Labor Day 2020: A Working Man – Rev. J. Engelsma

The latest issue of the Standard Bearer – Sept.1, 2020 – includes a valuable and timely article by Rev. Josh Engelsma on work. It is part of a series he is working on for the rubric “Strength of Youth,” in which he is developing the biblical idea of godly manhood. In this installment he writes on the place of labor (work) in the godly man’s life, tracing the concept from the threefold viewpoint of creation, the Fall, and redemption.

On this Labor Day holiday in the U.S., when there are so many distorted voices calling for our attention on the place and value of work in our lives, it is good to reference this article and hear what God’s Word says about it. I can only quote a portion of it, so we will go to the end of the article and quote from his section “work and redemption.”

Thankfully, as Christians we have hope in the face of sin and the curse. That hope is in Jesus Christ and His work. He took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, condescended to dwell in this world under the curse, and came to work. His work was to do the will of His Father and redeem His elect people. His earthly ministry was one of constant work: preaching and teaching and performing countless miracles. In reading the gospel accounts one gets the sense of constant activity and busyness with very little opportunity for rest. Especially did Jesus spend Himself in His work at the end of His life as He suffered the wrath of God at the cross and gave His life to atone for our sins.

As men, our confidence may never be in our own working and busyness. Rather we trust alone in Christ and His perfect work. On the basis of His finished work, we are forgiven of our sins with respect to our work. And by the power of His work in us, we are strengthened to fight against our sins and to work out of thanksgiving for His work. And we look forward in hope to the removal of the curse when in perfected bodies and souls we will serve God forever in the new heavens and earth.

Keeping this always in mind, we seek to determine what work the Lord would have us to do. We take stock of the unique gifts and opportunities God gives us (cf. Rom. 12:3-8). We seek out the wise counsel of parents, friends, teachers, and fellow saints. And through prayer we fill out that job application and strike out on that career path. As Christians we have a vocation, a unique calling from God. The idea of a calling is not just for pastors and teachers, but for electricians and salesmen as well.

In the work we are given to do, we strive to work hard. There are few things worse than a man who will not work hard. It ought to be the case as Christians that we are the best, most-desired employees. We respect our employer, give an honest day’s labor, make the best use of our abilities, are faithful and trustworthy, seek the good of the company, and refuse to cheat and cut corners.

In working hard, we seek to do so with the right motive in our hearts. We are not laboring to be rich. We are not seeking greatness as the world counts it. We labor as grateful servants in God’s heavenly kingdom. God does not need us, but He is pleased to use us as instruments in His hand for the advancement of His kingdom. That means that our labor is not empty and meaningless, as 1 Corinthians 15:58 reminds us: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Even the lowliest ditch-digger has an honorable, necessary place of service in the kingdom.

The way this kingdom-focus often comes to expression is in our giving. We work hard not for materialistic purposes, but so that we might use the money God gives to support our family, send our children to a Christian school, feed the poor, provide for the ministry of the Word, and promote the various labors of the church (evangelism, missions, seminary instruction, for example).

Finally, we work not for our own glory and the praise of men, but for the glory of God. “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col. 3:23).

Let this prayer be yours as you leave for work in the morning, and as you lay your weary body to rest at night:

So let there be on us bestowed
The beauty of the Lord our God;
The work accomplished by our hand
Establish thou, and make it stand;
Yea, let our hopeful labor be
Established evermore by Thee,
Established evermore by Thee (Psalter #246:3).

If you are interested in receiving this Reformed periodical, visit this link to the Standard Bearer website, where you will find subscription information – for both print and digital copies.

August 2020 Tabletalk – “Christian Discourse”

We are already over halfway through the month of August and that makes it overdue to introduce the August issue of Tabletalk, Ligonier Ministries monthly devotional magazine.

The theme for this month is “Christian Discourse,” that is, how we as Christians must converse (carry on discourse) with others – with our fellow believers, including those of our own household, and with our unbelieving neighbors.

