Podcasts about english puritans

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 15, 2024 is: cavalier • kav-uh-LEER • adjective Someone described as cavalier shows no concern for important or serious matters. Cavalier also describes attitudes, manners, etc., that show the same lack of concern. // The company provides regular training about the dangers of being cavalier in sharing privileged information. See the entry > Examples: “I'd failed math and chemistry the previous quarter; my European history teacher had decried—in front of the class—my ‘flippant and cavalier attitude.' My GPA was a 1.8. But the night before the assignment was due I wrote a play about the thing that I—and Holden Caulfield—both passionately hated: The phoniness of organized structures, the way that religious belief was—in my fifteen-year-old mind—nothing but pretense and emptiness. … The next day, class began with a flourish. Ted Sod, the visiting playwright, stormed through the door. We'd all done good work, he told us, but one play—in particular—stood out. … And then, to my inestimable shock, he pointed at me.” — Pauls Toutonghi, LitHub.com, 5 Oct. 2023 Did you know? Mount up, fellow language caballeros! We think you'll agree that the origins of cavalier make a great deal of horse sense. The noun cavalier—which traces back to the Late Latin word caballārius, meaning “horseback rider,” and even further to the Latin word for “work horse,” caballus—originally referred to a gentleman or knight trained in arms and horsemanship. The adjective trotted into English just a few decades after the noun, first describing those thought to embody qualities of gallantry and suaveness associated with such soldiers. However, the English Puritans later applied the noun with disdain to their adversaries, the swashbuckling royalist followers of Charles I, who sported longish hair and swords. Their use undoubtedly contributed to the adjective's “flippant” sense, which is now the most common. To saddle someone (or their behavior, attitude, etc.) with the descriptor today is to say that they do not demonstrate the expected or required care for serious matters.

Dr. Nathan S. French A school field trip to Washington, D.C. is a formative rite of passage shared by many U.S. school students across the nation. Often, these are framed as “field trips.” Students may visit the White House, the U.S. Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, Declaration of Independence (housed in the National Archive), the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Jefferson Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, or the Smithsonian Museum – among others. For many students, this is the first time they will connect the histories of their textbooks to items, artifacts, and buildings that they can see and feel. For those arriving to Washington, D.C. by airplane or bus, the field trip might also seem like a road trip. Road trips, often involving movement across the U.S. from city-to-city and state-to-state are often framed as quintessential American experiences. Americans have taken road trips to follow their favorite bands, to move to universities and new jobs, to visit the hall of fame of their favorite professional or collegiate sport, or sites of family history. As Dr. Andrew Offenberger observes in our interview, road trips have helped American authors, like Kiowa poet N. Scott Momaday, make sense of their identities as Americans. What if, however, these field trips to Washington, D.C. and road trips across the country might amount to something else? What if we considered them to be pilgrimages? Would that change our understanding of them? For many Americans, the first word that comes to mind when they hear the word, “pilgrimage,” involves the pilgrims of Plymouth, a community of English Puritans who colonized territory in Massachusetts, at first through a treaty with the Wampanoag peoples, but eventually through their dispossession. For many American communities, the nature of pilgrimage remains a reminder of forced displacement, dispossession, and a loss of home and homeland. Pilgrimage, as a term, might also suggest a religious experience. There are multiple podcasts, blogs, and videos discussing the Camino de Santiago, a number of pilgrimage paths through northern Spain. Others might think of making a pilgrimage to the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim sacred spaces in Israel and Palestine often referred to as the “Holy Land” collectively – including the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (among others). Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad, is a classic example of this experience. Some make pilgrimage to Salem, Massachusetts each October. Others even debate whether the Crusades were a holy war or pilgrimage. American experiences of pilgrimage have led to substantial transformations in our national history and to our constitutional rights. Pilgrimage, as a movement across state, national, or cultural boundaries, has often been used by Americans to help them make sense of who they are, where they came from, and what it means, to them, to be “an American.” The word, “pilgrimage,” traces its etymology from the French, pèlerinage and from the Latin, pelegrines, with a general meaning of going through the fields or across lands as a foreigner. As a category used by anthropologists and sociologists in the study of religion, “pilgrimage” is often used as a much broader term, studying anything ranging from visits to Japanese Shinto shrines, the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj, “birthright” trips to Israel by American Jewish youth, and, yes, even trips to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee – the home of Elvis Presley. Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) defined pilgrimage as one of a number of rites of passage (i.e., a rite du passage) that involves pilgrims separating themselves from broader society, moving themselves into a place of transition, and then re-incorporating their transformed bodies and minds back into their home societies. That moment of transition, which van Gennep called “liminality,” was the moment when one would become something new – perhaps through initiation, ritual observation, or by pushing one's personal boundaries outside of one's ordinary experience. Clifford Geertz (1926-2006), a contemporary of Turner, argued that a pilgrimage helps us to provide a story within which we are able to orient ourselves in the world. Consider, for example, the role that a trip to Arlington National Cemetery or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier plays in a visit by a high school class to Washington, D.C. If framed and studied as a pilgrimage, Geertz's theory would suggest that a visit to these sites can be formative to an American's understanding of national history and, perhaps just as importantly, the visit will reinforce for Americans the importance of national service and remembrance of those who died in service to the defense of the United States. When we return from those school field trips to Washington, D.C., then, we do so with a new sense of who we are and where we fit into our shared American history. Among the many examples that we could cite from American history, two pilgrimages in particular – those of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X – provide instructive examples. Held three years after the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the 1957 “Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom,” led by Dr. King brought together thousands in order to, as he described it, “call upon all who love justice and dignity and liberty, who love their country, and who love mankind …. [to] renew our strength, communicate our unity, and rededicate our efforts, firmly but peaceably, to the attainment of freedom.” Posters for the event promised that it would “arouse the conscience of the nation.” Drawing upon themes from the Christian New Testament, including those related to agape – a love of one's friends and enemies – King's speech at the “Prayer Pilgrimage” brought national attention to his civil rights movement and established an essential foundation for his return to Washington, D.C. and his “I Have a Dream Speech,” six years later. In April 1964, Malcolm X departed to observe the Muslim pilgrimage ritual of Hajj in the city of Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hajj is an obligation upon all Muslims, across the globe, and involves rituals meant to remind them of their responsibilities to God, to their fellow Muslims, and of their relationship to Ibrahim and Ismail (i.e., Abraham and Ishamel) as found in the Qur'an. Before his trip, Malcolm X had expressed skepticism about building broader ties to American civil rights groups. His experience on Hajj, he wrote, was transformational. "The holy city of Mecca had been the first time I had ever stood before the creator of all and felt like a complete human being,” he wrote, “People were hugging, they were embracing, they were of all complexions …. The feeling hit me that there really wasn't what he called a color problem, a conflict between racial identities here." His experience on Hajj was transformative. The result? Upon return to the United States, Malcolm X pledged to work with anyone – regardless of faith and race – who would work to change civil rights in the United States. His experiences continue to resonate with Americans. These are but two stories that contribute to American pilgrimage experiences. Today, Americans go on pilgrimages to the Ganges in India, to Masada in Israel, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and to Bethlehem in Palestine, and to cities along the Trail of Tears and along the migration of the Latter-Day Saints church westward. Yet, they also go on pilgrimages and road trips to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, to the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, to the national parks, and to sites of family and community importance. In these travels, they step outside of the ordinary and, in encountering the diversities of the U.S., sometimes experience the extraordinary changing themselves, and the country, in the process. * * * Questions for Class Discussion What is a “pilgrimage”? What is a road trip? Are they similar? Different? Why? Must a pilgrimage only be religious or spiritual? Why or why not? How has movement – from city to city, or place to place, or around the world – changed U.S. history and the self-understanding of Americans? What if those movements had never occurred? How would the U.S. be different? Have you been on a pilgrimage? Have members of your family? How has it changed your sense of self? How did it change that of your family members? If you were to design a pilgrimage, what would it be? Where would it take place? Would it involve special rituals or types of dress? Why? What would the purpose of your pilgrimage be? How do other communities understand their pilgrimages? Do other cultures have “road trips” like the United States? Additional Sources: Ohio History and Pilgrimage Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve, Ohio History Connection (link). National Geographic Society, “Intriguing Interactions [Hopewell],” Grades 9-12 (link) Documentary Podcasts & Films “In the Light of Reverence,” 2001 (link) An examination of Lakota, Hopi, and Wintu ties to and continued usages of their homelands and a question of how movement through land may be considered sacred by some and profane by others. Melvin Bragg, “Medieval Pilgrimage,” BBC: In our Time, February 2021 (link) Bruce Feiler: Sacred Journeys (Pilgrimage). PBS Films (link) along with educator resources (link). The American Pilgrimage Project. Berkley Center, Georgetown University (link). Arranged by StoryCorps, a collection of video and audio interviews with Americans of diverse backgrounds discussing their religious and spiritual identities and their intersections with American life. Dave Whitson, “The Camino Podcast,” (link) on Spotify (link), Apple (link) A collection of interviews with those of varying faiths and spiritualities discussing pilgrimage experiences. Popular Media & Websites “Dreamland: American Travelers to the Holy Land in the 19th Century,” Shapell (link) A curated digital museum gallery cataloguing American experiences of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Israel, and Palestine. LaPier, Rosalyn R. “How Standing Rock Became a Site of Pilgrimage.” The Conversation, December 7, 2016 (link). Talamo, Lex. Pilgrimage for the Soul. South Dakota Magazine, May/June 2019. (link). Books Grades K-6 Murdoch, Catherine Gilbert. The Book of Boy. New York: Harper Collins, 2020 (link). Wolk, Lauren. Beyond the Bright Sea. New York: Puffin Books, 2018 (link). Grades 7-12 Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Penguin Books, 2003 (link). Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992 (link). Melville, Herman. Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. New York: Library of America, n.d. (link). Murray, Pauli. Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage. New York: Liveright, 1987 (link). Reader, Ian. Pilgrimage: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015 (link). Twain, Mark. The Innocents Abroad. New York: Modern Library, 2003 (link). Scholarship Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Bloechl, Jeffrey, and André Brouillette, eds. Pilgrimage as Spiritual Practice: A Handbook for Teachers, Wayfarers, and Guides. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2022. Frey, Nancy Louise Louise. Pilgrim Stories: On and Off the Road to Santiago, Journeys Along an Ancient Way in Modern Spain. First Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Lévi-Strauss, Claude Patterson, Sara M., “Traveling Zions: Pilgrimage in Modern Mormonism,” in Pioneers in the Attic: Place and Memory along the Mormon Trail. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020 (link). Pazos, Antón. Redefining Pilgrimage: New Perspectives on Historical and Contemporary Pilgrimages. London: Routledge, 2014 (link). Reader, Ian. Pilgrimage: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015 (link). Van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960 (link)

Imagine for a minute that you just won the most amazing sweepstakes ever. You saw this thing in a magazine, you submitted your entry online, and now these people are at your front door to tell you that you won and it's a big deal: You've been chosen for a two-week all-expense paid vacation to anywhere in the world you want to go: You get to stay in five-star hotels, eat at the best restaurants, drive extravagant cars; you get to pick out a whole new wardrobe of clothes that are tailored just for you, and you're given a three-million dollar gift card to spend anywhere you want.How's that sound?But here's the fine print: On each day of this vacation, every morning, you have to drink a potion that guarantees that you will feel discontent. It guarantees that although you get to do all of these things, with each thing you do you have an increasing, nagging dissatisfaction that makes you wish you were always doing something different. It's luxury galore for two weeks, but your inner-state is full-on discontentment — that's the ‘prize.' Do you still take it?This morning in Philippians 4 we're talking about Christian contentment. And when I use the word “contentment” I mean a state of happiness or satisfaction — that's what the word contentment means. And when I say Christian contentment, I mean that there's a Christian way to experience a state of everlasting happiness and satisfaction.That's the focus of Philippians 4, verses 11–13, and I believe there's something here in this passage that if we understand it and practice it, it will absolutely change our lives. This is one of those passages that grabs you by the shoulders and says: Hey, you've been thinking about this all wrong. There's another way to live that's deeper and richer.And so my prayer for us this morning is that God would give us ears to hear. In this passage, I think we discover three truths about Christian contentment and I want to show them to you, and before we get started, let's pray and ask God to help us. Father in heaven, by your Holy Spirit, would you humble our hearts now to receive what you have for us in your word. In this moment, by your grace, we open our lives to you and ask for you to accomplish your will, in Jesus's name, amen. Three truths about Christian contentment … here's the first …1) Christian contentment is a secret to be learned.Paul uses the word “secret” in verse 11, but first let me show you how we get there. Verses 11–13, which is our focus today, is really a detour from the main idea that Paul starts in verse 10. Verse 10 has to do with this church's financial support of Paul. Paul says, verse 10, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.” So this church has partnered with Paul for the advance of the gospel. They've supported him and his work, and Paul rejoices in the Lord in view of that. He continues this thought in verse 10 in verse 14 — and that's what we're gonna look at next week — but before Paul gets to verse 14, he needs to clarify something.Paul's Clarification and DetourPaul rejoices in the Lord not because his needs have been met, but it's because he values the Philippians' friendship and partnership, and ultimately their partnership with Paul means that they will be blessed. Paul talks about that in verse 17. But the thing he wants to make clear in verse 11 is how he views this topic of needs. His needs being met is not the cause of his rejoicing. That's what he means when he says in verse 11: “Not that I am speaking of being need.” He wants this church to know that his needs are not his main concern, and the reason his needs are not his main concern is in the second half of verse 11: “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” And then he goes on this detour. Now Paul is gonna talk about that. The second half of verse 11 is the big sentence in this passage. I'm gonna read it again because I wanna make sure everybody sees it. If you're a highlighter person, make this sentence glow. Everybody look at this, second half of verse 11:“for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”Then the next verse, verse 12, just explains that sentence. Paul says, This is what I mean — “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance [which is another way to say “whatever situation”], I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”In all of these different scenarios, Paul has learned to be content, which he says here is learning a secret. Christian contentment is a secret to be learned.And I want to start with this idea of a secret because it implies two things … if Christian contentment is a secret to be learned then …1) Not every Christian has learned it yet. In other words, contentment is not part of the original equipment of conversion. Now there is a ton of amazing things that happen to us immediately when we trust in Jesus. When we put our faith in Jesus, right then and there … all our sins are forgiven; we are declared righteous; we are adopted into God's family; we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit; we are secured a home in heaven! — it's glorious what happens when you put your faith in Jesus! … but learning contentment is not part of that immediate package. This is something that comes later as part of Christian growth and maturity. You have to learn it. Which means: not all of us have learned it yet …Which means … hmm … let's think about this … how do we know if we've learned it or not? What might a Christian look like if they've not yet learned this secret of contentment?My guess is that they would be prone to worry — they would be right on the edge of anxiety with most things; they're quick to envision how badly things could go; which means they fret. Fretting is natural for them. And complaining is too. It's easy for them to find what's ‘off' with everything — winter's too cold and summer's too hot. The airline could always do better; the meal is always missing something. Nothing is ever exactly right, and nothing is ever quite enough. Every time they get home and they see an Amazon package at their front door, deep down they're thinking, “Maybe this is enough” — but it's not. There will be another package the next day, and then the next day and the next day. (That's what it means when you see all the delivery trucks on your street. It's just people looking for enough.) Christians who've not yet learned the secret of contentment are always looking for the next thing … the next post to see, the next app to download, the next doo-hickey to get — you gotta stay up on what's going on … so you're just always chasing.And I need to be clear about something here: when I say that not all of us have learned the secret, I'm including myself in that. This is probably true in every sermon, but I definitely feel that in this sermon that I'm preaching over my head. And the more I've thought about this, I'm not sure that any of us American Christians know the secret Paul is talking about here. I think most of us are all in the same boat here. This topic of Christian contentment is one we need help in. There's a country song you've probably not heard before, but I think it resonates. I heard this song years ago and it still haunts me. It goes like this:“We all want what we ain't got,Our favorite doors are always locked.On a higher hill with a taller top,We all want what we ain't got.We ain't happy where we are,There's greener grass in the neighbor's yard.A bigger house and a faster car,We ain't happy where we are.”We don't have much in common with John D. Rockefeller — he was one of the richest men in modern history and he was the first billionaire in America — but there's a famous story about him after he earned his first billion. A reporter asked him, “Mr. Rockefeller, how much is enough?” And he replied, “Just a little bit more.”We have that in common with him. That's how we tend to think too. Always chasing. We need to learn this secret.If Christian contentment is a secret to be learned, it implies (1) not every Christian has learned it yet; but also …2) It is possible to be learned.We're really on the brink of something here. And this is where I want us all to lean in and say, “Holy Spirit, teach me!” Paul is inviting us in on something, and not just Paul, but the topic of Christian contentment also has a special place within our own theological heritage. I think Christian contentment is the application of Christian hedonism. And going back 400 years ago, the 17th-century English Puritans cared a lot about contentment and they wrote master-class books on it. And more recently, my old pastor at First Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, Andy Davis, he has written a book called The Power of Christian Contentment. And in this book he just takes the Puritan cookie jar and brings it down to the bottom shelf. (I want to mention Pastor Davis because I got a lot from his book, which is like a commentary on Philippians 4.)We can learn the secret of contentment by together standing on the shoulders of others who have learned it. It's possible. Christian contentment is a secret to be learned — we've not all learned it yet, but it's possible!Here's the second truth …2) Christian contentment comes from Christ-sufficiency.Now before we're finished here, I want to give you a definition for Christian contentment, but we need to get there by focusing on Paul's language in verse 11. Look again at that big sentence again: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”A Fascinating WordThat word “content” (autarkēs) is pretty fascinating. It's not a word from the Old Testament, but it's actually a word from Greek philosophy. The word means literally “self-sufficiency.” And this self-sufficiency was a main teaching in an old philosophy known as Stoicism (we talked a little about Stoicism a couple of weeks ago in connection to verse 6). Stoicism was super popular in Paul's day, within the Greco-Roman world, and in verse 11, that exact word that Paul uses for “content” (or self-sufficiency), was used over and over again in the Stoic writings of this time. Apparently the Stoic philosopher Seneca loved this word. And it will make sense to you why.And in a nutshell, what Seneca and these Stoic writings taught was that “whatever happens to you in life, you accept it with no emotional reaction.” You get what you get and your virtue is your ability to be unaffected by the outside world.And that's basically how we use the word “stoic” today as an adjective. If somebody seems indifferent or apathetic or non-emotional, we say they're being stoic. Sometimes we wish our younger kids were a little more stoic at the dinner table … At our house, at dinner, we've got a little thing we say after we serve the kids their food. We say: You get what you get and don't have a fit. It's a no meltdowns rule.And that might make sense when it comes to kids and dinnertime, but Stoicism as a full-blown philosophy for life is dangerous because it says you don't have emotions because you don't have needs. You don't need anything from anybody because you've got all you need right here in yourself. You, in and of yourself, are untouchable by things outside of you. You are self-sufficient.That's the word that Paul uses — now, is that what Paul means?Not at all. Get this: Paul knows he can't do anything apart from Jesus. So, when Paul is using this word he's messin' with them! He's taking this word from Greek philosophy that means self-sufficiency and he uses it to explain his Christ-sufficiency. Track with me here:Not Funds, Freedom, or FoodWe know that Paul was not anti-emotion or anti-need. He's open about both of them and he talks about them in this letter! When it comes to emotion, remember Paul said in Chapter 2 that if Epaphroditus had died he would have had “sorrow upon sorrow” (2:27). He would be affected.And as for his needs, that's part of the whole reason he wrote this letter to begin with. This church is a ministry partner. Epaphroditus had brought him a gift from this church. They met his needs. But see Paul wants this church to know that his needs being met — which he's grateful for (he says that) — but his needs being met are not his ultimate aim. Paul has Christ-sufficiency, which means all he truly needs is Jesus … not funds or freedom or food. Those things are not ultimately necessary for him. But wait a minute? Wait a minute!Without those those things — without funds, freedom, food… air, water, and nutrients — without those things, Paul would die! So let's be honest here. Really, Paul?! You're talking about this Christ-sufficiency. You say all you need is Christ — but what about oxygen, Paul? You need oxygen!Do you?Well yeah, I guess you need oxygen to stay alive on this earth … but see this is where Paul has learned something …He's thought about this before because death has been a real possibility for him. He's been imprisoned before — he's had countless beatings, often near death. Five times he received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times he was beaten by rods. Once he was stoned. Three times he was shipwrecked, a night and a day adrift at sea, floating on a piece of wood in the ocean; he had seen danger everywhere, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. So what if he didn't have oxygen? He would die. But what if he died?He's already addressed this — to die is to depart and be with Christ, and that is far better (1:23). See, death meant gain for him (1:21). Why? This is where we are getting to the key to this book, and to how the apostle Paul saw everything.All You Truly NeedPaul staying alive on this earth was not his goal. See, if staying alive here was what Paul was all about, then yes, he needs oxygen. And food and water and — yes, he needs other things besides Christ. If staying alive on earth is his objective. But if Paul's goal is everlasting joy in Christ, what does he need for that? All you need for everlasting joy in Christ is Christ! That's why Paul can say “Rejoice in the Lord always” — it's because all we need for joy in the Lord is the Lord.Look, there's not a creature or condition or situation on earth that Paul absolutely needs in order to be happy in Jesus. All he absolutely needs to be happy in Jesus is Jesus. That's the secret of Christian contentment. It is Christ-sufficiency!The secret of Christian contentment is learning that for what really matters — which is not staying alive here, but what really matters, your everlasting joy in Jesus — all you need for that is Jesus.That's the ‘rare jewel' behind everything Paul says in this letter. That's what Paul means when he says: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Christ-sufficiency. What I really want is joy in Jesus, and what I need for joy in Jesus is Jesus, and I have him. This is the way church! This is the way to Christian contentment.But how do we apply this in the throes of life? We get there in the third truth …3) Christ-sufficiency comes through Christ strengthening me. Paul, it's amazing what you're saying here, but I need help, man! How does this work in the details of our everyday existence? What about when things are going crazy? Is it ever okay to be unhappy about something, or to experience negative emotions, or to wish things were different? Of course it's okay to feel those things, and this is where a definition comes in handy. Christian contentment is meant to be practiced. Remember verse 9: what we've learned and received and heard and seen in Paul, we're supposed to live that out. So when we think about Christian contentment in our daily lives, this is what it means. A Definition for EverydayHere's the definition:Christian contentment is a presence of heart that delights in Jesus's plans for us and humbly seeks him to direct us in them. What we most want is Jesus, but that's not always on the front of our minds in this world. Because we have all kinds of other stuff going on. One study I've seen says that the average person has over 70,000 thoughts a day — and I believe it. And let me just tell you, not all of those 70,000 thoughts are: “Jesus is my greatest treasure.”Sometimes those thoughts are: I wanna good parking space, I wanna eat lunch, I want to buy a house, I don't want my basement to flood, I don't want my child to be sick, I don't want my wife to die.70,000 things we think about — some are really important, and all of them connected to things we need, but see, Christian contentment is like an anchor in the midst of those 70,000 things, and when the details are not what we want, we come back to his sufficiency, and we say “Jesus, I have you, help me in this. You have a plan.” A presence of heart that delights in Jesus's plans for us and humbly seeks him to direct us in them.Jesus Who Is Strengthening MeAnd the more we learn the secret, the easier it becomes to get there: “Jesus, I have you, help me in this.” I can do all things through you who strengthens me — who is strengthening me. That's a present-active verb in verse 13. This is a continual, active strength coming to us from Jesus …Whether it's plenty or hunger, abundance or need, my favorite meal with my friends or hunger pains alone in a Roman prison, whether it's a home-run or a strike-out, I can do all things … I can get through anything … because Jesus is strengthening me. His sufficiency in my life comes from his strength. Everlasting joy in him is what we most want, it's him we have.So what if you had another offer. There's the two-weeks vacation sweepstakes offer, but then there's an alternative offer …And for this one, you're going to walk through a painful trial of suffering. You're going to be publicly humiliated; you're going to be thrown into prison; you will be deprived basic needs — you will be hungry and thirsty and extremely uncomfortable, but here's the catch: in the midst of the hardship you will experience a supernatural contentment through the nearness of Jesus that you can hardly imagine. He will be so real to you, so close to you, so sufficient for you, that you will look back at the hardship as one of the sweetest times in your life.Would you take this offer?Church, we're growing. We're getting there.It's true: we can do all things through him who is strengthening us.And that's what brings us to the Table.The TableMy guess is that if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, this doesn't make any sense to you. That's okay. But I'd love to talk to you about it. The heart of the gospel is to have fellowship with God. That's why God created us, but our sin has broken that fellowship, and as hard as we might try to get back to God, we can't. That's why Jesus came. He came to die for our sins, in our place, so that through faith in him we can be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God. That can happen for you right now if you say to Jesus: I am done trusting in me, I trust in you. I would love to talk with you more about this. I'll be right up here after the service. Come up, let's talk.For those of us who have trusted in Jesus, we have fellowship with God and we're on a journey to eternal joy in God, and church, Jesus is enough for us. So let's come to this Table and worship him.

