Creideamh

Are we religious enough on the Isle of Lewis?

2011-12-19T08:42:00.001Z

It is always interesting to see how others see us. According to the press reporting of recent events in our island, Stornoway is a ‘deeply religious town’, and our island one which thrives ‘on its large family networks and its strong religious traditions’.

One would expect that such descriptions would please a Free Church minister like myself; it’s just that I’m not sure how meaningful they actually are. It is true that our religious heritage is substantial; but how many people know that, or even care about it?

And is it actually true that Stornoway is ‘deeply religious’? There are a good number of deeply religious people in the town and villages of Lewis, and for that I, for one, am profoundly thankful. But I rather suspect that the phrase is just a convenient caricature with a passing relation to the truth.

What, for example, would characterise a ‘deeply religious’ community? Church attendance? Possibly; yet in most island churches, in spite of the fact that a substantial percentage of the population would have attended church last Sunday, the trends of attendance have been notably in decline.

What about Bible knowledge? There was a day when every pupil growing up in Lewis would have been exposed to Bible stories both in day school and in Sunday school. But it is doubtful whether today’s rising population knows anything beyond the bare bones of Bible knowledge.

What about Sabbath keeping? If our attitude to the Sabbath is any indication of the depth of our religion, then our religion is becoming more shallow by the week. The erosion of the Sabbath over the first decade in Lewis has become more and more obvious, and the voices calling for its abolition more and more strident. If Sabbath keeping is anything to go by, we are no longer a deeply religious community.

There is a deep irony, of course, to all of this. Here we are approaching the time of year where everyone pays lip service to the central facts of the Bible’s religion, singing carols that speak of the great miracle of the incarnation and the grand purpose of redemption that focused on the birth of the God-man, the Mediator Jesus Christ.

Yet how many people will forego church-going on December 25th to indulge in presents, eating and watching television? Is that the sign of a deeply religious community? In one of the great perversions of doctrine, we have succeeded in masking the truth of the incarnation by a festival of self-indulgence; the very truth being celebrated - that of a rich God who made himself poor - has been turned on its head as we worship at the altar of materialism.

Now all of this could be a deeply depressing analysis of Lewis in the twenty-first century, were it not for the fact that there are signs of a genuine gospel interest in many places. Testimony meetings are still more popular than ceilidh dances, young people continue to read theology, and the Scripture Union remains one of the largest extra-curriculum activities of the local secondary school.

But I doubt whether it adds up to a ‘deeply religious’ town. The voices that speak loudest in the public arena are secular ones, and our community, for all our religious pedigree, is still enslaved to alcohol and drugs.

I remain, however, indebted to deeply religious people. They are the ones, I know, that are praying for our community and its bereaved, hurting people. They are often the ones who are to the fore in reaching out to help the addicts and to befriend the lonely. They are the salt of the earth.

I am also fully convinced that we need to become more, not less, religious. We may have turned Christmas into the season for self-indulgence and merriment, but it is a reminder to us that the world hinges on a consciousness of God. We are incurably religious; and our adoption of a midwinter festival is not because we need something to look forward to when the nights are long and the days are only half bright. The reason for it points to the self-disclosure of God in the world as the answer to our human condition.

That is why recent events ought to give us pause. They ought to disturb a community, whether it is deeply religious or not; and they ought to make us even more religious than we are. The fragility of life is something we are reminded of each day; the nearness of eternity presses itself on us at every point; the uncertainty of the future is always in evidence.

But in a sobering way we have also been exposed to the horror of our human condition and the depravity of the human heart. We have been witness to the capacity of man for the unthinkable. In such cases, it is fitting that we should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, fall on our knees, and confess our sins. Perhaps the problem with us is that we haven’t been religious enough.

And I, for one, am not sure which is the more sinister: that evil should be perpetrated on the streets of a community which is meant to be deeply religious, or that the most important thing to some people is the right to party on past midnight when the bells toll the start of a new year.

If our response to all the recent tragedy, death and loss of life is that we demand our right to revelry on the Lord’s Day, then it is evident that we need more religion in our lives, not less.

It is well with my soul

2011-10-29T21:49:00.001+01:00

I first heard about Horatio Spafford while listening to a recorded sermon of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. As I recall, the sermon was entitled ‘The acid test of Christian profession’, and was based on Paul’s words to the Corinthians: ‘Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’.

In his customary, incisive manner, Lloyd-Jones demonstrated that true Christianity was not to be found in the confession of certain doctrines, or the possession of certain experiences. One could, he argued, have all these and not be genuinely born again; one could have orthodox beliefs and remarkable experiences without knowing the power of the gospel.

With irrefutable logic and remarkable power, the Doctor homed in on Paul’s words to demonstrate that the acid test of Christian profession is that we are able to say, in our worst moments of trial and of testing, that in comparison with the weight of glory that Christ has reserved for his people, our afflictions are ‘light’. Whatever we think of the Doctor’s view, it is certainly true that the genuineness of Christian faith is revealed not when we find ourselves in a pleasant place, but in a dark one.

The point was well illustrated in the sermon by reference to Horatio Spafford, a wealthy Chicago lawyer who, along with his family, had been a loyal supporter of the evangelistic campaigns of D.L. Moody. In the early 1870s, their four year old son was killed by scarlet fever, following which the great Chicago fire wiped out much of their estate.

Both in order to get a break from these trials, as well as to support the Moody campaign in England, Spafford planned to take his family to Europe on holiday. A last minute business meeting forced him to delay and to send his wife and daughters on ahead.

On November 2nd 1873, the ship on which his family was sailing collided with an English boat. It sank in 12 minutes, claiming the lives of over two hundred people, among whom were Spafford’s four daughters. The youngest, a baby, was torn from her mother’s arms by the force of the waves.

Miraculously, the mother’s life was spared; immediately she sent a telegram to her husband saying that she alone had survived. It was as a consequence of this disaster that Horatio Spafford took a journey to the place where his daughters had been lost at sea and penned his famous hymn, ‘It is well with my soul’. The opening stanza is a remarkable affirmation of faith:

When peace like a river attendeth my way;

when sorrows like sea-billows roll;

whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

There have been many attempts to explain the trials and sufferings of life, and many philosophical debates around the issue of why God allows suffering at all. Horatio Spafford’s response to the loss of his family may seem an incredible form of escapism to some, but to others it expresses the deepest assurances of faith.

