Spurgeon on Suffering

The following is from Piper's talk on Charles Spurgeon from the 1995 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. Spurgeon's words are indented as quotations. Piper's comments start at the far left. My words are in brackets.

[Spurgeon says this about suffering:]

"It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity" (see note 51).

[Piper comments:]

This is exactly the opposite strategy of modern thought, even much evangelical thought, that recoils from the implications of infinity. If God is God he not only knows what is coming, but he knows it because he designs it. For Spurgeon this view of God was not first argument for debate, it was a means of survival.
Our afflictions are the health regimen of an infinitely wise Physician. He told his students,

"I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness ... If some men, that I know of could only be favoured with a month of rheumatism, it would, by God's grace mellow them marvelously" (see note 52).

51. "The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon," p. 25.
52. An All Round Ministry, p. 384.

Begrudge Not Your Sufferings O Child of God

The child of God ought not to begrudge the sufferings sent by his heavenly Father, nor should the child of God merely endure them. They are assigned and apportioned by grace for great and wise and holy purposes from the loving hand of a sovereign covenant God who reigns in pain and pleasure.

Here are some texts that have helped me over the years to think about trials and pain and suffering:

"Before I was afflicted I went astray,
     but now I keep your word" (Ps. 119:67).

"It is good for me that I was afflicted,
     that I might learn your statutes" (Ps. 119:71).

"I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
     and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me" (Ps. 119:75).

God afflicts us in faithfulness for holy ends. Such rock-solid truths ought to raise in our minds the great value and blessing of sufferings. And we also ought to remember that our sufferings are only sanctified as valuable and worthy of prizing on account of the purchase of the blood of the Son of God. His blood purchased that every thing coming the way of the believer works for his good.

So what sufferer who has tasted the goodness of the Lord in appointed pain will not praise him and thank him and honor him on account of it? The suffering of the child of God has been transformed by the cross and crown of Christ. And I bless and praise my Father whose rod is pleasant pain. I feel very loved of the Lord because I am a chastened son.

Christians are a Royal Priesthood, Part 3

As promised, here now are ways two through five that Christians offer up spiritual sacrifices to God according to Edwards' exposition of 1 Pet 2:9-10. (Two posts ago I gave the first of five.)

Second, Edwards says:

This spiritual priesthood offers to God the sacrifice of praise. Many of their sacrifices under the law were sacrifices of peace-offerings, which were mostly for thanksgiving and praise. But the spiritual sacrifice of the hearty and sincere praises of a saint, are more acceptable to God than all the bulls, and rams, and he-goats that they offered.

Here Edwards cites Heb. 13:15 and Ps. 50:23, among other texts.

Third, he says:

The next sacrifice which is offered by this spiritual priesthood, is obedience, sincere obedience. The sacrifices under the law did not only represent Christ's satisfying for sin by suffering, but they also represented Christ's obeying in suffering; for the sacrifices under the law were not only for propitiation, but they were for purchasing benefits, and so typified not only the satisfaction, but merit, which was by obedience.

 In this section Edwards cites Rom. 12:1; Ps. 40:6-8; and 1 Sam. 15:22.

O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation

After being laid low with some illness of late and feeling sluggish in my walk with God for some time, I recall a few favorite paragraphs outside the Bible. It's from Augustin's Confessions.

Lord, I am your servant, born of your own handmaid. You have broken the chains that bound me; I will sacrifice in your honor. Let me praise you in my heart, let me praise you with my tongue. Let this be the cry of my whole being: Lord, there is none like you. Let them say this and, in answer, I beg you to whisper in my heart, I am here to save you.

Who am I? What kind of man am I? What evil have I not done? Or if there is evil that I have not done, what evil is there that I have not spoken? If there is any that I have not spoken, what evil is there that I have not willed to do? But you, O Lord, are good. You are merciful. You saw how deep I was sunk in death, and it was your power that drained dry the well of corruption in the depths of my heart. And all that you asked of me was to deny my own will and accept yours.

But, during all those years, where was my free will? What was the hidden, secret place from which it was summoned in a moment, so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke and take your light burden on my shoulders, Christ Jesus, my Helper and my Redeemer? How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose and was now glad to reject! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honour though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. At last my mind was free from the gnawing anxieties of ambition and gain, from wallowing in filth and scratching the itching sore of lust. I begain to talk to you freely, O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation (Book IX, Section 1).

Christians are a Royal Priesthood, Part 2

Edwards' second point (see here for the first) in explaining the priestly service of Christians is this: "Secondly, Christians are also a priesthood with respect to their offerings to God." Here he cites 1 Pet. 2:5: "you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Well, what are these sacrifices? Edwards lists five ways Christians offer spiritual sacrifices to God.

First, "Christians offer up their own hearts to God in sacrifice: they dedicate themselves to God (Rom. 6:13)." And this happens in two ways: "the first is when the heart is broken for sin. A sacrifice, before it can be offered, must be wounded and slain. The heart of a true Christian is first wounded by a sense of sin, of the great evil and danger of it, and is slain with godly sorrow and true repentance. . . . The second way is when a Christian offers his heart to God, flaming with love. The sacrifice of old was not only to be slain, but to be burnt upon the altar; it was to ascend in flame and smoke, and so to be a sweet savour to God" (Works, vol. 2, Hickman ed.).

In the next and last post in this brief series, I'll post the other 4 ways Christians offer up spiritual sacrifices to God according to Edwards' exposition.

Deep, Wide, Decisive Repentance

Alright! Alright! I repent! I repent! I'll never do it again!

