Monthly Archives: September 2011

Weekly Links (9/16/2011) – 9/11 Edition

It’s sometimes easy to think that the Church is a club that meets on Sundays and perhaps once or twice more during the week. We’re all friends so we hang out together and share meals from time to time. It’s sometimes easy to forget that the Church is the invasion of this world by heaven. The Church is the colonization of this planet by its Creator. (Toby Sumpter, We Are Not Here As Tourists)

by Stephen Rodgers

This past Sunday was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Pastor Patrick referenced it in his sermon last Sunday, and I’m sure it’s weighed heavily on many of our hearts and minds. Events like that can be challenging for Christians to reflect on…what should our response be?  How should differences in opinion between Christians over this matter be resolved? Some have even asked if Christianity has any “business” interjecting itself into the memories and events of that day.

As a starting point for those questions (and more), I’d like to offer a small collection of articles penned by men far wiser than I.  I hope you will read them carefully.

  • Russell Moore compares the events and horror of 9/11 with the events and horror of Good Friday in his article The Gospel at Ground Zero.
  • Kevin DeYoung pens a thought-provoking and moving Prayer for 9/11 Ten Years Later.
  • John Piper talks about the power of the future…and the difference between a true future and a false future…in his article One Thing the 9/11 Terrorists Got Right.
  • Douglas Wilson responds to Christopher Hitchens’ most recent article with his own affirmation and denial in his article Simply Incoherent.
  • And finally, if you still would like additional resources on the matter, the Biblical Counseling Coalition dealt with the subject and has links to their own selection of articles here.

9/11 was a horrible tragedy. But as an event of this world, it was subject to the attention and sovereignty of God. That same God sent His Son to save us, His Word to inform us, and His Spirit to empower us. The Christian is not powerless in the face of such events.

Tragedies should not paralyze us; rather, they should provoke us.

Pro Rege

Practicing Patience in Parenting

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Being a parent of a three-year-old girl is one of the greatest joys of my life. At one point, I only wanted to have boys, but now I would be perfectly content only having girls. There is something irreplaceably sweet about the father/daughter relationship and I cherish it and praise God that I can enjoy it as a dad.

As sweet as having a daughter is, it still is obviously not always easy. At three, our little girl has developed quite a personality and oftentimes battles with Mom and Dad over who is in charge. She admits her dependence on us less, and insists on doing things on her own more. Still, she is a bit clumsy so whenever she wants to do things on her own, it results in more and more messes. At times she gets herself into trouble because she tries things that are too big for her, but there are also times when she is blatantly rebellious and disobedient.

One time, she insisted on using a “big girl” cup because she did not want to drink her milk from a straw. Reluctantly I agreed and instructed her to be very careful because she could spill the milk if she tipped the cup too far. And as most parents who have been in this situation have discovered, that spilled milk was inevitable.

I have heard that patience is a virtue. I have also heard that one should not pray for patience because God will only make you wait for it. It is certainly vastly more important to see what the Bible says about patience, and it is important always to remember and turn to what the Bible says instead of human wisdom. Scripture teaches that patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), and so as a believer it should be a mark of who I am. Instead of putting on a sinful attitude, I am called to put on patience amongst other things (Col. 3:12). Paul told Timothy to preach the Word with patience, so I know when I teach my little girl the truths of Scripture it will likewise require patience (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2).

When you study patience in Scripture, you come to realize that God shows us incredible patience as sinners. Speaking out against condemning the sins of others, Paul writes in Romans 2:4, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” The Apostle refers to himself as the foremost of all sinners, but explains that this was so that Jesus could demonstrate His perfect patience to him as an example (1 Tim. 1:15-16). The fact is when I mess up, God is patient with me. He was patient in enduring all my wickedness for the first twenty something years of my unbelieving life, and He continues to show His perfect patience with me even now as a believer.

This really helps to put things into perspective when I struggle to be patient with Eden. She is only three and has a sweet demeanor and oftentimes loves to make Papa happy. During the times when it is more difficult and her sinful heart shows itself, I can remember to be patient as God has been patient to me. I have been shown tremendous patience, so I should not raise my daughter as if I had not been shown any. Of course it is easier to know this in principle than to put it into practice, but being reminded again and again of the principle is part of the growing process that hopefully will lead to greater faithfulness in the practice.

BOB – The Bible

by Stephen Rodgers

Before we get into a more specific examination of the Bible by breaking it into parts (which we will later do along the lines of books, genres, and testaments), we should probably begin with an explanation of how those particular collections came to be. And before we do that, we should probably begin with an even broader subject: Scripture as a whole.

