The Cross and Criticism

Please read The Cross and Criticism Applying the cross to criticism.

“Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.” Psalm 141:5

Some quotes:

Can my spouse, parents, children, brothers, sisters, or friends correct me?

Quarrels erupt in our idolatrous demand for self-justification. 

“If God justifies me, accepts me, and will never forsake me, then why should I feel insecure and fear criticism?”

You have not discovered a fraction of my guilt. Christ has said more about my sin, my failings, my rebellion, and my foolishness than any man can lay against me. I thank you for your corrections. They are a blessing and a kindness to me. For even when they are wrong or misplaced, they remind me of my true faults and sins for which my Lord and Savior paid dearly when he went to the cross for me. I want to hear where your criticisms are valid.

The corrections and advice we hear are sent by our heavenly Father. They are his corrections, rebukes, warnings, and scoldings. His reminders are meant to humble me, to weed out the root of pride....

Pastor, Your Future Is Brighter Than You Think

I have just read Pastor, Your Future Is Brighter Than You Think. Excellent!

Jonathan Edwards, “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!”

Teresa of Avila, “In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.”

Other quotes:

So think with me about a definite moment in your distant future. Think of your ten billionth anniversary in glory. There you are, standing with Jesus, looking squarely into his eyes, “no longer in a mirror dimly, but face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). In that moment, you will experience an affection from him and a glory in him so dazzling—so overwhelmingly captivating—that as you try to recall the worst moment of your short earthly existence or the most difficult situation you faced in his service, you will say, “I don’t even know how to compare the two!”

So onward we stumble. Knowing his promises, let’s gladly embrace the cost now. Sooner than we think, we will be embraced by Christ in glory.

Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time

Please read How Can So Many Pastors Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time?

Some key quotes....

Pastors can be godly and dysfunctional at the same time.

We prioritize doctrinal instruction and moral development, but we neglect psychological healing. 

Why is it that “good” Christians don’t always make very good human beings? They’re faithful to their families, they’re consistent in church attendance, they cut their grass and pay their taxes, and they read their Bibles and pray for the nations. Yet they can also be rigid, self-righteous, xenophobic, racist, sexist, controlling, narrow-minded, emotionally repressed, sexually dysfunctional, bitter, impulsive, and angry.

Our minds and souls are far better integrated than most forms of evangelical spirituality would lead you to believe.

We had to realize there would be no lasting spiritual formation without psychological healing—new neural networks created through kindness, care, and compassion.

Empathy is the essence of interpersonal communion. Being known—not just by other human beings but by God himself—is the key to powerful personal transformation and spiritual formation.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly,” Scripture says, “but then face to face. Now [we] know in part; then [we] shall know fully, even as [we] have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12, ESV).

In 軽井沢

礼拝＆音楽

礼拝＆音楽

「息のあるものはみな、主をほめたたえよ。ハレルヤ。」　聖書・詩篇150:6

８月４日（日）１０：３０〜１２：００・豊かな命キリスト教会の礼拝でバイオンリンなどを通して主イエスキリストを讃えるひと時。ぜひ、来て下さい。

会場：松本市出川２−２２−１４　連絡：０２６３−２８−９８３６

Ken Matsuda & team  アメリカ、オハイオ州、コロンバス市から

全て無料ですが、通常の席上献金があります。礼拝後にランチがあります。

"Hello, darkness my old friend."

Listen to sermon How to deal with dark times by Pastor Tim Keller.

‘Prayers [like Psalm 88] indicate God’s understanding: he knows how people speak when they’re desperate; he identifies with us in our suffering.’

"God knows how men speak when they are desperate."

起きよ！

Ephesians 5:14 "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

川口 一彦

「神の前では、他の全ての人間と同じように罪深く、罪に定められるべき者」

「１９０７年の1月に、現在の北朝鮮の首都ピョンヤンの聖書修養会でリバイバルが起こりました。特に、説教者が彼らの長年の日本人に対する憎しみを悔い改めるように招いた時に、修養会の参加者は、深く罪について訴えられました。もちろん、韓国のクリスチャンは、恵みの福音の根本的な真理をすでに受け入れていました。しかし、これは、日本人を赦すほど心に浸み込んでいませんでした。彼らは、自分たちは、圧制的で残酷な国に対して、道徳的に優れていると感じていたのです。しかし、福音の光によって、修養会にいた韓国人は、自分たちも、神の前では、他の全ての人間と同じように罪深く、罪に定められるべき者であることと、キリストの真の犠牲的な恵みを悟りました。これが彼らの高慢と敵意を取り去りました。

「彼らは、過ちを悔い改める新たな用意があって、家に帰りました。人々は、人間関係の回復と盗んだ物を帰すために、家々を回りました。礼拝は、新しい力で満たされました。結果は、爆発的な教会成長です。例えば、メソジスト教は、一年で倍に成りました。世界中の教会の歴史で、このような霊的ムーブメント（運動）が多く起こって来ました。」

引用　「放蕩する預言者：ヨナと神の哀れみの不思議」 The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy | Timothy Keller | Amazon. Refer also to The Korean Pentecost: And the Sufferings Which Followed | Blair William Newton, Bruce Hunt , The North Korean Revival of 1907, Gospel Coalition

下からジャンカー翻訳

“In January of 1907 a revival broke out at a Bible conference in Pyongyang, now the capital of North Korea. Those attending the conference came under deep conviction of sin, especially when a preacher called them to repent of their traditional hatred of the Japanese. Of course, the Korean Christians had accepted the fundamental truths of the gospel of grace, and yet these had not sunk in deeply enough for them to forgive the Japanese. They felt morally superior to a nation they saw as oppressive and cruel. In the light of the gospel, however, the Koreans at the conference saw that they stood before God as equally sinful and condemned with all other human beings, yet rescued by the sheer and costly grace of Christ. This drained away their pride and bitterness.

“They returned to their homes with a new willingness to repent of wrongdoing. People went house to house repairing relationships and returning stolen articles. The worship services were filled with a new power. The result was explosive growth in the church. The Methodist church, for example, doubled in membership size in a single year. There have been many such spiritual movements across the world in the history of the church.”

Invite Christ to abide

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued
I must not only labour to overcome it,
but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it,
and he must become to me more than vile lust had been;
that his sweetness, power, life may be there.
Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin,
but must not claim it apart from himself.

from The Valley of Vision

John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

彼らの目の涙をすっかりぬぐい取ってくださる。

Revelation 21:4 And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.