How do you respond to circumstances not going your way? How do you react when you receive disappointing news? What is your attitude when your hopes are dashed?

God wants us to learn the lessons of the prophet Habakkuk. In his day Judah had radically turned away from God under the leadership of wicked kings. The country was morally and spiritually bankrupt, worshipping Baal on the high places, offering its children to Molech, and allowing the temple to fall into disrepair. There was a short time of revival under King Josiah but the country soon returned to its evil ways following his death. The balance of power in the mid east had been disrupted by the defeat of the Egyptians and Assyrians by the Babylonians. Now the Babylonian war machine became the dominant force mercilessly sweeping all opposition aside. The kingdom of Judah was in Babylon’s crosshairs and amassing.

Habakkuk poured his heart out to God asking Him to change the appalling spiritual condition of Judah and deliver them from invading enemies, but he did not get the answer for which he hoped. The Lord revealed to Habakkuk that His plan was to use Babylon as His instrument of judgment against God’s people. This horrified Habakkuk. How could God use a pagan and wicked nation to discipline His own people? This did not seem right. Why wouldn’t God destroy their enemies and revive Judah instead?

Habakkuk, like Job, complains to God and questions His justice and wisdom. God makes it clear that both nations will be judged but His people will eventually be renewed. By the end of the book Habakkuk’s attitude changed. He realized God was sovereign and knew what was best for His people; he desired God’s plans and glory above all things. What changed Habakkuk? He learned “the righteous shall live by his faith.” (2:4) God wants to break our pride and bring us to greater trust in His sovereign plans and providence for us. In the end Habakkuk was able to exercise faith by looking to God and His grace for all his needs. He was able face unpleasant circumstances knowing God would be enough for Him.

I encourage you to meditate on his final words in chapter three: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Vv. 17-19)

Habakkuk found joy and strength in God’s salvation and presence even though he knew the certainty of great difficulties ahead. It is the norm for Christians to face many trials in life because it is God’s way of refining our faith and character. Are you facing unpleasant circumstances today? The key is looking to Christ and your gospel blessings in Him. In the midst of our trials God wants to teach us that He is enough; He is all we need even if circumstances don’t change. No matter what the circumstances, a daily personal relationship with Christ, by grace, can give us joy and strength that enables us to face each day with hope. May your resolve today be the same as Habakkuk’s.

Pastor Doug Griffith

How Are Your Devotions?

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." John 17:17

Listening to good teaching and preaching on a weekly basis is essential for Christian growth, but it is not a substitute for your own daily reading of God's Word. It should come as no surprise that having daily devotions in the Word of God is often a struggle for believers; the world, the flesh, and the devil are opposed to them growing in grace and communion with God. Therefore, believers should develop a plan and maintain a discipline of daily devotions.

Some people have asked me what I do for daily devotions. I have tried different plans over the years and I believe there isn't just one way of having devotions. Different plans work for different people and sometimes its good to change approaches. The important thing is to stay in the Word of God daily and if a system is getting old try something different but don't stop. Special devotional guides can be helpful; some of the best include Tabletalk magazine put out by R.C. Sproul's ministry and the old classic Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. However, I think guides should only supplement and not replace some type of daily Bible reading plan. The challenge with a Bible reading plan is not to do it just to check it off your list for that day, but to read devotionally and use the Scriptures as the focus of your prayer time. The main point of having devotions is to fill and inform your thoughts with God's Word and commune with God through His Word.

I've developed a system that has been working for me and you might want to try it or create an adaptation that fits you. It is important for believers to expose themselves over time to the whole counsel of God (meaning the whole Bible) and not just one part. I attempt to read a chapter a day in each of the following sections of the Bible: 1) Old Testament historical books and Prophets, 2) Psalms, 3) Wisdom books i.e. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, 4) Gospels, and 5) Acts, Epistles, and Revelation. If you follow this plan you get through the whole Bible in a little over two years and you repeat some sections more than twice a year

I use the plastic colored Post-it flags to mark where I am in each section. Post-it flags stay sticky for a long time, but one must be careful not to rip the thin pages when you remove them. I make it a point to get through each of the five sections every day but I don't feel I have to complete a whole chapter if I just want to meditate on a smaller portion.

I try to train my mind to remember key thoughts that God has impressed upon me in each section and sometimes I underline key verses. If you like to journal you can jot down what God has taught you in each section. I will pray after reading all the sections using what the Spirit has taught me. In my prayers I concentrate on worshipping God for His attributes, confessing sins, thanking Him for the work of Christ and who I am in Him, and asking God to help me respond in obedience to His commands.

