Category Archives: Sanctification

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

August 30, 2016

Posted under

Gossip & Slander, Pastoral, Reformed Theology, Sanctification

Comments

2 Comments

The Slanderer is a Serpent

copperhead

We live in an age of unparalleled riches when it comes to theology and the study of God’s Word. Of course, there are new, excellent books being written each year. But the greatest riches are found in the translation of older texts into English so they can be read by normal men like me. One fascinating series is Sources in Early Modern Economics, Ethics, and Law.  I know, your blood gets pumping just thinking about it. The series is a translation of some lesser known works, at least to us 21st century men, by some leading thinkers in the late Middle Ages up through the 17th century. I am currently working my way through On Righteousness, Oaths, and Usury, which is Wolfgang (that’s right his first name is Wolfgang) Musculus’ commentary on Psalm 15, as well as two appendices, one on oaths and the other on usury. His section on Psalm 15:3, “[He] who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend” was particularly helpful as he discussed what slander is. Here are some quotes from Musculus’ section on slander. All bold and brackets are mine.

To slander one’s neighbor is not simply to report what the neighbor either says or does (because sometimes not only is this permissible to do, but also it ought to be either for their sake or for the public good), but it is to report something maliciously, in the spirit of harming one’s neighbor.

The point is that the “why” matters. Two men can say the same thing about their friend and one be slandering and the other not. The problem is that we all assume our motives are pure and just. That we are only saying it for their good or because people need to know. But if we dig deeper into our hearts and desires we will often find that we wish to harm others with our words about them.

The next section is titled “What Sort of Vice Slander Is.” Musculus lists four descriptions of the vice of slander. Here is the first. He uses “denouncer” as a synonym for slanderer. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

August 17, 2016

Posted under

Food, I Timothy, Pastoral, Sanctification, Women

Thin Bodies, Iron Yokes

chain-breaking
This is a re-post, with a few edits, from last summer. 

When Christ and His gospel are preached in all their fullness men and women are set free, not from rules and obedience, but from man’s rules and from obedience as the road to salvation. The gospel says that satisfaction has been made for all our sins. There is nothing we can do, say, think, implement, or learn that will take away our sins. Our sins are completely taken away in Christ. We now have an easy yoke and light burden. Our King is not a tyrant.  His laws are not burdensome.

But bondage is always out there stalking us like a pack of wolves. There are always men and women rattling chains, but claiming they are keys, slave traders promising freedom. They say, “Our yoke is better than Christ’s.” But the yokes of men are always iron. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

August 9, 2016

Posted under

Jesus, Pastoral, Sanctification

Comments

1 Comment

Weariness and Rewards

Running Shoes

Weariness is the enemy of all noble things. G.K. Chesterton
Let us not become weary in doing good. Galatians 6:9

Surveying the cultural landscape a Christian is easily discouraged. All around, where there once stood truth, now there are lies. How did we reach a place where sodomy is right, where nine men decide that killing children is not murder, where you can decide whether you want be a boy or a girl despite what your plumbing is, where we have two politicians running for president who not just bad politicians, but wicked people who in previous generations would have been laughed off stage or thrown in prison, and in the church numerous denominations have already jumped off the cliff and others are sliding that way? How did we get here?

There are numerous factors in this decline. The failure of Christians to preach the Lordship of Christ, the lack of church discipline, and the fact that many believers send their children to government schools are some of the factors contributing to the current state of the American church. However, as I read the above quote by Chesterton a new reason for the decay struck me. Many have become weary.

I have nine children. I understand weariness.  It is hard to press forward day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade. Too many Christians have become tired. I have friends who havegiven up. Oh, they still call themselves Christians, but the truth is they stopped fighting the good fight long ago. Pastors became tired of preaching Christ and Him crucified, so they began to preach Jesus the great therapist who will cure all your ills. Some became weary of the scorn of the scientific establishment, so they accepted evolution and higher critical theories of the Scriptures.  We became weary of raising children for the Kingdom, so we sent them somewhere elsewhere or didn’t have them at all.  We became weary of shepherding the flock, so now we buy them and keep them like so many customers.  We became weary of looking like bigots and prudes so our sexual morality has eroded. There were not great theological shifts for many, no great changes in doctrine. Instead the world wore us down. Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

August 5, 2016

Posted under

Feminism, Motherhood, Sanctification, Women

Comments

44 Comments

Conservative Moms & Stunted Masculinity

Weak Man 1

Earlier in the week I sent this Tweet:

As with most Tweets it lacks clarification and nuance. A friend of my said as much, so I decided to post a follow up explaining what I meant. By conservative, I mean religiously conservative, not politically. The description below will flesh that out a bit.

I have been a pastor in a conservative church in a conservative denomination for almost ten years. I home school and interact with the homeschooling community frequently. I have a wife and six boys. The point I made in my Tweet is one that I have seen in my own home, church, and denomination, as well as other conservative communities. Boys can have a hard time becoming men in conservative settings. The problem is not universal. Many, maybe even most, conservative moms and dads are doing a good job raising masculine boys. But the problem is not rare either.  This is not just the fault of these moms, of course. The culture, both broadly and in our churches, pastors, and dads all share the blame. However, mothers can and do undermine masculinity in boys.

Why did I single out conservative moms instead of liberal ones? Well first that is my audience. I would rather preach to the individuals I know than the masses I don’t know. But also because they have a difficult time seeing the part they play in the emasculation of their own boys. Conservative moms view themselves as going against the flow and fighting against the feminism in our culture. Many of them are stay at home moms or part time stay at home moms who have rejected a career to raise children. Most home school or send their kids to private school. They go to worship and are active in their church. They submit to their husbands. They read their Bible and pray. They dress modestly. These are all good things.  But as Doug Wilson has taught me when you go to algebra class you get equations. When you go to biology class you get problems about dissecting frogs. And when you have conservative Christian mothers you get women who do not see how they could possibly be a blockade to manliness in their boys and husband. They are the ones doing it “right.” These women are the ones least likely to believe they are the problem. I know many conservative mothers who are doing well at raising boys. But in conservative churches this is an issue and pastors ignore it to their own peril.  Continue reading →

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

July 19, 2016

Posted under

American Culture, Marriage, Salvation, Sanctification

Reformation Begins Where You Are

House

Herman Bavinck states in his book The Christian Family “There has never been a time when the family faced so severe a crisis as the time in which we are now living. Many are not satisfied with remodeling; they want to tear things down to the foundation.” He said this in 1908, which is surprising.  But he saw around him the seeds of the slow destruction of the family from ideaology such as feminism, individualism, statism, socialism, materialism, and evolution. Here is his answer to the dire diagnosis, which comes at the beginning of a chapter on marriage and family and following a chapter on dangers confronting the family

All good, enduring reformation begins with ourselves and takes its starting point in one’s own heart and life. If family life is indeed being threatened from all sides today, then there is nothing better for each person to be doing than immediately to begin reforming within one’s own circle and begin to rebuff with the facts themselves the sharp criticisms that are being registered nowadays against marriage and family. Such a reformation immediately has this in its favor, that it would lose no time and would not need to wait for anything. Anyone seeking deliverance from the state must travel the lengthy route of forming a political party, having meetings, referendums, parliamentary debates, and civil legislation and it is still unknown whether with all that activity he will achieve any success. But reforming from within can be undertaken by each person at every moment, and be advanced without impediment.

What a great point he makes here!  A reformation from the state requires this and that, but a reformation in the home only requires our will and resolve. Bavinck then goes on to say how weak external changes are and how many recommended external changes to law and society fly in the face of reality, that is nature. Continue reading →