Sometimes Laughter Is Appropriate When We Think of God's Sufficiency

I was refreshed in my quiet time this morning when I read these words from Spurgeon on trusting in God's sufficiency:

Perhaps I was wrong to say “brave,” for it is not a brave thing to trust God: to true believers it is a simple matter of sweet necessity — how can they help trusting him? ‘Wherefore should they doubt their ever faithful Friend? I told my people the other morning, when preaching from the text, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” that for the first time in my life I experienced what Abraham felt when he fell upon his face and laughed. I was riding home, very weary with a long week’s work, when there came to my’ mind this text — ” My grace is sufficient for thee :” but it came with the emphasis laid upon two words: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” My soul said, “Doubtless it is. Surely the grace of the infinite God is more than sufficient for such a mere insect as I am,” and I laughed, and laughed again, to think how far the supply exceeded all my needs. It seemed to me as though I were a little fish in the sea, and in my thirst I said, “Alas, I shall drink up the ocean.” Then the Father of the waters lifted up his head sublime, and smilingly replied, “Little fish, the boundless main is sufficient for thee.” The thought made. unbelief appear supremely ridiculous, as indeed it is.

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Discipline Yourself to Pray Daily

I read this post a few weeks ago by Justin Taylor from one of John Piper's sermons on prayer. It is short and inspiring. We need to pray and we need to get away from the mindset that it is legalistic to insist on set apart times for prayer on a daily basis. I am not legalistic when I set aside time three times a day for eating--why should I not set apart time for something much more important. We are neglecting a spiritually life-sustaining reality in our lives if we forsake disciplined prayer. We need it but we foolishly starve ourselves.

John Piper:

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? . . . Is it a discipline?

You can call it that.
• It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater.
• It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers.
• It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns.
• It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food.
• It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water.
• It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid.
• It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin.
• It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey.
• It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.

God has given us means of grace. If we do not use them to their fullest advantage, our complaints against him will not stick. If we don’t eat, we starve. If we don’t drink, we get dehydrated. If we don’t exercise a muscle, it atrophies. If we don’t breathe, we suffocate. And just as there are physical means of life, there spiritual are means of grace. Resist the lies of the devil in 2009, and get a bigger breakthrough in prayer than you’ve ever had.

We Are "Jolly Beggars"

Here is a quote by C.S. Lewis from The Four Loves (pg. 149), about being desperately and delightedly dependent on God.

It is easy to acknowledge, but almost impossible to realize for long, that we are mirrors whose brightness, if we are bright, is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us. Surely we must have a little- however little- native luminosity? Surely we can’t be quite creatures…Grace substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our Need, a joy in total dependence. We become “jolly beggars”.

Now, like any good C. S. Lewis quote, you probably should reread it.

The Delusion of Self-Sovereignty

I love the tittle of this sermon by Paul David Tripp on James 4:13-17 called -- "The Delusion of Self-Sovereignty." Tripp, an author and biblical counselor (see here), preaches every Sunday night at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and is preaching through the book of James. You can watch or listen (either online or by downloading) to the sermon series here, and if you would like to listen to or watch the sermon that I mentioned -- here is the sermon link and the outline of the sermon:

Delusion of Self-Sovereignty

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
-James 4:13-17

Six Dangers of Self-Sovereignty

1. Self-Sovereignty puts me in the center of my universe.

God and God alone belongs at the center of our universe.

2. Self-Sovereignty is subtly driven by the purposes and pleasures of material acquisition and profit.

“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”

3. Self-Sovereignty denies mystery.

”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?”

4. Self-Sovereignty forgets eternity.

“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

5. Self-Sovereignty fails to live submissively.

“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ ”

6. Self-Sovereignty is propelled by a wrong definition of sin.

“As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Sin in its essence is a matter of what rules and controls your heart. It is pride and self-rule in the face of the sovereign grace and the sovereign rule of God.

How do we overcome this delusion?

We run to the foot of the cross. Jesus is our example and source of forgiveness and freedom from the delusion of self-sovereignty.

The Human Machine Was Meant to Run on God

As I was studying this week's discipleship group chapter on "Recognizing Our Dependence on God" I was reminded of this quote by C. S. Lewis from Mere Christianity that also fits the topic of "Wholly Satisfied."

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

Recognizing Our Dependence -- Sermon Notes

Here is the manuscript for my sermon today -- May 4, 2008 on "Recognizing Our Dependence on God."

I have a lot more verses quoted on this manuscript than what I shared during the sermon (Lord willing -- it is my guess - because I haven't preached it yet).

Here is the Sermon -- Click Here.

Medicine or Prayer? We Need to Know Our Bibles!

Wednesday night during our discipleship group someone asked about the girl in Wisconsin, Madeline Neumann, who died because she did not get the appropriate medicine for her treatable form of diabetes because her parents insisted on prayer instead. They are being charged with second-degree reckless-homicide. This reminds me of a story that Haddon Robinson mentioned in a sermon he preached at Moody Pastor's Conference in 2007. He told the story of John Liberger.

Jessica Ann Liberger was a 5-week-old baby girl. Jessica became ill with pneumonia. Her father, John Liberger, was a preacher. He did not believe in medication. He prayed for the healing of his daughter. He believed that God would answer prayers. He prayed day and night. He prayed fervently. Unfortunately, Jessica died. The police found that John, Jessica’s father was guilty of criminal negligence. He went to court and the judge found him guilty. Instead of putting him behind the bars, his sentence was five years of probation and community service in hospitals. When they asked Liberger about the verdict, he said: “God is my judge. I’ll give an account to Him.”

This brings up the question that many believers and unbelievers ask -- "what do Christians believe?" "Is that the Christian answer? No Medicine and only prayer." "Where was God for these people?"

Here are a few thoughts and a few links to read more on this subject:

1. The Bible states that we are completely dependent on Him for everything. Acts 17:28
2. Prayer that God would heal the sick is not only sanctioned but instructed although physical healing is not always promised (Paul prayed for his affliction to leave but God chose not to). James 5:13-18
3. The Bible never forbids the use of medicine but warns against our reliance and trust in medicine rather than in God. Doctors in the Bible are never seen as equivalent to wizards or sorcerers (Luke was a doctor). Jesus calls himself the great physician and I don't think he meant to say that all other physicians of the body are anti-Christ. Paul told Timothy to take some medicinal wine for his upset stomach--this seems strange if the only answer is to pray). Asa in 2 Chron 16:12 is condemned not so much because he went to doctors, but his lack of seeking the Lord was the general direction of his life by that time. See this page about Christians and medicine.
4. The Bible tells us that human labors are in vain or useless unless God graciously blesses them. I get this principles from Psalm 127. "Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain." The point here is not that we pray for a house and hope that God sends a angelic version of Noah to build it. The point is that we build and do the work (and the house he is talking about is more than physical--the family) in trusting reliance that it is God that must do it --"without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
   
5. People whose zealous "faith" drives them to reject all medicine, especially for their family, demonstrate what Haddon Robinson called "The Danger of a Strong Faith and Weak Theology." I encourage you to read these sermon notes by Robinson on this topic and look at the example of Jephthah in the book of Judges.
   
6. A Zealous Faith must always be accompanied by a proper seeing of God and His Word. Jephthah did not know the Law rightly and consequently killed his daughter as a human sacrifice (Judges 10:1–11:40). Unfortunately, I think the parents of Madeline lacked a proper understanding of the Word of God.
7. A Zealous faith with poor theology can result in great tragedy. I think the crusades, Jephthah, parents who let their children die of treatable sickness because of their "faith", and many others find so much grief and tragedy because of a failure to see God and His Word rightly.