Burk Parsons gives his usual pithy summary of the subject (“Gentle Christian Discourse”), pointing out that

Elders, deacons, teachers, and all Christians are called to communicate with others in a charitable, gentle, and loving way. At the same time, we are called to speak the truth and to tell people hard things that they sometimes don’t want to hear. We are called to admonish, and we are commanded to go to our brother when he has sinned against us that he might have the opportunity to repent. Parents are called to train up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Pastors are called to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. We are all called to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Nevertheless, we must never forget that we are also called to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, speak the truth in love, and rebuke with patience. As Christians, we engage with other Christians in all of life, and as we do, we must strive to be humble, gentle, honest, and gracious. When we fail, we must be quick to repent, and we must all be quick to forgive and restore as we live in light of the gracious truth of the gospel coram Deo, before the face of God.

After that one paragraph, we already feel convinced of how relevant this matter is – and convicted of how miserable we fail to carry out truly Christian discourse.  But, there is a way forward, by the grace of God in Christ our Savior and by the power of the Holy Spirit He has given us. And with the Bible as our guide and goad, and the multitude of counselors with articles in this issue as our teachers, we can learn anew the way to speak to one another – from wife to co-worker.

One of the articles I read this past Sunday before service was especially helpful: “Truly Loving Discourse” by Dr. Jason K. Allen. Here is a section of it that strikes at the heart of what it means to practice biblical conversation with others:

One of Scripture’s most salient passages on the believer’s discourse is Proverbs 27:5–6, which states: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” In short, verse 5 instructs us to speak words of biblical rebuke, whereas verse 6 encourages us to receive them. These two instructions are pointed, perhaps challenging your sensibilities or forcing you outside of your comfort zone.

Yet, for you to live a healthy Christian life and to enjoy healthy Christian community, you must practice both. To this end, consider four words of reflection from these verses to foster truly loving discourse.

First, speak the truth in love. The Apostle Paul issued these words of instruction to the church at Ephesus (Eph. 4:15). Yet, they are essential for us in modeling truly loving discourse. Note that there is peril in undercommunicating either truth or love. Truth without love may be harsh and will likely win no one. Love without truth is mush and will win them to nothing helpful. The goal of confrontation is restoration, not alienation. Truly loving discourse works toward that end. Moreover, you should ask yourself if you’re equipped to receive such counsel. Do your spouse, friends, minister, or colleagues sense such an openness from you? Cultivate it in yourself just as you desire it in others.

Second, root out passive-aggressive behavior. Passive aggressiveness imperils Christian communities. Families, churches, and Christian institutions collapse under its weight. Accumulated grievances and festering conflicts bring about a relational frigidness that will persist until an eruption occurs. Truly loving discourse actually engages in discourse, not insinuation or subtlety.

Third, be willing to confront sin. Proverbs 27:5–6 speaks precisely to this point, both in confronting and receiving confrontation. It is always right to warn the sinner of his ways—doubly so if he is a loved one. This is why Jesus instituted church discipline in Matthew 18. James 5:20 reminds us, “Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

Fourth, learn to pronounce the word “no.” For many Christians, pronouncing the word no doesn’t come naturally. Whether out of fear of disappointing others or a reluctance to be perceived in a negative light, many Christians simply can’t utter this word. However, a sign of Christian maturity is developing this ability. Invariably, loved ones will embark on a hazardous path or contemplate a dangerous decision. Your ability to lovingly pronounce the word no might be their salvation.

Last, remember, as Jesus said, the tongue speaks from the overflow of the heart (Luke 6:45). These verses remind us that our discourse—even our willingness to lovingly confront—indicates deeper spiritual realities within us. Thus, to practice truly loving discourse, you don’t need a more polished or polite tongue; you need a redeemed one.

Justified (Saved) by Grace Alone (2) – H. Hoeksema

But here several questions arise. The first of these is: how is it possible that God can justify the unjust? How can He pronounce a sentence of justification upon him who is guilty and corrupt? Does not Scripture teach everywhere that God is righteous and just, and that He will by no means clear the guilty? How then is it possible to believe in God as the God Who justifies the ungodly?

