Our true treasure

7/14/2008 – 9:54 pm

As believers, things may befall us which are not at all good for us in any way, shape, or form.

Worse, perhaps, we may not understand why any of these things befell us. After all, not every saint can look back on a trial as Joseph did and declare, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Not every saint knows the reason why God allowed or purposed something to befall them. We don’t always know why God ordained something to befall us. But, even if we don’t know the reason why something happened to us in this life, and even if it seems like it was all for absolutely nothing, nevertheless, God promises there will be good for his people in the end.

And, although he is under no obligation to do so, God can and does cause good to come out of bad. But the highest good for believers is to become more like Christ. That is, God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose, yes; but oftentimes we think of the “good” as something material or something tangible, when the highest and best goods for the child of God are to be more like Christ, to be more holy, to lean on the Lord more, to trust him more, to know him more, to grow in love for him more, to love others more, to pray more, to cling to the word of God more, to love the lost more, etc. These are our true treasures.

We may have lost everything — friends, family, other loved ones, property, possessions, and everything else. But what have we gained? We have our names written in heaven. We have a closer, more intimate walk with the Lord than we could ever have imagined possible. His precious promises in Scripture are so real and living, tried and proven true. His felt presence is ever with us, comforting us and guiding us. We are more sensitive to the afflictions and griefs of others. We are able to more simply lean upon the Lord, as a weaned child upon his mother’s breast. We are drawn so near and dear to the brethren, who likewise share in suffering. Timidity and fear are driven out, and we are more bold in our witness for Christ, since we realize nothing ultimately matters except the Lord, his word, and his elect. Again, these are our true treasures, because Christ is our true treasure, and the more we are like him, the more we are enriched.

In short, as long as the result is that our lives are more Christ-like, as long as we are trusting more in the Lord, hoping more in his kingdom and his will to be done, longing more to be with him, longing more for his kingdom to come, then, well, that is the important point, isn’t it? We need not understand why this or that happened. We need only to know God. It is enough to know that our gracious Heavenly Father loves us, to know that he walks with us and talks with us, to know that he guides us, to know that he takes care of us, to know that he comforts us, to know that he binds our wounds, to know that he heals our hearts, to know that he is for us and not against us. It is enough to know that God is our loving Heavenly Father.

So let us not shrink from the fiery trials which assail us and threaten to undo us, and the painful thorns which ever so deeply pierce us. Rather, may we see our trials and afflictions and griefs as God graciously and lovingly forming Christ in us, for our good and for his glory. Let us see our disgrace as God’s grace towards us. Let us see Christ making us, the unlovely and unlovable, into a bride who is beautiful because of her holiness. Let us see our weakness as his strength. For his grace is sufficient for us, his power is made perfect in our weakness. And, when such things befall us, let us fall coram Deo, and thank our gracious Heavenly Father for his love and mercy towards us who only deserved his wrath!

By Patrick Chan | Posted in General | Tagged , | Comments (0)

An anchor in the storm

7/14/2008 – 9:25 pm

Brethren, let us not judge how much God loves us by how things seem to be going in our lives. Don’t think God doesn’t love you because this or that bad thing happened to you.

On the contrary, everything could be going perfectly well. We could legitimately say to ourselves, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” But the truth could be that we don’t realize we are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

Or everything could be going miserably. Just read Genesis and check out Joseph’s life.

Here’s another story. When the apostles were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus was with them but asleep on a cushion, “a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.” The apostles woke him and cried out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” But Jesus “rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:37-39). Of course Jesus cared about his apostles! Of course he cared that they were “perishing,” that they might drown! Of course he loved them! But he asked them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). In other words, Jesus was saying to them, why are you afraid? Don’t you trust me? Don’t you trust that I love you? Don’t you trust the promises in Scripture that I love you and will take care of you?

And, of course, who among us would deny that the Father didn’t love the Son when Jesus Christ died on the cross? No, it was precisely because of the Father’s love for the Son, and the Son’s love for the Father, that the Son died on the cross.

Therefore, if we are one of his children, then let us never say that God doesn’t love us because this or that bad thing occurred. Rather, let us judge how much God loves us by the cross. As Paul said in Rom. 5:8, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Let Christ’s death on the cross for us sinners anchor us in the certainty of God’s love for us in the midst of the raging seas of our trials, afflictions, and griefs. And let us always trust the Lord by trusting his word, and thank our gracious Heavenly Father that he knows what’s best, and therefore glorify him in the midst of it all.

