Thursday 24 July 2014

Early steps in preaching

Over the last few months I have been very thankful to have had the opportunity to preach more regularly than usual. During this time I have attempted to grow and learn as much as possible and as a result one of the things I have created is a short list of 7 points for myself.  A list of things to remember next time, things I should definitely have mastered by now, and things that I should focus on as I am actually delivering a sermon. Once you come home after preaching it is so easy to forget some of what you have learned from the experience, so for the benefit of those who, like me, are still finding their feet in preaching, here is my very simple list (excluding exegetical matters obviously):

1. It has to flow
2. Almost completely memorise it
3. Prepare to death
4. Speak slower than you think you should
5. Be very passionate
6. Use 13 font and A5 pages with red pen markings
7. Don't ever try to just wing it

These are very obvious things, but if achieved they make a big difference in my estimation. 

Robbie

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Another guy I like a lot.

Good old Wikipedia surprisingly describes the the coming to faith of Asahel Nettleton very well:

'Asahel was born 1783 into a farming family in Connecticut. During his early years, he occasionally experienced religious impressions. "One evening while standing alone in a field, he watched the sun go down. The approaching night reminded him that his own life would some day fade into the darkness of the world beyond. He suddenly realized that he, like all other people, would die." These impressions were only temporary.
In the autumn of 1800 Nettleton came under powerful conviction of sin. This conviction deepened as he began to read the writings and sermons of Jonathan Edwards, but yet he remained unconverted.
It was in 1801 that a revival came to North Killingworth, and by December of that year, 32 new converts were added to the Church; by March 1802 "the congregation had been swelled by ninety-one professions." Among them was Nettleton, who, becoming "exceedingly interested" in missions societies soon had "a strong desire to become a missionary to the heathen."'





I am determined to read his biography at some point this year. It has been on my shelf too long.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Mr Edwards at his best

Just a short one. Lovely quote from Jonathan Edwards I came across today. It really moved my soul.

'The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.'

Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography p.143 (Quoted from The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol 2, p.244).


Tuesday 15 October 2013

Getting the Balance Right



Spiritual depression is an issue I have certainly struggled with over the years, and something I know I will be writing about again here.
Today however, I don’t want to focus on the issue itself but an area of theology which for me has often been the trigger for hitting a spiritual low.
What I want to discuss are the teachings and books that you come across every so often that for one reason or another, even when read thoughtfully, can feel like they are just too much to take. The subject matter they deal with, or the conclusions they come to, are just so strong that your assurance, and therefore your hope can begin to slide.

One occasion that particularly sticks out in my mind is visiting my friend Matthew in Oxford in about 2006. We were both sitting reading some very strong Puritan paperbacks in his room (An Alarm to the Unconverted by Joseph Alleine was one of them I think). After a period of silent reading and concerned faces all round Matthew eventually said ‘It steals your assurance, doesn’t it?’. Sadly, I had to agree with him.

Now don’t get me wrong I agree totally with the necessity of real repentance (importantly motivated by a correct view of what God has done) and the reality of the cost of discipleship.  And I often lament how much the modern church often ignores these essentials.

But every so often I have come across a book or sermon that has pushed these two ideas so far that in all honesty they lead me to despair.

The first significant occasion I can remember this happening was as an undergraduate I came across George Whitefield’s sermon ‘The Almost Christian’. On the whole I think I managed to grasp and agree with what he was getting at. But at the same time I could find no basis for ever being sure that you weren’t an ‘almost Christian’. The unhelpful application I took from it was simply just try harder because you are probably not saved.

A more extended and no less scary version of this idea is a full length book by Matthew Meade (1630?–99) on the idea of the almost Christian.

John Flavel (1627-91)manages to be scare even more with his 'The Touchstone of Christian Sincerity', which basically leads to the conclusion that none of what you say or do proves that you either are or are not a Christian. Any of the fruit in your life may still lead you to being deceived about your true state before God.

Solomon Stoddard’s (1643-1729) ‘A Guide to Christ’ requires you to pass through so many complicated ‘stages’ of conversion and humiliation that it left me convinced that never mind me being a Christian, no one I even knew could possibly be genuinely converted.

John Bunyan at times moves in a slightly different direction and simply talks about the sheer difficulty and scarcity of salvation. Just have a look at his ‘The Straight Gate, or Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven’ or if you can find it, one of the most extreme books I have ever read – an exposition of Luke 13:24 ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.’

