Righteous (in Christ), Reformed (according to the Word of God), Reader (of good books) "…Bring the books (2 Tim.4:13; …give attendance to reading (1 Tim.4:13)."
Prager University is doing a video series on the U.S. presidents, and on this Presidents’ Day 2024, it is worth mentioning these and encouraging you to delve into these short histories of our leaders. Plus, you can also obtain three free ebooks of these five-minute videos.
You may start with this video on our first president, George Washington.
How much do you know about Old Hickory and the “Father of the Constitution”?
Today is Presidents’ Day! Test your knowledge with this pop quiz on the U.S. presidents and find out if you know more history than the average American!
Tony Reinke is not only an avid reader but also a writer who inspires reading. In this latest Crossway article on reading, Reinke talks about his own reading habits and gives some tips on how to find time to read. I always find his advice helpful, so tonight we share part of it here. But be sure to read the whole article – it’s inspiring!
So how to find those pockets of reading time in the first place? Here are some tips that have helped me.
1. Expect War When we set out to read important books, we can expect opposition from our hearts. Reading is a discipline, and all disciplines require self-discipline, and self-discipline is the one thing our sinful flesh will resist.
Our spirit may be eager to read a book, but our flesh is weak. Our flesh would rather self-indulge on passive entertainment. Movies and television can be wonderful gifts from God if we use them wisely, but unchecked they will hijack our schedules and rob us of our reading time. Book reading is not just a matter of time management; it’s a matter of warfare. Wherever sinful self-indulgence dominates our free time, we can be certain that personal idols are at work in our flesh, seeking to divide and conquer the soul (1 Pet. 2:11).
Idols of entertainment and pleasure make the discipline of book reading a battle with our flesh. We’d rather avoid discipline and be occupied with easier tasks like e-mail, Internet browsing, and movies. We neglect books because our hearts reject the discipline required to read them. And that is a spiritual problem, a lack of personal discipline, not a lack of time. And until we apply the sin-freeing gospel to our own hearts—and the idols therein—we may never cultivate the self-discipline required to read books. Our flesh wars within us. If we don’t kill the idols of laziness and self-indulgence, these idols will kill our literacy.
So expect a fight from your flesh.
Our flesh wars within us. If we don’t kill the idols of laziness and self-indulgence, these idols will kill our literacy.
2. Make Time, Not Excuses In 1964 Robert Lee calculated the leisure time available to Americans. In his research he compared the leisure time available to modern Americans to the leisure time available to an average American worker in the mid-1800s. What did Lee discover?
It is a striking fact to note that the working man of a century ago spent some seventy hours per week on the job and lived about forty years. Today he spends some forty hours per week at work and can expect to live about seventy years. This adds something like twenty-two more years of leisure to his life, about 1,500 free hours each year, and a total of some 33,000 additional free hours that the man born today has to enjoy!1
That is a stunning amount of free time! So why is this leisure time so elusive when it comes to finding the time we need to read books?
For many of us, reading is more a lack of of desire than of a lack of free time. C. S. Lewis wrote, “The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.”2 The same is true of reading. Favorable conditions for reading books never come.
There are always interruptions and other things to do. We can all find excuses for why we cannot read: we’re too busy, we’re too tired, we’re too burned out from the day, we’re too (you fill in the blank). But we all find time to do what we “want” to do. The problem is not that we don’t have time to read, but that we don’t have the desire to read. So learn to love reading—because it’s easier to find time to do what you love to do.
Taken from the editorial in the February 1, 2024 issue of the Standard Bearer, “The Sabbath: Delighting in the gospel’s rest,” by Prof. B. Gritters (PRC Seminary). In this editorial Prof. Gritters gives five reasons to call the sabbath a delight (Isaiah 58:13); here are two of them.
Delight in God:His Word!
If the Sabbath is about gospel rest in God through Christ, gospel preaching should stand at the center of the Sabbath. Preaching gives rest, which explains why in the Christian tradition public worship occupied much of the Lord’s Day and preaching occupied much of the public worship. That is because of the great delight in hearing God speak of His love to us, His Son’s redemption of us, His eternal purposes for us, His promises to preserve us, His wisdom to work all things for our good and His glory. We feed, even feast on His word. If the Old Testament feasts were Sabbaths, the New Testament Sabbaths are great feasts.
In other words, by gospel preaching I actually rest. God creates faith in me by preaching (Lord’s Day 25) and it’s by faith that I enter rest (Heb. 4). God heals struggling people by His Word: women bent over with infirmity stand upright (Luke 13); men’s withered hands function again (Mark 3); those blind from birth see (John 9); and lame folk walk (John 5)—all miracles Jesus performed by His Word on the Sabbath. The spiritual healing these miracles pointed to still takes place by faithful gospel preaching.
