A Valuable Resource for Memorizing Scripture

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This Sunday will mark a significant milestone for me. With my recitation of Titus 3:1-15 I will have finally completed memorizing Paul’s pastoral epistles! It has taken me over two years to get the task done, but I have managed, by God’s grace, to stick with it. Perhaps more significantly I have kept up my review of all thirteen chapters so as to retain them.

It is difficult to express just how valuable this spiritual discipline is to one’s walk with God. As a result I feel more armed with the precious promises of God’s word for my spiritual life. I feel more equipped to fight temptation in my walk. I enjoy increased knowledge of God by seeing things I have never seen before. I find wisdom from these pages particularly for me as a pastor of a local church. I experience conviction of sin in different ways. I enjoy more of the Spirit in my life by letting this word of Christ dwell richly within me. And these reasons don’t begin to tell the manifold benefits of memorizing especially extended portions of Scripture.

Dr. Andrew Davis has written an extremely helpful booklet for equipping believers for memorizing whole chapters and books of the Bible. Among other things, he makes this plea for committing to memory more than just isolated verses here and there:

Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) Paul said “All Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” (2 Timothy 3:16) Memorizing individual verses tends to miss intervening verses that the individual does not feel are as significant. Furthermore, most of Scripture is written to make a case… there is a flow of argumentation that is missed if individual verses are memorized. Furthermore, there is also a greater likelihood of taking verses out of context by focusing on individual verses.

We have copies of this booklet available at our resource table on Sunday mornings or you may access the text online here. I commend it to you in hopes that 2010 may see you commit more Scripture to memory than at any time in the past.

More Review of Our Fountain Privilege

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Yesterday’s message on the biblical docrtrine of adoption from 1 John 3:1a can be summed up like this:

The reality of our status as those born of God and thus belonging to Him as children in His family is owed entirely to the love He as our Father has bestowed upon us. With that love, an alien love in that it is other-worldly, there is a glory to be surveyed, a gift to be savored, and a grid to be secured.

When I blogged last night’s follow up post to the message, my wife asked me to review the five parts of point three, the grid to be secured. Seems I flew through them quite fast! Here is that section from my manuscript in case you may have missed some of those items as well. 

He wants this grid, this way of thinking about ourselves, absolutely, positively secure. He wants us flabbergasted at the wonder/glory of the alien love behind it, like the prodigal in Luke 15:20, smothered by his father’s love upon his return from the pigsty.

He wants us anchored in a guaranteed certainty in hope of the future that with our adoption as children comes a promised inheritance of unspeakable eternal wealth (Romans 8:16-17).

He wants us solidified in our understanding that the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6) serves to make us realize with increasing clarity the meaning of our filial relationship with God in Christ, and to lead us into an ever deeper response to God in this relationship (Packer, Knowing God, p. 220).

He wants us sobered and gripped by implications of our adoption for our growth in Gospel holiness because as sons and daughters loved by God He disciplines us in order to produce a harvest of righteousness in us as ones so trained by that discipline (Heb. 12:6-11).

 He wants us comforted, encouraged and strengthened in the assurance of our salvation knowing that the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children and that if children, then we are heirs (Rom. 8:16-17).

That, dear ones, is a grid. It’s biblical. It’s yours as adopted children of God. May it be secure as secure can be. Nothing matters more to your spiritual growth in 2010!

May the Holy Spirit work deeply in us this year to walk in the complete security of this oh so precious grid!

Adoption – Our Fountain Privilege

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I worked hard this morning in my message to persuade that adoption is the highest privilege afforded by the gospel.

It might be easier for me than some to embrace that, since I am an adopted son in the earthly realm.

I mentioned today that Nancy and I spent yesterday with my extended family to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. That’s her along side my stepdad.

I never stop marveling at the alien love that causes a man to make someone else’s child his son and heir. See what kind of love is this!

If you still need convincing on this idea of the uniqueness of adoption as a gospel blessing, Wayne Grudem offers his take in his systematic theology:

God could have given us justification without the privileges of adoption into his family, for he could have forgiven our sins and given us right legal standing before him without making us his children. It is important to realize this because it helps us to recognize how great are our privileges in adoption. Regeneration has to do with our spiritual life within. Justification has to do with our standing before God’s law. But adoption has to do with our relationship with God as our Father, and in adoption we are given many of the greatest blessings that we will know for all eternity. When we begin to realize the excellence of these blessings, and when we appreciate that God has no obligation to give us any of them, then we will be able to exclaim with the apostle John, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

It’s true. It’s really true. We are beloved children of our heavenly Father. See it. Savor it. Secure it by faith.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation

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It’s Saturday evening. I have just finished my final preparations for tomorrow’s first session of our 9:30 hour 2010 equipping class on prayer.

