The Wanderer

It seems that the time has come to break cover and shuffle into the foetid pool.  The book mentioned a few days ago is now available in the US for pre-publication orders from Reformation Heritage Books or Westminster Bookstore or Monergism Books or Christian Book Distributors (CBD) or Grace Books International.

Amazon.co.uk and Evangelical Press are now stocking the item.

A Portrait of Paul: Identifying a True Minister of Christ

Rob Ventura & Jeremy Walker

Blurb: What does a true pastor look like, and what constitutes a faithful ministry? How can we identify the life and labors of one called by God to serve in the church of Jesus Christ? To address these questions, Rob Ventura and Jeremy Walker examine how the apostle Paul describes his pastoral relation to the people of God in Colossians 1:24–2:5. By discussing these essential attitudes, qualities, and characteristics of a faithful minister of Christ, A Portrait of Paul provides gospel ministers an example of what they should be, and demonstrates for churches the kind of pastors they will seek if they desire men after God’s own heart.

Chapters:

1. The Joy of Paul’s Ministry
2. The Focus of Paul’s Ministry
3. The Hardships of Paul’s Ministry
4. The Origin of Paul’s Ministry
5. The Essence of Paul’s Ministry
6. The Subject of Paul’s Ministry (sample)
7. The Goal of Paul’s Ministry
8. The Strength of Paul’s Ministry
9. The Conflict of Paul’s Ministry
10. The Warnings of Paul’s Ministry

Endorsements:

John MacArthur: The apostle Paul has always been a hero whom I look to as a model for my ministry. His unrelenting faithfulness in the worst kinds of trials is a remarkable example to every pastor and missionary. In the midst of suffering, hardship, and (in the end) the abandonment of his own friends and fellow workers, Paul remained steadfast, dynamic, and utterly devoted to Christ. This invaluable study of Paul’s life from Rob Ventura and Jeremy Walker is a wonderful, powerful, soul-stirring examination of Paul’s self-sacrifice and his unfaltering service to the church. It will both motivate and encourage you, especially if you’re facing trials, opposition, or discouragement in your service for Christ.

Geoff Thomas: For the first two decades of my life as a Christian, I had an abundance of role models who seemed to enflesh for me how a minister of God should live. I realize now that I even took their presence and consistent example for granted. I looked forward to the future under the protection of their mature lives of patience, wisdom, and many kindnesses. The labors of most of those men have come to an end and today I face another situation. There are now numbers of fine younger men in training and starting out on their own ministries. What grace and zeal they have, but there appears to be less role models than the company with which I was favored. What Walker and Ventura have done in this splendid book is to return to the fountainhead of Christianity, to the apostle Paul with the authority the Lord Christ gave to him, his wisdom and compassion, and examine the apostle’s relationship with one congregation, how he advised and exhorted them concerning the demands of discipleship and their relationship with fellow believers. Paul became Christ’s servant and mouthpiece to them and he has left us with a timeless inspired example. He exhorted his readers more than once to be followers of him as he followed God. With a refreshing contemporary style, and with humble submission to the Scripture, these two ministers have given to us a role model for pastoral life. This is a very helpful book and a means of grace to me.

Paul Washer: This work on the Christian ministry is a clarion call to true devotion and piety in the pastorate. The theology is pure and the language is as powerful as it is beautiful. I pray that every pastor and congregant might take up this book and read it. It will hold a place in my library beside Baxter’s Reformed Pastor, Bridges’ Christian Ministry, and Spurgeon’s Lectures. I will refer to it often. It will serve as a great antidote against all that might cause my heart to stray from Christ’s call.

Conrad Mbewe: When I first sensed God’s call to the preaching ministry, I did a study of the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. And, oh, what a study that was! It opened my eyes to the difference between ministry in the New Testament and what is in vogue today. Rob Ventura and Jeremy Walker have now brought all those truths that I saw into this one volume. I, therefore, commend this book to all who want to take God’s call to the work of ministry seriously. For, in these pages is the heart and experience of a true minister of the new covenant.

Steven J. Lawson: The greatest need in churches today is for godly men to shepherd the flock of God. To be sure, no church will rise any higher than the level of its spiritual leaders. Like priest, like people. To this end, Rob Ventura and Jeremy Walker have done an exceptional job in providing a model for pastoral ministry, drawn from the extraordinary example of the apostle Paul. This book is built upon careful exegesis, proper interpretation, penetrating insight, and challenging application. Herein is profiled the kind of minister every church so desperately needs and what every true minister should desire to become.