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A few words on trials

7/14/2008 – 9:13 pm

I wanted to say a few words about overcoming trials and afflictions.

The more our gaze is turned upon Christ as our first love, the more we value his cross and his gospel as the things of first importance, the more we abide in him by abiding in his word, and especially in sitting underneath a faithful ministry of the preached word together with his people, then the more he heals us, bandages our wounds, and saves us from ourselves. A steady, consistent intake of the word of God into our very souls, both in our personal lives as well as together with the people of God, is what will ultimately most help us in the midst of trials and afflictions and grief. The word of God will reorient us away from ourselves and towards God, who is the physician of our souls.

And the more we are among the people of God, fellowshipping with them, sharing the word of God with one another, encouraging one another in our relationships with one another, lifting up one another in prayer, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, giving thanks always and for everything to God, etc., then the more we will be helped as well. And God, who is the God of all comfort, does not solely comfort us, but he often comforts us so that we might comfort others as well. And when we do comfort others in their trials and afflictions, then we not only comfort them, but God further comforts us in our comforting them. This is a most gracious circle.

Thus, as we abide in Christ and with his people, loving him and his word and his ways and his people, the Holy Spirit will naturally work in us to love all peoples as well. So, the more we love others and hold out Christ and his words of eternal life to others with our lips and our lives, the more we weep with others when they weep, in their pain, in their hurt, in their loss, in their trials, in their afflictions, in their griefs, the more we spend ourselves in love for the lost, then the more we ourselves begin to rejoice in Christ, too.

So the words of Christ prove true: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25). This is the cross-centered, Christ-glorifying life, to give ourselves to another. In the midst of trials, our tendency is to focus on ourselves, and that is well and fine and to be expected to a certain extent, but real help and healing comes when we get our eyes off of ourselves and fix them on Christ, and others. By dying, we live. By dying to ourselves, we live to and for Christ. By dying, Christ reaps a glorious harvest through us, and we in turn have abundant life. Thanks be to the Lord our God!

Let us therefore pray that we are made more holy and useful to God for the sake of others and that God is glorified via our lives — and if our undergoing trials is what makes us more holy and what best glorifies God, then let us pray for these things.

In short, dear friends, I know it is a hard saying, but let us not so much pray for peace from trials as we pray for peace in the midst of trials, so that Christ might be glorified in our lives. May we long to see Christ’s glorious, resurrected life in us. Soli Deo gloria!

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“I will be with you”

7/11/2008 – 7:45 pm

Is not our greatest consolation in trials and afflictions Christ himself? Indeed he is. As the prophet Isaiah says (43:2): “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Although it is our gracious Lord who either allows or brings about our trial, it is also our gracious Lord who is with us in the midst of it.

In the midst of the raging waters which threaten to drown us or the uncontrollable flames which threaten to engulf us, God promises his precious bride, “I will be with you.” If Christ is with us, then what have we to fear? If Christ is with us, then who or what can be against us? If Christ is with us, then it is well with our souls — come what may.

Like a wife who loves her husband so much she cannot live without him, all we want is for our Beloved to be with us. All we want is for our Beloved to stick with us through thick and thin, through the overwhelming floods of life, through its many trials, difficulties, afflictions, pains, heartaches, and everything else, through it all. In fact, when a couple dearly loves one another, trials only serve to draw them closer together; and that’s what we likewise dearly want, nearness to our Beloved. All we want is for our Beloved to love us, to protect us, to care for us, and to be with us, forever and ever. And Christ promises he will never leave us nor forsake us. Even in the times we are faithless, he is faithful. Christ promises nothing can separate us from his love. He is a steady rock, like the Rock of Gibraltar, in the midst of the stormy seas and unrelenting waves of our anguish and agonies. All we want is our Beloved and his love, and we have him. And so long as we have our Beloved, we have everything. So long as our Beloved is with us, so long as our Beloved is ours and we are our Beloved’s, we are safe and secure.

For our Maker is our husband, and he loves us with such an unimaginable, indescribable, unquenchable love, a love that the best, most perfect husband’s love for his wife is but a pale reflection.