Moving to more Pietist literature we have a book by Daniel Dyke called the ‘Mystery of self-deceiving’. Having read some of it I can certainly agree with the review:

‘This frightening book assumes that in order to be able to deal with man’s religious difficulty one must first understand it fully. It then proceeds to dissect the human heart fibre by fibre and cell by cell. No corner is left unexplored, no crevice forgotten, no raw nerve kept mercifully unexposed.’

Ernest Stoeffler, The Rise of Evangelical Pietism p.74

Here is a little taster from its opening pages:
‘Many natural men there are whom God never renewed by his grace, in whom yet he so moderateth and bridleth many corruptions as pride, lust, cruelty, etc. that they break not forth. Hence such men deceitfully imagine that they are framed of purer mold, and are of better nature and disposition, free altogether from such corruptions because free from the annoyance of them…Lest therefore we deceive ourselves in this point, it standeth us in hand, diligently to examine whether the rest and silence of our corruption be from the restraining, or the renewing spirit, from the grace of God suppressing it, or oppressing it, from want of mind disposed, or of an occasion to be proposed for the drawing forth of corruption?’

Mystery of Self-Deceiving p.34

Finally, for a whole bookshop which seems dedicated to the scariest books you can find check out here.

So what am I getting at?

Well very basically I find reading much of this kind of stuff hard. I can’t imagine what it would have been like at the time it was written.
Clearly there are some Christians who find this writing encouraging, otherwise these websites and bookshops wouldn’t exist. But I am afraid it just leads me to be being seriously discouraged.

It is this kind of thinking that probably affects my assurance more than anything. After all there is no clear level to be attained too. How do you know you have repented enough? Counted the cost enough? It feels as if any realistic basis of assurance is taken from you.

I suppose a sensible step forward when looking at all of this is that the context needs to be remembered. These writers obviously did not set out to purposely lead people to despair. As Bunyan says to his readers: 'this book is not prepared to take away true grace from any'. They just wanted to ensure you were definitely converted. When it comes to sincerity of heart they took it very seriously, and they were absolutely right to. They wanted to leave no possibility at all for false conversion. But at the same time I can’t help feeling that perhaps in seeking that end they may have pushed things too far. I get a sense that any sort of actual sanctification is in reality unobtainable, and even if you have experienced something it is more than likely false and simply a trick of your own corrupt bias or indeed the devil. And to begin to think that way is obviously very discouraging.

But at the same time I need to be careful. Three things:

Firstly, I know from experience that quite often I’m too slow to really understand what they are saying at times. I can sometimes focus far too much on just one statement and then miss the bigger picture of what they are trying to convey. Many of these books and sermons are enormous and are very heavy throughout. Just reading a few pages can easily lead you to the wrong conclusions.

Secondly, I need to remember the culture of the time too. A Philip Yancey book would never have reached these hard men of the past.

Thirdly, I love these guys – they are some of the best ever. I know that I will read their books and sermons for the rest of my life. The vast majority of what they say is massively helpful.

And this leads me to the other side of the coin. While many of the Puritans and Pietists and those who followed them have lots of this ridiculously introspective stuff, they also have a wealth of unbelievably encouraging publications too.
Take ‘A lifting up for theDowncast’ by William Bridge, or ‘Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ’ by John Bunyan as just two examples. These are books that in the very strongest of terms encourage you to never give up. They couldn’t fail to warm the heart of even the most despairing Christian. And there are many more like them.

Have a look at Jonathan Edwards ‘The Religious Affections’. I know for sure that plenty of what he has written can be very strong and scary, just look at these sermon titles. But in terms of gaining real biblical assurance, this book cannot be missed. I found it to be a real antidote to getting lost and overwhelmed when trying to gain real biblical assurance.
(It is a massive book, so for a bit of a taster of its main teaching have a look at this amazing sermon. Definitely one of my favourites ever.)

So, my conclusion.
I want finish with a question. I am well aware that so much of today’s post-evangelical church culture pushes easy believism and so much of the wrong thinking that goes with it; but in trying to respond to this is it possible to make the narrow way too narrow?

Thankfully I think I have discovered that I am not the only person to have considered this issue before.

The Scottish preacher James Fraser (1639-98) complained that part of the reason for his lack of assurance during the first three years after his conversion was that the devil was determined to make him doubt ‘by proposing false marks, and making me to imagine grace to be another thing than indeed it was; and by inconsiderate reading of marks of sanctification given in good books, some of which I found afterwards not well cautioned.’

