This is an excellent article.  I’m posting it because it is superior and in accord with a post that I wrote entitled: “ We Are People Who Together Form A Community” that you can read HERE.   

Click on the title to read this article:

Against Autonomy

Posted on January 30, 2023 by T. M. Suffield 

I’ll Praise the God of Merciful Plight!

This hymn, with an added refrain and verse by Zac Hicks [1] based on Psalm 30:5 & Job 1:21, was originally written by Frances Ridley Havergal in 1879, who is most famous for her hymn, “Take My Life and Let it Be” and "Like A River Glorious". This hymn teaches us that worship is a choice more than a feeling…that the hope of what God has in store is worth holding onto, no matter the circumstances.  [2]

https://youtu.be/86WyqeJL3ew

Light after darkness, gain after loss,
Strength after weakness, crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, hope after fears,
Home after wandering, praise after tears.

Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain,
Sight after mystery, peace after pain;
Joy after sorrow, calm after blast,
Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last.

Refrain
Weeping may remain for a night
But joy arrives in morning’s new light
I’ll praise the God of merciful plight
Still I will praise him, still I will praise him, my God.

Near after distant, gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness, life after tomb;
After long agony, rapture of bliss,
Right was the pathway, leading to this.

Refrain

You give and you take away
In darkness still I will say:
“A good God I serve this day.”
Still I will praise you, still I will praise you.

Refrain

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1. https://zachicks.com/light-after-darkness/

2. This is from a daily email I receive from Hymn of the Day, January 9, 2023.  https://hymnoftheday.com/

We Are People Who Together Form A Community

Some might say that “confession is good for the soul”.  I think that’s right.  Even better is it to say that self-consciousness is good for the soul.  In the words of that stalwart Highland theologian, Robert Burns: “O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!" This forms the context of why I engage in writing this article.  

The calendar has turned on my first year of retirement.  I said to a friend recently that in reflection it appears that I think more as a retired soldier than a retired pastor.  In other words I think my military paradigms were quite active even in pastoral ministry.  Staff at church seemed to see that clearer than I did, especially when they would make sport of my desire for order, precise protocols and decorum.  It also affected the way I viewed the Church and participation within the church (The change in case is intentional.).  When people would float in and out of the local church, even for seemingly logical reasons, it would bother me.  When some abandoned the community in protest (e.g., COVID-19 policies) I was very provoked.  I categorized such fluidity as disloyalty.  Loyalty surfaced as one of my most important ideals.  This conviction became more obvious when I was recently reading, THE PATROL, SEVEN DAYS IN THE LIFE OF A CANADIAN SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN by Ryan Flavelle .  He writes, 

 

“At that moment I realized just what an important thing choice is. Not the choice between shopping at Walmart or shopping at Superstore, but the ability to choose whether to participate in things that directly affect your safety. I had given up that right. I was going to get into the back of that LAV, stand air sentry, cross my fingers and toes, and hold on. That was my only choice.

 

The cold, hard reality of military life is that no one makes any effort to treat you as an individual. You are a soldier; that is all. It is refreshing to be reminded that no matter what our third-grade teachers taught us, we are not all unique and delicate flowers; we are people who together form a community . . . In the military we are painfully aware that each one of us is merely a cog in a much larger machine . . . The military doesn’t view us as unique, and it doesn’t need to.”

 

Of course I would err to take Flavelle’s accurate view of military life and apply it directly to Christian communion without some nuancing.  The New Testament certainly acknowledges the individual, individual gifts, individual genders, culture, etc.  But the New Testament also points to community, to oneness, and to one another-ness.  In our culture that emphasizes individuality, freedom, autonomy, etc., we would do well to heed the community aspects to our Christian faith.  Much of the New Testament is written to us in our plurality, not individuality.  The most basic prayer starts, “Our Father . . ..”   

 

Just like it is unique to military life to see the whole as more important than the part, it is also unique to life in the Christian community.  The initiatory act of baptism symbolizes that.  One might wonder if the militant Church on earth wouldn’t be more effective if people would acknowledge that certain individual freedoms are forfeited the moment one becomes part of Christ’s Body. Today we have a weakened Church because everyone wants to be treated as an individual.  Thus they live and make choices mainly on what satisfies their needs and their desires.  It might be a time to make ourselves nothing and see the glorious “larger machine” that we are “merely cogs” within. 

