How deep the Father's love for us -- Phillips, Craig and Dean

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory 

Behold the man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished 

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

The Heart of Ministry

This is an excerpt from my personal correspondence.  SDG

So, what is the heart of ministry?  First and foremost, it must be service to Christ that brings Him glory and proclaims the greatness, power and availability of the grace of God.  We are encouraged by the fact that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  Not our perfectly crafted words nor our wonderfully furnished buildings, but the simple articulation of the gospel: Christ died so that we might live.  We are also challenged by the fact that God’s economy is different than ours.  Our wisdom is not the same as His. Our strength is not the same as His. Our goals are not the same as His. Unless, of course, we have the mind of Christ.  But then, it is not God’s wisdom or strength or goals that change; it is ours.  And this is a difficult and daily task because everything in us and around us is trying to pull us back the other way.  In fact we are exhorted to pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  While this all may seem daunting, it is actually the opposite.  Jesus promised to build His church.  Jesus prayed for those who remained after His death that they might be sanctified and that people would believe in Him through our service to Him. And Jesus has assured us that He will be with us to the very end of the age.

All the way my Savior leads me

All the way my Savior leads me
Who have I to ask beside
How could I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my guide

All the way my Savior leads me
Cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me grace for every trial
Feeds me with the living Bread

[Chorus:]
You lead me and keep me from falling
You carry me close to Your heart
And surely Your goodness and mercy will follow me

All the way my Savior leads me
O, the fullness of His love
O, the sureness of His promise
In the triumph of His blood
And when my spirit clothed immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

All the way my Savior leads me

-- Chris Tomlin

Examine Yourself

Its interesting that one rarely hears a sermon or devotional on 2 Cor 13:5 " Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" Is it because we don't want to offend anyone or is because we don't want to ask the hard question(s)?  The reality is that this verse is meant to be an encouragement to us.  It is a reassurance that we are in the faith.  Since everything is built on our relationship with Christ, shouldn't we desire to be sure of it?  And to continue to be sure of it?
But what if, in examining ourselves, we find that we need are continually in need of growing, of learning, of depending, of surrendering to Jesus?  Then we're faced with the reality painted throughout Scripture.  We are either moving toward Christ or away from Him.  And, if we're comfortable with where were at?  Maybe its easier to just skip to some other verse...

Christ Crucified

An excerpt from a sermon by Spurgeon.  The entire text is found here: Christ Crucified #1

Before I enter upon our text, let me very briefly tell you what I believe preaching Christ and him crucified is. My friends, I do not believe it is preaching Christ and him crucified, to give people a batch of philosophy every Sunday morning and evening, and neglect the truths of this Holy Book. I do not believe it is preaching Christ and him crucified, to leave out the main cardinal doctrines of the Word of God, and preach a religion which is all a mist and a haze, without any definite truths whatever. I take it that man does not preach Christ and him crucified, who can get through a sermon without mentioning Christ's name once; nor does that man preach Christ and him crucified, who leaves out the Holy Spirit's work, who never says a word about the Holy Ghost, so that indeed the hearers might say, "We do not so much as know whether there be a Holy Ghost." And I have my own private opinion, that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith without works; not unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor, I think, can we preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation, after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply, "We have not so learned Christ."


-- C.H. Spurgeon

The Mystery of the Incarnation

I have been meditating and being humbled by the reality and magnitude of Christ's incarnation.  Part of this has to do with my study of Hebrew's which insists our great high priest must suffer, but God can suffer, can He?  This is just one thread of the gigantic tapestry of the incarnation.  So, this morning I was probing for something  that blended the what of the incarnation with the wow of the incarnation.  What follows is an excerpt from a very good defense / explanation of the what and the why of the incarnation by Sam Storms. The Incarnation and the Humanity of Christ SDG


The Mystery of the Incarnation and Humanity of Jesus

The Word became flesh
God became human
The invisible became visible
The untouchable became touchable
Eternal life experienced temporal death
The transcendent one descended and drew near
The unlimited became limited
The infinite became finite
The immutable became mutable
The unbreakable became fragile
Spirit became matter
Eternity entered time
The independent became dependent
The almighty became weak
The loved became the hated
The exalted was humbled
Glory was subjected to shame
Fame turned into obscurity
From inexpressible joy to tears of unimaginable grief
From a throne to a cross
From ruler to being ruled
From power to weakness.

-- Sam Storms

Sweetly Broken

Have you ever heard a song and not really heard it?  Then suddenly the Holy Spirit opens your ears so you really hear it?  That happened to me yesterday with the song Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle.  If any one knows of spiritual journey over the past 8-9 months, both the title and chorus resonate with how I have described what God's working in me.  At to that the pure gospel truth of the lyrics and I'm left to simply worship the incredible mercy, grace and love of my Savior and Lord, Redeemer and King!

Sweetly Broken -- Jeremy Riddle

To the cross I look.
To the cross I cling.
Of its suffering I do drink.
Of its work I do sing.
On it my Savior,
both bruised and crushed,
showed that God is love,
and God is just.

Chorus:
At the cross You,
beckon me,
draw me gently,
to my knees and I am,
lost for words so,
lost in love I'm,
sweetly broken, wholly surrendered!

What a priceless gift:
undeserved life
have I been given
through Christ crucified.
You've called me out of death.
You've called me into life.
And I was under Your wrath,
now through the cross, I'm reconciled.

Chorus:
At the cross You,
beckon me,
draw me gently,
to my knees and I am,
lost for words so,
lost in love,
I'm sweetly broken, wholly surrendered!

In awe of the cross I must confess,
how wondrous Your redeeming love and how great
is Your faithfulness!

At the cross You,
beckon me,
draw me gently,
to my knees and I am,
lost for words so,
lost in love,
I'm sweetly broken, wholly surrendered!

SDG

My simple Sunday prayer

A small excerpt from my journal...

My prayer tomorrow will be the same as it is every Sunday, whether I teach or not. My prayer will be that God’s people are affected by God’s Word through God’s Spirit to the glory of God’s Son.

SDG

Christ in our trials

The greatest temptation out of hell is to live without trials. A pool of standing water will turn stagnant. Faith grows more with a sharp winter storm in its face. Grace withers without adversity. You can't sneak quietly into heaven with a cross. Crosses form us into his image. They cut away the pieces of our corruption. Lord cut, carve, wound; Lord do anything to perfect your image in us and make us fit for glory. We need winnowing before we can enter the kingdom of God. O what I owe to the file, hammer, and furnace! Why should I be surprised at the plough that makes such deep furrows in my soul? Whatever direction the wind blows, it will blow us to the Lord. His hand will direct us safely to the heavenly shore to find the eternal weight of glory. As we look back to our pains and sufferings, we shall see that suffering is worthy to be compared to our first night's welcome home in heaven. If we could smell of heaven and our country above, our crosses would not bite us.

-- Samuel Rutherford

All We Will Get Is Mercy

Let us make crystal clear at the beginning of each new day, all we will get from God as believers in Jesus is mercy.  Whatever pleasures or pains may come our way in the day, they will all be mercy. This is why Christ came into the world--"in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy" (Rom 15:9).  We were born again "according to his great mercy" (1 Pet 1:3); we pray daily "that we may receive mercy" (Heb 4:16); and we are now "waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" (Jude 21). If any Christian proves trustworthy, it is "by the Lord's mercy [he] is trustworthy" (1 Cor 7:25).  In the end, when all is said and done, we will confess, "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy (Rom 9:16).

So as we face each day, let us humble ourselves and take the position of the blind man: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Luke 18:38). Or the position of the leper: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us" (Luke 17:13). And let us take heart that we will never obey God enough to put Him in debt to us.  He will never owe us. "Who has given to [God] the he might be repaid?" (Rom 11:35). And let us take heart that the smallest seed of true faith in Christ taps all the divine power of mercy--as the slightest touch of an electrical plug to the socket gets all the electricity.

Therefore, the fullest obedience and the smallest faith obtain the same thing from God: mercy. A mere mustard seed of faith taps into the mercy of tree-moving power. And flawless obedience leaves us utterly dependent on mercy. God may withhold some blessings of mercy for our good, if we stray from the path of growing faith.  But even this withholding is another form of mercy.

The point is: Whatever the timing of form of God's mercy, we never rise above of the status of beneficiaries of mercy.  We are always utterly dependent on the undeserved.  God never owes us anything in ourselves.  The smallest faith and the fullest obedience receive one thing: almighty mercy.