Noah Rothman is an author and conservative thinker who is a Senior Writer for National Review, and whose recent bestseller, “The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives' War on Fun,” is the chief subject of the second episode of our new series Dirty Moderate After Dark.Adam and Noah do a deep dive into the origins of Puritan thought, and they detail the odd, and very uniquely American way in which Puritanical thinking is embedded into our cultural and political tapestry. What's more, Noah explains how his book examines the deeply religious and dogmatic English Puritans who settled on the Eastern Seaboard in the 17th century and how their spiritual, if not religious, successors have found a cozy home within the extreme wing of today's woke left.Adam and Noah also discuss the collapse of the Republican Party into an incoherent, ideologically barren cult of personality party led by Trump, and they lament the abandonment of the robust internationalism which the Reagan era GOP once typified and the dangers of today's MAGA GOP and the shortsighted, isolationist thinking that they promulgate.Though neither of them were boozed, Adam and Noah waxed eloquently After Dark about all things philosophical and political, and their conversation was nevertheless wide-ranging, absorbing, and unlike today's Puritans, fun.Find Noah's amazing book hereRead Noah at National ReviewNoah on X @NoahCRothmanThanks for helping us save democracy one episode at a time! Join the Dirty Moderate Nation on Substack! Tell us what you think on Twitter! Are you registered to VOTE?

English Puritans were Protestants who wished to reform England's state religion of Catholic influences. Their efforts met with stiff resistance. Escaping religious persecution, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to make a new life in the New World.  Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/KruDo99XKfw which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams.  Puritans books available at https://amzn.to/3SorIa5 Martin Luther books available at https://amzn.to/45n2zlx Protestant Reformation books available at https://amzn.to/3MmaQgT     PLEASE help us get to 10,000 subscribers! THANKS for the many wonderful comments, messages, ratings and reviews. All of them are regularly posted for your reading pleasure on https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can also get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, and an eBook Welcome Gift when joining our growing community on Patreon or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook GIFT. SUPPORT this series by enjoying a wide-range of useful & FUN Gadgets at https://twitter.com/GadgetzGuy and/or by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark Vinet's HISTORICAL JESUS podcast is available at https://parthenonpodcast.com/historical-jesus                                                    Mark's TIMELINE video channel at https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu Podcast: https://parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM                                                                              Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization                                                                Credit: The History of the Christian Church podcast with Pastor Lance Ralston (episode 112). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday, October 27, 2023, Dr. Tony Curto delivered the opening lecture "The Puritans: A Religious or Political Movement?" at the eighth annual Dallas/Fort Worth Reformation Conference: "God-Centered: The Spirituality and Impact of the English Puritans." mcopc.org/podcast

On Saturday, October 28, 2023, Dr. Tony Curto delivered Lecture 02, "The Puritans as Pastor-Theologians" at the Dallas/Fort Worth Reformation Conference: "God-Centered: The Spirituality and Impact of the English Puritans." mcopc.org/podcast

Pastors Mitch Kimbrell and Craig Combs (and their occasional special guests) talk about all the things they can't get to on Sunday morning in a wide-ranging conversation that can often find itself in a pleasant detour along the way.

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672): H.L. Mencken once said that Puritanism is “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere might be happy.” But is this characterization of the Puritans as stern and joyless really true? Anne Bradstreet's life would indicate otherwise! As a member of the English Puritans who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s, Anne gained notoriety as America's first poet–an incredible accomplishment for a wife and mother of eight in the American wilderness! Yet she also gives us a window into Puritan colonial life–its joys, sorrows, trials and blessings–all undergirded by a radiant, confident faith in God and His Word. Truly, her poetry is a celebration of God's goodness in every area of life! The Puritans were anything but dull and dour, as Anne Bradstreet's life so beautifully demonstrates!

Audio Transcript:This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a perfect Father. And despite the fact that we sin and rebelled against you, we thank you for Jesus Christ, your perfect son. Thank you for giving your son for us. Jesus, we thank you that you gave yourself for us, in order to redeem us, to prepare a way for us to be saved, to be adopted into the family of God. And God the Father, I pray by the power of the Holy Spirit today, give us a greater vision, a grander vision of holiness, and obedience, and faithfulness. And give us not just the desire to do it, give us that desire, change the taste buds of our soul, recalibrate them so we desire holiness, we desire righteousness.But along with that desire, I pray that you activate that desire in each one of us by the power of the spirit fill us so that your spirit propels us forward so that we together in partnership with the Holy Spirit live lives of faithfulness of obedience of faith. As we look at a challenging text today, Lord, we come to this text with humility, with contrition of heart, with trembling underneath your word.I pray that you give us a clarity to understand what it means and Holy Spirit convict us of any complacency and sin of any stagnation spiritually. And I pray, Lord, give us breakthroughs to greater levels of faithfulness, and holiness, and righteousness so that we can be even more useful, ever more useful for your kingdom. And we pray all this in Christ's holy name, amen.The title of the sermon today is wretched man, and I include everyone, of course. Roman 7:14-25. And today we turn our attention to one of the most hotly debated texts in all of scripture. And this has been debated all throughout church history. Some would even argue that it's more controversial than Romans 9, which we're looking forward to in several weeks. And the text is important. I remember in youth group at my church where I was growing up, I was studying Romans on my own. And it was a church where it's kind of like whoever raises their hand and volunteers to lead the youth, that's the youth guy.So this guy, he knew the Bible. So we're like, "All right, we have questions about the Bible." And I said, "Romans 7. Tell me Romans 7." Is it St. Paul before he got saved or after? And he told me, "Well, all the reformers said it's Paul after he gets saved." And I was like, "Oh, okay." But it never quite sat right, and I remember in the homiletics, in systematic theology one, I raised my hand and I said, "Professor, Romans 7, is it Paul before regeneration or after?" And my professor said, "It's both." I said, "Both? Then how does Jesus make any difference in anyone's life if it's both?"The text is important because your view of the text will shape profoundly your understanding of the Christian life. What does it mean to live as a Christian on a daily basis? How am I to understand sanctification? How am I to understand sin and a battle for sin and a battle for righteousness? The question before us today is, is our text spoken by a Christian or by a non-Christian?Would you look at the text with me, Romans 7:14-25. "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.""So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks me to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin."This is the reading of God's holy inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First, we'll look at the text as if Paul is speaking. So the converted, Paul. Then we'll look at the text as if Saul is speaking. And then we'll try to draw takeaways because we know that God is speaking and the Holy Spirit wrote this text. And this text is applicable to every single one of... So first Paul is speaking, and I'm going to give you the view of Augustine later in his life.This is the view of Luther. This is the view of Calvin, of the English Puritans, of the American Presbyterian, of modern theologians, such as Benjamin Warfield and Herman Bavinck. So these men, or these people stand in the tradition of the reformation and they say, "We with Luther, with Calvin, we say that this is Paul, the converted Paul that's who's speaking in this text."And the case goes like this. First, no non-Christian would speak like this. No non-Christian would speak like this. They look at Romans 7:14, where it says, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin." And the case goes that how can an unbeliever know that the law of God is spiritual? Romans 7:16. "Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good." I agree with the law. How can an unbeliever say that? Verse 18, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out."What unbeliever would say, "I know nothing good dwells in me?" Or verse 22, "For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being." Delight in the law? How many unbelievers have you ever met that delight in the law of God? How can humanity and our fallen nature... As lost as Romans 3 tells us that we are, we're intractable enemies of God, lovers of sin, defiant, rebels against God's law. How could an unbeliever say things like this? That's the first subpoint is that no one believer would say that in this argument. And the second one is that this inner experience of conflict is what scripture teaches elsewhere as the normal experience of believers in the world.So yes, Roman 6, it does affirm our liberation from sin. It says that we're dead to sin. We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin. But the liberation of the believer is never final in this world. There's never finality to it. Yeah, our justification is perfect, but our sanctification remains deeply imperfect. And then there's also other texts like Galatians 5:16-17, which some say is a parallel passage to Romans 7:14-21, where Paul writes this. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these that are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do."Any proponent of this first view says, "Look, it's right there. You don't do what you want to do. It's the same idea." Therefore, that's exactly what Paul is talking about here. And he uses the word sarx, flesh, that desires contrary to that of the Spirit and the Spirit desires that which is contrary to the flesh. And Paul appears to be repeating the same message shortly thereafter and Romans 8:22-25 where he speaks not of the individual believer, but of the whole church in the world.This is Romans 8:22-25. "For we know that the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we weigh eagerly our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved. Now, hope that is seen as not hope for who hopes for what he sees, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."So even the Christian seems here has received. The Christian has received a new heart and a new life. And you see the first fruits of the liberation of sin. But still our bodies, our flesh groans for ultimate redemption to be released from this burden of sin and the groaning can't stop until our sin is gone. And that's in glorification when we get a new body in the new heavens and new earth.The third point that's made in this argument that this is Paul speaking as a Christian, is that this has been the experience of some of the best mature Christians throughout the ages. We've lived with all the same inner tension between sin and righteousness. This is what Luther would say, "Simul justus et peccator. I'm simultaneously justified, but I'm still a sinner." He still wrestled with sin and he would look at this text and say, "I feel that."And even the casual reader of the Bible, you're reading Romans and this is what happens. You're reading Romans. Romans 1 is very interesting. You're like, "Okay, this reminds me of the world today. Everyone is just a wicked sinner. Okay. Me too. A gospel is a hope on to salvation for the whole world. Okay. I get it." And then Romans 2 is like, "Yeah, we are all... We're hypocrites. We need grace." Romans 3 is like, "Total depravity. I get it. I get it." And you keep going. You kind of understand. You get to Romans 4 and 5 and you're like, "All right. Okay. I understand. I'm in Adam or Jesus. Great."By the time anyone gets to Romans 6, you're just lost. You're like, "What is he talking about?" You don't identify with anything until you get the second part of Romans 7 and you're like, "That's it. He's talking to me. It's like the text jumps out." But the problem is we lose the whole context and we'll get to that. But yes, we mature Christians look at this text and I feel that inner tension because the greatest sin is thinking that you have no sin, which leads to pride and that's the greatest sin.The fourth subpoint of why people hold to this position is that the past tense is used in verse 7 through 13. And then all of a sudden at verse 14, Paul switches to the present tense. So in verses 14 through 25, it's all in the present tense. Paul has to be speaking about himself as a mature Christian because he uses the present tense. That's how the argument goes. However, this isn't necessarily the case. And we look at that. The present tense can be used for the sake of vividness. It's called the historic present tense. It happened in the past, but he's saying it as if it's in the present in order to make it more effective.And then the fifth subpoint is that the order of statements in verses 24 and 25 demands that Paul describing his own Christian experience. Verse 24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, and with my flesh, I serve the law of sin."So Paul cries out for this deliverance of verse 24 and then verse 25 God gives him the deliverance, but he doesn't end there. He continues in the present tense and says, "So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, and with my flesh, I serve the law of sin." So this is his conclusion that, "I'm just a man composed of contrary principles with waring desires." And as he says of the Christian life in Galatians 5, "The flesh, the remnant of his old nature is waring against the new nature he has from Christ.So that's the text from the perspective of this is Paul writing as a believer. He's a believer. He has the desires to do good. He has the desires to fulfill God's law, but there's the flesh, the battle with the flesh and he doesn't do the things he wants to do, and he does the things that he doesn't want to do. So that's the argument. So then I'll give you the argument that Saul is speaking, and this is where I land.And by the way, this isn't easy for me, because I'm going... I read RC Sproul. He's a legend. He's one of my heroes. And I read him on this. It wasn't convincing. And then I'm going against John Piper here. I'm going against some big names. But I am convinced and I'm going to lay out the argument for you that context is king.And also, I always look at what the early church believed. So the early church, the Greek Fathers for the first 300 years after the early church was founded by Jesus Christ, after Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends on everyone. For the first 300 years everybody believed that Paul was speaking as an unbeliever here. This kind of like Saul speaking. That was his name before he became a Christian. So the Greek interpreters believed that this is Paul pre-conversion. It wasn't until Augustine who landed with them. He agreed with them. But then by the end of his life, he retracted that.And if I were sitting with Augustine... By now, he's in heaven and he probably knows that he was wrong. He understands. But I say that tongue in cheek because this is an all humility. I never go against the big names, but I'm like, "Reformers, I get it. Piper, Sproul, everyone is wrong somewhere, right? Everyone is wrong just a little bit. So if I were sitting with Augustine now and debating him, I would go to Augustine's, the correction in grace where Augustine described four states of man. And this is really helpful.And by the way, this shows just the power of the theologian to use very few words and communicate volumes. So he says, the pre-fall man, this is the matrix, the pre-fall man is able to sin and able not to sin. This is Adam and Eve. They could have sinned, they did sin, but they also had the power not to sin because they didn't have a sinful flesh. The post-fall man, this is after Adam and Eve sin. The post-fall man is able to sin and unable not to sin.The reborn man, and this is Augustine's right, the reborn man is able not to sin and able to not sin. And then the glorified man is able to not sin and unable to sin. But I would sit down with Augustine and I would say, "Look, Augustine, you do believe this. You believe that the reborn man after regeneration is able not to sin, able not to sin. You have the power not to sin." I would say, "Where did you get that?" And he would say, "I get that from Roman 6." And I would say, "Exactly. And Romans 7 is wedged between Roman 6 and Romans 8."So that's really the argument for me. It's the context. The Western church followed Augustine who espoused the view that the Greek commentators were wrong. And then he influenced the Protestant reformers. Everything that they, that they did, they checked with Augustine. So first we have to understand the context. You can't forget everything we've studied, even if it's hard to grasp, even if it seems to be abstract. But you can't forget everything... We study in chapter 6 in the beginning of chapter 7, nor can we leave out what's coming in Romans 8. Depending on how you interpret Romans 7 has implications for how we understand Romans 8.Paul's main concern in this text, in the context of Romans 7, his main concern is not anthropology. He's not giving us a lesson on total depravity. He's already done that. He's not writing here about theories of sanctification. His main purpose is to explain why the Mosaic law brought death to Israel. We mustn't forget that Paul's main argument here is against Jewish believers of the Jewish faith who would claim that the law is key to a person's relationship with God.And Paul argues that the law, "Yeah, it's key, but it can't produce what it demands. The law is holy, but it can't produce holiness. The law is just, but it can't produce justice in our lives. The law is righteous, but it can't produce righteousness and actually provokes us to sin. And provokes our sin to rebel against the law even harder. That was the first half of chapter seven.So having shown how he and other Jews became captive to the law of sin when the law was given, that's chapter 7:7-12. Paul now describes what life under the law was like. While delighting in the law of God and seeking earnestly to obey it, Jews were unable to do so. They were held captive like prisoners under the power of sin. So verse 14, he says, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold under sin."And then verse 23, "But I see my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive the law of sin that dwells in my members." So Paul is saying only Christ can save even the Jewish people from spiritual death that holds sway over them, but not until they come to this realization that they are held captive, still law of sin.So that's the argument he's been making. And I hold this view that this is Saul talking. This is the religious Saul, zealous for the righteousness of God. He delighted in the law of God, obviously. So I hold the view that this is Paul describing his life as a Jew under the law before he met Christ. And what's ultimately decisive for me is that Paul's description of the person here in 7:14-25 is contradictory to his description of the Christian in chapter 6 and 8.I'm just going to give you the text side by side so you see, its blatant contradiction. So Romans 7:14, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin." Now, the phrase, sold under sin, more accurately translated and other translations have, this is sold as a slave to sin. That's what he's saying. What does it mean to be sold, sold under sin? You're sold under sin, meaning as a slave to sin. Well, Paul, how can you say that you post-regeneration are a slave to sin when you just told us the following in chapter 6? So look at verse two. "By no means! How can one who died to sin still live in it?"Paul, you said you died to sin. You said the believers died to sin. And then you're telling us that you're a slave to sin in verse 14. And then verse 6. "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." So how can you tell us in 7:14 that we are slaves of sin, sold under sin where you told us that we are no longer in slave to sin?Verse 11, "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." This is part of our daily sanctification. Every single day, we are to say, "Sin, you're dead to me. You're dead to me." I consider you dead to me and I consider myself dead to sin. Verse 14, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace."Verse 18, "And having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness." Verse 22, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. So how can a regenerated person by the power of the Holy Spirit who has a new heart, who has the law of God written on your heart, you have the spirit of God within you, and you've been set free from sin.How can you describe yourself as a slave to sin as a slave and as a prisoner? And then also compare 7:23 to 8:2. And if you look at it in the Bible, it's basically right there in the same pericope. Verse 23, "But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells into my members." And then three verses later, he says, "For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death."So how can Paul be set free by Christ from the domination of what he was in Adam and yet still speak of himself as presently a slave to sin? And also the structure of the text supports that this is Paul speaking as a pre-Christian. In verse 5 of chapter 7, he says, "For while we were living in the flesh are sinful passions aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that, which held as captive so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code."So Romans 7:7-25 describes further the situation that he mentions in verse 5. So he sets up the, "This is me under the law as a person who's religious knows God's law." That's verse 5. "But I can't do it. I'm enslaved to sin." And then verse 6, he says, "Something happens. We can serve God in the way of the spirit." But 7 through 25 describes further the situation of verse 5. And then verse 6 is described, "By the power of the spirit we can live and serve in this new way." That's verse 6 is described in chapter 8.So verse 5, "For while we are living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death." Verse 14, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin." So verse 14, he begins to describe in detail what he mentioned in verse 5. And then Romans 8:1-17 aptly portrays a person that has been liberated from sin and now is walking in the spirit.Now, I'm going to engage with the other five subpoints that we talk about in this argument that this isn't solid Paul. So first is that no non-Christian would speak like this. No non-Christian would say they delight in the law of God. And I would say, "Well, what do you mean by non-Christian? What do you mean by non-Christian?" Jewish believers in the Old Testament delighted in the law of God. They didn't have the Holy Spirit yet and still they delighted in the law of God.So this is Psalm 119:69-72. "The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces."Psalm 119:77 says, "Let your mercy come to me, that I may live for, your law is my delight." Psalm 119:92. "If your law had not been my delight, I would've perished in my affliction. Verse 97, "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." Verse 113, "I hate the double-minded, but I love your law." Verse 163, "I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law."So Paul, who was a Pharisee of Pharisees grew up knowing the word of God, having memorized whole books of the Bible, certainly studied the Psalms and certainly would be a person in his unregenerated state before meeting Jesus Christ, before being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He would be a man that says, "Yeah, I delight in the law of God." He depicts the situation of a man under the Torah, wretched man, struggling to be righteous apart from Jesus Christ. You know what the law demands. The law demands perfect obedience, perfect holiness, perfect righteousness. The law demands loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself.And you try to do outwardly. And after a while, you begin to live like a hypocrite where outwardly you look like you're doing great, but inwardly, you know that there's no life that your heart wants wickedness and evil. This is a wretched man, struggling to be righteous. You delight in the law of God, but you just can't really do it. This is a religious person. Paul is looking at the very best of human beings outside of Jesus Christ.These are people who have deep, sincere desire to do good and find approval with their God. So given that context that he's talking about religious people who try to be good, but he's saying if you're honest with yourself, there are times religious person when you try to be good and you're sincerely trying. But you do things that shock even you. You Want to be a good person all the time, but sometimes you just do the things that you don't want to do.And when I think about religious people, I'm not just thinking about people who go to synagogues or people who go to mosques or even people that go to Catholic churches or Orthodox church. I'm thinking of just my neighbors. My neighbors here in Brookline. Good people. They're parents. Anyone with kids, I know the struggle. I know the struggle. You work all the time. Anyone that doesn't have kids just doesn't know. I look at people without kids like you have so... Why haven't you written a bestseller yet? Why haven't you made a movie, a screenplay or something? You have all the time in the world.And then you have kids. And you're like, "I have zero time for anything. And if I don't care for this child, they're going to die." So even a parent, you want to do good. You want to do good for your kids. But I'm telling you, every parent knows this, Christian or not Christian, but I'm telling... Especially non-Christian parents. You know that there are times where you run out of energy. They're just gone.And then you're a different person even with this little human being. And with the human being... Because I see this. Because I wonder, I'm like, it's so hard being a parent with the spirit of God within me. I don't know how anyone else does it. By the way, my greatest apologetic for why everyone should become a believer like life... I'm telling you, life is too hard without the spirit of God in you. I don't know how anyone does it.You become a Christian. God gives you the spirit of God and then you have a power that is not your own. So this is what he's telling you. He's talking about the religious people who think they're good people. And most of the time, they're good people. When other people are looking, they're good people. And then you go home and you're by yourself and you do things that would shock even your friends. You don't do the good that you want to do.So that's the person that Paul here is talking about. It's the person that doesn't have the spirit of God, but sincerity is never enough. Sincerity can't break the power of sin. No matter how sincere you are about being a good person, you can't do it because you are under the power of your own sin.So Paul says he's wretched because he has struggled so mightily and failed so miserably. He knows he has no hope of being justified under the law, so he cries out for help. This is the cry of an unconverted person's cry of self-despair. He cries out, "Who can save me?" In verse 25, he says, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord." He's thanking God for this deliverance.The subpoint 2 of the argument that that was Paul talking that this inner experienced conflict is what scripture teaches elsewhere. And it's normal, experienced believers in the world. And I'd say, amen. Scripture does teach that there is an inner struggle between the Holy Spirit and our flesh. It obviously teaches this. So I'm not arguing for perfectionism. If you read any of the commentators that go with the reformers, they say, "No, no. You can't say that this is the unregenerated person saying, because then you argue for perfectionism." And I would say, "No. Two things can be true. Perfectionism is that we can be perfect in this world. That's perfectionism. I don't believe that. The only person that was perfect in this world is Jesus Christ."But scripture elsewhere does teach that there is this struggle, but I would say scripture, nowhere else leaves us in such a defeatist position. Paul not only describes the struggle in this verse, but it seems like that Paul ends in frustration and defeat. As if he says, "I can't win this battle. Who can save me, a wretch? Jesus Christ." And it seems like it ends there. And it's very easy for the Christian who is struggling with sin, habitual sin in particular, to look at that and say, "You know what? If Paul struggled with sin like this, the apostle Paul, if the apostle Paul as he's writing Romans," which is probably like the holiest you can be to write a book like this. That's probably the pinnacle of his holiness, pinnacle of his being spiritual.If Paul struggle with sin at that point, then of course I struggle with sin. But it's not me. It's the sin in me. "Oh, Jesus will save me." And then you're sitting there waiting for Jesus to save you. And you don't do anything about the sin and you don't even keep reading on in chapter 8.So Paul not only describes a struggle here, but it seems like he ends with a defeat of spirit. Look at verse 23. "But I see in my members, another law waging war against the law of my mind and make me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." He's saying, "I'm a prisoner to the law of sin." But this isn't true of the believer. We have a new power over sin and that power must reveal itself in our life of righteousness and holiness.The third subpoint that I'll engage is that this has been the experience of some of the best mature Christians throughout the ages who've lived with this inner tension between sin and righteous. That's true. But those same Christians would tell you never to remain in this position of hopelessness and wretchedness too often the text is presented as a comfort for the Christian living and habitual sin.Perhaps my struggle is not a struggle that a mature Christian should be having. So we also need to do justice to the New Testament insistence that genuine believers will produce the fruit of holiness. And here, the other thing I would say is when people are like, "Oh, look, Paul didn't do the things that he wanted to do and did the things that he didn't want to do." So that's me too.Okay. What evil did Paul struggle with? That's what I'd like to know. Paul, what do you mean you didn't do the thing you wanted to do? Let's get specific here. And I guarantee you, it's not like he's like, "Oh, I got wasted one night and I did things that I didn't want to do. But then I went and played to another church." That's not what he did, no. That wasn't his character. And historically speaking, and just we know from an eyewitness... No. I bet his thing where he's like, "I didn't do the thing I wanted to do." I bet he's like, "I only evangelized Corinth and planted church in Thessalonica, Ephesus and Rome. But I really want to go to Spain. I want to go plant churches everywhere. I didn't do the thing I wanted to do."This is my problem. With the first interpretation. It gets a lot of Christians to this place where all they're doing is battling sin. The things do not do, do not do, do not do. And you're like, "All right. I got to stop doing the things this Bible says do not do, do not do." You kind of live in this place where you're always struggling with sin and you never get to a place where you're living in victory in actually accomplishing things and getting more land for the kingdom of God.And then the fourth subpoint, the past tense is used in verse 7 through 13 and then the present tense is used in verse 14 through 25. By the way, if you want to take the first view that this is Paul and not Saul, post-conversion, not before conversion. This is probably the most compelling part of the argument that Paul does switch. In verse 7:14, he used the first person in the past tense. He says, "I was, I was, I was." And then verse 14:25, he switches over to I am. And the shift from past tense to the present tense isn't arbitrary deliberate.In verses 7 through 13, we get nine past tense verbs. In verse 14 through 25, we have 26 present indicative first person verbs and the use of the present tense seems to be emphatic and sustained. And the switch seems to say, "That's who I was under the law. This is who I am." Now, my response to that would be two things. First of all, switch intense doesn't necessarily override the context. It doesn't do enough to override the context of, "If you go this route, then you have to forget everything he said in chapter six." And you have to reinterpret what he says in chapter 8.And the other thing I would say is how did the first readers of this text, the first hears of this text, how would they have interpreted this? Well, to really understand how that was interpreted, you would have to sit there and have someone read the book to you out loud because that's what happened when Paul sends this letter to the early church, the pastor would get up and say, "We got a letter from the apostle Paul. Let's read this, let's pay attention."So he would get up and he would read the whole thing. And in the context and the flow of the whole thing, as you're listening to it, would you say, first century Christian, would you say, "Oh, Paul here is talking about the fact that he's just stuck in a defeatist spirit of not winning over sin?" No, that's not how they would have understood. And then the fifth point is that the order of the statements in 24 and 25 demands that Paul is describing his own Christian experience.Yeah, he's describing his conversion experience. So in verse 27, this is where we try to get people when we say, "Hey, we're all sinners. We've all broken the commandments of God. The whole goal is to get you into this place of humility where you say, "Wretched man, wretched woman, wretched person that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And then you turn to Jesus Christ. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind. But with my flesh, I served the law of sin.So I presented the two cases. I've told you where I land. I land that this is Paul in the unregenerated state. But also we just need... Whenever I present debates like this interpretations of the text, I never want you to walk away and say, "Well, you can believe whatever you want." I never want you to walk away and say, "Yeah, that was Paul. No one knows what he's talking about. Anyway, let's go back to Jesus and the gospels."And then you jettison the holy scripture. No, Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit. So this is still holy scripture. Nowhere do the verses... And here's what's really important. Nowhere in verses 14:25, do we see a mention of the Holy Spirit. And that kind of seals the deal for me. There's no mention of the Holy Spirit. Whereas in chapter 8, the Holy Spirit is referred to 19 times. So Saul had attempted to keep the law... And he would tell the other Pharisees, "Yeah. As the law, I was righteous." He had the letter of the law, but he never fulfilled the spirit of the law. And then chapter 7, he's like, "And then when I got to commandment number 10 about covetousness, the Holy Spirit convicted me for the first time of my sin. And my sin was provoked actually by the law, bringing up all kinds of covetousness in my heart."So that's really what's going on here. It's pre-Holy Spirit. So yeah, the Christian, if you're a Christian living in the flesh, this is living in sin, you're grieving the Holy Spirit, you're quenching the Holy Spirit. You're living in the power of yourself. That's why you're living in the flesh. So when you read this text and you're not living a spirit filled victorious life, you say, "Yes, this is my experience. I can identify with this."And Paul would say, "Keep reading. Keep reading into chapter 8." In chapter 8:1-13, "Those who are of the flesh and are unable to keep God's law, those are the unconverted. And those who have the Holy Spirit are able to live in accordance with the law by the Spirit's power."These verses in chapter 8, that are coming up are corollary in response to 7:14-25. He's saying, "This is an unregenerated. This is in the flesh. But because you are regenerated because Jesus Christ has saved the wretch like you are now filled with the Holy Spirit, and now you have the power to mortify the flesh, mortify the sin within the flesh deep within your heart." That's what he's saying. He's presenting this text to get us into chapter 8:1-13.Also Romans 7:13 is Paul's discussion of his experience of the conviction of sin under the law. And then he continues that same train of thought in 7:14-25, though in more vivid terms, thus the present tense. So given all of that, I'm going to read the text again and I'll just give two quick takeaways.So Romans 7:14-25. "For we know that law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.""So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies, close to hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I've seen my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin."Final takeaways is we're all moral wretches, every single one of us. And if you're not sure that you have the spirit of God within you, the power of God, the Holy Spirit, if you're not sure that you are even saved, if you're not sure that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, if you're not sure that you are going to have it, today cry out. Cry out and say, "Wretched man that I am. Lord God, I'm a wretch. I'm a moral wreck. I'm spiritually bankrupt. Lord, forgive me. Lord Jesus Christ forgive me." Repent and believe.At that very moment, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord would say, "Now, that you're in Christ, you got to fight the lifelong good fight of faith. Once you become a Christian, you just got to know it is a fight. It's daily, spiritual warfare against the flesh, against Satan, against the demonic. We have to fight the good fight. And once we are in Christ, we are dead to sin. We consider ourselves dead to sin.We're in dwell with the power of the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord tells us in chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind expectation transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit. So yes, you will never become sinless in this world, but we will certainly sin less as you progress in fighting sin and fighting the good fight.So whatever your view of Romans 7, we can all agree, and this is what all the commentators, all the pastors, they all agree. You can never use this text to justify stagnation, to justify spiritual stagnation, justify sin. And I have encountered this. As I have pastored people and they say, "Look, I'm really struggling with sin and it keeps getting the best of me." But that's all right. If Paul struggle with sin, then I can remain in my struggle of sin.And usually when people... By the way, I don't see the phrase struggle with sin anywhere in the Bible. I say we fight the good fight, mortify sin, but the struggle with sin, because usually the struggle with sin, the assumption is one day I'm in the Lord, one day, I'm walking like I never met the Lord. I'm struggling. That's usually what people, "I'm struggling with sin."Scripture never gives us room for something like that. Scripture says, "Every day, get up. Deny your flesh. Take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ daily." I'll present it like this. St. Paul, his thesis in Romans 1:5, he says, "This is the purpose of why I'm writing this book in order to increase the obedience of faith." That's his whole point. He wants people to believe in Jesus Christ and obey Jesus Christ. And he ends with the same phrase, obedience of faith in chapter 6. That's his whole goal.So he would never write this text as room for us to justify our sins. Since it's Father's day, I'll give you an illustration of close from my daughters. Imagine I go to my daughters, my youngest daughter... My oldest daughters are very good. They clean their room. I go to my youngest daughters, they share a room. Seven year old and almost five year old. I say, "Ladies, you got to clean up. You got to clean your room." And they're like, "Okay, we'll clean."And this always happen. I come back an hour later, it's dirtier. It's like, they intentionally made it dirtier. And they're like, "We'll get to it. Can I go outside?" No, you can't go outside until you clean your room." And then I come back and they whip out Romans 7 and start reading it. I said, "Why didn't you clean your room?" And then they say, "I wanted to. I wanted to clean the room. The good I wanted to do, I just can't do. I can't do. Every time I want to do good evil is right by my side. All wretched little girl that I am. Who will save me from this body of flesh?"I was like, "Jesus Christ. Good. Repent of your sin. Tremendous." We're still in the room and it's still dirty. And you're my daughter. Unless you clean up, there's going to be discipline. Once you bring Romans 7 to the real world, you obviously know this isn't an excuse to justify our sin or our complacency.I'll give you a few of texts just to encourage you in your walk of faith, in your fighting the good fight, in your sanctification. Philippians 2:12-13. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will." He gives you the will to do it. And to work, he gives you the power to do the work. So he gives you the desire to do it and he gives you the power to do it by the power of the spirit, to both the will and to work for his good pleasure.Hebrews 12:3-4, "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood." What a vision of righteousness. You think your spiritual battle is hard? You think it's hard to wrestle with temptation? You haven't bled yet. That's holy scripture.And 1 Corinthians is 9:24-27. This is Paul speaking the first person. He's talking about his self, his own sanctification. He says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercise self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."If you're not yet a Christian, if you're not sure where you stand with God today, repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ came and he lived a perfect life, the life that we did not live, would not, could not live. And then he goes, and he presents himself as a substitutionary tome, sacrifice on a cross. He's crucified for our sins, bearing the wrath of God for our law breaking. At the very moment that we believe in him, we trust in Jesus Christ, that he died for my sins, that he was buried, that he rose on the third day. He did that for me. Jesus came to save me. At that moment, your sins are forgiven.But you need to know you can't have salvation without a savior. There's no salvation without a savior and that same savior is also your Lord who tells you what to do. And he tells you what to do because he loves you and he wants the best for you. And then once you become a Christian, you just need to know that, "Yeah, we are called to live lives of obedience because we have believed in Jesus Christ."With that said, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this text and Lord, we are moral wretches and we do repent of our sin of pride, of selfishness, of covetousness, of a lack of love toward you and neighbor. We repent of our sin. We receive grace and we ask Holy Spirit, fill us today. If we've grieved you, Holy Spirit, we repent. If we've quenched you, Holy Spirit, we repent. And we ask that you empower us to live lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.

