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“He is a miracle waiting to happen” – John MacArthur

June 4, 2011 by John Knight

I like John MacArthur a great deal and have learned much from him.  But I was not really reading for insight and new understanding as I recently went over his first sermon on John 9:1-12.  I was getting rather grumpy about the whole thing as I found more things with which to disagree – poor word choice here, bad example there.

God kindly let a few paragraphs of Pastor MacArthur’s sermon just blow me away and show me what was going on in my own heart!  Emphases in bold are mine:

Sovereign grace dominates this whole miracle. It isn’t this man running to Jesus saying, “Oh! Oh! Oh! Heal me, heal me!” No, Jesus saw him, and see that’s the way sovereign grace is, isn’t it? It’s Christ seeking us. We could not see Him except He saw us. We are blind, we’re absolutely blind. We have no capacity to see God. We have no capacity to see Jesus Christ. We are incapacitated, we are stone blind, spiritually speaking. We can’t see. . .

He’s not blind because of sin, this man is a prepared vessel, he is a miracle waiting to happen. Kind of exciting, isn’t it? He was born blind for one reason, so God’s glory could be seen in this healing by Jesus Christ. That’s why He was born blind…for the glory of God…sometimes is why suffering comes. . .

Even affliction can be for the glory of God. All these things can happen for the glory of God and this was a prepared vessel, a miracle waiting to happen. This was a blind beggar sitting at a gate waiting for the time planned in eternity past that Jesus would pass by and manifest His glory by touching his eyes so he could see. Fantastic truth. . .

And you know what happens when Christ turns on the lights in your soul? All of a sudden truth becomes recognizable, doesn’t it? You know the truth. All of a sudden love is seen, peace is beheld, glory is fully expressed. God becomes visible in the sense of focus. Christ becomes real. The eye of faith sees and understands and the light dawns. And to this blind beggar He gave both, physical sight and spiritual sight.

Why did He do it? What was the purpose? The purpose of it was for the glory of God. 

John MacArthur, Jesus Opens Blind Eyes, December 13, 1970.

I still would have preferred he handled some things differently – but he certainly hit the central theme in a helpful way!  I’m grateful God didn’t let me go through this entire sermon with a grumbling spirit, but let truth shine very brightly to drive my self-righteous, darkness-enjoying, man-centered sin away.

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“You can deal with the unexpected with joy.” Paul Tripp

June 3, 2011 by John Knight

I have been really helped by many things Paul Tripp has written, and have enjoyed his presentations at Desiring God and Children Desiring God.  Lately, I think I have been most helped by how he uses Twitter.  He and Pastor John pack a lot into those 140 characters!

I don’t think Paul Tripp is writing his enewsletter any longer, but I found this helpful from 2010 (emphases in bold are mine):

Are there places where you’re crying for the grace of God and you’re not realizing that you’re getting it? But it’s not the grace of relief and it’s not the grace of release; it’s the boiling grace of personal transformation. Again, God will take you where you do not want to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own. In those unexpected moments, don’t run away from your Lord, run to him. You are not being forsaken you are being loved.

What does all this really mean? Well here it is! You can look mystery in the face and have hope. You can live in the middle of a life that you don’t really understand, that you can’t really figure out and you can rest. You can deal with the unexpected with joy. You can accept mystery; and you can do it because you can look through the clouds of mystery and see a God of love who is actually near when he seems far.

He’s actually active when he seems passive; who is doing something very good right in the middle of when things seem that they’re going very badly. Are there places when you just can’t figure out what God is doing? Are there places where it feels that he’s not near? Where right now in your everyday experience are you dealing with the unexpected? God is at work in your life. He hasn’t turned His back on you. You see, you can accept mystery because in the middle of the unexpected there is love and grace and help to be found. God is right smack dab in the middle of your unexpected moment and he is up to something very, very good.

