Moving Day

After spending a couple of weeks trying to decide which blog site works better for me, I've decided to move.

I'll keep everything I've written to this point here, but will make no new additions on this page.

All new posts will now be made at the Words of Grace site hosted by WordPress.

That site also contains a full archive of everything posted on this site. It's all there. And now, so am I.....

Sunday Leftovers (6/15/08)

Galatians says much about the Fatherhood of God, but not everything. One more truth that is found elsewhere is this: God loves and is (and always will be) “well-pleased" with His Son (2 Pt. 1:17); we are in His Son (Eph. 1:17; Col. 2:20) — therefore He loves us with a Son-like love!

The pleasure that He finds in His sons is found in the familiar parable of the waiting father and the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Of that story, author Philip Keller writes this:

…despite all that the profligate son did to dismay his father, the parent's attitude toward him never deviated. In spite of all the shame, suffering, scandal, and loss, the father's love never minished. Instead there went out from him forgiveness, compassion, love, and concern.…[But the older brother's] pride and self-esteem prevented him from enjoying all the benefits at his disposal. This was simply because he did not believe what his father said. He was trying so hard to earn and merit by diligent service what was already rightfully his as the elder son. His plight is almost the more pathetic of the two. It shows us a man who really never got to know his father. The picture painted for us is that of a person who sees God as his Father, as someone harsh and hard and very demanding. He has never sensed His love, compassion, generosity, and fantastic forgiveness. And because he keeps his father at arm's length there has never been that wondrous sensation of feeling those open arms flung about him. He has never felt accepted. He has never felt wanted.

A few more thoughts about God and His holiness

As I reflected on last night’s study, along with the tension of covering much material far too quickly, I believe I left some confusion about the sovereignty of God. So let me attempt to un-muddy the waters for you.

When we speak of the sovereignty of God, we are saying that God is in control, governing every circumstance of life. There is nothing that escapes His control and dominion. The life of Nebuchadnezzar was an excellent illustration of this truth (Dan. 4:35). We find this truth throughout the pages of Scripture:

• God is sovereign over nations (Ex. 12:35-36; Ezra 1:1; Mt. 2:14-15; Rom. 13:1-4).
• God is sovereign over nature (Job 37:3, 6, 10-13; Is. 45:7; Amos 4:7).
• God is sovereign over physical health, life and death (Job 2:9-10; Mark 1:33-34).
• God is sovereign over Satan (Mt. 4:10-11; Jn. 16:33; Rev. 20:7-10; note also that while Satan was the one who afflicted Job with illness, He attributes that illness as being from God).
• God is sovereign over individual’s lives (Prov. 16:9; 19:21; Eccl. 7:13; 2 Cor. 8:16-17; Js. 4:13-15).
• God is sovereign over salvation (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-6).
• God is sovereign over sin (Gen. 50:20; Acts 4:27-28; Rev. 17:17; John Piper’s sermon series “Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ” is particularly helpful in understanding this truth).

All these verses, and many more combine to paint a picture of the absolute control, authority, and governance of God over all His created world. (Another very helpful resource on this topic is Jerry Bridges’ book, Trusting God; I have read and referred to it many times and am always challenged and encouraged by it.)

That was what I was trying to say last night. And where I got side-tracked, creating confusion, was how men attempt to discover and know that sovereignty, which is where the terms “preceptive (moral) will” and “decreed will” entered the discussion. I should have just left that out — while a related topic, it is not central to the discussion of God’s sovereignty. [If you wish to read more about how to discover God’s will, read either Garry Friesen’s Decision Making and the Will of God (the older version is better than the newer version) or Garry Gilley’s Is That You, Lord? (a more concise explanation of the same topic covered by Friesen).

I hope that helps a little.

Then as I was reading my Bible this morning, I was struck by the repeated emphasis in the passages I was reading on the holiness of God. They are not inherently connected to each other, yet the themes of the greatness of God and His holiness run through them. This is what I wrote in my journal about God’s holiness as it was revealed in what I was reading

1. The motive for obedience to God is because His people have been set apart to Him (Dt. 14:21). The reason Israel had strict dietary laws was because they were holy to Him — set apart to His purposes, which is still true for believers (and me!) today.
2. In a similar vein, Isaiah notes that God says, “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness…” (42:6). The purpose of His calling is to produce righteousness (cf. also Titus 2:14); the authority for His calling men to that righteousness is His position as Lord (Yahweh — the covenant God of Israel). Yet in His authoritativeness, He also provides the ability for His people to be righteous.
3. His holiness is revealed to His people to evoke praise and gratitude (Ps. 99:8-9; 100; 103:1). We dare not come to His Word or presence only with a desire for knowledge and not also a corresponding zeal for worship and gladness in Him.

Lord, give me a yearning for You today — not for Your benefits alone, but because You have created me to enjoy You and Your perfections.

Sunday Leftovers (6/8/08)

Why is substitutionary atonement so important? Two reasons — one theological and one applicational.

For the first, J. I. Packer offers a summary definition of the atonement in his article, "Sola Fide: the Reformed Doctrine of Justification":

This is the characteristic doctrine of the Reformation concerning the death of Christ. It was an act of obedient substitution on his part, an acceptance in his own person of the penalty due to us, in virtue of which the holy Judge declares guilty sinners immune from punishment and righteous in his sight. The great exchange is no legal fiction, no arbitrary pretense, no mere word-game, on God's part, but a costly achievement. The divinely established solidarity between Christ and his people was such that he was in truth "made sin" for us, and "bore in his soul the dreadful torments of a condemned and lost man," so that in our souls the joy of knowing God's forgiveness and favor might reign forever. This, to the Reformers, was the heart and height of the work of divine grace, not to be wrangled over, but to be trusted and adored.

For the latter, Milton Vincent, in his book A Gospel Primer, offers a summary application of the gospel — preach it to yourself every day:

There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my heart, and the lies of the world and the Devil than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsings of the gospel.…As long as I am inside the gospel, I experience all the protection I need from the powers of evil that rage against me. It is for this reason that the Bible tells me to "take up" and "put on" the whole armor of God…

That God would tell me to "take up" and "put on" this gospel armor alerts me to the fact that I do not automatically come into each day portected by the gospel. In fact, these commands imply that I am vulnerable to defeat and injury unless I seize upon the gospel and arm myself with it from head to toe. And what better way is there to do this than to preach the gospel to my self and to make it the obsession of my heart throughout each day?

