Purposeful Traditions

It is easy to get caught up in the Christmas lights, the gifts, the baking, the parties, and the hundreds of details that seemingly have to be attended to in the month of December.  It is easy to quickly lose sight of the purpose of the season and being purposeful throughout the holiday season. Noel Piper, in her book Treasuring God in our Traditions, gives us some valuable reminders, beginning with our homes. “How will our homes look if our celebration is a picture of anticipation and waiting for God’s plan to be completed, a picture of our joy in the salvation he has begun for us? What visible things will fill our house as we celebrate what God has done through Jesus?

Some questions to keep before us in the season -

Am I my Father’s child? Do I resemble him in my generosity?

Am I focusing on God’s gift so that my appreciation grows?

Can others see why I am celebrating?

Am I celebrating Christ?

Do all my celebrations point to Christ?

We must be sure that “the busyness of the Christmas season doesn’t crowd out a quiet anticipation of the wonder of incarnation.”

Noel closes the chapter with this reminder…

May our decorations, gifts, and festivities never block our view of him, but always point us toward him.

That They May See Your Good Works

Francis Schaeffer proposed two ways we Christians can display observable love for one another:

One, “When I have failed to love my Christian brother, I go to him and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ That is first. It may seem a letdown — that the first thing we speak of should be so simple. But if you think it is easy, you have never tried to practice it. . . .”

Two, “There must also be open forgiveness. And though it’s hard to say ‘I’m sorry,’ it’s even harder to forgive. The Bible, however, makes plain that the world must observe a forgiving spirit in the midst of God’s people. . . .”

“[Does the world] observe that we say ‘I’m sorry,’ and do they observe a forgiving heart? Let me repeat: Our love will not be perfect, but it must be substantial enough for the world to be able to observe it, or it does not fit into the structure of John 13 and 17. And if the world does not observe this among true Christians, the world has a right to make the two awful judgments which these verses indicate: that we are not Christians, and that Christ was not sent by the Father.”

Francis Schaeffer, “The Mark of the Christian,” in The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, pages 143-146.

Francis Schaeffer has left with us an important and vital reminder from the gospel of John, the life of Christ, and really the testimony of the entire Scriptures. We must always strive to cultivate a humble and genuine spirit of confession and forgiveness. We are often too proud to ask forgiveness when we know that we have wronged someone. However, we must be obedient to the Spirit in this area of our lives! To quench the conviction and prodding of the Spirit is to speak false peace and resolution to your situation. Demonstrate love by asking forgiveness. It is necessary for a unified body, for personal spiritual growth, and for Christian testimony.

We must also learn how to recieve an apology and extend forgiveness. Often, the one who recieves an apology reacts more awkwardly and uncomfortably than the one asking forgiveness. We must be humble enough and caring enough to recieve an apology from one who is obeying the Spirit’s moving in his life. Learning to ask forgiveness, recieve an apology, and extend forgiveness are vital for a healthy body and are invaluable characteristics to cultivate within the church.

Time

I thought it would be appropriate to make Adam’s sermon the topic of this week’s post for 2 reasons: 1) So many people were gone traveling or sick this past Sunday and you all missed an incredibly challenging sermon & 2) It is extremely applicable to our daily grind in life.

This week was the beginning to our series in Ephesians and Adam did a theological overview of this Letter to the church of Ephesus. In a nutshell the message of the sermon was the following: Today counts forever because God planned it before time.  Thus this makes time extremely signficant to us.  However, it is significant for reasons other than we often make it. We, by human nature, are governed and driven by time. We have to get up on time, get to work on time, be on the clock a certain amount of time, etc. etc. We are constantly looking at our watches and in dizzying race against time where we end up looking back wondering what the rush was.  However, while there are many constraints of time in life, it is not these circumstances, events, and demands that make time significant. Rather, “We can only rightly understand the significance of this very time by understanding what God has done before time.” 

This concept will be a driving force behind the message of this letter as we study it. But it should thus be a driving force behind our daily life on the street. This week, work to use the brief moment you look at your watch each day to stop and remind yourself that today counts forever because God planned it before time. 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with ever spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:3-4)

Saved from What?

Sproul says, “I’m afraid that in the United States of America today the prevailing doctrine of justification is not justification by faith alone.  It is not even justification by good works or by a combination of faith and works.  The prevailing notion of justification in our culture today is justification by death.  All one has to do to be received into the everlasting arms of God is to die.  That is all that’s required.  Death somehow erases our sin — an atonement is not necessary.”

Sin is a debt that must be paid.  Who pays for/paid for your sin?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Taste and see that God is good to us! Indeed God has been good to us. Tuesday night, the Redeemer Community gathered at the Coopers to praise our God and to thank Him for his faithful and kind providence. It was an encouraging and fun evening. God has blessed abundantly, and He is worthy of all our thanksgiving and praise. So, let us stop, remember, and give thanks to the Lord. Happy Thanksgiving to the Redeemer Community and to all.

Psalm 111

¹Praise the LORD!I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
²Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who delight in them.
³Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
⁵He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
⁶He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
⁷The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
⁸they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!

The Life of Horatio Spafford

This week  in history, 1873, the steamship Ville du Havre was struck by an iron sailing vessel while crossing the Atlantic. 246 people died, including the four daughters of Chicago lawyer Horatio Spafford. His wife Anna survived. Just two years earlier their four-year-old son died of scarlet fever, and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 financially ruined him.

