The previous two weeks in 1 Peter 2:18-25 we’ve looked at how God advances the gospel through unjust suffering.

Jesus Christ is not only the greatest example of this, but his substitutionary death is our only hope.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.”

1 Peter 2:24

We also mentioned two people in the modern era who’ve modeled proper responses to unjust suffering:

• An African-American Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., and 
• A White Anglican British politician named William Wilberforce. 

In his famous Letter from A Birmingham Jail (16 April 1963), Dr. King wrote:

Though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”

Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”

Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.”

And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.”

And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”

And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal …”

So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?

In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

You can learn more about William Wilberforce in this…

• Documentary: The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce
• Book (by Eric Metaxas): Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery 
• Film (starring Ioan Gruffudd): Amazing Grace

In Sunday’s message from 1 Peter 1:14-21 we referenced some resources to help us think about the the command to be holy as God is holy. 

The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul 

R. C. Sproul, in this classic work, puts the holiness of God in its proper and central place in the Christian life. He paints an awe-inspiring vision of God that encourages Christian to become holy just as God is holy. Once you encounter the holiness of God, your life will never be the same.

Holiness by Grace by Bryan Chapell

“Be holy, for I am holy.”

How can God expect us to be holy as he is? But thanks to what Christ has accomplished on our behalf, God accepts us because of his Son’s righteousness. Yet the call to holiness remains.

Bryan Chapell traces the relationship of holiness and grace in three parts.

• The Principles of Grace (Chapter 1-2)
• The Practices of Faith (Chapters 3-6)
• The Motives of Love (Chapters 7-10)

Read and discover the gracious source of joy and strength we will need for a lifelong pursuit of holiness.

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots by J. C. Ryle

J.C. Ryle’s landmark book on Holiness (originally published in 1879) is an excellent read to accompany the previous two books. It’s also a great one to read for heeding the sage advice of C. S. Lewis:

It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.

Further,

Ryle’s Holiness has become essential reading on this most important subject and the first chapter on “Sin” has rarely been bettered.

We hope these books will help us understand the position and practice of our holiness through our great Christ, who has been made holiness for us (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Sunday we looked at 1 Peter 1:3-5 where God holds out a sovereign and living hope for his people, espeically his people who are in despair. 

To help us see how to rest and believe in our living hope, we referenced an account from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. 

Christian and Hopeful are locked in a dark dungeon, deep in the heart of Doubting Castle. Giant Despair rules over Doubting Castle, and he’s been railing on them trying to persuade them that suicide is their only escape from despair.

After several days of depression and deprivation, a way of escape dawns on Christian.

Now a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, brake out in passionate speech:

“What a fool am I thus to lie in a stinking Dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty. I have a Key in my bosom called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any Lock in Doubting Castle.”

Then said Hopeful, “That’s Good News; good Brother pluck it out of thy bosom and try.”

Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try at the Dungeon door, whose bolt (as he turned the Key) gave back, and the door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out.

Then he went to the outward door that leads into the Castle-yard, and with his Key opened that door also. After he went to the iron Gate, for that must be opened too, but that Lock went damnable hard, yet the Key did open it.

Then they thrust open the gate to make their escape with speed. And so were safe. 

In looking at the Lord’s Prayer this past Sunday we referenced several resources to help us learn to pray.

Some of the mentioned resources we referenced previously in a post called: Prayer Weapons for the Warfare: 3 Books, a PDF (Martin Luther), & Blog Post (Tim Keller).

Some New Resources

  Learning to Pray from Others

    The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Puritans wrote down their prayers as a way of keeping a record of God’s dealings with the soul. Included here are prayers of Bunyan, Watts, Spurgeon, and others. Arranged by theme — from the awesomeness of God to the awfulness of sin — you’ll find promptings for your own heart’s dialogue with your heavenly Father.

  Learning to Pray Scripture Itself

    Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures

Face to Face helps break prayer down in specific categories helping to make sure our prayers are biblically proportioned. 

Face to Face helps by adapting the very words of Scripture into prayers.

  Learning to Pray Kingdom Prayers

    Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every

Operation World is the definitive global prayer handbook that will help focus your heart and life towards God’s passion for His glory.

     Window on the Word: Prayer Atlas for All 

An excellent illustrated resource for families to help encourage children to pray “Your Kingdom Come” as they learn the needs of the people of the world. 

The last two Sunday’s we’ve looked at issues of headship and submission as they relate to gender roles.

Resources to listen to and to read about the issues.

TO LISTEN 

Tim and Kathy Keller gave a two part seminar in 2005 called “Cultivating a Healthy Marriage.”

Part One is a lecture. The Keller’s describe marriage as a garden.

1. Planning & Planting

• Gospel Reenactment
• Headship Role
• Submission Role

2. Fertilizing & Watering

• Communication Help
• Love-Languages Help
• Sexual Relationship Help

3. Weeding & Pruning

• Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Confronters and Conflict Avoiders
• Forgivness and Repentace

4. Harvesting & Enjoying

• Spiritual Development
• Ultimate Hope, Significance, and Serurity

Part Two is a Q&A Session.

