The Christian Brother Outstrips the Psychiatrist for Depth

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus. The greatest psychological insight, ability, and experience cannot grasp this one thing: what sin is. Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of men. And so it also does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness. Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner. The psychiatrist must first search my heart and yet he never plumbs its ultimate depth. The Christian brother knows when I come to him: here is a sinner like myself, a godless man who wants to confess and yearns for God's forgiveness. The psychiatrist views me as if there were no God. The brother views me as I am before the judging and merciful God in the Cross of Jesus Christ. 

—Life Together (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), 142–143.

Pastor as Professional Counselor?

Speaking of how the Christian counseling of the pastor differs from the "arm's-length professional reserve of the therapist," David Powlison says this:

After all, we follow David, Jeremiah, Jesus, and Paul. Shouts of delight along with loud cries and groaning are part of the whole package. No real pastor can be clinically detached. The Paul who wrote 1 Thessalonians 2:7–12 is far too emotionally involved. Like Jesus, he cares too much to ever stand at arm's length from people and their troubles. If Jesus had entered into purely consultative, professional relationships, he'd have had to stop being a pastor.

—"The Pastor as Counselor," in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 424.

O YHWH, How Majestic Is Your Name in All the Earth!

Here's the congregational prayer at NCC from this past Ascension Sunday and Mother's Day, shaped by Psalm 8:

O YHWH, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, the name above every name, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord, you have exalted your holy majesty above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of children and infants you have established strength—the praise of your people. Because of your adversaries, O Lord, you produce this praise. You establish, through powerless children no less, this strength, this praise, and you do so to silence the enemy and the avenger.

So we praise you, O great God, for mothers who love your praise, for mothers zealous to pass on “the heritage of those who fear your name.” We praise you, exalted Lord, for mothers who labored in the trenches faithfully for years without concern for the world’s smiles and honors. We praise you, Father of the fatherless, for putting into mothers’ hearts the gospel longing to adopt the powerless and helpless for your praise. We praise you, our kind Maker, for our earthly mothers, who gave us bodily life and tenderly cared for us; for our heavenly mother the church, who gave us new life, and sustains that new life, all for your high honor.

As we think of your gift of life, O Giver of life, we think of the loss of life in this broken and fallen world. We think of those who’ve lost a little one, and the barren womb. Send the comfort of your presence, O God of all comfort, God of all grace. We praise you for the desire in the hearts of these women to want children to raise for your praise. And we pray that you would “fulfill every desire for good.” With the fingers that fashioned the stars, touch the womb with new life, O Lord—we ask this for the sake of your name!

                        O YHWH, our Lord, how majestic 

                        is your name in all the earth.

When we consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you put in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.

In subjecting all things to man, male and female, made in your image, you left nothing, O Creator, you left nothing not subject to man. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we see Jesus, born of a woman, made a little lower than angels; we see him crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, by the grace of God tasting death for everyone. We see Jesus, raised from the dead, exalted to the right Hand, above all rule and authority and power and dominion, above every name that is named. We see Jesus, all things under his feet, head over all things for us, the church, his body, reigning til we reign with him in a new heavens and new earth.

                        O YHWH, our Lord Jesus, how majestic 

                        is your name in all the earth.

So establish strength, almighty God, in the new humanity risen with Christ. In our weakness and the weakness of our children, establish strength, prepare praise. Help our mothers to press on in this greatest, highest calling of nurturing children for your praise. We pray, God Most High, for Christ-like mothers who humble themselves, stooping daily to take concern for the weak, lowly, despised things, offering up their bodies as sacrifices for your praise across the generations. Supply them with grace for this high and holy calling!

We, your children and your church—made for your praise!—we praise you, O Lord. We adore you! We adore your wisdom, we adore your power. What wisdom, what power, designed all this! Taking the weak, lowly, despised things of this world, to shame the strong, the high, the praised things of this world. Even taking children and their mothers and the cross to establish strength, the praise of your people—the praise of your great name! 

Blessed be that name above all names, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, generation after generation, forever and ever.

