The Gospel Coalition

Given the trying times all of us are having to endure in one way or another, I found Susan Fiske’s excellent article in the Fall 2009 edition of byFaith (the official magazine of the PCA) entitled Be Anxious for Nothing–Now? especially relevant–and deeply helpful. 

In it she writes, “It is in prying open our hands from our abilities, accomplishments, and possessions that we can discover the true promise of God: Himself. [Paul] Tripp says, ‘The hardest thing to hold onto, but the most beautiful when we get it, is that what God promises to us in times of suffering is not first relief of the suffering. His promise is to give us Himself.’”

She then, very helpfully, outlines Paul Tripp’s six action steps for anxiety (these are golden):

Remind Yourself That God Is In Control: When you convince yourself that your world is out of control, you are on the verge of paralysis. Watch your self-talk. Are you saying to yourself: “God is in control of this circumstance, He is my Father, and He is ruling this for my benefit”?

Accept Confusion: Believing in God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean life will make sense. Believing in God’s sovereignty is needed because life doesn’t make sense. Your rest is not in figuring out your circumstances–your rest is in the God behind the circumstances.

Don’t Allow Emotions To Rule: As much as the emotions you experience will be right, good, and appropriate, don’t let them set the agenda. There is a temptation to do that, but allowing yourself to be pulled away by the emotions of the moment could cause you to regret your decisions later.

Distinguish Needs From Wants: Be very careful what you put in your catalog of “need.” The minute you tell yourself something is a need, you’re saying it is essential for life. Then you are going to determine that you can’t live without it. It’s easy to attach yourself and your sense  of security to the gift rather than to the Giver.

Know Your Job Description: God promises to provide. Your job is to live the way God has called you to live. Instead of giving way to discouragement, look for ways you can contribute to God’s people at the moment.

Run To God, Not Away From Him: God’s promise to us is not first the relief of the suffering–His promise is to give us Himself. He will never turn a deaf ear to the natural cries of a person of faith when life doesn’t make sense. God hears and answers and works and comforts.

Justin Taylor reminded me of some great lines out of J.I. Packer’s classic book, Knowing God (p. 97). In it, Packer writes about how to understand the “unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things” that happen to us. What do they mean?

Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and he is dealing with us accordingly.

(In his post, Justin wisely cautions us to resist the temptation to skim over that line.)

Then Packer ponders the possible purposes God might have in mind for you:

Perhaps he means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility, or meekness, by giving us some extra practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions.

Perhaps he has new lessons in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us.

Perhaps he wishes to break us of complacency, or unreality, or undetected forms of pride and conceit.

Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself in conscious communion with him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest. . . .

Or perhaps God is preparing us for forms of service of which at present we have no inkling.

Packer continues:

We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, he is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here. . . . Meanwhile, we ought not to hesitate to trust his wisdom, even when he leaves us in the dark.

But how should we respond to baffling and trying situations when we cannot now see God’s purpose in them?

First, by taking them as from God, and asking ourselves what reactions to them, and in them, the gospel of God requires of us;

Second, by seeking God’s face specifically about them.

“If we do these two things,” Packer writes, “we shall never find ourselves wholly in the dark as to God’s purpose in our troubles.”

Given all of the unexpected things that have happened and are happening in my life–in the life of our church–Packer’s lines are a great reminder that faith trusts God even when it cannot trace him. God is doing something in your life, in my life, and in the life of our one new church that is above and beyond anything we could ever ask for or imagine.

So, as hard as these days have been, hang on. God promises that the best is yet to come. Think big. This is going to be amazing. 

My next book, Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels, is available now for pre-order. Here is the publishers description:

God’s compassion and pardon are utterly shocking in their lavish abundance—that’s a lesson God himself pounded into the epic life-story of one man who kept resisting in whatever way he could. Surprised by Grace retells that man’s true story—in a gripping presentation that will open readers’ eyes wider than ever to God’s relentless, purposeful, and inexhaustible grace.

The man’s name isn’t new to anyone. It’s Jonah, the famous Old Testament prophet. This fresh unfolding of his story seeks to recapture the staggering effect it had on those who first encountered it so many centuries ago—the same shock effect that’s desperately needed today among those who think they know God’s heart far better than they really do.

