How Willingly Do People Go to Hell?

My intention for the subject matter of today's post was originally going in a much different direction. However, Tim's sobering message this past Sunday, and several recent blog posts this week, has inclined me to add some further thoughts on the Biblical teaching concerning Hell. The subject of the horrific destiny that awaits all who die in their sin is one we dare not neglect nor misunderstand. It was Jesus Himself who spoke more about Hell than everyone else in the Bible put together, and He had more to say about Hell than He did about Heaven.

So, when I read a blog post the other day by John Piper on the Desiring God site on the subject of Hell, its significance moved me to share it with you here, at least in part. I do not offer this in any way as something to be approached casually or tritely. The magnitude of the issue of final judgment is almost beyond words to describe. I offer this simply that we might think more Biblically, be affected more deeply, be moved to pray for the lost more earnestly, be more zealous for evangelism, and be focused more completely upon the glory of God.

Here is a portion of what John Piper had to say:

C.S. Lewis is one of the top 5 dead people who have shaped the way I see and respond to the world. But he is not a reliable guide on a number of important theological matters. Hell is one of them. His stress is relentlessly that people are not “sent” to hell but become their own hell. His emphasis is that we should think of “a bad man’s perdition not as a sentence imposed on him but as the mere fact of being what he is.”

...I think it is misleading to say that hell is giving people what they most want... The misery of hell will be so great that no one will want to be there. They will be weeping and gnashing their teeth (Matthew 8:12). Between their sobs, they will not speak the words, “I want this.” They will not be able to say amid the flames of the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), “I want this.” “The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:11). No one wants this.

...The person who rejects God does not know the real horrors of hell. This may be because he does not believe hell exists, or it may be because he convinces himself that it would be tolerably preferable to heaven.

...So when a person chooses against God and, therefore, de facto chooses hell--or when he jokes about preferring hell with his friends over heaven with boring religious people--he does not know what he is doing. What he rejects is not the real heaven (nobody will be boring in heaven), and what he “wants” is not the real hell, but the tolerable hell of his imagination.

When he dies, he will be shocked beyond words. The miseries are so great he would do anything in his power to escape. That it is not in his power to repent does not mean he wants to be there. Esau wept bitterly that he could not repent (Hebrew 12:17). The hell he was entering into he found to be totally miserable, and he wanted out. The meaning of hell is the scream: “I hate this, and I want out.”

...Beneath this misleading emphasis on hell being what people “most want” is the notion that God does not “send” people to hell. But this is simply unbiblical. God certainly does send people to hell. He does pass sentence, and he executes it. Indeed, worse than that. God does not just “send,” he “throws.” “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown (Greek eblethe) into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15; cf. Mark 9:47; Matthew 13:42; 25:30).

The reason the Bible speaks of people being “thrown” into hell is that no one will willingly go there, once they see what it really is. No one standing on the shore of the lake of fire jumps in. They do not choose it, and they will not want it. They have chosen sin. They have wanted sin. They do not want the punishment. When they come to the shore of this fiery lake, they must be thrown in.

...We should ask: How did Jesus expect his audience to think and feel about the way he spoke of hell? The words he chose were not chosen to soften the horror by being accommodating to cultural sensibilities. He spoke of a “fiery furnace” (Matthew 13:42), and “weeping and gnashing teeth” (Luke 13:28), and “outer darkness” (Matthew 25:30), and “their worm [that] does not die” (Mark 9:48), and “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46), and “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and being “cut in pieces” (Matthew 24:51).

...Surely the pattern of Jesus--who used blazing words to blast the hell-bent blindness out of everyone--should be followed. Surely, we will grope for words that show no one, no one, no one will want to be in hell when they experience what it really is... but that it is horrible beyond description--weeping, gnashing teeth, darkness, worm-eaten, fiery, furnace-like, dismembering, eternal, punishment, “an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).

I thank God, as a hell-deserving sinner, for Jesus Christ my Savior, who became a curse for me and suffered hellish pain that he might deliver me from the wrath to come. While there is time, he will do that for anyone who turns from sin and treasures him and his work above all.

Prayer, Evangelism, and the Mysteries of God

The third question asked in response to my message on the end of the unbeliever (which is destruction) this past Lord's Day was this: How do I approach prayer for unbelievers (and prayer in general) knowing that everything has been ordained before I even existed?

This too is a question the answers to which are incomplete and shrouded in mystery. And having only a few minutes to post this morning I will have to reply very simply and succinctly. Having just read Jesus' words in Matthew 5:8 in my devotions this morning, let me answer simply with this: The fact that God knows what we pray for before we pray says to me that prayer is fundamentally not so much about what it produces (by way of answers) as it is about what it produces in us (by way of humility, desperation, faith, dependance).

I can only develop this briefly but I believe that prayer is mainly a means of grace to change us, to humble us, to remind us of our need for God, to deepen within us a sense of our utter inadequacy. God calls me to pray not so much that He can get things done through my prayers as so that He can get things done in me through my prayers. Prayer for the lost, prayer for needs, prayer for anything is always helpful if for no other reason than that it reminds me that conversion and provision are God's work and God's gifts. For a sinner like me who tends arrogantly to rely on self, this is a reminder I need multiple times, daily.

There is more to be a gained through prayer, but there is always this: I am forced to think about God's sovereignty and my need for His help. For that reason alone I will keep on praying for the lost, for the sick, for the hurting, for the lonely, and for today's bread.

Sorry I can't add more at the moment, but the heart and encouragement needs of a son bid me come.

Is God Loving and Good even with Hell in View?

As I posted yesterday, in response to my message on Sunday from Philippians 3:19, 20 in which I called upon the church to have a heart for all those "many whose end is destruction" I received three questions via email; questions which were preceded by a tender expression of gratitude for the message and concern for the lost.

I answered one question yesterday; now question two: "What do I do when doubt/unbelief springs forth, regarding God's inherent love and goodness?"

Does the reality of hell and the fact that many exist whose end is destruction call into question the love and goodness of God? Let's face it; that's a question we've all had at least at times. And when it comes to us it comes, not as a matter of casual curiosity, but as a burdensome grief and frightening doubt.

