Two Ways to Waste Your Singleness| Part 2

In the first post in this series we examined one way to waste our singleness. This was to believe that life ends when you get married, because personal freedom has become our idol, and my singleness has become all about me living for me.

This is probably the most recognisable way that people waste their singleness. But I want to suggest that there is another equally singleness-wasting syndrome. Often in response to The 'Life Ends' Syndrome people will respond by swinging towards The 'Life Begins' Syndrome. In other words, in response to those who undervalue marriage, many swing the pendulum and overvalue marriage, thus undervaluing singleness. I want to argue that this is another way to waste our singleness, one which is just as much a waste as the first. However, I suspect that this syndrome is a lot harder to spot. It is probably a lot closer to home for many of us as Christians. It may well be something that we're more prone to and are unaware of.

The 'Life Begins' Syndrome
A second way to waste your singleness is to believe that life only really begins when you get married. The soil in which this mindset grows is a worldview that has a high view of God's gift of marriage. Therefore, people in this camp are extremely keen to pursue marriage, and often have a negative view of singleness. This is the mindset that plays 'the waiting game', seeing singleness as something merely to be endured while we wait for a husband or wife to come along.

This mindset can show itself in a number of ways. It can be seen in the ways that single people look at their singleness. They can find themselves becoming anxious that a marriage partner may never come along, terrified of the thought of being 'left on the shelf'. All their thoughts about, and planning for, the future can begin to revolve around 'when I get married', even though there may not be any potential spouse on the scene. They can begin to entertain thoughts that they have no part to play in serving in the church, or are not fully part of the church, until they get married. Therefore they drift more and more towards the fringes of church life.

This syndrome can also be seen in the ways that others, often married people, relate to those who are unmarried. Single people can find themselves stereotyped as immature and irresponsible, and are urged to 'grow up' and get married. Singles can be viewed suspiciously, thinking that there is something wrong with them if they have not married by the time they are in their thirties, perhaps supposing that they are homosexual, dysfunctional or just being ungodly.

The reason that we begin to think that life only really begins at marriage is because we are making marriage and family into our god. It has become our idol. Marriage has become an ultimate thing, something we need in order to truly have life.

When we worship marriage and family, the purpose of my life revolves around my marital status. This becomes the relationship that defines me, not my relationship with Christ. As a single person it will consume our future, all our energies will be used up in hunting for a marriage partner. It will also begin to distort the way we relate to others. We will stop relating to others as those made in the image of God, or as brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead we will begin to view them through the lens of whether they are a potential marriage partner or not, or as a means to finding a marriage partner.

This is a way to waste your singleness. It is a denial both of the purpose of marriage and of singleness. It denies God's purpose for marriage, making it something that it is not. It makes marriage an ultimate thing, which it is not. Marriage is a temporary relationship which points to an ultimate relationship. Marriage is only permanent until 'death us do part' (Romans 7:1-2). It is there to point us the eternal relationship between Christ and His church (Ephesians 5:22-33)- this is the ultimate relationship. Marriage is also a temporary institution, in the new creation we will "neither marry nor be given in marriage" (Mark 12:25). This is because when Christ comes to consummate the relationship between Him and His church we will have the reality in all its fullness, so we will not need what points to it. When we say that life only really begins at marriage we are putting marriage in the place of what it points to, we have made it the ultimate relationship instead of our relationship with Jesus. This degrades Jesus' honour. It says that He is not sufficient, that He is not enough, that we need something besides Him to have fullness of blessing. It denies the truth of Ephesians 1:3 that fullness of life and blessing comes from Christ alone. If we are joined to Him by faith we have all we need, we have everything. This is the ultimate relationship - if we do not have Christ we have nothing, but if we do have Him we have everything.

The 'Life Begins' Syndrome also denies the fact that our singleness is a gift from God (1 Corinthians 7:7). Just as marriage is a gift from God, so also is singleness. Our position in life and our marital state is not an accident, behind it stands a God who is in control of all things. He has given us our singleness as a gift, and we ought to recieve it with thankfulness, seek to be content with it (1 Corinthians 7:17-24, Philippians 4:11), and use it for His glory and the good of others. If we think that singleness is merely something to be endured while we wait for marriage, we deny the goodness of God's gift.

God has given us our singleness for a purpose and we ought not to waste it. Paul is deeply concerned that the Corinthians give themselves in "undivided devotion to the Lord." (1 Corinthians 7:35) This, he says, is to be the priority, whether married or single. Our singleness is given to us so that we might be undividedly devoted to Jesus in the service of the gospel, not undividedly devoted to seeking a marriage partner. Our relationship with Jesus is our highest allegience, the work of His kingdom is to be our chief focus. In many ways, Paul says, it is easier to live in undivided devotion to Jesus as a single person (1 Corinthians 7:32-35). Not that a married person cannot be undividedly devoted to Jesus or that they have somehow settled for a spiritual second best (Paul is quite clear that it is a perfectly godly thing to get married, in verse 36 he says that "it is no sin" to get married). Rather, what Paul is saying is that life gets a lot more complicated with marriage, our "interests are divided" (verse 34) because we now have spouse and children to care for (and rightly so). Undivided devotion is easier for the single man or woman, because they do not have the pressures that a married person who is genuinely serious about being a godly husband or wife will have.

Therefore, we are to see our singleness as a privelege. God has given it to us as a gift,and we are to use it to serve Him in undivided devotion. This means that we are to rejoice in the freedoms that come with being unmarried, and use those freedoms for the glory of God and the service of others. We have more time to give ourselves to prayer and dilligent study of the Bible, than a mother of three young children will have. Don't waste that freedom. We have more time to give to serving in the church, whether it be teaching in the youth group or leading a Bible study or doing the important jobs behind the scenes. We are more flexible with our time and so can more easily drop everything to go and care for that Christian brother or sister in need. We are more mobile, so we can more easily give ourselves to missionary service (whether short or long term). Don't waste your singleness by playing the waiting game, get on with serving Jesus now, in the context you find yourself in. He has given it to us for a reason, and we are to glorify Him in whatever situation you find yourself.