What can we learn from the father of the English Puritans? Bringing the third season of Open Book to a close, Joel Beeke and Stephen Nichols discuss William Perkins, whose writings have helped generations of Christians apply the truth of God to their everyday lives. Read the transcript: https://openbookpodcast.com/joel-beeke-on-william-perkins/

The conversation features African hyraxes, Christmas cows, and a discussion about how to lead your family on holy days. Merry Christmas!Mentioned in this episode: The Worship of the English Puritans by Horton DaviesRegister now for the Helpful Marriage Conference! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 7, 2021 is: cavalier • kav-uh-LEER • adjective Cavalier means "having or showing no concern for important or serious matters." // The company asks employees to watch informative videos on topics such as the dangers of being cavalier in sharing information with unverified emailers. See the entry > Examples: "Another surprisingly common problem is grant applications that are poorly written. In some cases, poor writing can make your argument difficult to comprehend, and it certainly suggests a cavalier attitude to the process." — Michelle Havich, The American City & County (Atlanta, Georgia), 12 Aug. 2021 Did you know? The adjective cavalier comes from a noun referring to a gentleman or knight who is trained in arms and horsemanship. The noun traces back to Latin caballārius, meaning "horseback rider" or "groom." It is also used for "a swaggering fellow," and English Puritans used it disdainfully to their adversaries, the swashbuckling royalist followers of Charles I, who sported longish hair and swords. Their use undoubtedly contributed to the adjective's reference to a rather unbecoming quality.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 7, 2021 is: cavalier • kav-uh-LEER • adjective Cavalier means "having or showing no concern for important or serious matters." // The company asks employees to watch informative videos on topics such as the dangers of being cavalier in sharing information with unverified emailers. See the entry > Examples: "Another surprisingly common problem is grant applications that are poorly written. In some cases, poor writing can make your argument difficult to comprehend, and it certainly suggests a cavalier attitude to the process." — Michelle Havich, The American City & County (Atlanta, Georgia), 12 Aug. 2021 Did you know? The adjective cavalier comes from a noun referring to a gentleman or knight who is trained in arms and horsemanship. The noun traces back to Latin caballārius, meaning "horseback rider" or "groom." It is also used for "a swaggering fellow," and English Puritans used it disdainfully to their adversaries, the swashbuckling royalist followers of Charles I, who sported longish hair and swords. Their use undoubtedly contributed to the adjective's reference to a rather unbecoming quality.

John Underhill lived enough for two men while serving the New England colonies. It was not enough. In the 1640s he left his English responsibilities behind and began an aggressive military campaign against many of the native groups located in New Netherland. Like his time in the service of the English Puritans, this was a bloody, violent time. John Underhill is the embodiment of that certain type of person almost every growing and expanding society needs. Those willing to do the dirty work behind the scenes. His hands would be blood red once again. Audio Production by Podsworth Media.

Round 1 1. Which toy dating back to 500 BC resembles a spool of string, and allows gravity to let it fall and then returns to a player's hand? 2. In Pokemon, where does Ash Ketchum come from? 3. In the story of “The Three Little Pigs,” of what materials are the pigs' houses made? 4. What is the name of the popular wireless earbuds designed by Apple? 5. Which streaming service focuses on live video game streaming? Round 2 6. What are the five senses? Taste, Touch, Sight, Hearing, and Smell 7. What is the smallest bird on Earth? 8. Which letters are vowels? 9. Which ship was the first to transport English Puritans to Plymouth Rock in 1620? 10. Skip counting is an early practice that helps perform which operation? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/peeweetrivia/support

On today’s Equipping You in Grace show, Dave and Dustin Benge discuss the contribution the American Puritans made to the American church, what writers can learn from the American Puritans to help them grow as writers, and advice to ministry leaders navigate challenges on social media, along with his book with Nate Pickowicz, The American Puritans (Reformation Hertige, 2020). What you’ll hear in this episode John Eliot and why he’s so important. The contribution the American Puritans made to the life of the American church. How the American Puritans can help Christians today to navigate challenging times and issues. What writers can learn from the American Puritans to help them grow as writers. The main differences between the output of the English Puritans and the American Puritans. Advice for ministry leaders navigating challenges on social media. About the Guest DUSTIN W. BENGE (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is provost of Union School of Theology, Wales, visiting professor of Munster Bible College, Cork, Ireland and a Senior Fellow of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. In addition, Dustin is the author of several books, writes regularly for Reformanda Ministries and Tabletalk, and serves as editor of Expositor magazine. Dustin and his wife Molli live in Porthcawl, Wales. Subscribing, sharing, and your feedback You can subscribe to Equipping You in Grace via iTunes, Google Play, or your favorite podcast catcher. If you like what you’ve heard, please consider leaving a rating and share it with your friends (it takes only takes a second and will go a long way to helping other people find the show). You can also connect with me on Twitter at @davejjenkins, on Facebook, or via email to share your feedback. Thanks for listening to this episode of Equipping You in Grace!

On today’s Equipping You in Grace show, Dave and Dustin Benge discuss the contribution the American Puritans made to the American church, what writers can learn from the American Puritans to help them grow as writers, and advice to ministry leaders navigate challenges on social media, along with his book with Nate Pickowicz, The American Puritans (Reformation Hertige, 2020). What you’ll hear in this episode John Eliot and why he’s so important. The contribution the American Puritans made to the life of the American church. How the American Puritans can help Christians today to navigate challenging times and issues. What writers can learn from the American Puritans to help them grow as writers. The main differences between the output of the English Puritans and the American Puritans. Advice for ministry leaders navigating challenges on social media. About the Guest DUSTIN W. BENGE (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is provost of Union School of Theology, Wales, visiting professor of Munster Bible College, Cork, Ireland and a Senior Fellow of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. In addition, Dustin is the author of several books, writes regularly for Reformanda Ministries and Tabletalk, and serves as editor of Expositor magazine. Dustin and his wife Molli live in Porthcawl, Wales. Subscribing, sharing, and your feedback You can subscribe to Equipping You in Grace via iTunes, Google Play, or your favorite podcast catcher. If you like what you’ve heard, please consider leaving a rating and share it with your friends (it takes only takes a second and will go a long way to helping other people find the show). You can also connect with me on Twitter at @davejjenkins, on Facebook, or via email to share your feedback. Thanks for listening to this episode of Equipping You in Grace!

After years of religious persecution, a group of English Puritans decides that life in the country of their birth has become unbearable. Lawyer John Winthrop becomes not only the nominal leader of the group but one of its spiritual leaders, and members of the group plan their departure for the New World

Joe and Jimmy were honored to have dr. Joanne Jung on the podcast to talk about her books and the Puritan practice of “conference.” Dr. Jung, or “JJ” as Jimmy calls her, is the Associate Dean of Online Education and Faculty Development, and Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University. She is the author of Knowing Grace: Cultivating a Lifestyle of Godliness, Godly Conversation: Rediscovering the Puritan Practice of Conference, and The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation Drawn from the English Puritans. We ask Dr. Jung, what is conference? How does the puritan practice of conference differ from the average church’s small group ministry? What is the role of Scripture in conference? Why has the church lost this practice? We highly recommend her books and hope you will pick them up. Our Sponsor Starting this month, Zondervan is delighted to publish new, beautiful Bibles in the NASB 1995 text with Zondervan’s new exclusive NASB Comfort Print® typeface. Zondervan has once again partnered with 2K/Denmark to create this brand-new typeface for all new NASB Bibles published by Zondervan. One of the most anticipated Bibles coming this month is the new NASB Single-Column Reference Bible. No detail was overlooked when crafting this beautiful Bible for students of God’s Word. And for those wanting a premium Bible that will last, check out this Bible in Zondervan Premier Collection. For more information on the new NASB Comfort Print and to see all the new NASB Bibles coming out this month, visit NASB1995.com. For all the links and show notes visit www.doctrineanddevotion.com/podcast/jung

Show Notes James, Jamie, and Krist are back again to discuss the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude. What are these disciplines and how should we apply them our personal spiritual lives to grow in knowing and glorifying our God? The guys discuss these issues and more as well as some exciting news about the growth of our format and joining a fellowship of other Christian Podcasters. Plugs of the Week ESV Website https://www.esv.org/ Day by Day With the English Puritans https://www.amazon.com/Day-English-Puritans-Randall-Pederson/dp/1619706148/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LAVGA7T92YCI&keywords=day+by+day+with+the+english+puritans&qid=1561511129&s=gateway&sprefx=day+by+day+with+the+engl%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-1

On Today in Church His-Story (Episode 26) we take a look at John Flavel, one of the most faithful non-conforming English Puritans. He died on June 26, 1691 after many years of battle-hardened service to King Jesus. This man was willing to do whatever was necessary to fulfill his calling to preach the Word. Whether preaching on soon to be submerged islands, in the woods, or in private homes, Flavel was relentless in his quest to feed his flock with the Scriptures. He ran from the authorities, sometimes disguising himself, in order to finish sermons he had already started before being broken up by the king’s soldiers. Flavel demonstrates the one word that must mark every minister–faithful. He was faithful to the Word, faithful to the people he pastored, and faithful to his Lord. May God graciously give us more men who are marked by conviction, not compromise! Flavel demonstrates both convictions preached and lived out. For more details on John Flavel, read John Flavel’s Unflagging Commitment to Preaching

In the years immediately before English Puritans settled on the Shawmut Peninsula, a series of epidemics nearly wiped out the indigenous population of New England. The worst of these plagues was centered on Boston Harbor, and swept from Narragansett Bay in the south to the Penobscot River in the North. It was the greatest tragedy to befall Native peoples of the region, who sometimes referred to it as “the Great Dying,” while English settlers called it a “wonderful plague” or a “prodigious pestilence.” They believed the disease had been sent by God to purge the native inhabitants of the continent and make way for his chosen people. Show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/119

Winter storm on the way ... today is the March for Life 2019 ... + ... Pgh Restaurant week closes out. A look back at the must reads of 2018 and looking forward to new titles for 2019 ... GUEST Byron Borger, owner, Hearts and Minds Bookstore, Dall This Day in History: Marion Barry arrested The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation Drawn from the English Puritans ... GUEST Joanna Jung Your Future Self Will Thank You: Secrets to Self-Control from the Bible and Brain Science (A Guide for Sinners, Quitters, & Procrastinators) (new book) ... GUEST Drew Dyck, author and editor ... He’s also the author of “Yawning at Tigers: You Can’t Tame God, So Stop Trying”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winter storm on the way ... today is the March for Life 2019 ... + ... Pgh Restaurant week closes out. A look back at the must reads of 2018 and looking forward to new titles for 2019 ... GUEST Byron Borger, owner, Hearts and Minds Bookstore, Dall This Day in History: Marion Barry arrested The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation Drawn from the English Puritans ... GUEST Joanna Jung Your Future Self Will Thank You: Secrets to Self-Control from the Bible and Brain Science (A Guide for Sinners, Quitters, & Procrastinators) (new book) ... GUEST Drew Dyck, author and editor ... He’s also the author of “Yawning at Tigers: You Can’t Tame God, So Stop Trying”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Mayflower was an English ship that famously transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England to the New World in 1620. There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown. This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American history, with its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment. The culmination of the voyage in the signing of the Mayflower Compact was an event which established a rudimentary form of democracy, with each member contributing to the welfare of the community. There was a second ship named Mayflower that made the London to Plymouth, Massachusetts voyage several times.

The first Thanksgiving took place near the coast in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. After enduring persecution and hardship, the reminding survivors of the English Puritans, who left Leiden for the New World, sat down to their harvest feast to thank God for his provision and love. Looking at 1 Kings 8:62-66, we learn that thankfulness breed joy. However, also learning from the history of Israel and the history of our world that ungratefulness breeds judgment. This Thanksgiving take time to remember God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and give thanks. Reflect on the thousand graces in your life and give Him thanks. From the congregation of Redeemer Fellowship Church, have a happy Thanksgiving.

