The Wanderer

In our path thro life, tho we meet with so many travelers, & we hope with many who are going to Zion with their faces thitherward; yet, it is not often that we meet with men, whose openness of mind, steadiness of attachment, & spirituality of temper, invite our friendship with…force & sweetness.

So writes Samuel Pearce, friend of Carey, Fuller, Sutcliff, Pearce and Ryland.

Michael Haykin reminds us that the first two would qualities – “openness of mind, steadiness of attachment” – would probably be affirmed by Pearce’s Georgian culture, while the third – “spirituality of temper” – is distinctly Christian.

A similar spirit animated William Ward:

I cannot describe to you what pleasure I feel in communion with brethren Pearce, Fuller, and the Northamptonshire ministers in general; I love them, not only because of their views of the gospel, but on account of their being thoroughly given up, in heart and soul to Jesus Christ, and to promote the eternal welfare of their fellow creatures.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Thursday 21 July 2011 at 12:41

Posted in Christian living

Tagged with friendship, Samuel Pearce

If Carl Trueman organised conferences . . .

Carl offers some radical thoughts on marketing and conferences for those who might wish to be truly countercultural. Having done so, he offers the following conclusion:

Ok, we all know none of this is going to happen. But it should, if we are really serious about both providing good conferences for people to attend and not encouraging the celebrification of the church. And, of course, reflecting on why it won’t happen might in itself be a very instructive exercise.

To read the intriguing build-up to this, go here.

An afterthought: do you think those of us both unknown and incompetent should offer ourselves for the next T4G or TGC, the Master’s Conference, the Desiring God jamborees (is that a real plural?), and other megaconferences? What fun could be had! Would we prove Carl’s point?

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 20 April 2011 at 15:54

Posted in General

The marrow of true justification

What is justification?

Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners effectually called to Jesus Christ, wherein He pardons all their sins, and accepts them as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and received by faith alone.

So says the Shorter Catechism. Believing that to be an accurate summary of Scripture truth, in our men’s meetings at the church I serve we have just finished working through The Marrow of True Justification by one of the early Particular Baptists, Benjamin Keach (recently republished by SGCB, and also available as an audio recording beginning here). Keach was one of the men who made it his business to stand against false teaching on this matter at the end of the seventeenth century, in company with such men as John Owen and Robert Traill, to mention only two. Keach’s work demonstrates again, if nothing else, that there really is nothing new under the sun. If you follow anything of the debates about the nature of justification and all that flows from it, Keach’s ‘Dedicatory Epistle’ will show you that the issues today, though sometimes clothed in new language and updated phrases, are really just what they always were:

Brethren,

As I was put upon preaching on this great Subject; so I am satisfied it was at a very seasonable Hour, that Doctrine being greatly struck at by too many Persons, though of different Sentiment: in many Points of Religion. And as it was well accepted by you, who heard these Sermons (and the other: that followed) when preached; and having been prevailed with to publish these in the World, so I hope some may receive Advantage hereby: Though for the meanness of the Author, and weakness of the Work, they may not meet with that Entertainment from some as the Subject deserves; yet for your sakes whose Souls are committed to my Charge, and for whom I must give Account to the great Shepherd of the Sheep at the last Day, I readily consented to this Publication; as also that all may see that we are in this, and in all other great Fundamentals of Religion, established in the same Faith with our Brethren, and all Sound and Orthodox Christians in the World: And cannot but look upon our selves greatly concerned, to see how Men by Craft and Subtilty endeavour, through Satan’s Temptations (though I hope some do it not wittingly) strive to subvert the Gospel of Christ, and corrupt the Minds of weak Christians. An Error in a Fundamental Point, is dangerous and destructive; but should we mistake some Men we have do with, we should be glad: The Lord help you to stand fast in the Truth, as it is in Jesus (in which through Grace you are well established:) Our Days are perilous; Satan seems to be let loose upon us, and is in great Rage, but Time being but short. Brethren, ’tis a hard Case that any of those who maintain the Old Doctrine of Justification, should be branded with the black Name of Antinomians. As for my part, if Dr. Crisp be not misrepresented by this Opposers, I am not of the Opinion in several respects; but I had rather err on their side, who strive to exalt wholly the Free Grace of God, than on theirs, who seek to darken it and magnify the Power of the Creature, though we fear the Design is to wound the Truth and us, through that good Man’s sides, who, I doubt not is come to heaven: O when shall we see that Truth, Peace, and Union longed for?

My Brethren, the Doctrine we preach does not open a Door to the least Licentiousness: (as ’tis unjustly said to do by some, who are either willfully or ignorantly blind.) No, God forbid. Nothing can promote Holiness, and Gospel-Sanctification like unto it, only it teaches us to act from high, sublime, and right Evangelical Principles: It shows the only way to attain to Gospel-Purity, flows from our Union with Christ, and that no Man can arrive to any degree of true Holiness, or expect to meet with any Success therein, without a Principle of Spiritual Life, or saving Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Nature of Men must first be changed, and that Enmity that is in their Hearts against God, be removed, before they can be holy: The Tree must first be made good, or the Fruits will be evil. The Image of God must be formed in our Souls, which puts the Creature into an actual bent and propensity of his Heart to the Practice of Holiness. If a Man hates not Sin, be not out of Love with Sin, How should he be in love with God and Holiness? Now because we say Sanctification is not necessary, as antecedent to Justification, but is the Fruit or Product of Union with Christ; though we deny not but the Habits (of Holiness) are infused at that same Instant that Faith is wrought in the Soul, Must we be looked upon as Promoters of a Licentious Doctrine? Must we make our own Performances, or Observance a Condition of Justification, or be laid under infamy and Reproach? ‘Tis by Faith only, that we come to have actual Enjoyment and Possession of Christ himself, and of Remission of Sin; and not only so, but of eternal Life; and so of Holiness also, and no other ways. The good Lord help you to a right Understanding of these things, and make you all a holy People, to the Praise of his Glory, and Honour of your Sacred Profession.

The Holy Apostle having asserted Justification by the Righteousness of God, which is by Faith in Jesus Christ, desired to know him and the Power of his Resurrection, etc. which he did not to be justified thereby, but as a Fruit flowing therefrom, or as a further Evidence thereof. The first he had attained; but there was a higher degree of Sanctification in his Eye, which he pressed after, as then not having attained: Whose Example let us follow.

I shall say no more: You own a Rule of Gospel-Holiness; Let me exhort you to labour after sincere Obedience: And pray forget me not in your Prayers, that God would graciously help me through all my Troubles and Temptations, and preserve me and you to his Heavenly Kingdom; who am your Servant for Jesus’ sake, and so shall abide till Death.

Benjamin Keach

Keach introduces his topic, and then gets down to business:

And thus I come to my Text, Romans 4:5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that jusfifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for Righteousness.

To him that worketh not; That is, worketh not, thinking thereby to be justified and saved. Though he may work, i.e. lead a holy and righteous Life; yet he doth it not to merit thereby; nay, though he be wicked, and an ungodly person, and so worketh not, or hath no Moral Righteousness at all; yet if he believeth on him that justfieth the ungodly, his faith is counted or imputed for righteousness; Not as a simple Act, or as it is a quality or habit, or in us, as the Papists teach; ipsa fides, saith Bellarmine, censetur esse Justitia, Faith itself is counted to be a justice, and itself is imputed unto Righteousness; No, nor in respect of the effects or fruits of it; for so it is part of our Sanctification.

In this first sermon, Keach identifies two doctrines from the text: (1) That all works done by the creature are entirely excluded in the matter of the justification of a sinner in the sight of God, and (2) that justification is wholly of the free grace of God, through the imputation [putting to our account] of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith.

He proceeds to expose some of the mistaken notions about justification that were current in his day and, sadly, have not withered away with the passing of time. In the second sermon, he returns to his key text – “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Rom 4.5) – and his aim is to show the Scriptural evidence and arguments for the first point of doctrine above viz., that all works done by the creature are entirely excluded in the matter of the justification of a sinner in the sight of God.

Because Keach’s language is sometimes antiquated, and his use of punctuation quite fascinating and occasionally misleading, we produced an outline of his twelve arguments, with a summary (Keach’s kernel) and précis (our own attempt to reword the basic point) of each as appropriate. In the hope that they might be helpful, here they are:

First argument: “Taken from the very letter and express testimony of the Holy Scripture” (54). “That doctrine that gives the Holy Scripture the lie, is false and to be rejected. But the doctrine that mixes any works of righteousness done by the creature with faith or the free grace of God, in point of justification, gives the Scripture the lie; therefore that doctrine is false, and to be rejected” (58).

Précis: The Scriptures clearly and repeatedly state that no works (however considered) of a sinner have any place in his justification by God (Rom 4.2; Gal 2.16; Eph 2.8-9; Phil 3.8-9).

Second argument: “That all works done by the creature, are utterly excluded in point of justification appears from the different nature of works, and grace; ’tis positively said, we are justified by grace” (58).

Summary: “That which is of the free grace of God, is not by any works done by the creature. But justification is of the free grace of God; therefore not by any works done by the creature. That being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Tit. 3.5” (59).

Précis: The principles of grace and works are utterly opposed to each other, and cannot be mixed. Justification is either by works (law, merit, debt) or by grace (free, gift). If works is involved then grace is no longer grace, but the Bible says we are justified graciously (therefore works cannot be involved).

Third argument: “Faith is the way prescribed in the gospel in order to justification” as opposed to any and all works (29).

Summary: “That doctrine which confoundeth the terms of the law and gospel together in point of justification, is a false and corrupt doctrine. But the doctrine that mixeth sincere obedience, or works of any kind done by us, with faith in point of justification, confound the terms of the law and gospel together in point of justification; therefore that doctrine is false and a corrupt doctrine” (60).

Précis: Only faith takes the sinner from himself to Christ, the only Saviour. Works says, “Do this and live.” Faith says, “Believe and be saved.” These two principles are entirely opposed and cannot be mixed.

Fourth argument: “All works done by the creature are excluded in point of justification of a sinner in the sight of God, because we are justified by a perfect righteousness: if no man is in himself perfectly righteous, then no man can be justified by any works done by him” (63).

Summary: “If we are justified by a complete and perfect righteousness; then an imperfect though a sincere righteousness, doth not justify us, but we are justified by a complete and perfect righteousness” (67-68). “We can only be justified . . . by that righteousness which is universal and complete. . . . Our obedience, though sincere, is not universal nor complete; therefore our sincere obedience or righteousness justifies us not in God’s sight” (68).

Précis: For a man to be justified requires a perfect righteousness: that is the demand of God’s holy law, which does not change. In order to be justified, we must either provide that perfect righteousness ourselves, or receive it from another. But no sinner is capable of producing or providing perfect righteousness for himself, and therefore it is not possible that we can ever be justified by any works of ours, and so we must find that perfect righteousness outside of ourselves.

Fifth argument: “All works done by the creature are excluded in point of justification of the sinner before God, appears because justification is a great mystery” (68).

Précis: A ‘mystery’ here is truth that we could not have known unless God had revealed it. The idea that we can be justified by sincere obedience suits the wisdom and nature of fallen men: humans readily conclude that the way to obtain God’s favour is to do good and so earn his smile. The doctrine of justification by faith is not unreasonable, but it is above natural (i.e. fallen) reason. It is the wisdom of God revealed from heaven.

Sixth argument: “If when we have done all we can do, [we are] are unprofitable servants; then by our best works of obedience and services under the gospel, we cannot be justified” (71).

Précis: If your works justify you, then you are not an unprofitable servant and have done all that God requires of you, and your sins are not sins, but only minor imperfections. But Jesus shows that by all our efforts – however sincere – we cannot come to deserve the blessings of salvation, which comes only by grace.

Seventh argument: “Because we are said to be justified by the righteousness of God: hence it follows that all our works of obedience are excluded, Rom 3.21, 22. ’Tis called the righteousness of God in opposition to the righteousness of the creature” (72).

“If that righteous which is the righteousness of God, which is by faith, in opposition to the righteousness of the creature doth justify us; then all works done by the creature are excluded in point of justification in God’s sight: but the former is true; ergo [therefore], all works done by the creature are excluded, etc.” (76).

“If Paul, nor no other child of God durst, or dare to be found in any righteousness of their own at death or judgment; then works done by us, or sincere obedience justify us not; but the former is true; therefore no works of ours, nor sincere obedience doth justify us in God’s sight” (77).

“That doctrine that holds a Christian down under slavish fear, by grounding his justification on his own works of holiness and sincere obedience, is not of God; but the doctrine of justification by our own work of holiness or sincere obedience, holds a Christian down under slavish fear, by grounding his justification on his works of holiness and sincere obedience; therefore that doctrine is not of God” (77).

