Focus on Worship: January 2005 Archives
I'm leaving tomorrow (Saturday) for Minneapolis to attend John Piper's pastors' conference. The theme of this year's conference is “This is My Beloved Son”: Exulting in the Trinitarian Relationships of Jesus Christ." Bruce Ware of Southern Seminary is the keynote speaker. John Piper will also do a biographical sketch on the life and theological contributions of Athanasius. I'm confident that this year's conference will be rich in Gospel food.
I have been reading Thomas F. Torrance on the Trinity in preparation for this conference's emphasis on the Trinitarian relationships of Jesus Christ. As I was reading Torrance this morning I came across a beautiful comment by Athanasius on the trinitarian benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14 ("The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.") that gave me great cause to worship our Triune God this morning. Anthanasius writes:
"For the grace and gift that is given is given in the Trinity, from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. As the grace given is from the Father through the Son, so we can have no communion in the gift except in the Holy Spirit. For it is when we partake of him that we have the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the communion of the Spirit himself" (Athanasius, Ad Serapionem, 1.30.).
Indeed, the Gospel of God is a glorious Gospel!
Blessings,
Dan
"To know this God, who both condescends to share all that we are and makes us share in all that He is in Jesus Christ, is to be lifted up in His Spirit to share in God's own self-knowing and self-loving until we are enabled to apprehend Him in some real measure in Himself beyond anything that we are capable of in ourselves. It is to be lifted out of ourselves, as it were, into God, until we know Him and love Him and enjoy Him in His eternal Reality as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in such a way that the Trinity enters into the fundamental fabric of our thinking of Him and constitutes the basic grammar of our worship and knowledge of the One God" (Thomas F. Torrance, The Ground and Grammar of Theology, p. 155).
Martin Luther wrote that when Jesus was on the cross, His Father was essentially saying to Him:
"You are now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam, the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay for the world's iniquity” (Luther’s Commentary on Galatians).
And the Father did this for our salvation!!!
When I left the house last Tuesday morning, there were 10 inches of snow on the ground. By 2:00pm the temperature was between 60 and 65 degrees. Obviously, the snow started melting. Then rain arrived sometime after midnight. When I took our dog out at 6:00am, it was still raining and there was no snow to be seen. The temperature was still around 60. Within an hour and a half the temperature dropped approximately 30 degrees, and the heavy rain turned into a heavy snow storm. By the time I left my office to walk to my 8:00am class the ground was once again covered with snow (and the snow showed no signs of letting up).
The picture below (taken of the trees in our front yard) demonstrates what happens when snow hits branches that have been drenched with rain for 6 hours. That is snow on those branches. It’s not ice! I was reminded afresh at how the glory of God is seen in turning a dreary rain into a beautiful snow that takes the breath away. God does this in creation, and He does it in redemption. Psalm 30:11-12, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
God Calls Dr. Jack Arnold to Glory (Scott Anderson made me aware of the circumstances of his death. They are quite remarkable.)
On Sunday morning, January 9, Dr. Jack L. Arnold was transported to the presence of Christ. Jack was preaching during morning worship and as he approached the conclusion of his sermon on the cost of discipleship, as he passionately exhorted us to live for Christ and anticipate going to be with Him when your earthly work is completed, Jack paused, looked up briefly, and fell to the ground. Despite the courageous efforts of numerous members in the congregation and the Oviedo Rescue Department, Jack died from a massive cardiac arrest.
While we grieve our loss of this wonderful servant, we do not grieve without hope. Rather we grieve the loss of companionship and leadership that Jack gave, but we celebrate the example he left, the people he taught and mentored over the years, and we celebrate his final words: “To me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”
Conclusion of Jack Arnold’s final sermon:
The following words are taken from the text of Jack Arnold’s notes for Sunday. Though he departed slightly from the notes, he was in this final section, approaching the conclusion when he was taken home to be with the Lord. Read and consider the conclusion he intended to speak:
Christians often have a horrible fear that if they really commit to Christ, becoming a radical in His kingdom, they will suffer so terribly and their lives will be miserable. But what does Jesus say?
The Apostle Peter also questioned whether following Christ was really worth it, and Christ gave him a direct answer.
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:28-30).
Was Christ jerking us around? Was He lying to us? His words are either true or false. If they are false promises, Christ is a liar, and He is not worth following. Let us go out and eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. If they are true promises, then not to follow Christ would be the biggest mistake any person could ever make. Not to follow Christ, will cost one his or her soul!
CONCLUSION
What the church needs today are true disciples, outspoken followers of Christ, and bold believers. We need radical Christians that spread the good news of Christ through love and persuasion, not through force and killing. We need men and women who are willing to suffer for the gospel and die for it if called upon to do so.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, said, “Give me one hundred men who love God and hate sin, and we will turn the world up side down for Christ!” Wesley almost did it in his generation.