In the passage where Jesus appeared to the disciples in Matthew 14, where they had been crossing the Sea of Galilee, it's observed that they had been rowing for many hours in the storm. Often, in similar moments in our own life we find ourselves just rowing, and rowing, and rowing trying to get where we are going and all the while having doubt, skepticism, and fear about if what we are doing is actually working. And even then, where is Jesus in all of this? In the passage Jesus does eventually arrive in an unexpected way. And for some of us even now, we are still rowing waiting for his relief. Learn more about the VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Learn more about our teacher this Sunday, Joanne Jung: https://www.biola.edu/directory/people/joanne_jung Dr. Jung's interests lie in hermeneutics and spiritual formation. Her research of the English Puritans, specifically their spiritual practices and community, continues to fuel Dr. Jung's passion to nurture her students' growth in their knowledge of the Bible and seeing that knowledge impact their spiritual transformation. This passion to see others grow in Christ extends beyond her students, serving those within her local church and community.

Introduction The Miracle of a Late Conversion Amen. Some time ago, I was reading one of John Piper's most moving books, at least for me, personally. And in that book, he shares a powerful memory from his days traveling with his father, who was, among other things, a traveling Evangelist. And his father went from church to church and they would do revival services in that style, that pattern, and there would be a very, very clear, powerful preaching of the Gospel. And there was one time that stuck out in John Piper's memory, unforgettable, in which there had been a particularly notorious, hard-hearted, elderly man whose family and friends had been praying for years that he would come to faith in Christ. And finally, really, to the amazement of everyone, this man accepted Christ after hearing the Gospel clearly explained by John Piper's father, and with tears and repentance and brokenness, he received forgiveness of sins and came to faith. And it was just an amazingly powerful, moving moment. But then, something crashed in on this elderly gentleman with vivid reality, and he began to realize how many years he'd resisted people coming to him with the Gospel, how many family members he'd turned away, how many times he'd said no, and all of the years that had been wasted, “walking in vanity and pride,” as the hymn puts it. All the years of his life that he had wasted. And he began crying out from the bottom of his heart, "I've wasted it, I've wasted my life." We Will Give An Account for How We Spent Our Time Well, in the spirit of that kind of bitter realization and to remedy that, Piper wrote his book, "Don't Waste Your Life", and I would commend it to you. But it's in the spirit of that that I stand before you today, and I want to preach this text. The deepest desire I have is that you would redeem the time, that you would realize how precious a thing time is. And if I could speak just quite bluntly, that you would stop wasting it. And I'm speaking to myself, to all of us, that we would not waste our lives. The basic concept of that book and of this text today is that there's going to be a day coming in which we will give God a careful account for everything in our lives, everything that we've ever said or done, or everything we didn't say and didn't do. Everything, we're going to give God an account. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done in the body, whether good or bad." I just think about that Bible verse every day. Someday, I'm going to give God an account for this day. And this text, Ephesians 5, especially verse 16, this text, with this section, verses 15 through 17, is of incalculable assistance in helping us get ready for Judgment Day. "Be very careful, then, [or look carefully] how you live [how you're walking], not as unwise, but as wise, not as fools, but as wise." I'm going to stick with the more literalistic, "Redeeming the time." Many translations say something like, "Making the most of every opportunity," which I think gets at the spirit of it, but I'm going to stick with these words, "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." So, we're looking this morning at the issue of time. I've been thinking much about time this morning. I have my app up, it's 11:11. I have timed this sermon. It started at 27 pages. It went down to 21. Now, it's at 17. So, there's some hope we'll finish it today. And isn't that ironic? I thought, "Alright, I've shortened it, I've shortened it, I've shortened it." Now, I've given you folks the gift of 12 minutes you didn't think you would have. Now, you have no idea what I'm talking about, but trust me. I gave you the gift, and I thought, "How will you spend them?" And that's another message, another day. But what will you do with your extra 12 minutes. But from the very beginning, God has wanted us to be aware of the passing of time. “There was evening, there was morning, the first day. There was evening, there was morning the second day. And He put up in the sky, the sun and the moon and the stars.” It says in Genesis 1:14, "To mark seasons and days and years." Since that time, we, using inventiveness that God gave us, have developed various time-keeping pieces, like this smartphone and like this clock and other time-keeping devices, that let us know where we're at in the day. So, early on, there were sundials, which would trace the movement of a shadow across a face. Certainly thereafter, the Egyptians invented water clocks, the Chinese invented candle clocks. About 100 or 200 years before Christ, someone invented, in Alexandria I think, the hourglass, so dry sand, very fine sand, moving down through a necked in place in the glass and flowing down, so there's a sense of, "How many more grains of sand are left in my life?" Or how much is left in the day? Mechanical clocks really came in when something called an escapement, which is a sprocket, or something like that, which would rock back and forth and it enabled accurate mechanical time-keeping. Wisely Spending Time Calvin and I were in a museum of technology in Dresden, and my favorite part, I don't know what Calvin's favorite part was, but my favorite part was the clock section because right around Dresden, there's some of the most advanced watchmakers in the world. Switzerland's known for it, and well, they should, but also that area of Dresden, Germany, has some incredible watchmakers. And so, I saw one watch about that big, about 100 years old, that kept the day and the month and the year as well. It was over 100 yeas old, but it's all from gears and springs, and I was just amazed at the technology. But as I stood in that part of the museum, I could literally hear just almost deafening “tick-tock, tick-tock.” I was standing near a pendulum clock that was going back and forth, the sense of just the consistent measuring and the passing of time. Now, for businessmen, the adage "time is money" is well known. And I don't think that all of the clock inventors really cared about the themes I'm preaching about today. Their desire was to make the most of the day, so that they wouldn't get behind in business. So that they could run the race, what we have called perhaps the rat race, against competing businessmen, and be able to make the most money. Benjamin Franklin had a lot of proverbs and adages about that, that type of thing, making the most of the day. And so, that's just kind of a worldly wise theme, but if I can say, that kind of hard working non-Christian businessman, who is very aware of the way he's spending his time at every moment and is driven by a desire for material gain is every bit as much a fool as the lazy heir of an oil tycoon who sits around in the Riviera and just get a tan all day long, they're actually equally foolish. To the hard-working, time conscious, non-Christian businessman, Christ would speak these words of wisdom from Mark chapter 8, "What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Or on judgment, what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” So this idea of redeeming the time in Ephesians 5:15-17 has not so much to do with the accurate measurement of the seconds and hours and days, etcetera. I think it's there, that's something we're aware of, but it more has to do with a unique opportunity that God has set up every day. That you would cherish that opportunity maximally. Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them." The same verb of walking, “walk wisely” equals, so in 5:15, "walk wisely" equals 2:10, "walk in a pathway of good works if you've come to faith in Christ." If you haven't come to faith in Christ, this is the work of God, believe in the one that God sent, believe in Christ. That's the work. But having come to Christ, walk wisely equals do all of the good works that God has set up for you to do today. God’s Desire for Our Use of Time So, God created this world with its physical laws, including the rotation of the earth on its axis for 24 hours a day, evening and morning a day, and then the revolution of the earth around the sun. There we have the seasons, and they changed, and the years passed by, 365 days is a year, but he did all of that, I believe, to tell a story, a true story of His own glory, in the redemption, in the salvation of sinners. From Satan's dark kingdom, that's what all of this was for. That's what the history was for. I don't think history has any other purpose apart from that, and so you and I and every person that God has ever created or ever will create are a part of that story, and God has a role for us to play in that story. And sin wants to intervene, and wants to intercept and stop you from playing that role, so if you could picture it like a play, you missed your cue, and you're supposed to come out and say these lines on the stage but you missed it because you were asleep, or drunk, or missed the bus. And that's what sin wants to do at every moment. And it never happened, we missed that good work that God had set up for us to do, and that is a great tragedy. And we will not comprehend how great a tragedy that missed opportunity is until Judgment Day, then it will be clear. My job as a pastor is, by the preaching of the Word, by the ministry of the word, to make invisible things very vivid to you. And like the invisibility of Judgement Day is a hindrance to us when we don't have a strong faith. So my job is to make that Judgement Day very vivid to you today this morning, so that you will be wise and not be a fool, and that you will redeem the time and make the most of your life, to make the most of every opportunity. Wisdom vs. Foolishness A Powerful Warning So, as we go to verse 15, we begin with the issues of wisdom and foolishness. We have this very powerful warning from Paul. "Be very careful then, see." [look is the verb,] how you live, [therefore, how you live, or how you're walking,] not as fools but as wise. So in context, as we've said, this is in the application section of the Gospel, Ephesians 1 through 3, those chapters lay the foundation of God's saving purpose, His eternal saving purpose in Christ. And then Ephesians 4-6 says, "How then shall we live?"So Ephesians 1, “from the very beginning, we celebrate the grace of God the Father, for He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. And in Christ, we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. And how we, when we heard the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, having believed we were marked in Him with a seal.” And how, in Ephesians 2, there's this vision of a glorious church, a temple, a holy temple rising, little by little, little by little, more and more glorious, larger and larger every day, being built in the heavenly realms, a place where God presently does, and in the future will, live by His Spirit. That's what's going on in the world. And we are told in Ephesians 4:1, “to live according to the calling, or live up to the calling, a life worthy of the calling that we have received.” This is just a part of that whole appeal. It's all part of that section. Live a life worthy of that calling, a calling to be holy, a calling to build the church, etcetera. That's the calling. And then, in Ephesians 5, he talks about, and this is the immediate context, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, and righteousness and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord." And don't have anything to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness that he's been unfolding from Ephesians 4:17 on. He's been very clear about the way pagans live, the way you used to live, the non-Christian life, a life of lying, a life of stealing, a life of sinful anger and bitter disputes, and unforgiveness, a life of using your mouth to hurt other people, a life of unforgiveness, a life of sexual immorality, a life of laziness. And idolatry. Not that life. Those are the fruitless deeds of darkness. But now, a different kind of life in which righteousness and truth drives out of all of those sin patterns. Truth-telling and hard work, so you can have something to share with those in need. And not sinful anger, but forgiveness and mercy and kindness to people who have sinned against you. And not sexual immorality, but living a life as pure as light. A different kind of life. That's what it means to walk wisely. Walk Circumspectly Now, Paul says in verse 15, in the KJV... I love this. It says, "See then that ye walk circumspectly." That's a great word, isn't it? I guess it's great if you know what it means, so I looked it up. Circumspectly. It's like carefully, accurately, meticulously, that's the idea. There's a sense of accuracy to the walking here. Accurate walking, what does that mean? A precision. Well, imagine that you're a soldier in a war zone, and you wander away somehow from your unit and you get yourself in a place and it’s not familiar, and you sense there's danger. You just stop. And then you look around and you notice, because you know what to look for, that you're in the midst of a minefield. You can see the New Earth and the dirt and all that, and you can see the pattern, but you're in grave danger of having your leg blown off or even your life ended, and you know that. Now, you know you can get out because you have the skill to do it, but you have to be very careful how you walk. So, I want that image in your mind. There's a sense of circumspect walking in this world. There's a precision to the holy walk. The Puritans, the English Puritans, were called by their enemies "Precisionists", and there is a derision to that. It's like, they weren't "live and let live" people. They were very careful. I mean, Jonathan Edwards actually weighed out, and measured his food, and then saw the impact of various foods on his energy level. He was like a scientist of nutrition for the purpose of holiness, the purpose of fruitfulness. "I want to eat in such a way that I'll be maximally energetic for Jesus." And not only that, but physically, but also just, he would analyze how he did every day and how it went in conversations and he was just a very careful man of God. He was walking circumspectly, he's walking precisely in the world. Wisdom and Foolishness: Basic Definitions So, what does it mean? Now, how do we live not as unwise, literally “unwise,” or “fools.” Not as fools, but as wise? Well, I think it has to do with living a life of faith as opposed to a life of the flesh. I think that's what Paul has in mind here. And so, faith, for me, is first and foremost, it's the eyesight of the soul, so we're going to go with "see" or "look", that's the verb in verse 15. Let's see the physical realm, but see it spiritually, and let's see beyond the physical realm into the spiritual realm. And what are we going to see in the spiritual realm? We're going to see Almighty God enthroned, we're going to see Him with eyes of faith. That's wisdom. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” So, fundamentally, lost people are fools because they say there's no God, and they live a practical atheism. But tragically, occasionally, Christians, too, live a practical atheism. We forget the invisible God, God enthroned. And so, for me, to walk as wise means to have a vivid sense of God all the time. A sense of God enthroned, of “God who is light and in Him there is no darkness.” A sense of the reality of God all the time. And not just God, His existence, but that He has spoken through the prophets, and He has given us the Bible, He's given us the Word, He's not left us in the dark. And how Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." I know what to do because you've told me what to do. And so, the life of faith is a life of the reality of God, the invisible spiritual realms being real to you, and then the truth of the Word of God. "I'm going to live according to this." That's what it is. So, it says, "The righteous will live by faith," Romans 1:17. It's the faith walk that leads to Heaven. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "We walk by faith, not by sight." So, that's what I think it means to walk wise, as a wise man or woman. It means a life of faith, not the life of the flesh. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it this way, that, "Unbelievers are living an anti-faith life, a life of the flesh, by instincts of mental pride, selfish lusts, sensual pleasures, worldly themes. They seem to have no knowledge of what is going to come upon all of us at the end of this age." No knowledge of it, the terrifying day of God's wrath that will come on the world. So, that's what it means to walk as wise, not as fools. Christ is Wisdom Every One of Us Begins as a Fool Now, here I want to zero in on Christ as wisdom. Christ, for us, is wisdom. Because at one time, Titus 3:3, “we were all fools.” We were all of us foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and lusts. We were living the lives of fools. Just like everyone, we were all foolish. But thanks be to God, Christ appeared, and He has become for us wisdom from God, wisdom from God. First Corinthians 1:30, “That is our righteousness, He is our holiness, He is our redemption. That is Christ.” This is God's wisdom to the human race, and He is the wisdom of God. And the wisest thing any person can ever do is repent of his or her sins and come to faith in Christ. That is the wisest way you can redeem the time. I prayed this morning as I was going over the sermon. I prayed that God would bring lost people to hear this moment of the sermon. So I did, I prayed that, and if they did, that they would hear with ears of faith, while there was still time for them to flee, from the wrath to come, to flee from judgment that is coming, to see it, to believe that it's true, and to flee to find salvation in Christ. There's no wiser thing you can do. And to not do it would be infinite foolishness. He is offering us full forgiveness of all sins, past, present, future. He's offering the gift of adoption into the family of God. He's offering us a bright future in this world of good works, which I mentioned earlier, and I'll talk more about in a moment. And then, eternity in His presence, and a glorious New Heaven, New Earth. Free, just completely free. Not by works, but by faith. It's what He's offering to you. Christ is wisdom. Christ is Our Wisdom And then, for the Christian, Christ continues to be wisdom. Walking as Christ walked in this world. God could have incarnated Jesus and put Him right on the cross as an atoning sacrifice, and in some sense, I suppose, His righteousness would have been met. But in His wisdom, Jesus lived an entire life under the law of physical life and He gave us an example that we should follow in His steps. So Christ has become for me wisdom from God. Live like Jesus did. We'll get back to that toward the end. But now, we come to the centerpiece of my message and what I want to share to you now, redeeming the time. Redeeming the Time Fundamental to Walking in Wisdom: Redeeming the Time Look at verse 16. "redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Fundamental to walking in wisdom is this idea of “redeeming the time.” Now, what does redeeming mean? What does it mean to redeem? It's not a word that we necessarily know or understand fully. I think what it means is to free a captive from captivity by the payment of a price. That's the basic, biblical idea. A captive, someone is kidnapped or someone's enslaved, and a price is paid, and the captive is set free. That's the idea of redemption. That's what Jesus did for us by His blood. He redeemed us from Satan's chains, from Satan's dark kingdom, by His blood. We've been redeemed. But now, we're supposed to redeem the time. So, the idea here is like the time, that word there means the opportunity. It's a different word for, "the days are evil." But the opportunity is enslaved, and you have to get up and go do something to it or it's going to be lost. The Romans said, "Carpe diem", seize the day. Now, Christians would say redeem the day. Let's go redeem it. So, the image I have here is the day is like, I don't know, a snarling beast out there, a wild dog, and I'm a homesteader in the early 1800s. I have a historical imagination, so I'm like Daniel Boone. I'm out there, and every day, these wild dogs go running by my homesteading property. And my job, my mission, is to go out early in the morning and hunt down one of those wild dogs, capture it, and tame it until it's a hunting dog, and it brings in my dinner that night. That's the image of life I have. It's like, "Wow, what a weird image." Hey, look, if that doesn't work for you, think of another one on redeeming the day. But the idea is, get up and go grab the day. If we chill, if we hang out, I've always pictured bats hanging upside down. "What are we doing? We're hanging out. We're just kind of chilling and hanging out." One of the great dangers of this sermon is that you'll think that I'm going to go so far as to say things like that are never appropriate. I'm not saying that they're not. Jesus, however you defined it, chilled and hung out with his disciples. But He was always purposeful. There was a reclining at table, but there was always a purpose to everything He did. But if you're just going to be kicking back, you're on the inflatable tube of life and you're on the wide water, you're going to get swept downstream. That's the image here. You can't live your life that way. And if that's how you're living, you're going to lose. You're going to lose every day and you're going to lose on Judgment Day, so that's what we're talking about. Time is Precious Now, I'm following here as a mentor Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest sermons he ever preached was on this very text, "redeeming the time, because the days are evil". I would suggest it to you. You can read it for free online. It's called The Preciousness of Time, and I just want to follow somewhat his warnings and outline in this section of my sermon. His doctrine of the sermon is this: Time is a thing that is exceedingly precious. That's what he was trying to teach his people. Time is a thing that is exceedingly precious. Reason number one: Time is precious because eternity depends on how you improve the time. It is in these days now, in this present era of time, that we hear and believe the Gospel. And so, your eternity will depend on whether you improve the time wisely. So, time must be a pretty valuable thing if your eternity depends on it. And not only that, but salvation isn't an instant, but it's a life process. There's a whole race of salvation to be run. That initial, justifying faith will be with you for eternity, but then there's a sanctifying race to be run, and we run it in time. And so, the soul is to be saved in time, so time must be a precious thing. That's his first point. The Brevity of Time Second point: Time is precious because it's very short. If I can add a word here, it's shorter than you think it is. It's shorter than I think it is. The more scarce a precious commodity is, the more valuable it is. Basic economics, law of supply and demand. If there's a high supply, low demand, it's valuable. Or, vice versa. If there's a high demand, low supply, it's valuable. Well, I've already established that time is precious, but it's even more so because it's short. The Bible testifies that there's not much of it. So, Job said, in Job 7:6, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle.” So you picture like an old loom like that and the warp and woof etcetera, you got the strings like that and you got the weaver's shuttle with the thread on it and the weaver goes like this, “woosh” and just it's gone. Job said that that's what my life is like. “Swifter than a weaver's shuttle.” Blink of an eye. It's gone. James said, "What is your life? It's a mist that appears for a little while then it vanishes.” It's like the morning mist. I've seen that out where I live. There's one field in particular, it's misty almost every morning and then give it an hour and it burns off it's gone. Our time on earth is like a blink of an eye, compared to eternity. Time is so short for the greatness of the work that's in front of us. And if time is already short, and then we squander a proportion of it, how great is that loss? Louis Zamperini’s Chocolate Bars Some of you may have seen the movie, or I read the book and saw the movie Unbroken about Louis Zamperini. I don't know if you know that story, but Louis Zamperini was a World War II bomber pilot, or was on a bomber and the plane got engine trouble and crashed in the Pacific and only three men survived. And they are in two inflatable rafts, in the middle of Pacific with very scant hope of survival. They had very small supplies of food, and very small supplies of water and among their supplies of food, were some candy bars, three of them I think, and they calculate if they broke off squares each of them having a square a day, could extend their lives, but one of them in the middle of the night freaked out and ate all the candy bars. All of them. Just out of terror and fear and whatever and just ate them all. I was telling that story to somebody I said, "I would have thrown him overboard at that moment" But no, I mean they overcame and it's really quite an amazing story, but that's an image of it was the time was already short and now we wasted some. That's the sense I have here. It was already short, now we wasted some. Reason number three, time is precious because time is actually uncertain. You don't know the amount you have. So it's precious and it's short and it's uncertain. Our lives could end tonight, or they could continue for many years, we actually have no idea. And we have to make the most of what God gives us. How much more would many people prize their lives if they knew they had but a few months to live, or even a few days left in this world. And so it is with multitudes in this world who assume that they have many years left to enjoy. They're in good health, plenty of money, resources, like the rich fool of Luke 12, remember who's land produced a bumper crop? He said, "I don't know what I'm going to do, what I'm going to do with all this harvest, I know what I'll do, I'll tear down my barns and build bigger barns and then I'll say to my soul, "Soul you've got things laid up for many many years, take life easy, eat and drink, and be married". But God said to him, "You fool, this very night, your soul will be required of you". Meditate on the word required, not requested. Death doesn't come and make a request. That’s it. And yet how many will be surprised by the coming of their death, and think to themselves and this is from John Bunyan, "Cries from hell", "I always thought I would have more time. I always thought I would have more time." I wonder if there are Christians saying that. I always thought I have more time. Reason number four: Time is precious because when it is spent, it can never be recovered again. Now, hear the illustration that came to me is of a pawn shop. Imagine you had a precious heirloom maybe you men, you had a watch that your father gave you, that his father gave him. Or maybe you women, you would have a piece of jewelry that the same thing your mother gave you, that her mother gave to her. And you're under such economic extremity that you feel like you have no choice and you go sell it in the pawn shop. Actually, you can get it back, if you have enough money, and if it still exists, somewhere on earth, and you pursue it enough and you're willing to spend, you could get that heirloom back, but you can never get last Wednesday back. Never! Another illustration I have of this is of God as a chef and a table waiter. Let me shift the image here, cooked up in advance that we should eat, think of it that way. And so in effect, God in the kitchen, the divine kitchen, the Heavenly kitchen cooks up a recipe for you, it's a soup maybe or a stew or something, and he sets that dish in front of you, and you know what? He will never make that dish again, never. It's got a combination of spices, it's got an aroma to it. He gives you a spoon, and then he just stands back and just looks. And if you just don't eat it, he'll wordlessly pick it up and bring it back in the kitchen or rake it into the dumpster. And you'll never have that particular dish again, ever. You can't find it, you can't go anywhere on planet earth to find last Wednesday, it's gone. You never get it back. That moment was unique, it was unrepeatable, it was special and precious. Now if we live 50 or 60 or 70 years, and for the most part haven't improved those years it can't be help. There's nothing I can do to help you about that. It's gone. All of it is gone. All that we can do is make the best of whatever time God may graciously give us still. That's the point. So, what do we do with all this? The Four R’s of Valuing Time I'm going to give you four Rs that I think will help you. First, reflection, second rebuke, third repentance, fourth reformation. First, reflection. What have you done with your time? Just think. You don't need to tell anyone, just think about it, you've heard now the preciousness of time, this concerns you, it applies to you. God created you. Gives you a reasonable soul. Reflect. How have you lived up to this point? You've already had a great deal of time that was given to you, what have you done with it? Let your conscience answer for you. Perhaps you may conclude that your lifetime is half gone, it may well be, I don't know. If you're 35 or 40, you may think you've got half of your life still ahead of you, you may be right, you may be wrong, you don't know. But let's say you did. You've spent half your life. What have you done with it? Every day that God has given you, has been unspeakably precious. How have you spent it? Have you spent it wisely or foolishly or have you wasted hours and days and months even years? Now, if you look back and search your memory, do you find that in a large measure, you've wasted your time or used it well? Think of how much can be done in a day in which you gave absolutely everything to Jesus. Think of what that day would look like. You gave yourself fully, energetically, mentally, and physically, everything you had for Christ that day. That's how much you can do in one day. How many of your days have been like that? And what have you done with all the time you spend in spiritual pursuits? How many sermons have you heard? How many teachings, how many books have you read? How many things has God poured into your soul of the word of God, how much has He given you? Now, we're in America today, not in Jonathan Edwards day. We have far more leisure time than those did who listened to Edwards preach this message back in 1734. They were carving their existence out of a recent wilderness maybe 100 years before that, a little over the 100 years they began settling in that part, so they were farmers, they were merchants. It was a rough life, they didn't have a lot of leisure time. We are glutted with ways to waste time. I don't know if you noticed that but we are glutted with opportunities to waste time. They didn't have internet, they didn't have Netflix, they didn't have endless sports. I don't think they had sports in colonial New England maybe they did, but they certainly didn't have 24/7. And they didn't have the resources to eat at restaurants or to do the different things that we do, etcetera. They didn't have that kind of life. This is the life we have. The question we're asking in reflection is how have you spent your time? Number two. The second purpose of this is rebuke. Another way to look at it would be conviction of sin. I really believe in Christ as a Christian the only good thing ever to be gained at looking back at past sins is to repent and be convicted and live differently. So I'm not trying to marinate everyone, so we all go out feeling guilty. That's not it at all. We'll get to that in a moment, but it's all about conviction. To those who waste time, to those who actually are convicted that they have had a habit of squandering it as though it were an endless resource like tap water. Not in a well system, by the way. Just turn it on, it just flows forever. If you've been thinking like that and you've been wasting time, then be convicted. This text kind of stands over you to rebuke that way of thinking. So I want it to speak to those who spend a lot of time in idleness. That may not be any of you, it maybe many of you, I don't know, I'm just putting out the shoes and if they fit, wear them. But if you know that you're spending a lot of time in idleness, doing nothing at all, following no business, not improving yourself, not working on spiritual strength, not working on a skill set, not working on your spiritual health, not praying, interceding, not studying scripture. Not being out leading others to Christ, not being out serving others in the Body of Christ. You're not doing those things, but instead you're just pouring hour after hour down the hole of mindless recreation, I'm just setting out a pair of shoes. If you know they fit you and you can put them on, then the text calls on you to repent. It calls on you to labor and live differently to a different kind of life. I want to take Ephesians 4:28 and apply it to you. "He who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work doing something useful with his own hands, that he may benefit those in need." So just do that. It's like you've been stealing from God. So use your time going forward well for others. Invest in your heart, in your mind, and your soul, so you can bless others. And then, get out and serve. Use your spiritual gifts, use the Gospel. Get out and do things. Even worse are those who spend their time not merely in idleness, but actually violating their consciences. I'm talking about you know you're sinning. It will be better for those people to have done nothing than to do that because what sin ends up doing it puts you further behind. You're like negative 20 now and you have to put all of this effort to get back up to zero and then go on from there. Jonathan Edward says sin is a terrible time waster. I'll just take a little example. Let's say a husband and wife are intending to do something and instead they get in some big conflict or argument. They spend a couple of hours to rectify that, just get back to square one. When, if they had been humble and loving and patient with each other, they wouldn't have to spend any time on those things. Or, you may develop a bad habit, a corrupting habit and you have to now invest a lot of time to get out of that hole. I would say invest the time and get out of the hole but just understand sin has stolen from you. Number three and number four, I'm going to put together, repentance and reformation. Edwards, as I said, makes it clear that the time once spent has gone forever. So Pastor why are you burdening us with this? There's nothing I can do about last Wednesday. No, but you have a memory and you can look at how, if you remember at what you did last Wednesday. And as I already said, "The only reason for looking back in the Christian life is not to have a murky, guilty feeling. But to just do better, repent. Live better. God, in His grace, may give you more time." And so, repent, turn in your mind and thought. The time you've wasted can still serve a useful purpose in your soul's endeavors if a sense of conviction and a kind of holy passion, a zeal, of resolution fills us, then the painful memory of those wasted hours will actually serve us well. God may still be pleased to bless some that up until that moment were in an unconverted state like that man who wasted all those years but still you can gain the victory that overcomes the world, which is faith in Christ, and all of Heaven will rejoice. So there's that. But then, for you Christians God wants you to feel the weight of the preciousness of time and reflect seriously on how much depends on it, to feel the brevity of life, and how short time is and how rapidly it's flowing. And you feel the weight of these truths, then you will buy back each hour of the day, and you'll acknowledge yourself accountable to God for how you're living. As part of it, it's like our time to spend how we want. And actually it says in Romans 14:7-8, "None of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” So, seek to find out what pleases the Lord. What good works he has for you to do. You may feel the sting of time already wasted, you should, if you're alive you should feel that sting. Some of you may feel the sting of conviction, realizing you wasted some of the best years of your life, your youth, the years when you had maximum physical energy, maximum vigor, maximum idealism, but you were deceived into squandering it. Now you're middle aged, you're older and there's nothing you can do about that except resolve to spend your middle age years and older years better. So, do not be discouraged. God is gracious. I remembered a verse this morning, I looked it up. It's Joel 2:25 God is able to "restore the years the locusts have eaten." But I'm going to tell you who he does that for. He does it for people who seriously repent, and feel the weight of what's happened. If you haven't repented, he won't restore the years the locusts have eaten. They'll eat more years is what will happen. So, it is madness at Edwards for you to just sink back in a bed of depression over all this, over what's happened and do nothing. Let me give you an illustration of this. Alright? How to Respond When You Have Wasted Time Imagine you are a wheat farmer in Kansas 100 years ago. Okay. I love these historic illustrations. So, we were Homesteaders with Daniel Boone in Kentucky. Now, we're wheat farmers in Kansas. Alright, so it's middle of the nights harvest time, but there's a fire in the harvest field near the house. And it's already burned a third of your harvest. And it's now caught the corner of the house on fire, and a friend and neighbor sees it and runs in. It's three in the morning, everyone in the house is asleep and he rouses everyone to wake up. "Get up, get up, you're in danger, your crop is burning, your house is burning get up." And imagine they sit up, the farmer looks out, and sees that a third of the harvest is burned and smells a smoke in his own house, and he's just so depressed and just lays back in bed. It's like, "Wrong answer!" You can still save two-thirds of your harvest, get up, put the fire out in your house, save your life, and run out and save your harvest. Don't get depressed, get energetic, be zealous, have a fire in your belly, zeal for the glory of God. Not, "There's nothing I can do." Last Wednesday is gone forever. I don't do that. That's madness. It's not the right answer. So, understand verse 17 what the will of the Lord is. Understand what He wants out of you. "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of God, and finish His work." That's Jesus's wisdom for you every day. What does he want you to do today? And do it. Application Mothers of Young Children I'm going to close with just a couple of specific words of application to you. You may be in a unique place in life. I want to speak directly to you. I want to begin by speaking to mothers of preschoolers. Okay? You have a unique opportunity to pour into your little ones as they're growing. Make the most of it. It's tiring, I've seen it. My wife worked hard with our toddlers. I've seen other moms. I see some of you moms. I see the look of fatigue, I understand. It's hard, make the most of it, it doesn't last long. You turn around three or four times and it's done. So I just want to urge you make the most of it. Parents of Teenagers Are you perhaps the father of a teenage boy? You don't have long to teach him how to be a man, to speak into his life, and get him ready for the warfare he's going to have to fight to be a warrior for Christ, to learn how to put on his spiritual armor. Are you speaking into the life of your son? Like I said, a couple of times you turn around and they're gone. Are you the father of a teenage son or the mother of a teenage girl getting her ready for the things that are going to come? Just make the most of it, that's all. Teenagers What about you, are you a teenager yourself? Maybe you just finished Disciple Now. You're barely struggling to keep awake. Alright, I get that. Alright, two in the morning. Actually, the kids who are with us were phenomenal. Went to bed. You guys were great. You guys right here. I see you guys, you guys were awesome. It didn't cost me any sleep. So thank you very much, I appreciate that. But I mean, you're a teenager, I already mentioned about five minutes ago, you are about to come into the prime years of your life physically, in terms of zeal, idealism, energy. It's incredible what young men and women have done for the cause of Christ, in missions, evangelism, in church building. Incredible. Don't waste your childhood, don't waste your teen years, don't waste your young men and young women years. Get ready for them. Come to Christ, be sure that you're born again. Don't assume because you're in a good Christian home that you're born again. Be sure that you're born again and then make the most. Retirees What about you, are you a retiree? You’re thinking, “Lots and lots of my years are passed.” Yeah, but you might have some freedom, you might have some money and some wisdom and some resources and some things that, boy, the church could use them. Are you squandering your years? John Piper talks about a couple that spent their years on their shell collection. Wandering the beaches, collecting shells. Early retirement, 59,60. You got extra years of shell-collecting. Don't waste it, don't waste your retirement years. You could go on mission, you could go overseas, you could do things to enrich the Church. Many of you are. Praise God. But don't waste your retiree years. How about a specific circumstance? Maybe you're diagnosed with cancer or the closest loved one, a spouse to one who is, don't waste it, you're like, "How in the world? What you mean don't waste it?" What I'm saying is it may put you in a unique position, a platform that other Christians can't use to minister. Single Christians Perhaps you're single, don't waste your singleness. You yearn for a spouse and God may give you one, he may not, but make the most of your years. 1 Corinthians 7 says that Paul had a kind of a freedom as a single man that he wouldn't have if he were married. So, make the most of your years when you're single, and God may well bless you with a spouse, but he may not, but just make the most of it. Friends, I could go on and on. I actually did go on and on, but I cut it down. Alright. So I'm just asking you each of you to redeem the time for the glory of God. Let's live as though every moment were precious and live it maximally for Him. Close with me in prayer. Prayer Father, we thank you for the time you give us. Help us to make the most of every minute. Help us, O Lord, to live for your glory. Help us to be balanced in recreation. Help us to use it only to renew and recharge your battery so we can serve you and others. Help us, O Lord, to run the internal race of holiness, and the external race of evangelism and missions. Oh, God, help us to live for what you have laid before us to do in Jesus' name, Amen.

