Art Thou Become Like Unto Us?

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Isaiah 14:10

What must be the apostate professor’s doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear that voice, ‘Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from Me: I also have banished thee for ever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee.’ What will be this wretch’s shame at the last great day when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him. ‘There he is,’ says one, ‘will he preach the gospel in hell?’ ‘There he is,’ says another, ‘he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!’ ‘Aha!’ says another, ‘here comes a psalm-singing Methodist-one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life; and here he is!’ No greater eagerness will ever be seen among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell.

Mind that back-way to hell, professors! ‘Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.’ Look well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it. O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

6.26a

Weekly Links (3/16/2018)

“Something is incredibly wrong when words that claim to be from God from outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired Word of God.” (John Piper, The Satisfied Soul: Showing the Supremacy of God in All of Life)

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

Feliz Friday! There’s a good source of links to pass along to you, so let’s get to it!

  • Rebekah Merkle asks a very perceptive question: why is the abortion industry run by women?
  • Marshall Segal asks a piercing question: are you pretending to be happy?
  • The Parkland has brought the gun rights vs. gun control debate back into the media spotlight. One aspect of the shooting that is generally overlooked is the commonality of the mass shooters: fatherlessness.
  • Joni Eareckson Tada writes on the impact suicide could have on a community, denying the claim that it will hurt no one. She also writes to her 30-year-old self about running too hard in the race and the benefits of slowing down.
  • The death of Stephen Hawking has brought much attention to his life and work. Part of it included his atheist beliefs, and the modern claim that virtually all scientists do not believe in God. Natasha Crain cites the study in ‘support’ of that claim, along with a few others that call it into question.
  • Parents, this is a fun article to follow: six ways to teach them history.
  • Michael Kruger’s new book, Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church, has just been released in the US, and looks to fill a huge gap in the scholarly literature concerning how the early church in the second century set the trajectory for where Christianity has gone and is going. Kruger was recently interviewed for this new release, and I guarantee you will learn a lot from this seminary president and professor.
  • Heath Lambert answers questions concerning biblical counseling. It helps hearing from the executive director of the biggest biblical counseling group. Oh, and this is part two of the interview, so don’t miss out on part one!

That’s all for this week! Please pray for the youth and collegians, as they are meeting for Bible study tonight. See you all on Sunday!

Soli Deo Gloria

William Tyndale: The Man Who Lived and Died for the English Bible

by Josh Liu

Imagine you are a farmer who only spoke English, living in 16th century England—a time where the laity was largely scripturally inept and to read the Holy Scriptures in any language other than Latin was a crime. Imagine that you could only listen to God’s Word in another language. How far would you go to be able to read and understand God’s Word for yourself? How much do you treasure God’s Word?

William Tyndale may be considered, as one author put it, the man who gave God an English voice (David Teems). Tyndale’s life is perhaps the historical event that is foundational to the proliferation of modern English Bible translations. He was vehemently committed to bring the Bible into the English language from the original Hebrew and Greek languages, so that the common person can come to know God. To understand Tyndale’s impact on your English Bible, let us consider his life.

William Tyndale was born in 1494 in Gloucestershire in western England. He was sent to Oxford University at the age of 12 where he began studying a variety of subjects. Since he was young, he demonstrated great aptitude for languages. Before leaving Oxford, he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1512, a master’s degree in 1515, and was ordained as a priest. After leaving Oxford, Tyndale went on to Cambridge, where Erasmus and other scholars were stirring interest in the Greek New Testament. It is suggested that while at Cambridge, Tyndale first encountered the works of Martin Luther and Protestantism. Around 1521, Tyndale returned to Gloucestershire to serve as a tutor in the family of Sir John Walsh. During this time, he encountered many travelers with whom he would debate. On one occasion, while engaging a Catholic priest who said that “we are better to be without God’s law than the pope’s,” Tyndale responded by saying, “‘I defy the Pope and all his laws,’ and said that ‘if God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall know more of the scripture than thou dost’” (Foxe cited in William Tyndale: A Biography, 79).

To say the least, Tyndale was discontent with the Latin Vulgate. He concluded, “it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue” (Robert Demaus, William Tindale, 1886, 710). In his desire to translate the Bible into English, Tyndale went to London in 1523 hoping to gain support and permission from Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London and friend of Thomas More and Erasmus. Tunstall, opposed to Reformation ideas, did not support Tyndale. Realizing that he would not be able to translate the Bible in London, Tyndale traveled to Martin Luther in Wittenberg, Germany in 1524. There he began translating the Greek New Testament into English.

