The Front Burner

2 Practical Suggestions on Prayer

2011-04-06T09:30:00.007-04:00

1. Pray the Bible. What in the world should you do if your mind wanders when you are praying? One thing is to pray through some verses of Scripture. Robert Murray M'Cheyne once said, "Turn the Bible into prayer. Thus, if you were reading the First Psalm, spread the Bible on the chair before you, and kneel and pray, 'O Lord, give me the blessedness of the man'; 'let me not stand in the counsel of the ungodly.' This is the best way of knowing the meaning of the Bible, and of learning to pray."

2. Pray your mind. Another thing to do if your mind wanders when you are praying is to pray about where your mind is wandering to (I think this counsel is in one of Paul Miller's books). If your mind is wandering to your to-do list for the day, there's probably a reason for this, and it's something you should pray about ("Lord, give me grace to trust you with what you set before me today, and help me not to be selfish about my time or self-sufficient in my heart"). I think the best bet would probably be to put these 2 things together so that our praying is at the same time biblical and honest.

How to Read the Bible

2011-04-01T09:44:00.003-04:00

I think most of us would say that we have some room to grow when it comes to our ability to understand what we read in the Bible. Sure, we understand the essence of the message of the Bible, and we can grasp certain things with confidence from any chunk of Scripture we happen to be reading. But we are often confused by the text and we find ourselves in need of help. If this describes you, let me highly recommend a resource I came across yesterday posted on Justin Taylor's blog, Between Two Worlds. It's a compilation of the articles found in the back of the ESV Study Bible on how to read the Bible, and they have put them into a nice handy PDF. Check out the original post here where you can download the PDF. Some of the articles include "Reading the Bible Theologically" (by J.I. Packer), "Reading the Bible in Prayer and Communion with God" (by John Piper), and "Reading the Bible for Personal Application" (by David Powlison). These would be great to pass on to a friend as well, or to read together with your spouse or family, or perhaps to work through with a new believer over a series of meetings.

March through Colossians - wrapping up

2011-03-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

Well, if you have been a participant in our march through Colossians this past month, I do hope that it has been fruitful for you. It was somewhat of an experiment, and I can confidently say that it’s something that I’d like to do again soon with another book of the Bible, perhaps this summer. I'm thankful that we all had the opportunity to increase our knowledge of Scripture, and my hope is that it also found its way into your heart and life. I’ll be posting things here and there on this blog, and eventually I'll mention plans for doing another book of the Bible, so stay tuned! If this systematic way of reading Scripture has helped you, let me encourage you to continue in it. I’m a fan of Bible reading plans, rightly used, and I commend your use of them. It takes the guesswork out of your Bible reading and gets you into parts of Scripture you wouldn’t normally be drawn to. For a great post on resources for Bible reading, check out this link (to Justin Taylor’s blog). All 13 of Paul’s epistles (including other books in the New Testament) end on the note of grace (“Grace be with you,” 4:18). Surely this says something about the centrality of grace in Paul’s understanding of our lives as believers. Picture yourself as the apostle Paul, sitting in a room, wrapping up this letter to the church in Colossae. You write the first part of verse 18 (“I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains.”). What will you say next to close out the letter? What final note will you strike? For Paul, the answer was clear and consistent: the grace of almighty God at work in the lives of His people. Grace is what gives us hope and joy, because it is by grace and because of grace that we are able to have fellowship with the living God, through the person and work of Jesus. The whole reason why we are able to know and to fulfill our chief end, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, is because the grace of God is with us. The grace of God is with you right now, and will be with you today. So, let Paul’s final note resound in your whole being today. You have new life in Christ; grace be with you!

March through Colossians - the home stretch

2011-03-28T14:56:00.005-04:00

(having trouble with the editing, sorry this appears as one long, daunting paragraph!) How should we think about these greetings that we find at the end of Colossians? I mean, it’s one thing to try to understand and apply Colossians 1:13: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” It is quite another to try to understand and apply Colossians 4:7a: “Tychicus will tell you all about my activities.” Here are a few thoughts to guide your reading of this last section of Colossians over the last few days of our march. -These greetings, no less than the parts of the letter that are more doctrinal, are the very words of God. Paul wrote them (or, perhaps dictated them to a scribe), but he did so as he was “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21), so that these words have their ultimate origin in God. So even if their value or their applicability is not immediately obvious to us, we have to start here. They are the words of God, for His church. -These greetings remind us of the realness of the Bible. God chose to give us His self-revelation through the agency of a real person. His words did not just drop out of the sky and get collected together like a bunch of fortune cookie messages. Paul, a real person, wrote an ordinary letter (qualify “ordinary” with what I said above) to a real congregation in the city of Colossae. They would have known who Tychicus was, and Onesimus, and Aristarchus, etc. So when you read these personal greetings, think for a bit about the fact that God’s Word addresses real people in real situations with His powerful grace. -Try to picture yourself as a member of this church in Colossae hearing this letter read for the first time. That might help you read these greetings with a little more attention. -We have a kids’ CD we’ve been listening to recently that has a line in it that says, “Your Word’s got nuggets of gold.” That’s true for all the parts of God’s Word, but we should carry that perspective into the way we read these greetings. So dig for gold! Think about what these verses say about the importance of real, personal relationships in the body of Christ. Notice how Paul describes his fellow workers. Meditate on phrases like “encourage your hearts,” “they have been a comfort to me,” and “the beloved physician” (do you love your physician? :) ). Be challenged and stirred up by the example of Epaphras who was “always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” Continue with 4:12-13 tomorrow, then 4:14-18 Wednesday, and then one final reading of the whole book on Thursday. I’ll wrap up our march with a final post on Thursday.

March through Colossians - 4:5-6

2011-03-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of observations of what Paul is saying here that really challenge me:

1. "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders" assumes that we will actually be spending time with "outsiders" (non-Christians).
2. In terms of our interaction with outsiders, "walk," "making the best use of the time," "let your speech be...", and "to answer each person" assumes a whole range of interactions with non-Christians, not just a project-oriented exchange here and there.
3. On speech, the ESV Study Bible connects this "seasoned with salt" metaphor with Jesus saying we should be "the salt of the earth." "When applied to conversation, the metaphor suggests speaking in an interesting, stimulating, and wise way." Sometimes hard for me.
4. "Let your speech always be gracious." Grace is what defines us as believers, and the deeper we go in our appreciation of it and thankfulness to God for it, the more it will flow out of us towards others who need it like we do.

March through Colossians - 4:2-4

2011-03-25T00:00:00.000-04:00

We would all admit that prayer is an area of weakness for us. In these verses Paul urges the Colossians to pray as an expression of their new life in Christ. Listen to what he says about prayer:

-Continue steadfastly in it (in other words, "Don't give up").
-Be watchful in it (kind of like Jesus said to His disciples in the garden, "Watch and pray").
-Do it with thanksgiving ("that outward expression of gratitude to God the Father who has already freed them from a tyranny of darkness, transferred them into a kingdom in which his Son holds sway and given them a share in the inheritance of the saints in light" -O'Brien).
-Pray for the spread of the gospel (which means we pray for something/someone other than ourselves).

4:5-6 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - whole book

2011-03-24T00:00:00.001-04:00

There's a great book I want to recommend to you called Promises Kept: The Message of the New Testament, by Mark Dever. There is one on the Old Testament too. Mark Dever is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church right on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., and the essence of these 2 books came from sermons he preached at his church. The sermons were "overview sermons" where he preached the main content of a Bible book in a single sermon (so, 66 sermons in all). His strategy is fascinating, and behind it lies a desire for God's people to understand (and live in light of) the whole storyline of Scripture. Seeing the forest.

I hope that the opportunities we've had to read the whole book of Colossians in one sitting have helped you to see the forest so that you can better understand the trees.

Here's a great excerpt from Dever's book:

"I cannot remember when I first thought of preaching sermons like this. It may have been when I was discipling a recent Muslim convert and asked him to teach me the book of Hebrews in three meetings (I thought he would learn it better by teaching me). At each meeting, I would read a sentence or two from Hebrews and ask him where the verse fit into the book's argument. I did not so much care if he could tell me chapter and verse references; I was more concerned about whether he understood the overall flow of the book, and how any one idea from the book fit into that flow.

"As we worked through Hebrews this way, I found that an overview was beneficial not just for my friend but also for me as a pastor. When I preach a passage like Ephesians 2, do I approach the chapter in context? That is, am I using chapter 2 in the same way Paul uses chapter 2 within his larger argument as it unfolds in Ephesians?

