KCPC Blog

From Your Pastor: Are You Assured of God’s Love for You?

 

Are you assured of God’s love for you? Do you have a firm and growing assurance of God’s love for you? Are you like Abraham who was fully convinced that the Lord is able to do what He has promised to you (Rom. 4:19-22)? You may have faith in Christ, and yet not have full assurance of faith. Sometimes it is easy to see how others can be loved by God, and not yourself. Do you want to be assured and grow into a deeper confidence and joy in God’s love?

First, are you a Christian? Are you trusting in Christ alone for your salvation apart from works? Do you believe that all of your righteousness and redemption is found in Christ alone (1 Cor. 1:30), and this is received by you through faith alone in Christ alone because of grace alone? If you have Christ, then you have faith. Yet there is an important distinction that should be made between those who have true and saving faith, and those who have the full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22-24). The Apostle John wrote his first letter to help believers to be assured. He wrote: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (ESV 1 John 5:13). “…That you may know that you have eternal life.” Do you know…for sure?!

One of the most precious and practical things we can learn from Holy Scripture is that God truly loves us in Christ and makes this love known to us, and even felt in us by His Spirit. God desires His children to know His love for them in Christ by His Spirit.

Beloved, our Confession of Faith can help us tremendously in growing in our faith, and thus coming to assurance of faith. In fact, believers can have an infallible assurance of faith that can lead us into deeper joy and greater obedience to Christ out of gratitude!

Let us together as a congregation consider chapter 18 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (note the scripture references that you might be interested in looking up and studying further). I will briefly follow each section with a commentary to get you thinking prayerfully.

Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18.1  Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favour of God, and estate of salvation;(1) which hope of theirs shall perish;(2) yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace,(3) and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; which hope shall never make them ashamed.(4) (1)Job 8:13,14; Micah 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41. (2)Matt. 7:22,23. (3)1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:14,18,19,21,24; 1 John 5:13. (4)Rom. 5:2,5.

True Faith in Christ: Our confession pastorally teaches us that believers are saved only through the grace of God found in Christ alone for salvation. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in our union with Him we desire to serve Him sincerely. If one has true faith, then he will also have works (James 2:14-18). True believers desire for their faith to be seen in loving Christ “in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before Him”.

Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18.2  This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope;(1) but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,(2) the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,(3) the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God:(4) which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.(5) (1)Heb. 6:11,19; (2)Heb. 6:17,18. (3)2 Pet. 1:4,5,10,11; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:14; 2 Cor. 1:12. (4)Rom. 8:15,16. (5)Eph. 1:13,14; Eph. 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:21,22.

Three Important Aspects of Assurance of Faith: We can have as believers united to Jesus Christ an infallible assurance of faith because of three important things: (1) Believing God’s Promises in His Word: The truth of God’s Word, particularly the promises of God found in Holy Scripture. This is the infallible foundation for assurance of our faith. Simply put, we believe God’s promises; we believe that God’s Word is true (2 Cor. 1:20-22). (2) Believing Fruits are Produced: There is evidence in possessing some fruits inwardly in the heart and conscience, and outward fruits that show forth that we are the sons of God. These marks of grace or good fruits should flow out of a sincere, regenerated heart (“You will know the tree by the fruit it bears…”- Matt. 7:16ff). A believer can know that they not only possess a desire to will to do good but they seek by faith with sincerity to do good in gratitude for what Christ has done (Phil. 2:12-13). (3) Testimony of the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Sonship, or of Adoption testifies with our spirits, or our hearts that we are the children of God and we cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). The Spirit seals us unto the Day of Redemption, or gives us the assurance that we are truly possessed and loved by God the Father in Christ Jesus. This knowledge of God’s love can lead to deep experiential joy, like being loved by a spouse, or basking in the love of a faithful Christian mother or father.

Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18.3  This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it:(1) yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.(2) And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure;(3) that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience,(4) the proper fruits of this assurance: so far is it from inclining men to looseness.(5) (1)1 John 5:13; Isa. 1:10; Mark 9:24; Ps. 88; Ps. 77:1-12. (2)1 Cor. 2:12; 1 John 4:13; Heb. 7:11,12; Eph. 3:17,18,19. (3)2 Pet. 1:10. (4)Rom. 5:1,2,5; Rom. 14:17; Rom. 15:13; Eph. 1:3,4; Ps. 4:6,7; Ps. 119:32. (5)1 John 2:1,2; Rom. 6:1; Tit. 2:11,12,14; 2 Cor. 7:1; Rom. 8:1,12; 1 John 3:2,3; Ps. 130:4; 1 John 1:6,7.

Not All with Faith Have Assurance: All believers possess saving faith, but not all believers with saving faith possess assurance of faith (“It does not so belong to the essence of faith”). This may take a long time, and this may be through much conflict against Satan and sin. But one can come to this assurance by using the ordinary means that Christ has kindly and generously given to His church, such as the word, sacrament, prayer, fellowship. These are means of grace that the risen-ascended Christ has given to His people so that they might mature in Him, and come to an assurance of God’s love. In fact, God has commanded His children that we are to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:3ff; 2 Cor. 13:5). This assurance of God does not make us loose in our walk before God, but makes us joyful, and prayerful, and watchful, and gives a deeper desire to please God in Christ. Maturing and growing in sanctification are not optional for the Christian life, they are required: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him…” (1 Jo. 2:3-5).

Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18.4  True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it; by falling into some special sin, which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation; by God’s withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness, and to have no light:(1) yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived;(2) and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.(3) (1)Cant. 5:2,3,6; Ps. 51:8,12,14; Eph. 4:30,31; Ps. 77:1-10; Matt. 26:69-72; Ps. 31:22; Ps. 88; Isa. 1:10. (2)1 John 3:9; Luke 22:32; Job 13:15; Ps. 73:15; Ps. 51:8,12; Isa. 1:10. (3)Micah 7:7,8,9; Jer. 32:40; Isa. 54:7-10; Ps. 22:1; Ps. 88.

No Negligence: This assurance can be shaken, particularly when we are negligent and fail to watch and pray, and fall into temptation and sin against God. We should seek to please God and not to in any way grieve the precious Spirit of God who lives within us as God’s children (Eph. 4:30). God can remove His special presence and comfort for a season as a discipline to His children, that we might repent, and confess our sins, and seek prayerfully to return to a sweet communion with God our Heavenly Father.

Do you know that God loves you? Meditate upon His promises to you in Christ. Think about how he loves His own dear children. Seek in light of these promises to be faithful and grateful in your service to Him, seeking to please Him sincerely from the heart. Ask God to fill you with His Word and Spirit so that you might more fully know of the God the Father’s great, wide, deep, high, and broad love for you in Christ Jesus (Eph. 3:17-19). Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to have more joy as God has promised to you in Christ.

Meditate upon John 15:9-11 to ponder your assurance, and to seek prayerfully to reach full assurance of faith. Our Lord Jesus says:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Our Lord Jesus desires us to know that He loves us as the Father has loved Him from all eternity. That is a great amount of love! This is the love that should motivate and fuel all of our obedience to Him.