Let’s pray then for preachers who are able to prepare sermon-banquets for the sons and daughters of King Jesus. As the Catechism puts it (Lord’s Day 38), obedience to the fourth commandment is to maintain the ministry of the gospel and maintain the schools that prepare gospel ministers.
Delight in God:His Saints!
The wealth of Sabbath rest is immeasurably increased among the saints. So when the Catechism explains that obedience to the fourth commandment means that we “frequent the church of God,” it does not only mean, “go to the place of worship,” but “be among the worshiping people.”
Praying and singing with the saints rests us. Standing among God’s people, listen to them encourage us (“This mighty God of grace is ours for evermore,” Psalter #133), teach us (“Yea, blest is he who makes God’s law His portion and delight,” Psalter #1), exhort us (“Lay upon God’s altar good and loving deeds,” Psalter #7), comfort us (“Not lightly does the Lord permit His chosen ones to die,” Psalter #313). Join heart and tongue with them to confess, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth…” This is worship and this is our rest, among the saints.
So the communion of saints on the Sabbath is not primarily in the “social hall” after worship is finished, but is in the sanctuary where the saints gather. Even before public worship begins, as the people file in—alone or with their children—we “consider” (Hebrews 10:25) them all and pray for them one by one. How good and pleasant—restful! —when we dwell in sweet accord.
Jesus truly stands at the center of this covenantal conversation of worship; He is ‘the centre of New Testament thinking about worship. He is the ultimate meeting point between heaven and earth.’ It is all about Him. We rehearse, as it were, again and again each week, the covenant faithfulness of God to us in His Son. We rehearse the gospel, which teaches us that ‘there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim.2:5).
What a wonderful thing it is to have a mediator! It is because of Christ that we are capable of responding to God. Otherwise, when God calls us we would run and hide. The sins of thought, word, and deed we committed throughout the week convince us we could not come before the presence of God. Our sin tells us that we are too unworthy to speak back to God. We have broken covenant too many times for Him to want us any longer. But we don’t come to God in our sin or in our failings. We do not ‘utter our Amen’ through our own merits. We come through Christ.
So run to worship, dear friend. Don’t hide in shame or disgrace, thinking your sin is too great for a meeting with God. He knows your sin, and He is ready to cover it with His grace. He knows you have broken covenant, but He is ready to renew it. Experience that wonder of God’s never-failing faithfulness every week in worship. And with joy and thanksgiving lift your voice and respond with the covenant people: ‘Blessed be the Lord forevermore! Amen and Amen.’ (Psalm 89:52).
Taken from What Happens When We Worship by Jonathan L. Cruse (Reformation Heritage Books, 2020), Chap.5, “God Renews His Covenant”, pp.55-56.
Last year when I received Crossway’s list of future books to be published and saw the newest title by Rosaria Butterfield on it, I requested and recently received a copy. The book is arguably her boldest and most direct challenge to the cultural spirit of our age, confronting homosexuality, the new spirituality, feminism, transgenderism, and modesty with the truths of biblical Christianity.
Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age is must reading for today’s Christian. I would love to have one of our readers, especially a female reader, review it for us (the Standard Bearer, or here on this blog). If you are interested or know someone who would be interested, kindly let me know. As always, the book is yours to keep. I also bought and placed a copy in the seminary library and we will have it in our seminary bookstore as well. You may find the book at most Christian bookstores and websites. Right now, RHB has the best price for the hardcover book.
Below is the publisher’s summary description of the book, and below that one of a series of five videos Crossway has posted in which the author summarizes each of the five lies she confronts in this new book. By all means listen to the videos – then obtain the book, read it and absorb its gospel light in this world’s darkness!
Modern culture is increasingly outspoken against a biblical understanding of what it means to be a woman. Even some Christians, swayed by the LGBTQ+ movement, have rejected God’s word on issues of sexuality and gender in favor of popular opinion. In light of these pressures, it’s more important than ever to help women see the truth about who God created them to be.
In this powerful book, Rosaria Butterfield uses Scripture to confront 5 common lies about sexuality, faith, feminism, gender roles, and modesty often promoted in our secular culture today. Written in the style of a memoir, this book explores Butterfield’s personal battle with these lies—interwoven with cultural studies, literary criticism, and theology—to help readers see the beauty in biblical womanhood, marriage, and motherhood.
