FROM A BOAST TO A BEAST (A Lesson From Nebuchadnezzar) 08-24-08

Our powers of thought and self-expression are exercised continually yet it may be that we fail to appreciate as to how remarkable these “everyday” capacities happen to be. Ideas and words flow almost constantly in our conscious moments but the processes of initiation, inspiration, and influence are a mystery. The mind is a marvel and speech is a miracle. In our preoccupation to gain an estimate of greatness, and to note the exceptional, in the human species we tend to overlook the impressiveness of very ordinary functions, performed by the majority of us, which suddenly become quite extraordinary when impeded by any handicap. The achievements of a genius astound us, but who is not amazed at the slightest wiggle of an infant finger or the first gurgle of a newborn baby? To think, speak, and execute any purpose are astonishing feats and they point us beyond any purely materialistic explanation for the existence of all that is. The self-awareness of the soul puts us in touch with the realization that it is in God that we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28) and that we can do absolutely nothing without Him — neither good, which he causes, nor bad, shich he permits. Our powers are given and sustained by Him. Without Him we would not exist. Without His enabling we would be inert. We simply cannot boast in anything meritorious. We must take the blame in anything perverse. Good action, moved by the energy of God, is guided by His will. Evil action abuses God-given energy by taking a wrong direction. The good person happens to be prompted by the Holy Spirit through the influences of special grace or common grace. The bad man takes his cue from the Evil One by whom his thinking is infected.
Any unique or extraordinary talent can never be attributed to the possessor. Though their faculties and creativity are genuinely exercised of their own volition and effort yet the intelligence and skills employed are divinely donated and, at root, the inspiration comes either from God or the god of this world. The sovereignty of God overarches and operates through all things. The incitements of Satan are allowed by the Lord for a set span of time as the Evil One exerts his control over the limited sphere of the denizens of darkness. The unredeemed are wholly under the devil’s sway so far as they are concerned, but always his powers are checked by God and his people are subject to the restraints that God irresistibly imposes.
How often the authors or originators of worthy things testify to a mood or inspiration that overtakes them, a fire that fuels their creativity, which they sometimes describe as their muse or a sense of the divine. They are working at a level where they actually excel themselves in a way that exceeds their known capabilities and achievements. Sometimes when we are in the presence of a great work of art, visual, musical, or literary we describe the encounter as spiritual and a pointer to God. No wonder. In spite of the Fall God chooses to work great deeds through his creatures — the worthy and the wicked. He will gain His glory how He pleases and witness to His power through any instrument of His choice. We were created to be His co-workers and even the sinful participate in His grand programme, often unwittingly and unwillingly. God gives ample demonstration of His government and generosity and innumerable gifts are distributed among men that are not accompanied by saving grace, although they are inducements to seek it and arouse repentance (Romans 2:4). All of us who have known a season in the mental or emotional doldrums know that we need an impetus or spark from beyond to rekindle us and urge us on in the fulfilment of even customary tasks. Without God we can do nothing. Our minds are barren and our bodies listless. All strength is His gift. Health is a daily endowment. Mental fortitude and fruitfulness is His bestowal. Any ability that we may have is granted by Him to exhibit His unlimited ingenuity, and hence any degree of human boasting is tantamount to robbery of God. He must be acknowledged as the source and sustainer of anything praiseworthy or beneficial. The recipients of His gifts ought to humbly admire the benefactor and abstain from any instinct or expression of hubris. The recurring refrain in every heart ought to be, ‘Without you I can do nothing “.
John Newton was acutely aware of our utter dependence at all times upon a “superior agency”. “Though my pen and my tongue sometimes move freely, yet the total incapacity and stagnation of thought I labour under at other times, convinces me, that in myself I have not sufficiency to think a good thought; and I believe the case would be the same f that little measure of knowledge and abilities, which I am too prone to look upon as my own, were a thousand times greater than it is.” Newton alludes to “particular turns of thought” or “words in season” that enclose blessing for self or others that occur unexpectedly and from a point beyond our usual reach. “This gracious assistance is afforded in a 1’ay imperceptible to ourselves, to hide pride from us, and to prevent us from being indolent and careless with respect to the use of appointed means; and it would be likewise more abundantly, and perhaps more sensibly afforded, were our spirits more simple in waiting upon the Lord”. These touches of apt thought or speech, or any abiding facility or flair from God should never induce arrogance. As the apostle Paul warns us in things spiritual and natural, “And what do you have that you did not receive? iVoiv f you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as f you had not received it? (lCor 4:7). Success leading to smugness and self-satisfaction constitutes a danger zone that portends big trouble for those who indulge a tendency to brag. If God is the source of our self-expression then we should credit Him, and if our cleverness smacks of anything evil then we should be ashamed and repent. In neither case is there cause for a pat on the back. Pride is an entry point for the “proud one” that creates access to the soul for the creation of infinite evil and chaos.
Newton expands upon the notion of “external sources” for our thoughts, words, and acts. “Though there is a principle of consciousness, and a determination of the will sufficient to denominate our thoughts and performances our own, yet I believe mankind in general are in ore under an invisible agency than they apprehend The Lord, immediately from himself and perhaps by the ministty of his holy angels, guides, prompts, restrains, or warns his people. So there is undoubtedly what I may call a black inspiration, the influence of the evil spirits who work in the hearts of the disobedient, and not only excite their wills, but assist their faculties, and qual as well as incline them to be more assiduously wicked, and more extensively mischievous, than they could be of themselves. I consider Voltaire, for instance, and many writers of the same stamp, to be little more than secretaries and amanuenses of one who has unspeakably more wit and adroitness in promoting infidelity and immorality, than they of themselves can justly pretend to. . . . Perhaps many now applauded for their genius would have been comparatively dolts had they not been engaged in a cause which Satan has so much interest in supporting.”
In 1948 the American humourist James Thurber published a collection of pieces under the title The Beast In Me And Other Animals. The beast in human nature is pride and where it ranges freely other unlovely and dangerous animals lurk and roam also. When we sever ourselves from conscious dependence upon God we unleash the countless wild brutes within and there is every possibility that they might escape their cages (our private thoughts and guarded urges) and rampage persons and situations around us. We are liable to learn the lesson of our helplessness should God cut off any capacity or condition concerning which we take on an air of conceit and vainglory. Every faculty we possess can be swiftly neutralized. There is the writer who cannot fill a blank page; the great thinker who lapses into dementia; the musician who can no longer bear to hear his own compositions (Elgar); the artist who despairs because no one will purchase a canvas; the politician who is ousted by his or her former followers; the athlete who pulls a ham-string. The disciplines may strike at any moment. Even when we come to the Word of God we can never presume that our acumen will penetrate its secrets. Every apprehension of truth is the result of the Spirit’s illumination of both text and mind. Without God we can do nothing.
The appalling biblical example of human pride in defiance of human dependence is the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4 relates the details. The powers of this man’s God-given human faculties are totally withdrawn as a consequence of his brazen boastfulness before and in competition with God. The beast within became apparent without. Wolf-like in his hunger for power and glory he succumbed to lycanthropy — the state of being a wolf man — and he took on the features and characteristics of wild creatures. When God in his graciousness revisited him the humbled man declared, “At the same time my reason returned to me” (v36). May God preserve and empower us. “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
RJS

AN ANSWER DEVOID OF THE PROBLEM (The Phenomenon of the Fifty per Cent Gospel) 8-17-08

Oftentimes we are not fully appreciative of information we receive because we are either unable to value its true significance or we are unaware as to the solution it proffers to a much debated problem. Numerous statements are indeed answers to questions that are being asked explicitly or implicitly, but if we have not shared in the interrogation of a particular matter we are unlikely to get the point if we overhear the response when it is disconnected from the context of discussion. For example, when believers firmly identify the Christ of faith with the Christ of history they are denying the distinction often made between the Jesus who (perhaps) lived and died, and about whom little is known, and the Jesus of Christian doctrine who is a (developed) construct or invention of the church. We believe the entire gospel record and its exposition in the epistles, and our saving trust is placed in the risen Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary. We are not subscribers to mere religious fiction, fantasy, or wishful thinking. When scholars go out of their way to substantiate the New Testament witness as factual and reliable we could mistakenly regard their statements as obvious and even fatuous, or their arguments unnecessary, because we are not aware of the academic issues at stake and the alternative propositions that have been made in specialist circles that influence the testimony of the people of God as they address the world. Statements only make complete sense when we are party to the full conversation. This leads to the observation that we rarely grasp a truth in a firm and personal way until we have first had to pose our own earnest and probing questions. Simple faith and unexamined faith are not identical. And all of us are afraid of gullibility. In various ways we all engage in the process of checking things out until we are satisfied. Acceptance of the gospel is fortified by apologetics (defence of the truths we hold), which enables us to commend our convictions cogently to others (1 Cor 15:1-7,1 Pet 3:15).
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the proclamation of the cross, is an answer to a problem — the moral problem of our sin and consequent alienation from God — but if the problem is not well defined and understood any attempt at presenting the gospel will inevitably prove inept, inaccurate, and inadequate. The answer we propose as the church of God will be disconnected from the problem, distorted, and misleading. If we do not wholly admit the reality of the human predicament and peril as outlined in Holy Scripture then eventually the redemptive message we attempt to declare will become something else, much diluted, and radically different from the message of the apostles, and it will soon become that which Paul himself describes as another gospel and does his utmost to guard against. People seemingly tire of and grow impatient with doctrinal accuracy and the preservation of orthodoxy, but when the church grows lax in its oversight of teaching then dangerous misperceptions and interpretations of the Word of God are smuggled in and a false hope is promulgated that, left unchecked, could result in eternal disappointment and regret (Galatians). Surrender to sentiment and slick slogans in Christianity, with tolerance for any view that is prefaced with the glib profession, “I love Jesus” or “I believe in Jesus” — which many of the cults are able to (deceivingly) affirm — is an abdication of our responsibility to honour and obey the full disclosure of God’s mind in the Bible and deliver it faithfully and unedited. Nothing plain in Scripture is surplus to requirement or disadvantageous to us and it is not to be omitted from our preaching. We must declare his whole counsel, as the sacred text puts it (Acts 20:27), and no-one has the right to modify that requirement or adapt the word at the world’s beckoning. Confessionalism and completeness of its communication is a sacred duty assigned to the church and we are delinquent or craven if we fall short in this responsibility. The consequences, and the task of making repairs, are enormous, as present crises within the church attest.
The nature of the gospel we proclaim will depend on our diagnosis of the condition of human nature, and if that is not “spot on” according to the verdict of God’s Word, our word to our fellow men will be flawed in its content and false in its assurances.
The warning of John Duncan needs to be taken seriously: It is easy to invite rebels to return to God, ([there be a keeping out of view of the cause of the quarrel between the rebels and God.
This is the offensive message that mankind does not want to hear. Our pride detests it, and our preferences dictate that the church should tone it down and make its pronouncements more palatable with a lack of emphasis on sin, guilt, and judgment, and an affirmation of our worth, our entitlement to enhanced self esteem, and the assurance of a benevolent God who exists to pamper our every desire for self- gratification. In our time, and in our churches, we scarcely invite folk to the Saviour in the terms suggested by Duncan. Instead, we employ the language of flattery and self- interest, and seek to entertain rather than inform. We fear the rebuff and rejection of the world and crave its popularity and approval, It is no wonder that the cross is a perplexity to modern Christians, an embarrassment, or something that has to be radically re-construed, or even set aside. Only rebels can discern its purpose and rely on its efficacy. Atonement is irrelevant to unconvinced sinners still concerned to maintain a sense of pride and self-righteousness.
If we do not identify the quarrel between ourselves and God how can sinners be expected to seek the refuge of the cross and truly prize the saving achievement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and entrust their souls to Him? The gospel becomes the solution to other concerns, and provision for other selfish “needs”, and not the only divinely ordained remedy for sin, deliverance from wrath, and restoration to peace with God. Instead of being true to Scripture the gospel is adapted and tailored to the demands of men. It conforms to the wisdom of the world and fails to display the wisdom of God, which is so contrary to our natural outlook (ICor 1: 18-3 1).
Sin is essentially outright rebellion against the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and true repentance is the recognition and admission of our rebel status, attitude, and behaviour. We seek first forgiveness before favour. We do not demur at the biblical accusation as to our character and condition but accord it our full concurrence accompanied by sincere confession and contrition. Each person in his or her own heart has to own the fact that we are rebellious (not to do so perpetuates and masks the rebellious spirit even in the life of the church) and plead for pardon and a renewed spirit compliant with the nature and will of God. The way of return to God has to be both thoroughly honest and profoundly humble. “They have rebelled against me” is the divine indictment levelled against the whole human race, and also the church of God in time of declension and waywardness (Isaiah 1), and the measure and potency of divine mercy in Christ can never be appreciated and experienced until we start from that basic realization that each of us is truly a rebel, offered amnesty in the gospel, and reinstatement to divine acceptance through the substitutionary death of the Redeemer. We have no entitlement to salvation. Sin is no trivial thing to be casually swept aside, as in the gospel of cheap grace. The salvation of the soul is the miraculous deed of undeserved and incalculable mercy. A false gospel creates false Christians, and we must be wary of falling prey to the delusion, or of perpetrating it through a false message that wins human favour (widespread but wide of the mark) but denies its believers the favour of God. The glory of the cross is only seen against the backdrop of our utter wickedness and wretchedness. The love of Jesus shines brightly in contrast to our unloveliness. Divine brilliance (His holiness and mercy) is designed to banish human blackness. If we do not admit the latter how can we revel in the former and admire the grace that stoops to rescue us?
Our time-honoured formularies provide us with all the biblical categories (Scripture will be organized one way or the other i.e. corporate competence or personal subjectivism) for self-examination, confidence in Christ, acceptable worship, and obedient service. Dismissal of these, or a drift from historic faith, catholic and reformed, cultivated through the wisdom and sifting processes of previous generations, will result in a fashionable but feeble version of Christianity. We pray and wait for an Anglicanism that will not compromise its God given legacy — undeniably counter culture, and currently “counter-church”.
RJS

