Tried With Fire

I am thankful for... - A week with extended family over Christmas. We enjoyed one another's company and ate far too much food. I am especially thankful that my parents are still with us and how sacrificially my sister and brother-in-law serve them. - My daughter completed her Associate's degree this month and will be continuing her education at a local university after the New Year. She worked very hard, and I am very proud of her. As Providence would have it, a brother in our church will be her academic advisor, which is another blessing. - A pastor who stretches his congregation theologically and a local church that rises to the challenge. I am also thankful for a church where there is no dichotomy between sound doctrine and practical Christian living. - God who is immutable and impassible. This is a great comfort when the world seems to be in constant flux. This is also an unshakeable anchor for my soul in the coming year.

The two great links between earth and Heaven are the two advents of our Lord; or, rather, He is Himself, by His two appearings, the great bond of union between earth and Heaven. When the world had revolted against its Maker, and the Creator had been defied by His own creatures, a great gulf was opened between God and man. The first coming of Christ was like a bridge which crossed the chasm, and made a way of access from God to man, and then from man to God. Our Lord’s second advent will make that bridge far broader, until Heaven shall come down to earth; and, ultimately, earth shall go up to Heaven.  Here, too, is the place for us to build a grand suspension bridge, by which, through faith, we ourselves may cross from this side to the other of the stormy river of time. The cross, at whose foot we stand, is the massive column which supports the structure on this side; and as we look forward to the glory, the second advent of our Lord is the solid support on the other side of the ...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...  For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.  John 1:1-5, 16-18

This constant undivided union of two perfect natures in Christ's Person is exactly that which gives infinite value to His mediation, and qualifies Him to be the very Mediator that sinners need. Our Mediator is One that can sympathize with us, because He is very man. And yet, at the same time, He is One who can deal with the Father for us on equal terms, because He is very God. It is the same union which gives infinite value to His righteousness, when imputed to believers -  the righteousness of One Who was [and is] God as well as man. It is the same union which gives infinite value to the atoning blood which He shed for sinners on the cross - the blood of One who was [and is] God as well as man. It is the same union which gives infinite value to His resurrection: when He rose again, as the Head of the body of believers, He rose not as a mere man but as God. Let these things sink deeply into our hearts. The second Adam is far greater than the first Adam was. The first Adam was only ...

Oh Saviour of our fallen race, Oh brightness of the Father’s face Oh Son Who shared the Father’s mind Before the world knew day or night Oh Jesus very light of light Our constant star in sin’s deep night Now hear the prayers Your people pray Throughout the world this holy day You came down You came down To a stable and manger Not a kingdom or a crown Remember Lord of life and grace How once to save our fallen race You put our human vesture on And came to us as Mary’s son You came down You came down To a stable and manger Not a kingdom or a crown For from the Father’s throne You came His banished children to reclaim And earth and sea and sky revered The love of Him who sent You here Oh Christ redeemer, virgin born Let songs of praise your name adore And with the Father be adored And Holy Spirit evermore You came down You came down You came down You came down To a stable and manger Not a kingdom or a crown From Christmas -  Jill Phillips and...

Our Lord Jesus Christ is also full of grace and truth in this sense, that He truthfully deals with matters of fact relating to our salvation. I know the notion of the world is; that the salvation of Christ is a pretty dream, a fine piece of sentiment; but there is nothing dreamy about it: it is no fiction; it is fact upon fact. The Lord Jesus Christ does not gloss over or conceal the condition of man in order to secure his salvation. He finds man condemned, and condemned in the very worst sense, condemned for a capital offense; and as man’s Substitute, He endures the capital penalty, and dies in the sinner’s stead. The Lord Jesus views the sinner as depraved, yea, as dead in trespasses and sins, and He quickens him by His own resurrection life. He does not wink at the result of the Fall, and at the guilt of actual sin; but He comes to the dead sinner, and gives him life; He touches the diseased heart, and heals it. To me, the Gospel is a wonderful embodiment of omnipotent wisdom and ...

