THE GRAMMAR OF GRACE 3-30-08 Easter Epistle and Collect

Some of the hardest school lessons to sit through on long, hot, Australian summer days were the hours spent on learning the rules of English grammar. Peering into parts of speech, parsing sentences, poring over dull manuals propounding correct syntax, almost destroyed a delight in the beauty and charm of literature, and virtually curbed spontaneity of speech. Such was the tyranny of obsessive adherence to the rules of grammar as if these were as inspired as Holy Writ. For the length of time that the English language has been spoken and written standardized grammar and spelling is relatively recent. It is interesting to note that in earlier texts composed by some of the great figures in our literary history there is considerable variation in spelling and syntax, and it is a relief in our time to see the relaxation of some of these rules among our linguistic authorities, and especially the toning down of dogmatism with regard to the use of split infinitives, something Thomas Hardy frequently and deliberately did for ease and clarity of communication. Simply to be understood is the aim of communication through as much clarity and felicity of expression as is possible, and together speaker and listener have a fair idea and “sense” of the meaning of the message without being too iedantic over the rules of construction. One of the most daunting visits to make in a previous parish was to a professional grammarian who eliminated all discomfort in conversation with the advice, “Simply try to be understood, dear”. After that all our charter was interspersed with much laughter and lubricated by copious cups of tea. A classic anecdote in our High School concerned a student who was in the habit of saying, “I have went”. To correct this fault his English master prescribed an after school period of detention in which the offender was instructed to write, “I have gone”, over and over again until the expiration of an hour. On completing the task the student could not find the teacher to whom he was meant to deliver his paper, so he placed the exercise on the teacher’s desk with the appended note, “Dear Sir, I was unable to find you, so have went home”. Rules of language are for guidance but they are not to be stultifying. Being over analytical can kill just about anything and make lively subjects as dry as Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (ch37). (It is amusing as to how some editors can assume a superiority over their authors through the minor corrections they make to a manuscript when they have no equivalence of insight or creativity, and could never of themselves produce a work of equal calibre and value. Thomas Chalmers was renowned for assigning new meanings to familiar terms. These were not malapropisms but in the nature of creative inventiveness.)
Having railed against a stiff approach to grammar it is fascinating to see how the deft use of language, always inadequate, can bring home to our comprehension something of the dimension (infinite) and loveliness (indescribable) of divine grace. The intent of Scripture is that we should receive the strongest possible impression of the mercy of God to meet the overwhelming sense of our unworthiness and ill desert. Grace outstrips guilt, not to make us presumptuous but humbly reliant on the precious promises that address us in our self despair and lift us up to a spiritual plateau of relief and hope in the knowledge that God is utterly good and loyal to his offers of mercy. We cannot over amplify the generosity and goodwill of God toward us when we are sincere in our desires for him, and indeed, those desires are proof of the beginnings of his gracious work within us.
Daniel Rowland was one of the great figures of the 18th century Welsh Awakening. Edward Morgan tells us of God’s extraordinary use of the Anglican Litany in the promotion of spiritual aliveness and conversion in the early days of Rowland’s ministry. One Sunday whilst praying the Litany with his congregation the following words made a powerful impression as to the efficacy of Christ’s life and suffering on our behalf: By thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, by thy precious death and burial, by thy glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost. The effect, according to Morgan, was that, “A sudden amazing power seized his whole frame (Rowland’s); and no sooner did it seize upon him, than it ran instantly, like an electr/ling shock, through all the people in the church, so that many of them fell down on the ground they had been standing on in large mass together, there being no pews in the church. The key to this stirring phenomenon was the inclusion of the adjective “extreme” in the Welsh version of the Litany so that “The words, f translated would run thus, - ‘by thine extreme agony’ “. Here, Welsh grammar was an improvement and instrumental in the intensification of the sense of the divine presence and the meaning of the gospel. That the Saviour’s agony was extreme is an indication that his desire to save is strong and extreme, and an expression of his unshakeable resolve to redeem at immeasurable cost to himself.
In the passage Colossians 3:1-4, recommended for Easter in our lectionary, the preposition “with” is prevalent. It is emphatic of our connection with Christ as our Representative at every point, and in every event, of his saving work (as per the statement in the Litany). We died with him and are seated at the right of hand of God, or dwell in the heavenly realms with Christ by virtue of his identification with us. But through regeneration and the operation of faith as a result of grace wrought within us, our death to sin and union with Christ is experiential also and will result in participation in the appearance of his glory. This nearness to Christ and his indwelling of us are largely hidden from the observation of a world estranged from God, but our communion with him is real nonetheless, and we are kept in our living contact with God by his mighty power (John 10:28-30). The preposition “with” sweetly affirms our relationship with the Christ of history and the Christ of personal experience, the one and same Christ who will never leave us or let us go. He has worked for us, and continues to work in us, and will bring that work to a certain completion (Phil l”6). The word “with” forges a link that is intimate and permanent, and of everlasting comfort to the believer.
The adverb “since” in verse one alludes to an existing fact for the believers whom Paul is exhorting, and ties in exactly with the Easter Collect’s reference to prevenient grace, or God’s previous action, that makes us Christians before we, in our powerlessness, were capable of co-operating with him — We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect”. The “since” refers to the resurrection power (the same that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead) that re-created us, imparted new life, and gave us the capacity to turn sincerely from sin in the preference for righteousness. It is Paul who teaches us that our initial choice of Christ is actually initiated by God in his gracious influences upon the soul where divinely donated desires dominate (Phil 2:13). These three examples of the grammar of grace speak of the immensity, intimacy, generosity, and sovereignty of the love of God made known to us in the Saviour - “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
RJS

EASTER : STUPENDOUS EVENT - CREDIBLE REPORT 3-23-08

When something exceptional occurs it is human nature to allow excitement to lead to exaggeration. Emotion expands the way we see reality and we tend to add our own embellishments to heighten the drama and gain attention to the story we happen to be relating so that we can achieve the maximum impact and convince the listener that the remarkable occurrence that impressed us so vividly was indeed sensational. Mounting stimulation of the mind amounts to mounting increase of detail in the imagination. As we set out to convey mere facts we suddenly find ourselves carried away and the facts merge with fantasy.
What is so convincing about the gospel reports concerning the resurrection of Jesus is their sobriety. The greatest of divine miracles is recounted with restraint, almost in a muted and understated way, mingling the hesitancy of witnesses with seemingly minor pieces of information that almost detract from the immensity of what has taken place. It is the element of attention paid to the ordinary in John’s narrative that eventually persuades us that we are being confronted by the extraordinary. The lack of extravagance in his language brings home the conviction that he is dealing with reality that takes us time to deal with and absorb. Its as if we are not to be “up in the air” over the supernatural as a means of escapism from every day life in the world, but grounded in history for perseverance through all that we are meant to encounter and endeavour. The principle of incarnation declares that God is involved in “this world” and it is with this world that we are meant to engage, with the encouragement of the promises and the enabling of His power. The resurrection is the pledge of our eternal life, but here and now, in our union with the Risen One, it is the mighty power that enables us to cope with the conditions and calling of ordinary life to the glory of God. Under the burdens of our humanness and sinfulness we hunger for success, significance, and sensation, the “thrill of it all”, but grace imparts truthfulness and tenacity for us to make it through the mundane events and routines of life in the service of God and the care of others.
Normal life cannot be easy, or else we would not, seek various ways out of it through obsession with ambition, entertainment, and reckless behaviour. To work our vocations diligently, maintain spousal and family love and loyalty, sustain firm friendships, and live righteously, are not exactly glamorous achievements, but in today’s world increasingly notable. Moreover, to be consistently Christian and increasingly Christ-like in nature and relationships requires more than human effort can perform. Saintliness in the simple life will not make headlines but it is the greatest proof of “the lfe of God within the soul of man “, to quote the title of Henry Scougal’s spiritual classic. Greatness often masks grave problems and great dysfunction, which is why biographies of our heroes often disappoint us. Grittiness, resolve and resilience day after day in being and doing good according to our stations and circumstances demands the supernatural resources of the Holy Spirit. In our ongoing roles as father, mother, manager, employee, professional, artisan, or whatever, our integrity and industry to live as true Christians come from God, and to be lights in the darkness through word and deed, without pretence, is a divine enduement of infinite value to society (Genesis 18:26-end). The reality of the resurrection of Jesus excites our keen anticipation of the joy and freedom of heaven, but initially it incites us to faithfulness and fortitude on earth in demonstration of the faithfulness and power of God in humble human life.
There is no picturesque style, or attempt at any winning ostentation, in John’s account of the resurrection and the disciples’ discovery of Jesus’ risen-ness. He does not paint on a bright, broad canvas for display and bedazzlement. Though the consequences are great, Resurrection Day is simply the first day of the week. He does not attempt to cultivate a special mood with a writer’s special effects, nor does he introduce us to special characters as the heralds of the unprecedented event that inaugurated a new age. The first visitor to the tomb is a woman of no repute, a casualty of mental disturbance and demon possession. In society she does not count as a reliable witness because of her feminineness, and so in terms of public esteem, and perhaps because of past mental instability, she is deemed worthless. One of the two disciples she summons to the empty tomb is disgraced by his public denial of Jesus and coping with his deep sense of shame, and even though he witnesses the evidence of Jesus’ departure from the grave still wrestles with doubt (Luke 24:12). The story is just too honest to be an attempt at hoodwinking us. For a start it is starkly plain, and the folk who figure in it are not heroic enough to qualify as first observers of the traces of a divine deed as wondrous as the conquest of death. They are not considered the kind of people privileged to have a grandstand view of the great acts of God and then commend them to others in an impressive way through impressiveness of character. The tale is a little too feeble to be feted in a widespread way. Instead of an abundance of supernatural phenomena and sensational signs to relate, there is just a damp, dark, empty sepulchre strewn with• burial cloths, the linen strips that sunounded the corpse. The scene is dull both to descry and describe. True, Mary subsequently sees angels, but these are modest in speech and appearance. A writer of fiction designed to impress would hardly be so subdued. Instead the site where resurrection occurred would be ablaze with glory and attended by throngs of heavenly beings to signify the grandeur of the occurrence. The aura of the place would be stunning and the disciples would have no room for their very human reaction of hesitancy and gradual arrival at faith. Instead they focus on very humble pointers to the unique miracle that had been wrought a few hours previously in the place where they stood.
Strips of linen fast bound the Saviour where he once laid. They had been burst and shed by his defeat of death and remained as symbols of the fact that the dark, destructive power of the prince of the underworld had been utterly shattered. He has no unbreakable hold on the souls and destinies of men. The burial cloth that surrounded Jesus’ head was neatly folded and separated from the linen as if it was the last item to be removed from is risen body and then carefully wrapped up and set aside as if to say his assignment was complete in agreement with the words uttered from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Having surveyed this scene, almost anti-climatically, the disciples simply went home. Of course the meaning is that they had much to ponder, and confirmatory evidence and experience would soon follow. But it is also a valid thought that the mighty truth of the resurrection is our comfort and encouragement at home and at work in the ordinariness of life. We do not have to crave ceaseless doses of the sensational to be in vital contact with God or useful in his service, and the sober, mature reflection on the empty tomb and its implications does lift our lives into the extraordinary realm of enduring faith that fortifies our pilgrimage with the prospect of making it to heaven’s bright home.
RJS

MAKING A GOOD END 3-16-08

It has been noted in sharp, epigrammatic form that we are not truly able to live until we are prepared to die. Until that preparation has been achieved we are haunted by fear of death, or we attempt its denial. Yet it is apparent that life is extremely fragile, vulnerable, transient, and its termination inevitable. Epigrammatically the Scripture informs us that, “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Beyond the solemn and certain points of death and judgment in our experience we embark upon our voyage through eternity and the direction and condition of that voyage is determined by the way the compass has pointed in our earthly pilgrimage through time. Our movement is either God-ward or wayward, and after the event of our demise there is no re-setting of the compass, the permanently fixed inclination of the heart.
Because life is so fleeting, and the issue of eternity the greatest we shall ever face, time here is the only opportunity we are given in order to know God truly and well, and our faith in him is the only means he has granted to ensure that we die well. Knowing that for each one of us there is a definite end to be encountered at a certain time ordained by God we should endeavour to be always ready for it (Show me my life ‘s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life” Psalm
39:4).
Traditionally great pastoral skills have been exercised within the church to enable believers to face their end with calmness and confidence, but in our time, even in Christian circles, death, judgment, and eternity are topics that are generally shunned and the unease we feel causes us to shy away from serious consideration of these momentous themes. In various ways we have been able to protect and prolong life and the attention has shifted to worldly fulfilment, even in the application of the gospel promises, but death cannot be avoided and our preparation for its arrival is our life’s crucial occupation, not in a morose mood, but in the buoyant expectation of the joys of heaven. It is usual in life to devote the most concern to matters of the greatest importance, but in human reckoning it seems that the things of time take priority over the things that are everlasting.
For some the reality of death renders life meaningless. For the believer it is a goal that rounds off a purposeful period of service offered thankfully to God, and an introductory phase of fellowship with him. It is the longed-for departure point for rapid transference to his presence forever (Phil 1:2 1). Death completes the earthly record of the life of faith, concludes our struggles and strivings with sin and adversity, and commences the holy pleasures of paradise.
Obviously our chronological progress hastens our thoughts on dying, and seniority contributes to our serious reflection on the theme, but death has no regard for age and can claim any person with suddenness. Without morbidity, but with trust in God, the young need to be realistic about its occurrence and as ready to die as those who are of more advanced years. It is not the facing up to death that is unhealthy, but rather the current escapism, diversions, and distractions of our contemporary culture that deludes us into neglecting the necessary preparation for the climax of our personal histories, where these will be subjected to the most searching divine scrutiny and evaluation. Our days are on loan and we do not know for how long. When the allocation is fulfilled we shall each be summoned, swiftly and surely, to the presence of God to witness the pointing of his finger either to the left or the right as the indication of his final witness concerning us. Walking humbly and obediently with God we are assured that we are headed safely for home and a rousing welcome from the hosts already assembled there (John 14:2). God gathers his dear ones in various circumstances and states of mind, some passing through periods of anxiety (e.g. Polly, Mrs John Newton), others perfectly ready and glad at the call (Henry Venn, so elated at the prospect of eternal life that his days were extended by a fortnight). A medical director of a hospice was once heard to comment that professed believers seemed to be, in his observation, the most agitated at the point of death, but even in their sedated state this could be due to instinctive awareness as to the momentousness of dying, or excitement at the prospects. Dying is the most decisive event through which we pass. tt is a work to which we set ourselves from the moment we realize its significance. We ponder the cross, and maintain a proximity to God through a continual attitude of reliance, repentance, and prayer, keeping the Lord Jesus in clear view as the one who has cancelled death and confers eternal life upon us as his hard won gift to us.
It is the fact of the certain prospect of death that unites us all in the common need for the gospel and which dispels gradations of priority and importance in the ministry of the church. No age group is to be favoured or neglected. The young need to be nurtured in the gospel, a parental as well as congregational responsibility, and the elderly consoled and confirmed. The young are not to be brought to the forefront of the church’s concern and the old are not to be forgotten. The whole flock is to receive equal and appropriate care through the even and appropriate ministration of word and sacrament. It is the business of families to form character, schools to educate in the sciences and skills of this world, and appropriate organisations to entertain and occupy folk in their spare time in a worthwhile way. The church provides the means for growth in grace for life in this world and the attainment of life in the world to come, and is not meant to be the all-sufficient, all encompassing “ghetto” or monastic environment to which believers may retreat at every hour of the day in separation from our mandatory encounter with the surrounding society that needs the salt and light the people of God are meant to dispense. It is as persons living and working in the actual world that every Christian should find their ministry, calling, and battlefield for which their individual gifts are bestowed. Ministry is not meant to cluster around the activities of the congregation but to circulate among the members of the community, declaring and demonstrating the justice and mercy of God in day-to-day contact and outreach. The role of the church is not to classif, the young from the old, segregate the singles from the married, and divide the male from the female, but to create an integrated family that comprehends every covenant member in the shared knowledge and worship of God and in the kind of all-embracing fellowship through which every group and type of believer learns to cherish and support the other in bonds of affection and mutual respect. We do not need our schedules to be crowded with programmes and activities but simply and generously to be open to space and time for each other for the unhurried forging of real, deep, listening and caring relationships. Sometimes a meal with conversation across the table is more important than some earnest “campaign” elsewhere. Just “being there” together can heal and unite. It is amazing how often folk who deem themselves fit for Christian leadership have very little time for mingling with the “ordinary folk” of the congregation when the Lord Jesus “wasted” much of his time with the lowly, uninfluential, and undesirable. The elderly need to enjoy and encourage the young and the young need to appreciate their seniors and benefit from their experiences and observations. Our disdain for age, fear of death, and avoidance of serious reflection, have created the cult of “youthfulness” right across our culture (aptly described in the words of the title of Diana West’s recent book on America’s perpetual adolescence as The Death of the Grown-up), and the church, lacking the perspective of eternity where the divine promises are truly fulfilled or brought to fruition, apes the world by placing more value on lives, attitudes, and approaches that are considered “young”; all these things suggest the introduction of novelty and lightness in the things of God, and the outcome is that the church of God now lacks historical perspective in vital matters, maturity and firm resolve in current problems, and the endurance to survive the possible ordeals of the future. In pampering and patronizing “teens”, a term unknown until the “Rockin’ Fifties” (and I still like Fats Domino, Ricky Nelson, and Freddy Cannon, and thumb through Rolling Stone as well as Down Beat — so never was a square, man though DW’s strictures make me blush), the church is unwisely likely to become a “teenage club” in comprehension if not chronologically. We opt for triteness and trendiness instead of truth and reverence, and the superficial in exchange for the substantial, and in some places we have more beat than Bible, and more “happy guitar” than Holy Ghost (and I like Sister Rosetta Tharpe too). The fact is that all human souls, young and old, are precious and of equal value and need serious ministry for the training of serious minds fit for the sudden summons to eternity.
The admirable balance and proportion of Scripture is detected in the Lucan narrative of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple the place equally for all the people of God. The newborn child is greeted by the senior saints, Simeon and Anna, who speak eloquently of his significance after years of patient reflection and accordingly make their good end through him (Luke 2:21-40).
RJS

