Packer on the Puritans

I am currently finding two lectures by Dr. J. I. Packer on the Puritans very helpful in reminding me why I love the Puritans (they can be found HERE; HT David Field). I could listen to him for hours. The first, which I thought was going to be on Puritanism in the Elizabethan era, is actually about Puritan preaching in general. Although it has been a while since I read the book, much of the material is similar to that in A Quest For Godliness/Among God’s Giants. It has been a challenge to me as I prepare to preach on Sunday evening, and more generally as a listener to sermons.

Packer takes us through a number of axioms of, and points about the content in, Puritan preaching. There is a commitment to the primacy of the intellect: the Puritans weren’t rationalistic, but they were convinced that, as God is rational and has made man in his image to be rational, the way to address the heart and conscience was through the mind.

There is a belief in the supreme importance of preaching. To the Puritans, the sermon was the liturgical climax of public worship (we might discuss here whether it ought to be Lord’s Supper). Packer reminds us that preaching is an act of worship. Furthermore, preaching is the prime means of grace to God’s people. The Puritans were no individualists. They held the gathering of God’s people on the Lord’s Day of the utmost importance. Packer gives us a marvellous extract from the late seventeenth-century Puritan David Clarkson:

“The most wonderful things that are now done on earth are wrought in the public ordinances. Here the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and those that hear do live. Here he cures diseased souls by his word, here he dispossesses Satan. These are wonders and would be so counted were they not the common work of the public ministry. It is true indeed the Lord has not confined himself to work these wonderful things only in public, yet the public ministry is the only ordinary means whereby he works them.”

This is not to downgrade personal work, Packer goes on to say, but to upgrade preaching.

Puritan preaching was expository, bringing out of the text in context what was there, and it was profoundly applicatory, putting the one or two doctrines extracted from each text and proved from the rest of Scripture to use in the multitudes of conditions of people in the congregation. One might reflect that this principle continues in contemporary conservative evangelical preaching, with the encouragement to preach the dominant thought/big idea/melodic line of each text, only the Puritans would lament that we are missing out on the riches of what God has to say to us by preaching on texts too long! It is worth commenting that contemporary preaching excels Puritan preaching in that it does justice to the Bible as literature, dealing with narrative as narrative and attempting to allow the narrative to live, rather than simply extracting doctrinal points.

Puritan preaching was based on the commitment to the Bible as life-giving truth. They were therefore not ashamed for their preaching to be primarily doctrinal, even when ministering in largely uneducated working-class areas. All men, they said, had souls that needed to be brought alive and fed and the way God brings that about is through the expounding of Biblical truth, so the congregations had to be taught the doctrines that the Bible taught.

Because the Sunday sermon was the most important event of the week, congregations were encouraged to remember the sermons – to this end Puritan preachers advised the employment of memorable headings – and if they weren’t able to remember them, then congregation members ought not be ashamed to take in a pen and some paper. The responsibility of a father in the household was to ensure that his family remembered and understood the sermon, and the content of the sermon would form the basis of personal devotions throughout the rest of the week. The Puritans have much to teach us here. I abandoned the practice of taking notes on the basis that I never look at the notes again and want to make sure I concentrate on remembering the sermon rather than on taking notes, but still I (and I’m sure others with me) fail to meditate on the content of the sermon and apply it throughout the week and I wonder whether failure to water the seed has hindered its production of fruit, to borrow a horticultural metaphor.

Puritan sermons were plain, that is to say, accessible on a popular level. They had no place for the pulpit pyrotechnics in which the preachers of their day engaged, displaying their wit and eloquence and drawing attention to themselves. To do so made light of holy things and distracted from the truth and was therefore sinful and thus to be eschewed.

I look forward to finishing the first lecture and listening to the second.

BMA Petition on Abortion

Students at St. Ebbe’s were encouraged this term to play a more active part in speaking out against infanticide. Here is an opportunity to do so:

http://www.bmapetition.org.uk/

Psalm 48

Below is the outline of a sermon I shall, DVWP, be preaching at St. James’s Church, Poole next Sunday. As ever, comments on things to add/omit/clarify are very welcome. For what it’s worth, the second reading will probably be from Revelation 21, and the hymns I will suggest are Rejoice, the Lord is King, O God our Help in Ages Past, The Church’s One Foundation and, to close, Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken. The minister will probably add a couple more.

