More of me, elsewhere

So while this blog languishes, I thought I would let you know of two other ways you can read my musings more often.

First, you can find me on Facebook & Twitter. Yeah, I know—I didn't want to be a social media lemming either, but there is a lot more opportunity for interaction. Kinda reminds me of the early blogging days (c. 2005-6).

Second, I am one of the contributors at the revamped Calvinist Gadfly blog. Although the group hasn't been at it very long, it has already been both edifying and enjoyable. We hope you'll find it that way as well.

The Difference Between Justification and Sanctification

This explanation of the difference between justification and sanctification is from the Westminster Larger Catechism.

Q. 77. Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?

A. Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued: the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation; the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.

Tackling Leviathan

Our pastor just started preaching through the book of Job, and I thought I'd throw out some comments and observations as we go through it. Here's my initial pass.

First off, Job is considered a literary masterpiece. I have an older version of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, and Job merits an appearance there.

Second, it is a tough book to cover expositionally. It is one of the few books John Calvin didn't write a commentary for (although it appears that he preached at a least a few sermons on it). A quick look around the internet showed one well-known pastor had no sermons on it; another one had one article and five devotionals; a third had preached eight sermons, one of which covered from Chapter 2 all the way through Chapter 31.

Pastor Rob told us this past week that he had looked for sermons on Chapter 3, couldn't find much. I did a quick Google search later on in the afternoon and came up with this on the page 1 results:

When you add to what's already been said the fact that Job is primarily poetry—Hebrew poetry—and you have something which on the face of it, seems to be more suited for being handled in the literature class than it does from the pulpit, and that the typical tact of tackling the book in broad-brush style seems there for good reason.

And yet, during his first two sermons, Pastor Rob has indicated that there are many lessons we can draw from Job, including not just the obvious (how to suffer well), but also how to give advice, how theology drives advice-giving, and several other things, not to mention what I consider one of the most important things, which is seeking to understand the book in its proper literary context and it's proper biblical context. It's an invitation that many others have declined, and so I commend him for doing his part to fill up what is lacking in this area, so to speak.

I'm looking forward to this sermon series.

Timely Advice for Dealing With Theological Opponents

Really intended to do more blogging this month, but just couldn't find the time.

Saw this today, and thought it was worth highlighting. Tabletalk Magazine tweeted a link to John Newton's advice on dealing with theological opponents. Excellent and very timely advice, particularly in the age of social media.

Read it here.

End of year

Goodbye XXM. Looking forward to a new year.

Repost - Thank Who

Two years ago, I wrote a post about thanksgiving, and the idea that being thankful is not a general thanksgiving, but actually being thankful to someone. Moving into my fourth year of self-employment, I have found myself being even more thankful, to God and to others for their help.

Have you ever stopped to consider that the phrase "thank you" is directed at someone? By implication, when we celebrate Thanksgiving, we are giving thanks to someone.

Certainly this creates a dilemma for the atheist. Who is he thanking, himself? Blind, stupid luck? Perhaps atheists are never thankful for the circumstances they find themselves in. Or, perhaps they just have that feeling of generic thankfulness which is never directed anywhere or to anyone. Whatever the case, they are not able to be thankful in the proper way.

Those of other religions are not better off. Since God commands us to worship Him in spirit and in truth, someone who doesn't worship Him in that way has created his own God, and committed idolatry. His thankfulness only brings more judgment on himself.

For the Christian, this should be no problem. Yet often times I find myself slipping into that same type of "thankfulness" that is directed at no one in particular.

This year, spend some time considering not only what you are thankful for, but also to whom you are thankful - God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Book Blurb

John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology, is out for the Kindle, and was available for free on Monday. Here's my brief take on it, including why it's worth getting.

Imagine that someone went to every Reformed conference in the past year and gave this assignment: "Write about what you think is one of the most significant and overlooked contributions of John Calvin. You have 30 minutes."

Yeah, it's like that. The paper copy was put out last year by Ligonier, during the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth. The list of contributors to the book is who's who of Reformed pastors and academics.

So far I've just had time to skim the Iain Murray introduction and read the chapter by Phil Johnson on Calvin as a writer, but it has already prompted me to take advantage of the sale at Olive Tree on Calvin's commentaries ($20.99 for electronic vs. $120 for the paper version @ CBD), and I've been out on the Banner of Truth website looking at their Calvin offerings (Phil's suggestion is The Letters of John Calvin.

If all you know about Calvin is the stereotype of rigid theologian, you owe it to yourself to get this book and find out a bit more about the man who, probably more than any other, has influenced Protestant thought and theology.

When “Our Side” Misses the Point

Here's a One News Now article telling pastors they don't have to worry about losing their tax exemption for speaking out on politics because as a church they are they are constitutionally exempt.

I think this really misses the point, though. The pastor's pulpit should be used to preach the Word, and so political discussion should be in this context. On the other hand, even if the IRS is allowed to punish a church, shouldn't the church fear God and not men?

There's a related poll, which is what prompted this post in the first place.

What would most likely result if more pastors fearlessly spoke of political candidates and issues from the pulpit?
1) More Christians would vote
2) More Christians would run for office
3) America would truly become a Christian nation

I'm gonna say "none of the above." What I hope that pastor is doing is fearlessly proclaiming the Word of God, bringing it to bear on all aspects of life (yes, including politics), and that if God is glorified, that is the correct result. Even if more Christians don't vote or run for office, and even if America never becomes a "Christian nation."

Weekly Family Question

Our church has discussion questions which are published each week in conjunction with the sermon. We also get questions for the family. I'm gonna try to throw out one each week which will hopefully be helpful in your family worship.

Spend some time coming up with 4-5 groups of choices you will ask your family to make. Find pictures of each item to display. These should be groups of 3 (possibly 2) items that include one item that is not desirable (i.e. a horse, a beautiful dog, and a very mangy cat; a fancy new car, a big new pick-up truck, and a wagon without wheels; a gallon of ice cream, a picnic spread, and a pile of rotten lettuce). Tell everyone they need to make a choice in each group of the item they would like most. When they finish, ask which ones they chose, and ask why no one chose the "yucky" items. Then Read Deut. 7:6-8 and Eph. 1:3-6 and teach your family about God's calling of His people and that He called no one because of what they looked like, or because they were so good, but so that His calling would be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

An Alternative to Writemonkey

One thing I forgot to mention about NaNoWriMo this year is that I might try one alternative to Writemonkey — Scrivener.

Scrivener has been available on Mac for about for 5 years now, I think. Based on the original website, it seems to have a bunch of nice writing features.

They are just now coming out with a Windows version, which is done by a different programmer. Although the public version won't be available until early 2011, a beta version will be made available for NaNo sometime in February.

They are still field testing, hoping to get some bug reports, so it may not be a good choice for everyone. But I've read lots of good things about the program, and the final version will be available for purchase during NaNoWriMo at half price.

That makes it something I've at least gotta try.

Matt