To hypocrite or not to hypocrite……

Terry Buster

To hypocrite or not to hypocrite….that is the question. (My apologies to Mr. Shakespeare.)

Have you ever noticed that one of the chief criticisms of Christians is that we are hypocrites? We’ve all heard the complaints. We don’t practice what we preach. Living for Jesus demands a degree of kindness and we are guilty of being less than kind from time to time. Sometimes, church-world isn’t a rosy, happy happy place in our business meetings. Let’s face it, we know that our calling to live holy lives coupled with our humanity and frailties means that we will not measure up to the standard we proclaim. We do not always practice what we preach nor live what we teach. Our hypocrisy peeks out from time to time.

The world that wants us to live up to the standards we hold dear is also the world that wants us to keep our religion to ourselves; to stay out of discussions of morality and ethics; and to keep silent when it comes to sharing the need for people to be saved. In other words, we are to deny the Great Commission (not practice what we preach), ignore Ten Commandments (not live what we teach), and ignore huge Biblical truths (un-believe our beliefs). Sounds like another form of hypocrisy to me.

When you stop to think about, trying to please a world that refuses to be pleased is a huge waste of the precious time God gives us to live for Him. To hypocrite or not to hypocrite…….not much of a question after all, is it?

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)

Today in Blogworld 02.24.14

Mike Leake

Profile on Lecrae

This is a lengthy but very interesting profile on rapper Lecrae. It’s unfortunate that he is receiving so much flack. I haven’t noticed anything in his music or even witness that would cause me to think that he is selling out.

A Brief Look at the 9Marks Series

If you are looking for a spot that briefly summarizes and compiles a list of the 9Marks library this is your link.

On Weddings and Conscience: Are Christians Hypocrites?

I haven’t given a ton of thought to this yet, but I believe I need to start. This will be one of the articles that I really reflect on whenever I put together my thoughts.

Christians Don’t Give Up on the LOCAL Church

My friend Sam has written a nice piece here. He helps us consider the impact of driving out of our local community to attend a church.

Finally got to watch The Lego Movie this weekend. So I thoroughly enjoyed this blooper reel as well:

Thought Shards 02.22.14

Mike Leake
  1. I really want to go England. This desire is increased every time I read John Newton and other heroes from across the pond. I’m also convinced that if I ever go to London, I’ll be sorely disappointed. I say this because in my mind people still ride carriages, wear top hats and monocles, and the landscape is in black and white.
  2. If a husband does something vindictive to “teach his wife a lesson”, he has clearly moved away from washing her with the water of the Word.
  3. Have you ever noticed that the enemy lies to unbelievers by convincing them that they are absolutely free, and he lies to believers by trying to convince them that they are enslaved?
  4. I’ve devoted 2014 to studying the doctrine of our union with Christ. I’m glad I did. It’s February and I’m already blown away and I believe further enamored with Christ.
  5. Sometimes I wonder if people that attack believers like LeCrae (for preaching the gospel in the midst of rap culture) are really only attacking because of their own lack of cultural engagement. Those that have legit concerns won’t typically go into attack mode. But we do well to listen to any criticism—even if its
    motivated out of fear.
  6. I never realized so many baseball players in the 80’s were doing cocaine. Then I started reading this.
  7. If I had a nickel for every time I almost posted a comment but didn’t I’d have enough to take my wife out to lunch at a nice restaurant. If I had a hundred dollars for every time I regretted that decision I’d be broke.
  8. In 1984 YCDTOTV was given a cease and desist letter from attorneys from Ghostbusters. They believed that they had stolen their idea of slime. The lawyers backed off when they were informed that YCDTOTV had been sliming people 5 years before the lovable Slimer hit the bigscreen.

    It’s not hard to imagine how this went down. Some guy that was deeply immersed in the world of Ghostbusters was flipping through the stations one day and came upon YCDTOTV. Here, he saw the familiar slime and assumed that these punk kids had copied their sliming idea. They filed the papers and went to work getting these renegade kids to stop trying to capitalize on their idea.

    If we aren’t careful we can develop that same type of myopic view. We’ll get focused on our own world in such a way that we’ll view everything through that lens. We’ll assume that a controversial article is written about us but in actuality the author doesn’t even know we exist. We’ll assume that the way we apply the gospel in our neck of the woods is exactly the same in other areas.

