"Why can't I just Preach?"

Great blog post by Tim Keller: "Preachers-only aren't good preachers"

The greatest temptation

From Samuel Rutherford (in The Loveliness of Christ [Banner of Truth, 2007], 4-5):

I find it most true, that the greatest temptation out of hell, is to live without temptations; if my waters should stand, they would rot. Faith is the better of the free air, and of the sharp winter storm in its face. Grace withereth without adversity. The devil is but God's master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons.

I know what they are trying to communicate...

...but I'm trying to get rid of my counterfeit gods, not buy more.

Lucas and Derek Thomas video

For those who might be interested, this is a video of a conversation between Derek Thomas and me in the beautiful sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS. Among the topics we discuss are the transition from classroom to pulpit, how I set up my preaching, and the necessity of preaching grace.

How to cope with evil speaking

From Charles Simeon (in Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge [Eerdmans, 1977], 134):

The longer I live, the more I feel the importance of adhering to the rules which I have laid down for myself in relation to such matters.

1st To hear as little as possible what is to the prejudice of others.

2nd To believe nothing of the kind till I am absolutely forced to it.

3rd Never to drink into the spirit of one who circulates an ill report.

4th Always to moderate, as far as I can, the unkindness which is expressed toward others.

5th Always to believe, that if the other side were heard, a very different account would be given of the matter....

The more prominent any person's character is, the more likely he is to suffer in this way; there being in the heart of every man, unless greatly subdued by grace, a pleasure in hearing anything which may sink others to his level, or lower them in the estimation of the world. We seem to ourselves elevated in proportion as others are depressed.

A word for those who struggle with their hearts

From Charles Simeon [in Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge [Eerdmans, 1977], 126):

You see yourself guilty of sins which preclude a hope of forgiveness. Your friends have endeavored to shew you that you judge yourself too hardly. In this they have erred for, if they have succeeded, they have given you a peace founded on your own worthiness, a peace that would last no longer than till the next temptation arose in your mind....if they have not succeeded, they have only confirmed you in your views.

I say to you the reverse. Your views of yourself (your own sinfulness) though they may be erroneous, are not one atom too strong. Your sinfulness far exceeds all that you have stated, or have any conception of. 'Your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?'

But I have an effectual remedy for them all--'the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' I grant that you are lost and utterly undone. So are all mankind--some for gross sins--some for impenitence--some for other sins. You are lost for the very sins you mention, hardness of heart, indifference, etc...

Do this then, take a book as large as any that is in the Bank of England. Put down all the sins of which either conscience or a morbid imagination can accuse you. Fear not to add to their number all that Satan himself can suggest.

And this I will do. I will put on the creditor side 'the unsearchable riches of Christ' and will leave you to draw the balance.

Imagine what he'd think of email...

From Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge (Eerdmans, 1977), 123-4:

Although he wrote so many letters Simeon was very well aware how much better it was, if possible, to talk rather than write, especially when a 'delicate or much-controverted point' arose. With his usual sensitivity to the feelings of others, he said, "If I speak with a man, I can stop when I see it is doing harm; I can soften off the truth so as not to fly in the face of his cherished views...Written words convey ideas, convey sentiments, but they cannot really convey exact feelings."

Simeon was a thinker who also 'felt' a great deal. He wrote when there was no other way of communicating with a person, but realised all the time the many limitations of letters, particularly in expressing emotions: "You cannot hesitate upon paper; you cannot weep upon paper; you cannot give upon paper the tone of love; you cannot look kindness upon paper," though he tried his hardest to do so. At any rate, the difficulties and drawbacks in communication in those days do not seem to have deterred him from putting his pen to paper almost every day.

Article about installation at FPC Hattiesburg

For those who might be interested in reading about my installation as senior minister at First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, MS, an article from the local paper.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice

An example from the world of high school football.

Samuel Rutherford Quote, no. 2

"It is not our part to make a treasure here: anything under the covering of heaven we can build upon is but ill ground and a sandy foundation: every good thing, except God, wanteth a bottom, and cannot stand its alone: how then can it bear the weight of us?"--Rutherford, Loveliness of Christ, 41.

Samuel Rutherford Quote, no. 1

"Whether God come to his children with a rod or a crown, if he come himself with it, it is well. Welcome, welcome Jesus, what may soever thou come, if we can get a sight of thee: and sure I am, it is better to be sick, providing Christ come to the bedside and draw the curtains, and say, Courage, I am thy salvation, than to enjoy health, being lusty and strong and never need to be visited of God."--Samuel Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ, 21.

Bruce Gordon's Calvin

In this five hundredth anniversary of Calvin’s birth, booksellers have flooded the marketplace with all things John Calvin. Of all the books published in this anniversary year, the one that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest is Bruce Gordon’s Calvin. In fact, it is not too much to claim that what George Marsden did for Jonathan Edwards, Gordon did for Calvin: produce a well-written biography, rich in primary and secondary source material, which actually penetrates to the man himself. This is a high achievement.

Gordon’s achievement is manifold. First, as a scholar of Reformation-era Europe, he successfully situates Calvin in the web of relationships that dominated the sixteenth century. For example, we learn that not only that William Farel and Calvin’s relationship was important in 1536, but how that relationship developed over time, how it created difficulties for both men, and how loyalties to other players (Bucer, Viret, Bullinger) complicated their long-standing friendship. Likewise, we come to understand how Calvin’s developing relationships with Bullinger and Melanchthon, driven by his own sense of a trans-European Reformation, impacted his public theology and pastoral sensibilities.

Next, not only does Gordon describe the relational Reformation, but he also shows how the political developments in France created complexities for Calvin. Like the Apostle Paul with his fellow Jews, Calvin longs for the conversion of his fellow Frenchmen. However, the progress of the Gospel, reformed according to God’s Word, was tied to the messy political situation within France. Though he attempted to woo French nobility to the Reformed faith, he also was increasingly frustrated with the leadership’s willingness to dally with Roman Catholicism and unwillingness to separate and establish a fully Reformed church. What Calvin did not reckon with, and what Gordon wonderfully pictures, were the political complexities within France itself.

Moreover, Gordon probes Calvin’s mindset in ways that are both fair to Calvin himself and realistic. When Calvin becomes angry or displays arrogance, Gordon never rationalizes it away. For example, in an exchange with Bullinger, Calvin penned “an angry reply” in which he told Bullinger that to defend Jerome Bolsec “is the extreme of absurdity” (p. 207). While most of us would skip over that comment, Gordon explores how Calvin’s passion and anger often would drive him to rhetorical excesses. The rest is a critically sympathetic portrait that is more real to life than any other Calvin biography in print.

