To Him Be Glory Both Now and Forever

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From 2 Peter 3:18

Heaven will be full of the ceaseless praises of Jesus. Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting course, but forever and for ever, ‘to Him be glory.’ Is He not a ‘Priest I for ever after the order of Melchisedek’? ‘To Him be glory.’ Is He not king for ever?-King of kings and Lord of lords, the everlasting Father? ‘To Him be glory for ever.’ Never shall His praises cease. That which was bought with blood deserves to last while immortality endures. The glory of the cross must never be eclipsed; the lustre of the grave and of the resurrection must never be dimmed. O Jesus! thou shalt be praised for ever. Long as immortal spirits live-long as the Father’s throne endures-for ever, for ever, unto Thee shall be glory.

Believer, you are anticipating the time when you shall join the saints above in ascribing all glory to Jesus; but are you glorifying Him now? The apostle’s words are, ‘To Him be glory both now and for ever.’ Will you not this day make it your prayer? ‘Lord, help me to glorify Thee; I am poor, help me to glorify Thee by contentment; I am sick, help me to give Thee honour by patience; I have talents, help me to extol Thee by spending them for Thee; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve thee; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that heart feel no love but Thine, and glow with no flame but affection for Thee; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to think of Thee and for Thee; Thou hast put me in this world for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work out my life-purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity too into Thy treasury; I am all Thine; take me, and enable me to glorify Thee now, in all that I say, in all that I do, and with all that I have.’

2.15a

Weekly Links (3/16/2012)

God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of the Father and Son by renewing. Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners — men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to life a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. (J. I. Packer, Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful)

by Richard Shin

We’re back with another great set. Here we go:

  • Thabiti Anyabwile lists five reasons God the Father said “No” to God the Son in the Garden of Gethsemane.
  • Affirming others is not optional. How are you with affirming others? Sam Crabtree has a 3-part series on it here, here, and here. He has a book called Practicing Affirmation: God-Centered Praise of Those Who Are Not God, for those who might be interested.
  • I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but an old sermon of John Piper recently resurfaced on the Desiring God website. The sermon was given as a senior seminary student at Fuller Theological Seminary, and get this: he spoke on Christian Hedonism.
  • Why do you pray? Maybe you want God to do something for you. Maybe you do it because you have to. Read what Paul Tautges draws from the Psalms about why the psalmists pray.
  • Tim Challies pens an article on what it means to be a good churchman and what such a person does in the context of a local body of believers.
  • Paul Tripp says that for our “ministry relationships to be healthy, [we] must have destructive and constructive zeal.” Does that make sense to you? If not, check out his article here. It’s addressed to pastors, but it applies to us all.

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend everyone. And singles, stay safe at the retreat this weekend!

Coram Deo

MAN 2012

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

Every year, LBC’s Singles Ministry has a special event marked for our Singles group, though specific to each gender. Going back to 2004, this tradition has been one that is of special delight to both the guys and gals of our church. MAN stands for “Men’s Appreciation Night,” which was the first event that began at Lighthouse, followed up the following year with LAN or “Ladies’ Appreciation Night.” Since being part of this church since late 2006, I’ve enjoyed many fruitful times of fellowship with the ladies of our church and seeing their hearts to serve the men. We also have had opportunities to serve the ladies specifically during LAN. This year finds us being blessed by the ladies once again by their hard work and dedication to show forth Christian love to the men in Singles.

Last night, we experienced again the joy it is to know and serve alongside ladies after God’s own heart, showing and exemplifying in their growing character the character of Christ in His love for His people. This year’s theme had a camp feel to it, called “Fishers of Men,” with decorations ranging from ‘logs’ on each table, to a large fish and a real fishing pole for pictures, to real tents across the sanctuary. The night began with food, which the ladies know is one of the best ways to a man’s heart (or so I’ve heard). Interspersed with the ladies, we got to catch up with them and enjoy each other in fellowship and friendship. Following that came an encouragement video, emphasizing the joy of being served by our ‘muscles’ and chivalry towards them, as well as the hilarious emceeing of Vicky Williams and Ally Liu throughout the entire night. There was music sung by our talented sisters, including a rendition of ‘Isn’t He Lovely’ redone with Christian content as well as a beautiful combination of some of our favorite songs.

