Books from Paw-Paw

My wife’s Paw-Paw calls himself a junkologist. For the past several years, he has gained a reputation in middle Tennessee for hauling off whatever people call him to come and get – everything from exercise equipment to sport coats to sewing machines. He dutifully loads it up on his trailer and brings it back to his storage shed in Lebanon, TN, which becomes the distribution center for his family, friends, and people in need. Admittedly, some of the stuff he winds up with won’t be showing up on Antique Roadshow anytime soon, but he has also brought home some real treasures. The parsonage in Curve has benefitted tremendously from his findings; between him and other family members, the only piece of furniture we had to purchase after getting married was one mattress.

With this kind of track record, you can imagine my excitement as I listened to a voice mail from Paw-Paw a few months back, telling me about his most recent haul. He had just left the home of a Nashville-area lawyer, who had parted with a massive library of “religious books,” and now they were stored safely in a pile of cardboard boxes in his shed, my name scrawled across the lid in sharpie. They were awaiting my inspection. Paw-Paw is a member of a little country Baptist church in his community a lot like ours here, and he was looking out for the library of his grandson-in-law.

At first, I tried to keep my expectations low. After all, “religious books” is a pretty vague category; who know what this guy’s perspective was? I resigned myself to the possibility that I would soon be the proud owner of the essential works of Harry Emerson Fosdick and Norman Vincent Peale. But as time went by, I became more optimistic. Surely there would be some classics mixed in there – an old copy of Augustine’s Confessions or something. Despite my best efforts to the contrary, my hopes were soon soaring. I just knew this faithful brother had been an adjunct faculty member of Southern Seminary and a card-carrying Founders member. My anticipation heightened each day that I looked at my bare shelves.

Through a series of unexpected setbacks, we didn’t make it to Lebanon at the beginning of October as planned, and so I set my sights on Thanksgiving weekend. On Saturday morning, we arrived at Paw-Paw and Me-Maw’s house. I bounced around anxiously outside the shed as Paw-Paw twirled the dial on the combination lock. We entered, I saw the books stacked before me, and I greedily began to separate the wheat from the chaff. One thing quickly became obvious: the man loved Hal Lindsey. But as I sorted through the end times predictions, I came across some real jewels. I thought I’d bring back a report on a few of the ones that made it home to Curve. Some are known classics, some are surefire useful reference tools, and others just sound interesting:

Book of Common Prayer
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together
Broadus, John A. Commentary on Matthew
Burton, Joe W. Road to Nashville: From Vision to Reality: The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
Criswell, A.W. Why I Preach that the Bible is Literally True
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol
Koehler, Walter J. Counseling and Confession: The Role of Confession and Absolution in Pastoral Counseling
Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity
Martin, Walter. The Kingdom of the Cults
McGee, J. Vernon, The Whole Word for the World: The Life and Ministry of J. Vernon McGee
Robertson, A.T. A Harmony of the Gospels
Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place
Wardin, Albert W., Jr. God’s Chosen Path: The Life of H. Franklin Paschall (a Union University graduate)
Wardin, Albert W., Jr. Tennessee Baptists: A Comprehensive History

Thanks Paw-Paw!

Life as a Church in One Verse

It would be hard to find a better description of what life together in the local church ought to look like than Paul’s imperative in Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” This side of glory, every member of Christ’s church carries a pilgrim’s burdens. Emotionally, physically, and spiritually, we bear the heavy load that is part and parcel of a cosmos under the curse of death. And as we carry these burdens that range from sorrow over a dying family member to loneliness to frustration in the workplace to the perennial problem of our own indwelling sin — oh to have brothers and sisters who pursue this vision with compassionate zeal, who will help us shoulder the load for the journey!