The only waiting game we are to play with our singleness is to wait for our real wedding day, that day when Jesus shall return to take His bride, the church, to be with Him forever. Whilst we wait, we are not to mess around playing games with our singleness, rather we are to give ourselves to faithful undivided service to the one who has "loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25)




Previous Posts in this Series:

• Two Ways to Waste Your Singleness| Part 1

Bloodlines

Words are Never Neutral

Possibly one of the most neglected areas of the Christian life is our tongues. That is, what we do with words. Our words have power and are never neutral. Therefore, we need to think carefully about what we're doing with them. Paul David Tripp says this, drawn from the book of Proverbs:

The book of Proverbs is, in ways, a treatise on talk. I would summarize it this way: words give life; words bring death – you choose. What does this mean? It means you have never spoken a neutral word in your life. Your words have direction to them. If your words are moving in the life direction, they will be words of encouragement, hope, love, peace, unity, instruction, wisdom, and correction. But if your words are moving in a death direction, they will be words of anger, malice, slander, jealousy, gossip, division, contempt, racism, violence, judgment, and condemnation. Your words have direction to them. When you hear the word talk you ought to hear something that is high and holy and significant and important. May God help us never to look at talk as something that doesn’t matter.

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 3:12-4:1

This week in The Rebel's Guide to Joy, Mark Driscoll's series in Philippians, we see 'Joy in Exhaustion' from Philippians 3:12-4:1. Enjoy.

Reading the Bible Stupidly

"How are your quiet times?" A question that often strikes dread into the heart of its hearers! Ask almost any Christian and they will say that their times of personal Bible reading and prayer is not what they'd like it to be. Keeping our quiet times fresh comes as a great challenge to many of us.

In a sermon preached in 1867, Charles Spurgeon cautions his hearers against reading the Bible stupidly. What he says, if taken to heart, would benefit us greatly as we strive to keep our quiet times from going stodgy. He says:

You are retired for your private devotions; you have opened the Bible, and you begin to read.

Now, do not be satisfied with merely reading through a chapter. Some people thoughtlessly read through two or three chapters—stupid people for doing such a thing!

It is always better to read a little and digest it, than it is to read much and then think you have done a good thing by merely reading the letter of the word.

For you might as well read the alphabet backwards and forwards, as read a chapter of Scripture, unless you meditate upon it, and seek to comprehend its meaning.

Merely to read words is nothing: the letter kills.

The business of the believer with his Bible open is to pray, “Lord, give me the meaning and spirit of your word, while it lies open before me; apply your word with power to my soul, threatening or promise, doctrine or precept, whatever it may be; lead me into the soul and marrow of your word.”

Also, it is not the form of prayer, but the spirit of prayer that shall truly benefit your souls.

That prayer has not benefited you, which is not the prayer of the soul.

You have need to say, “Lord, give me the spirit of prayer; now help me to feel my need deeply, to perceive your promises clearly, and to exercise faith upon them.”

In your private devotions, strive after vital godliness, real soul-work, the life-giving operation of the Spirit of God in your hearts.

A Constant View

If we are to grow in godliness, where must our focus be? Here are some helpful words from John Owen, to keep our eyes fixed in the right place:

Let us live in the constant contemplation of the glory of Christ, and virtue will proceed from him to repair all our decays, to renew a right spirit within us, and to cause us to abound in all duties of obedience. . .

It will fix the soul unto that object which is suited to give it delight, complacency, and satisfaction. . . when the mind is filled with thoughts of Christ and his glory, when the soul thereon cleaves unto him with intense affections, they will cast out, or not give admittance unto, those causes of spiritual weakness and indisposition. . .

And nothing will so much excite and encourage our souls hereunto as a constant view of Christ and his glory.

Why Missions Exist

Two Ways To Waste Your Singleness| Part 1

As a single man it is very interesting the responses people make when they hear that I am not married. These responses largely fall into two groups. Some people (usually non-Christians) respond by saying something like, "It's nice that you're not tied down by a wife and children." Others (usually Christians), however, say something to the effect that "Have you thought about settling down and finding a wife and children?". These kinds of statements remind me a little of icebergs - there is a lot more to them than meets the eye, so watch out that they don't shipwreck you!

These two groups of statements reveal two ways of thinking about singleness, both of which, when lived out, are two ways to waste your singleness. Over a couple of posts I want to explore these two singleness-wasting opportunities, and how we can avoid them. In this post I shall look at the first way of thinking and living out our singleness, which I have called The 'Life Ends' Syndrome. In the second post I shall think about The 'Life Begins' Syndrome.

The 'Life Ends' Syndrome
One way to waste your singleness is to believe that life ends if you get married. This mindset grows up out of a worldview that has a low view of God's gift of marriage. Therefore, people in this camp are reluctant to pursue marriage. This is the mindset that sees the groom and his friends 'celebrate his last days of freedom' before the 'slavery' of marriage comes. At its most extreme this mindset produces men and women who are hostile to marriage, convinced that they will never 'be tied down' by getting married, and feel sorry for those who are married. However, we are much more likely to see it in people who simply put off marriage for the moment as something that will come later after they have 'experienced life'.

The reason that we begin to believe that life ends when we get married is that we are making an idol out of our personal freedom. This is revealed in setiments like: "I want to enjoy and experience life now while I have the chance." Which, when translated, says: "The only way I can make the most of life is by living how I want, with no regard to others, and no-one restricting me from doing what I want to do." This can be lived out in a number of ways: for some it will mean doing what I want by ensuring that I'm at every party or social event; for others it will mean spending lots on exotic trips all around the world to 'experience the world'; for still others it will mean devoting every waking hour to advancing my career. All of them are different expressions of living to do what I want and to serve myself.

When we worship at the altar of personal freedom, the purpose of my life becomes doing what I want without any regard to anyone else. Therefore, relationships with others become barriers to me really making the most of life, so I avoid committing to others in any meaningful way. When we apply this to singleness, it means that my singleness essentially boils down to a single person - me. I am here to serve me. Other people are just a nusciance that get in the way of me. Therefore, marriage becomes the end of real life, of really living, because then I'll have to start thinking about someone else and serve others besides myself.