And it resonates with the teaching of the New Testament. Peter, for example, in his epistle, urges us to remember that the testings and sufferings of life are a trial of faith, applied so that we will appreciate the nature and the quality of a God-given trust in the promises of the gospel. Just as gold is tested, faith is tested. And the believer knows that no matter what may be lost in the testing, the faith itself will endure it.

The apostle James says much the same thing when he writes to believers that they ought to count it a matter of joy to meet various kinds of trials, because the testing of faith produces steadfastness and patience. And although such testings, trials and tribulations may be hard to bear and difficult to endure, the child of God knows that there is a purpose in the dark threads as well as in the threads of gold.

The ‘health and prosperity’ gospel that teaches that neither poverty nor suffering are ever God’s will for his people will not produce men and women of faith. Quite the opposite: it will produce men and women of presumption and of weakness. The God of the Bible is intimately involved in the experiences of men and women; and in their experiences of suffering, loss and pain, the men and women of the Bible are deeply concerned to walk close with God notwithstanding the hardships and sufferings of life.

So for Spafford to write ‘It is well with my soul’ is not a form of fantasy, a prop to hold him up in the midst of life’s trials. It is no less than that; but it is at last the satisfaction of faith, the ultimate hope that suffering is not in vain, and that all things do indeed work together for the good of God’s people.

And I think Lloyd-Jones was right; it is not what we are like when everything is going our way that demonstrates that we are truly Christians. What we are like when everything is against us is a far greater demonstration of Christian character than fairweather faith can ever be.

The General Assembly - NOT

2011-05-23T21:02:00.003+01:00

Well, Providence is a strange thing. Having left home at 5.30am this morning, crossed the Minch amid gusts of 60mph, driven 250 miles to Glasgow in the most atrocious weather conditions, and having boarded the 4.30pm train to Edinburgh, which was subsequently cancelled due to bad weather, I was tonight unable to attend the opening of the General Assembly. I was particularly vexed that I did not witness my former fellow-student, Rev James Maciver, installed as Moderator, but I am hoping for more favourable weather tomorrow so that I shall at least hear his Moderatorial address.

I was able to follow some of the proceedings of the General Assembly live, through the webcast available here.

My thoughts tonight are with my evangelical brethren in the Church of Scotland, whose General Assembly today voted to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers. It puts our debate about whether to allow hymn-singing in the shade. I feel nothing but sadness over the decision of our national church: we are witnessing the inevitable outworking of the liberal view of Scripture that has dominated in the Church of Scotland over the last hundred years. Our Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching brethren need our love, support and prayers more than ever.

The General Assembly

2011-05-21T23:26:00.001+01:00

Viewing the photographs of the post-1900 Free Church General Assemblies is a sobering experience. The commissioners present had just lived through a division in the name of a Union, and were now settling to the business of continuing the work of the Church.

They were often caricatured, vilified and mocked, yet there they were, re-grouping and getting on with their work. Anyone who was anyone had entered an ecclesiastical marriage with another denomination. And although subsequent events were to vindicate their claims and protests, their position seemed weak and their gathering meaningless.

The photographs say it all: an old man in the Moderator’s chair presides over a handful of commissioners in a near-empty room. To some of us they may be heroes, but who knows how many doubts and fears they entertained as they constituted themselves a General Assembly.

Over a century later and the Free Church will again convene in General Assembly, with a much more youthful looking Moderator at the helm, and a larger body of commissioners in the pews of the Assembly Hall. The proceedings will be marked by the circumstances that lend their own dignity and gravitas to the highest Court of the Church, striking an important balance between the collegiate and fraternal aspect of the Assembly as a forum for discussion, and the legislative and authoritative functions of the Assembly as the supreme Court.

Things have changed over the twenty years that I’ve been attending General Assemblies; audience interest and public attendance have declined considerably, fewer clerical collars are sported, Moderatorial garb is all but gone. On the other hand, there is streamlining of arrangements which makes it easier to get through the business of a very busy week and a very heavy schedule. That has always been the problem with our General Assembly: a week is a long time to be holed up in an Assembly Hall listening to endless reports and debates; but it is not long enough to do justice to all the elements of the Church’s work.

And the Church is engaged in a lot of activity. A glance through the reports to the Assembly gives a sense of the busyness of the Church’s activities: the development of new ministries and the rationalisation of old ones, the furthering of various youth activities and initatives, the work of training men and women for Christian service, the publication of Christian periodicals and literature and the development of cross-cultural mission work.

Yet for some people, this year’s General Assembly matters for only one reason: the question of what we may or may not sing when we gather together to worship God. Reactions to last year’s Plenary Assembly will come before the fathers and brethren in several forms, and will be a significant item on the Assembly’s agenda. But for some people it will be the only item of interest.

I confess to not understanding the logic of protest in this matter. The older position mandated both the use of psalms and the use of paraphrases in the Free Church; the new position gives Kirk Sessions the authority to say ‘psalms only’. It also gives other Kirk Sessions the freedom not to quibble over whether ‘hymns’ and ‘spiritual songs’ are actually ‘psalms’, and the authority to regularise local worship in a manner consistent with their understanding of Scripture.

What the Plenary Assembly did not do was give carte blanche to any Session to do anything it pleases. The parameters are still carefully regulated, consciences are provided for, the Church’s constitution is unaltered, and our evangelistic task remains unchanged.

I intend to play my part in the proceedings as I am mandated and expected to do, and in a column like this, can only express my hopes. First, I hope that we will not be so obsessed by the one issue of what we sing that we neglect the greater issue of why we exist. Our gospel commitment is being threatened and weakened by the inordinate energies being poured into the issue of our sung praise. I would be the last to argue that that in itself is unimportant; but it is salutary that the Great Commission says nothing about singing.

Second, I hope that we will exemplify the New Testament principle of unity in diversity. For a church to survive does not require that all her people think exactly the same way about everything; but it does require that they all defer to the different views of others. As our retiring Professor of Systematic Theology reminded us last week, truth is absolute, but our possession of it is not.

Third, I hope that we will re-group and re-focus on the things that really matter. It is time to stop the navel-gazing of the past decade and lift our eyes to the fields that are white to harvest. Weeping over Assembly decisions is legitimate and sometimes necessary; but if we are not weeping over Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness as the Lord wept over Jerusalem, our weeping over decisions of Church courts is self-serving emotionalism.

We may be a small denomination, with a shrinking support base and an increasing deficit; but, as these old photographs remind me, it’s amazing what God can do with a handful of people dedicated to his gospel. That handful would be enough to transform all our denominations and make them centres of evangelical concern and witness once again.

[there will be live updating of all Assembly proceedings from Monday evening, May 23rd 2011, on the Free Church website]

The People's Theologian

2011-05-20T12:11:00.003+01:00

At the closing ceremony of the Free Church College on Friday 13th May, a new book of writings in honour of Professor Donald Macleod was unveiled.

The People’s Theologian is a collection of essays by a wide variety of writers honouring the retirement of Professor Macleod as Professor of Systematic Theology at the Free Church College, Edinburgh, a post he has occupied since 1978.

The book was unveiled by Rev Dr Iain D Campbell, who had co-edited the book along with Rev Dr Malcolm Maclean. In introducing the festschrift, Dr Campbell spoke of Professor Macleod’s international reputation as a theologian of note, who had not only taught his students the importance of theology, but who had made significant contributions through his writings and articles to theological discussion and debate.

The book contains a biographical piece on Donald Macleod by his son, award-winning journalist John Macleod. It also contains a list of Prof Macleod’s writings as well as assessments of his work as editor of the Free Church magazine, The Monthly Record, and as a columnist in the West Highland Free Press. An international group of scholars, from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia has contributed a collection of essays on historical theology, systematic theology and the relationship between theology and the church.

Representing the publishers, William Mackenzie of Christian Focus Publications was also present on the occasion to present Professor Macleod with a newly published Japanese version of his book, Priorities for the Church.

Professor Macleod is to continue lecturing in systematic theology for the forthcoming academic session at the Free Church College. Four students completed their courses at the College this year.

The photograph shows (left to right) Mr William Mackenzie, Prof Donald Macleod, Dr Malcolm Maclean and Dr Iain D Campbell

Lament for a Son

2011-02-04T18:06:00.001Z

A pastor is a general practitioner: someone who has to be able to deal with all kinds of situations, emergencies and crises. Anyone in such a position needs to know his limitations, and needs to recognise that there are occasions when the wisest course of action is simply to remain silent.

When it comes to dealing with bereavement, I know my limitations. I can sympathise and draw alongside people, but I know enough to know that mourning over a death is like death itself, to be experienced alone. To pretend to understand the pain of someone else is the worst form of hypocrisy.

I have found it particularly difficult to minister to those who have mourned the loss of their own children. Since I cannot begin to imagine what that pain must be like, I have had to find other ways of assisting people in it. One is to offer what I think is one of the most moving books I have read: Nicholas Wolterstorff’s ‘Lament for a Son’. I have recently been re-reading it, and it remains as powerful now as when I first picked it up.

Wolsterstorff is one of the world’s leading Christian philosophers. Having graduated with distinction in philosophy, he taught at Calvin College and Yale. His interest in philosophy led to a passion for social justice, and consequently Wolsterstorff has been asked to lecture on a variety of subjects.

However, when his son, Eric, died at the age of twenty-five in 1983, as the result of a mountain-climbing accident in Austria, it was as if his whole identity changed. He could no longer view himself as the consummate academic; in the words of the preface to his book he writes, ‘If someone asks, “Who are you, tell me about yourself,” I say - not immediately, but shortly - “I am one who lost a son”. That loss determines my identity.....’.

The story Wolsterstorff writes in ‘Lament for a Son’ is as profound as it is moving. Alternating between past and present, he describes the pain of travelling to Austria to claim his son’s body (‘Grim duty,’ he writes, ‘It had been his body. Now it was mine to claim, mine to sign documents of release for, mine to take ownership of’). He reflects on why Eric had to be on that mountain at that time (‘His deepest self drew him there, a self his mother and I helped to shape’). And Wolsterstorff knows that he can never be the same again (‘I shall look at the world through tears. Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see’).

‘Lament for a Son’ combines the pain of a father’s loss with the incisiveness of a philosopher’s meditations. ‘There’s a hole in the world now,’ he writes. ‘In the place where he was, there’s now just nothing ... There’s nobody now who saw just what he saw, knows what he knew, remembers what he remembered, loves what he loved....My son is gone. Only a hole remains’.

And haven’t we all been in the situation where we just have not known what to say to those who suffer the agony of bereavement and loss? How comforting, then, for miserable comforters to hear Wolsterstorff say that ‘Some blurted out strange, inept things. That’s OK too. Your words don’t have to be wise. The heart that speaks is heard more than the words spoken’.

I don’t find it easy to clothe thoughts with words; sometimes my attempts at sympathy seem pathetically shallow. I officiate at funerals and draw alongside mourners, but where will I find words with which to express someone else’s agony? Wolsterstorff has often been a corrective to my lame attempts to enter into a pain of which I know nothing: ‘I buried myself that warm June day,’ he writes. ‘It was me over whom we slid that heavy slab, more than I can lift’.

‘What do I do now with my regrets?’ he asks. A basket of regrets, he calls it: times when ‘I postponed writing letters... I unreasonably got angry with him...times he was sad and I saw, but did little or nothing to console... times he was something wonderful or did something fine and I was oblivious or silent’. Wolsterstorff’s suggestion is that the God of love will grant a day ‘when we can all throw ourselves into each other’s arms and say “I’m sorry”’.

This is a remarkable book. I regularly order it and give it away, more often than I would wish. In many ways, it ought to be mandatory reading for us all. It will keep us from speaking when silence will do; it will remind us that even although death is a great leveller, every death is unique.

Above all, it reminds us that there are some questions that cannot easily be answered. ‘I do not know why God would watch him fall. I do not know why God would watch me wounded. I cannot even guess’.

In an interview on the internet, Wolsterstorff is asked about his book. He concludes the interview with these words: ‘The traditional question of theodicy is, Why does God permit moral evil and permit suffering that serves no discernible good? If we hold that God is not impassible, then in addition to that question we have another: Why does God permit what disturbs God? Why does God allow what God endures in tears? I do not know the answer. In faith I live the question.’

Sometimes that is exactly how faith lives: asking questions and never finding answers. At least not in this world, where our tears, so often, are our food both by night and by day. When it comes to dealing with the dark night of the soul, I find Wolsterstorff a far better pastor than I can ever be.

In-service Thursday

2011-01-13T11:36:00.004Z

Colin Macleod rounded off his three studies on the exhortations of Hebrews 10 with a morning devotional on the words 'let us stir up one another to love and good works'. His morning worship talks have been a superb start to each day.