Welcome back to rememberinghistory.com where we are remembering history and we’re making history, too.   We’re gonna make a slight change in this part of this podcast by discussing a place that was briefly mentioned in the previous podcast.  It was a place that I visited as a child and I recommend it to everyone, not just African Americans.  But all Americans, all people who visit the United States, all history enthusiasts, military historians, civil rights activists, legal historians and…Well, I’ll stop here and just say that everyone should visit this place. So, what is it?   It is Harper’s Ferry!    An amazing place—and I’m going to tell you why right after this brief introduction.   First, I just want to remind you that this is the new and improved blog called rememberinghistory.com where were and are remembering history and we’re making history, too. We are a large and growing community of fun and friendly historians and we welcome everyone who loves history or even if you’re just curious about history. Curiosity is great. We welcome everyone to join.  Leave your comments. Read the bodacious blog.  If you want more information about the people or issues, go to the remembering history bookstore called Books & Stuff. You’ll find, of course, books but also DVDs, audiobooks, games and other fun learning tools.  Everything has been personally vetted by me so you can trust these resources—or you can blame me if you don’t like them. That’s accountability.  Not easy to find on the Internet but you’ll find it here. Visit the Facebook page (which is also new).  On the Facebook page, you will find pictures of the places that I mention in the podcasts and you’ll meet the people too.  A picture really does speak a thousand words.  And you’ll find additional information and discussions about the historic sites mentioned here. Finally—really this time!—I just want to announce that rememberinghistory.com in cooperation with NspiredShirts is now making and selling shirts to inspire. The shirts have dazzling designs, stunning images and inspirational quotations from famous—and not so famous—people from our history.  Did you know the first American to earn the international pilot’s license was Bessie Coleman—an African American woman born in 1892? She was the daughter of sharecroppers and wanted to become a pilot. However, she was denied entrance into pilot school in America because she was black AND become she was a woman. Did that stop her? No, she learned French (taught herself French, really) then moved to France where she did go to flight school and did earn her pilot’s license. She had a distinguished and unique career as an aviator, parachuter and stunt pilot throughout the United States. How did she do it? In her own words: “She Refused to take No for an answer!”  You might never have heard of her but she had an impact and her quote is the flagship shirt for Rememberinghistory.com and Nspiredshirts.  For the month of June, this shirt has a special price and you will also receive a free gift. These shirts are all inspirational—either through quotations or images—and they are all 100% organic cotton or linen. And they are Fairtrade and Fairwear, meaning that they are manufactured according to certain standards—no child labor and no sweatshops—they are purchased at a living wage for the local population who guaranteed health care benefits and safe working conditions.  That’s why these are the Ultimate Feel Good Shirts. Everyone wins and everyone feels good! You can find information about these shirts (and their great price) at the Remembering History Facebook page and the website.  Remember, Bessie Coleman didn’t take no for an answer—neither do I. Neither should you.   Now, let’s get started remembering history and making history.     Harper’s Ferry.   It is a unique place that has something for everyone.  It is an unbelievably beautiful and historic place that has left a powerful mark on the United States.  But it is much more than beautiful, peaceful and serene.  Much more!   Let’s back up a bit and discuss Harper’s Ferry and its historical significance and I’m sure that you’ll see why it was—and is—so important.  On October 16,1859, John Brown and his Provisional Army took possession of the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Mr. Brown and the small provisional army intended to break into the federal facility and steal the guns and other weapons. They intended to give the weapons to the slaves for a revolt in order to get their freedom. Perhaps we need to back up a bit more. Who was John Brown and what was this famous Revolt at Harper’s Ferry about?   Born in Connecticut in 1800, John Brown was a white abolitionist who could trace his ancestry back to English Puritans. There are many reasons (like religious beliefs and others) that I won’t discuss right now, but John Brown believed that slavery should be abolished AND that the only way to do it was by armed force or insurrection.   He disagreed with other abolitionists who were lobbying to change the laws though he did have respect for their position. But his position was that force would be the only way that the Southern states would give up their slaves. When the Fugitive Slave Act—which mandated that authorities in free states return escaped slaves--was passed in 1850, John Brown founded a group to prevent the capture of any escaped slaves.     For the following years, Mr. Brown continued to work against slavery, protected and harbored escaped slaves, and actually captured slaves and recruited them as well as free Blacks to conduct small raids against the homes of slave owners. But the Raid at Harper’s Ferry was Brown’s biggest and most organized attack.  He recruited people from around the country. He tried to recruit famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. But Douglass was strongly opposed to the raid and believed that it was doomed to fail. Douglass also discouraged whites and both free blacks and slaves from joining John Brown’s army.   On October 16, 1859, John Brown led 21 men in an attack on the armory at Harper’s Ferry. The raid lasted for 3 days. In the end, four federal soldiers were killed and ten of Brown’s army were killed (including two of his sons.) Brown’s army was overwhelmed by the larger and better armed federal army. The raid ended on October 18th.  Brown had lost.    After a weeklong trial and 45-minutes of jury deliberations, John Brown was sentenced to death by hanging.  At his execution,  Brown gave one of the most powerful and compelling speeches about the evils of slavery and calling for its abolition.  After stating that his only goal was to help the slaves escape to freedom, John Brown continued by saying,    “I have another objection; and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved, had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.”   He later slipped a note to a guard immediately before his hanging which said, "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood." John Brown was executed on December 8, 1859.   After the raid and execution of John Brown, abolitionist groups became more organized and more demanding. Slave revolts increased. Slavery was being attacked on many different fronts.  The raid on Harper’s Ferry was, indeed, an important event—one could call it a catalyst--in abolishing slavery and in the course of U.S. history.   So, let’s get back to Harper’s Ferry. I hope that you are interested in seeing this historic, this iconic place.  You will learn so much more about the strong and still-controversial John Brown. Was he a dedicated abolitionist? Or was a domestic terrorist? You decide. And going to Harper’s Ferry can help you to make up your own mind about John Brown.     So, Harper’s Ferry should definitely be on the summer shortlist of historic sites to visit this summer or any time of the year.  There are also great events, tours and activities. One special event that is happening for the remainder of the year, 2015, is an exhibit on the Freedman’s Bureau and Foundation of Storer College.  This was a school dedicated to educating newly-freed slaves that operated from 1865 until its closure in 1955. It’s an excellent exhibit that discusses how slaves were prohibited from learning to read—and the consequences if they did. But it also shows the classes that the freed people took and discusses why certain classes were particularly important and useful in the post-slavery period.       For people who want to learn more about John Brown—and I hope that everyone does—there are walking tours in which his life, mission, work and the raid are presented.  Harper’s Ferry also offers horse and wagon tours on weekends that just take you back in time to West Virginia in the Antebellum and Reconstruction periods.  And, of course, you can hire a certified park guide for a private tour. More expensive, but always a special experience.   There are workshops, which are amazing!  There are workshops on making bread in beehive ovens just like they did in the old days. There are workshops on making apple pies. And you don’t want to miss the Strawberry and ice cream festival on July 4th or the candy-making workshop during Christmastime!  Lots to make and lots to eat.  I love history!   Finally, I just want to add that Harper’s Ferry National Park is considered one of the best walking parks in the United States. There are sublime views, compelling history and restored towns that are nothing less than works of art. Walking trails go through the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Potomac & Shenandoah River valleys. In fact, visitors can walk along a 185-mile path that crosses the Potomac River and continues all the way to Pittsburgh.  But don’t go that far away.  There is so much to see at Harper’s Ferry and other parts of West Virginia. Harper’s Ferry boast 4,000 acres of land in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.    Take the easy 4-mile walk across Civil War battlefields or the 8-mile adventure hike to the top of the mountains. They are both incredible, life-affirming walks that the family will enjoy and that you will never forget.       Harper’s Ferry National Park is a great place to learn about history, to experience history and to relive history.  They have made a wonderful effort to honor history in this way and it should not be missed.  Great for the young and old. Great for Americans and non-Americans. Great for everybody!   For more information about Harper’s Ferry, please visit the remembering history Facebook page.   You will find stunning pictures and great facts and stories.  We’re making history here! I hope that you enjoy your visit to Harper’s Ferry; I would love to hear about it on the website or Facebook page.   Well, this wraps up this introduction to Harper’s Ferry. Yes, I say that this was just an introduction because there is so much more to learn, see, do and experience at this iconic place.  I hope that you will visit Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia. It is such an inspirational place to be. Yes, people did die there—federal soldiers and abolitionists, alike. But let’s also remember that it was a turning point, a major step in the journey that ultimately led to the end of slavery in America. John Brown is still considered a controversial figure in American history.  Yes, some people describe him as the first domestic terrorist for planning an armed revolt against a federal armory. Others describe him as a brave and committed man who fought to end the terrible institution of slavery and to free the enslaved population.  And at his speech standing before the gallows where he was set to be hanged, he made a powerful and pointed statement about racism and economic disparities that separated people and denied rights to them. That statement made more than 150 years ago is still relevant and meaningful today about how economic disparities in America are dividing and diminishing people—and how they must be stopped if we are really to be unified as Americans.  You can find the entire speech on the Remembering History Facebook page—I strongly urge you to read it—and I’m sure that you will understand how it is described as one of the greatest speeches in American history.   I want to wrap up this podcast with another slight change of topic.  Harper’s Ferry is an experience in U.S. history. But I want to start a brief discussion not about experiences or events in African American history, but about the rise of African American history museums that are opening and growing throughout the country.  And why they deserve our support!   I’m gonna start with Oakland’s African American History Museum and Library. Yes, Oakland, California.    The African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO) was a long-time in the making by several dedicated Oakland residents. Its mission is the collection, preservation, and analysis of African American artifacts and documents in Oakland and the Bay Area. Today, there are 106,000 African Americans living in Oakland. The African American Museum and Library of Oakland was established to document their stories as well as the larger African American experience in the United States.  The African American Museum and Library of Oakland was officially founded in 1994. Today, the library has more than 12,000 volumes and is an excellent resource for community members and professional researchers alike with primary research documents on slavery, and African American military service. It also holds unique documents and letters from Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Ida B. Wells, Benjamin Banneker, and other notable activists and intellectuals in the African American community. Staying true to its Oakland focus, the museum has one of the largest collections of information and memorabilia on the Black Panthers.       •   Boston has the Museum of African American History. It is the largest museum in New England dedicated to the history of African Americans. The museum has unique exhibits such as a beautifully restored African Meeting House. Also, there are lectures, artifacts, and tours about the Underground Railroad. •   Houston hosts the Museum of African American Culture, which focuses on the experiences and contributions of African Americans in Texas. It also has many art exhibits, musical events, and independent African American film showings. Admission is free. •   In Detroit sits the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, named for a prominent doctor in the city. The museum presents many exhibits such as the visions of our 44th president, which shows 44 artists’ interpretations of President Obama. Another exhibit presents speakers, pictures, and discussions about the contributions of African Americans in the Union army during the Civil War. •   Taking a slightly different focus, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is located on the site of the Lorraine Motel. This museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the civil rights movement and teaching how it relates to the current global human rights movement. The small but impressive museum has received numerous national and international commendations. It holds the coveted recognition as a premier heritage and cultural museum and it is an international site of conscience. •     Then there is the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum. Founded in 2000 by Captain Paul Matthews.  Buffalo Soldier's National Museum is the "only museum dedicated to primarily preserving the legacy and honor of the African-American soldier in the United States of America." The museum offers a look at African American military history from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War. One thing that I found fascinating is that there will soon be history re-enactments organized by the museum. I don’t know if you have ever attended an historical re-enactment but it is an event that you will never forget. Remember my goal to bring history to life. The Buffalo Soldier’s National Museum is located in Houston.   Washington, D.C. will host the Museum of African American History and Culture, which is scheduled to open in 2015 as part of the Smithsonian Museum. It will be the country's largest and most comprehensive collection of African American documents and artifacts. Personally, I have been waiting for that museum to open and will put it at the top of my list when visiting Washington, DC.—though it might have to compete with the Frederick Douglass House. Oh, well, of course I will go to both.  And I hope that you do too.   We need to support the institutions and organizations that are keeping African American history alive and respected and researched. There are many misconceptions and holes in our history that need to be corrected and need to be filled. Museums and libraries are two great tools to make this happen. In the past 20 years, more museums and libraries focusing on African American history have opened all over the United States.   When I was a young girl, they were few and far between. In fact, there was usually only a small section in a library or museum that focused on African American history, if there was anything. (And don’t even get me started on how the history textbooks had African Americans and our many achievements and contributions virtually written out of history.) This cannot be allowed to happen!  So that is why we must support these museums and libraries.  And there are so many ways to support the African American history museums (and libraries):  we can visit them. We can make donations to them. We can volunteer at them.  We can tell others about them—spread the word. They need our support. They deserve our support.  But I strongly encourage you to visit them, take your children to these museums. Remember that some people learn by reading, others learn visually, other people learn by experiencing it. We all learn differently.  And museums can give the full range of learning models that are good for you and for your family. So, that’s my shameless plug for today. Visit your local African American history museum today. And have a great time!   So, that really is all for this podcast. I hope that you enjoy visiting Harper’s Ferry and the many African American history museums throughout the country. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments about them. And remember that the inspirational Bessie Coleman shirt is specially priced this month (June) and you will get a special present with it. All of this information is available on the Remembering History Facebook page.  Remember: Don’t take no for an answer.   I look forward to seeing you next time to discuss unique and lesser-known historic sites.  More surprises are on the horizon. Hope to see you soon at Rememberinghistory.com where we are remembering history and we’re making it.   Bye for now!      

