Author Archives: Stephen Rodgers

Come Ye, And Let Us Go Up To The Mountain Of The Lord

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Isaiah 2:3

It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is well for us to cut down these thorns and briers, for heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest; and where shall we find a better sickle with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? In the valleys of Switzerland many of the inhabitants are deformed, and all wear a sickly appearance, for the atmosphere is charged with miasma, and is close and stagnant; but up yonder, on the mountain, you find a hardy race, who breathe the clear fresh air as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. It would be well if the dwellers in the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and the fever mists, and inhale the bracing element upon the hills.

It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety, and all the ills which gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below, and assist us to mount! We sit too often like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would, perhaps, if it came really to the test, be loath to have it snapped. May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, attain the top of the mountain, there to indulge in communion with the Most High.

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Age of Opportunity: Chapter 2 – Idols of Youth Ministry

by Josh Liu

Mentioned in an earlier post, the Lumos Youth Ministry staff has been working through Paul David Tripp’s Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens. It has been a beneficial resource in helping us examine our goals and philosophy of youth ministry. In Chapter 2, “Whose Idols Are in the Way?,” Tripp begins with the following thought:

If we are ever to be effective for Christ in the lives of our teenagers, it is important to be honest about our own idols–the places where we have tended to exchange worship and service of the Creator for worship and service of created things (Tripp, 29).

Tripp reminds readers that something is always ruling our hearts. While many sincere believers might immediately affirm Christ as Lord over their hearts, their thoughts, desires, actions, words, investments, and priorities often reveal who is truly God in their lives. Parents must be careful in allowing their own expectations of or goals for their children from becoming idols, from blinding themselves to God-given opportunities to point their children to their Creator.

Tripp highlights five common idols that parents might be blinded to:

  1. The Idol of Comfort. This is the demand of or feeling entitled to your peace and comfort. The parent expects to come home to quiet, well-behaved children after a long day of work. When this is an entrenched idol of the parent’s heart, Tripp observes that parents will begin to see their children as the enemy and that “they will begin to fight with him rather than for him” (Tripp, 32). Comfort is not in and of itself evil or wrong to be desired, but when it becomes a demand, the sole focus in the home, then it usurps God’s rightful rule over the heart.
  2. The Idol of Respect. This heart demands that his child fear him and give him the respect that he thought he deserved (Tripp, 32). This often manifests itself in anger, “attack” responses, criticism, exasperation with the child, and belittlement, with the ultimate goal of perfect obedience to the parent. Again, respect is not bad, but it cannot be produced by the will of the parent. Parents ought to teach and instill respect of parents in their children, yet trust in God to produce such godly responses according to His will.
  3. The Idol of Appreciation. Parents certainly work hard. They are their children’s chauffeurs, cooks, laundromats, doctors, banks, cleaners, secretaries, and so on. Parents go to great lengths and sacrifice to care for their children. “Children should appreciate their parents. Yet being appreciated cannot be [their] goal” (Tripp, 33). Many parents reveal by their actions that they expect or demand their children to acknowledge, thank, and appreciate them for everything they do. This idol blinds the parent to his God-ordained role as a parent to shepherd his children unto the Lord.
  4. The Idol of Success. This heart views children as the parents’ trophies rather than God’s creatures (Tripp, 35). This idol moves parents to train up their children to bring them glory rather than God. These parents’ sense of identity is so wrapped up in the achievements, obedience, and “success” of their children that they lay aside God’s ultimate authority and sovereignty.
  5. The Idol of Control. This heart seeks to control and direct every choice, preference, priority, and outcome of the child. While young children are heavily dependent on their parents, that authority subsides as they grow older. Parents who are unwilling to relinquish control often seek to exercise total sovereignty in the life of their children. Yet only God exercises this kind of control.

I believe Tripp puts it best:

“[Every] parent needs to ask, ‘Why am I doing what I am doing? Who am I serving? What are the things that I have come to expect and demand? Whose desires rule the moments of opportunity with my teenager–God’s or mine?’” (Tripp, 34).