O YHWH, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

Amen, and amen. 

Time Well Spent, O Pastor?

"Is your preaching worth the time you put into it and the time others spend listening? The proof lies in whether they are growing up into wise mutual counselors."

—David Powlison, "The Pastor as Counselor," in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 420.

Redemption

Having been tenant long to a rich Lord,
       Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
       And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancel th' old.
In heaven at his manor I him sought:
       They told me there, that he was lately gone
       About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.
I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,
       Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
       In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
       Of thieves and murderers: there I him espied,
       Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died.

—George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (New York: Penguin, 1991), 35–36.

My God, My Life, My Holy Delight

Shortly Em and I will start reading Augustin's Confessions together along with some friends. This book may well be my top all-time read. The sample that follows (to my mind) ought to supply ample reason for my thinking so. Where else have you read anything like this?

What, then, is the God I worship? He can be none but the Lord God himself, for who but the Lord is God? What other refuge can there be, except our God?  

You, my God, are supreme, utmost in goodness, mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just. You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. You support, you fill, and you protect all things. You create them, nourish them, and bring them to perfection. You seek to make them your own, though you lack for nothing. You love your creatures, but with a gentle love. You treasure them, but without apprehension. You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry and yet serene. Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same. You welcome all who come to you, though you never lost them. You are never in need yet are glad to gain, never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts. We give abundantly to you so that we may deserve a reward; yet which of us has anything that does not come from you? You repay us what we deserve, and yet you owe
nothing to any. You release us from our debts, but you lose nothing thereby.

You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight, but is this enough to say of you? Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? Yet woe betide those who are silent about you! For even those who are most gifted with speech cannot find words to describe you. 

—Saint Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Penguin, 1961), 23.

The "Confessions" in Community

For those who'll be reading the Confessions of Saint Augustine this spring and summer, here's the schedule we'll be following, along with some links to recommended translations:

Week of 5/12–5/18: Book I
Week of 5/19–5/25: Book II
Week of 5/26–6/1: Book III
Week of 6/2–6/8: Book IV
Week of 6/9–6/15: Book V
Week of 6/16–6/22: Book VI
Week of 6/23–6/29: Book VII
Week of 6/30–7/6: Book VIII
Week of 7/7–7/13: Book IX
Week of 7/14–7/20: Book X
Week of 7/21–7/27: Book XI
Week of 7/28–8/3: Book XII
Week of 8/4–8/10: Book XIII

You might want to purchase either the Penguin Classics or the Oxford World's Classics translation if you don't already have a copy. I have read both, and they both read well. For what it's worth, Em and I will be reading the Penguin translation this time around. 

Tolle lege!

Were the Apostles Good Expositors and Exegetes?

R. T. France:

It may be something of a surprise to those brought up in the tradition of biblical exposition to find that the biblical writers themselves do not often seem to use other biblical texts in the same way that we have come to use their own writings. In particular, extended exposition of Old Testament passages in an expository fashion does not seem to be a characteristic of most of the New Testament writers.

—"The Writer of Hebrews as a Biblical Expositor," TynBul 47 (1996):245–76.

Luther on a Life of Repentance

Luther's first thesis from his Ninety-Five Theses:

"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' [Matt. 4:17], he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."

—Martin Luther, "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," in Luther's Works: Career of the Reformer I (vol. 31; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1957), 25.

O Lord, Awaken Us to Receive and Serve Your Son

Luther:

Dear Lord, awaken us that we may be prepared to receive your Son with joy when he comes and to serve him with a pure heart. Graciously hurry the coming of that day. Bless and prepare us with wisdom and strength that in the meantime we may walk wisely and uprightly. May we joyfully wait for the coming of your dear Son and so depart blessed from this valley of sorrow. Amen.

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 106.

The Manger Is not Clean, but Abundant Crops Are Coming

My study looks like the end of a semester with three final term papers well underway.

The sight of this sorry mess calls to mind Prov. 14:4.

The "manger" is not clean. But "abundant crops" are coming.

