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Category Archives: Growth/Pursuit
Why We Worry
Do not be anxious about your life. (MATTHEW 6:25)
“Why do we worry? Because we don’t believe. We’re not really convinced the same Jesus who can keep a sparrow in the air knows where our lost luggage is, or how we’ll pay that car repair bill. Or if we believe He can deliver us through our difficulties, we doubt if He will. We let Satan sow seeds of doubt in our minds about God’s love and care for us.
The great antidote to anxiety is to come to God in prayer about everything. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Nothing’s too big for Him to handle or too small to escape His attention. Paul said we’re to come to God “with thanksgiving.” We should thank Him for His past faithfulness in delivering us from troubles. We should thank Him for the fact that He’s in control of every circumstance of our lives and that nothing can touch us that He doesn’t allow. We should thank Him that in His infinite wisdom He’s able to work in this circumstance for our good. We can thank Him that He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The promised result is not deliverance, but the peace of God. One of the reasons we don’t find this peace is that all too often we won’t settle for anything other than deliverance from the trouble. But God, through Paul, promises us peace, a peace that is unexplainable. It will guard our hearts and minds against the anxiety to which you and I are so prone.”
Gerald Bridges;Jerry Bridges. Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey Devotional (p. 81). Kindle Edition.
The Doctrine of Suffering
Listen to David Platt discuss a theology of suffering now or download. David Platt’s complete teaching, Secret Church: The Cross and Suffering, is available here.
Moses’ Farwell Address
The book of Deuteronomy is a sermon given by Moses just before the people cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land. We can learn a lot from the man who met face to face with the Living God. Here are a few things that stand out:
- Moses intends to instruct and inspire the people that their God is both faithful and able to do what He says! Moses shows that God is faithful to a sinful people because of the promise that He made to Abraham. They are a people of His choosing, not because of their own effort, striving or obedience.
- God’s sovereignty and grace are in focus. He is sovereign over all nations. He is gracious to those who do not deserve it.
- Moses explains how the Law is the outflow of the Great Commandment given in 6:5 (Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might).
- “Deuteronomy constantly addresses the “heart” of its audience: embracing this law, seeking the good of this people, is the right response to God’s grace and the embodiment of virtue.” ESV Study Bible
- Moses recognizes that God must act in the heart of the Israelites if they are to be faithful.
- Israel exists to love God with every fiber of their being which is the means by which the world will learn of the one true God.
- Remembering God’s faithfulness & the people’s unfaithfulness AND looking forward to God’s continued faithfulness & warning the people not to fall in to idolatry. The theology of Deuteronomy provides the fuel for the reforms instituted by Josiah in 2 Kings 23.
- The heart and the need for full embodiment of the Law through heart felt affection and obedience. Deuteronomy recognizes that God must move in the hearts of men if they are to faithfully obey Him and His law.
- The Sovereign hand of the Almighty is in focus. God provides Egypt as provision in the midst of drought to Joseph (who acknowledges the sovereign hand of God by working out for good, what his brothers meant for bad), God protects and raises up Moses – even raising him under Pharaoh’s own roof. Then God calls Moses, who is weak of speech, to lead the people out of Egypt. God commands control over all things with the plagues, parting the sea and provisions for His rebellious people in the wilderness. He continues His display of His sovereignty as the people take the land. It is not because they were faithful or special of their own doing, it is because He is mighty and will glorify His name.
The Everyday Work of Appropriating the Gospel
“How then do we learn to live daily in the present reality of our justification and the hope of God’s blessings on our lives coming to us through Christ? The answer is we must work at it daily. As I stated previously, we have a natural drift toward a performance-based relationship with God. We are like a person in a rowboat trying to row upstream against the current. The instant the rower stops pulling on his or her oars, the boat will start drifting backward with the current. We can never, as the old saying goes, “rest on our oars” in our daily dependence on Christ. Practically speaking, how do we keep plugging along? We go to the Scriptures containing the promises of God regarding the forgiveness of our sins and the imputation (crediting) to us of Christ’s perfect righteousness.
The following are Scriptures regarding God’s promise of forgiveness of our sins:
As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)
I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25)
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (Romans 4:7-8)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
Here are some Scriptures regarding reliance on Christ’s perfect righteousness:
As by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:3-4)
Because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Philippians 3:9)”
Bridges, Jerry (2012-01-13). The Transforming Power of the Gospel (Growing in Christ) (Kindle Locations 858-887). Navpress. Kindle Edition.
