So That We Might Comfort....

Life is painful. Whether we like to admit it or not, no one goes through life without some degree of suffering, pain, and discomfort. Suffering is a fact, even in the life of the believer. This can be a rather discouraging thought. No matter how good you are or how many things you have, you are going to experience pain. No matter how much you try to protect yourself or those around you, you are going to suffer, be hurt, and experience discomfort. Pain is not something that many people deal well with, especially in the lives of others. When someone comes to us with a problem we often want to direct them to somebody else -- a pastor, teacher or friend -- anyone but ourselves! The last thing that we are prepared for is for a friend to tell us that they just had an abortion and are feeling guilty. Or that your best friend is struggling with drugs. Or that the person who had it all together just committed suicide. Too often we as Christians try to drop these problems like a hot potato, and we miss the incredible opportunity that God has given us.

God does not put us through pain and suffering for no reason. James talks about this when he says in James 1:2-3, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” God does everything for His glory and we are often the beneficiaries of that (Psalm 23:3). 2 Corinthians tells us that God comforts us so that we can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1).
The pain that we are going through is not pointless, nor is it random. It is happening at a specific time for a specific reason, and through it God is glorified. To the believer this is a tremendous truth! Not only do our trials make us stronger and better prepared to help others; they also bring glory to God! This can be an incredible promise, but it is something more. God does not just ask us to help others. He does not just want a select few to counsel and advise those in need. He commands us all to comfort others.

All the pain, tears, and suffering that we experience have a purpose. One of which is that we might experience the comfort of God, and thereby comfort others. Without suffering comfort is meaningless. Unless we experience pain we cannot have healing, without sin there can be no redemption. It is the very suffering we experience that brings the comfort we crave. God allows us to suffer in order to know Him more intimately. Think of Job. Stripped of everything he ever valued; health, love, family, friends, wealth, and even God. (Or so he thought!) Yet it was through this suffering and pain that Job experienced God like never before.

Yet is this comfort a private thing between us and God? Are the trials, and subsequent, comfort, only for us? No. 2 Corinthians 1:3-6, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.”

God’s grace is often nuanced and multifaceted. He takes private suffering and comfort and transforms it into a powerful tool of ministry. Suddenly our experiences with sin and pain become means of comfort, love, and redemption. As we experience trials we grow in character and godliness. God, in His mercy, comforts us and we grow into a deeper relationship with Him. However this comfort & redemption are not private matters to be stored within the deepest recesses of our hearts. God gives us the opportunity to minister to others with the comfort, that He gave to us in our trials. As we comfort one another we have an increased sense of community. As we experience trials we grow in grace and receive comfort that can be applied to others. And through it all God is glorified.

Pain is inevitable. Yet God transforms even the most tragic events, (like the cross) into glorious moments. He takes the horror of sin, and grants transforming love. So the next time you experience suffering, remind yourself that God has a greater purpose. To comfort you in your affliction, and prepare you to comfort others as well.
Soli Deo Gloria!-To God alone be the glory!

Link of the Week #9

Hello readers! Thus far our links have (primarily) highlighted individual sermons or lectures, but this week rather than pointing you to a particular sermon we'd like to point you to some particular preachers. In Romans 9 and in 1 Corinthians 1 the apostle Paul underscores the supremacy and importance of preaching in the life of the church. One of the advantages that our current technological age gives us is the ability to listen to godly men preach the Word from all over the world. So this week we'd like to highlight a few men that we listen to on a regular basis for spiritual nourishment through preaching.

The first preacher we'd like to highlight is Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. As his bio says:
Sinclair Ferguson is senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C., and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary. One of the most renowned Reformed theologians in our day, Dr. Ferguson is also a member of the Council of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He is a prolific author whose many books include The Holy Spirit, Taking the Christian Life Seriously, and Kingdom Life in a Fallen World. | more
You can listen to Dr. Ferguson here.

The second preacher we'd like to highlight is Rev. Charles R. Biggs. Rev. Biggs is the Pastor of Ketoctin Covenant Presbyterian Church in Purcellville Virginia and is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

You can listen to Rev. Biggs here.



The third (and final) preacher we'd recommend is Dr. George Grant. As Dr. Grant's bio says:
The author of more than five dozen books, George Grant is pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee, founder of Franklin Classical School, chancellor of New College Franklin, and president of King's Meadow Study Center.

You can listen to Dr. Grant preach here.

The Godly Home: A Review

J.I. Packer has been a cheerleader for reading the Puritans for quite a few decades now. In his introduction to Leland Ryken's book “Worldly Saints: The Puritans as they Really Were” he had this to say about them:

“In [their] thoroughness they were extreme, that is to say, far more thorough than we are, but in their blending of the whole wide range of Christian duties set forth in Scripture they were extremely balanced. They lived by “method” (we would say, by a rule of life), planning and proportioning their time with care, not so much to keep bad things out as to make sure that they got all good and important things in – necessary wisdom, then as now, for busy people!”

