by Josh Liu

Every person (and counseling system) operates on a presupposed worldview. That set of beliefs form a system through which a person interprets his observations, thoughts, experiences, actions, feelings, past, values, problems, etc. Therefore, it is critical to establish or define the biblical counselor’s worldview—this series introduces the underlying theology that makes biblical counseling biblical.

Focusing on the fields of counseling and mental health, many cast doubts on the sufficiency of Scripture to provide understanding and true help. In particular, integrationists and/or Christian psychologists often either imply or directly state that secular theories and/or practices of psychology are necessary for counseling. In other words, it is argued that psychology offers what Scripture lacks in counseling, therapy, and help. Is Scripture insufficient to provide answers and help? We first briefly explain the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, then apply it to the area of counseling and psychology.

Since the Word of God is divinely inspired and without error, it truly reveals God and guides man. Dr. James Mook describes the doctrine of the sufficiency of God’s Word as the following:

The Scriptures give man adequate information about the nature and will of God, and the nature of spiritual and physical realities. This assertion does not mean that God has revealed everything about Himself and everything He has created. But it does mean that God has revealed all that He deemed necessary to know about Him, His salvation, and His will for man and the rest of creation [Deut 29:29; John 20:30-31; 2 Pet 1:3-4]. [1]

Stated another way, the Westminster Confession states,

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men (1:6).

To put it succinctly, God has provided in His Word all that man needs to know, either by precept or principle. [2] While Scripture ultimately speaks about Christ and redemption (see Luke 24:27, 44), it includes all aspects of creation—history, science, health, relationships, emotions, etc. Scripture is direct revelation from God and is the authoritative source of truth (inspiration); it is completely without error (inerrant). It also provides all that man requires to know God and live for Him (sufficient). Thus, the Christian counselor is equipped by Scripture to understand man and respond to his problems; Scripture accurately and comprehensively teaches the biblical counselor about man, his problems, and the solutions. The biblical counselor (and Scripture) is not lacking such that other sources must be used (i.e., secular psychologies). John MacArthur expounds on Psalm 19:7-14, showing how “God’s Word is sufficient to meet every need of the human soul…” [3] Scripture is perfect, restoring the soul; trustworthy, imparting wisdom; right, causing joy; pure, enlightening the eyes; clean, enduring forever; true, altogether righteous.

By contrast, integrationists, broadly, adopt psychologies’ theories or paradigms and implement secular psychotherapy on the basis of the insufficiency of Scripture and the “scientific” claims in psychology. This results in potentially confusing and dangerous conclusions regarding the source of truth. For example, Gary Collins says, “All truth as God’s truth has equal warrant, whether truth from nature or Scripture. Therefore, the truths of psychology (general revelation) are neither contradictory nor contrary to revealed truth (special revelation) but are integrative in a harmonious whole.” [4]

Psychology may provide accurate observations about God’s creation. However, psychology is founded on an atheistic worldview. Its interpretations of its observations will be skewed. So, the Christian counselor is left with the following question: Is any scientific claim or observation from nature equal to the general revelation of God and, thus, appropriate to incorporate into counseling models? Biblical counselors would answer, “no.” General revelation is “the general (unrestricted), non-verbal disclosing of God’s existence and perfections (including His truth) to all people by means of nature, conscience, and history.” [5] For example, Psalm 19 begins with, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God…” and Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” In other words, general revelation always relates to God. Psychology is fundamentally atheistic—attempting to remove God. Moreover, psychology is not unbiased, pure, or amoral; it is observations interpreted by depraved persons (see 1 Cor 2:6-16; Acts 14:8-18). Psychology and Scripture, then, are paradigmatically opposed to one another. There are important differences between general revelation and scientific claims. Scientific claims can be accurate and significant since Scripture does not provide comprehensive information about all things. For example, Scripture records the presence of diseases (see Mat. 4:23), yet it is not a medical textbook on diseases; (medical) science can provide accurate information concerning true diseases. However, scientific claims are insufficient to position psychology as co-authoritative with Scripture in counseling. Scripture identifies man’s true problem (his spiritual condition) and provides true help. Scripture is totally sufficient to understand man and creation, God’s purposes, and man’s responsibilities.

[1] James Mook, “Theology 1: Section 2: Bibliology, Part 4: Revelation Distinguished from Other Doctrines,” (Lecture, The Master’s Seminary, Sun Valley, CA, Summer 2014), 79.

[2] Ernie Baker, “Introduction to Biblical Counseling,” (lecture, MABC SIP, Santa Clarita, CA, July 14, 2011).

[3] John MacArthur, “The Sufficiency of Scripture,” The Master’s Seminary Journal 15, no. 2 (Fall 2004): 165 [https://www.tms.edu/m/tmsj15g.pdf].

[4] Quoted by Jeffery Forrey, “Where Do We Find Truth?” Scripture and Counseling, edited by Bob Kellemen and Jeff Forrey (Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2014), 71.

[5] James Mook, “Theology 1: Section 2: Bibliology, Part 1: General/Natural Revelation,” (Lecture, The Master’s Seminary, Sun Valley, CA, Summer 2014), 33.

by Pastor Patrick Cho

When I was a young kid, I remember my teachers telling me that “hate” was a bad word. Whenever the word would slip off of my tongue, I would hear a chorus of “Oohs!” from my friends and see a bunch of pointed fingers indicating that I would soon be in trouble, even after saying something innocuous like, “I hate eggplant.” Teachers would tell me that a better term was “dislike” – I dislike eggplant.

