Another Encouragement to Read the Bible

Last night, while reading Jeremiah, I made an interesting connection to the Gospels and realized that I had not done that in quite some time. God hadn't been giving me that same illumination because I hadn't been reading His Word as often. And it was a strange, saddening thought . . .

Until I realized that I ought only to be encouraged to read the Bible more, because the Bible is then what I remember and the Bible is then what God uses. The more I read it, the more I love it and the more I remember. The more I love it and remember it, the more I love and honor and remember Him.

Since I want to know Jesus, I should read His Word more. Can you say the same?

Luther on Christian Truth

Martin Luther's response in Bondage of the Will to Erasmus describing himself as one who was "far from delighting in assertions":

For not to delight in assertions, is not the character of the Christian mind: nay, he must delight in assertions, or he is not a Christian.

To clarify his use of the term "assertions," Luther goes on to write:

But, (that we may not be mistaken in terms) by assertion, I mean a constant adhering, affirming, confessing, defending, and invincibly persevering. Nor do I believe the term signifies any thing else, either among the Latins, or as it is used by us at this day. And moreover, I speak concerning the asserting of those things, which are delivered to us from above in the Holy Scriptures.

Teaching Men Under Her Husband's Authority

CBMW outlines the situation and gives the case against this anti-Biblical practice.

Why So Much Bible and Prayer?

Is that really the way to God? Pastor John Piper says, "yes."

This was helpful to my soul.

Start a Bible Study in Your Neighborhood?

I was just reading David J. Hesselgrave's Paradigms in Conflict: 10 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today (one of the missions books for my class) and found this quote particularly inspiring for thinking on to reach our neighborhoods and cities and nations for Jesus:

"[Calvin] Hanson's ministries were varied, but looking back at the Christian leaders who came out of those early morning Bible studies, Hanson says, 'I have little doubt that that simple Bible study was the most effective thing I ever did during my years in Japan.' "

Amen?

Hope this stokes our fires to study the Bible with all kinds of people around us.

Male Leadership in the Family, Church, and Culture: Pt. 1

Last weekend, a well-loved family member brought up some thoughts about gender roles in the church, and it got me thinking all over again about the need for male leadership in the family, church, and culture. I say all three for several reasons: one, because they necessarily go together and one would be hypocrisy without the others; two, because they are generally the three spheres in which we operate; three, we men need reminders that our proper leadership is needed in all three.

It's often said that exclusively male leadership is a thing of the past, a relic of a bygone age, and a vestige of the oppression of women by the male majority. I've even heard it said, and staunchly defended, that commands in the Bible like 1 Timothy 2:12-15 apply not to every culture and age but mainly the one to whom Paul was writing. This could not be further from the truth.

When God the Holy Spirit, through His apostle Paul, wrote,

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing - if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

He neither framed it as a time-sensitive command nor intend it as such. The reasoning of the context simply does not permit it. It's more straightforward and universal than that.

So God says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet," then what is the reason? Why does He say such a preposterously chauvinistic thing?

Because "Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." In couching these commands in (1) creation and (2) fall, God makes them as universal and straightforward as possible. There is no pandering to that particular culture or ours. There is no yellow-bellied wimpery in God's decree. He says, "I made man first, therefore woman cannot, by My design, be the leader."

And all who disagree - men and women - are rebelling against God. God made the man to be the servant leader of his family, church, and culture; just look at the way Jesus live and led and spoke and died. He lived and breathed the servant leadership God placed upon Him; who are we to question God's call?

Octavius Winslow on Following Christ's Example

Pastor Tom Ascol is always raving about how good Octavius Winslow's Morning and Evening Devotions are, so I decided I should read them for myself.

Today's morning devotion just happens to be on John 13:15, "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

After noting Matt. 11, Rom. 15, and Phil. 2 as places the Bible calls us to follow Christ's example, Winslow has come lucid applications:

• Look not every man on his own circle, his own family, his own gifts, his own interests, comfort, and happiness; upon his own Church, his own community, his own minister. Let him not look upon these exclusively.
• Let him not prefer his own advantage to the public good.
  
• Let him not be self-willed in matters involving the peace and comfort of others.
• Let him not forLm favorite theories, or individual opinions, to the hazard of a Church's prosperity or of a family's happiness.
• Let him yield, sacrifice, and give place, rather than carry a point to the detriment of others.
• Let him, with a generous, magnanimous, disinterested spirit, in all things imitate Jesus, who "pleased not Himself."
• Let him seek the good of others, honoring their gifts, respecting their opinions, nobly yielding when they correct and overrule his own.
• Let him promote the peace of the Church, consult the honor of Christ, and seek the glory of God, above and beyond all private and selfish ends.

He explains in closing:

This is to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son, to which high calling we are predestinated; and in any feature of resemblance which the Holy Spirit brings out in the holy life of a follower of the Lamb, Christ is thereby glorified before men and angels.

I found it especially helpful that Winslow points out the danger of forming one's own opinions and doctrines. "Let him not form favorite theories, or individual opinions, to the hazard of a Church's prosperity or of a family's happiness," he writes. It is for lack of following Christ that people come up with hazardous doctrines. It is their failure to submit themselves to His own Word that allows their minds to invent false teachings.

And it is our job as His followers to follow Him in life and thought, teaching what He teaches and protecting those whom He protects.

Praise the Lord for E-Sword !!

E-sword is incredible.

I have been using this free (yes, free), searchable, fully-customizable, loaded-with-extras Bible program for four or five years now, but lately some of the newer plugins are astounding me.

I currently run it with this setup (in case you want to take notes):

• Bibles: KJV, ESV, ISV, several Greek NTs (GNT), Hebrew Old Testament, Septuagint (LXX)
• Dictionaries: Strong's (standard), BDB, Thayer
• Commentaries: John Gill, Matthew Henry, Jamieson Fausset Brown, Keil & Delitzsch, Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
• Extras: Doctrinal Works in the Reformed Tradition, Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Luther's Concerning Christian Liberty, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Schaff's History of the Church, Westminster Confession, and Fox's Book of Martyrs
• STEP Libraries (which function outside of the program's window): John Bunyan's entire collection, JC Ryle's entire collection, and John Newton's entire collection

Some of the more astounding features are:

• the ability to view your favorite commentaries (Gill, Henry, K&D, Spurgeon) while reading the text
• the freedom to search in English, Hebrew, and Greek
• and the ability to make your own commentary inside the program!!!

Tonight, another download amazed me, and it's something I've been looking for and working on for the last five years: a commentary that just displays intra-Biblical word links. The "Treasury of Scripture Knowledge" in the commentary section is just that. Take, for instance, Revelation 2-3. I was doing a study on the seven churches, and I noticed that Jesus often uses phrases that sound like you've heard them before. Well, I just click on the verse, and the TSK commentary pops up several words that have links to the other parts of Scripture in which they occur.

In case that doesn't make sense, here's an example: Rev. 3:3

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Now I read that verse and realize that Jesus has said in other parts of the Bible that He will come like a thief. Well, I click over the the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and it tells me exactly where He has said that! Amazing!

Praise the Lord for whoever put this commentary together, and for Rick Myers, who built and maintains E-Sword out of his own pocket and time. Christ the Lord is truly using him.

Martin Luther: Lessons from His Life and Labor

Pastor John Piper's 1996 biographical address on the great reformer Martin Luther has been encouraging me these past few days. I post a few tidbits and encouragements here, but go read the whole thing for yourself. Be you unbeliever or Christian, layperson or deacon or elder, teacher or student, man or woman - it will be good for your soul to see such a vessel of God's grace.

Piper does a wonderful job of picking a theme from Luther's life and hammering it home with really good quotes:

In this psalm [119] David always says that he will speak, think, talk, hear, read, day and night constantly—but about nothing else than God's Word and Commandments. For God wants to give you His Spirit only through the external Word.

Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture.

Be assured that no one will make a doctor of the Holy Scripture save only the Holy Ghost from heaven.

The apostles themselves considered it necessary to put the New Testament into Greek and to bind it fast to that language, doubtless in order to preserve it for us safe and sound as in a sacred ark. For they foresaw all that was to come and now has come to pass, and knew that if it were contained only in one's heads, wild and fearful disorder and confusion, and many various interpretations, fancies and doctrines would arise in the Church, which could be prevented and from which the plain man could be protected only by committing the New Testament to writing the language.

(Of his struggles with trusting God's grace during his monastery days he said,) If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I would stand on my head for joy!

Dear Lord God, I want to preach so that you are glorified. I want to speak of you, praise you, praise your name. Although I probably cannot make it turn out well, won't you make it turn out well?

Of his groundbreaking discovery on Romans 1:17, Luther wrote:

I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. . . I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, "In it righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." There I began to understand [that] the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which [the] merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. Here a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory ...

And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word 'righteousness of God.' Thus that place in Paul was for me truth the gate to paradise

More on the Bible, languages, and preaching:

For a number of years I have now annually read through the Bible twice. If the Bible were a large, mighty tree and all its words were little branches I have tapped at all the branches, eager to know what was there and what it had to offer.

He who is well acquainted with the text of Scripture, is a distinguished theologian. For a Bible passage or text is of more value than the comments of four authors.

... the Scriptures alone are our vineyard in which we ought all to work and toil.

I then read the commentators, but soon threw them aside, ... 'tis always better to see with one's own eyes than with those of other people.

Solomon the preacher is giving me a hard time, as though he begrudged anyone lecturing on him. But he must yield.

It is certain that unless the languages [Greek and Hebrew] remain, the Gospel must finally perish.

Without languages we could not have received the gospel. Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit; they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and as the gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude.

If the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the word, I might have still remained a chained monk, engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obscurity of a cloister; the pope, the sophists, and their anti-Christian empire would have remained unshaken.

It is a sin and shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God; it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book.

Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They do not pray; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture ... The call is: watch, study attend to reading. In truth you cannot read too much in Scripture; and what you read you cannot read too carefully, and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well, and what you understand well you cannot teach too well, and what you teach well you cannot live too well ... The devil ... the world ... and our flesh are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs and brothers, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent ... This evil. shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring.

Let ministers daily pursue their studies with diligence and constantly busy themselves with them ... Let them steadily keep on reading, teaching, studying, pondering, and meditating. Nor let them cease until they have discovered and are sure that they have taught the devil to death and have become more learned than God himself and all His saints [which, of course means never].

On triblulation:

I want you to know how to study theology in the right way. I have practiced this method myself ... Here you will find three rules. They are frequently proposed throughout Psalm [119] and run thus: Oration, meditatio, tentatio (Prayer, meditation, trial).

For as soon as God's Word becomes known through you, the devil will afflict you will make a real doctor of you, nd will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God's Word. For I myself ... owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing, and frightening me through the devil's raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal I should never have reached.

[Trials] teach you not only to know and understand but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God's word is: it is wisdom supreme.

On prayer:

That the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore your first duty is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory—not for yours or any other person's—He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words. For no master of the divine words exists except the Author of these words, as He says: 'They shall be all taught of God' (John 6:45). You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit.

Since the Holy Writ wants to be dealt with in fear and humility and penetrated more by studying with pious prayer than with keenness of intellect, therefore it is impossible for those who rely only on their intellect and rush into Scripture with dirty feet, like pigs, as though Scripture were merely a sort of human knowledge not to harm themselves and others whom they instruct.

You should completely despair of your own sense and reason, for by these you will not attain the goal ... Rather kneel down in your private little room and with sincere humility and earnestness pray God through His dear Son, graciously to grant you His Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide you and give you understanding.

The natural mind cannot do anything godly. It does not perceive the wrath of God, there cannot rightly fear him. It does not see the goodness of God, therefore cannot trust or believe in him either. Therefore we should constantly pray that God will bring forth his gifts in us.

On the lies of "free will" teaching:

I condemn and reject as nothing but error all doctrines which exalt our "free will" as being directly opposed to this mediation and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For since, apart from Christ, sin and death are our masters and the devil is our god and prince, there can be no strength or power, no wit or wisdom, by which we can fit or fashion ourselves for righteousness and life. On the contrary, blinded and captivated, we are bound to be the subjects of Satan and sin, doing and thinking what pleases him and is opposed to God and His commandments.