In most cases you can have a great devotional in 30-45 minutes. I suggest using a study Bible like the ESV Study Bible, The Spirit of The Reformation Study Bible, or The Reformation Study Bible. The notes can often help you understand difficult texts and the book introductions are helpful to understand the context and themes of each book.

As I stated before, the most important issue is having a daily time of reading and meditating on God's Word with prayer. It also helps to have someone hold you accountable. Let us all aspire to David's commitment when he said, "I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways." (Psa. 119:15)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:4-7

It always happens in three's! When you hear someone make that comment they are referring to bad things that seem to come in bunches of three into our lives. I don't believe this to be the case because there are plenty of times when we only deal with one or two trials at a time; it's just that when there are three or more happening at once we really remember those times! The Bible teaches that regardless of how many trials believers might have to encounter at once, God is sovereign over the good and bad things that happen to them. Everything happens according to His plan. God has good purposes for the trials His people experience (Rom. 8:28-29).

The Philippian church was experiencing more than three bad things happening to them at once. They were poor, they were being persecuted, their missionary (the apostle Paul) was facing imminent death in prison, false teachers were harassing them, and there was a serious division in the church.

Paul writes the book of Philippians from his jail cell to give his beloved church instruction and encouragement on how to deal with these trials. Joy is the predominant theme in this book. Christians should not allow trials to rob them of their joy. Paul constantly brings them back to finding their joy in the Lord and not in their circumstances.

Near the end of the book in 4:4-7, Paul shares with them the four Christian virtues of God's grace that lead to experiencing peace in the midst of trials. All Christians need to be reminded of these virtues as they encounter difficult circumstances of their own. The first virtue is to rejoice in the Lord always. Paul repeats this command to show that it is possible and necessary no matter what is occurring in their lives. How? This joy is not found in circumstances, but in knowing intimacy with Christ and believing in the riches of His grace. The second virtue is reasonableness or gentleness. It is a willingness to yield one's personal rights and show consideration and gentleness to others. Believers have the power to be gentle because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and because Christ has shown them selfless love and gentleness. Believers are to think of the reality of the Lord's impending return, consequently, they will not want Him to return while they are acting harshly with someone. The third virtue is prayerfulness. Paul says the answer to anxiety is prayer. Instead of expending useless energy on worry, believers are to turn their attention to prayer. In addition to using prayer to express their needs to God, prayer is also a means for believers to commune with Him and receive assurances of His grace and sovereign care. The fourth virtue is thanksgiving. Gratitude should be an attitude that permeates the believer's thinking, conversation, and certainly accompany all praying. Thanksgiving is remembering the eternal and temporal blessings believers have in Christ and acknowledging that God is good in whatever He plans for them.

A beautiful promise is given to believers who practice these four Christian virtues by faith: God's own peace, which far surpasses human comprehension. This peace protects the believer's heart from despair.

Are you in need of God's peace right now? The experience of this supernatural heavenly peace is only for those who have already been forgiven of their sins and declared righteous by faith in the finished work of Christ. Examine your heart and make sure you believe in Christ alone as your Savior and Lord. Then, trust God to give you the grace to practice these four virtues in the midst of your trial(s), and the experience of His peace will come.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

What Is Your New Year’s Resolution?

I believe it is an appropriate thing for Christians to make new goals for the year but the challenge is to have the right goals and the motivation to follow through. In Romans 12:1-2 Paul calls believers to the goal of offering their bodies 24/7 as living and holy sacrifices to God. Paul emphasizes the body because loving and serving God sacrificially involves what we do with our bodies as well as our minds. You cannot separate the body from the mind in Christian living and discipleship. Many professing Christians don’t seem to understand this. They think they can separate their belief in Christ from what they do with their bodies. A good example of this is found on Facebook, the popular online networking website. It is not unusual to find people describing themselves as committed Christians and sharing their favorite Bible verses right next to posting pictures of themselves drunk at parties or making suggestive poses. There is a big disconnect between what they profess and what they are doing with their time and their bodies. The Bible says that when a person becomes a genuine Christian he becomes a new creature in union with Christ with a desire and passion to become holy in his thoughts, words, and actions.

This exhortation to offer holistic sacrifice and worship to God comes after Paul has fully explained the meaning of God’s grace in the previous eleven chapters of Romans. The rest of the book deals with how grace must work itself out in the Christian life. Paul says grace, properly understood and received, should result in sacrificial body and mind worship to God. The basis for this kind of living is God’s mercy. Christians are to keep God’s mercy in view. The Christian life is not a set of do’s and don’ts in order to gain God’s mercy, acceptance, or blessing. No, the Christian life involves knowing and believing God has already given believers salvation by grace through the work of Christ. Jesus came to be our substitute. He received the judgment of God that we deserved for our sins though His death on the cross. He lived a perfect life fulfilling God’s laws so that we could receive His merit and be declared righteous and acceptable to God. Paul is saying that having received this mercy already believers will strive to offer themselves in sacrificial worship to God.