Certainly there is a sinful type of hatred. Titus 3:3 states that before we were shown the kindness of God and His salvation, we were appropriately described as “hateful, hating one another.” This kind of hate is antithetical to the Great Commandment we are given by Christ to love one another (John 13:34). Sinful hatred is ultimately oriented around self. You hate something or someone because of how it offends or disgusts you. This is the kind of hatred we are called to put off as believers.

But there is also a kind of hatred that is encouraged in Scripture, a God-honoring hate. Perhaps this notion rubs us the wrong way as believers because Christians are supposed to be known by their love (cf. John 13:35). Obviously a God-honoring hatred is not oriented around self but is oriented around God. It hates what is sinful and offends God because it is sinful and offends God.

Have you ever considered that God is a hateful God? Deuteronomy 12:31 warns the Israelites against behaving like the surrounding idolatrous nations because the Lord hates what they do for their gods (cf. Deut. 16:22). Psalm 5:5-6 communicates this truth in stronger terms as the psalmist declares, “You hate all who do iniquity” (cf. Ps. 11:5). God indeed hates sin, but the Scriptures also testify that the sinner who persists in his sin with unrepentance is the object of God’s hatred as well. God abhors sin.

This is why the Scriptures support the idea of hating what God hates. Consider Psalm 26:5, which states, “I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked,” or Psalm 31:6, “I hate those who regard vain idols, but I trust in the LORD.” After thinking on the greatness of God’s understanding and knowledge, David concludes, “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?” He says he hates them with the utmost hatred (Ps. 139:21-22). The Scriptures even command “Hate evil, you who love the LORD” (Ps. 97:10).

Christians need to exercise caution because God-honoring hatred (hating what God hates because He hates it) can easily morph into sinful hatred. We are naturally inclined to orient our thinking around ourselves. It is easy to speak of our hatred of sin in a way that glorifies ourselves by highlighting our own piety. We need the Spirit’s guidance and conviction to lead our hearts to hate sin in a God-honoring way.

Of course, the Word of God also emphasizes the principle of love. We are called to love our brothers and sisters in the church (1 John 4:7). We are called to love our neighbors (Matt. 22:39). We are even called to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43). As believers in Christ, we are to be known for our love (John 13:35). How does this coincide with all these passages about hate? The difference seems to lie in one’s emphasis or focus. In as much as a person persists in unrepentant rebellion against God and is offensive to His holiness, God views that person and his sin as abhorrent. My hope and prayer, however, must be that they would turn from their sin and repent of their rebellion so that not only would they be forgiven of their sin but also no longer remain as objects of His hatred. Loving one’s enemies obviously does not mean condoning their sin. That is sin that God hates.

Why all this talk of hate? Because we realize that our struggle with sin comes down to the affections of our hearts. We love it, but we need to love the Lord. In the fight against sin, we need to cultivate a profound and overflowing love for the Lord such that there are no competing loves. But commensurate with cultivating a love for the Lord, we can also develop a healthy, biblical hatred towards our sin. Make God the object of your love, and make sin the object of your hatred. Hate the thing that seeks to destroy you, your family, and your testimony. Hate the thing that is stealing your heart away from the One you love most.

by Josh Liu

Every person (and counseling system) operates on a presupposed worldview. That set of beliefs form a system through which a person interprets his observations, thoughts, experiences, actions, feelings, past, values, problems, etc. Therefore, it is critical to establish or define the biblical counselor’s worldview—this series introduces the underlying theology that makes biblical counseling biblical.

Studying theology and doctrine will help to organize and summarize the vast amount of information that Scripture provides on a given subject. We start with understanding Scripture itself. Here is a brief primer on the doctrines of inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture.

The Bible is God’s special revelation to man. Dr. James Mook describes special revelation as

the personal and primarily verbal disclosing of God’s existence and perfections (including His will and His truth) by supernatural means to particular selected persons, for various purposes, including (after the fall) bringing people to be saved and worship him aright. Before the Second Advent of Christ, the final special revelation consists primarily of the words of the Bible (Rev 22:18-20). [1]

In other words, Scripture is God’s personal revelation of Himself and His purposes in creation. The Bible, God’s recoding of His special revelation, claims at least three crucial attributes: (1) divine inspiration, (2) inerrancy, and (3) authority.

The Bible is inspired by God. The original autographs (manuscripts) of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments were God-breathed in which the Holy Spirit used human authors to record divine revelation (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). The Bible is not ultimately the product of human thought or expression. God used human authors to record His very words (Ex. 34:27; Rev. 22:6). John Walvoord says,

God so supernaturally directed the writers of Scripture that without excluding their human intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings, or any other human factor, His own complete and coherent message to man was recorded in perfect accuracy, the very words of Scripture bearing the authority of divine authorship. [2]

In other words, God used men to communicate and record His message. Every word, syntax, and aspect of Scripture is inspired of God (i.e., verbal plenary inspiration). Since the Bible is from God, it contains no error.

The Bible is completely inerrant in the original autographs. Since the Bible is from God, it reflects His perfections: He does not lie (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2); His words are pure (Ps. 12:6); His every word proves true (Prov. 30:5); He is the God of truth (Is. 65:16); and His worth is truth (John 17:17). Dr. Mook says, “the words of the Bible in their historical, grammatical, literary, and moral settings in the original autographs of the Bible are wholly true in what they affirm, in every respect, whether these words concern doctrine, morality, history, or any of the sciences.” [3] The Bible is not primarily a history or science textbook, but when it addresses areas relating to history and science, it is completely free from error in the same way when it addresses the spiritual. Since the Bible is inspired by God and inerrant, it is completely authoritative.