"The Hebrews overview also got me to thinking about my congregation. I want the members of my church to become so familiar with the books of the Bible that they know how to turn there as easily as they turn to popular Christian books. So when the members of the church struggle with conflict, I will encourage them to read the book on conflict resolution by Ken Sande, but I also want them to have been trained by an overview sermon to immediately ask themselves, 'I wonder what James says about this situation?' When members want to learn about the Christian life, let them read C.S. Lewis and J.I. Packer; but let them also think to read 1 Peter and 1 John! When people struggle with discouragement, by all means read Ed Welch on depression; but also read Revelation! When people worry they are slipping into legalism, I hope they know to reach for Martin Luther or C.J. Mahaney on the cross-centered life; but I also hope they know to reach for Galatians. I am even happy for the congregtation to read Dever on the church, but I would prefer for them to know Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians."

By the way, in his chapter titles he summarizes each Bible book with a word or phrase. The one for Colossians is...(can you guess? What would you say?) "New Life."

So when you feel weighed down and fogged by anything bad, especially your own sin, you could do worse than to take 10 minutes to read the book of Colossians and be refreshed and reoriented by the new life you have in Christ.

March through Colossians - 3:23-4:1

2011-03-23T13:39:00.003-04:00

In this section Paul continues to describe and urge upon the Colossians what their new life in Christ should look like. We stopped at 3:22 yesterday, but 3:22-4:1 really go together as Paul addresses slaves and masters.

The Bible is characterized by both unity and diversity. It is diverse, for example, in the sense that it was written by lots of different people to lots of different people in lots of different places and situations. It is also unified (which is really the dominant characteristic, though we should not lose sight of its diversity), for example, in the sense that behind all the human authors stood/stands the one Divine Author, which gives the 66 books of Scripture a union and cohesion that allows us to appropriately read one part of Scripture in light of other parts of Scripture. Scripture sheds light on Scripture. In the case of this section from Colossians, it is interesting and illuminating to read the parallel section from Ephesians (Ephesians and Colossians are very similar).

"Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven." -Col. 3:22-4:1.

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him." -Eph. 6:5-9.

Verse 23 ("Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men") reminds me of one of Jonathan Edwards' resolutions, which I often recall and (only sometimes) put into practice: "Resolved, to live with all my might while I do live." Whatever you are doing today, whether it's something you had planned to do or something God had planned for you to do instead, do it with all your might, for the Lord.

Read the whole book tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 3:18-22

2011-03-22T00:00:00.001-04:00

Rather than comment on individual verses in this section, I want to remind you of the big-picture message of Colossians by helping you see how this section fits into and relates to the rest of the book.

Could you summarize the message of the book of Colossians in a couple of sentences? What if you were having lunch with a new believer and they said to you, “So, I know you’ve been doing that March through Colossians thing…can you help me understand what the book of Colossians is all about?” How would you respond?

I might say something like the following. Colossians is written to a group of people who had trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation but who were in danger of being led astray from the centrality of Christ by some false teaching in the church. The letter is mainly about the supremacy of Christ over all things, including the false teaching/teachers, and also including the salvation and the new life of believers in Christ. As a letter, it includes things like thanksgivings and prayers, personal greetings and benedictions. It speaks to both who we are in Christ and how we are to live in Christ.

So, how does today’s part of the letter fit into and relate to the rest of the letter? I said that Colossians speaks to both who we are in Christ and how we are to live in Christ. Today’s section mostly contributes to the how we are to live in Christ part. It talks about family and work, basically. It addresses wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters (which is related to but not equal to employees and employers). Paul has already said that God has delivered these believers from the domain of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Now he is telling them what life in that kingdom should look like (as we said for 3:12-17). He is saying, “This is what it looks like to be a wife in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, no longer under the dominion of darkness.” “This is what it looks like to be a husband who walks in a manner worthy of the Lord.” “Kids, this is what it looks like to live as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.”

Part of the point is this: families matter; work matters. How we relate to each other in our families is significant. How we do our work is significant. Both of these spheres of our life should be characterized by the centrality and sufficiency of Christ. And when we lean into the sufficiency of Christ in our families and in our work, what joy and fulfillment we will experience! And we will be fulfilling our chief end: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

3:23-4:1 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 3:12-15 and 3:16-17

2011-03-21T15:09:00.001-04:00

Well, I missed another post yesterday. Sorry about that! It’s easier for me to post something during the week, and I haven’t come up with a good system yet for posting during the weekend at home. Yesterday’s reading (Sunday) was 3:12-15 and today’s is 3:16-17. Those 2 readings really make up one paragraph, so I’ll just comment on both in one post today.

In this part of the letter, Paul addresses the Colossians positively about how they should relate to other people in the body of Christ. So listen up! He is saying to them and to us, “You have died with Christ! You have been raised with Christ! You have put off the old self and have put on the new self which is being renewed! So, put on all these things as you relate to each other.” He assumes that sin will be active and aggressive. He assumes that our relationships with others in the church will be affected by selfishness and anger. He says to bear with one another because he assumes we will need to do just that.

First, I think we should take note of the mercy and wisdom of our God in actually giving us these verses. We should do that for every part of Scripture actually. But what I was thinking about was that God would be merciful towards us not only in delivering us from the domain of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, but also in telling us what life in that kingdom should look like. He made us a part of His family, and He cares about the relationships among the members of His family. He wants us to put off the old way of life in sin (which is still around, by the way) and to put on the new way of life in Christ.

Second, I think one of the most powerful phrases in this paragraph is found at the end of verse 13: “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” It’s so easy to let our eyes just run over the words “as the Lord has forgiven you,” without really taking it in. Take time today to reflect on that. How has the Lord forgiven me? Let your mind wander through Scripture, filling in the answer to that question with gospel truths. If we carry around in us a deep and genuine appreciation for the forgiveness we have in Jesus, we will be inclined to forgive others. Our relationships will be characterized not by coldness and criticism but by the warmth and love that Jesus Himself has shown to us. That’s part of how God wants us to live in His family, for His glory.

3:18-22 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 3:9-11

2011-03-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

You can see again in this section the relationship between the indicative and the imperative that we noticed earlier on. “Do not lie to one another [imperative], seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self [indicative]. As Christians, we have already put off the old self (our life before Christ and our way of life before Christ) and we have already put on the new self (our new life in Christ now). And we are continually being renewed in knowledge after the image of our creator.

The ESV Study Bible note is helpful here: “A qualitative change of identity has already occurred in the lives of believers. It now only remains for them to bring their behavior into line with their new identity.” In this letter God graciously reveals to us our identity in Christ and then unfolds for us what our new life in Him should look like.

3:12-15 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 3:5-8

2011-03-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

Even though we have died with Christ and have been raised with Christ (3:1-4), sin is still present in us because we are not yet in glory (3:4). Every part of us is still stained by sin: thoughts, words, actions, choices, feelings, responses, desires, daydreamings. So how does God intend for us to address this?

Put sin to death. Put it all away. When sin rears its ugly head again, slay it. Slay it through prayer. Slay it through remembering God’s Word, especially what is true of you in Christ (notice Paul’s logic: you have died…now put to death). Slay it by choosing to live in that moment for God and not for yourself. Slay it because you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

3:9-11 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 3:1-4

2011-03-17T00:00:00.003-04:00

What a great paragraph of Scripture this is! Such rich truth and such motivating exhortation. The main thought Paul is conveying to the Colossians is something like, “You have died with Christ and you have been raised with Christ; therefore seek and set your minds on things that are above.”

We could spend a thousand lifetimes exploring the depths of what it means for us to have died with Christ and to have risen with Christ. Or what it means to seek and set our minds on things that are above. But the one thing I want to point out today is the relationship between these 2 elements of the paragraph. Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians is grounded in what he says is true about the Colossians in Christ. This is a clear example of something you find all over Scripture: statements of what is true about believers in Christ always precede statements about how believers should live in Christ. The indicative precedes the imperative (actually, this isn’t always the case in the order of the text itself, but this is always the case logically and theologically; in other words, sometimes a passage will say “Do this” and then it will say “And do it because of who you are through God’s grace,” like in Phil 2:12-13; but many times it will say “This is who you are through God’s grace” and therefore “Do this,” like in our passage today).