The answer of the Word of God is: through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The righteousness that is ours through the grace of justification is by faith of Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that God revealed Himself as the God Who justifies the ungodly. Christ is the righteous one. In Him there is a righteousness that is so great and mighty that it blots out all our sins and clothes us with an eternal righteousness, makes us worthy of eternal life. In the judgment of God Christ took our place. He assumed full responsibility for us. All our sins He took upon Himself, and He bore them away for ever. For He not merely suffered the punishment for the sins of His own; but in suffering the wrath of God He was perfectly obedient, even unto the death of the cross. His death was an act. He laid down His life. He sacrificed Himself. Voluntarily, motivated by the love of God, He went down into lowest hell, that there He might bear the wrath of God against sin. And thus He satisfied the justice of God. He made an atonement. He removed the guilt of sin and merited eternal righteousness. And God justified Him and pronounced the verdict of perfect righteousness upon Him, when He raised Him from the dead and gave Him everlasting glory and immortality. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead God revealed Himself as the God Who justifies the ungodly. And if we believe on Him, we receive by that faith the sentence of God’s justification in our hearts. For this righteousness of Christ is imputed to all those for whom Christ died and was raised, so that we are as perfectly righteous before God as if we ourselves had performed that act of obedience on the cross which Christ performed for us. And by faith we lay hold upon this verdict of justification, so that we know that even though all things testify against us in this world of sin and death, we are righteous before God and heirs of eternal life.

But another question arises here. How can the righteousness of Christ be reckoned as ours? Or how could, in the justice of God, Christ die for our sins? Do we not rather meet here with a double injustice, namely, that the righteous is punished, and the guilty is acquitted? If in a worldly court one is found guilty of murder, would a judge inflict capital punishment upon another instead of the guilty one, even though that other would voluntarily offer himself to take the murderer’s place? Would that not be considered a double perversion of justice? Moreover, how can the death and obedience of the one be the righteousness of countless sinners?

But here we must remember that Christ is not merely another man, but He is the Son of God come into the flesh. No mere man has a life to substitute for another’s: for his life is not his own, and, besides, he is himself a sinner under sentence of death. But Christ is the Son of God, very God Himself, Who took our flesh and blood upon Himself voluntarily. He became man by an act of His own will. He had power to lay down His life for others, if He so pleased. And before the world was, He had been appointed the Head of all the elect, so that He represented them and was responsible for them. By God’s eternal decree of election they are one body, one legal corporation, represented by Christ Who is their Head. Christ, therefore, can be summoned before the bar of God’s judgment and appear there for all His own, assume responsibility for them, take all their guilt upon Himself, and pay for their sins by an act of perfect obedience on His part. And again, because He is not a mere man, but the Son of God in the flesh, His death is of immeasurable value, infinitely precious, capable of blotting out the sins of all His own and of procuring for them eternal righteousness and everlasting life and glory. This, then, is the marvelous grace of God in justifying the ungodly. He Himself came down to us, assumed our human nature, and in that human nature assumed responsibility for our sins, became obedient unto death, yea unto the death of the cross, thus blotting out the handwriting of our sins that was against us. In Christ He is the God Who justifies the ungodly. By grace are ye saved!

You say, perhaps, that we must believe in order to be justified before God, and that, therefore, it is faith that makes us righteous before God. And it is true enough that we are justified by faith only. He that believeth on Him Who justifies the ungodly is righteous, and he only. And that means that we must believe on God as He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, crucified and raised from the dead. For this righteousness is imputed to us “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Romans 4:24) There is no other way than that of faith to become righteous before God. We must try no other way. All our good works are but filthy works. All our own goodness and piety, our very religiousness and the very best of our religious acts must be utterly discarded as a ground of righteousness; and we must come before God as naked sinners, but believing on God Who justifieth the ungodly, if we would obtain righteousness and life. By faith we are justified. But let us beware, lest we make of faith another good work on our part on the ground of which we are justified. Faith is not the ground of our justification. We are not justified because we believe. Nor are we justified by faith because through faith we become holy and capable of doing good works. Christ crucified and raised is the only ground of our righteousness. And faith is only the means whereby we are united with Christ and the spiritual power whereby we lay hold on this righteousness, so that we know and wholly rely on God Who justifieth the ungodly.

Besides, let us not forget that faith itself is a gift of God. No man can or will of himself accept Christ and believe on God Who raised Him from the dead. God through Christ by His Spirit works within our hearts the justifying faith. And so it is all of grace. By grace God came down to us in our sin and death, and in the Person of His only begotten Son assumed our flesh and blood. By grace Christ died for our sins on the accursed tree and was raised on the third day for our justification. By grace God chose us and ordained us to eternal righteousness and life in Christ before the foundation of the world. And by grace He gives to us the power of faith, thus uniting us with Christ and causing us to believe on Him Who justifieth the ungodly. By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God!

