Weekly Roundup: Psalm 119, Christian liberty, women in the church, Christ and Him crucified
Rescued by Psalm 119, four principles for Christian liberty, women as vital to the church of Christ, and preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Resources
My Rope out of the Pit: The Word I Needed in My Worst Days | Vaneetha Rendall Risner | Desiring God
This is a heartbreaking story with a pride-breaking message.
When I was abandoned by my former spouse, I fell headlong into the pit. It was as if I had been caught up in a whirlwind — one that picked me up from my happy, secure life and threw me into a dark well. For days, I sat there, alone, wondering if I had the strength to go on — or if I even wanted to. There was no light; everything in front of me was so black I couldn’t see. I couldn’t imagine living like this forever. I gave up on the idea of ever being happy again.
…I was sobbing, looking for relief, when I read, “My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word” (Psalm 119:25).
4 Principles for the Exercise of Christian Liberty | Sinclair Ferguson | Ligonier Ministries
This topic is on the top of my mind because I just preached on 1 Corinthians 8. Ferguson masterfully summarizes how we ought to think through Christian liberties:
Principle 1: Christian liberty must never be flaunted. “Whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God” (Rom. 14:22, NIV).
Principle 2: Christian liberty does not mean that you welcome fellow Christians only when you have sorted out their views on X or Y (or with a view to doing that).
Principle 3: Christian liberty ought never to be used in such a way that you become a stumbling block to another Christian (Rom. 14:13).
Principle 4: Christian liberty requires grasping the principle that will produce this true biblical balance: “We … ought … not to please ourselves…. For even Christ did not please himself ” (Rom. 15:1–3).
Let’s Show Women They Are a Vital Part of Christ’s Body, Not Just Tell Them to “Go Home” | Randy Alcorn | Eternal Perspective Ministries
This is Randy Alcorn’s response to the now-infamous “Go home” statement. I found much of Alcorn’s thoughts helpful on this very sensitive subject.
This blog is very difficult for me to write because I deeply appreciate John MacArthur and his dedication to biblical truth. John has said and written many Christ-honoring and helpful things over the years, and I gladly affirm the majority of his Bible teaching and insights in his many sermons and books and most of the notes in his study Bible. Both of our daughters and one of our sons-in law attended the Master’s College (which MacArthur was then president of and is now the Chancellor Emeritus). … However, as much as I have loved and appreciated him, and still do, I fear without intending to [be] he sometimes sabotages his own message. People do not hear the good things he says because of the manner in which he says them.
Jesus Christ and Him Crucified | Sinclair Ferguson | The Whole Christ
Ferguson poses a crucial question to help evaluate our own souls, our families, and our churches:
Is it obvious to me, and of engrossing concern, that the chief focus, the dominant note in the sermons I preach (or hear), is “Jesus Christ and him crucified”? Or is the dominant emphasis (and perhaps the greatest energies of the preacher?) focused somewhere else, perhaps on how to overcome sin, or how to live the Christian life, or on the benefits to be received from the gospel? All are legitimate emphases in their place, but that place is never center stage.”1
Ferguson, Sinclair B. The Whole Christ — Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance — Why the Marrow. Crossway Books, 2016, 50. ↩︎
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