David Elkin asks, "How do you know if you are doing well?"

A special thanks to Dr. David Elkin again for his message to our men at the Men of the Covenant Luncheon last Thursday.

Below is a brief outline of his message:

How do you know if you are doing well?

How do you gauge yourself?

Examples:
I rely on the approval of layers of people:
My chairman
My colleagues
My wife
Hate to say it, but not really, my kids
My friends

There are many voices out there telling you things; to whom are you listening?

A Christian man seeks approval from God, not man

I almost said that a Christian man serves God, not man, but that seems pretty well obvious to most of us, I think.

It’s harder to think of where we get our approval from. It’s easy to say we serve God, not Man; but it’s harder to say we seek the approval of God, not Man.

It’s a subtle difference, one of directionality, if you will. To serve is outward-focused; seeking approval can be the reverse direction.

Because by nature, if you are a leader, you will be getting feedback from man. And the desire you might have is to gauge your behavior on that feedback.

It’s hard to rely solely on approval from God.
Walking through the halls of work, school, church, do you look for people (women) to notice you?

More importantly, if you serve God, you will almost certainly not get the approval of Man. Not always, mind you. But almost certainly.

Look to examples from Scripture:

David, in the Psalms. Crying out to God to get the vengeance on those who slander and pursue him.

Paul: for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Ultimately, Christ. “My meat is to do the will of my Father.” Also, you want to hear from Him “well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

A true Christian leader is smart enough to listen to other Christians whom he trusts to give him good counsel. Moreover, he is smart enough to seek out that kind of support.

If you seek approval from man, in the fundamental sense, as opposed to man as used of God, then you will live in fear.

Indulge me a bit, as I have been playing recently with this whole concept of Fear of God and fear in man.

But chasing after approval from man will lead to fear; looking for approval from God leads to contentment.

Even in the light and reality of indwelling sin. Meaning, we can find contentment despite the fact that we are still sinners who are redeemed of the Lord.

But . . . those who seek approval from men are doomed to the life off the addict: they are always searching, never coming to rest in the truth. They are always looking for that next “hit” of approval. If who you are is dependent on what others say about you, then you must by necessity be dependent on them. And that is completely the opposite for the Christian. We are dependent on God alone. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Worse, if you look for approval internally, you will fall. Internal will condemn you. If you gauge how you are doing in this life based on how you feel or based on internal expectations and perceptions, then you are trapped. Because what is inside will fail you.

Example: Athletes who talk about “digging deep, finding the strength to carry on, etc.

Example: Two ways to assess performance: others and self.

For the Christian, there is a third way, a via media. We look outside ourselves, and we look past others. We look to God. Only He provides the true standard for what we should be doing, how we are “measuring up.”

And the glorious thing is this: He demands perfection, and then He accepts us in Christ.

Stop looking for approval from any source other than God. He alone can provide you with ultimate approval.

How do you know if you are doing well?
Read more...

The cross

[In preparation for tonight's sermon, the second on the crucifixion account in Mark's Gospel, I have pulled an extract from J. I. Packer's introduction to a work by the puritan, John Owen entitled The Death of Death in the Death of Christ]:

When the Calvinist sings

There is a green hill far away,

Without a city wall,

Where the dear Lord was crucified,

Who died to save us all;

He died that we might be forgiven,

He died to make us good;

That we might go at last to Heaven,

Saved by His precious blood

he means it. He will not gloss the italicized statements by saying that God's saving purpose in the death of His Son was a mere ineffectual wish, depending for its fulfillment on man's willingness to believe, so that for all God could do Christ might have died and none been saved at all. He insists that the Bible sees the Cross as revealing God's power to save, not his impotence. Christ did not win a hypothetical salvation for hypothetical believers, a mere possibility of salvation for any who might possibly believe, but a real salvation for His own chosen people. His precious blood really does "save us all;" the intended effects of His self-offering do in fact follow, just because the Cross was what it was. Its saving power does not depend on faith being added to it; its saving power is such that faith flows from it. The Cross secured the full salvation of all for whom Christ died. "God forbid," therefore, "that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14).
Read more...

Twin Lakes Fellowship

A few of the more disreputable characters at this year's Twin Lakes Fellowship Conference... no time for a report now, I've a sermon to get ready for it this morning. A fuller report in these pages soon!

