How Would You Like This Résumé?

Mike Leake

How would you like to have this on your résumé?

  • Wrote a best-selling book
  • Wrote arguably the most popular hymn of all time
  • Faithfully married to your sweetheart for 40 years
  • Pastor a growing church for 15 years
  • Pastor a thriving church in the largest city in the country
  • Instrumental in ending the slave trade
  • Wrote hundreds of letters that are still being read today

That is only a small portion of what John Newton could write. He could also list the names of William Wilberforce, William Cowper, Hannah More, and a host of others of whom he was influential in their life. Newton was also a key behind the scenes influence on the modern missionary movement. His influence is still be uncovered even in our day.

One might be tempted to having a life and ministry similar to that of Newton. Reading his writings makes me want to drink deeply from the well that is Christ. I further want to make an impact for the kingdom as Newton did. You might say that part of me seeks great things.

All of these accomplishments happened to John Newton after 1764 (save for his marriage to Polly). Listen to a somewhat discouraged Newton in 1761:

My comfort is comprised in this one sentence—“I know whom I have believed”. I know that Jesus is mighty to save; I have seen myself lost in every view—but the hope of his mercy; I have fled to him for safety; I have been preserved by him thus far; and I believe he will keep that which I have committed to him even to the end. Blessing and honor, and glory and praise, be to his name, who has loved poor sinners, and washed them in his most precious blood! Amen.

For the rest, alas! alas! I am unfaithful and unprofitable to a degree you would hardly believe; yet, vile as I am, I taste of his goodness every day, and live in hope, that in his own time he will enable me to show forth his praise. I have been much exercised with respect to the ministry; my heart is led that way—but the Lord’s hand keeps me in; I need much humbling; there is that in me which seeks great things, though I am, as I said, sadly unfaithful in small ones; therefore, for my pride, I am set aside for the present.

In the early 1750’s Newton felt a tug to pursue vocational ministry. Finally in 1757 he applied to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England. He was not met with willing arms. He was met with denial. This is why Newton says, “I am set aside for the present”. The above quote was written in 1761. It wouldn’t be until 1764 that Newton was finally ordained.

Most of us would desire Newton’s resume. Less are as willing to embrace the humbling. In 1761 Newton was learning the lesson of being faithful in the small things. What is interesting is that this seemed to be the call of his entire life. Most of the things on that resume were thrust upon him. A good portion of them came as a result of him just being faithful in the small things and the Lord gave them increase.

Newton is drinking deeply from the fountain of Jesus. He believes that if the Lord sees fit he will eventually “enable me to show forth his praise”. Until that time Newton knows that he needs to be faithful in the small things and rest in the Lord’s unending grace.

Résumés like Newton’s seldom come without an equal catalog of humbling.

Today in Blogworld 02.12.13

Mike Leake

Gospel Centeredness Requires a High View of the Law

Amen! As our view of the Law diminishes so does our view of the gravity of sin. And once that diminishes so does the Cross. Great piece here by Tim Brister.

I Will Not Let You Go

This is a powerful story. Greg Lucas got into a fist-fight…and it taught him something about rebellion and God’s persistence. Be sure to read the whole thing.

Top 10 Reasons the Church is Losing Our Youth

Justin Taylor summarizes a lengthy article by Marc at 5 Solas.

10 Foolish Obstacles to the Foolishness of Preaching

“The Gospel message is foolishness to the world. But so is the Gospel medium – preaching.” David Murray shows 10 obstacles that every preacher has to overcome. Thus showing that this medium is quite “foolish”.

This is a tremendous story of the power of grace:

Seeing God’s Hand When He’s Holding the Hand of Another

Mike Leake

It had been a really bad few years for the Israelites. And in the midst of this intense suffering the Lord says to them through the prophet Isaiah:

“Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you…”

The Lord promised to Israel that she was special to him. He was going to rescue her and bless her abundantly.

And then He starts holding the hand of Cyrus. “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped…” You don’t expect the name Cyrus in that sentence. You expect something like Hezekiah or Uzziah or some other Jewish sounding name. Not Cyrus.

And so the Lord holds the hand of Cyrus and causes him to make some serious bank. He blesses Cyrus in a way similar to what He said was going to happen for Israel. Certainly this would have caused great consternation for the faithful Israelites.

We have the advantage of history.

We can look back and read Isaiah as well as Ezra/Nehemiah and see how God used Cyrus to bless the Israelites. Cyrus was God’s instrument to fulfill His promises to the Israelites.

Yet I have to wonder what it looked like to the Israelites when they were actually living this. I know in my own life it seems as if the Lord is doing the exact opposite of the promises that He has made. It seems like rather than restoring us he is wrecking us. Sometimes the gospel of peace feels like everything but. From the outside it can look like the Lord is giving all of the fruit of His promise to those like Cyrus while His church is left to sift through ashes.

In my weaker moments I want to bicker and complain and try to tell the Lord that the way that He is shaping His church is totally backwards. “Why does He have to raise up a Cyrus? Why not a Hezekiah. Why can’t the sovereign and all-wise Lord of the universe fill His church with passionate and holy worshippers without all of these bumps along the way?” And to these bickering and foolish questions the Lord says:

Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles?’

There is beauty here that should calm my questioning heart. God can use even a Cyrus that doesn’t know Him to bless His church and fulfill His covenant promises. Everything in all of creation is at His disposal to actually accomplish the rich blessings that He has promised to us. This ought to cause great comfort. So when I see Him holding the hand of another, and I feel cast off to the side for a season, it is best for me to trust in His wisdom. And know that His holding the hand of another isn’t divorced from His earlier promise to do me much good.

The Devotional Side of Calvinism

Mike Leake 5 Comments

“Real Calvinism is all about joy”, says Greg Forster. In his book of The Joy of Calvinism he hopes to defend that statement. He believes that Calvinism is a wonderful path to rejoice in the Lord always. Calvinists have gotten a bad rap and a good amount of that is our fault. But at it’s heart Calvinism is about joy.

I’ll review the book on Friday, but in the meantime I want to give you a taste.

The trouble is that people outside the Calvinistic tradition only hear the formulas and technicalities. They don’t hear what we say ‘within’ Calvinism; they only hear what we say about Calvinism. So while Calvinists produce reams of positive, spontaneous, and devotional religious writings, the outside world never knows. If it hears our devotional voices at all, it never associates that devotion with our Calvinism; it thinks we’re pious in spite of our Calvinism, not because of it. “Calvinism” to the outside world means only the formulas, technicalities, and negations.

I pray along with Forster that this changes. A good place to start is by giving this book a read. It’s actually on sale this week for under 5 bucks.