Here’s what Luther had to say about it:

“This is a gentle command with a great commendation attached. “The law of Christ” is the law of love. After Christ had redeemed us, renewed us, and made us his church, he gave us no other law than that of mutual love (John 13:34). To love is not to wish one another well, but to carry one another’s burdens – that is, things that are grievous to us, and that we would not willingly bear. Therefore, Christians must have strong shoulders and mighty bones, so they can carry their brothers’ weaknesses, for Paul says that they have burdens and troubles. Love, therefore, is mild,courteous, and patient, not in receiving but in giving, for it is constrained to wink at many things and to bear them (1 Cor 13:4).

Martin Luther, Galatians. The Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1998), 290.

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I am so grateful for brothers and sisters with strong shoulders and mighty bones, who carry my innumerable weaknesses with such kind forbearance.

A New Hymn on the Priesthood of Christ

I’ll close the week with a new hymn on the priesthood of Christ, written earlier this year by my friend Justin Wainscott. You can find more original and historic hymns, as well as many other thought-provoking quotes and thoughts at his blog, Theology in Verse.

Jesus Christ, Our Priestly Savior

M. Justin Wainscott, © 2009

Jesus Christ, our priestly Savior,

Melchizedek’s true line;

Though on us God looks with favor,

The work was wholly Thine.

The debt of sin required a price

Your blood has fully paid;

In your great priestly sacrifice,

Atonement has been made.

With voices strong we sing these notes,

Of mercy’s cleansing flood;

No more the need for bulls and goats,

Sufficient is your blood!

Your sacrifice was once for all,

Yet lasts forevermore;

Our risen Lamb reversed the fall,

And opened heaven’s door.

And now for us you intercede,

Our great high priest on high;

For ransomed sinners you do plead,

And offer up your cry.

With full assurance we can trust

Your ev’ry plea is heard;

The Father shall, indeed, he must

Accept your ev’ry word.

So give us confidence to know,

Our hope’s secure in Thee;

And let your priestly blessings flow,

Through all eternity.

Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus

As the week draws to a close, I’d like to consider a few hymns of the church that speak to Christ’s heavenly prayer ministry. I found this beautiful song in a 1955 Presbyterian Hymnal that found its way to me at some point. The hymnal holds a special place alongside my Baptist and Methodist hymnals, and I have found great delight as I have made use of its Scriptural and thematic indexes. Notice here that the second verse speaks of the ongoing priestly ministry of Christ in Heaven.

“Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus”

Hail, Thou once despised Jesus, Crowned in mockery a King!
Thou didst suffer to release us; Thou didst free salvation bring.
Hail, thou agonizing Saviour, Bearer of our sin and shame!
By thy merits we find favor; Life is given through Thy name.

Jesus, hail! enthroned in glory, There forever to abide;
All the heavenly hosts adore Thee, Seated at the Father’s side:
There for sinners Thou are pleading; There Thou dost our place prepare:
Ever for us interceding, Till in glory we appear.

Worship, honor, power and blessing Thou art worthy to receive;
Loudest praises, without ceasing, Meet it is for us to give.
Help, ye bright, angelic spirits, Bring your sweetest, noblest lays,
Help to sing our Saviour’s merits; Help to chant Immanuel’s praise.

John Bakewell, 1757

John Bunyan: Christ a Complete Savior

“. . . but to be saved and brought to glory, to be carried through this dangerous world, from my first moving after Christ till I set my foot within the gates of paradise, this is the work of my Mediator, of my high priest and intercessor; it is he that fetches us again when we are run away; it is he that lifteth us up when the devil and sin have thrown us down; it is he that quickeneth us when we grow cold; it is he that comforteth us when we despair; it is he that obtains fresh pardon when we have contracted sin; and he that purges our consciences when they are loaden with guilt.”

John Bunyan, “Christ a Complete Saviour,” in The Works of John Bunyan Vol I (Banner of Truth), p 215.

What would we know about the Holy Spirit if Galatians were our only Bible?

I found this post from Pastor Ray Ortlund to be very thought-provoking earlier this year. He posed the question, “What if Philippians were our only Bible?” He proceeded to give an impressive list of truths about God and the Christian life that we know strictly from this little letter. He closed by saying, “Makes me wonder, how much more is there in this Bible which I hardly know?”