Christ teaches us to abide in His love (cf. Jude 20-21). But how? How does one specifically abide in Christ’s love? Our Lord Jesus teaches us that we abide in Him by doing His commandments, and seeking to please Him by being sincerely obedient from our heart. And note that He teaches us that we might not only glorify Him, but that we would also very much enjoy Him: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (15:11).

In other words, as Christ is loved by the Father, and lives in obedience to Him because He desired to please Him above all else. So, in Christ, we can have the joy that He had by the Spirit, and through this also to enjoy His joy in full as we live in Christ by faith. We can see here the foundation of our assurance in knowing the love of God for us in Christ, the evidence of our assurance as we keep (imperfectly, yet sincerely) Christ’s commandments from the heart, and come to possess a deeper and fuller *JOY* by His precious and beautiful Spirit.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

 

 

 

From Your Pastor: Why Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy is Glorious (Part 6)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8)

Why is keeping the Lord’s Day holy glorious?

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity to please and glorify God in obedience to His commandments.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a privilege and blessing of the Covenant of Grace.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can remind us that the Lord Jesus created it, kept it, and fulfilled it, and gave it to believers as a way of imitating Him.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity for growth and maturity in Christ.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can be a time well spent that helps us not to live overly busy and distracted lives.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a way of joyfully, peacefully, and graciously witnessing publicly to whom it is you belong, and to whom it is you ultimately submit!

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is part of our confessional heritage as particularly Reformed Christians.

 

  1. Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy is glorious because it is a way of joyfully, peacefully, and graciously witnessing publicly to whom it is you belong, and to whom it is you ultimately submit!

     How are we unlike the culture around us as the people of God? We are called to be holy and separate (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:15-16; 2 Cor. 6:16:-7:1 “…Go out from their midst, and be separate from them…” (2 Cor. 6:17). The Bible teaches us that the grace of God has appeared to teach us how to live, and what to say “no” to, and how to show forth to the world the freedom that comes to us in Christ! What better way of doing this in Christ than through keeping the Lord’s Day holy and set apart. While the rest of the world (even many evangelicals sadly!) go about treating the Lord’s Day with disregard, we can by faith uphold the commandments of God and show forth to the world the beauty of holiness!

Are you being “trained to renounce ungodliness”? Are you living “self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”? Are you waiting on Jesus, at least to some degree on one day out of seven? Do you know that you have been redeemed from “all lawlessness” (including the disregard of the Lord’s Day and the other blessed commandments of God!)? The Apostle Paul wrote triumphantly what we should love and confess:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (ESV Titus 2:11-14)

Let us flee from all lawlessness in our culture, particularly the disregard for making the Lord’s Day holy. Let us seek to show forth to our culture in our habits, character, and our lives that we are the redeemed and we are different—and blessed in Christ! Remember when Daniel involved himself faithfully and with excellence in the good vocation he had in the Babylonian culture, and yet he made a public stand against idolatry that was visible to all, and for that God richly blessed him! (Daniel 1). Daniel did not withdraw completely from the world, God doesn’t call His people to that, but Daniel made sure that he was not taking part in an idolatrous, foolish, unbelieving culture. And Daniel was greatly blessed. What kind of blessing might we expect from keeping the Lord’s Day holy? Perhaps our health could be better? Perhaps we struggle with anxieties and worry and joylessness that can be cured by obedience in this way? Perhaps we can learn that there is a joyful, peaceful, gracious, and even powerful work that can be done by us as a congregation if we just believe! (John 11:40).

I ask you honestly, for we as Christians to consider prayerfully, what can politics and certain places or positions of power do to change the culture and the world that hasn’t already been given (better!) in the keeping of the Lord’s Day holy! This is a commandment that can have an immediate effect upon our town, our commonwealth, our nation, our culture—immediate change would come if every Christian took a stand and sought to better and more faithfully keep the Lord’s Day holy.[1] I am often reminded of God’s goodness and grace when on Sundays, I cannot get my mouth around a Chick-fil-a! Praise God for at least one man who had a conviction, and whose conviction causes others to take note. How might culture be impacted, and folks around us be loved if we were to seek to fulfill the commandment joyfully in Christ?! My pastor friend was once eating out on a Lord’s Day, not making it his normal practice, but had an opportunity to do so, and it seemed good. As the waitress came to the table, he invited her to worship at his church the following Sunday. She said I would love to, but the “Sunday, Church crowd” keeps us so busy on Sundays for brunch I cannot get off to come to worship.[2]

I must ask you, do folks online, or in your neighborhood see visibly any difference in you and your family on the Lord’s Day than anyone else in the culture or the world? Could you be recognized as a believer based on your rhythm and pattern of life and work-week?[3] Are you different in the way you live your life in culture? Are you different in the way you live your life before other Christians? Honestly, before God, are you living like a slave like the rest of the culture and the world?? Remember, beloved, as the Apostle Peter teaches us:

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God (ESV 1 Peter 2:15-16; cf. Gal. 5:1)

Suggested Questions to Ponder and Ask Yourself to Help You to Keep the Lord’s Day Holy:

Is this activity on the Lord’s Day going to glorify God above all things? / Is this activity a work of necessity or mercy that I lovingly desire to do to love God and neighbor? / Is this activity going to hinder me (or others) from publicly worshipping God and attending to any calls to worship that God calls me to through his ordained servants? / Is this activity loving and the best use of my time for myself, my family, my guests, my neighbors, and those who look to me for leadership? / Is this activity going to be consistent with God’s Word, and particularly His clear teaching on how he desires the Lord’s Day to be remembered? / Is this activity work that I normally engage it on other days, and can it wait? / Is this activity a distraction from my taking time to grow up in God’s Word? / Is this activity something that will not be conducive to remembering what I learned in the morning worship sermon and meditating upon it and hiding in my heart so that I won’t sin against God? / Is this activity properly living a godly example before a broken and lost world?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I want to keep the Lord’s Day holy, please help me. Grant me your wisdom and discernment. Amen

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

(Link to full study: From Your Pastor.Why Keeping the Lords Day is Glorious.March 2016)

 

[1] Wouldn’t it be a shame to find out that all of the good intentions we had as Christians in cultural and political involvement were somehow undermined by our refusal to honor the fourth commandment and keep the Sabbath holy? Would it not be a true day of revival when all Christians, especially evangelical ones could get as worked up and zealous for keeping God’s commandments in Christ as they get for political parties and powerful people that they think can really “change things”?! It seems to me that the first kind of change our churches need is to return to honoring God and His commandments? It seems that this would have a profound effect on our nation by God’s grace!

[2] I realize that excuses made by unbelievers are not necessarily always true, but this does serve as a helpful thought, doesn’t it?

[3] I want to remind us that there are legitimate works of mercy and sometimes of necessity that would prevent us from keeping the Lord’s Day as we would like. Some folks seek to be off from work on the Lord’s Day and they cannot. If one is able to just state a conviction about working on the Lord’s Day, even if one is not able to get off from work, this is still graciously witnessing and seeking to be obedient to God!

