Author Archives: Stephen Rodgers

Weekly Links (3/4/2011)

When the apostle Paul, with great wonder, asks, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor?’ (Rom. 11:34), he is not expecting an upstart in the back row to raise his hand. (Douglas Wilson, Back to Basics. HT: Blog & Mablog)

by Stephen Rodgers

Welcome back everyone, and happy Friday!  By now you’re hopefully familiar with the fact that every edition of the Weekly Links comes with a free quote.  If not, you might want to go back and check out some of the previous quotes posted. But you probably didn’t come here just for quotes, however excellent they might be.  You came here expecting links, and so links you shall have:

  • It’s a new month, and that means that there’s a new edition of Tabletalk available from Ligonier Ministries.  This month’s edition focuses on the role of the law of God in the life of the Christian.  And by the way, if you develop a taste for Christian journals, you might want to check out a few others that we recommend.  (WEB)
  • Since it’s a new month (in case you missed it the first time I told you), there’s also a new, free audio book from Christianaudio.com.  This month’s free offering is RC Sproul’s The Holiness of God, so be sure to click on over there and download it.  (MP3)
  • RPTS has a free collection of MP3s that are just audio recordings of someone reading the questions and answers from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  You can download either specific questions or the entire set. (MP3)
  • Over at Desiring God, John Piper has a thought-provoking snippet of an article on how “God’s Love is the Cause and Result of Ours.” (WEB)
  • And finally, here’s something pretty cool…a rare video interview with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. (VIDEO)

And don’t forget that today is a Flocks Night, so do your homework and come ready to discuss the sermon!

Alright, that’s it for this week.  See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

Lighthouse Kids’ Club (LKC)

by Josh Liu

It’s been about four months since the start of Lighthouse Kids’ Club for the 2010-2011 academic year, and we are already halfway through the curriculum! For this term, we have the great joy and privilege of going through the attributes of God. So far, we’ve covered God’s holiness, eternality, creator-ship, sovereignty, kingship, provision, faithfulness, unchangingness, wisdom, goodness, and attentiveness.

It’s been humbling and encouraging to witness the increase in these kids’ cognitive and spiritual capacity to hear the Word of God. Still, many have not genuinely confessed Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. We will endeavor to continue sharing the gospel and the character of God every week.

To that end, the LKC staff has been joyfully serving every week. The LKC staff includes Chris Tang, Daniel Yee, Danny Kim, Peter Park, Jennifer Shih, Lily Han, Melody Yu, and Vicky Williams. As a physically young staff, we are all constantly challenged to develop a firm biblical philosophy of children’s ministry, and how to apply that in our unique context. For example, to continue teaching the Word of God, the kids are divided into small groups based on age. Each small group is made up of two to three kids and one or two staff leaders. It’s been an enormous blessing having many willing servants be small group leaders. This allows us to tailor our ministry to meet the specific needs of individuals.

If you’re curious, I would encourage you to ask the staff about how to lead a small group for children. I believe it takes wisdom and creativity to communicate the truth of God’s Word to a child, to challenge them with appropriate application, and effectively illustrate main points.

As we desire minister to the parents, we plan to begin emailing 1-page summary sheets (beginning February) detailing the lesson and small group discussion/activities to further support parents’ discipleship of their children. We hope in all this to create a caring environment that allows kids to have fun while being ministered to by the Word of God.

Peacemaker: Introduction

by Stephen Rodgers

As many of you know, we recently began going through Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker as a church during our second-hour service.  (I believe that the Grace Life ministry is going through Peacemaking for Families).  To take advantage of this opportunity, we at the Beacon wanted to do our part to create something of a reference for the church; a series of posts that could be looked back on to remind ourselves of the key principles of the classes.

To that end, starting next week, Cesar Vigil-Ruiz will begin a series of articles that correspond to the class.  Just as we’re going through a chapter a week in church, he’ll focus on a chapter a week here at the Beacon.  We will not be doing this concurrently with the classes at church, and there are a few reasons for that:

  1. The classes at church are subject to some minor scheduling issues; for example, we don’t meet during the weeks that the College Life ministry or the Singles Life ministry have their annual retreats.  The Beacon doesn’t take those kind of breaks, so we wanted to be able to set a smooth schedule.  This means letting the classes get a little ahead of us before we start our series.
  2. People tend to retain information better over the long-term when they have repeated exposure to the material, as opposed to merely intense exposure.  This is why most people who cram for an exam (in any subject), tend to forget the material shortly thereafter, but people who continuously expose themselves to the material time after time tend to remember it.  Our hope is that by having a gap of 2-3 weeks between the class at church and the article here, we’ll be able to serve in that way.
  3. Last but not least, this gives us time to gather up all the class-related material (audio recordings, notes, Powerpoint presentations, etc.) and make them available to you along with the article.

