Double Usefulness

It is Not Death to Die

2012-01-18T07:54:00.000Z

It is not death to die,
To leave this weary road,
And midst the brotherhood on high
To be at home with God.

It is not death to close
The eye long dimmed by tears,
And wake, in glorious repose,
To spend eternal years.

It is not death to bear
The wrench that sets us free
From dungeon chain, to breath the air
Of boundless liberty.

It is not death to fling
Aside this sinful dust
And rise, on strong exulting wing
To live among the just.

Jesus, Thou Prince of Life,
Thy chosen cannot die:
Like Thee, they conquer in the strife
To reign with Thee on high.

H.A Cesar Malan, 1832

For this I have Jesus

2012-01-10T15:15:00.000Z

I'm lining up some more regulars posts for the blog this week, but in the interim I thought I'd share the story I told at the end of our New Year thanksgiving service on Sunday night in Millisle Baptist. I first heard this story via Rico Tice, of All Souls Langham Place, and it moved my heart deeply. I'm pretty sure it will move yours too:

Well known Pastor and conference speaker Charles Price, tells the story of a friend of his whose most well worn phrase in life was 'for this I have Jesus'. Whatever the circumstance, whatever the difficulty, this phrase would be employed as a means of showing the resources and help available to him. This friend printed a series of little yellow velvet bookmarks, and had them embossed in simple lettering with the words 'For this I have Jesus'. They were distributed widely.

Sadly this individual suffered from a major stroke, and his speech was severely affected. Charles Price rang to speak to him soon after he was discharged from hospital. The man's wife said that Price may have difficulty in making him out as the stroke had caused his speech to become extremely slurred. As the phone was handed over, through almost unintelligible words, Charles Price could hear the phrase loud and clear 'for this I have Jesus'.

This story was related by the preacher at Spring Harvest, much to the blessing of those who listened. It was used to illustrate the great truth of Philippians 4:13 that 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'. Many in attendance were deeply affected, not least Christian singer-songwriter Graham Kendrick who later wrote a piece which used the phrase as its refrain.

Some time after the conference Charles Price received the following letter:

‘I was at Spring Harvest on the night you talkedabout ‘for this I have Jesus’. I came to find you at the end of the meeting,but I couldn’t find you, and of course it’s hard to find people in this place,so I got your address from the Spring Harvest office. I wanted to tell youabout myself.

A while ago my husband was killed in a road accident. It was theworst thing that could have happened to me, we have two young children. The daybefore he was killed, a friend of mine sent me a letter and in the envelope sheenclosed a little yellow velvet bookmark, and on it it said this ‘For this Ihave Jesus’. And I thought that’s nice and sweet, and I put it on the table.

The next morning my husband had gone to work, and a policeman came to my doorabout 9am and said ‘Your husband’s been involved in a road accident, would youcome with me to the hospital. I went to the hospital with the policeman, andwhen I got there my husband had died, and I had to identify his body, and thengo and pick up my children from their primary school, and we came back into ourhome.

And when I got back to our home, there on the table was the little yellow velvet bookmark ‘for this I have Jesus’. I cannot tell you what that has meant to me.So much so, that we’ve written on the tombstone of my husband ‘For this we haveJesus’.

As we enter 2012, what a blessing to know that whatever the year may hold for good or for ill, 'for this we have Jesus'. We're not promised a rose strewn path of only pleasant things, but are promised the presence and enabling of an all sufficient Saviour, and that is enough.

A Quick Fix?

2012-01-05T08:04:00.000Z

The following article appeared in the most recent edition of Insight, the magazine of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland:

Look up youraverage church constitution in search of some advice about Christian lifestyleand you’re likely to find words to the following effect:

‘It is the responsibility of allsaved souls to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age’

This is aconcise, lean, succinct prescription for Christian living which lends itselfwell to the context of a constitution, but in terms of how one is actually to live as a believer, it gives littlepractical information. What does it mean to live a godly life? What should bethe marks of a Christian lifestyle? Are there any pitfalls to be avoided indealing with this issue? It is precisely these kinds of issues that thisarticle seeks to address, albeit suggestively rather than exhaustively.

Motivated Living

An essentialfoundation stone to any treatment of Christian living is that of motivation.Without placing this issue at the heart of Christian lifestyle, the believerexposes him or herself to a number of very real and common dangers. TheChristian life is not primarilyconcerned with externals, nor with slavish conformity to superficial standardsof behaviour. It goes much deeper than that. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave perhapsthe fullest treatment of Christian lifestyle in history, articulating theprinciples of His kingdom for the practice of all Christians. The preamble tothis great preaching section in Matthew 5-7 puts the heart under themicroscope, probing the internal attitudes which inform external actions.Christian lifestyle consists of poverty of spirit, mourning hearts, meekness,hunger for God, a heart of mercy, a desire for purity, a peace-making spirit,and strength under persecution. This take on Christian lifestyle emphasises theinside-out, rather than the outside-in, privileging authentic seeking after Godover rigid legalism.

The rest ofthis great sermon extrapolates these issues into almost every conceivable areaof human concern, from sexual standards to bioethics, from relating to one’sneighbour to meeting God in the Judgement. And at the heart of this teaching isthe issue of the heart. Sincerity, integrity and a desire for God which isdeeply personal, function as the operating system for all other Christianbehaviour. Everything else is merely application.

Christianlifestyle is preoccupied with motive. This helps us to avoid many commonpitfalls which attend any attempt to live for God. Authentic Christian livingisn’t concerned with donning a tie or a hoody for ourselves, or damning a tieor a hoody on others. It isn’t about preferred worship style, or a whole hostof personal predilections which seek to bind our consciences and those ofothers. Christian lifestyle is a calibrating of the heart on the concerns ofGod, an earnest desire to live for Him, and for His glory. It is not thebegrudging acceptance of other people’s standards or a matter of fulfillingcertain arbitrary conditions out of a sense of duty – rather it is the sheer delightof living under Christ’s Lordship. J.I. Packer phrases this powerfully when hestates:

‘Any idea of holiness as requiredrefusal to do all that one most wants to do must be dismissed as theunregenerate minds’ misunderstanding. True holiness, springing as it does fromwhat the Puritans called the “gospel mystery” of the sanctifying work of God,is the Christian’s true fulfilment, for it is the doing of that which, deepdown, he now most wants to do, according to the urging of his new, dominantinstincts in Christ’[i]

This meansbringing every decision about how we live into conformity with Christ’s counselas revealed in Scripture, and undergoing the painful-now, pleasant-laterdiscipline of God as he shows us our hearts as measured against his holiness(Hebrews 12:4-13).

Military Living

There aremany metaphors used in the New Testament for Christian lifestyle. From theworlds of cultivation, commerce and condiments, many word pictures are employedto drive home the reality of living for God. Arguably one of the mostcompelling and crucial of these images is that of warfare. Ephesians 6:10-20 isa seminal passage on how to live for Christ, showing us that successfulChristian living must be armour-plated, prepared to meet a ferocious andimplacable enemy with all of the resources God has provided. An in-depthtreatment of how the Christian’s armour is to be worn or used is beyond thescope of this present article, but this well-known passage at the very leastpresses home the war-torn backdrop against which Christian lifestyle isembodied. Living for God entails wrestling not repose, engaging with our enemySatan with all his hordes in a theatre of war strewn with casualties. We livein a world of devalued Facebook ‘friendships’, and where the concept of‘following’ has been reduced to clicking an icon on Twitter. There is, however,nothing casual about the Christian lifestyle; this is a way of living whichentails struggle, opposition and pain.

The post-warrewards of this kind of living are beyond imagining – when the Captain of oursalvation will place the collective suffering of His people on the scales andshow us just how much weightier and wonderful the glory of an eternity spentwith him truly is. But for now, the Christian is called to wage war, findingtheir discipleship forged in the furnace of a relentless spiritual fight.

To grasp themilitary nature of Christian lifestyle changes everything. We begin to seeother Christians as comrades, a band of brothers (and sisters) allied against acommon foe; we will begin to see Scripture and the preaching of it not as dry deaddidactics, but as fresh dispatches delivered from heaven to help us through ourmost fearsome times. Perhaps most profoundly, our prayers will be transformed.Rather than an obligatory exercise to be undertaken our prayers will be markedby urgency, fervency and dependency. John Piper has articulated this aspect ofChristian lifestyle beautifully in the phrase: ‘Until you believe that life is war, you cannot know what prayer isfor’.[ii]Realising the military flavour of Christian living transforms our perspectiveon discipleship, granting us a sense of urgency and purpose in seeking to beconformed to the image of Christ.

Mutual Living

All of theforegoing leads us to one final meditation on Christian lifestyle – fellowship.Christian living is at once deeply personal and profoundly relational, privateand public. It finds its inspiration and articulation in community, in beingpart of something bigger than ourselves, in finding nurture and growth inpartnership and mutual prayer with other Christians. The writer of Hebrews, inseeking to encourage Jewish believers who were struggling to persevere,strongly exhorted them to work out their Christian living in community withothers. There is, he says, a context for ‘spurring one another on towards loveand good deeds’ and that this is to be capitalised on with each Christianensuring that they do ‘not give up meeting together, as some are in the habitof doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see theDay approaching’ (Hebrews 10:24-25). Christian lifestyle is not nurtured in theisolation of the cloister, but finds expression in the dynamic of relating toother believers, learning from one another, and mutually seeking to promptgrowth in one another’s lives.

Christiancharacter thus finds it initiation in God’s work of grace in our lives, givingus motivation and power to live for Christ. It finds expression through a senseof urgency in the face of spiritual warfare and is nurtured in fellowship withother Christians. Under these terms being a Christian is an exciting, terrifying,enriching experience; an adventure in grace in which God works in and throughus for the glory of His name and for the renown of His Son Jesus.

[i]Packer, J.I. Keep in Step with the Spirit.Leicester: IVP, 2005, 89-90.

[ii]Piper, John. ‘Prayer: The Work of Missions’. Retrieved 9^th May 2011,from (http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/prayer-the-work-of-missions)

Downing Street Reply to An Open Letter to The Right Honourable David Cameron, Prime Minister

2012-01-03T16:31:00.002Z

Just last week I got a response back from Number 10 to my open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron (as well as posting the letter here, I also mailed a copy to Downing Street). The response is clearly just a form letter, but I thought I'd share it here nevertheless. The only amendment made is the obscuring of my home address:

More Love to Thee

2011-12-31T20:58:00.004Z

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've been blessed for a number of years by the Robert Murray M'Cheyne calendar of daily Bible readings. I've tried different 'read through the Bible' materials over the years, but there is just something special about the layout and arrangement of the readings in this scheme. If you're thinking of trying to read right through the Bible in the New Year, I can recommend no more helpful way to start than getting your hands on this scheme (it can be downloaded here, or a glossy published version is available from Banner of Truth here).

One enriching feature of the M'Cheyne plan is that it brings the reader right through the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation in the month of December. Christ incarnate and Christ exalted are relentlessly portrayed day after day, and I can think of no finer way to end one year and move into another.

Today's reading from John 21 always makes me cast my eye back over the year that has passed, as Jesus restores Simon Peter to ministry after his period of departure and backsliding. Christ applies one criteria to assess Peter's position as a follower and as His servant. John 21:15-19 show that of all the things Jesus wishes to see at work in Peter, love for Him is the key, the principle, the priority. Jesus doesn't probe the outskirts of Peter's motivational and psychological constitution but goes directly to the heart of the matter - whether Peter loves the Lord as he ought to. Peter's affirmation of, and eventual irritation with, this thrice repeated question betray his desire to make his love for the Lord implicit and foundational to all of his future life and service.

As 2012 dawns at midnight I have so many aspirations for what this incoming year might bring in the Lord's will. I have hopes and burdens for my family, for the fellowship of which I am Pastor, and for my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. But behind all of this must be this basic love for Jesus, this simple predominant affection for my risen Saviour. This love for the Lord is the base rate against which all else I seek to do for Him will be index linked. I might speak with the tongues of angels, I might lay down my life in service for Christ - but if I don't love Him, I won't please Him.

I'm not going to make a New Year's resolution this year. Rather I want to sit at at my Saviour's feet and ask that He might deepen my love for Him, and that all of my affection might be set on His glory and fame. Knowing the weakness of my frame I'm aware that I will need to offer this prayer every day, not just on 31st December.

Elizabeth Prentiss' famous hymn articulates this burden, and might serve well as an anthem for 2012:

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Thank you for reading along with Double Usefulness in 2011 and may you know God's peace, blessing and presence in this New Year - and may your love for Jesus increase day by day as you look upon His glory and grace.

Book Review: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan

2011-12-21T11:38:00.000Z

John Bunyan is, perhaps, best known for his highly influential Pilgrim's Progress. Such has been the potency and popularity of this text over the centuries that it has all but eclipsed his other literary output. Last year I bought the Banner of Truth 3 volume set of Bunyan's works and have been dipping in and out of some texts, and ploughing through others. Bunyan is consistently helpful, his mix of depth and clarity, profundity and simplicity, make him at once readable and mind stretching.

My most recent foray into the world of Bunyan has been to read his autobiographical Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. It is to this text that many turn to get an idea of the man behind 'Pilgrim' and to get some sense of the life which led to the production of such a high volume of solid Christian texts. Grace Abounding has also been of interest to the world of literary studies, capturing as it does something of the evangelical experience of conversion.The brief synopsis at the beginning of Grace Abounding nicely captures the preoccupations which dominate the rest of the text. This is a book,

"wherein is particularly showed the manner of his conversion, his sight and trouble for sin, his dreadful temptations, also how he despaired of God's mercy, and how the Lord at length through Christ did deliver him from all the guilt and terror that lay upon him"

This, then, will be much less, and simultaneously much more, than a straightforward autobiography. The text will recount some events from Bunyan's life, but it will also (chiefly?) be a psychological treatment, probing the inner motivations, thoughts, aspirations and despair of its subject. Bunyan's great skill is to lay bare to the reader, not merely the events that befell him, but the emotions and inner responses he felt as his journey to faith unfolded.

This is not always an easy road to walk with the author. His journey to Christ was not direct from the profanity of his unsaved life into the fullness of faith. Rather by circuitous and at times torturous trails Bunyan travels from outright rebellion, through self-righteous hypocrisy, to faltering belief, before finally receiving assurance of sins forgiven. Bunyan's mind is of a particular type, and even as he recounts his experiences one gets a sense that this man may at times have bordered on obsessive compulsion. His description of fearing the fury of God, and moving away from below the bell in his local Bedford parish church lest it and the tower in which it was held should fall on him, is one example of many where Bunyan's conscience caused him tremendous concern. On another occasion he dismisses Christ from his thinking, only to come to the belief that Christ has finally cast him off forever; the mental anguish endured by the author at this point is painful to read. Should Bunyan have lived in the 21st century one can imagine that many counselors would have been queued at his door to 'fix' him.

The net results of Bunyan's account of struggle are, however, very beneficial. They on one hand warn us about the dangers of intensive spiritual introspection and the manner in which Satan can use a good thing (a tender conscience) for impure ends. The lessons from Bunyan's experience are informative, but not always exemplary, his torment of soul should not be sought as a measure of spiritual maturity. But they also provide us with a helpful contrast to our modern ability to dismiss our sin lightly, and to readily presume upon the grace of God. At times, as I read Bunyan's account of his struggles, I felt intense guilt that I have so often minimised my own failures, rushing to grace rather than grappling with how exactly I have offended God. I also can see numerous pastoral uses for Bunyan's account, imagining that it might minister effectively to individuals who find themselves locked in a struggle with guilt and acceptance with God.

Bunyan writes powerfully, beautifully and with breathtaking candour about how grace impacted this 'chief of sinners' so wondrously. Grace Abounding conveys the sincere heart of a humble sinner in search of a great Saviour. It is a work invested with emotional honesty, but which chiefly speaks of God's great grace a great sinner and, by extension, to us all.

An Open Letter to the Right Honourable David Cameron, Prime Minister

2011-12-17T13:36:00.001Z

Dear Prime Minister,

Warmest Christian greetings at this Advent season. I write to offer my most sincere thanks for your recent statements regarding the place of Christianity within the United Kingdom. Now seems a particularly appropriate time to express this, coming as it does at the end of a year in which the influence of God's Word in our nation has found helpful expression, in the final countdown to Christmas, and in the same week as one of the strongest opponents of Christianity in recent years passed from this life to the next.

As is the case with most citizens, the contents of your recent speech regarding the Christian faith has been initially mediated to me via the BBC. As I read the highlights of your speech at the Number 10 website, I found myself at once thrilled by some of your sentiments, and burdened for you personally, and for your position politically as our head of state.

I am glad to hear your assertion that historic Christianity has been a source of good, and that God must not be kept out of public discourse. I am relieved to hear that the faith to which I and many others adhere is not the public pariah that it is often portrayed to be, even in mainstream media outlets. I am glad to hear you give voice to sentiments which seldom reach the ears of the general public, where caricatured Christians are often the order of the day, and fair representation seems far from possible. I am also moved by your humility in confessing that you have an affection for the Christian faith which is hemmed with doubts. As someone to whom many look for solid answers, and in a role which must at times seem to demand omniscience, I am gratified that you recognise that there are areas in which you don't have all of the answers.

Parallel to these sentiments, however, is a concern to see you follow through fully on some of your assertions regarding Christianity. While I don't expect you to share my creed as a Baptist Pastor in Northern Ireland, I do feel that your recent comments place a burden of responsibility on your shoulders to assure the rights and freedoms of all Christian believers in the United Kingdom.

Recent sounds emerging from Westminster and other centres of political discussion in our nation are suggestive of legislative decisions regarding important moral questions which will impact the life and witness of local churches across the UK. Issues regarding human sexuality, bio-ethics, and the right-to-life are at the forefront of these concerns, and I would urge and implore you, Prime Minister, to listen to the voices of those whom you claim to appreciate within the Christian faith.

There is a danger in the current media climate to believe the lie that Christians are chiefly concerned to hammer home their thoughts on human sexuality and other issues to the exclusion of all others. I can assure you that, for the majority of people within evangelicalism, this is not the case.

The object of our faith, and our great preoccupation, is much grander than that.

We worship the risen Lord Jesus Christ, declaring His authority, majesty and glory, living in the expectation of His return. Our submission to His Lordship impacts every other area of our lives, including sexual ethics and moral choices, and it is from this position that we uphold what God's Word says on issues of our day, recognising our own helpless but for God's grace, and the efficacy of that very grace to transform lives. Such a necessity to express Christian values still stands, even if those moral claims clash with the current sexual or ethical zeitgeist within Western Europe. The freedom to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, and the demands that His authority places upon human beings, ought to be a basic right for subjects living in what you have described as a 'Christian country'. Such proclamation should, of course, be undertaken in the spirit of true tolerance. A tolerance which allows the believer to assert the tenets of their faith as exclusive and absolute truth, with due respect given to the freedom of those from other faiths to likewise express theirs. Anything short of this minimises the reach of the sentiments you have expressed in your speech.

I have deep respect for your position within society, and believe it to be a basic Christian duty to both pray for you and others in government (1Timothy 2:1-6) and to submit to the authority given to civil government by God, insofar as it does not impinge on what God requires of me as a Christian (Romans 13:1-7). As I pray for you, I will be asking that God will give you the resolve to now act on the sentiments expressed on 16th December particularly with regard to the Bible's role in shaping the moral future of Britain. I also pray that the doubts you feel in your heart regarding faith might, like the Apostle Thomas, melt into fervent and effective belief before the unavoidable reality of the risen King Jesus. I have no doubt that should He so reveal Himself to you, then the moral future of our great nation will have a firmer footing.

Once again, thank you for the implicit pledge in your speech to honour our Christian past by facilitating a Christian future for the United Kingdom. May God in His grace enable you so to do.

In the name of Christ Jesus,
Andrew Roycroft

Friday Fun: you know you were born in the seventies if...

2011-12-16T00:12:00.000Z

I've read other, better, examples of this in the past but thought I'd have a go at writing one myself.

You know you were born in the seventies if:

*Your first memory of a 'mobile' was sitting in a freezing cold outdoor classroom

*Wireless was what your Dad called the radio

*The words 'Beta-max' and Celnet mean anything to you

*You can remember computer games taking twenty minutes to load

*Swingball was your main summer sport

*You ever built or rode on a guider

*You remember health frame glasses

*An iPad (eye-pad) was something worn by the kid with health frame glasses

*You were ever cognizant of how many pleats your trousers had

*The words FINDUS, CRISPY and PANCAKES mean anything to you when combined

*The Hi-Fi was a major part of how your living room was furnished

*You ever rode a Grifter or knew someone who did

*Your first memories of learning to cross the road are dominated by 'Tufty'

*You remember Ted Rogers and 'Dusty-Bin'

*Shell suits were ever socially acceptable to you

Please feel free to add to this in the comments!

Real Issues from Rail Issues

2011-12-15T09:54:00.002Z

In the world of YouTube and Facebook, facts quickly become fables and normal events can readily go viral. One such story which rose to the surface of mainstream media this week was that of a university student who allegedly hadn't paid his fare on a Scotrail service. The conductor, having stopped the train at a halt, demanded that the young man disembark before the service would resume. He was met with a barrage of F-bombs and abusive responses. Having reasoned with the young man, and having asked him repeatedly to curtail his language, the conductor seemed somewhat relieved when a well-built male offered to dispatch the abusive passenger from the train. What followed was a minor episode of man-handling, during which the student tried to resist the irresistible strength of his superior opponent. His attempts to re-board the train concluded with him hitting the concrete platform, before the physical enforcer took to his seat amidst the applause of gratitude of other passengers. Video footage of the altercation has been viewed by over 1.5 million people (I haven't embedded it or linked to it as I'm not a big fan of broadcasting the F-word from my blog!).

The media storm which continues around this incident, is by turns petty and important. On the petty side the rail evictee has made multiple protests in mainstream media of his innocence and his experience of being a victim of assault. The individual who videoed events had a slot on BBC breakfast, and a collective 15 minutes of fame has followed for the main protagonists. The man who evicted the youth from the train, Alan Pollock, has not courted the media attention, but then again he may endure media attention in court, should calls for his prosecution for assault find a good hearing.

Media moguls, former police officers and Scotrail spokesmen have raised their individual voices, either in protest or approbation at what befell the ticket dodger. There is a sense in which people have grasped the parabolic nature of the video's transmission, speaking as it does to some of the bigger issues which we face as a society. What does this event say about social disaffection, approaches to authority, and legitimate force? When is it right for members of the public to intervene, or to take the law into their own hands? What does all of this say about social media and publication of what twenty years ago would have been isolated and unrecorded incidents? All of these are valid and complex questions.

For me the most fascinating facet of the whole affray has been the promotion of the evicted student from perpetrator to victim. Here is a young, educated person who shows willful defiance to an official on a train - a man well advanced in years. He feels justified in raining abusive words down on the conductor, clearly in the presence of young families and children. He feels no sense of responsibility that he is delaying everyone else's journey or causing difficulties for others. In true toddler fashion he wants to have his tantrum, and cares little for a single consequence.

In short he is an icon of the golden age of the victim, the offended against offender who will defend his rights vocally and treat his responsibility shabbily. In this YouTube parable, he holds up before us the face of a society which shirks its sense of duty, which asserts its sense of entitlement, and will flex the muscles of state to keep its steady state defiance. He falls in with the line up from the summer riots, concerned to do what they want and incredulous when that most rare of things follows - an unpleasant consequence.

Such features do not bode well for Britain. What do we do with now multiple generations who demote authentic authority and promote their pretended authority? What happens to a society where rights are on the rampage and responsibility is in retreat? What does this say about how we bring the Gospel into these circumstances? If the authority of a visible, physically present teacher/conductor/riot squad serves as no deterrent to willful rebellion, how can we hope to so teach about God's authority over all people, when he cannot be physically seen or sensed?

To me the answer lies in a couple of areas, one which we can control and one which is in the control of Another. On the side of activism, we can teach our children about the nature of authority, and how that we all must submit ourselves to it. Romans 13 gives me a tremendous framework from which to teach my children about the nature of authority as instituted by God, or rulers who rightly hold terror for the troublemaker, of even secular and sinful governments serving God's purpose of ensuring law and order.

My three year old and I had a fascinating conversation about this recently. She felt the car slowing down as we approached a 30mph zone and asked me what would happen if I didn't obey the law. I told her that the police would have the right to stop me, to scold me and to punish me. The sense of disbelief on her face that one of the two main authority figures in her life might be subject to another, external authority spoke volumes.

