Theology of Lordship: Servant-Thinking - Grace

Servant-thinking is humble, acknowledging that God is sufficient. Servant-thinkers will look for His grace in their weaknesses; they do so because they think Theocentrically. Biblical, that.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Reformed Theology: Sanctification

“Both Lutherans and Calvinists answered the question ‘What must I do to be saved?’ by saying that Spirit-worked repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His substitutionary work of atonement are necessary. But Lutherans had a tendency to remain focused on the doctrine of justification, whereas Calvinists, without minimizing justification, pressed more than Lutherans toward sanctification, which asks, ‘Having been justified by God’s grace, how shall I live to the glory of God?’” (Joel R. Beeke, Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, p. 11).

Theology of Lordship: Servant-Thinking, Again

A servant-thinker is one who “adopts God’s world as his own.”[1] Therefore, “the believer [servant-thinker] . . . is affirming creation as it really is; he is accepting creation as the world that God made, and he is accepting the responsibility to live in that world as it really is.”[2]

[1] John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, p. 28.
[2] Ibid., p. 28.

Theology of Lordship: Servant-Thinking

“To be a creature is to be limited in thought and knowledge, as in all other aspects of life. We are limited by our Creator, our Lord. We have a beginning in time, but He does not. We are controlled by Him and subject to His authority; we are the objects of ultimate covenant blessing or cursing, and so the nature of our thought should reflect our status as servants. Our thinking should be ‘servant-thinking’” (John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, p. 21).

Reformed Theology: Concerned with character of Creator-creature relationship

“In His relation to us, God has only rights and powers; He binds Himself to duties sovereignly and graciously only by way of covenant. In covenant, He assumes the duties and responsibilities of being a God unto us, but that does not detract from His being the first cause and the last end of all things. The universe is ruled not by chance or fate, but by the complete, sovereign rule of God. We exist for one purpose: to give Him glory. We have only duties to God, no rights. Any attempt to challenge this truth is doomed. Romans 9:20b asks, “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast though made me thus?” God enacts His laws for every part of our lives and demands unconditional obedience. We are called to serve Him with body and soul, in worship and daily work, every second of every day.

To be Reformed, then, is to be concerned with the complete character of the Creator-creature relationship. It is to view all of life coram Deo, that is, lived before the face of God (Joel R. Beeke, Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, p. 41).”

Israel: Enemies of Israel

Israel was led out Egypt/slavery and the Lord promised to fight for them against their enemies (Deut. 20:4). This is always true, even when Israel becomes its own enemy. The Lord will fight against Israel when she is an enemy of Israel/enemy of the descendents of Abraham/promise. This happens when Israel becomes wicked and does not follow the Lord’s commandments. The Lord will fight against wicked Israel because she has become a type of Egypt, and she too will receive the plagues/curses of Egypt (Deut. 28:58-61).

The Lord will diminish the numbers of wicked Israel (“And ye [Israel] shall be left few in number,” Deut. 28:62), therefore, ensuring that obedient Israel will always remain “too mighty”; obedient Israel will remain numerous, like the stars – she remains that way because she serves the Lord who led her out of Egypt, the Lord who goes with her, the Lord who fights against her enemies.

Israel: Too Mighty

Deu 23:3 "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever,
Deu 23:4 because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
Deu 23:5 But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.

In Numbers 22:6 we learn that Balak sends for Balaam to come and curse Israel because “they are too mighty.” But Israel is “too mighty” in several senses:

1) Israel is “too mighty” because they are too numerous (causing fear in Moabites, Numbers 22:3)
2) Israel is “too mighty” because they are the descendants of Abraham, the descendants of promise (“shall surely become a great and mighty nation,” Genesis 18:18)
3) Israel is “too mighty” because the Lord does not listen to the wicked (the enemies of the descendants of Abraham/promise)
4) Israel is “too mighty” because they serve the Lord (whose lordship extends over blessings and curses); the Lord, who for the descendants of Abraham/promise, turns the curses of their enemies into blessings

Narnia: Farewell to Shadowlands

“I see,” [Lucy] said at last, thoughtfully. “I see now. This garden is like the stable. It is far bigger inside than it was outside.”

