ResponsiveReiding

How to make a preacher – With Needed CLARIFICATION

August 12th, 2016

I was visiting a pastor friend of mine today (Tim Alexander of Perinton Community Church) when he said “hey, I need to read you something.” SOMETHING is the word. I was unable to identify the original author, but I found it later quoted (as anonymous) by John MacArthur. It is a powerful piece of work. One I hope to meditate upon more often for myself.

CLARIFICATION: When I first posted the material below, I did not adequately frame the piece so the reader understood best HOW to read it. I hope to clear that up here.

The best frame I can put around it is to imagine an old man – and old preacher, well past his active days. Later in life, the bulk of his preaching days behind him, he is reflecting on a question put to him: “What are the things that make for a good and useful preacher?” His response is one that shows many years of deep and thoughtful consideration upon those things which were most useful to him, and pulls no punches in laying out some of the hard but Oh so necessary experiences and conditions needed to make a man as useful and effective as possible in the pulpit ministry.

This is not sour grapes by someone who had been mistreated. It is in fact the furthest thing from it. Far from a compliant, it is a prayer. A prayer for those who come after, that they might be spared from merely trifling in preaching, and not getting to the real task and the real frame of heart and mind needed to serve God and His People well in this capacity. It is meant to shake those who would dare to ascend the sacred desk out of any self-importance or self-reliance, into the stark reality of the massive responsibility and privilege of speaking for God in this way.

It is a compendium of things learned too late or too slightly. And a petition of desire for God to do whatever it takes to make them all they can be under His hand.

How to make a preacher?

Fling him into his office. Tear the “Office” sign from the door and nail on the sign, “Study.” Take him off the mailing list. Lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible. Slam him down on his knees before texts and broken hearts and the flock of lives of a superficial flock and a holy God.

Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Engage him to wrestle with God all the night through. And let him come out only when he’s bruised and beaten into being a blessing.

Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks, and stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every nonessential. Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence. Bend his knees in the lonesome valley.

Burn his eyes with weary study. Wreck his emotional poise with worry for God. And make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God and man. Make him spend and be spent for the glory of God. Rip out his telephone. Burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets.

Put water in his gas tank. Give him a Bible and tie him to the pulpit. And make him preach the Word of the living God!

Test him. Quiz him. Examine him. Humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine. Shame him for his good comprehension of finances, batting averages, and political in-fighting. Laugh at his frustrated effort to play psychiatrist. Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day-“Sir, we would see Jesus.”

When at long last he dares assay the pulpit, ask him if he has a word from God. If he does not, then dismiss him. Tell him you can read the morning paper and digest the television commentaries, and think through the day’s superficial problems, and manage the community’s weary drives, and bless the sordid baked potatoes and green beans, ad infinitum, better than he can.

Command him not to come back until he’s read and reread, written and rewritten, until he can stand up, worn and forlorn, and say, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Break him across the board of his ill-gotten popularity. Smack him hard with his own prestige. Corner him with questions about God. Cover him with demands for celestial wisdom. And give him no escape until he’s back against the wall of the Word.

And sit down before him and listen to the only word he has left-God’s Word. Let him be totally ignorant of the down-street gossip, but give him a chapter and order him to walk around it, camp on it, sup with it, and come at last to speak it backward and forward, until all he says about it rings with the truth of eternity.

And when he’s burned out by the flaming Word, when he’s consumed at last by the fiery grace blazing through him, and when he’s privileged to translate the truth of God to man, finally transferred from earth to heaven, then bear him away gently and blow a muted trumpet and lay him down softly. Place a two-edged sword in his coffin, and raise the tomb triumphant. For he was a brave soldier of the Word. And ere he died, he had become a man of God.

RAF: If I may add – Holy Father, be pleased to do all in me so that I might serve you to the highest degree of which I am capable by the power of your Spirit. Make this prayer – my history.
As I was Reading Today – Justice – Oswald Chambers

August 10th, 2016
A Lord’s Table Meditation

August 7th, 2016
A Wonderful Warning

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Luke 18:9-14

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

As we approach the Table this morning, a bit of history might be helpful regarding Paul’s warning in vs. 27

In doing that, we need to note that Paul’s warning is against eating “In an unworthy manner”,(27) – it has nothing to do with personal worthiness to come to the table.

It speaks to actions and attitudes that change the Lord’s Supper into something else – by drawing unwarranted distinctions between Christians that ought not to be there.

So Paul begins in vs 20 – “But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.”

Why not? What specifically ruined the gathering so that it was no longer “the Lord’s Supper?

Verse 21 spells it out: “For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.”

It was common in the early Church – drawing on the fact that Jesus instituted the Lords’ Supper immediately after the Passover meal – to have a group meal called a love feast or agape feast – and then have communion.

What had begun to happen, is that some of the wealthier ones, would bring a sumptuous meal, only for themselves, leaving the poor to only a sandwich or perhaps even nothing at all – and THEN coming to the table which is supposed to signify our unity in Christ.

And in that “love feast” some would in fact even overindulge to the point of being tipsy or drunk, while others with little or nothing were shamed by their lack.

Again – there was some display of personal rights or privileges above some other persons or groups – at the very place where our universal unworthiness before the Throne of God is obscured.

