Let My Candle Go Out - Thomas Watson

Those of you who know me well know I am very non-competitive by nature. Coupled with my natural timidity, I was certain not be called into preaching so many years ago. Now nearly 14 years into preaching ministry, I am still a bit put off how competitive preachers can be. Yet, when I hear solid preaching, I rejoice. Some praiseworthy preaching comes from competitive men, while still others are tempted to think themselves spiritually superior for being non-competitive. 

The truth is not found in the manner of preaching or the preacher, but all the glory is to be to Christ. I meditate on this as I read the great Puritan preacher Thomas Watson's lectures on the shorter catechism in print as The Body of Divinity. The preacher's candle is a flame to go out that Christ may be the only One shining. Watson makes this point:

"We aim at God’s glory when we are content to be outshined by others in gifts and esteem, so that his glory may be increased. A man that has God in his heart, and God’s glory in his eye, desires that God should be exalted; and if this be effected, let who will be the instrument, he rejoices. ‘Some preach Christ of envy: notwithstanding Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice’ (Philippians 1:15); they preached Christ of envy, they envied Paul that concourse of people, and they preached that they might outshine him in gifts, and get away some of his hearers: well, says Paul, Christ is preached, and God is like to have the glory, therefore I rejoice; let my candle go out, if the Sun of Righteousness may but shine."

Spurgeon - "Blessed Beyond Measure"

"I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore." -Genesis 22:17

Charles Spurgeon was not just a great preacher, but he was also a great writer of devotionals. One of the daily devotionals I am reading this year is Beside Still Waters: Words of Comfort for the Soul, updated in modern English by Roy H. Clarke. Here, Spurgeon comforts the soul with the reminder that our highest blessedness is God with us.

"The greatest blessing God gives is His presence. If I could choose any of life's blessings, I certainly would not ask for wealth, because wealth cannot bring freedom from pain, concern, or anxiety. I certainly would not ask for popularity, because there is no rest for the world's leaders. My choice, my highest honor, would be to have God with me always. 

When God is with us, there is no difference between Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19) and a comfortable bed. It does not matter! We will be happy in either. If God is with us, if His divine love surrounds us, then we carry our own atmosphere and residence wherever we travel, and we can say with Moses, 'Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations' (Psalm 90:1). The individual who can say this is full of heaven, full of God, and blessed beyond measure. This is the privilege of all who truly believe in Jesus, of all who come out from the world, and of all who, like Abraham, live a life of faith (Genesis 12:4). Bow your head, believer, and let the Lord God pronounce this blessing, 'I will bless you.'

 If you are sorrowing, suffering, weary, or burdened, receive the blessing from God's own mouth, 'I will bless you.'

If you are poor, despised, or slandered, this blessing is not shortened. Take it with you, and go on your way rejoicing."

The Value of Training in Godliness

“While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” –I Timothy4:8

Once again, it is time to discard the old calendar and put up the new. A New Year ushers high energy right out of the gate with well-intended resolutions for change, typically with exercise topping most lists. Bodily training has some value, says the Apostle Paul to his young disciple now Pastor Timothy. As to the limited value, I intend to train for a 5K this year and accompany my oldest in a run. But this body is wearing out, and no amount of bodily training will last.

Paul contrasts the value of bodily training with godliness. Just as the gym is of some value for training the body, this life is meant for training in godliness at everlasting value. Yes, for the life to come, but Paul emphasizes that training now for godliness has promise for this present life. Godliness here means devotion, holding a heart devoted to God. While our earthly body wears out and withers like the grass, training in godliness proves most valuable as what is devoted to God is as eternal as God Himself.

As you make good earthly resolutions for the New Year, consider the limited value of such a resolution in contrast to the things devoted to God. With bodily training through 2023 may make you faster and stronger and physically feeling better by December than you do now, imagine with devotion to the study of the Bible, with resolve to serve the saints of Jesus Christ in the assembly of His church, with a serious attention to the commands of Christ such as repentance, rejoicing, reconciling, loving and praying for enemies, using your mouth for praise and not cursing, devoting time for prayer, having a reputation for peace and gentleness, and evangelizing the lost. How much healthier would you be spiritually by December?

