Friday Morning Prayer
May 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Great God, in public and private, in sanctuary and home, may my life be steeped in prayer, filled with the spirit of grace and supplication, each prayer perfumed with the incense of atoning blood. Help me, defend me, until from praying ground I pass to the realm of unceasing praise. Urged by my need, invited by Thy promises, called by Thy Spirit, I enter Thy presence, worshipping Thee with godly fear, awed by Thy majesty, greatness, glory, but encouraged by Thy love.
I am all poverty as well as all guilt, having nothing of my own with which to repay Thee, but I bring Jesus to Thee in the arms of faith, pleading His righteousness to offset my iniquities, rejoicing that He will weigh down the scales for me, and satisfy thy justice. I bless Thee that great sin draws out great grace, that, although the lest sin deserves infinite punishment because done against an infinite God, yet there is mercy for me, for where guilt is most terrible, there Thy mercy in Christ is most free and deep. Bless me by revealing to me more of His saving merits, by causing Thy goodness to pass before me, by speaking peace to my contrite heart; strengthen me to give Thee no rest untiI Christ shall reign supreme within me in every thought, word, and deed, in a faith that purifies the heart, overcomes the world, works by love, fastens me to Thee, and ever clings to the cross.
Puritan Prayer
Lessons from Athanasius, Part 4
May 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
This will be the last post on lessons from the life of Athanasius, with the help of John Piper. I hope others have had their souls stirred by the providence of God in the life of one courageous man, who would not allow the truth about Jesus to be suppressed. Here’s a final lesson, which again is especially relevant for me:
Joyful courage is the calling of a faithful shepherd.
Athanasius stared down murderous intruders into his church. He stood before emperors who could have killed him as easily as exiled him. He risked the wrath of parents and other clergy by consciously training young people to give their all for Christ, including martyrdom. He celebrated the fruit of his ministry with these words: “in youth they are self-restrained, in temptations endure, in labors persevere, when insulted are patient, when robbed make light of it: and, wonderful as it is, they despise even death and become martyrs of Christ”34—martyrs not who kill as they die, but who love has they die.
Athanasius contra mundum should inspire every pastor to stand your ground meekly and humbly and courageously whenever a biblical truth is at stake. But be sure that you always out-rejoice your adversaries. If something is worth fighting for, it worth rejoicing over. And the joy is essential in the battle, for nothing is worth fighting for that will not increase our joy in God. Our people must see that.
Courage in conflict must mingle with joy in Christ. This is what Athanasius loved about Antony and what he sought to be himself. This was part of his battle strategy with his adversaries:
Let us be courageous and rejoice always. . . . Let us consider and lay to heart that while the Lord is with us, our foes can do us no hurt. . . . But if they see us rejoicingin the Lord, contemplating the bliss of the future, mindful of the Lord, deeming all things in His hand . . . —they are discomfited and turned backwards.35
So, brothers, even if at times it may feel as though we are alone contra mundum, let us stand courageous and out-rejoice our adversaries.
What a challenge! Contending for truth is easy, when compared to finding joy in the battle instead of discouragement and resentment. O Lord, grant us all the joy that should mark those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!
Larry
Lessons from Athanasius, Part 3
May 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
I said yesterday that there were a couple more lessons from the biographical message on Athanasius that have really been ministering to me, so I will post one now and another later today. It is so cool how the life of a man who was born in the year 298 can still teach us such valuable lessons about life and ministry.
The truth of biblical language must be vigorously protected with non-biblical language.