 

I recently overheard a spouse say, “I get to be me!”   Perhaps a better marital ideal is, “I get to be us.”  The same is true for the Church.  So I don’t apologize for my military influence that places loyalty to the Church in such a prominent place.  And if you still float between churches like shopping between Walmart and Superstore, I’m still provoked by your heightened view of your own self-prominence.  

There are good reasons to leave a church.  That discussion is not part this article.  Tim Challies has an excellent Blog on that topic.  Akin to marriage, when we go into a fellowship with the notion that we can remain autonomous and leave when we want to we start at the wrong place.  When we start at the point of “may death do us part” we are on the right path to true Church life.  It is counter-cultural but it is Scriptural: the whole is more important that the sum of its parts.

 

 

Is there a difference between preaching and teaching?

This question stimulates intriguing discussion among pastors and church leaders.  It has been said to me, “I am a teacher, not a preacher.”  Interestingly, no one has ever said the opposite!  Some suggest that there is no difference between the two.  They say the two terms as virtually synonymous.  My position is that there is a distinction, but not a radical division.  It helps to state it this way:

You can be a teacher and not a preacher; but

You cannot be a preacher without being a teacher.

An important text of Scripture that gives rise to this definition is found in 2 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV):

“⁴ I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Notice this important call to Paul’s protégé, Timothy: “Preach the word . . . with patience and teaching.” The imperative is to “preach”.  The Greek word is translated “herald” or “proclaim” and he is to do it with “teaching” (with doctrine or instruction).  To read on in 2 Timothy we learn of a time when people will not welcome this “sound teaching” v3.  Sound teaching or sound doctrine is the content of the word preached.  Exegetically we can discern that to preach includes the elements of “reproving, rebuking and exhorting.”  I would argue that you can conduct instruction that conveys doctrinal understanding to the hearer. Left in that alone it is defined as teaching.  The preacher though takes the sound teaching and in love and concern for the hearer brings reprimand, conviction of sin, a stern warning, comfort and encouragement.  There is a Spirit endowed authority with true preaching.  This diagram is a facsimile of my position [1]:

This emotion that is implied in Biblical preaching is that blend of compassion and passion.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones defined preaching this way:

“What is preaching? Logic on fire! Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this. I say again that a man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit; and should never be allowed to enter one.”[2]

J.I. Packer presses in deeper by stating that the “preacher” conveys the Word of God through His “commands, promises, warnings, and assurances, with a view to winning the hearer or hearers…to a positive response.”[3] My father had a book on his shelf entitled, Preaching to Convince.  There is a sense where the preacher, more so than the teacher, is burning to be persuasive, pressing the urgency of the doctrine onto the hearer and seeking the right response through invitation.

It is no accident that the Greek word for the preacher represents a herald, a town crier.  The herald is a representative of the king and has a message that the subjects need to hear.  Certainly, the herald must represent the king’s message with precision, but he is also endowed with a serious responsibility to ensure that people hear and respond to the message. His job is not to provide facts and information.  His job is to press the facts and information on the minds and wills of the citizens. 

Now what of a person who is preaching (so-called) but is devoid of the essence of teaching?  I have witnessed such things in the name of preaching.  I think of them as nothing but circus clowns parading themselves back and forth across the stage, ranting and railing, throwing out nothing but carefully designed memes, entertaining their audience with their performance.  Preaching without teaching is not preaching.

There is a role for teachers in the church.  “Teaching, on the other hand, if done well, is dialogical [a discussion with students. A conversation.] by nature. The communication of content is driven by the teacher, but questions from the hearers shape the conversation and interchange that happens in the classroom. Good teaching is inherently dialogical.”¹

So, there is a need for sound doctrinal, albeit dialogical teachers in the Church. They provide insight into systematic and Biblical theology.  They instruct the listeners in doctrine.  Their goal is to provide information that equips. Often, they are seen as discipling believers.  But the essential need for the Church is for preachers.  They are transformational in their approach. They warn.  They correct. They bring Gospel comfort and encouragement in the Lord. They have a fire within that cannot be quenched.  As prophets of old they come with a “burden”.   

So yes, there are teachers that are not preachers.  But Biblical preachers — preachers representing the King of kings approach their congregation with a compassion driven passion to conform people to the likeness of Christ in Christian maturity.

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” - Colossians 1:28 (ESV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] https://www.logos.com/grow/what-is-the-difference-between-preaching-and-teaching/

[2] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 97.

[3] J. I. Packer, Preaching a Biblical Interpretation in Inerrancy and Common Sense, ed. Roger Nicole and J. Ramsey Michaels, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 189.