The Bible is supreme and absolute, regardless of its reception by people. What the Bible says on an issue is what God says on an issue. Since God is authoritative over all of His creation, we regard His Word as divinely authoritative. Wayne Grudem says, “all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” [4] Thus, every person ought to submit to the Bible. We are to understand all of creation and reality through Scripture, and we must submit to it by faithful obedience (cf. Ezra 7:10; John 6:68; 2 Tim. 3:17; 1 John 2:3-6).

[1] Dr. James Mook, “Theology 1: Section 2: Bibliology, Part 1: General/Natural Revelation,” (Lecture, The Master’s Seminary, Summer 2014), 1.

[2] John Walvoord, The Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 58.

[3] Dr. James Mook, “Theoloy 1: Section 2: Bibliology, Part 5: The Inerrancy of Scripture Defined,” (Lecture, The Master’s Seminary, Summer 2014), 84.

[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 73.

by Pastor James Lee

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Philippians 4:4-9)

To think well is to think obediently, applicationally, affectionately, devotionally, however you might want to express it. Paul next commands in v.9, to “practice these things.” In other words, don’t just be hearers of the Word, but be doers of the Word. The Greek word for “practice” refers to repetition, continuous action, or habit. We might speak of a lawyer or doctor having a practice, because their profession maintains a normal routine. And Christians likewise, are called to make it their practice to lead godly, obedient lives. We can’t do that, if we don’t think well. But that also means it can’t be just head knowledge, just orthodoxy, without orthopraxy. Our hearts and lives need to be truth on fire, not on ice. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. We have to practice what we preach. We can’t just love the truth; we have do the truth in love. We have to get the log out of our own judgmental eye. The Lord explicitly commands us through Paul to “practice these things”, not just to ponder, but ponder to practice. Now I think it’s a welcome and good trend recently that people want to know why they do what they do, that they want to rightly look at heart motivations. It is necessary. But let me say this… it’s a wrong trend that our generation delays obedience by discussing and self-analyzing to no avail “why” and “when” one should obey, when the Word of God is so clear. That alone should be enough for our immediate obedience. In reality, the truth is that we haven’t really learned “these things” until we have lived them out…at home, in private, on the way to work, in the office, with our children, in our relationships and in our ministries. Dr. Bob Somerville asks practically, “Does your mind center on your problems or the goal of God’s glory?”

Finally, to think well is to think globally, responsibly, and maybe the best way of saying it…generationally. We are stewards in passing on what we’ve been given and all that we sought to take in by the practice of thinking biblically. Paul offers himself as a paradigm and model for what we should all be doing, to practice, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.” He says “Follow me, imitate me, as I follow Christ”. Not that everything about Paul, of course, is perfect, but imitate everything that is true, good, pure, lovely, excellent, and worthy of God’s praise. Don’t center on what’s not there. Life is not all about you and me. We have to get over ourselves. None of us are all that. But what we have been given from God, we have to be faithful to pass it on, to live it out with humility. As Paul exhorted in 2 Timothy 2:1-2 “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Whatever the Lord has entrusted to you, pass it on. Don’t just keep it to yourself. We have a generational responsibility! Are we seeking to be examples of genuine godliness, contentment, love, and hopeful living for others to imitate? Or, are we a critical spirit, a complainer, a malcontent, a perpetual pity-party? Do we trust God and rejoice even when life is difficult? Do we show by our faith that we believe Christ alone is fully sufficient for our lives? That Christ is enough? That in Him, we have everything, and without Him, we have nothing? Is that joy, a vivid and obvious part of our discipling of others? That we are convicted about our profound and eternal blessedness in Christ? That our real joy is not conditioned upon our circumstances, but immovably rooted in our Redeemer? So that we are willing to endure and labor as good soldiers of the One we adore? That our joy in Christ makes a concrete difference in our lives, and how we live day to day? That we are willing to suffer for His name’s sake? That we are committed to the work of missions and evangelism, the extension of His Church among all the nations? Are we sacrificial givers to the work of the gospel and His global cause? Are we a godly influence on others? Are we taking every reasonable opportunity to pass along our faith, to proclaim the good news, to understand others, to pray for others, to serve others, to open up our places and our wallets and our hearts to people without predefined limits? The word for “example” is manthano, the same root word for “disciple”. Is it that our thinking reflects a faithful discipleship to our Master and Lord Jesus Christ? Are we a model of how God takes sinful, broken, and weak people to transform and use them for His glory? Are we like Paul, shown mercy, so that others might through our witness, be shown mercy too? Are we the public display that the “God of peace” is with us promised at the end of v.9? That we don’t think there is anything remotely better than having the God of peace on our side? That the reward is the “God of peace” Himself, that He’s the treasure, rather than simply the “peace” He offers? That we love Him, cherish Him, and dwell on Him? That we want to know Him? That we are seeking to find our joy in Him, our joy…in Him…alone?

Paul urges us in v.6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” As we believe that promise, seek His face, find our strength in our weakness. Dear brothers and sisters, He will renew your joy! That joy will allow you to influence this world with His glory and His grace. That joy will make you more spiritually powerful. Your life is meaningful, Christ did die for you. You are not an accident. You have been given holy purpose, for your blessing and to bless others. As 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.” Paul commands, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!” Why are we commanded to rejoice? Because we don’t always rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord, right now and always, let us rejoice!

by Pastor James Lee

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:4-8)

To think well is to think patiently, slowly, thoughtfully, over time, to “dwell on these things.” To think patiently, also means, to think persistently, faithfully, continually, consistently – we’re to ponder them without ceasing, as patience requires lots of time and humility, for we don’t get it all at once. It’s why we see things later upon restudy. The Greek word for “dwell” is logizomai which is the root word for logarithm. We need to have the same deliberate, prolonged, patient contemplation of “these things” as it takes to weigh and solve a difficult, complex mathematical problem. We don’t do that quickly, nor superficially.