Finally, Gordon helpfully summarizes vast tracts of Calvin’s theology. For example, Gordon devotes an entire chapter to a summary of Calvin’s commentary on Romans, which provides a pathway for probing his theological development (chapter seven, pp. 103-120). He explores the sacramental controversies with Wittenburg and Zurich as well as the compromises that led to the 1549 Consensus Tigirinus (pp. 161-180). His chapter dealing with Calvin’s controversy with Servetus was masterfully done (pp. 217-32), not only for exploring the theological dimensions, but also for outlining the political realities. And throughout, Gordon demonstrates what historian Philip Benedict also observed: namely, that the key dividing line in the Protestant Reformation was between the Swiss Reformed and the German Lutherans and centered on the Lord’s Supper. Calvin heroically tried to straddle that dividing line theologically and politically, ultimately with little success.

I hope that this book receives wide notice, not only among Reformation specialists and theological students, but especially among educated laypeople. Many of our people in Reformed and Presbyterian churches are woefully ignorant of Calvin’s contribution; the few that know something about him are as likely to idolize him as to understand him. Bruce Gordon’s Calvin is a marvelous corrective to both faults: informative, accessible, and realistic, it is the book to give to interested church members. And read with the eyes of faith, Gordon helps us move from seeing Calvin as a hero to seeing the True Hero, Jesus himself, whom Calvin loved and served.

Matt Holliday's blog

The passionate Cardinals fan in me has been very careful during this recent spate of good play; I've been known to jinx my teams (are Calvinists allowed to believe in jinxes?) and very much want my Cards to get to the playoffs. Of course, if they play the Phillies with their four lefties, against whom the Cards bat .223, they won't be in the playoffs long. But as the 2006 team demonstrates, the key is getting there: from there, anything can happen.

I ran across Matt Holliday's blog--Matt is a pretty strong Christian, although he doesn't talk about his faith here. Anyway, thought I would link it for the Cardinals fans out there who didn't know about it. I think one of the great things is how many professing believers there are on the Cards; of course, it starts with El Hombre, but there are several others. It's a lot different from the teams from late 1970s with their rampant drug abuse.

Lucas sermons at FPC Hattiesburg

Again, for those who'd be interested, my sermons are current being posted at Sermon Audio. You can find them here.

Back on Calvin Blog Again

For those who'd be interested, this is another week of Lucas on Calvin on Ref21 Calvin Blog. You can see the first two posts here and here.

A Praying Life

One of the best books that I've read recently is Paul Miller's A Praying Life. I had quoted from it a few days ago, but that does not sum up the impact the book made on me. I've read a lot of books on prayer, but I've not read one as practical and thought-provoking, realistic and hopeful.

In 32 short chapters, Miller draws the reader into his praying life, which means drawing us into his life. In so many books on prayer, I feel like the prayer expected is formal, orderly, technique-driven (i.e. the acronym ACTS). I can pray like that--in fact, I often do each morning as part of my morning worship. But at least for me, such prayer often feels divorced from my life once I leave my study. Miller freely describes the messiness of his life, especially connected with his physically challenged daughter Kim, and helps the reader envision how praying happens in the midst of a real, messy life.

But even more, Miller shows us that praying means come to a Father who loves us, his own blood-bought children. And since we are children, we are helpless--which is why we come to our Father: we recognize that we can do nothing without him. But since we are children, we should be unrestrained--like my children, who constantly burst into my conversations with my wife expecting me to care for their immediate needs. My kids don't wait for an appointment; rather, they rush into my presence with their needs and requests. Why don't I live that way with God my Father?

There is a great deal else I took from this book--most notably, because I can't change my kids but because God can change my kids, rather than trying to change my kids through the force of my words, I'm taking my concerns to God and asking him to change my kids through the power of his Spirit. Specifically, I've begun praying Scripture for my children in the areas in which I perceive their greatest needs--"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others (Phil 2:4)"; "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13)"; "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger (Prov 15:1)." It is part of praying through my life and hopefully by God's grace develop a praying life.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. There are few books that are life-changing; this is one of them.

SEC Football...the lack of prestige

I know that I'm not suppose to tackle sensitive topics now that I'm in the Deep South...but I find it striking that ESPN research has developed a "prestige rating" for every major college football teams. According to the website: ESPN's Prestige Rankings are a numerical method of ranking the best FBS college football programs since the 1936 season. Point values were assigned for certain successes (win a national title, earn 25 points) and failures (get your program banned from the postseason, lose two points).

And according to the rankings based on this system, the SEC only has ONE team in the top ten (Alabama at no. 6). Now, granted, they have a stranglehold on positions 12-16 (Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Florida). So, you could say, five teams in the top 16 positions. But the Big Ten has THREE teams in the top 11 (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State). And the Big 12 has THREE teams in the top 7 (Oklahoma [no. 1], Nebraska, Texas). So, in terms of the best college football teams in history, those teams are not in the SEC, but in the Big Ten and Big 12.

Notice that this has nothing to say about the current best teams or best leagues (although everyone would agree, I'd think, that the SEC was down last year and that the Big 12 was the dominate league). But it does speak to the quality and prestige of certain leagues and how valuable those teams are in the areas that count the most: national championships and clean programs. And those programs historically have not been in the SEC....

Hope those ain't fightin words!

Machen Day

J. Gresham Machen, born 28 July 1881. Happy 128th birthday, Dassie!

Though you do not see him now...

A few paragraphs I wish I had read prior to preaching from 1 Peter 1:8-9 yesterday morning. From Paul Miller, A Praying Life, 193-4:

"Many of us wish God were more visible. We think that if we could see him better or know what is going on, then faith would come more easily. But if Jesus dominated the space and overwhelmed our vision, we would not be able to relate to him. Everyone who had a clear-eyed vision of God in the Bible fell down as if he were dead. It's hard to relate to pure light...

"When we suffer, we long for God to speak clearly, to tell us the end of the story and, most of all, to show himself. But if he showed himself fully and immediately, if he answered all the questions, we'd never grow; we'd never emerge from our chrysalis because we'd be forever dependent....No one works like him. He is such a lover of souls."

Why There are No Perfect Pastors

From Desiring God:

In my imagination, I sometimes fancy I could [create] a perfect minister. I take the eloquence of ______, the knowledge of ______, the zeal of ______, and the pastoral meekness, tenderness, and piety of ______. Then, putting them all together into one man, I say to myself, “This would be a perfect minister.”

Now there is One, who, if he chose to, could actually do this; but he never did it. He has seen fit to do otherwise, and to divide these gifts to every man severally as he will. (Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 107.)