Richard Sibbes the Affectionate Calvinist (YWS Week 7)

Nick Horton 3 Comments

Welcome to a year of reading Richard Sibbes together! The reading plan for the entire year can be accessed here. I encourage you to stick with us, allow yourself time to read, and soak in the riches of this gifted and prolific Puritan preacher. You will be edified and encouraged.

If you have trouble with how Sibbes used words, check out the Lexicons of Early Modern English for definitions from the period.

Summary/Engagement

In chapters five and six Dever explores the theology of Richard Sibbes. He makes the case that Sibbes was a Reformed theologian, and an “affectionate” theologian. If you are not familiar with Reformed Theology, you can search the internet for any number of sources. Many books have been written to explain the question of what it is. You can find a short treatment here.

Specifically in view for Dever were the issues of reformed soteriology, (commonly referred to as Calvinism) which includes reprobation, election, particular redemption, and predestination, and covenant theology. The need for clarification comes from the lack of overwhelming, or at first glance clear, evidence of reformed theology throughout his surviving work. However, Dever sets the record straight on what Sibbes’s theology was, which was Reformed. As we read, the author has done the hard work of pouring through all of Sibbes work to show by Sibbes’s own words his stance on these theological issues.

In his sermons, all the doctrines typically associated with predestination were clearly present–election and reprobation, the decrees and definite atonement. Yet this did not give to Sibbes’s sermons a grimness that some modern writers present as the necessary concomitant to any espousal of such doctrines….For Sibbes, the Reformed doctrines of predestination were nothing other than God’s love language to his people, a “delightful determinism.” (108-109)

Continuing from there, Dever describes Sibbes’s theology as “Affectionate.” Sibbes preached with passion and a pastoral care that is evidenced by how fondly he is remembered by his contemporaries, and many today, who enjoy his work.

Sibbes preached to the affections and the intellect. He brought heavenly wisdom out of the text and presented it in beautiful metaphor and illustration to engage the affections of his hearers. He took the truth of scripture, and instead of lecturing as Dr. Sibbes, Master of Katherine Hall, he preached as Pastor Sibbes, Minister of Gray’s Inn. There is a wide difference between teaching and preaching, and Sibbes is a prototype for those to come. After reading Sibbes, I can hear echoes of him in Spurgeon’s flowing sermons. It was not merely information designed to instruct that Sibbes delivered, but information designed to trigger a response. He was after the transformation of his hearers by the power of the Holy Spirit using the word of God.

“For it is not knowledge that will bring to heaven, for the devil hath that, but it is knowledge sanctified, seizing upon the affections.” (146)

Application / Further Discussion

The more I read him the more I can’t help but conclude Sibbes was a Pastor first and foremost. He maintained a relationship with one college or another throughout his life. Be it a fellow, a Dean, or finally as Master of Katherine Hall. Yet, as soon as he was licensed to preach he delivered the word of God in public sermons. He didn’t spend that time in theological disputations. As Dever noted, those were best left to the academy and not the pulpit. (109)

Sibbes sought to rouse the affections toward God of anyone who heard him. Read again his words and feel your own heart stir.

“The gospel breeds love in us to God.” (148)

“When the soul hath been with God in the mount, and when it is turned from earthly things, then it sees nothing but love and mercy, and this constrains us to do all things out of love to God and men.” (148-149)

“We are not as we know, but as we love.” (152)

He taught that it was not mere knowledge that saved someone, but a heart transformed by the grace of God and moved to love him. The Apostle James agrees with this. The knowledge of the Bible, a brilliant intellect, a logical mind, are not sufficient to save anyone. Sibbes knew that it was the soul moved in love to God, insofar as God had moved that soul to love him, that saved someone. His theology was not dry and his orthodoxy was not dead. Here was a man who had fire and passion for the love of God, and the heart of a Pastor to exhort his congregation to respond to God in faith and love.

I read this and I think, do I present the gospel with such passion and love? When you share your faith do you do it with passion born from love? Will the person know that you are acting out of love and not smug superiority or lifeless obligation? Do you seek the hearts of others with love?

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Last week, we covered chapters three and four in Mark Dever’s biography of Richard Sibbes.

Next week, we’ll cover chapters seven and eight, finishing the book.