Pastor Andy Davis preaches Matthew 22:41-46 to explore the question, "Whose son is the Christ?" The text points to the deity of Christ. -Sermon Transcript- Introduction So that's my single desire for the sermon today, to elevate your thoughts about Jesus Christ that you would think greater thoughts of him than you've ever done before. I'm convinced there's not a person in this room that doesn't need that. We need our thoughts of Christ elevated, we need our thoughts of Christ to move up higher than they are right now. And everything we need is right here in this room right now, you have the scripture, right here. You have the Holy Spirit to do this, this is his task and the task of the scripture as we'll prove from the text today: The scripture's job is to elevate our thoughts of Christ, and this is what the Holy Spirit has done, that he would take from what belongs to Jesus and minister it to us, so that we would have great thoughts of Jesus. So while I'm preaching this I would urge you to pray for that to happen, pray for it in your own hearts, pray for it in this room, and then spreading out those lives that we touch. Now, right now in my life, I have the privilege of teaching every week on Thursdays at Southeastern Seminary on the English Puritans, what a great movement of God, a great movement of revival happened in England through those individuals. Puritanism and the word Puritan isn't generally thought of highly in our age any more than it was in theirs, but they were remarkable people, who accomplished far more than most people ever do in their lives for a simple reason that they really, really trusted in God and in the scriptures and sought to put the scriptures into practice in every area of their lives. They were relentless in this. And they had great visions of Christ and of what God could do in their country and in their lives, simply because they believed. Their number perhaps at 4% of the total English population when they took over the country for a short time in the middle of the 17th century. Other people, I think, lacked their level of commitment, their level of determination, but they were still well thought of even by those that weren't in their number. One Puritan pastor, in particular, Richard Rogers of Wethersfield in Essex, was told by a gentleman, a country gentleman, “Mr. Rogers, I like you and your company rather well. Only you're much too precise for me.” And Rogers answered, “O Sir, I serve a precise God.” And we're gonna see the precision of God in the text today. We can see it in the universe that surrounds us, we live in a precise universe. And in these days in which we're battling against the weird thought of evolution, of atheistic evolution, we’ve got to counter it with truth. But God has left abundant evidence of his precision just in the cosmos. I mean, astronomers can predict with remarkable accuracy when a comet will return to this part of the cosmos. It's amazing, you can navigate by the stars. There's just a precision up in the cosmos and there's a precision down in this ecosphere as well. The way that God has woven together physics and chemistry and biology in a remarkable system that must be so, for there to be life. And if you could imagine, just the control panels of the world and they'd be labelled, and if you were to just move a few of those knobs just slightly, life would not be possible here on this earth. And so, dear friends, we serve a precise God and the evidence of that precision is around us in the cosmos, but I would submit to you today: it's much more clear in scripture than anywhere else. The precision of God in Scripture is mind-boggling, it's breathtaking. And if you haven't had your mind boggled by it and you haven't had your breath taken away by it, then study the Scriptures more accurately. What amazes me is the synthesis, the harmony of these 66 books and how they proclaim with one voice, these doctrines we must know and believe. It's just incredible to me, and I don't think I have fully grasped just how deep it is. The precision of God is just obvious in scripture. We're gonna see it here in this last passage in Matthew chapter 22. We're gonna see in this account, as Jesus has twice in Matthew 22, stunned his enemies by his answers to their questions. Now, he's gonna stun them even more by his question to them. They've been crossing swords intellectually battling back and forth Jesus' enemies, and now he is going to just render them silent by a question he asked here at the end of this chapter. And in this account, we're gonna see how precise is the Scripture itself and how precisely Jesus Christ handled the scriptures. Even down, dear friends, to a single letter in the Hebrew text, the whole thing hinges on one letter, whole thing. And so we're gonna see the precise nature of Scripture, but better than that, we're gonna see the precise mind of God and scripture's precision serving a higher purpose. And the higher purpose of the precision of scripture is that we would come to believe in Christ. And that we would see the greatness of Christ and we would honour him and worship him as God and not think too low thoughts of him. That's why this text is here, that's why the scripture is here, the scripture is here to grab hold of our minds and our hearts, and lift them up into the heavenlies so that we can worship Christ. And in so doing, receive forgiveness of our sins that by faith in Christ, we will receive cleansing and forgiveness of our sins. And so we see not just the precision of scripture and the precision of God, but we're gonna see God as triune in this passage, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, as the scripture testifies to the true nature of God. We're gonna see all of these things today. So since we're gonna see all of those things we better get going, I mean this is all just introduction. But we have to get going, don't we? We're gonna be here a long time, but that's alright, that's alright. For this purpose, I think it's fine. "The higher purpose of the precision of scripture is that we would come to believe in Christ." A Meticulous Savior: Every Iota and Dot Will Come to Fulfillment Christ Came to Fulfill the Scriptures So we serve a meticulous Saviour, earlier in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus talked about the scriptures. He did it in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away not an iota, and not a dot, will pass from the law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:17-18. Now there Christ says very plainly, he had come to fulfill the Scriptures not to abolish them. There are going to be some things he's gonna say even in that Sermon on the Mount that seems like he's just knocking the scriptures aside, but he doesn't. He's come to fulfill the scriptures, and so he wants them to know his attitude toward the scriptures, so that we would have them too. “Not an yodh or a pen stroke…” And he zeroes in on this one statement: “Not a yodh or a pen stroke,” I think would be the way it comes across in the Hebrew, but it goes over in the Greek into iota. I think they're just related. Greek is iota for the Hebrew letter yodh. Now the Hebrew letter yodh is just a little - it just looks like an apostrophe. If you could just imagine just a little apostrophe at the end of a possessive like “the boy's hat” something like that, just that little apostrophe you put between the y and the s. That's what the Hebrew yodh is. Just a little letter. It's used in the four-letter word for God, Yahweh, you see it all over the Hebrew text there and so that's a yodh. He says none of those yodhs are gonna disappear until everything is accomplished, all the yodhs will still be there when Jesus returns. He's going to uphold them. So, dear friends, we as a church, we don't need to defend the scriptures, we don't need to defend the Bible. We have to take every thought captive and cast down strongholds and misunderstandings, but the Bible's gonna be here, friends. There's no getting rid of it. And so the yodhs are gonna be there, they're all gonna be there, until heaven and earth pass away, said Jesus. And “the least stroke of a pen,” it could be the difference between a Hebrew letter he which is just an H-sound and the hech sound which gives that kind of Hebrew sound. The difference between the two is just a tiny gap. In one letter versus the other. And if they close that gap, it's a whole different letter. And so I tell you, the precision of the alphabet and of the writing, I think, lended itself to a precision toward the Jews, the Jews themselves are a precise people in this regard, a remarkable people. They had a meticulous view of the Scriptures. And I think it tended in this direction, they knew that there were 613 commands in the Pentateuch, five books of Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy, and that 248 of them were positive, and 365 of them were negative. How did they know that? Well, they counted them, friends. Oh, they knew more than that though. The scribes counted letters forward and back in the law of Moses, they could tell you how many of each letter there was in each book of the Bible. Amazing. They could even tell you the middle letter in the Pentateuch. And the middle letter in the Old Testament, middle letter in the Pentateuch, for those of you who really care is in Leviticus 11:42, there's a waw in there it's like a w right in the middle of the word for “belly.” So don't do it now, please, do it later. But there it is. That's the middle letter of the Pentateuch. How did they do that? They counted forward, they counted backwards, meticulous. And you think Jesus would come along and say, “You're being way too careful with the scriptures here. You're way too meticulous.” No, He's actually even more meticulous than they, more careful than they. He's not dispensing with careful Bible study, not at all. He just said, “You missed some things. Let me show you something you've never noticed before.” That's what he's doing in this text. And he says that none of this, none of these letters or strokes of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law, until heaven and earth disappear, until everything is accomplished. The law is still going to be around, actually later in Matthew's Gospel, he's going to expand the statement to include his own words. “Until heaven and earth pass away,” He says. “My words will never pass away.” “Heaven and earth will pass away,” He says. “But my words will never pass away.” Well, Jesus here applies it to prophecy. He was very attentive to details, very careful in his handling of the text, and he's going to make an important point concerning the Messiah based on this one Hebrew letter this yodh. Whose Son is the Christ? So look at the verses, verses 41 through 46, that James read. Let me read them again. It's not a long passage, it says “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ ‘The Son of David,’ they replied. He said to them, ‘Well, how is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”? For he says, “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’” If then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’” I love verse 46. “No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.” That ends it, friends. That's a fitting end to chapter 22, don't you think? Jesus silences His enemies with this question. Context: The Final Week of Jesus’ Life The context we've been seeing is the final week of Jesus' life. Jesus' enemies keep mounting up a charge and coming up the hill after Jesus. They ask him questions about taxation, he deals with that remarkably. They ask him questions about the resurrection, the Sadducees do, he deals with that remarkably. An expert in the law comes and asks him which is the greatest commandment, and he deals with that again remarkably. Amazing teaching. Jesus’ Penetrating Question Then he turns around and he asks them a question, a penetrating question. Now Jesus is, I believe the greatest question asker in history, the greatest question asker in history. And if I can just get you to pause and think of it this way. Some day he's gonna ask you a bunch of questions about your life. He's going to probe you, he's going to search you. He's going to ask you to give an account for your life. And Job himself said “I couldn't answer him once in a thousand times.” Jesus has the ability by his questions to render us silent. And I think it's a good thing for that to happen now, don't you think? For us to be just rendered silent under the questions, the probing questions of Jesus to calm our hearts down and just let him search us by his questions. But Jesus, from the very earliest stages of his life, was a phenomenal question asker. You remember that story, when he was age 12 and he somehow got separated from Joseph and Mary, you remember that? I mean, what happened there, friends? I mean, Joseph and Mary, I've often thought about, praise God for that. I mean these are a godly couple who lost track of the Messiah, the savior of the world. There are no perfect parents, friends, not even Joseph and Mary, they didn't know where Jesus was. And so, for three days now, this isn't three hours now, for three days, they had to look for him. And they went and finally found Him in the temple, and it says in Luke 2:46 and 47, “After three days they found him in the temple courts sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” So Jesus was asking questions, maybe he even asked this one, he tried this one at an early stage and they didn't have an answer to that either. But he was a prober with his questions and so it continues. So often in his ministry, we see Jesus asking questions that gets to the heart of the issue. For example, when his enemies were offended that Jesus had forgiven the sins of a paralyzed man, the man is still paralyzed; he has already forgiven his sins. He went right to what the man needed, “Take heart son, your sins are forgiven.” They were offended at that. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And Jesus said in Matthew 9:5. “I have a question for you. Which is easier: To say ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘rise and walk’?” That's an interesting question, isn't it? Let that one rattle around in your soul for a while. They're both really easy to say, both really hard to do. And so Jesus shows his power there. Or how about this one, to the legalistic Pharisees who are drilling him for not following their traditions, He asked them this, Matthew 15:3. “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” That's a question from Jesus. Or to his disciples in Caesarea Philippi: “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Now there's an important question, isn't it? Who do you say that Jesus is? I tell you that your soul will depend on your answer from the heart. Or this one, to two blind men sitting by the side of the road, calling out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.” Jesus went and stood in front of them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” That's an important question, isn't it? By the way, I use it all the time in evangelism. If I get to the point and somebody I think is ready to receive Christ, we've done everything, and they want... They say, “What should I do?” I say you should pray. What should I say? So, we've been talking for an hour. You ought to know what to ask him for. “What do you want him to do for you?” “Well, I wanna go to heaven.” “Then tell him.” “I want my sins forgiven.” “Then tell him.” “I wanna live a whole new kind of life.” “Then tell him.” And he'll answer those prayers. But he does stand in front of us and say what do you want me to do for you? It's a key question, isn't it? To Jesus' enemies who are questioning him closely about his authority. “So I have a question for you and if you answer my question, then I'll answer yours. ‘John's baptism, where did it come from? Was it from heaven or from men?’” Then they had that little huddle. Trying to figure out what they're gonna do. A little strategizing session. Just answer the question, but they didn't wanna answer Jesus' question. Now, we have this one in verse 42. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” That's the question. Now for the Jews, genealogies were incredibly important, they derived a huge amount of their self-esteem and their self-importance from being genealogically or physically descended from Abraham. John the Baptist dealt with this very strongly. Do not think, he said to the Scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees. He said, “Do not think you can say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham.” So they put a lot of stress on genealogies and descent. Jesus’ Enemies Answer Quickly I think they figured this was an easy question. This is a softball. Wow, what a tough question. Whose son is the Christ? They probably immediately answered “Son of David.” I mean, a four-year-old knows that one, Son of David. It's a cupcake. It was an easy question to answer. Well, the Messiah was the Son of David. He was to be the Son of David. They were right, but that wasn't the whole truth. And we'll get to that in a moment, but it is true that Jesus the Christ was to be the Son of David. This was promised to David. 2 Samuel 7:12 and 13, when David wanted to build a temple for God and God said, you wanna build a house for me, I'm gonna build a house for you. “When your days are over David, and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me,aAnd I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” Son of David, then. The Messiah would be the Son of David. The Psalms and prophets agree with this again and again. Psalm 132:17-18, “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one,” that's the Messiah. “I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent,” Psalm 132. Jeremiah 23, “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I'll raise up to David a righteous branch, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding and counseling, power. And this king will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. And in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which this branch of David will be called: the Lord our Righteousness.’” Or Ezekiel 37, “My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd and they will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. And they will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it will be an everlasting covenant, and I will establish them and I will increase their numbers, and I'll put my sanctuary among them forever.” There's the word David right there in Ezekiel, centuries after David had died. Hosea 3:4-5, “for the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. And afterward, the Israelites will return and seek the Lord, their God, and David their king. And they will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last day,” Hosea 3:4-5. And then finally Zechariah 13:1, “On that day, a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” Again and again we're told in the Old Testament through the prophets, that the Messiah is to be the Son of David. That is true. So this was an easy question. Very easy. Yes, but in Jesus' hand the other shoe is about to drop. Something they hadn't thought of before. As Jesus asked this question, “Whose son is the Christ?” Now, Jesus was in fact the Son of David. As a matter of fact, by my reading, it's the first fact the New Testament gives us. It's really quite stunning if you look at it, Matthew 1:1, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David,” right away. It's the first thing we're told about the Christ. He's the Son of David. That is true. The apostle Paul makes it clear as well, in Romans 1. He speaks there of “the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures regarding his son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David.” And so the Messiah was to be a human being. He was to be a human being, a descendant, tracing his genealogy from David. Yes, that is true. Jesus in his lifetime was consistently called the Son of David and he never refuted it, he actually accepted it. After his triumphal entry, he goes into the temple and the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he was doing and the children, shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” And they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” They asked Jesus. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “Have you never read, ‘from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?” Jesus was the Son of David. Jesus’ Goal: That They Would Acknowledge His Divine Sonship But Jesus' point here is that he is so much more than that. Actually he's infinitely more than merely the Son of David. That's Jesus' point. That's the point of Psalm 110. That's the point of our text today. Jesus' goal is that they would acknowledge his divinity. His deity, that he is the Son of God, as well as the Son of David, that's the goal here. That's what he was driving them toward, and that's what I believe through the Spirit he's driving us toward here as well. And even if you acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, the text isn't done with you, it's still driving you upward to think greater thoughts of what that means, that Jesus is in fact the Son of God, and so he asks these devastating questions. "Jesus' goal is that they would acknowledge his divinity. His deity, that he is the Son of God, as well as the Son of David..." Jesus’ Devastating Next Questions Yes, he is the Son of David, but “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ then how can he be his son?” Oops, we never noticed that before. Been reading it for years, never noticed it. “The Lord said to my Lord,” one word in the Hebrew, one little letter at the end makes it possessive, we'll get to that in a minute. Verse 46, no one could say a word in reply. Jesus silenced them, and from that day they were afraid to come and bring those questions around. They came to make Him look bad, they always ended up looking bad themselves. Jesus ended up looking more glorious, more intelligent, more well thought out, more in connection with the people. A better servant of God. He always ended up looking better, they ended up looking worse. Understanding Jesus’ Argument Key #1: The Davidic Authorship of Psalm 110 Alright, now let's see if we can unravel Jesus' arguments. Let's try to find out what's at the heart of it. Alright, the first key to this whole thing is the Davidic authorship of Psalm 110, David wrote it. And I say to you, if David didn't write it then Jesus' argument falls apart. It's just a fact. If David didn't write Psalm 110 Jesus' argument falls to the ground. Did Jesus think that David wrote Psalm 110? You better believe he thinks it. “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord,’” etc. “If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” Did Jesus think David wrote this? That's a slam dunk friends, yes, Jesus clearly thought that David wrote Psalm 110. Absolutely central to the argument. Now if the Psalm was written centuries later by someone who's seeking to honor David, the argument falls apart. Such a Jewish individual writing centuries later seeking to honor David would have had no problem calling one of David's sons “My Lord,” indeed, he would have been his lord, he would have been his king. That's not a problem. Jesus' argument falls apart if David didn't write it. Key #2: The Inspiration of the Psalm (down to the “jot”) by the Holy Spirit Key number two, the inspiration of the Psalm, down to the letter by the Holy Spirit. Okay, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’?” This is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God, who came to guard David's mind from error, as he wrote Psalm 110. And so we have the inerrancy or the perfection of the Scripture as essential key here, David could have written it but he could have been wrong to call him “My Lord.” And so he has to be protected, the scripture has to be protected from error. And so the second key is the Holy Spirit's involvement in the writing of the scripture, of the text. By the way these first two keys are essential to all Old Testament scripture, and indeed new as well. Human authorship plus divine inspiration together. The Bible is a 100 percent human book, written by human authors. It is a 100 percent divine book, inspired from beginning to end by God, it's both. In that way it's very much like Jesus. 100 percent human, 100 percent divine. 2 Peter 1:20-21 figures this out for us, it says, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture ever came about by the prophet's own interpretation, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” So what happened? One day David got up and said, “Just a good day for writing scripture today, just, I mean it's just that kind of a day I just feel like writing some scripture.” No, he just wrote a Psalm. Do you think David had any reject Psalms? I bet he did. I think that year while he's waiting for Bathsheba to give birth to their child, I don't think he wrote any Psalms that made it in the Bible that year, I'm thinking. So I think there are lots of reject Psalms, but the Holy Spirit came on David that day, when he wrote Psalm 110, and the Holy Spirit said, if not directly to David, but at least to us the church, “Today I am writing scripture through you and everything you write will be perfect.” Doctrine of inspiration. Key #3: The Fact that Psalm 110 Was Speaking About the Messiah Key number three. Psalm 110 is speaking about the Messiah. It's talking about the Christ. Jesus had asked at the beginning of this is, “What do you think about the Christ?” The anointed one, the one who is to come? “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They answered “Son of David.” “Well then how is it that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’?” And then quotes Psalm 110. So key to Jesus his argument is that David is speaking about the Messiah, the one who is to come. Frankly, this whole Psalm, if you read it, Psalm 110 is messianic. It has marvelous teachings about Christ. Frankly, if it's not messianic the whole Psalm makes no sense at all. First of all, the question of this text is if David wrote it then about himself, then why would he call himself ‘Lord’? So it's certainly not about David. If someone else wrote it, about a descendant of David, who is not the Messiah, how do you explain the grandiose assertions made about him in this Psalm, like this one? Psalm 110:4, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” Look, Hebrews spends basically three chapters dealing with the depth of that argument. Psalm 110 is very, very deep, it's clearly dealing with the messiah. Key #4: The Fact that, Under the Laws of Moses, a Son is Never Greater than His Father Key number four: The fact that under the law of Moses, a son could never be considered or esteemed higher or greater than his father. In the Ten Commandments, sons are commanded to honor their fathers. There's an order there, a hierarchy. A father then would never call his son, “My Lord,” certainly not a king to the prince. Even in the rare occasions where there'll be co-regency, the father would still have the greater honor. So the logic of Jesus' question implies that the father is always seen to be greater than the son positionally. Again, this is not an essential being, like fathers are of greater essence than sons, not at all, the ground is very level before the cross, dear friends. But Jesus himself says this in that mysterious kind of way, John 14:28, “If you love me, you would be glad that I'm going to the Father for the Father's greater than I.” It's a mystery, but there's a position there, the father is greater than the son, the son receives things from the Father. That's how it works. Key #5: Every Letter is Inspired… and David Calls Him “My Lord” And key number five: Every letter in the Psalm is inspired and David calls him, “My lord.” As mentioned above, the whole argument comes down to a single letter in the Hebrew, the possessive yodh at the end of the word adon. The word adon means “Lord” or “master.” Adonai is the way that they make it possessive. My Lord, my master. You know, remember when Mary sees Jesus, resurrected Jesus she calls him Rabboni, the little i at the end is my, “my rabbi,” is what she's saying, “my master.” It makes it possessive. And so Jesus bases it on that possession. Now the word adon, translated “Lord” can simply refer to a human master or a king. Anybody in authority over you, you could use that word adon, or it could refer to God. 1 Kings 1:24, Nathan said “Have you,” speaking to David, “have you, my lord,” That's adonai, “Have you My Lord [the king] declared that Adonijah shall be king after you and then he'll sit on your throne?” But he calls him adonai, “My lord.” You can do it for a human king. But it's also a common word for Lord, as in God as well. For example in Psalm 8:1. “Oh Lord [Yahweh], our Lord [adon]. There's the word. So, they're used just side by side, “Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth” and many other examples as well. How Can the Messiah Be His Son? So in any case, why would David be calling his own son, his Master? Why would David, speaking by the Spirit, call his own descendant, my king? Why would he call him my Lord? That's Jesus' question. Do you feel the weight of it now? Now there were many sons of David, actually it wasn't a big deal to be a son - actually it was, I mean, son of the king, it's a good thing to be a son of the king, but there were lots of them. And after that certainly lots of descendants, even in the New Testament, Joseph, the husband of Mary is called “Son of David,” by Gabriel. Gabriel comes and says, Angel the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.” He’s called “Son of David.” Solomon is called “Son of David” in Proverbs 1:1. In 2 Samuel 13:1 you have it twice. “In the course of time Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.” So again, like I said, neither of those are like worthwhile people, neither Amnon nor Absalom, but they're both called “Sons of David.” But there's only one of all of his sons, that David calls, “My Lord.” There's only one. And it is the Messiah. And how great is he, friends? How great is Jesus? How great is the majesty of this descendant of David? Well, in Revelation chapter five, there is in the right hand of God, a scroll which some have interpreted to be the title deed of the whole universe. Ownership of the universe, it's there in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne. And there's this mighty angel calling out, “Who is worthy to take the scroll and break open its seals and read it?” Who is worthy to do that?" And they search heaven and earth and under the earth and no one is found who is worthy, and then suddenly, one comes. One of the elders - John as you remember weeps and weeps because nobody is found - he said, “Do not weep. Wait till you see what's about to happen.” Heaven is a happening place, friends, you don't want to miss it. I mean it's an exciting place. And so one of the elders says, “Now, watch and see. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Root of David has conquered. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” And “Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. And he had seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders, they fell down before the Lamb.” You want to know where David is right now? He's on his face before his descendant Jesus. He's on his face before Jesus and he's worshipping him gladly. He's delighted to pour forth worship on his own descendant. He's worshipping him. At the end of the Bible, Revelation 22:16, almost the last verse in the Bible, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, and the bright morning star.” Well, that's who Jesus is, and that's why David called him “My Lord,” though I don't think David fully understood it then. He understands it much better now. Amen? Much better now he understands. How much greater Jesus is than them. Jewish Attempts at Answering Jesus… Millennia Later! Central to Their Answer: The Psalm was Written About David, Not By David Well, the Jews had no answer at that point. They've had 2,000 years to think about it and now they're trying to answer. I went to a website in which some Jewish rabbis are trying to prepare Jewish people to answer Christian evangelists, and they say, you know they might bring Psalm 110 around. Now, again, they've had 2,000 years to think it through. 2,000 years to work on this, they didn't have an answer that day but maybe now they have one. Alright, you know what they say? It's right there on the website. They say that the inscription of the Psalm, just says le dawid which could be translated either “By David” or “For David,” could go either way. And so we think this Psalm was actually written in honor of David, you see. Well, that does successfully destroy Jesus' argument, but there's no scriptural merit to it at all. They don't do that with the other Psalms that are ascribed to David, they know that David wrote some Psalms. By what rule would they come to Psalm 110, and say “Well, this one was written on behalf of David, not by David.” Besides which, between you and me, let's just go with Jesus on this one I think David wrote it. Amen? So that's no good argument, there's no proof for it. Secondly: The Word “Adonai” can mean “Master” and Not “Lord” Alright, what else do they say? Well, they say adonai can actually mean “Master,” or something not actually God or Lord like he's worshipping or anything. Maybe he's just esteeming him very highly. Again, this doesn't fit the Jewish mindset at all. Again, the father is greater than the son, this would never have happened. David, you can't imagine. Imagine David coming to Solomon after he had been crowned as a successor, then bowing down to Solomon and calling him “My Lord,” I can't imagine it, neither can the Jews, it doesn't fit, friends. That's after 2,000 years, that's the best they can do. Or else maybe there's another website with a better answer, I didn't find one. Implications and Application This Psalm Helps Prove the Deity and Humanity of Christ So we'll just move on, shall we? There is no answer, except one. Can I give you this answer? Fall down on your face before Jesus and worship him. There's your answer. Fall down and acknowledge that he's God, he's not just a human being. He's God. And his deity and his humanity together coming into the world can save you from your sins, do that. Let that be your answer. And so this psalm helps prove the deity and humanity of Christ, as Gabriel said to Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, and he will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.” That's Son of God, friends, “and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.” That's humanity friends, it's the Incarnation in one message from the ancient. This Psalm also Teaches us How to Approach All OT Prophecy The Psalm also gives us the proper relationship with David to Jesus, more on that in a moment. The Psalm also teaches us how to approach all Old Testament prophecy, the principles that Jesus assumes here are key for us throughout the study of the Old Testament. All Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, the scripture secondly should be read Christologically, try to find Jesus in the Bible, and you'll find him. Find Jesus, John chapter five, “You diligently study the Scriptures, because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These scriptures testify about me,” said Jesus. So look for Jesus in the Old Testament. Flee to Christ Thirdly, scriptures should be taken letter by letter accurately. Precision always helps you friends. Look carefully. We should also be praising God for the accuracy of the Bible, Amen. You can build your life on this. This is a solid rock that isn't going away. It's still here thousands of years later and it will continue to be here. Praise God even more for the greatness of God himself, for the greatness of the precise mind of God and the way he communicates. He has so many more things to teach us. We'll spend eternity learning from God. And praise God for that. Conversely, can I urge you: fear, fear judgment by such a meticulous God, fear it. Revelation 20 and verse 12, “I saw the dead, small and great standing before the throne and the books were opened, and another book was open, which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to what they have done as recorded in the books.” He is a meticulous record keeper of your life. And you can't survive that judgment without Jesus' atoning blood. So can I urge you to come to the cross. Look to Jesus, say, “Jesus I don't have a hope, unless you died for me. Oh that you would give me your righteousness as a gift, I plead with you, forgive me,” and he will. And then your name will be in the book of life, and you will not be judged based on your sins, but based on Christ's righteousness and his covenant with you by faith. Trust in Him. Little Things Matter…Bigger Things Matter More Flee to Christ, and having fled to Christ, can I urge you to be more careful how you live, than you've been? Little things matter friends, this is a precise God and we need him to live precise lives. We get sloppy don't we? Don't we get sloppy in our lives? We let our thoughts go sloppy and we let our actions go sloppy, we get lazy in our spiritual disciplines. We serve a precise God, like the Puritans did, and he's no less precise now than he was then. He is a precise God and so “Be very careful how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity,” Ephesians 5. Very careful the life you live. Think Great Thoughts About Jesus And finally, I want to end the way I began. I just want to say sweetly to you, with joy in my heart. This actually brings me joy to tell you this, and I speak it to myself too. Your thoughts and mine, our thoughts about Jesus are too low. They're too small. So I wanna invite you on a marvelous upward journey of thinking great thoughts about Jesus. For the last one or two minutes of this sermon I just wanna compare Jesus to David. Okay, let's just compare them. When we first meet David he was ruddy and handsome. Good looking young boy. Jesus, I tell you, will be the most beautiful sight you've ever seen in your life. It's kind of like all beauty emanates from Christ, He is the radiance of God's glory, it's gonna shine from him. And just the sight of it is gonna change you for eternity, you'll lose your sin nature as soon as you see him. Alright, then we see David, as a young shepherd boy taking care of his father's sheep. And you remember how he killed the lion and the bear with the sling and all that kind of thing. Jesus has done infinitely better than that. He cares for the sheep as a Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And not one of them is lost. He is better, a better shepherd than David. David was chosen from among Jessie's sons and anointed before his brothers to be king over Israel by Samuel. But Jesus was chosen by God before the foundation of the world, to be King of the Universe, and was anointed not by oil, but by the Holy Spirit of God. That's why he's called the Christ, the Anointed One. David courageously fought and defeated Goliath. He was an enemy that everyone was afraid to face. And he won. Jesus defeated the world, the flesh, the devil, sin and death. Enemies that none of us could face. And won an infinitely greater victory, and the spoils from David's victory over the Philistines lasted for just a little while. We get the spoils from Jesus' victory and they last for all eternity. He just gives better gifts than David did. David was persecuted by Saul out of jealousy for a short period of time. I don't know anybody persecuting David now. Are they still persecuting Jesus? Oh yes they are. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Said Jesus. They've been after Jesus for 2,000 years. They still hate him, and they're still slandering him and taking his name in vain and doing all kinds of stuff, they still hate Jesus because Satan hates Jesus, he's been persecuted still, but the amazing thing about Jesus is how gracious he is. If you just turn, if you just repent, he will accept you. All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never drive them away, I'll just take them, even if it's Saul of Tarsus who's been hating on me for a while. He'll take him. That's the graciousness. “Any sin and blasphemy spoken against the Son of Man will be forgiven,” said Jesus. Isn't that marvelous? David eventually became king over Judah and then had to fight for it but became king over Israel. Jesus is King of kings, friends. He's the King of all kings, not just over little Judah and Israel. David reigned for 33 years, how long will Jesus reign? For eternity, forever and ever. He will reign on that throne. David ruled imperfectly but with a sense of being a man after God's own heart, with judgment and righteousness, but he still sinned, and because of his sin, some people had to die in a plague. Jesus, he's a perfect King, everything he does is right. Everything he does is righteousness. He's a perfect exemplar of righteousness and justice on the throne. David sinned with Bathsheba, and had Bathsheba's husband murdered, Uriah, to cover up his sin. Two things. Jesus never sinned, ever. But Jesus shed his blood for David so David wouldn't have to go to Hell for that sin. He died for David's sin, so that David could actually be up in heaven in one of those concentric circles around Jesus worshipping and praising him. David eventually died and was buried and his body decayed. Jesus died for our sins, was buried, but on the third day he rose again, and he never decayed and his body ascended up and it's at the right hand of Almighty God and there he will be forever and ever. Jesus is just better than David, Amen? And David knows it doesn't he? Knows it now, doesn't he? And so he says still, “My Lord.” Won't you call him your Lord? Close with me in prayer.