Introduction

Are you safe?
Live in an unsafe world – international terror (7/7), muggings & murder, abduction, weather (Boscastle)
How does that make you feel?
Psalm 48 – one place in universe where can be truly safe – Zion
Aim that we would learn to sing this Psalm
Zion: not on a map any more
OT, pre-Jesus – physical city
Shadow pointing to substantial reality which has come
Hebrews 12.22-24
Zion in heaven, Christian believers members by grace

1 See Zion’s defence! (vv. 1-8)

God of the Bible (F, S, HS) great & worthy of praise in city because Zion beautiful in elevation & the joy of all the earth
Isn’t
Psalmist looking with eyes of faith at what city would one day be, cf. Isaiah 2
Will come to pass at end of time – Revelation 21
See in part as gospel goes out & people come to faith in Christ, become citizens of Zion & heirs of hope
Will be the case because God dwells in Zion & protects her
In the far north = where God is & has throne
Psalmist knew life in an unsafe world (v. 4)
Knew what it was to be a fortress (vv. 5-7)
No specific occasion; typical of all attacks God’s city has faced
Helm’s Deep – high walls, great tower, loud horn, men charge, enemies flee
Contrast Zion – God the fortress
Particular deliverances show that God will protect city forever
All individual deliverances a foretaste of deliverance in Christ
Kings assembled against him (cf. v. 4)
Cross a triumph in which disarmed all powers of world in opposition to God & city
By dealing with sin, bearing penalty in place of people
Resurrection & ascension – declaration that cross a triumph & that Christ Lord of all
Attacks Zion faces attacks of defeated powersChrist’s return in glory – all who oppose will tremble, be in anguish (cf vv. 5 & 6)
Zion pardoned & forgiven – established forever
Why the one place in universe can be truly safe
Not because free from dangers of living in unsafe world
Rival “cities” – career, money, relationship, religion
Will come crashing down; Zion established forever
Not a Christian believer? Come into Zion – submit to rule of great King & hope in him as fortress (=coming under Christ’s rule & seeking refuge in him as saviour)
Christian believer? “Kings” attacking you? Opposed for Christian faith, health, financial problems? Member of Zion, so be encouraged: God will defend & preserve you
Response?

2 Declare God’s praise! (vv. 9-14)

Steadfast/covenant love demonstrated in saving city to which bound himself
Impact of what God has done – ends of the earth come to know & praise him as discover safety of Zion
Righteousness & judgments (vv. 10&11) = God’s protection & salvation of city
=> Gladness & joy (v. 11)
Contrast with fear & uncertainty an unsafe world produces
Not just praise directly, but declare praise to others
Look around Zion – nothing missing, all intact
Evidence of God’s protection of city, her fortress
Now = consider the church
Visible church expression of the heavenly city
Read about it in Scriptures
Exodus
Israel’s kings defeating enemies
Rescue from exile
Growth of early church
Preservation of early church through Roman opposition & heresy
Reformation & continuation despite burning of prominent leaders
Church around world today – China
St. James’s, Poole – each believer can tell of God’s salvation in lives & how has caused to persevere
To tell next generation what this says about God
Own families & children
God our God & the God of our children – true as much now as it was before Christ in days of Psalmist
Why we baptise – sign & seal of belonging to God’s people
Declare God’s commitment to city & people, will defend it, defeat all who come against it, so established forever
So might grow up knowing security of Zion, living under great king’s rule & taking refuge in him
Also to those who may form next generation of Zion’s members – family, friends, neighbours, colleagues

Conclusion

Repeat question, statement that Zion the one place can be truly safe, summarize main points & repeat headings

