TGC: Praise Be to God

Very encouraging to be at the Coalition gathering this week. Mostly because I got to spend time with my dad and one of my brothers. Also great to hug and pray with old friends. More broadly, though, the conference showed us all very tangibly the widespread work God is doing of gospel-unity and gospel-fixation in many diverse evangelical clumps.

These conferences also bring out ugliness in me, especially in the heightened temptation to feed on man-approval. Yuck. I have not grown as much in this area as I thought I had. God is patient.

But this week has obviously been a big win for the kingdom and if I can have some role in that kingdom in spite of my screwiness, what a wonder.

And if you didn't get to Dad's workshop on justification vs. self-justification, you will not regret a careful read of the manuscript. That hour made the whole week worth it. It was timely, even prophetic.

Thanks, Ben Peays and Collin Hansen and Don Carson and hundreds of others for your hard work on our behalf, and on behalf of the gospel. The Lord sees.

Comforts from the Cross

The outstanding book by our sister Elyse Fitzpatrick, Comforts from the Cross: Celebrating the Gospel One Day at a Time, has been reprinted with a new cover (originally published 2009). It's a collection of 30 brief reflections on the grace of God in Jesus Christ (140 pages total). Very rich.

Here's a snippet from the intro--

I'm assuming that right about now you might be wondering why you would need to celebrate the gospel every day. You might think you already know it; in fact, I'm pretty sure most of you do. Most of you would be able to clearly articulate the facts of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection. But this book isn't about mere facts, although these facts are true and significant. This book is about how those facts are to inform, free, gladden, and enliven your soul every day--when you're struggling to balance the checkbook, stuck in traffic or in a hospital bed, or just bored with the same-old-same-old. . . . [N]othing, and I mean nothing, is more important than Jesus Christ and the gospel, and this gospel is meant to be remembered and celebrated every day. (pp. 13-14)

Happy 156th, Herman! See You Soon

Today is Herman Bavinck's birthday. He was born December 13, 1854. (Thanks, Tony Reinke)

In tribute to the man who has meant as much to me the past year and a half as any other dead guy, I want to pass along a fascinating vignette from Ron Gleason's wonderful biography that has just been published.

Herman was significantly influenced by his father (who of us isn't?), Jan, who was gifted for pastoral ministry but as a young man lacked the money to get the necessary theological training. Gleason recounts:

The pressing desire to become a minister on the one hand and the very obvious lack of the necessary financial means to reach that goal on the other hand created a conflict and an obstacle for which Jan saw no solution. Clearly, if he were to pursue theological studies, something very unusual would need to happen to resolve the problem for him. Nothing short of divine intervention as needed.

Seeing no answer to the financial dilemma, Jan took an apprenticeship position in a nearby village to help pay the bills and feed the family. Three years would pass before God would intervene. The opportunity Jan had been patiently waiting for came very unexpectedly on January 17, 1845, and it was a monumental event in his life.

On that cold winter day . . . the congregations of the Hannover region held a classis meeting (the Reformed counterpart to a Presbyterian presbytery meeting). There were 22 delegates present at the home of a local farmer. . . . At this particular meeting, Pastor Sundag informed the brothers that he could no longer physically bear the arduous preaching responsibilities alone and asked the classis to appoint a candidate from the churches to receive [paid-for] instruction in theology with a view to preparation for service in the pastoral ministry. After many years of faithfully preaching to numerous congregations, Sundag was in desperate need of rest.

Though sympathetic to Sundag, the classis hesitated in granting his request. They were unsure about their ability to find a suitable candidate. They decided to vote on the matter of moving forward with Sundag's request. When the vote was tallied, there was a tie--eleven to eleven! The men then knelt in prayer and asked the Lord's guidance in casting a lot to decide the matter. They called in one of the girls who was helping to serve and prepare meals and asked her to draw the lot. The slip of paper she drew read, 'For.' With the decision made, the men of the classis began to discuss their choice of a candidate.

Five candidates had informed the classis they were interested in theological studies. . . . Three of the candidates were eliminated during further discussion in the meeting. Two candidates remained: Frederik Huisken and Jan Bavinck. After more intense discussion and detailed interviews of both candidates, the classis move to a vote concerning the choice of the candidate. Once again, the vote was a tie--eleven to eleven. The young woman from the kitchen appeared again to break the tie by lot. Our 'mysterious young lady' chose the slip of paper on which was written the name 'Bavinck.'

This act of God's providence carried out by a simple, young woman from the kitchen whose name has remained unknown gave Jan Bavinck the opportunity for which he had been waiting and longing. It opened the door for him to begin his theological studies. It was an event that would profoundly affect the course of Dutch church history.

--Ron Gleason, Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, and Theologian (P&R, 2010), 10-12

A Picture of Christian Manhood

If, says C. S. Lewis, we want to understand the old notion of what it means to be 'chivalrous' (or what we would say today it looks like for us men to man up),

we cannot do better than turn to the words addressed to the greatest of all the imaginary knights in Malory's Morte Darthur. 'Thou wert the meekest man,' says Sir Ector to the dead Launcelot. 'Thou wert the meekest man that ever ate in the hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.'

The important thing about this ideal is, of course, the double demand it makes on human nature. The knight is a man of blood and iron, a man familiar with the sight of smashed faces and the ragged stumps of lopped-off limbs; he is also a demure, almost a maidenlike, guest in hall, a gentle, modest, unobtrusive man. He is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth.

--C. S. Lewis, 'The Necessity of Chivalry,' in Present Concerns (Fount 1986), 13

Dealing with Spiritual Dehydration

Good wisdom from our brother C.J. Mahaney.