A Wife's Submission

The most thought-provoking (and probably, controversy-stirring) posts I have seen recently on marriage are those two related posts: 'Must a Wife Always Follow Her Husband's Leadership?' and 'Wives, Submission, and Foolish Husbands'.  They are both useful for their different emphases, and while the passage mentioned by Naselli may not be a teaching passage, it may well be instructive... in fact, it is definitely useful for instruction (2 Tim 3:16), the question is what sort of instruction is meant. :) ...ponder, ponder, ponder...

The origins of repentance

Hence it is evident, that never a good thought, never a penitent thought would have come into our hearts, had not some thoughts of peace and good-will come into God's heart. When he remembers his covenant of mercy for us, so as not to remember our sins against us, then we remember our sins against ourselves with shame. 

- Gospel Humiliation, Ralph Erskine (referring to Eze 16:60-61)

the Holiness of God

Until we have seen ourselves as God sees us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us.  We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing.  We are not disappointed that we do not find all truth in our teachers, or faithfulness in our politicians or complete honesty in our merchants, or full trustworthiness in our friends.

We are not qualified to appreciate the holiness of God.  A new channel must be cut through the desert of our minds to let the sweet waters of truth that will heal our sickness flow in. 

We know nothing like Divine holiness.  It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable.   Only the Holy Spirit can impart to the human spirit the knowledge of the holy. 
...

When God rises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry.  Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation.  The holiness of God and the preservation of the universe are inseparably linked.  God's wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys.

- by GDC, my grandpa

from another: A Meditatitive Prayer of Thanks for Community

Mighty Head of the Church, and You, Father from whom the whole family in Heaven and on earth is named, and You, Spirit of Jesus, living in us and among us and empowering us and teaching us and leading us—Godhead, my Godhead—I praise You. I praise You with my whole heart. I am seeing You work: unfolding before my eyes Your magnificent plan for the spread of Your Kingdom and the ultimate exaltation of Jesus Christ the King. Breathtaking. Worship-evoking. Reverence-cultivating. Godly fear-inciting. Joy-nurturing. Hope-kindling. Faith-building. Praise-exploding. Suffering-compensating. Sacrifice-offsetting. Sorrow-counterweighting. Discipline-rewarding. Celebration-mandating. All praise to You! 

            I am coming to You to engage in a season of thanksgiving for what You have done and are doing both broadly throughout the American church and particularly in this gathering. We are Your church. You knew us. You’ve always known us. From Your eternity You set Your love on us. You ordained us to eternal life. You created us. You mourned over the sin-separation between us. You took action. You saved us, though the price for saving us was the death of the Son Himself. He did not lay down His life begrudgingly, though; He gave it up willingly—joyfully. And then, because it was not possible for death to hold Him, He reached out and took His life back. “Let all creation stand and sing, ‘Hallelujah!’” 

You called us to be His disciples. You called us to be one with You—the Triune God (how does this work? I wish I could understand, but it is enough to wonder and believe)—to be one with one another, and to call others to oneness. It’s a plan that none of us would have ever come up with. It is a plan that reflects who You are and the way You do things. We want to embrace what You have told us that You are doing and that You are determined to complete. We are all broken individually, and though being together is incredibly helpful, we are still broken together; so none of us has, as individuals or as groups, followed You perfectly. One way in which the greater church has jointly failed to follow your pattern is in the area of unity. We have fragmented and isolated ourselves. We have done deep, scarring damage to ourselves, our brothers and sisters, our communion with You, and our ability to call others to oneness with You and us. We confess this to You. We agree when You point out our sin. Having confessed, we want to forsake this sin, this divisiveness, this separation and distance from each other—this spirit that holds our brothers and sisters within our own assemblies at arm’s length. (O Jesus, draw us near to You, so that, all being near to You, we cannot help but be near to each other.)

You have been revealing our sin to us, though, and You have been changing us! To the praise of Your glorious grace! You have been changing us! The Spirit is doing a dramatic work. He is powerful. He is wise. He can unify. It’s amazing! He can actually unify! He can rip walls apart, leap over barriers, make crooked paths straight and rough ways smooth. He can abolish divisions and fuse shattered and scattered parts back into one whole. Thank You for sending Your Spirit, Father—the best of all the good gifts that come down from You. 

And so, You are growing community. We are seeing You do this. There are many, many ways in which You are making this happen, but You are definitely doing it. It is widespread and powerful. I thank You for what You are starting in one place and spreading to another. Thank You for the time of community You’ve been building for us here, drawing small groups together through mutual desire for and pursuit of You. You grow us jointly through time in the Word together, through praying and singing together, through fellowship around meals, and other ways of pursuing mutual oneness. Thank You. You’ve safeguarded us; You’ve kept us from much error and blindness that could have swallowed us. Thank You. Thank You for growing leaders and sending out emissaries. Thank You for the diversity You have given our group. Thank You for blazing the trail for us, even though we have felt like we were shooting in the dark most of the time—prayerfully, trustingly, shooting in the dark, but still shooting in the dark. You have led and helped, protected and superintended. You have done every good thing to us and for us and in us. Jesus has shepherded us. We are glad. Thank You. We are looking to You expectantly and gratefully for what You will continue to do.