RUINED! (Isaiah 6:5) 3-09-08

The true knowledge of God commences with a radical awakening that comes as a shock to our system, shattering all our easy assumptions about ourselves, about him, and as to how we relate to him. Our natural theology, the suppositions of the human mind, prevails with such force in our thinking that it even superimposes itself upon revealed theology when it is presented to us, conditioning how we read it, and blurring what we see, so that Holy Scripture is adapted to our own preconceived comprehension, toned down to the level of our owi tolerance, and quoted and applied with a glibness contrived to establish and preserve our sense of comfort with our estimate of our ourselves and existing understanding of God. Though obviously aware of faults and failings on our part we consider our persons and performance passable and surely acceptable to a God who concedes our humanness, acknowledges our earnestness, and kindly overlooks our deficiencies as due to the limitations of our otherwise basically decent nature. Rarely do we sense ourselves to be miserable sinners, but simply mistaken individuals who occasionally slip into error or are susceptible to the odd wrong decision. There is no cognizance of fundamental perversity, no hint of moral desperation, no appreciation of a breach with God that cannot be bridged by human qualification or endeavour; just the admission that things are not ideal and that a little divine help and encouragement here and there are good things to seek for the enlargement of our happiness and wellbeing. The gospel can be selectively referenced and conveniently tempered and adjusted to meet with this superficial attitude, consolation can be imparted, and souls can conclude that they have truly met with God and received the assured and eternal blessings of the kingdom. The sense of sin is shallow, grace is cheap, and the path ahead is straight, smooth, and strewn with pink blossom and lined with lollipops. Personal alarm at the discovery of inward corruptions, the occurrence of fierce temptations, engagement in the gruelling battles of the soul, the discipline and chastening of the Lord, and the experience of suffering in various ways are far from the thoughts and expectations of this trite version of Christianity which masquerades as the real thing and enjoys such popular appeal. The sentimentalization of our faith is as dangerous as any serious heresy for it prevents an encounter with the spiritual realities that lead to salvation.
Isaiah’s overpowering encounter with God demolished all the creaturely comforts familiar to his own mind concerning his current condition and standing before God, all the ease of conscience and self satisfaction that constituted his mental state of confidence and security. Suddenly in the glimpse of the glory of God afforded him in the temple he found himself utterly stripped bare and broken in his self-estimation. His pretence, pride, and bogus piety were destroyed and reduced to nothing before the holiness and majesty of God, and the moment of contact with reality, with all illusion banished, left him desolate with the ability only to lament, “I am ruined”. Isaiah experienced the overwhelming feeling of being lost. He was convicted of his essential sinfulness through comparison. The sight of God’s perfection proved beyond doubt the fact of his moral unsightliness, and after the outburst of anguish he succumbed to a mental and verbal muteness wherein he knew that any case on his behalf before the Almighty could not even be suggested let alone argued, and must be abandoned. He stood stunned, guilty, and condemned. Does the contemporary presentation of the gospel of Christ and vision of God bring people to the Isaianic point of frankly admitted lost-ness that convinces them that they need to be saved urgently and not merely soothed?
Isaiah’s sense of wickedness and helplessness is echoed in our liturgical fonn of confession which avers that “there is no health (or soundness) in us” so that we ourselves are brought into line with the great prophet’s self-understanding. “We are all naturally lost, spiritually impotent and helpless, without hope of commending ourselves to God by anything we do. This is the bad news that we must accept and internalize before we can appreciate the good news of salvation” (J. I. Packer, The Refonnational Revivalism of George Whitefield, Collected Shorter Writings Vol 4, Paternoster Press).
Martin Luther’s classic work, “The Bondage of the Will”, is the great primer for an accurate appreciation of the gospel. He deemed it the best and most important of his writings. The heart of the truth about fallen man in need of redemption is that the heart of man is desperately evil and utterly indisposed to know and desire God, so self- centred and sinful are all our inclinations and choices. Only the undesired and unbidden grace of the Lord can break our bondage and set us free for right preferences and decisions. Our only hope is in the sovereign and undeserved mercy of God. “The denial of ‘free-will’ was to Luther the foundation of the biblical doctrine of grace, and a hearty endorsement of that denial was the first step for anyone who would understand the gospel and come to faith in God” (J.I. Packer & OR. Johnston, Introduction — The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther). It was Luther’s conviction that ruined siimers must be informed that they are ruined sinners and not flattered with anything less than this blunt truth. Until then we slumber in apathy, or seek approval through a self-wrought righteousness, and we demean the dimensions of grace having only a slight impression of its greatness and necessity. We can only assuage the discomfort and distress of the awakened conscience with the fact of Christ’s bloodshedding on our behalf, and not through our feeble and deceiving attempts to prettify or praise human nature. Luther’s marvellous and soul-stirring book is a ‘must read” for all those earnest in knowing God and it reveals how far we have strayed from the authentic gospel (even in our contemporary attempts to restore true Anglicanism through which we more resemble charismatic Methodism) where the word “grace” has become a meaningless mantra and vacuous slogan, a sort of bromide for those who wish to silence and sedate the conscience in avoidance of any spiritual anxiety or concern that precedes the deep comfort of the biblical message of forgiveness.
The standard of our own personal judgement before God will not be our approximations at rectitude and innocence, goodness understood in mere human terms, but his own incomparable holiness and moral purity, and in the light of his blazing majesty not one of us can hope to stand. We will find ourselves utterly undone, as did Isaiah. How many of us today, accustomed to the Bible, accustomed to church, and professing faith, have actually and inwardly cried, “Woe to me! “? Is our sense of need that radical so that the gospel is cherished, and the relief it brings enormous? Or is “the gospel” merely a compilation of trite tips designed to enable me to enjoy life every day in an air of false and naïve optimism? Our modem situation compares with that notorious state of affairs encountered by the prophets of the Old Testament, “ The irreligion that could prefer pleasant untruths from manifestly hireling prophets to the cleansing, demanding, difficult word of the living God” (John Marsh, Amos and Micah, SCM 1974).
Mercy can only be prized when, like Isaiah, we are rendered mute before God, speechless, defenceless in the dumb-founded-ness that is the aftermath of the quenching of our misplaced hope in anything human. In that moment of unmasking and exclamation Isaiah “died”. All self-confidence expired. His shout of “ruined” was not rhetorical exaggeration but realism as he registered the unhappy fact that he was “done for” with nowhere to turn. And then, from the majestic holiness that spelt his destruction, there emerged a marvellous mercy. A live coal was transferred form the furnace on the altar to the lips of the self-condenmed sinner, and the man at the point of his gravest culpability was cleansed by this purifying act performed at the command of God. Undeserved, unexpected atonement was wrought on behalf of the offender by the One offended. Out of despair there came deliverance, and that, in short, is the truth of the gospel. The ruined are redeemed. The burning coal that cleansed Isaiah prefigures the fiery ordeal of the cross that cleanses us. How accurate and encouraging is the insight of John Duncan when he says, “For myself I cannot always come to Christ direct, but I can always come by sin. Sin is the handle by which I get Christ. I take a verse in which God has put Christ and sin together. I cannot always put my finger upon Christ and say, ‘Christ belongs to me ‘, but I can put my finger upon sin and say, ‘Sin belongs to me. ‘I take the word, for instance, ‘The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. ‘ Yes, lost, lost — I’m lost; Iput my finger upon that word and say,, ‘I an’z the lost one; I’m lost.’ Well, Ifind that ‘the son of man is come to save the lost’; and I cry out, ‘What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
RJS

CLOSET AND COMMUNITY (Matthew 6: 1-6) 3-2-08

The subtle distinction is frequently made that though religious faith is personal it is not private. Although the authentic Christian life begins with confidence in God and the fostering of communion with him it is not confined to the sphere of private devotion and the practice of solitary prayer. The closet, as the KJV puts it, is preparation for relationships in community, and the secret hours spent with God are preparation for social concern and outreach. Life “in the room” on our own with the Lord is the necessary resource for life in contact with the world, whomever we meet as our neighbour, whatever occurs as our providential circumstance, in the course of time. The secret and social are inseparable. The acts of righteousness (vI) flow from fellowship with the One who is our Righteousness (Jer 23:6, 2 Cor 5:21) and joining with our Justifier ensures justness (justice) as our cause and calling wherever it is needed. The prayer produces the practice which emerges from being with him. because the Christian in the world is a living replica of he who is also within the believer whose room for prayer is also the potter’s studio where the Lord reshapes us as vessels for the distribution of his mercy and the restoration of right. Being closeted with Lord does not close us off from others but intensifies our concern and creates the urge to be caught up in the great movement of divine compassion towards men. Our urgent and natural priority is the salvation of our own soul from our own personal sin and guilt and the horrific and unendurable consequences. But the resultant relief and sweet savour of grace presses us on to the desire and deeds that promote wholeness in soul, body, and circumstances for all whom we are capable of helping through the provision of the gospel for eternal welfare, the goods for temporal survival, and the goals for personal development as mature people of God. The only source of genuinely eager and truly energetic service of God is the love for himself and for others that only he can kindle through the outpouring of his Spirit (Rom 5:5), and to receive the gift of constraining love (2 Cor 5:14) we must be found at those places where the Father chooses to pour his grace, those points we identify as the means of grace through which he donates himself to us and binds us to himself — the Word, the sacraments, places of worship, times of fellowship, and continual seasons of prayer. Only our attendance upon the means, both privately and publicly, ensures that our public persona and practice is authentic and that it does not fall under the Lord’s condemnation and repudiation as being just for appearances and therefore hypocritical, legalistic, and loveless.
Appearances fascinate us and we rarely see beyond them. A look at our modern culture in every dimension will divulge our preoccupation with image and the favourable impression that it creates. We focus on facades and fail to penetrate to realities, the substance of things. Much imposing contemporary architecture is actually very flimsy. In current creativity sensation is sought above things of serious value and lasting import. So much is disposable, ephemeral, exploitative by conscious design for quick financial rewards, and the trauma inflicted upon society runs deep and manifests itself in restlessness, recklessness, fickleness, and the anguished lament for the solid and enduring that have passed from the realities of life — our beliefs, our values, our morals, our ideals, our relationships, and our environment. Everything sound and solid is being dismantled with haste and replaced with show and sham. The superficial appearance, the instant appeal, the transient experience, the effortless gratification, the passive absorption of everything the media doles out in the process of dumbing-down the human mind, all characterize our time in the secular arena, and the church, servile to the ways of the world, follows suit with diluted doctrine, watered-down worship, undemanding discipleship, and a mania for success and acceptance in worldly terms dictated by carnal appetite, secular consultants, and corporate procedures.
For all we know, we may as the modern church be unknowingly and largely in the grip of undetected mass hypocrisy, active in the world and engaged in an agenda in the community that is a matter of “appearances” because it has not been formed patiently in the closet of prayer but in the offices of slick marketing consultants, and because its motivation is the sweet smell of success, enlarged self-esteem, and enhanced reputation (v2). We are to be God’s nobodies ministering to our fellow needy ones in anonymity and where even our left hand has no knowledge of what our right hand is doing (v3), let alone the crowds for whose applause proud nature hungers (Jn 12:43). The commission we receive in the closet is for the glory of God and the good of his folk, and not the gratification of our selves singly or collectively. Our endeavours must emerge from prayer and from compassion and not ambition and legalistic compulsion where statistics mean more than the souls we seemingly serve.
To seem, and to be seen, is the delusion that can drive us. Our impressive churches and seminaries with their massive dimensions, lofty columns, imposing arches, towering steeples, and aesthetic decor may actually be whitewashed sepulchres in spiritual terms (Matt 23:27,29). We must not think, because of the gap in time, that we are immune from the assumptions and tendencies of the religious communities of Jesus’ day. The unchanging sinfulness and smugness of human nature is delineated in the gospel narratives, and the divine verdict is still current. The folk Jesus “found out” through his penetrating discernment were more “orthodox” and well intentioned than we give them credit. It was at the unconscious level of the core of their religion, their unexamined motivation, that they were corrupt and decrepit. Our civilized decency and affluent living may deceive us into forgetting the facts of original sin and human depravity in all our hearts infant and adult, and that all of us are helplessly engulfed in corruption and doom apart from the mercy of he stoops to save us, and it is that mercy that is meant to make us humble before all and helpful to all with unaffected demeanour.
The hubris that is behind hypocrisy and the hunger for pre-eminence must be confessed in the closet, complained of before God, and cancelled by his cleansing influences. Else it will spread to our relationships in community, create competitiveness and contempt where Christians vie for superior results rather than strive for the godliness that produces the goodness that draws to the Saviour.
When we go to worship or into the world, we first go into the room for personal preparation with the Lord whose honour we seek and sing. Everything commences in the secret place. Anything that draws attention to self will remain concealed, and, when ‘out in the street”, only the person of Christ is to be revealed.
This is too tall an order to be perfectly fulfilled, but it is the aspiration that moves us when we rise from repentance, right-headedness, and prayer. Acts of righteousness are not artificially stimulated by this expectation or that, or generated by any worldly ambition or authority. They are the spontaneous fruit of a righteousness generated within the soul by the personal presence and influences of the Lord Jesus who persuades us “to go” because of his concern reproduced in us as a response to perceived need and opportunity.
Before we “go out” we are commanded to “go into”. We must “be “, “be careful” and “be prayeiful “. Then activity and appearances will be authentic, humble, dependent, and beneficial, perhaps not measurable by man but pleasing to God, to whom be the glory for every human deed that is good, small and weak, or great and lasting.
RJS

THE JOHNSON ENIGMA 2-24-08

In the approach to Easter we shall find that one of the key figures in the story is a certain Mr Johnson, a likeable, impulsive, puzzling kind of fellow who, as we ponder him, helps us to detect the complexities and contradictions that exist within ourselves and discern the fact that each of us is an enigma, often perplexing to others, frequently a mystery to ourselves, unravelled and perfectly known by God alone. Searching the self brings confusion, bewilderment, exasperation, and exhaustion. Among other things, faith is the point of self-abandonment where we resign ourselves to God for the solution of all our inner turmoils and inconsistencies, realizing that mentally and morally we cannot bring together all the fragments of a personality that is broken and catastrophically shattered into myriad pieces.
The Lord Jesus, aware of our brokenness, feebleness, conflicted-ness, and sinful seif-centredness, never entrusted himself to man for, as the Apostle John tells us, “he knew all men” (John 2:24). The incarnate Son of the ever-reliable Father knew that human nature was predictably and chronically unreliable.
Yet in spite of this well justified mistrust Jesus called such unreliable persons into his friendship and service, fixed upon his resolve to turn human weaknesses into strengths, and convert those who were wavering into folk who were dependable. The One who calls qualifies the called. Jesus makes the unsuited suitable by exposing the futility of relying on perceived advantages until they are subjected to God, and by showing that inadequacies and vulnerabilities are supernaturally wielded by God to great effect, not always visible to the human eye. When we finally come to our senses in God’s presence we shall see that we were used even though we were useless, and that we shall never have cause to boast because the power and the glory are God’s exclusively. The weaker we are the greater his praise (2 Cor 12:1-10). All the credit that we have robbed from him here in this world, in the idolization of men or self, we shall lay before him in glad tribute in heaven.
Simon Peter son of John was one of these frightful human enigmas the Lord had chosen to sort out (partially) for his purposes. A series of reported incidents, some admitted by Peter himself reveal the blunders of the man and the mercy of God in the shaping of his life for the service of the gospel. They serve as both encouragement and warning. We are not to lean instinctively on our seemingly familiar and safe assets or insights, but to lean on God — always. For such is our pride that when we deem ourselves to have “scored well” in any situation, and that only by grace, our self-congratulatory pride causes us to miss-step and mess-up in the very next move, as was the case so often with Peter, Mr Johnson, who typifies Mr, Mrs, and Miss Everybody, all of us who participate in the mystery of the human condition.
It is easy to fictionalize the characters of the figures we encounter in Scripture and to let imagination run wild, recreating them, as it were, according to our inclinations and preferences, veering even to one-sided presentations that distort the truth and reconstruct the lessons we are meant to learn. But it seems safe to say, in a non-disparaging way, that Peter was a pretty self-confident man, definite in his opinions, decisive in his actions, assertive in his conclusions. He seemed to be a rugged individual, robust both physically and mentally, and the kind of man people would turn to for ideas and instructions — a leader to whom others deferred out of respect for him as reliable and resourceful. It appears he was accorded a degree of primacy among the disciples and that he often articulated the thoughts of the twelve. But as all these men underwent their re-education with Jesus, grave weaknesses in Peter’s make-up were exposed and his supposed strengths became snares that tripped him up. What he was by nature was remodelled by grace. Godgiven features flawed by sin were refashioned for his ministry. Faults were gradually removed. Gifts and graces of the Spirit were added, and Peter became an example of what God performs in all his children — the emergence of a new person profitable to his Master. Admired for his natural qualities of vision, boldness, and action Peter’s underlying and true self before God was disclosed as craven, erratic, and unstable. The “rock” was hollow until Jesus brought reality to his reputation, and beneath the hammer blows of testing it crumbled. The fearless one was petrified by ridicule and danger when the Lord faced his trumped up trial that was simultaneously the trial of Peter’s character that ultimately crushed his self- reliance and thrust him into repentant reliance upon Christ.
Peter’s impulsiveness and inconsistencies break through in the following incidents: 1) Walking on the water (Matt 14: 24-33). His response to Jesus’ exhortation to take courage during the raging storm that surrounded and buffeted the disciples’ boat is premature and a failure of his faith. Stirred by Jesus’ words he characteristically jumps too soon before considering the nature of the circumstance before him and the depth and totality of the commitment to be called forth from him. His attitude is eager but also reckless as his faith in Jesus’ sovereignty and power peters out. He solicits a command from the Saviour and then sinks in despair. Was it Christ’s word or Peter’s presumptuous will that was the source of his initial brave step? How often we take the plunge too soon and pre-empt the prompting of God in our cocksure sense of readiness and competence (Luke 14:25-end).
2) Peter’s confession of Christ (Matt 16:13-20). The Apostle’s bold declaration of Jesus’ Messiah-ship was accurate and commendable. But it did not spring from any impulse or insight of Peter’s, but inspired understanding of divine revelation granted by the Father. Peter was illuminated and moved by God to utter his true statement that certified his future ministry as a strong pillar of the church and its early witness. Yet when Jesus soon after spoke again, hinting at the central accomplishment of his mission, Peter was left not only to himself but to a level of manipulation from the evil one and he countered the intent of Christ to fulfil the command of the Father in yielding to the hands of wicked rulers, enduring cruel death, and rising again. These foretold facts were beyond Peter’s grasp and he repudiated them. This time his rapid outspokenness was seriously mistaken. 0, what we become when left to ourselves, and our rash and instant reactions.
3) Peter’s boast of fidelity and three denials of Jesus (Mark 14:27-31 & 66-72). These dramatic passages, one disastrous in its easy boasting, and the other so poignant in the tragic disowning of Jesus, relate the pride and fall of human nature universally in its failure to know itself and the measure of the power of evil around and within us that causes such sudden collapse when we tend to overestimate our strength and casually avowed loyalty to God. We are weak and short sighted. Any restoration and continuance come graciously from God, who picks us up after many grave falls (JoIm 21:15-19).
4) Peter’s craven withdrawal from Gentile fellowship (Gal 2:11 ff). Peter, gregarious, generous of spirit, fully acquiescent in the preaching of the gospel to all nations and men, a pioneer in his inclusion of the Gentiles at God’s command (Acts 10) backs away from the truth he holds and the fellowship he should share. How does this courageous person, so clearly taught by God and under divine orders, so easily renege on his commission? It is because Peter’s fallen nature is as soft as putty under the pressure of human opinion and disapproval, Satanic suggestion, and personal danger. The man who placed so much confidence in himself and crowed about his capabilities and consistency, especially in demanding situations, quickly caved in, quivering at his timidity and treachery as he heard the rebuke of his conscience in the crowing of the rooster, “strutting his stuff , as Peter also tended to do. Mr Johnson is, in all of this, far from unique, and we are not far from similar fears and failings. Fortunately we have the same Saviour to rescue us when drowning, correct us when in error, restore us when frightened into unfaithfulness, and forgive us of everything.
RJS

