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05/13/2008
This week I must begin with an apology and a confession. They say that confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation. Well, I have managed to confuse John Owen's classic material on the Mortification of Sin, which I have read in the orginal and various abridgments over the years, with the recent Banner of Truth abridgment and updating. Seeing the new volume on TEMPTATION, I mistakenly thought that IT was the Banner abridgment and modernization of Mortification of Sin. It is not, obviously. Sooo, we will begin next week looking at the Banner abridgment and modernization on Mortification of Sin.
In the meantime, let me encourage you to purchase a copy of MORTIFICATION OF SIN by John Owen in Banner of Truth's Puritan paperbacks series. Volume 6 of THE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN is the original and unabridged version. I read it in seminary to help my soul which was becoming dry as I was tempted to become an intellectual Christian without becoming a holy Christian. (Only the blinding pride of sin could ever tempt me to think that I am an intellectual!) Reading Owen kept me real and honest as I daily faced my sins and began to understand the machinery of Christ's salvation that would enable me to put my sins to death and not just confess them.
Others have seen the great value of Owen's work and have issued abridgments or modernizations or both. Some twenty years ago, James Houston edited CLASSICS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION, with a powerful forward and analysis by James Packer. It is currently in print from David C. Cook Publishers and available from Cumberland Valley. I have read this edition 3-4 times. Crossway has released an edition edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, with a forward by John Piper. It too is destined to become a classic study edition. It has a thorough and helpful outline to follow the train of thought. P & R Publishing has come out with a most user-friendly edition to get the person new to Owen reading 21st century Owen. Kris Lundgaard had absorbed Owen and written THE ENEMY WITHIN, the best modern rewrite of Owen's great study. It is great for family devotions and small groups to begin this most important study. Finally, Wayne Mack has written A FIGHT TO THE DEATH (Taking Aim at Sin Within) from P & R. It is vintage Wayne Mack--clear, practical and warm, while always being biblical and pastoral. Each of these editons are worth having and reading. Such is the nature of remaining sin in believers that we must use any and all biblically faithful means to root it out, expose it and put it to death. Or to quote a classic line from Owen--"You must be killing sin or it will be killing you." Amen.
We look forward to next week and beginning this most important study. Let me leave you with a quote from a famous pastor and Reformed leader:
"Apart from the Bible, I have found his writings the best books ever written to help me stop sinning the same old sins."
May our Lord use Owen's well-digested biblical teaching to help us stop sinning the same old sins and glorify the Savior who bought us.
Your Book Servant,
Steve Martin
Posted: 11:25:25 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
05/06/2008
Chapter 5--Geoffrey William: "the Storehouse"
It is hard to imagine that Puritan and other religious books were sold for a British pound for a ton during the coal shortage of War War I in England. So hard up were British households and so unvalued were religious books, especially Puritan books, that they literally went up in smoke in English chimneys!
One man whose understanding of the truth and love of means to studying the truth was Geoffrey Williams, an unassuming man who rescued tons of good books from oblivion and squirreled them away in the most basic facilities until they could later be appreciated as "the Evangelical Library".
The amazing story of one simple man's love of the truth and sacrificial work to hold on to the truth makes for an amazing story. The impact on the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the British Commonwealth (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, et al.) and Europe was immense. The Evangelical Library (sometimes called Geoffrey Williams Library) has not had as much impact here in the States because books (and coal) were more readily available during and after World War I.
Thank God for the surfeit of good books we have today in America! (A little known fact is that more than 80% of Banner of Truth books are sold in the U.S. annually. Many of these volumes started their public life in the Evangelical Library that preserved them for future generations!)
Chapter 6--James I. Packer: "among God's giants"
Imagine a small boy, hit by a truck after being chased by bullies, ending up in the hospital with a hole in his head that would never heal, becoming one of the two or three most influential theologians and especially evangelical and Reformed theologians of the 20th century. Such is the amazing life of Jim Packer. KNOWING GOD, EVANGELISM AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD , 'FUNDAMENTALISM' AND THE WORD OF GOD, KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT, REDISCOVERING HOLINESS,
CONCISE THEOLOGY, his classic "Introduction" to John Owen's THE DEATH OF DEATH IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST, A QUEST FOR GODLINESS (on the Puritans) [in the U.K., this book is entitled AMONG GOD'S GIANTS], GOD'S WORDS (just reissued as 18 WORDS), A PASSION FOR FAITHFULNESS (Nehemiah) are all classics. His newer works, just out, look to become classics also: PRAYING, IN MY PLACE CONDEMNED HE STOOD, KEEPING THE 10 COMMANDMENTS, FAITHFULNESS AND HOLINESS (on J. C. Ryle); and GUARD US, GUIDE US (on Knowing and Doing the Will of God).
How this nearly killed boy became a Christian, became an educated and Reformed Christian, how God introduced his parched soul to the Puritans, how Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones changed his life, how he came to write some of his classics, are all the subject of this chapter.
Jim Packer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Iain Murray have been my teachers. Seminary gave me tools to do research and an overview of the truths of the Bible and Christian theology. Packer, Lloyd-Jones and Murray have been my theological mentors and to them under God, I owe the best things I have ever seen--to the glory of God.
Chapter 7--Iain Murray: 'the new dress"
Howe God brought Iain Murray from obscurity to a leader in the Reformed world is the stuff of legend. How he came upon certain books at just the right time and had the grace to see their importance is notable. How God interfaced Pastor Murray along with other "little men" and some "great men" to begin the reprinting of Puritan and Reformed classics makes for compelling reading. What person who has purchased Reformed literature has not profited from the Banner of Truth titles? Thank God for raising up men to see the truth and republish the truth.
Have not our hearts burned within us as we have read these noble and God=honoring truths contained in Reformed books? How much smaller our view of God was when we did not see the great glory of the gospel as it truly is!
In my a-theological days, God seemed very small and far away. I was like a child looking through the wrong end of a telescope. When God graciously showed me more of His glory and the truths of the Reformed faith, the telescope was yanked out of my hand and turned around. God was immense and 'holy, holy, holy'. Now I understood why we are to fear God and love Him with all of our being! The republishing of Reformed books was God's appointed means to see this.
Iain Murray's classic books include: THE FORGOTTEN SPURGEON, THE PURITAN HOPE (Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy), MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (2 volumes), JONATHAN EDWARDS: A NEW BIOGRAPHY, REVIVALS AND REVIVALISM: THE MAKING AND MARRING OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM, EVANGELICALISM DIVIDED, WESLEY AND THOSE WHO FOLLOWED, THE OLD EVANGELICALISM, SPURGEON VS. HYPER-CALVINISM, PENTECOST--TODAY? and several others.
If it was in my power, I would have every pastor read volume one of Murray's biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones!
Chapter 8--John Murray: 'the old school piety"
Who would want a one-eyed seminary professor? Professor John Murray lost an eye serving in the First World War with his Scot's brigade. He returned to finish his education in Glasgow and then at Princeton Theological Seminary. He joined the new formed Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929, never to leave until retirement. A life-long bachelor, he married upon his retirement and returned to Scotland.
What would become his legacy would be his godliness and careful attention to the Word of God. Students who sat under his teaching and pastors who sat under his preaching can attest to two things about Professor Murray. He was a man suffused with godliness and holiness AND he was most careful in his handling of the Word of God. Other Reformed leaders might be known for their great rhetoric and galvanizing personalities, but Professor Murray was sober, quiet, meditative and above all, biblical. No flights of fancy, no imaginative speculations, no cold logic working its way to carnal conclusions. Professor Murray taught the Reformed faith with careful exegesis of Scripture, reverently and devoutly handled. Those who came to know him were marked for life by their brush with his holiness.
Reading his works today gives one a bit of the flavor of the man and a sense of his godliness. Not gifted with literary polish, no less a judge than James Packer said that Professor Murray would have been recognized as the greater Reformed theologian in the world if he could have written a bit more clearly and smoothly. But nevertheless, try his classic works:
REDEMPTION: ACCOMPLISH AND APPLIED, PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT, THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S SIN, COMMENTARY ON ROMANS, and Iain Murray's 4 volume collection of Murray's shorter classics.
Chapter 9--Maintaining the Vision
John J. Murray, our author, writes that we have much to be thankful for in God's amazing working in the mid-20th century. God raised up great men, great books were rediscovered and reprinted, and great organizations were begun.
But the promise has not been fulfilled! What is still lacking is an outpouring of God the Holy Spirit such that these great doctrines might be preached in the power of the Holy Spirit with converting, reviving power across the English speaking world and throughout the whole world. Jesus Christ deserves to have so much more glory than He is currently receiving. The so-called 'doctrines of grace' are no less than the most stirring teachings of the Word of God on the glory of God's plan of salvation in His Son.
Reading this book moves me to pray that God would once again bare His strong right arm and scatter His enemies and lift high the glory of His Son, Jesus, with a mighty revival of biblical religion. May He revive my flagging spirits and mediocre ways and make me a vessel that he might choose to use for His glory!
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NEXT WEEK: We pick up the John Owen classic, TEMPTATION: RESISTED AND REPULSED. Get your copy and join us. Learn how to take your sanctification beyond confessing your sins to actually putting them to death by the power of the Spirit.
