Required reading
Attributes of God by Charnock (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Continue Chapter 2 (Practical atheism) by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'IV. For the use of this. It serves, 1. For information. (1.) It gives us occasion to admire the wonderful patience and mercy of God.' My summary Today we conclude looking at Charnock's second main point about practical atheism: 'As man would be a law to himself, so he would be his own end and happiness in opposition to God.' Last week we saw three of his four subpoints, this week we look at the last one.
The fourth thing man does is makes himself the end of God. This is evident in:
(i) our loving God because of some self-pleasing benefits distributed by him;
(ii) in abstinence from sins, not because they offend God, but because they are against the interest of some other beloved corruption, or a bar to something men hunt after in this world;
(iii) performing duties merely for a selfish interest; making ourselves the end of religious actions; paying a homage to that, while we pretend to render it to God.
What grabbed me Great point about how we show our practical atheism when we perform religious duties simply for our own interest. Particularly 'In begging his assistance to our own projects. When we lay the plot of our own affairs, and then come to God, not for counsel but blessing, self only shall give us counsel how to act; but because we believe there is a God that governs the world, we will desire him to contribute success. God is not consulted with till the counsel of self be fixed; then God must be the executor of our will. Self must be the principal, and God the instrument to hatch what we have contrived. It is worse when we beg of God to favour some sinful aim; the psalmist implies this Ps. lxvi. 18 '"f I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Iniquity regarded as the aim in prayer renders the prayer successless, and the suppliant an atheist in debasing God to back his lust by his holy providence.'
All too often we call on God only with our own self interest in mind, not his interests. And that makes us practical atheists.
Next week's reading
Conclude Chapter 2 (Practical atheism).
Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading The life of John Knox by Thomas M'Crie (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Period 8 by reading up to the paragraph commencing 'The General Assembly being appointed to meet at Perth on the 6th August, he too his leave of them in a letter....' My summary Knox's health improves but the supporters of the Queen revive and continue to attack Knox for not supporting her.
After an assassination attempt, Knox leaves Edinburgh for safety and resides at St Andrews. The General Assembly continues to reform the church, particularly church government.
Next Knox returns to Edinburgh but with declining health. A successor, James Lawson, is appointed and Knox health deteriorates until today's reading concludes with his death. What grabbed me Good, albeit long, summary of Knox's life: 'He died in the sixty-seventh year of his age not so much oppressed with years, as worn out and exhausted by his extraordinary labours of body and anxieties of mind. Few men ever were exposed to more dangers, or underwent such hardships. From the time that he embraced the Reformed religion, till he breathed his last, seldom did he enjoy a respite from these; and he emerged from one scene of difficulties, only to be involved in another, and a more distressing one. Obliged to flee from St. Andrew's to escape the fury of Cardinal Beaton, he found a retreat in East Lothian, from which he was hunted by Archbishop Hamilton. He lived for several years as an outlaw, in daily apprehension of falling a prey to those who eagerly sought his life. The few months during which he enjoyed protection in the castle of St. Andrew's, were succeeded by a long and rigorous captivity. After enjoying some repose in England, he was again driven into banishment, and for five years wandered as an exile on the Continent. When be returned to his native country, it was to engage in a struggle of the most perilous and arduous kind. After the Reformation was established, and he was settled in the capital, he was involved in a continual contest with the Court When he had retired from warfare, and thought only of ending his days in peace, he was again called into the field; and although scarcely able to walk, was obliged to remove from his flock, and to avoid the hatred of his enemies, by submitting to a new banishment. Often had his life been threatened; a price was publicly set upon his head; and persons were not wanting who were disposed to attempt his destruction. No wonder that he was weary of the world, and anxious to depart. With great propriety might it be said, at his decease, that " e rested from his labours."
On Wednesday the 26th of November, he was interred in the churchyard of St. Giles. His funeral was attended by the newly-elected Regent Morton, the nobility who were in the city, and a great concourse of people. When his body was laid in the grave, the Regent pronounced his eulogium, in the well-known words, "There lies He, who never feared the face of man."'
