Tag Archives: grace

The Rhythm of Grace

August 15, 2012 By in Spiritual Life Tags: , , , 6 Comments

This comes to you from the pen of covenant member, Matt Kenyon. Thanks Matt!

So I’ve been grinding my teeth at night.

My dentist says it’s genetic. Could be. Personally, I think it’s my trademark anxiety that comes from too many months of half-heartedly abiding in Christ and steadily drifting from the love of His sovereign grace and prayer. I kept that diagnosis to myself while I was in the dental chair, though.

Sunday’s sermon delivered at Orlando Grace on the fifteenth chapter of John was no coincidence, and was a timely example of the Lord’s common grace in my life.

Throughout the better part of the chapter, Jesus is articulating the believer’s relationship to Himself and the Father through the lush metaphor of the vine and the branches. Much of the focus of the Lord’s words are in reference to His own role as the grace-supplying vine and the Father’s role as the loving pruner of the Christian. However, it isn’t long before we run headlong into a single commanding verb from the lips of our Savior that requires intentionality and action from the believer: “abide.”

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4)

Abiding may sound ethereal; I mean, how exactly do you “abide” in anybody, much less the God of the universe? Jesus elaborates further:

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will done for you.” (John 15:7)

Now, we’re getting somewhere. When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, the means of grace by which we abide are simple: being saturated in the reading and memorization of Scripture (His very “words”) on the daily, being constant in prayer (Romans 12:12), living in a covenant community with other believers, among others. Notice that I said simple — not easy. This is why we need the grace of a Romans 8:28 God undergirding our feeble wills even to perform such acts of spiritual discipline. After all, Jesus plainly tells us in regard to all matters of spiritual effectiveness: “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5b)

Currently, I’m recording an album, and trucking my way through a very robust online video class on sound editing and recording. One of the fundamental lessons deals with amplified sound waves. We’ve all seen what a sound wave looks like: a line that peaks and valleys in different patterns over and under a zero axis. Now, I’ll spare you the geek-talk, but one of the examples in the lesson illustrated what happens when you double (or amplify) the sound wave just milliseconds out-of-sync. The peak of the first waveform doesn’t match the peak of the next, and the resulting sound is slightly less preferable than nails on a chalkboard. The further away the sound waves spread from each other, the nastier and more distorted the sound becomes. However, when they are perfectly in sync with each other, the difference is like night and day. The doubled wave lays perfectly in line with the first wave, and the sound is amplified, pristine and clearer than ever.

This is what happens to me when I fall out of sync with the gospel of grace; when I’m not actively abiding in the vine. Like I said before, abiding is a verb that demands intentionality. You don’t wake up one morning and accidentally start abiding in the Lord. On the contrary actually, most mornings we wake up thinking about our problems, our idols, our vices and our comforts. The original rhythm Adam had with the Father in the garden has become all wonky and awkward, and must be corrected by grace-laden prayer and mind-renewing Scripture.

So, today, let’s start abiding deeply again. Let us not dare, however, attempt it upon our own flawed ability. Knowing that we are justified not by works, but by grace, let us find strength in Philippians 4:12, in God moving and working underneath all of our actions, to abide. The Son shall supply the nutrients to fight, the Father shall prune the deadness that bars, and we shall certainly bear fruit in the rhythm of the heavenly.

Whatever You Get, Get Wisdom

May 24, 2012 By in Spiritual Life Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Last Friday night it was my privilege to give the charge to this year’s graduates of Veritas Academy. This post is the text of my address. I entitled the talk Whatever You Get, Get Wisdom.

Let me add my congratulations to you on your graduation. Job well done! I count it an enormous privilege to address you, your family, and friends, in these commencement exercises. I too once sat where you now sit. May, 1970, I graduated from Conestoga High School, in PA. I decided to pursue, as I suspect most if not all of you have done, higher education. I went on to acquire three earned degrees. But it all started with finishing high school.

I will never forget a conversation I had with the principal of my high school upon graduation. He had only one charge for me. Get straight A’s. Believe it or not, I did that. I finished my undergrad with a 4.0 GPA. When I thought about how I would use my time in this charge to you this evening, I wanted to say something equally succinct, but not the same message. I wish my principal had told me this, quite frankly, though I have nothing against academic excellence. But nobody and I mean nobody, in my profession as a pastor, has ever asked me about my GPA at any institution. But they care a great deal about how much wisdom I have.

