I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

BE STILL
Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)

E still, my soul; Jehovah loveth thee;
   Fret not nor murmur at thy weary lot;
Though dark and lone thy journey seems to be,
   He ever loves; then trust him, trust Him still;
Let all thy care be this, in doing his will.

Thy hand in His, like fondest, happiest child,
   Place thou, nor draw it for a moment thence;
Walk thou with Him, a Father reconciled
   Till in His own good time He call thee hence.
Walk with Him now; so shall thy way be bright,
And all thy soul be filled with His most glorious light.

Fight the good fight of faith, nor turn aside
   Though fear of peril from or earth or hell;
Take to thee now the armour proved and tried,
   Take to thee the spear and sword; oh, wield them well;
So shall thou conquer here, so win the day,
So wear the crown when this hard live has passed away.

Take courage! Faint not, though the foe be strong;
   Christ is thy strength; He fighteth on thy side.
Swift be thy face; remember, ’tis not long,
   The goal is near; the prize He will provide.
And then from earthly toil thou restest ever;
Thy home on the fair banks of life’s eternal river!

He comes with His reward; ’tis just at hand;
   He comes in glory to His promised throne.
My soul, rejoice; ere long thy feet shall stand
   Within the city of the Blessed One.
Thy perils past, thy heritage secure,
Thy tears all wiped away, thy joy for ever sure!

—Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, First Series (James Nisbet & Co., 1878).

salme 67
(Geneva Bible)
To him that excelleth on Neginoth. A Psalme or song.
1 God be mercifull vnto vs, and blesse vs, and cause his face to shine among vs. Selah.
2 That they may know thy way vpon earth, and thy sauing health among all nations.
3 Let the people prayse thee, O God: let all the people prayse thee.
4 Let the people be glad and reioyce: for thou shalt iudge the people righteously, and gouerne the nations vpon the earth. Selah.
5 Let the people prayse thee, O God: let all the people prayse thee.
6 Then shall the earth bring foorth her increase, and God, euen our God shall blesse vs.
7 God shall blesse vs, and all the endes of the earth shall feare him.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not long after I was saved, I attended a Lutheran Bible school. With typical new-believer zeal, I soon became convinced that I should pursue vocational ministry. With typical young-man impudence, I had my own ideas on how that should be done. I knew that, in order to be recognized and accepted, I would have to go to college and seminary (I called it “cemetery”); but that was just a formality, necessary to appease the establishment. All a man really needed, I thought, was his Bible and the Holy Spirit. If a man just knew his Bible inside and out, and was filled with the Holy Spirit, what more could he need?

Seminary was a place where men filled their heads with the philosophies of men. I definitely didn’t want that. Of course, it was alright if I chose some books to read on my own. That was different. What I certainly did not need, however, was Bible commentaries or systematic theologies. I didn’t need men to tell me what the Bible meant! That was the Holy Spirit’s job.

At some point in my journey, I heard of a guy named Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon never went to college or seminary. I didn’t know anything about Spurgeon, except that he was a famous preacher, admired by many. What did he have that I didn’t have? [Let us now pause for a moment of hearty laughter.]

Well, Spurgeon had many things that I didn’t have, including unique gifting and a massive intellect. More importantly, he had the humility to know that he needed more than his Bible and the Holy Spirit. At a time when books were not the cheap commodity they are today, Spurgeon’s personal library contained some 12,000 books, including commentaries. He even wrote a book on commentaries! Spurgeon possessed no degrees, but he was far from uneducated. He clearly saw the need to learn from other men. As he put it,

I am amazed that those who think so much of what the Holy Spirit can teach them often think so little of what the Holy Spirit has taught others.*

The Lord was gracious to lead me away from that kind of thinking. One of the ways he did that was to put me in contact with other men who had the same attitude as I, and let me see the depth of their ministries. There was no depth. Their theology was immature and shallow. They tended to ride hobby-horses, and be easily taken in by the odd doctrines of other uneducated men. They often fashioned their own strange beliefs from small portions of Scripture isolated from the whole of God’s Word. They were completely ignorant of basic hermeneutics.

In contrast to those men, the teachers that I admired and hoped to emulate were well educated formally or at least, like Spurgeon, were voracious readers and diligent students.

I was not pleased to find myself in the first group. I saw the fruit of both philosophies, and knew which kind I wanted to produce.

This is really a matter of humility, isn’t it? “Just me and God” says “No man is my superior. I am equal to all those who have gone before me.” In fact, it says more than that. It says that I am their superior. They learned from others, but I can do it on my own. What audacity. How foolish. We all need teachers; it is few of us who will ever become their equals, and fewer still who will exceed their knowledge, skill, and wisdom.

The Lord never did lead me into any vocational ministry, and graciously prevented me from getting there my own way. Nevertheless, I am grateful for this lesson. I am so glad that I learned to learn from others.

In his letters to the church, the Apostle Paul repeatedly encourages his readers to follow his example.

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. —1 Corinthians 4:16

As I began reading his letter to the Romans recently, it occurred to me that it would be useful, then, to take note of his example, as laid out for us in Scripture. This will be the first of an undetermined number of posts on the character and example of Paul.

