The Wanderer

L.M.

God-breathed, each sacred page reveals
The sacred truth of God on high;
God condescends to speak to man,
His holy name to magnify.

Divine, no error mars the Word,
No folly creeps across the page.
The Word of God unsullied stands
From shore to shore and age to age.

Unchanged, the Word of God remains
The same across the passing years;
The truth which fired the martyrs’ hearts
Still freshly rings in modern ears.

Complete, our every need is met
Within the holy, precious book.
Our souls are saved, and kept, and fed
Beside the waters of this brook.

How warmly gleams this heav’n-forged blade,
Far sharper than a two-edged sword;
It overcomes the hardest heart,
And spreads God’s glorious power abroad.

“Enlarge our hearts to understand
The light of God to sinful man!
Grant grace to choose the way of truth,
To run the way that you command.”

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

David Murray draws on a Newsweek article to address the following conundrum:

How many times have you sat there staring at the screen in front of you and wondered where the next word is going to come from? The mental gas tank is empty and even the fumes have evaporated. But the sermon has to be preached tomorrow. The lecture has to be delivered this afternoon. The article’s deadline will not evaporate.

You’re stuck.

What now?

It’s worth a read, although some of the suggestions are not what you would think.  As a man who spends much of his time trying to figure out how to do what he has finally decided he cannot avoid doing, there may be some interesting ideas here.

For those interested in the upcoming title, A Portrait of Paul (more information), a brief update:

I recently received the edited manuscript, to which I hope to turn my attention, with my co-author, over the coming week or so.  At the moment, the finished article may see the light of day sometime in September.

However, in the meantime the publishers have made a decision not to seek a British co-publisher.  I am not sure what that means for distribution and availability in the UK, but I will let you know if and when and from whom it becomes available here in due course.

In an update to the update, this morning we received a further endorsement from Steven J. Lawson, pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama.  He kindly says:

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.

You can still get it direct from Reformation Heritage Books as well as from Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Christian Book Distributors (CBD), and Grace Books International.

Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr. edited by Grant Gordon

Banner of Truth, 2009 (428pp, hbk)

Almost every young minister of the gospel could do with a Newton. They may not always realise that they need a Newton, but they probably do. To be blunt, they may not always want a Newton; those are the times when they need one most.

In Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., edited by Grant Gordon, young preachers and pastors at least get the benefit of peering over the shoulders of a Newton as he writes to his young friend, John Ryland Jr.. Thanks to the editorial comments, we also get at least a brief glimpse over the shoulder of Ryland as he reads and ponders those letters.

The friendship between Newton and Ryland spanned four decades and crossed the twenty-five years that divided them in age. They first met in 1768 when Ryland was only fifteen and Newton was forty-three. The first letter in this volume was written in 1771 and the last in 1803. Both the length of correspondence and the increasing range of topics indicate a genuine, deepening and developing friendship, without any ingratiating sycophancy from the younger man nor any pompous pontificating from the elder. Instead, there is honesty, sincerity, tenderness, directness, and sympathy, which we see flowing mainly in the direction of Newton to Ryland (the younger man’s contributions to this flow of reason and feast of soul are currently lost to us).

The arrangement of the volume is obvious, but little embellishments make the reading experience a delight. A few pages of introductory material, including a foreword by Michael Haykin, set the scene and sketch the characters, giving us a little grounding to appreciate the letters themselves. There are eighty-three of these altogether, each followed by a brief editorial contribution that ties up loose ends, explains particular details, and prepares us for the next epistle in the sequence. At the end of the book, together with a brief but helpful index of persons and topics, a few pages bring the stories of Newton and Ryland to a close. Scattered very occasionally through the volume, and bringing snatches of historical colour, are copies of a page from a diary or letter. Footnotes (we are mercifully spared exposure to the quite reprehensible endnote) provide helpful cross-references within the volume, as well as an unobtrusive wealth of historical and scholarly detail for those wishing to follow up particular elements. The text is clear and spacious, and the whole volume well bound.

