Find your rest in wonder

by Joshua

This is what it looked like to have your mind blown away 1600 years ago. It still happens...

(Augustine here contemplates the unsearchable mysteries of God in predestination)

"You a man expect an answer from me: I also am a man. Wherefore, let us both listen to Him who says, 'O man, who are you?' Believing igorance is better than presumptuous knowledge. Seek merits; you will find naught but punishment.
O the height!
Peter denies,
a thief believes.
O the height!
Do you ask the reason?
I will tremble at the height; I cannot sound the depth. Paul found rest because he found wonder, He calls the judgements of God 'unsearchable;' and have you come to search them? He says that his ways are 'past finding out,' and do you seek to find them out?"
Augustine

Book Plan, Year Twenty-Ten

2010 Book Pile as it appears thus far

As promised several weeks back, here is my reading plan for the year. I am in all these books now except for Finally Alive which I finished about a month ago. s for the rest of these books, I plan to take them in slow and easy. Especially the Greek textbooks.

Finally Alive - John Piper

In this book Piper unpacks the resplendence of the new birth in a God exalting manner.

Valley of Vision

The valley of vision is a collection of prayers from the Puritans. It's so good, I could write a meaningful post on it every time I pick it up. There's a prayer for almost every season of the soul. Here's a few excerpts.

"Help me to see how good Your will is in all. And even when it crosses mine, teach me to be pleased with it. . ."

"... let me find Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley."

Communion With God - John Owen

Like Calvin before him, Owen is also known as the Theologian of the Holy Spirit. And he has a remarkable gift to the church in this book. In my life I have not came across many if any who point us towards fellowship with each person of the Trinity on the level Owen does. I intend to post a deal more on this later.

Lectures To My Students - CH Spurgeon>

Packed full of wisdom and instruction in ministry from the life of the prince of preachers Charles Haddon Spurgeon, this book is more than worth its weight in gold. The book starts out with a sturdy smack in the face and is fast moving. The first sentence is a direct quote from 1 Timothy 4:16. Right in there with the main tenants of this blog.

"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine"

New Testament Greek For Beginners - J. Gresham Machen

Since I wrote a little about the Author of this book in my Greek Fire post a few weeks back, I will spare you any more details on it, for now.

Basics of Biblical Greek - William D. Mounce

William (Bill) Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek is the standard for beginning Biblical Greek in our time. He really wants to take every difficulty and hindrance out of learning Biblical Greek that he can. Who knows, in a few decades he may even reach legendary status.

I am also in a few other books,

Newton's The Meaning of the Jewish Tabernacle
and CJ Mahaney and Robin Boisvert's This Great Salvation


Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

Motivation for Reformation

During the last few weeks in the Institutes I have been reading about the state of the church through the ages. Then on Sunday I watched about half of the latest Luther movie. I have watched it before, but this time I watched it with a beefier view of history, I discovered that what seemed like throw away lines, are actually very important.

After watching it, I felt inspired to put together a little clip for motivation for reformation. Watch the entire movie for maximum effect.

Enjoy!

Josh

Treasuring Him

This video asks and gloriously answers the question;

How Does Paul Make Christ Look Great In His Life And Thus Not Waste It?

Before you watch another youtube video, watch this one.

So How About Switching to Another Gospel?

Satan's Subtle Lie's

My evangelist friend emailed me a copy of an essay on false gospels by A.W. Pink. It's called "Another Gospel" you can see the whole thing here.

Pink does an especially good job showing how subtlety the other gospel counterfeits the one true gospel. He begins his essay by saying, "Satan is not an initiator but an imitator." Pink then contrasts the things which God initiates and Satan imitates. Since Satan is a proven arch-counterfeiter it easily follows that he has counterfeited the Gospel also. Consider Galatians 1:6,7.

God Initiated:

• Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ
• the children of God
• "mystery of godliness" (1Tim 3:16)
• By his angles seals his servants their foreheads (Rev 7:3)
• Christ performed miracles
• Christ's Church
  
• Christ is the light of the world
• Made apostles
• Gospel (Romans 1:16) [Added for emphasis]
  

Satan's Imitations:

• "son of perdition" (2Thess 2:3)
• "the children of the wicked one" (Mat 13:38)
• "mystery of iniquity" (2Thess 2:7)
• Puts a mark on the forehead of his devotees (Rev 13:16)
• Satan's servants perform miracles (2Thess 2:9)
• Synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9)
• Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2Cor 11:14)
• Made false apostles (2Cor 11:13)
• Another gospel (Gal 1:6,7) [Added for emphasis]

AW Pink: 1886 - 1952 Pastor, Writer, Preacher

There is much more to be said, but rather than tiring you with a lengthy post I will leave you with the original article.

