Today in Blogworld 06.16.15

Mike Leake

“No, I Won’t Bless the Food”

One of the things I always loved about Dr. Whitney’s class is the interesting take he had on certain traditions within the church. I appreciate his work here.

Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead!

This is a powerful piece by Mez McConnell.

Preachers Must Sweat Out the Text

Erik Raymond is spot on here. I’ve noticed this in my own preaching.

You Know Their Not in Conflict, Right?

Aaron Armstrong reminds us that true religion is not actually in conflict with the gopsel.

This is just dumb. And cool. But especially dumb:

The Most Shared Verses in Their Context (Psalm 103:17-18)

Mike Leake

Last year I looked at the Top 10 Most Shared Bible Verses from 2013 in their context. They have recently posted their 2014 list and to my surprise there are ten new most shared verses, so I figured I’d look at these ten popular verses in their context again this year. Today we will look at Psalm 103:17-18, which is the ninth most shared verse of 2014.

The Verse:

But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. (Psalm 103:17-18 ESV)

The Context:

Psalm 103 is perhaps my favorite Psalm. It recounts all of the benefits of the LORD and encourages the soul to “bless the Lord”. Honestly, I’m surprised that of all the wonderful verses in Psalm 103 it is verses 17 and 18 which are the most shared. But that is also understandable because these verses are the climax of the entire Psalm.

In these verses we see that the steadfast love of the LORD which “made known his ways to Moses” is the same steadfast love available today. This is contrasted (notice the “but” in verse 17) with the transience of life in verses 15-16.

Sir Richard Baker, who wrote a history of the Kings of England, commented on verses 15-16 by saying:

Man, once turned to dust, is blown about by every wind, from place to place; and what knows the place, when dust falls upon it; whether it be the dust of a prince, or of a peasant; whether of a man, or of a beast? And must not man then needs be very miserable, when time and place, the two best helps of life, do both forsake him? for what help can he have of time, when his days are but as grass? What help of place, when his place denies him, and will not know him?

It is only when we really grasp the transience of mankind that we really grasp the significance of the enduring and steadfast love of the Lord.

The Meaning:

The verse in Psalm 103 which shook me out of a deep depression about ten years ago was verse 14. I was feeling the weight of verses 15-16. I felt so frail and weak and dare I say worthless. I felt every bit as nothing more significant than a mite of dust. But it was truly worse—I was a wretched mite of dust. How in the world could the Lord be pleased with one such as I.

And then I read Psalm 103. Here I saw that the Lord knows our frame and He remembers that we are but dust. It was here in the contrast between 15-16 and 17-18 that I found refuge. Yes, it was true that I was but dust as Psalm 103:15 declared. But I was so much more because of the steadfast love of the Lord.

To think that the son of God would come to earth and die a criminals death for those who are but dust. That he would redeem and rescue such transient creatures. And now my dustiness took on a whole new meaning. (I’ve reflected on this in the past).

Conclusion

I suppose this is why this verse is so often shared. Hopefully it is not shared to brow beat. I assume that one could read the latter half of this verse and make God’s love about as fickle as a dandelion in a tornado. But the phrase “those who fear him” is not something to do as much as something that people are. These are believers. We aren’t those who “keep the covenant” but we are connected to the One who has kept covenant on our behalf. And so because of Christ and our union with Him all the promises of Psalm 103 are certainly ours. 

We are fickle. He is faithful. And his steadfast love will carry us through all generations.

—

Photo source: here

Argument and Conversion

Mike Leake

Thomas Scott was an unbelieving minister who labored to see his congregation reform their morals. He was discouraged as the folks seemed to never be able to live rightly no matter how he preached. This is no surprise—moralistic preaching never works.

No matter how wonderfully Scott argued, his people would never be able to truly reform their ways. Contrast this with how John Newton interacted with Thomas Scott. Knowing he was not converted—but that God was working on his soul—Newton lovingly engaged Scott with the gospel.

The difference in the way the two men sought change had to do with their own experience of conversion. Scott was simply a moralist. Newton had been changed from the inside out. And so Newton understood that when conversion happens, “it means not being proselyted to an opinion, but receiving a principle of divine life and light in the soul.”

When a man has experienced conversion in his own heart it impacts the way he seeks conversion in the life of another.

