Hunting Tiger Woods…

Some biblical thinking on one (sad) current event….
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Hunting Tiger Woods
By C.J. Mahaney (here)

Tiger Woods wants his privacy back.
He wants the media entourage to disappear from his life.

He wants to be left alone so he can manage his personal problems in private.

Not a chance.

The story began unfolding in the early hours of last Friday

Providential Sufferings…

John J. Murray has written a fine little booklet Behind A Frowning Providence which has been helpful to me and others in my ministry over the years. One observation he makes is this…

God has forged an inseparable link between sufferings and glory. That was the road that Christ took. He was made complete as our Savior ‘through sufferings’. He endured. He was without sin. How much more is suffering part of the road that leads sinners to perfection and glory! What abundant cause we have to be reconciled to our sufferings!

Jesus is the reason for this?

In the midst of our culture’s materialistic fervor during the “holiday season” does it help for believers to chine in, “Jesus is the reason for the season”? I think Warren Cole Smith — (writing in WORLD Magazine) draws a helpful line for us….

I consider myself a “fellow warrior” with some of these folk. By that I mean that we agree on many things, and I would normally join them in their “culture war” fights. But on this one, please allow me to offer a dissenting view to the prevailing “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” mentality.

First of all, Jesus is most certainly not the reason for the orgiastic spending spree modern Christmas has become. I certainly think anyone should be able to say “Merry Christmas” if he wants to. But given what this holiday has become, there’s a part of me – a big part of me — that wants to keep the Jesus I worship as far away from this commercial debauchery as possible.

Of course the incarnation of Jesus, the Son of God, is the reason Christians celebrate Christmas — including the giving of gifts to one another. But this celebration of the incarnation is not an excuse for such Christless-commercialism and materialism (seeking happiness in possessions).

Remember the Word of Him who took on flesh and dwelt among us (Hebrews 13:5), “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”

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“The Word Became Flesh” Advent Sermons

I’m very excited about our Advent sermon series — “The Word Became Flesh” — on the incarnation, from John 1:1-14, which begins today. Within a few days, each sermon should be available at our Sermon Audio site.

May God be praised.
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Advent, Season of Light

Sunday begins the season of Advent (the 4 weeks prior to Christmas Day). As we celebrate the incarnation of the Son of God, the Light of the world, advent becomes a ’season of light’ in many ways.

The great American theologian B. B. Warfield wrote the following about the biblical concept of light…

Throughout the Scriptures “light” is used as the designation of all that is of consummate and unapproachable perfection, whether in the physical, intellectual, moral or spiritual spheres. In contrast with the darkness of sorrow and peril we have the light of joy and safety; in contrast with the darkness of death we have the light of life; in contrast with the darkness of error we have the light of truth; in contrast with darkness of sin we have the light of holiness; in contrast with the darkness of destruction we have the light of salvation. Physically, intellectually, ethically, spiritually, savingly, “light” is all that is pure and true, bright and holy and blissful. And light is the heritage of the saints. It is the sphere in which God lives, for we are to walk in the light as He is “in the light.”

— from “The Heritage of the Saints in Light” (on Col. 1:12), p. 346 in FAITH AND LIFE, (1916, republished by Banner of Truth Trust, 1974, 1990).

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Psalm 103 begins with great words of praise & thanks…

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

J. C Ryle online…

There is a fine looking web site (here), that offers spiritually rich quotes from one of my very favorite authors, J. C. Ryle.

The guy running this site has ways to link up your Facebook or Twitter accounts to receive this nuggets automatically….

Here is an example of what this site features

“Let us arm ourselves with a thorough knowledge of the Word of God. Let us read our Bibles more diligently than ever, and become familiar with every part of them. Let the Word dwell in us richly. Let us beware of anything which would make us give less time and less heart to the perusal of its sacred pages. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit – let it never be laid aside. The Bible is the true lantern for a dark and cloudy time – let us beware of traveling without its light.”

~ J. C. Ryle
Warnings to the Churches, “Idolatry”, 167.

How families currently function

Today’s “Pastor’s Briefing” email (from Focus on the Family) included the following. Some is encouraging (not as bad as I feared), but overall it is pretty sad…

[my comments are inserted within the brackets]

Families Still Eating Together

According to a new poll commissioned by The Associated Press, 60% of those who live with families said they sat down with family for dinner at least five nights in the past week. The research also revealed:

• 25% of families have the television turned on during dinner [why put such an obstacle in the way of conversation?]
• 50% of families feel pestered by phone calls during this time together [only half? Love your family more...]
• E-mailing or texting on a cell phone is constantly taking place during dinner for 5% of families [I suspect its actually higher]
…
The poll was conducted November 5-9 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media, and was based on phone interviews with 1,006 adults. [MercuryNews.com]

The Bible reminds us that some gatherings are made worse because of the behavior of some present (1st Cor. 11:17, But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.)

Let us strive to do better!

Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together”

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Concise Marriage counseling

Jim Elliff put this out on Twitter…

“Be kind to one another” — Eph 4:32.
A marriage seminar in a phrase.

Amen.
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Is jesting a virtue?

Thomas Manton wisely said,

“The praise of a Christian is not in the wittiness, but in the graciousness of his conversation. That which is Aristotle’s virtue is made a sin with Paul* (foolish jesting). You should rather be refreshing one another with what experiences you have had of the Lord’s grace; that is the comfort and solace of Christians when they meet together. …A Christian that has God and Christ, and his wonderful and precious benefits to talk of, and so many occasions to give thanks, he cannot want [lack] matter to discourse of when he comes into company; therefore we should avoid vain discourse.”

*Ephesians 5:4 in the KJV says, “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.” The Greek term for “jesting” here is eutrapelia, which Aristotle, in his Ethics, makes a virtue. Today, the term “jesting” is simply taken to mean harmless joking around. But the ESV translation captures its original, worldly sense: “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

Lord help us to please you with our lips.
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