Précis: God in his infinite wisdom has provided his perfect righteousness in Christ as the means of forgiving and justifying guilty and condemned sinners like us. This was Paul’s refuge and must be ours (Phil 3.8-10): Paul excludes all his past and present efforts, however sincere, from his standing with God and relies on the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone for his hope.

Eighth argument: “All works done by the creature are excluded in point of justification of a sinner in the sight of God, because we are justified by that righteousness by which the justice of God is satisfied, and his wrath appeased” (77).

Summary: “If by that righteousness of Christ which is out of us, though imputed to us, the justice of God is fully satisfied, we are justified; then all works done by us, or inherent in us, are excluded in our justification before God: but by that righteousness of Christ which is out of us, though imputed to us, the justice of God is satisfied; therefore all works done by us, or inherent in us, are excluded in our justification before God” (80).

Précis: The only righteousness that delivers us from condemnation and the curse of the law is the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us [put to our account]. We need no other righteousness to accomplish this, and there is no space for any other righteousness in the matter of justification. Our works of righteousness as believers do not justify us, although they are necessary in us, being fruits of our saving union with Jesus Christ. Our personal righteousness apart from Christ gives us nothing in which to boast, either with regard to justification or sanctification.

Ninth argument: “All works done by the creature, are excluded, etc. because ’tis by the obedience of one man that many are made righteous, that is Jesus Christ, he is made of God unto us righteousness, etc. Rom. 5.18,19. 1 Cor. 1.30. But our own inherent righteousness is of many; i.e. every man’s own sincere obedience that obtains it” (81).

Précis: If our justifying righteousness comes by the obedience of one man, then there is no room in justification for the obedience of a second man (ourselves) or any number of other men.

Tenth argument: “All works done by the creature, are excluded in point of justification, I prove thus; if any one man was justified without works or sincere obedience, or through faith only, then all works of obedience, etc., are excluded” (81).

Précis: The thief on the cross, and saved infants dying in infancy, are saved without works of obedience, and yet still justified. This is because the remedy is always the same for every person for the disease of sin: Christ’s atoning death and imputed righteousness. Like our spiritual father, Abraham, as well as other heroes of faith, it is the righteousness that comes by faith (not by works) that justifies.

Eleventh argument: “Is, because Christ is tendered or offered to sinners as sinners” (82).

Précis: Christ is not offered to those who are good or who are trying to be good, but to men who must come to Christ for the righteousness which justifies and for the new life of holiness which invariably follows. We have no qualifications for salvation apart from our need. It is as sinners trusting in Jesus alone that we are justified: where, then, is there room for our own works, either before or after salvation?

Twelfth argument: “It is, because if a man should so walk as to know nothing of himself, i.e. be so righteous, or so sincere in his obedience, as not to have his conscience to accuse, or reproach him; yet he cannot thereby be justified.”

Précis: The holiest men (Job, for example) utterly renounce all their own obedience and righteousness before God, abasing themselves and confessing themselves great sinners. The only plea of the godliest man before the judgment seat is Christ’s blood, death and righteousness. In the day of judgment, we will not plead our works but renounce and be ashamed of them (Mt 25.37). All our good works will be swallowed up in our admiration of God’s free and infinite grace.

Selected applications

Caution: “Do not think, O Soul, that thy own Righteousness doth justify thee, through Christ’s Merits; or that Christ’s Righteousness is thy Legal Righteousness, and not thy Evangelical. No, no, he is thy whole Saviour . . .”

Comfort & instruction: “This Doctrine will support you that are weak, and doubt for want of inherent Righteousness, take hold of it, A Robe of Righteousness, Put it on, Believe on Christ, as poor Sinners come to him . . . if thou can’st not come to God as a Saint, come as a Sinner; nay, as a Sinner thou must come, and may’st come. . . . We are for the Law as Paul was, and for Holiness and sincere Obedience, as any Men in the world; but we would have Men act from right Principles, and to a right end: We would have Men act in Holiness from a Principle of Faith, from a Principle of Spiritual Life. . . . You must first have Union with him, before you can bring forth Fruit to God; you must act from Life, and not for Life.”

Entreaty: “To you that are Believers, Oh! admire Free Grace; lift Christ up who died for you, the Just for the Unjust, who bore your Sins, who was made sin for us that knew no Sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him. He gave himself for you, and has given Grace, the Fruit of his Death, and himself to you. O labour to be a holy People; live to him that died for you, and rose again. To conclude. Is there any Sinner here? Are you ungodly, and in a wretched Condition (in your own Eyes)? Are you weary and heavy laden? Come to Christ, lift up your Heads: For to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the Ungodly, his Faith is counted for Righteousness.”

Written by Jeremy Walker

Saturday 19 March 2011 at 13:01

Posted in Antinomianism, Errors & heresies, History & biography, Justification by faith, Neonomianism

Tagged with antinomianism, Baxterianism, Benjamin Keach, justification, neonomianism

Trueman annoys America

I like Carl Trueman (not personally, not having met the chap, which is not to say I dislike him or wouldn’t like him, but . . . oh, whatever, you get the drift) because he cheerfully asks the questions that are too readily unasked in a society in which religion and culture are too readily conflated:

Finally, how many Christians would never turn out for a Sunday evening worship service because they had their fix on Sunday mornings, but would rearrange all manner of things to make sure they could see the Superbowl? Watching overpaid spandex-clad blimps playing catch, then running for, oh my, at least 5 seconds and six yards before taking a five minute breather, and as a result trousering too much dosh — or meeting with the living God who gave his Son for us, hearing his word proclaimed, and humbly bowing before him in adoration — not much of a choice is it, really? The spandex and hilarious commercials win every time.

Read it all (and read over his evident distaste for the sport itself to the very real point that he is making, which – it should be pointed out – holds good for any number of sporting events in the UK, and indeed across the globe). The point is not that there should be no Superbowl – that’s a different argument, or should be; the point is where our priorities lie as believers.

In similarly pointed vein, may I also introduce Mr Martin Downes (although it is worth pointing out that a lot of conferences in the UK seem to think that they can share the coolness by buying in to the same limited line-up)?

Good questions, gentlemen.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 9 February 2011 at 15:49

Posted in Culture and society

Tagged with Carl Trueman, Superbowl

Faithful and true

A father’s broken promises are a terrible testimony to the God whose word cannot be broken.

As is plain from the parallels that Scripture draws between God the father and human fathers, children should look at a parent and see their something that mediates and models the character of God. A child should look at a father’s relationship with a mother and ultimately think, “If that is a faint reflection of the love of Jesus for the church, then that is a Jesus I want as my Saviour.” The child likewise, from the experience of being fathered, should be drawn to think, “If my father’s love for me is a faint reflection of the heavenly Father’s love for his children, then I want to be a true child of God.”

When we make our children promises, we must underwrite them with a “God willing.” But we must never give our children an excuse to imagine that God is not true to his promises of blessing or, indeed, his threatening of punishment. We must never make a promise that we do not have the strictest intention of fulfilling to the best of our strength and ability; we must not make extravagant or vain promises for the fulfilment of which we have no capacity.

As God’s constituted authority and representative and teacher of his truth, if we say that we will be somewhere or do something, barring genuine providential hindrances, we must be there or do it. If we lay down a condition upon which blessing will follow, that blessing must follow. If we make plain that there are sanctions that will follow transgression, those sanctions must fall as promised. Anything less opens the door for a child to doubt, disbelieve, neglect or even scorn the truth of God. I know men whose word I simply will not take because they have made promises and given assurances that have turned out time and again to be nothing more than airy semi-intention. Their word is not good. The word of God is sure. Pity the child who grows up not knowing that when God or those who communicate his truth and character speak, their words can be relied upon. Even when we fail because of genuine providential hindrances, we can take the opportunity to remind our children that the power and wisdom of God prevents his ever falling short.

At the same time, I was reminded of a nuance of this. Returning home recently from a day serving another church, I had a phone call from my oldest son. He likes to chat with Daddy before he goes to bed if Daddy is somewhere else. The usual questions: “Where have you been? What have you been doing? Where are you now?” I overhear the muttered encouragements of my wife in the background that it is time for the boy to hit the sack. Then, the promise: “I will come and see you when I get home and give you a kiss before I go to bed.”

I got back in reasonable time and, as I went up to my own bed, I stopped in on the boys, as I do, and made sure I gave Thing One a goodnight kiss (Thing Two is still in a cot, and covered in snot, so I just looked!). Well, Thing Two was struggling with his cold and was up repeatedly in the night. After my wife went a couple of times to calm him, I went to give him a shot of medicine (were the teeth also giving him grief?) at about 4am. A few moments after getting back to the warmth of the sheets there was the soft padding of Thing One heading for our bedroom. I glanced at the clock: 0400. Yoicks! A voice: “Daddy, you didn’t kiss me goodnight!”

I opened my arms for a high-grade huggle (a quite delicious combination of a hug and a snuggle). How glad I was that I could say in good conscience, “I did give you a kiss!” Then a plaintive complaint: “I didn’t feel it.” A couple of big smooches quickly followed, and a now-happy son curled up in my arms and went to sleep. After a few minutes I returned him to his own bed. (Those who like completeness in these things will appreciate knowing that he was back forty minutes later when the storm woke him up, complaining that it was too dark. I gave up on sleep, got dressed, carried him to his bed, turned the light on, and got on with the day.)

I spoke the truth to my son, and I was able to make good on my promise. But he did not feel it. That is not the same as a promise being unfulfilled. It is worth remembering that our experience of the promises of God may be similar. God has spoken words to us, given particular assurances, and held out for our future unshakeable promises. We hear the words, we understand the assurance conceptually, but we do not feel it concretely. We look at the future, and it seems that the providences of God are pointing counter to his promises. We wonder whether or not God does love us. Are the everlasting arms really underneath us? Is he always with us? Is he giving us wisdom in response to our desperate cries? Why do we seem to walk in darkness when we are children of light?

We may not feel what is nonetheless true. God does kiss us, he showers us with blessings, he encompasses us with deeds that work out his words, but we are not always aware of it.

But God is faithful and true. He is pleased to bless us in accordance with his promises, whether we immediately and concretely feel it to be so or not. We have no cause to doubt him, even though we may sometimes go to him with the plaintive cry, “Father, I don’t feel it.” He is our loving heavenly Father. At those times he may sweep us into his arms, shower us with kisses, and gently ask, “Do you feel it now?” Then we can go to sleep.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 25 November 2009 at 15:33

Posted in Christian living

Tagged with children, faithful, God, true

“My God is True! Lessons Learned Along Cancer’s Dark Road”

My God is True! Lessons Learned Along Cancer’s Dark Road by Paul D. Wolfe

Banner of Truth, 2009 (168pp, pbk)

The author of this book – a Westminster Seminary student during the period in question – had the script of his life all sketched out. When he was diagnosed with a form of cancer (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) he was forced to face the fact that God’s script differed radically from his, and was full of unwelcome stage directions and unplanned lines.

Wolfe carries us through three stages of his life with regard to cancer: discovery, endurance, and life. For each stage he makes experience and truth walk hand in hand, first outlining the history and then peeling back the covers and taking us to the underlying issues. This provides an excellent and lively balance to the whole book, and enables us to keep pace with Wolfe in his own odyssey. There is a full-orbed humanity to his writing: no crippling distinctions between the physical and the spiritual here, but both recognised as interacting in the complete identity of the whole man.

The writing is honest and witty. The book is genuinely funny at many points as Wolfe wryly reflects on his thinking, feeling and doing (or not) as a cancer patient. It often reads as gallows humour of the kind you find in hospitals and on battlefields, and demands a smile even when potentially morbid. However, someone at the threshold of this experience, rather than coming through it, looking back on it, or watching from a distance, might find it a touch mordant. If you give this book to someone who is only just entering into their battle with cancer, bear in mind that they might not be ready for what, to them, might seem somewhat casual or even flippant.

At the same time, the book will call forth abundant tears, whether of painful memory, deep sympathy, or true empathy. The author is helpfully blunt about the realities of life in a fallen world – false promises and empty hopes, even those offered with sincere and good intentions, are given short shrift. This clears the ground to face the issues as they are. Here, Wolfe considers not so much the question of cancer but the fact. That is, he is less concerned with why he (or anyone else) should suffer in this way, and more concerned with what he and others should think, feel and do in the face of that suffering? How does one face the fact that God writes the script of all lives, given that even the lives of his children are often inscribed in heavy black lines?