Milton Friedman on Greed and Corruption

20th Century Economist Milton Friedman (Jul 31, 1912 - Nov 16, 2006)

An evangelist friend of mine shared this video with me today. The video serves as a good example of the global corruption of man as a result of the fall.

We Fade Like Grass

US General Douglass MacArthur

In his farewell address to congress, US General Douglass MacArthur said, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." MacArthur then described himself as "an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty."

Concerning War itself, MacArthur restated what he had said after accepting the formal surrender of Japan; "The problem basically is theological."

French General Ferdinand Foch

Ferdinand Foch (Fo-sh) is one of those "old soldiers" who have faded away in the mists of time. At the beginning of World War 1 he was in command of part of the 2nd French Army, by the end of the war he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies.

General Foch is a man worth researching. Here are some of his more notable quotes.

Only a week after taking command of 9th Army during the great allied retreat to the sea with allied armies retreating all around him, he held his ground tenaciously and said this: "Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I attack."

After liberating Châlons and being congratulated by the Bishop of Châlons he replied: "Not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, (Psalm 115:1)"

On the treaty of Versailles: "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years."

Foch, a triumphant hero in his day, like countless others is now long forgotten by most. However I don't think we should be overly surprised or dismayed by this. God speaks very clearly in His Word on what we should learn from this phenomenon.

(1 Peter 1:24, 25)
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

From before Cain through this very moment the problem of war has been a theological one. Mankind is helplessly caught up with itself rather than God the creator.

The problem with great men fading from memory is also theological. Because the glory of the great ones is a far cry short of the glory of God. Even much more than the glory of a grass hut is from the glory of granite palace.

In every age great ones have come and gone. Great speeches have been spoken, and forgotten.

Even if they are not forgotten yet, ultimately those words (and the ideas they represent) cannot stand the test of time - yet by faith we know the Word of God will. Untold millennia from now who will remember anything from our world? Who will want to? The only things that will last from our time will be those things done for Christ in accordance to His Word. To be truly great in an eternal, everlasting sense is for God to be shown great in our lives.

Forever is still a hard concept for me to grasp. I can't force my mind to feel the weight of it, but I can rest assured that the Word of God will endure f o r e v e r.



Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

What To Do About Closed Doors

God has set an open door before us

Here at the ministry all the doors are locked with padlocks. From time to time keys are lost. Today was one of those days when all the keys to one room were lost.

To share the unique experience of what re-opening a room in India looks like, I am posting a video.

Even though the door was locked, it was not that difficult to open, unlike the doors the Lord shuts. Providently our door was opened in short order and Lord willing it won't become 'shut' again. When God shuts a door, it's shut. When He opens one, nothing anyone can do will close it again. God is the sovereign gatekeeper of every event.

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens...

I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." Revelation 3:7,8



So what to do about closed doors? Seeing if a door is truly closed/opened by God is often difficult to see through the fog of human events. If we have a sincere desire to put God's will first (both decreed and commanded will) and sanctified reasoning coupled with prayer says 'it can and should be opened', I say go for it, and God permitting it can and will be opened since heaven has directed it. Otherwise, if God in His infinite wisdom decreed it not to be opened, all the pounding away will not budge it. And regardless if the door is open or closed our attitude ought to be,

'not my will, but yours, be done.'

Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

Christ-Centered Worship

This video is a helpful introduction to Bryan Chapell's new book, Christ-Centered Worship: letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice. I appreciate Bryan's Christ-centeredness, and his work in Christ-Centered homiletics. Like many around the globe, I have immensely benefited from utilizing his seminary's worldwide classroom resources where he has made more than twenty seminary level courses available for free download. Also, a friend of mine, Gray Ewing is currently attending his seminary.

[HT: JT]

Warnings About Words

Calvin and Hobbes on Writing

Today is my Dad's birthday, so I am dedicating this post to him. Dad, if you're reading this, Happy birthday, and thanks for being such a great dad, and teaching me to love God, and treasure truth about Him!

This comic strip is both funny and clever because of its witty insight into one of the most extravagant travesties of modern day academia.

The point is this, people, especially those of the scientific, teaching, or preaching realm are all too often speaking and writing, not to bring clarity, understanding, and truth but to obscure it in darkness by the means of a grandiose misuse of words and language.

