Buynan's Apology

Well, I've stepped onto the path with Buynan. And I'm eager to move forward. The introduction was helpful orientation. And two things grabbed me in the "Author's Apology" and make me want to journey forward: First, the poetry there arrests me as I recall that Buynan was a tinker with no formal education. There's a lesson here for us, for those who think too much of credentials (namely, all Americans): don't despise God's good gifts that come without the world's "letters of recommendation." Second, he tells us why he felt free to write a theological allegory when criticism was coming his way for doing so: he simply gets his method from the nature of the Bible. The Bible overflows with figurative language; Scripture courses with typology and parables; Holy Writ contains mostly narrative and poetry. It is not mainly discursive! (Important as that is!)

Here's a sample reason Buynan gives for his approach (p. 6):

Solidity, indeed becomes the Pen
Of him that writeth things Divine to Men:
But must I needs want solidness, because
By Metaphors I speak? Were not God's Laws
His Gospel-Laws, in olden times held forth
By Types, Shadows, and Metaphors?
Will any sober Man be to find fault
With them, lest he be found for to assault
The highest Wisdom: No, he rather stoops,
And seeks to find out what by Pins and Loops,
By Calves, and Sheep, by Heifers, and by Rams;
By Birds and Herbs, and by the blood of Lambs,
God speaketh to him; and happy is he
That finds the Light and Grace that in them be.

And here's the effect, he says, of such powerful language (p. 7):

Some Truth, although in Swadling-clouts, I find,
Reforms the Judgment, rectifies the Mind;
Pleases the Understanding, makes the Will
Submit: The Memory too it doth fill
With what doth our Imaginations please;
Likewise, it tends our Troubles to appease.

Buynan, an uneducated man, was a biblical and theological giant. Already I can see why C. H. Spurgeon said of him that if pricked he'd bleed bibline. And so in Buynan's shadow on the path to paradise I'm ready to make the journey, trodding where he and so many others have trodden, one step at a time: right, and then left; right, and then left; and so on to the celestial city.

Once again, you may find the text we're reading here.

Resources for Reformation Day

Here are some resources for Reformation Day.

Blessed Is the Man Who Fears YHWH

Psalm 112 calls God's people to praise! For it describes the lot of the righteous. And the righteous, we are told right away, are those who fear YHWH: "Blessed is the man who fears YHWH, who greatly delights in his commands" (Ps. 112:1). As so often in Scripture (e.g., Prov. 8:13), so also here we are told what the fear of YHWH is. Here the coloring of what it means to fear is full of delight, delight in the commands of God.

God's commands are not burdensome, that is, for those who love and delight in the One who gives them. See that they are his commands. That pronoun is not a throwaway word! It's worth meditating on! The godly never forget the Giver of the imperative. The godly ever rivet their attention on the Giver, looking through every command to the Lord, Maker, and Redeemer of all as the Delight and Satisfaction of the soul. With Augustin, in rapturous joy and brokenness, the godly cry out to God, "Command what you will, and grant what you command!"

As you consider Psalm 112, consider two additional things: first, the blessings that come in the path of fearing YHWH; second, the character of those who fear YHWH. Pleasant surprises await you in this short, powerful psalm.

Not My Will, but Yours Be Done

Another Lutheran prayer, this time for God's will to guide and govern ours:

Give us grace to willingly acknowledge and bear all sickness, poverty, shame, suffering, and misfortune as coming from your divine will to crucify ours. Grant that we may gladly suffer injury, and guard us against seeking revenge. Let us not repay evil for evil, nor oppose force with force. But let us have pleasure in your will which permits these to come upon us, and let us give praise and thanks to you. 

When something opposes our will, let us not attribute it to the devil or wicked people, but to your will that regulates all things that they might hinder our will and that your kingdom may be blessed. According to your will, help us not to be disobedient through impatience and despair but to leave this life cheerfully and obediently. 

Help that our eyes, tongue, heart, hands, feet, and bodily organs may not be left to their own inclinations but be held, bound, and controlled by your will. Guard us against our own stubborn, cruel, obstinate, selfish will. Amen. 

 —Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 31.

Preacher: Avoid Being Too Long

C. H. Spurgeon's counsel on the sermon's length:

A man with a great deal of well-prepared matter will probably not exceed forty minutes; when he has less to say he will go on for fifty minutes, and when he has absolutely nothing to say he will need an hour to say it in.