Till Death Do Us Part

The other day I received two books that beautifully picture the permanence and joys of marriage, even in the face of severe health difficulty. A Promise Kept was written by Robertson McQuilkin, former president of Columbia International University and accounts for McQuilkin's extraordinary care for his wife, Muriel, who suffered with Alzheimer's disease from 1978 until her death in 2003. One of the most striking moments in the book was when McQuilkin was told that the reason his story impacted so many was that in times of sickness, women are generally true to their men, but men are rarely loyal to their wives. It was a moving, brief story of faithfulness over a lifetime experienced before the darkness came.

Historian Gene Genovese wrote the little book, Miss Betsey: A Memoir of Marriage. Here is a delightful, witty, honest, and grace-filled story of the marriage of two prominent historians of the American South. As Betsey suffered and died from multiple sclerosis (among other health issues), both Genoveses experienced strength in the Christian faith, each having converted to Catholicism late in life.

In the face of so many marriages which dissolve because one of the partners no longer feels invested or loving or committed, the recounting of a long love in the same direction--recountings given by men who are far more often the ones who abandon a marriage--is stirring. Even more is the basis for their faithfulness: both Genovese and McQuilkin found the strength that sustained their love in the gracious Gospel of Jesus. The one who bore the death that we deserved enables us to sustain marriage till death do us part.

Grace

From U2's album, All You Can't Leave Behind:

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

Spiritually dead

This morning, I'm preaching on Ephesians 2:1-6 (tonight, we'll take up 2:7-10) on the theme of grace. My first point is to talk through what it means to be "dead in the trespasses and sins": namely, as those ruined by sin, we are unable to see and savor spiritual things. Our worldview is limited to the material and sensual, to this world.

I ran across this little testimony from the New York Times Magazine that illustrates this perfectly (but to which I won't have time to refer in my sermon). Written by a novelist, Dana Tierney, it depicts the inability of an individual in their natural condition, ruined by sin, captive to the course of the world, to see beyond this world. She writes, "My friends and relatives who rely on God -- the real believers, not just the churchgoers -- have an expansiveness of spirit. When they walk along a stream, they don't just see water falling over rocks; the sight fills them with ecstasy. They see a realm of hope beyond this world. I just see a babbling brook. I don't get the message."

Ultimately, the only one who can get in people's hearts and open their eyes so that they are able to see, truly see, is God himself. That is Paul's point in 2:4-6--without God, without grace, we are unable to see the excellency of Christ or his way of salvation. But when God acts to make us alive with Christ, raise us with him, and seat us in the heavenlies, when God grants us faith as a gift, when God saves us, then we can see.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see!"

Real humility

From Thomas Charles of Bala: "To talk much about ourselves, of our own experiences and discoveries, though under pretence of giving glory to God, is a sure proof that we are as gods to ourselves, and that we would have others filled with admiration of the distinguishing favors we enjoy, and have them know what eminent saints we are...Real humility takes nothing to itself, but sin and shame; and it gives all the glory to God, who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift" (Thomas Charles' Spiritual Counsels, 22-3).

The Tragedy of Steve McNair

In about an hour from now, the funeral service for former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair will be taking place on the University of Southern Mississippi campus here in Hattiesburg. Because McNair grew up about 45 minutes away in Mt. Olive, MS, and because two of his sons live in Hattiesburg, our local news coverage has been dominated by the his tragic story.

And it is tragic: if you don't know, McNair was gunned down by his girlfriend while he was asleep on the couch in an apartment leased to him and used by them both. He leaves behind four kids and a wife as well as heart-broken family, friends, and communities who looked up to him. In many ways, it was a senseless act by a woman who was beginning to lose her grip on her life.

But it was tragic in a different way as well. As I was thinking about it this morning, McNair's death demonstrates the tragic consequence that comes from violating what Randy Alcorn calls "the purity principle": purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid. While most impurity does not end in a violent murder-suicide, the effects are wide-ranging, destructive, and devastating all the same.

The Book of Proverbs bears this out: "The lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander and she does not know it" (Prov 5:3-6).

Again, "Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless...and you say, 'How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation" (Prov 5:8-9, 12-14).

Again, "Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her will go unpunished" (Prov 6:27-29).

Again, "With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he followers her, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life" (Prov 7:21-23).

In many ways, McNair's tragic and untimely death causes these biblical wisdom texts to come to life. While sexual impurity make not bring someone to the grave in the immediate and horrifying way that it did McNair, the consequences are always devastating--Sheol, the grave, the place of the dead, lurks around sexual impurity.

Why is that the case? Because throughout the Bible and especially the OT, idolatry and sexual immorality/adultery go hand-in-hand. The case of Hosea's wife Gomer was the most graphic illustration of a basic truth: when we are not satisfied with the Triune God who has come near to us in Jesus, we inevitable turn our hearts to other idols who promise satisfaction. And frequently, those gods promise sensual pleasure and delight that can calm our aching hearts. But in the end those gods--the gods of significance and security, the gods of power and influence, the gods of self-sufficiency and Independence--cannot deliver anything but the grave.

Wisdom (a.k.a. the smart life) consists of fearing and delighting in the only God who can deliver on his promises: the Triune God of the Bible, the God who came near to us in Jesus Christ and comes near to us by the Spirit of Jesus. This God's steadfast love is better than life (Psa. 63:3); this love can satisfy the deepest longings which we have, both longings of our souls and our bodies.

The tragedy of Steve McNair is a tragedy played out on a small scale in so many of our lives, including my own: it is the tragedy of failing to be utterly satisfied in God himself, the only one who can fill the eternal longings of our being.

Six week "vacation" over

Just wanted to note that the six week vacation that I've taken from blogging is over. We've been a little busy: we moved our stuff to Hattiesburg, MS, the first week of June; drove to Brevard, NC, for a week of vacation; drove to Orlando, FL, for the PCA General Assembly; drove back to Hattiesburg to unpack; and on June 30, began a regular pastoral routine. Now that I'm settling in, I feel like I return my attention to the wider world...

We're number 1...

...and living large!

Moving

It seemed fitting to post on the fact that the moving trucks are here today. Our movers sent four guys to pack us; we are hopeful that they will be done packing tomorrow and begin shuttling stuff out of here. Lord willing, we will be heading down I-55 toward Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with the early light on Thursday, June 4.