In our goal to partner with parents in the discipleship of their children, the staff needs to biblically examine our own hearts. Whether we grew up going to a youth group or not, we all come with a set of expectations when it comes to youth ministry. There are ministry fads that “guarantee” a vibrant, fruitful youth ministry; there are parents who demand certain results from staffers and youth pastors; there are personal experiences that tempt us to think a certain event or model will produce desired results. Here’s a personal non-exhaustive (and largely incomplete) list of idols of youth ministry that the staff needs prayer over:

  1. The Idol of Relevance. Being “hip” (or hipster? Not sure what’s cool now), up-to-date with pop culture, speaking with the same vernacular (e.g. abbreviations that replace sentences and permeate with self-centeredness, like “TFTI”), dressing with the current (youth) fashion, and so on, are often a temptation for youth ministries to compromise the centrality of God’s Word, the holiness of God-exalting worship, the dignity of faithful servants, and the unity of the local church.
  2. The Idol of Relationality. What I mean is the idols of staff-youth relationships, attractiveness to outsiders, profuse social events, and story-filled “sermonettes.” These youth ministries do not support parent relationships, spend more time planning than discipling, and produce low-quality sermons. They often vie for a youth’s transparency and vulnerability that at times subverts parents’ influence.
  3. The Idol of Serving. Without any intention of referring to any particular work of literature, many youth ministries want their youth to simply get involved and do things at church or in the community for the sake of “just doing it.” Often times, when a youth ministry idolizes service, a youth’s participation is the measurement of their faithfulness, maturity, or even salvation. These youth ministries often have student leaders and volunteers who are not qualified, shown proven character, or even saved.

These are just a few of the idols that beset youth ministry. To be clear, there are many aspects in the above that are not inherently sinful and have redeeming features, but when they become the drive for ministry, when the staff expect or prioritize the above over and against God’s priorities laid out in Scripture, then we err and are not serving in the most God-honoring manner. The staff must continually examine our underlying motives, and actively seek to glorify God by redeeming opportunities to disciple the youth through the faithful exposition of God’s Word. Please pray for us, the youth, the families, and the church that we might seek to live for Christ our King and that we might destroy the idols of our hearts.

An Unwelcome Message

by Elder Johnny Kim

In the course of our daily lives, many of us engage in numerous social interactions with a myriad of people. If we were to consider that some, if not most, of those people might be unbelievers, then we ought to come to the realization that we are always surrounded by opportunities to engage in evangelism. Between family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, classmates, roommates, acquaintances, and strangers, there is no shortage of opportunities for the faithful Christian to share the Gospel with those who desperately need it. In fact, one thing that I’m always grateful for and encouraged by are the members in our church who take on this view and take seriously the Mission of Lighthouse: to make disciples of Christ in accordance with Matthew 28:18-20. Still, for many of us, evangelism itself can be challenging and difficult and at times even discouraging when we perceive there to be a lack of any apparent fruit resulting from our efforts. Sometimes it seems as though it just doesn’t matter how many opportunities we have to share the Gospel when no one is accepting it.

Perhaps we are prone to succumb to that kind of discouragement because of the influence of the world we live in. It is tempting for us to measure success and effectiveness in terms how the world around us measures them. When it comes to such things, we often find that this business driven world is all about numbers, statistics, quantity, and maximum impact. We can easily be influenced by the standard that more is better and bigger is better and that anything less is failure. Whether you’re a business, political party, social organization, or an academic institution, no one aims to make the least impact, to reach the least amount of people, or to be the least popular choice. So left with nothing else to consider, we Christians certainly would find it hard to help but feel like we are failing or doing something wrong in our efforts to evangelize the lost.

Thankfully, we are not left with nothing more to consider on the matter, but rather we have the most important thing we can possibly consider: the Word of God.

While we might question our effectiveness and usefulness as Gospel witnesses, Jesus speaks to the truth about how the Gospel, the good news about Himself, will truly be received and accepted. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus provides a comparison between salvation and wide and narrow gates. He describes the entrance to the kingdom of God as a narrow gate as opposed to a wide gate which leads to hell. The wide gate is easy to find, easy to travel through, and looks as if it leads to the kingdom of God. Furthermore, the one who travels through the wide gate might also be comforted by the fact that they are accompanied by many other people headed in the same direction. But the truth that Christ reveals through His comparison is that salvation is instead like a narrow gate. It is not easy to find, it is not easy to travel through, and it is definitely not as popular as the wide gate is. Christ helps us to understand that the way to true salvation is narrow and specific. One cannot enter into the kingdom of God in any manner one chooses. One cannot enter in to the kingdom of God via any number of different paths or ways akin to passing through a large and wide gate. On the contrary, as we read in Acts 4:12, there is only one way to enter and only one means by which we can enter.

