‘Nuisance’ Suffering Still Builds Endurance

One of the main lessons I’ve been learning while in South Africa is that suffering that seems to be a nuisance is still building endurance in my heart.  Most of the time, when I have to wait in line for a very long time, when my car breaks down, when communication is slow and sporadic, or when working with other ministries seems to handcuff me, I’d rather experience “true” Christian suffering than these annoyances.  To me, that would seem “more spiritual” or able to build me up more in Christ.

But the Lord has been reminding me that any kind of trial is either an opportunity to worship him or an idol.  If I worship Jesus, these mini-trials will build endurance, then character, and then hope (Rom. 5:3-5).  If I worship Jesus, these trials will produce steadfastness in faith (James. 1:2-4).  On the other hand, if I worship an idol (i.e. my agenda, punctuality, structure, details, etc.), then my heart grows hard, cold, unloving, and angry with God.

The apostle James says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Every kind of trail, great and small, can be fruitful.  The only question I need to ask is who am I worshiping during these trials: Jesus or myself?

Don’t Let Them Fool You…Doctrine Does Lead to Joy

For  my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others.  I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.

- C.S. Lewis, On the Reading of Old Books

The God Who Desires That Everyone Be Saved

In 1 Timothy 2:4, Paul writes that “[God]…desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  God wants everyone to glorify and enjoy him forever.  This is why we pray for people. However, our prayers are rooted in God’s desire for people to be saved, not our faith or our fervency in prayer. We must say at this point that not everyone is in fact saved. Because of this, we have three possibilities to consider about God:

• We have a God who has actually has two wills in that he desires all to be saved at one level, and that he causes only some to be saved on another.
• We have a God who desires that all are saved, yet doesn’t have the power to actually make it happen.
• We have a God who allows people can actually chose to do whatever they want despite God’s will, and therefore they have the ultimate power in determining their eternity over God.

The Bible does not allow for the second two options. The Bible is clear that God has enough power in salvation, from beginning to end (Phil. 1:6). The Bible is also clear that salvation does not depend on man’s will but on God’s mercy (Rom. 9:16). We must lay 1 Timothy 2:4 beside 1 Timothy 4:10, which says, “For to this end [the end of teaching and modeling good doctrine] we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” So in one sense, Jesus is the Savior of the entire world. But his atonement, or we can say saving power, is only effective to those who confess him as Lord and Savior and believe in him for eternal life. People who do not believe in Jesus receive no forgiveness and no redemption.  Unbelievers will spend a conscious eternity in hell experience the wrath of God.

This issue of the atonement’s extent is hotly debated, as you could guess.  Arminian theologians believe that God’s greatest desire is to preserve genuine human freedom and therefore individuals must chose or reject God’s salvation. This would seem to make God very man-centered.  Calvinist theologians believe that God’s greatest desire is to preserve the full range of his glory (Rom. 9:22-23).  This makes God very God-centered, yet still loving toward his people. I would say the Calvinist perspective is the correct biblical teaching.

You’ve all heard the arguments for both sides, so it’d be good to conclude with a statement all Christians can agree on.  Whatever a person believes concerning the extent of atonement, the phrase, “God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved,” shows that a genuine offer of the gospel should be extended to every person. In order for someone to live a gospel-shaped life, they must be told the good news of Jesus.  For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17).

Fifteen Pro-Life Truths

John Piper offers 15 wonderful truths about pro-life in order to persuade pro-choice people.  The best part about these truths is that they are not “Christian” or from the Bible.  They are truths that no one, in their right mind, should be able to argue with.

I’m getting married in less than a year and someday, Lord willing, I’ll be a daddy.  For me, as that becomes more and more of a reality, I cannot help but become more and more firm on this issue of protecting unborn children.  Pray for redemption and reconciliation and change with this issue.  God is working, even if it doesn’t seem like it.

It may be hard to see, but Jesus will have supremacy in everything, and abortion is not outside of everything.

Weekly Spurgeon

From Morning and Evening

“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house.”
- 2 Samuel 11:2

At that hour David saw Bathsheba. We are never out of the reach of temptation. Both at home and abroad we are liable to meet with allurements to evil; the morning opens with peril, and the shades of evening find us still in jeopardy. They are well kept whom God keeps, but woe unto those who go forth into the world, or even dare to walk their own house unarmed. Those who think themselves secure are more exposed to danger than any others. The armour bearer of Sin is Self-confidence.

