To Whom Shall We Go?

It was really great to preach through Ruth this past month. I come away from it with a renewed sense of God's grace, of his wondrous work of providence in the lives of ordinary people, and a greater appreciation of the thrilling work of redemption wrought by Christ Jesus. Here's a link to the sermon audio: click here . The final sermon should be up soon. Now I'm excited about moving on to 1 John. Here's a motivating quote from John Stott's little commentary : A fresh certainty about Christ and about eternal life, based upon the grounds which John gives, can still lead Christian people into that boldness of approach to God and of testimony to men , which is sorely needed as it is sadly missing in the church today.

The church I am blessed to pastor, New Covenant Christian Fellowship, is about to begin a new sermon series through First John. So I thought it seemed wise to consider how to capitalize on what we hear from God’s Word. We of course are familiar with the warnings in Scripture about what we do with God’s truth. James 1 for example reminds us to “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” To hear the word but do nothing about it is like someone forgetting what they look like after looking in a mirror! But how do we listen? Every parent in human history knows when a child is hearing but not really listening. So what are some ways we can ensure that we are both hearing and listening? Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor in Grand Cayman who also has an excellent blog , has written a very helpful book called “What is a Healthy Church Member?” The first mark of such a person is that he or she is an “Expositional Listener.” Here’s how Anyabwile defi

God is infinitely wise, “his understanding is beyond measure” (Ps. 147:5). When we pray in light of this fact it is then that we are able to pray like this: If it be consistent with thy eternal counsels,             the purpose of thy grace,             and the great ends of thy glory,             then bestow upon me the blessings of thy comforts ; If not, let me resign myself to thy wiser determinations. ( Valley of Vision , 10-11) In other words, we are certainly free to ask God for comforts and blessings on our lives (“bestow upon me the blessings of thy comforts”). But if he does not give them, then we know that he is doing something better. His “wiser determinations” have led him either to say “no” or “not right now” or something else. Let’s ask God for blessings! He is a good Father (Luke 11:13)! But let’s do so in light of his wisdom. His wiser determinations may lead somewhere else.

When a new Volkswagen Beetle comes off the production line in pristine condition, it has been through a long process. Computerized machines and careful human eyes have labored carefully to achieve the finished product. Last Sunday, in a sermon on Ruth 1, I reflected on how important it is for the church to seek holiness, both individually and corporately. Naomi’s lack of holiness (see Ruth 1:13, 15, 20-21) was thankfully not a hindrance to Ruth being drawn to the God of Israel. Still, a holy people provides a compelling, attractive picture to outsiders. I emphasized holiness as distinction. To be holy is to be distinct. The purpose of this emphasis was to offer hope to those who can only see their flawed, feeble faith. Holiness to them seems very hard to attain, even though they greatly desire to attain it. However, we must still emphasize that holiness is a big deal! So while we shouldn’t be discouraged in our apparent lack of holiness, we sho