Taken from chapter 8, “Justified by Grace,” in The Wonder of Grace by Herman Hoeksema (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1944), pp.70-71. This work has now been republished by the Reformed Free Publishing Association.

For the first installment on this gospel truth, see this post.

Baseball 2020 and “Summer of ’98”

Today, at long last, we will have a baseball post here. With the delay of the 2020 Major League Baseball (MLB) season because of the coronavirus pandemic, my interest in baseball was waning quickly. Summer life just wasn’t the same (due to many other things pandemic related too, of course) and I didn’t want to find an annual book on baseball to read either. Golf was on my weekly schedule (usually with my 87-year old dad, who still plays well!), and I was grateful to have that interest and involvement at least.

But then the MLB commissioner, owners, and players saved the season, a 60-game schedule was adopted, and at the end of July baseball sprang to life – a little late and a little short and with fan-less ball parks – but at least it was here again. And my beloved Chicago Cubs roared out of the gate – with great starting pitching (we won’t talk about the bullpen just yet) and timely hitting from their batting order of stars, they have climbed to 13-3 – their best start since 1907! Yay! Go Cubbies! Could we have a repeat of 2016 and have another world champion team?!

And with that revived baseball season and renewed interest, I also found my 2020 summer baseball read (once again, in a local thrift store) – Summer of ’98: When Homers Flew, Records Fell, and Baseball Reclaimed America by Mike Lupica (Contemporary Books, 1999). This is a great retelling of the season of 1998, when monster home-run hitters Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Ken Griffey, Jr. all chased Roger Maris’ 1961 record of 61 homers in a season (Babe Ruth had held the record of 60, hit in 1927, until Maris came along and hit one more than that).

I remember the season well, in part because I had just spent 8 years in the Chicago area, where I fell in love with the Cubbies, and also because two Cubs players would figure prominently in that season – the above-mentioned Sammy Sosa, and 20-year old rookie Kerry Wood (who would strike out 20 batters in a single game in his first MLB season – his fifth game, no less!).

So now I have the summer-of-2020 pleasure of watching and listening to ball games again, and reading my new book, a portion of which I share with you here. By, the way, this book is also a great story of how fathers and sons come to love and share the game, another gift my father gave to me (thanks, Dad, for letting me play Little League baseball in Georgetown back in the 60s and for all those late-night Tiger games in old Tiger stadium – what great memories we have!).

Because no matter how old you are or how much you have seen, sports is still about memory and imagination. Never more than during the baseball summer of ’98, when baseball made everyone feel like a kid again, when it felt important again.

…For one magic season, everybody’s eyes would be full of the sky.

I never thought I would have a better baseball season than the one I had in ’61, not just because of the home runs, but because of what I thought was the best Yankee team I would ever see in my life [The author is also re-living his own experience of watching the 1961 season and Maris breaking Ruth’s record.]. Now I saw more home runs, and a better Yankee team.

It was McGwire and Sosa and Ken Griffey, Jr., at least until McGwire and Sosa pulled away from him the way Maris had pulled away from Mantle once. It was a strikeout pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, a twenty-year-old named Kerry Wood who would strike out 20 batters in a game.

David Wells of the Yankees would pitch a perfect game for the Yankees in May, the first perfect game in Yankee Stadium since Don Larsen in the World Series of 1956.

…You couldn’t make up a season like this.

Sosa would join the home-run chase in June, when he hit 20 home runs in the month, another record in the home-run summer. Now this wasn’t just about an American-born home-run hero like McGwire, but one from the Dominican Republic, too.

…McGwire and Sosa hit. Kerry Wood threw. Cal Ripkin, Jr., finally took a day off, after sixteen years. He was thirty-eight the night he did it. Tony Gwynn was also thirty-eight in the baseball season of ’98, and would have sat down himself because of aching knees and a ruined Achilles tendon, but Gywnn was limping toward one more World Series, his first since he was a baseball kid in 1984.

…You always hope this will be your year [Cubs’ fans know that very well!]. You always hope this year will be better than last year. That has always made old men young in baseball (pp.10-11).

Indeed, what a season that was. But now there’s the summer of ’20. Did I mention the Cubs are 13-3? 🙂

The Power and Blessing of Jesus’ Intercession for His People

Rome talks about providing an enduring efficacy of Jesus’ sacrifice in the mass.