I’m wondering how much anyone else in our fellowship thinks with me how terribly important this effort is to the vitality and viability of our church in 2010? Oh how I pray many do.

After all, we say intercessory prayer is one of our core values, one of our ten priorities. Here is how we unpack it in our new member’s class:

We value Christ-connected prayer over the ministry. Apart from the power of Jesus Christ working in and through us we can accomplish nothing of lasting spiritual value that magnifies God’s glorious grace (John 15:5). Therefore we will relentlessly saturate every dimension of our ministry with prayer, petition, supplication, and intercession, along with thanksgiving, in order that we might continually abide in Christ, the true vine, and thus bear much fruit (John 15:7-8).

Looks good on paper or in a blog, but oh how much I/we struggle to make it a reality.

Hence the reason for our church-wide emphasis beginning tomorrow morning in the SDA fellowship hall. We want to grow in our experience of vital, intercessory prayer!

D. A. Carson writes in his introduction to the book we will use toward this end:

Just as God’s Word must reform our theology, our ethics, and our practices, so also must it reform our praying. The purpose of this book, then is to think through some of Paul’s prayers, so that we may align our prayer habits with his. We want to learn what to pray for, what arguments to use, what priorities we should adopt, what beliefs should shape our prayers, and much more (pp. 17-18).

Church, my praying needs reforming. What about yours?

A New Year’s Prayer

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Embarking today on another year of reading through the entire Bible today took me as always to Matthew 1:1-16, the genealogy of Jesus. Last year I wrote a prayer in light of some of the personages listed in the lengthy text. I revisited it again this year and offer it as a catalyst for prayer as others enter 2010. 

Heavenly Father, 

Give me the tenacious faith of Abraham.
Keep me from the fear of man and deception of Isaac.
Grant me a pursuit of your blessing so strenuous that puts my hip out of place with Jacob.
Deliver me from the lust of Judah.
Keep me from the malice, jealousy, resentment, and cruelty of Judah’s brothers.
Give me the perspective of Joseph to calculate your sovereignty.
Make me generous with the kindness of Boaz.
Make me loyal to commitments with the perseverance of Ruth.
Give me courage to take sanctified risks like Rahab.
Make me the father of godly descendants like Jesse.
Make me a worshipper after your own heart like David.
Help me to understand grace like You must have done for the wife of Uriah.
Give me wisdom like that of Solomon to lead your great people.
Keep me from the kind of bad counsel to which Rehoboam listened.
Make me a leader like Jehoshaphat with the courage and insight to send in the choir first.
Bless me with prophetic counselors like Isaiah even as you did Uzziah.
Keep me from the pride of Hezekiah in my advancing years.
Keep me from the wickedness of Manasseh but give me his repentant humility when I fall.
Fill me with the zeal of Josiah to work for the reform of your church.
Cause me to work hard with the energy of Zerubbabel in everything I do.
Make me a blend of righteousness and mercy and selflessness like Joseph.
Give me the submissive spirit of Mary.
Grant me the humility of Jesus. 

In Jesus’ name and for His glory, amen.

The Need for My Pastoral Best

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Apparently I need to do better at ducking snowballs. We woke up to the white stuff this morning. Before Bible study we slipped outside for some fun and frolic. One of the sheep got a little frisky and pelted me in the noggin. Good thing I had my hat on.

But I’m not referring to my need to move with greater quickness in this post. Rather I have a far more serious matter of required excellence in mind as it pertains to the role of the pastor of a local church. Paul speaks to it in 2 Timothy 2:15.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The Lord brought this verse to mind this morning as I heard yet another teacher here at Urbana handle the Scriptures in a less-than-tidy manner. Frankly, it has alarmed me how loose so many have been in their handling of their presenting duties. We have heard good things (this morning’s presentation of the gospel hit a doctrinally sound home run), but some of the ways the text has been manipulated at times to serve a foisted agenda in this conference has left me shivering in my already cold boots.

At that moment this morning I quietly heard the Lord say, not audibly, but intuitively, Curt, do your best as a teacher. Work hard in the study. When you stand in the pulpit for Me, do so prepared to drive a straight furrow through the field of any given text that I might may be glorified and each listener may have joy.

Lord, you make me want to be a better pastor.

Hunkering Down at Urbana '09

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urbana tuesday 008

I know. Doesn’t look like my compadres are doing much hunkering down at this missions conference! Snapped this photo on our way to lunch. Simply gotta have a photo of the arch!