“Of course, Daughter of Eve,” said the Faun. “The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside.”

Lucy looked hard at the garden and saw that it was not really a garden but a whole world, with its own rivers and woods and sea and mountains. But they were not strange: she knew them all.

“I see,” she said. “This is still Narnia, and more real and more beautiful than the Narnia down below, just as it was more real and more beautiful than the Narnia outside the stable door! I see . . . world within world, Narnia within Narnia. . . .”

“Yes,” said Mr. Tumnus, “like an onion: except that as you continue to go in and in, each circle is larger than the last” (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, pp. 206-207).

City of God: Peace and Community

But who is the city of God? Wilken answers, “Augustine never defines this city outright, but it is closely identified with the church . . . . Wherever the church is, he [Augustine] says, there will be ‘God’s beloved City.’ The City of God is more than the church because it includes the angels and the saints who have gone before, but there can be no talk of the city of God without the church.”

Wilken goes on to say, “Augustine’s controlling metaphor for the new life that God creates is not, for example, being born again, but becoming part of a city and entering into its communal life. When the Scriptures speak of peace they do not have in mind simply a relation between an individual believer and God; in the Bible peace is a gift that human beings share in communion with God. . . . Christianity is inescapably social.”

Later, quoting the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin: “The significance of Christian thought for the Western political tradition lies not so much in what it had to say about the political order, but primarily in what it had to say about the religious order. The attempt of Christians to understand their own group life provided a new and sorely needed source of ideas for Western political thought. Christianity succeeded where Hellenistic and late classical philosophies had failed, because it put forward a new and powerful idea of community which recalled man [and women] to a life of meaningful participation.”

City of God: Worship and Happy the People

Chapter 8 from Robert Louis Wilken’s The Spirit of Early Christian Thought is titled “Happy the People Whose God is the Lord.” Wilken interacts with Saint Augustine’s City of God and notes, “The most characteristic feature of the city of God is that it worships the one true God.” Worship and happy people, the twain always meet in the city of God.

Church History - Early Church: Christian History - Deeper Level of Human Experience

In regard to early Christian thought during the “formative centuries of the church’s history,” Robert Louis Wilken writes, “The intellectual effort of the early church was at the service of a much loftier goal than giving conceptual form to Christian belief. Its mission was to win the hearts and minds of men and women and to changer their lives. Christian thinkers appealed to a much deeper level of human experience than had the religious institutions of society or the doctrines of the philosophers. In this endeavor the Bible was a central factor. It narrated a history that reached back into antiquity even to the beginning of the world, it was filled with stories of unforgettable men and women (not all admirable) who were actual historical persons rather than mythical figures, and it poured forth a thesaurus of words that created a new religious vocabulary and a cornucopia of scenes and images that stirred literary and artistic imagination as well as theological thought. God, the self, human community, the beginning and ending of things became interwoven with biblical history, biblical language, and biblical imagery.”

Romans: Entrance to Treasures of Scripture

In regard to the Argument, that is, the contents of the Epistle to the Romans, Calvin wrote, “It will hence appear beyond all controversy, that besides other excellencies, and those remarkable, this can with truth be said of it, and it is what can never be sufficiently appreciated—that when any one gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.”

Romans: Influence - Western Thought

In the introduction to his commentary on The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, CH Dodd wrote, “The Epistle to the Romans is the first great work of Christian theology. From the time of Augustine it had immense influence on the thought of the West, not only in theology, but also in philosophy and even in politics, all through the Middle Ages. At the Reformation its teaching provided the chief intellectual expression for the new spirit in religion. For us men of Western Christendom there is probably no other single writing so deeply embedded in our heritage of thought.”

The Great Commission: Kingdoms of Christ

“The kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of Christ. They are to be discipled, made obedient to the faith. This means that every aspect of life throughout the world is to be brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ: families, individuals, business, science, agriculture, the arts, law, education, economics, psychology, philosophy, and every other sphere of human activity. Nothing may be left out. Christ “must reign, until He has put all enemies under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). We have been given the responsibility of converting the entire world” (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 213).