THE TYRANNY OF SPIRITUAL SUBJECTIVITY 2-17-08

I once had a friend many years my senior, and of great intellectual ability amply proven in his professional career, who, on a particular occasion, confessed his embarrassment at confusing the promptings of his own spirit with the motions of the Holy Spirit. He was a keen and lively believer ever eager for the expansion of Christs kingdom and the salvation of souls. One evening he believed he received “a sign” accompanied by an urgent impulse that came from God to perform a particular act of outreach towards an individual who had been constantly on his mind. Quitting his desk immediately, and rushing to this person’s home, he drove speedily, convinced that he was under direct and personal divine instruction at that moment to deliver a message that must be given without delay or the consequences for both men would be serious. When he arrived at his destination under the compulsion of his special mission he discovered that his friend was absent from home and likely to be for a further period of time. “J” confessed that being ‘pumped up” and absolutely certain of his sudden errand, he returned to his study dejected and confused. As he calmed down and gave himself to reflection he could acknowledge his genuine concern for a person in need of the gospel, but also that his own excitability, which had reached such a rousing pitch, was not an accurate gauge of what God intended at that moment. “J’s” concern was sincere and right, his friend’s need was real, personal evangelism was laid on “J’s” heart as a matter of conscience and compassion he could not neglect, But the conviction that he was meant to act in the way that he did at that instant was mistaken. Remember that “J’5” perceived guidance was not pertaining to his friend’s need to hear the gospel, or that “J” was required to commend the gospel to him. “J’s” persuasion was that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him then, without a shadow of doubt, the command that he must “go now” because the message for his friend was to be received immediately on “J’s” arrival. That was the crux of the night-time dash across town. Subsequently “J” came to believe that he had to learn to distinguish the instruction of the Word, that is constant and universal and rationally obeyed, from his own impulses that are sudden and transient, and not always attributable to a certain and specific source which can range, theoretically, from indigestion, the effects of insomnia, to inspiration.
Our emotional mechanism registers feeling but it is not an accurate indication of reality and fact. Pleasant or agreeable urges can endorse lies and induce sin. They can express repressed desires and preferences, and alert us to deep- seated anxieties.
Our feelings say more about ourselves than objective realities that we sometimes distort, manipulate, and circumvent in order to achieve our favoured ends. God guides us principally from his Word which is light to the mind and conscience, which faculties then go on to assess necessary factors such as appropriateness, opportunity, and likely outcome. It is true that God in his sovereignty guides and prompts his people “to know and to do thy will” and that at some level, and in an ingenious and mysterious way, as our Maker, he is involved in our decisions and deeds securing our compliance with his pleasure. Our obedience that is considered and deliberate is conditioned by our comprehension of the Word and the constraints of our new nature. Obedience that is swift and instinctive in any sudden emergency is a skill determined by our training and maturity in Christ and by his co-action of which, at that moment, we are not conscious. We may be sure of his abiding presence and influence in our lives, but we cannot assert that sudden and powerful impulses and impressions are the sure promptings of God. If we are to test the spirits (1 Jn 4:1), which may emerge from an evil source, then we are also to test our sensations, which may emerge from a sinful self. Something claimed to be from God, which is also presented as claiming the assent of others, is to be open to scrutiny, evaluation, and explanation after the apostolic manner, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28). The rule of subjective impressions as authoritative in the life of the church, from any source since the closure of the canon, leads to the creation of the personality cult, gullibility in the Christian mind, and coercion and chaos in the Christian community. Subjective impressions, which cannot be tested, eventually become subjective assertions that may not be contested, and those meant to be free in Christ come under the tyranny of the wants and whims of a possibly errant leadership whose pronouncements are uncheckable and unverifiable. So often the remark, “The Spirit says”, is tantamount to the demand, “I insist”.
There is meant to be an inbuilt modesty about the personal leading of the Holy Spirit in Anglicanism. At the point where divine guidance and private conviction are clearly crucial for individuals and, congregations the candidates for ordination, when asked as to whether they have received a calling to ministry respond with words that eliminate arrogance, presumption, and infallibility: “I trust so “, “I believe so “, or “I think so “. Allowance is made for the possible misreading, however well intentioned, of the divine will by candidate or communion.
Apart from the general and agreed prescriptions of the Scriptures that apply to all, and which appeal to all Christ-indwelt folk, it is dubious in specific circumstances to make the claim, “God told me “. Disastrous consequences have flowed from such urges (remember the extreme example of the assassin of RFK). A person may act upon a strong conviction that they trust was imparted by the Lord, but it is not necessary to announce it. Obedience is not self-advertising, especially for effect or approval (Matthew 25:37-39). And the statement, “God told inc to tell you” sounds more like religious bullying and manipulation than genuine pastoral advice spoken in love and respect. If, as George Whitefield noted, wildfire as well as the fire of the Spirit is possible in the proclamation of the Word of God, then Christians are especially required to monitor what is sensed and said and to be careful as to the authority and accuracy they claim for subjective impressions they may choose to share.
Dr. Packer, the wisest and kindest of pastors and teachers towards Christians with all their struggles and foibles, is quick to encourage a “ripe” experience of the Holy Spirit, but also prompted to warn against tendencies among believers to be “overripe” in their sense and speaking of the Spirit. In a different context of discourse (ethics) he advocates Bonhoeffer’s observation that in the usual discernment and obedience to the divine will all our mental and spiritual powers and faculties come into concentrated, critical (discerning), and vigorous play. God has given us revelation and reason, and the Holy Spirit to influence us in the humble use of both, in dependence upon himself, and in counsel with others, for the mind of Christ is to become not only the mind of the individual, but the mind of the Church, and the mind of Christ must be communicated and commended on grounds that are credible, and in circumstances where the Spirit may create consensus.
Emotions are lovely, stirring, and enjoyable (either egotistically or beneficially), but they can also be dangerous and misleading. Like every other part of our nature they need sanctifying, and as long as we are human and living in this world they are not trustworthy and require examination. We are easily deceived. Our enthusiasms can carry us way. Our deep and undetected proclivities can dictate to us. Our plea, individual and liturgical, “cleanse our hearts”, expresses the desire to be his subjects, enlightened and energised by him, and not the slaves of our own unmonitored subjectivity.
RJS

THE TWO SIDES OF THE SILVER COIN (The Doctrinal Value of a Denarius) 1-27-08

From the New Testament we find that the Roman denarius was the accepted wage for a day’s labour. In the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard told by Jesus in Matthew 20: 1-16 the going rate was agreed by the landowner and the labourers in their market place negotiations. The men who had to market their time and energy in the first roundup of employees (early in the morning) seemingly had no complaint about their terms of hire. They were standard and at least an improvement on standing around idle without the opportunity of income. It happened to be subsequent developments in the policy of the landowner that raised the sense of scandal in the minds of the first shift of workers. They saw the same rate of pay that they were to receive awarded to workers engaged at later times in the day, and the fact that men recruited for only the last hour of the working day received a full day’s pay kindled the expectation that they would be handed a larger sum. When they received the denarius promised they conceived the erroneous notion that they were the victims of an injustice and they filed their complaint. Quite rightly the landowner replied that he was not guilty of miserliness as accused, but simply expressing unexpected generosity to labourers who had not earned their denarius, as was his prerogative. No wrong had been done. Charity had been given, and the sense of wrong in the minds of the first wave of workers was unjustified, though the emotion can be easily understood. Strictly speaking, they had no claim. The landowner’s commitment had been met according to contract and then his action moved on to compassion. He showed absolute fairness in his dealings with group one and then showered undeserved favour upon the groups that followed. His behaviour was faultless and even praiseworthy. The silver coin at the heart of the story seems to symbolize two sides of important biblical truths about the kingdom, the king, and those invited to enter the coming new order.
Just as the landowner was depicted as fair and generous in the exercise of his prerogative and power as the proprietor of his vineyard and employer of his workers, so God, whose sovereignty is affirmed in the tale, is both just and gracious. We may count on his justice because of his righteous nature and moral perfection. It will be exact and beyond dispute by all those who know all the facts, which will combine to vindicate his verdict and behaviour in any matter. Because of his holiness we may also count on God being good, but we can never estimate the generosity of his grace which exceeds all neat calculations and abounds way beyond all deserts and expectations. His justice is exact (the standard of right): his mercy is extravagant and overflowing. The parable portrays the character of God. He is unimpeachably fair, and will do as he says. He is immeasurably generous and will delight and surprise us with his lavish gifts.
The parable reveals the tendency of human nature and insight to arrive at the wrong measure of things. Our estimates of value, importance, and success rarely comply with God’s. Our judgments are frequently unsound because we are morally unsound and capable of many and vast misperceptions. Our lens through which we view the world and survey reality is botched up and blurry and our vision of things is seriously distorted like the grotesque and disproportioned images we see and grimace at in a hall of mirrors (can that be me?). Our outlook is radically askew and we habitually miss-measure man and miss-measure God. Our racial divisions, societal classifications, based on pride and prejudice, force us into unfair, unkind assessments of people and we fail to see the rogues masquerading as royalty and the princes who live among the ranks of paupers. But of course, when Jesus declares that “the last will bejirst, and the first will be last” (Matt 20:16) he is not addressing the issue of social equality or precedence, but informing us of the fact that grace retrieves outcasts who are considered to be morally despicable and beyond refonn and redemption — the kind of worthless folk and religious write-offs among whom Jesus so willingly circulated, and whom we discover ourselves to be under the scrutiny of his discerning eye. In our miss-measurement of man we miss-measure God thinking that he shares and endorses our easy assumptions and hasty conclusions about commendable human qualities, virtues, and acceptable righteousness, but in the parable of the silver coin we see that God is not governed by prejudice or partiality; that in his unfathomable wisdom and kindness he reverses human categories of rank, distinction, thought, and estimates of worth, disclosing the fact that we are all depraved at heart and dependent on his free favour — the unearned denarius that betokens his liberality of heart.
The offended attitude toward the indiscriminate distribution of denarii among the totality of workers on the part of the “early birds”, those who came first and prided themselves on the fact of their priority (meaning Jews chronologically or self- righteous persons self-preferentially), manifests a subtle psychological insight in the reading of human nature and the inevitable twinning of a sense of entitlement with the sin of envy. When we suppose that something is automatically due to us as a right, or perceive privilege as a right, we are on the brink of haughtiness and presumption. When we discern that the thing desired is enjoyed by another we become peevish and possessive and guilty of that most inward of sins — covetousness. We have committed theft in our thoughts and are liable to commit harm in word or deed through indignation and jealousy. The sense of entitlement is a denial of our sinful condition and culpability before God, in which we have forfeited all blessing and renounced all claim upon the goodwill of God. We forget that we are destitute, undeserving, and doomed, our destiny entirely suspended upon the sovereign disposition of the Lord who knows what we have earned, the wages of sin, but encourages us in his gospel to hope in his mercy (Jonah 3:9 — mercy is not assumed by nature but assured by grace). The sense of entitlement, so prevalent and destructive in relationships, fails to make the admission that all is of grace, God’s sovereign dispensations in general and his dealings with us, and all the resources and rewards we receive. It is a matter of “grace for grace”, and not prizes upon merit.
Finally, the story of the silver coin shows how man’s will is pitted against God’s will. We arrogantly say how things should be. God says how everything shall be. In life’s expectations we set ourselves a high salary with a generous bonus, forgetting that even the most industrious and productive of the Lord’s people are still unprofitable servants. God patiently endures the grumblings of human nature, which is further evidence of his unassailable goodness towards us in this life, and his impeccable fairness towards us prevails in his verdict upon us at the close of our lives, the conclusion of history, and our consignment to the place where we shall spend eternity. Through the light of nature, the convictions of conscience, and the sound of the gospel God is able to say to every human being subjected to loss of soul and everlasting bliss, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you” (v 13). Well might the Lord say, “From the dawn of your life until the end of the day you encountered evidence of my being and beneficence and you chose to shun both, labouring under the impulse and towards the goals of sin. My judgment accords with the content and inclinations of your heart. 1 simply cert, with my sad signature, what I find there recorded in your desires and deeds and they are not compatible with the desires and deeds of the denizens of my kingdom, therefore depart “. The fmal division of mankind will be fair. Every individual will have encountered the Lord Jesus and either accepted or rejected him in the word they have heard or the light they have received (Jn 1:9). Our parable asserts the incontestable sovereignty of God, a sovereignty in which we may confide, for it is both fair and gracious, as recognized by the patriarch Abraham in his great conviction posed in the interrogative, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).
RJS

WHAT A MESS 1-20-08

Frank Muir was a delightful scriptwriter, broadcaster, and humourist on the British scene since the early 50’s until his death in 1998. His programmes were heard around the English-speaking world and American listeners would have been able to tune in to them on Public Radio where it was possible to hear his wit and wisdom on panel games such as My Word and My Music. Muir owned an energetic and mischievous Afghan Hound which became the inspiration for a series of fictional canine adventures related in seventeen books written for children and shown on television in cartoon form. The name of this troublesome dog was What-a-Mess and Muir was always amused by the translation of the name into the languages of other countries where the cartoon was shown e.g. West Germany — O-Schreck-lass nach, South Africa
Bollie-Blaps, and France — Okeloreurr.
Mess wasnot only the appearance and chaos caused by Muir’s pooch; it is the unfortunate condition of human life. We cannot function without causing mess, as the burgeoning number of landfills necessary for coping with our voluminous amounts of trash testifies. And when it comes to organizing our lives on the private, industrial, political, and numerous other scenes there is abundant evidence of messy thought, messy organization, and messy activity. We can criticize to our heart’s content for there is no area of human endeavour that is not flawed and malfunctioning to some extent. Physical and mental disorderliness are inevitable features of our experience. We shall be always occupied with the processes of cleaning up and putting things right, and always tempted to exclaim, “O-Schreck-lass nach!”. Particularly in the realm of thought, ideas, policies, and aspirations we shall experience the mess of disagreement and disappointment because our individual outlooks are so different and we are conditioned by our own limitations and personal reactions to the various encounters of life. Edward Gibbon looked back on history as the record of human criminality, and at the very least we can survey the human scene down through the ages and into the present day and say, “What-a-Mess” from Afghanistan, tragically, to Hollywood, perhaps frivolously (scriptwriter’s strike), where one of the Muir cartoons was actually made.
We are messy creatures perpetually involved in a campaign against mess. Our original programme was to co-operate with God in the development of his purposes and that would have necessitated improvement of environment and knowledge under his direction. But mess, in all its forms, seems to be a consequence of our Fall. Life is in disarray because of our breach with God. Not in any way that diminishes his sovereignty, we have attempted to wrest control from him and our control is not effective, neither complete nor truly compassionate, and certainly not conducted with rectitude. We have originated the mess that causes so much distress. In moral, managerial, and material terms we wallow in imperfection. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the promise and prospect of a massive and universal clean-up operation. The cross is the dumpster for our moral mess created by the pollution of our nature through subjection to sin. The Spirit of God cleanses our hearts and minds, which action is the commencement of new motivation and the possession of holy wisdom. The kingdom of God will be the new creation, which will mirror the divine perfection and be a blessing to all who are admitted. Mess will be transformed into bliss, for it is only God who can deal with the chaos of the creation that groans for its redemption. The cross of the Lord Jesus is cosmic in its effects (Col 1:20), and it eradicates the turmoil and trouble consequent upon the revolt of angels and men.
Meanwhile we cope with mess in all the experiences, activities, organizations, and institutions of men. We know that things will be put right, by God, but not right away. There is still the struggle and labour of cleaning- up on every level, fighting off infection in all its forms — sin and sickness, and administering health and wellbeing in a muddled, mucky world. From the physical to the spiritual dimensions of human concem the gospel is the antidote to all that is imperfect, iniquitous, and injurious. It has a special content, and a special intent, and will bestow a blessing upon human life in all its aspects if earnestly heeded and obeyed. Where the moral condition of men can be elevated through grace the likelihood is that mess will recede, especially in terms of seeking harmony and wholeness and the removal of strife and suffering.
Progress in human affairs is painfully slow and subject to frustrating setbacks. Our last century in many ways has been more humane than previous centuries for populations in those sectors of the world shaped by Christian culture, and yet at the same time injustices and atrocities abounded and still continue, calling for earnest peace-making, wise policy-making, and the increase of a more equal prosperity throughout the world. But the only and real cure is the gospel that brings the grace of God to men in its fullness, and yet the agent of the gospel, the church itself, is in a frightful mess.
There has never been a golden age for the church. We look back with appreciation and gratitude for great events, good developments, and godly folk that have forwarded the mission of the people of God, but always the work has been carried out in the midst of the mess of controversy, division, error, and disobedience. The church’s record and reputation is patchy and often shameful. It is a mixed community of those who are sinful saints, those who are hypocrites, and those who are subversives in the employ of the enemy. The means of grace purify the elect, and insincerity impels the attitudes and actions of those who are suspect and working against the goals of righteousness and the cause of the kingdom. The imperfections and sins of believers and the evil designs of enemy agents complicate the life of the church, sometimes scandalizing the world, offending the faithful, and hindering the way to God for many. Yet we must not be discouraged. God’s purpose will succeed and triumph over all obstacles. Grace, to be proven, must overcome the problems of sin, weakness, and opposition so that we may appreciate its nature and power. In the meantime the goodness and glory of God to be found in the church is largely hidden and to be fully disclosed at the end time and the consummation of its service and struggles (Colossians 3:3).
Whilst the confusion and conflict inevitably continue we must endeavour to guard and forward the witness of the church (Article 20) through confessional integrity, faithfulness to Scripture, and sound teaching. Unity and godly love, proceeding to co-operative outreach, emerge from oneness in truth — doctrinal and ethical, reflecting the mind and character of God, (Grant that all who confess your holy Name may agree in the truth of your holy Word, and live in unity and godly love — BCP 1662 Revised).
This is the major need of our time when sentimentality and experience govern Christian judgment - loyalty to the Lord’s revealed truth and the love of fellow believers, and the ability to marry the two without weakening the word we are to proclaim to a world in need of salvation. Such skill will be supernatural and necessitates dependence upon God, desertion of self-will, and devotion to prayer (Col 4:2). May God in his grace generate these dispositions in the hearts of all his people (Phil 2:13).
RJS

