Betrayest Thou The Son Of Man With A Kiss?

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Luke 22:48

‘The kisses of an enemy are deceitful.’ Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes very great reverence for it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man, void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day, that ‘the much fair speech’ of the world may have no effect upon me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss!

But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas, that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; I am a member of His visible Church; I sit at the communion table: all these are so many kisses of my lips. AM I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me that I had never been born. Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love Thee, Jesus, and though I often grieve Thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my Master with a kiss.

3.25a

Weekly Links (11/1/2013)

Faith therefore must be purely taught: namely, that thou art so entirely joined unto Christ, that He and thou art made as it were one person: so that thou mayest boldly say, I am now one with Christ, that is to say, Christ’s righteousness, victory, and life are mine. And again, Christ may say, I am that sinner, that is, his sins and his death are Mine, because he is united and joined unto Me, and I unto him. (Martin Luther)

by Richard Shin

  • R.C. Sproul Jr. answers the question: “Why did God command the children of Israel to kill every man, woman and child in the Promised Land?”
  • Joe Carter always has interesting topics for his “9 Things You Should Know About” posts. I turn your attention to two: down syndrome and persecution of Christians.
  • Bliss Spillar shares three reasons we need to read both old and new theologians.
  • In honor of Reformation Day, here‘s a bit of a primer on the difference between the Catholic theology and the gospel. And here‘s a post on the history of Reformation Day.
  • On that note, Pastor Jim Kang from LBCEB shares why Martin Luther matters.

We’re keeping it shorter this time in light of the retreat. Have a great weekend!

Coram Deo

Age of Opportunity: Chapter 1

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you…
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
(Proverbs 2:1, 5-6)

by Josh Liu

Proverbs and other portions of Scripture are wrought with examples of godly parental instruction to children. Parents, fathers in particular, are seen as significant spiritual influences in the lives of their children (cf. Deuteronomy 6:20; Ephesians 6:4). The youth ministry, then, seeks to support and build up the ministries of the parents. To better equip ourselves in partnering with the parents in the discipleship of their children, the youth staffers are going through Paul David Tripp’s Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens for the 2013-2014 academic year. We hope to better understand Scriptural precepts, principles, and examples of godly parenting in order that we might more faithfully minister to the families in Lumos.

In the opening chapter, Tripp confronts a familiar tension within parents: teenage hormones. He challenges that instead of viewing teens as victims of hormones or that parenting teens is a season of survival, it ought to be considered a golden age of parenting. What he means is that prior to these teen years when the parents’ role was mainly authoritative, now, these are unprecedented opportunities to engage with their children like never before. The seemingly mundane or trivial trials of adolescence are the opportunities for parents to “jump into the battle and move toward [their] teenager. It is a time for engagement, interaction, discussion, and committed relationship. This is not a time to let a teenager hide his doubts, fears, and failures, but a time to pursue, love, encourage, teach, forgive, confess, and accept” (Tripp, p. 23). Children going through adolescence are experiencing many new things and are beginning to process those experiences differently from pre-pubescence. Don’t misunderstand–parents of young children ought to be engaging, instructing, discussing, etc. but many parents of teenagers often fall into authoritarian parenting that exasperates their children, or relinquish their call to disciple their children and become disconnected with their children. Adolescence is a great opportunity not to be missed by parents, or by the church.

age of opportunity

Adolescence is also a great opportunity in the progressive sanctification of parents. Tripp makes the insightful observation that these teen years expose the parents’ heart; they reveal the parents’ desires, wishes, fears, and so on. A teenager does not radically change parents in an instant; rather, they often expose what was already in the heart. Tripp notes that our culture tries to avert parents’ responsibility by saying, “we need to come up with positive strategies of survival that preserve the sanity of the parents and the stability of the marriage, and that keep the teenager out of as much self-inflicted danger as possible” (Tripp, p. 18). This sounds great, but it distracts from a core issue: the parents’ hearts. Tripp concludes that “when parents begin to recognize, own, confess, and turn from their own wrong heart attitudes…the result is a marked difference in their relationship to their teen and in the way they view the struggles of the teen years” (p. 18). Adolescence is a great opportunity for parents (and the church) to mature and love Christ more.

In reflecting on all this, I was reminded that adolescence is a great opportunity for the teenagers themselves. Yes, these are formative years that build up to a particular way of life, but more so, these are significant years to shine the light of the gospel to those around them. I often challenge junior high and high school students who profess to know Christ as their Lord and Savior that they have an incredible opportunity to witness to their friends and family now. They get to see their classmates each day, often for a number of years if they continue going to the same school. They get to show their peers how one who loves and submits to Christ lives his life, responds to trials and temptations, invests his time, depends on Scripture, pursues peace and reconciliation, and so on. Adolescence is a great opportunity to evangelize and make disciples of Christ.

The youth staff and I are continually thankful for the privilege of participating in this particular time of the youth’s and parents’ lives. Indeed, this is a great age of opportunity. Please, pray.

Weekly Links – Strange Fire Conference

“One other thing. Continuationists may believe that the Strange Fire guys are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But they should begin their response by acknowledging that in the contemporary charismatic world, there is an awful lot of bathwater, and — even on their accounting — not very much baby. This is something that needed to be done, and because there has not been (to my knowledge) a large continuationist conference rebuking the manifest excesses of the wahoo brethren, this conference was inevitable.” (Douglas Wilson, Excesses of the Wahoo Brethren)

by Stephen Rodgers

Since the Strange Fire conference was such a significant topic recently, I wanted to do a post collecting a number of resources and perspectives related to it. After trying to organize the material a few different ways (topically? chronologically?), I finally threw up my hands and decided to do a mix of both: some of this will be organized by source, and some by chronology.  So without further ado, here we go.

I also may add to this article as more resources become available, but I wanted to get this up since a number of folks at the church have asked about it.

Editor’s Note: This page has been updated numerous times since it’s original publication.  The most recent update was on 3/10/2015.

Introduction

Lyndon Unger wrote a series of posts that laid out the origins and issues relevant to the (then) upcoming Strange Fire Conference.  They’re still probably the most interesting and readable introduction to the subject.

Media

Primary sources are important. Before you spend too much time studying what other people thought about the messages, you should probably listen to the messages yourself. I’m also including Pastor Patrick’s reflections on the conference since this is the LBC Beacon after all.

GTY

Grace to You is the ministry of John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. These are the folks who who organized the conference in the first place.

Here are their articles recounting the specific days of the conference:

And here are several articles responding to particular issues after the conference:

The Cripplegate

The Cripplegate is a teamblog from a number of pastors and seminary students who either are directly associated with Grace Community Church and TMS, or used to be and have moved on to ministry in other areas.

Here are their articles summarizing the specific sessions of the conference:

And here are several articles responding to particular issues after the conference:

The Cripplegate is also re-posting the Butler / Unger review of Authentic Fire (original links below in the “Reviews, Responses, and Books” section):

Pyromaniacs

Pyromaniacs was originally the blog of Phil Johnson (a speaker at the conference and the Director of GTY). He retired a while back, but Dan Phillips and Frank Turk have been keeping the doors open in his absence.

Since the conference, Dan Phillips has been doing a series of articles (and a sermon or two) recounting his thoughts on the conference:

Tim Challies

Tim Challies runs one of the more prominent sites in terms of conservative Christian blogs. He also has a reputation for being a fairly level-headed guy. He watched the conference on livestream and blogged his thoughts on the sessions:

Reviews, Responses, and Books

There have been a couple of books published in response to both the Strange Fire conference and the Strange Fire book. This section collects responses and evaluations of those books.

The first book to respond was Frank Viola’s Pouring Holy Water on Strange Fire. Lyndon Unger reviewed it (unfavorably, to put it mildly), and eventually an updated and corrected version was released.

The second book to respond was Michael Brown’s Authentic Fire. Lyndon Unger and Fred Butler teamed up to do a response to that book. As I write this, that review is still in progress. Since they cross-post a lot, I’m going to list the relevant links according to the corresponding chapters in the book.

Lyndon Unger (again)

Since this all began, Mr. Unger has written enough that I really can’t fit him into the “misc” section anymore.

Post-Event Roundup / Miscellaneous Articles

Here’s a collection of articles from various folk who I consider interesting and/or noteworthy.

Editor’s Note: Craig S. Keener is a noteworthy charismatic scholar.  I don’t mind including his review here for the sake of completeness, but the website that is hosting it (pneumareview.com) seems to be splitting the review across a riduculously-large number of pages, most likely in an effort to exploit pageviews. Shame on them. Just be aware.

The Driscoll Incident

So one odd thing happened at the conference: Mark Driscoll showed up on the last day and made an impromptu and unscheduled appearance. Here are a few articles related to that event (including his own explanation of what happened).

Editor’s Note: this is included for the sake of completeness; if you somehow are under the impression that this is central to the content of the conference itself, then please stop…do not pass GO…do not collect $200. Remember Tim Challies? He wrote a book a few years ago that might help you with your much more immediate problem.

For Further Study

If there’s sufficient interest, it might be worthwhile to build a full-blown hub post on charasmaticism in general and the sign gifts in particular.  In the meantime, here are a few resources you can avail yourself to:

In That Hour Jesus Rejoiced In Spirit

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Luke 10:21

The Saviour was ‘a man of sorrows,’ but every thoughtful mind has discovered the fact that down deep in His innermost soul He carried an inexhaustible treasury of refined and heavenly joy. Of all the human race, there was never a man who had a deeper, purer, or more abiding peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘He was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows.’ His vast benevolence must, from the very nature of things, have afforded Him the deepest possible delight, for benevolence is joy. There were a few remarkable seasons when this joy manifested itself. ‘At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.’ Christ had His songs, though it was night with Him; though His face was marred, and His countenance had lost the lustre of earthly happiness, yet sometimes it was lit up with a matchless splendour of unparalleled satisfaction, as He thought upon the recompense of the reward, and in the midst of the congregation sang His praise unto God.

In this, the Lord Jesus is a blessed picture of His church on earth. At this hour the church expects to walk in sympathy with her Lord along a thorny road; through much tribulation she is forcing her way to the crown. To bear the cross is her office, and to be scorned and counted an alien by her mother’s children is her lot; and yet the church has a deep well of joy, of which none can drink but her own children. There are stores of wine, and oil, and corn, hidden in the midst of our Jerusalem, upon which the saints of God are evermore sustained and nurtured; and sometimes, as in our Saviour’s case, we have our seasons of intense delight, for ‘There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God.’ Exiles though we be, we rejoice in our King; yea, in Him we exceedingly rejoice, while in His name we set up our banners.

3.24p

Weekly Links (10/25/2013)

The cross which is the object of faith, is also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the cause of it. Sit down and watch the dying Saviour till faith springs up spontaneously in your heart. There is no place like Calvary for creating confidence. The air of that sacred hill brings health to trembling faith. (Charles Spurgeon)

by Richard Shin

Is it really nearing the end of October? Goodness gracious. Don’t be too sad; we have articles for you!

  • Kevin DeYoung has a short series on how to be better Bereans (Acts 17:11). You can find them in three parts: part 1, part 2, and part 3.
  • Jesse Johnson compiled 1-2 sentence summaries of each session, the Challies summaries, and the Cripplegate manuscripts. On that note, the Grace to You staff shares some closing thoughts on the conference here.
  • Al Mohler recently addressed the faculty at Brigham Young University, the hub of Mormon intellectualism, on the state of religious freedom in America. You can find the transcript here.
  • Have you wondered why faith is not considered a “work”? Matthew Barrett from the Gospel Coalition answers this question in the most recent edition of “You Asked”.
  • Jonathan Holmes from the Biblical Counseling Coalition shares a word on doubt and answers the question on whether it is fatal or futile. He shares some insight from the Epistle of Jude that helps us understand how to deal with doubt.
  • The Wall Street Journal did a profile piece on Russell Moore. And you can find his response to the article here.
  • The Gospel Project blog has a new series on the God-centered worldview. It’s still only a couple posts in, but you can find the entire series here.
  • And last but not least, Thabiti Anyabwile has a knack for writing in a way that provokes the reader to reflect deeply. He does it again after watching Ja Rule’s interview (yes, the rapper). You can find the interview and his post here.

Coram Deo

Nursery Update

by Sandra Kim

The Nursery Ministry has always been such a blessing in my life in so many ways. Many years back, when we were cramped in a 10 x 10 room with 1 bin of toys and about 4 children, I relished in spending time with the youngest children of our church. It was fun to get to know them and their families as we supported one another to help the kids practice sharing, singing, and praying together.

As our children multiplied (Praise God!) our rooms moved, and buildings moved altogether, our focus on the children were the same. I took a break from serving in Nursery while my daughter Samantha had her turn to sing, read and play with her beloved Nursery teachers. Now that she has moved up to Sparklers, I get to come back to my smock and sing praise songs on the yellow rug.

Through all these transitions, God has reminded me of the importance in loving Him and loving his people. There are times when my arms were sore the whole day after serving in Nursery or I felt pressure to memorize “Rock of Ages” because one of the children only wanted to sing that song as he envisioned himself as Mr. Eugene Park and we had to sing along as he strummed the air popper toy as his air guitar, or take trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes to practice potty training with the kids. God can use all moments to remind us that we can worship Him as long as our hearts are focused on God. I have learned so much through my interactions with the babies, children and parents of our church. It is a joy each Sunday I get to serve, teach and minister alongside so many ladies. I learned and practiced how to change diapers and hold babies in Nursery and now I get to share my experience with the younger ladies in our ministry. I hope and pray that you too find a ministry you can share in the joy of serving and sharing in each other’s lives.