Category: Puritans

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Puritans Suffering & Trials

John Owen on Perilous Seasons

Joel Beeke has a list of resources from the Puritans and their sermons during plague times, or on the subject of pestilence.

Below is a sample from a sermon by John Owen who was teaching on the topic of what he called, “perilous seasons”. Owen answers the question of why plague/pestilence seasons are so perilous. Here is what he says:

1. Because of the infection. Churches and professors are apt to be infected with it. The historians tell us of a plague at Athens, in the second and third years of the Peloponnesian war, whereof multitudes died; and of those that lived, few escaped but they lost a limb, or part of a limb – some an eye, others an arm, and others a finger – the infection was so great and terrible. And truly, brethren, where this plague comes – of the visible practice of unclean lusts under an outward profession – though men do not die, yet one loses an arm, another an eye, another a leg by it: the infection diffuses itself to the best of professors, more or less. This makes it a dangerous and perilous time. 

2. It is dangerous, because of the effects; for when predominant lusts have broken all bounds of divine light and rule, how long do you think that human rules will keep them in order? They break through all in such a season as the apostle describes. And if they come to break through all human restraints as they have broken through divine, they will fill all things with ruin and confusion. 

3. They are perilous in the consequence: which is, the judgments of God. When men do not receive the truth in the love of it, but have pleasure in unrighteousness, God will send them strong delusion, to believe a he. So II Thess. 2:10-11 is a description how the Papacy came upon the world. Men professed the truth of religion, but did not love it they loved unrighteousness and ungodliness; and God sent them Popery. That is the interpretation of the place, according to the best divines. Will you profess the truth, and at the same time love unrighteousness? The consequence is, security under superstition and ungodliness. This is the end of such a perilous season; and the like may be said as to temporal judgments, which I need not mention. 

Let us now consider what is our duty in such a perilous season:

1. We ought greatly to mourn for the public abominations of the world, and of the land of our nativity wherein we live. I would only observe that place in Ezekiel 9, God sends out His judgments, and destroys the city; but before, He sets a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. You will find this passage referred in your books to Revelation 7:3, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” I would only observe this, that such only are the servants of God, let men profess what they will, “who mourn for the abominations that are done in the land.” The mourners in the one place are the servants of God in the other. And truly, brethren, we are certainly to blame in this matter. We have been almost well contented that men should be as wicked as they would themselves, and we sit still and see what would come of it. Christ hath been dishonored, the Spirit of God blasphemed, and God provoked against the land of our nativity; and yet we have not been affected with these things. I can truly say in sincerity, I bless God, I have sometimes labored with my own heart about it. But I am afraid we, all of us, come exceedingly short of our duty in this matter. “Rivers of waters,” saith the Psalmist, “run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law.” Horrible profanation of the name of God, horrible abominations, which our eyes have seen, and our ears heard, and yet our hearts been unaffected with them! Do you think this is a frame of heart God requireth of us in such a season – to be regardless of all, and not to mourn for the public abominations of the land? The servants of God will mourn. I could speak, but am not free to speak, to those prejudices which keep us from mourning for public abominations; but they may be easily suggested unto all your thoughts, and particularly what they are that have kept us from attending more unto this duty of mourning for public abominations. And give me leave to say, that, according to the Scripture rule, there is no one of us can have any evidence that we shall escape outward judgments that God will bring for these abominations, if we have not been mourners for them; but that as smart a revenge, as to outward dispensations, may fall upon us as upon those that are most guilty of them, no Scripture evidence have we to the contrary. How God may deal with us, I know not. 

Sermon, 2 Timothy 3:1
Categories
Clint Puritans Society Theology

Christ V. Antichrist

John Bunyan wrote a book called Antichrist and his Ruin. I’m guessing it’s one of his works that are seldom read today. People, at least in the church circles I run in don’t talk much about the Antichrist. They don’t talk about the judgement to come either. Maybe that’s why we don’t share the gospel very often.

Since I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, I’ve had to re-engage with the topic of the Antichrist and to consider his ‘ruin’ as Bunyan put it. And although many antichrists have been identified through history (Joe Carter lists over a half dozen), these days fewer people seem to care about the reality of godless, supernatural opposition to Christ and the gospel. We tend to be fixated on politics– good or bad– as the only level of warfare in existence. As American Senator Ben Sasse has observed, “so many of those local tribes of textured meaning [i.e. family, neighbourhood, workplace, local church] are in collapse, and people are looking for substitute tribes in politics. And I don’t think that’s going to work out very well.” So I’ve looked with interest at what a wise guide like Bunyan has to say about the Antichrist, and the spirit of antichrist which is at work “already in the world” (1 John 4:3).

