“This saying is carted out whenever someone wants to suggest that Christians talk about the gospel too much, and live the gospel too little. Fair enough—that can be a problem. Much of the rhetorical power of the quotation comes from the assumption that Francis not only said it but lived it.
The problem is that he did not say it. Nor did he live it. And those two contra-facts tell us something about the spirit of our age.”
I’ve run into this very quote and situation numerous times, each time the implication being that we need to be ‘actionally active’ and ‘verbally passive’, or something like that. It’s as if we read the book of Acts and ignore the great sermons (which to me seem to be the thrust of much of the book) and say that actually we just need to keep quiet and get on with it.
Of course, this isn’t true; the gospel needs to be preached verbally and through the effective preaching of the Word the Holy Spirit regenerates hearts to serve Him well too, providing another effective witness.
But our culture has for much part lost the value of words, and so little mantras like the one above (for it really is like a religious chant) slip in, sound cool, but if left unchecked can be quite dangerous, especially to a young Christian mind.
So let us continue in the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2) so we might use wisdom and discernment in dealing with the bombardment of ideas jumping our way, that we might sift out truth and discard error.
We’re in a shooting war and we can’t afford to put down the rifles that God has given us to advance his Kingdom. The preaching of the Word by the Holy Spirit is powerful, life-changing and glorious. He has promised the power of it to us (Isa. 55:11) and we have witnessed it ourselves. We must not get muddled and confused where God has spoken plain and clearly.
At last night’s service in Bath with Dr. J. I. Packer we were treated to a quick question and answer time before the main message (which incidentally was taken from Luke 1:67-80 entitled, “Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment.”) From this Q & A session I want to highlight three questions and their answers that I found particularly insightful and helpful.
1. What advice would you give to Christians young in the faith?
“Soak yourselves in Scripture.” Packer hit first and foremost the absolute neccesity that we need to be in the Bible often. Packer is in his 80’s I believe and he mentioned that fact that people don’t read their bibles as their fathers and grandfathers once did. What does that mean for me who could be his great-grandson?!
At this point he talked about the ESV Study Bible for which he served as Theological Editor and mentioned that is much more than just another study Bible, but rather it is, “put together as a resource for the Christian life.” That is, that the study Bible complete with articles, notes, charts, maps etc. was designed to help the Christian in all matters of their faith.
The next point that he made was that we need to be in prayer. We were exhorted to, “practice prayer, both in company, and on your own.” As well as having a life of personal prayer we need to, “get into a prayer group.” Packer stressed the importance of the Christian walk being that as a walk of fellowship, and not isolation.
I thought that was great coming from a man who might actually be able to remember the beginning of modernity. I find that many among the crowd who want to do church in a ‘post-modern’ way seem to think that they have discovered ‘community’ for the first time. Ahh, but not so. Because it, as with other doctrines, have been dismissed by some in some generations in the past does not mean that it is a new or bold discovery.
Dr. Packer also told us that we need to be actively seeking to discover what gifts God has given to us. When we discover our gifts we can then begin to use them! We are “saved to serve” and church is not a place to sit idly by without joining in and fulfilling our own unique role in the body (Col. 1:24 – verse added).
And what about Christians at the other end, those much older in their faith?
“Remember that the Good Lord never changes.” I’m only 25 so I’m nodding appropriately and writing and thinking that hopefully one day this might mean a little more to me. All I can take it for is that when you have seen a lot of life, and a lot of change, we must remain strong and take heart in the Unchanging One.
“Remind yourselves of the works of God.” This is one that I think is good for us all. We must remember to be thankful and give praise to God for the wonderful things that He has done in our lives.
3. For what can we pray for you?
Finally, the question was asked for what can we pray for Dr. Packer? As you may know, Dr. Packer and others from his church have been having a rough run of it of late. The whole sad ordeal to me highlights the state of some parts of the church. The glimmer of hope to be found is in the people who made a stand, take God at His word and take His Word very seriously.
It is a brave man who is still very much passionate about His God to stand firm, when He has been standing so strong for all his life. Dr. Packer in this regard is an inspiration to me and a testimony of the Holy Spirit’s grace that enables sinners to run hard, run strong, and finish well. My prayers will be with him and his church over the next few weeks.
For example, the ESV Study Bible (hardback) is currently £26.97 – that’s cheaper than Amazon. And when you start to increase the order size, say by 10 or more, the savings really do add up as bulk discounts apply, somethin which would be great for small groups etc.
You can order from their website or catch them at various events around the country.
My father’s web company began over 10 years ago. During those 10 years I have gained a fair bit of experience working for him; at times in a full-time role, and also part-time to support my work with YWAM. This April I returned to my native land and have taken the bold step to start my own business. Sound tricky? It wasn’t really. I simply registered as self employed, called the tax office, filled a form in online et voila!
There’s much talk about ‘tent making’ skills, but the short of it is by working for myself I can make money (important), can carry on with my missional activities (also important) and keep flexible for some pretty exciting projects on the horizon (important and cool).
When stopping through my local Christian book store yesterday I came across a leaflet promoting a talk next week from Dr. J. I. Packer. Naturally, I was very excited. Now, Dr. Packer has been made known to me chiefly through so many book endorsements. Along with this, he was also the general editor for the English Standard Bible (ESV), of which I am recently enjoying the study version. However, it was his book, Knowing God, that has impacted me the most and I am grateful for the wealth of insight that he has brought to me and to many people who have discipled me.
Yesterday a new sermon series, The Cause, began at Bath City Church. This ongoing series, from Ephesians, should be quiet exciting. I’ll be studying the book over the next month or so myself and look forward to learning much from it.
R C Sproul jr. has written a wonderful short piece on what it means to be on the Reformed ‘team’. Too often it is easy to identify our walk by the shadow of another man. But all men are sinners, and all are fallen and finite. The only person we should seek to ultimately emulate and aspire to is Jesus Christ.
Calvinists should not be, as Sproul points out, simply followers of Calvin. But rather followers of truth, with the Bible as our guide and Jesus as our Lord. Calvin joins the ranks of others who think like this. We too, join alongside those gone before us in proclaiming the gospel and stand today marked by the same convicitions under the same Lord.
As Sproul also points out, we must never idolise our heroes by making them more than what they are: sinners saved by grace. No one is perfect, save one on this planet, and therin lies the distinction. In the light of that we can look to all the good that has been done by those that have walked before us, and also see the mistakes that have been made.
I wanted a bit of a challenge, and now I have one. Reading the Bible, all of it, in 90 days. There’s a big push for this in the summer, called, The Bible in 90 Days. Actually, there’s quite a few resources at that site so take a look. There’s help for the church as a whole, as well as small groups, and Joe who wants to do it on his own.
I however, have jumped the gun. I found out about the whole thing through Twitter, linking back to this post. Instead of waiting til the first of June I’ve just started going. So the challenge was laid down; and the challenge has been accepted. As I reckon it’s day 3 tomorrow and Genesis will be all but done …
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