The unworthy manner here is located in 1 chief thing:

Divisiveness based upon some imagined personal, social or spiritual superiority, that then needlessly shames those who do not share that imagined superiority.

This traces Paul’s thought back to the beginning of the letter where some declared they were followers of Peter vs Paul vs Apollos vs Jesus.

The implication behind such elitism and cliquishness is that Christ didn’t need to die as much for me, as He did for this one or that one.

To think that in any way – Christ didn’t need to die for you as much as any other sinner, is to deny your absolute need of the full and free grace put forward in His atonement, and in some sense to justify yourself.

And when we justify ourselves in any way – we become “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”, fail to “discern” the nature of His sacrifice rightly, and eat and drink damnation to ourselves.

This played out in 3 subtle but very real ways, that might even secretly infect some here today.
1. PERSONAL WORTHINESS, versus acceptance ONLY in the Beloved – the Lamb without spot or blemish. I am worthy to be saved, but simply unable to save myself. I belong to the right group.
Remember the Pharisee and The Tax Collector as addressed by Jesus in Luke 18:9–14? “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: [[A]] ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. [[B]] 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. [[C]] For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Pharisee didn’t say he wasn’t a sinner – just that he wasn’t a sinner like other men. I don’t do THEIR sins.

And we can have the same mindset. When we do, we completely forget that our salvation is 100% wrapped up in our being IN Christ, by faith, and nothing in ourselves.

Ephesians 1:3–14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Some form of personal worthiness, however slight, versus acceptance ONLY in the Beloved – the Lamb without spot or blemish.
1. PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: “I tithe, I fast”, versus looking only to Christ having fulfilled the Law on our behalf. I can do enough to deserve to be saved even if I can’t save myself. I have done the right stuff.
Again forgetting places like Romans 3:20 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

3. PERSONAL AMMENDS OR ATONEMENT, versus Christ having atoned for human sin alone at Calvary.

The only acceptable atonement.

A heart that says: I’ve not done anything so bad, that it cannot be overlooked, or counterbalanced by my good works or religion. I have responded the right way.

No one is more worthy because they have been in Christ longer than the newest Believer.

No one is more worthy because they have walked more uprightly than the most struggling saint.

No one is more worthy because they know more truth than the most elementary of Believers.

No one is more worthy because they’ve been permitted earthly privileges, than those who’ve lived in the deepest poverty and adverse circumstances.

No one is more worthy because they’ve been spared from participation in certain sins than those who were plunged into the deepest sins before their redemption.

At this table, above all other places, we come face to face with the absolute bedrock of our salvation: Christ died for sinners.

Not the righteous.

Not rich sinners vs. poor sinners; vs. American sinners vs. Foreign sinners; vs. Republican or Conservative sinners vs. Democrat or Liberal sinners – etc.

We cannot, MUST not make such distinctions at this table – since there is no form of human worthiness that has any truck with God whatsoever.

And so, as Paul warns, let us examine our hearts before we come today.

And if there is the slightest air of superiority or personal worthiness, or even “at least I’m not as a bad as” – that underlies our coming – let us confess it, and condemn it, and seek forgiveness for it before we come.

And come, trusting in but one thing – the substitutionary and atoning death of Jesus Christ at Calvary for our sin.

And celebrate HIS great worthiness on behalf of the most unworthy of all mankind – we sinners.

1 Corinthians 1:26–31 “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Let us come to this table, boasting in Christ alone. And leaving everything else behind.
MIssion to Mars – Sermon Notes for 7/17/2016

July 17th, 2016
Mission to Mars (Mars Hill that is)

What’s All This About Worldview?

Acts 17:16-34

Romans 1:18-23

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

What is a worldview, and why does it matter?

The simplest and best definition I’ve heard comes from apologist Ravi Zacharias.

Fully aware of it or not, all of us have an understanding of these 4 things, and that understanding undergirds how we see all of life.

It informs our opinions on things like abortion, human rights, war, taxation, ethics, religion – you name it.

In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul gives a master’s class in engaging worldview, without using the word .

If we are going to discuss The Gospel with anyone, the questions of Origin, Meaning, Morality & Destiny must come up, and we need to be sure we are speaking the same language as those we speak with.

That the words we use mean the same thing to each other.

And the very first place we need to go, if we are to have any meaningful conversation on these topics – is to define what we mean by the word and concept of GOD.

Paul knows he is speaking to at least 4 different groups, each of whom has a different world view, and therefore different notions of who and what GOD is – so that forms his jumping off point.

4 main groups – vs. 16-18 – The 4 are the 4 main worldviews outside of the Biblical Worldview.

All worldviews we encounter are forms of 1 of these 4. Paul is going to converse with all 4 at the same time.

Pagans:

Jews:

Epicureans:

Stoics:

Pagans: Many “gods” and relying upon superstition.

These “gods” were nothing more than powerful versions of fallen man with the same negative personality traits and passions as humanity. Think of Homer’s Illiad and other Greek Mythology.

The gods were just like the people but in a higher form of spiritual (as opposed to physical) existence.

They were Immortal, but they were also Petty. Jealous. Sexually active and bound. Vindictive. Capricious, prideful and downright immature.

In our times, Q of Star Trek – The Next Generation would be a prime example.

Jews: God. One God. Some right notions of God, some not.