In a powerful journey through unforgettable events and imagery, Surprised by Grace reveals how relentlessly God pursues rebels (a category that ultimately includes everyone), though he has every right and plenty of reasons to give up on us all.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

Thank-you all for your prayers and your support. God has used so many of you to sustain my family and me through this difficult season of our lives.

Click here to read the official press release about what happened today at the congregational meeting called to determine whether or not to dissolve my relationship with Coral Ridge.

Click here to read my Op-Ed piece for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

Onward Christian soldiers…

This morning I preached from Matthew 5:1-12. I then left and went to the hospital to see my dad (his eyes were open–the first time I’ve seen his eyes in two weeks). Now I am at home awaiting the outcome of the congregational meeting taking place as I write this. (If you don’t know what meeting I’m talking about, click here). I am not afraid.

Ephesians 3:20-21 sums it up:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I have one General and he has given me one mission: to spread the glory, the preeminence, the majesty, and the legacy of Christ and Christ alone. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! 

As I consider the last six months (and especially this upcoming Sunday) and how kind God has been to convince me that everything minus Jesus equals nothing, but Jesus plus nothing equals everything, I am reminded of my grandmother who passed away in June 2007. She knew Christ’s companionship like no one I’ve ever known. She reveled in the wrecking power of the gospel day in and day out. She lived life like she had nothing to lose because she knew that, in Christ, she had nothing to lose! This enabled her to live with great freedom, fearlessness, and unbounded courage.  

For many, many years I have begged God to make me like her– to give me a sharp mind, a soft heart, and a steel spine like he gave her. I can only hope and pray that as God continues to strip me of everything but Him, I would become more like her.

As she used to always say, “Just give me Jesus.”    

I went to see my dad last night after teaching the new members class. He’s still in ICU and in critical condition. I was hoping that he’d open his eyes (I haven’t seen his eyes in 10 days) but he didn’t. His nurse told me that if all goes well he’d be able to leave ICU in about two weeks. She also told me that he is, by far, the most complex patient they have in ICU right now. Therefore, they are monitoring him very, very closely around the clock. 

I want to thank so many of you for praying for him and our family during this difficult time. Don’t stop. He’s not out of the woods yet, but he’s inching closer and closer.

Here is the official status report on my dad as of this morning:

Stephan is in much better shape today. The nurse who took care of Stephan the first night he came out of surgery and is taking care of him tonight said that a “Higher Power” must be involved in his recovery because of how much progress he has made these past couple of days. Stephan is still in very critical but stable condition. Yesterday (9/16) the Doctor’s put a trach in Stephan’s throat and removed the oral breathing tube in order for Stephan’s healing progress to begin at a much faster pace. With a tracheotomy it is easier for the patients to sit up in a chair position and they are also able to mouth words and communicate more effectively. The procedure went very smoothly and the trach will remain in place for a week or so. Stephan is also able to receive nutrition through a nasogastric tube they placed in his nose and it travels all the way down to his stomach. They have him on a kind of liquid “food” that his kidneys will like. Come to find out Stephan’s kidneys are bouncing back at a much faster rate than was previously expected. He remains on continuous dialysis in order to help his kidneys heal, and heal is exactly what they are doing. In fact, today he began to make his own urine again (That is such a blessing and was not expected to occur yet!!). Stephan’s blood pressure is now more stable than ever…it has ranged anywhere from 115-130′s and he continues to not need any type of intravenous medications that help him control his blood pressure, which ultimately means that his heart is pumping blood out more effectively to his vital organs (i.e. the kidneys) which explains the progress we are seeing right now with his health.

My friend Scotty Smith has penned a prayer that I have made my own. I pray that you would make it your own as well.

In light of the trials I have been facing lately, I cannot think of a prayer that is more fitting, more comforting, more convicting. This prayer is a great reminder that in the end, those who believe that “salvation is of the Lord”–those who love and live the gospel–will be free. It is those who trust God even when they cannot trace him–-those who humbly leave all things up to him and who refuse to try and “save” themselves-–that will remain standing.

Gracious Father, today is a great day for me to be reminded that “salvation is of the Lord.”

You are the one who begins the “good work” of redemption in our lives; You are the one who is carrying it on, even when you’re not working according to my timetable and agenda; and You are the one who will bring redemption to completion on the Day Jesus returns to finish making all things new.