Remember that 1 Cor 13 declares love is patient. So then impatience is not loving. It’s a form of self-love. Sometimes I sin against my wife Sandy when she’s talking to me, and I’m not listening or not listening well, trying to multitask. But that’s not loving her when I do that, especially when something important from her heart is being shared. The truth is that we do that with the Lord. We’re not fully there, are we? If you want an argument for the grace of God, then there’s at least one right there. He doesn’t treat believers as they deserve, and He doesn’t treat us as we treat Him. T. David Gordon wrote, “We become acclimated to distraction, to multitasking, to giving part of our attention to many things at once, while almost never devoting the entire attention of the entire soul to anything.” Wow. That’s pretty descriptive of the age and even us as Christians, who are products of this age. That’s hardly loving God with all our entire being, is it? We sort of mechanically do that. Remember who was quite good at that? The Pharisees…they were always hearing, but not understanding. They were busy in religion and life, but their hearts were far from God.

We’ve generally neglected the art of biblical meditation. We don’t seem to know what it means to be still and know that He is God. Try to convince someone you love them by giving them 10 minutes a day, or by saying the same rehearsed lines every time you speak to them? We need to concentrate and camp out in God’s Word. We need to fill up our minds with biblical truth, instead of never drawing from its deep well, with only sips, here and there, when we’re in trouble. Rather, we need to chew it over in our minds until it becomes a part of us and how we think. Gerard Chrispin says, “We read and rush off too quickly. We listen to the Bible being expounded and leave too thoughtlessly. We must meditate on these things in order to cultivate that mindset of holiness that we had been considering.” We shouldn’t be assigning “patient thoughtful mediation” such little value, while assigning greater value elsewhere. We need to make for a quiet time early in the morning, or in a private space at lunch, or in a corner of the house at night. So we’re reading and rereading, meditating, asking questions, praying over a word or phrase, contemplating a concrete application, sharing with others, and taking every thought captive to Christ! It requires us to think patiently, to think slowly, to think devotionally, and not just check it off our spiritual-to-do list.

The Puritan Isaac Watts wrote a standard introductory book on how to think in 1724. For about 200 years, it was the go-to-textbook at institutions like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale, and is still regarded highly. The title of that book was Logic: The Right Uses of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard Against Error in the Affairs of Religion and Human Life, as well as in the Sciences. That’s the title! Some say my sermon titles are long? Now do you think Isaac Watts knew how to mediate and think deeply? It seems so. That’s why his book has stood the test of time. Not just the content, but how it was communicated as part of the writing process. That’s why most of us can’t just read Shakespeare quickly. We have to sit there and decipher it. We don’t read poetry or philosophy like we read our daily newspaper. So when we read our Bibles, how much more we have to give patient attention to every single word, phrase, thought? In contrast, Kent Hughes says, “The greatest danger in our busy, increasingly post-literate world is that we make little or no effort to think God’s thoughts after Him, to hide His Word in our hearts so that we might not sin against Him. We cannot be profoundly influenced by that which we do not know.”

Why are we all in such a hurry? I know there is no virtue in being not busy, as we should be diligent stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us… which is everything we have and are. So the question is what are we so busy in? Do we love Christ? Is He our all in all, sufficient for all our needs? Is He our overarching priority directing all other priorities to be subservient to His glory? Are we seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness? Or is the reflection of our lives not very different than the rest of the world… run the rat race, make money, get a home, have 2 ½ kids, or whatever else it might be? Some of us need to stop watching TV as much as we do, or some of us, perhaps frankly need to throw them away. TV as a medium is impatient and suited for the insignificant. Watching the news or reading an online article about Aleppo might inform us, sadden us, cause to pray, and I’m glad we have that access. But it’s quite different if we were there on mission or if we were to read a book, giving lengthy contemplation to what’s going on there. For example, the book by Mindy Belz, a reporter who was on the ground with fleeing refugees, titled They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run from ISIS with Persecuted Christians in the Middle East. If you read that, you don’t think you’ll be profoundly affected? Don’t get me wrong, any news and prayer and care is good, because we can’t dwell on everything equally. That’s not what I’m saying. But I’m outlining what our media does…it makes those things so disposable…so sadly trivial to our hearts.

We need time to think. Anything hurried usually is shallow, declining toward the opposite of deep. It is NOT something even close to being worthy as God’s loving Revelation to us! Carl Honore in his book In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed wrote, “We live in a world of scarce understanding and abundance of information. We complain that we never have any time, yet we seek distraction. The modern storm of bits and stimulation relents only when we sleep. And only if we remember to turn off our iPhones. Lost in all of this is the art of stillness. We have come into the belief that the simple act of reading confers understanding. We rush, we skim the surface, and fail to make real connections with the world or other people. Thinking requires time and space. It’s slow. It means saying I don’t know.” It means, he says, saying I don’t know. Ultimately, it’s about humility. Listen, sports fans leave games early, no matter how close the score, just to avoid the traffic out. The curse of multitasking is that people think they’re so clever, so efficient, so modern, but all it usually means, is that they’re usually doing 2 or more things…not very well.

