Jonathan Edwards: Things in Heaven

This is from Charity and its Fruits, which is a collection of sermons by Jonathan Edwards on 1 Corinthians 13. Edwards describes how love illuminates heaven.

All things in heaven do also remarkably show forth the beauty and loveliness of God and Christ, and have the brightness and sweetness of divine love upon them. The very light that shines in and fills that world, is the light of love, for it is the shining of the glory of the Lamb of God, that most wonderful influence of lamb-like meekness and love that fills the heavenly Jerusalem with light. “The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev 21:23). The glory that is about him that reigns in heaven is so radiant and sweet, that it is compared (Rev 4:3) to “a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald;” and it is the rainbow that is so often used in the Old Testament as the fit token of God’s love and grace manifested in his covenant. The light of the New Jerusalem, which is the light of God’s glory, is said to be like a jasper stone, clear as crystal (Rev 21:11), thus signifying the greatest preciousness and beauty; and as to its continuance, it is said there is no night there, but only an endless and glorious day.

John Owen on faintheartedness (Hebrews 12:3)

Consider him who endured from such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted (Hebrews 12:3).

John Owen writes in his commentary on Hebrews 12:3d about being fainthearted or losing heart.

Literally, “faint.” This fainting consists in a remission of the due acting of faith by all graces and in all duties. It is faith that stirs up and engages spiritual courage, resolution, patience, perseverance, prayer, all preserving graces and duties. If it fails here and we are left to fight our difficulties in our own natural strength, we will quickly grow weary. This is where all spiritual decline starts, namely, in not exercising faith in all these graces and duties.

Marsden on Jonathan Edwards's Purpose of Life.

I read the book Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George Marsden. It is an excellent book, but this quote I stole from Owen Strachan's blog,

Yet Edwards's solution---a post-Newtonian statement of classic Augustinian themes---can be breathtaking. God's Trinitarian essence is love. God's purpose in creating a universe in which sin is permitted must be to communicate that love to creatures. The highest or most beautiful love is sacrificial love for the undeserving. Those---ultimately the vast majority of humans---who are given eyes to see that ineffable beauty will be enthralled by it. They will see the beauty of a universe in which unsentimental love triumphs over real evil. They will not be able to view Christ's love dispassionately but rather will respond to it with their deepest affections. Truly seeing such good they will have no choice but to love it. Glimpsing such love, they will be drawn away from their preoccupations with the gratifications of their most immediate sensations. They will be drawn from their self-centered universes. Seeing the beauty of the redemptive love of Christ is the true center of reality, they will love God and all that he has created.

(p. 505)

Edwards on the Trinity

John Piper in his book Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God quotes Jonathan Edwards essay on the Trinity.

This I suppose to be the blessed Trinity that we read of in the Holy Scriptures. The Father is the deity subsisting in the prime, unoriginated and most absolute manner or the deity in its direct essence. The Son is the deity generated by God’s understanding, or having an idea of Himself and subsisting in that idea. The Holy Ghost is the deity subsisting in act, or the divine essence flowing out and breathed forth in God’s infinite love to and delight in Himself. And I believe the whole in God’s infinite love to and delight in Himself. And I believe the whole Divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the Divine idea and Divine love, and that each of them are properly distinct persons.

Further on in the chapter Piper quotes Edwards again:

God is glorified within Himself these two ways: (1) By appearing…to Himself in His own perfect idea [of Himself], or in His Son, who is the brightness of His glory. (2) By enjoying and delighting in Himself, by flowing forth in infinite…delight towards Himself, or in his Holy Spirit. …So God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: (1) By appearing to…their understanding. (2) In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself…God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn't] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

Edwards on Heaven

Jonathan Edwards preached about heaven in his final sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:

There in heaven this fountain of love, this eternal three in one, is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it. There this glorious God is manifested and shines forth in full glory, in beams of love; there the fountain overflows in streams and rivers of love and delight, enough for all to drink at, and to swim in, yea, so as to overflow the world as it were with a deluge of love

This has a slightly different tone than "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

John Owen on "Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus.."

In his commentary on Hebrews, John Owen writes about "looking away" at Jesus in Hebrews 12:2:

Literally, “looking away.” We are to look to Jesus in a special way, a way that is different from the way we looked at the cloud of witnesses. The verb is in the present tense, so a continual act is intended. In all that we do, in our profession and obedience, we are constantly to look to Christ.“Looking,” in Scripture, when it refers to God or Christ, denotes an act of faith or trust, with hope and expectation. It is not just an act of understanding or considering what we are looking at; it is an act of the whole soul in faith and trust (see Psalm 34:4-6; Isaiah 45:22). Such is the look of believers on the pierced Christ (Zechariah 12:10), (See Hebrews 9:28; 11:10; also Micah 7:7, “I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”)
 So the Lord Jesus is not set before us here merely as an example for us but as him in whom we place our faith, trust and confidence, with all our expectation of success in our Christian course. Without this faith and trust in him, we will derive no benefit from his example. (Owen, p. 243)

Tyndale's Key to Interpreting Scripture

David Teems, in his biography of Tyndale, describes Tyndale's approach to the Bible.

Even his [Tyndale] Englishing of the Scripture has something to tell us. To William Tyndale, the Word of God is a living thing. It has both warmth and intellect. It has discretion, generosity, subtlety, movement, authority. It has a heart and a pulse. It keeps a beat and has a musical voice that allows it to sing. It enchants and it soothes. It argues and it forgives. It defends and it reasons. It intoxicates and it restores. It weeps and it exults. It thunders but never roars. It calls but never begs. And it always loves. Indeed, for Tyndale, love is the code that unlocks and empowers the Scripture. His inquiry into Scripture is always relational, never analytic.

(p. xvii, Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice)

Calvin on honoring leaders

We, in certain Christian circles, tend to bash Obama. However, I read in Calvin on how we should honor and reverence the office. We must honor the man because God placed him in office. Obama is God's minister. We may vote President Obama out in the fall for his policies, but we must not disparage him. Here's a quote by Calvin:

We need not labour to prove that an impious king is a mark of the Lord’s anger, since I presume no one will deny it, and that this is not less true of a king than of a robber who plunders your goods, an adulterer who defiles your bed, and an assassin who aims at your life, since all such calamities are classed by Scripture among the curses of God. But let us insist at greater length in proving what does not so easily fall in with the views of men, that even an individual of the worst character, one most unworthy of all honour, if invested with public authority, receives that illustrious divine power which the Lord has by his word devolved on the ministers of his justice and judgment, and that, accordingly, in so far as public obedience is concerned, he is to be held in the same honour and reverence as the best of kings. (Calvin Institutes Book 4, Chapter 20, Section 25),

David Brainerd's Ministry Style

David Brainerd spent over a year ministering to the tribes in New England with little success. He lived in the most primitive conditions in order that he could be close to the peoples with whom he was witnessing. This is a story of an early convert to his ministry.