JP Moreland once wrote (Love Your God with All Your Mind) that the study of a book begins not with reading the first page, but with reading the table of contents.  To that end, I’d like to give you a very brief outline of the structure of the book, and how the 12 chapters line up with the famous (at least at our church) “4 G’s of Peacemaking.”

This won’t have much original material (after all, Peacemaker Ministries puts this all on their website), but I think it will be helpful to understand what’s ahead.

The Four G’s

Conflict is not necessarily bad or destructive. Even when conflict is caused by sin and causes a great deal of stress, God can use it for good (see Rom 8:28-29). As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor 10:31-11:1, conflict actually provides three significant opportunities. By God’s grace, you can use conflict to:

  • Glorify God (by trusting, obeying, and imitating Him)
  • Serve other people (by helping to bear their burdens or by confronting them in love)
  • Grow to be like Christ (by confessing sin and turning from attitudes that promote conflict).

These concepts are totally overlooked in most conflicts because people naturally focus on escaping from the situation or overcoming their opponent. Therefore, it is wise to periodically step back from a conflict and ask yourself whether you are doing all that you can to take advantage of these special opportunities.

Part 1 – Glorify God (1 Cor 10:31)

Biblical peacemaking is motivated and guided by a deep desire to bring honor to God by revealing the reconciling love and power of Jesus Christ.  As we draw on His grace, follow His example, and put His teachings into practice, we can find freedom from the impulsive, self-centered decisions that make conflict worse, and bring praise to God by displaying the power of the Gospel in our lives.

This section includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 1 – Conflict Provides Opportunity
  • Chapter 2 – Live at Peace
  • Chapter 3 – Trust in the Lord and Do Good

Part 2 – Get the Log Out of Your Own Eye (Matt 7:5)

Attacking others only invites counterattacks. This is why Jesus  teaches us to face up to our own contributions to a conflict before we focus on what others have done.  When we overlook others’ minor offenses and honestly admit our own faults, our opponents will often respond in kind.  As tensions decrease, the way may be opened for sincere discussion, negotiation, and reconciliation.

This section includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 4 – Is This Really Worth Fighting Over?
  • Chapter 5 – Conflict Starts in the Heart
  • Chapter 6 – Confession Brings Freedom

Part 3 – Gently Restore (Gal 6:1)

When others fail to see their contributions to a conflict, sometimes we need to graciously show them their fault.  If they refuse to respond appropriately, Jesus calls us to involve respected friends, church leaders, or other objective individuals who can help us encourage repentance and restore peace.

This section includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 7 – Just Between the Two of You
  • Chapter 8 – Speak the Truth in Love
  • Chapter 9 – Take One or Two Others Along

Part 4 – Go and Be Reconciled (Matt 5:24)

Finally peacemaking involves a commitment to restoring damaged relationships and negotiating just agreements.  When we forgive others as Jesus has forgiven us and seek solutions that satisfy others’ interests as well as our own, the debris of conflict is cleared away and the door is opened for genuine peace.

This section includes the following chapters:

  • Chapter 10 – Forgive as God Forgave You
  • Chapter 11 – Look Also to the Interests of Others
  • Chapter 12 – Overcome Evil with Good

I hope that overview is helpful in orienting yourself for where we’ll be going over the next couple months.  We’re looking forward to it.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions – Hub Post

by Stephen Rodgers

This is the hub post for Elder Mike Chon’s five-part series on making Biblical decisions.  From this page, you can easily find and refer to all posts in this series.

All posts in the Decisions series:

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions (Part 5)

by Elder Mike Chon

When we approach decisions in our life, we sometimes wonder if we are choosing what God has planned for us. Does God have a sovereign will for my life? Did I choose the decision that God had planned for me? In the last article we examined the steps to making decisions in accordance with Godly wisdom. Today we will examine the characteristics of God’s sovereignty and how that helps us make our decisions using wisdom.

