God-Centered, Other-Centered, and Servant-Speaking

Every day we demonstrate the power of saying yes and no to ourselves about our own use of language. Speaking is a series of consequential decisions about what to say and how and when to express it. By saying no to some of our language (i.e., by not speaking it), we are freer to say yes to God's Word -- and then to communicate the Word to others by how we live as well as by what we literally say (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 30-31).

This is applicable in public speaking, certainly. But even more so person-to-person, namely, within a marriage. Speech is powerful and reality-defining. The tongue is a fierce and mighty thing, and a husband and wife must always be discerning what to say and how and when to express it.

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4

Husbands and wives must demonstrate the power of saying yes and no to their selves with their use of language. The demands of a biblical marriage calls each spouse to be other-centered; it is not concerned with one's own feelings or thoughts of how one's spouse needs to make them feel, e.g., the wedding vows:

I, ___, take you, ___, to be my wedded [wife/husband], to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's Word, and for His glory, I give thee my word.

To do this, you need to bind mercy (lovingkindness) and truth about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart. Say "no" to self-centered language, and you will be freer to say "yes" to God's Word (freer to say "yes" to being God-centered). And God's Word instructs believers to be servants and servant-speakers, that is, to be both God-centered and other-centered.

Merciful Kindness

Psalm 119:76, Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

Guilt of Pinterest

"My wife says Pinterest exists to help guilt-ridden mothers feel guiltier by offering a million ways to be a more perfect mother than you could ever possibly hope to be. And then she still uses it. At Christmas" (Jake Mentzel in The Warhorn, Vol. 1, Issue 4).

God

"God's lordship is a deeply personal and practical concept. God is not a vague abstract principle or force but a living person who fellowships with His people. He is the living and true God, as opposed to all the deaf and dumb idols of the world. Knowledge of Him, therefore, is also a person-to-person knowledge. God's presence is not something that we discover through refined theoretical intelligence. Rather, God is unavoidably close to His creation. We are involved with Him all the time" (John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 17).

Disciplines of a Godly Man, Chapters 1-5

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:

This is a call for breaking a "spiritual sweat" for the sake of Spiritual Discipline, i.e., 1 Tim. 4:7 -- "Train yourself to be godly." Connotes casting off all that is getting in the way of godliness; disciplining yourself so you are unencumbered.

Men, we will never get anywhere spiritual without a conscious divestment of the things that are holding us back. What things are weighing you down? The call to discipline demands that you throw it off. Are you man enough? (p. 14)

 We must check our motives for spiritual discipline.

For many, spiritual discipline means putting oneself back under the Law with a series of Draconian rules which no one can live up to -- and which spawn frustration and spiritual death. But nothing could be farther from the truth if you understand what discipline and legalism are. The difference is one of motivation: legalism is self-centered; discipline is God-centered. The legalistic heart says, "I will do this thing to gain merit with God." The disciplined heart says, "I will do this thing because I love God and want to please Him." There is an infinite difference between the motivation of legalism and discipline! (p. 15)  

 Section 1 - "RELATIONSHIPS"

Author brings up the most important areas for which a man needs to be disciplined, i.e., personal purity, marital faithfulness/discipline, fatherhood, etc. The author does not skirt around the important issues but brings them up right away and addresses them head-on.

Chapter 2 - Disciplines of Purity

The story of King David's sexual sin with Bathsheba, and his subsequent breaking of all the rest of the 10 Commandments, is a sober reminder that no one is above temptation (2 Samuel 11). Be humble and never let your guard down. Beware of "rationalization".

Just when we think we are the safest, when we feel no need to keep our guard up, to work on our inner integrity, to discipline ourselves for godliness -- temptation will come! (p. 24) 

 Chapter 3 - Disciplines of Marriage

Break a spiritual sweat and discipline yourself in marital faithfulness. Also, do not take your wife for granted. Marital love ought to be a sanctifying love, a love that is efficacious. A benchmark for godly disciplines within marriage:

Is my wife more like Christ because she is married to me? or she like Christ in spite of me? (p. 38)

 Men need to strive for excellence in the discipline of communication in their marriages. Husbands need to be disciplined listeners.