The other answer lies in the optimistic realism that the Bible affords us. We can look at our world and lament the traits of human behaviour which we see in ourselves and others. We can take an honest look at our morally moribund Western culture, and with candour confess that things are a mess. But we also believe that this is the tinder which God can still set alight in His grace, by His Spirit, for His glory. Arnold Dallimore's two volume biography of George Whitefield is full of the good news of what God did through His servant in 18th century England - but all of that was set against the bad news of a culture adrift from God, from His Word, and from the behaviours which it proscribes. God can move in the darkness of our age with the brightness of His grace, and we bear the privilege and responsibility of humbling ourselves and beseeching God to restore us and our world.

The fable of the freeloading student is packed with powerful reflective points for us all. But a belief in a God who intersects our society with His sufficiency gives us grounds for hope and motivation for prayer.

Book Review: The World Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips

2011-12-13T10:19:00.000Z

The World Tilting Gospel: Embracing a Biblical Worldview and Hanging on Tight

Dan Phillips

Grand Rapids: Kregel

315 pages, paperback, £11.99

ISBN: 978-0-8254-3908-7

Dan Phillips is best known as a Christian blogger, contributing both to his own site, and the world renowned Pyromaniacs. His posts at either location are always articulate, often provocative and are consistently God-centred. Many have come to appreciate his writing style and his theological stance, and so the news that he had earned a publishing contract for two books in 2011 was welcome indeed. Along with an extended treatment of Proverbs, Dan has authored The World Tilting Gospel, and it is on this title that the following review will focus.

The World Tilting Gospel is a book about us, God, salvation, holiness and basic Christian living. Over the course of 300+ pages, Dan Phillips skilfully steers his reader through what the Gospel is, what it means for us, how we can come to appropriate it, and the difference it makes in our lives. The basic contention behind the book is that the Gospel as first preached by the Apostles turned the world upside down (hence the 'world-tilting' part of the title) and that when properly understood, it can do exactly the same today. Behind the book is a burden that,

'The greatest need of the church today is a strategic, full-orbed, robust, biblical grasp of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its transformative implications. We don't need more glitz or glamour, better marketing or more programmes, snazzier decor or entertainment. We do need a whole-Bible grasp of the Gospel' (p.19)

The World Tilting Gospel goes back to basics and back to the beginning, taking the reader on a tour of biblical doctrine starting with God's work in creation, through man's fall, and God's plan of redemption. Part one of the book deals with our identity as sinners, part two God's plan of salvation, part three the means of becoming a Christian, and part four the realities of Christian discipleship and growth.These issues are handled in astonishing detail for a popular book, but the truths are expressed in terms that are at once orthodox and freshly phrased. Phillips is all too aware that the Gospel can easily be diluted or polluted by popular misconceptions, and he creatively sets out how people can misunderstand and misappropriate the Gospel in subtle ways. In slightly Bunyan-esque tones the author paints a picture of Bud Goodheart who simply wants God to rubber stamp his self efforts; Lodowick Legup who complements what God has done in the Gospel with his all important 'decision'; and Misty Call who is caught up with self-surrender as a means of spiritual fulfillment. These cameos nicely frame the need for a book of this kind, making the plain Gospel plain, in a world (and a Church!) which has a tendency to airbrush it or reduce it to manageable proportions.

The soteriology of The World Tilting Gospel is soundly Reformed, putting God at the centre and presenting Man in his utter depravity and deadness to God. Through extended argument and extensive quotation from both the Old and New Testaments Phillips paints a chilling and faithful picture of where sin took us, stating that 'we cannot understand what God has done for us, or wants for us, until we come to grips with where Adam put us, what sin has made us' (p.71).

One of the pleasing features of the book is that it often takes the reader along an unexpected road to reach a familiar destination. The plan of salvation presented in the chapters begins, not with the process by which we come to Christ, but the person who deigned and designed to save us: God Himself. Phillips takes God's holiness as his starting point and from there builds a coherent picture of what God's love and wisdom in salvation truly mean in the light of His hatred of sin. This refreshing route planning is also witnessed in the outline presented of God's salvation plan, where there is a refusal to jump into New Testament teaching without laying the important ground work of Old Testament promise and foreshadowing. This allows readers who might be familiar with the doctrines of grace to find themselves surprised afresh by the audacity of God's saving work, and allows new converts to get a thorough biblical grounding in what it means to be saved.

Chapters 7-8 of the book are central (physically and theologically) setting out as they do the grand truths of justification and regeneration. These are extended treatments, which achieve that most difficult of things - deep truth presented with lightness of touch. I am so grateful that these chapters appear in a book of this kind, as they teach rich theology in a popular way - opening up to the reader the enormity of God's miracle of grace in bringing us to Himself.

The closing chapters of the book (Part Four) handle the complex and convoluted area of Christian growth. Phillips portrays a number of misunderstandings about how we can come to know holiness in our lives. Gutless Gracers, Crisis Upgraders and Muzzy Mysticism are the terms used to describe antinomianism, second-blessing doctrine, and Keswick style surrender teaching respectively. The author effectively dismantles these approaches to holiness but in so doing provides a positive picture of what santification is. Chapter 13, which deals with the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing us into the likeness of Christ is nothing short of exhilarating, showing the dynamic resources the believer already has for living the Christian life. The final chapter of the book forms the overall teaching from doctrine to practical living into an organic whole, showing the difference that an appreciation and appropriation of the true Gospel will bring. When understood and applied the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly is 'world-tilting'.

My one criticism of the book is the absence of an in-built study guide. As a Pastor I am keen to start working through The World Tilting Gospel with some folks by way of discipleship and questions/discussion starters would have made an excellent book into a highly usable resource. A study guide is currently under construction, and it is to be hoped that it will become available soon so that the riches contained in the book might be mined by many, and discussed in a disciple-making way among God's people.

I highly recommend this book. It is a readable and reliable guide to how God saves sinners, and makes Christians holy. My abiding impression as a reader is that these are issues that have marinaded in the mind of the author over many years, and which now find mature, biblically nuanced, expression. Phillip's grasp of doctrine, biblical languages, and how to communicate in energetic prose make this a book which anyone will find easy and challenging to read.

The Gospel was always designed to be world-tilting - Dan Phillips shows us why, and how we can know its transforming power in our lives and churches once again.

For those seeking to purchase The World Tilting Gospel in the UK the Book Depository appear to be the only supplier. They offer a discount on the cover price and free delivery (see here).

Adventures in the NIV2011 Pt.4: Cutting Circumcision?

2011-12-09T10:06:00.001Z

Over the past weeks I've been engaging at length with Romans 2:17-29 in preparation for our current sermon series through the epistle on Sunday mornings in Millisle Baptist. When dealing with Paul's arguments about the value and function of the Law and circumcision I turned to the NIV2011 to see what kind of wording there is on these issues. I'm conscious that this is the second 'negative' post in a row on this translation (and there are many positives to come DV!), but here again gender-neutral language causes a few issues for the reader and expositor. It is, perhaps, most simple to lay out the NIV1984 and NIV2011 translations together and then to probe a little of what is problematic. I'm looking specifically at Romans 2:28-29:

"²⁸ A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. ²⁹ No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God." NIV1984

^"28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. ²⁹ No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God." NIV2011

It can be immediately noted that the NIV2011 has replaced 'a man' with 'a person' throughout these two verses, in an effort to make the application and implication of what Paul is saying here more universal. The motive here is to be appreciated, even applauded: it is complimentary to Paul's purpose in proving that all of humanity is sinful and stands condemned before God to spread the net on that notion as widely as possible. This is not the same kind of issue as experienced in Psalm 8 in my last post, what is at stake here is not theology but simply clarity: clarity of concept and clarity of expression.

The point in Paul's argument at which these verses appear is his crucial handling of how devout Jews stand equally condemned before God. Their two great sources of reliance and assurance - the Law and circumcision - are proven to be ineffective if they are not accompanied by faith. Paul, then, is dealing singularly and definitively with circumcision of Jews - an issue which is by its very nature male-centric. Males in Judaism are circumcised, and so it is most helpful and natural that Romans 2:28 would say 'a man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physically'. This is not a point which straddles gender - the circumcision of males in Judaism has no spiritual effect Paul is saying, the national sign only has effect if it is reflective of an inner change 'circumcision of the heart'.

Any preaching on this passage will of course apply this truth to all people, and in our contemporary context we might think of sources of physical false assurance such as baptism or unthinking decisionism. But our application and translation of Scripture are two separate things, and it would seem most logical, readable and appropriate to retain the translation here offered by the NIV1984.

The Enjoyment of Employment: some thoughts from John Flavel

2011-12-06T22:49:00.000Z

I'm currently reading through Voices from the Past as part of my daily devotions. It is an excellent book, consisting of samples from the Puritans broken down into easily digested daily pieces. The reading on Monday past, by John Flavel, provides a helpful corrective to many of the ways in which we might be tempted to speak of our places of employment. There's an Americanism which describes Wednesday as 'Hump-Day' - hopefully this perspective from a wise Puritan might help you through yours:

Theways of God's providence direct us into the calling and employment that isordered for us in this world. To have an honest, lawful employmentin which you do not dishonour God is no small mercy. If it is suitedalso to your genius and strength, this is a double mercy. If youhave less toil than others and more time for heavenly exercises, ascribe thisbenefit to the special care of providence for you. How strangely arethings wheeled about by providence! David followed the sheep andlikely never raised his thoughts to higher things, but God made him the royalshepherd. Some have work, but not enough strength. Others havestrength, but no employment. If God blesses your labour and givesyou and yours necessary support and comfort in the world, it is a choiceprovidence and should be acknowledged with all thankfulness. If youfind yourself scarcely able to provide for the necessities of life, consider:though you have a small portion of the world, if you are godly, he has promisednever to forsake you (Heb. 13:5). Providence has ordered thecondition that is really best for your eternal good. If you had moreof the world you might not be able to mnage it to your advantage. Weare directed to be content with food and clothing, and the little that therighteous has is better than the riches of many wicked (Psa. 37:16). If providence has so disposedyou that you cannot only eat your own bread but have enough for works of mercyupon others, and all this is brought to pass in a way you did not expect, letGod be honoured in this providence. Remember that the success ofyour callings and earthly employments is by divine blessing and not humandiligence alone. Be well satisfied in the station and employment whereyou have been placed. God is wise and seeks your eternal good.

JohnFlavel, Works, IV:387-391

Past Post Paste: Joy in the Prospect of Improvement

2011-12-05T12:42:00.001Z

I have been blogging on and off since 2006, and have recently returned to writing regularly on my Double Usefulness site. I'm conscious that a few folks have begun to read along for whom trawling through the archives would be a tedious task, and so over the next while I'm going to paste some past posts from a while back which might be worth a read again. I've reread them and in places revised them to bring them up to date, but by and the large the content and sentiment remains the same. The first is a post from 2007 which reflects on the joy of realising I haven't arrived, but need God's grace to grow personally and pastorally. Five years on I feel more than ever that I need God's help to be and become who He would have me to be in His service:

I firmly believe that preaching and teaching God's Word is the highest privilege in the world, without exception. To be charged by God Himself to preach His gospel, and to teach His people, never ceases to terrify and enthrall me. The man-hours required to study the Scriptures are no drudgery, but a delight; meeting with God in His word day by day. At 34 years old I feel so blessed to be called to this work.

While being in Christian ministry can carry its own difficulties, (perhaps I'll write about those in the future) to me one of the real benefits of being called so early in life is the joy I find in the prospect of improvement. I know that in coming into the work of ministry I have so much to learn, so much to improve, so much to change -and I find that hugely exciting. For me there is something special about being in the company of other more seasoned Pastors, listening to their experiences, learning from their encouragements and discouragements, taking heart from their perseverance in the service of God. I'm blessed to have contact with other local Pastors, and those times of fellowship mean a great deal. I have fellow elders in my own fellowship and colleagues from others who enrich my ministry in so many ways - and I thank God for them. It is amazing to serve day by day in the prospect and knowledge that God is changing me, God is developing me; showing me my hopelessness and weakness, and His divine sufficiency. One of my prayers is that this sense of wonder will never cease.

Then there is the experience of living with the prospect of reading so many great books. Many good friends have inspired me, not only by their libraries, but by the depth to which they have read. Speaking with them is at once an inspiration to read, and an education from their reading. Book reviews and recommendations give me a flutter in the stomach as I look at all of the great things which God can use to engage my mind for however much longer I live (or the Lord tarries).

I think the bottom line is: I'm grateful to God for His mercy and grace in calling me. I'm thankful for the prospect of improvement privately, and in my preaching; I'm glad that God has put me into His service not to stagnate, but to grow and develop. I'm also richly blessed to serve in a church which has been patient with my shortcomings, and which has given me space to learn and make mistakes. God really is so gracious!

Adventures in the NIV2011 Pt.3 - Man O Man!

2011-12-01T23:06:00.001Z

In my last post I alluded to the fact that the gender neutral language in the NIV2011 had presented me with few problems - with one notable exception: Psalm 8. Whereas there is little to wrestle with when Psalm 1:1 is translated as 'Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked', the gender language located in Psalm 8 is much more complex and doctrinally charged.

Psalm 8:4-5 in the NIV1984 (and most other translations) carries some gender specific language 'what is man that you are mindful of him...the son of man that you care for him? You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour'. The NIV2011 re-translates this verse, carefully taking a gender-neutral line with it, and phrasing it in strikingly different terms:

'What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour'.

At first glance, one might tempted to ask 'well what's the big deal?', or 'how does this carry any more significance than the translation of Psalm 1?'. The answer lies in one key passage of the New Testament which uses Psalm 8 to speak of Christ, or at the very least uses it as an introduction to speaking of Christ. I am referring here to Hebrews 2:5-9. In translations such as the NIV1984 a certain ambiguity resides in the employment of this verse. Does the writer to the Hebrews speak of man in general in verses 6-8, before turning his attention to Jesus specifically in v9 'but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels' etc, or does the whole section, including the quotation from Psalm 8 refer to Christ? Answers to this question are divided, with consensus lying with the fact that from verse 9 onward Jesus is the subject.

The problem with what the NIV2011 does with Psalm 8, with its quotation in Hebrews 2, and with the verses which follow ('in putting everything under them God left nothing that is not subject to them') is that the suggestiveness of the text is utterly reduced and flattened. A breathtaking interpretative decision is taken for the reader, which leaves no room for the alternative opinion that all of Hebrews 2:5-9 refers to Jesus. In other words any preacher who might attempt to preach on this passage in the belief that it is all about Jesus would have to un-translate the NIV2011's rendering, reconstruct it, and then preach it.

But an arguably more serious issue lies in the gender-neutral language here itself. Even if the quotation of Psalm 8:3-5 is referring to mankind rather than Christ, a vital, subtle link is lost. In using 'man', 'him' etc there is a direct comparison being drawn between man under Adam and the man Christ. There are rich allusions here to some of the federal headship which Paul so carefully delineates in Romans 5, which the NIV2011 utterly demolishes.

This is a disappointing feature in the NIV2011, and presents a serious problem for me in its use for preaching or teaching. Perhaps other features will make up for this as I make my way through, but this is the first real point of contention I have come across so far.

The adventure continues...

From Hardship to Harvest: A Study in Ruth Pt.3

2011-11-29T14:17:00.001Z

Ruth is a book of beauty and a book of big things. The simplicity and warmth of the narrative, coupled with the linear structure of the book, belie its profundity and unflinching confrontation with the difficult things of life. Among the big themes of this little book is that of an invisible God at work in visible ways in the lives of His people, a God who works in the details of ordinary lives to do extraordinary things for the glory of His name.

In the two preceding studies in this short series of articles we have witnessed God's purpose realised through pain and revealed through providence, as Naomi and Ruth journey from hardship to harvest. The first chapter of Ruth has taken us to the wreckage, tracing from v22 a journey to recovery which spills over into chapter 2 as Ruth enjoys provision and protection while working in Boaz's field. Now as the second part of the second chapter comes into focus, the reader can begin to see the early effects of God's providence at work. Naomi and Ruth are not quite along road, but these verses serve as a kind of interim report on how God is affecting the lives of these women as he protects and perfects their lives through pain and blessing.

Arguably the character most affected by the tragedies of Ruth chapter 1 has been Naomi. This short story might be an ancient document but it bears psychological assessment with this character showing clear signs of trauma, stemming from the tragic events which have befallen her. With realism and heartache Naomi demanded a title change in the first chapter, preferring Mara to her given name, reflecting the pain and bitterness she has borne. In this study we will mark two ways in which God's grace and blessing prove transformative for Naomi and Ruth, as chapter two begins to give hints of the heavenly help which will eventually bringing healing to broken hearts and good outcomes from bad events. As we focus on these features it will become clear that God can do precisely these things in our tragedy, He can work in hard places to bring healing and fresh grace.

From Bitterness to Rejoicing (Ruth 2:17-20a)
Following the turbulent events of Ruth 1, little is heard from the lips of Naomi. We have the perfunctory response to Ruth's request to seek employment in 2:2 ('go ahead my daughter') but bitterness seems to be the permanent residence that this embittered widow is inhabiting. Verses 17-18 of chapter two serve as a bridge between Ruth's experiences in the fields and Naomi's experience at home. Ruth has enjoyed a meal with Boaz and the workers, and now as daylight fades she does some threshing, and some stock taking, discovering that she has gleaned an ephah of barley. For those of us reared on lbs or kilos, or both, ephahs don't mean a great deal. In today's terms an ephah is around 22 litres, or equivalent to half a month's wages. Ruth has benefited enormously from Boaz's bounty, but more directly from God's blessing.

The sight of Ruth struggling to carry 22 litres of produce piques the interest of Naomi upon her daughter-in-law's return. Something significant has obviously befallen her, and this observation prompts interrogation - 'where did you glean today?' - followed by benediction 'the Lord bless him' (v20). The shift in the narrative here is subtle but tangible, God is working, God is bringing Naomi from bitterness to rejoicing, breaking in on her broken heart, ministering mercy to the newly named Mara. This embittered soul is encountering God's goodness among the ashes of her old life, seeing new things come to harvest out of hardship.

The skill of the writer here is considerable, accurately portraying the common contours of a broken heart, of a person in pain. Naomi is an individual who has been bruised and damaged by the ravages of life, and now God is showing grace to the disgruntled, the disillusioned.

There is every likelihood that this experience of bitterness carries resonances for many people in our contemporary world, with Christian believers being no exception. We can find ourselves in a place of brokenness all too easily. Perhaps friends and family haven't been to us what they could have been, perhaps we have been failed spiritually by a Christian friend or a Christian fellowship. We can emerge from rough waters distrustful, damaged, and embittered by life's bad experiences. We can face loss just like Naomi, with single or multiple bereavements which break down the health of our hearts, leaving us with 'why' questions that we scarcely dare murmur to another soul. This is an all too common experience, with Naomi's narrative serving as a chart for many who have been knocked about by life.

But Naomi's story penetrates ours, and invites us to see the grace of God; invites us to observe with her that in the midst of pain providence is not powerless, God is still at work and can give joy again. Iain D. Campbell summaries this so helpfully:

'Here is the great lesson of the unchanging God of the covenant - he is able to lift us out of bitterness and he is able to give us blessedness. He is able to transform the night into day, to scatter the shadows of all these feelings and come into our lives with brightness of the noon-day sun'²

From Bankruptcy to Redemption (Ruth 2:20b-23)

The transformation that this passage translates for us is not merely subjective, but objective also, not merely emotional but financial. As Naomi hears Boaz's name she drops a comment which is crucial for the rest of the story 'this man is our close relative, he is one of our kinsmen redeemers' (v20). The concept of a kinsman redeemer is not common in our culture, and so sounds foreign to our ears. This was, however, quite literally a familiar concept in Israel. The role and responsibility of the kinsmen are set out fully in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 25, showing that clans were to look after close relatives, to ensure that they weren't left destitute, or exploited. Robert L. Hubbard helpfully suggests five ways in which a redeemer would work on behalf of his clan. He would:

(a) Repurchase property once owned by sold clan members

(b) Redeem relatives our of slavery

(d) Receive damages owed to a deceased relative and;
(e) Assist relatives in lawsuits to see justice done¹

In short the redeemer would come to the aid of those with nothing to offer, he would purchase them, protect them and plead for them. Naomi knows all of this, and in the midst of her bankruptcy rejoices in the redemption that Boaz might bring. Here, at last, is an opportunity to see their fortunes turn around and their condition transformed - redemption may be just around the corner.

In modern terms there are at least two ways in which we might think this through. We might draw comfort from the fact that here God is showing his protection for those who are vulnerable, hurt, helpless. The lessons which found bud in Ruth's employment are almost ready to blossom for her and Naomi's enjoyment. God has been working for them and all of that may be just about to manifest itself in clear and unequivocal terms. Here we once again find consolation that in our darkness, at the very moment when we feel ourselves to be without reserves or resource, God is there - in the seeming emptiness of our human suffering we find him, assuring, providing, protecting.

But it is hard to read of Boaz, Ruth, and redemption without at least sensing that there is projection here too. Redemption is now part of Ruth's narrative, part of the warp and woof of what will happen to these helpless, bankrupt people. And this is the very metaphor which will be used most markedly to describe what God will ultimately achieve in spiritual terms for His people, through His Son. Christ, who will follow from the line of Ruth and Boaz's union, will come to purchase His people in a more profound way, bringing fulfillment to the shadow cast by Ruth and Naomi's experience. Through the ultimate act of self-giving on the cross, He will procure His people at infinite cost - redeeming them not just from the symptoms of severance and hardship, but the source of it - our sin. Christ pledges to protect those whom He purchases, with His great and bountiful grace, working to secure His people from ultimate loss, granting those who truly trust in Him the promise of perseverance and protection to the very end. He also presently pleads for His people, standing in God's presence as the great evidence that justification is possible and salvation is certain because of His righteous, once-for-all offering of Himself.

The journey from Moab to Bethlehem has been short by comparison to the internal journey that Naomi has known, from bitterness to rejoicing, from bankruptcy to redemption. Our story can be her story, for her story is really God's story - a God who ministers to His people, a God who has purchased His people by His Son, with a promise of permanence and eternal welfare for those who have come under the Redeemer's care.

1 Hubbard, Robert L. Jr. The Book of Ruth, NICOT, Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 1988, 188-89^↩
2 Campbell, Iain D. Ruth: A Devotional Commentary. Leominster: DayOne, 2010, 91^↩

J.C. Ryle on Two Types of Christianity

2011-11-28T08:41:00.001Z

I was preaching on Romans 2:17-29 yesterday morning and found the following quote from J.C. Ryle's book Holiness to point up a helpful contrast between formalism and faith:

"The plain truth is, there are two distinct and separate systems of Christianity in England at the present day. It is useless to deny it. Their existence is a great fact and one that cannot be too clearly known.

According to one system, religion is a mere corporate business. You are to belong to a certain body of people. By virtue of your membership of this body, vast privileges, both for time and eternity, are conferred upon you. It matters little what you are and what you feel. You are not to try yourself by your feelings. You are a member of a great ecclesiastical corporation. Then all its privileges and immunities are your own. Do you belong to the one true, visible corporation? That is the grand question.

According to the other system, religion is eminently a personal business between yourself and Christ. It will not save your soul to be an outward member of any ecclesiastical body whatever, however sound that body may be. Such membership will not wash away one sin, or give you confidence in the day of judgment. There must be personal faith in Christ-personal dealings between yourself and God-personal felt communion between your own heart and the Holy Ghost. Have you this personal faith? Have you this felt work of the Spirit in your soul? This is the grand question. If not, you will be lost.

This last system is the system which those who are called Evangelical ministers cleave to and teach. They do so because they are satisfied that it is the system of Holy Scripture. They do so because they are convinced that any other system is productive of most dangerous consequences, and calculated to delude men fatally as to their actual state. They do so because they believe it to be the only system of teaching which God will bless, and that no Church will flourish so much as that in which repentance, faith, conversion, and the work of the Spirit are the grand subjects of the minister's sermon."

Book Review: Engaging with Martyn Lloyd-Jones by Andrew Atherstone and David Ceri Jones (ed.)

2011-11-22T21:21:00.001Z

This title, recently published by Apollos/IVP is a collection of essays, part appreciation, part analysis of the work and legacy of Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Lloyd-Jones stands astride the evangelical history of the twentieth century as (arguably) its most able preacher and most elder statesmen, a man whose biography ranged from a promising career in medicine, a pastorate in a deprived area of Wales, ministry in Westminster Chapel, London, and enormous influence in the evangelical world more broadly. Rather than biography, the present volume seeks to place Lloyd-Jones' ministry in its wider context of 20th century evangelicalism and to assess, with the benefit of hindsight, his distinctives and legacy.

