formation

  • Jonathan Edwards and dullness: "So that it is to no purpose to resolve, except we depend on the grace of God."

    Once again, we're at the beginning of a new year, and once again there's a lot of talk about resolutions. Some of you may be familiar with Jonathan Edwards' "Resolutions." Edwards began keeping a diary in the midst of writing those resolutions, and he wrote the following at the beginning of  a new year:

    Jonathan Edwards Writing1722-23, Tuesday, Jan. 1. Have been dull for several days. Examined whether I have not been guilty of negligence to-day; and resolved, No.

    Wednesday, Jan. 2. Dull. I find, by experience, that, let me make resolutions, and do what I will, with never so many inventions, it is all nothing, and to no purpose at all, without the motions of the Spirit of God; for if the Spirit of God should be as much withdrawn from me always, as for the week past, notwithstanding all I do, I should not grow, but should languish, and miserably fade away. I perceive, if God should withdraw his Spirit a little more, I should not hesitate to break my resolutions, and should soon arrive at my old state. There is no dependence on myself. Our resolutions may be at the highest one day, and yet, the next day, we may be in a miserable dead condition, not at all like the same person who resolved. So that it is to no purpose to resolve, except we depend on the grace of God. For, if it were not for his mere grace, one might be a very good man one day, and a very wicked one the next... Source:  Jonathan Edwards' Works Volume One.


    Psalm 33:
    12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
    13  The LORD looks down from heaven;
    he sees all the children of man;
    14  from where he sits enthroned he looks out
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
    15  he who fashions the hearts of them all
    and observes all their deeds.
    16  The king is not saved by his great army;
    a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
    17  The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
    and by its great might it cannot rescue.
    18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
    on those who hope in his steadfast love,
    19  that he may deliver their soul from death
    and keep them alive in famine.

    Psalm 147:
    10  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
    11  but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

    O LORD our God, along with Jonathan Edwards, we confess that we often find ourselves spiritually dull! Apart from the motions of Your Spirit – without the divine sap flowing from the Vine to the branches – we are nothing, and we can do nothing! Show us that if left to our own devices, we would quickly and painfully discover every thought and intent of our hearts to be only evil continually. Show us that apart from the supply of the Spirit we would irreparably and irretrievably fall.

    Merciful and gracious God, in this new year of 2014, pour out grace upon grace on Your Church, that we may be a delight and a pleasure to You! Fill us with the fear of You, so that as as we seek to make resolutions according to Your will, and as we endeavor to walk in the good works You have ordained for us, we might put no confidence in our flesh, but rather hope in Your steadfast love and trust in Your Holy Spirit to equip us to do Your good pleasure through our risen and reigning Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, all to His glory alone (Heb. 13:20-21).

    There is no happiness or blessing for us apart from having You as our Help. May our boasting be in You continually! May we show our profession of You to be genuine and not lip service, and may we demonstrate we are Your holy nation and Your chosen people as we depend not upon ourselves but upon Your grace. Like Your servant David, may we learn to love, embrace, and call upon You as our strength for the praise of Your name.

    Psalm 18:
    1  I love you, O LORD, my strength.
    2  The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
    3  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
    and I am saved from my enemies.

     

    Psalm 146:
    1  Praise the LORD!
    Praise the LORD, O my soul!
    2  I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
    3  Put not your trust in princes,
    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
    4  When his breath departs he returns to the earth;
    on that very day his plans perish.
    5  Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the LORD his God,
    6  who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
    who keeps faith forever;
    7  who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry.
    The LORD sets the prisoners free;
    8  the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
    The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the LORD loves the righteous.
    9  The LORD watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
    10  The LORD will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, to all generations.
    Praise the LORD!


    Related:

    With the New Year Come New Resolutions, but How Can We Become Entirely New? (Lloyd-Jones)
    New Year’s resolutions? … not “without God’s help” (Jonathan Edwards)
    my best resolutions
    your resolution – “Divine Intervention” by Lecrae
    Blessed dependence ~ “Leaning upon her beloved”
    by my God I can leap over a wall (Psalm 18:29b)
    “I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)”

     

  • Advent Violence: Are we bearing "acrid and unwholesome fruit"?

    In my last post, we examined our desire for Jesus Christ and His unsearchable riches in light of the desire of the angels ~ which things the angels desire to look into (I Peter 1:12, KJV).