However, and rightly so, the letters themselves are the undoubted and worthy centrepiece of the feast, and here we must recognise Newton’s singular gifts as a correspondent. Of all those mercies of God that marked the man as a minister, it is perhaps his warmth and understanding as a correspondent that set him apart. The collected letters demonstrate that talent (and, indeed, contain some written to Ryland but published with the preservation of anonymity), but here we are allowed to see the sustained investment, tender concern, and pastoral insight that made his correspondents treasure his letters as genuine marks of Christian love. When one reads the letters, one wishes one might have known the man (and received a few notes oneself), and looks forward even more to meeting him in glory. There is a delightful turn of dry humour, a refreshing if sometimes blunt earthiness, a sturdy and sanctified common sense, in what he writes. So, when writing of marriage and money, after a few friendly jibes, he tells Ryland

I see this will not do; I must get into my own grave way about this grave business. I take it for granted that my friend is free from the love of filthy lucre and that money will never be the turning point with you in the choice of a wife. Methinks I hear you think, ‘If I wanted money, I would either dig or beg for it; but to preach or marry for money, that be far from me.’ I commend you.  However, though the love of money be a great evil, money itself, obtained in a fair and honourable way, is desirable, upon many accounts, though not for its own sake.  Meat, clothes, fire, and books, cannot easily be had without it.  Therefore, if these be necessary, money which procures them must be necessary likewise. (73-74)

He can be at once humble and powerful, searingly honest about his own sins and struggles and therefore both deeply sympathetic and pointedly searching when dealing with the sins and struggles of others. His concern for peace and unity, his fixation on the avoidance of controversy at every available opportunity, also come to the fore repeatedly. One develops the sense of a hearty and full-orbed humanity alive with love to God and his fellow men pouring out through his pen as he counsels, encourages, rebukes and exhorts.

And what wise counsels they truly are! Again, the advantage of watching the relationship and the correspondence develop is that we can see the ebb and flow of the lives being lived, and the issues that Ryland and Newton faced over time. We are therefore able to range over the life of a man and a minister, from the gracious reigning in and redirecting of youthful zeal to the heavy deliberations of elder statesmen in the church of Christ. Along the way, Newton and Ryland wrestle together with the desire for marriage and the challenges of courtship, with the death of wives and children, with the difficulties of esteemed but awkward parents and gifted or sensitive offspring, with controversy at home and abroad, with learning and academia, with calls to remove from one sphere of service and influence to another of different and perhaps wider opportunity, with the writing of books and poems, with suffering and sorrow and sanctification and death itself, with theological truth and error and with the use of the imagination, with the issues of Conformity and Dissent and the relationship between church and state. This last is especially curious. Newton was an Anglican, but seemingly without much conviction about ecclesiology except that it did not matter half as much as some believed it did. Among those with stronger feelings on the matter was Ryland himself, a Particular Baptist, and – while appreciating Newton’s irenic pleas – some today may find that they differ with him about the importance of these matters, while they will continue to find Newton’s observations piquant:

Indeed the Congregationalists and Baptists, who are both equally satisfied that they possess the perfect model of the tabernacle to a single loop or pin, need a double portion of grace to prevent their over admiring the supposed excellency of their forms. There are a few of them however who know that the best forms are but forms still and remember that the Lord abhorred his most express and positive institutions, when the worshippers rested in them. (128)

In such a context, insights into the times in which these men lived, and particularly some of the challenges that stirred and vexed the church in matters of faith and life, seem like almost incidental benefits, though they are certainly there. Consider that these men were movers and shakers in circles alive with missionary zeal, wrestling with the challenges of bringing the good news of Christ to the wider world, and you will immediately become alive to the subtext of some of the later letters as they swap news and encouragements and discouragements, and seek favours of each other in advancing the kingdom of God.

Apart from some of this historical grounding, it is worth noting just how relevant so much of Newton’s advice remains.  To be sure, time has passed and circumstances have changed, but the enduring principles and Biblical sense upon which Newton built his counsel has not shifted, and so the reader can readily transpose the guidance and warnings that Newton issued across three hundred years and still find much that will strike and stick at the most appropriate points.  It is here that modern men and ministers can derive so much benefit from the wise counsel that God enabled Newton to issue.  The dress may be different, but the demands have changed little.  Here is the benefit of the younger (or, indeed, older) minister taking the opportunity to peer over the shoulders of the original correspondents as they read and write these heartfelt letters as true companions in Christ.

In a world of texts and tweets, in which Facebook updates can be the only link between alleged friends, and longer emails are copied to lengthy and sometimes indiscriminate lists of more-or-less distant associates, the craft of the personal correspondent is in danger of being lost. Newton and Ryland remind us of its enduring value. What may be lost in immediacy is more than compensated for by depth of thought, balance of phrase and individuality of touch.  To be sure, you can accomplish the same ends electronically, but it does require something of a shift in attitude and expectation.  After reading this book – and I hope you will – you might not be moved to break out the parchment and quill, or even the sheet and fountain pen.  But perhaps you should.  You may simply sit again in front of the keyboard and screen, but ponder a different approach and purpose.  Whatever the medium, the richness and clear value then and now of such a friendship maintained by such means ought to call older men of God to consider whether or not there are people – perhaps especially younger pastor-preachers – in whom they might invest in this way, and to give younger men an appetite for the cultivation of a relationship with the wise old owls whose experience has given them a fund of insight and understanding to transmit to those who come after them.  In the absence of such relationships, or until they develop, we would do well to enjoy the privilege of leaning over Newton’s shoulder as he writes, and Ryland’s as he reads, and soaking in and sucking up this wise counsel.