So here’s the takeaway from this point. The first thing to do today if you want to seek and set your mind on the things that are above is to consider the reality that you have died with Christ and have been raised with Christ. Your life (your status of being spiritually alive now instead of spiritually dead) is hidden with Christ in God. These realities are what should drive the seeking and the mind-setting that you are called to as a Christian.

Keep it up! 3:5-8 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - whole book

2011-03-16T00:00:00.001-04:00

If you've been following along in the reading schedule, this will be the 3rd time now that you've read through the whole book of Colossians in one sitting. I hope you are benefiting from this, much like the original hearers/readers of Colossians would have benefited when the letter was read to them (no doubt in its entirety), or perhaps when they had occasion to read it themselves.

I came across this great anecdote a while back on another blog. The quote is from a work by James Gray (1851-1935) called How to Master the English Bible. It appears that he has much to say in this book that is helpful, and let's not get on him too much for his title (most certainly our primary goal should be to be mastered by the Bible, but we would do well to have a goal of mastering the special revelation God has given to us). Here's the anectdote:

"The first practical help I ever received in the mastery of the English Bible was from a layman. We were fellow-attendants at a certain Christian conference or convention and thrown together a good deal for several days, and I saw something in his Christian life to which I was a comparative stranger—peace, a rest, a joy, a kind of spiritual poise I knew little about. One day I ventured to ask him how he had become possessed of the experience, when he replied, 'By reading the epistle to the Ephesians.' I was surprised, for I had read it without such results, and therefore asked him to explain the manner of his reading, when he related the following: He had gone into the country to spend the Sabbath with his family on one occasion, taking with him a pocket copy of Ephesians, and in the afternoon, going out into the woods and lying down under a tree, he began to read it; he read it through at a single reading, and finding his interest aroused, read it through again in the same way, and, his interest increasing, again and again. I think he added that he read it some twelve or fifteen times, 'and when I arose to go into the house,' said he, 'I was in possession of Ephesians, or better yet, it was in possession of me, and I had been "lifted up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus‚" in an experimental sense in which that had not been true in me before, and will never cease to be true in me again.'"

3:1-4 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 2:20-23

2011-03-15T00:00:00.002-04:00

When you come across a confusing paragraph in Scripture like the one today, sometimes it can be helpful to try to summarize (in a sentence or so) what the author is trying to say to his readers. Obviously we want to deal with the very words of the paragraph and not just our summary, but forcing yourself to summarize can help you move closer to understanding the author's meaning. In this case, it’s probably something like “Why are you submitting to human regulations that are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh?” This is Paul’s question and challenge to the Colossians.

One way of understanding all this is that the true teaching that Paul is defending is centered on Jesus Christ. The false teaching that Paul is denying is centered on man. The false teaching involves “human precepts and teachings” which have “an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body.” But the true teaching says we have died with Christ, and that we have been raised with Christ (3:1). As Paul goes on to show in chapter 3, only this true teaching centered on Christ has value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. So when your flesh rears its ugly head again today, act upon the reality that you have died with Christ and been raised with Christ.

Read the whole book again tomorrow, and be on the lookout for how central Christ is to all that Paul has to say to the church.

March through Colossians - 2:13-15, 2:16-19

2011-03-14T11:05:00.002-04:00

I got off track a little bit this past weekend by posting 2 times on Friday (Friday’s post and Saturday’s post), and forgetting to post on Sunday. So, today I’ll say something about 2:13-15 (Sunday’s reading) and 2:16-19 (today’s reading).

In 2:13-15 Paul reminds the Colossians about the saving work God has done in them, including bringing them from a state of spiritual deadness in sin to a state of spiritual life in Christ through the cross. Some great truths in this section to take with you today and meditate on, getting all the nourishment you can out of them.

In 2:16-19 Paul again addresses the issue of false teaching in the church, urging the Colossians not to be influenced by what is being urged upon them by the false teachers. While we may not fully understand what’s going on here after a few moments of reading, we can certainly hear Paul’s earnestness that the church hold fast to the Head in the midst of things that would distract them from the Head. Let me encourage you to consider today what usually distracts you from the Head. And remember that you are a part of what’s described in verse 19: from Jesus (who is the Head of the body, the church) the whole body is being nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments (all the various members) and grows with a growth that is from God.

March through Colossians - 2:8-12

2011-03-11T15:04:00.001-05:00

When you read a confusing passage like 2:8 (“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ”), how do you go from “What in the world?!” to “Ah, now I get it!”? Here are a few steps:

-Don’t respond to a confusing passage by speeding up but by slowing down. Read it again, ask God for help, and read it again. Remember, we should be humbly listening to the Word and patiently sitting under it expecting God to teach us. We should not be trying to hustle on to the parts we understand or think we can apply more easily.
-Think like a Colossian. Remember that this is a real historical document, written by a real person who wrote to a real church in the city of Colossae in the 1st century. Try to think, “now how would a member of the church in Colossae have understood this when it was first read to the congregation?” Reading phrases like “philosophy and empty deceit,” “human tradition,” and “the elemental spirits of the world” may not draw us in like a who-dunnit but they would have been understood by a Colossian believer and they are important to our understanding of the letter today.
-Get some help. You can gain a whole lot by reading a good study Bible like the one I’ve been mentioning (the ESV Study Bible…click here for the note on the verse above). It won’t answer every question you might have, but it will explain a lot and will help you be drawn into the letter through understanding it better, rather than being repelled away by confusion.

Pretty cool to read that we’ve been “filled in him” (2:10), that we have everything we need in Christ and by virtue of our union with Christ.

2:13-15 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 2:6-7

2011-03-11T00:00:00.003-05:00

Paul has just told the Colossians about how much he struggles for them in order that they might grow in the knowledge of Christ instead of being deluded by the plausible arguments of the false teachers. He doesn't want them to drift from Christ. He wants to see their good order and the firmness of their faith in Christ.

The "therefore" of v. 6 serves as a way of connecting Paul's desires for the Colossians (that they would stay firm in their faith in Christ) with Paul's directives to the Colossians (about how they can stay firm in their faith in Christ). As those who have already received Christ Jesus the Lord they are to:

-Walk in Christ (like the "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord" in 1:10).
-Be rooted in Christ (O'Brien: "the readers have been firmly rooted in Christ and they are to conduct their lives according to this beginning").
-Be built up in Christ (O'Brien: the rooted and built up metaphors "are joined so as to describe the solid foundation upon which believers' lives are to be based").
-Be established in the faith just as they were taught (like the continuing in the faith stable and steadfast in 1:23).
-Abound in thanksgiving (like the thanksgiving in 1:12: "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light").

O'Brien is careful to point out how central God is in all this: "Whatever responsibilities to Christ the readers had, and these were many, they were not to lose sight of the fact that God had been at work in their midst. It was he who had rooted them in Christ and was presently building them up in him, thereby consolidating [establishing] them in the faith."

These are spot-on directives for us who are in Christ as well, who know how easy it is to drift from Christ and who long to walk in Him.

2:8-12 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 2:1-5

2011-03-10T00:00:00.002-05:00

Aha! "For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit" (2:5). So that's where it comes from!

Actually the ESV Study Bible has an intriguing note on this verse: "Because both the Colossians and Paul live 'in Christ' and possess the Spirit of God, there is a sense in which Paul is, in fact, present with them (see also 1 Cor. 5:3-5)."

I think it's appropriate for us to be challenged by Paul's example in this section (to follow him as he follows Christ, 1 Cor. 11:1). He says he wants the Colossians to know how great a struggle he had for them and other believers. O'Brien says that this struggle mentioned here and elsewhere "involves in the first place untiring toil and labor, an intense wrestling and struggle for the spread, growth and strengthening of the faith as the goal of his mission."

What do you struggle for? For what and for whom do you toil and labor? That's not a bad diagnostic question to ask yourself from time to time (or a lot). Remember what Paul labored for, and what by God's grace we can labor for too: for people to know Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

2:6-7 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - whole book

2011-03-09T09:22:00.005-05:00

Why do we take time to read the whole book of Colossians in one sitting? Well for lots of reasons, but at least so that we can take in the whole message of the letter at once so that we can rightly understand the parts in their context. Hear what Moises Silva has to say about this in his book, God, Language, and Scripture:

In our effort to interpret the Bible...we should give special attention to the way sentences are joined, how they form paragraphs, and how the paragraphs combine to constitute larger units. At the simplest level, this means that we should read the Bible the way we read other literature. When we receive a letter from a friend, do we read the middle paragraph today, the last sentence next week, the introductory section two months from now? Unfortunately, many Christians use precisely that "method" in their reading of Paul's letters. The biblical books were meant to be read as wholes and that is the way we should read them.

