I have been on quite a reading rampage lately, which for me is a bit unusual. It is not unusual for me to be reading a lot, but to actually complete a book, let alone three as I have this week, is pretty strange. I could probably be called the queen of starting books but not finishing them so I am thankful that I have been given more diligence as of late to persevere and finish a few books. As I posted the other day I recently finished Found: God's Will by MacArthur, but I also finished reading 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper over the weekend. I won't go into detail on my blog about this book, but it was very Christ-centered and a very good reminder of the gospel and many of the reasons for and things accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The book is broken down into 50 short chapters, so it's perfect to read along with daily Bible reading, as you can read 1 per day or more if you like. I hope you will read this one as well and reap great benefit for your souls!
The book I want to focus now, however, is a book I just finished last night by Joshua Harris: Stop Dating the Church. This is a really good little book about being committed to local church membership and loving it. Some of what's contained in this book was review for me, as I, by God's grace, have been an active member at my church for 2+ years, but it is very helpful information nonetheless. The section of this book I most enjoyed was Chapter 6 entitled "Rescuing Sunday." In this chapter, Harris provides a lot of good, practical, and convicting advise on what we can to do reclaim a cherishing of the Lord's Day. His advice is not a legalistic list of do's and dont's, but rather a good lesson in what I'll call the fear of the Lord and how this should affect our actions before, during, and after every Sunday meeting. One quote that especially humbled me was from a fellow pastor of Harris' named Jeff Purswell, and he states: "When God's Word is being preached...God Himself is addressing you through His Word" (111). What a thought! How much should the truth of that statement affect our preparation before and listening during each church service! Harris talks about how the importance of Sunday should affect what we do Saturday night, that we should spend time preparing our hearts and minds to receive God's Word and prepare our bodies by getting plenty of sleep. Oh Lord, please grow me in these areas and allow me to apply what I have learned from this book and so cherish the Lord's Day all the more! These few reflections are just a sampling of the treasures I mined from this book and I hope they will motivate you to read it and may the Lord bless you with growth in the knowledge of Him!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
OK. look, there's something I just don't understand. If there is only one God and he is a jealous God and we shall have no other God but him - why did he create Son of God? That makes two Gods. And if you're going to tell me that Son of God came down to wash away our sins, why did the one and only perfect God create Man with imperfections? And then need to crucify himself, or his son, to fix the imperfection? Just asking.
Wow! These are some deep questions and I am glad you are asking them. Basically, it will be hard for me to give a very good answer to these questions because of the limitations of email, but I will try to do the best I can and please email back if you have more questions.
First, you need to understand that Jesus, the Son of God, was not created. The first chapter of John in the Bible talks about how Jesus was with God the Father at creation, then he 'became flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1:14). This means that Jesus has always existed, just as God the Father has always existed and he took on human flesh and became a man when he came to earth. Now, I know this may be confusing, but this does not make 2 Gods. You see, God exists in three persons, but they are all one God. You have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person of God has the same being as God, they are each fully God, but each has a distinct role. I will use an analogy here that may make it a little clearer. Take myself for example, I am a woman, a daughter, and a sister. These are each a role that I have, but my essence as a person is the same in each role. I am not less of a person as a sister than I am as a daughter. I pray that makes sense. This truth about God is called the Trinity oftentimes.
Ok, the second thing you said was about God creating man with imperfections. Well, that's not true either. If you read Genesis, the first book of the Bible, you will read of God creating the universe and humans. He created all these things and at the end of it all he declares they are good. They were without sin, no imperfections. Then God put the man and woman in the Garden of Eden. It was there that they ate of the one tree that God had commanded them not to eat of, therefore, they had disobeyed God and that is called sin. So it was man who sinned, not God who created man with sin. So here is an overview: God created man in His image, but man marred that image by sinning. He disobeyed God's holy command, which is like saying that he knows better than God what is right and wrong. And today, we all do the same. We have all sinned (Rom. 3:23) and failed to obey God. As a result we deserve hell, we deserve to be punished for our sin. And we can not do anything to save ourselves from this fact. We are sinners, and sinners love sin, that's why they're called sinners. It's who we are. Just like if you lie, you become known as a liar. So, because we can't save ourselves, God, in his mercy (because we don't deserve to be saved), sent Jesus to live the life that we could not live. Jesus lived on earth for over 30 years and never sinned, never disobeyed God. Then he was sent to the cross unjustly (he did not deserve to die because he had never sinned) to pay the penalty that our sin deserved. I say penalty because God, as just and holy, must punish sin. The punishment is His wrath being poured out on the sinner and death. But Jesus took that punishment for sinners. Then after 3 days, he rose from the dead, defeating sin and death so that any who believe in Jesus and the work that He accomplished on the cross and trust in Him, might be saved from the just punishment of their sin, and have eternal life in heaven with God. Our relationship with God that was destroyed because of our sin is restored through Jesus' work. I would really suggest you read the book of John in the Bible, the first book of the New Testament. It may help you understand things more. Do you have a Bible? If not, I pray you'll get one. I hope to hear your thoughts on what I've said.
Kristy
Kristy,
What an excellent blog in response to Someone's questions. I was s-ooo tempted to answer them the other nite but glad I did not. The Lord gave you just the right words to say. What a BLESSING!!! I especially liked the analogy you made about the trinity.
Post a Comment