Zion

This is neither profound nor original, but I am in the process of preparing a sermon on Psalm 48 and I have been doing some thinking on the whole subject of Zion. Most if not all of what is written below will feature in the (somewhat extended) introduction before I expound the text itself (your thoughts on that arrangement are welcome):

The significance of Zion in the Bible lies in the fact that it is the place upon which God set his name and where God dwells amongst human beings. Of course, God is present everywhere, but it is in Zion, in the temple, where his presence focused, where he is present in a special way that he not present anywhere else. Jerusalem the place where human beings could draw near to God and meet with him because the temple was where sacrifice was offered and God’s right and settled anger against human rebellion against him is turned away because the substitute dies in the place of the one for whom it is offered. So in Bible terms one cannot find Jerusalem or Zion on a map, not any more. One can find where it was, but one cannot find where it is. In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, before the coming of Jesus, one could. Zion was a physical city with walls and houses and streets and the temple with an altar on which animal sacrifices were offered. But it was a shadow, pointing forward to a more substantial reality which was to come. So in New Testament, in the letter to Hebrews, we are told that the Old Testament believers were looking forward to ‘the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God’, ‘a better country, a heavenly one’. In the Lord Jesus Christ, that reality has now come. He sums up in himself all that the temple in Jerusalem foreshadowed in Old Covenant. He described himself as “one greater than the temple”. On the cross he is the place where human beings can draw near to God because it was there that God poured out his wrath on himself in the person of his Son, who suffered and died in the place of all his people. So where is Jerusalem, Zion to be found now? Where Jesus Christ now is, in heaven, where he ascended after was raised from the dead. All those who are trusting in Jesus Christ, who have sought refuge in him as their Saviour, are members of that heavenly city. Paul writes in Galatians that the Jerusalem above is our mother. Hebrews 12.22-24 says this:

“You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of
the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to
the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new
coveannt, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of
Abel.” (ESV)

An expression of this heavenly Zion is found in the local church (the people not building), those who gather in Christ’s name and where he is present by his Spirit in word and sacrament. This heavenly Zion will one day come down out out of heaven from God (Revelation 21.2) and it will be ‘the joy of all the earth’ as the nations of the world find blessing there (Is. 2.2 cf Rev. 21.24).

Gregory of Nazianzus and Atheism

That God, the creative and sustaining cause of all, exists, sight and
instinctive law inform us – sight, which lights upon things seen as nobly fixed
in their course, borne along in, so to say, motionless movement; instinctive
law, which infers their author through the things seen in their orderliness. How
could this universe have had foundation or constitution, unless God gave all
things being and sustains them? No one seeing a beautifully elaborated lyre with
its harmonious, orderly arrangement, and hearing the lyre’s music will fail to
form a notion of its craftsman-player, to recur to him in thought though
ignorant of him by sight. In this way the creative power, which moves and
safeguards its objects, is clear to us, though it be not grasped by the
understanding. Anyone who refuses to progress this far in following instinctive
proofs must be very wanting in judgment.

On God and Christ, p. 41

Gregory N’s comments of course echo the words of the apostle Paul:

What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that
have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour hum as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they
became fools.

Romans 1.19-22 (ESV)

Gregory N. also points out the implications of atheism (and polytheism):

The opinions about deity that hold pride of place are three in number: atheism,
polytheism, and monotheism. Let the game go on! Atheism with its lack of a
governing principle involves disorder. Polytheism, with a plurality of such
principles, involves faction and hence the absence of a governing principle, and
this involves disorder again. Both lead to an identical result – lack of order,
which in turn leads to disintegration, disorder being the prelude to
disintegration.