Seeing Jesus at the Supper Poetically Put

I'm on the lookout for good poetry about seeing Jesus by faith at the Lord's table. I want something to help with expressing this glory! Someone, somewhere must have penned a poem about experiencing Jesus at the Supper with that blessed sixth sense.

When I said this publicly, a kind friend sent me a poem by Huss and a Greek poem from the fourth century. Both are good poems and express the glory of the table and exercising faith there. I'm looking for some, however, that express as their main theme what Edwards called that "divine and supernatural light immediately imparted to the soul."

If none exists, I just might learn how to write poetry one of these days and give it my best go. For the first time in years, I believe, I once again beheld the glory of Christ and his kingdom at the Table this last Lord's Day. And oh how sweet it was to look on Jesus there! And oh how that table can cure ten thousand ills of soul!

All praise be to the risen Christ, who lives and reigns forever as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world for serial sinners like me!

Depression, Mental Illness, and Suicide

A helpful group of resources on depression, mental illness, and suicide may be found here.

Heidelberg on Baptism

Question 73: Why doth the Holy Ghost call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?

Answer: God speaks thus not without great cause: namely, not only to teach us thereby that like as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins also are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but much more, that by this divine pledge and token he may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.

Question 74: Are infants also to be baptized?

Answer: Yes; for since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and people of God, and both redemption from sin and the Holy Ghost, who works faith, are through the blood of Christ promised to them no less than to their parents, they are also by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be ingrafted into the Christian Church, and distinguished from the children of unbelievers, as was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, in place of which in the New Testament baptism is appointed.

—Philip Schaff, ed., The Creeds of Christendom (vol. 3; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 330–331.

Dullness

Why do I languish, thus, drooping and dull,
                    As if I were all earth?
O give me quickness, that I may with mirth
                          Praise thee brimfull!

The wanton lover in a curious strain
                   Can praise his fairest fair;
And with quaint metaphors her curled hair
                           Curl o'er again.

Thou art my loveliness, my life, my light,
                   Beauty alone to me:
Thy bloody death and undeserved, makes thee
                          Pure red and white.

When all perfections as but one appear,
                    That those thy form doth show,
The very dust, where thou dost tread and go,
                           Makes beauties here;

Where are my lines then? my approaches? views?
                    Where are my window-songs?
Lovers are still pretending, and ev'n wrongs
                            Sharpen their Muse:

But I am lost in flesh, whose sugared lies
                   Still mock me, and grow bold;
Sure thou didst put a mind there, if I could
                           Find where it lies.

Lord, clear thy gift, that with a constant wit
                    I may but look towards thee:
Look only; for to love thee, who can be,
                            What angel fit?
                 
—George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (New York: Penguin Classics, 1991), 107–108.
 

A Successful Hermeneutic: Confirmed by Scripture Itself

"A successful hermeneutic is a consistent interpretative procedure yielding a consistent understanding of Scripture that in turn confirms the propriety of the procedure itself."

—Packer, J. I., Celebrating the Saving Work of God: The Collected Shorter Writings of J. I. Packer (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998), 9–10.

The Inverted Valuations of Western Culture

"God, society, family, individuals, sex, property. It is an order of values that western culture has more or less completely reversed."

—Christopher Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992), 210.

Simple Obedience

"Obedience ought not to be complicated, either by the competing claims of other gods (the moral maze of polytheism), or by the confusing rules of human experts (the moral bondage of legalism)."

—Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992), 190.

Faith Looks Forward to Unfulfilled Divine Promises

N. T. Wright speaking on genuine faith as resurrection faith:

The main point of 'faith' in [Hebrews 11], as has often been emphasized, is that it looks forward to what has been promised but not yet granted. Noah was warned about things yet to come. Abraham set out for a place he had been promised but had not yet seen. The main antithesis the writer is making is not between an 'upstairs' or 'spiritual' world in the hellenistic sense and a 'downstairs' or 'material' world, but between the present world and the future one, the promised new world which will be God's gift from heaven.

—The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 458.