In this episode, we'll take a look at English Puritanism.In Episode 96, English Candles, we considered the arrival of the Reformation in England and the career of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of the Anglican Church. When Catholic Queen Mary ascended the throne, she persecuted Protestants. But when Elizabeth became queen, a new day dawned for the Reformation there.Queen Elizabeth followed a median course between religious conservatives who sought to retain as much of the ancient practices and beliefs as possible, and Reformers who believed the entire life and structure of the church ought to adjust to what they saw as a Biblical norm. During Elizabeth's reign, that delicate balance was maintained though tensions surfaced repeatedly. Her strength and decisiveness managed to restrained both sides, barely.Elizabeth left no heir when she died in 1603. But she'd made arrangements for the succession to pass to James, son of Mary Stuart, already serving as king of Scotland. The transition was fairly smooth, bringing the House of Stuart to reign over England. James VI of Scotland became James I of England. He didn't find ruling his expanded realm an easy matter. The English regarded him a foreigner. His plan to unite both kingdoms earned him determined opponents on both sides.Elizabeth's reforms of England's economic policies were bearing fruit, especially among the growing merchant class, who resented the James' royalist policies favoring the nobility. But James's greatest troubles were with Reformers who wanted to see the English church purged of all Romanish influences. They regarded James as standing in the way. His native Scotland had moved further along that Reformation Road under the work of John Knox. English Calvinists felt the time was ripe for similar changes in their land.These Reformers didn't comprise a single group, nor did they agree on all matters. So it's difficult describing them in general terms. One of the most influential groups was given the name Puritans because they insisted on the need to purify the Church. They opposed many of the traditional aspects of worship the Church of England retained; things like the use of the Cross as a symbol, priestly garments, and the celebration of communion on an altar. They differed over whether there even ought to be an altar; wasn't a simple table good enough? And if a table, should it be placed so as not to give anyone the idea it WAS an altar. Things like this led to bitter disputes They may have left behind the Scholastic argument of how many angels can dance ion the head of a pin, but they argued over now less inconsequential issues as how much lace their ought to be in a collar.Puritans insisted on the need for a sober life, guided by the commands of Scripture, and abstinence from luxury and ostentatious displays of wealth. Since a great deal of the worship of the Church of England appeared to them as needlessly elaborate, this caused further objection to such worship. Many insisted on the need to keep the Lord's Day sacred, devoting it exclusively to religious exercises and charity. They also rejected the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the use of written prayers in general, declaring such led to insincerity, so that even the Lord's Prayer, rather than a set of words to be repeated, was to be used as a model for prayer. They weren't opposed to the use of alcohol, for most of them drank moderately, but they were quite critical of drunkenness. They were also critical of all they considered licentious; like the theater, because immorality was often depicted and because of the inherent duplicity required for acting. They considered it a kind of lying because someone pretended to be someone else.This tone of super-critical Puritanism would much later move HL Mencken to describe Puritanism as, “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having a good time.”A precise definition of Puritanism has been a matter much debate, due in part to its multifaceted influence in not only religious and theological matters but in its impact on England's politics and society.Some of the difficulty in defining Puritanism comes from its caricatures that began in the 16th C. As with so many of the labels that have been attributed to movements in Church History, the word “Puritan” was originally a slam applied by critics. They considered Puritans to be peevish, censorious, conceited hypocrites. That reputation, once applied, stuck to them all the way to our day.In truth, there was a surprising diversity among Puritans. They shared a common theological confession, while differing on how the Church ought to be organized. Some Puritans thought the existing Anglican hierarchy of bishops was fine while others wanted to restructure the Church along more Presbyterian lines. Still others embraced a congregational form of church government. Some advocated separation from the established church, while others remained. Some were royalist, others revolutionary, even to the point of regicide. While Puritans differed in worship styles and expressions of piety, they ALL wanted the English Church to more closely resemble the Reformed churches on the Continent.Many Puritans were opposed to bishops. They argued that the highly-structured church hierarchy of the Church of England was a late invention, not found in the Bible. They said the Church ought to look to Scripture as its constitution not only for doctrine, but also in its organization and governance. Moderate Puritans responded that the Bible didn't actually give a prescription for a specific form of Church government. What it had were principles that could be applied in different ways. Others insisted that the New Testament Church was ruled by elders called “presbyters.” Then others claimed each congregation ought to be independent. They were creatively dubbed “Independents.”Baptists rose mostly among this last group. One of their early leaders was John Smyth, an Anglican priest who decided the Church of England had not reformed far enough. He established an independent, and at that time, illegal, congregation. As it grew, Smyth and his followers fled to Amsterdam. There he continued his study of the Bible, and came to the point of refusing to use translations of the Bible in worship, for only the original text had absolute authority. At church, he would read Scripture in Hebrew or Greek, and translate the text as he preached. Partly through his study of Scripture, and partly through contact with Mennonites—whose pacifism and refusal to take oaths, he adopted—e eventually becoming convinced infant baptism was wrong. He then re-baptized himself with a bucket and ladle and proceeded to baptized his followers.The move of Smyth and his flock to Holland was financed by a wealthy lawyer named Thomas Helwys, who eventually broke with the ever-reforming Smyth. The breaking point of contention was over the taking of vows.  Smyth rejected any form of vow while, as a lawyer, Helwys considered them a necessary convention safeguarding social order. Helwys and his followers returned to England, where in 1611 they founded the first Baptist Church in England.Eventually, to really no one's surprise, a disagreement arose among English Baptists over theological issues similar to those that had risen between Calvinists and Arminianists. Those who favored the Arminian-flavored path were called General Baptists while Calvinist-leaning Baptists were referred to as Particular Baptists.The balance Elizabeth maintained in the Church of England began to wobble under James. While its theology was moderately Calvinist, its worship and governance followed the older Roman order. Puritans feared a movement was under way to return to what they called “Romanism.”They didn't trust the new king, whose mother was none other than the Catholic Mary Stuart, AKA Mary, Queen of Scots, who'd been executed by Elizabeth on the charge of treason in plotting to assassinate Elizabeth and take her throne. James didn't, in fact, favor Catholicism though Puritans assumed he would and hoped to gain concessions. They were repeatedly disappointed. James' goal was the same kind of absolutist monarchy then in place in France. In Scotland, his Presbyterian subjects hadn't allowed him to reign as he wished. He thought his chances for absolutism were better in the South. To that end he strengthened the bishops of the English Church as a prop to his own power. He declared, “Without bishops, there is no king,” meaning monarchy is better supported by a hierarchical church structure.James' religious policy was similar to Elizabeth's. The Anabaptists were persecuted because James was offended by their egalitarianism that threatened to up-end the highly stratified English society. For goodness sake; we can't have peasants thinking they're as important as nobles. What a catastrophe if humble commoners mixed with blue bloods. So, the Anabaptists with their calling everyone “brother” and “sister” had to be repressed. They were; brutally. And Catholics, who thought James would be their guy, were regarded by him as agents of the Pope, who everyone knew wanted to get rid of James. James said if the pope acknowledged his right to rule and condemned regicide, which a few of the more extreme Catholics pushed for, James would tolerate the presence of Catholics in his realm. Presbyterians, whom the king had come to hate in Scotland, were barely tolerated in England. James did grant them minor concessions, but only to keep them from making trouble.Tension between Anglican bishops and Puritans grew to a boil during James's reign. In 1604, Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, had a series of canons approved offensive to Puritans. One affirmed that episcopal hierarchy was an institution of divine origin, and that without it there could be no true church. This ostracized the many Protestant churches in Europe that had no bishops. Puritans saw it as provoking a showdown between themselves and the Church of England. Some assumed it was all preparation by the Church of England to reunite with Rome.James called Parliament to sit for the approval of new taxes to complete some of England's projects. The House of Commons included many Puritans who joined others in an appeal to the king against Bancroft's canons. James convened a committee at Hampton Court to consider the canons, over which he presided. When one of the Puritans made reference to the church being governed by a “presbytery,” James announced there would be no closer connection between the monarchy and a presbytery than there COULD be between God and the Devil. All attempts at compromise failed. The only result of meeting was that a new translation of the Bible was approved.  It appeared in 1611 and is known today as the KJV. Produced at a high-point in the development of the English language, along with the Book of Common Prayer—the King James Bible became a classic that profoundly influenced later English literature.But, this marks the beginning of a growing hostility between the House of Commons and the bishops of the Church of England.Late in 1605, what's known as the Gunpowder Plot was discovered. A repressive law against Catholics was issued the previous year on the pretext they were loyal to the pope rather than the king. The real purpose of the law was to collect funds. Authorities used it to impose heavy fines and confiscate property. Catholics came to the conclusion the solution was to be rid of the king. A property was rented whose cellars extended below the room where Parliament met. Several wine barrels were filled with gunpowder and set under the room. The plan was to detonate them as the king opened Parliament. This would rid England of James and many Puritans leaders. But the plot was discovered; the conspirators executed. This unleashed a wave of anti-catholic sentiment in England that saw many arrested and imprisoned. James used the whole affair a way to lay heavy fines on Catholics and confiscate more property.After those first years of his reign, James tried to rule without Parliament. But English law stipulated it alone could approve new taxes. So in 1614, when his finances were desperate, James relented and again convened Parliament. New elections brought in a House of Commons even more stubborn than the previous. So James dissolved it and again tried to rule without it. He turned to the few tariffs he could levy without Parliament's approval. He borrowed from bishops and nobility.Then the Thirty Years' War broke out. Frederick, King of Bohemia, was James's son-in-law. But James offered no support. English Protestants named James a traitor and coward. Je replied that he WANTED to help, but that the Puritans held the purse and war is expensive! Finally, in 1621, James re-convened Parliament, hoping the House of Commons would agree to new taxes with the proviso that some, at least, of the revenue would support German Protestants in the war. But it was discovered James planned to marry his son and the heir to England's throne to a Spanish princess, a Catholic Hapsburg! Such an alliance was regarded by the Puritans as an abomination. So, James once again dissolved the House of Commons and arrested several of its leaders. The marriage plans were abandoned for other reasons, and in 1624 James once again called a meeting of Parliament, only to dissolve it anew without obtaining the funds he required. Shortly thereafter, he died, and was succeeded by his son Charles, who'd been a good student of his father's routine with Parliament.English Puritans welcomed Charles I to his throne with less enthusiasm than they had his father. Charles said that kings are “little gods on Earth.” Puritans knew this didn't bode well for their future relations. Nor did it help that Charles immediately married a Roman Catholic princess, Henrietta-Marie de Bourbon, raising the specter of a Catholic heir to the English throne.The relationship between the Crown and the mostly Puritan Parliament went from bad to worse. Puritan antagonism toward the King rose in 1633 when the King appointed William Laud as archbishop of Canterbury. Laud embarked on a policy of High Anglicanism with a strong sacramentalism and a theological slant toward Arminianism that tweaked the Calvinist Puritans.In what proved his undoing, Charles tried to impose on the Scottish Church the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in 1637, which one Scot called the “vomit of Romish superstition.” When a marketplace grocer named Jenny Geddes heard the dean of St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh read from the new prayer book, she stood up and threw her stool at him, yelling, “Devil cause you colic in your stomach, false thief: dare you say the Mass in my ear?”Yep – them Scots! Peaceful lot they are. Which, I get to say, because I am one.Jenny's reaction was a foretaste of a brewing rebellion. Riots broke out in Edinburgh, and in early 1638, the Scottish formalized their opposition to King Charles innovation by establishing the National Covenant. Many signed it in their own blood, making it clear they'd die before submitting to Laud's Anglicanism. Charles led two military campaigns, known as the Bishops' Wars (1639–40), in an effort to quell the Scottish rebellion. Both were turned back.The Scottish army then occupied northern England and threatened to march south. In November, 1640 King Charles HAD to once again convene Parliament. Never had there been a body more hostile to the monarch. They immediately passed a law forbidding him to dissolve it without its consent. This came to be known as the “Long Parliament,” since it stayed in session for 20 years.Archbishop Laud was charged with treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London.The conflict between King and Parliament reached a boiling point. Charles was convinced Puritan members of Parliament had committed treason by conspiring with the Scots to invade England. Charles, accompanied by 400 soldiers, burst into the House of Commons in January 1642, planning to arrest them. But the men had been warned and fled. This attack on Parliament by armed troops was an egregious violation of British rights. Charles realized his error and a few days later, fearing now for his own safety, fled London.We pick it up at this point in our next Episode.

This, the 117th episode of CS is titled, “Which Witch?” and is a brief review of the well-known but poorly understood Salem Witch Trials.They're often brought up by critics of Christianity as examples of religious intolerance and superstition. And while they did indeed carry a bit of that, they were far more a case of a breakdown in the judicial system. The phrase “witch-hunt” refers to an attempt to find something damning in an otherwise innocent victim. What's rarely mentioned is that while there was a brief flurry of witch-hunting that went on in the New England colonies, it was a long practice in Europe from the mid-15th thru mid-18th Cs. It reached its peak in the about fifty-year span from between 1580 and 1630. It's difficult to sort out how many were executed but scholars say it was from a low of 40,000 to as high as 60,000.In light of such large numbers, the twenty executed in the Salem Trials seems trivial. But that even a single person was executed on the charge of witchcraft was a travesty of justice.Witch hunts began in the 15th C in southeast France and western Switzerland. The European witch craze was fueled by the publication of The Hammer of the Witches in 1486, by the inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.The trials included men and women of all ages and classes.In New England, there'd been three hangings for witchcraft prior to Salem. But the first sign of trouble in Salem Village occurred during the winter of 1692, when Elizabeth Parris the nine-year-old daughter of the village pastor and her eleven-year-old cousin Abigail Williams, began displaying bizarre behavior. The girls screamed uncontrollably, hurled items, groaned, and threw fits of wild contortions. Witchcraft immediately surfaced as a possible explanation.Suspicion quickly centered on three women living on the margins of village life. One was a homeless woman named Sarah Good. Another was an infrequent church-attender and so obviously suspicious woman named Sarah Osborne. The third was Tituba, a slave known for fortune-telling. These three were interrogated in March, 1692 and sentenced to jail.Tituba's ethnic origins are difficult to sort out but she appears to have been an African slave brought from the Caribbean to serve in the home of Pastor Samuel Parris, Elizabeth's father. She regaled the young girls with tales of the occult and indulged their desire to have their fortunes read. When the girls were caught gazing into a crystal ball, they tried to shift blame by affecting bizarre behavior that made them appear victims of spells cast on them by something malevolent or better, some-one.For anyone's who's worked with adolescent girls likely knows, it didn't take long before others of their age saw all the attention this gained them. So they affected similar behavior to get a slice of the attention pie. They accused the soft targets of women already considered odd and suspicious. Tituba was the first to be accused, but soon Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne were also implicated, questioned, and remanded to custody.Making matters more complicated was a long-running feud between the Putnam and Porter families. Charges and counter-charges of the damning charge of devil-worship flew on both sides. Pastor Parris used his pulpit to fan the flames of superstition that ANYONE in Salem might in fact be in league with Satan.In March, several more women were accused. Then, anyone who questioned the girl's veracity was suspected. Sarah Good's four-year-old daughter Dorothy was arrested and interrogated.Accusations began pouring in. More arrests made. But now many of those arrested weren't just on the fringe of Salem village life. They were upstanding members of the community and church. As tension grew, Governor William Phips set up a special court to adjudicate the cases.The first to be brought to trial was Bridget Bishop, who was accused of being a witch because her immoral lifestyle and affinity for darks clothes suggested she was in league with hell. She was found guilty and was executed by hanging in June, 1692. Five more women were executed in July, and then four men and one woman in August. The last executions took place in September when six women and three men were hung.Some of those arrested confessed they had practiced witchcraft, and accused others of being their mentors. But scholars now believe these confessions were made under duress and with the promise that by implicating others they might be allowed to go free.Giles Corey, an eighty-year-old farmer and husband of one of the accused, was also arrested in September. Corey refused to cooperate with the authorities and was subjected to a form of torture in which the subject is placed beneath an increasingly heavy load of stones in an attempt to compel him to enter a plea. After two days, Corey died without confessing.The last trial occurred at the end of April, and all five accused were found not guilty, bringing an end to the episode. In the final count, twenty were hung, one was crushed to death, and four died in prison.Twenty years later, the Massachusetts court declared the entire ordeal had been a gross injustice and ordered indemnifications be paid to the victims' families.At the time, two of New England's most influential leaders were the father and son, Increase and Cotton Mather. Increase, who became president of Harvard, believed in the reality of witchcraft and has been blamed for much of what happened in Salem. But he severely criticized the proceedings and use of spectral evidence which was central to the case.Spectral evidence was the testimony of the young girls and their supporters who claimed they saw certain things that must mean the accused were in fact witches bent on the spiritual and social unraveling of the Salem community. They saw what they described as ghost-like images. Increase Mather decried the use of such spectral evidence as being inappropriate to condemn someone to death. His son Cotton took a similar position, first writing against witchcraft, then deploring the manner in which the trials were conducted.It was the two-fold whammy of the Mather's condemnation of spectral evidence and that the girls apparently began to stretch out a bit to see just what they could get away with that moved people to begin to wonder what was going on in Salem. It's one thing to accuse oddballs and misfits of being witches. But when some of the community's most respected members and people known for their upstanding virtue were accused à Well, maybe we've been played by a handful of teens.While religious superstition fueled the panic that fired the Salem Witch Trials, it was in fact a failure of the judicial system that saw people hanged. And while Pastor Parris stirred the pot in Salem with his use of the pulpit to fuel suspicion, it was the work of two other pastors, Increase and Cotton Mather that moved the people of Salem and Massachusetts to calm down and end the trials.We turn now in the balance of this episode to tie off the Puritanism of New England.Within a single generation, the original Puritan vision of a City on a Hill was already dimming. A new cosmopolitanism from Europe had transformed cities like Boston. By the early 18th C, American Puritanism had split into three factions.First there were Congregational churches, which down-played Calvinist doctrines and looked to the Enlightenment. These came to be called the “Old Lights.”Then there were those who continued to practice the rigid Calvinism of their forebears, referred to as the “Old Calvinists.”The third group emerged from the “Great Awakening” with its pietistic emphasis on a “new birth.” The “New Lights.”Puritanism wasn't static on either side of the Atlantic. It couldn't be since their political contexts were vastly different. English Puritans were engaged in a civil war, while New England Puritans were carving a life out of a new world. Despite minor variations like the New England Halfway Covenant, the Puritan theological core remained the same. The Westminster Confession of Faith is a solid guide in identifying the theological tenets of Puritanism.The Confession was the work of the Westminster Assembly which met from 1643-9.The Assembly was a committee appointed by Parliament. It was charged with drawing up a new liturgy to replace the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and for implementing a new plan for church government. It met in what's called the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey for the first time on July 1, 1643. Parliament appointed 121 clergy and 30 laypeople to the assembly.It replaced the Book of Common Prayer with the Directory of Public Worship in 1645, and the 39 Articles of the Church of England were replaced by the Westminster Confession in 1646. The House of Commons returned the original draft of the Confession with instructions to add biblical proof texts. Revisions were made, and the Confession was ratified by Parliament. Two catechisms were added. The Larger Catechism (designed for instructing adults) and the Shorter Catechism (a bit easier for children) were approved in 1648.The Church of Scotland also adopted it without amendment, satisfying compliance with the Solemn League and Covenant. Its work completed, the Westminster Assembly dissolved in 1649.