Christians don’t obey to get God to love them more, or to appease God’s anger, or to bribe Him to do something for them. They obey because God has already shown them mercy in saving them. If you don’t understand this concept and keep reminding yourself of it constantly, you will lack power for spiritual growth, and you may become bitter and angry, or you will burn out and lose your motivation for growing. Believers are to keep in view the mercy of God – that means the gospel. We are to preach the gospel to ourselves and remind ourselves of God’s manifold blessings. Theologian John Murray said, “It is the mercy of God that melts the heart and it is as we are moved by these mercies of God that we shall know the constraint of consecration as pertains to our body.”

How is this kind of sacrificial worship sustained? It is sustained by the Christian keeping God’s mercy in view. But secondly, it is sustained by the Christian intentionally refusing to conform to the sinful ways and thinking of the world, and by the mind being transformed by the Word of God. The gospel and the Bible must be the force that works in the transformation and renewal of our deepest inner self. Believers are to be constantly in the process of being changed and renewed in their minds by the Word of grace.

So, this New Year I challenge and urge you, along with Paul, to resist stagnation in your Christian walk and pursue the goal of giving yourself to God in everything you do with your body and mind.

Pastor Doug Griffith

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

One of the core values of our church is “we believe the visible expression of the invisible church is the local church. Membership and involvement in the local church is critical for spiritual growth.”

Church membership is making public vows that you are a follower of Christ and will live as a follower of Christ, you will be committed to serve and support the church family, and you will come under the direction, and if necessary, the correction or discipline of the leadership of that church body.

In my last article I dealt with the fact that many American Christians view church membership as incidental and optional to their Christianity. Some Christians do not believe the Bible supports church membership, but others are just reluctant to make a commitment to authority and accountability. I gave several examples showing how church membership is strongly implied in the Bible and that it calls Christians to be committed to a particular local church. This commitment will be a formal one so that the elders and the church will know who has made it and who has not.

There are several close analogies in our society today to the formal vows of church membership. Making a formal commitment to a group or authority is part of the glue that holds society together. When someone becomes a citizen of the U.S.A. you must take an oath of allegiance to the constitution and laws of the country. When you join the military you are required to take an oath to the constitution and to the authority of the President. When a man and a woman get married they make public vows. Although these vows are not specifically commanded in scripture we believe they are critical. These vows safeguard the marriage and hold the couple accountable to their serious covenant promises to God and each other.

The justification for making a formal commitment to a local church is similar to taking marriage vows. A person joining the church makes a covenant to God and to the church body. God has ordained that the church and its elders encourage and hold the person accountable to live a life that matches his/her profession of faith. When you become a Christian you are joined with Christ and with His body the church. You will want to express that unity by making a formal commitment to the church. Paul said in Ephesians 4:11 that God gave pastors and teachers to equip the saints for ministry. A Christian’s attitude about church membership is not how the church can meet my needs, but how does God want me to serve others in the body of Christ.

What are the blessings of church membership? 1. Christians will flourish under God-ordained authority. Believers were designed to grow and flourish under Christ’s ministry through His officers. We find early in the book of Acts that the church prospered as they were governed, equipped, and served by the ordained officers (elders and deacons) in the church. Just like children flourish under the leadership, authority, and nurture of a loving orderly household, so believers flourish in the order and government of the local church. Christians can’t be shepherded and accountable to elders commanded to disciple them if they are not members in a local church. If we are disconnected from God’s provision for our nurture and protection in the local church we leave ourselves vulnerable and weak.

2. Christians will experience rich fellowship in the context of committed loving relationships. When you are part of a group of Christians who have made formal vows to be committed to love Christ and serve one another it creates a secure atmosphere for deeper fellowship and accountability. Being a member of a church means committing to a covenant relationship with people where you agree to be real with one another and you are there for each other through thick and thin. Jesus wants discipleship to take place in committed relationships with people with whom you sometimes have to confront in love, forgive, and reconcile.

3. Christians will witness through their unity of faith, truth, and vision. We are to be part of the community through which God has planned to carry out His great commission and transform society and culture through the gospel. Disciple making is to be done in the context of the local church according to Mt. 28:18-20. The church’s witness is expressed through its unity, commitment to Jesus Christ and each other, teaching and testifying of the Word of God, and through deeds of mercy. Being a member of a local church glorifies God because it is through the church, as Ephes. 3:10 says, that His manifold wisdom is made known.

