Contentment

I wanted to pass on some links to the book that I mentioned in the sermon on Sunday.

You can read a free version of Jeremiah Burrough's book "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" here.

You can also purchase a copy of the book here.

More Questions for Discerning the Idols of our Hearts

The following questions are adapted from David Clarkson's sermon on idolatry.

What do you esteem most? That which we most highly value we make our God. For estimation is an act of soul worship.

What occupies your thoughts most?
That which we are most mindful of we make our God.

What are your most significant intentions?
That which we most intend we make our god; for to be most intended is an act of worship due only to the true God; for he being the chief good must be the last end.

What have you resolved to do most of all in your life?
What we are most resolved for we worship as God.

What do you love most?
That which we must love we worship as our God; for love is an act of soul-worship.

Who or what do you truly trust with your life?
That which we most trust we make our god; for confidence and dependence is an act of worship which the Lord calls for as due only to himself.

What do you fear most? That which we most fear we worship as our god; for fear is an act of worship.

Where are you hopes grounded? That which we make our hope we worship as God; for hope is an act of worship.

What is the deepest desire of your heart? That which we most desire we worship as our god;

What do you most delight in? That which we most delight and rejoice in, that we worship as God;

What are you most zealous for? That for which we are more zealous we worship as god;

What are you most grateful for? That to which we are most grateful, that we worship as God; for gratitude is an act of worship.

Some Additional Questions for Exploring Our Hearts

Some helpful questions from David Powlison:

What do you love? What do you Hate?

What do you want, desire, crave, lust and wish for? Whose desires do you obey?

What do you seek, aim for, pursue? What are your goals and expectations?

Where do you bank your hopes?

What do you fear? What do you not want? What do you tend to worry about?

Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure, security?

Whom must you please? Whose opinion of you counts? From whom do you desire approval
and fear rejection?

Understanding and Examining our Idol Making Hearts

Do we know our own hearts or are we ignorant of them?

Kris Lundgaard, “Many people live in darkness and ignorance about their own hearts. They keep careful track of how their investments are doing on Wall Street and get frequent checkups at the doctor; they watch what they eat and work out at the gym three or four times a week to keep their bodies finely tuned. But how many people give the least thought to their souls? If it is important to watch over and care for our bodies and investments, which will soon die and rot, how much more important is it for us to guard our immortal souls?

David Powlison, "Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?"

Our Idol Making Hearts

The next few posts will be related to the two week series that we are doing on idols.

Here are some quotes on the topic of idols that have been helpful to me.

Os Guiness, “Idolatry is the most discussed problem in the Bible and one of the most powerful spiritual and intellectual concepts in the believer’s arsenal. Yet for Christians today it is one of the least meaningful notions and is surrounded with ironies. Perhaps this is why many evangelicals are ignorant of the idols in their lives. Contemporary evangelicals are little better at recognizing and resisting idols than modern secular people are. There can be no believing communities without an unswerving eye to the detection and destruction of idols.”

Ken Sande “An idol is not simply a statue of wood, stone, or metal; it is anything we love and pursue in place of God, and can also be referred to as a ‘false god’ or a ‘functional god.’ In biblical terms, an idol is something other than God that we set our hearts on, that motivates us, that masters or rules us, or that we serve.”

Richard Keyes “ An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions toward them...Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good...An idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero - anything that can substitute for God.”

John Calvin, “The human heart is a factory of idols...Everyone of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.”

Applying the Gospel to the Hearts of Parents and Children

What does it look like for a parent to apply to the gospel to our own heart in relationship to our parenting? How in the world do we practically apply the gospel as we discipline our children.

Here are some helpful audio clips from C.J. Mahaney on this topic:

Gospel-centered Parenting and Young Children

The Gospel and Parental Sin

The Gospel and Discipline

Teaching Children to Love the Church

Gospel-centered Parenting Resources

I'm beginning a new series of posts this week as I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday where I will attempt to point out some helpful resources for parents.

