Author Archives: Stephen Rodgers

The Love Of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Ephesians 3:19

The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe His matchless, His unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath. Well might the poet say,

‘O love, thou fathomless abyss!’

for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless; none can attain unto it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand His previous glory in its height of majesty, and His incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When He was enthroned in the highest heavens He was very God of very God; by Him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded Him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne: He reigned supreme above all His creatures, God over all, blessed for ever. Who can tell His height of glory then? And who, on the other hand, can tell how low He descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for Him who was the Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony-to endure a death of shame and desertion by His Father, this is a depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love! and truly it is love that ‘passeth knowledge.’ O let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.

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Unexpected News

by Elder Johnny Kim

Like any other guy, I like a good war movie, but I particularly appreciate those war movies that are based on actual events. “We Were Soldiers” is one such movie and one of my favorite scenes is at the end when Mel Gibson’s character comes back home after fighting in Vietnam and is reunited with his wife. In one of the final scenes, she waits at home and her doorbell rings, gripping her with fear as she expects to receive news that her husband has been killed in action. However, when she opens the door, she sees her husband standing there having returned safely from the war. In that moment, her feelings of fear and the expectation of receiving tragic news instantly turn to joy.

The display of extreme emotions, from complete fear to ecstatic joy, is something we can also find in the Bible. In the account of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:8, we read about an angel of the Lord appearing to the shepherds tending to their flock. Upon seeing the angel, the shepherds were “filled with great fear” and rightly so, for past visits from such angels and heavenly beings sometimes resulted in death and destruction. The shepherds, perhaps fearing the same for their own lives, were deathly afraid, but then the angel spoke to reveal his true intentions. He delivers the good news of the birth of the One who had come to save them. The angel’s news wasn’t about death and destruction, but rather about life and salvation. In that moment, their fear turns to joy and they excitedly hurry to travel to witness their newly born Savior.

What a roller coaster of emotions it must have been for the shepherds! I can only imagine that the swing of extreme emotions then made the eventual good news that much sweeter. The expectation that something bad was going to happen had to have then made receiving the good news in the end that much more appreciated, meaningful, and precious!

For Christians today who understand the truth of the Gospel, we should recognize that we ourselves were in a similar situation. Because of our sin and rebellion against God, we fully deserved to receive the worst news of all, that we would be damned to hell and separated from God forever and that that would be it. And yet, for those who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, the news of Christ being born into this world means that we can have salvation and eternal life instead. It’s a complete reversal of what we should have deserved and because of that, the news of Christ’s birth should be that much more sweeter to those who hear it and understand it.

Should we find it difficult to be joyful during the Christmas season, a time when we celebrate Christ coming into this world to save us, we need to remind ourselves that this good news is hardly the type of news we deserved at all. As we look forward to cultivating a true joy in our lives this season for the world around us to see, let us consider just how precious the good news of Christ’s birth ought to be in light of the news we truly deserved and should have expected.

The Dogs Eat Of The Crumbs Which Fall From Their Master’s Table

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Matthew 15:27

This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking GREAT THOUGHTS OF CHRIST. The Master had talked about the children’s bread: ‘Now,’ argued she, ‘since Thou art the Master of the table of grace, I know that Thou art a generous housekeeper, and there is sure to be abundance of bread on Thy table; there will be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse because the dogs are fed.’ She thought Him one who kept so good a table that all that she needed would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she said, ‘It is nothing to Him, it is but a crumb for Christ to give.’

This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace. ‘My sins are many, but oh! it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant’s foot would crush a worm, but it is no more than a grain of dust to Him, because He has already borne its curse in His own body on the tree. It will be but a small thing for Him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it.’ The woman opens her soul’s mouth very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and He fills it with His love.

Dear reader, do the same. She confessed what Christ laid at her door, but she laid fast hold upon Him, and drew arguments even out of His hard words; she believed great things of Him, and she thus overcame Him. SHE WON THE VICTORY BY BELIEVING IN HIM. Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must imitate her tactics.

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Weekly Links (12/6/2013)

by Stephen Rodgers

Happy Friday everyone! In accordance with the ancient pact, I’m here with a collection of free resources for you to peruse:

  • The free audio book from Christianaudio is an odd one this month: Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army.  I don’t know anything about it, but there it is.
  • On the other hand, the free resource from Logos is Horatius Bonar’s How Then Shall I Go To God? That has a far more established pedigree, and is certainly worth your time (if you do the Logos thing).
  • The free book from Ligonier is Keith Mathison’s A Reformed Approach to Science and Scripture.  It sounds interesting, and I’d be especially interested in comparing it to Pothress’ book at some point (which is also free).
  • The December issue of Tabletalk is on the subject of the Millennium. That should pair nicely with Pastor Patrick’s eschatology class, right?
  • And hooray! Themelios 38.3 is out! I know I’m the only one who reads this monster, but what can I say? There’s a lot you can learn from five-dozen book reviews…

And here’s a couple of quick updates regarding resources I’ve mentioned before…

  • CBMW has a new website, and you can finally find all the back issues easily.  That’s something to celebrate (long-time readers will remember my Wayback Machine hack, but fortunately that is no longer necessary).
  • If you haven’t checked out Credo yet, be sure to take a gander at both the current issue and the archive.  They put out some really good stuff.

That’s it! See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

One Another-ing

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (1 John 2:10)

by Josh Liu

Loving one another is such a foundational characteristic and primary activity of a believer that those who do not love others show themselves to not abide in the light–that is, Jesus Christ. This is one theme the youth ministry seeks to emphasize.