Derek W. H. Thomas: In this dual-authored portrait of Paul as a minister of the gospel, Ventura and Walker have captured the very essence of ministry. On every page, we are forced to reflect upon the dimensions of apostolic ministry and urged to comply. Packed with exposition and application of the finest sort, these pages urge gospel-focused, Christ-centered, God-exalting, Spirit-empowered, self-denying ministry. I warmly recommend it.

Carl R. Trueman: This deceptively easy to read book consists of a series of reflection on Col.1:24 to 2:5 by two experienced pastors. In an age where there is much focus on technical aspects of ministry, Ventura and Walker analyse the topic in terms, first, of call and character, and then of the existential urgency with which the great doctrines of the faith are grasped by those called to the pastorate. Intended not just to be read but to be a practical guide in helping churches think through the role of the pastor, each chapter ends with a series of pointed questions, to Christians in general and to pastors in particular, which are designed to focus the minds of all concerned on what the priorities of the pastorate, and of candidates for the pastorate should be. This book is a biblical rebuke to modern trends, a challenge to those who think they may be called to the ministry, and a reality check for all believers everywhere.

Joseph A. Pipa Jr: Ventura’s and Walker’s A Portrait of Paul Identifying a True Minister of Christ makes an unique contribution to the literature on pastoral theology. Rather than approach their subject topically, they unfold Paul’s heart for and practice of ministry through an exposition of Colossians 1:24-2:5.  The authors balance careful and experimental exposition with challenging application–addressing both fellow Christians and pastors.  All serious Christians, as well as pastors, will profit from this book; it is intellectually satisfying, experimentally challenging, and practically stimulating.

Philip H. Towner: As the diverse churches of the world have demonstrated throughout history, there is no better place to turn, when confronted with the complexities of pastoral leadership, than the Scriptures.  Each church in each generation must revisit this resource and view it anew through its particular historical, theological, cultural and political lens. The authors of A Portrait of Paul engage precisely in this task. With Colossians as their main laboratory, they probe the text and engage Paul in a conversation about pastoral ministry—its priorities, foundation, and potential—and a profile of pastoral mission and leadership emerges.  All who read this book will discover an invitation to join this rich conversation and take away numerous fresh perspectives to challenge and shape their thinking.

Sam Waldron: What is A Portrait of Paul Identifying a True Minister of Christ? It is, first, the effort of two young pastors to teach themselves and their churches what it means to be a true minister of Christ. It is, second, an exposition of Colossians 1:24–2:5 which attempts to understand how Paul’s ministry gives them and their churches a paradigm of faithful ministry. It is, third, biblical exposition of Scripture in the best historic and Reformed tradition with careful exegesis, sound doctrine, popular appeal and practical application. As such, it is a very challenging book to read as Rob and Jeremy lay before us, for instance, the selflessness and suffering true ministry requires. It is, however, a good, useful, and profitable book to read. It can, and I hope it will, do much good!

Robert R. Gonzales Jr.: Rob Ventura and Jeremy Walker’s A Portrait of Paul is biblically sound, pointedly practical, and sagaciously simple. In addition to an exposition of Colossians 1:24-2:5, they provide the reader with a host of citations from other pertinent texts of Scriptures as well as judicious quotes from past and contemporary authors, all of which help to trace out the contours of Paul’s life and ministry. Each chapter concludes with practical applications directed both to fellow pastors (or aspiring pastors) and also to fellow Christians. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who would seek to imitate Paul as Paul sought to imitate Christ.

Pre-order in the US at RHB or WTS.

Further information to follow as it becomes available.

William Arnot:

The difference between an unconverted and a converted man is not that one has sins and the other has none; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.

—Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth: Illustrations of the Book of Proverbs (orig., London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1884), 311.

HT: JT

Moscow 6 6 4. 6 6 6. 4

Worship before the Lamb!
Lift up his holy name:
Give him all praise!
Dwell on his precious blood,
Poured out in gracious flood,
That makes us heirs of God,
And our debt pays.

See him on Calvary,
Suffering in agony.
Will it not cease?
Not till the Saviour died,
When from his wounded side
Poured out the crimson tide
That brought us peace.

Lift up your voice to sing!
Let heaven with praises ring
Each joyful day.
There at the mercy seat,
The Lord your Saviour meet,
And at his piercèd feet
Your offering lay.