Tim Keller on True Happiness
“Missions exist because worship doesn’t”
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.
Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Ps 97:1). “Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Ps 67:3-4).
But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Ps 104:34, 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.”
–John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993/2003), 17.
A profoundly practical way to build belief
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8–9 ESV)
The post from yestereday, beating fear, anxiety & worry involves a transference of trust, was about how we must build belief in the fact that God is good, sovereign and faithful if we wish to overcome fear, anxiety & worry in our lives. Today, we will explore a profoundly practical way to begin doing that. The Apostle transitions from telling us not to worry (because God is in control) to telling us to fill our lives with things that inspire a worship of God instead of our idols. This is an incredibly practical thing that we can do. Far too often, we read this verse as a precaution to avoid thinking or exposing ourselves to immoral things – that is not the intent at all! This is an admonishment to find things that stir one’s affections for Christ. These are true, gospel saturated truths that evoke worship in the soul – this worship then overflows in to service. What kind of things?
- True things – seeing things as they actually are. Jesus is true (Matthew 22:16, Mark 12:14), God is true (John 3:33, 7:18, 8:26, Romans 3:4), Jesus’ flesh & blood is true food and true drink
- Honorable things – serious, reverent, holy, dignified, honest
- Just things – righteous, right, upright, virtuous, observant of divine & human laws
- Pure things – holy, morally upright, blameless, innocent, chaste, exciting reverence
- Lovely things – friendly, affectionate, sentiment & feeling, acceptable, pleasing
- Commendable things – worthy of praise
- Excellent things – virtuous, praise worthy, moral goodness
- Praise worthy things -things that evoke worship in your heart
THINK on these things. To think means to take a mental inventory, esteem, to take an account of and treat accordingly, reckon, run debits & credits, meditate, weigh, understand, count (accounting term), reason, regard, remind, understand or consider. This is no fleeting thought, what is in view is a disciplined effort to take a mental inventory of things that are right, things that stir up our affections, things that cause us to worship. This is only done with intentionality. There are so many different things vying for our attention nowadays (ie Facebook, Twitter, politics, athletics, activities, hobbies, relationships, family, friends, work, and the list goes on and on) – good things – it is the rare person that has disciplined himself or herself to drive out the distractions and dwell upon transcendent, ultimate, eternal things. It is easier to open up the computer, turn on the TV or run to the next activity than it is to still ones heart and mind and beg the Almighty to do what only He can do – irrigate our dry parched soul. Being intentional will never irrigate our souls, it merely places us in proximity to the waterfall of God’s grace, we still must dependently and desperately beg for His divine intervention. Being still is a hard fought discipline.
What do you dream about? What fuel are you feeding your fantasies? What sermon are you preaching to yourself when no one is there to hear it? What you dream about, fantasize about or preach to yourself shapes your life, emotions and actions. “If I only had that, if my life was more like hers, if I had a family like them, if my marriage looked like theirs, or if I was wired like him.” These things are idols, these things are false gods that we often place our trust in for deliverance, these hopes and dreams will never enable you to walk freely. We need to think upon greater things and beg God to root out these idols in our hearts. We must pray for God to enlighten our eyes, quicken our hearts and give us a desire for Him and Him alone. To be free, we must be willing to let go of our heart’s idols and desperately grasp a hold of God and God alone. We must come to a place, like Habakuk, where God alone is enough.
How do we begin to do this? We should use our time (especially our discretionary time) and be disciplined in our minds. The Apostle apparently believes that what we meditate upon, fantasize about and spend time turning over in our minds has a profound effect on the way that we feel, what we do, and how we behave. This is a more expanded version of 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV). This is a call to think more about the manifest glory of the Almighty – to see Him as who He really is. Spend time thinking about and mulling over the trueness of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God; find things (ie nature, Olympic competition, children, etc) the stir up your affections for a big, true, holy, loving, just, good, gracious God. It is not easy nor natural – there is no secret formula, but nothing in our faith is easy, natural or formulaic – our faith is supernatural. BEG GOD FOR HELP!
