Today in Blogworld 08.16.16

Mike Leake

Parenting in the Age of Binge-Watching

I think these same principles could be applied for gaming as well.

Immaturity Does Not Just Go Away

Yes, it’s a myth that you can be absolutely immature and then one day just “grow up”.

Gossips Says More About Me

Gossip just serves the lies we like to tell ourselves about ourselves.

7 Pitfalls to Avoid in Preaching

Yep, it’s easy to fall into any of these. (I still preach from a manuscript but I don’t just stand behind the pulpit and read it—but I do understand his point about ‘bubble preaching’. The struggle is real).

Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer…but he’s even more amazing set to Mario music:

The Bible is So Confusing…

Mike Leake 3 Comments

“I can’t read the Bible. It’s just filled with so many obscure passages. It’s unclear and just pointless, I can’t get anything out of it.”

Have you ever heard those objections to reading the Bible. I would like to say that I mostly heard that as a youth pastor—but I’ve heard it just as much from adults. Some would prefer a Sunday school quarterly or a seasoned teacher to explain the Bible to them. Picking up a Bible and reading on their own is just out of question. Others, will forget the whole thing all together.

I’ve never quite known how to answer this. At least not in a way that satisfied me. Part of me wants to agree. There are places in the Bible which are tough to read and understand. Often what I’ll do with such a one is sympathetically suggest they start in the Gospel of Mark. But now I’m going to take the path of Soren Kierkegaard:

Before I have anything to do with this objection, it must be made by someone whose life manifests that he has scrupulously complied with all the passages that are easy to understand; is this the case with you? (For Self-Examination, 29)

Kierkegaard does a great job at getting to the heart of the issue. It’s one thing to labor over a difficult passage of Scripture. It’s quite another to use that as an excuse for neglecting the vast majority of the Bible which is abundantly clear. Kierkegaard rightly shows that our problem isn’t with what we don’t know—it’s that we don’t obey what we do. He goes on to say this:

…it is not the obscure passages that bind you but what you understand, and with that you are to comply at once…God’s Word is given in order that you shall act according to it, not that you shall practice interpreting obscure passages. If you do not read God’s Word in such a way that you consider that the least little bit you do understand instantly binds you to do accordingly, then you are not reading God’s Word. (29)

Are you using the difficulty of the Scriptures as a dodge for reading and obeying the parts which are clear? This is a word not only to the person who has a dusty Bible on his shelf but also the seminary student or pastor who spends his time trying to untangle difficult passages while neglecting to be captivated by the ones which any simple person could understand.

Yep, the Bible is difficult in spots. But it’s clear enough for us to give our lives in obedience to the Lord. There is enough in the Word which is comprehensible to make us all humble and to cause us to tremble at the Word.

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Photo source: here

Today in Blogworld 08.12.16

Mike Leake

Three Lectures on Preaching

I haven’t had a chance to watch all these, but it’s Mark Dever. ‘Nuff said. Bookmark and watch accordingly.

3 Ways to Steward Your Own Failure

This is what to do after you blow it.

The Puritan Greatness of Words

I really liked this on the Puritans and their writing.

The Spiritual Warfare of Boring Preaching

Satan doesn’t mind our boring sermons. This is one worth chewing on for a bit.

Here is a little bit of Flame for your Friday:

Praise Is Due To You, O God

Nick Horton

So begins Psalm 65.

Have you ever thought praise is God’s due? It is. Does that immediately make you think of duty? Do you hear work you must do, and not delight you’re invited in? Take a minute to read Psalm 65.

David grounds praise for God in what God has done for us, in his power displayed in the world, and in his bountiful provision in creation. I want to attack that in reverse order to better understand what he’s singing about. David waxes poetic on God’s power displayed over the Earth and provision for creation to highlight what God has done for us.

Praise is due to God who blesses the Earth with abundance such that creation shouts and sings for joy.

Look at Psalm 65:9-13. David talks about God as a Gardener. He waters the furrows of the Earth, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, blessing its growth. He talks about God caring for the Earth the way we would our garden. Not only does he garden the Earth, he does something that we cannot do. He blesses its growth. You and I can do everything to help a seed grow but we can’t actually make it grow. God can, and does. He alone causes life to spring forth. He alone makes seeds sprout and push through dirt just the same as he forms us, gives us breath, and gives us life.

Creation then shouts and sings for joy as God bountifully provides. His harvest wagon overflows so much that even the tracks overflow. The world itself shouts and sings for joy to God!

Praise is due to God who establishes and stills his creation by his power.

How can God do this in creation? Because he is all powerful. Look at Psalm 65:5-8. God answers us with awesome deeds done in righteousness. God has never done anything that is not righteous, and his work in creation is no different. He established mountains by his might. These huge things that seem immovable, secure, solid; he made them. I’ve imagined him pulling them out of the ground with his fingers. Which is amazing to think about. God didn’t need to do that though as he is much more powerful. He just spoke, and all that he purposed to exist came into being.

He takes seas and calms them. Vast quantities of water that we can’t even hold in our hands he calms without effort. Friends, God does not exert himself. He never has. The world bends to his will as it exists purely by his will. He also stills the peoples. And why does he do all of this? Why does the God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth, answer us with these displays of power?

Verse 8 tells us. So that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe. Romans 1 talks about God’s power displayed in creation being plain for all to see. He does it as a display of his power. We are truly in awe and as the remainder of verse 8 says, the very sunrise and sunset shout for joy.

Praise is due to God who hears, atones, and chooses the people of God.

Finally we get to what David said at first, but what the rest of Psalm sought to magnify. Read Psalm 65:1-4. Praise is due to God, and indeed is our delight to offer him, because God hears us, atones for us, and chooses us.

This God who formed the earth and stills it, this God who causes the earth to grow and be bountiful, the same God for whom creation shouts and sings for joy; he hears us! He atones for us! He chooses us!

God, who upholds the universe by the word of his power, hears our puny cries. Are you discouraged? Are you depressed? Are you beset with heartache and sorrow? Cry out to him. He hears you!

How do you know he hears you? He atoned for you, if you are in Christ. Do you know him? If you have turned from your sins and trusted in Christ’s perfect life, unjust death, and glorious resurrection to pay for your sin then he has atoned for you. You have been washed. Though you were like scarlet, now you are white as snow.

If you are in Christ, verse 4 says you are blessed because God has chosen you and brought you near. In Christ you are adopted and now welcome in his house. Not only are you adopted, it is satisfying to you! In Christ we are welcomed to worship God  in the holiness of his temple!

C.S. Lewis says “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” Praise is God’s due, yes. But listen to Lewis again. “The Scotch catechism  says that man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”

Yes, Praise is due to God. But it is very much the delight of the child of God to do so.