We reject that. And why do we?

In order to preserve nothing more than a cold, bleak emptiness and hollowness?

No, a thousand times over, no! It’s because only the intercession of Christ maintains the efficacy of that sacrifice! It also provides the unceasing effort and all-enabling strength that sustains the souls of the redeemed day and night. It blesses them!

So don’t ever think that the praying that Jesus does happens now and then based on your petition, your request, or your imploring him for his prayer. It’s not like your Savior has to be asked to pray on your behalf before the throne of grace. Look, Jesus doesn’t just pray for you some of the time or only once! He does so ceaselessly. Praying for you is his preoccupation; it’s his purpose for living! He lives for it. His life revolves around praying for you.

…He lives for uttering his supplications on our behalf before his Father’s throne. Such praying is his very breath. It amounts to pouring out his soul on behalf of his people. Such praying reflects the sacred effort of our redeeming Hero on behalf of those struggling here on earth.

That’s why Jesus’ praying is the lifeline tied to your soul that prevents it from sinking.

Jesus is praying for you even while you’re sleeping.

He’s praying for you even when in the busyness of your daily life you are no longer thinking about him.

As your Savior, he’s praying for you even when you cause him sorrow and distress.

Christ imploring God on your behalf is your constantly flowing stream of life. It’s the wind that fills your sails and moves you forward, even when you lie down exhausted in your little boat and give up struggling.

Yes, even when you approach death and hover between heaven and hell, it will be the praying of Jesus that upholds you, offers you support, and ultimately saves you.

Taken from the new translation by James A. De Jong of Abraham Kuyper’s Honey from the Rock (Lexham Press, 2018), pp.394-95.

This particular meditation (#16 of Volume 2) is titled “He Lives to Make Intercession for Them” and is based on Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

How Did French Enter the English Language? What’s This “Frenglish?”

One of my fun, lighter summer reads is a fascinating history of the English language by Laurie J. White with the title King Alfred’s English: A History of the Language We Speak and Why We Should Be Glad We Do (The Shorter Word Press, 2009). Designed to be a “light course” book for “students grades 7-12 and curious adults,” King Alfred’s English is truly a fun and fascinating read. I am learning and re-learning much about my native tongue, including why there are so many other language influences on English.

One such influence is that of the French (wonder why we ask for pie a la mode?) – and that part of the English language story is quite amazing. Trace it back to the great battle of Hastings in 1066! Here is that part of White’s narrative and the answer to the question of how French worked its way so strongly into our tongue:

Nevertheless, on October 14 in the year 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, the French-speaking Duke of Normandy [northern France] overwhelmed Harold and his Anglo-Saxon forces [the Earl of Wessex who was vying for control of England]. Harold was killed, William won the English crown that day, and, along with the title of king of England, he became known as William the Conqueror who conquered England.

…A new invasion of the English language had begun and the effect would be enormous, and the impact would be from French.

After the Battle of Hastings, William brought a whole entourage of French speaking aristocrats into England to be his royal court and to fill any and all important positions of the government and the church. In other words, anyone who was anybody was French. A few of those Norman French learned English as a second language, but not many — there was no real need. French alone was spoken in all the schools and in the homes of the upper class, in all government proceedings and courtroom business. The only exception was the use of Latin in the religious sector. The English language was considered crass and vulgar. The word vulgar here means common, not nasty. However, the French almost put English in the nasty category.

Just as most of us would be, the defeated English people were eager to impress those above them on the social ladder, and the top rungs of this ladder were now solidly French. People began throwing in French phrases and words, mixing them with regular English. Everyone wanted to sound and look as French as possible. One historian jokingly suggested that we call the English spoken during this period ‘Frenglish’ because it was such a complete mixture of French and English.

Believe it or not, all this foolishness got carried on for a very long time, centuries in fact. One can see the remnants of these things even today. A small, down-home restaurant might offer the soup of the day; whereas a restaurant aiming at more sophisticated customer would call it soupe du jour. That little bit of un-translated French adds cultural spice to the menu. The same things applies to a la carte and a la mode. If you think about it, the whole industry of fashion is saturated with words en Francais, from coiffure for hairstyle, to lingerie for undergarments.  French design equals style, and as most people know, Paris has been seen as the cultural center for trend-setting for decades. But what people don’t know is that it’s really been centuries. In fact, the cultural compass that points to France for sophistication was calibrated at the Battle of Hastings back in 1066 AD!

As Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story!”

Zwingli’s Christian Song (Poem) When Smitten with Pestilence (1519)

Yesterday while comparing a more recent translation of the works of Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) with the edition we have in the PRC Seminary library, I discovered a striking poem the Swiss Reformer penned during the time of a great plague (pestilence) that struck him and devastated the city of Zurich (and the rest of the Swiss confederation), the heart of the Reformation in Switzerland.

The title as it appears in the collected works of Zwingli we have (Samuel M. Jackson ed.) is “A Christian Song Written by Huldreich Zwingli When He Was Attacked by the Pestilence” (with this date, “End of 1519”). It includes this editor’s note:

This is the most successful of Zwingli’s preserved poetry. It was the memorial of his serious illness from the plague which in 1519 carried off nearly half of the population of Zurich. Though unadapted to singing, it has been given a tune and is found in many hymn-books of the 15th and 16th centuries, published in Zurich.

In another place, one finds this more complete introduction explaining the context in which Zwingli wrote the song:

In August 1519, whilst Zwingli was visiting the spa town of Bad Pfäfers, news came to him that the plague which was sweeping through the Swiss Confederacy had arrived in Zürich. Zwingli had only been ministering in the city for a matter of months, having been installed as the Leutpriester (People’s Priest) in the Grossmünster in January. The Black Death of the fourteenth century had long passed, but across sixteenth-century Europe there were still devastating waves of bubonic plague. The symptoms included painful swollen lymph nodes (buboes) which gave the disease its name. Often those with the means to leave the city would have retreated, but Zwingli immediately returned to the city in order to minister to the sick and the dying. By mid-September, when the epidemic had taken some 2,500 lives, Zwingli and his brother Andreas contracted the disease and fell seriously ill. Over the course of several months, Zwingli battled the disease and he made a slow recovery by the spring of 1520. Altogether, the Zurich plague claimed the lives of over 7,000 people, a quarter of the population, including Andreas.

Zwingli’s “Christian Song” has three (3) parts to it:

I. At the Beginning of the Illness (and here follows the lines that belong to each section):

Help, Lord God, help
In this trouble!
I think death is at the door.
Stand before me, Christ;
For Thou hast overcome him!

To Thee I cry:
If it is Thy will,
take out the dart,
which wounds me
Nor lets me have an hour’s
rest or repose!

Will’st Thou, however,
that death take me
in the midst of my days,
so let it be!
Do what Thou wilt;
Me nothing lacks. [or, “nothing shall be too much for me”]
Thy vessel am I;
to make or break altogether.

For if Thou takest away
My spirit
From this earth,
Thou dost it
that it [my spirit] may not grow worse
Nor spot
The pious lives and ways of others.

II. In the Midst of His Illness:

Console Me, Lord God, console me!
The illness increases,
Pain and fear seize
My soul and body.
Come to me then,
With Thy grace,
O my only consolation!

It will surely save
Everyone, who
His heart’s desire
And hopes sets
On Thee, and who besides
Despises all gain and loss.
Now all is up.

My tongue is dumb,
It cannot speak a word.
My senses are all blighted.
Therefore is it time
That Thou my fight
Conductest hereafter;
Since I am not
So strong, that I
Can bravely
Make resistance
To the Devil’s wiles and treacherous hand.

Still will my spirit
Constantly abide by Thee,
however he rages.

III. During Convalescence [recovery]:

Sound, Lord God, sound!
I think I am
Already coming back. [i.e., to health]
Yes, if it please Thee,
That no spark of sin
Rule me longer on earth.
Then my lips must
Thy praise and teaching
Bespeak more
Than ever before,
However it may go,
In simplicity and with no danger.

Although I must
The punishment of death
Sometimes endure,
Perhaps with greater anguish
Than would now have
Happened, Lord! [i.e., if I had died this time]
Since I came
So near; [i.e., to death’s door]
So will I still
The spite and boasting
Of this world
Bear joyfully for the sake of the reward
By Thy help,
Without which nothing can be perfect.

I find these words a powerful testimony to the way we must respond to life and death during these pandemic days. Are we able to sing with Zwingli in this way, whatever our portion is right now?