I am a believer in big words - believe me, I believe in using them, and I do use them as much as I can. Especially when discoursing about our sovereign God. However, what I am convinced is important, is that we should (as much as is humanly possible) use words fitting for our great God. An infinite God should not be marginalized in our talking and writing by using small words. This is something worth fighting for, because it's about God's glory, and because people's understanding of it in our speaking and writing is at stake.

So in this post I want to take another look at words and language. The last time I took a stab at it [Words of Life], I focused on the current language of theology and our need to reestablish and recover theological language that has been carelessly dropped out of the church's every day vocabulary.

One of our endeavors is to work towards bringing back to light, propositional truth about God (and knowledge of ourselves) so that it (the truth) does not lie scattered on the floor of the theological wasteland that is the 21st century; and all preceding centuries to various degrees for that matter.

So in order to ramp this topic up to the next level, I am going to reflect on words themselves, particularly how they are used and misused. I am also going to use to our advantage, a few helpful thoughts penned by Isaac Watts, a Christian preacher, and writer from the 18th century who had an acute understanding of words and language, and the dangers attached.

Isaac Watts: The Father of English Hymnody, Pastor and Logician

"Do not always imagine that there are ideas wheresoever there are names. . . too often we use some words in mere waste, and have no ideas for them; or at least, our ideas are so exceedingly scattered and confused, broken and blended, various and unsettled, that they can signify nothing toward the improvement of the understanding" Watt's Logic pg 82

"Never rest satisfied, therefore, with mere words which have not ideas belonging to them, or at least no settled and determinate ideas. Deal not in such empty ware, whether you are a learner or a teacher; for hereby some persons have made themselves rich in words and learned in their own esteem, whereas in reality their understandings have been poor, and they knew nothing." Watt's Logic pg 82

Watt's goes on and explains that there are those who use great words such as Gospel, God, Redemption, Atonement, etc. but have no concrete idea as to the propositional truth that those words signify.

". . . neither they themselves nor their hearers have any settled meaning under those words: and thus they build up their reasonings, and infer what they please, with an ambition of the name of learning, or of sublime elevations in religion; whereas in truth they do but amuse themselves and their admirers with swelling words of vanity, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. Watt's Logic pg 82,83,

Commemorative Statue of Watts, Abney Park, London

That is sobering, and I can see much truth in his assertions. It seems to me that words such as the word Gospel are used by people everywhere in Evangelical circles, but often without any proper knowledge as to what it signifies. (i.e. Gospel means good news, not good advice. The Gospel is primarily about God, and the great things He has done for us in the birth, life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, and exaltation of His Son, Jesus Christ, all according to a determined plan and purpose.)

Conversely there are also those who do know the historic, orthodox Gospel, but they are seeking to bury it in a cloud of obscurity. But perhaps most often we see words like Gospel, redemption, etc. used flippantly by Christian preachers and teachers who used them to add force to their messages without having a clear grasp of the words themselves.

So I, or anyone could quite convincingly say "The gospel is glorious. It is wonderfully fantastic. The gospel is the best hope that God ever gave us." without ever meaning a thing about Christ's finished work. Or the power of God to forgive sin because of Christ's historic suffering and death. In fact, I could mean something entirely different, and I could be using the word Gospel, which is a word most Evangelicals treasure, to hide a fallacy that I could be slyly trying to feed you. That's pretty scary.

In other words, it is quite possible to use the word 'Gospel' without even talking about the Gospel. Crazy huh?

We should use big words, and we should know what they mean, and those who listen to us should especially know what they mean, and how we are using them. To do otherwise amounts to nothing less than chaos, confusion and ignorance, and does not glorify God.

"Have a care of making use of mere words instead of ideas. . ." Watt's Logic pg 82

What do you think?

Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

Legal Conviction, Evangelical Conviction

Legal Conviction: Sinner is aware of his sin and filled with terror of the Wrath, Holiness and Justice of God against sinners and flees from Him

(Examples: Cain, Esau, Saul, Judas...)

What's the difference between Legal conviction of sin and Evangelical conviction of sin?

Evangelical Conviction: Sinner is filled with fear and dread of God's justice, but also has a Godly sorrow over sin, repents of it and turns his eyes to Christ in a just hope in the Gospel for forgiveness of sins.

(Examples: Hezekiah, the Ninevites, David, Peter...)

"Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off"

" and said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Exodus 20:18-19

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" John 3:14

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." John 12:32 ESV

I have been thinking about this for a few weeks. Any thoughts?

Soli Deo Gloria,

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

Fighting For Joy

Fight for Joy!