You may already know this, but the Bible is actually a collection of 66 documents (typically called “books”). It is divided into two sections: the Old Testament (which contains 39 books), and the New Testament (which contains 27 books).  Those books are further divided into chapters, and those chapters are further sub-divided into verses. (It is worth saying at this point that the chapters and verses are not part of the original text; they were added later to make it easier to find things.  While that is very convenient, it also means that sometimes people treat the Bible as if it were nothing more than a collection of quotes, which is an enormous mistake).

The Old Testament (OT) primarily concerns itself with a people (ancient Israel), was written over the course of approximately 1,000 years, and was predominantly written in the language of that people (Hebrew, although two sections are in Aramaic).

The New Testament (NT) primarily concerns itself with a person (Jesus Christ), was written over the course of approximately 50 years, and was predominantly written in the common trade language of that time (Greek, although several quotes were translated from Hebrew by the authors).

Despite these differences, the Bible has remarkable unity, unsurpassed by any other literary work written by such disparate men over approximately 1,500 years. When one considers the differences in language, culture, history, education, background, and profession of the various authors, it is easy to see why the two most-proposed explanations are a conspiracy of brilliant con-men and editors on one hand and the personal interference of a sovereign God on the other.

This unity can be expressed in several different ways. For the sake of time, we’ll only look at three of them briefly.

John MacArthur in the MacArthur Study Bible notes that the Bible has a single unifying theme (the story of God redeeming His chosen people for the praise of His glory) with five recurring motifs. They are:

  1. the character of God
  2. the judgment for sin and disobedience
  3. the blessing for faith and obedience
  4. the Lord Savior and Sacrifice for sin
  5. the coming kingdom and glory

And for what it’s worth, any of those motifs would be fertile ground for further study…Stephen Charnock’s works on the attributes of God alone runs over 500 pages…Vaughn Roberts has an entire book devoted to the theme of the kingdom (God’s Big Picture), which is nonetheless downright introductory compared to Dr. Alva J. McClain’s seminal work on the subject (The Greatness of the Kingdom). (And if you need something online, there’s always Dane Ortlund’s overview of The Grace of God in the Bible).

On the other hand, in his miniscule but masterful book How We Got Our Bible, W.H. Griffith Thomas notes the Christocentric theme of Scripture, and suggests that the sections of the Bible can be understood progressively:

  • Genesis to Deuteronomy – Revelation
  • Joshua to Esther – Preparation
  • Job to Song of Solomon – Aspiration
  • Isaiah to Malachi – Expectation
  • Matthew to John – Manifestation
  • Acts to Epistles – Realization
  • Revelation – Culmination

He also notes that the unity of Scripture can be seen in the symmetry of it structure as well:

  • The OT begins with revelation (the Pentateuch), and proceeds to realization (the remainder of the OT). This realization is seen in outward expression (the historical books), inward experience (the poetical books), and onward expectation (prophetical books).
  • The NT begins with revelation (the Gospels), and proceeds to realization (the remainder of the NT). This realization is seen in outward expression (History/Acts), inward experience (Doctrine/epistles), and onward expectation (Prophecy/Revelation).

Please note that while the thematic, progressive, and structural unity of the Bible are three different ways to examine it as a whole, they are certainly not the only ways to look at it. We could come up with many other views, or delve into much greater detail on any of the views described above (for example, for a Christocentric examination of the OT, I would recommend Vern Polythress’ “Overview of the Bible: A Survey of the History of Salvation”). I just wanted to take a moment to state the obvious, especially since it’s a point that could easily get lost as we proceed to break the Bible into smaller and smaller units to examine it more closely:

As previously stated, the Bible is a collection of 66 different documents. However, at it’s core it is a singular entity, with a single Author, and a central message.

Don’t forget that.

Next week, we’ll take a brief look into the subject of the OT canon. Between now and then, if anyone wanted to do some further reading on the Word of God, I would suggest that Garrett’s seven articles on “The Doctrine of the Word of God” would be an excellent start.