We’ve lost the art of doing nothing, shutting out the background noise. Did you know that “boredom” was a word that didn’t even exist 150 years ago? Somehow we say we’re so busy, but then have the gall to say we’re bored. And we get all fidgety, panicked, awkward, looking for something to do or say. We don’t like silence, whether we’re with people or whether we’re home alone. Being bored demands repentance, and I don’t say that flippantly, because you’re not then doing what God calls you to do. We should never be bored. As children of God, called to be a light to the nations, we have too much to do…to be “bored.”

Actress Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia in Star Wars, once quipped, “instant gratification takes too long.” We’re so impatient, and that’s not a fruit of the Spirit. And I’m not patient, I’m a type A, gotta do this or that, burn myself out type of person. As I age, I’m still as passionate as ever, but not only have I had to slow down and learn the sanctification of rest. I’m learning the utmost importance of quiet study, prayer, and meditation. I have to say no to say yes. Honore said, “Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, stressed, superficial, impatient, quantity over quality. Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, caring, patient, reflective. Fast eats time. One consequence of fast is that we make poor decision after poor decision. It’s not like we make a bad decision and we’re done with it. No, they come back to haunt us, creating issue after issue.” To dwell on these things is to give thoughtful thought to, with the goal of God’s glory and the spread of the gospel! It’s not hearing a few facts from a guide as we stop to click a few photos and nod to each other “it’s so cool” while on a bus tour. It means getting out and spending time there, taking it in and allowing it to become a significant part of us. It’s to set up base camp at the foot of Yosemite Valley and marvel. Even further, it’s to explore the back country wilderness, and feel the incline and thin air, to brush against weather, hang your bear proof food canister up on a tree, lay down next to the camp fire and see a night sky like you’ve never seen it. The inverse irony of our times is that the average length of a sermon has declined 10 minutes each of the last four decades where 40 years ago the average sermon was 60 minutes, and today, it’s 20 minutes. I argue that to think that less of the Word of God is making real progress, is NOT thinking well?! That’s NOT thinking well! That’s thinking like the world. We’re all busy, but the question is with what are we busy? We should not deprioritize the Word of God and prayer, we should re-prioritize it!

John Piper urges us to swim in the deep end of the Bible, “Too many of us settle for too little from our Bible reading. Often, we are content simply to check off the box of our Bible reading, and if we come across something we don’t understand, we’ll run to a commentary or give up without a fight. The payoff of this type of shallow reading is too small. If we want to walk away from the Bible with authority in our bones like fire, we must learn to grow hungry in our Bible reading — we must learn to grow discontent with splashing in the shallows and learn to swim in the deeps. We must labor in looking at THE book.” Humility means saying I don’t know. So when we’re rushing, we’re only cultivating our arrogance towards God and man. That’s the opposite of prayerful dependence in v.6-7! Which is why I believe, we don’t pray deeply, why we don’t pray at length. It is why prayer meetings are usually small, very small, or not at all in our day… and always far less attended than Bible study. It’s our prideful independence, not prayer dependence. It is also partly why we don’t read our Bibles, or take it more seriously. Because in that prideful independence, we entertain in defiance of its very clear instructions…such “respectable sins” as bitterness, discontentment, indifference, immodesty, clear non-evangelism, laziness, neglect of fellowship, subtle greed, worldliness, etc. As Sven Birkerts warned, “The harder it is for you to slow down, the more you need to be rescued.”

by Pastor Patrick Cho

As the Thanksgiving season is upon us, it reminds us to consider daily all the manifold reasons we have to praise God for His many blessings. The Apostle Paul teaches us that every spiritual blessing we enjoy is in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Of all people, we ought most to be thankful in that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been forgiven of our sins, redeemed in Christ, reconciled to God, and made new in the Spirit. It is no wonder that Scripture commands us as Christ-followers to always be thankful (Phil. 4:6; 1 Thess. 5:18).

However, even for us who have been forgiven in Christ, it is easy to lose sight of God’s grace in our lives. It is easy to complain, become bitter, or be discontent. Of course, there are the mundane, daily distractions that war for our hearts so that we take our eyes off what is eternal and focus instead on what is temporal. But sometimes our hearts are discouraged by trials, suffering, attacks, weakness, etc., even severely. It isn’t that we are so much distracted by everyday life, but we find ourselves dealing with difficult people, conditions, or problems. How are we to be thankful then? It is in these times that obedience to this command is understandably challenging.

Praise God that even in times of trial, when we face hardship and suffering, we can still maintain a heart of thanksgiving. Scripture gives several reasons:

1. There is purpose in our pain. We can be sure that our suffering is not in vain if we are in Christ. It is working out its purpose to shape us into the image of God’s Son (2 Cor. 4:7-11), and God is using it to mature us in faith (Rom. 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).
2. Our painful experiences better equip us to sympathize and help others who are hurting (Rom. 12:15). It isn’t that we know exactly what they might be going through, but we do know what it means to hurt and to wait on the Lord in the midst of it.
3. God uses our hardships to test our faith so that having passed the test, we might look forward to glory in heaven (2 Cor. 4:16-18; 1 Pet. 1:6-9).
4. Our suffering reminds us of Christ who also suffered and sympathizes with our weaknesses and pain (Heb. 4:14-16).
5. God uses our suffering to bring us into a more intimate relationship with Christ so that we might know Him more and understand better our union with Him (Phil. 3:7-14).