If you have time, read what he says right before the above paragraph:

We should note that even the smallest books of the Bible consist of whole discourses. If propositions by themselves were quite sufficient, the Scriptures might be composed of a long list of individual sayings. Instead, God has given us narratives (some quite long), hymns, letters.
And these various portions are brought together in a coherent and unified whole. The principle that the Bible is its own best interpreter is not wishful thinking. From one perspective, this principle is but a reflection of the nature of all communication: sentences must be understood in the light of their total context. Even if we are reading Plato, we cannot artificially wrench one proposition in the Republic from the philosopher's whole thought. From another perspective, however, this principle is unique to Scripture. For those who are persuaded that the Bible comes from God in a sense that is not true of other writings, its unity and coherence take on a completely new dimension. God does not fail to speak in a consistent fashion - as Plato or an uninspired Paul might - and thus individual propositions in Scripture do perfectly cohere with other propositions and shed light on each other.

2:1-5 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 1:24-29

2011-03-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

After mentioning at the end of yesterday’s section that he became a minister of the gospel, Paul takes some time in today’s section to expand on his gospel ministry. I’m sure he did this for a number of reasons, but one that we can spot is that since he was unknown (in person) to the Colossians, he wanted them to be informed about the authenticity of his ministry in light of the claims of the false teachers present in Colossae (2:4-5: “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit.”).

Paul, as a servant of Christ, like Christ, cares quite thoroughly for His people.

A good study Bible like the ESV Study Bible can give you some help on difficult passages like the one today about “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (see the ESV Study Bible note here for an explanation).

I like verse 29: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Most certainly, based at least on 1:11 (“May you [regular non-apostle believers] be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might…”), the energy and power at work in Paul for his gospel ministry is available to you who are in Christ for whatever calling God has set before you today.

March through Colossians - 1:21-23

2011-03-07T00:00:00.001-05:00

So what's the biggest word in this passage? What's the one word that jumps off the page at you? I'm guessing that for some of you it's the "if" of verse 23 ("in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith"). Paul was really on a roll there and then he had to throw in the if.

The short answer about what's happening here is that Paul is encouraging the Colossians about the reconciliation they have in Christ, and then challenging them to continue in the faith. Continuing in the faith (stable and steadfast...) would be evidence that they indeed are genuine believers. Not continuing in the faith would only prove that they were never really reconciled to God. Paul is not doubting that they will continue; he is confident that they will (we know this because of something having to do with the specific form or kind of conditional sentence used [think "if" statement] which my brain is not remembering right now). But his words certainly should challenge us to continue in the faith.

So the "if" seems big. But let's not miss a few other big ones. How about the "once" and the "now"? "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him." If we could start our days with this "once...but now" perspective on our life, that sure would go a long way to clearing the morning fog about who we are and what we should be about.

March through Colossians - 1:15-20

2011-03-06T00:00:00.001-05:00

These verses say a whole lot about the person and work of Jesus Christ. If you have access to a good commentary (the one I've been using by Peter O'Brien is superb), or if you have time for some extended reflection (maybe with a good study Bible nearby), you can go a bit deeper into the numerous statements about Christ made in this section. And I would recommend that.

My suggestion for today though is this: try to capture the big picture of these verses and meditate on that big picture. Turn it over again and again, ask God to help you understand it, and try to squeeze out of it all the implications for your life that you possibly can.

My sense for the big picture of 1:15-20: Jesus Christ is the supreme Lord of every square inch of creation and He is the supreme Lord of redemption and reconciliation, and He is the head of the body that we (through the cross) are a part of.

But don't let me stop you from meditating also on the trees.

1:21-23 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 1:9-14

2011-03-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

Most definitely it is not bad for us to pray for our health issues. Or for financial matters. Or for job struggles. Or for whatever is on our mind. But we could also be challenged and trained by Paul’s prayer (really a summary of his prayers) in these verses:

-He and his companions have not ceased to pray for the Colossians (this was a perfectly common way of saying "we have been praying for you regularly," not necessarily "we have organized a 24/7 prayer rotation," though there's certainly nothing inherently wrong with that practice).
-He asks God.
-He asks God that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will (think “knowing how to glorify God in my life,” not “knowing what will happen in the future”), which requires spiritual wisdom and understanding, which he asks for.
-He asks God for the above so that the Colossians would walk (live daily) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him (not a bad goal viewed with a gospel lens), bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (kind of sounds like what the gospel does/produces, from 1:6).
-He asks God to strengthen them with all power according to His glorious might (a necessary power source for the kind of walking/living described above), so that they could
endure with patience and joy and thanksgiving in this crazy world.

I’m not quite sure how we transfer all of that from the reading-it-on-a-blog part of our brain to the putting-it-into-practice part of our brain, but let’s try to be appropriately challenged in our own praying.

March through Colossians - 1:5b-8

2011-03-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

Notice what Paul says about the gospel in these verses:

-It was how the Colossians first heard about the hope that is laid up for them in heaven.
-It is the word of the truth.
-It has come to them.
-It is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world.
-It is bearing fruit and growing among the Colossians (since the day they heard and understood it).
-It is something that is heard and understood by people.
-It involved understanding the grace of God in truth (notice: 2nd time Paul mentions truth, probably in light of the false teaching he addresses later).
-It is something they learned from a specific individual (Epaphras [same guy as Epaphroditus in Phil. 2:25, 4:18], who is a servant of Christ).

O’Brien says, “Fruit-bearing and increasing were marks of the gospel (Col 1:6). Paul then prays [next in Colossians] that fruit-bearing and increasing may be characteristics of the Colossians too – the fruit of good works and an increase in the knowledge of God (v 10) – that the dynamic of the gospel may characterize the lives of the Colossian believers themselves.” (italics mine)

Be encouraged that this is the same gospel that you have believed, and that God intends for it to bear fruit and grow today in you and around you.

1:9-14 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 1:1-5a (Part 2)

2011-03-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Did anyone notice in vv. 4-5a the famous faith, hope, and love triad (“since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven”). I didn’t, but a commentary pointed it out to me.

Notice what’s true of these Colossian believers: their faith is in Christ Jesus, they have love for all the saints, and they have faith and love because of the hope laid up for them (by God) in heaven. And Paul thanks God for these things being present in them. This is kind of a summary description of what it means to be a Christian. These are the things we have, and we can thank God that we have them.

You and I could do worse than trying to think a little more today about faith, hope, and love, and to make a point to thank God that we have these things.

Extra note: as you read, keep in mind that Colossians isn't just a sort of magical document that we have to arbitrarily extract things from that we think will help us feel good or make sense of life. It is a real letter, written by a real person, to real people, inspired by a real God who both addressed those real people in it and addresses real people in it today. We have to submit ourselves to it. We have to submit ourselves to God in it, humbly asking Him to help us understand what Paul was saying to this church, and (by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) to all of God’s people, including you today.

March through Colossians - 1:1-5a (Part 1)

2011-03-03T00:00:00.002-05:00

So, do you speed up when you are reading the opening verses of one of Paul’s letters? “Yeah, yeah, I know you’re an apostle, I’ve heard you say that before Paul.” Let commentator Peter O’Brien help you:

“The creative variations in the opening [stuff] regarding authorship, where Paul adapts his description of himself and his credentials to the circumstances of each particular letter, the various phrases he employs to describe his Christian readers, and the theological content poured into the greetings all indicate that his prescripts are far from being stereotyped introductions to his epistles.”

So pay attention to the nuances, to how Paul describes himself, to how he greets believers, and to the Grand Canyon of truth conveyed by the simple greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

By the way, if you are trusting in Jesus for salvation from your sins, you’re a saint. Think about that for a little while.

March through Colossians - Here We Go!

2011-03-02T00:00:00.003-05:00

Well we didn't get started on March 1st, but I only thought of this idea on Sunday morning, so we all needed time to gather our thoughts! But here we go.

