Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church, largest church in America.
alittleleaven isnt the most reliable, but in this particular instance I cannot help but agree entirely.
I certainly hope you're as horrified as I am, my brothers and sisters. These are megachurches mind you :/
Tuesday 20 November 2007
The State of Our Pulpit Today
Monday 19 November 2007
The Cross
i was reading through this passage and i thought it had a rather powerful message behind it. interestingly, the message of the cross is never anything new to us, but it always hits us as a strong reminder to surrender our lives to Jesus everyday.
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Most of us, as the Lord's people, would probably agree that there is at the present day a very great need for the Lord to show His power. That might be a personal confession: we would each say, individually, 'There is a great need for the Lord to do something in my life - to do some new thing, some mighty thing, in me personally, and perhaps in my ministry.' Further, many of us would confess that such a need exists in the circle of believers with whom we are connected and related - a need for the Lord to move in power in a new way. But could we not widen the field to the farthest limit, and say that there is a very great need for the Lord to do something mighty in the whole Church and in the whole world?
The Word of God offers us this one remedy. It is fully and thoroughly documented; it has the most established authority behind it. Again and again, both in individual life and in collective life, it has proved itself to be the answer. The Word of God offers us no alternative, no prospect along any other line. The Cross is the answer.
It is so easy for us to talk or preach about the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. His enthronement, His glorifying - it is wonderful to talk about these things; and of course, this Church of His, the Church of Christ, the Church which is His Body, is a very great thing - the great Masterpiece of God. Yes, we like to talk about it. But the test as to whether all this has a grip upon our inward life is just how much we will let the Cross work in us: for these great things - His exaltation and His Church - are not possible of realisation, except by the work of the Cross in believers.
This is a challenge which arises at once, and it is very searching. It will come to that, sooner or later, in any case, as we go on with the Lord. All our language, all our talk, and all our pretensions, will be challenged by this. The Lord will say: 'Yes - but are you prepared to allow the Cross to work in you in this particular matter, and in that - in that particular relationship, in this thing about yourself, and in that thing in your connections? Are you prepared to let the Cross deal with those things?' The answer to that will prove whether after all we have a concern for Christ's exaltation and vindication. Our concern for these will be shown in our estimate of, and our attitude toward, the Cross.
If, on the other hand, we take the line: 'Oh, we have heard so much about the Cross; it is this one-track thing' - if we can take any such attitude as that, in any way to belittle the Cross, or make it something less than God has made it; if our attitude can be one which under-estimates the importance of the Cross: then that is proof that we have not yet become inwardly gripped by this concern for the exaltation of the Lord Jesus.
Do not forget that He Himself would never have been exalted, but for His Cross. There was that mighty "Wherefore..." Wherefore? "...Becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore... God highly exalted him..." (Phil. 2:8,9). But for the Cross, He would never have been exalted; and, in principle, He never is exalted, except in so far as there is a work of the Cross in His people. It is so clear, is it not, that, if the Cross has not dealt with things in you and in me, the Lord Jesus cannot be glorified in our lives. And as for His Church - the Church would never have come into existence but for the Cross, and, but for the Cross, it can never have a present expression. Its beginning, its continuation, its growth, its consummation, are always by the law of the Cross; and every bit of addition to, or increase in, the Church, whether spiritually or numerically, is by means of the Cross. There is no other way. So it is a very real test and very real challenge to us.
dan <3
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Most of us, as the Lord's people, would probably agree that there is at the present day a very great need for the Lord to show His power. That might be a personal confession: we would each say, individually, 'There is a great need for the Lord to do something in my life - to do some new thing, some mighty thing, in me personally, and perhaps in my ministry.' Further, many of us would confess that such a need exists in the circle of believers with whom we are connected and related - a need for the Lord to move in power in a new way. But could we not widen the field to the farthest limit, and say that there is a very great need for the Lord to do something mighty in the whole Church and in the whole world?
The Word of God offers us this one remedy. It is fully and thoroughly documented; it has the most established authority behind it. Again and again, both in individual life and in collective life, it has proved itself to be the answer. The Word of God offers us no alternative, no prospect along any other line. The Cross is the answer.
The Cross the Only Way to The Exultation of Jesus
It is so easy for us to talk or preach about the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. His enthronement, His glorifying - it is wonderful to talk about these things; and of course, this Church of His, the Church of Christ, the Church which is His Body, is a very great thing - the great Masterpiece of God. Yes, we like to talk about it. But the test as to whether all this has a grip upon our inward life is just how much we will let the Cross work in us: for these great things - His exaltation and His Church - are not possible of realisation, except by the work of the Cross in believers.
This is a challenge which arises at once, and it is very searching. It will come to that, sooner or later, in any case, as we go on with the Lord. All our language, all our talk, and all our pretensions, will be challenged by this. The Lord will say: 'Yes - but are you prepared to allow the Cross to work in you in this particular matter, and in that - in that particular relationship, in this thing about yourself, and in that thing in your connections? Are you prepared to let the Cross deal with those things?' The answer to that will prove whether after all we have a concern for Christ's exaltation and vindication. Our concern for these will be shown in our estimate of, and our attitude toward, the Cross.