Psalm 50:16–21 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? 17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. 18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. 19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. 20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. 21 These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

Epicureans / Epicurus (341-270 BC):

“God” in name only.

Not personal.

No actual involvement in the world.

Annihilationists.

Pleasure is the chief good.

Material universe is all there ever was, is and will be.

Worship makes no sense though some form of religion might be OK for giving people ethics and structure.

Stoics (Painted Porch) / Zeno (333-264 B.C. :

God is everything and everything is god.

“Steel your sensibilities, so that life shall hurt you as little as possible.”

Que sera sera

Everything (god too) is governed by fate

Pleasure is not good and pain is not evil

What is – is

Dispassionate virtue

End all desire

Pagans – Polytheists & Superstitionalists.

Jews – Monotheistic Religionists

Epicureans – Scientific atheists / Carl Sagan

Stoics – Pantheists / New Age – Hinduism – Moksha: Oneness with deity & all things

Paul was clearly trying to preach Christ and the resurrection (18) but was making little headway.

As his sermon following shows, Paul realizes he has to back up and start at some other place.

He picks the only point of commonality between all of these disparate groups: Each has some notion of God.

But God needs to be defined not through their pre-existing system, but Biblically.

What I want to do by means of this passage is to look at how Paul addresses worldview; to ask 5 crucial questions, and then look at 3 concluding observations.
1. (24-31) Who & What is God?
NOTE: NOT EVERY WAY TO GOD IS VALID! The very fact that Paul starts here, negates the idea that we just leave people to their blindness. He does not leave them alone with their false notions of “god”. For they are still lost even though they may “worship” God in some way.
1. 24 – Creator of the material universe.
2. 24 – Lord – He actively rules in the affairs of men.
3. 24 – Transcendent – He is not contained IN the universe and He is not the universe itself. Nor is he like man.
4. 25- Self sustaining – He doesn’t NEED our praises or sacrifices.
5. 25 – Sustaining all life.
6. 26 – Not Tied to any specific race or region – not tribal. No room for “you’ve got your God and I’ve got mine.”
7. 26 – Purposeful – not capricious.
8. 26 – Sovereign over His creation. Ultimately unopposed.
9. 27 – Seeking relationship – Not impersonal.
10. 28 – Omnipresent. Can’t be located or managed.
11. 29 – Incomparable – Cannot be “imaged” – by any creature or object – even man himself. Defies even our imagination! Not to be “pictured”.
12. 30 – Patient – Not testy and irritable.
13. 31 – Judge – Does not ignore morality. No Karma or Fate.
14. 31 – Righteous – According to His own nature.
1. Who & What is Man?
1. 26 – Created being – Not accidental, nor merely part of the natural order or emerging from a purely material universe; Not self-made.
2. 26 – Governed being – Not a totally “free” agent.
3. 27 – Purposed – To seek and know the true God
4. 30 – Morally responsible to God
5. 30 – Separated – unreconciled to God
6. 30 – Capable of knowing God
7. 31 – Headed toward final judgment
Man was made to know God.

Made not only with the capacity to know Him, but set in an environment specifically designed to lead us to knowledge of Him.

But we refuse to live within the construct which was created for us, and for which we were created.

We were made to be near Him and to reach out to Him easily.

But we do not. His image, shattered though it may be, can be seen in each one of us – He is not “far” from us – and still we make gods of gold, silver, stone and other art – after our imaginations.

Think: The new Emoji Bible. God must be reduced to an image.

How can it be?

We are SO fallen.

We can no longer find Him the way we were designed to.

It is here, the revelation of Jesus Christ must break in upon the soul – for in our corruption, even though it might be true that “in him we live and move and have our being” – yet we are still separated from him and doomed.

Hence, a day of judgment has been appointed – and that judgment is all wrapped up in Jesus Christ whom God has raised from the dead.
1. What is their Relationship? (i.e. God and Man)
Creator / Creature

Lord / Subject

Sustainer / Dependent

Parent / Child

Authority / Rebellious

Judge / Guilty
1. What does it matter?
31 – A FIXED day of judgment is to come – all men everywhere are called to repent.
1. What can be done?
Reconciliation through repentance. Looking for mercy in face of the coming judgment.

Repent of:

A Wrong view of God

A Wrong view of Mankind

A Wrong view of the present Relationship between them

A Wrong view of Reconciliation (restoring the relationship)

A Wrong of view of what is needed – Sin needs dealt with!

Repent of Self-government and rebellion in the face of the One who made me for His purposes.

I need to able to face God’s RIGHTEOUS judgment.

This – culminates in expounding Jesus Christ.

Christ is Paul’s climax point, not his starting point. Too much ground needs to be cleared first.

It has been noted that these kinds of engagements in the Areopagus went for hours. All we have here is most likely Paul’s outline.

What we can tell is that he builds this foundation BEFORE he brings the discussion finally around to who Jesus is and what He has done.

CONCLUSIONS:
1. Our goal is not to make men merely religious, but to reconcile them to God in Jesus Christ: 2 Cor. 5.16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The goal is not to convince them to our point of view, but to reconcile them to God through Jesus Christ.
1. We must not assume what anyone knows, but work from the ground up.
Some will find more common ground right away, others not – but we’ll be speaking the same language. 1 Cor. 14:6 Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?