A few more thoughts about God's attributes

A couple more thoughts after last night's study of the attributes of God —

No, we didn't get finished with the notes, but I'm okay with that, even if it means that we won't be able to cover some other things in as much detail at the end of the summer. There is nothing more important than getting right our understanding of the Godhead. We struggle spiritually because we don't think rightly about God and His Word. [I read this morning that God let the nation of Israel be hungry in the wilderness for the express purpose of teaching them that "man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord" (Dt. 8:3). We need more of God, not less.]

Twenty years ago, R. C. Sproul summarized the problem of man well: "The root problem is that man lives in an environment where many human beings experience a profound sense of the absence of God." Perhaps the reason so many (even more today than when Sproul wrote that sentence) live without God is because they are seeking the wrong kind of God:

Many people, both believers and unbelievers, are confidently gripping an image of God that simply doesn't square with the God of the Bible. One of the most common of these images is that of a God who is only love and kindness, a kind of deified Mister Rogers. C. S. Lewis said it well:

We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven — a senile old gentleman who, as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves,' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'A good time was had by all.' [Dwight Edwards, Revolution Within.]

So if we take an extra week or two or three talking about God, the Trinity, Christ and His work of salvation, and the transforming, indwelling work of the Spirit, I'm okay with that.

Finally, as I studied, I found that invariably the best synthesizing quote I had on a given attribute of God was penned by A. W. Tozer, and most of those statements came from The Knowledge of the Holy. What a gift of God's grace that book is to the church. So last night I ordered several copies of it for the book cart — hopefully they will arrive in time for next week's study.

The Decline of Evangelicalism

Yesterday, Christine Wicker wrote an interesting piece published in the Dallas Morning News entitled, "The Great Evangelical Decline.

The basic theme of the piece is that evangelicals are not as prominent in America as published reports indicated (i.e., there aren't really as many believers in America as most people suppose). That's something I've been suggesting for a long time.

Wicker then offers three reasons why that is so:

• Alcoholics Anonymous and all its 12-step offspring…
• The second attack came within the church as American evangelicals themselves became less willing to proclaim that they are the only ones saved.
• And along comes The Pill. It's merely one of the insidious attacks science has launched against traditional religious faith, but it is surely the most successful. Nothing in history has changed human relations as much as that little white pill.

These surely are not the only reasons, but I would agree that they are contributing causes; and I don't agree with all her conclusions:

Evangelical leaders defend their stance by claiming that God doesn't change and that neither does sin. But sin does change. Slavery wasn't sin once. Now it is. Taking a wife and a concubine wasn't sin once. Now it is. And God – or our understanding of what God is, which is all we actually have – changes, too.

I think that the Scriptures are quite emphatic that neither sin nor God are mutable. Nor were slavery, adultery and fornication once right in the eyes of God and now they are wrong. They have always been sin and always will be.

However, the piece is worth reading for the thought it provokes about what has gone wrong in the evangelical church.

Thinking about a blog change

I'm thinking about changing my blog address.

I've set up the new page at Wordpress already. Would you let me know what you think? Is one easier to navigate than the other? Both have features that I prefer; neither have all the features I want. Hmmm.

What thinkest thou?

Sunday Leftovers (6/1/08)

Communion is remembrance and celebration not only of what Christ has accomplished already at the cross, but also an anticipation of what will yet be fulfilled completely. Thinking about the themes concerning the cross we have already talked about the last several weeks, that means:

• we recall His work of salvation and anticipate salvation from all the consequences of sin.
• we recall the necessity of His death and anticipate the necessity of our own death — and the necessity of our glorification.
• we recall the willingness of His sacrifice as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and anticipate the complete removal of the flesh of sin.
• we recall His sparing us from judgment and anticipate His full work of righteous judgment.
• we recall His fulfillment of the Law and await the completion of His imputed righteousness.

A remembrance of Christ's work on the cross is incomplete without also remembering His future work, and trusting it completely.

That is, remembering the past with gratitude will become a stimulant to anticipating the future with trust. One reason believers fail to persevere in trust is that they have failed to cultivate gratitude in the past. They are ungrateful for the past (and don't see God's graciousness at work), so they worry about the future (fail to see the potential for God's sovereign ability to act with grace).

John Piper says it this way:

…the great redemptive works of past grace — for example, the death and resurrection of Jesus — are indispensable foundations for our faith in future grace. But their power resides precisely in that — they purchase and certify future grace in which we hope. The life and death of Jesus were God's Yes to all his promises (2 Corinthians 1:20). Christ came into the world 'to confirm the promises given to the Fathers' (Romans 15:8). Because of Christ's death, God will 'with him freely give us all things' (Romans 8:32). Those whom God has justified, he will most certainly glorify (Romans 8:30). Past grace is the foundation of life-transforming faith in future grace.…True gratitude exults in the riches of God's grace as it looks back on the benefits it has received. By cherishing past grace in this way, it inclines the heart to trust in future grace. [Future Grace]

Communion is valuable not only because it is an act of obedience to Christ, and not only because it stimulates us to remember Christ's past work, but also because it stimulates us to trust Him for His future provision.

A few more thoughts about the Bible

A few more thoughts (from people who said it better than me) about the Bible (these are "leftovers" from the theology Bible Institute class last night):

"I am a Bible-bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small." [John Wesley.]

"Contemporary evangelicalism has been beguiled and sabotaged by a ruinous lack of confidence in God's Word. I'm not talking about the question of whether God gave us an inerrant Bible. Of course He did. And the great majority of evangelicals accept that without question. But many who would never doubt the Bible's authenticity as God's Word or distrust its essential authority as a guide for righteous living have nevertheless accepted the notion that Scripture simply does not contain all we need to minister well in these complex and sophisticated modern times." [John MacArthur, Our Sufficiency in Christ.]

"The whole Bible maintains this insistence that God's word is His exclusive instrument in all human affairs. Of Him, as of no one else, it is true that what He says goes. It is in truth the word of God that rules the world, and that fixes our fortunes for us." [J. I. Packer, Knowing God.]

"Wherever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God's and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God's centrality in the life of today's church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us." ["The Cambridge Declaration," from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.]

"It's always best to drink at the well and not from the tank. You shall find that reading the Word of God for yourselves, reading it rather than notes upon it, is the surest way of growing in grace. Drink the unadulterated milk of the Word of God, and not of the skim milk, or the milk and water of man's word." [Charles Spurgeon, Counsel for Christian Workers.]