Arranged for winds and brass performed by one person! And for an encore - Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming: Jordan Moore's Youtube channel

ht: Baptist Humor on FB

I am posting at Out of the Ordinary today: When I was a child, there were times when I would lie awake at night and think about God after my parents tucked me into bed. I knew a little about Him from Bible stories and Sunday school, but I still wondered what He was really like. Having been taught that God was already  there  before Genesis 1:1, I imagined going back in time just prior to Creation or traveling into deep space to find Him. Needless to say, it was more than my young mind could handle. God was so completely  other  that I felt very small, not just in age but in significance. Well, I had a similar feeling of smallness this past Sunday... Read the rest of the post here.

... [T]he doctrine of God is a more complicated matter than the authority of Scripture. When someone starts to tinker with the doctrine of Scripture, many Christians instinctively feel that something nefarious is being done. But when someone starts to tinker with the doctrine of God, many simply assume that very clever people are engaged in improving the tradition. After all, many of the terms used in classical understandings of God - impassable, immutable, simple - have an abstract quality which seems to remove them from the life (and the conscious concern) of the ordinary believer. These concepts have the aura of academics about them: abstract, impersonal, pedantic, practically irrelevant. Yet history teaches us that it is precisely these concepts which safeguarded the Christian faith over time and that it was the repudiation of these which led to the collapse of orthodoxy... Peter Taylor Forsyth once commented that every theological teacher should reflect on what his teaching w...

What amazing condescension is it that God, who made all things, should assume the nature of one of His own creatures, that the Self existent should be united with the dependent and derived, and the Almighty linked with the feeble and mortal! In His Incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ descended to the very depths of humiliation, by entering into alliance with a nature which did not occupy the chief place in the scale of existence. It would have been marvelous condescension for the infinite and incomprehensible Jehovah to have taken upon Himself the nature of some noble spiritual being, such as a seraph or a cherub. The union of the Divine Creator with any created spirit would have been an immeasurable stoop; but for God to become one with man, is far greater condescension.  Remember that, in the person of Christ, manhood was not merely an immortal spirit, but also suffering, hungering, dying, flesh and blood. There was taken to Himself, by our Lord, all that materialism which make...

Performed by John Feeley on James Joyce's guitar:

ht: Lloyd Legalist

I'm going to jump on the 2015 book list bandwagon. The books are listed in the order they were read/listened: C.H. Spurgeon's Autobiography: The Early Years  (audiobook read by Robert Whitfield) - Spurgeon is my favorite dead theologian, and I loved hearing about his conversion and struggles to come to faith. My favorite line is "My mother said to me, one day, “Ah, Charles! I often prayed the Lord to make you a Christian, but I never asked that you might become a Baptist.” I could not resist the temptation to reply, “Ah, mother ! the Lord has answered your prayer with His usual bounty, and given you exceeding abundantly above what you asked or thought.”" The Democratization of American Christianity  by Nathan O. Hatch - A very interesting look at how the mindset of American Christianity was shaped by our culture. The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology  by Pascal Denault - I am indebted to R.C. Sproul for opening up the beauty of Covenant Theology to...

This true/false quiz is courtesy of  Dr. James Renihan : 1. The sovereign God exercises sovereign control over Himself. True or false? 2. The doctrine of God's aseity teaches us that God has His being from Himself. True or false? 3. Since man is made in the image of God, we may say that in certain ways God's being is like man's being. True or false? 4. Christian monotheism teaches that God progressively reveals Himself first as Father, then as Son, and finally as Holy Spirit. True or false? 5. The incarnation binds the eternal God to the timeline of His people. True or false? So how did you do?

How common are nominal saviors! “Lo, here,” say some, “is a savior!” “ Lo, there,” cry others, “is another savior!” All these have the name, but not the power; and now, our Lord Jesus Christ has claimed the title exclusively for Himself. His Name shall be called Jesus, for He alone is a Prince and a Savior, and He only saves His people from their sins.  Other so called saviors do but mock the hopes of mankind; they promise fairly, but they utterly deceive all who rely upon them. But this Holy Child, this blessed, glorious “God with us,” has truly brought us salvation, and He saith, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” This Jesus of Nazareth, the King of kings, and Lord of Lords, is the one and only Savior. He, and none but He, shall save His people. He, and not another, shall save them by His own act and deed. Singly and unaided, He shall save His people. Personally, and not by another, in His own Name, and on His own ...