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; —Romans 1:1–6

In this passage, we see more than one important characteristic of Paul; but we need read only three words to find the first, and most important: he considered himself to be a slave of Jesus Christ.

Of all the Bible translations on my shelf, not one renders this phrase as it should, with the word slave. The NASB, quoted here, comes closest, yet still softens the word to “bond-servant.” But the word used here (δουλος, for those who care) is correctly translated as slave.

Paul did not think of himself as possessing any independence. There was no sense of self-ownership. He was owned by the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore had no rights to anything that the Lord himself did not grant him — and he was even willing to yield those rights, if doing so would enable better service to his master (2 Thessalonians 3). He was completely yielded to serving God in the calling he had been given. All of his own needs and desires were entirely subservient to his assigned task: preaching “the gospel of God.”

Are you and I yielded to God as slaves? Do we think of ourselves as his property, serving him because he owns us, or is our service to him something that is ours to give to him? Paul said “I am the property of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and lived accordingly. Let us do the same.

—Richard D. Phillips, Jesus the Evangelist (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 110, 111–112.

This has to be the best scam I’ve seen in a long time.* (HT: The Riddleblog)

The home page of youvebeenleftbehind.com explains the purpose of this “ministry.”

You've Been Left Behind gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends For Christ. Imagine being in the presence of the Lord and hearing all of heaven rejoice over the salvation of your loved ones. It is our prayer that this site makes it happen.

You’ve Been Left Behind will send your email message to up to sixty-two of your loved ones who didn’t make the rapture.

Imagine how taken back they will be by the millions of missing Christians and devastation at the rapture. They will know it was true and that they have blown it. There will be a small window of time where they might be reached for the Kingdom of God. We have made it possible for you to send them a letter of love and a plea to receive Christ one last time.

“But wait,” you say, “who will send the emails?” Good question. I wondered, too. Maybe they have a few volunteers on staff who have intentionally, sacrificially put off “making a decision for Christ” until after the rapture. A risky move, for sure, but what an expression of evangelistic zeal and love that would be! But no, they’ve got it figured out:

We have set up a system to send documents by the email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the "Rapture" of the Church. This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.

Okay, now that you’re hooked, what will this cost you?

The cost is $40 for the first year. Re-subscription will be reduced as the number of subscribers increases. Tell your friends about You've Been left behind.

Alright, what are you waiting for? Subscribe now! Get my re-subscription rate down!

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

Election

Holy Trinity,

All praise to thee for electing me
to salvation,
   by foreknowledge of God the Father,
   through sanctification of the Spirit,
   unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood
      of Jesus;
I adore the wonders of thy condescending love,
   marvel at the true believer’s high privilege
   within whom all heaven comes to dwell,
   abiding in God and God in him;
I believe it, help me experience it to the full.
Continue to teach me that Christ’s righteousness
   satisfies justice and evidences thy love;
Help me to make use of it by faith as the ground
   of my peace
   and thy favour and acceptance,
   so that I may live always near the cross.

It is not feeling the Spirit that proves
   my saved state but the truth of what
   Christ did perfectly for me;
All holiness in him by faith made mine.
   as if I had done it;
Therefore I see the use of his righteousness,
   for satisfaction to divine justice and making
      me righteous.
It is not inner sensation that makes Christ’s death
      mine
   for that may be delusion, being without the Word,
   but hes death apprehended by my faith,
   and so testified by Word and Spirit.
I bless thee for these lively exercises of faith,
   for the righteousness that is mine in Jesus,
   for grace to resign my will to thee;
I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal,
   and I love to leave them there.
Then prayer turns wholly into praise,
   and all I can do is to adore and love thee.
I want not the favour of man to lean upon,
   for I know that thy electing grace
      is infinitely better.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 74
(Geneva Bible)
A Psalme to give instruction, committed to Asaph.
1 O God, why hast thou put vs away for euer? why is thy wrath kindled against the sheepe of thy pasture?
2 Thinke vpon thy Congregation, which thou hast possessed of olde, and on the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, and on this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift vp thy strokes, that thou mayest for euer destroy euery enemie that doeth euill to the Sanctuarie.
4 Thine aduersaries roare in the middes of thy Congregation, and set vp their banners for signes.
5 He that lifted the axes vpon the thicke trees, was renowmed, as one, that brought a thing to perfection:
6 But nowe they breake downe the carued worke thereof with axes and hammers.
7 They haue cast thy Sanctuarie into the fire, and rased it to the grounde, and haue defiled the dwelling place of thy Name.
8 They saide in their hearts, Let vs destroy them altogether: they haue burnt all the Synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signes: there is not one Prophet more, nor any with vs that knoweth howe long.
10 O God, howe long shall the aduersarie reproche thee? shall the enemie blaspheme thy Name for euer?
11 Why withdrawest thou thine hand, euen thy right hand? drawe it out of thy bosome, and consume them.
12 Euen God is my King of olde, working saluation in the middes of the earth.
13 Thou didest deuide the sea by thy power: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the head of Liuiathan in pieces, and gauest him to be meate for the people in wildernesse.
15 Thou brakest vp the fountaine and riuer: thou dryedst vp mightie riuers.
16 The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sunne.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemie hath reproched the Lord, and the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name.
19 Giue not the soule of thy turtle doue vnto the beast, and forget not the Congregation of thy poore for euer.
20 Consider thy couenant: for the darke places of the earth are full of the habitations of the cruell.
21 Oh let not the oppressed returne ashamed, but let the poore and needie prayse thy Name.
22 Arise, O God: mainteine thine owne cause: remember thy dayly reproche by the foolish man.
23 Forget not the voyce of thine enemies: for the tumult of them, that rise against thee, ascendeth continually.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

—Malcolm Muggeridge, quoted in Richard D. Phillips, Jesus the Evangelist (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 127.