The night easily demonstrated the love our sisters have for the men, and at least for me, was a great reminder for the guys to never tire of serving our sisters not just for their sake, but out of grateful and thankful hearts for what God did in sending Jesus Christ to serve by dying for our sakes. MAN again gives sisters an opportunity to show their appreciation to the God who saves and changes His boys to be men and grow to serve one another in all humility to show forth the humility that Christ demonstrated perfectly 2000 years ago.

It’s nights like these that always puts things in perspective: our call to be men of character, as well as the example that Christ has always been for us to follow. Self-denial for the sake of others is always our duty that must be done in joy for the one who has done more than we could ever ask or think. MAN, as well as LAN, has always been a tradition done not just for the sake of tradition, but a helpful and loving reminder to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10). This night perfectly captured what Paul encouraged the Christians in Rome to do: “[W]elcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7). I pray we never tire of serving one another for the glory of God, and continually thank Him for the honor of serving with sisters that desire to please God with their lives of integrity and faithfulness to serve at the feet of Jesus.

BOB – Psalms

by Stephen Rodgers

PSALMS IN 10 WORDS OR LESS

“Ancient Jewish songbook showcases prayers, praise, and complaints to God.”

TITLE

As the ESVSB summarizes, he English title comes from the Greek word psalmos, which translates Hebrew mizmor, “song,” found in many of the Psalm titles and simply translated as “psalm” (e.g., Psalm 3). This Greek name for the book was established by the time of the NT (Luke 20:42; Acts 1:20). The Hebrew name for the book is Tehillim, “Praises,” pointing to the characteristic use of these songs as praises offered to God in public worship. The etymology of the Greek (interesting fact!) is a noun derived from the verb “to pluck strings” (referring to a musical instrument).

It should also be noted that 116 of the 150 Psalms contain some sort of superscription or “title.” These titles often contain information regarding to authorship, dedication, liturgical or musical instructions (some of which are not understood today, see DID YOU KNOW?), and historical context. Based on attestestion from other Biblical sources, we have reason to believe that the claims made by these superscriptions are accurate (although scholars continue to disagree and debate the proper form of the Hebrew preposition lamed which can variously mean “of,” “to,” “from,” “about,” “for,” and “by”).

AUTHOR & AUDIENCE

There is of course a single divine author of the Psalms, God Himself.  From the human side however, authorship is much more varied. Psalms is unique in many ways, and one of those ways is the variety of authors.  Just over 2/3 of the Psalms can be traced to a particular author: David (75 psalms), the sons of Korah (10 psalms), Asaph (12 psalms), Solomon (2 psalms), Heman (1 psalm), Ethan (1 psalm), and Moses (1 psalm…yes, that Moses). That leaves 48 Psalms anonymous, although most scholars believe that a number of those belong to previously mentioned authors (the attribution has simply been lost), and many scholars believe that Ezra likely penned several as well.

With so many authors writing over such a long period of time (see DATE), the Israelites who would have received the Psalms could hardly be a monolithic culture or community. Ranging from post-Exodus to post-Exilic, the common factor of course is the Israelite nation.

DATE

The earliest Psalm (90) was written by Moses sometime around 1410 BC, and the latest (126) was written sometime in the late 6th/early 5th century. This spans roughly 900 years, meaning that the book of Psalms can be considered contemporaneous with nearly the entirety of the OT writings.  No other book of the Bible can make that claim.

BACKGROUND & SETTING

Any attempt to categorize the Psalms is less than expansive terms is likely doomed to failure. As previously mentioned, the book was written over a span of nearly a millennium, and primarily concerns itself with the character and worship of God as its theme.

That’s a lot of background and setting.  Just sayin’.

HISTORICAL & THEOLOGICAL THEMES

There are three rather broad themes that emerge from a reading of Psalms:

  • A Portrait of God. The Psalms employ numerous analogies and descriptions of God in an effort to proclaim His character and attributes.  He is a shepherd (23, 95, 100) and a warrior (18).  But He is also a king (45, 47, 97) and a judge (50, 52, 75-76) who is great (48, 135), eternal (90), perfect (92), powerful (76, 104, 145, 147), patient (78), just  (82, 101), forgiving (103), loving (136, 145) and good (86, 104, 116). He is a champion of the helpless and weak (72, 113) who offers hope for the future (37, 73).
  • A Model of Personal Relationship with God. The psalms are not shy about the emotions experienced in this life: fear (56), love (91, 116), distress (31, 42, 120, 142), dismay (10), joy (98, 100, 117), impatience (13), gratitude (107, 118, 136), shame (25, 38, 44, 69), guilt (32, 38, 51), forgiveness (32, 103) and depression (31, 42-43, 130). In all of these expressions, the Psalmist points to God’s sovereignty and inclusion in our lives, and exhorts us to glorify and honor Him in the midst of circumstances.
  • A Contrast of the Righteous with the Wicked.  Right out of the gate, Psalm 1 sets the theme: the righteous will be upheld by God but the way of the wicked will perish. This is developed in numerous other Psalms (9, 10, 15, 26, 28, 37, 40, 68, 84, 112, 128).

INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES

There are very few issues with the Psalms that cannot be overcome by a proper understanding of Hebrew poetry in general (which we discussed in the Wisdom Books article), and the various genres of poetry that are contained in that book: hymns of praise, laments, thanksgiving psalms, songs of confidence or trust, kingship psalms, and wisdom psalms (just to name a few of the more common ones).

Another structure of note that can present complications if not understood is the acrostic arrangement.  The MSB describes it as follows:

On a larger scale, some psalms in their development from the first to the last verse employ an acrostic or alphabetical arrangement. Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145 are recognized as either complete or incomplete acrostics. In the Hebrew text, the first letter of the first word of every verse begins with a different Hebrew consonant, which advances in alphabetical order until the 22 consonants are exhausted. Such a literary vehicle undoubtedly aided in the memorization of the content and served to indicate that its particular subject matter had been covered from “A to Z.” Psalm 119 stands out as the most complete example of this device, since the first letter of each of its 22, 8-verse stanzas moves completely through the Hebrew alphabet.

LITERARY FEATURES

Any attempt to adequately describe the structure and literary features of the Psalms would likely result in yet another series or book (it is not an overstatement to say that dozens, if not hundreds, of scholarly tomes already exist to fulfill this very purpose).  Rather than attempting to provide an inadequate overview of this, I would refer the curious reader to the Wisdom Books article, and the very curious reader to the resources linked and referenced at the bottom of this article. In particular, the ESVSB has an excellent (albeit brief) synopsis (please see below, since this is actually available to you despite their recent changes). I have deliberately chosen not to address the five-book structure of Psalms here since there is no clear consensus among scholars as to how to best understand that format (apart from loose agreement that it probably entails a rough chronological progression); I mention it only so that the reader is aware it exists:

  • Book One: Psalms 1-41
  • Book Two: Psalms 42-72
  • Book Three: Psalms 73-89
  • Book Four: Psalms 90-106
  • Book Five: 107-150

OBJECTIONS

There are two objections that often arise in regards to the Psalms, both of which I consider to be minor.  However, since the Christian may encounter these in such formidable and vaunted locales as the comments section of a Youtube video, I’ll include them here briefly.

  • The first objection is that David is not the author of 50% of the Psalms.  This is usually a preliminary objection to try to springboard to an argument for a late date for the Psalms in particular, or against Biblical reliability in general. Usually the objector will rely on the multiple interpretations of lamed (see TITLE) or employ analysis made popular by post-Reformation higher criticism.  The problem with the Davidic objection is that there is more than sufficient evidence to conclude that David wrote and performed songs prolifically (2 Sam 6:5; 1 Chr 15:3-28; 16:4-43; 23:1-5), the NT quotes the Psalter and affirms Davidic authorship, literary forms of the Psalms can be found in Canaan 400 years prior to David’s reign, and the use of lamed as an indicator of authorship has support elsewhere in Scripture (Hab 3:1) as well as in extra-Biblical Hebrew literature (the early Hebrew ostraca). So there are no reasons to support a late date from a canonical, attestation, historical, or literary standpoint. Don’t even get me started on how the Psalms constitute the single largest collection of ANE poetry and how any effort to arbitrarily exclude them from a representative sample will call down a host of statistical problems on the head of the scholar, or how  objections to traditional dating largely precede significant discoveries such as the manuscript evidence of the Masoretic Text.
  • The second objection (which has become more popular with the advent of the so-called “New Atheism”) is that the Psalms promote or glorify immoral behavior. In particular, the “imprecatory Psalms” (in which the author prays for God’s judgment and punishment of the enemies of Israel) are often singled out. Three factors should be kept in mind when reading such passages. The first is that the Psalms are snapshots of particular people at particular times; we would expect someone who’s family had been slaughtered to express their grief and anguish. Often these expressions are at literally at odds with OT ethical commandments, but remain valid emotional expressions. The second is that certain images are poetic rather than literal.  For example, the violent image of joyfully splashing an enemy’s blood is commonly found in other ANE sources as a symbol for victory. Third, many of the Psalms (as well as other parts of the Bible) are descriptive rather than prescriptive.  In other words they portray a state of affairs but do not necessarily endorse them. When we read the account of Cain murdering Abel, we don’t automatically conclude that the Bible is therefore pro-murder. Depending on the particular Psalm in question, there may be more specific explanations available, but that covers the major points.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