The Bach Chaconne from the violin Partita No. 2 in D minor BWV 1004. This transcription for cello quartet was done by Laszlo Varga.  Cleveland Institute of Music Faculty Recital (02/06/15)

Suffering has been the latest Sunday school topic at my church. The class has been very helpful and thought-provoking. It has probably been challenging for the teacher to try to condense this weighty subject because suffering touches on the sovereignty of God, the problem of evil, justice, and ethics to name a few. But the class has been the easy part. The hard part will be applying what I have learned. Also a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Just because I've read books or have been through a class on suffering doesn't necessarily mean I will be sensitive to others in their pain. As I've been mulling over this, here are some thoughts that come to mind: Don't lump a suffering in a single category. The sorrows of life in a fallen world are not the same as evil being perpetrated by sinful people. Don't put suffering on a scale and be the judge of who is suffering more or less. Be careful of an unbalanced view of God's sovereignty such that the categ...

I'm posting at Out of the Ordinary today: I don't remember where I saw it on Facebook, but at the beginning of November, someone posted that Christians get a month off before we can start arguing again about whether or not we should celebrate Christmas. Funny but true, and I have been on both sides of this issue... I'm not suggesting we abstain from civil discourse about the pros and cons of celebrating Christmas. Dialogue about differing ideas can be profitable. But there is more to being a Christian than what we do or don't do on December 25. Read the rest of the post here.

"The doctrine of the Pharisees may be summed up in three words: they were formalists, tradition-worshippers, and self-righteous. They attached such weight to the traditions of men that they practically regarded them of more importance than the inspired writings of the Old Testament... Remember, all this time, they did not formally deny any part of the Old Testament Scripture. But they brought in, over and above it, so much of human invention, that they virtually put Scripture aside, and buried it under their own traditions. This is the sort of religion, of which our Lord says to the Apostles, "Be careful and be on your guard."... "The doctrine of the Sadducees, on the other hand, may be summed up in three words: free-thinking, skepticism, and rationalism... But the practical effect of their teaching was to shake men's faith in any revelation, and to throw a cloud of doubt over men's minds, which was only one degree better than infidelity. And of a...

J.S. Bach cello suite No. 1 in D performed by John Feeley, classical guitarist:

ht: Baptist Humor

"[W]e need to recognize that Christendom is a system which is partly merged with culture while trying to sustain itself separately. But Christendom, like all institutions when endangered, tries to protect itself. And if you doubt that, you expose a case of child abuse by a pastor and watch what happens. Christendom has used scripture to support or conceal slavery, racism, domestic violence, and many other cruelties that our God hates. I fear the Christendom today has become less interested in truth and more interested in power..." "Christendom is not Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived..." "Do not follow the siren of culture even if someone baptizes it for you. Its categories are not God's. Do not be seduced by the allure of Christendom nor heed the word of God when it is used to sanction something that is utterly unlike Jesus Christ... Know Christ so well that you can discern what is unlike Him no matter how seductive or the religious garb it wears......

We have been told from ancient times that the unexamined life is not worth living, and I agree with that. And yet I must find myself in a small minority because I find it difficult to find many people who put their own philosophies and their religious convictions under a microscope and ask themselves, "Why do I believe what I believe? Do I believe it simply because it has been passed on to me by my parents or the subcultural community that I have been in?"... Why do you believe what you believe? Because what you believe determines how you live. And so it is a very important question to ask yourself particularly as a Christian, because there is real sense in which we are called upon to justify to our believe systems, not just to our neighbor but to ourselves, because we are called to be mature in our faith. Paul tells us to be babes in evil but in our understanding to be adults, which means we have to use the minds that God has given us to see the basis for our truth. This ...

The Lord Jesus is "a friend who never changes." There is no fickleness about Him: those whom He loves, He loves to the end. Husbands have been known to forsake their wives; parents have been known to cast off their children; human vows and promises of faithfulness have often been forgotten. Thousands have been neglected in their poverty and old age, who were honored by all when they were rich and young. But Christ never changed his feelings towards one of His friends. He is "the same yesterday and today and forever." [Hebrews 13:8]  The Lord Jesus "never goes away from His friends." There is never a parting and goodbye between Him and His people. From the time that He makes His home in the sinner's heart, He abides in it forever. The world is full of separations and departures: death and the passage of time break up the most united family; sons move on to make their way in life; daughters are married, and leave their father's house forever. Scat...

Performed on November 28, 1985 by the incomparable duo of Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax. This is the entire sonata, and worth the 27 minutes. Get a cup of tea or coffee, sit back, and enjoy!