Author and pastor Phillip Ryken states, “If the church is established by God, ruled by Christ, and governed by the Word of His Spirit, then how can a believer refuse to join it?” If you have been reluctant to formally join the church, I urge you to reconsider for the sake of your spiritual growth, the health of His church, and the glory of Christ.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1Corithians 12:27)

Many churches today are having trouble encouraging church membership; some have eliminated it altogether. Some Christians regard church membership as unnecessary and theologically unsupported. Others are reluctant to commit themselves anywhere because they have experienced disappointment and hypocrisy in the church, or they just do not want to be held accountable. But what does the Bible say? The New Testament knows of no Christians who are not accountable members of local churches. One only has to pay close attention to whom the epistles were written – to people in local churches under the governance of ordained elders. Author and pastor Philip Ryken says, “There is no union with Christ apart from the communion of the saints. Nor can the saints have true communion without belonging to one another by belonging to Christ in His church.”

Church membership is actually strongly implied in the Scriptures. First, it is implied by the metaphors used in the New Testament, such as the church being the body of Christ (1Cor.12:12-31). Paul says believers are members of this body, and this organic relationship implies a close commitment to the whole. To belong to the body of Christ is to belong to a body. Secondly, church membership is implied in the way the New Testament requires elders to care for the flock of their particular charge. They are to have a special responsibility to care for their local church (Acts 20:28; 1Peter 5:2-3). This implies that leaders know for whom they are responsible. The ordination of the first deacons (Acts 6:1-7) was in response that some members on the rolls of the Jerusalem church were being overlooked. The church at Ephasus maintained a list of widows under its membership care (1Tim. 5:9). Thirdly, membership is implied by the requirement of Christians to give submission and honor to their elders (Heb. 13:17; 1Thess.5:12-13; 1Tim.5:12-13). Without some kind of willing covenantal agreement or commitment this is not possible. How is this leadership and submission going to work if there is no membership defining who has made the commitment to be led and who it is that chooses the leaders? Fourthly, discipline is to be exercised in the church (Mt. 18:15-17). How is this to happen if there is no definable group called “the church” that will take up this sensitive and weighty matter? Fifthly, church membership is implied by the simple fact that excommunication even exists. How can someone be removed from the church (1Cor. 5:12-13) if there isn’t a way of defining who is inside the church? The early church knew who was part of their community and who was not. Some kind of expressed willingness or covenant or agreement or commitment has to precede a person’s submission to a group of leaders. Sixthly, Christ shepherds and rules the church through elders. Elders exercise the keys to the kingdom (Mt.16:19) and have the sobering job of admitting people to or excluding people from church membership based the Bible’s definition what it means to be a Christian.

Therefore, the New Testament does call Christians to be committed to a particular local church. This commitment will be a formal one so that the elders and the church will know who has made it and who has not. Author and pastor John Piper says, “Church membership is a blood-bought gift of God’s grace. More than most of us realize, it is a life-sustaining, faith–strengthening, joy-preserving means of God’s mercy to us. I urge you not to cut yourself off from this blessing.”

In the next article I will deal with the similarity of formal church membership and marriage vows, and the privileges of church membership.

Pastor Griffith

Recommended reading: How Important Is Church Membership? by John Piper; Church Membership – The Context for Unity by Mark Dever; Is Church Membership Optional? by Stephen Pribble; The Importance of Church Membership by J.V. Fesko; The Communion of Saints (strongly recommended, especially chapter 4) by Philip Ryken.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2Tim. 3:16)

Is The Bible True?

This is a key question believers must be ready to answer when witnessing to a skeptical non-Christian friend. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1.4) states that the authority of Scripture does not depend on the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God. In both Old and New Testaments the Bible declares itself to be the very Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16). The Bible's own internal evidence bears witness to its truthfulness and authority. All the rational arguments in the world will not convince man of its veracity. Because man is by nature inclined to reject God and His truth, the Holy Spirit must work to change someone's heart and mind.

Having said this, I believe when the Holy Spirit is at work to regenerate a person's heart, He changes their disposition toward the Scriptures convincing them of the evidence that they are reliable and true. God can certainly use believers in this process as they present the case for Biblical authority and reliability. Here are a number of key points that can be made in support of the Bible's veracity. Because of space I will categorize them under two headings and briefly highlight the major points of emphasis with the understanding that further study and explanation is necessary.