From Your Pastor: Why Keeping the Lord’s Day Is Glorious (Part 5)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8)

Why is keeping the Lord’s Day holy glorious?

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity to please and glorify God in obedience to His commandments.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a privilege and blessing of the Covenant of Grace.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can remind us that the Lord Jesus created it, kept it, and fulfilled it, and gave it to believers as a way of imitating Him.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity for growth and maturity in Christ.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can be a time well spent that helps us not to live overly busy and distracted lives.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a way of joyfully, peacefully, and graciously witnessing publicly to whom it is you belong, and to whom it is you ultimately submit!

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is part of our confessional heritage as particularly Reformed Christians.

 

  1. Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy is glorious because it is a time well spent that can help us not to live overly busy and distracted lives.

The Lord Jesus teaches us about the importance of “seeking first the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness—first, before all things” (Matt. 6:25-33; cf. Luke 10:38-42). What better way to do this at the beginning of every week than keeping the Lord’s Day holy? This can produce a proper and holy rhythm in your weekly time and work and rest pattern that is not only obedient to God’s word but will be pleasing to your conscience and even your body.[1] The Apostle Paul teaches that we are apt to waste the valuable time that God has given to us and so he admonishes us in Christian love to make the most of every opportunity, to be wise with our time spent:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (ESV Ephesians 5:15-17).

Honestly, before God, are you walking wisely, making the best use of your time? Is this a serious problem for you? Are you constantly distracted? Do you recognize it as a sin? In a world as constantly busy and distracted as ours is, we must be extra wise, and to pray for discernment with regard to the way we spend our time—especially on the Lord’s Day. As pastor, I am often met with folks asking me to pray for them to spend their time better, especially in bible reading and prayer. I am grateful to pray for you on that as your pastor. Please pray for me as well! But we must act by faith on this impulse and desire for change. Often through obedience by faith in Christ, particularly in God’s commandments, the feelings of desire, the good habits, and the character that are needed to be faithful to God in this important privilege and duty will come as you step forward by doing what you know to be right in your union with Christ. From now on, when folks ask me to pray for them about this, I am going to ask them how they are using the Lord’s Day to develop this desire toward more obedience (Rom. 6:17).

It is important to note that Ephesians 5:17 says: “…Understand what the will of the Lord is”. There is no better place to find the will of the Lord than in the Ten Commandments![2] There is no place to find out how one may love God and keep His commandments! One way to love God and neighbor is to remember the Lord’s Day and to seek to keep it holy. Remember, our Lord Jesus said that often the reason we don’t live according to God’s way and will is that our hearts are divided, we love something or someone more than we love God (Matt. 6:21-24; Luke 14:26-27). When our Lord asked to define what the will of God looked like, he responded: “To love the Lord your God with everything in you, and your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30). Is there a better way to love God and neighbor than keeping the Lord’s Day holy? There are other ways to love God and neighbor, but are they better as far as the time God has specifically given to us believers on the Lord’s Day? Or perhaps to ask the question a different way: Can we truly love God and neighbor as ourselves if we know that we are to keep the Lord’s Day holy, and we do not? Remember the full exegesis of the fourth commandment given to us by God, and particularly the responsibility we have to family members, guests, neighbors, etc. God’s scope of this commandment is broad, and publicly noticeable by others. It is important to note in the fourth commandment that as the application of the commandment is broad, so is our responsibility to God and others, and so are the consequences of our disregard of it will be as well:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11)

The fourth commandment as it is exegeted and unpacked by God in Exodus 20:8-11 shows that our understanding of the Lord’s Day will have an effect on others. This is one reason why it is so important to think about it as Christians. Let us ask ourselves some challenging questions that may be helpful to consider: Is it loving for us entrusted as the head of our homes to disregard the Lord’s Day given to us and our family as a gift of grace? Is this not only disregarding God, but also disregarding the gracious love that should be demonstrated to our family? If we are in a position of leadership (like a pastor or a Christian leader) and something is unnecessarily scheduled on the Lord’s Day, have we considered the distraction this could bring to others, even hindering them from public worship of God? Have we considered that our position granted to us by God could be an opportunity for us to do good, particularly in helping others to keep the fourth commandment? Perhaps we can seek to use our God-given positions to reschedule some unnecessary events for another day?[3] Have we thought about the obligation for others involved and how this might tempt them to go against what is good and right and according to their consciences? Let us think about these things if we are to seek to love God and our neighbors as ourselves.[4] Pray for me to have wisdom in this, particularly as your pastor. Let us remember how love is clearly defined for us by the Apostle Paul:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (ESV Romans 13:8-10)

Suggested Questions to Ponder and Ask Yourself to Help You to Keep the Lord’s Day Holy:

Is this activity on the Lord’s Day going to glorify God above all things? / Is this activity a work of necessity or mercy that I lovingly desire to do to love God and neighbor? / Is this activity going to hinder me (or others) from publicly worshipping God and attending to any calls to worship that God calls me to through his ordained servants? / Is this activity loving and the best use of my time for myself, my family, my guests, my neighbors, and those who look to me for leadership? / Is this activity going to be consistent with God’s Word, and particularly His clear teaching on how he desires the Lord’s Day to be remembered? / Is this activity work that I normally engage it on other days, and can it wait? / Is this activity a distraction from my taking time to grow up in God’s Word? / Is this activity something that will not be conducive to remembering what I learned in the morning worship sermon and meditating upon it and hiding in my heart so that I won’t sin against God? / Is this activity properly living a godly example before a broken and lost world?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I want to keep the Lord’s Day holy, please help me. Grant me your wisdom and discernment. Amen

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

(Link to full study: From Your Pastor.Why Keeping the Lords Day is Glorious.March 2016)

 

[1] Studies have shown that there are outstanding results on the body and mind from keeping Sabbath even from non-Christians.

[2] See especially the Westminster Larger Catechism on how to keep God’s commandments in Christ, Question and Answers 97-153, 115-121 for the fourth commandment on the Lord’s Day particularly.

[3] Every year there is a fun run that I would enjoy taking part in here in Purcellville. But it is on the Lord’s Day. I have often written with respect to those who are organizing the event, asking them to change the day so that they might honor God in the fourth commandment, but that I also might participate, and others as well. As of today, there has been no change. This can be frustrating, but all that we are called to do is try to speak into the situation and trust God with the rest.

[4] There are some who must work on the Lord’s Day. They may have spoken up about it to their superiors, but they still must work. This is a good work if required, and characterized in Scripture as a work of necessity (Matt. 12:11; Luke 13:15; see also Westminster Larger Catechism, Q&A 117). But should this work be normal? I think this is especially important for Christian leaders to consider who are the bosses or superiors of those Christians who feel obligated to work on the Lord’s Day, and who may be tempted to go against their conscience which is unwise and very unsafe (see further Westminster Larger Catechism, Q 126-133). It seems that the works of necessity are works that are exceptions, not rules to live by.

