Killing Resentment
‘…To bless your enemy is to speak well to him and about him. How might you control your speech when speaking to the offender? How might you control your speech when speaking to others about the offender? Let the Scriptures guide you: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29; read this especially in light of God’s grace toward us described in Ephesians 1-3). “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18). (I often recommend counselees in this situation meditate on Proverbs 10 and 12, the two most concentrated chapters in Proverbs on godly speech.)’
-Robert D Jones, Freedom from resentment, page 30
(GSiV: repentance; Humility; Sanctification; Nhu mì và Khiêm nhường, Part 6)
Warning to us: Our Christian celebrity heroes
When our public heroes sin, it’s painful. But it’s also a time to reassess ourselves–and then draw nearer to the Lord. Here are a couple of great quotes from a useful article:
- ‘We need to re-think the big conferences and make some changes. Perhaps Pastor Bill from an hour outside of Chicago has something perceptive to tell us about the ministry instead of the messages that have been given numerous times from men who have very little engagement with their own flock on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps Christians should spend time at smaller conferences, which can be a real blessing, and avoid contributing (even indirectly) to contexts where men are elevated in unhealthy ways.’
- ‘There is no reason, however, to lose heart. God is faithful and he has his shepherds all over the world doing his work for his glory. Laboring among your people, day in and day out, gives you the reality checks you need. You are only “special” to the degree that you draw people closer to Christ.’
-Mark Jones
Read the whole thing here
(GSiV: repentance; Humility; Sanctification)
On baptizing professing children
Some churches won’t baptize a professing child under a certain age because, among other reasons, they’re afraid the child isn’t saved, or at least not tested in his faith. These kinds of thoughtful churches fear baptizing a child and giving him a false assurance. Here’s a quote from an article with a careful, biblical response to that poor (less-than-biblical) reasoning.
‘The antidote for false assurance is not sub-biblical hurdles to baptism, but thick community within the local church and a culture of discipleship. The members of the church should know one another. This doesn’t require that every member know every other member well, but that every member is known well by many, having been plugged into discipleship structures that encourage shared stories and openness. Local churches can build a culture where it’s hard to not walk in the light. And cultures like this, together with regular teaching and resourcing from the word of God, will go further in preventing false assurance than forbidding a believing child from the baptismal waters (not to mention the Lord’s Table).’
Read the whole thing here
[For a similar book, see this one.]
(GSiV: baptism)
Năm Luận Điểm: Ông John Piper–part 14
‘Con Người Tự Nhiên Không Tìm Kiếm Đức Chúa Trời
‘Việc con người trong trạng thái xác thịt thực sự tìm kiếm Đức Chúa Trời là một chuyện huyễn. Loài người có tìm kiếm Chúa. Nhưng họ không tìm kiếm để hiểu Ngài là ai. Cùng lắm thì họ tìm kiếm Chúa như một vị thần sẽ gìn giữ bản thân họ thoát khỏi cái chết hoặc để gia tăng những thú vui trần tục của họ mà thôi. Không có sự cải đạo thì không ai có thể đến với sự sáng của Đức Chúa Trời được.’
-John Piper, Năm Luận Điểm: Hướng Đến Một Trải Nghiệm Sâu Nhiệm Hơn về Ân Điển của Đức Chúa Trời, Việt 2020, (Five Points, 2013), tr. 19-20.
E-book of Piper’s, Năm Luận Điểm, now available
(GSiV: The human will in bondage to sin; Mọi sự đều tùy thuộc vào ý chỉ của Chúa: Luther; Election; Atonement; Piper; Eternal security; Salvation)
Phúc Âm cho Cơ Đốc nhân–part 5
Chương 4: Được Nên Thánh Là Gì?
‘Tin mừng là cho tội nhân – cả người hư mất lẫn người được cứu. Trong gia đình chúng ta, khi ai đó gặp rắc rối và bị kỷ luật nghiêm, chúng ta thường hỏi: “Phúc âm dành cho ai?” Câu trả lời là: “Cho tội nhân”. Chúng ta hiểu điều đó có nghĩa là, dù là Cơ Đốc nhân, chúng ta cũng thất bại. Và Phúc âm tiếp tục là tin mừng dành cho chúng ta. Ngay cả khi chúng ta bị thấy là sai, ở trong tội lỗi, thì Phúc âm là điều thúc đẩy chúng ta, nâng chúng ta lên khỏi mặc cảm tội lỗi và phục hồi chúng ta khi có sự ăn năn thật. Chúng ta hãy tiếp tục suy ngẫm về các lẽ thật của sự xưng công chính và nên thánh bằng một biểu đồ minh họa khác.’
-Ken Hanks
Buy e-book here
(or buy paper copy in Vietnamese at your local Christian bookstore in Vietnam)
(GSiV: Phúc Âm cho Cơ Đốc nhân–part 1; Key materials on gospel grace ; GSiV Resource Page)
Standing Firm in the Faith: Spurgeon
‘We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago…but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers [peers] had said, “The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.” Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous gobs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on…’
-C.H. Spurgeon, Holding fast the faith, Feb 5, 1988
Read the whole thing here
(GSiV: Humility; What is (biblical) Manhood?; God’s Wrath: J. Bridges)
Pastor: The blind leading the blind?