Bunyan’s Introduction to the Identity of the Antichrist

In one of his opening descriptions, Bunyan sets out the way that the Antichrist is the antonym of Christ, yet deceptively so. This sense of being the opposite of Christ, but with a false veneer or duplicitous camouflage, is the character of Antichrist which Bunyan seeks to emphasize. He writes:

Antichrist is the adversary of Christ; an adversary really, a friend pretendedly: So then, Antichrist is one that is against Christ; one that is for Christ, and one that is contrary to him: (And this is that mystery of iniquity (2 Thess 2:7). Against him in deed; for him in word, and contrary to him in practice. Antichrist is so proud as to go before Christ; so humble as to pretend to come after him, and so audacious as to say that himself is he. Antichrist will cry up Christ; Antichrist will cry down Christ: Antichrist will proclaim that himself is one above Christ. Antichrist is the man of sin, the son of perdition; a beast, [that] hath two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon (Rev 13:11).

Works, Volume II, 46.

Consider that according to Bunyan’s reading of Scripture, the Antichrist is obviously against Christ, but less obviously seen to be against Christ. He is against Christ in activity, but presents himself publically as a supporter of Christ (“for him in word”), even “pretending” to come after him in humility, but all with an “audacious” arrogance.

All of this means that Antichrist has a religious connection, engaged with church circles.

Antichrist subverts the church with false support.

Bunyan’s List of Contrasts Between Christ and Antichrist

Another way that Bunyan helps us to understand the Antichrist is by contrasting him with the vast superiority of Jesus Christ. In fact, even Bunyan’s contrasts are inadequate because Jesus Christ the Son of God is in a category by himself, and is utterly incomparable. But for the purposes of giving an introduction, Bunyan suggests the follow antonymic comparisons:

  1. Christ is the Son of God; Antichrist is the son of Hell.
  2. Christ is holy, meek, and forbearing: Antichrist is wicked, outrageous, and exacting.
  3. Christ seeketh the good of the soul: Antichrist seeks his own avarice and revenge.
  4. Christ is content to rule by his word: Antichrist saith, The word is not sufficient.
  5. Christ preferreth his Father’s will above heaven and earth: Antichrist preferreth himself and his traditions above all that is written, or that is called God, or worshiped.
  6. Christ has given us such laws and rules as are helpful and healthful to the soul: Antichrist seeketh to abuse those rules to our hurt and destruction. (Works, Volume II, 46.)

The descriptors which Bunyan uses to describe Jesus Christ are beautiful. Against our cultural moment, Christ is forbearing, seeks the good of the soul, rules by his word, prefers his Father’s will, and gives what is helpful and healthful to the soul. Bunyan saw in the Lord Jesus Christ one who is gratuitous in his help toward his creatures.

By contrast, the Antichrist is the opposite, though he feigns to hide his true intentions.

If we take the Bunyan’s descriptions and lay them up against our cultural moment, the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age, then you can see clearly how much the spirit of antichrist is upon us.

Think about how everyone and everything is so exacting these days. If the Antichrist is, according to Bunyan, “wicked, outrageous, and exacting” then the spirit of Antichrist is clearly evident in our social media. If you misspell something on Facebook, or mess up some grammar, someone will correct you in exacting detail. If you tweet something that is out of line with the prevailing cultural orthodoxies, you’re statement will be parsed, critiqued, and judged with an execution of shame. Twitter can be an exacting platform, that is at the same time outrageous, and not so subtly wicked.

We see that growing tendency for people to turn quickly against leaders, public servants, customer service reps, believers, churches, organizations and anyone else when they feel they have been wronged. It’s as if there is a spirit of revenge that is waiting to burst out at the slightest injury. How strikingly different is the impulse of Christ himself, who “seeketh the good of the soul”.

And of course, the church is wrestling with the problem of whether or not they will follow Christ’s rule by his word, or listen to the spirit of Antichrist which says that “the word is not sufficient”

It is a simple binary. Follow Christ or heed the Antichrist. Christ is Lord. He is God, the Son incarnate. He is above all and over all. The Antichrist would presume to set himself above the Creator. Yet the spirit of antichrist prevails even in such unlikely places as critical New Testament scholarship. For example, Robert Yarbrough documents how critical NT scholars, set themselves above Scripture, rather than under it. As reported from Yarbrough’s lectures in 2018:

Elitism, dating back only a few centuries to Germann scholars, he explained, does not necessarily take the Bible at face value and views the Bible from “a superior vantage point,” often dismissing or reinterpreting claims of Scripture. It is the viewpoint of the academy, Yarbrough said, and is marked by a critical study of the Bible that rejects a doctrinal interpretation of it.

Scholarly ‘populism’ provides a way forward in New Testament theology, says Yarbrough at SBTS Gheens Lectures, SBTS News, March 2018

Bunyan would argue that such critical scholarship is an example of the spirit of antichrist, inspiring creatures to set themselves above Christ, to pass judgement on him and his word, and to draw attention to themselves for their cleverness and omniscience.

Of course, this type of spirit is everywhere in society. Yet how different it is to find the humbled, diligent follower of Jesus Christ, who confesses him as her Lord, who enjoys his gratuity with thanksgiving tempered with awe and wonder!