Posted: 08:59:35 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/29/2008
John J. Murray, CATCH THE VISION (Roots of the Reformed Recovery); Evangelical Press
Why do you buy books from Cumberland Valley Book Service? Why do you buy Reformed books? How has the Reformed faith exploded your formerly small views of God and given you a great and good God beyond description? Why have you become more a reader than you ever imagined?
Your answers to these questions and others take for granted the recovery of the great biblical doctrines that were recovered in the Protestant Reformation. We are going to take two weeks to examine John J. Murray's captivating unveiling of what God did in the 20th century to bring the glory of His Son and His gospel back to center stage in the life of Christ's churches in Britain and America.
Chapter 1--Losing the Vision: 1900-1950
Is is amazing to learn that at one time all Protestant denominations except the Wesleyan Methodists and descendants of the Anabaptists (Mennonites, etc.) were Reformed in their understanding of the Christian faith. (Even Arminianism in its various forms owes its existence to the Reformed faith.) Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, etc. were all Reformed denominations according to their confessions of faith.
This sad chapter chronicles the rise of liberalism, the impact of liberalism and the resulting scarcity of evangelical literature to feed God's people. Imagine that none of the Puritans, Spurgeon, Ryle, and the rest of our Reformed heritage were available in Great Britain. Imagine that during the coal shortage of World War I, old books were burned to heat British homes at the price of a British pound per ton! And many of these books were Puritan books that were undesirable to the average British church goer. (In America, the situation was only slightly better. Publishing houses like Baker, Eerdmans, Zondervan and other small imprints carried a short list of historic Reformed literature.)
Liberalism just about won the day! Charles Spurgeon (died 1892) had seen the rise of liberalism but predicted the recovery of the truth. He once said: "I am prepared to be eaten by dogs for the next fifty years but the yet distant future shall see the day when God's truth is raised up again". God raised up various men to be "Valiant for Truth" and to resist the onslaught. While it seemed that the truth was about to disappear, God raised up a new generation who had not bowed the knee to the Baalism of contemporary thought and culture!
Chapter 2--Recovering the Vision: the Forerunners
As it happens so often in church history, God raised up young men to carry the torch. In the United Kingdom, God began to work in Inter-Varsity Fellowship, added to this was that older men gave leadership , such as E. J. Poole-Connor; the powerful writings of A. W. Pink began to circulate, Jay Green began the Sovereign Grace Book Club in America, and Jim Grier began to import books into Great Britain for what he hoped would be an expanding clientele. Later in the mid-50's, the Banner of Truth would begin in Great Britain and later in America to make the best of the best of Puritan literature available once again. The cloud was beginning to be a bit larger than a man's hand!
Chapters 3--D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: the Recovery of the Vision (The
Preparation of the Man)
Chapter 4--D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: the Recovery of the Vision (The
Multiplying of His Influence)
These two chapters give a great story in a short space. Under God, Martyn Lloyd-Jones was the preacher God raised up to herald the biblical and historic gospel once again with great power and glory. Other men came along and worked with Dr. Lloyd-Jones to fill out the team God was raising up to do His great work in the 20th century. Dr. Douglas Johnson (the 'Quiet Genius") was a medical doctor like Lloyd-Jones who had given himself to ministry, but in his case the quest, behind the scenes ministry of meeting with men one on one and especially students in the IVF. His organizing, networking genius meshed beautifully with Dr. Lloyd-Jones' preaching and teaching and leadership gifts.
It is not an exaggeration to say that under God, Martyn Lloyd-Jones brought the Protestant Reformation back into play on the stage of Britain. First in his home principality of Wales and later on the larger stage of what was then the world's largest city, London, "the Doctor" as he was lovingly called by everyone (including his wife!) preached and taught and led discussions with students, pastors, and educated laymen.
He showed the 20th century British churches that God had a great gospel because He had a glorious Son. The glory of God's Son was tied to the greatness of His gospel. To neglect the one was to neglect the other!
The author compresses a great amount of 20th century history into a small space but whets our appetite for a longer read, the definitive biography of Dr. Lloyd-Jones by Iain Murray. (We will blog that volume together at a later date!).
Do you glory in Jesus Christ and His great salvation? Have the doctrines of God's sovereign grace exploded your formerly small views of God and given you a vision of the greatness of God, the greatness of the plan of salvation, the greatness of the gospel and the greatness of simply being a Christian? Then the Reformed vision has begun to take hold in your life!. Thank God for His indescribable gift!
Next week we will examine Chapters 5-9 and wrap up the book. Now I am going to put my head down and pray and thank God again that He did not leave me in my sins and condemnation but rescued me at the expense of His Son. And that He has shown me a portion of His 'so-great' salvation in the Reformed faith. Maybe you should too!
Your Book Servant,
Steve Martin
Posted: 11:01:16 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/13/2008
MANLY DOMINION, Chpt. 29--"Fatherly Giving in Marriage"
Pastor Chanski builds a biblical case for Christian fathers giving their daughters in marriage. He counters the "romantic idealism" of "we're in love and must get married" of most of contemporary culture. He shows from Old Testament case law that fathers had the final "say so" as to their daughters marriage. Believers should go over this material several times just to counter the cultural bias that informs most thinking on this subject.
Why have parental romance management? Three reasons. (1) Youth is a vulnerable season. (2) Romance is potentially dangerous. (3) Young woman are easily preyed upon. Parents must begin to teach their families early before hormones and "stars in their eyes" distract from the truth. A faithful father must not be passive but help his daughter manage her future.
Chapter 30--"Fatherly Evaluating in Dating"
This chapter begins with the negative example of Jacob in Genesis who passively allowed his daughter to be abused--and the response of his angry sons to their sisters abuse was to slaughter the abusers! I too have preached on this same passage and noted Jacob's passivity in allowing his daughter to become ensnared in local pagan culture. And at least one passive father became angry that I should pointedly note Jacob's sinful failures. Rather than take the warning to heart, his sinful flesh exploded against God's Word!
Pastor Chanski takes us through (1) Historical Perspective; and (2) Emotional Perspective. He begins by noting that "modern" notions of dating began in the 1920's when crowded living conditions in large cities made staying home for a supervised evening together difficult. By the end of the 20th century, young men and women were anywhere but home "getting to know one another". Pastor Chanski calls us to the biblical perspective of covenantal commitment and a commitment of the will--not emotional infatuation and naive romanticism.
Chapter 31--"Fatherly Overseeing of Relationships"
How sad a young person's life can be (and can sometimes tragically remain) when a father is passive and fails to be their protector. Pastor Chanski helps us to see how a young women or a young man must understand that emotional intimacy always leads to physical intimacy. Therefore to begin an emotional relationship before that relationship can be righteously consummated is to court disaster. Our sons as well as our daughters need our guidance and counsel but differently and Pastor Chanski helpfully shows us how.
The chapter concludes by calling us men again to overcome sinful passivity by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and play the man God has created us to be. The fate of our family and our children's family in large measure hinges on our faithfulness and our non-passivity--our MANLY DOMINION. May God give us grace to become men of God and overcome by the Spirit the fleshly temptation to remain 'boys of God'.
Men, this chapter should have either confirmed your strong convictions or rattled your cage--but it should not leave you indifferent If American families are to change, Fathers must change them. If your family is to change, you, the Father, must change it. Will you resolve, by God's grace and enabling Spirit, to rise up from passivity and the love of ease and comfort and fear of confrontation and give yourself to your great responsibility. One day you will stand before Almighty God and give account of your husbanding and fathering. What will you say? What will you have to show for your years as head of your home? It is never too late to begin. Concentrated prayer and fasting is the "do over" button of the Christian life. No matter how old your children are; no matter how you have been married, it is never too late to do it over again, biblically, and faithfully!
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OUR NEXT TWO STUDIES ?
In two weeks we will begin a short study of John J. Murray's excellent new book, CATCH THE VISION (Roots of the Reformed Recovery) from Evangelical Press. The classic doctrines that drove the spirit of the Protestant Reformation and that changed lives and nations has been recovered in the last 50 years. How did that happen? What men and institutions did God use to bring about the great recovery. Join us in this most encouraging study that should take us through May. Get your copy now and join us in two weeks for a time of encouragement.
Then we will have a longer study through the summer on a subject that our flesh hates but that God's Word says is a key element in our sanctification, TEMPTATION (Resisted and Repulsed), a modernized reworking of John Owen's classic, TEMPTATION AND SIN, from the Banner of Truth. Your remaining sin, like mine, resists all attempts at putting it to death. But we are to take our marching orders from God's Word, not our remaining sin. Geoff Thomas recently noted on the BANNER OF TRUTH WEBSITE that in his estimation, this book is the best treatment ever of the subject and this edition is so good it need not be done again. Why not join us and see. Purchase the book and prepare for the knife! (as John 'Rabbi' Duncan told his students in Edinburgh who were about to study Owen's classic for the first time!)