In the midst of all our hurt and tears, all we want is our Beloved. So long as we have him, and more importantly so long as he has us; so long as he holds us and never lets us go; so long as he loves us with an unfailing, undying, ever faithful, ever committed, steadfast love; so long as he loves us and always continues to love us; so long as he is our husband and we are his bride, the Father having purchased us by the blood of Christ the Son and sealed us with the Holy Spirit as promised in the New Covenant; so long as our Beloved is ours and we are his in the bonds of the holiest of all holy matrimonies; so long as we have our Beloved and our Beloved has us, then no matter how long the tears may run, and no matter how deep the tears may cut, we know that in the end our Beloved will wipe away all our tears, and restore to us the joy of our salvation, when he restores us to himself. Then we shall see our Beloved face to face, and then we shall know our Beloved and his precious love for us, just as we have been known and loved by our Beloved even before we were a whisper upon our mother’s lips or thought in our mother’s mind. He is our Beloved, and he loves us and he died to save us to show us he loves us.

Thus, in the midst of all life’s most heart-wrenching pains and sorrows, all we need and all we want is to be with Christ, our Beloved. All we want is Christ himself. Nothing else and no one else will do but Christ and him alone. Our heart may be broken into a gazillion little pieces, but it can never be so broken as it would be broken if it did not have Christ, its Beloved — if it were to seek the One it loves but could not find him. And, yet, miracle of miracles, our Beloved’s promise is precisely that he is ours, and we are his, and he is with us, and he loves us, and he will always be with us, and he will always love us!

Although our mother and father, our brothers and sisters, our spouses and children, our relatives and our dearest, most intimate friends may turn against us or forsake us, our Beloved will never, no, never forsake us. Even when no one loves us, and all loves have fled from us, our Beloved loves us, our Beloved loves us who are unlovable. His left hand is under our head to protect us and carry us through, and his right hand embraces us, never letting us go but drawing us in to rest upon his bosom, because of his great love for us.

O, dear, precious, sweet Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved, our heart sings to you through the tears in thankfulness, for your infinitely gracious love towards us, even us, in the midst of our broken hearts, our shattered spirits, and our fallen, sinful lives, drawing us nearer to yourself by affliction and grief, with unbreakable cords of love, because you first loved and always will continue to love us! And not only do you love us, our most beloved Beloved, but you love to love us, simply because you love us! What more could we ask for than that which we already have, namely, you, our Beloved!

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What’s love got to do with it?

7/11/2008 – 6:02 pm

Love’s got everything to do with being a true Christian.

1 Cor. 13:3 reads:

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned [καυθήσομαι], but have not love, I gain nothing.

Alternatively, according to the ESV’s footnote, it could read:

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast [καυχήσωμαι], but have not love, I gain nothing.

I just wanted to make a brief but significant point. And whichever reading is adopted doesn’t really change the point I wish to make. The point is simply this: According to the Bible, it is entirely possible to give away everything one owns, and it is entirely possible to give up one’s very life, yet not have love — and specifically godly love, or genuine love for God, which is a fruit of the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:22).

We might perform good and even great works or deeds, and we might die for another person (Rom. 5:7), but have done so out of something other than love. From the perspective of God, then, nothing is gained.

Of course, one considers our Lord’s words in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” But in considering these words, we must also remember the context in which this statement was spoken. In this passage, Christ calls himself the true vine, the Father the vinedresser, and the disciples the branches in the vine. He exhorts the disciples to abide in him — that is, as I understand it, to be in intimate communion with him by virtue of his union with them. To abide in Christ and his word, and to have his words abide in us, is to know Christ and his great love for us. It is only when the disciples intimately know and taste God’s immense love for them in Christ that their hearts become full of joy and thanks for him, and they become compelled to serve and live for the Lord out of the deepest, most profound sense of gratitude and love for their precious Lord. Thus, only if the disciples abide in Christ can they bear fruit. Only if the disciples abide in Christ can they obey his commandments. Only if the disciples abide in Christ can they obey the commandment to love one another. In short, union and communion with Christ leads to a growing love for God and for the word of God and for the things of God and for the people of God, which is the soil in which self-sacrificial love for others is born. Christ is the source of our love for God and others.

By contrast, what the apostle Paul is talking about in 1 Cor. 13:3 is the performance of good deeds, the sacrifice of the most precious thing a person can give up, one’s very own life, without the love of God working within a person’s heart.