There is more revealed in God’s Word about why we ought to praise God in our pain, but these five reasons alone are sufficient to encourage our hearts. Let us trust Him who is eternally and infinitely good, even in our trials, because He is faithful and promises to work out our salvation to completion.

by Pastor James Lee

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:4-8)

To think well is to think nobly or honorably. Namely, on whatever is just, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. It’s to think thoroughly and comprehensively on them. In a sense, the rest of v.8 flows out from the very first trait, “whatever is true.” And to meditate on them is analogous to the cow pulling every ounce of nutrient from the cud. It’s like studying an object from every angle, weight, texture, characteristic, dimension, and purpose. How it reflects or refracts light. If we dwell accurately on His truth in His Word, then the fruit of our desire will be to dwell on ALL these very things. It’s interesting that the word “honorable” is also translated “dignified” in regards to a deacon’s qualification. It describes one of sober mind and character, who is worthy of respect. He does not treat serious things lightly, or inappropriately. It pictures a man who is joyful and pleasant to be with, yet simultaneously dignified. Therefore, such a person dwells on what is right and pure, seeking purity and holiness in all areas of thought, speech, action, and motive. We are to have nothing to do with evil. We’re to dwell on what is morally lovely and pleasing to our Creator, whether it’s caring for the poor, being gracious, mortifying sin, serving the body of Christ sacrificially, or dwelling on the strengths rather than the weaknesses of people. It may include contemplating the aesthetically lovely, appreciating His physical creation, grace, and will.

So any and all that is truly excellent, worthy of God’s praise should not be left out of our active and thoughtful meditation. Thus, v.8 is a stunning portrait of how we must think. And how we now can think, by God’s enablement! It’s helpful to notice that when we’re dwelling on these 8 filters in v.8, that Jesus Himself is all of these things, isn’t He? So, it’s instructive for us to think that He is the one we are to put our minds on! Jesus is true. Jesus is worthy of respect. He is just, pure, lovely, kind, gracious, of good report. So, it’s a good exercise to fill our minds and thoughts and think on Him first! We can’t think more nobly than that. Instead of thinking what a broken clay pot each of us is, may we rather dwell on what our powerful Savior can do with broken, weak clay pots like each of us! Instead of dwelling on past guilt and foolishly trying to pay God back, we can set our mind on Romans 8:1 that because of Christ alone, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who reborn in Him! We are not to be driven by guilt, but be driven by grace! When we are undergoing a severe trial, and are being tempted to believe everything can and will go wrong for us, we can repent and set our minds on Romans 8:28. When we’re so discouraged that we won’t ever learn to be content, we can set our minds on His promise of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things (including learning contentment) through Christ who strengthens me.” We can set our minds on heaven. We can take control of our thought life and take more control of what influences our thought life.

As whatever is true speaks positively, in regards to our flesh, whatever is noble speaks negatively. Let me explain. The weight of dwelling on these 8 positives demands the active rejection of the negative, in terms of input. Listen carefully to the logical inversion of v.8, “Finally brothers, whatever is untrue, whatever is dishonorable, whatever is unjust, whatever is impure, whatever is unlovely, whatever is uncommendable, if there is anything NOT morally excellent, if there is anything unworthy of praise, DO NOT THINK about these things!” Do not think about those things! To “put on” means we have to also “put off.” Paul instructs, if one was previously a thief, that it’s not to enough to just stop stealing. Don’t just “put off” stealing, but “put” on “being generous”. It means we say “yes” to godly things, not merely say “no” to ungodly things. We replace them with noble things, more satisfying things, as the former loses its appeal. Thus, in order to put off, we often have to first put on! If we’re not actively dwelling on what is pleasing to the Lord, the vacuum of our minds will be filled by the anti-God thinking of the world. The world system preaches that we ought to dwell on the opposite of what is noble. As F.F. Bruce warned, “If the mind is dyed the color of its waking thoughts, then what one thinks about gives character to life. As good food is necessary to bodily health, so good thoughts are necessary for mental and spiritual health.”

When our thoughts are sloppy, when they become saturated with error, we don’t think nobly, or logically. But we are prejudiced by embracing arguments on the grounds of “eloquence”. The more something “sounds” convincing to our flesh, we rush in as fools. It’s kind of like evaluating a car based only upon the one factor of its paint color?! But that’s what we do. Because we hear a convincing argument, “Wow, I can, I could… I will.” We are also prejudiced by the things we are already thinking, because the problem isn’t ultimately with the thought… but with us the thinker! We prefer the easier, more pleasurable road. We hate feeling humbled, feeling bad, by any accurate self-lowering truth. We are prejudiced by our past experiences, being slow to believe truth or slow to disbelieve error, because it either clashes with our comfort, or revives a bad memory. Why? Well, we’re sympathetic on one level, because we all understand what it means to be a sinner, or to be deeply hurt in the past. But, why? Because our pride. We’re fond of ourselves, we flatter ourselves, thinking arrogantly that we’re better than others, when we’re totally never and not. Our remaining flesh always loves opportunities for our self-exaltation.

If we take sanctification seriously, we would do well to hit the OFF button, instead of entertaining sin so nonchalantly, just because we’re immersed in the culture. I know we can’t control everything we see or hear, like freeway billboards I don’t want my kids to see. But, do we do enough in response? And I’m speaking to those who might regard themselves as “conservatives”, because that’s all relative… when God’s holiness is absolute. A solid daily dose of God’s Word, read and prayed, goes a long way, but neglect of our devotional life reaps what it doesn’t sow. The kind of tv shows, movies, plays, media we watch. The places we visit and drag our children to be exposed to. The internet sites we visit, the eroticized, the violent, the intolerant of Jesus. We might laugh at things we shouldn’t be laughing at, so that the minds of countless professing believers are sub-Christian in their thinking. A.W. Tozer was prophetic when he warned of the moral downgrade infiltrating the church decades ago:

The cult of Eros is seriously affecting the church. The pure religion of Christ that flows like a crystal river from the heart of God is being polluted by the unclean waters that trickle behind the altars of every abomination that appear on every high hill and under every green tree from New York to Los Angeles. The influence of the erotic spirit is felt almost everywhere in evangelical circles. Much of the singing in certain types of meetings has in it more of romance than it has of the Holy Ghost. Christ is courted with a familiarity that reveals a total ignorance of who He is. It is not the reverent intimacy of an adoring saint, but the impudent familiarity of a carnal lover.

