Our attendance was down on Wednesday. It’s really sad that people had to miss, some where sick, some had birthdays, some had other affections, some had things they had to do that could not be rescheduled. Nonetheless, our attendance was down and many missed a good service. For those of you who want updated and to know what was preached here is the sermon notes. You missed out on a little bit though because there were a few sections that were preached a little different than originally written.
I love how Nahum starts with the character. He is going to talk about the judgment of God upon Nineveh but he wants Judah to know, and probably Nineveh as well, that everything is happening because of the character of God. So that is what our sermon was about the character of God and the reason for our salvation. You can read the sermon here. Enjoy!
Burroughs–What is Contentment?
Today we will be looking at Burroughs’ description of contentment (page 2). This description will serve as a thesis for the entire book. Burroughs will spend 13 chapters expounding upon this description and giving principles on how to attain it. Burroughs offers the following description:
“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.
The first thing we see is that contentment is a sweet inward heart thing. It is as the Psalmist said, “Truly my soul waits on God” (62:1) or again “My soul, wait only on God (62:5). Burroughs notes that “many may sit silently, refraining from discontented expressions, yet inwardly they are bursting with discontent”.
Therefore we see that it is vitally important that our hearts be content inwardly. Because God hears our inward heart. What a great analogy Burroughs then employs by saying, “A shoe may be smooth and neat outside, while inside it pinches the flesh.” Oh, how many souls are outwardly “content” yet inwardly they are discomforted and grumbling against the Lord? I know that sometimes due to my position in the ministry I can outwardly look contented yet inwardly my heart is turbulent. How much must our great God despise our murmuring hearts?
Certainly our battle for contentment will be an inward battle. Often times we can easily fake the outside; only occasionally, when pressed beyond control, do we display our inward unrest. Therefore, “there is certainly more to it than can be attained by common gifts and the ordinary power of rason, which often bridle nature. It is a business of the heart.” As Burroughs will show us this will take the power of the Christ and His gospel to bring us to contentment.
What are your comments? Has anything struck you in this section? I especially like Burroughs analogy of the shoe; polished on the outside and pinching on the inside. Have you ever felt that way? Do you ever feel like a polished shoe on the outside all the while inwardly your heart is discontented?
Mighty Is the Power of the Cross
“The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us”. –John Stott
Every now and then the Lord will give us the grace to feel the beauty of the Cross and to exult in worship. Oh, that this would happen more often in my life! The gracious Lord is showing me more and more every day the centrality of the Cross. In what sadly used to be commonplace the Cross of Jesus Christ now causes me to be an emotional basket case. Just to dwell upon the Cross of Christ and to really fix myself upon its beauty causes my heart to break out into elation and humble brokenness at the same time. I am broken and humbled becasue I know that there is NOTHING in me that would cause the Lord to make me His child. Why, but because of His great love and mercy, did He bring me into the fold? There is no reason! I should be in hell this moment separated from the goodness of God and only seeing Him in wrath. But because of the
“great love with which he loved [me]” he made me alive together with Christ.
This came to life as I was preparing the sermon for tomorrow on Nahum, dwelling on the power of the Cross, reading a song by Stuart Townsend–“How Deep the Father’s Love” and listening to a Chris Tomlin song. Surprisingly I had never heard the song before–Might Is the Power of the Cross. The chorus is as follows: “Mighty, awesome, wonderful Is the Holy cross.Where the Lamb lay down His life To lift us from the fall. Mighty is the power of the cross.”
Is He Enough–Introductory Matters in Rare Jewel
Burroughs was a man who was accustomed to much sorrow. He had more than a few situations in his life where he was plagued with disunity among the body of Christ. Anyone who loves the bride of Jesus knows how trying these times can be. Burroughs also lived in a tumultuous time. In the early portion of his ministry he had to fight many battles against the Church of England concerning conformity and non-conformity. Most of these struggles were centered upon his refusal to accept King James’Book of Sports. After this was seemingly resolved, Burroughs found himself in the center of the controversy between the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Independents (of whom Burroughs was a “member”).
So, Burroughs knows of suffering. The things written in Rare Jewel are not mere theoretical musings–they are the outgrowth of experience in his own Christian walk. You can feel Burroughs pain in his first paragraph when he speaks of the “drooping spirits of the saints in these sad and sinking times” (1). No doubt Burroughs himself was one of those who struggled with having a “drooping spirit”. Therefore, it is fitting that he should labor to faithfully exposit Philippians 4:11.
Today we will look at the introductory matters. We will ask two questions. 1) What does the apostle mean in Philippians 4:11? 2) What is the doctrinal assertion of this text?
1) What does the apostle mean in Philippians 4:11?
To place this in its proper context we must understand that Paul is in the midst of thanking the Philippians for their kind gift. This is what he meant in 4:10 when he said, “…you have revived your concern for me”. It seems as if the Philippians had been going through a deep financial struggle and where unable to support Paul monetarily. But then, as Paul is in prison, Epaphroditus shows up. Epaphroditus himself is a gift, yet he is bringin monetary support from the Philippians as well. In this Paul rejoices. But, so as not to sound desperate he qualifies his thanksgiving in verse 11. He wants them to know that his excitement is not in the monetary gift but in their support. As Burroughs says, “not that he sought ‘theirs’ but ‘them’”. And tucked away in this paragraph is Paul’s statement, “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content”.
Burroughs helps us to see three things from this text: it is learned, it is to be constant, and it comes from the sufficiency of Christ.
“It is learned” helps us to see that having contentment in every situation is a “great art”. Burroughs notes the tense of the phrase. It is almost as if Paul is saying, “I do not have to learn it now, nor did I have [this] at first, I have attained it, though with much [struggle], and now, by the grace of God, I have become the master of this art.” It is vital that we see that contentment is a learned art. It will keep us from being frustrated, guard us from arrogance, and push us on to pursue more contentment.
“In whatever situation” helps us to see that this is to be a constant state. We must always be content. Whether as Paul says we are, “facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need”. We must learn to be content.
“To be content” actually can refer to only God. The word means “self-sufficient”. Only God can, “rests fully satisfied in and with Himself alone”. But how then can we say that Paul (and later that we) can have this self-sufficiency? As Burroughs helps us see it is because Paul, “had a right to the covenant and promise, which virtually contains everything, and an interest in Christ, the fountain and good of all, it is no marvel that he said that in whatever state he was in, he was content.”
2) What is the doctrinal assertion of this text?
Burroughs states the doctrinal consideration is brief but is thus: “That to be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian” (2). And it is this great doctrine that we will, with the help of Jeremiah Burroughs, expound in the month of November.
What can we learn from all of this today? I am reminded of a quote by Samuel Rutherford in counseling a young woman who was going through many trials. Rutherford says, “I would not want the sweet experience of the consolations of God for all the bitterness of affliction; nay, whether God come to his children with a rod or a crown, if he come himself with it, it is well[1]In case you lost what Rutherford said in his Old English he is simply saying that so long as he has Christ it is sweet. Whether Christ comes with a rod (affliction, tough times) or with a crown (blessings, abundance, good times) it is still Christ who is there—and therefore it is sweet. To drive this point home Rutherford says,“It is better to be sick, providing Christ come to the bed-side…than to enjoy health, being lusty and strong, and never visited of God.”[2]
The question that I see the Lord of glory asking us through the ministry of Burroughs and Rutherford and indeed even through His apostle Paul is this: Am I sufficient? Do you love me so much that in trying times and in good times you can be content—all because you have me? Let us repent of our self-sufficiency and cling to the Cross of Jesus Christ and rejoice in His all-sufficiency. He is our sufficiency!
[2] Ibid.