As well they should. The book of Proverbs in the bible puts it this way in 4:7-8 – The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. Prov. 8:11 goes so far to call wisdom far better than jewels – all you may desire cannot compare with her. That statement should focus you intently in terms of where you go from here. And so that’s my charge to you in this commencement address, graduates – whatever you get, get wisdom.

I want to give you blazing fast in bullet point fashion, six two-word principles for getting wisdom all from the book of Proverbs, the treasure chest of wisdom. I made this easy to remember by making an acrostic from the word wisdom. If you embrace these things and act on them, I believe you stand to gain the prize among prizes, no matter what your career endeavor. Nobody can do without the priceless commodity of wisdom – put simply, the ability to apply knowledge in any situation to the best of all possible ends.

W – Worship God.

I – Imbibe Scripture

S – Seek counsel.

D – Doubt self.

O – Overlook sin.

M – Make disciples.

Okay, let’s go. First, W for Worship God. Prov. 9:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. If you get this wrong, you get everything wrong. You have no hope for wisdom in your life if you don’t start here. The five of you, listen to me, if you haven’t already settled this, then settle it tonight. Whom will you worship? The world will assault your soul with a million and one competitors to the living God. It will bid you worship money, power, sex, possessions, status, leisure, and on the list goes. Determine that nothing matters more to you than pleasing God and you will set yourself well on the road to getting wisdom, the jewel-in-the-crown prize.

W for worship God. Second, I for Imbibe Scripture. I’m sorry. Nobody uses the word imbibe anymore. But it fits. It means literally to drink something as to imbibe a beverage like a Coke. Prov. 2:1-6 –

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Make a decision now as to what disciplines you will master. Whatever your vocational calling, your calling as a follower of Jesus requires you to make the word of God your daily bread. You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Jesus words, not mine. No Scripture, no wisdom.

Worship God. Imbibe Scripture. Third, S for Seek Counsel. Prov. 13:10 – with those who take advice is wisdom. Prov. 19:20 – Listen to advice and accept counsel, that you may gain wisdom in the future. When I graduated seminary, I originally wanted to seek a position under a seasoned pastor to learn for five years or so before I struck out on my own. I let somebody talk me out of that because of my supposed giftedness and the waste that would be. One of the worst decisions I have ever made. No amount of giftedness will ever compensate for a lack of wisdom. Get yourself a mentor, maybe multiple mentors and badger them for input, critique, counsel and insight. You will be wiser for it, I guarantee it.

Worship God. Imbibe Scripture. Seek Counsel. Fourth, D for Doubt Self. Not in the sense of lacking self-confidence. That is not what I mean. Doubt self in terms of not trusting your sinful heart. Proverbs 11:2 – When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. Listen to me. Your and my worst enemy is ourselves – our desperately wicked, deceitful-above-all-else, who-can-know-it Jer. 17:9 heart. In your relating to others, learn to be suspicious first and foremost of your own sinful heart. That’s wisdom.

Worship God. Imbibe Scripture. Seek Counsel. Doubt Self. Fifth, O for Overlook Sin. Not in yourself. That wouldn’t square with D for doubt self. No, overlook sin in others. I love this verse. Prov. 19:11 – Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. Hear this. It is GLORY to overlook the sins of others. Deal harshly with your own sin by repenting as the Lord convicts you through the grace that Jesus in the gospel gives you but deal with others with amazing grace, patience, forbearance and love. I have a saying. I think it’s a good one. You will have to work a whole lot harder to offend me than that. Do not be easily offended. That’s wisdom.

Worship God. Imbibe Scripture. Seek Counsel. Doubt Self. Overlook Sin. Sixth, M is for Make Disciples. Do you want to fast track toward wisdom? Determine to give yourself away to others. Proverbs 4:11 – I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. Here is my challenge to you, graduates. Don’t just seek a mentor; be a mentor. I know no better way to acquire wisdom than to need it desperately because someone else depends on you to show them the way. Someone out there needs you to take them under your wing and show them the way. Do you want to learn wisdom? Then take somebody, probably younger than you, maybe in your church, and pour your life into them.