How can a loving God damn sinners? And why does it seem that so many of my best efforts to rescue sinners from hell fail so badly? Doesn't God care? Doesn't He see? Can't He do something? And if He can, why doesn't He?

First let me say that no blog post can suffice to answer this question. The answers are too deep, too wrapped up in mystery, too shrouded in the secret wonders of God's being to be revealed adequately in any blog (or anywhere else for that matter). But that said, let me offer a few thoughts as they come to me:
1. God does love sinners very much. He loves some sinners savingly and eternally--choosing them from before time, redeeming them in Christ, and regenerating, justifying, and adopting them through grace. If you have come to Christ and have escaped hell, it means that God loves you, a sinner, very, very much indeed.
2. God has a love of compassion for all sinners. As Ezekiel proclaims, He "takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked." He weeps over Jerusalem. He grieves over the sinners in hell. God is not a sadist.
3. God loves Himself and His own glory more than anything. I know this sounds strange to the modern ear, but it really is very reasonable, even essential; it couldn't be any other way.

Let me just put it like this: What is it when someone loves and worships anyone more than God? Idolatry. Only God is deserving of supreme love. If we give that love to anyone else we've worshiped another god; we've committed the sin of idolatry.

So what would God be guilty of if He loved someone else more than himself? Idolatry. It is wrong worship if we love anyone more than God; it would be no less so if God did.

The fact is that the Bible says over and over that God does all that He does for his own glory, honor, and eternal joy. And those who love God are delighted with this fact. They are never happier than when God is glorified for all He is worth! When God gets glory, those whom God loves very much get joy! Now this truth that God loves himself and His own glory leads us to another truth...

4. God sometimes gets glory out of events that do not give Him joy. I need only remind you of the cross. God took no personal sadistic pleasure in the death of His Son, but in the brutality of Calvary God willed an event that simultaneously He grieved, that He might accomplish an end He designed: His own glory through the eternal salvation of those He loves to be with Him and to enjoy Him forever.

5. In a similar way God has resolved that some exist whose end is destruction (an end He grieves) because in ways we cannot fully grasp, it will rebound to His glory and to our joy in his glory.

Somehow God will get glory through the destiny of the wicked. I know that this is hard truth, but friends: it is truth. And in the end it is truth--even hard truth--that sets us free; free from sorrow, free from confusion, free from doubts, free from despair.

Friends, I do not mean to answer a deep grieving question of the heart with theological abstractions, and I'm really not. These--at least for me--are the truths that glue my world and life view together. God is up to things mysterious and deep and shrouded in wonder.

His ways and thoughts are higher than mine--higher than the heavens are above the earth. I cannot fathom His mind or comprehend His plans. I cannot trace His footsteps in the sands of time for they lead to places and plans I simply have no category for. I only know that He is God, that He is love, that He is committed to doing all that is right and all that will result in His highest praise and our highest pleasure in that praise.

Somehow, even the death of the wicked and their end that is destruction, is a part of that wonder and praise. Beyond that I cannot go. Instead, with Job I have learned to place my hand over my mouth and be silent in humble trust. Just like when I tell my kids and grand-kids to trust me in what they cannot understand, God does the same.

As the hymn puts it: "whatever my God ordains is right."

The Judge of all the earth will do both what is just, and what is good. O that we all may rest in this; may we rest in Him.

How to Weep for the Lost without Losing Your joy

In response to my message on Sunday from Philippians 3:19, 20 in which I called upon the church to have a heart for all those "many whose end is destruction" I received the following three questions via email; questions which were preceded by a tender expression of gratitude for the message and concern for the lost. I think I will take three days to answer them as best I can.

Question 1: How do I properly weep/pray/FEEL for unbelievers without it turning into a prolonged period of joylessness, depression, or despair?
Question 2: What do I do when doubt/unbelief springs forth, regarding God's inherent love and goodness?
Question 3: How do I approach prayer for unbelievers (and prayer in general) knowing that everything has been ordained before I even existed?


Question 1: How do I properly weep/pray/FEEL for unbelievers without it turning into a prolonged period of joylessness, depression, or despair?

Answer 1: First we must get to the place where we do properly weep for the lost. Few of us do and we need to or we will never lay down our lives for them.

Answer 2: There is a sense in which prolonged, indeed ceaseless grief for the lost is in fact what we need to seek from God (see Romans 9:1-3). As there are always those whose end is destruction and as they are falling into a Christless eternity at the rate of hundreds per hour, how can we not be constantly crying?

Answer 3: Paul knew what it was like to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10). This means that while he wept over the lost and over the griefs of a sin-cursed and sorrow-filled world, he was able to experience simultaneous and surpassing joy in the Lord.

I'm guessing that he did this in the following ways:

1. He trusted absolutely in the sovereignty of God over all things, and the justice of God in all things. Nothing happens (including the end of the wicked) apart from God's plan, and nothing happens in that plan that is anything but perfectly and wholely just. As with Abraham near Sodom we may know that "the Judge of all the earth will do right."
2. Paul knew that in God's amazing love and compassion many, many, many will be saved through our prayers and witness--even many of whom we will not know until we get to heaven. He believed in the "power of the gospel which saves people" (Romans 1:16).
3. Paul believed in an unstoppable gospel, the Word of God that can not be restrained (2 Timothy 2:9). As Isaiah 55:10, 11 make clear God's Word of grace and truth will accomplish all His good and gracious purposes in human lives. This is joy!
4. Paul took note of (and we must too) the actual conversions going on in the world: dozens in our church alone in the past 2-3 years, and according to some reports many tens of thousands every day around the world!
5. I mentioned in passing on Sunday this thought too: there are those who argue that when you take all the biblical promises of revival, of national salvation (at least Israel, Egypt, and Assyria), of the gospel reaching every people group and tribe, and of multitudes which none can number--in the end the saved may well outnumber the unsaved by far. I'm not sure about this, but what I am sure of is that the numbers are going to be staggering which means that the gospel is gloriously powerful and effective, that our prayers and witness are awesomely effective and useful to God, and that we are a part of something that is astonishingly wonderful.

