Another Gem from Ortlund

Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. Luke 6:26
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account . . . for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
The Bible warns us against “an unhealthy craving for controversy” (1 Timothy 6:4) and guides us toward “the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6:3). That is clear, and wonderful. But a glad hyper-focus on Christ might not keep you out of controversy. It might take you there.
When Jesus said, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you,” he didn’t mean it’s wrong to be popular. He did mean it’s wrong not to be prophetic. His “Woe” falls on those who turn their backs on the true demands of the gospel rather than turn their backs on the false demands of people.
I wish I could say that if you lift up Christ in a positive, biblical way, everyone will love you. But sadly, some will oppose you, because their hearts are captured by other passions. They may even be captured by good but secondary biblical themes. But if you maintain the primacy of Christ himself and submit all else to Christ, some people will not understand you, they will have “concerns” about you, they may even forsake you. They will point to your weaknesses, which are real, and you will learn from your critics. But your weaknesses are beside the point. The point is the lordship of Christ alone. He is the controversy. You are representing him.
When the Lord leads you into this difficulty, you will suffer. But remember, he is saving you from the “Woe” of Luke 6:26 and giving you the “Blessed” of Matthew 5:11-12. Whatever others may say, Jesus speaks well of you.

November 22, 1963
It was a day you just don't forget. It was the day after my 5th birthday. I was playing with a toy car that I'd gotten as a birthday gift the previous day. I was racing it down the hallway of the house my family had just moved into not long before; just having a 5 year old day.... Then my mom told me to come and sit on the couch and she'd watch cartoons with me until my brother Jim got home from school.  But there were no cartoons.... only news reports. The late Frank Reynolds from ABC News was on. He was talking about the President being shot and probably dead... I remember my mother crying as she sat there watching. Overwhelming sadness.... then the sad announcement that President Kennedy was dead. If you were old enough to remember it, you remember where you were and what you were doing. Chances are real good that you will remember exactly what you were doing September 11, 2001. ... Memories of events like this just don't fade.
Something much more monumental and tragic and yet beautiful happened on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago, yet so often times we don't remember.. why is that? Because when we remember that it forces us to remember why the event took place to begin with... Our sin- Christ died on the cross for us. He took the sin that should have caused us to die on that cross and bore it himself . 1 Peter 2:24 tells us that Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree (cross)...
The death of a President is a monumental thing for sure - but how much more monumental that the King of the universe would die for His subjects? The tragedy of the asassination of a President or planes killing thousands of people are unspeakable. But the death of Christ is MORE unspeakable. As much as it is unpleasant to think about, the president killed and the people killed in those planes and towers, were sinful people. They were not innocent. However, they certainly didn't deserve dying at the hands of fellow sinful people. But they and we deserve to die at the hands of a Righteous God who instead of killing us, killed His son. He died in our place! Let's remember and yet rejoice!

Good Preaching Gives Good Songs Context

The following comes from a young pastor, Jared Wilson on the value of hymns. I used to scoff at hymns for the weak arguments he lists for abandoning hymns... I have rethought my position over the last several years and I completely agree. Most hymns contain rich theological truth (some do not). There are new hymn writers popping up who understand that songs should preach... not just make us respond emotionally. Read this important article by Jared: 

Good Preaching Gives Good Songs Context

"The argument goes like this: The hymns are outdated. Nobody talks like that any more, nobody knows what these archaic words refer to, nobody sings melodies like that any more; therefore, the solution is to ditch the hymns and sing only contemporary songs.
But I don't think the reason hymns fell out of favor is because they became old. I think it's because our preaching got new.
The great hymn writers could tell the gospel story with gospel words in very solid ways. But preaching over time became moralistic stories with pop psychology words in wispy ways. We stopped giving the hymns context. We would sing "Oh how marvelous, Oh how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!" but our preacher had long stopped marveling and wondering about the cross, so the song didn't make emotional sense. And then it stopped resonating with us on a Spiritual level.
All good hymns declare the gospel and assume gospel context. I suspect the main reason hymns don't resonate with people much any more is because we don't preach the gospel. "