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• Monergism Books

The Exiled Preacher quotes John Owen discussing the worship of images with Franciscan Friar John Vincent Cane in A Vindication of the Animadversions of Fiat Lux. His opponent alleged that the one end of preaching is to “work upon the minds of men so as to stir up their affections.” Owen exposes the hopeless inadequacy of such a definition  in fairly plain terms:

Did never any man inform you that the one end of preaching the word was to regenerate the whole souls of men, and to beget them anew unto God? that it was also to open their eyes, and to illuminate them with the saving knowledge of God in Christ? that it was to beget and increase faith in them? that it was to be a means of their growth in grace, and in the knowledge of God? that the word preached is “profitable for reproof, correction, doctrine, and instruction in righteousness?” that it is appointed as the great means of working the souls of men into a likeness and conformity unto the Lord Jesus, or the changing of them into his image? that it is appointed for the refreshment of the weary , and consolation of the sorrowful, and making wise the simple?

Did you never hear that the word preached hath its effect upon the understanding and will as well as upon the affections, and upon these consequently only unto its efficacy on them, if they are not deluded? Is growth in knowledge, faith, grace, holiness, conformity to Christ, communion with God, – for which end the word is commanded to be preached, – nothing at all with you? Is being made wise in the mystery of the love of God in Christ, to have an insight into, and some understanding of, the unsearchable treasures of his grace, and by all this the building up of souls in their most holy faith, of no value with you?

Are you a stranger unto these things, and yet think yourself a meet person to persuade your fellow countrymen to forsake the religion they have long professed, and to follow you they know not whither? or do you know them, and yet dare to thrust in your scurrility to their exclusion? Plainly, sir, the most charitable judgement that I can make of this disclosure of yours is that it proceeds from ignorance of the most important truths and most necessary works of the gospel. (Works of John Owen, 14:445-446)

For some help from Sinclair Ferguson on reading Owen, try here.

Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety and Practice by R. Scott Clark

P&R, 2009 (234pp, pbk)

In Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety and Practice (Presbyterian & Reformed, 2008), R. Scott Clark seeks to establish himself as the bouncer on the door of the Reformed Club: if your confession isn’t down, you’re not coming in.  With crisp clarity, and a confidence that borders on abrasiveness, Clark makes his case: the concept of being “Reformed” is firmly situated in time and space and documentation (the Three Forms of Unity – the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort – together with the Westminster Confession and its Catechisms), and Geneva is its high-water mark.  Clark contends that, outside of this tradition, Western Christianity has succumbed to two false pursuits: the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Certainty (seeking epistemic and moral certainty on questions in which it is neither desirable nor attainable, seen, for example, in the desire to make 6/24 creation a boundary marker and the pursuit of theonomy) and the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Experience (the desire for an unmediated encounter with God apart from the use of ordinary means, epitomised in something like Finneyism but encompassing Jonathan Edwards and Martyn Lloyd-Jones).  Positively, Clark sets out his pursuit of a genuine Reformed identity in such matters as a right distinction between the Creator and his creatures, a genuine, strict and carefully-defined confessionalism, holding to the Lord’s day Sabbath, and a strict application of the regulative principle of worship, understood in a limited historical context.  Also interesting is that the kind of high Presbyterianism espoused by Dr Clark sometimes bears more than a passing resemblance to the position of the Federal Visionistas, and – while I have no particular delight in that grouping – it may be that one of the reasons for the cutting antagonism (in this and other forums) between Clark and friends on the one hand and proponents of the FV on the other is precisely because the boundary between the two is quite a low one, and they are fighting over much of the same territory.  These boundaries and territories need to be aggressively maintained to prevent a blurring of identities that neither party would countenance.  Dr Clark would find his position easier to defend if he put more clear Scriptural water between the two groups.