How Prophecy Does and Does not Work

Christopher H. J. Wright on how OT prophecy works:

To expect that all the details of Old Testament prophecies have to be literally fulfilled is to classify them all in the category of flat predictions which have to ‘come true’, or be judged to have failed. . . . The Old Testament did make predictions and they were fulfilled with remarkable accuracy—as in the case of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem. . . . [But] to insist on literal fulfillment of prophecies can be to overlook their actual nature within the category of promise, with the potential of different and progressively superior levels of fulfillment. To look for direct fulfillments of, say, Ezekiel in the 20^th-century Middle East is to bypass and short-circuit the reality and the finality of what we already have in Christ as the fulfillment of those great assurances. 

—Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992), 76-77.

Land of the Free and Home of the Gay

Super proud to be an American! Land of the free and home of the gay!

Home of the fornicator! Home of the adulterer! Home of the divorce culture! Home of every sexual perversion and inversion known to mankind!

If you love sexual sin, you are welcome to let it all hang out in the public square here. If you love sexual sin, don't worry your head about the church calling you to repentance.

God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life. And, wonder of wonders, the good news is that it's your plan. God loves you just as you are. Have it your way. If you confess that you are lord, and believe in your heart that it is so, you may do as you please. 

"Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone" (Hos. 4:17). O Lord, "in wrath remember mercy" (Hab. 3:2).

Giving Application the Attention It Deserves in the Sermon

Haddon Robinson:

Homileticians have not given accurate application the attention it deserves. To my knowledge, no book has been published that is devoted exclusively, or even primarily, to the knotty problems raised by application. As a result many church members, having listened to orthodox sermons all their lives, may be practicing heretics. Our creeds affirm the central doctrines of the faith and remind us what Christians should believe, but they do not tell us how belief in these doctrines should make us behave. That is part of the expositor's responsibility, and you must give it diligent attention.

—Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 86.

A Two-Way Process at Work, Yielding a Double Benefit

Christopher J. H. Wright on whole-Bible methodology:

When we take the Old Testament history seriously in relation to its completion in Jesus Christ, a two-way process is at work, yielding a double benefit in our understanding of the whole Bible. On the one hand, we are able to see the full significance of the Old Testament story in the light of where it leads—the climactic achievement of Christ; and on the other hand, we are able to appreciate the full dimensions of what God did through Christ in the light of his historical declarations and demonstrations of intent in the Old Testament.

—Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992), 33.

God's Only Son a Missionary

"God had only one son and he made him a missionary."— David Livingstone

To Submit, or Not to Submit, That Is the Question

Which of the following may Evangelicals disobey? Or where do Evangelicals allow for disobedience? Or perhaps putting the questions that way is slanting things too much. After all, there are differences of opinion on some of these. Or maybe we can have differences of opinion on all of these. Things that make you go hmmm. . . .

1. "Let everyone submit to the governing authorities" (Rom. 13:1; cf. Tit. 3:1).

2. "You who are younger, submit to the elders" (1 Pet. 5:5; cf. Heb. 13:17).

3. "Wives, submit to your husbands . . ." (Col. 3:18; cf. Eph. 5:22; 1 Pet. 3:1).

4. "Servants, submit to your masters with all respect. . ." (1 Pet. 2:18; cf. Eph. 6:5).

In case you were wondering, the same Greek word is behind the word "submit" in all the verses listed here in one through four. Following the verses listed, some of the additional verses cited in parentheses (Heb. 13:17; Eph. 6:5) use different words that are often translated "obey" or the like.

A Guide to the Classics

Leland Ryken on the classics: here. I rejoice as one who has found great spoil!

True Love for God

I'm enjoying thoroughly sitting at Professor Dan Block's feet in an exegesis class on Deuteronomy at Wheaton College. And one of the main reasons for this is Dr. Block's manifest devotion to YHWH— Father, Son, and Spirit.

Commenting on the significance of Deut. 6:4-9 for contemporary life, here are some applications Block gives that rejoice my heart:

True love for God is rooted in the heart, but it is demonstrated in life, specifically in a passion to speak of one's faith in the context of the family and to declare one's allegiance publicly to the world. This passage suggests that the very decoration of our homes should bear testimony to our faith, declaring to all guests and passers-by the fundamentally theological outlook of those who live within, and serving as reminders to residents to live in dependence on God and to realize that blessing is contingent on obedience.

