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Puritans and ‘restless experientialists’

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In A Quest for Godliness (p35), J.I. Packer identifies a breed of evangelical Christians as ‘restless experientialists’.

Their outlook is one of casual haphazardness and fretful impatience, of grasping after novelties, entertainments, and ‘highs’, and of valuing strong feelings above deep thoughts. They have little taste for solid study, humble self-examination, disciplined meditation, and unspectacular hard work in their callings and their prayers. They conceive the Christian life as one of exciting extraordinary experiences rather than of resolute rational righteousness.…

Owen: what does it mean to preach the gospel?

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The teaching of the great Puritan writer John Owen on this subject is summarised by J.I. Packer:-

Preaching the gospel, [Owen] tells us, is not a matter of telling the congregation that God has set his love on each of them and Christ has died to save each of them, for these assertions, biblically understood, would imply that they will all infallibly be saved, and this cannot be known to be true. The knowledge of being the object of God’s eternal love and Christ’s redeeming death belongs to the individual’s assurance, which in the nature of the case cannot precede faith’s saving exercise; it is to be inferred from the fact that one has believed, not proposed as a reason why one should believe.…

Brian MacLaren: a new kind of liberalism?

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Brian MacLaren’s previous books (A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and others) have probed away at prevailing evangelical beliefs and practices.  These writings have been long on questions, but short on answers.  Now, in A New Kind of Christianity,  he has told us more directly, more systematically, where his thinking has taken him.

Of the various reviews on the web, one of the most penetrating is that of Scott McKnight, in Christianity Today. …

Caution: expository preachers at work

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Iain H. Murray, associated for so many years with the Banner of Truth Trust, has a very wide knowledge of reformed theology and biography.  His cautions about some aspects or perceptions of expository preaching are well worth noting.

If, says Murray, expository preaching is defined as preaching which seeks to explain and apply the text of Scripture, then there is no argument.  But expository preaching has come to mean, for many, consecutive preaching through a passage, or book, of the Bible. …

1 Tim 6:3-10, 17-19 – Money – sermon notes

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Which of the following is the odd one out? Faith, doctrine, Scripture, gospel, salvation, money.  Answer: none of them!

Money is a spiritual issue.  Martin Luther observed that “there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, of the mind and of the purse.”

Consider the story of Zacchaeus, Luke 19. As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus would have been very wealthy indeed. When he encounters Jesus, his response is, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”…

Principles of giving

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What principles should govern a Christian approach to giving?  Richard Foster offers the following suggestions:-

1.  Let us give proportionately.  ‘Proportionate to what?  Proportionate to the accumulated wealth of one’s family?  Proportionate to one’s income and the demands upon it, which vary from family to family?  Proportionate to one’s sense of security and the degree of anxiety with which one lives?  Proportionate to the keenness of our awareness of those who suffer?  Proportionate to our sense of justice and of God’s ownership of all wealth? …

Mastering Mammon

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Given that, in biblical teaching, money has a dark side as well as a light side, Richard Foster offers some helpful counsel:-

1.  Listen to the biblical witness about money.…

Fasting in the New Testament

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A summary:-

1.  Jesus is recorded just once as having fasted.  This was at the time of his temptations in the wilderness.  It is not clear how deliberate this fasting was.  On the one hand, the first temptation implied that there was no food available in that place, Mt 4:1-4.  On the other hand, we should probably assume that Jesus went to that place knowing that there would be no food.

2.  Jesus assumed, rather than commanded, that his hearers would fast. …

What the Bible teaches about material possessions

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Towards the end of his thorough survey of biblical teaching on money and possessions, Craig Blomberg draws the following conclusions:-

1.  Material possessions are a good gift from God meant for his people to enjoy

God created a good world, desires that all have at least some property, and blessed Israel with material possessions in response to their obedience.  Job, Abraham, David and Solomon demonstrate that riches and godliness can co-exist, if sometimes precariously.  Wisdom literature teaches that wholesome work is rewarded materially. …

Distinguishing marks of the Spirit’s work

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Jonathan Edwards famously identified the distinguishing marks of a work of the Holy Spirit.  It is by these that we may tell the difference between mere religious excitement and a genuine work of God.

1. The Spirit of God in his work in men raises ‘their esteem of that Jesus who was born of the Virgin, and was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem’, confirming ‘their minds in the truth of what the gospel declares to us of his being the Son of God, and the Saviour of men.’…