Harsh? Psalm 101:2-3 challenges, “I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Jesus said in Matthew 5:29, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”

As Christians, we “know” these things. Nevertheless. Let me ask each of us. Do you functionally think that spending more time in the Word will cause you to miss out on something better? Do you think, in terms of practice, that by spending more time in the Word and prayer somehow you will experience less happiness or less productivity? In reality, that’s exactly how many of us think. When I’m really busy, and outside demands are being pressed on my life, I am tempted to think that way. “Ah, I’ll get to it later.” No, it’s the first priority! Not just first priority, but it must be given our best thinking, best efforts, best thoughts, and best affections each and every day. In fact, the irony is that we’ll be more productive and joyful if we do prioritize our daily communion with Him. The problem is that we believe the lie. Otherwise, we’d be hungrier. We would know the Word more, be more powerful spiritually, more fruitful, bolder in evangelism, more content, more sensitive to sin, less stressed, godlier, and more joyful. The Word and prayer, the apostles gave them priority… those are OUR weapons for joy, at our full disposal. It is not just an apostolic thing, but given for every Christian! But the lazier we are with them, the more we lack peace, the more we escalate conflict, the more we drain ministry resources, the more ineffective our witness, the more unfulfilled, discontent, and depressed we can become. Spurgeon encourages this way, “The way to get a mind worth having is to get one stored with things worth keeping.” We are to dwell nobly on Him.

by Pastor James Lee

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:4-8)

To think well is to think accurately. We’re commanded to dwell first on “whatever is true”, not on whatever might be true, or whatever we’ve convinced ourselves to be true. But, we’re to dwell on the facts of who God is and what He’s promised, on what the gospel says about our reality. We’re to think accurately about our sinfulness and to think accurately about His amazing grace! Instead of thinking about whatever is true, instead of pondering, mediating, giving our fullest attention to, intentionally and carefully evaluating, and joyfully celebrating whatever is true… when we’re struggling with depression, when we’re not doing well spiritually, when we’re engaged in bitter unforgiveness like Euodia and Syntyche in v.2, whatever is true is exactly NOT what we’re dwelling on. Instead, we tend to dwell on our pride, our unmet expectations, our unfulfilled desires, our vindication, our very real hurts, our immediate relief, our reputation. We’re fixated on falsehood, or selected facts, and not on loving God and loving others. Satan likes to prey on weak minds, seeking to devour us and undermine the unity and witness of the local church. So, the command to think accurately in light of God’s Word is to combat the serious error of thinking only about what’s wrong. Thinking the worst of people and the worst of situations and the worst of our future, is NOT living in a way that takes God at His Word! We’re not consistently resting our hearts and minds with thankful, humble, reliant, prayerfulness and submission, as we see in v.6-7. Unfortunately, instead we’re either believing lies or inventing lies, or we’re trapped in the fear promoted by them, unwilling to trust God and serve others.

Our minds are a battlefield, but the key to our lives is our hearts. That battle rages for the conquest of our hearts. And the command center of our minds is involved in a very real spiritual war, so it’s not that we merely let “Jesus take the wheel”, but that we acknowledge His Lordship over all of us… including over our minds, especially how we think. He’s called us to actively, not passively respond. It’s not the heresy of “let go and let God”, but it’s dependent responsibility. Thus, we’re fully responsible for how we think.

Yes, we’re influenced, and not all of that is within our control. Nevertheless, no one puts a gun to our head to make us give into whatever worldly or false influence we currently choose to believe. To dwell on whatever is true, is to think accurately from the authoritative standard of God’s Word, especially in the context of our relationship with Him. John 17:17 declares, “Your word is truth.” The Greek word for “true” is truth in its broadest, most comprehensive sense, namely divine truth. So it’s not just parts that we like or that serve our self-exalting agendas, but it must be ALL of the truth of God! Truth begins and ends with the Lord. Anything and everything not in line with His truth is by virtue false and anti-Christ, and let every man be proved a liar. Therefore, it ends up proving self-destructive, though it promises happiness, never ruin?!

Godly living comes from godly thinking. That’s axiomatic. And the converse is true as well, ungodly living always comes from ungodly thinking. That’s why Paul commands us in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” That’s why John also commands us in 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world or the things in the world (world here meaning anti-God world system not people or creation). If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions- is not from the Father but is from the world.” It may include good things that we make into idols when we elevate them above the Lord. So if we’re going to be cultivating contentment and joy in our lives, it can’t be divorced from what’s in our hearts and what’s in our minds. But all of us, every one of us, has pockets of bad theology. In different areas, we’re blind to unbiblical thinking. We need to be in a process of continually renewing our minds in progressive sanctification. That doesn’t happen once for all, like our justification, it’s ongoing.

The Bible is very clear that our lives are the product of our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 states, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” Turn to Mark 7:20-23 “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” In other words, garbage in, garbage out. What we think, what we say, how we act, reveals what’s in our hearts. And so does what we intake, what we eat, what we entertain, what we read, what we watch, what we think most about. In that sense, they expose us, not excuse us!