And finally, on GOD-centered theology:

I recall that at the beginning of my cause Dr. Staupitz ... said to me: It pleases me that the doctrine which you preach ascribes the glory and everything to God alone and nothing to man; for to God (that is clearer than the sun) one cannot ascribe too much glory, goodness, etc. This word comforted and strengthened me greatly at the time. And it is true that the doctrine of the Gospel takes all glory, wisdom, righteousness, etc., from men and ascribes them to the Creator alone, who makes everything out of nothing.

Amen. Praise the Sovereign Lord for those who have gone before us and taught the Word of God to us. May we imitate their faith.

Beauty and the Bible

From Pastor Michael Lawrence of Capital Hill Baptist Church and 9 Marks, writing on Boundless.org:

Fundamental to the Christian concept of beauty is that beauty is not so much passively found and appreciated as it is actively created and cherished. Genesis 1 tells us that when God created the world, He created it good. That word includes the idea of beautiful. Trees, for example, were both "pleasant to the sight and good for food" (Genesis 2:9). So God's creation wasn't merely functional, it was (and in many ways still is) beautiful! Why would God build beauty into creation and give us the ability to recognize it? Perhaps so that we would be attracted to it, and so care for it well as stewards. Ultimately God wanted his creation to be a reflection of his own beauty (glory); He wants us to be attracted to Him!

He then applies these truths:

Attraction has a powerful pull on all of us. So be careful what you allow to become attractive to you. Cultivate your attraction to Jesus Christ in the gospel. You may just be surprised at how some women you know seem to become more beautiful as you do...

I said earlier that Adam started off as a developer, making the beauty of Paradise flourish and grow. Adam failed, and we'll think more about what that means next time. But where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Only this second Adam had a much more difficult job. Not expanding perfection, but cleansing the dirty, forgiving the guilty, and making the ugly beautiful again. Paul tells us that like a husband, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:25-27)...

Whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, you are a creator of beauty in the women around you. It's just a question of what kind. Take a look at the single women in your church or circle of friends. What kind of beauty are they focused on? Is it the beauty of what Peter calls "outward adornment" or is it the beauty of Christ in the gospel (1 Peter 3:3-5)?

Guys especially want to check these articles out, since they make pointed application to how we understand beauty and attraction; but for both men and women both parts one and two of the series are well-worth the read.

Now We Love Greek and Hebrew, SO . . .

After writing that post, I promptly went looking for brothers with whom to study Biblical Greek and Hebrew. God has already blessed that endeavor, so praise Him for help in application, too!

Here are some more pointers in practicing your Greek and Hebrew:

1. Ask for God's help.
"in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God," (Philippians 4:6). I need Him to come in power if I will learn anything worthwhile for His glory, and so do you. I skip this all too often and reveal my belief that I can do it on my own.

2. Get the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament.
And a Greek Old Testament, if possible. The Hebrew Old Testament is known also as the Biblical Hebraica Stuttgartensia, the Tanach, and/or the Masoretic Text. The Greek New Testament can be denoted with the name of its translator(s), i.e. Westcott-Hort, Robinson-Pierrepont, Nestle-Aland. The Greek Old Testament is called the Septuagint, or LXX. You can buy all three at the United Bible Societies site or search for them somewhere like Amazon or Half.com.

You can't read the Biblical languages unless you can see the Biblical languages, so don't think you'll get any study done unless you actually own a copy of each of these. Yes, you can still go online to a place like Zhubert.com (which you should) or find a free Bible program like E-sword (which you should) or buy an expensive Bible program like Logos or BibleWorks (which you probably shouldn't), but you can't always carry those things with you and you definitely have a hard time keeping notes in them and showing them to others. You should use all the free stuff available to you, including any library you can get into, but when the Christian hits the road his Bible(s) must go with him. (So get e-sword if you already have a laptop but no money.)