"For some years now, I have read through my Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant." [Martin Luther.]

"The Scriptures are not provided to feed our gossipy curiosity or legislate our barnyard morals: they examine our lives and invite our faith." [Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles.]

"It's not so much what we read in the Bible that changes us, but what we remember. Doubtless there are many believers who should increase their daily intake of Scripture, but many others are devoting all the time they can. If you cannot possibly add meditation to the time you already spend reading, then read less in order to meditate more. The goal is not just to 'get through' a certain amount of pages, but to meet God and hear from Him." [Don Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life.]

Why we like the Psalms

In his most recent sermon, "Songs that Shape the Heart and Mind," John Piper notes the variety of emotions that are contained in Psalms — one of the reasons that we are all drawn to them, whether glad or sad:

One of the reasons the Psalms are deeply loved by so many Christians is that they give expression to an amazing array of emotions. Listen to this list of emotions I pulled together:

1. Loneliness: “I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalms 25:16).
2. Love: “I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Psalms 18:1).
3. Awe: “Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him” (Psalms 33:8).
4. Sorrow: “My life is spent with sorrow” (Psalms 31:10).
5. Regret: “I am sorry for my sin” (Psalms 38:18).
6. Contrition: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalms 51:17).
7. Discouragement and turmoil: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me” (Psalms 42:5)?
8. Shame: “Shame has covered my face” (Psalms 44:15).
9. Exultation: “In your salvation how greatly he exults” (Psalms 21:1).
10. Marveling: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:23).
11. Delight: “His delight is in the law of the Lord” (Psalms 1:2).
12. Joy: “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalms 4:7).
13. Gladness: “I will be glad and exult in you” (Psalms 9:2).
14. Fear: “Serve the Lord with fear” (Psalms 2:11).
15. Anger: “Be angry, and do not sin” (Psalms 4:4).
16. Peace: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep” (Psalms 4:8).
17. Grief: “My eye wastes away because of grief” (Psalms 6:7).
18. Desire: “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted” (Psalms 10:17).
19. Hope: “Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you” (Psalms 33:22).
20. Brokenheartedness: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalms 34:18).
21. Gratitude: “I will thank you in the great congregation” (Psalms 35:18).
22. Zeal: “Zeal for your house has consumed me” (Psalms 69:9).
23. Pain: “I am afflicted and in pain” (Psalms 69:29).
24. Confidence: “Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident” (Psalms 27:3).

Sunday Leftovers (5/25/08)

Sunday afternoon I began reading a book I bought about a month ago — Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ. The author, Stephen Nichols, is attempting to trace the history of American thought towards Jesus Christ and how that thinking was heavily influenced by contemporary cultural values. It has not made for a healthy understanding of Christ at the end of the first decade in the 21st century. It is that unhealthy and unbiblical thinking about Christ that has motivated my current sermon series, seeking to give us a more complete view of the magnitude of Christ's atoning work on the cross.

The last paragraph of his introduction sounded the warning for today's American church particularly well:

The history of the American evangelical Jesus reveals that such complexities as the two natures of Christ have often been brushed aside, either on purpose or out of expediency. Too often his deity has been eclipsed by his humanity, and occasionally the reverse is true. Too often American evangelicals have settled for a Christology that can be reduced to a bumper sticker. Too often devotion to Jesus has eclipsed theologizing about Jesus. Today's American evangelicals may be quick to speak of their love for Jesus, even wearing their devotion on their sleeve, literally in the case of WWJD bracelets. But they may not be so quick to articulate an orthodox view of the object of their devotion. Their devotion is commendable, but the lack of a rigorous theology behind it means that a generation of contemporary evangelicals is living off of borrowed capital. This quest for the historical Jesus of American evangelicalism is not just a story of the past; it perhaps will help us understand the present, and it might even be a parable for the future. This parable teaches us that Jesus is not actually made in America. He is made and remade and remade again. What will next year's model look like?

More on being God- and Christ-centered

A few minutes after posting the quotation from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, I received this short, but helpful blog entry from John Piper, "What Does God-Centered Mean?"

Lloyd-Jones on emotions and happiness

To finish reading Martyn Lloyd-Jones' classic work, Spiritual Depression, I am trying to read a couple chapters a week in conjunction with my morning devotional time. In my reading this morning, he wrote this (I don't agree with all of what he says, but the focus on making Christ the object of our affections when we are tempted to discouragement and despair is very helpful):

Better still, let me put it like this. If you want to be truly happy and blessed, if you would like to know true joy as a Christian, here is the prescription — 'Blessed (truly happy) are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness' — not after happiness. Do not go on seeking thrills; seek righteousness. Turn to yourself, I turn to your feelings and say: 'I have no time to worry about feelings, I am interested in something else. I want to be happy but still more I want to be righteous, I want to be holy. I want to be like my Lord, I want to live in this world as He lived, I want to walk through it as He walked through it. You are in this world, says John in his First Epistle, even as He was. Set your whole aim upon righteousness and holiness and as certainly as you do so you will be blessed, you will be filled, you will get the happiness you long for. Seek for happiness and you will never find it, seek righteousness and you will discover you are happy it will be there without your knowing it, without your seeking it.

Finally, let me put it in this way: 'Do you want to know supreme joy, do you want to experience a happiness that eludes description? There is only one thing to do, really seek Him, seek Him Himself, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If you find that your feelings are depressed do not sit down and commiserate with yourself, do not try to work something up but — this is the simple essence of it — go directly to Him and seek His face, as the little child who is miserable and unhappy because somebody else has taken or broken his toy, runs to its father or its mother.

So if you and I find ourselves afflicted by this condition, there is only one thing to do, it is to go to Him. If you seek the Lord Jesus Christ and find Him there is no need to worry about your happiness and your joy. He is our joy and our happiness, even as He is our peace. He is life, He is everything. So avoid the incitements and the temptations of Satan to give feelings this great prominence at the centre. Put at the centre the only One who has a right to be there, the Lord of Glory, Who so loved you that He went to the Cross and bore the punishment and the shame of your sins and died for you. Seek Him, seek His face, and all other things shall be added unto you.

Sunday Leftovers (5/18/08)

What does it mean that God is a righteous judge? John Piper offers this explanation:

God’s righteousness is essentially his unswerving allegiance to his own name and his own glory. God is righteous to the degree that he upholds and displays the honor of his name. He is righteous when he values most what is most valuable, and what is most valuable is his own glory. Therefore God’s justice, his righteousness, consists most fundamentally in doing what is consistent with the esteem and demonstration of his name, his glory. God would be unrighteous if he did not uphold and display his glory as infinitely valuable.