Hopefully you've taken the time today to read the whole book of Colossians straight through in one sitting. I'm wondering what that was like for you. It probably took about 10 minutes (if you weren't interrupted), and I'm guessing you felt some of the following:

"Pretty cool. I can't remember the last time I sat down and read a whole book of the Bible straight through. Helps to see the big picture."
"I'm feeling like I drank from a firehouse just now. I'm not sure what to think, and I'm not sure that I really understood what Paul was saying to say to the Colossians."
"If I ever write a letter to a church, I'm going to pack all that I have to say in the first chapter and the last chapter, because I can pretty much guarantee that folks are going to drift off somewhere in chapter 2, and then wake back up somewhere in chapter 4."
"What a joy to read about the preeminence of Christ, and about the blessings of having been raised with him. I look forward to growing in my understanding of these things."
"I didn't know that so many verses I recognized were in Colossians!"
"How come we aren't seeing more kids being named Aristarchus?"

Regardless of your initial reaction, I do know that your reading of the whole book today (remember: the forest) will help you make sense of your reading of the parts in the days ahead (remember: the trees). You will see connections you would not have seen otherwise. Your understanding of treasured verses will expand as you come to see them in light of the flow of the book. You will begin to grasp how deep and wide and rich and multifaceted God's written revelation is. And by the power of the Spirit working in the Word, you will be changed to be more like Jesus.

Keep it up. 1:1-5a tomorrow. Read slowly. Read prayerfully. Read expectantly. Read patiently. And read as if God were sitting across the table from you, speaking to you His life-changing Word.

March through Colossians (the HOW)

2011-02-28T16:09:00.003-05:00

* Read the post below on the WHY first.

So, what's the plan for how we're going to read through the book of Colossians together? Well, I think that how we choose to read through it should reflect (as best as we can) the nature of this book.

It is a letter. We want to read it as a letter and not be so focused on the trees (the individual verses) that we miss the forest (the whole letter). Therefore I'll be including a couple of chances for us to read the whole thing in one sitting (don't worry, it's only 4 chapters which will probably take about 10 minutes).
It has a flow and an argument or point (or arguments/points). We're not just going to read the first 2 verses, then the next 2, then the next 2, woodenly. I've broken down the daily readings based on the flow of thought in Paul's writing.
It is the Word of God. The very words that Paul wrote on papyrus or parchment were the God-breathed words of God (2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet. 1:19-21). Therefore we will be taking our time, reading only a small chunk of verses per day, so that we can take in as much of what God has given us as we can.

The details:

I'm not sure how to put a nice calendar together on the blog, so I'll just list the readings (see below).
We'll start on 3/2 by reading the whole book in one sitting that day (again, 10 minutes). We'll do this again on 3/9, 3/16, 3/24, and 3/31.
Not counting the whole-book readings, we'll cover an average of 3.8 verses per day (min: 2; max: 6).
There is a reading every day (no breaks), but it's easy to catch up given the shortness of the readings.
We'll end up reading through Colossians 6 times total.
I'll post something every day here on the blog, like a teaching point, a key question to ask, an application, something for further reading, a way to encourage someone else with what you are reading, etc.

Here's the schedule:

-3/2: whole book.
-3/3: 1:1-5a.
-3/4: 1:5b-8.
-3/5: 1:9-14.
-3/6: 1:15-20.
-3/7: 1:21-23.
-3/8: 1:24-29.
-3/9: whole book.
-3/10: 2:1-5.
-3/11: 2:6-7.
-3/12: 2:8-12.
-3/13: 2:13-15.
-3/14: 2:16-19.
-3/15: 2:20-23.
-3/16: whole book.
-3/17: 3:1-4.
-3/18: 3:5-8.
-3/19: 3:9-11.
-3/20: 3:12-15.
-3/21: 3:16-17.
-3/22: 3:18-22.
-3/23: 3:23-4:1.
-3/24: whole book.
-3/25: 4:2-4.
-3/26: 4:5-6.
-3/27: 4:7-9.
-3/28: 4:10-11.
-3/29: 4:12-13.
-3/30: 4:14-18.

So, carve out some time to read the whole book in one sitting on March 2nd, and check back here on the blog for a brief post that day and a reminder of the next day's passage.

March through Colossians (the WHY)

2011-02-28T15:21:00.003-05:00

* Note: I am doing this primarily for folks at the church where I'm a pastor, but feel free to join in if you'd like.

Many of my ideas come to me while I'm in the shower (what's the deal with that anyway?), and this one is no exception. I'm really excited about this simple idea: I'd like to take the month of March and read through the book of Colossians together. We'll read just a few verses a day, and I'll post something brief each day here on the blog (I'll explain the HOW in another post).

You might ask, Why this idea? And why Colossians? Here are a few reasons:

As for the idea, I think there are some advantages to having a group of people read through a portion of Scripture at the same time who are in community together (e.g., a cool sense of "we're in this together," the chance to encourage each other in conversation about what we've been learning, allowing the Holy Spirit to work some of these same truths into us at the same time).
Doing this during the month of March provides some accountability (which none of us are above).
Doing this during the month of March allows for us to have a clear goal.
As for doing Colossians, honestly that's just the next book in some New Testament reading I've been doing, and I thought it would be nice to have some fellow readers!

Here's the bottom line reason though. You and I so desperately need to see Jesus Christ for who He actually and objectively is. Not who He is in our subjective and small view of Him, but who He really is. Colossians holds that beautiful picture up for us to see. This book, being the living and active Word of God, can wake us up each day with the good news of who Jesus is, what He has done for us, what He is doing today, and what He will do.

So come revel in the gospel with me during the month of March as we go deep into this book together, and as we let it go deep into us.

How to benefit from the book of Proverbs

2010-06-09T15:29:00.004-04:00

Let me suggest a great way to spend 10 minutes of your day sometime soon: go grab your ESV Study Bible (or go buy one if you don't have one yet), and read the "Introduction to Proverbs" section right before the book of Proverbs. I did that today, and I experienced a growth spurt not only in my understanding of the book of Proverbs and how to interpret and apply it, but also in my understanding of the general flow of Scripture and how/where Proverbs fits within the total biblical revelation that centers on Jesus Christ and what He has done for us and in us.

I've been trying the thing where you read 1 chapter in Proverbs and 3 Psalms each day (taking you through Proverbs and Psalms in a month), and it's been enriching so far. I know this isn't the only factor in reading the Bible profitably, but having so much Bible intake has been super helpful.

"My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart." -Proverbs 3:1-3.

If You Are Struggling with Sin...

2010-05-29T07:48:00.002-04:00

...remember that Jesus hates sin (and your sin in particular), and if you are in Christ today, He has dealt with it and is dealing with it through the cross and the power of the Spirit at work in you. I came across these words from Charles Spurgeon this morning (Owen consistently and sweetly asks at breakfast if we can read Morning and Evening, a wonderful 365-day devotional by Spurgeon that takes about 3 minutes to read together...I think he likes looking up the date for that morning):

"[Jesus] hates wickedness so much that He bled to wound it to the heart; He died that it might die; He was buried that He might bury it in his tomb; and He rose that He might for ever trample it beneath His feet."

How Should We Think about Good Works?

2010-05-27T09:09:00.003-04:00

The gospel teaches us that we are saved by the grace of God, through faith, not because of our good works ("For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." -Eph. 2:8-9). So, as those who have been saved by grace through faith (not good works), how should we now think about good works? Paul answers that question in the very next verse in Ephesians ("For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." -Eph. 2:10).

Matthew Henry gives some good help in his commentary on this verse:

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, &c., v. 10. It appears that all is of grace, because all our spiritual advantages are from God. We are his workmanship; he means in respect of the new creation; not only as men, but as saints. The new man is a new creature; and God is its Creator. It is a new birth, and we are born or begotten of his will. In Christ Jesus, that is, on the account of what he has done and suffered, and by the influence and operation of his blessed Spirit. Unto good works, &c. The apostle having before ascribed this change to divine grace in exclusion of works, lest he should seem thereby to discourage good works, he here observes that though the change is to be ascribed to nothing of that nature (for we are the workmanship of God), yet God, in his new creation, has designed and prepared us for good works: Created unto good works, with a design that we should be fruitful in them. Wherever God by his grace implants good principles, they are intended to be for good works. Which God hath before ordained, that is, decreed and appointed. Or, the words may be read, To which God hath before prepared us, that is, by blessing us with the knowledge of his will, and with the assistance of his Holy Spirit; and by producing such a change in us. That we should walk in them, or glorify God by an exemplary conversation and by our perseverance in holiness."

