Thoughts from Under My House

This past week I've spent a couple of nights under my house. The recent flooding damaged my air conditioning unit. An older believer (relatively speaking!) was kind enough to "help" me with the project. I put help in quotes because basically he is doing everything while I hold the light.

We've discussed various things, but something came out in one of our topics which hasn't left my mind. A particular theological emphasis was being discussed which I have been reading about lately. I told him about an author I've been studying, who I felt gave a helpful contribution to the topic. After my explanation, he told me I was beyond him in understanding this particular emphasis. I don't doubt his sincerity one bit.

But that's what makes this brother so helpful. While everyone else was studying various nuances of theology as explained by the Reformers, he was systematically reading the Bible through and writing down every verse that relates to the various biblical subjects. While men were mastering what Theologian A believes about Theologian B, this brother was systematizing those verses, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture he came up with the Biblical emphasis and framework for each topic.

Now I know this brother reads other books. And no one would question the legitimacy of reading such books. But I sense he hasn't been content to send Moses on the mountain for him. His insight is fresh because he hasn't spent every waking moment studying the modern guys, who studied the Puritans, who studied the Reformers, who studied the Patristics, who (hopefully) studied the Bible.

Thousands of theological books are written every year - sometimes by the same author! And the conference circuit is completely out of hand. You basically get the same 5 guys with the same general emphasis at the same conferences every other week. Dear friend, we can spend all of our time mastering the thoughts of other men. But the crying need of the Church today is men who will be alone with God. Men who will climb the mountain and tarry with God in His Word until their hearts burn with fury against a wicked and perverted generation. Men who will not blindly follow a confession or creed, but will "examine the Scriptures to see if these are so."

Who knows how much of our theology is simply the philosophical baggage of a previous generation of theologians? We simply will not know until we are willing to lay aside the prestige of being up-to-date on who is saying what, and return to studying the Scriptures.

I assure you I feel my need in these matters.

"Worthless Prayer Meetings" - Paul Washer

This 6 minute clip contains excellent thoughts from Paul Washer concerning prayer meetings.

"The Church's Business" by A.W. Tozer

The business of the church is GOD. She is purest when most engaged with God, and she is astray just so far as she follows other interests, no matter how religious or humanitarian those interests may be.

There are a thousand useful and even noble pursuits in which the church may engage and which may bring her the plaudits of the world, but which are nevertheless unworthy of her utter devotion. Such are social activities or philosophical pursuits divorced from Him in whom all wisdom and knowledge is hidden away. As various things come to the Christian in his pursuit of God, they may have a proper and useful place in his life; but when they are chosen as ends to be followed, they are only cheap substitutes for the glory that excels all--God Himself.

For choosing God as our one all-absorbing interest, we Christians are sometimes scorned as being narrow-minded. But must we apologize that we have chosen Christ as our one object of interest? That we deliberately choose to walk with those who walk with God? That we have chosen eternity over the temporal and heaven over earth?

In so choosing, who have we injured? Whose son or daughter is worse for knowing us and our example? Who is a worse father, mother, or citizen for following Christ? No man, home, or nation is the worse for the presence of a real Christian. As Gerhard Tersteegen puts it:

"All things made my own,
Fearing God alone;
Walking with the Lord of glory
Through the courts divine,
Christ forever mine;
Say, poor worldling, can it be
That my heart should envy thee?"

Yes, beloved saint, our business is, and always shall be, God Himself.

What is the "Bad Eye" in Matt. 6:23? - John Piper

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I found this article helpful this morning in understanding a somewhat confusing passage:

The fighter verse (church-wide memory verse) for August 14, 2005 was difficult to understand. It seems to dangle in the Sermon on the Mount with little connection to what goes before and after: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).

Before it: the familiar saying about not laying up treasures on earth: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

After it: the equally familiar saying about not serving God and money: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

Therefore, the sayings before and after Matthew 6:22-23 deal with treasure or money. In fact, the first would flow really well into the second if we simply left out the intervening verses 22-23. The gist would be “Treasure God in heaven, not money on earth . . . because you can’t serve two masters, God and money.” So why does Jesus link these two sayings about money and God with a saying about the good eye and the bad eye?

The key is found in Matthew 20:15. Jesus had just told the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Some of them had agreed to work from 6 am to 6 pm for a denarius. Some the master hired at 9 am. Others at noon. Finally some he hired at 5 pm. When the day was done at 6 pm he paid all the workers the same thing—a denarius. In other words, he was lavishly generous to those who worked only one hour, and he paid the agreed amount to those who worked twelve hours.

Those who worked all day “grumbled at the master of the house” (Matthew 20:11). They were angry that those who worked so little were paid so much. Then the master used a phrase about “the bad eye” which is just like the one back in Matthew 6:23. He said, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15).