The rest of the morning was led by Catherine Muirden, Head of Human Resources for Barclays Bank. She has become a fixture at our in-service training sessions, with her unique skill in teaching on issues to do with dealing with people. Her theme was 'The minister as team coach', and as she spoke about the work of a good coach to highlight people's strengths and improve their work, each us of had our own Sessions, Deacons' Courts and congregations in our minds! Very relevant, basic stuff on people management - something few of us do well.

The final session was a talk by Jason Curtis on 'Fuelling the Fire' - a programme developed by Rutherford House to help release us from what Jason called 'the tyranny of the urgently routine'. In presenting it, Jason touched on issues affecting us all in our churches.

It's been a good week. Now to get back to the urgently required. Hope it doesn't degenerate into the urgently routine; the week's fellowship and brotherly togetherness has been a great stimulus to get on with our work - and perhaps even to do it better.

In-service: Wednesday

2011-01-12T15:43:00.005Z

Thanks to Scotrail I arrived late for the devotional session, so listened to the second half of Colin's address from the corridor (I was in the corridor, you understand!). Colin continued his exposition of Hebrews 10, stressing the importance of always looking to Christ for our repentance and our salvation.

Thereafter we had a brilliant morning with Rev Tom Houston, who spoke on a topic he has thought and written about over many years of ministry: preaching on Bible characters. Tom has been a pastor in Scotland and in Nairobi; he has headed up the work of the Bible Society and has been involved in the Lausanne movement.

His first session was a talk on the importance of Bible characters; their stories always impinge on our own and our hearers. We must preach with attention to the capacity of our hearers. Tom suggested taking 1 Cor 10:11 as our grid: 'these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.' We must pay attention to what happened in the lives of these characters, and apply the lessons by telling the Bible story.

In the second session we were split into groups and given a character of Scripture, with a view to making a presentation of a sermon outline on the character. Ours was Timothy; we first thought that this was a very slender topic, with not much to find; but then we started cross-referencing Timothy in Scripture, and learned a lot about how we prepare for sermons and an accumulated an amazing amount of information on Timothy at the same time - a series of sermons on Timothy is already in the planning!

In the afternoon Professor Donald M MacDonald, former Professor of Practical Theology at the Free Church College, spoke on Pastoral issues and the spectre of Euthanasia. Donald was a major contributor to the recent debate at Holyrood on end of life issues, and it was good to hear him speak.

The day finished with two presentations - one on Campaigners from Liz Warren-Corney, the Scottish Development Officer of Campaigners, and one from Donald Forsyth on learning from the business community.

A stimulating day, the best part of which was getting ideas on how better to preach. I need all the help I can get!

In-service: Tuesday

2011-01-11T14:03:00.006Z

Our day today began with an excellent devotional session led by Rev Colin L. Macleod, Leith, who gave a talk based on the exhortation of Hebrews 10:22, 'let us draw near to God': we must draw near regularly, sincerely, confidently and seriously.

Thereafter the morning was led by Professor John Angus Macleod, who spoke at his first session on 'Preaching through Galatians', and encouraged us to consider what Paul's motive in writing Galatians was, and suggested it was important to introduce the letter, to trace Paul's thought in it, and to imagine the questions to which Galatians supplies the answers In his second session he gave an interactive workshop on the computer programme Bibleworks.

After lunch, Lynne Paterson of Tearfund Scotland spoke about Tearfund as a channel and resource for the church. She acknowledged the way in which the Free Church has supported Tearfund in the past, and introduced the current work and witness of Tearfund, beginning with Micah 6:8 - He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? This was an interactive session, requiring some small-group discussion. Not my favourite way of doing things! One of the brethren mentioned how difficult it is to discuss third world poverty in Cambodia after enjoying a cooked breakfast, a substantial lunch and discussing buying expensive computer software earlier! But the reality of world poverty was brought before us, and the fact that the church is the answer to the prayers of those who are living in extreme poverty. One of the best quotations from this session: 'What does love look like to a hungry person?'.

The final session was led by Dr George Craig, an Edinburgh GP and Church of Scotland elder, who spoke about pastoring people with mental health issues. He gave a very helpful overview of depression and cognitive behaviour therapy, and the relationship between mental and spiritual issues.

It's been a good and helpful day, but I am missing a theological input into the programme. I know that the School in Theology exists, but no matter how much practical training we get, our ministry is nothing without a constant grounding in our confessional theology. A paper on covenant theology or christology would have been good today! And - while it is good to hear people from outwith our own denomination - we need to make more use of the excellent ministers, professors and theologians within the Free Church too.

In-service: Monday

2011-01-10T21:16:00.005Z

I am attending the Free Church College in-service course this week. A third of our ministers attend each year; the orientation is practical this year, with sessions on aspects of preaching and pastoral work.

The first session this evening was taken by Rev Martin Allen, former minister of Chryston Church of Scotland, who spoke on the minister as a man of prayer. His four principles - quotations from his heroes which he then enlarged on, were:

(1) 'Prayer is elemental, not supplemental' (Eric Alexander)

(2) 'Prayer can be taught and learned' (Don Carson)

(3) 'Prayer can be learned by praying - so pray' (Derek Prime)

(4) 'Preaching without prayer is like a sword without a cutting edge' (Jonathan Edwards).

Martin's talk was homely and experiential, drawing both on his reading and his personal experience. I am looking forward to the rest of the week.

The season to be jolly?

2011-01-07T16:43:00.000Z

The secularists tell us that the reason we have a desire to brighten up our houses at this time of year with fancy coloured lights inside and out is nothing to do with celebrating the incarnation; it is simply a way of helping us survive the darkness of winter. We need something to lift our spirits, and what better than decorations and winter wonderland scenes to lift flagging hearts?

The problem is that it doesn’t seem to be working; the festive season, apparently, is the most likely time of year to experience depression, and the suicide rate is often much higher during December than at any other time of the year. For many people, Christmas is not merry, and the New Year not very happy.

The reasons for this are not hard to find. While most people revel in the company of family and friends, there are those who are isolated and lonely, and who keep little company of any kind over the year. They imagine the family occasions of others to be much more than they actually are, and that everyone else is much happier than they are themselves.

Depression has a way of twisting the perspective. It took me a long time, for example, to get over the fact that there were no office Christmas parties for ministers; each December routine saw me in my lonely study, thinking of others at their work, enjoying a social evening with their colleagues. Dinner with the Presbytery didn’t seem to cut it.

Of course, that was a perspective that required correcting; from what I used to hear of office parties, I was better on my own. And, on the occasions when it has happened, the Presbytery night out has not been the dull affair one might imagine!