This is my 17th move: Stratford, NJ [where I was born]; Radford VA; Manchester, England; Williamstown, NJ; Spring, TX; Westfield, NJ; Reston, VA; Taylors, SC [my first apartment and beginnings of my moves as an adult]; New Castle, IN [first apartment after Sara and I got married]; Philadelphia, PA [three moves here--Bensalem, Yardley, and Abington, PA]; Louisville, KY [two moves here--Crestwood and Bedford]; St. Louis, MO [two moves here--St. Charles and Creve Coeur]; and now Hattiesburg, MS.

It is interesting to reflect on this whole process of moving--saying goodbye, seeing bookends to your time, packing up, throwing away, loading and unloading, saying hello, settling in, hoping people like you and you find friends. It is hugely unsettling and yet it is also very exciting. Incredibly stressful and yet a bit boring. Hurrying up, yet waiting. 

There is a sense in which my Christian life has reflected this rootlessness, homelessness; one of my favorite texts is Hebrews 11:13-16: "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

I think more than most people, I have had this sense of being a stranger, an exile--not quite fitting in, always being the "new kid," never sure if I'll be accepted by the host culture. I have also had this sense there is a home that will never falter or fade, a better city from which I'll never leave because I will always feel at home. 

Our prayer is that our new place will give us echoes of home, but that it will never really be home--because there remains a rest for the people of God, a place of final and full welcome, love, and joy. I want the mansions prepared for me by the Father because that is where Jesus is--everything here is an echo, a shadow, a penultimate something that points to the ultimate reality.

Why Kentucky Should Pay Attention to Indiana

Been a while since I've given an opinion on college basketball beyond my Tournament picks. After all, Hoosier fans don't have a lot to say about ethics in basketball in the post-Bob Knight era.

But really, the Sampson debacle should give Kentucky fans pause. Indiana basketball, determined to climb back to the top and recover its mojo after Mike Davis' reign, hired an ethically-challenged but nationally-known coach to lead its program back to the promised land. Sampson landed two top recruiting classes, but repeatedly was in trouble with the NCAA for violations first at his previous head coaching job and then at Indiana. In addition, he brought at-risk kids to surround his one prize recruit; it all came tumbling down toward the end of the 2007-08 season. When Tom Crean came in to fix the program, he had two scholarship players left who averaged 1.8 points between them.

The news from John Calipari today reminded me so much of the Sampson fiasco. Let's see: according to Coach Cal's bio, he took UMass to the Final Four and was the national coach of the year in 1996; what he didn't mention was that the season and Final Four appearance was vacated by the NCAA for major program violations. And according to his UK bio, he took Memphis to the Final Four and was the national coach of the year in 2008. But now we discover that his program that year also had major violations and will most likely lead to vacating the season and the championship game appearance.

Which means that at least during his two best seasons, Coach Cal (or his staff, who reports to him and for which he is responsible) cheated. Which means if I was a Kentucky fan, I'd be very nervous. UK just needs to look across the Ohio River to see what happens when an ethically-challenged coach leads your history-rich program. The aftermath is a painful thing to watch.

Back on Calvin Blog

This week is my second week on the Reformation 21 Calvin's Institutes blog. The first two posts are here and here. 

True repentance rests on God's goodness

"Yet we must remember to exercise restraint, lest sorrow engulf us. For nothing more readily happens to fearful consciences than falling into despair. And also by this stratagem, whomever Satan sees overwhelmed by the fear of God he more and more submerges in that deep whirlpool of sorrow that they may never rise again. That fear cannot, indeed, be too great which ends in humility, and does not depart from the hope of pardon. Nevertheless, in accordance with the apostle's injunction the sinner ought always to beware lest, while he worries himself into dissatisfaction weighed down by excessive fear, he become faith. For in this way we flee from God, who calls us to himself through repentance.

"On this matter, Bernard's admonition is also useful: 'Sorrow for sins is necessary if it be not unremitting. I beg you to turn your steps back sometimes from troubled and anxious remembering of your ways, and to go forth to the tableland of serene remembrance of God's benefits. Let us mingle honey with wormwood that its wholesome bitterness may bring health when it is drunk tempered with sweetness. If you take thought upon yourselves in your humility, take thought likewise upon the Lord in his goodness" (Calvin, Institutes, 3.3.15).

Grace Precedes Repentance

"We mean to show that a man cannot apply himself seriously to repentance without knowing himself to belong to God. But no one is truly persuaded that he belongs to God unless he has first recognized God's grace...No one will ever reverence God but him who trusts that God is propitious to him. No one will gird himself willingly to observe the law but him who will be persuaded that God is pleased by his obedience. This tenderness in overlooking and tolerating vices is a sign of God's fatherly favor" (Calvin, Institutes, 3.3.2).

Thoughts on Dan Brown

These were excellent thoughts on Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. I thought the salient paragraph was this one:

In the Brownian worldview, all religions — even Roman Catholicism — have the potential to be wonderful, so long as we can get over the idea that any one of them might be particularly true. It’s a message perfectly tailored for 21st-century America, where the most important religious trend is neither swelling unbelief nor rising fundamentalism, but the emergence of a generalized “religiousness” detached from the claims of any specific faith tradition.

What is so ironic is that this view--that religion is in a separate sphere, one that is only accessible by intuition or sentiment and one that is not verifiable by typical canons of knowing that characterize the rest of the world; hence, all religions actually are useful for "spirituality" or "religiousness" and not for truth--is the fundamental worldview of modernity. This modern worldview developed from the work of Immanuel Kant, who separated Phenomena (the appearance of things verifiable by scientific testing) from the Noumena (the substance of things that are unverifiable and ultimately reside in the mind of God). 

The result of Kant's philosophical move was to create a dualistic world that separated science from faith, matter from Spirit. Theologically, this worldview was best articulated by Protestant Liberalism, which sought to distinguish "abiding truths" from "changing (theological) categories" and which ultimately tried to cordon off theology from the acids of history. In our day, this generally pervasive attitude that separates truth from religious claims is actually based on a worldview that is only about 200 years old and which finds its best proponents among mainstream Protestants who have generally set aside the historically-based truth claims of Christianity. 

What is odd to me is that the upshot of Dan Brown's work has not been to turn people back toward mainstream Protestantism, but to turn people away from the church (and Christianity) completely. It reminds me of C. S. Lewis' The Last Battle in which the cynical creation of Tashlan ultimately inoculates the Narnians against the truth of Aslan--because truth and reality itself was drawn into question on the behalf of a pluralistic, general religiosity, the Narnians would not and could not believe. 

At the end of the day, our best hope--both in answering the claims of Dan Brown and the worldview behind it--is not simply to debunk his historical claims point by point (as several excellent books did after The Da Vinci Code movie came out), but to question the essentially modern, Kantian worldview that helps Brown make sense. After all, Christianity is faith based on historical facts, none more important than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for sinners on Calvary and rose bodily the third day from the grave. If that is not true in a way that destroys the dualism between phenomena and noumena, then we of all people are most hopeless.