In light of these truths, we are reminded in a sober way that only a relative few will enter into the kingdom of God. No matter the way that the Gospel is preached or presented, the truth will be rejected in the hearts of those who hear it and traded for a lie that is more convenient and less intrusive and demanding. The truth is our efforts to share the Gospel and evangelize will more often than not be met with denial and rejection. If we are faithful to preach the one true Gospel in its entirety, then we are promised in the Bible that this may likely be the end result. Though Christ’s words in Matthew 7:13-14 are a sober reality, I believe that it can also serve to embolden us as we persevere in being witnesses of Christ. Rather than being discouraged, we can be affirmed that we are preaching Christ’s Gospel with all its truths, consequences, demands, and rewards rather than a lesser, crowd-pleasing message that requires no commitment, submission, or sacrifice.

Relating this idea to the context of our church, from the perspective of an elder, I have to admit that I don’t find myself so concerned when there is a dip in the number of new members who profess to be believers and join our church. Truthfully, I’m not so worried when there are periods where we don’t have as many people accepting Christ and being baptized. However, an explosion of people who accept Christ in response to the Gospel we preach on Sunday might causes me to turn a critical eye and ear toward the message that is coming from the pulpit. After all, Christ made clear what the consequential response will be to the Gospel He has commanded us to preach. It is my hope that with a similar understanding, we can all be faithful to preach at every opportunity, the one true Gospel that promises salvation for the few that will receive it. But in doing so, let us remember that we are directing people to a narrow gate that’s hard to find, isolated from the crowds, and difficult to walk through. Finally, let us persevere through rejection knowing that it’s the only gate in this world that leads to everlasting life.

…That We Might Be Made The Righteousness Of God In Him

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From 2 Corinthians 5:21

Mourning Christian! why weepest thou? Art thou mourning over thine own corruptions? Look to thy perfect Lord, and remember, thou art complete in Him; thou art in God’s sight as perfect as if thou hadst never sinned; nay, more than that, the Lord our Righteousness hath put a divine garment upon thee, so that thou hast more than the righteousness of man-thou hast the righteousness of God. O Thou who art mourning by reason of inbred sin and depravity, remember, none of thy sins can condemn thee. Thou hast learned to hate sin; but thou hast learned also to know that sin is not thine-it was laid upon Christ’s head.

Thy standing is not in thyself-it is in Christ; thine acceptance is not in thyself, but in thy Lord; thou art as much accepted of God to-day, with all thy sinfulness, as thou wilt be when thou standest before His throne, free from all corruption. O, I beseech thee, lay hold on this precious thought, perfection in Christ! For thou art ‘complete in Him.’ With thy Saviour’s garment on, thou art holy as the Holy one. ‘Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.’

Christian, let thy heart rejoice, for thou art ‘accepted in the beloved’-what hast thou to fear? Let thy face ever wear a smile; live near thy Master; live in the suburbs of the Celestial City; for soon, when thy time has come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and reign at His right hand; and all this because the divine Lord ‘was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.’

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Weekly Links (4/4/2014)

“The greatest commandment is love, not niceness. And as C.S. Lewis pointed out somewhere, anger is what love bleeds when you cut it. You cannot love without hating, and if you do not hate, you know nothing of love. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13). To love the wolves is to hate the sheep, and vice versa. Love the termites, hate the house. Hate the man, love the cancer. This is not a difficult principle.” (Douglas Wilson, Preparing for the Refugee Column)

by Stephen Rodgers

In accordance with custom and the ancient pact, I’m going to keep my WL short and sweet so that you have more time to read and listen to the actual resources. Which are excellent. In fact, everybody needs to watch their step, because I’m about to drop some knowledge.

I believe that’s the expression the collegians taught me. Did I say that right?

Anyhow…

  • The free book this month from christianaudio.com is What Happens When Women Say Yes To God. I’m not familiar with that book at all, so this is more of a “by-the-way” than a whole-hearted recommendation.
  • The free book this month from Logos is Jesus and Scripture by Steve Moyise.  I’m not familiar with this one either, but Craig Evans endorsed it, and he’s no slouch, so it’s probably good.
  • Ok…on to stuff I actually know about. The April edition of Tabletalk is out, and it’s on the subject of The Great Commission.  So, if you’re waiting to hear if you’re on a missions team, you should probably read this. That way you can be loaded for bear when your interview rolls around. And if you’re not on a missions team, you should totally read this in order to test someone who is.
  • Ligonier is also giving away a free audiobook this month: The Truth of the Cross. In case you hadn’t noticed, Ligonier has recently committed to making many of it’s resources freely available, and they are almost always quite excellent…like this one.
  • Last but not least, the audio for the 2014 Shepherds Conference is up. I want to especially point out the seminar by Paul Washer; that’s another resource that you should have digested and stored in your back pocket (ok, sometimes metaphors don’t mix well) if you’re hoping to be on a missions team.