    Though Peter addressed his first letter to the believers scattered in the Diaspora. The ESV combines verses 1 & 2, and renders it: "To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion." However, in this life, all Christians are, in reality, "elect exiles." "Elect exiles": a weighty phrase – reminding us that as we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, having been plucked from the fire and given Christ's robe of perfect righteousness so we might enjoy fellowship with the Holy, Holy, Holy God, we are now children of God and citizens of heaven, which makes us aliens in regard to this world and all this world has to offer. (The Greek word for "exiles" ("strangers" (KJV) / "pilgrims" (NKJV)) is parepidemos: "an alien alongside, i.e. a resident foreigner:--pilgrim, stranger" (Strong's Concordance).)

    All the elect, all those who have been foreknown by God the Father and redeemed by the precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God are not only saved from God's just wrath (justification), but are also set apart by God  for obedience to God (sanctification) – that we might no longer live to ourselves but to live for Him through His indwelling Holy Spirit (II Cor. 5:14-15).

    I Peter 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
    To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood... (ESV)

    I Peter 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
    to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (KJV)

    Later in chapter 1, Peter reminds us that because we are now citizens of heaven, we're to live as pilgrims here and to conduct ourselves in fear, not being conformed to [our] former lusts (KJV) and the passions of [our] former ignorance (ESV) – but rather to be holy as our God who has called us is holy (1:13-21). Peter continues that teaching throughout his first epistle.

    2:11  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

    4:1  Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2  so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3  The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4  With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you...

    In other words, because we who are Christians have been made new creations in Christ (II Cor. 5:17), our desires, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds ought to increasingly reflect that spiritual reality. If the root has indeed been made new, the fruit ought to be new also! If we have been born again, if Jesus Christ has truly made His Advent into our lives, the tree has been made good, and we ought to bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

    Jesus Christ described of the Kingdom of heaven and its citizens in this way:

    Matthew 11:12 (KJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

    In Isaiah 5, the Beloved comes to examine His vineyard and laments because in place of the good grapes which He expected, He finds wild grapes. J.A. Alexander calls these disappointing grapes "acrid and unwholesome."

    grapevine

    Are we bearing the spiritual fruit of a holy violence for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom:  an increasing and overwhelming love for God and delight in God, and an increasing and overwhelming desire and delight to do God's will? Do our desires, thoughts, words, and deeds reflect a holy zeal for our God? Are we taking His Kingdom by force? Do we show ourselves possessed with a holy violence? Are we striving to enter the Kingdom? Do our lives resemble the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 3?

    3:1  On my bed by night
    I sought him whom my soul loves;
    I sought him, but found him not.
    2  I will rise now and go about the city,
    in the streets and in the squares;
    I will seek him whom my soul loves.
    I sought him, but found him not.
    3  The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city.
    “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
    4  Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found him whom my soul loves.
    I held him, and would not let him go
    until I had brought him into my mother's house,
    and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

    Or, instead, are we bearing "acrid and unwholesome fruit"? Are we lackadaisical and lukewarm toward Christ and His Kingdom? Do we bear a stronger resemblance to the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 5?

    2  I slept, but my heart was awake.
    A sound! My beloved is knocking.
    “Open to me, my sister, my love,
    my dove, my perfect one,
    for my head is wet with dew,
    my locks with the drops of the night.”
    3  I had put off my garment;
    how could I put it on?
    I had bathed my feet;
    how could I soil them?

    How does our passion and zeal for our God compare with the passion and zeal of Black Friday shoppers? (For example, read here.)


    It is, beyond expression, a thing to be lamented, that so small a number of men regard God, the author of their being, that so few live to him in whom they live, returning that being and life they have, and all their enjoyments, as is due, to him from whom they all flow. And then, how pitiful it is, that the small number who are thus minded, mind it so remissly and coldly, and are so far outstripped by the children of this world, who follow painted follies and lies with more eagerness and industry than the children of wisdom do that certain and solid blessedness which they seek after! Plus illi ad vanitatem, quam nos ad veritatem:  They are more intent upon vanity, that we upon verity. Strange! that men should do so much violence one to another, and to themselves in body and mind, for trifles and chaff; and that there is so little to be found of that allowed and commanded violence, for a kingdom, and such a kingdom, that cannot be moved (Heb. xii. 28); a word too high for all the monarchies under the sun.  