Am I a Christian? p.5-6

John MacArthur talks of ‘A chronic uncertainty that leads to a preoccupation with oneself, one’s fears, and one’s failings. It results in a vacillating, feeble faith. That tendency plagued the church in earlier ages, and sadly there are still whole denominations today where true, settled assurance is almost unheard of.’

and  

‘Some older books make assurance dependent on such high standards of personal holiness that they render real certainty virtually unobtainable.’

Foreword to Donald S. Witney, How can I be sure I am a Christian? p.7-8

Looking back again to Pietism, Mark Talbot helpfully points out that they can sometimes be guilty of an “experientialism” that undermines confidence in salvation by grace alone, individualism that encourages followers to approach the Scriptures in naïve, undisciplined and even dangerous ways, and perfectionism that tempts people to substitute legalism and moralism for the “biblically-authorized . . . means of grace."

Roger E. Olson commenting on the analysis of Mark R.Talbot in Pietism: Myths and Realities p.4

Also at times Pietism ‘exhibited little glow and less humaneness. The Christian way was set forth as the way of rigid and merciless self-analysis in the mirror of the Word and under the glare of the white light of Godly logic.’

F. Ernest Stoeffler, The Rise of Evangelical Pietism p.75

This whole issue is obviously such a difficult balance, but it is vital we get it right. I hope the brief thoughts above in some way begin to make sense of such a difficult area of theology.

RJRIII

Thursday 25 July 2013

A Tale of Two Theologians

Academic theology can be frustrating. Very frustrating in fact. Strangely I have had the experience of studying at three different Bible Colleges over the years, and if I am honest during that time I have had to listen to a lot of stuff that is at best pointless, and at worst, downright heretical. Don't get me wrong, I have certainly enjoyed many very useful and enjoyable modules and lecturers and continue to do so, but at times the classroom can be a very frustrating and depressing place. If a denomination or movement is going to slide theologically, this is where it will begin.

Recently however, my heart was cheered by the story of someone who studied at the very epicentre of Biblical higher criticism, and yet in God's grace still came away with a lively and sincere faith. Honestly, I almost stood up and applauded when I read this.

In Evangelicalism Divided (a book I can't say enough good about) Iain Murray recounts the story of Eta Linnemann who studied under Rudulf Bultmann. Her liberal training led her to an extremely faulty hermeneutic:

'The undeclared yet working basic principle of Old Testament and New Testament science is: What the text clearly states can, by no means, be true. The exegete's task is to discover and solve 'difficulties' in the text of the Bible. The better the interpreter, the more ingenious this will be.'

After recieving this training she worked as an author and Professor of Theology in West Germany until:

'Bitter personal experience finally convinced me of the truth of the Bible's assertion: 'Whoever finds his life shall lose it' (Matt 10:39). At that point God led me to vibrant Christians who knew Jesus personally as their Lord and Saviour...God took my life into his saving grasp and began to transform it radically. My destructive addictions were replced by a hunger for his Word and for fellowship with Christians...Suddenly it was clear to me that my teaching was a case of the blind leading the blind. I repented of the way I had misled my students. About a month after this, alone in my room and quite apart from any input from others around me, I found myself faced with a momentous decision. Would I continue to control the Bible by my intellect, or would I allow my thinking to be transformed by the Holy Spirit? John 3:16 shed light on this decision, for I had experienced the truth of this verse. My life now consisted of what God had done for me.'


Murray continues:

'The consequence for Linnemann was that she labelled her former teaching 'poison', destroyed her published writings, and became a missionary in Indonesia.'

I think the reason I find this story so encouraging is that I that I have experienced the damage liberal thoelogy can do first hand. Time and again I have seen apparently solid believers drift when they have come across either persuasive and charismatic teachers or they have simply been moral wimps and given up when they have found themselves in the minority.
But here is a tale of the complete opposite. The most unlikely of people finding a vibrant faith. Salvation truly is all of God.



Just one more closing thought. I know it is not the best resource in the world, but Wikipedia had this interesting statement regarding Linnemann:

'In her book "What is credible - the Bible or the Bible criticism" Linnemann claimed in 2007, citing an unnamed ear witness, that Rudolf Bultmann on his death bed had recanted his critical views. A real proof of that assertion, however, so far (as of 2009) remains only an echo in Bultmann's research.'