Unfortunately that last clause is a total paraphrase, not a translation. “Or do you begrudge my generosity” is a very loose paraphrase of “Or is your eye bad because I am good (ë ho ophthalmos sou ponëros estin hoti egö agathos eimi?)” The “bad eye” here parallels the “bad eye” in Matthew 6:23.

What does the bad eye refer to in Matthew 20:15? It refers to an eye that cannot see the beauty of grace. It cannot see the brightness of generosity. It cannot see unexpected blessing to others as a precious treasure. It is an eye that is blind to what is truly beautiful and bright and precious and God-like. It is a worldly eye. It sees money and material reward as more to be desired than a beautiful display of free, gracious, God-like generosity.

That is exactly what the bad eye means in chapter six of the Sermon on the Mount. And that meaning gives verses 22-23 a perfect fitness between a saying on true treasure (vv. 19-21) and the necessity of choosing between the mastery of God and the mastery of money (vv. 24).

So the flow of thought would go like this: Don’t lay up treasures on earth, but lay up treasures in heaven. Show that your heart is fixed on the value that God is for you in Christ. Make sure that your eye is good not bad. That is, make sure that you see heavenly treasure as infinitely more precious than earthly material treasure. When your eye sees things this way, you are full of light. And if you don’t see things this way, even the light you think you see (the glitz and flash and skin and muscle of this world) is all darkness. You are sleepwalking through life. You are serving money as a slave without even knowing it, because it has lulled you to sleep. Far better is to be swayed by the truth—the infinite value of God.

So if you are emotionally drawn more by material things than by Christ, pray that God would give you a good eye and awaken you from the blindness of “the bad eye.”

-Pastor John

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Thoughts from Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The fact is that the world expects us to be different; and this idea that you can win the world by showing that after all you are very similar to it, with scarcely any difference at all, or but a very slight one, is basically wrong not only theologically but even psychologically. Our Lord attracted sinners because He was different. They drew near to Him because they felt that there was something different about Him… this idea that you are going to win people to the Christian faith by showing them that after all you are remarkably like them, is theologically and psychologically a profound blunder. In this realm we are dealing with God, and our knowledge of God, and our relationship to God. So everything here must be ‘under God’ and must be done ‘with reverence and godly fear’. We do not decide this; we are not in charge and in control, it is God. It is His service, and He has to be approached ‘with reverence and with godly fear, because our God is a consuming fire’….light entertainment, easy familiarity and jocularity are not compatible with a realisation of the seriousness of the condition of the souls of all men by nature, the fact that they are lost and in danger of eternal perdition, and their consequent need of salvation.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, 139-140

Resurrection and Redemption - Thoughts From a Biblical Theological Perspective

Richard Gaffin wrote his dissertation on the centrality of resurrection in Paul's concept of salvation, which approaches the issue from a biblical theological perspective. His teaching on the subject has shaped my understanding of resurrection and the implications thereof more than any other extra-biblical source. The following links give an overview of his teaching (HT: GH):

P1 - Background of Biblical Theology
P2 - An Overview of Paul's Resurrection Theology
P3 - Christiological, Soteriological, and Ecclesiological Reflections
P4 - Practical Implications
P5 - Endnote - Redemption and Resurrection

These articles are a summary of Gaffin's book, Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Pauline Soteriology. I don't agree with all of his conclusions, but the book was ground-breaking for me in terms of understanding these aspects of theology.

A Global Audience: Rejoicings and Concerns

I have greatly benefited from access to preachers all over the world. I can listen to lectures at Covenant Seminary or masterful exposition from Zambia. We're not even limited to preachers alive today. Sermons from men like Tozer, Ravenhill, Murrell, and Lloyd-Jones are available to anyone with streaming capabilities. This is a cause for rejoicing.

But a concern also arises. Preachers now face to the temptation to preach to their internet audiences instead of their own congregations. Content is modified in order to accommodate the larger audience. If this happens, you can be assured the people of God will suffer. May God help us to stay sober-minded, and keep our hands to the plow.

Loved to the Uttermost

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"Having loved His own who were in the world
--He loved them to the end." John 13:1

The most wonderful thing in the universe, is
our Savior's love for His own people. Christ
bears with all our infirmities. He never tires
of our inconsistencies and unfaithfulnesses.
He goes on forever forgiving and forgetting.
He follows us when we go astray. He does not
forget us--when we forget Him. Through all
our stumbling and sinning, through all our
provocation and disobedience, through all
our waywardnesses and stubbornnesses,
through all our doubting and unfaithfulness
--He clings to us still, and never lets us go.
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake
you." Hebrews 13:5

"I give them eternal life, and they will never
perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of
My hand!" John 10:28

-J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures"

HT: Grace Gems

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Restraining Grace and Dormant Sin

Have you ever heard anyone talk about the grace of God to restrain a person from sin? The teaching says that if men were left to carry out all their desires they would end up making Hitler "look like a choir boy." This teaching is true. Though it is easy in an unbelieving state to be oblivious to it's reality, nonetheless, if God were not so merciful to us, we would show ourselves to be the monsters of sin that we are.