This is the second episode in which we look at English Puritanism.We left off last time with King Charles I fleeing London after breaking into The House of Commons to arrest the Puritan members of Parliament he accused of treason. The men had been warned and had fled. What Charles had hoped would be a dramatic show of his defense of the realm against dangerous elements, ended up being an egregious violation of British rights. So in fear for his own life, he packed up his family and headed out of town.Back in London, John Pym, a leader of Parliament, ruled as a kind of king without a crown. The House of Commons proposed a law excluding the royalist faction of bishops in the House of Lords from Parliament. Other members of the House of Lords surprisingly agreed, so the clergy were expelled. This commenced a process that would eventually disbar anyone from Parliament who disagreed with the Puritans. The body took on an ever-increasing bent toward the radical. Feeling their oats, Parliament then ordered a militia be recruited. The king decided the time had come to respond with decisive action. He gathered loyal troops and prepared for battle against Parliament's militia. Civil War had come to England.Both sides began by building forces. Charles' support came from the nobility, while Parliament found it among those who'd suffered most in recent royal shenanigans. Parliament's army came from the lower classes, to which were added some from the emerging merchant middle-class, as well as a handful of those nobles who'd not been in favor at Court. The king's strength was the cavalry, which of course was traditionally the noble's military specialty. The Parliamentary forces strength was in their infantry amd navy, which controlled trade.At the outset of the war, there were only minor skirmishes. Parliament sought help from the Scots, while Charles sought it from Irish Catholics. In its efforts to attract the Scots, Parliament enacted a series of measures leaning toward Presbyterianism. English Puritans didn't agree with the Presbyterian plan for church government, but they certainly didn't like the episcopacy of the Church of England's royalist bishops. English Puritans ended up adopting the Presbyterian model, not only because it irked those Bishops, but because it made more Biblical sense at the time, and because confiscation of bishops' property meant Parliament could fund the war without creating new taxes.Parliament also convened a groups of theologians to advise it on religious matters. The Westminster Assembly included 121 ministers, 30 laymen and 8 Scottish representatives. Being that the Scots had the strongest army in Great Britain, though they numbered only 5% of the total participants in the assembly, their influence was decisive. The Westminster Confession which they produced became one of the fundamental documents of Calvinist orthodoxy. Although some of the Assembly's members were Independents who followed a congregational-form of government, and others still leaned toward an episcopacy, the Assembly settled on a Presbyterian church government, and urged Parliament to adopt it for the Church of England. In 1644, Parliament joined the Scots in a Solemn League and Covenant that committed them to Presbyterianism. The following year the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, was executed on the order of Parliament.As Parliament built up its army, Oliver Cromwell came to the fore. A relatively wealthy man, he descended from one of Henry VIII's advisors. Oliver was a devoted Puritan, convinced that every decision, both personal and political, ought to be based on the will of God as revealed in Scripture.  Though he was often slow in coming to a decision, once set upon a course, he was determined to follow it through to its conclusion, believing it to be, in fact, God's Will. Respected by fellow Puritans, until the Civil War he was simply known as a member of the House of Commons. But when he was convinced armed conflict was inevitable, Cromwell returned home where he recruited a cavalry corps. He knew cavalry was the king's main weapon, and that Parliament would need their own. His zeal was contagious, and his small force accomplished great deeds. They charged into battle singing psalms, convinced they were engaged in a holy cause. That attitude spread to the rest of the Parliament's army which crushed the royal army at the Battle of Naseby.That was the beginning of the end for the king. The rebels captured his camp, where they found proof he'd been asking foreign Catholic troops to invade England. Charles then tried to negotiate with the Scots, hoping to win them with promises. But the Scots took him prisoner and turned him over to Parliament. Having won the war, Parliament adopted a series of Puritan measures, including setting the precedent that Sunday was to be reserved for solemn religious observances rather than the frivolous pastimes increasingly being adopted by the English nobility and emerging middle-class.The Puritans, who' had to unite due to war, now returned to what they best at, arguing among themselves. Most of Parliament supported a Presbyterian form of church govt, which made for a national church without bishops. But the Independents who made up the majority of the army leaned toward congregationalism. They feared a Presbyterian church would begin to limit their ability to pursue their faith the way their conscience demanded. Tension grew between Parliament and the army.In 1646, Parliament unsuccessfully tried to dissolve the army. Radical groups gained ground. A wave of apocalyptic fervor swept England, moving many to demand a transformation of the social order thru justice and equality. Parliament and the leaders of the Army began to square off with each other.Then è The king escaped. He opened negotiations with the Scots, the army, and Parliament, making contradictory promises to all three. Somehow he managed to gain support from the Scots by promising to install Presbyterianism in England. When the Scots invaded, the Puritan army defeated them, captured Charles I, and began a purge of those factions in Parliament they deemed inconsistent with the reforms they envisioned. Forty-five MPs were arrested. What remained was labeled by its enemies the Rump Parliament because all that was left was the posterior of a real parliament.The Rump Parliament began proceedings against Charles, accused of high treason and of having thrust England into a bloody civil war. The fourteen lords who appeared for the meeting of the House of Lords refused to agree to the proceedings. But the House of Commons carried on, and Charles, who refused to defend himself on the grounds his judges had no legal standing, was beheaded at the end of Jan, 1649.Now, I'm sure someone's likely thinking, “Is this Communio Sanctorum or Revolutions?” Yeah, this doesn't sound much like CHURCH history. It's more English History. So what's up? Well, it's important we realize the roll Puritanism and Presbyterianism played in this period of English history. The Reformation had a huge impact on the course of events in the British Isles.Fearing the loss of their independence from England, the Scots quickly acknowledged Charles' son Charles II, as their sovereign. And in the South, England descended into chaos among several factions all vying for powerThat's when Cromwell took the reins. He commandeered the Rump Parliament, stamped out a rebellion in Ireland and the royalists in Scotland. Charles II fled to the Continent.When Parliament moved to pass a law perpetuating its power, Cromwell expelled the few remaining representatives, and locked the building.  Seemingly against his will, Cromwell had become master of the nation. He tried to return some form of representative government, but eventually took the title Lord Protector. He was supposed to rule with the help of a Parliament that would include representatives from England, Scotland, and Ireland. In reality, the new Parliament was mostly English, and Cromwell was the real government.He set out to reform both church and state. Given the time, his policies were fairly tolerant. Although he was an Independent, he tried to develop a religious system with room for Presbyterians, Baptists, and even advocates of episcopacy. As a Puritan, he tried to reform English society through legislation. These laws were aimed at keeping the Lord's Day devoted to sacred rites, ending horse races, cockfights, the theater, and so on. His economic policies favored the middle-class at the expense of the nobility. Among both the very wealthy and the very poor, opposition to his rule, which is called the Protectorate, grew.Cromwell retained control while he lived. But his dream of a stable republic failed. Like the monarchs before him, he was unable to get along with Parliament—though his supporters kept his opponents from taking their seats. Since the Protectorate was clearly temporary, Cromwell was offered the crown, but refused it, hoping to create a republic. In 1658, shortly before his death, in a move that seems politically schizophrenic, Cromwell named his son as his successor. But Richard was most definitely not his father. He resigned his post.Parliament then recalled Charles II to England's throne. This brought about a reaction against the Puritans. Although Charles at first sought to find a place for Presbyterians within the Church of England, the new Parliament opposed it, preferring a return to the bishops' episcopacy. The Book of Common Prayer was reinstalled after being out of favor for several years, and dissenters were banned. But such laws weren't able to curb the several movements that had emerged during the previous unrest. They continued outside the law until, late in that 17th C, toleration was decreed.In Scotland, the consequences of the restoration were more severe. With the episcopacy reinstalled in England, the staunch Presbyterianism of the North was challenged anew. Scotland erupted in riot. Archbishop James Sharp, prime prelate of Scotland, was murdered. This brought English intervention in support of Scottish royalists. The Presbyterians were drowned in blood.On his deathbed, Charles II declared himself a Catholic, confirming the suspicions of many that he'd been an agent of Rome all along and thus all the blood of Puritans and Presbyterians.  His brother and successor, James II, moved to restore Roman Catholicism as the official religion of his kingdom. In England, he sought to gain the support of dissidents by decreeing religious tolerance. But the anti-Catholic sentiments among the dissidents ran so strong they preferred no tolerance to the risk of a return to Rome. Conditions in Scotland were worse, for James II placed Catholics in positions of power, and decreed death for any who attended unapproved worship.After three years under James II, the English rebelled and invited William, Prince of Orange, along with his wife Mary, James's daughter, to take the throne. William landed in 1688, and James fled to France. In Scotland, his supporters held on for a few months, but by the next year, William and Mary were in possession of the Scottish crown as well. Their religious policy was tolerant. In England, tolerance was granted to any who subscribed to the thirty-nine Articles of 1562, and swore loyalty to the King and Queen. Those who refused, were granted tolerance as long as they didn't conspire against the crown. In Scotland, Presbyterianism became the official religion of State, the Westminster Confession its doctrinal norm.But even after the Restoration, the Puritan ideal lingered and greatly influenced British ethics. Its two great literary figures, John Bunyan and John Milton, along with Shakespeare, long endured among the most read of English authors. Bunyan's most famous work, known by its abbreviated title Pilgrim's Progress, became a hugely popular, and the subject of much meditation and discussion for generations. Milton's Paradise Lost determined the way in which the majority of the English-speaking world read and interpreted the Bible.

Although it surely would have grieved him had he lived to see it, Martin Luther's legacy in the years after his death a Century of war. This war didn't only pit Catholics against Protestants. Various factions among the Protestants warred with each other. If the Reformers hoped to purify the Church of both theological error and political corruption, they may have succeeded in the first endeavor but failed miserably in the second. Those who want to use religion for personal ends don't care what face the mask bears, so long as it gets the job done. Some of the more devastating wars included the French wars of religion, the Dutch revolt against Philip II of Spain, the attempted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada, the 30 Years War in Germany, and the Puritan revolution in England.The 17th C was a time of theological and political entrenchment. European Christendom was now divided into four groups: Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and the Anabaptists. The first three became officially associated with regions and their governments, while Anabaptists, after their disastrous failure at Munster, learned their lesson and sought to live out their faith independently of entanglements with civil authority. During the 17th C, Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed developed impenetrable confessional bulwarks against one another.As we saw in a previous episode, Catholic orthodoxy achieved its definitive shape with the Council of Trent in the mid-16th C. The Jesuits played a major role at Trent, especially in answering the challenge presented by Luther's view on justification and grace. The Council affirmed the importance of the sacraments and the Roman church's theological position on the Eucharist. At Trent, the Jesuits affirmed the importance Thomism, that is, the work of Thomas Aquinas, in setting doctrine. The triumph of Thomism at Trent set the future trajectory of Catholic theology.In the last episode, we looked at the rise of Protestant Scholasticism in post-reformation Europe. While Protestant orthodoxy is concerned with correct theological content, Protestant Scholasticism had more to do with methodology.From the mid-16th thru 17th C, Protestant orthodoxy clarified, codified, and defended the work of the early Reformers. Then, after the careers of the next generation of Reformers, it's convenient to identify three phases orthodoxy moved through. Early orthodoxy runs from the mid-16th to mid-17th C. It was a time when Lutheran and Reformed groups developed their Confessions.  High orthodoxy goes from the mid- to late 17th C. This was a time of conflict when the Confessions hammered out earlier were used as a litmus test of faith and formed battlelines to fight over. Late orthodoxy covers the 18th C, when the people of Europe began to ask why, if Protestant confessions were true, rather than leading to the Peace the Gospel promised, they lead instead to war, death, and widespread misery.In truth, people had been asking that question for a lot longer than that; ever since the Church and State became pals back in the 4th C. But it wasn't till the 18th they felt the freedom to voice their concerns publicly without the certainty they'd be set on by the authorities.As Protestants and Catholics identified their differing theological positions, they became increasingly mindful of their methodology in refining their Confessions. Each appealed to the intellectual high ground, claiming a superior method for defining terms and reasoning. This was the age when there was a return by Christian theologians to Aristotelian logic.Once the Council of Trent concluded and the Roman Church fixed its position, the opportunity for theological dialogue between Protestants and Catholics came to a firm end. After that it was simply up to the various major groups to fine tune their Confessions, then fire salvos at any and everyone who differed. It was the Era of Polemics; of diatribes and discourses disparaging those who dared to disagree.In a previous episode we dealt with the career of Jacob Hermanzoon; AKA Jacobus Arminius. Arminius rejected the Calvinism promulgated by Calvin's protégé Theodore Beza. Arminius' followers developed what they called the Remonstrance, a five-part summary of what they understood Arminius' positions to be on key issues of Reformed Theology. A theological and, wouldn't you just know it, political controversy ensued that was addressed at the Synod of Dort. The Synod declared Arminius a heretic, the Remonstrance in error, and the five-petals of the Calvinist Tulip were framed in response to the five-points of the Remonstrance. A few Arminianist leaders were either executed or jailed while some two-hundred pastors were removed and replaced with Dort-aligned ministers. Despite this, the Arminianist-position endured and continued to hold sway over the conscience of many.A couple decades after the Synod of Dort, another controversy surfaced among Reformed churches in France. It centered on the work of the brilliant theologian Moses Amyraut, professor at the then famous School of Samur. Amyraut took issue with one of the articles of the Canons of Dort, the doctrine of limited atonement. He argued for unlimited atonement, believing that Christ's atonement was sufficient for all humanity, but efficient only for the elect. His view is sometimes known as “Hypothetical Universalism” far more commonly as four-point Calvinism.In A Short Treatise on Predestination published in 1634, Amyraut proposed that God fore-ordained a universal salvation through the sacrifice of Christ for all but that salvation wouldn't be effectual unless appropriated by personal faith.Amyraut's modification of Calvinism came to be labeled as Amyraldism and led to recurring charges of heresy. Amyraut was exonerated, yet opposition endured in many churches of France, Holland, and Switzerland.Sadly, after Luther's death, the movement that bore his name fell into disarray and in-fighting. Lutherans broke into 2 main camps. Those who claimed to stay strictly loyal to Martin, and those who followed his cheif assistant, Philip Melancthon. They remained at something of a theological stalemate until the Formula of Concord in 1577, the definitive statement of Lutheran orthodoxy. Much of the destruction of the Thirty-Years War took place on German soil. Agriculture collapsed, famine spread, and universities closed. By the end the war, there were at least 8 million fewer people in Germany.The Peace of Westphalia made room for Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, depending on the religious leaning of the ruler. Weary of bloodshed, the three communions withdrew behind polemic-firewalls. Instead of firing cannonballs at each other, they lobbed theological word-bombs.Pietism was a kind of war-weary reaction to the new scholasticism the theology of Lutheranism settled into. Pietists viewed what was happening in the retrenchment in Lutheran theology as a “deadening orthodoxy” that stole the life out of faith. Pietism didn't set out to establish a new church. It simply sought a renewal that would turn dead orthodoxy in a living faith. Pietism saw itself as an Ecclesiola in Ecclesia, that is, “a little church within the larger church.”It seems Pietism has been loaded with a lot of emotional baggage and negative connotation of late. Critics today regard Pietists as aiming to privatize their faith, to withdraw from the public square and divorce faith from the wider world. To use Jesus' term, they see pietism as an attempt to hide you light under a basket, to put the city, not just in a valley, but in a cave. While some Pietists did privatize faith, that wasn't the goal of Pietism.It was a movement that simply sought to keep piety, the practice of godliness, as a vital and integral part of daily life. It was understood that godliness wasn't the result of rules and regulations but of a genuine relationship with God. Pietism was a reaction to the dead orthodoxy of the State-approved Lutheranism of the early 17th C.This is not to say scholastic theologians were all lifeless profs. Some of them produced moving hymns and stirring devotional writings. But, if we're honest, we'd have to say the practical faith of a large portion of Protestant scholastics had indeed become moribund.Philipp Jakob Spener is known as the “Father of German Pietism.” Born at Rappoltsweiler in 1635, Spener was raised by his godmother and her chaplain, Joachim Stoll who became Spener's mentor. Stoll introduced him to writings of the English Puritans.Spener went on to study theology at Strasbourg, where his main professor was Johann Dannhauer, a leading Lutheran theologian of 17th C. Dannhauer deeply inspired the young Spener.When he entered his first pastorate in Frankfurt in 1666, Spener was convinced of the necessity of a reformation within Lutheranism. His sermons emphasized the necessity for a lively faith and holiness in daily life. His most significant innovation was the establishment in 1670 of what today we'd call small groups. These were gatherings of about a dozen church members in homes to discuss sermons, devotional reading, and mutual edification.In 1675, Spener was asked to write a preface for a collection of sermons by Johann Arndt. The result was the famous Pia Desideria (= Pious Wishes), which became an introduction to German Pietism.While this is a bit more detailed than our usual fare here on CS, I thought it might be interesting to hear the main points Spener made in the Pious Wishes.He enumerates 6 things as important for the Church to embrace. . .1) He called for “a more extensive use of the Word of God.” To that end, Spener advocated small groups to encourage greater study of the Bible.(2) He urged a renewed focus on the role of the laity in Christian ministry.(3) He placed an emphasis on the connection between doctrine and living.(4) He counseled restraint and charity in theological disputes.(5) He urged reform in the education of ministers. They ought to be trained in piety and devotion as well as academics.(6) He said preaching ought to edify and be understandable by common folk, rather than sermons being technical discourses only an educated few could understand.Spener's Pious Wishes won him many followers, but aroused strong opposition among Lutheran theologians and not a few fellow pastors. Despite criticism, the movement grew rapidly.Pietism had the good fortune of seeing Spener succeeded by August Francke. Francke was born in Lübeck and graduated from the University of Leipzig, where he excelled in biblical languages. While a student in 1687, he experienced a dramatic and emotionally charged conversion, which he described as the “great change.” Francke's conversion became something of a model for Pietism. In order for conversion to be considered legitumate, it needed to be preceded by a profound conviction of sin that's a datable event to which one can point for confirmation.Returning to Leipzig, Francke led a revival in the college that spilled over into the town. It provoked conflict, and Francke was expelled from the city. At this point the term “Pietist” was first coined by a detractor, Joachim Feller, professor of rhetoric at the university. A Pietist, Feller asserted, was “someone who studies God's Word and, in his own opinion, also leads a holy life.”By this time, Francke had become closely associated with Spener. It was due to Spener's influence Francke was appointed to the chair of Greek and Oriental languages at the new University of Halle. Francke emerged as the natural successor to Spener. From his position at Halle he exercised enormous influence in preparing a generation of Pietist pastors and missionaries all over the world. Under his guidance, the university showed what Pietism could mean when put into practice. In rapid succession, Francke opened a school for poor children, an orphanage, a home for indigent widows, an institute for the training of teachers, a medical clinic, a home for street beggars, a publishing house for Christian literature, and the famous Paedagogium, a preparatory school for upper-class students.For 36 years his energetic endeavors established Halle as the center of German Pietism. Together, Spener and Francke created a true Ecclesiola in ecclesia.Spener and Francke inspired other groups of Pietism. Count Nikolas von Zinzendorf, was Spener's godson and Francke's pupil. Zinzendorf organized refugees from Moravia on his estate and later shepherded them in reviving the Bohemian Unity of the Brethren.The Moravians carried their concern for personal piety literally around the world. This was of huge significance for English Christianity when John Wesley found himself in their company during his voyage to Georgia in 1735. What he witnessed in their behavior and heard in their faith after returning to England led to his own spiritual awakening.

Jordan talks with Kyle Dieleman about the sabbath in the Dutch Reformed tradition. They cover topics like: What is the sabbath and what are the views generally on offer in Protestant Reformed thought? What did Calvin think and how did he inform the Dutch? How did the Dutch Reformed conceive of the Sabbath? How did they interpret texts like Romans 14:5 that appear to relativize particular days? Did their theological opinions change over time? How does the Dutch view correspond/contrast to English Puritans? And more!Resources:1) The Battle for the Sabbath in the Dutch Reformation: Devotion or Desecration?, Kyle DielemanSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-london-lyceum4672/exclusive-content