A Mouth Full of Fire

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mouth full of fire A Mouth Full of Fire: The Word of God in the Words of Jeremiah. His opening chapter which surveys the various approaches which are often referred to as “biblical theology” is very helpful in itself. He then expounds how the book of Jeremiah presents to us a theology of revelation.

Here are a couple of good quotes to give you a flavor of the book:

“To read the Bible as divine address does not mean ignoring its rootedness in human language and culture, but it does mean that these human texts are read in a particular way, and with a particular attitude of humble listening, that suggests that the best readings of Scripture will not only be confessional but will take place in confessional contexts, and in prayer and by the illumination of the Holy Spirit” (37).

“Where Scripture is carefully read and obediently heard, where it is joyously sung, prayed, studied, and proclaimed, there God makes himself present in the living and transforming person of his Word, and there he fashions a forgiven people into the words by which his Word will speak to tear down this world, this city of death, and build the eternal city of God” (290).

Bucer on Pastoral Care & Evangelism, Once More

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I have previously commented on Martin Bucer’s earnest comments on the importance of evangelism and personal pastoral care drawing from his book, Concerning the True Care of Souls. I have recently come across further comments along the same line in his work, De Regno Christi (On the Kingdom of Christ).

I share this as a further example that our Christian forebears saw pastoral ministry as more than preaching. It is not less than preaching, but it requires personal interaction with individuals as well as Paul made clear in the summary of his own ministry in Acts 20:17ff (which is the text Bucer alludes to in the following quote).

Those pastors and teachers of the churches who want to fulfill their office and keep themselves clean of the blood of those of their flocks who are perishing should not only publicly administer Christian doctrine, but also announce, teach and entreat repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and whatever contributes toward piety, among all who do not reject this doctrine of salvation, even at home and with each one privately. . . . For the faithful ministers of Christ should imitate this their master and chief shepherd of the churches, and seek most lovingly themselves whatever has been lost, including the hundredth sheep wandering from the fold, leaving behind the ninety-nine which remain in the Lord’s fold (Matt 18:12).

Brian Vickers’ New Book on Justification

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vickers justification

I recently received my copy of Brian Vickers’ new book, Justification by Grace through Faith: Finding Freedom from Legalism, Lawlessness, Pride and Despai. I had the privilege of reading this book in pre-published form and writing a commendation for it. Vickers provides an example not only of constructing theology well but also of grasping the spirit of the doctrine and applying it well. Tom Schreiner said, “This is the first book I would give to a scholar or layperson desiring to learn more about justification.” That is high praise indeed!

This is a good book written by a pastoral scholar who is not chasing abstract ideas but is seeking to shepherd souls by the word of God for the glory of God. I commend it to you

Here is my blurb for the book:

Brian Vickers’ Justification is a delightful read with its pastoral warmth and engaging style. Too easily and too often this crucial doctrine becomes merely an abstract, academic debate. Vickers, while aware of the debates, constantly roots the discussion in the impact and benefit this teaching should have for life according to the Scriptures. Vickers’ years of teaching this material in seminary and missions settings is apparent as he explains carefully and well, writing in a way that flows easily. I warmly commend it to all.

Ghosts of Dreams

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Ghosts of Dreams

WE are all of us dreamers of dreams,
On visions our childhood is fed;
And the heart of a child is unhaunted, it seems,
By ghosts of dreams that are dead.

From childhood to youth’s but a span,
And the years of our life are soon sped;
But the youth is no longer a youth, but a man,
When the first of his dreams is dead.

‘Tis a cup of wormwood and gall,
When the doom of a great man is said;
And the best of a man is under a pall
When the best of his dreams is dead.

He may live on by compact and plan
When the fine bloom of living is shed,
But God pity the little that’s left of a man
When most of his dreams are dead.

Let him show a brave face if he can;
Let him woo fame and fortune instead;
Yet there’s not much to do, but to bury a man
When the last of his dreams is dead.

– William Herbert Carruth

How Malachi Speaks to us Today

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Peter Adam’s new book, The Message of Malachi, from The Bible Speaks Today series, is really good! It is well written and is a wonderful sermonic exposition of the book with sound theological application for today.

