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.