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

What were you expecting?

"While we are in this world of sin and disorder, we must meet with provocations : but the frailty of the weak, the omissions of the negligent, the follies of the imprudent, and the levity of the fickle, should not so far ruffle our spirits as to cause us to use rash words, or to break forth into sudden acts of violence."

An Essay on Anger by John Fawcett

John Adams by David McCullough - Marginalia

John Adams by David McCullough

This was a good book. I didn't know much about Adams, other than the basic trivia but I grew to admire him as a man. We could use a John Adams right now. There isn't much about Adam's faith, but from what is there I believe that he may have been a Christian man.

He had a hard time as a politician but he persevered. Adams put the task of governing ahead of personal pleasure, ease, and finances. He had many critics but stayed the course with manly determination. Think about it -- John Adams had a very difficult undertaking as being the first Vice President under George Washington and then the first President after George Washington. Neither proposition would have been easy and took a humble man, one who loved his country more that his pride, to have achieved it. Good book.

Word Study

This is and important article to think through and consider especially if you do not know or have a firm grasp on Greek or Hebrew. As with most things, we need to find the balance and not end up in the water on the port or starboard side.

Selah.

Tuesday with Timothy #21 A Good Work

I Timothy 3:1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

This is a true saying,

This is a true saying, so that is always a good thing to know. Not that the Bible isn't true but this is a truth that resonates with Paul as he contemplates the office of elder in the Lord's church. Paul knows experimentally the goodness of the office and affirms this truth from his own life. I knew marriage was good because the Bible said it is good. I knew marriage was good experimentally because I'm married and have experienced its goodness first hand. My experience of this truth doesn't make it true, but I can attest to its truthfulness. 

if a man desire the office of a bishop,

A man's desire is not always in conflict with God's will. I worry that men think that in order to be a pastor, God has to make you miserable and drag you kicking and screaming behind the pulpit. A man should not start preaching or pastoring if he doesn't want to do it because it certainly is not an easy task for the man or his family. You should desire to do the work when you start and not feel forced to keep it up once you get going (I Peter 5:2).  Certainly this should not be looked at lightly but if God has given a man a desire to do a good work, whether he goes with much fear or much excitement, he is going forward with desire that God has put in his heart. As we will see in the coming chapters, that desire will set a fire in the man and cause him to discipline himself for the task. This is not a desire of a young man watching a football game and wishing he was Peyton Manning. This is the desire of a young man that wakes up at 5:00 am to train before school because he is going to be the next Peyton Manning. 

To desire the office is something to be reached for -- a goal to stretch yourself out for the position. It is a higher position than you are currently residing, if you are desiring it. If the ladies didn't like the authority at the end of chapter two, the men can now join their angst because it is at this point we see the office of bishop has authority. To reach up and desire an office of overseer (which is what the word means) tells us that there is authority with the position. In churches that hold to congregational polity (as I believe the Bible teaches) the church member must voluntarily submit themselves to those that are the overseerers of the church. Let's step it back for a moment and consider why the women can't teach. Because of authority. If a woman cannot be pastor because that role gives her authority over men in the church, obviously when a man does take the office of overseerer, he steps into that authoritative office. To call a man to be your pastor is to call a man into a position of authority. 

he desireth a good work.

It really is a good work. It is work though, don't be mistaken about that. It is hard work. And, for this present time, usually a thankless task. But it is a good work. It is a noble work that must be done in faith, knowing that the reward is not in this life, but when the Chief Shepherd appears (I Peter 5:4). Paul doesn't hide the fact that this is a war and if you are going to enter the ministry, it is going to be a battle. God calls a man, I believe, by putting a desire in him to do the good work. However; the desire and longing for pastoral ministry does not mean that a person should be or even can be a pastor just because they want to be. There are two calls in the call to the ministry that I believe are both the work of the Holy Spirit and both must be present. One, the internal call which I believe is God putting into the heart of a man the desire to preach the Word and serve Christ in the church. But the church is not to be subject to a man just because he says he was called into the ministry. I mean...what if he isn't? What if he is lying? What if he had just watched Braveheart and wants to do something different with his life? What if he isn't a he, but a she and she has "heard the call" and desires to preach? That is the ultimate trump card, is it not? A person says "God called me and if you don't recognize my calling, then you are opposing God. Trust me, I didn't eve want to preach, but God made me and you better not go against me because God called me." Well, it doesn't work that way. We are subject to God's Word.