It is here that Wolfe excels. Simply and clearly he faces those issues with an open Bible and brings the Word of God to bear. He is magnificent when dealing with the importance of accurate spiritual punctuation: the imagery of exclamation and question marks rightly applied to promises and doubts is profoundly helpful. He seeks out the genuine and lasting comforts, and is not afraid to face the eternal perspective. At points, he abounds with helpful practical advice.

Wolfe survived, and his faith in God and grasp on the truth as it is in Jesus was only strengthened by the experience. Being tested, he came forth as gold (Jb 23.10). Like most of us, he knows others who have not. What comes to the fore is not only the reality of the curse of sin and its effects but the reality of hope that is obtained in Jesus Christ. We both smile and weep at the beauty of the blessings and joys that God can weave out of the darkest threads.

This book is not just for those who are wrestling with cancer, either in their own bodies or in the body of someone they love. All those who are suffering (especially chronic illnesses) will face similar questions, and find help in the answers that this friend draws from his Bible. Those who are suffering alongside others, carrying the burdens of caring and serving, will likewise find help here. Pastors and others who will minister particularly to the soul will find careful and practical guidance for the task. Alistair Begg writes of this book, “My search is over for the one book to give to someone battling cancer. This material is exceptional – the most helpful I have read on the subject.” For clarity, simplicity, brevity, and sincerity in bringing God’s truth to bear on this awful experience, he may well be right.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Monday 23 November 2009 at 11:45

Posted in Reviews

Tagged with cancer, Paul D. Wolfe

The deacon a true servant

A helpful post by Russell Moore on the nature and purpose of the diaconal office.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Saturday 3 October 2009 at 21:35

Posted in Ecclesiology

Tagged with deacons, Russell Moore, servants

More from Trueman on being “Young, Restless, Reformed”

with 2 comments

Others are saying the same things, but Trueman has pithily encapsulated some useful observations and warnings concerning the YRR phenomenon.

See also my review of the book/movement here.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Tuesday 1 September 2009 at 18:58

Posted in While wandering . . .

Tagged with Carl Trueman, YRR

True patriotism

john-newton-2 My friend at Grace Gems recently sent out this sobering reminder from the letters of John Newton. It is worth our while to remember in these days of activism in which we can lose our way all too easily. Newton does not deny that God makes us part of particular nation-states, but he does remind us of where our primary attachment belongs. A robust perspective on our citizenship in heaven best equips us to do lasting earthly good. This is very much of a piece with Spurgeon’s words that I posted a few days ago.

Dear friend,

Allow me to say, that it excites both my wonder and concern, that a Christian minister such as yourself, should think it worth his while to attempt political reforms. When I look around upon the present state of the nation, such an attempt appears to me, to be no less vain and foolish, than it would be to paint the cabin – while the ship is sinking! Or to decorate the parlour – while the house is on fire!

When our Lord Jesus was upon earth, He refused to get involved in disputes or politics, “Friend, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Luke 12:14. “My kingdom is not of this world! If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight!” John 18:36. God’s children belong to a kingdom which is not of this world; they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and a part of their Scriptural character is, that they are the “quiet in the land.” Psalm 35:19.

Satan has many contrivances to amuse people, and to divert their thoughts from their real danger!

My dear sir, my prayer to God for you is – that He may induce you to employ the talents He has given you, in pointing out sin as the great cause and source of every existing evil; and to engage those who love and fear Him, (instead of wasting time in political speculations, for which very few of them are competent,) to sigh and cry for our abounding abominations, and to stand in the breach, by prayer, that God’s wrath may yet be averted, and our national mercies prolonged! This, I think, is the true patriotism – the best way in which people in private life may serve their country.

I consider the ungodly as saws and hammers in the hand of the Lord. So far as they are His instruments, they will succeed – but not an inch further! Their wrath shall praise Him, and be subservient to His designs!

If our lot is so cast that we can exercise our ministry free from stripes, fines, imprisonments, and death – it is more than the gospel has promised to us! If Christians were quiet when under the cruel governments of Nero and other wicked persecutors, when they were hunted down like wild beasts – then we ought to be not only quiet but very thankful now! It was then accounted an honour to suffer for Christ and the ‘offence of the cross’!

Those are to be greatly pitied, who boast of their ‘liberty’ – and yet they do not consider that they are in the most deplorable bondage – the slaves of sin and Satan, under the curse of God’s law and His eternal wrath! Oh! for a voice to reach their hearts, that they may know their true and dreadful state–and seek deliverance from their horrific thraldom! May you and I labour to direct them to the one thing, which is absolutely needful, and abundantly sufficient.

If I had the wisdom or influence to soothe the angry passions of mankind – I would gladly employ them! But I am a stranger and a pilgrim here in this world. My charter, my rights and my treasures, are all in heaven – and there my heart ought to be. In a very short time, I may be removed (and perhaps suddenly) into the unseen and eternal world – where all that now causes so much bustle upon earth – will be of no more importance to me – than the events which took place among the antediluvians!

In the hour, when death shall open the door into eternity – many things which now assume an ‘air of importance’, will be found as light and unsubstantial as a child’s dream!

How crucial then, is it for me–to be found watching, with my lamp burning, diligently engaged in my proper calling! For the Lord has not called me to set governments right – but to preach the gospel, to proclaim the glory of His name, and to endeavor to win souls! “Let the dead bury their own dead – but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God!” Luke 9:60. Happy is that servant, whom his Master finds so doing, when He returns!

As you have forced me to respond – both duty and love have obliged me to be faithful and free in giving you my thoughts.

I recommend you to the care and blessing of the great Shepherd and Saviour; and remain for His sake, your affectionate friend and brother,

John Newton

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 24 June 2009 at 12:53

Posted in Current affairs

Tagged with gospel, John Newton, politics, preaching

True boldness

lion roaring The righteous are bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1)

Two things urgently needed in ministers, if they would attempt great advances for the kingdom of Christ, are zeal and resolve. Their influence and power for impact are greater than we think. A man of ordinary abilities will accomplish more with zeal and resolve than a man ten times more gifted without zeal and resolve. . . . Men who are possessed by these qualities commonly carry the day in almost all affairs. Most of the great things that have been done in the world, the great revolutions that have been accomplished in the kingdoms and empires of the earth, have been primarily owing to zeal and resolve. The very appearance of a intensely engaged spirit, together with a fearless courage and unyielding resolve, in any person that has undertaken leadership in any human affair goes a long way toward accomplishing the intended outcome. . . . When people see a high degree of zeal and resolve in a person, it awes them and has a commanding influence upon them. . . . But while we are cold and heartless and only go on in a dull manner, in an old formal round, we will never accomplish anything great. Our efforts, when they display such coldness and irresolution, will not even make people think of yielding. . . . The appearance of such indifference and cowardice does, as it were, call for and provoke opposition. Our misery is lack of zeal and courage.

Jonathan Edwards, “Thoughts on the Revival,” in Works, I:424, paraphrased.

HT: Ray Ortlund.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Monday 8 June 2009 at 08:50

Posted in While wandering . . .

Tagged with Jonathan Edwards, resolve, righteous, zeal

Trueman on Wells

Derek Thomas says:

Carl Trueman reviews David Wells’ The Courage to be Protestant in the latest edition of the The Ordained Servant (denominational magazine of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church) here. We saw it coming, of course: Wells’ on “consumerism” and its linkage to capitalism was bound to strike a nerve. Fascinating stuff.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 8 April 2009 at 13:41

Posted in Reviews

Tagged with Carl Trueman, David Wells

“A Young Man in Christ” #6: True religion

From A Good Start by C. H. Spurgeon, Chapter 1 (”A Young Man in Christ”).

Young men, to you I would honestly say that I should be ashamed to speak of a religion that would make you soft, cowardly, effeminate, spiritless, so that you would be mere naturals in business, having no souls of your own, the prey of every designing knave. Young men, I have tried the faith of Jesus Christ, and I have found it to give me “pluck” – that is an old Saxon word, but it is exactly what I mean. It puts soul into a man, courage, firmness, resolution, courage. If he is in the habit of talking with his own conscience, and his Bible, and his God, he can look the whole universe in the face – ay, and a universe of devils, too – and never feel the slightest fear. Why should he? Is not the Eternal on the Christian’s man side? Is not the risen and reigning Christ on his side? Is not the blessed Spirit his friend? Yes, the angels of God, and providence, and time, and eternity, and all the forces that exist, are his allies, save only those of death and hell, and these his Lord has conquered and trampled under foot. I would that every young man were enlisted in the army of Christ right early, for none make such good soldiers as those who begin while yet they are young.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6

Written by Jeremy Walker

Friday 20 February 2009 at 09:00

Posted in General

Tagged with Bible, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Christianity, God, men, religion, soldier

True spirituality?

Martin Downes examines the disparaging attitude of New Covenant theologians toward the Westminster Confession.

R Scott Clark compares the Westminster Confession with New Covenant Theology.

Martin wins, because he has a picture of Paul Merton.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 11 February 2009 at 15:17

Posted in While wandering . . .

Tagged with confessionalism, New Covenant Theology, spirituality

True preaching

Iain D Campbell at Reformation21 quotes from Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire to provide this marvellous portrait of blood-earnest preachers truly engaged in the work of ministry:

As preachers, they were all remarkable. There are some who preach before their people, like actors on the stage, to display themselves and to please their audience. Not such were the self-denied preachers of Ross-shire.

There are others who preach over their people. Studying for the highest, instead of doing so for the lowest, in intelligence, they elaborated learned treatises, which float like mist, when delivered, over the heads of their hearers. Not such were the earnest preachers of Rossshire.

There are some who preach past their people. Directing their praise or their censure to intangible abstractions, they never take aim at the views and the conduct of the individuals before them. They step carefully aside, lest their hearers should be struck by their shafts, and aim them at phantoms beyond them. Not such were the faithful preachers of Ross-shire.

There are others who preach at their people, serving out in a sermon the gossip of the week, and seemingly possessed with the idea that the transgressor can be scolded out of the ways of iniquity. Not such were the wise preachers of Ross-shire.

There are some who preach towards their people. They aim well, but they are weak. Their eye is along the arrow towards the hearts of their hearers, but their arm is too feeble for sending it on to the mark. Superficial in their experience and in their knowledge, they reach not the cases of God’s people by their doctrine, and they strike with no vigour at the consciences of the ungodly. Not such were the powerful preachers of Ross-shire.

There are others still, who preach along their congregation. Instead of standing with their bow in front of the ranks, these archers take them in line, and, reducing their mark to an individual, never change the direction of their aim. Not such were the discriminating preachers of Ross-shire.

But there are a few who preach to the people directly and seasonably the mind of God in His Word, with authority, unction, wisdom, fervour, and love. Such as these last were the eminent preachers of Ross-shire.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Thursday 19 June 2008 at 20:15

Posted in Pastoral theology

Tagged with Iain D. Campbell, ministry

Another anniblogary

Believe it or not, happy or not, this is the blog’s second birthday. As last year (and again excepting the ‘About’ page and the homepage) here is a list of the top fifteen individual viewed pages of the past year, and then the all-time list, noting the movers and shakers.

The best of last year

The poem “The Wanderer”: A short essay on an Old English poem, which provides some of the backdrop to the naming of this blog. The blips in interest continue to suggest that popularity here is linked to essay deadlines elsewhere.
Encouragement for mothers: Despite the fact that this is a nugget from the inimitable Mr Spurgeon, it looks like this is another in the ‘popular photo, shame about the words’ category of popular posts.
The skulls of children: Prompted by a programme about the deaths of children in Africa, this post wondered why liberal angst never seems to embrace the horrors of the abortion holocaust. It continues to prompt a spiky discussion, although I still can’t understand one of the comments.
Idols, God and Jesus: Who knew that a picture of the Welsh flag would give such a boost to a mundane article?
In Eden’s sinless garden: The first of the hymns on the list. This is one that I wrote when preaching on masculinity and femininity, frustrated by the lack of material readily available. It is marked by one of the more unusual rhymes in the oeuvre, prompting a friend to ask quite how his little girl was meant to work through the pairing of ‘abdication’ and ‘insubordination’ – check it out, though, and you will see that it does scan, and fits the context, as well as being an opportunity for education both theological and literary.
O Lord, our King, our grateful praise: Another hymn. This one was written, if I remember rightly, after hearing a friend in the US preach on the person and work of the Holy Spirit at a pastors’ fraternal.
What is a true Christian?: This sets out to answer the question by surveying some of the marks of true sons of God that the Apostle John identifies in his first letter.
Women in combat: A glorified link to an Al Mohler article, but the picture and the topic seem to have combined to generate a bit of interest. For the record, I am making plain that women ought to not to be in front-line combat.
Here, there, and everywhere: Another meandering report, which I have pretty much ceased doing. I have no idea why so many wanted to read this.
Faithful and true: A little illustration from life as a father, but – again – the search patterns indicate that it is not so much my penetrating insights and flowing eloquence that have garnered such attention, as the fact that the article is garnished with a picture of Thing One and Thing Two from the pages of Dr Seuss. Tell it not in Gath.
Gospel Intimacy in a Godly Marriage: An interview with my good friend, Alan Dunn, considering his excellent book on marriage. My wife and I are reading it again at the moment (albeit somewhat intermittently) and it remains one of the better volumes on this topic that I know.
The works of Jonathan Edwards online: Links to the complete library of Jonathan Edwards’ Works online. I suspect that this is more of a portal post than a final stop.
Prayer an investment: A quote from John Preston via the now defunct Paul Wallace . . . by which I mean, not that Brother Wallace has shuffled off his mortal coil, but rather that he has now ceased blogging (not Preston, Wallace). Anyway, you get the picture. In fact, I think that’s why most people visit here: another nice pic.
When all about me falters: Another hymn, this one written a long time ago during a lower point. I think I was at university at the time.
John Newton on the pastoral office: A snippet from the excellent Mr Newton on the natural insufficiency of any man for the pastoral ministry, pointing – as every pastor-preacher must – to the sufficiency of Christ alone, in every aspect of our life in and service of him.

