I’ve decided to hi-jack Pete’s regular Wednesday slot on the blog, to take a moment to honour the old man among us!

Following, is an article from 1983 that was published in the Slough Observer, that reports his move away from a successful career in business to serving the church full-time.  (It even includes a picture to prove that he was once young!)

Thanks to the sovereignty of God, thanks to Peter’s love for the gospel and the local church, and thanks to this move, that took place some 27 years ago, we at Grace Church are the recipients of Peter’s pastoral care, wisdom and leadership.

Thanks, Peter, for the many years of faithful service to God and his church, in Slough, Cardiff, Newport and now Bristol!

For many of us we have been taught that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

We may think that these two goals are at odds with each other. We are made to share in his ultimate aim, that is to glorify himself. Therefore which is it? Are we created for His glory or for our joy?

This is what 18th Century New England pastor, Jonathan Edwards wrote:

“God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might be received both by the mind and heart.

He that testifies his idea of God’s glory doesn’t glorify God so much as he that testifies also his delight in it.”

God created us so that we might spend all of eternity glorifying Him by enjoying Him forever.

So it’s not an ‘either/or’ choice, as Edward’s says “God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.”

Let’s not just live for His glory but also rejoice in Him and make His glory our passion and joy.

In the book, ‘A Proverbs Driven Life’ I was reading recently about Jacob and the way he sinned in attempting to gain, by his own devious and unethical ways, what God had already promised him.

Through His word God has given us many great and wonderful promises that we can trust in and depend upon, because He is a faithful God. Here are just a few of his promises towards us his children.

1. He will never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)
2. He makes all things work together for our good. (Romans 8:28)
3. He provides all that we need. (Matthew 6:31-33, 2 Corinthians 9:8)
4. He will bring us safely to heaven. (John 14:2-3)

Four promises. The first and the last promises we can do nothing about, but with promises two and three we can sin like Jacob in trying to get what we need through devious means and not trusting in the faithfulness of God.

The question we should all ask ourselves is: Do I rest consistently in those promises and Am I trusting God to fulfil His promises in His time?

So often we can act like Jacob by trying to bring about the fulfilment of God’s promises in our own power and strength, and thereby sin by not trusting in the faithfulness of God to bring about and fulfil His word to us.

God is faithful and we can trust and wholly lean on His faithfulness.

When trials and suffering come our way our first inclination can be to complain, and the second to pray and ask God to remove it. But it is through the trial that God wants to deepen our faith and produce holiness.

It is not for us to second guess God by asking “why?”, but instead for us to evaluate our reaction and learn more about our trust and confidence in a Sovereign God who works for the good of those he has called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Regarding why God appoints suffering for His servants, John Piper says :

Hebrews 12 tells us that God disciplines his children through suffering. His aim is deeper faith and deeper holiness. He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

The writer to the Hebrews, referring to earthly fathers, says in chapter 12 verse 10:
For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

So when the trial comes, as it surely will, thank God for the opportunity to glorify him by our trusting in his sovereign will for our lives and using the situation to grow in our faith and in our holiness all for His ultimate glory.

This last weekend it was a real joy to spend time with the LIFE group (18-30’s single) of Grace Church and our friends from Spain, led by Pastor Stephen Phillips.

The theme of the weekend was Passionate Orthodoxy and it was wonderful to see the favourable response by all who those young people who attended.

Isaiah 26 verse 8 says: In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.

This portion of scripture has been the basis of a statement of declaration entitled “Statement 268”  by many young people.  Louie Giglio, referring to this statement says:

Because I was created by God and for his glory, I will magnify him as I respond to his great love. My desire is to make knowing and enjoying God the passionate pursuit of my life.

Knowing God and enjoying God is the passionate pursuit of his life, that’s a wonderful expression of Passionate Orthodoxy. I trust that for all of us that is our desire — and a growing desire to make knowing God and enjoying God the passionate pursuit of our life whether we are young, middle aged or old.

If it’s not your desire then make it because the reason that you were created is to live for His glory and enjoy Him forever.

We have an enemy that desires to rob us of our joy and peace of living in the good of Christ’s righteousness, and that enemy is self-righteousness. You may not realise that this enemy is your experience but you are aware of it in others, without realising it has a hold in you.

How many times do we feel as if God’s love for us changes according to whether our ‘quiet time’ have gone well or we seem to have got through the day relatively unscathed as far as our sins are concerned?

It is possible to know that we are saved by grace and yet live as if God’s blessings are given to us dependent upon our performance.

Jerry Bridges, in his great book, ‘The Bookends of the Christian Life’ gives the following questions to ask ourselves in evaluating the existence of self-righteousness in our lives:

• Do you tend to live by a list of dos and don’ts?
• Is it difficult for you to respect those whose standards aren’t as high as yours?
• Do you assume that practicing spiritual disciplines should result in God’s blessing?
• Do you feel you’re better than most other people?
• Has it been a long time since you identified a sin and repented of it?
• Do you resent it when others point out your ‘spiritual blind spots’?
• Do you readily recognize the sins of others but not your own?
• Do you have the sense that God owes you a good life?
• Do you get angry when difficulties and suffering come into your life?
• Do you seldom think of the cross?

Be honest with your assessment of yourself if necessary ask others for their opinion.

If you find that you are answering yes to these questions it is likely that the enemy of self-righteousness exists in your life.

It needs to be defeated by realising and dwelling in the truth that our performance no matter how good will ever meet with the approval of God.

Our confidence rests with the Apostle Paul in what he writes to the Corinthian Church in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21:
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him WE might become the righteousness of God.

It’s in His righteousness we stand, therefore there is no requirement for self-righteousness.