my burg

"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." (Revelation 3:1b-2 ESV)  "Deliver us Lord, from the formalities that do not have reality. We pray that we may truly have the kind of spiritual reality that we confess in our faith in Jesus Christ." (S. Lewis Johnson, prayer) A group of us are studying through Jesus' words to the seven churches of Revelation (Rev chaps 2-3). We have found the messages given by Dr. Lewis Johnson back in the late-1980s at Believers Chapel (Dallas, TX) to be especially helpful. Following are some excerpts from his message regarding the church at Sardis:  "One of the things that the Christian church must contend with is the fact that it is offensive to the world when it is being true to the word of God. And really, as one of my old teachers used to like to say, 'It is a terrib...

"The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." (John 6:63 ESV)  So, why do I read the Bible daily? Why is it important for my life and growth in the Lord? Why are we Christians to be "people of the Book"?   Here's the short answer : God created the universe by his spoken word, and by his word he sustains it. He created us to know and relate to him through language. God reveals his mind and will to us through words. This revelation is used by the Spirit to enlighten, give life, produce faith, revive, and purify his people. Jesus, God's Son, is called the Word, and he came into the world to give us life. He spoke words of eternal life. His word is living and active.  God's people are sustained by his word.  God's word -- heard and understood, believed and applied, trusted and acted upon -- brings sanctifying life to us. At the end of earth's history he will speak the new creation into existence by his word. Our salvation, our sanctific...

Bible reading for February 3 -- 4 Feb 3 -- Job 2 and Romans 6 Feb 4 -- Job 3 and Romans 7 "After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth." (Job 3:1)  WISDOM IN SUFFERING. Though we don't know many of the details about where and when Job lived, we know that he was a real person in history (Ezek 14:14, 20; James 5:11). The book of Job may be the oldest of the books in Scripture, and is first in the lineup of the wisdom books. Wisdom literature is written, usually in poetic form, to address the big mysteries of life, as well as those practical matters in life that require discernment. Job deals with pain and suffering, specifically, the suffering of the righteous. The Song of Solomon deals with pleasure, specifically, the pleasures of courtship, sex, and marriage. In between, Proverbs gives wisdom for successfully navigating the problems of life, and Ecclesiastes teaches the limitations both of our lives and of what we can know. One thing we learn up front...

Bible reading for Dec 21.  2 Chronicles 25. "And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart." (25:2)  A HALF-HEARTED LIFE. King Amaziah demonstrated a divided heart and life before God.  The Lord blessed him and gave him a twenty-nine year reign.  Earlier he did well, but then turned away from biblical counsel and worshiped a false god. The prophet Elijah said that a divided heart was like walking with one good leg and one bad (1 Kings 19:21). The Lord recognizes and rewards the good his people do in faith (2 Cor 5:10). "God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do" (Heb 6:10).  But as we see, there's tragic loss and sadness in the end for Amaziah because of his divided heart.   REFLECT. The next time you have a flat tire or get one of those shopping carts that has a wheel with a mind of its own, think about the blessing of whole-heartednes...

Bible reading for Dec 3.  2 Chronicles 2. "The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.  But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?" (2:5-6)  THE WORK BEGINS. The temple that Solomon would build was not to be some kind of container for God, but rather a place to meet with God and to worship him. It would be a beautiful structure, built with precious materials and fine craftsmanship. Most of the labor was provided by resident aliens who were drafted for the work and compensated as indentured servants. Hiram, the king of Tyre and friend of King David, recognized the excellence of Solomon's leadership: "Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them" (v 11).   ===============   1 John 2. "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will o...

Bible reading for June 16.  Deuteronomy 21. "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance."  (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)  CIVIL LAW. In this chapter there are continued instructions concerning justice: regarding unsolved murders, female captives, inheritance of the firstborn, and judgment of rebellious sons (vv 1-21). These judicial decisions reflect the underlying value that God places upon human life (created in the image of God), and upon authority within the family. (See the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, especially those relating to life and family.) However, these particular judgments were part of the civil code of Israel, and regulated their national life under the Mosaic covenant. Believer...

Bible reading for June 5.  Deuteronomy 9. "Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you." (Deuteronomy 9:4)  NOT BASED UPON OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. One of the messages that the Israelites needed to keep hearing -- and so do we -- is that God's choice of his people is not due to any righteousness in themselves (Titus 3:4-7). God's calling rests upon his work and promises to the fathers in the past, and in light of his present judgment upon the wicked. Israel was saved by mercy, as are we. Christ is the only righteous One, who obtained salvation for us. We are a people given to Christ by his Father, that we might be spared and separated from the judgment that is coming upon the world (John 17:6; Rom 9:14-16). The Israelites are des...

Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.  Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left , that you may have good success wherever you go.  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night , so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.  (Joshua 1:6-8 ESV) Carefulness is a theme in the book of Joshua (1:7, 8; 22:3-5; 23:11).   Some of the problems the Israelites faced were due to carelessness on their part, for example, the failed attack on Ai, and the Gibeonite deception.  The word used in Joshua for being careful means to "keep, watch, guard, or protect".  It is the same word used in Genesi...