Here is a sample from the introduction which is helpful and illustrates the approach of the commentary.

“There are three ways in which this book is the word of the Lord for us today.

First, Malachi saw that at the heart of God’s people, the church, must lie a deep, radical, and overwhelming conviction that God loves them.  Without this at our heart, we are lost.

Second, Malachi knew that the greatest sin of God’s people is the sin against God.  We easily get confused about sin.  We see that we can sin against ourselves, and harm ourselves.  We see that we can sin against others, and harm them.  But we find it harder to take seriously our sin against God. Yet here is the fundamental sin, the source of all sin.

Third, in Malachi’s day the people of God were in a mess.  While they were not actually running away from God, and were not worshipping idols, as they had in the past, they seemed to lack the energy to serve God wholeheartedly.  They tried to live in neutral territory, neither serving God too enthusiastically, nor turning away from God too enthusiastically.  In this they were self-deceived.  They thought they were in a grey no-man’s land, where they neither needed to respond whole-heartedly to God, nor refuse him.  In fact they were in a vicious circle, a terrifying whirlpool, sinking further and further to destruction.  Malachi is God’s effective remedy for such a situation among the people of God.” 14-16

Cyril of Alexandria on Proper Spirit for Biblical Study

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A good warning from the 5th Century:

“The Spirit does not reveal the truth to those who spend too much effort preparing for battle and who exult in tangled and deceptive arguments rather than rejoice in the truth. This is because the Spirit does not ‘enter a deceitful soul’ [Wis 1:4], nor does he otherwise allow his precious pearls to be rolled under the feet of swine. Instead, he would rather spend his time with simple minds because they move without guile and avoid superfluous sophistry.”

(Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John: Volume 1, p. 5)

Tolstoy, Pride & Pastors

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For some of my early summer reading I worked through a variety of smaller, early 20th century books I’ve picked up along the way. One such book is Henry Churchill King’s It’s All In the Day’s Work (Macmillan, 1916). Not everything in the little book is commendable, but it does contain gold.

At one point King enlists Tolstoy in order to address the “unconscious pharisaism of intellectual and spiritual pride.” King has in view those who want to help others but approach this “help” with the assumption that they are better than those they seek to help. King notes “how certain he [Tolstoy] is that it is highly probable that those who feel so competent to help, are themselves less and have therefore less to give than those they desire to aid…” (39).

The following quote from Tolstoy is long and a bit convoluted to modern ears, but it contains a valuable point. This comes from a letter in response to one who asked for Tolstoy’s critique of the ethical tone of a certain play.

“I refer to the opinion that men, provided or not provided with diplomas, as narrow-minded as they are uncultivated, but possessing great assurance, conclude, one knows not why, that since they are so intelligent and worthy, they need not try to govern themselves, but that their vocation and sacred duty is to enlighten, organize, and direct the lives of others.  Some of them would accomplish this with the aid of the old government, others with that of the new one, while still others, like your Peter, would bring this about by offering this ‘ignorant and stupid people,’ this same people, which, by its labor, feeds these good-for-nothings, the grand truths of Christianity which they imagine themselves overflowing with.”

“The condition sine qua non of all good and all useful activity is humility.  As soon as humility is lacking good becomes evil.” (40-41)

There is overstatement here, of course. People do need the “grand truths of Christianity,” but we distort those truths when we present them with such arrogance, or when we act like we need not govern ourselves. Let us have a gospel confidence, one rooted in God’s truth not in ourselves. Then boldness and humility can be joined.

Suicide, Justification by Faith & Pastoral Care

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Ministry in the times of loss and death is one of the crucial roles of a pastor, so good examples of such ministry are indispensable.