"Exercising care over the formation of our minds is not a purely academic pursuit; it is also a spiritual one. God enjoins us in Scripture to pursue intellectual virtues. The Bible is unequivocally clear that Christians are to superintend the life of the mind. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by he renewing of your minds" (Rom. 12:3). God cares about how you think, not just what you think. A godly mind is not merely one devoid of vile thoughts, nor are the faithful stewards of the mind necessarily the ones who die with all their doctrinal p's and q's in place (brainwashing might as effectively accomplish this)..." "According to the Christian tradition, to forge virtuous habits of moral and intellectual character is part of what is required for us to grow to the full stature of all that God intends for humans to be. Becoming virtuous is part of what makes us fit residents of the kingdom of heaven, ready and able to do God's ...

This song is very fitting given current events and Sunday's sermon by a visiting pastor: Music and text by Kevin Twit and Mac Purdy, sung by Matthew Perryman Jones ©1995

“And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. “And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” Mark 4:37-40 (KJV) Here are the chosen disciples of the Lord Jesus in great anxiety. The faithful little flock which believed when Priests, and Scribes, and Pharisees were all alike unbelieving, is allowed by the Shepherd to be much disquieted. The fear of death breaks in upon them like an armed man. The deep water seems likely to go over their souls. Peter, James, and John, the pillars of the Church about to be planted in the world, are much distressed. Perhaps they had not reckoned on all this. Perhaps they had expected that Christ’s ser...

The discussion continues about women's ministry, blogging, writing, platforms, etc. Deb gave a little blogging history that was new to me, and there have been additional posts from Lisa ,  Aimee , and Debi . However, after letting my thoughts simmer a bit more since Monday , I had an epiphany of sorts. I am a firm supporter of a Word-based ministry for women. I strongly believe we need to start with who God is and what His Word says about Himself, the Gospel, and who we are in Christ. Based on this foundation, appropriate application will follow. However, I don't believe my gift is to specifically  teach the Word to women. I know sisters who are passionate about this, but as for me? I don't think I have this calling. So where does this leave me? As I was trying to find an answer, I began to ask myself, what is my passion? What has been my goal for my daughter, the most important younger woman in my life? These questions were in the back of my mind as we were ...

If you are truly convinced that there is some solution to all human problems, that one can conceive an ideal society which men can reach if only they do what is necessary to attain it, then you and your followers must believe that no price can be too high to pay in order to open the gates of such a paradise. Only the stupid and malevolent will resist once certain simple truths are put to them. Those who resist must be persuaded; if they cannot be persuaded, laws must be passed to restrain them; if that does not work, then coercion, if need be violence, will inevitably have to be used—if necessary, terror, slaughter. Lenin believed this after reading Das Kapital, and consistently taught that if a just, peaceful, happy, free, virtuous society could be created by the means he advocated, then the end justified any methods that needed to be used, literally any... So we must weigh and measure, bargain, compromise, and prevent the crushing of one form of life by its rivals. I know only t...

Last week, Lisa and Aimee got the ball rolling with their posts ( here and here ) on women's ministry and specifically where middle-aged women fit into the picture. As a woman in her 50's, I appreciate that my friends have started this discussion, so if you haven't read their posts, please do. However, I want to take a step back even further and consider what are the expectations of women's ministry ? I've broken this one question into three sub-questions which have spawned even more, so consider yourself forewarned. Who is the focus of women's ministry? The go-to verses about women's ministry are Titus 2:3-5, older women teaching younger women what is good. There is no question of the need to train those who will carry on after we are gone. But is this the sum total of what women's ministry should be? Namely, is the focus only on the younger generation? If so, could this lead to the possibility of older saints falling through the cracks? What is the...

"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" —Mark 4:37-40. Many of God's children get on very well so long as they have no trials. They follow Christ very tolerably in the time of fair weather. They fancy they are trusting him entirely. They flatter themselves they have cast every care on him. They obtain the reputation of being very good Christians. But suddenly some unlooked for trial assails them. Their property makes itself wings, and flies away. Their own health fails. Death comes up into their house. Tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word. And where now is ...

Trio for violin, cello, and piano Op. 17 Allegro moderato by Clara Schumann

The Irish Lutheran twins debate Richard Dawkins:

I am thankful for: The gift of laughter. An opportunity to write just for the fun of it. Books that make me think and books that are just for fun. Texas-style chili and cornbread with small group last night. The good report from a family member's medical test. The renewing of the mind, even if it is a slow process. Upcoming Sunday school class on suffering. The reminder from my pastor that without the Reformation, we would not have the gospel or the Bible in our own language. Praise God for His faithfulness in guarding the truth and keeping His people. Photo credit: By Alireza Shakernia (Autumn) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It's my turn again at Out of the Ordinary: You may be wondering why I chose this post title. The King James version of James 5:11 commends Job's patience, not his friends'. But that's the point. Job's friends weren't very patient, were they? To their credit, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar started out well. When they heard of their friend's tragic loss, they joined him in his grief and sat silently in the dust for a week. (Job 2:11-13) But when the week was over, they opened their mouths and inserted their feet. I don't think they wanted to add to Job's wounds with their words. I'm sure they wanted to help him out of his distress by offering the best advice they could, but they made things worse. Now it's easy to criticize Job's friends, but I don't know if I would have done any better.  Read the rest of the post here. ..

Some recent reading: Ordinary by Michael Horton. I have not read Radical nor do I think Ordinary is specifically countering David Platt's book. But I think Horton is very valid in his criticism of American Christianity's weakness in succumbing to the next big thing and elevating those things as being more spiritual, almost like another form of two-tiered Christianity. There were many good points, particularly the importance of the means of grace and the local church. It rambled a bit at times and could have been a bit more concise. I'm glad I read Ordinary, but I prefer The God of the Mundane by Matthew Redmond. Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges. We recently had a Sunday school class on this book. I had read the book several years ago, and it was nice to refresh my memory. Bridges has a knack for taking theological issues and making them more accessible. My only criticism is the wordiness and sometimes his analogies do not have the best one-to-one corr...

I want you to know the length and breadth of your portion in Christ. I want you to understand the full amount of treasure to which faith in Jesus entitles you. You have found out that you are a great sinner. Thank God for that. You have fled to Christ for pardon and peace with God. Thank God for that. You have committed yourself to Jesus for time and eternity: you have no hope but in Christ's blood, Christ's righteousness, Christ's mediation, Christ's daily all-persevering intercession. Thank God for that. Your heart's desire and prayer is to be holy in all manner of conversation. Thank God for that. But oh, lay hold upon the glorious truth,—that believing on Jesus you shall never perish, you shall never be cast away, you shall never fall away! It is written for you as well as the apostles, "My sheep shall never perish." Yes! reader, Jesus has spoken it, and Jesus meant it to be believed. Jesus has spoken it, who never broke His promises. Jesus has spoken ...

For your listening pleasure, this is 4th movement of Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor, Op. 107, also known as the Reformation  Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn . The theme of this movement is taken from "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." This work was composed in 1830 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession .

Domestic abuse is one of those problems that is rarely addressed in the church. While we know it exists out there, we prefer to believe it doesn't take place in the Christian home. Why the discomfort? I think one reason is because of this question: What if the marriage ends in divorce? These are three possible camps regarding divorce among Christians that I am aware of: No divorce for any reason whatsoever. Divorce only for adultery and possibly abandonment. Divorce for adultery, abandonment, and abuse. I stand firmly in the third camp. For an in-depth defense of this position from scripture and church history, I would refer you to these lectures by Pastor David Dykstra (ARBCA). They are worth your time, and I would do them a disservice if I tried to duplicate his seven talks in one blog post. Rather, I am going to offer two hypothetical scenarios with the hope that you will consider how your position on divorce determines how you respond. Scenario 1. A man in your co...

A letter to the editor from a male mechanical engineering student at Eastern Washington University recently went viral. This letter was addressed to the women in his engineering classes and highlighted the subtle discrimination toward women in this field of study. One statement was of particular interested to me because my experience was more like that of this male student: I did not, for example, grow up in a world that discouraged me from focusing on hard science.  I grew up in a Christian family with several female scientists including my mom. I studied chemical engineering and computer science in the 80's when women were beginning to break into these previously male-dominated fields. I don't recall any derogatory attitudes. The course material alone was sufficient to weed out students from the programs regardless of their gender. After grad school, my first manager and client contacts were women. So based on my limited observations, I don't think discouraging g...