I have been studying Romans 8:1-4 and thinking through the Apostle Paul's teaching on the spiritual life.  In the past, and now again, I have been helped by Francis Schaeffer's insights into the Christian life. B elow are some excerpts, first from True Spirituality , and then from his Letters ... "Justification is once for all. At one moment my guilt is declared gone forever, but this [ spiritual life ] is not once for all. This is a moment-by- moment thing—a moment-by-moment being dead to all else and alive to God, a moment-by-moment stepping back by faith into the present world as though we had been raised from the dead." "If we are to bring forth fruit in the Christian life, or rather, if Christ is to bring forth this fruit through us by the agency of the Holy Spirit, there must be a constant act of faith, of thinking, 'Upon the basis of your promises I am looking for you to fulfill them, O my Jesus Christ; bring forth your fruit through me into this...

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds."  (Ephesians 4:17 ESV) "Doctrine followed by practice is the distinct characteristic of [Paul's] method... doctrine and practice are so intimately related and connected that they must never be divided; Paul cannot deal even with the most practical matters except in the light of doctrine." "Our conduct must always arise from and be dictated by and controlled by our doctrine.  In other words, the Christian life is not a code which is imposed upon us and which we do not understand." "As it follows out of doctrine we must understand what we are doing and what we are not doing.  Or, to put that still more plainly, we should never do things merely because other people are doing them; and we should not refrain from doing things simply because other people refrain from doing them. We must understand why we do them or why we refr...

Fred Smith, Sr., successful Christian businessman and mentor to many, had an ability to ask himself questions "with toughness and objectivity.  He regularly assessed his progress.  He didn't trust the idea of achieving integrity and then putting himself on 'auto pilot.'  He took his emotional, spiritual, and intellectual temperature to maintain accuracy." Here are a few questions he used in his personal search for integrity: 1) Do my motives have integrity ?   Rationalization does more to pollute integrity of motive than any other factor. Ends never justify illegal, unjust, or unethical means.   2) Am I ego-driven or responsibility motivated ? Ego-driven people satisfy their ego from the cause while responsibility motivated people sacrifice their ego to the cause.   3) Do I want the truth ?  It takes a tough mind and a strong heart to love truth. Integrity demands trying to know and love truth for its own sake.   4) Does my will contro...

“It is seldom that any of our bad habits or flaws disappear by a mere nature process of natural  extinction. At least it is very seldom it is done by the instrumentality of reasoning or by the force  of mental determination. What can not be destroyed however may be dispossessed. One case  may be made to give away to another and to lose its power entirely has the reigning affect of the mind. Here’s an example: A youth may cease to idolize sensual pleasure but it is because of the  idol of wealth. The desire to make money has gotten ascendancy, so he becomes disciplined.   But the love of money might have ceased to be in his heart if he was draw to ideology and politics.   Now he is lorded over by the love of power and moral superiority instead of wealth. But there is  not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object. The human heart’s  desire for one particular object is conquered. But its desire to have some objec...

And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."    Moses said, "Please show me your glory."    And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.  But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live."   And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."  (Exodus 33:17-23 ESV) "What is revival? It is just a glimpse of God’s 'back parts.' It is just a sight of the glory of the eternal God. It is a g...

They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord has risen indeed...!" (Luke 24:32-34 ESV) Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes,  "The great need of the church today, in our sadness and in our slowness, is to discover the secret of the burning heart. "We are so aware of the problems, so immersed in them, that we have forgotten all of the glory that is around us and have seen nothing but the problems that lead to this increasing dejection. "And the first thing we must do is wake up and gird up the loins of our minds and think and understand the truth and begin to apply it to the situation in which we find ourselves, instead of giving way, instead of giving in, instead of just commiserating with one another. "Slow...

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin."  (Romans 6:6-7 ESV) Here's Francis Schaeffer on dying to self... We are to be willing to say no to ourselves, we are to be willing to say no to things, in order that the command to love God and men may have real meaning... We do not come to true spirituality or the true Christian life merely by keeping a list, but neither do we come to it merely by rejecting the list and then shrugging our shoulders and living a looser life… As I have said, Romans chapter 6 begins with many strong negatives, and though we may want to rush on to the second half of verse 4 ("As Christ was raised from the dead . . . even so we may walk in newness of life"), actually we are in peril if we ignore the element of "dying." "Buried with him in baptism," ...

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when applying what you've studied in the Word.  The questions are grouped in three areas: Learning (knowledge), Worship (heart issues), and Action (practical and relational response)...

"And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'  But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:19-21 ESV) In the past I have limited this reference of "treasure" only to monetary matters. As Kuyper notes below, this principle -- being rich or poor toward God -- is more expansive than just applying to money.  Read on... To understand what constitutes riches in God, imagine for a moment that all your earthly riches had taken wings, and that bereft of all you had, you are forgotten by those who once knew you. In this utter forsakenness of soul ask yourself: What have I left? What do I now possess? This will be our state in the hour of death. We will go into eternity alone. What will we take with us? We must leave money and ...