—Richard D. Phillips, Jesus the Evangelist (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 135–136.

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. —1 Corinthians 4:16

This is part of an open-ended series on Paul’s example to us.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. —Romans 1:8–15

Paul was personally invested in the spiritual growth of those whom God had placed under his care.

• He was thankful for those who would read his letter, that their faith was proclaimed, that they, like him, were “not ashamed of the gospel” (v. 8).
• He prayed for them “unceasingly” (v. 9–10).
• He desired to be with them (v. 10–12)—
  • to encourage them in the faith,
  • and to be encouraged by them. Paul, though an apostle, was humble, recognizing his need for fellowship with the saints. Though he was their ecclesiastical superior, he knew he was also their equal in Christ.
• He was “eager to preach the gospel” to them (v. 15).

Should not the gospel be central to our desires for and interactions with those whose welfare God has entrusted to us?

—Richard D. Phillips, Jesus the Evangelist (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 171.

—Richard D. Phillips, Jesus the Evangelist (Reformation Trust Publishing, 2007), 174–175.

. . . so maybe I’m not nice.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

HYMN 20. (C. M.)
Spiritual apparel. Isa. lxi. 10.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

WAKE, my heart; arise, my tongue,
   Prepare a tuneful voice;
In God, the life of all my joys,
   Aloud will I rejoice.

’Tis he adorned my naked soul,
   And made salvation mine;
Upon a poor polluted worm
   He makes his graces shine.

And lest the shadow of a spot
   Should on my soul be found,
He took the robe the Savior wrought,
   And cast it all around.

How far the heav’nly robe exceeds
   What earthly princes wear
These ornaments, how bright they shine!
   How white the garments are!

The Spirit wrought my faith, and love,
   And hope, and every grace;
But Jesus spent his life to work
   The robe of righteousness.

Strangely, my soul, art thou arrayed
   By the great Sacred Three!
In sweetest harmony of praise
   Let all thy powers agree.

—The Psalms & Hymns of Isaac Watts. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book I: Collected from the Holy Scriptures (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

salme 81 Geneva Bible.
To him that excelleth upon Gittith.
A Psalme committed to Asaph.
1 Sing ioyfully vnto God our strength: sing loude vnto the God of Iaakob.
2 Take the song and bring forth the timbrel, the pleasant harpe with the viole.
3 Blowe the trumpet in the newe moone, euen in the time appointed, at our feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel, and a Law of the God of Iaakob.
5 Hee set this in Ioseph for a testimonie, when hee came out of the land of Egypt, where I heard a language, that I vnderstoode not.
6 I haue withdrawen his shoulder from the burden, and his handes haue left the pots.
7 Thou calledst in affliction and I deliuered thee, and answered thee in the secret of the thunder: I prooued thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8 Heare, O my people, and I wil protest vnto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken vnto me,
9 Let there bee no strange god in thee, neither worship thou any strange god.
10 For I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not heare my voyce, and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gaue them vp vnto the hardnesse of their heart, and they haue walked in their owne cousels.
13 Oh that my people had hearkened vnto me, and Israel had walked in my wayes.
14 I would soone haue humbled their enemies, and turned mine hand against their aduersaries.
15 The haters of the Lord should haue bene subiect vnto him, and their time should haue endured for euer.
16 And God would haue fedde them with the fatte of wheat, and with honie out of the rocke would I haue sufficed thee.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So you want universal socialized health insurance. Alright, let’s suppose you get it. You’ve surrendered another large chunk of your liberty to the nanny state, but that’s okay, because now Big Brother will take care of you.

But health care is expensive. Very soon it becomes obvious that government is doing what it does best: building bloated bureaucracies that produce inferior services at astronomical costs. The system cannot be sustained. Something must be done, and that something will definitely not be admitting that another government program has failed. Another committee is formed. The committee looks into the cause of the extreme high cost of Hillary — no, strike that — Obama-care. Who shall we blame? The health care administration? No, that only works when private industry is involved, or an evil Republican administration.

Who is the culprit? Why, it’s you, of course. You have bad habits that are driving up the cost of your health care. For one thing, you’re too fat. The solution to that is to raise your insurance premiums. Oh, wait — you don’t pay any. It all comes out of that big congressional piggy-bank where everyone’s taxes go. That’s where all entitlements come from — you know, the money you earned to which someone else who didn’t earn it is entitled; but, I digress.