GLORY AND SERVICE 1-13-08

An indication of character is seen in the way we treat folk who are deemed to be of an inferior station in life (Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people oJ low position. Do not be conceited. Rom 12:16), who perform what are regarded as menial tasks. Of course, such distinctions would not exist if it were not for human pride that likes to rank people in the unseemly jostle for precedence and superiority. George Herbert in his great hymn of authentic spirituality, Teach Me My God and King, reminds us that no common chore is unimportant or demeaning and that sweeping a floor to the glory of God is noble effort. Nonetheless, our attitude toward folk assigned to simple work is a pointer to our real closeness and understanding of God, for the Bible makes it clear that the glorious divine nature is essentially humble and that the master of creation cares for his handiwork through the role of a servant. God delights to serve his dependent creatures who are infinitely beneath him. He is addicted to the giving of himself and the outpouring of his energies and riches in the interests of those whom he has made. The whole story of human restoration through Christ is an account of divine humility and servant-hood as God stoops to retrieve us to himself. The methods God chooses, the means he uses, are all modest and unpretentious (Micah 5:2). This conclusion is inescapable as we read Holy Scripture and observe God’s gracious approach to man which, in the first place, was not obligatory and definitely forfeited in our blatant repudiation of him. He comes prophetically to us in friendly speech (lisping as to little children, says Calvin) through men of humble bearing. Bom as man he submits himself to the dirt, dust, discomforts, and disasters of human experience as one of us, and as one more lowly in station and spirit than any of us (Phil 2: 5-1 1). Washing the feet of his disciples, which no self-respecting Jew would ever do, foreshadowed the ultimate self-abasement of the cross through which he cleared away the moral muck of the human race at the price of his life. And still he continues in the same humble vein, ascended to kingship, yet associating with the likes of us in sweetest condescension. Our attitude to ordinary labour, and those who are labourers, is an insight into just how well we know God in reality. For God’s labours and lack of pomposity have lent dignity to all human endeavour and not just those occupations deemed to be prestigious in the eyes of men and well rewarded in pecuniary terms.
John Ruskin, one of the greatest of the Victorians, knew that his accomplishments were facilitated by the servants who met his physical needs, thus releasing him from the drudgery of jobs such as the cutting of kindling and logs for his morning fire, preparing food for his daily energy, and cleaning and caring for the home for his daily convenience. It was Ruskin who propounded the profoundly Christian view that every vocation and career is pursued, not for self- interest, but for the service of others in the acknowledgement of mutual dependence and in the attitude of mutual respect. Exploitation and gross inequalities were unjust as the Old Testament is very careful in declaring (note the Year of Jubilee, Lev 25, and the vigorous protest of the prophets against the oppressive treatment of the poor, debtors, and employees). It was Calvin who “socialized” the bakery industry in Geneva so that all could be fed including the most poor (Henry Meeter, The Basic Ideas of Calvinism). We may reject the extreme emphases of the social gospel, or the tenets of ideological socialism, but the concerns of God and Scripture are distinctly social (the welfare of people) and the manner of meeting these concerns is through self-giving servant-hood modelled by God himself, where the constraints of artificial and divisive political philosophies - usually fashioned by selfishness and avaricious protection of privilege or the envious pursuit of advantage - and conventional custom and classification in social outlook and behaviour, are broken down by the simple law of love an ideal only realized in the kingdom to come.
We can tend to gravitate towards those who are of some recognized worth or distinction and overlook those whose lives are not lustrous with attainment, position, and the kudos of success. It is because we feel ashamed to be caught mingling with what the world deems to be base, and we like to bathe in the reflected glory of distinguished company. The Letter of James seems to have a great deal to say about this kind of snobbery and its regrettable existence, even among Christians. It is painful to hear of the discomfort of those who feel excluded even in so-called Christian fellowship when they are bonajide brothers and sisters in Christ, one day soon to be crowned with glory in heaven. A test of true Christianity is the genuineness of our openness towards, and acceptance of others. If we are snooty about the company we keep it is questionable as to whether we truly keep company with Jesus. A little personal litmus test and corrective to our native and recurring arrogance is our attitude to those who serve at tables * in restaurants and cafes. This is a revealing giveaway that stops us short when we find ourselves demanding, ungrateful, and short on courtesy, the latter virtue especially, according to C. S. Lewis, an essential feature of Christian character. Lordliness, a domineering demeanour, and peevishness are pagan traits according to the Saviour, who was denied a decent birthplace, was cradled in a food box, had nowhere to lay his head, who, in Hans Kung’s excessive term, lived the life of a vagrant, and died an ignominious death. None of this is to disparage the legitimate blessirrgs and noble achievements of our lives, but simply to display the deep humility of the Lord Jesus in his voluntary deprivation and death for our sakes. His humbleness is the supreme manifestation of His glory. It is in such stark contrast to the way in which we believe a personage of majesty ought to behave, but as Gregory of Nyssa observes, God delights to work through contraries. Magicians produce tricks from hats. God produces wonders through negatives. For our enrichment he became poor. In consequence of the attitude and action of the Saviour believers are poor in spirit, poor in their own estimation, beggars before God (Prayer of Humble Access), and deferential to all, distressed at the emergence of pride and discrimination in self and all other situations.
God’s self-description is as shepherd, a not well-respected or prestigious vocation even in Israel his wandering flock. As man he served in variety of ways — craftsman, healer, teacher — for the wellbeing of others, always with the disapproval of the establishment. He moved from outsider to outcast, spurning popular acclaim, which he could easily have won from selfish motives, as we see from the subtle temptations with which he was assailed at the outset of his ministry. And it is precisely in ministry where the foremost feature of the Saviour’s disposition — servant-hood — is to be found, and where the temptations and flaws common to humanity can present themselves.
Just as we are attracted to human excellence sometimes as a means of enhancing our own through association, so sinful human nature can ostensibly enlist to serve the glory of God but in reality only to increase its own glory (see a mother’s request Matt 20:20-28, and mark the motives of the Pharisees who sought the praise of men. Jn 5:44 & 12:43). The Scriptural term employed for “minister” originally refers to those who serve at tables* and the primary function of New Testament ministry is to set the word of God upon the table as food for the people of God (Acts 6:2-4). The bread is not baked by the server, but simply brought. The plaudits go to God and not his waiters. The praiseworthiness of the heavenly cuisine is the Lord’s, not the carrier’s who simply presents his empty tray before God for him to load, thereafter to be borne carefully to the diners. It is a marvel to see Paul’s description of the glory of the gospel he proclaims accompanied by his own self-effacing depiction of his office (Eph 3: 1-12). Paul, the inveterate boaster is resolved not to rob God of his honour, and to boast from here on only of the Lord.
RJS

CREATOR AND REDEEMER 1-06-08

The twin pillars under-girding the Christian faith we confess are the great accomplishments of God through which he has manifested his glory to us — his astounding works of creation and redemption, and our worship ascends to him as the sole author of all that exists and the gracious restorer of his own wonderful handiwork that has been viciously vandalized by a malevolent enemy. God’s goodness and power have been revealed in his actions as Maker of the universe and Saviour of mankind, and his awesome sovereignty is declared in the fact that he is the cause of all being in the present order, and of all that is “becoming” for the inauguration of the new order. Creation and recreation are exercised according to his unmotivated will and in these detenninations his sublime royal supremacy is demonstrated.
The would-be usurper of God’s authority, the fallen archangel, falsely named Lucifer, is the rabid envier of the divine majesty who craves that all praise and creaturely submission should be rendered to himself, and his principal preoccupation is to divert all acknowledgement of the Lord’s splendour and splendid achievements away from the One to whom all worship is due toward other causes and powers, be they perceived as supernatural or natural. The Satanic objective is to rob God of the adoration, trust, and obedience that is properly his as originator and ruler of “all that is, seen and unseen”, and he attempts to fulfil his evil designs through the perpetration of lies, manufactured and perpetuated in an environment of deep darkness that engulfs the minds of all men until illuminated by the truth and Spirit of God. Spiritual blindness and hostility of heart collude within human nature to oppose right thoughts of him and to withhold from him the attribution of greatness and glory that distinguish his holy nature and elevate him above all else that has existence. Two criminal instincts thrive within the imaginations of men — to diminish our awareness of the Creator and the sense of dependence upon him, and to reduce our utter dependency upon him for that rescue from our plight and peril as sinners that we refer to as salvation. We do not feel the full force of the terms through which we refer to God, namely as Creator and Redeemer. They are handy references but hardly heartfelt, for if they were truly meant our attitudes and conduct would be vastly different, and our approach to God, mentally, morally, and ceremonially would be far more deferential. We would fear and love him with passion.
The sense of “being made” imbues a spirit of responsibility and gratitude and encourages us to walk with an air of humility and circumspection. We need to be cautious in our self-estimation and aspirations as answerable to a higher Being and a higher calling than mere self-gratification. Conscience is the God- given witness to this inescapable truth. We cannot take credit for the fact that we are here, and we have to concede that we are resourced by qualities and talents that are endowed as gifts. Our native pride is simply inappropriate as well as abominable, and a pointer to that infection of our nature (original sin), through the meddling of the archenemy of God who is the arch-schemer behind all that is awry. The injection of pride and ignorance intoour nature detaches us from the abiding recognition of God that ought always to be prevalent within our minds. We should carry ourselves with modesty as part of God’s creation and look out on everything else that is presented to us with keen amazement and respect. The world in which we subsist is crammed with wonders that exhibit the might and wisdom of the Lord, but our alienation from him closes doors of perception that would give us greater understanding of the phenomena with which we share our planet and deeper insight into the mysteries of God. Minds scientific and religious grapple more or less over the explanations of processes in the production of reality, but the reasonable stance of faith based on observation and revelation enable us to discern the mind and hand of the Maker in all things, and before every disclosure of his glory we bow in earnest homage. The distant star, the fiery eye of the tiger (Wm Blake), the sparkling diamond, scintillate with the brilliance of his radiant being. The whale that breaks through the ocean depths to crest the rolling wave, the elephant that bends the stoutest tree. the ant that bears the smallest burden, all move at his bidding and through the energy and impulse that he supplies. The earth that sprouts vegetation that towers over us in the form of giant oaks and redwoods, and shoots forth the smallest sprigs of grass that we tread underfoot so casually is made fertile by his life-instilling touch. We ourselves are miracles surrounded by the miraculous in multiplicity and all-enfolded within the miracle of our planetary home, and it is God who originates and upholds it all by a power emerging from love, and to neglect this sense of reverent fascination is deprivation of our souls as well as denial of his grandeur, which is the food of the soul if only we would partake through being spectators of his architecture (the universe) apd artistry (the performance of life in all its forms). Man will inevitably find excuses, the plausible and the fallacious, to suppress his praise of God, but the believer bursts with admiration and boasts in the Lord and what he has shown of might, mercy, and judgment in the world he has made. Planet Earth teems with the wondrous works of God and our hearts are exuberant with joy at the sight of God’s rich inventiveness and deft skill in bringing his designs to fruition.
But it is in the realm of redemption that our thoughts can be most askew. Creation emerges from the void of nothingness through the command of God. Redemption, which is the divine programme of putting creation back on course, is not only the issuance of a restorative command, but a countering of stubborn and spiteful resistance. Our death in sin is not simply a state of passivity and inertia, which leaves us helpless and indisposed in a spiritual sense. We are actually and actively ill-disposed towards God and all that is holy. God is not only the cause of salvation as a plan and as an operation, but also the cause of the desire for salvation within us through the initial donation of grace that renovates our nature and reverses our sinful inclinations, redirecting us towards God in the powerful supernatural work of regeneration. We rob God of his glory, and reduce our appreciation of his sovereign and undeserved love towards us, when we introduce notions of synergism, cooperation, and “free will” into our concept of salvation. It is a natural assumption and error of the human heart to import the idea of our crucial coaction with the power of God into our biblical interpretation of the method of grace, and to exaggerate the role we play, but we are absolutely dependent upon his initiative and action in re-creating us and calling us into new life (cf Lazarus Jn 11:43) before there is any concurrence of our wills, naturally evil and opposed, with his, good, holy and true. Christian faith and gospel preaching are seriously deformed and enfeebled until we confess God as the sole cause of salvation and attribute nothing to man in this great, marvellous, and miraculous divine deed. To acknowledge the Lord as Maker and Redeemer is to concur with the great Scriptural statement of the psalmist in every sense of its broad meaning, physical and spiritual, “It is he who has made us and not we ourselves” (Jubilate Deo. Ps 100). It will be tragic if Anglicanism, in its quest for renewal and resurgence, and its clergy, all bishops and ministers, fail to comply in belief and teaching with the word of God and the words of our liturgy. Now is the time for a thorough realignment and a heartfelt entrance into the spirit of that worthy collect: Eternal God and Father, you create us by your power and redeem us by your love. It is exclusively God’s to create and redeem, and he is the cause of our being and of our salvation. This we must confess not merely routinely but in reality.
RJS

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GRACE (Luke 2:1-14) 12-30-07

The observation has been made that most political careers end in disappointment. In democracies leaders eventually get voted out or leave office under the cloud of massive disapproval and despots live with the fear of conspiracies and often get thrown out. Political life is a most uncertain affair and lasting success and popularity elusive. Administrations begin with fanfare and frequently conclude with failure. True power is not man’s to gain or possess. It is given or taken away by God (He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has fl/led up the humble. Luke 2:52), is meant to be exercised justly as a trust from the Lord, and works out in practice as either divine blessing upon a nation or a judgement. The hubris of those who rule will be punished (see Daniel ch 4 and the experience of Nebuchadnezzar), and it is God alone who is sovereign and in absolute command of all peoples and events. “His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth” (Dan 4: 34, 35). There is no greater folly than leaders, rulers, and heads of nations acting out of a sense of self-importance and pride of power. They have no ultimate control over how things will happen, certainly no control over the constancy of their own heartbeat, and no assurance that the record of their reign or regime will endure as they desire, as the poet Shelley observes in his poem on the image, and its inscription, of Ozymandias of Egypt, “‘ii name is Ozymandias, king of kings:/Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair! ‘/Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,/The lone and level sands stretch far away”. Contempt or obscurity can follow the most dazzling periods of power and political influence. The great ones of the earth come and go and we realize how ephemeral their tenure of authority really was.
When Augustus issued his decree, “that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world” (vi) for the purposes of taxation he was in absolute command of his empire and his orders were caffied out in minute detail even affecting the lives of a humble carpenter from Nazareth and the peasant girl who would be his wife. Together they had to make an inconvenient journey to register in accordance with the new policy. Mary was pregnant, Joseph would probably lose valuable income, and depending on a donkey for transport was probably slower than striding it out with a company of fellow travellers, and very likely uncomfortable for an expectant mother. Augustus certainly took pride in his prerogative to issue decrees and in later life he kept a personally written record of the tax policies he had instituted. Whole nations moved at his bidding and entire populations feared to disobey or neglect his demands. Augustus was kingpin of his generation; one of the mighty ones whose mere whim could decide destinies and cause despair. Edicts from Rome were impressive and of enormous influence from a human perspective — comply or tremble.
But the message of Holy Scripture puts human power into true proportion. The man whose hand moved millions was moved in his mind by God (The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Proverbs 21:1). More than government policy was at stake in the migration of Jews (probably a local adaptation, under Herod, in the implementation of Caesar’s wish) to their place of birth. Nothing less than divine prophecy was being fulfilled in the arrangement of the promised Messiah’s birth, and behind the decree of Augustus was the sovereign decree of the God Augustus failed to acknowledge. Augustus diligently recorded his policies after they had been enacted. The Lord revealed his policies ages before he carried- them through, because his purposes are absolutely certain and nothing can possibly thwart them (Isaiah 9:6-7). The babe yet in the womb of an insignificant Jewess belonging to an insignificant province in the Roman scheme of things was destined to exercise a sovereignty and sway the Emperor could never envision in his wildest imagination or most grandiose dreams. The pompous sceptre of Augustus was merely held over land and sea of a portion of this miniscule earth. The child about to be born in Bethlehem, a little village on the outskirts of town, was already the Ruler of the universe (Hebrews 1:10) about to restore his beneficent government to our rebellious and wretched planet that kings and tyrants had miss-ruled and ravaged under the universal dominion of sin for centuries. According to the mighty will of God a chosen leader was about to be born in a chosen place for the wellbeing a chosen people (Micah 5:2, Lk
2:14).
This all-sufficient Ruler of men would not need to collect taxes from his citizens, for all things were made by him and always belonged to him. Rather, he came to give to his subjects and not take from them. The provisions of his government would be kind, compassionate, wise, and just, and at his glorious coming he would inaugurate the administration of grace. This administration or kingdom would be gracious in all that it would supply and inclusive as to all whom it would serve. The intimations of grace are inherent in the nature of the One to come, and implied in the circumstances of his arrival.
Mary’s child and God’s Son, the God-man Jesus Christ, is the embodiment and expression of the goodness and mercy of the Lord to lost humanity bound up in sin and bound for death. He has come to destroy the power of the evil usurper, Satan, and overthrow his cruel and calamitous tyranny. The features of his gospel of deliverance are intimated in the circumstances attending his birth and the announcements of his advent. The hillsides near Bethlehem are the pastures where lambs were fed and prepared for sacrifice. The One designated as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world was bom to die as a substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf for the removal of the personal sin of all who believe (Hebrews 10:5-7). He who would provide true and eternal life for us, symbolized by bread, was born in a manger, a humble feeding trough. He who came to bring men home to God was refused comfortable accommodation and rejected over and over from infancy to adulthood by those he came to save (Lk 2:7, John 1: 5, 10, 11). He who was heaven’s glory bundled up in human flesh was not only lauded by the voices of angels but witnessed to by shepherds, social and religious outcasts, to show that he identified with the contemptible and embraces those who do not measure up. The blessings and boundaries of King Jesus’ reign are unlimited, extending everywhere to everyone, and this fact is signalled in the united praise and delight of celestial singers, regarded as reliable (Lk 2:14) and the speech of men normally not regarded as trustworthy enough to testify in court (Lk 2:17-18, 20). His is the administration of divine love and favour encompassing the universe and especially enfolding the unworthy, and so the following blessing for Christmastide is apt: Christ, who by his incarnation gathered into one all things earthly and heavenly, fill you with his joy and peace.
RJS

