Selah

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word” (Psalm 119:9).

I commend to you today a new blog published by a group of young people who are seeking to take this command seriously. Selah, or the Selah Psalm Blog, is edited by Jonathan Kim and Cameron Adams, young men I had the privilege of pastoring during most of their high school years.

Loving the Way Jesus Loves

Wedding season is upon us; the season of love. That means your chance of hearing 1 Corinthians 13 read publicly increases exponentially. One sometimes wonders on these occasions if the hearers really understand what is being read.

A few years ago, while preaching in Acts 25, I noticed that only verse 19 references God directly in Acts 25. I wondered if there are any other chapters in the New Testament with fewer references to God by name, title, or pronoun. My quick search surprised me. First Corinthians 13 is the only “God-less” chapter in the New Testament. No name of God is mentioned, no title, not even a pronoun referring to God. I suppose that is partly why this passage is so commonly read at weddings, even of unbelievers. People read it in isolation from the rest of the letter and the rest of Scripture, and they impose their own idea of love on the passage.

Phil Ryken’s new book: Loving the Way Jesus Loves (Crossway, 2012) clearly teaches the meaning of 1 Corinthians 13 as applied to all of life. It will help the newly married, but it is written for everyone. The friend who gave it to me was blessed through it to remember her need to grow in love even as she diligently seeks doctrinal truth.

The Joy of Paying Taxes

Do you delight in paying taxes? That’s a tough question as April 17 stares us in the face. The income tax deadline looms in the United States as we sort through piles of W-2s, 1099s, receipts, mileage records, various forms, the tax code, and perhaps TurboTax. Jesus commands us to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21). God has appointed civil government, and Jesus himself paid taxes (Matthew 17:24-27). Obedience should always involve joy. Therefore, paying taxes ought to be a thing of joy for the believer. Certainly, some duties, like disciplining our children, or submitting ourselves to discipline, do not call for giddy ecstasy, but doing God’s will should be our delight even when difficult. Hebrews 12:11 reminds us that: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

On the Lord’s Day

Encouragement from the Westminster divines on making the most of the Lord’s Day. The language may be old, but the need and blessing is as modern as ever for those who seek fellowship with the living God:

“On the Lord’s day, after every one of the family apart, and the whole family together, have sought the Lord (in whose hands the preparation of men’s hearts are) to fit them for the publick worship, and to bless to them the publick ordinances, the master of the family ought to take care that all within his charge repair to the publick worship, that he and they may join with the rest of the congregation: and the publick worship being finished, after prayer, he should take an account what they have heard;

On the Lord’s Day

Exodus 35:2: “A sabbath rest to the Lord.”

From Dr. John Murray as we rest today from our daily labor and are released to the contemplation of the glory of God:

God rested on the seventh day from his work of creation but he continued to be omnipresently active in the work of providence. Hence our rest of the Sabbath is not one of inaction, of idleness, far less of sloth. It is the rest of another kind of activity. It is indeed rest from the ordinary employments of the other six days. There is cessation from that activity and the labour which it entails. But it is also rest to or rest in; it is rest to and rest in the Lord.

On the Lord’s Day

Encouragement today from E.J. Young for all of us who walk as strangers and exiles on the earth (Hebrews 11:13):

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” Isaiah 58:13-14 (ESV).

Learning to Talk…to God

Our fourteen month-old daughter is learning to talk. Currently, we can clearly discern a handful of words, but she understands far, far more. She talks a blue-streak. Emphatic gestures, volume variation, and facial expressions accompany her babbling. Obviously, it all makes perfect sense to her. Like all children, she is learning to speak from her parents and, in her case, her siblings. We see this vividly whenever she grabs her mother’s cell-phone: she walks around the house with it to her ear, always beginning with “da da” followed by “I meh, shish, ba…”

God wires children’s brains and tongues to learn language from others around them. It comes, then, as no surprise, that God’s children would learn to talk to him in prayer by listening to his words.

On The Lord’s Day

In Indiana, we have taken exquisite pleasure in the week’s spring weather, the magnolias in full bloom, and the radiant beauty of the daffodils. Let us take exquisite pleasure in our God today as we worship our Creator and Redeemer.