We’re deep into day two. Thought you might like an idea of what a day at Urbana is like.

urbana tuesday 001

We start with inductive Bible study at 8:30 AM. This morning we studied John 2:1-11. We learned about the lavish way Jesus supplied the need of wine for the wedding reception that almost ran out of the same. The leader challenged us to think of ways we might show the abundant grace of God in reaching out to others who don’t know Christ. I immediately thought of our painting outreach to my widow neighbor last August. An abundance of grace and love rained down through that effort.

urbana tuesday 007

The morning general session follows at 10:45 AM. InterVarsity spared no expense in making the praise singing time a full-blown production, as you can see. I’m thinking I would like a bank of lights like this in our new building. Just kidding!

Expository messages working through the early chapters of John’s gospel have made up most of the teaching emphasis in the plenary sessions so far. But some speakers have ventured into social concerns and the challenge of how to meet staggering needs around the world while also attending to making disciples by preaching the gospel. Our delegates from OGC have impressed me by their determination to think biblically about what they hear and to evaluate with an appropriately discerning mind and heart. They make me want to be a better pastor.

In the afternoon, a wide variety of seminar options test a conferee’s decision-making capacities. Many topics have standing-room only crowds.

After dinner another plenary session follows with more praise singing, teaching, dramatic vignettes and other artistic media expressions to communicate the various needs of global missions.

The day ends with our groups meeting for debrief and prayer from about 10-11:00 PM, way past this old gospel soldier’s bedtime. But I managed to make it all the way to the end last night.

For some reason now I feel the need for nap.

Please continue to pray for us that God would speak to us and all who have come to St. Louis for the sake of the fame of the Name of Him who gave His life for the nations.

Greetings from Urbana '09!

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Urbana '09 050

We made it! Man, it’s cold in St. Louis. Suddenly I like living in the tropics.

Danny, Bethany, Julia, me, Jillian, Carissa, and Ashley all got here our separate ways safe and sound, weather and holiday travel issues notwithstanding.

The photo was taken in the exhibition hall at the Pioneers venue. Jillian is doing the recruiting thing while here underneath that huge globe partially visible in the background.

We have joined some 17,000 other believers from over 100 countries for InterVarsity’s global missions conference. We got off and running last night with the opening session and have enjoyed a day of Bible study, seminars and more. God is working in our lives. I hope to get these dear ones travelling with me to do some posting along the way. It won’t be easy. The schedule is packed. I’m cutting an afternoon seminar to do this post and some emails at, get this, Bubba Tea and Cafe where the wifi is free!

One quick thought from me about last night’s opening session has to do with this image:

hand 002

Sorry, I blurred this a bit, but do you have any idea how hard it is to take a still digital photo of your own hand, one-handed?

Last night we were reminded of this text from Isa. 49:

15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.

This is God’s answer to the charge that He forgets His people. Preposterous! Notice what v. 16 doesn’t say. I have engraved your name on the palms of my hands.. He says, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

I never saw that before! But it really wasn’t the point. The speaker wanted to encourage us that our mission wasn’t as big as we might think. He also later got to the point that it is bigger than we think when he went after the global aspect of evangelism. But this was about our individual witness. Our mission as Christians is as small as the person we work with, live near, or go to school with. At one point he asked us to write on our palms the first name of someone in our sphere of influence who needs Jesus. Then he had us thrust our hands into the air. I thought of Larry. I am praying for ways to introduce him to Jesus and His covenant keeping in love in 2010.

What about you? What name would you write on the palm of one of your hands?

May we be a church that realizes that our mission isn’t as big as we think it is and find ways to incarnate the person of Jesus in the lives of the lost.

Why Read Through the Bible in a Year or More?

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469px-Robert_Murray_McCheyne-234x300I say a year or more because I don’t want people to get overwhelmed by the size of the challenge. While I want to encourage believers to stretch to accomplish the task in a year, far better that we do it in a longer period of time than not at all.

It has been my practice to read according to a plan for covering Genesis to Revelation in a year for the last ten years. Few disciplines have more thoroughly shaped my spiritual life. I plead with you – pick up a copy of the Robert Murray McCheyne plan at church this Sunday or access one of the several alternative approaches you can download on line. Or purchase a copy of one of several brands of a through-the–bible-in-a-year bibles available at your bookstore. For the last two years I have used the TNIV of one of those and have enjoyed it thoroughly. This means of grace will change your life!

In case you need convincing about this, I submit to you sixteen biblical reasons for giving yourself to reading through the Bible in a year.