The stereotype is the husband buried in the morning newspaper at breakfast, preferring to read a news agency report of the latest scandal in a European government, the scores of yesterday's athletic contests, and the opinions of columnists whom he will never meet rather than listen to the voice of the person who has just shared his bed, poured his coffee, and fried his eggs, even though listening to that live voice promises love and hope, emotional depth and intellectual exploration far in excess of what he can gather informationally from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Christian Science Monitor put together [Quotation from Eugene Peterson's Working the Angles](p.41).

 Chapter 4 - Disciplines of Fatherhood

We must discipline ourselves so that our hearts are turned towards our children. Scripture demands that we not exasperate our children, therefore, we must put on the discipline of "tenderness." Being "busy" is not the same thing as being disciplined. This truth especially applicable to fatherhood.

Men, time is the chrysalis of eternity -- there is no other time but the present. I realize we all go through periods in our lives when we have little time for our families -- it is part of the natural rhythm of life. But excessive "busyness" must not be by choice -- as it so often is! We must beware of packing our schedules by saying "yes" to things which mean "no" to our families. Now is the time to take time. There is no other! Will you do it? (p. 54)

 Chapter 5 - Disciplines of Friendship

Jesus Christ is the chief example for the discipline of friendship -- Christ's example teaches us that Christian friendship is efficacious, it elevates others.

The deepest of friendships have in common this desire to make the other person royalty. They work for and rejoice in the other's elevation and achievements. There are no hooks in such friendships, no desire to manipulate or control, no jealousy or exclusiveness -- simply a desire for the best for the other" (p. 62).

No matter what our disposition, we need to work at friendliness. We need to be consciously cheerful. We need to ask questions. We need to place ourselves in situations where friendships happen. . . . Men, we must place ourselves in the ways of friendship: an adult Sunday school class, a home Bible study, a men's Bible study, a men's breakfast group, men's retreats, and, especially, a service in some ministry of the church. Women are so much better at this than men. We must learn from them to take the initiative (p. 65).

Be a Wise-Writer

Words are powerful and words are reality-defining. Therefore, as J. C. Ryle said, "Be wise in your youth. Write the word "poison" on all earthly pleasures" (Thoughts for Young Men, 29).

Sola Scriptura - "The wisest council of advisors."

Peter Leithart's recent musings on sola scriptura. His concluding thought:

To open the Bible is to gather the wisest council of advisors: Moses and Samuel, David and Solomon and the Chronicler, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Ezekiel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Jesus, Paul, James and Jude and John. I’ll put that up against any list of theologians you’d care to compile.

Making a Bee-Line for Hell

"Contempt of holy things is the straight road to hell" (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 36).

Avoid the Love of Pleasure

"Remember, again, if you cling to earthly pleasures, they will all be unsatisfying, empty, and pointless. . . . All that glitters is not gold. All that tastes sweet is not good. All that please for a while is not real pleasure" (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 29).

The Acts of God

"Redemptive-historical preaching aims at discerning God's nature in terms of God's action. God reveals who he is not chiefly by propositions but by reported action" (Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship, 88).

We worship and serve the living God. The God of action has chosen to self-disclose himself through divine revelation.

Danger of Thoughtlessness

"Men will not consider, will not look ahead, will not look around them, will not reflect on the end of their present course, and the sure consequences of their present days, and wake up to find they are damned for a lack of thinking. . . . Believe me, this world is not a world in which we can do well without thinking, and least of all do well in the matter of our souls. "Don't think," whispers Satan; he knows that an unconverted heart is like a dishonest businessman's financial records--they will not bear close inspection. "Consider your ways," says the word of God--stop and think--consider and be wise. The Spanish proverb says it well, "Hurry comes from the devil." Just as men marry in a rush and then are miserable with their mate, so they make mistakes about their souls in a minute, and then suffer for it for years" (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 32-33).

Beware of Pride

"Young men, if you would be wise, if you would be happy, remember the warning I give you--Beware of pride" (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 26).