Recently in our church a dear brother took his own life. Such a situation raises a host of challenges and questions. Many people continue to think that a person who takes his own life cannot go to heaven. What does the Bible say about this? For the pastor, how do you preach such a funeral? Do you directly address suicide? Every situation is different, but the video below contains one of the most powerful, pastoral funeral sermons I have ever heard. Even if you do not know Glenn Perry, this message by Lee Tankersley is a powerful example of several things, including:

–          how robust theology matters and can bolster us in suffering
–          justification by faith and the issue of suicide
–          the importance of really knowing your people
–          clear, direct, pastoral, humane address at a funeral
–          the value of the ministry of encouragement (e.g., Preston Atkinson’s letter at the end of the message)

The sermon begins at about 15:30.

“Both the believer who dies singing ‘Amazing Grace’ with his family at his bedside and the believer who dies by taking his own life, will stand before God saying, ‘All I have is Christ and what he did for me.’ And that is enough. In fact, that is the only thing that is enough. Our good works will not suffice before his demand for perfect righteousness, and our sins are not sufficient to triumph over his sin-bearing death and resurrection. Jesus is our righteousness. All we have is Christ. And that is enough. ”

(Lee Tankersley)

Jayber Crow to Pastors

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In his novel, Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry gives a significant critique which pastors ought to hear.  One need not agree with Berry at every point, but we ought to hear our critics to see if there is truth (even partial truth) in what they are saying. The main point here is not the youthfulness of the pastors, but their failure to pay attention to “place,” to recognize the particularity of a certain place and people, their beauties and tragedies, their strengths and weaknesses, their customs and traditions.

It is too easy to speak in generalities (as described below) without engaging the real, specific people in front of you. You need school or training to help you engage the text well, but then you must learn your own people. Fruitful ministry will take place not as we merely pass “through” or “over” the communities in which we minister, but as we take time to actually live there.

The preachers were always young students from the seminary who wore, you might say, the mantle of power but not the mantle of knowledge. They wouldn’t stay long enough to know where they were, for one thing. Some were wise and some were foolish, but none, so far as Port William knew, was ever old. They seemed to have come from some Never-Never Land where the professionally devout were forever young. They were not going to school to learn where they were, let alone the pleasures and the pains of being there, or what ought to be said there. You couldn’t learn those things in a school. They went to school, apparently, to learn to say over and over again, regardless of where they were, what had already been said too often. They learned to have a very high opinion of God and a very low opinion of His works—although they could tell you that this world had been made by God Himself.

What they didn’t see was that it is beautiful, and that some of the greatest beauties are the briefest. They had imagined the church, which is an organization, but not the world, which is an order and a mystery. To them, the church did not exist in the world where people earn their living and have their being, but rather in the world where they fear death and Hell, which is not much of a world. To them, the soul was something dark and musty, stuck away for later. In their brief passage through or over it, most of the young preachers knew Port William only as it theoretically was (“lost”) and as it theoretically might be (“saved”). [emphasis added]

“Learn it meekly on thy knees”

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Just last night I came across this poem and found it to be a wonderful statement on how we should approach the Bible, especially the last two stanzas. The fact that this poem was originally written for children will discredit it for some, but such an assessment would be unwise. I am currently reading Mark Gignilliat’s fine book, A Brief History of Old Testament Criticism. He describes key voices in biblical scholarship as they again and again began with rejecting the divine inspiration of Scripture. Such skepticism is usually in vogue, but the faith encouraged in this poem is the way to life and understanding.

“Taste”

O guide my judgment and my taste,
Sweet SPIRIT, author of the book
Of wonders, told in language chaste,
And plainness not to be mistook.

O let me muse, and yet at sight
The page admire, the page believe;
“Let there be light, and there was light,
“Let there be Paradise and Eve!”

Who his soul’s rapture can refrain?
At Joseph’s ever-pleasing tale,
Of marvels, the prodigious train,
To Sinai’s hill from Goshen’s vale.

The Psalmist and proverbial Seer,
And all the prophets’ sons of song,
Make all things precious, all things clear,
And bear the brilliant word along.

O take the book from off the shelf,
And con [learn] it meekly on thy knees;
Best panegyric on itself,
And self-avouch’d to teach and please.

Respect, adore it heart and mind,
How greatly sweet, how sweetly grand!
Who reads the most, is most refin’d,
And polish’d by the Master’s hand.

—from Christopher Smart, Hymns for the Amusement of Children (1771)