There is only One that is sovereign over all things. In 1 Timothy 6:15, God is declared “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” He is the only One that is ultimately sovereign in this universe. So what does Scripture reveal about God’s sovereign will?

  1. First, it is certain. It will not be frustrated or changed by men, angels, or anything else (Daniel 4:35).
  2. Second, God’s sovereign will is detailed in all things. God’s sovereign will ultimately determines which of our plans find fulfillment (James 4:13-15), the existence of creation (Rev. 4:11), the ruler’s personal plans (Prov. 21:1), the result of casting lots (Prov. 16:33), the believer’s suffering (1 Peter 3:17), and our personal salvation (Rom. 8:29-30).  So not only is it above all things, but nothing can escape it.
  3. The third thing we need to understand about God’s sovereign will is that it is hidden. God hides His sovereign will until it happens. So if you are wondering what God’s sovereign will for next Wednesday is, then you’ll just have to wait until next Thursday. Only God knows what will happen in advance and all the whys of His sovereign will (Deut. 29:29; Psalm 115:3; Rom. 11:33-34). The only exception to this is if God has revealed the future in prophecy.
  4. Fourth, God’s sovereign will is the supreme determiner of all things, without violating human moral responsibility or making God the author of sin (Acts 2:23; James 1:13). (I will expand on this point in a future article.) Even though God is completely sovereign, humans are moral agents who make real decisions for which we are responsible, therefore we cannot be fatalistic in our approach to life.
  5. Lastly, God’s sovereign will is perfect in that it will ultimately lead to God’s greatest glory (Rom. 11:36). Many times in our life we will face circumstances that are difficult or cause tremendous suffering. Even though we may not fully understand why we had to endure this difficulty, we can know that our experience was part of the sovereign plan of an all-wise and loving God. God’s plan is always perfect because God is perfect.

So how do we finally make a decision in our life that is God honoring?

  1. First, our plans (Prov. 21:5) need to come from a submissive heart to the sovereignty of God (James 4:13-16).
  2. Second, as we examined before, our circumstances, (such as open doors), should always be weighed with wisdom, and not read into to determine God’s will for our lives. Remember open doors are not commands by God to go through, instead they are opportunities that should be evaluated with wisdom.

After following through the steps from our last article in seeking wisdom in our decision making, then we are able to make a decision that is moral and wise. If you have concluded that one decision is wiser than another, than it would be sinful to knowingly choose the less wise or less moral option. Remember God has commanded us to be wise and mature, to go against that command would be sinful. If two options are equally wise, which happens often, than you can choose either option with the confidence that God is pleased. With all our decisions that we make, we must always trust in our sovereign God to work out all the details together for good. Hopefully this series has helped in understanding how to approach the decisions that we need to make in life to God’s glory alone.

He Was Sore Athirst…

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Judges 15:18

Samson was thirsty and ready to die. The difficulty was totally different from any which the hero had met before. Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines! But when the thirst was upon him, Samson felt that little present difficulty more weighty than the great past difficulty out of which he had so specially been delivered.

It is very usual for God’s people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little water! Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes ‘halting on his thigh!’ Strange that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly when he said, ‘I have slain a thousand men.’ His boastful throat soon grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many ways of humbling His people.

Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, he said, ‘I am this day weak, though anointed king.’ You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverances in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson’s thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson’s words, and rest assured that God will deliver you ere long.

1.21p

LBC Weekly SPARK – February 25, 2011

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Dear LBC family and friends,

I hope you are doing well and walking in the Lord. The second chapter of The Trellis and the Vine, by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, is called “Ministry Mind-Shifts.” The challenge presented in this chapter is that most ministries need to rethink and reevaluate what its ministry’s goals and methods are. As we learned from chapter 1, programs are not the essence of what biblical ministry ought to be. Programs are nice and helpful, but they serve the purpose and are not the purpose of ministry in themselves. The goal of ministry ought to be to see a body of believers who are committed to fulfilling the Great Commission – disciples of Christ making disciples of Christ.

One shift in ministry philosophy that needs to take place is to move from running programs to building people. Instead of thinking about what you want the finished product of your program to look like, you should begin with the people you have and mold the ministry to their giftedness and availability.

