The Church Saw My Discretions

A valuable post form the Gospel Coalition on women and broken people...

Marcy Deck writes

The church saw my discretions, and neither did they ignore them or punish me for them. Instead, they loved me well until I saw the error of my ways. They invited me in. They gave me resources. They spoke truth when I needed to hear it. They were there to help pick up the pieces when I had to deal with the consequences of my actions.

and further

I was also granted the privilege of being pursued to serve other women in the church. I saw in action what Jen Wilkin commended in her recent article "The Complementarian Woman: Permitted or Pursued." She writes, "The challenge for any pastor would be to consider whether he is crafting a church culture that permits women to serve or one that pursues women to serve. Because a culture of permission will not ensure complementarity functions as it should."

What struck me about this article is how the church took her in in her brokenness. Aren't we all broken? Don't we all need the love and affection of our church family? I know I do. The question I ask of myself and of you is are we doing this for others in our churches in their brokenness?

Moreover, she filled the the glaring gaps of ministry. Is your church and my church doing this? Are we creating a culture that goes beyond entry level Bible studies and knitting circles.

Read the entire post here and consider: what is the depth of women's ministries at your church and are people being met where they are - in their brokenness?

Walking on Water - Matthew 14:22-33

    Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
    And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
    (Matthew 14:22-33 ESV)

This past Lord's day morning we welcomed Rev. Jason Strong to our pulpit. 

We were blessed by the word he brought to us.

Rev. Jason Strong

Suffering: God Knows

Elihu

    Shall one who hates justice govern?
        Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
    who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’
        and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
    who shows no partiality to princes,
        nor regards the rich more than the poor,
        for they are all the work of his hands?
    In a moment they die;
        at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
        and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
    “For his eyes are on the ways of a man,
        and he sees all his steps.
(Job 34:17-21 ESV)

Losing the Sense of God's Presence

An extremely helpful post on losing the sense of God's presence can be found here at the Gospel Coalition. Ryan Kelly and Mark Mellinger discuss this sensitive issue and what one can do when passing through this difficult stage of life. It is a very helpful 12 minute audio whether you are sensing this yourself or perhaps just feeling down. The book mentioned, Spiritual Desertion, is available at Amazon.

    Why are you cast down, O my soul,
        and why are you in turmoil within me?
    Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
        my salvation and my God.
                                          (Psalm 42:11 ESV)

Numerous valuable resources on depression and spiritual desertion can be found at the Desert Springs Church blog.

A Few Thoughts on Visiting the Sick

Few of us think about visiting the sick.  For whatever reason we leave it to our pastor or elder or that other "gifted person in the congregation that performs visitations so well." Actually, we should all be visiting and comforting the sick as Providence allows (Matthew 25:45). To get us all started, here's a few pointers from David Dickson to consider as we prepare to head out.

-Often weak and sensitive, they [the sick or afflicted] are very susceptible of kindness, and grateful for it. Some may require systematic instruction in the truth; and even where this is not necessary the elder [or visitor] will find it add greater usefulness and interest to his successive visits to speak a little on some one important truth; and he will not find this without fruit.

-In visiting sick people or invalids we should avoid noise or abruptness. A low, quiet voice is usually soothing and pleasant to them, especially if they are weak and nervous.

-Don’t let us strain them with anything requiring long or continuous attention, and let our change from one subject to another be natural and easy. Such visits should not be of long duration, and it is best for us to leave immediately after engaging in prayer, giving them perhaps one text to keep near their heart.

-To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction is our privilege and duty, and to carry with us such messages from the word of God as are fitted to bind up the broken heart. In cases of sudden and severe affliction we may be able to do little more than weep with them that weep, giving the afflicted some word from the merciful and faithful High Priest, and perhaps taking hold of the sufferer’s hand—an act of sympathy which has often a wonderful power to calm and soothe in times of deep distress.

-The elder [or visitor] will seek, along with the minister, that a time of affliction may be a time of blessing to a family. It is not necessarily so, nor always so, for trial is not in itself sanctifying. But at such a time the affections are stirred and the mind opened to hear what would not have been listened to at another time. It is often a crisis in a family’s history. Let us seek wisdom to win souls at such a time; kindness and sympathy from us then will never be forgotten. It is after the excitement is over that a bereavement is most felt.

