Last Sunday, we wrapped up our month-long, church-wide Sunday School series and I want to thank everyone who came and participated. I'd also like to thank Benny, Candace, and Ramsey for proof-reading the early drafts of the book and providing very useful feedback. And a big thanks goes to Tricia, whose conversations, questions, and observations helped me think through these things in deeper ways and write a much better book.

Here's one last excerpt from Beyond Our Strength: Understanding the Burden and Blessing of Suffering.

We first encounter Naomi in the opening pages of the book of Ruth. As the story begins, Naomi and her husband leave Israel in search of food during a severe famine. They journey to and settle in the foreign land of Moab and during their time there, Naomi’s two sons get married to Moabite women. In the ten years their family stayed in Moab, Naomi lost her husband and her two sons to death, leaving her with two daughters-in-law. Of them, only one returns with Naomi to Israel.

Listen to what Naomi says about her plight: “...the hand of the Lord has gone out against me…the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” [Ruth 1:13, 20-21]

Naomi believes that God is responsible for her suffering. And in that, she is correct. God is ultimately, sovereignly responsible for all that befalls us, including suffering. Naomi didn’t attribute her situation to ‘bad luck’ or ‘karma’ or a ‘these things happen’ mentality. Instead, she rightfully recognized that God is the absolute ruler of the universe and that every single thing that took place in her life only did so with His permission. She is asking that people no longer call her Naomi, which means pleasant, but Mara, which means bitter. Her life has been marked by tragedy, and she is convinced that God is responsible for her tragedy.

While her assumption was right, Naomi erred in her conclusion. God is ultimately responsible for her trials, but not because He was ‘out to get her.’ God is not the architect of a devious plot to torment people pointlessly, nor does He want our trials to turn us away from Him. The whole point of trials is to drive us to God. Our Father allows suffering into our lives in order that we might be drawn closer to Him and transformed more into the likeness of His Son. As James reminds us, there is a divine purpose in each and every one of our trials: “the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” [Jam. 1:3]

When the doctor tells you that you have an inoperable tumor, or the policeman shows up at your doorstep to tell you that your husband has been killed in a car accident, or you find your infant daughter has died in her sleep, how will you respond? Will you blame God and accuse Him of conspiring against you? Will you sink into despair? Or will you trust in God? It’s much easier to trust in God when our lives are seemingly easy; but what will happen when they become difficult? Do we know God well enough to have confidence in His love and His will for our lives? Are we prepared to trust Him through trials?

Time Travel Tuesday #52
Can you believe that we've already had one whole year of Time Travel Tuesday pictures? To commemorate the occasion, here's a picture of the family from our Gatlinburg vacation earlier this month. We were hiking to Cataract Falls at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and even though all you can see is the top of Aaron's head, he was having a good time like the rest of us!  

Doctrine (or teaching) is important, critically important in many ways, but it is not doctrine that makes a person right before God. R. C. Sproul [Preaching the Cross, 98] explains a key distinction between the doctrine of justification and justification itself:  

We are not justified by the doctrine of justification by faith. We can believe this doctrine, give intellectual assent to its truth, and even contend for it with our all without ever having the faith that alone will justify us. Our justification is not accomplished by a profession of faith. The evangelical world has never fully grasped that nobody is justified by a simple profession of faith. Professions of faith are good things, and those who believe are supposed to profess what they believe, but it’s the “possession” of faith – not its “profession” – that translates a person from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

There is a major difference between having a correct belief about Christ and having faith in Christ; a personal trust in who He is and what He has done to secure your eternal standing before God. Do you simply believe that Jesus died or do you believe that His death on the cross was necessary to pardon your sin? Do you see His death and resurrection only as mighty doctrines or also as the only thing that can justify you before God?

Sadly, there are many who have the right doctrinal belief system, who are perhaps even involved in their churches, that do not have genuine faith in Christ. Jesus Himself warned of this in His sermon on the mount: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." [Matthew 7:21-23]

Jesus doesn't say, "Depart from me, you didn't profess faith in me," He says "Depart from me, I never knew you." Many say they are disciples of Jesus--perhaps you do as well--but are you merely professing faith, or do you truly possess it?

