Some good thoughts...

Jerry Bridges on Four Essentials to Finishing Well

Paul endured to the end but Demas, as far as we know, did not (2 Timothy 4:7,10), even though he was once a fellow worker (Philemon 1:24). This is a sobering thought because so many of us are still very young. Finishing well is guaranteed to none of us, apart from the grace of God. How can we, like Paul, endure by God's grace?

1) Daily time of focused personal communion with God. It must be daily, otherwise we will find ourselves drifting in the wrong direction. Demas was in love with this present world. Our time with God must build in us affections for God that trump the temptations to love this world. It's helpful to have a plan, but the plan must direct us to God himself.

2) Daily appropriation of the gospel. The gospel is for sinners. Before we spend time in communion with God, we must come to him with the attitude of the tax collector who prayed, "Have mercy on me, a sinner," and trust God alone to make us righteous. This alone will give us the confidence to approach God and have communion with him.

If we don't daily appropriate the gospel then we will begin to base our spirituality on our performance, which will eventually lead us either towards pride or despair. But reminding ourselves daily that we are sinners and that, by God's grace, we've been clothed with the righteousness of Christ, will equip us with true and pure motivation to continue following Jesus and renouncing the desire to love this world. We ought to work hard, not in order to earn God's approval but because we already have it.

3) Daily commit yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1. The Old Testament sacrifice that Paul alludes to was daily performed by the priests. He carries that same significance over to new covenant saints. Our bodies are on loan from God, and we must daily re-consecrate ourselves to him. Just as Paul appealed to Philemon (Philemon 1:8-10), even though he had the right to command him, so also he appeals to us to give ourselves to God. The sheer wonder of the mercy of God should cause us to spontaneously give it, and this we will do if we daily bask in his love.

4) A firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God. Lamentations 3:37-38. Life is full of pains, through natural circumstances and the ill will of others. But God is sovereign over all such evils, and—by faith—we can give thanks for them. God is using them to conform us to the image of Christ and will never leave us or forsake us. The gospel and the promises of God will never fail, nor will he take them from us.

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John MacArthur on What can ensure an enduring ministry? Consider Paul.

Throughout the book of 2 Corinthians we see that Paul was a sufferer--overwhelmingly--both from outside and inside troubles. Yet at the end of his ministry he said that he had fought the fight, finished the course, and kept the faith.

How did Paul endure?

1) He embraced with all his heart the superiority of the new covenant. 2 Corinthians 3. Paul never lost his sense of the glory of God's grace to forgive, sanctify and save his people.

2) He embraced the reality that ministry is a mercy. 2 Corinthians 4:1. Paul acknowledged that he was the chief of sinners. His own salvation was an undeserved gift, as well as the grace given him to proclaim the gospel. Burnout in ministry is a misnomer. The real issue is that ministers have unrealistic (and unmet) expectations of deserving better treatment. It is a mercy that pastors don't stumble, that their wives and children don't desert them, and that their congregations don't abandon them.

3) He embraced the essential necessity of a pure heart. 2 Corinthians 4:2a. Paul had no secret sinful life. A hidden life of sin will be made known. Those who don't battle against sin on the inside will ultimately disappoint all whom they hope to minister to. You must study the Scriptures so that when sin is near, your conscience will not let you down.

4) He was certain of his responsibility to accurately handle the Scriptures. 2 Corinthians 4:2b. He determined to never handle Scripture in an adulterated way. He had a relentless commitment to biblical fidelity. Those who manipulate the Scriptures and, therefore, the people of God, will not endure in effective ministry.

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Is Hell the Absence of God? R.C. Sproul gives a masterful response to this common explanation:

It is common to say that hell is the absence of God. Such statements are motivated in large part by the dread of even contemplating what hell is like. We try often to soften that blow and find a euphimism to skirt around it.

We need to realize that those who are in hell desire nothing more than the absence of God. They didn't want to be in God's presence during their earthly lives, and they certainly don't want Him near when they're in hell. The worst thing about hell is the presence of God there.