That day one native appeared to gain comfort and assurance that she had been brought into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. She had been greatly concerned for her soul ever since first hearing Brainerd preach the previous June, but that day came to be at peace spiritually.
That young woman, Brainerd's first convert from Crossweeksung, was the sole survivng child of Weequehela, the last great saschem among the Delawares in New Jersey in the early 1700s. He once owned much land, many horses and cattle, as well as black slaves. He frequently entertained governors and other important white men in his home, which was fully furnished with English furniture, silverware, calico curtains and featherbeds.
In 1727 a land dispute developed between Weequehela and his English neighbor, Captain John Leonard. On more than one occasion, Leonard reportedly extorted large tracts of land from Weequehela after getting him drunk. Following a particularly grievous instance of such extortion, Weequehela, after becoming sober and realizing what had happened, shot Leonard dead, then surrendered peacefully to white authorities.
When his people offered to break him out of jail he refused, stating that it would not be right for a king to run away. He also exhorted them to live in peace with their pale-faced brethren. He was hanged at Pert Amboy, west across the bay from Staten Island. A reprieve from the Governor arrived too late, after he was already dead.
Following the chief's death, his widow and four or five children, one of them being only a few days old, were badly mistreated and deprived of all their property and possessions. Within a short time all of them except a three-year-old daughter of Weequehela died. During her difficult childhood she saw her aunt killed by a settler.
When Brainerd came to Crossweeksung, this daughter of Weequehela would have been about twenty years old and may have already been married to her husband, Stephen Calvin. Her husband, a man of high intelligence and goodwill, was one of the Indians who assisted Brainerd as an interpreter.
She would later tell her children and grandchildren that Brainerd was the first white man she could ever love, having suffered so much at their hands and always having feared them. One of her grandchildren testified of her: "She loved David Brainerd very much because he loved his heavenly Father so much that he was willing to endure hardships, traveling over mountains, suffering hunger, and lying on the ground that he might do her people good. And she did everything she could for his comfort.

(David Brainerd: A flame for God by Vance Christie.

Strive together with me in your prayers to God (Romans 15:30)

Here is an excerpt from Moo's commentary on Romans about Romans 15:30.

Paul’s request is that the Roman Christians “strive together” with him in prayers. Paul’s use of the metaphor of fighting or wrestling may imply something about the nature of the prayer that he is requesting: that it involves a “wrestling” with God; or that it must be especially diligent. But Paul’s use of the language of “striving” to describe his own ministry might suggest rather that he is inviting the Roman Christians, through their prayers, to participate with him in “struggle” to complete his ordained missionary work. Though so many are unknown personally to him, Paul can nevertheless ask the Roman Christians to identify with him in his own struggle so that they might sincerely pray on his behalf. As Calvin remarks, Paul “shows how the godly ought to pray for their brethren, that they are to assume their person as though they were placed in the same difficulties.”

Do we strive together in prayer with our missionaries and leaders? Do we envision their difficulties and sincerely pray for them?

Calvin on the Supreme Power of the Pastor

Calvin was contrasting the power of pastors/elders against the role of priests in the Roman Catholic Church. I thought this outlined Brooks's goals as well.

"Here is the supreme power with which pastors of the Church, by whatever name they are called, should be invested— namely, to dare all boldly for the word of God, compelling all the virtue, glory, wisdom, and rank of the world to yield and obey its majesty; to command all from the highest to the lowest, trusting to its power to build up the house of Christ and overthrow the house of Satan; to feed the sheep and chase away the wolves; to instruct and exhort the docile, to accuse, rebuke, and subdue the rebellious and petulant, to bind and loose; in fine, if need be, to fire and fulminate, but all in the word of God".
(Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 4:8:9).

Jonathan Edwards on the function of the Holy Spirit in the bond of Union

Jonathan Edwards not only asserts that the Holy Spirit is the bond of the Trinity, but also the perfect bond of the two natures of Christ (hypostatic union), the bond of the Church to Christ, and the bond of believers to each other in the Church. Edwards fully asserts that the Holy Spirit is God and a person, but his main ministry is creating the bond of unions.

Both the holiness and happiness of the Godhead consists in this love. As we have already proved all creature holiness consists essentially and summarily in love to God and love to other creatures; so does the holiness of God consist in His love, especially in the perfect and intimate union and love there is between the Father and the Son. But the Spirit that proceeds from the Father and the Son is the bond of this union, as it is of all holy union between the Father and the Son and between God and the creature and between the creatures among themselves.

(Jonathan Edwards, "The Treatise on Grace")

Jonathan Edward's view of History

Jonathan Edwards wrote in the treatise "A Call to United Extraordinary Prayer" about how God is driving history to its ultimate end of God establishing His Kingdom of truth and righteousness.

...All the changes brought to pass in the world from age to age, are ordered by infinite wisdom, in one respect or other to prepare the way for that glorious issue of things, when truth and righteousness shall finally prevail, and he whose right it is shall take the kingdom. All the creatures in all their operations and motions continually tend to this. As in a clock all the motions of the whole system of wheels and movements, tend to the striking of the hammer at the appointed time. All the revolutions and restless motions of the sun and other heavenly bodies, from day to day, from year to year, and from age to age, are continually tending thither as all the many turnings of the wheels of a chariot in a journey tend to the appointed journey's end. The mighty struggles and conflicts of nations those vast successive changes which are brought to pass in the kingdoms and empires of the world, from one age to another, are as it were travail pangs of the creation, in order to bring forth this glorious event. And the scriptures represent the last struggles and changes that shall immediately precede this event as being the greatest of all as the last pangs of a woman in travail are the most violent.

Gloria and Luke 15:10

"Gloria!" I shouted at a quickly receding figure on the sidewalk.
"Jeff" replied Gloria as she bounced to a stop and turned around. "Guess what?" she asked as she walked towards me.
"You made a decision." I asserted tentatively.
"Yep, I'm a Christian." Gloria smiled. We were talking outside near Currier Hall. It was May at the end of the spring semester of my fourth but not my final year at the University of Iowa. It was a perfect spring day in Iowa.
She was my neighbor on the dorm floor. Her roommate was the girlfriend of the guy across the hall from me. We all hung out together at the dining hall and in our hall. She had been talking to some Christian friends of mine. We had sporadic conversations throughout the semester about my beliefs. Her biggest sticking point was what would other people think.
"You know what I keep thinking about?" She queried. Her eyes sparkled as she teased me.
"I don't know." I replied.
"You told me once that thousands of angels would rejoice if I became a Christian. I keep thinking about all those angels cheering."
"Luke 15:10" I said, remembering the conversation. I looked at her. She seemed at peace. Her faced beamed with heavenly joy. I'd never seen anyone so happy. I said, "I'm sure they are. Rita and the gang must be really happy."
She said softly, "Thank you, Jeff."
"You're welcome." I replied. She walked away. She graduated that semester. I never saw Gloria again.

I understood the economy of heaven better that day. God rejoices before angels over repenting sinners. Angels rejoice before God at His rejoicing. Heaven will be an eternal rejoicing of saints and angels over a God who is joying over them.

Jonathan Edwards on the Beauty of the Church

This is a quote from The Theology of Jonathan Edwards. The authors are describing Edwards's aesthetics. This passage is poignant about how Edwards viewed the Church.