Internal evidence: First, in no other religious literature do we find the accuracy of fulfilled prophecy (over 300 Old Testament prophecies fulfilled about Christ). Secondly, the Bible is an amazingly unified book of 66 volumes, by 40 authors, written over 1500 years. Despite its diversity, it is logically consistent with itself and focused on one theme from beginning to the end - the redemption of man through the covenant of grace fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It has never been proven to contradict itself. Thirdly, the Old and New Testaments claim they are the Word of God. Jesus claimed to be God and His Word to be the Word of God. Furthermore, He verified the Old Testament as the Word of God, and promised that His Spirit would reveal more of the Word of God through the Apostles. The Apostles treated each other's writings as the Word of God. The church progressively acknowledged the inspiration of the entire 66 books of the Bible by the 4^th century.

External evidence: First, there is sufficient evidence (that is continuing to grow) the Bible is historically accurate from archeological and historical evidence.  Secondly, the manuscript evidence of the Bible gives us a more reliable text than any other text from antiquity. It has been preserved as no other writing on earth. Thirdly, the resurrection of Christ, written about in the New Testament documents (A.D.47- A.D.70), witnessed by thousands (1Cor.15:6) who testified to its truth publicly, and also proven by the inability of others to successfully refute these, attests to the validity of Christ and all His truth claims.

Let us not shy away from our confidence and use of the Word of God in evangelism, teaching, and preaching, for faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:17)

For further study: A Ready Defense, Josh McDowell; He Walked Among Us, Josh McDowell; The Reason For God, Tim Keller; Now That's A Good Question, R.C. Sproul; The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable, F.F. Bruce

Pastor Doug Griffith

This is a message primarily to our graduating seniors, but I want all parents and adults to use these thoughts to encourage the Christian high school senior with whom you have contact.

As a parent of a graduating senior myself, and as a pastor, there are a flood of thoughts that I want to convey to you.  To some extent parents at this point feel that they have run out of time and they are worried they haven't taught everything they think you need to know.  But, God reminds me that from the very beginning our children are not our own, they are His, and although He uses us to raise you, and we will always be there as your parents, He is the One who will guide and direct your steps.  So, I have confidence that if you look to Him, He will remind you of the things you have been taught, and you will grow in Him.

Acts 20:27-32 came to mind as I was thinking about this article.  It is Paul's farewell message to the elders at Ephesus.  Paul planted the church in Ephesus and he spent a lot of time there teaching and equipping the believers.  But Paul left the church in Ephesus and decided to visit other churches and then go to Jerusalem. When his ship docked in Miletus, about 40 miles from Ephesus, he sent for the Ephesian elders to address them one more time.  It is a marvelous message, but for the sake of space I want to just refer to verses 27-32.

27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. 32 "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Paul says that he did not hesitate to proclaim the whole will of God to them.  That is very instructive to us.  I hope Carriage Lane will be your home church throughout college, but you also need to have a home-away-from-home church at your new place of residency nine months out of the year. It is important that one of the first things you do is look for a church and immediately start the habit of regular attendance in worship. I exhort you to choose a PCA church, because I know PCA churches are committed to preaching and teaching the whole will of God. If there isn't a PCA church around, choose a church that focuses on teaching and preaching the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, the whole gospel, a high view of worship, sound doctrine, and the importance of the church.

I also can't stress enough the importance of choosing a good campus ministry like Reformed University Fellowship and begin attending their weekly meetings. Make this choice a top priority as you look for friends and establish your social network. The friends you develop in college will have a tremendous influence on you either for good or for bad.

Paul says to the elders to keep watch over yourselves; that is the most important thing you need to be concerned about.  As important as your studies and social life are, the number one priority is to keep watch over your own spiritual condition. You are now an adult, and now more than ever, you must take responsibility to maintain your walk with God through the ordinary means of grace (Bible reading/studying, prayer, worship, the sacraments, and fellowship).

Paul knew there was a spiritual battle being waged against God's people.  He says in v.29 that he knows savage wolves will come and attack the flock.  Many of you have benefited from being a part of this church and you are equipped to get out on your own, but so were these elders. The Apostle Paul equipped these men, and yet he warns them of the perils ahead.  This next stage in your life will be some of the best years, but be aware that there are wolves all around you.  Satan will want to take advantage of your freedom try to influence you in new ways - ways that seem fun and harmless.  The Devil is very subtle as he tries to lure us away from fellowship with Christ.  