The all-time greats?

Last year’s ranking is in brackets. I haven’t bothered replicating the descriptions. Evidence of the relative youth of this blog is seen in the fact that most of this year’s top posts have moved into the list of all-time popularity.

(1) The poem “The Wanderer”
(new entry) Encouragement for mothers
(11) The skulls of children
(2) Idols, God and Jesus
(new entry) O Lord, our King, our grateful praise
(new entry) In Eden’s sinless garden
(new entry) What is a true Christian?
(new entry) Here, there, and everywhere
(new entry) Women in combat
(new entry) The works of Jonathan Edwards online
(new entry) Faithful and true
(new entry) Prayer an investment
(new entry) Gospel Intimacy in a Godly Marriage
(5) Psalm 107: Oh give thanks to God our Saviour: A paraphrase of Psalm 107, as the name suggests. Not much more to say, really.
(4) Punctuality: Joining forces with C. H. Spurgeon, this is a pointed plea for punctuality, especially among believers. I think I was probably graciously frustrated when I wrote it, but it is fairly good-natured.

Dropping out

In the top fifteen last year, but not floating boats in the same way over the last few months.

Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother: The only review on the list (one other was just outside). A brief review of Carolyn Mahaney’s very helpful book, I suspect that this is a reflection of her popularity and the recognition of the Mahaney name especially in the US.

Womanly Dominion: An interview with Mark Chanski: My friend Mark Chanski has written two books from the perspective of ‘the dominion mandate’ looking at the roles of men and women. I interviewed Mark concerning the book for women, although I never did get round to posting a review of the book itself.

A horrifying obituary: The blog equivalent of rubbernecking, this points to the kind of obituary that I cannot imagine anyone wanting – the woman in question was, it seems, unequivocally unmissed.

Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End: Another hymn, this one reviewing some of the names and titles of the Lord Jesus, and seeking to weave them together.

An introduction to John Bunyan and The Pilgrim’s Progress (outline of the book): Another student favourite, perhaps, or maybe a first resort for those who want to get an overview of John Bunyan’s best known labour. Nothing spectacular.

The end of the law?: Prompted by the Affinity theological conference that ran under this title, this post simply highlighted a trend in modern antinomianism, and suggested or hinted at some of the dangers inherent in the ‘New Covenant Theology’ which is increasingly popular. It contains links to a number of articles defending what I believe is the Scriptural and orthodox perspective on the enduring nature of the moral law (even allowing for subtle variations among those holding to this perspective).

Facebook friendship #1: One of two posts asking whether the social networking experience offers anything approximating to true friendship as Biblically defined.

Federal Vision UK?: Prompted by another blogger, I was raising questions about the theological pedigree of a new theological webzine. There is some indication that behind the blurb their lies a definite attachment to the Auburn Avenue theology, also known as the Federal Vision or hypercovenantalism. Having had some personal experience of the dangers and direction of such thinking, I sounded a significant note of caution (and – having been called out because of my tone of writing – sought to do so more carefully in a revised post).

Don’t ignore polygamy: Probably the aberration on this list. If I remember rightly, this almost certainly got picked up for some strange reason on one of those sites that draws attention to particular posts. I have no idea why this was chosen, but it boosted the numbers big time. It’s a curious post to make this list, being a single quote followed by a sarcastic comment, and I expect it will drop off if I am still doing this kind of list a year from now.

Reformed and reforming: When Time magazine called “the New Calvinism” one of the modern philosophical movers and shakers, it seemed as of the Christian blogosphere went spoony. Among the responses was a post from Mark Driscoll. While I have enjoyed and appreciated much of what Mark says (while disagreeing with some of the tone and substance, at times significantly) this one stirred my soul a little. It raises questions about the nature of ‘being Reformed’ as well as false distinctions sometimes made with regard to Calvinists of different stripes.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Friday 23 April 2010 at 09:05

Posted in General

Tagged with blogging

Gardiner Spring on “Christian Character” available again

Gardiner Spring’s classic work on The Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character is one of the most careful and discerning short works on the marks of true Christianity. Clearly standing in the tradition of Edwards’ Religious Affections and Alexander’s Thoughts on Religious Experience it remains an outstanding treatment of those things which in and of themselves are no sure indications of having passed from death to life, and those things which invariably mark, in some degree, a true child of God.

Solid Ground Christian Books have recently republished this title. It has apparently been edited and updated. To be frank, that does not always improve some of these classics, and it is to be hoped that – in this instance – the editor has done less harm and more good. As long as all is intact, this would prove an excellent addition to the library of pastors who do not have their own copy, and a very useful means of men and women examining their own souls to know whether or not they have a true hope of heaven.

For more of Spring, including a brief review of elements of this book, see this post on “What is a true Christian?”

(By the way, Spring is one of those authors of whom – with my limited knowledge – I would presently say, “If he wrote it, you will not suffer by reading it.”)

Written by Jeremy Walker

Tuesday 3 November 2009 at 20:31

Posted in Book notices

Tagged with assurance, character, Gardiner Spring, self-examination

Here, there, and everywhere

The last couple of weeks have been something of a blur. I think I last posted an update the Monday before I went to Holland. The main task that week, in addition to the midweek prayer meeting, was finishing the preparation of the sermons, and also preparing some questions and pointers to answers for the discussion sessions at the conference.

I flew out to Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, on Thursday evening. I was met at the airport by Arjen van Gent, a theology student. We travelled an hour or so by train to his home, and as I quizzed him I began to learn a little more about the conference and its circumstances, aims, and attendees. Arriving at his parents’ home, I scoffed a friendly pizza and headed pretty early to bed where I had a good night’s sleep. I woke, and made full use of the space-age shower in the bathroom (although a slightly exuberant twist of one particular knob did cause freezing water to power into my shanks just as I thought I had finished). I had a light breakfast while waiting for Arjen to emerge, and then I did a little reading and prepared to leave for the conference. Marcel Vroegop, with whom I had been in primary contact, dropped in just to confirm with his own eyes that the speaker was indeed on Dutch soil, and it was good to meet him. We had a lunch time feast of pancakes, and then Arjen and I set out into the snow and wind for a stroll through a forested area – almost as bracing as freezing water on the shanks! We set off shortly afterward for the conference – Arjen and his father and myself, picking up a couple called Marco and Geretta in the same town before heading into the traffic for the 90 minute or so journey to the conference centre.

We arrived to find most of the committee ensconced and preparing the ground. An evening meal of frankfurters and tomato soup was quickly prepared, and we made the place ready for the first service.

Those who came were, for the most part, hungry for the Word of God. Even if they were not, food was offered in abundance. The committee had asked for six sermons, in addition to which we visited a local church in nearby Rijssen on the Lord’s day morning. Each sermon had 80 minutes allotted to it (albeit in translation), followed by a fifteen minute break, and then a discussion period in mentor-groups (which also served as teams for catering) which lasted 30 to 60 minutes (depending on the time available). I was often participating in those discussions, and often informal discussion would continue afterward. In the course of the weekend, I also had many opportunities for personal interaction with those attending, and was delighted with the open hearts and frank attitudes of many who were present. A brother named Oskar Loohuis (I hope I have that spelling right) translated the first four sermons, and Arjen’s father, Pieter, translated the last two. My assigned topics, and the texts and sermons from which I preached, were as follows:

How does Christ become my Redeemer? (Isaiah 45:22 > Looking unto Jesus)
Union with Christ (2Cor 5.17 > A new creation)
The Biblical signs of a true Christian (1Jn > What is a true Christian?)
Biblical manhood and womanhood (Gen 1.27 > Biblical manhood and womanhood)
Living the Christian life (Phil 2.12-13 > Working in and working out)
A Christ-glorifying life (2Tim 4.6-8 > The Saviour and his servant)

As you can see, these were foundational truths covering something of the range of Christian experience. I think that God drew near to bless us, especially during two or three of those sermons.

That said, I learned yet more about the dark art of preaching via a translator. The translators were excellent, but I did not always make their job easy. The more topical sermons (the third and fourth) had much more technical and precise language in more complex headings as I tried to draw several different texts together. These did not always translate easily and well. I also had a plan for a way of referencing 1 John in the third sermon that worked better in theory than in practice. Of course, over such an intense few days, weariness also sets in, not least on the part of the congregation.

There were many times when I was facing afresh the recognition that the Spirit of God alone can bring the truth to bear on men’s hearts. I am also conscious that my sense of profit is not the same as something profitable accomplished.

On Monday we cleaned out the building in which we had stayed and were back in Waganingen by about midday. Once the available members of the committee had convened, we enjoyed an easy lunch together and discussed various issues and relaxed and laughed. Then, I was graciously escorted back to the airport and headed home. The fellowship was very sweet, and I very much enjoyed my time with these dear brothers and sisters, being encouraged and instructed by the vigorous and sacrificial faith that particular friends are showing, and by the earnest and gracious character that many demonstrated over the course of the whole weekend.

I returned home weary, and slept well and long for the next two nights. During the days, as well as taking a Sabbath for myself, I was catching up at home, and then began producing some follow-up material to the conference for which I was asked (an ongoing process). I also had some writing projects that I needed to pursue, and managed to do a little reading. On Thursday afternoon, it being a half-term break here, I went out to the park during the afternoon, and was delighted to find a few lads playing football, two of home remembered me from before. I played football in the pouring rain for about half-an-hour, and then spoke to them a little about Christ and his church. Although they were resistant, a couple of them did take CDs of sermons, and I think that there might have been some genuine interest.

On Friday afternoon, a friend came by to spend an hour or so for us to read some more of John Angell James together, a little bit of which is here. A few minutes after he left, I had a phone appointment for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening, I relaxed and read. Saturday morning was sermon preparation, and in the afternoon I went back out to Maidenbower to see who was around. This time, the older young people were missing (Jobs? Season tickets to various football clubs? Football matches?) but there were a lot of young families around and one or two watching football matches being played. Not the easiest environment in which to do gospel work more explicitly, but a good one in which to watch the world and learn how men are.

On the Lord’s day, our adult Sunday School class continued to consider our children’s intellectual development. As an off-shoot, we are taking an opportunity to consider the formal education of our children, and – having established some fundamental principles and goals – we are looking at various approaches to formal education. Yesterday we assessed the pros and cons of state education (including state schools with a Christian ethos). We hope to go on to look at home education and other options.

In the morning worship I preached on The Liberator from John 8.36: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” We began by identifying the slavery men know: even – sometimes especially – those who boast in their freedom, are moral slaves to sin: ambition, anger, lust, greed, revenge, appetite, opinion, religion, superstition and scepticism. This is the illusory freedom of the condemned prisoner dreaming of open spaces.

broken-chain-3 From there, we considered the freedom Christ gives: “if the Son makes you free.” That ‘if’ is the key in the lock, the gleam of light in darkness that promises the prospect of deliverance. It points to the author of freedom, the Son, who acts righteously, justly, freely, instantly and eternally in making free. In might and with mercy, with authority and compassion, he can and does set the prisoners free.

It is a glorious freedom, a freedom that alone is worthy of the name. We are set free from the guilt, punishment, power and consequences of sin. We are set free to obey God, not needing to fear either men or outcomes in our pursuit of glorifying the God of our salvation.

