Cherish a Holy Warmth

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I really appreciated this excerpt from Spurgeon, finding that it both challenged and encouraged me personally and expressed what I am aiming for in teaching and preaching. It is so easy to become the overly cautious person he rebukes here. I think he is exactly right that the failure to be loving and gracious often arises from a failure to revel in the reality of God’s grace.

I hope the quote encourages you as it has me.

“Next to that, cherish a holy warmth. Do not repress your emotions and freeze your souls. You know the class of brethren who are gifted with refrigerating power. When you shake hands with them, you would think that you had hold of a fish: a chill goes to your very soul. Hear them sing. No, you cannot hear them! Sit in the next pew, and you will never hear the gentle hiss of mutter which they call singing. Out in their shops they could be heard a quarter of a mile off, but if they pray in the meeting, you must strain your ears. They do all Christian service as if they were working by the day for a bad master and at scanty wages: when they get into the world, they work by the piece as if for dear life. Such brethren cannot be affectionate. They never encourage a young man, for they are afraid that their weighty commendation might exalt him above measure. A little encouragement would help the struggling your mightily, but they have none to offer. They calculate and reckon and move prudently; but anything like a brave trust in God they set down as a rashness and folly. God grant us plenty of rashness, I say, for what men think imprudence is about the grandest thing under heaven. Enthusiasm is a feeling which these refrigerators do not indulge. Their chant is, ‘As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen’; but anything like a dash for Christ and a rush for souls they do not understand. Mark this, if you trace such brethren home, you will find that they have little joy themselves and make very little joy for others. They are never quite certain that they are saved, and if they are not sure of it we may readily guess that other people are not. They spend in anxious thought the strength which ought to have gone in hearty love. They were born at the north pole and live amid perpetual frost: all the furs of Hudson’s Bay could not warm them. About them you see none of the rich tropical flowers which bedeck the heart upon which the Sun of Righteousness shines with perpendicular beams. These chilly mortals have never traversed the sunny regions of heavenly love where the spices of holy delight load the air, and apples of gold are everywhere within the reach of glowing hearts. The Lord bring us there!

Jesus Christ loves warm people; he never shines on an iceberg except to melt it. His own life is so full of love that its holy fire kindles the like flame in others, and thus he has fellowship with those whose hearts burn within them. The fitness for love is love. To enjoy the love of Jesus we must overflow with love. Pray for earnest, eager, intense affection. Lay your hearts among the coals of juniper till they melt and glow.”

(Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermons on Men of the Bible, 237-238)

Encouragement for Discouraged Preachers

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As we approach the anniversary of John Calvin’s last sermon (February 6, 1564) I am posting comments from his sermons on 1 Timothy. In the section below, from a sermon on 1 Tim 6:12-14, Calvin provides powerful encouragement for those times of discouragement, opposition and despair. Appropriately, Calvin points us to God drawing especially on the fact that Paul’s charge is rooted in “the God who quickens [makes alive] all things.”

I pray you may be encouraged in your labors today and persevere knowing your labor is not in vain (1 Cor 15:58).

As we see a great number who when they consider what they have to do, their hearts fail them if it be weightier than they are able to perform and go through with. ‘Ho, is it possible that I can do this?  I feel myself weak, I see that this is a great burden, and a burden that I am not able to bear.’  No, no, only let us take pains, although the things be hard for us, God will work for us.  And since we see that Saint Paul, naming things that surmount the strength of men, ceases not, notwithstanding, to exhort men to do them, know we that it will be no excuse for us to allege that we were astonished and amazed when he saw that we were not able and fit for that charge which God laid upon our shoulders. For he knows what we can do- that is to say, nothing at all.  And moreover, he will not be lacking to us, nor ever fail us, so long as we walk humbly and learn to submit ourselves to him, and commit ourselves wholly into his hands.

This is what we have to mark.  And because these things might discourage us let us mark well also the circumstance which Saint Paul adds. And let it be to shut up the matter withal when he says, That God quickens all things, for he shows us hereby, though it seem that we are poor and miserable wretches, that our condition is accursed, that as touching the world we are despised and reviled, that men mock at us, that they put out their tongues at us, that others torment us, that we are taken as castaways, that nevertheless we must not faint for all that, for God does quicken. Therefore let us cast our eyes upon that life which God keeps hidden with himself, and which he opened when he revealed it by the Holy Ghost and gave good witness of it in his Gospel.  So then, when the world has conspired our death a hundred thousand times, and we are taken for condemned persons, and reviled, let us go on, for our lives stand not here below. It hangs not upon men, neither upon their reputation, nor upon their credit. Let us not think so, but let us surmount all grief that the devil casts in our way to make us faint-hearted, considering that it is God who quickens all things. He holds our life in his hand. He will keep it safely and securely, and it is his pleasure that we should bend to him and content ourselves therewith, knowing that he will not deceive us in that which he has promised us.