If you are interested in the original Swiss version, visit this page for Gebetslied in der Pest.

The News Makes You Dumb (So, Read More and More Deeply!)

Last week Public Discourse (the Journal of the Witherspoon Institute) published an essay by Allen Mendenhall with a provocative title: “The News Makes You Dumb.” In it he challenges us not to seek mere information, especially the type produced in our day by the major news media and social media outlets, but to seek to be informed for intelligent debate by deep reading.

I found his essay searching and stimulating – and much needed in our time. I give you an excerpt here and encourage you to read the rest at the link above.

A pernicious notion seems to have settled into the minds of my generation (I’m 36) when we were little boys and girls. It’s now an unquestioned “fact” that “staying informed,” “staying engaged,” and “following the news” are the obligatory duties of sensible, responsible people.

They’re not.

Reading and watching the news isn’t just unhelpful or uninstructive; it inhibits real learning, true education, and the rigorous cultivation of serious intellectual curiosity.

…U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. famously refused to read newspapers. In The Theory of Education in the United States, Albert Jay Nock bemoaned “the colossal, the unconscionable, volume of garbage annually shot upon the public from the presses of the country, largely in the form of newspapers and periodicals.” His point was that a societal emphasis on literacy was by and large ineffectual if the material that most people read was stupid and unserious. Does one actually learn by reading the cant and carping insolence of the noisy commentariat?

“Surely everything depends on what he reads,” Nock said of the average person, “and upon the purpose that guides him in reading it.” What matters is not that one reads but what and how one reads. “You can read merely to pass the time,” the great Harold Bloom remarked, “or you can read with an overt urgency, but eventually you will read against the clock.”

The heart beats only so many beats; in one life, a person can read only so much. Why squander away precious minutes reading mediocre scribbling or watching rude, crude talking heads debate transitory political matters of ultimately insignificant import, when instead, in perfect solitude, you could expand your imagination, nurture your judgment and discernment, refine your logic and reasoning, and purge yourself of ignorance, by pursuing wisdom and objective knowledge, through the canon of great literature, with a magnanimous spirit of openness and humility?

Why let obsequious, unlettered journalists on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC shape your conscience, determine your beliefs, or develop your dependency on allegedly expert opinion, as if you were a docile creature lacking the courage to formulate your own ideas, when you could, instead, empower yourself through laborious study, exert your own understanding, and free yourself from the cramped cage of contemporary culture by analyzing past cultures, foreign places, difficult texts, and profound ideas?

And the author closes with this:

Do not misunderstand me: I do not advocate a Luddite lifestyle or a withdrawal from society and the workaday world. I just mean that too many of us, too much of the time, are enthralled by fleeting media trifles and trivialities, and ensnared in the trap of mindless entertainment disguised as vigorous edification.

Let’s stop telling little children what my generation heard when we were kids. They should stay away from the news lest they fall prey to its mania, foolishness, and stupidity. They should read books—difficult books—and be challenged to improve themselves and refine their techniques. Rather than settling on easy, preferred answers, they should accept tensions and contingencies, suspending judgment until all angles have been pursued and all perspectives have been considered. Let’s teach them to become, not activists or engaged citizens necessarily, but intelligent human beings who love knowledge and learning, and who pursue wisdom and discernment before mundane politics.

Practicing Theological Humility – G. Ortlund

Some Christians are eager to defend sound doctrine. Well and good. But is the unity of the body of Christ one of those doctrines we jealously guard? The unity of the church is one the objects of Christ’s death (Eph. 2:14). This, as much as anything, is what the New Testament calls us to cherish and uphold. Therefore, our zeal for theology must never exceed our zeal for our actual brothers and sisters in Christ. We must be marked by love. We must, as my dad always puts it, pursue both gospel doctrine and gospel culture.¹

In the New Testament, humility is the pathway to unity. For instance, Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians about “being of the same mind” (Phil. 2:2) is followed by his appeal to “in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3), in imitation of Christ’s action toward them in the gospel (Phil. 2:5–11).

