Invitation from God: Click | View Series

Isaiah 1:18—"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

The sinful condition of men is terrible in the extreme. This is set forth vividly in previous verses of the chapter. They are altogether alienated from their God.

God himself interposes to produce a change. The proposal of peace is always from his side.

He urges that a conference be held at once, "Come, and let us reason together."

That conference is to be held at once: "Come now" for the danger is too great to admit of a moment's delay. God is urgent; let us not procrastinate.

GOD INVITES YOU TO MEET

Sinful men do not care to think, consider, and look matters in the face; yet to this distasteful duty they are urged. If they reason, they rather reason against God than together with him; but here the proposal is not to discuss, but to treat with a view to reconciliation. Ungodly hearts also decline this.

1. They prefer to attend to ceremonial observances. Outward performances are easier, and do not require thought
2. Yet the matter is one which demands most serious discussion, and deserves it; for God, the soul, heaven, and hell are involved in it. Never was wise counsel more desirable.
3. No good can come of neglecting to consider it. It is one of those matters which will never drift the right way of itself.
4. It is most gracious on the Lord's part to suggest a conference. Kings do not often invite criminals to reason with them.
5. The invitation is a pledge that he desires peace, is willing to forgive, and anxious to set us right.
6. The appointment of the immediate present as the time for the reasoning together is a proof of generous wisdom. "Just as you are," come to God in Christ, just as he is. Love invites you in all your sin and misery.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes, which are in the public domain.

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Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
- Proverbs 11:4

Vintage Jesus

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Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him

Jesus is comfortable leading passively from a distance at times, and lets his disciples go out before him on their own. We don't have a clear description of what they are doing when they go out before him, but you can infer that they are living the life that Jesus is teaching them about outside of the structure of Jesus physically being present with them.

When they are on the boat after the miraculous feast of 5,000, they were most certainly processing what just occurred. Jesus wasn't there to tell them explicitly, but he gave them a framework to understand the sovereignty of the Father over something as simple as the conservation of mass—yeah there were two pounds of bread, but God can make it into two tons and feed an army.

We can see Jesus' intentionality in giving his disciples time to synthesize what they are learning. The lessons are becoming more than head knowledge, and becoming part of who they are.

Jesus prays for his disciples

Jesus cares deeply about his disciples. He speaks of them as his sheep and of himself as the shepherd who will gladly die for their safety, cries when his friend dies, and spends his last minutes praying for them in his high priestly prayer.

Jesus doesn't just trust that they will be okay, but pleads with the Father that he would continue the work that has begun.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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The Preacher's Voice: Click | View Series

Stress Affects Your Message

Preachers encounter stress and this can profoundly affect the delivery of a clear message. Unrelenting stress is called hyper-stress, which is considered a type of stress that the human body cannot adjust to very easily. An example of hyper-stress in the Bible is when Scripture tells of Jesus Christ sweating drops of blood. His spirit, mind, and body were beyond the point of fatigue and in a traumatized hyper-stress state.

Extreme tension and hyper-stress can eventually saturate every aspect of the preacher’s message and work. The preacher can become ineffective and exhausted. Astute listeners will recognize burnout stress by the tone of the preacher’s voice, body language, and overall appearance. Jesus Christ went to the Father for help. What should you do?

Tips For Handling Stress And Tension

• Recognize warning signs and listen to the counsel of trusted people if they tell you to slow down.
• Pray seeking direction and action for renewal and relief of extreme stress.
• Commit to properly caring for yourself and family (family life, diet, exercise, and relaxation).
• Set the tone for ministry; don’t let ministry set the tone (evolving at a steady pace is healthy).
• Set and keep priorities. Make sure that God and family are always the priority.
• Get quiet with God, putting away all electronic devices and tuning out all distractions.
• Be accountable to your staff and make known your need for time off.
• Trust your assistants to handle matters when you are at rest, even if they may not do it as perfectly as you.
• Know when to say no!
• Leave your worries behind and cast your anxieties on Jesus Christ.

Christ Will Restore You

I love the passage 1 Peter 5:1-11, as it outlines the most succinct guidelines to sustain a healthy preaching ministry:

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

God’s Spirit will comfort, direct, and defend you during times of extreme stress. Cast all your tension and stress on him, and you will experience the rest you need. Surely the preacher’s voice will resound through the noise, clutter, confusion, and suffering because Christ himself restores, confirms, strengthens and establishes you through it all.

To be continued.

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What Is Scripture series: Click | View Series

Aquinas and the Literal Sense of Scripture

Although often overlooked by Protestants because of his place as the theologian of the Roman Catholic Church, Thomas Aquinas has much to teach us about Scripture. He followed the “four-fold sense” understanding of Scripture, as developed by Origen, but his emphasis was on the literal sense of Scripture.

Through his account of the literal sense, Aquinas continually uses Scripture to indicate the abundance of what we are allowed to and called to believe. Scripture is not just something that is “handed over” by tradition, but Scripture itself “hands over” divine revelation to us. Scripture is not just a static repository of propositional truth, but Scripture does something: it reveals truth and it testifies to Christ. In fact, for Aquinas, one cannot discuss Scripture without speaking of Christ, for Scripture is necessarily derived from the revelation of the Incarnate Word. To read Scripture is therefore to witness the revelation of the Word.

Foreshadowing Christ

However, it is not simply from Aquinas’ literal readings of Scripture that we can learn. Lest we dismiss all of his “non-literal” readings as medieval superstitions, observe how Aquinas explains the spiritual sense of how the Old Testament Law is to be read in light of Christ: “The reasons for the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law can be taken in two ways. First, in respect of the Divine worship which was to be observed for that particular time: and these reasons are literal… Secondly, their reasons can be gathered from the point of view of their being ordained to foreshadow Christ: and thus their reasons are figurative and mystical” (Summa Theologica). According to Aquinas, the key point is that Christ is the key to reading Scripture properly.

The Instruction of the Holy Spirit

Scripture is living and active for Aquinas—it “passes on” that knowledge of God that is true wisdom, and in doing so “hands over” the reader of Scripture to the instruction of the Holy Spirit. To follow Aquinas as a reader of Scripture is to confess that we are not the masters of truth, and that we must give ourselves over to the revelation of God in Jesus and God’s knowledge in Scripture.

To be continued.

For a more in-depth treatment of what the theological giants in the Christian tradition have taught about Scripture, read Christian Theologies of Scripture.

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