INMOST THOUGHTS (Mary’s Song: Luke 1: 51) 12-16-07

There are many nations across the world that have a department of government responsible for home affairs designated as the Ministry of the Interior. The Minister of the Interior holds the important role of attending to such matters as internal security, the rule of justice, and national development. In the United States these responsibilities are undertaken by various branches of the administration, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. With the defence of the country taken as the foremost task of any government it follows that interior ministry in all its facets deals with all other issues that lie at the core of national life. The healthy core of the national life is the preoccupation of the Ministry of the Interior and such a title is a useful way for thinking of the purpose of the word of God.
Holy Scripture exercises a ministry to the interior of human nature. In its remedial action and effects it gets to the core f the plague and problem of the human heart. The Bible describes our condition in uncompromising terms, and then it declares our deliverance through the marvellous intervention of a most gracious Saviour who fulfils the age-old promise that “He will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). This cttre from the ailment and affliction of our nature is the joy of the Christmas season (Lk 2:10-11). The word of God addresses us with home truths about ourselves and the moral malady and malaise that afflict our souls. The Physician who chooses to heal us comes to make his home among us until the remedy is complete. And then, when our restoration is complete, he opens his home to us as our permanent residence.
The whole scheme of rescue and recovery is wrapped up in an arrangement given to God’s people in the governmental institution of Israel’s monarchy established with King David who exemplified both the need of a saviour by the disclosures of his own heart, and the provision of a redeemer by his representation of the promises of the covenant of grace.
David’s life and confessions manifested the propensities and predicament of fallen human nature. The high office he bore, and the prophecies he uttered, announced the divine solution to our moral pollution that sets us at odds with God and alienates us from his presence and approval. In the one and same person we see the exhibition of our disease and the prospect of our healing to show the aptness of divine grace to our hopeless condition. David voices both our despair and our hope in order to demonstrate the sufficiency of the divine answer to our terrible plight. He is the lost man and the saved man. He is the guilty man and the forgiven man. The precious combination in one person is the signal to all that none need give up hope in the Lord’s mercy for it is suited to our deepest and most desperate needs and concerns. David did not win his way to divine acceptance but found it through grace. That was his message in the psalms that we prize. It was repeated through the testimony of the faithful followers in his line. It was confirmed by the lady favoured above all others as the virgin mother of great David’s greater Son. The man after God’s own heart set off a train of thought that recognized that God’s treatment of us was to get at the core of our disorder (inmost prideful thoughts) and minister to the deepest interior of our sin-sick selves. He opened up the truth of our deep- seated difficulty, the twisted-ness of our being, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Ps 51:5), therefore crying, “Forgive my hidden faults” (19:12), and he pointed to the antidote for our diseased condition, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean” — hyssop symbolizing the application of the sacrificial blood of the Davidic descendant, Jesus Christ, that would purge our native defilement and active corruption
(5 1:7). David is the oracle and example of truths that we still do not understand well in spite of hundreds of Christmases and catalogues of carols. The essence of the marking of the Incarnation in the church’s year is to celebrate the healing of our nature and the renewing of our life through progressive holiness that culminates in eternal union with God. It is the celebration of the miracle of divine grace that removes sin, renovates nature, and restores us to right relationship with our Maker and Master who elects to become our Deliverer and Friend. These realities make Christmas meny. It is our lost-ness and helplessness that necessitate the birth of the sinless Son of God. He has made amends for our errors; the errors of a wayward nature that can do none else until he alters that nature by making it like his through supernatural rebirth:
Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit ( The Collect for Christmas Day).
The true message of Christmas is first tough, then tender, and throughout absolutely radical. We are iniquitous, God is holy compassion, and we must be changed if we are to know him. It seems that even among those who profess to believe Scripture there is a huge disparity between David’s belief and ours. He speaks of the ingrained evil of the human heart (original sin) and admits his participation in our universal rebellion against God through natural inclination and actual thought and behaviour. He acknowledges that grace alone can deal with our depravity and disobedience (Romans 4:6-8). But in our so-called evangelical constituency, according to various surveys cited by Christian sources, there seems to be a prevailing forgetfulness of original or birth sin and contentment with a semi-Pelagian version of the gospel that dilutes the nature, necessity, and method of grace. Our view of the human condition is shallow and superficial as if our problem with sin is only skin-deep and the treatment merely cosmetic.
But it is the soul that is the dark and lost interior that only Christ can find and rescue. It is not merely the acts of our nature that are (sometimes) wicked, but our very essence that is evil. David’s reflections upon “secret sin” reach to the level of “inadvertent”, habitual, hidden, inevitable sin that works at a depth, and with a constancy, of which we are scarcely aware but which crops up in moments of impulsiveness that reveal the alarming facts about our most fundamental character.
At the source of our inner life, the very centre of our being where every thought arises, we are abominably perverse from birth to burial unless grace intervenes. Christmastide is the time of that intervention, and the perfect man born at Bethlehem gives us his innocence (justification) and his nature (regeneration), “So we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our Judge” (2 Collect for Christmas).
RJS

BEYOND SIGNS AND SYMBOLS: PART TWO (Jeremiah 3: 14— 18) 12-9-07

Divinely ordained tokens, emblems, symbols and sacraments, which are various and many in Holy Scripture, are signs of closeness to God (his presence, our privilege) and communion with him. They seal and strengthen a relationship established through faith in his self-revealing word. Verbal communication is concretized through visible and tangible means that more firmly impress the content of the promises upon our minds. Divine pledges are portrayed through rites and objects that illustrate the principle benefits conveyed through the provisions of the covenant of grace. The Ark containing the law and displaying the mercy seat depicts the truth of God as the righteous ruler of his people, readily disposed to compassion, and always travelling with them as their guardian and guide. The temple symbolizes the reality of God being resident with his folk as the holy One. in their midst. Circumcision signified purification in a two-fold way: renewal of nature through regeneration, and pardon of sin and acceptance with God through justif’ing faith. The Passover reminded its participants of their being spared from judgement through the shedding of blood. All of these institutions brought the comfort of God’s grace to Old Testament believers in their own time and pointed in a long-range sense to all the blessings to be found in Jesus Christ. “In the time of the old testament, before Christ’s incarnation, such [people] as in all their ceremonies had an eye to the Seed promised, and believed in Chri&t to come [Gal 3:8,16], were of the new testament, under grace, and Christians” (Roger Hutchinson, Reformer d. 1555). The ordinances were representations of spiritual realities that could only be grasped by faith. The accompanying knowledge of Old Testament saints may have been dim (who are we to speculate?) but the appreciation and observance of these signs and symbols was validated by the awaited work of Christ. The people trusted what the tokens signified and so inwardly they enjoyed union with God. Faith was the bond and the emblems of religion animated and deepened that faith that forged an authentic fellowship with God that was characterized by three features referred to by Jeremiah.
A true relationship with God commences and continues with penitence that is a heartfelt response to the invitation, “Return, faithless people” (vl4a). People do not slip casually into a relationship with God upon the presumption that they are worthy or entitled. There is recognition of a breach caused by sin for which one is accountable and culpable. The sin is hated and regretted with the resolve to forsake it. Forgiveness is sought because it is promised not deserved, a gift not a reward. The approach of the believer in repentance is humble, trustful, and grateful.
A true relationship with God is initiated by God. People are picked for it, specifically chosen, called out. It is not self-established. “I will choose you
one from a town and two from a clan — and bring you to Zion” (vl4b — predestination and perseverance). Election is God’s decision, not ours, which he merely ratifies. Why is the resistance to this plainly revealed biblical truth so stoutly upheld? It is fundamental to the facts of salvation and our delight in God. Our desire for God and our drawing near is a response to electing love that woos and wins us. The Lord beckons and attracts us. Serious reflection on the part of a believer soon realizes that the willingness to come to God is the result of the grace of God that broke down stubbornness, hostility, mistrust and fear. Even though we freely came there is the precious, thankful sense that he started and secured our return by persistent influences at work within us (Phil 2:13). So, there are no claims on his favour, or self- congratulations, or any commendation of one’s actions or choices — just the sweet awareness that all is of grace, loving, librating, and everlasting. It is the reality of this unbidden, unfailing love that sustains the union bringing comfort and joy that would be impossible if it were dependent on self. The refusal of the truth of election validates Charles Spurgeon’s comment, “Rebellion against divine election is often founded on the idea that the sinner has a sort of right to be saved, and this is to deny the full desert of sin “. Certainly, we have not arrived at authentic Anglicanism until the doctrine of election is fully embraced, confessed, and proclaimed. Our witness is anaemic without it. Our assurance is weak. The authority of our testimony is reduced because we make concessions to human pride, and deny divine sovereignty as relevant at the core of God’s greatest work — the rescue of the reluctant will. We crown the wrong head when we exalt the sinner by making his decisions ultimate and determinate of the will of God.
A true relationship with God is intensely personal. It is a union of hearts, human and divine. Tokens cannot link hearts but only signify the sweet and strong connection. Without repentant faith the ordinances of God are operated as mechanisms that achieve our wellbeing in an automatic fashion without any actual encounter with the Lord himself. We are, therefore, at a distance from God and devoid of that proper assessment of our desperate need and the dimensions of his undeserved mercy. Grace comes to us via the vending machine principle. We bring the coinage of our religious scrupulosity in routinely partaking of the sacraments and grace inevitably pours down the chute. That is the assumption of the sacramentalism that deludes the soul of the formalist. John Duncan’s ministry was benignly “ruthless” in causing people to abandon any easy, glib, cheap sense of assurance before God. A. Moody Stuart describes his pastoral approach thus, “At this period of his flfe his great desire, was to break up the surface religion both of self called and of sincere Christians. There was no depth or duration of doubt that he did not prefer to this carnal confidence, which he set himself most resolutely to dash in pieces; intent only to break down the pretentious evil, and leaving it to the Lord to rebuild the purfled truth in the hearts and lives of his people “. Jeremiah speaks of hearts that will no longer be stubborn, that is recalcitrant, unsubmissive, and unbelieving (vi 7) and, by implication, of hearts shaped by shepherds after God’s own heart (15) i.e. hearts informed and formed by the transforming word of God. Our hearts unite with God through the exercise of faith. Signs and symbols stir up and fortifi faith. They are not substitutes for heartfelt trust.
The ordinances of the Old Testament and the sacraments of the New are effective as signs of Christ’s accomplishment on our behalf and they strengthen our union with him through the faith that focuses on his cross. They are not sources of grace but symbols of what we gain from looking to the Saviour. Everything the sacraments represent is found and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. It is Christ who must be grasped, Christ we must hold, and Christ we must have in our hearts.

RJS

BEYOND SIGNS AND SYMBOLS: PART ONE 12-2-07
(Jeremiah 3: 14—18)
The saving truth of God comes to us through divine revelation or the Word of God, and at the various stages of the development of revelation the truths that God wants us to comprehend are reinforced through divinely ordained tokens that address faith through the senses, thus strengthening our conviction and comfort as we trust in the Lord and walk with him. A gracious accommodation is made to our nature through signs and symbols that are visible and tangible so that what we already believe through the medium of message is more strongly imprinted upon our consciousness in a confirmatory manner. Its as if we receive guarantees from God as to his kindly intent and promises toward us analogous to the significance of signatures, gifts, handshakes, kisses, and embraces in various human relationships. The meaning, agreement, and commitment of the relationship are held in the mind but expressed symbolically as a sign of sincerity and goad faith cementing the fact that parties in a relationship or an arrangement will be reliable and may be safely reliant as applicable. The divine ministry of tokens attached to the promises of God’s goodness towards his people are seals to certify his covenant faithfulness — that he will never renege on a pledge upon which we place our hope. Our faith will meet with his faithfulness. This is something upon which the believer may depend. Of course, we also see many instances of God remaining faithful where his folk are faithless, but we have no warrant to presume upon his mercy whilst in disobedience. God is bound to his promises but not to tie their fulfilment to the tokens when these are misperceived or abused. The value of tokens is tied to the truth they represent and the benefit they confer has to be rightly received.
Thus in the ministry of tokens delineated in Scripture we see tokens, emblems, signs, and symbols granted in the generosity of God, withdrawn in his judgment, or nullified by human sin. Tokens have a temporary validity until the reality they represent is fully received as a spiritual possession. They are extemal aids to inward application and when they have achieved their purpose they are phased out of use as foreshadowings of things now fulfilled. The Letter to the Hebrews is an extended exhortation not to linger in the shadows of religion, for all of their former value, but to grasp the substance of the gospel and hold to the Lord Jesus himself of whom every divinely validated sign is emblematic.
Even the emblems of God’s presence and favour can be misconstrued in the human mind and debased to the level of talismans and charms resorted to and relied upon with the expectation of magical effect. But the potency of biblical symbols lies in the truth significance they convey to the mind and the beneficial efficacy of the sign is always subject to the sovereign purpose of God. Man may misuse tokens of divine power, but he may never manipulate that power to his own sinful advantage, for the power is not inherent in the sign and therefore automatically effectual. The power is in the sole possession of the Lord who is to be trusted and appealed to in confidence and humility. The prerogative to bless is his. The certainty that he will is in his promise. The efficacy of the sign is in his action that the sign represents. We look beyond the sign, or through the sign, to the Saviour who has given it and thus we avoid the superstition that nullifies the sign.
Jeremiah supplies the first of three biblical examples that takes us beyond symbolism to the spiritual reality we are meant to grasp.
(a) The prophet who foretold the trauma of Judah’s exile in Babylon and ministered throughout its earliest phase to the perplexed people of God forecast the removal of the ark of the covenant from their possession and their eventual forgetfulness of it (Jer 3: 16 — preparation for John 3:16!). The event is initially a judgment that also points to a blessing that far outweighs the presence of the ark at the midst of the nation’s life. The ark was a symbol of God’s presence and favour by divine appointment. It housed the law of God as the expression of his holiness and the standard of human compliance with the righteous nature of God for ongoing fellowship with him, but in the light of human sinfulness and inability to attain to an acceptable obedience it also held aloft the mercy seat as a sign of the grace sinful men so urgently need and which God is so eager to bestow. The ark was an object of important meaning and of great beauty because of that meaning, and a means of grace if viewed correctly, but the perception of the bulk of Judah’s populace had degenerated to crass superstition. The veneration and trust due to God was directed to the symbol of his grace itself. Rather than remaining a sign of undeserved favour it came to signify a presumption of deserved divine favouritism. The attitude of the people had neutralized the benefit of the sign. Their misperception had become a peril to their souls and to prevent them from becoming lost the ark itself had to be lost as a cure for their fatal idolatry. But in the long term the removal would be an incalculable blessing for those who understood, for the Replacement (Jesus) would embody the presence and favour of God himself. The disappearance of the ark would advance the advent hope of the Old Testament believing remnant. Progress was being made from focus on the material to faith in the message.
(b) In the time of Moses the brazen serpent was a sign of the divine antidote to the deadly venom of the snakes that plagued and terrified the people of God. A look toward the replica of the serpent would counter the sting of death (Numbers 21:9 cfJn 3:14-15 & 1 Cor 15: 55-57). But in reality the upward glance to the top of the pole was meant to symbolize the upward glance of the soul to the mercy of God. But eventually the people came to superstitiously trust the replica rather than the divine reality. The human artefact representing divine action had to be demolished, and this King Hezekiah did as a corrective to human faithlessness (2 Kings 18:4), a sin in which, by grace, he did not participate as we observe in the contrasting statement of v5, “Hezekiah trusted in theLord”, as an example of genuine piety.
(c) It fell to Jeremiah to decry the customary cry of his fellow citizens in their superstitious and sinful confidence in the Temple as an unconditional guarantee of the presence and favour of the Lord whatever their moral and spiritual condition (Jer 7:4). The One whom the temple — in its third construction - represented (Jn 2:19-22) foretold its destruction (Lk 21:6), a judgment encasing a far better development, the presence and favour of God in his Son, in whom our faith is placed for a sure salvation.
The unwavering principle of Scripture becomes abundantly clear. No emblem, sign, or ordinance is to be trusted in itself as automatically effectual. Ordinances, symbols, and sacraments represent the gracious saving power of God and he alone is to be trusted. When the emblematic eclipses the reality it has to be removed. We are, as it were, to look over, or see through the symbols, and gaze upon the Lord himself with a lingering appreciation of his power and his love.
RJS

LOST CONNECTION 11-25-07

It’s an interesting and deliberate trick on the mind to view something or someone familiar as if they had never been soon before. Our “pre-set” focus on an object of vision is quickly content with the mere identification of the known and often fails to notice other features unobserved at first sight. The eye observes expected details without lingering to discover other aspects of the phenomena presented to it. It’s a useful discipline or practice to “take a fresh look”, and in doing so things often appear differently. The mind forms habits of perception that can inhibit. A fixed view becomes comfortable and it contributes to our sense of self and security giving us our place in the scheme of things. It can be beneficial to attempt the experiment of taking a sidestep in order to gain an angle on things through the eye of another beholder. The exercise is full of surprises and yields an expanded appreciation of reality.
Often in the investigation of a subject the mind is unconsciously looking for something compatible with, or confirmatory of, “pre-et” preferences in order to establish our security and exclude that which we instinctively fear. Our pursuit of knowledge and information is not open, impartial, and exploratory but really intended to buttress an already existing bias within the subconscious that organizes evidence to fit in with our pre-formed convictions and “wishful thinking”. This inclination to see things according to our preferences, our point of view, probably lies behind the term “vanity” so prevalent in the book Ecclesiastes. Our native outlook is possibly so skewed, so foggy, and so awry that we are scarcely in touch with reality. We contrive to twist things to suit ourselves. Our perception is so distorted, and we overlook data to such a degree, that we are, in effect, blind. The self-centred, self-regarding outlook, which we accept as normal, is a consequence of our moral defectiveness and alienation from God. We exist, in spiritual terms, in an environment of darkness. Our way is errant because our will is evil. Our heart creates a lie (or complies with the lie manufactured by the father of lies) according to which we live. We adopt a series of choices that cause us to stray further and further from God. We are hostile to him and hopelessly lost in the entanglements and inventions of our own unruly imaginations. Our grotesque egotism busily shapes our own “reality” for our own convenience in order to satiate our own base desires and fulfil our self—serving ambitions.
This is why Jesus Christ comes to us as the Truth: to reconnect us to God, to readjust our perception, and restore us to reality. Our own free-will and ignorant choices have led us into the quagmire of delusion and death. Through the light of Christ’s truth we rediscover the way that redirects our course from the dread culdc-sac of eternal separation from the Lord.
Our preferences, shaped by our sinful nature, lead us to perversion and peril. Everything depraved, destructive, and disruptive in human life occurs because of our severance from God. His holiness and wisdom no longer govern and guide our lives hence the discomfort, the conflict and chaos of human experience, and the resultant divine condemnation of our contamination of the universe. Wilfulness, self-will, will-worship, our sinful wills, our warped selves, are the source of all our ills and woes. We choose to please ourselves. Our flawed thinking leads to mistakes in perception, misbehaviour in our practice, and the missing of goodness in our goals. We have “come out from under” the beneficent sovereignty of God, trading his rule for the ruinous tyranny of Satan, sin, and self, a threefold thrust toward disaster that is the blight upon all humanity, originating in the rebellion of disobedience against the divine will and word. Now that same will and word are our only hope — God’s gracious will to rescue us; God’s gracious promise of salvation we call the gospel.
Man’s plight is man’s own fault. Man’s hope is the undeserved, intervening mercy of God. Our deliverance through the reconciliation effected through Jesus Christ in the sufferings of his cross brings us to reconnection with source of life and safety — God himself. Our departure caused the sufferings of mankind. The lack of connection explains the woes of the world. It is the same lack of connection that threatens the wellbeing of the church. The wilfulness, selfish individualism, and prideful personal preferences of folk within the church are a constant danger to the gospel of truth and the souls of men. Heresy* and immorality are the bitter fruits of the prevalence of our own choices over the will and word of God. Just as in our first sin committed representatively in our first parents, and in the immeasurable series of all our sins since, folk continue to opt to “come out from under” the sovereignty of God and adopt their own way under the guise of godly profession and service. They select (Greek. Hairesis * — to take, Chamber’s Dictionary) how they will believe and behave, not in conspicuous defection from the gospel necessarily, but in subtle distortion of its tenets and truths through adjustments and additions and dominating activity. The inroads of such attitudes and actions are clear in the wamings and refutations of the apostolic documents preserved for us in the New Testament. Peter, Paul, and Joh.n contend earnestly against the errors that so readily invaded the life of the early church through. “super apostles” (Corinthians) and elitist spirituality (Colossians). That these influences could be so plausible and so influential at such an early date is a warning to our need for watchfulness. Seemingly credible people of personal charisma and appealing but unsound convictions are a recurring hazard to the church’s health and they need to be discovered and guarded against. We need to discriminate between Diotrephes (3 John 9) and Demetrius (12). Once again, the cause of the distemper they spread is in their disconnection from God through their own self-infatuation and self —gratification. Paul describing the character of the troublemaker, perhaps a particular person known to him, distinguished by an un-spiritual mind, puffed up with idle notions — that is immaturity allied to unprofitable ideas — speaks of him as having “lost connection with the Head” (Col 2:19). This is both an accurate description of the state of the false teacher (disconnected) and a salutary reminder of the exalted status of Christ (the Head). Every ill among the people of God may be attributed to our lack of connection with the Lord Jesus through neglect of the word, prayer, or humble dependence — the forgetfulness that he is our Sovereign to whom we look constantly and uninterruptedly at all times and in all situations. We are saved subjects under the direction and protection of heaven’s king. To be sure, we are never endued with infallibility in our reference to him, but we are guided adequately by his wisdom, and enabled sufficiently by his power to perform his will if we keep close to him in reliance and obedience. The maintenance of this connection is vital. The neglect of it is harmful. It is a corporate and individual responsibility — to keep the link intact and alive for the health of the soul and the unity of our fellowship. Forgetfulness of the headship of Christ and the oneness of his “faithful company” is the cause of our weak contemporary ecclesiology. We are not simply believing individuals at liberty to “do our own thing”, but members incorporate in the “mystical body” — an unfashionable notion in our time.