All these truths can not just off-set the tears we shed for the individuals lost, but can give us hope and joy for the many who will be found.

Remember--even Jesus wept over Jerusalem even though everything was going according to plan. Let us weep and weep and weep and weep--but then rejoice and hope and glory and boast and be bold in the gospel. God and His gospel grace and glory will win--and more than we will ever be able to count will live to sing about it!

Amen.

A Day of Review

Well I'm back after several days in which I could not blog and others very ably filled in for me. Life is full and as I sit here early Tuesday morning I'm aware that several good blogs have been posted about which I've not commented at all. So I think I will take this post to thank these guys, and to post about what I've read from you guys:
1) Bruce has called us to both a life of vigilance and a life of prayer. The constant danger that our souls are in in this fallen world requires that our souls be in constant prayer and communion with God.

The world will devour us if we are not consumed with God. Hunger for God or you will be stuffed with the trivial and the terrible of this world. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. We simply cannot be guarded enough, for let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. Thank you Bruce; such counsel never, ever, ever grows dated.

2) Peter has called us to a life of earnest witness--citing C.T. Studd in urging us to set up a rescue shop one yard away from hell if need be. Friends, people--image-bearers of the eternal God--are perishing right next door to our lives and we hardly raise a sound of concern. I believe that to have hearts like our Lord's that weep over our Jerusalems today, we need to think more often and more deeply about hell; we have to pray for hearts made tender and grieving; we have to care nothing for self, and about nothing but God's glory and sinners' good.

3) Tim B. has invited husbands winsomely to be instruments of beautifying grace in their wives' lives by being men of character and grace and humility and love. O to be such a man for my bride of 31 years. I want to be a better man and a better husband everyday, that she might become a better and more beautiful wife every day. i agree with Tim fully that my wife's beauty of soul, and even of body is largely the fruit of whether her husband helps her maintain and deepen it by the quality of his life and care.

Guys thank you for the timely and needed words
It sure is good to be partners with others who share a passion for what is good.
We're all debtors, and the better for it.

Rescue Shops or Daisy Chains?

Pastor Tim preached yesterday about the lost, about damnation, and about the destiny of those who go into eternity without Jesus Christ. And he spoke about the danger of apathy in the face of this terrible situation. People, dying every day without embracing the gospel. Their fate? There's no getting around it... their future is, quite literally, hell. Total darkness, complete aloneness, and eternal separation from God.

During the sermon two figures from the past came to mind. Amy Carmichael and C.T. Studd. Both of these saints were immersed in the work of saving the lost. Both were also keenly aware of a certain lack of vision and failure of compassion on the part of the larger church.

C.T. Studd gave up a large inheritance on which he might have lived quite comfortably in England, and worked tirelessly among the lost in various parts of the world. He made other sacrifices that most mission boards today would consider far too extreme.

C.T. Studd wrote:

Some want to live
within the sound
of church or chapel bell;
I want to run
a rescue shop
within a yard of hell.

Amy Carmichael , who worked in India, relates a frightening vision she once had. In her dream all kinds of people were blindly walking toward a terrible precipice leading to a great bottomless gulf. There were a few sentinels at wide intervals desperately trying to stop the thronging masses headed toward the abyss. However, there were not nearly enough guards to keep the thousands from perishing as they steadily, and blindly moved toward the chasm.

In her vision there was also a group of folks, sitting rather peacefully within the sound of the shrill cries of those falling over the cliff. They were quietly making daisy chains together. Periodically they would become upset by the rather unpleasant shrieks they were hearing, but they went on making daisy chains. Read the vision of Amy Carmichael as she tells it here.

Brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, we must examine our hearts and trust the Spirit of God to show us whatever He will concerning our view of reality.

Take a Prayer Walk

Some helpful practical guidance from Donald Whitney to assist us in prayer (and most of us need all the assistance we can get):

One of the most common struggles in the practice of spirituality is maintaining mental focus in prayer. When I try to pray, I often find myself thinking about my to-do list or daydreaming instead of talking to God. But walking as I pray—either in a large place indoors (such as a church building), or more frequently, outdoors—usually keeps my mind from wandering as easily. In addition, I typically bring a small Bible to prompt my prayer periodically during the walk.

The walking and the weather invigorate my sluggish soul. Looking up into the blue or out to the horizon refreshes my sense of the greatness of God. The sights, smells, and sounds of my Father’s world surround me with reminders of His presence. The cadence of my pace, or occasionally stopping to stare into the distance, often enables me to concentrate in prayer more easily than when I’m still and my eyes are closed.

Abraham’s son, Isaac, is an example from Scripture of walking while thinking on the things of God. Genesis 24:63 reports, “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field.” Four hundred years ago, an English Puritan named Joseph Hall wrote in his influential book, The Art of Divine Meditation, "All our teachers of meditation have commended various positions of the body, according to their own disposition and practice... But of all others, I think that Isaac’s choice was best, who meditated walking."

Perhaps no one in church history is more closely associated with a life of meditative prayer than George Müller. He lived in Bristol, England during the nineteenth century where he founded an orphanage and a literature distribution ministry. Müller recorded more than fifty thousand specific answers to prayer, thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day he prayed. Notice that his normal mode of prayer was a meditative prayer walk:

"I find it very beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast, and... generally take out a New Testament... and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air.

I used to consider the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not only to my body, but also to my soul... For... I speak to my Father... about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word."

Simplify the struggle of staying focused in prayer, and refresh both body and soul with a leisurely walk in conversation with God from His Word" (Simplify Your Spiritual Life, by Donald S. Whitney, NavPress, 2003).

I am also reminded of Jonathan Edwards in this regard, who expressed that he was "often walking alone in the woods, and solitary places, for meditation, soliloquy, and prayer, and converse with God." I have personally found this recommendation to pray while walking to be most helpful in my own experience, particularly while walking in the woods or along the ocean. Perhaps you will too.