  • Psalms 8:1
  • Psalms 23:1
  • Psalms 51:10
  • Psalms 119:11
  • Psalms 121:1-2
  • Psalms 133:1

DID YOU KNOW?

  • There are several Hebrew words and phrases in the Psalms, such as “Selah” (e.g., 3:2), “The Sheminith” (Psalm 6 title), “Shiggaion” (Psalm 7 title), whose exact meaning is uncertain – which is why the translators have simply transliterated them, as any attempt to translate would be misleading.
  • The book of Psalms occupies a rather unique place organizationally: it is the longest book of the Bible, both in terms of total chapters and word count.  It also contains both the longest book of the Bible (Psalm 119: 176 verses), and the shortest (Psalm 117: 2 verses).
  • The book of Psalms also occupies a rather unique place spacially: Psalm 117 is the midpoint of the Protest Bible chapter-wise.  There are 594 chapters before and after it.
  • Forgetting God in the Hebrew mind was a willful act of “unlearning;” Paul later echoes this in Romans 1. Rebellion against God was therefore a rejection of Him and an attempt to create a reality where He did not exist or act (Psalm 42:3-4).

Other Works Referenced

  • Apologetics Study Bible, “Psalms Introduction”
  • Archaeological Study Bible, “Introduction to Psalms”
  • ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to Psalms” (PDF sample from their RESOURCES page)
  • MacArthur Study Bible, “Psalms”
  • NET Bible, Psalms
  • NIV Study Bible, Psalms
  • Reformation Study Bible, “Psalms”
  • The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, “Psalms”
  • Know Your Bible
  • Dever, The Message of the Old Testament
  • Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On the Old Testament
  • Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook

Lessons From a Child’s Heart: The Awe of God

by Elder Mike Chon

As my children begin to understand more about God they of course have many questions. One of the questions that seem to come up often these days is in regards to God’s omnipresence. The conversation usually goes like this:

  • Child: “Dad, where is God?”
  • Dad: “God is everywhere.”
  • Child: “How is He everywhere?”
  • Dad: “Because He’s spirit and He’s God.”
  • Child: “Is there more than one God? Or is he really fast that He can be everywhere?”
  • Dad: “No, there is only one God. But He is everywhere.”
  • Child: “Is He in China?”
  • Dad: “Yes, everywhere, at the same time. He is even here and there.”
  • Child: “Wow, that’s cool.”

One thing that I appreciate about children is their appreciation for the greatness of God. Even though it is difficult for them to grasp the fullness of God at this young age, they understand that God is great. They understand that God is nothing like anything in this world. They are always amazed by these characteristics of God that makes Him greater than anything they can ever imagine, even the superheroes in comic books. It reminds me of how excited I was when I first became a believer and as I read through the pages of Scriptures to understand the character of God. Every time I read the Scriptures I was so excited to share with someone what I just read because it amazed me how infinite and powerful our God is. But something strange happened, the more I read and the more I understood the less excited I became. The only times I would really get excited anymore is when something trivial or obscure was brought to my attention regarding God or the Scriptures. I began to get too familiar with God. How can a finite man, who has been saved from the eternal wrath of God, who depends on our sovereign God to provide every breath and heartbeat get too familiar with the sustainer of the universe?

Unfortunately my experience with God is all too common in churches today. You don’t have to go too far to find churches trying to enhance and artificially excite church attenders on any given Sunday. Is this really what God meant when He calls us to his throne? Is this what it means to experience God? When I became a believer I was excited with the God of the Bible, not the music, lights, drama or some other entertainment that occurs in a church building. Instead of meeting the God of the Bible in worship during a church service, people are meeting the god of their unfulfilled idol of entertainment disguised as a spiritual experience. If you don’t bow down in reverence and awe at the greatness of God as you mediate upon the words of Scripture then I can probably say that you don’t know the God of the Bible. There is nothing in this world that can compare to the greatness of our God, no drama, no music, no inspirational speech, and definitely no superhero can ever replace the pure Word that allows us to know the great God of this universe.