Nor is it easy to emerge unscathed from the whole business of Christmas. I was pondering recently the amount of money people spend on food, drink and gifts, with all the additional paraphernalia of the season. A charity report some years back reported that the average family spends £564 on Christmas Day - even before spending any money on presents. That will lead to a staggering £10 billion in the country over the Christmas period in the country.

By any standards, the figures are ridiculous. And for many cash-strapped families caught in an economic recession, the depression will spiral along with the debts. The pressure to conform and to satisfy the desires of our children will contribute to the year-end angst of many families.

And all of this will be fuelled by alcohol, with the attendant miseries its over-consumption brings. The wine that gladdens the heart of man can also turn him into a fool, and make him think that he is the centre of the universe. Of all of God’s gifts to us, it is the one that seems to take over and to tyrannise the lives of many who are enslaved to it. Hardly a family in our islands is unaffected by it and by the misery it brings.

And then there is the simple fact that now, by the time this column appears in print, Christmas will have come and gone. Its coming and its going will not have changed any of our routines; indeed, in the wake of the hype of Christmas, the daily chores and grind will seem almost more demanding than ever.

Christians are not immune from any of these things. Some of the choice saints of the Bible reached points of utter despair in their lives. At these points, God seemed far away and Heaven silent. Goodwill toward men did not seem to be directed towards them. Like the disciples in the boat in the storm, they came to a sleeping Jesus wondering if he cared for them at all.

Yet, when all is said and done, a voice still reminds me that light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. This year end may find us at wit’s end corner, nursing our pain and contemplating our bleak future; yet, as John Calvin reminded us long ago, the real bleakness belongs to the person for whom nothing rules the universe but chance and luck. Better to cry into the hearing of a personal Creator than to scream at a faceless universe.

Maybe it was for that reason that the psalmist Asaph insisted long ago that perspective really does matter. He fell into the trap of envying the rich their prosperity and the world its lack of care, especially when he himself was crushed by a faith that was meant to support him. But as he listened to the voice of God, he realised that he was living by instinct, as an animal does, instead of living by faith in the God who causes all things to work together for the good of his people. ‘It is good,’ he concluded, ‘to draw near to God’.

May that be our portion.

2010-10-23T23:44:00.000+01:00

Sermons from Point Free Church have been appearing on www.sermon.net/pointfreechurch, but will now be appearing on www.sermonaudio.com/pointfreechurch. Hopefully this will make it easier to download to computer, and even to iphone and other media. My addresses from the Puritan Reformed Conference are already on the new site, and I'll be overlapping the two sites for a while until we make the transition complete.

Puritan Reformed Conference (3)

2010-08-28T04:48:00.003+01:00

Another excellent day, with outstanding preaching and messages. Please get the CDs from this conference! We began with a lecture from Rick Phillips on the glory of Christ’s incarnation; launching from John 1:14, he emphasised that the incarnation was never an end in itself, but a means to the cross. Christ shows us the glory of humanity as well as the glory of God.

The second session was by Jerry Bilkes of Puritan Reformed Seminary. His theme was the glory of Christ in the parables, and was the most masterly devotional study on the parables, in which Dr Bilkes highlighted the scenery of the parables, their kingdom focus, and their transforming effect. He brought out the way in which Jesus’ references to nature and to everyday human activities showed his interest in every aspect of our lives.

After lunch we had the first session from Al Martin. What can I say? This man was feeding my soul through his tape ministry thirty years ago. To be in the same room as him is to be on holy ground. I hope I’m preaching like this at 78 – powerful, passionate, thorough, Calvinistic, masterful treatment of the glory of Christ’s victorious death.

The battle today, he urged, was for propitiation – for highlighting the cross as the place where wrath is poured out on Christ instead of us. Gethsemane is the presentation and preview of the cup of wrath; Golgotha is the drinking and the draining of the cup of wrath. Why did Jesus refuse the drugged cup of wine? Because there will be no drugged cup of wine for sinners in hell. Awesome thought – brilliant preaching.

Who wants modern stuff in church when this kind of preaching can do everything the people of God need – it humbles us, it shows us Jesus, it brings the glory of the atonement alive.

I was treated to dinner this evening by Mel Duncan, which was just wonderful; unfortunately we missed hearing James Grier on Revelation 5. However, we got to hear Al Martin again in the evening on the glory of Christ’s Victorious Resurrection.

Some thoughts at the end of day two:

This has been, without doubt, one of the best conferences I have ever had the privilege of attending. The material has been of a consistently high standard; it has been a feast of fat things, of wines on the lees well refined.
There is no substitute for preaching. Not just for woolly evangelical preaching, but solid, Calvinistic, Reformed preaching. Note to self: start learning to do it.
Theology is for the people of God. We need our best minds in pulpits, not just behind lecterns; the Word of God is for the church of God, and the church of God is the people of God. Their souls delight in fatness; and the greatest blessing has been to see God’s people moved, often in tears, as Christ has been exalted and glorified.
Preaching is truth through personality. I am often reminded of Dr John Kennedy’s assessment of the evangelicals of Ross-shire, when he said that all the moderate ministers of his day looked and sounded the same; put the evangelical ministers together and they are all different. Different in style, in voice, in method, in personality. That has struck me over these days of conference: we are all different, us preachers – we ought not to try to be anyone other than who we are. But we ought to work hard to be vessels fit for God’s use.

Puritan Reformed Conference (2)

2010-08-27T03:43:00.005+01:00

Tonight Joel Beeke, President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary gave a wonderful address on a book by the Puritan Thomas Goodwin on Christ's wonderful heart - a sermon Goodwin gave on the heart of Christ in Heaven for believers on earth. It was worth coming to the conference just to hear it. If it's available online at all, be sure and listen.

I wished we could just have gone home at that point, but I had to give my second paper on the Song of Solomon, which was down to the usual standard. God was gracious.

Friends from Livonia Free Church came to today's conference; in addition to which I met another two people from Lewis. We are everywhere!!

Puritan Reformed Conference (1)

2010-08-26T21:26:00.006+01:00

I am enjoying my first visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and my first day at the Puritan Reformed Conference. This year's theme is The Beauty and Glory of Christ...what a wonderful subject. David Murray, who teaches Old Testament at the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, opened the conference with a marvellous address on the beauty of Isaiah's Servant, in which he showed that there is only one Person who adequately fulfils the servant concept in the Book of Isaiah - the Lord Jesus Christ.

