The reading and discussion schedule is as follows:

• January 6 – Chapters 1-8
• January 13 – Chapters 9-19
• January 20 – Chapters 20-29
• January 27 – Chapters 30-38

If you would like to get a taste of this great man, you can listen to a biographical sketch that John Piper gave on Paton at a missions conference in 2000.

The church will order the books, which will cost $10 each.

 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. – Psalm 126:3

Come join us on Wednesday, November 21 at 7p.m. for a special time of giving thanks to the Lord for his many blessings from this past year. We will be joined by some families from Cornerstone OPC, with their pastor, Calvin Keller, providing a homily from a psalm of thanksgiving.There will be scripture readings, singing, a time of sharing thanks, a homily, a time of prayer, and a time of fellowship.

So come on out and join us as we give thanks and praise to God together!

You can see the order of service here.

All ladies, including Covenant students, are welcome to our Ladies’ Retreat Brunch on Saturday, Nov 10.

Our speaker is Patti Wilson and the topic of her talk will be “Encourage One Another.” In order to help facilitate discussion, she asks that you come prepared to share three basic things:

1. An example of how someone encouraged you;

2. An example of how God used you to encourage someone;

If it be inquired, then, by what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing existence amongst us, and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them all the other parts, and consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz., a knowledge, first, of the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and, secondly, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained.

For Calvin, then, worship was not a means to an end, but was the chief end itself.

But Calvin was concerned with more than just the theology of worship; he was also deeply concerned with its practice. In a letter to Cardinal Sadoleto, Calvin states, “There is nothing more perilous to our salvation than a preposterous and perverse worship of God.” There were two major factors that made worship potentially perilous and perverse: the outward form used in worship and the inward heart engaged in worship.

 So, Calvin stated that the worship of God must be based on the principle of sola scriptura.  He taught that the rule that helps us discern true worship, which is needed to protect sinful man from being led away by his own imagination into false worship, was to only listen to God, “The Lord . . . strictly enjoins what he wishes us to do, and at once rejects all human devices which are at variance with his command.”  In sum, Calvin’s instruction on worship taught that the only worship that God approved was worship directly sanctioned by His Word, not the zeal of man’s affections.   The temptation to idolatry, according to Calvin, requires that Christians be very careful and vigilant in regulating their worship by the Scriptures – in terms of both content and form.

The outward form of the liturgy was meant to reflect the gospel and cut down on distractions by being simple. It was also written to engage the emotions and lift the soul heavenward. Calvin knew the real place we worship is not in earthly temples, but in the heavenly temple – which can only be engaged by faith. “Let us know and be fully persuaded, that wherever the faithful, who worship him purely and in due form, according to the appointment of his word, are assembled together to engage in the solemn acts of religious worship, he is graciously present, and presides in the midst of them.” Thus, worship should be conducted in reverence and awe.

Now, this may all sound very theoretical to us, but at the time, it was inherently practical and pastoral. When Calvin arrived in Geneva in 1536, the city had embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, but did not yet have the tools it needed to practice the Reformed faith. So, in addition to his normal pastoral duties, Calvin also wrote and produced a Confession of Faith and Catechism, a liturgy, which he referred to as “A Form of Church Prayers,” and the Genevan Psalter, for families to sing at home and at the church. You see, up until Calvin came to Geneva, they were still basically using a Roman Catholic form of worship based on the mass. Calvin gave them the form they needed to promote the gospel and heavenly devotion to God.

Today, we are using Calvin’s “A Form of Church Prayers” liturgy to commemorate our heritage as Reformed Protestant Presbyterians. In it, you will see all of the usual elements of our worship service, though some of them are in different places. We hope you see all the similarities so that you will see that we as a church are still rooted in the heritage of our Reformed forefathers. But not just to provide you a history lesson – but to form and shape your devotion to God according to what God has said he wants you to do, which he will bless. The recovery of the gospel led to a recovery of biblical worship; the continuation of biblical worship leads to the continuation of the gospel – not just confessed, but practiced in glorifying God and enjoying him forever. S.D.G

Come join us for worship as we remember Jesus Christ and his good news as recovered in the Reformation. We will serve God in worship by using John Calvin’s Geneva liturgy. Soli Deo Gloria! 

