Let the Gospel Lead You, A Sinner, To Prayer

"The gospel should lead us to pray, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner. Please take away all the unrighteousness of self that fills me and fill me with all that I am missing -- the righteousness of Jesus Christ.'... You are too sinful not to pray; sinners are the very people who need prayer. Therefore, pray" (James W. Beeke and Joel R. Beeke, Developing A Healthy Prayer Life, 3).

Prayer That Embrace's God's Will

"Christian prayer embraces God's will as revealed in Scripture for its rule or guide. The goal is to ask for things in harmony with what God wants for us" (James W. Beeke and Joel R. Beeke, Developing A Healthy Prayer Life, xi-xii).

Sermon Prep: On the Use of Commentaries

"Usually sermons are far fresher and more interesting if commentaries are read later in the [sermon prep] process.... Further, when the preacher forms his own thoughts and uses his own words, he will greatly reduce dependence on a manuscript when preaching.... While depending on commentaries alone will generally produce stale and predictable sermons, depending on our own mind alone will eventually have the same effect" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 57).

Prayer

"There is much instruction in the Bible's plain teaching on the nature of praying, warnings about hypocritical praying, and the examples of the psalmists, the apostles, and our Lord Himself. After the way of salvation, the theme most common in Scripture is the nature of true praying" (Geoff Thomas in the "Foreword" to James W. Beeke and Joel R. Beeke's Developing A Healthy Prayer Life, vii-viii).

Preaching OT or NT... Preaching All Saved By Grace

"Hebrews 1-10 sets forth Christ in all his glory. Hebrews 11 then sets forth the heroic faith of the Old Testament believers. Implicitly and explicitly we are being told that their faith was faith in Christ. So, when we are preaching about them we must remember that, like us, they were saved by grace alone through faith" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 55).

Excellent Interview with G.I. Williamson

What a great interview with G.I. Williamson. GIW is the author of The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Study Guide, which I have been blogging through as time allows.

GIW has 'been around the block,' he's been an ordained minister for over 60 years. Below is an excerpt/question from the interview... I love GIW's pastoral insight and answer.

 What advice would you give young men who sense a call to be preachers?

Find a seminary that still believes and teaches the doctrine of six-day creation as stated in the Westminster Confession and Catechisms.

What does WCF teach about creation?

Chapter IV

Of Creation

I. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days; and all very good.

II. After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfil it; and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto change. Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.

The doctrine of creation is of paramount importance because what a person believes about creation will determine what they believe about the doctrines of "the fall" and "redemption", as well as an entire array of theological loci.

If Genesis 1-2 is not literal, i.e., creation in six days, Adam/Eve created with original righteousness/holiness, all that was created was "very good", etc., then what compels someone to interpret "the fall" as literal? or God's great rescue plan to save his people from her enemy (the serpent/Satan) and sin?

Screaming

'"If I hear one more person at a church conference tell me that they finished Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve Jobs and picked up lots of great ideas on how to lead their church, I'm going to scream," says [Pastor Rene] Schlaepfer' (excerpt from a recent CT article).

Favorite Christmas Rock for December 2014

Psalm 8 - A Christmas Psalm

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! 

[Thou] hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet!

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! 

During the season of Advent Christians meditate and prepare to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus. There are a handful of psalms in the Psalter traditionally and historically used by Christians to meditate on the Nativity, e.g., Psalms 8, 24, 72, 96, 122, 146. Of these Psalm 8, for several reasons, is especially affecting. 

First, Psalm 8 is nothing less than a meditative-song on the greatness and glory of God which is addressed to God, i.e., note the inclusio prelude and postlude, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” And the psalmist kicks-off his meditative-song with the outrageous claim that “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” The psalmist is proclaiming that God’s name is made excellent in all the earth by way of babies! Contrast that with the common and hasty conclusion: our first reflex oftentimes is to point to righteous and powerful men and say, “There! Those men are making God’s name excellent throughout this terrestrial ball!” But that isn't what the psalmist does here. Rather, the psalmist is thinking much more linearly; he remembers that before men grow up and do mighty deeds they must first be vulnerable, dependent little babies, and even with the consequences of sin and the marring effects of the fall, the imago Dei in man has not been entirely obliterated—genuine knowledge of God and revelation stills shines through. By way of babies God again and again and every new day creates little men and women who bear the image and likeness of their Creator. Thus, God is the Master and Creator of the Universe who graciously gives the gift of life, creates babies, and daily makes his name excellent in all the earth!

Second, by way of Incarnation God made Jesus lower than the angels, but by doing so God ultimately exalted and gave Jesus dominion over the works of his hands and put all things under the feet of Jesus (see vv. 4-5 and compare with the predictive-description of the Messiah’s rule in Psalm 2). In the beginning, God gave Adam the cultural mandate, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”(Genesis 1:28). Adam rebelled and abdicated that ethical duty… thus “death reigned by one.” Jesus, however, is the Second Adam who fulfilled the cultural mandate… thus “the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). Righteousness reigns through redemptive history and in the world by one, Jesus Christ! And because Jesus has made a way for his fellow-man to be righteous, we can go out into the world and get dominion for God (the cultural mandate has transmuted into the great commission, see Matthew 28:18-20).

Third, everything above is underscored by the progression from “man” to “son of man” in verse 4. The incarnate and humanization of Jesus, the “babe” through whom God has ordained strength (verse 2), is the front-end revelation of the Salvation of God. And the back-end revelation of the Salvation of God is the fulfillment of the Prophet Daniel’s prediction: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). The New Testament authors confirm this prediction, that the Father in Heaven has exalted the son of man to be the cosmic Christ… as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:27 and Philippians 2:7-11,

For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

 

[Jesus] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Father exalted Jesus for his obedience. Christ’s obedience first led him to earth to become a man, and once he became a man, the obedience of Christ led him unto death. For his obedience, the Father exalted/raised Jesus from the grave. The Father also exalted/raised Jesus by giving him a “name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Indeed, Jesus has been given a name above every name. Jesus is the “Salvation of Jehovah” who teaches us to give glory to God the Father. In the final analysis, it is because of and only because of the incarnate Jesus that we joyfully proclaim “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

On That Note, I Am Postmillenial Because History Points To and Leads To Christ

"When preaching about Old Testament characters and events, we must remember that they are all parts of redemptive history; they are all part of the history that points to and leads to Christ" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 54).

Epic Fail: Don't Fail At Preaching - Don't Be A Failure-Preacher

"A sermon that fails to preach Christ has failed" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 53).

Can I get an 'Amen'?!?

Preaching That Prioritizes

"Preachers should learn to distinguish between what is of primary and what is of secondary importance in a text" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 50).

Narrative Preaching, Again

"Also, each narrative must be seen as a link in an unbroken chain of redemptive history. In every narrative we trace conflict to the promise of Genesis 3:15 and the resolution to the fulfilment at Calvary and, ultimately, the new heavens and the new earth" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 49).

Motivation For...

"Instead of the gospel giving us new thoughts, experiences, and a motivation for grateful obedience, we lodge the power of the God in our own piety and programs" (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, 27).

Narrative Preaching

"Narrative preaching, especially Old Testament narrative preaching, has the tendency to become merely moralistic and exemplary. Hebrews 11 helps us interpret many of these passages in a Christocentric way, by showing that it was faith in the Messiah that motivated the words and actions of Bible personalities" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 49).