  1. All Scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim. 3:16). Inspired means breathed out. It comes from God Himself to us as a gift. We dare not neglect any portion of the sacred text.
  2. That same Scripture in entirety equips us for a life of good works (2 Tim. 3:17).
  3. That same Scripture in entirety leads us to a proper knowledge and experience of the gift of salvation and the eternal life it bestows (Phil. 2:16; 2 Tim. 3:15; Jas. 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:23).
  4. The Word of God is His appointed means for fighting sin, Satan, and temptation in the spiritual warfare that constantly assaults us (Matt. 4:1-1; Eph. 6:17).
  5. Scripture pierces the heart with Holy Spirit conviction to purify thoughts, intentions, and motives of the heart (Heb. 4:12).
  6. Scripture conveys to us the grace of God and helps to build us up in our most holy faith (Acts 20:32; Jude 21).
  7. The Word of God is the means whereby God sanctifies us – sets us apart for His use and purposes (John 17:17; Eph. 5:26). It provides the spiritual nourishment whereby we may grow with respect to our glorious salvation (1 Pet. 2:2).
  8. Scripture keeps us from the peril of spiritual error (Matt. 22:29).
  9. The Bible charts out for us the path to true blessing and happiness (Luke 11:28).
  10. Scripture fosters faith and counters unbelief (John 20:31; Rom. 10:17).
  11. The Word clothes us with a nobility similar to the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).
  12. God’s Word transforms the mind in such a way to make a powerful antidote for being squeezed into the world’s mold (Rom. 12:2).
  13. Scripture increases patience, comfort, and perseverance in the testing that comes with trials (Rom. 15:4).
  14. The Bible sets apart the everyday gifts of God like food and sex by informing our understanding of the proper use and enjoyment of such things (1 Tim. 4:5).
  15. The Scriptures act as a preserving agent keeping us from the disaster of apostasy and spiritual shipwreck (Heb. 2:1-3).
  16. The Bible yields to us the exceedingly precious promises of God whereby we may become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).

There are probably more. But you get the point. Oh how many benefits come to us by the discipline of daily reading the Scriptures! If you make any resolution for 2010 I pray it would be this one. Take up and read through the entire Bible this year.

When the Light of the World Will Really Be Marveled At

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menorahs

Last night in my Christmas Eve message on John 8:12 I spoke of Jesus as “being so full of Himself.” I continue to imagine what it would have been like to have heard Him say sentences like “I am the light of the world.” The Jews listening to His words beneath the menorahs in the temple that day would have connected the historical dots. Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of everything the Feast of Booths typified, including the shekinah glory of God that led the Israelites faithfully through their wilderness wanderings (Exodus 13:21-22). When He said, “I am the light of the world,” He was claiming to be the splendid radiance of God’s glory on display in a human body. Full of Himself, indeed, and rightly so.

As bright as that glory did shine in our Lord’s earthly ministry, it was a glory veiled by the humiliation of His incarnation. We celebrate this mystery, Immanuel, God with us, each Christmas, beholding the glory of the only begotten, full of grace and truth (John 1:17-18). Each Christmas Eve when I preach I try to strip back something of the curtain of our fleshly existence that dims that glory before our eyes that we might see it more clearly with eyes of faith. We marvel, but as those who look through a glass darkly.

It shall not always be so. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 speaks of a day when Christ shall come again “to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed.”

Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664), the Presbyterian minister known for his exceptionally holy life, described the day of Christ’s coming this way:

When the saints shall but look upon Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, they exceedingly admire Him. . . . All that believe shall break out into admiration of Jesus Christ. At the first sight, they shall observe such excellence in Jesus Christ that they shall be infinitely taken with it. Here [on earth] we speak of Christ, and in speaking, we admire. But how they will admire [Him] when they shall not only speak or hear, but also see and behold Him, Who is the express image of God, and the brightness of His Father’s glory (Heb. 1:3)! O the luster that He casts forth each way! Is not His very body more sparkling than the diamond before the sun? Yea, more than the sun itself now shining at noonday? How should the saints but wonder at this sight? Oh! There is more beauty and glory in Jesus Christ than ever their thoughts and imaginations could possibly reach! There is more weight of sweetness, joy, and delight in Jesus Christ than either the seeing eye, hearing ear, or the vast understanding heart (which can multiply and add still to any former thoughts) can possibly conceive (1Co 2:9)! Every soul will cry out then, “I believed [I would] see much glory in Jesus Christ when I saw Him.  I had some twilight or moonlight glances of Christ on earth: but—O blind I! O narrow I!—[I] could never have faith, opinion, thought, or imagination to fathom the thousand thousandth part of the worth and incomparable excellence that I now see in Him!”

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!