8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air.

10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning,

11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.

12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

If we must take such pains to be clear IN the Church, how much more outside of it?
1. Note the manifest love of God for lost mankind.
His love is such that:
1. He COMMANDS all men everywhere to repent, rather than leaving it to a choice they would never make.
Repent from what? Having such wrong views of God that they are alienated from Him even IN their religion!

And that they are responsible to this God, based upon His standard of righteousness, and not according to their own standard.

And to turn and serving the Living God in Christ Jesus:

1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you:
1. turned to God from idols
2. To serve the living and true God,
3. 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
He commands ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE to repent.

This is not a Gospel for some exclusive group, but a Gospel to be preached to all, everywhere.
Praying for the Holy Spirit

July 10th, 2016

As we were singing in worship this morning, that old hymn by Edwin Hatch “Breathe on me Breath of God” – I could not help but think back to the words of the Puritan John Owen regarding our need to pray for the Holy Spirit. This hymn fills just such a role – but I hope none of us stop at that, but pray continually for the Spirit’s work in our hearts and lives. On that subject, Owen wrote this:

“We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us, that through his aid and assistance we may live unto God in that holy obedience which he requires at our hands, Luke 11:9–13. Our Saviour, enjoining an importunity in our supplications, verses 9, 10, and giving us encouragement that we shall succeed in our requests, verses 11, 12, makes the subject-matter of them to be the Holy Spirit: “Your heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him,” verse 13; which in the other evangelist is “good things,” Matt. 7:11, because he is the author of them all in us and to us, nor doth God bestow any good thing on us but by his Spirit. Hence, the promise of bestowing the Spirit is accompanied with a prescription of duty unto us, that we should ask him or pray for him; which is included in every promise where his sending, giving, or bestowing is mentioned. He, therefore, is the great subject-matter of all our prayers. And that signal promise of our blessed Saviour, to send him as a comforter, to abide with us for ever, is a directory for the prayers of the church in all generations. Nor is there any church in the world fallen under such a total degeneracy but that, in their public offices, there are testimonies of their ancient faith and practice, in praying for the coming of the Spirit unto them, according to this promise of Christ. And therefore our apostle, in all his most solemn prayers for the churches in his days, makes this the chief petition of them, that God would give unto them, and increase in them, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, with the Spirit himself, for sundry especial effects and operations whereof they stood in need, Eph. 1:17, 3:16; Col. 2:2. And this is a full conviction of what importance the consideration of the Spirit of God and his work is unto us. We must deal in this matter with that confidence which the truth instructs us unto, and therefore say, that he who prayeth not constantly and diligently for the Spirit of God, that he may be made partaker of him for the ends for which he is promised, is a stranger from Christ and his gospel. This we are to attend unto, as that whereon our eternal happiness doth depend. God knows our state and condition, and we may better learn our wants from his prescription of what we ought to pray for than from our sense and experience; for we are in the dark unto our own spiritual concerns, through the power of our corruptions and temptations, and “know not what we should pray for as we ought,” Rom. 8:26. But our heavenly Father knows perfectly what we stand in need of; and, therefore, whatever be our present apprehensions concerning ourselves, which are to be examined by the word, our prayers are to be regulated by what God hath enjoined us to ask and what he hath promised to bestow.”

Owen, John. The works of John Owen. (Ed.) William H. Goold. . Vol. 3. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

Indeed:

1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.

2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do and to endure.

3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine.

4. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with thee the perfect life
of thine eternity.
John Newton on how the Lord guides His People.

July 8th, 2016
One of perennial issues in the Christian life, is that of understanding the Lord’s leading in life. All of Christ’s own (ostensibly) want to do His will in every aspect of living.

Often, this discussion devolves into 2 polar opposites: A mystically bent focus upon impressions, dreams, impulses or Scriptural illuminations where a passage “speaks” and seems relevant to one’s immediate circumstance – irrespective of its Biblical context. Or, a rejection of virtually all spiritual experience whatever. Certainly, there is a spectrum to be seen all the way between these two poles.

In the following letter from John Newton on the subject, some sound, wise and Scriptural advice is held out to an inquirer on the topic. And given the current state of American Evangelicalism, it is a timely and useful guide to a sometimes contentious yet necessary discussion.

I will try to offer emphases and section headings as I hope will make the original author’s mind more accessible.

Letter XXVIII

Answer to the Question, In what Manner are we to expect the Lord’s promised Guidance to influence our Judgments, and direct our Steps in the Path of Duty?

Section I – God DOES supply guidance by His grace. Foremost in His Word.

Dear Sir,

It is well for those who are duly sensible of their own weakness and fallibility, and of the difficulties with which they are surrounded in life, that the Lord has promised to guide his people with his eye, and to cause them to hear a word behind them, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” when they are in danger of turning aside either to the right hand or to the left. For this purpose, he has given us the written word to be a lamp to our feet, and encouraged us to pray for the teaching of his Holy Spirit, that we may rightly understand and apply it. It is, however, too often seen, that many widely deviate from the path of duty, and commit gross and perplexing mistakes, while they profess a sincere desire to know the will of God, and think they have his warrant and authority. This must certainly be owing to misapplication of the rule by which they judge, since the rule itself is infallible, and the promise sure. The Scripture cannot deceive us, if rightly understood; but it may, if perverted, prove the occasion of confirming us in a mistake. The Holy Spirit cannot mislead those who are under his influence; but we may suppose that we are so, when we are not. It may not be unseasonable to offer a few thoughts upon a subject of great importance to the peace of our minds, and to the honour of our holy profession.