Each Wednesday in July I'm posting an excerpt from my book called Beyond Our Strength: Understanding the Burden and Blessing of Suffering. Here's part of the text:

Most of us don’t have golden calves in our homes. We don’t worship images of gold or silver, but simply because our idols are not tangible does not mean they are any less idols. We cling to selfish ambition, the love of money, the pursuit of pleasure, a standard of attractiveness, and other things we consider our ‘rights’ and we refuse to let them go. But just like the wooden statues of old, these modern-day idols are lifeless and hollow.

The problem comes in that, even though we know these idols are false, we don’t like giving them up. We stubbornly cling to these false gods and fight to keep them. Knowing they cannot meet any of our genuine needs, however, God exposes them as frauds—and that, at times, involves exposing the depths to which our hearts are attached to them as well.

Of course, we would prefer that this not be the case. We would prefer to cling to our idols, or even if we know that we should give them up, we want the process to be painless and smooth. If it’s going to hurt, then we begin to think we’ll be better off just keeping the idols. But we need to have these idols removed for our own good. When a tooth begins to hurt, we can avoid the dentist because we know he’s going to poke and prod and maybe even cause us some discomfort. But if we ignore the problem, not only does it continue, it gets worse and may require drastic measures like surgery or extraction.

If God wants to remove the idols from our lives, it is with good reason. These idols serve as obstacles to our growth. They prevent us from knowing Him, trusting Him, and honoring Him in a Christ-like way. And if a little suffering is necessary to remove these obstacles, God has made it perfectly clear that He will employ that suffering for our ultimate good.

“It is the great mistake and folly of men that they make more haste to get their afflictions removed than sanctified,” writes Thomas Case [When Christians Suffer, 108]. “Learning our lesson is the shortest way to deliverance. This is God’s method. He teaches his people, and they will then not wait long for their deliverance.” Sometimes we have to endure pain in order to get rid of the problem.

Time Travel Tuesday #51
Ah, the beach! Although the steady 90-degree+ temperatures we've had around here have probably felt like an extended stay at the beach, it's just not the same without the sand and the water, is it? Here's Tricia and I at Xtreme Summer back in 2006: 

Are you an advocate for Christ or a witness for Christ? The distinction is critical, as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones [Authority, 82] expresses in this week's quote:  

Am I am advocate of these things or am I a witness? You can be an advocate of Christianity without being a Christian. You can be an advocate of these things without experiencing them. If you have intelligence, if you have been rightly trained, you can understand the Scriptures in a sense, and you can lay them out before others. You can present all the arguments, you can put the case for a kind of Christian philosophy. And it may sound wonderful. But you may be standing outside the true experience the whole time. You may be talking about something which you do not really know, about Someone you have never met. You are an advocate, perhaps even a brilliant advocate. But note what the Lord said to the apostles: “Ye shall be my witnesses.”

There is a major difference between knowing Christ and knowing about Christ. We can be full of factual knowledge about the life and ministry of Christ; we can even try to model our lives after Him and convince others they should do the same. We can define and defend the doctrines of atonement, resurrection, and the rest. But none of these are the same as knowing Christ--of personally trusting Him alone for salvation.

The reality of this distinction will be tragically clear on the final day of judgment, as Jesus explained: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" [Matthew 7:21-23]

Do you know Jesus, or do you just know about Him? Are you an advocate for the cause of Christ or are you a first-hand witness to the saving power of Christ?

Vacation! Earlier this week, Tricia and I took the boys to Gatlinburg for a family vacation, and even though it rained most of the time, we still had a lot of fun. Ethan really enjoyed going to Ripley's Aquarium, and we were able to take a short 'hike' to Cataract Falls at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As with all vacations, it felt like it went by too fast, but I was glad we were able to go. Look for some pictures online soon!