Other Works Referenced:

  • ESV Study Bible
  • MacArthur Study Bible
  • Sumner, How Did We Get The Bible?
  • Thomas, How We Got Our Bible

The Ignorance of the Ignorant

by Elder Mike Chon

I remember an incident that happened while playing basketball in high school. I leaped up to dunk the ball (the basket was lower than your typical basket), when I was rudely interrupted by a very tall guy and was pulled down backward onto my hands. Immediately I felt this great pain in my wrists…and as I looked at my forearms I saw them suddenly expand to twice their normal size. As much as I mentally tried to move my wrists, I couldn’t. As my friends watched me attempting to move my wrists to no avail, they encouraged me to go see a doctor. But since I was your typical high school male, I figured I didn’t need to go see a doctor; and with my extensive high school medical background, I self-diagnosed myself with a wrist sprain. But as time went on and I continued to be unable to move my wrists, I realized that my initial diagnosis of a wrist sprain might be wrong…and so I went to the neighborhood urgent care. Thankfully, after x-rays, it was determined that I only fractured my left wrist in three places and my right wrist was fine. For those wondering I have since fully recovered from these injuries.

What if I continued to believe that my wrist was perfectly fine? I would have continued with my life, the fractures would have healed improperly, which likely would have affected my ability to use my left wrist permanently. If no one told me that I needed to go see a doctor I probably would never have gone. Even though I had fractured bones in my wrist, I was in denial of anything wrong. Spiritually speaking there are many people in this world that are ignorant about their sin and their rejection of the one and only God. They don’t see anything wrong with their lives because outwardly they are not criminals.  After all, they’ve never murdered anyone and have tried to do good to others. What could possibly be wrong? The Bible speaks clearly that man’s heart has been darkened and has exchanged the glory of God for images resembling man and beast (Rom. 1:21-23). In the heart of man they worship the creation and not the Creator. The problem is that those that are doing this do not even know that they are doing something that is offensive and worthy of condemnation before our Holy God. Their hearts have been darkened to believe that their lives are good when in reality they are evil (John 3:19). So how should we respond to those that are ignorant of their ignorance?

Instead of turning our back on them we should respond with compassion. Their ignorance is the result of sin which has darkened their hearts and minds to understand the truth, a reality which we all have experienced. The compassion we see in Christ as he hung on the cross and pleaded with God to forgive those that crucified and mocked Him (Luke 23:34) because of their ignorance should be ringing in our hearts as we observe those who do not know what they are doing. That should motivate and stir our hearts to share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ. This isn’t the time to believe that we are smarter, holier, or more important because we know the truth and they don’t. Instead we should humbly step forward and share the only message (Rom. 1:16) that is able to correct them of their ignorance, to bring light to their darkened hearts, and save them from an eternity in hell.

And These Are Ancient Things

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From 1 Chronicles 4:22

Yet not so ancient as those precious things which are the delight of our souls. Let us for a moment recount them, telling them over as misers count their gold.

  • The sovereign choice of the Father, by which He elected us unto eternal life, or ever the earth was, is a matter of vast antiquity, since no date can be conceived for it by the mind of man. We were chosen from before the foundations of the world.
  • Everlasting love went with the choice, for it was not a bare act of divine will by which we were set apart, but the divine affections were concerned. The Father loved us in and from the beginning. Here is a theme for daily contemplation.
  • The eternal purpose to redeem us from our foreseen ruin, to cleanse and sanctify us, and at last to glorify us, was of infinite antiquity, and runs side by side with immutable love and absolute sovereignty.
  • The covenant is always described as being everlasting, and Jesus, the second party in it, had His goings forth of old; He struck hands in sacred suretyship long ere the first of the stars began to shine, and it was in Him that the elect were ordained unto eternal life. Thus in the divine purpose a most blessed covenant union was established between the Son of God and His elect people, which will remain as the foundation of their safety when time shall be no more.

Is it not well to be conversant with these ancient things? Is it not shameful that they should be so much neglected and even rejected by the bulk of professors? If they knew more of their own sin, would they not be more ready to adore distinguishing grace? Let us both admire and adore tonight, as we sing-

‘A monument of grace,
A sinner saved by blood;
The streams of love I trace
Up to the Fountain, God;
And in His sacred bosom see
Eternal thoughts of Love to me.’

2.2p

Weekly Links (9/9/2011)

There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favor to them in life, through death and on for ever. (J. I. Packer, Knowing God)

by Richard Shin

Editor’s Note: In order to give me more time to work on BOB, Richard Shin has kindly agreed to shoulder some of the load of the Weekly Links articles.  Just so you know, we don’t read the same set of blogs, (although if you’re looking, I know some good ones), so this is a chance to discover some material that might otherwise not have come up.  So thank Richard when you see him, and I hope you enjoy!