I then followed with a talk on 'The Song of David's Son', based on Song of Solomon 1:1, in which I argued that the Song is written by Solomon, and is occasioned by his marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh. It's not a common thesis, but I think it is consistent with a theme running through Scripture - the inclusion of outsiders into the covenant by virtue of their marriage union with a covenant heir. In this case, it is the Davidic covenant that enables us to read the Song and say 'A greater than Solomon is here'.

After lunch Rev David Carmichael, Lesmahagow spoke on 'Jesus, Master of Storms'. Unfortunately, due to a lunch mix up, I caught only the end of this address. I enjoyed hearing Rick Phillips of 2nd Presbyterian, Greenville, speak in the afternoon on the imputation of Christ's righteousness. Brilliant stuff.

The problem, as always, is the excellent book table. Too much choice - but stuff I'd sell my shirt to have. How it's all going to fit in my case is a problem! Looking forward to hearing Joel Beeke tonight.

An afternoon on the edge of the world

2010-08-13T23:31:00.002+01:00

Well, it’s been a long time in coming, but this week I finally made it to St Kilda. It was a happy distraction from the very unwelcome fire last week that gutted my office and rendered my books unusable. After a disaster there is nothing like getting away – and St Kilda is the ultimate local getaway destination.

Since the late nineteenth century, tourists have been putting in to St Kilda. They, however, did not have the excellent services of Seatrek, or the expertise of Iain Angus and Hannah to take care of them on every stage of the trip. We did; and for our party the day was memorable.

Even the weather was kind to us; after an atrocious Summer, August bank holiday started off peaceful and calm, the beginning of our voyage full of promise. The idyllic spectacle of Atlantic dolphins and the company of a basking shark added to the drama of the occasion.

All of a sudden the archipelago appeared on our horizon: a majestic conglomeration of rock formations, home to remarkable birds, remarkable sheep, and, up until eighty years ago, remarkable people.

St Kilda has often been written on, and is continually being researched. But, as I discovered, it has to be seen to be believed. The sheer height of the stacks, around which the gannets whirl without stopping, is every bit as awesome as the most magnificent cathedrals of the world. Here, in the splendid isolation of the ocean, all things wise and wonderful call out their own praise to the Lord God who made them all.

Were these really the stacks to which the St Kildans sailed, and which they scaled to catch these unreachable creatures? Did they really stay in these steadings, perched, gannet-like, on the jagged cliffs for nine months at a time? Did they really make the precarious landings necessary to access these natural foods? And do we dare romanticise the place, when living there came at such a high price?

To linger around these islets is to be overawed by the sheer scale of the enterprise; living here, and surviving here, were feats of uncommon endurance. In this anniversary year, it is all too easy to concentrate on the difficulties for the natives in leaving the place; perhaps we ought to focus our attention on the wonder of a population who stayed in it for centuries.

Then to enter Village Bay for the first time: what an emotional experience that is. We saw the photographs and read the books, but the half was not told us. The whole place is so atmospheric and evocative – here a community lived and survived for almost four millennia, thrown together on this rock, until circumstances forced their departure. To see the houses in which they lived, the walls and cleits they laboured to build, the cemetery in which they buried their dead I found quite overwhelming.

I did have – as you might expect – a particular interest in seeing the church building, and in standing in the pulpit. After all, John Macdonald of Ferintosh, my Highland hero, was the one who, after visiting St Kilda, arranged a collection to be taken in Highland churches for the building of this particular church. There it stands, a monument to the soul of St Kilda, the commitment of the evangelicals of the nineteenth century, and the power of the gospel.

Not everyone thinks it a good thing, of course. Historians have not been kind to Macdonald or the resident ministers of the place; and even the unsuspecting tourist, visiting the museum on St Kilda, will learn that everything was good except the presence of the Free Church. All we did, apparently, was to wipe the smile off their faces, and outlaw their songs and traditions for ever.

It is not a thesis I am prepared to accept. It is belied by the evidence of the warm reception given by the population to these evangelists of two hundred years ago and even by the Christian inscription on one of the few legible stones in the graveyard. Interestingly, it is also belied by the new published autobiography of Calum MacDonald, born in St Kilda in 1908, and who says in his book (which I purchased on the island): ‘My earliest recollection as a boy is a very happy one, having a very religious upbringing in a very happy home atmosphere, as Christianity was the basic standard of family life’.

The reality is that the historiography says more about modern secular historians than it does about the Free Church ministers who served the St Kildans in the century preceding the evacuation. I am not at all willing to give credence to the popular view that the St Kildans were gullible and superstitious, easily bent to the fanaticism of fundamentalist ministers. And can we really believe that the presence of the army with its guns or the pub with its alcohol are the real markers of civilisation over the church with its gospel?

So I found it particularly moving to stand in the church building, and in a silent moment of communion, to thank the Lord for letting me see this wonderful place, and for all that it symbolises of a lost community in our own back yard.

All strength to the arm of those who are trying to preserve the place and its history, particularly in this poignant anniversary year. What must it have been like for the survivors of eighty years ago to take their worldly goods with them for ever, and leave their homes and the remains of their beloved dead in their island soil?

The world can look on and interpret this as the forces of modernism prevailing over an indigenous if remote population. We are all guilty of treating the St Kildans as exhibits in an unfortunate pageant of history. Of course they had to leave, and come to the real world.

But when one stands on the street, surveying the sweep of houses, imagining the lifestyle of a people bound to one another by the sheer effort of living on that outpost of the empire, surrounded by the ghosts of a lost people, one is forced to ask where the real world is: is it in our modern communities, in which we live our lives in splendid isolation from our neighbours, or in these ancient ones, in which such isolation was just not possible?

Maybe our modern society is the society on the edge. Maybe the St Kildans have something to teach us about making togertheness and communion the hallmarks of a genuinely Christian society.

Ambushed by Grief

2010-07-28T11:01:00.002+01:00

It’s a very satisfying feeling to have left home with a list of intended books for holiday reading, and to have returned having completed it. This year, one of my holiday reads was John Suchet’s ‘My Bonnie’, a very moving account of Suchet’s experience of caring for his wife since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Even apart from the intrusion of dementia into their marriage, John Suchet’s story is not without colour. Both his first marriage and his first main appointment with ITN began and ended disastrously. As American correspondent with ITN he had landed a plum role, but the appointment was premature, and he came within an inch of losing his position as a journalist. The distraction of a transatlantic affair with American neighbour Bonnie probably had more to do with it than Suchet admits; but the acrimony of his divorce from his first wife is as much of a heartbreak as the advent of Alzheimer’s into his second marriage.