In the meantime, I thought I go ahead and catch-up with the content I would have posted earlier this week, so we'll start with...

Time Travel Tuesday #50
Here's Tricia as a youngster having a good time on a bed. Nice dress, sweetie!  

And here's another excerpt from my book. It's called Beyond Our Strength: Understanding the Burden and Blessing of Suffering. Here's a sample from one of the daily readings:

Christ suffered. That is perhaps the single greatest truth that Scripture reveals when it comes to understanding how to deal with our own suffering. When faced with personal pain, the temptation can be to blame God and accuse Him of acting against us. When our hearts seek to condemn God for His lack of compassion or care; when we feel the urge to rail against Him in our trials; let us remember: “The God who empties us and strips away, however painfully, those precious things in which we are trusting knows what it is to be stripped of all His possessions, left alone and abandoned by His friends, and hung empty on a cross.” [Iain Duguid, Reformed Expository Commentary: Esther & Ruth, 138]

God is not unaware of our pain. He is no stranger to suffering and trials. Even when He seems distant, He is not. (see, for example, Ex. 3:7-12) It is critical for us to learn this in periods of calm, to trust Him when He does feel close, knowing there will come times when He doesn’t. In those moments, we can’t trust our feelings. Instead, we must trust in what we know of God – what He has taught us about His character and nature through His Word and His Son.

Remember, Christ’s sufferings were not merely physical. The Bible says that He “became sin for us” [2 Cor. 5:21] bearing God’s wrath against our sin as the Lord “laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” [Is. 53:6] It was in His death, as Christ literally took our curse upon Himself and then took God’s righteous judgment against that curse on Himself, that He cried out in heart-wrenching agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?” [Mt. 27:46] This is not the stoic, detached speech of a robotic Messiah; this is the piercing cry of One who knows what it is to suffer—in ways we can never imagine or fully comprehend.

Scripture goes on to tell us that all who are in Christ will also suffer. Part of this will be due to persecution that we face simply by identifying ourselves with Him, since Jesus clearly tells us that “a servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” [John 15:20]. But God’s Word also reveals that this suffering is actually a gift from God. We are told in Philippians 1:29 that it has been “granted to you [to] suffer for His sake,” and Acts 5:41 tells us that the disciples rejoiced that they were “counted worthy to suffer” for His name. Matthew 5:10-12 says we are, in fact, “blessed” when persecuted for His sake.

Seeing suffering as a gift is only possible when we understand both what God wants it to do in us and that He Himself has endured it. “Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. The things we try to avoid and fight against—tribulation, suffering, and persecution—are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it." [Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, March 7 entry]   

Perhaps you have had times in your Christian life when you have wondered if you can be certain God will not abandon you or disown you. If you can identify with that kind of thought (and I imagine many more of us do than we'd like to admit), then I trust that this week's quote from Thomas Watson [All Things For Good, 111] will be an encouragement to you:  

When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favorites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God’s call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names. Let the world ring changes every hour, a believer’s condition is fixed and unalterable.

Or, as the apostle Paul once so eloquently put it: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Romans 8:38-39]

Each Wednesday in July, we'll take a look at an excerpt from the study book I wrote to use in the church-wide Sunday School series I am teaching. It's called Beyond Our Strength: Understanding the Burden and Blessing of Suffering. Here's a brief selection:

When we hear stories of child abuse or read about the horrors of the Holocaust, we wonder about the goodness of a God that would allow such events. Just one evening with the news can reveal disturbing instances of rape, kidnapping, theft, war, racism, and every other kind of hateful act and sinful attitude. With so much evil, how can God be good?

On a more personal level, what happens when the doctor says that the cancer has aggressively spread and there are only months—or weeks—left to live? Is God good? What about when parents discover their infant child has died during the night? Or when the military wife answers her door to discover that her husband was killed in battle? Is God good?