THE DIVINE READINESS TO RESPOND TO HUMAN REQUESTS 8-10-08
(Collect for the Twelth Sunday after Trinity)

Prayer takes many forms and is offered in a variety of moods. Sometimes it is vigorous, aggressive, argumentative, intense, and prolonged. Wrestling Jacob (Gen 32:24) is an example of this kind of energetic and urgent encounter with God that preoccupies the whole person and exhausts our resources. Grappling with God is something He engenders — man could not be so audacious — by his assault of the spirit and engagement of the faculties, bending them in his direction and imparting a resolve that will not quit until he withdraws and by his decision the confrontation is over. Usually this is the prayer and plea of crisis that subsides when the soul is sure that the matter is in God’s hands and that we can rest in His sovereignty and strength. This is faith expressed in insistence, violence, and deep groaning of the heart (Matt 11:12), and one imagines that Luther often exercised himself in this type of petition in the three hours of spiritual exercises with which he began his day. Spiritual giants do not just happen. They are coerced to their knees, to prostration, to wrung emotions, and mental exertion in their supplications to the Lord. The generals of the church militant undergo the private tensions of the tent before they come out to face their troops and lead them on. They know that prayer is a serious and strenuous business and they learn the disdain that trite and casual prayer deserves. Their prayers are not only offered to God through forceful faith, they constitute the offensive and defensive manoeuvres against the strong foe that renders powerful opposition towards the purposes and people of God, and the incense of intercession that rises to the throne is the boiling sweat of the earnest supplicants who are not seeking sweet sensation but solace and strength from the Almighty in circumstances that are testing (Rev 6: 9-10, 8: 3-4). The requests of the Litany are of this importunate category:
“From all evil and harm; from sin; from the wiles and assaults of the devil; from your wrath; and from eternal damnation, Good Lord, deliver us”, Are our personal prayers ever so insistent and fervent, bold in the recognition of such serious and eternal issues that must be settled before the soul can take its ease? Then there are the seasons of calm when we breathe gently before the Lord. The mind is pensive and our speech is measured and reverent. Anxiety and urgency have abated and there is a confidence in the wisdom of His will and the reliability of His ways toward us. Faith is quiet and acquiescent and the spirit of patience prepares the soul for long lingering moments in the presence of God. He has elicited our trust and pledged our wellbeing and we are content to wait on the Lord without qualm or complaint and simply be at His disposal. We articulate our appreciation of His incomparable attributes and find the heart rising to the point where we extol His worth and acknowledge His unsurpassable excellence. Expectation of His goodness and aid begins to mount and the praise within is heartfelt and profound, sometimes silent and at other times exuberant. The wrestler becomes restful and relaxed in communion with God as we move from the toughness of his dealings with us to the tenderness of His concern.
Prayer is far more than various prescribed phrases and postures to be assumed in a religious air of duty and self-congratulatory piety. It’s pattern of regularity and informed understanding (its content) is determined by the Word of God wherein the warrant to pray and God’s willingness to hear are established in sworn propositions and assured promises. Prayer is prompted by the message of Scripture as it addresses us in our specific situation. It is aroused by the influences of the Holy Spirit, not so much by the kindling of emotion, but through the truth of the gospel that informs our reason (tells our head) that it is right to pray as the action of faith, expression of obedience, and admission of need. Prayer has an objective basis. It is address and appeal to God on the ground of His self-revelation. But it’s tone and tempo are determined by the pulse of the heart, whether it registers crisis or calm, human insufficiency and insecurity, or divine satisfaction and safety. Prayer has to be alive, springing from and supported by the constancy of God and the stability of His promises, but affected by the “changes and chances of this life”. It has to be real and sincere. We cannot present ourselves to God behind a façade or feign an “all is well” approach. Sometimes we will cry and complain. At others we will repeat our blessings and rejoice. And always we will confess our sins and call for mercy. Sometimes the sentiments will flow and on other occasions we will stammer and the thoughts will freeze. Prayer will combine and cover every element of our insight and experience, guided by His truth according to our grasp of it, and purified by the Spirit according to necessity. But it must be vital and sincere according to who we are and where we are. Artificiality, pretence. and self-deceit will never do. Our frailty, fears, doubts and sins cannot be concealed by our attempt to measure up mentally to the standards and expectations of our spiritual peers and mentors and supposed human monitors. In prayer we are face to face with God and our dealings are directly with Him. The antidotes to our spiritual ills and inadequacies will be supplied by the Word, upon which we wholly lean as we pray. Honesty from the heart and faith conferred by God are the hallmarks of genuine prayer. It is total openness before God — sometimes verbal and sometimes contemplative, never formulaic and unvarying, except in frequency and hope in God. Closeted with Him we alternate between speech and silence, anguish and ecstasy — clamorous in our asking if need be, courteous enough always to wait upon Him to hear His voice in Scripture and to receive the re-ordering of our hearts and minds. In prayer our changeable natures (which benefit from the structure of a liturgical outline and input) rendezvous with the unchangeable God and find their certainty. We need the privacy of personal prayer to interact with our divine companion with the spontaneity — vocal or physical - of any authentic relationship. We need the discipline of public prayer in order to rightly align and identify ourselves with the whole people of God and expand our concerns unselfishly before Him in the expression of love towards others, and common admiration of Him. Our interior connection with God should lead to contact with the outside world. In prayer we reach out and up to God and thus should be promoted an unstinting outreach to the outsider.
How prayer among us would increase if we really expected His presence, appreciated His invitation, and believed His promises. How prayer would rise from our hearts and lips if we really sensed our need and knew of His provision. How prayer would pour from our spirits if we truly grasped the realities, terrifying or reassuring, of our existence and the prospects of good or ill (of an eternal duration) before us dependent upon our attitude to Him. What greater incentive could be presented to us than the affirmations of our collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, you who are always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and who are willing to give more than either we desire or deserve (what statements!): Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things that cause guilt within us, and giving us ihose good things which we are not worthy to aJ except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen. Let us pray! We cannot measure the consequences of our prayerfulness or our prayerlessness — what may be accomplished or averted; what may be granted or denied: Yet you do not have because you do not ask (James 4:2).
RJS

MIND YOUR IMAGINATION 8-3-08

“I hate them that imagiine evil things: but thy law do I love.” Psalm 119:113

Reading Coverdale’s translations of the Psalms daily can be a joy and an inspiration. Reputedly, they are not exactly precise renditions of the literal meaning of the original text, but if you take the imaginative and poetic leap with him it seems you can’t go far wrong and your breadth of comprehension is actually extended. Coverdale takes you to exciting places in the realms of thought and he is a starting point for many useful meditations. You can see the sense if you bear with him. The ideas and images he provokes are too good to lose so it is worth the labour in attempting to justify them where possible. Language has nuances it is beneficial to explore where strictly creedal statements are not at stake. The poetry of the Bible is meant to stir our vision of things and stimulate a felt response. The Bible is full of pictures as well as propositions. Coverdale has great skill in painting pictures with words and honing awareness. He enables you to perceive the glory and actions of God as Governor and Saviour, the evil thoughts and doings of men, the wonders of nature that evoke our praise of the Creator. Mentally, you can travel miles with Coverdale over the thrilling terrain of truth. He imparts deep spiritual insight into the ways of God and the heart of man, even if you have to stretch a little to gain it.
The psalmist expresses his revulsion at deceitful thoughts and the kind of person G.A.F Knight describes as smiling at you whilst lying to you. “I hate double- minded men, but 1 love your law”(NIV). Double mindedness suggests shiftiness, unreliability, and opportunism — the individual without honesty and principle. The man of vain thoughts is actually guided by his evil imagination. He is devising and contriving ways to fool you and take advantage of you. All of his devious manoeuvres emerge from the schemes and scenes that run through his perverse mind as he sets up situations to his own satisfaction. He is not governed by truth and observes no objective standards. He is driven by subjective impulse. The meaning of reality is an enigma and the point of life is the gratification of the moment and the preservation of self-interest. The person who knows God, however, is informed by His revelation and defended from falsehood and futility by abiding constantly in the realm of divine thought and directions. The mind is purified from the pollution and puerility of our natural corruption and enabled to walk circumspectly in the fear and delight of God. One man’s thought-world, from which he envisions and evaluates everything, is his own flimsy construct, the other has a hold on things as they are because he has a connection with the source of truth. He is not prey to the illusions that grip the minds of men, as exposed in Ecciesiastes. the classic treatise on our predicament with perception, but increasingly delivered from the biases that twist and distort our comprehension and access to reality ensuring that the mind remains in deep darkness and susceptibility to the influences of the great fabricator of lies, Satan himself who has the capacity to operate at the source of our thought processes stirring the concoctions of our hearts like a witch at a cauldron.
The wonderful gift of the human imagination can enthral us with concepts of immense power, poignancy, and perfection, for God has given us this faculty as a way of wrapping our minds partially around the immensities of his attributes and accomplishments with appreciation and anticipation of the ecstasies to be experienced in His fellowship and favour forever in heaven. But the imagination can also be a dangerous tool in the hands of the evil one and enemy of our souls. All that is lovely, noble, or right, etc (Phil 4:8) can be deformed and degraded by the insinuation and expression of defiled and depraved concepts that play to our debased and decadent affections. The principle sadly prevails, that to the impure everything is impure, and even the blessings they have to hand are poisoned by the evil serum that streams from their hearts and spreads over, and penetrates into, everything they possess and touch. Our lusts (desire) and laughter (delight) that preoccupy civilization and society, as highlighted in the media, point to our moral collapse and impending disintegration.
Ours is a day of great iniquity when all that is worthless and wicked is glorified, promoted, and rewarded, and goodness, giftedness, and virtue are despised, ridiculed, and deprived of honour. The greed of the market place, the meanness and rivalry of nations - with the constant military threat, human criminality in all its forms are always with us as troublesome to our lives, but now our very “means of escapism and relief’ are working woefully towards our restlessness, discontent, shame, and ultimate misery in all that they commend as acceptable ambition and behaviour. It is particularly in the realm of entertainment and art that the corruption of the human imagination is honoured and worshipped. Humour, that delightful means of taking odd angles on life and relieving tension, has become crude and cruel. Meagre talent is considered praiseworthy, triviality tops the headlines, and bad taste in our overblown appetite for amusement attracts big budgets and big audiences. We report, but cannot appreciate the dangers, in the events, trends, and circumstances that impinge upon us. Disaster and crisis repeatedly dominate the news bulletins but we are indifferent to the causes and warnings that should generate serious heart-searching. The writings of Israel’s prophets ought to sharpen our insight and arouse our alarm at the conditions of our times that parallel those described in biblical history (God’s perspective), but a sound critique from the church is not forthcoming because the world provides the pattern for our life and message. We have been seduced and sedated by the world, merging with its preferences and values on a tidal flow we have failed to feel or observe, not realizing that we are perilously adrift.
As divine restraints noticeably recede we are disturbed, first of all, as to what man can imagine and dare to suggest, and then subsequently, in his recklessness, undertake to perform culturally, scientifically, and politically. It is not difficult to concur with the divine verdict expressed at the time of the deluge, ‘The Lord saw how great man ‘s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts (imagination) of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen 6:5). As well as pride, there is much mischievous cleverness in the sinful achievements of mankind, and there is the propensity to be boastful and self-congratulatory concerning the ingenuity, inventiveness and skill employed in our revolt against heaven, but John Newton, a former practioner, identifies the true source of sinful smartness and smugness: As believers are inspired by the Holy Spirit . . . so I apprehend, that they who live without God in the world... are in a greater or less degree, under what I may call a black inspiration. After making the best allowances I can, both for the extent of human genius, and the deplorable evil of the human heart, I cannot suppose that one half ofthe wicked wit, of which some persons are very proud, is properly their own. Perhaps such a one as Voltaire would neither have written, nor have been read or admired so much, f had not been the amanuensis of an abler hand in his own way. Satan is always near when the heart is disposed to receive him; and the Lord withdraws his restraints, to heighten the sinner’s ability of sinning, and assisting him with such strokes of blasphemy, malice, and falsehood, as perhaps he could not otherwise have attained.
The only remedy that can cure the evil imagination is prescribed by the psalmist in his evident awareness of the susceptibilities of every human heart. The Word of God is restorative and purifies the mind, creating a train of holy thought that honours God and contemplates reality in a sane, sober, and sensible fashion, humbly appreciating the nature of things, and acknowledging the wisdom of God in the fervent praise of His name. “My flesh trembles in fear of you; Istand in awe ofyour laws.”
RJS