The Illusion of Culture Wars?

If the spirit of antichrist presents the advance claims of “the man of lawlessness”, then we should admit that we might be wrong in our perception of where the battle lines are drawn. We need to admit that we are likely wrong that our primary battlefront is in the culture war. The culture war is the diversion. Rather, the real warfare is against the spirit of antichrist, which aims to deceive the church (Matt 24:4).

As Paul told the Ephesians:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Therefore, then as now, we need to, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Eph 6:13) 

Antichrist and his Ruin – PDF from Chapel Library

Categories
Clint Puritans Spiritual Growth Suffering & Trials Theology

Affliction as Art

No one likes affliction. We spend most of our time doing all that we can to avoid it, secure against it and make it go away.

Yet could it be that affliction can be used by God to create beauty? Can we appreciate affliction as art?

Consider that the lustre of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ shines more brilliantly against that dark backdrop of Adam’s fall into damnation. All of the other trials and triumphs of Scripture filter these contrasts with varying degrees of intensity.

Thomas Watson and the Limner

I didn’t know what a limner was when I read about one in Thomas Watson’s writing. A limner is an artist who illuminates manuscripts (like the beautiful work of the Lindisfarne Gospels). A limner can also be a portrait painter, especially of miniatures. Watson said:

As the limner mixeth with his dark shadows bright colours, so doth God mingle the dark and bright colours, his crosses and his blessings, and so causeth “all things to work together for good to them who love him.”

Puritan Gems; or Wise and Holy Sayings of the Rev Thomas Watson AM

So in Watson’s view there was a beauty that could be created using affliction in a Christian’s life. This is important for us to recognize because we can look at the dark colours only. We can forget that the afflictions are used to make the brighter blessings shine.

Monochrome Afflictions?

How frequently do our afflictions become monochrome in our sight? It is as if we are colour-blinded by the cares and sorrows of this world. But if we were to see the dark shades in something other than black and white, we would see the brilliance of God’s blessings in all their vivid tints and textures.

So the intent of these dark colours of affliction are to not to plunge into unrelenting darkness, but to celebrate the light and to point to the one who is the light (John 8:12). Even in the grand contrast of the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy which Paul explains in the ninth chapter of Romans, the art of comparison stands out vividly. The intent of God is to craft the dark hues which colour the vessels of wrath for a beautiful purpose. Paul says:

in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 

Rom 9:23

The afflictions are intended to cause “the riches of his glory” to be set in contrast. But when they are compared, the conclusion is that that the glory is beyond comparison. As Paul said,

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison

2 Cor 4:17

The wonder of Rembrandt as an artist was that he could show the brilliance of light in contrast to the dark hues. God has an artistry that is incomparable to any other ‘creative’. The darkness of affliction has to be seen as part of God’s whole canvas for our lives.

Marvel and wonder at how God is even able to create art from affliction.

unsplash-logoAndrian Valeanu

Categories
Church Fathers Clint Gospel Puritans Theology

Robert Haldane on the Sonship of the Son

In his commentary on Romans, the Scottish theologian Robert Haldane (1764-1842), attempted to unpack what the sonship of the Son entailed. Commenting on the third verse of the first chapter, Haldane wrote:

The gospel of God concerns his Son. The whole of it is comprised in the knowledge of Jesus Christ; so that whoever departs one step from him departs from the gospel. For as Jesus Christ is the Divine image of the Father, he is set before us as the real object of our faith.

Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, 19.

So the sonship of the Son relates to his image-bearing of the invisible God (Col 1:15). His sonship is unique in this way, even if it has been revealed to us in the relational language of Father and Son.

Intelligible, but Unique

The qualities of paternity and filiation, are technical descriptions of the Father and the Son, respectively. As high as these unique descriptions are, they still tell us something intelligible. The persons of the Trinity are not called God 1, 2 and 3, but Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son’s uniqueness doesn’t mean his sonship is unintelligible. But in our limited comprehension, we must be humble and accept that he is a Son like no other.

On the basis of the uniqueness of the Son in all respects, Haldane argues that he has the same nature as the Father, and differentiates the Son from all other types of sons. He wrote:

“He is the Son of God, his own Son, the only begotten of the Father; which proves, that he is truly and exclusively his Son, of the same nature, and equal with the Father, and not figuratively, or in a secondary sense, as angels or men, as Israel or believers”

Ibid, 20.

Haldane believed that the Son shared the same essence as the Father because he is the only begotten of the Father. So an unpartitioned divine nature was the Son’s. He is equal with Father, which his Sonship proves.

Chalcedonian logic

Rather than viewing the description of “Son” as a lesser title than Father, Haldane noted what the orthodox have always known, that the Sonship of the Son, speaks to his shared, co-equal, divine essence. The Son, is “consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead”, according to the creed of Chalcedon. Yet with this divine nature is added his human nature. As the Chalcedonian creed summarized the relationship:

one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ

Fourth Ecumenical Council, Chalcedon, 451AD.

