God.

An ancient diagram has pictured it well:

All three members of the deity are distinct persons and they have distinct roles, but they are still one God and thus all deserve the same worship.

This was the stumbling block to the Pharisees and this remains the stumbling block to those religions that are willing to accept Christ as a prophet without accepting His deity.  He and the Father are one, and they deserve equal honor.

The writers of Scripture used stories in the same way — they weren’t told only for the sake of the story (“did you hear what happened in Galilee today?…”), but they are told to provide a picture of a spiritual truth.  And even more, they were told to impart a truth about God.

So in Mark 2 there are multiple stories about the increasing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.  Though these accounts were still early in the ministry of Christ, already there is opposition to Him.  And that opposition is demonstrated by the way the Pharisees interact with Jesus.  In the healing of the lame man (vv. 1-12), they only verbalize their disagreement inwardly, in their own hearts, without voicing their unbelief (vv. 6-7).  But when Jesus had a meal with the tax-collectors and other sinners, they were willing to articulate their thoughts, though only to the disciples (v. 16).  By the time the disciples were picking the grains of wheat on the Sabbath and eating them, the Pharisees were complaining to Jesus directly (v. 24).

So the stories tell us about the ways in which unbelievers will oppose Christ.  But they also tell us something about Christ Himself.  The four stories in this chapter reveal the uniqueness of Christ — He does the kinds of things that only God would do.

Many would heal a lame man if they could, but only God can heal a lame man.  And that’s what Christ did.  But even more than that, only God can forgive sin.  And that is exactly what Jesus did.

Only God has the power to compel a man to follow Him — only God can draw a man to Himself (Jn. 6:44) and only God can call a man like Matthew with the simple words “follow Me” and he will immediately leave all to follow Christ (v. 14).

Only God would have an interest in sinners.  Only God would be interested in redeeming what others would say is irredeemable.  Only God would eat with the unrighteous (for the purpose of restoring them to Himself, v. 17).

The Pharisees would attempt to moralize and rationalize and legalize the commands of God so that they might self-righteously deem themselves worthy of God when they were not worthy.  But only God can reject those man-made rules of religion and re-establish the truth of the Law, because He is Lord of not only the Sabbath (v. 28) and the Law, but He is Lord of all.  Only God is the Lord.

When Jesus did these simple deeds — healing, calling, eating, plucking — they were more than just stories.  They were assertions of His supremacy, deity, and sovereignty.  Only God could do and say the things He did and said.  And they were such radical and new assertions that while the Pharisees initially held their rejecting words within, by the end of the chapter, they could restrain themselves no more and their conflict with Him was in the open for all to see.

Only God would do the things that Christ did — and they hated Him for it.

A few resources that are worthy of examination in thinking about this topic:

• “What does Roe v. Wade Actually Say?”
• “Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion,” a brief e-book by John Piper (free download)
• The Works of God — a blog by John Knight that “[reflects] on the sovereignty of God over disability, disease and suffering, for God’s glory and for our good.”

An unbeliever, having heard the words of a believer should think something like, “That was an interesting conversation; I may not be sure I believe him, but I appreciate the way he spoke to me.  He was kind.”  Our words should not only be true, but they should also be a blessing to the unregenerate.

And our words should also be salty — that is, they should give the unbeliever a thirst to hear more of what we said:  “I wonder what else he has to say about Jesus; I’ve never thought about Christianity in that way before.”  And these words should not only be salty in the sense of stimulating further interest, but they should also be preserving words — the relationship should be protected and kept because of the way we use our words.

Now saying all that is one thing.  Most would agree with what I’ve written so far.  But how can we actually do this?  Randy Newman has several very helpful examples of graciously salty speech in his excellent book, Bringing the Gospel Home:

The prompt: Your uncle makes a disparaging remark about marriage.

Don’t say: “Well, the Bible says marriage is a reflection of Christ’s love for the church. Maybe you should consider that sometime.”

Instead, try grace and salt: “It sure does have its challenges. But it also has some great blessings, don’t you think?”

The prompt: Your brother tells you a dirty joke and then apologizes saying, “Oh, that’s right. You don’t tell those kinds of jokes. Sorry.”

Don’t say: “That’s right. I don’t tell those kinds of jokes, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell them either.”

Instead, try grace and salt: “I do like jokes. Have you heard this one? . . .”

The prompt: Your father whines about “how the world is going to hell in a handbasket.”

Don’t say: “It sure is. In fact, Jesus said it’s only going to get worse. Are you ready?”

Instead, try grace and salt: “There sure are a lot of upsetting things going on. But there are a lot of good things happening too. That’s what always amazes me. People are capable of the worst and the best. Do you ever wonder about that?”

The prompt: Your sister says, “My neighbor is disgustingly rich. But she’s miserable. You’d think all that money would buy her some happiness.”

Don’t say: “It never can. That’s why the Bible says, ‘the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.’”

Instead, try grace and salt: “That’s really sad, isn’t it? Why do you think money disappoints so much?”

This approach assumes you don’t need to dump the whole message on people with one fell swoop. The luxury of time can free us to pursue evangelism gradually.

It’s not always easy to be gracious with our words.  But it is always a blessing to others, and when we are gracious in gospel circumstances, those kind and salty words may also have eternally good consequences.

But notice why David says he will sing:  “because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

As David examines his life, he can rejoice in God because of the evidences of God’s grace.  Now it might be worth looking at the context here as well.  David is not ignorant of the difficulties and pressures and inequities of life.  In the surrounding Psalms, he has noted:

• There do not seem to be any good men in the world (12:1).
• The world is filled with those who lie and deceive and are double-hearted — which means they have no heart for God (12:2).
• The prevailing philosophy is the sovereignty of man — “we are the captains of our fates,” they might have said (12:4).  In fact they do say, “there is no God” (14:1).
• The innocent and need are afflicted and abused by these ungodly people (12:5).
• The corruption in the world is pervasive — filled with abominable deeds by foolish and unrighteous men (14:1).
• God Himself examines the world and says, “They have all turned aside…there is no one who does good, not even one” (14:2-3).

But for David, it is even worse than this.  He not only sees the corruption of the world around him generally, but he feels the attacks of the world against him personally.

• He feels separation and distance from God — has God forgotten him (13:1)?
• He is sorrowful because of the onslaught of his enemies against him.  They stand over him (13:2).  They have overcome him, seemingly putting him on the brink of death (13:3-4).
• He is so hated that his enemies rejoice when he is saddened and shaken by their attacks (13:4).  The enemies seem victorious and he seems to have lost.

Where then will David turn, and how is it that he can say, “I will sing to the Lord” (13:6)?  What is the point of transformation for him?

He has considered his salvation (v. 5):

But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
    My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

When David considers the possession of his salvation, no matter what else he has lost, he has enough.  Though surrounded by an unrighteous world and feeling the attacks of that world against him, he can sing and rejoice because he has great bounty from the Lord.  He may suffer, he may be attacked, he may be ridiculed, he may suffer loss, but he has all he needs and more because he has the favor and salvation of the Lord.

This is a truth that will make the heart sing, even when it is tempted by despair.