I Was Once There

In his book, Preaching to a Post-Everything World, Zack Eswine asked a penetrating question, “Could you reach who you once were?” I believe John Newton could. His encounter with Christ never escaped him.

As he was engaging Thomas Scott with the gospel he was able to say to him, “I was once there myself”. How wonderful when believers take up this view of unbelievers. When we fully understand that grace is all that causes us to differ, and when we remember our unhappy state before grace.

Newton was able to say to Thomas Scott, “I was once there…and grace will lead you home”. But Scott couldn’t have the same solidarity with his congregation as he just couldn’t understand why they weren’t able to transform their ways. Grace changes how we argue.

I Don’t Have to Agree On All Points

Apart from grace, I assume everyone needs to agree with me on all points or all is lost. Perhaps it is the insecurity we feel in our own broken system. But when one is changed by Jesus minor points tend to matter less. When we understand that God is the author of conversion we are fine leaving sinners in his hands.

“I am far from supposing that God will guide every sincere person exactly to adopt all my sentiments,” said Newton. Of course the Lord will guide all believers to adopt gospel sentiments—but in specifics the Lord might lead men differently. And this is okay because God is the one leading and guiding. He is the King and we are His subjects—he can do with hearts as he pleases.

I Can Wait On the Lord’s Work

You can sense in the letters to Newton that Thomas Scott is getting slightly frustrated. He wants to goad Newton into an argument. And he also wants all of his questions answered. But Newton, wisely keeps the topic on the gospel and on conversion. I appreciate his response here:

You seem to expect that I should remove your difficulties; but it is my part, only to throw in a word occasionally, as a witness of what the Lord has been pleased to teach me from the Scriptures, and to wait for the rest, till he (who alone is able) shall be pleased to communicate the same views to you.

Oh, how different this is to the unsettled moralistic preaching of Scott. He was agitated that his people weren’t responding. He wasn’t able to leave them in the Lord’s hands because He did not trust in the Lord’s power to bring conversion. Things are radically different when we understand grace to be powerful. We can love people. And we can humbly and patiently share the gospel with confidence that the Lord will do His work.

Grace changes things. We see this wonderfully shown in the difference between Thomas Scott and John Newton.

Understanding the Authority of Jesus

Mike Leake 1 Comment

In Mark 1:22 the folks in the synagogue of Capernaum are astonished at Jesus’ teaching. This guy isn’t teaching like their scribes. He is teaching with authority. But wait…didn’t the scribes have authority? Didn’t people used to look up to the scribes and Pharisees? How then is the authority of Jesus different than the authority of the scribes.

I feel a bit pretentious by giving this example but I’ll risk it because I think it will help to understand what is meant by the authority of Jesus.

I’d consider myself somewhat of an authority on John Newton. I’ve spent about 3-5 years devouring his writing. If you ask me what Newton believed on a topic I can give you a pretty good answer. I’ve even got a book swirling around in my head on Newton that I hope to get published at some day. And so if you compare me to your average Joe, I’m kind of an authority on Newton. (Of course if you compare me to others I’m a dolt when it comes to Newton).

Imagine you would ask me a question about Newton. My answer, though very informed, would need to start with the words, “I think” or even “I’m pretty confident”. This is the type of authority that the scribes had. Even if they wanted to walk around as if they had all the answers at the end of the day their authority is a derived authority. They have to say, “I think” or “I’m pretty confident…”

Now contrast this with the books and articles that I’ve written. If someone were to ask me a question I wouldn’t have to say, “I think the author meant…” I could say unequivocally, “Here is what I meant when I wrote X”. I am the authority on Torn to Heal. I’m not the authority on the doctrine of suffering. But if you have a question about the book I wrote—then all you have to do is ask, and I can tell you precisely what is meant.

Jesus’ authority is like this. And that is why it was so much different than the scribes and Pharisees. They taught with authority, yes. But it was a derived authority. They could even be correct on occasion. But even still, they could only say, “I believe what Isaiah meant was…”

But not Jesus. Jesus could say, “Here is what was meant when Isaiah was inspired to write…”  And so he taught with real authority and it was astonishing. Which of course means that we’re profoundly missing something if we analyze Jesus on the same playing field as scribes and Pharisees…and that goes for scribes and Pharisees of even the 21st century.