David should have been engaged in fighting the Lord’s battles, instead of which he tarried at Jerusalem, and gave himself up to luxurious repose, for he arose from his bed at eventide. Idleness and luxury are the devil’s jackals, and find him abundant prey. In stagnant waters noxious creatures swarm, and neglected soil soon yields a dense tangle of weeds and briars. O for the constraining love of Jesus to keep us active and useful! When I see the King of Israel sluggishly leaving his couch at the close of the day, and falling at once into temptation, let me take warning, and set holy watchfulness to guard the door.

Is it possible that the king had mounted his housetop for retirement and devotion? If so, what a caution is given us to count no place, however secret, a sanctuary from sin! While our hearts are so like a tinderbox, and sparks so plentiful, we had need use all diligence in all places to prevent a blaze. Satan can climb housetops, and enter closets, and even if we could shut out that foul fiend, our own corruptions are enough to work our ruin unless grace prevent. Reader, beware of evening temptations. Be not secure. The sun is down but sin is up. We need a watchman for the night as well as a guardian for the day. O blessed Spirit, keep us from all evil this night. Amen.

The Christian Life is All of Grace

In 1 Timothy 1:11-17, Paul uses some key vocabulary to make it unmistakeably plain to the reader that the Christian life, and its service, is all of grace and none of personal merit.  The gospel-centered life is all about Christ.  We decrease as we make Christ look great.  Listen to Paul.  He writes:

• That he has been entrusted with the gospel (v. 11).
• God has given him strength and appointed him to service (v. 12).
• That he has received mercy (vv. 13, 16)
• The grace of the Lord has overflowed for him (v. 14).
• He has faith and love in Christ (v. 14).
• That Jesus came to save helpless sinners (v. 15).
• That he received mercy so that Jesus might display perfect patience (v. 16).
• That all honor and glory belongs to “the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (v. 17).

The Christian life is all of grace.  Let us love and serve and teach and correct by God’s grace.  When this happens, we show Jesus to be the most supremely valuable treasure in the universe.

Fighting to See and Savor Jesus

I have been really fighting to see and savor Jesus Christ since I’ve been in South Africa.  It’s been a battle.  The greatest thing I have ever learned to help in this fight is to preach the gospel to yourself.  I love to preach and most of my times in the Word are preaching sessions to my own self.  Here’s a paragraph from Martyn Lloyd-Jones that has been a huge help to me over the past few days.  He offers a wonderful perspective on how to handle times in our lives when we are unhappy in the Lord.

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 in the moment you wake up in the morning.  You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.  Somebody is talking.  Who is talking to you?  Your self is talking to you.  Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] 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 depressing him, crushing him.  So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.

Internet Has Come to My “Flat”

Well, it took some time, but Telkom finally delivered ADSL to my apartment (they call it a “flat” here in SA).

All it took was two and a half hours of waiting, three trips to the Telkom store after the technician left my place, a bowl of cereal with curdled milk, and spilt beer on Rylan’s desk.

Anyway, I’m back online.  Let the blogging continue.

This Is Africa

That’s pretty much our excuse for anything that goes “wrong” or doesn’t seem right.  Example: it takes quite  while to get internet installed in your apartment.  Two weeks, in fact.

Nevertheless, our team is in South Africa, safe and sound.  Hopefully, on Tuesday we’ll get that WiFi installed.  Then, I’ll be able to blog on a more consistent basis.

I’ve learned much in two weeks.  There still is much more to learn.  I’m sure a lot of all that will come up here.

peace,
james

A New Year, Engagement, and South Africa

Happy New Year, everyone.  And oh what a year it has been.  In case you are wondering, I’ll be leaving for South Africa on Tuesday, January 6.  I’ll be gone for 11 months, but will have a much-needed 2-week break in late June/early July.  I’m so excited to go, but it is bittersweet.  I just got engaged to the most amazing woman in the world.  The Lord has been so gracious, merciful, and faithful to Carly and me.  We are so blessed.  I don’t want to leave her, but I cling to the Jesus’ promise in Luke 18:29-30:

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

It will be a challenging, hard, and painful at times to be gone.  However, I know that this year will bear so much fruit for me as a husband, father, friend, and minister of the gospel.  The Lord is faithful.  He has never let me down.  I don’t think he will now.

Happy New Year, everyone.  Oh, what a year it will be.