Read more...

Ezekiel Bulver Discovers Himself

One of the central themes of postmodernity is human "situatedness." Postmoderns are invariably preoccupied with why we think the way we do, not what we think. They focus on the process of attending, not the object of attention. Therefore, arguments are not to be refuted; they are to be "situated." Although C.S. Lewis died four years before Derrida published Of Grammatology, he foresaw the coming of postmodernity and personified it in Ezekiel Bulver, a creative inventor who discovers (like Descartes) . . . himself! See the entire essay here.
Read more...

First sermons ignorant of greatness

One of my very first sermons I ever preached was on the text Ephesians 5:14, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." I had been asked to preach for Dr. Stuart Olyott, then pastor of reformed Baptist church in Liverpool, England. I look back now and remember just how dreadful the sermon was. But what it lack in exegetical finesse, I tried to make up for in evangelistic zeal.

Today in history (April 4, 1742) is the anniversary of a very famous sermon preached on this very text before the university of Oxford by a young student at Christ-church, Charles Wesley.

Here are some of things Wesley said that day:

• In what state is thy soul? Was God, while I am yet speaking, to require it of thee, art thou ready to meet death and judgement? Canst thou stand in his sight, who is of "purer eyes than to behold iniquity"? Art thou "meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light"? Hast thou "fought a good fight, and kept the faith"? Hast thou secured the one thing needful? Hast thou recovered the image of God, even righteousness and true holiness? Hast thou put off the old man, and put on the new? Art thou clothed upon with Christ?
• "Hast thou received the Holy Ghost?" If thou hast not, thou art not yet a Christian. For a Christian is a man that is "anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power." Thou art not yet made a partaker of pure religion and undefiled. Dost thou know what religion is? --that it is a participation of the divine nature; the life of God in the soul of man; Christ formed in the heart; "Christ in thee, the hope of glory;" happiness and holiness; heaven begun upon earth; "a kingdom of God within thee; not meat and drink," no outward thing; "but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost;" an everlasting kingdom brought into thy soul; a "peace of God that passeth all understanding;" a "joy unspeakable, and full of glory"?"

Read more...

It's That Time Again

We are thrilled to have Dr. David Wells with us tomorrow at the Twin Lakes Fellowship. His recent book, Above All Earthly Pow'rs, gives us a detailed map of the postmodern landscape. Dr. Wells is not only a world renowned theologian. He is a Red Sox fan--a typical Red Sox fan:

"May has always followed April, summer has always followed winter, and in New England, the Red Sox, as far as memory records, have always faded in fall just as the leaves are coming into their full glory. (It is a funny coincidence: both are dying but only the leaves are worth watching). There was interruption in the pattern in 2004, but all Red Sox fans know that normality will soon return!"

Somehow the great game manages to survive despite the hubris of many of its players. On the lighter side, today is an appropriate day to offer a few of my favorite baseball related quotations, in no particular order. A special thanks to Rosemary Thomas (Derek’s wife and avid Braves fan) who gave me the first quotation.

“I think there are only three things that America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music and baseball. They're the three most beautifully designed things this culture has ever produced.” Gerald Early

“Baseball, like Pericles' Athens (or any other good society), is simultaneously democratic and aristocratic. Anyone can enjoy it, but the more you apply yourself, the more you enjoy it.” George Will

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." Bart Giamatti

"As I grew up, I knew that as a building (Fenway Park) was on the level of Mount Olympus, the Pyramid at Giza, the nation's capitol, the czar's Winter Palace, and the Louvre — except, of course, that is better than all those inconsequential places." Bart Giamatti

"I love baseball. You know it doesn't have to mean anything, it's just beautiful to watch." Woody Allen

"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer." Ted Williams

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again." James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams (1989)

"Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical." Yogi Berra

"It could be, it might be... It is, A home run!" Harry Caray

"Back, back, back, back... Gone!" Chris Berman of ESPN

"It's a great day for a ball game; let's play two!" Ernie Banks

"Well I can't rightly say (which player hit the ball hardest), but the ones (home runs by Babe) Ruth hit got smaller quicker." -Walter Johnson in Ken Burns Baseball (1994)

"Don't worry, the fans don't start booing until July." Earl Weaver
Read more...