Training in godliness is founded in knowing God’s revelation in the Bible. In order to be complete for every good work of eternal value, there is found a treasury for your training in righteousness in the Bible (II Timothy 3:16-17). As the problem in Ephesus for Timothy was people believing and teaching false doctrines (I Timothy 1:3-4) and talking about “irreverent, silly myths” (ITimothy 4:7), the problem for so many Christians today is susceptibility to things which sound Christian but are in fact false doctrines and spending their time knowing and talking about everything but the things of God. The best defense for the church from such attacks from Satan is a devoted knowledge of God who revealed Himself in His Word.

May the Lord in His excellent power and grace grant to us hearts devoted to godliness. With such devotion, our hearts will be strengthened in assurance of God’s saving grace and to be complete for every good work in the present life. Such eternal value is the promise that such a life glorifies God.

Heavenly Father, we approach You in prayer with one encouragement to our souls: Your mercy. Grant to us hearts devoted to training in godliness with assurance of Your promised eternal value for the life to come and to this present life that Your name would be glorified in the life of Your saints. Bless us by Your needed mercies rich and free in Christ our Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Incarnation and Adoption

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” –Galatians 4:4-5

Christmas is the annual reminder of the beauty and wonder of God the Son taking on flesh to save sinners. God directed the events of human history, both people and nations, for the redemption of people found in Jesus Christ. Jesus became what He was sent to save, human flesh. Born of a woman, fulfilling God’s promise to the serpent that born of the woman one will come to crush his head. Born under the law to rescue law-breakers cursed under the law and redeem them by perfect obedience to the law. As Athanasius put it, “(Jesus) became what we are that He might make us what He is.”

The inheritance of the full wealth of Jesus the Son of God redeems those adopted into His grace. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing the grand inheritance of Jesus who was sent by the Father “when the fullness of time had come.” As Charles Wesley wrote,

“Come, Thou long expected Jesus,

born to set Thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in Thee.”

The longing of fallen creation, the weary cries for redemption which has been food for God’s people day and night (Psalm 42:3) rejoice finally in Christ born to be the Father’s Suffering Servant to redeem for Himself a people by adoption.

Christmas is about adoption. Though human parents adopting humans is a beautiful display of love, the most gloriously beautiful display of love is found in God the Father adopting sinners through the Son, giving the right to be called children of God those who receive Jesus (John 1:12-13), receiving the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15). And yet, all creation groans as we await eagerly for adoption and redemption to be completed (Romans 8:23).

Advent is about waiting eagerly for our Lord’s return. No longer a slave, the Christian is a child adopted by God awaiting for Jesus to return that we may receive the promised inheritance of everlasting life. The imperishable, unfading inheritance is being kept in heaven for we who believe upon Christ alone for salvation, a precious inheritance guaranteed until we acquire possession of it (Ephesians 1:13-14). The church now waits for the heavenly kingdom to come on earth like Abraham who “was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). In the season of Advent, we wait with hope for this unseen, far kingdom, this promised inheritance in Christ, with patience (Romans 8:25).

Heavenly Father, our hearts rejoice in this great salvation in Christ, the Son You have sent to redeem Your adopted people. What wonder of wonders that Jesus would take on flesh to save flesh, to adopt as children those slaves to sin by freeing us in His death and granting hope of the coming kingdom in His resurrection. Fill us with Your hope, O Lord, as we wait for it with patience. We receive Your free mercies with grateful hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Joseph Alleine and Praying for Salvation

Robert Elmer compiled a collection of Puritan prayers with contemporary English in his excellent book, Piercing Heaven, which I highly recommend for you to add to your bookshelf. In this collection is a section with prayers in regards to giving the gospel to others. One such prayer includes the 17th Century preacher Joseph Alleine:

"O Lord, how insufficient I am for this work. With what will I piece the scales of Leviathan - or make my heart, hard as a millstone, feel what you desire it to feel?