Let us now glorify
Our glorious Lord on high:
Give him all praise!
Soon those redeemed by grace
Shall, in the heavenly place,
Gaze on his glorious face
Through endless days.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

Would you like a real change?

Would you like new surroundings?  A new house, a new room, or new clothes?

Would you like new relationships?  New friends, new colleagues, even a new family?

Would you like a new you?  A new appearance, enlargements and reductions, a new nose or chin, a new waistline, or renewed health?

Would you like a new life?  A completely fresh start, being a different person altogether, sweeping away everything that is, leaving it all behind, and starting over entirely?

One way or another, many of us would like – or may even long for – a makeover of some kind.  We would truly love to change something about us and our lives.

Most of these changes are – at best – what you might call ‘cosmetic.’  That is, they are mere changes in appearance, manipulating externals without ever altering reality.  As a result, they rarely make us happy.  If you like, many of the changes we try to make are like re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic: making a doomed vessel more pleasing to the eye.

You probably know by experience that such changes make little lasting difference.  At best, they solve problems temporarily.  At worst, they lock us into a downward spiral of more and more extreme changes, each one more desperate, expensive, or humiliating than the last.  In either case, they present no final solution to problems.

Why is this?

It is because whatever you do and wherever you go and whenever you change outwardly, what you carry within you remains the same.  We carry our issues, our personalities, our problems, our sins, with us wherever we go.

What you need is the most radical change of all: an extreme makeover that lies utterly outside your own power of will or money to accomplish, but a change that will once-and-for-all alter everything about you for the better.  It is a change that begins on the inside and works its way out, radically altering in lasting fashion our thoughts, feelings, desires, words, and deeds.

It is called “new creation.”  It begins with the essential you, the heart and soul of who and what you are, and – over the course of time – works itself through your whole being.  It is a new life that will reach its climax with a new body in a new heavens and a new earth.

Would you like such a change?  Do you long for an extreme makeover of this sort?  This is no gimmick or fable, no lie or scam.  This is God’s own truth, his free and sincere offer: “If anyone is in Christ,” says the Bible, “he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Would you like a fresh start?  There is nothing to pay, no forms to fill out, no waiting list, and guaranteed results.  Faith in Christ brings new life in him.  It is the only true solution to the otherwise empty search for a new you.

The reason will become apparent shortly, but I have had cause recently to consider the dark art of self-promotion (see also here and the links from Kevin DeYoung here).  I have tried to plot out what seems to be the standard approach:

• Want to read a book?  How about mine?
• Want to give someone a book?  How about mine?
• Looking to recommend a book?  How about mine?
• I know someone reading my book.  Read about him reading my book here.
• If you want to read about reading my book, you can read about it here and here and here.
• I will be writing at some length about writing my book in coming days.
• Then I will write about reading my book.
• If you want to read my book – everyone who is anyone is reading my book – you can buy it here, here, here, here, here and here.  Or here and here.  Or even here.  Oh, and here.
• Writing a book is a very humbling experience – I want everyone to know just how humbled I have been to have everyone talking about the book that I have humbly written.
• You should read this book.
• I would never wish to boast about my book: that would be wrong.  Instead, let me offer some links to people boasting about me: here, here, here, here and here.  Look at me humbly pointing to people telling you how great I am.
• Here are some further endorsements: Chief A said, “Great book.  Everyone in my tribe should read this book.”  Chief B said, “What a book!  Are you in my tribe?  Read this book.”  In fact, I went to all the chiefs, and now if you consider yourself part of their tribe, you should read this book, otherwise you’re not a very good tribesman.
• Really, if you had any sense you would be reading my book.
• Why aren’t you reading my book?
• Everyone else is reading my book.  What are you, Billy No-Mates?

I find it hard to reconcile the wise man’s advice – “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Prv 27.2) – with such shameless self-advancement.

At the same time, I am obliged to dip a toe at least into that foetid pool of self-promotion, because I have a book being published (a very humbling experience, etc.).  I have an obligation to the publisher and my co-author to at least make my readers – both of them – aware of this, and to do what I can to advance the cause, so to speak.  Therefore, expect at least a trickle of the unpleasant fluid from the foetid pool over the next few months.  I will try not to make it too repugnant, honest.

