Tried With Fire

Pastor Ryan preached on Romans 1:18-32 yesterday. Yes, that chapter about those sexual sins. But we need to examine the Word itself before jumping to how a passage may address the current culture war. So here's a summary of my sermon notes and then a few of my reflections. The 1st question in the Westminster catechism is - "What is the chief end of man? Answer - "To glorify God and enjoy him forever." Paul lays out the need for the gospel because we need a perfect righteousness to be made right with a holy God. Why? Because there is none righteous, no not one. It's not just out there in the culture. It is in me because I have no righteousness of my own apart from Christ. vs. 18-20 None of us are righteous because we suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. vs. 21 The root cause - We do not glorify God nor give him thanks. vs. 22-23. We pursue idolatry and because of that pursuit, God has given us over to: vs. 24-25 Uncleanness vs. 26-27 Vile...

I don't consider myself a very emotional person, but I was a watering pot yesterday. It started with Pastor Ryan's sermon on Hosea which culminates in God's call to return to him in chapter 14. This chapter is very personal because it was the text of one of the first sermons I ever read by C.H. Spurgeon after my ex-husband walked out. I wept then as I prayed for him to return to God and to his family. So yesterday's sermon brought a flood of memories. But God's faithfulness to the unfaithful isn't only true of those who commit obvious "bad" sins. His faithfulness extends to all of us because who among us hasn't gone after other gods in our hearts? Yet God continues to draw us again and again with a love that does not let us go. Then in the evening, a lay brother, Will Brown, spoke on Christ fulfilling the office of prophet, priest, and king using John 17 as the text. There were so many messianic expectations over the years, so many wrong ideas...

Human beings are good at deflection. When something hits too close to home personally or our camp is exposed in an unfavorable light, we are experts at trying to turn attention to someone or something else. As a prime example of this, all you need to do is watch a parent reprimanding one of their children. It's only a matter of seconds before they hear,  "But what about...? He/she started it! He/she did it too!" This is said with a whine  the appropriate aggrieved inflection to garner sympathy. However, as any parent will tell you, this does not work. No one had to teach us how to do this as kids (and adults) because it is as old as the hills or rather as old as the garden post-fall. When God confronts Adam and Eve, they go into deflection mode by trying to minimize their responsibility by shifting the blame to another. "It was the serpent... It was the woman you gave me...." Thanks to social media, we now have new venues where we can broadcast our defensive...

Pastor Ryan taught Sunday school yesterday on the Christian and Anxiety. I've transcribed a section below which really hit home. I learned to love the sovereignty of God during a very dark time for my family. So much evil was turned for good, that I can honestly thank God for the trial. But knowing God is sovereign doesn't necessarily make the pain go away. So it stings when it's used as a pat phrase to insensitively buck someone up in a trial or to romanticize suffering in a pietistic way. That's why I appreciate Pastor Ryan's frankness about how it can seem scary at times and his reminder that God is sovereign and the Giver of precious promises to cling to in the darkest times. You can listen here . He also wrote a booklet on the topic . "But when we think of God's sovereignty, sometimes it is very difficult because we might have been through very challenging or traumatic events, and God's sovereignty is scary. Because I went through this hurt a...

Yesterday Pastor Ryan preached on 1 Corinthians 13 . Yes, it's the obligatory passage read at many weddings, but it is much more than that. I probably heard this text preached in the context of the book for the first time . Paul didn't just have "a slew of weddings to perform." He was getting to the root of the problems the Corinthian church were struggling with. They were lacking love, and it showed. Just read the first 12 chapters. "Gifts to the nth degree and service to the nth degree are nothing without love." As I was sitting in the pew yesterday, I was wishing that this sermon would be mandatory listening for Christians on social media. Reformed Twitter, I am specifically thinking of you because there's been a lot more heat than light, a lot more snark than love, and more unwillingness than willingness to listening and respectively disagree. And I'm not just pointing a finger out there. I need to hear this word too. I love the doctrines o...

My pastor preached on Sunday from 1 Cor. 10 and the lessons in the passage for us today. The 2nd point in the sermon gave me a lot to ponder. Paul refers to Numbers 25, which tells of the Israelites' idolatry, God's righteous response, and Phinehas staying that judgment. While the exact nature of Phinehas' intervention would not translate to the present, Pastor Ryan remarked that his zeal for the Lord may not be that well-received today. Maybe he would have been told to back down, chill, and show a little grace. But this is a warning for us to not use the grace of God as a license to sin or an excuse to stop fighting sin .  We may not be tempted to worship Baal this week, but where is "grace" used to excuse sin today? As an excuse to: 1 - Disparage and mock people who disagree with us because we are obviously "right?" Thus our "rightness" takes precedence over loving our neighbor? Not only is pride at stake but the fear of los...