Back to the question at hand: what to do about your bad habits that are bankrupting Utopia. Strategy one: nag you about your eating habits. Strategy two: harass restaurants, especially fast food chains, to stop making food that you will actually buy. If McDonalds french fries tasted more like school lunch tater-tots, not only would they be healthier, you probably wouldn’t eat them at all. These two plans are already in action; but they’re not enough. You’re still too fat.

Execute strategy three: institute invasive, oppressive laws governing your diet. Require periodic measuring of your wasteline (I spelled it that way on purpose. It’s a joke — get it?) and impose penalties when it gets too big. Sound far-fetched? It’s already happening in Japan.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education* after six more months.

—New York Times, June 12, 2008

So you voted for universal health insurance, and got it. Congratulations; Big Brother is now your daddy and mommy, too.

Joel Beeke on the distinction between the doctrines of Justification and Adoption:

. . . “Undoubtedly the new testament never separates justification and adoption, but neither does it confuse them. In human terms it is quite possible to imagine a man being justified without the remotest thought of his being adopted. The fact that a judge pronounces the verdict ‘not guilty’ does not commit him to take the accused to his home and allow him the privileges of his son!”*
   Though both justification and adoption are forensic concepts — the former derived from the realm of criminal law and the latter from family law — their practical outworkings differ substantially. Justification in abstraction from adoption leaves us with a rather bare, legal concept — though of course, the privilege of having our sins forgiven and being made acceptable to God must never be underestimated. But adoption enlarges our understanding of what it means to be acceptable to God. We are acceptable not just as moral agents, but as the image bearers of our Father who are being subjectively conformed to Christ. We are acceptable as sons of God who have the privilege of calling God our Father and bear the responsibility of serving Him as His children.

—Joel R. Beeke, Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption (Reformation Heritage, 2008), 32–33.

*Sinclair B. Ferguson, Know Your Christian Life: A Theological Introduction, (InterVarsity Press, 1981), 82.

More from Joel Beeke on Adoption:

[H]ow astonishing it is that, unlike people’s heirs who don’t share their estates with their friends, we as God’s adopted children share the same privileges that belong to God’s only-begotten Son! The puritans reveled in what Christ prays in John 17:23: “[Thou] hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” This is the essence of God’s fatherhood. It shows us how far God is willing to go to reconcile us to himself.
   How great is the love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God (1 John 3:1) — we who deserve His judgment, dethroned Him from our lives, spurned His love, and defied His laws. We never deserved God’s love, yet He graciously lavished His love on us. Here, surely, is the great assurance of the child of God, that God the father loved him when he was bound for hell. God loved the sinner who had no thought of God in his heart, and He adopted him. How wonderful is the assurance of the Father’s words: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3).

—Joel R. Beeke, Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption (Reformation Heritage, 2008), 44.

The gospel is inherently Trinitarian. Joel Beeke shows how one aspect of the gospel, spiritual adoption, is an act of Trinitarian cooperation:

The puritans emphasize that all the members of the Trinity are involved in our adoption. Stephen Marshall summarizes it this way: adoption is the gracious act of God the Father whereby he chooses us, calls us to himself, and gives us the privileges and blessings of being his children. God the Son earned those blessings for us through his propitiatory death and sacrifice, by which we become children of God (1 John 4:10), and applies them to us as Elder Brother. And the Holy Spirit changes us from children of wrath, which we are by nature, into children of God by means of regeneration; unites us to Christ; works in us a “suitable disposition” towards God and Christ; and seals our sonship as the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the sons of God. In that witnessing, the Spirit shows us God’s work of grace in our hearts and lives, and also “carries our hearts to God, and testifies to the Soul that God is [our] Father.”

—Joel R. Beeke, Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption (Reformation Heritage, 2008), 45–46.

Can one belong to the church without belonging to a church? Not likely, says Mark Dever.

   Sometimes theologians refer to a distinction between the universal church (all Christians everywhere throughout history) and the local church (those people who meet down the street from you to hear the Word preached to and to practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Other than a few references to the universal church (such as Matt. 16:18 and the bulk of Ephesians), most references to the church in the New Testament are to local churches, as when Paul writes, “To the church of God in Corinth” or “To the churches in Galatia.”
   Now what follows is a little intense, but it’s important. The relationship between our membership in the universal church and our membership in the local church is a lot like the relationship between the righteousness God gives us through faith and the actual practice of righteousness in our daily lives. When we become Christians by faith, God declares us righteous. Yet we are still called to activity be righteous. A person who happily goes on living in unrighteousness calls into question whether he ever possessed Christ’s righteousness in the first place (see Rom. 6:1–18; 8:5–14; James 2:14–15). So, too, it is with those who refuse to commit themselves to a local church. Committing to a local body is the natural outcome—it confirms what Christ has done. If you have no interest in actually committing yourself to an actual group of gospel-believing, Bible-teaching Christians, you might question whether you belong to the body of Christ at all! Listen to the author of Hebrews carefully:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Heb. 10:23–27)

   Our state before God, if authentic, will translate into our daily decisions, even if the process is slow and full of missteps. God really does change his people. Isn’t that good news? So please, friend, don’t grow complacent through some vague idea that you possess the righteousness of Christ if you’re not pursuing a life of righteousness. Likewise, please do not be deceived by a vague conception of a universal church to which you belong if you’re not pursuing that life together with an actual church.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 21–22.

