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Dear church family and friends,

It’s been less than 24 hours since the sudden news of our son Mark Joseph’s death was shared with many of you. God’s grace and comfort has already been abundant and though we can’t respond to every person who has expressed love and prayers to us, please know how thankful and blessed we feel and how merciful our Sovereign Savior is and has been to us already through you.

I (Phil) am still leaving this Saturday for my trip, arriving in Congo Monday, with a different type of ministry and mission in mind than originally planned (humanly, but our God is big and good and has His wise ways which are not ours, He has planned this before there was time). My mission is to travel with our dear family friends the Wilmarths as originally planned to support them in the adoption of their twins and to be of ministry to the family of Christ in Congo and the orphanage in any way I can. For those who have asked how you can help or pray, here is the update for now:

• Thank God with us for His mercy in so many things, that we want to remember, rehearse to our hearts and our children, and recount for others for the glory of Christ
• Pray for God’s manifold grace and purposes in my son’s funeral/burial I will get to be a part of in the Congo next week.
• Pray that I would be of great encouragement to Pastor Didier, his wife Annie, and his family, in the spirit of 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 , 7 , 11 , 15 , 2:4 , 8 , 3:5 , 4:7-10 , 15-18 , 5:7-9 , that they would not lose heart in doing good and that God would heal them in every way from the trauma and tragedy of witnessing the loss of one who was a son to them as well
• Pray that I would be a good ambassador for Christ ( 2 Cor. 5:20 ) and to comfort the depressed with my coming (7:6, 8:6-12), that even with the language barrier the love of Christ would come across
• Pray that I would be able to express the love of our family and church to our church family in Lubumbashi in some way on Sunday, Sept. 4th (Saturday evening our time)

We continue to treasure your prayers and care and love and we rest in the sweet and Sovereign hands to whom we give all our children and all things, and pray God will use us weak vessels to magnify our Strong Savior.

Love in Christ,
Phil and Jaime

Here’s the application questions, taken from sermons 10 and 11.

1.   In sermon 10, on page 71 in the notes, Edwards talks about the balance between judging others too quickly, either on the negative or positive side. What does Edwards mean by this, and which way are you naturally prone to judge others?

2.   Edwards lists three arenas where a censorious spirit occurs (points a., b., and c., pp. 71-73). Review the notes on these areas. Which of these are you most prone to judge others, and why?

3.  Based on your answer in question #2, review now the Edwards’ applications on pages 75-76. What particular facets of application are instructive to you, and how will you arm yourself to better fight against a censorious spirit in the future?

4.   Edwards’ text for sermon 11 was 1 Corinthians 13.6. The application portion of his sermon is very heart-searching. Read carefully over this section of the sermon (very bottom of page 245 through page 250 in the book), then review “B. 2.” in the notes (pp. 80-82).
Work through each of the aspects of self-examination by marking down, on a scale of 1 to 5 (where “1″ is poor, “2″ is fair, “3″ is okay, “4″ is good, and “5″ is excellent), how “real and sincere grace is in your soul.” Next to each aspect, write down a 1-2 sentence summary of your rationale for each mark. 

1.   Describe in a sentence or two what Edwards’ concept of self-love is (pp. 61-62 in the notes, plus review sermon 8 in the book). How is this consistent with biblical truth? How is this inconsistent? Explain briefly.

2.   Consider the way that love “seeks the good of their neighbor” (p. 62, 2.a.ii. in the notes). Which of these four do you need to grow in the most (including the bullets under 3) ), and why?

3.   We discussed last Wednesday night that Edwards equated righteous anger with zeal.

• If you have the ability to do a Bible word study, do a word study on that word zeal. List several passages that are significant to you in explaining or illustrating what zeal is.
• Knowing better now what zeal is, and how zeal is a component even of love itself, how can you personally foster a greater zeal for the Lord? Explain briefly.

4.   Read through Appendix G: Directions against Sinful Anger.

• Identify and record two meditative directions and two practical directions that stick out to you that you can deploy in your present or future fight against anger.
• Record one of your own meditative and practical directions against sinful anger that can help you with your present or future fight with anger (e.g., a Scripture verse, practical insight, etc.).

1. Read through the “Listen Up!” booklet you were given in class. Before the Sunday service, work through the “Practical Steps to Take” questions on page 5. I know this is about the sermon only, but try to expand the application to the other components of your worship as well. Some of these questions will be applied well before the service, others will be applied right before the worship service begins. Be in prayer before the service as much as it comes to mind between now and then, that God would enable you to love Him actively in every component of your worship. Be thoughtful and expectant here, and record any thoughts on this preparation to turn in on Wednesday.

2. BEFORE you head to church (Saturday night or Sunday morning), do two things:

a.  Pray to God that He would help you with your two weakest components of the worship service (again, those components are: prayer, singing, giving, preaching, and communion).

b.  Consider why you struggle in those two weakest components of worship and record how you can love God more during those times in which you normally struggle. Record your thoughts here as well as any changes (however small!) in your mind, heart, or practice as a result.

3.  AFTER you leave church on Sunday (Sunday afternoon or evening), do two things:

a.  Spend some time working through the “Practical Steps to Take” on p. 23. Record your work to turn in on Wednesday.

b.  Are there any ways that you can practice the “7 suggestions for encouraging good preaching” on p. 30? If so, record what you can do and apply what you’ve committed to!

 
• That doctrine in the understanding is sometimes surprisingly challenging on its own, before even addressing its (necessary) application.
• That application in the affections is often powerfully affective on its own, before it ever expresses its (necessary) action.
• That obedience in the will is often seemingly impossible in its final expression, driving us back to grace as the source and strength of our obedience.