Few quotes better sum up Richard Baxter's recently re-published work “The Godly Home.” However, before I discuss the book, I should mention a few things about this edition. The Godly Home is a 2010 reprint of several chapters from Baxter's 992 page work A Christian Directory. This classic work was Baxter's magnum opus, and serves as a stunning collection of practical theology. Baxter designed this work to be, well, a directory for the Christian. It contains discussions on virtually every aspect of the Christian life and seeks to provide biblical and pastoral advice for all of these topics. The Godly Home is a reprint of Baxter's chapters discussing marriage, parenting, and the family.

This new edition is very well put together. The editor (Randall J. Pederson) sprinkles the book with many helpful footnotes and explanatory features. His restructuring of the work makes for a clean and easy read. However, this book is not necessarily designed for someone to sit down and read straight through (although it can be done). It is laid out in a topical format, (for example Baxter will devote one chapter to marriage, one to family worship, one on the responsibility of parents to children, one on the responsibility of children to parents, etc...) and it can be a bit tedious to read all at once. For someone who is already on board with what Baxter is saying it can feel a bit repetitive. However, the exhaustive nature of this work is also its biggest strength. As Packer said above, the Puritans lived by method, and Baxter here gives us a step by step, point by point, look at the method of godly life. Baxter's writing style is clean and easy to read, and he clearly writes with a pastor's heart. All in all, I would really recommend this volume. For seasoned Christians, it will prove to be a helpful exposition on the structure and functions of the family. And for new believers (many of whom have no idea what a Christian home should look like) this book could well be the resource that keeps them from floundering.

Reading Right

"Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul...It is not he that reads most , but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian." - Thomas Brooks (1608-1680)

Link of the Week #8

Hello readers! I recently posted a passage from C.S. Lewis's classic book "The Screwtape Letters" on how Christians ought to view time. Shortly after that I listened to a wonderful sermon by the Rev. Charles R. Biggs on precisely the same subject. I hope you enjoy this week's link.

To listen to this week's link go here

Treasuring God’s Word

Recently I preached a sermon on Psalm 119:9-16 on the value of God’s Word in helping a young person keep his way pure. In that sermon I mentioned the advantage that a young person has who has been trained to hide or treasure God’s Word in his heart (Psalm 119:11). But so many families & churches have gotten away from memorizing & meditating on Scripture, thus leaving their young people susceptible to the Devil’s ploys, not unlike the times of the Reformation. During the time of the Reformation there was a terrible ignorance of the Scriptures and doctrines of the church. To help remedy this dilemma, the leaders of the Reformation used the catechisms to catechize people and strengthen their understanding of the Word of God. It can be argued that today, much like in the time of the Reformation, the church is terribly ignorant of the Scriptures. Tolerance, relativism, & postmodernism have seeped into the church and influenced the thinking of many Christians, tempting them to think & live unBiblically. How can such a pagan tide be turned and the church returned to a Christian world & life view? The Bible tells us that it is the Word of God along with the Holy Spirit that changes the heart of man (Rom. 10:17; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Heb. 4:12, 13; John 16:7, 8).

Catechizing may be a strange word to many today, but actually it has been a time-honored and effective practice throughout the history of the church. Catechism comes from a Greek word used in the Bible, katacheo, which simply means instructed or taught (Luke 1:4). Catechism is a method of instruction that uses a series of questions and answers to teach its participants the basic Christian doctrines; thus developing in the minds & lives of the participants a fundamental understanding of what the Bible teaches. Of course the questions & answers were not randomly selected by the authors of the catechism, but were taken from the Bible.

In returning to the practice of catechizing, Christians are filling their minds not only with the teaching of the Bible (through the catechism questions & answers), but also with the Word of God itself (by memorizing the proof text for each catechism question & answer). As Christians memorize the catechism & the corresponding Scriptures they fill their minds with the framework by which to think and approach life (a Christian worldview). When Christians begin to think Christianly, they begin to live Christianly. Like Psalm 119:105 says, Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (NASB). But God's Word does not only guide a person in how to live, but also guards them from the false teaching and sin of the world. Psalm 119:11 says, Your Word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin again You (NASB). The catechism is not "the answer" or "the hope" for the church in her apathy today. However, it is a tool that God has used throughout church history to strengthen His church and cause her to stand firm!

If you are not familiar with the concept of catechizing or are not convinced of its validity for today then let me recommend J.I. Packer & Gary A. Parrett’s book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way. In this book they make the case for a recovery of significant catechesis as a nonnegotiable practice, urging evangelical churches to undertake this Biblical ministry for the sake of their spiritual health and vitality.

Once you decide to catechize your kids, let me suggest that you may want to get a copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechism (with Proof Texts). This compact, yet readable version of the Confession & Catechism is not only useful for family worship time, but is also a good size to carry with you so that you can read & memorize it on your lunch break.