Engaging with Martyn Lloyd-Jones ranges across eleven chapters, each of which relate the subject's life and work to an individual issue. The topics are varied and challenging, ranging from Lloyd-Jones' representation in biography, through his relationship to his home country of Wales, his perspectives on revival, charistimatic issues, preaching, ministerial education, fundamentalism, Barthianism, Roman Catholicism, Anglican secession and the Protestant past. Contributors range from professional academic historians, to theologians, with each bringing a distinctive voice on this most interesting of subjects.

Atherstone and Jones start proceedings with an introductory survey of how Lloyd-Jones has been represented in biographical literature. This is an interesting and provocative opening, which sheds light on how 'the Doctor' has been portrayed - from the enthusiastic and honouring (Iain H. Murray) through to the critical and analytical (Brencher and Davies) via the familiy tributes offer by Christopher Catherwood. Having been richly blessed by Iain H. Murray's 2 volume treatment of Lloyd-Jones, I found it disheartening that the regular (and for me unfounded) charge of hagiography on the part of Murray was casually posited, with little by way of analysis or moderation. The authors are judicious, however, in their analysis of Brencher and Davies, highlighting their respective strengths and weaknesses. Some of Davies' hypotheses concerning the link between Lloyd-Jones' distinctives and childhood trauma seem unlikely, if not preposterous. As a reader I am glad that I had worked through Murray's two volumes before encountering this introduction rather than after as it may have jaundiced just how reliable I would have held it to be in the light of criticism leveled. Carl Trueman's charge that there is nothing critical in Murray's treatment of Lloyd-Jones is utterly mistaken, seeming to ignore the varied negative analyses proffered in both volumes (although they are gentle and respectful in tone) - particularly in The Fight of Faith. Interestingly much of Iain H. Murray's analysis of the events surrounding Lloyd-Jones in the 1960s is vindicated in Atherstone's subsequent chapter on Anglican secession (more of this later).

David Bebbington's treatment of 'Lloyd-Jones and interwar Calvinist resurgence' serves as a helpful snapshot of the theological climate in which Lloyd-Jones ministered, and out of which he helped to bolster and increase interest in the doctrines of grace. Bebbington's tone is helpful in this treatment, showing as it does the historic precedent and preparation for the resurgence that would find full flow in the 1950s, while realistically placing Lloyd-Jones within events.

David Ceri Jones treatment of 'Lloyd-Jones and Wales' is at once affectionate and accurate, balancing the realism of Lloyd-Jones marginal legacy within contemporary Welsh Christianity, with the huge impact for good that he had as a pastor in Port Talbot and a patriot from London. Jones' tone is at times a little biting, assuming for instance that his subject embodied 'divisive separatism' (p.72), but he is also helpfully critical - showing the dangerous tendency of some young men to blindly imitate their hero.

The editing skill embodied in this volume is considerable, and this is nowhere more clearly seen than in its middle chapters. Ian M. Randall's helpful tour of the main contours of 'Lloyd-Jones and revival' lead logically and organically into Atherstone, Jones and Kay's assessment of 'Lloyd-Jones and the charismatic controversy'. For me this was a landmark chapter in the book, providing a cool headed and wide ranging analysis of where 'the Doctor' stood on these issues. Using careful research and reference the authors construct a compelling case for Lloyd-Jones' charismatic sympathies, leaving me with a sense of unease at some of the encouragements which he offered to prominent figures within the UK's nascent charismatic movement. While this chapter shows its subject's feet of clay most clearly, Atherstone and Jones' editorial skill also enables the reader to make suggestive connections between his sympathies in this area and his true burden to see revival come.

Ben Baillie surveys 'Lloyd-Jones and the demise of preaching', which brings some of his thoughts from Preaching and Preachers into an historical context. There is little that is new here, but it is a helpful overview nevertheless.

Philip Eveson brings a refreshing glimpse of 'Lloyd-Jones and ministerial education' demonstrating an affection for his subject's perspective on this issue, while also gently showing some of the inherent contradictions in his overall perspective on theological degrees. Quotation from Donald Macleod shows that while Lloyd-Jones may not have gone through formal theological education, his medical degree and clinical training were formative on his ability to expound God's Word. This is an illuminating, warm hearted and at times amusing summary of Lloyd-Jones sentiments on ministerial education with his deep concern for a new generation of preachers being nurtured and educated shining most brightly throughout.

For me, Robert Pope's 'Lloyd-Jones and fundamentalism' is the weakest chapter in this volume. While helpful in places it did come across to me at times that he was harvesting facts from the life of Lloyd-Jones to support his thesis on the degree to which Lloyd-Jones qualified as a fundamentalist. This is most clearly shown in his citation of Bethan Lloyd-Jones' encounter with a woman who took Christ's admonition to literal extremes (p.206) as a normative measure of how she and her husband used a theological framework to govern their insistence on interpreting Scripture with Scripture. The link seems tenuous and the argument conflated. Pope's tone when handling his subject's commitment to the literal truth of Scripture does (whether consciously or unwittingly) stray into the patronising at times with the following quotation with regard to creation serving as an example: 'he nevertheless held those accounts to be true and historical (regardless of obvious differences between the accounts found in Genesis 1 and 2)'. This is a disappointing chapter which adds little to the overall content of the book.

Robert Striven's treatment of 'Lloyd-Jones and Karl Barth' is intriguing and delightfully structured, taking as its point of focus an annotated copy of Barth's Christ and Adam which Lloyd-Jones had worked through. The 'Doctor's' take on Barth's thinking is mined from brief comments left in the margin of this book and provide a touching portrait of Lloyd-Jones as pastor-theologian perceptively wrestling with Barth's distinctive outlook and seeking to come to terms with his place in the evangelical view of Scripture.

John Maiden takes an historical snapshot of 'Lloyd-Jones and Roman Catholicism', showing his subject's deep love for individual Catholics, his refusal to join Protestant societies, and his resolute resistance to Roman Catholic dogma - particularly on the issue of authority. Maiden gives a fascinating account of how Lloyd-Jones emphasis moved from 'positive Protestantisim' to a more strident (he is careful to mark not militant) engagement with Rome in the context of rising ecumenism.

Andrew Atherstone's treatment of 'Lloyd-Jones and the Anglican secession crisis' is, for me, one of the highlights of this volume. Via sensitive and judicious research Atherstone carefully traces the contours of Lloyd-Jones most famous (or notorious) confrontation within the wider evangelical world. Atherstone's ear for what happened, his ability to see beyond some of the unhelpful caricatures of Lloyd-Jones' position on this issue, and his careful archive work on periodicals from the time lend his account depth and veracity. I found it interesting that the long-view assessment provided here largely (although not exclusively) affirms Iain Murray's account of 1966 and following - earlier charges of hagiography notwithstanding.

The final essay is John Coffey's 'Lloyd-Jones and the Protestant past', which traces the subject's concern for Puritan and Reformed history, his instrumentality in seeing its recovery, and his use of that history for personal and polemical effect. As further reviews emerge it will be interesting to hear how those who knew Martyn Lloyd-Jones and attended his historical addresses assess Coffey's depiction here.

The volume concludes with an extensive and helpful Lloyd-Jones bibliography which will no doubt prove most useful to anyone seeking to get firsthand experience of primary sources.

In my opinion this is a helpful book, although one with the inevitable flaws which attend a multi-contributor work. The air of realism, of broad concern for historical fidelity, and of a largely muted esteem for the subject, lend the volume value. My overall impression of Lloyd-Jones remains one of gratitude to God for providing such a man for such a time within evangelicalism. Engaging with Martyn Lloyd-Jones does not airbrush its subject, or refuse to offer criticism, but it holds this degree of intellectual honesty in fairly constant tension with a tone of respect and appreciation for 'the Doctor'. Certain sections are more easily recommended than others, but overall this is a helpful and incisive treatment of a fascinating subject.

Adventures in the NIV2011 Pt.2 - Finding Vault and Finding Fault

2011-11-21T00:14:00.001Z

My adventures in the NIV2011 carry on apace and I find myself enjoying and engaging with the revision of the NIV1984 so far. The 'Bible in One Year' edition I am using is cleverly set out, with just the right mix of consecutive Old Testament chapters, and shorter sections of the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs.

Day one, in chapter one of Genesis exposed me to the first obvious alteration made in the new NIV. In describing the separation of sea and sky in Genesis 1:6 the NIV1984 (along with other translations) describes the firmament as an 'expanse'. Strangely, the NIV2011 re-translates this to 'let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water'. Given that clarity and readability are watchwords for the Committee on Bible Translation, this translation choice is hard to fathom (pardon the pun). In normal English usage the term 'vault' is suggestive not of expansive sky scapes but of narrowly enclosed spaces, most commonly safe rooms or well secured cellars. Strange indeed.

I've also encountered my first instances of gender-neutral language, and it hasn't been too troubling so far. I want to return to the wording of Psalm 8 in another post in the near future, but apart from this instance the language is mostly clear and uncluttered. I frequently have to clarify the term 'man' when preaching, to make sure that those who are from a non-church background know that what they are reading applies to both genders. Psalm 1 is a good example of this gender-neutral language at its best, and I think it is a good rendering.

What is puzzling, however, is the seemingly arbitrary employment of gender neutral language. This is most evident in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Take for instance Jesus' teaching on murder and the need to settle disputes before offering service to God. Matthew 5:23 says 'therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you...' So here we have gender-neutral language at work, making sure that the reader knows that such teaching does not merely apply to brothers (men) but to brothers and sisters (men and women).

What then of the verses that follow, namely 5:27-28? Here we read Jesus' teaching on adultery, with the Lord stating 'I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart'. Regardless of your view of gender-neutral language this translation decision is mystifying. Surely if one is going to be consistent in making sure that everyone knows that teaching is for everyone, then all references should be evacuated of all gender-specific reference? Or is it only men who can look lustfully at members of the opposite sex?

To me this is where the gender-neutral agenda may wear thin. I'm not concerned here to debate the issue in terms of overall translation philosophy, but it seems that even the NIV2011 demonstrates an inability about where to draw the line when seeking to eradicate gender specificity. This is a major judgement call and one which is fraught with difficulty and dangers.

This will be seen more clearly when I post on Psalm 8.

If you're reading through, or have read through the NIV2011 I would love to hear your thoughts and discoveries also.

Book(let) Review: What's Wrong with Preaching Today? by Albert N. Martin

2011-11-18T08:35:00.000Z

Banner of Truth publish an excellent range of little booklets dealing with hot topics and practical issues in the Christian life. Over the next while I hope to publish reviews of some of them by way of encouragement to others to benefit from these atom-bomb resources.

My latest foray into the realm of Banner of booklets was in the shape of Albert Martin's What's Wrong with Preaching Today?. This booklet, based on original lectures given at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1967, analyses what may be lacking in pulpit ministry. In spite of the 44 years that have transpired since its delivery this little book packs punch for today and comes with the studied impact that characterises much of Pastor Martin's ministry.

The structure of the booklet is straightforward in the extreme. The author initially deals with the man and then analyses the message showing how a deficiency in either leads to weakened preaching.

Much of what struck me and convicted me lay in the section on 'the man'. Here Martin probes with Puritan-like precision the underlying compromises and failures which can so fatally reduce pulpit ministry. The author contends that 'the soil out of which powerful preaching grows is the preacher's own life' and unpacks this via the personal devotional life, practical piety, private prayers and purity of motive resident in the personality of the preacher. In a sense this section of the book only bears reading, so challenging are its contents. Martin rebukes complacency or any sense of lethargy in the minister's personal life. This area will govern the effectiveness and integrity of any ministry. I think I need to read this section again - with more tears and less speed.

The second section concerns the message. Martin highlights deficiencies in doctrinal substance, practical application, and the manner of delivery of the message. This part of the author's argument, while less emotive that the first section, drives home the need to teach God's Word fully with God's people in mind.

I highly recommend this little booklet. It should be essential reading for every preacher, but also serves to mark up the priorities which God's people should be praying for in their pastors and preachers. Reading this book didn't require a great deal of time, nor did reviewing it. Applying it will be the preoccupation of many months to come.

Adventures in the NIV2011

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000Z

I've been a fond reader of the 1984 edition of the NIV for a number of years. This is my Bible version of choice, and I use it for my own devotional reading, small group work, preaching and pastoral visitation. I had briefly courted the idea of using the ESV for ministry but found it to be too partial a revision of the RSV and very wooden in places (more so than the NASB in my opinion). The NIV has always come in for considerable criticism, partly because the 'N' stands for New (!) and partly because its translation philosophy isn't to everyone's liking. For me it is a highly readable and accessible version, and one which comes with the commendation of people like D.A. Carson, whose expertise in Biblical languages is undisputed.

During the course of last year the Committee on Bible Translation decided to phase the NIV1984 out, and replace it with the NIV2011 - released in print in the earlier part of this year. This is an exercise in planned obselescence on the part of the CBT and represents something of a gamble given the original NIV's devoted readership.

I was recently purchased a copy of the NIV2011 Bible in One Year and over the next while I'm going to try to steadily read through this new version and to blog about it as I do. I'm aware that the NIV2011 isn't without controversy (especially over gender-inclusive language) and while I'll tackle some of these issues I also want to simply offer some early responses to how the text reads.

I trust you'll join me on this journey and interact with what I have to say. I'm approaching this project with an open mind, but also with the prayer that the NIV2011 might prove as helpful and faithful a version of Scripture as I have found the 1984 to be.

Favourite Hymns: I Once was a Stranger to Grace and to God

2011-11-13T22:04:00.001Z

This is a marvelous piece. We sang it this morning at the Lord's Table in Millisle Baptist. M'Cheyne has gifted the church a tremendous legacy in so many ways, and this piece, penned by him, gives words to our experience of the Gospel in such a profound way. [Jehovah Tsidkenu means 'the Lord our rightousness' by the way].

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu—’twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see—
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life giving and free—
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,

This “watchword” shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life’s fever my God sets me free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu, my death song shall be.

George Liddell - Ministry Aspiration

2011-11-11T19:22:00.000Z

I recently heard this piece of writing quoted in a John MacArthur sermon on Biblical leadership and, while it does tend a little to hyperbole, I was touched by its sentiment:

Give me a man of God, one man

Whose faith is master of his mind,

And I will right all wrongs

And bless the name of all mankind.

Give me man of God, one man,

Whose tongue is touched with heaven's fire,

And I will flame the darkest hearts

With high resolve and clean desire.

Give me a man of God, one man,

One mighty prophet of the Lord,

And I will give you peace on earth

Brought with a prayer and not a sword.

Give me a man of God, one man,

True to the vision that he sees,

And I will build your broken shrines

And bring the nations to their knees.

Brian Edwards at Millisle Baptist Church

2011-11-09T23:54:00.001Z

This evening we had the privilege of hosting Pastor Brian Edwards (see an excellent interview with him here) as our preacher at Millisle Baptist Church. It was an evening of warm fellowship and excellent Bible ministry and many expressed their appreciation for the Christ-honouring message that was brought to us. We were delighted to have with us members from 3 other local Baptist churches and it was a blessing to enjoy this wider fellowship.

Below is a sketch of Pastor Edwards' exposition of Hebrews 1:1-2:1.

No writer sets out more plainly the glory of Jesus Christ before, during and after His earthly ministry than the author of Hebrews. Jesus Christ is presented as God's final Word: reject Him and God has nothing more to say. One can only begin to imagine the silence in Eden after Adam and Eve's Fall. Adam and Eve ran away and hid, it was God who broke the silence. God called out to them, and that is the essence of the Gospel. Since then God has been speaking: in the last days he has spoken supremely through Christ.

Hebrews shows Christ to be superior in 7 ways:

1. By His relationship to the Father

2. By inheritance

3. By His creation: all tings were made by His supreme word

4. He holds all things together

5. By His character

6. By His purification of us from sin

7. He sat down at the Father's right hand

4 cameos of Christ emerge in the verses under consideration, each using an Old Testament Psalm to back home their message.

1. A Kingdom of Righteousness (vv8-9)
In our world we know of no such thing as a kingdom of righteousness. In the ancient world a king would sit on his throne surrounded by his imperial guard, and no one dared to approach him. A good example of this can be found in Esther 4:11 where the throne room of Xerxes is depicted.

In the picture in Hebrews 1, Christ walks confidently to His Father's side and sits down. We are told in 1:8 that His is a sceptre of righteousness and justice. In our world the greater the authority, the greater the cruelty. Our hope of heaven is not found in a golden bauble, but in the righteousness of Christ.

This is a key test of our acceptance by our Saviour: our longing to be holy. This is good evidence that we will enjoy a safe arrival at last. His reckoned righteousness has been put to our account, but the test of our confession is our desire for holiness.

2. A Kingdom of Joy (v9b)
This man, this Christ, is the one who created all things, who spun the stars into space - He calls us His friends. He is not far away from us - He has given us His message in language we can understand. This joy he provides for us is of a special kind, and if often portrayed as joy in the face of persecution. In spite of her persecution around the world, the Church knows joy because of the comfort she finds in God alone. The Church is always looking on to what lies ahead. We live in a world of broken marriages, of unhappy children and young people. The third most common cause of death in people under 25 is suicide - suicide speaks of the absence of hope. Christ knew about this kind of suffering, but He came to give joy. There is always hope when God is with us. This joy isn't dependent on things, heaven is the expectation that brings us gladness - what will be the experience of it! No-one will be disappointed when they get to heaven.When some Christians die they reach their treasure, other have to leave it behind. The oil of gladness spoken of in Hebrews 1:9 is because of the hope we have.

3. A Kingdom of Agelessness (vv10-12)
People today cling to the hope of longer life. We all wear out and die, and quickly. The only constant in life is Jesus. People despair of finding a lasting anything: only Christ can give it. The Christian has eternal life: ageless, timeless joyful life, experienced only in the New Heaven and the New Earth. John 14 explains the promise of heaven. Jesus assures His disciples 'I wouldn't have done all this unless it was infinitely worthwhile'.

4. A Kingdom of Victory (v13)
The mention of a footstool provides a very powerful image. In Bible times when a nation was defeated the conquering king would place his feet on the necks of his enemies. It was a visual way of expressing 'You're finished, he is in control'. No sign was more humiliating for the defeated, nor triumphant for the victor. Christ has enemies: Satan and his legion of demons who will ultimately be thrown in to hell, other religions which deny the Gospel of Christ, and atheistic belief. Christ taught that all who are not with Him are against Him. That is terrible, fearful, frightening, but true. The question is will you be among them? Are you content to be among them? Those who do not bow their head at the cross, will bow their head at the feet of Jesus. Some who feel that they're not so bad will be denied entry to Christ's Kingdom. Would we dare to reject the Son of God who owns the universe, to turn our back on him.

Christ didn't sit down until purification of sin was made: 'by himself he made purification for sins'. This was mission accomplished! And now Christ is always representing us in heaven (Hebrews 7). His presence in heaven is a perpetual reminder to the Father that salvation is utterly accomplished. Job was able to boast that he had an advocate in heaven. What a blessing to know that our Friend is there on our behalf. We all fail, our faith is weak, Satan accuses us, but Christ is ever living to intercede for us. No-one can pluck us out of God's hand. The only way we can go to hell is if Christ came with us! Heaven will be a place of victory and triumph, glory and peace, design and creativity - we will be all that we are now without the interjection of sin. Heaven can be described without resorting to negative words - it will be victory, nothing but victory. Christ, our Christ, our Friend, our Companion is above all.

The Manslaughter of Michael Jackson: Two Thoughts

2011-11-08T10:52:00.001Z

Dr Conrad Murray was yesterday found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of pop singer Michael Jackson. As the verdict and terms of custody were read out the Doctor's impassive face provided a sharp contrast to the emotional and jubilant scenes outside the court as fans received news of his guilt. BBC journalist Alistair Leithead opined that it 'is hard to overemphasise the power Michael Jackson still has to people who idolised the man and his music'.

Two very brief thoughts crossed my mind as I listened to this. One springs from the sense of vindication that Jackson's fans now feel regarding the cause of his death. As often happens with modern cultural idols the concept of his self-destruction or possible culpability for his own death has been utterly unthinkable. Now the evidence has been presented and the verdict has been reached which proves that as a medical practitioner earning £100,000 per month in Jackson's employ, Murray was negligent and ultimately responsible for the superstar's death. When this thought is transposed from those who worship the man Michael Jackson to those who worship the man Christ Jesus the contrast could not be more sharp. When the Christian looks into the death of their Lord they find that guilt is a painful thing to ponder. Yes, fingers can be pointed at the Roman authorities and the Jewish leaders, but ultimately we discover that the reason for His suffering and death, the cause behind the brutality He faced at Calvary is us. It was our sin, our warp and woof depravity, our utter inability to save ourselves from the consequence of our transgressions that put Him on the cross. We find that God the judge pronounces us guilty by means of His Law, but in grace and heart melting mercy gives His only Son as a willing sacrifice to save us, and bear the penalty on our behalf.

The second thought is the cold comfort that comes from idolising man. For millions of people Jackson has literally been a god. His enigmatic personality, his mercurial career, his almost superhuman dance ability and the solid beat of his music have all combined to make him an object of worship and adulation. This devotion remained undented through allegation and accusation levelled at the singer during the latter part of his life, viewed as merely the persecuting zeal of infidels, the dubious sentiments of those outside the fellowship.

But now he is dead. The audio of his drugged pronouncements about his aspirations for the tour which never took place frame his life with a tragic note. The man's whose voice could spark such worship was dreadfully reduced in his last hours, a fact which can prompt nothing but sadness in all who hear it - fan or non-fan. In spite of all of this the fact remains - Jackson was born, thrived, declined, and died. The trajectory and the tragedy of his life is identical to that which will mark ours, and nothing - not even a Los Angeles judge and jury apportioning blame to Conrad Murray - can claw this back.

But for the Christian, and as an objective fact of history, Jesus Christ has risen. The object of the Christian's worship was vindicated not by any human court but by the power of the living God, his eternal life is not the pretended permanance of a creative legacy, but the vital and victorious life of the Lord of Glory. The Christian worships Christ not with the pain of parting but with the hope of meeting, not with the pathos of a young man's life cut short, but of the God Man's life laid down to grant us forgiveness and make us right with God.

Appreciating Edward Donnelly

2011-11-07T23:11:00.002Z

The arrival of the Banner of Truth magazine month by month is always a blessing. Whether it be stimulating contemporary articles, reprint and abstracts from Puritan and Reformed literature, or simply the News and Comment, or Book Reviews, there is always something helpful and heartwarming to be encountered.

This month's edition has a moving appreciation of Rev. Edward Donnelly of Trinity Reformed Presbyterian in Newtownabbey. The Rev. Donnelly has recently retired and Iain H. Murray looks back over his influence at the Banner conference during many years. Murray states that 'Often have been the times when we have gathered, half-dispirited by one problem or another, only to be raised to fresh vision and the consciousness that 'now are we the sons of God'. I believe that not a few, but hundreds of pastors would say 'Amen' to that statement'.

This short blog post is simply to add one such amen. I've only ever been able to attend one Banner conference (2006) and Edward Donnelly's ministry was for me the highlight. He spoke from Jeremiah over the course of three evenings, and his Tuesday night exposition of the trials the prophet faced in serving God still lives warmly in my memory. Few are the moments when one finds oneself literally speechless and full of emotion following a sermon, but this was one such occasion. So personal, pastoral and helpful was this message that at its conclusion there was an awesome silence across a room of around 300 pastors as the weight and depth of what had been shared sank in. Above and beyond the components of the message was a clear sense of God, and His sweet consolation to the hearts of many of those gathered. It was an experience that I will never forget and to this day I find snatches of the sermon come to mind, and as I read through Jeremiah year by year resonances remain of that captivating and God-honouring message. The Master, not the man, is to be glorified, but how I praise God for the privilege of being allowed to listen to such a message.

From Hardship to Harvest: A Study in Ruth Pt.2

2011-11-04T08:06:00.000Z

On20^th July 2011, for the first time in thirty years, the UN declareda famine. The region affected had endured a long and merciless drought, leadingcommunities in parts of the Horn of Africa to suffer terrible deprivation.Refugees made their way from parts of Southern Somalia to Ethiopia and Kenya inthe hope of finding food and more favourable conditions. One mother who was intransit with her young family summed up the suffering of many of her fellowcountrymen when she said ‘I don’t know what’s in Kenya, but I’d rather walkthan watch my children die’.

Suchconditions, and our ready access to them via 24 hour news, rightly move ourhearts and motivate our giving. Famine and drought are alien to us in pamperedWestern Europe, but we try our best to imagine what it must mean to walkhundreds of miles to avoid starvation.