—“Attention,” in Lectures to My Students, Book I, 145.

The Age of the Screen

Al Mohler's recent post on the influence of media on children, particularly the television, really should be read by all Christian parents. It's a quick read, too, just a few minutes. But it's undoubtedly worth mulling over the implications every day and setting wise trajectories in the home that make a difference for generations. Of particular interest in this post is the concern of the American Academy of Pediatrics about the effects of screens on children.

God's Actions in Human Actions

In his chapter on Ezra in Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament, John J. Bimson says this about God's sovereign actions:

Ezra 6:14 is particularly telling. The writer informs us that the temple was completed by "command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia." Araxerxes actually reigned after the period mentioned in vv. 14-15, but he is included because all three Persian kings fulfilled the command of the God of Israel. The eye of faith does not sharply divide the acts of God from the actions of human rulers (136).

—John J. Bimson, "Ezra," in Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament (eds. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Craig G. Bartholomew, and Daniel J. Treier; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 132-136.

Justification Is for Distressed Sinners

Owen says this "To The Reader" in the beginning of his work The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (vol. 5, Banner of Truth, p. 3):

It is in vain to recommend the doctrine of justification unto them who neither desire nor endeavor to be justified. But where any persons are really made sensible of their apostasy from God, of the evil of their natures and lives, with the dreadful consequences that attend thereon, in the wrath of God and eternal punishment due unto sin, they cannot well judge themselves more concerned in any thing than in the knowledge of that divine way whereby they may be delivered from this condition. And the minds of such persons stand in no need of arguments to satisfy them in the importance of this doctrine; their own concernment in it is sufficient to that purpose. And I shall assure them that, in the handling of it, from first to last, I have had no other design but only to inquire diligently into the divine revelation of that way, and those means, with the causes of them, whereby the conscience of a distressed sinner may attain assured peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I lay more weight on the steady direction of one soul in this inquiry, than on disappointing the objections of twenty wrangling or fiery disputers.

I love that John Owen, world-class scholar though he was, was more of a pastor than anything else. As I've just begun reading this book on justification, I'm struck straightaway with Owen's concern that his defense and exposition of the doctrine not degenerate into ugly disputation, academic posturing, sophisticated distinctions, and one-upmanship. He wants sinners who know themselves to be sinners to walk in the path of peace and obedience, cleansed from their guilty consciences, freed from the power of canceled sin. The "Christian" academician (and pastor) in North America and Europe today should sit at his feet, get converted, and learn how to defend the faith and feed the lambs.

Crybabies in the Wealthy West

Follow this link for some sober perspective on Occupy Wall Street.

Preacher: Spread Your Table Quickly

C. H. Spurgeon's counsel on the preacher's introduction:

As a rule, do not make the introduction too long. It is always a pity to build a great porch to a little house. . . . Spread your table quickly, and have done with the clatter of the knives and the plates. . . . I prefer to make the introduction of my sermon very like that of the town-crier, who rings his bell and cries, "Oh, yes! Oh, yes! This is to give notice," merely to let people know that he has news for them, and wants them to listen. To do that, the introduction should have something striking in it. It is well to fire a startling shot as the signal gun to clear the decks for action. Do not start at the full pitch and tension of your mind, but yet in such way that all will be led to expect a good time. 

 —“Attention,” in Lectures to My Students, Book I, 143.

Joining Together to Journey with Christian

Emily, her brother Ruslan, and I will soon begin our journey with Christian through that immortal classic The Pilgrim's Progress by John Buynan. Being as we are on pilgrimage in this world toward our heavenly abode, faced with fierce trials and temptations, acutely aware our own weaknesses, as well as the surpassing worth of the reward for finishing in faith, it has seemed urgently fitting to us to get help for each step along the way. One way to do this is to look to those who've gone before and finished the course well. What follows then is the plan we'll be following as we sit at the feet of Buynan, listening and learning how to press onward. Please feel free to join us for the journey. Even more, we compel you with love to do so. We'd love to make the trek with you. The more, the merrier.

