Baptism at its most basic

Baptism is a central component of the Great Commission because baptism marks us out as followers of Christ and assures us that by faith we have been forgiven by God. There's a lot that can be said about the meaning of baptism. It signifies our dying and rising with Christ. It signifies our sprinkling with the blood of Christ. It signifies our union with Christ. All of this is true and worth our contemplation. But at the most basic level, the water of baptism reminds us that our sins have been washed away. All our stains have been wiped clean by the sin-scrubbing detergent of God's grace.

DeYoung, Kevin. The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism. Chicago, IL: Moody, 2010. Print. 128 - Emphasis mine.

The cross

I'm thinking on the cross this morning. I am reassured by this fact this morning: what the world and the devil used as a life-taking device became for us a life-giving device. 

I am edified this morning knowing that a sinful killing device has become a sin-killing device. 

I am encouraged that this soul-from-body separating device became a son-to-Father reconciling device. 

The cross. Its wondrous!

Practical Ways to Love Christ

Here is another great article from Counseling One Another:

8 Practical Ways to Love Christ

September 27, 2011 by Paul Tautges

Here’s some solid counsel from J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) concerning 8 practical ways our love for Christ should express itself. I’ve taken liberty to trim back the word count a bit. Read the full article, “Loving Christ…Practically” here.

1. If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation. He comes up before our mind’s eye many a time in the day. Though perhaps far distant, he is often present in our thoughts. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! Christ “dwells in his heart,” and is thought of more or less every day (Eph. 3:17). The true Christian does not need to be reminded that he has a crucified Master. He often thinks of Him.

2. If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report which others make of him. We are all attention when others talk about him, and describe his ways, his sayings, his doings and his plans. Some may hear him mentioned with utter indifference, but our own hearts bound within us at the very sound of his name. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ. The true Christian delights to hear something about his Master. He likes those sermons best which are full of Christ.

3. If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother. Others may see little worth notice in the letter. They can scarcely take the trouble to read it through. But those who love the writer see something in the letter which no one else can. They carry it about with them as a treasure. They read it over and over again. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian delights to read the Scriptures, because they tell him about his beloved Savior.

4. If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice and do the things which he approves. We even deny ourselves to meet his wishes, abstain from things which we know he dislikes and learn things to which we are not naturally inclined, because we think it will give him pleasure. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian studies to please Him, by being holy both in body and spirit.

5. If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favorably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love to one and the same person. When we meet them we do not feel that we are altogether strangers. There is a bond of union between us. They love the person that we love, and that alone is an introduction. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian regards all Christ’s friends as his friends, members of the same body, children of the same family, soldiers in the same army, travelers to the same home.

6. If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honor. We do not like to hear him spoken against, without speaking up for him and defending him. We feel bound to maintain his interests and his reputation. We regard the person who treats him ill with almost as much disfavor as if he had ill–treated us. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian regards with a godly jealousy all efforts to disparage his Master’s word, or name, or church, or day.

7. If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation. However silent and reserved we may be to others, we find it easy to talk to a much–loved friend. However often we may meet, we are never at a loss for matter to talk about. We have always much to say, much to ask about, much to describe, much to communicate. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian finds no difficulty in speaking to his Savior.

8. If we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking and hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more. We long to be always in their company. We wish to be continually in their society, and to hold communion with them without interruption or farewell. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The heart of a true Christian longs for that blessed day when he will see his Master face to face.

Nothing Better

Question 60. How are thou righteous before God?


Answer: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.

I continue to be encouraged and amazed by the wonderful truths propounded in the Heidelberg Catechism as well as the commentary of that doctrinal statement by Kevin DeYoung in his book The Good News We Almost Forgot.

Daily my conscience accuses me that not only am I guilty of transgressing God's commandments, but also that sin 'crouches at the door' and I regularly invite it in! But daily-moment by moment-the Spirit also reminds me that "the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ" has been granted and imputed to me! God considers me righteous despite my sin and it is "as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me!" Seriously, what's better than that!

From Strawberry Rhubarb Theology

Q & A with Jonathan Edwards
 

A few questions on the Christian life . . . I requested one- to two-word answers only.

Jon, what ignites the Christian life? How does it all get started?

JE: New birth.

Having begun, what then is the essence of the Christian life? What's the heart and soul of Christian living? What is most definitive of it?

JE: Love.

What is the fuel for the Christian life? How do we keep loving? What's the non-negotiable of all non-negotiables that will keep us going?

JE: Joy.

Where do I go to get this joy? How can I find it? What, concretely, sustains it, through all the ups and downs of life?

JE: The Bible.

But as I go to the Bible, what do I do with it as I read? How do I own it, make it mine, turn it into this joy-fueled love?

JE: Prayer.

What then is the overall flavor of the Christian life? How would you describe the aroma, the feel, of following Christ?

JE: Pilgrimage.

If joy, Bible, prayer, and all the rest go in, all under the flavor of pilgrimage, what comes out? What is the result of Chistian life?

JE: Obedience.

Broading out our scope, then, how do we make sense of the all this in a macro way? What is the context for the Christian life?

JE: Redemptive history.

What then, finally, does all this funnel into? What, above all else, is the hope of the Christian life?

JE: Heaven.

St. John, Marquis, Strutt, and Norcross Cottage Trip

This was an awesome weak!

Must reads

Michael Horton is a preacher/theologian/author who I appreciate. It is interesting to here these book suggestions.

Christianity.com Video 4 – What books should all Christians read?

Obviously Christians should be students and readers of the Holy Scriptures, but Mike was asked to name five other books that Christians should read. This discussion is recorded in the fourth video from Christianity.com.

Beveridge on sin ... I can relate

From Ray Ortlund's blog:

Beveridge on Original Sin

“I cannot pray but I sin.  I cannot hear or preach a sermon but I sin.  I cannot give an alms or receive the sacrament but I sin.  Nay, I cannot so much as confess my sins, but my very confessions are still aggravations of them.  My repentance needs to be repented of, my tears need washing, and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over again with the blood of my Redeemer.”
William Beveridge, Private Thoughts (London, 1720), page 52.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Matthew 5:4

ESV Bible Translators

This is fascinating!