As the saints perceive and respond to God's beauty, they themselves acquire a beauty that is "The moral image of God in them." The beauty of the saints consists in a comprehensive and well-ordered moral and spiritual character, free from disproportion and deformity, so that they become "proportioned Christians." As Edwards noted in Religious Affections: "Another thing wherein those affections that are truly gracious and holy, differ from those that are false, is beautiful symmetry and proportion." Similarly, in Charity and Its Fruits, Edwards spoke of the concomitant development of various virtues or of "Christian graces concatenated together." Faith, love hope humility, repentance, thankfulness, reverence, submission, patience, contentment, meekness--these and all other graces of the Christian life grow together and not in isolation. The spiritual beauty of the saints consists in a complex of discrete though interrelated virtues.

As each saint responds to the beauty of God, so each responds to the beauty of other saints. For one person's consent to being is not isolated from that of another person, and "it is naturally agreeable to perceiving being that being should consent to being." As a result, there is a multiplying effect of consent and beauty within the community of the saints. Each saint not only consents to God but to the consent of other saints to God--a process that comes to consummation in heaven. The holy community, joined together in unity, is a community of consent that possesses its own special beauty. For "union is spoken of in Scripture as the peculiar beauty of the church of Christ," and "tis one of the most beautiful and happy things on earth, which indeed makes earth most like heaven." Krister Sairsingh writes: "The church is the community which re-presents the divine community of consent. And in this human community of co-consenters to being in general, the divine glory becomes visible." Conrad Cherry comments that, Edwards's "theory of virtue brought into symbiotic relation the beauty of the cosmos, the beauty of human morality, and the beauty of divine benevolence."

(McClymond and Mcdermott, pp. 100-101)

I don't fully understand these thoughts, but it interesting to ponder that Edwards had several conflicts with his contentious congregation. This congregation eventually kicked him out from his pastorate and yet Edwards sees the Church as beautiful.

Calvin on Deacons

Calvin saw 2 classes of deacons in the church. One type that administer the gifts to the poor and the other type that took care of the poor.

The care of the poor was committed to deacons, of whom two classes are mentioned by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans, "He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity;" "he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness," (Rom. 12: 8.) As it is certain that he is here speaking of public offices of the Church, there must have been two distinct classes. If I mistake not, he in the former clause designates deacons, who administered alms; in the latter, those who had devoted themselves to the care of the poor and the sick. Such were the widows of whom he makes mention in the Epistle to Timothy, (1 Tim. 5: 10.) For there was no public office which women could discharge save that of devoting themselves to the service of the poor. If we admit this, (and it certainly ought to be admitted,) there will be two classes of deacons, the one serving the Church by administering the affairs of the poor; the other, by taking care of the poor themselves. For although the term "diakonia" has a more extensive meaning, Scripture specially gives the name of deacons to those whom the Church appoints to dispense alms, and take care of the poor; constituting them as it were stewards of the public treasury of the poor. Their origin, institution, and office, is described by Luke, (Acts 6: 3.) When a murmuring arose among the Greeks, because in the administration of the poor their widows were neglected, the apostles, excusing themselves that they were unable to discharge both offices, to preach the word and serve tables, requested the multitude to elect seven men of good reports to whom the office might be committed. Such deacons as the Apostolic Church had, it becomes us to have after her example. (Calvin’s Institutes. Book 4, Chapter 3, Section 9)

Calvin notes that deacons and elders(bishops) were selected by the suffrage of the people.

Luke relates that Barnabas and Paul ordained elders throughout the churches, but he at the same time marks the plan or mode when he says that it was done by suffrage. The words are, "Cheirotonesantes presbuterous kat' ekklesian", (Acts 14: 23.) They therefore selected (creabant) two; but the whole body as was the custom of the Greeks in elections, declared by a show of hands which of the two they wished to have. Thus it is not uncommon for Roman historians to say, that the consul who held the comitia elected the new magistrates for no other reason but because he received the suffrages, and presided over the people at the election. (Calvin’s Institutes Book 4, Chapter 3, Section 15).

House Church Movement in Scotland (1547-1559 A. D.)

I found this second-hand book at the Haunted House Bookstore called The Story of the Scottish Reformation by Renwick. It was published in 1960. I knew very little about the Reformation in Scotland and it was very cheap so I bought it. I found a historical parallel. The growth of the Church in Scotland foreshadowed the house church movement in China during the 1960s and 1970s. The French captured the Castle of Saint Andrews in the 1550s, which was a haven for the Reformation leaders. The leaders were made galley slaves and many thought the Reformation movement would die. However God is not bound by circumstance. Renwick described what happens:

When the Castle of St. Andrews was captured by the French it seemed as if the cause of the Reformed Church was lost. Scotland was virtually governed by the French, and the Roman Church seemed permanently established. Indeed, throughout all Europe, the the Protestant faith was at its lowest ebb. Yet the amazing fact emerges that, at this very time when the Protestant movement in Scotland was without a leader, the Reformed doctrines took an ever-increasing hold upon all classes. Thus, when, in 1555, John Knox returned from Geneva for a visit of a few months, he was overjoyed to find great masses of the people thirsting for the gospel. This he related in a letter to his mother-in-law, Mrs. Bowes, and declared they were 'night and day sobbing and groaning for the bread of life. If I had not seen it with my eyes in my own country, I could not have believed it. Depart I cannot until such time as God quench their thirst a little'.

Renwick pointed out that this time of exile was good for Knox too. Although he suffered horribly as a galley slave, when he was released he made it to mainland Europe and met with the Reformation leaders. He came back to Scotland a well-trained, and bold leader. Knox and the other leaders most probably had made wise plans, but God chose His own way. (Proverbs 16:9)

When the Chinese Communist regime kicked out the missionaries in the 1960s, many thought the Church in China would die. However, the church went underground and grew.

Sproul on the Christian's Main Business of Life -- Romans 12:11a

R. C. Sproul comments on Romans 12:11a:

My translation of the next phrase reads not lagging in diligence (v. 11a). An older translation reads "not slothful in business" (KJV). We are not to be lazy in business; however, Paul is not talking about commercial enterprise. The word business comes from the term busy-ness, which means we should be busy people, busy with the things of God. Jonathan Edwards gave a sermon about pressing into the Kingdom of God. "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take by force" (Matt. 11:12). Edwards said that those who have come to Christ have been born again and given a spirit of zeal to pursue the things of God with a sense of urgency and with hunger and passion. Therefore, it is the duty of every Christian to press into the kingdom of God, making that the main business of life. The kingdom of God cannot be a secondary interest for a true Christian. We are to be diligent and active in the things of God.

p. 423-424. St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary.

Audio Recordings of C. S. Lewis (BBC)

Here are 2 short recordings of two C. S. Lewis BBC talks that were given during the World War 2. These talks were put into print, collected, published later as "Mere Christianity."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHxs3gdtV8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYoU5_MQOU0&feature=related

Hawking/Mlodinow on the Godless Creation of the Universe

From the The Grand Design

We will describe how M-theory may offer answers to the question of creation. According to M-theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, M-theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing. Their creation does not require the intervention of some supernatural being or god. Rather, these multiple universes arise naturally from physical law. They are a prediction of science. Each universe has many possible histories and many possible states at later times, that is, at times like the present, long after their creation. Most of these states will be quite unlike the universe we observe and quite unsuitable for the existence of any form of life. Only a very few would allow creatures like us to exist. Thus our presence selects out from this vast array only those universes that are compatible with our existence. Although we are puny and insignificant on the scale of the cosmos, this makes us in a sense the lords of creation

(p. 9, Hawking and Mlodinow)

C. S. Lewis on the Universe

Brian Green thinks Christians place man in the center of the universe, but as C. S. Lewis points out God is greater and more infinite than any universe or multiverse that Man can dream up.

