I helped to officiate a funeral this weekend.  My role, besides giving the invocation and reading the obituary, was to share a few words at the graveside.

I shared the verse, Psalm 116:15.  It says,

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

I asked the question, “Why is it precious to God when a Christian passes through this life to the next?”  In an attempt to both encourage the family as well as faithfully bear witness to the gospel I answered this question as it relates to three different persons or groups of persons: the individual who passed away, the Christians affected by his death, and the non-Christians affected by his death.

So why is it precious to the Lord when his faithful pass?  Because its a homecoming, an encouragement, and a challenge.

1. Homecoming—for the deceased

→The deceased believer is at home with Jesus.  They were not made for this world with its sin, suffering, and shame.  They were made for God and now they are with him and enjoying him and worshipping in a more fully realized sense than ever before.

2. Encouragement—for the believing bereaved

→ This is not the end.  Your loved one is not lost and gone forever.  They are merely on the other side.  They are with God.  And one day we will be there with them.

3. Challenge—to the unbelieving bereaved

→ May this occasion be an opportunity for you to be challenged by considering the brevity of life, your need for a savior, and the invitation of the gospel.

Have you ever had some close to you pass away?  What words were shared with you that were helpful as you tried to endure the grieving process?

Last night I preached on the stand of faith taken by Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13 & 14.  Perhaps you’re familiar with the story.

Directed by God’s leadership, Moses sends 12 spies into the Promised Land on a reconnaissance mission—to check out the land and the people.

The spies do that and return.  Their report is that the land is good but that the people there and their cities are too strong to be successfully conquered.  All of them felt this way except for two: Joshua and Caleb (more about them in a moment).

This report upsets the people of Israel greatly, so much so that instead of advancing forward into the land God had promised them they would rather go back into Egypt and be slaves.

At the heart of my sermon was a comparison between the “evil report” of the spies and and the stand of faith taken by Joshua and Caleb.

5 Observations Concerning Those Who Fell Prey to the ‘Evil Report’:

• They took their eyes off of the purposes and power of God and placed them on the problems they saw in front of them.
• They placed their faith in themselves instead of in the Lord.
• They grew content in a ‘backslidden’ state.
• They were afraid to take risks for the kingdom of God.
• The murmured and complained themselves into misery.

5 Observations Concerning the Faith of Joshua and Caleb:

• They experienced great grief over sin among God’s people (Num. 14:6)
• They knew that what God promises is both good and desirable (Num. 14:7)
• They trusted God more than anyone or anything else (Num. 14:8)
• They submitted to God’s leadership and were not afraid to advance into enemy territory (Num. 14:9)
• They did all of these things even though it wasn’t the popular thing to do (Num. 14:10)

Sermon Audio:

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• (Download link on this page)

I recently had some questions posed to me by a couple church members about baptism and church membership.  I’d already been feeling somewhat compelled to do a few topical studies on both subjects.  Their questions sealed the deal for me and Sunday night we did a topical sermon called, “On Biblical Baptism.”

Among other things I did in preparation for this sermon (like looking at this, this, this, this, and of course, this), I consulted a number of free online resources on the subject of baptism from the likes John MacArthur, John Piper, and Alistair Begg.

The most helpful was a sermon by Alistair Begg entitled, “Biblical Basis for Baptism.” You may click through to Begg’s site to download the sermon.  Or you can listen to it here:

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Begg explains helpfully that the reality of salvation is displayed in baptism, not dispensed—a very helpful and catchy distinction.  He covers the history, meaning, and practice of baptism.

I need your help:

I’m currently preparing for a sermon(s) on church membership.  I’m in the process of looking for helpful resources but I’m not having much success.

What resources (books, sermons, articles, etc.) have you found helpful on the subject of church membership?  Thanks in advance to any who respond.

Ananias restoring the sight of Saint Paul, by Pietro da Cortona

(Note: this is a follow-up post to “Learning from the Apostle Paul: Sharing Your Testimony”)

I’m continuing to preach my way verse-by-verse through Paul’s 1st Letter to Timothy with my church.  Lord willing, we should wrap up the first chapter this Lord’s Day.

A couple of weeks ago I preached a sermon on “Paul’s Personal Testimony” out of I Tim. 1:12-17.  I’ve already posted some thoughts from that sermon.  This post seeks to draw seven practical conclusions from Paul’s salvation story.

Our testimonies should make Jesus look good.

• Notice how in I Tim. 1:12 it’s all about Jesus—Paul says he’s thankful to Christ, strengthened by Christ, counted faithful by Christ, and placed in ministry by Christ.  There’s a whole lot of Christ there…and that’s definitely to be a lesson for us.

Our testimonies should stir our hearts with affection and praise toward God.