Perhaps another reminder that there is always hope, even for the most unlikely.


Tuesday 25 June 2013

Sacraments, Presumption and Assurance

1 Corinthians 10:1-11: For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
I love this passage in 1 Corinthians, because it teaches us some important things for our understanding of Christian perseverance, as well as our doctrine of the sacraments (surprise, surprise, there is a link between the two). It tells us two things in parallel.

A common mistake  

(1) It is a warning to the Corinthians against presumption—against false assurance on the basis of participating in Christian worship (including the sacraments, see vv. 14-22). That is, there was a danger for the corinthian christians to think that they we "done", that they were "home" spiritually speaking, out of danger. The basis for their presumption was the fact that they were baptized, and that they participated in the Lord's Supper (or so they thought! See 1 Cor. 11:20-22).
The truth of course, was that they were "putting Christ to the test", presumably by the way in which they were behaving (1 Cor. 11:17-32) when they gathered together as a Church.
To illustrate this, Paul uses Israel ("according to the flesh", see v. 18) in the Old Testament, during their wanderings in the desert, to illustrate his point. They were all baptized (10:2) and all ate and drank the spiritual food and drink (vv.2-3), that is, the Manna and the water from the rock. Nevertheless, with most of them, the Lord was not pleased.
http://lacedwithgrace.com/
The point for Paul then, is that being baptized, being in the community, and participating with the community in activities and worship (most clearly expressed in the Lord's Supper) is not itself the best indicator of spiritual health. Most of the Israelites in the desert had done the same and died in the wilderness. External participation is not a good way of getting spiritual assurance of one's condition. Paul explicitly says that their case exists for the Corinthians (our) example.
Great. So Paul affirms that we can have a false security the comes from "going through the motions", from participating in the "means of grace" in an external fashion. 

A Better Alternative

(2) However, at the same time, Paul tells us something powerful. In this passage he expresses a systematic truth called "the invisible and visible church". The Visible church is the all in the passage. All were baptized, ate and drank. 
However, there were many "hypocrites", many members of the Old Testament "church" that were not genuine believers. Those are the many. With many God was not pleased, and were overthrown in the desert.
However, none of the takes away from something powerful: something was really going on with the "baptism" and with the eating and drinking.
Paul says that those who ate and drank, ate and drank spiritual food and water (vv.2-3). He says that they drank from the Rock, and that Rock was Christ. That is, there are those (not the many) who by eating and drinking drank from Christ himself, spiritually participated in Christ (cfr. 10:15-21, note how Paul uses "spiritual" in other parts of 1 Corinthians: 2:13-15; 15:43-47).
That is, there was real objective spiritual benefit for those who trust in God and His word by eating and drinking. God had said as much in Deuteronomy 8:3 (emphasis mine): "And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord
To know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of the Lord is to trust in His word for life and learn to live in obedience to Him (Deut. 8:6), trusting that He is guiding you to eternal life with Him (Deut. 8:7-8). That is the grace that is imparted when we feed on what He gives us, when we spiritually feed on His word as we physically eat and drink.

Forget going it alone

So Paul warns us about the false, hypocritical and dangerous spiritual presumption the comes from participating in the Christian community and it's worship in a way that builds our assurance on the rituals, activities, and relationships themselves. 
At the same time, Paul tells us how the sacraments as means of grace can give us real assurance: we drink Christ, when we trust in Him who gives us the manna, the one who calls on us to trust Him and His words despite the circumstances (the desert), to obey Him joyfully and trust that He is leading us to the Promised land.
This tells us something important. We need to remember that there is a normal, ordinary way that Christians persevere until the end. Christians persevere, ordinarily, by being preserved by God. And God does this principally by the ordinary means of grace: Word (preached, read, studied, discussed), prayer and sacraments, in the context of the communion of saints. This is not an attempt to limit God nor to obligate Him to act the way we think He ought. It is just a recognition of the fact that this is the way that God has said He will act in the context of church.
The implication is that we must be wary of the idea that Christians can (or are even meant to) "survive" spiritually on their own. It explains why generally those professing christians who we observe begin to neglect to meet with others seem over time to eventually abandon the faith altogether. It has nothing to do with a "roman catholic" view of salvation, where we equate "belonging to a church" with "being saved". The passage above is clear: God ordinarily uses the means of grace within the context of the church community to preserve His saints. I think a common mistake is to assume that He has promised to do so outside of this context, and besides these means, as if the "perseverance of the saints" was something that happened "automatically" and in which our participation was the spiritual equivalent to lying on deck chairs sunbathing alone in the yard.
It seems to be the mistake that A.W. Pink made, and sadly, one that I see too many christians making. Let us be wise in dealing with this pastorally!