My Substitute

"Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter..." (Isaiah 53:7)
Isaiah gives us a vivid picture of redemption some 600 years before it happened. The Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52 - 53 is given over to be slaughtered for sinful people who are at every turn disobedient to God's holy Law ... The innocent dies for the guilty.... And it's His Father's idea! ... "It was the will of the LORD to crush Him... He (the LORD) put Him to grief.. (53: 10) Out of the anguish of Jesus' soul, God saw it.... and was satisfied ...(53:11)
 If God is satisfied with Jesus' payment for our sin, why can't we be?

Morning Blues? ... Here's the cure!

Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition has a good morning reminder for those of us who are slow moving in the morning:

Got the Morning Blues?

I am not a morning person. I don’t like early mornings, and early mornings don’t like me.

But here are a few things that have encouraged my heart lately, and perhaps will do the same to you. Remember that a good part of the Christian life, as Lloyd-Jones said, is learning how to preach to yourself more than listen to yourself.

1. Salvation draws near. This morning I am one day closer to seeing the Lord face-to-face, and closer to the day when all that is wrong and broken and rebellious will be made right and submissive. (“For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed”—Rom. 13:11).

2. God gives me new mercy. Every day I need God’s mercy, and when I awoke today there was a fresh supply of such necessary grace awaiting me. (“[God's] mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning”—Lam. 3:22-23).

3. God gives us all kindness. God has already shown and modeled kindness this morning to his people and to his enemies by causing the sun to rise and shine. (“For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good”—Matt. 5:45).

4. My to-do list has only two things on it. My to-do list can feel overwhelming, but Jesus was able to summarize all 613 stipulations of the Sinai Covenant unto the size of a Post-It Note: “Love God with all that you are; love your neighbor as yourself.” Love fulfills the law (Rom. 13:8, 10; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8). As Augustine put it, “Love, and do what you will.”

5. Anxiety is meant to be cast not carried. Any anxiety I feel about today is useless (to me) and offensive (to God). God knows that I awake with anxieties, needs, and burdens. But instead of being anxious God wants me to tell him what I need (Phil. 4:6). Because God cares for me he wants me to cast all those anxieties—those burdens—on him (1 Pet. 5:7; Ps. 55:22). God is happy to “supply every need [I have] according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19; Matt. 6:33). Anxiety, at the end of the day, is a pointless waste of time that costs me a lot and gains me nothing (Matt. 6:27).

6. Rejoicing in weakness. If I feel too weak today, that’s a very good place to be. That way the joy of the Lord can be my strength (Neh. 8:10). That way I can “serve by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11). “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16). God’s grace is sufficient for me, since his power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong ” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

Ready for another day.

Michael Horton writes;

"Scripture is of no use to us if we read it merely as a handbook for daily living without recognizing that its principle purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and his gospel for the salvation of sinners. All Scripture coalesces in Christ, anticipated in the OT and appearing in the flesh in the NT. In Scripture, God issues commands and threatens judgment for transgressors as well as direction for the lives of his people. Yet the greatest treasure buried in the Scriptures is the good news of the promised Messiah. Everything in the Bible that tells us what to do is “law”, and everything in the Bible that tells us what God has done in Christ to save us is “gospel.” Much like medieval piety, the emphasis in much Christian teaching today is on what we are to do without adequate grounding in the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. “What would Jesus do?” becomes more important than “What has Jesus done?” The gospel, however, is not just something we needed at conversion so we can spend the rest of our Christian life obsessed with performance; it is something we need every day–the only source of our sanctification as well as our justification. The law guides, but only the gospel gives. We are declared righteous–justified–not by anything that happens within us or done by us, but solely by God’s act of crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness through faith alone."  

VOTE TODAY

Uncle Sam needs you today!... It is our duty as American citizens to vote today - get familiar with the candidates and issues and vote - Today is the day! Romans 13: 1 - 7