Spring Forward

Don't forget to set your clocks an hour ahead at bedtime tonight (I know they say to do it at 2 a.m. - but go ahead and get a head start). That means the early service is going to come mighty early tomorrow morning at 8:30 (which will feel like 7:30!). I'm thinking of a prize for all who get there on time.
Read more...

Paul Stephenson's Funeral Service is Now Posted

Derek, thanks for the wonderful Spurgeon quote. What a blessing.

Our friend and colleague Doug McCullough has created a place on our First Presbyterian website to host the audio recording of the funeral services for Paul H. Stephenson IV. You can get to it by clicking here. There is also an order of service appended. We hope a video is coming soon, and a transcript.
Read more...

Spurgeon's breathtaking entry for March 22

I was glancing through C. H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening yesterday and just wondered what he might have had for March 22, the day our dear friend Paul was taken from us. It took my breath away:

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am."

John 17:24

O death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading branches weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away the excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If thou must use thine axe, use it upon the trees which yield no fruit; thou mightest be thanked then. But why wilt thou fell the goodly cedars of Lebanon? O stay thine axe, and spare the righteous. But no, it must not be; death smites the goodliest of our friends; the most generous, the most prayerful, the most holy, the most devoted must die. And why? It is through Jesus’ prevailing prayer—“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” It is that which bears them on eagle’s wings to heaven. Every time a believer mounts from this earth to paradise, it is an answer to Christ’s prayer. A good old divine remarks, “Many times Jesus and his people pull against one another in prayer. You bend your knee in prayer and say ‘Father, I will that thy saints be with me where I am’; Christ says, ‘Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me whereI am.’” Thus the disciple is at cross-purposes with his Lord. The soul cannot be in both places: the beloved one cannot be with Christ and with you too. Now, which pleader shall win the day? If you had your choice; if the King should step from his throne, and say, “Here are two supplicants praying in opposition to one another, which shall be answered?” Oh! I am sure, though it were agony, you would start from your feet, and say, “Jesus, not my will, but thine be done.” You would give up your prayer for your loved one’s life, if you could realize the thoughts that Christ is praying in the opposite direction—“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” Lord, thou shalt have them. By faith we let them go.
Read more...

Grieving

The experience of grief can be overwhelming. It comes in waves, sometimes stunning and frightening in its proportions. We discover in ourselves feelings we did not know were there or that we were capable of. One of them is the feeling of crippling lethargy. "I loathe the slightest effort... Even shaving." Thus C. S. Lewis wrote in A Grief Observed testifying to the way grief can debilitate and sap the energy from us. A numbness can set in punctuated with periods of tears . The loss gets worse and not better. The reality of it all: the forlorn hope that it had all been a dream vanishes before the reality of the empty chair at the table, the constant reminder of friends who mean well, but their presence and words merely confirm what you want to be untrue.

Everyone, sooner or later, goes through this experience and the closer we are to the one we lose, the greater the pain will be. Paul anticipated the help Christians need when he wrote to the Thessalonians not to grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). It is not an admonition not to grieve. It is that we should not grieve without the Christian gospel informing and shaping it.

What lessons are Christians to learn in such times? Three especially:

1. Ask for a habit of a thankful spirit--thankfulness for a life that touched us in so many ways and from which we still draw comfort and encouragement. It is a mistake to blot out every memory of those we have loved, removing pictures and refusing to talk about them. That is a pathway to despair. Give God thanks for every sweet memory, every kind word.

2. Pray for resignation to do his will, the peace that passes all understanding as we bow to his sovereignty and yield to his purposes. Deep down, no matter how hard it is to do, we know this is the only way, the only sure way to relief and healing.

3. Pray for stickability (what the Bible variously calls patience or endurance or perseverance). Surviving the grief process is a long distance race requiring fresh (daily! hourly!) supplies of strength and stamina. Our Father knows what it is to lose a Son. He is able to help us in ways we cannot even imagine.

Christians Grieve Too by Donald Howard (Banner of Truth, 1980) is a small, twenty paged booklet packed full of helpful and practical advice for Christians experiencing grief. J. I. Packer's A Grief Sanctified: Passing through Grief to Peace and Joy is a semi-biographical description of Richard Baxter's memoirs in the loss of his wife. It is chock-full of pastoral wisdom and down-to-earth realism when it comes to the experience of losing a loved one.
Read more...