Suchan image might help us to escape the flannel-graph world which we readily reducebiblical narrative to. The opening to the book of Ruth is set, not against lushgreen fields and pastoral warmth, but in a world of extremity, poverty andscarcity. In our last study we witnessed the travels and troubles of a familyof food refugees traversing long stretches of treacherous terrain to try tofind the means of survival in Moab. Naomi, initially faced with no foodeventually finds herself bereft of family and weakened in faith, returning toher native Bethlehem with nothing but wounded pride and a pagandaughter-in-law. This is the famine ravaged context in which the second chapterof Ruth begins. Naomi is traumatised and troubled by her past, even as theheads of barley show their readiness for harvest.

Aslight dawns on Naomi and Ruth’s first days back in Bethlehem these women’slives are not marked by much certainty. For them the chapters and thechallenges which we as readers know they will face and overcome are as yetunwritten: life for them does not carry the predictability of the printed page.Naomi wants to be known as Mara, expressing the bitter backdrop of her recentlife, reflecting on a God who has seemingly turned his hand against her and herfamily, bringing ruin to her rather than blessing. For her Bethlehem is all toofamiliar territory, standing as a marker for the life she once knew beforefamine and misfortune stripped everything away. Life is not much easier forRuth, Bethlehem is a foreign city, with all of the culture shock and personaluncertainty which migration brings. Life has not been linear in the past forthese women, and there are few guarantees that it will be in the future.

DefiniteProvision

Thefirst rays of hope for Naomi and Ruth glimmer faintly on the horizon of chapter2. A relative is mentioned on Elimelech’s side, a man on the margins who willsoon become a major player. Like the gifted modern film maker, the author ofRuth affords us only the briefest glance at Boaz for now, sowing the seed inour minds that he will come into clearer focus as the drama unfolds. The readeris thus empowered to see the significance of things, to see events from avantage point which the other characters don’t enjoy. Thus as Ruth sets out tofind work in v2 we have a sense that something good is going to happen and thatBoaz is in some way bound up with this.

Ina move typical of those who live with the daily reality of deprivation, Ruthshows industry in the face of poverty. She seeks permission from hermother-in-law to get some work, ‘let me go to the fields and pick up theleftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour’. The background tothis job-search is perhaps helpful. Israel was not quite a welfare state, butpassages of the Law such as Deuteronomy 10:9-10 made definite provision forthose suffering from deprivation. There was a mercy in God’s Law for those onthe margins, a commitment to leave the edges of fields ungleaned so that thosewho were foreigners, and those who had fallen on hard times could find food forthemselves and their families. Ruth’s awareness of needing to ‘find favour’ mayreflect the morally reprobate condition of Israel at this the time of theJudges, this is after all a world where he Law is held lightly and where moralrelativism is the order of the day. This foreign national will need to fall onsomeone’s mercy to receive the bounty of God’s covenant which should rightlyfall to her.

Ruth2:3 is a theological atom bomb. Locked within its unassuming casing lies themystery of God’s sovereignty and the importance of human activity. Ruth goesout to the fields, and the narrator informs us that ‘as it turned out’ shefinds herself working on Boaz’s land. ‘As it turned out’ could literally betranslated as ‘as luck would have it’ or ‘as things fell together’. Ruth goesto reap at random and in human terms as things turn out, she is in the veryfield of the family member referenced just a few verses ago. It is so helpfulto unpack the loaded language of these first verses of Ruth. We have a link (Boaz);we have a Law (the covenant’s provision of ungleaned edges) and we have luck(Ruth just happens to venture on to Boaz’s field). All of these componentsremind us that as Robert L. Hubbard boasts ‘God is the hero of this story’. Onecan imagine the writer of Ruth wearing a wry smile as behind this piece of ‘luck’he traces the definite provision of the Lord.

Thesebig picture issues are now worked out in the fine details. Boaz arrives and ina pastoral scene of stunning warmth and earthiness he is presented as a man whodoesn’t stand on ceremony but with freedom and friendliness greets the workerson his land. 2:5 captures Boaz’s question to the foreman seeking to know whoRuth is, vv7-8 bring the response and then comes Boaz’s provision for her inverse 8, ‘stay here, glean with my girls’. Boaz gives Ruth the freedom of theland and its produce, mercifully opening his hand to this foreign national inBethlehem’s fields.

Allof these events provide us with a stunning portrait of God at work in the midstof life’s finer details. This is a God who is silently, invisibly, andsovereignly moving and manipulating events to His own ends. Neither Naomi, norRuth, nor Boaz could possibly conceive of the degree to which God is working todo His will, to fulfil His big purpose – not just for them, but for the salvationof all nations.

Thecontents of this chapter ought to encourage us also. God is still at work inthis way, conspiring all things for His glory, and for the good of those whotrust Him. We can trace this subtle sovereign care in our own conversion, lookingback on seemingly incidental details which were divinely orchestrated to bringus to faith. God was at work long before we sought him. In our present walkwith God we can also see that every issue, every appointment, everydisappointment, every diversion and direction we face comes from God’s hand tofulfil His purpose for us and His kingdom. In the midst of life’s heartachesand devastating twists and turns this is a great truth to hold to.

DoubleProtection

Provisionis not the only element in this portion of Ruth’s story. Around the fringes ofchapter 2’s action is an element of unpleasantness, an unsavoury undertone.This is no pastoral idyll, but the real world of Israel with its moraldeclension. Boaz instructs his men not to touch Ruth (verse 9) indicating thatsome physical (or other) threat is present, and his men are likewise instructednot to put Ruth on the spot should she wander into the main harvest away fromthe edges assigned to her. Boaz provides for Ruth’s protection, standing to heraid, ring-fencing her dignity, making sure that her welfare is prioritised.

Ruth’sbreathless response shows the blessings that Boaz has heaped upon her ‘why haveI found such favour in your eyes that you notice me – a foreigner?’. Ruth’s astonishmentis ours also. Why has all of this happened to this woman in the midst of life’shardship? Why are we witnessing this journey from hardship to harvest? Boazputs it bluntly: he has heard of her kindness to her mother-in-law, but morethan that he has heard of her commitment to Jehovah – ‘may you be richlyrewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come totake refuge’.

Hereis the core cause of the blessing in Ruth’s life. She has come from the worldof the pagan to the world of providence, and she is now living with God in herlife. Consequently she may find herself blessed by what other humans do forher, but ultimately she is coming to realise the protection and care of GodHimself, fulfilling his purposes, and promises, proving His provision for her.

Ruth’sstory in chapter 2 is one of divine favour and the blessings of faith. Ruth nolonger lives the random life of godless Moab, but the ordered life of a Jehovahworshipper. She is the recipient of God’s grace, and now lives off God’s mercy.She is proving that this God of Naomi whom she has come to worship, is theGod of all things who works all things together for the blessing ofHis people.

AndRuth speaks loudly to us. We have come to trust this God. Not some passivedeity whose unflinching face we beseech for some tokens of his reality, but theactive God of covenant who works with prevenient and prevailing grace for thosewho fear Him. This is what real worship of the real God looks like in the realworld, and what a blessing to know His provision and His protection, invisibly workingin the small details to do great things for His people and through His people.

Favourite Hymns: O Sacred Head Once Wounded

2011-11-03T19:25:00.001Z

O sacred head once wounded,

with grief and shame weighed down,

how scornfully surrounded

with thorns, your only crown!

How pale you are with anguish,

with fierce abuse and scorn!

How do those features languish

which once were bright as morn!

What bliss was yours in glory,

O Lord of life divine!

I read the amazing story:

I joy to call you mine.

Your grief and your compassion

were all for sinner's gain;

mine, mine was the transgression,

but yours the deadly pain.

What language shall I borrow

to praise you, dearest Friend,

for this your dying sorrow,

your pity without end?

Lord, make me yours forever!

nor let me faithless prove;

O let me never, never

refuse such dying love.

Be near my when I'm dying;

Lord, show your cross to me!

Your death, my hope supplying,

from death shall set me free.

These eyes, new faith receiving,

from Jesus shall not move;

whoever dies believing

dies safely in your love.

Robert Bridges, 1899

Praying for the Kingdom

2011-11-02T11:31:00.003Z

I've been benefiting enormously from Matthew Henry's A Way to Pray (a full review will hopefully follow in due course). This morning I was struck by the detail Henry invests in helping the believer pray through the prayer the Lord gave to His disciples. This section from 'Your Kingdom Come' is powerful in the extreme:

"Let the kingdom of your grace be manifest more and more throughout our land and in the places where we live. Let your word have free course and be glorified... Let your gracious kingdom permeate all our lives, so that our bodies can be proper temples of the Holy Spirit. Let no iniquity have dominion over us. Overturn, overturn, overturn the power of corruption inherent in us. Let the prophesied One, who has the right to rule, come to us. Make us altogether willing in the day of your power. Rule in us by your truth."

Book review - John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock by Iain H. Murray

2011-11-01T10:30:00.000Z

I've made no secret on this blog of my fondness for the writings of Iain H. Murray. I count him to be my favourite author, whose books have singularly impacted the way I view my faith, my ministry, and church history. Chief among his titles is his two volume biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, which is peerless in its evocation of a period in church history and the power of God working through one man for the glory of His name. It is reviewed here.

Recently Grace to You (UK) sent me a free copy of Murray's latest title John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock. This book had been high on my wishlist, so you can imagine my gratitude for receiving it gratis. This book, for me, combines three great things. It is written by my favourite author, about one of my favourite preachers, and is published by my favourite publisher (Banner of Truth). It is a short work, which makes no claim at being an exhaustive biography, but which gives an impression of the man whose ministry has meant so much to so many.

John MacArthur's chief commitment in life has been to the verse by verse exposition of God's Word. This ambition has been realised in the context of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California, where he has served as Pastor for over forty years. Murray's book celebrates the impact which such a simple ministry principle has had on this congregation and on many others worldwide.

MacArthur's early life is sketched out in simple detail, showing the dramatic impact that the preaching ministries of his grandfather and father had on him. Having excelled in sports MacArthur's life took a dramatic change when he made a simple decision to devote himself to understanding God's Word. A period of study at Talbot Theological Seminary preceded his accepting a call to Grace Church where an early effort at recording his messages for those unable to attend quickly became an international audio ministry, reaching millions of people.

Murray's treatment of MacArthur is succinct and helpful. A snapshot of the work of Grace to You around the world is nicely framed by a family trip undertaken by MacArthur and his family, and the book's depiction of some of the controversies around' Lordship Salvation' is deftly handled. The book also manages to emphasise its subject's home life, with a chapter dedicated to MacArthur's wife Patricia and simple testimonials scattered throughout from co-workers and family members. Murray is unafraid of offering gentle criticism of MacArthur in places, particularly in the area of eschatology, but such engagement is phrased in respectful tones.

The overwhelming impression left on me by this book is that John MacArthur is a humble man, whose great ambition to honour the Word of God through expository preaching has been singularly honoured by God in the salvation of souls, the discipleship of believers, and the development of others pastors. MacArthur has invested passionately in proclaiming God's Word, pastoring God's people, and preparing God's servants for ministry.

This, then, is a testament to a life well lived for the Lord. As I read this book during a recent period of leave I was struck once again by the impact that MacArthur has had on my own life. His book The Vanishing Conscience was the first mature Christian book I read while at university and it switched on a light which led me to read Lloyd-Jones, and that has ultimately brought me into the riches of Reformed literature. I have a lot to thank God for in John F. MacArthur and Murray's book has encouraged me to do so. Highly recommended.

John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock by Iain H. Murray is published by Banner of Truth. It has 240 pages and costs £14.50

From Hardship to Harvest: A Study in Ruth (Pt.1)

2011-10-11T16:27:00.006+01:00

A few years ago I realised a personal ambition in reading Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace from cover to cover. It is undoubtedly one of the great masterpieces of fictional writing, stretching its paperback binding with its 1500+ pages, and stretching the mind of its readers with its content. The novel is set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, focussing in particular on the events leading up to and following his invasion of Russia in 1812.

One of Tolstoy’s great skills as an author is his juxtaposition of the confusion and cacophony of the battlefield alongside everyday life with its 19^th century social mores. With a deftness and keen ear for dialogue, Tolstoy succeeds in combining the dramatic and the domestic to great effect. Using a small cast of characters he manages to capture something universal about humanity and history, about war and peace.

The idea of a small group of people giving larger lessons for a watching world is at the heart of the Old Testament book of Ruth. This biblical short story speaks through a small group of people about the big things God has done, and by extension what he continues to do in our world by His power today. There is much in Ruth to attract the eye of the modern reader. Embedded in its carefully constructed narrative are the issues of recession and hardship, foreign immigration and mobility, love and romance.

Overarching all of this, however, is the big lesson that the book of Ruth seeks to teach. It is the story of a great God, who is in charge of small details for the glory of his name. Or to phrase things slightly differently it is the story of an extraordinary God working in extraordinary ways through the ordinary details of our lives. This short series of articles begins by looking at Ruth chapter 1, mining it for clues about what we can expect in the rest of the book, sounding the narrative for its context, plot and themes, and setting a framework for the treatments that will follow.

No food and no family

The book of Ruth will end with glorious things. It will treat the themes of kingship and ancestry, along with the line of the Messiah. But it begins with bread and butter issues. A major problem faces the people of Israel ‘there was a famine in the land’. The writer of Ruth wants this fact earthed in solid historical context, informing us that the famine took place ‘in the days when the Judges ruled’. A quick survey of the era of the Judges is depression-inducing. The people of God are marked by instability, moral calamity and political turmoil. The book of Judges depicts departure on an unprecedented scale, it is a survey of people turning their back on God, a time when moral certainty has been swallowed by cultural relativity, when ‘Israel had no king, everyone did as he saw fit’.

It is into this kind of world that recession comes. Ruth may not carry the rhetoric of ‘double-dip recession’ or the ‘squeezed middle’ but times are hard as the first chapter opens, famine has hit a country without faith, and a culture without moral foundations. For Israel this is a moment of importunity, with material things becoming scare, but it is also a moment of opportunity, to see the hand of God in their circumstances, and to return to him. One commentator helpfully notes that ‘the mention of famine…recalled the biblical pattern that famines, despite tragic appearances, often advance God’s plan for his people. What great destiny might this story portend?’.

With the range of Google Earth, the book begins with a broad focus which gradually narrows to one locality, Bethlehem, and to one family within it ‘a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab’. Names in this section of Scripture are hugely significant. This is a man from Bethlehem , the ‘House of Bread’ going to Moab for food. Elimelech whose name announces ‘God is King’ lives in a day when there is no king in the land, and when events seem random, irrational, uncontrolled. This man takes his wife Naomi, along with his two sons, on a journey to combat extremity, and they finally find themselves in Moab. This is a picture of God’s people seeking provision from God’s enemies, living as strangers, exiles, strangers, immigrants, with few rights, little resources. This is a family on the edge of survival, a family on the margins spiritually - far from home, and seemingly far from the help of God.

A friend once gave me a bookmark with a silhouetted figure of a person on a cliff edge. It was framed with the words ‘I am eagerly awaiting my next disappointment’. This might have made a good strapline for Naomi and her family in Ruth 1. Terrible bereavement visits the family home, Elimelech dies, and his demise is quickly followed by the deaths of his two sons Mahlon and Kilion. Naomi now finds herself a foreigner with no food and no family, and with little faith remaining. She forms one part of a trio of widows whose world has imploded and whose future looks doubtful.

This is a bleak and black picture, and yet this is what the Bible specialises in. With a starkness which can make Albert Camus’ corpus look like a work of side-splitting comedy, the Bible is adept at showing us the depths, and demonstrating the grim reality of life in all its shades. But the Bible also knows nothing of existential angst. Its concern is to teach that it is precisely between the spaces of such inauspicious events that God breathes, God works, God moves. Over the course of the book of Ruth the reader will witness the mighty way in which God will operate with prevenient and transforming grace, bringing beauty from ashes, granting harvest in the place of hardship.

But for now, for Naomi, all is futile, even if God’s sovereignty is the operating system which runs with constancy behind calamity.

This is where the Tolstoy factor is witnessed in full flow. The circumstances of Ruth chapter 1 are designed to show us the depths, so that in time we might grasp the heights of our God’s activity. This will be a story of God taking the most unpleasant, unpalatable, and impossible circumstances and using them for His glory. It is entirely possible that as modern readers we see something of ourselves in the terrible turn of events portrayed on the first page of this story. We too can come through experiences which are extreme, stressful, and present us with struggles which seem impossible to survive. As his people, God assures us through this story that he is at work, that he is having his way, and that our lives which are lived forwards with confusion, can be surveyed backwards with clarity. In short, his hand is engaged with, and in control of, what we face.

No famine and no faltering

Running parallel to the pain of Naomi’s experience, things in Israel have improved drastically. The message reaches Moab that God has moved, and that people are finding food again: the famine is over. The circumstances that prompted a family’s flight to foreign fields are past, there is bread again in Israel. In 1:22 the convergence of national and domestic concerns is complete: Naomi arrives back in Bethlehem just as the barley harvest is beginning.

These details draw a line under the book's depiction of human efforts at self-sufficiency. Naomi and her family in moving to Moab have faced worse than famine, but God’s grace has granted food again to his people, in his place. For Naomi the decision is simple - with no faltering she heads back to Bethlehem, bringing her two daughters-in-law with her. On the road, however, she rethinks. It seems unfair to drag two young women back to her home town, with no prospect of marriage or family. In an act of extraordinary selflessness Naomi counsels Ruth and Orpah to head back home and to set up new homes. Both foreign women offer protest, but only one makes a promise: Orpah returns and Ruth commits. 1:16 is a monumental moment for this Moabitess. Her decision is not just about where to live, but who to worship and how to live: ‘your people will be my people and your God will be my God’.

These are the first flickering signs of God’s good hand behind bad events. Ruth has come to faith, and in spite of the 'non-prosperity gospel' she has imbibed in Naomi’s household she doesn’t falter, but trusts in God. Ruth decides with a touching firmness of faith that she will live in God’s place among God’s people, under God’s rule.

As the pair arrives in Bethlehem, Naomi tells her story. With the somewhat skewed perspective which characterises many truly hurting people, she describes her journey as one from blessing to bitterness, with the city of Bethlehem serving as a bracket around the terrible things that have befallen her family.

But this is not Naomi’s story. More than the barley harvest is ripe in Bethlehem. The purposes of God are about to find full fruit as an obscure foreign national named Ruth takes up residence in backwater Bethlehem. The air is charged with the electric potential of an eternal God intersecting the temporal to achieve the unthinkable.

As readers at this point in the narrative we have here, in germ form, the components of the story which will bring its characters from hardship to harvest. We have the loose ends of pain, which God will use for his purpose, we have his mercy in the bud awaiting the bloom: there is a sense that something wonderful will come from such woe. And in a sense this is enough for now. In our own journey into hardship we may not yet be ready to hear of harvest, we might struggle with the ‘all things’ of Romans 8:28, finding ourselves content for now to believe that beyond our doubts and despairs there is merely a hint of a heavenly hand.

As the sun sets on Bethlehem, the barley heads waving lightly against a red sky, no one in the city could foresee the phenomenal work that God will do in the life of one foreign national and her spiritually broken mother in law. But sheltered in their meagre accommodation resides not just the potential of their story, but the nascent elements of God’s Great Story. These are the materials God will use, not just to show mercy to a family, but to give a Messiah to humanity.

This invisible God will work in visible ways, in the details of ordinary lives, to do extraordinary things.

Of Pastors, Marriage and Mistresses*

2011-07-25T15:07:00.007+01:00

Today is our anniversary, and I am glad to see this date roll around. It is a time to celebrate what is great about our union, a time to reflect on what has happened in the past year, and a time to record the ways in which God has allowed us to rejoice and weep together as we chart our way through the world as a family. Together we can look back to that time when we exchanged vows at the front of the church building, and among many witnesses committed ourselves to stand together, for better for worse, for richer for poorer.

Our bond, though, like that of many others, is not without its perils. There is the anti-commitment culture which we mark among our peers, the sad stories of those who have defaulted on this vital relationship to the ruin of themselves and their partner, and others who have grown apart as different priorities and interests occupy their time and attention. Together we know that it takes work to make this happen, labour to make this last, commitment to make good on the weighty words we traded some time ago.

While all of the above is true of my wife and I (including today's date) I am referring to another relationship which started just one year ago today - my ministry as Pastor in Millisle Baptist Church. Outside of my commitment to Carolyn, the covenant between God's people within that fellowship and I is one of the most sacred trusts I hold, and one which is not invulnerable to threats.

Some time ago Dan Phillips wrote about 'Porn and Paper Pastors'. In recent days I've been reflecting on the fact that if modern listeners and sermon samplers run the risk of making paper Pastors into spiritual porn, then modern preachers run a parallel risk of making the lure of wider influence a spiritual mistress who can sap their energy, divert their affections and lead to a breakdown in the health of the most important ministry relationship they enjoy, with the church of which they are pastor.

Now please hear what I am not saying. I am deeply thankful to God for those individuals whom he has given not only to their local ministry context, but to the wider Christian world. I have benefitted enormously and lastingly from the ministries of men like Geoff Thomas, John Piper, Rupert Bentley-Taylor, John MacArthur and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. What is characteristic of these individuals is that they are local church men, whose enriching preaching has spilled over into the wider domain without any seeming design or desire for global recognition. Our world would be a very much poorer place were ministries of this ilk hampered from receiving a hearing in the wider Christian world.

But there is a clear and present danger nevertheless. There is a view among some Christians that only 'international conference speakers' are worthy of being listened to, and this can infect the hearts of local Pastors at the most devastating level - that of motivation. A gifted, articulate minister of the Gospel might find that he wishes a wider audience for his words week by week, that somehow what he offers to his people is worthy of a greater hearing than the mere context of the local church. What can begin as a noble concern - to be used as widely as possible - can easily lead to the Pastor-people relationship becoming commodified, and to the local church becoming a spring board to 'greater things' or a mere sounding board for sermons rather than their terminus.

Local church work can be hard, springing as it does from the heady romance and hard realism of commitment and relationship. Members of a local church hear their pastor preach his best of sermons, and they also endure his worst; they bless God for his pastoral care at times of crisis, and wish in their hearts that he had been there on that one occasion when they really needed him and he didn't show; they learn his idiosyncrasies, both endearing and infuriating; and by the grace of God they learn to love him, and he them through the best and worst of times. It is a commitment built on covenant, realised in the hard slog of the everyday, amidst failure and blessing, hardship and happiness, and that is its unique dignity.

Without due care wider influence can be to local ministry what a mistress is to marriage, carrying the mid-life crisis cringe factor of wanting instant acceptance, ready gratification, of feeling attractive to another, of polishing and preening one's best material for the gathered masses, and of carrying little or no burden of accountability in terms of how the message is preached and then lived by the one delivering it.

Preaching, like any form of ministry, can be a risky business. Not only does it carry the dynamite-danger of bringing the living Word of the living God to His people, but our personalities have an uncomfortable habit of getting in the way. James' public health warning that 'not many...should presume to be teachers' (James 3:1) clearly indicates that those who stand to declare God's truth also stand to incur God's censure, should the motive or matter of their ministry not be pure and Christ exalting. There are many threats to the health of local church ministry, responsibilities carried by members and minister alike, but the world has owned in the past the glorious results of earnest ministry realised in the real world of the local church amidst its vagaries and victories, and that is surely of worth in the eyes of the Lord.

Today is our anniversary and I thank God for placing me in a family where I can minister and fail, where we can work and live, and disagree and resolve, and commit ourselves together for the long haul.

And that's where marriage trumps a mistress every time.

*This post is part response, part addendum, to the now classic article 'Porn and Paper Pastors' written by Dan Phillips for the Pyromaniacs blog (view it here).

Writing Life: An Interview with Iain H. Murray

2011-06-21T18:52:00.001+01:00

Iain H. Murray, born in Lancashire, England, in 1931 was educated in the Isle of Man and at the University of Durham. He entered the Christian ministry in 1955. He served as assistant to Dr.Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel (1956-59) and subsequently at Grove Chapel, London (1961-69) and St. Giles Presbyterian Church, Sydney (1981-84). In intervening periods he has worked full-time with the Banner of Truth Trust, of which organisation he was the co-founder (with Jack Cullum) in 1957 and remains the Editorial Director.

For many Christians his name is synonymous with the publication of well-researched, compellingly written books on Christian history and biography. Through works which span centuries, whose subject matter can either be individual believers or entire sections of church history, Murray admirably manages to convey not merely the facts of what has happened, but the significance of those facts for contemporary Christianity, and the abiding lessons that they contain. His most recent volume is a biography of John F. MacArthur Jr. and is available for purchase from the Banner of Truth Trust and other Christian bookshops.

In the following short interview Iain Murray answers some questions relating specifically to the ministry of writing, sharing some of the lessons he has learned from many years of making the lives of other believers known.