I say to you, “Give me one hundred men or women that love God and hate sin, and we will turn the world up side down for Christ!” I think I could find one hundred men and women who loved Christ in America, but I am not sure I could find one hundred men and women in America that hate sin.
We Christians just have one life to give, so let us give it for Christ and His kingdom, for eternal values and for the glory of God.
“This life will soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will last.”
More from the Associated Press:
Preacher Dies During Sermon About Heaven
OVIEDO, Fla. - A Presbyterian minister collapsed and died in mid-sentence of a sermon after saying "And when I go to heaven ...," his colleague said Monday.
The Rev. Jack Arnold, 69, was nearing the end of his sermon Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church in this Orlando suburb when he grabbed the podium before falling to the floor, said the Rev. Michael S. Beates, associate pastor at Covenant Presbyterian.
Before collapsing, Arnold quoted the 18th century Bible scholar, John Wesley, who said, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done ... I go to be with Jesus," Beates said in a telephone interview.
Several members of the congregation with medical backgrounds tried to revive the minister and paramedics were called, but Arnold appeared to die instantly, Beates said.
Arnold had been the senior minister at the church until the late 1990s when he began traveling to Africa and the Middle East to teach pastors. The cause of death was believed to be cardiac arrest. He had bypass surgery five years earlier.
Beates also recounted Arnold's death in an e-mail he sent to members of the Central Florida Presbytery.
"We were stunned," Beates said. "It was traumatic, but how wonderful it was he died in his own church among the people he loved the most."
More details sent to me from Scott Anderson (the account was written by Desiring God's video producer, Scott Smith):
Below is the account of the PCA pastor who died during preaching a sermon last Sunday. It's the kind of account I don't belive on the internet but comes first hand from Mike Beates who is an assistant pastor at the church and used to work in the education department at Ligonier. From what I've heard the account has aired on Fox & Paul Harvey.
Subject: Dr. Jack L. Arnold, 1935-2005
Fathers and Brothers of the Central Florida Presbytery, Today our brother Jack Arnold is with Christ in glory. He was preaching today at Covenant Presbyterian on the cost of discipleship. As he neared the end of the sermon he spoke of his favorite verse "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." He quoted Wesley saying, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal.
But when my work for Christ is done,"and he slapped his hands together toward the sky saying, "I am outa here! Idon't know about you, but when my work is done, I go to be with Jesus.
And that will be gain! And when I go to heaven, . . . ." At this point, Jack paused briefly, looked up, swayed slightly and grabbed the podium before falling back to the floor. And he was gone.
Several members of the congregation worked on him until Oviedo EMTs arrived but all appearances were that the Lord took him quickly and completely. The congregation remained in their seats until the EMTs entered the building then we moved to the fellowship hall to continue to pray before dismissing the people with prayer and benediction. Pray for Carol Arnold, who is strong in faith, but missing her husband already. Her testimony was that Jack was singing hymn around the house this morning for more than 30 minutes as he prepared to preach. Pray also for the 4 Arnold boys as they travel to Orlando. Finally pray for Covenant Presbyterian Church Oviedo as we minister to our people who heard a great sermon but then saw this dear saint die in their midst. Give God all the glory. Blessings to you all,
Scott
On January 6th I posted a quotation that I was planning on using in my January 12th sermon. BBC's president, Jim Jeffrey, gave me the opportunity to introduce a 3-part series (each message by a different Bible faculty member) on personal holiness this first week of school. The title of my January 6th post was "a mere outline of a human being." The title of my sermon was "Personal Holiness: More than a Mere Outline of a Human Being." If you are interested, you can listen to it by downloading the link below (right-c lick and then c lick on "save as" to download).
These pics are looking out into our back yard from our kitchen.
I found this insightful quotation in preparation for a sermon I am preaching in chapel on January 12th. It is a powerful reminder of my profound need of the gospel.
"All idolatry is not only treacherous but also futile. Human desire, deep and restless and seemingly unfulfillable, keeps stuffing itself with finite goods, but these cannot satisfy. If we try to fill our hearts with anything besides the God of the universe, we find that we are overfed but undernourished, and we find that day by day, week by week, year after year, we are thinning down to a mere outline of a human being" (Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It's Suposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, pp. 122-123).
It reminds me of the words of Bilbo: "I feel thin--sort of stretched like butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday, a very long holiday, and I don't expect I shall return. In fact, I mean not to!" I would just change one thing in Bilbo's statement of need: "I need the Gospel, all of it, and I don't mean to stop feeding upon it!"