Posted: 08:21:30 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/07/2008
MANLY DOMINION, Chpt. 25--"Our Sacred Commission"
Pastor Chanski now takes us husbands and fathers to our duty and calling of raising our children "in the fear and instruction of the Lord". Fathers are not to passively wait until their children form their own view of God and arrive at their own theology. Rather, fathers are to take the lead in establishing their children in the things of God, teaching them at home and making sure they are under the best Bible instruction they can find. Our children inherited their sinful nature from us. Surely we must do all that we can do to bring them to the place of grace in the instruction of the gospel that God might have mercy on them and save them.
This chapter begins a four chapter segment of the book which deals with fathers taking the active, aggressive role in raising their children. [The illustrations he uses are all to common and all too painful. As a pastor and participant in our society, I have seen them all. Pastors are like policemen; we have seen far too much of humanity at their worst and our hearts can grow weary and even cynical if we do not cleanse our minds and hearts at the throne of grace.]
Dads, have you seen yourself in this chapter? Have you seen your children in this chapter? What are you going to do different? One definition of insanity is doing something over and over again that you already know does not work! If what you are doing is not working, rather than self-diagnose yourself as crazy, ask God in a manly way for the grace to change yourself!
MANLY DOMINION, Chpt. 26--"Our Sinful Children"
Romans 12:2 teaches us that we are no longer to be conformed to the world ("squeezed into its mold") but are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. That is clear and straight-forward. But too often our child-rearing mentality is not a carefully worked out and biblical strategy. Instead, we have a mish-mash of leftovers from our parents' parenting us, what we heard from a man at work, a snippet from our pastor's sermon, something our wife observed on Dr. Phil, etc, etc. etc.
Pastor Chanski debunks two very common cultural perspectives on our children that are deadly if put into practice. One perspective says children are morally neutral in their nature or inner constitution; another says they are good in their inner nature and constitution. Chanski briefly traces the roots of such diagnoses to secular psychologists who greatly impacted the 20th century American mind-set. Then he faithfully gives the biblical diagnosis--human beings are sinful from birth and under the judgment of God. G. K. Chesterton once wrote that human depravity or sinfulness is the only empirically provable (i.e. by observation) biblical doctrine. The headlines in the newspaper, the evening news, and the computer updates all shout the same thing--"for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Unless divine intervention changes them, they are doomed to perdition for their sins!
Dads and moms, do you view your children as little acorn sinners gradually growing into oak tree sinners? Or have you swallowed some or much of the world's false understanding and view your children as little angels? Is their nature basically good that only needs to be fanned into greatness? Or are they fledgling sinners on their way to become great sinners? Diagnosis always precedes cure. If you misdiagnose the condition of your children, you will thus come up with a wrong cure. And the recipients of your malpractice will be your own children!
MANLY DOMINION, Chpt. 27--"Our Essential Confrontation"
This chapter is the heart of this section. This is where biblical understanding is turned into action. If you have understood and agreed with the teaching of the previous two chapters, then this chapter is where you show your faith and trust in obedience!
He begins with an all to familiar scenario from today. A child who has been taught and knows better, is facing temptation. The mother tells the child what to do. What will the child and the parent subsequently do?. Contemporary parents are portrayed so accurately it is painful to read it. They confiscate the temptation, divert the child from the temptation, or restrain the child from following the temptation. What is called for is to teach the child one of many life lessons they must get right or be destroyed--and that is by confronting the child. For what every child needs to learn is submission to authority. If it is not learned early, plan on years of miserable battles when they get older, culminating in teen rebellion and adult failure. "The way of the transgressor is hard"; those who will not submit to God's laws should plan on a very, very hard life ahead!
No wonder young people of today do not know how to say "No" to temptation. They were never disciplined as children and know little about self-discipline. A child who is taught self-discipline by being faithfully disciplined in the biblical way learns to sit still in church from a young age. In itself, it has no saving power. But it puts your children in the good place of being able to sit and listen to the Word of God being preached by the called, equipped man of God. The child who has been faithfully disciplined to sit and work diligently at their schoolwork is in a good place. They can begin to learn how to read and write. They can learn the skills necessary to read their Bibles and Christian books. We have trained our children for a life of success.
But so many contemporary children are disciplined rarely if at all. They were never made to control themselves as children and so they now know little about controlling themselves as adults. This chapter helps fathers to confront their children with their sins.
Pastor Chanski shows that the biblical solution is to employ biblical measures. His example from John Abbott's wonderful book, THE MOTHER AT HOME (available from CVBBS), is priceless. Dads, here is an example you can follow. Here is a golden example you can take to the bank! (Undoubtedly, the little boy in the story was John Abbott himself, hence Pastor Chanski's drawing attention to the boy's name in the story!)
He concludes the chapter with sobering, convicting teaching from Proverbs 13:24--"He who spares the rod hates his son. But he who loves him disciplines him diligently." 'We must not hate our children by passively, naively, and cowardly curling up into passive-purple four balls. We must courageously stand up like men to subdue their young hearts for their good and God's glory. Employ manly dominion by faithfully confronting your children.'
MANLY DOMINION, Chpt. 28--"The Saving Culmination"
Pastor Chanski shows the biblically faithful formula for confronting our children--a spanking formula, if you will. Note carefully how necessary each step is. By the grace of God, each and every speaking should follow this formula such that your child knows it as well as you do!
(1) Finding a Private Place
(2) Speaking a Necessary Reproof
(3) Securing of a Submissive Posture (Attitude)
(4) Delivering of Sufficient Blows (Swats)
(5) Reconciling of the Sinner
(6) Reenacting of the Situation (performing the original misdeed
properly and with a good atttidude)
Performed faithfully in such a fashion, biblical discipline leads to opportunities to bring the gospel to your children. By grace your child comes to see that something within them wants to disobey, wants its own way, wants to do what is wrong. The pressure caused by consistent discipline causes inner turmoil and agitation and reflection. "Dad, why do I keep doing this? Daddy, why can't I stop?" You have the God-given opportunity to speak about the need of the new birth and the new record. "Son, you want to do these bad things and you cannot stop it because it is your nature to be this way. You need a new heart. You need a new birth. Remember we read in Family Devotions about Jesus telling Nicodemus that he needed a new heart from God? Well, so do you! And your consistent sinning shows you to be a rebel under the judgment of God. Your growing record of sinning against God, your parents and your bother and sister condemns you! Jesus came to take your bad record upon Himself and give you His perfect record--He obeyed His Father perfectly, every time, 24/7 and with a good attitude too! Why don't you pray and ask the Lord Jesus to give you a new heart, a new nature? Why not pray and thank Him for dying on the cross for rebel, sinners who disobey like you. Ask Him to forgive your sins as He promised; ask Him to give you His perfect record of loving obedience in place of your bad record?. etc, etc. etc."
Dads (and Moms), can you see how faithful biblical discipline leads to opportunities to speak the gospel to your children? Pastors are to apply the Law and the Gospel to their congregations. The Law plows up the heart of the rebel and the disobedient; the Gospel applies the balm of Christ to the Law-wounded heart. The only thing that can heal a Law-wounded heart is the balm of Jesus Christ and the imputation of our sins to Him and the imputation of His righteousness to us. Why not pray right where you read this and ask God for grace to be faithful in your confronting your child's sins with biblical discipline and the grace to speak the gospel to them?
Posted: 10:56:42 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/31/2008
MANLY DOMINION, Chapter 20--"Biblical Thinking"
Pastor Chanski opens this section of study by reminding us men how much we have been impacted by feminism in its various forms. Our great need is to cleanse our minds from cultural conformity (Romans 12:1-2) and renew our minds to think biblically about everything--especially manhood, marriage and the family. Three areas he identifies that specially need biblical thinking are: headship, lordship and servanthood.
When you read this chapter, were you encouraged, outraged or somewhere in the middle? Did his material strike you as biblical? How has your mind-set become conformed to our culture? Why not sit down as husband and wife and read this section aloud and discuss what each of you think and why. If your thinking and feeling derived from "that's the way Mom and Dad did it" or from magazines at the barber shop or check out line at the grocery? Do you really use your Bible as the yardstick to measure your life and do you come to your Bible reading with a heart to obey what you read or to negotiate what you have read?
MANLY DOMINION, Chapter 21--"Assertive Talking"
Pastor Chanski reminds us of what we already know. Most women talk more than most men. But silence is not golden when it comes to leadership! I cannot remain silent when my toddler lurches toward the busy road. I cannot remain silent while my family lurches toward mediocrity and ungodliness. But too many of us are like Adam. Years ago Larry Crabb wrote a book entitled: THE SILENCE OF ADAM. He seeks to answer the question that is begging to be answered: Where was Adam while Eve was being tempted and why did he not speak up when tempted by her? Remaining sins of selfishness, laziness and fear help to stifle men and to keep them from speaking out.
He is not speaking of the boorish husband who uses a 'military command voice' to speak around the house. Neither does he advocate that we imitate Barney Fife who had lot of swagger and bravado but little or no credibility to back it up. Rather Christian men are to speak clearly and biblically and respectfully. Yes, our leadership can have questions asked. Yes, our leadership needs imput. But that implies speaking and being spoken to by our helpmate.
Men, do you lead in your speaking to your wife? Do you speak like George Patton or Barney Fife to your family or do you speak like Jesus Christ.
MANLY DOMINION, Chapter 22--"Atmosphere Setting"
He opens with an illustration too familiar to us all. The fight for the thermostat. The "Christian Stewardship types" fight for every degree of heat or AC. The "Comfort is Important too types" fight to keep it warmer in winter and cooler in summer. But men who see it as a matter of principle how they set the thermostat in the house our car, become blobs who have seemingly been shot in the head with novacaine when it comes to setting the atmosphere in our home.
Men must take the lead for setting an atmosphere of loving spirituality in our homes. Husbands must keep Christ at the center of our marriages and our family life. That means taking the lead in resolving arguments and saying "I'm sorry; would you forgive me?". Who sets the atmosphere in your home? Have you talked about this together?
MANLY DOMINION, Chapter 23--"Responsibility Assuming"
It has been pointed out that when women think of loving, they think of sacrificing for others. When men naturally think of loving, they think of not being a bother to others. Unfortunately, not being a bother is too often just being passive and out of sight!
Everything that happens in a marriage and family is not the husband's fault, but it is his responsibility. Did you think his example of the oil tanker Valdez was helpful? Do you see men that you must give an account for everything that happened on your watch even thought you did not personally do everything?
Your constantly bickering children, your harried wife, the lawn you neglected to mow, the income taxes and the balancing of the budget are all under your responsibility, even though you may not have personally created the problem.
God gave the husband the authority of headship in the home. With it comes responsibility for everything that happens in that home. And when it is broke, it is his job to see to it that it is fixed.
MANLY DOMINION, Chapter 24--"Sin Mortifying"
Our credibility in leadership is largely a function of whether or not we are practicing what we preach. If we are hypocrites and do not do what we say, we have severely undercut our own leadership.
Faithful Christian men must put to death remaining sins if they others to follow. To put it another way, if we want our wife and family to bleed, we must first hemorrhage. Faithfully putting our remaining sins to death is a noble example to our family. Faithfully dying to self and picking up our cross daily is a noble example to our family.
We must be the leaders in godliness (God-centeredness) and holiness (putting sin to death and putting on a life of obedience) if our Christian families are to flourish. We cannot lie in a hammock, sipping iced tea and become men of God. We must get off the hammock of self-indulgence and become actively involved in holy obedience to the Word of God.
Men, are you in cruise control or do you actively lead your wife and family in loving and obeying Christ? Who has the most zeal for Christ in your family? Who is the most serious, the most focused, the most faithful in walking with God. If it is not you, then you must repent and become that person by the grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. You cannot lead your family where you yourself have not gone.
Posted: 02:06:56 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/25/2008
MANLY DOMINION, Chapters 16-19--"Manly Dominion in Spiritual Living"
Pastor Chanski gets at the heart of our spiritual problems with this section. This section is the heart of the book. If you get these chapters wrong or don't get them at all, you get none of the other ones.
Our heart is the well-spring of our life. If our heart is not kept, we will go astray. Christian men are not doing well, either as
men, or as husbands and fathers. Why? A primary reason is their failure to keep their hearts! Disregarding the call to "guard our hearts for they determine everything else we do" (Proverbs 4:23--Living Bible), is to court disaster. And we have disaster on a major scale before us in Christ's churches and in our "Christian homes". Men are acting like boys. Professing Christian men are acting like boys too. On page 148 he highlights the immature, self-centered ways of boyhood, but gives them titles reflecting the religious setting.
Immature men like to attend churches that are far from biblical churches, where they can remain boys forever and never have to grow up. He might have entitled this section: Peter Pan Christians for Tinkerbell Churches! Does that sound sarcastic? Sit back and reflect on what passes for church and biblical manhood across America! Rather than attend a place of sacred worship of Almighty God,men now attend churches that are more like amusement parks, where thrill seekers come to amuse themselves. Or they attend churches that are like a theater, where the motto is "We'll entertain you". Others attend churches that are like a grand talent show ("We'll give you a place on the stage"). Others attend churches that are more like a bar or lounge ("We'lll make you feel relaxed"). Others participte in a church they view as a spa ("Come only when you feel like it"). Others attend a country club church ("We'll provide activities for the whole family"). But in none of these churches is God the Holy and Sovereign Audience--bored, decadent, over-satiated Americans are the audience. "Boys of God" could be comfortable in any of these churches. Men of God will look elsewhere!
After highlighting the problem, Pastor Chanski shows us the way ahead.
Chapter 16--"Personal Devotions"--he's for them! How can we do them and do them better? Why don't we resolve before God to do them? See the chapter.
Chapter 17--"Family Devotions"--he's for them too!
How can we begin and maintain this most important building block of a Christian family? When the world have so much of our children, how can we counter the onslaught? See the chapter.
Chapter 18--"Churchmanship"--he's for it too!! But most professing Christian men today would be hard pressed to define the term, let alone pursue such a goal. See how to work at being a "Man of God" in training rather than stay a "boy of god" at your leisure.
Chapter 19--"Conversion"--Now we are aiming at the all too real problem. Thousands of men attend churches and profess to be Christians who know they are not Christians or have a recurring sense that they are not! The reason why so many professing Christian men do not act like Christians is that they are not Christians. The reason why so many professing Christian men do not have Christian desires and affections, is that they are not Christians. The reason why so many professing Christian men have their jobs at the center of their life rather than the Lord Jesus is that they are not Christians. The reason why so many professing Christian men do not vote with certain priorities or read much at all or listen to music or watch TV with discernment or pursue hobbies in a Christian way is that they are not Christians to begin with. So the fruit of their lives is not Christian.
Jesus chided the religious leader of 1st center Israel, Nicodemus, in John 3, that he was a renowned teacher but ignorant of the ABC's of Old Testament Scripture. How could he act so ignorant of the "new birth" and supposedly have mastered Ezekiel 36 (especially verses 26-27), the pre-eminent Old Testament passage on the new birth? Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Ezekiel says that God is going to do a new work and supernaturally change people from the inside out. He would do a spiritual heart transplant and take out the defective heart and replace it with a spiritually working heart and God would put His Spirit within the person and move them to obey His Laws and follow Him.
The reason why many do not act like Christians or have desires like Christians or have fruit like Christians is that they are not Christians. Pastor Chanski winsomely takes the reader by the hand and walks him through the ABC's of salvation and exhorts the reader to "put the book down--right now--and go to God" (p. 163). Reader of this blog, you must go to God right now if you are not right with God either!
NOTE TO THE READER AND PUBLISHER: There was an editorial oversight and the material from the bottom of page 163, beginning with the heading, MANLY DOMINION IN HUSBANDING, to the end of the chapter, was obviously cut and pasted incorrectly from the following chapter. Future editions should have this corrected.
Posted: 03:42:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/18/2008
I am taking a week off from our study of MANLY DOMINION. to focus on our Lord's death and resurrection. For as the Apostle Paul said: "If Christ is not risen from the dead, we of all men are most to be pitied!" Thank God that Christ is risen from the dead.
(1) In raising His Son from the dead, God the Father validated Christ's claims to Deity. Napoleon was no Christian, but He was a fair judge of men. One of his lieutenants was complaining about Christianity and vowed to start his own religion. Napoleon cut through the non-sense by exclaiming: "Why don't you get yourself executed and then rise from the dead and then people will believe in your new religion!"
(2) In raising His Son from the dead, God the Father proved that He accepted His Son's once and for all payment for the sins of His people. There is no outstanding warrant for the arrest of believers--their penalty has been paid in full. As Paul said in Romans: "He was raised for our justification". Tetelestai="paid in full"=justification="For God made Him who knew no sin to become sin that we (believing sinners) might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2nd Corinthians 5:21).
(3) In raising His Son from the dead, God the Father showed that death does not have the final word for a Christian. The Christian's last enemy to face is death. But 1st Corinthians 15 teaches us that the sting of death is the penalty awaiting unrepentant, unbelieving sinners. The sting of death, God's judgement on sin and unrepentant sinners, does not fall upon believers. Christ has borne their penalty.
(4) In raising His Son from the dead, God the Father showed that through their union with Christ, believers have power over remaining sin. Sin shall not be master over believers, because they are no longer under the covenant of law in fallen Adam but they are under the covenant of grace in Christ. When Adam sinned and fell as the federal head of the human race, he dragged down his posterity with him--they suffered the consequences of his disobedience. When Christ obeyed unto death, His posterity enjoys the consequences of His obedience. Paul argues this in Romans 6:1-14.
There are two Easter Resurrection Week specials available from CVBBS.
John Piper's short devotionals in a book, FIFTY REASONS JESUS CAME TO DIE (Crossway), is a good beginning. It is great for personal or family devotions. We studied it in our Wednesday evening 242 Groups (smalls groups that meet for Bible teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer, taken from Acts 2:42). Chapters are short and to the point and invite discussion. The studies are biblical, warm and Christ-centered, which one should expect in such a study.
F. W. Krummacher's THE SUFFERING SAVIOR (Banner of Truth), is a 19th century classic that holds its own. Krummacher was a leading pastor in the German Reformed Church. These are his rich meditations on the suffering, death and resurrection of the Savior. They have stood the test of time. They invite thought, prayer, reflection, re-evaluation, consecration.
Both would make great gifts and both are worth owning and revisiting annually.
The Christian churches are rich with great books about the Savior and His amazing grace.
Your Book Servant,
Steve Martin
Posted: 09:22:44 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/10/2008
This section of Pastor Chanski's book covers how biblical men (or anyone really) are supposed to arrive at making decisions. We will note briefly each chapter.
Chapter 11--"Manly Dominion in Decision Making: Impressions"
The Pentecostal and charismatic movements have piggy-backed onto the evangelical movement with their unique view of discerning how God guides. For many Christians today, the revelation of the Bible is for ordinary Christians; a "fresh impulse from God is additional revelation for the spiritually sensitive and open". That is not what the Bible teaches nor what the best teachers in the history of Christ's church have understood the Bible to teach.
For many Christians, impressions are the main way God guides today. It appears to them to be more "real and immediate" then simply reading their Bibles and seeking biblical wisdom in general principles. Was my impression caused by the burrito and cola I had for lunch or was it the prompting of the Holy Spirit? Some today would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
The historic doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture has been thrown aside in favor of "fresh bread from the Holy Spirit", the inference being that the Bible is stale bread. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Why do we gravitate towards new revelations through hunches, impressions, feelings, etc.? A couple of reasons: (1) We are all a bit lazy and it takes time in study and prayer and meditation to work through what God has revealed in Scripture and to apply it to what we understand of a given situation where we desire guidance; (2) We are all a bit naive and gullible and it "seems" that God is more involved in my life if He is giving me personal answers about where to go to college, what career path to take, should we practice arranged marriages or dating, should I undergo chemo-therapy or radiation therapy, etc. (Besides, when you look up the words "college", "career", "dating", "chemo-therapy or radiation therapy" or "therapy" in a concordance, these words arn't there. The devil whispers in your ear: "The Bible is not relevant!"); (3) We lack confidence in God's biblical promises and our unbelief is masked behind a weird form of spirituality: "If it doesn't work out, then it's not my fault because I was just seeking to be faithful to the impressions of the Holy Spirit". So we don't hit ourselves over the head when our hunches fail. [For those wanting more help in this area, I heartily recommend James Packer's chapter on Guidance in KNOWING GOD and his new book (co-written by Carol Nystrom) on Guidance, GUARD US, GUIDE US; Baker.
Chapter 12--"Providence"
When we hit a snag in our plans or a seeming roadblock in our path, what should we do? Pastor Chanski teaches us to check more thoroughly, evaluating God's providence from different angles. Circumstances in and of themselves, are NOT the decisive variable in decision making. When faced with the above mentioned roadblock, I should not throw up my hands and quit. When my plans hit a snag, I should not quit. I need to check more carefully on the details. My plans have a problem; they may not have been God's blueprint, but I may still be on God's path doing God's will.
The citizens of Chicago or Minneapolis or Grand Rapids do not let a six inch snowfall become the decisive indicator of what they should do that day. They shovel out the driveway, and go to work. The city knows how to clear the roads. People are used to driving in snow. In those cities, you just do it. Here in Atlanta where I live now, a six inch snow fall shuts down the city. Why? Little snow removal equipment, little experience in driving on snow, no snow tires, etc. The same circumstances hit each city, but their responses might be different. Other factors must be examined carefully too.
Chapter 13--"Peace"
One of my relatives rationalized her divorce by saying that she prayed about it and had a "real peace about it". How convenient! Can I set aside the clear commandments of God for "inner tranquility" or the lack of it? Can I refuse to tithe because I feel a peace about not giving to God? Does a mystical feeling trump biblical commands and biblical thinking? Our hearts are so tricky (Jeremiah says that they are the most deceptive things we will ever meet on this planet--our own hearts!) that we can fool ourselves into anything.
One world famous seminary professor whose commentaries are known to many announced that he was divorcing his wife because he felt (that was the operative word) he had married the wrong woman (after many years and several children)! And where could he find the 'right woman'?
Presto--his secretary! His seminary saw the self-deception; his church saw the self-deception. I am not sure he ever did. If a man whose job it is to study God's Word can fool himself so easily (or rather be fooled by remaining sin), surely we can be self-deceived also.
Pastor Chanski cites Gary Friesen's DECISION MAKING AND THE WILL OF GOD as a resource for this chapter. It would be a good read if you grew up in broad evangelicalism, read broad evangelical books on guidance, or grew up in a Keswick theology of sanctification ('let go, and let God', the carnal Christian, Victorious life, etc.) environment. The false notions of how God guides His people is constantly skewered by Dr. Friesen as "the traditional understanding of how to know God's will". (In a helpful review, James Packer noted that nobody had ever heard of this 'so-called traditional view" until the 1880's and the rise of dispensation--alism and Keswick theology. But that's another story.)
Do you think our Lord had no flutters in his stomach in the Garden of Gethsemane? Do you think He was not in the will of God? No, of course not. Many things in life which are right, brave, proper, courageous, noble, outstanding, etc. are done DESPITE HOW WE FEEL. Many things in life would never get done if "lack of peace" were the determining factor.
Chapters 14-15--"Wisdom # 1 and # 2"
Having exploded the faulty formulas of impressions, providence and peace, Pastor Chanski now takes us to biblical wisdom. He takes us through the stages of wisdom: (1) Engage your mind; (2) Search the Scriptures; (3) Seek counsel; (4) Pray earnestly; (5) Make a decision; (6) Carry It Through.
He also recommends by his own footnote the excellent volume by Sinclair Ferguson, DISCOVERING GOD'S WILL; Banner of Truth. It may be the best single book on the subject. It does not show you where you should go to school, which corporation you should work for or who you should marry, BUT it does show you the Bible's pattern for making decisions in light of God's revealed will of Scripture. It may save your sanity. It certainly honors God's revealed way of seeking biblical wisdom.
May our Lord give us grace, especially the men among us, to no longer be held captive by sub-biblical ways of understanding God's will and God's ways of leading His people. Professor Bruce Waltke recently wrote a sharp critique of the folk wisdom of evangelical decision making and seeking God's will. He showed decisively (to this reviewer) that it is a pagan way of divining the will of God through the various tragi-comic ways evangelicals go about this. The Bible's way is to seek wisdom, biblical wisdom, through diligent Bible study, sermon hearing and seeking out counselors who know the Bible at least as well or better than you. (This means you don't ask your three best friends what you should do but ask the three most godly, Bible saturated men you know for their advice.)
May we be less passive and more biblical in our manhood and in our ways of seeking to follow the Lord.
Posted: 04:03:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/03/2008
MANLY DOMINION, Chapters 5-10--Manly Dominion in Vocational Laboring
Perhaps because of the short attention spans of today's readers or perhaps because men can be too impatient to read and follow an extended argument, or because he wants to have as wide an appeal as possible, Pastor Chanski has short chapters which can be read quickly and then reread and pondered for some time. We will briefly examine the next five short chapters.
Chpt. 5--"Lifelong Laboring"
He relates his own struggles in the area of work. He truly did not have a biblical understanding of work ("vocation" in Latin). Work was a necessary evil to endure until you could accumulate enough money to play. I remember seeing that in immature fellow college students and immature men in their early twenties. You worked all week so you could play hard on the weekends. Or you worked hard all week so you could accumulate enough toys to play successfully on the weekend. Or some men never grow up and they really just endure the week so they can play on the weekends--gold, hunting, fishing, skiing, you name it. Not that any of these sports is intrinsically wrong. It is just that they should not be the focus of our time and the reason for our labors. Particularly on the weekend when their are family responsibilities and the Lord's Day which take priority over self.
You men who are reading this. Have you grown up? I can distinctly remember as a young man when it dawned on me that my life was not to be marked by play. And when I realize that I was not to work in order to play well. Rather I was to work because it was my duty, my calling from God. And it was the way at least 1/3 of my life would be used in glorifying God. If you work eight hours a day, then a third of your life, which was given you to glorify God, is centered on work. He rightly concludes: "Every man, therefore, must view the issue of his vocational labor as one of his life's greatest priorities." (p. 51). Is you life still marked by play? Is that the focus of your daydreaming? Does that get the best of your creativity and planning?
Chapter 6--"Career Choosing"
Working as a stock boy at the grocery store because you don't yet know what you want to do is very sad. A young man has not been guided and helped to see what he is equipped to do, what he has been made by God to be good at. What I do with my life matters to God! Hunches, feelings, the easy way out and such foolish notions should not drive the growing man of God. Rather, using the Scriptures as his grid, he should assess himself, take stock of the opportunities God has providentially place in his path, and move forward with resolve, purposing in his heart to fulfill the necessary tasks to achieve the goal.
How did you come to occupy the job you now have? Was it by intent or did you just "settle for it because it was all you could get"? Did you parents help you in self-analysis? Did you pastor? Did you seek godly counsel from men more mature than you? From men who know you, who know God and who know the Scriptures well?
What did you think of Winston Churchill's marks of what made a mediocre leader: (1) They lacked a will; (2) They lacked a plan; (3) They wanted perfection? Have you solemnly purposed in your heart, that by His grace, you would pursue such a course of action or goal? Have you worked out a written plant to accomplish you goal? Are you naively expecting perfection in a fallen world?
Chapter 7--Manly Dominion in Vocational Training
Often we give up on good things, noble things, worthwhile things, holy things, Christ-glorifying things because they seem hard! We often reason to our slothful, passive hearts: "That can't be God's will for me, it's too hard!" And in talking ourselves out of obedience, we fail to see that pursuing such a course of action such might be God's time honored way of making us into a man of God. A summer squash takes just a summer to grow, 8-12 weeks. A mighty oak takes 20+ years to get established. But how it can last and withstand so much.
Are we letting ourselves or our sons settle for mediocrity when it is fear and passivity and dare I say it, laziness call the shots in our lives?! Are men no longer filling the slots in professions because they have never learning to work hard and persevere at working hard?
The chapter emphasized working hard at a college education. But Pastor Chanski also mentions the young man who will not work hard at night to get his journeyman's license so that he can be employed at the higher rate of a skilled craftsman. So called "blue collar" men whose gifts are in what was once called the skilled trades, electrician, plumber, metalworker, carpenter, machinist, etc. require great expertise and perseverance to succeed at their vocation. They have to get certified and pass competency tests. We must not let our sons settle for the mediocrity that flows out of our sinful hearts.
Chapter 8--Manly Dominion in Job Hunting
A man without a job for a long time is like a woman who has a child living under an overpass in the inner city. He is devastated and believes the lie that he is a total failure. As Pastor Chanski puts it, he cannot curl up on the floor in a fetal position and wait for help. As he is praying and seeking the Lord he must also work hard at job hunting and making himself desirable in the job market. No jobs are guaranteed for life. Draftsman have been replaced by CAD machines. Typewriter salesman and repairman are like Dodo birds--extinct. My father worked in the meat packing business for the largest meat packer in the world, until the entire industry disintegrated and he was left without a job at age 57 after 42 years on the job! In the sin-sick, fallen world, no jobs are guaranteed. We must be prepared to work hard at finding a job and in keeping a job and in finding another one when the first one fails. God has not called men to be passive but active--pro-active!
Chapter 9--Manly Dominion and Hard Working
Like a good pastor, Mark Chanski clears away false notions before rebuilding the foundation. The greatest false notion in the evangelical world is that there are two tiers of Christian service: (1) vocational Christian service such as pastors and missionaries; (2) every other job in the Kingdom. Men who are in category two get the message. They are second class citizens in the Kingdom of God. But that is false. God calls each man to work at a job and that work is your calling, your vocation. A faithful Christian carpenter and a faithful Christian biology teacher and a faithful Christian semi-truck drive and a faithful Christian pediatrician bring glory to God in their vocations. At the time of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, Martin Luther recovered the biblical doctrine of vocation. All men are called to a job and to do it to the glory of God. Pastors are not more spiritual than farmers or lawyers or railroad engineers. They each are to do their job unto the Lord and not unto men.
Chapter 10--Manly Dominion in Financial Earning
John Wesley's motto for the young Methodist movement when it came to money: "Make all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can." Hard work leading to accumulation of wealth leading to big hearted giving is a biblical prescription. Being poor for God's glory is not a calling. Blowing your money without saving is not a calling from God. Hoarding money and letting it become an idol is not a calling from God. Working hard to earn money to save money to invest that money for the glory of Christ is noble and honors Christ. How are you doing in this area? Are you known as a hard worker? Do you save your money? Are you become a generous giver to Christ's Kingdom?
Posted: 12:06:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
02/26/2008
MANLY DOMINION; Chpts. 1-4--"Manly Dominion in Scriptural Perspective"
If it was within my power, I would make this book mandatory reading for every Christian man, woman and teengager in America--and their pastors and elders. It is that important. Why? Because it goes to the heart of our deepest problems and show us how to get it right.
Pastor Mark Chanski takes his readers by the hand and the walks them through their Bibles with a new pair of glasses. He wants us to see that our fallen culture, our remaining sin and the enemy of our souls together have mislead and mistaught the American church. The nature of the false teaching and the resultant false living is not in some peripheral part of life but at the very core of life and society--what does it mean to be a man? How we answer that question impacts how we "do" marriage and family, church,work, government, problem solving,etc. (For four decades, since the rise of militant feminism in the late 60's, men have been knocked back on their heals, hesitant about asserting themselves.) Writers and cultural critics such as Ann Douglas in THE FEMINIZATION OF THE AMERICAN CULTURE and Leon Podles in THE EFFEMINATE CHURCH have highlighted various aspects of the cultural battles being played out in America. Not until MANLY DOMINION has there been a good answer and workable solution.
Chpt. 1--"Manlhy Dominion in Scriptural Perspective: Biblical Exposition"--Pastor Chanski begins by showing us the creation commands or mandates that govern life on God's earth. The three commands he chooses to highlight are: (1) Subjugation; (2) Dominion; and (3) Possession. They are the three basic commands God gave to our first father, Adam, as his "Job Description". Chanski's exposition is straight-forward and impossible to miss. Had is not been for our first father's (and Mother's) fall into sin, it wouold have been a simple thing to follow God's blueprint. But sin destroyed Eden and ravaged that first family and Adam's descendants have been languishing to one degree or another ever since.
Chpt. 2--"Sinful Misconceptions: The Victimization Mindset" is all too familiar to watchful pastors and observant laymen. It is the world of America today. Nothing is our fault; nothing is our responsibility. We live in a world inherited from our first parents of blame shifting ("the woman you gave me") and responsibility evasion (Comedian Flip Wilson's comic church character, Geraldine's "The Devil made me do it!"). What are these handly excuses generated by our fallen world? They are each aspects of victimization; something was done to me for which I am not responsibile and now am unable to fully deal with. They include: (1) "I am a Genetic Victim; (2) "I am an Emotional Victim"; (3) "I am a Circumstantial Victim". Who cannot see the painful truth of our blame-shifting hearts in all this?
Who cannot see the remnants of indwelling sin still seeking excuse, crying out: "That was not right what happened to me!" But can we not see that it is slavery, not freedom which tells us that we must remain a victim to the sins that were done to us. If you think about it, who grew up in a sinless world? Who has not been terribly sinned against? If being sinned against is an excuse not to obey God, then no person would have to obey God! The glory of the Christian life is that God saves us to no longer remain victims but to become more than conquerors in Christ!
Chapter 3--"Old Testament Illustration"--covers well known men and women of the Old Testament who trusted God and obeyed God, despite their taxing situations--Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Gideon, Ruth, David's 'mighty men', and Nehemiah. What powerful illustrations we have in the word of God.
Chapter 4--"New Testament Illustrations"--gives us illustrations from the life of Christ's Apostle Paul and our Lord Himself to teach us that circumstances and difficulties do not determine God's agenda or our obedience.
How about you? Do you determine God's will by how hard it is? I have often been tempted to do just that. Do you allow excuses and past misfortunes to determine your Christian life? Do you blameshift your problems and your disobediences? Do you evade responsibility by foisting the blame onto the past or the people of your past?
Perhaps this book is the Chinese mustard on the eggroll of your life to get your attention in a big way! May God use these truths to move you to new understanding, new gratitude for your stupendous resources in Christ and new patterns of obedience and growth!?!
Your Book Servant and Fellow Pilgrim,
Steve Martin
Posted: 09:02:45 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
02/20/2008
MANLY DOMINION by Mark Chanski
For those of you who have been following the blog (as one man put it, there seem to be a lot of people in the room but not much dialogue), we are moving on to the next book, Mark Chanski's MANLY DOMINION.
Why not buy your copy and follow the progress we make as we seek to understand how and why men are to lead--at home and in the church.
Your Book Servant,
Steve Martin
Posted: 10:55:45 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
02/19/2008
Chapter 3--"The Authority of the Holy Spirit"
Dr. Lloyd-Jones begins this final chapter by telling us that from the practical standpoint, this final chapter is the most important. Because if we do not understand and apply this truth, then the first two, the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Authority of the Scriptures, will be to no avail. To have a merely intellectual or academic belief in Christ and the Bible does not translate into impact in our lives unless God the Holy Spirit's authority and power rests upon us.
The author reminds us that in some people's understanding, they make an unfortunate separation between the authority of the Scriptures and the authority of the Spirit. He cites the struggle in the Puritan era in this area. The Pentecostals/charismatics of that time, the Quakers (so named because they 'quaked" as a sign the Spirit had come among them) over-emphasized the authority of the Spirit. Nothing else mattered. They depreciated the Scriptures at times (as do many modern Pentecostals/ charismatics). [Historical note: George Fox was raised up by God to return biblical orthodoxy to the Quaker movement before they entirely went into fanaticism and heresy.) Some of the Puritans, reacting against the Quakers, pushed the pendulum towards the authority of the Scriptures to the near exclusion of the Spirit's ministry. The next few paragraphs on page 63 about the interplay between the Spirit and the Word should be required reading for today's Christians.
Beginning on page 64, Lloyd-Jones has a magnificent treatment of how the concern for the authority of the Holy Spirit was lost. First came the push for "dignified services". Next came the growing pride of learning and of knowledge, the push for a more educated clergy. The pastor and the church needed to be "respectable" from a certain, false standpoint. A parallel emphasis was the "fear of enthusiasm". (NOTE: In English culture, "enthusiasm" is just about a synonym for "fanaticism".) The pendulum swing away from "enthusiasm" to static formality and the quenching of the Spirit. It all boils down to pride in Lloyd-Jones' mind. We are so afraid of what we may say or do and thus look like to important and sophisticated individuals, that we would rather grieve/quench the Spirit than look foolish or "fanatical" to outsiders. Remember, "fear of man" is a subset of pride. (Now, Lloyd-Jones was familiar with the growing Pentecostal movement in Great Britain, and though he initially had hopes they would be biblically and spiritually solid, he eventually came to see that they missed far more than they got right and were not the hoped for revival of the churches which he had long prayed for.)
That makes me stop to pause and think. How do I view the authority of the Holy Spirit? Do I look to His power and authority exclusively? I can remember reading this book in December, 1984. At that time, I was candidating at churches seeking a pastor and I was also applying to various Ph.D. programs seeking a doctorate. Why? Well, it seemed that the men with "success", an audience and "influence" all had some form of Dr. in front of their name. (Some have mused that the invention of the D.Min. degree was to attract insecure evangelicals back to seminary. Some have called this becoming "D.Min. possessed" or "the D.Min.-ization of the pastorate".) Such is ecclesiastical humor!
While reading this section of the book in 1984, I was deeply convicted that while a Ph.D. was mandatory in American universities and seminaries to become a professor, it was not necessary to become and remain a faithful pastor. In my case it was a stumbling-block. I knew I was called to the pastorate by God. I did not know that I was called to be a professor. Why then was I seeking a doctorate? My fear of man and pride was looking to a doctorate to give me 'authority', slighting the authority of the Holy Spirit. The world can stack up its Ph.D's against me. But they cannot have the authority of the Holy Spirit who alone can illuminate the Scriptures, open the eyes of the blind, open the ears of the deaf, give new life to the dead and make the glory and power and authority of God real and immediate. I saw I had to repent of my pride,
worldly thinking and submit myself to God's biblical/spiritual thinking.
Lloyd-Jones, having shown us how the churches and pastors can lose the authority of the Holy Spirit, raises the second important question as to how can they regain it. Having rebuked my carnal mind, he now corrected my thinking. This next section was especially clear to me as my seminary emphasis was upon Church History. The Doctor's diagnosis would have been comically true had it not been so tragically real! When the pulpits are dead, when conversions are rare, when the pew is carnal and lethargic, when the Bible is not preached in power to attract and hold men, when the world either laughs at or ignores the churches, what is the solution? Well, having read the above, you would think it should be obvious. There must be a return to the authority of the Holy Spirit, begun by prayerful and biblical self-analysis, repentance from sinful attitudes and practices and a renewed reliance upon God. That is not what the churches have done however. Anything but the Spirit will do!
In the advance of the man-centered, rationalistic "Enlightenment" (read "Endarkment") of the 18th century, the churches sensed they were losing their hold on people and their authority. What to do? Learned men wrote massive tomes of apologetics (Bishop Butler wrote his ANALOGY OF RELIGION; William Paley wrote his EVIDENCES FOR CHRISTIANITY) and gave learned lectures at Oxford (the Boyle lectures on Christianity and science). What pagans do you know who want to read great and learned books of apologetics and attend university lectureships on abstruse subjects? Precisely--none! What did God do? The world yawned on. God instead raised up George Whitefield, Howell Harris, the Wesley brothers and a host of others to preach the gospel to the masses with great power and authority. Multitudes were converted, England averted the revolution that nearby France saw, and the churches were alive and powerful once again. As a side effect, British society was changed by the multitude of converted lives and the preaching of God's Law.
In the 19th century, again the churches were moribund. Concerned clergy wondered what to do. Laymen asked what was wrong? Lapsed evangelicals connected with Oxford University suggested that the church could only regain its position if a liturgical and sacramental change was made, Remove the preacher from the people. Put in or emphasize the communion rail. Separate the clergy from the people. Re-introduce colorful vestments that remind the people who the minister is--and they are not! Pulpits were pushed to the side; the communion table became the 'altar' and was elevated to a near Catholic position. Some of these men eventually became Catholics in their search to regain authority. (Surely they thought, this great and old church must be what it claims--the only true church of Christ with the only true clergy, priests dating back to Peter for their "apostolic authority and succession".) But God instead raised up men like J. C. Ryle, John Angell James and Charles Spurgeon (no college or seminary training but robustly a man of the Bible, the old paths and the Spirit). The revival of mid-century changed England and northern Ireland (Ulster) and America (the great revival of 1858-59 that in America lasted through the Civil War).
Later in the 19th century, the churches waned again and concerned Christians thought that to keep up with the times the practices of big business (advertising and organization copied from industrial moguls), the approval of secular universities (pastors with degrees from accredited institutions), social agendas (the churches should be saving the world from its many vices--anti-slavery movement, temperance societies, fair labor societies, agitating the politicians, raising the underclass, etc.). [Now it should be noted that individual Christians may choose to get involved in any of these or a legion of biblically lawful opportunities to serve. But none of these things is the calling of the churches--they are to preach the gospel, save the elect, build up the saints, and thereby build up the churches and the Kingdom of God. When the church loses its focus and seeks to save the world or become like the world, its unique and powerful role is then lost.]
Dr. Loyd-Jones closes with the authority of the Spirit in the life and ministry of our Lord, the authority of the Spirit in the life of the believer, and the authority of the Spirit in the Church. These are most important to read, reread, pray over and thoroughly digest. If the churches today and individual pastors today are to regain their lost power and authority, it will not be by learned lectureships at Harvard, hefty volumes of pre-suppositional/classical/evidential apologetics, it will not be from pastors each having Ph.D's or D.Min's, it will not be from laymen separated from the pastors by altars and colored robes, it will not be by slick advertising and business acumen. Each and every one of these things may be good in their place, but they are no substitute for the authority and power of God the Holy Spirit upon a pastor and the pulpit and the congregation.
Buy a copy of this book for your pastor and elders. Tell them you appreciate their ministry and want to encourage them all you can. Tell them you pray for them (and you had better be praying for them). Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to light whatever sins may be grieving/quenching Him and ask for grace to repent and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that a mighty outpouring of God the Holy Spirit would come upon our churches and they would once again regain the glory of Christ. [Remember: 'Ichabod' (Hebrew for "the glory of the Lord has departed") has been raised over more than one ministry in history!] Plead with God to send His Spirit back to our churches, our pastors, our pulpits, our hearts!
SUGGESTED COLLATERAL READING:
A. W. Tozer, THE WANING AUTHORITY OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCHES
TODAY (booklet); Christian Publications
J. W. Alexander, PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT (booklet); Chapel Library
Norval Geldenhuys, SUPREME AUTHORITY; Tyndale Press
Posted: 12:27:41 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
02/12/2008
AUTHORITY by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Chpt. 1--"The Authority of Jesus Christ"
Dr. Lloyd-Jones begins this first chapter by pointing out that man is an unhappy creature. "He is in a world which he does not understand, a world so vast that it baffles him. He has his problems, personal problems and larger social problems. The whole world is in a state of confusion and turmoil" (p. 11). So how does man go about finding solutions to his problems and answers to his questions.
At this point in the discussion, the question of God and His existence arises. And the secondary question, how does a person find God?. Some people say that a person should look within themselves--that you are God or a god or that God shows Himself inside a person. This is called mysticism. Others reject such immediate, emotional, romantic notions of God and say the whole issues is intellectual, rational, logical--this is called rationalism.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones take us to Ecclesiastes to remind us that man by his own doings, whether rational or emotional, will not arrive at ultimate knowledge. No, the answer is not within man's power to acquire--God must show Himself to mankind if mankind is to find God. And that is where the issue of Jesus Christ comes up!
In succeeding pages, Dr. Lloyd-Jones shows us the centrality of Christ, the witness of the gospels and our Lords own claims, His actions and direct assertions. All of this culminates with the death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord to once and for all verify His claims to be God Incarnate. He shows how the rest of the New Testament writers add more to the whole case that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh on a rescue mission to save a people and gather them together in His household, His family, His church. This glorious Being is the Lord of Glory and the Head of His Church. Taking a quote from W. H. Griffith Thomas and others, he shows how "Christianity is Christ".
As the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ speaks with divine authority. He is to be heard and obeyed. What does that say about our current attitudes in evangelical and Reformed churches today? Is Christ the Lord of our churches? Of my church? Of my life. The intra-mural debate that began among dispensationalists and continued into evangelicalism in the late 1980's was the "Lordship of Christ". Reading this chapter, how could you say anything against Christ's Lordship? But ask yourself, is He the Lord of my life? Do I change habits and patterns in my life because He says so? Am I grieved at disobeying Him? Am I stiff-necked and stubborn in having my own way? Do I complain and dig in my heals when He says in His Word to change my ways? Do I hear His Word preached as the voice of a King each Lord's Day in church? Do we look to this risen, ascended Lord of the church in prayer to solve the problems of our church? Of our marriage and family? Of our personal problems. Do I as an Elder or pastor think, act and organize with the conscious realization that Christ is the Lord of our church and I serve under Him at His pleasure? Does His Word tell us what to do as officer bearers about problems X, Y, and Z? Do we even look to Him in prayer as the only one who can change the heart of men and women, boys and girls? How authoritative is Jesus Christ in my life and family and church?
Chpt. 2--"The Authority of the Scriptures"
Dr. Lloyd-Jones tells us that the whole question of authority naturally moves to the authority of God's Word and involves the whole question of evangelism (p. 30).
Our author is not naive about the tsunami of attacks upon God's Word and its authority in the past 150+ years. Indeed, for those who read the 2nd volume of Iain Murray's wonderful two-volume biography of Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the "Doctor" (as he was known by his friends and family) was in the forefront in Britain of repelling the frontal attacks upon the inerrancy and authority of the Bible. In this chapter he walks us through the attacks, how they were expressed and what is the answer. It boils down to a person's reason or their experience deciding what to accept and what to reject in the Bible. If the Bible does not agree with a man's reasoning powers or experiences, it is thrown out of court, dispelled as not valid. The Bible is thus brought down to the measure of what puny human beings can fully fathom and accept.
People who accept the Bible as the true and authoritative Word of God written are libeled as "fundamentalists" (mean-spirited black and white thinkers who are uneducated) or "bibliolators" (people who worship the Bible rather than Christ). Lloyd-Jones explodes these false labels. He shows us then the right approach to handling the Bible, understanding how Christ viewed the Bible, the Scriptures own claims about itself, how the New Testament used the Old Testament, the unique authority of the Apostles, etc. round out the chapter.
He concludes the chapter by noting: "The choice for us today is really as simple as it was for those first Christians in the early days. We either accept this authority or else we accept the authority of 'modern knowledge', modern science, human understanding, human ability. It is one of the other. Let us not be confused by the modern argument about a changed position. We are still left where believers have always been left. It is still 'Christ or the critics'" (p. 60).
The applications are immense. It is one thing to tell the pastor on Sunday how much we enjoyed his sermon on the authority of Scripture; it is another thing to see him in the post office on Monday and tell him that our son's moral failings are an exception to the Bible because he has a syndrome. You have just set aside God's Word for your own human 'wisdom' and psychological authority. It is one thing to hold to a confession of faith that trumpets the infallibility of the Bible, while avoiding its teachings and authority because it is personally convicting, embarrassing and will create wholesale change in my lifestyle. If Scripture is the authoritative Word of the King of kings and Lord of lords, then it must be carefully understood and it must be obeyed. To adopt a pick and choose method for understanding and applying the Bible is offensive to God and dishonest. We do not stand in judgment on the Word of God and choose what we like and are willing to obey--the Word of God stands in judgment upon each of us and all of us.
I know one pastor in a university town who was confronted by parishioners after a powerful message on the Paul's instructions to Timothy that women are not to have authority over men in the church. This angry group of people told this young pastor--"We don't hear Paul in this church!" And he was soon dismissed when he could not promise not to delete Paul from his canon of preaching. Other pastors have paid the price for teaching the whole Bible, its unflattering depictions of human nature, its humbling guidelines for how we are to order our homes and churches, its convicting laws and precepts, etc., its counter-cultural morals. Yes, the most exhilarating words ever uttered on this planet are contained in the Word of God. But to be fair and honest, the most crushing, the most threatening, the most humiliating words ever uttered on this planet are found in the Word of God.
If it is truly our authority, we will hear with humble, teachable hearts the whole Bible and we will go home to work them into our hearts and then prayerfully live them out in our marriages, our families, our jobs, our schools and civic life. And this inerrant, authoritative Word of God will rule our churches as the Word of the King.
Posted: 03:29:42 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
02/05/2008
Introduction to AUTHORITY by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
What is wrong with the churches? (What is wrong with our church?) Why do our pulpits not command the respect they deserve? (Do they deserve respect?) What has happened to Christ's lordship of His church, His Bride? Why don't people seem to be converted under the preaching in our pulpits today? Why doesn't our surrounding culture take the churches of Jesus Christ seriously? What is wrong with us?
These and a host of similar questions can be answered by a close reading of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' AUTHORITY (of Christ, of the Scriptures, of the Holy Spirit), published by the Banner of Truth. This short book of three chapters were messages first given to the leadership of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, a branch of InterVarsity Fellowship, in Ontario, Canada in 1957. Now, some fifty years later, they are as relevant and timely as then, perhaps more so.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones was the right man to give these messages. Born in Wales in the United Kingdom in 1899, he came from a working class family that struggled through World War I and the aftermath of the war. The family and its dairy business moved to London where Lloyd-Jones finished school and he was accepted in Medical School and later became a member of the most prestigious medical staff in England, that of Lord Horder, doctor to the King and Queen. Lloyd-Jones was chosen because of his over-all giftedness, especially his ability at diagnosis and his willingness to be an independent thinker. These would come in handy in the gospel ministry later in life. God met with Dr. Lloyd-Jones in a research laboratory in a most extraordinary way and saved him. Later, after some prolonged struggle, he answered the call to the gospel ministry. Pleading his case to his mentor, Lord Horder, Lloyd-Jones reminded Horder that after they had done everything they could for people, they were still going to die! Then what? Engaged to be married to a fellow doctor, he and his bride gave up their doctor incomes and lifestyles and went to a small town in Wales in answer to a call from a mission church to come and help them. The town was comprised of steel workers, coal miners, and dock workers and it had a 40% unemployment rate. Not surprisingly, such an area is "depressed", with much drunkenness, prostitution, broken families and general unhappiness. It was in these squalid conditions that Lloyd-Jones came to minister. Later, when asked why he chose such a place, the "Doctor" as he was called by everyone, said that he wanted to go to a place where there was no psychological or sociological explanation for a ministry's success other than the grace of God in the gospel! That way, God alone would get the glory!!
After preaching six months of quality evangelistic messages (his EVANGELISTIC SERMONS AT ABERAVON and OLD TESTAMENT EVANGELISTIC SERMONS, both available from the Banner of Truth, date from this period) in this little mission church, he saw his first convert. About 2 years into the ministry, a "quickening" or mini-revival hit the church and the area. Hardened sinners from every walk of life came to Christ--the town drunk, the palm reader, the man whose hobby it was to bare-knuckle fight at fairs (at age 55!),men and women of all descriptions came to the Savior. They each became sweet babes in Christ. Much more could be said. [Perhaps later we can look together at that most important biography, D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: THE FIRST FORTY YEARS;Banner of Truth.]
In 1938, the Doctor received a call to assist the aging G. Campbell Morgan in downtown London, at Westminster Chapel, right near Buckingham Gate. Westminster Chapel was the chief church of non-Anglican evangelicals in England. Morgan chose Lloyd-Jones to succeed him as he knew his own time was waning and he wanted a good man to lead this flagship church in downtown London, then the largest city in the world.
Lloyd-Jones led the church through the tumultuous years of World War II (1939-1945), the German blitz of London and the removal of children and families from the city (shown in graphic detail in the opening sequence of the recent movie adaptation of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE). The gospel was preached with power and the church., though shrunk through men being at war and families departed, still held together. Dr. Morgan died in 1943 and Lloyd-Jones led her to the war's end and the aftermath--financially ruined and demoralized Britain
The growth, first steady and then great, pushed Westminster Chapel to be the largest Protestant church in Europe, with over 2000 attending on Sundays. Hearers from one end of the spectrum to the other, from the fundamentalist Calvinist professor Wilbur Smith to the neo-orthodox theologian Emil Brunner, said that Lloyd-Jones was the greatest (in authority, in content, in spirituality) preacher in the English speaking world. Many others came to echo these estimates. He preached through huge tracts of Scripture, especially the Sermon on the Mount, Paul's epistles to the Romans and Ephesians with great effect. Thousands came to faith in Christ; tens of thousands became grounded in historic biblical Christianity and he helped to lead the resurgence of the Reformation faith in Great Britain. He gave himself to promoting other men and ventures (Iain Murray and the Banner of Truth, James Packer and the Puritan Conference, InterVarsity Fellowship, London Theological Seminary, the Evangelical Library, etc.).
His was one of the few churches in all of Britain that had more men in attendance than women. When asked why there were such few men in British churches, Lloyd-Jones remarked: "That is because there are so many 'old ladies' in the pulpits!" (In Britain, an 'old lady' in this context is an emasculated male who has lost his grip.) And he was right.
When a pastor no longer has confidence in the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Christ to build His church, then he has lost his grip and needs to repent of his unbelief! When laymen look to gimmicks and entertainment rather than to God's appointed means of ministry, then the churches languish. Worse, God may give them over to "dog and pony show" Christianity where they confuse the hype and glitze for a genuine work of God.
Come with us as we listen to Martyn Lloyd-Jones teach us biblical authority, what is is, how it manifests itself, how it is lost and how it can be recovered. Get your copy and join us for this most important study.
Steve Martin
Posted: 12:00:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::