Tag: Discipleship

Saved to Give Thanks To God

On By BrianIn Church Life, God & His Glory

…so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
– II Corinthians 4:15b

Why does God save us?  This verse tells us at least one reason.  He saves us so that we might give thanks to God.  He saves us for his glory.  As more people are saved, more thanksgiving is offered up to God – and he is glorified.  Here is a radical God-centered view of salvation.

A few questions follow:

Are we giving thanks to God?  Are we reminding ourselves and each other of our great salvation so that, continually amazed by his love, we can’t stop praising God?

Are we sharing the good news so more people can be saved and give thanks to God?

And tying those questions together, are we preaching the gospel in our churches?  The gospel needs to be preached because lost people need to be saved, and because saved people need to be continually reminded of what God has done for them so that they will give thanks to God.

If you are his child, his grace has extended to you.  You don’t deserve it.  You are not worth it.  But he loves you.  He chose you.  He died for you.  He forgave you.  He changed you.  He saved you.  So let us join the the Psalmist and:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
– Psalm 100:4-5

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.

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?

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.

Thinking and Treasuring God

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

John Piper writes in Think about the connection between thinking and treasuring God.  A few worthwhile quotes to consider:

The way we glorify him is by knowing him truly, by treasuring him above all things, and by living in a way that shows he is our supreme treasure….  The main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things.

Thinking is indispensible on the path to passion for God.

Our thinking should be wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things.

I love God because I know God.  And I want to know him more because I love him.

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