3. Use it in worship services, in personal Bible study, in group Bible study, in sermon and teaching preparation, wherever and whenever you can.
Even if you can't diagram in both languages yet, go ahead and read any and every word you can. If you are interested in a verse, look it up in the original. Pay attention to the syntax (the word order) and the vocabulary (the word choice). Practice writing the actual words down on paper. Look at them later when you return to your notes. Do the most that you can with these languages - God will reward you. "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything," (2 Timothy 2:7)

4. Sit down and read it just to read it.
As in, not to read it for something else, but just reading it to sit and read and see if you can remember this or that particular passage. (This is easier with Greek for several reasons, but mostly because the New Testament is shorter and easier to remember.) Look up vocabulary as needed.

5. Get together with a brother or two and work through a book of the Bible.
This provides two key elements in study: fellowship and accountability. We need fellowship in study because it keeps us joyous and alert, and it builds friendships. We need accountability both personally and theologically because we must learn the obedience of being responsible students and exegetes. We need the regularity of meetings and groups because God uses them to teach us responsibility, and we need the joy of God in and with our brothers and sisters.

6. After a while, teach somebody.
Teaching is the best way to learn. So after you've learned and worked and read studied and memorized and looked up and written and read some more, go teach somebody. We have to carry on a passion for God and His Word to the next generation.

7. Thank God for such grace.
Oh to know Jesus as He really is! To see His glory in His Word! To understand His perfect character and work! To be able to speak of Him to others! Such manifold grace we do not deserve.

I Love Greek

You should too.

I love New Testament Greek because it enables me to see the Bible as it really is. No translators, commentaries, or translations needed. Just the text as originally written.

This doesn't mean that you can't read the Bible in English, or that it is of dimnished value - quite to the contrary. Our English translations of the Bible are amazingly accurate. But they will always be translations, and we need to understand that there is a depth and life to the Greek that translations simply cannot produce. I mean, come on, you can barely parse English verbs; but to learn Greek, you have to parse Greek verbs.

So, to my brothers who want to learn Greek but haven't had the guts or the desire to do it yet, I offer more reasons to love and learn and use Greek:

1. It tends to reveal God's glory more in your study.
This reason alone should be enough to learn Greek. If you even have an inkling to learn it, you may well be like me and enjoy the verb tenses and moods and all the connections they make for us, right there in the text. English can sometimes obscure these. I'm not saying that Greek is some sort of secret knowledge, only that the closer we get to the truth, the brighter God's glory shines.

2. It is the language in which God chose to write His New Testament.
Again, this reason alone should be enough to learn NT Greek. God didn't write the original text in English - sorry, KJV-only folks, it's simply not true - so we ought to bown humbly before His sovereign choice and learn in the school He's given us.

3. It reveals what translations can sometimes obscure.
So many connections, wordplays, and exegetical pointers get lost in translation. You know how, in English, you often see words repeated in a close context? Count on seeing that twice as often in Greek.

4. Pure exegesis is impossible without it.
Simply put, without the original languages, you're always leaning on someone else's translation. Your exegesis will always be dependent on theirs.

5. God will use it to build your faith in Him.
By seeing more of His glory in the text and His beautiful design in its arrangement, God will build your faith upon solid rocks of Biblical exegesis. You will be able to say, "Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! I've seen it in the Greek text!"

Now I know that many of us simply cannot learn Greek because of time or resources or even learning limitations. And if that is the case for you, Christian, please know that God is not displeased with you and you are not missing out. If you are Christ's, then He is blessing you in a thousand different ways besides learning and using Greek.

But if you have a mission in your life of preaching and teaching, if you want to rightly divide God's Word, if you love the Scriptures, stop your delay. We could list a hundred more reasons to learn Greek, but do you really need them? You already know that you should, because God's witness in your own heart is telling you to do it.

I'll offer some more pointers in the next post. (Ps - I also love Old Testament Hebrew; but it is really hard, and I need some help on it. So I understand that, too. More on getting help in the next post.)

The Warnings of the Bible

"I have to preach the warnings of the Bible, and the elect receive them with sweet trembling which sends them running for the cross, and the hypocrites blow them off."

Pastor John Piper

The Pentateuch, Pt. 1: Disappointment

In my journey through the Pentateuch (ha ha, get it?), I've been lingering long in the book of Numbers. What has begun to strike me is the sheer weight of disappointment that, I believe, the reader is supposed to feel as he reads it. It is as if the book, from the Exodus to almost the very end, is written to be one giant disappointment.