I've known this to be true for quite a while, but I often wondered if there were any bible verses that taught this. For a long time I could see the principle in the verse "What do you have that you have not received?" (1 Cor. 4:7). However, recently some other verses seemed to break open to me with even more explicit statements.

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Acts 7:42

But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?

Ps. 81:12

So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.

Rom. 1:24 (see also v26 and v28)

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

Isa. 64:7

There is no one who calls on Your name,
Who arouses himself to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

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What these verses teach is that there comes a point when God in judgment just sort of "lets a person go." They get freed to do a greater amount of sin that up until this point has been lying dormant in their heart. And the big thing to remember is these new sinful desires that they are delivered to are their own. When God hardens someone, or gives them over to sin, it's not as if he has to create evil in their heart to do it. It's like my pastor says, you don't have to work it in a thief to steal, you just have to leave him alone in front of some merchandise.

For the Christian:
Know that every unconverted person (including your old self), and this present world really is as evil as God says it is.

For the lost:
Fear for your life that God doesn't starting letting what's truly deep down in your heart come out. Repent while your heart is still soft enough to do so.

Bonar on Prayer

Our friend, Kevin Williams, posted these encouraging quotes from Andrew Bonar:

"I see that unless I keep up short prayer every day throughout the whole day, at intervals, I lose the spirit of prayer. I would never lose sight, any hour of the Lamb in the midst of the throne, and if I have this sight I shall be able to pray." Andrew A Bonar, Diary, 7th Oct 1860

"O Brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper- and sleep too- than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber."

"We have not been men of prayer. The spirit of prayer has slumbered among us. The closet has been too little frequented and delighted in. We have allowed business, study or active labor to interfere with our closet-hours. And the feverish atmosphere in which both the church and the nation are enveloped has found its way into our prayer closets…"

"Why is there so little forethought in the laying out of time and employment, so as secure a large portion of each day for prayer? Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why Is there so much running to and fro to meetings, conventions, fellowship gatherings and yet so little time for prayer'? Brethren, why so many meetings with our fellow men and so few meetings with God?"

"We Need Men of God Again" - A.W. Tozer

The Church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men. The talk is that we need revival, that we need a new [movement] of the Spirit--and God knows we must have both; but God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the Holy Ghost.

We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within--or from above.

This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have [powerful preachers] in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious retainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary. They will make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation.

Much that the church--even the evangelical church--is doing these days she is doing because she is afraid not to. Ministerial associations take up projects for no higher reason than that they are being scared into it. Whatever their ear-to-the-ground, fear-inspired reconnoitering leads them to believe the world expects them to do they will be doing come next Monday morning with all kinds of trumped-up zeal and show of godliness. The pressure of public opinion calls these prophets, not the voice of Jehovah.

The true church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her crusades. Her leaders heard from God and went ahead wholly independent of popular support or the lack of it. They knew their Lord's will and did it, and their people followed them--sometimes to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution--and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world.

Another characteristic of the true [man of God] has been love. The free man who has learned to hear God's voice and dared to obey it has felt the moral burden that broke the hearts of the Old Testament prophets, crushed the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ and wrung streams of tears from the eyes of the apostles.

The free man has never been a religious tyrant, nor has he sought to lord it over God's heritage. It is fear and lack of self-assurance that has led men to try to crush others under their feet. These have had some interest to protect, some position to secure, so they have demanded subjection from their followers as a guarantee of their own safety. But the free man--never; he has nothing to protect, no ambition to pursue and no enemy to fear. For that reason he is completely careless of his standing among men. If they follow him, well and good; if not, he loses nothing that he holds dear; but whether he is accepted or rejected he will go on loving his people with sincere devotion. And only death can silence his tender intercession for them.

Yes, if evangelical Christianity is to stay alive she must have men again, the right kind of men. She must repudiate the weaklings who dare not speak out, and she must seek in prayer and much humility the coming again of men of the stuff prophets and martyrs are made of. God will hear the cries of His people as He heard the cries of Israel in Egypt. And He will send deliverance by sending deliverers. It is His way among men.

And when the deliverers come . . . they will be men of God and men of courage. They will have God on their side because they will be careful to stay on God's side. They will be co-workers with Christ and instruments in the hand of the Holy Ghost. . . .