On God and Christ, p. 70

Gregory doesn’t specify to what he his referring when he writes of disorder and disintegration, but it can be taken in the widest sense – the universe, society, individual life. The solution, of course, is Trinitarian monotheism:

Monotheism, with its single governing principle, is what we value – not
monotheism defined as the sovereignty of a single person (after all,
self-discordant unity can become a plurality) but the single rule produced by
equality of nature, harmony of will, identity of action, and the convergence
towards their source of what springs from unity – none of which is possible in
the case of created nature. The result is that though there is numerical
distinction, there is no division in the substance. For this reason, a one
eternally changes [perhaps a slightly misleading word here] to a two and stops
at three – meaning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

On God and Christ, p. 70

A Warning from Gregory of Nazianzus

Gregory writes against the Eunomians, who held that God the Father and God the Son were different in substance, on the basis that the Father is pure agency, of whom the Son is the supreme offspring and product and perfect image. He is not of the divine subtance, because that is unique and belongs to the Father alone, substance for them being underived reality. Given the frequency with which we discuss theology amongst ourselves, and the ease with which we can publish our reflections on the interweb, we would do well, I think, to listen to and ponder his warning to the Eunomians in his First Theological Oration (Oration 27), An Introductory Sermon against the Eunomians.

Discussion of theology is not for everyone, I tell you, not for everyone -
it is no such inexpensive or effortless pursuit. Nor, I would add is it for
every occasion, or every audience; neither are all its aspects open to inquiry.
It must be reserved for certain occasions, for certain audiences, and
certain limits must be observed. It is not for all people, but only for those
who have been tested and have found a sound footing in study, and, more
importantly, have undergone, or at the very least are undergoing, purification
of body and soul. For one who is not pure to lay hold of pure things is
dangerous, just as it is for weak eyes to look at the sun’s brightness.

What is the right time? Whenever we are free from the mire and noise
without, and our commanding faculty is not confused by illusory, wandering
images, leading us, as it were, to mix fine script with ugly scrawling, or
sweet-smelling scent with slime. We need actually “to be still” in order to know
God, and when we receive the opportunity “to judge uprightly” in
theology.

Who should listen to discussions of theology? Those for whom it is
a serious undertaking, not just another subject like any other for entertaining
small talk, after the races, the theatre, songs, food and sex: for there are
people who count chatter on theology and clever deployment of arguments as one
of their amusements.

What aspects of theology should be investigated, and to what limit?
Only aspects within our grasp, and only to the limit and experience and capacity
of our audience. Just as excess of sound or food injures the hearing or general
health, or, if you prefer, as loads that are too heavy injure those who carry
them, or as excessive rain harms the soil, we too must guard against the danger
that the toughness, so to speak, of our discourses may so oppress and overtax
our hearers as actually to impair the powers they had before…

On God and Christ (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press) pp.
26-27

Some questions we should therefore ask ourselves when we discuss theology:

How is my growth in holiness at the moment?
Is this a subject which I actually know something about?
Am I free from distractions, without and within, that I may reflect on what I am discussing?
Is this discussion going to be taken seriously and have an impact on our knowledge and love of God, and our discipleship, or will it merely function as a form of entertainment for speakers and hearers?
Will this discussion be of an appropriate nature for the company in which it is taking place?

Joshua 5 and 6

The author of this article is a scary-looking man, but I like his biblical theology.

http://www.beginningwithmoses.org/briefings/joshua5.htm

American Preachers

Some of the better known contemporary American preachers aren’t necessarily renowned f0r being great expository preachers. It has been said that Tim Keller is very good at understanding and engaging with the world, but doesn’t always refer closely to the text of Scripture and that John Piper only really has one sermon (albeit a good one). Dale Ralph Davis, in my ever so humble opinion, is my favourite American preacher. He combines close attention to the text and sharp application with passionate delivery. A selection of his sermons may be found on the Woodland Presbyterian Church Website:

http://www.woodlandpca.com/html/sermons.html

Pocket Bible

One of the treasures in my edition of On the Incarnation is the appendix which contains Athanasius’s letter to Marcellinus on the interpretation of Psalms. He relates what he was once taught by ‘a certain studious old man’. If each book of the Bible is a garden growing one special kind of fruit, then ‘the Psalter is a garden which, besides its special fruit, grows also some of those of all the rest’, mentioning subjects in the historical books, as well as the prophets. One of the great qualities of the Psalter, however, is this:

“Besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given… In the Psalter… you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries. Moreover, whatever your particular need or trouble, from this same book you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill… In fact, under all the circumstances of life, we shall find that these divine songs suit ourselves and meet our own souls’ need at every turn.” pp. 103-104.