This is just an odd collection of stuff: some serious, some interesting, some weird, some fun, and some a combination of more than one of those.

Canadian parental rights are under attack here and here.

Freedom of speech is no longer free in France and Canada.

“Church Possibly Dates to Earliest Years of Christianity.” Missing the point entirely, my first reaction was, “Well, duh!”

Do you know where your feet are?

If your intended has already buried four husbands, you might want to reconsider becoming number five.

I went out for basketball in 7th grade. I cold barely walk and dribble at the same time. I hate this guy.

I was much better at stuff like this.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

HYMN IX
JACOB’S Ladder Gen. xxviii. 12.
by John Newton (1725-1807)

F the Lord our leader be,
We may follow without fear;
East or West, by land or sea,
Home, with him, is ev’ry where;
When from Esau Jacob fled,
Tho’ his pillow was a stone,
And the ground his humble bed,
Yet he was not left alone.

Kings are often waking kept,
Rack’d with cares on beds of state;
Never king like Jacob slept.
For he lay at heaven’s gate:
Lo! he saw a ladder rear’d,
Reaching to the heav’nly throne;
At the top the Lord appear’d,
Spake and claimed him for his own.

“Fear not, Jacob, thou art mine,
And my presence with thee goes;
On thy heart my love shall shine,
And my arm subdue thy foes:
From my promise comfort take;
For my help in trouble call;
Never will I thee forsake,
’Till I have accomplish’d all.”

Well does Jacob’s ladder suit
To the gospel throne of grace;
We are at the ladder’s foot,
Ev’ry hour, in ev’ry place
By affirming flesh and blood,
Jesus heav’n and earth unites;
We by faith ascend to God,
God to dwell with us delights.

They who know the Savior’s name,
Are for all events prepar’d
What can changes do to them,
Who have such a Guide and Guard?
Should they traverse earth around,
To the ladder still they come;
Ev’ry spot is holy ground,
God is there—and he’s their home.

—from Olney Hymns. Book I: On select Passages of Scripture.

salme 88 (Geneva Bible) A song or Psalme of Heman the Ezrahite to give instruction, committed to the sonnes of Korah for him that excelleth upon Malath Leannoth.
1 O Lord God of my saluation, I cry day and night before thee.
2 Let my prayer enter into thy presence: incline thine eare vnto my cry.
3 For my soule is filled with euils, and my life draweth neere to the graue.
4 I am counted among them that go downe vnto the pit, and am as a man without strength:
5 Free among the dead, like the slaine lying in the graue, whome thou remembrest no more, and they are cut off from thine hand.
6 Thou hast layde me in the lowest pit, in darkenes, and in the deepe.
7 Thine indignation lyeth vpon me, and thou hast vexed me with all thy waues. Selah.
8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance farre from me, and made mee to be abhorred of them: I am shut vp, and cannot get foorth.
9 Mine eye is sorowfull through mine affliction: Lord, I call dayly vpon thee: I stretch out mine hands vnto thee.
10 Wilt thou shewe a miracle to the dead? or shall the dead rise and prayse thee? Selah.
11 Shall thy louing kindenes be declared in the graue? or thy faithfulnes in destruction?
12 Shall thy wonderous workes be knowen in the darke? and thy righteousnes in the land of obliuion?
13 But vnto thee haue I cryed, O Lord, and early shall my prayer come before thee.
14 Lord, why doest thou reiect my soule, and hidest thy face from me?
15 I am afflicted and at the point of death: from my youth I suffer thy terrours, doubting of my life.
16 Thine indignations goe ouer me, and thy feare hath cut me off.
17 They came round about me dayly like water, and compassed me together.
18 My louers and friends hast thou put away from me, and mine acquaintance hid themselues.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

My church isn’t perfect. I could write a medium-sized post listing the improvements I’d like to see. How about you? Does your church fall short of your expectations? Mark Dever has a word for us:

Does a particular church fail to meet your expectations in terms of what it does, as in whether or not it follows what the Bible says about church leadership? If so, remember that this is a group of people who are still growing in grace. Love them. Serve them. Be patient with them. Again, think of a family. Whenever your parents, siblings, or children fail to meet your expectations, do you suddenly throw them out of the family? I hope you are forgive and are patient with them. You might even stop to consider whether it’s your expectations that should be adjusted! By this same token, we should ask ourselves whether we know how to love and persevere with church members who have different opinions, who fail to meet our expectations, or even who sin against us. (Don’t you and I have sin that ever needs to be forgiven?)

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 36.

. . . and a couple I don’t mind.

