Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Augustine Quote
"My entire hope is exclusively in your very great mercy. Grant what you command, and command what you will" (Augustine Confessions X xxix 40).
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Priestcraft in the Protestant Church?
Under the old covenant it was necessary that a priest mediate between the lay people of God and God. The work of the priest, however, did not altogether preclude personal, experiential, and communal relations between the individual believer and God, though there were certain restrictions of a very complex nature. The old covenant people were loved of God, loved God, had faith in God, walked with God, prayed to God, sinned before God, repented before God, and lived morally before God, just as do new covenant believers. However, in this early dispensation of time in redemptive history there were certain outward means by which grace was dispensed, sins were covered, and atonement was made. The old covenant priesthood was ordained and sovereignly instituted by God whereby the priest was entrusted with certain ceremonial rites and rituals pertaining to private and corporate worship that was theirs alone to administer on behalf of the people of God. These many functions of the priest that ministered the required sacrifices, offerings, and observances for the people were all types that foreshadowed what was to come in the person and work of Christ, who by taking on the role of our great high priest tore down the wall that once in this sense separated the people from God. What the old covenant priest did in their sacrificial ministrations were successive being repetitive until Jesus came and made a singular, once for all, final, and most ultimate sacrifice for sin-that being the nature of his very own death-which having been as a substitution on behalf of his elect people from all ages, and out of all races, saves those that believe in him. Since this monolithic event we are no longer in need of a priest to mediate the various graces of God to us, but we may now boldly approach him as if we are priests ourselves (Hebrews, the whole book; 1Pet.2:9).
There is one God and one faith and based on the works of Christ there is free access to him (Eph. 4:4-6). Ultimately we do not have to answer to anyone but God as we will all stand before him to give an account of our selves and not that of another (Rom. 14:12). This is not to say that we do not have certain authorities that we are to submit to such as pertains to familial relations, pastors, and government (Heb. 13:17). Nevertheless, there is a tendency among certain people who by way of sinful regression drift back to a quasi old covenant way of thinking and fall victim to a type of priestcraft that rears the ugly head of prideful superiority above those that they perceive to not be as skilled in scriptural knowledge and doctrine, nor schooled by experience, or having gone through the same refining fires as they themselves. It is a great feat of self deception to think that one has cornered the market on wisdom and monopolized truth. "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know" (1 Cor.8:2). God is God to all. His word is for all to share in. The wisdom that comes from knowing him and his word is there for all who ask and he gives liberally (James: 1:5). The word of God makes foolish the wisdom of the world (1 Cor. 3:19). In this sense there is superiority in that God awards the most simple minded a knowledge above all other secular knowledge. To know God is to know everything that is of eternal importance. It is to know the truth that gives the soul liberation and which enlightens the mind out of the darkness of falsehood and bondage to sin (Jn. 8:32). This is how the psalmist made such a high minded claim that he understood more than his teachers (Ps. 119:99). It is the almighty that gives understanding (Proverbs, the whole book Job 32:8).
It is the job of the minister to preach himself out of a job in a certain sense by way of equipping the saints to do ministry Eph. 4:11). But this is not always the attitude of many pastors today who come across more as spiritual gurus rather than preachers equipping the saints to do ministry. To point this out to these well meaning preachers would be nothing less than insulting to them, a notion being repugnant, and terribly horrifying to them. This is a very slippery problem in that many are not even aware of it. Nevertheless, they continue own in their blindness never allowing anyone to have a voice without being overwhelmingly compelled to qualify everything a brother or sister may have by way of contribution, whether in voice or deed; as they are considered inferior in their bible knowledge and expertise, and all the while they are calling for such things as action to ministry from their parishioners; though in their minds it is really not you in particular they have in mind and want, but somebody that is more qualified for the job. We no longer "hire" within the local church but go without. And to attempt to do any ministry in the church that is not their idea, or the idea of someone influential, is futile at best. Friends this ought not to be found in our churches. No one has the right to behave in this manner. The word of God is not exclusive in this way. No one owns the rights to biblical interpretation. But let us not go to the other extreme either, where as it has been observed that a bible study is nothing more than a pooling together of collective ignorance. So let us yield to one another as we minister the Gospel to one another in love and humility knowing that we are all part of the body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-6) with various gifts, one not more dominant or important than the other, but all being such that if faithfully worked out are equally important and carry equal weight in the kingdom as service done to one another and to the one God of us all.
