The Church's Gathering Under the Whole Counsel of God

"The church's liturgy should be Bible-saturated. There should be readings from Scripture, generous readings, not a few snippets from a lectionary or a few lines as a sermon text. The readings shouldn't skip the difficult or embarrassing parts—the tent pegs through the brains, the details about the impurity of menstruation, the severe things Jesus and Paul have to say about first-century Jews" (Leithart, The Theopolitan Vision, 29–30).

A Glorious Christmas Visual

A Homeless Refugee with a Price on His Head

"The gospel of Jesus the Messiah was born, then, in a land and at a time of trouble, tension, violence and fear. Banish all thoughts of peaceful Christmas scenes. Before the Prince of Peace had learned to walk and talk, he was a homeless refugee with a price on his head."

—N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part One, Chapters 1–15 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 14.

Easter

The last two stanzas of Herbert's "Easter":

     The Sun arising in the East,
     Though he give light, and th' East perfume;
     If they should offer to contest
     With thy arising, they presume.

     Can there be any day but this,
     Though many suns to shine endeavour?
     We count three hundred, but we miss:
     There is but one, and that one ever.

—George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (New York: Penguin, 1991), 37.

Christmas Joy Rooted in Eternity, Manifested in Time

Coming the first day of a week in which we're focusing on joy, here's my second contribution (see the first here) to our church's first Advent reader:

Christmas did not begin 2000 years ago at the birth of Jesus. It is as ancient as the Ancient of Days. For the whole story of Christmas was worked out by the Father and the Son in the fellowship of the Spirit “before times eternal.”

Grace Given “Before Times Eternal”

“Before times eternal.” This awkward expression is a wooden rendering of a Greek phrase in 2 Tim. 1:9, rendered by the ESV as “before the ages began” (“before time began,” NET). It means that God’s “plan and grace” were not worked out after creation, but before. God did not wait till humanity fell into ruin and destruction before he began to plot redemption. The plan for the appearing of the grace of Christ in the flesh is as ancient as the Ancient of Days. And so the familiar hymn has it right. Joy: promised from creation!

joy has dawned upon the world

promised from creation

god’s salvation now unfurled

hope for every nation

not with fanfare from above

but a humble gift of love

jesus born of mary[1]

Grace Manifested in the Fullness of Time

The hymn points up that this “joy promised from creation” also “dawned upon the world” when “god’s salvation [was] unfurled.” And Paul tells us as much: God’s grace purposed from eternity “has now been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus” (1:10). The coming of the Son of God to take to himself a body—to appear in flesh!—reveals the plot of the heart of God planned all the way back in eternity, a plan of grace to save us and call us apart from our works (1:9). This plan and this grace breaking into our sad world in the person of Jesus has nothing whatever to do with how you’ve performed, or how you will perform. “Hope for every nation!” If that’s not “good news of great joy” (Lk. 2:10), there is none!

Grace Bringing to Light Eternal Life

Now consider and enjoy that this good news of the grace of Christ “abolishes death and brings life and immortality to light” (2 Tim. 1:10). Ask yourself: for those dwelling in the shadow of death, could there possibly be better news announced to us, a more joyful dawning of the light of day, for us sorry mortals, the dying dwelling among the dying? Death is literally man’s mortal enemy. All physicians know this: ultimately every one of them has a 100% mortality rate among their patients. And there’s nothing modern medicine can do to do away with the awful reality of death. So God be praised! And rejoice with great joy! For the Son of God, who has life-in-himself (Jn. 5:26), has come with, and has achieved through his dying and rising, the greatest of all Christmas gifts—eternal life.

Death is swallowed up in victory!

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

(1 Cor. 15:54–55)

---

[1] Stuart Townend & Keith Getty, Joy Has Dawned Across the World, Copyright © 2004 Thankyou Music.

Remembering the Gospel at Christmas

Our home church, New Covenant Church in Naperville, has been producing an Advent reader with contributions from a number of members of the church. Each day of Advent, one is sent out to the members. What follows is the first of my two contributions. It comes at the end of a week where we've been focusing on preparation.

A Strange and Surprising Reminder

What would you think of reminding an esteemed pastor to remember Jesus? Would you think this unnecessary, or perhaps a tad condescending? After all, he’s the guy given to the study of Scripture, right? Or how about reminding a brother or sister, long ago converted to Christianity, to remember Jesus? Isn’t this a bit odd?

