Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Helpful things: People who pray (and email) like this!

November 24, 2010 by John Knight

Do you ever wonder how to let someone know you are praying for them or with them?  I certainly do.

And God provided a helpful example, this time through one of the great women in my life: my oldest sister.

I’m deeply grateful that God has given me sisters who love me and my wife and my children with the deepest of affections and respect.  And both of them are unashamed to take the needs of their nephew to their networks of friends and prayers.

One of those precious people emailed my sister with this encouragement, which my sister forwarded to Dianne, and which I present with permission from the writer to you:

Dear Arlene,

So sorry to hear about Paulie’s ongoing diagnostic dilemma. Only the Lord can sustain them and Paulie through this period of trial and suffering. The bi-monthly devotional I am using now has the theme “soaring above the storm” and it really is daily devotionals on the “theology of adversity”.

Today’s topic was on the power of God – in a nutshell, Is God powerful (enough to prevent suffering) or if He is powerful, then is He good enough (to prevent suffering)? The Scripture strongly tells us that He is powerful (sovereign, omnipotent) and He is good (grace, mercy and love embodied) yet He still allows suffering and adversity ….so the question is how do we, and can we, keep our perspective straight, especially with someone as innocent and special as Paulie.

I think we can, and I know that John and Dianne and all of you can because we affirm what St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4: 7-18.

Jer 32: 17-27,

Job: 42: 1-6

Isaiah 40: 31 and

Hab. 3:2, Hab. 3:16-19.

Will remember Paulie, John and Dianne in my prayers for grace abounding to endure and in God’s mercy for deliverance and healing to be provided.

Much love, R

What are the elements I found so encouraging?

  • Acknowledgement of pain and suffering
  • Confidence that God will sustain
  • Scripture on the nature and character of God that demonstrates he is both powerful and good
  • Persistence in prayer

It isn’t flowery or fancy – it wasn’t even written to us! – but it went straight to my heart as encouragement directly from God through this dear saint.

Is there someone you could email today, for their encouragement, making much of God as you trust him for the words you will send?

You might make them cry, like this email did for both Dianne and me, with tears of sorrow at continuing suffering mingled with joy at the goodness and kindness of God.

Posted in Helpful things | 1 Comment »

It is he who made us (all of us!) and we are his!

November 23, 2010 by John Knight

Psalm 100:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Posted in Scripture | Leave a Comment »

Joy is coming! And he will not forget his elect with disabilities!

November 22, 2010 by John Knight

Jeremiah 31:7-9

7 For thus says the Lord:
“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
9 With weeping they shall come,
and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Revelation 7:9-17

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Posted in Scripture | Leave a Comment »

“I’ve really seen that he’s sufficient” – Jennifer Rothschild

November 21, 2010 by John Knight

A short video of Jennifer Rothschild, who is blind, talking about living with a disability and testing out the promises of God.

It brings to mind 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 (emphases in bold are mine):

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

 

Posted in commentary | Leave a Comment »

Pastor John on suffering of all types

November 20, 2010 by John Knight

If you think you’ve seen this before, you probably have.  I am copying Justin Taylor’s post on Pastor John’s address to the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization because it not only speaks to those who want to serve those who are suffering, it also speaks to those who are currently suffering.

There is a kind of suffering people need to know about that is much worse than anything we experience in this life!  And at the same time God also calls people to serve those who suffer – some to serve those living with disability, some with disabilities to serve the church, some to serve in other ways and other places, all for the glory of God.

And for those who are suffering, there are promises to cling to:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Here is Justin’s post quoting Pastor John:

One truth is that when the gospel takes root in our souls it impels us out toward the alleviation of all unjust suffering in this age. That’s what love does!

The other truth is that when the gospel takes root in our souls it awakens us to the horrible reality of eternal suffering in hell, under the wrath of a just and omnipotent God. And it impels us to rescue the perishing, and to warn people to flee from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10).

I plead with you. Don’t choose between those two truths. Embrace them both. It doesn’t mean we all spend our time in the same way. God forbid. But it means we let the Bible define reality and define love.

Could Lausanne say—could the evangelical church say—we Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering? I hope we can say that. But if we feel resistant to saying “especially eternal suffering,” or if we feel resistant to saying “we care about all suffering in this age,” then either we have a defective view of hell or a defective heart.

I pray that Lausanne would have neither.

You can watch or listen to Pastor John’s entire message here.

Posted in Scripture, Sermons | Leave a Comment »

Be encouraged at the goodness of God in the midst of suffering!

November 19, 2010 by John Knight

If you didn’t see this video on the Desiring God blog yesterday, please take five minutes to watch and be blessed!