1.    Iain Murray, welcome to this interview. Could you begin by telling us something about how you yourself have been influenced by Christian biography (written by others) in your early life and ministry?
Beginning with Andrew Bonar’s Life of Robert M’Cheyne when I was a teen-ager in the British Army, biographies played a major part in forming my thinking and direction. The English language has a vast store of inspiring biographies, from all parts of the British Isles and the United States. Not that I would confine reading to evangelical biographies. When I went to University the life of Herbert E. Ryle by Maurice Fitzgerald had a profound effect on me – it showed me the spiritual barreness produced by liberal unbelief,a tragic contrast to the life of his father, J.C.Ryle. Among biographies that moved me as a young Christian I would put Edward Morgan’s Life of John Elias, Archibald Alexander’s Life by A.A. Alexander, Tyerman’s lives of Wesley and Whitefield, and Spurgeon’s Autobiography.

2.    How did you come to realise that Christian writing generally was a ministry that you wanted to undertake?
I do not recall ever thinking about this. I had no ambition to be a writer, what happened was that at times I came to feel strongly about a subject that was important yet little known and that led to articles, which sometimes developed into books. I would not recommend that anyone starts their writing with books; start with articles for magazines and such like. Writing I suppose is an art that develops slowly.

3.    Your biographical writing covers a wide spectrum of subjects, some from many centuries ago and, with the publication of your latest book about John F. MacArthur Jr., a living subject. How does the process of researching and writing a book about a contemporary figure differ from writing about those long gone home to heaven?
The MacArthur book is the only one I have written about a contemporary. The main problem in writing a biography is to be sure you have enough material. You need more than you will actually use, enough so that to a degree you can ‘live’ with your subject. Information is obviously more available when the subject is alive and there are many eye-witnesses etc. A danger with a contemporary subject is that there may be less objectivity. Although Dr Lloyd-Jones was dead before I wrote most of his biography, it was so recent, and I was so largely influenced by him, that those who thought there was not enough objectivity no doubt had some justification. A man’s place in history needs time to be assessed. Not that I now think I over assessed Lloyd-Jones’ place, but I can ‘stand back’ a little more now.

4.    Arguably your best known biographical work is your two volume treatment of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, influencing a generation of preachers (including myself). What, for you, has been the greatest encouragement from how these volumes have been received?
Dr Lloyd-Jones only condition on my writing his life was that the aim should be to help younger men and future ministers of the gospel. My greatest encouragement has been the degree to which that hope is being fulfilled.

5.    Do you have any particular routines or habits when it comes to the actual act of writing (i.e. a favourite place/writing materials etc)?
No special advice here. I would warn those in pastoral charges not to think they can do much writing. Pastors are in the front line. For them the spoken word has to be the supreme thing. Dr Lloyd-Jones never wrote a book. Nor did he ever set out to write sermons for publication. Little in the way of publication s came from him before he was sixty.
Writing needs uninterrupted time. Arnold Dallimore had to sacrifice his pastoral charge to do the work on Whitefield.

6.    How long does it typically take to research and write a biography from start to finish?
Impossible to say. It varies so much, and depends on the intensity of the concentration. I have never written with time deadline before me and would hate to do so. A good book would have to take up a good part of two years. Often it has taken me much longer – not continuous writing, of course, but interruptions have come in which in the end were to prove most beneficial. A subject needs to mature slowly.

7.    How has technology changed the process of research for writing biography and Christian history? In your opinion has the advent of the Internet been chiefly a positive or negative development in this regard?
I am sure the internet is a great help for information, and I use it occasionally for that purpose, but I usually have the advantage of having to hand the books that I need, or else access to a good library.

8.    How important do you feel it is for Pastors (and all Christians) to read biography and history?
Important for personal benefit, important for giving a viewpoint on history which is unrelated to contemporary fashions and pressures, important for sermon illustration etc.
I cannot understand a pastor who does not read biographies. Canon Christopher of St Ebbe’s, Oxford, used to take Ryle’s Eighteenth Century Leaders with him on holiday every year.

9.    Are there any figures in church history about whom you feel a fresh contemporary biography is needed, but which haven’t been written yet?
I am sure there are, probably multitudes of them. I have just finished writing a lengthy biography of Archibald Brown. Three years ago I had scarcely heard of him and have been astonished at what has come to light when I began to give time to it. I am convinced the record of his life is truly valuable and uplifting and yet how few even know his name. I do not doubt there are many records of the past worthy of recovery.

10.    What recent biographical works have you particularly enjoyed as a reader?
You have really caught me out on this question! Despite my ‘preaching’ to others I have not read much biography lately – books such as the wonderful four volumes of Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics have had some of my time. I am certainly not of the opinion that biographies should make up the majority of our reading. ‘Balance your reading,’ Lloyd-jones used to say. One book I would like to read soon is the new and smaller biography of John Stott. I have valued the 2-volume work on him by Timothy Dudley-Smith.

Friday feature: Owen on Temptation Pt.4

2011-05-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

"We are to address ourselves to the greatest performances with a settled persuasion that we have not ability for the least"

- Owen, Works Vol VI, p.94

Book Review: The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby

2011-05-24T07:21:00.001+01:00

This book is one of the most intriguing, challenging, illuminating and culturally heretical pieces of work I have ever read. Written by social anthropologist, Jeremy Narby, it is an analysis of some of the phenomena he observed while living and working among the Ashaninca Indians in the Peruvian rainforest. The Cosmic Serpent* probes the nature of shamanic culture, and in so doing posits a most compelling set of hypotheses about DNA and the nature of knowledge.

As Narby worked with and observed the Ashaninca's he quickly realised that much of their social and medical welfare is centred in the work of the Shaman. After a lengthy initiation process Shaman are the individuals who provide wisdom and healing to their communities, prescribing cures for common ailments and treating major maladies via herbal and floral treatments. The wisdom of the Shaman comes from the use of a highly intoxicating brew known as 'ayahuasco' which, when imbibed, gives them an insight into the natural world, communicating deep wisdom to them, and demonstrating what flora is suitable for treating which illnesses.

The author lived with this people group for two years, and following the completion of his doctoral thesis on their life and social structure, revisited his papers to try to answer some fundamental questions. How do the Shaman discover specific cures from the multiplicity of plants in the rainforest, how can they choose cures with such pinpoint accuracy, and what is the nature of the knowledge they receive? Through a long and fascinating trail of research Narby concludes that the imagery used, not merely by the Ashaninca but by Shaman worldwide, is actually descriptive of the world of DNA. Intertwined serpents speak of the double helix, and diagrams of what is witnessed under the influence of ayahuasco exactly replicate our scientific diagrams of the chromosome.

Narby makes no pretense at Christian belief, but I found his hypothesis compelling in two main ways.

Firstly, his research suggests a commonality of revelation to so-called 'primitive' cultures worldwide. Each has a creation story, mainly centred around two figures (normally male and female) whose behaviour is formative and directive for all of mankind following. They also hold a concept of a serpent being involved in this account, either creatively or destructively, and also have a concept of beings from heaven falling to earth. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Scripture will find rich allusion in these concepts. The notion of DNA communicating with the Shaman directly is also a compelling illustration of the Apostle Paul's contention in Romans that 'since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse' (Romans 1:20).

To quote Hamlet, 'there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy' and this unseen world of complexity, and innate revelation is tantalising and suggestive to any reader with a biblical worldview.

Secondly, Narby's research does serious harm to the hegemony of scientific research. In arguably the best chapter of the book ('Biology's Blind Spot') a rigorous critique of main of the presuppositions of modern science is undertaken, showing its observational bias and inability to bend to the weight of evidence which points to intelligence in nature. I can't do justice to either the content or phrasing of this section of his book, but what Narby records here does more damage to the evolutionary/atheistic view of creation and cosmos than any Christian apologist I have read. Published before the tsunami of New Atheism broke on the shores of belief, Narby provides a refreshing counterpoint to much that is taken as a given in modern scientific discourse.

I highly recommend this book. I stumbled upon it while browsing in a book store, but I have found it to be a fascinating, enlightening and hugely faith affirming read, from the pen of an author who shares none of my evangelical convictions.

*The link above points to Amazon's description of the title. Those interested in purchasing this book may be interested to know that the Bookshop at Queens have recently been selling The Cosmic Serpent at the discount price of £2.99. It may be worth calling them on 028 90666302 to ascertain stock levels.

Friday feature: Owen on Temptation Pt.5

2011-05-20T08:00:00.000+01:00

'Whilst Satan continues in his power and malice, whilst the world and lust are in being, we shall be tempted"

- Owen, Works Vol VI, 97

Friday feature: Owen on Temptation Pt.3

2011-05-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

"We shall never know what strength there is in grace if we know not what strength there is in temptation"

- Owen, Works Vol VI, p.94

Friday feature: Owen on Temptation Pt.2

2011-05-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

More from John Owen this morning on temptation:

"A man shall see that is God alone who keeps from all sin. Until we are tempted we think we live on our own strength...when the trial comes we quickly see whence is our preservation, by standing or falling" Owen, Works Vol VI, p.93-94

Friday feature: Owen on Temptation Pt.1

2011-04-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

Over the next number of weeks I'm devoting Friday mornings to some pithy quotes from John Owen on the whole issue of temptation in the life of the Christian:

"Even the best of saints, being left to themselves, will quickly appear to be less than men - to be nothing. All our strength is weakness, and all our wisdom folly" - Owen, Works Vol VI, p.92

A Minister's Regrets

2011-04-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Banner of Truth website has a touching and fascinating article here, written by Geoff Thomas, reflecting on a lifetime of ministry and the regrets that come with it. It really is an excellent piece, and well worth the time to read.

Darkness has its day

2011-04-22T19:45:00.003+01:00

In viewing the cross of Christ we must always keep a balance between the Saviour's absolute sovereignty and Satan's malign activity, between what would happen ultimately, and what was taking place immediately.

This tension was at the heart of how Jesus spoke in regard to his death. In Luke 22:53 he arraigned his captors stating that he had been 'every day with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me'; but the reason for their previous reticence and present action is summed up in stark terms 'but this is your hour - when darkness reigns'.

On the first Good Friday a day of darkness enjoyed its dubious dawn. All the forces of hell amassed themselves against God's only Son, and with savage thirst they sought his entire undoing. This was Satan's moment, darkness would have its day, all that is hateful, harmful and hideous strode proudly to the side of the Saviour and berated his power and his purpose. Here is the Saviour of the world demeaned, here is the saving purpose of God defeated, here is the One who claims to ransom men's souls humiliated, convicted and terminated by the iron hand of the Roman government. Even his own people have put him to shame. Darkness has its day.

But this is only half the picture or, to be more precise, a tiny fraction of it. At the exact point where God's plan appears to be foiled, it is being fulfilled. As Christ hangs derelict upon Golgotha, as the powers of Satan stand proud and defiant, something else, something wonderful, something that has been eternal in its planning, is unfolding. On the first Good Friday Jesus not only saw that darkness would have its day, but that darkness has had its day: 'Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself' (John 12:31-32). In these words, and in the events that follow Calvary, our Sovereign emerges victorious, and Satan is deposed. Christ has borne the curse of sin, Christ has borne the righteous wrath of God against it, and Satan's paltry moment of power has passed. Where Satan sees Christ vilified, God's purpose sees him glorified; where Satan sees Christ extinguished, God's purpose is distinguished as having been at work all the time - even in the midst of deepest darkness.

We have in these verses the seeds which will spring to life in Resurrection power, but even in those moments where Christ's hands took the nails, when he hung amidst the blasphemy and profanity of an unjust death, when his stricken body was crucified before the watchful eyes of corrupt men, God was at work, and darkness was being defeated.

Darkness has had its day - and our victorious Christ suffers under the hatred of men, in the purpose of God, for the salvation of sinners, and the defeat of Satan. The darkest hour did not merely come before the dawn, but all through these darkest hours God's purpose, power and supremacy were breaking out, destroying death and the Devil. What a day, what a Saviour!

The Sheer Loveliness of Christ

2011-04-20T09:30:00.000+01:00

There are times when I make it too complicated, when I run the risk of making my theology a kind of crossword solution to yesterday's puzzles, when I make my study of God's Word a mechanical process of producing sufficient material for a week's ministry, when I lose sight of the grandeur and glory of the Person whom I am serving and studying. There is a danger in handling holy things that they become familiar, and somewhat faded in their lustre and loveliness. Like the men who laboured in the Mourne Mountains to erect its impressive wall generations ago, it could be that I make an area of 'outstanding supernatural beauty' merely the location in which I labour, and not the place that I love. Such a danger must surely be ever present for every servant of Christ.

For me this is where engagement with great Christian literature comes in to play. To read the works of a man or woman whose heart is freshly stirred by the immensity of their subject, with the beauty of their Saviour, with the dimensions of their salvation stands as a tremendous antidote to contemptuous familiarity, and brings a rebuke to contemptible formality in meditating on and serving Christ.

A fairly recent discovery for me has been the written ministry of Thomas Charles (more here). His little book Spiritual Counsels published by Banner of Truth is more than worth its weight in gold. Consider, for example, the following meditation on the work and worth of Christ. It is surely impossible to read material of this measure without finding one's heart drawn out in love and worship to our great Saviour:

'So far as we live by faith, we live upon Christ only, without respect to anything else in us, in heaven or in earth. He is our all in all - our all in every thing, every consideration, and in every circumstance. He is our all to support us under every difficulty, and to comfort us under every discouragement that meets us from guilt, from sin and every enemy. And in proportion as we make him our all, is our comfort in the face of guilt, our strength against corruption, and our victory daily over all our enemies. But we shall never be brought to make him our all, until we have a discovery made to our minds of the dignity, glory and majesty of his Person, as the only begotten Son of God, "full of grace and truth". This adds greatness and infinity to grace and truth, it is the grace and truth of the Son of God and he is full of both; so that his grace and truth are equal to himself. When the soul sees Christ by faith in all the dignity of his person and the fulness of his grace then and then only will the believer live upon him as his all in all'

- Thomas Charles, Spiritual Counsels, p.218

In Praise of the Bookshop

2011-04-18T12:03:00.002+01:00

I am a big fan of online booksellers, and I use them regularly. But this morning I want to write in praise of the physical experience of buying books from a traditional shop:

With regard to buying books there are a lot of times when I simply want to be a browser, rather than using one. Amazon and others have done us the great favour of bringing book-buying right into our living rooms, with delivery times which are simply staggering, but there is surely much more to buying a book than clicking a button. A recent experience in Belfast drove this home forcibly.

Independent booksellers in Northern Ireland's capital are few and far between. The great weight of Waterstones has sent out ripples on our side of the pond just as much as on the Mainland, with many smaller stores closing their doors, and ending colourful chapters in local bookselling. Two notable exceptions for me are The Bookshop at Queens and The Evangelical Bookshop. In a sense these stores form a set of brackets around my interest in books, from the eclectic world of secular publishing to the depth and beauty of Reformed theology, from the broad mindedness of the academy to the clarity and honesty of biblical thought. A visit to both on one day is a rare treat indeed.

The Bookshop at Queens will always hold a special place in my heart. I worked there for around three years while I was a student, and for me it will always be associated with the discovery of things previously unknown. From the jazz that streamed through the shop on Saturdays to the titles I discovered on a wide variety of subjects hitherto unknown, the Bookshop was a place for maturing into the world of work and the world of reading.

On my most recent visit I found two things particularly satisfying. One was the variety and volume of stock, and the other the expertise of staff. Whether it was the fascinating array of Irish interest/history titles, the brilliant selection of bargain priced books on the centre table or the literal half-wall of English literature classics, this is a bookshop which is worthy of a morning's walk around. With the intellectual evacuation of Easons into a slightly Irish feeling WH Smith, it is so satisfying to find a place which rewards a good rummage and turns up unsought for books which arrest attention.

My conversation with Peter (a former colleague) also drove home for me the rare privilege of being able to speak to a bookseller about books in depth. We live in a commercial world where the computer database has overidden the employee knowledge base, where enquiries are normally met with the pallid-glow of 'I don't know', as search terms bring sparse rewards. But as I spoke with Peter about a wide variety of literatures, it was genuinely enriching and informative to get his take on the comparative abilities of Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Joyce (to name but four). Here was a bookseller engaged with his work, and informed about what a reader might want to know; offering non-patronising advice on what may or may not be of interest. There is, in the final analysis, a world of difference between a bookseller and a book vendor.

The Evangelical Bookshop is no less satisfying. This is an unpretentious platform for the sale of Reformed literature. In its auspicious history the 'Evangelical' has refused (by decision or default) to conform to the Christianity-light environment which all too easily creeps into Christian retail. One will not find a variety of Christian nick-nacks for the home, Bible embossed merchandise, or anything else from the smorgasbord of tackiness which often populates Christian bookshops. This is truly a bookshop, with John Grier honouring his father's legacy of providing serious reading materials to the people of Northern Ireland. As always the bargain table provided plenty of temptation (which I just managed to resist), a conversation with one of the booksellers (Colin) about academic study was brief and enlightening, and the clientele's interaction with staff and with one another was genuinely entertaining. Of particular note was a Scottish academic's encounter with an American academic. Having heard his trans-Atlantic counterpart's list of qualifications in Engineering and Theology, the Scottish gentlemen replied 'Well my wife has always told me I'm as thick as concrete!'. You don't get that kind of interaction (or meeting of two worlds) in the review sections on Amazon!

The bargain and secondhand section at the back of the bookshop is a delight as well. I picked up a Banner title for half price, and when the book I was searching for (The Genius of Puritanism by Peter Lewis) was found to be out of stock it was promptly ordered - arriving at my home two days later. I always leave the Evangelical bookshop with a sense of fulfilment, as well as a slight sense of depression at all the books I will never have time to read.

I don't know what the future will ultimately be for independent booksellers, but I do hope that by the time our children are old enough to want to choose books for themselves establishments like these will still exist. I would hate for their only experience of book buying to be in front of a screen. For me there is a simple pleasure in walking past stacks of books, and finding oneself surprised at what has been purchased, rather than 'searching' for specifics and always finding the exact title.

Bookshops are to online buying what a walk in a meadow is to visiting a garden centre. Both places might have the same stock, but only one can provide surprising scents, combinations and arrangements, as well as the thrill of simply sampling new and unlooked-for things.

Providence and Pastoral (Dis)Appointments

2011-04-14T10:35:00.000+01:00

I'm currrently reading through Thomas Charles' Spiritual Counsels (published by Banner of Truth). Charles was a Welshman who was greatly used of the Lord in Bala, North Wales, seeing the reviving hand of God on His labours. He was instrumental in seeing established the English and Welsh Bible Societies and was hugely concerned for the extension of God's Kingdom through preaching and Sunday School work. He is a man who left a huge mark for God on his generation, and it seems an injustice that our evangelical history makes so little of him.

The beginnings of Thomas Charles' ministry were less than auspicious, however. Describing Charles' experience of seeking a ministry opportunity in which he might be blessed and used of God, Iain H. Murray touchingly conveys the disappointments and frustrations that attended Charles' earliest attempts to locate a charge. His heart was set on two things, the happiness of his bride Sally Jones whom he married in 1783, and serving God in the northern part of the Principality. Sally was an only child and felt strongly that she should remain close to her parents upon marriage. Charles was likewise deeply concerned to commit to this area of the country although openings were sparse.

One is given the impression of the seeming dead end that Charles had reached when the Established Church repeatedly rejected his preaching and he found himself serving behind the counter of his in-laws shop, with no apparent opportunities for serving God. The history which followed saw him accepted among the Calvinistic Methodists, and ultimately being used as a great instrument for God's glory.

Reflecting on this season in the life of his subject, biographer Edward Morgan offers the following reflection:

'When God intends a person for some great work, he prepares him for it. He makes him know and feel what he is in himself, sinful, depraved, weak, devoid of every spiritual good, and full of every evil...Mr Charles was destined by heaven for great and glorious services. He was now undergoing a course of hard discipline, to fit him for his work. The success he met with in after life, and the honour to which he attained, would have found in the pride of the heart too ready a combustible, and might have proved his ruin, had not that pride been previously mortified. The foundation of his humility was deeply laid...'

What encouragement this experience, and Morgan's explanation of it, ought to bring to the hearts of those who have followed God's call to serve and yet find themselves in a place of disappointment and seeming unfruitfulness! I think this morning of scores of Bible College students who have God-given preaching and pastoral ability, but are in a situation of no doors opening for service; or others who have followed the will of God into deep waters which threaten to engulf them. What a blessing to know that God is at work, that He is just as concerned with what He wants to do in us as through us, and that ultimately these times of testing throw us back on his mercy, realising our own inadequacy, depravity and dependency. We may never know the blessing of God on our ministries as Thomas Charles did, but how confident we can be of the same great God fulfilling His great purpose in us as His children.

Discontinuity - A Poem on the Death of a Police Constable (2nd April 2011)

2011-04-02T19:14:00.003+01:00

Our news reels back a frame,
And for a moment we are there again
Amidst mourning mothers
Whose morning ushers

Nothing.

Until the pain
Comes through and brings a stain
To every Mother's Day to follow.

We share the news with friends,
Impotent to bring change
And longing, not for change,
But the same
Discontinuity we have known.
We have loved this broken chain
Of violence.

In the kitchen I whisper news
Above my daughter's head
Spelling out codewords she can't read
Careful not to let emotion show
Silently saying

'NO'

We will not give this legacy
For her sake we will keep this blooded feud
A mystery.
And say to all who hammer fast
Against her future with our past
'We do not want your history'.

The Wisdom of Silence

2011-03-15T11:43:00.007Z

"If only you would be altogether silent! For you that would be wisdom.'

Job 13:5

Modern media brings us close to the centre of dread events. Whether we think back ten years to 9/11 or just a few days to the Japanese tsunami, photography and video footage are both iconic and affective, giving us a sampler of the reality of what is taking place in our world. The past few days have witnessed a constant stream of ever more shocking footage of events in Japan, each of them portraying something fresh of the scale and magnitude of what has happened. Whether it be the wide angle aerial view of the tsunami wave relentlessly encroaching inland, or the more intimate videos of people recording the interiors of their apartments or places of employment in the midst of the 8.9 quake, it is impossible not be moved by the sheer horror and humanity of what has unfolded in the Pacific Ocean. Twitter has been alive with 140 character cameos from people at the scene, and YouTube is awash with both edited and unedited footage.

It is difficult to conceive of how these events were reported before the advent of new media, and the proliferation of video capturing devices. Internet technology has opened a door for these events to invade our consciousness and life experience in incredible ways. Traumatic as it may be to view such devastation and dereliction from the incongrous comfort of our homes, it is a good thing for us to be mindful and aware of what is unfolding in a country, in communities and the individual lives of people far removed from us geographically.

However, with this dubious blessing there comes also a curse. In Christianity Today, John Dyer recently commented on the bane of blogging in terms of serious theological debate and engagement, and the inherent dangers of everyone being able to contribute their unconsidered opinion on what is happening in the world. His focus is on the Rob Bell controversy, but his words no less hold true when it comes to events of more global significance. In the wake of Japan's earthquake and tsunami it appears that all and sundry feel the need to hold forth on the what, why and wherefore of such an overwhelming events. Much of the coverage generated is fairly innocous, and some of it, while simple and brief is deeply moving. It has been wonderful to read the status updates of friends on Facebook as they pledge prayer for those engulfed by Japan's tragedy, and to feel part of a community of intercession. Other contributions are darker though...

Arguably most scurrilous among all the amateur web media's comment on the earthquake and tsunami has been that of some funadmentalist Christians. YouTube and blogs are buzzing with content posted by dangerously dimwitted disciples who feel that the world needs to know why Japan has faced the fury of nature. This is, they say, God's judgement, this is the sign of Christ's return, this is God's villification of atheism and vindication of theism, this in short a terrible Divine visitation on those who, frankly, deserve all that they get.

Idiotic as such sentiments seem, they do garner attention and at times approbation from those within and without the Christian community. Particularly for those on the outside of Christian belief these things are proof (as though proof were needed) that believers are bumptious, unthinking, self-righteously dysfunctional individuals with a smugly (not to mention harmfully) deep seated sense of how God operates and how God hates those not in the same camp as themselves.

And for the rest of us...the sense of embarrassment is crippling. We know that no matter how strong and emphatic we are in rejecting these statements as reflections of true Christianity, we will be tarred with the same brush, and that the actions of a small minority of radical, fundamentalist fools will reflect badly on us - and, more tragically, on Christ himself.

So what can be said? At a personal level since Friday I have found it hard to articulate anything about such awful events. With not a shred of postmodern angst I have found that words, opinion and interpretation of what Japan is enduring are slow to come. To reverse Wordsworth's original expressions of joy above Tintern Abbey, the pain of such tragedy is 'felt along the heart' rather than assimilated by the mind. I have increasingly found myself turning aside to prayer, simply beseeching God to help those in such horrendous difficulty.

