The Christian should always be looking at that

(The Christian's) whole out look upon everything that happens to (him) should be governed by three things: my realization of who i am, my consciousness of where i am going, and me knowledge of what awaits me when i get there. You will find this argument in many places in Scripture. The apostle Paul once put it like this, 'our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;while we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.' (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) The Christian should always be looking at that.

Martin Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Vol 1, P 144

We Have No Authority Save This Book

There is nothing more important in Christian life than the way in which we approach the Bible, and the way in which we read it. It is our textbook, it is our only source, our only authority. We know nothing about God and the Christian life in a true sense apart from what we read in the Bible. We can draw various deductions from nature (and possibly by mystical experiences) by which we can arrive at a belief in a supreme creator. But i think it is agreed by all Christians, and it has been traditional throughout the long history of the Church, that we have no authority save this book. We can not rely solely on subjective experiences, because there are evil spirits as well as good spirits; there are counterfeit experiences. Here, in the Bible is our sole authority. 

D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Vol I, P10

Belief

In respect to the whole matter of evidence and belief, it is important to remember the relationship between belief and disbelief. As regards many truths of Christianity, he who disregards them is compelled to believe something that takes their place. He who cannot accept difficulties, real or alleged, in the Christian evidences must not forget the difficulties of infidelity.We must believe something, must believe something about the problem of religion, and if we go away from Christ, 'to whom shall we go?'

John Broadus, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, P155

Preaching's Objective

Perhaps the first objective of preaching is to please God. A sermon should first be an offering to God. A minister studies God's Word, prepares a message, and then first gives it to God in an act of worship. This has implications for discipline and preparation. A second objective is the salvation of souls. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. The preacher tries to bring a saving Gospel and lost souls together. He is also to edify the church and to help his people mature in Christ through his preaching.

On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, John Broadus, Pp49-50

The Thrill of Ministry

I think, again, that it is essential to the preacher's success that he thoroughly enjoy his work. I mean that in the actual doing of it, not only in it's idea. No man to whom the details of his task are repulsive can constantly do his task well, however full he may be of it's spirit. He may make one bold dash at it and carry it out over all his disgusts, but he can not work on at it year after year, day after day. Therefore, count it not merely a perfectly legitimate pleasure, count it an essential element of your power if you can feel a simple delight in what you have to do as a minister, in the fervour of writing, the glow of speaking, in standing before men and moving them, in contact with the young. The more thoroughly you enjoy it, the better you will do it all.

This is all true of preaching. It's highest joy is in the great ambition that is set before it, the glorifying of the Lord, and the saving of the souls of men. No other joy on earth compares with that. The ministry that does not feel joy is dead. But in behind that highest joy, beating in humble union with it, as the healthy body thrills in sympathy with the deep thoughts and pure desires of mind and soul, the best ministers have always been aware of another pleasure which belonged to the very doing of the work itself. As we read the lives of the most effective preachers of the past, or as we meet the men who are powerful preachers of the Word today, we feel how certainly and how deeply the very exercise of their ministry delights them.

Phillip Brooks, Lectures on Preaching, Pp 53-54, 82-83

Quoted in John Piper, Desiring God, Pp 109-110

Isn't that a freeing thought? The thrill i get as i pick my sermon notes off the printer, walk to teen church and preach, or sit down and open the Bible with a student, or pull a commentary off the shelf, or see a kid baptised isn't the icing on the cake! It's the meal itself. It's not a nice extra, but a necessary part of ministry. 

So a minsters aim is to be as happy as he can, as his pursuit of joy in God issues in love and service of his church. 

Read The Story

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the circumcision. For we are the circumcision, which follow God in the flesh and rejoice in Jesus Christ and have no confidence in the flesh.

Philippians 3:2-3.

This is not the apostle saying, 'there are dogs out there, i know who they are, but i'm not saying,' this is Paul saying beware of the dogs. But in order to be aware of them, you have to be able to identify them. How do you do that? It's not by putting on hyper-spiritual glasses which allow you to see the essential dogginess at the core of their heart. You see it on the basis of their evil works, their demand for circumcision and so on. You read the story.

Can such judgement ever be wrong? Well of course they can. That does not mean we are warned away from making them. The straight line we use to keep ourselves from wronging others in such things is to be steeped in the narrative of Scripture. We test drive our responses with novels and movies. Practice reading stories, because that's what your life is. So the end of the whole endeavor is to live our lives to the fullest, reading our own story rightly. And there is no way to do this without making conclusions about the internal, spiritual conditions of others.

Douglas Wilson, Against The Church. P128

Live on Nothing but Mercy (Jeremiah Burroughs)

The following is an excerpt from 'Of Lovers and Whores,' a selection of Jeremiah Burroughs' sermons on Hosea, compiled and published by my friend Dave Bish. He has two other books of heart warming Puritan sermons published, which i highly recommend to you. Find them here.

Let us learn to wonder at these riches of mercy in Christ and exercise much faith about them. Certainly we would thrive in godliness much more if we exercised our faith in the bowels [heart] of God in Christ.

Fruit like apricots and May cherries that grow up by a wall and enjoy the warm beams of the sun are sooner ripe and have more sweetness than those which grow in shady places.Grass shaded by the trees in orchards are sour. So the fruit which Christians bring forth under discouragements and despairing thoughts is very sour. Some things they do because conscience compels them to duty, but it is sour fruit. Though it is better to do what conscience requires than not, yet merely to follow conscience is sour grass.

When a Christian can by faith set himself before the sunshine of these mercies of God in Christ and continually live in the midst continually in the beams of that grace he grows ripe sooner and the fruit is sweeter.

You can easily know whether the Sun of righteousness shines on you. Does your fruit grow ripe? Is it sweet fruit? Those who talk of mercy and of Christ and have His name in their mouths but bring forth sour and crabbed fruit are not in the Sun; they are blind and cannot discern it, and are but a light of their own fancy in a heart of their own making.

In Ephesians 3:18-19 the apostle prays that the Ephesians 'may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth ' of the riches of God in Christ. The philosophers tell us of only three dimensions, but there are four.

What fruit is this, 'to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.' Here is the effect of it, when we know the breadth and length and depth and height of God's love, and have that knowledge by the Spirit of God, that surpasses mental knowledge, then we are filled with the fullness of God.

Here now is a glorious Christian, a Christian filled with the fullness of God. Do you want this to be so of you? Learn to exercise faith much about the infinite riches of mercy of God in Christ.  f. This will fill you with the fullness of God. You complain of barrenness and emptiness in your hearts and lives, it is because you give little heed to this.

God betroths Himself to the church in mercies, in bowels. let us learn when we are in any trouble to plead with God for bowels of mercy. Isaiah 63:15, 'look down from Heaven, and behold from the habitiation of your holiness and you glory, where is your zeal and your strength, the sound of your bowels, and your mercy towards me? Are they restrained?' Lord, have you not said you will betroth your church to yourself in bowels? Where is the sounding of your heart? Lord, let us have your heart, from which you have betrothed us through Christ.

Oh what confusion there will be one day for those who have missed these mercies of God, in which the Lord has betrothed Himself to the Church. Will you content yourself with crumbs, with the fruits of His general bounty and patience, when you hear of the glorious mercies in Jesus Christ? These things should raise our hearts, so that we protest as Luther did; 'I protest that God shall not put me off with the things of the world, with my portion here. Oh no the Lord has shown me greater riches, and though i am unworthy of any, yet, as i know His mercy is free, why should i not have my portion in these glorious things?

Come in then, come in, oh sinful soul. Be in love with Jesus Christ and the ways of godliness. Know that all these mercies are tendered to your soul this day, to break your heart, even that hard heart of yours.And they are free for you as any. There is nothing more pleasing to God than for you to be taken with the glory of His riches in mercy. You cannot perform any duty acceptable to God as this, to have your heart broken on the consideration of his heart, to have your heart yearn again and come in and join with this infinite ocean of mercy. Breathe the element of mercy, live by nothing but mercy.

Sacrament Sunday at Moulin.

The congregation was numerous, and the communicants nearly a thousand. I preached a short sermon, and while they were partaking, i spoke a few words of encouragement, and bid them depart in peace. I expressed to them in the former exhortation my fears respecting the formality which obtains among all people, and urged them to devote themselves truly to Jesus Christ. After that i partook of the third table. On the whole, this Sabbath was not like the last. Then i was very much affected, now i was barren and dull. God, however, is the same, and His Word is unchangeable, and in that is all my hope. Woe to me if i were saved by my frames; nevertheless, i would never willingly be in a bad one. At six in the evening i preached again to those who understood English; but they were few, and they seemed not to understand me.

Charles Simeon, Pastor of a Generation. Handley Moule, P130

Woe to me, says Simeon, if i am saved by m,y frame of mine, and woe to us all if we let our feelings guide us. Some mornings we're up and leaping out of bed. Ready for the word, ready for prayer, ready to meet with Jesus once more. Some mornings, it's ten more minutes, it's let me check twitter, it's let me see what the weather's doing. But all our hope as Christians is, as Simeon says, in the unchanging God and His Word. Christ sits and the Father's right hand, and doesn't leave there when we're having a bad day. Christ has risen from the dead, our poor frames don't Him back in the grave.

It's so important, to know this, deep in our hearts. To be fed on the truth, again and again, that our salvation is all of Him. Don't look at a decision, don't look at your heart in the moment, look at Christ, and see Him dying under the wrath of God to pay fully for your sins, and then see Him walking away three days later, your salvation bought by Him.

His Doctrine was Jesus Christ

'His matter was never trivial, and he never wandered into idle rhetoric. To expound the Scriptures before him as closely and as clearly as he could, then to bring the message to bear full on the conscience and will of the hearers, was his settled aim, first kept in view intelligently and with great pains. And what was his doctrine? In two words, it was Jesus Christ. Everything from Simeon's preaching radiated from Jesus Christ, and returned upon him. Not that he forced texts away from their surroundings, and forgot the literal in the mystical. But he was sure that Christ is the burden of the worlds of the Prophets and the Apostles, and he knew that He was everything for Charles Simeon.

Mere moral essays in the pulpit were for him impossible, though no man could well hold the standard of virtue and duty higher than he did. And so were merely critical discussions, though he always stimulated his hearers to think. For him,. Christ was the centre of all subjects for sinful men, and all hius heaerers were sinful men, for whom the Gospel was the one remedy. Christ was the Gospel; and personal faith in Him, a living person, was the Gospel secret. To Christ all men were called, for 'pardon, and holiness, and Heaven; and those who came at that call belong henceforth to Christ, His property, bound to live and die to their Lord.' Simeon himself thus described the three great aims of his preaching: 'To humble the sinner, to exalt the Saviour, to promote holiness.' 

Charles Simeon: Pastor of a Generation. Handley Moule, Pp50-51

A Man Aflame for God

Luther's principles in religion and ethics must be constantly borne in mind if he is at not to appear unintelligible and even petty. The primary consideration with him was always the pre-eminance of religion. In a society where the lesser breed were given to gaming, roistering and wenching, the Diet of Worms was a veritable Venusburg - at a time when the choicer sort were glorying in the accomplishments of man, strode this Luther, entranced by the songs of Angels, stunned by the wrath of God, entranced by the wonder of creation, lyrical over the divine mercy, a man aflame for God. For such a person there was no question which mattered much save this: How do i stand before God?

He never would shirk a mundane task such as exhorting the elector the repair the city wall to keep the peasants' pigs from rooted up the village gardens, but he was never supremely concerned about pigs, gardens, walls, cities princes or any and all of the blessings and nuisances of this mortal life. The ultimate problem was always God, and man's relationship to God. For this reason political and social reforms were a matter of comparative indifference. Whatever would foster the understanding, dissemination and practice of God's Word should be encouraged, and whatever impeded it must be opposed. This is why it's futile to to inquire whether Luther was a democrat, aristocrat, autocrat or anything else. Religion was the chief end for him, everything else was peripheral.

Here I Stand. Roland Bainton, P214 (paragraph mine)

Along with being simply the nicest feeling book i've ever held in my hands, Bainton's biography of Luther is one of the most helpful. Luther was something of a mystery to people even in his own time, even before he started to reform. Some felt he spent too much time in confession, naming every little sin, instead of going out and doing the work of a monk. If this is madness, it's an ailment i want, frankly. Then, when the Reformation took hold, some felt he didn't got far enough, while some felt he went too far. He remains something of a mystery today, it's hard to fit him into a box. Is that just because he was 'a man aflame for God?' I wonder if we're so unused to seeing men make their every decision based on the proclamation of God's Word, rather than political or social expediency that it seems strange to us. If that's the case, it says much more about us than it does Luther.

An Interview with Henry Scougal

Bill Bryson speaks for many when he defines Puritanism as 'the fear that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying themselves.' If the Puritans seem like creatures from a different planet, it's only because church culture has slipped so far from Biblical Christianity.

Lately i've been re-reading 'The Life of God in the Soul of Man' by Henry Scougal. The main thesis of the book is summed up in the title, that Christian life is a divine life, the very life of God, communion with God evidenced and outworked in our souls through good works. He was 27 when he wrote it (if not younger) which makes me feel like Caesar looking at Alexander's statue.

In the first chapter Scougal discusses what real Christianity is, what it looks like, and what it's not. he cautions us against simply judging our affections and actions against those of other men, as many have different temperaments, and many are drawn to the rewards of Heaven in a purely earthly way, without any of the inner change that the Gospel brings.

So what are the evidences of saving faith? 'The root of divine life is faith, it's chief branches are love to God, charity to man, purity and humility. The following comes from pages 55 and 56 of his book.

What is faith?

It is nothing else than a sense or feeling persuasion of spiritual things. It has a peculiar relation to the declarations of God's mercy, and reconcilableness with sinners through a mediator, and therefore, receiving it's denomination through it's principle object is ordinarily termed, faith in Jesus Christ.

What is love of God?

The love of God is the delightful and affectionate sense of the divine perfections which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto Him desiring above all things to please Him, and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with Him... It grounds itself on His infinite goodness manifested in all His works of creation and providence.

What is charity to man?

A soul thus possessed with such divine love must need be enlarged to all mankind...because of the relation they have to God, and His image stamped upon them. All the parts of justice, all the duty we owe our neighbour are...comprehended for he who doth truly love the world will be nearly concerned with the welfare of every one of them. He will resent any evil that befalls others, as if it happened to himself.

What is purity?

A abstractedness from the body and mastery over inferior appetites. A temper and disposition of the mind as make a man despise and abstain from all pleasures and delights...which are sinful in themselves or tend to extinguish or lessen our relish of the more divine pleasures. A resoluteness to undergo any hardships he may meet in the performance of his duty so that not only chastity and temperance but also Christian courage and magnanimity may come under this head. 

What is humility?

Humility imports a deep sense of our own meanness with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgement of all we are to the divine bounty. This is always accompanied by submission to the will of God and great deadness towards the glory of the world and the applause of men.

Where else do we see the such faith, love, charity, humility and purity than in Jesus? And how else can we be faithful, loving, humble and pure than through a relationship with Him?

Nothing Thrills Like the Gospel

One of the marks of Gospel wakefulness is the the failure of anything else to thrill the soul like the Gospel. When the heart enjoys Christ and savours His power, sin grows bitter. Even good gifts that God made recede to their proper flavours. Good things that we have made 'god things' don't cease to be good; in fact they continue to provide pleasures and satisfactions but they keep their proper functions and blessings in service to the common grace the God of glory ascribed to them. 