So, all the greatest deeds done and all the greatest sacrifices made don’t mean jack squat without God’s love having been poured into one’s heart through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).

In other words, it is entirely possible to leave behind everything and anything (e.g. possessions, loved ones) in order to follow Christ, it is entirely possible to die a gruesome death for the sake of Christ, and at the same time it is entirely possible not to have the love of God. Given this, it is entirely possible not be a true Christian, for only the true Christian loves God and loves others with the love of God.

Of course, the true Christian can and does leave behind everything in order to follow Christ. And the true Christian is even willing to die a gruesome death for the sake of Christ. One need only read the New Testament to see the apostles, for example, leaving everything to follow the Lord. One need only read the Scriptures to witness other believers suffering horribly and dying for the sake of the Lord. Check out Hebrews 11 for starters.

But the deeds and self-sacrifices of believers are born out of God’s love, not the other way around. Performing great deeds and making tremendous sacrifices in and of themselves do not merit let alone produce the love of God, which is love for God.

Only God can produce in us the fruit of love for himself. Only God can regenerate us, convict us of our sin and rebellion before the One who is the thrice holy God, and grant us repentance and faith in Christ Jesus to receive his free gift of eternal life. If and when God does this work in us, however, then we will be humbled, thankful, and filled with the love of God for Christ, and what he did for us on the cross, by the Holy Spirit. We only love God and others with his love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). And the more we abide in Christ, the more we fix our eyes on him and drink deeply of his sacrifice for us on the cross, drinking in the refreshing spring of water which wells up to eternal life, the more we hear preached and we preach the good news of Jesus Christ to ourselves, the more we truly know how much God loves us in giving his Son for us, then the more profound will be our gratitude and love for him. It is by knowing how broad and how long and how high and how deep God’s love for us in Christ Jesus is that our hearts are turned to love and adore him. As Paul says in Eph. 3:18-19, when we “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” then we will “be filled with all the fullness of God.”

You want to love God more? Then don’t try and somehow make yourself love God more, by doing this or that, or by not doing this or that. Don’t try and exert yourself in such a way as to somehow cause love for God to naturally well up within you. It won’t happen. Rather, drink in and taste God’s love for you in Christ Jesus more! That’s the way to love God more. In other words, God’s love for us is the source and fount of our love for him.

Now, if what I’ve said is correct, then I earnestly implore you, dear reader, to be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure (2 Cor. 13:5 and 2 Pet. 1:10). Do you know what God’s love for you truly is? Do you have this love of God which is love for God? Have you “tasted the heavenly gift” and “tasted the goodness of the word of God” (Heb. 6:4-5)? Have you “tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet. 2:3)? Can you exclaim in humble joy and gratitude with David, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psa. 34:8)? Have you tasted God’s love for you in Christ Jesus? Do you know something of these things? You’d better make sure. Better check yourself before you wreck yourself!

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“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?”

7/10/2008 – 8:08 pm

Sinclair Ferguson, one of my favorite modern Christian authors, comments on Psalm 51:

In asking for “mercy,” David, you are asking that God will show it to you, but withdraw it from Jesus.

In asking to experience God’s “unfailing love,” you are asking that Jesus will feel it has been removed.

In asking to taste God’s “great compassion,” you are asking him to refuse it to Jesus as he dies on the cross.

In asking God to “blot out” your transgressions, you are asking that they will be obliterated by the blood of Jesus.

In asking to be washed, you are asking that the filth of your sin will overwhelm Jesus like a flood.

In asking to know the joy of salvation, you are asking that Jesus will be a Man of Sorrows, familiar with grief.

In asking to be saved from bloodguilt, you are asking that in your place Jesus will be treated as though he were guilty.

In asking that your lips will be opened in praise, you are asking that Jesus will be silenced, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb.

In asking that the sacrifice of a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart be acceptable, you are asking that Jesus’ heart and spirit will be broken.

In asking that God will hide his face from your sins, you are asking that he will hide his face from Jesus.

In asking that you will not be cast out of God’s presence, you are asking that Jesus will be cast out into outer darkness instead.

(Taken from his book, Deserted by God?.)

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Another one bites the dust

7/9/2008 – 10:15 pm

Alas, dear friends! Here’s a sad lesson for all of us: It doesn’t pay to steal acorns.

