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Precious parenthood
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In praise of John Flavel
Robin's post about John Flavel reminds me to say what a hero he is of mine (Flavel, rather than Robin – though I'm also very fond of Robin!). The book that Robin is recommending (Keeping the heart) is currently out of print, but Christian Focus will reprint it later this year. You can probably grab a second hand copy on Amazon, but you'll be doing well to get a new copy until then. If you are impatient, though, Banner of Truth produce a collected works of Flavel. You'll find Keeping the Heart in there, except it's called Saint indeed etc. If the combined set is too pricey you can read the book online at Google Books. Not ideal, I know, but worth it, as Robin says, for the content.
Many preachers get told they ought to read the Puritans and soon find themselves struggling, because the Puritans are not always the easiest read. Flavel stands out, however, for his readability, even 350 years on. It's also worth reading his volume on Providence. If either of these are still too tricky, then Grace Publications (an imprint of Evangelical Press) publish a simplified version of Providence called God Willing.
Flavel himself was a remarkable man. We visited Dartmouth this summer for our family holiday and it was here that Flavel conducted much of his ministry. He was one of those Church of England clergymen who was ejected in 1662 for refusing to toe the line when a new Act of Uniformity was introduced. Infamously, he preached out on the sands at low tide (this is, I'm told, the reason that Church of England parish boundaries now reach out to the mean low water mark – to stop rebel preachers, though this may be an urban myth).
Flavel, much loved by his congregation, continued this illegal work in Dartmouth until King James' indulgence for non-conformists. Then he founded a non conformist church (still open,now a URC church). We visited the church because there was an art exhibition open – and sure enough, there, just inside the door, was a painting of John boy himself.
His pastoral heart is reflected in much of his writing. It's worth searching out not least because he was renowned a preacher who was in touch with the common man of his time and area; he loved preaching to the farm hands. Perhaps it is this common touch which makes him so easy to read today and a good model for preachers?
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Ups and downs of Jonah
We've enjoyed hearing Angus MacLeay (author of PT title, Teaching 1 Peter) at our Women in Ministry. He's been teaching very pastorally and helpfully on Jonah – the gospel according to Jonah, in fact. It won't surprise you to know that this is the same as the gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for the gospel is always the same.
Angus explained very helpfully how he looked at and studied the text (not just how he preached it). This is the value of PT conferences where we ask our speakers not just to preach to us (though we ask them to do that) but also to "show some workings" – something that as a preacher you would not normally do.
What Angus has most helpfully done is to show how important the language of direction is in the book of Jonah:
The low point is "you cast me into the deep" (Jonah 2.3) and the high point "you brought my life up from the pit" (Jonah 2.6). In fact, when you stop to read it, you find the language of direction (down, up, into, low etc) crop up time and time again. And of course, implicitly, this is how Jesus reads Jonah too – for the sign of Jonah is about going down into the whale three days and three nights followed by resurrection (see Matthew 12.38-40).
It reminds me of Dale Ralph Davis at the EMA on Jonah, resources that are worth searching out, three parts, here, here and here.
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The possibilities of The Senior Service
I'm writing from our Women in Ministry conference at Hothorpe Hall in Leicestershire. Hosted by Carrie Sandom and Caroline West, we've enjoyed excellent teaching from Angus MacLeay, Kate Selby and Kirsten Birkett (above, with Carrie). It's a joy to be here with 60ish women serving the Lord in a great variety of ways. I'm greatly moved by the testimony of two of our more senior ladies – Denise serving the Lord in Harpenden and Irena serving the Lord in Crowborough. Both have come to ministry in the autumn of life. But both are also a testimony to the way God can use newly retired or nearly retired folk in his service.
Of course, our focus tends to be on the young guns. By and large most of our Cornhill students (though by no means all) are young-ish. But there's no reason why that should be. And with a growing elderly population often reflected (or even magnified) in church life, ministry to those who are older is a key part of church life, and perhaps we need to do more to encourage our autumn men and women to consider ministry.
In fact, what about Cornhill? Perhaps there are are some older folk who could do a really good job of serving in a Bible teaching capacity in the church? Please don't think they are not worth investing in; nor that they don't need training and help.
And if you are woman in such ministry, or have such people in your church, then I'm sorry you missed out this year on this excellent conference, but why not plan to be with us next year? The dates are 23-26 January 2012.
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Take heart – God converts the famous too
I'm not one to gloat, but, oh man, we won the Ashes in Australia! A wonderful victory. Those England cricketers are worthy of admiration for achieving what no one has achieved for two decades. However, the Christian in me knows that they need Christ more than glory or fame. And yet, if I am brutally honest with my heart, there is a part of me that thinks that it is all just too difficult; some of them seem just too far away. Of course, I would never say that in public! But I need to be realistic that my theology (where I believe firmly that the arm of the Lord is not too short that it cannot save) is not always matched by my practice or feeling of the moment.
So, I've been encouraged to read today John Pollock's excellent little book, The Cambridge Seven, and in particular the section on the great missionary CT Studd. As you may know, CT was an England cricketer who famously played in that first Ashes test at the Oval (we lost, by the way). WG Grace described him as probably the best cricketer of the day.
CT is immortalised in the inscription found on the urn.
When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;
Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;
The welkin will ring loud,
The great crowd will feel proud,
Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;
And the rest coming home with the urn.