 

  • It seems we’re making a habit of linking the Cripplegate. Well, that’s not a problem as long as the articles are worthy. And this one on the mission of the church is worthy.
  • On that note, Parchment and Pen has a great article on compassion for the lost that goes really well with the one linked above.
  • This one’s kind of old and long, but I would be robbing you if I didn’t at least make you aware of it. John Piper interviews John Knight on having a disabled 16 year-old son in part 1, part 2, and part 3. And here are the transcripts.
  • Paul Tripp shares his thoughts on the most transformational word in Scripture: grace.
  • One of my favorite blogs to follow is Ray Ortlund’s. As long as you see me linking articles on the Beacon, it’ll be rare for me to not link at least one article of his. In case you’re unfamiliar, that’s a quote from a demon to a fellow demon in C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters.
  • Lastly, I leave you with a video. Justin Taylor reshares an older clip of Ask Pastor John (Piper) on self-promotion and influence that hopefully leads you to promote Jesus in your life.

Small Groups (Single Life Update)

by Daniel Yee

In the past year, God has blessed the Lighthouse family tremendously with new visitors from all walks of life, many of whom have gone on to commit to membership, and I am certain that the church will continue to experience even more growth in the coming months. While it’s exciting to see so many newcomers, one can easily be lost among the sea of people. Even when Single Life meets for our smaller, more intimate Bible study, getting to know one another better can still be an arduous task. It can be tempting to just slip out quietly without anyone noticing and even when one does muster up the courage to say “hi,” the conversation doesn’t always seem to amount to much more than a moment of awkwardness.

This is where small groups can help. Should one desire to know others better in the body, small group is a fantastic way to start. After all, small groups are… small. For those fearful of crowds like I am, it makes speaking up a little easier. Everyone has the chance to share and be heard. People are not just another face anymore. We get to know more than just a name, job title/description, and hometown. As a result, we begin to build friendships with one another.

However, there is so much more to small groups. Yes, meeting together with a more intimate group of brothers or sisters allows us a better chance of getting acquainted, but more than that, we have a grand opportunity to carry out the multitude of “one another” commands found in Scripture. We get to serve one another (Gal. 5:13), teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16), encourage and build up one another (I Thess. 5:11); just to name a few. Those last two mentioned in I Thessalonians 5, in particular, have been of great value to me and something I look forward to every week as I meet with several other like-minded brothers.

There is so much I can say about small group, but in short, it has been a challenging time for me. I’m challenged to consider how I have spent my time the previous week. I’m challenged to think through the sermons I have heard and how I might actively apply them in my life. I’m challenged to speak up even when I don’t feel comfortable. I’m challenged to listen to different perspectives and learn from others. I’m challenged to be humble when I am wrong. I’m challenged to keep up my disciplines for the sake of godliness. I’m challenged to be confronted with my sins and repent. I’m challenged to pray for others and ask them to pray for me. I’m challenged to love these other guys, whom for the most part I didn’t know very well before our small group and even now, I’m still learning more about them. I have been encouraged and built up by all of these challenges and I know it’s something that I would not have experienced if I were not involved in a small group.

One more thing I might add is that throughout this past year, I am reminded I cannot run this race of faith single-handedly. At Lighthouse, we’re told there is no such thing as a “lone ranger” Christian, and it is so true. I love the imagery found in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 because it illustrates why Christians should not be alone. So many times I’ve fallen down and I wonder to myself, “How am I still standing?” There is no doubt God has used this group of brothers to come along side me, lift me back up, and urge me to keep going. The trials keep rising, but I am comforted to know God has provided fellow believers so I don’t face them in isolation. By joining a small group, my social life might just have improved a little. But more importantly, I know there are people I can count on to share God’s truth with me as we continue to run together as part of the same body.

BOB – Introduction

by Stephen Rodgers

My father has a story he tells from time to time about something that happened when he was a Sunday School teacher.  He was doing “sword drills” for a group of 2nd or 3rd graders (for anyone who doesn’t know the term, those are basically games where kids compete to see who can look up verses the fastest).  The kids were doing pretty well, and just to see what would happen, he asked them to look up “2 Hezekiah 3:15.”

There is no such book as 2 Hezekiah.

The first thing that went wrong was that the kids kept looking for the non-existent book. He kept dropping hints that they should check the table of contents, and a few of them did just that.

The second thing that went wrong was that one child leapt to his feet, called out in an excited voice that he “had it,” and proceeded to read…something…aloud.  The other children were disappointed that he “found” the verse before they did; my father was disappointed for an entirely different reason.