HT: The photo is originally from the world famous Gumminator.

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Bunyan on the assurance of salvation

7/8/2008 – 6:30 pm

O, these questions are sweet for a believer to hear! Pastor Justin Childers quotes John Bunyan on the marks of a person coming to Christ for salvation:

Do these things characterize your life?

1. Are you burdened with your sin, recognizing it as an exceedingly bitter thing?
2. Do you run from your sin as you would a deadly serpent?
3. Do you recognize and flee from the insufficiency of your own righteousness in the sight of God.
4. Do you cry to the Lord Jesus to save you?
5. Do you see more worth and merit in one drop of Christ’s blood to save you, than in all the sins of the world to condemn you?
6. Are you tender of sinning against Jesus?
7. Is Jesus’ name, person, and undertakings more precious to you than the glory of the world?
8. Is faith in Christ precious to you (as a means to connect you to Christ)?
9. Do you savor Christ in his Word, and do you leave all the world for his sake?
10. Are you willing (with God’s help) to run in harm’s way for his name?
11. Are his saints precious to you?

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Where the [heck] is Matt?

7/4/2008 – 5:06 pm

Apparently, this is what happens when you have a lot of time on your hands, money to burn, a thirst to travel, a passion to dance like the stars, and…a video camera:

(The same video can be seen in higher quality by clicking here.)

Seriously though, Matt’s video was loads of fun. It definitely put a smile on my face. What’s more, it makes me thank God for all the different peoples and beautiful places around the world — peoples and places which I hope to see more of quite soon, God willing. (Can’t wait!) And, as Napoleon Dynamite would say, “Flippin’ sweet dance moves”!

HT: Tim Challies.

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It’s all about me

7/4/2008 – 2:22 pm

Do you remember this short video called “Me Church”?

Well, now that we have the church, we need the music! So here’s the worship team of Me Church aka Me Worship, featuring well-known songs such as “Now I lift my name on high,” “There is none like me,” “Oh come let us adore me,” and many more:

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These are a few of my favorite quotes

7/4/2008 – 5:42 am

For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name.
(Isaiah 54:5)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23)

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:6)

You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
(Psalm 27:8)

You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in you. (Augustine of Hippo)

He loves you too little, who loves anything together with you, which he loves not for your sake. (Augustine of Hippo)

Lord, Thou art fullness, I am emptiness:
Yet hear my heart speak in its speechlessness
Extolling Thine unuttered loveliness. (Christina Rossetti)

We are beggars: this is true. (Martin Luther)

One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving. (Amy Carmichael)

Day by day, dear Lord, of thee three things I pray:
To see thee more clearly
To love thee more dearly
To follow thee more nearly. (Richard of Chichester)

I offer my heart to you, O Lord, eagerly and earnestly. (John Calvin)

In the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theater, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world. The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross, in which there was a wonderful change of things — the condemnation of all men was manifested, sin blotted out, salvation restored to men; in short, the whole world was renewed and all things restored to order. (John Calvin)

We are not sent to preach sociology but salvation; not economics but evangelism; not reform but redemption; not culture but conversion; not progress but pardon; not a new social order but a new birth; not revolution but regeneration; not renovation but revival; not resuscitation but resurrection; not a new organization but a new creation; not democracy but the gospel; not civilization but Christ; we are ambassadors, not diplomats. (Hugh Thomson Kerr)

The providence of God is like a Hebrew word — it can only be read backwards. (John Flavel)

The cross which is the object of faith, is also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the cause of it. Sit down and watch the dying Saviour till faith springs up spontaneously in your heart. There is no place like Calvary for creating confidence. The air of that sacred hill brings health to trembling faith. (C.H. Spurgeon)

Our power in drawing men to Christ springs chiefly from the fullness of our personal joy in him, and the nearness of our personal communion with him. The countenance that reflects most of Christ, and shines most with his love and grace, is most fitted to attract the gaze of a careless, giddy world, and win restless souls from fascinations of creature love and creature-beauty. A ministry of power must be the fruit of a holy, peaceful, loving intimacy with the Lord. (Horatius Bonar)

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did, in his sleep — not screaming, like the passengers in his car. (Smart alec grandson)

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Patrick Chan 2.0

7/3/2008 – 4:39 pm

This is not an aside but a headliner: I have updated my Blogger profile to better reflect my true calling!