In August 1525, Tyndale traveled to Cologne to print his first edition of the New Testament in English. Before it completed printing, Tyndale fled after being warned of a raid arranged by an opponent of the Reformation, John Cochlaeus. Tyndale fled down the Rhine River to Worms. In Worms, he was able to print several editions of the New Testament. In the spring of 1526, Tyndale began smuggling his English New Testament into England through bales of cotton. Upon learning about this, the archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London sought to destroy all copies and prohibited the selling, buying, or handling of Tyndale’s New Testament translation. The English authorities, including King Henry VII (king of England), considered Tyndale’s translation as heresy and sought to arrest him.

In 1527, Tyndale fled to Marburg for safety. While in Marburg, he began studying the Hebrew language and translated the Hebrew Pentateuch into English. In 1529, he moved from Marburg to Antwerp, looking to print his translation of the Pentateuch. However, he felt that it was too dangerous to print in Antwerp. From Antwerp, Tyndale boarded a boat to travel to Hamburg. During this voyage, he experienced a shipwreck and the loss of his translations. Eventually arriving in Hamburg, Tyndale began retranslating the Hebrew Pentateuch. In 1530, the Pentateuch was published in Marburg (and the Book of Jonah in Antwerp). These translations were eventually smuggled into England.

While living as an exile from England and a fugitive, Tyndale was always careful. There were numerous attempts at his capture. In November 1530, Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s chief minister, sent Stephen Vaughan, an English merchant known to be a proponent of the Reformation, to persuade Tyndale to return to England. Vaughan offered Tyndale a salary and safe passage to England. After an exchange of letters, Tyndale agreed to return to England on the condition that the king have the Bible translated into English. In 1534, after moving to Antwerp and residing with Thomas Poyntz, Tyndale began revising his New Testament translation and translated the next part of the Hebrew Old Testament: Joshua to 2 Chronicles. In the early summer of 1535, Harry Phillips arrived in Antwerp seeking to capture Tyndale. Phillips found Tyndale and shrewdly won his trust. In May 1535, Phillips lured Tyndale into a narrow passage where he was arrested by soldiers. After Tyndale’s capture, Poyntz’s home was raided. Miraculously, Tyndale’s translation work of Joshua to 2 Chronicles remained safe, and eventually contributed to the Matthew’s Bible of 1537.

Tyndale was imprisoned in Vilvorde Castle near Brussels. Though he suffered greatly while awaiting trial, Tyndale’s faithful devotion to bring the Word of God into the English common language never waned. Tyndale sent a request to someone in authority saying,

Wherefore I beg your lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap; for I suffer greatly from cold in the heat, and am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh, which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth too to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out…. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study. (Mozley as cited in William Tyndale: A Biography, 379)

Tyndale stood trial in August 1536. He was condemned as a heretic, excommunicated from the priesthood, and sentenced to death. On October 6, 1536, he was strangled, then burned. His last words are remembered as “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes” (Daniell, William Tyndale, 1994, 383).

Tyndale lived to bring God’s Word to the English people, as far as giving up his life. His devotion and martyrdom for God’s Word should remind us of not only the necessity of God’s Word but also its surpassing value. May you be impassioned to know God more, and for others to know God more—through His everlasting Word.

Note: See Pastor James’ recent College Life Retreat sermon on the life of William Tyndale.

The Dove Found No Rest For The Sole Of Her Foot

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Genesis 8:9

Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then be assured that your religion is vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe unto you. If you profess to be a Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or perception of His preciousness.

But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, yet it would be a punishment of itself; and that if you could have the whole world, and abide in it for ever, it would be quite enough misery not to be parted from it; for your God-your God-is what your soul craves after; then be of good courage, thou art a child of God. With all thy sins and imperfections, take this to thy comfort: if thy soul has no rest in sin, thou are not as the sinner is! If thou art still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten thee, for thou hast not quite forgotten Him.

The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of Him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness, we want the manna which drops from on high; our skin bottles of creature confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock which follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on Him your soul can sing, ‘He hath satisfied my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s,’ but if you have Him not, your bursting wine vat and well-filled barn can give you no sort of satisfaction: rather lament over them in the words of wisdom, ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!’

6.25p

Weekly Links (3/9/2018)

“Your battle with temptation is ultimately a battle for your faith— specifically, your faith in God as the all-surpassing treasure of your life.” (Bob Bevington, Good News About Satan: A Gospel Look a Spiritual Warfare)

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

Feliz Friday! It’s been quite a while since I’ve called a Friday feliz, but it’s time to bring back the habit of providing some help for your growth in Christ with links that I believe will help towards that end. With that, here are this week’s links!