"But if we ever were really persecuted, would it be because..."

"Although professing Christians are in the majority, we often like to pretend we are persecuted flock being prepared for imminent slaughter through the combined energies of Hollywood and the Democratic Party. But if we ever were really persecuted, would it be because of our offensive posturing and self-righteousness or because we would not weaken the offense of the cross? ... My concern is not that God is treated so lightly in American culture but that he is not taken seriously in our own faith and practice" (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, 23).

Practical Wisdom

"Practical wisdom [like what is found in Proverbs, some of the Psalms, Job, and Ecclesiastes] gives general principles that commonly operate in an ideal world" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 48).

"Christian" Things

"While we swim in a sea of "Christian" things, Christ is increasingly reduced to a mascot or symbol of a subculture and the industries that feed it. Just as you don't really need Jesus Christ in order to have T-shirts and coffee mugs, it is unclear to me why he is necessary for most of the things I hear a lot of pastors and Christians talking about in church these days" (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, 22).

Devotional Dovetails Application

"Devotional material like the Psalms will usually have less exposition and more application than, say, a text from Ephesians chapter 1" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 47).

Listening to the Text

"A major reason for seeking the purpose of the author is, therefore, consciously to shift attention away from ourselves to the Scriptures, away from our concerns to the author's concerns, away from our purposes to the author's purpose. In other words, asking for the author's purpose is an attempt at genuine listening by cutting out all subjective interference" (David Murray quoting Sidney Greidanus in How Sermons Work, 47)

Wake of the Serpent's Tail

"The wars between nations and enmity within families and neighborhoods is but the wake of the serpent's tail as he seeks to devour the church" (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, 16).

Background Questions

"If the previous question [Is the text in the Old Testament or the New Testament?] will help place the text in its covenantal context, this question [What book does the verse appear in?] will help set it in its canonical context. By identifying the book's place in God's progressive revelation of himself, we will more safely arrive at its original meaning and avoid importing later revelations of God into our interpretation" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 43).

Distinguishing Between Means and Ends

"Exegesis is not the finished product but rather servant to it" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 39).

Geography and Sherman's Memory

"Sherman was a prodigy of geography. During the Civil War, no matter how befuddling the swamp or forest or mountain range, if Sherman had been there, he remembered it exactly. And since he had seen so much of the South, he became a kind of human geo-location system. It was an awesome military talent, but at the time he was developing it, it was nearly invisible to those around him. It may not have even struck Sherman as that unusual; it was simply something he did and assumed others shared" (Robert L. O'Connell, Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, 26).

Preach, and Keep Up the Hard Work

"If exegesis is some mystical experience that only a select few find the magic key to, then most preachers are left to helpless despair. But if a large part of the process is hard work, then that gives everyone hope" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 37).

Preaching that "Counteth the Cost"

"Before finally deciding to start a series, the preacher should read the book through a few times and begin to map our preaching portions. This will also help him to decide if this is the right book and if his own gifts will stretch enough to take it on" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 24).

Luke 14:28, For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Complete-Preach

"...special care should be taken to ensure that each sermon is complete in itself" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 23).

Hard to Compare

"Military strategy is, almost by definition, deceptive. It can be compared with very few human activities. Certainly there are other kinds of strategists--heads of state and diplomats, corporate leaders and investment bankers, all manner of institutional planners--but ultimately, win or lose, very few (if any) go to the hospital or the morgue. War is about killing and dying; this changes the psychological dimension entirely and also the basis for comparison. In drawing any kind of plausible analogy, the possibility of dying must be a factor" (Robert L. O'Connell, Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, 15).

Character

"Aristotle said that the secular orator must establish with his hearers a character for discretion (knowledge or judgement); second, for probity; and third, for benevolence, or good-will toward them. If this is true in the secular realm how much more in the sacred! R.L. Dabney challenges: 'Without a sacred weight of character, the most splendid rhetoric will win only a short-lived applause; with it, the plainest scriptural instructions are eloquent to win souls. Eloquence may dazzle and please; holiness of life convinces... The pastor's character speaks more loudly than his tongue'" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 18).

Sherman's Redoubtable Wife

"Ordinarily, it's not a good career move to marry your sister, even if it's your foster sister; but for Sherman it was brilliant, leaving him with political connections as powerful as any other general in American history, and also with the redoutable Ellen Ewing. Every bit as intelligent and determined as Sherman and religious to the point of loopyness, Ellen stood up to him during thirty-eight years of marriage--the South only managed four" (Robert L. O'Connell, Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, xx).

The Internal and External "Call"

"This is not the place to go into detail about the 'call to ministry'. Suffice to say that the preacher should have two calls--the one internal and the other external. . . . The external call is the church's confirmation of the internal call and involves the church's examination of the preacher's motives, gifts, character and Christian experience" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 12).

Bands of Steel

"The Civil War arrived with Sherman at last ready to ply his trade effectively as a key member of a national reconstruction project. Secession took Sherman by surprise, and he reacted as if the South were trying to make off with the family room. Even more than Lincoln and Grant, Sherman waged war with a ferocity aimed at driving the Confederate states back into the larger Union structure, getting the house divided back together. This accomplished, Sherman devoted much of his remaining career to further shoring up the framework, masterminding the construction of the transcontinental railroad and literally binding East and West together with bands of steel" (Robert L. O'Connell, Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, xix).

Second Tier

"Beneath those four individuals without whom America would be a very different place--Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR--resides a second tier of epic overachievers with substantial roles in furthering the national extravaganza. Sherman's place here is secure, his significance in transcontinental consolidation being no small matter. America was built just once, so his achievements in this regard are almost guaranteed to remain unique. As long as we live here, Sherman will be remembered" (Robert L. O'Connell, Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, xviii).

Happy Advent from the House of Schrock

Centrality and Necessity of Prayer

"Prayer was so essential to Edwards's Christianity that the idea of a Christian who did not pray was preposterous. . . . It seemed contrary to Edwards's understanding of Scripture that anyone could be indwelled by the Spirit who causes God's children to "cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Rom. 8:15; cf. Gal. 4:6) and yet not cry out to the Father in regular prayer" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing A Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines: Learning from Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 115).

Soak Yourself With Scripture

"Reading is exposure to Scripture--and that's the starting place--but meditation is the absorption of Scripture" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing A Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines: Learning from Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 114).

Bible Meditation

"While there is no one ideal method of meditating on the Bible, essentially it involves thinking in a prolonged and focused way about something found in the text while hearing, reading, studying, and memorizing it" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing A Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines: Learning from Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 113).

Speeches with Unity

"A speech does not have to be simplistic to be well unified. Simple, dialectical, and problem-solving logic can serve as helpful approaches depending on the situation" (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 62).

Catastrophe of Fools

"The images of snow in summer and rain in harvest [in Proverbs 26:1-3] illustrate that honoring a fool occurs in a world out of joint and that to do so is catastrophic. As snow in harvest destroys crops and brings death, an individual or society that honors a fool destroys a life or a culture full of promise" (Bruce Waltke, "Old Testament Interpretation Issues for Big Idea Preaching: Problematic Sources, Poetics, and Preaching the Old Testament - An Exposition of Proverbs 26:1-12," in The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, 45).