"Your truth does not belong to me nor to anyone else, but to us all whom you call to share it as a public possession. With terrifying words you warn against regarding it as a private possession, or we may lose it (Matt. 25:14-30). Anyone who claims for his own property what you offer for all to enjoy, and wishes to have exclusive rights to what belongs to everyone, is driven from the common truth to his own private ideas, that is from truth to a lie" (Augustine Confessions Ch. XII (34).
There is one God and one faith and based on the works of Christ there is free access to him (Eph. 4:4-6). Ultimately we do not have to answer to anyone but God as we will all stand before him to give an account of our selves and not that of another (Rom. 14:12). This is not to say that we do not have certain authorities that we are to submit to such as pertains to familial relations, pastors, and government (Heb. 13:17). Nevertheless, there is a tendency among certain people who by way of sinful regression drift back to a quasi old covenant way of thinking and fall victim to a type of priestcraft that rears the ugly head of prideful superiority above those that they perceive to not be as skilled in scriptural knowledge and doctrine, nor schooled by experience, or having gone through the same refining fires as they themselves. It is a great feat of self deception to think that one has cornered the market on wisdom and monopolized truth. "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know" (1 Cor.8:2). God is God to all. His word is for all to share in. The wisdom that comes from knowing him and his word is there for all who ask and he gives liberally (James: 1:5). The word of God makes foolish the wisdom of the world (1 Cor. 3:19). In this sense there is superiority in that God awards the most simple minded a knowledge above all other secular knowledge. To know God is to know everything that is of eternal importance. It is to know the truth that gives the soul liberation and which enlightens the mind out of the darkness of falsehood and bondage to sin (Jn. 8:32). This is how the psalmist made such a high minded claim that he understood more than his teachers (Ps. 119:99). It is the almighty that gives understanding (Proverbs, the whole book Job 32:8).
It is the job of the minister to preach himself out of a job in a certain sense by way of equipping the saints to do ministry Eph. 4:11). But this is not always the attitude of many pastors today who come across more as spiritual gurus rather than preachers equipping the saints to do ministry. To point this out to these well meaning preachers would be nothing less than insulting to them, a notion being repugnant, and terribly horrifying to them. This is a very slippery problem in that many are not even aware of it. Nevertheless, they continue own in their blindness never allowing anyone to have a voice without being overwhelmingly compelled to qualify everything a brother or sister may have by way of contribution, whether in voice or deed; as they are considered inferior in their bible knowledge and expertise, and all the while they are calling for such things as action to ministry from their parishioners; though in their minds it is really not you in particular they have in mind and want, but somebody that is more qualified for the job. We no longer "hire" within the local church but go without. And to attempt to do any ministry in the church that is not their idea, or the idea of someone influential, is futile at best. Friends this ought not to be found in our churches. No one has the right to behave in this manner. The word of God is not exclusive in this way. No one owns the rights to biblical interpretation. But let us not go to the other extreme either, where as it has been observed that a bible study is nothing more than a pooling together of collective ignorance. So let us yield to one another as we minister the Gospel to one another in love and humility knowing that we are all part of the body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-6) with various gifts, one not more dominant or important than the other, but all being such that if faithfully worked out are equally important and carry equal weight in the kingdom as service done to one another and to the one God of us all.
"Your truth does not belong to me nor to anyone else, but to us all whom you call to share it as a public possession. With terrifying words you warn against regarding it as a private possession, or we may lose it (Matt. 25:14-30). Anyone who claims for his own property what you offer for all to enjoy, and wishes to have exclusive rights to what belongs to everyone, is driven from the common truth to his own private ideas, that is from truth to a lie" (Augustine Confessions Ch. XII (34).
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Ecclesiastes 7:13,14
"Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other" (Ecc. 7:13,14).
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thomas Brooks Quote (Chastening)
"Corrections are pledges of our adoption, and badges of our sonship, God had one Son without sin, but none without sorrow" Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices Banner Pg. 85 Note). "'As many as I love , I rebuke and chasten' (Rev. 3:19). Saints, saith God, think not that I hate you, because I thus chide you. He that escapes reprehension may suspect his adoption. God had one Son without corruption, but no son without correction" (Pg. 85,86).
Monday, August 24, 2009
Smiling at Frowning Providences
When the Christian finds himself to be under great afflictions and facing much adversity, which is the case for all Christians at one point or another in their lives (Job 5:7), he can either despairingly say, "I'm having a hard time seeing God in all of this." Note that Job's wife who knew that God was the ultimate source of Job's suffering, but sinfully advices Job to, "Curse God and die" (Job 2:9)! Or he can say, "The Lord is not far from it, he is not merely in it, but he is behind it!" Though we do not realize it at the time the former position is one of a faint hearted attitude and lacking of strong faith, but "How painful are honest words!"(Job 6:25). We think that we are solid until the time of testing comes and reveals hollow places in our faith that need some constructive attention. When it comes to this I am afraid that I have been more like Job's wife than Job, whose weakest moments have been greater than my strongest.
But what lessons we could learn and what relief we could be gained by considering that God was in absolute providential control of Job's destiny? How much better off we would be if we were to smile at frowning providences, especially in that we have the example of Job set before us! Let us faithfully believe as it is promised by God, that just as he was at the helm of Job's life, it is also true that he is the captain in ordering the direction and affairs of our lives. If we cannot seem to muster a smile during the bad times, for there is a time for everything, and suffering in itself is terrible, we have this assurance that God directs all things for his glory and our good. Now this is a joyful thought even in the worst of circumstances that though "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5). This was the bases for martyrs who died in pain, but went rejoicing and singing into heaven.
To accuse one of lacking faith or being substandard in integrity is an easy estimation to make by those that are strangers to affliction, and are on the outside looking in, not going through the same thing, is it not? How true it is that, "Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping" (Job 11:5). And though it is true that this is a question of faith low minded empathy and high minded sympathy is what we want and need when going through troubling times, and further it ought to be the tools of counsel and instruction when dealing with our brothers and sisters who find themselves out to be under the scourging rod of God. We do not know what God may be up to in the various circumstances of people's lives.
Testing is the tool of working in us strong faith and though faith may at first be weak and strained under a heavy burden, it is what keeps us in that it stems from God, and it is strengthened all the more for it. However, the best as well as the worst of Christians have a tendency to have tunnel vision when it comes to spiritually trying matters. Like Jobs counselors we assume that God must have such and such a thing in mind. But God usually does his work in secret and mysterious ways that we cannot discern. The norm for us is not the normal way that God works.
The disciples probably assumed the coin in the mouth of the fish was relevant only to them and their taxes, but where did the coin come from other than another work of God in dealing with mariners that had found their providential lot to be that of an encounter with troubled seas? Whatever the case may be with this, it is a verity that God uses affliction for our good and for his glory. What we see as now being painful to us is but the work of a loving and disciplining father who will not permit us to be so prosperous that we do not attain to the fullness of himself that we are so desperately in need of.
So instead of asking where God is in our trials let our spirits find humble harmony with Job, who suffered far more than all of us, and acknowledge that it is God who is the dispenser of both good and evil. "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble" (Job 2:10)? Job had faith and this is what helped him through his trial. And how his faith was measured and developed more perfectly because of his trial! Unwavering faith, though it can be shaken yet it cannot be shattered, is what reveals the persevering believer from the falling apostate. If we have to ask where God is in the evil that befalls man we are in an indescribably terrible state as compared to having the peace of knowing that we are under the sovereign care of God who brings frowning providences, but only such that we might ultimately smile at.
Things are not so bad if one can say "God is behind the thing." To have to look for God in a bad situation is to be in a most miserable predicament. It is not that one merely has a problem when he cannot see God in an affliction, and has to look for his hand in the matter, but rather the more serious problem is that he does not see God altogether in the affliction to begin with. There is a problem with our language usage here. It is true that the devil did his worse to Job, but just as the devil had command over nature and evil men, it was God who had command over the devil.
"He wounds but he also binds up; he injures but his hands also heal" (Job 5:18). Job's pain was very real, he suffered a lot, and he cried, cursing even the day of his birth (Job 3:1), but not God, and in the end he found occasion for a smile. He was closer to God for his sufferings and the Lord blessed the latter part of his life more than the first (Job 42:12). "A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud, and see a God smiling on him" (Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices Banner Pg. 86).
But what lessons we could learn and what relief we could be gained by considering that God was in absolute providential control of Job's destiny? How much better off we would be if we were to smile at frowning providences, especially in that we have the example of Job set before us! Let us faithfully believe as it is promised by God, that just as he was at the helm of Job's life, it is also true that he is the captain in ordering the direction and affairs of our lives. If we cannot seem to muster a smile during the bad times, for there is a time for everything, and suffering in itself is terrible, we have this assurance that God directs all things for his glory and our good. Now this is a joyful thought even in the worst of circumstances that though "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5). This was the bases for martyrs who died in pain, but went rejoicing and singing into heaven.
To accuse one of lacking faith or being substandard in integrity is an easy estimation to make by those that are strangers to affliction, and are on the outside looking in, not going through the same thing, is it not? How true it is that, "Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping" (Job 11:5). And though it is true that this is a question of faith low minded empathy and high minded sympathy is what we want and need when going through troubling times, and further it ought to be the tools of counsel and instruction when dealing with our brothers and sisters who find themselves out to be under the scourging rod of God. We do not know what God may be up to in the various circumstances of people's lives.
Testing is the tool of working in us strong faith and though faith may at first be weak and strained under a heavy burden, it is what keeps us in that it stems from God, and it is strengthened all the more for it. However, the best as well as the worst of Christians have a tendency to have tunnel vision when it comes to spiritually trying matters. Like Jobs counselors we assume that God must have such and such a thing in mind. But God usually does his work in secret and mysterious ways that we cannot discern. The norm for us is not the normal way that God works.
The disciples probably assumed the coin in the mouth of the fish was relevant only to them and their taxes, but where did the coin come from other than another work of God in dealing with mariners that had found their providential lot to be that of an encounter with troubled seas? Whatever the case may be with this, it is a verity that God uses affliction for our good and for his glory. What we see as now being painful to us is but the work of a loving and disciplining father who will not permit us to be so prosperous that we do not attain to the fullness of himself that we are so desperately in need of.
So instead of asking where God is in our trials let our spirits find humble harmony with Job, who suffered far more than all of us, and acknowledge that it is God who is the dispenser of both good and evil. "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble" (Job 2:10)? Job had faith and this is what helped him through his trial. And how his faith was measured and developed more perfectly because of his trial! Unwavering faith, though it can be shaken yet it cannot be shattered, is what reveals the persevering believer from the falling apostate. If we have to ask where God is in the evil that befalls man we are in an indescribably terrible state as compared to having the peace of knowing that we are under the sovereign care of God who brings frowning providences, but only such that we might ultimately smile at.
Things are not so bad if one can say "God is behind the thing." To have to look for God in a bad situation is to be in a most miserable predicament. It is not that one merely has a problem when he cannot see God in an affliction, and has to look for his hand in the matter, but rather the more serious problem is that he does not see God altogether in the affliction to begin with. There is a problem with our language usage here. It is true that the devil did his worse to Job, but just as the devil had command over nature and evil men, it was God who had command over the devil.
"He wounds but he also binds up; he injures but his hands also heal" (Job 5:18). Job's pain was very real, he suffered a lot, and he cried, cursing even the day of his birth (Job 3:1), but not God, and in the end he found occasion for a smile. He was closer to God for his sufferings and the Lord blessed the latter part of his life more than the first (Job 42:12). "A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud, and see a God smiling on him" (Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices Banner Pg. 86).
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Thomas Brooks Quote (Sin angainst Mercy Devilish)
"To render good for evil is divine, to render good for good is human, to render evil for evil is brutish: but to render evil for good is devilish..." (Brooks Precious remedies against Satan's devices Banner of Truth Pg. 73).
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