I called upon some to feel their chains, that they might not boast in an illusion when offered freedom indeed. Christ alone can liberate the captives.

I called upon others to feel their freedoms, to enjoy and employ the freedom bestowed by Jesus, so that we glorify God as those who are free indeed.

We had a friend from the church over for lunch, and I also got a little reading done. The evening service was good, not least because my eldest son sat all the way through (with a little encouragement) for the first time.

Today, I will be at the John Owen Centre, participating in the Theology Study Group. We are considering Tim Keller’s The Reason for God (reviewed here). The discussion is usually stimulating, and the fellowship enjoyable. The rest of the week is stacked to the gills with stuff.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Monday 23 February 2009 at 07:28

Posted in Updates

Tagged with children, education, evangelism, freedom, Holland, John Owen Centre, preaching

From the heart of Spurgeon

4C9B0283-E0E9-48A1-98AB-48749ED406AC Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, a village in the county of Essex in the east of England, on 19 June 1834. He went to be with Christ from Mentone, France, on the evening of Sunday 31 January 1892. During his lifetime he became perhaps the greatest preacher in the English-speaking world, of his own or any other century. We marvel not just at the precocious and maturing genius of the man, not just at the sustained numbers of hearers and converts, not just at the faithfulness in the face of much abuse and opposition, not just at the theological clarity amidst growing spiritual confusion, but at the heartfelt and humble holiness of a man who walked with God amidst it all. Spurgeon himself predicted that his reputation would suffer in the short term but that the truth of Christ which he proclaimed would outlast all those slurs: “I do not look so much at what is to happen to-day, for these things relate to eternity. For my part, I am quite willing to be eaten of dogs for the next fifty years; but the more distant future shall vindicate me.”

Spurgeon was the most ardent and articulate exponent and defender of reformed truth in the church of his day, standing firmly against the theological downgrade being experienced by many evangelical churches of his time. He was a preacher, pastor, author, philanthropist … he seemed to roll the work of ten lifetimes into one sustained burst of service to Christ! He probably ranks among the greatest Englishmen of all time, but he claimed that he would not have crossed the road to hear himself preach. We think and know better of him than he did of himself. His sermons and other productions continue to bring blessing to countless souls.

It was therefore with no little interest that I recently responded to the inquiry of a friend who asked how long it would take to read the complete sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon at a rate of one a day. “Which ones?” I asked, for in addition to the six volumes of the New Park Street Pulpit (NPSP) and the fifty-seven volumes of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (MTP) there are now others available, some dredged out of and collected from The Sword & The Trowel magazine, others a recovery of his earliest sermon manuscripts.

“I’m thinking New Park Street Pulpit and Met Tab Pulpit,” replied my textually-challenged chum.

The answer is that each of those sermons, originally issued as a Penny Pulpit series, is numbered. Beginning with volume one of NPSP, they finish in the combined volume sixty-two and sixty-three of MTP, published for 1916-17, when a paper shortage during the Great War finally put paid to the ongoing publication of Spurgeon’s primary work. There are 3,561 such sermons in total. If you assume consecutive reading, that means nine three hundred and sixty-five day years and two hundred and seventy-six days. If you assume two leap years rather than three, you will finish on day two hundred and seventy-four of the tenth year of reading. If you begin on 1 January, you should finish on 1 October in your tenth year of reading.

Provided with all the necessary information, my semi-literate friend responded thus: “U gonna join me?”

And so was born the scheme for reading Spurgeon. From 1 January 2021, a few intrepid friends will set out to read one of Spurgeon’s sermons each day, beginning with the first volume of NPSP, and continuing on. The first target is to complete the six NPSP volumes, after which we may plough on through MTP. Because this exchange was public, others expressed interest. Being magnanimous types, we decided to spread the joy. A Twitter feed followed, @ReadingSpurgeon, and others began to join in. For those for whom a sermon a day may be a stretch, we hope to recommend one a week. Our friends at Media Gratiae got involved, and now we may be doing a weekly podcast, From the Heart of Spurgeon, and some occasional ‘lively readings’ of select sermons—not acted-out preaching but an attempt to communicate something of the sermonic form and force of those sermons as originally delivered.

Anyone who is interested in either the full or the partial reading scheme is welcome to join us. Just head over to the Twitter feed and follow us for all the necessary information and links. However, there may be others who simply want a taster. With that in mind, here is a brief survey of the Spurgeon material available from The Banner of Truth, an overview suggested by Robert Strivens.

An All-Round Ministry. More or less a mini-pastoral theology, this is a selection of addresses from the annual gathering of Spurgeon’s Pastors’ College. Spurgeon sets out both to instruct and to inflame, so that the work of the ministry is clearly laid out, and encouragements and exhortations for that work supplied. There is a sweet honesty to these addresses, and the closeness between Spurgeon and his students bleeds on to the page.

The Greatest Fight in the World: Spurgeon’s Final Manifesto. This is the final address Spurgeon delivered to those Pastors’ College men. It was delivered in 1891, when Spurgeon was battered and bruised from the Downgrade Controversy (he died 31 January 1892). It is his final call to arms to those who remained faithful, not so much to him, as to their Saviour. He calls the pastor-preacher’s attention to our armoury, the Scriptures, to our army, the church, and to our strength, the Holy Spirit. Reading this will stir your soul, even as it carries you beyond your own strength to rest in that which God supplies.

Flowers From a Puritan’s Garden: Illustrations and Meditations. This is one of those volumes which throws light upon Spurgeon’s distinctive genius. Reading through Manton’s twenty two volumes was not enough. Marking all his striking imagery did not do the job. No, Spurgeon culled them from those pages, arranged them for our delectation, and added some colour of his own! While each of Spurgeon’s deliberations serves as a meditation for us, they also help us to think about how we can turn an illustration into an application, and so adorn our own sermons.

Advice for Seekers. This volume reads like some pastoral chats between a concerned soul and a faithful man of God. Spurgeon did not mistake stirring interest in religion for real conversion, and so was concerned to clear the obstacles that might lie between the soul now alerted to its need and the Christ who meets that need. It is almost conversational in style, and so helpful both to those who still need such counsels and to those who wish to learn how to give them in person. It still serves as a good evangelistic tool, especially to those who already know something of Christianity without knowing Christ himself, and as a good pattern for dealing with souls.

Christ’s Glorious Achievements. One of the things that Spurgeon was good at was selecting and arranging sermons preached more or less separately to create a sort of topical arc. That is what he does here, and Banner have picked up this selection and repackaged it. It shows something of Spurgeon at his best. Of this matter of Christ’s work, he said, “Upon no theme is the true minister so much at home, and yet no subject more completely surpasses his ability. We love the subject, though we are lost in it.” If you are going to get lost in this subject, Spurgeon is a great man with whom to get lost! In seven sermons he takes you on a short tour of Christ’s work, leaving the reader lost in wonder, love and praise.

Majesty in Misery (3 volumes). This excellent and more extensive selection of sermons again carries us to the heart of Spurgeon’s holy obsession with Christ and him crucified. Here the aim is to set before us the very core of our faith, the sufferings and death of our Saviour. The three volumes carry us chronologically from “Dark Gethsemane” by way of the “The Judgment Hall” to “Calvary’s Mournful Mountain.” It is easy to hear Spurgeon’s heart and his voice breaking as he preaches from the page, and the dry-eyed preacher of the present day will learn a true spiritual pathos from Spurgeon’s deeply-felt presentation of our Lord’s physical and spiritual agonies.

C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography (2 volumes). This is the condensed version! Spurgeon’s own, completed by his wife and secretary, spans four volumes. I confess to quite liking the full version, but it is very Victorian, and sometimes lacks a little urgency. This is the nuggety edition, keeping the action moving while still giving us plenty to get our teeth into. “The Early Years” carries us into the heart of his London ministry, while “The Full Harvest” depicts the blessings, burdens and battles of his mature years of service. A really wonderful set, up there with Banner’s Whitefield and Lloyd-Jones biographies, though bear in mind that this one has a very different flavour, being autobiographical.

Revival Year Sermons. 1859 was a spiritual jubilee even by Spurgeon’s standards. During this season, Spurgeon preached Christ in the Surrey Gardens Music Hall to a congregation of some 8,000 people. This little selection of sermons from that year of blessing communicates something of the fervour and the earnestness, the directness and the plainness, of Spurgeon’s gospel preaching. The preacher feels that if he could just attain to a tenth of Spurgeon’s spiritual liveliness, he will be a hundred times more than preacher that he now is. His congregation doubtless endorses his feeling! We can, at the very least, learn, and pray, and follow, where we can never copy.

Letters Of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. One of those indefatigable Victorian types, Spurgeon kept up a zesty correspondence, dashing off little notes here and there, as well as longer missives. Iain H. Murray’s selection lets us see Spurgeon the man. We note that there is no gap between Spurgeon at his writing desk and at his pulpit desk: he is manifestly the same person, but here are different glimpses of his humanity and personality, glittering through a variety of letters to a variety of people.

Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom: Plain Advice for Plain People. There’s a peculiar relentlessness in these pages. It reminds the reader that Spurgeon could probably have been hard work for the less gifted. Writing under cover of the name John Ploughman, these are Spurgeon’s articles on practical topics for the common man—debt, temptation, drunkenness and the like. It is hard to imagine many today responding so warmly to the occasionally patrician tone, but Spurgeon does a good job of ‘talking across’ and not so much ‘talking down.’ This is less gospel exhortation and more moral instruction, and he lays it on thick. Some chapters feel like a couple of hundred sentences all making precisely the same point in a subtly different way. Bearing in mind that these appeared as magazine articles, it helps to read them from time to time, as a repeated dose can become a bit overwhelming.

The Pastor in Prayer: A Collection of the Sunday Morning Prayers of Charles Spurgeon. This man of God prayed like a child. There is a simplicity of vocabulary and a directness of address here that puts even the sermons to shame. One gets the sense of what it means to speak to God on behalf of men. In a spirit of humble dependence, Spurgeon approaches our Father in heaven; in a spirit of expectant faith, he lays before a gracious God the needs of the hour; in a spirit of eager hope, he leaves the throne of grace equipped and energised for the labour at hand. Reading these, one wonders whether a Christian might not have gone to the Tabernacle to hear Spurgeon pray as much as to hear him preach.

Metropolitan Tabernacle (Volume 38: Sermons Preached and Revised in 1892). Somewhere on a shelf I have a collection of Banner’s battered yellow-jacketed volumes of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series, of which this seems to be the last published survivor. First issued by Passmore & Alabaster right at the end of Spurgeon’s life and ministry, this is the man of God at the coalface, to his last days making known the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Compared with his earliest pulpit efforts, there are some clear differences in aspects of tone and approach, marking the very different circumstances, but not in real substance. Still it is Christ, preached from the whole of Scripture, which attracts and holds the heart of the preacher, and still it is Christ, in all his saving majesty, who is held out to all who will hear.

Lectures to My Students. While many editions of this work abound, this is a beauty! Fully reset, and with all the paraphernalia which Spurgeon put in the original, it rocks with humanity and humour. Here is Spurgeon putting the point on the pin, putting the edge on the blade forged during his students’ week in the college. Deliberately lively to aid the flagging spirits of those weary men on a Friday afternoon, this is still a tonic for the soul. We forgive readily every occasion on which Spurgeon forgets that the rest of us are not him, and wonder at the kind of men who such instruction must have produced. Spurgeon pulls no punches, dilutes no truth, softens no blows, and relieves no duties, but neither does he withhold any sympathies, reserve any encouragements, or dash any hopes. Still a wonderfully positive but enduringly realistic take on the work of the ministry, it covers some topics that others barely touch. It perhaps focuses more on the pulpit than the parlour (as Spurgeon might have said)—more on the preaching ministry than the personal pastoral dimension. This edition includes Spurgeon’s bewilderingly brilliant “Commenting and Commentaries”; when you read Spurgeon’s commendation of a particular volume, this is often where it comes from.

Commentary on Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom. Let me recast a previous brief review: this is the only complete commentary on a book Spurgeon wrote (excepting his treatment of the Psalms, which was in some senses more of a compendium of others’ comments). It is magnificently Spurgeonic: from its opening paragraph, Spurgeon points us to Christ and never once loses sight of him in all the pages that follow. With laudable brevity, wry wit, proverbial pithiness, earnest devotion, vigorous plainness and gripping earthiness, Spurgeon paints his portrait of the King of kings, bringing the beauties of the Lord Christ into sharp relief and sweet expression. Other commentaries may provide an anatomically correct model of this Gospel, but Spurgeon gives you its beating heart.