Are you in awe of God? As you read about creation in the first chapter of Genesis, do you reflect on the omnipotence of God? When you read about the parting of the Red Sea, bringing out water from a rock, a talking donkey, defeating Goliath with one small stone, an axe head that floats, God becoming man, Jesus dying on the cross for your sins and resurrecting in three days, do these things sound too familiar or do they bring you to worship our one and only God in reverence and awe? As I am reading through the first few books of the Bible I have been reacquainted with the greatness of God that I sometimes take for granted. My children remind me almost daily how infinite and incomprehensible our God is by their reaction to all that God did and continues to do in our lives. May we never get too familiar or forget that we worship a great God who has revealed Himself in the pages of Scripture.

She Was Healed Immediately

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Luke 8:47

One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour’s miracles is before us to-night. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without His knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus’ character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure which He was so ready to bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus’ heart, she would have said, ‘I have but to put myself where He can see me-His omniscience will teach Him my case, and His love at once will work my cure.’ We admire her faith, but we marvel at her ignorance.

After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with trembling: glad was she that the divine virtue had wrought a marvel in her; but she feared lest Christ should retract the blessing, and put a negative upon the grant of His grace: little did she comprehend the fulness of His love! We have not so clear a view of Him as we could wish; we know not the heights and depths of His love; but we know of a surety that He is too good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift which it has been able to obtain. But here is the marvel of it: little as was her knowledge, her faith, because it was real faith, saved her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay-faith’s miracle was instantaneous.

If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession. If in the list of the Lord’s children we are written as the feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no power, human or devilish, can eject us from salvation. If we dare not lean our heads upon His bosom with John, yet if we can venture in the press behind Him, and touch the hem of his garment, we are made whole. Courage, timid one! thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. ‘Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.’

2.14p

Weekly Links (3/9/2012)

Spiritual pride takes great notice of opposition and injuries that are received and is apt to be often speaking of them and to be much in taking notice of their aggravations, either with an air of bitterness or contempt.  Whereas pure and unmixed Christian humility disposes a person rather to be like his blessed Lord, when reviled, dumb, not opening his mouth, but committing himself in silence to him that judges righteously. . . . It becomes the followers of the Lamb of God, when the world is in an uproar about them and full of clamor against them, not to raise another noise to answer it but to be still and quiet. . . . Meekness and quietness among God’s people, when opposed and reviled, would be the surest way to have God remarkably to appear for their defense. . . . Nothing is so effectual to bring God down from heaven in the defense of his people as their patience and meekness under sufferings. (Jonathan Edwards, Works)

by Richard Shin

I hope you are all having a great week. We have another great set for you all out there. Let’s get started:

  • China is one big country. In the number of people, in land, in economy, and in influence, it is quite big. And because of that, we often hear about it. Yet, things aren’t often what it seems. Joann Pittman helps us understand a little better the truth about China.
  • Ray Ortlund gets interviewed by Tony Reinke from Desiring God about how he uses social media, particularly his blog and Twitter.
  • Speaking of Ray Ortlund, he has a list of ten things that he cares about more the longer he lives.
  • Russell Moore speaks about why impostors love the church. I was particularly intrigued by the last reason: a perversion of the Christian doctrine of grace.
  • Paul Tautges speaks about how we can live by faith, not by feelings. We must be careful not to “deny our emotions” but so often we are driven by them that faith. Instead, we should use emotions as “responders to truth, not judges of it.”
  • Eric Davis has a list of eight ways we can encourage one to join a local church in this 2-parter. You can find them here and here.
  • There are many ramifications of having a low view of Scripture. Off the top of my head, it can lead to inconsistency in our reading, higher view of ourselves, lack of commitment to the local body, lack of care for Christian unity, and many more. Lisa Robinson’s post from Parchment & Pen speaks about how we can overcome a low view of Scripture.
  • I’m a firm believer of our being thinking Christians. Philippians 4:8 guides us on how to do that. Paul Tautges (yes, another one) flips each good thing around and gives us a list of things to not think about.

That’s quite a few. Hopefully you get to enjoy some of these over the weekend. See you on Sunday.