• Wycliffe New Testament (1385)

  This was the first English translation (Middle English, to be precise) of the New Testament Bible. My interest in the Wycliffe is historical. I want to maintain ties to the important people and events of the past that helped lay the foundation for the church today. John Wycliffe, the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” and his Bible are certainly among the high points of church history. I don’t actually have a Wycliffe New Testament in any form, but I hope to have one eventually. Since I probably won’t be affording the two million or so that an actual, hand-scribed copy is worth, I’ll have to settle for a facsimile edition. I might even get an updated-spelling edition, like this one.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Anyone who has read this site for long knows of my interest in the Geneva Bible. Like the Wycliffe New Testament, the Geneva marks an important point in church history, and connects us to some of the greatest theologians the church has known. During the oppressive reign of Queen “Bloody” Mary, many Reformed believers took refuge in Geneva, Switzerland. There, led by Myles Coverdale and John Foxe, and under the protection of John Calvin, fugitive theologians produced the Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible was a first in several ways:

  • First chapter and verse divisions.
  • First Roman style typeface (the King James, produced fifty-one years later, retained a Gothic Blackletter style).
  • First marginal study notes.
  
  

  William Shakespeare quotes hundreds of times in his plays from the Geneva translation of the Bible. The Geneva Bible became the Bible of choice for over 100 years of English speaking Christians. Between 1560 and 1644 at least 144 editions of this Bible were published. Examination of the 1611 King James Bible shows clearly that its translators were influenced much more by the Geneva Bible, than by any other source. The Geneva Bible itself retains over 90% of William Tyndale's original English translation. The Geneva in fact, remained more popular than the King James Version until decades after its original release in 1611! The Geneva holds the honor of being the first Bible taken to America, and the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims. It is truly the “Bible of the Protestant Reformation.” (source)

  Unfortunately, the Geneva was never updated (until just recently) as the King James was, and went out of print. Now, a new version of the 1599 Geneva, published by Tolle Lege Press with updated spelling, is available.

Those are translations I like for their historical value. The following are those that I would actually carry to a Bible study (the Tolle Lege updated 1599 Geneva almost makes it into this group, but not quite).

• Authorized Version (King James, 1611, final revision 1769)

  The King James Bible is not one for which Protestants should feel any great historical affection. It was produced as an Anglican antidote to the Geneva Bible. However, it is, I believe, a superior translation, and certainly a superior literary work. When the King James finally overtook the Geneva in popularity, it made a place for itself in church history that cannot be ignored. It was my preferred Bible for years, until I discovered Reformed theology, church history, and the Geneva Bible. And contrary to popular opinion, I don’t find it difficult to understand. It is not written in Old English, as some believe, or even Middle English*. It is written in modern English, the same language we speak. Yes, some of the language is antiquated (and some of the spelling in the 1611 edition can make reading it a bit awkward at first), but any difficulty with it is easily overcome with a little effort by any reasonably literate person. That, by the way, goes for the Geneva Bible as well.

• New King James Version

  This is one of the “couple I don’t mind.” It’s a good translation, but it completely fails in its attempt to “retain the beauty of the King James” while updating the language. I suspect it was produced, at least in part, as a bone to the King James Only crowd, and it hasn’t pleased them at all. This is not to discourage you from using it. It’s a fine translation in modern, up-to-date English. I’ve used it, and if you’re using it and like it, that’s just fine.

• New American Standard Bible

  This is the Bible you should use for serious study if you’re going to rely solely on an English text. It is the most literal translation available and, especially since its 1995 updating, is perfectly readable.

• English Standard Version

  While my Reformed brethren have been convulsing in paroxysms of rapturous delight over the ESV, I’ve never gotten fashionably excited about it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good translation; I encourage anyone who likes it to use it, give it away, and promote it. I just don’t see the necessity of another translation. The NASB has everything the ESV claims to have. I like it better than the NKJV, because it isn’t claiming to retain the language of a great literary work while, um, . . . not. But it reads just a little like the NIV, which you will not find listed here. Anyway, I have one, a Reformation Study Bible, and I like it and use it when I want the notes it contains. Incidentally, I also have a New Geneva Study Bible, which is the original publication of the same book, but in NKJV.

These are all essentially literal, or formal equivalent, translations — the only kind I will use.

A rather humorous cartoon on James White’s site yesterday brought to mind the old Catholic claim that Catholics don’t actually worship Mary, they only venerate her. They claim to be offering latreia (λατρεια), not douleia (δουλεια).

I’m no Greek scholar; I’ll admit that up front. However, I still think I can make some basic observations based on lexical definitions and word usage in the text.

The word latreia, or its corresponding verb form, is found in the following New Testament passages:

• Matthew 4:10
• Luke 1:74; 2:37; 4:8
• John 16:2
• Acts 7:7, 42; 24:14; 26:7; 27:23
• Romans 1:9, 25; 9:4; 12:1
• Philippians 3:3
• 2 Timothy 1:3
• Hebrews 8:5; 9:1, 6, 9, 14; 10:2; 12:28; 13:10
• Revelation 7:15; 22:3

In all but two of these passages, Acts 7:42 and Romans 1:25, latreia is directed toward God; and in those two exceptions, it’s not a good thing — it is idolatry.

In Matthew 4:10 and Luke 4:8, it is made clear that God alone is to be the object of our latreia.

It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve (latreuo) Him only.”

So I ask, how is it helpful to distinguish between douleia and latreia in defending the “veneration” of Mary? Using Scripture alone, can this be defended? Or is it true, as James White is fond of pointing out, just because Rome says so?

