Christians responding to suffering

Over the last week, Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, has been sharing the insights of some friends on the topic of Christians responding to suffering. See his blog – Imaginary Diocese.

God displays his wisdom — through the church!

John Piper spoke at the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town a week or so ago – on Ephesians 3 and the breathtaking wisdom of God.

It’s worth watching his full talk. See it via The Proclamation Trust website.

Oversight: in the grip of grace — by John Woodhouse

Paul’s description of what is needed in an overseer in 1 Timothy 3:2-7 presents a picture of a person who is firmly in the grip of the glorious gospel of God’s grace.

“when Paul describes what is needed in those who do the work of oversight in a church, he does not mention many of things that we might have expected.”

Today we have all been touched by the culture of celebrity. We have imbibed ideas about leadership from the business world. Furthermore as we see too many churches in decline, and too few growing, we long for people with new, bold ideas and the energetic drive to change things. But when Paul describes what is needed in those who do the work of oversight in a church, he does not mention many of things that we might have expected.   Read more

Hell: Remembering the Awful Reality

“To speak of hell is to speak of things so overwhelming that it cannot be done with ease.

Yet hell exists; this is the testimony of the Scriptures, of the apostles, and of the Lord Jesus himself. The emotionally intolerable is also the truth — and therein lies its awfulness.

It is incumbent on the Christian pastor to be familiar with it, to feel the weight of it, to preach it, and to counsel his flock in connection with its meaning and personal implications.”

– Sinclair Ferguson is one of the contributors to the latest 9Marks eJournal, just released.

Read online – or download as a PDF file – from 9Marks.

Carl Trueman interviewed at Oak Hill

Carl Trueman, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary was a Visiting Lecturer at Oak Hill College in London earlier this year.

Principal Mike Ovey asked him about the doctrines of Scripture and of Justification in three videos just posted on the Oak Hill website.

Part 1: The doctrine of Scripture.
Part 2: The doctrine of Justification.
Part 3: Holiness and the New Perspective on Paul.

Total running time of about 24 minutes. Worth watching.

Christ-centred Communion – Further thoughts (full series)

Barry Newman has been adding to his series on ‘Christ-centred Communion’ and has now completed his ‘further thoughts’.

Even if you don’t agree with it all, you’ll find it stimulating and edifying.

John Woodhouse on 1 Samuel at Christ the Center

Recently Moore College Principal John Woodhouse was interviewed on 1 Samuel for the Christ the Center programme.

It’s at 21MB download – see the small [»] play and [?] download links at the top of this page. Variable audio quality, but well worth hearing.

“Any faithful exposition of God’s word will proclaim Chrust.”

(h/t Faith by hearing.)

Christ Centred Communion – further thoughts (part V)

“…in all future Passover meal celebrations, the disciples could do nothing other than see in such meals remembrance events that focussed on the death of Jesus rather than on the Exodus event.”
– Barry Newman recaps on his earlier posts on Christ Centred Communion.

Barry’s blog is very helpful in encouraging readers to think about the meaning of Scripture.

Why we still need Confession of Sin

It’s become trendy for churches to drop a corporate confession of sin. Kevin DeYoung writes:

“If your church does not regularly confess sin and receive God’s assurance of pardon you are missing an essential element of corporate worship. It’s in the weekly prayer of confession that we experience the gospel. It’s here that we find punk kids and Ph.D.’s humbled together, admitting the same human nature. It’s here we, like Pilgrim, can unload our burden at the foot of the cross.”

– read his full article here. Want some help? One place to start is Better Gatherings.

Expecting what God promises

Richard Baxter:

“What keeps us under trouble is either we do not expect what God has promised [suffering], or we expect what he did not promise [an easy life]. We are grieved at crosses, losses, wrongs of our enemies, unkind dealings of our friends, sickness, or for contempt and scorn in the world. But who encouraged you to expect any better?” (Voices From the Past, 138)

– quoted by Stephen Altrogge at The Blazing Center.

Thomas Cranmer’s ‘True and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament’

In 1990, D A Scales wrote a paper for Churchman on Cranmer’s doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Church Society has just republished it.

“The doctrine of the Lord’s Supper was not unimportant in Cranmer’s eyes, because that Sacrament speaks of the central doctrines of the Christian faith—of salvation through the atoning death of Christ. It was instituted, in St. Paul’s words, to proclaim the Lord’s death till he come: right views of the death of Christ and right views of the sacrament will tend to go together; false views of the sacrament will tend to obscure an understanding of our salvation through the finished work of Christ…”

See it here – PDF file.

J.C. Ryle on Success, Humility and Ministry

J.C. Ryle, meditating on Luke 10:17-24:

“We learn, from this passage, how ready Christians are to be puffed up with success. It is written, that the seventy returned from their first mission with joy, “saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through your name.” There was much false fire in that joy…”

– read the full quote, posted by Ligon Duncan, at Reformation21.

Related:

“Even though many of his books are still in print, Ryle seems no longer to be in fashion. This is a pity because his kind of teaching is the answer to the superficial atmosphere in which we live, and in which many who call themselves Evangelicals are hardly distinguishable from those who deny the foundation truths of the Gospel.”

– ‘Bishop Ryle and me’ – David Phipps in Cross†Way (PDF file).

Church, mission, evangelism and programs

“… what has become known as the Knox-Robinson doctrine of the church, or the Sydney doctrine of the church, was never just an idiosyncratic expression of Australian anti-authoritarianism. It arose out of the revival of evangelical biblical scholarship following World War II — Alan Stibbs produced some of his material for Tyndale House conferences in Cambridge and Donald Robinson wrote the article on church for the IVF’s landmark New Bible Dictionary.

Nor was it ever exclusively based on a limited word study of the Greek word for ‘church’ in the New Testament, ekklesia (a jibe still thrown about today)…

The current level of confusion, even among some who consider themselves sympathetic to the basic outlines of this exposition of the doctrine, suggests that there is a need for a fresh restatement of it.”

– ACL President Mark Thompson, at Theological Theology, sees many benefits from taking a closer look at the doctrine of the church.

Providence

“If we are uncomfortable with the idea of providence why is that? One reason is because we are influenced by a scientific worldview which can be presented as supporting a mechanistic understanding of the world…”

– David Phillips writes on the importance of a Christian understanding of Providence, in Cross†Way. (PDF file.)

G W Bromiley on The Resurrection

“Every churchman claims to believe in the resurrection of the dead. In all ages, however, this Christian truth has been both attacked and misunderstood. Probably misunderstanding is the greater danger. It usually has its origin in a deliberate attempt to re-state the Christian teaching in a form acceptable to non-Christian thought.

In the present age there is particular need that Christians should fully understand and fully proclaim the truth of resurrection. There are many reasons why this should be so…”

– Church Society has republished this booklet by Dr Geoffrey W Bromiley.
(Image: by Don Milici via Christianity Today.)

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