One of the most well-known faces on British television, Suchet has written very warmly and movingly of his wife’s deterioration. Looking back, there were signs that things were not right: little moments of forgetfulness and disorientation that indicated something sinister occurring. But the diagnosis itself was the watershed; in Suchet’s own words, it marked the beginning of a long road.

There are few families that have not been affected by dementia in one form or another. The gradual deterioration as well as the final retreat into an unknown, inaccessible world, brings its own misery. To use Suchet’s words, one is ‘ambushed by grief’ for the disappearance of the person who was once there. One of my parishioners once spoke about her husband’s Alzheimer’s which left her, as she put it, neither a wife nor a widow. There was a real process of grieving to be gone through, and a new, unexpected, and unwelcome set of circumstances to adapt to.

Suchet does not sentimentalise his experience, although one can read the heartbreak on every page. He is very candid on the need for help and support. In his case a private care assistant enabled him to nurse his wife at home until this resource too was exhausted, and full time care was required.

As a result of his experience, Suchet has been actively encouraging the development of Admiral Nurses, specialist nurses trained to tend to the needs of Alzheimer’s patients and their carers. Suchet says that his Admiral Nurse ‘saved my life’, providing emotional support for the relatives as well as physical and nursing support for the sufferer. However, he also says that he was appalled to discover how few Admiral Nurses there are throughout the country, and as a result of his experiences, he has been promoting the development of training such specialists.

It was certainly one of the questions which kept recurring in my own mind after reading the book, and in the light of my own experience pastoring families with Alzheimer’s sufferers. We are used to reading of the work of Macmillan Nurses, for example, and the excellent specialist care they provide for cancer patients and their families; why is there not more specialist nursing care for families struggling with dementia? Does everything have to be determined by a postcode lottery?

Early in the book Suchet expresses his aversion to religion. The colourful language often employed in the book certainly expresses his inner frustrations that were a consequence of his wife’s illness. But his practical atheism is expressed in the rantings against God with which the book is peppered. All of which illustrates the atheist’s dilemma; if there is no God, why rant against him?

So what did I learn from reading John Suchet on his wife’s illness? First, that dementia is often disguised – in its early stages at least – by an incredible amount of lucidity. Who knows how many families there are who are struggling with the early stages of dementia in their loved ones, and finding it doubly difficult because to anyone on the outside looking in, things appear so normal. Only those living within the same daily routines as the patients can know the true effect and extent of the illness.

Second, that there is still a residual element of guilt and even of shame in disclosing dementia. The honesty of John Suchet’s book is refreshing; this was something intrusive and difficult to cope with. It was not easy to talk about at any stage. And overcoming the guilt of placing his wife in the full-time care of others was a major hurdle in dealing with the presence of Alzheimer’s in their home and family.

Third, that there is a massive learning process involved in caring for those who have dementia. The advice given in the nursing home regarding visiting his wife was ‘Parachute in; evaporate out’. In other words – slip into her world, and slip out again. That is not easy after a lifetime of cutting in and expecting attention. But how quickly our personal worlds can change, and we need to adapt to the worlds our loved ones come to inhabit.

And fourth, that there is a real grief involved in the loss of a person – even before death. The mind locks itself away into a routine that only itself knows. For those observing it from the outside, a separation akin to death has already occurred. Suchet’s way of coping, however difficult it may be to rationalise, was to tell himself that the person now inhabiting his wife’s body, was not the person who used to be there.

I don’t know whether it will make me a more compassionate pastor, but this is one book I’m glad I had on my reading list this year.

Cycles of Life

2010-06-24T18:47:00.003+01:00

I have reconnected with my bike. Well, with my son’s bike, which has been lying in the garage doing nothing since he has gone to Glasgow. A combination of good weather and bad cholesterol forced me into taking some form of exercise, so I have been going about on two wheels, hoping that the helmet and the sunglasses will afford me a little anonymity.

I must say, it’s been refreshing, enjoyable and very rewarding. The sights and sounds of the town are more noticeable from the saddle of a pedal bike than from the seat of a car. So too are the bumps and braes, of which, I have discovered, our roads are full.

So I take my cycle helmet off to the person who invented gears for bikes. I don’t think my first bike had any; and the bike of my teenage years probably had three. Now I can negotiate any incline with a choice of twenty-one gears, and I gauge my increase in stamina by the gear in which I can make it up Anderson Road first thing in the morning. One day I’ll do it in twenty-first.

I did have a pleasant surprise one morning as I approached a bend on Sandwick Road and the sign in front of me started flashing and telling me to slow down. Just as I congratulated myself on the speed I had obviously attained, I heard the car behind me. It had triggered the warning, not I.

My pride was also dented when I was overtaken by a – shall I say – elderly chap a few days ago. He was twice my age and half my size, and his bicycle shorts suggested he had reconnected with his bike a long time ago. And yes, it was on his bike he overtook me…not in his car.

And talking of cars, the whole experience has made me re-evaluate my skills as a driver. If memory serves, one is meant to give a bicycle on the road the room one would give a car; in my experience, that does not usually happen. When a driver sees a middle-aged cyclist, the policy seems either to pull out in front of him at a junction, or to overtake him as close to him as possible.

I am serious – it is a dangerous world out there for ageing ministers on two wheels; and while driving recently I have had a complete change of heart and habit towards cyclists on the road. I found myself recently overtaking two cyclists on the Uig road and giving them as much room as if it was one of Macaskills lorries I was passing.

The only thing that has marred my enjoyment of the open road has been dogs. I am not a fan of big dogs, especially if I am on a bike and they are not on a leash. They, as I have discovered on a couple of occasions, are no fans of mine either. There is nothing more disconcerting for a clergyman on a bike than the look on a dog’s face when he spots the reverend cyclist; one is convinced that the animal is plotting something sinister for the minister.

All of this might seem a bit of frivolity; but there is a serious side to these reflections. I don’t think I have ever appreciated the beauty of the open air and the countryside as much as I do from my saddle. How much we miss when we drive a car: we catch the open scenery, of course, but not the roadside detail: the flowers, the greenery, the shapes and patterns of nature by our very feet, the scents and smells in town and country, from the odour of the farms to the entoxicating aroma of the bakery early in the morning – it’s a really lovely world out there.