Beating fear, anxiety & worry involves a transference of trust
“The Lord is at hand, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5–7 ESV)
If you have been a Christian very long then you have undoubtedly read this verse, memorized this verse, had this verse quoted to you or clung desperately to it in the midst of difficult seasons in your life. How many times have you said (out loud or to yourself), I have prayed about it, but I am still just as nervous about this situation as I was before – maybe even more so! Maybe the Apostle is not giving us a “secret formula” or “silver bullet” for beating anxiety. So what hope is there in becoming less anxious if this verse does not seem to help? We need to dig a little deeper to understand what surrounds this verse so that we can better apply it in the context of the broader letter and apply it in our lives.
You know you aren’t supposed to be anxious (Jesus said it in Matthew 6:25-33, 10:19; Luke 10:41, 12:11, 12:22, 12:25) and Paul says it here in Philippians. So how do we begin to beat anxiety? To word translated “anxious” literally means “troubled with cares” or “to seek to promotes one’s interest” (Thayer’s Greek-English of the New Testament). Beating anxiety is not as a easy as praying a prayer, as if it were a magic incantation. What the Apostle is laying out for us in this passage is a transference of affections.
First and foremost, beating anxiety and fear is built upon the gospel truth that God is faithful, good and able (3:20-21) to do what He has promised. The Apostle starts this passage by looking back at this reality by writing, “The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:5). Remember, Jesus is coming soon, rest in that promise. When we are anxious, it is a sign that we are struggling to believe that God is good, that He is really in control of all things or that He will be faithful to do that which He has promised to do. This is reminiscent of Jesus’ admonishment not to worry in Matthew 6:25-34. Why should we not worry? Not merely because it is unprofitable (worry won’t add a single hour to your life). No, the primary reason that Jesus is telling us not to worry is because God is in absolute control of everything! The birds and lilies know it, and so should we. Fear, anxiety & worry begins to loose its grip on our souls as we grow in our belief that God is in absolute control and that He is working good for those who love Him.
This happens by prayer – not just short prayers, but a deep wrestling in the soul with the Creator of the cosmos. A wrestling that will ultimately deliver us from our own self centeredness. There is a transference of affections from us and our wants to the One who is faithful. All of this connects to a trust in God that yields rejoicing. The root is a trust in the good and sovereign nature of God – believing this is the work that we must do. The byproduct is a truly supernatural peace that transcends our own ability to understand it, reminiscent to Jesus promising rest for the weary soul in Matthew 11:28-29. This transference of trust and reliance is especially true in the midst of severe difficulty (Paul writes this from prison) and Romans 8 boldly proclaims: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (v18), “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (v28), “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (v31). Wrestle in prayer to believe that God is good, that He is sovereign and that He is faithful; the more that we believe this gospel truth, the less anxious we become.
Frustrated & Fruitless?
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” (Philippians 4:4–5 ESV)
The Apostle once again brings rejoicing back in to focus. Rejoicing (joy) is a deep contentment, an abiding joy, a soul level happiness that is not dependent upon our circumstances – it has at its root a dependent trust in and reliance upon a good and sovereign God. All Christians know that they are supposed to be joyful, after all if is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). So why are so few Christians really joyfully?
We may think that it is our responsibility to manufacture joy (and many other traits like love, patience, compassion). But it is not our responsibility to produce these traits in our lives – we cannot and will not ever be able to manufacture these. Most Christian’s wear themselves out trying to produce them. Simply put, we lack the resources on our own to produce good things in our lives. Joy is a byproduct of something deeper – it is the fruit of something that is happening inside.
So how do we become joyful like the Apostle is admonishing us to be? Our lack of joy indicates a deeper problem. We all know, that we can’t just make ourselves joyful. Lacking joy, indicates a lack of faith (trust) in God which is often times manifested in our believing that we know what is best (though we’d never say it) as if we have ultimate vision and perspective on things or that God is not really after our good. Do you see that? We think we are privy to how things really work. We think we have things all figured out. We think we know what is best. We are not convinced that God is really after OUR good. Our work (and it is work) is to believe that God is good and that He is able to do all that He has promised (Philippians 3:20-21). The more that we believe this and draw near to Jesus in utter dependance, the more He will produce wonderful things in our lives. Your role is dependance and faith, His role is producing beautiful things – don’t get those backwards or you’ll be frustrated and fruitless.
The Gospel Centered Life 