This Chalcedonian way of speaking was certainly what Haldane confessed. And following Paul, Haldane understood the significance of the title, “Son of God”:

That the Lord Jesus Christ, in his eternal equality with the Father and not merely as God manifested in the flesh, is called the Son of God, flows directly from the fact, that wherever the first person of the adorable Trinity is personally distinguished in Scripture, it is under the title, the co-relative title of the Father.

Ibid, 20.

In the early nineteenth century, it was necessary for Haldane to make these points. He needed to affirm that the Sonship of the Son vindicated his deity.

Haldane’s Caution

Following a century of rationalism, Haldane constantly re-affirmed a high and historic view of the divine Trinity. He cautioned against the temptation to speculate when discussing the doctrine of God. The easiest temptation which Christian’s face is to suppose that the Sonship of the Son is somehow a lesser ‘derivation’. Haldane dealt with this objection saying:

And what is the objection to this doctrine of our Lord’s eternal Sonship? It is simply, that it differs from all our ordinary notions of the filial relation to represent the Son as co-eternal with the Father; or that begotten must necessarily mean “derived,” and that to grant derivation is to surrender Deity.

Exposition, 20.

Haldane wanted to hedge against the temptation to restrain the Sonship of the Son to our human ideas of sonship alone. This ‘derived personality’ was a way for the rationalists to deny the deity of the Son but affirming the language of sonship.

Haldane expressed the objections to sound doctrine and the wrong thinking from which it came from:

To demand that the distinction of persons in the undivided essence of the Godhead, and the mode of their eternal substance shall be made plain to us; or to repugn against the doctrine of the eternal filiation of the Son of God, because it overpasses the boundaries of our notions of Sonship, what is this but the very summit of unthinking arrogance?

Ibid, 20.

As we consider the Sonship of the Son, we need to be careful about our tendencies to be elevated to a “summit of unthinking arrogance”. At the same time, like Haldane, we need to look at Scripture and explore the significance of the ways that God has described himself, all of the predicates and titles.

unsplash-logoPriscilla Du Preez

Categories
Clint Gospel Puritans Spiritual Growth Theology

Different Views of One Object: The Gospel

The theologian Robert Haldane (1764-1842) wrote in his commentary on Romans that Paul always connects his teaching on Christian living to the mystery of redemption in Christ. This is how Paul can make multifaceted applications of the gospel. Haldane summarizes Paul’s approach in what follows. I have broken up this extended quotation by highlighting Haldane’s break in thought with various headings and numbering. Haldane writes the following:

1. On whatever subject Paul treats, he constantly introduces the mystery of Christ.

  • In writing to the Corinthians, he says, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” This is a declaration, that the doctrine concerning Christ is the whole of religion, in which all besides is comprehended.
  • In delivering his instructions to the saints at Corinth, respecting the incestuous person, he points out to them. Jesus Christ as the Lamb that was sacrificed.
  • If his subject respects the promises he has made, or the engagements he has entered into, he draws our attention to the promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus.
  • When he treats of the precepts to be obeyed, he regards them as connected with the knowledge of Christ;
  • all duties are considered in relation to him, as the only Saviour from whom we can derive power to fulfil them,
  • the only altar on which they can be accepted,
  • that model according to which they are to be performed,
  • and the motive by which those who perform them are to be actuated.
  • He is the head that gives life to the members,
  • the root which renders the branches fruitful.
  • Believers are the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
  • Jesus Christ is the end and object of their obedience, in order that the name of the Father may be glorified in the Son, and that the name of the Son may be glorified in them.

2. Accordingly, the Scriptures speak of the commencement and the continuation of the life of believers as being derived from Christ;

  • of their being planted together with him;
  • buried and risen with him;
  • walking in him;
  • living and dying with him.

The principal motives to holiness, in general, or to any particular duty, are drawn from some special view of the work of redemption, fitted to excite to the fulfilment of such obligations.

3. The love of God in Christ is set before us in a multitude of passages, as the most powerful motive we can have to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.

  • When we are exhorted to look not to our own things only, but also to those of others, it is because we ought to have the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, humbled himself to do such wonderful things for us.
  • The duty of almsgiving is enforced by the consideration, that he who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.
  • Forbearance to weak brethren has for its motive the death of Christ for them.
  • If we are exhorted to forgive the offences of others, it is because God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven us.
  • The reciprocal duties of husband and wife are enforced by the consideration of the love of Christ, and the relation in which he stands to his church.
  • The motive to chastity is, that we are members of Christ’s body, and temples of the Holy Ghost.

In one word, the various exhortations to the particular duties of a holy life, and the motives which correspond to each of them, are all taken from different views of one grand and important object, the mystery of redemption.

— Robert Haldane, Exposition of Romans, 1858. pp 20-21

Categories
Clint Creation Gospel Puritans Spiritual Growth Theology

John Newton’s 4 Books For Every Library

For me personally, one of the saddest results of the flood which ruined our home (alongside all our neighbours) was the loss of my library. I had invested money in building the library, but I’m much more sentimental about the time which I invested in many books that had become ‘friends’.