If, on the other hand, we take the line: 'Oh, we have heard so much about the Cross; it is this one-track thing' - if we can take any such attitude as that, in any way to belittle the Cross, or make it something less than God has made it; if our attitude can be one which under-estimates the importance of the Cross: then that is proof that we have not yet become inwardly gripped by this concern for the exaltation of the Lord Jesus.
Do not forget that He Himself would never have been exalted, but for His Cross. There was that mighty "Wherefore..." Wherefore? "...Becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore... God highly exalted him..." (Phil. 2:8,9). But for the Cross, He would never have been exalted; and, in principle, He never is exalted, except in so far as there is a work of the Cross in His people. It is so clear, is it not, that, if the Cross has not dealt with things in you and in me, the Lord Jesus cannot be glorified in our lives. And as for His Church - the Church would never have come into existence but for the Cross, and, but for the Cross, it can never have a present expression. Its beginning, its continuation, its growth, its consummation, are always by the law of the Cross; and every bit of addition to, or increase in, the Church, whether spiritually or numerically, is by means of the Cross. There is no other way. So it is a very real test and very real challenge to us.
The Cross Positive, Not Negative
Now here, again, the Spirit of God shows that God's ways and means are always positive and not negative. I want to say that with emphasis; let us underline it in our minds. God's ways are always constructive and not destructive; they are purposeful, and not just ends in themselves. And if God's inclusive, comprehensive means is the Cross, let it be understood, once and for ever, that by the Cross He is working to an end - a large end. The Cross is never intended to end with destruction; it is never intended to end with a negative. God is working for some great thing, and He uses the Cross in this positive way.
You see, the weakness in our apprehension of the Cross is largely due to a misapprehension of the Cross. Our idea of the Cross is that it is destructive, it is negative, it is death. We revolt against that; we don't want to be always talked to about this death of the Cross - death, death, death. It is indeed possible so to preach the Cross as to bring in death; but that is a mis-preaching. That is not God's interpretation of the Cross at all. Let me repeat: the Holy Spirit here shows quite clearly that God's ways and means are always positive and not negative; they always have in view something more, and not something less; not an end, but a new fulness.
If only we could really grasp that, it would transfigure the Cross. When the Lord confronts us with the challenge, what do we do? We revolt, we draw back - we don't like it! Why? Simply because we have not seen that, in this application of the Cross, God is set upon securing something more in our lives - in our fellowships, in our companies, in His Church - something more than there has ever been before. That is God's law. God is not a negative God. Other gods are negative gods, but our God is not a negative god. He is not working to bring things to annihilation, He has very large purposes before Him in all His ways and in all His means.
What we really have to see is that, whatever the Cross may negative - and it will of course negative some things - it is God's most positive instrument for securing spiritual, heavenly, eternal values. The Cross is God's most positive instrument for securing the enlargement - not the annihilation - of that which will abide for ever. While it is true that the Cross, in the first place, does represent God's 'No', and that we cannot have God's 'Yes' - the Arm of the Lord - until we have accepted His 'No': yet once we are willing to come and accept God's 'No', then the way is clear for us to come right into His 'Yes'. And, mark you, God's Name is not 'No'! His Name is 'Yea and Amen' (2 Cor. 1:20) - He is "the God of Amen" (Is. 65:16) - the Positive, the 'Verily', the God of purpose.
This new and wonderful prospect, then, is in view. What does it amount to? It says this: God, who ever had in view the building of His wonderful and glorious Church, "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing", looked at the situation among men, in order to find that which would serve as a foundation for His building. But what did He find? He found the state of things that is described in those early chapters of the letter to the Romans. What a description it is - the sin, the corruption, the tangles, the complication - a hopeless picture of human depravity. That is what He found when He came to lay a foundation for His glorious Church, and He said: 'I cannot put a foundation on that; I cannot found My Church upon that. I must clear the ground, clean up this whole situation, burn it in fire' - and so the Cross did that. The Cross, in the intense fires of judgment, like the mighty Brazen Altar, dealt with that twisted, distorted tangle of human nature. Now God has His foundation - Christ crucified. Now He can proceed to build His Church.
This is the interpretation of the Cross. It is God's means of getting rid of everything that makes it impossible for Him to do what He wants to do, to carry out what He has in mind. He has a mighty purpose in view, but He finds things in the way, and He says: 'These must be dealt with.'
Let us, however, in closing this chapter, return to the positive note again. When we hear the phrase, 'The Cross', let us guard our minds against that sudden uprising - 'Oh, the Cross again, the Cross again, the Cross! It is all death, it is all crucifixion, it is all negative!' That suggestion must be resolutely refused - it is Satan's twist given to God's most wonderful instrument for realising His glorious purpose. When we hear 'The Cross', let us say: 'Ah, that means prospect! That means a clearing of the way; that means something more, not less; that means that God's Arm is going to be revealed!' Let us join with Paul in saying: 'God forbid that I should glory in anything, save in the Cross...' (Gal. 6:14).
