Mar
22
Why you should read the Puritans
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Our blogging friend Tony Reinke at The Shepherd’s Scrapbook has posted the notes from Joel Beeke’s address, Why You Should Read the Puritans, given at last week’s Ligonier Conference in Orlando. Last year Dr. Beeke and Randall Peterson wrote an outstanding book called Meet the Puritans, loaded with information and biographies on more than 140 Puritan authors, overviews of over 700 Puritan volumes, a list of all the known reprints published beween 1956 and 2005, excellent articles ,and a helpful glossary. At 900 pages, it’s a deep well of information, and as a clothbound, will endure years of use. It also includes chapters which explain who the Puritans were in their theological and historical context and why we should read them today. Here is one quote from the section explaining why we should read the Puritans today:
“With the Spirit’s blessing, Puritan writings can enrich your life as a Christian in many ways as they open the Scriptures and apply them practically, probing your conscience, indicting your sins, leading you to repentance, shaping your faith, guiding your conduct, comforting you in Christ and conforming you to Him, and bringing you into full assurance of salvation and a lifestyle of gratitude to the triune God for His great salvation” (xix).
Mar
16
Family Worship
Filed Under Books, Christian Living | Leave a Comment
In gearing up for preaching the evening sermon this Sunday, I was reminded again how difficult and sweet family worship can be. It is often difficult because schedules and children are prone to be adversly opposed to sitting down for 20 minutes to worship God in a living room. But it is also so sweet to gather your family around to sing, pray, and read of God’s great redemptive works culminating in Jesus Christ.
I’ll pass along one resource that was formative in helping me, as a father, figure out how to “do” family worship. It is The Family Worship Book: A Resource Book for Family Devotions by Terry Johnson. If you’re struggling on how to lead your family in worship, this book is a huge help.
Mar
14
The Real Problem with Our Children
Filed Under Books, Christian Living, Family, Reading, Youth Ministry | Leave a Comment
I’m thoroughly enjoying our Men’s Book Study on J.C. Ryle’s book, Holiness. This week we discussed Ryle’s first chapter entitled, Sin. The whole chapter is a tour de force on the subject of the heinousness of sin. In the middle of the chapter, Ryle pauses to discuss original sin and uses the following illustration:
The fairest babe, that has entered life this year and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as its mother perhaps fondly calls it, a little ‘angel’, or a little ‘innocent’, but a little ’sinner’. Alas! As it lies smiling and crowing in its cradle, that little creature carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Only watch it carefully, as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad, and a backwardness to that which is good. You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which, if indulged and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity. Who taught the child these things? Where did he learn them? The Bible alone can answer these questions! Of all the foolish things that parents can say about their children there is none worse than the common saying: ‘My son has a good heart at the bottom. He is not what he ought to be, but he has fallen into bad hands. Public schools are bad places. The tutors neglect the boys. Yet he has a good heart at the bottom.’ The truth, unhappily, is diametrically the other way. The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the boy’s own heart, and not in the school.
Our only hope, for ourselves and our children, is in Jesus Christ.
Mar
9
Happy 20th Birthday to The Joshua Tree
Filed Under Music | 3 Comments
I can’t believe that U2’s album, The Joshua Tree, was released twenty years ago today. I feel so old! The Joshua Tree was the first tape I ever owned. You can imagine my nine-year-old glee at opening that small Christmas present to reveal the now famous black and white album cover. It remains to this day my favorite album of any genre. I’ll give you, the readers of The Sweet Dropper, the chance to answer one, none, or all of the following questions:
- What was the first album (regardless of media it was recorded on) that you ever owned?
- What is your favorite U2 album?
- Can you believe that The Joshua Tree is twenty years old?
Mar
8
The sharp edges of truth
Filed Under Apologetics, The Church | 1 Comment
LIFE ISN’T A BUMPER STICKER. That would make a good bumper sticker, wouldn’t it? Whenever I see the one that reads, QUESTION AUTHORITY! I want to respond, “Who are you to tell me what to do?” Another one reads, IF YOU LABEL ME, YOU NEGATE ME. I wonder, “Are you labelling me a ‘labeller’ or a ‘negator’?” Truth rarely fits on an area the size of a bumper sticker. Is it mean and nasty of me to notice?
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Christian Church today. John MacArthur has observed: “In the world of modern evangelicalism it is allowable to advocate the most unconventional, unbiblical doctrine–as long as you afford everyone else the same privilege. About the only thing that is taboo nowadays is the intolerance of those who dare to point out others’ error. Anyone who is bold enough to suggest that someone else’s ideas or doctrines are unsound or unbiblical is dismissed as contentious, divisive, unloving, or unchristian” (Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will to Discern, Wheaton: Crossway, 1994, p.22).
It’s good to get along with others. No one has a right to be contentious or unloving, even if the truth is at stake. We are commanded to be “peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17). Such is the nature of heavenly wisdom. But then was the Apostle Paul sinning when he condemned his opponents in the Galatian churches, by declaring, “…if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:10)? Certainly not!
We all have knives in our homes. In order to keep people from being cut, we don’t throw out the knives or blunt the edges until they are no longer sharp. Rather, we make certain that we use knives for the purposes for which knives were intended to be used. A sharp knife is an essential tool, whether you are a cook or a surgeon. Likewise, the truth has sharp edges. The trouble with sharp edges is that people can get cut. What is most difficult is making sure that we understand where the Word of God has made the edges sharp. Just because a knife is a useful tool doesn’t mean that I sharpen every counter edge or butter knife or spoon to razor sharpness. If we arbitrarily sharpen the edges of faith and practice according to our own whims or experiences or traditions, we are in danger of “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:9), something our Lord Jesus denounced in the practice of scribes and Pharisees. However, the danger of exalting human tradition above the teaching of Scripture does not mean that we should not have creeds and clear confessions of faith. To say otherwise implies that God was not wise enough to make himself clear. God’s Word does not have dull edges; on the contrary, it is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).
God forbid that we should stand around arguing about the recipe for bread while men starve outside our door, but if someone mixes cement and offers it as bread, is it mean and intolerant to call attention to the mistake? Is there really a difference between truth and error? If you believe me to be in error, I pray that you would love the truth and love me enough to bring it to my attention. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6). Ouch! That’s sharp!
Mar
7
Sewage
Filed Under Christian Living | Leave a Comment
Sorry for missing my scheduled post yesterday. I was working from home while the Johnson’s dug up my back yard with a track-hoe looking for the reason why I had sewage backing up into my house. It was not a pretty picture. They found the problem and all is repaired now. The culprit ended up being a poorly attached pipe.
As I was standing on the top of my uncovered septic tank I was reminded again at what an apt illustration of sin sewage problems can be. One small underground problem can lead to major back ups and dysfunction. Something to think about.