From 11th March my daily Bible readings have been in the great concluding section of the book of Job, with God intersecting man's commentary on why bad things happen, with his great self-declaration, his great articulation of his own contentment with the inscrutability of his ways. Looking back through Job I find a much more nuanced take on trouble than that offered by Twitter and Youtube, one which doesn't break down into the simple binaries of bad equals blight and belief equals blessing. Job's world is one of complication, of earthly frustration with heavenly providence, a book which is alive with all of the helpless, wordless, powerless reality of living in a broken world with broken lives. The dramatis personae of Bildad, Eliphaz, Zophar and Elihu offer nothing but platitude and personal certainty amidst the slings and arrows of Job's bereavement, rubbing the collective salt of their high sounding sentiments into his wounds. Job's exclamation is well founded in 13:5 that silence would have been their soundest counsel.

In the light of what has happened in Japan, Job lends dignity to the question rather than to the answer, to the sufferer rather than the morally superior. Answers are to be found, and God ultimately demands faith, but only at the end of 37 chapters of human struggle and dialogue. Job trumps the trashy sentiments of online sages, and shows their confident assertions for what they truly are - dangerous, blasphemous folly which are a modern embarrassment to the ancient wisdom of what God has actually said.

The question marks in Job ultimately take us to Jesus, to the terrible torrents of grief that engulfed his body and soul on the cross, to the pleading pursuit of God's purpose amidst unspeakable pain, to the 'why' of a forsaken Son handed over to the tumult of human evil and agression, and divine wrath against sin. The Bible's answers are a million miles from the palid glow of webcam pundits; they are the answers of a riven side and nail pierced hands, a bloodied Saviour, buffeted by the brokenness of the world He chose to enter and redeem - they are in short emotionally integrated and morally coherent answers to our deepest questions.

Our sense of resolution is not found in prepositions but in a person and the awful contradiction of the God-man crucified, of the Father's beloved Son impaled on the point of a world gone wrong. The resurrection lets us taste something of what God will do in ultimately redeeming all of this mess in which we find ourselves.

Until that day dawns, it might behove us to hold our tongues, and hold tight to our Saviour, praying that He would minister mercy and work out His good purpose in the terrible events of three days ago.

Book Review: In the Care of the Good Shepherd

2011-03-09T14:10:00.001Z

In the Care of the Good Shepherd

Iain D. Campbell

DayOne pp.105

Price: £5-00

Psalm 23 is a perennielly favourite portion of God's Word, with its sentiments of comfort, calm assurance and grace finding a ready home amidst the joy and pain of living for God. Given the esteem in which the Psalm is held, and the frequency with which it is referenced and preached on, any treatment of it must embody a difficult combination of faithfulness and imagination. Iain D. Campbell's little book manages to achieve this balance admirably.

Published by Day One this title is beautifully presented, both in terms of its cover art and its page print qualities. Campbell's approach is likewise plain, straightforward and accessible, working through each of the Psalm's sections logically and methodically.

Two features stand out in how the Psalm is handled in this short treatment. First is the pastoral heart which clearly informs how the Shepherd Psalm is interpreted and presented. This is no cold exegetical treatment, but a warm hearted engagement with the text, seeking to reach the conscience and affections of those who read it. Campbell's style is unadorned and plain, but this lends itself well to his intention to clearly communicate the comfort that the Psalm offers. This authorial unobtrusiveness serves Psalm 23 admirably; Campbell is a sure footed, humble guide, helping us to scale the heights of God's revelation of Himself as the Good Shepherd.

The second feature of note is hinted at by the title of the book 'Under the Care of the Good Shepherd'. Pastoral engagement is combined with Christological exaltation, with Psalm 23 set not only within its Old Testament context, but also in the light of Jesus' saving, shepherding work. This makes for some delightful moments as Jesus is upheld as our chief source of comfort, guidance, sustenance and permanence.

All in all this is an excellent little book. It would be eminently suitable for personal devotional reading, as a gift to those who are coming through hard times, as a model for preaching through Psalm 23, and also as an effective means of outreach to individuals and families. I for one have been blessed richly by revisiting the familar ground of this Psalm, finding new dimensions, new insights and new consolations through Iain D. Campbell's writing.

Rev Iain D. Campbell is a native of the Isle of Lewis, where he is pastor of Point Free Church. His personal blog can be found here, and the Reformation 21 blog (to which he contributes) can be found here.

And then the end will come

2011-03-03T17:05:00.002Z

Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 programme In Our Time really is well worth a listen. Its unadorned, serious minded engagement with the big issues of life, culture and science can be compelling and thought-provoking. This morning's edition was a case in point. The topic was 'The Age of the Universe', and the contributions (while admittedly well over my head at times) were succinct and fascinating. This was a history of the world, resolutely devoid of God, and absolutely committed to the answers of science.

Other minds more finely tuned than mine to the language of science could interact much more meaningfully and apologetically with what was covered, but one aspect of the programme struck me at a merely emotive level. As the programme closed Bragg asked each of the cosmologists present about what was happening in the universe at present. The first repondent offered this 'long range forecast':

'If we were to stay around, after five or six billion years. the sun would die...stars will eventually all die, the galaxies will all recede from us, and the universe in the far future will be very cold, very dark, very empty'.

Bragg's response was simply that it would have made a 'beautifully bleak ending to the programme'. Take away the word beautifully, and I would entirely agree. This is raw cosmology, face to face with an ultimately inhospitable universe, on which humanity is an evolutionary blip, ultimately facing its own extinction, long prior to the 'without form and void' world described above.

For me, the Christian view of what will happen when the end comes is infinitely and ultimately more comforting and more coherent. In Revelation 21:1-5 the Apostle John wrote from the perspective of theology rather than cosmology, and gave an inspired and inspiring description of how all things will conclude. This is not a 'long range forecast' but an eternal certainty, and one which illumines our present darkness, dignifies our humanity, and speaks loudly of a good, gracious, redemptive God.

'Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Remembering Martyn Lloyd-Jones

2011-03-01T11:41:00.001Z

Happy St. David's Day to all my Welsh friends. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a man whose ministry has deeply affected my own, and the lives of many other men and women across the world. The Martyn-Lloyd Jones Recording Trust have made available a clip of a rare television interview with this great man of God to mark this day. It really is worth viewing and can be accessed here.

A Re-formed Reformed Blog

2011-03-01T11:41:00.000Z

You've heard this all before, but I'm back to the blog. Watch this space over the next while for some inane ramblings and links of limited interest!

Jerry Bridges at Bethany Baptist Bangor

2010-10-28T14:21:00.000+01:00

Last night we cancelled our own midweek prayer meeting and Bible study, making our way across as a group to hear Jerry Bridges preach in Bethany Baptist Church in Bangor. The building (and car park) were packed almost to capacity, with groups from local Baptist and Presbyterian churches present to hear the octogenarian preach.

In a short interview conducted by Steven Curry, Pastor of Bethany Baptist, Bridges shared with warmth and candour about his Christian background, books which have inspired him, and Christians who have had a strong influence on him. John Owen and George Smeaton were referenced as major influences on his writing ministry and, touchingly, it was a neighbour who first shared the Doctrines of Grace with him as a young man who was cited as being the greatest influence on his Christian life.

The message was an exposition of Matthew 6:9-13, and was characterised by fidelity to the passage, pathos for his hearers, simplicity of presentation and warm pastoral application. Unconventionally Bridges began his exposition with the second half of the Lord's Prayer, noting that these are the needs which most readily and often occupy us when we come to pray. The first half of the prayer was then expanded on in depth, showing the deep need for seeking God's glory and the extension of His kingdom in our prayers. The effect of this structural reversal served to lend emphasis to the primacy of God's glory and kingdom in our prayers, leaving the abiding sense that these are the issues which ought most to preoccupy us. The full sermon can be listened to or downloaded from the website of Bethany Baptist here.

On occasion the experience of listening to a well known preacher or author can be a disappointment. Sometimes the mutual pressure on speaker and hearer can serve to make the message too complex, and the hearers too keen in their expectations. The beauty of listening to Jerry Bridges preach last night was his commitment to simplicity of expression and reality of application. I doubt that a single individual present went home without much food for thought and for prayer in the light of what they heard.

Visitation Pt.2: Ministering to the Sick

2010-09-16T09:34:00.001+01:00

This is a continuation of the blog post found here, thinking through the blessings and advantages attached to visiting the sick:

5. Visiting the sick provides unique ministry to those who are suffering: to come into a situation of illness is a profound privilege on the part of the Pastor. He has a unique role in the overall care needs of a patient, carrying as he does the expectation that the Bible will be brought to bear, and prayer will be offered at the bedside. This can be a daunting, if not impossible, task for family. For those close to the patient emotions and a sense of embarrassment can lead to a hesitancy to discuss spiritual things or to even read Scripture. The pastoral visitor is, however, expected to deal with these issues and read from Scripture. This can be a ministry to those anxiously waiting at their loved one's bedside as much as to the sufferer.

6. Visiting the sick provides unique contacts with other people: I once knew of a pastor who prayed so loudly and so long on the ward that people several bays away could hear, and doors had to be shut to keep the peace! This is not what I am thinking of here. Rather, a quiet presence at the bedside of a sick Christian, alongside sensitive reading from Scripture and prayer can open up opportunities to minister to others who are observing. This can be in the form of mere witness as they watch and secretly listen in to the conversation between pastor and patient, or at times can lead to an open request for prayer for themselves and a chat. The potential locked inside these kinds of opportunities is vast.

7. Visiting the sick can forge a lasting bond of friendship: it is a sacred trust to be allowed to be present with those who are weakened by illness. To spend time with someone in their time of need, to listen to concerns, to prayer over difficulties and read Scripture together forges a sense of fellowship between the pastor and the patient which can in some cases last a lifetime.

The foregoing are just some examples of the blessings of visiting the sick, and there are many more. In the near future I hope to review Brian Croft's excellent little book Visit the Sick which provides further impetus for going to those in need with the counsel, care and comfort of God.

Preaching is...

2010-09-14T09:28:00.000+01:00

Today Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the two way transaction entailed in preaching:

"The whole man is involved in preaching; that is is where the difference between the sermon and the preaching lies. It is not merely what the man says, it is the way in which he says it - this total involvement of the man; his body is involved, every part of him, every faculty is involved if it is true preaching, the whole personality of the individual; and at the same time...the congregation is also making its contribution. Here are spiritually minded people, they have come prepared and they are under the influence of the Spirit, and so these two things are blended together. There is a unity between preacher and hearers and there is a transaction backwards and forwards. That, to me, is true preaching"

- in Knowing the Times, p.273

Visitation Pt.1: Ministering to the Sick

2010-09-13T14:03:00.000+01:00

I love preaching, and spend a considerable part of my week thinking about, preparing for and engaging in the ministry of God's Word. It is a high calling and a deep privilege to handle Scripture, and to teach it to God's people.

A while back I might have been tempted to say that preaching had fallen on hard times, but thankfully that picture does appear to be changing somewhat. Whether it be the inspirational biographies of men like Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the insistently practical work of organisations like Proclamation Trust and the Banner of Truth (to name but two) or the international ministry of men like John F. MacArthur or John Piper, preaching is held in high esteem and young men are still pursuing God's call into this work.

With all of this encouragement it is, however, vitally important to remember an important counterpart to Bible teaching in the life of a church eldership/pastorate: that of visitation. I hope in coming days to review some good books I've been reading on this theme, but I thought that I might write a few posts outlining some of the blessings and struggles of visitation, and why this work is so vital.

Today, I want to think about visiting the sick, and suggest some of the beneficial effects for pastor and people of hospital and home visitation to those who are ill or struggling:

1. Visitation is where Scriptural study and practical Christianity converge: pastoral work is not that of the dusty scholar, removed from the realities of the world. One is tempted to think of George Eliot's Casaubon in Middlemarch with his mole like devotion to the minutiae of theology and church history; and his pompous and removed air in social settings. This is not the portrait of a healthy pastor. The privilege afforded to those set apart to serve God through the local church is that they combine the hard work of serious study, with that of being with God's people and ministering His mercy and grace. Visitation of the sick earths Scriptural study, and Scriptural study informs how those with pastoral responsibility might counsel and help those whose health has failed. Many years before the Reformation Geoffrey Chaucer wrote movingly in the 'General Prologue' of The Canterbury Tales of a Parson's devotion to God's Word and God's people in the following words (modernised by yours truly):

'Wide was his parish, and houses far apart,

But he didn't fail, in rain or thunder

In sickness nor in adversity to visit

The farthest in his parish, great and small,

Upon his feet, with staff in hand.

This was the good example he gave to his sheep:

That first he worked, and afterward he taught'*

2. Visiting the sick brings the issues of life and death into focus. Ours is an age of cosmetics and airbrushes, and of a collective denial of the realities of aging and death. It is easy to be fooled by the anti-aging adages of the advertising world into thinking that human life is in a steady state, and that sickness is an abstract concept. A quick trip to a hospital disarms the pastor of any such deception. People get sick, and people die. To be brought face to face with the effects of the Fall, with true human frailty, and the reality that all of our lives hang in the balance is a humbling and inspiring thing. We live on the edge of eternity, bounded by our own mortality and that of others, and being with the sick brings these realities into ever sharper focus.

3. Visiting the sick is a service to our Saviour. Matthew 25 is usually enlisted as support for the concept of mercy ministries on the mission field (and rightly so), but how helpful to hear the challenge of our Saviour's words 'I was sick and you looked after me' (v36). Being present in prayer, quiet listening, and gentle counsel at the bedside of those who are ill conveys the mercy of Christ to His people, and is a ministry to Christ by proxy. What an inspiration!

4. Visiting the sick stretches us biblically and theologically. I believe firmly in the book by book expository preaching of God's Word, but visitation takes us beyond those bounds, making us apply Scripture practically, specifically and pastorally to real needs. Such an experience filters our truisms and our tendency to be trite - stretching our understanding and application of God's Word to people who are truly in need.

To be continued...

*This is the actual Middle English rendition of Chaucer's words:

'Wyd was his parisshe, and houses fer asonder,

But he ne lefte nat, for reyn ne thonder,

In siknesse nor in meschief to visite

The ferreste in his parisshe, muche and lite,

Upon his feet, and in his hand a staf.

This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf,

That first he wrogthe, and afterward he taughte'.

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, 'The General Prologue', lines 491-497.

Doubt: peripheral problems and central truths

2010-09-09T15:27:00.001+01:00

'I don't believe, and I'm not consoled, I lean closer to the fire but I'm cold". So opines singer-songwriter Paul Simon in a track from his Surprise album, released in 2006. The song, 'I Don't Believe', expresses Simon's response to seemingly providential events, and how these don't lead him to a belief in God - even though they are scattered like 'breadcrumbs in a fairy-tale forest'. The piece is beautiful, haunting, and tragically desolate - a man confronted with evidence of divine activity who chooses unbelief over faith, and who describes the word 'maybe' as 'the exit I'm looking for'.

In this series of posts we have been considering the issue of doubt and unbelief together, and today we can begin to look at the difficult area of intellectual doubt, of finding one's mind drawn to issues and questions which undermine faith, and cause uncertainty. An important statement needs to be made as this topic is introduced, and that is simply to credit its depth, reality and capacity to cripple devotion to, and service for, God. Unlike doubt which is centred around a lack of personal assurance, or doubt which can be directly linked back to an act of sin, intellectual doubt has an ability to bore through the foundations of one's principles and beliefs, leaving the whole edifice of faith and worship in a perilous condition.

One difficulty that anyone struggling with intellectual doubt will face is how to handle it without infecting others. An individual Christian who is a deep thinker, who ponders honestly, reflectively and incessantly on some of the big issues of belief and faith will have a well thought out and linear set of arguments which have brought them to the point of faltering where they have firmly trod. To present this kind of struggle to an unsuspecting Christian friend will expose the doubter to the risk of carrying the guilt of unsettling another believer's convictions. To speak with one's own minister is highly advisable, but may lead to feelings of embarrassment should the season of doubt subside and certainty return with force.

So how can intellectual doubt be handled? Are those who ask big questions on big issues in deep ways condemned to an isolated and duplicitous struggle which can never be resolved? Perhaps the least helpful approach in this post would be to highlight particular areas of intellectual doubt and seek to give a biblical band aid to each one. It would be impossible (and potentially damaging) to make a makeshift 'Top 20 Areas that Doubters Doubt About' list and then tick each one off. The net benefit would be minimal.

Instead, a simple principle can be established which may be of use to some who intellectually struggle with faith - namely the need to work from the central to the peripheral, and not the other way round. Often doubt will focus its attention on one particular issue or area of thought and so masticate on it mentally that no room is left to contemplate the broader spectrum of belief and faith. This one issue so dominates the intellectual skyline that daylight can't get in, so draws in creedal oxygen that meditation on other areas of devotion and faith suffocate. What is needed is a conscious mind-shift, a determination to think away from this one issue of concern and towards some bigger areas which can be more readily accepted. This is to work from the central to the peripheral, and find that the one area of doubt which is wreaking such havoc might lose some of its ominous proportions when viewed in the light of bigger truths.

Speaking practically and personally the most liberating example of central truth that I have encountered is that of the resurrection of Jesus. In 1Corinthians 15 the Apostle Paul makes this one area of dogma the crucible for all other beliefs, showing that faith is in vain if Christ did not rise from the dead. His own arguments are compelling as he cites eyewitness testimony etc, and this is merely a keynote which resonates right through the New Testament and church history. To lift a book like N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God and encounter the overwhelming evidence for a risen Jesus is, in my opinion, an incomparable tonic for faith. To work from the resurrection of Jesus outwards to some other area of controversy or questioning provides a framework and a safety net for exploring, answering or simply entrusting the finer details of a complex issue to God. Unanswered questions may persist, and it may take time to fully determine the gravity and dimensions of the intellectual issue being faced, but to do so with faith in the fact that Christ has risen (with all of the related assertions which such a truth makes about his person and teachings) is a tremendous basis on which to move forward.

The preceding is merely an example of how to move from the central to the peripheral, and individuals struggling with the stress of doubt may find that another central truth of Christian faith might serve as the impetus and means for re-assessing particular areas of uncertainty. But the principle stands, and at least allows the person dealing with doubt to have some concrete things that they can actually do while they are waiting for a season of struggle to pass.

Christian belief does (inevitably) require faith, but not unthinking faith, nor non-critiquing faith, nor intellectually dishonest faith. To find one's mind foundered on a single (or multiple) issue or truth is a frightening experience, but it need not be a final or fatal blow to Christian walk, work or witness. Drawing (and at times dragging) one's mind back to the central tenets of what Christians believe may just stop a peripheral problem becoming poisonous or even perennial to those who find themselves in a position of doubt.

God has given us breadcrumbs to follow out of the forest, but they lead not to fairy-tale, but to firmness and faith in the light of, not in the face of, the evidence around us.

Preaching is...

2010-09-08T08:07:00.001+01:00

I've recently been convicted deeply by John Owen's great statement on the need for prayer in preparation for preaching:

'For a man solemnly to undertake the interpretation of any portion of Scripture without invocation of God, to be taught and instructed by His Spirit, is a high provocation of Him; nor shall I expect the discovery of truth from any one who thus proudly engages in a work so much above his ability'

To Hell with Radio 4

2010-09-06T20:04:00.001+01:00

If the above title doesn't grab your attention, then I'm pretty sure nothing will! And, no, I haven't taken a sudden notion to add my name to the list of 'cussing' Pastors who have become so prominent in evangelical circles. Instead, I wanted to reflect on two pieces of programming I listened to on Friday morning on Radio 4, both relating to the subject of hell.

The first was part of Sue McGregor's superb series The Reunion, which last week brought together some people who were caught up in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. A number of features in the programme were worthy of note, but the most compelling parts were when eyewitnesses described the devastation of their city when the levies broke. One word was repeatedly used: 'hell'. Pastor William Walker, of Noah's Ark Baptist Church (!), was one of the few people who made his way into New Orleans while many people were making an exodus. He brought relief and help to those in need, but his description of the moral breakdown of The Big Easy made sickening listening. It was a picture of what happens when authority and society break down, and when mankind is left to itself. And the word 'hell' was used in a fitting, frightening and personally convicting way.

As Pastor Walker said, the best of humanity and the worst of humanity came out in the wake of the disaster. Such statements (from Christians and non-Christians alike) affirms the contradiction which we see in our society and in our selves time and again - fallen image bearers, bad people who are capable of so much good, and good people who are capable of so much bad. The whole concept of hell takes definition when we think in these terms, and when we project the possibility, or inevitability really, of a time in eternity when people are left to their own depraved, deviant, God-denying devices. How we need a Gospel of grace and regeneration!

The second excursion to hell offered by Radio 4 was in the format of the comedy programme Old Harry's Game (not recommended listening) which aired around 1130am during my return journey from hospital visitation. This 'comedy' centred around the activity of Satan (in the part I heard before having to tune out due to Jesus being dragged into the gutter) and his torture of those consigned to hell. Aside from the theological vapidity on show the comedy was low level, and fairly conventional, playing on infernal and perreniel metaphors of horns and tails. The disturbing part of the programme was the casual approach to what was once considered a taboo or conversely sacred subject. It appears that society at large, and the world of broadcasting specifically has decided that we can be so confident of there being no afterlife that it is culturally acceptable to ridicule it with no fear of reaction (human or divine).

In my own Christian life hell has simultanaeously served as a point of struggle and motivation, as the unthinkably logical conclusion of a fair reading of Scripture, and as a great driving force for telling others about Jesus and the reality of His wrath bearing work on the cross. To hear the subject handled so glibly and gladly on a daytime slot on BBC radio grieved me deeply.

But perhaps that grief is not entirely devoid of guilt. As evangelical Christians we have perhaps handed over the reins on the subject of God's judgement, preferring to hedge and harbour our views in fear of offence. This could, perhaps, give the impression to a watching (and listening) world, that we don't really believe in God's eternal wrath either - and maybe that is part of the reason why it is 'open season' on the fearful subject of an angry God.

On Friday morning, Radio 4 went to hell - both in metaphor and mirth. One snapshot was frighteningly close to life, the other terrifyingly far from the truth - but both have brought my mind back to the reality and relevance of the subject of damnation to a world without God.

Newsround (without John Craven) No.1

2010-09-03T08:53:00.003+01:00

Friday seems like a good day to round up some of the blogs and websites which have challenged and blessed me through the week. This kind of post may not appear every Friday, but I'll try to post these kinds of links as regularly as possible:

Paul Ritchie's blog is well worth a read, especially when it comes to issues around ministry and pastoral work. I've been enjoying his articles for some time, and he has two excellent summaries of the book 'Pastor's Summit: Sustaining Fruitful Ministry' here.

Iain D. Campbell has some appreciative and heartwarming posts here, here, and here about the Puritan Reformed Conference in Grand Rapids - with some pretty self-deprecating remarks about his role in it!

Tim Challies posts a helpful link here to an interview between Mark Driscoll, Francis Chan and Josh McDowell regarding Chan's recent decision to step down from the pastorate of a large church and 'follow God in faith'. Salutary stuff.

I've also started enjoying Zack Eswine's blog, and while I'm new to much of his material I found his article here to be an important piece of council about tone, manner and attitude in expository preaching.

And this one is a little bit further back than this week, but Gary Boal has some challenging thoughts here about gossip, and how we make excuses for it.

Preaching is...

2010-09-02T09:56:00.000+01:00

I love reading about preaching, and finding my conscience stirred by men of God who have thought through the implications and responsibilities of teaching the Word of God to the people of God. I thought that I'd post some of my favourite quotes on this theme over the next few weeks:

'In expository preaching the biblical text is neither a conventional introduction to a sermon on a largely different theme, nor a convenient peg on which to hang a ragbag of miscellaneous thoughts, but a master which dictates and controls what is said'.

-John Stott, Between Two Worlds, pp. 125-26

Doubt: Hymns to the Silence

2010-08-30T12:11:00.000+01:00

Doubt is a lonely neighbourhood to live in. When we find ourselves abruptly re-located there from the buzzing suburbs of Belief we quickly discover that our new neighbours are not keen on conversation, nor are they willing to admit that they now reside in the dark end of town. On the brief commute into the well inhabited parts of Belief on Sundays, those who live in Doubt don't like to associate with one another, or speak any words which might betray the accent of the place where they live from Monday to Saturday. The residents of Doubt can do a stunning take on singing hymns in the same tones as those who have never been outside of the boundaries of Belief. The untrained ear can mark no difference.