I frankly find it surprising that Paul does precisely this very thing in 2 Tim. 2:8. He tells Timothy, now an experienced pastor, Paul’s protégé no less, gifted by the Spirit for gospel ministry, taught long ago as a young boy by his godly grandmother Lois and his godly mother Eunice—he tells him, pastor Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ.” He needed to be reminded what ought to be unthinkable to forget. And so surely if Timothy needed to be reminded to remember Jesus, so do we. How prone we are to forget! And perhaps especially at Christmas, here in the modern twenty-first century West, here in the busy and bustling burbs of Chicago.

Remember the Whole Christ and Whole Gospel

As Paul reminds Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, he highlights two high points of the gospel, both pointing to other elements of the whole good news. He tells Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, first, “as risen form the dead”; and, second, “as the descendant of David” (2:8). These two facets of the gospel diamond shine light on all the other facets of the multifaceted single gospel, bringing to light (and to mind—remember!) all of them, summarizing the whole gospel to be remembered. “Risen from the dead” recalls especially that Christ was crucified for spiritual crooks and criminals, that King Jesus is alive and seated at God’s right hand as Lord of all, and that he is coming again in flaming fire with his mighty angels to judge the living and the dead. “Descendant of David” recalls the incarnation (Christmas proper!), recalls the life and miracles of Jesus, and recalls the fulfillment of Old Covenant promises. So remember, Timothy, and remember New Covenant Church, the whole gospel!

The Christian Duty of Remembering

Paul was not alone in urging remembering as an urgent Christian duty (see, for example, Deut. 8:18 and 2 Pet. 1:12; but there are literally dozens of texts). The call to recall is a major theme throughout Scripture. And so if we are to be well-prepared for Christmas, if we are to be ready for Jesus coming again in great glory to judge the living and the dead, we need to exercise our memories in the whole gospel—the first coming, the living, the dying, the rising, the ascending, the seating, and the coming again of the Lord of glory with great power. The incarnation of Christ is part of a theological whole, one brilliant facet of the multifaceted diamond of the whole good news.

So let us remember together this Christmas to remember Jesus Christ. Let us remind one another about Christmas as part of the whole gospel story. And through repeated remembering let us ready our burning, longing hearts for his glorious return! O come again Lord Jesus!

A Thanksgiving Resolution

Resolved, To be grateful not only today when everyone and his long lost cousin expect it, but in all circumstances and at all times (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18). And, when I fall short of this resolution (as undoubtedly I will), to confess and repent of my high rebellion straightaway, looking to the blood and righteousness of Christ for pardon, and to the free grace of God in Christ for Spirit-produced renewal.

Halloween's Antecedents, Influences, and Modern Practice

A helpful (but longish) piece on Halloween's antecedents and influences over at The Calvinist International. The brief Christian response toward the end seems clear-headed and balanced.

You might also want to see President Al Mohler's piece on Halloween.

Powlison on Christian Resolutions

Look here.

Resolved

It's that time when people are gearing up for the new year ahead with resolutions. In my judgment, this gearing up can be good, or it can be bad, depending. It depends on whether or not what we resolve (as we look back on the previous year, and ahead to the new one) is done in the strength that God supplies (1 Pet. 4:11), and is done evangelically, that is to say, by faith alone in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us (Gal. 2:20). 

But if resolutions are undertaken in the right spirit (or, perhaps I should say, by the Spirit), in complete dependence upon the one who fulfills "every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified" (2 Thess. 1:11-12), then they are holy, good, and right-minded.  

So, it seems salutary, to me at least, to re-post what I posted some time ago: some of Jonathan Edwards' resolutions when he was a young man, since they never cease to stir me. I'll list some that have affected me most, and that give a good flavor of the whole (70 resolutions in total). Rereading them fills me with shame and self-loathing for how lukewarmly I've lived this past year! And makes me want to resolve to live differently in 2013!

Edwards (at age 19!):

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
9. Resolved, to think much on all occassions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom and of hell.
16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
18. Resolved, to live so at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.
20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.
28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the Golden Rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.
34. Resolved, in narrations never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.
36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it.
39. Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or no: except I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.
40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking.
43. Resolved, never henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were anyway my own, but entirely and altogether God's. . . .
44. Resolved, that no other end but religion, shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it.

46. Resolved, never to allow the least measure of any fretting uneasiness at my father or mother. Resolved to suffer no effects of it, so much as in the least alteration of speech, or motion of my eye: and to be especially careful of it, with respect to any of our family.
47. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to deny whatever is not most agreeable to a good, and universally sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented, easy, compassionate, generous, humble, meek, modest, submissive, obliging, diligent and industrious, charitable, even, patient, moderate, forgiving, sincere temper; and to do at all times what such a temper would lead me to. Examine strictly every week, whether I have done so.
56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.
58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness, and benignity.
59. Resolved, when I am most conscious of provocations to ill-nature and anger, that I will strive most to feel and act good-naturedly; yea, at such times, to manifest good nature, though I think that in other respects it would be disadvantageous, and so as would be imprudent at other times.
60. Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination.
61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it—that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc.
62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully "as unto the Lord, and not to man; knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord."
67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.
70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.