Cesar preached on 1 John 2:7-11 for a Lumos Friday night Bible study in November. In a subsequent Bible study, he expounded on the theme of loving one another. He shared with us Tim Keller’s organization of the one another commands in the New Testament (from A Gospel Life: Grace Changes Everything):

Affirm

  • Affirm one another’s strengths, abilities, and gifts (cf. Rom. 12:10; James 5:9; Rom. 12:3-8)
  • Affirm one another’s equal importance in Christ (cf. Rom. 15:7; 1 Cor. 12:25; 1 Peter 5:5; James 2:1)
  • Affirm one another through visible affection (cf. Rom. 16:16; James 1:19; Eph. 4:32; 1 Thess. 3:12)

Share

  • Share one another’s space, goods, and time (cf. Rom. 12:10; 1 Peter 4:9; Gal. 6:10)
  • Share one another’s needs and problems (cf. Gal. 6:2; 1 Thess. 5:11; Heb. 3:13)
  • Share one another’s beliefs, thinking, and spirituality (cf. Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19; Rom. 12:16; 1 Cor. 1:10)

Serve

  • Serve one another through accountability (cf. James 5:16; Rom. 15:14; Eph. 4:35)
  • Serve one another through forgiveness and reconciliation (cf. Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:13; Gal. 5:25; James 4:11; Matt. 5:23-24; 18:15)
  • Serve one another’s interests rather than our own (Heb. 10:24; Rom. 15:1-2; Gal. 5:13)

It has been an incredibly challenging time in examining our lives through the lens of Scripture, particularly in measuring ourselves to these tests of love. It was my personal experience during my youth group years of struggling to love my family members. I fought a lot with my brothers and father. Refusing to love them, and in fact actively hating them, should have revealed that I did not abide in Christ. Yet I was blinded by my own sinful heart. Thankfully, by God’s grace, He revealed the depths of my sinfulness and my desperate need for Christ as my Lord and Savior. Only then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, did I begin to actively love, for I then knew the love of Christ through His life, death, and resurrection, reconciling me to the Father.

Our discussion time after the message during Bible study was encouraging. Some of the youth shared about areas that they struggled in and thoughts on what to do differently next time.

In the same way, I present this challenge to you: examine your life–your heart attitudes, thoughts, actions, speech, tone. Does it reveal one who abides in the light? Or, one who abides in darkness? Are you actively loving others to make God big? Or are you actively loving yourself to make you big? Prayerfully rate yourself in the above one-another’s that Keller summarizes.

As you do so, I suggest using the following from The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why He Came to Die…To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners, by John Piper, to reflect on Christ’s love for us.

One will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

The measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is the degree of his sacrifice in saving us from the penalty of our sin. The other is the degree of unworthiness that we had when he saved us.

We can hear the measure of his sacrifice in the words, “He gave his only son” (John 3:16). We also hear it in the word Christ. This is a name based on the Greek title Christos, or “Anointed One,” or “Messiah.” It is a term of great dignity. The Messiah was to be the King of Israel. He would conquer the he measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is Romans and bring peace and security to Israel. Thus the person whom God sent to save sinners was his own divine Son, his only Son, and the Anointed King of Israel—indeed the king of the world (Isaiah 9:6-7).

When we add to this consideration the horrific death by crucifixion that Christ endured, it becomes clear that the sacrifice the Father and the Son made was indescribably great—even infinite, when you consider the distance between the divine and the human. But God chose to make this sacrifice to save us.

The measure of his love for us increases still more when we consider our unworthiness. “Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). We deserved divine punishment, not divine sacrifice.

I have heard it said, “God didn’t die for frogs. So he was responding to our value as humans.” This turns grace on its head. We are worse off than frogs. They have not sinned. They have not rebelled and treated God with the contempt of being inconsequential in their lives. God did not have to die for frogs. They aren’t bad enough. We are. Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay it.

There is only one explanation for God’s sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is “the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). It is all free. It is not a response to our worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, his infinite beauty.

Then All The Disciples Forsook Him And Fled

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Matthew 26:56

He never deserted them, but they in cowardly fear of their lives, fled from Him in the very beginning of His sufferings. This is but one instructive instance of the frailty of all believers if left to themselves; they are but sheep at the best, and they flee when the wolf cometh. They had all been warned of the danger, and had promised to die rather than leave their Master; and yet they were seized with sudden panic, and took to their heels. It may be, that I, at the opening of this day, have braced up my mind to bear a trial for the Lord’s sake, and I imagine myself to be certain to exhibit perfect fidelity; but let me be very jealous of myself, lest having the same evil heart of unbelief, I should depart from my Lord as the apostles did. It is one thing to promise, and quite another to perform. It would have been to their eternal honour to have stood at Jesus’ side right manfully; they fled from honour; may I be kept from imitating them! Where else could they have been so safe as near their Master, who could presently call for twelve legions of angels? They fled from their true safety. O God, let me not play the fool also. Divine grace can make the coward brave. The smoking flax can flame forth like fire on the altar when the Lord wills it. These very apostles who were timid as hares, grew to be bold as lions after the Spirit had descended upon them, and even so the Holy Spirit can make my recreant spirit brave to confess my Lord and witness for His truth.

What anguish must have filled the Saviour as He saw His friends so faithless! This was one bitter ingredient in His cup; but that cup is drained dry; let me not put another drop in it. If I forsake my Lord, I shall crucify Him afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Keep me, O blessed Spirit, from an end so shameful.

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