Plan of God: Restoration/Consummative

“Simple restoration to Eden is never all that is involved in salvation, just as it was not God’s plan for Adam and his posterity simply to remain in the Garden. They were to go into all the world, bring the create potentiality of earth to full fruition. The Garden of Eden was a headquarters, a place to start, But godly rule by King Adam was to encompass the entire world. Thus, the Second Adam’s work is not only restorative (bringing back to Eden) but consummative: He brings the world into the New Jerusalem” (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 61).

History - Money - Basic Principle: Curse

“Indeed, there is a basic principle that is always at work throughout history: “The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous” (Prov. 13:22), “for evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait on the LORD will inherit the earth” (Ps. 37:9). A God-fearing nation will be blessed with abundance, while apostate nations will eventually lose their resources, as God inflicts the Curse upon rebellious people and their culture” (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 36).

Optimistic Eschatology: Psalms, Again

"If we are to recapture the eschatology of dominion, we must reform the Church; and a crucial aspect of that reformation should be a return to the singing of Psalms (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, p. 9)."

Optimistic Eschatology: Psalms

"The Psalms are inescapably Kingdom-oriented. They are full of conquest, victory, and the dominion of the saints. They remind us constantly of the warfare between God and Satan, they incessantly call us to do battle against the forces of evil, and they promise us that we shall inherit the earth (David Chilton, Paradise Restored, pp. 8-9)."

Training Children: Christian Homes

“Fathers and mothers, your children may be confessors of Christ, and enrolled in the ranks of Christ’s Church;--you may get godly sponsors to answer for them, and help you by their prayers;--you may send them to the best schools, and give them Bibles and Prayer Books, and fill them with head knowledge:--but if all this time there is no regular training at home, I tell you plainly, I fear it will go hard in the end with your children’s souls. Home is the place where habits are formed;--home is the place where the foundations of character are laid;--home gives the bias to our tastes, and likings, and opinions. See then, I pray you, that there be careful training at home (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 56).”

Training Children: Promises of Scripture

“Promises are the cordials which in every age have supported and strengthened the believer (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 52).”

Training Children: Sin, Again

“But you must not be discouraged and cast down by what you see. You must not think it a strange and unusual thing, that little hearts can be so full of sin. It is the only portion which our father Adam left us; it is that fallen nature with which we come into the world; it is that inheritance which belongs to us all. Let it rather make you more diligent in using every means which seem most likely, by God’s grace and blessing, to counteract the mischief (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 50).”

Training Children: Sin

“You must not expect to find your children’s minds a sheet of pure white paper, and to have no trouble if you only use right means. I warn you plainly you will find no such thing (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 50).”

Training Children: Parental Conduct

“Take care, then, what you do before a child. It is a true proverb, ‘Who sins before a child, sins double.’ Strive rather to be a living epistle of Christ, such as your families can read, and that plainly too. Be an example of reverence for the Word of God, reverence I prayer, reverence for means of grace, reverence for the Lord’s Day (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 48).”

Training Children: Parental Conduct, Again

“Children are very quick observers; very quick in seeing through some kinds of hypocrisy, very quick in finding out what you really think and feel, very quick in adopting all your ways and opinions. You will often find as the father is, so is the son (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 49).”

Training Children: Children of God

“Reader, be not wiser than God;--train your children as He trains His (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 47).”

Training Children: Against Over-Indulgence

“Fathers and mothers, I tell you plainly, if you never punish your children when they are in fault, you are doing them a grievous wrong (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 40).”

Training Children: Preparing Children for Dominion Work

“It is essential for our children to learn a variety of skills. If the parent is unable to advance such skills, they must seek and pay for godly influencers who are masters in their occupation (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 36).”

Training Children: Obedience, Again

“To my eyes, a parent always yielding, and a child always having its own way, are a most painful sight;--painful because I see God’s appointed order of things inverted and turned upside down;--painful, because I feel sure the consequence to that child’s character in the end will be self-will, pride, and self-conceit. You must not wonder that men refuse to obey their Father which is in heaven, if you allow them, when children, to disobey their father who is upon earth (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 33).”