  • Ryan Anderson has written a post on the evidence that sex reassignment surgery does not work, explaining the detailed 30-year study conducted in Sweden and its further implications. Joe Carter writes on teen curiosity to self-identify as transgender as well as the triple likelihood they would identify that way in comparison to adults. He discusses the social contagion thesis as a factor in this increasing trend. There is much here to pray for, and be ready to discuss with anyone who asks.
  • Joe Carter also has been writing a monthly series of articles on what Christians should know about bioethics. This month, Carter covers abortifacients.
  • Apologist and Biola professor Sean McDowell interviews apologist (and mom) Natasha Crain about her recently published book, Talking with Your Kids about God: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have. She speaks on the importance of being able, as parents, to answer some of the many questions kids will have as they grow up in this world, and provides a helpful guide to that end. I don’t know if I agree with everything that is written in the book, but these are great questions to tackle, nonetheless. Trevin Wax also addresses how Christian parents can encourage their kids to own their faith as they grow up. Scarlett Clay, a homeschooling mom, sounds a loud warning: homeschooling will not save your kids. Finally, Tim Challies gives some thoughts to the young believer: set an example.
  • Is it possible to over- (or under-)think the Christian life? John Piper provides some sound, biblical counsel to point us in the right direction.
  • What do you when you are afraid? How can God help you in your times of fear? Marshall Segal writes some very helpful words that points us to the God of the Word. Such a great reminder.
  • Apparently, there is a growing trend among teens to engage in vaping. CCEF counselor Julie Lowe gives parents tips in how to communicate well with their teens about this dangerous new hobby.

That’s all for this week! Please be in prayer for our youth and collegians, as they will be meeting for Bible study at church tonight. See you all on Sunday!

Soli Deo Gloria

The Reformation

by Josh Liu

Church history is one of my many weak areas that requires greater study. Beyond the rich history and heritage girding the Christian faith, the church today is blessed by the testimonies, ministries, teachings, and writings of generations of faithful saints. In particular, in 2017, the church celebrated the 500th year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which exalted Christ’s atonement and the authority of the inspired, inerrant holy Scriptures in opposition to the corrupt doctrine and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. So, for the Fall, College Life Bible study went through a miniseries entitled “The Reformation”. After a brief history primer, we studied the five sola statements: sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus christus (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), and soli deo gloria (glory of God alone). The sola statements were developed over time and provide succinct summaries of the doctrines emphasized during the Reformation.

The following provides a brief overview of the miniseries:

  1. A Reformation Primer – What was the Protestant Reformation? How did it begin? What were the key issues? Many, including myself, need a brief primer to the history, events, issues, and persons related to the Reformation.
  2. Sola Scriptura Part 1 (Selected Scriptures) – Scripture alone, as the inspired Word of God, is our final and solely infallible authority for faith and practice, not the pope or church tradition. Since the beginning of time, God’s Word has been attacked. For example, contemporary practices of historical criticism deny the inerrancy, and ultimately the authority, of Scripture. God’s Word alone speaks clearly, truthfully, sufficiently, and authoritatively.
  3. Sola Scriptura Part 2 (Ps. 119:9-16) – In application of the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word, we examined the sanctifying and purifying power of Scripture. To live a pure life that glorifies God, one must live, seek, treasure, learn, declare, rejoice in, meditate on, and delight in God’s Word.
  4. Solus Christus (Selected Scriptures) – There is no mediator between God and man but Jesus Christ; any other supposed mediator (whether a priest, the pope, a saint, or Mary) must be rejected. Also, sinners are saved purely on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice; no works of penance can make a person righteous before God.
  5. Sola Gratia (Selected Scriptures) – Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear: the salvation of sinners is solely the result of God’s grace (i.e., unmerited favor). The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Christ’s work on the cross introduced one into a state of grace whereby he/she would be able to perform good works that further merit grace (e.g., acts of penance). The selling of indulgences was meant to access such merit in order to lessen one’s time in purgatory. This grossly violates Scripture. Sinners—completely incapable and unwilling to turn to God—require God’s gracious intervention to save them from His wrath. The accounts of the adulterous woman, the praying tax collector, and the crucified criminal illustrate God’s grace to save.
  6. Sola Fide (Rom. 3:28) – Justification is received by faith only and not on the basis of any of our good works. God’s grace to save through the atoning sacrifice of Christ is received by faith. Faith itself does not justify, but is an instrument in receiving Christ and His righteousness. Similarly, no human deed or effort can save. Good works are done in expression of faith.
  7. Soli Deo Gloria (Rom. 11:33-36) – All glory and worship belongs only to God as the sole author and actor in salvation. His triune glory is not to be shared with saints, popes, or other church leaders. To be fair, 16th century Roman Catholic Church did not deny the importance of Scripture, faith, grace, and Christ, but the disagreement comes from the modifier “alone.” David Vandrunen says, “the fact that salvation is by faith alone, grace alone, and Christ alone, without any meritorious contribution on our part, ensures that all glory is God’s and not our own.” (God’s Glory Alone, 15).