How "Advent" Fits Into the Church Calendar Puzzle

"Perhaps the most important single characteristic of the annual calendar presupposed by the ecumenical lectionary is its Christological center. The annual sequence of seasons is actually a pairing of two Christ-celebrations: (1) Christmas and (2) Easter, (1) Incarnation and (2) Redemption. The Christmas celebration is prepared for in Advent and reflected in Epiphany. The Easter celebration is prepared for in Lent and reflected in the fifty days following, which climax in Pentecost. In this sense the Christian Year may be described as the annual rehearsal of the history of our salvation accomplished in the birth, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ" (Horace T. Allen Jr., A Handbook for the Lectionary, 25).

Advent

Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him (Luke 1:57 – 66).

In Luke 1 we are told that there was a certain priest named Zacharias, who was married to a barren woman named Elisabeth, and, that according to the custom of the priests, Zacharias' lot was drawn for a turn to burn incense in the temple of the Lord. And so during the instituted time, the people gathered outside and gave themselves to prayer while Zacharias stood before the altar and offered incense to the Lord.

At this time, however, an angel of the Lord came to Zacharias and conveyed a message: the angel revealed that his prayer had been heard, that his wife was going to get pregnant and deliver a son, and that they were to name the son “John” (1:13). But most importantly the angel told them that the Lord would use their son to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and that he would also make ready and prepare the people for the LORD (1:17).

Zacharias was in shock and disbelief. The angel then told him that due to his initial disbelief that he would become and remain speechless until the child was born. So, going forward, for Zacharias, even his temporary state of speechlessness would have served as a witness to the angelic message; his word-barren mouth would have confirmed and corroborated the angel’s message.

The Gospel passage above narrates the birth of John. Elisabeth’s womb was barren, initially. But her womb was eventually filled with a miracle-child. Contrast the filled womb with Zacharias’ mouth: the latter became word-barren, but Elisabeth’s womb became the opposite--it was filled, dignified with fruitfulness. Nine mnths passed and the child was born. On the eighth day after the child was born Zacharias’ temporarily-barren mouth became, again, fruitful—we are told his tongue loosed, that he spake, and praised God!

Prior to this doxology, however, we are told that the relatives wanted to name the miracle-child “Zacharias” after his father’s name: apparently this was a family name according to family convention or practice. But obviously Elisabeth had received the angelic revelation from Zacharias. He had been speechless, but prior to the birth of their son he must have communicated to his wife that she was going to get pregnant and that the angel said they needed to name the child John. Thus, when the family attempts to mis-name the miracle-child, Elisabeth speaks up. She rocks the family-boat, she challenges the familial-status-quo, but not for the sake of being a rebel; neither for the sake of being antagonistic or contentious; nor for the sake of whim—what we call doing something for kicks and giggles. Elisabeth spoke up and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And she did so out of covenantal obedience to the God. The same God who sent the angelic messenger, who filled her barren-womb with a son, and gave them a name for their miracle-child. The child’s name was to be John, meaning “Jehovah is a gracious giver” or “Jehovah has graced.”

As we think about the miracle and graciousness of God displayed through the events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist, it would do us well to acknowledge that on the one hand, family traditions, family conventions, and family practices, what we might call “House Rules", like naming a child after one's father, are good and right. However, we must never let them our family practices interfere with God’s word of revelation or graciousness. This is the first week of Advent and we are preparing to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As is often times the case during holidays, families begin and/or continue with the observation of family traditions. Our family traditions, however, must not stand in the way or veil God's graciousness. So, we need to ensure that our families, due to familial allegiance and family observations, do not run roughshod over Advent. When our family’s “Christmas traditions” become more important that genuinely preparing to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus, then that is like when the tail wags the dog. It should not be so.

Our families should not be large stones in the river of Christmas, where the Christmas-waters break, crash, and run around us. Rather, we should be like artisan carpentry: where all the joints and corners are dovetailed. Our families should live in the Kingdom of God and we should celebrate Christmas within God’s Kingdom, with Kingdom priorities. We, and our family practices, ought to be dovetailed, integrated into the Kingdom.

May God give us grace that our each and every one of our family’s Christmas-traditions may never be at odds with Jehovah’s Christmastide Graces.

The Means That Result in True Godliness

"The purpose for practicing the spiritual disciplines is not to see how many chapters of the Bible we can read or how long we can pray, nor is it found in anything else that can be counted or measured. We're not necessarily more godly because we engage in these biblical practices. Instead, these biblical practices should be the means that result in true godliness--that is, intimacy with and conformity with Christ" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing a Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 111).

The Joy of Enjoying God in Christ

"Do we understand religion as Edwards did? Specifically, do we understand Christian experience as the joy of enjoying God in Christ, framed by the struggles of a life of repentance, self-denial, and suffering in its various forms?" (J.I. Packer, "The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion: A Study in the Mind of Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 107).

Final Era, Begun

"What is nowadays called postmillennialism seemed to him [Jonathan Edwards] clear in Scripture -- Old Testament prophecy, including Daniel, and the book of Revelation, interpreted in historicist terms, being the main sources. He though the final era of history, when knowledge of God would fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, had begun" (J.I. Packer, "The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion: A Study in the Mind of Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 105).

Against Wild Blurting

"Your freedom as a writer is not freedom of expression in the sense of wild blurting; you may not let rip. It is life at its most free, if you are fortunate enough to be able to try it, because you select your materials, invent your task, and pace yourself. In the democracies, you may even write and publish anything you please about any governments or institutions, even if what you write is demonstrably false" (Annie Dillard, The Writing Life, 11).

Humanities vs. Fear

"There are, of course, perfectly reasonable arguments (supported by evidence) for the practical advantages of the humanities. Medical schools recognizes the value of humane learning, so studying the literature that you really love can give you a boost in the admissions pool. Employers know that a degree in classics is evidence of intelligence, discipline, analytic ability, and linguistic precision as well as of the ability to think your way into another culture. Liberal-arts majors tend to out-earn business majors over the long run. But these truths make little impression. Parents and students are not looking for rational arguments. They are looking for something to latch onto now to quiet their fears" (Mark Shiffman, "Majoring in Fear" in First Things (November, 2014).

Imaged Witness

"As Creator, God has guaranteed that he will never be without witness to the creatures who have been made in his image. He has ensured that all of his human creatures will, and will always, know him" (K. Scott Oliphint, Covenantal Apologetics, 101).

Military Load Balancing or the Lack Thereof

"It was not rumor but fact that federal troops were stationed in the South on Reconstruction duty while Custer was fighting in the West. How people interpreted that usually depended on their politics"  (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 76).

War News Coverage and the Lack Thereof

"Unlike the Civil War, which had been covered by hundreds of correspondents from papers around the country, the Indian wars were covered haphazardly by a small group sent from newspapers that were willing and able to hire reporters to cover the fighting. Only two major newspapers, the Chicago Times and the New York Herald, regularly covered the Indian campaigns between 1867 and 1881. The majority of newspapers were content to rely on wire reports or "exchanges" of stories with the newspapers that had correspondents at the front. Many newspapers also used freelancers and sometimes army officers. Custer himself actually contributed stories to the New York Herald" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 32).

Great Story

"The Little Bighorn was a great story for two main reasons: the magnitude of the defeat and the death of Custer. Furthermore, the circumstances of the battle and Custer's career were controversial, a main characteristic of any good story. . . . Like many of those with outsize personalities, Custer attracted devoted friends but equally bitter enemies in his lifetime, and the fantastic nature of his death has carried the same debate forward among historians and Custer buffs who are sometimes called Custerphiles or Custerphobes, depending on their perspective. Both camps find his life endlessly fascinating, and with good reason, for it includes the highs and lows of a real American character" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 11).