These wolves come in sheep's clothing.  In other words, there will be people who will want to influence you to stray from the Lord, to stray from the church, to stray from God ordained authority, and to compromise your Christian conduct.  Paul says some of these wolves will be close associates or friends who call themselves Christians.  So, my encouragement to you is choose your friends wisely, go out of your way to find and develop friendships with strong believers whose lifestyle and language is consistently dedicated to being a disciple of Christ.  Make this your very first priority as soon as you get to school and all the while you are there.  Satan will throw many other opportunities at you, some which are not inherently sinful, just to occupy you enough to keep you from what should be your most important priorities.

Paul says in v.31 that for three years he warned them of these things so they ought to be on their guard.  Remember the things you have been taught and warned about from your parents, your elders, and your pastor.  Attach yourself to friends and to a church that has this same concern for you.

Paul ends this section on a positive note.  He commends them to God, which is what I do and your parents must do as well.  You are in God's hands, He will watch over you.  But that does not mean we do not have responsibility to use the means God has provided to nurture us.  This is why Paul says He commends them to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Paul says that He commends them to God and to the Word of His grace.  He is referring to the Bible and the message of the gospel.  The Bible and the gospel are able to build you up.  We are never beyond a need of the gospel truths.  In the Word we need to continue to find encouragement in what Jesus has done for us - our new status with Him, and our union with Him.  When we continue to preach the gospel to ourselves we have greater confidence and security in our inheritance among all the believers.  This is what God wants for all of us, and He wants it for you as you go off to school or as you pursue a career.  God wants you to be built up through the gospel.  He wants you to be confident in His love and among other believers who are also being built up.

If you heed these warnings and encouragements you will see God work in you and bless you in tremendous ways in the coming years.

In Christ,
Pastor Doug

  Remembering Martin Luther

Martin Luther, like all individuals, struggled with the great questions of life.  His experience as a German youth, student, monk, scholar and, finally, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, shaped him into the man who has fascinated historians for hundreds of years.  He has been vilified and sainted; however, at the center of this Saxon rested the heart of a pastor who faced the darkness of his own spiritual struggle.  He found the only remedy for God's righteous judgment in the very promises of that righteous God.  These promises were unified in the Christ of the Gospel made available via faith alone.  From that fount of grace, Luther drank deeply, which gave him the only lasting hope he ever found.  This hope, realized through faith alone in the active obedience of Christ, became the central message he proclaimed to his beloved German people. 

The time period in which Luther lived was one of difficult circumstances in which death was a constant.  Whether it was the plague, old age, or infant mortality, death was all around Luther.  As a youth whose parents faithfully brought him to church, Luther learned of the righteousness of God.  This holy being required much from humanity, and the Mosaic Law loomed large before all flesh, including young Luther.  He struggled along with his family until his father, a miner, sent him to school.  Luther's greatest struggles came in the form of Christian piety.  With the Church's constant reminders of man's sinfulness and the Law's impossible demands, Luther found himself in a battle for acceptable piety.  This conflict only increased once he was terrified into becoming a monk.  On the road to Erfurt that fateful day, lightening nearly struck Luther, and he declared that he would become a monk if he did not die.

Rather than finding spiritual relief in the monastery, Luther was faced with an every increasing inability to perform satisfactorily the requirements of the Christian life.  He found himself inadequate as a monk and unacceptable before God.  Luther later maintained that he was seeking to stand before God on the basis of "active" righteousness, not the "passive" righteousness of faith in Christ alone.  Luther explained that apart from Christ, the world espouses "righteousness...of many kinds.  There is political righteousness, which the emperor, the princes of the world, philosophers, and lawyers consider.  There is also a ceremonial righteousness, which human traditions teach, as, for example, the traditions of the pope and other traditions".  None of these types of righteousness were able to give humanity the justification needed to come into God's holy presence.

Luther sought to keep God's Law in order to stand before the Holy One in righteousness; however, the more he sought to follow the rules, the more hopeless he became.  He commented regarding the Law's effect upon the conscience, "For although the Law is the best of all things in the world, it still cannot bring peace to a terrified conscience but makes it even sadder and drives it to despair.  For by the Law sin becomes exceedingly sinful".  Luther found himself suffering from the weakness of the human nature, and instead of finding hope in the obedience and piety for which he strove as a monk, he found misery and despair.  He explained "that in the terrors of conscience and in the danger of death we look at nothing except our own works, our worthiness, and the Law".  This weakness and misery, along with the taunts of the devil, were Luther's companions throughout much of his time in the monastery.