Your strongest resolutions or purposes may hide a sin, but cannot quench it. They may cover a sin, but cannot cut off a sin. A black patch may cover a sore — but it does not cure it! Neither is it the papists’ purgatories, watchings, whippings, nor the kissing of the statue of St. Francis, or licking of lepers’ sores — which will cleanse the fretting leprosy of sin!

In the strength of Christ, and in the power of the Spirit — set soundly upon the mortifying of every lust! Oh, hug none, indulge none — but resolvedly set upon the ruin of every lust!

One leak in a ship will sink it!

One stab strikes Goliad just as dead — as twenty-three did Caesar!

One Delilah may do Samson as much mischief as all the Philistines!

One broken wheel spoils the whole clock!

One vein bleeding will let out all the vitals!

One fly will spoil a whole box of ointment!

One bitter herb will spoil all the pottage!

By eating one apple, Adam lost paradise!

One lick of honey endangered Jonathan’s life!

One Achan was a trouble to all Israel!

One Jonah raises a storm and becomes a load too heavy for the whole ship! Just so — one unmortified lust will raise very strong storms and tempests in the soul! And therefore, as you would have a blessed calm and quietness in your own spirits under your sharpest trials, set thoroughly upon the work of mortification.

Gideon had seventy sons, and but one bastard child, yet that bastard child destroyed all his seventy sons!

Ah, Christian! do you not know what a world of mischief one unmortified lust may do? And therefore let nothing satisfy you but the blood of all your lusts!

Thomas Brooks, The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod

HT: Grace Gems

Westminster Books have extended their sale on the excellent Pillar New Testament Commentary series by another week.  It now runs until 16th March.  You get an extra 10% off every volume when you order two or more.  Grab volumes cheaply here!  O’Brien’s new volume on Hebrews is a whopping 45% off.

Thanks to those who responded to my earlier frustrations.

The car is allegedly fixed and I should be getting it back soon with a re-tooled cylinder head (or something like that) and a new wheel.

The replacement computer screen came as promised first thing this morning, and plugged and played just as it is supposed to.

The house did not burn down, which is a bonus, all things considered.

However, I did look in the mirror again this morning (maybe I should do that less), and the news is still bad.

And if it were otherwise, grace would be given to bear with these minor troubles and to be grateful for mercies great and small.

[ Dissecting high-mindedness ~ Describing humble-mindedness ~ Destroying high-mindedness and developing humble-mindedness ]

How do we go about clearing the wilderness of pride and planting and nurturing the garden of lowly-mindedness with the flowers of humility?  How do we destroy spiritual blight and nurture spiritual beauty in this area of our thinking, feeling and doing?

(1) Dwell much on the character of Christ Jesus himself (Phil 2.5-8; Mt 20.26-28; Jn 13.14-17).  Christ’s church should have Christ’s mind: by his humbling himself he secured our new life and provided us with a perfect model, emptying us of all excuses and contentions.  This is both the foundation and the capstone of the pursuit of humble-mindedness.

(2) Reckon with God’s determination to humble the proud and exalt the humble (Lk 18.14; Mt 5.2; Jas 3.13 – 4.6).  Pride flies in the face of God’s Word, sets self against God, and assaults the body of Christ.  God will work conformity to his Son in us, and has a multitude of means at his disposal to advance holiness in us and protect the church.

(3) Remember what you are – a creature and a sinner (Rom 3.27; 9.21; 1Cor 4.7).

(4) Think accurately and honestly (rather than morbidly and despairingly) about your own gifts and graces (Rom 12.3).  Take counsel from spiritually mature believers if need be.  Make a prayerful, careful, sober self-assessment.  Much ruin and neglect comes to Christ’s church because of over- and under-estimation of what God has made us.

(5) Pursue joy and satisfaction (rather than frustration and resignation) with what God has made you (1Cor 15.10; Eph 1.3 ff.).  Remember what you are in Christ first of all, and then how you have been equipped to serve.  You will be insecure and hesitant or jealous and unappreciative until you accept what God has made you, and what he has not made you.

(6) Think graciously and warmly (rather than bitterly and critically) about the gifts and graces of others (see how Paul recognises this in writing almost all of his letters).  We can praise others easily when secure in God’s love and in our own skins.  Pray for God’s grace to be poured on others: you will find it hard to complain at the blessings for which you yourself have asked!