The Pilgrim’s Progress (Reading Schedule)

Read the following pages by the dates listed:

Oct. 31—Introduction and the author’s apology
Nov. 14—pp. 11-36
Nov. 28—pp. 37-62
Dec. 12—pp. 63-88
Jan. 2—pp. 89-114
Jan. 16—115-139

Jan. 30—pp. 140-165 (end of part 1)
Feb. 13—pp. 166-176 (beginning of part 2)
Feb. 27—pp. 177-202 (part 2)
Mar. 12—pp. 203-228
Mar. 26—pp. 229-254
Apr. 9—pp. 255-279
Apr. 23—pp. 280-298
May 7—pp.299-314

Reading the whole book will take a little over six months. The pace is typically about 25 pages every two weeks, though there are a few times when the pace is slower, and during the Christmas season the reading is spread over three weeks. In other words, this pace is very manageable. You’ll quickly notice, no doubt, that the allotted readings probably do not round off narrative sections very well. So it’s okay to read to a point that seems like a more natural break. With a book like this, I judged it best simply to apportion sections for digestion that are roughly equal. In any case, Buynan himself does not break the book up nicely for us. The Penguin Classics edition we'll be reading may be found here.

Here’s my recommendation for how to read this. Try to read the scheduled reading either in one sitting, trying to see the whole flow of the narrative. Or, read it devotionally and prayerfully in smaller portions early in the morning along with your Bible reading, especially for those sections that seem to be speaking most to your soul.

Also, try answering a few questions: 1) What is the main point or theme or movement in the scheduled section? 2) Does the story told, or the instruction embedded within it, disagree at all with biblical teaching? 3) What are the immediate applications for your journey toward our heavenly homeland?

Lastly, I urge you to commit your life and soul to God afresh with each reading according to what the Lord has been pleased to teach you. Meditate on the instruction, hold communion with God in it, and pray for his heavenly help to press on in the pilgrimage. The journey is hazardous, the path is long and hard, his reward at the end is very great, and he will never leave you or forsake you along the way.

Missionalotry

Here is a good post on missionalotry that is worth pondering. Not all of it hits home; in fact, much of it won't if you're not among a certain slice of the YRR, for example. But, as I said, it is definitely worth pondering, and not least the discussion about overlooking personal holiness within the church because of an outward focus.

How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

Have a listen to D. A. Carson's message on suffering for solid biblical foundations, wisdom, and hope for the coming day of your pain. Carson is one of those rare scholars with pastoral sensitivities, and so he's worth reading and hearing above most. His book on suffering, How Long, O Lord: Reflections on Suffering and Evil, should be compulsory reading in our churches. I devoured that book years ago and have never regretted spending so much time in it.

Your Kingdom Come!

Another Lutheran prayer, this one for the coming of God's kingdom:

Help us to remain so steadfast that your coming kingdom will include and complete your kingdom begun here. Lead us out of this sinful and dangerous life. Help us to be willing to let go of this life and to long for the life that is to come. Enable us not to dread death but to welcome it. Release us from the love and attachments of this life, so that your kingdom may be totally completed in us. Amen. 

 —Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 30-31.

Vigilant Virgins

This last Lord's Day, Pastor Doug O'Donnell preached from Mt. 25:1-13 on the King's coming. The upshot of the sermon was this: "Watch!" "Stay awake!" "Don't grow sleepy!" "Be ready!" "Persevere!" "Take heed!" "For you know neither the day nor the hour" (Mt. 25:13).

So the Church's watchword is: "Watch!" Would we be like the vigilant virgins? If so, we must "watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mt. 26:41).

A Divided Kingdom Cannot Stand

The Lord Jesus teaches us this about kingdoms (and countries and congresses and so on): "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand" (Mk. 3:24-25). How does our overweening confidence in ourselves as Americans stand up to the word of Jesus? "Yes we can!" Sound familiar? But, no we can't! Not divided as we are, having forsaken the one true and living God. How does our "exceptionalism" stand up to Jesus' words? Well, either we believe Jesus or we believe ourselves. Who's it going to be? As for me and my house. . . .

America, divided as it is, no longer one nation under the true and living God whose name is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, cannot stand. She will fall. On the authority of the risen Christ I confidently make this assertion. The only question is, "How long, O Lord?" And about this I have no confidence. That is in the Lord's hands.

I still also cherish a hope in God's mercy that he may grant repentance to our land beyond all we could ask or think, starting with repentance in his faithless church, starting with her disobedient leaders. Do it, O Lord, for the sake of your great name! Have mercy upon us, O God, for we have forsaken you. Leave us not to ourselves, King of the nations, for vain is the help of man. Save us, O Savior, for we cannot save ourselves.

