Please pray for the new chaplains, for wisdom and clarity as we seek to pastor police officers and support staff, sometimes through a whole variety of ordinary and extraodinary situations.
29 September 2010
Westminster Police Volunteer Chaplains
Please pray for the new chaplains, for wisdom and clarity as we seek to pastor police officers and support staff, sometimes through a whole variety of ordinary and extraodinary situations.
26 September 2010
Sunday 26th Sept
Many blessings today (which to be honest isn't unusual). Simon led communion this morning and Laurence led the morning service - that I was preaching at. We had a few visitors as well, some new, some returning. We ran out of chairs at communion and had over 40 for the main service. That included James, from Canada. He has just started at LTS and is placed with us during his studies. It was great to welcome him amongst us.
I was preaching from 1Cor 4v1 "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God." It was a warning sermon encouraging us to keep the right people in the right place.
The "us" is the apostles. They are not our masters, but fellow servants of Christ. In the same way our teachers and church leaders today are not the ones we are to follow. They are fellow servants of Christ who lead us to Christ. We are only to follow them to the extent that they lead us to Christ.
The apostles however had a very specific ministry that was theirs alone. They were the stewards of the secret things of God. In a Roman household the steward was the chief servant. The master of the house would entrust his property to their care and they were to take care of it and distribute it to the other servants. In the same way the Lord Jesus entrusted the gospel (the secret hidden for ages past but now revealed in the message of the cross) to his apostles. They were to be faithful in passing on what they were entrusted with. All the servants that come after therefore receive the gospel via the apostles. The church at Corinth was beginning to listen to people who were not listening to their apostle Paul. All the problems at Corinth stem from this sad reality. They had become arrogant and were acting as if they didn't need Paul and his teaching anymore, as if they had new revelation from God.
It is vital for spiritual health that we do not divorce God's word from God's stewards, the apostles. Then, the Corinthians needed to remember that they needed God's word passed on to them via those whom God entrusted it to. Now, we need to be sure that we do not "go beyond what is written." The Scripture is where the apostles have passed on what they were entrusted with, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. We must not wander away from the Scripture or go beyond what it says, distorting it's meaning or claiming new revelation. Otherwise we too, at best, will be worldly, mere infants in Christ. Only as we hang on to the secret wisdom of God, the message of Christ crucified, (who is for us wisdom from God - that is our righteousness, holiness and redemtpion,) will we be more like Christ and begin to bring and give him the glory that is all his.
There was more but that's a fair summary!
This afternoon we cut our cafe short and went to the Oasis Church grand relocation service (see picture). Abbey Road Baptist Church has recently been refurbished, and the Arabic church plant (Oasis) has taken up residence in the afternoons. It was a blessing to be there and even more to have some really good support from our church.
All in all many blessings today. Thanks be to God who gives us every good thing.
23 September 2010
Evangelism and The Sovereignty of God
Just started reading this classic Christian book from JI Packer. In the book he aims to show the error of the "supposition ... that you cannot evangelise effectively unless you are prepared to pretend while you are doing it the doctrine of divine sovereignty is not true." And that actually faith in the sovereingty of God is vital for bold, persistent, resiliant evangelism.
In the first chapter he does very little to argue the case that God truly is sovereign in all his ways, especially in salvation and the continuing perseverance of every believer. All he does is ask us how we pray:
"In prayer you ask for things and give thanks for things. Why? Because you recognise that God is the author and source of all the good you have already, and all the good that you hope for in the future."
Concerning your own salvation, in your prayers "you give God thanks for your conversion. Now why do you do that? Because you know in your heart that God was entirely responsible for it. You did not save yourself; [note Matt Redman's song, 'Who O Lord Could Save Themselves'] He saved you... Your act of faith when you closed with Christ was yours in the sense that it was you who performed it; but that does not mean that you saved yourself. In fact, it never occurs to you to suppose that you saved yourself."
And finally in our prayers for others we long to come to know Christ: "You pray for the conversion of others. In what terms, now, do you intercede for them? Do you limit yourself to asking that God will bring them to a point where they can save themselves, independently of him? I do not think you do. I think what you do is to pray in categorical terms that God will, quite simply and decisively, save them: that he will open the eyes of their understanding, soften their hard hearts, renew their natures, and move their wills to receive the Saviour."
