Quotes « Faith Church

Poverty and the Cross

August 25, 2011 · Will

I was deeply moved by the following article on poverty:

“I can’t remember when I first realized that I was accomplishing nothing of substance. A few car break-ins taught me that some guys saw me as an easy mark. A few pot purchases with the “gas bill money” taught me that others saw me as an ATM. Admonitions to “stay in school” had little appeal compared to drug-fueled orgies for kids as young as fifteen years old. I tried. God knows I tried. But it was all for naught.

“Only one thing really worked. The Cross. There are kids today that Nancy and I worked with who are doing well, who are happily married, and who are pillars of their community. What made the difference for them? The Cross. It wasn’t about my words. It wasn’t about my effort. (After all, I tried just as hard or harder with other kids — who are now in prison or “baby-daddies” or both.) The kids who made it heard the Gospel, repented of sin, and were transformed through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.”

Read the rest: Our Depraved Poor

[HT: Justin Taylor]

"We Care About All Suffering Now, Especially Eternal Suffering Later"

February 4, 2011 · faithfamily

Here is a partial transcript of what Pastor John Piper said couple of Sunday’s ago during his weekend sermon. I think it is helpful in understanding how true Gospel grace always includes fighting for social justice. God help us to keep this forefront and straight.

Suffering in this world is terrible and limited, but suffering in the next world is terrible and eternal. And love sees it that way. Love does not shut its eyes to this world or that world. Love reckons with the reality of suffering here, and the worse reality of suffering there.

And what I see all around us today in the Christian church is the tendency to care only about the one or the other. There are these two camps:

I’m an activist for the cause of justice and life and wholeness and shalom and flourishing!

I’m not going to be distracted by all that. I’m going to rescue people from hell!

Here’s what I want. I want all of us at Bethlehem to say, “We will not make that choice!” We will say this sentence and mean it: “We care about all suffering now, especially eternal suffering later.”

That’s the sentence I want to leave ringing in your ears. I want you to feel whether you can embrace both of those. My guess is that there are people in this room very resistant to the first half and others who are very resistant to the second half.

I don’t want us to be among the sophisticated Christians who cannot take hell on their lips, let alone fire, or outer darkness, or gnashing of teeth, or torment. Oh no, we’re too sophisticated for that! I don’t give a rip about sophistication! I want truth! I want to know, God: Are these people that I hobnob with day after day on their way to destruction? If so, then I know what love requires.

And, there are others so jealous to guard that truth, that they’re afraid to death to fight any evil in this world. It’s going to look like liberalism, for goodness sakes! Let it look like whatever you want to call it. It’s just what [Jesus] says we should do.

Let’s be like Jesus. In every social issue from abortion to alcoholism, from AIDS to unemployment, from hunger to homelessness, let’s give the help that we would like to receive if it were us. And at every moment in that love, let us feel an even greater urgency to pray and speak and work to rescue people from everlasting suffering through the gospel of Jesus.

You can watch/hear the whole sermon here to understand the context and the bible teaching that has led John Piper to reach this conclusion.

Handyman's Special

February 3, 2011 · faithfamily

Great hope is ours because of Christ.

Imagine a house for sale that is a “handyman’s special.” One buyer sees the house as it is: the crumbling chimney, the overgrown shrubs, the broken windows, the 1930s kitchen, the missing shingles, the outdated wiring, and the roof that should have been replaced ten years ago. His shoulders sag and he walks away – too much work; not enough hope.

Another buyer sees the same house but looks ahead to what it will be when it is restored – with his kids playing soccer in the yard, guests laughing together on the wraparound porch, a wonderful meal cooking in the kitchen to be enjoyed by everyone around the table. Same house for each buyer? Yes. Same possibilites? Yes. But only one buyer who can see what he needs to do to make a new reality.

As you stand in the front yard of your life and look at the house you are living in, what do you see? What’s got your eye? Do you only see the problems, give up, an walk away? Do you only see the problems and become defensive that you angrily pretend they aren’t there? Or do you see the problems the way God sees them, with hope in his power to change you?

from: Tim Lane and Paul Tripp’s How People Change (Study Guide) page 8

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

The Goal of Biblical (Gospel-Centered) Counseling

February 1, 2011 · faithfamily

Here is a quote that I thought summarized well the goal of Gospel-Centered Counseling. I love my Lord for opening my eyes to this truth many years ago because it has revolutionized my goal in pastoral counseling.

Biblical counselors also define the goal of the counseling (and all of life) as not merely the alleviation of suffering but the living of life for the glory of God. Although we always hope for alleviation of suffering, we have a higher goal than the here and now. Our goal is that the God who loves us, who gave his Son for us, would be glorified through us, and that the name of Jesus Christ would be praised.

When people finally decide to find a friend or counselor and ask for help, the glory of God is not usually on their wish list. Instead goals such as “feeling better about myself,” getting my husband to love me more,” or “having more obedient children” top the list. The biblical counselor does hope, of course, that people will fell better and have better relationships as a result of their meeting together. But that is not his primary objective. No, his primary objective is that the counselee would see her life as having one goal: making the great love, holiness, power, beauty, and majesty of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit more evident in her life.

… any counseling that does not begin and consistently stay with the Bible’s revelation about God and man will always slide into man-centeredness. It will always make man and his plans, power, goals, and aspirations the focus of counseling. It is impossible for anything else to happen.

from Counsel from the Cross (Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Dennis E. Johnson) Crossway Books, 2009