On sin:
He that hath slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God.
— John Owen
No man ever fell into error through being too watchful.
— Charles Spurgeon
The best things which we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned.
– J. C. Ryle
In heaven the chief thing that we look for, next to the presence of Christ,
is complete separation from all sin.
– J. C. Ryle
Munising, Michigan
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:20
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
– Psalm 80:3
Three times with slight variations we read this refrain in Psalm 80. What a great prayer for us to pray. How much we need this today!
In the Psalm, a neighboring country has invaded and ravaged Israel. Israel desperately needs salvation from their political enemies. They need God’s face to shine upon them. They need God to restore them.
Today, enemies have invaded and ravaged the church collectively and each of us individually. We desperately need salvation from our enemies. We need God’s face to shine upon us. We need God to restore us.
The enemy of idolatry has invaded the church and our lives. We treasure money, shopping, possessions, beauty, dieting, food, people, family, reputation, popularity, sex, sports, TV, sleep, comfort, or ease more than we treasure Christ. We trust in these idols to bring happiness, fulfillment, and security rather than trusting in Christ. Idols abound around us. And too often we bow down. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
The enemy of busyness has invaded the church and our lives. We have filled our lives with trivial matters that mean nothing in light of eternity. We are too busy to spend much time in the Word, much time in prayer, much time in worship, much time with God’s people, much time in evangelism, much time in service. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
The enemy of “respectable sins” has invaded the church and our lives. Ungodliness, anxiety, frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, impatience, irritability, anger, judgmentalism, envy, jealousy, sins of the tongue, and worldliness are tolerated among us. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
The enemy of moralism and legalism have invaded the church and our lives. We have lost sight of the gospel, replacing it with goodness. We seek to be good, not godly. And by example and teaching, we seek to make our kids the same. We have resorted to graceless keeping of Biblical commands mixed with man-made rules in hopes of earning God’s continued favor, rather than dwelling in the gospel that empowers and motivates a godly life. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Do any of these enemies ring true in your church? In your life? Then let us join together in repenting of our idolatry, our busyness, our respectable sins, our moralism and legalism. Let us cry out together to our Shepherd and King. Only he can restore. Only he can save. Only he can revive. Let us long to have his face shine upon us. Let us join together in crying out:
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Here are some good quotes to think about. The first relates well to yesterday’s post.
You don’t have your life before you. It’s not yours. You were bought with a price.
Before you is a stewardship for the Owner.
– John Piper
I want to remind the church that
we have been saved for the sake of God-exalting good works.
We have been saved not merely to avoid evil, but to do good.
– John Piper
God saved us by his grace that we might be an amplifier
for the beauty of Jesus to all peoples.
– Louie Giglio
God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely
that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble
if He doesn’t come through.
– Francis Chan
The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship.
– D. A. Carson
Christianity is self-denial … for a higher joy.
– John Piper
I just finished re-reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In one letter, the senior devil Screwtape instructs his subordinate Wormwood to encourage his “temptee” to have a sense of ownership. He writes:
The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell, and we must keep them doing so.
Screwtape discusses our sense of ownership of time. We think and act like time is our own. If someone or something intrudes on our time, we tend to get upset. And yet Screwtape notes the reality that the time we have is clearly not ours. God gives us so many hours to use. It is not our time. It is God’s time. We are only stewards.
As we think about this issue, we can go further. We also seek to own things. But “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1a). Certainly in one sense we can own things, in that something may belong to me as opposed to you. But in the greater scheme, it all belongs to God. They are God’s things. We are only stewards.
We seek to own our own bodies. And certainly in one sense my body belongs to me; it is part of me. But in another sense: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (I Corinthians 6:19b-20). By rights of creation and salvation, my body belongs to God. Indeed all of me – my mind, my abilities, all of me belongs to God. We are only stewards.
We seek to own people. Not in the sense of slaves exactly, but in the sense of control. But again, people belong to God, not us. And here perhaps we come to the issue behind our desire to own things. We want to control them. If it is mine, I have the right to do what I want with it. I can use my time, my stuff, my body, my family, my employees, my __________ in whatever way I choose. And so we sin against God and people because we have bought into the deception that I have the right to act as I do because they are mine to do with as I please. But if it all belongs to God? The truth sets us free to be good stewards of our time, things, and bodies. It sets us free to treat people as God’s image-bearers rather than our puppets. It redirects all of life toward God.
May God help us overcome the temptations and temptors that encourage us to cry out, “Mine!” And may we look to the One who can truly claim ownership of all creation.
Munising, Michigan
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:20
Some good posts for your weekend reading:
Loving God with our Minds
How Internet Habits Can Cripple Book Reading – Tony Reinke
How To Prioritize What You Read – Tony Reinke
Family
Seven Steps To Family Worship – Crossway
Prayers
Prayer Regarding our Stuff – Scotty Smith via Tim Challies
Prayer for God to Direct My Will – Filaret of Moscow via Trevin Wax
Ryle Quotes To Ponder
Recognizing your Helplessness to Pray Better
Put Into Practice Your Godly Convictions
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church worshipping our great God!
At the Pastor’s Conference I attended last week, Jim Grier discussed worship from Hebrews 12:18-29. A few highlights to ponder as you prepare to gather with God’s people this Sunday to worship God:
As we gather for worship, we come into the very presence of our God.
It doesn’t matter if the worship is acceptable to us, but if it is acceptable to God.
Acceptable worship is worship with careful reverence, awe-filled fear, and incredible joy.
I wonder how different our Worship Services would be if we could just grasp and live out these three principles.
Brian J. Mikul 