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faint for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. ~ Psalm 84:1-2

The words of the psalmist personify the desires of his heart for God, especially the public the worship of God. But these words, let alone his desires for the public worship of God, are not to be the psalmist’s alone – God has provided them to be the substance of our prayers and desires as well. But these do not come naturally for most, especially because of the many struggles of the week that have gripped our emotions and attentions. So we need to quiet our hearts, and prepare ourselves for worship.

Psalm 116 is a great psalm to help us reflect on God’s love and mercy for us as he is present within our daily lives,  listening to our prayers and delivering us from our trouble. Psalm 116.1-8:

I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful. The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;

Reflecting on God’s presence with us helps us put the work week in perspective, so that we can be reminded of the greater world that exists outside our personal lives and struggles. That greater world? The world of Sabbath rest. Psalm 116.12-14; 17-19:

What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD  in the presence of all his people….I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

When we reflect on God’s loving and merciful presence with us during the week, it puts the week in focus for us, and leads us to desire to leave our work week lives behind to go and worship God with his faith community! And when we go in faith, having already reflected on his provisions throughout the week – what we receive is nothing less than a foretaste of the greater heavenly rest that God will give his people.

Take some time this evening for silent reflection upon what God has already done in the small silent moments of the week, that you may go with faith-filled anticipation of his greater presence in the seemingly insignificant means of Word and sacrament. Let Psalm 116 help you do this.

Prayer of Preparation:

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that I, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of public worship, and grant as well that my Sabbath upon earth may be a preparation for eternal rest promised to your people in heaven. Shed forth your unending day upon all of us who watch for you, that our lips may praise you, our lives may bless you, and our worship may give you glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I saw this today and thought it was pretty good. Though it was originally written with welcoming a new pastor in mind, it provides a good picture of mature faith and trust for dealing with any significant change in your life. You can simply insert “the new/old thing” in the place of “new/old Pastor.”

I. Thou shalt not compare the old Pastor and the new Pastor, for the Lord thy God has made each person unique and wishes you to appreciate each original creation.

II. Thou shalt not expect everything to stay the same when the new Pastor arrives. Nor shalt thou resist change, nor assume that change is bad, but thou shalt trust that the Lord thy God isn’t finished with your church yet and is bringing change for your good and the good of your mission.

III. Thou shalt not make graven images of thine old grudges, nor shalt thou keep stale disappointments in the temple of thine heart, but thou shalt forgive and move on in the grace of the Lord thy God, for how can thou ask God for mercy unless thou give mercy from thine heart?

IV. Thou shalt not commit gossip, nor shalt thou fearfully complain, nor shalt thou listen to those who do, but instead thou shalt entreat them to adjust their attitudes and lighten up, for everything shall be alright, and in fact, shall turn out very well indeed – better than you can even imagine.

V. Thou shalt not commit nostalgia or say that the old days were better, for in so doing thou shalt make thy judgment come true. Be assured that the Lord thy God is not falling asleep at the wheel, but will be with thee and surprise thee with abundant blessings, more than thou canst contain or count.

VI. Thou shalt not factionalize nor create “us-them” divisions, but thou shalt unify with thy brothers and sisters even when they annoy or confuse you.

VII. Thou shalt not come to the new pastor with your demands, pressure, complaints, bad reports, manipulations, threats, agendas, unsolicited advice, or snide comments. But thou shalt say, “Welcome! How can we help you? We love you! We would like to increase our giving significantly. We’re praying for you and your family. Welcome to our community! We baked you some cookies!” And each week, thou shalt do so again and again until the new pastor begs you to stop.

VIII. Thou shalt increase thy giving, and not withhold thy tithe, but invest thy money and thine heart in the future of thy community of faith and mission.

IX. Thou shalt not come to thine old and former pastor with anything but praise for the new pastor, but thou mayest bring thy concerns to God in humble prayer, and if thou must, thou may also share concerns with the duly appointed leaders of the church.

X. Most important, thou shalt trust God, and stay connected to God, and draw strength from God, staying deeply rooted in the message of God’s grace. For God is good, and God will never leave you nor forsake you. You can count on that for sure!

Is the mystery gone? No, I’m not talking about your relationship with your spouse – I’m talking about your relationship with God. I have been thinking about his question for some time now, for I have a strange vocation. I am a pastor – which means that I have been called to be a steward of God’s mysteries. This provides me a great deal of time reading God’s words and praying in private, as well as, leading my church in worship and adoration of God through reading, preaching, paying, and administering the sacraments twice on Sunday. But all this time around God’s truth can be difficult – and one of the primary struggles is not allowing the divine mysteries to become common-place. But this is not just a problem that minister’s face – this is a trial that we all face, as I have been reminded from my current sermon preparations for preaching through Habakkuk.