—Daniel I. Block, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 189.

O Lord God, I Am Weak and Fearful

Luther:

O Lord God, I am weak and fearful. I flee evil and do all I can to guard myself against it. Nevertheless, I am in your hands as I face this evil and every other evil that may overtake me. To flee is not enough, for evil and misery are everywhere. The devil, who has been murdering since the beginning, tries to bring misery, and he never rests nor sleeps. Now you have confined me to this place. Your will be done, for I am your poor creature. You are able to deliver me in this extreme danger as easily as though it were but fire, water, thirst, or any other peril.

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 105.

Queen of the Sciences?

For the love of God, I have a question for Christians. A serious one. It's not meant to be rhetorical. 

The question comes out of a context. It comes on account of an observation: in our modern-day way of doing things—that is, in a pluralistic, democratic, and egalitarian fashion—it appears to be very difficult, even for those who claim to think world-viewishly, for Christians to think from a center, from an integration point. 

It appears to me that often we only give lip-service to such an endeavor, while deep down, if we’re honest with the way we really carry out business, we don’t think there is an integrating center. The world is a fragmented place, and nothing really holds it all together. The theologians do their thing. And political scientists do theirs. And when we're in one field, we appeal to the specialists there; when in another, we appeal to the specialists there. But there's no fundamental reality that speaks to all of reality and holds together the parts of the whole. 

So here is the question: Is theology still the queen of the sciences? Or should we just give her a place at the table? And whether the first question gets answered yes or no, what is the upshot? Not least in institutions like churches, universities and colleges, the family, and in the public square?

I wonder if the question just seems passé as we press on with progress, leaving bygone days in the dust, along with the primitive folks who came before these days of enlightenment where we throw off—with shouts of liberation!—the shackles of the past. And  by "we," I mean us, professing Christians. 

The Art of Persuasion: Emotion

People "decide far more problems by hate or love, or lust or rage, or sorrow or joy, or hope or fear than by rational argument" (Cicero, De oratore 2.42). 

The Greatest Christian Paradox of All

Ross Douthat:

Indeed, this is perhaps the greatest Christian paradox of all—that the world's most paradoxical religion has cultivated rationalism and scientific rigor more diligently than any of its rivals, making the Christian world safe for philosophy as well as fervor, for the study of nature as well as the contemplation of divinity.

—Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics (New York: Free Press, 2012), 11.

Christianity vis–à–vis Secularism

"Though Christians often bemoan the separation of church and state and claim angrily that the separation of church and state is not in the Constitution, they are actually expressing their frustration with secularism as the preferred ideology of many elites in politics, media, and education.

Christians should absolutely bring their faith to bear in the public square. They should reject the influence of secularism urging them to keep their faith private and not to argue for a Christian perspective in areas like politics and education. What they must not do is to repeat the mistake of mingling the church's future with that of the state. Temporal kingoms have no eternal destiny. The church does."

—Hunter Baker, The End of Secularism (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), 148.

Edwards on "Affectionate" Preaching

In Part 3 of Jonathan Edwards’ work Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival of Religion in New England,[1] he answers criticisms of the revival. This part is entitled “Shewing in Many Instances Wherein the Subjects or Zealous Promoters of This Work Have Been Injuriously Blamed.”[2]

The first criticism Edwards answers involves the accusation that ministers were addressing themselves to the affections of their hearers instead of their understandings.[3] I shall quote the criticism restated by Edwards and then at length much of Edwards’ response to this first of ten criticisms.

The criticism:

One thing that has been complained of, is ministers addressing themselves rather to the affections of their hearers than to their understandings, and striving to raise their passions to the utmost height, rather by a very affectionate manner of speaking and a great appearance of earnestness in voice and gesture, than by clear reasoning and informing their judgment. . . .