As our author lays down his law, many believers may be surprised to discover that they are not Reformed.  Baptists are by their very nature infra dig.  Congregationalists have abandoned proper polity (John Owen, I think, somehow scrapes through by virtue of being John Owen).  Some Presbyterians will be afforded the honour, but only if they attain to the Genevan standard (to be honest, by the time Genevan gowns were mentioned I was struggling to discern whether or not Dr Clark was joking).  Are you persuaded that, while there is a normative core of Christian truth and experience, there are occasions in which they are known and felt in more unusual degree, and do you long for more of it?  You may be more than a little quirky (perhaps, QIREy), and therefore beyond the pale.

And yet, for all this, in reading through the book many will find much with which to agree, often strongly.  For example, some of Clark’s defence of the Lord’s day and the regulative principle of worship is cogent and helpful.  Confessional Christians of different stripes might applaud his desire to see those confessions properly confessed, together with his readiness to accept that – under the proper circumstances – fine-tuning an existing confession or producing a new one may be required.

All in all, this not an easy book to categorise.  Dr Clark’s tone can be aggressive to the point of caustic, shifting quickly through the gears from helpfully distinctive to unnecessarily antagonistic.  Always incisive, whether or not you consider the book essentially divisive or unifying probably depends on where you sit in terms of Clark’s categories, for Dr Clark seeks to leave no middle ground.

Is Clark right to be concerned about the loose and open-ended employment of the word “Reformed”?  I think so.  Is he right to look at the historical realities in order to address the nature of the beast?  To a degree, yes.  Are predestinarian convictions the sole mark of a Reformed Christian?  No, there is much more to it than that, and Dr Clark is right to point that out – issues of ecclesiology, pneumatology, and doxology also enter the mix.

At the same time, I am not persuaded that Dr Clark’s Reformed absolutism (perhaps, supremacism) is the answer.  His thesis is primarily historical, and one could suggest that he is guilty of as much arbitrariness in his arguments as are those against whom he argues.  Certainly he has as much of a tendency as those he stands against to make assumptions grounded in his own convictions and experiences.  Even if we accept that Geneva has some sort of historical primacy in terms of defining what it means to be Reformed, the notion that a return to Geneva would invariably be progress and could never be regress is never addressed.  Others would argue, both from Scripture and history, that some of the principles applied in Geneva needed to be further applied, and in additional areas, and that this continuing work of reform has as much right to claim the notion of being “Reformed” as any others, and perhaps more so.  There are more streams that flow from the Reformed fountain than Clark is willing to admit, and there are more nuances within the camp of the genuinely Reformed than Clark will acknowledge – the creature is simply not as monolithic as Dr Clark is saying it is, or perhaps would like to have it.  By making the matter of Reformed identity an all-or-nothing issue, there is perhaps a risk of many saying, “Fine – nothing!” and walking away without receiving any of the good things on offer.

Genuinely polemical, most readers will be much stimulated, and many will be significantly provoked.  Dr Clark has set himself up as the arbiter of what it means to be Reformed.  Leaving us in no doubt what he thinks and why he thinks it, Clark makes a fairly brutal gatekeeper.  This is a book which demands engagement, requiring an intelligent understanding of the issues, a degree of conviction in the response, and a historical sense not only of the “period of orthodoxy” that Clark identifies, but also of the streams that flow out of it.  I would also suggest that a Spirit-governed heart and tongue would help to keep any respondents from being sucked into a vituperative war of words.  I would imagine that Dr Clark is not as high-minded and dismissive in person as he can appear on the page of the book and the post of the blog, and he should be answered not only with a serious and sensitive attention to his historical nous and well-argued thesis but also in the spirit which he doubtless intends to manifest, but which is not always evident in his writing.

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Yes, I have once more been invited to climb inside the goggle box to participate in yet another televisual feast.  Again, the invitation has come from the newly-revamped Revelation TV (you will understand that this is not a personal endorsement of all this channel’s output).  Tonight, God willing, yours truly will be taking part in a programme called Live@Nine about the position of women in the church.

The show broadcasts, as the title helpfully suggests, live at 9pm GMT, hosted by the delightful Doug Harris.  The other key players are Derek & Hilary Walker (no relation), pastors of a church in Oxford, and – from what I can determine – they will be arguing that distinctions in the role of men and women are a result of the Fall.  God helping me, I will be putting the Biblical position, and expect a fairly fruity and potentially wide-ranging discussion.  There will be opportunities for contributions from the studio audience and by email and phone.

If you are interested, the show is at 9pm GMT today (Tue 20 Jul), and can be watched online or at Sky Guide 581 or FreeSat 692 on satellite television.

If you are minded to, please pray for a discussion well-mediated, with gracious interaction in a spirit genuinely desiring to come to the truth as it is in Jesus, for honesty and integrity in dealing with the Biblical data, and for God in Christ to be honoured through these things.