Friday 14 June 2013

Sexy Ministry


I'm very thankful for the development and growth of what has come to be know as the "Young, Restless and Reformed" movement. I know I myself and many others, even outside the United States, have been deeply encouraged, resourced and just generally blessed by many figures and members of this movement. It's exciting and in many ways many churches in other countries (like Chile) dream of seeing a inter-denominational, reformed, dynamic church planting movement in our own cities and countries. Praise God for what is happening!

Having said all that, the short time I have spent thus far in full time ministry has begun to help notice some serious problems that can result from looking to these sorts of movements. There seems to be a tendency that seeks to be hip (maybe even hipster), cool, culturally astute, etc. Now, these things are not necessarily bad in of themselves —well, maybe being a hipster is bad, probably bordering on sinful. Except that I'm being ironic... Any way, where was I?

Ah yes! These things are not necessarily wrong in themselves. I'm more than happy for Christians to avoid creating a reactionary subculture in their local churches, and acting in peculiar ways that have more to do with human tradition, legalism, or simply a detachment from everyday real life that make them unable (nevermind unwilling) to even have a conversation with a normal non-christian person. And related to this, I'm certainly happy for Christian Ministers (evangelists, pastor-teachers, and the like) to be thoughtful about knowing how to "engage" non-christians and to be clever—in the good sense of the word—in their interactions. Jesus himself tells the Twelve to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Mat. 10:16). So there you have it!

That's one thing. However, as tends to happen with our sinful hearts, there is a tendency to move towards a desire to be—dare I say!—sexy. Because we covet approval, we covet acceptance, we covet comfort: the comfort of not being the weird, awkward one who actually has that opinion about marriage, sex, drugs, and so on.

Hmm... is it me, or do skinny jeans and converse sneakers seem to be key in all of this?
Not only are we tempted to play it cool from a "world" perspective, to be more "missional", but we find ourselves pressured to be more trendy "from within" so to speak. There are other, though similar pressures. Pressures to entertain and draw a crowd. Pressures to be like "that ministry". Pressures to more charismatic and lead people into deeper experiences in the worship service. Pressures to be more "practical" and offer people the "10 steps to something", and knock-off all the theology and have a little less Bible reading. 


And this is a challenge, particularly from a Reformed perspective of ministry. If you're a reformed guy in christian ministry, you probably take your ministry cues (I hope) from the Apostle Paul. He laid down the ground rules himself, when he left the Presbyters at Ephesus. He says in Acts 20:18-21; 26-27:
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. [...] 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
I want to point out just a few things from this passage:

1) Paul reminds the elders about what he taught them: "the whole counsel of God" (anything that was profitable, v.20, 27), "testifying [...] of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ". That is, He taught the Scriptures centered on the Gospel and the call the Gospel makes to repent and trust in Jesus the King.

2) Paul reminds them of how he taught them: "with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me [...]  I did not shrink". That is, at great personal cost, with much suffering and sacrifice, as well as courage.

3) Paul reminds them of the way he taught them: "declaring [...] teaching you in public and from house to house". Paul's "ministry philosophy" was (a) public declaring and teaching, and (b) personal, home-centered teaching. On top of this he reminds them about how he lived among them (v.18). He invites them to remember and observe his lifestyle, and it seems obvious that his desire is that they imitate him! (Cfr. 2 Tim. 3:10-12; Heb. 13:7).

So Paul's ministry was one in which he taught and declared the Scriptures day in and day out, calling people to repentance and faith in the Gospel. He taught with humility, with tears and with a lot of sacrifice and suffering. He taught publicly and he taught at a more personal, maybe familial level. He lived his life out in the open and sought to be followed and imitated (presumably, including his own constant need to repent for his own sins!).

He loved people and His Lord deeply, dedicated himself continually and tirelessly to teaching and preaching, with a consecrated life, willing to courageously suffer for Jesus and the Church He had bought with his own blood (v. 28).

But suffering, teaching, loving, life. That's not as cool or sexy as having a great band, with a good lighting system and tattoos. 

But hey, maybe that's so old school that some hipsters will take it up, even if it's just to be ironic, right?

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