GOSPEL DELTA

Gospel Truth

// August 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

3 Questions to Ask People

// August 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life

Three questions to ask people from Matt Adair:

1. Who’s walking through this with you? (Big Idea: you were created for community)
2. Who are you serving this week? (Big Idea: you were created to join God in his mission)
3. Are you moving closer to or further away from Jesus? (Big Idea: you were created for Jesus)

HT: JDodson

David Payne as CS Lewis

// August 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life

Here’s a video of David Payne‘s one-man show as C.S. Lewis–the setting is 1963 (the last year of CSL’s life), addressing in his home a group of writers from America. It gives you a great sense of the man behind the writings (however imprefect the impression), and a solid overview of his life. It’s an hour and a half in length:

William Wilberforce turns 250

// August 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection, Doctrine, Life

Today is the 250th birthday of William Wilberforce.

Here’s a nice 10-minute video overview of his life.

John Piper has been Twittering about the man and his beliefs all day today:

1. JohnPiper: William Wilberforce’s 250th birthday: “He was a most cheerful Christian. His harp appeared to be always in tune.” (about 3 hours ago)
2. JohnPiper: Wilberforce: “William insisted on eating as many meals as possible with the children, and he joined in their games.” (about 3 hours ago)
3. JohnPiper: A Duke to Wilberforce: “You have made me so entirely forget you are a great man by seeming to forget it yourself.” (about 3 hours ago)
4. JohnPiper: Oh to be like him! Best quote about Wilberforce: “His presence was as fatal to dullness as to immorality.”
5. JohnPiper: Wilberforce the Christian Hedonist: “Joy is enjoined on us as our bounden duty and commended to us as acceptable worship.” (about 2 hours ago)
6. JohnPiper: True Christianity: “Holiness does not precede reconciliation to God as its CAUSE; but FOLLOWS it, as its EFFECT” Wilberforce (about 2 hours ago)
7. JohnPiper: Christian: “When all around is dark, he can lift an eye to Heaven, radiant with hope, glistening with gratitude.” Wilberforce (about 2 hours ago)
8. JohnPiper: That’s all on Wilberforce for now. All the quotes are documented at http://ow.ly/laAj (about 2 hours ago)

Piper has also written a brief article emphasizing Wilberforce’s theological understanding of  the doctrines of justification and reconciliation as the basis for the entire Christian life. Here is an excerpt from the article:

William Wilberforce: The Gigantic Truths of the Gospel

By John Piper

Author of Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce

CBN.com – The main burden of Wilberforce’s book A Practical View of Christianity is to show that true Christianity, which consists in these new, indomitable spiritual affections for Christ, is rooted in the great doctrines of the Bible about sin and Christ and faith.¹ “Let him then who would abound and grow in this Christian principle, be much conversant with the great doctrines of the Gospel.”² “From the neglect of these peculiar doctrines arise the main practical errors of the bulk of professed Christians. These gigantic truths retained in view, would put to shame the littleness of their dwarfish morality. . . . The whole superstructure of Christian morals is grounded on their deep and ample basis.”³ There is a “perfect harmony between the leading doctrines and the practical precepts of Christianity.”⁴ And thus it is a “fatal habit”-so common in his day and ours-”to consider Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrines.”5

Christ Our Righteousness

More specifically, it is the achievement of God through the death of Christ that is at the center of “these gigantic truths” leading to the personal and political reformation of morals. The indomitable joy that carries the day in time of temptation and trial is rooted in the cross of Christ. If we would fight for joy and endure to the end in our struggle with sin, we must know and embrace the full meaning of the cross.