A brief study of the picture above reveals, among other things, three posts.  They all look identical, give or take.  But, having recently put them into the ground, I know some things about them.  The middle post, although it looks exactly the same as the others, is very much the weakest of the three.  In digging the hole, I came across an obstruction before the requisite depth was reached.  I therefore had to cut down the post, and the foundation is correspondingly shallow.  In addition, having cut the post measured and appointed for this particular hole, I discovered that it has another flaw: compared to the other posts, it has a more significant crack in it, almost invisible except under close handling.  Unfortunately, this post is the most exposed post in the fence, and needs to be strong if it is to survive the buffeting it is likely to receive.

I have therefore taken pains to ensure that the post has as much reinforcement as possible.  Buried around the foot of that post are two bricks, concreted into place so as to provide maximum support in the face of the prevailing winds.  The posts on either side are as strong as I can make them, and the panels connecting the three posts are fixed as firmly as I know how.  I shall pay particular attention to that post.  It and its companions have post caps to protect them from the rain.  I shall take pains to treat them regularly with a quality preservative.  I shall give the weak post the same care that the other posts receive, but to a slightly different degree.  And, in times of the most powerful storms, I shall be there to add struts and bars to provide even more support.  If need be, I will go out there and put my weight behind it to hold it in place, lest it be ripped out and expose others, perhaps taking them with it.

So with the people of God.  We are all Christians, and – on the surface – we might all look very much the same: we all have the same status, and share many of the same responsibilities.  But, beneath the surface, while none are perfect, some are weaker than others.  They have, perhaps, a shallower foundation.  Some are sited over obstacles that prevent – or, at least, make difficult – a proper grounding.  Some have cracks in their very fabric, part of their nature before they reach glory.  What shall we do with such ‘posts’?  Do we neglect them, ignore them, or abuse them?  Surely we – and they – must take pains to support and care for them.  We must pack in as much foundation as we can, giving them as solid a theological basis as possible.  We must introduce particular supports at the vital points, the bricks of precious truth, firmly grasped, that will buttress that Christian against those prevailing winds that will buffet him.  We must surround that brother or sister with posts well-founded, with strong and mature saints.  They must be joined together with the panels of prayerful fellowship that provide for mutual support, fixed as firmly as we can.  The elders of the church must not neglect any post, lest any should become weak and rotten, but they may need to invest extra care in those weak posts.  A little more of the preservative of prayer, a little more of the protection of coming under the preached Word, more regular checking and probing in the pastoral visits.  And yet, such posts will be subject to fierce pressures.  It grieves and bewilders pastors that it is often the weakest members of the flock who – under God – choose or simply end up in the most exposed positions.  They are the ones who sometimes face the greatest assaults and trials.  There will be times when – if we see the storm coming – we go out and add extra bars and struts and ties to face the challenges ahead.  There are God-ordained means provided to ensure that they last the course.  And, should all those means seem like they are failing, there is one who will go out with us into the storm and put his weight behind us, and hold us up, that all those posts that he has planted shall stand at last.  They may complete their work dried and cracked and rotting and wobbling, but they will not fall utterly.

It is an imperfect analogy, but I think there is a splinter of truth in the posts.  Whether you are, or think yourself to be, weak or strong, take all measures to support and be supported.  The wind will blow, but with God’s help and by his appointed means, the weakest shall stand.

Reformed Confessions of the 16^th and 17^th Centuries in English Translation (Volume 2: 1552-1566) compiled and introduced by James T. Dennison (Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), is the second volume in this excellent series.  Here, each with a lucid and brief introduction, are a further 35 confessions, including both the Forty-Two and the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, the Heidelberg Catechism, and such lesser-known works as the Geneva Students’ Confession (1559), Beza’s Confession (1560), productions from Tarcal and Torda and Enyedi, and the delightfully named Synod of Gönc (1566).  Particularly fascinating are those truths which our forefathers thought primary (and therefore worthy of confessing), and which today are often discounted as secondary (and vice versa).  One of the values of such a study is to send us back to our Bibles to recalibrate our sensitivities, informed both by the necessities of the present and the instruction of the past.  Well-bound and clearly printed, this series provides an excellent resource for those interested in examining and learning from the Reformed confessional heritage.

James M. Renihan puts 1 Corinthians 13 firmly in its context to explore True Love: Understanding the Real Meaning of Christian Love (Evangelical Press, 2010).  Beginning with God’s love for us in Christ, and the law and gospel of love, Renihan also situates chapter 13 in the epistle as a whole and then – without dealing with other contentious issues – focuses on this love, its importance and its outworking.  Given how misunderstood and abused the whole notion of love is both within and without the church, and how often abused and sentimentalized this chapter can be, this is a powerful corrective to shallow and errant views, providing us with a solid, careful, and challenging study of this most vital Christian grace and duty.