The second calling is what comes in the next verse - the calling of the church to confirm and recognize that calling. The man has a inward desire but the church has a more practical view in discerning the call. Churches would do well to study what God expects of a pastor before they ordain a man or call a man to be their pastor. The church looks at the man and discerns whether or not he fits the bill. In reality, what is supposed to happen is that the church grows her own men to stand up and take over the leadership of the church. 

**Update**
I changed the link to a different article on pastoral statistics. It was the same stats, just from the original source. 

Destroyers of what is

"Eisenhower warned the country against belief in quick fixes. Americans, he said, should never believe that “some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties.”He warned against human frailty, particularly the temptation to be shortsighted and selfish. He asked his countrymen to “avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.”Echoing the thrifty ethos of his childhood, he reminded the nation that we cannot “mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.”He warned, most famously, about the undue concentration of power, and the way unchecked power could lead to national ruin. He warned first about the military-industrial complex—“a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.”He also warned against “a scientific-technological elite,”a powerful network of government-funded experts who might be tempted to take power away from the citizenry. Like the nation’s founders, he built his politics on distrust of what people might do if they have unchecked power. He communicated the sense that in most times, leaders have more to gain from being stewards of what they have inherited than by being destroyers of what is there and creators of something new."

David Brooks - The Road to Character.


I'll have more to say about this book later.

John Calvin on Proof that Scripture is the Word of God

"For it is not to be accounted of no consequence, that, from the first publication of Scripture, so many ages have uniformly concurred in yielding obedience to it, and that, notwithstanding of the many extraordinary attempts which Satan and the whole world have made to oppress and overthrow it, or completely efface it from the memory of men, it has flourished like the palm tree and continued invincible. Though in old times there was scarcely a sophist or orator of any note who did not exert his powers against it, their efforts proved unavailing. The powers of the earth armed themselves for its destruction, but all their attempts vanished into smoke. When thus powerfully assailed on every side, how could it have resisted if it had trusted only to human aid? Nay, its divine origin is more completely established by the fact, that when all human wishes were against it, it advanced by its own energy. Add that it was not a single city or a single nation that concurred in receiving and embracing it. Its authority was recognised as far and as wide as the world extends - various nations who had nothing else in common entering for this purpose into a holy league. ....Again, with what confidence does it become us to subscribe to a doctrine attested and confirmed by the blood of so many saints? They, when once they had embraced it, hesitated not boldly and intrepidly, and even with great alacrity, to meet death in its defense. Being transmitted to us with such an earnest, who of us shall not receive it with firm and unshaken conviction? It is therefore no small proof of the authority of Scripture, that it was sealed with the blood of so many witnesses, especially when it is considered that in bearing testimony to the faith, they met death not with fanatical enthusiasm, (as erring spirits are sometimes wont to do,) but with a firm and constant, yet sober godly zeal. There are other reasons, neither few nor feeble, by which the dignity and majesty of the Scriptures may be not only proved to the pious, but also completely vindicated against the cavils of slanderers. These, however, cannot of themselves produce a firm faith in Scripture until our heavenly Father manifest his presence in it, and thereby secure implicit reverence for it. Then only, therefore, does Scripture suffice to give a saving knowledge of God when its certainty is founded on the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit. Still the human testimonies which go to confirm it will not be without effect, if they are used in subordination to that chief and highest proof, as secondary helps to our weakness. But it is foolish to attempt to prove to infidels that the Scripture is the Word of God. This it cannot be known to be, except by faith. Justly, therefore, does Augustine remind us, that every man who would have any understanding in such high matters must previously possess piety and mental peace."

John Calvin - The Institutes of Christian Religion 

How Long, O Lord, Wilt Thou Forget?

Say Exactly That

CS Lewis was once asked “How would you suggest a young Christian writer go about developing a style?”

 Lewis responded: "The way for a person to develop a style is" (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that. The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him. I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the reader will most certainly go into it."

Read More Books

There is no magic trick to reading more; you just have to make time. But, you would be surprised how much reading you can accomplish by being intentional about reading. Don't get into the mindset that you need a soft leather chair in the corner of an elegant home library that smells of old books, leather, and pipe tobacco in order to be a "reader". For example, a few years ago, I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy on my breaks at work - about 7 minutes a pop. I read one of John Owen's works entirely on the Kindle app on my phone. Any time you have a few minutes, you can read a page or two, if you are prepared and have something to read. When you are going to the doctor, take a book. Instead of staring at the wall or reading a 3 year old Popular Mechanics magazine, you could use the time wisely.