Section II. Common Errors.

Many have been deceived as to what they ought to do, or in forming a judgment beforehand of events in which they are nearly concerned, by expecting direction in ways which the Lord has not warranted. I shall mention some of the principal of these, for it is not easy to enumerate them all.

Common Error #1 – Casting Lots. Using lots or some other method of God giving a tangible “sign” of His will.

Some persons, when two or more things have been in view, and they could not immediately determine which to prefer, have committed their case to the Lord by prayer, and have then proceeded to cast lots: taking it for granted, that, after such a solemn appeal, the turning up of the lot might be safely rested in as an answer from God. It is true, the Scripture, and indeed right reason, assures us, that the Lord disposes the lot; and there are several cases recorded in the Old Testament, in which lots were used by Divine appointment; but I think neither these, nor the choosing Matthias by lot to the apostleship, are proper precedents for our conduct. In the division of the lands of Canaan, in the affair of Achan, and in the nomination of Saul to the kingdom, recourse was had to lots by God’s express command. The instance of Matthias likewise was singular, such as can never happen again; namely, the choice of an apostle; who would not have been upon a par with the rest, who were chosen immediately by the Lord, unless He had been pleased to interpose in some extraordinary way; and all these were before the canon of Scripture was completed, and before the full descent and communication of the Holy Spirit, who was promised to dwell with the church to the end of time. Under the New Testament dispensation, we are invited to come boldly to the Throne of Grace, to make our requests known to the Lord, and to cast our cares upon him: but we have neither precept nor promise respecting the use of lots; and to have recourse to them without his appointment, seems to be tempting him rather than honouring him, and to savour more of presumption than dependence. The effects likewise of this expedient have often been unhappy and hurtful: a sufficient proof how little it is to be trusted to as a guide of our conduct.

Common Error #2 – “Dipping” in the Scripture. Taking a verse or passage at random, and applying it to one’s immediate context, without regard for the actual Biblical context, and what the Scripture means in that place and to who it was written.

Others, when in doubt, have opened the Bible at a venture, and expected to find something to direct them in the first verse they should cast their eye upon. It is no small discredit to this practice, that the Heathens, who knew not the Bible, used some of their favourite books in the same way; and grounded their persuasions of what they ought to do, or of what should befall them, according to the passage they happened to open upon. Among the Romans, the writings of Virgil were frequently consulted upon these occasions; which gave rise to the well-known expression of the Sortes Virgilianæ. And indeed Virgil is as well adapted to satisfy inquirers in this way as the Bible itself; for if people will be governed by the occurrence of a single text of Scripture, without regarding the context, or duly comparing it with the general tenor of the word of God, and with their own circumstances, they may commit the greatest extravagances, expect the greatest impossibilities, and contradict the plainest dictates of common sense, while they think they have the word of God on their side. Can the opening upon 2 Sam. 7:3, when Nathan said unto David, “Do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee,” be sufficient to determine the lawfulness or expediency of actions? Or can a glance of the eye upon our Lord’s words to the woman of Canaan, Matth. 15:28, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” amount to a proof, that the present earnest desire of the mind (whatever it may be) shall be surely accomplished? Yet it is certain that matters big with important consequences have been engaged in, and the most sanguine expectations formed, upon no better warrant than dipping (as it is called) upon a text of Scripture.

Common Error #3 – Strong impressions or feelings about a particular text.

A sudden strong impression of a text, that seems to have some resemblance to the concern upon the mind, has been accepted by many as an infallible token that they were right, and that things would go just as they would have them: or, on the other hand, if the passage bore a threatening aspect, it has filled them with fears and disquietudes, which they have afterwards found were groundless and unnecessary. These impressions, being more out of their power than the former method, have been more generally regarded and trusted to, but have frequently proved no less delusive. It is allowed, that such impressions of a precept or a promise as humble, animate, or comfort the soul, by giving it a lively sense of the truth contained in the words, are both profitable and pleasant; and many of the Lord’s people have been instructed and supported (especially in a time of trouble) by some seasonable word of grace applied and sealed by his Spirit with power to their hearts. But if impressions or impulses are received as a voice from heaven, directing to such particular actions as could not be proved to be duties without them, a person may be unwarily misled into great evils and gross delusions; and many have been so. There is no doubt but the enemy of our souls, if permitted, can furnish us with Scriptures in abundance in this way, and for these purposes.

Common Error #4 – Taking their experience of being much moved in prayer about something or someone, as an indication of God’s assurance that He will act as they desire in it.

