Faith and Worship in Uncertain Times

"We know from God's word that we have clear and sure answers, and that we're seeing some of His sovereignty work out in the particulars. I think individuals, communities, nations-- nobody really has had their lives untouched by this global health, and even economic crisis. It's a true calamity, and yet as those of us who know that the Lord is sovereign over all things, we can try and reflect upon His word and lean upon His word, because His word is sure, and it's true." [00:34:41]

"I think in a moment like this that Dr. Sproul would tell us to go back to first principles, reminding us that God is holy, that we are not, that we need a savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. And so over the next few minutes, we're going to talk with the Ligonier teaching fellows and just find out how they're doing and how they're reflecting upon this moment, both in their own ministry with their own community, their own families, and then trying to share a word of encouragement for you so that you might be able to be better equipped to give an answer and an encouragement to those that God has put within your sphere of ministry." [00:73:26]

"There's been really an amazing amount of ingenuity, I think, in churches to use social media as a way of bringing people together. And I must say, it has struck me again and again that this is an event in our lifetime that, in His mercy, God has given us the discovery of resources that have enabled us to be in touch with one another. I was reading about the great plague of London the other day, when 100,000 people died within the course of a year. And no facilities like the facilities we have today-- so in some ways, it feels to me as though, in all the horror of the situation, God has historically, chronologically shown us great mercy." [00:173:35]

"Has our worship been pleasing to God? This is a question I think that doesn't occur often enough to Christians and to churches. Is the worship that we engage, in fact, pleasing to God? And is He perhaps saying I'm tired of your ceremonies, I'm tired of your noise, I'm tired of your disagreeing with my word-- since that goes on in a lot of churches? I'm tired of hearts unprepared coming to meet with me. And it led me to read-- write this article, putting some from the prophet Amos, some from the prophet Isaiah to challenge myself maybe to help others think about, how are our hearts prepared? What is the worship we're offering? Is God pleased with it?" [00:300:07]

"Preaching through the technology-- livestream, and Zoom, and the different means-- I think we are reminded of a couple of things. Number one, we ultimately preach to an audience of one. We preach for God's approval. We preach for God's glory. Obviously, we preach to people, and to edify and build them up, but as I'm standing in an empty room looking into a camera, I am struck with the reality and the realization that God is in this room. And as I'm minister His word, what matters most is God's amen and God's affirmation of what I preach." [00:386:62]

"As the word of God goes forth, that is what puts strength into our hearts. It bolsters our faith. It enlarges our hope. It deepens our stance. The word of God-- and especially the word of God preached, because there's a special dynamic that occurs as the word is preached and goes forth-- it is the greatest blessing to God's people. We saw that in the book of Acts, for example, as the word is preached and the dynamic power that was released in the lives of the early church. I think that same dynamic power occurs especially in days of adversity, such as we find ourselves, where there is an unusual looking to God for answers, an unusual looking to God concerning the shortness of life, and the length of eternity, and the desire to lay hold of the promises of God as they are brought to it." [00:549:84]

"These are indeed uncertain times for the world, for people who do not know Jesus Christ, but these are certain times for us, because we know the Lord, and we know that our God is sovereign, and He's unchanging, that our God has the world in His hands. And this is all according to His plan. And so our times are not certain. I think that means that, for Christians, our attitude, our demeanor, our psyche, the way in which we are handling this, dealing with this, responding to it, speaking about it-- I think it does change our tone. It changes our hope. It changes our future." [00:723:75]

"Job is one of those books that you think has all of the answers to the problem of pain and suffering, and actually, it doesn't really have answers to the questions that people typically ask. And it's not really a book about Job. It's really a book about God, first of all, and just how incomprehensible He is to us, how big He is, how unfathomable He is. And Calvin in 1554, in February, when he began to preach on the Book of Job-- and would end up preaching for 14 months during the week, 159 sermons-- in that very first sermon, he said it is-- and I'm not quoting him exactly, but it is a wonderful thing to be subject to the majesty of God." [00:898:72]

"The church has faced these calamities and epidemics. And we think of our sort of heroes that we always go to. We think of Augustine. And he's bishop over the collapse of Rome. This is an incredibly earth-shattering moment, and-- look back on that, and you can see how some people responded in a very poor way. Jerome is probably the classic example. When he hears of the collapse of Rome, he gives up hope. He can't see how God's kingdom can advance or survive apart from Rome. And so he literally goes into a cave, gives up, and dies. Augustine writes the City of God, and he reminds us all that God's kingdom, of which there is no end, is the ultimate reality while we are citizens on earth." [00:1557:94]

"One of the things that He's doing to us is he is depriving us, in His sovereign providence, of the privilege of meeting together, and as Bob was saying, of worshipping together-- and perhaps in His mercy, teaching us how lightly we have treated that privilege, and also how lightly we have treated one another. Remember-- it must be maybe 25 years ago now that David Wells came out with his verbal play on the Hebrew word kavod. The glory of God is the weightiness of God. And he spoke about the weightlessness of God in the modern world." [00:2140:50]

"The foolishness of the cross, that our eternal destiny would depend upon a crucified Jewish carpenter's son from 2,000 years ago-- that's just insane to the world, foolishness, that our sins would be forgiven through the death of a substitute upon the cross, and that way alone would give us right standing before God. So it's a very foolish message. I think of 1 Corinthians 1:18. The foolishness of the cross is the wisdom of God to us. But then the foolish medium which is through preaching-- the Jews wanted signs and miracles. The Greeks wanted some profound display of oratory. And instead, it was just a weak messenger standing and preaching what the world perceived to be a weak message." [00:2383:11]

"I think one thing that we must pray for is for those who are in authority over us, who are making so many decisions that affect all of our lives. As 1 Timothy 2 points us-- one that they would have wisdom beyond their own wisdom, that they would be surrounded by men and women of integrity who would give them godly counsel, and that the environment that would be created would be freedom for the gospel to go forward. And so that may not be the number one thing on the list for which we would pray, but that's what immediately comes to my mind." [00:2631:00]