Without the library, how should I start again? Christian publishing is pouring out books steadily, but many of these books will not be the kind of classics which will last beyond a decade. Older books are available in public domain digital format. As a person thinks about books to acquire, to read and to absorb, you have to also remember the wisdom of the Preacher:

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Ecclesiastes 12:11-12

This is where a list of essential books comes in. Long before Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism became popular, John Newton argued that there are four essential books which every Christian should own and master. The books of the Bible, Creation, Providence and the Heart.

The Book of the Bible

These days we are finding ourselves less and less familiar with the language of Zion. The Old Testament narratives are not understood well. The New Testament is selectively known well, but hardly mastered.

To know the Scriptures well is to immerse ourselves (1 Tim 4:15) in the biblical world, biblical thought, biblical language and biblical priorities. Newton spoke of the language of the bible in this way:

The language of the Bible is likewise clothed with inimitable majesty and authority. God speaks in it, and reveals the glory of his perfections, his sovereignty, holiness, justice, goodness, and grace, in a manner worthy of himself, though at the same time admirably adapted to our weakness.

Works of John Newton, Vol 1, Letter XV

Mastering the bible ought to be the ongoing goal of every Christian. Even pastors must make extra effort for this. As Sinclair Ferguson stated in his Preacher’s Decalogue, the first commandment is “Know Your Bible Better”.

The Book of Creation

The second book that everyone can possess and read is the book of creation. Christians must continue to master this book, since many people today wish to misuse it or discard it in an attempt to discredit creation’s Author.

Yet even those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ are beginning to see that the expansive complexity of created things exposes our ignorance. As David Berlinski notes in an interview, the ability to understand the human cell is a goal that is “receding” as more layers of complexity are uncovered.

When binary sexes are being denied in favour of magically fluid genderless categories, the book of creation has been abandoned. Of course this should not be surprising since Paul spelled out the way that humanity “suppresses the truth in unrighteousness”, denying the full reality that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Ro 1:18,20).

Newton recognized that the book of creation is only used properly by those who see it with the book of the bible in their hands, minds and hearts. He wrote:

The Lord has established a wonderful analogy between the natural and the spiritual world. This is a secret only known to them that fear him; but they contemplate it with pleasure; and almost every object they see, when they are in a right frame of mind, either leads their thoughts to Jesus, or tends to illustrate some scriptural truth or promise. This is the best method of studying the book of Nature; and for this purpose it is always open and plain to those who love the Bible, so that he who runs may read.

Works of John Newton, Vol 1, Letter XV

So in the library, these two books will always be paired right beside each other, for the second is interpreted by the first.

The Book of Providence

In the ruling care which God exercises over all creation, with special attention to his people, Christian believers can “read” of this care as a sort of book of Providence. Newton wrote:

What we read in the Bible, of the sovereignty, wisdom, power, omniscience, and omnipresence of God, of his over-ruling all events to the accomplishment of his counsels and the manifestation of his glory, of the care he maintains of his church and people, and of his attention to their prayers, is exemplified by the history of nations and families, and the daily occurrences of private life.

Works of John Newton, Vol 1, Letter XV

Many Christians make it a spiritual discipline to keep a journal in order to record the events of God’s providential care for them each day. Whether written on paper or in our memory, we can read and see that God has been caring for us. By reading the book of Providence, we can come to know “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Ro 8:28).

The Book of the Heart

The last book which Christians should have in their library is a studied understanding of the book of the Heart. Recognizing what is common to human nature, namely the wonders of being made in the image of God, yet the horrors of a nature corrupted by sin— understanding this will give us insight into ourselves and others.

Calvin made the observation that there is a reciprocal knowing of God and ourselves which occurs for the believer. He said:

Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself

Institutes, 1.1 (Battles trans.)

As we pursue this other knowledge, namely knowing God, we will get a clearer reading of the human heart. Unlike the world’s religions the book of the heart is not read in isolation, or as an inward journey of discovery by itself. Such a practice only leaves the searcher lost and ignorant. This knowledge of human nature can only be read, by reading the first book, the Holy Scriptures. Newton wrote:

The heart of man is deep; but all its principles and workings, in every possible situation, and the various manners in which it is affected by sin, by Satan, by worldly objects, and by grace, in solitude and in company, in prosperity and in affliction, are disclosed and unfolded in the Scripture.

Works of John Newton, Vol 1, Letter XV

Study of the Scriptures makes the believer a sage in reading the heart. As David put it in his psalm, “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation” (Ps 119.99).

Four Books

These four books are not the literal replacement for my lost library. But the study of the bible, creation, providence and the heart will afford a lifetime of learning. The lesson can be summed up by that collecter of wisdom Quoheleth who said:

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

These four books provide a library that can’t be lost, but can only be left unread.

unsplash-logoJulien Paoletti

photo credit/affiliates

Categories
Clint Gospel Puritans Suffering & Trials Theology

Our Heart’s Delight is in the Destination

If you are raising kids you might have a plan for their schooling and their activities. 