Coram Deo

College Life Update

by Stephanie Yu

Serving on College Life these past three years have been a rewarding and humbling experience. Some of the collegians have seen me through the many stages of life: dating, engagement, marriage and now, mommyhood. This ministry is very much a part of the Yu household, and on any given night, we are going to Praise Team practices, bible studies, or meeting up with the collegians; but there was a time before I was cleaning spit-up, washing my second load of onesies of the day, reading children’s books to my two-month-old in obnoxious voices, and wearing the same outfit at home three days in a row.

When Hansol asked me to write this article for College Life, my first thought was of the other new mommies in the ministry and how much our roles have changed since welcoming our new additions. By God’s grace, we’ve been allowed to be witnesses of His good work in the collegians during this formative time in their lives. In years past, we’ve had the privilege and challenge of leading small groups and building relationships with these younger sisters on a weekly basis. But now, we are answering God’s call to us as mothers and young wives to “love our husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to our own husbands” (Titus 2:4-5) and learning how to keep that a priority while we juggle our desires to be committed to the church body and specifically how to continue to be an edifying part of the College Life ministry.

This year, we’ve started Staff Mom groups within College Life – an accountability group of other small group leaders facilitated by a designated Staff Mom, of which I am one! The goal is to provide a place for small group leaders to keep each other accountable, where we can also talk about other things going on in our lives or trade ideas for small group activities, but foremost to pray for one another. Small group leading is no small business or easy task! They are presented with opportunities to keep collegians accountable with issues ranging from keeping daily QT’s consistent, to struggles with purity, and conflict resolution.

It is an incredible blessing, but it makes the truth that God oftentimes uses broken vessels and jars of clay to fulfill His godly purposes so much more poignant. We are indeed poor and needy (Psalm 86) and need prayer to remind us that there is none like Him and none who accomplish good works like Him; it’s an important ministry to pray for one another & be reminded that the ultimate good has already been accomplished.

The official ministry of the Staff Mom ends there. Upon arriving at church on Friday nights, some of the new mommies drive their strollers and Boppy pillows straight into the nursing room where we spend a good chunk of time during bible study. We emerge from our cushy lair just in time to make it for the discussion groups at the tail end of the night. Beyond that designated 20-30 minutes we’re given to talk to the ladies regarding the message (currently a series on “Collegians Have Issues”), we have the potential to have little to no actual interaction with the collegians for the rest of the week!

Paul David Tripp says in his book “A Quest for More”: “In a fallen world, there is a powerful pressure to constrict your life to the shape and size of your life.”

Given our current stage of life, it’d be easy to excuse our absence or lack of participation on a rough night or a baby’s need to sleep, etc. And rightfully so; our greatest ministry right now is to be at home taking care of our children so that our husbands are freed up to serve the church. But God also provides ways for us to do much more.

Paul Tripp in his book, “Relationships: A Mess Worth Making,” says, “We enter relationships for personal pleasure, self-actualization, and fun. We want low personal cost and high self-defined returns. But God wants high personal cost and high God-defined returns.”

Being a mommy and serving in a vibrant ministry provides us with a unique opportunity to bring the (even) younger ladies into our home to spend time with us so they can see how God is teaching us to be workers of the home and to share in the joys and hazards of baby care – hearing our children coo and seeing them smile, at the same time smelling their diapers and risking poo-poo blow-outs and projectile vomit. And while we juggle baby in one hand and a cup of tea in another, we are also so blessed to be able to share in the lives of the collegians.

No BOB Today – Have Some Shepherds’ Conference Instead

by Stephen Rodgers

I have it on excellent authority that Stephen Rodgers (that lazy bum!) didn’t finish his BOB article on Psalms, because 1) Psalms is a really big and somewhat complicated book to summarize, 2) his wife’s family is camped out in his house, challenging his theology because apparently even unbelievers speak in tongues now, and 3) he’s drinking absurd amounts of caffeine and driving up to Shepherd’s Conference.

Always excuses with that guy.

I also have it on good authority that he’s going to try to distract you with some excellent resources that you may or may not already know about.  Let’s see if it works…

In talking with a number of folks about the Shepherd’s Conference, I was surprised to discover that not many people were aware of how accessible the messages are.  I wanted to take a moment to pass along a few links that might help you enjoy the conference, even if you aren’t going this year.

