Sunday Post for the Shepherds (Or Anyone Who Loves Jesus' People)

Read Obituary for the American Church by Mike Breen.

A Must-Read for Parents (Especially Mothers)

Actually, this is a must-read for everyone since it helps us think rightly about children, whether we have them or not.

Go to Where Your Children Rank.

Dogs are Afraid of Dinosaurs

My daughter Tess slept with her mom and me last night. I had been up for a while this morning and then went back into our bedroom to get something. I thought she was still sleeping until I heard her whisper, "Daddy", and turned to see those big beautiful dark eyes looking up at me. I leaned over to her to give her my attention. That's when she told me (her first words of the new day), "Daddy, dogs are afraid of dinosaurs". Awesome.

Meet J.C. Ryle (If you haven't already)

A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing: and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies—whether he has health, or whether he has sickness—whether he is rich, or whether he is poor—whether he pleases man or whether he gives offence—whether is he thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish—whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise—whether he gets honour, or whether he gets shame—for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it—he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in the burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him. Such a one will always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray . . . . If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill (Exodus 17:9-13). If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I speak of “zeal” in religion.

J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 1959 ed. p. 130.

Cited on p. 173 of Knowing God, by J. I. Packer

John Charles Ryle (1816-1900)

First Anglican Bishop of Liverpool

God Has Said All He Meant to Say

"As David Wells has observed, many churches today profess the sufficiency of Scripture while their practice belies that profession. 'For evangelicals, this has taken the form of using polling, marketing, and business know-how to adapt Christian faith to generational niches. It has also involved recasting Christian faith in therapeutic terms for those who have left a moral world and inhabit a psychological world.' In these ways we may think we have made the Bible 'relevant', but we have only denied its sufficiency. In the desperate pursuit of the 'very latest thing,' the culture sets the agenda for the church and the principle of sola scriptura has morphed into sola cultura". Taken from "Modern Reformation" Magazine, Nov-Dec 2010 Edition, page 17


In other words, God by His word the Bible, and not the culture, determines what is relevant and what "works". Or, as the Modern Reformation article also says, "The gospel is not obliged to meet the world's cravings; it is designed to challenge them. The message of sin and salvation is irrelevant only to a church that has abandoned its calling in pursuit of worldliness. The church must draw a distinction between what the world considers relevant and what is truly relevant. The Bible fulfills needs in which the world is not interested."

My Heavenly Father's Gift to Me on this Father's Day

Joah and Daddy

Take a look at http://www.mariansmusingsfromhome.blogspot.com/ if you have any interest in our Father's Day celebration. The post, by my wife, is called "For All His Heart -- A Father's Day Wish". Be sure to view the video at the bottom. Clearly my daughter thinks too highly of me. Nevertheless, it makes a dad feel good.

A Brief Reflection on My 40 Years "Under the Sun"

Then I looked again at vanity under the sun -- Ecclesiastes 4:7
 

Becoming good, not being right -- that's the theme of my next 40 years, or ever how many years (or days) I am given by God. I love doctrine. I've spent quite a bit of energy to learn it. It informs us concerning the nature and ways of God Himself. It's critical. However, I fear that I have thought better than I have lived. 

"This is the will of God -- your sanctification. . ." (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Yes, it's true, there are many texts that command us to think rightly about God, to grow in our knowledge of Him, and to guard the truth. The Apostle Paul calls the church "the pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Ti 3:15). But he also says that as those who know and hold out the truth we should be "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" (Php 2:15).

My hope and prayer for any future I have under the sun is to become a better shiner by becoming a purer person. I won't stop learning doctrine. There's much more for me to know about God and His ways. For in sanctification, we are being made good as God is good, not good in some generic sense. Without growth in doctrinal understanding, there is no true improvement. So the focus must be on learning it to live it. I'm thinking of an application intensive maturing. Perhaps another term for this is simply Christian discipleship. Too many times I have studied Scripture in order to teach it, not do it, not taking the time to think through the implications of that particular Bible text for me and my family. I want to be more deliberate in the doing. This is God's will (Ja 1:19-27).