RJS

SINNERS, SAINTS, AND SONG 11-18-07

'Music Hath Charms' was the title of a 1950’s radio programme in Australia. Nothing reaches and captures the senses so rapidly as music. It has the power to soothe the soul, ele’ ate the mind, or stir the emotions. It can cultivate a mental frame of serenity or rouse the passions. and its effects can induce refinement or raucousness. The potency of music has yielded its benefits in personal imprm ement and pleasure. It has also been exploited for base and harmful causes political and military. Augustine, like many of the Church Fathers, was wary of the seductive influence of music as a reaction to his former paganism and even cautious about hymn singing fearing that melody could eclipse meaning, “So I fluctuate between the peril of pleasure and my experience of the good coming from hymns “. By way of contrast Martin Luther regarded music as God’s greatest gift to man after redemption and considered the ability to play an mstmment as a necessary qualification for ordination. The Lutheran legacy of great hymns has brought strength of assurance to Christian worship and a strong confidence in witness to the gospel. Virtually every period of reform or renewal in the history of the church has been marked by an upsurge of fresh and powerful hy mnody and the use of reverent and energising music.
Surmounting the fame and public acceptance of all the best-known hymns in the English language stands John Newton’s Amazing Grace as the most loved of all, especially in the African-American community and among devotees of popular music. Christian gatherings of every tradition sing the hymn with deep appreciation of its sentiments and the music market is furnished with version after version in a ariet of styles embracing country, blues, “pop” or military band. One wonders as to what the final reckoning will reveal in tenns of bringing the gospel home to human hearts.
John Newton is fondly remembered as an eminent and admirable advocate of the gospel of Christ, and that memory is an enonnous encouragement to Anglicans who see their church as constituted primarily for the dissemination of the message of divine grace in all its biblical, Pauline. and Augustiman purity. As godly as he became, the miracle of Newton’s conversion and effective ministry is only truly appreciated against the backdrop of his profane, rough and rebellious life that rubbed his nose in the realities of the human condition and the incurable sinfulness of our fallen nature. His was not the piety of pretence, conventionality, or ornamentation but the sanctity of a sinner delivered utterly undeservedly from the brink of eternal self-destruction His indebtedness to grace was sincere. His selfesthnation as a slave to evil was entirely straighifonvard. In his autobiography, and in subsequent biographies, he stands umnasked before God and man as a condemned profligate and blasphemer in extreme helplessness and peril. and the many descriptions of his need and predicament are stark. He knew, and could vividly relate, his remarkable transition from scoundrel to saint. Every alanned and unworthy soul has a friend and counsellor in Newton. Who, like he, is genuinely inclined to account himself or herself before God as a “wretch” in terms of moral worth or performance. We perhaps, in our cosy and cosseting versions of Christianity are not made to feel quite so desperate and self-disparaging, seeking, perhaps. enhanced self-esteem and worldly prospects rather than a worthy estimation of the Rescuer of the lost who so graciously saves us from our ruin.
With all the injustices and injuries endured by the African-American community it is no wonder that there is that immediate identification with the tortures of soul and ill-treatment as experienced by Newton, the man once involved in their oppression and then instrumental in their liberation Common humiliations of circumstance and personal closeness to the effects of human corruption within and without primed the sense of self-mistrust seif-abandomnent, and reliance upon the mercy of God alone. Within the music of black America there is a tradition of music that baulks at no truth about the darkness and defectiveness of our nature, the horror of sin and death, andthe necessity and availability of God’s redemptive power and love. Christianity at large could do with a dose of that realism found within the genres of blues and jazz music, more specifically denoted as gospel, that constitute America’s greatest cultural gift to the world as acknowledged by so many non-American intellectuals and enthusiasts. The themes and unvarnished frankness of the believing blues singers could well furnish us with the themes and candour for our present day pulpits. We need, once again, the faithfulness, forthrightness, and fervour of the street singers and gospel shouters whose burdens were heavy, hurts many, and frailties acutely felt.
Just as Holy Scripture oftentimes addresses us about our condition and culpability in raw and gritty language that shocks us into panic and penitence that drives us to the ample provision of a compassionate Saviour, so the songs of the bluesman depict the temptations, evils, and dangers of life led in defiance of God and the choice of the ways of the world. And with equal honesty and urgency they insist on a return to God and trnst in the message of the cross. Who knows how’ many souls may have been converted and consoled by the likes of a Blind Willie Johnson singing on the corners of America’s meanest streets or moaning in his House of Prayer, or Blind Gary Das is the Harlem street singer and Baptist preacher. The pathos of their humanity, the passion of their music, and the plainness of their speaking were apt vehicles of a gospel designed for the undeserving and the perishing.
Musicians the world over admire the skills, dexterity, and inventiveness of guitarists like Johnson and Davis, Acclaimed artists Eric Clapton and Ry Cooder both regard Johnson’s instrumental solo on Dark Was the Earth and Cold was the Ground (at the crucifixion) as the most supeth example of slide guitar playing ever recorded. and Davis’s blues contemporaries freely acknowledged his superiority on the acoustic guitar. just as perfonners since have recognized his overwhelming and all pervading influence. The music is extraordinary in its universal appeal and acceptance. For the Christian the accompanying message is supremely important and a reminder of the directness and simplicity of the gospel that is meant to reach people who tramp the tiles and haunt the taverns as well as those who attend fine churches and imposing cathedrals. God gets his gospel heard in surprising ways through surprising people. The struggles of these sensitive souls — bluesmen jazzmen, rock musicians — are epic, sometimes tragic, sometimes evidence of the triumph of amazing grace. These are the persons who have a greater influence than we can estimate, especially upon the young. Music is a force to be reckoned with and musicians articulate the anguish and aspirations of their generation. reaching out for. or lamenting the loss of the bliss that only God can give (see Steve Turner-Hungry for Heaven:Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption). Haughty disdain for the yearnings of the soul through the various forms of popular music can only alienate the artists and the vast crowds of their admirers that we would hope to win to God. All art either expresses the agony of human experience or aspires to the ecstasy the human heart craves. The artistry of the popular musician merits recognition. When Francis Schaeffer first met H.H. Rookmaaker these eminent Christian thinkers spent their first evening together immersed in the appreciation of the blues and the stories their exponents had to tell. Perhaps they ruminated over Johnson’s gripping renditions of 1 Kuow his Blood Can Make Whole, John the Revelator, or the confessional lyrics, “I have a Bible in my home/I don’t read, my soul be lost, Yobod,v ‘s fault but mine “. It’s just as likely they reflected on Davis’s exhortations to turn “right now” from sin and choose God. Maybe Newton. too. would have felt such an affinity with his African-American brothers. A contemporary Christian performer of the blues, once Charismatic through conversion, now returned to Catholicism, Dion DiMucci defines the blues “as the naked cry of the human heart longing to be in union with God. . . . A place where you can be totally honest on the journey home “. However and by whomever the Word is proclaimed it must be honest,
RJS

FORGIVENESS: DIVINE AND HUMAN (The Unmerciful Servant — Matthew 18: 21-35) 11-11-07

The Great question: Peter seemed to have had a personal problem with forgiveness or he would not have posed the question as to how often forgiveness should be extended to an offender. In suggesting seven times Peter was being remarkably generous in human terms. The infliction of insults, indignities, and injuries of any kind is hard to bear and so much harder to forbear. Clearly it would not be easy to pardon repetitious wrong behaviour rendered by the same individual on several occasions, and so Peter regards the number seven, normally symbolic of completeness, as the height of magnanimity in human relationships and probably expects the Saviour’s smiling approbation on hearing his suggestion. The response of Jesus must have been completely stunning, for the figure 70x7 is outrageously high, obviously not to be taken literally, and pointing to limitless exoneration of the guilty.
Peter was already familiar with the radical viçw of Jesus on forgiveness in the teaching he had given concerning the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6: 12, 14-15) and this must have appeared impossibly idealistic. Perhaps Peter was hoping for some indication of leniency or relaxation of the requirement, and yet Jesus is still insistent on the necessity of the liberal dispensation of forgiveness. At the core of his instruction on the conduct of our relationship with God he attaches the matter of our peaceful relationships with others, and intimates that the state of these relationships affects our connection with God. Jesus reiterates that mutual forgiveness is essential, that it is to be from the heart (18:35), and that it is therefore limitless. No score is to be kept. No maximum amount is to be set. Acquittal of the offender is not merely to be verbal, or proffered on a legalistic basis, but of absolutely genuine desire and determination springing earnestly and sincerely from the centre of our being. Such a radical response is humbling and costly and can only be the fruit of grace as the disciples collectively recognized on another occasion when on hearing the same injunction they instinctively pleaded for the increase of their faith — the power to live graciously (Lk 17:5). Jesus is penetrating our consciences here way more deeply than is comfortable for us. We may attempt to shrug off an injury or utter cheap words dismissive of an affront, but our feelings can still fester with resentment and wounded dignity and the matter is not truly resolved. Peter has, on our behalf, opened up this most serious factor in the disruption of harmony between folk at every level of association. Offences are inevitable. We deliver them to others and receive them ourselves. They may be deliberate, inadvertent, or even mischievously provoked, and sometimes they occur from words or actions that are misperceived, but hurts and injustices are handed out in so many ways and there is extreme difficulty in handling and healing the differences between folk that so readily arise.
The Great Comparison: Jesus does not round on Peter with a harsh rebuke or a stern lecture but expounds upon the theme of forgiveness with a tale that illustrates the infinite compassion of God lavished upon every believer, the consideration of which is the only potent incentive for the granting of mercy to others. The parable is not a law or model of behaviour to be imitated from a sense of cool obligation but a stimulus to gratitude that issues in warm generosity.
Jesus reminds us of the colossal magnanimity of God that freely absolves us of immeasurable guilt thus releasing us from every debt to the divine holiness and honour. The sum of ten thousand talents owed by the servant to his king represents an amount that is virtually inconceivable and way beyond the capacity of anyone to repay. That such a debt could be instantly and unconditionally erased is breathtaking and unbelievable. That the recipient of such compassion could be so callous as to withhold similar kindness to a fellow servant owing a relatively small amount capable of repayment, and so cruel as to attack him with violence, is equally unbelievable after the immensely favourable treatment previously received. In these hypothetical circumstances Jesus poses to Peter the question as to how such heartlessness could begin to occur. It is crucial to note the very important features of this most significant parable. The context in which the story is related to the disciples is the awareness of close bonds and warm relationships within the family of God. Peter speaks of a situation arising with a brother (Mt 18:21) and Jesus refers to the divine Fatherhood — God as his Father in a unique sense (Mt 18:35) and God as our Father through gracious adoption (Mt 6:14,15). The tone is friendly and tender even if the details of the tale are somewhat harsh. Jesus relates imaginary incidents in a Gentile setting (a Jew was forbidden to sell a wife under any circumstances) and is insinuating that a person living in the environment of divine mercy could never act with the calculating coldness of a pagan. He behaves from better instincts. The donation of mercy in pardon of sin simultaneously imparts a disposition of mercy within the person forgiven. When approached by an individual genuinely pleading for compassion and sincerely expressing the best of intentions the man in Christ could never refuse such a request.
The Inevitable Outcome: The passage is not proposing that the act of forgiveness on our part procures or ensures our salvation, but is, rather, affirming that forgiveness is irrefutable proof of salvation and a fruit of grace received. Justification before God is a once and for all declaratfon of pardon and acceptance, permanent, and never reversed. It occurs through no contribution or qualification of ours at any stage in our Christian walk. But it does evidence itself in attitudes and actions, and the invariable principle of Holy Scripture is that where mercy is known mercy will be shown. Under the terms of the parable - the attitude of the minor debtor (sincere regret) and the action of the forgiven debtor (harsh heartedness) - the overt unwillingness to extend forgiveness is plain proof that forgiveness in its true and saving sense has never been known. Those who cannot forgive on biblical terms cannot be in a state of forgiveness themselves. But Jesus, though issuing a grave waming for our self-examination, also says, “Can this really be you? Are you, a child of God, really behaving like a pagan towards a member of your own family? “. (This observation, of course does not exclude mercy in a general sense to all men on the same grounds — authentic regret at the offence committed).
But, in thinking biblically, it is necessary to distinguish the absolutely genuine disposition to forgiveness from the actual deed. Just as divine forgiveness comes through repentance (a gift of grace) so, too, the receiving of human forgiveness is preceded by repentance (Lk 17:3). Reconciliation is a two way process. Forgiveness is not cheap or sentimental. The gravity and injuriousness of wrongdoing towards another is to be frankly recognized, admitted, and rued, else forgiveness loses its value. Only mutual humility and self-abasement result in true harmony of relationships. Sorrow on the offender’s part must be genuine, and forgiveness on the part of the offended must be generous. Jesus is not addressing us legalistically or threateningly in this parable, suspending our salvation on our performance or the changeability of our Father, but appealing to our common enjoyment of the favour of God and consequent shared sonship or daughterhood as believers. Surely we are not pagan, cruel, unfeeling in our dealings with those dear to God when they crave our kindness and reinstatement to acceptance. But the process is honest and principled. The offender must cease to offend and seek to make amends, or the approach is insincere, perhaps even face-saving or the appeasement of conscience without true regard for the person wronged, or sincere regret for the wound inflicted. Only the mercy of the King can ensure the flow of mercy between his subjects. Lord, have mercy.

RJS

MAID FOR TUE LORD 11-4-07

There used to be a wonderful Australian columnist named Walter Murdoch who wrote daily for The Age newspaper published in Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria. His articles were invariably interesting, attractive, enlightening, ennobling, and humane. In one of his essays he expressed his discernment of potential greatness in persons who lived mundane lives and fulfilled ordinary occupations (as the world wrongly deems them). His sentiments revealed profound respect for people, appreciation of their inherent worth, and optimism in their latent capacities that only needed the right opportunities to call them forth. So many individuals of significant achievement did not set out in life with any apparent skill or promise, were often cruelly discouraged, and just happened to find the right person, occasion, or inspiration, that triggered the discovery of their life’s purpose enabling them to embark upon a course of usefulness and fulfilment. Expectations should never be abandoned; aspirations should never be mocked. Taking into account the disastrous effects of the Fall every human being probably has the seed of genius within them, tragically frustrated, however, by our alienation from God, the source of all talent and truth. All the negation of our powers, and the corruption of our designs, emerges from the infection of sin within our nature that has severely marred the image of the creator originally impressed upon us. Even so, the remnants of our fonner dignity sufficiently remain to elicit, initially at least, courtesy and respect for every human being together with the regret that, along with ourselves, all creatures of such intended grandeur only too clearly exhibit the signs of our moral ruination. We are wrecks, weak, wrong hearted, wrong headed and wrongly directed, and we can only speculate as to the heights of excellence and achievement to which our race might have ascended had we remained humble, reliant, and obedient before God. The hopes of men like Murdoch can never be realized in our present condition. Our most exalted aims, by nature, are self-serving, devoid of love for God, desire for his glory, and empty of holiness, and we can only gain the true goals of our existence, as conceived by God, by restoration through Jesus Christ, our Renovator and model for re-perfected humanity through grace. We live in a world that is far from ideal, yet the echoes of God- given ideals still resound within our psyches as feint signals to guide our pathway and as causes for lamentation along the way. We sense that we were intended for royalty even though the present finds us ragged. We encounter reminders of our former dignity and destiny and we mistakenly conclude that hopes for betterment can spring up from within ourselves. Nonetheless, it is right to honour all men, admire the qualities with which God has endowed them, and sustains within them, and we should disparage none, their station or occupation, unless these are devoted to evil and destruction through departure of divine restraints.
Looking down on anyone is an indication of the haughtiness of which the Lord disapproves. The Magnificat, Mary’s Song (Lk 1:46-55), is a salutary reminder that God loves to reverse human estimations of worth and expectations of significant vocation. We, in our pride and prejudice, may draw up our tables of precedence and preference but God tears our lists to shreds as the biblical record evinces time and time again. And the Letter of James dashes human pomposity and the flattering of those made conceited by possessions and power. A good secular account of the re-arrangement of stratification within human society is given in humorous vein in J.M. Barrie’s novel entitled The Admirable Crichton where the butler to an aristocratic family becomes their leader after the vessel on which they sail is wrecked and all on board become castaways on a desert island. Crichton is the only man who has the know-how and gumption to keep the survivors alive until all are eventually rescued. Communism is not the leveller and uniter of men, unless you think of its victims levelled by death and united in the grave through the violence it has perpetrated. but Christianity, truly believed and lived, brings folk together in a mutual cherishing and care for each other, except where aggressive self-seeking disrupts the pattern of godly fellowship.
So God amazes us with the persons he chooses (1 Cor 1:26-31), and rewrites our judgernent and preconceptions with regard to those he uses (iSarn 16:7).
Lord Shaftsbury (180 1-1885) was one of the greatest evangelical Anglican Christians and servants of the gospel of his century. His influence was immense in church, state, and the reformation of social conditions, exceeding that of almost any other figure of his time. His commitment to the word of God was sincere and universally known, and his devotion to private and public righteousness exemplary and energetic. Like William Wilberforce his personal piety was expressed in various practical ways that redirected the moral and spiritual course of the nation, yielding benefits even through to present times. His conversion to Christ and grounding in the faith is attributable, under God, to his servant and maid to his mother Maria Mills, who fulfilled in the divine purposes such a vital role for Shafisbury’s own spiritual and eternal wellbeing, and in loyalty to the Saviour contributed so much to the welfare of England. Who could ha e foreseen, least of all Maria herself, just how crucial her humble and consistent devotion to Christ would prove to be in the grand scheme of things a dedication that had such a dramatic domino effect?
Gladys Aylward (1902-1970) was a London parlourmaid of frail constitution and inadequate education who sensed her call from God to the mission field and was turned down repeatedly by missionary societies. At her own expense she made an arduous journey to China where she laboured and witnessed so valiantly in the service of Christ that her influence and efforts prevail to this day as an inspiration and example to others. Hers was a heroism and an endurance that were amazing and would have astonished those who refused her had they ever received information of her exploits for the kingdom.
The mother of the Lord Jesus was an anonymous Jewish maiden pledged to a man of no social eminence and both were of modest circumstances, despite their lineage, belonging to God’s “poor ones” (see their temple sacrifice Lk 2:24 the offering of the poor), and thus numbered among the remimnt patiently awaiting the fulfilment of the promise of a Redeemer. The announcement of Jesus’ birth surprised and humbled her. No woman has been so blessed, and whilst sinful like the rest of us, Mary received the incomparable honour of bringing the Son of God into the world of lost humanity. It was not a reward for righteousness, or recognition of status. In the unfathomable mystery of the divine sovereignty she who had no worth was instrumental in conveying the One of infinite worth to her fellow mankind. For her and for us the Giver and the Gift are of extreme significance and this is highlighted by God’s contrary predilection to employ the insignificant ones of the earth in the glorious schemes of heaven. Humble maids are paradigmatic for God’s choice of humble men and women made for his service. (I once read of the influence of an office cleaning lady on the faith of the great Genrian scientist Wernher Von Braun but have not been able to verify the source). RJS