Or if you’re going to school yourself, you might have a path for the courses you want to take in order to start a career. 

Or if you are in business you might have a map for the sales and the growth that you want to get.

All of us have plans and tracks and maps. 

But often we find ourselves with the wrong map, or what we think is the right map with the wrong destination. 

Just ask the person next to you when was the last time you were lost. Did you look at the GPS? Did you ask for help? 

Your answer to that question might depend on whether you’re male or female. 

The Philippian Church thought that they had arrived. They were mature. They had a connection to an apostle. They were successfully Roman in a Roman World.  But they had become discontent, divided, and despairing. 

They had gotten off track. They thought they had arrived, but they still had a long way to go. They thought that their success, or their status, or their theology could make them happy.

Is that you this morning?  Have you been tempted to think that you’ve arrived?   

When we look to the Word of God, we may discover that some of us here have not arrived and are lost— horribly lost. Or we may find, that the destination we’ve mapped for our joy is totally wrong. 

Instead, we need to map our joy— so that in the Lord, we rejoice— always (Phil 4:4) 

The Start and Finish

Paul starts with this command: Rejoice. What is joy? Joy is the heart’s delight in the heart’s destination. As Augustine, the 5th Century North African theologian said:

You move us to delight in praising You; for You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.

Confessions and Letters of St Augustine, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1:1

Are you restless today? Maybe it is because you are not delighting in God, nor finding your rest in God. Maybe your heart’s delight is aimed at the wrong destination. 

Remember how Jesus had joy and delight in doing the Father’s will? In the language of Psalm 40:8: “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” On the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Lk 22:42). How could he say that? As Hebrews 12:2 says about Jesus, it was, “for the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Joy is Commanded

John Piper, has written more on Joy than any modern writer. He describes his awakening in 1968 to the importance of joy for the Christian. He said: 

Perhaps most shocking to me in 1968 was the simple and obvious observation that this joy in God is commanded.

The Psalms are littered with joy in God commanded for us:

  • Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
  • Psalm 33:1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
  • Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

So our joyless-ness is disobedience. 

Are There Two Classes of Christian?

Now before you balk at that. Just let that sink for a minute. Paul’s command to rejoice always might tempt you to think that there are two classes of Christian. Joyful Christians and UnJoyful Ones. 

But there are not two classes of Christian. Paul commands all believers to rejoice. Paul and James are in complete agreement here. James opens his letter with this command to rejoice, in trials even:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

Where is the sphere of your joy? Where is it located? If you were to show me a map of where your joy is could you direct me there? For the Christian, they are always driving to the Lord, and their joy is located there. 

The Happy Place

The Christian may not be always happy with circumstances, but they are happy in that location— in the Lord. Consider this “happy place” that is “in the Lord”

  • In his love for you
  • In his forgiveness for your sins
  • In his cleansing of your guilt
  • In his  Holy Spirit, who is your Holy Spirit
  • In his Father, who is Your Father
  • In his Rule and Reign
  • In his soon return. 

The Puritan Thomas Watson made the observation that, “one smile from Christ’s face will make us forget all our afflictions.” This is why our joy is a fruit of the Spirit, as Galatians 5:22 says. 

Our joy comes from God because our heart’s delight is our heart’s destination.

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Anxiety Church Clint Puritans Spiritual Growth

3 Helps for Weak Christians From Samuel Rutherford

One of the blessings that have been handed down through the ages has been the record of pastoral care contained in letters. From Paul and John’s letters to the correspondence of Augustine, Calvin, Newton and Rutherford, we possess the fruit of their pastoral care put on display.

In a letter to the church members of Kilmacolm, Samuel Rutherford (d.1661), addressed their concerns about being worn down and tired from holding true to the Christian faith. The social turmoil brought by persecutions and counter-revolutions made the people of this church complain about their spiritual fatigue and feelings of weakness.

Like many Christians, they were wanting to relax a bit. In Rutherford’s words, their problem was that they saw their calling to obey God (personally and as a church) as too demanding, and they wanted to loosen up a bit. He said, “You write that God’s vows are lying [heavy] on you”. It appeared that the Christians at Kilmacolm were looking for a less strict confession of faith, a quicker compromise to current church debates, and a smoother pathway to comfortable Christianity.

Rutherford replied with three remedies to this apparent longing for spiritual ease and earthly security in the midst of their weakness.

1. Life Isn’t Easy Until We Are in Heaven

Rutherford addressed the common desire for things to go easy. We all desire an easier life and when things get difficult we can act surprised. Rutherford’s response was to point out that life isn’t easy until we are in heaven. In heaven, when the victory is complete, then we can sleep. He said, “if I sleep, I would desire to sleep faith’s sleep in Christ’s bosom”.