Martin Luther once wrote that “it is a sin and shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God.” I’m afraid that the sin and shame that Luther observed in his time has only grown more prevalent in ours.

For the next 70-80 weeks, we’re going to have a new series here on the Beacon.  The working title for it is “BOB”…Books of the Bible.  We’re going to go over the meta-narrative of Scripture, the various genres that comprise the Scriptures, and each book of the Bible in some detail.  In particular we’ll discuss things like authorship, chronological context, historical/theological themes, background and setting, literary features, summaries, and anything else that comes up. I’m hoping we’ll even have time for some tangential issues like the Canonicity of the Bible and the Apocrypha.

These articles won’t be exhaustive; if you really want to dig into one or more books of the Bible you’re going to need to go well beyond what we’ll cover in this series.  But it’s a start.

I hope that you will stay tuned, keep reading, and that this series will give you a renewed love, understanding, and appreciation for God’s word.

The Glorious Gospel (Part 3)

by Kevin DeYoung

Editor’s Note: Given his recent sermon on understanding the place of the doctrine of Hell in light of the Gospel, Pastor Patrick was gearing up to write an article to that effect.  However, he was quite pleased to discover that Pastor Kevin DeYoung (whom I am provably fond of, as he occupies a place on our Top 10 Recommended Blogs) had already written one, and done a fantastic job.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, he’d like to present it to you here.

To Hell with Hell

Lighthouse Kids’ Club (Update)

by Josh Liu

Since LKC has been taking a break for the summer, it’s allowed a blessed time of reflection and planning. I have been incredibly encouraged and challenged while leading this ministry.

Looking back on 2010-2011…

From a ministry coordinator’s perspective, I was immensely challenged in how to minister to children, to parents, and to my staff.

Being the youngest child of three boys in my family, single with no children, and minimal experience with children, I was surprised – to say the least – when asked to serve in the Children’s Ministry as LKC’s ministry coordinator. I was humbled that the leaders of the church would trust me with such a seemingly (and true) high calling of ministering to the next generation. Beyond learning how to prepare for a message and to teach it, I had to learn how to do so for children, many of who have yet to learn how to read. I was challenged to begin thinking like a parent – which is much more complicated than how it sounds. I wrestled with how to serve and encourage the parents of the children. I struggled to learn how to take care of and lead my staff.

Yet God continues to be mightily good. The staff, parents, and even the children have all been so gracious and patient. I was blessed by the general knowledge and conduct of the children. I was humbled by the seeds already planted by their parents. And I was incredibly encouraged to see the staff ministering to and sharing the gospel with the children.

It was an awesome time of challenge, encouragement, and study of the attributes of God.

Looking ahead toward 2011-2012…

I intend to take all that I was challenged by and lessons that I learned from with me to the next year. I am very excited for the new term, and the changes that I plan to make. I am blessed and humbled to continue serving alongside some returning staff. And I am honored with another opportunity to partner with parents in the discipleship of their children.

This year’s theme centers on peacemaking, taken from The Young Peacemaker. We will walk the children through understanding conflict, and how to respond to conflict in a God-honoring manner. The gospel continues to be central. Our vertical offense against and reconciliation with God confronts our horizontal conflicts with each other.

While we are not aiming for mere behavior modification, confronting these behaviors and actions grant opportunities to confronting heart issues of conflict. Imagine for a moment that you have an open wound that refuses to heal. You go see a doctor who takes a quick look at you and concludes that you just need a good band-aid. In reality, you have a flesh-eating infection that will continue to spread unless properly treated. Similarly, actions, words, and thoughts are manifestations of the true problem, rather than the source. If the source is not treated, there is no hope for true change. From Scripture, we know that the source of our problems, our sin, is the heart (Mark 7:20-23). In fact, this is our condition: we have an ill heart, bent against God (Jeremiah 17:9-10). More than that, we are spiritually dead beings who refuse to worship God, yet God acts and saves sinners (Ephesians 2:1; Romans 5:8). God grants those who repent from their sins and believe in Christ a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). This new heart evidences true believers, true citizens of the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:8). Only then can we live a life that pleases God. Mere good and obedient behavior does not save us; solely Christ’s death and resurrection makes us right and pleasing before God (Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:4-11).

So then, in our endeavor to make disciples of Christ, to serve the parents in discipling their children in the way of the Lord, we plan to confront the heart through peacemaking this coming year.