Life and Doctrine

"Too few Christians today have an adequate grasp of biblical doctrine. This is due to a widespread disinterest in doctrinal preaching and deep reading. . . . This problem, though intensified in our day, is not new. Eighty years ago J. Gresham Machen lamented: 'The growth of ignorance in the Church is the logical and inevitable result of false notion that Christianity is a life and not also a doctrine; if Christianity is not a doctrine then of course teaching is not necessary to Christianity'" (Kenneth L. Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, 40).

Theological Awareness

"Christians should be aware of contemporary theological issues, particular theological formulations impacting evangelicalism" (Kenneth L. Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, 40).

The (Needed) Spirit of Contemporary Christian Thought

I'm partial to Robert Louis Wilken's introductory observation in The Spirit of Early Christian Thought.

I am convinced that the study of early Christian thought has been too preoccupied with ideas. 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 change 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 (xiv).

Wilken goes on to note that the early church "gave men and women a new love, Jesus Christ, a person who inspired their actions and held their affections" (xv).

In light of this, I believe it is safe to say that contemporary Pentecostals are doing a better job than the historic mainline churches of appealing to the "much deeper level of human experience." Thus, in the wake of Pentecostalism we see personal change and congregational growth. But IMHO the Pentecostal-endeavor has failed to make the Bible a central factor.

Another of Wilken's introductory observations is key: "What has impressed me the most is the omnipresence of the Bible in early Christian writings" (xvii). If the contemporary church can both (a) bear witness to her experience that the love of Jesus Christ has changed her and (b) make the Bible a central factor to that lifestyle of witness, then I believe we'll see church growth and cultural transformation on par with the Early Church. 

Custer As "Good Copy"

"Uniquely charismatic men like Custer, who always seem to be in the right place at the right time, are indeed rare, which is why he was always good copy, as journalists are wont to say. If it is true that he led himself and his men to their deaths at the Little Bighorn in a mad dash for glory, then he was only doing what the press and its voracious readers expected him to do" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 6).

Ouch!

"According to the Left Behind website, between 1995 and 2008 the series sold sixty million copies. On February 4, 2002, its authors appeared on CBS popular program 60 Minutes and on July 1 of the same year the Left Behind series appeared on the cover of Time magazine as a cultural phenomenon" (Kenneth L. Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion (3rd. ed), 39).

Central Pillar of Pentecostalism

"The central doctrine of pentecostalism, according to one of the movement's best known leaders, is 'the abiding possibility and importance of the supernatural element . . . particularly as contained in the manifestation of the Spirit'" (David Edwin Harrell, Jr., All Things Are Possible: The Healings and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America, 11).

Luther the Preacher

"Reformer, scholar, teacher, pastor, husband, father, composer, prayer warrior--all these labels depict Martin Luther. Yet Luther was also a preacher--and a prolific one at that. . . . Generally, he averaged three sermons per week throughout his adult life, but often preached four or more. Luther was, to state it mildly, a homiletical force" (Eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, 31).

Ecstatic American Roots

"The roots of American pentecostalism reach deep into the history of ecstatic Christianity. Pentecostal leaders trace their origins through George Fox and the Quakers, John Wesley and early Methodism, the Plymouth Brethren, William Booth and the Salvation Army, and other similar men and movements. More recently, American pentecostalism grew out of a deepening of spiritual life associated with the holiness movement at the end of the nineteenth century. Participants in this nebulous movement, both in America and abroad, looked beyond the conversion experience to continual personal encounters with God for the Christian" (David Edwin Harrell, Jr., All Things Are Possible: The Healings and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America, 11).

Augustine the Preacher

"Having been trained in the art of rhetoric, Augustine knew well all the strategies of communication. Yet what made him such an outstanding preacher was his emphasis on communicating God's truth in familiar and ordinary ways. The aim of the sermon, he stressed, should be to instruct, to please, and to move the will to action" (Eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, 29-30).

Bible-Vision

"[T]he biblical text is what truly governs our seeing of the world. If all the world is a text to be interpreted, then for the church the narrative of the Scriptures is what should govern our very perception of the world. We should see the world through the Word" (James K.A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, 55).

Regenerate Information, Regenerate Reading

"Revelation informs our horizon. However, even the (objective) provision of a revelatory interpretation does not guarantee that everyone will read the event in this way. One must (subjectively) accept this revelatory interpretation, which requires faith--and such faith requires the regenerating working of the Holy Spirit. . . . the objective provision of revelation in the Scriptures is ineffectual as revelation (i.e., to communicate) without the regeneration of the heart and mind in order to dispel blindness" (James K.A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, 48).

Ubiquity of Interpretation

"Thus [Derrida] is not a linguistic idealist who denies the material existence of cups and tables; rather, in the line of Martin Heidegger (of Being and Time), he is what we might call--for lack of a better term--a comprehensive hermeneuticist who asserts the ubiquity of interpretation: all our experience is always already an interpretation" (James K.A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, 39).

"Ideas have legs."

"But I want to follow Francis Schaeffer's footsteps by taking philosophy very seriously precisely because it does impact everyday life. 'Ideas have legs,' and even in a culture of amusement, there is thought that shapes it" (James K.A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, 20).

Potent Preaching

"If preaching is to be transformational, it must address the needs, hurts, temptations, and trials of listeners" (Eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, 26).

Handling the Pomo With Your "Nice Gloves"

"If we are going to do justice to postmodernism, our engagement with it needs to be characterized by charity--and charity requires time" (James K.A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?, 36).

Give Hope

"[I]f you tell a Christian, 'Your problem is that you have been sinning,' you give him hope, because he knows that Jesus Christ came to die for sin" (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 17).

Life Together

"The Christian home, then, is a place where sinful persons face the problems of a sinful world. Yet, they face them together with God and His resources, which are all centered in Christ (cf. Col. 2:3). Sinners live in the Christian home, but the sinless Savior lives there too. This is what makes the difference (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 13).

Sanctification As Presupposition

"A fundamental presupposition of the Christian faith is that there will be growth out of sin into righteousness" (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 12).

Thematic Unity

"Well-crafted speeches are like good jazz music--variations on a rich theme. They relate all content and delivery to one major thesis. . . . Listeners deserve to know the main point of any presentation. Therefore, we speakers ought to ask ourselves, What's the principle point of my speech? That point is the speech's main idea or thesis" (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 56-57).

Preaching

"Expository preaching is text-centered and audience-focused" (eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching: Connecting the Bible to People, 14).

Understand the Problem and Know What To Do About It

"A truly Christian home is a place where active sinners live; but it is also a place where the members of that home admit the fact and understand the problem, know what to do about it, and as a result grow by grace" (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 11).

Glorify God

 All of redemptive history works toward the goal of glorifying God. As Paul says in Romans 11:36: For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. As the Westminster Divines stated in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? 

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,and to enjoy him forever.

Past Crises, Future Hope

From the Preface to the Second Edition of John Witte Jr.'s From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition.