I am asking You for continuing wisdom. O, please make Yourself and Your way obvious to us. Guide our conversations. Use us in each other’s lives. May we hear the Spirit speak to us and through us and through each other. Guide our counselors and authorities. Be pleased to use us powerfully for good in the unification of the larger body. May community be one of Your chief tools for increasing the health and vitality and power in the Gospel here. Grow us missionally. We are lopsided right now, but You’ll have to correct that in Your ways and Your time. We want to remain moldable and responsive to You. Protect us from hardening our hearts, from arrogance and thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. We are still own-glory seekers and self-kingdom builders at heart. We confess this. Please continue to transform us by Your Spirit as we gaze on our Lord Jesus. We love Him. We worship Him. We long for the time when all know Him perfectly, when the knowledge of His glory covers the whole earth like the waters cover the sea. You have promised that such a time will come. We bank on that promise, and so, setting our hope on You, Living God, we attach our joy to the not-seen and not-yet. We want nothing less than the full salvation that You complete. We anticipate the consummation You have promised, and we commit ourselves to being satisfied with nothing less that what You are pleased and satisfied with. We love You. And, once again, we thank You. You are our God. We are Your people. Thank You.

(For more of her thoughts, check here and here.)

greats & ages

Yesterday, my daughter met her great-Grandma Robertson for the first time.  Today, I found out that Grandma had known her great-Grandma when she was little.  Her great-Grandma, Elizabeth Shickel Ritchie, was born in 1850.  ...imagine, one person connects my daughter to her great-great-great-great grandmother, and they were born 159 years apart (minus 5 days).

a Native American theologian with a challenge

This video by Richard Twiss at CCDA is one of the most thought-provoking presentations I have seen.  There is much to muse upon, to discuss, and to rethink.  There are points of doctrine that I would disagree about, and yet his basic point is made and should slow any brash disagreement.

To what extent has 'Christian theology' ever represented non-European thinking?  More pointedly, to what extent has Protestant theology represented non-European thinking?  Consider carefully the implications of such an ethnocentric theology, particularly if you believe that men and women (and their culture), all over the world, have within them the (marred, and often, redeemed) image of God. 

The fearful consequence of a theology which is developed through the strength of only one part of the great Body of Christ is that it will not only lack the strengths of other portions of the Body but also that it will be greatly burdened by the weaknesses of that culture.  And while differences certainly exist among the German, English, French, American, Dutch, Scotch and Canadian streams which have filled Protestant theology, such theology must necessarily be poorer than a biblical and systematic theology which was as heavily influenced by Chinese, American Indian, Zambian, Brazilian, Cuban, Sudanese and Uzbek Christians.

May I hear and understand deep truths which I would not see for myself but which the truth of God in others may bring to my heart, and may you as well!

Why write Ruth?

Bethany and I have been going through the book of Ruth for about a month together (reading a chapter once or twice a week).  Since the book is a simple, beautiful narrative about a family in Moab and Israel, what is God's purpose for it in the Scriptures? We tried thinking through this from a practical perspective rather than simply a theological one. Here are five significant and relatively unique contributions that we feel Ruth makes to our understanding of God, His character, and how that is to be displayed in us, His people.

1.  After the books of the Law, the conquest of Canaan, and the self-degrading of Israel during the times of the judges, it throws a spotlight on a 'pagan' outsider's humble faith.

2.  It honors righteous women. Few books of the Bible focus completely on a single life, and none are so intimate in their portrayal of a godly family. This is a book about simple, family righteousness, highlighted in a woman's beauty.

3.  In Boaz, it has a living presentation of a God-fearing, Law-honoring life even during the dark times of the judges.

4.  As well, it provides a picture of a redeemer whose actions often mirror The Redeemer's.

5.  It shows God's plan for David by starting David's line long before Saul was king, during the time of the judges.  (It seems to me from other passages that David would have been God's chosen king whether or not Israel had insisted on a king 40 years before.)

reposted: Family in the Bible

"By contrast, the Bible actually teaches a radically subversive message about the family. God, we often discover, is the cause of barrenness in women. Stories of family dynamics rarely flatter. You'll never find a Leave it to Beaver household in the Bible. Rather, we see constant distress, rivalry, and jealousy. Usually this dynamic doesn't result from undervaluing children. No, we see it when children become the most important thing! Not only that, Jesus also has some deeply alarming things to say about the family, sounding almost cold and uncaring---see Mark 3:31-35 and Luke 14:26.

And finally, it's difficult to make family the most central thing for Christians when the two most prominent figures in the New Testament, Jesus and the apostle Paul, were both single. Actually, Christianity made singleness a legitimate way of life for the first time in any culture or religion."

An excerpt from this post by John Starke.

selection from On the Imitation of Christ

READING THE HOLY SCRIPTURE

    Truth, not eloquence, is to be sought in reading the Holy Scriptures; and every part must be read in the spirit in which it was written. For in the Scriptures we ought to seek profit rather than polished diction.

    Likewise we ought to read simple and devout books as willingly as learned and profound ones. We ought not to be swayed by the authority of the writer, whether he be a great literary light or an insignificant person, but by the love of simple truth. We ought not to ask who is speaking, but mark what is said. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remains forever. God speaks to us in many ways without regard for persons.

    Our curiosity often impedes our reading of the Scriptures, when we wish to understand and mull over what we ought simply to read and pass by.

    If you would profit from it, therefore, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and never seek a reputation for being learned. Seek willingly and listen attentively to the words of the saints; do not be displeased with the sayings of the ancients, for they were not made without purpose.

fallible words

And from my studies...

But as it was not by telling men about God that Christ convinced men that somewhere there existed a holy God who cared for them, but by showing God’s holiness and love present to them in His own person, so our words may fail to accomplish much if our life does not reveal a presence men cannot but recognise as Divine. It was by being one with the Father Christ revealed Him; it was the Father’s will His life exhibited. And the extension of this to the whole world of men is the utmost of Christ’s desire. All will be accomplished when all men are one, even as Christ and the Father are already one.

Dods, Marcus; Nicoll, W. Robertson (2011-03-24). The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St John, Vol. II (Kindle Locations 2771-2776). Kindle Edition. (emphasis mine)