Take, for instance, Numbers 11-20. This set of narratives is full of the people's repeated rebellion, God's consuming wrath, His restraining grace, and His terrifying judgment. By the time Numbers 20 rolls around, the reader is exhausted with Moses and Aaron, thinking, "When is this gonna end?" I counted no less than seven different rebellions, and almost every time Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before God.

In God's perfect timing and writing, however, redemption does not come just yet. In chapter 20, Moses' sister dies. She had been with him from the beginning. We're not sure why the text spends so little time on her death, but if feels weighty nonetheless. Then, the people rebel against God and His servant once again, complaining about the lack of water. Moses then, in his anger at these "rebels," strikes the rock twice instead of speaking to it, and water spews forth. Yet, this time, it is Moses and Aaron who are judged to have disbelieved and defamed God.

God tells Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in Me, to uphold Me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." So now Moses and Aaron, like the generation left to die in the wilderness for their rebellion, cannot enter the land of God's own promise. This alone would be disappointment enough.

But the chapter is not done. Next, Moses (we're not told exactly why) proceeds to try to pass through the land of Edom. This could be viewed as another act of rebellion (like the nation of Israel trying to take God's promised land for themselves after their rebellion in chapters 13 and 14) or simply the proactive travel plans of a leader. Either way, he is turned back by Edom's king. The disappointment continues.

Finally in chapter 20, God tells Moses, Aaron, and all the people that Aaron's time has come. Moses' brother will return to dust. Not only that, but Moses has the last honor, so to speak, of removing Aaron's God-given priestly garments and giving them to Aaron's son right before Aaron dies! What a depressing thing to read! What a depressing thing to do! In the midst of all that the text has brought us through, in the midst of all that God has brought Moses through, he now has to disrobe his beloved brother and, in effect, release him to his death. This is depressing and disappointing, and - if we didn't know the ending - completely heartbreaking.

It seems that point #1 of the Pentateuch's wilderness narratives of the Pentateuch is the sadness and disappointment of sin. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, the people are constantly disbelieving God and diappointing the reader. We are, at least for a time, meant to feel deeply saddened by the amount of sin evident in these people, in this text, who are just like us.

Greek It Up

Dan Phillips, of Team Pyro, has begun a blog entirely devoted to the study and discussion of New Testament Greek. It is called,Hellenisti ginoskeis: do you know Greek? He comments in his header:

This blog is all about reading, understanding, translating the Greek New Testament. My essays here are not necessarily disciplined, definitive articles. They are musings, observations, puzzlings, popping-offs, speculations, complaints, pronouncements, questions. I hope other students of the Greek New Testament will join in the Comments, to our mutual growth in understanding this God-breathed marvel.

So, to all my Greek-using buddies out there, this is for you.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Luke 14 and Who We Invite to Dinner

Jesus said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Luke 14:12-14

The John Piper sermon on this text from 1980 (see directly below) got me thinking about this text again. My wife and I had also recently read it in our nighttime Gospel reading, so it was more fresh in my mind. But seriously, do the applications get any clearer? Is there anyone who can understand English who doesn't understand the simplicity of this command?

I doubt it, but instead of the grammar being hard for us, the truth is hard for us. It is hard for us to listen to Jesus on this one. We say, "Yeah, Jesus, that's good for You, I know You invited the poor and crippled and blind, and I'm so thankful, but I just can't do it . . ." We become experts at giving Jesus excuses.

The plain truth of this text is that those who invite the ones who cannot repay them will be blessed of God Himself on the last day and forever. Conversely, those who look for repayment from men will stand ashamed at the last day, and, like the rich man of Luke 16, go to hell forever.

So let's believe Jesus. His repayment is better than all that relatives and friends and rich people could ever give us. His repayment is Himself. Let us believe together and press on to know Him even in the way we eat dinner.

