the gate

God’s blessings at times come to us through our labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors; for God always gives them because of His undeserved mercy.
– Martin Luther, Exposition on Deuteronomy 8:17-18

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Do you have a friend or loved one living in sin, yet professing to be a Christian? Or are you becoming hopeless about the sin in your own life? Then think of God’s relentless grace, and patiently trust in him.

Human sin is stubborn, but not so stubborn as the grace of God and not half so persistent, not half so ready to suffer to win its way. . .[We must never] forget that the center of the Christian religion is not our sin but our Savior.
- Cornelius Plantinga, Not The Way It’s Supposed To Be, p. 199

As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.
- Francis Thompson, Hound of Heaven

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Modern prophecy teachers have traditionally looked to current events for signs of the end, to stir end-time enthusiasm among Christians. While the goal may be worthy, the methodology runs counter to Jesus’ own teaching. After listing many of the signs (usually hardships) that characterized the end among contemporary Jewish thinkers and visionaries, Jesus declares that the end is still to come [in other words, they are not signs of the end - steve] . . . Besides missing Jesus’ point, modern prophecy teachers are also almost always wrong.

While catastrophic events do not allow us to predict how soon the Lord is coming — such events have happened throughout history — they do remind us that such problems characterize this age, summoning us to long for our Lord’s coming all the more fervently.

– Craig Keener, Matthew, The IVP New Testament Commentary
(Matthew 24)

Jesus was not giving us signs to look for, he was telling us the current thinking of his day was wrong. How sad that so many people today believe the soothsayers, rather than Jesus.

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Related post:
Are We Living In The Last Days?

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This quote by B.B. Warfield is meaty, and should be chewed for a long while!

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only “when we believe.” It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be.

Read this next part very carefully and thoughtfully (notice especially the words “alone,” “always,” and “never”):

It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest. There is never anything that we are or have or do that can take His place, or that can take a place along with Him. We are always unworthy, and all that we have or do of good is always of pure grace.

– The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, 10 vols. (1991), vol. 7, p. 113

Salvation includes our growth. Anyone who says that any part of our salvation is the result of what we do, is teaching salvation by works. Anyone who says their obedience, or our obedience, makes us acceptable to God, is teaching salvation by works. Such teaching is unbiblical. It is not Christianity, because it contradicts the gospel of God’s pure grace. Warfield nails it — “all that we have or do of good is always of pure grace.”

(B.B. Warfield was professor of theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. J. Gresham Machen said of Warfield: “with all his glaring faults, he was the greatest man I have known.” His esteem and influence is seen in the fact that most of his books, collected essays and sermons are still in print today.)

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“A community of missionaries created by the Spirit on the mission of Christ.”
– Jonathan Dodson

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“You will never lead consumers to be missional.”
– Alan Hirsch

(via Alan Cross)

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At the parenting seminar last Sunday, I was emphasizing that parents should play more offense than defense against the world. Bill Farley explains it so well in his book Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting.

Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), a Scotch Presbyterian, wrote a famous essay entitled The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. In it Chalmers proposes that the best way to overcome the world is not with morality or self-discipline. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). A man who owns an Acura is not interested in a Geo Metro. In the same way, Christian parents try to make Christ and his kingdom glorious. Their children conquer the lusts of this world with a higher passion: the moral beauty of Christ.

By contrast, defensive parents have little confidence in the attractiveness of the gospel. They think the world is more powerful. Fundamentally, they are not confident in the gospel’s power to transform their children from the inside out. They do not believe Jesus’ words, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). They have little confidence in the world-conquering power of new birth.

My wife and I have seen the fruit of this approach in our own experience. My five children all attended public high schools, and then the eldest four matriculated to a state university. Despite the raunchy non-Christian—even anti-Christian—environment (and it was foul), they thrived spiritually. Why? Through the miracle of new birth, God changed their hearts. To them the Holy Spirit had begun to unveil the superlative value of Jesus Christ. The conviction that all their happiness was tied up in their relationship with Christ had begun to bud and grow. The world’s allurements could not compete. [pp. 24-25]

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UPDATE 10-6-09 - Check this out
Biggest, Tallest Tree Photo Ever
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[end update]

I took this picture on Sunday, and thought of this poem.

World’s largest Cathedral Tree, nine trees in one!
Approximately 800 to 1000 years ago a very large tree stood in the
middle of this formation. When it fell it didn’t die. The roots and burls
of the stump sprouted and these nine trees happened to grow together
in a circle around the original mother tree’s stump, which has long
since rotted away. This tree is the site of Easter services each year
and also many, many weddings.

I think I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast.
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray.
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Under whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives in rain.
Poems are made by fools like me
But only God can make a tree.

Alfred Joyce Kilmer
(1886-1918)

Are you joyful like the trees? “…Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth….” (Psalm 96:12,13)
“…The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” ( Isaiah 55:12-13)

For me, I know when I don’t stay focused on the wonder and truly good news of the gospel, my joy starts to wane.

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A certain man wanted to sell his house in Haiti for $2000. Another man wanted to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.

After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, buthe new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.

The moral of the parable is, “If we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.”

-Leadership, Spring 1983

Something for all of us to think about.

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“For freedom Christ freed you.” (Galatians 5:1)

“Everything about the Christian gospel is freedom. Jesus’ whole mission was an operation of liberation.” – Pastor Tim Keller, Galatians Study Guide

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