As the post title intimates, this is about fighting for Joy. A few years back I read Piper's book, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy. I found it quite helpful and practical. It was a much needed sequel to Desiring God.

While Christ is the supreme object of our affections and giver of joy, Piper believes God uses means - means which point us back to Him.

"I believe untold resources for mental health and spiritual joy in God lie all around us if we would but open our eyes." Piper pg 197

Piper's old teacher, Clyde Kilby shared one way of overcoming, (as Piper calls it), our bent toward blindness for the wonders of the ordinary.

While I found this quite helpful, I urge caution and discernment. I understand them more as supplementary suggestions than imperative commands. Enjoy!

"1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me.

2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: "There is darkness without and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then there is nothing."

3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

4. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.

5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what [C.S.] Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying, and ecstatic"existence.

7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."

8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.

9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now.

10. If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.

11. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega." Clyde Kilby pg 197-198

The Book, a Supplementary Aid

Thanks for checking it out. I found this book chock full of helpful tools, and especially helpful in pointing us back to the Word and Prayer. Piper delves into how we can so read the text and so pray as to meet with God and enjoy Him; that we would glorify Him, and that He would fill us with joy in Him.

Soli Deo Gloria

Josh

Reform your life and doctrine, meet with God in the text

Words of Life

Antoine Lavoisier Father of Modern Chemistry 1788

"...Ideas are preserved and communicated by means of words, it necessarily follows that we cannot improve the language of any science without at the same time improving the science itself" Antoine Lavoisier

Big concept here - if we improve the language of a science, improvement in that science automatically follows.

Inversely, it must follow that if we weaken the language of a science, that science will weaken accordingly.

Most of us have observed that there are many basic Christian terms that are considered "too difficult" for average believers. The language of Christianity and Christian theology in our time has in many ways has become forgotten, trampled and imprecise.

Ambiguity is rampant

Rather than improving our Christian vocabulary, and prizing precision, scholars and teachers everywhere are deconstructing it. Our theology is suffering and the words of our faith like, Justification, Atonement, Redemption, Adoption, etc. are rarely treated with care by those who should treasure them. Some are even purposefully redefined to the point of heresy.

Let us strive to speak simply, sincerely and passionately of divine matters, with an aim for clarity and helpfulness. Let us work hard to understand, treasure and teach the rich bounties God has accomplished and revealed in words like propitiation and expiation.

Grace and Peace,

Joshua

Reform Your Life And Doctrine, Meet With God In The Text

Lyrical Theology

Shai Linne

Another dose of lyrical theology is due. In our last helping, I featured Shai Linne's catchy Q&A catechism. This time around I am going lay down a few more lyrical morsels for us to chew on together.

Since I mentioned Shai Linne, lets start with him.

The Atonement: In Adam All Die (Shai Linne)

We’re cursed from our birth, sinning from the beginning
The womb to the tomb, depraved to the grave
Astray every day, every breath brings death
In Adam all die, In Adam all die

Rebel: Go Hard (Lecrae)

Lord kill me If I don't preach the gospel

Running from my trials thinking everything's groovy
If the Cross don't move me, then I don't wanna breath no more
If I ain't seeing Christ partner, I don't wanna see no more"

Identity Crisis: Make War! (Tedashii)

Persistently attacking me - they're even in the back of me
It's either fight or loose my life and I can't take this passively
So what you think I'm bout to do - I'm bout to do what I can do
Trust the ONE who got me through - and fight like it was after school
Never giving up - steady, standing on the battle field
Feet firm to the ground like I stepped on Chappel Hill

I MAKE WAR! - Cause sin never sleeps
It's got me in a trance - you can see it in my dreams
I MAKE WAR! - Man I beat my flesh
To the death - every breath - like I beat my chest
I MAKE WAR - sun up
I MAKE WAR - sun down
I MAKE WAR - time in
I MAKE WAR - time out
I MAKE WAR - against lust
Against pride - against me - until I die

Any thoughts?

Hallelujah! All I Have Is Christ

Today I am posting a music video clip from this year's NEXT conference. I thank God that songs like this are still being written!

The Next conference featured excellent speakers including; Joshua Harris, Kevin DeYoung, D.A. Carson and Sinclair Ferguson amongst others. Messages dealt with foundational topics such as The Preeminence of Christ, Christ's Life, Death, Resurrection and Return, and Just Do Something. (knowing the will of God, very helpful) You can browse and download the messages here.

I recommend that you read these powerful lyrics. They are worth meditating on.

ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI), by Jordan Kauflin

[HT: BKauflin, GWyoming]