See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

The Tabernacle (Exodus 25-30)

by Dennis Su

In Sonlight, we’re continuing our study of the Old Testament, focusing on the book of Exodus for the past few weeks. We recently learned about the tabernacle and how it was used by God to dwell with the Israelites. It has been encouraging to see the interest the kids have about the tabernacle and items within it. What has also been encouraging in studying the tabernacle is seeing how God uses the tabernacle to point to Christ.

In one of the lessons, we saw how the Mercy Seat and the Day of Atonement pointed to Christ’s atonement for man’s sin and how the sins of the Israelites were covered through this ceremony. We can also see how other items in the tabernacle point to Christ and to God’s holiness. The veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies conveys God’s holiness and His separation from man’s sinfulness. Later we see in the New Testament (Hebrews 10:19-20) that Jesus represented the new way for man to be brought into God’s presence (veil no longer needed) and that the death of Christ also resulted in the tabernacle veil being torn in half. The bronze altar was for continual sacrifices required of the Israelites by God and pointed to the ultimate sacrifice through Christ. The basin in the tabernacle was also used by priests to wash themselves clean before being in God’s presence. If this was not done before going into the Holy Place, they would die. In each item of the tabernacle we can see either God’s holiness or illustration of Christ.

The kids also had an opportunity to reconstruct the tabernacle during Sunday School. This activity helped emphasize how it was God who wanted to be with Israel and who gave specific instructions on how the tabernacle was to be built. My hope is that the Sonlight kids would be able to see how God wants to have a relationship with man despite our sinfulness and that the purpose of Christ’s death would be more clearly seen through the tabernacle lessons.

All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Isaiah 53:6

Here a confession of sin common to all the elect people of God. They have all fallen, and therefore, in common chorus, they all say, from the first who entered heaven to the last who shall enter there, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray.’

The confession, while thus unanimous, is also special and particular: ‘We have turned every one to his own way.’ There is a peculiar sinfulness about every one of the individuals; all are sinful, but each one with some special aggravation not found in his fellow. It is the mark of genuine repentance that while it naturally associates itself with other penitents, it also takes up a position of loneliness. ‘We have turned every one to his own way,’ is a confession that each man had sinned against light peculiar to himself, or sinned with an aggravation which he could not perceive in others.

This confession is unreserved; there is not a word to detract from its force, nor a syllable by way of excuse. The confession is a giving up of all pleas of self-righteousness. It is the declaration of men who are consciously guilty-guilty with aggravations, guilty without excuse: they stand with their weapons of rebellion broken in pieces, and cry, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.’

Yet we hear no dolorous wailings attending this confession of sin; for the next sentence makes it almost a song. ‘The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ It is the most grievous sentence of the three, but it overflows with comfort. Strange is it that where misery was concentrated mercy reigned; where sorrow reached her climax weary souls find rest. The Saviour bruised is the healing of bruised hearts. See how the lowliest penitence gives place to assured confidence through simply gazing at Christ on the cross!

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Grace Life Ministry Update

by Pastor Patrick Cho

This past week for Grace Life, we enjoyed a nice break from our regular Bible study and partook in fellowship over some pizza! During that time, I asked our Grace Lifers if they could share some feedback about how helpful the study on the attributes of God has been thus far. Here are their responses:

“I have enjoyed the fellowship and getting to know others better. I appreciated learning more about God’s truth. Because He is true, we can believe everything about Him.”

“This Grace Life study has been helpful for me because it has helped reveal that my view of God was limited. Our sinful human mind could never understand the vastness of God. When we are diligent to study His character, it will elicit a greater appreciation of His grace to us and how small we are in comparison.”

“The Grace Life Bible study has encouraged me midweek to be accountable for my actions during the week and to reflect on my spiritual discipline.”

“Grace Life has reminded me of the greatness of God in all of the attributes discussed and that He is perfect in them.”