Now God does not quicken anything but that which seems to be dead.  Therefore when we walk as we ought, and as we are called, it cannot be but we must be as it were cast away in the sight of the world, and that death itself threatens us and compasses us about on every side.  And why so?  Otherwise God would not do that which he challenges to himself in this place, namely, to quicken us; but in the midst of death we may hope for life, knowing that no man can molest us when the invincible power of God is for us; and that they who now trouble us shall abide confounded, and God will cause us in the end to triumph with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Abandoned to God

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“Upon what condition has God called us to his service?  Is it for one deed or two, and then give us leave every man to rest?  No, no; but that we should dedicate ourselves to him, both to live and to die, and to be his, for good and all.”

–  John Calvin, sermon on 1 Timothy 6:12-14

Gospel-Inspired Striving

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“If men through vain ambition are so set on fire that they spare not their very lives, what shall we do?  What cowardliness is it and how can it be excused if any may spare himself, when God sets not before us any temporal wages, any piece of silver, and fleeting and brittle possession, but gives us everlasting life, and shows that he seeks nothing but to have us to be his heirs, to be partakers of his glory and immortality, to enjoy all his blessings, yes, and him himself?  Where God lifts us up so high, are we not worse than stocks and blocks, if all the sinews we have strive not to follow this fight, the reward whereof is so great and inestimable?”

–  John Calvin, sermon on 1 Timothy 6:12-14

Holiday Reading

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At this time of year, among other things I’m often thinking of what I might read over the holidays, and I typically have in mind more books than I can possibly get to. So I thought I’d share the books recently purchased or received (often due to the generosity of my colleague, Ben Mitchell) which I have before me hoping to get to them- at least some of them- over the break.

I’ve been waiting to read Brian Godawa’s Enoch Primordial: Chronicles of the Nephilim, The Lost Book Two. My enjoyment of the first book in this series (commented on here) has made me anticipate this prequel. And, actually, since starting work on this piece I’ve finished this one! It’s a great story in line with the previous volume of Godawa’s series.

For Christmas I’m reading Douglas Wilson’s God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything and just starting Adam English’s The Saint Who Would be Santa Claus: The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra. Wilson is a great writer with good insight on culture and biblical theology which is great for a book on Christmas. I’ve long been interested in Adam English’s topic so this is another book I’ve had my eye on.

 

I still haven’t read Hunter Baker’s The End of Secularism, and he kindly gave me a copy. His thesis only becomes more and more relevant. I’ve been wanting to read some more A. J. Conyers, and recently picked up The Listening Heart: Vocation and the Crisis of Modern Culture & The Long Truce: How Toleration Made the World Safe for Power and Profit.

In November I saw Paul R. Kolbet’s Augustine and the Cure of Souls: Revising a Classical Ideal, and it caught my interest. I don’t know the author, but the early church’s leading theologian on a topic dear to my heart- oh yeah!  Harold Bloom’s The Shadow of a Great Rock: A Literary Appreciation of the King James Bible is a continuation of my interest in the KJV. I’ve been very interested in Tim Grass’s F. F. Bruce: A Life especially after Ben Mitchell’s strong commendation. Ben also pointed me to Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies which looks very compelling.  Lastly, I picked up Daniel Grotta’s J. R. R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth due to Louis Markos’s recommendation in his book On the Shoulders of Hobbits which I enjoyed last month.

Preaching Christmas

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Pastors often talk about the challenge of preaching on Christmas once they have done so several years in one place. This is a real issue, and I think a key answer is awareness of biblical theology- seeing that Christmas is not simply one event in the Bible but is the culmination of the hopes and dreams of the Old Testament with implications for what is still future to us. In this sense Christmas is all through the Bible.  When God promises to build David a “house,” to establish his line with a Son always on the throne (2 Sam 7), this is a promise of Christmas. When Athaliah, that daughter of Jezebeel, rose up to destroy all the royal house of Judah (the line of David) and make herself Queen (2 Kings 11), this was just one more example of the seed of the serpent seeking to destroy the seed of woman. The deliverance of Joash and preservation of the Davidic line was the rescuing of Christmas. When Haman conspired to destroy the Jews, this was simply the seed of the serpent once more bent on preventing Christmas, and God raised up Esther to preserve the seed of woman.

Examples abound, and I have previously sought to deal with this issue in this audio.

May God bless you in the preaching of His glorious gospel this Christmas.

Books for Boys

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[from The Children’s Hour]

A colleague recently asked me for some recommendations for books for boys, so I thought I’d post my list and reflections here. Many more no doubt could or should be listed, but below are some books my boys and I have enjoyed. I compiled the list by giving a quick look back over this blog and by asking my sons what they remembered as their favorites. Links take you to discussions of these books on this blog. Typically my thoughts on the age range for the book can be found at the link.