God’s promises to those who keep the Sabbath

From Dr. Joseph Pipa’s book The Lord’s Day:

First, He promises unsurpassed communion with God, ‘[Y]ou will take delight in the LORD.’ The word ‘delight’ means ‘exquisite pleasure’. To take exquisite pleasure in the Lord is to be overwhelmed by His beauty and glory that are revealed in His attributes and work. To delight in God is to enjoy special communion and fellowship with Him, responding with gratitude and delight as He manifests His love to you.

Transformed by God

Powerful.

Repeatedly, that word rolled off the lips of those who heard Rylie Robinson’s testimony last Lord’s Day evening here in Indianapolis. One person said “We haven’t heard something that powerful in this church in years!” I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the house last week, but it was no bare sentimentality, it was awe in the face of God’s power. It’s the kind of story I imagine Barnabas telling about other new believers as he traveled in the days of the early church. We need to see God working powerfully in our day. Our covenant children need to see God change people by his might before their eyes. You need to hear this testimony.

From Kansas Boys Galore

We eagerly anticipate the Reformed Presbyterian International Conference to be held this summer. Promotional material for the quadrennial conference has changed over the years since it began in 1926. Then, it was known as the national conference of the Covenanter Young People’s Union. It convened at Winona Lake, Indiana. The following song in the Pittsburgh Presbytery’s Cheer Booster advertised the event in the 1920s and 30s. It is set to the tune “Jingle Bells” (though I confess, I have some trouble making it work musically).

There are folks from Iowa,
From Kansas boys galore,
From New York “Oh the pretty girls,”
From Pittsburgh hundreds more,

Young Pastor, Older Member

Over the next three days, our presbytery will examine a number of men to determine their fitness for pastoral ministry. Some hope to be ordained almost immediately, for others that day will not be far away, Lord willing. We trust it will be a time of great joy.

These men will go into churches full of people many years their senior. My ordination was only nine years ago, so most people would still put me in the “young pastor” category, though as the almond tree quickly blossoms, that is changing. What can these older saints expect the Lord to do through such young, inexperienced men? It’s a good question, because the new man’s preaching may not be well polished, his knowledge of Scripture is not as thorough as it will be years from now, and his life experience makes him unable to personally relate in counseling settings to those who have been weathered by many years of life. Whether this article applies to you at present or not, it almost certainly will sometime, assuming you live a long life.

The Spiritual Gift of Discouragement?

Some people in the church seem to have the spiritual gift of discouragement.  It’s all that guy can do – discourage others. Truthfully, we are all “that guy” far too often. We find it far easier to complain and view circumstances negatively than positively. So, when a person embodies encouragement, we notice. The apostles took note of a such a man named Joseph. They recognized that he was no ordinary Joe. They called him Barnabas instead, which translated means “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36).

The church and her saints grew quickly when Barnabas encouraged people. We know from 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 that when it comes to growth, some plant, others water, but only God causes the growth. Encouragement serves as one form of watering.

The Christian and Sports – Dr. Rich Holdeman

The Super Bowl Temple article posted a few weeks ago inspired comments from a number of readers about the place of sports in the life of a Christian. I asked my friend and colleague, Dr. Rich Holdeman, to write on the topic because of his background as a hockey player at Yale University and later as the head coach of the Indiana University hockey team. He has graciously agreed, and I am grateful. His article follows. Dr. Holdeman is presently the pastor of the Bloomington, Indiana, Reformed Presbyterian Church and is a lecturer in cell biology at Indiana University.

Note: in the original article on the Super Bowl, the sub-point on  idolatry generated the bulk of the comments from readers. The following article addresses that topic specifically. Many readers have expressed interest in an article on sports and the use of the Lord’s Day. Dr. Holdeman has agreed to address that topic in a forthcoming post.

- James Faris

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The question is sometimes asked to highlight the folly of circular reasoning. But it has also hatched profound discussions for generations on the dilemma of causality. How could we have an egg if we did not have a chicken to lay the egg? But how could we have a chicken to lay the egg if there was no egg from which the chicken came in the first place?

Isaiah 29: Paul’s Favorite Old Testament Chapter?

Was Isaiah 29 the Apostle Paul’s favorite chapter from the Old Testament? If asked what the chapter is about, most Christians would probably reason as follows: 1) I have no clue. But if I have to guess… 2) It’s an Old Testament prophecy and the chapter does not ring any “famous chapter” bells, so… 3) It must be about…um…JUDGMENT! And, you’d be right! But if it is so seemingly obscure why could we nominate it for “Best Chapter” of the Apostle Paul in the Old Testament?