Will I go and speak to the grave, and expect the dead to obey me and come forth?

Will I make a speech to the rocks, or lecture the mountains, and move them with arguments?

Will I make the blind see?

From the beginning of the world no one has ever heard of opening the eyes of a person born blind. But, Lord, you can pierce the heart of a sinner.

I can draw the bow at random, but you direct the arrow between the cracks of the armor.

I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. I come forth, like David against Goliath, to wrestle, not with flesh and blood, but with rulers and cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil of this world.

This day let the Lord defeat the Philistines, take away the armor of the strong man, and give me the captives out of his hand. 

Lord, choose my words. Choose my weapons for me. And when I put my hand into the bag, and take our a stone and sling it, and carry it to the mark, make it sink - not into the forehead, but into the heart of the unconverted sinner.

Take him to the ground like Saul of Tarsus.

Lord God, help! How can I leave them this way? If they will not hear me, still I pray that you will hear me. I pray that they might live in your sight! Lord, save them, or they perish.

My heart would melt to see their houses on fire when they were fast asleep in their beds. So is my soul moved within me to see them endlessly lost?

Lord, have compassion, and save them out of the burning. Put forth your divine power, and the work will be done.

Slay the sin, and save the soul of the sinner. Amen"

Mercy Killing

In a recent interview on the TV show "The View," actress Anne Hathaway said, "abortion can be another word for mercy." This is such a troubling, disturbing understanding of mercy killing of an unborn baby. How could abortion possibly be merciful? First, what is mercy?

In a discussion with a lawyer, Jesus defined a neighbor as the one who showed mercy to a beaten man along the road (Luke 10:25-37). Mercy is the kind treatment of someone to relieve their trouble. In Jesus' parable, a good Samaritan bound up the wounds and cared for a man beaten along a path and left for dead. The Samaritan man had compassion for this man, even paying for a stay in a hostel. 

Compassion did not lead to ending the beaten man's life for suffering, but to heal. Mercy is healing, treating someone else well to promote good, to help someone in need. Could Hathaway mean mercy to the baby is best shown in ending the baby's life rather than care for both the mother and the baby? What trouble is the baby suffering from which requires mercy? The three troubles I am able to think of are (1) the baby suffers from a potentially troubling life due to unloving parents, (2) the baby suffers from a disability, or (3) the parents cannot support the child.

Killing an unborn baby is not merciful because the baby is unwanted by unloving parents. This logic would be haunting if used by abusive parents of born babies. Furthermore, human beings with disabilities are not signs that life is punishment and killing them is merciful. Life is worth living even with difficulties. I have seen in Christ's church a people with compassionate hearts adopting babies whose mothers could not care for. There is mercy in Christ who shows mercy through His people. 

If you are reading this as a pregnant mother, I encourage you to connect with Pathway to Hope in Hamilton, Ohio. They have merciful resources to help with pregnancy, connecting with placing your baby up for adoption, help for fathers, and plenty more.

Mercy is also defined in the Scriptures as bearing with others, or forbearance. Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp define biblical forbearance brilliantly: "Forbearance is patience under provocation. It is willing to stand alongside someone in trouble even though it makes life more difficult." 

A baby makes life more difficult for a mother. Mercy bears with a life with more challenges. To see an unborn baby's life as something to silence with the cruel hands of killing simply because life is about to get more challenging or the baby will have difficulties due to disability is not mercy, but merciless.

Hathaway continued, "Just because you get pregnant doesn't mean you get to keep that baby." Hathaway admits abortion ends the life of a baby. She calls the unborn what a common sense epistemology knows as obvious: that life is the life of a baby.

Abortion is the execution of human life with an unjust trial, judge, and executioner devised to silence the life of the unborn who is helpless, voiceless, and hidden inside a mother's womb which God meant to be a place of safety for a growing baby. To redefine mercy as a cruel, merciless act is to call something evil good (Isaiah 5:20). It is unjust to legalize the death of an unborn baby due to inconvenience and call it justice.