Prayer Struggles

2010-05-26T16:27:00.005-04:00

If any of you struggle with prayer (or maybe you don't but you "have a friend who does"), you might find some help in reading an article by David Powlison called "Praying Beyond the Sick List." Here is a representative excerpt:

"It's hard to learn how to pray - for the sick as well as the healthy. How often do we make intelligent, honest requests for something we need from capable, trustworthy friends? Prayer is a lot like that. But somehow when the making of a request is termed "praying" and the capable party is termed "God," things tend to get tangled. You've seen it, heard it, done it: the contorted syntax, formulaic phrasing, meaningless repetition, 'just reallys,' vague non-requests, artificially pious tone of voice, air of confusion. If you talked to your friends or parents that way they'd think you'd lost your mind. But what if your understanding of prayer changes, and if your practice of prayer then changes? What then? What if the prayer requests you make - and the ones you ask others
to make - change?"

By the way, whenever I've struggled in prayer, I've found that it is usually fruitful for me to ask myself, "Why am I finding it hard to pray right now?" That helps me identify the deeper issue and address it in light of the cross of Christ.

Speaking the Truth in Love

2010-05-26T14:36:00.003-04:00

This is a good word that I came across today, from Tim Chester's book You Can Change (here), on how we can point others to Christ when they've sinned (of course, it's true for us too):

“What should you do if others confess their sin to you? Speak the truth
in love. Don’t tell them their sin is understandable or
insignificant. That offers no comfort because it’s a lie. But we can
speak words of comfort because we can speak words of grace. Call them to
repent of their sin and to accept by faith the forgiveness that God
offers. ‘You are guilty, but Christ has borne your guilt. You deserve
God’s judgment, but Christ has borne your judgment.’ This is true
comfort. Embody that forgiveness in your ongoing acceptance and
love. But accept people with God’s agenda for change. Explore, if
you can, the lies and desires that lead to their sinful behavior. Together
you may be able to discern the truth they need to turn to and the idolatrous
desires they need to turn from. Be proactive about offering
accountability. That means asking the right question! Ask them how
they’re getting on; ask them whether they’ve sinned again. Be specific –
ask when, where, why, how often. Above all, point them to the grace and
glory of Christ.”

The plants of grace in our hearts

2010-02-12T09:54:00.005-05:00

Some wise counsel from John Owen on weeding the garden of your heart today:

“The life and vigor of our spiritual lives consists in the vigor and flourishing of the plants of grace in our hearts. Now, as you may see in a garden, let there be a precious herb planted, and let the ground be untilled, and weeds grow about it, perhaps it will live still, but be a poor, withering, unuseful thing. You must look and search for it, and sometimes can scarce find it; and when you do, you can scarce know it, whether it be the plant you look for or not; and suppose it be, you can make no use of it at all. When, let another of the same kind be set in the ground, naturally as barren and bad as the other, but let it be well weeded, and everything that is noxious [injurious, harmful, unwholesome] and hurtful removed from it – it flourishes and thrives; you may see it at first look into the garden, and have it for your use when you please. So it is with the graces of the Spirit that are planted in our hearts. That is true; they are still, they abide in a heart where there is some neglect of mortification; but they are ready to die (Rev. 3:2), they are withering and decaying. The heart is like the sluggard’s field – so overgrown with weeds that you can scarce see the good corn. Such a man may search for faith, love, and zeal, and scarce be able to find any; and if he does discover that these graces are there yet alive and sincere, yet they are so weak, so clogged with lusts, that they are of very little use; they remain, indeed, but are ready to die. But now let the heart be cleansed by mortification, the weeds of lust constantly and daily rooted up (as they spring daily, nature being their proper soil), let room be made for grace to thrive and flourish – how will every grace act its part, and be ready for every use and purpose!”

Encouragement to put your sin to death today

2010-02-05T09:02:00.003-05:00

John Owen reminded me this morning about the encouragement that is available to me in the truth of Galatians 5:16-17: "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh..." As Owen put it, "one main reason why the Spirit and the new nature are given unto us [is] that we may have a principle within us whereby to oppose sin and lust." Let this be a relief and an encouragement to you as you battle against sin today!

"Not to be daily employing the Spirit and new nature for the mortifying of sin is to neglect that excellent succor [assistance, relief] which God has given us against our greatest enemy...His graces, as well as his gifts, are bestowed on us to use, exercise, and trade with. Not to be daily mortifying sin is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who has furnished us with a principle of doing it."

And one more: "Exercise and success are the two main cherishers of grace in the heart; when it [grace] is suffered to lie still, it withers and decays: the things of it are ready to die (Rev. 3:2); and sin gets ground toward the hardening of the heart (Heb. 3:13). This is that which I intend: by the omission of this duty grace withers, lust flourishes, and the frame of the heart grows worse and worse; and the Lord knows what desperate and fearful issues [outcomes] it has had with many."

Help from (John) Owen

2010-01-25T11:03:00.003-05:00

I taught a Sunday school class on John Owen yesterday (he's a Puritan theologian that our family is particularly fond of), and in preparing for the class I started to re-read the first part of his book (or series of books), Overcoming Sin and Temptation, edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor. It's a fabulous book, and perhaps I'll say more about it as I begin to work back through it. Owen helped me this morning to more clearly see some truths in God's Word about my own sin and about the work of the Spirit within me, and I wanted to pass along a few of his summary statements in his exposition of Romans 8:13: "If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live."

"The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin" (p. 47).
"The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers" (p. 49).
"The vigor, power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh" (p. 49).
"Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called 'the old man,' with his faculties and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this, says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified - that is, have its power, life, vigor, and strength to produce its effects taken away by the Spirit. It is, indeed, meritoriously, and by way of example, utterly mortified and slain by the cross of Christ; and the 'old man' is thence said to be 'crucified with Christ' (Rom. 6:6), and ourselves to be 'dead' with him (Rom. 6:8), and really initially in regeneration (Rom. 6:3-5), when a principle contrary to it and destructive of it (Gal. 5:17) is planted in our hearts; but the whole work is by degrees to be carried on toward perfection all our days" (p. 49).

More to come from (John) Owen...

More from Charles Brown

2009-11-06T08:51:00.001-05:00

A well-put exhortation to feast on the Word of God:

"Dwell ever among the green pastures of the Word of God. Make it indeed your bosom companion. Feed on the Scriptures till they come to be incorporated with your spiritual being. Not only pray and read, but pray reading, with your Bible open before you, gazing into its exceeding great and precious things, waiting till you apprehend them, or rather, till they apprehend you - literally 'getting them by heart' (as our expressive phrase is) longing to say with David, 'I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil', and with Jeremiah, 'Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart' (Psa. 119:162; Jer. 15:16)."

Weariness and worship

2009-11-05T09:06:00.003-05:00

I've been reading a great little book recently called The Ministry, by Charles Brown, a Scottish pastor in the 1800s. Much of what he says applies directly to ministers, but also has relevance for all Christians. I might string together a few great quotes over the next few days for your edification.

This first one jumped off the page at me and got me thinking about its implications not for public worship (which was Brown's intention) but for private worship (personal Bible reading, prayer, meditation on the Bible reading, etc.). In speaking about the inordinate length of some public prayers, Brown cautioned, "When weariness begins, devotion ends." When weariness begins in the worshipper (due to "unduly prolonged prayers"), it dampens a devotional spirit in the worshipper.

Boy is that true in private worship as well, and in all of life. When we are weary and tired, it is so much harder for us to be attentive to God's Word and to be earnest in prayer. We are more prone to be downcast, and to listen to the inner sermon of unbelief rather than the refreshing and reinvigorating truth of the Word. I think we should praise God that our access to Him is based not on our physical or emotional condition, but on the finished work of our great high priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). And when we are weary, we should recognize our heightened vulnerability to fleshly-mindedness, and lean hard into the grace of God for help and strength.

Of Walmart and God's Calling

2009-11-02T08:42:00.005-05:00

Our Super Walmart is a crazy place. Mysteriously, it is always crowded. It is a cross-cultural experience. It is a great training ground for virtues like patience and humility.

However, the one time (it seems) that it is not busy is early on Monday mornings, and therefore that is the time that Kristen and the boys typically do the weekly grocery shopping for our family. We usually have our regular morning routine all together, and then I leave for work at the same time they leave for the store (just before 8am). Kristen pulls out, then I pull out, and I follow them out of our court, down Gayton Road about a hundred feet, and then down Blue Jay Lane about a hundred feet, at which time Kristen turns right, and I keep going straight. That moment is often a defining moment in my week.