A Defence of Calvinism. A little booklet in which Spurgeon extols the free grace of God in the salvation of lost sinners. Again, his direct mode of address grips us, as Spurgeon speaks directly off the page to his reader. This is less aggressive than you might imagine, but there are no concessions with regard to truth even while he embraces brothers who differ from him on the points he raises. On the one hand, one might feel that Spurgeon was perpetually in Calvinism’s so-called ‘cage stage.’ On the other, he is so forthright, so amenable, so open, that he comes across well even at his most in-your-face. This is a good, personal, warm, and engaging treatment of several of the issues that are often raised as one begins to understand that gospel of free grace which often goes by the nickname of Calvinism.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Saturday 12 December 2020 at 10:47

Posted in History & biography

Tagged with Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Review: “Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers”

with 23 comments

Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers
Dane C. Ortlund
Crossway, 2020
224pp., hardback, $19.99
ISBN 978-1-4335-6613-4

Some assured me that it was the greatest book they had read in years. Others warned me that it was profoundly dangerous. Reviewers have largely fallen over themselves to commend it. It is a topic which I need to grasp personally and pastorally. So I took it up and read it. The book is from Dane Ortlund, is called Gentle and Lowly, and is—more or less—an attempt to rework Goodwin on the heart of Christ (available as a Puritan Paperback from the Banner of Truth) for a modern audience, with primary assistance from Sibbes, Owen, Flavel, and Bunyan, and occasional contributions from Edwards, Warfield, and one or two others.

In style, it is interesting, at times combining Blairite sentence fragments with complex and lengthy sentences that would make a Puritan blush. It is generally accessible, but some of those heavier sentences are like steamrollers. I wonder if people are so persuaded that the seventeenth-century authors are unreadable that they never bother finding out if they are at least as clear as some of our more modern writers? That is true, not just of Ortlund’s style, but also in his substance.

So what of the substance? ‘This book,’ says the author, ‘is written for the discouraged, the frustrated, the weary, the disenchanted, the cynical, the empty.’ Its message is ‘that we tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto [sic] him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says’ (13, 155). If the message so stated seems to fall a little short of the target audience, then we need to dig a little deeper.

Ortlund is addressing a genuine and proper pastoral concern, and one which may well be more pressing in his circles than in those of some readers. Most pastors will recognise the malady when he writes that ‘many of us tend to believe [that God’s love in Christ] is a love infected with disappointment’ (189). Ministers wrestle with men and women, believers and otherwise, persuaded that they are utterly unloveable and entirely beyond love. In part, like Ortlund, I am persuaded that this probably reflects a failure properly to appreciate and appropriate the incomparable depths of God’s love toward us in Christ Jesus, and—perhaps, therefore—further reflects a fear of preaching the heart of Christ in all its fulness of love. After all, what if people got the wrong impression and thought that they could sin and get away with it? But, on the other hand, what if people concluded that, because they had sinned, they were helplessly and hopelessly done for, because Christ would quickly become frustrated with us and leave us to our own wretched devices? It may be that Ortlund is conscious of an excessive intellectualism in his own circles, a technical grasp of what Christ is and does without an experimental acquaintance with our Lord’s heart toward us that spills over in our lives and from our lips. Whatever the case, he is quite right to quote Jeremiah 31:20 about the yearning of God’s heart, and challenge us, ‘Does your doctrine of God have room for him speaking like that?’ (164).

In the course of the book there are moments of penetrating insight into the Scriptures (such as the developed parallel between God’s self-revelation to Moses on the mountain and the actions of our Lord Jesus with his disciples), or points at which his apposite quotation of the Puritans, or communication of their sense, leaves the heart singing.

The book as a whole consists of twenty-three reasonably brief chapters, with an introduction and an epilogue. It concentrates more on the character of Christ, although his nature as the God-man is used to elaborate on the depths and demonstrations of his heart toward us. While the first chapter picks up the language of Matthew 11:29, which supplies the title, every chapter takes a verse, or more often a phrase, as its point of departure. The author wants us to understand the depths of Christ’s sympathy for and with sinners, his readiness to receive the penitent wanderer returning home, his patience and gentleness with his erring people, his intercession and advocacy for us in his glory, his perfect emotions in his dealings with us, his persevering affection, and the way in which his heart beats in time with the Father and the Spirit, revealing the Father’s heart and exemplified in the Spirit’s presence and operations. Ortlund labours constantly to overcome our sinful suspicions of the Lord, the twisted pride that assumes we are actually too bad to be saved, or the fear that we have messed up and have put ourselves if not beyond the power then perhaps beyond the patience of a loving Saviour. Some chapters rely more heavily on his source material. Goodwin ties the whole together, but specific chapters owe more or less to other authors, and one or two—such as the chapter on the emotional life of our Lord—are largely summaries of longer pieces by older authors.

As a whole, the theme is wonderfully sweet and absolutely vital. Ortlund’s emphases are sadly missing in too many churches. (It is worth remembering that not everything that he sees as missing has been or is being missed in every church and by every preacher.) For many a battered and bruised soul, either wondering if God could ever love them or keep loving them, there is much truth here to instruct and to comfort, truth presented with a necessarily emphatic edge. Sinners coming to Christ for the first time need not only to be persuaded of their own emptiness and weakness, but also persuaded that the Redeemer is not only absolutely able but eminently willing to save them—he delights to glorify God in receiving the most wretched of sinners. Further, saints need to enter ever more fully into the depths of Christ’s love, never despairing of him and therefore over themselves, but confident (without carelessness) that this fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness will ever be accessible to them, that their Lord and Saviour is more willing to forgive their sins than they might be to come to him for forgiveness. It is a truth that is intended to draw us to Christ and keep us near Christ, and should we ever drift away from him, to bring us back, more fully persuaded of his abounding and enduring love.

So persuaded am I of the need for more such preaching and teaching that I am borderline desperate to be able to commend this book without reservation as a remedy for some of the spiritual ills that afflict far too many doctrinally-sound but experientially-shrivelled Christians and congregations.

I cannot do that. I cannot commend it without reservation, despite my appreciation of the overarching thrust and intent, because I have three particular areas of significant concern. The first has to do with the overstatements that unbalance the book, including some false absolutes and false dichotomies; the second has to do with what seem to be certain subtle misrepresentations or reworkings of the Puritans and their emphases; the third has to do with a lack of clarity in theology proper and Christology.

With regard to overstatement, I mean a tendency—all too frequent both in books and pulpits—to make a point by absolutising one’s statement, or by seeking to throw truth into sharpest relief by setting it in contrast to other statements. This is proper when the other statements are false, but when it leads to the presentation of false absolutes or false dichotomies it undoes itself. I fundamentally agree with Dr Ortlund when he asserts that ‘it is impossible for the affectionate heart of Christ to be overcelebrated, made too much of, exaggerated’ (29, original emphasis). That does not in itself remove the danger of subtly misrepresenting Christ and his heart, even with the best of intentions. I am not sufficiently familiar with Dr Ortlund’s writings to know whether or not other books or articles offer further perspectives that together provide a more complete and balanced presentation of the points he makes here. Neither am I demanding a constant stream of deadening nuance, in which every writer or preacher must identify the seventeen things he does not mean before he says what he does. If we deal every absolute statement the death of a thousand qualifying cuts we are likely to undo our usefulness. That does not, though, suspend the duty for careful precision in the statements themselves. I would not try to cripple any communicator of truth, but we are most free when truly precise, working within the carefully-defined limits of our whole theology and the analogy of Scripture. There are moments at which I think Dr Ortlund either goes beyond himself in his understandable enthusiasm, or fails to be as careful as he might need to be when dealing with some details. Virtuosity is still jarring when in the wrong key.

Lest I seem to tilt at windmills, let me offer a concrete example from the opening lines of Chapter 20: “There are two ways to live the Christian life. You can live it either for the heart of Christ or from the heart of Christ. You can live for the smile of God or from it. For a new identity as a son or daughter of God or from it. For your union with Christ or from it.” On the surface it reads well, and sounds deeply ‘spiritual.’ But put those phrases in parallel and there are some category confusions: are the heart of Christ, the smile of God, a new identity, and union with Christ all precisely identical under all circumstances? What do the prepositions ‘for’ and ‘from’ mean in connection with those particular phrases? Does it make any difference if you are already a believer or not? Ortlund makes clear he is talking about the Christian life. So, for example, if you had asked the apostle Paul whether or not he first obtains union with Christ and a new life by his own efforts, he would have denied it from his soul. However, had you asked Paul if, as a Christian, he lived for the smile of God or from it, he would cheerfully have answered, “Yes!” (based on 2 Corinthians 5:9–11, Galatians 2:17–21, and Philippians 3:7–14, to take three prominent examples). Paul might also have insisted, using careful language, that—having begun in the Spirit, but not now being made perfect by the flesh (Gal 3:3)—we nevertheless go on demonstrating our union with Christ and enjoying the smile of our heavenly Father by way of a life of principled obedience.

On another occasion, in order to make a point, Ortlund insists that “justification is largely a doctrine about what Christ has done in the past, rooted centrally in his death and resurrection” (78), quoting the first half of Romans 5:1, emphasising thus: “we have been justified” (ESV). However, the whole verse reads tells us that since we have been justified by faith, we have a thoroughly present and enduring peace with God as justified men and women, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Ortlund’s characterisation of justification allows him then to insist that ‘intercession is the constant hitting “refresh” of our justification in the court of heaven’ (80). It is not that all this is entirely wrong; it is, though, unbalanced or incomplete in its presentation. Such overstatements can become unhelpful. Should we insist that ‘the Christian life is simply the process of bringing my sense of self … into alignment with the more fundamental truth’ of how Christ feels about us (187)? If I make that my working definition of the Christian life I think I am likely to leave people confused and misdirected.

This isolation of justification comes out in another curious way, and in another direction. Anyone who reads the mainstream Puritans will appreciate their emphasis on the application of truth to the heart. There is distinction but no distance, let alone divorce, between the elements of their soteriology. But, in his epilogue, Ortlund hammers home that his book is about the heart of Christ and of God, and then asks and answers the question, ‘But what are we to do with this? The main answer is, nothing.’ According to Ortlund, to ask, ‘Now how do I apply this to my life?’ would be ‘a trivialization of the point of this study. If an Eskimo wins a vacation to a sunny place, he doesn’t arrive in his hotel room, step out onto the balcony, and wonder how to apply that to his life. He just enjoys it. He just basks.’ The only thing we need to do is go to Jesus, and ‘all that means is, open yourself up to him. Let him love you. The Christian life boils down to two steps: 1. Go to Jesus. 2. See #1.’ All of this is supported with a quotation from Goodwin that, slightly disingenuously, does not actually come from the book, The Heart of Christ. What Ortlund does not say is that Goodwin actually finishes his work on Christ’s heart with four uses (the Puritan language of application). I acknowledge that this is slightly shoddy from Goodwin; if he were on form, we might expect a good forty or so! Also, taking into account the applications and exhortations sown by Goodwin throughout the whole, let us note that it is not just unlike the Puritans, but unlike Goodwin himself, to suggest that our only response is to bask in this truth. Goodwin, in keeping with the emphasis of the best of Puritanism, includes stirring exhortations alongside sweet encouragements. His third use is that, ‘As the doctrine delivered is a comfort, so the greatest motive against sin and persuasive unto obedience, to consider that Christ’s heart, if it be not afflicted with—and how far it may suffer with us we know not—yet for certain hath less joy in us, as we are more or less sinful, or obedient’ (Goodwin, 4:150). At this point you might appreciate why Ortlund sometimes paraphrases Goodwin, so let me do the same. Goodwin is simply pressing home the fact that Christ grieves over our sin and rejoices over our obedience, and that should make a difference to our pursuit of godliness. ‘Take this,’ says Goodwin, ‘as one incentive to obedience, that if he retained the same heart and mind for mercy towards you which he had here on earth, then to answer his love, endeavour you to have the same heart towards him on earth which you hope to have in heaven.’ The proper response to Christ’s heart is not simply basking in his love, but also responding to it with a love of our own that manifests itself in cheerful obedience.

Sometimes, Ortlund simply needs to be more careful with his language. For example, he asks, ‘Do you know what Jesus does with those who squander his mercy? He pours out more mercy. God is rich in mercy. That’s the whole point’ (179). One understands what he is trying to say, but there will be many on the day of judgment who are cast into the Pit precisely because they have squandered (recklessly wasted and cast away) the real and offered mercies of the Lord Jesus. Such imprecision opens the door to potentially dangerous misunderstandings.