That righteousness to uphold and defend and honor His name and person as the most glorious treasure also necessitates the judgment of God — that is, His judgment of sin and unrighteousness (or "undelight" in Him — treasuring other possessions or people above Him) is right for Him.

So He pours out His wrath on unbelieving people.

And He pours out His wrath on Christ so that all who believe in Christ are spared His wrath and given His righteousness.

Do not miss this: there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). No condemnation. No disparaging looks. No regrets for His saving work. No further judgment. The lexicon for the Greek New Testament says that the word condemnation "does not denote merely a pronouncement of guilt, but the adjudication of punishment." This is Paul's very point in Rom. 8 — there is no longer any punishment to be passed down by the Judge. Judgment is done. We are free.

This is why we can say in response to the Biblical truth of the gospel — be joyful!


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In one of my illustrations Sunday morning, I made passing reference to the number of believers now in China. Later in the day, I picked up my latest copy of Christian History & Biography and found that the entire issue was devoted to China and the influence of Christianity in that country, particularly over the past 100 years. I am a long way from finishing it, but it looks to be very interesting (at the moment, none of the articles are yet posted online, but over the next few weeks, they will post them).

California Supreme Court Decision on Homosexuality

Yesterday the California Supreme Court made a decision to legalize gay marriages. The chief justice of the court, Ron George, wrote in the majority opinion, "In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation."

This is obviously a highly significant decision, that has long-term consequences.

Al Mohler offers a brief, but worthy commentary on the subject.

John MacArthur offers a broader perspective, God's Plan for the Gay Agenda.

Both are worth reading.

Missions and children

Do you ever wonder how to stimulate your children (or yourself) to a greater love for missions?

A few weeks ago, Desiring God offered a list of 10 ways to help kids love missions. [These ideas might work for adults, too.]

Here is the list, without the additional notes of explanation:

1. Pray for missionaries as a family.

2. Read missionary biographies to your children.

3. Draw the whole family into supporting missionaries financially.

4. Find your child a missionary kid pen pal.

5. Entertain missionaries in your home.

6. Take risks as a family.

7. Affirm and nurture qualities in your children which could serve them on the mission field.

8. Teach your children to be world Christians.

9. Read missionary prayer letters to your children.

10. Use missions fact books and resources such as Operation World, the Global Prayer Digest, the Joshua Project, and Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). Kids of Courage is the youth-oriented arm of VOM and offers activity books, spotlights on the persecuted world, and more.

Sunday Leftovers (5/11/08)

A few thoughts about various items in Sunday's sermon —

Ransom is release from sin. And I need release from sin (though you and I are both want to admit it). In a recent blog post on Desiring God, Abraham Piper helped me think clearly about this issue. We usually think ourselves to be more righteous than others who have more obvious demonstrations of inherent unrighteousness. But, reflecting on the story of the woman caught in adultery, Piper notes,

[Jesus] seems to have two categories in this story: perfect and not perfect. So what Jesus really suggests is, if you are in the latter category, what in the world do you think you’re doing judging other people who are also imperfect just like you?

The fact that I’m imperfect in a different way—that I don’t sin the same as the guy who gave me the old highway salute—is totally irrelevant to Jesus. As long as I’m any kind of sinner, no matter how benign my faults might seem, I am still just that—a sinner, the same as an adulteress or a gesticulatively angry driver.

There is only one place I belong, and it’s not standing with stones in my fists, threatening someone else in the “not perfect” category. No, the only place I belong is crouching in hope at the feet of Jesus with the adulteress, and hopefully, with that other guy on the interstate, too.

Jesus is right: worldly leadership is proud, authoritative and "tyrannical," and not servant-hearted. I thought much about verse 42 in this passage, and thought about numerous secular books on leadership that often tout something akin to what we would recognize as servant leadership. Is Jesus' statement accurate?, I wondered. Then I thought of the implications of the words are recognized and lord it over them and great men and exercise authority. What Jesus is pointing to is the issue of pride and self-exaltation (and not Christ-exaltation) and self-dependence (and not Christ-dependence).

And then I thought of a book written 20 years ago by historian Paul Johnson, in which he sought to examine the personal lives of those who have significantly influenced intellectual thought in Western culture. He examined the lives of men like Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Tolstoy, Hemingway and Sartre, asking the question, "How did they run their own lives? With what degree of rectitude did they behave to family, friends, and associates? Were they just in their sexual and financial dealings? Did they tell, and write, the truth? And how have their systems stood up to the test of time and praxis?"

This is how he concludes The Intellectuals:

What conclusions should be drawn? Readers will judge for themselves. But I think I detect today a certain public scepticism when intellectuals stand up to preach to us…The belief seems to be spreading that intellectuals are no wiser as mentors, or worthier as exemplars, than the witch doctors or priests of old. I share that scepticism. A dozen people picked at random on the street are at least as likely to offer sensible views on moral and political matters as a cross-section of the intelligentsia. But I would go further. One of the principal lessons of our tragic century, which has seen so many millions of innocent lives sacrificed in schemes to improve the lot of humanity, is — beware intellectuals. Not merely should they be kept well away from the levers of power, they should also be objects of particular suspicion when they seek to offer collective advice. Beware committees conferences and leagues of intellectuals. Distrust public statements issued from their serried ranks. Discount their verdicts on political leaders and important events. For intellectuals, far from being highly individualistic and non-conformist people, follow certain regular patterns of behaviour. Taken as a group, they are often ultra-conformist within the circles formed by those whose approval they seek and value. That is what makes them, en masse, so dangerous, for it enables them to create climates of opinion and prevailing orthodoxies, which themselves often generate irrational and destructive courses of action. Above all, we must at all times remember what intellectuals habitually forget: that people matter more than concepts and must come first. The worst of all despotisms is the heartless tyranny of ideas. [my emphasis]

Those who serve as worldly leaders — those who are esteemed as "great men" — are, in fact, unworthy as leaders because they are unworthy servants. Just as Jesus said.