I would have to say that the last sentence probably should have had the words 'or woman' added to it!
Next week's reading Conclude Period 8. Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading Tracts and Letters (Volume 2) by John Calvin (Available from Amazon or free here). Read Chapter VII (Short treatise on the supper of our Lord).
My summary This week we read a treatise by Calvin on the Lord's Supper.
At the beginning Calvin gives us a nice summary himself: 'First, then, we will explain to what end and for what reason our Lord instituted this holy sacrament.
Secondly, What fruit and utility we receive from it, when it will likewise be shown how the body of Jesus Christ is given to us.
Thirdly, What is the legitimate use of it.
Fourthly, We will detail the errors and superstitions with which it has been contaminated, when it will be shown how the servants of God ought to differ from the Papists.
Lastly, We will mention what has been the source of the discussion which has been so keenly carried on, even among those who have, in our time, brought back the light of the gospel, and employed themselves in rightly edifying the Church in sound doctrine.'
What grabbed me Good advice about when we are fit to take communion: 'When we feel within ourselves a strong dislike and hatred of all sin, proceeding from the fear of God, and a desire to live well in order to please our Lord, we are fit to partake of the Supper, notwithstanding of the remains of infirmity which we carry in our flesh. Nay, if we were not weak, subject to distrust and an imperfect life, the sacrament would be of no use to us, and it would have been superfluous to institute it. Seeing, then, it is a remedy which God has given us to help our weakness, to strengthen our faith, increase our charity, and advance us in all holiness of life, the use becomes the more necessary the more we feel pressed by the disease ; so far ought that to be from making us abstain. For if we allege as an excuse for not coming to the Supper, that we are still weak in faith or integrity of life, it is as if a man were to excuse himself from taking medicine because he was sick. See then how the weakness of faith which we feel in our heart, and the imperfections which are in our life, should admonish us to come to the Supper, as a special remedy to correct them. Only let us not come devoid of faith and repentance. The former is hidden in the heart, and therefore conscience must be its witness before God. The latter is manifested by works, and must therefore be apparent in our life.'
Feeling weak and imperfect should encourage us to take part in the Lord's supper, not stay away from it.
Next week's reading Read Chapter VIII (Mutual consent in regard to the sacraments).
Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading The Works Volume 1 by Richard Sibbes (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence 'A description of Christ' by reading up to, but not including, the paragraph starting 'I will put my Spirit upon him.-Now we come to the qualification of Christ for his calling...' Note this is a slightly shorter reading than the one I gave last week. My summary
Today we begin to read Richard Sibbes on Fridays for the next year or so, starting with 'A description of Christ'.
This relatively short section of the first volume of his works is an exposition of Matthew 12:18: ''Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets'.
Firstly we see that the word 'Behold' is a beacon lighted up to all the rest.
Secondly Sibbes teaches us the significance of Jesus being 'my servant'. He says that herein appears the admirable love and care of God to us wretched creatures and is matter of wonderment:
(i) if we look to him that was a servant;
(ii) if we look to that God and him, that made him stoop to be a servant;
(iii) if we look to the manner of the performance of this service;
(iv) if we look to the fruit of that service.
Thirdly we look at what is indicated by 'my Beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased'. Sibbes says that Christ is beloved of God:
(i) as God;
(ii) as man;
(iii) as without sin;
(iv) as mediator.
What grabbed me Sibbes gave us a good reminder of why God loves us: 'This is our comfort and our confidence, that God accepts us, because he accepts his beloved ; and when he shall cease to love Christ, he shall cease to love the members of Christ. They and Christ make one mystical Christ. 'This is our comfort in dejection for sin. We are so and so indeed, but Christ is the chosen servant of God, ' in whom he delighteth,' and delights in us in him. It is no matter what we are in ourselves, but what we are in Christ when we are once in him and continue in him. God loves us with that inseparable love wherewith he loves his own Son. Therefore St Paul triumphs, Rom. viii. 35, ' What shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?' This love, it is founded in Christ, ' therefore neither things present, nor things to come (as he goes on there gloriously), shall be able to separate us.' You see what a wondrous confidence and comfort we have hence, if we labour to be in Christ, that then God loves and delights in us, because he loves and delights in Christ Jesus.'