HBC Missions Conference 08

I returned a few days ago from the Heritage Baptist Church Missions Conference in Owensboro, Kentucky. It was a wonderful time in many different ways, and I'm so thankful that the Lord opened the door for me to go. The audio for the conference has recently been posted; I would especially recommend Session 9 and Session 10 from Paul Washer.

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Bringing Health to a Trembling Faith

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“The cross which is the object of faith, is also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the cause of it. Sit down and watch the dying Saviour till faith springs up spontaneously in your heart. There is no place like Calvary for creating confidence. The air of that sacred hill brings health to trembling faith.”

- C. H. Spurgeon, All of Grace (Chicago, Ill.: The Moody Press, n.d.), 75.

HT: Of First Importance

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Some Concerns with the Reformed Resurgence

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A Little bit of Comfort for Machen's Worrier Children

by Carl Trueman

In the fall of 2006, Christianity Today's Collin Hansen wrote an article which pointed to the fact that, for all of the hoo-hah about the Emerging/ent Church, there was a growing interest among young Christian people in America in traditional Reformed theology. If Hansen was right, then it was not Brian McLaren who was the man of the moment: more likely contenders included John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Al Mohler and C J Mahaney.

Well, Collin Hansen has now expanded that CT article into a small book for Crossway, Young, Restless and Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. The book is not long (160 pages, including index), nor is it a difficult read, but it is a fascinating insight into the revival of Reformed thinking among young people and, as such, something of an encouragement, albeit not an unmixed one, for those of us who like our rock music pre-1980, our movies pre-1960, and our theology pre-1690. Even better, this is no theological equivalent of a tie-dye tee-shirt or lava lamp - you know, that postmodern ironic nostalgia of the `it's so out it's in, daddy-oh' kind. Rather it seems to have genuine depth. After all, one would have to be very, very committed to postmodern irony to try to read those dreadful, illegible double-columned Edwards volumes from Banner of Truth simply for the nostalgia value. Indeed, Edwards in the Yale edition is scarcely any more readable.

There are numerous interesting aspects to the book. Particularly fascinating is the description of the amazing turnaround at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the mid-1990s, when Dr Al Mohler, at the impossibly young age of 33, became President and took the institution by storm. Not only did he dare to think the unthinkable - that, against all the historical evidence, a seminary could be recaptured for inerrancy. Indeed, he has built a first-rate Faculty on that basis, and Southern's return to orthodoxy has proved the foundation for its current success in recruiting students and graduating pastors and missionaries.

As time has gone on, Mohler's Calvinism has perhaps been even more controversial within SBC circles than his commitment to inerrancy, and Hansen gives interesting insights and hints about struggles that are yet to come to full fruition within the Convention. Of course, inerrancy on its own is clearly never enough: it must be connected to a matrix of other doctrines and practices; and once the tide had turned on the issue of the Bible, attention in the SBC inevitably turned to other things. Alliances were put under strain and even in some cases broke down, with old allies becoming new opponents. Nevertheless, even here there are grounds for encouragement. It is, after all, good to see that in the SBC Calvinist-Arminian struggle, the Calvinists are putting the lie to their traditional image through their impressive record in arrears of church planting and missionary recruitment.

Nevertheless, I confess to ambivalence, to both encouragement and concern, at what Hansen describes. On the encouragement side, it is clearly wonderful that the old theology of the Reformed Orthodox and the Puritans continues to speak today. This is not a surprise to those of us who believe it is, well, basically true (forgive the outdated modernist use of the word `true' at this point but, hey, I am an outdated modernist after all. So what do you expect?). It is also exciting to realize that this new zeal for solid theology does not always have to be combined with an uptight social and political conservatism that longs for the enlightened days of Genghis Khan's domestic and foreign policies (hey, he was kind to his grandchildren.....) and the kind of women's fashions made popular by Little House on the Prairie. Even better - the good news for us men is that, no, there is no necessary connection between vital Christian faith, drinking only Lite Beer, and buying your clothes based on recommendations from the fashion pages of Professional Librarian Monthly, no matter what the excess of wide-lapelled plaid jackets, kipper ties, curly sideburns and horn-rimmed glasses on your local church's session might indicate.

