Tag: Christianity

Quotes To Ponder

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

Here are some good quotes to ponder.  Each of them also relates to the theme we have been considering in the last two posts of our worth versus God’s worth.

God’s love for you that makes much of His glory is greater love for you than if He made you your greatest treasure.
– John Piper

Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so.
– D. A. Carson

Faith is driven by a thankful joy that, because of Christ, God is for us when we deserve no praise at all.
– John Piper

For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Where Is My Worth Found?

On By BrianIn Identity

In my last post I asked whether we are really worth dying for.  I concluded that Jesus died for us not because of our own worth, but because of his love.  To go further: Christ didn’t die because of my worth; my worth is found in Christ’s death.  My worth is found not in myself but in Christ. 

Jeremy Pierre addresses this issue of worth in his post on insecurity.  Insecurity is the failure to grasp our worth, but the critical issue is where do we find our worth.  He compares our culture’s view of insecurity with God’s view:

Our cultural instructors disapprove of our insecurity because it is an offense to individual worthiness. God disapproves of our insecurity because it is an offense to his Son’s worthiness.

And it is His Son’s worth that gives us worth.  Pierre goes on to point out four reasons that insecurity is sinful:

  • Insecurity keeps us from loving God and others because we are too distracted with self.
  • Insecurity indicates a dissatisfaction with God.
  • Insecurity reveals a desire for justification from people rather than God.
  • Insecurity shows that we are still seeking justification from works.

So we need to flee insecurity, but not by clinging to some sense of our own self-worth.  Rather we need to “abandon finding our worth in anything other than Christ and his redemptive work on our behalf.” 

You can read Pierre’s entire post here.

Someone Worth Dying For?

On By BrianIn Identity1 Comment

I heard a song on Christian radio recently called “Someone Worth Dying For.”  It had some good lyrics, and even a good purpose of encouraging those who are discouraged.  My purpose here is not to critique the song but rather just this idea that each of us is somebody worth dying for.  Are we?  Really?

Starting at creation, we find that God makes us in his image.  As image-bearers we are higher than the rest of his creation.  It is wrong to kill or hurt another human being.  As people in God’s image, we have great worth.

Then we sinned.  God’s image in us was warped.  We are still valuable as God’s image-bearers, but we are also sinners, depraved, and under God’s judgment.  We deserve to die. 

Which brings us to the cross.  Listen to Paul’s thoughts on this:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:6-8

Does Jesus die for us because we are worth dying for?  No.  According to Paul we are weak, ungodly, sinners.  We don’t deserve to have someone die for us; rather we deserve to die for our sins.  So why does Jesus die for us?  Because God loves us.  We aren’t worth it, but he loves us anyway.

Think of it this way.  If we are worth dying for, then God kind of owes it to us to die for us.  We are worth it after all!  But if God dies for us even though we are not worth it, even though we are weak, ungodly sinners, then this is real love.  And this is Paul’s point.  Jesus died for us because he loves us, not because we are worth it. 

But let’s go further.  Consider Psalm 103.  In this psalm, David celebrates God’s love, and it is found in two ways, both of which are related not to our worth but to our unworthiness. 

First, we see God’s love in his forgiveness of our sins (v6-13).  He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve.  We deserve his judgment, but we get forgiveness.  This is the same thread of thought we saw in Romans 5.

Second, we see God’s love in his care for us though we are like dust (v14-19).  Compared to God we are nothing.  Are we worth God dying for?  Even apart from our sin, we are not worth as much as God.  To suggest that we are worth God dying for is to suggest that we have greater worth than God.  It is essentially to make an idol of ourselves.  And it is to miss the point that God loves not because we are worth it, but despite the fact that we are not worth it, that we are but dust compared to him.

To sum up, we are valuable as God’s image-bearers.  But we are not worth dying for.  Jesus died for us despite our sins and despite our frailty.  He died because he chooses to love us.  We can magnify ourselves by thinking Jesus died for us because we are worth dying for.  Or we can magnify God’s love as we recognize that Jesus died despite the fact that we are not worth dying for. 

Amazing love!  How can it be?  That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me! – Charles Wesley

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts to ponder this weekend:

Sin

Justin Taylor gives us a helpful look at sin according to I John.  Meanwhile, at Desiring God you can consider Sinclair Ferguson’s four steps to kill sin. 

Love

Justin Taylor considers the relationship between love and commandments according to John.

Feelings

Brian Borgman talks about the importance of feelings in the Christian life.  And Erik Kowalker share two related quotes from J. C. Ryle on possessings feelings toward Christ and the secret of a happy Christian.

Church

Jon Nielson shares a helpful post on three reasons youth stay in church after they graduate.  This is important reading for both pastors and parents.  And then as you prepare to gather with your local church tomorrow, ponder Justin Taylor’s warning that it only takes one generation for a church to die.  May we be careful to guard and pray against that happening in our churches.

How To Prepare for Worship

On By BrianIn Church Life

Sunday is coming.  The day when you gather together with other believers to worship God.  Have you ever considered the importance of preparing?  What would it look like to prepare for worship?  A couple of suggestions:

First, get a good night’s sleep.  If you stay up until all hours of the night, it is no wonder you are groggy during the service and struggling to stay awake during the sermon.  God deserves our best.  Get enough sleep so you will be alert and able to give your all.