 Or, waking up 15 minutes earlier every day with the dedicated purpose of reading a book that you have always wanted to work through is an exercise well worth the time and effort. Not a morning person? Stay up 15 minutes later - you get the idea. You don't need hours to read more, you just need to do it. 

You can read a lot in just a few minutes a day. John Piper does the math:

Now, I know what you are thinking: I don't have the time or the ability to get anywhere in books like that. So I want to show you something really encouraging. When this was shown to me about four years ago by my pastor, it changed my life. Most of us don't aspire very high in our reading because we don't feel like there is any hope. But listen to this. Suppose you read about 250 words a minute and that you resolve to devote just 15 minutes a day to serious theological reading to deepen your grasp of biblical truth. In one year (365 days) you would read for 5,475 minutes. Multiply that times 250 words per minute and you get 1,368,750 words per year. Now most books have between 300 and 400 words per page. So if we take 350 words per page and divide that into 1,368,750 words per year, we get 3,910 pages per year. This means that at 250 words a minute, 15 minutes a day, you could read about 20 average sized books a year! 

When I heard that, I went home, analyzed my day, and set aside the 15 minutes just before supper to read Jonathan Edwards' big book, Original Sin. And I did it in a couple of months. Then I turned to something else. I was absolutely elated: reading that I thought never could get done was now getting done in a 15 minute slot that would have been wasted anyway. Therefore, I encourage you, there is hope. Choose some classics that you've always wanted to read (St. Augustine's Confessions, or City of God; John Calvin's Institutes; Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatians, or Bondage of the Will; John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections; etc.), and set aside 15 minutes, maybe just before you go to sleep, to read. You will not be the same person next year at this time. Your mind will be stretched, your heart enlarged, your zeal more fervent. Above all, you will have grown in wisdom. And it may not be long until someone says of you: "The words of his mouth are as deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a gushing spring" (Proverbs 18:4).

Don't believe me or him? How long did it take you to read this blog post of now 600+ words?

Tuesday with Timothy #20: Because of Eve

1 Timothy  2:9-15  In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;  But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.  And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Paul is backing up his reasoning for male leadership from scripture and giving a Biblical reason why there are not to be women preachers in the church and why the women are to be silent in the public worship. It is very interesting where Paul goes to make his point. He doesn't go to the Rabbi's. He doesn't proceed to the Levitical code. He doesn't go to current culture. He doesn't go the the synagogue tradition. He goes to Scripture, namely to Genesis. When Jesus was questioned about marriage, he did the same thing. Interesting how Western culture began to fall when Genesis was replaced with evolutionary thought and how foundational and important a belief in a literal reading of Genesis is. Along those lines, it is really no wonder why people don't like Paul. He believes in headship, he believes in creation and a literal, historical account of Genesis. He preached the exclusivity of Christ and God's sovereignty in salvation - all the things that you are not allowed to talk about if you want to be accepted in pleasant society.

Let's look at what creation has to do with women preachers.

First, God created Adam first, not Eve and this is important. God created Adam to be the head and he created Eve to be a help, suitable to him. Adam was formed out of the earth and Eve out of Adam. This was God's order in creation and God's order in headship. Also notice that this headship is not a result of the fall. It is not part of the curse that wives are to submit to their husbands and that men are to lead the church. God ordained this headship in creation, prior to the fall and said it was good. The headship of Adam over Eve was good. The curse is not headship, but that women do not, without Christs help, like the way God set it up.

As Gary McHale puts it "There was a difference in how the two genders came about. Man is created from the dust of the earth, which links him to the world, while the woman is crated from his side, which links her to the man." Paul makes the same argument when discussing the head covering in I Corinthians 11:12. Geoffrey Thomas notes "In Genesis 2 Adam names the animals, and then he names the woman. First in Genesis 2:23 naming her "woman" which means she was 'taken out of man' and then in Genesis 3:20 Adam names her "Eve' because she would become the mother of all the living." His point? Adam could only give Eve her name if he had the authority to do so. This doesn't belittle the woman, it just means that we have different roles in God's order. Men and women are both made in God's image, both equal before God but different in our God given roles.

God created Adam and Eve for different purposes. Eve's purpose was to be a suitable helper. This doesn't mean inferior, it doesn't me superior - it means suitable. Men and women are different and God has designed these differences to support and compliment one another. In this role, God has put Adam as the head and Eve under his authority. The help is not the head.

