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Loving our enemies - 17 March 2009

What a Saviour. What a man.

He loved not only his friends, but also his enemies, which in their hearts bare exceeding great hatred against him, and with their tongues spake all evil of him, and in their acts and deeds pursued him with all their might and power, even unto death. (The First Book of Homilies, p. 63)

Stop kidding yourself - 16 March 2009

No Christian ever thinks he is being uncharitable, largely because we adapt our standards to fit our capacity. But there is only one true standard for Christian charity:

And forsomuch as almost every man maketh and frameth to himself charity after his own appetite; and, how detestable soever his life be both unto God and man, yet he persuaded himself still that he hath charity. Therefore ye shall hear now a true and plain description or setting forth of charity, not of men’s imagination, but of the very words and example of our Saviour Jesus Christ. (The First Book of Homilies, p. 61)

Accordingly:

Charity is also to love every man, good and evil, friend and foe, and whatsoever cause be given to the contrary. (The First Book of Homilies, p. 62)

A neat way out of a sticky situation - 16 March 2009

Imagine. You’re Thomas Cranmer, desperately trying to reform the English church in the mid-16th century, and you’ve got a problem. Hardly any of the clergy have the first clue how to preach (medieval Roman Catholic ministry training didn’t exactly major in homiletics), and on the odd occasion you find one who can, you probably wish (for doctrinal reasons) that he wouldn’t.

What do you do?

Easy. You write a whole pile of Sermons, Appointed by the Queen’s Majesty, to be Declared and Read by all Parsons, Vicars, and Curates, every Sunday and Holiday in their Churches; and by her Grace’s Advice Perused and Overseen for the Better Understanding of the Simple People.

Enter, if you would, The First Book of Homilies (online version slightly different from my printed edition, but pretty close).

Here’s a taste from the ‘Sermon of Christian Love and Charity’.

Of all things that be good to be taught unto Christian people, there is nothing more necessary to be spoken of, and daily called upon, then charity. (The First Book of Homilies, p. 61)

Another book on Jonah - 13 March 2009

Leslie C. Allen, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah (NICOT). Another solid evangelical commentary, less technical and easier to read than Stuart. Pretty short, but with some thought-provoking moments, like this one:

A Jonah lurks in every Christian heart, whimpering his insidious message of smug prejudice, empty traditionalism, and exclusive solidarity. He that has ears to hear, let him hear and allow the saving love of God which has been outpoured in his own heart to remold his thinking and social orientation. (p. 235)

Ambitious parents - 11 March 2009

More from C. J. Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness:

If you’re a parent, I ask you to consider carefully your influence on your children and your responsibility for them. What are your ambitions for them? … Are any of your ambitions for your child more important to you than their cultivation of humility and servanthood – the basis for true greatness as biblically defined? … Am I an example to my children of true greatness as defined in Scripture? … Here’s a recommendation: If you’re a parent, don’t celebrate anything else more than you celebrate godly character in your children … Let’s make sure we are highlighting that which really matters in the eyes of God. (pp. 157, 159, 160-161)

What do YOU know about suffering? - 11 March 2009

C. J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness, pp. 148-149

I admit, you may be intimately familiar with painful suffering to a degree that I personally can’t relate to, and if so, you might be saying, ‘Who are you to talk to me about suffering?’ … Here’s what Habakkuk learned: Those who know true joy in the midst of suffering are those who recognize that, in this life, our suffering is never as great or as serious as our sins. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, ‘How far less [are] the greatest afflictions that we meet with in this world … than we have deserved!’

Books on Jonah - 10 March 2009

Phyllis Trible, Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method and the Book of Jonah. Thought-provoking narrative-critical study. Packed with ideas. Technical. Non-evangelical.

Phillip Cary, Jonah (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible). Hilarious, insightful, glittering prose. Easy to read. Non-evangelical.

Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah (Word Biblical Commentary). Solid, informative, though sometimes under-reads the subtlety of the text. Technical. Evangelical.

Anxiety and humility - 10 March 2009

C. J. Mahaney on 1 Peter 5:6-7 – ‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.’

Where there’s worry, where there’s anxiousness, pride is at the root of it. When I am experiencing anxiety, the root issue is that I’m trying to be self-sufficient. I’m acting independent of God. What’s the solution? Humble yourself, God says. (Humility: True Greatness, p. 75)

The unsleeping enemy - 10 March 2009

C. J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness, p. 69:

Sin – including especially the sin of pride – is active, not passive. Sin doesn’t wake up tired, because it hasn’t been sleeping.

This shouldn’t be tempting - 10 March 2009

Another tough question, and an incisive answer, from C. J. Mahaney:

Consider your own life for just a moment. Where would you be today if He hadn’t ransomed you, if He hadn’t liberated you? I’ll tell you where. You would be self-sufficient, seeking to cultivate self-confidence for the purpose of self-glorification. (Humility: True Greatness, p. 58)

Spot on. So why do we regard self-sufficiency and self-confidence as virtues? Unbelievers live like that. Steer clear.

Humility: True Greatness - 7 March 2009

I’m becoming quite a fan of C. J. Mahaney, and especially his book Humility: True Greatness. And I’m not the only one. According to Carl Trueman, it’s ‘a deceptively easy but devastating read. Counter-cultural and deeply Christian, it is perhaps the most important book I’ve read for a long time.’

He’s plundered the spiritual Greats for great one-liners, like this one, from John Stott:

At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend. (p. 29)

Or this, from John Calvin:

God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can. (p. 33)

Wise fools - 2 March 2009

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. (James 3:13)

Listen to Thomas Manton:

Men of abstracted conceits and sublime speculations are but wise fools; like the lark, that soareth high, peering and peering, but falleth into the net of the fowler. (Thomas Manton, James, p. 299)