Does Your Wife Need a New Husband? (Part 2)

In my experience, men are much more likely than women to have problems with sinful anger. Not only that, but in our flesh we tend to blame our wives for anything and everything that goes wrong in our daily lives. Who could blame our wives for wanting to change that dynamic?

Recently, I ran across some thoughts on anger in the book, The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard. Here’s part of what he has to say:

The answer to (the) question of why people embrace anger and cultivate it is one we must not miss if we are to understand the ways of the human heart. Anger indulged, instead of simply waved off, always has in it an element of self-righteousness and vanity. Find a person who has embraced anger, and you find a person with a wounded ego….

Only this element of self-righteousness can support me as I retain my anger long after the occasion of it or allow its intensity to heat to the point of totally senseless rage. To rage on I must regard myself as mistreated or as engaged in the rectification of an unbearable wrong, which I all too easily do.

Anger embraced is, accordingly, inherently disintegrative of human personality and life. It does not have to be specifically "acted out" to poison the world…. All our mental and emotional resources are marshaled to nurture and tend the anger, and our body throbs with it. Energy is dedicated to keeping the anger alive: we constantly remind ourselves of how wrongly we have been treated. And when it is allowed to govern our actions, of course, its evil is quickly multiplied in heartrending consequences and in the replication of anger and rage in the hearts and bodies of everyone it touches."

Been there? I have, and it breaks my heart to recall how often I inflicted emotional wounds on those I love as a result. I think we men are especially prone to this sin, and would want to encourage anyone reading this that there is both forgiveness and restoration if we surrender to the Spirit of God. If you realize you need help feel free to contact me or any of the pastors or care group leaders.

The part about my wife getting a new husband? Pat and I were walking and talking a while back (probably over a year ago) and reflecting on things we’d been through, including my sinful anger, when she made the comment, “I feel like I have a new husband.” Talk about amazing grace!

Know a woman who needs a new husband?

by Tim Bowditch

Does Your Wife Need a New Husband?

Strange question, you might be thinking. But I need to tell you that mine did. And according to her own observation, she got one. That kind of statement deserves an explanation.

I’m still thinking about our wives’ beauty and our responsibility to enhance it. There’s nothing I can think of that diminishes a woman’s beauty quicker than having to live with an angry husband. You can see the burden in her countenance, at least when the anger has flared up. And you can see it when she is unfairly blamed for everything that goes wrong in his world. After all, we are all sons of our father, Adam, who blamed Eve for his sin--when he wasn’t blaming God, that is!

For years, many years, I struggled with anger that was intermittently uncontrollable. I told myself it wasn’t all that bad, and most who knew me casually would have agreed. But Pat knew better, and even suggested to me at least once or twice that I get professional help, a suggestion I resisted. I could do this on my own.

I tried different things to gain mastery over the anger, including making a list of all the verses I could find in Proverbs about angry men (an exercise that I’d recommend to anyone who could use some insight in this area), and taking it to my office where I’d read it at least daily. There was some improvement over time, but the most important single factor for me did turn out to be professional help--the help of studying my anger under the guidance of David Powlison at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. The context was a self-counseling project that was done in connection with the foundational course in CCEF’s two year certificate program in Biblical Counseling.

To say the project was helpful would be a huge understatement. One of the most helpful insights was that all my anger (and all yours, too, if you think biblically about it) was and is directed at God. For who is the one Being in all creation big enough to have ordered the details of my life differently--more to my liking? Once I was confronted by that, real progress became not only possible, but necessary. Ultimately it led to my sharing the story in a message I gave at TFC several years ago, and that in itself was a significant part of the process.

More in the next post, including the explanation of my wife’s new husband.

by Tim Bowditch

Prayer = Helplessness

The truth is I am always in a helpless position before God. The problem is, I don't always seem to realize it. I frequently forget, or act like I forget, that I am always in a position of desperate need of God and His enabling for anything I do--indeed for life and breath and everything. Because I am so helpless, prayer is so critical. Prayer is the means by which a helpless sinner reaches out in dependence upon the all sufficient God. I have recently been reading about prayer in an excellent, very practical new book titled, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, by Paul E. Miller. Here is a brief excerpt--I offer it as an encouragement that it may serve to help us (myself, first of all) pursue helplessness before God, and from that posture of helplessness pursue in prayer the One who is our sufficiency, our all:

Throughout the book of John we see people coming to Jesus because of their helplessness. The Samaritan woman has no water (see John 4). Later in that same chapter, the official's son has no health. The crippled man by the pool of Bethesda has no help to get into the water (see John 5). The crowd has no bread (see John 6). The blind man has no sight (see John 9). And finally, Lazarus has no life (see John 11).

We received Jesus because we were weak, and that's how we follow him. Paul told the Colossians, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him" (2:6). We forget that helplessness is how the Christian life works.

Paul was reminded of this when he prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. It didn't happen. Instead, God reminded Paul of how the gospel works. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The gospel, God's free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don't have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to--our helplessness--is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless. We can't do life on our own.

Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers (pg. 55).

A Man of God

This past Sunday TFC celebrated the ordination of one of our men into pastoral ministry. We did this as a church that is self-consciously and intentionally committed to the historic doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. We believe that the Os Guiness answer to the question, "Who are the called?" is the right one: "Everyone. Everywhere. In everything." Every believer is called to a sacred role in the kingdom of God no matter who they are, where they are, or what they are doing.

In addition, every believer has direct access to God in prayer and confession and praise, needing no human priest to mediate between him or her and God. With Jesus as our high Priest, we need no other priest at all. Or more precisely, we all become priests who can go directly into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God.

That said, there really are those men whom God calls to be a "man of God." These are those whose calling is to be set apart for the ministry of the Word and prayer. They really are ministers of the New Covenant, heralds of the gospel, leaders and rulers in the Church. They are men who are qualified by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and enabled by the gifting work of the Spirit to shepherd the flock of God over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. They are equippers of the saints, and defenders of the flock.

They are men of God who have a divine call on their lives to lay down their lives for the sheep entrusted to them.