USHERRING IN A VENERABLE MODEL FOR ONGOING ANGLICANISM 7-27-08

Among the mainstream denominations of Christendom Anglicanism is not alone in facing critical issues for its survival and integrity. Problems in theology, ethics, and polity are the harbingers of a gathering storm that will convulse all the traditional Churches even if local congregations and individual believers somehow escape or ignore the full severity of the likely tremours. Realignments and regroupings will occur that will radically alter the ecclesiastical map, and consciences will be challenged, and antipathies aroused, on a scale not known since the 16t5 century Reformation. Long-term drift and defection in doctrinal confession, worship practices, and moral behaviour are coming to a head where clear-cut separation between “liberal” and “conservative” (unsatisfactory nomenclature) seems inevitable. It is not a happy prospect but probably necessary and unavoidable if loyal testimony to the truth of the gospel is to be maintained without taint of serious error and fuzzy compromise, or the pressure of hindrances imposed by unsympathetic leadership and administration.
What is clear is that response to the current disarray and chaos cannot in any way be merely cosmetic. The predicament has to be resolved by a thorough-going, back to basics, deeply theological reformation that boldly grounds itself in Holy Scripture and the historic faith of Reformed Catholic orthodoxy best expressed in the ancient creeds inherited from the early church and more fully elucidated in the major writings and confessions of 16th and 17th century Protestantism that established, as a consequence of diligent and devout examination and discussion, the fundamental standards of sound Christian teaching and preaching. Foundations must be rediscovered before we press forward. Rebuilding must proceed with the use of those solid blocks hewn from the quarry of the Word of God by our faithful Fathers of earlier centuries who were providentially entrusted with the onerous task of expounding and controverting the crucial tenets of the Faith when these needed clear explication and solid defence. Anything less than profound theological reconstruction from biblical material and our credal and confessional heritage will prove flimsy and incapable of endurance. Diluting doctrine, lightening worship, revamping spiritual experience with entertaining and gratifSjing gimmickry will not withstand the advancing assault to be perpetrated by a counterfeit church and a hostile world. Allegiance to the gospel will be costly in terms of hard work and bitter suffering. That we, in the main, have been, until now, exempt from these conditions is the exception, and not the norm of Christian commitment. We are caught ill prepared and ill disposed for the demands that will soon confront us. Seduced by our culture and softened by our affluence we have fallen prey to the influences against which George Whitefield warned his contemporaries, “For unless your hearts are free from worldly hopes and worldly fears, you will never speak boldly, as you ought to speak”. In the crude terms of Australian colloquial language we modems, when compared with our heroic forbears, are “pansies”. In the face of present evils we are mute and accommodating, not militant and resistant. Worldly fears cower us, and worldly aims and rewaids preoccupy us. Beyond this, theological indifference and impatience with doctrinal precision has disarmed us as the forces of opposition amass and surround us. We are too limp to wield the sword of the Word because instead of taking a firm grasp on the full extent and all the elements of God’s rich revelation we have opted for the pursuit of pleasant religious experience unconcerned about the solidity of its basis and unable to authenticate it through the application of biblical principles.
Generalizations are risky and there are always exceptions, and Elijah-like we can fail to read the actual state of affairs from the divine perspective (1 Kings 19:14&18), but a broad survey of current Anglicanism is not encouraging. The disciplines, strengths, and characteristics of a Church of the Word are largely absent and the priorities of inclusiveness and unity without regard for truth have created a community of tolerance and comprehensiveness that follows the fashions and passions of the world, a world that is forcing all religion into the mould and mix of an unsavoury syncretism. Everything and anything is credible, plausible, and permissible, bar the message of the cross. We are facing the modem equivalent of Israel’s deadly foe that penetrated to the heart of its affection and activity — the corrosive phenomenon of Baalism.
The Anglican Communion long ago dropped its guard, abandoned the watch- towers, and forgot the commission entrusted to it and outlined in Article 20 of our Confession of Faith i.e “To be a witness and guardian of Holy Scripture”. It doesn’t matter how concerned, resolute, and re-enlivened we become through various devices, such as revision of worship, and slick, skilful re-imaging for popular appeal and numerical success. Without a full and wholehearted return to the Word we shall be ineffective and quickly crumble. The situation is too serious for superficial touch-ups, glamourizing air-brushing, attempts at popularity, and adaptation to various forms of “easy believism” - and especially accessible styles of worship overlaid by trivial entertainment - for the achievement of apparent success and a sense of kudos. We must face the world’s enmity with reliance on God’s Word and Spirit, with concern for the defeat of evil and the deliverance of sinners, prepared to endure the hardship and affliction that will ensue.
Many voices from our past summon us to resist the tactics of the enemy that have deluded us, withdraw from the subtle temptations that have seduced us, and repent of the treacheries of our own hearts that have entrapped us. We need to view our plight from a historical perspective and heed the words and warnings of our founders, martyrs, and all those godly and excellent teachers and instructors who constitute the long lineage of loyal witnesses to the truth of the gospel.
One such exemplar of right thinking Anglicanism was the 1 7th century Anglo-Irish Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher, now almost forgotten, or, if mentioned at all, cruelly and unjustly ridiculed for his views on the age of the earth, which were not uniquely his but based on the theological and scientific consensus of his time. Ussher deserves to be better known and looked to as a mentor and model in the renewal and restoration of classical Anglicanism. One of the pre-eminent scholars of his day, Ussher summed up and reinforced the strong Augustinianism of the English Reformation in his theological works, and to secure the ongoing influence of the doctrines of grace in the Church of his native land composed the Irish Articles which served as the draft for the Westminster Confession of Faith. Fully endorsing the conclusions of the Synod of Dort (the high-water mark of Calvinism) as compatible with Reformed Anglicanism, Ussher also gave impetus to the vigorous proclamation of the gospel offer in his subscription to the sufficiency of the atoning work of Christ for all those who placed their confidence in the sacrificial death of the Saviour. Very deftly he was able to reconcile evangelism with the sovereignty of God without any detraction from either. Here was a man and minister of sound theology and compassionate heart. On good terms with the Presbyterian party of his time he commended a modified Episcopacy that shunned the fiction of Apostolic Succession but was intended to function as a wise and Scriptural pastoral provision for the people of God, collaborative and consultative in nature, preserving established historical precedent and the unity it could foster.
Ussher was universally regarded as one of the giants of his era. His immense theological learning and competence, and fidelity to the historic faith buttressed Anglican orthodoxy for a generation. His mildness of temperament and desire for unity and harmony within the church of God caused him to place a trust in the leadership, wisdom, and good intentions of Archbishop Laud, and colleagues of an Arminian tendency, that was not rewarded. Almost unbelievingly he saw the Reformational stance of his church that he lived to propound and preserve gradually eroded. Living through the English Civil War his respect for the monarchy as a divinely ordained institution meant that his loyalty was with the Royalist party, but such was the esteem in which he was everywhere held that at his death Oliver Cromwell accorded him a state funeral. Apart from brief articles in biographical dictionaries access to information on Ussher is not easy to gain. Carr’s biography is misleading as to his theological convictions and academic treatment of his life and work is rare and expensive. His theological masterpiece, A Body of Divinity, has recently been made available through Solid Ground Christian Books. Perhaps Ussher will never be a figure widely embraced by the Christian public, which is a shame, but those who wish to do so may research and learn of him through reference libraries, hopefully to spread his influence, for James Ussher, through the legacy of his literary output, is a mind that could ably guide Anglican thought and proclamation of our time and redirect us on a safer course than the one we are currently embarked upon, or seems likely at the moment.
RJS