Such examples could be repeated several times over. Many such sweeping statements sound clever and are catchy. Digging deeper, though, one finds that they are not properly compelling, and some effectively downplay other necessary or complementary emphases. All this is fine when we are carried along on the wave, less satisfying should we be only temporarily lifted up by the froth. While we do want people to grasp the heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers, that must be a well-grounded and accurate grasp. Overstatement for effect will ultimately hinder or even cripple our efforts to communicate the truth.

This concern bleeds, second, into the way in which Ortlund handles and riffs off the Puritans and others. To be fair, his selection of their quotations is typically judicious, and there are several moments at which one reads a few lines from Goodwin or Bunyan and wants to shout, ‘Nailed it!’ When our author gets it right, he often gets it delightfully right (aspects of his treatment of Warfield on the emotional life of our Lord, for example). However, as we have said, he is making a selection, and selection is often, by definition, interpretation. Sometimes Ortlund takes it upon himself to explain or develop what these other authors have said. In doing so, he seems sometimes to leave out important elements, or to go beyond his sources, or to rephrase them to say something slightly more, less or different. What you have here is essentially Goodwin mediated by Ortlund, not unlike the way in which many read Edwards as mediated by Piper. There is a selective emphasis that necessarily reflects the convictions and priorities of the mediator, and may—inadvertently or otherwise—skew the force of the original to some extent. As so often, it is important to listen to what is not being said, as well as the things that are being said. See, for example, the comments above about the way in which Goodwin applies these truths to God’s people, which is largely missing from Ortlund’s treatment.

Some of this is a matter of vocabulary. Ortlund tends to default to the language of love for the disposition of Christ toward us. It becomes a catch-all cognate for the disposition and all the affections of Christ as they are manifested towards us. While that is sometimes equally true of the Puritans he quotes, they are typically a little more precise. For example, even in the quotations he selects, the Puritans upon whom he relies often use the notions of pity or mercy not as simple synonyms for love, but as functions of love, love responding in certain ways to certain situations. Would it be better, rather than simply to say that Christ loves us all the more, the more we sin, to say that—because of the great love with which he loves us—our sin only draws out the more pity and mercy from his loving heart? Ortlund often hits that sweet spot, as when he assures us that ‘as [God’s] love rises, mercy descends. Great love fills his heart; rich mercy flows out of his heart’ (174). On other occasions, one wonders if a more careful definition of love and its manifestations might have been helpful, rather than assuming that we all instinctively grasp what love is and ought to be, and how it ought to act.

This leaves us sometimes reading Ortlund’s elucidation of Puritan teaching and finding it less clear or crisp than the Puritans themselves. At one or two points he lacks the happy ruthlessness of Puritan logic or precision of language, and, on occasion, the consistent and comprehensive grasp of truth that keeps them from going too far or not far enough in making a certain point. To be fair, there are times when Goodwin and company make assertions that take the breath away, and leave you feeling as if you are teetering on the edge of heresy, so bold are their declarations of the readiness of Christ to receive and go on receiving sinners. However, I do not recall reading the men and works that Ortlund quotes with quite so many questions or niggles. Again, I am not pushing for endless qualification (if that were so, this book would be three times as long as the weightiest Puritan tome!), but for precision and carefulness in the foundational statements. Perhaps I am just more conscious of the issues of the modern day, better attuned to the current issues and the way they are framed, but I don’t recall raising these issues with Goodwin, Owen, Sibbes, or Bunyan. These men seemed better able to address the ‘yes, buts’ or pre-empt the ‘what ifs’ of their magisterial declarations. Some of that breadth and balance is missing in Ortlund’s recapitulation of Goodwin.

Finally, there is the concern of his theology proper and his Christology. I do not envy Ortlund here, and I am deeply conscious that I am picking holes in a game effort to accomplish something at which I constantly fail. He is sailing deep waters, and makes a good fist of seeking to take account of the fact that he cannot deal with the incarnate Son without addressing the persons of the Father and the Spirit, and that the incarnate Son himself is indeed the God-man, two distinct natures in one person forever. I applaud the preacher or writer who manages a lifetime of addressing such things without a moment’s deviation or confusion!

Ortlund is himself deeply aware of that danger. He reminds us that J. I. Packer ‘once wrote that “a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” This is an especially sensitive point when we are talking about the Bible’s revelation of Christ’ (28). Shortly after, he warns that ‘we should beware a one-dimensional portrait of Christ that elevates one [dimension] to the neglect of others’ (35). Awareness of the trap does not prevent one slipping into it, if not quite becoming entirely caught up in it. Again, some of this may be a function of Ortlund’s enthusiasm, his working assumption that some things cannot be over-exaggerated. He is also trying to push back at some common misconceptions, such as the sense of some believers that ‘the Son of God came down from heaven in incarnate form, spent three decades or so as a human, and then returned to heaven to revert back to his preincarnate state’ (103). To be fair, across the book there are attempts to ensure that a properly scriptural balance is maintained, but balance is not necessarily the same as correctness and correction.

As the book’s own title makes plain, the focus is on the heart of Christ. There are, then, particular dangers in setting, or seeming to set, the heart of the person of the Son apart from the other persons of the Godhead, and so potentially disrupting the Trinity, or the heart of Christ-as-God apart from the heart of Christ-as-man, and so potentially disrupting the person of Messiah. There are challenges both in positively presenting all that, and in preventing or countering potential confusion about it.

For some, the difficulty might lie in the fact that Ortlund appears to go quite readily down Rob Lister’s route on anthropopathism (God’s ascription of human affection or emotion to himself as a way of accommodating himself to our understanding in making himself known). Ortlund seems quite dismissive of any attempt to discern between emotions or affections in our speaking of God, and perhaps feels that this book is not the proper place to explore fully the ways in which the God-man has sinless human emotions as well as divine affections (his chapter on Warfield is good in this respect). Again, the book is not a contribution to recent debates on divine impassibility (which Ortlund refers to, in connection with Lister as a helpful resource to ‘explore the way God is both impassible and yet capable of emotion’, in a substantial footnote on page 73). However, it is obviously not an issue that can be side-stepped when dealing with the heart of our Lord. Ortlund takes pains later in the book to make clear that Christ’s heart is not apart from the Father’s, still less against it, in his disposition toward us; this can feel more of a balancing act than a correction. We are still left with a danger at earlier points of not so much dividing as isolating the heart of Christ from the heart of the Father. Confusion on impassibility may lie behind statements such as the assertion that God ‘is—if I can put it this way without questioning his divine perfections—conflicted within himself when he sends affliction into our lives’ (138). Is that the safest way of putting it? Does that qualification keep us clear about whether or not the God of all the earth can be self-conflicted?

Again, Ortlund himself warns against the danger of being carried too far in seeking to go far enough. No preacher would begrudge him a proper enthusiasm, but not at the price of necessary precision. In an attempt to show us something great in Christ, there is that constant danger of presenting a one-dimensional Christ. I am not sure that he always stayed on the right side of that line. There are nuances and qualifications, for example, about Christ’s holy hatred of sin, but perhaps not sufficient, or sufficiently clear, to keep some from concluding that we are free to squander present mercies with the confidence that more mercies will come. In Sinclair Ferguson’s language, we need to preach a whole Christ. We cannot always (ever!) say everything, but we might need to say enough, in context or over time, manifestly to keep from preaching less or other than a whole Christ.

Anyone who raise such concerns needs to be aware of at least two dangers for themselves. The first is that, in attempting to keep from error, we will not state the whole truth with the fulness and freeness of the Scriptures themselves. So fearful might we be of legalism that we become antinomians, so fearful of antinomianism that we become legalists, or seek to counter the one with a dash of the other. In the same vein, men constantly on the lookout for even the most minute error in speaking of divine affections might find themselves unable or even unwilling to give free rein to Scriptural language or proper vent to their own souls in seeking to communicate the sweet wonders of the heart of God in Christ toward his beloved people. We cannot afford to be ashamed of or to draw back from biblical truth presented in biblical language.

To conclude, and without wishing to overstate it myself, I am persuaded that this theme is often and tragically overlooked or undercooked. For whatever reasons, the heart of Christ is too often clouded to us and by us. Lost sinners need to be confident that a saving Christ will receive them with infinite readiness and tenderness. Christians need to know Christ’s disposition of love toward us, and to feel it, and to understand the ways in which it is manifested toward us. Because of my delight in the topic, I wanted to love this book, and at points I did. Nevertheless, I too often felt I needed subtly, internally, to rework a phrase, to introduce a nuance, to press further a point, or to adjust an assertion. I still think that for some whose spiritual diet has been lacking this emphasis, Gentle and Lowly could be like a cup of cold water to the soul. For some who preach a known Christ competently, this book might help to preach a felt one earnestly. We need all that is true in this book. Even so, I think there is a danger that it might not so much correct certain imbalances as introduce different ones. I understand why some recommended it with almost no reserve, while some were so reserved they felt that they could not recommend it. That might depend on their circumstances and the people to whom they minister. I am quite confident that, if I preached Christ in all his fulness, I might eventually be accused both of antinomianism and legalism, depending on which truth I happen to be emphasising. That is why a bit more Puritan precision without any loss of Puritan passion (emotion? affection?) would be welcome. That carefulness needs to become second nature to the theologian, so that our language more instinctively, regularly and carefully reflects the whole truth of the whole Christ. I write all this not to be wilfully contrarian, or simply pernickety, but because I think that there are not so much flaws in the diamond itself, but rather genuine concerns about its presentation.

Much good will have been done if this book drives us back to the Puritans. In many modern editions, the Puritans are at least as accessible as this book, or become so for those willing to put in a little effort. Those Puritans also tend to be, I think, more complete and careful. For many, one of the better responses to this book will be to read Goodwin for themselves. However, more will have been done if Gentle and Lowly, with the men upon whose shoulders it stands, drive us back to our Bibles to search out and see these things in Christ for ourselves. If nothing else, it should remind us of the need to grasp these truths in our souls, and to tell them to others, even if we believe that we could and should tell them better. The great tragedy would be to conclude that we have nothing to learn in this matter. If so, it might either be because we have advanced beyond many of our contemporaries in our exceeding zeal for the honour of Christ and the good of his people, or—more likely—because we have not grasped the greatness of this theme, the glory of God revealed in it, or the good that comes to God’s people from a firmer grasp on the loving heart of the Altogether Lovely One.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Tuesday 8 September 2020 at 08:03

The restoration of public worship (again)

Having heard nothing yet from the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, about the prospects of Christian churches meeting for worship as soon as possible, and given recent developments, I have written again. And, again, I put it here not as the last word, but in the hopes that others might also be able to make representations along these lines for a recognition of our duty and our right to gather responsibly for the worship of the true and living God.

Further to my previous letter of Wednesday 27 May, I would like to raise once more the issue of the worship of Christian churches of the kind to which I belong.

As previously stated, in the matter of Christian worship, the focus in the Bible is on the people who worship rather than the place of worship. While I am sure that many are glad that places of worship are now open for private prayer, for Christians who value the gathering of the church for corporate worship (that is, our worship as a gathered body of believers) it offers little help. We can and do pray at all times and in all places. As made clear in my previous letter, for the Christians for whom I speak, nothing can replicate or replace the distinct spiritual privileges of meeting together for worship as a church, according to the direction of the Bible and therefore our religious principles. Such gatherings encourage and express our deepest convictions and hopes as believers in Jesus Christ.

Recently, the Prime Minister tweeted this: “People have a right to protest peacefully & while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police. These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery – and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account” (@BorisJohnson, 9:13pm, 07 Jun 2020). Would the Prime Minister, and you, also be willing to assure us that people have a right to worship God peacefully while observing social distancing and not attacking the police? We believe we can and should be able to gather for worship outside of our church buildings, and to do so at least as responsibly, carefully and safely as any comparable activities.

In that connection, we are aware of moves toward the reopening of cafés, pubs and restaurants, perhaps allowing responsible service outside while maintaining social distancing. If this is the case, whether in June or July, then it should be possible for Christians to meet for worship outside their existing church buildings. My previous letter outlined some ways in which we might be able to do this responsibly, carefully and safely. Given the nature of our regular gatherings, especially with social distancing measures observed, the impact on the R number of meeting in this way for worship would, at worst, be minimal.