This ancient view of the interpretation of the Psalter is strikingly Christocentric. Christ in his incarnation was the perfect life on display, a model to be imitated by his people, a perfect life which was outlined in advance in the Psalter:

“Before He came among us, He sketched the likeness of this perfect life for us in words, in this same book of Psalms; in order that, just as he revealed Himself in flesh to be the perfect, heavenly Man, so in the Psalms also men of good-will might see the pattern life portrayed, and find therein the healing and correction of their own.” pp. 106-107

When we are recommended Psalms that speak of the Saviour, we are told ‘you will find something in almost all of them’, but there are a number that speak of the various elements of his life and ministry:

His Divine Begetting from the Father and His coming in the flesh – 45, 110
The cross – 22, 69
The snares and malice of the Jews and Iscariot – 3, 109
His identity as Judge, His Second Coming, and the Gentiles’ call – 21, 50, 72
His resurrection from the dead in flesh – 16
His ascension into heaven – 24, 47
The benefits of his passion – 93, 96, 98, 99

We are also given a comprehensive catalogue of Psalms to say for every occasion:

Declaring any one to be blessed – 1, 32, 41, 112, 119 and 128
Rebuking the conspiracy of the Jews against the Saviour – 2
Persecuted by your own family and opposed by many – 3
Thanksgiving at affliction’s end – 4, 75, 116
Seeing the wicked wanting to ensnare you – 5 (early in the morning)
Feeling beneath the cloud of God’s displeasure – 6, 38
Discovering that someone is plotting against you – 7
Humanity’s redemption and the Saviour’s universal grace – 8
For victory over the enemy and the saving of created things – 9
Any wishing to alarm you – 11
Seeing the boundless pride of many and evil passing great – 12
If this state of things be long drawn out – 27
Hearing others blaspheme the providence of God – 14, 53
The citizen of heaven’s kingdom – 15
Praying against your enemies – 17, 86, 88, 140
Deliverance from enemies and oppressors – 18
Marvelling at the order of creation, God’s good providence, and the holy precepts of the Law – 19, 24
Praying with and comforting those in distress – 20
Fed and guided by the Lord – 23
Surrounded by enemies -25
If enemies persist – 26, 35, 43
If foes press harder – 27, 28
Thankfulness with spiritual understanding – 29
Dedication of home/soul – 30, 127
Hated and persecuted by friends and kinsfolk because of faith in Christ – 31
Seeing people baptised – 32
When a number want to sing together – 33
Fallen amongst enemies and escaped by wise refusal of evil counsel – 34 (with other holy men)
Seeing the zeal of the lawless in their evildoing – 36
Warning the weak when wicked men attack them – 37
When one’s own safety is in question - 39
Endurance of afflictions – 40
Seeing people in poverty and inciting others to works of mercy – 41
Aflame for longing with God (i.e. not depression) – 42
The loving-kindness of God and ingratitude of men – 44, 78, 9, 105, 106, 107, 114, 115
Thanksgiving after deliverance from affliction – 46
Penitent after sin – 51
Seeing slanderers boasting – 52
Persecuted and slandered – 54, 56
If persecution follows hard on you – 57, 142
Escaping when plotters watch your house – 59
If friends reproach and slander you – 55
Against hypocrites – 58
Submission to the will of God when people want to take your life – 62
Driven into the desert by persection – 63
Fearful of foes and unceasing plots – 64, 65, 70, 71
Singing praise to God – 65
The Resurrection – 66
Asking mercy from the Lord - 67
Seeing wicked men enjoy prosperity and good men in sore trouble – 73
When God is angry with his people – 74
Testifying concerning God – 9, 71, 75, 92, 105-108, 111, 118, 126, 136, 138
Answering the heathen and heretics – 76
When God hears your crying when your place of refuge is taken – 77
When the house of God is profaned – 79
Singing at a festival with other servants of God – 81, 95
When the enemy musters – 83
Longing for the house of God and his eternal dwelling – 84
When their anger is abated and you are free again – 85, 116
Confounding schismatics – 87
Encouragement in the fear of God – 91
Thanksgiving on the Lord’s Day – 24
Thanksgiving on Monday – 95
Thanksgiving on Friday – 93
If God’s house has been captured, destroyed and rebuilt – 96
When the land has rest from war – 97
Singing on Wednesday – 94
Seeing providence and power of God in all things – 100
Experiencing God’s power in judgment – 101
Downcast and poor – 102
Thankful praise – 103, 104
Why and how to praise God – 105, 107, 113, 117, 135, 146-150
If you have faith and believe the prayers you utter – 116.10ff
Pressing forward, forgetting all that lies behind – the Psalms of Ascent
Led astray by others’ arguments – 137
Thanksgiving for testing safely past - 139
If the enemy once more gets hold of you and you want to be free – 140
Prayer and supplication – 5, 141-143, 146
Goliath rising up against the people and yourself – 144
Marvelling at God’s kindnesses to every one – 105
Wanting to sing to God – 96, 98
Praising God – 105-107, 111-118, 135, 136, 146-150