Baccalaureate Benediction

I like to post these benedictions; you can find others here, here, and here. This was from Covenant Seminary's Baccalaureate, May 14, 2009:

Men and women of God,

as those thoroughly equipped for every good work,

may God grant you

confidence in the God-breathed Word;

competence by the Spirit's empowerment; and

complete delight in the God who loved you 

all the way to Jesus' cross and empty tomb.

Go with God's peace,

Amen.

Eugene Peterson on Pastoral Ministry

I love reading Eugene Peterson. I find him hugely helpful for my own self-reflection as a minister. Right now, I'm reading Under the Unpredictable Plant, which focuses on vocational holiness and which is classic Peterson. Because I'm enjoying him again, I decided to do a bit of a google search. I ran across this excellent interview and resonated with this section:

How did you become a pastor?

I think I was attracted to the intense relational and personal quality of this life. At the time I decided to become a pastor, I was assistant professor at a seminary. I loved the teaching, but when I compared it with what I was doing as an associate pastor, there was no comparison. It was the difference between being a coach in the locker room, working out plays on the chalkboard, and being one of the players on the field. I wanted to be one of the players on the field, playing my part as the life of Christ was becoming incarnate again in my community.

That’s interesting, because if there’s one life that many pastors idealize, it’s the academic life.

That’s strange, isn’t it? When people say, "I don’t want to be a pastor, I want to be a professor," I say, "Well, the best place to be a teacher is in a congregation." Everything I taught during my tenure at Regent College was first developed and taught in my congregation. At Regent, of course, I embellished it. I put in footnotes. But the motivation of the people in the classroom was different from those in the congregational setting: they were looking for a degree, whereas in the congregation, people are looking for how to live the next day.

What is Church Government? no. 2

Out June 1st. Buy it for yourself, friends, loved ones, neighbors, and church officers. 

Why Johnny Can't Preach

I had seen Dr. T. David Gordon's provocative little book, Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers, in the catalogs and was eager to read it. My interest was heightened by some Internet chatter about the book and the comments others had made to me about the book. So, when the Seminary bookstore finally got it, I picked it up and just finished it. I think I can give the book no higher praise than this: Dr. Gordon may be a curmudgeon, but he is right.

And he is right on two major counts. First, Gordon is right to pin the reason why Johnny can't preach on the cultural forces that have affected the way ministerial students and young ministers read texts and compose arguments. Most of us in the educational world bemoan the inability of many of our students to produce basic outlines, shape rudimentary arguments, or craft reasoned essays. Some of us even go so far as to give students a basic framework in the syllabus for writing the essays for which we look and yet it is shocking how students are unable to follow even such suggestions.

This is an aside by way of example. In one syllabus, I have: "the first three paragraphs of your essay are introductory, so tell me who wrote the book, where does the author teach, what does the author say are his reasons for writing the book, and finally what is his argument; in the next two pages, summarize his argument in three major points; in the next two pages, evaluate his argument in the light of class readings and lectures; in the final paragraph suggest whether you liked the book and whether you would recommend it to another." You would be surprised how few students can even follow this basic formula for a book review essay.

Further, many students cannot read texts closely. As a teacher, some of my most disappointing classes have been electives run seminar style, based on the close reading of primary source texts. When students are unable to reference "chapter and verse" from Kuyper, Edwards, Bushnell or Hodge, pointing the class to a particular page, summarizing the point, and advancing the argument, it devolves to me having to do that for the class. In the end, many of these electives become my own running dialogue with the text with the students listening in. This may provide a nice modeling opportunity, but it is disappointing--because I hope to learn from the students, which doesn't happen when I do all the talking.

Some of the Covenant Seminary faculty have talked about whether we need to rework the MDiv curriculum to include a first semester professional seminar, which would cover things like "how to read a book" and "how to write a paper." Clearly our cultural forces and our educational system are failing to give our students the tools and sensitivities necessary to read texts well and compose clear arguments. And, as Gordon notes, this will inevitably affect the way men preach.

Second, Gordon is right that the content of preaching must center repeatedly and insistently on the person and work of Jesus Christ. His discussion of the evangelical content of preaching in chapter four is priceless--he diagnoses four alternative types of preaching (moralism, how-to, introspection, culture warrior), demonstrates the difficulties, and points back to robust Christ-centered exposition. And while I may quibble with one point--namely, when he observes that the pulpit is almost never the place to enforce moral behavior or raise questions for the complacent to examine themselves (pp. 90-1); I wonder then what he would do with the imperative sections of Paul's Epistles--the main point does not lose its force.

A thoughtful and thought-provoking book, it was well-worth the two hours it took me to breeze through the 100 pages or so. But the points that Gordon raises will be with me for weeks, months, and even years to come. In fact, I think I need to go now--I'm going to buy Shakespeare's sonnets and have myself a good read.

The Pastor as Minor Poet

Over the past couple of days, I finished reading a new little book by Craig Barnes, professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and senior minister at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in that city. The book was titled, The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life; I found the book extremely helpful in several ways.

First, the entire image of poetry to capture the ministerial life is extremely provocative. Of all the literature I've read, it comes closest to evoking Max Dupree's view of leading as an art form rather than a technique or science. And clearly, pastoral ministry is an art--the ability to see below the surface, below the "text" of a given situation or even the biblical text to the deeper "meaning" buried between the lines, within, above, or under a given situation, is hugely important. It is important not just for survival (important in its own right), but to minister the Gospel in such a way that it meets the person's real need, not simply the presenting issue.

Second, in reconstructing pastoral identity away from being "a quivering mass of availability" (Barnes uses this wonderful phrase from Stan Hauerwas), Barnes draws repeatedly, deftly, and quietly on the resources of the Reformed tradition: it is not your ministry, it is Christ's; it is not your identity, but Christ's in which we participate through union with him; the Gospel is not about you, but you are about it; and the sufficiency of God's love in Christ to sustain us despite (not because of) our performance. So much of our tradition echoes through the book but is done so deftly (can't think of a better word) that I found it a rich theological feast.