• Can you talk about in-laws and the impact they have on the marriage?
• Do you have to have sex every time your spouse wants to?
• What is a healthy number of times to have sex, pre-children?
• How you make sex a priority with busy schedules?
• How do you get over damage in the sexual area that was done early in your marriage?
• How can I learn the love language of my spouse?
• What does the Bible say about children and contraception?
• In heaven how will we relate to our spouses?
• Do you have any recommendations for men leading their families?
• What do you recommend for a couple who are different places spiritually?
• How do you know your spouse should change a job for the benefit of the family?
• What if headship for the man is as hard as submission is for the woman?
• What do you say to the person who says I married the wrong person?
• What do you do when you try be the leader but your wife doesn’t follow?
• How do we keep working through our communication problems?
• How do you offer forgiveness without sounding self-righteous?
• My husband’s close relationship with other women is threatening to me. How should I deal with this?
• How do you get results from your husband without sounding like a nag?
• Can you have a good marriage without good sex?
• What do you do if you hard time respecting your husband’s intelligence and judgment?
• What’s the best way to give my husband advice without making him feel bad or nagged?
• How important is it for men to come in touch with their emotions in a marriage?
• Could you give a script for working through communication issues?
• What’s the wisdom in getting married (or being single)?
• Is love a choice?
• Is a difference of family size a suitable case to be resolved though headship?

TO READ 

Stephen B. Clark’s Man and Woman in Christ: An Examination of the Roles of Men and Women in Light of the Scripture and the Social Sciences.

When the book first came out Christianity Today named it as one of the most important
books of the year in 1981. Much time has passed since then, but the significant contributions of this book have not.

The book has four main sections:

I. The Scriptural Teaching

II. Assessing the Scriptural Teaching

III. The Scriptural Teaching in Contemporary Society

IV. A Christian Approach for Today.

A detailed viewed of the contents and issues the book covers can be viewed here.

Chapters 3, 4, and 12 are particularly relevant to issues of headship and submission.

Chapter 3 The Family: Husbands and Wives

• Of particular interest in this chapter is Clark’s treatment of womanhood in Proverbs 31

Chapter 4 The Family: Key Texts

• Ephesians 5:22-33, Colossians 3:18-19, 1 Peter 3:1-7

Chapter 12 Christian Family: Husbands and Wives

“The steady witness of tradition can help us see more clearly how the views of the present age color a reading of the scriptural message about the roles of men and women.”

He sketches the views of:

• The Apostolic Fathers
• Second and Third Century Fathers
• Fourth Century Fathers
• Post-Patristic Tradition

The entire book is available for free here.

For communion this past Sunday we meditated on Christ, The Lord of the Feast. For many of us our faith tradition rightly emphasizes the need for solemn self-examination in approaching the Lord’s Table. In doing so we’ve unintentionally neglected another important biblical emphasis: the Lord’s Table is meant to increase our assurance of pardon and reassure of his steadfast love. Yes, it’s a Table for repentant sinners. But it’s still a Table for sinners. 

Accordingly, many of us often approach the Lord’s Table suspicious of his grace. We think that God’s called us to the Table “to get us” rather than than to reassure us. In the end, even his desire to reassure of his love through the Lord’s Supper is meant to lead us to ongoing repentance and faith, as his goodness and grace always do. 

To illustrate how suspicious of grace we are when coming to the Lord’s Table, we referenced the film Babette’s Feast. An entire congregation grows suspicious about an extravagant meal being provided by a loyal housekeeper. The film provides a convicting reflection of the way we often approach the Lord’s Supper-suspicious of grace. It also displays the unifying results within a congregation when we boast in his lavish grace and nothing else. 

In case the weather in the Upstate hasn’t been convincing enough, the calendar announces today as the official beginning of summer. One of the most popular things to do during this time of year involves filling out a summer reading list.  

Sunday’s message from Nehemiah 6 referenced two books that should be on everyone’s summer reading list. 

1. Charles Simeon: A Pastor of a Generation 

If anyone’s life parallels the pastoral endurance and prudence Nehemiah models (especially chapter 4-6), it is Charles Simeon. 

Charles Simeon (1759-1836), contemporary of John Newton (1725-1807) and William Wilberforce (1759-1833), served the same congregation for fifty-four years. He did so amidst much hardship and isolation. Three years after his conversion, suffering from loneliness, he lamented that he had been unable to find even one person who shared his evangelical beliefs.

The first twelve years of his ministry at Holy Trinity Church (where Richard Sibbes and Thomas Goodwin once pastored) were characterized by blistering opposition. 

• He was regularly locked out of his own church. 
• The congregation hired another minister to lead a second Sunday service so they wouldn’t have to hear him. 
• Students at nearby Cambridge University regularly interrupted whatever services he was able to conduct and pummeled him with insults. 