Church!

I came across this little jewel at Counseling One Another:

6 Reasons to Be a Faithful Member of a Local Church

It is our conviction that every Christian should be an active member of a Bible-teaching local church. As believers in Christ, we are members of His body and must discipline ourselves to be actively involved in ministry as a way of life. Here are some specific reasons why you should be a committed member of a solid, Bible-teaching local church.

1. You follow the pattern set forth in the New Testament. Although the word “membership” itself is not used the principle is present in the New Testament. For example, most of our NT books are letters that were written to specific groups of people who had chosen to identify themselves with Christ and each other. The word “church” is almost always used to refer to a specific group of people who in some way had committed themselves to serving the Lord and one another in the same ministry location. Numbers were known (Acts 1:15, 2:41, 4:4), rolls were kept (1 Tim. 5:9), servants were selected (Acts 6:2-5), discipline was practiced (1 Cor. 5:12-13), worship was corporate (1 Cor 14:23), and shepherds knew for whom they were responsible (Heb. 13:17). If you are a part of the body of Christ by virtue of repentant faith in Jesus Christ then you should want to make that association visibly known through church membership.

2. You have a greater opportunity to use your spiritual gifts. At the moment of your conversion the Holy Spirit came to live inside of your body (1 Cor 6:19). When He did this, He brought along the spiritual gift(s) that He sovereignly chose for you to possess for the blessing of the church (1 Cor 12:7, 11). As we use our gifts, we are being good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). Can you use your spiritual gift without joining a church? Yes, but in many churches many ministry opportunities are limited to church members only. This is as it should be. Unity in doctrine, purity of life, and accountability are necessary for a healthy Christian life. The process of becoming a member also gives the existing leadership the opportunity to discern one’s agreement in doctrine, ministry purpose, and goals; thus enabling them to know where best you may serve.

3. You become a more committed part of a spiritual family. Joining a local church demonstrates a certain level of commitment. It shows that you want to be more than a bystander, that you want to be involved in ministry in a more significant way. Joining a local church is like entering into a covenant relationship with other believers in order to love them as an active part of a spiritual family (1 Jn 4:7).

4. You ensure a balanced Christian life. By nature we all have the tendency to gravitate toward extremes. God’s design for the church—as a multi-faceted body whose members are interrelated and interdependent—provides the ideal atmosphere for balanced Christian growth. As we sharpen each other, our continual contact with other believers promotes balance. In his book, Spiritual Disciplines within the Church: Participating fully in the body of Christ, Donald Whitney writes, “No one develops the proper spiritual symmetry just by listening to Christian radio, watching Christian television, or reading Christian books.  You can’t get this kind of maturity merely by participating in a group Bible study. Unless you’re an active part of a local church, your Christian life and ministry will be imbalanced.”

5. You avail yourself of the wisdom of a multitude of counselors. God never intended for us to live our lives independent of others or above them. He desires for us to develop relationships of accountability with other Christians. According to Proverbs 11:14, in the abundance of counselors there is victory. The local church is a great place to find wise counsel and direction from spiritual leadership and older more mature believers (Titus 2:1-8). These relationships will help guide you in the many decisions that you face in life so that you may discern God’s good and perfect will.

6. You experience the joy of serving others. God has re-created us in Christ Jesus for the purpose of bringing glory to Him by bearing fruit (Eph 2:10; John 15:2).  The fruit of the Spirit is primarily manifested in our relationships with others (Gal 5:22-23). Believers are to follow the example of Christ the Master Servant (Jn 13:15). By joining a local church, you are agreeing with God that one of the ways to bear fruit in the Christian life is by serving others.

For a fuller study of the subject of church membership download a free PDF study guide.

Book Review - The Beginning and End of Wisdom

I'm not a pastor. The Beginning and End of Wisdom: Preaching Christ from the First and Last Chapters of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job is clearly a book aimed at, and written for, preachers. So why did I read it? I'll get to that, but let me start and tell you a bit about this fine book.

The book, written by Douglas Sean O'Donnell, is composed of three parts: sermons on passages of Scripture found in the Wisdom Literature, appendices, and some explanatory and introductory sections. I'll explain why I, a layperson, would read a book directed towards preachers when I look at the explanatory and introductory segments. First, however, let us consider the sermons.

The bulk of this book contains sermons, written out and adjusted for a book, that find their foundational Biblical passages in three books of wisdom; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Specifically, the sermons come from the first and last chapters of those Old Testament books.

The first sermon focuses on Proverbs 1:1-7 and in considering the beginning of the book of Proverbs it naturally fixates on the beginning wisdom; the fear of the Lord. O'Donnell discusses the need for wisdom stating, “We all need wisdom. And not just wisdom in the massive decisions of life but in our everyday relationships with their moment-by-moment choices ... Thankfully, our gracious God has not left us to our own devices. He has given us ... the book of Proverbs” (35). From the need for wisdom he deftly moves into a compelling and original discussion on the fear of the Lord. From there he moves on to the ultimate teacher on and embodiment of wisdom, Jesus Christ. He finishes with an appeal for men and women to call out for Wisdom, to call out for Christ.

The second sermon is built on Proverbs 31:10-31, the famous passage of the 'excellent wife'. This sermon considers two questions “What should a man look for in a wife?” (48) and “How does a woman earn the praise of the world around her?” (57) The answer, gleaned from the Scripture verses under consideration; “He should look for someone who models the servanthood of Christ” (60) and she earns praise by “being a servant like Christ, by putting self last and others first” (60). O'Donnell weaves Christ into the sermon with ease. Focusing on wise counsel for men and women is good advice. Showing Jesus' glory in the process is good gospel.

“Why Work?” is the title of the third sermon that is drawn from the pages of Ecclesiastes. The first 11 verses of this book presents us with, according to O'Donnel, vanity of work. Emphasizing Solomon's contention that in work there is nothing new and nothing remembered, he indicates the world's response to this idea; escapism, nihilism, and hedonism. Covering these philosophical positions in a manner that would be comfortable for all, O'Donnell shows that it takes “Gospel Glasses” to see that work is validated and valuable because of Christ. Jesus has even redeemed work: “Through Christ your work can be substantial and lasting” (76).

The fourth sermon, “Repining Restlessness”, engages the thirteenth and fourteenth verses of the last chapter in Ecclessiastes. Confronted by the vanity of worldly work, worldly wisdom, and worldly pleasures, O'Donnell presents a solution to these vanities claiming, “Fearing God and obeying his commands is God's solution, and as such it is the only solution that truly satisfies” (85). The motivations to overcoming these futile feelings, writes the author, are joy and judgement. O'Donnell quickly points to Christ who is both the true judge and true joy.

Moving to the book of Job, we read a sermon on verses 1 through 12 of the first chapter. O'Donnell offers three trials that we, like Job, will face: the test of losing possessions, the test of losing health and the test of loved ones turning against you. These trials are overcome by having three roots; knowledge that suffering can be good, trust in God's providence, and belief in the resurrection. The Christ-connection quickly becomes apparent as O'Donnell almost imperceptibly introduces Christ to the equation.

Finally, Job 42:1-17 is the fodder for sixth sermon. O'Donnell presents two of God's questions revealed in the text. Do the righteous ever suffer? Is God just if and when the righteous suffer? Through exposition of the passage, O'Donnell displays God's answer to both questions. Yes. This sermon is highlighted by a fascinating explanation of the wisdom presented by Job's friends. I never knew how I should consider their advice and admonitions. So much of what they said seemed right, and yet God was clearly displeased with their counsel. O'Donnell brings clarity to this sometimes confusing component of the Canon.

All said, the 6 sermons are wonderful examples of preaching from the wisdom literature. In the foreword, Sidney Greidanus sums them up well, “These six sermons are model sermons that will inspire and teach you how to preach Christ from Old Testament wisdom” (15). And this leads us to an earlier question. Namely, why would a layperson read a book on preaching from the Wisdom Literature of the Bible. The answer can be found by considering the introductory and explanatory sections of this book.

In the Preface, the author boldly and unabashedly declares what this book is about: “In short this is a book on what the Wisdom Literature is, why we should delight in it, and how we should preach it” (23) So, if you're wondering why non-preachers like you and I should read this book consider the first two suggestions O'Donnell makes for the content and purpose of his book. I want to know what the Wisdom Literature is and I want to delight in it. Perhaps I'll never preach from it, but as Meatloaf memorably sang, “Two out of three ain't bad.” And in light of those criteria, knowledge and delight, this book is a resounding success. I feel I understand the intricacies of this biblical genre better and I am relishing the opportunity to read them again. And should I so choose, I just my preach to myself from those books.

O'Donnell, Douglas Sean. The Beginning and End of Wisdom: Preaching Christ from the First and Last Chapters of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011. Print.

Self-absorbed days

I have been using the Kevin DeYoung book, The Good News We Almost Forgot, as a devotional for just over two weeks. What a wonderful journey it has been so far. As DeYoung unpacks the Heidelberg Catechism, the beauty of this creed is brought to life. And the Creed itself is a moving piece of literature, powerful without any commentary. I highly recommend it.

Today I read the Catechism's questions contained in the 19th Lord's Day reading. In that reading appears the following question and answer:

Q. How does Christ's return "to judge the living and the dead" comfort you?

A. In all my distress and persecution I turn my eyes to the heavens and confidently await as judge the very One who has already stood trial in my place before God and so has removed the whole curse from me. All his enemies and mine he will condemn to everlasting punishment: but me and all his chosen ones he will take along with him into the joy and the glory of heaven.

Here is a small excerpt from DeYoung's commentary on this section:

When you stand before the holy Son of God at the end of the age and all your deeds and thoughts are laid bare for the whole world to see-all your petty jealousies, all your lustful glances, all your murderous thoughts, all your self-absorbed days-there will be nothing to fear. There is no chance that Christ will look you up and down and cry out "Curse this one!" because HE already became a curse for us. We can no more be condemned at the throne of God's judgment than God can condemn Himself a second time.

This is wonderful news! It's wonderful, particularly for me, because one phrase pierces my soul this morning; self-absorbed days. Too many of my days, most of my days, are self-absorbed. Too much of my focus, most of my focus, is on my rights and my needs and my ill-contrived sense of what I deserve. Thank God that Christ absorbed the wrath of God for all my self-absorbed days. There is great comfort in looking to the return of Christ because all that self-absorption will not condemn me and those dreadful days will be replaced with innumerable Christ-absorbed days where we worship Him in glory!

Cheerful Labor

I hope that, as you join with your church this morning, you have a wonderful time of worship and fellowship. And as you head home, and your mind begins to drift to Monday and the work you must do, think on this encouraging piece by Tony Reinke who shares similar great stuff at his blog called Miscellanies.

Charles Spurgeon said the following in sermon #537 delivered on October 18, 1863:

Labor is light to a man of cheerful spirit!

You can work all day and almost all night, when the spirits are right. But once let the heart sink and your soul lack encouragement, and then you grow weary, and cry, “Would God it were evening, and the shadows were drawn out, that we might rest from our toil.”

Success waits upon cheerfulness.

The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has success guaranteed.
He who sows in hope shall reap in joy.

He who trusts in the Lord and laughs at impossibilities, shall soon find that there are no impossibilities to laugh at, for to the man who is confident in Jehovah, all things are possible. It is thus of paramount importance that the spirits of the Christian should be constantly kept up.

When God saves you He ...

I came across this at Blogging Theologically:

A helpful breakdown of 20 things that God does when He saves you, courtesy of Norm Millar, Senior Pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel London.

When God saves you, He…

1. Regenerates you, moving you from spiritual death to life. (John 3:1-8)
2. Redeems you, buying you out of slavery to sin. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
3. Justifies you, declaring you innocent in His sight. (Romans 5:1-9)
4. Sanctifies you, setting you apart as holy. (1 Cor 1:2,30)
5. Forgives you of all your sins. (Ephesians 1:7)
6. Cleanses you, removing from you the stain of sin. (Hebrews 9:14)
7. Reconciles you to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)
8. Seals you with His Spirit as a guarantee of your future hope. (Ephesians 1:13)
9. Indwells you, sending the Holy Spirit to live in you. (Romans 8:9)
10. Adopts you, making you His child. (Romans 8:14-17)
11. Baptizes you into Christ’s body, the Church. (1 Corinthians 12:3)
12. Illuminates your mind so you can understand the Scriptures. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
13. Makes you a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
14. Reveals you as one of His elect. (Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:29-30)
15. Grants you eternal life. (John 11:25-27, 1 John 5:11-13)
16. Names you an heir with Christ. (Romans 8:17)
17. Grants you an inheritance. (1 Peter 1:3-4)
18. Declares you a saint. (Romans 1:7, Colossians 1:2)
19. Grants you new citizenship, making your home heaven rather than this world. (Philippians 3:20)
20. Makes you a slave of Christ, a slave with the greatest, most glorious Master that any could ask for. (1 Corinthians 7:22-23)

Praise God for the assurance that comes from these great truths.

For The Baseball Fans

Here's a recent post from DeYoung's blog that really hit home (pardon the pun) with me as a huge baseball fan.

Lee Congdon:

Even the greatest teams, such as the ’53 Dodgers, fail to win championships more of than they win them. In their best years, the greatest hitters—Rogers Hornsby, Ted Williams—failed to hit safely 60 percent of the time. “The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the cliche has it, but my guess,” Joseph Epstein has observed, “is that for those who have undergone both, the memory of defeat in sports is stronger and sharper.”

This is true, and for good reason. Life too, as Kahn suggested, is primarily about losing: losing parents and other loved ones, friends, jobs, health, memory—life itself. Such losses are painful, but like losses in sports, they teach the valuable lesson of human limitation and shed light on the meaning of life and the paradoxical words of Christ (St. Matthew 16:25): “For whoever will save his life shall lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Baseball and Memory, 73).

Our rights vs. His rights

Our rights vs. His rights:

Being a Christian means dying to ourselves and surrendering our rights to another. The rejection of Jesus Christ is sometimes an intellectual problem and sometimes an ignorance problem, but it is always a surrender problem. We don’t easily submit ourselves to any authority, let alone One who claims dominion over every aspect of our lives. But Jesus has the right to be Lord over our rights.

Christ, according to Ursinus, can claim lordship over our lives for four reasons: by right of creation (He made us), by right of redemption (He saved us), by reason of preservation (He keeps us), and with respect to ordina- tion and appointment (God has exalted Christ and placed all things in sub- jection under His feet). Christ’s rule, then, is not some arbitrary authority by virtue of a military coup or political nepotism. His claim of lordship is well-founded.

Remember too, His lordship was also costly. Jesus Christ didn’t establish His authority by taking prisoners, executing judgment, and shedding the blood of His enemies. He is Lord because He shed His own blood, bore God’s judgment, and set the captives free. He purchased our bodies and souls with a commodity far more precious than stocks or bonds. He redeemed our lives by loving us enough to lose His own.

DeYoung, Kevin. The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism. Chicago, IL: Moody, 2010. Print.

Too much interest in the best of us

Pride. That serious and seductive sin that would separate us from God and man. This excerpt is one in which Richard Baxter, Puritan pastor, address and undresses this terrible and tyrannical transgression in the ministers of the gospel. But we would all do well to listen. Pride is not prejudiced; it putrefies all people.


One of our most heinous and palpable sins is PRIDE.

This is a sin that hath too much interest in the best of us, but which is more hateful and inexcusable in us than in other men.

Yet is it so prevalent in some of us,
that it inditeth our discourses,
it chooseth our company,
it formeth our countenances,
it putteth the accent and emphasis upon our words.

It fills some men’s minds with aspiring desires, and designs: it possesseth them with envious and bitter thoughts against those who stand in their light, or who by any means eclipse their glory, or hinder the progress of their reputation.

Oh what a constant companion,
what a tyrannical commander,
what a sly and subtle insinuating enemy,
 is this sin of pride!

It goes with men to the draper, the mercer, the tailor: ‘it chooseth them their cloth, their trimming, and their fashion.

Fewer ministers would ruffle it out in the fashion in hair and habit, if it were not for the command of this tyrannous vice. And I would that this were all, or the worst.

But, alas! how frequently doth it go with us to our study, and there sit with us and do our work!
How oft doth it choose our subject, and, more frequently still, our words and ornaments!
God commandeth us to be as plain as we can, that we may inform the ignorant;
and as convincing and serious as we are able, that we may melt and change their hardened hearts.

But pride stands by and contradicteth all, and produceth its toys and trifles. It polluteth rather than polisheth; and, under pretense of laudable ornaments, dishonoreth our sermons with childish gauds: as if a prince were to be decked in the habit of a stage-player, or a painted fool.

It persuadeth us to paint the window, that it may dim the light: and to speak to our people that which they cannot understand; to let them know that we are able to speak unprofitably.

If we have a plain and cutting passage, it taketh off the edge, and dulls the life of our preaching, under pretense of filing off’ the roughness, unevenness, and superfluity.

When God chargeth us to deal with men as for their lives, and to beseech them with all the earnestness that we are able, this cursed sin controlleth all, and condemneth the most holy commands of God, and saith to us, ‘What! will you make people think you are mad? will you make them say you rage or rave? Cannot you speak soberly and moderately?’ And thus doth pride make many a man’s sermons; and what pride makes, the devil makes; and what sermons the devil will make and to what end, we may easily conjecture.

Though the matter be of God, yet if the dress, and manner, and end be from Satan, we have no great reason to expect success.

(Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2001. Print. 137-8, line breaks mine)

Examine your state

In his classic on sanctification, Walter Marshall, like many strong Christians from days gone by, encourages readers to examine their lives. Interestingly, his standard for this examination is not his feelings, his friends' thoughts about him, or even logically deduced judgments. The standard is the Word. Those who find themselves in a state of grace should be comforted and strengthened. Those who find themselves under wrath and in sin; come to Christ.

Another means to be used diligently for the promoting the life of faith is examination of our state and ways according to the Word, whether we be at present in a state of sin and wrath, or of grace and salvation; that, if we be in a state of sin, we may know our sickness and come to the great Physician while it is called today; and, if we be in a state of grace, we may know that we are of the truth, and assure our hearts before God with greater confidence, by the testimony of a good conscience (1 John 3:19, 21); that so our hearts may be more strongly comforted by faith and established in every good work; and that, if our ways be evil, we may turn from them to the Lord our God through Christ; without whom none come to the Father (Lam. 3: 40; John 14:6). 

But your great care in this work of self-examination must be to perform it in such a manner that it may not hinder and destroy the life of faith, as it does in many, instead of promoting it. 

Therefore, beware lest you trust upon your self-examination, rather than upon Christ, as some do, that think they have made their peace with God merely because they have examined themselves upon their sick bed, or before the receiving of the Lord's Supper, though they have found themselves stark naught, and do not depend on Christ to make them better, but on their own deceitful purposes and resolutions.

What a charge

 Richard Baxter to his fellow ministers of the gospel:

It is the Church of God which we must oversee – that Church for which the world is chiefly upheld, which is sanctified by the Holy Ghost, which is the mystical body of Christ, that Church with which angels are present, and on which they attend as ministering spirits, whose little ones have their angels beholding the face of God in heaven.
 

Oh what a charge is it that we have undertaken! 

And shall we be unfaithful to it? 

Have we the stewardship of God’s own family, and shall we neglect it? 

Have we the conduct of those saints that shall live for ever with God in glory, and shall we neglect them? 

God forbid!

Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2001. Print.

Hitchens, Wilson, and Evil

A great response by Doug Wilson to Christopher Hitchen's recent article in Slate magazine:

Simply Incoherent

Maybe it is just me, but Christopher Hitchens is at his very best when he is making sense. This is something he does, with his usual vim, in a recent article for Slate entitled “Simply Evil.” In it, he makes short work of the kind of anti-Americanism that tried to turn 9/11 into something complex enough for an obfuscating intellectual to puzzle over. He nails those who tried to blame the attacks on “the Bush administration or the Jews.” And for those who held up a simplistic tit-for-tat blowback explanation, Hitchens dutifully pulls their shirts over their heads and rolls down their socks.
And at the same time, Hitchens defends himself ably against charges that he must have turned into a rah-rah Americano by pointing out that he was a named plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU against the National Security Agency concerning warrantless wiretaps. He also arranged to have himself waterboarded in order to argue persuasively to his readers that such practices did indeed constitute torture. He wrote critically and honestly on the subjects of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and he has formally registered his contempt for the security theater fraud perpetrated, at an airport near you, by uniformed members of the TSA.
All this is Hitchens doing what Hitchens does best, and he does it for most of his article. And then, fulfilling the promise of the title (“Simply Evil”), he veers into incoherence at the very end when he only had about two column inches to go. It was like watching a bicycling Tour de Something rider, 50 yards ahead of the nearest competitor, anticipate the finish line by raising both hands above his head, at which point he triumphantly bites it.
“The regimes of Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fully deserve to be called ‘evil.’”
Evil? Since the 2009 publication of God is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens has spent a great deal of energy trying to persuade all of us that the idea of God is a false and pernicious one. But now he ups and calls these bad guys … evil. Given the premises, what might the definition of that be? Who determines what is evil and why? By what standard? But there may be a wiggle-room word in there. Hitchens only said they deserve to be called evil. But that generates the same questions. By whom? And whoever that person is, how did he wind up in charge of our moral lexicon? Was there an election? Did I miss a meeting? And what weight does being called evil have? When Hussein and Kim Jong Il and Ahmadinejad pass into the same gray nothingness that will swallow the greatest altruists and the sweetest grandmas who ever lived, will those men then care that some people (back where consciousness is still going on) are calling them evil? Sticks and stones …

Just Imagine

Evil? Imagine there’s no heaven, Lennon urged us. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us—nothing to kill or die for. If you say things like this, certain other things follow. Hitchens has been in the front ranks of the new militant atheists, and he has made a great show of being the kind of contrarian who is willing to say absolutely anything, provided it only be true. We have to grow up, Hitchens has said. We have to reject outmoded concepts. We have to get rid of the idea that there is a God in heaven, telling us the difference between right and wrong. But if these things be true, then there are other things that follow. For some reason, Hitchens is willing to affirm the premises but will not own any of the obvious conclusions. You cannot throw away your suitcase at the beginning of your journey, and then, as you are nearing the end of the trip, pull out all the things that you packed in it. There may be shrewd ways of avoiding baggage handling fees, but that’s not one of them.
If there is no God, then Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have no God. But if they have no God, then it follows that Hitchens is not their god either. And if Hitchens is not their god, why should they care what he calls them? There is no god, and Hitchens is not his prophet.
Evil? Unless such men are treated as evil men, there is no justice. And if there is no actual justice (not paper justice, not name-calling justice, but actual justice), then there really is no such thing as evil. If there is no such thing as final justice, then how can we manage to define the concept of injustice? Hitchens wants to call them evil after they are largely out of ear shot. Let us all agree to call Stalin evil. On Hitchens’s account of things, does Stalin care?
Hitchens may counter that he fully intends to fight them. He fully intends to treat them as evil, and his article was a call to arms. All right then. Is evil then determined by who wins that fight? Does this fight have a referee? Is there a rulebook? Who wrote it?

Overlooking the Obvious

Hitchens began his article by saying that one of the great lessons of geopolitical punditry, one that should be heeded more by public intellectuals, is the need to not overlook the obvious. But the concept of evil has more than one obvious characteristic. Hitchens rightly points out that its facticity is one of those characteristics. There is such a thing as evil, and there are people who are simply given over to it. Thus far we agree. But another obvious thing about evil is that it is the kind of thing that requires a grounded definition. It is the kind of assessment that requires backing. If someone identifies something as evil, the questions why? and who says? are entirely reasonable questions. And the answer has to consist of something more substantive than simply repeating the charge that it is evil.
Hitchens says that 9/11 was a “direct confrontation with the totalitarian idea, expressed in its most vicious and unvarnished form.” He goes on to say that we should prepare ourselves for the conflict—”Let this and other struggles temper and strengthen us for future battles where it will be necessary to repudiate the big lie.” His atheistic rhetoric is full of borrowed theistic words. He sounds like totalitarianism is objectively bad. His approach would seem to indicate that being vicious is a sin. The big lie would be a violation of the Ninth Commandment, of course, but I thought we had explained all that.
I for one am glad that Hitchens wants to repudiate the big lies. I am glad that he stands against vicious totalitarian ideas. Thus far I can applaud him. But in order to stand against anything, however obviously bad it is, you must have something to stand on.
Douglas Wilson is the minister of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. His debates with Christopher Hitchens are documented in the film Collision.

Wesley, Regeneration, and Justification

At The Scriptorum, Fred Sanders offers a great word on Wesley's view of justification and regeneration. It is well worth the read.

It’s one thing to be forgiven, and another thing to be born again. Both happen at once, but they are distinct from each other. They have to be distinguished clearly, in order to be united perfectly. It’s hard to know whether it’s more important to distinguish them, or to insist that they go together. John Wesley may have been the most successful at distinguishing and uniting them in his preaching.

Nearly everything Wesley taught flowed from his understanding of the new birth, because the new birth (or regeneration) is where the great salvation proclaimed in the gospel actually enters into human experience. It is “a vast inward change, a change wrought in the soul, by the operation of the Holy Ghost.” And it is crucial that we see how Wesley related this doctrine, a doctrine about a change that takes place in the human subject, to the great objective truths of salvation in Christ.

Sermon 45, entitled simply “The New Birth,” begins with the important distinction: “If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two; the doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth.” Note carefully how Wesley goes on to relate these two doctrines. He is not famous for his careful theological distinctions, but on this point he is ruthlessly, incisively cautious. Justification and regeneration must be distinguished from each other precisely so they can be held together; they must be understood to be different if they are to be recognized as inseparable. Justification, says Wesley, is a doctrine “relating to that great work which God does for us, in forgiving our sins,” while regeneration relates to “the great work which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature.” Justification is for us, regeneration in us.

The two certainly belong together: “on the one hand, …whosoever is justified, is also born of God, and on the other, …whosoever is born of God, is also justified;” in fact, it is certain “that both these gifts of God are given to every believer in one and the same moment.” Both happen at once: “In one point of time his sins are blotted out, and he is born again of God.” They occur simultaneously in the “order of time,” but logically, conceptually, or in the “order of thinking,” justification comes first. “We first conceive his wrath to be turned away, and then his Spirit to work in our hearts.”

For this reason, Wesley cautions against confusing them, an error he says is all too common. “But though it be allowed, that justification and the new birth are, in point of time, inseparable from each other, yet they are easily distinguished, as being not the same, but things of a widely different nature.” And following out the “for us” versus “in us” logic, Wesley distinguishes them further:

Justification implies only a relative, the new birth a real, change. God, in justifying us, does something for us; in begetting us again, he does the work in us. The former changes our outward relation to God, so that of enemies we become children; by the latter our inmost souls are changed, so that of sinners we become saints. The one restores us to the favour, the other to the image, of God. The one is the taking away of the guilt, the other the taking away of the power, of sin.

The distinction is perhaps even clearer if we think of regeneration as initial sanctification. The same irreversible order applies to the relationship between justification and sanctification, as Wesley points out in Sermon 5, “Justification by Faith.” Justification is primarily a matter of being forgiven.

It is not being made actually just and righteous. This is sanctification; which is, indeed, in some degree the immediate fruit of justification; but nevertheless, is a distinct gift of God, and of a totally different nature. The one implies, what God ‘does for us’ through his Son; the other, what he ‘works in us’ by his Spirit.

Regeneration is the first moment of that sanctification, the instant when God (working in us by his Spirit) places holiness in us and makes a change to our actual state. A justified sinner is forgiven, but his character has not been changed by the act of justification (which God does for him through his Son). The regenerate person, however, has a character which has been changed by God’s intervention. He has been “made actually just and righteous,” at least in principle and as the beginning point of a process that, as it continues to develop, will be recognized outwardly as sanctification.

Justification is the imputing of righteousness to the believer, and regeneration is the implanting of righteousness into that same believer. Both happen at once, but they are different things. They belong together as the concerted actions of the one God, who “implants righteousness in every one to whom he has imputed it.” They belong together as the concerted action of God the Father, who takes action for us through his Son, and in us by his Spirit.

A. W. Pink

This month the small group I attend will be studying The Attributes of God by A. W. Pink. Here is a brief bio of this author of classic Christian books:

Biography of A. W. Pink

Arthur Walkington Pink (1886-1952) evangelist and Biblical scholar Pink was born in Nottingham, England on April 1, 1886 and became a Christian in his early 20’s. Though born to Christian parents, prior to conversion he migrated into a Theosophical society (an occult gnostic group popular in England during that time), and quickly rose in prominence within their ranks. His conversion came from his father’s patient admonitions from Scripture. It was the verse, Proverbs 14:12, ‘there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death,’ which particularly struck his heart and compelled him to renounce Theosophy and follow Jesus.

Desiring to grow in knowledge of the Bible, Pink immigrated to the United States to study at Moody Bible Institute. In 1916 he married Vera E. Russell, who was from Kentucky. However, he left after just two months for Colorado, then California, then Britain. From 1925 to 1928 he served in Australia, including as pastor of two congregations from 1926 to 1928, when he returned to England, and to the United States the following year. He eventually pastored churches Colorado, California, Kentucky and South Carolina.

In 1922 he started a monthly magazine entitled Studies in Scriptures which circulated among English-speaking Christians worldwide, though only to a relatively small circulation list of around 1,000.

In 1934 Pink returned to England, and within a few years turned his Christian service to writing books and pamphlets. Pink died in Stornoway, Scotland on July 15, 1952. The cause of death was anemia.

After Pink’s death, his works were republished by the Banner of Truth Trust and reached a much wider audience as a result. Biographer Iain Murray observes of Pink, “the widespread circulation of his writings after his death made him one of the most influential evangelical authors in the second half of the twentieth century.” His writing sparked a revival of expository preaching and focused readers’ hearts on biblical living.

This is powerful stuff by Ray Ortlund:

The most important word in the universe

Some years ago, in a faculty devotional at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dr. Murray Harris proposed this line of thinking:

What is the most important Book in the universe?  The Bible.  Which book within the Bible is the most important?  Romans.  Which chapter in Romans is the most important?  Chapter 3.  Which paragraph in Romans 3 is the most important?  Verses 21-26.  Which verse in that paragraph is the most important?  Verse 25.  Which word in verse 25 is the most important?  Propitiation: “… whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

Therefore, the most important word in the most important verse in the most important paragraph in the most important chapter in the most important book within the most important Book in the universe is propitiation.

Worthy of our reverent contemplation.

Who has the rights?

Our rights vs. His rights:

Being a Christian means dying to ourselves and surrendering our rights to another. The rejection of Jesus Christ is sometimes an intellectual problem and sometimes an ignorance problem, but it is always a surrender problem. We don’t easily submit ourselves to any authority, let alone One who claims dominion over every aspect of our lives. But Jesus has the right to be Lord over our rights.

Christ, according to Ursinus, can claim lordship over our lives for four reasons: by right of creation (He made us), by right of redemption (He saved us), by reason of preservation (He keeps us), and with respect to ordina- tion and appointment (God has exalted Christ and placed all things in sub- jection under His feet). Christ’s rule, then, is not some arbitrary authority by virtue of a military coup or political nepotism. His claim of lordship is well-founded.

Remember too, His lordship was also costly. Jesus Christ didn’t establish His authority by taking prisoners, executing judgment, and shedding the blood of His enemies. He is Lord because He shed His own blood, bore God’s judgment, and set the captives free. He purchased our bodies and souls with a commodity far more precious than stocks or bonds. He redeemed our lives by loving us enough to lose His own.

DeYoung, Kevin. The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism. Chicago, IL: Moody, 2010. Print.

Two Trees

From Justin Taylor:

The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil

Some exegetical notes, observations, and tentative conclusions:


1. Among all the trees in the Garden of Eden, God identified two special trees: of life, and of the knowledge of good and evil.

“And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:9)


2. God allowed Adam to eat from all the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning him that death would result.

“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:16-17)


3. After being tempted by the serpent, Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Adam did the same.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:7)

4. After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—in part to become “wise”—Adam now possesses the knowledge of good and evil like God does, as well as knowledge of their nakedness.

“. . . the woman saw that the tree . . . was to be desired to make one wise.” (Genesis 3:6)
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:7)
“Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.’ (Genesis 3:22b-24)


5. After Adam disobeyed God’s command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God forbade Adam to eat from the tree of life lest he live forever in that state; therefore God guards the tree.

“Then the Lord God said, ‘. . . Now, lest [the man] reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:22b-24)


6. What does the Hebrew idiom “knowing/understanding/discerning good and evil” mean?

6.1. It is something God and the angels possess.


“Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:22a)
“And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!” (2 Samuel 14:17)


6.2. It is something that young children do not possess.

And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.” (Deuteronomy 1:39)
“He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” (Isaiah 7:15)
6.3. It is something that elderly people may no longer possess.

“I [=David] am this day eighty years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? . . .” (2 Samuel 19:35)
6.4. It is something that God may grant.

“Give your servant [=Solomon] therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9)


6.5. Perhaps it is best there to regard it at as something like “mature or independent wisdom, insight, discernment,” with the tree representing an improper way to attain it.

Franz Delitzch:

The tree of knowledge was to lead man to the knowledge of good and evil; and, according to the divine intention, this was to be attained through his not eating of its fruit. This end was to be accomplished, not only by his discerning in the limit imposed by the prohibition the difference between that which accorded with the will of God and that which opposed it, but also by his coming eventually, through obedience to the prohibition, to recognize the fact that all that is opposed to the will of God is an evil to be avoided, and through voluntary resistance to such evil, to the full development of the freedom of choice originally imparted to him into the actual freedom of a deliberate and self-conscious choice of good. By obedience to the divine will he would have attained to a godlike knowledge of good and evil, i.e. to one in accordance with his own likeness to God. He would have detected the evil in the approaching tempter; but instead of yielding to it, he would have resisted it, and thus have made good his own property acquired with consciousness and of his won free-will, and in this way by proper self-determination would gradually have advanced to the possession of the truest liberty. But as he failed to keep this divine appointed way, and ate the forbidden fruit in opposition to the command of God, the power imparted by God to the fruit was manifested in a different way. He learned the difference between good and evil from his own guilty experience, and by receiving the evil into his own soul, fell a victim to the threatened death. Thus through his own fault the tree, which should have helped him to attain true freedom, brought nothing but a sham liberty of sin, and with it death, and that without any demoniacal power of destruction being conjured into the tree itself, or any fatal poison being hidden in its fruit.

C. John Collins agrees:

God intended that through this tree humans would come to know good and evil: either from above, as masters of temptation, or from below, as slaves to sin.

7. In the book of Proverbs, the tree of life is used as imagery in conjunction with a virtuous woman, the fruit of righteousness, fulfilled desire, and a gentle tongue.
“She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” (Proverbs 3:18)
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30)
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4)


8. Those in the new heavens and the new earth will enjoy the fruit of the tree of life for all of eternity.

“To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7b)

“On either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2)


“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Revelation 22:14)


“If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:19)

Stay Tuned

Finally got a working computer!! Stay tuned for some blog posts...finally.

Jude may actually get to sleep in past 5am

Work from life, not for life!

In this sense it is a true saying that believers should not act for life, but from life. They must act as those that are not procuring life by their works, but as such who have already received and derived life from Christ, and act from the power and virtue received from Him. - Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification

Today I begin work after a two month vacation. As a teacher, the transition back to daily employment is a difficult one; it is much like returning to school for a student. The knot in the stomach ... the anxiousness ... it is far too similar. Nevertheless, this quote from Puritan Walter Marshall is an encouragement and an exhortation for me. I want to live-work, play, and everything else- from life. I need to do that more. But it is incredibly encouraging that the grace of God through Jesus Christ makes this possible. So, here we go ...

Self-Promotion

I found this post by Dane Ortlund convicting and convincing:  

What Kind of Online Culture Are We Cultivating?

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. --Proverbs 27:2

Something tells me it wouldn't cut it for Carson's NSBT series, but someone needs to develop a biblical theology of marketing and advertisement.

Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are fantastic tools with unprecedented potential for strategic, efficient kingdom instrumentality. A pastor in Scotland can write a blog post and within seconds a believer in India can read that post and be strengthened.

But as Peter Parker's Uncle Ben would remind us, 'With great power comes great responsibility.' And the amount of self-foregrounding that takes place on these media--by Christians--by pastors--is troubling. Promotion of our own books, letting everyone know where we've been and whom we've met, drawing attention to what others are saying of us--how easily we Corinthianize and employ the world's mindset for ostensibly kingdom purposes.

What are we doing, brothers? I am asking myself no less than you.

What if we made up our minds to refuse to quietly electronically parade whatever accomplishments the Lord grants? What if we let the Lord decide who knows of us and what we've done? What if every post, tweet, and FB update was passed through the fine filter of Matthew 23:12?

What are we of? What's driving us? Is this how true faith acts, faith in a God who one day 'will disclose the purposes of the heart' (1 Cor. 4:5)?

'Get a life, Dane. Quit the alarmism. I'm just trying to spread the gospel by alerting others to resources. Is it really a problem if that includes some of my own stuff?'

Maybe. Maybe not. That's between you and the Lord. There is certainly some gray in this conversation, it's not all black and white; there's room for wisdom here, not simplistic rules. And I have in mind individual 'marketing'; corporate marketing is, I think, in another category. But as far as your own personal online presence, why not determine to honor the Lord by getting up each day, keeping your hand to the plow, and letting him sort out who knows about you and what you've done? When you're unsure as to whether or not something is self-promoting, why not err on the side of blessed obscurity, to which God loves to draw near?

We are increasingly cultivating an online evangelical culture of self-projection. Trying our hardest, of course, not to look like we're self-promoting. This is not where God's power lies.

From The Gospel Coalition:  

The Gospel Depends on a God Who Does Not Depend on You

People have sometimes thought that God created human beings because he was lonely and needed fellowship with other persons. If this were true, it would certainly mean that God is not completely independent of creation. It would mean that God would need to create persons in order to be completely happy or completely fulfilled in his personal existence.

— Wayne Grudem

Grudem’s observation offers a penetrating look into how many Christians think about God. But is this what Scripture teaches? What implications would such a view have for worship? And how would such a view affect our salvation?

We must begin by asking if God needs us to exist or to be fulfilled and happy. The God of the Bible is one who does not need us at all. In theological language, this is the doctrine of divine aseity, literally meaning “from-himself-ness.” God is a-se. He exists independent of the world, as one who is self-sufficient and self-existent. In his book The Doctrine of God (see pp. 603-608), John Frame helpfully outlines seven characteristics of aseity.

1. As Lord, God owns all things. God is “possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19). Indeed, the “earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Ps. 24:1).
2. Everything possessed by creatures comes from God. The Lord made heaven and earth and every good and perfect gift is from his hand (Gen. 1-2, Exod. 20:11, Neh. 9:6, Ps. 146:5-6; Ja. 1:17).
3. When we give something back to God, we give him only what he has first given to us. We are God’s stewards and will be held accountable for whether or not we have used what he has given to us for his glory (Luke 12:42; 16:1-8). Since the church belongs to God, pastors will be held accountable for their pastoral care (Titus 1:7).
4. When we give something back to God, he is not obligated to recompense us. When we do what we were told to do, we, as unworthy servants, have only done our duty (Luke 17:10).
5. God owes nothing to any creature. Notice how God answers Job: “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11). Or consider Paul who writes, “‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?’ for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:35-36).
6. God has no needs. Psalm 50 is powerful in this regard: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Ps. 50:10-12).
7. God is by nature a se. As Paul says to the Athenian philosophers in the Areopagus, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).

Calvin on the believers' warfare

But as the promise of bruising Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15) applies alike to Christ and to all his members, I deny that believers can ever be oppressed or vanquished by him. They are often, indeed, thrown into alarm, but never so thoroughly as not to recover themselves. They fall by the violence of the blows, but they get up again; they are wounded, but not mortally. In fine, they labour on through the whole course of their lives, so as ultimately to gain the victory, though they meet with occasional defeats.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.14.18

Disagreeing with your pastor?

Helpful stuff from 9Marks:

What should I do if I disagree with something my pastor said?

1. Pray for humility and understanding.
2. Ask a trusted, godly friend who knows the Bible well about the statement. Listen to their explanation and be open to the possibility that you either misunderstood, or that the statement the pastor made is biblically correct and you’re the one whose thinking needs to adjust.
3. In choosing a “trusted, godly friend,” chose someone who you know is a friend to the pastor, and will exercise his or her own tongue to protect and love the pastor. Choose someone who is known for being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Do not speak to someone who would be tempted to suspect the pastor, or would delight in disunity, or would be naively led astray by doubts.
4. If you still have questions or concerns, then gently, humbly ask your pastor to explain what he meant.
5. After patiently hearing your pastor’s explanation of what he meant, you may find that you still disagree with what he said. If this happens, what you should probably do is humbly accept that you see things differently at this point, resolve to keep your disagreement to yourself, thank God for all the ways he has used this man’s teaching in the lives of many, and cheerfully continue to submit to your pastor’s leadership and profit from his teaching.
6. However, in rare cases, you might find that you disagree so strongly with something your pastor teaches, or that you disagree on a matter of such consequence, that it would hinder you from contentedly submitting to his leadership. In a case like this it may be best to quietly, lovingly find another church after discussing your intent to leave with the pastor.