Third, Barnes was wonderfully realistic about the pastoral life. The fact is that the congregation can be quite "unpoetic" at times, blind to the meaning beneath their lives' texts, unable to recognize that the presenting issue is not the real issue, content with the often pointless and yet safety of small talk. And yet, the pastoral role is to "mole" beneath the surface and travel in the subterranean highways of the human soul--in order to do this, there must be an equal sense of comfort with the "major poetry" (the Bible and Christian tradition) and the particularity of this human with whom I'm talk about the weather. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it stimulating, especially reflecting on five years of ministry here in St. Louis and an upcoming transition back to congregational ministry Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Above all, I appreciated Barnes' concluding words: "The pastor lives by the belief that Jesus Christ holds all things together, and it is for this Savior that the harried souls in the pews truly yearn...So there they sit, frantic and frazzled, but daring to hope that there really is a sacred Word that can fill their deep yearning. The name of that word is Jesus Christ, and the minor poet gets to reveal his mysterious presence every Sunday."

No more website

For those who care, I decided to discontinue my website (www.seanmichaellucas.com). I set it up as a gateway for people who wanted to contact me for PowerPoint slides for On Being Presbyterian. But right now, those PPT slides can be found on the Seminary's website and in the future we'll have them available at the First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, website. Plus, I wanted to save the $14 a month. 

What is Church Government?

Right before PCA General Assembly, I have a booklet coming out in the Basics of the Reformed Faith series with P&R. Entitled What is Church Government?, it is meant as an easy-to-read introduction to the principles of Presbyterian church government. I hope it will be useful and encouraging for interested Presbyterians, but especially for officer training. 

New Book: Risking the Truth

I just received word that a new book in which I made a contribution is coming out this summer. Entitled Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church and edited by Martin Downes, the book will appear from Christian Focus this July. Here is the publisher's description:

A collection of interviews on handling truth and error in the church. Contributors reflect on this issue in relation to the minister's own life, pulpit ministry, local church leadership, seminary training, denominations, the impact of the academy, Evangelicalism, contemporary trends, history, creeds and confessions, and doctrines that are currently under attack. There is also personal reflection on these matters, lessons drawn from experience, and practical advice. The interviews are introduced by a primer on heresy and false teaching, and concluded with a chapters on why “Being Against Heresies is not enough” and “What really matters in ministry: directives for church leaders in Acts 20.”

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself

In preparing to preach on that topic this Sunday from Romans 8:31-39, I stumbled across this excellent article on the topic by Tim Keller. I also was reminded about something I had written on this. Isn't Google wonderful?

The End of the Book?

Pundits have been prophesying the end of the book for decades now. This article in today's Wall Street Journal makes the most persuasive case yet--speculating on the effect Amazon's Kindle will have on book-reading in the future. 

I tend to be pretty skeptical about these sorts of prophecies--parallels to iTunes and its impact on music sales do not seem to follow. For one thing, there is a different aesthetic when it comes to listening to music compared to reading a book. Music is not tactile (unless you are playing it); as a result, the delivery system for music is indifferent: whether it is a LP, 8-track, cassette, CD, or MP3, it doesn't matter as long as the audio experience is the same (or improved). 

But reading has its own experience--from opening a brand new book to sniffing it (I love the smell of Eerdmans books!) to paging through it and sampling the pages. These are things that will never be duplicated or recreated in a digital form. 

Likewise, the whole phenomenon of old books cannot be duplicated either--there is something about antiquarian books that moves us, I think. The care to preserve this title; the associations for the generations that maintained it and passed it on; the serendipity of finding a particular old book; the necessity of libraries (still in our digital age); the hopes of portability--all of these things cannot happen with the Kindle.

I admit that I'm a hopeless bibliophile and former archivist--I have a very healthy respect for the book, which predated Gutenberg. The form has lasted at least five thousand years--not just the idea of writing words, but writing them on paper to be preserved and shared. Far after this weblog or some e-book's pixels have disappeared, I suspect that Augustine's On Christian Doctrine will still be around, printed and bound, waiting for a rediscovery.

Good thoughts on working together

John Piper has some good thoughts on working together which he shared with his pastoral staff; how important and necessary these things are for a healthy shared ministry:

1. Let’s avoid gossiping.

2. Let’s identify evidences of grace in each other and speak them to each other and about each other.

3. Let’s speak criticism directly to each other if we feel the need to speak to others about it.

4. Let’s look for, and assume, the best motive in the other’s viewpoint, especially when we disagree.

5. Think often of the magnificent things we hold in common.

6. Let’s be more amazed that we are forgiven than that we are right. And in that way, let’s shape our relationships by the gospel.

Noah's Arks

Who knew that there was a worldwide competition to build Noah's Ark? Wouldn't it be weird to see an ark in Hong Kong? There was also a slide show to accompany the Wall Street Journal article. 

A Sad Day...

...because Harry Kalas, long-time broadcaster for the Phillies, passed away. I listened to Harry every night during the summer while we lived in Philadelphia. For me, he is Phillies baseball. What Jack Buck is to St. Louis, Harry the K was to Philly. 

There is another little story for me about Kalas: when our Sam was born, early in the morning on the last Sunday in October, it was a surprise. But my mother-in-law was able to get a flight to Philadelphia that went through Pittsburgh and came in a midnight that evening. The first person off that plane? Harry Kalas, who announced the NFL game in Pittsburgh for Westwood One, that day. I'll never forget that (or that my mother-in-law hurried out to help us with our 32 week preemie ;-)).

Bow Tie Wearers of the World, Unite!

Proof that we bow tie wearers are entering the mainstream: this excellent article in the Wall Street Journal accompanied by instructions on how to tie a bow tie.

I got my first bow tie in college by completing a dare. A friend of my dared me to wear clothes he hand-picked out of the "missionary barrel": a polyester green shirt and plaid pants. I had to wear them through lunch; my reward was a Ralph Lauren/Polo bow tie. Since then, I've slowly acquired a number of bow ties and like to wear them on most occasions. 

In fact, I typically wear a bow tie the first day of class (have since college). I don't, however, wear a bow tie when I'm preaching: I'm fearful of being too self-conscious and having people wondered, "Did he tie that himself or is that a clip-on?" instead of listening to the sermon.

Calvin in Connecticut

In a couple of weeks (April 17-19, 2009), Carl Trueman and I will be speaking at the Connecticut Valley Conference on Reformed Theology. As you'd expect in this anniversary year of Calvin's birth, the topic is Calvin. My topics are Calvin's Rhetoric of Piety; Calvin's Doctrine of Creation; Calvin on the Means of Grace. The talk on creation will also be my seminar at General Assembly this year.

The challenge in preparing these talks is trying to keep things around 60 minutes for each topic. For example, Calvin on piety: there are simply a huge number of articles and even books on Calvin's views of piety (two include one edited by Joel Beeke and one authored by Ford Battles [soon-to-be-reprinted by P&R]). I'm also planning on using PowerPoint, which is how I typically lecture, but which also make my talks more like classroom lectures than paper presentations. 

