More on John Stott

Here is another tribute to John Stott by Timmy Brister:

Thank You John Stott (1921-2011)

Few people have shaped evangelicalism more in the past 100 years than John R.W. Stott, and this morning he departed to glory with a legacy that will far outlast his lifetime. I never had a chance to meet John Stott, but I felt that I came to know him through his writings in the many ways he came to meet me in the journey of my Christian faith.

In the early days of my studies, I benefited greatly from his classic book Basic Christianity, which I often kept several copies in my car to give away. In the formative days of my preaching, his book Between Two Worlds was foundational to understanding and communicating God’s Word. When I wrestled with the nature, extent, and purpose of Christ’s work on the cross, his book The Cross of Christ rocked my world and plunged me deeper into the glories of Calvary that I had ever been. As I began to consider how to apply what I had been learning to the world around me, his book The Contemporary Christian was a faithful guide.

When I moved onto seminary, my first major topic of interest was understanding evangelical anti-intellectualism, what would you know, but John Stott had written a book on it (actually they are lectures put into a book). In the following years, I began wrestling with evangelical mission, in particular the relationship of evangelism with social action. Stott had two books that I referenced regularly, namely Christian Mission in the Modern World and Our Guilty Silence. Though it is presented as a commentary, John Stott’s commentary on the book of Acts is incredibly helpful and insightful for the mission of the church, and from my reading of Tim Keller very instrumental in his thinking as well.

The are other books by Stott that I enjoyed, but these served almost biographically in my journey over the past ten years and proved to impact me in numerous ways. I’m confident that I’m not alone in saying that God has used John Stott in big ways and small as a trustworthy guide in matters related to the gospel, the church, and the mission entrusted to us. Stott was a faithful steward, and I pray that my generation will carry that baton in the shadow of this churchman, scholar, and missionary statesman for generations to come. Thank you John Stott, for the way God used you to impact my life.

Below is a tribute from Langham Partnership, the ministry outreach of John Stott that has just been made available.

A sower went out to sow

In the fourth chapter of Mark, Jesus shares the parable of the sower. In analyzing this parable, much has been made of the soils. Much has been said about the hardness of the path, the stoniness of the rocky ground, the shallowness of the soil with no depth, the defectiveness of the soil with thorns, and the preparedness of the good soil. But it seems to me, more attention should be placed on the first line of the parable:
Listen!

Behold, a sower went out to sow.

Everything else in terms of the soils receptability is antecedent to seed actually being sown.

We need a sower of the seed.

I need to sow seed.

Let's pray that there would be sowers; you, me, and others.

The expository kind

In a blog post about recently deceased John Stott, John Piper discusses the kind of preacher he dreamed about being:

In those days, I knew I could not preach. But I knew that this is the kind of preaching I wanted to hear — and if a miracle happened, and I ever became a preacher, the kind I wanted to do. The expository kind. The articulate kind. The coherent kind. The clear kind. The shove-your-face-in-the-text kind. The iron-clad-argument-from-conjunctions kind. The blow-the-gloom-of-ignorance-and-doubt-away kind. The no-nonsense-utterly-realistic-tell-it-like-it-is kind.

Also, Justin Taylor posted a nice piece on Stott:

Much more will be written in the days ahead about this servant of the Lord. (The first obituary has been penned by Tim Stafford at Christianity Today.) But no words of commendation will be as significant as the words John Stott heard earlier today: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

My Heart This Week...

...expressed in words from long ago.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I'll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Doppelgangers!

"I don't need to be forgiven ..." - Roger Daltry in Baba O'Riley

"Yet not one of them, not any man that is now in heaven (Jesus Christ alone excepted), did ever come thither any other way but by forgiveness of sins." - John Owen

This was up at the Crossway Blog a few days ago:

Don’t Miss the Point: Questions to Ask While Reading Scripture

From Welcome to the Story by Stephen Nichols

The purpose of reading the Bible is not to find self-fulfillment, although sometimes that’s an easy trap to fall into. There are some questions we can ask ourselves as we read Scripture to make sure we are reading for the right reasons:

• What does this passage teach about God?


• What attributes are on display?


• What work is God doing?


• How does the biblical author point us to God in this text?


• Even though God may not be explicitly mentioned in this text, how is he at work in what is happening? How is he directing “behind the scenes?”


• How does this passage either reveal or reflect the glory of God?

In addition to these information-gathering questions, we can also ask some application-oriented questions:

• Does this passage offer any models of those who miss the point by not seeing God at work and by not focusing on his glory?


• Does this passage offer any models of those who get the point?


• What can I learn from these negative and positive models?


• What does this text teach me about my own pursuits and agendas?


• What selfish ambitions and pursuits do I need to repent of in light of what I just read in God’s Word?


• What have I learned from this text that helps me keep God and his glory at the center of my life?

In short, we need to read the Bible with it’s grand mission in mind: God and his glory. It is only by living for his glory that we find what is best for us.

Learn more about Welcome to the Story or read a sample chapter.

Marriage and the Life of Faith

I got married to a wonderful young woman on July 16th.

Colleen and I returned from our honeymoon in the early morning hours just yesterday.

Marriage is awesome. Granted the majority of my11 days of short experience with it was spent blissfully in the Mayan Riviera ... I can honestly say I know what all the fuss is about.

The last two mornings I have got to sleep in my own -- though if she were here I would likely have chosen the pronoun 'our' -- bed. Both nights I found myself sleeping on my side, an already unlikely position to find me, half off the queen size bed, with my right arm hanging off the bed and an inch from the floor... probably so that the inevitable fall would be cushioned by my already outstretched arm.

Interestingly, last night I played church softball, where I was assured by several of my already married friends that this is not only normal, but likely to last. Sleeping has been difficult. Sharing my bed has been difficult.

This morning there was another disturbance in the usual calm 'force' of my apartment condo. As I awoke to my morning coffee and sat on my patio with my bible in my lap... Colleen, well... she wanted to talk. She wanted to make a mental list of things that needed to get done in the day. What had to be done after work. What we might make for dinner.

To say this is outside my usual routine is a gross understatement. There are usually no words spoken in the mornings until I stand up to refill my coffee mug, and even then it is usually a murmur to myself.

Here's what is so great about marriage though.

I loved it.

Sure learning to sleep on 30 cm of a bed that used to be entirely mine might not be a smooth transition. Of course I'm going to have to find an earlier time to wake up if I want to enjoy a cup of coffee and my morning reading in silence -- and to be honest they are difficult and frustrating when I am experiencing them... but the amazing thing about marriage is that you are experiencing new challenges with the person you love the most.

I love making sacrifices for Colleen because I love Colleen more than I love myself. I love learning new things about her even if it's that she's a morning talker or a bed hogger.

And what is even more amazing is that because God designed marriage to reflect Him, His nature and His relationship to us, I find that my affections for Christ grow with my increasing affections for Colleen.

Marriage and the Christian life are both things that need to be lived out in order to really grasp their immense value. The reason I love even the challenges of marriage is because you are walking through those challenges with the one you love. Likewise in the Christian faith trials and tribulations are not only bearable, but there is joy in them, joy in sacrifice because you love the one with whom you are running the race.

I look forward to many more connections to my life of faith as Colleen and I work our way back in to reality together.

Storms on healing

Some principles on healing from Sam Storms:

1. Healing and health are always portrayed in Scripture as the blessing of God - sickness is never good
2. All sickness is suffering, not all suffering is sickness - we are not called to sickness but we are called to suffer
3. Sickness in and of itself does not glorify God - faith in spite of sickness does
4. We must leave room for mystery in God's ways - but we are never excused from praying for healing
5. God's heart is for healing, not hurting - so keep praying
6. We must be willing to be perceived as failures - whether or not people we pray for are healed, we have been obedient when we pray

"Many in the church today say they believe that God still heals, but they live as functional deists who rarely if ever actually lay hands on the sick and pray with any degree of expectancy."

(Storms, C. Samuel. The Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Gifts. Ventura, CA: Regal/Gospel Light, 2004. Print. 66)

The ministerial work

The ministerial work must be carried on diligently and laboriously, as being of such unspeakable consequence to ourselves and others.

We are seeking to uphold the world,
to save it from the curse of God,
to perfect the creation,
to attain the ends of Christ’s death,
to save ourselves and others from damnation,
to overcome the devil,
and demolish his kingdom,
to set up the kingdom of Christ,
and to attain and help others to the kingdom of glory.

And are these works to be done with a careless mind, or a lazy hand? O see, then, that this work be done with all your might!

The passage above is from Richard Baxter's classic work entitled The Reformed Pastor. Baxter, throughout the book, raises our awareness as to the importance of the ministerial role. This passage indicates the significance the calling of pastor has in the mind of this Puritan. And we should regard the office no less. We should expect our pastors to engage their work with the seriousness that is commiserate with the job list above. But, we should also regard them as such who do this work. We should regularly pray for them, encourage them, and love them. Let's hold them accountable and let's hold them close to our heart.

Clearly evidences itself

But the truth of the gospel so clearly evidences itself by its own light that, if people do not wilfully shut their eyes, or blind themselves by their own pride, and love their lusts, they would easily perceive that it is the truth of God, because the image of His grace, mercy, power, justice and holiness appears manifestly engraven upon it. - Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification

Storms on faith

Faith is not a weapon by which we demand things of God or put him in subjection to us. Faith is an act of self-denial. Faith is a renunciation of one's ability to do anything and a confession that God can do everything. Faith derives its power not from the spiritual energy of the person who believes but from the supernatural efficacy of the object of belief-God! It is not faith's act but its object that accounts for the miraculous ... The leper in Matthew 8 said to Jesus, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean" (v. 2). The leper didn't question Christ's ability. He trusted that completely. He did have doubts about the willingness of Jesus to do it. But Jesus didn't rebuke him for such doubts, as if it were a shortcoming in his faith that might jeopardize his healing. He healed him because of the leper's confidence that he could do it. (Storms, C. Samuel. The Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Gifts. Ventura, CA: Regal/Gospel Light, 2004. Print. 56-57)

Engage them to read!

Richard Baxter, in his classic work on pastoral work, The Reformed Pastor, gives a clear endorsement to reading outside of the Bible:

See that in every family there are some useful moving books, beside the Bible. If they have none, persuade them to buy some: if they be not able to buy them, give them some if you can. If you are not able yourself, get some gentlemen, or other rich persons, that are ready to good works, to do it. And engage them to read them at night, when they have leisure, and especially on the Lord’s day.

It would be interesting to learn what types of 'useful moving' books he had in mind. Was he speaking of classic works of fiction? Did he have in mind spiritually directed books of the non-fiction variety? The descriptor 'useful' seems to point to non-fiction, but perhaps the term 'moving' points back to fictional stories. Then, again, to read when one has leisure might point towards fictional works whereas reading on the Lord's Day seems to indicate religious works.

I'm not sure what Baxter had in mind, but my suggestion is that you read both as often as you can. I have been focusing on Russian fiction this year having read from Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekov. I have some Solzhenitsyn that is in the cue as well. I also enjoy non-fiction and read more of that than I do of fiction. But I encourage you; READ!

The Jesus of the whole Bible

Stephen J. Nichols on the importance of creeds:

The creeds force us to consider the "whole counsel of God," whereas we tend to have our favorite places and preferred texts in the biblical canon. To put the point directly, the Jesus of the Bible tends not to be the Jesus of the whole Bible. Rather, he tends to be the Jesus of the parts of the Bible one happens to like. - Morgan, Christopher W., and Robert A. Peterson. The Deity of Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011. Print.

Piper and patches of soul

I really enjoyed this post I came across at the cripple-gate:

The Day John Piper Touched My Chin: Cultural Relevance in Preaching

For those of you who don’t know what a soul patch is, it’s a tuft of facial hair between the bottom lip and the chin. It’s been described as the “You missed a spot” of male grooming. The soul patch sprouted as a fashionable facial accessory in the 1950s when African American trumpeters on the Jazz scene sported it as an identity statement, much like cyclists show off their silky legs as an androgynous emblem of commitment to their hobby. Why this lesson in pogonotrophe? Because it provides the context, or justification for a key part of my story.

Last year John Piper (my favorite super hero) was preaching at the Rezolution Conference (The South African spin-off of Resolved). The mediator for the pastors’ Q&A was a friend of mine and smuggled my spring-loaded question into the line-up. I asked Dr Piper to comment on how much a preacher should take culture into account when trying to reach his contemporaries. I pitted John “I’ve never used an iPod” MacArthur on one side of the debate—the gospel transcends culture so it doesn’t matter if I think Eminem is a colorful candy; I can preach the word in Iambic pentameter and still be relevant, sin, after all, never goes out of fashion. In the other corner I put Mark “I’ve never used cuff links” Driscoll. But Piper saw what I was up to with his x-ray discernment. Nuts.

Richard “Soul Doctor” Baxter lends dignity to the soul patch.

I was hoping for some explanation of why Piper puts up with the Cussing Pastor’s overemphasis on cultural relevance (constant references to cage fighting, TV, strip clubs, and a worship band that sounds like Nine Inch Nails). Is it really necessary to be that culturally relevant? My years at Grace Community Church had proven to me that John MacArthur’s intellectual style, with stringed quartets performing Handel’s Messiah, managed to appeal to poor Filipino immigrants and Mexican laborers as much as it did to LA’s intelligencia. They came for the preaching, not the orchestra.

My question was a thinly veiled attempt to tease out some Piper-esque wisdom on this potentially spicy topic. He leaped over my trap with a single bound. His underwhelming answer was decaffeinated of all controversy. No passionate gesticulating, no mention of potty-mouth preaching, in short nothing to Tweet. So I did what every seminoid who can’t take a hint would do: I got in line after the session and asked him to elaborate.

The guy before me was in no hurry. While he was basking in his mono-a-mono moment with his hero, I formulated my follow-up question like an angler selecting which fly would best dress his hook. By now the blubbering about how Piper had changed his life was getting really teary; and not in a poignant lady weeping on Jesus’ feet way, but more like grown men who cry that much should have-their-own-tissues-handy way. Piper in avuncular tones and kind words interrupted the guy with a bear hug which was either really gracious, or a sneaky technique he had mastered to muffle weepy fawning. Anyway, when he was done I knew Piper would not revel in another public display of affection which would wet his other shoulder, so I skipped the homage and presented my question again, this time specifically mentioning his highly publicized discipleship of Driscoll. He ignored my bait (wily old guy) but he did launch into a vintage Piper sermonette on why my question was dumb.

In front of all the other pastors who were waiting in line, all taking mental notes of tacks not to take with Piper, he proceeded to explain in an unrestrained snarkiness (thanks Challies for my new word), that anyone asking the question was naïve to how inextricable culture is from preaching. That’s when it happened. He touched my chin. I don’t mean because I had inadvertently leaned into his personal preaching space. I mean he reached out and placed 2 fingers on my soul patch, as if to prove the answer was right under my nose all along.

Grabbing the closest visual aid he could, he declared in a stentorian voice that I’m sure could be heard by everyone in the room, “This looks ridiculous.” The giggles from the bystanders drowned out his softening explanation: “On me it would never work, but on you, as part of the whole package, it works great.” He then went on to say that because every preacher is himself inevitably a product of the culture from which he comes, there is no need to try to be relevant or use artificial additives to make one’s ministry seem more relevant. So according to the expert, trying to redeem the basest elements of our increasingly lowbrow culture is not really necessary in order to be missional. Interesting.

You are what you eat. There is no need to try be culturally relevant. Just preach and be yourself. You and your sermons will naturally reflect the culture adequately to reach your people. Obviously foreign missionaries need to work harder at this, but a Westerner preaching to a Western congregation should do whatever comes naturally. You don’t see fish talking about water, as it were. Culture is the tank in which we swim. Stop trying to focus on the medium and just spout out the message. God takes care of the rest.
So there you have it. John Piper touched my chin and made his point in doing so. In my culture it’s not appropriate for a man to touch another’s face. But as part of the Piper package, it works.

You invert the order of the gospel

For, if you make your own faith, love, or good qualifications, to be your first and principle foundation, and you build Christ upon them, instead of building all upon Christ, you invert the order of the gospel, and Christ will profit you nothing. - Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification

Christ will not be an addendum, an additive, or an add-on! He is not the addition you attach to your already-formed foundation. He is the foundation on which you build everything else, or, He is nothing.

I think many North American 'Christians' approach Christianity in this fashion. They have a good job, with reasonable families, and passable relationships. They have things pretty much together. But this Jesus guy seems OK so they just tack Him on to what they are already doing.

In God's grace, some of these people realize that Christ is the center and starting point as opposed to a peripheral accessory. These people move from death to life. But many people never get beyond a shallow association with the matchless Son of God. And I doubt that sort of relationship will ultimately profit.

Christ in Comparison

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14 ESV)

To compare is to consider at least two different things in light of their similarities and differences. In these verses the author of Hebrews uses comparison to highlight the following:

Similarities

1. sin - is is the ever present enemy of both God and man and as such is something that must be dealt with
2. sacrifice - sacrifice is the method of dealing with sin as prescribed by God
3. mediator - the sacrifice for sin requires a mediator to mediate between God and man

Differences

1. frequency - the OT priests offered sacrifices repeatedly pointing to futility whereas Christ made one sacrifice pointing towards efficacy
2. posture - the OT priests remained standing indicating their work was never finished and therefore was fruitless whereas Christ sat down indicating His work was finished and therefore effectual
3. sufficiency - the OT priests' sacrificing could never take away sins and therefore ultimately failed whereas Christ's sacrifice has perfected His people and is deemed efficacious

Our sin required a sacrifice administered by a mediator. The OT cultic system and its priests ultimately failed as their endeavours where fruitless and futile. Christ's NT covenant and sacrifice was effectual, and efficacious.

This points to Jesus Christ as the matchless and unchallengeable priest and sacrifice of a superior covenant. That's our Saviour.

A great post by a good friend of the bloggers:

Child Advocate Network - Something called friendship

I was re-reading the introductory chapters of “Too Small to Ignore” by Dr. Wess Stafford today and was re-inspired (is that a word?)

The passion and clarity with which Dr. Stafford, Compassion International’s President writes was just what I needed today! I was looking over my lists of things to do, planning the upcoming weeks, making calls, and writing emails. Some days it all becomes too routine and I find myself prey to discouragement and simply not in touch with my calling at Compassion.

But, gratefully as I read over the pages, I was indeed “re-inspired”!

Children matter to God. Immensely.

I matter. He created me for a purpose and has designed me to reflect His glory.

God has a plan. It includes me!

I may not have my own children… but every child I come in contact with is a “divine appointment”. I have an opportunity to be a positive influence in their lives - here in Canada - and in the developing world and be the love of Christ to them.

My nephew, Samuel and I LOVE spending time together and we’ve become great friends. Some of our favourite things to do are treasure hunting, going for walks, and making pizza. I am incredibly grateful that I have the blessing of being an influence in his life and letting him know he is loved and he is valuable! Recently he left me a message that said: “I love you and I love that you are coming to me, to my house Auntie TT.”

Wess Stafford writes…”When the pathways of our lives and our children’s lives blend together, when we get into their world and bring them into ours, the result is something called friendship. We go far beyond the responsibility and the role of guardian; in fact, we are no longer aware of when we ‘playfully’ enter their world or ‘deliberately’ include them in ours. Instead we genuinely like being with each other. This is child discipleship at its best.”

Be encouraged…. and remember, God wants to use you in the lives of children!

See the original here.

Nathanael is getting married today!

Nathanael Wright and Colleen Broadhead are getting married today. We wish them the very best!

5 Strategies for Reading the Bible as Literature

From the Crossway Blog:

5 Strategies for Reading the Bible as Literature

We posted last week on the Literary Study Bible, now available on ESVBible.org. In the preface of this resource, editors Leland and Philip Ryken say that “when we read the Bible, literary considerations are not optional features to which we might attend only if we have an interest in literary matters”.

In other words, if we really want to understand the Bible, we need to understand the Bible as a literary work. Adapted from the Literary Study Bible‘s introduction, here are 5 strategies, in the editors’ own words, for reading the Bible as literature:

1. In any reading of a biblical text, give precedence to its literary mechanisms and implications.

“A certain priority needs to be given to literary form – not a priority of importance but a priority in the sense of what comes first. To approach the Bible as literature … is not like dessert – something pleasurable to add to more important aspects of the Bible. The literary approach is the first item on the agenda – the starting point for other approaches to the Bible.”

2. Understand the many literary genres of the Bible and be able to identify them in the texts.

“The importance of genre to biblical interpretation is that genres have their own methods of procedure and rules of interpretation. An awareness of genre should program our encounter with a text, alerting us to what we can expect to find.”

3. Appreciate the beauty and artistry of biblical passages.

“Literature is an art form in which beauty of expression, craftsmanship, and verbal virtuosity are valued as rewarding and as an enhancement of effective communication… . Authors cultivate artistry like this because it is important to their effect and intention. The Bible is an aesthetic as well as a utilitarian book, and we need to experience it as such, both for our understanding and for our enjoyment.”

4. Use a literary approach to the Bible to assist other approaches.

“A literary approach seeks to complement other approaches, not to replace them. It is appropriate to say again, however, that the literary forms of the Bible are the means through which the content is expressed, and this means that literary analysis has a particular priority as the only adequate starting point for other kinds of analysis.”

5. Realize the Bible as a literary work speaks to concrete human experience.

“The subject of literature is human experience rendered as concretely as possible. The result is that it possesses a universal quality. Whereas history and the daily news tell us what happened, literature tells us what happens – what is true for all people in all places and times… . While we rightly think of the Bible as revelatory (God’s supernatural revelation of truth), the literary parts of the Bible are at the same time the human race’s testimony to its own experience.”

Coffee facts

I came across these facts at The Green Beanery:


A study at the Harvard School of Public Health of more than 126,000 people found that men who drank more than six eight-ounce cups of caffeinated coffee per day lowered their risk of type 2 diabetes by about half, and women by nearly 30%, relative to coffee abstainers.

People who don't drink coffee have five times the risk of contracting Parkinson's as those who drank four to five cups of coffee a day, according to a study of 8,000 Japanese men reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Eight other studies likewise found that coffee protected against Parkinson's.

Studies in the United States, Japan and Italy showed that drinking three to four cups of coffee a day was associated with an 80% reduction in risk for cirrhosis of the liver, compared with drinking no coffee at all.

U.S. and Italian studies found that three or more cups of coffee a day led to
decreased prevalence of asthma.

A 10-year study of 45,000 men found that two to three cups of coffee a day
reduced the risk of developing gallstones by 40%. Psychological Science, the journal of the American Psychological Society, reported that caffeine boosted memory in elderly people who drank one or two cups of coffee in the morning by raising calcium levels in their braincells. Coffee has also been found to improve long-term memory as well as psychomotor skills.

A study by the Cancer Epidemiology Training Program at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health indicated that coffee could lower the risk of prostate cancer.