Culturally Relevant: Confronts controversial topics including transgenderism, homosexuality, feminism, spirituality, and modesty from a Bible-centered perspective
Written for Christian Women: Inspires women to preserve godly values around womanhood, marriage, and motherhood in their lives, and offers guidance as they shepherd the next generation
By Rosaria Butterfield: Bestselling author of The Gospel Comes with a House Key (100,000+ copies sold) and The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (100,000+ copies sold)
Filled with Personal Stories: Rosaria speaks from her own experience as a formerly militant anti-Christian and outspoken feminist, in order to teach and encourage other Christians
From the December 2023 issue of Tabletalk on “The Doctrines of Grace” come these words concerning our wicked depravity as sinners and the wonderful gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
Sin in all its forms is idolatry. In our sin, we demand subjection from the King of the universe. Then we exchange Him for would-be gods beaten into the shape of our perversion on the anvil of our own steely hearts. Once magnificent, we are now maimed image bearers who fabricate gods of our liking, gods that reflect us.
This sinful distortion is what we call depravity.
Drawing on the root pravus (crooked), the Latin word depravare means “to distort or disfigure.” The term depravity graphically captures the Bible’s teaching concerning the damaging and damning effects of sin. What was by original creation straight is now warped by the fall; what was pure is now putrid. With hardened hearts and skewed minds, we are bent in on ourselves, undesirous, unwilling, and unable to turn rightly toward God. Formed in the image of God, we are now deformed. Depravity desecrates dignity.
…Sinners, apart from grace, live under the dominion of “the prince of the power of the air”—Satan himself, to whose authority we eagerly, earnestly, and necessarily submit, while we pursue our hearts’ passions and surrender to our minds’ distortions. Sinners walk as dead men, alive to the power and presence of sin and dead to the blessedness of God.
…We sin necessarily because of what we are naturally since the fall: totally depraved. Though manifestations of depravity differ by person and degree, depravity is total and universal. Without exception, sin disfigures everyone everywhere. Sinners to their core, individuals and communities spend their lives in rebellion against God. Whereas we once reigned as servants of glory, we now stagger as slaves of sin. Yes, here we stand. Because of total depravity, we can do no other.
…Enraptured with self-interest, sinners are not happy as loners. Dizzied in their death and damnation campaigns, the depraved recruit. Sinners seek teammates. And when they secure their recruits, like zombies, they cannibalize them. Unsatisfied with isolated rebellion, they delight that those whom they recruit share in ultimate defiance and certain damnation.
…So what do we need? A crutch to compensate for a spiritual limp? Spiritual protein powder to fortify our merely weakened spiritual condition? The answer is an emphatic no. Depraved sinners need the cross of Christ to crush our sin, its guilt, and its power. We need Christ’s resurrection power to raise us from death to life.
Praise be to God, He gives us this Christ. The risen Son is the sole antidote for our depravity, the One who heals us from the inside out. The Savior of sinners pours out His resurrection Spirit on us and makes us new (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 5:17). He redeems His disfigured people. He straightens our crookedness. He secures our blessedness.
…The redeemed of Christ, at every microsecond of our existence, blessedly live before and in relation to the God who renews us and perfects us in His Son. The perfected beauty and glory of our Christ-shaped image bearing endures forever. By grace, here we stand. All praise to His glorious name; we can do no other.
Join us tonight at Zion Reformed Church in Grandville, MI – a wonderful way to end the Lord’s Day and the year 2023 – and for a good cause! Hope to see you there!
As noted in a post last week, this is a lovely time of year to think about books – noteworthy books published in 2023 and books to be published in 2024 (Yes, those lists are coming out also!).
Pastor/author/blogger Tim Challies always has a great post on the best Christian books from the year, and he has done it again for 2023. His list is unique in that he not only lists some of his own “best books” but also links to the other lists that do the same, with a focus on Christian books. Hence, his list is called “The Collected Best Christian Books of 2023.”
Here is part of his introduction and then the top books he has noted on other lists. For the links to his “collected” list, visit the link below.
A few years ago it always seemed simple to find a few consensus picks. Over the past years, for one reason or another, it has become far more difficult. So while I scour as many lists as ever, it is rare for a single book to appear on more than a handful of them. With that in mind, here are the ones that appeared repeatedly and, in a more subjective sense, seemed to generate the most positive buzz throughout the year.
Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen. This biography, which focuses primarily on intellectual and spiritual influences, was timed providentially so it was released very close to the time Keller went to be with the Lord. Many readers appreciated coming to know him better through it.
Mary and Joseph were brought by the providence of God to the city of Bethlehem, where, in a stable, the eternal Son of God was born in our flesh in order that He might open for us the door of heaven. Really the whole Bible is written to explain what happened as it is recorded in Luke 2. The whole Bible tells us what happened there, why it happened, and the result of it happening. Apart from the explanation of the Bible, you could never understand what happened in the birth of Jesus Christ. You would have to be like those in Luke 2:18 who, when they heard these things, wondered at what was told them by the shepherds and passed on, never understanding in their heart.