From Your Pastor: Thomas Watson on How to Profitably Hear the Word Preached

  1. Prayer- Come with your soul prepared to hear God’s Word by praying for God’s blessing.
  1. Appetite- Come with holy appetite.
  1. Tender Teachable Heart- What will you have me to do? Speak to me.
  1. Be Attentive- Discipline your mind to be attentive with your mind; keep yourself from distractions as much as possible. To be as involved in hearing as the preacher is in preaching (Calvin taught this).
  1. Receive with meekness- Receive with meekness the ingrafted word; this is a submissive frame of heart (Psalm 131). Through meekness the Word gets deeper into our souls and we are more able to receive it.
  1. Faith- Mingle the preached word with faith. The chief ingredient of listening to a sermon must be faith in order to apply the word.
  1. Retain- Retain and pray over what you have heard. Don’t let the sermon go through your mind like water through a sieve. Our memory should be like the chest of the ark where the Law was placed. Go from your knees to the sermon and go from the sermon to your knees.
  1. Practice- Practice what you have heard; live out what God has taught you.
  1. Beg- For the effectual blessing of the Holy Spirit; this is the “swallowing of the medicine to heal you”.
  1. Familiarize- Go home and speak about it to family, friends, others, so that you will become very familiar with the truths.

 

***Remember each sermon as if it was the last you will ever hear, because that just may be the case.***

From Your Pastor: One Thing Necessary in a World of Distractions

ESV Luke 10:38-42: …A woman named Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Beloved, before Jesus tells us to serve, He first calls us to Himself to teach us and to fill us with His grace for service. Before we serve, let us first learn to sit. There are many distractions in each age. How can good and lawful blessings and activities like hospitality, service, jobs, raising our children, and even loving our families potentially become distractions that can be spiritually dangerous to us?! When these things take priority over spending time listening and learning at Jesus’ feet. How are you doing with this?

Martha was serving; she was a Christian woman seeking to honor Jesus. She was taking seriously the Bible’s teaching on hospitality, and the need to feed others. Martha wanted to feed Jesus, but Jesus wanted to feed Mary and her. As Richard Sibbes put it well: “Christ came to feast them, not to feast with them.” There was disorder in Martha’s heart; while her intentions were noble, her affections were confused at this moment. Her “excessive zeal for temporal provisions, made her forget for a time, the things of her soul” (J. C. Ryle), while Mary sought what was good (read: best). We can so easily be tempted to make something good like serving too important, and then we ask the Lord to bless our idolatry. This is not right.

Notice Martha’s self-pity and ungrateful attitude that are common fruits of disordered loves: “Lord, do you not care…tell her…” We are tempted sometimes to tell the Lord what is most important, rather than sitting at His feet and learning what is most important to Him. Our hearts need to be ordered with Christ having the priority; He must be our first love, and our first priority at all times. But notice the Lord Jesus’ tender address to his own: “Martha, Martha…one thing is necessary.” Jesus is not angry, but patient with his own. We are His beloved brothers and sisters; we are His dear ones. He speaks our names tenderly putting a firm and fixed focus on Himself so that we can be reminded what matters most. And what does he promise his beloved? The good portion. Don’t you want that!?

But you ask: “What is this?” It is simply Jesus Christ. Jesus is our good portion (Psa. 16:5; 73:26; Lam. 3:24). Time with Jesus is our good portion. This is the only thing that will ultimately last—the only thing that will ultimately satisfy the longings of our souls—and this good thing will last and satisfy us for all eternity. O, to sit at Jesus’ feet! What a privilege. It is at Jesus’ feet where we get focused on WHO matters most, and this is where our loves are properly ordered and we are made effective, Gospel-driven, and Grace-motivated servants. Are you satisfied with having Jesus as your portion? Can you honestly say with the Psalmist:

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you… But for me it is good to be near God…” (Psalm 73:25, 28b).

Stop what you’re doing today. Ask yourself: What is the one thing that is necessary for me right now? You may have a schedule full of wonderful, God-given and lawful activities, but are you aware that these can potentially be keeping you from what, or WHO you need the most?

How can I keep the focus on the one thing necessary in a world of distractions? Here are some suggestions that often help me:

(1) Order your loves and needs under Christ’s Lordship, following His command to “Seek first the kingdom…” (Matt. 6:33).

(2) Watch becoming too entangled with the “cares of this life” (2 Tim. 2:4). Ask yourself the important question: “What are my main distractions and “time-wasters” (Eph. 5:15-17)? And then rid your life of them . J. C. Ryle wrote: “Except we watch and pray, [cares of this world] will eat up our spirituality, and bring leanness to our souls.”  Excellent advice!

(3) Remind yourself of the most important goals—what is your main intention in each of your activities? Is it to glorify God and enjoy Him forever? Don’t get distracted in your service for Jesus and miss Jesus as your goal.

(4) Every morning consider what is most needful and necessary for the day. Ask such questions as: Have you renewed your covenant with God in Christ with renewed repentance (Lam. 3:22-25)? Have you prayed and reminded yourself of the love of God in Christ for you and your family? Are you being watchful, sober-minded, and preparing yourself for Jesus’ coming (1 Peter 1:13)? Are we prepared for temptations that inevitably will come?

Jesus calls you by name today, having justified you in God’s sight, and has made you an heir with him through His loving sacrifice on the cross, and He speaks truth to us so that we might change and grow. This is the love of Jesus for sinners saved by grace, and grace is good because it makes us good. Now find some time to sit—at His feet. Amen.

 

Love in Christ,

Pastor Biggs

From Your Pastor: The Benefits of Effectual Calling (WSC Question 32)

Question 32: What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

Answer: They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification,(1) adoption,(2) and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.(3) (1)Rom. 8:30 (2)Eph. 1:5 (3)1 Cor. 1:26,30

 

Scripture Memory: “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

 

An Explanation: Glorious benefits are found in Christ Jesus! Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth: “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16-17). Jesus is a Storehouse of benefits and blessings for the believer! Jesus is the True Treasury of God’s riches. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…” (2 Pet. 1:3a). “…To reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2b-3).

Although we are impoverished by nature, Jesus is rich! Although we are weak, Jesus gives strength! Although we are sinful, Jesus grants grace, abundant, wonderful grace for every need! “For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.…Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” (Eph. 1:15-23; 2 Cor. 8:9; Rom. 5:6-8, 5:15, 20).

When the Spirit unites us to Jesus Christ in our effectual calling, we are recipients of great and glorious blessings and benefits! What are the blessings and benefits of union with Christ which in this life either accompany or flow from them? Specifically, justification, adoption, and sanctification! Hallelujah, to the Lamb!

Justification: God legally declares us as righteous in Christ, imputing our sins to Christ, and imputing Christ’s righteousness to believers by faith alone apart from works (Rom. 4:5, 8, 11-12, 16). There is no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus! (Rom. 8:1). We are declared righteous by Christ’s blood (Rom. 3:24-26). Our consciences no longer condemn us (1 Jo. 3:20). We are reconciled to God, and we have peace in our union with Jesus (Rom. 5:1). We have confidence for the day of judgement because of God’s love for us in Christ (1 Jo. 4:17-18).