Paul David Tripp, Survival Skill 3: Accept Mystery, August 2010

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“Enquire of Jesus himself!” C. H. Spurgeon

June 2, 2011 by John Knight

I’ve only read one sermon that Spurgeon did on John 9, the accounting of the man born blind who would be healed, and it is on this text:

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him (the formerly blind man) out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

May we never forget that the greatest thing Jesus did for the man comes near the end of John 9, not at the beginning – Jesus fully revealed himself!  And the man WORSHIPPED because he could now ‘see’ Jesus for who he really is!

Spurgeon provides some great advice from that text:

When you are seeking Christ, ask Christ to reveal himself to you, for there is nobody who can reveal Christ as Christ can reveal himself by is blessed Spirit.

And, next, when you are confessing your faith, confess it to Christ himself. Say, as this man did, “Lord, I believe.” Say to your minister, or to your mother, or to your friends, “I believe;” but take, care, above all the rest, that you say, “Lord, I believe.”

And, lastly, when you are worshipping, worship Christ himself: “He worshipped HIM,” and no one else. Take care that your reverence and adoration are not given, in any degree, to the church, or to any person in it, or to any priest, or minister, or anything created or made; but worship God, and God in Christ Jesus; and the Lord bless you, beloved, for his name’s sake! Amen.

Charles H. Spurgeon, A Pressed Man Yielding to Christ, delivered October 12, 1882.

The only thing I would add, and which Spurgeon makes clear throughout his preaching and writing, is that God has given us a precious book that talks a lot about our Jesus.  We can read it and study it and ponder it – and ask Jesus to send his spirit to help us to have eyes to see what is really, joyfully, eternally there.

Posted in Quotes, Scripture | 2 Comments »

A word for when we don’t feel like listening to God

June 1, 2011 by John Knight

There are times we feel so weary and disheartened that we don’t feel up for listening. But whatever the particulars, our essential problem is deafness to God’s voice. We become absorbed in the world of our own experiences, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. The early church used a wonderful phrase to capture the essential inward turning nature of sinfulness: curvitas in se. We curve in on ourselves. Sin’s curvitas in se pointedly turns away from God. When you or others suffer, you experience or witness the strength of this incurving tendency. It’s hard not to be self-preoccupied.

God willingly keeps talking. Listen to how near he sounds in this hymn (How Firm a Foundation). The Lifegiver willingly gives ears to hear. The incurving can be reversed. Psalms cry out rather than turning in. Jesus is a most excellent teacher. In the extremity of his agony, there was no curvitas in se. He heard God’s voice and remembered. He turned towards God in neediness, generosity, and trust: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” He turned towards people in practical love: “Today you will be with me in paradise. Behold your son. Behold your mother.” He gave voice to honest experience of his ordeal: “I am thirsty. It is finished.”

This is the Jesus to whom we have fled for refuge. This most careful and thoughtful of listeners walked ahead of us. He deals gently with our ignorance and waywardness. He now willingly walks with us, fully aware of our temptations to be forgetful, distracted, and inattentive. He addresses the biggest problem first. That’s why this hymn speaks in the first person. The words of new life first create ears that listen.

David Powlison, “God’s Grace in Your Sufferings” in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor, p. 155.

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“It is certainly about that, but so much more than that!”

May 31, 2011 by John Knight

While away from Bethlehem visiting family this weekend, we were delighted by the sermon we heard that closed a series on the book of Ruth.

Pastor Rick returned several times to this thought:

Don’t just make this book of the Bible into a nice love story.  It is certainly about that, but so much more than that.  This is a story about redemption and about the coming Jesus.

I thought of how often we end with the focus on people rather than on the greater thing: God himself.  Let us keep pressing into the word to find our Lord!