Luther saw the Church as not helping the monk or the common man in his quest for righteousness.  In his polemical work, Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther charged that the priests used the sacraments as a tool to manipulate the laity.  The priests demanded that the common people perform in certain ways in order to gain salvation and proclaimed that salvation was attainable only as passed on from God through the priests to the people.  Luther believed that "all the sacraments were instituted to feed our faith," and he maintained that one of the most heinous abuses of the Church was the withholding of the cup of Christ from the laity.  By exercising this power, the priests created a glaring division within the Church between those who played as if they were able to keep the Law through monastic rituals and those who were unable to keep the Law because of their common state in life.  Since the priests alone held the power to turn the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, they became the conduits for salvation.  No longer was God's gift of salvation free but ex opere operato (by the working of the works) with a man-centered work necessary for its efficacy.

Luther found himself hating God and living in a world of despair as a result of his sin.  It was only when he began to read and study the Old and New Testaments that he discovered the way to God as taught by the Scriptures.  While reading Paul's epistle to the Romans, Luther came across the seventeenth verse of chapter one, which reads, "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."  It was in the reading of this verse, where the Apostle Paul quotes Habakkuk chapter two verse four, that Luther had a revelation as to the nature of the righteousness necessary for a right standing before God.  The only way any person could be acceptable before God rested on an "alien" righteousness, a righteousness that was foreign to the sinner and received on the basis of faith alone.  Luther concluded, "For the righteousness, by which a person is worth of such salvation, of God, by which alone there are righteous people before God, is revealed in it, because formerly it was considered hidden and to consist in a person's own works.  But now it is ‘revealed,' because no one is righteous unless he believes, as it is written in the last chapter of Mark (16:16):  ‘He who believes,' from faith to faith, as it is written, Hab. 2:4: ‘The righteous, namely, in the eyes of God, shall live by faith, that is, only through complete belief in God will he be saved'".  Luther's grand realization freed him from the foolish presumption that justification comes by the works of fallen humanity.

This epiphany changed everything for Luther.  It was through this doctrinal filter, the filter of faith alone in Christ, that Luther began to view the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the signs of God's promise fulfilled in Christ.  Luther wrote of this new found confidence, "God is faithful in his promises, and I received his sign when I was baptized.  If God is for me, who can be against me?".  A God who demanded perfection to His standard and then provided every aspect of that standard through His perfectly righteous Son conquered Luther's doubts and fears.  Luther realized that "the afflicted conscience has no remedy against despair and eternal death except to take hold of the promise of grace offered in Christ, that is, this righteousness of faith, this passive or Christian righteousness, which says with confidence:  ‘I do not seek active righteousness.  I ought to have and perform it; but I declare that even if I did have it and perform it, I cannot trust in it or stand up before the judgment of God on the basis of it.  Thus I put myself beyond all active righteousness, all righteousness of my own or of the divine Law, and I embrace only that passive righteousness which is the righteousness of grace, mercy, and the forgiveness of sins."  In other words, this is the righteousness of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, which we do not perform but receive, which we do not have but accept, when God the Father grants it to us through Jesus Christ'".

            This new-found freedom, based solely upon the work of Christ alone, brought a liberty that Luther would proclaim for the rest of his life.  It was in this liberty that the fullness of the Christian life could be lived out upon this earth.  In Concerning Christian Liberty, Luther reflects on the implication of Christian liberty:  "And, to cast everything aside, even speculation, meditations, and whatever things can be performed by the exertions of the soul itself, are of no profit.  One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ."  Ironically, this liberty came not through the labors of monastic life or law keeping but in the promises of God freely applied through faith.  At the heart of this freedom and liberty rested the Father's ability to unite the sinner to Christ.  Luther taught that this freedom rested upon the Christian's passive acceptance of Christ's active obedience.  Furthermore, "where Christ is truly seen there must be full and perfect joy in the Lord and peace of heart, where the heart declares:  ‘Although I am a sinner according to the Law, judged by the righteousness of the Law, nevertheless I do not despair.  I do not die, because Christ lives who is my righteousness and my eternal and heavenly life'".  If justification and freedom could come by any other means, Luther would not have held Christ and His Word as the sine qua non of salvation.

Luther maintained that the Christian must never trust in his or her own ability to keep God's Law but must always trust in the perfect and complete work of Christ.  He emphasized that "if the doctrine of justification is lost, the whole of Christian doctrine is lost".  The Law fulfilled by Christ and received through faith by the sinner was the remedy for Luther's doubt-weary soul.  He saw the Medieval Church as leading people away from the only source of joy and freedom available to them.  As a man who had been manipulated by the Church's teachings founded upon fallen human wisdom instead of the Word and profoundly impacted by a difficult life laboring for justification before a Holy God, the pastor, theologian, and leader would not allow those under his care to continue in such error.  Luther saw this foundational error in the Church's teaching on salvation as not simply of a temporal nature but one in which eternity lay in the balance. 