It is good to memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism along with the Scripture verses, but memorization is not enough! It is important to understand and to meditate on what the answers to the Westminster Shorter Catechism mean. To aid you in this, our family has benefited from G.I. Williamson’s The Westminster Shorter Catechism: For Study Classes. This illustrated manual offers clear exposition of each of the 107 questions in the Shorter Catechism. Each lesson includes Scripture proofs, as well as questions for review or discussion. A valuable aid for group instruction or private study, this volume has been used successfully by homeschoolers, pastors, Sunday school teachers, and parents.

Another helpful resource is Starr Meade’s book Training Hearts, Teaching Minds. This is a book of daily devotional readings which…

• Aids memorization by devoting six days per question.

• Explains the catechism in simple language.

• Provides six different meditations on the main points of each question.

• Includes key Scripture readings.

• Takes just a few minutes each day, allowing time for discussion and review.

• Is useful in the home, church, or classroom.

To make things even easier, Starr Meade’s devotional is based on the Modern English translation of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. These resources are available at http://www.wtsbooks.com

So while it is true that in memorizing Scripture you could start almost anywhere (i.e. your kids Sunday School memory verses, the Roman’s Road, the Navigator’s Memory System, etc) I would recommend using the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The advantage, like I said before is that as Christians memorize the catechism & the corresponding Scriptures they fill their minds with the framework by which to think and approach life (a Christian worldview). I have to say that my family has greatly benefited from this discipline.

Our goal has been to memorize one question & answer of the Westminster Shorter CatechismWestminster Shorter Catechism memorized. If your children are younger you may choose to move at a slower pace. It may take you four, six or even eight years to memorize these great truths. Nonetheless you are still hiding God’s Word in your child’s heart. What a blessing! along with at least one verse each week. What a blessing to know that you are helping your child treasure up 52 verses a year. In just a little over two years you could have the entire

One last word; let me encourage you grandparents to memorize the Shorter Catechism with your grandchildren. Often parents get so caught up in the mundane tasks of raising their children that they are tempted to forget the important things such as hiding God’s Word in their children’s hearts. As grandparents, you have a special opportunity to help your kids hide God’s Word in the hearts of your grandkids.

One special way to do this is through music. Holly Dutton has taken the time to put all the questions & answers to the Westminster Shorter Catechism to music and put them on four CD’s (http://www.reformedmusic.com) . What a great gift to give to your grandchildren and to sing along with them!

In Christ,

Rick

The Curious Assumption...

The Screwtape Letters is a Christian apologetics novel written in epistolary style by C.S. Lewis, first published in book form in 1942. The story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior tempter named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as "the Patient". Here is a helpful quotation from "Screwtape" to his bungling nephew:

"Now you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him. It is the unexpected visitor (when he looked forward to a quiet evening), or the friend's talkative wife (turning up when he looked forward to a tête-à-tête with the friend), which throw him out of gear. Now he is not yet so uncharitable or slothful that these small demands on his courtesy are in themselves too much for it. They anger him because he regards his time as his own and feels that it is being stolen. You must therefore zealously guard in his own mind the curious assumption "My time is my own." Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours. Let him feel as a grievous tax that portion of his property which he has to make over to his employers, and as a generous donation that further portion which he allows to religious duties. But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which these deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright.

You have here a delicate task. The assumption which you want him to go on making is so absurd that, if once it is questioned, even we cannot find a shred of argument in its defense. The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon as his chattels. He is also, in theory, committed to a total service of the Enemy [God]; and if the Enemy appeared to him in bodily form and demanded that total service for even one day, he would not refuse. He would be greatly relieved if that one day involved nothing harder than listening to the conversation of a foolish woman; and he would be relieved almost to the pitch of disappointment if for one half-hour in that day the Enemy said, "Now you may go and amuse yourself." Now, if he thinks about his assumption for a moment, even he is bound to realize that he is actually in this situation every day. When I speak of preserving this assumption in his mind, therefore, the last thing I mean you to do is to furnish him with arguments in its defense. There aren't any. Your task is purely negative. Don't let his thoughts come anywhere near it. Wrap a darkness about it, and in the centre of that darkenss let his sense of ownership-in-Time lie silent, uninspected, and operative."
- C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters: Letter XXI pg. 96-97

Link of the Week #7

Hello readers! As those of you who interact with contemporary Presbyterian and Reformed thought will know, the topic of paedo-communion is gaining increasing attention as new converts to the Reformed faith wrestle with understanding the sacraments. There are many good resources out there that can help us understand this discussion and come to a biblical understanding, but one very helpful resource that we have found is the following lecture by Dr. Joey Pipa. Dr. Pipa is the president of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. We hope you enjoy (and are edified by) this week's link!

You can find this week's link here

Devotion or Doctrine?

"For my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that "nothing happens" when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand."

- C.S. Lewis Introduction to "On the Incarnation" pg. 8