Edwards' answer:

To which I would say, I am far from thinking that it is not very profitable, for ministers in their preaching, to endeavor clearly and distinctly to explain the doctrines of religion, and unravel the difficulties that attend them, and to confirm them with strength of reason and argumentation, and also to observe some easy and clear method and order in their discourses, for the help of the understanding and memory; and ’tis very probably  that these things have been of late, too much neglected by many ministers; yet, I believe that the objection that is made, of affections raised without enlightening the understanding, is in a great measure built on a mistake, and confused notions that some have about the nature and cause of the affections, and the manner in which they depend on the understanding. All affections are raised either by light in the understanding, or by some error and delusion in the understanding; for all affections do certainly arise from some apprehension in the understanding. . . .

Therefore the thing to be inquired into is, whether the apprehensions or notions of divine and eternal things, that are raised in people’s minds by these affectionate preachers, whence their affections are excited, be apprehensions that are agreeable to truth, or whether they are mistakes. If the former, then the affections are raised the way they should be, viz. by informing the mind, or conveying light to the understanding. They go away with a wrong notion, that think that those preachers can’t affect their hearers by enlightening their understandings, that don’t do it by such a distinct, and learned handling of the doctrinal points of religion, as depends on human discipline, or the strength of natural reason, and tends to enlarge their hearers’ learning, and speculative knowledge of divinity. The manner of preaching without this, may be such as shall tend very much to set divine and eternal things in a right view, and to give the hearers such ideas and apprehensions of them as are agreeable to truth, and such impressions on their hearts, as are answerable to the real nature of things: and not only the words that are spoken, but the manner of speaking,[4] is one thing that has a great tendency to this.

The "Bottom" of All True Spiritual Mortification

"Hatred of sin as sin, not only as galling or disquieting, a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lie at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification."

— John Owen, On the Mortification of Sin (vol. 6 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 2000), 41.

A Changing Landscape

In John Piper's sermon this last Lord's Day, he spoke of how the moral landscape is different now from when he first became a pastor. Speaking of where we were in this land 33 years ago versus where we are now, he says:

It would have been unthinkable to suggest that anyone would seriously propose defining marriage as between two men or two women; and it would have been even more unthinkable that in a mere thirty years America would have lost its soul so profoundly that most Americans would approve of a definition of marriage that no society in the history of the world has ever embraced. And it would have been unthinkable that instead of rejecting the unreality of so-called same-sex marriage, the culture would begin to criminalize the naming of same-sex intercourse as sin — which it is.

And along with this tragic loss of our moral compass has come the increasing loss of freedoms and the increasing compulsion from government to conform to unbiblical views. Freedom of speech is disappearing as the secular consensus grows that our shame is our glory (Phil. 3:19), and that to use biblical language to describe sin is hateful and already in some places prosecuted as illegal. Freedom of worship is disappearing as metropolitan commissions and councils take the prerogative to prohibit worship spaces and activities. And along with the loss of freedoms to act in biblical ways, comes the governmental compulsion to act in unbiblical ways — to fund the killing of unborn children, to endorse the legitimacy of sinful behavior, and soon to participate in it (for example, if you are a military chaplain), and the compulsory normalizing of sin in public institutions that will probably force most biblical Christians out of the public schools.

How then shall we live? We must think soberly about our times and face the facts. We must not act like things are not all that bad, heads in the sand. And we must think about the way forward. Piper faces the facts and answers the how-then-shall-we-live question in this sermon.

The Broken Sinai Covenant and Pleading the Promise

More on Sinai:

This [covenant at Sinai and its priestly purpose] is an ideal picture. One serious problem remains. It is not Pharaoh this time but Israel itself. Separating the planning and description of the sanctuary (Exod. 25-31) from its construction in the middle of the camp (Exod. 35-40) is Israel’s sin (Exod. 32-34). . . . Within forty days, Israel breaks its covenant with God, violating the first and second commands. Impatient with waiting for Moses on the mountain, Israel creates an image of a golden calf to represent its God, and engages in false worship. The sin forces God to threaten to destroy Israel in agreement with the covenant and to start again with Moses. But Moses pleads (certainly not on the basis of the recently broken Sinai covenant) on the basis of the descendants promised in the covenant with Abraham as grounds for saving Israel (Exod. 32:13). It is only this reason that decisively moves God to have mercy on Israel.