Some persons judge of the nature and event of their designs, by the freedom which they find in prayer. They say they commit their ways to God, seek his direction, and are favoured with much enlargement of spirit; and therefore they cannot doubt but what they have in view is acceptable in the Lord’s sight. I would not absolutely reject every plea of this kind, yet, without other corroborating evidence, I could not admit it in proof of what it is brought for. It is not always easy to determine when we have spiritual freedom in prayer. Self is deceitful; and when our hearts are much fixed and bent upon a thing, this may put words and earnestness into our mouths. Too often we first secretly determine for ourselves, and then come to ask counsel of God; in such a disposition we are ready to catch at every thing that may seem to favour our darling scheme; and the Lord, for the detection and chastisement of our hypocrisy (for hypocrisy it is, though perhaps hardly perceptible to ourselves), may answer us according to our idols; see Ezek. 14:3, 4. Besides, the grace of prayer may be in exercise, when the subject-matter of the prayer may be founded upon a mistake, from the intervention of circumstances which we are unacquainted with. Thus, I may have a friend in a distant country; I hope he is alive; I pray for him, and it is my duty so to do. The Lord, by his Spirit, assists his people in what is their present duty. If I am enabled to pray with much liberty for my distant friend, it may be a proof that the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to assist my infirmities, but it is no proof that my friend is certainly alive at the time I am praying for him: and if the next time I pray for him I should find my spirit straitened, I am not to conclude that my friend is dead, and therefore the Lord will not assist me in praying for him any longer.

Common Error #5 – Relying upon remarkable dreams as solid evidence of God’s will.

Once more: A remarkable dream has sometimes been thought as decisive as any of the foregoing methods of knowing the will of God. That many wholesome and seasonable admonitions have been received in dreams, I willingly allow; but, though they may be occasionally noticed, to pay a great attention to dreams, especially to be guided by them, to form our sentiments, conduct, or expectations upon them, is superstitious and dangerous. The promises are not made to those who dream, but to those who watch.

Common Error #6 – Taking unusual coincidences or events as a sure sign of God’s will.

Upon the whole, though the Lord may give to some persons, upon some occasions, a hint or encouragement out of the common way; yet expressly to look for and seek his direction in such things as I have mentioned, is unscriptural and ensnaring. I could fill many sheets with a detail of the inconveniences and evils which have followed such a dependence, within the course of my own observation. I have seen some presuming they were doing God service, while acting in contradiction to his express commands. I have known others infatuated to believe a lie, declaring themselves assured, beyond the shadow of a doubt, of things which, after all, never came to pass; and when at length disappointed, Satan has improved the occasion to make them doubt of the plainest and most important truths, and to account their whole former experience a delusion. By these things weak believers have been stumbled, cavils and offences against the Gospel multiplied, and the ways of truth evil spoken of.

Section III – How CAN we expect to be guided?
1. A Scripture-truth informed “spiritual gut” that tests everything by The Word rightly understood.
But how then may the Lord’s guidance be expected? After what has been premised negatively, the question may be answered in a few words. In general, he guides and directs his people, by affording them, in answer to prayer, the light of his Holy Spirit, which enables them to understand and to love the Scriptures. The word of God is not to be used as a lottery; nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps, which, detached from their proper places, have no determinate import; but it is to furnish us with just principles, right apprehensions, to regulate our judgments and affections, and thereby to influence and direct our conduct. They who study the Scriptures, in an humble dependence upon Divine teaching, are convinced of their own weakness, are taught to make a true estimate of every thing around them, are gradually formed into a spirit of submission to the will of God, discover the nature and duties of their several situations and relations in life, and the snares and temptations to which they are exposed. The word of God dwells richly in them, is a preservative from error, a light to their feet, and a spring of strength and consolation. By treasuring up the doctrines, precepts, promises, examples, and exhortations of Scripture, in their minds, and daily comparing themselves with the rule by which they walk, they grow into an habitual frame of spiritual wisdom, and acquire a gracious taste, which enables them to judge of right and wrong with a degree of readiness and certainty, as a musical ear judges of sounds. And they are seldom mistaken, because they are influenced by the love of Christ, which rules in their hearts, and a regard to the glory of God, which is the great object they have in view.
1. By trust in and submission to God’s providential arrangement of circumstances and events, responded to Biblically.
In particular cases, the Lord opens and shuts for them, breaks down walls of difficulty which obstruct their path, or hedges up their way with thorns, when they are in danger of going wrong, by the dispensations of his providence. They know that their concernments are in his hands; they are willing to follow whither and when he leads; but are afraid of going before him. Therefore they are not impatient: because they believe, they will not make haste, but wait daily upon him in prayer; especially when they find their hearts most engaged in any purpose or pursuit, they are most jealous of being deceived by appearances, and dare not move farther or faster than they can perceive his light shining upon their paths. I express at least their desire, if not their attainment: thus they would be. And though there are seasons when faith languishes, and self too much prevails, this is their general disposition; and the Lord, whom they serve, does not disappoint their expectations. He leads them by a right way, preserves them from a thousand snares, and satisfies them that he is and will be their guide even unto death.^{^[1]}

^{^[1]} Newton, John, Richard Cecil. 1824. The works of the John Newton. . Vol. 1. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co.
As I was Reading Today – Insight from Andrew Fuller

July 6th, 2016

There is a tendency in the human mind to deviate from Divine truth. Had it not been for the illuminating influence of the Spirit of God, we should never have understood it; not because of its abstruseness, but on account of the uncongeniality of our minds; and when we do understand and believe it, there is a continual tendency in us to get wrong. It might seem that when a person has once obtained a just view of the gospel, there is no danger of his losing it; but it is not so. There is a partiality in all our views, and while we guard against error in one direction, we are in equal danger from a contrary extreme. Many, in shunning the snare of self-righteous pride, have fallen into the pit of Antinomian presumption; and many, in guarding what they consider as the interests of practical religion, have ceased to teach and preach those principles from which alone it can proceed. Besides this, there are many ways by which a minister may get beside the gospel without falling into any palpable errors. There may be nothing crooked, yet much wanting. We may deliver an ingenious discourse, containing nothing inconsistent with truth, and yet not preach that truth “in which believers stand, and by which they are saved.”