What a benefit to know that God has legally declared you righteous in Christ—there is no condemnation, no judgment awaiting you! We will face the Judgment Seat of Christ clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, and though our every word, thought and action has been tainted with sin, the Lamb without blemish has loved us and given Himself for us! (Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 5:14-15). We are spotless in Him! We can rejoice with the Psalmist: “…Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Adoption: God legally declares us righteous before Him, but also (very importantly!) legally adopts us into His family, giving us His name, granting us privileges of children, and granting us a rich and eternal inheritance in Him, and with Him (The Westminster Confession was the first confession of faith to formally make the proper biblical distinction between justification and adoption). Our adoption is because of the Father’s love from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-6), it is because of the Son’s redemptive work in willingly coming as our big brother to redeem us and to obtain for us the Spirit of Sonship (Gal. 4:4-7), and it is the Spirit’s work to seal and further reveal this reality to our hearts (Rom. 8:15-16, 26; cf. Eph. 3:16-19).

We are called heirs of God, and His dearly and beloved children. “What manner of love has God the Father bestowed upon us that we are called the children of God, and that is what we are!” (1 Jo. 3:1-2). We can call on God as our Father: “Abba, Father!” because we have received the Spirit of Sonship (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). We are heirs of all that is His! We have a big brother who gave Himself for our redemption so that we could take on a family resemblance (Heb. 2:11-18). What joy should characterize us as God’s children, because one day we will be like Him fully (1 Jo. 3:2-3; Rom. 8:23).

Sanctification: We are resurrected by the Spirit and set free from slavery to sin and self to live the life that God has created us to live: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his… So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus…For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:5, 11, 14). We are free from our sins so that we can live for Him: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).

We are given a faith in our effectual calling that is a working faith that seeks to work through love (Gal. 5:6). In fact, we are created in Christ for good works: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10; 2 Thess. 2:13).

 

A Prayer: What manner of love is this that I should be called a child of God, dear Abba, Heavenly Father!! Thank you, kind king for your amazing love and benefits for sinners in Christ! Thank you for the Spirit of Sonship that makes my life joyous in Christ, and helps me to live for you, and to be like my elder brother, the Lord Jesus! You love me, let me be controlled by that love, kind king! (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

 

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Biggs

 

From Your Pastor: Is Time on Your Side?

There was a popular song in the 1960s that boasted: “Time is on my side- -yes, it is!” (We should ask the aging singer now if this is still true). Is time on our side? In our culture today, how easy it is for us to waste time. Yet as Christians we are called as the dearly loved children of God to walk wisely making sure to use our time wisely (Eph. 5:15-17). The gift of technology and our ability to be virtually “everywhere” in so many places at once with mobile networks, handheld devices, iPads, iPods, iPhones, (“i-need another one!”) can actually become temptations for us to waste much time if we are not wise. We can be tempted to live merely awaiting the “next, best thing!” The “next version”- -we long to be “upgraded” “rebooted” and “reconfigured”- -but time is ticking…

We are taught by the Apostle Paul: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17). How can we rightly use wisdom about using our time wisely and in a godly manner as Christians?

Something wise we should remember from C. S. Lewis from ‘The Screwtape Letters” (this is written from Screwtape (the Master demon) to Wormwood (the demon pupil): “In modern Christian writings, though I see much (indeed more than I like) about Mammon, I see few of the old warnings about Worldly Vanities, the Choice of Friends, and the Value of Time.  All that, your patient would probably classify as ‘Puritanism’—and may I remark in passing that the value we have given to that word is one of the really solid triumphs of the last hundred years?” (Screwtape Letters, pgs. 50-51). “The Value of Time”. Interesting.

We should learn to value the time God has given to us. In Christ, we have been graciously given His mind, His wisdom to live for Him (Phil. 2:5; Col. 2:3). Fools do not think about their use of time; fools only waste their time. The wise in Christ seek to use their time wisely. Puritan Richard Baxter wrote: “Time [is] man’s opportunity for all those works for which he lives, and which his Creator does expect from him, and on which his endless life depends, the redeeming or well improving of it must needs be of most high importance to him; and therefore it is well made by holy Paul the great mark to distinguish the wise from fools” (Christian Directory, Part I, Chapter V, ‘A Christian Directory’). Are you wise or foolish with your time? Honestly. Stop right now and think about this.

Let us remember that God is the Giver and Governor of All Time. Time is ultimately a gift from our God. “In the beginning, God…” God created time. God created man to live his time for the glory of God. Man was tempted and fell into sin so his time is also affected by sin, and so we must remember: “…Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We should consider each moment precious as a gift from God, to seek to become more and more like Christ each day. We should consider how by God’s grace to do our best and the greatest good we can do with our gifts and abilities, knowing the time is short. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”( ESV Galatians 6:10).

How can we specifically waste time? What are our “time robbers”? The Notorious BIG Time-Robbers of History (thanks to 16th century Puritan Richard Baxter for this list; there truly is nothing new under the sun).

Sloth and idleness/ Excess of sleep/ Inordinate adorning the body with clothes and health/ Possessions and entertainment/ Needless parties and feastings and gluttony/ Idle talk; “chatting” (what we might call mere “small talk”)/ Bad company; “vain and sinful company”/ Excessive worry about earthly cares and business/ Ungoverned sinful thought-life/ …And the “Master-Robber” award goes to…

 An unsanctified, ungodly heart!

Why is tis unsanctified heart THE master–the BIG ROBBER?! We must remember that wasting time, or acting foolishly in relation to our time reveals deeper problems of our heart (cf. Prov. 4:23). Remember that behavior is merely the fruit (Matt. 7:20: “…You will recognize them by their fruits”); the heart is the actual root of all of our sins (Matt. 15:19: “From out of the heart…”). Are we too busy to seek to know Christ better by His grace? By His abundant grace, He is our Redeemer, Husband, Shepherd, and King. Do we not want to know Him better in the time we have been given? If not, then something deeper is very wrong in our hearts?![1] We need to repent, knowing that Christ is gracious to forgive us and restore us to Himself! (1 Jo. 1:8-2:2). There is truly one thing that is ultimately needful (Psa. 27:4; Matt. 6:33; Luke 10:41-42).

In a dangerously distracted digital age, how can we think better about time? Let us begin by asking these questions: What if you knew you only had one year to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one week to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one day to live? How would you live? What if within the next hour you were dead? How would you want to live your last hour?

How do we “redeem” the time as the Scriptures teach us to do (Eph. 5:15-17)? How do we make the most use of the time? The Apostle Peter says know that “The end is at hand”. Live as if it is your last day; it may just be! The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers (1 Pet. 4:7; see also 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Col. 4:7). Let me say it this way: Jesus has bought us time—literally, through His precious blood!! Time is ours as a gift right now to enjoy in God’s presence and in His good world. We also possess an eternal life in Christ that we await to fully enjoy with Him in a fully renewed and restored world. One way to show forth our redemption in Him now is that we are called to be children who steward our time wisely as we grow in grace and the knowledge of the LORD (2 Pet. 1:3-11). Wise believers desire to be good stewards of this good gift of time.