It is always encouraging to hear how God saved someone. Sometimes it is dramatic, and other times it is not. But for each believer, the hand of providence was at work placing him or her in exactly the right place at the right time to hear the gospel and be saved, not to mention the events that were orchestrated to lead up to that moment. No two stories are the same because God's providence is not a cookie cutter. Then why do we forget this when it comes to the varied circumstances God has placed us post salvation? If someone is single - Why aren't you married? Don't you want to be married? If you are married - Why doesn't your marriage look like x ? If you are married without children - Why don't you have any children? If you have children - Why do you only have n number? Why don't you have more? Why do you so many? Why aren't you educating them like this ? I'd rather listen to my pastor on 1 Corinthians 7. Paul's thesis can be summed up...

My pastor has started preaching through 1 Corinthians. They were certainly a messy group of believers, but lest I point the finger, they don't sound that different from the  21st century American church. But even with their warts (and there are some big, ugly ones), Paul makes the point of calling them saints. He is choosing to take the long view, knowing full well that this church has a lot of struggles ahead of it. But they will make it in the end, not because they figured it out and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, but because God has the power to change and keep them. This Sunday, Pastor Ryan preached on 1 Cor. 1:10-17. The Corinthian church was dealing with division in their midst. They were aligning themselves to this teacher or that teacher. Some even thought they were taking the high ground saying they followed "Christ," but this wasn't about defending the faith. There is appropriate separation over doctrinal issues and sin, but this was about feeli...

Here is a link to a recent Sunday school class by my pastor, Ryan Davidson, on the Christian and Depression, and Anxiety.  He's a professional Christian counselor as well as a pastor, so he has experience with the issue. It's a 1-class overview, but I found it very helpful. This is a related post on anxiety by Rachel Miller - Anxiety: My Thorn in My Flesh

I am no fan of mysticism, at least the version I was exposed to. It sounded so very spiritual and even got some things partially right, but the focus was wrong. It was hammered in time after time that I could do nothing in myself. I get that. Jesus said so Himself loud and clear. But what was the answer to this dilemma? Your only choice was to turn inward and constantly take your spiritual pulse as to whether you were "in Christ" or not. That in itself is highly problematic because "in Christ" became a vague higher spiritual plane that one strives for, NOT the act of God Almighty who justifies the ungodly. "Christ" also became a buzzword too with very little connection to Jesus as a real person. Also if God placed us "in Christ" and we can take ourselves out, what does that say about the power of man versus the power of God? The gospel was seen as baby stuff that got us in the door. The bigger and better stuff was up to us to achieve. This l...

There was a time when the book of Revelation was my least favorite book of the Bible. I thought its main message was to foretell all the horrible things that would happen before Jesus comes back, and those horrors would be my fate unless I achieved a certain level of spirituality whereby God would deem me mature enough to escape them. Cold comfort, indeed! At least, Revelation was at the end of the Bible so I could avoid reading it as long as possible. But what a terrible state to be in. I had no assurance as to my salvation. God and His gospel seemed weak and ineffectual, and I was afraid to read part of the Bible. But I couldn't be more wrong. The gospel isn't the power of God to just get me in the door and then the rest is up to me. What Christ has accomplished covers the beginning, middle, and end of my Christian life. I am not living in a dualistic Star-Wars-like universe where good and evil battle one another on a level playing field. Who in his right mind would cont...

There's always been a level of syncretism in this nation where Christianity and patriotism become so intertwined that America begins to don the mantle as God's chosen people. Maybe it's just me, but it seems to be on the rise again. Thus I found this quote from George Marsden very interesting: 1 America's religious heritage also contributed to a sort of deification of the national enterprise. In recent years, this tendency, first seen during the American Revolution, has been tagged "civil religion." Civil religion is the attributing of sacred character to the nation itself. Throughout history rulers had claimed divine sanction either by saying they themselves were divine (as Roman emperors did) or that they were chosen by the God or gods of the nation... But now America had a problem. How could they claim religious sanction for their nation? Thomas Paine, for instance, was a notorious infidel. After the Revolution he authored scathing attacks on Christian...