Thank you to Children Desiring God and to the Watters’ family for sharing this wonderful testimony.

God was preparing them for great suffering, and then he called them to do an incredible thing in adopting – for his glory and their joy!

We all have a story to tell, one that focuses on who God is and what God has done for us.  Who can you tell your story to today?

As (Jesus) was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. Mark 5:18-20

Posted in Helpful things | 2 Comments »

Pray that our leaders would know AND love the truth

November 18, 2010 by John Knight

As I mentioned yesterday, the Evangelical Theological Society is having their annual meeting this week, focusing on the theme “justification by faith.”

Just a few hours after writing that post I came across an example of why Biblical scholarship with the perspective that God is both sovereign and good is so important.

In her article, “Biblical And Theological Perspectives On Disability: Implications On The Rights Of Persons With Disability In Kenya,” Pauline Otieno properly connects an understanding of the Bible with how people behave, including how that influences government systems.

One of the major root causes for the discriminatory acts against PWD (people with disabilities) in Kenya is religion-related. Theological interpretations of disability have significantly shaped the ways in which society relates to PWD. The Bible is intermingled with texts that have been interpreted in oppressive ways and together these continue to reinforce the marginalization and exclusion of PWD in the social, economic, political, and religious life of the society (emphasis mine).

She is correct; the Bible has been interpreted in oppressive ways.  I would contend those interpretations are inaccurate at best.

Unfortunately, she makes sweeping generalizations that are not accurate:

The New Testament also supports the link between sin and disability. This link is well illustrated in John 9:1-3. The disciples anticipated a connection between disability and sin with the question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” This question implies that disability was the punishment meant for some unspecified sin. When Jesus healed the physically impaired man who lay by the pool of Bethesda, He said to him: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse will happen to you” (Jn. 5:14). This clearly indicates that Jesus thought there was a connection between the man’s disability and some sin. In the portico lay a multitude of PWD and this comment applied to them as well (Jn. 5:3).

Neither Biblical account supports her conclusion!  Of course, Jesus himself answers the disciples’ question in John 9:3:

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

And the “something worse” in John 5:14 is eternal punishment, not another disabling condition, as Pastor John helpfully articulates:

And yes, he warns him that, if he turns away, and mocks this gift, or makes an idol out of his health, and embraces sin as his way of life, he will perish. I take that—final judgment—to be the “worse thing” (in verse 14) that will happen because there aren’t many natural things worse than the 38 years this man endured, and because in verses 28–29, Jesus says, “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John Piper, Healed for the Sake of Holiness, August 23, 2009)

What is particularly frustrating about Dr. Otieno’s article is that it is very well written and she has clearly given this a great deal of thought.  This article is full of scriptural references, and she has looked directly at some of the most difficult passages on disability in the Bible.

But it is not written from the perspective that this is God’s story, that he is a holy God, that he has sovereign authority over his creation, that he is entirely good, that he is completely merciful, and that anything that draws us closer to him and into treasuring Jesus above all things is better than anything in this life.  Even a life full of suffering and exclusion because of disability – which he has ordained – does not compare to an eternity of increasing joy spent with Jesus.

And that is why we should pray for the gathering of the Evangelical Theological Society this week.  Disciplined, smart people write articles about the Bible all the time – and get it wrong.  It is God alone who gives new life, eyes to see, and a desire to make much of him.

Posted in commentary, Scripture, Special Events | Leave a Comment »

How we understand justification impacts how we respond to disability

November 17, 2010 by John Knight

The Evangelical Theological Society is meeting this week from Wednesday through Friday.  Their theme this year is “Justification by Faith.”

Why should those of us dealing with disability care if a bunch of smart people get together to talk about these things?

Because how they reason together and think about this issue influences both this and the next generation of leaders in our colleges, seminaries and churches.  Issues discussed at this gathering will impact churches.

A right understanding of justification is immensely important to this issue of disability:

What makes radical, risk-taking, sacrificial, Christ-exalting works of love possible is the fact that Christ’s perfect obedience (counted as our righteousness) and Christ’s perfect sacrifice (counted as our punishment) secured completely the glorious reality that God is for us as an omnipotent Father who works all things together for our everlasting joy in him.  If we begin to deny or minimize the importance of the obedience of Christ, imputed to us through faith alone, our own works will begin to assume the role that should have been Christ’s. As that happens, over time (perhaps generations), the works of love themselves will be severed from their root in the Christ-secured assurance that God is totally for us.  In this way, for the sake of exalting the importance of love, we will undermine the very thing that makes them possible.