Horatio Spafford was no stranger to suffering and tragedy – a life marked by the loss of 6 of his 8 children among other calamities. In midst of his greatest sorrows he penned the words “…whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well with my soul.’” Here is a little more about his life and testimony.

The original manuscript of "It Is Well"

The Dilemma of Suffering

I don’t know about you, but I feel consistently bombarded with realities of suffering and evil on a daily basis, from numerous outlets in life. It is often overwhelming, nauseating, and depressing.

The fact of suffering and evil and the truth of God’s sovereignty over all thing are two enormously difficult things to reconcile. I see over and over that this is something that causes people to either reject the faith or at least remain confused, disoriented, and angry.

However, in an effort to understand these things, there are often 2 strong, and crippling, tendencies:

• 1) One tendency is to focus on God’s sovereignty to the point that we begin to ignore the realities of suffering and evil and the fact that they are both distortions of the kingdom of God and His good creation; and that they must both be defeated.  Treating these things like “figments” of our imagination through tritely saying “God’s in control” doesn’t itself do justice to the realities they are in life.
• 2) The other alternative is to focus on suffering so much that we begin to think that God isn’t really involved in the suffering and evil that we experience and can’t really help.

#1 will make you disoriented, #2 will make you angry, and both will leave you confused about life.

The reality, though, is that suffering and evil are indeed real, hurt deeply, and must be destroyed ultimately. But we cannot take these facts and deduce that God is loosely connected to them in such a way that He just “helps” us through them and finally one day defeats them somehow; much less that we should simply attempt to “escape” from them to God as if they aren’t really there.  Hiding from the Boogie-man doesn’t make the Boogie-man any less real…that is, unless he isn’t real.  But suffering and evil are.  For them to ever be defeated at all and for us to every have any significant help in them, there must be a God that truly has power over them and has a plan behind them.

Thus, we must remember that it was precisely the cross (the epitome of suffering and evil) that defeated sin, suffering, and death so that God’s kingdom might rule and reign in peace and justice fully one day. However, even this act on the cross was a paradoxical event, for it was only by the bearing of sin, suffering, and death by the Son Himself that any of these things could ever be defeated. As it was through suffering and evil that the victory over such things was accomplished through Christ, our own lives embody the gospel as we live through suffering and evil and are yet not ultimately destroyed (Rom 8:35-39).

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:22-23)

We are the Champions!

Congrats to Marshall Joyce and the Dragons as they won the flag football championship! The Dragons went undefeated in the Shadyside Boys and Girls Club league and finished with an exciting 18-12 victory in the championship game. The game was played at the UPMC indoor practice facility. It is the same facility used by the Super Bowl champion Steelers! There was a big crowd on hand to watch Marshall and the rest of the Dragons. In attendence were Hines Ward, James Farrior, Casey Hampton, Mike Tomlin, and a few other Steelers. However, even more impressive was Bella Albano and her Redeemer crew! Thanks to all who were able to attend. It was quite a fun and memborable evening.

What’s Your Favorite

I am interested in knowing “what is your favorite Christian biography?” As I think about it, I have a hard time narrowing it down. Different biographies are important for different reasons. Some biographies just capture your mind because of the excitement of the person’s life. Others capture your heart because of the piety and devotion of the life lived. Others might move you to action because the life is simply inspiring.

There are other factors that also set apart certain biographies. Usually, it is the character that is so compelling, but sometimes it is the biographer that sets the book apart. How the story is told can make all the difference. For many, it is all about timing. Reading a certain biography at a certain time in your life can be life-changing.

So what is your favorite biography and why? There are so many out there, perhaps we can help narrow the list for each other. The most exciting and inspiring in my life was The Hiding Place about the life of Corrie ten Boom. The story is amazing! It is a good read for almost any age. The two most spiritually challenging and strengthening in my life were To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson and The Confessions of St Augustine. They are quite different, but both are great.

Here is a quick Christmas idea from Desiring God. It is a really good sale. Look forward to hearing from you!

15 short Biographies in 5 books for $50

2012. The end of the world.

Yesterday, Becky shared a portion of Scripture, from Colossians, in her testimony that jumped out at me.

It seems every decade or so,  the world gets ramped up for the next apocalypse. With a nice little lull since Y2K, it’s apparently time to start making predictions again.  The latest movie, 2012, represent this fascination as well as the lady at PennDot who pointed out to me that my previous VA driver’s license expired in 2012.  Good thing I got rid of it, so I don’t expire then!

The text that jumped out at me yesterday was Colossians 1:17- And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  I can certainly remember the aticipation for Y2K during high school and even being a bit worried of what might happen.  The reason this type of worry and concern no longer crosses my mind is understanding a verse like the one above, but even more, the context in which it stands.

Verse 16 tells us that all things were created by Christ and thus for his glory. Therefore, verse 17,  He holds all things together according to His own will. And for what exactly is He holding all things together?  Verse 20: to reconcile all things on earth and in heaven by the cross.  From creation to cross to new creation, our Sovereign Christ reigns supreme.

[see http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/multimedia/2009/04/st_timeline  for a satirical timeline of world "expiration" dates]