Because Christ paid such a great price to redeem us from sin, our hearts should abhor that sin. Yet so often we are inclined to and even love the very thing Christ has redeemed us from. Spurgeon said it well —

Do you roll sin under your tongue as a sweet morsel and then come to God's house on Sunday morning and think to worship Him? Worship Him! Worship Him, with sin indulged in your life! If I had a dear brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I valued the knife that had been crimsoned with his blood?...Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the incarnate God; can you love it? Oh, that there was an abyss as deep as Christ's misery, that I might at once hurl this dagger of sin into its depths, whence it might never be brought to light again! Begone, 0 sin! You are banished from the heart where Jesus reigns!

A few verses on the sacrifice of Christ

Here is the list of verses that I came up with from the Gospels that either directly stated or implied the sacrificial work of Christ (these are the verses that were the foundation for yesterday's message):

• Matthew 16:21ff
• Matthew 17:9-12
• Matthew 26:26-29
• Luke 2:34-35
• Luke 17:31
• Luke 22:37
• Luke 23:15
• Luke 23:28
• Luke 24:6ff, 26ff
• John 1:29, 36
  
• John 1:39
• John 2:19ff
• John 10:11-18
• John 16:17ff
• John 18:32
• John 19:11
  
• John 12:7
  
• John 19:30

Audio on the cross

I have recently come across several audio sermons that deal with themes related to the cross that I have found exceedingly helpful and encouraging.

At the recent Together for the Gospel conference, virtually all the speakers dealt with topics related to the cross and the atonement; I found particularly helpful the messages by Al Mohler, R. C. Sproul, and John MacArthur (though they were all excellent and worth listening to more than once).

I have also listened to a couple sermons lately by C. J. Mahaney, and been reminded how effectively he communicates themes about the cross. One three-part series that he did at Covenant Life Church is "Christ and Him Crucified."

Sunday Leftovers (5/4/08)

Since I didn't quite finish my sermon, here are a couple of thoughts that remain in my mind from this great passage:

What is interesting to note is that not only does the NT picture Christ as the lamb sacrificed, but also as the priest who offers Himself as that sacrifice (Heb. 9:10ff). It is a reminder that Scripture uses as many different pictures as possible for us to understand the depth of Christ’s work. There is no one image that is adequate for portraying the infinite wonder of Christ's atoning work (in fact, Eph. 2:7 suggests that it will be our eternal preoccupation and that the Lord will eternally unfold the riches of His grace extended through the cross).

Not only is Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, but He is the eternal Lamb. Revelation 13:8 tells us that there are names that have been written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the earth. That is, already in the eternal past, God had ordained the coming of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ and the salvation of those who would trust in Christ — the Lamb of God. The sacrifice of Christ was not an afterthought on God's part, nor was it a secondary plan after the intrusion of sin "messed up" His plan. That Christ would be the sacrificed Lamb has always been God's eternal plan and purpose. John Piper said it this way:

…before the world was created there was a book called the “book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” The Lamb is Jesus Christ crucified. The book is the book of Jesus Christ crucified. Therefore, before God made the world he had in view Jesus Christ slain, and he had in view a people purchased by his blood written in the book. Therefore, the suffering of Jesus was not an afterthought, as though the work of creation did not go the way God planned. Before the foundation of the world God had a book called “the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” The slaying of the Lamb was in view before the work of creation began.

And one final implication of Christ's sacrifice: If I am in conflict with another believer, or if I do not "like" (or love!) another believer, or if I am harboring unkind thoughts and judgmental attitudes toward another believer, I must recognize that the person I dislike is the person that was loved by the Triune Godhead in eternity past to the point that Christ joyfully and willingly endured the sacrifice on the cross to redeem and save that person for His glory! So on what basis might I say that it is acceptable to be purposefully out of fellowship with such a person. Yes, that person may think and act very differently than me, may have different priorities and desires than me, and may even be difficult to engage in conversation, but that is the very person that is the object of God's eternal and divine affections. How can I remain out of fellowship with Him and in fellowship with Christ?

Sunday Leftovers (4/27/08)

As I mentioned in my message, I have long been struck by the repeated emphasis on the necessity of Christ's death.

He had to go to the cross. It was not optional.

Why is it important to stress the necessity of the cross? Because there is a connection between what we believe about the cross and the way we live. And if we preach the necessity of the cross as, well — necessary, then we will be dependent on Christ for everything.

But if we do not recognize His necessary death, then we will be prone to two different kinds of temptations: 1) the assumption that we are satisfactory in our spiritual state and not dependent on God. He is good and helpful, but we do not need Him or His work. And, 2) in opposition to that idea, we might be subject to legalism as a means of spiritual life, with the resultant joylessness of a life that is completely dependent on our own work and merit, knowing that in no way do we measure up to the divine standard of holiness.

Interestingly, as I was preparing for this sermon on Sunday evening, I did a little surfing on the internet and found a series of five sermons on the necessity of Christ's death, preached by S. Lewis Johnson. His concluding statement to the series reflects what I have just noted: "Come to Christ, trust him, and rest on what he’s done. And know, by virtue of the fact, that he’s paid that penalty in full. Your debts paid. You’re free. Enjoy your forgiveness of sins."

Christ had to go to the cross. And now we live in liberty!

Sunday Leftovers (4/20/08)

Since Sunday morning, I've been thinking more about my message and the implications of sin and salvation on our spiritual life. I've even listened to the sermon again myself. Did I say what I wanted to say, the way I wanted to say it?

I was intentional in attempting to front-load the sermon with a number of Scriptures to demonstrate the weight of our sin. It is no small thing to say we are sinners. It is to acknowledge we are dead. In every way we are helpless before God (which is the point of Jesus in the initial Beatitudes).

I have always appreciated the distinction which I mentioned Sunday morning that no one is as bad as he could be (even the worst sinner can always sin in even more heinous ways); however, every person is affected in every part of his being by sin. That is, there is nothing in him that is perfectly righteous. Everything is tainted by his sin nature. He can do nothing good (read Romans 3). The unsaved man cannot please God in anyway because He cannot do anything for God's glory (1 Cor. 10:31), because He does not love God.

Our problem is that we tend (even as believers in Christ) to minimize both the extent and the effect of sin. Because of our propensity to compare ourselves favorably with others — and believing that God grades on a scale and that there are acceptable scores that fall short of perfection — we do not believe that our sin merits the wrath of God. We do not think that the short flash of anger in our eyes at another driver, a derogatory word mumbled under our breath at our co-worker, a bitter complaint about a late newspaper or slow internet connection, a fleeting lustful glance at a woman in the store, or a covetous glance through the Sunday sale papers is enough to merit hell. They are enough. They fall short of the glory of God. Each one of them is enough to condemn us eternally. We must feel that weight.