Training Children: Obedience

“Obedience is the only reality. . . . It ought to be the mark of well-trained children, that they do whatsoever their parents command them (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 31).”

Training Children: Trusting Parents

“Tell your children, too, that we must all be learners in our beginnings,--that there is an alphabet to be mastered in every kind of knowledge,--that the best horse in the world had need once to be broken,--that a day will come when they will see the wisdom of all your training. But in the meantime if you say a thing is right, it must be enough for them,--they must believe you, and be content (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 30).”

Training Children: The Lord’s Service

“Tell them the duty and privilege of going to the house of God, and joining in the prayers of the congregation (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 24).”

Table Fellowship: Prayer for Wine

Our Father in Heaven,
Today we draw near to You with praise because you have called us out the world, out of death, and out of enmity with Your Son, the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. We come to You, Father, in Christ by faith, and we trust in Your mercy and we rejoice in Your salvation. Today, Lord, You have called us to this fellowship meal, and we thank-you for this wine, which represents the blood poured out from the crucified body of our Risen Lord. Together all of us sing: Glory be to the Father; Glory be to the Son, Jesus Christ: and Glory be to the Holy Ghost. We lift our hearts and voices up to You, our Triune Lord, because you have dealt bountifully with us. Amen.

Table Fellowship: Prayer for Bread

Our Father in Heaven,
We draw near to You at this Table today with praise because you have called us out of the world, out of death, and out of enmity with Your Son, the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Father, we sit down with You at this Fellowship Meal in Christ by faith, and we trust in Your mercy and rejoice in Your salvation. We thank You, Almighty Lord, for this bread, which has been broken in likeness of the crucified body of our Risen Lord. You alone have called us from the East and the West and the North and the South, and gathered here together we sing: Glory be to the Father; Glory be to the Son, Jesus Christ; and Glory be to the Holy Ghost. We lift our hearts and voices up to You, our Triune Lord, because you have dealt bountifully with us. Amen.

Training Children: Prayer

“Prayer is the simplest means that man can use in coming to God. It is within reach of all,--the sick, the aged, the infirm, the paralytic, the blind, the poor, the unlearned,--all can pray. It avails you nothing to plead want of memory, and want of learning, and want of books, and want of scholarship in this matter. So long as you have a tongue to tell your soul’s state, you may and ought to pray (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 19).”

Training Children: Holy Scripture, Thrice

“See that they read it all (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 18).”

Training Children: Holy Scripture

“Any system of training which does not make a knowledge of Scripture the first thing is unsafe and unsound (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 17).”

Training Children: Holy Scripture, Again

"See that your children read the Bible regularly. Train them to regard it as their soul’s daily food, as a thing essential to their soul’s daily health. I know well you cannot make this anything more than a form; but there is no telling the amount of sin which a mere form may indirectly restrain (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 18).”

Training Children: Your Child’s Soul, Again

“A true Christian must be no slave to fashion, if he would train his child for heaven. He must not be content to do things merely because it is unusual; to allow them to read books of a questionable sort, merely because everybody else reads them; to let them form habits of a doubtful tendency, merely because they are the habits of the day. He must reign with an eye to his children’s souls. He must not be ashamed to hear his training called singular and strange. What if it is? The time is short,--the fashion of this world passeth away. He that has trained his children for heaven, rather than for earth,-- for God, rather than for man,-- he is the parent that will be called wise at last and throughout all eternity, enjoy each other’s love and fellowship (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 17).”

Training Children: Your Child’s Soul

“This is the thought that should be uppermost on your mind in all you do for your children. In every step you take about them, in every plan, and scheme, and arrangement that concerns them, do not leave out that mighty questions, ‘How will this affect their souls (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 16?’”

Training Children: Dependence, Again

“Beware of that miserable delusion into which some have fallen,--that parents can do nothing for their children, that you must leave them alone, wait for grace, and sit still. These persons have wishes for their children in Balaam’s fashion,--they would like them to die the death of the righteous man, but they do nothing to make them live his life. They desire much, and have nothing (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 14).”

Training Children: Dependence

“We depend in a vast measure, on those who bring us up (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 13).”