Moreover, we are exhorted not merely to say the Psalms, but to sing (specifically, chant) them. The benefits of this include the expression of man’s love to God ‘with all the strength and power they possess’ and the bringing into harmony of a man’s whole being. ‘To praise God tunefully upon an instrument,’ we are told, ’such as well-tuned cymbals, cithara, or ten-stringed psaltery, is, as we know, an outward token that the members of the body and the thoughts of the heart are, like the instruments themselves, in proper order and control, all of them living and moving by the Spirit’s cry and breath.’

Let us therefore, like Marcellinus, be diligent students and singers of the Psalms. They will teach us of our saviour, they will show us ourselves and reshape us after the likeness of Christ whom they anticipate, and they will teach us the language with which we can express ourselves to God, in every situation of life.

Charismaticism: uncatholic?

In Daniel 9.24 we read:

“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put and end to sin and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place/thing/one.” (ESV)

The events referred to in this verse clearly centre on the cross of Christ and is bound up with the sealing of revelation from God; this can only mean that visions and prophecies come to an end with this package of events. Like tombs or documents, they are no longer to be added to. Sealing here doesn’t just mean that there’s no more need for prophecy (without ruling out the possibility of it continuing), just as sealing doesn’t meant that there is no more need to add to a document. It is far more definitive than that. Sealing indicates completion.

As a wise brother commented to me the other day, biblical theology is obviously better than proof-texting (although this is a pretty good proof text, actually!), but that’s all right, because this fits in very nicely with the whole idea of God’s special revelation being linked to redemptive-historical works. With the first advent of Christ and all that entailed, there are no more genuine visions and prophecies (in the sense that individuals receive unmediated revelation from the Lord).

Interestingly, this appears to be the understanding of the early church and the emphasis by the modern charismatic movement on ongoing visions and prophecies is a therefore a departure from the orthodox faith of the church in the first few centuries A.D. Claims of ongoing revelation actually undermine the past reality of Christ’s work.

In his work On the Incarnation, Athanasius addresses the unbelief of the Jews in Christ, in a section which the editors of my edition wrongly advise the non-student reader to skip, for in this section we see clearly Athanasius’s admirable grasp of the whole sweep of the metanarrative of Scripture. I shall let him speak for himself on Daniel 9:

“Not only does [this prophecy] expressly mention the Anointed One, that is the Christ, it even declares that He Who is to be anointed is not man only, but the Holy One of holies! And it says that Jerusalem is to stand till His coming, and that after it prophet and vision shall cease in Israel! …

When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it not when Christ came, the Holy One of holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither is prophet raised up nor vision revealed among them. And it is natural that it should be so, for when He that was signified had come, what need was there any longer of any need to signify Him? And when the Truth had come, what further need was there of the shadow?” (p. 73)

Amen!

Romans 5.1-5

Click below for the sermon I preached on Romans 5.1-5:

Romans 5.1-5 (17:23, 1.99MB)