• After Paul has finished sharing the details of his testimony its as if he just can’t help it but to burst forth into praise.  See in I Tim. 1:17 how he all of a sudden jumps into a word or adoration to his God.

God’s grace is enough.

• It didn’t matter that Paul was said to be the “foremost” of all sinners (I Tim. 1:15), when God’s grace “overflowed” in his life it was more than enough to to save and transform him forever (I Tim. 1:14).

The message of Christ is not simply about getting better, it’s about getting saved.

• I love how in these verses Paul gives a sort of Jesus-statement-manifesto (I Tim. 1:15).  He says unapologetically that the reason Jesus came into the world was to save sinners.  It wasn’t merely to help us become better people.  It wasn’t to help us figure out who we are.  Those things are good and do come with it, but the reason Jesus came was to save us.

It is possible to be very religious and yet not be saved at all.

• We know from another passage of Scripture (Phil. 3:4-6) that the ‘pre-Christian’ Paul was a super-religious guy.  And yet here we learn that he was the worst sinner of them all.  It just goes to show you that being a good person and playing by all the religious rules won’t get you anywhere with God.  He’s got to save you.  Apart from that we’re without hope.

No one is good enough to be saved.

• This is very similar to the point above.  Simply put: no one can earn there way into a right relationship with God.  I don’t care what good deeds you do or how long you’ve been doing them, God’s Word says that even if we only break one of God’s rules, its as if we’re guilty of them all (James 2:10)

No one is bad enough that they can’t be saved.

• Paul was the worst—he said so himself (I Tim. 1:15).  And yet God saved him.  That gives hope to even those who think themselves the most lost of all causes.  God can save you.

What else can we learn from Paul’s testimony?  I know there’s more.  Help me out.

Paul and Timothy

The Apostle Paul shares his testimony in I Tim. 1:12-17.  I preached out of this passage last Sunday morning (sermon available here | series available here).

What I noted was a sort of structure to what Paul shared, a structure that I believe should prove helpful to us as we consider how to best share our testimonies.

Paul share six different things with Timothy:

I. Who I am Now (I Tim. 1:12)

→Paul was a man thankful to Christ, strengthened by Christ, counted faithful by Christ, and placed in ministry by Christ.

II. Where I Used to Be (I Tim. 1:13)

→Before his conversion Paul was a blasphemer, persecutor, and an injurious man.

III. What Happened to Me (I Tim. 1:14)

→God’s grace super-abounded in his life with faith and love.

IV. How It Happened (I Tim. 1:15)

→Jesus did it—Jesus saved him.

V. Why It Happened (I Tim. 1:16)

→So that through Paul’s salvation God’s patience could be set on display in the most illustrious of ways.  Paul’s testimony is an example to us all of how God can truly save a man.

VI. When I Think About It (I Tim. 1:17)

→ Paul ends this passage by bursting forth into praise.  It’s as if by sharing his testimony he cannot help but to be be stirred up with affection for his Lord.

This same outline should benefit our understanding of salvation.  If Christ has saved us then we should be able to fill in each of these six points with our own details: who we are, where we’ve come from, what happened to us, how it happened, why it happened, and when we think about it…

If you’re a believer I encourage you to use these points to rehearse your own testimony right now.  Look for someone you can share it with today.

Archangel Michael fighting Satan on the Coat of Arms of Arkhangelsk, Russia.

I’m not one who typically gets into material on spiritual warfare—demons, Satanic influence, doing battle in invisible realms, etc.  I certainly believe in all of that, but I think that many who speak and teach on it are WAY too confident in their assertions and are dabbling arrogantly in things that they shouldn’t be.

That being said, I stumbled upon an excellent treatment of the subject by John MacArthur.  No surprise there—MacArthur is a master at sifting through troves of information and presenting the best of it in a clear and compelling manner.

I’ve been listening through his series on 1st Timothy (to see how’s its done!)—because I am currently preaching through 1st Timothy.  He does a two-part deal on I Tim. 1:18-19, a passage where Paul charges Timothy to “wage the good warfare.”

MacArthur uses the first part of this sermon to spread out and explain as much biblical data as he can on the subject of spiritual warfare.  He begins with the fall of Satan and works his way all through to making the point that, as Christians, we are indeed in a war.  Therefore, we should live like it.

Click here to read the sermon’s manuscript over at the Grace to You site.  Or listen below in the media player (which may not be functioning properly if you’re reading this in an email subscription or on Facebook).  If you can’t see the player below you’ll need to click-through to my site and view the original post.

• John MacArthur’s, “Fighting the Noble War—Part 1″

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Would you lend a hand (or book)?

Any good, solid resources related to this subject that you’d be willing to recommend?  I’m all ears.