It's at that moment that I'm often awakened to the fact that we are called by God to do the things we are doing. In God's wise providence, He has called me to be a pastor (among other things), and He has called Kristen to be a mother/homemaker (among other things). She goes right, to Walmart. I go straight, to the church. We go our separate ways, but our ultimate purpose is not separate, but aligned: to glorify and enjoy God through the Spirit-empowered fulfillment of our God-given roles. Both callings, by God's appointment, are vital in the expansion of God's kingdom and are thus significant in His eyes. There are a million implications of this, but I'll leave that to you to think through.

Like I said, that moment is often a defining moment in my week. I'm grateful for it as a continual reminder, because boy do I need it.

Take 5 minutes for this

2009-10-29T09:35:00.002-04:00

I just came across some great 5-minute interviews of David Powlison (by C.J. Mahaney), and they are fabulous...very insightful and convicting/encouraging. Here they are:

A Narrated Bibliography with David Powlison (this one is actually about an hour).
Good Advice vs. Good News (4:41).
Cravings and Conflict (7:19).
What Is Real vs. What I Feel (5:45).
The Value of Human Emotion (5:28).

I recommend you start with Good Advice vs. Good News to get a flavor for the content, and I trust you will be edified.

Am I influencing you for good or ill?

2009-10-26T16:27:00.003-04:00

Some of you may be familiar with the curriculum called Changing Hearts Changing Lives, put out by the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation, and taught by David Powlison and Paul David Tripp. It's a DVD of thirteen 30-minutes sessions, and Kristen and I have just started working through it together. I've watched most of the sessions previously, and I highly recommend it (and I look forward to watching and discussing the rest of them with Kristen).

It is basically about biblical counseling and the role that each of us play in helping one another along in our growth in Christ. Here are the 2 foundational assumptions that were communicated in the first session, about our lives as believers:

All of us are people in need of change.
God has called all of us to be instruments of change in his redemptive hands.

One big takeaway for me was the biblical truth that, in one sense, all of life is counseling. We are constantly giving and receiving counsel, either knowingly and directly or unknowingly and indirectly. We are all influencing each other to one degree or another, so an important question to ask is, Am I influencing you for good or ill? Am I pointing you to Christ as your source of hope and joy, or to something else? As Tripp put it, "You are influencing people every day. The question is: Is that influence Biblical?"

Cultivating God-honoring humility

2009-10-23T09:51:00.004-04:00

We recently went on a beach weekend with some of the young adults from our church, to Corolla, NC. 24 adults in one house, plus one Owen and one Baxter. It was lots of fun. Here is the group shot we took at the end of the weekend.

I taught 3 sessions on Cultivating Humility, using much of C.J. Mahaney's book, Humility: True Greatness (I highly recommend this book). It seemed to be a fruitful time of learning and discussion (each teaching time was followed by a time of small group discussion/application). C.J.'s handy definition of true, God-honoring humility is this: "Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God's holiness and our sinfulness." Isaiah 6:1-7 is a good place to go in Scripture for this.

I think it can only help us to ask ourselves at any given moment, "Am I presently motivated by pride or by humility?...am I big right now (in my estimation) and God small, or is God big right now and me small?...who is currently at the center of my universe: God, or me?", and to ask the Holy Spirit for the grace and power to change.

Sick, but not destroyed

2009-10-22T21:49:00.003-04:00

I've been sick now for a few days, thankfully not with any version of the flu. I usually get pretty knocked out, and a terrible sore throat starts in sometime around the 2nd day (like right now).

One thought/prayer that the Lord has used to help me immensely is this: that I can be more driven and influenced by the Holy Spirit who dwells within me than by my physical body which is experiencing one of the effects of living in a sin-wrecked, fallen world. As unpleasant and sometimes painful as my current experience is (and it is very minor compared to the sufferings of others), because of the victorious work of Christ I can walk by the Spirit and not be downcast in soul because of the infirmity of my body.

I'm sick right now (as perhaps some of you are as well!) because I live in a world of sin, but I am not under the dominion of sin or its effects because of the redeeming work of Christ on the cross for me. As often as I can remember that, and believe that, I can be sick, but not destroyed (2 Cor 4:7-12).

Starting again

2009-10-22T19:23:00.003-04:00

A good pastor-friend of mine once gave me a simple and practical encouragement to persevere in a much-neglected daily Bible reading schedule by saying, "If you stop 1,000 times, just make sure you start 1,001 times!"

So, after about a 3-month break, I'm starting again on this blog. I hope to post things on here quite regularly that are a bit more brief and stream of consciousness-like. I know it will benefit me, and I hope that it will benefit you as well.

A lesson in trusting God

2009-07-16T21:02:00.003-04:00

God taught me a striking lesson earlier this afternoon. I had just come home from work, and Kristen and the boys were not home yet from running an errand (to the park). Sitting in a chair upstairs in our room, I felt overwhelmed by all the things I had on my plate at work (you know the feeling, the unpleasant snowball effect of contemplating many tasks at once while forgetting that they don't all need to be done at once and that God actually does exist). I was mentally and emotionally exhausted, and I just thought to myself, "I can't do this, I don't have it in me right now" (which is a vague way of saying that I was thoroughly spent and did not have the emotional supply I thought was necessary to fulfill my calling as a husband and father to the occupants of the minivan that had just pulled into the driveway).

I called out to God in prayer for help, but I realized something. In asking God for help, I don't think I was actually trusting in Him or leaning upon Him, but rather was trusting in and leaning on the change in emotional status I was anticipating as a result of His helping me. I did not want God, I wanted a particular emotional condition, one that would enable me to be self-sufficient for the rest of the evening. But God's design in that moment, it seems, was for me to realize that He is all-sufficient. My trust is to be ultimately in Him, not in His help. Though it is not biblically improper to strongly desire His help, or a change in emotional condition, or a change of circumstance, etc., if a stronger desire for God Himself is not behind it, then it can be idolatry, and using God as a means of exalting self. This was a good lesson learned, and I am grateful to the Lord for it.

God is better than hamburgers

2009-05-27T19:38:00.006-04:00

Tonight we had somewhat of a breakthrough in our family worship time. We typically do this after dinner, though it is sometimes hard to maintain in the midst of a busy week. When we do gather for this time, it usually looks more like Owen and Daddy worship rather than Whole-Family worship, since Kristen is on Baxter and Baxter is everywhere. But tonight, Baxter had a breakthrough experience of content, joyous, and relatively focused participation in family worship. (By the way, our family worship time isn't anything spectacular, just a brief prayer, a hymn that Daddy picks, a reading and explanation of probably 1-2 verses of Scripture, a question or 2 from the kids' catechism, a song that Owen picks, and a closing prayer...maybe 5-10 minutes total.)

The point at which Baxter was most fully engaged was when Kristen and I were asking our 2 boys a series of questions flowing out of the first part of Psalm 119:12: "Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!" We would say, "Boys, which is better: hamburgers, or God?", to which they would respond "GOD!!!" (Baxter: "GAAAHHH!!!" with right hand raised high pointing to the ceiling [we will eventually straighten out his current view that the presence of Almighty God is centralized in our family room ceiling]).

But as is often the case, what I was saying to our boys actually helped and humbled me a great deal. Which do I think or feel or act-as-if is better: God, or hamburgers...God, or Dairy Queen...God, or Alias (yes, we are watching old seasons...thank you Netflix)...God, or (fill in the blank)? I need to believe the Scriptures that "Your steadfast love is better than life" (Psalm 63:3), and "in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11), and "to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Any joyful experience of hamburgers or any other created thing must be a joyful experience of God as the one who gives those good gifts, and whose goodness is displayed continually to us through them. God is better than hamburgers.

Possessive-pronoun Christianity

2009-05-09T21:14:00.004-04:00

Martin Luther once said, "The life of Christianity consists in possessive pronouns." In other words, the vitality or essence of genuine Christianity centers around whether you can truthfully and sincerely say, not just "Jesus is the Savior of sinners," but "Jesus is my Savior from my sin" (my being the 1st person possessive pronoun).

This is true for the beginning of the Christian life, which is marked by personal trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ (His life, death, and resurrection as a substitute and representative for sinners). Recognizing that we are willful and active sinners who stand under the terrible wrath of our perfectly holy and just Creator God, we humbly and wholeheartedly entrust ourselves to the only solution to our problem of sin, Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross. In receiving and depending upon Him alone for salvation, we are saying, "Jesus is my Savior from my sin and its consequences and its power and ultimately its presence."