Fuller, Andrew Gunton. 1988. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. (Ed.) Joseph Belcher. . Vol. 1. Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications.
A Saturday’s Prayer

July 2nd, 2016

Can be sung to the tune of O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

Lord Jesus, God incarnate
True God, and truest man
The two in one united
To be Atonement’s Lamb
What praises can we offer
To sing Thy worthiness?
Eternity’s songs will falter
To match Thy blessedness

Dear Saving Son, Redeemer
Forgive my faithless heart
That fails in times of trial
To trust in Whom thou art
Thou sum of Love’s perfections
God’s Word and Wisdom full
Enlarge my soul’s affection
And sever deception’s pull

High Priest and Intercessor
In all my weakness, plead
Thy Spirit’s keeping power
According to all my need
Christ’s light amid the darkness
Christ’s strength when I am weak
Christ’s holiness in temptation
Christ’s words when e’re I speak

Let praise and adoration
O’er flow my heart and mind
Till naught but all Thy beauty
Remains for Thee to find
Transform and full conform me
Purge all that’s base and mean
And bring me to Thy glory
Till Christ alone is seen
As I was Reading Today – Seiss’s Lectures on the Apocalypse

July 2nd, 2016

Sometimes you unearth comments about one subject, whilst perusing another. In this case, this comes from Seiss’s 2nd lecture on the book of The revelation. And the text he was expatiating upon was this: Revelation 1:4–5 (ESV) “⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.”

His concluding paragraph on the portion show how his mind was provoked by his contemplation of the Trinity. It is rich.

“Conceive of these three, then, as one Almighty and ineffable Godhead,—the Father in the absoluteness of his unchanging nature and universal presence, the Spirit in all the completeness of his manifold energies and diversified operations, and the Son in the virtues of his blood-sealed testimony, of the new begotten power of his resurrection, and of the super-royal administrations of his eternal kinghood, each in his place, and all as one, laid under contribution, and unreservedly and irrevocably pledged, for the blessedness of them that believe;—sound the depths of such a fountain of good; test the firmness of such a basis of confidence; survey the strength and majesty of such a refuge for the soul; weigh the treasures of bliss which are opened up in such a presentation; and you may begin to form some conception of the resources of the saints, and of the real breadth and joyousness of this apostolic Salutation to the Churches. Is it any wonder that John’s heart took fire at the contemplation, or that he should abruptly pass from affectionate greeting to jubilant doxology? Surely “the name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is set on high.”

Seiss, J. A. 1901. The Apocalypse: A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ with Revised Text. Eighth Edition. Vol. 1. New York: Charles C. Cook.
As I was Reading Today – in Andrew Fuller

June 30th, 2016

The following is a very short sermon by Andrew Fuller on how it is God seems to send days of mercy to balance off days of affliction. He notes how days of difficulty and dark trials are to be an impetus for prayer for days of refreshing, and why we ought to look for them with expectancy. Whether our trials are personal, ecclesiastical, national or whatever. God is good to follow our dark days with refreshing, hope and restoration.