-- John Piper

What if...

If it were possible for you to look into the holy of holies, to mount up to heaven to see the royal palace of our great King, and if you could know the satisfying joy, ravishing delight, the inconceivable pleasure which the spirits of just men made perfect have, and if you could see Him as He is, there visible in the glorified Redeemer, and really know Him as you are known, then reader, what would you think of this God for your portion?

What a poor view you would now have of the beggarly portion that you now admire! What dung, what dog's meat would the world be to you in comparison with God! You would leave the swine of earthly comforts, and the foolish children of disobedience who are paddling in the gutter of sensual waters, that you might have your portion among God's children and your heritage among his chosen ones. All your love would be too little, and labor would be too great for such an inestimable portion.

Lord, let me partake of your special mercy. Though others feed on husks, give me this bread of life. May you be the portion of  my cup. Whatsoever you deny me, or however you deal with me, give me yourself, and it shall be enough. You are the true paradise of all pleasure, a living fountain of haziness, and the original and exact pattern of all perfections.

-- George Swinnock

Lord's Day morning

Sunday should be (is!) a day of worship.  Yet my mind & heart are mired.  Perhaps this reflects on my selfish view of faith and the church.  If it is all about me, I end up with idolatry. If it is all about serving others, I end up with religion.  However, if it is about God and Christ and the power of the Spirit, then I am free to worship.  Right now the Philips, Craig and Dean song is echoing in my head: “And I stand in awe of You.”  Father give me, give us, a fuller view of who you are today.  Help us to see, not just with our minds, but with the eyes of our hearts, the vastness of Christ’s sacrifice.  Allow us to glimpse the multiple ways you Sprit is leading, guiding and protecting us today.  And, help us to abandon ourselves today and worship you in all of your greatness, power and love. SDG

Considering Hell

I ran across an article by Tim Keller regarding the importance of grasping the reality of hell.  Here are two quotes:

"Unless we come to grips with this terrible doctrine, we will never even begin to understand the depths of what Jesus did for us on the cross. His body was being destroyed in the worst possible way, but that was a flea bite compared to what was happening to his soul. When he cried out that his God had forsaken him, he was experiencing hell itself."


"It is only because of the doctrine of judgment and hell that Jesus' proclamation of grace and love are so brilliant and astounding."


The full article is at the link below.  SDG


http://www3.dbu.edu/jeanhumphreys/DeathDying/preachinghell.htm

How easy

How easy is it to lose track of Christ has called us to?  I can list just the common distractions in my own life: job family, activities.  If those are not enough, I can add the sinful components: pride, envy, selfishness.  The result is that following hard after Christ is never going to be easy.  Living the Christian life will always be life walking a balance beam, trying avoid crashing into the abyss of sinful license on one side and sinful legalism on the other.

What provoked my writing today is a Spirit-prompted reminder that our church activities are not exempt from this reality.  We are still tainted with sin and any enterprise we embark upon will also become tainted, if we lose focus on the One who called us to the task.  Yet, it is so much more expedient to focus on the task, rather than on the God who has set us apart and on the Spirit who will empower us.  How often to we stop to consider that God, who created everything by speaking it into existence and has sustained from the beginning until now, doesn't need us.  Yet, He desires to use us as we work according to His power, plan and purposes.

Father, I confess I have been short-sighted in too many areas of my life.  I have jumped to quickly to the solution in my mind rather than probing your Word and seeking the counsel of the Spirit.  I humbly, yet boldly, ask that you help me and others who claim the name of Christ to raise our eyes off the footpath of our own journey and focus instead on the highway of the gospel of Jesus.  And Lord, help me, help us to see that this is on just a "spiritual add-on", but a necessary component to every aspect of our lives. In Jesus name. Amen

I am the LORD your God

What a privilege to have God as our God! What a happy condition when nothing can hurt you! If one loses his name, it is written in the book of life. If he loses his liberty, his conscience is free. If he loses his estate, he owns the pearl of great price. If he meets a storm, he has a harbor; God is his God, and heaven is his heaven. If God is our God, our soul is safe.  It is hidden in the promises, in the wounds of Christ, and in the decrees of God. If God is our God then all that is in God is ours.  How happy is he who not only inherits the gifts of God but God himself!  -- Thomas Watson