Closing Prayer: March for Life, Billings, MT

Yellowstone Valley Christians for Life sponsored the local March for Life here in Billings on Sunday, January 19th. We gathered at Soup and Such and marched to the Court House, where Mike Rapkoch, member of YVCfL, provided a brief talk before keynote speaker Dr. R. C. Sproul, Jr. (RC Jr. also provided the opening prayer at the Court House.) I had the privilege of leading the crowd in a closing prayer.

###

1:30 PM
Sunday, January 19, 2014
March for Life
Billings, MT

Our Father in Heaven, sanctify us through thy word; thy word is truth (John 17:17). We praise you for Jesus Christ, for having ransomed sinners like us from sin’s curse. We praise you for Jesus Christ, who prays for us and intercedes on our behalf right now at your right hand in Heaven. And we thank you for the gift of the Holy Ghost, who regenerated us—giving us new natures, making you our Heavenly Father.

O Lord, we are reminded of what Christ told his disciples: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Lord, we know that tribulations occur according to your all good and wise providence, and that they are the means by which you cultivate our faith and craft our souls to desire you, our Triune Lord, more and more and more. And Lord, we do not fear tribulations; for You are our strength and defense (Psalm 59:9).

And Lord, because you are our strength and defense, we pray and ask and beseech that you would teach us how to be both a strength and defense for the innocents—teach us how to be penitent defenders of the unborn and of the downtrodden. We also pray for our prayers: fill us with your Holy Ghost, and in filling us make us powerful and diligent, make us humble and submissive before you in prayers-of-repentance and prayers-of-intercession on the behalf of children in the womb. And we pray for the salvation of men: we pray that you would give the gift of saving faith to the fathers and mothers whose hearts have turned away from their children; we pray that you would give the gift of saving faith to the butchers who perform abortions, that they might confess their sin, repent, and find salvation in the Redeemer-Jesus.
 
And Father, we pray to you corporately:

 

Prayer to End Abortion

 

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift

 

of my life,

 

and for the lives of all

 

my brothers and sisters.

 

I know there is nothing that destroys more life

 

than abortion,

 

yet I rejoice that you have conquered death

 

by the Resurrection of Your Son.

 

I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.

 

Today I commit myself

 

Never to be silent,

 

Never to be passive,

 

Never to be forgetful of the unborn.

 

I commit myself to be active

 

in the pro-life movement,

 

and never to stop defending life

 

until all my brothers and sisters are protected,

 

and our nation once again becomes

 

a nation with liberty and justice,

 

not just for some, but for all.

 

Through Christ our Lord, Amen!



"Young men, take to heart the Scriptures just quoted."

"Young men, take to heart the Scriptures just quoted [Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 8:2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5; John 13:15 (Christ is a young man's great example.); 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:7, 8; 1 Kings 3:8 (Regarding the wisest man that ever lived--King Solomon.); Proverbs 26:12]. Do not be too confident in your own judgment. Stop being so sure that you are always right, and others wrong. Don't trust your own opinion when you find it contrary to that of older men and especially to that of your own parents. Age gives experience, and therefore deserves respect" (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 25-26).

Private Prayer

Regarding private prayer, Charles Spurgeon said: "The more you are on your knees alone the better."

The Puritans on the Covenant of Grace

Westminster Confession of Faith, 7.2, 3. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works. . . . Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the Covenant of Grace; whereby he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved. . . .

Westminster Confession of Faith, 7.5. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying Christ to come, which were for that time sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the Old Testament.

The following excerpt is taken from A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life; it is the Conclusion of a chapter titled "The Puritans on the Covenant of Grace." 

A basic grasp of the covenant of grace helps students of Reformed theologians in the Puritan tradition to understand their basic approach to interpreting the Bible. From the very entrance of sin into the world, God revealed His plan for redemption (Gen. 3:15). As that revelation is unfolded and enlarged through successive covenants, the plan of God for the salvation of His people becomes ever more clear. In other words, From Genesis to Revelation salvation remains firmly centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit applying the benefits of Christ's redemptive work to those whom the Father has chosen for everlasting life and given to His Son. The covenant of grace is two-sided (dipleuric) in its administration. salvation is trinitarian, involving the three persons of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit brings sinners into union with Jesus Christ by producing faith in the elect. 