[Aside: since Sunday I have listened to several of the sermons from the Together for the Gospel conference held last week. Each of the messages have been outstanding, but the ones by John MacArthur ("The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability") and R. C. Sproul ("The Curse Motif of the Atonement") both related well to this very topic; together they painted a picture of our complete inability to save ourselves and God's righteous wrath to judge those who cannot save themselves.]

But we must likewise feel the weight of Matthew 1:21 — Jesus ("God Saves") came to rescue us from that very condemnation and hell. That is the wonder of the advent of Christ and the cross. God saves means that though we deserve every power that God can exert through His wrath, we get none of it if we trust Christ. God saves means He saves entirely and fully. Previously there was nothing within us that was righteous and for His glory. Now, having trusted Christ, we have His full righteousness and nothing that can condemn us. The transformation is remarkable.

And that transformation means that while we do well to examine our hearts, the foundation of our life and the focus of our life is to live each day grateful and trusting that what He has done is sufficient and He no longer harbors any animosity towards us and that He offers His grace and love with joy, not begrudgingly.

How glorious and significant that brief sentence, "He shall save His people from their sins is!"

Sabbatical Reflections

I have a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and I always have considered it a good thing to have a little newspaper ink on my hands each day. Yet I have also long had the conviction that newspapers are often a poor source for evaluating the relative importance of any given story or event because of the lack of time available for reflection and assessment before the morning edition must go to print. [And that is all the more true for television news and internet pundits.]

Only with time are we able to discern with greater clarity and accuracy what is important and what the significant factors in an event were. And because of that state of immediacy I am still in the process of attempting to evaluate my recently concluded sabbatical. I’m still “sorting through” my activities during that time and trying to discern all the spiritual benefits I accrued during that time. My suspicion is that in six months or a year, I will evaluate some of those benefits somewhat differently than now.

Nevertheless, I have seen God working in my heart in a number of areas, and desire to maintain a number of changes that I began during the sabbatical. Here are some things (in no particular order) that have increased in significance because of my time away:

• a commitment to reading books more than the internet. I spent more time reading than I had initially planned (I read somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 books and journals). I kept the email off during the day, and checked it and my internet RSS feeds only sporadically.

There were at least two benefits to that change in practice: 1) I began controlling my email (and time!) more effectively, and 2) I was able to read things that were significant, instead of urgent. There is a reason that good books stay in print for hundreds of years and internet pages are regularly changed or removed. One is enduring; the other is not. I want to pursue the most valuable treasures.

So, in renewing my regular schedule this month, I have made a concerted effort to check email no more than once a day (hence, I will likely be responding more slowly than previously!). Email and the internet are tools that can be used for much good and benefit, and I want to make sure they are tools that are used to stimulate me to accomplish the best things, not distract me from those things. [Aside: you may think reading a book a daunting task, but reading only 5-7 pages each day will allow you to read an average-length book every month!]

• a commitment to journal regularly. In one of his books, Don Whitney advocates spending one minute meditating on Scripture for every two minutes spent reading. That can be hard to do without a plan.

One means by which I have accomplished that in the past weeks is to spend some time journaling about what I have read that morning and how I desire that to change me. My thoughts are generally focused around two kinds of questions: 1) what have I learned about God and His Word? and 2) how should that change me?

The benefit of that plan became quickly obvious to me. I am not only thinking more deeply about Scripture at the time I am reading it, but I am also thinking about it more often during the day, and using it as a stimulant for my prayers. Journaling is not the only means by which one can stimulate meditation on the word of God, but it is a means God has been using in my life, and I am grateful.

• an increasing satisfaction prayer. Three things are contributing to this, I believe: 1) my time journaling (and meditating) about God’s Word is preparing my heart to pray as well as informing my prayers — giving me guidance in the content of my prayers; 2) reading good books (including good books about prayer) is giving me instruction and discipleship from other godly men about my devotional life; and 3) initiating a more detailed plan for my personal prayer time has given me more to pray about and is stimulating more prayer throughout the day as well.

• a renewed passion for the cross. It was my intention to spend a significant time thinking about the cross and justification during my sabbatical. And it proved to not only be a great refreshment to me, but also a stimulant to a sermon series that was not even in my mind when the sabbatical began.

The cross is the foundation of our life in Christ. Remove the cross or misunderstand its import and your spiritual life will inevitably suffer. The church is the guardian of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), and we likewise have been made guardians of the gospel (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:14). I not only want to be faithful to those callings, but yearn to have its power known increasingly in my life, and see that power evidenced in the life of our church body and the unbelieving community around us. It is the cross that is the power and wisdom of God for righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1-2). So it is the cross which we must cling to, protect, and proclaim.

• a continued encouragement about the priority of the local church. Apart from all the things I observed in the way church ministry is being done in the various churches I visited, being away from this church made me all the more grateful for you and made me recognize afresh the significance of the local church.

For all the benefit of observing other ministries and being fed spiritually by other pastors, I was not in regular fellowship with my church family, which was a significant detriment to me spiritually. It is not spiritually healthy to be disconnected from church involvement for an extended period of time. God has created us to be in dependent fellowship with each other. And being away from each other removes one of the instruments of God’s grace to stimulate us to sanctification (“love and good deeds,” Heb. 10:24 calls it). That’s not good. And that means I’m glad to be back home at Grace!

• an increased awareness of the impact of time spent with family. I had happily anticipated that I would spend more time with Raye Jeanne and Elizabeth and Emily. What I did not recognize was the impact that would have on them. While I do all I can to minister to them and serve their needs, a work schedule will always place some restrictions on our ability to serve our families. Being much more available to them these two months was a real means of grace for them, which in turn gave me much joy and satisfaction.

I am so very grateful for this church. The people of Grace Bible Church have been a great instrument of God’s grace in my life. I have received so very much from you, and the opportunity to be away from the daily aspect of church ministry for these two months has been another means of grace from you to me, and additionally, a great means of refreshment to my heart.

Shepherds' Conference Live Stream

Tomorrow a number of men from our church will be leaving to attend the Shepherds' Conference at Grace Community Church in California. Registration recently closed, but it is still possible to "attend" the conference via live streaming. Details for how to avail yourself of that ministry (free of charge!) is below (taken from an email sent to participants a few days ago):

We are once again extending the opportunity for those who are not registered to take advantage of the live stream of the conference via the Internet. You can view every general session with our keynote speakers, as well as select sessions from various seminar speakers from your own home or office.