(7) Willingly embrace God’s providential dealings with you (Gal 4.15; 2Sam 21.17; Warfield).  God governs the distribution of our gifts and our opportunities to use them.  Physical sickness, advancing age, singleness, marriage, parenthood, all direct and constrain our service.  There is no shame in being no more than God intended!  In today’s society, mothers especially need to reject the attitude that views children as obstacles and obstruction to serving: pour yourselves into your children!

(8) Do not wait to obey: press on irrespective of the relative obedience of others (Phil 2.12-18; Mt 24.46).  The great obstacles will be your own pride, and the pride, ignorance and delusion of others.  Leave God to deal with others – strive to be all you can be to his glory!

(9) Remember that God sees all things, and your reward is with him (Col 3.22-24; Phil 2.9-11).  God is a debtor to no man.  Follow in the footsteps of Christ, and you too shall enter your reward (Mt 10.42; 25.21, 23).

We are to mirror Christ, being conformed to his image.  It is counter-natural and counter-cultural, but not counter-productive, for as Christ’s servant community lives out its humble life, Christ is honoured and his kingdom unfailingly advanced (1Cor 1.26-31).

You know I said I believe in entropy?

Well, the car is in the garage with the cylinder head gasket keeping it off the road.  And the mechanic who is always so efficient and helpful went down with a serious health problem the day I took it in and is on very light duties.

The computer screen has just malfunctioned and I am helpfully informed that, under warranty, I will get a replacement in no less than five days.  The fact that I rely on the computer for my work changes things not a jot.  So I am writing this from my father’s house; please expect little in the way of online labour for a few days.

I am going home from this borrowed computer, joyfully anticipating the plumes of smoke I am likely to see as the house returns to dust and ashes.

Then, I looked in the mirror again this morning.  That news gets no better.

And, God is in his heaven, and he is my Father and I am his child, and all this is his perfect and righteous plan, and I lack nothing truly needful, and I am learning to be content.

A request for help: I am trying to track down a high-quality digital image (at least 300 dpi [dots per inch]) of the portrait below for a project.

The painting is St Paul (oil on canvas), by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708-87) , and it is in the Basildon Park collection.

If you have such an image (especially if you would be willing to send it to me), or know how I could get hold of one, please leave a note in the comments and I will get back to you.  Anyone with any advice about copyright on something like this is also very welcome to leave a comment.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Justin Taylor points us to Luther’s loving rebuke to his friend, Philip Melancthon, written in a letter dated 27 June 1530.  Faithful indeed are the wounds of a friend (Prv 27.6):

Those great cares by which you say you are consumed I vehemently hate; they rule your heart not on account of the greatness of the cause but by reason of the greatness of your unbelief. . . .

If our cause is great, its author and champion is great also, for it is not ours. Why are you therefore always tormenting yourself?

If our cause is false, let us recant; if it is true, why should we make him a liar who commands us to be of untroubled heart?

Cast your burden on the Lord, he says. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him with a broken heart. Does he speak in vain or to beasts? . . .

What good can you do by your vain anxiety?

What can the devil do more than slay us? What after that?

I beg you, so pugnacious in all else, fight against yourself, your own worst enemy, who furnish Satan with arms against yourself. . . .

I pray for you earnestly and am deeply pained that you keep sucking up cares like a leech and thus rendering my prayers vain.

Christ knows whether it is stupidity or bravery, but I am not much disturbed, rather of better courage than I had hoped.

God who is able to raise the dead is also able to uphold a falling cause, or to raise a fallen one and make it strong.

If we are not worthy instruments to accomplish his purpose, he will find others.

If we are not strengthened by his promises, to whom else in all the world can they pertain?

But saying more would be pouring water into the sea.

This will bring a tear to your eye, and I hope for the right reasons.

HT: David Murray.

[ Dissecting high-mindedness ~ Describing humble-mindedness ~ Destroying high-mindedness and developing humble-mindedness ]

Humble-mindedness is a counter-natural, counter-cultural habit of thought that sees oneself as ‘low-lying’ and therefore sincerely and genuinely esteems others better than oneself.

The world despises such an attitude: it is something to be avoided or overcome.  Paul invests it with gospel honour and calls us not just to accept it, but to pursue it.  The wilderness of the proud heart is to be cleared of the weeds of pride; the flowers of humility are to be planted in their place.

I  What is it not

(1) NOT morbidly despising and ignoring one’s own God-given gifts and graces (1Cor 15.10; Rom 12.3-8).

(2) NOT dishonest pretence with regard to plain distinctions of gift, grace, calling, experience, and spiritual maturity (1Cor 12.18-21).

