If you are interested in hearing a very helpful sermon on racial reconciliation, particularly in the context of the PCA, check out this one preached by Randy Nabors last Sunday.
http://newcityfellowship.blogspot.com/2010/08/right-sight-august-1-2010-sermon.html
From our “Preparation for Worship” this morning
“In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hides your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness.” – Jonathan Edwards, letter to Deborah Hatheway (June 3, 1741)
HT: Tommy Lee
A couple of days ago ABC News published a story called “Looking for a New Religion? Apple Gives Dose of the Divine.” While our immediate reaction might be that it is absurd, I think there is a lot of truth in it. There are many that worship at the Church of Apple. How many people anxiously awaited their new iPhone 4?
But this does not just apply to Apple (though they may have more devoted followers than most). I think that our technology can easily and very quickly becomes idols that we worship. Technology is a good thing . . . something created by the image-bearers of the the great Creator as they imitate Him. What we do with it is the problem. These items quickly grab the affections of our hearts.
What grabs the affections of your heart?
HT: GetReligion.org
Photo by Alexander Schaelss (License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
Third Millennium Ministries published an excerpt from an old sermon of Tim Keller’s on Matthew 11.2-6 on “Who is the Real Jesus” . . . and it gets right to the heart.
Someone says:
1) I am thinking about becoming a Christian, or I am thinking about Christianity and want to know whether it is true, but I am struggling. I want to be a doctor and I don’t whether I will make it through med-school. Will Jesus help me get through med-school? Or
2) I am struggling because I have a bad marriage and am thinking of getting a divorce. What is the Christian view on divorce? Will I be supported?
3) I have a problem with self-esteem. I have a problem with guilt. I have been in a lot of abusive relationships. If I come to Jesus, will he make me fell good about myself?
4) I am gay, and I want to know that if when I come to Christianity, will I be supported or will I be condemned?
What is Jesus answer to those four questions? They are actually all the same. You know what his answer is? Not yes, not no. He says that they are the wrong first question because of the reason the thief was wrong and John was right. The reason the thief says I want to know what you are going to do about my life before I give myself to you. I want to know whether you are the messiah by the way in which you support me. In other words, the thief says, if you let me live the way I know I should live then I know you are the one … and John the Baptist just says, “Are you the one?” And the reason that John is right and the thief is wrong, is not because John is more spiritual, but because he is more sensible. And that is this. The thief, and everybody who asks one of those four questions assumes they already know how their life should be lived, who they really are, and how the world out to go before they know whether he is the Author of life … Whether He is the One your heart was built for. How in the world can you assume that you know who you are and what you need before you even know if you were created or were an accident? How can you know who you are and what you were made for before you know whether you can communicate with and know the creator of the universe?
Leviticus 19.4 “Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.”
“It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” – Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters
If we want to identify our idols, we can ask ourselves some very simple diagnostic questions.
If you have answered these questions, you have likely found some of the idols of your heart.
For instance, just yesterday I was driving to a meeting in a neighboring city. For about 10-12 of the miles I was stuck behind two trucks carrying the two halves of a modular home. They took up both lanes and made it impossible to pass.
I must admit two things: they were actually doing a good job of keeping up with the speed limit and according to my GPS I would easily make it to my meeting on time.
So how did I respond? I got frustrated that I could not get around these trucks. I was irritated and sulking for that entire 10-12 miles. Why was I so upset? My idols were at work. Which one? Take your pick . . . but maybe my control idol. Particularly when I am driving I enjoy the control that I have . . . I am the king of the road. That is why I do not like people driving slow in the left lane. (It’s for passing right?) When my ability to control a situation is taken away, suddenly I am frustrated and begin to get angry.
Why do we . . . no take that back . . . why do I so easily find my life so easily upset? My heart is an Idol Factory.
“From this we may gather that man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.” – John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
“. . . every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” – John Calvin, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
In reading Bonhoeffer’s new biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, I ran across this quote about prayer and it’s integral part in our fellowship with other believers.
“A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner. This is a happy discovery for the Christian who begins to pray for others.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together
It makes me think of why Christians fight so much, and I cannot help but think that Bonhoeffer is onto something. How would our fellowship with other believers (both those in our church and in the broader Christian community) be changed if we prayed for each other more?
Crossway recently release their ESV Bible + for the OS4. The introductory cost is $9.99. Is it worth it?
First, you should know that Crossway has a free version of the ESV called the ESV Bible (with no “+”). If you do not have the money to spring for the ESV Bible +, you should definitely get the ESV Bible.
If you have the money though, I think it is well worth it. The interface is very elegant, probably the best of any Bible app that I have seen.
Over and above what you get on the ESV Bible, the ESV Bible + has the following features:
These features make it a no brainer . . . the ESV Study notes, audio with scrolling, and coming integration with ESV Online.
The price will be going up to $12.99 very soon, so get it now!
Go to the ESV Bible Blog for more information.
The sermon I preached yesterday on Leviticus 19.1-8 has just been posted.
Listen here:
Download here: http://www.stevecoward.com/sermons/accepted-leviticus-191-8-august-1-2010.html
I am a big fan of audiobooks. They help to make unproductive times more productive (e.g. driving in the car).
Every month the folks over at ChristianAudio give away a book of the month. This month the book is Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road (Unabridged). This is one of the best books out there on mercy ministry. I would highly recommend it. Use “AUG2010” as a coupon code when you checkout and it is free.
I’m downloading it now.