Courageous

Well, Em and I went and saw the film Courageous. We both thought it was good and fairly well done (much better than other films we've seen in recent years with overtly Christian themes). It's worth seeing. In fact, a group of men from our church are going to see it together for a men's outing. It'd be a good one to do with kids, too, and then follow it up with a lunch or dinner to talk about it. Manhood issues are huge today, among the greatest concerns of our day, I believe, and we need to think about these things much more than we are accustomed to doing. This is but one tool toward repairing the ruins.

We ought to pray and labor for more of this sort of thing being done, and being done better and better. Christians are only beginning to make a go at using all manner of media to the glory of Christ and the edification of his Church. For it to reach full bloom, however, we desperately need revival and reformation within the languishing North American church. To move us away from a truncated and privatized faith, and toward a worldviewish and all-encompassing faith, we need the Spirit to blow through our hearts, homes, churches, and (not insignificantly) our schools. (On second thought, we need the Spirit to create new schools to blow through.) We need worldviewish preaching and teaching that exalts Jesus as Lord of all. As Abraham Kuyper once famously said, there is not one square inch of the universe over which the risen Christ does not say, "Mine!" So come, Holy Spirit, come.

Till then, let us be thankful for efforts like Courageous. But let's pray and labor and long for more of the same, and even greater works than these. There's far more work to be done.

A Woman's Place in Christ's Kingdom

I love the passion narratives of the Gospel accounts. And here's one reason why: they're shot through with delightful and powerful irony. One I'm currently enjoying from Mark 16 is how the resurrection of Jesus was first revealed to women. Now you say: So what? What's so ironic about that? Well, in the first century, a woman's testimony would not be accepted in Jewish courts, and Greco-Roman society placed women in a lowly place.[1] But God's kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. God loves to invert our order. And so the risen Jesus appears first to women. And it is upon their testimony, at least in part, that we depend for access to history about Jesus. I love it.

This is also, incidentally, a powerful apologetic point. That women are among the eyewitnesses, when their testimony was not valued in first century civil society, powerfully attests to the veracity of the recorded history. Why else would Mark have recorded the women as the first eyewitnesses unless it was true?

Now consider an example from the Gospel according to Mark where he presents the revelation of the resurrection of Christ (Mk.16:1ff). Notice how prominently Mary Magdalene figures in the story. She is mentioned four times (Mk.15:40, 47; 16:1, 9). Why the repetition? Well, simply stated, Mary’s prominence points out her importance. Stated more fully, Mary, a social and moral outsider (a scandalously sinful woman who had been demon-possessed), becomes an insider with a privileged place at the dénouement of the narrative. And why? Surely to say something about the kind of kingdom King Jesus brings. Since, as noted, a woman’s testimony would not have been accepted in Jewish courts, and Greco-Roman society placed women in a lowly place, Mark does something strange, something unexpected, something ironic. 

Well, what does he do? He turns the status quo on its head. Would not all expect the king, if he really did rise from the dead, to show himself to the male religious and political elites of the day? But he does not do that, for he came not for the righteous, but for sinners (Mk. 2:17); he came to plunder the strong man’s house (Mk. 3:27); he came for the leper, the lame, the loser (Mk. 1:40; 2:3, 14); he came for the social outsider. He came for Mary. And the epithet given to her—“who had had seven demons” (Mk.16:9)—shows that she is not the woman she was. Following Christ's cross-work and resurrection, she is a redeemed, renewed woman in Christ’s kingdom—new creation! And she even has a prominent and pivotal place in that kingdom. 

Oh bless God for the blessed irony of the Gospel!

---

[1] James A. Brooks, Mark (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 1991), 271.

A Lutheran Prayer for a United Church

I've been reading, almost every morning, a prayer written by Martin Luther (1483-1546). Here was a man who went after the heart of God! He prayed boldly, persistently, and believingly. And his confidence to be heard was that he came in the name of God's Christ, in whom the Father calls his children to come and promises to hear their pleas.

So here's a Lutheran prayer, prayed for a united love, which I pray for my local church, New Covenant Church in Naperville. The spirit of this prayer accords wonderfully with the Spirit of love.

Luther addressing God the Father:

It is also your will that we should not individually name you Father but together call you our Father and united pray for all. So give us a united love that we may know and consider all to be brothers and sisters. United we ask you, our beloved Father, for each and all, even as one child speaks for another to its father. Amen.   

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 27.