The Trajectory of the Saviour 10-28-07

(Colossians One — He caine down to earth from heaven)
As the apostle Paul expounds the truth about Jesus to the Christians at Colossae he virtually gives us a trace of the “locations” occupied by the Saviour en route to the completion of his mission as our Redeemer. The sweep of the apostle’s thought is stupendous as he recalls these new believers to a proper estimate of the Lord whom he serves and they are in danger of diminishing, perhaps even deserting, if the trend of false teaching among them continues and takes a stranglehold on their faith. As is a constant threat to the church, the Colossians are being seduced by the notion that there is yet something more to be added to the simple Gospel of Christ, “a plus” in terms of belief, practice, or spirituality that advances believers to a stage of maturity and superiority only obtainable if they enlist as disciples of an elite leadership that will initiate them into the knowledge of mysteries not available to the common member of the church. Paul warns his readers away from such deception and reminds them of the completeness of their salvation in Christ and the fullness of blessing available in him, to which nothing true or good may be added. In Christ they possess everything desirable in the knowledge of God, and to venture elsewhere is to place the favour and fellowship of God in jeopardy. The Lord Jesus must not be limited in any way as to his status, his saving work, and the satisfaction he provides for those who trust him. The time has come for Paul to delineate the facts of Jesus in order to amplify the understanding and faith of the folk at Colossae. He must bring them to an adequate appreciation of the Lord who has delivered them from alienation and brought them to himself through such strenuous and costly measures. If they would aspire to soar to the heights of spiritual attainment for their own kudos and gratification he will show them how the Lord of Glory descended to extreme suffering and shame to retrieve them back to God and reclaim them for heaven. Paul points out something akin to an itinerary adopted by Jesus as he fulfils his assignment of mercy on behalf of lost and deluded mankind. “He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all “, avers the well- known carol, and Paul supplies his own version of this extraordinary truth.
He begins with the unutterable fact of Christ’s supremacy. Our thoughts of Jesus ought to be large and stretch, and stretch, towards the infinite the more we endeavour to comprehend him. No description, definition, or conception can encompass him. Divinity and all its attributes are ascribed to him (vv 15- 20) and yet also a distinction within the Godhead that marks him out as emissary and agent of the divine will (He is the image of the invisible God.
through him God reconciled all things to himselJ). The scope of Christ’s sovereignty is over all the universe and he is the co-equal source of creation with the Father and the Spirit. All life flows from him as his personal donation. From him all power and authority are derived. He holds everything together in the material domain as Sustainer, and in the domain of rational thought as Logos (Word, Truth and Reason). Everything exists and continues through the power of Jesus, makes sense by virtue of issuing from his mind, and has a purpose in his wisdom. The church (the company of the new born through the firstborn) is at the heart of his cosmic programme as the renewed race that will inhabit a renewed universe, and the remedial work he was commissioned to effect on earth amounts to the restoration of all things (v20). The dignity of the Lord Jesus is exalted beyond the reach of human comprehension. The deeds of the Lord Jesus in compliance with the divine plan exceed our apprehension. We can scarcely stutter our appreciation of the One whom Paul describes. We grope for ideas to hang on to, but the grasp of his greatness eludes us, and we slip into silent wonder, adoration, and selfabasement. He is glorious beyond telling but we readily conclude that in eternity, and above the heavens, and over all that is, Christ is on the throne. That great white throne is the starting point of his mission of mercy on our behalf. Here theology becomes pictorial. In sublime sovereignty, seated upon that throne, the Lord Jesus deliberates upon, and decides in favour of, our salvation. The throne is left aside for gruelling tasks to be performed on earth, where innumerable agonies will be undergone. The Saviour stands erect, casts aside his royal robes, and begins his humble, lonely pilgrimage to the cross taking the steps of lowly human birth, loving ministry to miserable and hostile men, enduring their cruelty and contempt, until the cross looms before him, as he knew it would. Paul brings us to the central location of the Saviour’s work. The physical body of Jesus was the ordained means or instrument of our recovery. Those graphic words, “Christ’s physical body through death” (v22) sum up the central action of Jesus Christ for our redemption, rescue, and reconciliation to God. God himself is putting us right with himself in Christ. It is a divine work, and Paul’s succinct description makes everything so tangible
— the emergency of our plight, the reality of God’s love, the costliness of Christ’s sacrifice — it all comes home tq the mind so vividly. Heaven’s grandeur and generosity is encased within the suffering, slain body suspended on the cross. It is too awful to contemplate: the criminality of it all on man’s part. It is too wonderful to comprehend: the compassion in it all on God’s part. What Paul is saying is that we find the Occupant of the ivory throne of heaven also upon mean wood of the cross, the second point on Paul’s itinerary of salvation. And he hung there for us — in our stead, in our place, so that we could be caught up in the grand reconciliation of all things to God, the reinstatement of a rebel, ruined creation to peace with its Maker. The undertaking was colossal in every dimension — its demands; its effects. And the Sovereign became our Substitute so that we could be the privileged participants in the greatest enterprise of the triune God disclosed to us. The thought sends us reeling with both bewilderment and delight. We cannot decide where the mind should settle in all of this, except that our trust and gratitude should settle upon Christ our most worthy Saviour and Lord.
Leaving us with scarcely the capacity to breathe, Paul brings us to the destination of the Saviour in his mission of mercy. He has raised our eyes to the throne from whence Christ came. He has pointed us to the cross for which he came. Now he points us to the home to which the Saviour has longed to come. Heaven, the Hill, and the human heart are the three locations in the story of man’s redemption. Paul tells us that the very summit of all the truth he has to declare, the very essence of the mystery he exists to impart, from the perspective of our experience and wellbeing, is the reality of Christ within us (v27). We can hardly believe God’s map spread out before us in his word. Christ moves from heaven’s throne, to Calvary’s cross, to his residence within ourselves. The glory, the self-giving, and now our intimacy with the infinitely supreme Lord, the infinitely loving Lord, whose indwelling of us is coupled with our indwelling of him, and so the heaven he left is his legacy to us, a share in his inheritance that we shall enjoy forever.

RJS

TRULY REPENT 10-21-07
(The Declaration of Absolution)
It was a dark night in Portsmouth, England. I was in a strange part of town but felt confidently I had accurately remembered the route I had walked earlier in the day from the town centre to the High Street of one of the inner city suburbs. I had browsed around the book and bric-a-brac stores longer than intended and now panic set in that I could possibly miss the last train home. Thinking I was retracing my steps I strode forward at a considerable pace, heart pounding, and looking frequently at my watch. Soon doubts began to rise that I was headed towards my proper destination. Features came into view that I did not recall and, given the time it had taken me to travel thus far, familiar landmarks failed to appear. Departure time for the boat train was looming fast and, absolutely crestfallen and drenched with perspiratioll, I had to admit that I was lost. I flagged down a passing motorist op what was now a lonely road and discovered that I was hurrying full pelt in the opposite direction to the one I needed. Considering the circumstances the late hour and the last train- I was shaken. The feeling of dismay has never left me for there is a tendency to see a spiritual lesson in every occurrence, especially as to whether life’s crucial opportunities are seized or lost.
Reading Thomas Hardy was instruction in the strange twists of fate that determine happiness or tragedy. This pronounced element in his thinking — fatalism or the adverse decisions of the President of the Immortals - explains his popularity in Russia and Japan. His natural pessimism depicted various characters who just “missed out’. Brief moments and “chance events” mattered to Hardy as he was almost given up for stillborn and his slight breathing was noticed by a sharp sighted mid-wife who rescued him just in time through the application of artificial respiration. I am often reminded of Bunyan’s character, Ignorance, who made it to the very gate of the Celestial City and found himself shut out and cast away. I tend to note near misses and unfortunate mistakes, and hope that folk are really sure of what they claim to be sure. Have you ever been the victim of confident but bad advice that has proven to be seriously disadvantageous and paid the penalty? On most occasions the self-protective instinct of cautiousness causes you to test that upon which you have to rely. I have seen too many certainties dissipate and watched the strongest confidence dissolve in disillusionment. Slickness and superficiality in religion frighten me. Easy assurances are given and received, especially in the modem approach to the gospel. I sense that dangerous short cuts are recommended, and that pleasant feelings are no sure guide to our true condition (good or bad feelings for that matter), and relief at a sense of wellbeing promoted by certain versions of the gospel is not an authentic sign of true conversion. Where preaching is shallow faith is hollow, and we can mistake notions that flit through our minds for realities that have gripped the heart, when indeed truth has not actually taken its hold on us.
To complete a safe and successful spiritual joumey we must choose at the outset the true path that leads us in the right direction. The first steps we take on any venture, as illustrated above, are crucial for they detennine as to whether we are on track or pursuing the wrong course, deluded by false hopes. It is always wise to check. Our Puritan forbears had the tendency to be overly introspective and the great expert in 17th century English history, Christopher Hill, noted they could swing rapidly between spiritual elation and spiritual dejection. But these men faced squarely the problem of false religion and transient faith, and with pastoral concern took measures to help professing believers avoid self-deception e.g. The Almost Christian. It is good to study a Puritan work from time to time; especially in our age of haste and premature decisions and action. These men invite us to search the depths of the divine being, human nature, and the facts of our faith, and they cause us to realize that when it comes to traversing the landscape of Scripture we modems are sprinters and not strollers. In the realm of truth we are skaters and not miners. We skim across the surface rather than go to the deeper levels. In our instant, abbreviated, rushed version of Christianity basic profundities get overlooked and we wonder at the tinny-ness of it all; why so many desert the faith or are diverted so easily to other alternatives. The question is rarely posed as to whether they were ever really on the right path.
Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom began with the message of repentance, as did his predecessor’s, John. Repentance was the basic first step toward the gaining of the kingdom. The Saviour’s cry was not an appeal to self- improvement, or an offer of self-gratification — a feel good, be good religion, but an insistence upon radical self-renunciation as to sin, and self- abandonment as to salvation. Repentance is the resolve to reject with firmness the self-centredness of our nature and return to God in receipt of his saving grace and submission to his sovereignty. It is the surrender of the rebel in a season of amnesty, a turnabout that denounces disobedience and indulgence in wickedness, and the seizing of the opportunity of mercy offered in Christ. We forsake accustomed and preferred ways and embrace the way of God — pardon through Christ and life pleasing to him. This vital first step on the Christian way is often omitted for the hurried offer of promises and privileges that cannot be gained, but may be mistakenly expected, apart from true penitence. Salvation is deliverance from sin that is now hated and deemed hurtful, not tolerance of sins that are still held tight and hugged to the breast and to be condoned from time to time in the future as a concession to ongoing inclinations.
Repentance is not part of a legal transaction that gains something from God. It is not a work or a qualification for mercy, but an interior disposition created by God, a gift of grace that brings us to him in response to his awakening call and in confidence of his forgiveness and acceptance. There is the realization of guilt and danger, regret for offences against God, and reliance upon his compassion as a deliverance from evil affections and defence from subtle enticements.
In our liturgies of word and sacrament this essential first step is strongly emphasised, without which our profession of faith and progress in religion are dubious. We are exhorted to exercise true repentance and sincere faith, which are the concurrent acts of repudiation of sinful self and trust in the Saviour who frees us from self. The absence of true repentance, should this be the case, could well account for the many weaknesses and problems in the life of the church, the lightness of our lives, difficulties in relationships, and the fickleness of our behaviour, for mere religion has not altered fundamental selfishness of character but simply uplifted it to the level of religious pretence and gratification. We still serve self under another guise. The cross is not the effective instrument of our rescue from egoism through heartfelt holy desire but simply a catchword current in the community, nor is it the dominant influence upon our conduct through denial of the self that is permitted to assert itself just as before. Repentance is the great saving change wrought within us that is not congenial to our sinful nature. But it is the vital first step of the heart on our way to God. Our minds can race ahead to matters of belief and practice, and the prospects in store for the children of God, without pausing to “truly repent” i.e. take stock and take a new tack. So we have a semblance of growth in the things of God but it springs from a root alien to the gospel. Our Christian profession may simply be parasitical natural religion. May God grant us the gift of true repentance and the patience to ascertain that we are in the faith.
RJS

SMALL IS SIGNIFICANT 10-14-07

Back in the seventies, not so long ago, one of the "in books" that everybody just had to read, or at least display on their bookshelf, was Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher, German born economist and statistician, a study in economics, politics, management, and lifestyle commending the human touch, the value of the individual, and the importance of the personal in all things. Years later, after a conversion to belief in God through family influences, the same author published another little classic entitled A Guide for the Perplexed. It is odd that human nature is more impressed by things of large dimension than little, when a moment's reflection will recognize that size is no infallible sign of importance, value or usefulness. The era of micro-technology proves, and takes pride in, the potency of minuscule electronic devices, and the appreciation of fine artifacts, so-called objets de art, and precious gems of various kinds acknowledges the value of items that are tiny (Do you remember the Japanese model car the size of a grain of rice?). The telescope of the astronomers has discovered the vastness of the universe and the innumerable heavenly bodies that are known to exist, and the microscope has revealed the fascination and detail of the realm of the miniature. The contemplation of the finite and the infinite discloses that size is relative and no indication of inherent worth or potency in the scheme of things. A colossal hot air balloon is just an inflated windbag. An "invisible" microbe can take a life or wipe out a population. Being big is no guarantee of importance or effectiveness, but our tendency to superficiality is awestruck at immensity and often ignorant of the marvel of wondrous detail and power in the phenomena of creation that are infinitesimally tiny. Beyond our physical observation or mental estimation of proportion there is also our ignorance of divine utilization. We have no idea as to how God uses little things to great ends, and the repercussions of their deployment in the fulfilment of his purposes. Therefore, we cannot unthinkingly discount the things we perceive to be visually or notionally unimpressive. The "unknown quantity" in our calculations is the action of God. Something amazing to our eyes may lack his favourable presence, and something insignificant may be replete with his purposive power and have enormous effect, just as the bite of the brown recluse spider may be more poisonous than a nip from the family dog. The means that God sometimes uses are often viewed meanly and contemptuously by the world, especially when we recall that a Philistine giant was felled by little stones flung by an Israelite shepherd boy, and that an indelible impression was made upon the life of the vast nation of China by the gentle, gradual efforts of a diminutive English servant girl named Gladys Aylward. It is foolish to forget that God uses the "weak things of the world to shame the strong" (1 Cor 1:27). It is foolish of the church of God to base its judgements on the criteria of the world. Seven strapping sons of Jesse passed before the prophet Samuel before it became clear that the junior lad of the family, David, was the chosen of the Lord: "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at" (1 Sam 16: 7).
It was neither consideration of quality as a nation, nor the quantity of its people, that drew God's favour to Israel. "The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples "(Dent 7:7). And compared with other countries Israel remained small. "Do not be afraid, 0 worm Jacob, 0 little Israel, for I myself will help you" (Isa 41:14). The potentially strong force of Gideon was drastically reduced before it was suitable for the Lord's strategic purpose. "You have too many men" (Judges ch 7). The true people of God, the Israel within Israel comprising the elect, was designated a remnant (Rom 11:5). Jesus referred to his folk as his "little flock", and the infinite Godhimself entered our sphere as a helpless infant. None of these observations is to despise that which is large or to deny that the ultimate outcome of the work of grace will be enormous, but rather to show that human assessment of significance or efficacy must not be brought to bear on issues or events according to measurable dimension. "Who despises the day of small things?" (Zec 4:10). Who can estimate what God will accomplish through people, powers, or providences that men find contemptible? For us to set prior standards and dictate conditions for the success of God's work is audacious. It is grace that is to be magnified not our efforts or resources which can become the objects of our admiration and confidence. To be dismissive of that which is small or weak in the cause of the kingdom is to display the hubris of superiority and disassociation. The Scriptural prospect in view for the future is that God's ultimate achievement will be enormous and incalculable. The divine disposition is to cherish and use that which is little, so that no man can boast.
In the days of the greatest influence of Arianism brave Athanasius stood forward almost as the lone champion of what seemed to be a lost cause. Time and time again, the cause of truth in the history of the Church has been maintained by certain heroes almost single-handed, or minorities that were ridiculed and ill treated. The boast of the people of God is not that we, or our efforts, are big, but that God is great, and an aspect of that greatness is his concern for the insignificant and his meddling in matters that are minor.
Joseph Parker, the famed preacher of Spurgeon's day, would not deign to preach to congregations below a certain number, but if each human soul is of infinite value then equal time, effort, and enthusiasm ought to be devoted toward ministry to twenty as to twenty thousand. Who are ministers to put a price on people's heads when Christ paid an infinite price for human redemption? Such attitudes seem to indicate ministry for personal gratification rather than for the good of fellow persons. We, the Church, gather the elect not accolades, and numbers are God's business not our obsession. Statistics are biblical, and cannot be avoided in any area of life. The good ones evoke praise and the bad ones provoke prayer, but they are not to be worshipped or unduly worried over. The God who determines statistics is to be gazed at and worshipped. If numbers are our prime objective then success can always be engineered and easily exaggerated. David was tempted to tamper with the books (2 Sam 24) and we are tempted only to take account of the factors that reflect favourably upon us. It only takes an election to see how politicians can construe different conclusions from the same sets of figures. As the Church of God we can always add to numbers through reduction of integrity and truth and the addition of worldly appeal, but it is the Lord who gives the increase for the increase of his fame and not ours. "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47) – NB saved, not scalped for addition to our records as ecclesiastical headhunters. It is endearing in our deliberations upon God and his dealings with men that he guarantees his greatest promise to the smallest of pluralities: "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them " (Matt 18:20).
RJS