The very history of the church, going back to the Old Testament is that the people of God have always tended to forget God and what he has done for us. In Sunday morning worship, I have been using texts from Deuteronomy for the reading of God’s law. One of the common themes running throughout the texts so far, is the command not to forget the Exodus. The Exodus was the miraculous, supernatural, gracious work of God to free his people from slavery and bondage in Egypt – and so to help them remember, he gave them the sacrifices – means of grace to shape their faith and obedience.

What is even more astounding is that God promised even more blessings in addition to the Exodus – a land flowing with milk and honey, safety from enemies, and God’s very presence dwelling with them in the Temple. In addition to the commands to remember the Exodus to the degree that it shaped their everyday lives, the church was also told that the blessings of God in the land (not salvation) were contingent on their obedience. If they disobeyed then God would not provide them the rich abundance of the land, nor would they be safe from their enemies. No, God would cause their enemies to conquer them and take them away into exile – away from the promised land, away from his Temple presence.

Despite the commands not to forget God, despite their incredible supernatural history, despite the sacrificial system, despite the additional blessings, and despite the warnings that they could lose them, the church did forget God – repeatedly. They were the only nation that possessed the covenants, the oracles of God, the sacrificial system, and the one true God’s Temple presence, and yet, they took God, his redemption, and his blessings for granted. Some tried to add the worship of foreign gods to their worship of God. Others outright rejected the worship of God. But many just lost the wonder of the mystery and so they fell into the sin of following God by going through the motions.

I think many of us struggle with falling asleep at the wheel when it comes to our pilgrimage of faith. We get caught up with the things of our everyday lives and God just gets pushed to the back burner. This is not because we are engaging in explicitly sinful and immoral lives, and not because we have consciously rejected God, his worship, and our faith and obedience. What happens is we just kind of assume he’s there and that he is merciful enough to realize that sometimes there is just stuff that we have to do. He knows we would like to acknowledge him through Bible reading and prayer – but he also realizes that clothes have to be washed, dinner prepared, children raised, homework accomplished, and money made to support our families and the church.

I would humbly suggest to you that this presumption upon God’s mercy and grace is the sin of forgetting God and his divine mysteries in our lives. We go through the motions, tipping our hats to him as we go about our responsibilities, but not really stopping what we are doing to sit down and have a cup of coffee with him.

As I have been reading and studying Habakkuk this was the situation facing the prophet, himself – not just the church. In the first eleven verses of the first chapter, we read an exchange between the prophet and God, where the prophet complains about the explicit sin and immorality being practiced within the church and asks God to do something about it, and where God shocks Habakkuk with what he is going to do about it.  God is going to enact the covenant curses that he warned them about back in Deuteronomy 28 (not quite 1000 years before Habakkuk’s day) by bringing the Babylonians in to conquer them and take them away. In essence, God is going to cure the disease of decay and death in his people through death!!

Habakkuk is not pleased with God’s answer. It exposes his self-righteousness and self-centeredness. It also exposes his fear. The Babylonians are wicked, evil, killing machines who throw off the rule of God to be their own authorities! How can God use a people more wicked than the church to purify her of sin?! This is a shocking, fearful, message, indeed! God’s instrument to deal with his people’s sin is death!

And yet, this is what we need – to be shocked and to experience fear- especially when we have fallen asleep at the wheel and are presuming upon God’s grace. Fear can be good for us when we allow it to pull us out of our preoccupation with ourselves, our feelings, our circumstances, and our schedules into a world of wonder. Fear of God should always be present with us so that we don’t forget his redemption and don’t presume upon his blessings. But we don’t look to the Exodus or the sacrificial system (both of which were other ways in which God had already been dealing with death through death – think about it), but instead we look to the final and ultimate shocking instrument of death that God has provided to cure his people of the decay of sin and death – we look to the cross.

But we don’t look to the cross alone – we look at it through the lens of an empty tomb. And we do this so that we will wonder and awe at the ultimate mystery that God has cured us from sin and death by taking our sin upon himself and dying on the cross in our place, and rising in victory in the resurrection. We must remember this – we must live in awe and wonder and godly fear.