Friends, pray for your pastors. Pray for their faithfulness and fruitfulness. Pray for their souls and families. Pray for their biblical fidelity and courage of speech. Pray for their joy and perseverance. Pray for them often that their labors would be blessed and their lives would be blameless.

And pray that with such a harvest ready to be brought in, God might send forth many more such men to gather in the fruit for the glory of His Name.

For the sake of this church I am grateful beyond words for the men of God we have: Tim, and Steve, and now Scott. I'm also thankful that more are making ready for this needed and noble work.

What a gift to the church!

How to Make Your Wife Beautiful!

Since preaching on beauty of the Lord several weeks ago, a question has rattled around in my mind. It has to do with my role as a husband, and I’d like to pose it to readers of this blog. How do I work to beautify my wife?

I’m not thinking primarily in terms of external beauty here, although my efforts might well have an effect there. Rather, how do I help her to cultivate the inner beauty, what Peter refers to as “the hidden person of the heart--the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4)? After all, if I am to love in the way Christ loves the Church, would that not seem reasonable?

Recall that Paul says in Ephesians 5:25-27 that “Christ loved the church--that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (emphasis added) Splendor, holy, without blemish--sounds to me like any beauty the Church has is a result of the work of her Savior, and my love is to somehow approximate his, with a similar result.

So think with me about a few related questions:
1. How am I using the Word to cultivate that inner beauty? Am I encouraging her to read Scripture? Am I sharing with her insights the Lord has given me in my own reading? Are we reading together whenever possible? (The reading schedule developed for care groups is a natural place to start, if you aren’t already in the habit of doing this.)

2. Am I working to understand what makes her tick? This is connected, I believe, to Peter’s exhortation, “live with your wives in an understanding way” (1 Peter 3:7). Do I know what brings her heart alive? Do I pray for her heart? Am I looking for opportunities to provide her with quiet time, when she can be alone with the Lover of her soul? (This will be much more of a challenge for husbands whose wives have young children, and I wish I’d done more to provide this for my wife when ours were still young.)

3. Am I aware of her physical needs, such as rest, or relief from chronic pain for example? Or do I assume she functions the same as I do, which is not necessarily a safe assumption? (One suggestion here: ask your wife what household tasks are most demanding, and offer to help ease that load.)

4. Do I engage her in conversations that minister to her soul? Or do we rarely talk about anything other than the kids, or my/our job(s)? (Pat and I love to dream about vacations—we love going away together. But recently we have tried to talk as frequently about how we might make a greater, more significant investment in the Kingdom. There are many ways to deepen your conversations, but it will never happen unless you begin somewhere.)

5. Do I regularly express my love for her? And do I do it in a way that she knows I recognize and appreciate her inner beauty? Is she convinced that I find her captivating? (I have a “term of endearment” for Pat that works in this way… but you’ll have to think of your own!)

This could go on, but I think you get the point. As husbands, we need to make it our business to take responsibility for the beauty of our wives. It’s a “no lose” proposition!

by Tim Bowditch

You Live in a World Where Your Soul is in Constant Danger

Last week I shared with the folks in the TruthWalk class a quote from J.C. Ryle that hopefully served as a helpful exhortation to us regarding the practical importance of the Bible in our living of the Christian life. In fact, the phraseology "practical importance" may be too mild. Perhaps, something like "vitally needed for our very spiritual lives" might be more like it. At any rate, for those who read this blog but were not present in the class, I thought it good to pass this quote on to you. And if you were present, it will do you good to hear it again (and again, and again), as we always need to be reminded afresh of the things we need to know (2 Peter 1:12-14).

You live in a world where your soul is in constant danger. Enemies are round you on every side. Your own heart is deceitful. Bad examples are numerous. Satan is always laboring to lead you astray. Above all, false doctrine and false teachers of every kind abound. This is your great danger.

To be safe you must be well armed. You must provide yourself with the weapons which God has given you for your help. You must store your mind with Holy Scripture. This is to be well armed.

Arm yourself with a thorough knowledge of the written Word of God. Read your Bible regularly. Become familiar with your Bible.... Neglect your Bible and nothing that I know of can prevent you from error if a plausible advocate of false teaching shall happen to meet you. Make it a rule to believe nothing except it can be proved from Scripture. The Bible alone is infallible.... Do you really use your Bible as much as you ought?

There are many today, who believe the Bible, yet read it very little. Does your conscience tell you that you are one of these persons?

If so, you are the man that is likely to get little help from the Bible in time of need. Trial is a sifting experience.... Your store of Bible consolations may one day run very low.

If so, you are the man that is unlikely to become established in the truth. I shall not be surprised to hear that you are troubled with doubts and questions about assurance, grace, faith, perseverance, etc. The devil is an old and cunning enemy. He can quote Scripture readily enough when he pleases. Now you are not sufficiently ready with your weapons to fight a good fight with him.... Your sword is held loosely in your hand.

If so, you are the man that is likely to make mistakes in life. I shall not wonder if I am told that you have problems in your marriage, problems with your children, problems about the conduct of your family and about the company you keep. The world you steer through is full of rocks, shoals, and sandbanks. You are not sufficiently familiar either with lighthouses or charts.

If so, you are the man who is likely to be carried away by some false teacher for a time. It will not surprise me if I hear that one of these clever eloquent men who can make a convincing presentation is leading you into error. You are in need of ballast (truth); no wonder if you are tossed to and fro like a cork on the waves.

All these are uncomfortable situations. I want you to escape them all. Take the advice I offer you today. Do not merely read your Bible a little--read it a great deal.... Remember your many enemies. Be armed! (J.C. Ryle, from The Most Important 18 Words You Will Ever Know, by J.I. Packer, Christian Focus, 2007, pgs. 40-41)

When Nothing But Prayer Will Work

In yesterday's RMMR reading, we found ourselves hearing Jesus say: "This kind cannot be driven out but by prayer" (Mark 9:29). Some aspects of spiritual warfare can only be won with prayer.