Statistics tell the bald American story, which has parallels in other Western cultures. Since 1975, roughly one-quarter of all pregnancies were aborted. One-third of all children were born to single mothers. One-half of all marriages ended in divorce. Two-thirds of all African American children were raised without a father present. Children from broken homes proved two to three times more likely to have behavioral and learning problems than children from two-parent homes. Single mothers faced four times the rates of bankruptcy and eviction. More than two-thirds of juveniles and young adults convicted of major felonies came from single- or no-parent homes. So much is well known. Though these numbers have improved over the past decade, they bring little cheer. 

What is less well known, and what brings more cheer, is that the Western tradition has faced family crises on this scale before. And apocalyptic jeremiads about the end of civil society have been uttered many times before. What brings cheer is that the Western tradition of marriage has always found the resources to heal and reinvent itself, to strike new balances between orthodoxy and innovation, order and liberty, with regard to our enduring and evolving sexual, marital, and familial norms and habits.

First Fact

"Is it [a Christian home] an idyllic place where peace and quiet, tranquility and joy continuously reign? Definitely not! The first and most important fact to remember about a truly Christian home is that sinners live there" (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 10).

God Restores Nature

"I do not believe that regeneration s a mystery spark, hidden down deep in our hearts. Rather, it is the result of God's supernatural work, by which He restores nature" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 36).

I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy . . .

"[T]he first lesson of every disciple is joy" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 32).

Teaching the Baptized

"After baptism has taken place, everything else is part of Christian discipleship -- teaching the baptized to obey all that Christ commanded" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 30).

CCRC: Psalm of the Month for October, 2014

At CCRC we are endeavouring to learn/focus on a Psalm or song each month. Psalm 46 - "God is Our Refuge and Our Strength" from the Cantus Christi hymnal was our song of the month. Below is a mediation.  

 

Psalm 46 

Verses 1-7

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he utter his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Verses 8-11

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

There are two distinct sections to Psalm 46.

1.   Verses 1-6 are a corporate meditation upon the conflicts and flux of life. However, the meditation is from the perspective of knowing that God is near and that God is our help. Thus, this meditation leads to doxology -- a corporate declaration -- the “refrain” in verse 7: "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!"

2.   Verses 8-10 takes the prior doxology and applies it to a future vision of peace, a meditation on how God will sovereignly bring an end to war. The prior confession in divine help, in verses 1-6, is the foundation for the subsequent meditation upon the optimistic view of the future. Thus, this additional meditation leads to additional doxology -- another corporate declaration -- the repeated "refrain" in verse 11: "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!"

The corporate nature of this Psalm is obvious; the plurals “our” and “we” and “us” are used throughout, and are reinforced by the militaristic refrain "the Lord of hosts”, i.e., “the Lord of armies”, “is with us.” Both sections, verses 1-6 and 8-10, conclude with the same “refrain" which emphasizes God's divine presence and divine help. 

Israel is proclaiming that God is near. Israel is proclaiming that God is her divine help, see verse 5 -- “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.” Israel is also proclaiming assurance in the fact that God is her divine help, see verse 10 – “Be still, and know that I am God.”

In this Psalm Israel meditates upon conflicts and flux, but Israel meditates in light of the fact that God is present. Israel’s confession of faith in divine help and her corresponding assurance organically flow from her knowledge of and placing her trust in the presence of God. This should also be the case today for Christians: we know that God is near to us in Jesus Christ and that God through Jesus Christ is our divine help. God has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). Indeed, because of Jesus Christ, the Lord of hosts is with the Church. Indeed, because of Jesus Christ, God is refuge and strength of the Church.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Consider how Psalm 46 is . . .

•  Profitable for doctrine because we are reminded of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, which ought to be a constant source of comfort. God is sovereign and he is sovereign all the time! Even if the world were to "fall apart" and chaotic waters cover the mountains, God would still be our refuge and strength! This means that no matter what happens to us in life we have assurance that God is near and that God is our help.

•  Profitable for correction because this Psalm will most forcefully confront us when we are walking through the "hard providences" of life -- those times which are more-often-than-not a road or a type of journey that we never would have chosen of our own volition. It is especially easy (tempting) during those times to doubt that God is near and that God is in control. And yet this Psalm mentions conflicts (meditates upon them!), but only in order to declare that such uncertainties are overshadowed by God’s presence and sovereign care. This Psalm looks affliction in the eye from the vantage point of dwelling in the presence of God. And from that vantage point Psalm 46 provides correction: even when we emotionally feel like God is distant and not in control we learn to trust God and place our assurance in God. When we are plagued by doubts God speaks to us in Psalm 46 and reminds us that he is near and that we need to place our trust in Him. We learn to do this by obeying God, who commands us to “be still” and know that He is God.

•  Profitable for instruction because it teaches us that God will not only be our strength and refuge today but also in the optimistic future (verses 8-10). God’s sovereignty applies to the future, and God has revealed that He will be victorious in the future, and thus, that it will be peaceful – “He maketh wars to cease” (verse 9) . . . I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (verse 10). Christians are wise to be instructed by verse 10: the God who is near is the “Lord of hosts” of a peaceful future, and because of the work of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, it is a peaceful Christian future. Through the work of the Cross and the preaching of the Gospel, God is making wars to cease, breaking bows, cutting spears in half, and burning chariots with fire.

As Scottish minister John McCheyne said, writing in a pastoral letter in 1839, “It is no small joy to be able to sing Psalm 46 in the dark and cloudy day.”  The realization that God through Jesus Christ is near and our divine help is “no small joy,” particularly when conflict, affliction, and the flux of life are all too near. In such turbulent times we need to meditate -- “Be still, and know that I am God.” And our meditation will lead to doxology, we will join the congregation and corporately declare "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!"

Personal God

"To desire the sacrifices (and the sacraments) to be automatically a good thing is to forget the covenantal realities. It is to forget that the world is governed by a personal God" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 25).

Weightless Money

"What does the dollar have to do with the metric system? Or any system of weights and measures? Today, pretty much nothing. But up until recently -- and we're talking walking-on-the-moon recently -- money was all based on weight. In the late eighteenth century, coinage was not only a part of weights and measures, it was the most vital part, and had been for thousands of years" (John Bemelmans Marciano, Whatever Happened To The Metric System? 13).

Applying the Doctrine of God

"What distinguishes the Reformed doctrine of God is its relentless application to all other doctrines" (R.C. Sproul in Foreword to Back to Basics: Rediscovering the Richness of the Reformed Faith, ix).

Christian Manners

"It is never rude to speak biblically" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 21).

Anti-Metric = Pro-Pizza Division

"The metric system is all about decimals, which are easy on the modern brain but not so much when it comes to physically dividing things. Pizzas don't get cut into five or ten slices for a reason. Far from natural or classical, the metric system is a product of the heightened rationalism that marked the Enlightenment" (John Bemelmans Marciano, Whatever Happened To The Metric System? 8).

New Heart

"We can only be blessed in our religious activities if the Holy Spirit has given us a new heart" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 19).

Sixteenths > Metrics

"One of my jobs as a kid was handing wrenches to my father and older brothers. On any given bolt or nut, the half-inch wrench was a good bet, and if that was too small, the next to try was the five-eighths. If that in turn was too big, maybe we needed a nine-sixteenths. If nothing fit -- a frustrating occurrence that happened often enough -- we'd curse and say it had to be metric" (John Bemelmans Marciano, Whatever Happened to the Metric System? 4).

Just Wet

"True baptism is of the internal man, by the Holy Spirit, and if that is missing you do not have a Christian inwardly. You do not have a true Christian, but rather a wet member of the visible covenant" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 18).