Let us be reminded of God’s “dream” and goal for our lives: This goal or dream for His dearly loved children is Christ-likeness (Eph. 1:4-5; 5:1-2; 1 Jo. 3:1-3). Don’t waste the time he has graciously given you not getting to know Him better, and becoming like Him more. Know that God has called you to serve him faithfully in this present age. Don’t waste the time he has graciously given you. Know the brevity of your existence and yet the great legacy you can leave behind. Know your end and destination ultimately: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10).

Beloved, God is wonderfully kind and abundantly patient—He is overflowing with grace and mercy for the repentant (1 Tim. 1:12-16)! I could tell you of a young man who has wasted much time and has lived to regret it; who didn’t finish college the first time; who made a lot of rejections of Jesus before He was graciously regenerated by God’s Spirit; who selected and wasted time reading many bad theological books in his early years; one who spent untold hours on himself to try and live for silly and foolish dreams of his own making—just for himself; who was deceived one time by a cult and wasted about a year in it; who had about 5 translations of the scriptures in his home and didn’t study and memorize them as he should; who used to collect books so that people would think he was smart rather than actually taking time to read and digest them—and to ask God to make him wise through them. This person stands before you as a redeemed man whom God has shown mercy to in Jesus Christ, and who Christ is faithful to continue to teach.

We have been redeemed from this evil present age to live for Christ (Gal. 1:4, 4:4-7; 2 Cor. 5:14-15). We have been redeemed to know that we are God’s precious children—and to live like His children! Christ has redeemed us by His blood in order that we might make known the coming salvation and judgment of the world. We are not our own; our time is not our own; time is not on our side, but Jesus is!! How can we best please Christ and show our love for all that He has done for us? We are told clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

By God’s grace, we can be wise in seeking to pray, meditate upon, and memorize God’s Word. This is God’s Word, His voice, our life (John 17:17). What keeps you from it right now? What distracts you from what is most important to you spiritually? UNPLUG to the best of your ability at times. Learn the difference between the needed and the “urgent”: Do not become a slave to the urgent (You’ve heard of the “tyranny of the urgent”?). The urgent is usually a disguised “demon” who is yelling J in your ear that you “MUST” do this or that. The Holy Spirit calls you near, to share with you the gifts and grace of God deep within the quietness of your soul.

Richard Baxter wrote (in a busy 17th century): “However it be now, I can tell you, at death, it will be an unspeakable comfort, to look back on a well-spent life; and to be able to say in humble sincerity, My time was not cast away on worldliness, ambition, idleness, or fleshly vanities or pleasures; but spent in the sincere and laborious service of my God, and making my calling and election sure, and doing all the good to men’s souls and bodies that I could do in the world; it was entirely devoted to God and his church, and the good of others and my soul” (Part I, Chapter V of ‘A Christian Directory’).

Since I was a young man, I have been haunted by the song “The Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin. It has always made me think more about my time. The song is an important reminder that how we live our lives will most likely be our heritage, our legacy left to our children (as well as the example we set for others around us). Are we too busy with our time to invest it as we should in the proper relationships with younger people? Did I show my children the importance of their time with me? Did I pray for them and others in my congregation and family to know the importance of being wise with their time? One line of the song reminds us of the consequences of not being thoughtful about our use of time, especially in our relationships: “You know I’m going to be like you, Dad, You know I’m going to be like you.” [2]

What if you knew you only had one year to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one week to live? How would you live? What if you knew you only had one day to live? How would you live? What if within the next hour you were dead? How would you live? How would you live? The end is at hand…Christ stands ready to receive, to forgive, to grow you up and mature you. He will return soon. Live for Him.

He has redeemed you; now go in His grace and redeem the time you have left.

The sands of time are sinking, the dawn of Heaven breaks;
The summer morn I’ve sighed for—the fair, sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark hath been the midnight, but dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” – Eph. 5:15-16

Is time on your side?

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

[1] Modern Time Robbers: Biggest time wasters according to website ‘Productivity 501’: Some comments include: Surfing the web. Biggest time waster without knowing it is being chatty. Top ways to waste time (not necessarily sins, but unwise and can be huge time-wasters): BIG 5: TV, TEXTING, GAMES, INTERNET, and OVERSLEEPING. Think about: Watching Television; texting; video games; internet; oversleeping; organization, or not having specific plans for a day; procrastination; worry; being busy but not accomplishing anything ; Not learning from mistakes. Read more: http://www.productivity501.com/interview-biggest-time-waster/257/#ixzz0pc3Zmilx

 

 

[2] The final verse says: “I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away./I called him up just the other day./I said, “I’d like to see you, if you don’t mind.”/He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu,/But it’s sure nice talking to you, Dad./It’s been real nice talking to you.”/And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me,/He’d grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.”

From Your Pastor: Why Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy Is Glorious (Part 4)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8)

Why is keeping the Lord’s Day holy glorious?

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity to please and glorify God in obedience to His commandments.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a privilege and blessing of the Covenant of Grace.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can remind us that the Lord Jesus created it, kept it, and fulfilled it, and gave it to believers as a way of imitating Him.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is an opportunity for growth and maturity in Christ.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can be a time well spent that helps us not to live overly busy and distracted lives.

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is a way of joyfully, peacefully, and graciously witnessing publicly to whom it is you belong, and to whom it is you ultimately submit!

* Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it is part of our confessional heritage as particularly Reformed Christians.

 

  1. Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy is glorious because it is an opportunity for growth and maturity in Christ.

The Lord’s Day gives us as God’s people the honored privilege of worshipping and serving God in a special way! The Lord’s Day provides an opportunity (out of our busy schedules!) to respond as believers to invitations and calls to worship from the ordained servants (pastors/elders) in our local church and other faithful, Bible-believing places of worship, to come and worship God, to come and pray, to come and fellowship, to come and partake in the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments. We are called, or invited to enjoy and delight in these important means of grace that the Risen-Ascended Christ promises to use for the growth and maturity of His people (Acts 2:41-47; Eph. 4:7-16).

By keeping the Lord’s Day a separate and special “holy day” or better (perhaps for emphasis to appeal better to American Christians) a “holi-day” we can be more confident of growth and maturity in Jesus.[1] God gives us the day off so that we can attend to growth and maturity in Christ without distraction. What a gracious and loving God! God knows our hearts, and our temptations to unbelief and to harden our hearts (Heb. 3:12-13; 2 Cor. 3:14). Our God knows our selfish tendencies to disregard what He teaches us to do, only to find out later in a hard way that we have played the fools. So, let us be wise in our listening, learning and following our God as His disciples (Ecc. 5:1-7; 1 Cor. 10:1-13).

One of the wonderful privileges on the Lord’s Day is an opportunity through preaching and teaching of the Word by God’s ordained servants to grow up into Christ, and to no longer be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…” but, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” (Eph. 4:11-16). As we learn God’s Word together especially on the Lord’s Day, so we desire to grow up in Christ as Christians, even in better understanding this particular truth. Or, to put it another way, keeping the Lord’s Day can help us to be faithful to God in the obeying of the rest of the commandments in Christ. If we are not using the Lord’s Day primarily for the preaching, reading, meditation, memorization and study of God’s Word, I would be surprised if we are doing this well on any other day.

Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is glorious because it can be a time to further put off self and sin (mortification), and put on Christ (vivification). Another benefit of keeping the Lord’s Day holy is that you have a time set apart, an entire day, to drink deeply of God’s truth and to put on Christ (vivification) by faith, coming to more fully understand who you are in Jesus (Eph. 4:17-32). Also, very importantly, it is a day to commit yourself to mortifying or killing the sin and selfish sinful impulses that so easily hinder you day in and day out.[2] The Lord’s Day is a day that has been given to you as a gift to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and to by the power of the Spirit and through faith to cleanse ourselves in Christ, and to bring holiness to completion in the fear of the Lord. The Apostle Paul writes to Christians who are God’s new holy temple in Christ, His very dwelling place by the Spirit:

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).

If we are not recognizing and mortifying our selfishness and sinfulness on the Lord’s Day, are we really doing it on any other day? If we’re not using the day that God has given to us and set apart for us, then is it possible that we are not really using the other days to do this important and God-glorifying work? Perhaps a first work in mortifying is to kill our sinful tendency to disregard God’s commandments? Perhaps a first work of mortification is repentance for taking lightly the commandments of God, yet gratefully knowing God is faithful and just in Jesus to forgive you when you repent and confess your sins? (1 John 1:8-2:2).

The Lord’s Day has been given for us to take time to learn God’s Word, to grow up in our faith, to pray to seek after Christ as persons, as a people, as families, as a congregation. Do we disregard this privilege as if it were nothing?! If we are using the Lord’s Day for other purposes (even normally good purposes on any other days), it is highly unlikely we are truly growing in God’s word and thus in our faith. Additionally, what we’re doing on the Lord’s Day might teach us what is truly important for us. Perhaps this is one way of getting at idols that refuse to abandon us so that we can enjoy full liberty and joy in Christ? Perhaps this might reveal idols that continue to demand that we serve them rather than Christ? It is something to ponder (if we have time).

Suggested Questions to Ponder and Ask Yourself to Help You to Keep the Lord’s Day Holy:

Is this activity on the Lord’s Day going to glorify God above all things? / Is this activity a work of necessity or mercy that I lovingly desire to do to love God and neighbor? / Is this activity going to hinder me (or others) from publicly worshipping God and attending to any calls to worship that God calls me to through his ordained servants? / Is this activity loving and the best use of my time for myself, my family, my guests, my neighbors, and those who look to me for leadership? / Is this activity going to be consistent with God’s Word, and particularly His clear teaching on how he desires the Lord’s Day to be remembered? / Is this activity work that I normally engage it on other days, and can it wait? / Is this activity a distraction from my taking time to grow up in God’s Word? / Is this activity something that will not be conducive to remembering what I learned in the morning worship sermon and meditating upon it and hiding in my heart so that I won’t sin against God? / Is this activity properly living a godly example before a broken and lost world?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I want to keep the Lord’s Day holy, please help me. Grant me your wisdom and discernment. Amen

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Biggs

 

(Link to full study: From Your Pastor.Why Keeping the Lords Day is Glorious.March 2016)

 

 

[1] One of my favorite things as a Daddy is to announce with joy on Saturday evenings to my girls: “Girls, tomorrow is the Lord’s Day! We have such a glorious holiday and opportunity to rejoice and worship the living God tomorrow!” Then, when the Lord’s Day comes, it is so exciting to see the joy and enthusiasm on their faces (even when they are a bit sleepy!) as they understand to some degree that they get the privilege of keeping the Lord’s Day! This is a true delight and highlight of my week. May God grant us grace to always enjoy this with our families.

[2] Our forefather in the faith John Owen wrote in his classic book The Mortification of Sin: “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you” (Banner of Truth Trust: Puritan Paperbacks, 2004).

From Your Pastor: Phunctional Pharisees?

 

Our Lord Jesus reserves his harshest criticisms for the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a conservative sect in Judaism whose mission statement was to live pure lives before God and to keep Jews separated from the world by their conformity to God’s Law. The problem was that although the Pharisees knew a lot of the Law of God, they were in fact lawless (Matt. 23:28). They merely kept the Laws of God externally, and they sought by their traditional interpretations of God’s Law to make them “do-able”, not realizing that one of the purposes of the Law of God was to reveal to them their need for Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:15-28; Rom. 2:21-29).

And so while they spoke of God and His Word, their hearts were in fact far from God (Matt. 15:7-9). Although these professors claimed to know God’s Word, they actually did not really know it; they were described by Jesus as those who: “preach but do not practice” and those who made “void the Word of God for their traditions” (Matt. 15:3-6). Jesus said to them that they were religious posers—they were hypocrites, and the condemnation of God awaited these Christ-less, religious men if they did not repent and receive the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord (Matt. 23:24-28). Jesus clearly revealed that He was the only righteous person acceptable before a Holy God. Only Jesus Christ had perfectly kept the Law of God that required perfection (Matt. 5:48).

A popular notion today is that those who seek to be holy and live out God’s law are ‘Pharisees’ but this is incorrect and very unfair. Sure, there will always be those who try to live out the Law of God through their own self-righteous efforts, rejecting Christ (Rom. 10:3; Gal. 1:6), and these will be damned (Matt. 7:23). But those in Christ, who seek to uphold the Law of God through obedience because of Christ’s love and grace extended to them (Rom. 6:17), should not be called Pharisees. This is very unfair.

How can we be “phunctional Pharisees” then? We can intentionally and unintentionally “shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces” in our carelessness as Christians (Matt. 23:13). We can send a message to our community that what is most important to us is not the Gospel and seeking and saving the lost, but our need to stay free from contamination, to categorize those we think are safe and unsafe, or those we think might respond to the Gospel and those who will not, and to subtly make our convictions commands that others are to follow.

I think there are three ways that this is revealed in to us in Scripture as we look at the practices of the Pharisees: (1) Thinking unbelievers are “contagious” in their sins; (2) Unfairly categorizing people; and (3) Making our convictions commands for others to follow.

“Sinner: Are you contagious?” The Pharisees would not fellowship and show compassion to folks lost in sin. They thought that folks like tax collectors and prostitutes were “too far gone” to be recipients of God’s grace (with which they themselves were unfamiliar). They thought if they got too close to notorious sinners, then they would be contaminated. One of their interpretations of God’s Word (which was contrary to the mercy and steadfast love of God in Christ) was that if they got too close to sinners, then they would be made unclean before God, so they tried to keep themselves, their family, and their synagogues “sin free” merely in this external way.

