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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Here is a brief summary of the main points from Pastor Ryan's sermon on Job 4-14.  So far, this series has been excellent and given me a lot to ponder. This sermon (which should be available today) and the previous ones can be found  here . I highly commend them. 1. Suffering is not always the result of personal sin. Job's friends made an assumption that was not absolute. Yes, people do suffer as a direct consequence for their sins, but God never charged Job with sin though his friends did. The sun and rain fall on the just and the unjust. Sin, either his own or his parents, was not the cause of the man's blindness in John 9. Rather it was for the glory of God. 2. We must know God, His Word, and His people if we are to counsel well. If we don't know God, His attributes, character, and Word, we will give misguided counsel.  Our understanding of the Word must be systematic because one doctrine interweaves with another. If we hold up God's justice above His...

Yesterday, Pastor Ryan began the sermon series on "Counsel in Job".  After giving an overview of the book, he walked us through the first chapter. The closing verses describe how Job shaved his head, tore his clothes, and fell on the ground - external symbols of grief. All his earthly possessions were gone. His ten children were killed in one fell swoop. Job's sorrow was to be expected. It was normal, and yet he worshipped. These aren't things we would typically associate together, but here is Job prostrate in the dust  and worshipping after burying his ten children. This may seem strange to our minds because "worship" has been reduced to pleasant feelings about God. It may also seem strange because we think being a Christian means always wearing a happy face.   But Job didn't blame God. even though he recognized His absolute sovereignty to do as He pleased.  Job didn't attempt to get God off the hook by attributing his calamity to any other...

Yesterday's sermon by Pastor Ryan was on Mark 14:12-26, the last supper.  There was much to consider, but this point stood out to me: We receive spiritual nourishment when we partake of the Lord's table. We don't believe in transubstantiation, but we are declaring that our souls need Jesus as our bodies need food. Without Him, we will starve. So I ask myself, how's my appetite? This led me to Jeremiah 2:13 where God confronts his people for forsaking the water of life and making broken cisterns that can hold no water. Do I do this? Yes and probably until the day I'm with the Lord, there will be the temptation to find my sustenance from another source. But I also believe in the sanctifying power of God's grace. He ordains circumstances in our lives to expose the things that would slowly starve us to death. We are awakened to our hunger, and in turn He "satisfies our mouth with good things" (Ps. 103:5 KJV).  Once we've tasted the sweetness of C...

In preparation for the Lord's day, here is some advice from Thomas Watson on how to listen to a sermon: 1. Prepare to hear the Word by bathing your soul in prayer. 2. Come to the Word with a holy appetite and a tender, teachable heart. 3. Be attentive to the preached Word. 4. Receive with meekness the engrafted Word (James 1:21) 5. Mingle the preached Word with faith. 6. Strive to retain what has been preached and pray about the Word proclaimed. 7. Put the Word into practice; be doers of it. 8. Beg the Spirit to accompany the Word with effectual blessing. 9. Familiarize yourself with the Word by sharing it with others. From Living for God's Glory , Joel R. Beeke, Reformation Trust, pages 208-209.

From today's sermon: If you have ever doubted the goodness and loving kindness of God, read Titus 3:3-6. For   we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.   But when   the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,   he saved us,   not because of works done by us in righteousness, but   according to his own mercy, by   the washing of regeneration and   renewal of the Holy Spirit,   whom he   poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. We were hated and hating one another.  What a contrast to goodness and loving kindness!  But He saved us not according to anything we have done but only by His mercy.  Do we see this?  Do we believe this?