So what is godly fear?  Eugene Peterson, in his book Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life, describes godly fear as “fear-of-the-Lord.” Fear-of-the-Lord ingrains in us a cultivated awareness of the presence of God in our lives through union with Christ by faith. Peterson notes that there are several benefits to living in the fear-of-the-Lord:

• We are reminded that we are not the center of our existence – God is.
• We are reminded that we are not the sum total of what matters – God is.
• We are kept on our toes to keep our eyes on Jesus no what circumstances arise.
• We are prevented from thinking that we know it all – for we are humbled by the divine mystery revealed in Christ.
• We are prevented from closing our minds to what is new – for all is now new because of the resurrection.
• We are protected from thinking and acting presumptuously – for our minds and faith are fixed on the true, beautiful, and good that is beyond our understanding and control.

When we get wrapped up in our own circumstances and schedules, we can become caught off guard when something suddenly changes – loss of job, illness, struggle with sin, relational troubles, a bad grade, a sick loved one, death, conflicts in the church, and even a new pastor. This is not an exhaustive list, but they do represent different ways that our lives can be caught off guard in a way that changes our routine. We become frustrated and afraid because things are different and we don’t know what to do. Our presuppositions and assumptions no longer account for what we’re up against, and we don’t know what will happen to us. In a sense, what happens is we grow to be in wonder and awe of the difficulty – and that is because we have not been cultivating wonder and awe in the divine mystery.

God brings these difficulties into our lives to wake us up and jar us out of our self-absorption. These trials are evidence of God’s grace in our lives that he is committed to purify us from our sins, even as he has forgiven us and freed us through the cross of Jesus – God curing death with death. And yet, he also provides the means of grace to help you cultivate fear-of-the-Lord. His means are divine mysteries that direct you to the divine mystery of the cross and resurrection. Preaching is nothing less than dying men speaking to dying men. The sacraments reminding us of life provided through death – whether that be signified through the waters of baptism or the bread and the cup. And prayer, the words of those still struggling with the presence of sin and death, asking for God’s help to persevere in taking up our crosses.

God’s ways truly are mysterious – and yet they have been revealed to us in Christ to help us cultivate God’s presence in our lives. We do not have to choose between the divine mysteries and our schedules – instead, let the divine mysteries shape the way you go about your responsibilities, so that you will be more prepared to deal with the things that can make us afraid, because we will see them through the fear-of-the-Lord.

Have you forgotten the fear-of-the-Lord? Have you reduced your life and faith to what you can manage through your attempts to control? Is the mystery gone?

Passionate exhortation to pursue gospel-driven holiness is barely heard in most of our churches. . . . My fear is that as we rightly celebrate, and in some quarters rediscover, all that Christ has saved us from, we are giving little thought and making little effort concerning all that Christ has saved us to. Shouldn’t those most passionate about the gospel and God’s glory also be those most dedicated to the pursuit of godliness? I worry that there is an enthusiasm gap and no one seems to mind, (p. 10-11, emphasis in original).

Later, he goes on to say that, “Any gospel which purports to save people without transforming them is inviting easy-believism,” (p. 30). So, DeYoung points out that it is good that theologians and pastors are emphasizing gospel-centered faith that rests in Christ – but he also highlights the need to also emphasize how the gospel fuels and empowers a radical pursuit of holiness.  So, DeYoung desires to help correct the ship that he believes has drifted into antinomian waters.

One of the things I have most appreciated so far with DeYoung’s treatment of the problem is that he is not “over-correcting.” Church history is filled by theological positions and movements that were the development of reacting against a particular problem, only to create a new problem or return to an old one. When there is a situation where the gospel is being emphasized to the detriment of a serious effort at the pursuit of holiness, one would be tempted to correct the ship by emphasizing effort at the pursuit of holiness apart from an emphasis on the gospel, turning the Christian life into a life of rule-keeping. Not only does DeYoung avoid this mistake, but he specifically identifies that approach as not being a pursuit of holiness.

In Chapter 3, “Piety’s Pattern,” he states that holiness is not mere rule keeping. Now, this is not to say that holiness does not include keeping rules, for don’t forget, God did provide us the ten commandments as a summary for us to follow in order to be holy as he is holy. Jesus told us that if we love him and his Father that we will keep his commandments.