Athanasius’ experience was critically illuminating to something I have come to see over the years, especially in liberally minded baptistic and pietistic traditions, namely, that the slogan, “the Bible is our only creed” is often used as a cloak to conceal the fact that Bible language is used to affirm falsehood. This is what Athanasius encountered so insidiously at the Council of Nicaea. The Arians affirmed biblical sentences. Listen to this description of the proceedings:
The Alexandrians . . . confronted the Arians with the traditional Scriptural phrases which appeared to leave no doubt as to the eternal Godhead of the Son. But to their surprise they were met with perfect acquiescence. Only as each test was propounded, it was observed that the suspected party whispered and gesticulated to one another, evidently hinting that each could be safely accepted, since it admitted of evasion. If their assent was asked to the formula “like to the Father in all things,” it was given with the reservation that man as such is “the image and glory of God.” The “power of God” elicited the whispered explanation that the host of Israel was spoken of as dunamis kuriou, and that even the locust and caterpillar are called the “power of God.” The “eternity” of the Son was countered by the text, “We that live are alway (2 Corinthians 4:11)!” The fathers were baffled, and the test of homoosion, with which the minority had been ready from the first, was being forced (p. 172) upon the majority by the evasions of the Arians.38
R. P. C. Hanson explained the process like this: “Theologians of the Christian Church were slowly driven to a realization that the deepest questions which face Christianity cannot be answered in purely biblical language, because the questions are about the meaning of biblical language itself.”39 The Arians railed against the unbiblical language being forced on them. They tried to seize the biblical high ground and claim to be the truly biblical people—the pietists, the simple Bible-believers—because they wanted to stay with biblical language only—and by it smuggle in their non-biblical meanings.
But Athanasius saw through this “post-modern,”post-conservative,” “post-propositional” strategy and saved for us not just Bible words, but Bible truth. May God grant us the discernment of Athanasius for our day. Very precious things are at stake.
One more lesson is coming this afternoon,
Larry
Thursday Morning Prayer
May 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51-53)
Help us, Father, to be courageous and bold as Stephen was before the Jewish council. We live in a world polluted by sin, and You have redeemed us in order that we might shine Your light in this world. Yet far too often, in the name of ‘love’ or ‘tolerance’, we do not confront people about their sin and are unwilling to speak hard words of truth to those who need them. Help us to always be mindful that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20). May we be willing to renounce our comfort by speaking hard words, in love, to those who You have graciously placed in our lives.
Lessons from Athanasius, Part 2
May 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
As I wrote earlier today, I am spending today and tomorrow posting some quotes from Piper as he spoke on the life of Athanasius at the 2005 Pastors’ Conference. These lessons brought such delight to my heart, that the completion of my joy compels me to post them here for others to enjoy and be strengthened by. So here’s another valuable lesson (I plan to post two more after this one):
Loving Christ includes loving true propositions about Christ
What was clear to Athanasius was that propositions about Christ carried convictions that could send you to heaven or to hell. There were propositions like: “There was a time when the Son of God was not,” and, “He was not before he was made,” and, “the Son of God is created.” These propositions were strictly damnable. If they were spread and believed they would damn the souls which embraced them. And therefore Athanasius labored with all his might to formulate propositions that would conform to reality and lead the soul to faith and worship and heaven.
I believe Athanasius would have abominated, with tears, the contemporary call for “depropositionalizing” that you hear among many of the so-called “reformists” and “the emerging church,”younger evangelicals,”postfundamentalists,” “postfoundationalists,”postpropositionalists,” and “postevangelicals.”36 I think he would have said, “Our young people in Alexandria die for the truth of propositions about Christ. What do your young people die for?” And if the answer came back, “We die for Christ, not propositions about Christ,” I think he would have said, “That’s what Arius says. So which Christ will you die for?”
Athanasius would have grieved over sentences like “It is Christ who unites us; it is doctrines that divides.” And sentences like: “We should ask, Whom do you trust? rather than what do you believe?”37 He would have grieved because he knew this is the very tactic used by the Arian bishops to cover the councils with fog so that the word “Christ” could mean anything. Those who talk like this—“Christ unites, doctrine divides”—have simply replaced propositions with a word. They think they have done something profound and fresh, when in fact they have done something very old and stale and very deadly.
This leads to a related lesson . . .
Which I plan to post tomorrow!
Larry
Lessons from Athanasius
May 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
Last week on my trip home from George Mason, where my sister graduated from college, I listened to a biographical message from John Piper on the life of Athanasius. I had listened to it a few months ago, but it was a great refreshment to my soul as I listened to it a second time.
As I wrote yesterday of contending for the controversial, Athanasius devoted his life to contending for a controversial doctrine that most of us take for granted today: the deity of Jesus Christ. Piper mentioned several lessons to be learned from his life, so I will take a few posts today and maybe tomorrow with some of those lessons for the sake of those who are long to contend for the great truths of the Bible. Here’s one that was especially relevant to me, and touches on some of what I wrote yesterday:
A widespread and long-held doctrinal difference among Christians does not mean that the difference is insignificant or that we should not seek to persuade toward the truth and seek agreement.
What if someone had said to Athanasius, “Athanasius, people have disagreed on this issue for 300 years and there has never been an official position taken in the church to establish one side as orthodox and the other as heresy? So who do you think you are? Half the bishops in the world disagree with you and they read the same Bible you do. So stop fighting this battle and let different views exist side by side.
We may thank God that Athanasius did not think that way. He did not regard the amount of time that has elapsed or the number of Christians who disagreed to determine what doctrines are important and which we should strive to teach and spread and make normative in the church.
And so today we should not conclude that the absence of consensus in the church means doctrinal stalemate. God may yet be pleased to give the blessing of unity on some crucial areas of doctrine that are not yet resolved in the Christian church. I think for example of the issue of Manhood and Womanhood, the issue of Justification by faith, and the issue of how the death of Christ saves sinners, and the issue of the sovereignty of God’s grace in converting the soul. I don’t think we should assume that because much time has gone by and many people disagree it must always be this way. Who knows but that, by God’s amazing grace, wrong views on these things could become as marginal as the Arianism of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is today?
May God grant light to His Church as we seek to know Him in greater clarity and truth. For those who would like to read or hear Piper’s message in its entirety (which I highly recommend!), it can be found here.
Larry
Galli on Working Mothers
May 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Lar,
I’m going to wait on posting that quote for a few days, because I don’t have much blogging time this week. For now, here is an article I wanted to link to this article by Mark Galli on working mothers. Catch you later brother.
Joe
Good Sermon for Sure
May 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Erin,
Let’s just designate this week as ‘Link Week.’ Anyhow, haven’t read this one yet, but I am posting it to make sure I do! I am confident it is a good one.
Until later,
Joe
Wednesday Morning Prayer
May 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14)
Remind us this day, O God, of the marvelous grace You have lavished on all Your people. Grace which pardons our sins, and also empowers us for godliness. Help us to set our eyes firmly on the inexpressible gift that still awaits us, the appearing of our great God and Savior, who has ransomed us for Himself, to make us zealous for good works. Enlarge our hearts, that we would be zealous to do Your Will. And may our lives commend the glories of our Redeemer, so that grace might awaken the lost from their slumber and shine the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ on them.
Contending for the Controversial
May 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
Much time and energy lately has been spent contending for a doctrine which I believe is very valuable and precious, the doctrine of unconditional election. This doctrine is controversial, and has been disagreed upon for centuries by learned men. Because of this, there is often a sentiment that it is not worth the effort to contend for such doctrines, for they are unhelpful and only serve to promote division.
While my passion and joy in this doctrine has grown over the past several months, I am not immune to the occasional bout of apathy that I may be laboring in vain. The steady voice that belittles the controversial can sometimes cause me to waver in this pursuit. So I was extraordinarily blessed by these opening remarks in John Piper’s chapter called ‘The Pleasure of God in Election’. I first read this book four and a half years ago, and it continues to nourish my own soul every time I go back to it. Here’s what Piper wrote as he began his meditations on God’s pleasure in election:
“Can controversial teachings nurture Christlikeness? Before you answer this question, ask another one: Are there any significant biblical teachings that have not been controversial? I cannot think of even one, let alone the number we all need for the daily nurture of faith. If this is true, then we have no choice but to seek our food in the markets of controversy. We need not stay there. We can go home and feast if the day has been well spent. But we must buy there. As much as we would like it, we do not have the luxury of living in a world where the most nourishing truths are unopposed. If we think we can suspend judgment on all that is controversial and feed our souls only on what is left, we are living in a dreamworld. There is nothing left. The reason any of us thinks that we can stand alone on truths that are noncontroversial is because we do not know our history or the diversity of the professing church. Besides that, would we really want to give the devil the right to determine our spiritual men by refusing to eat any teaching over which he can cause controversy?
The teaching od Scripture on election has been controversial. But I believe with all my heart that it is precious beyond words and a great nourishment for the Christlikeness of faith. If I understand the teaching of the Bible, God has pleasure in election. To know that this is true, and to know why it is, is to see another facet of the glory of God. And that sight is the power to make us holy and happy people.”
Amen, John. I will press on.
Larry
Learning to Live
May 22, 2007 | 1 Comment
Lar,
You are rolling brother. Even though neither of your posts yesterday topped the all time longest posts, the combination of the two might have. Blog away brother. I’ll be light this week. We have two huge games coming up and some great friends of ours visiting, so I won’t be around a bunch.
Anyhow, a quick word on influence. Actually, it is a bit of advice. It struck me as I was reading your last post. Simply put, here is my advice: be careful who you read and consider spending a particular season with a few trusted authors.
The first part you covered. Be careful who you read. That is simple enough. But I would emphasize that this exhortation is especially important when it comes to the beginning of one’s walk with Christ. Or even if it is not technically a beginning, at least the season in which a Christian might make a greater commitment to reading and learning. Be careful. Those beginning times are some of the most influential. If the Lord has just captured your heart and stirred you to a greater commitment to learning, ask some wise friends who you should be reading. Then set up a plan and read away!
The second part of my advice is something that I benefitted from tremendously. It involved most of Piper and Tozer’s books (and a little MacArthur). They were by far my most influential, particularly in the season of life when I made a greater commitment to learning. Of course, it should be mentioned that reading their works was probably a main reason why I made a greater commitment to learning. For the vision of God and walking with Christ that I found in their writings stirred up my soul. So I read and read and read some more. Then I found out what they were influenced by and read a bit more. This latter part concerned more of what Piper read than what Tozer read, b/c Tozer did read some goofy stuff.
The reason this is vital though, is because it serves to help you development a system of thought that enables you to faithfully deal with anything else you come across. And this is vital. If we are able to find a few faithful teachers, a system of thought develops that enables us to faithfully discern through that which we might not want to read.
Alright, have to run brother. Lord willing, I will catch you tomorrow with that quote I mentioned to you yesterday.
Learning to live,
Joe
Tuesday Morning Prayer
May 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment
7 For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face. (Psalm 11:7)
If we were left to ourselves, these words would devastate us. You are righteous, You love righteous deeds, and those who walk uprightly will behold Your face in glory. Yet due to our innate corruption, we are not righteous. No one is righteous, not even one. Our deeds are all stained with sin, and so we ought to have no hope of beholding You face to face. And so we give You thanks today, Father, for sending Your Son to redeem us from our lawlessness, and to purify for Yourself a people of Your own possession who are zealous for good deeds. Help us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. As You have credited the righteousness of Your Son to our account by faith, help us now to clothe ourselves in garments that our fitting of those who truly who have the hope of seeing Your face. Grant us to live a life worthy of the glorious calling we have received.
Interesting Post
May 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Erin,
We do have a busy week, so it might be good to post a quick link each day. Here is one I found. The rest of the cite is full of quick links that I will someday point to.