Music Machines and Music

Commenting on the relationship between iPhones/iPads and the iTunes Store--"As more machines get sold, more music gets bought" ((Gareth Murphy, Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Music Industry, 347).

Music Cycles

"As the bigger picture illustrates beyond any doubt, the record business is inherently cyclical. Fallow periods tend to follow bumper harvests. Today's predicament, in which an ever-dwindling generation of rock 'n' roll impresarios finds itself tiptoeing into the terrifying crosscurrents of the digital age, can only make sense when viewed within a complete time frame. Difficult as market conditions are today, our struggling record business has not become extinct; a tribe of indie diehards is currently trudging through the desert--surviving on weeds, puddles, and their undying belief in music. In fact, today's open field is probably the place of immense opportunity. When the rivers flow again, the elected will build viaducts, hanging gardens, new temples, and new marketplaces" (Gareth Murphy, Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Music Industry, xi).

What the KJV Would Call "Divers Measures"

"We tend to measure how the culture is doing by how we are doing at the moment, which simply means we are sentinels who can be bribed and bought off" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 7).

If Only The Seminarians Knew This

"God did not give us the Bible to have something for seminarians to study. The Scriptures are the covenant document for all God's people" (Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics: Comments and Notes on the Westminster Confession, 9).

Holy From Beginning to End

"The Scriptures are holy from the beginning of them unto the end; they do not savour at all of anything that is earthly and impure; especially the laws of the word are holy, commanding everything that is holy, and forbidding everything that is impure and unholy; whence it is evident that the Scriptures are the word of the holy God, and that the holy men which wrote them were acted herein by the Holy Ghost" (Thomas Vincent, The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, 18).

Against Idols Both Abstract and Tangible

"But we have to be careful not to overestimate ourselves. The fact that we have mastered the art of identifying idols that we have forged in our minds and hearts does not mean at all that we have repented of forging them out of metals we dug from the ground" (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 2).

Born Again Reading

"Although the Bible objectively teaches truth, it does not follow that dead men can read it. A man must be born again if he is to see the kingdom. He must be born again in order to really see the passages of Scripture that point to the kingdom" (Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics: Comments and Notes on the Westminster Confession, 8).

Word & Spirit

"The Word of God is objectively what it is. But it cannot be seen for what it is unless the Holy Spirit illuminates the text" (Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics: Comments and Notes on the Westminster Confession, 7).

Bible Study: Seeing the Glory of God in Jesus Christ

"Our aim in studying the Scriptures is not merely to know more ancient history or to learn useful life principles, but rather to be brought to see in a new way the glory of God in Jesus Christ and to bow our hearts before him in adoration and praise" (Iain M. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament, 14).

OT Witness

"[T]he central message of the Old Testament is Jesus: specifically the sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow--both the glorious resurrection of Christ and the glorious inheritance that he has won for all of his people. Certainly, understanding this gospel should lead to a new morality in the lives of believers. It should motivate and empower us to seek to meet the needs of the lost and broken world around us and should engage our passion for the new heavens and the new earth that will be realized when Christ returns. But the heart of the message of the Old Testament is a witness to Christ, which centers on his suffering and glory, his death and resurrection" (Iain H. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament, 11).

NT Teaches "Go Look for Jesus in the OT"

"Why should we expect to see Jesus in the Old Testament? The simple answer is that this is how the New Testament teaches us to read it [see Luke 24:25-27, 44-48]" (Iain M. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament, 8).

Reading Notes: How to Read the Bible Book by Book

Fee, Gordon D. & Stuart, Douglas. How to Read the Bible Book by Book. Zondervan, 2002.

A profitable book; an excellent OT & NT survey/Bible grammar.

 
The authors state their aim in the preface: "to help people become better readers of Scripture" (9). After having read this book, I can safely vouch that if somebody sat down and read their Bible front to back with this book, then they would certainly become better readers of Scripture. No doubt about it.

The authors (most of the time) strike the right kind of balance between understanding each book of the Bible on its own and demonstrating how each individual book relates to the whole of Scripture. I parenthetically say "most of the time" because there were a few books where slant one way or the other was obvious, e.g. their concluding thoughts for Song of Songs, "Song of Songs fits into God's story as a reminder that the sexual love he created is good and should be embraced with godly fidelity and delight" (165). That conclusion is a bit of an understatement. What the authors say is true, however, I believe the Song of Songs fits into God's story in a bit more meaningful (allegorical!) sense than that.

I really appreciated "The Biblical Story: An Overview" (pp. 14-25), i.e., "It is no accident that the Bible comes to us primarily by way of narrative . . . this is God's story, the account of his search for us, a story essentially told in four chapters: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation (14). . . . Here is the heart of the story: A loving, redeeming God in his incarnation restored our lost vision of God (took off the wraps, as it were, so that we could plainly see what God is truly like), by his crucifixion and resurrection made possible our being restored to the image of God (see Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18), and through the gift of the Spirit became present with us in constant fellowship" (18).

This sort of high-overview (what one of my NT professors at IWU called "looking at the Bible from 20,000 feet") is helpful for wrapping your mind around 66 books, which, especially when read woodenly front to back without a thematic road map, can sort of sound like a cacophony. I thought the authors structured their book well to reinforce their aim for the book and their overview of the Bible. How to Read the Bible Book by Book is broken into five parts/panels:

• "The Narrative of Israel in the Biblical Story" - i.e., the acts of God (Genesis-Esther)
• "The Writings of Israel in the Biblical Story" - i.e., the teachings of God (Job-Song of Songs & Lamentations)
• "The Prophets of Israel in the Biblical Story" - i.e., points to the Future (Messiah, Messianic age, etc.) (Isaiah-Malachi)
• "The Gospels and Acts in the Biblical Story" - i.e., the acts of God, again (Gospels & Acts)
• "The Epistles and Revelation in the Biblical Story" - i.e., the teachings of God, again (Epistles & Revelation)

So, the acts and teachings of God under the old covenant point to (prepare) God's chosen people (Israel) for the acts and teachings of Jesus for the new covenant (New Israel).

Also, prior to the authors working through their five paneled overview of the Bible, they provided an excellent aid on page 23: they highlighted various "threads" that held the larger narrative of God's story together, e.g., covenants, God's faithfulness, God's choice of lesser/un-favored ones, God's redeeming actions, God's dwelling/presence, God's provision of a sacrificial system/blood, God's choice of a king from Judah, etc. This was helpful because the authors didn't just mention the threads but then throughout the book they explicitly pointed them out. Fee and Stuart spoon feed their readers.

 
Specifically, I thought that the chapters on Genesis, Exodus, 1-2 Samuel, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, the Gospels, Acts, and Philippians were really good. I highly recommend reading this book in stereo with whatever (correlating) books of the Bible you are reading for daily devotionals/Bible study.

What God Says You Is

Know thy Bible. And know thyself. But just a heads up: you have to know thy Bible, first, in order to begin to know thyself. 

The Bible is a great book. Grand, indeed. We learn about God (theology). We learn about ourselves (anthropology). We learn about the rest of creation (cosmology).

But we don't only learn about all these things, we also learn what God thinks about them, which in some corners of this world, where they (typically) use archaic, big words and obscure phrases, is referred to as the "doctrine of the knowledge of God." And if you want to know thyself, then you have to begin with what God says you is.