(3) NOT despairing renunciation of hopeful and holy labour and ambition (1Cor 15.10, 1Cor 11).

(4) NOT a practical impossibility.

II How, positively, is it manifested?

(1) In attitudes and actions primarily regarding others.

• Sincere joy at the gifts and graces manifested and rewarded in others (1Sam 18.8 cf. 20.31; Barnabas).
• Imputing the best motives to others and believing the best of them (1Cor 13.7).
• Speaking well rather than ill of others (Eph 4.29; 2Sam 1.17-27).
• Patience with the faults, sins, weaknesses and ignorance of others (as they must bear with us).
• Recognise, acknowledge, commend and encourage the gifts and graces given to and revealed in others (see how Paul opens his letters).
• Readiness to relinquish what promotes my ‘glory’ for the advancement of others; a willingness to make room for the gifts of others.
• Thoughtful willingness to promote the good of the whole body at one’s own expense, if need be (Phil 1.23-4; 1Thes 2.8-9).

In brief, a servant (not servile) attitude to others.

(2) In attitudes and actions primarily regarding oneself.

• Patient waiting for your gifts and graces to make room for you (Prv 18.16; Paul).
• Readily receiving warnings and counsel about genuine specks in your eye, even when delivered – often inexpertly – by someone with a beam in theirs.
• Searching for the beam in your own eye when you see a speck in another’s eye.
• A comely reticence to put yourself forward, not thrusting yourself to prominence and demanding attention, with a modest and cheerful silence if overlooked and underestimated (Acts 16.1-3; Prv 27.2).
• Pursuit of transparent consistency between how we wish to be thought of and appear publicly and how we truly are privately.

In brief, a servant perspective on oneself.

These attitudes and actions give birth to most happiness when others are most exalted.  Humble-mindedness is “a genuine and sincere selflessness that seeks out how best to serve and promote the good of others and willing undertakes whatever service comes our way – high or low, public or private, esteemed or despised by men – with pure motives and earnest desires for the good of others.”

A church characterised by humble-mindedness grows in love, peace and unity: it is a community of servant-hearted men and women all esteeming and watching out for the best for one another, striving without internal jealousies and rivalries for the glory of Christ, the crowned head of the whole body.

Paul brings Christ to bear upon all excuses and obstacles: we have good reasons in our creatureliness and sinfulness for a lowliness of mind that esteems others better than ourselves; Christ is the holy Creator, who nevertheless stooped to the point of the cursed death of the cross under the wrath of God, demonstrating and displaying that very attitude and disposition that should characterise all his people.

The Wicket Gate magazine points us to some of the promises of God, as arranged by Matthew Henry.

It is the unspeakable privilege of all believers to have, as a certain possession, the precious promises of God. We have them as manifest tokens of God’s favour towards us; and every one of them is yea and amen, in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have them as fruits of Christ’s purchase. The Lord having purchased us with His own blood we have these promises produced by that, inestimable grace. They are plain and ample declarations of the goodwill of God towards man, and are therefore as God’s part of the covenant of grace. They are a foundation of our faith, and we have them as such; and also of our hope.

On these we are to build all our expectations from God; and in all temptations and trials we have them to rest our souls upon. We have them as the directions and encouragements of our desires in prayer. Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. They are the guide of our desires and the ground of our hope in prayer. Therefore, let us review some of these blessed promises of God.

1. He has promised that we shall be His people.
   “Therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine.” (Exodus 19:5.)
2. That all our sins shall be pardoned.
   “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isaiah 43:25.)
3. That our corruptions shall be subdued.
   “For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14.)
4. That the Spirit of grace shall be given us, to enable us for our duty in everything.
   “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27.)
5. That He will give us the knowledge of His truth, and the comfort and benefit of it.
   “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32.)
6. That He will be tender to those that are weak.
   “He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” (Isaiah 40: 11.
7. That He will direct us in the way of our duty.
   “Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach in his way.” (Psalm 25:8-9.)
8. That He will protect us from everything that is really evil.
   “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and even for evermore.” (Psalm 121: 7-8.)
9. That He will supply us with all good.
   “The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” (Psalm 34:10.)
10. That He will answer our prayers.
    “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13.)
11. That He will silence our fears.
    “I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.” (Isaiah 41:13.)
12. That He will bear us up under our burdens.
    “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27.)
13. That He will give us a sure and lasting peace.
    “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever.” (Isaiah 32:17.)
14. That He will deliver us in and under our troubles.
    “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him.” (Psalm 91:14-15.)
15. That He will proportion our trials to our strength.
    “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13.)
16. That He will put true honour upon us.
    “Them that honour me I will honour.” (1 Samuel 2:30.)
17. That He will comfort and relieve us in sickness.
    “The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishings: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” (Psalm 41:3.)
18. That He will prevent our apostasy from Him.
    “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.” (Jeremiah 32:40.)
19. That He will make all events conduce to our real welfare.
    “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28.)
20. That He will perfect the work of grace in us.
    “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6.)
21. That He will be with us when we are old, to bear us up under all our infirmities.
    “Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and I will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:4.)
22. That He will never desert us in any emergency whatsoever.
    “For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5.)
23. That He will make up all our losses for His name’s sake.
    “Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (Matthew 19:29.)
24. That He will be with us when we come to die.
    “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23.25.)
25. That He will raise our bodies to life again.
    “This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40.)
26. That He will put us into possession of everlasting bliss.
    “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.” (1 John 2:25.)

And now what shall we say to these things? Let us be thankful to God for all these great and precious promises, that God should not only do us good, but engage Himself by promises to do so. Let us be ashamed of ourselves that we have not lived more upon these promises. Let us encourage ourselves with these promises to go on cheerfully and resolutely in the way of our duty.

[ Dissecting high-mindedness ~ Describing humble-mindedness ~ Destroying high-mindedness and developing humble-mindedness ]

It is utterly inappropriate to think in terms of a pecking order in Christ’s church, but all too common.  In Philippians 2, Paul presses upon believers a unity of mind that works itself out in lowliness of mind.

He contrasts two attitudes: one carnal, one Christian; one earthly, one heavenly; one of spiritual blight, one of spiritual beauty.

High-mindedness is the selfish pursuit of empty glory out of a desire to advance and exalt oneself.  High-mindedness esteems self better than others, provoking bitterness in oneself and frustration in others.

How does it often manifest itself in Christ’s church?

1. A blatantly or subtly critical spirit, happy to advance over the grave of another’s reputation (2Cor 11.5 ff.; 2Sam 15).
2. An unwillingness or inability to acknowledge one’s own ignorance, inability, faults, weaknesses, and sins – often makes excuses and rejects rebukes (1Sam 13.11-12; 1Kgs 22.8; Jn 8.9; Mt 7.3 cf. Paul in 2Cor 4.7).
3. A desire for praise that issues in acting to be seen by others – performance for recognition and applause (Mt 6.1-2, 5, 16; 1Cor 11.19).
4. An envious and bitter spirit of rivalry because of gifts and graces recognised in others (2Sam 19.13; 20.9-10; Lk 15.29-30; Mk 10.41).
5. By a making known of one’s attainments, and a readiness to praise oneself if others fail to do so (Prv 27.2; 2Cor 3.1).
6. By a proud and angry response to counsel, or being crossed or rebuked – sulking, sourness or wilful rejection (1Kgs 21.6; 22.24; Ahithophel; Jer 19.15 – 20.2).
7. Fishing for compliments and rewards by means of self-promotion, flattery, or false self-denigration (Jude 16; Jn 12.43; Acts 12.20 ff., 2Sam 6.10-11; 15.3-6).
8. The exercise of particular gifts and graces to the shame, detriment or exposure of others (1Cor 13.1; 14.12, 20).
9. An unhealthy willingness and desire to stand out from the crowd – loving to have your voice heard and presence known (Lk 14.7 ff.; 3Jn 9).
10. An unwillingness to serve in unseen or menial ways (Lk 19.17).
11. Dissatisfaction with the extent and degree to which your gifts and graces are currently recognised – you believe you deserve more than you receive (1Sam 18.7-8; Lk 15.29; 17.9-10).
12. A dishonest disconnect between what you are in private and what you wish to appear in public (Acts 5.2; Mt 23.3, 25).
13. An unbalanced pre-occupation with how others perceive you (Jn 12.42-43; Rom 14.4; Mt 23.5).
14. Speaking of that which you do not know; pretending to an expertise that you do not possess (Gal 6.3; Paul’s exposure of false apostles in 2Cor 11 – 13).

Some of these things are outwardly evident; others are matters of the heart, known primarily to self and to God.  This is the way of the world, but it creeps into the church when Satan whispers in our ears a prompt to advance our own cause.