First, here are a few really good articles on the topic. Some relate specifically to boys and others more generally to the importance of reading good stories:

Articles:

Living with Books from this blog

Thomas Spence, Wall Street Journal,”How to Raise Boys Who Read”.

David Mills, “Bad Books for Kids: A Guide to the World of Youth Literature & What You Can Do About It”

Martin Cothran, “The Dangerous Article for Boys: Why boys don’t need to get in touch with their feelings and how you can protect them from people who think they do (with a list of books to help you fend these people off)”

David Mills, “Enchanting Children: Training Up a Child Requires a Well Formed Imagination”

Books/Authors

C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (younger ages), Lord of the Rings (older)

John White, The Archives of Anthropos series – The Sword Bearer, Gaal the Conqueror, The Tower of Geburah– good allegorical fantasy; some dark elements

R. M. Ballantyne- The Coral Island, and others- With a boy as the main character in each story Ballantyne tells great adventure stories with the Christian faith prominently featured

G. A. Henty (blog entries)- Good historical fiction with a boy as the main character. Some are better than others. Character, courage, faith and perseverance are prominent. My favorite Henty is In the Reign of Terror (French Revolution)

Alta Abernathy, Bud & Me : The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys– Fascinating true story of perseverance, courage and family

Douglas Bond, Hostage Lands– Roman Britain

Rosemary Sutcliffe- The Lantern Bearers, Eagle of the Ninth– Roman Britain

Allen French, The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, The Lost Baron, The Red Keep– Medieval Europe

Piet Prins Struggle For Freedom Series (Martin & Boudewyn) When the Morning Came, Dispelling the Tyranny, [others in series]

A. Van der Jagt, The Escape: The Adventures of Three Huguenot Children Fleeing Persecution, The Secret Mission: A Huguenot’s Dangerous Adventures in the Land of Persecution

Douglas Bond, The Crown & Covenant Series- Duncan’s War, King’s Arrow, Rebel’s Keep (combined review)- one of our favorite series ever; Scottish history

J. H. Hunter, How Sleep the Brave: A Novel of 17th Century Scotland–

Kathleen Fidler, I Rode with the Covenanters

Peter Reese Doyle, Drums of War series– American Revolution

Douglas Bond- Faith & Freedom trilogy- Guns of Thunder, Guns of the Lion– American Revolution

Edward Stratemeyer- The Minute Boys of Lexington and Concord, The Minute Boys of Bunker Hill American Revolution

Douglas Bond, Mr. Pipes series- Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers, Mr. Pipes and the Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation, Mr. Pipes comes to America, The Accidental Voyage: Discovering Hymns of the Early Centuries

A Morning Prayer

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Reading and praying Psalm 90 recently, verses 14, 16-17 particularly caught me as expressing so much of what I want to pray for myself and my family. For the last little while I have made it a regular part of my morning prayer.

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

It is helpful each morning to pray for myself, my wife & my children to be satisfied in the love of God and that being thus satisfied we might rejoice and be glad this day. No doubt many challenges will arise this day, but if we are mindful of God’s great love for us we can rejoice and be glad no matter what comes. Then, I want to recognize the work of God around me. I don’t want to be so busy and spiritually dull that I fail to notice and appreciate clear evidences of God at work. And I want my children to see God at work. I want them to see his “glorious power” not only in stories of the past but in the present, in our life and the lives of those around us. Surely this is one key step in them being in awe of God, loving God and coming to saving faith in God. Then I yearn for the favor of God to be upon us and for him to establish the work of our hands.

This Psalm has been very beneficial to me and has increased in richness as I have prayed it regularly.

True stories

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“Stories organize our lives, and the stories that won’t or can’t do that are false stories. The stories that orient us, that place us back where we should have been, the stories that bring redemption, are called true stories. They go by other names if you listen to the teller of false stories- legends, lies, myths, fairy stories. But true stories have authority to overcome the envious carping of the adversary.”

– Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything, 112.

Pastors as Fathers, Caring for Each Member

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Commenting on Paul’s statement that he cared for the Thessalonians as a father (1 Thess 2:11), Calvin articulates an important aspect of pastoral ministry.

unquestionably, no one will ever be a good pastor, unless he shows himself to be a  father to the Church that is committed to him. Nor does he merely declare himself to be such to the entire body, but even to the individual members. For it is not enough that a pastor in the pulpit teach all in common, if he does not add also particular instruction, according as necessity requires, or occasion offers. Hence Paul himself, in Acts 20:26, declares himself to be free from the blood of all men, because he did not cease to admonish all publicly, and also individually in private in their own houses. For instruction given in common is sometimes of little service, and some cannot be corrected or cured without particular medicine.