Know Thy Bible and Know Thyself

Knowledge of God’s commands involves two things: knowing what the command is, i.e., "do this" or "do not do that," and also knowing something about the situation in which you apply the command, e.g., if you know the Ten Commandments, that is good, but you don’t know (keep) the commandments unless you know that coveting your friend's new car is a sin.

Application is a type of benchmark of whether or not you know God's commandments. The "application" dimension of knowing God's commandments is typically ignored by the self-righteous and the legalistic; they crave the binary, raw commands ("do this" or "do not do that"). That is how the Pharisees thought—in tight, little, rigid-and-wooden, monad-like, static ethical categories. Jesus had a beef with the Pharisees because they were levering the overly-wooden commands for personal benefit (Matt. 23:23).

So, step number one in Bible Study is to know what the Bible says, and then step number two is to find out how to apply "this" (God's Word) to "that" (your life).

The Power of Thrift

Under the influence of Christian concepts of familistic property, the free market has acted to break up such large aristocratic holdings. The industrious poor eventually buy out the lazy rich, and anyone with thrift can eventually obtain his own garden. Dominion is multiplied (James Jordan, The Law of the Covenant, 133).

A guiding principle is for a poor person to be industrious and get to a point in their life where they consume less than they produce. When you consume less than you produce dominion is multiplied. The Church needs to teach the poor to get dominion for Jesus by being industrious in the midst of their poverty. 

This is The Healing

...You’ve tried to philosophize your pain / but the hurt is in your heart and not in your brain / You could be hit by the Spirit and be made new / You thought Heaven was a place one goes to /and this heaven on Earth is true / This is the healing / Give me tears from all your bitter years / The healing / Salt the wounds, the healing will come soon...     

                                   - This is The Healing by L.S.U./Michael Knott

What is a philosopher?

Ask Mr. Dooley.

A philosopher is a man "that is thryin' to make a livin' by thinkin' about things that no man can think about without th' top iv his head blowin' off" (quoted in Warren C. Young, A Christian Approach to Philosophy, 19).

40 Days for Life Kickoff Rally

Yellowstone Valley Christians for Life sponsors the local 40 Days for Life pro-life campaign and prayer vigil for Billings, MT. Tonight was the Kickoff Rally, hosted at St. Bernard Catholic Church; I provided an opening prayer below. 

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7 PM
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
40 Days for Life Kickoff Rally
St. Bernard Catholic Church
Billings, MT

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Blessed Triune Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: You have called us to be a people of prayer, therefore, with ready obedience we now lift our hearts to you.

We come before you this evening as faithful Christians, as brothers and sisters in the household of faith, as citizens in the Kingdom of God. We are people of our Lord Jesus, we are people of our Lord's Prayer, therefore, we pray the prayer-of-all-prayers, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

O Lord, in your Perfect Law you condemn murder; to Moses you gave the Holy Words, “Thou shalt not kill.” But our Nation scoffs at your Law; we've legalized and funded the heinous sin of abortion. Thus, tonight with urgency we join together in prayer; we now come before you in humility, interceding on the behalf of our nation--that you would continue to be long-suffering and merciful, and that we would be judged unto repentance and not unto destruction. We pray again, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

O Lord, we confess and acknowledge that we live in a society that has built prosperity and a culture, economies and our cities, upon the blood of the Aborted. Blood flows from the operation tables in the abortion facilities, out doors, over sidewalks, and into the streets. This blood is mixed with the mortar used by our Nation for the bricks of progress and growth, and thus, Lord, we come before you and confess that we live in a Nation of bloody-city-builders. Therefore, we pray for conversion and revival in our nation, that the unborn and innocent might have life. We pray again, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

O Lord, we thank you that we can be witnesses against this culture of death. O Lord, we ask that you would do a mighty work through the 40 Days for Life campaign in our Valley. Protect the many who in the days to come will offer up the sacrifice of prayer to you on the behalf of the unborn; and we rejoice knowing that you have promised in your Word, which never returns void, that “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  We pray again, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

O Lord, we ask that the hearts of fathers and mothers would be turned to their children through our witness. We ask that you would save babies here in the city of Billings! We ask that you would prevent mothers from committing the sin of aborting their children here in the city of Billings! We ask that you would close the Abortion Facility in our midst, in our city, just up the road. We ask that you would convert the employees of Planned Parenthood, that they would forsake their sins, as well as their wicked employment. And we ask that you would do all this in order that you might be Glorified! We pray again, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

O Lord, teach us to humble ourselves; teach us to seek your face. We pray these things in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Jesus Christ: Initiative of God

"God has spoken and acted in Jesus Christ. He has said something. He has done something. . . . It [Christianity] is a 'gospel' (i.e. good news) -- in Paul's words 'the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son . . . Jesus Christ our Lord' (Romans 1:1-4). It is not primarily an invitation to man to do anything; it is supremely a declaration of what God has done in Christ for human beings like ourselves" (John R. W. Stott, Basic Christianity, 12).

Reading Notes: Christian Theology by Alister E. McGrath

McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction (5th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

This book was comprehensive but not exhaustive. Christian Theology is indisputably a "textbook" proper, i.e., "a book used as a standard work for the study of a particular subject." What the book lacks in imagination, i.e., style, tone, voice, allusion, etc., McGrath compensates for with factoid and reference factors, e.g., a useful (shock!!!) index, glossary, and primary source citations. Such being the case, the book will sit on my bookcase next to other useful theological reference works, e.g., Lewis and DeMarest's Integrative Theology (3 vol.), Beeke and Ferguson's Reformed Confessions Harmonized, Hodge's Outlines of Theology, Beeke and Jones's A Puritan Theology, etc.

The book is truly comprehensive: "The present volume therefore assumes that its reader knows nothing about Christian theology. . . . This book is ideally placed to help its reader gain an appreciation of the rich resources of the Christian tradition. Although this is not a work of Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant theology, great care has been taken to ensure that Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant perspectives and insights are represented and explored" (xxii-xxiii). McGrath gladly admits "My aim in this work has not be to persuade but to explain" (xxiii). That is good in one sense, but bad in the sense that McGrath does not provide direction on what ideas the reader's mind-trap ought to go "slam!" on.

In addition to the already mentioned "factoid and reference factors" the book's structure was very helpful. McGrath wants to expose readers the "themes of Christian theology" but he also wants to "enable them to understand them" (xxvii). Thus, the book is split into three parts: Part I covers the "landmarks" of Christian theology, i.e., the historical development of Christian theology neatly broken into four parts (Patristic c. 100-700; Middle Ages/Renaissance, c. 700-1500; Reformation, c. 1500-1750; Modern, c. 1750-the Present); Part 2 covers "Sources and Methods," i.e., Prolegomena; the quadrilateral of Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Religious Experience; the ideas/categories of divine revelation and natural theology; and a high overview of different approaches to the relationship between Philosophy and Theology); Part 3 covers "Christian Theology" in its traditional creedal outline, i.e., "We shall use the structure of the traditional Christian creeds as a framework for our exploration of the leading topics of Christian theology" (197). This structure is where the book is at its strongest--the author's aim for his readers to know and understand the themes of Christian theology.