TEACH ME, TURN ME! (THE PSALMIST’S APPEAL TO THE DIVINE INITIATIVE) 7-13-08

The core concern of the spiritual life is the inclination of the heart. Desire determines the character of our moral nature and also our relationship to God. Desire creates decision and decision dictates direction and deed. Desire is the essential expression of the self and an accurate indication of our moral condition. Speech and action can conceal the leaning and motivation of the heart, deceiving others and ourselves, but the desires disclose the full truth of what and who we are and the Spirit of God plumbs the depths of our natures to discern and decide our actual state and real worth as persons assessed by the standards of his holiness. The Lord searches the deeps of the human personality that we can neither know nor understand (Jeremiah 17: 9,10). What is unfathomable to us is exposed to God and none of our pretence, cunning. and concealment can hide our nakedness before Him (Genesis 2:25- 3:10). We are found out before his scrutiny and our moral nakedness betokens our interior wretchedness, an emptiness, unsoundness, and defilement that necessitate the worthlessness, wantonness, and wilfulness of our sinful proclivities. A true work of divine conviction within the human heart persuades us that we are incapable of right desire, good affection, and holy aspiration. Such is the drift of Holy Scripture when it describes human nature in its fallen state or becomes the vehicle of godly confession and yearning. There is the sense of complete helplessness in self and total and urgent dependence upon the merciful power of God to rescue the soul and rectify the predicament.
This is the merit of our Anglican liturgy in its original and classical form. It will not allow us to forget or deny our fundamental and insoluble problem as evil and lost creatures, and at the same time it exhorts and encourages us to call in confidence upon a compassionate God. All of its assertions and each of its prayers declare our impotence and spiritual/moral destitution and with deep pastoral compassion and wisdom our Prayer Book directs us to a wholehearted and happy reliance upon the grace of the Lord. We need such a basis and discipline to our life of prayer, devotion, and communion with God - so apt are we to drift into mistaken notions about ourselves and about Him. The historic liturgy compiled from many sources grounded in the faith of Holy Scripture and the experience of the true saints of God is an invaluable, some of us would say necessary. compass and corrective in our daily walk before and with our heavenly Father.
It is the condition of our nature, the complexity of the heart, and the connectedness and inter-relatedness of our all our faculties in the consequences of our sad defection from God that makes so much of discussion about the freedom of the will in relation to sin and salvation so puerile, glib, unsatisfactory, and ultimately pointless. The will is simply the inclination of our sinful nature and its perverse desires. It is not a separate and sovereign faculty capable of determining or reversing the bent of our basic and inborn affections. It is simply the human person or soul in self-expression, mental motion, and pursuit of preferred aims, and these aims cannot include God, the things pertaining to Him, or holiness, humility, and obedience until complete, radical, and miraculous renewal or regeneration of that person has occurred through the almighty power of God. This recognition is vital to a true estimate of the plight and peril of human kind and the application of the remedy wrought through the Lord Jesus Christ in His gracious role as our Redeemer. Anything less than the absolute admission of our guilty, hostile helplessness (Rornans 8:6-8), and the glad acceptance of the necessity and effectualness of sovereign grace is a diminution of the purpose and achievement of God in delivering us, and a reduction of our gratitude towards Him and praise of 1-Jim. We are past self-help, true desire for God, and willingness for salvation. Our case is closed and favourable prospects nil. We are declared dead and done for by the Word of God. Our helplessness concludes in our felt hopelessness and yields to self-despair. Biblically, this is the point at which we must arrive if we are to trust in Christ alone — his undeserved kindness, the cure of the cross, and His coming to our hearts with compelling call and God-given capacity to confide in Him. All is of pure, free grace from outset to consummation. Any attribution of worth, work, or natural willingness to man is to be strictly
-avoided if we are to appraise the saving work of God on our behalf aright and benefit from it. No other strength or righteousness apart from God’s can avail. He is the sole author and achiever of salvation and it comes to us in the divine work of new birth on the basis of election and Christ’s procurement of our deliverance on the cross, and our consequent consciousness of such favour evidences itself in the exercise of faith. We commence at the point of helplessness, we hear the word of hope in the gospel, we look up to, and wait upon, the goodness of God, and rest in the comfort of his truthfulness and reliability, leaving the happy outcome to His sworn faithfulness to the promises He has spoken.
Thus the psalmist shows the way to all who yearn for God, forsake self, and cast themselves upon Him (119; 33-48). He must kindle, create, initiate, cause what I do not have, cannot produce, and will forever lack if He does not act mercifully and generously. Convicted, tenderized hearts are inevitably in concert and concurrence with the sentiments and requests of Israel’s poet. Teach me. Inherently, I have neither truth nor understanding. These great things must be gifts, sovereignly, undeservedly bestowed. Direct me. I am out of the way and lost. Retrieve me and reroute me so that I will be back on the track from which I so foolishly, wilfully, recklessly, and deliberately wandered. Turn my heart (cf Jeremiah 31:1 8). Left to myself I will rush headlong down the slope that takes me far and fatally from you. My worthless heart pants for worthless things that cannot endure nor satisfy. And so the psalm, and all the Scriptures, and all the petitions of the liturgy cry out in unison, “If there is anything good, true, holy, saving — then, Lord, put it in our hearts. It can only come from you. I should desire, value, harbour and hold such things that bless my soul and secure my peace and wellbeing for eternity. But I am barren through my own fault and have forfeited every blessing. But my hope is in your goodness, forbearance, and forgiveness. And you invite me to call on your Name. Your Word is the warrant for such bold requests that would be audacious otherwise. You yourself stir up the desire that seeks you (0 God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed — Collect for Peace, Evening Prayer) and then you undertake to fulfil the desires you have implanted (Pss 21:2, 37:4, 145:19). There is sweetness in the sense of utter dependence upon God and beauty in the words that induce that dependence and actuate fervent cries to Him.
RJS

THE SENSE AND STRUCTURE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 6-08-08

Love gains the deepest insights into any subject of observation. Until love is the motivation of investigation and learning the factors that govern the human mind are resistance, resentment, and prejudice, and inevitably ignorance and distortion are the disastrous results. This is why education should never be a forced exercise, but only minimally compulsory in absolutely practical essentials necessary for life, and geared in such a way as to elicit the interests and skills of each unique individual, guiding those gifts and inclinations towards the maturation, usefulness, and happiness of the student and the consequent betterment and enrichment of others. Love drives us to the inmost depths of any reality we choose to study and the effort yields not only information and expertise, but also abundant delight. Delight creates enthusiasm, and enthusiasm attracts the interest of other potential devotees.
There are many approaches to the Bible, academic, historical, literary, religious. It has been, and still is, a most powerful influence upon human thought, behaviour, and culture, and its spiritual and moral value, and ennobling and civilizing effects, are deemed inestimable. Until relatively recently, perhaps, the majority of folk raised in Western culture would pay deferential homage of some kind to the Bible, even if they regarded it as a purely human product with all the flaws that anything human would necessarily entail. At the same time, particularly in casual conversation, there is a great deal of glib and even irreverent reference to the Bible, and, of course, it has become the quotation source for various forms of cheap pietism. Even the Bible itself instances occurrences of the latter (Lk 11:27 & 14:15). It is amazing, when chatter is in humorous vein, as to how often faces light up and smiles break out when someone feels they have cited Scripture in an apt and amusing way. Quite often it reveals an attitude that is dismissive or disdainful towards the Holy Book. There is never a shadow of suspicion that response to the content of the Bible is determinative of eternal destiny and that we, all of us, stand under the scrutiny and judgment of the Word.
The conviction that takes us to the heart of the Bible’s meaning is the sincere belief that it is divine, a message from God conveyed through inspired human authors. The attitude that exposes us to the truth, power, and sweetest secrets of the sacred writings is a love that grows increasingly more passionate and profound as Scripture is read. And the disposition that gains penetration of the heavenly disclosures is the absolute and prayerful reliance upon the triune God for understanding: understanding that is not infallible, complete, prideful, or assertive, but gradual in head and heart that are perpetually teachable, humble, grateful, adoring and obedient toward the sublime and practical precious truths that are divulged.
It is the believer that discovers the true nature and vast riches of the Word of God through the introduction of the Holy Spirit to its revealed mysteries. The faith and comprehension are supernatural enduements and from these spring the graces of love, trust, and willing compliance. The love of the literary work of God in the composition and compilation of the Library of Salvation emerges from an appreciation of the Person and achievement of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom God performed the work of our rescue and redemption. The key to the Bible is Christ the Theme of the Bible, and only by his love and through love of him do we travel through the universe of Scripture, arrive at its core, and explore its worlds of blissful knowledge. The Bible becomes much more than a diverse accumulation of books from various authors over many centuries, however much we see and gain from perusing it by any method of acquaintance. It is infinitely more than a collection of chapters and verses read at whim and snatched at randomly for a spiritual boost in our crowded and haste-filled lives where sound bites replace sound attention to the words that the Spirit himself has caused to be written. We begin to see not only that its origin is divine but discem also, as the message spreads before us, that it exhibits a strange, entrancing, and enlightening design. As we acquire a sense of Scripture in its pungent address to our sinful souls and poignant intimation of the Saviour so we catch glimpses of a supematural structure beneath and throughout the Bible that leads us to the ingenuity and artistry of the mind of God who is finnly minded to save and possess a people for himself in the most amazing and merciful way that shall evoke ceaseless wonder and thanksgiving from those chosen to review his wisdom and work through all eternity.
Every part of Scripture is interconnected, laying the foundation for trust in Christ. Each portion is a stepping-stone to him. Looked at lingeringly, and patiently sealed together mentally, block by block, every passage forms the pavement we tread to the foot of the cross and, beyond the grace found there, to the glories of heaven. The Bible is a network that leads to Christ at its centre, a web in which every strand is woven together by him, and the message pulsating along every line is a beckoning signal that draws us home to him. The structure could be illustrated by so many analogies occurring to different minds, but the fact is there and it clearly points to the deliberation and detail in the revelatory and redeeming purpose of God that becomes progressively evident over time and in varying degrees in every author’s contribution to the sacred text as he describes the provisions of God in his covenant of grace. We marvel at the miracle and magic of Scripture that delineates the flow of salvation history, recites sequentially the range of saving intents and events, finally fits together perfectly, and finishes in the presentation of a Saviour and Friend who stands before us, arms outstretched to embrace all who will believe the biblical report and sincerely come.
The sense of Scripture is conveyed through so many literary forms and styles
— plain fact, accurate history, reliable reportage, poetic symbolism, the imaginative use of imagery, and so on - and the sensitivity to each, and the skill to appreciate them all, need to be prayerfully sought. But the whole alluring appeal of Scripture is to encourage us to abide in it, to reflect, ponder, meditate, and loiter in its pastures. As Spurgeon says, we are to roll its delicacies under our tongue. The Bible is not intended for those who want to hurry, condense, summarize, or over-simplify. Its extent, repetition, illustrations and intricacies are not accidental or of purely human decision but all intended in the grand design. The Bible wants us to think, yes, but also exercise our senses imaginatively — to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch so that His Word becomes our inner experience. We are to actively endeavour to enter into the nature of things outlined in Scripture so that we might apprehend the nature of evil and liberation from it. Through the Bible God is building and enlarging souls, expanding their capacities for appreciation that leads to the adoration and worship that will reach its culmination in the exultation of human spirits and the exaltation of the divine Name in the rapturous joys of heaven. We are meant to cultivate concentration on the Lord of All, all the time, through all that we encounter. The Bible in its demands upon our minds and prayerfulness is preparing us for our heavenly vocation where no distraction or unworthy desire will tum us from God. We are to explore the imagery of Scripture so that we will perceive its truth with feeling and express the apt response in true emotion and faithful action. It is all part of God’s gracious grip upon us as whole persons reacting to his overtures with our whole beings. The structure and sense of Scripture is deeply persuasive and meant to be utterly pervasive of our selves and lives. Time spent over Scripture is time invested in eternity and, for the present, a rendezvous with the Eternal One Himself who speaks in the Bible, the Book above all books.
RJS