Mark Dever on expositional preaching:

   The practice of expositional preaching presumes a belief that what God says is authoritative for his people. It presumes that his people should hear it, and need to hear it, lest our congregations be deprived of what God intends to use for shaping us after his image. It presumes that God intends the church to learn from both Testaments, as well as from every genre of Scripture—law, history, wisdom, prophesy, gospels, and epistles. An expositional preacher who moves straight through books of the Bible and who regularly rotates between the different Testaments and genres of Scripture, I believe, is like a mother who serves her children food from every food group, not just their two or three favorite meals.

Back to the Heart of Worship
During a daylong seminar on Puritanism that I taught at a church in London, I remarked at one point that Puritan sermons were sometimes two hours long. A member of the class gasped audibly and asked, “What time did that leave for worship?” Clearly, the individual assumed that listening to God’s Word preached did not constitute worship. I replied that many English Protestants in former centuries believed that the most essential part of their worship was hearing God’s Word in their own language (a freedom purchased by the blood of more than one martyr) and responding to it in their lives. Whether they had time to sing, though not entirely insignificant, was of comparatively little concern to them.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 65, 67.

A Biblical Understanding of the Good News is, according to Mark Dever, one of the marks of a healthy church. What is the good news? Is it “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”?

Gospel Basics
The Gospel is not the news that we’re okay. It’s not the news that God is love. It’s not the news that Jesus wants to be our friend. It’s not the news that he has a wonderful plan or purpose for our life. As I discussed at greater length in chapter 1, the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sacrificial substitute for sinners and rose again, making a way for us to be reconciled to God. It’s the news that the Judge will become the Father, if only we repent and believe.
   Here are four points I try to remember whenever sharing the gospel, whether in private or in public—(1)God, (2) man,(3) Christ, and (4) response. In other words:

• Have I explained that God is our holy and sovereign creator?
• Have I made it clear that we humans are a strange mixture, wonderfully made in God’s image yet horribly fallen, sinful, and separated from him?
• Have I explained who Jesus is and what he has done—that he is the God-man who uniquely and exclusively stands in between God and man as a substitute and resurrected Lord?
• And, finally, even if I’ve shared all this, have I clearly stated that a person must respond to the gospel and must believe this message and so turn from his life of self-centeredness and sin?

   Sometimes, it’s tempting to present some of the very real benefits of the gospel as the gospel itself. And these benefits tend to be things that non-Christians naturally want, like joy, peace, happiness, fulfillment, self-esteem, or love. Yet presenting them as the gospel is presenting a partial truth. And, as J. I. Packer says, “A half truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.”
   Fundamentally, we don’t need just joy or peace or purpose. We need God, himself. Since we are condemned sinners, then, we need his forgiveness above all else. We need spiritual life. When we present the gospel less radically, we simply ask for false conversions and increasingly meaningless church membership lists, both of which make the evangelization of the world around us more difficult.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 75, 77.

   Each local church has a responsibility to judge the life and teaching of its leaders and members, particularly when either compromises the church’s witness to the gospel (see Acts 17; 1 Corinthians 5; 1 Timothy 3; James 3:1; 2 Peter 3; 2 John).
   Biblical church discipline is simply obedience to God and a confession that we need help. Can you imagine a world in which God never uses our fellow human beings to enact his judgment, one in which parents never disciplined their children, the state never punished lawbreakers, and churches never reproved members? We would all arrive at judgment day never having felt the lash of earthly judgment and so been forewarned of the greater judgment then upon us. How merciful of God to teach us now about the irrevocable justice to come with these temporary chastisements (see Luke 12:4–5).
   Here are five positive reasons for practicing corrective church discipline:

1. the good of the disciplined individual;
2. other Christians as they see the danger of sin;
3. the health of the church a whole;
4. the corporate witness of the church and, therefore, non-Christians in the community;
5. and the glory of God. Our holiness should reflect God’s holiness.

It should mean something to be a member of the church, not for our pride’s sake, but for God’s name sake. Biblical church discipline is another important mark of a healthy church.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 106.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

PETITIONARY HYMNS
POEM VII. In Sickness
Augustus Toplady (1740–1778)

esus, since I with thee am one,    Confirm my soul in thee, And still continue to tread down    The man of sin in me.

Let not the subtle foe prevail
   In this my feeble hour,
Frustrate all the hopes of hell
   Redeem from Satan’s pow’r.

Arm me, O Lord, from head to foot,
   With righteousness divine;
My soul in Jesus firmly root,
   And seal the Saviour mine.

Proportion’d to my pains below,
   O let my joys increase,
And mercy to my spirit flow
   In healing streams of peace.

In life and death be thou my God,
   And I am more than safe:
Chastis’d by thy paternal rod,
   Support me with thy staff.

Lay on me, Saviour, what thou wilt,
   But give me strength to bear:
Thy gracious hand this cross hath dealt,
   Which cannot be severe.

As gold refin’d may I come out,
   In sorrow’s furnace try’d;
Preserved from faithfulness and doubt,
   And fully purify’d.

When, overwhelm’d with sore distress,
   Out of the pit I cry,
On Jesus suffering in my place
   Help me to fix mine eye.

