Paycheck by Paycheck

Proverbs has a lot to say about wisdom (being wisdom literature after all), and it also has a number of things to say about finances. Lately, two passages have stuck out to me which I feel many forget about and/or don't apply when it comes to their functional way of "stewarding" the monetary resources God has given them. The first passage is from Proverbs 3:21-28:

[21] My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
[22] and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
[23] Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble.
[24] If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
[25] Do not be afraid of sudden terror
or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
[26] for the LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.
[27] Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to do it.
[28] Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,
tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.
(Proverbs 3:21-28 ESV)

Totally Submitted & Utterly Dependent (Part 2)

Totally Submitted & Utterly Dependent (Part 2)

[Part 1 here]

As a man Jesus submitted totally and completely to the Father
In John 4:34 Jesus says:

"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work."

and again in John 5:19:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." (italics added)

We do so much for ourselves. We are most focused on ourselves, which is seen in our passion for what we are doing. We tend to be most passionate about the things we thought of or which we have stock in. Jesus' food is to do the will of His Father. Totally submitted, not focused on His needs or Himself, but on the Father. It is a fearful thing when you think about the Judgement day which is coming because we will not be compared to those around us or even to our old ways but to Jesus, the perfect man and our example.  It would appear from the outside that American Christians, especially, do so much without seeking God (for a number of reasons), but Jesus said He could do nothing of His own accord(John 5:19). Why do we presume that we can?

Totally Submitted & Utterly Dependent (Part 1)

Why should we make every effort to maximize time with God in prayer, and seek always to submit to Him and depend upon Him? Jesus did. And if Jesus needed to, how much more do we? 

(Adapted from a Sermon by Paul Washer)

In Luke 11:1 it says that Jesus was praying, and when He finished one of the disciples approached Him [perhaps amazed at seeing the Son of God communicating with His Father] and said, "Lord teach us to pray.." Notice that the disciples dared not interrupt the Son of God while He was in prayer (it says when He finished). There was something about the connection between Jesus and the Father that the disciples both saw/wanted but also knew better than to break. Notice also the disciples request, "Lord teach us to pray.." because the disciples never asked Jesus to teach them to preach or teach or cast out demons nor anything else that I can find. Think briefly about how you would assess someone as to what they might teach you. You ask someone to teach you about something which you see in their life as something which is exemplary or extraordinary which you have met no one else who could do X or Y like that person. The disciples could not believe what the saw or heard when Jesus prayed; therefore the request comes to be taught.

-Has anyone ever come to you and asked, "Teach me to pray!"?

God made a choice

6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “ Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15:6-11, ESV - italics added)

God made a choice ... That by, specifically, Peter's mouth... Gentiles would hear and believe, (not just some people in a general group but,) specifically Cornelius^[1] in Acts 10:30-45 as many as 10 years before the council; furthermore, God bore witness through Peter's mouth and poured out His Spirit on them. What we see here is one of the many places in scripture which God ordained to show both His sovereignty in salvific power as well as the means which He uses to do His saving work, namely the mouths/words of men. This awesome interplay leapt out of my bible at me last night. Calvin in his commentary on this passage says:

"You know. He calleth them to bear witness, ... lest any man should think that he is about to speak of some dark and doubtful thing. The history was well known to them all.....God did choose in us. The word choose doth signify to appoint or decree. Though Peter doth comprehend as well the free election of God as the choice whereby God did adopt the Gentiles to be His people; therefore, He chose, that is, as it were, making choice, that He might show a token of His free election in the Gentiles... For his meaning is, that he declareth nothing but that which they knew full well; which was done before their eyes.^[2]"

There are 5 things which I take away from this:

Implications of God's Passion for His Glory

These implications come from the book titled, God's Passion for His glory written by John Piper as a commentary on (and including the full text of) Jonathan Edward's work The End for which God created the world.

Central truth which the implications build on: God created the world to exhibit the transcendent fullness of His glory in the God-centered joy of His people.

Implications(as I tweeted at twitter.com/Christensen_Dv):

1. God's passion for His own glory and His passion for my joy in Him are not at odds. @johnpiper #GPfHG
2. Therefore, God is as committed to my eternal and ever-increasing joy in Him as He is to His own glory. #GPfHG
3. The love of God 4 sinners is not His making much of them but His freeing & empowering them 2 enjoy making much of Him.
4. All true virtue among human beings must aim at bringing people to rejoice in the glory of God. #GPfHG
5. Sin is the suicidal exchange of the glory of God for the broken cisterns of created things. (Romans 1:23, Jeremiah 2:12-13) #GPfHG
6. Heaven will be a never-ending ever-increasing discovery of God's glory with greater and increasing joy in Him. #GPfHG
7. Hell is unspeakably real, conscious, horrible, and eternal--the experience of those who wouldn't delight in God. #GPfHG
8. Evangelism means depicting the beauty of Jesus and His saving work with a heartfelt urgency of love that labors to help people find their satisfaction in Him. #GPfHG
9. Christian preaching is an expository exultation over the glories of God in His word, designed to lure God's people from the fleeting pleasure of sin into the obedience of satisfaction in Him. #GPfHG
10. The essence of authentic, corporate worship is the collective experience of heartfelt satisfaction in the glory of God, or a trembling that we don't have it and a great longing for it. #GPfHG
11. World missions is a declaration of the glories of God among all the unreached peoples, for the gathering of worshippers who magnify God through the gladness of radically obedient lives. #GPfHG
12. Prayer is calling on God for help; to show He is gloriously resourceful & we are humbly & happily in need of grace. #GPfHG
13. The task of Christian scholarship is to study reality as a manifestation of God's glory, to speak about it with accuracy and to savor the beauty of God in it. #GPfHG
14. The way to magnify God in death us by meeting death as gain. @johnpiper on Philippians 1:21-23 #GPfHG
15. It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can [in God]. - CS Lewis #GPfHG

To get this book in pdf form, learn more about it, or perhaps buy a copy go here.