This is a way to waste your singleness. It is a denial, not only of what our singleness is for, but also of what we're for. The whole duty and calling of every human being is to love God with heart, mind, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). An unwasted life is a life that is lived in a fiercely loyal love to God. This is our calling and duty whether we're old or young, married or unmarried, whatever nation, people group or background we come from: we must love God. However, when we let ourselves be shaped by the 'life ends' syndrome, this duty and calling is twisted to become: 'love myself with heart, mind, soul and strength.' This is blatant sin. The purpose of our singleness is not for us to be undividedly devoted to ourselves, but to the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:35). It is a status in life that God has given to us so that we might bring Him glory by loving Him with all who we are, what we have, and what we do and think.

The way this love for God is expressed and worked out in daily life is in love for others. When Jesus summarises the law He says "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus is not saying that these are two parallel commandments that somehow we have to keep in balance. No. Rather, the second is a practical expression of the first. Therefore, as an expression of my love for God I will love my neighbour. The way I love others is obviously going to take a different shape as a single person, than as a married person, but I am called to glorify God by loving others in sacrificial service nonetheless.

This means that my single life is not to be one where I live to please myself and therefore relationships are shallow and commitment to others is often avoided. Rather, my single life (whether I am only single for the next year, or for ninety years) is to be a life committed to glorifying God in the sacraficial service of others. Our single lives ought to be filled with deep and committed relationships, relationships where we are constantly seeking the eternal good of others. There are many ways in which singles can do this that married folk cannot, just as there are many opportunities for married people to live out this other-personed love that single people cannot.

We need to remember that this transformation is not something that we can do for ourselves. We cannot just roll up our sleeves and try to love God better. Our hearts are naturally sinful and curved in on ourselves. It is only the gospel of God's grace that can transform us. It is in the gospel that we see the ultimate lover of God and lover of others. Jesus, who never married, did not waste His life, rather He gladly laid down His life in sacrificial service of others to secure their eternal good (Philippians 2:6-11). It is to Him that we must look to be transformed into lovers of God, and therefore lovers of others.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 3:1-11

It's Tuesday again, which means another Tuesday Teaching post. Before we took a short break over the last couple of weeks we were working through the book of Philippians with Mark Driscoll. This week we pick up the series where we left off before the break - we're now in chapter 3:1-11 where we see 'Joy in Conflict'.

"I Could Not Endure Existence..."

Henry Martyn (1781-1812) was a missionary to India and Persia. Martyn devoted his life to translating the Bible into Urdu, Persian ans Arabic, and to proclaiming and defending the gospel. Whilst travelling through Persia he caught a fever and, unable to recieve adequate medical treatment, he died aged 31. In a journal entry written nine months before he died, we catch a glimpse of what drove him, and made him willing to make such huge sacrifices for the sake of the gospel. He recalls an incident that took place while he was working at his Bible translation in Persia amongst the muslims:

Jan. 16. [1812] - "Mirza Seid Ali told me accidentally, to-day, of a distich [a short poem] made by his friend Mirza Koochut, at  Teheran, in honour of a victory obtained by Prince Abbas Mirza over the Russians. The sentiment was, that he had killed so many of the Christians, that Christ, from the fourth heaven, took hold of Mahomet's skirt to entreat him to desist. I was cut to the soul at this blasphemy. In prayer I could think of nothing else but that great day when the Son of God shall come in the clouds of heaven, taking venegance on them that know not God, and convincing men of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against Him. 

Mirza Seid Ali percieved that I was considerably disordered, and was sorry for having repeated the verse; but asked what it was that was so offensive. I told him that 'I could not endure existence if Jesus was not glorified; -it would be hell to me, if He were to be always thus dishonoured.' He was astonished, and again asked, why? 'If any one pluck out your eyes,' I replied, 'there is no saying why you feel pain; -it is feeling. It is because I am one with Christ that I am thus dreadfully wounded.' On his again apologizing, I told him that 'I rejoiced at what had happened, inasmuch as it made me feel nearer the Lord than ever. It is when the head or heart is struck, that every member feels its membership.' This conversation took place while we were translating."

Martyn could not bear to see Jesus dishonoured. He was driven by a passionate desire to see Jesus glorified. He loved Jesus so deeply, and was so aware of his being united to Him by faith, that when Jesus was honoured he was full of joy and when He was dishonoured he was deeply grieved.

Martyn's zeal for Jesus' glory stands as a huge challenge to us today. Do we love Jesus so deeply that the tears well up in our eyes as we look on a world where He is not honoured as He should be? Do we long so heartily for Jesus to be glorified that it pains us to hear of Him being dishonoured?

A Short Break

I'm taking a short break from the blog over the next couple of weeks. Back soon.



When Times Get Hard, Where is Your Refuge?

Not the Weapons

One of the most frequent excuses I've heard for not doing evangelism is, 'I don't know enough' or 'I'm not clever enough to answer all the questions my non-Christian friends ask'.

As Christians we are to be those who are growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10), and are to "always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). However, very often these excuses come from an understanding of evangelism that sees my understanding, my intellect and my well reasoned arguments as the thing which will bring people to bow the knee to Jesus. Such understanding denies the power of the gospel, which is God's power for salvation (Romans 1:16). The gospel, as revealed in Scripture, is what will work the miracle of bringing people from death to life. It is God's word that does the work, not our amazing arguments, as helpful and convincing as they may be. J. C. Ryle draws out the implications of this better than I ever could:

It is a certain fact that deep reasoning and elaborate arguments are not the weapons by which God is generally pleased to convert souls. Simple plain statements, boldly and solemnly made, and made in such a manner that they are evidently felt and believed by him who makes them, seem to have the most effect on hearts and consciences. Parents and teachers of the young, ministers and missionaries, Scripture-readers and district visitors, would all do well to remember this. We need not be so anxious as we often are about defending, proving, demonstrating and reasoning out the doctrines of the Gospel. Not one soul in a hundred was ever brought to Christ in this fashion. We need more simple, plain, solemn, earnest, affectionate statements of simple Gospel truths. We may safely leave such statements to work and take care of themselves. They are arrows from God’s own quiver, and will often pierce hearts which have not been touched by the most eloquent sermon.