Isn’t this how we can behave, too, if we are not careful?! Yes, we must be wise in our interaction with sinful people, and there may be some people and places that would prove too much of a temptation for us, but do our hearts deceive us into thinking that we cannot get near sinful people? Do we not even pray for them? Our commission by our loving and merciful Lord is “Go…making disciples…teaching…” (Matt. 28:18ff). As we learn in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (and throughout Luke 15), we are to imitate Jesus in His grace by “seeking and saving the lost…” by bringing the healing Gospel of the Great Physician to sinners who are sick (Mark 2:17). Have we extended a hand of friendship, or an invitation to table fellowship (Mark 2:13-17), or even an invitation to worship to a notorious sinner in the community lately? Could it be we think that they will contaminate our families, our congregations, etc.? Be honest about this.

We can also unfairly categorize people. We inevitably must use categories, but do our categories that we make of others place them in conditions that we functionally believe they are “too hardened” or “too far gone” for redemption? Remember the parable of the tax collector and Pharisee in Luke 18? The Pharisee refers to, or categorizes other men as “extortioners, prostitutes, adulterers, tax collectors,” etc. He looked on them with “contempt”.  This is sinful man’s way of playing God and seeking to do his own way of “electing” sinners. In other words, he placed the category of his own making as a priority over the power and grace of God in Christ toward men (don’t we do this with the gay and lesbian community particularly?!).  The Pharisees referred to the “unchurched” or those who didn’t live according to their interpretations as “sinners”. We are all sinners, but this was a special category of “sinners” that implied that they were what we might call “hopeless cases”. Do we categorize people and think that we are better merely because of the things we have been enabled by God’s Spirit to do for Christ? Have we forgotten mercy? Don’t we talk like this? Those “Hollywood people” or “those lawyers” or “those ___________” insinuating that these folks are too far gone, and outside any reach of God’s power and grace revealed in Christ.

Making our convictions commands for others to follow. We can make our convictions commands for others, and imply that those who might disagree with us are not welcome, and so we unnecessarily place a stumbling block in the way of sinners who might seek salvation in Christ. Do we shut up the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, too?! (Matt. 23:13). If we make issues of Christian liberty, like ways we school our children, or political parties we belong to, or our conviction about whether one should drink alcohol or not drink alcohol, we can be functional Pharisees. Why? Because we are adding to God’s Law, and adding to God’s Word which is always prohibited. The Pharisees did not keep God’s Word. They make up additional laws (some 613, I understand!) that were to be followed if one wanted to be in fellowship with them.  If we are making our convictions that have been informed by God’s Word (legitimately) and we are implicitly (or explicitly) saying to others that you must be of the same mind as me on this, or sending the message that another is unacceptable to me, my family or my church, this too, can be a way of being a “phunctional Pharisee”.

We must follow our consciences. We must seek God’s wisdom on important issues of schooling our children, how we vote, and whether we are going to drink or not, but our convictions are not to become measures by which we judge others, or boundary lines to keep from fellowship. Think of how subtle this is, and yet how real this can be in a local congregation of God’s people. Rather than acknowledging the liberty God grants to His people, we insist that everyone live by our convictions. The outside world of sinful people can think a particular congregation would not welcome them because they do not live specifically as those inside, and functionally something other than the Gospel becomes what separates those who might have “inquired within”. It is true that people will be offended by Christians if the Gospel is preached. But let those from outside the congregation be offended by the Gospel, and not our “phunctional Pharisaism”.

Let us repent of this “phunctional pharisaism”. Let us beat our breast as former tax collectors and sinners, and ask God to have mercy upon us! Let us be thankful for the completed work of Christ and His perfect law-keeping that has been imputed to us by faith. Let us befriend sinners, like our Lord Jesus has befriended us! Let us live with holy hearts and holy compassion as our Lord Jesus displayed to us.

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Charles R. Biggs

 

From Your Pastor: Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 31

Question: WSC 31  What is effectual calling?

Answer: Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit,(1) whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery,(2) enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ,(3) and renewing our wills,(4) he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.(5) (1)2 Tim 1:9; 2 Thess. 2:13,14 (2)Acts 2:37 (3)Acts 26:18 (4)Ezek. 36:26,27 (5)John 6:44,45; Phil. 2:13

 

Scripture Memory: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).

 

An Explanation: God calls sinners to Himself with a general call as well as a specifically effectual call. Both are the works of God’s Spirit. The general call is a work of God’s Spirit in the sphere of common grace and this call can be resisted by sinners (Acts 5:33; 7:51-54). The effectual call is a work of God’s Spirit in the sphere of special grace that always results in powerfully making dead and sinful hearts alive (Ezek. 36:26-27; Eph. 2:4-6), and beginning the work of restoring the image of God in man in the sinner’s union with Christ (Col. 3:10; Acts 2:37-39). Effectual calling can be illustrated in Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead. Until Jesus called Lazarus, he was dead and unable to respond to Jesus’ call. Once Jesus called Him, the dead Lazarus could not resist (cf. John 6:44), for the Spirit had made Him alive, and thus He willingly responded to His master’s voice (John 11:40-43; cf. John 10:4).

 

God the Father particularly calls sinners by the Spirit through the Gospel (Rom. 1:16; 2 Th. 2:13-14). As the Apostle Paul testifies of the power of God through the Gospel: “…Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…” (2 Tim. 1:9). Effectual calling is a work of God’s Spirit that is not because of our works, but because of God’s “own purpose and grace” in Christ Jesus. The effectual call is completely the initiating and sovereign work of God, but sinners truly respond to this call. Note four things that the Spirit of God does in this work of effectual calling.

 

The Spirit convinces sinners of our sin and misery (John 16:8-11). We are convicted of our sins, and realize our need for a Savior (Acts 2:37: “What shall we do?”). The Spirit enlightens our minds (Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 2:10,12; Eph. 1:17,18).  The natural man does not understand the things of God; the unregenerate sinner is blinded to the glory of God and “darkened in their understanding” (Eph. 4:18). The enlightening work of the Spirit is described in this way: “…To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18; cf. 2 Cor. 4:6).

 

The Spirit renews our wills (Ezek. 11:19; Phil. 2:13; Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 37:27). By nature our wills are in bondage and slavery to sin and Satan (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 6:16-18). The Spirit frees our wills by His power, so that we will freely choose the grace held out to us in the Gospel of Jesus (Phil. 2:13: “…To will and to work for His good pleasure”). The Spirit works powerfully in granting us freedom and we respond with the obedience of faith and repentance (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; cf. Acts 5:31-32): “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17-18). The Spirit persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ offered in the Gospel. This is real Holy-Spiritual power! The apostle describes it as “…The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…” (Eph. 1:19). (John 6:44,45; Ps. 110:3; John 6:37; Rom. 6:16-18).

 

A Prayer: Father, you predestined me from the foundation of the world. You sent your beloved Son to accomplish my redemption through His blood. In real history, you come by your Spirit to apply that completed redemption on my behalf and effectually call me to yourself by your Sovereign power. Let me live in your love, and dependent upon your power. Amen.

 

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Biggs

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