It were better for a bramble to be in the wilderness than in an orchard. – Richard Sibbes in Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations
1 Corinthians 15:1-8 & God Speaks Therefore I Am
[Commenting on 1 Corinthians 15;1-4] Here we see that the gospel is continual, in that we must continually be reminded of it; proclamational, in that it must be preached to us often, including preaching it to ourselves; essential, in that we must continually cling to it alone for the assurance of our salvation; central, in that it is the most important truth in all the world; eternal, in that it is passed on from one generation to the next without modification by religion; Christological, in that it is about the person and work of Jesus Christ alone; penal, in that the wages for sin – death – was paid; substitutional, in that Jesus’ death on the cross was literally in our place for our sins; biblical, in that it is in agreement with and the fulfillment of all Scripture; and eschatological, in that the resurrection of Jesus reveals to us our future hope of resurrected eternal life with him. Mark Driscoll in Death by Love
When Paul seeks to remind the Corinthians of the gospel this isn’t simply an instance of remedial Christianity, for it is by this gospel that they “are being saved” and it is in this gospel alone that they “stand”. The gospel of Christ isn’t the ABC’s of Christianity but the A to Z of Christianity. You don’t graduate the gospel as a Christian to go on to other things. If you ever graduate the gospel, you graduate Jesus only to flunk.
As a church we gather not to do, but to hear and be reminded what God has done for us in Christ. In fact, it is God who gathers us by His proclamation. It is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation, making a people of those who were not His people. God’s Word gathers and sanctifies His church. Having heard God in the public assembly we then scatter to tell others what God has done, and in doing so long for Him in that act of proclamation to further act.
We begin our services with a call to worship to subtly communicate this fact. God first speaks, then we respond. We do not pull God down by our sacrifices, rather He has graciously condescended in Christ and become the sacrifice for us, and now the Spirit ministers this Christ to us as God’s Word is heralded. We sing because He has spoken. We gather not to serve, nor to be served by man, but as needy beggars we come to the table to feast on Christ. We serve because He has served. Having feasted we then serve others shouting to them that there is eternally satisfying bread available without cost.
The Sweet Dropper: Look at God in Christ First
We must take heed of coming to God in our own persons or worthiness, but in all things look at God in Christ. If we look at God as a Father, we must see him Christ’s Father first. If we see ourselves acquitted from our sins, let us look at Christ risen first. If we think of glorification in heaven, let us see Christ glorified first, and when we consider of any spiritual blessing, consider of it in Christ first. All the promises are made to Christ. He takes them first from God the Father, and derives [communicates] them to us by his Spirit. The first fulness [sic] is in God, and then he empties himself into Christ. ‘ And of his fulness we all receive grace ,’ &c. – Richard Sibbes in Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations
2 Timothy 2:1 & I Need the Water with which I Am to Flow
True gospel ministers are just buckets and pipes.
Imagine you are traveling through a desert and your water runs out. Soon your lips are cracked, your mouth is dry, your throat is parched, your stomach is in knots, and your skin is blistered – you are dehydrated and dying. If you see a bucket lying in the sand, or a pipe lying horizontally in the sand you do not get excited about them, no matter how pretty they may be. But if the bucket is attached to a rope that is attached to a well, or if that pipe is standing out of the sand vertically with a faucet on top then you might begin to get excited. And as you investigate to find that the well is indeed full of clean, clear, cool water then you celebrate. Your joy wouldn’t terminate on the bucket or the pipe, but climax in the drinking of the water.
Only the insane would just stare at the bucket or pipe rest content. Spiritually we are insane. Sin is an insanity; it makes no sense. We are more enamored with the plate than the feast of Christ. We judge the meal by the plate, rather than the plate by the meal. We pass by heavenly delicacies to gorge ourselves on earthly refuse because of the plate.
Demand water from pipes or deem them useless. Better a cracked pipe that preaches Christ crucified than a pretty pipe that pumps the poison of performance.
I am a pipe that drinks what I flow with. I hope by God’s grace that when I present the feast of Christ, I have already richly dined on the meal, and plan to further do so even in the act of preaching. The grace I preach is the grace I need. I hope to come not just having snacked or licked my fingers in preparing the feast, but already overstuffed, and seeking more. We cannot be gluttonous when feasting on Christ; and there is always more bread and wine.
Pray for me that the flow not cease. The fountain is inexhaustible and infinite. I am sinful, desperately needing the water that is to flow through me. I am not strong, but the fountain is full of strengthening grace.