A SURE COMFORT IN DEEP DISTRESS 10-07-07
(John 11: 21-3 7)

What often escapes us in perusing print on a page is the mood of the moment being described and the high emotion of a given situation. Perhaps we immerse ourselves in a novel or a piece of poetry in an intense, passionate, and participatory way but we become accustomed to reading Scripture, maybe, in an aloof and uninvolved way as a religious text book from which points of information are to be derived (and that is surely so) but without being enthralled and ravished by the divine/human drama that is to engage our imagination and elicit our rapport and identification with the characters and circumstances depicted. Not that we invent or insert our own unfounded ideas to embellish the text of Scripture, but prayerfully and ponderingly we interact with the facts before us knowing that divine truth is disclosed in historical situations to, and through, flesh and blood human beings. Encounters with Jesus were revelatory whenever he addressed issues verbally or acted responsively, for, as truth personified, he divulged the nature and mind of God, showing us our condition simultaneously: its needs and how thy could be met through divine provision.
When Jesus arrived in the vicinity of the home of Mary and Martha he was about to be implicated in the most sensitive and sorrowful of human experiences, the grief of the heart wounded by the loss of a loved one. The sisters had recently buried the third member of a close-knit family that had provided refuge and refreshment to the Saviour whenever the rigours of his ministry necessitated a welcome respite. Lazarus, a treasured brother to the two mourning women so respected in Bethany, was a dear friend of Jesus also, and his absence, so keenly sensed, and the emptiness of the familiar home, made for an atmosphere of heaviness and bewilderment. The air was thick with profound emotion and Jesus, soon to be stirred to the depths of his being, was to share in the mixed reactions of the household and its many visitors. However well prepared or armed with the assurances of faith in the face of death the human spirit is stunned with disappointment and engaged in the perennial struggle posed by the anguished question, “Why?”.
Both Mary and Martha, each in their own way, approached Jesus in a mood of interrogation and wonderment: “If you had been here my brother would not have died” (vv 21 & 32). It seems they were feeling for an explanation as to Jesus’ perceived neglect at a moment of crisis. We cannot ascertain their moods when they probed the mind of Jesus, as to whether they intended rebuke or intimated regret that needed soothing, but their perplexity and concern evidence the fact that puzzling and painful reactions to death, the foe we most fear, are bound to occur even where there is strong and genuine faith. Christians remain human and are not invulnerable to every species of suffering, spiritual, mental, or physical. Mary and Martha were possessors of devout and doctrinal faith. They loved the Lord and fully confessed his divine character and mission. Intellectually their faith remained intact concerning their comprehension of Jesus and the realities of resurrection and eternal life he came to guarantee and give to all believers, but their hearts craved instant consolation, hence compensation for death at the end of time, on the last day, was too remote to afford present comfort. The “now” of the tragedy was a matter of intense feeling and bitterness and something more immediate was called for. Jesus response is apt. He not oniy affirms ultimate promises but offers himself as the nearby source of comfort and encouragement in the soul’s severest distress. He is Life personified and all who are joined to him trustingly, and therefore savingly, are linked to his life and, being united to him through their faith, already possess the life to come. Christ’s folk share his destiny. The fullness of life in the kingdom may be far off, perhaps, but Mary, Martha, and Lazarus cannot die finally, and their demise is only a physical phenomenon that can neither separate them from God nor each other. All three are safe in Jesus, sustained in authentic and unending life by him. He who is the Resurrection and the Life holds them all equally, though Lazarus has travelled on and they remain. Comfort for Christian mourners is not abstract, though for a time the senses may be stunned, but it is very close in the abiding presence and poured out love of the Lord Jesus. Feelings may not register this divine support for some while but his word pledges it, and even though hearts break he will not break his vow to his own. Believers depart this world but they do not die. In their grief and doubt the attitudes and moods of Mary and Martha may well vary or be incapable of assessment, but the uncertainty of their exact nature as they express their sorrow to Jesus indicates that his solace is sufficient for bereavement in any of its fluctuating forms. Jesus bestows everlasting life upon his folk and preserves it. In this truth we may rest assured. We are his concern and what he desires for us will come to pass. “God will give you whatever you ask” comments Martha, perhaps at Jesus’ supposed tardiness. But the acknowledgement holds good in the long run (Jn 6:41). Our great High Priest (Heb 4:14) will never offer a request on our behalf that will meet with refusal.
The narrative of Mary and Martha is permission to grieve and grapple with the mixed emotions and milling thoughts associated with death. Christians are not superhuman and exempt from the traumas and turmoil of life in this world. We are not meant to be coolly stoical, for that approach piles up the pain and cripples the personality. We are not to bottle up our emotions but release our griefs and grievances into God’s care and allow him to wipe away each tear. Powerful emotions are not forbidden by God, nor is he too delicate to handle and heal our strongest outbursts from hearts that chum with reaction to all that is thrust upon us and surges within us on sensitive occasions. Indeed, Jesus himself does not withhold his manifestation of the anger that wells up within him as he evaluates the scene in which he is empathetically involved. The expression, “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (v33) is a manner of speech indicating that he actually emitted the sound of a snorting horse, the snort that warns you that the animal is very angry. Jesus was conspicuously indignant at what he witnessed, whether the ravages of sin that result in death and sorrow, or the unbelief of the crowd of mourners. Our estimate of Jesus character is too tame, and consequently we are coy and concealing of our true feelings and are victims of false guilt in not facing up to them either for releasing them in some appropriate way, or asking God to refine and restrain them if sinful and injurious. In the same passage we see a range of emotion in Jesus that exhibits both his intensity where necessary, and his meekness (the strength of admirable self-control). In his perfect humanity he flares up at wrong, and sensing human grief he weeps gently (unlike the official mourners who wail and bawl loudly because that is their job) because he knows that his resurrection will be the potent antidote to the sting of death for both the dying and the distressed. In the consideration of each condition we shall react as “two selves”. Fear may, from time to time, overwhelm us and flood our feelings. Faith will, from time to time overpower fear, and support us. To fluctuate is human. But our future security and ultimate joy is guarded and guaranteed by God.

RJS

THREE STREAMS (GOING WITH THE FLOW?) 09-30-07

There is a case for saying that Anglicanism, as it now is, happens to be the most comprehensive and diverse communion within the Christian Church. For many the inclusiveness of Anglicanism is its greatest virtue and the much vaunted and misunderstood “middle way” has become the “broad way” that accommodates everything in an “anything goes” milieu. Under the capacious Anglican umbrella the jostling crowds of Catholics, Liberals, Charismatics, and Evangelicals of every hue, find their place and mingle together. But it is not a cosy, convenient, controllable, or classifiable coalition. The disparate strands of Anglicanism make the movement almost incapable of clear definition and certainly preclude a united voice on any issue of importance, especially the essentials of the gospel. The amorphous character of Anglicanism results in vagueness of witness and constant compromise that amazes and frustrates other Christian traditions, and arouses suspicion and perhaps even a degree of veiled contempt and condescension. Anglicanism is forthright about one thing — the matter of not being forthright. The cardinal sin is certainty. All our recent icons, ordained or lay, glory in our non- doctrinal character. Dogmatism is for Catholics and Fundamentalists, each under the iron fist of either papalism or bibliolatry respectively. Current Anglicanism is easy-going, ambling along content with the rather subjective quality of “ambiance” rather than the quality of its convictions. The rather acerbic commentator on all things religious, but nonetheless lover of her own version of Anglicanism, Rose Macaulay, opined that adherence to that particular church is principaJly, “A matter of taste and affection . . rather than helief”. “As some wit observed a while ago, “It takes more conviction to board a bus than become an Anglican “.
Churchmanship has long been a contentious issue within Anglicanism, with Catholic, Evangelical, and Liberal each contending that they represent the authentic tradition and spirit of the movement. And now that Charismatics are on the scene they tend to eschew the details in the differences, and the bickering that occurs, and claim to have captured the “life” that should mark and heal the denomination.
A degree of diversity and openness is necessary and can be most beneficial in any Christian organization. To button everything down with absolute precision leads to prejudice, persecution, and the prevention of honest, reverent enquiry and debate. An overly rigid code of subscription fosters a policing of the Christian mind that becomes cruel and intolerable arousing suspicion and condemnation over topics that do not affect the integrity of the faith or the way of salvation. Most fair-minded Christians endeavour to observe the wisdom of the famous dictum, “In things essential clarity, in things non-essential liberty “, though there is bound to be an element of disagreement sometimes over the distinction between essentials and otherwise. The personal view of the great Scottish theologian and preacher John “Rabbi” Duncan as described by his admirer David Brown is also commendable, ‘A strict Calvinist he was, but a Catholic Christian. To use his own words, he had a sfrait creedfor himself but a wide one for others
Of course, personal tolerance can afford to be broader than denominational comprehensiveness and discipline due to the significance and influence of public pronouncements, their consequences, and the Church’s serious responsibility to be a “witness and keeper of holy Writ” (Article 20) — a charge that has often been discharged too lightly. The words of David Broughton Knox are very wise in this respect: “Every association must be comprehensive and yet there must be an agreed limit to that comprehension, either explicit or implicit, f the association is to remain in being” (Thirty-Nine Articles, Hodder, London, 1967).
The boundaries of authentic Anglican association are demarcated, doctrinally, by the Articles of Religion, which are intended ‘for the Avoiding of Diversities of Opinions, and for the Establishing of Consent touching True Religion” (The Convocation Holden at London in the Year 1562). The Articles are meritorious in that they are manifestly Scriptural in origin, Reformational and Protestant in interpretation of Scripture, and minimal in allowing a legitimate and orthodox breadth of subscription. “The Articles were intended to control the teaching within the Church of England and to mark the limits of its comprehension ‘ observes Knox, and what is true for the parent church largely applies still to the majority of independent provinces within the Communion. The Articles enunciate the doctrinal position of Anglicanism and control the terms in which the language of its liturgy is to be understood. The chief concern of Anglicanism, eminently pastoral, is to ensure that its people have a true knowledge of God and a genuine possession of eternal salvation. The teachings that secure these merciful ends are insisted upon as crucial, and tenets that threaten them are vigorously refuted and excluded for the wellbeing of souls entrusted to the care of the Anglican Church. Faithful shepherding entails vigilant gate-keeping, and truth and error each entail everlasting repercussions within their content (e.g. Galatians). The message of the witnessing Church must be true and reliable if its audience is to be safe.
The notion of three streams, Catholic, Charismatic, and Classical Evangelicalism, within an affiliation is initially problematic to tume minds if each remains absolutely true to its essential character. Catholic sacramentalism, if strictly advocated, is inconsistent with the Articles and their stance as to how grace is granted and received (faith alone). Charismatic subjectivity (the danger that every prompting or sensation of the human spirit is identified with the activity of the Holy Spirit) threatens objective and primary biblical authority in the life of the Church and the individual believer, with personal impressions sometimes overriding inspired truth and established standards. Furthermore, the notion of ongoing “prophecy” is capable of introducing an un-Scriptural, usurping control and creedal confusion into the Christian community. Of course, many believers are more fluid and moderate in their position than labels would suggest and the matter is eased by describing “the streams” as providing a balanced appreciation of the roles of Scripture, Spirit, and sacraments in the experience of the people of God. Nonetheless, each emphasis must comply with the clear standards, symbols, and formularies of the Church if integrity, godly unity, and effective common witness to the world are to be maintained. In reality, in its Confession and Liturgy, Anglicanism recognizes and maintains a harmony between the authority of Scripture, the reliance upon the Spirit, and the ministry of the sacraments without having to allude to streams or encouraging their specific existence. Anglicanism is simply Reformed Catholicism comprehending and cultivating the new life in Christ as intimated in the word, initiated by and in the Spirit, strengthened and sustained by the sacraments. Reference to streams as such, and their reconciliation, seems to be an indication that something somewhere is awry in the perception of authentic Anglicanism, and that a possible aberration in one or each of the streams exists that must be entertained for the sake of convenience and sentiment rather than forthright conformity with the plain truth of revelation encapsulated within our Confession. If any stream insists on stressing its identity as distinct from the others in an overriding fashion that colours the nature or public perception of the movement, then eventually each must run its separate course or compliantly merge with the dominant flow. What must direct the current of authentic Anglicanism is the Word of God and the Reformational tradition that issues from it. In this way the various emphases are proportionate and the slippage into error or excess prevented.

RJS

WHITHER ANGLICANISM?(OR WILL ANGLICANISM WITHER?) 9-16-07

Ecclesiastically we live in turbulent times. There isn’t a mainstream denomination that isn’t coping with doctrinal differences, divergent views on fundamentals theological and ethical, and division over policy and practice. Such circumstances are not unusual and have been ever prevalent throughout church history at some level. There are always controversies of some kind simmering away, but in our day the issues seem more radical, pronounced, and disruptive of denominational cohesiveness. Controversy is on the boil threatening cataclysmic consequences for the institutional life of the Church. Distinctions in belief are sharpening and folk are being sifted into various camps or areas of allegiance. None of the traditional terms of differentiation are particularly helpful or precise, namely conservative, liberal, etc, nor are folk so labelled necessarily consistent with the brand of Christian thought assigned to them. Categorization is general and does not account for the nuances and subtleties of individual positions. Labels can blinker us and cut us off from sources of valid insight and useful trends of investigation and deliberation as we make our journey to comprehension. Truth is larger than any individual or institution can encompass. This fact encourages interdependence among believers as we pool our discoveries, and it helps to eliminate pride of tradition or denomination. None of us hold the truth in its fullness. We all share the various facets that we are fortunate enough to see and confess with some degree of clarity. Our attainments in comprehension and conduct are seriously limited, and even where they seem to be orthodox and correct in a formal sense they fail in terms of holiness of intent and morality of action. Our accomplishments in creed, character, and conduct are not commensurate. Though in the process of being saved the Church is still comprised of frail sinners subject to flaws of motive and behaviour and the radiant gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does not necessarily shine forth as brightly as it should in our handling of it. As the Church seeks revival and success (for whose sake?) so it ought equally to be occupied with repentance and concerned to align itself with the will of God. The crisis lies in the matter of approach and the manner in which we attempt to discern truth and decide conviction. The answer is not formulaic and cannot gain automatic consensus. It lies in the sovereign action of God and the experiential awareness of his gracious power and activity in the minds and hearts of his people. God works effectively through his word by his Spirit, and the authority and veracity of his revelation is brought home to the conscience, our comprehension, and our hearts by a self-authenticating influence that is confirmed by the facticity of the written record and the congruence of biblical truth with every day reality, observation, and the requirements of our nature. Scripture enlightens, searches, and satisfies in a way that no other source of information and stimulation can. Not everyone will see or agree. The differentiation is a matter of divine predetermination and human regeneration - effected by God. His prerogatives lie at the foundation of genuine comprehension and conversion and the consequent consent to the reliability and winsomeness of his disclosures to us. The staring point for Christian faith is God, not merely as a concept, but as the One who calls us to the knowledge of himself as a corrective to our native ignorance and in contradiction of our natural inclinations. True belief and obedience are miracles wrought within the alienated and deeply corrupted nature of fallen man. We either succumb to the sweet advances and overwhelming love of God most conspicuous to us in the gospel of the crucified Christ (the sum and acme of all God’s wonderful utterances to us), or we conceive of truth in accord with the cravings and imaginings of our own debased hearts. Either divine truth or sinful and delusive tendencies of thought master us, and there is no compatibility between the two. These differences have to come to the fore within the existence of the visible Church (a mixed company), and conflict must ensue, as is apparent in the “forecasts” of the Apocalypse of John where the features of the true church and the counterfeit church aredelineated. All genuine believers are somewhere along the scale of approach to the full apprehension of the perfect truth of God and there is still much ignorance, confusion, inconsistency, and mistakenness. Those false in their profession and still inwardly non-submissive to the will of God slip further and further into error, invention, and delusion from which they are ultimately irretrievable as a judgement upon their stubbornness of intellect and hardness of heart. An ongoing yielding to the word of God in all that it proposes and commands is the sign of divine favour that began in predestination, appeared as prevenient grace, continues as preserving grace, culminating eventually as completed grace in the blissful communion with God enjoyed in heaven. Grace all along the line is the theme of Scripture. It is grace that redeems from us from our disconnect with God (lostness) and restores from depravity. It is grace that counters our inborn evil and cultivates internal holiness. Heartfelt subscription to grace (essential, efficient, and experienced), as distributed through the Lordship of Christ, and the means he has instituted, separates the irreconcilable tribes and trends within the community of Christendom. The orthodoxy of any Christian community, association, denomination, or affiliation is gauged by its consistency of adherence to the gospel of grace, since salvation through the compassion of the Father, the cross of the Son, and conversion by the Holy Spirit is the centre of our proclamation to the world. All facets of the rescue mission activated on behalf of man are within the domain of divine sovereignty and are exercises of that sovereignty. God chooses to be gracious and upon whom he will be gracious. Man is dead to God, helpless, and undeserving. These issues used to be the essential and emphatic tenets of Anglicanism. Our Reformers enshrined these convictions in our liturgy and Articles and disseminated them through their preaching and teaching. Classical Anglicanism of this kind has virtually ceased to be. The sovereignty of God in salvation, along with a “whosoever will” proclamation of the gospel, was at the core of Anglican belief with regard to the recovery of man as Augustus Toplady demonstrates in his Defence of the Historic Calvinism of the Church of England. The principal advisers to the reformation in England, Bucer, Martyr, Calvin all counselled predestination (best construed as electing love) as basic to our comprehension of grace and grasp of the gospel. Our Articles require conformity to this conviction of every Anglican or Episcopalian clergy person or minister. There is much excitement at the realignments and forces of renewal in an Anglicanism that is endeavouring to re-launch itself in alignment with Scripture. But we will not be true to our origins and mandate if we do not reaffirm our historic confession contained within our Articles of Religion, and if we fail to do so, no matter how much we may flourish numerically, historic, biblical Anglicanism will wither and our endeavours will be weak and unworthy. We will have become something other than authentic Anglicanism and a betrayal of our heritage and its heroes. We must re-build and develop from our strong confessional core available in our succinct but sufficient statements of faith on crucial topics. As D.B. Knox notes so aptly, “Every association must be comprehensive, and yet there must be an agreed limit to that comprehension, either explicit or implicit, if the association is to remain in being” (Thirty-Nine Articles – The Historic Basis of Anglican Faith, Hodder &Stoughton, London, 1967). RJS