The size and emptiness of the universe which frightened us at the outset of this book, should awe us still, for though they may be no more than a subjective by-product of our three-dimensional imagining, yet they symbolise great truth. As our Earth is to all the stars, so doubtless are we men and our concerns to all creation; as all the stars are to space itself, so are all creatures, all thrones and powers and mightiest of the created gods, to the abyss of the self-existing Being, who is to us Father and Redeemer and indwelling Comforter, but of whom no man nor angel can say nor conceive what He is in and for Himself, or what is the work that he 'maketh from the beginning to the end'. For they are all derived and unsubstantial things. Their vision fails them and they cover their eyes from the intolerable light of utter actuality, which was and is and shall be, which never could have been otherwise, which has no opposite.

(C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 159)

Comparing Herman Witsius (Theologian) and Brian Greene's (Cosmologist) views on Man's purpose.

Brian Greene defines significance in this way:

Some people recoil at the notion of parallel worlds; as they see it, if we are part of a multiverse, our place and importance in the cosmos are marginalized. My take is different. I don't find merit in measuring significance by our relative abundance. Rather, what's gratifying about being human, what's exciting about being part of the scientific enterprise, is our ability to use analytical thought to bridge vast distances, journeying to outer and inner space and, if some of the ideas we'll encounter in this book prove correct, perhaps even beyond our universe. For me, it is the depth of our understanding, acquired from our lonely vantage point in the inky black stillness of a cold and forbidding cosmos, that reverberates across the expanse of reality and marks our arrival.

(p. 10, The Hidden Reality)

Witsius defines why God created Man:

The soul of man was formed for the contemplation of God, as the supreme truth, truth itself, and to seek after him, with all the affection of his soul as the supreme good, goodness itself; and it may be said truly to live, when it delights in the contemplation of that truth, and in the fruition of that goodness.

(The Economy of the Covenants Book I, Chapter V, Paragraph XIV).

So we might ask ourselves, what source of significance seems more compelling: getting to know an universe or even multiverse that seems increasingly cold and forbidding or to pursue knowing an infinite and personal God who creates us and invites us with open arms to know Him?

Calvin on Work and Prayer

In the Institutes Calvin elaborates on the Lord's Prayer. He explains why we have to pray for our daily bread even though we have good jobs and can provide for ourselves.

When we ask God to give us, the meaning is, that the thing asked is simply and freely the gift of God, whatever be the quarter from which it comes to us, even when it seems to have been specially prepared by our own art and industry, and procured by our hands, since it is to his blessing alone that all our labors owe their success.

(Institutes, Book III, Chapter XX, Paragraph 44).

God as our father.

I thought about my dad the other day. He was going through some family issues. I then thought about my sons and I reflected that a man cannot know the depth of a father's love for his children until he has children. Of course, I then remembered how incredible it was that God voluntarily sent His own only begotten Son to die for us. I could not comprehend the pain both the Father and the Son suffered for us. It was even more incredible that God adopted us as His children and that He loved us as His children.

I was reading Calvin's Institutes this morning. Calvin was teaching on the Lord's Prayer. He wrote the following about how God is our Father and prayer:

The first thing suggested at the very outset is, as we have already said (sec. 17ñ19), that all our prayers to God ought only to be presented in the name of Christ, as there is no other name which can recommend them. In calling God our Father, we certainly plead the name of Christ. For with what confidence could any man call God his Father? Who would have the presumption to arrogate to himself the honour of a son of God were we not gratuitously adopted as his sons in Christ? He being the true Son, has been given to us as a brother, so that that which he possesses as his own by nature becomes ours by adoption, if we embrace this great mercy with firm faith. As John says, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name," (John 1:12). Hence he both calls himself our Father, and is pleased to be so called by us, by this delightful name relieving us of all distrust, since no where can a stronger affection be found than in a father. Hence, too, he could not have given us a stronger testimony of his boundless love than in calling us his sons. But his love towards us is so much the greater and more excellent than that of earthly parents, the farther he surpasses all men in goodness and mercy (Isaiah 63:16). Earthly parents, laying aside all paternal affection, might abandon their offspring; he will never abandon us (Ps. 27:10), seeing he cannot deny himself. For we have his promise, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Mt. 7:11). In like manner in the prophet, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee," (Isaiah 49:15). But if we are his sons, then as a son cannot betake himself to the protection of a stranger and a foreigner without at the same time complaining of his father's cruelty or poverty, so we cannot ask assistance from any other quarter than from him, unless we would upbraid him with poverty, or want of means, or cruelty and excessive austerity.

(Institutes Book 3, Chapter 20, Paragraph 36).

Witsius on the Love of Our Neighbor

Witsius asserts that our love of God would dictate that we love our neighbor since our neighbor bears the image of God.

For, he who loves God, cannot but love His image too, in which he clearly views express characters of the Deity, and not a small degree of the brightness of his glory. Again, whoever loves God, will, by virtue of that love, seriously wish, desire, study, and as much as in him lies, be careful, that his neighbour, as well as himself, be under God, in God, and for God, and all he has, be for his glory. Again, whoever loves God, will make it his business, that God may appear every way admirable and glorious; and as he appears such most eminently in the sanctification and happiness of men, 2 Thess. 1. 10. he will exert himself to the utmost, that his neighbour make advances to holiness and happiness. Finally, whoever sincerelv loves God, will never think he loves and glorifies him enough; such excellencies he discovers in him, sees his name illustrious, and so exalted above all praise, as to long, that all mankind, nay all creatures, should join him in loving and celebrating the infinite perfections of God. But this is the most faithful and pure love of our neighbour, to seek that God may be glorified in him, and he himself be for the glory of God. Hence it appears, that the love of our neighbour is inseparably connected with that of God, If therefore it flows from the nature of God, to enjoin us the love of himself, as was just proved; it must likewise flow from the nature of God to enjoin us the love of our neighbour.

(The Economy of the Covenants).

Witsius on the Image of God in Man

Witsius defines what the Image of God means in reference to Adam before the fall.

But if we take in the whole extent of the image of God, we say, it is made up of these three parts. 1st, Antecedently, that it consists in the spiritual and immortal nature of the soul, and in the faculties of understanding and will, 2dly, Formally and principally, in these enduments, or qualities of the soul, viz. righteousness, and holiness. 3dly, Consequentially, in the immortality of the whole man, and his dominion over the creatures. The first of these was, as one elegantly expresses it, as precious ground on which the image of God might be drawn and formed: the second, that very image itself, and resemblance of the divinity: the third, the lustre of that image widely spreading its glory; and as rays, not only adorning the soul, but the whole man, even his very body; and rendering him the lord and head of the world, and at the same time immortal, as being the friend and confederate of the eternal God.

(p. 57, Witsius, Vol. 1)(Book I, Chapter II, paragraph XI))

Witsius on holiness

Witsius points out that holiness is not just abstaining from sin, but a fervent desire to please, to know, and to enjoy oneself in God.