Tolle Lege: The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism
Readability: 1
Length: 126 pp
Author: Craig R. Brown
This little book is an excellent place to begin if you are wrestling with Calvinism. In my opinion there are books that are better, but none that are so brief, winsome, or simple. Simplicity is the strongest attribute of The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism. Often Brown just hits you with a litany of Scriptures that demonstrate the truth he is advocating for and then calls on the reader to think on them. This I think is the best way to get someone to consider Reformed theology, give them some Scriptures and ask them to read them prayerfully as you pray for them.
The Sweet Dropper: Killing Pride by His Humility
God so hated pride, that he became humble to the death of the cross to redeem me from it, and shall I be proud? – Richard Sibbes, Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations
Galatians 6:11-18 & No Other Boast
When Paul writes, “far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he writes it in large letters (v.11). What is the meaning of these large letters? Some speculate that Paul is compensating for a degenerative eye disease (Galatians 4:13-15). Paul could very well have some eye problem, but I don’t think that is the best explanation for what Paul means by these large letters.
Paul would normally dictate his letters to an amanuensis, that is, to a professional writer (Romans 16:22). Near the end of his letters Paul would pick up the pen to write a greeting (1 Corinthians 1:21-23, Colossians 4:18). Paul would do this to authenticate his letters (2 Thessalonians 3:17). Here Paul takes up the pen much earlier, and not just to write a concluding greeting, but an emphatic summary of the entire message of his letter; and he does so drawing attention to the fact that it is in his own hand and in large letters!
When Paul says he boasts only in the cross he shouts it in large letters. Paul is trying to overcome the Galatian’s blindness by these large letters, not his own. All of our redemption is found in Christ alone because of the cross.
The cross of Christ isn’t the fine print of Christianity, it is the bold heading under which everything else falls.
Read verse 14 and the surrounding context again then seeing it like this:
“BUT FAR BE IT FROM ME TO BOAST EXCEPT IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BY WHICH THE WORLD HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED TO ME, AND I TO THE WORLD.”
O blessed Spirit of Christ, overcome our own blindness to see this truth in large letters.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling– Augustus Toplady
Tolle Lege: Tell the Truth
Readability: 2
Length: 207 pp
Author: Will Metzger
Too often books or courses on evangelism reduce the gospel down to a few bullet points hoping to make the task of evangelism less daunting. Early Metzger offers no apologies for doing the opposite in his book, Tell the Truth.
The extensiveness of this gospel summary may surprise you. I do not apologize for this. I am convinced that God purposes our speaking the truth in love as the predestined means of salvation. If all Christians learned these truths, their witness would be more God-honoring and their spiritual growth enhanced as they daily reexperience the gospel of grace. The gospel is for Christians. God may use a minimal amount of truth to quicken someone; that’s his prerogative. Our privilege is to enter into the depths of the whole gospel, sinking roots into that life-giving water.
A small gospel means small Christians. Every day of your life as a Christian should be one of growing in your understanding of and conformity to the gospel you are meant to preach. How can we commend something we think worth only a fraction of our mind and commitment?
This is the best book on evangelism I’ve read. Here the whole gospel is commended to whole person, by whole people. Don’t miss this book.
This is a book about the scandal of sovereign salvation. In it, I blame God for salvation, in the sense that he is totally responsible. He organized a rescue operation within the Trinity – designing, supplying, accomplishing and restoring those who are in peril. Our triune God is the Author and Fulfiller, the Originator and Consummator, the Creator and Redeemer. It’s all God’s fault – a grace that gives response-ability to the spiritually dead.
The Sweet Dropper: Delivered Not from, but by Trouble
Though God deliver not out of trouble, yet he delivers from the ill in trouble, from despair in trouble, by supporting the spirit. Nay, he delivers by trouble, for he sanctifies the trouble to cure the soul, and by less troubles he delivers from greater. – Richard Sibbes, Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations
Satan Invented Moving, But Jesus Redeemed It
As we are moving and seeking to sell our house, we had our bathtub reglazed today. The repairman, sympathetic to our plight, said he was pretty sure that Satan invented moving. I don’t like any form of sacrilegious humor, though hypocritically I might laugh or make such a comment, not even Satan is to be joked about. Still this repairman spoke better than he knew, or I knew until a little reflection.
Home was the garden. Satan suggested that moving would be a good idea. It wasn’t. We were driven from our blessed home into the cursed wilderness by loving his lies.
But Jesus “moved” too. He took on flesh and entered our wilderness to make a way home. Jesus redeemed moving. When Jesus ultimately “moves” us we won’t have to bring or pack any of our old baggage, and we won’t want to either. No more renting, we will finally be home.
No Other Boast 