Remember, God says clearly in His Word that He is good. From Scripture’s perspective, the character of God is not an issue up for debate: we can question God’s providence and timing in our lives, we can even ask Him “why?”—but if we claim that God isn’t good, we are calling Him a liar. Of course, when we face gut-wrenching, soul-stabbing tragedy we will almost certainly not feel like God is good. “One of the most difficult things to do when the road is rough or when the billows are passing over us is to feel that God still loves us," says John J. Murray. "It is the last thing we can accept. But we are not called to feel; we are called to believe.” (Behind a Frowning Providence, 22)

Keep in mind that this call to believe was the same for our Christian ancestors. The very same   people who declared God’s unquestionable goodness in the pages of Scripture—Moses, Asaph, Job, Paul, David, even Jesus Himself—were no strangers to suffering or evil. Each of these people faced extremely trying circumstances (including death), yet they did not allow those circumstances to define their perception of God. They believed that God was good regardless of what they saw, felt, or were tempted to think.

Time Travel Tuesday #49
This week's photo features me with Casey and Julie on a church mission trip back in 2004. We were in Alexandria KY helping a local food bank/clothes closet. That trip was also where I got the nickname "Biggie Fatts" but that's another story... 

Also, I wanted to mention that I have now posted book review #200, so if you haven't checked out the reviews page in a while, now's a great time to see (in exactly 76 words each)what you've been missing!

Happy Fourth of July! Stay safe when celebrating this weekend and enjoy time with family and friends--and a day off work! I've got a few thoughts on what freedom means, which are posted below, but first...

Today marks the first day of the summer edition of Super Sunday School at Parkwood. (That's where all classes, from 6th Grade up, meet together for one big church-wide class over four weeks.) Our series this time is called Beyond Our Strength: Understanding the Burden and Blessing of Suffering. Please pray for me as I lead this series. As you know (most likely from first-hand experience), suffering is a universal reality. My goal for this book and series is that they will encourage people to sincerely think about why we suffer and how we are to live during such times. Thank you for your prayers...and stop by if you want: we start at 9:30 this morning!

* * * * *

The High Cost of Freedom
It was just a little over 200 years ago that our nation declared its independence from the British monarchy, the result of years of oppressive rule and unfair representation. A brutal war led to a narrow victory over the crown and the birth of our fledgling democracy. We have celebrated this chain of events each year on the fourth of July—the date on which our declaration of independence was made.

Many people laid down their lives to gain our freedom—and many since have done the same in order to preserve it, or to provide similar freedom for others. In many ways, America has become synonymous with freedom through the legacy of sacrifice and valor that make this nation possible. This heritage is one that must be acknowledged, remembered, and honored. It is in large part due to those who have fought, bled—and even died—that we live in a free society.

And yet, it is still possible for tyranny to rise up again. Evil dictators can amass armies; power-hungry leaders can obtain deadly weapons; warlords can strip freedom from those who enjoy it. Scenes like these play out around the globe every day. Even within a free country like ours, legislation can be passed to change the extent of freedoms that apply to worship, assembly, or speech. We are not guaranteed that it will always be as it now is.

Thankfully, there is a freedom that is guaranteed. This freedom was purchased by Jesus Christ as He willingly laid down His life for His people. In that one act, He took our guilt and sin upon Himself and took the full wrath of God against the sin upon Himself as well. His death brings us life by paying our debt and disarming our death. Now, we have a true freedom, eternally secure, for He did what we were powerless to do under the law. It’s what led Paul to say “…but He whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” [Acts 13:37-39]

This freedom is not just for the age to come, however. When we truly understand what it means to be free in Christ, we see this world differently. We realize that while we are free from slavery to sin, we are now slaves to God—but He is a good and just and righteous Master and it is our pleasure to serve the One who created and redeemed us. “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” [1 Peter 2:16]

It is good and right to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in this country. And it is equally good and right to honor those who have courageously secured and defended those freedoms. But the freedom we enjoy as Americans is not our hope. God’s blessing is not primarily found in human liberties, nor is it reserved only for this nation. No, God’s blessing is seen most profoundly in the cross of Christ. He is our hope; He is our only true freedom.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 6:20-23]