People are looking for justice and mercy in a place of execution. America's demand for legal killing of babies, now wed with calling it mercy, is a Satanic twisting of the only place human beings may find justice and mercy. Calvary was a place of execution, and we in our sin are the executioners. Yet, God sent Jesus into the world to save sinners. God will not justify our sin by redefining mercy and justice, but with real mercy and justice punished Christ instead of sinners.

Christ's death was not a killing to put Him out of His misery, but to free sinners from the misery of sin and death. Mercy in the heart of God matched with His might and authority to execute Christ to give life to those who believe in Him rather than to place the punishment on them. We are to turn away from our unjust ways and thinking and toward God who is just and merciful to those who believe in Jesus. 

There is mercy for sinners in Christ who suffered and died for sinners, including those guilty of abortion. If you have had an abortion and looking for mercy, or would like to know more about God's forgiveness and salvation in Christ Jesus, please email me. I would love to tell you about our Savior and to pray with you.

The Wise Person is Teachable

 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” –Proverbs 12:15

The fool does not admit to wrongdoing in total. He is either right in his own eyes, or would be right if it weren’t for circumstances or other people, what we call blame-shifting.

I look back and reflect on how the Lord used me as a tool to help so many people. Redeeming rocky marriages, reconciling friendships in strife, comforting those who grieve, seeing sinners repent. However, I am in no ways perfect. I have said words that have wounded, stemming from wrong thoughts. I could easily defend my wrongdoing with a posture of being right in my own eyes, shifting blame on others saying “they made me angry” as opposed to confessing that I sinned in my anger.

God has a wise word: a wise man listens to advice. What remains foolish in me must humbly be open to council. In a word, the wise person is teachable; moving from self-righteousness toward humility. This requires my pride to gaze toward the cross. Christ laid down His life not only to forgive me, but to save me. Christ cleanses me with the water of His Word. Beloved, the Bible is a treasury of wisdom instructing our hearts to be transformed from our foolish thoughts and desires to know and desire God. Self-righteousness stands in the way of my knowing and desiring God.

Self-righteousness kills relationships. To a spouse or kids, self-righteousness makes living with you difficult because you cannot be wrong and they can never live up to your expectations. Being a close friend to you is difficult because any threat to your self-righteousness makes conversations with you unbearable. Words and behaviors must be defended or excused because you know you are right.

The Christian has received the gift of the Father in Christ a righteousness that is not his own. I am perfect in the eyes of God because I am in Christ. I no longer feel dread defending my foolishness because such things no longer condemn me. I have been liberated to listen to advice because now I am being sanctified.

Pride fears appearing weak, yet wisdom owns up to two things in our decision making and relationships: I miscalculate my own foolishness and blindness in my thoughts and I undervalue the wisdom I could receive from the counsel of others. God has made known to us the path of life (Psalm 16:11), a path our Savior tells us few find and is a hard path (Matthew 7:14).

A healthy Christian traveler on the hard path of life needs a church family pursuing wisdom as well as a humble ear inclined to learn from their advice. Christ’s disciples are lifelong learners of the depths of the hidden treasures of knowledge and wisdom in Christ (Colossians 2:3). Oh, how much more precious are the treasures of wisdom to be learned than rubies (Proverbs 8:11)! The great treasury of learning God’s revealed Word together with humble, teachable hearts in adoration of Christ in whom is hidden all the treasures, the valuable joyous rewards which delights the heart, of knowledge and wisdom.

Beloved flock, let us be easy listeners and truth speakers encouraging one another’s adoration for Christ as we pursue wisdom together in united harmony, not in pride but lowly, not wise in our own eyes (Romans 12:16).

Heavenly Father, You search the heart and know our foolishness. Yet, in Your wisdom You know what lessons must be heard and learned. Grant Your servants humble, teachable ears to hear godly advice. Grant us grace to recall our need and dependence on You. Grant us grace which stirs our hearts to pursue wisdom hidden in Christ by the deep study of Your Scripture. Bless Your church as we labor together as we teach one another in united adoration of Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.