Yet the freedom and the courage to love is what the world desperately needs to see in the church and from the church. The world does not need to see strident, triumphalistic evangelicals laying claim on their rights.  The world needs to see the radical, risk-taking, Christ-exalting sacrifice of humble love that makes us willing to lay down our lives for the good of others, without the demand of reward on this earth. For the sake of this display of the glory of Christ, I plead for our allegiance to a robust, biblical, historical vision of Christ whose obedience is counted as ours through faith alone. John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright, pp. 187-188.

Disability (usually) shatters the illusion of independence we probably lived under before God graciously removed that illusion from our lives.  We need God to call other people to get involved with us in our churches to make disability ministry happen; we need them to freely love without any anticipation of reward on this earth (but isn’t God good to frequently give them affections for us and for our children that feels like a reward to them!).  We need God to help them see that people with disabilities are gifts to the church and have gifts for the church.

Similarly, we should be very wary of the ‘hero’ status that some people want to confer on us for parenting children with disabilities.  It is God’s strength that allows us to continue every day; it is God’s grace that lets us see him for who he is – perfect in all his ways and all his works, and able to make ‘all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).

This emphasis on justification would be reason enough for us to care about this gathering.  But in addition to that emphasis for the plenary sessions, there will be papers presented and discussed on issues of deep importance in the areas of bioethics and health.  For example, Catholic ethicist, philosopher and Baylor professor Francis Beckwith is presenting a paper, Recent Challenges to Fetal Personhood: A Critical Analysis.

So, please pray for this gathering of scholars and pastors and seminary students, that God would be given all the glory, and they would stay true to their doctrinal basis:

The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory.

Posted in News, Special Events | 3 Comments »

Thank you, Fast Company, for helping to make much of God!

November 16, 2010 by John Knight

Fast Company didn’t intend to do this, but they really encouraged my faith last week.

In their article, “Infographic of the Day: What the Bible Got Wrong,” the writer of the article concludes this way:

So to anyone who thinks the Bible’s the last word on anything, remember this: It isn’t even the last word on itself.

Sam Harris, the atheist skeptic and writer of Letter to a Christian Nation among other books, commissioned the infographic that Fast Company posted.  He hates the Bible and any notion about God.

But the conclusion he wants us to come to (and which the writer of the Fast Company article writes) isn’t exactly accurate.

Justin Taylor provides a helpful response on his blog:

I know what it’s like to be confused about, and bothered by, alleged contradictions in God’s Word. A good study Bible—e.g., the NIV Study Bible, now the ESV Study Bible—will intentionally address many of these issues.

“Alleged” is the right word – and we don’t need to be Ph.D.s to study these issues for ourselves!

But the answer I appreciated the most came from Matt Perman, a colleague with me at Desiring God:

However, the appearance of contradiction in many places in the Scriptures is there on purpose and by God’s design because this is the mark of any profound text and because it causes us to dig deeper, leading to far more profound insight.

God uses everything to make us dependent on him, including alleged contradictions in his word or difficult passages about his goodness in relation to suffering.  By going deeper and asking for the help of the Holy Spirit, we get to see more of God and understand even more about his sovereign goodness over all things.

The real danger isn’t that arguments like this come up but that we so quickly give up!  There’s a reason the Apostle Paul exhorts people to persevere!

Just a few days ago I wrote about how Satan hates our joy and seeks to cheapen it.  Creating doubt in God’s word is just another one of those tools.  Turning truth about actual events (like the miracles that Jesus performed) into allegories or fables is still another tool.

But, in the end, this is God’s word and God’s church and he will defend it.  Attacks that draw us deeper into the word and make us lean harder on God for answers do exactly the opposite than what people like Sam Harris want – God looks even greater, the Bible is even more authoritative, and my confidence that God is who he says he is rises.

Which anchors my hope in God even more securely.

People in our churches understand suffering very well.  For those of us dealing with disability, we know that circumstances can change in an instant.  Dianne spent time with mothers on Saturday who’s children are living with much more difficult disabilities than we are.

It is a comfort to know and feel and experience that God is who he says he is.  And anything, even attacks on his word, can be used by God to make much of him, for his glory and for our good.

Posted in commentary | Leave a Comment »

“Worth braving the weather” – Caryn Turner

November 15, 2010 by John Knight

Saturday morning brought winter back to Minnesota – more than 6 inches of wet, slushy snow.  But as Caryn Turner wrote in her blog yesterday (and Dianne confirmed), it was worth it to make the trek to Eden Prairie!

Here’s a sample of what they heard:

Depression often occurs because we listen to ourselves instead of talk to ourselves. We need to turn off the thoughts of anxiety, fear, & doubt and start preaching God’s truth to ourselves.

Thank you, Mary Horning, for encouraging many hearts!  You can read the entire post here.

Posted in Special Events | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »