Wilson on Mercy Ministry & Missions

Douglas Wilson has a great summary of Biblical principles that should guide the Church’s works of Mercy and Missions.

Special Help for the Slavic Reformation Society

From the chairman of the Slavic Reformation Society:

“Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ! As chairman of the Board of the Slavic Reformation Society, I wanted to give you a year-end update on our ministry in Russia. In September, ten pastors from Russia, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan attended our pastors’ training session in St. Petersburg. Another six ministers applied for this two-week intensive course but for one of the first times we had to turn qualified men away because we were unable to pay their travel/living expenses.

Currently, we have 18 pastors applying for our March 2010 session! This as an encouraging endorsement of our teaching and mentoring. The American professor who taught in September reported that these men were the most mature men he had witnessed in his fifteen years of ministry in Russia. The pastors we are mentoring represent more than 1,000 congregants, so your investment in the ministry multiplies 100 times. As you may know, Blake Purcell is in Texas this year and is visiting churches and supporters with a goal of raising our ongoing monthly support. But, we have a special need to raise $25,000 by the end of this year to meet our short term budget requirements.

This amount will cover our operating costs in St. Petersburg and meet our obligations to the Purcells. Additionally, it will provide the foundation to expand the March 2010 intensive course to include the 18 pastors desiring to attend. Help SRS see the Word of the Lord multiply and prevail in the Russian-speaking world by giving a special end-of-year gift of $100 to $1,000 or more.

You may mail your tax-deductible contributions to SRS PO Box 794 Louisville, MS 39339 or contribute via PayPal on our website.

If you have any questions or would like to have Blake share the ministry with your congregation, you may call him at 940.613.9611 or write blakepurcell2000@yahoo.com.

Yours in Christ, Mike Forster, Chairman Slavic Reformation Society

Brother Blog

My brother has started blogging.   His latest post on loving our wives is quite good.

Why I Don’t Blog More

The last few paragraphs of this article by Carl Trueman summarize some of the reasons I don’t blog more (besides the sheer lack of time!).  I find that the more time I put into real people (my wife, my children, my students, fellow church members), the less time I have to blog.  That might just be my limitations, but read Trueman’s arguments for yourself …

Stop Child Sex Slavery Now!

Stop Child Trafficking Now! – Slavery still exists.  Sexual exploitation of children is rampant throughout the world.  Each year, thousands of enslaved and sexually exploited children are brought into the USA!  Virtually no one in the US has been convicted of child trafficking in the last 10 years.  Get involved–your salvation may depend on it (Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 20:11-13).

Book Review – Mother Kirk

Mother Kirk: Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology by Douglas Wilson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I may be biased (since Wilson was my teacher at New St. Andrews College, as well as my pastor during those four years), but this was my second time through this book, and I still found it incredibly helpful.

Yes, all the theological insights were great, and the writing was typically witty and humorous. But, what was most striking was how Wilson addresses huge theological and Biblical topics with a consistently practical and pastoral approach. The sub-title says it well: “Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology.” This is not a book for armchair theologians. Wilson is controversial at times, but he is also writing to real problems in the modern, American evangelical church. Even if you don’t agree with him, he is a great debating partner! He will challenge you to defend (from the Bible!) your fundamental notions of God, His Word, and what His Church should be doing.

I can also say, because I have some background knowledge of the actual circumstances that led to the writing of some chapters, that Wilson is writing out his own pastoral experience. He has been able, by he grace of God, to lead a large congregation through many major changes in how they understand the Bible, how they worship, how they educate their children, and most importantly, how they live as Christians every day and every hour of the week.

Many things have been said about Douglas Wilson, and many are untrue, or only half-true. Jesus said something helpful: “By your fruits you shall know them.” God has grown some remarkable fruit through Wilson’s ministry. I think many people read him, and are offended by his biting wit and sarcasm. I read him differently because I hear his chuckle in between the lines, and I see the huge grin he would always have when he was saying the most unsettling things. I would encourage other readers to keep that image in mind!

View all my reviews >>

Interesting Articles

Scot McKnight –  “The Gospel for iGens” – “Sometimes I think we forget that no where in the pages of the New Testament do we find what many of us heard when we were gospeled: God loves us, we are sinners, God still loves us and sent his Son to die for our sins, and if we receive God’s plan we will spend eternity with him and be empowered by grace for a new life now. I believe every line in that gospel to be true, but no one said it quite that way in the New Testament.”  (This article is very helpful for Christian teachers, as we struggle to communicate the gospel to the next generation.)

“Muslims Next Door” – An interview with Naeem Fazal

Wise Advice from a Magic Grandmother

I’m reading the The Princess & the Goblin to our boys in the evenings.  It’s a bit over their heads, but it’s full of wonderful little theological insights:

 

The Princess’ Magical Grandmother (talking to the Princess when her friend Curdie can’t see the Magical Grandmother): “But in the meantime you must be content, I say, to be misunderstood for a while.  We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be.  But there is one thing much more necessary.”

 

Princess: “What is that, grandmother?”

 

Magical Grandmother: “To understand other people.”

 

Be Killing Sin

Although John Owen’s treatise on The Mortificaiton of Sin can be tough going at times, it is a stirring call to battle our remaining lusts. 

My favorite quote from today’s reading: “be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”

Covenantal Education

Paul House provides a succint summary of Deuteronomy’s priniciples for covenantal education.  It is both inspiring, as well as humbling, as I consider my role as a teacher and a parent:

“Third, Yahweh commands the people to internalize the covenant and teach their children to do the same (6:6-9).  Each new member of the holy community must be taught God’s ways.  Faith does not occur automatically.  It must be understood and owned (6:6), so each parent must teach his or her children, just as Moses has been teaching them.  Instruction must be purposefule, even to the point of becoming public (6:9).  The idea is to ‘impress, or inscribe’ truth on the heart, not simply to suggest it.  Such careful teaching will help avoid forgetting Yahweh in prosperity (6:10-12), in new settings (6:13-19) or when new generations emerge, uncertain of what the old revelation means (6:20-25).  Only scrupulous intergenerational teaching can keep exclusive love of Yahweh alive in a polytheistic culture” (Paul R. House, Old Testament Theology, 178).

The Fruit of Her Hands

The Fruit Of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson

Very helpful! I read this in college, but it went over my head. Now, after being married for a few years, it’s immensely more meaningful. We know the Wilsons personally, and Nancy practices what she preaches.

Lutheran Sanctification

Two bits from my reading diet caught my eye:

“Nevertheless we still experience sin and death within us, wrestle with them and fight against them.  You may tie a hog ever so well, but you cannot prevent it from grunting.  Thus is is with the sins in our flesh,” (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1, 247).

“Precisely because the totality of the gift, the new being [the one justified by faith] knows that there is nothing to do to gain heaven.  Thus the Christian is called to the tasks of daily life in this world, for the time being.  Students, for instance, are sometimes very pious and idealistic about ‘doing something,’ and so get caught up in this or that movement ‘for good.’  It never seems to dawn on them that perhaps for the time being, at least, their calling is simply to be a good student!  It is not particularly in acts of piety that we are sanctified, but in our call to live and act as Christians” (Gerald O. Forde, ”The Lutheran View” in Christian Spirituality:  Five Views of Sanctification, ed. Donald L. Alexander, 31).

Adoption Theology

The Orthodox Study Bible repeatedly emphasizes the theology of adoption in its explanatory notes.  This is laudable, since Protestants generally neglect this important way to understand our own salvation. 

 

We know several adoptees personally, and it is good to meditate on the fact that we are all adopted sons and daughters of the King.  In this regard, the Study Bible’s notes to Luke 3:23-38 (the geneology of Joseph and of Jesus) are particuarly moving: “Jesus was born to bring all mankind into adoption by the Father, and thus He affirms that a lineage of adoption is as binding and receives the same inheritance as a lineage of blood (Gal 4:4-7).”

 

(A good essay on this is C.N. Wilborn, “Adoption:  A Historical Perspective with Evangelical Implications” in Sanctification: Growing in Grace, eds. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. & J. Andrew Wortman, 2001.  Wilborn quotes Robert Smith Candlish:  “The more I think of it, the more I am disposed to regret that the subject of adoption, or sonship of believers, has been so little made account of in our Reformation theology.  It seems to me to be the appropriate crown of Calvinism…”) 

Interesting Typologies

I’m reading through the Orthodox Study Bible this year.  Each year I’m trying to read through a different translation/study Bible.  After a few years of reading the KJV, I read through the ESV last year.  Now, it’s a year in Orthodoxy!  Part of the reason is a research project I’ve been working on.  The other reason is that the Orthodox consider the Septuatgint to be the inspired and authoritative version of the OT.  So, since I teach Greek, I’m trying to become more familiar with the Septuagint. 

 

Imitating Christ

“Endevor to be patient in bearing with the defects and infirmities of others, of whatever sort they be; for you have many failings yourself which must be borne with by others. If you cannot make yourself such a one as you wish, how can you expect to have someone else conform to your likings? We would willingly have others perfect, and yet we do not amend our own faults.” (Thomas á Kempis, Imitation of Christ, XVI, 2.)

Truth in Action

“Truth in action–that is wisdom, that is the Right and the Good” (John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching, ch. 5).

Too often, we educators simply focus on downloading information from our brains to our students’ brains.  The students then download said information onto a test, after which the information is sent to the students’ recycle bin, and the miracle of education is complete!  But, from a Christian perspective, the ultimate goal of education is to learn wisdom (Proverbs, ch. 1).  And, as John Milton Gregory writes above, wisdom is not just intellectual head-knowledge.  Wisdom is applied truth.  If Christian education doesn’t impact a student’s life, then we may question whether it is really Christian education.  Truth in action …

Is Christianity Good for the World?

You don’t want to miss this debate between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson.  Both men are articulate and witty.  The gloves come off!

Humble Sin In An Election Year

“For both the skeptic and the Christian, the neglect of indwelling evil stems from the same source:  the very sin overlooked.  One of Satan’s strategies is to draw our attention to evils outside of us so that sin can have its grand work unhindered where it does the most damage.  Sin is like a mastermind that gets its job done without attracting attention to itself.  It is most successful when attention is not on itself.  Sin could almost be considered humble, were it not for its corrupting abuse of virtue.

The Nature of Marriage

In the latest Books & Culture, Dennis Okholm has a good review of Kathleen Norris’s recent book–Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life, “The very nature of marriage means saying yes before you know what it will cost.  You may say the ‘I do’ of the wedding ritual in all sincerity, but it is the testing of that vow over time that makes you married.”

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Teachers

In a treatise extolling the virtues of virginity and celibacy, the church father Gregory of Nyssa enunciated a principle which applies to all areas of life, especially teaching:  “Any theory divorced from living examples, however admirably it may be dressed out, is like the unbreathing statue, with its show of a blooming complexion impressed in tints and colours; but the man who acts as well as teaches, as the Gospel tells us, he is the man who is truly living, and has the bloom of beauty, and is efficient and stirring,” (On Virginity, chap. 23).

Depression

I struggle with the sin of depression.  It’s been hard for me to recognize it as a sin, but Jay Adams was helpful in showing me how we need to get to the root of problems like depression (or mental illness, in many cases).  Sin is a destroyer, and the effects of sin take many forms.  As I’ve reflected on what causes me to be depressed, I submit the following:

Depression comes of not trusting in the Lord for the future and/ or in not resting/ rejoicing in what He has provided now.  Being anxious and being discontent produce a feeling of paralysis (even a visceral, empty feeling in my stomach) and depression.  But, when I take my eyes of myself and my problems, trusting in the Lord, the depression vaporizes.  Thanks be to God!

Eucharistic Meditation

The Lord’s Supper is a family meal.  What would you think of a family which didn’t allow their adopted children to eat dinner with the family?  I hope we would all condemn them and probably excommunicate them if they did not repent.  But, what if, after they met with the elders, they decided to not serve the adopted children dinner until the adopted children were old enough to decide whether they really wanted to be part of the family?  Or, what if they refused to serve the adopted children dinner until they could discern whether the adopted children were really acting like good members of the family?  I think we all see the folly of this mindset. The family that eats together stays together.  If we want our adopted children to feel like part of the family, we treat them like part of the family.  We don’t wait for them to make a decision to join our family.  They are a part of our family, and they have right to join us at the family table.

God has adopted us into His family.  God feeds us at His table.  This is how he builds up his family.  He invites us to partake of His Son in faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  And He invites all of us, including our children.  If they are baptized, then they are also His adopted children.  If you feed your children at home, then you need to feed them here.  But, you can’t feed them here.  You need to bring them to the Lord’s Table, where God feeds all of his adopted children.

Sermon – The Good News of Adoption

Sermon (Ephesians 1:1-10)

Collect for Illumination (Calvin & Bucer)

“Almighty and gracious Father, since our whole salvation stands in our knowledge of your Holy Word, strengthen us now by your Holy Spirit that our hearts may be set free from all worldly thoughts and attachments of the flesh, so that we may hear and receive that same Word, and, recognizing your gracious will for us, may love and serve you with earnest delight, praising and glorifying you in Jesus Christ our Lord.”  We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the power of the Spirit, Amen.

God recently blessed our family with the addition of an adopted daughter.  As I read through Scriptures, Paul’s use of the adoption-theme jumped out at me.  The doctrine of adoption is often over-looked, but it is central to the good news that Jesus brought into this world in His Incarnation.

Exhortation – 1st Sunday After Christmas

The contemporary church is tragically schizophrenic when it comes to liturgy.  Most Christians are more consistent in their weddings than in their churches.  We all know that weddings, funerals, and anniversaries call for high liturgy.  Why is it that we get all dressed up for a wedding, but not for church?  Why is it that the Marine Corps has a higher liturgy than the army of God?  The Marine Corps exalts honor and duty.  They are highly disciplined.  Is it any coincidence that they have highly developed rituals and uniforms?  We know special occasions call for special actions and special clothes.  Why is church treated differently?  Why is gathering before the Lord of the universe treated more casually than appearing before a king or president?  Does anyone waltz up to Queen Elizabeth in a Hawaiian T-shirt?  Would you go before a human judge (wearing a robe, I might add) sporting your dingiest blue jeans?  This is most definitely a special occasion.  This is why we wear liturgical vestments.  This is why you should consider what you wear to church, and why.  I won’t lay down a dress-code for you.  But, I would challenge you to think of this as a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  We dress up for human weddings—why not dress up for the marriage of Christ and his Church?  We are the army of God—the Church Militant.  Let us consider our uniforms.  We are appearing before the Judge and King of the world.  Let your clothing reflect that.  Of course, our finest clothing cannot cover our sins.  Only the righteous robes of Jesus Christ can do that.  The best-dressed member of the church can still go to Hell.  Let us confess our sins and call our God to clothe us in His perfect righteousness.

Delight in Your Children

Andrée Seu, writing in World, stresses the importance of delighting in our children.  We are made in the image of God and, as parents, we need to reflect His image rightly.  If we only reflect the justice, law, and wrath of God, then we are lying to our children.  We sometimes forget that God delights in his children (Ps. 18:19).  We should do the same. 

Pseudo-Scholarship & Opportunities to Evangelize

Darrell Bock has good observations and advice on how to deal with the all the media hype about the “latest-greatest Jesus”.  The bottom line is that all the interest in works like The Da Vinci Code and the tomb of James, “the brother of Jesus” present a wonderful opportunity to evangelize.  The problem is that most Christians don’t know enough history to combat the silliness of Hollywood or the one-sided scholarship of much Jesus research.  Tolle lege–take up those church history books and read!  The fields are ripe for a harvest!

Abide In Christ

“Would you continue holy?  Then abide in Christ.  He says Himself, ‘Abide in Me, and I in you … He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit’ (John 15:4, 5).  It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell–a full supply for all a believer’s wants.  He is the Physician to whom you must daily go, if you would keep well.  He is the Manna which you must daily eat, and the Rock of which you must daily drink.  His arm is the arm on which you must daily lean, as you come up out of the wilderness of this world.  You must not only be rooted, you must also be built up in Him,” (J.C. Ryle, Holiness, 61).

Amen to That!

Two good posts:

An Orthodox view of culture which Reformed folks should take to heart

 

PCA pastor on Eschatology and Diapers

Jesus is a Complete Savior

J.C. Ryle anticipated a number of current controversies as he wrote in the Victorian period.  Of course, this proves that there is nothing new under the sun.  I found the following spot-on in regard to the Lordship controversy (though I’m not sure it’s actually a controversy anymore):

“Jesus is a complete Saviour.  He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin.  He does more–He breaks its power. (1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 12:10.)” (Holiness, 49).

We Exist for the Love of God

The medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich (circa 1373), claimed to see a series of visions, all related to the “Divine Love.”  While much of it is medieval nonsense, there are some gems: “And he showed me more, a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, on the palm of my hand, round like a ball.  I looked at it thoughtfully and wondered, ‘What is this?’  And the answer came, ‘It is all that is made.’  I marvelled that it continued to exist and did not suddenly disintegrate; it was so small.  And again my mind supplied the answer, ‘It exists, both now and forever, because God loves it.’  In short, everything owes its existence to the love of God,” (Revelations of Divine Love, chap. 5).

Calvinistic Presumption

“But as we ought to presume nothing of ourselves, so ought we to presume all things of God; nor are we stripped of vainglory for any other reason than to learn to glory in the Lord,” (John Calvin, Preface to Institutes of the Christian Religion, 13).

Purity of Heart

“A holy man will follow after purity of heart.  He will dread all filthiness and uncleanness of spirit, and seek to avoid all things that might draw him into it.  He knows his own heart is like tender, and will diligently keep clear of the sparks of temptation.  Who shall dare to talk of strength when David can fall?  There is many a hint to be gleaned from the ceremonial law.  Under it the man who only touched a bone, or a dead body, or a grave, or a diseased person, became at once unclean in the sight of God.  And these things were emblems and figures.  Few Christians are ever too watchful and too particular about this point,” (J.C. Ryle, Holiness, 44-45).

Young Christians need to remember this when they watch implied fornication on TV, or when they listen to the lustful ravings of rappers.  Constant wallowing in the mud of the world will have an effect.  The pig doesn’t notice how foul they smell because they’ve gotten used to the stench.   

This Sounds Familiar

“Of all the foolish things that parents say about their children, there is none worse than the common saying, ‘My son has a good heart at the bottom.  He is not what he ought to be; but he has fallen into bad hands.  Public schools are bad places.  The tutors neglect the boys.  Yet he has a good heart at the bottom.”  The truth, unhappily, is diametrically the other way.  The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the boy’s own heart, and not in the school.”

J.C. Ryle – Holiness

Academic Mission Opportunity

I came across an exciting mission opportunity for academics. This organization sends Christian teachers into other countries, finding positions for them in secular universities. A quote on their home-page says it all:

“The university is a clear-cut fulcrum with which to move the world. Change the university and you change the world,” declared Dr. Charles Malik, former president of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

The Gnostic Next Door

I’m almost done reading Irenaeus’s massive Against Heresies, an exhaustive refutation of the ancient heresy of Gnosticism, and a classic defense of orthodox Christian belief.  It took about a year (though I deliberately took it slow).  Some of it is quite tedious, and I often wondered if the pain was worth it.  But, Gnosticism is alive and well, from the Gospel of Thomas, to Joseph Campbell.  More surprisingly, there are actually Gnostic Catholic churches out there!  Go get a copy of Irenaus–there could be a Gnostic right next door.

Convicting Words for Any Teacher

“The goal of reading is the application, in our lives, of what we read. Not to learn it by heart, but to take it to heart. Not to practice using your tongues, but to be able to receive the tongues of fire and to live the mysteries of God. If one studies a great deal in order to acquire knowledge and to teach others, without living the things he teaches, he does no more than fill his head with hot air. At most he will manage to ascend to the moon using machines. The goal of the Christian is to rise to God without machines.”

     -Elder Paisios the Athonite

HT: Mind in the Heart

Ascension and the Lord’s Supper

The Ascension of Christ is essential to our understanding of the Lord’s Supper.  Of course, most of what happens to us at this Table remains a mystery, but we can say a few things, given what we know about Christ.  We know that Christ is in heaven, seated at the Father’s right hand.  We also know that Jesus Christ still has a resurrection body.  Many Christians have never thought about this, but it is true.  John says that we don’t know what the resurrection will be like, but we know that we will be like Jesus (1 Jn. 3:2).  And we know that Jesus had a real body that Thomas could touch and feel.  Jesus ate and drank after his resurrection.  This table prepares us for heaven.  Revelation tells us that heaven will be the wedding feast of the Lamb.  We will eat and drink with Jesus in heaven.  We are eating and drinking with him now, in the Church.  But, we often assume heaven will be less than what we know now.  We think we’ll float around, playing harps.  But, what if heaven is an eternal banquet with tastes and pleasures that would make your mind explode now?  Perhaps, when Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding at Cana, he was bringing a little bit of heaven to earth.  Whatever heaven will be, we must guard against the gnostic heresy, which says our bodies are not important to our salvation.  Christ came to save the world, including our bodies.  In the Ascension, Christ took a human body back up to heaven.  Things have changed at the center of the universe.  We can’t go back.  A grand and glorious party is coming.  Don’t be left behind.  If you’ve been baptized, and are not under church discipline, then you are already wearing the wedding garments, and you need to come to this party.

Ascension Day

Thursday was Ascension Day.  Most of American Evangelicals do not know that.  And this is quite ironic.  We just celebrated Mothers’ Day.  Woe to you if you forgot this Most Holy Day!  Memorial Day is coming up.  Most of America has some exciting plan for Memorial Day.  Maybe a few people will actually visit the graves of our fallen soldiers.  But, Ascension Day?  Isn’t that Roman Catholic?  Well, it also happens to be one of the days the Reformers celebrated.  Ascension Day celebrates the ascension of our Lord and Savior back into heaven.  Jesus Christ was the God-Man.  He was God, who became Man, in order to take mankind back into the heavenly places with him.  You see, Jesus did not ascend alone.  As the Head of the Church, our Head ascended back into heaven.  And the location of the head affects the location of the body.  If the head is under water, the body spazzes for a while, and then dies.  But if the head is above the water, the body can be totally under water.  In the same way, if our head were still submerged in this sinful world, we would soon be shark-food.  But, since our Head is at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, we are filled with life, and we kick sharks in the face.  Where our Head is makes all the difference in this world, and the next.  So, let’s reclaim this wonderful Feast Day of the Church.  Our Lord is risen, Amen!  But the glory doesn’t stop there.  Our Lord is ascended into heaven.  Glory!  Hallelujah!  Because he ascended into heaven, we, too, will ascend into heaven.  Blessed be the name of our risen and ascended Lord.  But, we are not fit for heaven while we cling to this sinful life.  So, let us confess our remaining sins to Almighty God …

Eucharistic Meditation – Rogation Sunday

Gathering around this Table every Lord’s Day reminds us over and over again that we are part of God’s household.  God adopts us as his children.  Though our earthly families may crumble apart and though death may separate us from those we love, we are never separate from God’s love.  Often God takes things away from us so that we learn to appreciate them more.  But, the only thing which can keep us from this Table is our own stubborn refusal to repent of our sin.  Though God may take our husband, wife, or our children, he will not cast us out of his house.  As long as we are his children, we have a place at this Table.  As long as we are his children, he will feed us.  Let’s enjoy the fellowship we have with each other now, while it lasts on this earth.  Our earthly fellowship will be disrupted by death.  We will all die.  But, even that is only temporary.  We will fellowship with each other again in heaven.  We will fellowship with those that God has already taken to himself.  Paul was torn between remaining with the Church in his body or being with the Lord in his spirit.  We may think of old age and of losing our spouse with fear and uncertainty.  How will we make it?  God will give us strength for the day.  And God gives us strength for each day through the ministry of the Church.  God gives us strength for each day through this Table. 

Exhortation – Rogation Sunday

Heidelberg Catechism (Q. 27) – What dost thou mean by the providence of God?Answer: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; (a) whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs (b) heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, (c) fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, (d) riches and poverty, (e) yea, and all things come, not by chance, but be his fatherly hand.

The catechism next teaches us about the nature of Providence.  From one point of view, nature is Providence.  We see God’s hand in the stars, in decomposing mulch, in the flight of a bird.  There really are no natural laws.  There is no such thing as an impersonal nature, much less a Mother Nature.  God the Father has established every so-called “law” of nature.  Nature is simply God’s law in action.  But providence means more than this: providence is God’s active care over his world.  The rain keeps falling on our heads because God makes it rain.  The lightning which tears the sky is his power.  The thunder which shakes our earth is his will shaking the earth.  Providence means that God is charge of every sparrow that smashes into your sliding glass door.  Providence means that God knows exactly how many hairs fell to the ground during your last hair-cut.  But some Christians are schizophrenic about providence.  This is often seen in what we call “natural” disasters.  As hard as it is to believe, we must believe that God was guiding the tornado which destroyed Greensberg, Kansas. 

Eucharistic Meditation – 4th Sunday After Easter

Sometimes we make spiritual matters too complicated.  Salvation comes through eating and drinking Christ.  Jesus tells us this in John 6:

53:  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55: For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57: As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 

This is nothing new.  God’s first negative command to the human race concerned eating.  Satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat wrongly.  They fell for it, and we all fell through that disobedient eating.  Jesus came to show us how to eat and drink correctly.  Remember that Jesus was accused to partying too much—of eating with wrong crowd, and of drinking too much.  His first miracle, after all, was to turn gallons of water into wine at a marriage feast.  Jesus wasn’t a dour health-food nut.  But, he was a spiritual super-athlete, and he calls us to the same strenuous spiritual race.  We shouldn’t relax in our spiritual quest, but the problem is that we look for Jesus in all the wrong places.  We look for him in quiet times, precious moments, T-Shirts, mega-churches, and bumper-stickers.  Although all of these things might have their proper place, the Lord’s Supper tends to be forgotten in the mad rush after the latest purpose-driven fad.  Jesus didn’t promise to meet us in a quiet time-he did promise that, if we drink his blood and eat his flesh, he would give us his eternal life.

Exhortation – 4th Sunday After Easter

Corporate Recitation (Heidelberg Catechism)

Question 26. What believest thou when thou sayest, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”? Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; (a) who likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and providence) (b) is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father; (c) on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt, but he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body (d) and further, that he will make whatever evils he sends upon me, in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage; (e) for he is able to do it, being Almighty God, (f) and willing, being a faithful Father.

Much is included in this description of our Great God.  In contrast to some people’s version of God, (more like a big Santa-in-the-sky who’s making a list and checking it twice) our God is a powerful Creator, and a loving Preserver.  God made the world out of nothing.  He made the world without our help, and he preserves it without our help.  God did not create the world and leave it alone to keep ticking by itself like a cosmic clock.  Rather, the world keeps ticking because God guides it every second.  God upholds the world and governs it actively, through his eternal plan.  That plan in action is called providence.  Through Christ’s work of redemption, God calls us his sons and daughters.  We rely on him completely, for everything.  We need to repent of our folly in thinking that we have earned anything.  Everything we have, God has given us as a gift.  This includes everything we wish we didn’t have.  All troubles and afflictions come upon us from the hands of a wise and loving Father.  There are many reasons why we must suffer hardships, but we trust in a wisdom higher than ours.  God could preserve us from all the evils things that have happened to us.  But, he chose not to.  The only question is whether we will respond in loving trust, or whether we’ll try to figure a better way.  Loving trust leads to the peace that passes all understanding.  Trusting in our own reason leads to suicidal madness and hedonistic annihilation.  Though we walk through a valley of tears, God prepares a table for us.  If we confess our stubborn pride and folly to him, he will lead us out of the valley of the shadow of death and will make us lie down in green pastures. 

Preaching to Toddlers

Parenting teaches us so much about God.  I often think God is teaching us more about Himself through raising three young ruffians than we are teaching them about God.  But, of course, I know that’s not true.  Their conception of God the Father is being shaped by how their sinful and foolish father behaves.  Their conception of the Church is being formed by seeing my wife bathing them and feeding them.  Their conception of Christ is being molded by how I love my wife.  It’s a haunting thought …

Eucharistic Meditation – One Loaf

In the early Christian book of church order, the Didache, we find a beautiful prayer: “As this broken bread was scattered on top of the mountains and gathered together became one, so let your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your Kingdom: for the glory and the power is yours through Jesus Christ for ever.” 

 

The church is made up of all sorts of people, just as all sorts of grains can be made into one bread.  As farmers gather the broken kernels of wheat and fashion them into bread, so God gathers up the broken pieces of humanity and re-makes them into the image of Christ.  This is how God creates the Church.  But, the wheat must be cut down and crushed before it can be turned into bread.  So we must be broken before we are put together again.  God wants to realize we can’t do it by our own strength.  He will raise us up, but only after we stop trying to raise ourselves.  This doesn’t mean we stop trying and give ourselves up to drift with the current.  Rather, we cease from man’s works and turn to God’s works.  The work of God is that we believe on Him and His Son.  The work of God is that He feeds us around this table.  We need to come with hunger.  But we also need to come with the expectation of being filled.

Easter Meditation

Excerpt from an Easter Sermon by Gregory Nazianzen (bishop of the Eastern church in the late 300s):

“Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.  Let us become  God’s for His sake, since He for ours became Man.  He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich; He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin.  Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us.  But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours” (Oration I.5).

Wyclif on the Ministry

In vol. 1 of his immensely helpful series Classical Pastoral Care, Thomas Oden quotes John Wyclif on the three duties of a pastor:

“Therefore, the first condition of the pastor is to cleanse his own spring, that it may not infect the word of God … The pastor has a threefold office: first, to feed his sheep spiritually on the Word of God, that through pastures ever green they may be initiated into the blessedness of heaven.  The second pastoral office is to purge wisely the sheep of disease, that they may not infect themselves and others as well.  And the third is for the pastor to defend his sheep from ravening wolves, both sensible and insensible” (Wyclif, The Pastoral Office, Part 2, sec. 1,  LCC XIV, p. 48).

Thawing the Frozen Chosen

At the risk of sounding too Emergent, I found this observation from Rice and Hufstuttler challenging:

“If Eucharist as giving thanks were central in our celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we might find ourselves dancing in the aisles, clapping our hands, and becoming carried away in the exuberance of the moment.  Perhaps one of the reasons Reformed Protestants are often characterized as ‘God’s frozen chosen’ is that we do not celebrate Eucharist frequently enough to be formed as a grateful people.  Without Eucharist, we put too much emphasis on what we accomplish, upon our duty and responsibility. 

Luther on Preparing for the Ministry

“If you are learned and understand God’s Word well and think that you would present it to others faithfully and profitably, then wait.  If God wants it, He will have no trouble finding you.  My friend, do not let your ability burst your belly.  God has not forgotten you.  If you are to preach His Word, He will no doubt call on you to do so at His own time.  Do not determine the time limit or the place for Him” (Luther, qtd. in Classical Pastoral Care, vol. 1, ed. Thomas Oden, 27). 

I’ve only read vol. 1 of Oden’s Classical Pastoral Care,