—Letters and Personal Writings (vol. 16 in the Works of Jonathan Edwards; ed. George S. Clanghorn; New Haven: Yale University, 1998), 753-759.

A Brief Break from My Blog Break, To Give Thanks to God

On this Thanksgiving, there's so much for which to be thankful. Given recent happenings in the life of the Wencels, I'm especially thankful for my little girl, my wife, our families, our church, progressive sanctification, the Father's rod, modern medical mercies, my work, my opportunities, my creatureliness, the material universe, our daily bread, salt, coffee, beer, cheese, wine, and on and on it would be easy to go. 

But most of all, I'm thankful for God. With each passing, fleeting breath I take in this glorious theater of God, with all the new mercies I drink in each morning, I'm reminded that God is all and the fountain of all my happiness, pleasure, peace, satisfaction, and rest. With the psalmists, I confess: "I have no good apart from God." And, "There is nothing on earth that I desire besides God." And, "The Lord is my chosen portion."

So I'm deeply thankful for God as my portion and all. And I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotations from Jonathan Edwards. It's a good word to remind all that whatever you enjoy and rightfully thank God for this Thanksgiving, it's only a pointer and dim reflection of the glory from which that good emanates.

Edwards:

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accomodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.

Indeed God is the sun and ocean. Amid the intense enjoyments and delights of this day, for which I will heartily bless and thank God, my soul will still feel that pang for so much more, so much more of God.

I open wide my mouth today, O Lord, and ask You to fill it, fill it with Your good things, eternal things, durable goods, all-satisfying things, infinite things, the things of the Spirit. And I rejoice that my cry and yearning will assuredly be heard and satisfied in your good time in a new heavens and new earth! Thank you, O Lord! For you I wait all the day, all my life!

O Lord, Forgive Lazy, Listless Listening on the Lord's Day

A Lutheran prayer of confession for laziness in listening to God's Word on the Lord's Day:

I confess and acknowledge great sin and wicked ingratitude on my part because all my life I have made disgraceful use of the sabbath and have thereby despised his precious and dear word in a wretched way. I have been too lazy, listless, and uninterested to listen to it, let alone to have desired it sincerely or to have been grateful for it. I have let my dear God proclaim his word to me in vain, have dismissed the noble treasure, and have trampled it underfoot. He has tolerated this in his great and divine mercy and has not ceased in his fatherly, divine love and faithfulness to keep on preaching to me and calling me to the salvation of my soul. For this I repent and ask for grace and forgiveness. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 53.

Why December 25th?

Tim Challies links to a Christianity Today article written by Elesha Coffman that answers this question.

Update: See also Justin Taylor's post on this question, which provides an article from Andreas Köstenberger's website.

Deeply Grateful for Matter

Happy Thanksgiving to all! So much to be thankful for! To highlight one that covers a lot of ground and includes turkey and pie, I'm deeply grateful for matter. Yes, that is, solid stuff.

Oh how glorious is the ground under our feet and the sensory receptors to perceive it! How glorious is the gift of 10,000 flavors and 10,000 taste buds to enjoy them! Oh how glorious is this creation and the creature inhabiting it!—human beings, the crown of creation, are mind-blowingly amazing! Oh how glorious is the wisdom and power, infinitely so, of the Creator who thought this stuff up and spoke it all into being! And here we are, flesh and bone, careening around the sun, really fast, on this ball of dirt in this vast universe, enjoying 10,000 mercies and gifts, moment by moment. Glory!

We cannot be too thankful! All praise and thanks be to the triune God of glory—Father, Son, and Spirit—the three-in-one, and one-in-three.

Going Home

In 1856, Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon the Sunday before Christmas called "Going Home." In it he prepared his growing church to speak of Christ's salvation at Christmas gatherings through their testimonies of what God had done for them.

Spurgeon had become pastor of New Park Street Church in 1854. The church had 232 members. The membership rose to 4,000 by Christmas of 1856. So Spurgeon prepared the large number of new converts for returning home at Christmas.