WIND AND WATER John 3:1-15 6-1-08

Christian theology is a science with many branches. Attention may focus specifically on the nature and attributes of God, the person of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the authority of Holy Scripture, the history of the church and the development of its thought, the nature and methods of pastoral care. All of these departments, and many others, may be explored, studied, and taught in a specialized fashion with the understanding that they are interconnected and affect each other. Broadly speaking orthodox and mainstream Christians adhering to the historic faith can coalesce through subscription to confessional statements such as the Apostle’s or Nicene Creed. But there are many gaps in these ancient and excellent confessions of the church’s faith and subsequently more elaborate and detailed standards of belief have had to be framed to deal with various issues as they have arisen throughout the course of the centuries. The church cannot deal equally with every matter of doctrine all at once and the unfolding of the fullness of its faith is gradual and progressive. Due emphasis on each topic takes time and is usually occasioned by some threat of deviation from biblical norms. The human situation, the recognition of sin and its consequences, inevitably thrusts the topic of salvation (soteriology as the experts call our spiritual rescue and restoration) to the fore. It is imperative that mankind has an accurate appraisal of its predicament and an assured understanding of the solution proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Salvation is the urgent priority in our thinking about God and the kind of relationship we have with him. Every other theme in theology will come into play, but if we are not a saved people all the information we receive, and all the investigation and discussion in which we happen to be engaged will prove fruitless to us personally because we are not in that place where God can be truly known and everlastingly enjoyed. Whatever we predicate about God, or anything related to him (attributes, creation, providence, etc), will be simply theoretical and of no ultimate benefit to the soul. Our greatest, all consuming and initial concern, is shared with Martin Luther: How may I find a gracious God? Until I am saved — know God, am reconciled to him, and received by him — my knowledge is of no personal effectiveness and will eventually condemn me. It will prove to be mere technical baggage, the misapplication of which will gnaw at the conscience.
In this world, given the crises of sin and the Fall, until the consummation of all history, the church’s central thought, and urgent mission, is to do with salvation, its necessity and nature. To this end it wields all the knowledge granted to it, in every area of theology, as informed by Holy Scripture, to bring the remedy to our plight home to every human heart possible by the proclamation and defence of the message of mercy. What we believe about the problem and peril of man, and God’s answer and salvific action, will determine our faith, feelings, and function as those enlisted in God’s ambassadorial outreach to the world. The potency of our preaching and accompanying ministries will be determined by fealty to truth i.e. what we need and what God provides, and as to how the gap is bridged. These perceptions will dictate the attitudes and actions of the church, and if the foundation is not sound (our confessional comprehension) then all that follows will be flawed in aspiration, procedure, and expectation. If our estimate of sin and grace is inadequate and erroneous our handling of the means of grace and deliverance will be defective. Our emphases will be warped, our message will be comprised, the gospel will be diluted, and our audience will be misinformed. Our misapprehension of the prevailing state of affairs morally and spiritually, due to sin, and our under-evaluation of grace, will reduce the sinner’s sense of dependence, urgency, and gratitude, and seriously limit our appreciation of the sheer goodness of God and withhold the glory that is due to his Name. The exquisite enjoyment of God comes from the sense of his love given to the undeserving through the entirely free decision of his sovereign will. Nothing in us affects the donation of that love, and nothing, by God’s power, providence, and protection will permit that love to fail or be withdrawn. This is the underlying and permeating key-thought to biblical covenant theology, historic Augustinian, Reformed, and Classical Lutheran theology, and it pervades true and original Anglican theology also. Nothing can be more comforting to lost sinners who feel their guilt and helplessness, and who know that nothing can deliver and keep them apart from sovereign and almighty grace. Any other versions of the message of mercy, with their varying degrees of human effort plus divine assistance, are simply not sufficient or satisfactory. The convinced sinner knows, to the point of self despair, that salvation is all of God, and that it has to be so — absolutely, and that the work of Christ and the promises of the gospel, as recorded in Sacred Scripture, are the sinner’s only hope and to be trusted exclusively, solely, and completely. The realized impotence of the sinner transfers our preoccupation and hope to the facts of the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus. There is no-where else to turn, but in turning the sinner is saved without any personal effort, qualification, or worth.
This gospel can only be grasped, and fully and faithfully preached on the basis of Luther’s self-confessed central issue of the Reformation that the fallen will of human nature is utterly enslaved to sin, averse to God, and not in a state of equipoise between the two poles of good and evil as so much professedly evangelistic preaching currently avers. In view of our subjection to Satan, and the infection of original sin governing all our desires and dispositions, “free will” is an empty and misleading term. Whilst we remain responsible for our decisions and deeds, we have forfeited the capacity to choose and do aright in a spiritual sense. I may change my socks, select my breakfast cereal, choose my preferred newspaper (“things below”), but I can never change my heart, opt for God, or prefer holiness (“things above”), until God has granted me a new nature with new inclinations — hence a freed will.
This fact, the bondage of the will, is the fundamental principle and starting point of all sound Scriptural thought concerning salvation. On this foundation the biblical understanding of salvation rests and only thus can our development of theology and declaration of the gospel proceed realistically and consistently. Our view of the human will after the fall, its capacities or incapacities, affects everything in the life of the believer and the church all along the line — how we think, believe, pray, worship, and witness. It was crucial enough for Luther to say, “This false idea of ‘free will” is a real threat to salvation, and a delusion fraught with the most perilous consequences “. Man must be taught his helplessness so that all his hope is placed in God and in nothing human. That shatters our pride, shuts off procrastination, and drives us to mercy in abandonment of anything we suppose we may do, physically, mentally, morally, spiritually, or sacramentally. All is of grace. This is the theme of the Reformation, derived from Scripture, to be seized upon by all believers without exception, as the incentive for fleeing to Christ alone, by faith alone, for the certain assurance that we belong to God forever and can never be snatched from him. It is not an abstruse matter for debate among theologians, but a fact to be recognized in every heart for the necessary adjustment from self-confidence to complete reliance upon God. It is at the heart of our Anglican heritage. “Since the fall of Adam, man’s state is such that he is unable, by his own natural strength and good works, to turn and dispose himself to believe the gospel and call upon God Consequently, we have no power of our own to do good works that are pleasing and acceptable to God, unless the grace of God is first given to us through Christ, so that we may have a good will, and that same grace continues at work within us to maintain that good will” (Article 10). This doctrine should be the basis of all our proclamation about man and his natural standing before God. If it is not the case then we deceive ourselves, as well as others, that there is something, however minimal, that we can do, thus fuelling human pride, perhaps encouraging fatal delay, and certainly reducing the glory and efficacy of divine grace. On this doctrine hang both the true, full, and authentic gospel unsullied by human philosophy, as well as true and full faith by which we may be saved.
If it were within one’s power to prescribe one essential book for all believers beside the Bible then Luther’s Bondage of the Will would be a major candidate._How fully it endorses the teaching of the Saviour, which is rarely fully embraced: Flesh gives birth to flesh (only), but (only) the Spirit gives birth to spirit (John 3:6). The book itself, read slowly, or perhaps a précis or commentary, is well worth mulling over for its revolutionary effect in Christian thought. Our understanding is awry and stunted until we have encountered and wrestled with Luther, and come to terms with the truth he presents — a truth that should be unequivocally held among us through inheritance — “This is my absolute opinion. he that will maintain that man ‘sfree-will is able to do or work anything in spiritual cases be they never so small, denies Christ” (Martin Luther).
RJS

WIND AND WATER 5-25-08
John 3:1-15
The man who came to Jesus by night, Nicodemus the Pharisee and Jewish leader, represents the extreme seriousness and insolubility of the universal human predicament. The course of his conversation with the Lord Jesus touches upon the most important issues confronting sinful mankind and points to the most serious errors into which the professing people of God are prone to fall. The encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus is a concise and vivid illustration of the spiritual impotence of man and the sovereign initiative of the Spirit in the matter of admission to the kingdom of God. It enumerates man’s defective assumptions and conclusions in the sphere of religion and delineates God’s gracious way of deliverance through supernatural intervention. This narrative is John’s equivalent to Paul’s denunciation of obedience to the law as a way of salvation. It is the conclusive foreclosure to any notion of human competence, co-operation, or contribution in the gaining of salvation, the approbation of God, or the enjoyment of eternal life. All human efforts to win heaven are totally futile, because defiled, and every route chosen and attempted by man ends in a cul-de-sac. The verdict enunciated by Jesus is final: flesh i.e. human nature, human effort, human excellence or exemplary religious scrupulosity and observance cannot bring any individual into the acceptance and fellowship of God.
Nicodemus appears on the scene as the very best that nature, nurture, and his nation’s religion and piety could produce and yet in Jesus’ estimation his case is hopeless. With all of his accumulated experience, attainments, and expertise as a model specimen of Jewish faith Nicodemus is told that it is absolutely necessary to start again — not from his initial point of self-improvement as a conscientious boy or youth or young adult, whenever his religious earnestness began, but from birth. He must be born afresh, not by natural and physical processes common to all, but by the Spirit of God. His new nature must originate from supernatural re-creation; his new life must commence as a result of divine action. The truly spiritual life cannot begin until the miracle of new birth occurs and such an event is not within human capacity or control. There is neither conception (v3) nor possession (v5) of the kingdom of God until the wonder of second birth has been wrought and only God can perforn it. Re-birth is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit.
Nicodemus’ amazed reaction to the statement of Jesus is the surprise in this passage, not the teaching that Jesus gave, since it is only in repetition of the doctrine of the Scriptures that the master theologian of Israel ought to have understood and been expounding all along (V7). The night mentioned at the outset of the story refers not only to the evening hours but the darkness of the Pharisee’s mind that had not comprehended the essence of Israel’s prophetic message. Regeneration, the new heart, the need for a second and supematuial birth was implicit in the texts that Nicodemus had so diligently studied and professionally taught and yet he had to confess that he was utterly ignorant of this key element in divine revelation. The fatal sickness of the human heart and the necessity of a new one had been taught by Jeremiah (17:9 cf 24:7), but Ezekiel had dealt with the issue with even greater and unmistakeable clarity (18:31 &36:26). Nicodemus’ defective scholarship simply illustrated the truth of man’s total helplessness in grasping heavenly things without the interior illumination of divine instruction (Jn 3:12 cf 6:45). Academic studies are of enormous benefit, as is patently obvious in the story of the church and the persons God has used, but they are not ultimately sufficient. The mind of the scholar has to be enlightened, and the heart tempered, by grace. It is one thing to open the divine volume and scan its content; it is altogether another thing to have its secrets unlocked and revealed by the Holy Spirit. The message is linguistically plain but the fallen mind is averse to the humbling and healing word of the gospel. Gospel is the essential theme of all Scripture, but the natural mind detects only law, regulation, and stipulation and assumes the capacity to comply, with the added bonus of divine assistance and leniency to cover any deficiency. Spiritual comprehension discerns the fact of utter human impotency and transfers all confidence to the undeserved mercy of God. Amiable though he was, Nicodemus was the victim of the great misconception that envelops and pervades every human mind until grace performs its release — there is something of human effort, virtue, and desert in our deliverance from sin and eligibility for the kingdom. The lie still resides in, and runs its course through, even the thoughts of believers. Our natural condition and helplessness is a fact too vast to grasp, and the necessity, efficacy and magnitude of grace too grand to apprehend. Here we are only afforded glimpses, fitfully and fleetingly.
Nicodemus was an eminent man of letters who had overlooked and missed the prophetic teaching concerning the Spirit of God as the life-giving author of the otherwise impossible phenomenon of new birth. Man’s spiritual death and dead- end prospects furnish the Almighty with the opportunity to demonstrate the omnipotent power that reverses the effects of death in the raising of the dead. Biblical terms such as “dead”, “death”, “resurrection”, “new birth”, “new life”, etc, are not mere expressions or rhetorical flourishes employed for literary effect, but real descriptions of actual conditions and occurrences where God acts sovereignly and reveals his compassion. Nicodemus must have read Ezekiel 36 (not, of course, in chapter and verse form as do we) where the Spirit, likened to sprinkled water, is described as the agent of purification, renewal of heart, and newness of spirit. He must have followed through to chapter 37 where the image with reference to the Spirit is changed to the breath (or wind) of God that animates dead, dry, done-for entities with no hope for revival and future aliveness — apart from the undreamed of revivification of the long and definitely deceased by the immeasurable might of the Lord. Promised miracles on behalf of God’s people stared Nicodemus in the face and he missed them. Jesus’ reference to wind and water were intended to shock the Pharisee into an awareness of his own lostness and the Spirit’s remedy, so graphically outlined in Ezekiel’s astounding oracles. The Spirit of renewal, the breath of life, are allusions to the indispensable ministry of God the Third Person in bringing his folk into the kingdom. Wind and water (Jn 3:5, 8) represent the Spirit and his action. Verse 5 no more teaches baptismal regeneration (Christian baptism had not been instituted and Jesus was addressing Nicodemus in terms that he should have understood during their conversation and not eventually) than verse 8 teaches that it is necessary to be windswept in order to become a Christian. Wind and water point to the exertion of divine power and its wonderful spiritual results. Backtracking on the history of the bronze snake (Jn 3:14), its manufacture (Numbers 21: 4-9), its abuse and destruction (2 Kings 18:
4), is clear indication of the perennial tendency towards mistaken trust in signs and sacraments and a misunderstanding of their purpose — to strengthen trust. The statement, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord” (2Kl8:5) corresponds to John’s teaching that it is faith that evidences new birth and unites us to the Saviour. Throughout the whole scope of his gospel the Apostle’s point is this: religious scrupulosity, self-righteousness, and ritual, cannot save. There is new birth performed by the Spirit (3:5-7), righteousness provided by Christ (3:14,15,18), the itmer teaching and tugging of the Father (6:44-45) - these are saving, and our reliance is placed in the manifold grace of the Three and One.
RJS