 

Two quasi-connected thoughts occurred to me as I thought about who we are and the conviction that I think is hitting all of us:

 
1. Being gripped by the truth in our every faculty is the essence of gospel-driven (i.e., free) obedience, because we are compelled to turn to Christ again and again for Him to work mightily through us. The gospel teaches us radical dependence, in that He has saved us entirely and so He must sanctify entirely as well.
   At a personal level, I am learning that this focus on love has enabled me to be convicted in new and more pressing ways, and to love it and want more of it, because the Spirit’s fresh conviction of my sin is simultaneously the Father’s fresh expression of His love! This frees me to embrace conviction as one of the dearest ways that the Father loves His children. So press deeper into the joy of God’s love by pressing deeper into the conviction of your lovelessness!
2. Here’s the second, slightly disconnected but related thought: the gospel has set you free from sin and death now. What that means for us today is that we are the only people on the planet who are truly free to NOT sin; what that means for us someday is that we will be completely free FROM sin for all eternity. Ponder it! You won’t be able to sin even if you tried (so to speak)! What a future we have! So then, in light of the trajectory of your sanctification, plead for and chase after a love that abounds towards Christ…and then abounds even more. Application that arises out of genuine love for Christ is not a labor, it is a joy. So head over to the previous post now, and as you consider preparing for this Sunday’s worship service, think of the blessing that your conviction brings, and then plead for God to worship Him “with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”

 

Happy applying.

1.  conviction by grace vs. guilt, and,
2. reconciling imprecatory psalms/passages with biblical love.

We addressed the first adequately, but the second was a bit fuzzy in my opinion. There’s a reason for that (see my last post), but for this post, let’s press on to the application work based on the reading we did and the notes we managed to get through.

1.  Long-suffering as heroic

“The spirit of long-suffering in bearing injuries is a mark of true greatness of soul” (p. 45 in your notes; 4.87-88 in the book).  This single attribute is often a very strong characteristic in those we esteem as “heroes/heroines of the faith.” Who is one of your personal heroes/heroines of the faith, and why (in one paragraph)? More specifically, how did/does this single attribute of long-suffering factor into your admiration of them (explain in a paragraph).

2.  Convicting Grace vs. Convicting Guilt

We spent a fair amount of time at the beginning of Wednesday’s class discussing the differences between a conviction borne of guilt versus a conviction borne of grace. In light of that discussion, let’s work through some application:

• Record two aspects of love that have been personally convicting for you thus far in this study.
• After recording those two aspects, record how you would respond to those two areas of conviction out of guilt. Then record how you would respond to your two areas of conviction out of grace.
• Thus far in this course, have you been more driven by convicting guilt or convicting grace? Is this dynamic in this course indicative of your spiritual walk generally?
• How should you change your hunger for and practice upon conviction in the weeks ahead?

3.   Your objections in the midst of your  suffering

“Improving” (cf. p. 44, point B.  in your notes) your suffering is a great way to appropriate this characteristic of love. That is, we should long to get better at suffering long.

• So reflect on Edwards’ objections that he thought his people in 1738 would offer up in protest against the call to let our love suffer long (pp 46-47).
• Now think of ways in which you have recently or are currently suffering (and record them if you are comfortable doing so). Once you have identified areas of recent or present suffering, record your fleshly objections to that suffering as well. Be honest here.
• Next, identify which category in Edwards’ list of objections do your objections most look like.
• Finally, let Edwards counsel you by hearing his questions. Record your reaction to this exercise in a paragraph, as well as what, if any, changes need to be considered and acted upon.

Part 1: Introduction

Few books in the Old Testament seem to be as regularly read by Christians as the Psalms. In fact, it may be assumed that few other places in all of Scripture are turned to as frequently as the Psalms. They provide comfort for those who hurt, refuge for those who are afraid, and praise to those who rejoice. The Psalms give voice to a believer’s deepest longings, fears, and joys, and for these things the church has had a long and lasting affection.

Yet there is another side to the Psalms that is often overlooked. There is a dark side to many of these songs that many do not, and perhaps, will not entertain. Laced throughout the Psalter is a not-so-subtle thread of imprecatory prayers and divine declarations that seem to ruffle the otherwise beautiful tapestry of this book. As a result, many believers are not sure what to do with passages that call down divine wrath on the psalmist’s enemies, especially when they are found immediately before or after a favored section within the same psalm. They seem to stand in direct violation of later revelation that calls the believer to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors, not cry out for vengeance and pray for their ruin. In short, the Old Testament picture of violence emerging from these imprecations seems to be at radical variance with the New Testament portrait of love and forgiveness issuing from Jesus Christ Himself in His teaching.

What then is to be done with these imprecations? How are believers to understand these passages of Scripture? Put another way, are these imprecations prescriptive or descriptive? Is there a place for them at all in evangelical churches today? These questions, and their appropriate answers, will come clearer as the biblical data from the Psalms is analyzed through exegesis, compared to the rest of Scripture (analogia Scriptura), then drawn together to formulate a biblically and theologically consistent understanding of these fascinating and difficult portions of the Psalms. The next post (Part 2) will look at the occurrences of imprecations in the Psalms. Part 3 will consider the implications of the imprecations, while Part 4 will seek to draw out application from these imprecations in light of the totality of the Scripture.

This is probably the thorniest issue confronting us biblically when talking about love. How do we reconcile what the rest of the Bible says about a desire for justice alongside the call to love?

More later…