Catch you soon,
Joe
Excerpt from Piper
May 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
These two audio excerpts were posted today on the Desiring God blog. The first one, titled, Take the Sentences of the Bible Seriously, is relevant in light of much of what I wrote earlier today. It’s worth taking the three minutes to check it out.
Larry
Finding Good Influences
May 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Joe,
I have one more though regarding the Nichole Nordeman song we’ve been reflecting on. I trust you have some more thoughts, and maybe we’ll hear them tomorrow.
I was a bit hesitant to write this last one, because as I read the previous two posts they give me the impression that I’m really criticizing Nordeman and calling her out for these lyrics we’re considering. I don’t want to give the impression that Nordeman is some kind of false teacher who has committed heresy and who we all need to stay away from like the plague. I am simply trying to stress what the Lord has been teaching and reminding me by contemplating these lyrics from a what I hope is a biblical worldview.
So far I have been reminded of two main things: first, that deep feelings for God must be shaped by careful thinking about God. Second, and closely related, that it is dangerous to idealize the naivete of Childlike faith at the expense of adult reasoning about the hard sayings of the Bible. God commands us not to be children in our thinking, but mature (1 Corinthians 14:20), and to esteem naivete and simplicity when it comes to Truth is to walk down a path that I believe leads to liberalism. That is one reason why I care so deeply about sound doctrine.
Anyway, the third lesson that I was reminded of in thinking through all this stuff lately is that it is so important to exercise care and wisdom in selecting theological influences. In my last post, I quoted Nordeman’s liner notes in which she says that the major inspiration for her CD was the author Madeleine L’Engle. I have never read a word from L’Engle, but when I saw her name I was reminded of some quotes from her I had read a few years ago. These are excerpts from her book The Irrational Season. Writing about the necessity of Christ’s death to appease the wrath of His Father against us, L’Engle writes,
‘Many of us have had at least part of that horror thrust upon us at one time or other in our childhood. For many reasons I never went to Sunday School, so I was spared having a lot of peculiar teaching to unlearn. It’s only lately that I’ve discovered that it was no less a person than St. Anselm who saw the atonement in terms of appeasement of an angry God, from which follows immediately the heresy that Jesus came to save us from God the Father.’ (Italics added).
So L’Engle considers the death of Christ as the propitiation of our sins to be a heresy. About hell, L’Engle writes,
“I know a number of highly sensitive and intelligent people in my own communion who consider as a heresy my faith that God’s loving concern for His creation will outlast all our willfulness and pride. No matter how long it takes, he will not rest until all of creation, including Satan, is reconciled to him, until there is no creature who cannot return his look of love with a joyful response of love…I cannot believe that God wants punishment to go on interminably any more than does a loving parent. The entire purpose of loving punishment is to teach, and it lasts only as long as is needed for the lesson. And the lesson is always love.”
So if I understand L’Engle correctly, she believes that hell is an act of God’s love for rebellious people, intended to awaken people to their sin, and that once those people in hell learn their lesson God will save them. Thus even Satan will be saved and hell is not a place of eternal conscious torment.
I’m not sure if Nichole Nordeman has ever read these quotes from L’Engle. But I wonder if Nordeman’s delight in an author who so clearly misses the biblical mark in these key areas of God’s character cannot have broader implications for her own hermeneutics and worldview, even if she may distance herself from these particular quotes. As I said, it is a reminder to me that we must be very careful who we allow to shape our minds. A little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:6). Our spiritual diet of reading has huge implications on what we believe. We must choose our spiritual influences wisely, like the Bereans (Acts 17:11). Everything must be tested by the Word of God.
From these quotes, it seems like Madeleine L’Engle fails the Berean test. Have her writings contributed to Nordeman’s questionable use of the Psalm 22:1 quote in her song ‘Why?’ I cannot say. But I know the lesson for my own heart: I must be careful who I allow to shape my mind, and I must be diligent to make sure that my influences are all Bible-saturated people.
Larry
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