This year, we are pleased to extend this offer to you free of charge. The live stream will be available on the Shepherds' Conference website.

Once at the live stream page, you will need to login using your Shepherds' Fellowship account information or create a new account if you are not yet a member. After you login, you will be able to view the conference schedule, stream options, as well as other important viewing information. Our first session to appear on the live stream will be at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5, with John MacArthur speaking.

A Man's Man

What are the characteristics of a man in leadership? What does a man who is really a man look like? Generally, we look to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 to consider that answer, yet 1 Cor. 16 also offers several qualities of the godly man (in leadership).

We know that Paul is talking about leader issues in verses 13-14 (though undoubtedly he is not referring directly of elders and/or deacons, because they are not mentioned or even implied) because of two things he says: 1) the readers of this epistle were to be in subjection (v. 16) to these men — i.e., they were to follow their leadership; 2) some men in the Corinthian church who were exhibiting such qualities were Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus — these devoted themselves to the ministry in Corinth (v. 15), supplied what was lacking in the Corinthians (v. 17), and were to be acknowledged (implying, "acknowledge their leadership") by the entire body (v. 18). Paul saw these men as fulfilling a role of leadership.

So what were to be the qualities of these leaders (vv. 13-14)?

• they were to be alert — often this word "alert" is used in the context of watching for the second coming; it also is used to refer to watchfulness against sin and temptation (Mt. 26:41; 1 Pt. 5:8).
• they were to stand firm in the faith — generally "stand" is used to refer to guarding and protecting the faith — making sure the gospel is uncompromised.
• they were to act like men — the word "act like men" occurs only here in the New Testament, but according to one source also has the meaning of "conduct oneself in a courageous way," that is, "be brave!"
• they were to be strong — not just “be strong,” but "be strengthened (by the Holy Spirit)" — cf. Lk. 1:80; Eph. 3:16.
• they were to do all things in love — everything (emphatic in the clause) was to be born (which is the sense of the verb "do") out of love.

So what kind of man are we called to be as we attempt to lead others around us? Men who are alert to the temptation of sin (in our own lives!), who are faithful to the faith and defensive of it, who are brave in our actions, being renewed by the Holy Spirit, and demonstrative in love.

Lord, our hearts are sleepy instead of alert, faithless when we should be faithful (or abrasive in our defense of you), cowardly when we should be brave (Eph. 6:18), too often “renewed” according to the power of the flesh rather than the power of the Spirit, and self-loving rather than Christ-exalting in love towards all others and all things. Help us to be real men of God!

Book Review: Uprooting Anger

"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity"(Eph. 4:26-27; NASB).

This pair of verses is familiar. Very familiar. To parents (who use the verses in exhorting their children). And husbands and wives (who use them to attempt to resolve their differences). And pastors (who instruct with them when people in their church [sometimes the pastors themselves!] remain stuck in conflict with others). And friends (who may attempt to disciple others who struggle with anger).

Yet for their familiarity, the instruction in these verses too often eludes us. We know there is righteous anger and unrighteous anger, and that most of what we demonstrate is unrighteous anger. (I won't say that all our anger is unrighteous, but I know my own heart and what I have seen in it and what I have observed superficially with others is that righteous anger is rare — very rare.)

So do we just give up? Do we just reckon that we are stuck in sin and that one day God will remove the sin when we arrive in glory, but until then we will just have to succumb to it? May it never be!

In his book, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem, Robert Jones provides not only sound Biblical instruction, but also offers hope and helpful exhortation to those who remain stuck in their sinful and ungodly wrath and anger.

Sometimes help comes just in an honest appraisal of what something is. So in the first chapter, Jones identifies the nature of anger with this definition: "our anger is our whole-personed active response of negative moral judgment against perceived evil." What was striking to me in his explanation was that the sin of unrighteous anger is often based on the sin of a critical spirit and judgmentalism and the perception of superiority and self-importance by the one who is angry. If I am unrighteously angry, is it because I am supposing moral and spiritual superiority over another and passing judgment on him (the judgment could be of either a believer or an unbeliever)? This is a significant thrust at getting to the root of the sin.

Jones also covers topics like:

• Is your anger really righteous?
• The role of repentance and confession in ridding our hearts of anger
• How anger is expressed in two different manners: public revelations (outbursts, hostile words, etc…) and private concealment (bearing grudges, private rebukes and judgments, and failing to bless others)
• Is anger against God ever appropriate? (the short answer is, "no")
• What about anger against yourself (either for genuine sin or "missed opportunities)?
• How to help others with their anger.

I have often been struck by the connection that Paul seems to make in his discussion of the mortification of sin in Colossians 3 between anger (and related sins of the tongue) and sexual sin. I've never made the full connection between the two, other than to make the interesting observation that the two dominate the discussion of what kinds of sin demand mortification. But what the exact connection between the two was had eluded me to some degree.

Jones makes the observation that those trapped by anger "must realize that uncontrolled venting invites invasions from their spiritual enemies. The angry man or woman is easy prey for the world, the flesh, and the devil." In other words, the sin of anger not only impacts the lives of those surrounding me, but it also bears the "fruit" of further sin in my own life. Anger is not a solitary sin. It sins in pairs and triplicate!

While this may not be the completely definitive book on anger, it is one that is very helpful in beginning the process of identifying underlying, root sins in our anger, and helping us to remove those sins by the grace and strength of God.

A good sermon...

What is the basic assumption of the God-honoring pastor as he begins to preach, and the God-honoring hearers as they actively listen to that same sermon? In other words, what is the intention of the pastor in delivering his sermon? Alistair Begg answers, in his sermon, "The Pulpit: It's Power and Pitfalls:"

From the pulpit of our country, we are supposed to hear not the bright ideas of men, not their rambling thoughts, not their theorizing or their speculation. We assume that the pulpit is not a place for sloganeering or for manipulation; that it's not the place for tall stories and emotionalism. But it is the place for Spirit-filled, Christ-exalting, Bible-based, life-impacting instruction and direction from God, through the words of a spokesman, which impresses upon the listeners the power of [the] text, and not the performance of the preacher. That is the foundational assumption…

Book Review: Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Everyone wants to be somebody.