  • John 9 is not primarily about a man being healed – though it is certainly about that as well – but about a God who is sovereign over all things and a savior who works!
  • Mark 2:1-12 is not primarily about one man being healed of his paralysis, or even of loyal friends who will stop at nothing to bring him to Jesus – though it is certainly about that as well –  “but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
  • 2 Kings 5 is not primarily about one man being cleansed of his leprosy – though it is certainly about that as well – but about a sovereign God who gives victory to whomever he pleases in 2 Kings 5:1 and who leads a violent, sinful, proud pagan to one of the most glorious statements anyone can make: Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel (2 Kings 5:15).

We would fail to ultimately help anyone if we stop at the thing we think people most want to hear – that God can heal you or your child of disease or disability.  He can certainly do that if he pleases, but what would they have?  “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Let us continue to press into these accounts of his extraordinary ability to do anything that he pleases and show people the best news of all: God wants to give us himself!

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On this Memorial Day, pray for leaders so that we might live peaceful lives in all godliness

May 30, 2011 by John Knight

For the most part, I don’t live an angry life anymore.  Doctors, educators, social workers, people on the street – God has helped me see (most of the time) that they are also people made in his image and deserve a respectful, God-honoring engagement.

But there’s still one group I’m too easily willing to see as being incompetent, lazy, corrupt or stupid – elected officials.  My expectations are pretty low in that area, though they are the very ones who make decisions that result in the need for remembrances like Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  And today millions of people live with disabilities they incurred through their military service as well.

As I reflected on the following Memorial Day letter from Joe Scheumann, a young man with whom I work at Desiring God, I recognized (again) I’m just hurting myself with my attitude about elected officials.  Whether or not they hold a life-affirming, God-honoring position on unborn babies with disabilities or special education opportunities, we are called to pray for them SO THAT we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity – and it pleases God!

So, on this Memorial Day 2011, let us remember those who have died in military service.  And let us also do something God has said is good for us and pleasing to him: supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for “all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Email to Desiring God’s Philippian Fellowship, May 27, 2011:

May 30, 2011, is Memorial Day; a day in which the United States pauses to honor American soldiers who have died in all wars. So, in light of this holiday I thought 1 Timothy 2:1-3 is a very relevant passage of Scripture on which to meditate and pray. It says,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Paul first calls us to make supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all people and for kings and all who are in authority. Paul does not limit our prayers to only people or leaders of the country we live in; instead, he calls us to pray for all men and all authorities.

Next Paul gives the reason for our prayers. The goal of our prayers for all men and authorities is that we might lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. Notice that this is not merely a peaceful and quiet life, but it is a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This aim of the prayer is then grounded in the character of God. In verse 3 Paul links the goodness of peaceful and quiet life in godliness and dignity with God’s nature. Paul says this is good in the sight of God our Savior and the aspect which Paul chooses to highlight about our Savior is that he desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

So then, this Memorial Day weekend, will you join me in obeying Paul’s exhortation in making supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all men and all authorities? Let us pray for them so that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and dignity knowing this is good in the sight of God our Savior.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer,

Joe Scheumann

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One in six!

May 29, 2011 by John Knight

WebMD is reporting that one in six children in the United States have developmental disabilities, according to a study in the June issue of the journal, Pediatrics.

One in six!

I knew the number was growing, but that startled me.

Of course, developmental disabilities range all across the board.  Autism and ADHD, for example, are spectrum disorders that range from mild to severely disabling.  And I’d really like to see their survey instrument since they relied on parent reporting.  That’s no knock on parents (since I am one) but I know how easy it is for two different parents to report different things for the exact same condition – or report the same thing when conditions are remarkably different.  Alas, it hasn’t been released to the public yet.

Still, one in six!

That has some significant implications for churches seeking to serve families experiencing these types of disabilities.  And since many developmental disabilities can be hidden, Pastor John’s strong exhortation to ‘see disability!’ in our midst is even more relevant.  We will need to be really intentional to see and welcome the young people who live with developmental disabilities God has given as gifts to the church.

Let us pray, earnestly, for God to provide all that we need!

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Why does God take some things away from us?