There are certain challenges, certain spiritual impediments (in this case demonic possession), and certain spiritual battles, in which the enemy can only be defeated, the sin can only be vanquished, the habit can only be broken, the demon can only be exorcised by real and prevailing prayer.

From the context of Jesus' life as recorded by Mark and the other gospel writers, it is clear that Jesus does not have in mind here simple, quick, or easy prayers on the run. He means prayer like the prayer He prayed. Look at texts like Mark 1:35; 6:46; and 14:32-42 to see what I mean. When Jesus prayed He prayed.

This is not to say that quick spontaneous prayers of gratitude or need are not real prayers; it's just to say--and this is Jesus' point in Mark 9:29--that there is a different kind of prayer needed for some kinds of needs. There are really hard, really tough, really entrenched, really supernaturally evil spiritual foes that we will confront at times that can only be faced when first we have drawn near to God in earnest, prolonged, fervent, focused, prevailing prayer. It is this that explains why some translations have added the phrase "with fasting" to Jesus' call to prayer. The early copiests of the texts were in tune with the fact that Jesus was talking about prolonged and sustained prayer. This isn't prayer lite; this is prayer with power.

When I ponder this, one question that comes to mind is this: what are the types of spiritual battles that can only be won through this kind of prayer? When is prayer the only thing that will work?

Can I suggest a few answers based on 27 years of pastoral warfare side-by-side with my fellow soldiers in the cause of Christ? This kind of prayer is needed:

1. When there is or may be demonic activity involved; when the struggles of a person's life seems beyond the norm, beyond the run-of-the-mill, garden variety spiritual problem. When it seems that the battle is born in hell, the prayer must increase.
2. When there is physical and spiritual addiction to drugs or porn or food involved. These bondgaes usually do not get broken without profound prevailing prayer.
3. When children are deceived by their flesh and the world to go prodigal on us and God. This blindness can be so darkening and senseless that only prayer can cause the light to shine.
4. When there is chronic long-term disease or malady or handicap being faced. These afflictions have a cumulative affect on people and their families that can eventually debilitate them if not countered and conquered through much prayer.
5. When there are long-standing habits, traditions, preferences, and opinions that are entrenched so deeply in people's mindsets and lifestyles that they have become to them as inflexible law and/or hopelessly enslaving bondage.

Just a few thoughts about battles and needs in which only prayer will work.

Can I suggest by way of application that you think through a few such needs in your life or in the lives of those you love, and then commit some prolonged seasons of prayer to wrestle with God until He gives the victory?

Voiding God's Commands

If you've been keeping up with TFC's RMMR care group devotional approach you'll be reading Mark 7-8 today. That means you'll be reading Jesus' rebukes of the Pharisees; spiritual leaders of His day who tended to get it way wrong.

For example, as I was reading, I was struck by Mark 7:1-13, and the seemingly incurable tendency Pharisaic humans have to void God's Law by creating their own traditions. Legalism takes many forms; one is that it creates religious laws that God simply does not authorize, and then clings to those laws in such a way that they supplant God's Law in our lives.

Christian history is full of examples of this. We think of those early Christians who decided that sex and pleasure were bad, so in their zeal for what they thought pure, they denounced God's created ordinance of marriage and sexual joy in it. Or we think of those who denounce all (even moderate) drinking of alcoholic beverages as evil (because they supposedly damage the body) but then overeat or fail to exercise (which really do damage the body). Or we think of those who forbid all "worldly entertainment" as evil, but then entertain gossip and slander and complaining as a regular form of pleasure in their lives.

Or we think of those who ignore or forbid spiritual gifts (out of fear of their excesses) but then fail to earnestly desire those gifts (as God commands!). Or we think of those who criticize those who do not dress up for worship (according to their definition of dressing up) which God nowhere commands, but then do not shout and sing out and clap and kneel and leap and celebrate in worship (as God does command).

Traditions and preferences almost always will blind you to actual Laws of God. It's the way the Deceiver works. He tempts us to create laws that God does not endorse for certain areas of life to avoid seeing and obeying His laws (that He does endorse) for those same areas of life.

A safe and necessary rule to set us free from legalism and from becoming self-righteous critics of those who don't measure up to our standards is this: never accept as law or develop into a conviction any tradition or opinion that does not have clear and explicit support from God's Word. Never. If we cannot find clear and unmistakable biblical grounds for our opinions, then we must reject those opinions. Period.

Consciously check all traditions and styles and "ways we've always done things" by the simple question: Is this God's command or simply my tradition or preference?

If it is not God's command then either get rid of the tradition or relegate it to such a place of conscious indifference that it cannot ever again assume anything like authority status in your life (or in anyone else's).

Decide to go to war with your traditions and preferences to demote them to at least a place of indifference, if not a place of repudiation. I have found that repudiation is the best option; it keeps me hanging on loosely to all those things I think wise or good or best--and keeps me searching hard for all those things which God really cares about.

Let us hear the words of our Lord.

A Curse for Us

Earlier today as I was reading the Word I came again to that most astonishing text which is Galatians 3:10-14. It seems to me that, despite the protestations of many to the contrary, the meaning of the text is plain, and is able to be summed up as follows:
1. Those who disobey any part of God's Law are law-breakers.
2. Every law-breaker is subject to a penalty, a curse from God. Those who violate God's Law in any way at all are subject to its damning judgment (i.e.-they are declared guilty and worthy of severe penalty and punishment, being placed under the condemnation of God's wrath and subject to the very opposite of His blessing).
3. There they (we) all remain helpless in themselves (ourselves) to do anything to avoid the curse, because even if from this moment on we were to fully keep God's Law, we can never undo the fact that we have already been Law-breakers. We can do nothing to get out from under the curse of God.
4. There is One Who has been born of woman and under the Law (Galatians 4:4, 5) who has by virtue of His death become a curse (i.e.-became accursed) for us, bearing in His own Person and body on the cross the full curse and wrath due to our sin, that the curse may be lifted from us.
5. Now in the place of God's cursing we receive God's blessing (Galatians 3:14).
6. This means that Christ was cursed that we might be blessed. He got what we deserved that we might receive what He deserved.