This means that we need to rely on God's word to do His work. Our task in evangelism is to proclaim the gospel, as revealed in Scripture, as clearly as we can. It is the clear and faithful speaking of gospel truth from the Bible that will bring people to repentance and faith in Christ.

Meet Horatio Spafford

Horatio Spafford was a well known lawyer in Chicago, who suffered a chain of devastating losses. However, his pains have greatly served the church. It was out of his many griefs that he wrote the well known hymn It is Well With My Soul. The following is a short video outlining his life and showing how, in the midst of his troubles, he was able to write such Christ-centred words. I don't think I'll ever be able to sing It is Well... in quite the same way after watching this:




When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 2:12-30

We continue The Rebel's Guide to Joy, as we work through the book of Philippians with Mark Driscoll. This week we're in 2:12-30, where we see 'Joy in Temptation'. Enjoy.

Learning From the Silkworm

Recently I came across these challenging words from Charles Spurgeon. May they shape the way we read and study for the Bible, both for ourselves, and as we prepare to teach others:

Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord—not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the words, or to recollect the poetical expressions, or the historic facts; but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models, and, what is better still, your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord.

I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like the reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.

Looters: them or us?

Many have watched the unfolding events in London, and across the UK, over the past week with astonishment. News stations and media coverage have been utterly astounded by the violent rioting and looting taking place across the UK in the last few days. How ought we to think about these events as Christians?

 Mike Ovey, the principal of Oak Hill College, London has written a perceptive and thought provoking comment on the recent riots and looting in London.

He makes four observations about the responses to the looters, that are quite revealing:

• There is a sense that the looters are profoundly "other".
• the vehemence of the responses and the strength of the blame game often seem to speak of real anger.
• The responses are not just anger, but also bewilderment and incredulity.
• Christians are not being looked to for answers.

He then goes on to show four themes that a Christian response needs to address:

• Wealth
• Envy
• Civil Disobedience
• Sin Doesn't Work

 The article is a very helpful response to all that has been happening in London over the past week and is well worth reading. You can read the full article by clicking here.

Adrian Warnock, who is a member of a church in Enfield (one of the areas in London hit by riots and looting), has also written some thoughts on what's been happening in London. Read this here.

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 2:1-11

As we continue with The Rebel's Guide to Joy, this week we're in Philippians 2:1-11 - 'Joy in Humility'.

Loneliness

Over at the Gospel Coalition Steve DeWitt has written a very helpful article on loneliness. Anyone who struggles with loneliness will tell you that it can be a very powerful emotion. Steve shows us how we can use our loneliness so that it does not become "an enemy or a scourge but a friend and a kind of helpful companion." Our loneliness reminds us of a powerful theological truth and can lead to deep assurance. You can read the full article by clicking here.

This Was Grace

Imponderable, Inexpressible

So often we can treat being a Christian a light thing. We need to come back again and again and remind ourselves of what it means to be in Christ. Belonging to Jesus is not something that we can take lightly, it is the highest privelege in the universe. If we are those whom God has brought to repentance and faith in Jesus, then we are more priveleged than we can begin to imagine.

Martin Luther, in a sermon on John 1:12, reminded his hearers of this as he spoke of the incomparable privelege of being sons of God:

No man, no matter who he may be, can ponder the magnificence sufficiently or express it adequately in words. We poor mortals, who are condemned and miserable sinners through our first birth from Adam, are singled out for such great honor and nobility that the eternal and almighty God is our Father and we are His children. Christ is our Brother, and we are His fellow heirs (Rom 8:17). And the dear angels, such as Michael and Gabriel, are not to be our masters but our brothers and servants. . . .

This is a grand and overpowering thought! Whoever really reflects on it–the children of the world will not, but Christians will, although not all of them either–will be so startled and frightened by the thought that he will be prompted to ask: ‘My dear, can this really be possible and true?’

. . . [T]he world rates it a much higher honor and privilege to be the son and heir of a prince, a king, or a count than to be the possessor of God’s spiritual goods, although by comparison all these are nothing but poor bags of worms and their glory sheer stench. Just compare all this with the ineffable dignity and nobility of which the evangelist speaks. . . . If we really believed with all our heart, firmly and unflinchingly, that the eternal God, Creator and Ruler of the world, is our Father, with whom we have an everlasting abode as children and heirs, not of this transitory wicked world but of all God’s imperishable, heavenly, and inexpressible treasures, then we would, indeed, concern ourselves but little with all that the world prizes so highly; much less would we covet it and strive after it.

Indeed, we would regard the world’s riches, treasures, glories, splendor, and might–compared with the dignity and honor due us as the children and heirs, not of a mortal emperor but of the eternal and almighty God–as trifling, paltry, vile, leprous, yes, as stinking filth and poison.

Surely we cannot go away from this truth, and not marvel afresh at the glorious grace of our loving heavenly Father, who has adopted us to be His sons through His Son.

Prayer is Your Life

The following is another snippet from Adrian Reynolds' interview of Tim Keller at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London in June. Here Keller speaks about his prayer life, the vital importance of cultivating time for prayer and how he has done that. I have found his comments deeply challenging, as I seek to do the same.

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 1:19-30

We continue The Rebel's Guide to Joy with Mark Driscoll in Philippians. This week we're in Philippians 1:19-30, where we see 'Joy in Death'.

Being a Loser Without Being a Loser

Following Jesus involves being a loser. It may mean being counted as a loser by others, and therefore losing our reputation. It may mean losing family or friends as they disown you. It may mean losing a job, as has happened recently to Christians in the medical profession all in the name of 'religious tolerance'. It many parts of the world it may mean losing your life.

Yet, however much of a loser we appear to be as a Christian, the reality is that in Christ we are not losers. In fact, we are the opposite, we are gainers. Listen to these words by J. C. Ryle on Matthew 19:29:

We may rest assured that no person shall ever be a real loser by following Christ. The believer may seem to suffer loss for a time, when they first begin the life of a decided Christian. They may be cast down by the afflictions that are brought upon them on account of their religion. But let them be rest assured that they will never find themselves a loser in the long run. Christ can raise up friends for us who shall more than compensate for those we lose. Christ can open hearts and homes to us, far more warm and hospitable than those that are closed against us. Above all, Christ can give us peace of conscience, inward joy, bright hopes, and happy feelings, which shall far outweigh every pleasant earthly thing that we have cast away for His sake. He has pledged His royal word that it shall be so. None ever found that word fail. Let us trust it, and not be afraid.