May 28, 2011 by John Knight

Mark Talbot, “True Freedom: The Liberty that Scripture Portrays as Worth Having,” in Beyond the Bounds: Open Theism and the Undermining of Biblical Christianity, p. 88.  Emphases in bold are mine:

Initially, this involved my realizing that my continuing disability was the chief means by which God kept blessing me and keeping me near to himself. As my accident has had more negative consequences—weakening hands from damaging my ulnar nerves when, losing my balance, I fall on my elbows; coming under permanent risk of stroke from dissecting my left-internal carotid while trying to keep in shape; and so on—I have found that, rather than these things becoming occasions for doubting God’s goodness to me, they have become sources of spiritual strength by helping me to see where I cannot place my heart.

In other words, I have come to realize that God is protecting me from idolatrous self-sufficiency by taking various goods away from me so that I am not tempted to rest satisfied in them.  Each morning as I get up, my disability prompts me to trust God rather than to rely on my own strength. And so, in this second stage of my coming to understand how God works in and through our difficulties, I came to realize that some things that are really evil. . . are also really good and that, as such, these evils are actually ordained by God.

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“We had nothing to offer him. Yet he had everything to offer us.” – Greg Lucas

May 27, 2011 by John Knight

I know I’m a couple days behind in getting this video posted.  Actually, I hope you’ve already seen it through Greg’s blog!  Greg’s blog and book are highly recommended reading.

I’m grateful that God has dropped into my life these examples of Godly men and women who live with disability in their families.  I had lunch with one such man yesterday – I walked away refreshed and renewed, with Bible ringing in my ears and his prayer for me running through my heart!  I want to be like that!

I pray that you have such people in your life as well.  God is our single need and highest treasure, of course.  But it sure is nice when he gives us good gifts like God-centered, Bible-saturated families who understand this life we lead.

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“But what should I say?”

May 26, 2011 by John Knight

Pastor John got it right when he pleaded with the congregation to see people with disabilities in his sermon, Why Was This Child Born Blind:

This is our natural reflex—see and avoid. But we are not natural people. We are followers of Jesus. We have the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts. We have been seen and touched in all our brokenness by an attentive, merciful Savior.

If you want to be one of the most remarkable kinds of human beings on the planet—a Jesus kind—see people with disabilities.

But he didn’t end there!

See them. And move toward them. God will show you what to say.

I need to hear that!  I usually don’t know what to say or do when encountering a new person with a disability. What should I say, or not say.  I don’t want to offend; it really would be easier just to avoid!

In fact, I think I have more to fear than ‘normal’ people because I remember when I looked for reasons to be offended at the slightest, most subtle word or look from another person regarding my son or his disability.  Depending on my mood, I might decide to take that person apart rhetorically.  And this was after we had returned to church – I still harbored a lot of pain and distrust that I was ready to spill out on people in harmful ways.

Then one day a little old saint, using terms for disabilities she must have learned in the 1930’s and 40’s that we now consider offensive, communicated such tender affections for me and for my son that God quite literally wiped away the bitter heart and biting, sarcastic tongue I used in those situations.  I remember thinking, IN THAT MOMENT, this is strange; why am I not angry about her words?  God did that for both of us.

I have also lashed out at people in evil, vile ways, looking to make people hurt as much as I did.  I’m guessing those folks walked away not thinking they had made a positive difference, maybe even questioning why God had prompted them to talk with me in the first place.  And God used those moments as well, eventually breaking me of my pride and self-righteousness and giving me a heart that wanted to trust him and not do things like that anymore.

My point is simply this: God is not limited in any way by what we know or don’t know or even the words we use.  Nor does he say it will end in ‘success’ when we step out in faith to pursue the good of others.  Jesus did that and they killed him.

That old saint, in faith, pursued me with affection and God protected her and blessed me.  Others were rhetorically punched in the nose.  Both bring glory to God.

And Pastor John has also taught us what to do.  Simply ask, “Jesus, help me.”  Then move.

Posted in commentary, Sermons | 2 Comments »

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