Training Children: The Way They Should Go, Again

“If, then, you would deal wisely with your child, you must not leave him to the guidance of his own will. Think for him, judge for him, act for him, just as you would for one weak and blind; but for pity’s sake, give him not up to his own wayward tastes and inclinations. . . . Train him in the way that is Scriptural and right, and not in the way that he fancies (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 12).”

Training Children: The Way They Should Go

“Remember children are born with a decided bias towards evil, and therefore if you let them choose for themselves, they are certain to choose wrong (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 11).”

Training Children: Patience

“The whetstone does its work slowly, but frequent rubbing will bring the scythe to a fine edge. Truly there is need of patience in training a child, but without it nothing can be done (J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents, p. 10).”

1 Cor. iv. 20: Power

John Calvin believed that preaching is dead when Ministers of the Word rely solely on ornate preaching. A Minister of the Word that is filled with the Holy Spirit ought to preach in accordance with the Spirit: namely, in Power.

Calvin commenting on 1 Corinthians iv.20 (For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.) -- As the Lord governs the Church by his word, as with a sceptre, the administration of the gospel is often called the kingdom of God. Here, then, we are to understand by the kingdom of God whatever tends in this direction, and is appointed for this purpose—that God may reign among us. He says that this kingdom does not consist in word, for how small an affair is it for any one to have skill to prate eloquently, while he has nothing but empty tinkling [sound of tinkling in the air]. Let us know, then, a mere outward gracefulness and dexterity in teaching is like a body that is elegant and of a beautiful colour, while the power of which Paul here speaks is like the soul. We have already seen that the preaching of the gospel is of such a nature, that it is inwardly replete with a kind of solid majesty. This majesty shows itself, when a minster strives by means of power rather than of speech—that is, when he does not place confidence in his own intellect, or eloquence, but, furnished with spiritual armour, consisting of zeal for maintaining the Lord’s honour—eagerness for raising up of an invincible constancy—purity of conscience, and other necessary endowments, he applies himself diligently to the Lord’s work. Without this, preaching is dead, and has no strength, with whatever beauty it may be adorned. Hence in his second epistle, he says, that in Christ nothing avails but a new creature (2 Cor. v. 17)—a statement which is to the same purpose. For he would have us not rest in outward masks, but depend solely on the internal power of the Holy Spirit.

CREC: History of the CREC

My wife and I have attended Trinity Evangelical Church, located in Larwill, Indiana, for two years. Look us up on the web: http://www.trinity-evangelical.org/. Trinity is currently a candidate church in the CREC (Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches). Look them up on the web: http://www.crechurches.org/.

In 2004, at the eighth Presbytery of the CREC, a report on the history of the CREC was presented; the concluding paragraphs stated: We in the CREC are recovering from 20th century fundamentalism and pietism. As pietists, we tried to be relevant to culture and to make a difference, but we learned that the more relevant we tried to become, the more shallow and fragmented, and at last, the less relevant, we became. As fundamentalists, we wanted to hold up the Bible as our standard of truth, but we came to learn that without owning the church as the “pillar and ground of the truth,” a high Bible is no longer a precious Covenant document, but Gnostic emptiness. God protected us from ourselves. He protected us through all our silly political lobbying, our taste for Contemporary Christian music, and our media-frenzied vision for ministry, even as we neglected the church. He has been kind to show us our folly, and to restore us to our mother. We in the CREC are in love with our creeds and confessions and liturgies and our church government. For our merciful God has rescued us out of the 20th century.

I relate to that history, especially the parts about being rescued from ourselves by a merciful God.

The Gentle Imperative

"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask -- half our great theological and metaphysical problems -- are like that."- C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Myself included, this quote would have saved some of my buddies in college a great deal of heartache. We all could have used the gentle imperative, "Easy, Trigger!"

Lord of Patterns, Again

In an essay on “How to Chant the Psalms,” James B. Jordan says, “Just how important is this shape of the text? Well, our answer will depend on how we view the Word of God. Is the Word merely information, or does it shape our thinking and our lives in other ways as well? Does the shape of the text shape us? Does it change how we think, in subtle ways, enabling us to live in God’s world more perfectly? I submit that to ask such questions is virtually to answer them. Certainly the shape of God’s Word is an aspect of the Word, and should be brought across as much as possible in translation and reading.”