That’s my charge. Whatever you get, get wisdom. Get from God the ability to apply what you know whatever the circumstances to the best of all possible ends. To do that, commit yourself to these six things. Worship God. Imbibe Scripture. Seek Counsel. Doubt Self. Overlook Sin. And Make Disciples.

As I searched for a way to close this address, I turned, in wisdom, I think, to a mentor of mine, John Piper, of Desiring God and Bethlehem Baptist Church. Turns out he spoke at a graduation like this one and finished this way:

Finally, there is one last, absolutely essential thing to do if you would “get wisdom”: you must come to Jesus. He said to the people of his day, “The queen of the south will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold something greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42). What an understatement. Greater than Solomon indeed! Solomon spoke God’s wisdom. Jesus is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). Others had spoken truth; he is the truth. Others had pointed the way to life; he is the way and the life (John 14:6). Others had given promises, but “all the promises of God find their yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Others had offered God’s forgiveness; Jesus bought it by his death. Therefore, in him are “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). To know and love and follow this Jesus is to own the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness. Therefore, the command, “Get wisdom,” means first and foremost “Come to Jesus! Come to Jesus!” in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom.

Dear ones that is wisdom. If you get anything from this point on, in all your getting get wisdom. Amen.

By the Grace of God I Am What I Am

March 14, 2012 By in Theology Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

One of the great liberating texts of Scripture in my life comes from 1 Corinthians 15:10.

By the grace of God I am what I am.

In spite of Paul’s horrific resume as a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent (1 Tim. 1:13), he counted himself among those who witnessed the resurrected Christ first-hand and became the hardest working apostle of all. And he attributed it all to grace and nothing but grace.

John Bunyan, author of the classic Pilgrim’s Progress, offered this response on an occasion of hearing this verse of divine writ:

I am not what I ought to be. Ah, how imperfect and deficient!

I am not what I wish to be. I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good!

I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection.

Yet, though I am not what I ought to be,
nor what I wish to be,
nor what I hope to be,
I can truly say, I am not what I once was;
a slave to sin and Satan;
and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge,
‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’

Though none of us is what we ought, wish, or hope to be, and won’t be until we reach glory, truth is we aren’t what we once were.

May we heartily join with the apostle and declare, By the grace of God I am what I am.

Why Celebrate Reformation Day?

October 31, 2011 By in Events Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Better known for Halloween in our culture, October 31 marks the anniversary of Martin Luther’s bold and courageous posting of his 95 theses on the Wittenburg Church door in 1517. The dominoes toppled from that point on culminating in what we know as the Protestant Reformation.

Last night folks from our church gathered for a family-friendly, interactive-learning, fun-filled and creative celebration of this oh-so-important date in church history. Many thanks to all who served to make the evening so memorable and worthwhile!

At the outset of the evening, I spoke briefly as to why I believe we simply must as a church shaped by reformed theology mark Reformation Day with some sort of observance and celebration. In a nutshell, it is because all that was recovered for God’s people in the radical departure from the doctrinal and ecclesiastical aberrations of Roman Catholicism.

We need only look at the five solas of the Reformation to summarize what Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Zwingly, et al managed with God’s help to restore to Christianity.

Sola Scriptura – scripture alone. We got the Bible back as the sole source of divine authority. No pope, no council, no confession, no creed can bind the conscience. Only God’s word can. Unless all of the above conform to holy scripture, we should bear them no heed.

Solus Christus – Christ alone. We got the gospel back. The real gospel. Instead of a Christ plus human effort – baptism, church attendance, indulgences, giving alms, etc., we saw recovered the only thing that will actually save lost sinners – the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Without the declaration of this precious truth,  a so-called gospel is no gospel, no good news at all.

Sola Gracia – grace alone. We got sovereign grace back. This recovery goes hand-in-glove with the previous one. The Reformation recovered the majesty of God in His sovereignty and the glory of His grace in that due to man’s sinful condition inherited from Adam leaving him unable to do anything on his own to remedy his condition, only by God’s electing, calling, and justifying of His own good pleasure is there hope for any member of the human race.

Sola Fide – faith alone. We got the chief article back. This became the rally cry of the Reformation. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The Reformers never tired of declaring justification by this formula. Where would we be without the reformation restoring to us this precious truth: justification is the act of God by which he declares sinners to be righteous because of Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone?

Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone be the glory. We got the centrality of God’s glory back. The Reformation returned us to Rom. 11:36. All things are from God and to God, especially our salvation, so we must cry to God alone be the glory.

To my grief I have gone far too many years in a near forty year walk with Christ ignoring Reformation Day. No longer. Two years and counting. I am committed to this observance for as many years as the Lord will allow me to live. If you sing things like Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling, I would urge you to do the same.

For a couple of excellent blog posts from others on this Reformation day click here and here.

Why I Won't Preach on the Graces of Gospel-Shaped Community This Sunday

October 26, 2011 By in Sunday Morning Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

Well, it’s certainly not because I don’t believe that the series matters. I continue to pray that God will use our fall emphasis on loving community motivated by the impetus of God’s love in the gospel (1 John 4:7-12) to shape us into a people fiercely devoted to one another. I hope you do too!

But some Sundays deserve special attention and warrant given their historical significance. The next two at OGC are no exception. This week, on October 30, we observe Reformation Sunday. It marks the anniversary of the magisterial reformer Martin Luther’s posting of his famous 95 theses on the church door at Wittenburg on October 31, 1517. That daring feat unleashed divine tectonic forces that launched the monumental event in the history of the church known as the Protestant Reformation.

Now we are a distinctly reformed, baptistic, protestant church. We owe our existence and distinctives to the sovereignty of God displayed in this historical event. That I have failed to acknowledge this significant Sunday in years past (last year excepted) during my watch as pastor-teacher at Orlando Grace borders on the unforgivable. Shame on me for my ignorance and neglect.

Never again. I simply must preach on something pertaining to and emblematic of the significance of the event. And so I will turn to Romans 1:16-17, what some have called Luther’s text, as my sermon text in a message entitled How Not To Be Ashamed of the Gospel. I will undertake to show you five glories of the gospel that should make us all eminently eager to “preach” the gospel to the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike.

In addition to the special emphasis during the morning service on this theme, in the evening at the SDA, beginning at 6 PM, we will have a special worship/educational/fellowship celebration commemorating the reformation that you won’t want to miss.

Whether you do Halloween the next night or not (let your conscience guide), I urge you to enter into the superior celebration the night before that is commemorating a heritage without which we might still labor under the tyranny of Rome’s work’s gospel without access to the treasure of all five solas – scriptura, Christus, gracia, fide, and deo gloria .

For more insight into the history and significance of Reformation Sunday click here.

Are You Sunshine or a Cloud?

September 27, 2011 By in Spiritual Life Tags: , , , Leave a comment

When I preached on Hebrews 10:24-25 a few weeks ago, I made reference to a definition of encouragement I read by Kevin DeYoung in September’s edition of Tabletalk.

I stumbled across the same content in a post on his blog and decided to pass it along on our blog.

To whet your appetite, I give you this sample where he defines biblical encouragement and distinguishes it from flattery:

According to my biblically informed definition, encouragement means highlighting the evidences of God’s grace in the gospel or in a gospel-centered person to the glory of God. Each part of that definition is important. Encouragement is not spotlighting a person, but underlining God’s grace. It is not about simply commending nice people to make them feel good, but about commending the work of the gospel in others to glory of God.

You can read the entire piece here.

The Grace of Serving (Part 1)

August 21, 2011 By in Exposition Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Today’s message from Galatians 5:1-15 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

I articulated the main theme of the text this way:

So here is my main take away from this text in terms of what it means through love serve one another. Beware turning liberty in Christ into license to sin by serving others through love by practicing biblical peacemaking. Love one another well through a devoted bondslave-like service in so-far-as-it-depends-on-you-live-peaceably-with-all (Rom. 12:18), God-glorifying, Christ-imitating, biblically-informed conflict resolution at every turn.

As promised, here is the link for the September 22-25, here in Orlando, Peacemaker Ministries National Conference, with the theme of Hope in Brokenness.

The Place of Unbelief in the Plan of God (Part 1)

May 15, 2011 By in Exposition Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Today’s message from John 12:35-43 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

I summarized the message this way:

The causes behind Israel’s persistent rejection of Jesus challenge us to believe in Him as the Messiah. We’ve looked at two so far – prophetic prediction from Isa. 53:1 and sovereign preterition from Isa. 6:10.