  • Ok, first of all, things get a little exciting because right away you have a choice of where you try to download the messages from: there’s the GCC Media page (which can be filtered to only include Shepherd’s Conference), or you can hit up the Shepherd’s Conference Media page.  They have the same content, just organized slightly differently (which is why those last two links both show 595 available sermons, at least as of the day I’m writing this).
  • I have a preference for the GCC Media page: it let’s me slice and dice the material so that it’s slightly more relevant.  For example, of those 595 sermons, here are the 562 in English.  Cesar/Marina, if you’re reading this, here’s the 13 in Spanish and the 20 in Russian.
  • You can also slice and dice by year, media type, and media subtype.  I find this helpful, because I can just click on Audio then filter by year to make sure I don’t miss anything.  So for example, here are the 36 messages from last year(2011), filtered by audio download (mp3 file) and language (English).
  • You still need to click through the link to see the download button, but that’s not hard. Toss those on your iThing/Droid/whatever of choice, and you’ve got a lot of good material in a very short amount of time.
  • And if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can explore the GCC Media page to find tons more messages as well. I should loop back around and show you a few that I’m particularly fond of, but in the meantime, searching out guys like Nathan Busenitz, Phil Johnson, Jonathan Rourke, and Austin Duncan is time well spent.  Or you can search by topic…or keyword…or Scripture.

Long story short, it’s a great resource, and I hope you benefit from it as much as I have.

PS. If you’re looking for more John MacArthur material, you probably want to hit up GTY. For example, the sermon archive sorted by date can be found here.

Body Building at LBC

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Not long ago, my family and I had the opportunity to hang out with some of the newer collegians over dinner. It was a fun and simple event hosted by our college ministry to give newcomers a chance to get to know the pastor. There weren’t too many details in the planning. We munched on pizza and salad and just asked each other questions to get acquainted. Even still, it was one of the more enjoyable events of the year for me. The college ministry has been doing this for a little over a year now. What’s great is that when it first started, the staff didn’t even know about it. A few collegians just wanted to help freshmen and newcomers get acclimated to the ministry and so they planned this informal event.

I don’t know how many people realize this, but many of our ministries started much the same way. Members took a look around at what was going on and thought more could be done, took the initiative to get things moving, and ran with their idea. Care Ministry was a member idea. Sports Ministry was a member idea. Refreshments Team was a member idea. Local Outreach was a member idea. It is fun to look back at how these ministries have evolved over time, but it is most encouraging that these weren’t ministries that the leadership simply began in some meeting.

Many churches today are plagued with the “invisible member.” These are the individuals who went through a membership process at their church, agreed to commit themselves to that local body, and then subsequently disappeared. Sadly, while many churches boast of large membership rolls, when you visit their services on Sundays sometimes even the majority of the members aren’t there. Their members don’t participate. Their members sadly don’t even attend.

This is not my attempt to say that Lighthouse is so much better than those churches. The leadership certainly knows that this church still has much to learn and far to grow. But one of the things the leadership at LBC has been able to see over the years is that oftentimes our members are busy serving each other and meeting the needs of the church. They are involved on a week to week basis and are actively investing in the lives of others in the church. If you were to visit Lighthouse on a given weekend, you would most likely see almost all the members there.

What’s even better is that a lot of ministry is happening at the church without the leadership even knowing. We hear things through the grapevine about people meeting up with one another for accountability and prayer, or members serving each other with impromptu meal ministries and visitations. It really is a great joy to see because a healthy church is vibrant with activity. But it isn’t just any activity. It is a Christ-focused, people-loving ministry that is part of what it means to be in a congregation that is growing.

Paul told the Ephesians that the body would grow as long as the members committed themselves to this kind of service. Members should work together in unity (Eph. 4:1-6), exercising their gifts and abilities (Eph. 4:7-11), causing the body to build itself up and mature in Christ (Eph. 4:12-13). This would be accomplished through edifying service and speech (Eph. 4:15-16), and would result in a strong, healthy body that would be free of harmful ideas and doctrines (Eph. 4:14, 17-19).

I’ve been so blessed that our members at Lighthouse understand this body dynamic. When you walk into LBC on a Sunday morning, you are immediately encountered by a number of these coordinated moving parts of the body. While the church is growing and it could become easier and easier to simply blend in and observe, you’ll find that most of our members aren’t content with that. They don’t want to be spectator Christians, but would rather invest in others’ lives and love them like Jesus. One of our recent visitors made an encouraging observation and communicated it to me, “You can tell that the people here really love God and want to grow.” I certainly hope that will always be characteristic of the membership at Lighthouse.