Keller and Cancer

Tim Keller spoke recently at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London. During one of the sessions he was interviewed by Adrian Reynolds. Here is a snippet from that interview, where Keller speaks about his experience of having cancer and how God has used it to bless him.


EMA Keller Helpful Crises from The Proclamation Trust on Vimeo.

Cool Calvinism Unpacked

In 2009, Time magazine called 'The New Calvinism' the 3rd most influential idea changing the world right now!

Two years on, the movement has gathered momentum and spread from the USA to the UK and Ireland, South Africa and Australia; and has draw in people from different organisations and denominations who identify with the 4 key characteristics of the moment:
1) Reformed Theology
2) Complementarian Relationships
3) Spirit-filled lives
4) Missional Churches

In the following video from the Resurgence, Mark Diriscoll assesses the movement and unpacks these four distinctives.

John Stott (1921-2011)

Yesterday at 3.15pm John Stott, aged 90, went home to be with his Lord, whom he loved and faithfully served for so many years. He was surrounded by a number of close friends. They were reading the Scriptures and listening to Handel's Messiah when he peacefully went to be with his Lord and Saviour.

Whist we grieve the loss of this great and faithful servant of Jesus. We also rejoice that he has "entered into the joy of his master" (Matthew 25:23), having heard the words, "Well done good and faithful servant".

The church owes a huge debt under God to the ministry of this man who served faithfully for the whole of his ministry in All Souls church Langham place. His clear and faithful exposition of the Bible, both in the pulpit and in his books have greatly served the church, along with the many initiatives started by him. Personally, I have been hugely blessed by Stott's speaking and writing ministry. Listening to a cassette of a sermon of his on 2 Timothy 3:16, was a decisive moment for me in coming to the convictions I now hold on the authority and sufficiency of the Bible -convictions that have propelled me into gospel ministry- and I have been fed and nourished throughout my Christian life by his commentaries and books.

Stott described was converted in  1938 under the ministry of Eric Nash, who after a sermon from Pilates words "What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?", pointed Stott to Revelation 3:20 and asked him, “Have we ever opened our door to Christ? Have we ever invited him in?” Stott recalls:

Here, then, is the crucial question which we have been leading up to. Have we ever opened our door to Christ? Have we ever invited him in? This was exactly the question which I needed to have put to me. For, intellectually speaking, I had believed in Jesus all my life, on the other side of the door. I had regularly struggled to say my prayers through the key-hole. I had even pushed pennies under the door in a vain attempt to pacify him. I had been baptized, yes and confirmed as well. I went to church, read my Bible, had high ideals, and tried to be good and do good. But all the time, often without realising it, I was holding Christ at arm’s length, and keeping him outside. I knew that to open the door might have momentous consequences. I am profoundly grateful to him for enabling me to open the door. Looking back now over more than fifty years, I realise that that simple step has changed the entire direction, course and quality of my life.

There is a growing number of articles and posts thanking God for the life of John Stott and outlining the impact of his life and ministry, here are just a few:

• All Souls Church
• Justin Taylor
• Christianity Today
• John Piper
• Sandy Grant
• Mark Meynell

Update: There is now a new memorial website website dedicated to Stott's life and work.

Norway's Tragedy and Christian Fundamentalism

In the past week Norway has faced perhaps its most tragic hour. On Friday afternoon Anders Behring Breivik set off a bomb outside government offices in Oslo. He then made his way to Utoya Island, where a youth camp was being run by a political party. Dressed in a police uniform, he opened fire on those present. He killed at least 76 people. What sort of person could be capable of such horriffic actions?

As news channels, websites and newspapers announced this breaking news, many proclaimed that this was the work of a Christian fundamentalist. This media coverage has once again fed the belief of many that Christianity (along with 'religion' in general) only causes violence and hatred in the world. But is this the case? Is a Christian capable of such atrocity? Is this terror consistent with genuine Christianity? Many seem to be saying that it is.

A couple of helpful posts have been written on this issue:

• Tim Challies has written an article entitled Pondering Norway's Darkest Hour on his blog.
• Michael Horton has also written a piece on this issue over at the White Horse Inn blog. You can view it here.

These are worth reading, and the question of the relationship of Christianity to such terrors is worth grappling with, because these are issues that will no doubt be raised by many non-Christian friends.

Play the Man: Thoughts on Biblical Manhood

Kevin DeYoung has written a very helpful post on biblical manhood. This is an area that Christian men need to grapple seriously with, because so often our picture of what it means to be a real man is shaped more by the culture around us than being shaped by Scripture. The manhood of Holywood is not the manhood of the Bible. DeYoungs article is a great place to start thinking about these issues. You can read it by clicking here.

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 1:12-18

We continue to work through Philippians with Mark Driscoll. This week we're in Philippians 1:12-18, where we see Joy in Suffering.

Falling in Private, Falling in Public

J. C. Ryle has these challenging words to say:

Great illnesses seldom attack the body, without a previous train of premonitory symptoms. Great falls seldom happen to a saint, without a previous course of secret backsliding. The church and the world are sometimes shocked by the sudden misconduct of some great professor of religion. Believers are discouraged and stumbled by it. The enemies of God rejoice and blaspheme. But if the truth could be known, the explanation of such cases would generally be found to have been private departure from God. People fall in private, long before they fall in public. The tree falls with a great crash, but the secret decay which accounts for it, is often not discovered until it is down on the ground.

Therefore, let us be those who watch closely our lives and doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16), not only before others, but also on our own before God. Let us address the secret rot before the tree falls.

Declaring a ceasefire on the Worship Wars!

While seems like the Worship Wars have gone cold I would like to go a step further and propose a ‘conservative’ troop withdrawal. You see while the shots may have gone quiet, ‘checkpoint Charlie’ still exists in our minds but its time for the wall to come down. 