It is finely observed by a learned man, that true holiness is not only opposed to hypocrisy or simulation, or to typical purity, but that it denotes a holy study of truth, proceeding from the love of God. For, osios, to which answers the Hebrew TJSPT,signifies in Scripture, one studious in, and eager after good. This true holiness,therefore denotes such a desire, of pleasing God, as is agreeable to the truth known of, and in him, and loved for him.

(Note that osios is a Greek word for holiness. JT)

p. 54, Witsius, "The Economy of the Covenants"

Herman Witsius on Man's Purpose

This an old translation of a latin text so it is hard to read. However, it has good ideas about the ultimate purpose of Man.

Nor was it becoming God to form a rational creature for any other purpose than his own glory; which such a creature, unless wise and holy, could neither perceive nor celebrate, as shining forth in the other works of God; destitute of this light, and deprived of the endument, what could it prove but the reproach of his Creator, and every way unfit to answer the end of his creation. All these particulars the wisest of kings, Eccles. vii. 29. has thrown together with a striking simplicity, when he says; “Lo! This only have I found, that God hath made man upright.”

---

pp. 51-52, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, Volume 1, Herman Witsius.

Herman Witsius and Baby Dedications

I was browsing a book by Herman Wits (or Witsius). He was a 17th century Dutch theologian. I found in the introduction that the publishers inserted a brief biography of Wits's life. Two passages about his parents came to mind when I was watching the baby dedications at church yesterday.

The parents of our Witsius, having vowed to devote a child to the ministry, did Upon the birth of this son, call him after his grandfather, praying, that in Herman the grandson, might be revived the spirit of the grandfather; and that, endued with equal, if not superior talents, he might imitate his example.

The grandfather was a famous preacher and theologian at that time. Here's the second quote:

The care which these pious parents took of young Witsius during his tender infancy, was not intermitted as he began to grow; for, being still mindful of their vow, they brought him up in a very pious manner, instructing him in the principles and precepts of religion and Christian piety.

I used to dream when my boys were young and it was obvious they both were much smarter than I, that they would go into physics or engineering. When they were older, I thought IT would be a good field for them. I did not even dream, let alone pray, that they should go into theology so they can serve in the ministry and further God's kingdom.

Another thought, are we as parents and our church as a whole as concerned about our children's spiritual growth as Wits's parents were about their child?

Brainard meditates on using one's time well.

David Brainard writes in his journal about the benefits of using one's time well. At this point in his life he is living in a Native American village on the pre-revolutionary frontier of America. His home is a shack that he just finished with his own hands. He suffers from TB and loneliness.

"Thursday, Aug. 4. Was enabled to pray much, through the whole day; and through divine goodness found some intenseness of soul in the duty, as I used to do, and some ability to persevere in my supplications. I had some apprehensions of divine things, that were engaging, and which afforded me some courage and resolution. It is good, I find, to persevere in attempts to pray, if I cannot pray with perseverance, i.e. continue long in my addresses to the Divine Being. I have generally found, that the more I do in secret prayer, the more I have delighted to do, and have enjoyed more of a spirit of prayer: and frequently have found the contrary, when with journeying or otherwise I have been much deprived of retirement. A seasonable, steady performance of SECRET DUTIES IN THEIR PROPER HOURS, and a CAREFUL IMPROVEMENT OF ALL TIME, filling up every hour with some profitable labour, either of heart, head, or hands, are excellent means of spiritual peace and boldness before God. Christ, indeed, is our peace, and by him we have boldness of access to God; but a good conscience void of offence, is an excellent preparation for an approach into the divine presence. There is difference between self-confidence or a self-righteous pleasing of ourselves -- as with our own duties, attainments, spiritual enjoyments -- which godly souls sometimes are guilty of, and that holy confidence arising from the testimony of a good conscience, which good Hezekiah had, when he says, "Remember, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart.' `Then (says the holy psalmist) shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy commandments.' Filling up our time with and for God, is the way to rise up and lie down in peace."

Witsius against Perfectionsim

Witsius likened the remains of the flesh in the Christian life to the nations that Israel did not drive out of the land as reported in "Judges." God uses the remains of the flesh to test us and to train us. Witsius lists out a few reasons God allows the influence of the flesh in the Christians life:

But known to God are the reasons of his conduct, in dispensing the operations of the Spirit of grace in believers, so that the remains of the flesh are not entirely expelled in this life, For, 1st. He would by this, shew the difference between earth and heaven, the time of warfare and of triumph, the place of toil and of rest, that we may the more earnestly long for our translation out of this valley of sin and misery into the heavenly country, where every thing shall be made perfect; and may with open arms, embrace death, which will bring us to the perfection, crying out with the apostle; "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me form the body of this death?" Rom. vii.24.

The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man Volume II by Herman Witsius (p. 47).

Dorothy L. Sayers on Work and Vocation

Sayers wrote a lot of articles on work. This is from "Why Work?"

The official Church wastes time and energy, and moreover, commits sacrilege, in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do Christian work – by which She means ecclesiastical work. The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is church embroidery, or sewage farming. As Jacques Maritain says: “If you want to produce Christian work, be a Christian, and try to make a work of beauty into which you have put your heart; do not adopt a Christian pose.” He is right. And let the Church remember that the beauty of the work will be judged by its own, and not by
ecclesiastical standards.

http://faith-at-work.net/Docs/WhyWork.pdf

G. K. Chesterton on God and Work

G. K. Chesterton viewed the making of products for personal use as one of the highest goods. The true path to happiness, according to Chesterton, is the self-sufficient home where the family produces goods for themselves. God is to be praised because he is the maker of things.

And this experience had made me profoundly sceptical of all the modern talk about the necessary dullness of domesticity; and the degrading drudgery that only has to make puddings and pies. Only to make things? There is no greater thing to be said of God Himself than that He makes things. The manufacturer cannot even manufacture things; he can only pay to have them manufactured

The Autobiography of G. K Chesterton by G. K. Chesterton.

Steve Jobs on Vocation

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” (Steve Jobs: Commencement Address at Stanford, June 2005)

My problem with Steve Jobs's view of life is intuition and one's inner voice can be wrong. Consider this quote from Dr. H. H. Holmes (1896)who was a mass murderer.

"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing." (Confession, 1896)

In Steve Jobs's case his inner voice changed the world in amazing ways, but one's inner voice is not a reliable guide in life to benefit the whole of society. There has to be a better way.

Richard Baxter on choosing your calling

I heard this quote first on Packer's teaching series on the Puritans but this website has it too: http://www.gracebaptist.ws/sermons/notes/PuritanStudy/Puritan1.html

"Choose that employment or calling in which
you may be most serviceable to God…
Choose not that in which you may be most
Rich or honorable in the world, but that in
which you may do most good…

In choosing a trade or calling, the first consideration should be the service of God and the public good, and therefore, that
calling that most conduceth to the public
good is to be preferred.

Work and Revelation 22:16

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
(Revelation 22:16 ESV)

God made us so that we can worship Him. Therefore, God made our hands and thus, the works of our hands should glorify God. What a great insult to God it must be to take the work of our hands which should glorify God and worship it as a god.

Calvin on Calling (Vocation)

The last thing to be observed is, that the Lord enjoins every one of us, in all the actions of life, to have respect to our calling. He knows the boiling restlessness of the human mind, the fickleness with which it is borne hither and thither, its eagerness to hold opposites at one time in its grasp, its ambition. Therefore, lest all things should be thrown into confusion by our folly and rashness, he has assigned distinct duties to each in the different modes of life. And that no one may to presume to overstep his proper limits, he has distinguished the different modes of life by the name of callings. Every man’s mode of life, therefore, is a kind of station assigned him by the Lord, that he may not be always driven about at random. So necessary is this distinction, that all our actions are thereby estimated in his sight, and often in a very different way from that in which human reason or philosophy would estimate them. There is no more illustrious deed even among philosophers than to free one’s country from tyranny, and yet the private individual who stabs the tyrant is openly condemned by the voice of the heavenly Judge. But I am unwilling to dwell on particular examples; it is enough to know that in everything the call of the Lord is the foundation and the beginning of right action. He who does not act with reference to it will never, in the discharge of duty, keep the right path. He will sometimes be able, perhaps, to give the semblance of something laudable, but whatever it may be in the sight of man, it will be rejected before the throne of God; and besides, there will be no harmony in the different parts of his life. Hence, he only who directs his life to this end will have it properly framed; because, free from the impulse of rashness, he will not attempt more than his calling justifies, knowing that it is unlawful to overleap the prescribed bounds. He who is obscure will not decline to cultivate a private life, that he may not desert the post at which God has placed him. Again, in all our cares, toils, annoyances, and other burdens, it will be no small alleviation to know that all these are under the superintendence of God. The magistrate will more willingly perform his office, and the father of a family confine himself to his proper sphere. Every one in his particular mode of life will, without repining, suffer its inconveniences, cares, uneasiness, and anxiety, persuaded that God has laid on the burden. This too, will afford admirable consolation, that in following your proper calling, no work, will be so mean and sordid as not to have a splendor and value in the eye of God. (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 10, Paragraph 6).

Habakkuk on performing work without God

Habakkuk 2:12-14 ESV

“Woe to him who builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity!

Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts

that peoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

O. Palmer Robertson comments on verse 14

The certitude of the vanity, the pointlessness of people's oppressive ways that build seemingly stable and worthwhile communities rests on the unchanging word of God that Habakkuk now quotes. Their consumption in the fire of God's judgment is not guaranteed simply by the rise and fall of many previous civiliaztions. Instead, it is the oath of Yahweh himself that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh that quarantees the vanity and futility of all efforts to the contrary. Beauty in song, in dance, in architecture--all to the glory of God--shall fill the earth as the waters covers the sea.

Rest in Hebrews 4

In his commentary on Hebrews called The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary, Homer A. Kent, jr. defines rest as used in Hebrews 4:

What is this rest of God? Certainly it did not connote the cessation of all activity, for that is contradicted by the Biblical teaching of miracles and providence, as well as by the statement of Jesus cited above (John 5:17). Inasmuch as the author takes us to God’s rest after creation, the prominent thought would seem to lie in the concept of the rest which comes with accomplishment, completion, and satisfaction. At the conclusion of creation, God “rested” from His project because it was accomplished; and because His work was good, His rest was also one of satisfaction and enjoyment. This rest of eternal blessedness and fulfillment is what God wants to share with His children.

(p. 82)

The highest proof of George Washington's Virtue

I've been reading a biography of George Washington. One of the most amazing things about Washington was that he stepped down after he won the revolutionary war. His troops adored him and the whole country idolized him. He could have easily became king of the United States. This stepping down from power, caused more admiration from Europe than his conduct of the war. Chernow writes:

When John Trumbull later painted a series of portraits for the U. S. Capitol, he chose Washington's resignation at Annapolis as one of the crowning moments of the founding era and the highest proof of Washington's virtue. At the time of the resignation, Trumbull was in London and recorded European wonderment at the news, saying that it "excites the astonishment and admiration of this part of the world." (p. 457, "Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow)

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20 (Solomon on Toil)

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (ESV)

Our days won't drag on. God's gift to us is the ability to focus on Him as our joy and the giver of gifts to us.

Live as you are called (1 Corinthians 7:14)

Interpreters from Luther to Calvin to modern day commentators treat this differently. I'm not sure how to treat this. I need to think about this in relation to work or vocation.

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

(1 Corinthians 7:17-24 ESV)

Job's Simile

To explain the futility of life, Job uses the simile of life is like the days of a hired hand:

[7:1] “Has not man a hard service on earth,
and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?
[2] Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
[3] so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
(Job 7:1-3 ESV)

Work in Heaven (Isaiah)

Paul Marshall points out that Isaiah 2:4, the nations will turn weapons of war into tools of work. In eternity, God will give us work to do to give Him glory.

He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
(Isaiah 2:4 ESV)

Later in Isaiah

[20] No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

for the young man shall die a hundred years old,

and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

[21] They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

(Isaiah 65:20-21; Isaiah 65:22-23 ESV)

[22] They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

[23] They shall not labor in vain

or bear children for calamity,

for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,

and their descendants with them.

(Isaiah 65:20-21; Isaiah 65:22-23 ESV)

Hannah On Work

In Hannah's prayer we see that God is in control of our success and failures.

The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's,
and on them he has set the world.
(1 Samuel 2:7-8 ESV)

Possessing the Gate of Your enemies

I noticed that two references concerning blessing refer to "possessing the gate of your enemies."  Look at God blessing Abraham:

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, (Genesis 22:17 ESV)

Now, look at Jesus commending Peter for Peter's identification of Jesus as the Christ. Jesus commends Peter and then blesses the Church:

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Both passages talk about basically possessing the gates of their enemies. I'm not sure what it means, but it is an interesting parallel.

Francis Schaffer on Work, Life and Death

His [Schaeffer] view of death and his own death was having confidence that life matters and that the world matters, that life and existence is something real, true and eternal and is not going to just disappear into thin air. Because of that you fight to live, and because of that you need to go out and carry on the good fight. You do matter, and God does exist. So you put your hand to the plow, you work and you struggle—you do what you can in all different areas, with passion. You don’t sit in a corner somewhere and wait to die. You don’t embrace death. You see death as a terrible, terrible enemy. What you look forward to is not death, but the Second coming. You are longing and working for that. Contrary to what people say—that you can’t take anything with you—yes, you do take your work with you. It’s a biblical teaching, that what you do matters and will continue on into eternity—building houses, walls, and hiking paths and the whole of human existence. You live with energy.

Colin Duriez quoting Debby Midelmann, 2007 about her father's, Francis Schaeffer, views on life and death.

Evangelism Under Constantine

There is little evidence of orthodox mission into barbarian territories. Even when the Roman Christians found themselves captured and confined outside the empire, the church was slow to send pastoral assistance. Christianity was planted among the barbarians, but it was carried by captives and traders, or through barbarians who served in Constantine's army, rather than through missionaries. ...

Yet this needs to be qualified in two ways. Barbarians did convert, but they converted not because missionaries were sent to them but because they migrated into the empire. ...

p. 289. Defending Constantine, Peter J. Leithart

Calvin on Work

Again, in all our cares, toils, annoyances, and other burdens, it will be no small alleviation to know that all these things are under the superintendence of God. The magistrate will more willingly perform his office, and the father of a family confine himself to his proper sphere. Every one in his particular mode of life will, without repining, suffer its inconveniences, cares, uneasiness, and anxiety, persuaded that God has laid on the burden. This too, will afford admirable consolation, that in following your proper calling, no work, will be so mean and sordid as not to have a splendour and value in the eye of God.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 10, Paragraph 6.

Calvin on physics and the natural sciences.

Book II. Chapter II Section 16. (p. 236) of the Calvin's Institutes.

But if the Lord has been pleased to assist us by the work and ministry of the ungody in physics, dialectics, mathematics, and other similar sciences, let us avail ourselves of it, lest, by neglecting the gifts of God spontaneously offered to us, we be justly punished for our sloth. Lest any one, however, should imagine a man to be very happy merely because, with reference to the elements of this world, he has been endued with great talents for the investigation of truth, we ought to add, that the whole power of intellect thus bestowed is, in the sight of God, fleeting and vain whenever it is not based on a solid foundation of truth.

Calvin on the Theater of God

Meanwhile, being placed in this most beautiful theatre, let us not decline to take a pious delight in the clear and manifest works of God. For, as we have elsewhere observed, though not the chief, it is, the first evidence of faith, to remember to which side soever we turn, that all which meets the eye is the work of God, and at the same time to meditate with pious care on the end which God had in view in creating it.

...when we consider how great the Architect must be who framed and ordered the multitude of the starry host so admirably, that it is impossible to imagine a more glorious sight, so stationing some, and fixing them to particular spots that they cannot move; giving a fitter course to others, yet setting limits to their wanderings; so tempering the movement of the whole as to measure out day and night, months, years, and seasons, and at the same time so regulating the inequality of days as to prevent everything like confusion. The former course is, moreover, exemplified when we attend to his power in sustaining the vast mass, and guiding the swift revolutions of the heavenly bodies, &c. These few examples sufficiently explain what is meant by recognising the divine perfections in the creation of the world. Were we to attempt to go over the whole subject we should never come to a conclusion, there being as many miracles of divine poser, as many striking evidences of wisdom and goodness, as there are classes of objects, nay, as there are individual objects, great or small, thoughout the universe.
Institutes of the Christian Religion Book I, Chap. XIV, Paragrahs 20 and 21.

9/11 Cross

I watched Huckaby on September 12, 2010. He had a big segment on the 9/11 cross. Steel beams were discovered in the 9/11 wreckage that were somehow transformed into the shape of the cross. He invited the construction worker who discovered the cross onto the show. The construction worker talked about how the beams gave him hope. He said it wasn't religious. It was for all mankind. Huckaby, then interviewed a Jewish rabbi. The rabbi thought it was great. He wasn't a Christian, but he supported this cross. It wasn't religious. It gave and continued to give hope to all mankind. The program then showed a photograph of a large group of people gathered with hands raised in worship.

"Oh my God!", I thought, "they separated the symbol of the cross from the person and work of Jesus Christ. They made a piece of wreckage an idol". They are worshiping a thing made by human hands as God. Man's foolishness knows no bounds.

Calvin on man being God's workmanship

For how can the idea of God enter your mind without instantly giving rise to the thought, that since you are his workmanship, you are bound, by the very law of creation, to submit to his authority?—that your life is due to him?—that whatever you do ought to have reference to him: If so, it undoubtedly follows that your life is sadly corrupted, if it is not framed in obedience to him, since his will ought to be the law of our lives.

(Institutes p. 41 Book 1. Chapter II, Section 3)

The Early Church and Missions

I am reading Justo Gonzalez's The Story of Christianity

He writes,

Another surprising fact about the early expansion of Christianity is that, after the new Testament, very little is said of any missionaries going from place to place, like Paul and Barnabas had done. It is clear that the enormous spread of the Gospel in those first few centuries was not due to full-time missionaries, but rather to the many Christians who traveled for other reasons—slaves, merchants, exiles condemned to work in the mines, and the like.

The real work of missions has always been the lay people.

Matthew B. Crawford: The moral significance of work

Shop Class as Soul Craft
The moral significance of work that grapples with material things may lie in the simple fact that such things lie outside the self. A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is broken, you have to ask what it needs. At such a moment, technology is no longer a means by which our mastery of the world is extended, but an affront to our usual self-absorption. Constantly seeking self-affirmation, the narcissist views everything as an extension of his will, and therefore has only a tenuous grasp on the world of objects as something independent. He is prone to magical thinking and delusions of omnipotence. A repairman, on the other hand, puts himself in the service of others, and fixes the things they depend on. His relationship to objects enacts a more solid sort of command, based on real understanding. For this very reason, his work also chastens the easy fantasy of mastery that permeates modern culture. The repairman has to begin each job by getting outside his own head and noticing things: he has to look carefully and listen to the ailing machine. p. 16 -17

Aristotle begins his Metaphysics with the observation that “all human beings by nature desire to know.” I have argued that real knowledge arises through confrontations with real things. Work, then, offers a broadly available premonition of philosophy. Its value, however, does not lie solely in pointing to some more rarefied experience. Rather, in the best cases, work may itself approach the good sought in philosophy, understood as a way of life: a community of those who desire to know. p. 199

Symmetry and the design of God

Dr. Stephen Barr on Symmetry in Creation

If symmetry is found in works of art of every sort, and is an important element in what it is to be beautiful, and if as well the laws of nature are based on symmetries that are so sophisticated and so deep that while we may study them with the tools of modern mathematics they lie far above our mental powers to appreciate on an intuitive level, does that not suggest the mind of an artist at work that if far above the level of our minds? When we contemplate this strange and beautiful universe, well may we ask, in the words of the poet Blake, “What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Modern Physics and Ancient Faith p. 104

Working hard and God working in us. (1 Cor. 15:10)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor. 15:10)

Paul Dirac quote on Beauty and Mathematics

I went to a lecture given by Stephen Barr. It was very good. He quoted Paul Dirac so I googled beauty on mathematics and got the following quote:

"God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world."

If you consider how God used Wisdom to create the universe, this statement makes a lot of sense.

Sabbath and denying ourselves -- Leviticus 16

Leviticus 16

"This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves [b] and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you- 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. 31 It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

I thought the connection between sabbath rest and denying ourselves was interesting. Christ is our atonement, but when have we deny ourselves on our day off?

Grandpa Thompson

Two events happened to me this week. First, I heard through the grapevine last week that an old friend of mine, Doug, is dying of cancer. His wife died of cancer a few years ago. Fortunately, he married again and his children are mostly grown, but I'm sure they were devastated when they heard the news. The doctors told him he has only a few years to go. It was sad. The second bit of news was my daughter-in-law told me she was pregnant last Saturday (01/16/2010).

These two events started me thinking. If I were to be diagnosed with cancer what would my legacy be to my grandchild or hopefully in the future, grandchildren. I am not writing so much about my physical life, but my spiritual life. My parents loved to travel and their stories of traveling around Europe and the United States were a fascinating legacy to me. My father is also into genealogy. This too is a legacy. I've traveled some for work, but I would like to think I would pass down a more spiritual legacy. I've study the bible for years. I've read C. S. Lewis, R. C. Sproul, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, John Owens, Alistair McGrath, Francis Schaefer, and J. I. Packer, and so much more. I've taken quite a spiritual journey for someone who is not a seminarian or scholastically trained in theology. I am wondering is there a way to pass this journey, this passion, onto my grandchild.

Jonathan Edwards on the Ennobling the Soul

From a Jonathan Edwards Sermon,

This is the most excellent and divine wisdom that any creature is capable of. It is more excellent than any human learning; it is far more excellent than all the knowledge of the greatest philosophers or statesmen. Yea, the least glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ doth more exalt and ennoble the soul, than all the knowledge of those that have the greatest speculative understanding in divinity without grace. This knowledge has the most noble object that is or can be, viz., the divine glory or excellency of God and Christ. The knowledge of these objects is that wherein consists the most excellent knowledge of the angels, yea, of God himself.

http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/supernatural_light.html

Because God Sees

I read about a group of women who were having dinner together shortly after one of them returned from Europe. One of the women, a stay-at-home mom, was particulary low in spirit that day. She hadn’t been to Europe or anywhere else exciting. Her life felt so drab she felt like she was invisible. She was surprised when her returning friend presented her with a gift. It was a book about the great cathedrals of Europe. Inside the cover, her friend had inscribed, “With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when only God sees.”

Inside the book she read the account of how one of the cathedrals was built. A visitor saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He watched the craftsman’s concentrated movements for a few minutes then looked up at the entire massive edifice under constant construction for a century. He asked the carver, “Why are you spending so mich time chiseling a tiny bird into a beam that will be covered by the stone roof: It will be hidden from everyone’s view.

Without looking away from his work, the craftsman replied, “Because God sees.”

As the woman read this story, she thought of the things in her life that were hidden from view: baking for church receptions, sewing patches on children’s jeans, bandaging scrapes, cleaning the house, then cleaning it again when it was left messy—she remembered now that God saw, and she felt better. Most of all, she realized that her friend had done a little carving on the weary beams of her soul. It was uplifting, edifying encouragement from a friend just at the right time—which is the way God uses us within the body, even when we don’t realize it.

David Jeremiah in Living with Confidence in Chaotic Times

Mom's death

My mom had alzheimer's. As far I can tell she had a stroke, then a aneurism, and then she died a few days later. My mom was in much pain for a few days. My dad was magnificent. He was with her as much as possible. He rubbed noses with her. He kissed her. He sweet talked her. He truly loved her. He told her they had a good life. He told her to think of all the trips they travelled together. My parents travelled to all the fifty states except Vermont. They travelled all over Western Europe. My dad even met some cousins in Norway. They had grand experiences together.

Maybe just because I'm her son I have a different perspective. Maybe, because I'm a Christian, I have a different perspective. My mom survived cancer and several other ailments to take care of and reared two boys and two girls. Three of the four children, earned Master Degrees. She volunteered as a den leader for Cub Scouts. She encouraged me to get my MBA. My mother lived a good life and she should have no regrets. I want to travel, but when someone comforts me when I lay dying, I want to be reminded of the people I encouraged and helped. How I was good husband and a good father. How much God loves me and how much it seems I loved God.

Mom, you were a great mother and I miss you deeply.

Mom

My mother was just sent to a hospice. For the lack of a better spot, here are some fond memories.

1. Mom was always there for us. She volunteered as a den leader for Cub Scouts. She always attended all the band events and Scouting events.
2. Mom loved garage sales. She always noticed a garage sale sign when she was driving or riding in a car. Early in my marriage, my wife and I were visiting my parents. She had cataracts at that time so she couldn't see very well. We were on I-29 headed into Council Bluffs. We had to be going at least 55 mph. Mom suddenly said, "Ooh! there is a garage sale!" She may not have been able to identify me from 20 feet a way, but a garage sale she could spot from miles away.
3. Mom was proper in front of the children. She never swore and was embarassed when other people used crude language. My brother and I were about 10 years-old I think. We were asking the visiting farm expert, grandma, what the things were that hung down from the utter. My grandma said 'Teats,' which in southwestern Iowan sounded like 'Tits.' Mom said, "oh mom!" We started laughing. Grandma, "Now, Janet what else do you call them?" Mom was a little discouraged.
4. One of mom's favorite stories was how she would sometimes ride a horse to school. I always thought that was cool.
5. Mom was always a fan of basketball. She played 6-player basketball when she was in high school. I think she said she was a good passer and shot the long shot. One of my mom's biggest disappoints is that none of her children were in organized sports like basketball.
6. Mom and dad danced together, they played cards together. They got along incredibly well. Their favorite song to dance to was "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown." by Jim Croce.
7. Mom had an incredible social intelligence before her alzheimers. Grandma and she would talk about who was related to who. Dad and mom used to talk about her relations too. I carpooled with a guy, Ron Goshorn from Shelby. Over the years we talked. Since Underwood is close to Shelby, we found out that Ron's dad and uncle worked for my grandma. Later on, I found Ron was related to Jack Hester. My mom said, "oh yes." She then identified how Ron and I were related to each other. Something like second cousins through a marriage.

Owen on Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

(Zephaniah 3:17 KJV).

God joys over us. According to Owen, the word means an outward expression of joy such as leaping. God is so happy that he is singing over us.

Here is the quote from Chapter 3 in Communion of God by John Owen.

(1st.) The love of God is so. Zeph. 3: 17, "The LORD thy
God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will
rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love; he will
joy over thee with singing." Both these things are here
assigned unto God in his love, - REST and DELIGHT. The words
are, "yacharish be'ahavato" - "He shall be silent because of
his love." To rest with contentment is expressed by being
silent; that is, without repining, without complaint. This God
does upon the account of his own love, so full, so every way
complete and absolute, that it will not allow him to complain
of any thing in them whom he loves, but he is silent on the
account thereof Or, "Rest in his love;" that is, he will not
remove it, - he will not seek farther for another object. It
shall make its abode upon the soul where it is once fixed, for
ever. And COMPLACENCY or DELIGHT: "He rejoiceth with singing;"
as one that is fully satisfied in that object he has fixed his
love on. Here are two words used to express the delight and
joy that God has in his love, - "yasis" and "yagil". The first
denotes the inward affection of the mind, joy of heart; and to
set out the intenseness hereof, it is said he shall do it
"besimchah", - in gladness, or with joy. To have joy of heart
in gladness, is the highest expression of delight in love. The
latter word denotes not the inward affection, but the outwards
demonstration of it: "agalliain" seems to be formed of it. It
is to exult in outward demonstration of internal delight and
joy; - " Tripudiare," to leap, as men overcome with some
joyful surprisal. And therefore God is said to do this
"berinnah" - with a joyful sound, or singing. To rejoice with
gladness of heart, to exult with singing and praise, argues
the greatest delight and complacency.

Rejoicing in the Lord

"And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake." Deut. 12:18c.

"Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things" (Deut. 28:47)

How can this be? How can God command our emotions? How can God command us to have gladness of heart? Maybe, God is commanding the way things ought to be and not commanding if we can do the commands with an unregenerated heart.

Struggling in Prayer

Colossians 4:12

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

Romans 15:30

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,

These passages have convicted me. When is the last time I struggled or wrestled in prayer for the maturity of the members in my local Church?