This text is simple profound stunning gospel. It is essential Christianity. It is the single message that gets as close to the heart of what our faith is about as any text anywhere. Take away the truth of the substitutionary atoning death of Christ, and you take away the gospel; you take away everything.

Nowadays there are many who are attacking this truth as if it were an antiquated quaint embarrassing relic from primitive times. The attacks are sometimes subtle (like with those who for church growth purposes tell us to remove references to sin and blood and the like, or like those who say that the gospel is not so much about personal salvation and forgiveness of sins as it is about being a part of the kingdom of God); they are sometimes brazen (like those who simply say that such talk of atonement and cursing and substitutionary death are offensive carry-overs from primitive superstitious days).

Let me say this: if the death of Jesus was not to take away sin through blood atonement and curse-bearing sacrifice, then what in the world was it for? Don't tell me that it was to be a model of love. Don't tell me that it was to be a model of humility. Don't tell me that it was to show how willing people should be to suffer. That is unadulterated nonsense.

Christ Jesus died in my place for my sins to remove the curse hanging over my head. He was damned on the cross that I would not have to be damned forever. He was forsaken of God under a curse so severe and real that it was sufficient to guarantee that I would never be forsaken of God under any curse at all.

Here I stand; where else can I stand? Take this away and we have no hope, no faith, and nothing else to say. Embrace it and you have every reason to rejoice, break forth and shout aloud for joy (Galatians 4:27).

Desiring Nothing?

I was struck yesterday by a story in the John Eldredge book, Journey of Desire. The author describes a counseling experience, and a client with a serious problem.

Initially Gary and Jill had come to me because their marriage had become merely functional. No major issues-- no one was throwing dishes, neither was having an affair. As I realized later, that would have been better, at least a sign of life. Their marriage had all the passion of yesterday's oatmeal. Jill was the one who called because she was afraid that she was losing Gary, that they were "drifting apart." It didn't take long to see why. Gary had checked out. He was still going to work, paying the bills, and cutting the grass, but that was it. There was no emotion, no investment, no reaction to anything. The more vital parts of him were shut down.

I asked if he and I might spend some time just talking about his life. As the weeks rolled by, I learned that he had been a faithful church attender, never missing a Sunday. He served on a committee and offered help to those in need. But obviously, something was missing.

After months of getting nowhere, I asked the obvious: "Gary, why are you a Christian?" He sat in silence for what must have been five minutes. "I don't know. I guess because it's the right thing to do." "Is there anything you're hoping to enjoy as a result of your faith?" "No... not really." "So what is it that you want Gary?" An even longer silence. I waited patiently. "I don't desire anything." Our sessions ended shortly after and I felt bad that I was unable to help him. You cannot help someone who doesn't want a thing. (John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, Nelson, 2000)

Brothers and sisters, desire is terribly important. If any of us can relate even a little to Gary, let us earnestly seek the Lord, before it is too late. Let us ask him to kindle a flame, or at least a small spark that we can work with him to fan into a flame of desire. We must not "check out." We must never stop believing that life is a gift-- an adventure with God and with those we live with and love.

Oh God, put desire deep within us... desire for life, for love, and above all, desire for you...

If The Foundations Are Destroyed, What Can The Righteous Do?

My mind and heart has been especially focused on the Bible in recent months. As has been the case from at least that day in Eden when the tempter made his assault on God's word in the form of a question--"Did God actually say.......?" (Gen. 3:2), the word of God, ultimately coming to written form in Holy Scripture, has been under attack. In one way or another, whether by attempts to physically destroy it, or to undermine its truthfulness and authority, the attacks have come, and they will continue to come until Christ returns. This is not surprising coming from a world that is in rebellion against God, a world that suppresses the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). However, as I scan the "evangelical" landscape, one of the most distressing things that I seem to increasingly observe are signs of accommodating to the spirit of the age (and "the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience" - Eph. 3:1, the one whose insidious question has continued to echo and wreak its havoc over the millennia) concerning how we view Scripture in terms of its inspiration and authority. This battle was fought and largely won within the evangelical church a generation ago in the 1970's. At that time leaders representing a broad spectrum of the evangelical church came together in the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and issued its clarion call and confession regarding the Bible in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. I am old enough to remember those days well. But here we are in just a relative short period of time seeing indications on the horizon of the erosion of a high view of the Bible in evangelicalism possibly becoming evident once again.

And so, I am especially appreciative of the following thoughts expressed by Francis Schaeffer, who stood faithful in his day for the truth of God's word. They remind us of the foundational importance of the Bible, and exhort us to be faithful to its view, and Christ's view, of its inspiration and authority, and to the watershed importance of this to all of life. And they encourage us to be faithful in our day.

Martin Luther said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." In our day that point is the question of Scripture. Holding to a strong view of Scripture or not holding to it is the watershed of the evangelical world.

We must say most lovingly but clearly: evangelicalism is not consistently evangelical unless there is a line drawn between those who take a full view of Scripture and those who do not.... There are two reasons in our day for holding a strong, uncompromising view of Scripture. First, and foremost, this is the only way to be faithful to what the Bible teaches about itself and what Christ teaches about Scripture. This should be reason enough in itself. But today there is a second reason why we should hold a strong uncompromising view of Scripture. There may be hard days ahead of us--for ourselves and for our spiritual and our physical children. And without a strong view of Scripture as a foundation, we will not be ready for the hard days to come.

Christianity is no longer providing the consensus for our society. And Christianity is no longer providing the consensus upon which our law is based. We are in a time when humanism is coming to its natural conclusions in morals, in values, and in law. All that society has today are relative values based upon statistical averages.

Soft days for evangelical Christians are past, and only a strong view of Scripture is sufficient to withstand the pressure of an all-pervasive culture built upon relativistic thinking. We must remember that it was a strong view of the absolutes which the infinite-personal God had given in the Old Testament, the revelation in Christ, and the then growing New Testament which enabled the early Church to withstand the pressure of the Roman Empire.