By that I don't mean that everyone is necessarily seeking his identity or that he is muddled in some measure of a mid-life crisis. But I do mean that everyone wants to achieve some measure of measurable and recognized success. They want to do something so that they will be recognized by others, acclaimed as high achievers, generously successful, and gracious "winners." We recognize that in a country of 300 million people, only one individual attains to the position of President, so we rarely strive for such a lofty goal. But most individuals would like to hear "well done," at least in their own circle of friends or even just from their families.

This includes all individuals — even pastors.

But what most people get is far less than that (if you're not a pastor, adapt the following description to your scenario; it likely will fit in some way) —

Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands. They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth. They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching. Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins. They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situations or to their own shortcomings. Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on 'successful' ministries. Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement and, on the other, jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.

Most of us — let us be frank — are ordinary pastors.

Dad was one of them…

So begins the new book, Memoirs of on Ordinary Pastor by D. A. Carson (he recently spoke at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors, "The Pastor as Father and Son," illustrating his three messages with passages from this book). The book is a biographical and spiritual tribute to his father Tom, who pastored for many years in a bi-lingual church in Quebec — serving congregations that generally numbered between 20 and 40.

Memoirs is a history of Tom Carson and the time and place in which he served — when Tom was most active in ministry there were approximately 40 evangelical churches in the predominantly Catholic province of Quebec. By the time he retired, that number had grown ten times, and the size of many of those congregations had individually grown many times over as well. But Tom Carson never experienced that kind of growth in his ministry. And many of the journal entries cited by his son, demonstrate the overly critical self-examination and sorrow over the lack of growth and the lack of response to the gospel.

Where the book shines, though, is in D. A. Carson's honest and insightful analysis of what was transpiring in the life of his father and the ministry in Quebec. Why did his father struggle inwardly with discouragement? Or what kind of qualities did he evidence that enabled him to persevere when discouraged? These are the kinds of questions that Carson insightfully addresses and are an encouragement not only to a pastor, but to anyone who struggles from discouragement.

What D. A. constantly reminds the reader of, through recounting the life of his father, is that the value of an individual life is not based on the number or kind of accomplishments, but on the value of the Savior followed and the merit of the blood applied. The eternal value of all men is found only in their relationship with the eternal God-man, Jesus Christ. And the one who is in Him, has all things, though on earth he may have few things.

The concluding paragraphs to the book not only provide a fitting conclusion to the book, but also offer a correcting encouragement to those who may be frustrated by their ordinary status in life (this is a long citation, but it's worth reading):

Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people in the Outaouais and beyond testify how much he loved them. He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book. He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday's grace was never enough. He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says, 'By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators.' His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition, but his children and grandchildren remember his laughter. Only rarely did he break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them. He much preferred to avoid controversy than to stir things up, but his own commitments to historic confessionalism were unyielding, and in ethics he was a man of principle. His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive. He was not very good at putting people down, except on his prayer lists.

When he died, there were no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on television, no mention in Parliament, no attention paid by the nation. In his hospital room there was no one by his bedside. There was only the quiet hiss of oxygen, vainly venting because he had stopped breathing and would never need it again.

But on the other side all the trumpets sounded. Dad won entrance into the only throne room that matters, not because he was a good man or a great man — he was, after all, a most ordinary pastor — but because he was a forgiven man. And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.'

Atonement sermons

Stimulated by the book Pierced for Our Transgressions, Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence (pastors at Capitol Hill Baptist Church) began a series at Christmas that will culminate at Easter on the penal substitutionary work of Christ. I've only listened to the first two messages, but it appears that it will be a very helpful and encouraging series on the value of the cross of Christ.

Book Review: Pierced for Our Transgressions

Earlier this week, Keith asked me, "what's the best book you've read on your sabbatical, so far?"

I offered several different titles that I enjoyed, but none stood out as "the best." Now I have a title for him.

Not only is Pierced for Our Transgressions the best book I've read on sabbatical, but it's the best book I've read in a year. Maybe more. It may be on the top ten of most important books I've ever read. It's that good. And it's that important.

When I was in seminary, and then the first few years after seminary, questioning the truth of the penal substitutionary work of Christ just didn't exist (at least not widely and openly). Today the attacks on the cross are widely embraced. So statements like the following (from the worst book — Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross — I've read so far) are considered acceptable:

"It will not do, therefore, to characterize the atonement as God's punishment falling on Christ…or as Christ's appeasement or persuasion of God."

"…ethically, this model [penal substitution] has little to offer.…In the end, a penal satisfaction presentation of the atonement can too easily lead to a situation in which we might conclude that Jesus came to save us from God."

"…[the] penal satisfaction theory…has significant problems and does not cohere well with biblical teaching on salvation."

The misunderstanding of the meaning of penal substitution — that through His death, Christ bore our sin, pain and death, enduring and satisfying the wrath of God in our place — is evidenced throughout the various contributors to Proclaiming the Scandal. And the great value of Pierced for Our Transgressions is that it provides a clear Biblical and theological corrective.

After providing a brief overview of the opposition to penal substitution (and something of its genesis and history), the authors provide a lengthy discussion of many Biblical passages that not only support penal substitution, but explicitly teach it. They consider passages like Exodus 12, Leviticus 16, Isaiah 53, the Gospels, Romans, and Galatians 3. The Biblical weight of evidence is great, and the 70 pages of careful exposition of numerous passages makes that abundantly clear. Then, the authors offer 50 pages in which they demonstrate how penal substitution not only fits within a Biblical framework of theology, but how penal substitution alone provides a Biblical and theological reason for the death of Christ. And they follow that with both the positive implications of penal substitution, and a historical overview of this understanding of Christ's death, demonstrating that this has always been the dominant view concerning Christ's death, and not some relatively new theory, as books like Scandal suggest.

This first half of Piercing is weighty and helpful for creating a Biblical framework for understanding Christ's death. In the last 130 pages or so, the authors then do the difficult work of answering the myriad objections to this view. Its difficulty arises not from the trouble of answering the questions — most of them are adequately precluded and answered in the first 200 pages — but from the task of accumulating and reading all the dissensions to penal substitution. So these authors have graciously provided the church for years to to come a great gift of addressing all the various objections (the consider 26 different, specific denials of substitution) in a systematic, Biblical and clear manner.

This book addresses a complex and important issue to the church. It provides sound Biblical exposition of important passages, articulates involved theological issues, and answers complex objections — and does all these things very clearly and concisely. It may not be a book that I will ever read from cover to cover again, but it is a book that I will often recommend and will often use as a reference as I meditate on the greatness of our Savior's work on the cross.