Or consider Paul’s appeal to unity in Romans 14. The presenting issue in this chapter is a conflict over Jewish food laws, but the principles Paul invokes could apply to many other issues as well. His overriding concern in this chapter is that the different convictions held by Roman Christians not be a source of division among them. Thus, the “strong” and the “weak” are called to mutual acceptance. Specifically, amid their differences of conscience, Paul calls them to be welcoming (Rom. 14:1), not to quarrel (Rom. 14:1), not to despise each other (Rom. 14:3), and not to pass judgment one another (Rom. 14:3, 13). Paul even calls the Romans to let go of their rights and adjust their practice in order not to violate the conscience of a brother: “If your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died” (Rom. 14:15).

Today, as well, there are plenty of issues over which Christians will be tempted to quarrel, despise each other, and pass judgment on each other. Instead, we must resolve “never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother” (Rom. 14:13). Like Paul, we must even be willing to make sacrificial adjustments for the sake of our unity with others in the body of Christ. If maintaining the unity of the body of Christ is not costing you anything—if it doesn’t hurt—then you probably are not adjusting enough.

Paul grounds his appeal in Romans 14 in the fact that each person will stand before the judgment seat of Christ: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Rom. 14:10). This is healthy to remember: we will give an account of our theological speech and conduct, no less than any other area of our life. When we are standing before the throne on judgment day, what battles will we look back on and be proud we fought? I suspect most of our Twitter debates will not be among them.

Friends, the unity of the church was so valuable to Jesus that he died for it. If we care about sound theology, let us care about unity as well.

Profitable counsel to consider and apply as found in the article “4 Ways to Practice Theological Humility” by Galvin Ortlund, which in turn is adapted from his new book Finding the Right Hills to Die On (Crossway, 2020).

Source: 4 Ways to Practice Theological Humility | Crossway Articles

The Dutch and the Founding of New (Amsterdam) York

One of my spring/summer reads is Russell Shorto’s The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America (Doubleday, 2004). I’ve often wanted to read more about the history of the Dutch settlers in the New World, and when this book was brought to my attention, I knew it was one I wanted to delve into.

It is a well written narrative, filled with fascinating details and interesting twists. It is based on a remarkable (and abundant!) set of Dutch records that surfaced in the State Library in Albany, New York and that are still being translated by 17th-century Dutch scholar Charles Gehring. It seems the common Dutch characteristics – hard work, cleanliness, strong faith (especially Calvinism), and a penchant for stubbornness and strife (persistence, perseverance?) – marked the early adventurers who signed on to go with Henry Hudson (think of Hudson Bay and the Hudson River) to settle on the island of Manhattan.

In the third chapter (“The Island”) Shorto speaks, for example, of a newlywed couple – Catalina Trico and Joris Rapalje, who having married in the Walloon Church in Amsterdam in January of 1624 at the ages of 18 and 19 respectively, set sail with Hudson for the New World. Here’s how he describes their adventure – and their influence:

Considering the stupendous dangers awaiting them, first at sea and then on arrival, it wasn’t a union a betting man would likely lay money on. And yet, sixty years later, when the English colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland were embroiled in a border dispute and needed evidence of ‘Christian’ occupation of certain lands along the eastern seaboard, the representatives of William Penn found an old woman to testify who was known to have been among the first European settlers. Catalina Trico, now in her eighties, was a widow, but she and Joris had had a long and fruitful marriage. The records of New Netherland show them among the first buyers of land in the wilderness of southern Manhattan, building two houses on Pearl Street steps away from the fort, obtaining a milk cow, borrowing money from the provincial government, moving their homestead to a large tract of farmland across the river in the new village of Breukelen [Brooklyn], and giving birth to and baptizing eleven children. Their first, Sarah, was considered the first European born in what would become New York (in 1656, at the age of thirty, she proclaimed herself ‘first born christian daughter of New Netherland’). She was born in 1625, and the same records duly show her marriage in 1639, to the overseer of a tobacco plantation in what would become Greenwich Village, and in turn, the birth of her eight children. Over the course of the brief life of New Netherland and into the history of New York the Rapalje children and their offspring would spread across the region. …Their descendants have been estimated at upwards of one million, and in the Hudson Valley town of Fishkill, New York, a lane called Rapalje Road is a quiet suburban testament to the endurance of a long-ago slapdash wedding of two young nobodies on the Amsterdam waterfront, which, as much as any political event, marked the beginning of the immigrant, stake-your-claim civilization not only of Mahattan but of America (pp.41-42).