Upon believing and receiving forgiveness of sins, believers are instated into covenant with God and required to live a life of holiness in obedience to His commandments. this was as true for Abraham, Moses, or David as for Peter and the apostles, and the same is true for God's people today. For that reason, the covenant of grace unites the people of God into one family, both Jews and Gentiles, all who are partakers of a gracious salvation that was planned in eternity and realized in time. Saints in the Old Testament looked forward to Christ's coming to accomplish His redemptive work, whereas saints in the New Testament and beyond remember and rejoice in that work as wholly accomplished in His death and resurrection. For that reason, Christ assumes the central place in redemptive history, which is nothing but the unfolding of the mystery of the covenant of grace (Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, 278).

Public and Private Prayers

In Lectures to My Students, Charles Spurgeon urges his students to not go long in public prayers, he suggests public prayers be confined to approximately ten minutes, but he then goes on to note, "Our Puritanic forefathers used to pray for three-quarters of an hour, or more, but then you must recollect that they did not know that they would ever have the opportunity of praying again before an assembly [emphasis added, CCS], and therefore, took their fill of it; and besides, people were not inclined in those days to quarrel with the length of prayers or of sermons so much as they do nowadays" (62). After noting this Spurgeon provides the caveat, "You cannot pray too long in private."

A Daniel We All Are

"The Church at the present time is in a temporary state analogous to that of Israel when she sinned against God. The Church is in something of an "exile." Individual Christians at this point in history are in a situation analogous to that of Daniel in exile. This Christian "diaspora" is not permanent, however, Christ's prayer will be answered, and there will be visible unity in the Church again. This unity will be the work of God. it will be a visible unity based in Christian truth, not a Roman uniformity based on late medieval papal theories or an ecumenical unity based on compromising the essentials of the faith [Think - Evangelicals and Catholics Together]. It will be a biblical and ecclesiastical unity under one Lord, confessing one faith, and administering one baptism. The one visible Church will once again recognize and confess the rightful role of Scripture and her proper relationship with it" (Keith A. Mathison, The Shape of Sola Scriptura, 325).

Benchmarking Spiritual Church Growth Via Community Impact

"Another mark of spiritual church growth is community impact. Some remarkable results followed the ministry of the early church. In Acts 4, Peter and John are in the hands of the authorities as a result of their preaching and healing ministry. After the trial the writer declares that these authorities "took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." There stood the man who had been healed. The miracle was evident. . . . If we imagine that a spiritual impact on a community will always involve social acceptance, we are mistaken. But whatever the response, we must not be satisfied until the neighborhood around us becomes aware of our presence, and as a result, recognizes our relationship to the living Jesus Christ" (Harold L. Longenecker, Building Town and Country Churches, 83).

Longenecker provides a couple benchmarks for ascertaining spiritual growth in a local church:

1. Find out if "the neighborhood around [the local church] becomes aware of [their] presence,"
2. Find out if the neighborhood "recognizes [the local church's] relationship to the living Jesus Christ."

In order to know these, a local church must:

1. Proclaim Jesus to the neighborhood, and--
2. Then listen to the neighborhood.

Poem: This is the Covenant of Grace

A poem by William Geddes (1600-1694) about the Covenant of Redemption, made between the God the Father and God the Son, and the Covenant of Grace, made between (by the mediation of Jesus) the Triune God and Mankind--the poem demonstrates how the former covenant is the ground of the latter covenant.

This is the Covenant of Grace,

Which brings my Soul so sweet solace.

There is a gracious paction

Betwixt the Father and the Son.

 

And by the Son, with Adam's race,

Who should repent, and seek his grace.

The Son unto the Father spake,

I will Man's nature on me take.

 

I will my self a ransom give,

For the Elect that they may live:

Come, Son, (quothe He) if thou do so,

They shall be saved from Hell and woe.

 

The Father to poor man he saith,

If thou believe with saving Faith,

In this my Son I'll give thee peace:

Eternal Love shall thee embrace.

 

(Quoted in Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, 257-258.)