“It has been very helpful to focus on God and have application flow from that, rather than starting with ‘more practical’ things. The lesson on His eternality helped me see the comparative brevity and fragility of my life and it compelled me to be more intentional in time management and stewardship.”

“The lesson on God’s omniscience stood out to me. It gives me comfort to know that even though I don’t know the future, God already has a plan in place before the creation of the world.”

“One lesson that stood out was when we discussed God’s holiness in Isaiah 6. Specifically, the passage showed how God was set apart even to the extent that angels covered their eyes in His presence. Through this passage, I was reminded of how pure and perfect God is compared to anyone else.”

“The lesson on immutability stood out to me. I never thought about how there are passages in the Bible that can be construed as God changing His mind. It was eye-opening in understanding that He is truly unchanging and that those passages are not talking about Him actually changing His mind. Also, it was helpful that God does not have a Plan B. But that every contingency was accounted for from the beginning.”

“This series has been helpful to me in that it stressed the importance of cultivating a deeper understanding of God and His character. A deeper understanding of Him causes my devotion, worship, and service to Him to be deeper. I remember feeling comforted knowing that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am thankful that our God doesn’t change His mind about the way of salvation. His word is unchanging just like His character.”

“I enjoyed learning about God’s eternality and how He sees all events in time all at once instead of like us experiencing one event at a time. It increases my trust in God that He has perfect understanding of past events in my life as well as my future.”

“Reminders of God’s omnipresence have transformed my thoughts little by little each day for the last few months. Not only is He everywhere at all times, but He is ever near me, personally guiding and comforting me through daily trials.”

“The aseity of God was a helpful lesson because it forced me to more closely examine God’s self-sufficiency, independence and sovereignty. That these inherent qualities of God are not related to us or any of His creation only served to magnify His grace, love, and mercy – that He would choose to create us, choose to love us, and choose to save us.”

“This study has been a good reminder about God’s attributes and what an awesome God we worship.”

“This series has been helpful because it helped me to appreciate and see God in a more grand view. To see God exhibit each attribute perfectly is amazing.”

“I’ve been learning that God cannot change, that He is immutable. This reaffirms that all His promises are sure and will be kept despite my unfaithfulness. I am so thankful that my security in salvation is unchanging.”

“Reviewing the truth of God and His word particularly was helpful for me. Knowing that God’s absolute truth is clearly laid out throughout the Scripture encourages me to keep pursuing to grow in His knowledge and in His grace, all for His glory!”

This study has certainly been impactful and spiritually beneficial. I would encourage all married couples and parents to come out and join us for Bible study on Thursday evenings! It has also been a tremendous joy to teach through this series. Preparation for the lessons has focused my attention on the greatness of God (which is a wonderful theme to focus on!). Walking through these lessons with the group has been a great time of worship together. We’ll still be continuing this series through the month of May so hopefully we’ll see more people come out and join in the blessing!

They Took Jesus, And Led Him Away

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From John 19:16

He had been all night in agony, He had spent the early morning at the hall of Caiaphas, He had been hurried from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate; He had, therefore, but little strength left, and yet neither refreshment nor rest were permitted Him. They were eager for His blood, and therefore led Him out to die, loaded with the cross. O dolorous procession! Well may Salem’s daughters weep. My soul, do thou weep also.

What learn we here as we see our blessed Lord led forth? Do we not perceive that truth which was set forth in shadow by the scapegoat? Did not the high-priest bring the scapegoat, and put both his hands upon its head, confessing the sins of the people, that thus those sins might be laid upon the goat, and cease from the people? Then the goat was led away by a fit man into the wilderness, and it carried away the sins of the people, so that if they were sought for they could not be found. Now we see Jesus brought before the priests and rulers, who pronounce Him guilty; God Himself imputes our sins to Him, ‘the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all;’ ‘He was made sin for us;’ and, as the substitute for our guilt, bearing our sin upon His shoulders, represented by the cross; we see the great Scapegoat led away by the appointed officers of justice. Beloved, can you feel assured that He carried your sin? As you look at the cross upon His shoulders, does it represent your sin? There is one way by which you can tell whether He carried your sin or not. Have you laid your hand upon His head, confessed your sin, and trusted in Him? Then your sin lies not on you; it has all been transferred by blessed imputation to Christ, and He bears it on His shoulder as a load heavier than the cross.

Let not the picture vanish till you have rejoiced in your own deliverance, and adored the loving Redeemer upon whom your iniquities were laid.

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