However, before I go any further... a confession. I have not always been a conscientious objector when it has come to the conflict. I have been known to enjoy a good grumble at those who abuse words like ‘worship’ with reckless abandon.

But when it comes to the worship wars I think the battle has moved on and those of us on the more conservative end of the spectrum need to lay down on arms, take a deep breath and count to ten. For the following reasons:

First 'Worship' is a better word than 'praise'.

Perhaps it's just me but 'time of praise' to me feels a little bit insipid, a watered down version of the passion and abandon which may be observed in other corners of the church family. Moreover, worship is a right response to God and it is what we are doing when we sing... so why not call it that? If worship is simply ascribing worth to someone or something then surely that is what the heavenly host are doing in Revelation 4 and 5 as they sing "Worthy!". Therefore, our singing here on earth joins with that eternal song and is to be rightly called worship!

Second I am convicted that there is something special about corporate worship which is not present when we are the scattered people of God. We meet in our churches as a foretaste of that heavenly gathering when we will perfectly worship our God eternally. Additionally our coming together has only been made possible by the new life given to us in Christ, therefore it is right to celebrate with our new family, to lift our hands in worship and adoration.

Third At this point the conservatives begin to twitch and say, "but worship is all of life!”

This is true and perhaps our more charismatic brothers and sisters have, by implication, defined 'worship' in unhelpfully narrow terms. But not all those in the charismatic camp believe exactly the same thing. For sure there are those who make sung worship the be all and end all. Yet at the same time there seems to be those who are perfectly aware that our whole life is to be a "spiritual act of worship" (Rom. 12:2).

So perhaps we conservatives should be quick to adopt an attitude of generosity, being prepared to give the benefit of the doubt that when they sing "Come, now is the time to worship" they don't mean that 47 seconds before, it wasn't!

Moreover, to jump off the deep end when we are not clear how an individual or a church contextualizes the word ‘worship’ theologically means that we are in danger alienating brothers and sisters who would otherwise be co-workers for the sake of the gospel. Appearing more interested in semantics than souls (I'm not saying that's the case, but perhaps perception can reflect reality).

Please, let us strive to be doctrinally orthodox, praise God for the theological bloodhounds who can smell a heretic a mile away... but let's just make sure we don't end up mauling friends just because they talk about the 'worship' and not a ‘hymn sandwich’.

Preach the Word!

An excellent rap here from Shai Linne on the first mark of a healthy church: expository preaching. He very helpfully brings out the importance of faithful expository preaching for the church. Well worth listening to, whether you're a fan of rap or not, and whether you're a preacher or not.

Why God's People Are Like a Pair of Underpants

Please do not ever say that the Bible is boring! If you're tempted to say that, can I recommend that you stop reading this post, switch off your computer and read the Bible. The majority of people who moan that the Bible is boring, usually have not read it or given it any serious attention.

I have been struck afresh by the un-boringness of the Bible by beginning to read again through Jeremiah recently. Not only is Scripture overflowing with un-boringness as it sets before us that magnificence of the glory of God, it is also unboring in the way that it communicaties the unboring truths it reveals. Bible authors frequently use humour and vivid illustrations to make their point. Jeremiah 13 is no exception.

In Jeremiah 13 God calls Jeremiah to go and buy a linen loincloth (Jeremiah's equivalent to a pair of underpants), and to put it on (verses 1-2). God then tells Jeremiah to take his new underwear and hide it in a cleft of the rock (verses 3-5). A long time later God commands him to go and dig out his hidden loincloth (verse 6), and when he does so it is ruined and good for nothing (verse 7).

But what is the point of Jeremiah's underpants incident? Why does God call him to buy some underwear, wear it for a while, then hide it away, fully knowing that when he comes back to it days later it will be good for nothing? This is quite an unusual thing for God to command His prophet to do. He goes on to explain in verses 8-11. Jeremiah's underpants incident is in fact a devastating condemnation on God's people. They have refused to listen to God's words, following instead their own heart (which Jeremiah later describes as "decietful above all things" -17:9) which has led them to run after other gods, serving and worshipping them instead of the true and living God (verse 10). Because of this God shall make this rebellious people like Jeremiah's loincloth. Just as his loincloth was spoiled and good for nothing after being left hidden in a cleft for days, so also God shall "spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem" (verse 9) and make them good for nothing (verse 10). This inusual incident is in the Bible as a condemnation on an idolatrous people. Jeremiah's underpants incident serves to make this truth all the more memorable, his hearers are less likely to forget it.

However, Jeremiah's loincloth has even more to teach us. Not only is it a devastating pronouncement of judgement, the underpants incident also tells us what God's people ought to look like. In verse 11 God says that in a sense God's people are to be like a pair of tight underpants. Just as a loincloth clings to a mans waist, so God made His people cling to Him (verse 11). He made them to be this "that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory" (verse 11). He redeemed them and made them His people in order that they might bring glory, honour and praise to Him by clinging tightly to Him.

What does it mean for them to cling tightly to God? Verse 10 gives us a clue. They failed to cling tightly to God by refusing to hear His words, and instead stubbornly following their own hearts. Therefore, if they are to cling to Him, they must cling to His words and not following the decietful desires of their own hearts (17:9). They way God's people keep close to their God is by keeping close to His word.

But there is a problem here. The heart of this problem is the problem of the heart. The heart is naturally decietful (17:9), and refuses to listen and submit to the word of God. Instead it runs after its own decietful desires. God's people will not naturally be like a pair of tight underpants and cling closely to God. Something needs to be done with the heart if God's people are to cling to Him by submitting to His word.

This is exactly what God promises to do later in Jeremiah. He promises a new covenant in which: "...I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD." (31:33-34). He promises new hearts which will listen to God's word and thus cling to Him. Hebrews tells us that it is in Jesus that this is fulfilled (Hebrews 8:8-13; 10:1-18). In Christ we have new hearts that listen in faith to the word of God, and cling tightly to Him by clinging to Christ. In Him we who were dead are made alive (Ephesians 2:1-7).

It is only in Christ that we can be like a pair of tight underpants, clinging closely to God. The way that we continue to cling to Him as we live the Christian life is exactly the way that we begin in the Christian life. We cling to Him by "...hearing with faith" (Galatians 3:2). We began the Christian life by hearing the word of God (at which Christ stands at the centre) with faith, having been given new hearts by God. We continue to cling to God like Jeremiah's loincloth by hearing with faith, by hearing the gospel as revealed in Scripture by faith.