Among many practical points of counsel, including "Christmas is suited for sharing the gospel with family and friends," "Don't expect sharing to be easy," and "Tell your story seriously, not flippantly," the most helpful for me was this: "Be alert for one-on-one opportunities to share your story." Spurgeon enlarges on this point:

Do not tell this story to your ungodly friends when they are all together, for they will laugh at you. Take them one by one, when you can get them alone, and begin to tell it to them, and they will hear you seriously. . . . You may be the means of bringing a man to Christ who has often heard the Word and only laughed at it, but who cannot resist a gentle admonition.

HT: Sovereign Grace Ministries' blog

When Grace Dances

Isaiah 54:1, following the suffering and anguish of Isaiah 53, comes with an explosive change of tone and mood.  It shouts!  It sings!  It glories!  And Pastor Ray Ortulund says this of it and of us: 

Isaiah looks at the sin-bearing servant of the Lord and has one thing to say to us: 'Break forth into singing and cry aloud' (54:1).  In other words, 'Let joyful song explode out of you!'  We resist that.  Isaiah 54:1 may be one of the most disobeyed commands in the Bible.  Our exaggerated sense of decorum is the last bastion of pride holding out against the gospel.  Some churches make it a virtue.  But God doesn't.  In his exuberance he's creating a new world of boisterous happiness through Christ.  We must rejoice with him, or we risk making our hearts impervious to salvation, because that holy but raucous joy is salvation.

How are we doing?  Are we full of "that holy but raucous joy" that "is salvation"?  Are we marked by "boisterous happiness through Christ"?  Is this the feel of our corporate gatherings?  Or is there more of a cool and calm detachment about it all, perhaps on account of "our exaggerated sense of decorum"?  This may be "the last bastion of pride holding out against the gospel."  And it may betray more concern about what we think others would think of us (which is man-centeredness) if unrestrained praise and worship broke forth from full hearts moved by grace to dance and sing, to shout and leap for joy!

May God be pleased to overwhelm us with gladness in the glories of the Gospel of the grace of God!

The Power and Pleasure of the Word in the Local Church

Something a bit unusual occurred last Sunday.  At New Covenant Church in Naperville, since our senior pastor Doug O'Donnell fell ill, and was therefore unable to preach, we shifted and did something that we've never done before.  Pastor Andrew Fulton led our corporate time ordinarily reserved for a sermon by reading 2 Peter right through and then opening up a time for impromptu congregational insights and applications (since no one who had a voice had prepared a sermon). 

It seems the Word simply read, pondered, and straightaway applied was felt powerfully and movingly by God's people.  A rich and sweet time!  Many rank and file believers spoke feelingly and stirringly in response to Peter's second epistle.  I confess that what many said greatly encouraged my faith, not least because it came from about a dozen brothers and sisters who ordinarily don't publicly encourage the body.  May that good Word, and the good words in response to it, continue to bear fruit and multiply among us--for the sake of the Name in our midst, in Naperville, and to the ends of the earth!

As a caveat, this is not said at all (how can I stress this enough?) in deprecation of the preached Word by specially endowed ministers of that Word that is above all earthly powers.  Nothing can replace that.  Nothing.  Whatever.  Ever.  My view of preaching, and its indispensibility for the life and health of the local and global Church, is as high I hope as anyone's.  Preaching is the corporate high point of every week.  Nevertheless, it should be duly noted with gratitude: God was pleased, it seems, to bless the simple reading of his Word and our simple, untrained and unprepared response to it.  Bless his holy name!

God's Lyrics

Pastor Doug O'Donnell's book God's Lyrics: Rediscovering Worship through Old Testament Songs is now available. No doubt this will prove to be a valuable contribution to the discussion and implementation of God-honoring worship in the church's corporate gatherings.  Do take it up and read!

Easter and the Evil Generation

This New Covenant Church Easter sermon preached by Pastor Doug O'Donnell on Mt. 12:38-45 is apostolic stuff and a good give-away sermon for skeptics.  O'Donnell does not preach a truncated gospel as is typical within much evangelicalism today.  O'Donnell's is the full-orbed Gospel of the incarnation, life, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, and coming-again-in-power-and-great-glory of King Jesus.  Jesus is the Messiah of Old Testment hopes and expectations who has been enthroned as Lord of all, not just of individual hearts.  This is the fundamental Christian confession:  Jesus is Lord of all.  And this is the Gospel O'Donnel preaches. 

So download this one and listen for yourself and give it away to others.  I personally was profoundly convicted afresh of the utter necessity of laying down the arms of the remnants of my rebellion, of taking the silly little crown off of my swollen head to cast at Jesus' feet, and of following this great King who is worthy of all worship and honor and adoration and obedience.  Follow this Christ, or perish forever.  There is no other choice.

It's Friday, but Sunday's a Comin'

I love this video clip.  Hit it's Friday, but . . . to watch and listen.