    ~ Robert Leighton’s “Commentary on First Peter” (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1972), 397.


     

    Matthew 11:12 (KJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

    Matthew Henry likens this heavenly violence to that "of an army taking a city by storm, or of a crowd bursting into a house," and he describes such souls engaged in this holy violence as...

    An importunate multitude. This violence denotes a strength, and vigour, and earnestness of desire and endeavour, in those who followed John's ministry, else they would not have come so far to attend upon it. It shows us also, what fervency and zeal are required of all those who design to make heaven of their religion. Note, They who would enter into the kingdom of heaven must strive to enter; that kingdom suffers a holy violence; self must be denied, the bent and bias, the frame and temper, of the mind must be altered; there are hard sufferings to be undergone, a force to be put upon the corrupt nature; we must run, and wrestle, and fight, and be in an agony, and all little enough to win such a prize, and to get over such opposition from without and from within. The violent take it by force. They who will have an interest in the great salvation are carried out towards it with a strong desire, will have it upon any terms, and not think them hard, nor quit their hold without a blessing, Gen. xxxii. 26. They who will make their calling and election sure must give diligence. The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers, but to be the rest of them that labour. It is a blessed sight; Oh that we could see a greater number, not with an angry contention thrusting others out of the kingdom of heaven, but with a holy contention thrusting themselves into it!

    * * *

    O, LORD our God, we confess that we often bear "acrid and unwholesome" fruit, for which Your Spirit is grieved and for which Your name is blasphemed among the nations. What more could You have done for us? Holy Father, we come to You in Jesus' name, and ask that You forgive us that we live so far below our blessed privileges as Your children and citizens of heaven. Forgive us for forgetting Whose we are! Forgive us, Father, for not giving earnest heed and neglecting such a great salvation which You wrought for us by sending Jesus Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners! Forgive us for receiving Your glorious grace in vain. Forgive us for thinking so lightly of Christ's precious blood. Forgive us for grieving Your Holy Spirit. Forgive us that our desire for You and for Your Kingdom is so weak and faint, while our desire for the earthly and temporal is often so strong and resolute. Forgive us for our spiritual sluggishness – so often we end up like the Shulamite woman, who would not be bothered to put on her robe or dirty her feet to get up to open the door to her Beloved as He knocked for her! How pathetic that our desires for You pale in comparison to the world's desires for trinkets, toys, and trivialities! Open the eyes of our hearts so we might see You for who You really are! O! LORD! Incline our hearts to fear Your name, and give us whole hearts to run after You and to open widely to You and to no other lover – for You are the chief among 10,000! Forgive us that we are so often put to shame by the zeal, activity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of the children of this world. Forgive us for not valuing and treasuring You and Your Kingdom as we ought, for if we did, we would certainly explode and overflow with an unquenchable holy violence for You and Your Kingdom! Forgive us for wasting so much of our time running in the ways of the world and living for the lusts of men, rather than living to Your will. You know our frame and remember we are dust. Though we are Yours, our flesh continues to lust and battle against Your Spirit. Have mercy upon us, for the sake of Your New Covenant in Your Son's blood. Be gracious to us, strengthen us by Your Spirit, and enlarge our hearts that we might glorify You by showing ourselves to be children of wisdom and light. May we be filled up to overflowing with a holy violence that shows itself by resolutely setting our minds on things above, running in the way of Your commandments with a holy fervor, loving You supremely, and delighting to do Your will as our Savior did. May Your love constrain and compel us to a joyful, whole-hearted, single-eyed, complete, and zealous obedience. May Your Holy Spirit impart to us a holy violence for You that has no parallel or rival in the world, that we may show ourselves to be Your holy bride, sanctified by Your Holy Spirit and washed by the water of Your Word, bearing sweet and wholesome fruit to Your glory, for Your joy and for our joy! God forbid we be ashamed at Your coming, but rather when You return, may we be found neither sleeping nor sluggish, but violent and importunate, taking Your Kingdom by force! May we be diligent to make our calling and election sure! Work in us that holy contention that is well pleasing in Your sight, that we might be inflamed with a holy fire to run after You and Your Kingdom to the praise of Your glorious grace!


    "A sight of Christ gains the heart, makes it break from all entanglements, both of its own lusts, and of the profane world about it." ~ Robert Leighton’s “Commentary on First Peter” (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1972), 396.