Rutherford knew that like the disciples who slept as Jesus was in Gethsemane (Mt 26:43), our natural selves, “loveth not the labour of religion”. Rutherford was telling the Kilmacolm church that they needed to admit that their desires for “a break” when it came to church controversies and biblical obedience, was a natural temptation to choose sleepy ease in this life, rather than the rest that resides in heaven alone.

2. Worrying About Staying Faithful Can Show a Lack of Faith

It is a common feature in churches that people’s complaints reveal the things they aren’t trusting God for. Caring about doctrine is too hard. Loving the unlovable is too difficult. Submitting to authority is too chafing. Yet in each case, the complaint that a call to obedience is too much, reveals that a person doesn’t think God can give the grace needed to obey.

Rutherford made the observation that “Sorrow for a slumbering soul is a token of some watchfulness of spirit”. By this, he meant that because people actually cared about doctrine, obedience, and faithful witness, it would lead to spiritual fatigue. He said that this willingness to “care” was a grace. But this caring, he said, “as a grace in us is too often abused”. Worrying too much about the difficulties of staying faithful can show a lack of faith in God who keeps us faithful (Phil 1:6, 2 Tim 2:13). The fact that Christians get tired of obedience and ‘suffering outside the camp’ (Hebrews 13:13), shows that they may not be trusting God for the strength to persevere.

3. Weakness invites Christ’s comfort to you.

Our weakness is evidence that we are not in heaven yet, but it does hold promise that Christ will comfort us until we get there. Rutherford explained this comforting idea to his correspondents when he said, “To [lack] complaints of weakness, is for heaven, and angels that never sinned, not for Christians in Christ’s camp on earth”.

Rutherford pointed out that one of the defining characteristics of the church is its weakness. He said:

“I think our weakness maketh us the church of the redeemed ones, and Christ’s field that the Mediator should labour in. If there were no diseases on earth, there needed no physicians on earth. If Christ had cried down weakness he might have cried down his own calling. But weakness is our Mediator’s world: sin is Christ’s only fair and market.

Letters, 156-157

So when we are feeling especially weak, we can trust that we are clearly qualified to receive comfort from God. As we share in Christ’s sufferings, we share in his comfort too. (2 Cor 1:3-7). Paul received comfort when he learned from the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9). This was the overarching truth that Rutherford was sharing.

Rutherford knew that when we are weak, our strength must come from the Lord. And so, Rutherford said, “we are carried upon Christ’s shoulders, and walk, as it were, upon his legs”.

As many Christians grow fatigued in their walk of faith, they need to realize that an easy life on earth is not the answer. Rather it is to find the help of Christ’s legs to carry us on. That was Rutherford’s counsel on an August day in 1639 and it applies directly to us today.

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Care to Prepare

When Christians care enough to prepare to hear good teaching, they will profit greatly. When they don’t care to prepare, they can arrive at worship late, distracted, hungry, irritated and already a bit bored.

It’s no wonder that pastors are tempted to make their sermons match the ebb and flow of unprepared people. What comedy routine or sensational story will be good enough to make people care to listen?

If we are to recover a sense of God’s holiness and the gravity of his glory (Hebrew, kavod, Greek doxa), we must care, repenting of our carelessness.

Care to Expect Great Things

Imagine if your church had the congregants setting aside time on Saturday night to prepare for Sunday worship. What if they spent time on Sunday morning before they left the house, praying for the preaching of the Word, the worship of the praises sung, the conversion of sinners and the building up of the saints?

When people care to prepare they have an expectancy about what can happen. They are buoyant as they expect to see what God will do according to his Word. Because they care to prepare, they are able to say with the missionary William Carey, “Expect Great Things (from God). Attempt Great Things (for God). “

JI Packer on Caring to Prepare

JI Packer diagnosed this lack of preparation in our modern-day compared to the intentionality of the Puritans. He wrote:

But we neglect to prepare our hearts; for, as the Puritans would have been the first to tell us, thirty seconds of private prayer upon taking our seat in the church building is not time enough in which to do it. It is here that we need to take ourselves in hand. What we need at the present time to deepen our worship is not new liturgical forms or formulae, nor new hymns and tunes, but more preparatory ‘heart-work’ before we use the old ones. There is nothing wrong with new hymns, tunes, and worship styles—there may be very good reasons for them—but without ‘heart-work’ they will not make our worship more fruitful and God-honouring; they will only strengthen the syndrome that C.S. Lewis called ‘the liturgical fidgets’. ‘Heart-work’ must have priority or spiritually our worship will get nowhere.

JI Packer, Quest for Godliness, 257

Care To Prepare For Church

So we need to care to prepare with this “heart-work”. It is vital for our lives and our churches. And the result will be that God will answer our prayers and the tunings of our hearts in ways that we never could have imagined. Tony Payne says in his book titled, “How to Walk Into Church”:

When I remember to pray about church (either the night before or just before I go), it’s quite incredible-actually, we might say quite unsurprising-how often those prayers are answered; that is, how often rich opportunities for encouragement and growth present themselves in church that week, either for me personally or for those around me as we talk together. 