When marr’d with tears, and blood, and sweat,
   The glorious sufferer lay,
And in my stead sustain’d the heat
   And burden of the day.

The pangs which my weak nature knows
   Are swallow’d up in thine:
How numberless thy pondrous woes!
   How few, how light are mine!

O might I learn of thee to bear
   Temptation, pain and loss!
Give me a heart inur’d to prayer,
   And fitted to the cross.

Make me, O Lord, thy patient son;
   Thy language mine shall be:
“Father, thy gracious will be done,
   I take the cup from thee.”

While thus my soul is fixt on him
   Once fasten’d to the wood,
Safe shall I pass through Jordan’s stream,
   And reach the realms of God.

And when my soul mounts up to keep
   With thee the marriage feast,
I shall not die, but fall asleep
   On my Redeemer’s breast.

—The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady (Sprinkle Publications, 1987).

salme 95
(Geneva Bible)

1 Come, let vs reioyce vnto the Lord: let vs sing aloude vnto the rocke of our saluation.
2 Let vs come before his face with praise: let vs sing loude vnto him with Psalmes.
3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King aboue all gods.
4 In whose hande are the deepe places of the earth, and the heightes of the mountaines are his:
5 To whome the Sea belongeth: for hee made it, and his handes formed the dry land.
6 Come, let vs worship and fall downe, and kneele before the Lord our maker.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheepe of his hande: to day, if ye will heare his voyce,
8 Harden not your heart, as in Meribah, and as in the day of Massah in the wildernesse.
9 Where your fathers tempted me, proued me, though they had seene my worke.
10 Fourtie yeeres haue I contended with this generation, and said, They are a people that erre in heart, for they haue not knowen my wayes.
11 Wherefore I sware in my wrath, saying, Surely they shall not enter into my rest.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before I begin, I want to say that I appreciate John Piper’s ministry immensely. I have listened to him preach, and, deo volente, will again. I have read some of his books, and there are a couple still on my shelf that I am eager to read. Nothing I am about to say should be taken as a slight to his character or ministry.

However . . .

Today I must strenuously disagree with John Piper. I’ve disagreed with him before, but never like this. In most other disagreements, I’ve at least had some empathy with his position. In this case, I have none; his logic is badly flawed.

If it was almost anyone else, I’d probably ignore it; but John Piper has a following of bloggers who run to their keyboards every time he moves, gasping breathlessly at the profundity of his latest twitch. So I expect to see his latest statement spread virally all over the blogosphere in this and following weeks. In fact, I’m seeing it start already, and it was only posted this morning (it’s Sunday as I write this). And, though his sentiments are noble, I think they are completely wrong-headed, and deserve a rebuttal.

I’m referring to his statement on the Desiring God blog concerning the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the 2nd Amendment was properly (though narrowly) upheld.

Dr. Piper made no statement on the court’s decision per se. His statement addressed why he would not use a gun to defend his home, and expressed his hope that no one else would, either. He used, as his example, Jim Elliot and his fellow missionaries, who chose not to defend themselves against the spears of their attackers because “The natives are not ready for heaven. We are.”

I tend to believe that those young missionaries made the right choice. However, I don’t believe their reasoning applies in the vast majority of home-defense situations. My reasons are as follows (none of them would have applied in the jungles of Ecuador):

• In the majority of instances of defensive firearms use, no shots are fired. The threat is enough to subdue or put to flight the perpetrators. Yet being confronted with a violent response increases their fear of other potential victims, most of whom “are not ready for heaven.”
• The knowledge that potential victims, most of whom “are not ready for heaven,” might be armed is a known deterrent to criminals. Violent crime is highest in unarmed cities, and is known to decrease when citizens of those cities arm themselves.
• When an assailant is shot, more is accomplished than stopping the immediate crime: his future crimes — primarily against people who “are not ready for heaven” — are prevented; and a societal atmosphere is created in which criminals are more likely to think twice before attacking.
• While you can be sure that an intruder in your home is “not ready for heaven,” neither are most of his past and future victims — and you can be sure that there are, or will be, others. Sacrificing yourself only leaves him free to move on to his next victim, who is most likely — say it with me, now — “not ready for heaven.”

Piper’s goal of saving the lives of those who “are not ready for heaven,” though noble, is myopic and misdirected. It would be better served by doing whatever is necessary to stop the violent criminals who kill them.

Postscript: That was to be the end of this post, but a couple of additional points have crossed my mind.

• I realize that John Piper’s children are all grown and it’s just he and his wife at home. But many of us have children at home, and I am not one who assumes my children are “ready for heaven” just because they say they believe in Jesus. Shall I not protect them? Shall I value the soul of a murderer above theirs?
• Can a Calvinist really believe that evil must be allowed to go unchecked because God hasn’t had a chance to save the evildoers yet? In other words, is this really a dilemma at all?

Addendum: James White addresses this issue in I Beg To Differ, Brother Piper. Dr. White takes a more wide-angle view than I did. Although the comments section of this post has taken in more, my intention was to focus on Dr. Piper’s single expressed reason for sparing the intruder, i.e., that he is “not ready for heaven.”