Yet, as I note above, I am ambivalent at points. There are causes for concern even amidst all the good news. At the heart of this revival - and this is both the strength and the weakness of the movements described - are a set of powerful personalities linked to powerful movements or conferences. The name of John Piper looms large in the narrative, but there are others: R C Sproul, the T4G guys, Joshua Harris, Mark Driscoll etc. Without such dynamic figureheads and the organizations around them, it is doubtful that the movement would have made the impact on young people which it has done. Nevertheless, the dangers here are several. First, there is the absence of the church at key points. Now, this criticism needs to be nuanced. All of those mentioned above are churchmen, and none would wish to see their conferences or their personalities becoming in some way substitutes for the institutional church. Yet the danger is always there whereby people become attached to the man rather than to the message or to the church. We are commanded to love the body of Christ; and our leaders are useful only to the extent that they are instrumental to that end.

There are hints in Hansen's account that this substitution of the man or the ministry might well have taken place in some cases. I find myself disturbed by the account of the man who loves Piper, and company, has embraced the doctrines of grace with zeal, but who continues to attend at Adventist church, apparently on the grounds that that is where he can be a kind of missionary for Calvinism. But the church is surely not a mission field; rather, it is the place where Christians are fed and watered and grow to maturity. Put bluntly, you don't get fed at conferences and through reading books in order to go to church to evangelize the couple next to you in the pew. To the extent that the Reformed revival does not make this connection, or leaves it optional, to that extent it is not really Reformed or biblical.

This leads to my second concern: how much of this is about personality/movement cults? We all know that there are sociological reasons why individuals join groups, be they churches, the Freemasons, or the local exotic slug breeding association. A sense of belonging is important to humans as social beings; and beliefs get strengthened and reinforced through contact with other like-minded people, especially when guided by a strong type-A personality or a highly-organized and coherent group. After all, putting ferrets down your trousers is generally frowned upon as an impolite, if not dangerously subversive, social aberration in much of the civilized world; but in parts of Yorkshire I suspect that it is a prized skill among members of the Antediluvian Order of Ferret Trouserists, as attractive to females of a certain age as the plumage of a typical peacock is to a peahen - or at least, that's what I've been told. But a sense of belonging and social value does not validate a belief or a practice, or even, in the case of ferret trousering, make it advisable.

These, point to the dilemmas which the new Reformed movement must face: how much is this movement about genuine belief and how much is social belonging? And for its leadership: how much is about genuine mission, and how much is about self-promotion and self-perpetuation?

To take the former, it is, of course, true that churches, like any movement, are also vulnerable to the criticism that they provide a social framework for creating and reinforcing beliefs through a sense of belonging etc. That is unavoidable: human beings are social animals; and we are also more than brains on sticks. That some churches go off the rails very quickly after the passing of a key minister is testimony to the failure of some ministries truly to penetrate the pew. Nevertheless, the church is the God-ordained social structure for believers. Like democracy, she may be far from perfect, but she is better than any of the alternatives. Thus, one test as to whether the new Reformed revival is really a movement of substance and not simply a disparate collection of personality cults is to see whether the church is being built up and strengthened. Thankfully, there is evidence that this is the case: for example, the church planting endeavors of the SBC; and Hansen's own conclusion - that the revival is at its strongest in the small churches, working away week by week in the routine matters of preaching the gospel and being the church. Yet those who can hear and believe all the wonderful teaching and still return to an Adventist church as a mission field give the rest of us some pause for thought.

As to the latter - what we might call the temptations of leadership - the concern has to be deeper. When does a leader cross the line between promoting the kingdom and promoting himself? When does a ministry cease to exist for any other reason than providing its leader with a good salary, a flashy car, and a platform for pontification? Hansen's book makes it clear that powerful personalities have shaped this movement, even at the level of the language used, where the followers have started to use the very turns of phrases which are the hallmarks of their leaders. Again, there is nothing necessarily wrong with this; but the temptations of leadership are as manifold as the temptations of those looking for a guru to do their thinking for them; and the need for leaders to distinguish between making followers of themselves and forming disciples of Christ, precisely the problem Paul highlights in 1 Corinthian 1. One could put it really bluntly: to whom are parachuch ministries and leaders accountable? Unless this question is answered - indeed, unless it is asked on a regular and self-critical basis, the young, restless and Reformed might find their movements either dying out with their leaders or, worst case scenario (if the leaders go ga-ga), heading off into the Utah desert to do something rather unpleasant (and I'm not simply thinking about ferrets and trousers at this point).

I end on a personal note. I was struck that my own institution, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, so often regarded in times past as the bastion of all things Reformed, merits only a single mention in the text and nothing at all in the index. A sign of the times? A testimony to a missed opportunity? Ironically, at the very moment when Hansen published his original article, WTS was hosting a conference on the Emerging Church. Strange times when the bastion of Reformed theology plugs the postmodern conversation as the way forward just as the influential organ of mainstream evangelicalism points to Reformed theology as the wave of the future. There's a lesson here for those Reformed types who are always fretting about how their theological heritage can possibly speak to the present day: don't panic; God's truth is still powerful; just do what you are supposed to be doing. Machen's worrier children don't need to hammer their swords and spears into candlesticks and incense bowls. The old theology still speaks afresh to a new generation.