When God stops loving Jesus, then he will he stop loving us. And thankfully that's never going to happen!
Next week's reading Conclude 'A description of Christ'. Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading Desiring God by John Piper (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Appendix 3 (What Does It Mean to Love Your Neighbor as You Love Yourself?) and Appendix 4 (Why Call It Christian Hedonism?).
My summary Now we finish the book with last appendices.
In Appendix Three Piper tries to correct a misunderstanding of what it means to love your neighbour as you love yourself. He sums his thoughts up with: '..."Love your neighbor as yourself" does not command, but rather presupposes, self-love. All human beings love themselves. Furthermore, the self-love Jesus speaks of has nothing to do with the common notion of self-esteem. It does not mean having a good self-image or feeling especially happy with oneself. It means simply desiring and seeking one's own good. And we should note that Jesus' point is not affected by the fact that most people have a distorted notion of what is good for them. A man may attempt to find his good in a bottle of brandy or in illicit sex or in a fast motorcycle. Nevertheless, all human beings desire and seek what they think, at least in the moment of choosing, will make them happiest. '
In Appendix Four Piper defends his use of the word 'hedonism' for describing the philosophy of life he has put forward in the book.
What grabbed me I liked how Piper demonstrated that loving God and your neighbour as yourself doesn't boost pride, it demolishes it: 'It is a very radical command. It cuts to the root of sin, called pride. Remember, this root of pride that gives rise to all other sins, is the passion to be happy contaminated and corrupted by two things: 1) the unwillingness to see God as the only fountain of true and lasting joy, and 2) the unwillingness to see other people as designed by God to receive our joy in him. But that is exactly the contamination and corruption that Jesus counteracts in these two commandments.'
One sentence final verdict Piper's book is a helpful encouragement to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.
Next week's reading Commence Heaven on earth by Thomas Brooks (Available from Amazon or free here) by reading the 'Epistle dedicatory' and the 'Epistle to the saints'.
Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading An all-round ministry by CH Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Chapter 7 (Strength in weakness) by reading up to the paragraphs: 'Hitherto, we have been going round the text, after the example of Rowland Hill; now let us come fairly up to it: "When I am weak, then am I strong."I. Here is, first, A DEPRESSING EXPERIENCE: "When I am weak."'
My summary Today Spurgeon begins to expound the text from 2 Corinthians 12:10: 'When I am weak, then am I strong.'
Firstly Spurgeon looks at how the text is not true in every sense in which it might be read. Many are weak and yet not strong: (i) through failure of consecration; (ii) in communion with God; (iii) in faith; (iv) in spiritual life.
Secondly there is another form in which the text is clearly true. When I am strong then I am weak if I am: (i) a preacher who has no burdens; (ii) a brother who talks much of his own holiness.
What grabbed me Very helpful advice: 'It would be a dreadful thing to be a pastor without cares. I do not address any such, I am happy to believe; but I do address some who, as pastors, are overloaded with cares, and overweighed with sorrows. Perhaps the largeness of your church, or, more likely, the smallness of it, may be to you a daily trouble. Do not ask to be otherwise than troubled. The shepherd who can always go to bed regularly at night, and who is able to say, "I do not have much trouble with my flock," is not the man to be envied. He coolly says, "A few lambs died last winter; we must expect that kind of thing. It is true that some sheep died of starvation; but if the meadows failed, I could not help that." That is the kind of shepherd who deserves to be eaten by the next wolf; but the man who is able to say with Jacob, "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night," is the true shepherd. He is most irregular as to his rest; the only thing regular about him is his labor and his disappointment, and yet faith makes him a happy man. When you grow very weak as a pastor, and your charge utterly overcomes you, do not repine at such weakness, for then you will be at your full strength; but when you are strong as a pastor, and say, "I think that, to be a minister, is an easy matter," you may depend upon it that you are weak.'
Feeling loaded down is a good thing!