This is incredibly good news, as I ponder my own heart and the lives of other people I care about a whole lot. I cannot be my own savior, and neither can I be anyone else’s savior. What a relief, but also what a critical truth to remember. This grand affirmation leads me to offer these earnest supplications:

Father, give me the same confidence about your vigilance and faithfulness you gave Paul for the Philippians. Sometimes irritation, worry and fear loom larger in my life than patience, trust and hope. When this happens, I’m pretty worthless as a friend.

Father, teach me how to wrestle in confident prayer for others, like Epaphras wrestled in prayer for the believers in Colossae (Col. 4:12). My tendency is to wrangle emotionally rather than wrestle believingly. This leaves me worn out and it simply frustrates others.

Father, keep me tender enough to engage in my friends’ broken stories, but tough enough not to get entangled in “stuff” that has nothing to do with me.

Father, teach me how to wait on you without falling into self-protective passivity or self-validating activity.

Only the gospel is sufficient to help someone like me love others in such redemptive and healthy ways. So I abandon myself to you and your resources, Father, in light of the weight of grace and the Day of Christ.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

My dad went back into surgery this morning around 9:30. We were told last night that it didn’t look good–about a 20% chance of making it through. So you can imagine just how remarkably surprised we were when he came out of surgery at 2:30 this afternoon. The fact that he made it through is a miracle in and of itself.

Tonight he opened his eyes for the first time in a week. He remains in critical condition as he recovers in ICU. The next few days are crucial. Please keep praying. 

This has been an emotional week for all of us. We are so grateful to be surrounded by so many friends who love and care for our family. Isn’t the Body of Christ a wonderful gift from God?

I echo what my wife Kim wrote on her Facebook page earlier this evening:

Praising God!! Stephan’s surgery was a great success today! Thank you so, so, so much for your prayers…it will still take all of you these next few days and weeks to keep praying him through this recovery process! Thank you for caring so much for him and our family!   

Last night I went to visit my seventy-year-old father who lies in very critical condition as a result of liver transplant surgery two days ago. Prior to surgery, his doctors discovered that his heart is in much worse condition than they had anticipated, and he may not recover. Even if he does, he will spend at least the next three months in the hospital. 

When I walked into the ICU, I gasped. I cried. He was heavily sedated; tubes coming in and out of everywhere. Bloody bandages all over the place. He was bloated. He looked dead. Even though his eyes were closed and filled with tears, he would grimace in pain from time to time.  I think he knew I was there–I’m banking on it, anyway.

I spent 45 minutes with him by myself talking to him, reminding him of our trip to Switzerland (his homeland) last year and all the fun we had. I told him how much I love him and what a great dad he has been to me. I told him how much Jesus loves him and how, one way or another, he will be just fine real soon. I cried some more. It was the first time I came face to face (literally) with the sobering reality that my dad will die–perhaps much sooner rather than later. The thought of losing him breaks my heart. Dad is one of my best friends and wisest advisors. I haven’t made one major decision over the past seventeen years without seeking his counsel. He’s also one of my biggest fans. No one encourages me more than my dad. He’s a gospel man through and through. God’s amazing grace still amazes him–and that amazes me!

Thinking about living the rest of my life without my dad makes me want to wail. I can’t imagine the loss I’ll feel when he dies. But this experience reminds me of the fact that life and the world we live in aren’t what they’re supposed to be. This isn’t the perfect world God created before we filled it with sin. There’s something about diseased hearts, painful recoveries, death, and relational separation that sobers us up to the reality that things aren’t right in our world.

But, as I reminded my dad last night (hoping–believing–that he heard me), for those who are in Christ, the best is yet to come. The day is coming when God will satisfy our deepest longings and fulfill our highest dreams. He’ll wipe away all our tears and end every frustration. He will, in the words of J. R. R. Tolkien, make “everything sad come untrue.” He’ll right every wrong and correct every injustice. The day is coming when we’ll work and play and worship forever, with no more sin, no more sickness and disease, no more failure, no more pain, no more death. There is coming a day when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and we will reign with him forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).

I ended my time last night with my dad praying with him and singing a hymn that has brought me deep comfort in these difficult days as I watch my dad suffer–a hymn that speaks loudly and clearly of the hope we have in Christ: “It is not Death to Die”…

It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God

It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just

It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

Original words by Henri Malan (1787–1864).

Please keep praying for my dad. Pray for a full recovery. I need him around a little longer. But it sure is a deep comfort to know that, for those who have placed their trust in the finished work of Christ, it is not death to die.