"May not our own fancies be the rule of our worship? No." A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism , Benjamin Beddome "When false images of God dictate our worship,  we are undoubtedly worshiping a false God. " Pastor Ryan Davidson When I read the above question and answer in the Baptist Catechism , my first reaction was to laugh. It's not that the 2nd commandment is a laughing matter, and I mean no disrespect. But the stark and very obvious answer puts worshipping God according to my personal preference in its place. No excuses. No ifs, ands, or buts. Who do I think I am? I don't get to decide how God should be worshipped. That is God's prerogative alone. Period. But then in Sunday's sermon  on the 2nd commandment, Pastor Ryan stated that worshipping God based on false images, whether physical or mental, is worshipping a false God. Thus the conviction boom was lowered even further. After the sermon, I couldn't help b...

This true/false quiz is courtesy of  Dr. James Renihan : 1. The sovereign God exercises sovereign control over Himself. True or false? 2. The doctrine of God's aseity teaches us that God has His being from Himself. True or false? 3. Since man is made in the image of God, we may say that in certain ways God's being is like man's being. True or false? 4. Christian monotheism teaches that God progressively reveals Himself first as Father, then as Son, and finally as Holy Spirit. True or false? 5. The incarnation binds the eternal God to the timeline of His people. True or false? So how did you do?

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you,let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:6-9 In Sunday's sermon on this text, Pastor Ryan did not mince words about the serious responsibility of being true to the gospel. He said there are two ways it can be distorted - adding to it or taking from it. For example, the Roman Catholic Church, the New Perspective on Paul , and legalism in its many forms add to the gospel. Even if there is an acknowledgement of what Christ has done, it is not all sufficient to make us right with God. However, liberal theology takes...

I'm posting at Out to the Ordinary today: This past Sunday, my pastor continued preaching through the book of Genesis with Joseph's ongoing saga in Egypt as the text. After being nearly killed and then sold into slavery by his brothers, he is bought by Potiphar and eventually put in charge of his master's household. It looks like Joseph's situation is taking a turn for the better only to have his master's wife repeatedly harass him and falsely accuse him of rape. Then he's thrown into prison for a crime he did not commit. I had read the account numerous times, but I had never noticed until Sunday that the writer deliberately makes the point that the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love  in the prison .  If I was writing the story, I would have him exonerated of all charges and released immediately. Wouldn't a happy ending be a better demonstration of the Lord's favor? But putting him in prison for an unspecified period of time and...

To jump start Monday morning, here are a few quotes on work: I do not know that women, as women, want anything particular, but as human beings they want, my good men, exactly what you want yourselves: interesting occupation, reasonable freedom for their pleasures, and a sufficient emotional outlet. What form the occupation, the pleasures and emotion may take, depends entirely upon the individual. 1 No longer must we be relentlessly driven to find identity in our work. No longer must we use our work to one-up each other. No longer must we work out of obligation and duty. By  His  work on the cross, Jesus makes us people who can finally work as we are meant to. Because of Him, our labor is no longer in vain. 2 We can thank Genesis 3 for the toil, but we can thank Genesis 2 for the privilege of tending God's creation. Yes, our work is tainted because of sin, but as His image-bearers, we can glorify God in whatever He gives us to do. 3 1. Are Women Human? , Dorothy L....

When I was in college, a popular evangelical author/speaker came to my school for a 3-day crusade. There were posters and fliers announcing his coming, and a lot of build up to the event among the Christian organizations. I don't remember the substance of the talks, but I still recall the advertising method after all these years Many of the posters announced in bold letters, "Maximum Sex". Yeah, the old bait-and-switch tactic. I guess they thought if you want to attract the college crowd, what better way to do it than with sex. The speaker shared the gospel along with the message of abstinence, but it was primarily "be chaste for what you eventually get." This sounds like the prosperity gospel to me. Unfortunately this methodology was the norm then and is even today. Whether it is conscious or not, this reasoning agrees with the secular view that sexual fulfillment is the be all and end all. I'm not denying God's good gift for marriage, but where is Je...

If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2 Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins?  Excerpt from a  letter  from Martin Luther to Philipp Melanchthon,  Letter no. 99, 1 August 152...

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  Romans 8:4 Pastor Ryan spoke yesterday on Romans 8:1-4.  The whole sermon was great, but this point stuck with me.  From my notes: In verse 2, God has set us free from the law of sin and death, and yet verse 4, implies a responsibility on our part to walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Is Paul making a contradiction between verse 2 between verse 4? No, because this is descriptive not prescriptive . Paul is describing what the believer look...