The Christian Hedonism of John Newton

Mike Leake

I sure hope I’m right about this gospel-centered thing. I hope John Piper is correct that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. I hope that Sam Storms is correct when he says that the key to holiness if falling in love.

I say that because I’m staking my life on this. Not on the claims of men. But on the fact that these men have faithfully exposited what the Scriptures teach. What Piper and Storms are saying is what God has said to us in His Word. I’m banking so much on this that if I’m wrong I am to be pitied.

That’s why I take great encouragement when I find that I can add other dear saints to the list of Christian Hedonist. John Newton is one of those dear saints. Writing to a woman only known to me as Miss M****, Newton says this:

A sight of Jesus, as Stephen saw him, crowned with glory, yet noticing all the sufferings of his poor servants, and just ready to receive them to himself, and make them partakers of his everlasting joy, this will raise the spirit, and restore strength; this will animate us to hold on, and to hold out; this will do it, and nothing but this can. So, if obedience be the thing in question, looking unto Jesus is the object that melts the soul into love and gratitude, and those who greatly love, and are greatly obliged, find obedience easy.

This is the truth that I am banking my Christian life on. That beholding Christ will lead to holiness. That my chief aim is to have a “sight of Jesus”. And that “looking unto Jesus” will mold my heart into conformity with His. (If my experience with Psalm 88 recently is any evidence then I believe catching a sight of Jesus does indeed have great value).

Look unto Jesus…that’s our chore.

How to Teach a Little Boy to Not Take Himself So Seriously

Mike Leake

I watched this clip earlier today:

I’ve played Xbox with people like this before. Their joy is contagious. Their giddiness transcends the game itself and makes you want to enter into their happiness. I want to be this guy when I’m 84 (actually when I’m 34–which isn’t far away). And I want my son to be this guy too. That has me wondering what I can do not only in my own life but also in the life of my son to teach him not to take himself so seriously.

Here’s what I’ve come up with. To the veteran dads that have cultivated the grace of a good time in the life of their children I could use your help…

  1. Be that guy myself. Joy like that is caught better than taught. I’m guessing that if my children see me enjoying life that way they will join in on the fun.
  2. Ground his identity in Christ. I don’t know if this old dude is a believer or not. But I do know that this type of joy ultimately comes from Jesus. It comes from learning that our identity isn’t in video game performance or any other performance.
  3. Cultivate a culture of grace. When Isaiah gets upset at a video game the worse thing I could do is beat him over the head with the law because he doesn’t “get grace”. Grace conquers anger and pride not the law.
  4. Community help. In order to sustain joy like this in myself and also teach it to my son, I am convinced that it will come through a community of grace. Friends like my buddy Mike—who just loves to have fun—are vital in this.

Anything you’d like to add?

Today in Blogworld 02.01.13

Mike Leake

Jesus Doesn’t Want Your Risk, He Wants Your Life

Great reminder from Stephen Altrogge. “…for most of us, being radical for Jesus means being faithful to do the “ordinary” Christian things. The Christian life is inherently radical, inherently risky, and inherently crazy. Following Jesus means dying to myself every single day. That is radical. If I seek to obey God’s word, my life will look very different than the rest of the world.”

Brothers, We Are Not Witchdoctors

Dr. Moore’s message to ministers, “witchdoctors can’t do Christian ministry, so stop acting like one.”

7 Reasons to Care About the Great Commission

Certainly there are more, but Thabiti Anyabwile gives us seven.

Ridiculous but cute:

People You’ve Probably Never Heard of But Should: Bertold of Regensburg

Mike Leake

I have decided to resurrect an old series, giving a brief biography of people from church history that deserve a wider audience. Today I’m tackling a dude that I had never heard of before.

Bertold of Regensburg (also known as Berthold of Regensburg or Bertold von Regensburg or just plain ol’ Bertie) was a passionate preacher during the high Middle Ages. He was born sometime around 1220 in a town called Regensburg—hence the name von Regensburg.

Bertold was a Franciscan monk. In his twenties he set about as a preacher. He often preached against the excesses of his day. He was commissioned by Pope Urban IV to embark on a preaching journey to call heretics back to the faith. It was a sort of preaching crusade.

Some estimates have Bertold preaching to over 200,000 people at times even being called to preach in the open fields. Because his audience was so vast and diverse he spoke of contemporary matters in the common tongue.

He died in 1272, having retired from his preaching tours and living out the rest of his days in his Franciscan monastery.

Why You Should Know Him:

I cannot read German and I have only been able to get my hands on a few snippets from his sermons. I cannot commend his theology because I do not know it. I am not in a position to comment on whether he was an evangelical or not. Nor can I say whether we would benefit from his sermons.

Yet, I am intrigued by Bertold. He has been called by some the “Whitefield” of his day. One has to wonder if the simplicity and earthiness of his preaching did not in some way plant seeds of the Reformation. Certainly his wide appeal and methodology of calling common folk to repentance and confession would have influenced others. It is not a stretch of the imagination to envision those that he shaped being influential in the lives of some men like Wycliffe or Hus a couple centuries later. 

Further Reading:

There isn’t much out there. There is a 620 page book including his sermons that is edited by Franz Pfeiffer.

You can listen to an audio recording of one of his sermons in Middle High German. (This shows his influence. The fact that someone was able to time-travel to record him and decided to record him instead of others is telling).

There is a homepage of Berthold von Regensburg but it is in German. You can do the Google Translate and it helps some.

There are a few books out there on the social impact of Bertold. But again they are in German.

Nerd Assignment:

Do any of my readers know German? Can you get your hands on a few of these free books on Google (like this one) and tell me about this dude’s preaching. What can we learn from him? Did he plant any seeds of the Reformation?

Come back next Thursday to learn about Basil the Great…