The original article can be found here.

HT: JT

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He was a Stutterer

I was especially blessed by these two things in, "He was a Stutterer," by James Alexander Stewart.




"We had one thing in common; the three of us were text-carriers. We carried gospel placards through the busy streets and would sometimes shout out gospel texts as we walked. We were fools for Christ's sake."

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James Stewart recounting his reluctance to pray for the physical healing of his stuttering friend, Herbert Brown:

"I am afraid that I only prayed halfheartedly for full deliverance, for I knew many great evangelical pulpiteers who could soar to great heights of oratory, but who had no power. They had eloquence and diction, but there was something sadly lacking in their ministry. After all, for what did we preach the gospel except for the salvation of lost men and women on their way to eternal damnation? What good is a beautiful sermon if it leaves the sinners unmoved in their seats? Herbert got results in personal and public ministry, and that is what really mattered. I was convinced that even though a dear brother in the Lord possessed as many as three college degrees and if he were the most polished speaker of Great Britain, all this learning and polish would go for nothing unless the mantle of the Holy Spirit rested upon him in love and power. On the other hand, I had seen already, even as a young man, how God had used ordinary common instruments whom the Christian leaders would have cast aside and despised. This was a supernatural work in which we were engaged. It was true that God used human personalities, but if these personalities trusted their own words of wisdom alone, then it were better to have a handicap which makes one realize his utter dependence on God."

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The full booklet can be ordered at www.revivallit.org.

Clear the Ground for Yourselves

Joshua 17 talks about the inheritance of the land for the tribes of Israel. The verses below specifically made me think of growth in grace and victory in spiritual battles.

Joshua 17:14-18

Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, "Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the LORD has blessed me?" And Joshua said to them, "If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you." The people of Joseph said, "The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel." Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, "You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong."

What do these particular circumstances teach us about walking with the Lord? Well let's summarize what happened. The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are complaining because the portion of land given to them by lot didn't seem to be enough to fit all their people. Joshua gives them some simple advice to remedy their situation: clear the ungodly nations out of the land, and then you'll have enough room. The people then respond by saying that the nations are too strong to drive out. Guess what Joshua says... "No they're not. Now go drive them out!"

I thought this was good in that it pictures the Christian life. Many times we look at what we have received from the Lord in terms of spiritual strength and giftedness and think we are lacking, and if only we had some kind of extra lot and blessing we would be better off. But this is what it comes down to... When we desire to walk closer with Christ and claim more spiritual ground, we ought to set ourselves to actively fight the battles right in front of us with the strength that the Lord has made available to us. Rather than just asking for some kind of easy way out or golden ticket to godliness we should set our faces like flint to be victorious over what immediately plagues and ails us. God has made us strong in him. We are more than conquerors through Christ. If you have any kind of defeated Christian mentality you can throw it to the wind. The Lord wants us to clear the ground for ourselves through the help of his Spirit that he has placed within us.

Notice too, that while there is definitely a divine and sort of "behind the scenes" aspect to our sanctification, here we see a very active and upfront aspect. Joshua says, "You are strong, now quit asking for more land and get out there and claim what I've already given you!"

There are no shortcuts in the Christian life; and more spiritual gifts, or more access to good sermons, or even more free hours in the day are not going to do you one lick of good unless you are using the ones you have already been given.

Blessings to you today, my friend.

Announcement: Lozi Summit - Hannibal, MO

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For twenty years, HeartCry Missionary Society has been devoted to indigenous missions. While maintaining this original focus, HeartCry is now preparing to send their first cross-cultural mission team to work with indigenous believers in establishing a church. On Saturday, July 19th, HeartCry and Calvary Baptist Church in Hannibal, Missouri are partnering to present a mini-conference on the Lozi work. We want to inform interested churches and individuals about ongoing efforts to establish a true church among the Lozi people of Zambia. Come learn about the origin of this mission in a Hannibal church and how the vision has grown. Get the facts on the progress and remaining steps in placing our team on the field. Rejoice in God's provision for this work. Catch a vision for a people in need of the Gospel. Above all, celebrate the exaltation of Jesus' name among the nations!

SCHEDULE FOR HEARTCRY CONFERENCE ON THE LOZI WORK

Saturday, July 19

1:00 pm - Welcome and prayer .... Bro. Jeff Anderson
1:05 - 2 Congregational Songs
1:15 - History of Calvary's Work with the Lozi .... Bro. Jeff Anderson
1:25 - Special Music
1:30 - "A Biblical Vision and Strategy for Missions"....Bro. Paul Washer
2:30 - Prayer Time

2:45-3:00 pm - Break

3:00 pm - Prayer and 2 Congregational Songs
3:10 - Testimony
3:20 - The History of and Vision for the Lozi Work .... Shannon Reece
· How did we get to this point?
· What will our ministry look like?
· How are logistics progressing?