(Actually, in recent weeks I've been trying to turn from that hideous practice, so deeply woven into my typing tendencies, but now enough moral opprobruim has been cast to make my repentance deep, wide, and decisive. Please note the beginning of my repentance in posts of late. My older posts still betray the man I once was. Oh the shame, the shame!)

Christians are a Royal Priesthood, Part 1

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was a great preacher. And his available sermons are a treasure. I'm currently reading one on 1 Pet. 2:9-10. There are three parts: 1) True Christians are a chosen generation; 2) True Christians are a royal priesthood; and 3) True Christians are a holy nation. I'm going to focus in on the second part for a few posts.

The nature of the universal priesthood of all believers is perhaps, oddly enough, neglected among evangelicals. By letting Edwards assist us a little in thinking this matter through, I don't suppose that he's given us anything like a comprehensive view of our priesthood. Yet he highlights some elements that I think we may neglect. The first one, however, I think we largely get, though we could surely grow in our experience and appreciation of this.

Here's the first point under the heading "True Christians are priests of God": "First, Every true Christian is allowed as near an access to God, and as free a use of the sacred things, as the priests were of old." Speaking of the nature of the old covenant, Edwards says: "Agreeably to the nature of that dispensation, there were not those special discoveries of the grace and love of God that are now made, and which invite rather than forbid near access" (Works, vol. 2, Hickman ed.).

But now! Full and free and filial access! (Eph. 2:18).

This High Mountain . . . That Lowly Hill

Last Sunday's New Covenant Church exposition of Matt. 17:1-13, 22-23 by Pastor Doug O'Donnell was a fine exposition. He nailed the details and flow of thought. You may listen to it at the NCC website.

A Clear Head and Warm Heart

As we Christians engage our social, political, and economic landscape, as is right to varying degrees according to gifting, calling, and opportunity, we must keep clear our heads and warm our hearts. There is so much muddle in our world, and the temptation is to slip off the point.

The apostle Peter can help us pilgrims as we move toward the celestial city never feeling at home here till, at length, we arrive at our long-awaited and intensely-desired destination: "Girding up the loins of your mind, being sober-minded, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:13); and "fervently love one another from the heart" (1 Pet. 1:22). Now, in case we've forgotten by chapter four, Peter states it still stronger: "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another" (1 Pet. 4:8). This is no small matter in a world without hope (Eph. 2:12) and where love grows cold (Matt. 24:12).

So, a clear head and warm heart. That's in large measure the Christian's daily focus. Let's be there! Let's live there!

Resolved

Em and I regularly try to do some common reading together for the sake of edifying discussion. This year we're beginning with the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. He wrote seventy resolutions while he was nineteen years old, firm determinations of his by which he assessed himself weekly.

He begins the Resolutions this way:

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.

Reading these never fails to stir up my cold, dull, lifeless, irresolute soul. Here are two that rebuke my indolent soul every time:

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

I groan at what a lazy, irresolute and passionless man I often am. After knowing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ so long, yet I still sink again and again into a dull, lifeless frame. Come, Spirit, come. And breath on me anew.

Resist Him in the Faith

Just a reminder (mainly to self) that we are in a cosmic battle, where everything is at stake—including the soul:

"Be sober! Be vigilant! Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking anyone to devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being accomplished by your brothers in the world" (1 Pet. 5:8-9).

Piper on his Return from Leave of Absence

I enjoyed reading Piper's thoughts about the leave of absence the Pipers took for eight months. But the portion that left me most encouraged, and even in tears, was this word which says so much about who John Piper is, and why he differs so much from so many other leaders today, and why his example is truly exemplary and worthy of imitation:

Eleven days after I return to ministry, I turn 65. One could look at this two ways: 1) it’s the age most people retire, or 2) it’s the age Winston Churchill became Prime Minister and led England and the Western World to victory over Hitler’s aggression. I find Churchill much more inspiring than retirement.

The whole update may be found at the DG blog.

Jesus' Substitutionary Descent into Egypt

Do you ever find yourself scratching your head about how Matthew uses the Old Testament? It seems to be a common experience. It really should not be as difficult for us to understand as it is. Yet our received methods make it hard for us to handle Scripture biblically.

But here I do not want to take time to discuss how our modernist methods have moved us away from an apostolic and Christ-like handling of Scripture (for that, see Peter Leithart's book Deep Exegesis). I only want to provide a compact understanding of Matthew's usage of Hos. 11:1 in Matt. 2:15 given by William Dumbrell, since it is considered one of the more difficult texts in Matthew's use of the Old Testament:

Matthew's use of Hosea 11:1 (Matt. 2:15) has the sequence [from 11:1-11] in mind. Jesus in an incarnational descent into Egypt undergoes oppression with his people, to whom, although they do not deserve it, the possibility of a second exodus will be granted (The Faith of Israel, 182).

This seems plain. And if one mentally embraces the deep and wide theological structures of Scripture that include Jesus as the new and true Israel and as a second Adam, the representative head of a new humanity and holy nation, the reading is almost facile.

Wencel Bible Memorization Plan 2011

In addition to regularly reading Scripture together, Emily and I have tried to lay up in our memories portions of Scripture together. So we've memorized a handful of psalms, we've been doing Titus together, and we laid hold of Isaiah 53 this past year. This coming year we're planning on doing Ephesians, some psalms, and probably miscellaneous proverbs. Here's the plan:

Jan. & Feb. '11:     Ephesians 1 & Psalm 2
Mar. & Apr. '11:   Ephesians 2 & Psalm 8
May & June '11:    Ephesians 3 & Psalm 32
July & Aug. '11:     Ephesians 4 & Psalm 46
Sept. & Oct. '11:   Ephesians 5 & Psalm 56
Nov. & Dec. '11:   Ephesians 6 & Psalms 128