In previous posts on the subject of doubt we have concentrated on the reality of the condition, and hesitantly suggested some of the causes for it, including our own sin. All of this has given us a kind of Ordinance Survey map of the whole area of Doubt, noting some its features and the access roads we may have taken to reach this place. It is high time, then, that we began working through some exit roads from Doubt, and some of the landmarks that might be seen as the slow move from uncertainty to assured Belief is made. It is a painful journey, but no-one need live in Doubt for all of their days.

One of the most painful paradoxes of experiencing doubt is taking part in public worship. This can be a bittersweet experience for the believer plagued by doubt. There can, on the one hand, be a certain sentimental rush that comes from being with God's people and joining voices in song, and minds in prayer and meditation on God's Word. Like a stimulant, however, the effect can soon fade and the roads back to Doubt after a church service can seem all the more cold and dark and lonely. On the other hand there can be an overwhelming sense of hypocrisy and resentment behind what had previously been the joyful expressions of worship. Mouthing words to well known hymns can feel empty, and the message delivered from the pulpit can be subjected to the most scathing and scorching internal criticism in the mind of the doubter - every truth contorted into further proof for the issues being faced. None of this feels particularly edifying.

But worse than the presence of any of these feelings in public worship is their absence, and one of Satan's most effective strategies against any doubting soul is to isolate them and cut off natural connections in the Church. In a sense it is better to sing 'hymns to the silence' than to silence our hymn singing, better to struggle under the Word of God than to struggle on without it, better to feel the pinch and pain of hypocrisy in worship than suffer the consequences of absence from it.

Perhaps this point is best illustrated from some of the standards and confessions of faith which back home the heritage of Reformed evangelicalism. Take the following two quotes as an example, the first from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith and the second from the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith. Get past the slightly outmoded language, and a major map for getting out of Doubt can be found here:

"Many storms and floods may arise and beat against them, yet these things will never be able to sweep them off the foundation and rock upon which they are fastened by faith. Even though unbelief and the temptations of Satan cause the sight and feeling of the light and love of God to be clouded and obscured from them for a time, yet God is still the same and they are sure to be kept by his power until their salvation is complete"

Baptist Confession of Faith, 17.1

'Unto the catholic visible church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them effectual thereunto'

Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.3

There is no highway out of Doubt, but taken together these paragraphs at least point us towards some of the arterial routes which will bring us back to the joy of living in Belief again. Firstly, in placing faith in Christ there is a rock solid certainty for the Christian that they will persevere, that despite the 'storms and floods' which may seem to prevail at times, that God's saving grace is a sustaining grace. Secondly, the effective means of stirring and strengthening the life of grace and belief is the ministry of the Word of God and ordinances given by God. To abandon this second point in hope of seeing the first fulfilled, is like a starving man in a disaster zone shooting down relief planes in the hope of catching a grain of rice! God has given the Church as an outlet for His blessing, and as an effective means of energising and nerving struggling Christians in the walk of faith.

Of course these kinds of confessional statements are helpful only insofar as they are rooted in Scripture. A light examination of the New Testament reveals their absolute authenticity. Hebrews 10:24-25 is the most obvious example of this kind of counsel:

^'23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let 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.' (NIV)

For residents of Doubt, then, the first step to recovery is refusing to join the Residents' Committee, and deciding to keep in touch with your old neighbourhood of Belief. Spending time with them might be a bittersweet experience, but it is only through authentic fellowship with authentic fellow Christians (and the challenge that their spiritual solidity can ultimately bring) that permanent freedom from the tenancy of Doubt can be enjoyed.

Book Review: Handle that New Call with Care

2010-08-30T09:26:00.005+01:00

This book, written by David Campbell, forms part of Day One's series entitled 'Ministering the Master's Way'. These are short studies, designed to deal with one particular pastoral topic in a succinct, accessible and well researched way - providing practical and biblical advice on how certain areas of pastoral life ought to be approached. The primary focus of this book is how a pastor in an existing charge ought to approach the difficult subject of what to do when another church approaches with a call. I read this little book at a slightly different stage, as I considered and prayed over the call to Millisle Baptist Church, but found it to be helpful and informative in that situation also.

Campbell's concern is to help the minister think through the implications of changing church, and how a decision might be reached. The book is broken up into seven short chapters ranging across the whole complex problem of whether a change of church is within God's will. One of the most helpful aspects of the book is the author's refusal to make assumptions, and his patience in spelling out what a new call is, and what it might entail. To this end, Campbell provides a thumbnail sketch of what a minister is, setting the role within the 'noble tradition' given in Scripture. This definition of the pastor as a minister of the Word is helpful as it provides first principles and gives a clear idea of what kinds of call may or may not be appropriate to consider.

This thoroughness is also clearly evident as subjects such as seeking the Lord's mind, weighing up practical considerations, thinking through reasons to stay in a church or leave a charge, and the pastoral impact on a pastor of moving church are opened up in short but finely honed sections. The author makes judicious use of quotation and illustration from other pastors who have faced the dilemma of a call before, both to guide and warn the minister as he considers whether to make a move or not.

This is a delicate subject, but one which is handled fairly and fully by David Campbell in the narrow compass of 94 pages. In my own circumstances a few months ago of considering and accepting a call the practical wisdom, biblical insight and inspirational warmth offered by this book helped me a great deal in reaching a solid and settled decision. I thank God for the foresight and courage which have allowed this book to reach our shelves, and the quiet wisdom that it will undoubtedly impart to many pastors who are privately wrestling with the issue of whether to stay in their current situation, or to accept a call to a new one.

Campbell, David. Handle that New Call with Care. Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009.

Pages: 94

Price: £5

Category: pastoral/practical theology

More details here.

Setting Sail Again

2010-08-30T09:21:00.003+01:00

Having now navigated the pleasant shores of moving house and starting in the pastorate of a new church (Millisle Baptist), I thought that it was about time that I set sail with the blog again. Thanks to those who have encouraged me to keep at it, and who have been reading archived posts while I've been doing other things. I've no series planned at the moment, and will have to revisit my posts on doubt at a later stage, but please watch this space for more banal observations on life, God, theology, preaching, culture, music, and whatever captures my limited attention span!

Dealing with Doubt: Seeing One's Own Sin

2010-06-18T10:41:00.004+01:00

It's a well confirmed fact that there are ghosts in the mountains of Mourne, and on some Scottish mountains as well. Many people have witnessed their ephemeral appearances, emerging out of cloud, dancing in the sunshine - rainbow haloed giants whose eery beauty leaves a lasting mark on any who enjoy their company for a fleeting moment. Some individuals have even managed to capture their appearances on camera, thus confirming the reality of these other-worldly forms.

These 'ghosts' are commonly known as Brochan Spectres, and an explanation for them is found not in the world of the paranormal, but in inversion, sunshine and cloud. Brochan Spectres are an optical illusion where one's own shadow is cast on to clouds below, making a large shadowy giant who at times carries what is known as a 'glory' of rainbow around them. Many hillwalkers have been startled, frightened and amazed at these appearances, tricks of the mind, natural phenomena.

In the shadowy world of Christian doubt there are also all manner of images and contortions which rise to frighten those who find themselves in this deep valley. A believer who has once enjoyed a glowing sense of God's nearness and reality suddenly finds themselves surrounded by giants whose ominous presence threatens to overwhelm them with fear and uncertainty. One way to deal with these spectres is to understand where they come from, understand their component parts, and seek to neuter their effect on the mind, heart and soul.

Treatments of doubt in Christian literature are fascinating for how much of the spirit of the age they reflect. In his treatment of discouragement - 'A Lifting Up for the Downcast' - begins with the premise that being spiritually depressed and doubtful ought not to characterise true Christianity, and then moves to trace the steps which lead to this condition. His work treats much of sin, and urges strongly to repentance as a means of finding certainty and joy again in the Christian walk. The onus is on the believer to exercise self examination and trace the reasons for discouragement in the heart. William Bridge lived and ministered during the Puritan era. By way of contrast, Philip Yancey writes on the same topic in his 'Disappointment with God', but his diagnosis and suggested treatments are slightly different. In elevated and fluent prose Yancey describes the condition of those who find themselves to be doubting, and spends much time in depicting how one feels about God and his actions when doubt arises. While Yancey brings his treatment round to broadly evangelical counsel at the conclusion, the difference of approach between both authors is at once marked and telling.

Doubt loves to keep company with self-pity, forming a partnership which almost guarantees the temporal defeat of those who socialise with them. One of the key ways to overcome doubt, then, is to seek to dissolve this connection - and to take a clear eyed view of one's own attitudes and actions. Self pity will lead us to believe that doubt has overtaken us, or that God is in some way to blame, or that the actions of other Christians have led us to falter where we firmly trod. While some of these element might be factors which lead to a doubting heart, they are often not the root cause.

In my own experiences of doubt there is always somewhere a root sin which backs home my spiritual malaise. It may not be a strikingly public iniquity, but perhaps a wrong attitude, a resentful spirit towards God or others, or a habitual sin whose roots are hard to choke. Such attitudes and actions immediately do two things. They rupture my sense of fellowship with God and they bring a lack of certainty to my mind. Sin grows in the soil of suspending belief in God and his imminence, albeit in a momentary way. The mental trick is almost imperceptible but it gradually leads to an erosion in communication with the Lord. Guilt and shame make the way to prayer seem hedged in with hostility, and a deep seated desire to ignore wrong actions means that confession is avoided for a period so as to let one's sense of shame cool off for a time. All of this is potentially disastrous in spiritual terms, leading as it does to estrangement from God, and a devotional chill which ultimately finds its way to the intellect. The world is no longer faith shaped, God is not at the centre, and other issues and problems begin to gain a leverage which they had otherwise not enjoyed. This is what happens when we live in the home of doubt and self pity.

But there is an exit: self-examination and repentance. Bridge, not withstanding his cultural and historical distance from us, was right. Often the ghosts and spectres which haunt our mind and heart are but projections of our own sinful actions and attitudes. Once this is understood and acknowledged a door is opened and the stifling air which we have breathed is permeated with a fresh sense of God and His glory. The act of pretense has passed, we lay our hearts open before a holy God whom we can't ignore, and admit that we are sinners and that He is real.

This is but one experience of doubt, but it is common to many I believe. In the next few posts we will look at some other species of doubt and ways to approach them.

Doubt: A Many Headed Enemy

2010-05-21T11:31:00.008+01:00

In 1849 Alfred Lord Tennyson completed his great poem 'In Memoriam A.H.H', a work which was prompted by the sudden death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam from a cerebral hemorrhage in Vienna in 1833. One of the greatest works of the Victorian era, the poem witnesses Tennyson, with Job-like tenacity, seeking to come to terms with grief, loss and concerns about how such awful events can happen when a good God ordains all things. Written against the backdrop of new views of human origins and evolution, the poem came to take on greater significance than a private elegy to a good friend - carrying with it the epic strains and grand concepts produced in the heart of the poet by honest doubt. In one section of the work Tennyson laments that:

I falter where I firmly trod,

And falling with my weight of cares

Upon the great world's altar-stairs

That slope thro' darkness up to God.

The poem does eventually bring a degree of resolution and certainty, but only after Tennyson has articulated the pain and wrestling which spiritual equivocation bring. 'I falter where I firmly trod' might be written across the mouth of the seemingly endless cavern known as doubt. The path of belief, which once appeared smooth and seamless, now corkscrews through territory that seems lined with precipices, and which may well terminate in a bottomless canyon.

The causes for doubt, however, are much less universal. For many, sudden loss or trauma such as that experienced by Tennyson shatters the myth of a linear life, and exposes fault lines in their faith which they were previously unaware of. For others the erosive effects of a media which seeks to mould the mind on the anvil of science and humanism are felt deeply and ultimately lead to a slackening of their grip on what they once held tightly. For others still, doubt can seem to have little rationality, and may be the consequence of tiredness, isolation from fellowship, or excessive energy expended in serving God.

Given the many strains of the doubt virus (and its ability to mutate under treatment) is there really any point in trying to address the issue? Surely if this condition has so many causes, no article or series of studies can really hope to eradicate it?

This may be so, but underlying the individual symptoms which many experience are certain common elements which can be treated, and certain truths and foci which might allow relief from the embittering experience of a loss of certainty. As with any condition, realising that one is not alone, that others suffer too, can be a huge source of encouragement and support - and can lead to the embarrassment factor of doubt being reduced considerably. The enemy is then viewed as common to many Christians, and what was once unspoken and internalised becomes possible to articulate and ultimately address.

Isolation and feelings of doubt make for a potent and dangerous cocktail - and yet one does inevitably follow upon the other. In the context of local church life doubt is rarely addressed, and sentiments of victory and certainty often take top billing. In this kind of atmosphere doubting souls can find themselves feeling disconnected and disillusioned, staring across a seemingly yawning chasm between their actual experience and the projected experience of others. In this kind of relational vacuum it is almost impossible to make one's voice heard, or to feel that there is any resonance for the sense of malaise which is crippling the heart. And so begins an introspective spiral, in which minor doubts which could easily be addressed cast a disproportionate shadow across the spiritual life, magnifying the mouse-like dimensions of our actual doubt into a monstrous shadow which puts a lag on all of our best efforts at self-treatment.

This post is simply an attempt to whisper into the darkness of doubt's cavernous depths, and to reassure any struggling soul that just as doubt has been entered by certain routes, there are definite ways to exit. Doubt need not be an abyss, but can be an opportunity for growth, for fellowship, for a renewed sense of God's faithfulness, and a deeper empathy for others who find themselves entangled and trapped by uncertainty and misgiving.

Breaking the Taboo on a Common Condition

2010-05-21T11:21:00.006+01:00

It's a taboo word at times, although thousands suffer from the condition in silence and with unimaginable pain. In history it has been documented although not dwelt on, for fear that its highly contagious nature might infect others and cause untold disruption. It has led to the premature downfall of many, and left others severely disfigured or partially sighted. The real tragedy is that treatment (although difficult and specific to each case) is possible, and often highly successful. I am writing, of course, about Christian doubt. For anyone who has been through the valley, or felt the dark touch of spiritual uncertainty upon their shoulder, the pain and paralysis which it can bring are known only too well. Over the next while on this blog, in a series of short posts, I want to write about doubt, seeking to diagnose the problem and suggest therapies and treatments which may not utterly dispel it, but may at least palliate its symptoms or drive the problem down to a manageable and non-threatening level.

I've held back a little before commencing this series of posts. My reasons for doing so are that talking about doubt can provoke the condition in others, rather than bring balm - and answering questions can sometimes prompt unsuspecting readers or listeners to ask questions. But I personally have been through the experience of deep doubt on a number of occasions in my Christian life, and have learned at least a few lessons about myself, about the solidity of our hope in God, and the profound grace of God in dealing with us gently and reprovingly, to bring us back to a settled sense of His reality and greatness.

And so over the next number of weeks I'll post about doubt. Please do feel free to get in contact if the posts which follow touch on issues which you have faced/are facing - either in the public forum of the comments, or via email (see the contact details in the sidebar).

In the interim as we journey into the dark heart of Christian doubt, please do be assured that there are ways out, and that God can meet you in the midst of uncertainty and fluctuation - breathing His awesome truth and majesty to your doubting heart.

Seek more from God, less from Earth

2010-05-21T11:03:00.002+01:00

In the quote below Puritan Richard Baxter may not actually use the term 'prosperity gospel', but his target is the same. How sad that the disappointment which so many people feel with 'Christianity' is legitimate, because they have been sold a completely wrong picture of what it means to trust in Christ. I found myself challenged and humbled by what Baxter has to share here:

'When Christians let fall their heavenly expectations but heighten their earthly desires, they are preparing themselves for fear and trouble. Who has met with a distressed, complaining soul, where either a low expectation of heavenly blessings, or too high a hope for joy on earth is not present? What keeps us under trouble is either we do not expect what God has promised, or we expect what He did not promise. We are grieved at crosses, losses, wrongs of enemies, unkind dealings of our friends, sickness, or contempt and scorn in the world. But who encouraged you to expect any better? Was it prosperity, riches, credit, friends that God called for you to believe? Do you have any promises for these things in His Word? If you make a promise to yourself, and then your own promise deceives you, whom should you blame for that? We have less comfort in earthly things because we have too high and expectation from them. Alas, when will we learn from Scripture and providence to seek far more from God, and far less from the earth?'

Richard Baxter, Practical Works, II: 884-885

One Final Thought on Election 2010

2010-05-12T09:36:00.010+01:00

This year's General Election has certainly managed to capture the popular imagination. Unusually within the United Kingdom the general public have found themselves glued to what has been happening at Westminster, in spite of all that might be said about voter apathy. That has also been reflected on a lot of the Christian blogs I read , which seldom make mention of politics but have foregone that principle because of the current zeitgeist that the election has generated. Double Usefulness has been no exception, and while I never comment on Northern Ireland sectarian politics here, I've found myself increasingly drawn into the social, moral and psychological complexities that this year's ballot has thrown up.

Today I simply want to post some brief thoughts on the historic events of yesterday, and some of the illustrative power they have in terms of the Gospel and God's work. After that normal service will resume, with little direct mention of politicians or policy.

Tuesday 11th May 2010 will undoubtedly be remembered in history as a day when many moulds were broken. On his excellent political blog Nick Robinson records some of the historic elements of David Cameron coming to power, including the fact that he is the youngest Prime Minister in 200 years. The most compelling factoid, however, has to be the coalition which now exists between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats - a partnership which few could have foreseen or credited. Undoubtedly this new alliance will prompt much praise and many criticisms, and time will tell whether it proves to be a viable means of governance, but it does give rise to a lot of ideological issues, not least when thought through in terms of how Christians operate, and co-operate.

As I listened compulsively to Radio 4 yesterday, a number of thoughts arose in my mind as to what parallels can be drawn between the process of forming this new government, and how Christians can relate to one another meaningfully. Out of this, one main thought emerged for me, and has become a point of prayer this morning: the need to see our need of each other.

A few months ago the pundits were raining plaudits on David Cameron as the man to lead the Conservative Party to a decisive victory in the May election. Many were foreseeing the sunshine bathed images of David Cameron greeting the grasping hands of an adoring public, delivering them from the dull thud politics of Gordon Brown. Events last Thursday proved to be very different indeed. While the Conservatives certainly won the election, no party could lay claim to a clear majority. A sense of mutual dependency quickly set in, and last night's new government stands as a testimony to people who harbour serious differences realising that in an unstable political climate, coalition is crucial.

There are surely lessons in this for us as Christians. I am not here thinking about ecumenism, nor of the Manhattan declaration and its successors - in terms of standing with people whose theology is utterly divided from one another on the 'big' moral issues. Rather I am thinking of the need for evangelicals to see the need for coalition, co-operation and mutual prayer in our current context.

This is, thankfully, already happening. The Together for the Gospel intiative in the USA, as well as organisations like the Proclamation Trust inviting speakers from the other end of their theological spectrum to minister at the EMA next month, are healthy signs that as believers we have recognised the fact that we really need each other.

Coalition is no easy thing, however. It has a tendency to throw up tensions and absurdities which simply are not experienced when we are isolationist or excessively separatist. Major figures will come under fire for alleged compromise, and others outside of the partnership will find it easy to throw stones. This will undoubtedly happen with the Lib-Con coalition in coming days, and it has been the regrettable experience of key evangelical figures also. John MacArthur, for instance, faced a maelstrom of criticism for his alliance with Reformed Charismatics like C. J. Mahaney. Tolerance of being misunderstood, misrepresented and even openly maligned is one of the inherent dangers of stepping outside of one's circle to further the good of the Gospel more broadly.

There are of course times when such coalition raises credible questions, which should be addressed with grace on the part of those asking, and openness on the part of those answering. A recent example of this has been John Piper's invitation to Rick Warren to minister at an upcoming Desiring God conference. I'd rather sit on the fence with this one than come down heavily on either side - especially given the invective, criticism, and hostility that Piper has faced as a result. Whether or not a Piper-Warren coalition is advisable or even possible is one thing, seasoning our words about it with salt is quite another.

Written large across the current British political scene are three words which must strike a chord with many among the electorate: 'the national interest'. There is a sense in which both Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have had to set aside their differences, compromise on policy and face external/internal criticism because they believe that the welfare of a nation in crisis is paramount. As believers it is easy to see the coming storm that awaits the church in the United Kingdom. Moral currency in our country has faced a multiple dip recession across many decades, and the hostility confronting gospel proclamation is becoming increasingly confident, vocal and militant. How tragic if we failed to realise that at the root of good gospel partnership is not merely 'the national interest' but the 'eternal interest' of the moral life of our nation and the souls of its citizens.

Coalition is a conundrum, but a good conundrum in my estimation. Perhaps - unusually - there are lessons for our churches to learn from the political world, which could make a massive difference in our churches, our publications, and our witness to a world which is not waiting to hear our message.

Photo credit: The Prime Minister's Office

Owen on Temptation 1

2010-05-11T08:42:00.003+01:00

John Grier's Evangelical Bookshop in Belfast is something of a treasure trove. Not only does he stock newly published titles at excellent prices, but the second hand section tucked away at the back of the shop is well worth mining. About ten years ago I was rummaging through some boxes which had just arrived with John, and came across a damp damaged set of John Owen's works - sixteen volumes published by Banner of Truth. The dust jackets on the books were a terrible sight, but the prices scrawled in pencil inside the actual books made purchasing them irresistible. One of the volumes had lost a page, and the previous owner had painstakingly transcribed it in his own hand so that the continuity wasn't lost. That night my Dad and I removed and disposed of the battered jackets and set each book out on the radiators around the house to try to arrest the damp which was encroaching into the actual boards. Within a few days my Dad had backed the books in transparent plastic, and they have remained in great order ever since - I think I got the whole set for around £30 to £40.

Recently I've been reading and preaching on the topic of temptation. For me the finest treatment on the subject is John Owen's little book Temptation Resisted and Repulsed. This comes in volume six of the complete works, sandwiched between Owen's other great treatments of mortification, and indwelling sin in the life of the believer. This volume is also available in paperback with updated English from the Banner.

Owen has an ability to write incisively, analytically and pastorally about this blight which all believers face. Over the next while I thought I might simply post some quotes from this little book - sharing the encouragement and challenge which Owen has been to me on such a vital subject, and perhaps inspiring one of the three readers of this blog to pick up Temptation Resisted and Repulsed for themselves, and to be blessed.

"The efficacy of an antidote is found when poison hath been taken; and preciousness of medicines is made known by diseases. We shall never know what strength there is in grace if we know not what strength there is in temptation" (p.94)

Maybe it will happen one day...

2010-04-29T20:09:00.004+01:00

One of the simple pleasures in life for me is listening to the radio. When I'm in the study I usually have Classic FM playing in the background, punctuating my time with news updates and great pieces of music for working and thinking to. In the car, however, nothing can compete with the national privilege that is BBC Radio 4. In our noisy, visual and glamour orientated world Radio 4 really shouldn't work or carry appeal to anyone below 60, but it does for me. Research driven, fact focussed programmes interspersed with drama and fiction is a real treat on any journey - and even more so when a couple of hours in the car are called for.

One of the real advantages of radio is that it has time to work through issues and stories that are not normally heard on television. This is nowhere more true than with the PM and World Tonight News features - packed as they are with incisive analysis and punchy interviews.

On last night's PM programme there was a fascinating interview with Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrat party (it is available on iPlayer for six days here). As with the leadership debates, Clegg proved himself to be an able communicator and interlocutor, especially given the rigour of some of Eddie Mair's interrogation. The first question out of the bag took the party leader by surprise however, as he was asked 'You've said that you're not a man of faith, why is that?'. Clegg stumbled, stuttered, repeated the question as though he was turning it over in his mind and then offered a touchingly honest portrayal of his uncertainty as to whether there is a God or not. He stated that sometimes he very much wished he was a man of faith as it must be a great thing to have such belief. When asked about his family background he stated that his family had not been religious when he was growing up, but that now many his family did have faith. His next statement blew me away: 'I for one haven't experienced what people of faith have...maybe it will happen one day'.

What affected me so much by this statement was not only its honesty, but how much it disarms our tendency at times to be militant in our approach to anyone in the media who speaks from the atheistic or agnostic side of the fence. Given the hurtful and harmful rhetoric of individuals like Dawkins, Hitchens, Pullman et al, it is perhaps a strong temptation to view anyone who speaks as a non-believer as part of the march against belief that the United Kingdom is experiencing. Perhaps this comes to me as a warning shot that I ought to give myself more to prayer than polemics, to seeking God to win the hearts of those in power, and those on the other side of the debate - rather than seizing on their statements to vociferously. I'm sure that's a mistake I make repeatedly in life and on this blog. I need help from God to be more compassionately spiritual I think.

In seven minutes from now I, along with many people in the UK, will watch the last of our televised leadership debates on the BBC. As I look at Cameron, Clegg and Brown how I need to pray for these men as people, as souls, as those whom God may bring to Himself through His Gospel.