If we would . . . rejoice in [Christ] as triumphantly as the first Christians did; we must learn, like them to repose our entire trust in him and to adopt the language of the apostle, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ” [Gal. 6:14], “who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” [1 Cor. 1:30].⁶

In other words, the joy that triumphs over all obstacles and perseveres to the end in the battle for justice is rooted most centrally in the doctrine of justification by faith. Wilberforce says that all the spiritual and practical errors of the nominal Christians of his age-the lack of true religious affections and moral reformation-

RESULT FROM THE MISTAKEN CONCEPTION ENTERTAINED OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY. They consider not that Christianity is a scheme “for justifying the ungodly” [Rom. 4:5], by Christ’s dying for them “when yet sinners” [Rom. 5:6-8], a scheme “for reconciling us to God-when enemies [Rom. 5:10]; and for making the fruits of holiness the effects, not the cause, of our being justified and reconciled.⁷

Read the rest here:
http://www.cbn.com/special/amazingGrace/Articles/piper_Wilberforce2.aspx?option=print

Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce

Download this book (PDF).

“Against great obstacles William Wilberforce, an evangelical member of Parliament, fought for the abolition of the African slave trade and against slavery itself until they were both illegal in the British Empire. Many are aware of Wilberforce’s role in bringing an end to slavery in Great Britain, but few have taken the time to examine his beliefs and motivations that spurred him on for decades. In this concise volume, John Piper tells the story of Wilberforce’s transformation from an unbelieving young politician into a radically God-centered Christian and how his deep spirituality helped to change the moral outlook of a nation.

As world leaders debate over how to deal with a host of social justice and humanitarian crises, a closer look at Wilberforce’s life and faith serves as an encouragement and an example to all believers. “

How a Prayer Meeting Changed Britain

// August 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection

Here is an excerpt from an article I read today about prayer and the beginning of the Great Awakening in Britain. The author quotes the journals of Wesley and Whitefield. I found it encouraging to know that great movements of God throughout history have been sparked by ordinary people meeting on ordinary days to simply open their Bibles and pray.  

“Mon. Jan. 1, 1739 – Mr. Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother Charles, were present at out love-feast in Fetter Lane, with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried our for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his Majesty, we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.’” (John Wesley Journal, Baker edition, p.170)   Whitefield, writing of the same occasion, said, “O that our despisers were partakers of our joys!” (GW Journal, p.196) And looking back on that brief season after returning from America, as friends gathered in London to pray, he wrote:   “New wine! – Sometimes whole nights were spent in prayer. Often have we been filled as with new wine. And often have we seen them overwhelmed with the divine presence and crying out, ‘Will God indeed dwell with men upon earth? How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven!’” (John Gillies, Memoirs of the Life of George Whitefield, Dilly, p.34)   This amazing season of prayer, and this company of sixty, mainly young men, would usher in a new day for the British Isles.  (HT: AdrianWarnock.com)

  And J.C. Ryle, the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, had this wonderful thing to say about the overarching importance of prayer in the Christian life:   

“Never be surprised if you hear ministers of the gospel dwelling much on the importance of prayer. This is the point we want to bring you to; we want to know that you pray. Your views of doctrine may be correct. Your love of Protestantism may be warm and unmistakable. But still this may be nothing more than head knowledge and party spirit. We want to know whether you are actually acquainted with the throne of grace, and whether you can speak to God as well as speak about God.Do you wish to find out whether you are a true Christian? Then rest assured that my question is of the very first importance – Do you pray?”

~ J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer, p. 7

Thoughts on Conversion

// August 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection

“Nothing I can remember to this day appeared to me so clear and distinct, as my own sinfulness, Christ’s preciousness, the value of the Bible, the absolute necessity  of coming out of the world, the need of being born again… All these things, I repeat, seemed to flash on me like a sunbeam in the winter of 1837…Before that time I was dead in sins and on the high road to hell, and from that time I have become alive and had a hope of heaven. And nothing to my mind can account for it, but the free sovereign grace of God.” ~ J.C. Ryle, J.C. Ryle: A Self-Portrait, p. 41-43