Tony Payne, How to Walk into Church, 39

If you care to prepare, it doesn’t have to be difficult. It just means prioritizing what actually happens when the saints gather together to meet with God, hear his Word and sing his praise. If you can give a bit of thought beforehand you will benefit much more from your time at church. You will also resist the listener’s itch. And you will have a heart turned toward God in a receptive way, as any servant should. You will say with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me” (Isa 6:8).

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Holy Violence Isn’t What You Think

Prayers

Christians are accused of being angry. They are even suspected of holy violence. But even if Christians are succumbing to horizontal outrage we need to recalibrate our artillery higher. Holy violence isn’t what you think. Our artillery should be aimed at heaven.

Aiming At God

The English poet George Herbert (1593-1633) described prayer in a series of phrases, and one of them clarified this blasting impulse we have. He called prayer an “engine against th’ Almighty”. What he meant was that prayer was like a medieval siege engine. It was a catapult or trebuchet by which a towering wall was assaulted and a breach was made. This picture is almost sacrilegious if you ever thought God was thin-skinned. But God is strong enough to receive our siege, since he welcomes the prayer, and has given us the Spirit in whom the siege is made (Eph 6:18). Herbert thought that prayer at it’s most basic level was like a cannon aimed at God.

Heaven Taken By Storm

If you are still uncomfortable with the idea of employing such a violent image to express the prayer of the heart, then think about what Jesus said in the eleventh chapter of Matthew:

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matt 11:12

There are various interpretations of this passage, but an older view was held by Thomas Watson (1620-1686). He summarized the emphasis as “heaven taken by storm”. In other words, heaven was to be assaulted and pressed into by believing prayer. In this way, “the violent take it by force”. Watson said:

The more violence we have used for Heaven, the sweeter Heaven will be when we come there…For a Christian to think, such a day I spent in examining my heart; such a day I was weeping for sin; when others were at their sport, I was at my prayers: and now, have I lost anything by this violence? My tears are wiped away, and the wine of para­dise cheers my heart. I now enjoy him whom my soul loves; I now have the crown and white robes I so longed for. O how pleasant will it be to think, this is the Heaven my Savior bled for, and I sweat for.

Heaven taken by storm, or, The holy violence a Christian is to put forth in the pursuit after glory (1670).

Another Puritan, John Bunyan depicted one of his characters in the Pilgrim’s Progress in the same way. When Christian was being shown around the Interpreter’s house, one of the pictures was of a man “of very stout countenance” who wished to enter a palace. Many refused to sign up and enter for fear of armed guards. But Christian observed the stout man who said boldly:

“Set down my name, sir”; the which when he had done, he saw the man draw his sword, and put a helmet upon his head, and rush toward the door upon the armed men, who laid upon him with deadly force; but the man not at all discouraged, fell to cutting and hacking most fiercely. So, after he had received and given many wounds to those that attempted to keep him out, he cut his way through them all, and pressed forward into the palace; at which there was a pleasant voice heard from those that were within even of those that walked upon the top of the palace, saying,

“Come in! Come in!
Eternal glory thou shalt win.”

Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)

Bunyan knew how important it was to cultivate a vigorous, aggressive even violent assault on heaven. “Cutting and hacking” through the resistance around us was the prescribed action given by Jesus himself.

When compared to the outrage and aggression which social media can foster, devotion and spiritual desire toward God in heaven differs a lot. Imagine if Christians gathered together to aim their artillery, not at each other, but toward heaven?

Holy Violence at the Prayer Meeting

If there is one place where we need some holy violence it’s at the prayer meeting. The reason prayer meetings are poorly attended these days is that there is so little vigour for ‘heaven taken by storm’!

Imagine if your church’s prayer meeting resembled a series of artillery pieces, lined up to fire in succession towards heaven. That kind of prayer meeting would be different than the drowsy, half-believing, unexpectant gatherings which we all continue to suffer through. The problem isn’t the prayer, rather its the elevation.

When Charles Spurgeon witnessed the awakening at the New Park Street church he noticed this holy violence employed in prayer to God. Iain Murray records what Spurgeon said about the new holy violence:

What a change took place in othe prayer meetings! Now instead of the old, dull prayers, ‘Every man seemed like a crusader besieging the New Jerusalem, each one appeared determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of intercession; and soon the blessing came upon us in such abundance that we had not room to recieve it.”

Quoted in The Forgotten Spurgeon, 36.

We may not feel like our prayers are the artillery pieces that Spurgeon had in his church. We may feel like our siege engine is more of a pop-gun. But we can pray that God would redirect our perpetual outrage at the horizontal, and make us those who vigorously plead with God on the vertical.

Let us start with asking God to give us a bigger bore and a greater calibre to turn our appeals, supplications, laments, cries, and prayers toward Him in heaven itself. That’s where our holy violence ought to be directed.

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