Study church history! May it bring you to a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with Christ!

Editor’s Note: Josh’s observation that his knowledge of church history is relatively weak is a common one among modern-day Christians. One resource you might not be aware of is the “Church History” Sunday School series that was taught here at LBCSD a few years ago. Obligatory disclaimer: I (Stephen) taught it.

The Pursuit of Purity

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Back in 2015, the church held a men’s seminar addressing “Personal Purity in an Internet Age.” Even almost three years later, men are still helped by the recorded sessions, and in counseling I often find myself referring back to them. As I mentioned in the seminar, I firmly believe that internet pornography is one of the greatest threats to the church today. It is tearing families apart, weakening churches, crippling ministries, and destroying relationships. The Bible says that sexual sin is against one’s own body (1 Cor. 6:18), but the consequences of the sin are far more extensive.

Why is pornography specifically in focus here and not sexual sin in general? What is different about the pursuit of purity in an internet age? While the heart issues of lust and self-centeredness involved are generally the same (because there is never really anything new under the sun, cf. Ecc. 1:9), internet pornography poses a serious threat to the church, perhaps more than it has ever encountered in history. What makes it so dangerous?

First, internet pornography is private. Men and women can indulge in this sexual sin in the secrecy and convenience of locked rooms and empty homes. Those who view pornography online fully buy into the lie that they fall into this sin when they are alone because they forget they are never alone. In the context of instructing his son about sexual sin, Solomon reminds his son God is always watching (Prov. 5:21; cf. Heb. 4:13).

Second, internet pornography is accessible. When we held the seminar in 2015, we began by surveying the men in attendance about their exposure to online porn. Sadly, 100% of the men said they were exposed to sexual images online at least once in their life. I am confident this would not have been the same percentage before the age of the internet. Pornography used to be difficult to obtain, but now it is a click away.

Finally, internet pornography is free. This is perhaps one of the most dangerous aspects of its accessibility. Anyone can view pornography because it does not charge a fee. This removes any safeguard against having children view porn because they do not need to possess a credit card. How incredibly sad that it is just as easy to view porn on the internet as it is to look up your favorite recipe, see sports highlights, or read the daily news.

This is why internet pornography is so dangerous, but it is also destructive. Sexual sin is devastating to the life of the church. This might be a surprising claim because it is so often understood as a personal and private sin. Although the sin itself might be committed in private, its consequences are much more far reaching. This sin destroys and dismantles marriages (Heb. 13:4), it disqualifies leadership (1 Tim. 3:2), it defrauds others (1 Thess. 4:6), and it deters spiritual growth (1 Thess. 4:7-8).

The church knows how prevalent a problem this has become. We counsel people to help them pick up the pieces of broken relationships and to deal with the crushing guilt and shame of their sin. Of course, there is forgiveness with Christ, and with it there is hope for change. If this is an issue in your life, not only do you need to confess this sin to the Lord and turn from it, but because of the kind of stranglehold it can have on you, you need to seek help to provide necessary counsel and accountability so that you can break free from it. Every member of the church ought to consider the danger and destruction of online pornography and be aware of how much it is affecting our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Get Thee Up Into The High Mountain

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Isaiah 40:9

Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains. When you are at the base you see but little: the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles round, and you are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the scene enlarges; till at last, when you are on the summit, and look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all England lying before you. Yonder is a forest in some distant county, perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or the masts of the ships in a busy port. All these things please and delight you, and you say, ‘I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation.’

Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ we see but little of Him. The higher we climb the more we discover of His beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, ‘I know whom I have believed,’ for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of Him to whom he had committed his soul. Get thee up, dear friend, into the high mountain.

6.25a

Weekly Links (3/2/2018)

by Stephen Rodgers

And…we’re back! Our hiatus lasted a little bit longer than expected, but we’re back, and we’ve got a set of links to ease you back into the realm of free stuff.

  • Talking with Your Kids about God by Natasha Crain – I don’t know this well enough to recommend it one way or the other, but it’s the free audio book of the month from christianaudio.com if you’re interested.
  • From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses by Anthony Selvaggio – Another resource that I’m not familiar with, but it’s there if your trying to build your Logos library.
  • Doing Theology (February 2018 Tabletalk) and Loving Our Neighbors (March 2018 Tabletalk) – R. C. Sproul may have graduated to glory, but one piece of his legacy is Tabletalk Magazine. I highly recommend it to you.

Enjoy!

Renewing Our Minds for Rejoicing, Pt. 9 – “Think Obediently”

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!