You see, the weakness in our apprehension of the Cross is largely due to a misapprehension of the Cross. Our idea of the Cross is that it is destructive, it is negative, it is death. We revolt against that; we don't want to be always talked to about this death of the Cross - death, death, death. It is indeed possible so to preach the Cross as to bring in death; but that is a mis-preaching. That is not God's interpretation of the Cross at all. Let me repeat: the Holy Spirit here shows quite clearly that God's ways and means are always positive and not negative; they always have in view something more, and not something less; not an end, but a new fulness.
If only we could really grasp that, it would transfigure the Cross. When the Lord confronts us with the challenge, what do we do? We revolt, we draw back - we don't like it! Why? Simply because we have not seen that, in this application of the Cross, God is set upon securing something more in our lives - in our fellowships, in our companies, in His Church - something more than there has ever been before. That is God's law. God is not a negative God. Other gods are negative gods, but our God is not a negative god. He is not working to bring things to annihilation, He has very large purposes before Him in all His ways and in all His means.
What we really have to see is that, whatever the Cross may negative - and it will of course negative some things - it is God's most positive instrument for securing spiritual, heavenly, eternal values. The Cross is God's most positive instrument for securing the enlargement - not the annihilation - of that which will abide for ever. While it is true that the Cross, in the first place, does represent God's 'No', and that we cannot have God's 'Yes' - the Arm of the Lord - until we have accepted His 'No': yet once we are willing to come and accept God's 'No', then the way is clear for us to come right into His 'Yes'. And, mark you, God's Name is not 'No'! His Name is 'Yea and Amen' (2 Cor. 1:20) - He is "the God of Amen" (Is. 65:16) - the Positive, the 'Verily', the God of purpose.
So it is very necessary for us to move on to this settled basis, that God always comes in with a mind to create (or to recover), to build and to increase. If only we could believe that of the Lord - even in our most devastating times, when everything seems to be taken away, and all is stripped from us, when everything seems to be going, and we think we can see an end coming: if only we could believe then that God is working - not to bring values to an end, but to increase them! That must be our ground - that He is ploughing, He is digging, He intends a harvest; He intends something more. He knows why He is doing it in that way - we don't.
The Central Place of the Cross
This new and wonderful prospect, then, is in view. What does it amount to? It says this: God, who ever had in view the building of His wonderful and glorious Church, "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing", looked at the situation among men, in order to find that which would serve as a foundation for His building. But what did He find? He found the state of things that is described in those early chapters of the letter to the Romans. What a description it is - the sin, the corruption, the tangles, the complication - a hopeless picture of human depravity. That is what He found when He came to lay a foundation for His glorious Church, and He said: 'I cannot put a foundation on that; I cannot found My Church upon that. I must clear the ground, clean up this whole situation, burn it in fire' - and so the Cross did that. The Cross, in the intense fires of judgment, like the mighty Brazen Altar, dealt with that twisted, distorted tangle of human nature. Now God has His foundation - Christ crucified. Now He can proceed to build His Church.
This is the interpretation of the Cross. It is God's means of getting rid of everything that makes it impossible for Him to do what He wants to do, to carry out what He has in mind. He has a mighty purpose in view, but He finds things in the way, and He says: 'These must be dealt with.'
Let us, however, in closing this chapter, return to the positive note again. When we hear the phrase, 'The Cross', let us guard our minds against that sudden uprising - 'Oh, the Cross again, the Cross again, the Cross! It is all death, it is all crucifixion, it is all negative!' That suggestion must be resolutely refused - it is Satan's twist given to God's most wonderful instrument for realising His glorious purpose. When we hear 'The Cross', let us say: 'Ah, that means prospect! That means a clearing of the way; that means something more, not less; that means that God's Arm is going to be revealed!' Let us join with Paul in saying: 'God forbid that I should glory in anything, save in the Cross...' (Gal. 6:14).
-T. Austin-Sparks
(complete passage can be read here)
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(complete passage can be read here)
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indeed, the way of the cross is arduous and painful. but the apostle Paul tells us it is but a light affliction in comparison to the exceeding and eternal weight of glory it worketh for us that we shall receive when Jesus returns. we often ask why the righteous suffer; we do not see what God sees - that like a silversmith He refines the silver ore until it is truly pure. the purification of silver is long, hot, painful. repeatedly, the ore is put into fire, and under the intense heat of the flames all the unwanted dross of the ore is burned off and removed from the silver until it is completely pure. how then, we ask, do we know when the silver is truly pure? by this: when the Silversmith looks directly at the silver and sees a perfect reflection of Himself, then we know that the silver is indeed without flaw and perfect in the Master's eyes. may we always cling to the cross and never turn our eyes away from Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and now is glorified at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12). Amen.
i think an apt way to end of this post would be to meditate on the words of a rather precious hymn that has taught me much about the love of God and the life of surrender of which i have treasured most dearly:
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,in His love,
Save in the cross of Christ my God,
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
dan <3
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