 

What is a woman?

Abegail Dodds, speaking at the Godward Life Conference at Bethlehem College and Seminary, spoke on the topic: She Shall be called Woman.  This is a message full of grace, non-abrasive, Biblically informed, doctrinally sound, and Christ-centered.  It is a breath of fresh air in a culture that is so confused by gender issues.   The YouTube link is here:

https://youtu.be/-cKmPoH6KdE

So, what is a woman?  Only God can define a woman.  This is where we must start.  To start elsewhere leads to disaster.  “We don’t define womanhood because we didn’t make it, God did; but we do embody it either willingly or in rebellion . . ..”

Dodds definition that emerges from Genesis 2 and 1 Corinthians 11.

“A woman is a human made by God in His image from man to be his helper and glory by subduing and filling the Earth with God’s glory, primarily through Godly offspring.”

“That’s what she is. It’s not mainly describing what she does, but who she is.”

So when you are asked, “What is a woman?”, what will your answer be?

The Exaltation of God is the Hope of the Christian

This is an encouraging sermon by David Mathis, pastor of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, entitled: God Can Handle Your Crisis. The message is an exposition of Psalm 46.

It can be viewed on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/qAD-Z2rq_ss

 

Here are some quotable quotes from Mathis:

 

“If God’s people can be without panic when the ground shifts, and the seas rage, and the nations rage, then we can face any crisis with confidence.”

 

“Whatever trouble comes, Psalm 46 tells us, with its first word, where to turn. Not to a change in circumstances. Not to our best efforts to fix the problem. Not to our anxious strategies to avoid pain and loss. But rather, to God.”

 

“One of the overwhelming effects of Psalm 46 — perhaps the chief effect of the psalm — is that it communicates to our souls: ‘Your God is strong, with infinite strength.’”

 

“He is not only strong, with infinite strength, but he’s present to help in trouble. And not just present, but ‘very present,’ attentively present.”

 

“For every crisis we face in Christ, and all its darkness, God has a dawn designed. He will help when morning dawns. Your dawn will come. God’s help does not mean that his people are kept from crisis, but that he keeps us through crisis. In his perfect timing, when the appointed morning dawns, he rescues his people from their trouble, having preserved them through the long night.”

 

“And he speaks into the chaos, into the raging and tottering, “Be still.” Lay down your weapons. Cease your warring and deconstruction. Cease your rage and disorder. Be still, which is first a rebuke to the raging nations, to our turbulent world . . . However, it is also a word to God’s people, who hear him say it to their foes, and read it in their Bibles. Be still, church.”

 

“For God’s covenant people in Israel back then, and for his covenant people today in Christ, our God’s exaltation is our salvation. His exaltation is our refuge and strength — and very present help in trouble.”

 

 

 

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David Mathis is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus (2022).

 

Guess the date?

 

To what generation was this written?

"There is an amazing ignorance of Scripture among many, and a consequent want of established, solid religion. In no other way can I account for the ease with which people are, like children, “tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad, and a morbid distaste for anything old and regular and in the beaten path of our forefathers. Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice and a new doctrine without considering for a moment whether what they hear is true. There is an incessant craving after any teaching which is sensational and exciting and rousing to the feelings. There is an unhealthy appetite for a sort of spasmodic and hysterical Christianity. The religious life of many is little better than spiritual dram–drinking, and the “meek and quiet spirit” which St. Peter commends is clean forgotten (1 Pet. 3:4). Crowds and crying and hot rooms and high–flown singing and an incessant rousing of the emotions are the only things which many care for. Inability to distinguish differences in doctrine is spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is “clever” and “earnest,” hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully “narrow and uncharitable” if you hint that he is unsound! [1]

This book on Holiness was written in 1877.  It could have been written in 2022.

John Charles Ryle (10 May 1816 – 10 June 1900) was an English evangelical Anglican bishop. "Bishop Ryle, as he is still affectionately known even by many who would not share his love of the Church of England, was essentially a lover and teacher of biblical truth. His uncompromising stand for evangelical doctrine and scriptural holiness often made him unpopular with those who favored new ideas and superficial practices." - Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones.

"And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5, ESV)"

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4, ESV)  

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1. Ryle, J. C. (1999). Holiness: it’s nature, hinderances, difficulties and roots (electronic ed. based on the Evangelical Press reprinting, with new forward, 1995.). Christian Classics Foundation.