“Sense of sin and deep hatred of it, faith in Christ and love to Him, delight in holiness and longing after more of it, love for God’s people and distaste for the things of the world, – these are the signs and evidences which always accompany conversion.” ~ J.C. Ryle, Practical Religion, p. 11

“We turn from our own righteousness. Before conversion, man seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, and to make himself acceptable with God, by his own duties. He is apt to trust in himself, and set up his own righteousness, and to reckon his pennies for gold, and not to submit to the righteousness of God. But conversion changes his mind; now he counts his own righteousness as filthy rags. He casts it off, as a man would the verminous tatters of a nasty beggar. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit, complains of and condemns himself; and all his inventory is, ‘I am poor, and miserable, and wretched, and blind, and naked!’ [Rev 3:17]. He sees a world of iniquity in his holy things, and calls his once-idolized righteousness but filth and loss; and would not for a thousand worlds be found in it! Now he begins to set a high price upon Christ’s righteousness. He sees the need of Christ in every duty, to justify his person and sanctify his performances; he cannot live without Him; he cannot pray without Him. Christ must go with him, or else he cannot come into the presence of God; he leans upon Christ, and so bows himself in the house of his God. He sets himself down for a lost undone man without Him; his life is hid in Christ, as the root of a tree spreads in the earth for stability and nourishment. Before, the gospel of Christ was a stale and tasteless thing; but now—how sweet is Christ! Augustine could not relish his once-admired Cicero, because he could not find in his writings the name of Christ. How emphatically he cries, ‘O most sweet, most loving, most kind, most dear, most precious, most desired, most lovely, most fair!’ all in a breath, when he speaks of and to Christ. In a word, the voice of the convert is, with the martyr, ‘None but Christ!’ ~Joseph Alleine, Alarm to the Unconverted, 1671

Before your conversion you used to hear moral essays, and to yield your assent to the excellence of virtue, but when temptation attacked you, what help could mere moral essays afford you? What strength to resist sin did you find in your belief in the excellence of virtue? Did you not resign yourself to the energy of evil as the snow melts in the fierce heat of the sun? But now since you have been converted, you are not kept from sin by fear but by love, and you are not impelled to holiness because you are afraid of hell, but because, being saved from the wrath to come and loved with an everlasting love, you cannot be so recreant [unfaithful] to your heart’s love and to every hallowed impulse of gratitude as to turn back to the beggarly elements from which you have been delivered. What the law could not do with its iron fetters, the gospel has done with its silken bonds. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “A Savior Such As You Need,” delivered October 7, 1866.

The Story of Blaise Pascal’s Conversion:

“On November 23, 1654, Pascal is said to have been involved in an accident at the Neuilly-sur-Seine bridge where the horses plunged over the parapet and the carriage nearly followed them. Fortunately, the reins broke and the coach hung halfway over the edge. Pascal and his friends emerged unscathed, but the sensitive philosopher, terrified by the nearness of death, fainted away and remained unconscious for some time. Upon recovering fifteen days later, between 10:30 and 12:30 at night, Pascal had an intense religious vision. He was reading the 17th Chapter of John when he had a life-changing encounter with God, and he immediately recorded the experience in a brief note to himself:

Year of Grace 1654

Monday 23 November, feast of St. Clement, Pope and Martyr, and of

others in the Martyrology.

Eve of St. Crysogonus, martyr and others.

From about half past ten at night to about half an hour after midnight,

FIRE

“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6), not of philosophers and scholars.

Certitude, heartfelt joy, peace.

God of Jesus Christ.

God of Jesus Christ.

“My God and Your God” [John 20:17].

“Your God shall be my God” [Ruth 1:16].

The world forgotten, everything except God.

He can only be found in by the ways that have been taught in the Gospels.

Greatness of the human soul.

“O righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You” [John 17:25].

Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy. . . .

I will not forget thy word. Amen. [Psalm 119:16]

This note was found sewn into his clothing after his death; evidently he carried it with him at all times. This piece is now known as Pascal’s Memorial.”