When we get caught up in all sorts of high flying arguments about the meaning of Bible passages, and how different passages intersect with each other concerning God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, we easily tie ourselves up in knots. But when we are bent humbly before the Lord and seeking his face we know in our hearts and show in our prayers that we look to God for all our needs, we thank him alone for our salvation, and we seek his power alone for the salvation of those we love. God is sovereign (he is Lord and God and King and Ruler and Upholder of all things) so, when thinking about evangelism, God is sovereign in salvation.
Jim Packer also includes an interesting account of a conversation between Charles Simeon and John Wesley on Dec 20th 1784. Simeon records it like this (Wesley refers to it in his journal - hence we know the date):
"Sir I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions... Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?
"Yes," says the veteran, "I do indeed."
"And do you utterly dispair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?"
"Yes, solely through Christ."
"But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?"
"No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last."
"Allowing then that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?"
"No."
"What, then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms?"
"Yes, altogether."
"And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?"
"Yes, I have no hope but in him."
"Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree."
It seems to me that as we grasp and understand the reality of God's sovereingty in our own salvation our praise to him can only ever increase. As we understand God's sovereignty in all salvation, then "since we have this minstry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart." "Thanks be to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ."
In the first chapter he does very little to argue the case that God truly is sovereign in all his ways, especially in salvation and the continuing perseverance of every believer. All he does is ask us how we pray:
"In prayer you ask for things and give thanks for things. Why? Because you recognise that God is the author and source of all the good you have already, and all the good that you hope for in the future."
Concerning your own salvation, in your prayers "you give God thanks for your conversion. Now why do you do that? Because you know in your heart that God was entirely responsible for it. You did not save yourself; [note Matt Redman's song, 'Who O Lord Could Save Themselves'] He saved you... Your act of faith when you closed with Christ was yours in the sense that it was you who performed it; but that does not mean that you saved yourself. In fact, it never occurs to you to suppose that you saved yourself."
And finally in our prayers for others we long to come to know Christ: "You pray for the conversion of others. In what terms, now, do you intercede for them? Do you limit yourself to asking that God will bring them to a point where they can save themselves, independently of him? I do not think you do. I think what you do is to pray in categorical terms that God will, quite simply and decisively, save them: that he will open the eyes of their understanding, soften their hard hearts, renew their natures, and move their wills to receive the Saviour."
When we get caught up in all sorts of high flying arguments about the meaning of Bible passages, and how different passages intersect with each other concerning God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, we easily tie ourselves up in knots. But when we are bent humbly before the Lord and seeking his face we know in our hearts and show in our prayers that we look to God for all our needs, we thank him alone for our salvation, and we seek his power alone for the salvation of those we love. God is sovereign (he is Lord and God and King and Ruler and Upholder of all things) so, when thinking about evangelism, God is sovereign in salvation.
Jim Packer also includes an interesting account of a conversation between Charles Simeon and John Wesley on Dec 20th 1784. Simeon records it like this (Wesley refers to it in his journal - hence we know the date):
"Sir I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions... Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?
"Yes," says the veteran, "I do indeed."
"And do you utterly dispair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?"
"Yes, solely through Christ."
"But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?"
"No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last."
"Allowing then that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?"
"No."
"What, then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms?"
"Yes, altogether."
"And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?"
"Yes, I have no hope but in him."
"Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree."
It seems to me that as we grasp and understand the reality of God's sovereingty in our own salvation our praise to him can only ever increase. As we understand God's sovereignty in all salvation, then "since we have this minstry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart." "Thanks be to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ."
22 September 2010
Do all to the glory of God
The apostle Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, says, "So then, whether you eat or drink or what ever you do, do all to the glory of God." At our church meeting this evening we had in important financial decision to make. The best part of the meeting was that people were not so much concerned about money as honouring the Lord in our decision.
My prayer is that in all our decisions, from eating and drinking to finance and church policy we would seek to honour the Lord and serve those around us so they may be saved and glorify God for his mercy with us.
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