My undergraduate degree is in Religion and Philosophy, so I enjoyed Part 2 - Chapter 8, "Philosophy and Theology: Dialogue and Debate," and Part 3 - Chapter 17, "Christianity and the World Religions." Nothing new therein, but thoroughly enjoyable--like shaking up and searching through the catch-all, "junk drawer" in a home, revisiting those chapters stirred up a bunch lost, "junk drawer -- "wellwouldyoulookatthat" and "ha, cool!" -- philosophic ideas and memories. ;)

It was a bit of a chore to trudge through 450+ pages of dry academic prose that attempted to be objective, but it was well worth it. To have another good reference work that has been thumbed through and heavily underlined with marginal notes is always a good thing to have; later on in life when the brain-gears are getting rusty and the recall and recollection skills are taxed with the weight of decades I will be even more thankful.

My 8 word aphoristic review: A non-scintillating but thorough rehearsal of Christian theology. As McGrath may say, Cheers!

David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips

Word & Prayer

The Word of God is a Sword, and Prayer is the instruction manual.

"Read [the Bible] with the prayer that the Holy Spirit's grace will help you understand it" (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 57).

More Than Introduction

"'In the beginning God.' The first four words of the Bible are more than an introduction to the creation story or to the book of Genesis They supply the key to which opens our understanding to the Bible as a whole. They tell us that the religion of the Bible is a religion of the initiative of God" (John R. W. Stott, Basic Christianity, 11).

The Risen, Preaching Christ

"[W]e ought to give our attention to the sermons in Acts as models for preaching today . . . the preaching of the apostles in Acts is nothing less than the preaching of the risen Christ himself" (Roger Wagner, Tongues Aflame, 22).

There is a Balm in Gilead

...

If you cannot preach like Peter,

If you cannot pray like Paul,

But you can tell the love of Jesus,

You can say He died for us all.

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole. 

There is a balm in Gilead

To save a sin-sick soul. 

...

Gospel-Identity

Alister McGrath discusses Martin Luther's thoughts about the relationship between God's word and the nature of the church.

Neither an episcopally ordained ministry, nor an institutional continuity with the apostolic church, are therefore necessary to safeguard the existence of the church, whereas the preaching of the gospel is essential to the identity of the church. 'Where the word is, there is faith; and where faith is, there is the true church.' The visible church is constituted by the preaching of the Word of God: no human assembly may claim to be the 'church of God' unless it is founded on this gospel. It is more important to the preach the same gospel as the apostles than to be a member of an institution which is historically derived from them (Christian Theology: An Introduction, 382).

 Hence, preaching was at the top of the to-do lists of the Reformers, e.g., in The Necessity of Reforming the Church, John Calvin said "no man is a true pastor of the Church who does not perform the office of teaching. . . . no man can claim for himself the office of bishop or pastor who does not feed his flock with the word of the Lord."

People of God - People of God's Word

"God's people cannot be without God's word."
           - Martin Luther

Task of the Holy Ghost

"The task of the Holy Spirit is to lead into God's truth: without that Spirit, truth remains elusive" (Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 231).

Basil on the Holy Ghost

"Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all "fulness of blessing" [Romans 15:29], both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment" (Saint Basil the Great, De Spirtu Sancto, XV. 36.)

Reformed

"The great thing about being Reformed is that there is no passage of Scripture I have to hide from."
     - R.C. Sproul, Jr. quoting David Chilton in TABLETALK (January, 1999).

Preaching

"When Paul said he preached Christ, he meant it" (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 22).

Creation

In the Bible "creation" is an alpha and omega theme: in the Book of Genesis we learn about the original creation when "God created the heaven and earth" and in the Book of Revelation we see the glorified creation (re-creation) when the one who "sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5).

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Second Adam who by way of obedience and righteousness will make new all the things that the First Adam corrupted by way of sin and rebellion: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22); "For if by one man's offence [Adam's] death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17).

"Creation" is an alpha and omega theme because all of Scripture speaks of the Creator-Christ: Christ is the "Alpha" Creator, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4), and Christ is the "Omega" Creator, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. . . . And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (Revelation 21:1-2, 5-7).

The Lord's Table

"It is the Lord’s Table to which we come. It is not a denominational table. All who credibly profess salvation in Christ, are seeking to maintain a pure testimony, and are not currently under discipline for sin in their local church are welcome to participate in services that for many of us are a foretaste of heaven. Here we view our Saviour in symbols that point us to the day when we will see Him face to face" (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 11).

WCF. VII. Of God's Covenant with Man - 1. Q & A

Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson's The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

Prior posts for WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures - Sections 1-10.

Prior posts for WCF. II. Of God, And of the Holy Trinity - Sections 1-3.

Prior posts for WCF. III. Of God's Eternal Decree - Sections 1-8.

Prior posts for WCF. IV. Of Creation - Sections 1-2.

Prior posts for WCF. V. Of Providence - Sections 1-7.

Prior posts for WCF. VI. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof - Sections 1-6. 

WCF. VII. Of God's Covenant with Man.

Section 1.

1. What does the depraved sinner deny besides the fact that he is depraved?

In addition to deny his depravity, the depraved sinner denies his creaturehood. Depraved man is bewitched by self-delusions of autonomy and independence from God (the Creator).

2. Have Reformed Christians failed to consistently acknowledge "the distance between God and the creature?"

 Yes, some Reformed Christians have failed to consistently acknowledge the basic distinction between the Creator and the creation.

3. How have they done so?

They have done so by when by describing a covenant as "an agreement between two or more persons." Williamson says, "There is, in such language, at least the danger of suggesting that God and man are equal parties in the disposition of the covenants--as if each agreed to terms sovereignly imposed by the other!" (82)

4. What would God have owed a sinlessly perfect, or perfectly obedient, man?

 God would have owed (God owes) only the gracious promises he has self-imposed by way of covenant.

5. By what is God "bound" in his covenant(s)?

Because "God's covenant dealings with men are both sovereign and gracious" . . . "He is bound by nothing but his own holy Word" (82).

6. By whom is a covenant instituted?

A covenant is sovereignly and graciously instituted by God; a covenant is instituted by the will of God alone.

Worship

"Worship has been defined as “reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God.” It usually is extended to include the rites or ceremonies by which our devotion and allegiance are expressed. Our English word worship is basically the same word as worth. Worship is really “worthship” and denotes that God is worthy of receiving the praise and honor we bring to Him. From the Old and the New Testaments we glean that corporate worship is mandatory for God’s people (Heb. 10:25). It is to be marked by a sense of the presence of the Lord (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 5:4). Its main elements are prayer and praise (Psa. 105:1-4; Eph. 5:19; Acts 2:42), the reading of the Word of God (Luke 4:16-17), the preaching of the Word (Luke 4:18-20; Acts 13:5; 2 Tim. 4:1-2), and the administration of the sacraments (Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:23-24). This worship is to be spiritual and sincere (John 4:24). It is not to degenerate into a mere mechanical, ritualistic, or liturgical form (Matt. 15:8)" (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 7-8).

WCF. VI. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof - Q&A - Sections 1-6.

Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson's The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

Prior posts for WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures - Sections 1-10.

Prior posts for WCF. II. Of God, And of the Holy Trinity - Sections 1-3.

Prior posts for WCF. III. Of God's Eternal Decree - Sections 1-8.

Prior posts for WCF. IV. Of Creation - Sections 1-2.

Prior posts for WCF. V. Of Providence - Sections 1-7.

WCF. VI. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof.

Sections 1-2.

Sections 3-4.

Sections 5-6.