“Marry, Sirs, if Merlin who was the Devil’s son was a true King’s man as ever ate bread, is it not a shame that you, being but the sons of bitches, must be rebels and regicides?”
The Baptism of Amari Friday, Dec 4 2009
Uncategorized 10:17 pm
I baptized my great nephew Amari, named after Amariah, last Lord’s Day here in Meeker.
Luther on Dogs Friday, Dec 4 2009
Uncategorized 10:08 pm
“The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much esteemed were it not so common. Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest.”
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Thoughts from 2 Corinthians 7 Friday, Nov 13 2009
Uncategorized 11:42 pm
When I think of the Apostle Paul I tend to think of him in terms of his theology, which is all good and well. However in considering Paul, from whatever angle we choose to consider him from, we must always remember that his theology was and is supremely pastoral. His letters were always written to churches, or groups of churches, to address pastoral concerns. Problems though often have multiple layers. When one layer is removed another is exposed. Take for instance the church at Corinth.It was in the course of addressing the sin of that church that he began to encounter a new set of problems, or perhaps some underlying ones began to bubble to the surface.
Whenever a minster or elders have occasion to address sin, whether congregational or personal, the utmost care must be taken to insure the situation is dealt with in love and with great accuracy. Care must be taken, but at the end of the day blame must be laid where it rightly belongs. Sometimes this brings questions of motivation bubbling to the surface. After all people commonly question the motivations of those who are in charge. Certainly this was true with Paul. His motives were often in question: why is he always late, why does he always ask for money etc. these sorts of things seemed to follow him around as a manner of course and so it’s no wonder that motivation came up when he really had something or someone who was difficult to deal with.
This was bad enough for Paul, but it was as bad or nearly as bad, for the church in Corinth. For to close ones hearts to Christ ministers is to close ones heart to Christ Himself. This is why Paul exhorts the church there (2 Cor. 7) to open their hearts to him and to ask themselves this: really, what sort of man is guiding us? What sort of man is the apostle Paul?
Paul gives them the answer by doing what he had always done; he opens his heart. In doing so he reminds them of at least two things that they had perhaps forgotten.
Firstly he was a man committed to Christ and His body, in both life and in death. In saying this perhaps Paul had in mind a similar statement he had made to the church in Philippi “to live is Christ and to die is gain”. In life and in death he was a man committed to Christ and to His body to the uttermost. He was a man motivated by Christ.
Secondly he was a man that loved the truth and this love produced, as a matter of necessity, boldness at times. For the Corinthians, like many today, love and truth simply don’t go hand in hand. Love, for some, demands that we put up with anything, right or wrong, just so long as the individual is happy. Paul though was a man who loved truth, biblical truth; and this sort of love does not shirk responsibility or let those who are weak and led astray perish out of ignorance or indifference.
Ultimately it was his love for Christ and for His body that sometimes required he take the hard road. Yet this love often produced fruit. It did in Corinth, some of the hardest ground of the New Testament. We know this because by the end of the first few verses of chapter 7 he can point to the fruits of his ministry. Questions of motivation were being laid aside in place of something all pastors long to see; repentance. Paul’s hard work was producing soft hearts, hearts whose affections were finally turning back towards Christ.
Tacit Knowledge Thursday, Nov 12 2009
Theology 6:30 pm
In his book “The Tacit Dimension” Michael Polanyi points out that if knowledge was confined to that which could be explained it would be impossible to search for fresh knowledge. We would either know about a thing and be able to explain it, and so have no need for further investigation, or we would have no knowledge (of a thing) and so no idea about how or where to inquire.
It seems to me that the desire to confine knowledge to “everything nailed down in a precise manner” is related to, or perhaps caused by, the desire to remain static. The ability to mature in our understanding is fuled by uncertainty. We grow becuase we do not know and yet we want to know. Unceritanty is key to growth.