Is the pattern of God’s creation week an aspect of the creation? Does the Lord only want to fill our heads with ideas, or does he want to make our bodies and spirits fat with holy patterns, shapes, rites, and real, physical objects (water, bread, wine, etc)? We serve, me thinks, the Lord of pattern and shape, and I believe that we ought to pay attention to Biblical patterns and shapes, for it will cause us to mature in a manner that is cruciform.

The Lord of Patterns

Quote taken from the fifth chapter of The Answers Book : “The fourth commandment in Ex 20:9 tells us that we are to work six days and rest for one. The justification for this is given in Ex 20:11, "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it". This is a direct reference to God's creation week in Ge 1:1-31. To be consistent (and we must be), whatever is used as the meaning of the word day in Ge 1:1-31 must also be used here. If you are going to say the word day means a long period of time in Genesis, then it has been already shown that the only way this can be is in the sense that the day is an indefinite or indeterminate period of time--not a definite period of time. Thus, the sense of Ex 20:9-11 would have to be "six indefinite periods shall thou labour, and rest a seventh indefinite period"! This, however, makes no sense at all. By accepting the days as ordinary days, we understand that God is telling us that He worked for six ordinary days and rested for one ordinary day to set a pattern for man--the pattern of our seven-day week, which we still have today! In other words, here in Ex 20:1-26 we learn the reason why God took as long as six days to make everything--He was setting a pattern for us to follow, a pattern we still follow today.”

The Lord created the world in six literal days. He created real, physical things. When He was finished, He rested. In the Book of Exodus the Lord commands Israel to model their week after the original creation week – resting one day and performing dominion work for six days. As noted above, we still follow this pattern today!

Dominion Work: We are caretakers of the real, physical world the Lord created. We work for six days. We sweat and we bleed to make this world beautiful and protect it from satanic powers. The Lord expects us to transform this world from glory to glory, in the same manner that a father expects his son-in-law to protect and increase the beauty of his daughter, which he graciously gave to the young man at the altar of marriage. A bride-to-be is beautiful and full of glory, but a wife who has been protected and cared for by her husband, she is even more beautiful, even more glorious. When a wife is made beautiful by her husband and has brought forth children who call her blessed, she is transformed from glory to glory. So too creation, which the Lord instructed Adam to tend and protect, will be transformed from glory to glory by her husbandman.

Day of Rest: Churches need to be encouraged in both dominion work and rest. Lord’s Day worship ought to provide rest from and prepare Churches for dominion work. It is good for man to rest and feast; it is good for man to work and execute dominion. When men harvest diamonds from the earth and carve them, setting them in rings so they might woo and adorn women (one way to transform women from glory to glory), that is godly, dominion work. When men build rockets, cram inside of them like canned sardines and start to count down, in order that they may explore the outreaches of space, they are performing godly, dominion work. When man gathers every Lord’s Day to sing holy songs and partake of Christ’s flesh and blood, they rest and feast in a manner that is godly.
Sing praise to the Lord of patterns, who has graciously provided a pattern for dominion and rest!

Evangelicalism

Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:27-33

But he (Stephen), being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:55-56

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12

An Optimistic Eschatology

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." Isaiah 32:17

Samuel 21:15-22: Those Who Kill Giants

In 2 Samuel 21:15-22 several Philistine giants are killed by warriors of the Lord (Abishai killed Ishbibenob, 21:17; Sibbechai killed Saph, 21:18; Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite , 21:19; and Jonathan killed a man with six fingers per hand and six toes per foot, 21:21). (All of this occurs under the leadership of King David.)

When Israel was under the leadership of Saul, there was no man found within the armies of Israel, except for David the shepherd boy, who would go out to face a Philistine giant (Goliath).
However, under the righteous leadership of King David, Israel has become a nation of Davids, slaying giants. Under the leadership of King David, Israel kills the enemies of Yahweh.