Another shift involves moving from running events to training people. Think about how much more effective evangelism in the church would be if the focus were less about having evangelistic events and programs and more about training up your members to preach the gospel and be committed to it. The program might be run by a small team of members, whereas the training would address and involve the entire church.

Other shifts that the authors propose are to move away from using people to growing people, and to move away from filling gaps to training new workers. When I was in college, I remember visiting various churches and having them try to get me involved in their children’s ministries. They didn’t know much about my gifts, talents, and abilities, but they needed workers to watch the kids. Unfortunately, a lot of churches function in this way, simply trying to fill the gaps that are left by members who have moved away or resigned.

The book offers eleven of these “ministry mind-shifts” that help us to evaluate what really ought to be the focus of what we do. If the Great Commission is about people building up people, then our focus should move away from solely mounting up programs and events. The programs and events help serve the work of the Great Commission, but are not the fulfillment of the Great Commission in and of themselves.

In His grace,

Pastor Patrick

Here are the announcements for this week:

  1. Bible Studies. The youth and singles will be having their regularly scheduled Bible studies tonight. The college group will not be meeting on campus this week due to the College Life Retreat at Pine Valley. If you are in college and not going to retreat, you are welcome to join the singles tonight at the church at 7:00pm. Check out the church website for more information about our Friday night Bible studies. Also, please pray for our college ministry as they have retreat this weekend at Pine Valley! Pray for safe travel to and from the retreat site as well as a wonderful weekend learning God’s Word!
  2. Flocks. Next week, our regular midweek Bible studies will not be meeting. Instead we will be having our regional flocks. Visit the flocks page at the church website to download the sermon response worksheet. Fill it out and come prepared for the large group discussion. For more information about flocks, you can either check out the website or contact Peter Lim ( peterlim@yahoo.com ).
  3. GraceLife Picnic at the Park/Fun in the Sun Day (FITS). Due to the poor weather forecast, this GraceLife event has been cancelled. However, the Care Ministry will be hosting a Fun in the Sun Day event on Sunday, March 6 to provide a time of fellowship and fun for all. FITS will be at the church beginning at 1:00pm. Lunch will be served for $5/person (youth and kids eat free!).
  4. End Times Bible Study. To coincide with our study in 1 Corinthians, Pastor Patrick will be hosting a Sunday evening series on the end times. Come find out what the Bible says about eschatology through this helpful series. The meetings will be at the church from 6:00-8:00pm on March 6, March 20, April 3, and April 17. For more information, please talk to Pastor Patrick.
  5. Parent/Child Dedication. We will be having our next Parent/Child Dedication during the worship service on Sunday, March 13. If you have recently had a child and would like to participate, please contact Pastor Patrick.
  6. Single Life Retreat. The singles will be having their retreat on the weekend of March 18-20, at Pine Valley Bible Camp. Our speaker this year will be Pastor James Lee of Pillar Bible Church, and he will be addressing the theme of “Dependence.” The cost is only $130 (including a $50 non-refundable deposit). You can sign up with Brian Song tonight at Bible study or on Sunday at church!
  7. Prayer. Don’t forget to come to church a little early on Sunday for a time of corporate prayer in the sanctuary. The sanctuary will be open for prayer at 8:45am, and prayer requests will be projected on the wall. If you are out in the foyer talking with one another, I would encourage you to remind each other of this time and come in to pray for the church.
  8. Vision Quest. The winner of the skit competition from last Sunday’s Vision Quest is Team Banana! Congratulations to all the teams! It really was a great night together and a helpful look into the Vision of LBC.

Weekly Links (2/25/2011)

I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you . . . Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them.  (CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory. HT: Jared Wilson)

by Stephen Rodgers

Apologies for the late post today folks.  Pastor John (he of San Jose fame) was kind enough to stay up rather late talking to me last night, so I got a late start on this.