John MacArthur said,

“Paul’s call for biblical thinking is especially relevant in our culture. The focus today is on emotion and pragmatism, and the importance of serious thinking about biblical truth is downplayed. People no longer ask ‘Is it true? but rather ‘Does it work?’ and ‘How will it make me feel?’… Too many people go to church not to think or reason about the truths of Scripture, but to get their weekly spiritual high; to feel that God is still with them. Such people are spiritually unstable because they base their lives on feeling rather than on thinking.”

In his book, Your Mind Matters, the late John Stott adds,

“Indeed, sin has more dangerous effects on our faculty of feeling than on our faculty of thinking, because our opinions are more easily checked and regulated by revealed truth than our experiences.”

We can’t immediately control how we feel. For example, I can’t command you to, “Be sad, be happy, be angry”, as though we could flip a switch. Thus, in shepherding others, we exercise a certain patience and grace with people until their feelings catch up, so to be speak, to be in line with the truth. But the good news is that we can (and must) influence over time… how we think… and thus come to even impact how we feel, by biblical thinking.

Instead of thinking constantly about what we’re missing and who’s not giving it to us, we’re to think actively about how rich we are in Christ! His prophets, apostles, preachers, and the Lord Jesus Himself were always admonishing, “Do you not know, have you not heard, do you not understand?” No surprise, that Scripture describes the unsaved mind as depraved, fleshly, hostile to God, blinded by Satan, foolish, ignorant, defiled, but Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing the word of Christ! That’s really the beginning of the gift and opportunity of renewing our minds, our salvation! So if you’re a true Christian, you are able to do and enjoy something the rest of the world cannot. Yes, they can grow their intellect, but they can’t in of themselves, renew their mind. That’s the opportunity given to every single believer from day one! 1 Peter 1:13 exhorts us, “Prepare your minds for action!” We’re to love God with all our hearts, soul, strength, and MIND! Dr. Robert Somerville encourages us and invites us to rejoice, “The sphere, in which your joy as a believer exists, is totally unrelated to your circumstances of life or your feelings about them, but related to your unassailable, unchanging relationship to your sovereign Lord.” To think joyfully is the beginning of thinking accurately, and to think accurately is the joyful joy of thinking joyfully. Rejoice!

by Pastor Patrick Cho

After giving it a lot of careful thought, I have concluded that I do not like Brussels sprouts. If you know me or have ever eaten with me, you might think this strange because when I eat in restaurants I order Brussels sprouts all the time. I thoroughly enjoy Brussels sprout dishes served at many restaurants, but I would still contend that I do not like Brussels sprouts. How is this possible? This revelation came to me when I asked myself if I would enjoy a Brussels sprout in all its naked glory. Would I enjoy a plain Brussels sprout simply cooked without all the accompanying accoutrements? Of course not.

I realized that it is not so much the Brussels sprout that I enjoy but the butter and bacon and caramelized onions and garlic and the other ingredients used to dress a Brussels sprout and make it not only edible but even enjoyable! You must admit that with enough butter and bacon, onions and garlic, you could probably make a bike tire sound somewhat appetizing.

What does this have to do with loving the truth? The truth is everything to a believer. It is by the grace of God, which leads us to the knowledge of the truth, that a person is saved (2 Tim. 2:24-26). Without a proper understanding of the truth, one cannot know God. Jesus emphasizes our need for the truth when He tells His disciples that if they continue in His Word they will know the truth and the truth will set them free (John 8:31-32). Truth is so vital to the believer that the Apostle John equates a person’s salvation to having the truth in them (1 John 1:8; 2:4).

But as you examine Scripture, you also see that true believers not only have the truth, they love the truth, as well. This is one of the marks of saving faith, that a person loves the truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:9-10). The psalmist gives praise to God and thanks Him for His lovingkindness and truth (Ps. 138:2). Think of how often the psalmist proclaims His love for God’s Word, which is His truth (Ps. 119:47, 48, 97, 113, 119, 127, 140, 159, 163, 167). The sad indictment given in John 3 is that Jesus came as the Light of the world, but people loved the darkness more than the Light (John 3:19).

Many Christians will say that they love the truth, but their lives portray the exact opposite. When you read some of the accounts in Scripture and question God’s good character, when you dismiss biblical principles because to you they are not realistic or practical, when you would rather heed the counsel of your own heart rather than the counsel of the Word of God, you are not loving the truth.

Seeker sensitive ministries across the globe are filling their pews by offering an attractive service – amazing music, appealing stage design, shorter sermons, compelling drama, and delightful food. People will confess their love for Jesus and yet will often stand against clear biblical principles. When they come across scriptural teaching that does not sit well with them, they justify their unbiblical positions by arguing that God must have changed or that the Bible is somehow applied differently today. In the end, people are not submitting to the truth of God but forcing the Bible to fit into their own personal belief systems and agendas. This is not loving the truth. This is going to church because you like the dressing.

One mark of spiritually mature believers is that they love to hear God’s Word preached. Spiritually immature believers place a disproportionate value on the preacher or the delivery. You might prefer some preachers over others because of their style, but do you outright refuse to listen to pastors that do not appeal to you? Or do you find yourself constantly criticizing the delivery of a sermon rather than meditating on its truth?

As believers, we need to be very careful that we do not love the dressing more than the proverbial sprout. Do you love the truth? Do you come to church because you love the Lord and want to hear His Word, or do you come to church merely for social reasons or because you simply enjoy all the frills? With the psalmist, we ought to agree that God’s Word is “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10). The truth of God is everything to the believer.