HOLY BOASTING 5-18-08

“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” 2Cor ll:30
Having lived in three different countries with common linguistic and cultural roots it is interesting to note the contrasting attitudes and assumptions that underlie approaches to life, social interaction, and the demeanour in which people present themselves to others. Australia, for example, has long lived with a sense of irritable inferiority due to our lowly convict beginnings and the patronizing treatment from Britain towards us as a dependent and exploited colony. Winston Churchill looked upon Australians with disdain and in consequence many Australians hold their estimation of Churchill’s greatness in strict reserve (think of Gallipoli). Australians can come over as brash, coarse, over-familiar, anti-authoritarian, disparaging of people with airs (knockers or belittling of others are the terms that could be employed) and they can tend to assert themselves as “lairizers” - never had to spell it before - or tiresome, immature show-offs. I had a band of German friends in Australia who used to wince and complain daily at cocky Aussie attitudes and behaviour. Traditionally the Brits (as Australians observed the “Pommies”, as we called them) had an air of superiority that we worked hard on reducing by constantly embarrassing them as much as possible until they became more or less acceptable as “mates” (buddies) and we could genuinely call them “cobber” or “sport” in the most democratic and levelling of westem societies — you don’t need millions to rise in politics in Australia. Generally, on home ground at least, the English have been quite reserved, self-deprecating, inclined to irony and pessimism, slow to praise, and scomful of self- promotion. They are habitually given to understatement and usually modest, even apologetic, as to their attainments. That is beginning to change as I have heard recently on the BBC radio programme Point of View, subtitled “No, I’m the greatest “. Now, in the competition of the workplace, Brits are learning to sing their own praises in order to gain or hold on to their jobs, and as the broadcaster opined, acquire the American art of boasting.
The presenter of the programme mentioned her astonishment, whilst at university, at her American boyfriend’s boastful assessment of the great worth of his doctoral thesis on Communist China, and it is true, as the comedienne and actress Tracey Uliman mentioned in a recent interview, that Americans are trained from childhood to think of themselves as very special and are readily declaratory of their consummate skills and abilities. The outcome, of course, is that everyone is “special” and the term loses its significance, and mediocrity is rewarded with immense applause. It has always amazed me, in the area of ministry, as to how keen American candidates have been to enumerate their gifts and suitability for the vocation the thought of which vocation causes you to quiver, and the conduct of which covers you with shame. The Apostle Paul, by nature, would have fitted well into this category of self-confidence. The indications are that he was a self-opinionated braggart, proud of his lineage (a Benjamite), education (of the School of Gamaliel — Israel’s Ivy League), and attainments (an exemplary Pharisee among the caste most admired in his day). Paul’s tendency to wear tickets on himself was ingrained and incurable. He was an inveterate big mouth. His transformation in Christ did not erase his boastfulness but elevated it to another source, a higher plane, and he attuned his customary trumpeting to the praise and glorification of his new-found Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul discovered and experienced the great reversal and miracle of grace in the Christian life — that our perceived strengths become our weaknesses, and our felt weaknesses become our strengths (2 Cor 12:1-10). As God develops us in grace so, too, he demolishes our reliance on the flesh. Not a scrap of our growth or usefulness is attributable to self. Christian living is not the exercise of our powers but a series of exercises performed by us through divine power, energy, and enabling (1 Cor 15:10). Any credit to ourselves, or any other human being, is robbery of God and the nullification of gratitude due to him. “We ought always to beware of making the smallest claim for ourselves “, states Calvin, “.
• . such diabolical pride as to rob God and adorn ourselves with the spoils
We may thank and encourage fellow Christians, but never flatter them nor idolize them. Every human is as weak as water, has feet of clay (the mixed metaphor, water and clay, results in poor vessels graciously used by God), and on close scrutiny will soon disappoint us. For good or ill we focus too much on men and not enough on God, who alone prospers the cause of his kingdom and restores its frail citizens from their faults by his omnipotent and gracious actions.
Paul discovered that the things about ourselves that we treasure and take comfort and confidence in, either secretly or overtly, as worthy in themselves or as grounds for smug superiority over others are, in the end and essentially, refuse to be cast away (Phil 3: 4-11). They do not count in the etemal scale of values or towards the divine approval. “ The first principle of theology
namely, that God can see nothing in the corrupt nature of man. . . to induce him to show his favour “, says John Calvin. It is futile to amass the credits or plaudits that add to the pile of our self- esteem. The radical re-orientation in the heart as a result of grace is the desire for the divine glory alone — “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30, KJV, which is what baptism is all about, the death of sinful self or crucifixion within), a slow and fluctuating process in our still diseased and disordered souls. Or, as Isaac Watts expresses it: “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the cross of Christ my God: all the vain things that charm me most, Isacrfice them to his blood”.
The process of salvation is the gradual weaning away from the love and pampering of self to the love and praise of God. We cease to adore our own reflection and gaze upon God with the aspiration to reflect his goodness and glory. There is a decided turning away from the worship of our own vanity and all vain things to the worship of God, which will increase here with our growth in sanctification until we are stripped of all our illusions and equipped to worship him exclusively in heaven. It is the worship of self and the resultant rivalry, envy, and avarice that makes for hell on earth and leads to hell forever. “Keep the proud chit (child) down “, counselled the Yorkshire preacher William Grimshaw to his fellow ministers in the composition and delivery of their sermons. In other words, reduce the pride that reigns and rages within our wicked hearts, and the voice that booms with boastfulness; may it fall silent, or even better extol the greatness of God.
Wisely the great French Reformer of Geneva advises us: “The chief object of life is to acknowledge and worship God”.
RJS

ROBERT MURRAY M’CHEYNE (A Christian John Keats?) 5-11-08

To a teenager enthralled by the Romantic poets and beginning to take the Christian faith seriously there seemed to be a certain similarity in temperament and taste between John Keats (1795-1821) and Robert M’Cheyne (1813-1843). Keats is recognized as one of the great figures of English literature and M’Cheyne as one of the great men of 19th century Scottish church history. Both were men of refined sensibility, appreciative of the beauty of nature, admiring of the culture, and especially the poetry, of the ancient Greeks. Men of deep feeling and reflection, each developed an early capacity to express themselves in eloquent poetry and prose, Keats as a genius and M’Cheyne as young man of noble sentiment and aspiration. Both were examples of the best that could be expected of “natural man”, though storms and struggles raged within, and each, though men of enormous talent and promise, died an early death, Keats of consumption and M’Cheyne as the victim of a typhus epidemic. However, the chasm that emerges between the two in our consideration of them is created by the issue of faith. Both men were proud and ambitious by inclination and lovers of popularity, but Keats was scornful of Christianity and never sought to understand it. The heart of M’Cheyne was taken captive by Christ, and he sought throughout his life to adore and serve the Saviour. Keats celebrated earthly joys with a fine eye for observation and rare descriptive power; M’Cheyne, after his conversion, came to describe the wonders of a divinely wrought salvation for sinful men, and was ravished by the delights of heaven. Keats was enamoured by attractive phenomena apparent to the human eye – the features of nature, feminine allurements (Fanny Brawne), and the skilful artefacts of man. M’Cheyne possessed the perception of faith and was entranced by the Lord Jesus, expressing a thirst to know him as exhaustively as possible and to resemble his holiness. The quality of Keat’s literary composition far excels M’Cheyne, but the Subject of M’Cheyne’s verse in the hymns that he wrote, and also in the prose of his sermons, far surpasses anything that Keats admired or praised in his famous odes and sonnets, splendid and deliciously evocative though they happen to be. Keats could write of the nightingale’s song; M’Cheyne could write of the One for whom the nightingale sang. Keat’s could thrill to the cycle of nature’s year and rhapsodize over the autumnal “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”: M’Cheyne could commune, in his meditative walks and rambles, with the author of nature Himself, the Sustainer of the seasons in their regularity, and the Giver of fruitfulness. Keats could aver “a thing of beauty is a joy forever”. M’Cheyne, rising above things and thoughts that are indeed perishable, could declare the knowledge of the Redeemer who is truly “the believer’s joy forever.” The comparison of these two men has its limits, and for all their seeming similarities of human nature and poetic sensitivity, illustrates the vast divergence between folk occasioned by the creation of new nature through divine grace. Disposition and talents may be somewhat identical but the object of ultimate devotion determines a different direction of the heart and a nobler motivation behind a person’s art and endeavours. Some through divine enabling, whether or not it is acknowledged, are capable of impressive achievements in creativity and performance, but the glory is in the thing crafted and the ingenuity of its originator rather than in the Lord who inspires the concepts and confers the skills. M’Cheyne lived a life with a passion for the glory of God and the success of the gospel.
Romantics live lives that are idealistic, analytical, introspective, and subjective. They crave beauty, propriety, order, and bliss. The imperfections of the world and society, the miseries of human experience, the recalcitrant wrongdoing of man and the evils of the human heart engender enormous distress that can lead to denial, escapism, pretence, or pessimism. Essentially the views of Keats were derived from the paganism represented by the mythologies of ancient Greece and rationalized into the symbols of non-institutional religion where salvation and human improvement were the results of human striving and self-uplifting. M’Cheyne was led to a stark consciousness of God from His own self-revelation in Scripture and in Christ, and he came to a clear understanding and admission of his innate and ineradicable sinfulness which he was unable to control or correct, and which was uneasily masked by a prideful self-righteousness. Ideals of beauty and human perfectibility were quickly jettisoned in an abandonment of the supposed sufficiency of man and a reliance upon the goodness of God and the sufficiency of his pardoning and preserving grace.
M’Cheyne’s cosy life and complacent attitude, facilitated by middle class affluence and nominal, moralistic, religion (described in his day as moderatism) were shattered by the sudden death of his elder and adored brother David, a convinced believer who frequently urged Robert to seek salvation through Christ. The tragic loss aroused thoughts of eternity, conviction of sin, divine wrath, the discovery of mercy through the atonement of Christ, and acceptance through His righteousness alone. Avidly M’Cheyne investigated the realities of God’s grace and redeeming love through intense, prayerful, and humble study of the Bible. His call to ministry was close to his conversion and after the preparation of his heart by divine chastening and influences, and the furnishing of his mind by prescribed academic and theological training he was ordained pastor and preacher in the Scottish Presbyterian Church. Following his training as a probationer under the supervision of John Bonar, M’Cheyne’s ministry was exercised mainly in the parish church of St. Peter’s, Dundee. In that city the effects of his holy life (described as seraphic saintliness), earnest pastoral care, and arresting biblical preaching were enormous and noted throughout the entire nation. A heart that was set in pride, and fixed upon pleasure and popularity, that craved the praise of his fellows, was possessed more and more by the love of Christ (“constrained” was his preferred term). His literary skills became attuned to the adoration and commendation of the Saviour. In private speech and public proclamation he extolled the beauty of Christ and the benefits he had won for sinful men. In his message of Christ and his agreement with the Westminster Confession, he ably and fervently proffered the gospel to his listening congregation in an experiential manner, addressing the mind with sound teaching and appealing to the heart with warm emotion through the grand and essential themes of human lostness, divine compassion, electing love, reconciliation through the cross, holy living through God’s enabling, and the prospect of complete enjoyment of God in heaven.
M’Cheyne’s life and ministry are well worth knowing and accessible through biographies by Andrew Bonar (an intimate friend and fellow pastor), Alexander Smellie (a minister of the Original secession Church), and L.J. Van Halen (a Dutch author and admirer). M’Cheyne’s sermons are available from Banner of Truth and Christian Focus. “He was an outstanding man of God”, opines J.I.Packer, and any reader of his life and writings will find M’Cheyne to be a most winsome advocate of the gospel and compelling emissary of Christ. His words are perfumed with the grace of God, and, because they are centred upon Christ, far more alluring to the soul than even the highly fragrant verse of Keats (pastoral eglantine) or any other Romantic. The most entrancing romance of all is the Romance of the Love of Christ. M’Cheyne was gripped by it and beckons us to yield to its charms.
RJS
Jehovah Tsidkenu; The Lord Our Righteousness (selected verses)
I once was a stranger to grace and to God,/I knew not my danger and felt not my load;/Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,/Jehovah Tsidkenu meant nothing to me./When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,/Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;/No refuge, no safety in self could I see-
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be./My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;/My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came/To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free-/Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.
Jehovah Tsidkenu! My treasure and boast,/Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost:/In Thee I shall conquer by flood and by field-/My cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield!/Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,/This “watchword” shall rally my faltering breath./For while from life’s fever my God sets me free,/Jehovah Tsidkenu my death-song shall be.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne

SKY AND CLOUD (A Canvass of Many Messages) 5-4-08

“1 rather believe that some of the mysteries of the clouds will never be understood by us at all. ‘Knowest thou the balancings of the clouds? ‘is the answer ever to be one of pride? “The wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge? ‘is our knowledge ever to be so?. . . For my own part I enjoy the mysteiy, and perhaps the reader may. I think he ought. He should not be less grateful for summer rain, or see less beauty in the clouds of morning, because they come to prove him with hard questions; to which, perhaps, f we look close at the heavenly scroll, we may find also a syllable or two of answer illuminated here and there John Ruskin
A few evenings ago Maurreen and I gazed up into the evening sky and almost simultaneously identified a cloud formation as a jazz trio. To the left stood a trumpeter poised as if the number he was playing moved with tremendous swing, the guitarist was seated in the middle, and the drummer to the right, with arched back, had his arms outstretched over his kit. For a few seconds you could almost see the action and hear the sound until the figures shifted, separated, and dissolved into thin wisps that drifted apart. It was a brief drama that possibly very few eyes captured or even discerned in the same way. But the sky and the clouds that take shape over it are presenting us with an ever-changing scene that few happen to notice. Moment by moment above our heads an unrepeatable exhibition is taking place that rarely attracts human awareness but the canvass is spread with images daubed for the Creator’s delight. They are rough and fleeting, impressionistic, and susceptible to our subjective interpretation, but their transient existence at the sweep of his brush shows us that no second in time, no action of his, though unobserved by witnesses, is insignificant, for his hand is in everything, giving the vastness of the universe, and the fastness of our lives, great meaning.
No one has observed clouds more appreciatively than John Ruskin, nor anyone described them so bewitchingly. He combines the scientific insight with the artistic eye and describes them with his self-confessed, inerasable, theistic instinct. Nature is the work of God and his glory is in its beauty, his generosity in its bounty, and his judgment in its fury. God clothes the lily, marks the flight and fall of the sparrow, summons the wind, sends the rain, and causes the sun to shine. Nature’s panorama is a vision of the power and ingenuity of God, his goodness and government, and Scripture is the safe guide to the parallels that exist between the spiritual and natural realms. The One mind behind the two spells out their corresponding meaning. In his parables and preaching the God-man took up the phenomena of his Father’s world to portray to our imaginations the motions and features of the kingdom of grace. The Father’s favour reaches us in the rays of the sun and its shining is the outbreak of his smile. Water is the emblem of new life, and the Spirit blows like the wind in our direction to create it. The dove flutters down to alight upon our shoulder as an envoy of peace, and the gentle lamb is the symbol of the sacrifice in the heart of God that removed our defilement and won our acceptance with Him. Nature abounds with the tokens of gospel truth — warm invitations and solemn warnings — because the Author of each is the same, and provided His Scriptures are spread open before us we have the key to unlock nature’s secrets that tell out the wonder of God as Maker and Redeemer. What we behold with the physical eye illustrates His special, saving revelation to the inward eye, and brings to the heart a greater delight than that of mere sense. The signature of the Saviour is written over earth, sea, and sky and confirms the message of divine love engraved upon our hearts by the impress of the cross. The eye of faith finds a harmony in all the words and works of God.
Two dear friends of ours, both believers, were once fare-welled passengers in an ascending plane that as it rose soon became enveloped in the soft fleeciness of a huge cloud. Prayers offered on their behalf for a safe journey were soon confirmed by the thought of the “cloud of God”, the cloud that is God, descending to enfold His beloved in the mysterious strength of his protection. Whether the plane flew or fell His hand was in the cloud as in a glove to hold them and bring them to their journey’s appointed end — earthly home or heaven’s rest. The people of God may look to the cloud as a symbol of His presence and pledge of His guidance (Ex 13:21-22, Ps 78:14). God comes in the appearance of accumulated mist to show his swiftness and deftness of mobility, reveal his tenderness, and display his capacity to enwrap his elect in impregnable security that foes may neither grasp nor break. The cover of the cloud is as impenetrable as steel.
As much as the cloud is an emblem of God’s guardianship and guidance, so too, it is a reminder of his sovereign elusiveness and hidden-ness to the human mind (Ps 97:2). We know in part and only in approximation. The incarnate and the written Word are indeed accurate revelation but our apprehension is yet small in scale compared to the Infinite and we feel after Him through the limited language of analogy. God is bigger than our greatest thought, grander than our highest esteem, and ultimately incomprehensible. So the cloud of mystery humbles us. The radiance of revelation illuminates its outer parts, but there is a depth we cannot plumb, and a way we cannot find nor should ever dare to explore. Christ is the Light we see and our eye should ever be upon Him for enlightenment and understanding. He is the fire at the heart of the cloud that emerges in brilliance to cheer and encourage us, and “defend us from all perils and dangers of this night” (Ex 40:38 cf Evening Collect BCP p31).
The storm cloud, the dark cloud, first billowing on the horizon, and then frowning over us, is the grim warning of approaching wrath that shall soon sound its peals of thunder and send its deadly bolts of lightning against the enemies of God who will not forsake their sin and flee to a Saviour. The rumble will become a roar, black clouds laden with vengeance will open ominously, and then flames of fire will surge forth to consume all that is evil and purge the earth. The language is pictorial but the truth is sure. As clouds may move with amazing swiftness so judgment is always imminent and too close for comfort (Job 37:11-13).
Clouds composed of transient vapour encapsulate eternal truths of mercy and justice. They lift our eyes to a vision of God and his immutability. The prophets also employ them to point to the fickle heart of man and the shallowness of human religiosity, the changeableness of our resolve. High intent and swelling words can melt away like morning mists (Hosea 6:4). The cloud of God holds mystery and strength. The cloud of man has no content and quickly fades.
We need to look close at Ruskin’s heavenly scroll and learn from it. The clouds beyond our reach, which we can neither summon nor shape, are lofty symbols of God’s Word and ways. They show his mind, yet shroud his mysteries. They do whatever he commands them, and through them he commands us to look to him, to trust, and calmly await the day of our deliverance that begins our everlasting union with the Lord and all his saints, for “we who are still alive and are left will be caught zip together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess 4: 17). Ultimately, the clouds beckon us to raise our eyes to glory, and they will carry us home, and enclose us in intimate fellowship with the One whose excellence was proclaimed from a cloud:
“A cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him’ “(Luke 9:34-35). Indeed, the clouds that scud across the sky announce that redemption’s dawn is nigh.
RJS

GREAT MINDS AND WARM HEARTS (An Anglican Paradigm in a Turbulent Period) 04-27-08