And that brings us to the links for the week:

  • John Piper has some valuable musings as to whether smartphone apps are a threat to focus, and what the solution is for that.  His answer may surprise you.  (WEB)
  • The latest “Ask RC” event (from 2/17/2011) is available for viewing now.  And if Q&A with RC Sproul is something that interests you, you might want to check out the first one they did as well. (VIDEO)
  • This testimony from Covenant Life Church is a great testimony (no pun intended) to God’s providence in both prayer and salvation.  If you have six minutes to spare, I think this is well worth your time. (VIDEO)
  • Jared Wilson revisited the basics of the Lordship Salvation debate in this great article. If you really want to jump into a more exhaustive work on the subject though, I would heartily recommend John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus.  (WEB)
  • Speaking of John MacArthur, I was personally encouraged by a Q&A he recently did with Phil Johnson.  You can read the transcript, or download the audio. Johnson takes the opportunity to speak highly of his pastor, and MacArthur takes every opportunity to poke fun at his friend. (WEB/MP3)
  • Ken Sande gave a great interview to Christianity Today.  It’s so good, that I’m recommending you read it even though CT has terrible formatting. (WEB)
    • For the “pretty” version that makes you click seven times just to read it, click here.
    • For the “ugly” version that gives you the entire article but destroys formatting, click here.

That’s all for now folks.  See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

Peacemaking for Families (Grace Life)

by Pastor Patrick Cho

A couple weeks ago, the Grace Life ministry began a study through Ken Sande’s book, Peacemaking for Families. So far, the lessons have been greatly helpful in providing instruction and pointing to biblical principles of conflict resolution. Sadly, since we are sinners, our sin oftentimes manifests itself in our marriages and parenting. We hurt those we claim to love the most and we act selfishly, seeking only to get what we want.

The opening chapters of Sande’s book have been very helpful getting us to honestly confess that our conflicts stem from the sinful desires of our own hearts. We can’t solely blame others (“They make me so mad!”), and we can’t blame our circumstances (“All this noise is driving me crazy!”). As the Bible clearly indicates, in conflict we must first look inward to find the problem (James 4:1-2).

In any relationship, conflict is going to be reality. The teaching of Christ in Matthew 5:23-24 is particularly insightful. Jesus says that if someone has something against you, you are to go and resolve the conflict before offering the sacrifice at the altar. Even if you are doing everything you can to be at peace with others, you still can’t control how others are going to act towards you. The passage doesn’t say, “If you have a problem with someone…” It says, “If someone has a problem with you…”

This study through biblical conciliation in the context of the home is sure to be greatly practical and helpful. Hopefully, our families are already finding ways to implement the principles in their relationships. We all need to work hard at identifying our sinful desires and unbiblical demands in order to better love and serve one another. This isn’t to say that conflicts will be avoidable altogether. We may stumble along the way, but at least we can have the biblical principles in mind when we do in order to make peace quickly and completely.

Living Theology – Hub Post

by Stephen Rodgers

Garret already did a fantastic job in his treatment of the series, so I have little of substance to add to it.  However, considering that the series took more than a year to complete (he began in November 2009), I thought it might be helpful to create a hub post collecting all the articles.  After all, numerous people have joined our church since then, and they might be unfamiliar with the series (or Garrett for that matter!).  And that doesn’t even begin to include the people who read this online without having visited LBC.  I’m not sure many of them understand what a massive undertaking it was that you set forth to accomplish; perhaps this post will help them see that.

I also wanted to take a brief moment to publicly thank Garrett for all the hard work he did on the series.  He joined the Beacon as a writer at the same time that I joined as the editor, and his faithfulness in producing article after article, week after week, was an enormous benefit and comfort to me personally.  And he consistently did so in a manner that showed he had spent considerable time in reflection not only of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, but of Scripture itself.  The icing on the cake was that in the entire time he spent as a writer, he only ever asked for time off once: and that was due to the fact that he was relocating to San Jose to be part of the church plant! I think he crammed relocation, a career change, and possibly his engagement into that time period, and he still came back with more articles two weeks later!

Garrett, it has been an absolute pleasure.  You are a good writer (meaning I almost never changed your words), a discerning thinker (meaning I almost never deleted your words), and a faithful Christian brother (meaning I never failed to learn from your words).

Thank you.

Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology TOC (with corresponding links to Garrett Glende’s Living Theology series)

Part 1: The Doctrine of the Word of God

Part 2: The Doctrine of God

Part 3: The Doctrine of Man

Part 4: The Doctrines of Christ and the Holy Spirit

Part 5: The Doctrine of the Application of Redemption

Part 6: The Doctrine of the Church

Part 7: The Doctrine of the Future