But evangelicalism today, although growing in numbers as far as the name is concerned, throughout the world and the United States, is not unitedly standing for a strong view of Scripture.... We are back in the days of a scholar like J. Gresham Machen, who pointed out that the foundation upon which Christianity rests was being destroyed. What is that foundation? It is that the infinite-personal God who exists has not been silent, but has spoken propositional truth in all that the Bible teaches--including what it teaches concerning history, concerning the cosmos and in moral absolutes as well as what it teaches concerning religious subjects.

What is the use of evangelicalism seeming to get larger and larger if significant numbers of those under the name of evangelical no longer hold to that which makes evangelicalism evangelical? If this continues, we are not faithful to what the Bible claims for itself and we are not faithful to what Jesus Christ claims for the Scriptures. But also--let us not ever forget--if this continues, we and our children will not be ready for difficult days ahead.

Furthermore, if we acquiesce we will no longer be the redeeming salt for our culture--a culture which is committed to the concept that both morals and laws are only a matter of cultural orientation, of statistical averages. That is the hallmark--the mark of our age. And if we are marked with the same mark, how can we be the redeeming salt to this broken, fragmented generation in which we live? (The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume Two, A Christian View of the Bible as Truth, Crossway Books, 1982)

Blessings We've Received from God through Sovereign Grace Ministries

One of the chief blessings our church has received through our relationship with Sovereign Grace Ministries has been a new ability to see the centrality of the gospel for all of life. This is not a cliche for us; it's life-blood for our souls.

The only thing worth declaring and the only boast worth having is the gospel of Christ's atoning death on the cross (1 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 6:14). This is the "thing of first importance" (the "main thing" as one of our SGM friends and leaders, C.J. Mahaney, would put it) by which, it should be noted, we not only were saved, but we "are being saved" (1 Corinthians 15:1-3).

The cross is not simply what delivers us from hell; in a very real sense, it is what delivers us from everything. We cannot face any need or crisis or temptation or sin without a fresh look at the cross and its implications for our lives. At TFC we have always believed, preached, and lived the gospel. But in recent times we have seen its glorious relevance for all of life. We are those who are redeemed, ransomed, delivered, empowered and secured by the atoning and wrath-averting death of Christ.

Because God was willing to deliver Christ up for us all we are sure that God will freely give us all things we need for life and godliness (Romans 8:32). Perhaps a few words from and cited by C.J. in his widely read and delightful book, Living the Cross Centered Life, will crystalize this for us today:

"We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross" (from David Prior).

For this reason we should:
1. Preach the gospel to ourselves everyday.
2. Memorize the gospel through gospel texts.
3. Pray the gospel.
4. Sing the gospel.
5. Review how the gospel has changed our lives.
6. Study the great doctrines of the gospel.

Because of the gospel of Christ's atoning death and triumphant resurrection we should "expend all our energies admiring, exploring, expositing,and extolling Jesus Christ" (from Sinclair Ferguson).

If people attending our church think they sense a fullness of joy and a deep appreciation for grace, it is because we have become increasingly cross centered. I believe that Trinity Fellowship Church has become more humble, more holy, and simply put, more happy, precisely because it has become more radically and pervasively a community of the Cross.

And for this emphasis we are indebted to God's grace channeled to us through Sovereign Grace Ministries. For this I, for one, am thankful.

Our Sovereign Grace Ministries Story (2)

Today I continue some thoughts I began yesterday re TFC's relationship with Sovereign Grace Ministries and the joys it has produced. I continue this boast confident of a couple of things. First, boasting in others is a very biblical thing to do (as Paul models for us time and again in the NT).

Second, I can boast in God's grace to us through SGM without any hesitation because in my estimation it has nothing to do with me except this: my church and I have been on the receiving end of grace in this relationship a whole lot more than the giving end. In boasting about the family of churches of which we are a part, I am not boasting about ourselves for this simple reason: pretty much all we've done is receive!

And third, I boast in others really so I can glory in God who in His astonishing mercy gives others to us for our good and His praise! If any good is to be found in SGM it is due to the amazing grace of God, and so in the end to boast in others is to glorify Him. And this I do with all joy!

So with all that in mind, let me continue with some excerpts from some thoughts I shared recently at a SGM pastors event:

Before I mention some specific blessings TFC has enjoyed in relationship with Sovereign Grace Ministries, let me say this. I’ve made more decisions during my life than I’d like to recall or admit, in which after the decisions were made, it became abundantly clear that those decisions were mistakes. Time revealed the errors of judgment of which I was guilty. But in the case of adoption into Sovereign Grace, the opposite is true.

Now that I can see with four years worth of hindsight, I can say with deep gratitude that as time has gone on, this is one decision about which I (and the TFC leadership team) have no regrets! I can say without any hesitation and with all thankfulness that we’ve become more sure of, more happy in, and more grateful for, God’s grace in leading us into relationship with Sovereign Grace than we were when the decision was first made. I’ve seldom been surer of the grace-produced rightness of a pastoral decision than I am of this one.

With all that said, when I asked Gayline to help me think of the blessings that being a part of SGM has yielded in our life and ministry, she didn’t take long to shoot off to me a list of no less than 20—yes 20—blessings. I think the process took her about three minutes! That’s the kind of joy impact that this relationship has had in our life. And now I get to share some of them with you...

Tomorrow I'll start sharing some specifics. But can I take a moment now to ask you this question: do you pause regularly to consider how God has blessed you through others, and then intentionally thank God and them for those blessings? When I got to share these thoughts with my SGM friends and leaders I was overwhelmed with joy precisely because I got to share them! I was given a chance to say thank you and to tell the folks that have been a means of God's grace in my life that I was grateful and humbled because of them and that grace.

Have you done that with anyone recently? A parent, a Christian friend, a pastor, a children's ministry worker who is a blessing to one of your children, a care group leader who commits 5-10 hours per week to help care for your soul? May I encourage you to practice the lifestyle of gratitude to others and glory to God that is displayed pervasively in the Bible?

Why not go out of your way to do this today?