Reason Clothed and in Her Right Mind

In Calvin the Christian we see reason clothed and in her right mind.  Speaking of the mystery of the Sacred Supper, Calvin says, "I rather experience than understand it" (Institutes, 1403).  In context, he means, understand it comprehensively.  But he's not afraid to speak of experiencing something in the Spirit that is real and solid which he does not seek to explain fully with words.

Here's another example of Calvin's reason clothed and in her right mind.  "For as Christ's whole Kingdom is spiritual, whatever he does with his church must not be subjected to the reason of this world" (Institutes, 1404).  Well said.

Oh for the modern Church to be delivered from the insanity of rationalism, to be clothed and recover her right mind!  Lord, save us, from Reason with a big R and from so-called reason that will not sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus with clothes on and a sound mind—subjected to the Word of God and Wisdom incarnate.

One with Christ

Calvin on the Sacred Supper is without doubt in my mind dead on.  His view, amid the muddle, clarifies and illuminates.  It also tends toward nourishment and vivification and communion, which gets at my chief concern with understanding the Table aright. 

I give Calvin's summary from an extended discussion in Book 4 of what Scripture teaches concerning the Supper over against what today is called the "memorial view":  

To summarize:  our souls are fed by the flesh and blood of Christ in the same way that bread and wine keep and sustain physical life.  For the analogy of the sign applies only if our souls find their nourishment in Christ--which cannot happen unless Christ truly grows into one with us, and refreshes us by the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood.

The Holy Supper

As often as we celebrate the Table of the Lord, we engage in proclamation of his death until he comes (1 Cor. 11:26).  This simple truth is worthy of extended meditation.  Our celebration of the Holy Supper is a proclaiming of the Lord's death till he returns.  This simple truth lands on me this morning with more weight and force than previously it had. 

As the saints gather on Sunday, we do so in the name of the risen Christ, celebrating the resurrection and all that flows from it.  But our celebration of the Supper centers on the death that proceeded it.  The Table reminds us ever and always how the cross came before, and comes before, the crown, even as we enjoy new life in Christ.  And this cross, this substitutionary sacrifice, we proclaim as we celebrate the Supper.  An implication: we are bearing witness to unbelievers as we celebrate the sacred meal.

Two Touches

Here is another solid, soul-strengthening sermon by Pastor O'Donnell on Mt. 9:18-26.  It is full of resurrection healing and hope.  This kind of hope must be part of our Christianity or we're not Christians.  The hope proffered to faith in this sermon is the stuff of the endurance of the saints amid trials and tribulations.  I might add that this sermon by O'Donnell is a model of weaving counseling ministry into the preaching ministry. 


Enjoy this sermonic food for the hungry soul, for the weak soul, for the weak body.  In fact, enjoy it twice.  Or more.  After all, sermons are food, not just information for the notebook or for the nod of the head. They are to strengthen the heart, and by faith this one will.   


Click on the title of this post for the link to the sermon.

Initiation into the the Society of the Church

Here is a definition of baptism that I like a great deal. It seems to me to embrace the biblical data on the matter, and is not truncated as it often is when people speak of baptism today. It is Calvin's definition. And if it seems like I'm slavishly following Calvin of late, please just note that it is his 500th birthday and I simply want to honor his memory. Besides, the Institutes have been my breakfast every morning, alongside my daily reading from Scripture, during this past year because of a reading plan to mark the quincentenary of the reformer's birth.

So, here it is, from Book 4, Ch. 15, Sect. 1: "Baptism is the sign of the initiation by which we are received into the society of the church, in order that, engrafted in Christ, we may be reckoned among God's children."