—Stephen G. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003), 104. Italics his. 

Man Well Drest

Prayer the Church's banquet, Angels' age,
             God's breath in man returning to his birth,
             The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth;
Engine against th' Almighty, sinners' tower,
             Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
             The six-days-world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
             Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,
             Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
             Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
             The land of spices; something understood.

—George  Herbert (1594-1633)

Slowing Down at Sinai

Dempster on the significance of Sinai:

After the exodus narrative the Israelites move to Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai stands in the way of Canaan, the land of their inheritance, but it is certainly no diversion, nor is it incidental. The centrality of this mountain is shown by a number of narrative signals. First and most obvious is the virtual suspension of narrative pace. Israel stays at Sinai for eleven months in real time (Exod. 19:1—Num. 10:11) and fifty-seven chapters in narrative time. This is important given the fact that sixty-eight chapters precede Sinai and fifty-nine chapters follow it. Sinai is central to the Torah.

—Stephen G. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003), 100.

The Task of Taking the Gospel to the Globe

Here is some perspective on the task of the gospel going global into all the nooks and crannies of unreached or unengaged people groups.

Let's be praying the Lord will send out some (more) from our midst to unreached and unengaged people groups!

Outstanding Sermon Series on Ecclesiastes

If you were looking for a good sermon series on Ecclesiastes, look no further. Pastor Doug O'Donnell, senior pastor of my local church, wrapped up today a 17-part sermon series that will find its way in due course into the Reformed Expository Commentary series published by P&R.

Pastor O'Donnell demonstrates care and sensitivity with this difficult to interpret book, and provides many good contemporary applications from the wise words of "Pastor Solomon." As a man of literature, one of O'Donnell's great strengths is his sensitivity to the literary dimensions and devices of the sacred text. So his handling of Ecclesiastes models rather well how to preach the genre of wisdom literature for those who want to hear how it might be done.

Have a listen!

Boy Meets Girl

Would you like to dance?

Lovely.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely . . ." (Phil. 4:8).

We Have Become the Offscouring of All Things. Or Have We?

Piper on professionalism and the pastorate:

We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus (professionally?) so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested (professionally?) in our bodies (2 Cor. 4:9-11). 

I think God has exhibited us preachers as last of all in the world. We are fools for Christ's sake, but professionals are wise. We are weak, but professionals are strong. Professionals are held in honor, we are in disrepute. We do not try to secure a professional lifestyle, but we are ready to hunger and thirst and be ill-clad and homeless. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things (1 Cor. 4:9-13). Or have we? 

Brothers, we are not professionals! We are outcasts. We are aliens and exiles in the world (1 Pet. 2:11). Our citizenship is in heaven, and we wait with eager expectation for the Lord (Phil. 3:20). You cannot professionalize the love for His appearing without killing it. And it is being killed.  

The aims of our ministry are eternal and spiritual. They are not shared by any of the professions. It is precisely by the failure to see this that we are dying. 

—John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for a Radical Ministry (Nashville: B&H, 2013), 2.

Piper on Professionalization in the Pastorate

What does professionalization in the pastorate look like?

Professionalization carries the connotation of an education, a set of skills, and a set of guild-defined standards which are possible without faith in Jesus. Professionalism is not supernatural. The heart of ministry is. 

—John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for a Radical Ministry (Nashville: B&H, 2013), x.

God's Father-Love in the School of Prayer

A good lesson in the school of prayer:

The knowledge of God's Father-love is the first and simplest, but also the last and highest lesson in the school of prayer. Prayer begins in a personal relationship with the living God as well as a personal, conscious fellowship of love with Him. In the knowledge of God's Fatherliness revealed by the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer will root and grow. The life of prayer has its joy in the infinite tenderness, care, and patience of an infinite Father who is read to hear and help.

—Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer (Springdale: Whitaker House, 1981), 31.

Gossip and Flattery Defined

Kent Hughes:

Gossip involves saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to his or her face.

Flattery means saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind his or her back.

HT: Justin Taylor

I recall hearing Pastor Hughes give these definitions when I sat under his preaching. And they were so convicting that I've never forgotten them.  

O Heavenly Father, I Know I Will Remain with You Forever

Luther:

O heavenly Father, God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ and God of all comfort, I thank you for revealing to me your dear Son, Jesus Christ, whom I believe. Him I have known and preached. Him I have loved and praised. Him heretics and all godless people do blaspheme and persecute. I pray, Lord Jesus, let my soul please you. O heavenly Father, although I must be separated from this body, I know I will remain with you forever. No one can pluck me from your hands. Amen.

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 102.

A God-Besotted Ministry

Murray on Edwards' God-intoxicated ministry:

For Edwards, the reality of communion with God belongs to the very nature of redemptive Christianity. All Christians, therefore, are to be people of prayer. "Seeing we have such a prayer-hearing God as we have," he tells his hearers, "let us all be much employed in the duty of prayer, let us live prayerful lives, continuing instant in prayer." For ministers this is a yet greater privilege and obligation. To serve God aright the priorities of Christ's ministry must also be their own. 

— Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 144.

Debating as a Christian Duty

Here Doug Wilson ably, biblically, and persuasively argues that debating is a Christian duty. Well, if the man Jesus is to be the believer's model, of course he's right. And of course it can be done in the wrong spirit, too. Wilson also addresses that nicely.

I fear the main reason Christians and Christian leaders (who are called to it) shrink from this duty is cowardice, plain and simple. Cowardice is the biblical word for refusing ever "to get into it." But Jesus "got into it" all the time. Shouldn't we follow him? Or should we be the "Jesus, meek and mild flower child" of 21st century evangelicalism, rather than the real Jesus of the Bible? I mean, just read the gospels. As Wilson rightly points out.

This cowardice, this fear of man and fear of the loss of status and possessions can be cloaked under all sorts of good reasons to "just stay out of it, and be a gospel witness." But it's not really a gospel witness if doesn't imitate Jesus. And it's cowardice nonetheless, and we know where cowards go (Rev. 21:8).

Killing Sin Does Not Consist in the Improvement of One's Natural Temperament

In the fifth chapter of Owen's work On the Mortification of Sin, he discusses what does not pass for truly killing sin. He refers to five things that are not true mortification. I reproduce the third one here because of how often we go wrong here today:

The mortification of sin does not consist in the improvement of a quiet, sedate nature. Some men have an advantage by their natural constitution so far as they are not exposed to such violence of unruly passions and tumultuous affections as many others are. Let now these men cultivate and improve their natural frame and temper by discipline, consideration, and prudence, and they may seem to themselves and others very mortified men, when, perhaps, their hearts are a standing sink of all abominations. Some man is never so much troubled all his life, perhaps, with anger and passion, nor doth trouble others, as another is almost every day; and yet the latter hath done more to the mortification of the sin than the former. Let not such persons try their mortification by such things as their natural temper gives no life or vigour to. Let them bring themselves to self-denial, unbelief, envy, or some such spiritual sin, and they will have a better view of themselves.

 — John Owen, On the Mortification of Sin (vol. 6 in The Works of John Owen; ed. William H. Gould; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 2000), 25.

O Lord, Grant a Strong and Firm Faith

Luther:

O my dear Lord Jesus Christ, you have said: Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you (Matt. 7:7). In keeping with this promise, give to me, Lord. I ask for neither gold nor silver, but for a strong and firm faith. While I search, let me find not lust and pleasure of the world, but comfort and refreshment through your blessed and healing Word. Open to me, while I knock. I desire nothing that the world cherishes, for by it I would not be uplifted even for so much as the breadth of a hair. Grant me your Holy Spirit, who enlightens my heart, and comforts and strengthens me in my cares and trials. He secures my right faith and trust in your grace to the very end. Amen. 

—Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 102.