So, may I encourage you to be like a pair of underpants, clinging closely to Jesus, by continuing to listen with faith to the God-breathed Bible (2 Timothy 3:16). It is in Scripture that is completely sufficient to equip us for clinging to Him (2 Timothy 3:16-17), because it is the very word of God (that's what Paul is getting at when he describes it as 'God-breathed). It is here that we hear the voice of the living God. Don't ever say the Bible is boring. It is what will keep us for a lifetime of clinging to God.

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 1:1-11

We come to part two of our series in Philippians with Mark Driscoll. This week were in Philippians 1:1-11, where we see Joy in Loneliness. Enjoy.

Are You Talking to Yourself?

A while ago I wrote a post on preaching to ourselves, where we looked at the need to exhort ourselves with Bible truth and remind ourselves of the gospel. At the end of that post I promised I'd post more on the idea of preaching to ourselves. So here are some words from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, taken from his book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, which is essentially an exposition of Psalm 42. Here is what he says:

The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problem of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself, ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been repressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you’. Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have but little experience.

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’-what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’-instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet priase Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’.

Friendship to the Glory of God

Over at the Gospel Copalition Kevin DeYoung has written a very helpful series of posts on friendship, and what it means to be a godly friend. There are many excellent resources written about family relationships (and rightly so): marriage relationships and parent-child relationships; but there is comparatively little written about friendship. Yet friendship plays a huge part in our lives. Therefore, it is worth spending time thinking through what it means to have our friendships shaped by Scripture.

Kevin's series comes in four parts, you can read them by clicking on the links below:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Lovely Fella, Tim Keller!

On a slightly lighter note: A few weeks ago I had the privelege of being at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London, where Tim Keller, David Wells, Liam Golligher and Vaughan Roberts were speaking. Here is a short poem/rap given by Rob Prendergast, a Cornhill student and one of the stewards at EMA, which gives a quick summary of this years conference. Great stuff!

Desperately seeking Superman

On Monday I met a stranger for coffee. He had been in touch because he knew it was my birthday, so we agreed to meet. Neither of us knew what to expect, after all, we didn't know one another.

I arrived at our agreed coffee shop, (If I was going to have an alien encounter I was going to do it round one of my favourite things, a kind of caffeine infused safety net). As I scanned the people an ageing man rose from is chair and called me over. I looked at the strange man, he looked familiar, like looking into a leathery mirror; "Hi dad", I said. He went to shake my hand but pulled me close, 'one hug in ten years wasn't gonna hurt' I thought...

We chatted about my life in London, what I was learning and about my hopes for the future, he seemed genuinely interested if not a little shell shocked that the spotty sixteen year old had moved on so much! I asked him about his life, not too much to tell, quite lonely I thought... But that's the path he chose a long time ago. After about 90 mins I began to wind things up, there was going to be no recriminations, no anger... not this time. I can't go on hating him I thought, those 90 mins were about an unspoken forgiveness (maybe one day I'll say it).

A very dear friend calls his dad 'superman'... I used to resent that, but now I love it! My dad isn't 'superman', he's not even 'sufficiently adequate man' and sometimes that's hard to come to terms with, but I'm slowly learning two very important lessons!

First, that God is the ultimate standard of Fatherhood. He loves his children with a passionate, unending, Calvary-saturated love. He is the father to the fatherless and the one who will in the end rejoice and sing over all his children (what a sound that will be)!

Secondly, I find that this experience kindles a desire in me that while I never had 'Superman' maybe one day, by God's grace, a child of my own will see the 'S' on my chest and I will have the privilege of pointing them to the one after whom all Fatherhood derives it's name!

Tuesday Teaching| Philippians 1:1

This week we start a new Tuesday Teaching series. Over the next ten weeks we shall be working through the book of Philippians with Mark Driscoll, in a series he has entitled The Rebel's Guide to Joy. We begin this week at the beginning! We're in Philippians 1:1 this week.

Exalting Jesus With Generosity

Do Christians Have to Join a Church?

Here's a very helpful short video from Mike McKinley, answering the question "Do Christians have to join a church?" Mike shows the importance of the church, and why it is that as Christians it is vital for us to be part of a local church.

Desiring Worthlessness, Becoming Worthless

"Thus says the LORD:

'What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?'" (Jeremiah 2:5)

In Jeremiah 2 we read the words that God called Jeremiah to proclaim to Jerusalem (verse 2), revealing the foolishness of their turning from God to idols. It is striking what He says in verse 5 about the effects of their idolatory. He says that they "...went after worthlessness, and became worthless". They set their affections on nothingness, and thus became nothing. They ran after worthless idols,and became worthless themselves.

This is a reminder that we become like what we worship. We are conformed to that which all our affections and desires are centred on. The Psalmist recognised this in Psalm 115. In verses 4-7 he recounts how the idols of the nations are mute, blind, deaf and unfeeling. He then says, "Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them." Those who set their affections on these idols become hardened to the true and living God, they become mute, blind, deaf and unfeeling themselves.

Whatever it is that holds our affections, whatever we desire above all, whatever we constantly have at the centre of our thoughts, this will end up shaping us and defining us. Henry Scougal, in his classic little book The Life of God in the Soul of Man, said these words:

Love is that powerful and prevalent passion, by which all the faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined, and on which both its perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. He who loveth mean and sordid things, doth thereby become base and vile; but a noble and well-placed affection, doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity with the perfections which it loves.

What then is the object of our love? If we recognise the truth of Jeremiah 2:5, surely we cannot stop short of having the eternal God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the one who holds all of our affections, desires and thoughts. He alone is the source of all that is good, therefore if we settle with anything else as the ultimate object of our love we are selling ourselves short. If we do not recognise the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord (Philippians 3:8), and treasure Him above all things we are short changing ourselves.

We cannot do this ourselves, it must be done for us. Let us pray for transformed hearts that love Jesus undividedly, that hold Him at the centre of our affections. It is only a miracle that can transform our hearts from running after worthlessness, to running after the true and living God.