James C. Christensen's, The Widow's Mite

I recently preached a sermon on giving and serving (more about that here).

My starting point was Ex. 35-36—a passage of Scripture that details the children of Israel’s construction of the Tabernacle.

Essentially they did two things.  They participated in: 1) giving precious materials and supplies for the building of the Tabernacle; and 2) serving by using their God-given abilities to skillfully craft together the entire structure and its manifold elements.

I concluded with three truths on the practice of giving and serving:

1. Giving and serving are not merely intentions, they are actions.
2. Giving and serving are not the special duty of a select few, they are the basic responsibility of all who dare call themselves Christian.
3. Giving and serving do not earn favor with God, they evidence a right relationship with Him.

Can you think of any other truths about giving and serving?

I’m currently preaching through the book of I Timothy at my church.   A couple of Sundays ago we covered Paul’s initial charge to Timothy against false teachers.  Of the many things that he says the false teachers are getting wrong, perhaps the clearest is that they’re not using the law rightly (I Tim. 1:7).

But Paul says in I Tim. 1:8 that “we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.”  So how is the law to be used ‘lawfully?’  I suggest at least two ‘lawful’ functions of the law for us:

1. The law should show us our sin.
   →Paul says in Rom. 3:20 that “through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
2. The law should send us to the Savior.
   →The NASB says in Gal. 3:24 that “the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ.”

The complete sermon is available here for download.

Or you may listen through the player contained at the bottom of this post.  (This feature may not be available if you’re viewing this through an email subscription or on Facebook.  If that’s the case you’ll need to click-through to my site to use the media player.)

Listen here:

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Bartolome Esteban Murillo's, The Return of the Prodigal Son

I stated “Five Truths About Forgiveness” last week.

This thought needs to be taken a step farther, though.  The issue of forgiveness can and should be brought to a more practical level.

The question must be asked, “What does forgiveness look like?

To answer that question I propose the following:

Seven Things Forgiveness Is and Does:

1. Resists revenge (Rom. 12:19)
2. Doesn’t return evil for evil (I Thess. 5:15)
3. Wish the person well (Luke 6:28)
4. Grieve at their tragedies (Prov. 24:17)
5. Pray for their welfare (Matt. 5:44)
6. Seek reconciliation from them so far as it depends on you (Rom. 12:18)
7. Come to their aid in distress (Ex. 23:4)

Anti-plagiarism safety net:

You need to know that I borrowed the ideas in this post from two others.  The content is not my own.

• John Piper’s sermon, “As We Forgive Our Debtors” is where I took most of this from.
• Chris Brauns offered helpful comments on this post.  Chris has written a book on forgiveness which you should most definitely check out—Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers to Complex Questions and Deep Wounds.

Make sure to do your part:

I’m sure there’s more application for this subject.  If I’ve missed anything, or you feel you can better articulate how to practically apply biblical forgiveness, by all means help us all out and leave a comment.

I added four new sermons this week to the Sermon page.

We (”we” being me and the church I pastor, Eastwood Baptist Church) did a topical Christmas sermon based on a few character traits of faith observed in the lives of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus:

• “Thoughtful, Humble Obedience in the Christmas Story”

We also finished up our church’s verse-by-verse study through the Letter of James.  I added three new sermons there:

• “Fighting in the Church” (James 4:1-10)
• “The Serious Sin of ‘Speaking Evil’” (James 4:11-12)
• “James’ Closing Admonitions” (James 5:1-12)

Enjoy and be blessed.

Over the course of his thirty years as pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper has had plenty of opportunities to observe the end of one year dissolve into the beginning of another.

Often he has used this occasion to address his church with a sort of ‘New Year’s Eve Meditation.

Here are a few of those meditations.

• Dec. 28, 1980—“I Have Kept the Faith”
  

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• Dec. 29, 1985—“God Glorified in Good Resolves”
  

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• Dec. 31, 1989—“All the Promises of God are Yes in Christ”
  

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• Dec. 27, 1992—“A Year-End Look at Jesus Christ”
  

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• Dec. 31, 2008—“A New Year’s Eve Meditation”
  

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Most of us are familiar with the little phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”  In my experience that has not proven to be true.  I suggest that the person who came up with it probably didn’t have a very balanced view of things. Either they never had anything negative said about them at all, or they had so many hurtful things said about them that they went into some sort of state of denial.

Compare the meaning of that phrase with what the wisdom writer of Proverbs had to say about the power of words: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21).

As part of our ongoing series through the Letter of James I preached out of James 3:1-12 this weekend at my church.  Perhaps more than any other passage in the Bible these 12 verses describe the devastating power of the sinful words and ways in which we speak.  My message was titled, “The Power of the Tongue.”  Give it a listen.