However, the problem I have seen is that people do not rightly approach the ten commandments. The ten commandments do not begin with the first command, but with the declaration that Yahweh has delivered his people from bondage and slavery. The ten commandments have not been given as a list of bare commands that we are to follow in order to be moral and nice. Rather, they are ways to express our gratitude for what God has done within us through Jesus Christ, who frees us from bondage and slavery to sin and death. When we divorce the gospel from the law we end up with a bare list of do’s and don’t's. And the problem with this? It leads people to strive for godliness through their own strength, with a focus on outward behaviors while neglecting internal desires and motivations. It robs the pursuit of holiness of the power of the Holy Spirit and the patient endurance of grace and turns holiness into something that even the moral unbeliever can desire and achieve. DeYoung puts it this way,

It’s all too easy to turn the fight of faith into sanctification-by-checklist. Take care of a few bad habits, develop a couple good ones, and you’re set. but a moral checklist doesn’t take into consideration the idols of the hearts. it may not even have the gospel as part of the equation. And inevitably, checklist spirituality is highly selective. so you end up feeling successful at sanctification because you stayed away from drugs, lost weight, served at the soup kitchen, and renounced Styrofoam, But you’ve ignored gentleness, humility, joy, and sexual purity. God has not really gotten to your heart. I could probably sell a lot of books if I demanded that Christians read their Bibles two hours a day, throw away their TV’s, sell their possessions, adopt three orphans, and move into a commune. We like getting lists. some of us like getting beat up and then being told exactly what needs to be done to become a true spiritual giant. This sort of exhortation seems promising at first, but it proves ineffective in the long run. Mere rule keeping is not the answer because holiness cannot be reduced to a little ethical refurbishment.

Holiness is more than pursuing middle-class family values – it is about more than following a list – unbelievers can do that (and do do that). Pursuing holiness through the lens of striving for American middle-class family values through a checklist spirituality leads you away from God, not deeper into him. It leads you to view God as being wholly other, rather than intimately present through the indwelling Holy Spirit. It leads you to see God as one who merely watches you, rather than one who is at work within you. It leads you to see holiness as the pursuit of trying to be like Jesus, rather than seeing holiness as you reflecting the Christ who is being formed in you. It leads you away from a life of faith expressed through the gratitude of obedience, to a life of self-effort, which will inevitably lead to self-loathing or self-righteousness. Worship is no longer about serving God and glorifying and enjoying him, it becomes focused on giving people motivation to continue in their self-effort. Preaching is not about proclaiming Christ and one’s life hidden in him, it is about making people feel bad about their paltry efforts at holiness so they will try harder, and then providing them lists of things to do along with helpful techniques for getting them done.

And what does this produce? Spiritually anemic Christians who do not know how to and are scared to walk by faith, who become co-dependent on the one who has been giving them their lists. You see, faith requires us to live in Christ, grasping hold of things not seen – lists don’t encourage that, they hinder it. Lists don’t encourage prayerful dependence on God for our holiness, they encourage self-dependence. Lists don’t require faith, or encourage faith; and you see, without faith, we cannot please God. Faith is necessary and integral to the pursuit of holiness.

Holiness is about being holy as God who saved us is holy and has saved us so that we would be reflections of him as those renewed according to the image of Christ. God’s laws help us in knowing how to express holiness – but it does not provide the ability to express holiness. Lists don’t enable and deepen devotion to God – the grace of the gospel does. Holiness pursued through lists leaves out the gospel. And so we don’t want to divorce the gospel from the pursuit of holiness any more than we want to divorce the pursuit of holiness from the gospel.

Yes, there are some who are emphasizing a gospel that saves while not emphasizing that it transforms – but let us not over-correct. We must hold the two together so that rather than giving anemic, checklist, self-effort that leads to self-loathing or self-righteousness, let us pursue Holy Spirit-empowered, Gospel-driven, Faith-fueled effort that leads to a deeper devotion to God and ever-growing reflection of his righteous character.

If you would like help in doing this, then in what I’ve seen so far, you would do well to read this book!

It is considered to be a timeless classic in expounding true devotion. One of my favorite features of this work are the prayers that Scougal includes at the end of each major section that help the reader apply what he has said. As I said in the sermon, I highly recommend this book to every Christian. As your pastor, I highly recommend it to you. This book is the kind of book that you will read over and over again.

If you like to read on your computer, you can read this work for free as a pdf at Google Books.

If you would like to own your own copy, then you can find it at the Westminster Bookstore online for $8.09, and at Monergism Books for $6.29.