As I mentioned on Sunday, bringing our children up in the instruction of the Lord and seeking to instill in our children a knowledge of God in the hopes that they will put their Hope in God is a tremendous responsibility. Our families are busy and the demands of life are great. However, the truth is we have no excuse. We must fight and consistently struggle to invest our time well in creating an environment in our homes where our children are exposed to the gospel.

The first resource that I would like to bring to your attention is a booklet by Donald Whitney called Family Worship: In the Bible, In History and In Your Home. I have copies available for people in our church so please ask for a free copy of this book. I read this book for the first time several years ago and it was very helpful to me.

In the book, Whitney quotes the great English Baptist preacher from the 1800s Charles Spurgeon, "If we want to bring up a godly family, who shall be seed to serve God when our heads are under the clods of the valley, let us seek to train them up in the fear of God by meeting together as a family for worship."

Here is a link to an interview with Dr. Whitney on this topic.

Parents of Hope Fellowship Church- I'm praying for you this week.

Death is Not Dying

I mentioned during the sermon from John 11 on Sunday a link that I would encourage everyone to check out.

Rachel Barkley is a wife and mother who lives in Vancouver, BC and is dying of cancer. In this video, she speaks about life, her impending death and the gospel that gives her hope as she faces death.

I highly recommend taking the time to watch the video.

Discipline Yourself For the Purpose of Godliness...For Free...If You Hurry!

March is one of my favorite months of the year because of March Madness- the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I really enjoy watching the games, trying to figure out who will win and hoping for upsets. It is really impressive to watch disciplined athletes performing at the highest level. How did they get to that level? Did it all just come to them naturally? No. It comes through (in my best Allen Iverson imitation) practice. It takes discipline and practice to reach that level.

How should one think about the concept of discipline as it relates to the Christian life? Is discipline somehow in opposition to grace? Or could the Spiritual Disciplines actually be one of the channels that God uses to transform his people?

The pursuit of growth in godliness for those who are followers of Jesus is of great importance and at the same time it can be an incredibly daunting topic. Where should one start? What practices or habits should I seek to develop? How does the grace of God interact with the concept of discipline.

One of the books that has been most helpful to me over the years and that I often still consult and recommend to others is Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. I highly recommend it to you whether you are you have been a Christian for decades or you have just recently come to faith in Christ. Dr. Whitney tackles the topic of spiritual disciplines in a very biblical, helpful and practical way.

If you prefer to listen as well as to read, you can download a free audio version for the rest of the month of March here.

Listen to the Gospel of John- It's Free!

There are a variety of ways for us to engage the Scriptures in our lives. We can read, meditate, study, listen and more. As we continue our series on the Gospel of John, I'd encourage you to consider listening to this great book as well as reading it. Here is a link where you can download the entire Gospel of John in the ESV (the translation we use on Sunday) for free. I think you may find the practice of listening to the Scriptures to be quite helpful to you.

"He must increase but I must decrease."

I have decided to try blogging on a variety of topics somewhat regularly. The posts may be in order to elaborate on a sermon, point to some helpful resources, or for me to just aimlessly ramble.

On Sunday, we looked at John 3.22-36. John the Baptist faced the great temptation to be jealous of the growing ministry of Jesus and the lessening of his own ministry. In the face of that temptation, John made this profound statement, "He must increase, but I must decrease." I wonder how often our thoughts are closer to this, "Jesus, help ME to increase."

It's one thing to talk of growing in our allegiance to Christ and cultivating a heart of humility and it's another thing to do that. I would like to recommend a couple of resources to you in this area. One book that I have found to be quite helpful is Humility by C.J. Mahaney.

In the book, Mahaney quotes John Stott as saying, "At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend." As Mahaney says we all need to set ourselves on the course of mortifying pride and cultivating humility by the power and grace of God.

If you would like to listen to two sermons by Mahaney on this topic you can download them here.

May God grow us by his grace and empower by His Spirit that we, too, might be able to say, "He must increase but I must decrease."