Along the lines of Banner’s ‘Puritan Paperbacks’ series, Reformation Heritage Books has begun a ‘Puritan Treasures for Today’ line.  First up is George Swinnock with The Fading of the Flesh and the Flourishing of Faith (Reformation Heritage Books, 2010).  The aim of the series is to provide an easy way in to Puritan writings by making available a briefer work in updated English.  In this volume Swinnock expounds Psalm 73.26, demonstrating and applying the fact that man must die, and must therefore prepare to die, and that the immortal God is man’s only true happiness, and so the best preparation for the soul is to take God as its chief treasure.  With holy warnings and enticements, Swinnock addresses both believers and unbelievers with that warm exhortation and vivid illustration characteristic of Puritan preaching at its best.  Well-edited and well-presented, this volume (and the projected series) would provide a helpful gateway to the riches of the Puritans.

In this volume, we are Heading for Heaven (Evangelical Press, 2009) under the safe guidance of that Greatheart, J. C. Ryle.  A previously published and nicely redesigned (but not reset) selection from Ryle’s sermons on The Christian Race, here we see Ryle as a preacher rather than an essayist.  Leaving behind all the finery of eloquence, Ryle deals with the heart to urge the reader to ensure that they are on the right path, and then to pursue that path to the end.  Homely and earnest, these sermons on various texts will serve to stir and warm the heart, and any reader would be well-served by investing the time to digest these addresses.

In Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ (Crossway, 2008), John Piper wades carefully into murky water to address the thorny issue of God’s sovereignty over and in the very worst events that have taken place and will take place in this world.  Familiar Piper themes and phrases pepper the book as the author spends time establishing the absolute supremacy of the Godhead over all things, including sin, and then begins to look at concrete examples that demonstrate both God’s sovereign power and his sovereign and good purposes even in the most grim events.  Satan’s existence, Adam’s fall, Babel’s rise, Joseph’s slavery, Israel’s monarchy, and Judas’ betrayal all provide opportunity to demonstrate how such apparent catastrophes served God’s purposes to glorify his Son and save his people.  Walking and sometimes wobbling along a tightrope between seeking to bring Scripture light to bear on the darkest matters and the danger of peering into things which God has intentionally left dark, Piper’s purpose is to equip the saints for the hard times that always come.  Given the nature of the case, it is invariably hard to bring the general lessons down to the particulars when one is overwhelmed with pain and grief, but this is nevertheless a clear and courageous reminder that God is never absent nor ignorant, but actively working all things together for good.

Part of the continued fall-out from the Calvin quincentennial is Calvin: Theologian and Reformer (Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), a collection of papers from the John Owen Centre conference at London Theological Seminary, edited by Joel Beeke and Garry Williams.  The collection is divided into three sections – Calvin’s life and work, then doctrine and experience, and finally Christian living and ministry – and include contributions from Sinclair Ferguson, Ian Hamilton, and Joel Beeke.  Maintaining something of the style and sense of conference addresses, those who attended will enter again into the spirit of the meetings, and those who did not will get a taste of it.  As a brief introduction to Calvin’s life with God, thought of God, and pursuit of godliness, this is very helpful.

God’s sovereignty and God’s grace walk hand in hand through A Long Line of Godly Men (Volume 1, 1400BC – AD100): Foundations of Grace by Steven J. Lawson (Reformation Trust, 2006).  That complex title points to the structure of this projected five-volume series in which our author intends to survey history from a divinely-appointed perspective.  This first volume lays the foundation with a canter through the entire Bible seeking to establish, from first to last, the coherent and consistent and credible testimony of Scripture to God’s saving purposes.  From Moses to John, Genesis to Revelation, Dr Lawson traces his theme with penetrating insight and profound understanding.  With helpfully-flagged ‘Doctrine in Focus’ sections littered through the pages and a series of study questions at the end of each chapter, this is a book intended to address the whole man.  Sympathetic readers might query certain details while enjoying the very broad sweep of this thematic study as Lawson skips across the high hills of our Bibles in an attempt to link up and light up the peaks by firing the beacons of God’s grace at each point.  Do not misinterpret the title: this book is not about men but about their God and his glorious dealings with sinful men.  With an extended introduction by John MacArthur, this is no light read but it should prove an immensely profitable one.

