For those who want to understand Reformed theology, they can begin by striving to understand John 3:16. And for those who have studied the depths of Reformed theology, may we never become so sophisticated that we cannot boldly proclaim John 3:16. —Burk Parsons in May's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark, “When Jesus set out to feed His sheep, He taught them.” As the Good Shepherd, Jesus fulfills His vocation by instructing us in divine truth. All those who would shepherd His people as pastors and teachers must do the same. May our teachers feed us the solid food of God’s Word, and let us sit under only those who are committed to the truth of Scripture.
The world is filled with God's glory. You can't turn without bumping into it. —R.C. Sproul
Disciples are people who have wholeheartedly committed to follow the thinking and conduct of the Master. Such discipleship is a lifelong experience of learning the mind of Christ and following the will of Christ, submitting ourselves in full obedience to His lordship. —R.C. Sproul in May's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Jesus is more than a model of faithfulness to God, but He is certainly not less than that. Thus, we learn from Him that when we are faced with temptation and need sustenance in life and ministry, we must turn to God in prayer. If we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and call on Him for help, He will surely lift us up and sustain us.
With the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Son created all things, sustains all things, and makes all things new. —ChristologyStatement.com
The truth redeems. The truth preserves. The truth makes us free. The truth makes us holy. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: We cannot excuse external acts of sin by saying our heart was in the right place, for when one’s heart is in the right place, one does not sin externally. Nevertheless, we must recognize that sin and holiness are fundamentally issues of the heart. Anyone can fake holiness before other men and women, but God is never fooled. Let us pray that our hearts would continue to be cleansed so that we might walk in true holiness before the Lord.
The only one who can produce genuine repentance in your soul is God. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Hindsight, as they say, is always twenty-twenty. When we find ourselves in the place where the Lord wants us, we can often look back and see that the circuitous path it took us to get there was actually perfectly straight, that what seemed like twists and turns at the time were necessary steps along the road. When we feel as if we are wandering, we must remember that if we are trusting in God, He is actually guiding us on His straight path.
While we have the liberty to acquire, own, and enjoy material possessions as God’s good gifts, and to glorify God in our use of them, we must always remember the ultimate vanity of earthly treasures. After all, what advantage will great wealth and possessions be on the day of the Lord? —Jon Payne in Tabletalk Magazine
The Word of God brings joy to the heart. Joy is deeper and more permanent than happiness because it is dependent not on our circumstances, but on the Lord who is constant in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. We are hungry for joy, which is the brightness of faith, because we live in a world that is made dark by sin and suffering. Joy is born in the heart by the Word of God that draws our eyes to Him who through Jesus Christ loves us, is with us, and is in us. —Joe Thorn in May's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: John Calvin is known for his statement that God speaks to us in “baby talk,” explaining things to us on our level so that we will know and love Him. God has not told us everything, but what He has told us is true, and our language can be used to communicate the truth to us. Human beings wrote the Bible, but they were inspired by God such that their words are His words. Thus, to obey Scripture is to obey the Lord.
Chaplains do everything a pastor does. They preach, teach, evangelize, counsel, advise, manage, visit, sympathize with, and equip the saints. However, chaplains do all this in a pluralistic setting, cooperating with many faiths to facilitate the free-exercise rights of the troops, yet without compromising. —Douglas Lee in May's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Progressive revelation means that we who live in the new covenant era are blessed to know more about God’s plan and its outworking than those who lived under the old covenant. That does not mean, however, that we ignore the old covenant revelation, for Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). We need the Old Testament as much as we need the New Testament to know our Creator and how to love and obey Him.
Coram Deo: We must have the firm confidence that Scripture is the Word of God, or we will not be able to stand firm in the day of trial. Scripture may have been written thousands of years ago, but it is the very revelation of God Himself. What the Bible says, the Lord says, and that is why we must know, love, and obey the Scriptures.
This is a tremendously humbling truth. God’s love is graciously, freely bestowed, not merited by anything we can do. Boasting is excluded (Rom. 3:27). There is no occasion for human pride in the doctrine of God’s love—only sober-minded humility, deep gratitude, and the quiet reverence of a faithful, obedient heart. —John MacArthur in Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: God’s inspiration of the Scriptures did not entail His taking possession of the human writers or otherwise completely overriding their personalities. Instead, He worked in and through these authors, making use of their skills, personalities, and even histories to accomplish His plan. This is how the Lord works out His will more generally as well. God uses our wills, desires, and actions to accomplish His purposes.
If the faith that we profess is a naked faith with no evidence of works, it is not saving faith. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Some people have recently used the term infallibility even though they believe the Bible does contain errors, so we need to be on guard against the possible misuse of the word. Historically, however, Christians have said Scripture is infallible because they have believed that God’s Word is incapable of erring and thus contains no errors. And because the Bible gives us ample warrant to believe this, we know we can stake our very lives on the Word of God.
A culture and its political institutions might turn against Christianity, but Christians should strive to make an impact as long as they have opportunity. It can get worse. Just ask the Christians in China or Iran. —Jonathan Leeman in Tabletalk Magazine
We may think we know just how God is going to act and just how we are going to serve Him. We may have big plans for our lives. Peter’s storyline shows us that despite our many plans and our best understandings of how things ought to work, we are completely reliant upon Jesus Christ for His plans and His work. We are dependent upon Him and His Spirit to call us as the sheep of His pasture and then to lead us for the rest of our lives—whatever that means doing, and wherever that means going. —Thomas Brewer in May's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: In the interest of “protecting” the humanity of Christ, many people want to believe that He held some incorrect views or taught some wrong things. But if Christ did teach or believe error, that denies His full deity, for God only speaks the truth. It is important to be well-grounded in our understanding of Christ so that we can rightly affirm both His full humanity and full deity. If He is not both truly man and truly God, He cannot save us from our sin.
Coram Deo: If we divorce the meaning of the biblical text from its author’s intent, the text can mean anything we want. This happened during the medieval era, when all sorts of fanciful allegorical readings were used that had little if any connection to the author’s original intent. To obey God rightly, we must know what the author He inspired meant, so learning how to interpret the Bible rightly is as important as knowing Scripture’s content.
The world represents sinful humanity and is not worthy of God’s saving love. Apart from the love of God, the world stands under God’s condemnation. But in Christ, believers experience God’s surprising, redeeming, and never-ending love. John 3:16 is not about the greatness of the world but about the greatness of God. —John Tweeddale in May's Tabletalk Magazine
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