Still, I'm very excited to learn from Trueman and the other conference attendees, see friends in Connecticut, preach at The Presbyterian Church of Coventry, and even visit Red Sox country.

It is just not right

...that there are flurries and it is 37 degrees on opening day. I'm going to build a fire tonight in our fireplace before the NCAA Championship game. It is crazy.

Stafford Carson

My friend Stafford Carson--former academic dean at Westminster Theological Seminary, current minister at First Presbyterian Church, Portadown, Northern Ireland and moderator-designate of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland--has entered the blogosphere. The tag line of the blog, "Passion for Christ, Compassion for People," epitomizes Stafford's ministry; I, for one, will be a regular reader!

Now I Understand

...why the babies in the nursery seem to be able to move around the room so quickly :-).

Nervous

Am I the only St. Louis Cardinals fan who is nervous about Kyle McClellan? His spring ERA is 9.60...something is wrong with him.

More news

From the First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, MS, website.

Bracket Busters, no. 2

I obviously didn't do too well. Of my eight (Louisville, West Virginia; UConn, Mizzou; Pitt, Duke; UNC, Syracuse), I only had five right; of my four, I only got two. The Louisville-MSU game was particularly frustrating; it was like the Notre Dame game when the Cards got blown out by 30. Once they started losing, they got bad body language and couldn't do anything right.

But give Izzo credit: afterward, he said the three keys were getting it to Sutton in the middle of the zone; not turning the ball over against the press; and bottling up Terrence Williams. And he was right--those three things killed the Cards.

On a separate matter, I hope Calipari goes to Kentucky; that will ensure that UK will never win another championship. He is this generation's Dean Smith--more talent, no titles.

Start Spreading the News

Big news about us here. And this went out to staff and students yesterday and today:

Dear Covenant Seminary community:

On behalf of the entire Seminary family, we want to congratulate Dr. Sean Lucas, who was elected senior minister at First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, this past Sunday. While it is sad for us to lose the Lucases, we rejoice that one of our pastor-scholars is returning to pastoral ministry in a congregational context. We are grateful for Sean’s service over the past five years as a teacher, scholar, and administrator and for the knowledge that our association with him will continue even after he transitions south.

As we look toward the Lucases’ move in June, Sean and I will be working closely on a transition plan. As the spring continues, I will be letting the community know what those steps are, who will be taking on Sean’s responsibilities, and what our plans are for his permanent replacement. Until then, please pray for Sean, Sara, and their children, for FPC, Hattiesburg, and for the Seminary as we all experience the joy and challenge of transition in the days ahead.

Blessings,
Bryan Chapell

Needless to say, we are very, very excited and eager to see what God is going to do for his glory at FPC, Hattiesburg, MS, in the days to come.

New American Reformed Biography

Very excited that the new ARB is coming out this June: Tom Nettles' James Petigru Boyce: A Southern Baptist Statesman. Founder of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Boyce studied at Princeton Seminary under Charles Hodge and embodied the evangelical Calvinism that characterized the seminary's founding and its Abstract of Principles. Nettles' biography, all 600+ pages of it, will be the definitive biography of this Southern Baptist founder.  

Jeopardy no. 5

Category: Reformed authors

$200 answer: John Piper, Finally Alive; Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson, Westminster Directory of Public Worship; Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to my students (Banner of Truth edition).

Question: What did Sean buy today at the Covenant Seminary bookstore?

Springsteen on Jon Stewart

Don't care much for Jon Stewart's Daily Show. But Springsteen's appearance (second and third segments) is really good and his acoustic version of "Working on a Dream" is worth hearing. 

Cardinal Commercials

These are very funny commerical spots for the St. Louis Cardinals. I especially like the Bruce Sutter beards.

Bracket Busters

Actually, my bracket is pretty boring. I'm a little ashamed to have three #1 seeds making it to the Final Four, but part of that is the way I think the brackets play out in the earlier rounds, making their pathways a little easier. I also have the Big East in a big way in the round of 8. Here is what I have:

Elite eight: Louisville, West Virginia; UConn, Mizzou; Pitt, Duke; UNC, Syracuse. [Five from Big East; two ACC; one Big 12]

Final four: Louisville; UConn; Duke; UNC

Championship game: Louisville v. UNC

Champion: Louisville

There are some problematic or questionable games in my bracket (most notably, I have Maryland beating Memphis; Mizzou beating Marquette; West Virginia beating Michigan State; and I don't feel good about a potential Louisville-Wake Forest match-up depending on which WFU team shows up). I don't feel good about UNC if Lawson is really truly hurt (he looked okay against Duke in the final game of the season). And I do feel like a bit of a homer picking Louisville (although not as bad as my Duke friends, who pick the Dookies every year).

However, I feel good about Louisville because they play the most tenacious defense of anyone and that defense does not depend upon one key player (like UConn). I think Thabeet will get in real foul trouble in a game (as he did against Pitt and as he did in the overtime against Syracuse); because UConn's defense relies on him protecting the rim, when he goes out, a team like Louisville can really attack the basket. Louisville, on the other hand, plays eleven guys and their team doesn't rely on one, not even Terrance Williams. Hence, my pick. 

 

Just nuts

I just finished watching the highlights of the Syracuse-UConn six overtime game. That's just nuts. The game took three hours and forty-six minutes to play--they didn't get done until 1:30am! I have no idea how Syracuse is going to be able to play a very tough West Virginia team tonight...

Brief Thoughts on the Goal of Preaching, no. 3

Wednesday, I started reflecting on the goal of preaching. I said first that the goal is to enter into the work that the triune God is already doing in the midst of his people--it is his work, not mine. I said yesterday that I also aimed for people to delight and hope in God as their greatest good as a result of the preaching of God's Word. 

The way these things are accomplished are through the exposition of God's Word. And so, at a very basic level, I have a three-fold goal: to explain the biblical text, to apply the biblical text to our world, our calling in that world, and our hearts, and to model a sincere passion for God's glory that results from the biblical text. 

These things go together--like a three-legged stool. Leave out the explanation of the text and all that remains is passionate exhortation that feeds a moralism that burns God's people out. Leave out the application of the text and all that remains is passionate teaching that feeds people's minds but doesn't transform their hearts. Leave out passion for God's glory and all that remains is a fairly dry Bible study which fails to demonstrate the life-and-death nature of encountering God and his word.  

What that means is that though my preaching explains the text, it is not meant to be an in-depth technical treatment of a particular text. I can do that and I do that when I teach a Bible class; but preaching is not that kind of thing. That is not to say that I don't teach or do my homework when I preach--I do and am constantly pointing people to what the Bible says (often you'll hear me say, "Look at verse 4; see what it says there..."). 