• Here’s the sermon audio for this message.  Just click the ‘Play’ button (the little triangle pointing right) to listen now.

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• Or you can download the sermon and listen to it later via mp3 player or burnt CD by visiting my Sermon Download Page, finding the word “Download,” right-clicking on it, and choosing the ‘Save As’ option.

Unfortunately I was not able to record the second half of this sermon.  Due to time constraints it was broken into two parts and the second half took place during our Sunday PM worship service which is not recorded.

In case anyone’s interested, here’s the outline I preached from.  I’m always interested to see how others put their thoughts together.

I preached Part 2 of the message, “Faith without Works Is Dead” this weekend.  Part 1 covered James’ explanation of the relationship between faith and works by way of looking at his two examples of a faith that doesn’t work.  Part 2 seeks to explain faith and works in light of his two examples of a faith that does work.

• Here’s the sermon audio for this message.  Just click the ‘Play’ button (the little triangle pointing right) to listen now.

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• Or you can download the sermon and listen to it later via mp3 player or burnt CD by visiting my Sermon Download Page, finding the word “Download,” right-clicking on it, and choosing the ‘Save As’ option.

The two examples James gives of a faith that does work are the OT saints Abraham and Rahab.  There’s was faith that believed God to be bigger than any problem the world can present and better than any solution it can offer.

My two concluding observations on the relationship between faith and works:

1. Faith saves all by itself, but it never stays all by itself.
2. Good works can never earn salvation, but they are the necessary evidence of salvation.

I also sought to distill my thoughts on what may seem to be a contradiction between James who says that Abraham was justified by works (James 2:21-24) and Paul who says that Abraham was justified completely without works (Rom. 4:1-5).*

My conclusions on this point were basically that Paul and James are not talking about exactly the same thing.

• Paul is addressing the question of how one is saved.
• James is addressing the question of if one is saved.
• Paul is talking Gen. 15.
• James is talking Gen. 22.
• Paul is talking initial faith apart from works.
• James is talking continued faith demonstrated by works.

What we find, though, is that both perspectives are absolutely necessary and taken together they form the basis for an orthodox understanding of salvation.

• W/o Paul we’d be left open to the heresy which says, “I’m saved by my good works.”
• W/o James we’d be left to the heresy which says, “I’m saved by faith alone…in such a manner that works are now not essential or necessary to my life as a saved individual.”
• But taken together we get this holy tension that, in my mind at least, produces the beautiful effect that is the totally free, completely life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

*Concerning this seeming “contradiction” b/t James and Paul I was helped tremendously by John Piper’s sermon, “Does James Contradict Paul?” (manuscript link | audio link).

Ever preached a sermon that you were super proud of?  You know the one.  You finish and you’re satisfied the way it turned out.  You hope that the sound guys got it recorded because you’ll want to keep a copy of it.  You just nailed it?  Well, this one’s definitely not one of those.

Not that that is at all the type of attitude we preachers should have.  However, I’d imagine any of you other pastors would agree that sometimes what comes out during a sermon doesn’t come out as well as we planned and would have liked for it to.  This sermon is one of those for me.

I’ve really been enjoying listening to David Platt’s sermon series on the Letter of James.  It’s called “Faith Works” and they’ve just finished working their way through the text at the church where Platt serves as pastor in Birmingham, AL, The Church at Brook Hills.

Here are links to the audio for all nine sermons in the series.

1. “Faith Perseveres” (James 1:1-18)
   

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2. “Faith Obeys” (James 1:19-27)

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3. “Faith Loves” (James 1:26-2:13)

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4. “Faith Acts” (James 2:14-19)

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5. “Faith Sacrifices” (James 2:20-24)

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6. “Faith Risks” (James 2:25-26)

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7. “Faith Speaks” (James 3:1-12)

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8. “Faith Submits” (James 3:13-4:12)

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9. “Faith Lasts” (James 4:13-5:20)

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Related Post:

• “God cannot Be Tempted” (James 1:13-18)

Saint James the Just

I’ve started preaching through the Epistle of James on Sunday mornings with my church.  After one month we’ve managed to finish the first chapter.  I know that I’ve been unspeakably blessed through my studies of this most practical of letters.  I pray my church has been too.

We’ve finally managed to get the sermon audio recorded in a format that I can digitize and upload to the web.  Here’s yesterday’s message where I finished up the section in James 1:13-18.

I apologize that the last couple minutes of the sermon have been lost.  As a result it comes in at just under 30 minutes long.  Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Just click the ‘Play’ button (the little triangle pointing right) to listen now.

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Or you can download the sermon and listen to it later via mp3 player or burnt CD by visiting my Sermon Download Page, finding the word “Download,” right-clicking on it, and choosing the ‘Save As’ option.