“Better is open rebuke than hidden love.” (Proverbs 27:5, ESV)
It has taken science, in the fields of Psychiatry and Psychology, thousands of years to catch up to this passage. In Psychological terms, this would be stated as : “Children would rather be disciplined than ignored.” Its true.
This is Ivan Kellogg. In the world’s words, he WAS a great man. In God’s, by grace, he IS a great man. Not as the World counts greatness, but as God does. For he never sought human accolades all the days I knew him. At least never as much as I could tell. He was my brother-in-law, youth leader (when I was young and REALLY a pain), fellow quartet member, my co-elder, and the best friend in life and ministry one could ever hope to have as a gift from God – because he would tell me the truth. Even when it really hurt. I loved him. And I can’t wait to see him again in glory. I will miss him everyday until then.
I wrote the following for him based upon: Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – 1 Cor. 15:51
“Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, ” (Jeremiah 29:6–8, ESV)
Thoughtful Christians often wonder how it is we can engage the broader culture, especially in regard to issues like same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia, and religious freedom. I personally struggle with finding meaningful, intelligent and practical ways to do so. Today, I believe I was able to do so in one way – by signing my name to the Manhattan Declaration.
Rather than me waxing eloquent on it, please take the time to follow THIS LINK or click on the logo above and read – consider – pray, and hopefully, sign. The statements and arguments are sound, cogent and form a wonderful platform to help you discuss these issues in personal settings with others. I highly encourage you to check it out.
“One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.” (Proverbs 27:7, ESV)
The disturbing migration of former “evangelicals” to Romanism in the past few years was spotlighted in 2007 when Francis Beckwith – once president of the Evangelical Theological Society stepped down from that position as he too re-embraced the Roman Catholicism of his youth. My own view is simply that when there is no real conversion to Christ and true regeneration – what is lacking in genuine spiritual reality must be replaced by something – which something many think they find in the flourishes of a ritualistic framework which mimics the true majesty of Christ with outward structure. If one does not have the real thing, the closest analog will be sought out. It is the very essence of the second thought in our text today – “to the one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.”
My dear friend, Tony Bartolucci, Pastor of Clarkson Community Church and no mean expositor of the Word, himself disturbed by this trend sought to grasp the issues behind it and interact fully with Beckwith’s own account of his return to Romanism. The result is a 12 parts series of sermons which I have found extremely helpful. They are insightful, clear, challenging and above all – call us to examine not only this trend, but all of our reasoning to the authority of the Scripture.
I highly commend this series to you – especially if you have a loved one who may themselves be wrestling in this area. You can order the entire series on CD, or listen to them free on line BY CLICKING HERE OR THE LOGO. There is a crying need for us to face this current trend head on in this Biblical fashion. Get these!
” I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6, ESV)
The following is excerpted from From D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’ 1969 Lecture on the Puritans – The Puritans, Their Origins and Successors, pages 234-235. It is wonderful reminder of our need to major on the majors, and minor on the minors.
“In 1654 Oliver Cromwell – with his idea of Toleration – and the Parliament called upon the divines to define what should be tolerated or indulged among those who profess the fundamentals of Christianity. If effect they said, we have all these division and sects and groups; what are the fundamental of Christianity on which we can have fellowship together? So a committee was set up and the members of the committee were these: Mr. Richard Baxter, Dr. John Owen, Dr. Thomas Goodwin, Dr. Cheynel, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Reyner, Mr. Nye, Mr. Sydrach Simpson, Mr. Vines, Mr. Manton, Mr. Jacomb. As I said earlier, Baxter tried to short-circuit the whole proposal at the beginning by saying that nothing was necessary but the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Commandments. But that was rejected. Then they proceeded to work, and they produced 16 Articles which they felt stated the fundamentals on which, and on which alone, true fellowship is possible between Protestant Evangelical people. Here they are –
John 13 is an extraordinary passage as everyone knows. This account of Jesus washing the Disciple’s feet, releasing Judas to his wicked work and preparing His inner-circle for His departure is filled with rich food for the soul.
“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”” (John 13:6, ESV)
RAF: Peter’s objection might have arisen from several causes. But we must note that he seems not to have objected at Christ’s washing the feet of the others, only when it came to him. Perhaps he thought – “I do not need cleansed like this – I’m not that dirty.” Maybe he was implying he was cleaner than the rest. Who knows but that they had washed their own feet already when they came in? Men hate to own the depth of their own uncleanness. Then again, perhaps the issue was that this was simply too humbling. To have the one he wanted to serve, serve him, was a challenge to his pride. How much we want to have a part in grace – and not to be purely a recipient of it.
Proverbs 12:16 – The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.
RAF: Knee-jerk reactions are the reactions of a jerk – or more properly, a fool. The one who is easily provoked, is the slave of the provocateur. The only buttons someone else can push, are the ones you give them access to. And if you cannot set the provocative aspects aside to stay focused upon the real issues at hand, you will be forever barred from arriving at solutions to problems. I know. I’ve been there. I have played the fool. Heaven help me to be more like my King, Jesus.
Justice and evenhandedness are attributes of God mankind is meant to display. In John 10:34 where Jesus cites Ps. 82 He notes that the Law says “you are gods” in the context of Israel’s leadership having perverted justice while being the recipients of God’s Law. We are meant to be His vice-regents here. And nowhere is that more manifest than in judging right and wrong, based upon God’s own just nature communicated in the rights and wrongs He delineates. Whenever people pervert justice, we openly and graphically deny God. This is true for those apart from Christ – and especially true for those who own Him. Christians above all ought to be concerned with miscarriages of justice in our society – and even more within the Church. (Scroll all the way down to click for the rest.)
Tim Challies over at CHALLIES.COM has written an excellent resource for those wrestling with sexual purity – which in our day can be almost all of us.
What is exciting, is that Tim went on to produce this in e-book format, and then posted it – which means you can download it free of charge from his website. You can click on the various links here or on the book image to the left.
If you are struggling in this area, or know someone who is – get this or recommend it to them.
If you are a parent, this ought to be on your own reading list, and made available to both your sons and daughters. Tim has produced something practical, Scriptural, helpful and sound. Everyone of us ought to go through it once. Know it or not, we ARE interacting with folks every day – even in our own homes for whom this is vital. Get it today. TIM CHALLIES.COM
Two recommendations – A PBS special, and a book on the life of Aonio Paleario. Say what?
A few weeks ago, Jack Otto (a friend in our congregation) asked me if I had seen a recent PBS special on Michelangelo? I hadn’t. Its titled “Michelangelo Revealed” and you can watch it on line HERE: (or click the PBS logo).
In any event, thanks to Jack’s largess in securing a DVD copy, I popped it in my player at home and was in for a treat. Without giving everything away (you really do need to watch it for yourself) it appears that Michelangelo became intimate with a group within the Roman Catholic Church called the “Spirituality” – which group had embraced the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and sought to reform the Church from within, even as Luther and others now outside were continuing their efforts at reform. The account is fantastic. One could easily conclude the great artist himself had come to embrace justification by faith before his death.
Now the work of this group – the “Spirituality” included publishing a little book titled “The Benefit of Christ’s Death.” This book clearly articulated justification by faith and may who were involved in its publication and distribution were eventually silenced by the Inquisition. Not the least of these were the book’s author.
I was so intrigued by the PBS special, I began to search out this title. It wasn’t long before I was rewarded with a page from Google Books. I was not disappointed. The salvation message was clear. But now I wanted to know more. My search ended at SOLID GROUND BOOKS and their reprint of this amazing little book, along with a biographical piece on the author – the little known (to us) scholar Aonio Paleario.
The biographical section reads a novel of high intrigue. And then, you get into this obviously ground-floor work wherein the author tries to call his Church back to the centrality of Christ, and the simple gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.
My recommendation – watch the PBS special, and then get to SOLID GROUND BOOKS and order a copy of “The Italian Reformer – The Life and Martyrdom of Aonio Paleario and The Benefit of Christ’s Death.” You won’t be disappointed.
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