Gospel wakefulness doesn't lead to asceticism. It does not lead to a withdrawal from society and simple pleasures into a monastic regimen. Rather, Gospel wakefulness is foremost about orienting your spiritual system around the sun. When the sun is the center of the solar system, the planets don't cease to exist. In fact they exist more securely, more beautifully, in their proper positions and proportions. With God at the centre of your universe of worship, with the Gospel at the centre of your life all other good gifts -peoples and pleasures, thoughts and things - take their proper place and proportion in our lives. They are more pleasing and enjoyable because they give the pleasures they are designed to give and no more. 

Gospel Wakefulness, Jared C. Wilson, Pp 59-60

The Ramshackle Religion

The following is an excerpt from Unapologetic, by Francis Spufford, which i've just finished. Unapologetic attempts to explain Christianity from the inside, essentially, from inside the author's head. I'd cautiously recommend it, as i'll (hopefully) explain when i review it some time this week.

So no, i don't think that most British Christians are in mourning for times past. And though i write this book to try to extricate for people, from the misleading ruins of half-memory, what Christianity feels like from the inside, i don't expect my religion ever to be any less ramshackle, in my time, where i live. And that's all right. For sure, i would be be if people weren't quite so rude. It would be nice if they didn't brandish crude cartoons of nineteenth century thought and expect you to reel back, dazzled. It would be nice not to be patronised by nitwits. It would be nice if people were to understand that science is a special exercise in perceiving the world without metaphor, and that, powerful as it is, it doesn't function as a guide to those very large parts of experience that can't be perceived except through metaphor. It would be nice if people saw that the world can not be disenchanted, and that the choice before us is really choice of enchantments.

 

It would be nice. But it isn't necessary. Because the churches are open, doing their ancient and necessary business, and they will be open tomorrow, and the day after that, and that, onwards into far time, in some form or another. And it doesn't really matter what form, much though we may love the form they have now. They will still be offering a hush in which we can bear to find out what we're like. Christ will still be looking at us from the middle of the angry crowd. God will still be there, shining.

 

Unapologetic. Francis Spufford, Pp 221-222

JK Rowling and Happy Endings

I've read a couple of reviews of JK Rowling's new book, 'The Casual Vacancy' yesterday (here and here. Some bad language in the second one). Quite apart from the fascinating thought that one of the most recognizable authors of our day can not seem to get away from the Biblical narrative, what seems to unite the two reviews is a problem with the lack of a happy ending.

There's no Harry Potter in Pagford, no one to overcome evil and set the world aright again. Not eucatastrophe, just catastrophe. Just racism and classicism and an ending that 'makes Thomas Hardy look like PG Wodehouse.' Something about a book, or a film, or any story, without a happy ending leaves us wanting more. Something about a story without redemption makes us feel like the story isn't quite finished yet. When the guy doesn't get the girl, somethings wrong. Why is that? Because the reality of the Biblical narrative is written into our hearts. We can't accept an bleak ending, we can't accept things not turning out alright in the end, because it's not true.


I used to tease Rachel because she just likes movies with happy endings, but now i've come to see that not only is she right to like happy endings, but that she's more in touch with reality because of it.

Tolkien says: (the happy ending) denies universal final defeat, and insofar as evangeliom, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief...When the sudden 'turn' comes we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and hearts desire, that more a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through.

Happy endings are true endings. Because Jesus has come, and lived, and died and lived, happy endings are true endings. How will the universe end? Happily ever after. This sounds like hopeless wishful thinking doesn't it? And it is, until we put our hands in His wounds and talk to the eye witnesses. If the resurrection isn't true, we're to be pitied more than all men, but if it is true, we can look forward to the happiest of happy ending.

Happy endings are true endings. Morning Glory was a film that was forgotten almost as soon as it was made, but we liked it. Why? Girl from nowhere gets dream job in city, she's given a tough deadline to make things come together in the face of adversity and...well you get the rest. It was a happy ending, and a true ending. We like happy endings because, as Tolkien said, they touch us somewhere deep, somewhere real, somewhere almost primal. Because they're true. Because in the wedding supper of the lamb, time itself has the happiest of endings.