4:20 - Question and Answer Time .... Bro. Paul, Shannon, Sean
5:20 - Prayer Time

5:30-7:00 pm - Dinner Break

7:00 pm - Prayer and 2 Congregational Songs
7:10 - Testimony
7:20 - Special Music
7:30 - "Christ Exalting His Name Through Nobodies" .... Sean Reece
8:20 - Closing Song

8:30 pm - Open Prayer Meeting for the Lozi Work


CONTACT INFO:
Calvary Baptist Church
4605 W. Ely Road
Hannibal, MO 63401
(573) 221-1404
www.cbchannibal.com

Sean Reece
HeartCry Missionary Society
(256) 381-7510
sreece@heartcrymissionary.com

HT: Chad T

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Have We Misunderstood the Great Commission?

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I just began reading Robert Culver's book A Greater Commission recently, in which he argues that the vast majority of evangelicals have misunderstood the "Great Commission" of Matthew 28:18-20. This is from the preface of the book:

Most missionary promotion among our churches and students seems to rest on what is taken to be a command of Jesus, especially as reported in Matthew 28:19, 20 and Mark 16:15. If the basis of a mission of "sending" out evangelists with home support is some command of Jesus' during His post-resurrection ministry some striking problems arise, namely:

1) Why is there no trace of this in any stage of church history before near the end of the 18th century?

2) Why doesn't the word send appear in the commission somewhere? The word go is there but gets somehow transformed to send.

3) The Apostles all heard Jesus speak these words. If it was a command to go or send why did most of them then stay in Jerusalem for decades until driven out by threat of the Roman siege?

4) Why did Peter fear either to eat non-kosher food or to company with Gentiles if Jesus had commanded the disciples to go to Gentiles to preach?

5) Why did God have to stand Peter on his head, so to speak, to get him to go to Cornelius' house at Caesarea?

6) Why was Peter so fearful he took six trusted men along as witnesses to his unprecedented mission to Gentiles?

7) Why were the leaders of the Jerusalem Church initially displeased at what Peter did at Caesarea? Did they not know about any "Great Commission" to send missionaries of the gospel to the whole world?

8) Why initially did the preachers of the early chapters of Acts address their message to "the people" of Israel, not to the Gentiles if the now current popular understanding of Matthew 28:19, 20 is the same as theirs?

9) And finally, when Paul turned to evangelize Gentiles why did he always find his primary authority in Old Testament prophecy--especially in his appeal for help in a ministry to Gentiles in Spain (Rom. 15:8-12) or to the simple logic of Romans 10:14-17. Paul seems utterly unaware of any command of Christ to mount a world-wide evangelistic mission to Gentiles.

He then goes on to lay out his basic position to be filled out in the remainder of the book:

The purpose of this book is to bring renewed attention to the mandate for the Christian mission of world evangelism as found in Christian history and the Bible and to direct fresh consideration to important passages of the New Testament that previously have not been placed anywhere near the center of a biblical theology of principles and practices for disciples taking part in the mission of world evangelism.

Moving these four rather large texts--Matthew 10 and 13, and Romans 10 and 15--to center perhaps will give a more substantial basis for uprooting some from workplace, home and family, to go away on a mission than was previously thought to exist. Perhaps a firmer demand upon all the rest to join in sending and supporting will also stand forth. Perhaps Matthew 28:19-20 and the other Great Commission texts in the last chapters of the gospels mean simply and compellingly that all Christians must take the gospel along wherever they go, as obviously all the visitors present at the first Christian Pentecost did, while Matthew 10 and 13 tell believers how to do that task and what to expect when they do it. And perhaps Romans 10 and 15 direct believers to do something still more and provide the scriptural basis for missions in the biblical theology of the apostle Paul. Perhaps these Pauline texts are the strongest possible source of the greater commission sometimes phrased: "If you cannot go yourself, then send someone else."

Do our readers have any thoughts to contribute on this?

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Sin's Deceptive Disguises

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Sin lives in a costume, that's why it's so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party.

Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.
Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty.
Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer.
Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership.
Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart.
The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom.

Evil simply doesn't present itself as evil, which is part of its draw.