This is true also for the continuation of the Christian life, which is marked by continued trust and utter dependence upon God. "The LORD is my shepherd" (Psalm 23:1). "I say to the LORD, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you'" (Psalm 16:2). Etc.

If you are uncertain of where you stand spiritually (i.e., whether or not you are currently standing under the just wrath of God, or whether you are standing under His grace through Christ by faith, Romans 5:1-2), then I encourage you to consider whether you have truly embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior for your sin. Believe in Christ. Receive Him. Come to Him. Entrust yourself to Him. Possess possessive-pronoun Christianity.

If you are already in Christ, then I encourage you to consider the impact of this insight from Luther (really, from God in Scripture) upon your daily living. Do you live like God is your God, like the Lord is your shepherd, like He is your Creator and Redeemer, your sustainer, your provider, your strength and shield, your guide and friend, your highest joy? I encourage you to inject this insight into key spots of your day, such as straightaway when you wake up, when you face adversity, whenever you pray, and when your head hits the pillow at night. In His gracious plan of redemption, God has taken the initiative to make us His people (Jeremiah 31:33), and so should we not make and keep Him our God?

Thunder and the Sovereignty of God

2009-05-09T20:36:00.004-04:00

Owen and thunder don't get along too well. In fact, I don't believe there is anything in this universe that he is more scared of. Tonight there was thunder at the Purdy house.

It took quite a bit of praying and comforting and story-reading and window-checking, but he finally went down ok. As I sat down on the couch to a good book (Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, John Currid), I realized something about the whole situation. Owen was calm mainly because the thunder had stopped, but at any moment it could start again. In an instant, our whole night could change. This was especially striking to me because in sitting down to a good book, I was subconsciously (then consciously) finding my hope and satisfaction in the absence of thunder and the presence of a good book. How would I respond if suddenly the thunder returned, and I needed to help my son for another 30 minutes? Every single clap of thunder falls under the sovereign rule and plan of almighty God (i.e., whenever it thunders, it is God who has made it thunder, Job 38, Psalm 104). Would I respond with self-centered discontentment, since my will is being crossed? Or would I respond with prayerful and trusting contentment, knowing that God's will (that it thunder and that I put my book down and help my sweet son) is infinitely wiser and better than mine. "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42) was Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsamane, and I realized that I should have the same posture of heart.

I did not have to fear what the next moment would bring (or, what God would bring in the next moment). Though it did not thunder and Owen went calmly and quickly to sleep, it was a steadying and peace-giving comfort to know that I live under the sovereign hand of God. This God "does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'" (Daniel 4:35). He also "causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). Even thunder claps.

Right and wrong exhaustion

2009-05-08T21:41:00.003-04:00

It's just me and the boys this weekend. Kristen is away on a weekend trip with the girls she lived with in college, and we are grateful that she can be there. However, it hasn't been easy. I've been pretty sick, along with Baxter, and Owen says he is sick, though he hasn't shown any symptoms (though when asked, he does give a staggering list of symptoms which would foil the most capable diagnostician, such as "I'm sick in my mouth, but it comes in my throat and goes out my mouth when I cough..."). Needless to say, I'm exhausted tonight. (By the way, these trips are great for a number of reasons, including the chance to get some quality "boy play time," as Owen calls it, as well as the chance to experience what it's like every day for Kristen...motherhood is indeed a high and valuable and thoroughly-exhausting calling!)

But is it wrong to be exhausted after a long day of taking care of children? Kristen and I talked about this recently. I think there is a right exhaustion and a wrong exhaustion. There is a kind of godly, biblically-faithful, and God-honoring exhaustion, and there is a kind of ungodly, unbiblical, and self-exalting exhaustion. The difference centers mainly around where we have been drawing our strength from in our labors. If our source of strength throughout the day has been ourselves, then we will often end up exhausted with the kind of exhaustion that leaves a bad taste in our mouth. It's the kind of exhaustion that is hopeless and unsatisfying. But if our source of strength throughout the day has been the Lord, then we will close the day with a sweet, peaceful, fulfilling kind of exhaustion. That is a hope-filled and satisfying exhaustion, stemming from the honest and humble realization that the day's energies have been fully spent for the glory of God.

If we are fulfilling our God-given callings with all diligence, faithfulness, and humble dependence on God and "the strength that He supplies" (1 Peter 4:11, Ephesians 6:10), then it is right for us to be exhausted. In a very real sense, we should be exhausted in this way.

When we are exhausted, I think we should be asking ourselves, "Am I exhausted because I've been living my day as if God didn't exist, self-sufficient and relying on the wisdom of man? Or am I exhausted because I've been vigorously carrying out the roles and responsibilities God has given to me, looking to Him continually for supplies of grace and strength, spending myself for the advancement of His kingdom, and living with all my might while I do live?" (Jonathan Edwards, Resolution #6). Next time you sigh that big sigh, or speak about how exhausted you are to your spouse or friend, take a moment to consider these things, asking the Holy Spirit to convict you of the sin of self-sufficiency and to enable you to live out Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

"I am living for _____."

2009-05-05T20:33:00.003-04:00

So Kristen and I had an intriguing (and brief) conversation this morning as we were driving in the car with our 2 boys. We had just stopped into Starbucks on our way to the church, where Kristen and Owen and Baxter attend a Tuesday morning women’s Bible study called Wellspring (the boys, being boys, don’t attend…there is a nursery we like to call “Bible study”). Kristen had been the one to go inside to get our drinks (thank you disappointingly-finite gift card!), and she was now telling me about her experience. She made a comment about how interesting it is to see who visits Starbucks at 9:00am on a Tuesday morning (e.g., the post-school-drop-off Moms initiating their to-do list activities with a nice Starbucks treat), and then said, “I wish there could be some kind of ticker above everyone’s head, that says how often they come to Starbucks each week, and how much they spend on coffee, and what they are off to do that morning.” (We make these kinds of comments to each other often, especially when we are driving on the highway, wondering where everyone is going, and what they are doing, and what their story is.) The thought that popped into my mind right then arrested me because it was so challenging to me. I said to Kristen, “I wonder what it would be like if the ticker said, ‘Right now, I am living for _____’.” We kind of sat in silence for a few moments, then made a few comments about how convicting and challenging that is to us, and then I think Owen interjected an unrelated comment and we ended up wondering together about how often firefighters wash their fire trucks (and why).

But isn’t that a good challenge for us to consider? How would you finish that statement, right this very moment? “I am living for _____ right now.” How we fill in that blank cuts right to the heart of the matter. What is it that drives us? What fuels us? What is it that keeps us going? What or who are we living for? Are we ultimately living for ourselves, or for our Creator and Redeemer? This morning, my ticker would have run something like this: “Right now, I am living for the self-focused momentary physical pleasure of a tall Java Chip Frappucino and the anticipation of the satisfaction (however fleeting) of clearing my email inbox so that they are zero unread messages.” I honestly don’t think it went very far beyond that. I was living for myself. (Important nuance: it is not that we can’t thoroughly enjoy a Frappucino as a gracious gift from God and an incomparable but helpful glimmer of the goodness of His character, or that we can’t vigorously apply ourselves to the God-given tasks that we have, laboring diligently as unto Him and not unto men…that just wasn’t the posture of my heart this morning.)

Our merciful God tells us in His Word, in a rich variety of ways, how we should fill in that blank. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We should be able to say, “Right now, I am living for the glory of God.” And if at any time or in the midst of any task we can’t say that, we should ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, we should turn to Jesus Christ in full repentance, and we should seek His grace and strength to change us and enable us to live for Him and not for ourselves. We should resolve, along with Jonathan Edwards, “never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer [allow] it, if I can possibly avoid it.” Our times are in God’s hand (Psalm 31:15); we are not our own but have been bought with a price and so are to glorify God in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). So, I urge you to ask yourself frequently, “What would my ticker say right now?” And allow God to do His mighty work on your heart and life.

Welcome

2009-05-05T20:24:00.002-04:00

Welcome to my first blog ever! Having been encouraged to start a blog by a few different sources (mainly my sweet wife, Kristen), I decided to try my hand at it. I can't promise how often I will put something up here, but my main goal is to offer brief and edifying meditations on living life for God and before God. By "front burner," I mean those lines of thinking that are on the forefront of my mind that I discern would be of some benefit to you as the reader. I hope you will enjoy the material and that the Lord will use it to challenge you, to inform your thinking, and to increase your joy in our great God.