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Happy Dependence Day!

7/3/2008 – 4:22 pm

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, our nation’s celebration of its declaration and victory of independence from the British. Stinkin’ redcoats! Just kidding. (I’m actually an Anglophile. For Queen and Empire! Okay, maybe not that much of an Anglophile…)

However, I just wanted to briefly suggest that as Christians we should think of the day (perhaps as we think of all our days, so that we’d gain a heart of wisdom) as our Dependence Day. Our dependence upon the Lord God — the one, true, and living God, who revealed himself to us in the Holy Scriptures and ultimately in His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ himself.

We’re dependent upon God for everything. From life itself, for every breath we breathe. For who we are as individuals, our personalities and the circumstances we were born into. For which families we were born into as well. For the time and place in which we were born. For our climate — physical and moral. For our culture and background. For our friends and neighbors. For our physical needs like food, clothing, and shelter. For our jobs. For our communities. For the wonderful (and, yes, not-so-wonderful) people we’ve met in our lives. For our gifts and talents and opportunities. For the church, who is Christ’s Bride and witness of himself in this fallen world. For our pastors and teachers who strive to hold out the Word of God to us, day by day. For our society, insomuch as the truths of God and Christians have been its salt and light — and for not being as depraved as it could be by God’s grace. For our government and laws and leaders. For the soldiers who serve in our military and protect our nation. For the relative peace and security of our society, which allows for the gospel to advance. And for so much more.

In all things we are dependent upon the Lord God.

Of course, at any time, these blessings could be taken away. We could lose our jobs. Our friends or loved ones could leave us. We ourselves could die at any moment. Our community or state or nation could suffer a major catastrophe. And that is why we are to be always humble and thankful for the blessings we do have as believers, and to continue to pray to the Lord that he would do what best glorifies himself and is for our good as his people.

Let us pray that no matter what, even if it means our liberties and freedoms and rights are taken away from us as Christians, even if it means all our goods and kindreds are taken away from us, we would nevertheless continue to live lives which honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. (Although I’m not at all suggesting we shouldn’t fight to maintain these freedoms and rights.) How so? By always seeking intimate communion with our precious Lord and Savior in his Word and in prayer so that we would know him all the more, know his love for us, and thus by his grace working in us to love him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our neighbors. By seeking God and his kingdom first and foremost in our lives, that his kingdom would expand in our hearts and the hearts of others. By preaching the gospel with our lives and our lips. By humbly and joyfully doing good to our neighbors, from wherever they might come, and whoever they might be, even if they are our enemies (I’m speaking on an individual, personal, relational level here). And by trusting and seeking to continue trusting, by repenting and seeking to continue repenting, by knowing and seeking to continue knowing, by loving and seeking to continue loving our thrice holy God, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and others.

In all things we trust in God from whom all blessings flow. In all things we thank and praise him — not just for the blessings he has given to our nation but also for its difficulties and trials which we pray would turn hearts and lives in repentance and faith towards him. In all things we trust and know God is sovereign, and that he is so very good to us as his people, infinitely far more than we deserve. In all things we humbly trust and thank him, and ask that he might glorify himself in and through us, as he best sees fit, for we are ever dependent upon him.

Happy Dependence Day!

P.S. And let’s hope we’re not invaded by hostile space aliens.

By Patrick Chan | Posted in General | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Spurgeon is da bomb

7/3/2008 – 1:36 am

I love Charles Haddon Spurgeon! I loved him before I even knew he was Reformed (although I knew he was a Baptist). In fact, I loved him when I had no clue what the term “Reformed” meant in Christianity. By God’s grace, his little book All of Grace led to my salvation; and after the Lord saved me, his sermons nourished my soul and fed my spirit. I loved and continue to love him because God used him to hold forth the truths of Scripture in a winsome way and with such earnestness of heart — and he still holds it forth in our age, because, though he died, he still speaks to us via his sermons and books and other publications. Along with C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, and a handful of others, Spurgeon has been one of the most influential Christian “greats” in my life. Anyway, all this to simply say, here are a few Spurgeon quotes from which I’ve recently profited:

You may judge a man by what he groans after.

That insatiable craving to know everything just draws away the life of men from what ought to be their insatiable craving, namely, to be like God, to know him, to trust him, to love him, and to serve him.