    Romans 6:22  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    7:1  Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2  Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3  Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

    4  Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5  For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

    I John 2:28  And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29  If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

    Psalm 119:32  I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! (HT: Leighton for the Scripture reference, p. 398)

     

  • Learning from Jotham: "he contents himself" | Judges 9:1-21

    I'm currently studying through the book of Judges, and the account of Jotham, Gideon's youngest son (see Judges 9), stood out to me. Here's Matthew Henry writing about him (emphasis mine):

    We have here the only testimony that appears to have been borne against the wicked confederacy of Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It was a sign they had provoked God to depart from them that neither any prophet was sent nor any remarkable judgment, to awaken this stupid people, and to stop the progress of this threatening mischief. Only Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, who by a special providence escaped the common ruin of his family (5), dealt plainly with the Shechemites, and his speech, which is here recorded, shows him to have been a man of such great ingenuity and wisdom, and really such an accomplished gentleman, that we cannot but the more lament the fall of Gideon's sons. Jotham did not go about to raise an army out of the other cities of Israel (in which, one would think, he might have made a good interest for his father's sake), to avenge his brethren's death, much less to set up himself in competition with Abimelech, so groundless was the usurper's suggestion that the sons of Gideon aimed at dominion (2); but he contents himself with giving a faithful reproof to the Shechemites, and fair warning of the fatal consequences. He got an opportunity of speaking to them from the top of Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings, at the foot of which probably the Shechemites were, upon some occasion or other, gathered together (Josephus says, solemnizing a festival), and it seems they were willing to hear what he had to say.

    * * *

    O LORD God, thank You and bless You that You know our frame, and You remember we are dust – You know my frame and remember I am dust... and You know all things... and You know how prone I am to DIScontentment. Forgive me for being discontent, restless, and unhappy in the place You have me. Help me to serve You from the heart:  to be content, restful, and happy in the place You have sent me and in the ministry You have appointed to me.

    It is Your will for all Your children that we have a walk worthy of You, fully pleasing You, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to Your glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy (~ see Colossians 1:9-12). Holy Father, fill me with the meek and lowly Spirit of Jesus, so I might not only desire to do all Your will, but also to delight to do all Your will – like Your blessed Son. It is only as I humble myself and take His yoke upon me and learn from Him that I will find rest for my soul and joy in Your service no matter the circumstances.

    Grant me grace to do no less, nor to do no more than You have ordained for me – and with that to content myself – like Jotham. Fill me with Your heavenly wisdom, that I might ponder the path of my feet and eschew evil, that I might not to turn to the right or to the left, but keep my heart in tune with Yours, my gaze fixed upon You, and my hand to the plow appointed by You, that I might be deemed fit for Your Kingdom.

    Most importantly, help me to steadfastly seek Your face, O God, that I might experience the unsurpassed blessing of unalloyed contentment in You – in Your presence is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore! ~ Psalm 16:11. Whenever I am tempted to question, to doubt, or to grumble and complain, may my heart overflow and my lips pour forth praise to You, crying "Jotham! Jotham! Jotham!" ~ meaning "Jehovah (is) perfect!" – for You are perfect, O LORD, and all Your ways, though unsearchable and inscrutable, are perfect!

    II Samuel 22:31 (ESV)
    This God—his way is perfect...

    Psalm 40:8
    I delight to do Your will, O my God,
    And Your law is within my heart.

    Psalm 37:3-4
    Trust in the LORD, and do good;
    Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
    Delight yourself also in the LORD,
    And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

    Trust and obey, for there's no other way
    to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
    (from "Trust and Obey" by John H. Sammis)

     


    Related:

    Priest forever, do not delay! ~ Psalm 110 | letter 165 on assurance and joy
    Three Years Later: Dancing & Skipping with Mrs. Durham | Letter 147 on fighting for joy
    Martin Luther: “The Spirit … renders the heart glad & free, as the law demands”
    Lent V. – You follow me! (Are we steadfastly setting our faces to His will?)
    Lenten Reflections: “so Joel had another appointment”
    the overwhelmed minister’s prayer and the promise of God’s sufficiency
    A Hymn for “Shelf” Times… “Lord, We Know That Thou Art Near Us”

    Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the NKJV.

     

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

RSS feed