Luther’s Conversion Experience:

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also fount in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strenght of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God.

The Apostle Paul’s Conversion Experience:

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. ~Acts 9:3-19

Must-See Sermons from Mars Hill Church’s “Trial” Series

// August 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

NOTES: PERSEVERANCE UNTIL GOD IS FINISHED WITH YOU

NOTES: MARRIAGE AND MEN

Notes from a Tilt a Whirl

// August 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection

Book Review by Justin Taylor:

N.D. Wilson’s Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl is certainly unlike any book I’ve read before. I pity the publicist whose job it is to provide a soundbite or snapshot from the book!

How would one describe it?

Wide-eyed, look-ma-no-hands exuberant enjoyment on this spinning tilt-a-whirl we call Earth as it passes through its four seasons?

In-your-face mockery of the atheists and their god called Boom?

Full-throated defense of a good and sovereign God in a world of pain and evil?

A poetic exploration of eucatastrophe?

A gospel tract for postmodern times?

All of the above.

If I had to summarize it in a word, I’d choose provocative—in the old-fashioned sense of provoking, prodding, stimulating, inciting. To do what? To see and to sense and to smell the glory all around us.

Wilson is one of those literalists—he takes Solomon and Jesus seriously when they say to “observe the ant” and to “consider the lilies of the field.” Wilson doesn’t stare at them for a few minutes or look them up on Wikipedia–he gathers the kids and gets dirt on his chin and engages in delightful, obedient study.

And then he does the same with topics like heaven and hell, gospel and grief, wonder and disbelief.

The result—for those of us willing to following the biblical paradox of being childlike without being childish—is that we feel like fish being pulled out of the water for a few moments, finally able to see with new eyes what we have long taken for granted.

Calvin wrote about how God’s powers are portrayed for us as in a painting, that we stand within and enjoy the theater of God’s glory, and that the created world is a mirror of God’s divinity. If you want a faithful and creative exploration of what this means, Notes from the Til-a-Whirl will help you greatly enjoy the ride!

Publisher’s Weekly recently gave it a nice review:

Hold your breath and throw your hands in the air! This theological ride thrills with a colorful whir of profound and profoundly amusing meditations on creation, existence and God. Influenced by his evangelical Christian faith, Wilson (Leepike Ridge) uses an engaging, casual style in this personal notebook of spiritual thought as he offers readers a peek into his world of unapologetic wonder. Spinning through the pages, reflections on philosophers, theologians, leeches and kittens offer dazzling new perspective on the bright lights and dark corners of our carnival-like existence. Wilson’s most striking achievement in all his whirling musings is an ever-present insistence on optimism. Even when contemplating death, he cheerfully concludes that he will then have admission to “go on the gnarly rides” of immortality. Indeed, Wilson excels in his elegantly intricate arguments for hope: even a naked mole rat matters. Yes, the prose often jolts and reels on its paper track. It can be an unsettling ride. But that is the poetry of a tilt-a-whirl—the poetry of living.

And this is Doug Wilson’s explanation for the book:

The conceit for the book is that the solar system is a ride at a carnival, with circular motions inside circular motion. Not only do we have the carnival-like motions, we have a carnival-like environment, gaudy colors and situations included. The book works through the four quadrants of one trip around the circumference, through the seasons of winter, spring, summer, autumn. Those who don’t get either thrilled or sick (or both) in the ride are those who, in the name of realism, resolutely ignore everything that is going on all around them, and they ignore it all day long.

As they are on display in this book, Nate’s gifts revolve around a very basic truth. He has the same ability that Chesterton had, that of making ordinary things seem extraordinary, and then with a start you realize that it is not a verbal trick — ordinary things are extraordinary. Why don’t we see that more often? I mean look at a walnut, for Pete’s sake.

A metaphor is a twisted and circuitous route that goes straight to the truth. Some metaphors are so convoluted that they get there right away. This book is just crammed with them.