Watch Your Life and Doctrine

6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy 4:6-16

Make My Mouth a Fountain of Life

Proverbs 10:11 says, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence." (See also 13:14, 14:27, 16:22)

This is so often my prayer because I know that my mouth is often not a fountain of life, but instead gives the "sword thrusts" that Proverbs also speaks of (12:18). So, wanting to get into a God-given habit of encouragement and knowing that believing precedes and requires doing, I post many of them here for you to read and be encouraged. May God use these word for His glory in Jesus. He is the only way I could write such words.

My wife, my love, the Bible says that you are God's gift to me (Prov 18:22, 19:14, 31:10), and I am believing it more and more every day. God's grace is so evident in the way you help, follow, encourage, and listen to me, and in how care for our neighbors and our church. You are my best friend, my #2 always to Jesus, my wife, my love, my song, His greatest gift in the flesh to me, and a great cook. I can see that your love for Christ and for me grows daily as we work Him out in more and more of our details. He is surely at work in you to pour out His love and make you more like His Son. I am excited about whatever length of time God gives us together.

Stephen, your notes over the summer have been just what my heart has needed. Your fellowship and conversation over the last two and a half years is just what the good Lord Jesus ordered for me. He has given you such a gift of encouragement, listening, and preaching. I miss you, my brother, and can't wait for you to get back.

Gary, I spoke with you this morning and you are always an encouragement. "There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother," (Prov 18:24) is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus but He is certainly using you as one of my closer-than-brothers. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, a brother is born for adversity." That is you.

John Aaron, you always have something funny to say. You often lighten my heart. It is God's blessing on me to be able to see you - the brother I have long prayed for - grow up into His man.

Mom, I am growing more and more thankful for your involvement in our lives. You always want to help and encourage and share, just like the Holy Spirit comes along to help us. Your faith in God's enduring faithfulness is a constant testimony to your sons and daughter.

Dad, you always have some sort of practical advice to give me. The Lord has given you a gift with people and taught me many of those things through you. I am excited for you as God grows your third son up into a man.

Mattrock, I just wrote you an email and was reminded that we are as close as ever, even when you're far apart. I am reminded of how Paul wrote that he was with his churches "in spirit," and I think that means in prayer, in heart, in mind - not in some ghostly way, but in a real, heartfelt way. That is how I would characterize our communication lately - with each other in spirit. May God keep it that way, that we may press on toward His upward call in Christ Jesus. The music will be much better there!

John Aaron, how I enjoy being your older brother! You have taught me so much. I am thankful for your frank and honest look at life, your sense of humor, your care for others, and desire for happiness. May you find it in God the Son.

TCC - the elders, the guys, the community group, the families - you all are a constant encouragement to us. God has given our church the gift of hope - living hope in the resurrection of His Son - and you all live it before us and speak it to us regularly. Thank God for you being the body of Christ with whom we want to live and raise our family. We look forward to the coming weeks and years with you.

Papa Ben and Dolores, the Dunlaps, Stan the Man, the Macdonalds, the Bill Treece family - I'm not even sure you guys would come to our blog; but if you do, please know how thankful B and I are for your help and support during our engagement, wedding, and marriage. You all mean so much to us and are a tangible evidence of God's love and comfort toward us.

The E Family, how I have loved learning to love you. Steve called me yesterday and it was one oof the high points of my day. Praise God for your steadfastness in love and prayer and your commitment to each other and to us. We look forward to our next family vacation.

Jason and Paul and Robert - the guys at work - I am thankful for you three keeping me sharp, productive, and accountable. It can be boring and tedious working alone downstairs, but God has given me you guys to keep me jumping.

I'm sure I forgot some people, and I should have added some since I began this a month ago, but may God use this to encourage your hearts and point you toward the Life - Jesus Christ. He is the One who says, "I am the resurrection and the life," (John 11:25).

(Originally posted at old site 8/21/2006.)

Reproof and Wise Men

"Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you."
Proverbs 9:8

I was reading in Proverbs yesterday, trying to hustle through this middle section of chapter nine to get back to the contrasting descriptions of Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly, when I noticed this section of verses. The writer of Proverbs wants us to know something about wisdom and something about wise men. He wants us to know that wisdom and wise men are the polar opposite of foolishness and fools.