I appreciate that there are countless calls on your time and energy at present, and we do pray for God’s favour toward our country and those whom he has put in government over the nation. I look forward to hearing from you, and to positive suggestions as to how the church which I serve, and others like us, can honour God in our obedience to him, while also honouring the civil authorities which God has established.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Thursday 11 June 2020 at 14:16

Posted in Culture and society, Current affairs, Ecclesiology

Tagged with church, Lord's day, Maidenbower Baptist Church, public worship, worship

The restoration of public worship

Encouraged by efforts in other places, I have written to the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, about the prospects of Christian churches meeting again as soon as possible. The letter has been copied to Baron Greenhalgh, Faith Minister, and my local Member of Parliament. I put it here not because I think it is the last word, but in the hopes that others might themselves be encouraged to do more, better.

I hope that this communication finds you, and yours, safe and well during these still difficult days. My name is Jeremy Walker, and I am a pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, West Sussex. I am writing about the government’s plans for the restoration of public worship in Christian churches.

As the government attempts to lead us out of lockdown, I am conscious of the difficult decisions and fine judgments that government and Parliament make and carry out, and the wisdom required. The church of Christ makes this a matter of particular prayer. We pray not as an issue of party political allegiance (1 Timothy 2:1–2) but because the church is a spiritual body rather than a political or even a social agency.

In this regard, I and others like me have been disappointed and even distressed to see the government’s plans for the restoration of public worship. At present, church buildings are in Step Three of the government’s plan (OUR PLAN TO REBUILD: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy), in which the ambition “is to open at least some of the remaining businesses and premises that have been required to close, including personal care (such as hairdressers and beauty salons), hospitality (such as food service providers, pubs and accommodation), public places (such as places of worship) and leisure facilities (like cinemas)” (page 31).

When it comes to the matter of religious worship, the focus in the Bible is on the people who worship. The focus in government policy appears to be on the place of worship. When the focus is on the latter, the physical space and social dynamics of a church building lead to it being classified among other enclosed social spaces like cinemas, theatres and restaurants. When the focus is on the former, the question becomes one of facilitating our corporate gathering as what the Bible calls “the body of Christ”—the people who are joined to him by our faith in him, and who thus become the spiritual family of God.

I note that the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has established a taskforce developing a plan to reopen places of worship. However, it seems that Christians who share my convictions about our faith and life (Protestant and Dissenting) are substantially absent from that taskforce. For the Christians of whom I am representative, both in Crawley and elsewhere, it is the act of worship more than the place of worship that is important. So, for example, the government suggests that places of worship may be open for private prayer before Saturday 4th July. While we commend any move toward the safe opening of our church buildings, we can privately pray anywhere and at any time, and we do, together with other acts of private and family devotion.

However, for the Christians for whom I speak, nothing can replicate or replace the distinct privileges of meeting together as a church under the Word of God preached to us in person. Christians like me join believers in other nations in making clear that neither confessional Christian faith nor the church as a body can faithfully exist without a Lord’s day gathering. As others have said in other countries, the Bible and centuries of habit oblige Christians to gather weekly for worship and witness around the Word of God and sacraments—we need one another to flourish in our service to Christ (Exodus 20:9-11; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; Hebrews 10:24-25; Acts 2:42, 20:7). This divine obligation and hard-won historic freedom supersedes all human legislation and regulation. The church is not comparable to any other social venue and cannot be dismissed as non-essential by an expert in any field. We say with respect that the church does not exist and is not regulated by permission of the state, for its establishment and rule is found in Jesus Christ himself.

The biblical rhythm of worship is weekly, gathering on the first day of the week to honour God and to receive spiritual blessings from him as his Word is preached. It is why the Bible commands us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25). The language of weekly corporate gathering is used repeatedly in the New Testament, and to it are attached any number of divine encouragements to pursue it, divine promises regarding it, and divine warnings against neglecting it. It is essential for us, and we are beginning to see among us and around us the effects of the churches failing to meet, both in the impact on us and on those whom we serve in various ways.

We understand that love to God and to our neighbour, with respect for and cooperation with the civil authorities whom God has placed over us, has necessitated not forsaking but suspending our regular assemblies. As Christians who know the hope of resurrection through Jesus Christ we do not fear death but we do wish to preserve health and life. However, we are convinced that more needs to be done to facilitate a restoration of our regular practice.

At present, we are permitted to spend time outdoors subject to government guidelines. Step Two of the government’s plan begins on Monday 1st June. It includes such measures as phased returns for schools, opening non-essential retail, permitting cultural and sporting events behind closed doors, and re-opening some public transport. There is some scope for increased social and family contact (pages 30-31 of the plan to rebuild).

I respectfully suggest that during this second phase it should be possible for Christians to meet for worship outside their existing church buildings. While we recognise that this involves more than physical families gathering, we believe that we can meet and conduct our worship safely. For example, the church which I serve, and others like us, might:

Use our own church grounds, where we have them, or sufficiently wide open spaces, where we do not, to prevent potentially obstructing or endangering others going about their own business. We would be willing to meet early or late, as common sense dictates, to enable us to meet at all.
Communicate and enforce health protocols in our gatherings based on government guidance.
Prevent access to our buildings to minimise any actual or potential risks from proximity.
Ensure that individuals or family units attending outdoor services are and remain at least two metres apart from one another for the duration of our services, including arrival and departure.
Encourage attendees to use appropriate personal hygiene measures including but not limited to regular handwashing, the appropriate use of hand sanitiser, and the wearing of masks.
Continue online provision of religious services as we are able, so that those who are not comfortable with gathering or who cannot meet in person due to age or health challenges can engage in some degree.
Require attendees to affirm explicitly that they have no symptoms, have not travelled out of the country within the last fourteen days and have not been in contact with anyone with the virus.

I would also suggest that the third phase should explicitly provide for the safe restoration of public worship, whether within or without church buildings. For this to be done well, it might include the following:

Communicating and enforcing health protocols in our churches based on government guidance.
The initial limitation of access to our services and ministries to approximately 40% of our building capacities to permit physical distancing, expanding that number as circumstances permit. This will allow for plenty of room between persons well beyond two metres in most facilities and acknowledges that not all church facilities have equal capacity. If necessary, we could hold multiple or staggered services to allow as many as possible to attend.
Providing a clean facility including hand sanitisers and wiping down of common surfaces between services.
Encouraging attendees to use appropriate personal hygiene measures including but not limited to regular handwashing, the appropriate use of hand sanitiser, and the wearing of masks.
Continuing online provision of religious services as we are able, so that those who are not comfortable with gathering or who cannot meet in person due to age or health challenges can engage in some degree.
Requiring attendees to explicitly affirm that they have no symptoms, have not travelled out of the country within the last fourteen days and have not been in contact with anyone with the virus in order to attend.

Our first concern is for the glory of God and the good of all those for whom the church of Jesus Christ brings God’s good news. We should be grateful for a response from you as soon as possible, and willing to consider any further advice you have to offer us. I look forward to your positive response, and to a continued good and respectful relationship with civil authorities as we seek to honour our Creator and Saviour in the country of which he has made us grateful and prayerful citizens.

Written by Jeremy Walker

Wednesday 27 May 2020 at 13:51

Posted in Culture and society, Current affairs, Ecclesiology

Tagged with church, Lord's day, Maidenbower Baptist Church, public worship, worship

Conditional lives

“All of this is conditional.”

So said our Prime Minister when setting out the proposals for the ending of the UK’s national lockdown. It seems like a sensible thing to say. Whether or not you like the idea of being a slave to ‘the science’, our widespread ignorance makes it at least reasonable to suggest that we can only proceed step by step, simply because we do not know what will happen when we take each step. Even a bolder and more definite plan, and even taking account of the more detailed advice that has been promised, it always has to be what is insistently called “a conditional plan.”

It is striking to see how angry and afraid people become because of this. It reminds me of a road trip to preach at a church in the Midlands many years ago. Setting out in good time, I discovered that a major motorway had been closed overnight and the re-opening had been delayed. In company with thousands of others, I queued. In company with hundreds of others, I got fed up queuing and tried to find a way around. When those hundreds of us ended up in other and worse queues, I returned to my original queue, which was still shorter. When the road opened, off we all went, most of us now late. To begin with, I had the pedal to the metal, wondering if I could still get there in time, occasionally dropping out of the fast lane to let someone past at a ridiculous rate of knots. And I noticed their faces and their driving styles. They appeared, typically, angry or scared. Their plans were in disarray. They had thought that they were in control, and now they needed to get back in control, to catch up lost time, to get a grip again on their lives. It seemed to me that they thought that they had been in charge of things, and, when things were taken out of their hands, they became deeply agitated. At some level, it was idolatry of the self. At that point, I slowed down, called ahead to say that I would be late, and drove—relatively safely and sanely—to the place where I was preaching. I arrived about thirty minutes into the service, stepping inside the door as a man was fervently pleading for the safe arrival of the preacher. His earnestness suggested that he would be the man who would have to step in if I did not arrive. His relief when he opened his eyes was palpable. I don’t know if anyone has ever been that glad to see me! But I had been taught again that I am not in control.

It is a lesson that has been pressed home again in the last few weeks. On one level, everything has fallen apart. So much that I had planned, for which I had prepared, and upon which I had presumed over the course of the coming months, now lies in ashes. The plans for the Lord’s day ministry that I had in mind, the evangelistic efforts locally, the connections and investments close at hand, all proved conditional. Next week I should have been at a conference in the UK and then one in the US. They were, it seems, eminently conditional. This week, my involvement in a European conference in the summer was tentatively cancelled, but that’s conditional on the next few weeks. Possibly rescheduling of these conferences for the future is … er … conditional upon factors outside of our control. We are looking at plans for post-lockdown church meetings. Much of it is conditional. At its most visceral, we have come again face to face with our own mortality, and with the mortality of those who are most dear to us. My life is conditional. Perhaps the fear has faded a bit, but all plans might have been ended by death. I have had to face again my utter weakness. I have been reminded—I have needed to be reminded—that I am not in control, and that God is. In fact, in that there is something quite refreshing.

You see, I spend a lot of time planning. I think efficiency is a marvellous thing. My days tend to be quite full, even if not always well-constructed and minutely-detailed. I like a bit of flex. The bigger picture tends to be, in my calendar, a rainbow-hued glory of seamless transition from place to place and task to task. In the last few weeks, I have spent at least as much time deleting and re-ordering as I have entering and scheduling.

And in that there can be a real sense of relief. The first few weeks of lockdown, everything just dropped. The schedule to which I was a self-indentured slave meant very little. There were times when I could have danced, others when I felt the responsibility for diligence with a newly-cleansed calendar. But it was not simply the absence of the demand that offered peace; for many, the fact that they were no longer in control seemed to induce fear or anger. What gave me peace was the reminder that while I am not in control, God is.

Everything I plan is always conditional. I just tend to forget that it is so. Every plan, made by every individual and institution, every prime minister, president and potentate, every governor and every government and every grunt, is conditional. The world’s plans have been brought to a standstill, or even to nothing, by a virus we can barely trace or track. We all tend to forget that it is so. James reminds us of this reality at the personal, visceral level:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (Jas 4:13–16).

sun behind clouds We make our plans, and we forget that even tomorrow is not guaranteed. It is not wrong to make plans, but we ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” Anything else is to boast in arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. What I ought to remember is that the only words which never fall to the ground are God’s. Nothing fails of any of his plans and promises. In that true sense, nothing has fallen apart; nothing has ended prematurely; nothing has been rescheduled. Everything has worked out as the Lord God has intended. From my perspective, all has proved conditional. From the throne of heaven, all comes to pass as it was intended. God’s sovereign determinations and unconditional decrees have issued in unfailing outcomes.

If we become angry or afraid because of the conditional nature of our plans and purposes, it is because we have not reckoned with our humanity, our mortality, our feeble finitude. We are not in control. That is true in the great things of our existence, and it is true of all the minute details of our individual lives. That tends to make the self-determining heart afraid and angry, or drift into despair, or insist upon the emptiness and pointlessness of it all. But true faith faces this, and turns to God and puts all things in his hands, and hangs all our plans and purposes upon his merciful and loving designs, without fear or anger.

My times are in your hand;
My God, I wish them there;
My life, my friends, my soul I leave
Entirely to your care.

My times are in your hand;
Whatever may unfold;
Pleasing or painful, dark or bright,
All by your love controlled.

My times are in your hand;
Why should I doubt or fear?
My Father’s hand will never cause
His child a needless tear.

My times are in your hand,
Jesus, the crucified!
Those hands my cruel sins had pierced
Are now my guard and guide.

My times are in your hand,
I’ll trust abidingly;
And, after death, at your right hand
I shall forever be.

William Freeman Lloyd (with minor modernisations)

Written by Jeremy Walker

Tuesday 12 May 2020 at 12:31

Posted in Christian living

Tagged with conditional, coronavirus, COVID-19, faith, God, James, providence, sovereignty, unconditional

Weary shepherds