What is a Tragedy?

Tuesday Teaching| Words: Getting to the Heart

This week we have a one-off video from Paul Tripp, looking at our words and our heart. Next week we shall begin a new series of Tuesday Teaching posts.

Covetousness and the Promises of God

In Colossians 3:5 Paul describes covetousness as idolatory. It is idolatory because covetousness looks somewhere other than God for the contentment that only He can give.

This means that our covetousness stems from unbelief. The reason we covet is because we fail to believe the promises of God. When we desire deeply that new car, clothes or the latest gadget it is because we are looking to them for contentment instead of trusting in the promises of God, which alone brings contentment. We are refusing to believe that Jesus alone (in whom all of God's promises find their 'yes' - 2 Corinthians 1:20) can meet every need and satisfy every longing.

If covetousness flows from a refusal to believe the promises of God, this means that we cannot battle this sin by simply telling ourselves to "stop coveting". We cannot battle the compulsion to keep ordering books, CD's or DVD's through the internet by simply saying "that's the last one". We cannot put to death the enslaving desire to constantly be buying the latest clothes, even though our wardrobe is full, by saying "that's enough". If this is our strategy we will fail. We will either fall back into the same sin, or find ourselves exchanging it for a new sin. This is because our hearts long for contentment, and they will always be seeking somewhere for it.

Therefore, if we are to put the idol of coveoutness to death, we must do so by believing the promises of God. We must remind ourselves of the promises of God and preach them to ourselves. We must seek our contentment in the promises of God, which find their fulfillment in Jesus.

Here are two promises in particular that have reference to covetousness:

• 1 Timothy 6:6 - "...there is great gain in godliness with contentment." God promises us that great gain is not found in a bulging bank account, a racy sports car, a bursting wardrobe or stacked shelves. No, great gain is found in godliness with contentment. If we truly believe this then we would be investing more time in growing in godliness and being content in Jesus alone, than browsing amazon or playing the stock markets.
• Hebrews 13:5 - "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" Jesus promises never to leave us or forsake us; and if we have Him, we have everything. He is the source of all things and the one who sustains all things (Hebrews 1:2-3). Therefore, if we have Him, how foolish is it to run after other things. If we truly believed this we would spend more time delighting in Him and praising Him for all that we have in Him (Ephesians 1:3), instead of spending all our time thinking about our bank accounts or trying to justify buying that new DVD box set.

Covetousness is idolatory. It looks somewhere other than God for the contentment that only God can give. Therefore, we start to run after all the things we don't have, claiming that we 'need' them. The only way we will smash this idol is by looking in the right place for contentment. It is only when we believe the promises of God that we will find ourselves moving from covetousness to true contentment.

A Short Break

I'm taking a short break from the blog over the next week and a bit. This means that there will no posts from me until late next week or early the following week.

Tuesday Teaching| Spectacular Sins (Part 7)

We come to the final sermon in this Tuesday Teaching series, Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. In this last sermon we are in Luke 22:1-6, where Piper shows us 'Judas Iscariot, the Suicide of Satan and the Salvation of the World.'

One of the Best and Most Powerful Means of Advancing the Gospel

J. C. Ryle had these words to say about the part of every Christian in the work of the gospel globally:

Prayer is one of the best and most powerful means of helping forward the cause of Christ in the world. It is a means within the reach of all who have the Spirit of adoption. Not all believers have money to give to missions. Very few have great intellectual gifts, or extensive influence among men. But all believers can pray for the success of the Gospel, and they ought to pray for it daily. Many and marvelous are the answers to prayer which are recorded for our learning in the Bible. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16.)

Book Review| Little Black Books

Little Black Books is a series of books by Scott Petty (youth minister at Christ Church St Ives in Sydney) written for teenagers. They are designed to "get straight to the point on the topics Christians always have questions about." Little Black Books are unashamedly grounded in Scripture, whilst at the same time written in a clear and engaging style, which makes them a great read and a great resource to get into the hands of young people.

So far in the series there are five books: 'predestination', 'sex', 'the Bible', 'suffering and evil', and 'what's life all about?' All of these are a fantastic blend of faithful Bible teaching, clear and easy to read writing and a great sense of humour.

Predestination
'Predestination' grapples with the issue of how God's will or decision making interacts with our will or decision making. Petty begins by giving the Bible's picture of the 'super-involved God', showing us the sovereignty of God. He then moves to look at God's sovereign choosing of His people, before addressing what this means for our freedom and how God is fair in choosing some and not others.

Sex
'Sex' gives a clear and faithful summary of the Bible's teaching on sex, providing teenagers with a robust theology of sex. Petty rightly emphaises the goodness of God's gift of sex, whilst at the same time clearly showing marriage as the only and right context for sex. Having laid the foundation of a theology of sex, he then goes on to examine dating relationships, before discussing homosexuality and pornography.

Suffering and Evil
Here Petty gives an excellent overview of the book of Job, clearly setting out the picture of God and His utter sovereignty over suffering and evil, whilst at the same time doing so in a way that is pastorally sensitive. Petty shows just how comforting the truths of the Bible are to the sufferer, and challenges his readers to trust the God who is in control of all things, including suffering and evil.

The Bible
The whole Little Black Books series is firmly grounded in the Bible. In this book Petty makes explicit why this foundation is the only one worth standing on. He gives a clear introduction to the doctrine of Scripture as the word of God, showing its authority, trustworthiness and sufficiency.

What's Life All About?
Petty here shows that it is only in relationship that we can understand what the point of life is. He introduces us to the significance of what it means for us as men and women to be created by God made in His image for relationship and to rule. From there he moves to show the significance for Chroistians of who we are as those who have been saved by Jesus and belong to His people, the church.

Overall I highly commend this series of Little Black Books. They are firmly grounded in Scripture, and therefore lay a great foundation for teenagers to think biblically about things. They are clear, engaging and easy to read, therefore young people will not come away from them thinking that the truth of the Bible is uninteresting or not for them. I highly encourage you to get these into the hands of the young people you know.

You can order Little Black Books from the Good Book Company by clicking here (buying them this way also helps support the work of AEN).