PAST TRIALS A PLEA FOR FUTURE MERCIES

“Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.”—Psal. 90:15.
THIS “prayer of Moses the man of God,” as it is entitled, is thought to have been occasioned by the sentence denounced against that generation of Israelites which came out of Egypt, viz. that they should perish in the wilderness. In it we see much of the plaintive, and yet much of the man of God, cleaving to God under his judgments, and hoping in his covenant mercy and truth. Forbidden to enter their promised dwelling-place, they are directed to make up their loss in God, ver. 1, 2. Cut short as to the number of their days, to apply their hearts to wisdom, ver. 12. And though they, and himself with them, were doomed to die, they are taught to pray that the cause of God may live, ver. 16, 17.
The language of the text implies that it is usual for God, in dealing with his people in this world, to balance evil with good, and good with evil. He neither exempts them from chastisement, nor contends with them for ever. If he had dealt with us on the mere footing of justice, we had had a cup of wrath only; but through his dear Son it is mixed with mercy. The alternate changes of night and day, winter and summer, are not more fixed in the course of nature, than the mixture of judgment and mercy in the present state.
The children of Israel were long afflicted in Egypt, and when delivered from that grievous yoke, their numerous sins against God brought on them numerous evils in the wilderness, till at length it issued in the dismal sentence which is supposed to have occasioned this plaintive song. Yet this dark night was preparatory to a morning of hope and joy. The people that were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness. The judgments upon the first generation proved a source of wholesome discipline to the second, who appear to have been the best of all the generations of Israel. It was of them that God spoke in such high terms by Jeremiah:—“I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first-fruits of his increase.” All that God had done for them till then was but ploughing up the fallow ground; but now he began to reap the fruits of his work. Now Balaam, instead of being able to curse them, is compelled to bless and envy them. And now the prayer of the man of God is answered. They are made glad according to the days in which they were afflicted, and the years in which they had seen evil. God’s work appeared to his servants, and his glory unto their children. His beauty was upon them, and he prospered the work of their hands.
We might refer to numerous instances in the Scriptures in which the same truth is exemplified. In the first hundred and thirty years of Adam’s life, he drank deeply of the bitter effects of his fall. He had a son; but after high hopes had been entertained of him, he proved wicked. He had another son, but him his brother murdered; and as the murderer was spared and his family increased, it would seem as if the world was to be peopled by a race of wicked men. But it did not end thus: God gave Adam another seed, instead of Abel whom Cain slew; and soon after this men began to call upon the name of the Lord. It must have been very afflictive for Noah to have been “a preacher of righteousness” century after century, and at last, instead of seeing his hearers converted to God, to see them all swept away by the deluge. But as the waters were assuaged when they had risen to their height, so the wrath of Heaven issued in mercy. God accepted the sacrifice of his servant, and made a covenant of peace with him and his posterity.
Similar remarks might be made from the histories of Jacob, and Joseph, and David, and many others: these were made glad according to the days wherein they had been afflicted, and the years wherein they had seen evil. Nor is it confined to individuals. When idolatrous Israel drew down the Divine displeasure in Hazael’s wars, Jehu’s revolution, and Elisha’s prophecies, it was very afflictive. Yet when Jehoahaz besought the Lord, the Lord hearkened unto him, and was gracious to his people, in respect of the covenant which he had made with their fathers, 2 Kings 13:3–5, 23. Thus the wind, the earthquake, and the fire were succeeded by the still small voice, 1 Kings 19:11, 12. Finally, the great afflictions of the church during the successive overturnings of the monarchies issued, according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, (chap. 21:27,) in Christ’s coming and kingdom.
It is not difficult to perceive the wisdom and goodness of God in thus causing evil to precede good, and good to follow evil. If the whole of our days were covered with darkness, there would be but little of the exercise of love, and joy, and praise; our spirits would contract a habit of gloominess and despondency; and religion itself would be reproached, as rendering us miserable. If, on the other hand, we had uninterrupted prosperity, we should not enjoy it. What is rest to him that is never weary, or peace to one that is a stranger to trouble? Heaven itself would not be that to us which it will be, if we came not out of great tribulation to the possession of it.
Evil and good being thus connected together, the one furnishes a plea for the other. Moses pleaded it, and so may we. We may have seen days of affliction, and years of evil, both as individuals and families. Borne down, it may be, with poverty and disappointment, our spirits are broken. Or if circumstances have been favourable, yet some deep-rooted disease preys upon our constitution, and passes a sentence of death within us long before it comes. Or if neither of these has befallen us, yet relative troubles may eat up all the enjoyment of life. A cruel and faithless husband, a peevish and unamiable wife, or a disobedient child, may cause us to say with Rebecca, What good does my life do me? Or if none of these evils afflict us, yet if the peace of God rule not in our hearts, all the blessings of life will be bestowed upon us in vain. It may be owing to the want of just views of the gospel, or to some iniquity regarded in our heart, that we spend days and years with but little communion with God.
Finally, If, as in some cases, a number of these evils should be combined, this will make the load still heavier. But, whatever be our afflictions, and however complicated, we may carry them to the Lord, and then turn them into a plea for mercy. Though the thorn should not be immediately extracted, yet if God cause his grace to be sufficient for us, we shall have reason to be glad.
We have also seen days of affliction and years of evil as a nation. It is true we have less cause to apply this language to ourselves than most other nations at the present time; yet to a feeling heart there is matter for grief. What numbers of widows and fatherless children have been left even among us, within the last sixteen years! Let the faithful of the land turn it into a prayer, not only in behalf of our country, but of a bleeding world.
Many of our churches, too, have experienced days and years of evil. The loss of faithful and useful pastors, disorders, scandals, strifes, divisions, the consequent withdrawment of the Holy Spirit, are evils which many have to bewail. Let the faithful remnant in every place carry these things to the throne of grace, and there plead with the God of mercy and truth, by whom alone Jacob can arise; and though weeping may continue for a night, joy will come in the morning.
The whole church of God has seen much evil hitherto. Its numbers have been few and despised. It has often been under persecution. Compared with what might have been expected, in almost six thousand years, “we have wrought no deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.” But all these things furnish a plea for better times. Even the wickedness of the wicked may enable us to plead with the psalmist, “It is time for thee, O Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law.” We may urge the prayer of faith too on this subject, since glorious things are spoken of the city of God. Both the world and the church have their best days to come.
It is necessary, however, to recollect that the happy issue of all our troubles depends upon our union with Christ. If unbelievers, our troubles are but the beginning of sorrows. It is a fatal error in many, that great afflictions in this life indicate that we have had our evil things here. Few men have been more miserable than Saul was in his latter days. But if, renouncing every other ground of hope, we believe in Jesus the crucified, whatever our sorrows may be in this life, they will be turned into joy.
Fuller, Andrew Gunton. 1988. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. (Ed.) Joseph Belcher. . Vol. 1. Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications.