Filthy Lucre - Tuesdays with Timothy #27

..Not greedy of filthy lucre

A pastor cannot be a greedy man. He cannot live for riches. Money can be a great temptation and those that will be rich put themselves in a dangerous spiritual position (more to be said later in the book). One of the guideposts for a church to examine a man's character is whether or not he is eager for riches. This doesn't have anything to do with how much money a man actually has, but how much he wants it or wants to hang on to it. You can be poor as a church mouse but so greedy you'll hang on to a dollar bill until George Washington cries uncle.

The motive for desiring to be a pastor must be for the glory of God not for the money you could possibly make 1 Peter 5:1-2. A man has to be ready and able to make a stand despite the financial cost of doing so. If the pastor is greedy for money and possessions then he will administer his task with earthly riches in mind rather that what is right and what is true. Messages will be adjusted and blunted to avoid offending the big givers. Doctrines will be watered down to draw larger crowds. Compromises will be made in order to please those who control the purse. False doctrine will be preached in order to bring in more money. Look no further than the audacious riches of Rome to understand where the love of money will take you.  Loraine Boettner wrote  “The doctrine of purgatory has sometimes been referred to as ‘the gold mine of the priesthood’ since it is the source of such lucrative income. The Roman Church might well say, ‘By this craft we have our wealth.’”

That being said, the church should do all it can to support their pastor's ministry (Acts 6:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9;1 Timothy 5:18). The church doesn't pay the pastor so much as they support his ministry. He is not an employee, he is a servant of Christ unto the church. It is not the churches duty to ensure the pastor stays humble, God takes care of that.

Sentimental about a Barlow

Upon memorizing the Beatitudes, Tom Sawyer received quite the prize:

"Mary gave him a brand-new "Barlow" knife worth twelve and a half cents; and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations. True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a "sure-enough" Barlow and there was inconceivable grandeur in that—though where the Western boys ever got the idea that such a weapon could possibly be counterfeited to its injury, is an imposing mystery and will always remain so, perhaps. Tom contrived to scarify the cupboard with it, and was arranging to begin on the bureau, when he was called off to dress for Sunday-school."

My Grandpa Doug carried a Barlow knife that I coveted as a boy. "Sure-enough" was one of his favorite phrases and when I hear it I immediately smile and think of him. I don't know if he ever scarified a cupboard with it or any other knife, but he did earn a Purple Heart in WWII and still works his Apple Orchard in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. Tom Sawyer's story is told in his book and some of by Grandpa's story is in THIS one, around page 98. 

Funny how a guy can get sentimental about a Barlow pocket knife from a children's book. 


DPN

It will cost you everything.

Even Stranger in the Age of Facebook

"After the hymn had been sung, the Rev. Mr. Sprague turned himself into a bulletin-board, and read off "notices" of meetings and societies and things till it seemed that the list would stretch out to the crack of doom—a queer custom which is still kept up in America, even in cities, away here in this age of abundant newspapers. Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it."

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Pastor's Personal Piety, Particularly in Prayer and Pondering Scripture

I did try for at least a minute to come up with another "P"

I've been reading a work on Andrew Fuller and thus far, have enjoyed it. It isn't a traditional biography, but if you are unfamiliar with Fuller, this would be a good place to start to get an idea of who the man was and why he is important. One such glimpse of the man was a section talking about his ministry. Brewster writes, then quotes:

"The ministers of the Northamptonshire Baptist Association were a close knit group. One of the appealing aspects of Fuller’s move to Kettering was that from that central location, he could attend the association’s weekly ministers’meeting. At one of these meetings, the conversation revealed the premium Fuller and his friends placed on prayer and Scripture reading in the life of the pastor: 

"Today we had a ministers’meeting at Northampton. I preached on being Of one spirit with Christ and heard bro. Sutcliff on Divine Sovereignty from Rom. 9, and bro. Skinner on Psalm 139 Search me and try me. But the best part of the day was, I think, in conversation. A question was put and discussed, to the following purport: To what causes in ministers may much of their want of success be imputed? The answer much turned upon the want of personal religion, particularly the want of close dealing with God in closet prayer. Jeremiah 10:21 was here referred to, “Their pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore they shall not prosper, and their flocks shall be scattered.”Another reason assigned was the want of reading and studying the Scriptures more as Christians, for the edification of our own souls. We are too apt to study them merely to find out something to say to others, without living upon the truth ourselves. If we eat not the book, before we deliver its contents to others, we may expect the Holy Spirit will not much accompany us. If we study the Scriptures as Christians, the more we shall feel their importance; but, if otherwise, our familiarity with the word will be like that of soldiers and doctors with death—it will wear away all sense of its importance from our minds. To enforce this sentiment, Proverbs 22:17,18, was referred to, “Apply thine heart to knowledge—the words of the wise will be pleasant if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.”To this might have been added Psalm 1:2,3.65"

A Pugnacious Parson - Tuesdays with Timothy #26

1 Timothy 3:3 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

No striker. A pugnacious pastor will not be a profitable parson.  Or put in a not so alliterative way, your pastor should not be a quarrelsome person. A minister of grace should not be all the time looking for a fight.

An ambassador for the Prince of Peace ought to be a man of peace. A herald with a chip on his shoulder is incongruous to the Lamb of God that laid down his life for the sheep. A pastor is not to lay a hand on God's people - he isn't to be a brawler with his fists or his tongue. A man with an ungoverned temper has no business as a pastor. The adolescent bravado and the boyishness that passed for masculinity that was popular a few years ago in the New Calvinist circles was not a sign of manliness but an evident token that these men were not qualified for the pastorate. Follow the trajectory of their ministries, you can see how it played out as disastrous for the people in their churches. Christlikeness is portrayed in the book of Proverbs and proverbs is clear on how a real man should act (Proverbs 15:18; Proverbs 14:29; Proverbs 16:28; Proverbs 26:21; Proverbs 29:22; Proverbs 19:11).

Does this make the man a milquetoast? Of course not, the pastor has to be a fighter. Spurgeon once said something along the lines that God’s people are born into this world like the men of Sparta – warriors. We are born for battle and a pastor must be a fighter, not out of choice but out of necessity. He must contend for the faith. He must fight against his own lusts and sins. He must fight against his emotions and to bow the knee to Scripture (Proverbs 16:32). There are fights against heresy, and fights against the devil; but our fights are spiritual battles fought with spiritual weapons.

Shut it on Something

"And the difference between us was very deep, because it was a difference as to the object of the whole thing called broad-mindedness or the opening of the intelect. For my friend said that he opened his intellect as the sun opens the fans a palm tree, opening for opening's sake, opening infinitely for ever. But I said I opened my intellect as I opened my mouth, in order to shut it again on something solid. I was doing it at the moment. And as I truly pointed out, it would look uncommonly silly if I went on opening my mouth infinitely, for ever and ever."

GK Chesterton Tremendous Triffles

Not a Drunk - Tuesdays with Timothy # 25

A Bishop must.. not be given to wine.

You can't have your pastor be a drunk. He can't linger on the bottle and sit long at the bar. The verse prohibits the man from being one who has an uncontrollable appetite for drinking. This verse does not demand that a pastor be a teetotaler. It may not be wise for a pastor to drink wine. It might not be helpful and might be a hindrance to minister in the context in which a pastor lives and serves. This verse doesn't say whether or not there is wisdom in drinking wine, nor does it say whether it is good to drink wine, it just says the line is that a man cannot be addicted to it. My personal feelings about it and my convictions about it really don't matter here. All that matters is what God says.

In order to make wine sinful you have to redefine words and removed the plain meaning of the English language. You can’t say that when Jesus turned the water into wine, it was actually grape juice and then say when Paul said not to be given to wine, he meant alcohol. I guess you can do that, but you can’t do that without twisting words like a nervous girl does her pigtails. The Lord Jesus himself drank wine and was called a winebibber, unless you think men insulted Jesus by accusing him of drinking too much grape juice.

If I am to bow the knee to Jesus, then I have to bow the knee to His Word, whether I like it or not. Whether or not I am in agreement with other men or not. I cannot presuppose my doctrine is true and go to the book to prove it. Many in the USA grow up with the idea that wine and strong drink are the Devil’s brew and even for some to submit to the Lord’s Supper requires faith and the breaking of our will and some of our preconceived notions. I grew up in a context that any strong drink whatsoever, was considered great evil.

The problem comes from the presuppositions and the starting point. If you say “wine is evil” and start from that point and work your way out, you will find a way to justify your notion. If you start from the point “what does the Bible say about wine and what was the Biblical position of those men in the Bible” you’ll come to another conclusion entirely.

Mark 7:9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Alcohol is not evil. This can be a shocking statement for people, but it is a Biblical one.  Alcohol is an inanimate object, it is God’s creation and is neither good nor evil of itself. The Bible does not forbid the use of alcohol, but the Word of God forbids drunkenness. The Bible, nowhere, prohibits the use of wine.  Something is only sinful if God says it is sinful. I will not be put under any person’s laws. 

What does the Bible say about wine?

Wine is a good gift.

Psalms 104:14-15  He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food  out of the earth;  (15)  And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.

Deuteronomy 14:24-26  And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:  (25)  Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine  hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:  (26)  And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,

Judges 9:13 And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

Wine is and was used in the worship of God, so it cannot be evil.

The Churches Used Wine in the New Testament (I Cor 11:20-22) and it is the cup of blessing (1 Corinthians 10:16).

Numbers 15:7  And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of an hin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Exodus 29:40  And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.

Leviticus 23:13  And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

So. Long story short, a pastor can't be a drunk and has the freedom to drink wine and has the freedom to go without. 

Monday Verse - The Dying Christian To His Soul

by Alexander Pope

Vital spark of heav’nly flame!
Quit, O quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling’ring, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.

Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?

The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav’n opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?

How C.H. Spurgeon Killed a Man

From the book "The Life Of Charles Haddon Spurgeon" by Charles Ray:

"Little Charles, not yet  six years old, had witnessed the grief of the good old minister over the inconsistent conduct of one of his flock, a man who frequented the village inn, drinking and smoking among ungodly companions. One day the boy astonished his grandfather by declaring "I'll kill old Roads, that I will!” The pastor reproved the child, telling him that if he did anything wrong, he would be taken by the police. But the child, very serious and very much in earnest, repeated that he would kill old Roads, though he would not do anything wrong. The grandfather was puzzled, but he let the subject drop and it passed from his mind.

Shortly afterwards, however, the child came into his grandfather's room, saying, “I’ve killed old Roads, he'll never grieve my dear grandpa anymore."

“My dear child," said the minister, in some alarm at the boy's serious tone, “whatever have you done ? "

“I haven't been doing any harm, grandpa," he replied. “I’ve been about the Lord's work, that's all." And from the child nothing further could be elicited.

The mystery was cleared up by old Roads himself, who called upon the pastor, and with a shamefaced air told how he had been “killed." “I was a-sitting in the public, just having my pipe and mug of beer," he said, " when that child comes in to think an old man like me should be took to task and reproved by a bit of a child like that!

Well, he points at me with his finger, just so, and says, ' What doest thou here, Elijah, sitting with the ungodly? And you a member of a church and breaking your pastor's heart. I'm ashamed of you! I wouldn't break my pastor's heart, I'm sure.' And then he walks away. Well, I did feel angry; but I knew it was all true and I was guilty; so I put down my pipe and did not touch my beer, but hurried away to a lonely spot and cast myself down before the Lord confessing my sin and begging for forgiveness. And I do know and believe the Lord in mercy pardoned me; and now I've come to ask you to forgive me and I'll never grieve you any more, my dear pastor."

 It was Charles Haddon Spurgeon's first mission, and was attended with the wonderful success which resulted from his great efforts in after life. The backslider's restoration was evidently genuine and lasting, for Mr. Houchin, the Rev. James Spurgeon's successor at Stamboume, declared many years afterwards that Thomas Roads was “an earnest and zealous Christian, striving to be useful in every way possible to him, especially in the prayer meetings and among the young people; opening his house for Christian conversation and prayer."

The Church and Training

What is the best way to train up pastors? I believe it to be in the context of the local church. I am not one to bash the seminaries even though there is quite a bit of low hanging fruit there to take a steady swing and knock it right off the tree. In fact, I would have liked to have taken advantage of educational opportunities earlier in my life. However, I am not ashamed of the course I took and feel that in many ways this may be preferable to the standard we have today. In fact, I believe that this may be the on course forward if things continue on as they are in this country.

What is a young seminarian to do when he leaves the hallowed halls of higher education, $40,000 in the hole and pastors a small church? Will he pastor a small church at all? There is a place for scholarship, and there is real danger to a people who will ignore the pursuit of it. There is a place for seminary. However, Paul did not instruct Timothy to start a school, but it was his primary focus to train up men and concentrate his energies in training up others for the ministry in the local church. 

I am forever grateful to my Dad, my former pastor, for his diligence in training me. For 10 years, he instructed and guided me in the scriptures, theology, and practical theology. He guided my reading and pointed me in the right direction with trusted authors, commentaries, and essential books. He, likewise, received his training from his faithful pastors. This is the normal way of training and I'm comfortable being in the good company of Baptists.

I had this thought confirmed recently when reading through Andrew Fuller: Model Pastor-Theologian, by Paul Brewster who said"

"Past generations of Baptists also assumed that congregational health traces back directly to the influences of pastors. For all the changes in worship services and styles that have occurred across nearly 400 years of Baptist history, the pastor’s sermon remains the focal event in the vast majority of these churches. During those moments in the pulpit, pastors set the theological tone for their congregations. James Petigru Boyce (1827–88), a towering figure in American Baptist theological education, recognized the vital connection between the theological soundness of pastors and the congregations they serve and influence. Speaking of pastors who were not well grounded in theology, Boyce said, “It is needless to say of these that the churches do not grow under their ministry; that, not having partaken strong meat, they cannot impart it.” Given that theology and church health are inseparable and that the primary theological influence in the church comes from the pastor, it is apparent that pastor-theologians are much needed today. But how will such men be formed for the Baptist ministry today? In the years before institutions for theological education were common in Baptist life, pastors almost invariably entered the ministry through an informal system of apprenticeship.10 Older men took on assistants in local church ministry and served as models of pastoral work. They also were involved in the theological formation of these men through programs of directed reading. Once these novitiates were deemed ready to serve on their own, they were presented as candidates to churches seeking pastors. Not infrequently, these apprentices would step into the role of the senior minister at their mentor’s death."

Apt to Teach - Tuesdays with Timothy #24

Apt to teach.

The local church is the place where men learn to preach and I believe that the local church has a responsibility to train up men in the ministry and give them a place to preach from time to time. Preaching is something that you cannot learn from books and the only way you can get better at preaching is to preach. If a man has a desire to be a pastor, the church he is a member of has a responsibility to the man (and future generations of hearers) to help him to grow in the gifts he has and also to make sure that he has the gifts. This can only be done by allowing the man to preach. A church that is active in training up men are going to hear badly delivered sermons for the glory of God. Every church has to understand that the longer a man preaches, the better he is going to get at it (in most cases, anyway). 

A church can be so eager and excited when man says he wants to preach that we throw him to the task without helping him and making sure he is ready to go. One of the big areas that a church can help a man is in the ability to teach. So if a man has all the other markers, but he isn't skillful in teaching, I think this is the churches responsibility to help him before sending him out. We don't stamp DISQUALIFIED on the man's head if he struggles for a while, but the church can and should help him. This is where men who desire to be in the ministry can look at themselves and honestly evaluate their lives and sure up areas where they are lacking. Teaching is an art and it can be taught. Some men are, by nature, equipped with a natural ability to teach others but that natural ability is something that is defined by particular rules to the art of teaching. R.L. Dabney, in his textbook on preaching Sacred Rhetoric said of the art of rhetoric: 

The assumption that the preacher's sacred attitude is above rhetoric reveals ignorance of the nature of true art. Let us then, at the outset, seek a correct conception of it. And we may be led to this idea by considering the distinction between art and artifice. Art is but the rational adjustment of means to an end. (Art, from Ars (root, art-is) which is from Greek apa, to adjust, whence aprwu, aprof, joined. Art is, therefore, adjustment.) Art is adaptation ; it employs proper means for a worthy end ; it is but wisdom in application. Artifice is false ; it adopts deceitful means for a treacherous end... 

I assert that all true art is natural. If man is by nature a creature of reason and conscience; if duty, forecast, judgment, will, desire of legitimate success, are natural to him, then surely he does not obey, but violates his nature when he discards the use of adapted means for his ends. If there are gifted souls who, without that detailed study of art which is necessary for us common mortals, are able to effectuate their ends more nobly than we with all our labour, then the explanation is that their more powerful genius has only made a quicker and easier intuition of their art. To reach that pinnacle of efficiency, they have ascended the common stairway, for there is no other. The difference is, that while we climb it step by step, their superior vigor enables them to bound up it with almost unconscious effort. Moreover, it is not true that these advocates of pure nature discard art. They are not naturally so natural as they claim to be.

There is an art to teaching and even if you have the natural ability of a teacher, you should work to improve that ability. Even those who are natural and gifted teachers play by the same rules as those who need to study and work hard to learn to teach. A musician may be gifted to play the piano by ear and have natural ability, but that doesn't mean he can mash any group of keys he wants and it makes a beautiful melody. The best preacher I ever knew spent his whole life getting better. He was always perfecting the craft or the art of preaching. Anything we do for the Lord, we ought to do with all our might and to the best of our ability, and preaching is not excluded. Preachers should never stop trying to get better as a preacher.

 I knew a man who went to a church that believed it unspiritual to think about what you were going to preach before you got to church. They had a bench behind the pulpit and 5 preachers sat there every service. The congregation would sing while these men bowed their heads and prayed until the Lord "spoke" to one of the men. Whoever the Lord spoke to first got to preach that night. My friend told me that it was all very spiritual and that only an infidel would think about what he was going to preach prior to standing behind the pulpit; lack of faith and such. He did tell me that he thought it strange that the preachers usually preached on the same verses and would say the same things every time. Usually about women wearing pants and people drinking beer on Sunday. Somehow I doubt that the God who ordained the end from the beginning, and elected us before the foundation of the world, would frown upon our forethought prior to preaching His Word as somehow being "unspiritual". 

How does this work itself out practically? Personally, I try to always be reading a book on preaching or a book on writing. When I finish one, I try and start on another and just keep plodding along. One reason I stick with the blog is practice writing because writing helps you become a better preacher. Anyone can stand up and chat for 30 minutes and wander hither and yon, but if you are going to write, you have to put your thoughts in some kind of order and in a way that people will understand what you are trying to say. This helps a man to teach because it helps to train a man to get the thoughts out of his head and into words in a way that makes sense. The better you are a doing this, the better a teacher you will be. 

A teacher also has to have patience. When a church looks to call a man into the pastorate, he is going to know more than a good number of the church members. There are going to be a lot of people who just don’t know much about the Bible, whether they be children, young converts, or lazy believers. The man of God will have to teach the same thing, over and over and over and not get tired of telling the same things in different ways. He will have to be patient that when he teaches on thanksgiving, that he hears people complaining about the weather after the service and the like. Patience, know that no one grows in a day, and it has taken all of our lives to get where we are now, and it will take the rest of our lives for us to get where we will finally be. 

A teacher has to have humility. By humility, I don’t mean the false humility of post-modernity that says that it is arrogant to claim to know something with certainty. Years ago I had a lady yell at me in a restaurant because she said I was arrogant because I was saying definitely that Christ rose from the dead. Her idea of humility was saying that I could be wrong.

The humility I speak of is understanding that the Bible is a spiritual book and that God the Holy Spirit enlightens men to the truths of His Word. Without the Spirit’s help, the best teacher in the world cannot impart truth to the hearers. A humility that when we try to do our best, our best will never be good enough to give life to the dead or sight to the blind. Humility that we are mere jars of clay, imperfect vessels carrying perfect message and that our broken, frail, feeble efforts will only be effectual if empowered by God’s Holy Spirit.

I don't think anyone has every reached the mark of perfection as a teacher and even the best can get better. Vine's defined the word as "skillful in teaching" so that tells us there is a level of ability involved and skill to be learned. I have heard a lot of men who disqualified others who themselves couldn't teach a hound dog to howl at a possum on the porch.  Each church and each man is going to have to read this passage and decide whether or not they meet the standard in a way that they are confident of God's calling. 

Monday Verse: The Happy Life of a Country Parson

by Alexander Pope

PARSON, these things in thy possessing
Are better than the bishop’s blessing:
A wife that makes conserves; a steed
That carries double when there ’s need;

October store, and best Virginia,        
Tythe pig, and mortuary guinea;
Gazettes sent gratis down and frank’d,
For which thy patron’s weekly thank’d;
A large Concordance, bound long since;

Sermons to Charles the First, when prince;        
A Chronicle of ancient standing;
A Chrysostom to smooth thy band in;
The Polyglott—three parts—my text,
Howbeit—likewise—now to my next;

Lo here the Septuagint—and Paul,        
To sum the whole—the close of all.
  He that has these may pass his life,
Drink with the ’Squire, and kiss his wife;
On Sundays preach, and eat his fill,

And fast on Fridays—if he will;        
Toast Church and Queen, explain the news,
Talk with Churchwardens about pews,
Pray heartily for some new gift,
And shake his head at Doctor Swift.

Terms, defined

"In his Semantics of Biblical Language,5 James Barr warned biblical scholars of the fallacy of supposing that the meanings of biblical terms were loaded with theological content. The meaning of Scripture comes not from its individual terms, but from its sentences, paragraphs, books, and larger units. For example, the word created, just by itself, out of all context, teaches us nothing. But “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”(Gen. 1:1) teaches us a great deal. “By him all things were created”(Col. 1:16) teaches us even more."

John Frame, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief 

A Practical Treaties on Fear

John Flavel

"If a man do really look to God in a day of trouble and fear as to the Lord of hosts, i.e. one that governs all the creatures, and all their actions; at whose beck and command all the armies of heaven and earth are, and then can rely upon the care and love of this God, as a child in danger of trouble reposes on, and commits him-self with greater confidence to the care and protection of his father: O what peace, what rest, must necessarily follow upon this! Who would be afraid to pass through the midst of armed troops and regiments, whilst he knows that the general of the army is his own father? The more power this filial fear of God obtains in our hearts, the less will you dread the power of the creature."

Missiles, with a side of splinters

“In others the Sabbaths of the people are wholly occupied with those polemics by which the outworks of Christianity should be defended against the foreign assaults of infidel philosophy; as though one would feed the flock within the fold with the bristling missiles which should have been hurled against the wolves without. Others deal in scholastic discussions of the propositions of church-symbols, cleaving the “bare bones of their orthodoxy" into splinters as angular and dry as the gravel of the desert. Others again offer metaphysical discussions of the psychology of religion, as though they would feed the babes of Christ with a sort of chemical resolution of the sincere milk of the Word into its ultimate elements, instead of the living, concrete nourishment provided for them by their Saviour. Now what is this but the very spirit of unbelief and self- seeking? The selection of such forms of truth is evidently not guided by the lowly, self-devoted spirit of the “servant" of the Church, but by a single eye to self-display. God puts the "sword of the Spirit" into this man's hand, and tells him that with this he shall conquer. He distrusts it, he will add something more trenchant. God tells him that the “Word is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." “No," says the unbelieving servant, " I can devise truths more piercing." These, my brethren, are not the men to do the work of that God who “hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." Theirs is the spirit of infidelity, and their preaching breeds infidelity.”

R.L. Dabney Sacred Rhetoric

I love the metaphors.

You can't feed the flock with the missiles you ought to be firing at the wolves.

Don’t parse the bare bones of church truth until there is nothing left but splinters.

Feed the babes of Christ milk, don't feed them the chemical formula.

Preach the Word. Tell the people what God has said. Of course, the Bible fires missiles at the wolves, and church truth is advanced and there is milk as well as meat - but I believe what is being discussed is the need for exegetical balance in preaching. 

Tuesdays with Timothy #23

I Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be ... vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality...

When a church is looking for a pastor or when a man is desires to be a pastor, God has provided some bullet points for consideration. As I said before, no man can be everything listed. There is only one perfect pastor and his name is Jesus. However, these are the markers to which pastors should strive and should be either close or on the way their. These, I believe, are markers of a man's overall character.

The pastor of a church must be vigilant, and sober. He is to be a temperate, sound minded man. A sober life and a sound mind should be the character of a man of God. A pastor needs to be one who can control himself and his emotions. He is to be vigilant and in this context, the man is to be vigilant over himself and his passions.  He is to keep his body in subjection and be attentive to his soul. He is not only to keep a watch-out for the sins of the flock, but especially of the sins of his own soul. While he has been entrusted to care for the flock of God, he is himself in a precarious situation, that he must also be vigilant over himself. This vigilance along with sober-mindedness is sometimes confused with stoicism, which is not a Christian ethic. We are not to be emotionless (Philippians 3:18; Acts 20:19,30,31; Romans 9:2; 2 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 11:29) but rather we are not to be ruled by our emotions.

The pastor is also to be a man of good behavior. He needs to be an orderly, and modest man. The Greek word is related to the word used in I Timothy 2:9 speaking of women dressing modestly. I'm not going to lay down hard and fast rules for good behavior in a man any more than I laid down rules for women's dress. While I do have respect for the weaker brother, my life isn't dictated by the demands of the perpetual weaker brother. There are some whose spiritual gift seems to be getting offended by something someone has done, said, or thought; some atrocity that might be the least bit out of what they deem good and proper. Instead of mourners benches, some churches need to install fainting couches for those who are continually getting a touch of the vapors at any sign of manly originality or eccentric behavior. There was once a person who met their pastor at a social event in the city and the lady was outraged that her pastor was there. "Why, this is no place for a pastor!" If it was no place for the pastor, it was no place for the church member either.

That being said, the pastor does need to be mindful that he walks this earth under the Lordship of Christ and that his behavior needs to reflect that. He needs to be the kind of man that will return his shopping cart to the buggy stall in the Wal-Mart parking and pick up trash if he drops it on the street. Not to be seen of men, but rather it is being kind and loving to his neighbors. It is that kind of character and good behavior that should mark God's people. The people of God should be the best citizens and the pastor should take the lead. I worked with a man once who said he was a preacher, but in reality he was a scoundrel. When people caught him in lies and deception, they didn't say "this man is no preacher" but rather said "this is who preachers are".

The pastor ought to be a hospitable man and hospitality should be defined by the Word of God and not Southern Living magazine. He should be welcoming to those who come into the house of God and should be welcoming to those who come into his home. I was listening to a well-known pastor do a Q&A session with his church online. Each person would step up to the microphone and state his name, then his question. The man stood up to the mic, the pastor asked his name, and then said "I've been a member of this church for 20 years." I was struck by the fact that this pastor didn't know the name of a man who had been coming to his church for two decades and the man didn't seem to mind either. He may be an extraordinary preacher and he may be the worlds finest expositor, but how can you be a pastor if you don't know the names of the people who you have been preaching to for twenty years? Of course, let us be mindful that our rules of hospitality should not be imposed upon other men and we all need to live patiently with one another.

Let's also try not be too quick to write a person off because they had a bad day in any of these areas. We are very quick to judge other people for their failures and just as quick to excuse ours. So if you see a man not take his buggy back to the corral at Wal-Mart, don't bring him up on disciplinary charges.

Monday Verse: Ode on Solitude

By: Alexander Pope

Happy the man, whose wish and care
   A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
                            In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
   Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
                            In winter fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find
   Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
                            Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,
   Together mixed; sweet recreation;
And innocence, which most does please,
                            With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
   Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
                            Tell where I lie.


Copied from The Poetry Foundation


DPN

Marginalia

A few thoughts about a few books I've read. Not necessarily endorsements and hardly reviews.

Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass

There is a temptation to speak of slavery as an institution and forget the individual souls of those in bondage. Two things struck me. First, the way in which owning a slave hardened the heart of the slave-owner, it destroyed them.  Isn’t that the way of sin? Sin destroys the person who is embodied in it. This is why any sin will send you to Hell, but not all sins are the same. There is a difference in telling a lie, being a liar, and then being Bob, the Liar. One is a sin (which is awful). The second is being captive by that sin. The third is being captive by the sin and then finding your identity IN that sin. The slave holder was the slave holder. That was his identity and that destroyed him.

The second thing was the way the slave holders described in the book deliberately and maliciously terrorized the minds and broke the will of the slaves. They took their dignity and with their dignity, their will to think.

 A lot to learn from this book, especially the appendix talking about the churchmen who enslaved him. These churches would take up a collection to send Bibles to the heathens overseas, while denying the Bible to the heathens on their farms. We can still fall into this trap. It is always easier to send money to someone else to go somewhere else and preach to someone else than to those among us...but I digress.

Unbroken by Laura

Wow. Buy this book and read it, if you haven't and thank me later.  At one point I wondered if it could possibly get any worse for Louie. I was only half way through and it did get worse, much. But the bitter only made the sweet that much better This book illustrates the importance of identity and dignity to the human soul and how loosing that or having it taken from you destroys the person.

Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

A really disturbing book. I had to set it down for a while and go back to it again because of the darkness and depravity. It was a chilling reminder of the depth of depravity found in the unregenerate human heart.  I've been on a WWII kick for a while but my interests have been focused in the Pacific theater. It is astounding how bad the Japanese were and how quickly their image was repaired and the atrocities all but forgotten, while the Nazi's continue to be the symbol of evil of the war. The Nazi’s certainly deserve the ire we heap upon them, but I think we do a disservice to forget what happened in the Pacific.

Absolute Authority

"God’s authority is also absolute in the sense that his covenant transcends all other loyalties . We are to have no other gods before the Lord (Ex. 20:3). We are to love him with all our heart; there should be no competing loyalties (Deut. 6:4–5; Matt. 22:37). The Lord is the head of the covenant, and he forbids us to grant lordship to anyone else.  

Jesus strikingly claims deity by demanding the same kind of exclusive loyalty for himself. “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex. 20:12) is one of the fundamental commandments of the law, one that Jesus fully honors and urges against those who would dilute its force (Matt. 15:1–9). Nevertheless, Jesus demands of his disciples a loyalty that transcends the loyalty that we owe to our parents. In Matthew 8:19–22 and 10:34–38, he teaches that the demands of discipleship take priority over duties to our parents. Only God can legitimately make such a demand.  

The principle sola Scriptura follows from this teaching. No other authority may compete with God’s own words. No words may be added to God’s or put on the same level of authority (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:8–9). It is wrong to bind the consciences of God’s people by mere human traditions. Only the word of God has ultimate authority."

John Frame - Systematic Theology

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

I didn’t know the first thing about competitive rowing. I never have rowed and never will. But that didn’t stop me from loving this book. I heard Alistair Begg mention the book in a sermon and I spotted it at a library sale for $1 – so I took a chance and am glad I did. In fact, my heart was racing with the thrill of the race when reading about Joe Rantz and the University of Washington crew as they overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. I teared up reading of their physical, personal, and emotional trials. As I was reading one section on my lunch break, I sat the book down because I anticipated what was about to happen and couldn’t bear to read on if what I thought was about to happen did. A few minutes later I picked it back up, and sure enough, another tragedy.

This was a really well told story. Daniel James Brown gratifyingly weaves the story of these men and their struggles with the struggle that the United States faced in the great depression, and with the struggle the world was about to face with Nazi Germany. He also did great job describing the ins and outs of the sport of rowing for the novice, like me, who comes to the book having only rowed a joh boat and canoe looking for bluegill. The art and skill of the master craftsmen, George Pocock as he meticulously crafted the best racing shells in the world was fascinating to me.  

This was good book and a wonderful story about an amazing time in history.

A speech, not a sermon

"The end, I repeat, of every oration is to make men do. But the things which the sermon would make men do, are only the things of God. Therefore it must apply to them the authority of God. If your discourse urges the hearer merely with excellent reasons and inducements, natural, ethical, social, legal, political, self-interested, philanthropic, if it does not end by bringing their wills under the direct grasp of a " thus saith the Lord," it is not a sermon ; it has degenerated into a speech."

RL Dabney Sacred Rhetoric

Silence, Brazen not Golden

A MISCELLANY OF MEN
By G. K. Chesterton

"It is the final sign of imbecility in a people that it calls cats dogs and describes the sun as the moon—and is very particular about the preciseness of these pseudonyms. To be wrong, and to be carefully wrong, that is the definition of decadence. The disease called aphasia, in which people begin by saying tea when they mean coffee, commonly ends in their silence. Silence of this stiff sort is the chief mark of the powerful parts of modern society. They all seem straining to keep things in rather than to let things out. For the kings of finance speechlessness is counted a way of being strong, though it should rather be counted a way of being sly. By this time the Parliament does not parley any more than the Speaker speaks. Even the newspaper editors and proprietors are more despotic and dangerous by what they do not utter than by what they do. We have all heard the expression "golden silence." The expression "brazen silence" is the only adequate phrase for our editors. If we wake out of this throttled, gaping, and wordless nightmare, we must awake with a yell."

It's from the essay The Nameless Man and you can read the whole thing here. It's a short essay about British politics from 100 years ago, but I did find the principles addressed relevant in several applications. 

Bible Doctrine in Bible Dress

R.L. Dabney made a good point in book Sacred Rhetoric:

"And it is exceedingly instructive to note, that there are three stages through which preaching has repeatedly passed with the same results. The first is that in which scriptural truth is faithfully presented in scriptural garb—that is to say, not only are all the doctrines asserted which truly belong to the revealed system of redemption, but they are presented in that dress and connection in which the Holy Spirit has presented them, without seeking any other from human science. This state of the pulpit marks the golden age of the Church. The second is the transition stage. In this the doctrines taught are still those of the Scriptures, but their relations are moulded into conformity with the prevalent human dialectics. God's truth is now shorn of a part of its power over the soul. The third stage is then near, in which not only are the methods and explanations conformed to the philosophy of the day, but the doctrines themselves contradict the truth of the Word. Again and again have the clergy traveled this descending scale, and always with the same disastrous result."

And then said:

"The generation, unwittingly introduced by the great and good Jonathan Edwards, marks the second; during which the doctrines of grace were not openly impugned, but they were successively stretched into the schemes of metaphysics—the "exercise scheme," the "light scheme," the "greatest benevolence scheme"—which fascinated a people of narrow and partial culture and self-confident temper. The next generation was called to witness the apostasy which turned the truth of God into a lie, and took both the methods and the dogmas of the Socinian and the Pelagian. Let us, my brethren, eschew the ill-starred ambition which seeks to make the body of God's truth a "lay figure" on which to parade the drapery of human philosophy. May we ever be content to exhibit Bible doctrine in its own Bible dress!" 

The Centrality of Divine Lordship

From John Frame's Systematic Theology

"Having read many theologies based on themes mentioned above, I started wondering why nobody had employed God’s lordship as a central theological theme.18 Certainly God himself is central to the biblical story, and he indicates in many contexts that he wants to be known as the Lord. In Exodus 3, he met with Moses in the burning bush. And when Moses impertinently asked his name, God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”(Ex. 3:14–15) Here, God gives Moses his mysterious name in three forms: long (I AM WHO I AM), medium (I AM), and short (Heb. Yahweh, translated “LORD”). These are all related to the name Yahweh, which in turn has some relation to the verb to be (ehyeh). In the ESV the term Lord (representing both Yahweh and ’adon in Hebrew and kyrios in Greek) is found 7,776 times, in 6,603 out of 31,086 verses of the Bible.19 Most of these refer to God, or (significantly) to Christ. Clearly, this is a term to be reckoned with. In the passage above, God tells Moses that Yahweh is the name by which he wishes to be remembered forever. And throughout Scripture, the term takes on important theological meaning. Over and over, we are told that God performs his mighty deeds, so that people “shall know that I am the LORD”(Ex. 14:4; cf. 6:7; 7:5, 17; 8:22; 10:2; 14:18; 16:6, 12; 29:46; 31:13; Deut. 4:35; 29:6; 1 Kings 8:43, 60; 18:37; 20:13, 28; 2 Kings 19:19; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 37:20;20 Jer. 16:21; 24:7; Ezek. 6:7, 10, 13, 14; 7:4, 9, 27; 11:10; etc.), or so that “my name may be proclaimed in all the earth”(Ex. 9:16; see also Rom. 9:17). We find name and Lord throughout the Scriptures, in contexts central to God’s nature, uniqueness, dignity, actions, and relation to his people. The name Lord is as central to the message of the NT as it is to the OT. Remarkably, in the NT, the word kyrios, “Lord,”which translates Yahweh in the Greek translation of the OT, is regularly applied to Jesus. If the shema (Deut. 6:4–5) summarizes the message of the OT by teaching that Yahweh is Lord over all, so the confession “Jesus is Lord”(Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:11; cf. John 20:28; Acts 2:36) summarizes the message of the NT."