When we use the imagery of the Old Testament in an attempt to understand the forsakenness of the lost, we are not speaking of the idea of the departure of God or the absence of God in the sense that He ceases to be omnipresent. Rather, it's a way of describing the withdrawal of God in terms of His redemptive blessing. It is the absence of the light of His countenance. It is the presence of the frown of His countenance. It is the absence of the blessedness of His unveiled glory that is a delight to the souls of those who love Him, but it is the presence of the darkness of judgment. Hell reflects the presence of God in His mode of judgment, in His exercise of wrath, and that's what everyone would like to escape.

I think that's why we get confused. There is withdrawal in terms of the blessing of the radical nearness of God. His benefits can be removed far from us, and that's what this language is calling attention to.

R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2007), pp. 157-158.

Sufficient unto the day...

All our fears represent in some form, I believe, the fear of death, common to all of us. But is it our business to pry into what may happen tomorrow? It is a difficult and painful exercise which saps the strength and uses up the time given us today. Once we give ourselves up to God, shall we attempt to get hold of what can never belong to us--tomorrow? Our lives are His, our times in His hand, He is Lord over what wil1 happen, never mind what may happen. When we prayed "Thy will be done," did we suppose He did not hear us? He heard indeed, and daily makes our business His and partakes of our lives. If my life is once surrendered, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!

Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now.

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"--and the work thereof. The evil is not a part of the yoke Jesus asks us to take. Our work is, and He takes that yoke with us. I will overextend myself if I assume anything more.

God chains the dog till night; wilt loose the chain
And wake thy sorrow?
Wilt thou forestall it, and now grieve tomorrow,
And then again
Grieve over freshly all thy pain?
Either grief will not come, or if it must,
Do not forecast;
And while it cometh, it is almost past.
Away, distrust;
My God hath promis'd; He is just.
--George Herbert, "The Discharge"

This was too funny!!!!

Doh!!!!!!!

Police in Oakland, California spent two hours attempting to subdue a gunman who had barricaded himself inside his home. After firing ten tear gas canisters, officers discovered that the man was standing beside them, shouting to please come out and give himself up.

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AT&T fired President John Walter after nine months, saying he lacked "intellectual leadership". He received a $26 million severance package. Perhaps it's not Walter who's lacking intelligence.

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An Illinois man pretending to have a gun kidnapped a motorist and forced him to drive to two different automated teller machines. The kidnapper then proceeded to withdraw money from his own bank accounts...

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Fire investigators on Maui have determined the cause of a blaze that destroyed a $127,000 home last month - a short in the homeowner's newly installed fire prevention alarm system. "This is even worse than last year," said the distraught homeowner, "when someone broke in and stole my new security system..."

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A man walked in to a Topeka, Kansas Kwik Shop, and asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Apparently, the take was too small, so he tied up the store clerk and worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up and grabbed him.

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In Medford, Oregon, a 27-year-old jobless man with an MBA blamed his college degree for his murder of three people. "There are too many business grads out there," he said. "If I had chosen another field, all this may not have happened."

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Police in Los Angeles had good luck with a robbery suspect who just couldn't control himself during a lineup. When detectives asked each man in the lineup to repeat the words, "Give me all your money or I'll shoot," the man shouted, "That's not what I said!"

God continues to teach...

Notes from John Piper

Why Do We Resist God's Sovereignty??
There are two ways that the soul can resist the truth of God's sovereign governance over all evil that is implied in Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

1. The soul can resist with an unbelieving and rebellious spirit that willfully resists God's right and power and wisdom in “meaning evil for good.”

2. The soul can resist with a humble mixture of love for God's holiness, justice, and love, on the one hand, and mental perplexity as to how these could be consistent with God's “meaning evil for good,” on the other hand.

#2 brings God's patient, merciful displeasure, leading eventually to greater light.

#1 brings God's punitive displeasure, leading eventually to death, if there is no repentance.



In other news of note, my dad--the chief of the clan--has entered the blogosphere with an interesting site devoted to all things Tweeddale. Check it out at tweeddaletributaries.blogspot.com