‘You only need to take seriously what the Bible has to say about the presence and power of remaining sin to know the great danger in allowing anyone to live separate from the essential ministry of the body of Christ, let alone the person who is charged with leading, guiding, and protecting that body as the representative of Christ. If Christ is the head of his body–and he is–then everything else is just body [the body of Christ]. The most influential pastor or ministry leader is a member of the body of Christ and therefore needs what the other members of the body need. There is no indication in the New Testament that the pastor is the exception to the rule of all that is said about the interconnectivity and necessary ministry of the body of Christ. What is true of the seemingly less significant members of the body is also true of the pastor. An intentional culture of pastoral separation and isolation is neither biblical nor spiritually healthy.’
-Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling, pp. 69-70 Kindle
(GSiV: Tripp; The Blessing of Humility; Ray Ortlund; Dane Ortlund; Jerry Bridges; Humility; Sanctification)
Pastor: appropriate confession in your preaching
‘There are surely struggles that you should not share in a public ministry setting, but there are many that you can. Not only do these often become the most effective illustrations of the importance and practicality of the truths you exegete, but also they remind people that, like them, you too need rescuing, forgiving, empowering grace. When you do this, people quit looking at you and saying, “If only I could be like my pastor.” No, they look through you and see the glory of an ever-present Christ. You quit being a painting that they gaze at, and you start being a window to the One who is your and their hope.’
-Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling, pp. 80-81 Kindle
(GSiV: Tripp; The Blessing of Humility; Ray Ortlund; Dane Ortlund; Jerry Bridges; Humility; Sanctification)
Soul care
Check out these resources from Jamie Dunlop
- What If Your Church Were Filled with People Just like You?
- How to Love People Who Feel Impossible to Love
- 7 Tips for Loving “Those” People in Your Church
- Help! People at Church Are Driving Me Crazy
- Tithing in Financially Tight Times
Find more here
Hell & Final Judgment–part 4
Địa ngục và sự phán sét cuối cùng
‘Weeks ago, I discovered how little I really believed in hell. I am not sure how else to explain it. I realized it while at a children’s play area, watching my three little ones run, jump, and waddle about.
‘Seated on the other side of the play place sat a young Latino man lost on his phone. He had several kids, several tattoos, and no wedding ring. How he dressed and how he carried himself reminded me of the men I grew up with, the young man I was at his age. Having read my Bible and having grown up in the area, I assumed he did not know the Lord. More likely than not, he had never heard the true gospel. More likely than not, he didn’t want to.’
-Greg Morse, DG
Read the whole thing here
(GSiV: Hồn của những người chưa được cứu thì bị cho đi Địa Ngục (Hell); Missions and Evangelism; God’s Wrath: J. Bridges; hell; Hell & Final Judgment)
Women dressing with discretion–and not sensually provocative
In a beneficial article by Desiring God, Tanner Swanson helps Christian ladies think more carefully and biblically about what they wear. She gets at heart issues about why to wear (or not wear) certain clothes.
Contents of article:
- Asking Questions Carefully
- ‘Is It Helpful?’
- Is it helpful for my soul?
- Is it helpful for my neighbor?
- From Heart to Head to Toe
Great quotes:
- ‘In what ways does the desire to wear what we want when we want rule over us?’
- ‘The principle of helpfulness enables us to be serious about our clothes without being legalistic about our clothes.’
- ‘God’s word outlaws no outfits, but that doesn’t mean every outfit “helps” — benefits, profits, serves, encourages — ourselves and others. So, while the questions “Is it wrong?” and “Is it too [blank]?” tend to flounder around, maybe we can begin to anchor our dress in another direction: Is it helpful? Following Paul’s lead, let’s consider the helpfulness of our clothing choices in two areas.’
-A Modest Proposal About Modesty
Read more
(GSiV: R. Butterfield on modesty; Modesty: Non-sensual clothing and holiness; Phúc Âm Là Gì?; repentance; Gospel Grace Versus Dead Religion–part 6;Trở về từ Xứ Xa, Ông Yuan–part 4; Ân điển, chứ không phải những quy tắc / Grace not rules; Gospel Grace Versus Dead Religion–part 6; Sanctification (Sự nên thánh): Erickson–part 1)
Interpreting Impressions like “God told me…” part–3
Giải nghĩa những ấn tượng
‘Đáng buồn thay, một số nhóm Cơ Đốc không cho phép người ta khiêm nhường và cẩn trọng trong lĩnh vực này. Họ nói rằng đức tin thật là phải dạn dĩ công bố sự khải thị mà bạn nhận được. Vì thế, người công bố có nguy cơ công bố điều Đức Chúa Trời chưa hề phán. Đây là hành động bị nghiệm cấm trong Phục Truyền 18:20. Tôi thấy đây là một sự bó buộc đáng buồn. Tôi chắc rằng một số người ra vẻ quả quyết về những khải thị mình nhận được để tự thuyết phục rằng những gì họ nghĩ họ đã nghe là đúng như vậy. Tuy nhiên, điều đó không an toàn, đặc biệt khi liên quan đến cuộc sống của người khắc.’
-Jim Elliff, Được Thánh Linh dẫn dắt: Cách Thánh Linh hướng dẫn tín hữu, Việt 2021 / (Led by the Spirit: How the Holy Spirit Guides the Believer, 2006), tr. 49.
(GSiV: Is “Being Slain in the Spirit” biblical?; Prosperity Gospel? ; Được Thánh Linh Dẫn Dắt của ông Elliff–part 5; Interpreting impressions like “God told me…”; Elliff)
QUYỀN NĂNG CAO CẢ CỦA ĐỨC CHÚA TRỜI Ở VIỆT NAM (Ê-phê 1:4-5) 