But preaching is ultimately about persuasion--I'm holding a brief for the great King who has sent me as his ambassador. I am before the congregation to persuade them that God is the greatest being in the universe, the only one who can truly satisfy their deepest longings and desires. One of the means that he has given me to persuade his people is his Word and he calls me to explain it and apply it with great passion for the King's glory. 

And my hope is that people will move from the preaching of God's Word so persuaded and live with great joy, great hope, and great faith--great delight--in this King who loved us, died and rose for us, lives and intercedes for us, and will return again for us.

Brief Thoughts on the Goal of Preaching, no. 2

Yesterday, I started reflecting on what is the goal of preaching. I tried to say there that the goal was to enter into the work that the triune God is already doing in the midst of his people. That is to say, the work belongs to God and our sufficiency for that work, as ministers, is from God (2 Cor 3:5).

A second angle on this question, though, could be put this way: one of my key goals in every sermon is that people leave with a greater delight in the God who has come near to them in Jesus Christ. And so, 1 Peter 1:8-9 is very important: "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not ow see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

If people truly meet with the triune God in their midst in corporate worship and hear his word of grace; if they truly understand the depths of the riches of the grace of God in Jesus; if their affections are stirred by the Spirit to savor this grace and the God of this grace; and if they are taught to hope in God as that one being of surpassing worth....

then they will delight in God. They will serve God with passion and excitement because such a God is worth serving and glorifying. The root attraction of sin will be severed because such a God is far better and his pleasures (Psa 16:11) are far more satisfying than sin's pleasures. They will delight in each other and in God's world (Psa 16:2) because God is their greatest good. 

And so, my prayer Sunday by Sunday is that God's people will leave the sanctuary of God having tasted and seen that God is that good (Psa 34:8).

Brief Thoughts on the Goal of Preaching, no. 1

These brief thoughts from Tullian Tchividjian were excellent and made me think a little bit about how would answer that question: "What is the goal of preaching?" I think the overarching goal of preaching (quoting from Tim Keller) is "to make Jesus look good." But it is a bit more than that or at least, there is a different angle on it.

I think I'd say that in preaching, the preacher enters into the work that God the Father is doing through the Spirit of Jesus in the midst of the congregation. In fact, my only confidence in preaching comes from the fact that "as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2 Cor 2:17). United to Christ by the Spirit, entering into the apostolic and priestly work that Christ is already doing, sent by God to a particular people to proclaim his Word in his presence, I preach.

And so, to begin to answer the question about what is preaching's goal, we have to say that the goal is to enter into the work that God is already doing in the midst of his people for his glory and for the extension of his reign in their midst and in their place. Only in this way will the Gospel come not merely as word, but as Spirit and power (1 Thess 1:4).

Not sure what this says about me

Apparently, a recent survey suggests that Utah, Hawaii, and Wyoming are the "happiest" places to live; at the bottom of the 50 states are Mississippi (48), Kentucky (49), and West Virginia (50). 

In light of the fact that my family hails from Giles Co., Virginia, and Mercer County, West Virginia (all the way back to 1750) and that we lived in Kentucky for six years and loved it, I wonder what this says about me? That I struggle with happiness? I kind of liked living in Kentucky...  

Coming Evangelical Collapse

You can read what I have to say about the "coming evangelical collapse" over at Ref21.

Old Life

It is hard to believe that someone who used to have his voicemail say, "Hi, this is Darryl Hart, technophobe," would have an internet presence. But thankfully, Darryl Hart and John Muether have taken their Old Life Theological Society online. You won't agree with everything (or anything??) they say; but I'm thankful for the conversations they start and the witness they bear.

Ministry Values

As I think about the ministry values that animate my ministry, three things come to mind. Not coincidentally, these are the things about which we talk a lot at Covenant Seminary.

First, the Word of God. All of our ministry must be centered on God's Word--and especially, we must have confidence in the ordinary means of grace in which, during corporate worship on the Lord's Day, the Spirit uses his Word to transform our hearts. All our praying and preaching, our singing and use of the sacraments, are biblical and "bibline." This is not because the Bible itself is a talisman; rather, because it is God's Word--in coming to God's Word, we come to hear and respond to God himself.

Next, the Grace of God. As we come to God's Word, we hear the King speak, telling us that there is nothing we have that we did not receive; that his steadfast love is undeserved and freely given; that it is all of grace from the beginning of our lives to the end. The same grace that drew us to Christ is the same grace that justifies us which is the same grace that sanctifies, adopts, and preserves us to the end.

Such love frees us from fear--the King, who knows us completely, who knows us by name, loves us, sings over us, and delights in us for his glory's sake and for his name's sake! What a king this is! How it should enliven our worship--the King we serve loves us despite ourselves! How it is should enliven our service--what we wouldn't sacrifice for such a King and for such love! In fact, the grace of God should produce hope and joy in our hearts: hope--that earnest expectation that our King will care for us to the end; joy--the strength of God and delight in God that severs the root of sin and frees us to serve him all our days.

So, finally, the Kingdom of God. Because the King, by his Word, bids us to come into his presence and sustains us by his means of grace, and because he showers us with grace upon grace, we are freed to enter into his world as agents of the new creation, signs of what the new heavens and new earth will look like. We are freed to serve in our callings as pointers to the mercies and kindness of God and freed to serve our communities as agents of what God is doing in his world.

Only as we keep these three linked together--God's Word, grace, and kingdom--will we reflect Jesus' priorities for ministry and sustain the work of God in our generation: by his grace and for his glory!

First Calvin Post

You can read what I have to say about Calvin's Institutes, 2.218-2.2.21, here. I'm posting all this week at Ref21.

Sabbatical Update

Well, I've not gotten very far. Thus far, I have had five dedicated writing days since February 1. I did spend a week doing research last week at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. Right now, For a Continuing Church has most of the first four chapters in draft form now and portions of two others (out of ten chapters). The other projects are yet to be begun.

Part of the problem is that I haven't been home much in February. I went to the Evangelical Seminary Dean's Council in Dallas (where I was elected vice-chair); preached at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis; and then went to Richmond. Today, I'm heading to All Souls Presbyterian Church in Champaign, IL.  And in between, I preached at Grace Presbyterian Church in St. Charles, MO, and Covenant Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. So, it has been a busy month. 

Next week, it is my turn at the Ref21 "Blogging the Institutes" site. I had messed up trying to post using the scheduler feature and for a few minutes discovered that my blog posts actually debuted early. Jeremy Smith rescued me and now the posts will appear in their proper order and time.