The Bible tells us that what happened was the wonder of God’s grace. What better verse of Scripture to tell us what the birth of Jesus Christ really was than John 3:16. That is probably the most familiar verse in the whole Bible. If Luke 2 is the most familiar chapter, John 3:16 is the most familiar verse. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
…My purpose is to demonstrate that John 3:16 shows God’s great love for the world; for the church of all ages; for His church out of every race, nation, and time; for you and for me and for every one who by His grace is come to believe in Jesus Christ. Never did the love of God shine so brightly as when the baby Jesus lay in the manger.
…What was the message that the angels felt a burden to give to the shepherds? It was this: “And this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” This shall be a sign — this shall show you that a Savior has been born. It will be a sign that God had given His Son over to be wrapped with all of our sins. Did Mary take the only things that she had—torn strips of cloth—and wrap them snuggly around her new baby to comfort Him and ward off the chill of the night air? Yes, she did. But that was a sign. It was a sign that God, who loved His Son with a perfect love, in a moment in time wrapped around His Son now in the flesh, bundled Him tight with all our sins — every last one. The sins of the world, the cosmos. World is literally cosmos. The unity of the elect of God — all those whom the Father graciously had chosen to give to Jesus Christ out of a fallen humanity, the elect, a vast multitude spanning now some six thousand years. All of their sins and all of the punishment that those sins would deserve were imputed to Him. How can we fathom it? How can we fathom it when we begin to know a little bit about the magnitude of our own sins? Do you see Jesus in the manger by faith? Do you know what happened? The only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, the delight of the Father, was given over to bear our condemnation so that we would not have to bear it. Angels bowed in silent praise.
Why did God do that? “For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” Christmas day is the celebration of the love of God. Christmas is the great and everlasting celebration of the unconditional love of God. That is what we must make this day. God found it in His heart to love us, to draw us to Himself that we might be with Him. God longed for us with a longing that could not rest until we were brought unto the highest good. God in love sought us and He found us. He found us under dirt and under the manure and under the filth of sin! And He loved us and gave His Son for us.
…This is the way God expressed His love. Why did He have to do this? Why did God’s love act this way? Because only His only begotten Son could bear away our sins. Only God of God can bear the punishment of God against sin. No other creature can do this. He had to love us this way. He had to give His own son. There was no other way. It was the only way. Only God the Son in the flesh can be Savior.
…Now what does that mean? “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” All who will believe in Him will not perish! Faith — that gift of God whereby we personally are united to Jesus and embrace Him with our hearts. Faith — that wonderful gift of God. It is the way whereby we receive this very gospel that is being expounded to you at this moment, whereby, though we are worthless sinners and have nothing of ourselves, through faith we become rich.
It was expressed so tenderly by Mary. We must never sell the virgin Mary short. We read that Mary kept all these things (all these words, literally) and pondered them in her heart. She had a lot to ponder, but it was the words she thought about. “Unto you is born this day a Savior which is Christ the Lord.” She had heard that. She pondered that in her heart. Shall we?
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Those who do not believe in this Christ-child will perish. To perish is not just to die. All will die, of course. But perish means to fall into everlasting ruin. It means never to die. It means always dying.
But those who believe in Jesus shall never die. They have everlasting life. And that is not simply life going on forever and ever. But it is to know the love of God and to be with God in glory and to enjoy. It is right now. It is today. I will not perish. I have everlasting life through the Christ-child because God so loved me and gave over His Son to my condemnation so that now, believing in Him, I will not perish but have everlasting life.
Do you say that? Is that your confession? Oh, praise God. Then you know what Christmas is all about. You know the only explanation.
Then there is just one thing left for us to do. Bow and worship. Today and every day. Every day over and over again. And live because God has so loved us.
When the saints gather on God’s appointed day and worship Him in the way that He has directed…, God is actually there. We literally come into His presence. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? In something that seems as mundane as a church service, we are actually given the opportunity to come before the living God, the Creator of the universe, the holy, self-sufficient, transcendent God. We meet Him, really and truly. It is weren’t for this, Christian worship would be quite meaningless. It would be, I daresay, a waste of your time – especially when the world is urging you to catch the big game that day instead. But because we meet with God, everything changes. Corporate worship becomes the greatest means of making us into what we were always meant to be: the images bearers of God. We are reflective creatures who become like what we behold – and in Christian worship we behold God.
Taken from What Happens When We Worship by Jonathan L. Cruse (Reformation Heritage Books, 2020), 1-3 (Chap.4, “We Meet with God”).
Pastor/author/blogger Tim Challies always has a great post on the best Christian books from the year, and he has done it again for 2023. His list is unique in that he not only lists some of his own “best books” but also links to the other lists that do the same, with a focus on Christian books. Hence, his list is called “The Collected Best Christian Books of 2023.”
The Three R's Blog 