Ashes to Cashes

2010-04-28T10:19:00.006+01:00

'Dying with dignity' has become a catchphrase for our culture, particularly when discussing issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide. It carries with it resonances of people being eased out of life in a warm, caring and ethical environment - as though extinguishing someone else's existence in the name of 'mercy' is the right and honourable thing to do.

This utopian view of homicide is fraying a little at the edges, however, as more revelations about Dignitas, a Swiss assisted suicide centre, emerge in the popular press. The Times have been at the forefront of reporting on the alleged discrepancies in how Dignitas is run. Last July they published this article which heavily quoted from a nurse who had previously worked for the organisation, and who is now disillusioned by its practices. Among her statements at that time was the fact that the word clinic was "an exalted epithet for just one person who has found a way to make a lot of money out of death and the fear of it”. In addition she chillingly recounts her own efforts to persuade a depressed 22 year old who had come to the clinic not have his life taken.

In yesterday's Times another revelation emerged about Dignitas, as over 50 ashes urns were retrieved from the bottom of Lake Zurich, near to the clinic's premises. While an absolute link between the urns and the company has yet to be finally established, they do carry the logo of the crematorium which is used for disposing of the bodies of those customers who avail of Dignitas' services.

Aside from the macabre and tawdry banality which such stories attach to the issue of dying, there are definite repercussions for those of us living in the United Kingdom. Next week voters will be asked to choose a new government in Westminster, and it is difficult to escape the continual newsfeeds about how the campaigns of the various parties are faring. A point made by Gordon Brown which is worth bearing in mind is that the weekly televised leadership debates are distracting voters from thinking about policy, and establishing their focus on personality. This is witnessed nowhere more clearly than with regard to the issue of assisted suicide.

Both Gordon Brown and David Cameron have spoken clearly about their opposition to the decriminalisation of assisted suicide, with the latter branding it 'dangerous for society'. While there parties have allowed a free vote on the issue in the Commons, it is clear that each leader stands against the law being relaxed in this area. On the other hand Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats passed a conference motion in 2004 in favour of legalising medically assisted dying (although their MPs were likewise allowed a free vote on the issue).

As Christians these issues really matter, carrying with them a lot of theological and ideological concerns about the nature of life, human dignity and eternity. To be culturally engaged in our world, living as salt and light, demands of us that we look beyond the soft focus of X-Factor-esque personality contests, and think deeply about how policy affects the dignity, morality and security of those who are most vulnerable in our society. A great resource for doing this is the Christian Institute's election briefing available here, which condenses the moral record and principles of each of the parties into a very helpful document. How we ought to pray over these policies, and seek the Lord - not merely that the best party of a bad bunch might be elected to power in Westminster, but that our God would move among the corridors of power and bring men and women in government to salvation and to right moral bearings.

Dumbing down?

2010-04-24T20:35:00.001+01:00

Sometimes politicians express disappointment at the disillusionment that people feel with the political process. Clips like this one make you wonder why don't they?

The Leadership Debate and the New Moral Consensus

2010-04-23T21:57:00.004+01:00

Last night marked the second of UK National television's landmark 'leadership debates' - where David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown each spoke to the issues of our day, and sought the votes of a nation. The broad category for discussion was foreign issues, and it was fascinating to once again watch the power-play between these three men as they simultaneously attacked one another and allied themselves to each other - depending on which strategy was most suitable to their gameplan.

A question was asked from the audience about Pope Benedict's anticipated visit to the United Kingdom, and whether it ought to be welcomed. Both Brown and Clegg spoke warmly of the influence of Catholicism on society although neither of them are Catholic (Brown describing himself as 'Presbyterian' and Clegg as 'not a man of faith'), while Cameron joined them in welcoming the state visit of the pontiff.

More interestingly, however, was the springboard which the issue of the Pope's visit provided for each man to prove his orthodoxy - orthodoxy that is to the spirit of the age. While welcoming Benedict's visit they each spoke of their divergence from the dogma of the Catholic church - particularly with reference to homosexual civil partnerships, abortion, and embryonic research. While this perspective is not surprising, what was striking was their casual assumption that what they were saying was in line with majority thinking in the UK and not in contradiction to it.

If proof were needed that the United Kingdom has no claim on the title of a 'Christian country' such exchanges provide it. How we need to pray for God to move among the hallowed halls of Westminster, to save the leaders of these parties, and point our society back in the direction of having the Lord as its God.

The Balance of Calvinism

2010-04-21T11:46:00.004+01:00

I read this quote yesterday in Iain H. Murray's Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism and was blessed by the balance and warmth of what Spurgeon has to say about predestination and human responsibility. How these dual sentiments should frame our preaching of the Gospel:

'I believe in predestination, yea, in its very jots and tittles. I believe that the path of a single grain of dust in the March wind is ordained and settled by a decree which cannot be violated; that every word and thought of man, every fluttering of a sparrow's wing, every flight of a fly...that everything, in fact is foreknown and foreordained. But I do equally believe in the free agency of man, that man acts as he wills, especially in moral operations - choosing the evil with a will that is unbiased by anything that comes from God, biased only by his own depravity of heart and the perverseness of his habits; choosing the right, too, with perfect freedom, though sacredly guided and led by the Holy Spirit...I believe that man is as accountable as if there were no destiny whatever'.

Leadership Debate - Some Homiletic Reflections

2010-04-15T22:08:00.003+01:00

One of the fascinating details recorded by Iain H. Murray in Volume 1 of his biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones is his youthful interest in parliamentary debate, and the lessons about oratory which he gained from his first hand observation of it from the public gallery of the House of Commons. Modern British politics has been more renowned for controversy than eloquence, and watching the BBC Parliament channel would scarcely yield much information about how to speak in public, or to handle issues orally.

Tonight history was made in British politics and UK television, when the leaders of the main parties - Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Labour - went head to head in a US style live TV debate. Many people will have tuned in for the novelty factor, others to hopefully witness a public scrap, and still others to seek to get to the bottom of what the main parties policies actually are. For me, all three of these were a cause to watch part of the broadcast, but another feature struck me as it progressed - the lessons which it teaches about addressing a congregation on complex and emotive issues. The following points are just a sketch of my thoughts as I watched:

1. Simplicity

The format of ITV's production was spartan indeed. No applause was allowed from the audience on individual contributions, and the three leaders stood on a spare stage, elbow to elbow with no hope of editing or slick presentation. No visual aids were allowed, just words. If nothing else, a 90 minute word based programme goes against the spirit of 'dumbing down' which we are often told dominates public discourse in the 21st century. Perhaps we put ourselves under too much pressure at times about 'dressing up' simple words when we speak to our people? Words well chosen and fitly spoken can be very powerful indeed.

2. Pastoral Application

Throughout the debate Cameron, Clegg and Brown each presented their arguments, not merely in terms of manifesto and party line, but with illustration from normal life. Most of their examples were gleaned from the 'campaign trail' where they are speaking to people in their communities about the issues which most deeply affect them. Abstractions are not helpful, application is hugely beneficial. In the case of preaching this presses the importance of preaching which is grounded in Scripture, but which also consciously addresses the heart and life needs of those whom we address. The Puritans are exemplary on this front.

3. Big Theme Emphasis

Part of what made Nick Clegg's contribution so effective was his ability to bring the big themes of his message to the forefront on each point. Without monotony he pressed his big message with memorable lines which acted as a refrain for his message, and brought the big ideas of his party home with force. Again, this speaks powerfully about how we address our hearers - if pastoral application reaches their hearts, then surely big theme emphasis carries our exposition of Scripture to their heads with force.

Undoubtedly many more issues and ideas could be drawn from this groundbreaking television programme - these are my simple reflections, I'd love you to share yours.

Martin Amis and Reverse Redemption

2010-04-14T11:57:00.004+01:00

My forays into the world of fiction are sporadic to say the least. I usually occupy my reading time with non-fiction secular titles, theological books, and Christian devotional literature. Occasionally though I enjoy an encounter with a novel, and it invariably inspires my thinking about spiritual issues.

Recently I borrowed Martin Amis' work Time's Arrow from my local library, and took about 8 weeks to read it through. I had heard much about this book during my time at university, and have always wanted to read it. Time's Arrow is a strange piece of literature, both in terms of its narrative structure and its plot development. The entire storyline is written in reverse order, with events happening backwards throughout. This means that the book begins with the main character, Todd Friendly, emerging from his death. The rest of the book witnesses him progress (regress?) inexorably back to birth and to the womb. The narrator of the book is a disembodied character who witnesses Friendly's activity from a position of objectivity and quiet disgust.

The backwards narrative structure is interesting at a couple of levels. There is, in the first 30 pages or so, a sense of fascination with how Amis will craft his tale, and the reader is left with the same sense of awe that a five year old might experience when watching a birthday party magician. Meals involve empty plates being served up, which those at the table dutifully refill, encounters begin with intimacy and end with alienation, and the toilet scenes? Well the less said the better.

The more interesting aspect of this narrative style is Amis' larger point. Friendly is a former Nazi officer, sheltering in the United States from his hideous past of anti-semitism and torture. Friendly is a doctor in the early part of the book, and the narrator is appalled at the damage which these professionals inflict on their patients. People with injuries arrive with their wounds stitched or their complaints healed, only for the doctors to undo their dressings and leave them in a worse state before they leave. Under these terms, medical professionals are among the most hated and hateful figures in society.

When the holocaust is finally reached in the novel it unfolds as an act of creation. Huge clouds of smoke are drawn into incinerators, and people are magically, cosmically formed. The Nazi officers and soldiers at Auschwitz are thus creating a new people, giving life to millions. Friendly (who by this stage in the narrative has resumed his original German name) finds himself paternally linked to these people, fondly watching their development from malnourishment and marginalisation to good health and happiness. The novel ends with Friendly inevitably reentering his mother's womb.

Time's Arrow is at once a disconcerting, spellbinding and unpleasant work of fiction. Reading it as a Christian allowed me to think about what Amis was seeking to achieve in the reverse world of Todd Friendly. The obvious, perhaps pedestrian, point to draw from it is the Nicodemus-notion of being able to re-enter a second time one's mother's womb. Amis is writing a novel about regeneration, about redemption of past wrongs, about the reversal of the horror of history known as the Holocaust, and his main protagonist is released from the moral trammels of his actions by going back.

The tragic conclusion that the novel leads us to, however, is that this book is a work of fiction, and that narrative as well as time must work in a forwards direction. Past actions cannot be reversed, evils cannot be redressed, and the genocide of a generation cannot be 'redeemed' by those who realised it upon them. This, perhaps, is Amis' bleak conclusion, his modernistic secular judder at the permanence of evil - both in history and in our own sense of humanity.

Multi-layered as Time's Arrow may be, it ultimately leaves us with no resolution, let alone redemption. In true chronology Friendly dies a happy old man in the United States, far removed geographically and morally from the actions of his past - apart from the nightmares he endures throughout the first part of the book.

For me the novel lacked two components which are essential to understanding evil and redemption. Firstly a Redeemer. One who bears not merely the personal psychological consequences of our sin and sins, but who takes the penalty, who pays the price, who absorbs the reality and retribution that our human evil entails. In short it lacks Jesus. Secondly, it lacks a sense of eternity, that moment in God's order when all wrongs will be put right, when the balances will be redressed, and when the justice of God will be finally and visibly realised.

Double Usefulness Returns Pt.4 (This time its personal!)

2010-04-14T11:45:00.003+01:00

My name is Andrew Roycroft, and I'm a bad blogger. There, I've said it. Double Usefulness has lived like an elderly relative during the past months, expectantly waiting for me to follow through on my promises to visit it more often and give it more attention - but alas to no avail! I've done various 'comeback' posts here which follow the same basic melody line - 'I know its been a while, but I'm back, and now there are going to be loads of posts'. Then...nothing....

But this time I mean it. I am reprising Double Usefulness, and am going to try to stay on the wagon this time. What makes my resolution different this time? For one thing a more stable personal environment out of which to think and write about books, music and culture. And for another (much more compelling) thing, I've refreshed my belief in trying to work at writing regularly and more fully. A number of things have inspired this, including some comments from friends, some ideas for blog posts, and also inspiring entries like Dan Phillips has posted here.

So I'm back, with a vengeance. Watch this space for new posts, thoughts, rambles and rants.

Quotes of the Week - 5th November 2009

2009-11-06T01:15:00.004Z

'Free grace will fix those whom free will shook down into a gulf of misery'

- Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, p.54

'There's no way round grief and loss: you can dodge all you want, but sooner or later you just have to go into it, through it, and hopefully, come out the other side. The world you find there will never be the same as the world you left'

- Johnny Cash, Cash: The Autobiography, p.29

'He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him'

- Psalm 126:6

Book Review: The Reason for God by Tim Keller

2009-10-31T19:31:00.007Z

In spite of the technology explosion which we have witnessed in recent years, the simple format of the book continues to wield considerable power in shaping our worldview and beliefs. Anyone in doubt of this needs only to think of some of the issues handled in recent works by Dawkins, Hitchens, or Humphries to realise how polemically and ideological important the printed word continues to be within our culture. As an evangelical Christian I find myself dismayed at the quantity of material pouring from the printing press which militates against the tenets of my faith and that of millions of other people. People browsing through the hoards of titles in Waterstones now have a veritable smorgasbord of titles to read which will assure them that there is no God, and that Christians are a bunch of outdated, unscientific, unthinking oafs who will eventually cease to populate the gene pool.

Given the militancy of this movement it is easy at times to feel overwhelmed, and uncertain of how to answer the claims levelled by those opposing the Christian faith. A substantial answer to that question is to be found in Tim Keller's excellent book The Reason for God, published in 2008. This is a work which meets the claims of popular atheism head-on, but with grace, rigour and an intellectual force which are entirely endearing, and hugely convincing.

Keller's tone throughout the book is free of shrill over-reaction, with a decision made on the part of the author to write about the issues of God and belief with sensitivity and clarity. The end result is a book which is easy to read without being intellectually light, and which manages to present the Christian faith in 'reasonable' terms without abandoning or watering down its doctrines.

The book is divided into two sections. The first deals with common objections to the Christian faith. Keller looks at seven individual issues ranging from the exclusive claims of Christianity in a multi-faith world, to suffering, injustice, hell and science. The mood of this section is at once devastatingly contrary to popular atheism, and respectful of those who may find themselves cynical or sceptical about Christian belief. No doubt Keller's treatment of these issues will not convince all atheists who take the time (risk?) of reading it, nor will it necessarily reflect ALL that is true of historic Reformed belief in any one area, but speaking broadly these chapters offer an excellent critique of areas where writers such as Dawkins take a 'leap of doubt'.

The second section of the book presents the case for God. It is here that Keller sets out his beliefs about how God has revealed Himself to us, whatis wrong with our world and our hearts, and how we might be made right with God. The chapters are clear and methodical and don't shy away from presenting such historic doctrines as penal substitution etc. The epilogue shows those whom God has convicted through the argument of the book how they might come into relationship with him.

My overall impression of the book is that it is an excellent resource. For me a key section of the book is in the 'Intermission' where Keller deals with his approach to writing the book. In one paragraph he states:

'It is important for readers to understand this. I am making a case in this book for the truth of Chrtistianity in general - not for one particular strand of it. Some sharp-eyed Presbyterian readers will notice that I am staying quiet about some of my particular theological beliefs in the interest of doing everything I can to represent all Christians. Yet when I come to describe the Christian gospel of sin and grace, I will necessarily be doing it as a Protestant Chriatian, and I won't be sounding notes that a Catholic author would sound' (p.117).

This must be borne in mind throughout the book. There are areas where I would diverge from Keller, particularly in his description of eternal punishment and his handling of some of the issues around Genesis 1-2. But in many ways these quibbles must be dismissed out of respect for the overall aim of the book which is a general apologetic for Christian belief.

Taken on the terms in which Keller sets his book it is a powerful resource for outreach, as well as the consolidation of one's own faith. I don't know how common an experience it is, but I have had sustained periods of niggling doubt at times in my Christian life - and a book like this is wonderful material for reminding one of the powerful spiritual and intellectual underpinnings of their faith.

As the Christmas season approaches this book would make a tremendous gift for unbelieving friends and family members, as well as to Christian brothers and sisters who will find their faith affirmed and their confidence for witnessing reinforced.

Tim Keller is to be thanked for this thoughtful, credible and God-honouring treatment of a very current and important theme. A tremendous book.

Quote of the Week - 30th October 2009

2009-10-30T16:46:00.002Z

"The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself or less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. I don't need to notice myself - how I'm doing, how I'm being regarded - so often"

- Tim Keller, The Reason for God, p.181

Music Review: Creation Sings by Stuart Townend

2009-10-28T09:00:00.000Z

Very little introduction or preamble is needed when discussing the musical ministry of Stuart Townend. His contribution to modern hymn writing and the worship life of the contemporary church continues to grow, as does the catalogue of 'standards' that flow from his pen. The modern evangelical church owes him a debt of gratitude for placing timeless truth in our hearts, minds, and mouths.

Townend's latest album 'Creation Sings' sees him return to the studio, recording a number of new tracks as well as fresh arrangements of a few of his more well known pieces. The style is mostly English/Irish/Scottish folk with a tremendous blend of sounds and musical textures. The production values on the album are astoundly high, with a compelling clarity and depth of tone to every note and syllable. It really is a pleasure to listen to this album with the headphones cranked up loud!

Lyrically the album is all that one would expect. Timeless, evangelical truths are phrased in plainly poetic cadences, with a steady adherence and fidelity to orthodox expressions - while maintaining a fresh turn of phrase.

The first track Come People of the Risen King, is an open invitation to all who trust in Christ to come and worship. The jubilance of worshipping the Saviour is bracketed by an understanding that not all who come to worship do so with lightness of heart or happiness of circumstance - some are enjoying the blessing of sunrise, others still struggling through the night.

Creation Sings is an extrapolation of Psalm 19 with Townend writing of the sunrise, of God's breath upon the spinning globe, and granting the newborn baby's cry. The chief instruments here are banjo (played by Townend) and upright bass. The folksy simplicity of the arrangements belies the depth of truth conveyed here - with Christ's federal headship lulling along to the sound of light-touch piano and lilting melody!

The Father's Embrace is a more understated arrangement springing from Psalm 27 with simple confidence in God's fatherly care set against the encroachment of the enemy.

All my Days (Beautiful Saviour) is a well known standard, set this time against what sounds like a DADGAD arrangement.

O for a Closer Walk with God is a new setting for Cowper's classic hymn, with new chorus appended ('O fire of God come burn in me, Renew a holy passion, 'Til Christ my deepest longing be, My never failing fountain'). Normally I'm no fan of putting a chorus into a well worn hymn, but here it really works, with Cowper's sentiment sensitively echoed in Townend's composition.

The Light of the World is the most English-folk styled song on the album. Its a lovely song, with very strong instrumentation. For me it is one of the most audibly pleasing pieces, but lyrically most weak. There's nothing wrong with it, and I love listening to it, but it just doesn't carry the same depth and dimension as the other tracks.

There is an Everlasting Kindness (Compassion Song) is simply a piano piece recounting God's kindness and grace to us - particularly in Christ's death. It is a beautiful piece.

For many reviewers the highlight of the album is To See the King of Heaven Fall (Gethsemane) and one can understand why. This is typical Townend, stripped down instrumentation overlaid with compellingly powerful lyrics about Christ's passion. The close of each verse is repeated with creating a refrain effect which emphasises the pathos of Christ's position in the garden.

There then follow four well known tracks (O Church Arise, Speak O Lord, My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness, Holy Spirit Living Breath of God) in new folk clothing.

My Fault, the closing track of the album, is something of an anti-climax. Having scaled the heights of God's providence and glory, the depths of Gethsemane, and the inestimable kindness of God in previous trakcs, it seems a shame to end on a very subjective lyrics (the theme seems to be how to communicate with someone who is backslidden) and a disjointed melody and arrangement. It is the only bad track on an otherwise excellent album.

I heartily recommend Creation Sings, this is hymnwriting and Christian recording at its very best. Buy it. It won't disappoint.

A Land without the Reformation

2009-10-25T18:28:00.003Z

So I'm back to the blog (again!), and this time I intend to follow through on my commitment to keep posting here. We've now arrived in Tacna and are setting up home, so hopefully there will be more time for thinking and writing here at Double Usefulness. Just to be safe I have a number of posts already lined up which ought to give me a head start! And what finer day to revive my blog than today - Reformation Day! Although the official date for celebrating this great movement of God is generally 31st October, most Protestant churches make the last Sunday in October their day for giving thanks to Him for His work and it's lasting impact on our lives today.

In a sense posting about the Reformation from Peru is something of a strange experience. This is in some senses a land without the Reformation. True, evangelical faith is alive and well in this country, but the concept of the Reformation and its impact is an academic fact of history, rather than something which directly broke on the shores of Peru or shaped its history.

This came home to me most forcefully during our period in Language School. My tutor, Pedro, was also the Pastor of the church which we attended, and so we had much to talk about each day. Many of our conversations centred around the collision between our respective cultures and Christianity. While he was able to share with me some of the challenges of Christian work in Peru, I was also able to lament the tragic decline in moral standards in Western Europe generally, and the United Kingdom specifically. It soon became clear to me that the needs in Peru are more than equally matched in our home culture.

During one conversation we talked about the impact of the Gospel on society. I spokeof its positive influence in Northern Ireland as well as other parts of the UK, and how it had improved the educational, moral and social framework of our society in history. Pedro's response, however, was loaded with impact. 'Here', he said, 'we live in a land without the Reformation'.

The cultural implications of this statement rushed at me as Pedro explained what he meant. For Peru 'Christianity' came as an imported religion, brought by the conquistadores, and representing a military reality which had to be submitted to, with something approaching fatalism. While the work of God in the Reformation swept across Western Europe, the Spaniards swept through this land bringing an enforced form of belief which didn't relate in any significant way to the realities of the lives which it affected. Here there was no call to rational, thought out, personal belief, but a simple subservience to a new culture and conqueror. The implications for this in Peruvian society, and in how it relates to the Gospel spread so faithfully by evangelical missionaries is enormous. Perhaps I may post on these issues at a later stage.

My preoccupation in this post, however, is with our home country. As I follow the media in the UK, it is clear that secularism is on the march and that Christianity is becoming increasingly marginalised and opposed. Tragically, the gifts of widespread education, literacy and social reform (affected in no small part by the Reformation) are turning on their progenitor and seeking the downfall of the very concepts which gave them birth. This is a tragedy beyond words, and bodes badly for the future of the United Kingdom in social, moral and spiritual terms.

But if the rational humanist agenda is guilty in a sense of patricide, seeking the destruction of structures and beliefs which have allowed thought, publication and understanding, then perhaps as Reformed Christians we are guilty of woeful neglect. How many today truly celebrate God's hand at work in the Reformation? How many churches have gladly brought praise to God in their services today? No doubt many, but I wonder as individuals are we fully or even partially aware of the wonderful history and heritage we have as Reformed Protestants? No doubt the empty-headed, spiritually evacuated 'Protestantism' of Northern Ireland with its disingenous bigot-laden hatred has done much to ward off the thoughts, prayers and gratitude of my generation for their heritage. But it need not be this way. We have much to be thankful for, much to go to God about, much to rejoice in and celebrate.

But in essence we have much to pray for as well. Will our children or their children eventually say as they look across the barren landscape of a fully pagan/atheistic/Islamic (?) Britain 'We are a land without the Reformation'? God forbid. How we need His Spirit to move in our churches and among individuals to praise Him for all that is past and to implore Him for more to come.

Book Review: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2009-08-22T03:28:00.000+01:00

I've always been attracted to Russian literature in translation, and have found that time spent with it is universally rewarding. A few years ago I read Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and promised myself that one day I would give Dostoyevsky a go!

Living in Arequipa means that I have limited access to book buying. I purchased this edition of 'Crime and Punishment' in a local bookstore, and was enthralled from the first page. Many reviews of the novel carry comments on the worth of the translation. I don't speak or read Russian and therefore am incapable of giving any verdict on the faithfulness of this book to original Russian - but it reads tremendously well. The pace, tone and dialogue of the book belie the fact that it is a translation, giving the text a winning feel, and compelling force.

The story itself is at once bleak, intriguing, suspenseful, meditative, and inspiring. The main character, Raskolnikov, is bewitched by new and atheistic teaching, the ultimate consequences of which lead him to murder an elderly and wretched pawnbroker lady in St. Petersburg. The remainder of the book extrapolates the consequences of this action, giving an insight into Raskolnikov's fevered reaction to his own iniquity, and ultimately leading to a thought provoking treatment of redemption and renewal.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and read it in just seven days. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something which combines a well paced storyline, realistic characterisation, psychological depth, and moral weight.

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