CT was a Christian, but unlike his brothers not a fervent one. Yet during the off season of 1883-4 his life was changed through an encounter with DL Moody the famous US evangelist. CT eventually became a great worker for Christ in China, but not before he determined to take Christ to the entire English cricket team. He took every one of his colleagues to hear Moody and AJ Webbe, AG Steel and captain Ivo Bligh all gave themselves to the Lord.
Imagine. Andrew Strauss. KP. Graeme Swann.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save or his ear dull that it cannot hear" (Isaiah 59.1)
Take heart, preacher and believe that God is able to do great and mighty things through the preaching of his word. Even amongst the famous.
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Keeping the heart: help from John Flavel
I really appreciated Adrian's blog post on the importance of guarding the heart – thanks Adrian!. As I am involved with training preachers on the PT Cornhill Training Course, I see more and more how vital our hearts are as preachers. As well as Thomas a Kempis, I have benefited greatly from John Flavel's 'Keeping the Heart' which the good folk at Christian Focus have re-published in a very accessible format. Here's how Flavel kicks off:
'The heart of a man is his worst part before it is regenerated, and the best afterward; it is the seat of principles, and the foundation of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Christian ought to be, principally fixed upon it. The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God' (p 7).
The Puritans used to talk about the need to hold orthodoxy (correct doctrine), orthopraxis (correct actions) and orthocardia (correct heart) We tend to think a lot about the first two of those. If you want help with the last one – orthocardia – Flavel is a wonderful heart surgeon.
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It’s sin that leads to death
Reading the satirical press over the weekend I noticed this story which sounds like a puerile schoolboy joke but is absolutely true. It concerns an adult TV channel which broadcasts unencrypted during the day; basically, according to Ofcom the industry regulator, the channel features barely dressed women flouting for phone-sex business. Not very nice. Ofcom have just made a ruling against the channel because one of the models……wait for it…..was seen smoking a cigarette for 3 minutes. You can't make this kind of stuff up.
It's an incredible ruling – incredible in that reveals a lot about our society (just in case you think this is all made up, you can read the ruling here, about halfway down the page). We tend to think we live in an incredibly permissive society, but we don't. It's just that the things we are permissive about have changed. Society is not just more permissive, period. For sure, in some areas it is and, typically in areas of sinfulness. But there are plenty of other areas where we are more restrictive. You can't smoke on a sex channel.
Gloriously, Scripture presents a different pattern. Alongside strong warnings about sin there is glorious grace for those who are washed clean by Christ. As Paul writes:
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
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Genesis 1, definite articles and hard work
I'm preaching a four week series on Genesis 1 at the moment. Stirring stuff. Today in my prep I've been looking at the climax of creation on Day Six and how the text has some clues that draw us to the conclusion that this is what it is all working towards. Most noticeably, of course, the description changes from "good" to "very good."
But I also noticed today that the descriptions of the days change as well. All along the creation path there are no definite articles in the days. Days One through Five are all introduced as "there was evening and there was morning, first day" or "a first day." When you get to Day Six there is a definite article introduced to break the pattern. "there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." There, in the text, is a clue that there is something special or climatic about this final day of creating.
I'm not a Hebrew scholar and I'm prepared to be corrected. But why do no English translations reflect this change (bar one, the New American Standard Update translates more literally)? I don't think the difference is inconsequential. I wonder if sometimes familiar words (this is how the KJV translated it) or even theology can get in the way of translation?
On occasion you see this elsewhere. For example, few translations which claim to be in the vernacular bother translating "hallowed" in the Lord's Prayer though this is a bizarre phrase that is pure jargon to the uneducated (for the record, only the HCSB amongst modern 'essentially literal' translations make a change in Matthew 6.9 – although less literal translations all do, e.g. The Message, Living Bible, NLT, CEV, NCV etc).
All of which reinforces what we believe and teach and I have found to be true again and again. There is no substitute for sitting down and working hard at the text. No short cuts.
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Goodbye Major Dick
I was genuinely saddened to read in the paper last night the obituary of Major Dick Winters of Band of Brothers fame (see also BBC report here). Almost unknown outside his regiment, the world became aware of him when the late Stephen Ambrose wrote his excellent account of Easy Company, 2nd Btn, 506 PIR during the Second World War (later made into a gritty TV mini-series starring Damian Lewis, BTW the box set has excellent interview material with Winters).
I've no idea whether he was a Christian or not. However, some years ago a fellow pastor told me that I ought to read military history and military biographies for these most closely resemble church life – we are, after all, in a battle. I think he was right. In God's common grace, Dick Winters was a remarkable leader. His men looked up to him with great respect – they testify still that they would follow him anywhere. He was not aloof, but he kept a distance at times. He was humble but brave, courageous not reckless.
Most obituaries report his famous quote when asked if he was a hero in the war. "No", he replied, "but I served in a company of heroes." That should be the testimony of every 'successful' pastor.
He is one of the last of that generation. I don't see the same mix of qualities in leaders today, which is to our loss. But we, as Christian, leaders, can still learn much from such men.
(Also interesting are Winter's war memoirs which give more detail of the man and leader – see here)
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Free ebooks
If you're a techie who's into ebooks (for Amazon kindle, ipad, or just to read on your laptop or PC) you may not realise that many of John Piper's titles are available as free pdf files. That can be a great way of getting resources. In fact, I've been thinking with another minister whether a great way to resource overseas pastors in developing countries might not just be to buy them a kindle and load it up with these and other free resources?
It's worth checking out the Desiring God website for these – in particular, the superb Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood is available for free (not sure why as it's a Crossway book edited by Wayne Grudem). Get it while you can!