Spring Broken

It's been spring break this week. Rachel's been off work, and i've been able to spend some more time with her. It's been lovely. I love the busy rhythms of normal life, but i also enjoy a break from time to time. And extra time with Rachel is never a bad thing.

In the mornings i've been prepping a series of messages in 1 John for Teen Discipleship which starts in a couple of weeks. John Piper described 1 John as 'uncannily relevant for our time.' John Macarthur writes at length about the diverse melting pot of beliefs in Ephesus at the time John wrote. This study has helped me and edified me, in the way that sermon prep should. I love the toughness and tenderness of the beloved apostle. Don't sin! But if you do, we have an advocate! Don't call God a liar! But come and be His child. This toughness and tenderness is what we need in the church today isn't it? Tough on sin, tender on sinners. Hold out Christ as all light with no darkness, and holding out Christ as our advocate, who bled to free us.

Also, apart from the first message on the chapter 1:1-4 and the last message on 5:18-21, i'm preaching more thematically than verse by verse, looking at the three tests of the Christian faith. Belief in Christ, obedience to God and love for the brothers. I'm looking forward to growing as a preacher in this area.

I've also been reading and enjoying/convicted by The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter. Reading this on the back of Paul Tripp's Dangerous Ministry has been really helpful, and like i say, convicting. The cool breeze of the centuries has given me a fresh perspective on pastoral and preaching ministry, on my relationship with God and my church.

Finally, a wise man remarked this week that 'everyone in the Bible is either Adam or Christ.' Absalom, tragically, is a type of Adam, but David is, as we know, as type of Christ. We see this so clearly in the close of 2 Samuel. God turns His face against the House of David, and as a result, there is a place that man can meet with God. You don't have to read Christ into the Old Testament, in fact, He's so obviously there, you have to try to read Him out!