Next week's reading Conclude Chapter 7 (Strength in weakness). Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading Ten virgins by Thomas Shepard (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapters 14, 15 & 16.
My summary Today we begin to look at the answer of the wise virgins to the foolish virgins when they request oil: 'No, for fear that there would not enough for us and for you. But go rather to those who sell and buy oil for yourselves'. We are given three observations: (i) that the grace of God's Spirit in other wise-hearted Christians will do no good to foolish virgins, and slothful Christians, in the days of their extremity; (ii) that it is not in the hand of the most eminent Christians to dispense the grace of Christ to whom, and when, and where they will; (iii) that the Spirit of grace is principally and most abundantly dispensed in the ministry of the gospel by the ministers.
Next we learn about the significance of the bridegroom coming while the foolish went to buy oil. Shepard answers four questions concerning Christ's coming: (i) when; (ii) where; (iii) how; (iv) why.
What grabbed me Good reminder about the effectiveness of ministers: 'Know it that they were but powerless instruments in the hands of a merciful, yet powerful Christ, otherwise thou hadst never received good from any Christian, minister, or sermon; the Lord Jesus could as well have have used them as means to have condemned thee, as he did Noah's ministry, and Noah's example, by which he condemned the world, as well as to have called thee, or done the least good to thee ; therefore this still puts a beauty upon Christ above all others in the world'; all the saints and ministers in the world could not have changed one hair from being black to white, nor by all their cares for thee added one cubit to thy stature. O, it was the Lord Jesus : if they have any pity, the Lord put it in them ; if ever they spake one word, or made one prayer, the Lord put it in them ; if blessed, it is by him. '
We are only as effective as God would have us be.
Next week's reading Read Chapters 17 & 18.
Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
Required reading
Attributes of God by Charnock (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Continue Chapter 2 (Practical atheism) by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'IV Man would make himself the end of God.' My summary Today we look at Charnock's second main point about practical atheism: 'As man would be a law to himself, so he would be his own end and happiness in opposition to God.' He gives us four subpoints. We examine three this week.
Firstly man would make himself his own end and happiness. This is evident in:
(i) frequent self-applauses and inward overweening reflections;
(ii) ascribing the glory of what we do or have to ourselves, to our own wisdom, power, virtue etc;
(iii) desires to have self-pleasing doctrines;
(iv) being highly concerned for injuries done to ourselves, and little or not at all concerned for injuries done to God;
(v) trusting ourselves - we consult with our own wit and wisdom, more than inquire of God and ask leave of him;
(vi) the power of sinful self, above the efficacy of the notion of God, is evident in our workings for carnal self against the light of our own consciences.
Secondly man would have any thing his end and happiness rather than God. This is evident in:
(i) the fewer thoughts we have of God than of anything else;
(ii) the greedy pursuit of the world;
(iii) a strong addictedness to sensual pleasures;
(iv) paying a service upon any success in the world to instruments, more than to God the sovereign author;
(v) paying a respect to man more than God.
Thirdly man would make himself the end of all creatures. This is evident in:
(i) pride;
(ii) using the creatures contrary to the end God has appointed;
(iii) in the devil's behaviour.
What grabbed me I appreciated the insight of the third point that the atheist makes himself the end of all creatures: 'Since it is the nature of man derived from this root, to desire to be equal with God, it follows that he desires no creature should be equal with him, but subservient to his ends and his glory. He that would make himself God, would have the honour proper to God; he that thinks himself worthy of his own supreme affection, thinks himself worthy to be the object of the supreme affection of others; whosoever counts himself the chiefest good and last end, would have the same place in the thoughts of others. Nothing is more natural to man, than a desire to have his own judgement the rule and measure of the judgement and opinions of the rest of mankind.'
When an atheist put himself in God's place, it means everything must worship him as God. Sinful pride has no limits!
Next week's reading
Continue Chapter 2 (Practical atheism) by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'IV. For the use of this. It serves, 1. For information. (1.) It gives us occasion to admire the wonderful patience and mercy of God.'
Now it's your turn Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