In 2009, Joel Beeke was the main preacher at the Aberystwyth Conference, and addressed the theme of Contagious Christian Living, which sermons are now gathered into this slim volume (Reformation Heritage Books, 2010).  Desiring that the people of God will learn to live lives of godliness that have a profound and lasting impact on the people around them, Beeke presents four lives and their lessons: Jephthah’s daughter teaches us sacrificial submission (the author takes the line that she was consecrated to God and not sacrificed); Bartimaeus instructs us in Christ-centredness; Jacob, in contagious blessing; and, Daniel, consistent integrity.  The teaching is simple, earnest, and pastoral, and the spirit of it is the very one which Beeke wants to encourage others to cultivate.  There is vigorous challenge here, to be certain, but also direction and encouragement which will benefit every humble believer ready to learn contagious Christian living.

John D. Currid portrays for us The Expectant Prophet: Habakkuk Simply Explained (Evangelical Press, 2009).  Presenting the dialogue between the bewildered prophet and his all-seeing, all-knowing, all-guiding God, he guides us to and through the prophet’s closing psalm in which his expectant dependence upon the Lord comes gloriously to the fore.  Currid directs us sensitively, simply and wisely through this short but too-often-neglected portion of God’s Word, his often stimulating perspectives and insights making Habakkuk a truly profitable prophet for readers who, in the face of similar challenges and questions, need to find and rest in Habakkuk’s answers.

Amazing Conversions: John Ashworth and His Strange Tales (Tentmaker Publications, 2009) is a book for weeping over.  There will be tears of shame, that we are not more persuaded of and acting upon the saving mercies of God; tears of pity, for the fearful condition of the lost; and, tears of joy, for God’s goodness in bringing those under the power of darkness into his Son’s kingdom.  A brief biography of Ashworth, founder of the “Chapel for the Desitute” gives way to his records of God’s gracious dealings with needy sinners.  While all conversions are amazing, Ashworth – not neglecting to tell of difficulties and disappointments – nevertheless focuses on some of the more distinctive and unlikely (humanly speaking) regenerations he saw, accomplished by ordinary means, applied faithfully, prayerfully, winsomely and patiently.  This is a book to stir the soul, give confidence in God, and set the Christian, and especially the preacher, about his regular business with zeal and hope.  I commend it vigorously.

Perhaps concerned at being undersold, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne give us The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift that Changes Everything (Matthias Media, 2009).  The book is built around the metaphor of the relationship – and often the imbalance – between the trellis (the structures and supports of church life) and the vine (the conversion and growth in grace of the people who make up the church).  In essence, it is a plea to focus on the growing of the vine and not the building of the trellis, investing in people rather than structures.  There is much to appreciate, especially the concern to see Christian maturity that enables them to invest in the lives of others.  At the same time, the authors occasionally present some false dichotomies in trying to distinguish their approach from others, and run into self-contradictions on several occasions.  In attempting to encourage the saints to employ their gifts, there is a danger of flattening out Christ’s own structures in the church, especially when the notion of vocation (pastoral or otherwise) is fairly swiftly dismissed.  Certain assumptions evidently lie behind some of the teaching here.  A very worthy and entirely laudable aim, together with some helpful and insightful suggestions, can still leave one feeling that, for a book that wants to be about vines, there is an awful lot of trellis being constructed, not least in the sustained advertisement of other programmes and materials available from the same publisher.

Wayne Grudem’s Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business (Crossway, 2003) is a kidney-punch of a book: 91 pages of to-the-point striking.  Developed from an address at a conference for entrepreneurs, it is an unapologetic hymn to the positive moral goodness of ownership, productivity, employment, commercial transactions, profit, money, inequality of possessions, competition, and borrowing and lending.  Grudem is not blind to the temptations in and potential abuses of these things, and seeks to address them, albeit briefly.  He also has short sections on heart attitudes and world poverty.  Concerned to encourage those in business to use their calling to glorify God, it is less about doing business in a godly way, and more about the inherent goodness of business in itself.  Loaded with assumptions, pithy rather than profound in its employment of Scripture, and provocative in its absoluteness, some will be tempted to wonder if this book could have come out of anywhere but 21^st century America.  Businessmen and women will find every encouragement to continue in and pursue their callings here.  However, the claim for fundamental and inherent goodness in some of these aspects of our culture raises questions that the book itself does not answer.  A vigorous book to be read vigorously, and requiring determined engagement.

Rest in God & A Calamity in Contemporary Christianity (Banner of Truth, 2010) is a pithy contribution to debates over the Lord’s day by Iain Murray.  Beginning in Genesis 2.3 and working through the ceremonial law, with a brief excursus on the earlier and later Calvin’s thoughts on the matter, we arrive at length in the New Testament and then take a short survey of post-apostolic church history.  Five terse conclusions draw this booklet (35 pages) to a close.  There is nothing new here, but a simple and earnest rehearsal and representation of the Scriptural and historical orthodoxy of the Lord’s day.  The subtitle and the tone of the book make plain that this is no take-it-or-leave-it matter, but a battle of vital importance for the present and future health of Christ’s church.  Many will no doubt dismiss or despise Murray’s assessment, but many more will join with him in recognising an area in which contemporary Christianity badly needs to set its house in order.

In The Breeze of the Centuries: Introducing Great Theologians from the Apostolic Fathers to Aquinas (IVP, 2010), Michael Reeves provides us with the first book of an intended two-volume set giving an overview of major contributors to theology during the first thirteen post-apostolic centuries.  He surveys the apostolic fathers, moves on through Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, before spending some time on Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas.  The aim is to provide a straight report – with a good smattering of original material, and surveys of major works –though our author occasionally breaks cover to add a little spice of his own.  Helpful recommendations and timelines add usefulness, although the lack of an index is a problem with a book that many would find a handy ready-reference.  Written with verve and respect, this should prove a very helpful introduction to novices and a good overview for more experienced readers.

Prodigal  8 6. 8 6. 8 8

Psalm 58
Do you indeed speak righteousness,
You mighty ones on high?
And do you judge with uprightness,
You men who soon must die?
No: from your wicked hearts there flows
A weight of violence and woes.

They turn against the Lord from birth,
And quickly go astray;
They rage and poison in the earth,
With lies in all they say;
Like serpents deaf, they stop the ear,
The charmers’ voice they will not hear.

O Lord, break out the lions’ teeth,
Defend their helpless prey;
Sweep them aside, their weapons sheath,
Their arrows cast away;
The wicked melt and are undone
Like stillborn child who sees no sun.

Our God will swiftly still their voice,
His storm of wrath come in;
The righteous humbly will rejoice
When God avenges sin:
Surely the righteous see reward,
And he who judges is the Lord.

Advance, our conquering Prince of Peace,
Hurl down each tyrant throne;
Let every rival kingdom cease,
And reign supreme, alone:
To multitudes grant liberty
From sin and sinners’ tyranny.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

A thought struck me this morning as I clothed myself.  I think it happened because I am preaching later today, after spending some time in London, and I was robing myself accordingly.

We hear a great deal about contextualization, and 1 Corinthians 9.19-23 is often quoted:

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.  Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

This is well and good and right.  But there is a parallel awareness that must be cultivated, an awareness not only of those to whom we go but the one by whom we are sent.  Paul also wrote 2 Corinthians 5.16-20:

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

We think often and much and rightly of those to whom we go.  We are to be all things to all men – there is a necessary truth in contextualization.  But what of the one by whom we are sent?  We must also look up, and remember the principle of representation, and that must also be fully manifest in all our thoughts and words and deeds.  Because we are ambassadors of Christ we become all things to all men.  But our becoming all things to all men must never compromise our plain identity and moral authority as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, the risen and glorious Lord.

I am not sure for whom this advice from J. C. Ryle is more terrifying – the gospel minister himself, or those whom he serves:

We see, in the third place, how boldly a faithful minister of God ought to rebuke sin. John the Baptist spoke plainly to Herod about the wickedness of his life. He did not excuse himself under the plea that it was imprudent, or impolitic, or untimely, or useless to speak out. He did not say smooth things, and palliate the king’s ungodliness by using soft words to describe his offence. He told his royal hearer the plain truth, regardless of all consequences, – “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Here is a pattern that all ministers ought to follow. Publicly and privately, from the pulpit and in private visits, they ought to rebuke all open sin, and deliver a faithful warning to all who are living in it. It may give offence. It may entail immense unpopularity. With all this they have nothing to do. Duties are theirs. Results are God’s.

No doubt it requires great grace and courage to do this. No doubt a reprover, like John the Baptist, must go to work wisely and lovingly in carrying out his master’s commission, and rebuking the wicked. But it is a matter in which his character for faithfulness and charity are manifestly at stake. If he believes a man is injuring his soul, he ought surely to tell him so. If he loves him truly and tenderly, he ought not to let him ruin himself unwarned. Great as the present offence may be, in the long run the faithful reprover will generally be respected. “He that rebukes a man, afterwards shall find more favor than he that flatters him with his tongue.” (Prov. 28:23.)

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark, 119-120