                                            Rev. Timothy Gwin, Associate Pastor

Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. (Titus 2:1-8)

Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1Peter 5:5-6)

What overriding important command is being communicated in these texts? These verses are emphasizing the importance of multi-generational local churches where older believers are to teach younger believers. But today we find what I believe to be a dangerous trend of churches segregating themselves by generation - congregations which are exclusively focused to reach a certain generation catering to its needs, interests, and culture. This mono-generational focus weakens the concepts of dying to self and Christian self-sacrifice; it encourages self-centered individualism and a consumer mentality that permeates the ministry and worship of a church. This focus also undermines the rich multi-generational mentoring ministry that God designed for the church to offer believers. The fall out from this trend is that older Christians are losing a sense of their critical role and importance in the church, and younger Christians are losing the ability to learn humility and wisdom. The elderly are often marginalized and the younger are often without support and direction, and both are tempted to look elsewhere for significance and to grow apathetic about the church.

What must be done about this trend? At Carriage Lane we must continue to focus on two things. First, we must stress a gospel-driven selfless attitude of considering others more important than ourselves. Each generation should look out for and give deference to the other generation's roles, needs, and interests. Secondly, we must promote mentoring and discipleship relationships between older and younger Christians. I am not advocating a forced system or any particular model. It may look different in every church. But I am saying that the older and younger should intentionally pursue each other in fellowship and seek to develop relationships where mentoring and discipleship takes place. We must buck the trends and resist the obstacles of our day. We must pursue these important commands in Scripture for the sake of Christian growth, the health of the church and family, and the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

I am glad to serve a church that seeks to implement these goals. I see more and more older people empowered with renewed purpose to use their time and wisdom to teach and serve the younger. I am happy to observe our younger folks honoring and submitting to those who are older and humbly seeking their wisdom and support.

May God continue to help us function biblically as a loving family that takes our god-given responsibilities to one another in the church seriously.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Doug Griffith

Worship is the highest calling of Christians. We were created to worship God. Believers are to consider all of life a form of worship, but God also calls His people to worship together which we call corporate worship. As I have been thinking and reading on this topic I am convinced that many Christians have lost a sense of the primacy of corporate worship and its importance for spiritual health. We live in a culture that is becoming more and more focused on the individual and consumerism. This attitude has impacted the church’s view of worship to the point that many view it’s primary purpose in making them feel better and to meet their needs. Thus we have church worship services becoming like concerts and theater productions to attract and keep their visitors and members. As Kent Hughes states, the worship service “has taken the form of something done for an audience as opposed to something done by a congregation.” Some Christian people hop around looking for the most dynamic worship, which often means to them the liveliest or most contemporary music. It is refreshing to see that the people at Carriage Lane do not feel this way and are growing in their commitment and appreciation of God-centered worship and ministry.

The Scriptures show us that worship is about God and bringing Him the glory due His name. The by-product of God-centered worship is, of course, enjoying the presence of God and spiritual growth. I want us to ponder this question: do we see public worship playing a central role in our spiritual development? The Puritans referred to the Lord’s Day as “the market day of the soul.” Ed Clowney writes, “Corporate worship should mark the pinnacle of our fellowship with the Lord and one another.” We should see our corporate worship as a means of experiencing refreshment in God’s grace. As we encounter God in true worship we are renewed in His Spirit and the benefits of the gospel. We taste His grace in corporate worship and experience the meaning of union with Christ.

Question 88 of the Shorter Catechism says, “What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?” The answer is given, “they are His ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer.” The chief way these means are made available to us is in corporate worship. The public worship services of the church are the believer’s lifeline. There we are both purged and fed. There we make soul-saving, soul-nourishing, contact with Christ through His Word, sacraments, prayer, and fellowship with His people. This special contact, over the long haul, will change us. It will heal and revitalize us, equip us for dealing with our problems, and prosper us spiritually with the strength that the gospel provides. One godly pastor in the PCA writes, “I have yet to meet a person for whom it could not be said that all of his or her problems – personal, marital, familial, or vocational – would not be solved by such a commitment (to true corporate worship). I do not believe that the person for whom this is not true exists. By saying so, I do not minimize the seriousness of the problems that people face. Rather, I maximize our confidence in the power of the gospel.”

My friends please do not underestimate the power available to you through consistent, God-centered, Spirit-enabled, Bible-regulated corporate worship. Let us continue to heed the words of Hebrews 10:24-25 which tells us that the primary place for spiritual stimulation and growth is our gathering for worship and ministry.

Pastor Doug Griffith