True contentment is more like natural heat than warming your pants by a fire

Mike Leake 2 Comments

True Christian contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit. Burroughs expounds upon what he means by “frame of spirit”. Firstly, he means that it is a grace that spreads throughout the whole body. It begins in the judgment and spreads to the thoughts, the will, and the affections. The contentment that Burroughs speaks of reaches all the way to the affections. He cites David in Psalm 42 as an example of one that “could not get this grace of contentment to go through the whole frame of his soul.” He later says, “there is such unruliness in our thoughts and affections that our judgments are not always able to rule our thoughts and affections”. Yet, if we are to have that which Burroughs is referencing it must reach our thoughts and affections.

Secondly, this contentment comes from the frame of the soul. “It does not come from outward arguments or from any outward help, as from the disposition of their own hearts”. This section is where Burroughs graces us with the “warming your pants” metaphor. It may seem a little silly but it is brilliantly accurate. Those without this grace of Christian contentment may be like the man who warms his pants by the fire. It is heated from the outside and will provide him warmth. However, if his body is not working properly and supplying him natural heat then the warm pants will eventually cool. If he has natural heat then it is warming from the inside out. It will then stay warm; with or without the fire from the outside. So it is with Christian contentment.

Thirdly, it is a “frame of spirit that shows the habitual character of this grace of contentment”. Rather than having a day with a “good mood” and then another day of a “bad mood”, the truly content Christian will have a “good mood” as the “constant tenor and temper of his heart”. Burroughs closes out this section with a rather strong statement: “A Christian who, in the constant tenor and temper of his heart, can carry himself quietly with constancy has learned this lesson of contentment. Otherwise his Christianity is worth nothing, for no one, however furious in his discontent, will not be quiet when he is in a good mood”.

It should be noted that Burroughs is not saying that if a man does not have contentment then his “Christianity is worth nothing”. I believe what Burroughs is saying here is that if the contentment is not constant, and comes from this inward frame, and is only temporary then your Christianity is not doing anything any more than a good mood could do. So, in this very situation, your Christianity is not profiting you any more than a day of sunshine might. (I think my interpretation would be confirmed by Burroughs typical soft and irenic speech–interpreting it too strongly would go against typical Burroughs).

Admonishment: Be certain that your contentment is not merely a “good mood”.

For Your Consideration: Burroughs wants us to feel a little discouraged at this point. He is desiring to pitch the matter a little high. His desire is to help us see that this is not something we can attain on our own. After letting your defenses down, sincerely ask yourself this question: Is my contentment truly a “constant tenor and temper” of my heart?

The Jewel:

“That which comes from the gracious temper of one’s spirit will last.” (p28)

Continue on to our discussion of section 4, Chapter 1 The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.

Borrowed Light: This Week in Blogworld

Mike Leake

Perhaps you’ve noticed the change in title. Instead of doing a “Today in Blogworld” we will now be moving to a “This Week”. If something is pressing then I will provide a link throughout the week. As of now, we will be posting all of our links on Friday or Saturday of every week.

Michael Patton charts four views of God’s sovereignty? Where are you on the chart? I am in between meticulous sovereignty and providential sovereignty. I’m probably a little to the right of John Piper.

Pulpit Magazine offers us a series on ministry to children. They consider When to Baptize Your Children, Proverbs and Parenting, Evangelizing Your Children Part 1 and 2.

Jared hits the nail on the head with his post on The New Legalism

Erin Sutherland continues the New Attitude series on applying the gospel to every day life. She discusses The Gospel and Relationships (for Girls)

Phil Johnson’s final entry on Acts 17: Paul and Charitableness

Many bloggers went to the Together 4 the Gospel Conference (Hence, the small number of links). I was not one of them. I could link to all of their notes, but instead I will only point you to the audio for all the sermons. This should keep you busy.

This is also from T4G:
(HT:Challies)

The Godly Man’s Picture Chapter 4 (Part 11)

Mike Leake

The Canvas:

The thirteenth characteristic of a godly man is that he is sincere. By “sincere” Watson means that the godly man is “what he seems to be…he strives to approve himself to God in everything…is ingenuous in laying open his sins…has blessed designs in all that he does…and he abhors dissimulation with men”. Sincerity, says Watson, “is not strictly a grace but rather the ingredient in every grace”. If we do not have sincerity then we do not rightly have grace. To stir us in striving for this characteristic Watson gives us 9 things to consider:

  1. Sincerity renders us lovely to God
  2. Sincerity makes our services find acceptance with God
  3. Sincerity is our safety
  4. Sincerity is gospel perfection
  5. Sincerity is what the devil attacks most
  6. Sincerity is the beauty of a Christian
  7. Consider the vileness of hypocrisy
  8. If the heart is sincere, God will wink at many failings
  9. Nothing but sincerity will give us comfort in an hour of trouble

Discussion:

I suppose I should clarify what Watson means by “sincerity is gospel perfection”. This is what Watson said under this point: “Though a Christian is full of infirmities and, like a child that is put out to nurse, weak and feeble, God still looks on him as if he were completely righteous.”

Watson has an excellent point that sincerity is what the devil attacks most. “Let men go to church and make glorious pretences of holiness. Satan does not oppose this; this does him no hurt and them no good; but if men want to be sincerely pious, then Satan musters up all his forces against them.”

One point that Watson makes is that the godly man is ingenuous (free, open) in laying open his sins. He says that the “hypocrites veils and smothers his sin. He does not cut off his sin but conceals it.” This reminds me of Derek Webb’s introduction to his song “I Repent” on his House Show album. We in American Christendom are very good about hiding and clothing our sin. In fact that is often what we make our spiritual pursuit about. Webb then went on to say that the best thing that could happen to us would be for our most vile sins to be exposed on the 6:00 news. Watson seems to agree. We ought to be specific and open about our sinfulness. For some reason we have bought the lie that our most faithful witness is mock purity.

Strokes of Genius:

“There is a time coming shortly, when a smile from God’s face will be infinitely better than all the applause of men”. (97)

“Satan does not oppose profession, but sincerity.” (100-101)

“…what the devil most assaults, we must strive most to maintain” (101)

On to Part 12…

Who Said It?

Mike Leake 6 Comments

“…the saving acceptance of Christ is not forced, but voluntary. None are forced to come to Christ; it is a ‘free choice’.” And then in closing the preacher proclaims: “God has sent me to you to make you the offer. Christ has sent me to give you an invitation”.

Who said it? Do you agree?

This man’s doctrine could be summed up this way:

“So, then, the invitation is given to all, and no one who gets Christ gets him any other way than by a ‘free choice'”.