The following verse goes even further. It says that wise and righteous men are teachable - they grow in knowledge. Scoffers show a foolish hatred towards loving, reproving messengers, while wise men receive these words with love. And not only are wise men teachable, they're imperfect! Wise men are not perfect! Only God is perfect! What a freeing thought! God's people are called to be wise and yet not perfect! Amazing! His Word tells us to love reproof! Oh, that we would remember this truth when we feel the pressure of perfection! Oh, to be freed from legalism! To know the fear of the Lord forever!

So what do we do with these truths? Go around rebuking people for their incessant foolishness? Not exactly. These verses teach us that we ought to be thankful for loving rebukes, for kind reproofs, for good and hard words. That's right - thankful. We ought to love the messengers more, not less. And ultimately, we ought to love the God who constantly shepherds us with His rod and His staff (Psalm 23:4). Both the rod and the staff are meant to comfort God's sheep.

After quoting Proverbs 3:11-12 in Hebrews 12, the writer goes on to explain the text:

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

So the sign of God's grace in a believer's life is not a nice, solitary, private life, but one in which there is love that disciplines and reproves. So the question for you and me is this: do you love reproof? Do you love the person who rebukes you in your arrogance and selfishness? Are you thankful for that person's kind words, or are you angry at them for breaking your bubble of self-righteousness and wounding your conscience?

The truth is that Jesus has already exposed our arrogance and self-rightouesness on the cross. He took upon Himself the wrath of God against all who would ever believe in Him and paid for their sins on His bloody cross. By His perfect obedience to God and at the price of His very life, He bought and gave to His people the ability to hear and believe the words of God - His Holy Spirit. Now, by trusting in Jesus's life and death and resurrection in our place, we can hear God's loving words - both the rod that breaks us and the staff that gathers us close. We can love the God who reproves us - both by His written Word and by His messengers, the very people around us. And we can even love those people, too. That, my friends, is the mark of wisdom.

Calvin on Ephesians 4

"11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Ephesians 4:11-16

I was reading John Calvin's commentary on Ephesians and found his words on these verses to be particularly helpful. In this section's overview he says,

He [Paul] returns to explain the distribution of gifts, and illustrates at greater length what he had slightly hinted, that out of this variety arises unity in the church, as the various tones in music produce sweet melody. The meaning may be thus summed up. 'The external ministry of the word is also commended, on account of the advantages which it yields. Certain men appointed to that office, are employed in preaching the gospel. This is the arrangement by which the Lord is pleased to govern his church, to maintain its existence, and ultimately to secure its highest perfection.'

On verse 11 he comments,

The government of the church, by the preaching of the word, is first of all declared to be no human contrivance, but a most sacred ordinance of Christ. The apostles did not appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ; and, at the present day, true pastors do not rashly thrust themselves forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord. In short, the government of the church, by the ministry of the word, is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God. As his own unalterable law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ its Author. It is himself who gave them; for, if he does not raise them up, there will be none.

He goes on to explain in verse 12,

What is more excellent than to produce the true and complete perfection of the church? And yet this work, so admirable and divine, is here declared by the apostle to be accomplished by the external ministry of the word. That those who neglect this instrument should hope to become perfect in Christ is utter madness. Yet such are the fanatics, on the one hand, who pretend to be favored with secret revelations of the Spirit, — and proud men, on the other, who imagine that to them the private reading of the Scriptures is enough, and that they have no need of the ordinary ministry of the church.

If the edification of the church proceeds from Christ alone, he has surely a right to prescribe in what manner it shall be edified. But Paul expressly states, that, according to the command of Christ, no real union or perfection is attained, but by the outward preaching.

Finally, on verse 14 he comments on the state of being "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,"

Such must be the changeable and unsteady character of all who do not rest on the foundation of God’s eternal truth. It is their just punishment for looking, not to God, but to men. Paul declares, on the other hand, that faith, which rests on the word of God, stands unshaken against all the attacks of Satan.

This section of Calvin is not only the definition of good exposition, but, more importantly, explains that this text reminds us of God's good governance of His Church by His Word. "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it," says the author of Hebrews. Let us listen up to the all-growing, all-maturing, all-pointing-to-Christ Word of God.