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J. I. PACKER ON THE GOAL OF THEOLOGY
'And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent' (John 17:3)
The well known Christian author, Jim Packer, lectures in systematic theology at Regent's College in Vancouver. One of his former students says that Packer started every class by saying, 'Arise, friends, let us sing the Doxology!' After singing and a word of prayer, he would then say to his students, 'The goal of theology, friends, is doxology'.
From a sermon by Mark Armstrong, Trinity and Creation, 6/24/2010
WHO FLATTERS THE KING
Francois Fenelon was the court clergy for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher. King Louis demanded, "What does this mean?"
Fenelon replied, "I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king."
Last year about this time our Tennessee Titans were involved in a heart wrenching defeat in the Super Bowl. All season they had fought back from deficits to win and it appeared as though they were going to pull off another comeback victory over the Rams. Unfortunately they came up about a yard and a half short.
The next evening when the team returned to Nashville they were bused to Adelphia Coliseum where more than 45,000 fans had gathered to greet and honor their team.
People painted their faces. They put on their Titan hats and jerseys. They screamed wildly as the team exited the bus and players were introduced.
When that tribute to the Titans team was over not one fan walked away saying, “That event was a dud. That did nothing for me.”
The event was a great success, not because of the performance, the team didn’t play. It wasn’t their speeches, because few of the players are great public speakers. It was a great success because people understood the purpose. The purpose wasn’t to please the fans. The purpose of the event was to honor the team and show how much they were appreciated.
That is what worship is about. Not about pleasing you and me, but expressing our appreciation and love to our Lord and Savior.
THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
A man was walking through an art gallery when he came upon a picture of the Lord Jesus dying upon the cross. He stopped and looked at the beautiful portrait of Calvary's love. As he stared into the face of Christ, so full of agony the gallery guard tapped him on the shoulder. "Lower," the guard said. "The artist painted this picture to be appreciated from a lower position."
So the man bent down. And from this lower position he observed new beauties in the picture not previously shown. "Lower," said the guard. "Lower still." The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ. The new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate.
But motioning with his torch toward the ground, the guard said, "Lower. You've got to go lower." The man now dropped down to two knees and looked up. Only then as he looked up at the painting from such a low posture could he realize ...
Charles Spurgeon said, We need our God; He is to be had for the seeking; and He will not deny Himself to any one of us if we personally seek His face.
Matthew Drake
- Calvin Coolidge once said, “It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.”
R. Darrel Davis
Gene Mims in Kingdom Principles for Church Growth said, “The purpose of worship is to come before the Lord in obedience to praise Him, to hear from Him, to confess to Him, and to commit our lives to Him. Every worship service is to be an encounter with the Lord, transcending our feelings, desires, and even our abilities to perform.”
BY LIFE OR BY DEATH
John Piper, in his book, Future Grace, reprinted a letter by Carl Lundquist, former president of Bethel College and Seminary. In 1988, the doctors told him he had a rare form of cancer called mycosis fungoides, which invaded the skin over his entire body and ended his life three years later. He wrote this letter the day after he heard the news of his cancer:
That day in the hospital room, I picked up my Bible when the doctor had left. I turned to the joy verses of Philippians, thinking one might stand out. But what leaped from the pages was Paul’s testimony in chapter one, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." And I discovered that a verse I had lived by in good health also was a verse that I could live by in ill health. To live - Christ, to die - gain. But by life or by death, ...
It is not possible for us to bless God, because the one who is the “Blesser” is greater than the one who is blessed. So, how can we bless God? It begins when God blesses us, then we in turn bless Him for His goodness to us. When we bless God, we are giving back to him what He deserves. Worship is giving the worthship To God that is due Him.
BLANKETS OR NO BLANKETS
A good Presbyterian minister of Old Scotland, of the staid and orthodox type, had a poor old woman in his congregation who was in the habit of saying, "Praise the Lord," "Amen," when anything particularly helpful was said.
This practice greatly disturbed the minister and one New Year’s day he went to see her. "Betty," he said, "I will make a bargain with you. You call out, 'Praise the Lord' just when I get to the best part of my sermon and it upsets my thoughts. Now if you will stop doing it all this year, I will give you a pair of wool blankets."
Betty was poor, and the offer of the blankets sounded good. So she did her best to earn them. Sunday after Sunday she kept quiet. But one day a minister came to preach who was bubbling over with joy.
As he preached on the forgiveness of sin and all the blessings that follow, the vision of the blankets began to fade and fade, and the joys of salvation grew brighter and brighter. At last Betty could stand it no longer and jumping up she cried, "Blankets or no blankets, Hallelujah!"
Blessings or no blessings, we should praise the Lord! And it’s a trustworthy saying that glory will come to our eternal king!
(From a sermon by Steve Shepherd, A Trustworthy Saying, 11/13/2010)