Second, deal with your sins.  Examine your life.  Are there sins you need to confess to the Lord?  Sin hurts our fellowship with God; deal with them so you can worship God without hindrance.

Third, preview the passage you will be studying together.  If your pastor is working through a book of the Bible, this should be relatively easy.  If not, ask your pastor if he can put the next Sunday’s passage in the bulletin. Reading and pondering the passage ahead of time will prepare you to hear the message.  (It is also a great help for your children, but that is another post.)

Fourth, pray.  Pray that God would speak to you.  Ask God to help you praise him as you should.  Ask him to help you encourage others.  Pray for the pastor, teachers, ushers, musicians, nursery workers, etc.  If possible, meet with some others before the service to pray together for God to work among you.

Fifth, come with expectation.  Come eager to hear the Word.  Come excited to sing praises to God.  Come cheerfully to give your gifts to the Lord.  Come ready to build up others and serve.  Come with expectation of what God might do in you and through you.

Remember that these are suggestions, not laws.  I don’t do all of them every week.  Sometimes some of them just aren’t possible.  But they can help us come ready to worship.  Imagine if we all came ready to worship God together!   Let it begin with you.

How will you prepare for worship this weekend?

John Stott 1921-2011

On By BrianIn Biography/History

A giant of the Faith has finished his race.  John Stott passed away yesterday.  I remember reading his book The Preacher’s Portrait in college as I was beginning my training to be a pastor.  And then his commentary on Ephesians which revolutionized my view of the church in seminary.  Since then, I have gathered other commentaries and other books by him.  I suppose I am one of countless many who have been touched in some way by his life and ministry.  Here is a sampling of tributes and reviews of his life:

A review of his life by Justin Taylor including a memorial video.

A tribute at Gospel Coalition.

A brief tribute from Chris Brauns with links to more.

Scholarship or Insurrection?

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes3 Comments

I want to share and ponder one more quote from John Piper’s book, Think, that really caught my attention:

If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God’s glory is not scholarship but insurrection.

What do you think? 

And do you think we can apply this statement to everyday thinking about everyday life?  That is: if I am thinking without reference to God’s glory, I am being rebellious.

If that is so, it seems to me we are much more rebellious and sinful than we probably thought.  And it raises some good self-reflection questions: 

Why do you think about what you think about?  For God’s glory?  Or for man’s applause?  To please people?  To impress yourself?  For your own glory? 

And then there is Jesus who always sought to to do will of the Father – to live for God’s glory even in his thinking.  And we realize we don’t measure up and never could and desperately need him to be our Savior.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

There are a lot of good posts out there this week, but let me just share four of them – all related to thinking:

First, Stephen Nichols gives us some helpful questions to ask as we read the Bible to help us think about the passage.  I love the focus on God evident in the questions.

Second, Nichols shares suggestions for those who need to start reading (and thinking) their way through the Bible.

Third, Tim Challies reminds us of the importance of clearly and biblically thinking through the creation/evolution question.  I think I will need to look into the book he discusses.

Finally, Randy Alcorn asks whether the word “evangelical” means anything anymore.  Going beyond mere labels, he calls us to think about the clear teachings of Scripture that many who call themselves evangelical are dismissing.

I hope you enjoy thinking through the posts above.  Even more, I hope you have a great Lord’s Day thinking about the words you sing and the preached Word you hear.

Book Look: Think

On By BrianIn Book Look1 Comment

Think by John Piper reminds us that thinking is important.  It is a “plea to embrace serious thinking as a means of loving God and people” (p15).  Thinking, he argues, “exists to help us know God more so that we may treasure him more.  It exists to bring as much good to other people as we can – especially the eternal good of enjoying God through Christ” (p167).

The book is divided into several sections.  He begins by considering the importance of reading as it relates to thinking, and then addresses the importance of thinking in conversion.  He then combats two giants in our world (and too often our churches): relativism and anti-intellectualism.  His section on relativism I found to be particularly timely and helpful as he argues that relativism undermines thinking, and hence love.  He further outlines seven specific problems with relativism which I found particularly compelling.  His section on anti-intellectualism addresses the all too common suspicion in the church of study and learning by relooking at some common misunderstood passages. 

All in all a most helpful and needed book.  Read it to be encouraged to think more about God that you might love him more.  Read it to decimate any traces of relativism and anti-intellectualism in your own life, and to lovingly help others do the same in their lives.  Highly recommended.

Passion Quotes – The Gospel

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

Here are some good quotes I’ve collected on the gospel.  The last is my favorite – may these quotes help beat the gospel into our heads!

The gospel frees us to realize that while we matter, we’re not the point.
– Tullian Tchividjian

Other religions are spelled ‘do’… Christianity is spelled ‘done.’
– Bill Piper

The banner under which Christians live reads “It is finished.”
– Tullian Tchividjian

Slight thoughts of sin lead to slight thoughts of grace!  And what can be worse?
– Charles Spurgeon

If God has forgiven you the grisly things you’ve done, you must learn to be at peace with yourself now that you’re at peace with God.
– J. I. Packer

One thief was converted in his last hour that none might despair. But only one was converted that none might presume.
– J. C. Ryle

The truth of the Gospel is the principal article of all Christian doctrine . . . Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.
– Martin Luther