There is an almost forgotten era in the Evangelical Anglican consciousness when our newly reformed church was served by a galaxy of great bishops whose leadership and ministries provide us with an admirable paradigm for the way authentic Anglicanism ought to be. Our minds readily go back to the great Reformers of the 16th century who laboured and suffered so heroically from the 30’s to the mid 50’s to establish a breakthrough for the Reformed faith in England and establish the Protestant cause. Men like Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley are fondly recalled and then there is a sudden leap forward to the great Puritan era of the century in which many of the most influential figures of the time were Anglicans until the Great Ejection of 1662, or remained so afterwards under heavy censure from Non-conformity, and then our attention is drawn quickly to the period of the Great Awakening in the 18 century when preachers of the established Church of the stature of Whitefield, Romaine, Grimshaw and Rowland promulgated the gospel through doctrines held dear and declared by Reformer and Puritan alike. In the Awakening Reformed theology took wings and spread across the nation on the mighty currents of evangelism. Our heritage is then traced through the increasingly thin line of men of pure Augustinian persuasion such as Newton, Scott, Simeon, Law, Bridges until we come to McNeile and Ryle of the 19th century to whom Reformed Anglicans of our time look back with admiration and gratitude for their stalwart defence and maintenance of our true confessional stance. Since the activity of these last mentioned men Anglican Evaiigelicalism has largely lost its strong classic character and drifted into various other forms of Evangelicalism less clearly defined and predominantly of an Arminian and nearWeslyan type, whose devotees are afraid of doctrinal clarity, partly through an understandable distaste for the repetition of past bitter controversies.
There is a period, however, through the reigns of Elizabeth 1, James 1, and the early part of the reign of Charles 1, when the Church in England, for all its turmoil and troubles, was blessed with a company of bishops whose adherence to Reformational orthodoxy, attractive personal piety, and sincere pastoral care was demonstrated with admirable conviction, courage, and compassion. For several decades the oversight of the Church was in the hands of men in full agreement with the theology of the Continental Reformed Churches and their founders. Matters of polity and the content and conduct of worship may have produced disagreement in England, but there was universal consensus within the leadership in the understanding of the sinful, helpless condition of man and the need for effectual grace stemming from electing love (See Article 17: To leave out election from preaching is to leave out the keystone of the arch
— John Duncan), and the Anglican Church was thoroughly Genevan in its theological principles and public preaching concerning salvation, and resolved to be even more explicit as opportunity arose to fend off ever-emerging contradiction and avoid misunderstanding. No era in Church history is golden and without conflict and complexity, but some are conspicuous in offering numerous examples of loyalty to truth and boldness in testimony, and in the stretch of time between two very worthy Archbishops of Canterbury — Matthew Parker (1504-1575) and George Abbott (1562- 1633) — there was a significant host of bishops who were shining lights in their time and excellent models of the ideal Anglican pastor/preacher/teacher/thinker whose like we could well do with again.
These men contributed to the development of an Anglicanism that was subsequently thwarted principally by the partnership of King Charles and Archbishop Laud, and then by their comrades and successors in the same vein of thought and aspiration, but it was the Anglicanism of our Founders, pressing ever on to clearer Scriptural expression and practice, an Anglicanism it would be beneficial to see once again. It would do us good, and it would be good for the world to which we seek to minister. It is an Anglicanism of truth and integrity in worship and witness, of realism in our relationship to God, of righteousness in the life of man. It is Anglicanism free of the frills of ritualism, un-swayed by the fancies, sentiments, and speculations of natural religiosity. It is forthrightly biblical, bountiful in its proclamation of grace, beautiful in its simple well-ordered form of worship (BCP), and benevolent in its care for souls, not willing to pander to human preferences with flattery and gimmickry, but minister plain truth as a sure way to the knowledge of God and as a safe guide to eternal life.
It would be lovely and immensely profitable if easier access to a fuller acquaintance with these men could be opened up to the general enquirer. Their stories would be instructive and encouraging, and a disclosure of the “real thing”, genuine, full-blooded Anglicanism energized by the Word of God and equipped by noble fervour for the kingdom of God, un-attracted to alluring distractions, undaunted by any foe however formidable — a Church armed with the full gospel, impelled by grace, prepared for suffering, and bent on doing good (the cross at the centre, as our message objectively speaking, and as our mode of life subjectively speaking).
Among this company of noteworthy men, worth researching, are: John Jewel, framer of the first systematic defence of the true apostolicity and catholicity of the Reformed Church of England: Edmund Grindal, champion of the unfettered exposition of Scripture, even in defiance of the queen who disapproved of puritanically inclined “prophesyings” i.e. exercises designed to encourage the ministers of the church in their competent preaching of the Word: John Whitgfl, among many things, determined defender of effectual and distinguishing grace in the sponsoring of the Lambeth Articles as an addendum to the “Thirty-nine”: Joseph Hall, former satirical poet, delegate to the Synod of Dort, and advocate of the art of Christian meditation, and:
John Davenant, sweet natured Lady Margaret Professor of Theology at Cambridge University, also a member of the Synod of Dort, the bishop who ordained George Herbert. and fervent advocate of the doctrines of grace at great cost to himself under both disapproving Archbishop and Monarch: James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, man of immense learning, wisdom, and grace, sympathetic to the crown in the Civil War but given a State Funeral by the victorious Oliver Cromwell. These men are some of the key participants in the “Romance of Reformational Anglicanism” in terms of their love of God and gospel and the faithfulness and heroism they displayed. Getting to know these Anglican leaders would fill an unfortunate gap and inspire a renewed dedication to a “confessionalism”, a churchmanship if you like, that is sorely needed in our time, a spirituality that blends firm doctrine with warm devotion from a decidedly Augustinian mould — without which current attempts at restoring Anglicanism will wither.
Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Bishop of Norwich, and John Davenant (1597-1670), Bishop of Salisbury, are particularly excellent and attractive representatives of Reformational Anglicanism. Both heartily and completely endorsed the responses of the Synod of Dort to the five points of Arminianism in affirming the entire corruption and absolute helplessness of human nature, the sovereignty of God in the exercise of electing love, efficient grace in the calling out of the elect, and the certain preservation of the people of God’s choice. Additionally, in support of Dort’s maintaining of definite redemption they not only subscribed to the efficiency of Christ’s atonement but also passionately urged the sincere proclamation of the sufficiency of the atonement as the basis of a counsel of assurance for all convicted sinners that, “whosoever will may come” for immediate forgiveness and acceptance through the Saviour’s blood- shedding of infinite value. For Hall and Davenant the teaching of Dort was wholly consonant with the Anglican Articles of Faith, requiring assent from all clergy of the Church of England. Davenant cast his agreement with Dort in the form of his great gospel-centred work entitled The Love of God, and Hall promoted deep and affectionate communion with God in his appealing and beguiling advice on the constant practice of meditation (The Arte of Divine Meditation- 1606). The two bishops exemplified the sound theology of their period in the history of Anglicanism together with the warmth of pastoral concern that not only characterized their ministries, but also caused Grindal’s tireless and generous efforts in the provision of education for the disadvantaged young, Whitgift’s compassion towards the poor, and mild-natured Ussher’s efforts in the promotion of reconciliation and understanding at an ecclesiastical and national level. All of these men in a harsh and hazardous generation demonstrated to a remarkable degree the mercy of Christ, and some suffered enormously for their identification with truth. The influence of these men was wedged between the strong introduction of reform, which they served to consolidate over a century, and a turning point in which the gains of the Reformation were reversed by an increasingly dominant party of a contrary persuasion, yet they typified Anglicanism at the peak of its doctrinal purity and godly practice as a body. The saints of this neglected period, those mentioned and many more, deserve our eager attention and earnest emulation. It would be an inestimable enrichment and strengthening of contemporary Anglicanism, a manifestation to the world of what Anglicanism, in essence, is meant to be.
RJS

SACRED STATISTICS 04-13-08

Numbers hold a fascination for the human mind. We like to gauge the measure of things, and why not? Sometimes it is a matter of necessity, and on others it is a matter of curiosity and interest. Figures can be an indication of success or failure; improvement or decline. They can encourage or discourage; confirm a plan of action or prompt a change of course. They can become a basis of boasting or cause of embarrassment. We use them to tell us where we are or how we are. Figures tell us how we are placed and how we perform. There are good and bad reasons for the practice of computation and it is part of the pursuit of certainty, for, as the philosophers tell us, mathematics is about the only field in which certainty may be ascertained. But it all depends on what is being measured. Distances, quantities, dimensions may be calculated with absolute accuracy and often with invariability, but numbers intended to sum up divine or human nature, or gauge the ways of God and man immediately become suspect, for irrespective of the numbers we have to hand we are often unable to plumb their meaning. Bare statistics may be plain but their significance may remain a secret. We may draw our conclusions but we need to be cautious. The work of the kingdom of God is superintended by a Mind that is infinitely above ours. The area of that work is in the realm of the invisible. The effect of that work is in human hearts. In all these dimensions our most acute calculations and judicious speculations fall far short of confident insights and assured results. In the best sense of the word, in the matter of the effect of the gospel, we are confronted with a mystery that will only be disclosed in the outcome of the final judgment. We are not to be misled by present appearances and are to be modest in our assessments. Where numbers are subject to astute interpretation we cannot be so sure that our boasted acumen is reliable. For beneath human statistics there lie many hidden factors embedded in a nature that is unknowable, unreliable, and unpredictable. Numbers may be recorded for reference, and cited for interest, but they do not necessarily reveal reality, to the end that we must always be reliant upon God, not resting in results that are big, nor becoming restless when they are poor. The fact is we like to take credit when figures are good, and we tend to shift the blame when they are not so good, and they do not well serve as an index to the true state of affairs in the human heart and the wellbeing of the soul. The fluctuation of fortunes as indicated in Scripture ought to cause us pause, as should the parables (e. g. the rise of religion in rebel hearts that appears to flourish and then fades away — Hosea 6:4b, Mart 13: 5-6, Heb 6: 4-6). Things are not always as they seem and only God can truly know, just as only his work is enduring.
Jesus’ preaching of the narrow way aroused the question in the disciple’s minds, “Lord, are only afew people going to be saved?”(Lk 13:23), and Jesus declined a direct answer, responding with the urgent exhortation to ensure one’s own eternal safety in the kingdom. Nonetheless the issue is discussed and many aver that the majority of mankind will find a place in heaven. This is an easy assumption among folk generally, and often advocated by sound Christian believers with sincerity and a desire for the glory of God to be exhibited in the numerical superiority of the company of the saved over those who are lost. But there are reputable thinkers and reliable voices that caution us against this conclusion that can lead to a dilution of the gospel and a neglect of the marks of holiness and a renewed nature that characterize the true people of God, distinguishing them from the careless, casual, self-deceived and hypocritical professors of faith, let alone those who def’ the Word of God and refuse the Redeemer in lives of blatant disobedience and unbelief. Christian optimism needs to he founded upon the Scriptures and not our wishful thinking or what we deem to be justness in God. There is a tendency in soft hearts and wellmeaning persons to drift towards a near-universalism, even of a Reformed kind, that fails to appreciate the holiness of God, the gravity of sin, and the sovereignty of divine determinations in human destiny. Whist we ever recline our souls upon the divine mercy in confidence of the sureness of his declared promises, we can never skim over the plain facts of his Word, conform them to the dictates of human feeling, and impugn the ultimate wisdom of God in his eternal deliberations and ultimate dispensations. We have been given a Saviour to run to for ourselves, and point others towards, but we do not decide the effects, or deduce the results, in human lives. Only God knows, be the numbers small or great, and we must not reduce the conditions of gospel believing, namely, heartfelt repentance and true faith, or erase the distinctives of a regenerate life. In specific cases we may lack discernment. We cannot judge the hearts of others or trace the progress of grace within them, and even with regard to ourselves we fluctuate in assurance, but we must never be dismissive of the revealed features of the Way of Salvation in surrender to the sentimentality of human nature. God’s grace is abundant but it is found exclusively in Christ the only gate to the sheepfold. The door will readily open to all who knock but in the words of its keeper, “Only afewfindit” (Mart 7:14). This is not a diminution of mercy, for the spread of the arms of the crucified is great, but it is strong inducement to find the divine favour that flows solely from the cross. There is an appointed way of salvation and a walk separate from the ways of the world when we find it.
To tone down the gospel or tolerate “carnal” Christianity is not a kindness for it fails to show us where we truly stand in relation to God according to the criteria spelt out in the Bible. Without these we may be cosy but not safe, comparing ourselves with man made norms but not the righteous requirements of God - sincere faith in his Son and renewal of life through his Spirit, all of grace and wrought only by grace.
So will there be few that are saved? We know that there will be many who will presume themselves so (Mart 7:21-23). We know that Christ refers to his flock as little (Lk 12:32) and that when he returns faith will be rare on earth (Lk 18:8). We see from Scripture that the people of God are described as a remnant. We know that initial success in claims of conversion eventually results in much defection and cooling of fervour, and that many great evangelists such as Whitefield confess that the crowds deemed to be brought to true faith were overestimated. So often the sensational effects of revival eventually wane. Faithful men like John Newton and John Charles Ryle in their well pondered writings observe that faithful preaching is often unpopular and sound conversions are few in occurrence. In contrast false teaching captivates the world and sects and cults flourish with astonishing growth. When Athanasius in the 4th century stood firmly for the divinity of the Lord Jesus he and his followers did so in the minority, and if huge numbers were an infallible sign of divine favour the Arians had great cause to rejoice, for they were the dominant party even at the point of Athanasius’ death. We are naTve to reckon on numbers alone and count them as signs of failure or success. They certainly do not vindicate our stance or advance without regard to our stand on truth, for our egotism may be intoxicated by numbers, and, conversely, our patience severely tried by them. We must not be beguiled by arithmetic for that can never measure the dynamics and dimensions of the divine kingdom and we must be cautious in our use of it, neither bragging, nor losing heart, but remaining faithful in relying upon a God who will accomplish his set purpose (2 Tim 2:19).
RJS

*Duty obliges us, and the holy Scriptures warrant us, to assure you that there are very few who shall be saved; that the whole world lieth in wickedness; and that it is a little flock to whom the Father will give the kingdom. - Henry Scougal.
*Men generally are resolved to think that salvation is not a very hard business, and that after all most people will be saved.... According to the Bible few will be saved And, as to the labours of the faithful preacher; The result will be, some few repent and are saved, the great majority of his hearers will not receive and believe his doctrine. - Bishop J. C. Ryle (John Newton opined in the same way).
*Hardly one in ten of those who have once made a profession of Christ, retains the purity of faith to the end. - John Calvin.
* We are wont always to desire a multitude, and to estimate by it the prosperity of the Church. On the contrary, we should rather desire to be few in number, and that in all of us the glory of God may shine brightly.... We ought not to judge by the largeness of the number, unless we choose to prefer the chaff to the wheat. - John Calvin.
*It is our part to be abased before him, and q