Next we see that Adam that was not deceived, but it was Eve and this is also very important.  God had given Adam the responsibility to protect and keep the garden and he failed. Adam rebelled, but he wasn't deceived in the transgression. Adam knew what was happening and did it anyway. Eve was deceived by Satan's words and Satan went after Eve because she was not the one God had created to defend the garden. When Eve heard the words of Satan and decided that his words were more reliable that God's, she went to Adam to tell him the "good news" of a way to become like gods. When she did, she forever disqualified herself and her daughters from the role of proclaiming "thus saith the Lord" in the public worship. Eve's failure was believing and then proclaiming the goodness of Satan's lie. Adam, when he fell, hid behind Eve and said "She gave it to me" but Eve's defense was "I was deceived." Men who sit under women preaching are recreating the scene of the fall - man abdicate his responsibility and hiding behind the women. Eve, lost the ability to stand and be a herald for God's truth and a teacher of God's Word. God delivering the punishment to Adam makes it clear. Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. It was because Adam listened to Eve and ate of the tree that he was cursed. Eve had preached a false gospel and Adam listened and followed, even though he knew better. God had given Adam the responsibility to keep and protect the Garden and with that comes authority. God gave Adam the law. God gave Adam, Eve. And when Satan tempted Eve, he did not step forward and protect - nor did he deliver God's truth. Because of this, women are not to be preachers in the house of God. It is not how God designed it and women preachers recreate the scene of the fall - rebellious and out of order. This is not to say that a man is to never listen to his wife. Only a fool would not heed the counsel of his wife and listen to her - but the man has the responsibility and will stand and fall with what God has said.

(15)  Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

The last point Paul makes is a blessing and doesn't deal with speaking in God's house but how God is gracious. It was not the seed of Adam that man would be saved, but the seed of the woman. Though Adam brought the curse of sin and death, the woman has the blessing of bringing life into the world. She isn't, as Robertson notes saved by the function of motherhood but saved in the function. God has blessed the church, the woman, and humanity through the great task of childbearing. Women in the church must continue in faith, love, holiness, and sobriety and glory Christ in their role. This is how a woman can serve the Lord in the church, in the place that God put her. It is always best for the church and woman when she serves the church in her God ordained role instead of thinking that we know better than God. Humble submission to Christ and His Word is far more Christ honoring than thinking we know better. If Christ had wanted women preachers, He would have called them to the office. The very fact that a women thinks she should be a preacher and teach of men disqualifies her from being a teacher since she clearly doesn't know as much about the Bible as she thinks she does.

And to end this little series, let's throw in a twist.

Lord bless,
DPN

What a Friend

If you don't know the sad life of the man who wrote What a Friend We Have in Jesus, this article is well worth your time.

A Speaking God

"As preachers of God's Word, we should understand how important and amazing it is that our God is a speaking God. He didn't have to speak, at least not to us. When Adam and Eve sinned against Him in the Garden, He could have let His last words to them—for all eternity—be the curse He pronounced against them. "You are dust, and to dust you shall return," He could have said (Gen. 3: 19). And then silence. God could have left us in darkness and ignorance to live out our days as rebels and to die under His wrath, without ever knowing Him. Understanding that, it is a mark of the most amazing mercy and love that God continued to care for human beings after we rebelled against Him, that He continued to speak to us and to reveal Himself to us, especially in the person of His Son, Jesus."

Preach: Theology Meets Practice 
by Mark Dever  &  Greg Gilbert

None but Christ

"A believer who hath the eyes of his understanding enlightened, his judgment and apprehension is [that] God is the chief good and supreme happiness [is] an interest in God, a conformity to God, the enjoyment of God here and hereafter….As a covetous and an ambitious man, and a man given to carnal pleasure, will go through much difficulty to have their respective desires fulfilled; so will a believing soul suffer the loss of all, so he may win Christ. “None but Christ,”saith an illuminated believer. “Whom have I in heaven but thee, or in the earth I desire in comparison of thee?”There are many good objects in heaven and earth besides thee. There are angels in heaven and saints on earth. But, soul, what are these to thee? Heaven, without thy presence would be no heaven to me. A palace without thee, a crown without thee, cannot satisfy me. But with thee can I be content, though in a poor cottage. With thee I am at liberty in bonds…. [I]f I have thy smiles, I can bear the world’s frowns. If I have spiritual liberty in my soul that I can ascend to thee by faith and have communion with thee, thou shalt choose my portion for me in this world, “for in the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.”This is the esteem a believing soul hath of divine objects. Christ is precious to him, because he seeth him and believeth in him."