You'll never understand sin's slight of hand until you acknowledge that the DNA of sin is deception. Now what this means personally is that as sinners we are all very committed and gifted self-swindlers. I say all the time to people that no one is more influential in their own lives than they are because no one talks to themselves more than they do. We're all too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good. We're all much better at seeing the sin, weakness, and failure of others than we are our own. We're all very good at being intolerant of others of the very things that we willingly tolerate in ourselves. The bottom line is that sin causes us to not hear or see ourselves with accuracy. And we not only tend to be blind, but to compound matters, we tend to be blind to our blindness.

What does all of this mean? It means that accurate-self assessment is the product of grace. It is only in the mirror of God's Word and with the sight-giving help of the Holy Spirit, that I am able to see myself as I actually am. In those painful moments of accurate self-sight, we may not feel as if we are being loved, but that is exactly what is happening. The God, who loves us enough to sacrifice his Son for our redemption, works so that we would see ourselves clearly, so that we would not buy into the delusion of our own righteousness, and with a humble sense of personal need, seek the resources of grace that can only be found in him.

- Paul Tripp, Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy

HT: JT

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Divine Sovereignty and Prayer

"For You, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house'; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You."
2 Sam 7:27 (emphasis mine)

Contrary to popular belief, divine sovereignty does not discourage prayer. The biblical position is actually just the opposite.

Pictures of Bangladesh

- Click on the pictures to enlarge -

Seeking God

I recently watched an exchange about fasting on a Reformed site. A person requesting advice on the issue was exhorted to simply fast and see what God reveals. I don't believe that's the best advice, but the next comment caught my attention.

"That's crazy talk. We're Reformed. We don't do things. We read about them!"

He was obviously being humorous, but the point was well taken. And the point has implications for both our doctrine and practice. We younger evangelicals who appreciate the Calvinistic formulation of divine sovereignty stand in unprecedented danger. The danger for our generation is to live off of our hero's doctrine and experiences. The resurgence in Calvinistic literature has created a resurgence in reading. And this resurgence has opened to our generation a portal through Church history which is rich in doctrinal and experiential content. I can easily stand with Whitefield as he thunders forth the Gospel to coal miners. I can listen for hours to the intercession of Howell Harris as he pours out his burden before the Lord. I can watch Carey lay down his life for the pagans of India.

But this isn't the end. I can study under Edwards, Hodge, and Owen. I can learn to preach from Spurgeon and Maclaren. The possibilities are only limited by my book allowance!

But this is exactly where danger enters. The danger is to spend the majority of my time living off the doctrine and experiences of other men. Instead of pressing into the Throne of Grace, I meet other men on their way out to hear stories of what it's like inside. Instead of spending hours pouring over Paul's argument in Ephesians, I send these men up on the mountain for me, and sit in awe as they descend to tell of the awesome majesty.

Yes I need Edwards. Yes I need Harris. I need them all. They make wonderful guides, but a poor vine. But don't you long to see the things they saw, and hear the things they heard?

"So let know, let us press on to know the Lord. For His going forth is as certain as the dawn" Hosea 6:3"

The Uniqueness of Christ

“His zeal never degenerated into passion, nor his constancy into obstinacy, nor his benevolence into weakness, nor his tenderness into sentimentality. His unworldliness was free from indifference and unsociability, his dignity from pride and presumption, his affability from undue familiarity, his self-denial from moroseness, his temperance from austerity. He combined child-like innocence with manly strength, absorbing devotion to God with untiring interest in the welfare of man, tender love to the sinner with uncompromising severity against sin, commanding dignity with winning humility, fearless courage with wise caution, unyielding firmness with sweet gentleness. He is justly compared with the lion in strength, and with the lamb in meekness. He equally possessed the wisdom of the serpent and the simplicity of the dove. He brought both the sword, against every form of wickedness, and the peace of the soul which the world cannot give. He was the most effective, and yet the least noisy, the most radical, and yet the most conservative, calm, and patient, of all reformers. He came to fulfill every letter of the law; and yet he made all things new. The same hand which drove the profane traffickers from the Temple, blessed little children, healed the lepers, and rescued the sinking disciple; the same ear which heard the voice of approbation from heaven, was open to the cries of the woman in travail; The same mouth which pronounced the terrible woe on hypocrites, and condemned the impure desire and unkind feeling as well as the open crime, blessed the poor in spirit, announced pardon to the adulteress, and prayed for his murderers; the same eye which beheld the mysteries of God, and penetrated the heart of man, shed tears of compassion over ungrateful Jerusalem, and tears of friendship at the grave of Lazarus. These are indeed opposite traits of character, yet as little contradictory as the different manifestations of God's power and goodness in the tempest and the sunshine, in the towering Alps and the lily of the valley, in the boundless ocean and the dew-drop of the morning. They are separated in imperfect men, but united in Christ, the universal model for all.

Yet this Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient or modern times.”

Phillip Schaff, The Person of Christ