Such an attitude robs us of pleasure in our serving, our brethren of the profit of our serving, and God of the glory of our serving.  To think in terms of a ladder to climb, a pecking order in which to advance, will end with our seeking to topple Christ from his throne.

Paul makes plain that high-mindedness has no place in the kingdom of the crucified and risen Christ (2Cor 8.8-9; Phil 2.5-11): nothing is to be motivated by a spirit of selfish ambition or conceit.  These are weeds that make the heart a wilderness: they are not to be controlled but destroyed, and the opposite cultivated in their place.  High-mindedness is to be searched out, identified, repented of, and mortified, for we have nothing of which to boast (1Cor 4.7).

I believe in entropy because:

• I own a computer.
• I own a car.
• I own a house.
• I look in a mirror.

Last weekend I visited Magherafelt Reformed Baptist Church, where it was my privilege to preach at their annual Ladies’ Conference as well as minister the Word of God on the Lord’s day.  I had a great time with Paul and Elaine Wallace and their family, as well as meeting some delightful Christians in the church, and even catching up briefly with other friends while I was there.

My theme for the conference was High-minded or humble-minded?  Cultivating the mind of Christ and I had three sessions: “Dissecting high-mindedness”; “Describing humble-mindedness”; and, “Destroying high-mindedness and developing humble-mindedness”.

I am hoping to post some notes on that topic shortly, as well as developing some of the material from the previous ministry at the Wessex Conference on relating to the 21st century world.  Watch this space (with bated breath, no doubt).

George Whitefield via Ray Ortlund, giving good advice in an age increasingly obsessed with mere academic credibility:

Dear Gentlemen,

With unspeakable pleasure have I heard that there seems to be a general concern amongst you about the Things of God. . . . What great things may we now expect to see in New England, since it has pleased God to work so remarkably among the Sons of the Prophets?  Now we may expect a reformation indeed, since it is beginning at the house of God.  A dead Ministry will always make a dead People.  Whereas if ministers are warmed with the love of God themselves, they cannot but be instruments of diffusing that love amongst others.  This, this is the best preparation for the work whereunto you are to be called.  Learning without piety will only render you more capable of promoting the kingdom of the devil.  Henceforward therefore I hope you will enter into your studies, not to get a parish, not to be a polite preacher, but to be a great saint. . . . The more holy you are, the more will God delight to honor you.  He loves to make use of instruments like himself. . . .

George Whitefield, writing to students at Harvard and Yale preparing for the ministry, 25 July 1741, quoted in Richard L. Bushman, editor, The Great Awakening: Documents on the Revival of Religion, 1740-1745 (New York, 1970), page 38.

Michael Haykin makes available his papers from the True Church Conference hosted by Grace Life Church of Muscle Shoals, AL, the first on John Gill and hyper-Calvinism, and the second on Andrew Fuller.  Both papers are posted in PDF format:

• Defining Hyper-Calvinism (PDF)
• Missionary Pioneer Andrew Fuller & Hyper-Calvinism (PDF)

William Willimon begins to explain my laziness:

I believe the roots of clerical sloth are theological rather than primarily psychological.  We become lazy and slovenly in our work because we have lost the theological rationale for the work.

(Willimon, Proclamation and Theology, 72)

That would sting less if it were less true.

HT: Carl Trueman.

This won’t be of much use to our non-American readers, but we have enthused about these before.  The Pillar New Testament Commentary set has so far proved an excellent technical commentary, taking account of [most of] the best of what has gone before, and providing many helpful insights.  These are not the commentaries to which you turn for many applicatory insights, but they lay the foundation for such very helpfully.  With these Pillars supporting your study, you can do away with several lesser commentaries if you wish.

Why am I telling you this?  Because Peter T. O’Brien has just released his new Hebrews commentary in this series, and Westminster Bookstore (who do not ship overseas, hence the non-American disappointment) has partnered with Eerdman’s to offer a special deal both on this new volume and the rest of the series.  Until March 9th, they are offering O’Brien’s new Hebrews volume for 45% off of its list price.  At the same time, they are offering an extra 10% off of every Pillar volume’s already discounted price with a purchase of 2 or more (so if someone buys 2 Pillar volumes they will receive and extra 10% off of each).

So, if you want Hebrews by O’Brien at a good rate, and/or any other volumes in the Pillar series, now is the time to buy from Westminster.