Then later he adds:

"So despite the 7,776 references to divine lordship and the obviously central role it plays in the biblical story, a theologian should not expect to appeal to this concept without being criticized. The main problem is that we live in a world obsessed by autonomy. As with Adam and Eve in the garden, people today do not want to bow the knee to someone other than themselves. God’s lordship confronts and opposes autonomy from the outset. It demands our recognition that all things belong to him and are subject to his control and authority. That demand is unacceptable to people who are outside of Christ, and to some extent even believers chafe when the demand is clearly made."

A Conservative Case for Freedom

by: M. Stanton Evans

"The conservative believes man should be free; he does not believe being free is the end of human existence."

Very interesting piece and good to consider. This is a good and needed debate for American conservatism. I don't think you can have true freedom without virtue.


HT: Prufrock Newsletter

Hail Sovereign Love by Jehoida Brewer

Hail sovereign love, that first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man;
Hail, matchless free eternal grace,
That gave my soul a hiding place.

Against the God that built the sky,
I fought with hands uplifted high;
Despised the mansions of his grace,
Too proud to seek a hiding place.

Enwrapt in dark Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more that light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure without a hiding place.

But lo! the eternal council rang,
Almighty love arrests the man;
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place!

Vindictive justice stood in view,
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew;
But justice cried with frowning face,
This mountain is no hiding place!

But lo! a heavenly voice I heard,
And mercy's angel soon appeared:
He lead me on a pleasing pace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding place!

Should seven fold storms of vengeance roll,
And shake this globe from pole to pole:
No thunder-bolt shall daunt my face,
While Jesus is my hiding place!

On him almighty vengeance fell,
Which else had sunk a world to hell;
He bore it for his chosen race,
And thus became a hiding place!

Roll on, thou sun, in rapid haste,
And bring me to that constant feast,
Where mirthful songs of sovereign grace,
Are sung to him the hiding place.

Paltry Zeal

"We should meditate often upon our future estate in heaven, considering how thankful we will one day be of our zeal, yet how paltry our zeal really is, compared to its gracious issue and the incomparable glories of heaven. We will one day proclaim from heaven that, had we known what God had in store for those who served Him with fervent zeal, we would have heated up our zeal seven times hotter than it was."

Joel Beeke Living Zealously

Tuesdays with Timothy #22 A Blameless Pastor

I Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife

A bishop then must be blameless, 

Spurgeon said something along the lines that if you don't have a sermon, you can try the John Gill commentary method, which goes something like "Firstly, the verse does not mean this. Secondly, the text does not mean that. Thirdly, the verse certainly doesn't mean this other thing. In conclusion, the verse speaks of this."

My blog post may be a little like that today, not that I haven't anything to so, but it is sometimes easier to find out what it doesn't mean and deal with what is left. Certainly "blameslessness" cannot mean that a pastor is without sin. There is one one perfect Pastor, and His name is Jesus. The author of this passage also wrote Romans 7. 

This cannot mean that a man cannot be a bishop if, in his life prior to salvation, he lived a life as, well, a sinner. It would be difficult to make this case, as the man who penned the letter was the chief of sinners. 

Also, it can't mean that the pastor never gets blamed or accused. Being accused of wrong doing is pretty much part of the job description of being a pastor. If you have been a pastor for more than two Sunday's, you've been accused of something.

What then, does it mean? The pastor is to be above reproach in his life. He is not to live in unrepentant sin and he is not to live in a way that will bring reproach or shame to the gospel of Christ. When he does sin, he must be quick to make it right between man and God. Paul was in prison. Jesus was crucified. These are shameful things for wrong doers. Jesus was hated, arrested, accused, sentenced, and crucified, dying, despising the shame. However, the life of Jesus was one without reproach, blameless before God. 

the husband of one wife, 

There has been more broken fellowship over this one portion of scripture among Baptist in my lifetime than, perhaps any other verse of scripture. I'm not going to add to the fire that exists, but I will do my best not to wear tap shoes and dance around the issue and "out Fred the nimblest Astaire", so let's just begin by me saying that I believe divorced and remarried men can pastor, and I'm not convinced that this is what Paul had in mind when he penned the letter.  

If you have two wives, you cannot be a pastor. You can only have one wife. Since neither Paul, nor Jesus were married when they pastored, I cannot say that you MUST be a husband of one wife. Since we have this verse and the example of Peter, we dare not say that you cannot be married. I like how the Geneva Study Bible notes say it "Therefore he that shuts out married men from the office of bishops, only because they are married, is antichrist."

There is no law against a widower marrying again. He would not have two wives, since his wife is dead, though she would be his 2nd wife. So we cannot say this verse means that you MUST be the husband of one wife for the entirety of your life. Robertson's Word Pictures (μιας γυναικος — mias gunaikos). One at a time, clearly.

But let's be real..the only reason that this verse is controversial is because of the divorce question. As you study this issue, you will find men who have held that this meant divorce in the early days after the close of the cannon. You will also find men from the same time asserting that this is about polygamy. The commentators too are split, though most of the trusted men I have read come down on the anti-polygamy side of the fence.  Yes, I'm full aware of the ad verecundiam but it is more than a little foolish not to inquire the minds of those who have gone before me. 

I honestly do not think that Paul had divorce in mind here. I believe had the intention been to condemn divorce and remarriage, he would have more explicitly than was done here. When I was a younger man, I thought that this verse refereed to polygamy and I was told that I was being crazy and that couldn't mean that and how unrelevant this verse would be. Fast forward to 2015, and we see that pro-polygamy forces have already pushed to promote the practice. In 25-50 years, churches in the USA will have men come to faith in Christ, who were united in polygamous marriages prior to salvation. 

On a side note, I have known many godly, faithful, men who have been divorced and remarried. I do not and will not break fellowship with a church that differs from me on this. Churches call their own pastors to serve them. If the church feels that a man is not qualified to be a bishop based upon this passage and his marital life, then they are free to call or not call him. That is the point here. These are markers of a man's life. It deals with the man's overall character. There won't be a single man on earth that meets each one of these marks to perfection, and every pastor, will at times, fall short of the high standards laid out here. Every man and every church will give an account before the Saviour on how they have applied the standard. 

Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

I read this as an untested boy and didn't get it. Over 30 years later and a bit of life lived, I not only understand it, but enjoyed his insights, especially how quickly young Henry justified his running away and then became angry with the idea that anyone would question him. Once fear had gotten hold, he saw the danger everywhere and in every place - even where it wasn't. His guilty conscience proved to be a more formidable foe than those he fought against.

Proverbs 28:1 "The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion."

Or, a modern proverb:

 "Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway." - John Wayne

Preaching in the Holy Spirit by Albert N. Martin

A good introduction to the subject of the Holy Spirit's role in the preaching of God's Word. Some good and convicting thoughts, to be sure. Refreshing to read a book with a little balance on the Spirit of God - meaning he is by no means Charismatic but does not deny the supernatural element in preaching because it is not one or the other. If you have ever listened to an Al Martin sermon, there is no question as to the authorship. His distinctive voice is clear, even through the printed page. The book was an expanded sermon, so it is a good, quick, primer. Not my favorite book on preaching, but I found it profitable. 

Two Convictions

"If my readers rise from the perusal with these two convictions enhanced in their souls — that it is grace which makes the preacher, and that nothing is preaching which is not expository of the Scriptures — my work is not in vain."

R.L. Dabney - Sacred Rhetoric

An Essay on Anger by John Fawcett

This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it. You can read it for free HERE. Really, really good book.

The Road to Character by David Brook - BookReview

This way a very interesting book. I love the premise and agree with much of it. We both want to live in the same society but where I disagree with the book is how to get there. I like that he hopes to get the questions and discussions of virtue and character back into the public square. He does this by defining his terms and then uses biographical sketches in each chapter to flesh his thesis out and then wraps it up nicely in the final chapter.

Our contemporary culture is concerned about, as Brooks puts it, "resume virtues" and really ignores what he calls "eulogy virtues". Resume virtues being college degree, financial achievement, etc. But no one will talk about your masters degree at your funeral. At a eulogy, people talk of honesty, courage, wisdom, etc. He proposes that we have neglected moral character and have devoted ourselves to outward, fleeting success.

He is right and did a great job of not only identifying the problem but also showing how that problem came to pass. This, to me was outstanding portion of the book.  Brooks identifies that man is fallen and broken by sin (yes, he says it is sin and makes the case that our country is far worse off for having "lost" this word) and that if we go within to find our standard of morality and goodness, we make gods of ourselves. He quoted G. K. Chesterton, who once observed that the reality of sin can be seen on a lovely Sunday afternoon when bored and restless children start torturing the cat. Brooks says:

"If you believe that the ultimate oracle is the True Self inside, then of course you become emotivist—you make moral judgments on the basis of the feelings that burble up. Of course you become a relativist. One True Self has no basis to judge or argue with another True Self. Of course you become an individualist, since the ultimate arbiter is the authentic self within and not any community standard or external horizon of significance without. Of course you lose contact with the moral vocabulary that is needed to think about these questions. Of course the inner life becomes more level—instead of inspiring peaks and despairing abysses, ethical decision making is just gentle rolling foothills, nothing to get too hepped up about."

 We focus so much on ourselves, anything that causes pain or uncomfortablness in our lives must be bad. Where, it is in the struggle where we are refined. We have become uncomfortable to face the reality of our own souls. He said "we are to morality what the Victorians were to sex." Which is a great line. Our prudishness in 2015 is directed towards virtue and morality.

But, (this is a book review, so there has to be a but) I think that his rules for character and his humility code do not really miss the boat, but more aptly in the book we get on the wrong boat. Brooks illustrates character by walking us through short biographies of men and women from different walks of life. He uses religious, non-religious alike to show that there are different ways to character. While true, there are different ways to reform the outside of the cup, there is only one way to clean the inside and that is the blood of Christ.  This is why I believe the chapter on Augustine to be one of the best of the book. He pulls no punches here, talking of grace and redemption. Sin and humility. Perhaps by design? I don't know.

There are parts of the book that make me want to buy copies and give them to graduating seniors...and then there are parts where I don't know if I would even recommend it. It is a strange book. Partly because he talks of moral issues that are not tethered to anything. I suppose that is it - virtue and character building must be tethered to something greater, and just saying "something" isn't enough to motivate and move people to action.  I hope some lost soul does not buy the book and get pulled into the legalistic, stoicism that is talked about, but is broken by their inability to do what is necessary and finds the One who lived a perfect life for us and gives us the grace to follow Him. I was thankful that as I realized I will never be as great as the people in the book, that in Christ, I have my identity and my life and my soul are tethered to Him. I have been given His righteousness and stand complete in Him.

The dreaded fruits of slow anger

"Dr. Watts, in his excellent discourse on the passions, has given the following description of that slow and inveterate anger which is most of all to be dreaded.

"Sometimes it spreads paleness over the countenance; it is silent and sullen, and the angry person goes on from day to day with a gloomy aspect, and a sour and uneasy carriage, averse to speak to the offender, unless it be now and then a word or two of a dark and despiteful meaning. The vicious passion dwells upon the soul, and frets and preys upon the spirits : it inclines the tongue to tease the offender with a re petition of his crime in a sly manner, upon certain seasons and occurrences, and that for weeks and months after the offence, and sometimes for years. This sort of wrath sometimes grows up into settled malice, and is ever contriving revenge and mischief. May divine grace form my heart in a better mold, and deliver me from this vile temper and conduct!"

As we should seldom suffer our anger to be awakened, so the continuance of it should always be very short. The sullen and long continued resentment above described, is as much contrary to the grace of meekness as a sudden fit of rage and fury. And as it is a settled and deliberate passion, the guilt of it is more heinous, and marked with deeper aggravations in the sight of God."

An Essay on Anger by John Fawcett

Shall we take no methods to recover?

"How long shall we lie still under our formal complaints of the decay of Christian piety? How long shall we idly see the retirement of warm religion from the hearts and bosoms of its professors? Do we look into the churches of the Lord Jesus, or into our own souls and observe the deadness and dispiritedness that is there to all the parts of real godliness; and are we content, that so it should be? Are we willing to yield to all the lukewarmness and degeneracy that has overspread us? Shall we take no methods to recover and revive? "

Zeal a Virtue, or a Discourse Concerning Sacred Zeal, by John Reynolds, 1716. Copied from Living Zealously by Joel Beeke