-Let the bereaved ones feel that in this cold and selfish world they have in their elder [or visitor] at least one human friend left. We may look in upon them in the evening occasionally ... trying in some measure to fulfill the promise, “When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.”

Dickson, David (1883-01-01). The Elder and His Work (Kindle Location 253-283, emphasis added).   Kindle Edition.

Wasting our Afflictions

John Piper

This is just too good not to share...

The design of God in our cancer is not to train us in the rationalistic, human calculation of odds. The world gets comfort from their odds. Not Christians. Some count their chariots (percentages of survival) and some count their horses (side effects of treatment), but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7). God’s design is clear from 2 Corinthians 1:9: “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” The aim of God in our cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him. - John Piper, Don't Waste Your Cancer, Crossway Books. Download the free pdf here.

Knowing Jesus through Trials

Octavius Winslow

Shrink not from, nor rebel against, that which makes you more intimately acquainted with your best Friend, your dearest Brother, the tender, sympathizing, Beloved of your soul. You will know more of Jesus in one sanctified trial than in wading through a library of volumes or in listening to a lifetime of sermons.

Winslow, Octavius (2011-11-01). The Works of Octavius Winslow (Kindle Locations 85009-85012). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.

The Preciousness of Christ in Trials

Octavius Winslow

It is in adversity that human friendship is tested. When the wintry blast sweeps by, when fortune vanishes, and health fails, and position lowers, and popularity wanes, and influence lessens, then the summer birds of earthly friendship expand their wings and seek a warmer climate! The same test that proves the hollowness of the world's affection and constancy confirms the believer in the reality, power, and preciousness of the friendship of Jesus. To know fully what Christ is we must know something of adversity. We must be tried, tempted, and oppressed—we must taste the bitterness of sorrow, feel the pressure of want, tread the path of solitude, and often be brought to the end of our own strength and of human sympathy and counsel. Jesus shines the brightest to faith's eye when all things are dark and dreary. And when others have retired from our presence, their patience wearied, their sympathy exhausted, their counsel baffled, perhaps their affection chilled and their friendship changed, then Christ approaches and takes the vacant place; sits at our side, speaks peace to our troubled heart, soothes our sorrows, guides our judgment, and bids us "Fear not." Beloved reader, when has Christ appeared the nearest and most precious to your soul? Has it not been in seasons when you have the most stood in need of His guiding counsel and of His soothing love? In the region of your heart's sinfulness you have learned the value, completeness, and preciousness of His atoning work, of His finished salvation. But the tender, loving, sympathetic part of His nature, you have been brought into the experience of only in the school of sanctified trial. Oh, how precious has that trial made Him!

Winslow, Octavius (2011-11-01). The Works of Octavius Winslow (Kindle Locations 84990-85001). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.

By afflictions, troubles, distresses, and dangers

Thomas Brooks

By afflictions, troubles, distresses, and dangers—the Lord teaches his people to look upon sin as the most loathsome thing in the world, and to look upon holiness as the most lovely thing in the world. Sin is never so bitter, and holiness is never so sweet, as when our troubles are greatest and our dangers highest. By afflictions the Lord teaches his people to sit loose from this world, and to make sure the great things of that other world. By affliction God shows his people the vanity, vexation, emptiness, weakness, and nothingness of all created things—and the choiceness, preciousness, and sweetness of communion with himself, and of interest in himself. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word." Psalms 119:67. "I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75

Thomas Brooks (2010-06-09). A Word in Season to Suffering Saints (Kindle Locations 272-278). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Beware of Murmuring

Let us beware of murmuring under affliction. We may be sure there is a needs-be for every cross, and a wise reason for every trial. Every sickness and sorrow is a gracious message from God, and is meant to call us nearer to Him. Let us pray that we may learn the lesson that each affliction is appointed to convey. Let us see that we "refuse not Him that speaks." (Taken from Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: The Book of Mark, by J.C. Ryle.)

Searching for the Hidden Smile of God

I've just finished reading John Piper's "The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper and David Brainerd." What a great work. It really opens up the lives of Brainerd, Bunyan and Cowper to it's readers. However, in Piper's summation he makes of few statements that although I was aware of their truth, nevertheless struck me deeply. Allow me to quote him:

"...But we modern, western Christians have come to see safety and ease as a right. We move away from bad neighborhoods. We leave hard relationships. We don't go to dangerous, unreached people groups. ...Jesus never called us to a life of safety, nor even a fair fight. ...We are soft and thin-skinned. We are worldly; we fit far too well into our God-ignoring culture. We are fearful and anxious and easily discouraged. We have taken our eyes of the Celestial City and the deep pleasures of knowing God and denying ourselves the lesser things that titillate for a moment but then shrink our capacities for great joy. Bunyan's Seasonable Counsel for us is: Take up your cross daily and follow Jesus. 'For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it' (Matthew 16:25)."

Some of that describes me, does it describe you? It's time for a re-think on how we live our lives in light of the truth of the Gospel don't you think?

The Vanity of this Life

Whatever kind of tribulation we may suffer, this should always be our goal: to learn contempt for the present life, and thus be led to meditate on the life to come. ...Our folly comes from the fact that our minds are more or less dazzled by the false glitter of wealth, honour and power, which are superficially attractive and which stop us looking further ahead. By the same token our heart is full of greed, ambition, and other evil desires, and is held so fast by them that it cannot look higher up. Lastly, our entire soul seeks its happiness here on earth, because it is wrapped and entangled in the pleasures of the flesh.

To remedy this evil, the Lord teaches his servants to recognize the vanity of this present life, carefully training them by means of various afflictions. Lest they look forward in this life to peace and tranquility, he allows war, turmoil, theft and other evils to upset and trouble them. Lest they thirst too much  for ephemeral wealth or trust too fondly n the wealth they have, he reduces them to poverty, sometimes by sending barrenness to the earth, sometimes by fire, sometimes by other means; or else he condemns them to bare sufficiency. Lest they delight too much in marriage, he gives them difficult or headstrong wives who torment them, or wayward children to humble them, or else afflicts them with the loss of spouse or children. If, however, in all these things he treats them kindly, to stop them becoming proud in their conceit and complacent through excessive confidence, he warns them by means of sickness or peril, and gives them as it were visible proof of how fragile and fleeting are the good things we enjoy, since they are subject to decay.

Thus the discipline of the cross is of great benefit to us when we understand that the present life, judged in itself, is full of worry, trouble and much misfortune. It is never completely happy at any time, and all the blessings we hold dear are transitory and uncertian, trifling and tinged with endless misery. The conclusion we draw then, is that here we must expect nothing but conflict. If we would seek  our crown, it is to heaven that we must look. We may be sure that our heart will never really learn to want the life to come, and to meditate on i, without first feeling disdain for this earhly life. (From A Guide to Christian Living by John Calvin, translated by Robert White, Banner of Truth, pgs. 87-91.)

This passage from John Calvin has helped more than many others to understand our place here on earth and the afflictions we all encounter. I hope it helps you as well.

“The Almighty hath afflicted me”

Thomas Watson

It is one heart–quieting consideration in all the afflictions that befall us, that God has a special hand in them: “The Almighty hath afflicted me.” Instruments can no more stir till God gives them a commission, than the axe can cut of itself without a hand. Job eyed God in his affliction: therefore, as Augustine observes, he does not say, “The Lord gave, and the devil took away,” but “The Lord hath taken away.” -THOMAS WATSON

Grief is Permitted

I've been reading John Flavel's Facing Grief and have found it to be an excellent read. Its thrust is counsel to those have have lost their loved ones and is based on Luke 7:13. The counsel to the reader is insightful and can be applied to any kind of grief we encounter. Permit me to highlight chapter three, Sorrow Permitted to Christian Mourners:

1. The afflicted must be allowed an awakened and tender sense of the Lord's afflicting hand.
2. We must allow the mourning, afflicted soul a due and comely expression of his grief and sorrow in his complaints both to God and men.
3.The afflicted person may (ordinarily) accuse, judge, and condemn himself, for being the cause and procurer of his own troubles.
4. The afflicted Christian may, in a humble, submissive manner, plead with God, and be earnest for the removal of his affliction.

This is one of the best little books to come from Banner of Truth this year. If you're grieving, this may help.

More on this great little tome later...

Christ's Return

(Please ignore the pop-up adds)

Hard Times and Lonely Days

I know it sounds like a blues song but it's actually an outstanding sermon. It's worth a listen.