Then I gave three applications from the doctrine of reprobation, the first for the unbeliever and the next two for the believer:

  1. Believe the gospel eagerly seizing the opportunity involved.
  2. Share the gospel confidently remembering the gravity involved (see 2 Corinthians 2:14-17).
  3. Glory in the gospel humbly acknowledging the sovereignty involved (see Romans 9:17-24). A complete glorying in the gospel in light of God’s sovereignty consists of two aspects of the doctrine of predestination – acknowledging His grace in election with untempered gratitude AND His justice in reprobation with tempered grief.

[33] Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! [34] “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” [35] “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” [36] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

(Romans 11:33-36 ESV)

Strength from the God of Keen Senses

May 8, 2011 By in Exposition Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Today’s message from Genesis 16 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Charles Spurgeon made this comment about the grace of God that pursued Hagar through the angel of the Lord:

I think I see her there, her eyes red with weeping, her spirit broken down with the hunger of her journey, sitting a while and refreshed a moment, and resolved not to stoop and never to go back—and then, again, shuddering at the darkness that lay before her and afraid to go on. It was in such a state as that that God met with her! To all intents and purposes she was a friendless, outcast woman. She had left the only tents where she could claim a shelter. She had gone into the wilderness—no father, no mother, no brother, no sister to care for her. She turned her back upon those who had any interest in her and now she was left alone—alone, alone in a desert land without an eye to pity or a hand to help! It was then, under those peculiar circumstances of trial and of sin commingled, that God met with her.

When you least expect it, when you least deserve it, the God of keen senses will find you and give you strength.

Bin Laden's Death in a Different Light

May 2, 2011 By in Cultural Issues, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , 3 Comments

As one might expect, the blogosphere is alive and well about someone who isn’t. I refer, of course, to the death of Osama bin Laden.

The flurry of activity on this score, some of it excellent (see Justin Taylor for example), gave me pause about piling on to the discussion.

Obviously, I gave in. Blame it in part on yesterday’s message in John 12:34-36, The Parting Plea of the Public Christ.

Two billion inhabitants of the planet earth have never heard the blessed gospel of the glorious God, the good news of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, come to live a perfect life and die a substitutionary death on behalf of undeserving sinners, so that they might know forgiveness, have credited to their spiritual account the 100% righteousness of Christ, and receive the gift of eternal life.

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect Osama bin Laden was one of them. More than likely he never even had a chance to walk in the light that the darkness might not overtake him, as it most surely did given the acts of evil he perpetrated.

Oh how grateful I am, who except for the grace of God may well have gone the way of bin Laden, for the mercies of God which opened my eyes to my rebellious heart, and brought me out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14). If He hadn’t shown me such mercy, how easily the same darkness, to one degree or another, could have overtaken me.

Can we see this poor, evil, got-what-we-all-deserve man in this light? Have we in the west, with so much greater access to the gospel of Jesus, heard His plea to walk in the light while we have the light? Spurgeon warned:

I put before you this serious consideration, that you are at present favored with the Light of God, but you are only favored with it for a certain term. Do not reckon upon always having it, for the Light may be removed from you. My dear Hearer, the day may come when you will have to go away from this country and be found far off in the bush of Australia, or the backwoods of America. Or you may even, in this country, be located where you will not be able to hear the Gospel, for what you will hear will not be the Gospel, and you will be obliged to confess that it is not! Therefore, while you have the Light of God, remember that it is a favorable season for your decision for Christ. The day may come, as I said before, when the voice that has thrilled you, again and again, and that wakes the echoes of your soul’s most secret chambers, shall be silent in death. The time may come when, although your minister and you, yourself, are still left in the same place, yet, so far as you are concerned, the Holy Spirit will be gone, and so the Light will have departed from you. Take heed, I beseech you, lest it really be so, and use the Light while you have it.

Can we who by virtue of our union with Christ gained the privileged and responsible identity of sons of light see this man’s death in yet another light? Does it not call us to double and triple our efforts to shine like stars (Philippians 2:14-16) in bringing the good news to those near and far with gospel works and words?

Lord, shine your light in our hearts regarding this state of affairs and more that we might look beyond the obvious, the superficial, the carnal, the political, that we might see with the spiritually discerning eyes of the gospel.