Hercules Collins

Devoted to the Service of the Temple: Piety, Persecution, and Ministry in the Writings of Hercules Collins.  Edited by Michael A. G. Haykin & Steve Weaver

Bunyan's Bible

In the book “The Legacy of the King James Bible” Dr.  Leland Ryken shows how the King James Bible has been a blessing and still is a blessing for all of us English speakers. Though he doesn’t use the KJB, and from what I understand in listening to an interview he gave, hasn’t used it in decades. In fact, he is involved with Crossway and the publication of the ESV. Here is his bio from Wheaton College:

Dr. Ryken has served on Wheaton's faculty since 1968. He has published over thirty books and more than one hundred articles and essays, devoting much of his scholarship to Bible translations and the study of the Bible as literature. He served as Literary Chairman for the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible and in 2003 received the distinguished Gutenberg Award for his contributions to education, writing, and the understanding of the Bible.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is actually quite refreshing to read a book from someone that actually appreciates the King James Bible, and isn't ashamed of his appreciation. Even if you don't use or read the KJV, you should at the very least, acknowledge its beauty, longevity, and the impact this version has had upon the English speaking world.

One of the ways Ryken shows the KJV has impacted society is from the realm of literature. The language of the Bible was the language of the people.

This is an excerpt from chapter 13 Early Literary Influence of the King James Bible showing how John Bunyan's writing was influenced by his reading of the Bible.

"Beginning at the end of the seventeenth century and lasting for two centuries, the King James Bible and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress were the two “best sellers” in evangelical Protestant households. In the popular imagination, these two books were regarded as being cut from the same religious and imaginative cloth. The fact that readers have found these two books a natural pair is more telling than occasional scholarly attempts, grounded in technical stylistic analysis, to show that Bunyan’s style often differs from the KJV. The Victorian literary giant Thomas Babington Macaulay offered the opinion that Bunyan “knew no language but the English, as it was spoken by the common people. He had studied no great model of composition, with the exception…of our noble [KJV] translation of the Bible.” 

It might be expected that as a Puritan Bunyan (1628-1688) would have used the Geneva Bible, but the evidence points to the King James Bible instead. This is easy to establish from the occasional direct Bible quotations in The Pilgrims’ Progress. For example, as Christian is engaged in a life-or-death struggle with Apollyon, he reached for his sword and says, “Rejoice not against me, o mine enemy; when I fall I shall arise.” This is verbatim from Micah 7:8 as found in the KJV, but not the Geneva Bible. In this same paragraph that narrates the battle between Christian and Apollyon, we hear Christian asserting, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors though him that loved us.” This, too, is verbatim from the King James Bible.

“Read anything of [Bunyan], and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had studied our Authorized Version, which will never be bettered, as I judge, till Christ shall come; he had read it till his whole being was saturated with Scripture….Prick him anywhere; and …the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God.” Charles Spurgeon, Autobiography.

Once we know what translation Bunyan used, we can quickly asses how much he owed to the King James Bible. Through the centuries and continuing through modern scholarly editions, it has been customary to print The Pilgrim’s Progress with the marginal notes that identify the biblical source or allusion for a given passage. A glance at such an edition confirms historian Greens’ famous verdict that “so completely has the Bible become Bunyan’s life that one feels its phrases as the natural expression of his thoughts. He has lived in the Bible till its words become his own.”

What all did Bunyan owe to his King James Bible when he came to compose his masterpiece, which he stared to write while imprisoned for nonconformist preaching? Bunyan owes his master image and superstructure – a pilgrimage form this world to the heavenly city—to Hebrews 11:13 and 16: “these all died in faith,…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth…they desire a better country, that is a heavenly…city.”….And as already noted, Bunyan wrote in a biblical idiom as if it were his native language. He himself called this idiom “the language of Canaan.”
The final verdict on Bunyan’s indebtedness to the King James Bible can be give to David Norton, who writes:

“The Pilgrim’s Progress, more commonly read by generations that any book but the KJB, helped to form a love for the language of the KJB itself…It is difficult to believe that Bunyan did not contribute to a literary as well as a religious sense of the KJB, and that he did not help show later writers ways they might use it.”