As I have been working through Galatians on Sunday mornings, I have been struck by the prominent teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit in this letter that I usually associate strictly with justification. This lead me to ask myself as I waited for my wife the other day, “What would we know about the Holy Spirit if Galatians was our only Bible?” I’m sure this is not as thorough as it could be, but here is the list I compiled sitting in the car.

We begin the Christian life by the Spirit, through conversion (3:2)

We are to continue on in the Christian life by the Spirit as we began, not by works of the Law (3:2)

God supplies the Spirit to us by hearing with faith, not by our working and earning (3:5, 14)

The Spirit was “promised” in some sense in the Old Testament (3:14)

The Spirit is received as a result of Christ’s redemptive work (3:14)

The Spirit is closely linked with the Father and the Son in the work of our salvation, implying his equality (4:4-6)

The Spirit is rightly called, “The Spirit of God’s Son,” again closely tying his ministry to us with Christ’s (4:6)

The Spirit has been sent into the hearts of believers (4:6)

The Spirit within believers cries out “Abba, Father!”, affirming that we have been adopted as sons (4:6)

Isaac was said to have been born “according to the Spirit” rather than through fleshly human efforts as Ishmael was, and this parallels the believer’s conversion (4:29)

Through the Spirit, we wait for the hope of righteousness (5:5)

In our daily lives, we are commanded to “walk by the Spirit” (5:16)

The Spirit moves us away from gratifying the desires of the flesh (5:16)

The Spirit is in ongoing conflict with the flesh within the believer (5:17)

The Spirit leads the believer (5:18)

There is no law against the Spirit (5:18)

The Spirit produces Christ-like character and virtue in the believer (5:22-23)

The believer lives by the Spirit, and therefore should “keep in step” with the Spirit (5:25)

We are commanded to “sow to the Spirit,” and promised that if we do, we will “reap” from the Spirit eternal life (6:8)

J.P. Boyce on Christ’s Priestly Intercession

Here is another brief entry on Christ’s priestly intercession by a nineteenth-century Southern Baptist theologian. Like Dagg, Boyce does not presume to explain exactly how Christ’s intercession for his people works. He does, however, affirm that it is not simply a metaphor, but a real and vital ministry continually offered up for the church.

“While we are not to suppose that he is engaged in actual spoken prayer before God, we are also not to understand by this a mere influence of his sacrifice continued without further activity on his part, but some real activity corresponding fully to the essence of prayer and petition, to which is due all the blessings to which his people attain.”

James P. Boyce, Abstract of Systematic Theology (1887, reprinted 2006 by Founders Press, Cape Coral, FL), 293.

J.L. Dagg On Christ’s Priestly Intercession

“A part of the priest’s office consisted in making intercession for the people. The high priest did this in a special manner, when he went into the holy of holies. Jesus interceded, when he prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail; and when he poured forth to his Father the beautiful prayer recorded in John 17. But now, in the holy of holies, the immediate presence of God, he ever liveth to make intercession for us. (Heb 7:25) How that intercession is carried on, we cannot undertake to explain. What his mode of asking is, we know not; but in some mode, he asks, and the heathen are given to him for an inheritance, to the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. (Psalm 2:8) In some mode, while he sympathizes with his suffering followers on earth, he asks grace for them, to help them in their trials and sorrows, and his intercession prevails.”

John L. Dagg, Manual of Theology and Church Order (1857, reprinted in 1982 by Gano Books), 220.

Berkhof on Christ’s Intercession for Us

“It is a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life; that he is presenting to the Father those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds and which we often neglect to include in our prayers; and that he prays for our protection against the dangers of which we are not even conscious, and against the enemies which threaten us, though we do not notice it. He is praying that our faith may not cease, and that we may come out victoriously in the end.”

Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 403.

The Heavenly Prayer Ministry of Christ

Enon Baptist, a sister church, is holding a unique series of revival meetings during the month of November. They have set aside forty days to focus on prayer in the life of their church, and have asked several local pastors to come preach on this theme each Sunday night of the month. November really must be a busy month for my fellow pastors around here, because they asked me to preach this Sunday night.

After giving it some thought, I have decided to preach on the prayer ministry of the risen Lord Jesus on behalf of his people. I find myself quickly feeling discouraged when I consider my own prayer life, but my soul takes flight when I consider Christ’s continual prayers for me and for his church. So if the Lord wills, I will take up the text of Hebrews 7:23-25, and do my best to exalt Christ and encourage the saints at Enon. Most of the posts this week will pertain to this theme in some way.

There are a number of theological and practical reasons that lead me in this direction. Here are four:

1) The Trinity

I grew up thinking that the Trinity was a doctrine best left to the “experts.” There is certainly no more profound or glorious mystery in all of Scripture than the Triune nature of God, and no man could ever presume to understand this mystery exhaustively. And yet, it seems that we do not have the option of thinking and speaking about the God of the Bible without thinking and speaking about the Holy Trinity. The minute we mention Jesus we are plunged into Trinitarian theology! The writers of Scripture insist that the work of our salvation is a Trinitarian action: the Father appointing, the Son accomplishing, and the Spirit applying our redemption. Though we cannot fully comprehend the Triune nature of God, we can and should marvel at the mystery and beauty that has been revealed to us in Scripture, and I want to be intentional about doing this in the local church. This passage, in which the Son ministers on our behalf before the Father, gives ample opportunity to glory in the Trinity.

2) The Humanity of Christ

Probably for apologetic purposes, most of us naturally emphasize the deity of Christ, that Jesus is fully God. While this truth is magnificent, it seems that the NT writers seem equally as swept away by the humanity of Christ, that the Son of God became a man! Our very salvation depends upon the fact that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 2:5) By his human death he received the punishment for our sins as a man; by his human life he has achieved a perfect human righteousness for us; in his bodily resurrection he has secured our own resurrection; as a man he alone is qualified to represent us before the Father as our great high priest. I want to be in intentional about worshiping Christ in the totality of his person, as fully God and fully man. Meditating on the priestly ministry of Christ draws our attention to this.

3) The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ

When considering the work of Christ in salvation, it seems fairly common to end the discussion at the cross. Certainly our churches are not denying the fact of the resurrection or ascension, but I think it is easy for us to fail to think through its implications for our salvation as thoroughly as we do the atonement. Yet the resurrection of Christ is pretty close to the center of New Testament theology! Jesus is not still hanging in agony on a crucifix, but is the risen and exalted Lord, who is still ensuring our salvation by his ongoing ministry on our behalf. In my experience, these truths are rarely explored, but they cause the believer’s soul to soar! I want to be intentional about exulting in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ.

4) The Gospel

There is certainly an important place for teaching and exhortation concerning the spiritual disciplines — I have done much of this here, and regularly do as a pastor. But the lurking danger any time we emphasize what we ought to be doing in the Christian life is communicating that being a Christian is essentially a matter of human effort, and the Gospel is the call to make ourselves holy by our own teeth-gritting dedication. Before you know it, the marvelous grace of God and the call to faith in the sufficiency of Christ have been obscured. We simply cannot remind ourselves and our people too much that the Gospel is not a message about what we do for God with our lives, but we he has already done for us in Christ. The Gospel is the glad tidings of the grace of the Triune God seen in the finished work of Christ for his people. The Gospel reminds us that we are all colossal failures in the realm of godliness, and if our salvation depended on our spiritual devotion, we wouldn’t have a chance. But there is One who stands in our place at God’s right hand who did not fail and will not fail. And the more time I spend thinking on this, the more I find myself moved to pray and pursue godliness. I want to be intentional about keeping the Gospel central in the local church.