In addition to the brutal hardships he endured as a minister, he served on faculty at Cambridge University, where he was a constant object of verbal terrorism and scorn by his colleagues.

I read this book about twelve years ago at a particular low point in life. It ministered much grace to me then, and I have returned to it for refreshment many times since. Simeon’s biography will rouse you from your summer slumber to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3). It will also encourage you to labor and toil by setting your hope on the living God (1 Tim. 4:10).

(In addition to the paperback copy linked to above, Simeon’s complete biography can also be accessed on Google Books.)

2. “The Blind Eye and The Deaf Ear”  from a short chapter in Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students.

This entire book is a worthy read. With perfect whit and wisdom, Spurgeon addresses many subjects that will demand the minister’s attention (and every lay person’s attention, too).

Nehemiah endured malicious gossip and slander throughout his ministry. In “The Blind Ear and The Deaf Ear” Spurgeon advises Christians to employ “one blind and eye and one deaf ear” against such verbal terrorism. The veteran Spurgeon ends the chapter with his usual whit encouraging Christians to use the blind eye and the deaf ear:

Is not this a sufficient explanation of my declaration that I have one blind eye and one deaf ear, and that they are the best eye and ear I have?

The headings from “The Blind Eye and The Deaf Ear”:

• Blind Eye and Deaf Ear in Beginning a New Ministry
• Blind Eye and Deaf Ear in Regard to Salary
• Blind Eye and Deaf Ear Toward Gossip
• Blind Eye and Deaf Ear Toward (Personal) Criticism
• Blind Eye Towards Opinions About Yourself, and
• Blind Eye and Deaf Ear Toward False Reports (About You).

Here’s part of his advice to those who, like Nehemiah and Charles Simeon, are enduring false reports:

In the case of false reports against yourself, for the most part use the deaf ear. Unfortunately liars are not yet extinct, and, like Richard Baxter and John Bunyan, you may be accused of crimes which your soul abhors. Be not staggered thereby, for this trial has befallen the very best of men, and even your Lord did not escape the envenomed tongue of falsehood. In almost all cases it is the wisest course to let such things die a natural death. A great lie, if unnoticed, is like a big fish out of water, it dashes and plunges and beats itself to death in a short time. To answer it is to supply it with its element, and help it to a longer life. Falsehoods usually carry their own refutation somewhere about them, and sting themselves to death.

(Similar to the book above, almost all of Lectures to My Students is free on Google Books)

We’re on the front end of a series exploring Ezra and Nehemiah. Here are five resources that will help you dig into each book for yourself. Consider purchasing one of them to help enrich your own study and to help prepare your heart to receive God’s word on Sundays. 

1. Listen to these one-message overviews to help remind you of the overall theme of each book. 

• Ezra: The Faithful God Who Restores His People
• Nehemiah: The God Who Rebuilds and Renews His People

2. Read one of these three books. 

The first two get all the details right, while being full of pastoral comments. 

• Kidner, Derek. Ezra and Nehemiah (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary)
• McConville, J.G. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther

This last one is best current resource on Ezra. It approaches the book from a literary perspective. Although it is far more technical than the previous two, the reward will be worth the effort. The chapter at the end of the book called “A Readers’ Guide to the Theological Message of Ezra” is alone worth the price of the book. And the good news is that it’s also the easiest part to read.  

• Brown, A Philip. Hope Amidst Ruin

THREE BOOKS…

1. A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers.

If you only read one book on prayer in your life, this is it. 

Jesus encourages us to let his words abide in us. This book teaches how to do that when it comes to prayer. From the writings of Paul, Carson demonstrates how the words of Scripture should inform our words in prayer. He also addresses age-old struggles when it comes to prayer, like reconciling prayer with God’s sovereignty. It’s simple enough to take a new Christian through, thorough enough to warrant several readings, and important enough not to ignore. (Click on the link above to see the Table of Contents.)

2. Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom.

The book begins looking at the prayer acrostic of A-C-T-S and then focuses chiefly on Supplication. The author’s point is this: “Like Jesus’ own prayer, Christian prayer is ultimately a cry for the kingdom” (23). The rest of the book unpacks what that means for the individual and for the church. The final chapter includes practical suggestions and encouragements to those praying in public, praying alone, and praying together as Christians. The weakness of the book is that it’s a bit philosophical in places, and it’s not as helpful in reconciling prayer with God’s sovereignty.

3. A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World.

It’s sure to change the way you think about prayer and the gospel. It’s an easy read, but a thought provoking read. You’ll probably even learn more about applying the gospel to every area of your life than you will about prayer.

A PDF…

A Simple Way to Pray by Martin Luther

When Martin Luther’s barber asked him how to pray, Luther responded by writing this letter. It’s short. And it’s a classic. Read it slowly and repeatedly. 

AND A BLOG POST…

Scraps of Thought on Daily Prayer by Tim Keller