A man is made by that which he feeds upon, and for the best manhood you need the best food. As certain silk-worms have their silk coloured by the leaves on which they feed, so if we were to feed on Christ, and nothing else but Christ, we should become pure, holy, lowly, meek, gentle, humble; in a word, we should be perfect even as he is.

Nearness to God brings likeness to God. The more you see God the more of God will be seen in you.

Better to have a Christian’s days of sorrow, than a worldling’s days of mirth.

He who would have his spirit bowed down even to the very earth, has only to fix his thoughts upon himself and his circumstances, instead of looking to God and his promises.

To have something to do for Jesus, and to go right on with it, is one of the best ways to get over a bereavement, or any heavy mental depression. If you can pursue some great object, you will not feel that you are living for nothing.

I notice that people who have nothing to do but to sit down and stare into the black hole of their own nature, are generally very sad, and not often very virtuous; but they who, knowing how dark and sinful their nature is, trust Jesus for salvation, and then spend their lives in doing the will of the Lord, these are they who are both holy and happy.

The worst forms of depression are cured when Holy Scripture is believed.

It was a pretty remark I read, the other day, of a Christian man who said, I used to have many disappointments, until I changed one letter of the word, and chopped it into two, so that instead of ‘disappointments,’ I read it, ‘his appointments.’ That was a wonderful change, for ‘disappointments’ break your heart, but ‘his appointments’ you accept right cheerily.

The elect church is the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of his head, the bracelet of his arm, the breastplate of his heart, the very centre and core of his love.

On earth he exercises towards her all the affectionate offices of Husband. He makes rich provision for her wants, pays all her debts, allows her to assume his name, and to share in all his wealth.

He calls the church, ‘My sister, my spouse.’ As if he could not express his near and dear relationship to her by any one term, he employs the two. ‘My sister’ — that is, one by birth, partaker of the same nature. ‘My spouse’ — that is, one in love, joined by sacred ties of affection that never can be snapped. ‘My sister’ by birth, ‘my spouse’ by choice. ‘My sister’ in communion, ‘my spouse’ in absolute union with myself. I want you who love the Saviour to get a full hold of this thought of near and dear kinship under this head. Oh, how near akin Christ is to all his people!

He has taken off some of the coarsest surface, but he will polish you yet to an exceeding beauty. I verily believe, if we could see ourselves as we shall be, it would make us laugh for very joy.

Check out Spurgeon.us for many, many, many more Spurgeon quotes! And, of course, there’s always the Spurgeon Archive.

By Patrick Chan | Posted in General | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Longing to Know

7/2/2008 – 8:07 pm

Recommended: Prof. Esther Meek condenses her book Longing to Know into a brief article.

By Patrick Chan | Posted in Asides | Tagged | Comments (0)

Like a horse and carriage

7/1/2008 – 11:42 am

Helpful read for those inclined: Steve Hays on love and marriage.

Update: archshrk’s wife shares her story.

By Patrick Chan | Posted in Asides | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Veith and Doctor Who

7/1/2008 – 9:35 am

I have been enjoying following Gene Veith for the last few months (even when he repeats the canard that Calvinists aren’t Christ-centered, yadda yadda yadda), but I think he earned a permanent spot in my newsreader when I discovered that he’s into Doctor Who.

By Charles Sebold | Posted in Asides | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

What is my life?

6/30/2008 – 2:21 am

In six words (originally posted here):

Born in Europe, again in Christ.

Sinful rebel, prodigal son, unlovable Untouchable.

Detestable, ungodly, evil, hopeless, powerless, dead.

Deserving God’s wrath, begging his mercy.

By the cross, forgiven and redeemed.

Once a diseased, leprous, unclean foreigner.

On my face, in the dirt.

With my tears, wiping his feet.

At Jesus’ feet, giving sweet thanks.

My life is all of grace.

By Patrick Chan | Posted in General | Comments (0)

What is wisdom?

6/30/2008 – 1:28 am

Wisdom is something you get right after you most need it.

By Patrick Chan | Posted in General | Comments (0)

Psalms

6/29/2008 – 4:57 pm

I have posted my sermons from the last two weeks at the GCBC website, if you care to listen to them (Psalm 122, Psalm 88). Sorry, the Psalm 122 one was a bit of a mess. My fault for trying something different.

By Charles Sebold | Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)