I don’t believe that I have appreciated it as much as I have since re-discovering my new mode of transport. My theology tells me that the things that are seen declare the things that are unseen: that the details of the creation declare the grandeur of the Creator. That must be true; without such a Maker I am at a loss to explain what I see of nature at close range.

There is also the wonder of the human body. My conscience smarts less now that I have some kind of exercise regime. For too long I had none, notwithstanding my belief that the body is the temple of the Spirit and ought to be looked after as such. Bodily exercise profits little, says the New Testament; but while that may be true in comparison with the profit in godliness, it does not say that there is no profit at all in it. I haven’t exactly seen the pounds dropping off, but you’ll be pleased to know that I do feel much better for exerting myself a little more than usual.

Whether or not I shall sustain this routine is another matter entirely; but one has to start somewhere. And when one has found a schedule in one’s day which pays dividends, it is probably a good idea to keep it going. Time to see the world and time to think are precious commodities. Cycling provides for both.

All I ask is – please give me plenty room if you see me on the open road.

2010-06-18T23:17:00.001+01:00

James Boice

2010-06-16T20:01:00.000+01:00

On 15 June 2000, the Lord called Jim Boice home. He had served faithfully as pastor of one of the premier pulpits in the world- that of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. I met him briefly in the 1990s when he visited the Isle of Lewis as part of Rutherford House week, and it was a precious time. I continue to read him and listen to him with profit.

Rick Phillips has a masterful memoriam over at www.reformation21.org on this tenth anniversary of his death. Now that Tenth is shortly to be vacant again, let's join with the congregation to pray that God will raise up another leader who will continue Tenths tradition of biblical, Christ-focused gospel preaching.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Doctrine

2010-06-11T09:50:00.003+01:00

There are some books I wish I’d written. Let me re-phrase that. There are some books I come across, whose design and structure is so brilliantly simply that I could wish I had thought of it myself.

I’ve just been reading a book on theology. No surprises there, perhaps; but ‘Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe’ is no dry, academic book on theology. Written by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, this book has come out of the Mars Hill stable. Mars Hill Church in Seattle is a remarkable combination of biblical preaching and contemporary style. Anyone watching Driscoll on the internet will probably hear a first-rate sermon, with an up-to-date application. He is not easy listening either for traditionalists or modernists; but he certainly makes me think.

This new book on ‘Doctrine’ has a structure that gets right to the heart of theology. Theology is about God. It is not about proving that there is a God; nor is it about our responses to the world around us. It is simply a bringing together of the great themes and strands of revelation, without which there can be no theology. So the chapter headings in ‘Doctrine’ all remind us of this simple fact: ‘Trinity: God is’, ‘Creation: God Makes’ ‘Covenant: God Pursues’, ‘Incarnation: God Comes’ – and so on. It is all about God.

It is worth pausing there for a moment. According to the Old Testament, it is those who know God who will be strong and do exploits. According to the New, eternal life is not simply a matter of existing timelessly forever; it is a matter of knowing God. Theology lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It is the stuff the Christian faith. Knowing God is the theme of the Bible, and the pursuit of our lives.

I’m not saying anything new here: just reminding us all that we have completely misunderstood the Christian faith if we consider it to be a matter of living in a particular way, or dealing with particular problems. It is a matter of knowing God before it is a matter of serving him. Creeds are far more important than deeds or needs.

Of course, there are some things I wouldn’t express the way Driscoll and Breshears express them. Even when we have accepted the Bible as our standard and point of departure, there are passages over which Christians disagree.

For example – has special revelation ceased? According to ‘Doctrine’, ‘God still speaks to people and groups, albeit not in apostolic, inspired, canonical revelation’ (66). What the authors have in mind is that God still communicates with people in dreams and visions, a point that some of the stalwarts of Highland evangelicalism, like John Kennedy of Dingwall, would have no problem with.

It does give me pause, however. I have no doubt that God communicates his will to people in very powerful, personal ways; but I would not venture to say that this is a continuance of special revelation. Messiah has sealed up the vision and the prophecy; it is enough for me to live by the law and the testimony.

I also have a problem with the view of creation expressed in this book. After listing the options available, the authors come down on the side of a gap theory – that Genesis 1:1 describes a creation prior to (perhaps millions of years before) the events of the six days of creation. I still have no difficulty with a young earth created in an instant as a mature universe, just as Adam was.

I am also concerned by the view expressed about the fourth commandment. The authors seem happy to accept the traditional classification of the Old Testament laws into civil, ceremonial and moral laws, the latter of which are permanently binding. But they are quite wrong to suggest that the Sabbath commandment is part of the ceremonial law lurking within the moral code, and no longer binding.

Nor am I sure what the authors mean by ‘unlimited limited atonement’ (270) when they discuss the question of those for whom Jesus died. They seem to be looking for a formulation that will combine the particular design of the atonement as a means of making the salvation of the elect certain with the universal Gospel call.

But there is no need to confuse the terminology. Limited atonement was always considered in the best Calvinistic formulation to be the foundation of a genuine Gospel call. Christ died for his church; through the universal call of the Gospel that church comes into being. The atonement was definite; it had a particular design, and that will be realised. Otherwise the cross and its effects hinges entirely on the will of man.

So there are bits with which I quibble. But there are parts of ‘Doctrine’ which are superb. The discussion on the nature of man (114-5) is a reminder that we were created in the image of the Triune God, and therefore made for relationships: theologically, we were made to relate to God, psychology to ourselves, socially with other people, environmentally with all that God has made.

Equally superb is the section on the incarnation as the model for mission (240-2). According to the authors, incarnational missional life is contextual and crosses barriers of culture, it is evangelistic, it is humble, it is devoted to the church, and it is global. As the world is our mission field, we are told, so Jesus is our model missionary.

Then there is the critique of consumerism. ‘Life without credit cards … is almost unthinkable’ (403). But consumerism, according to ‘Doctrine’, ‘is driven by the idols of pride and status. It is an ideology and a religion. The things we buy and the reasons for which we buy them become important indicators for defining who and what we are. ‘Our homeless, generous God, Jesus Christ, nailed stewardship’, we are reminded. We are to be stewards, not consumers.

So would I give ‘Doctrine’ to someone for their theological education? Absolutely, although I would insist on Berkhof as a companion volume. This book, however, is a masterpiece of thoroughness and simplicity, covering all the theological topics in one simple, readable volume. That’s the sort of book I want to write one day.

Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe is published as a Re:Lit book by Crossway.

The Exciting Church

2010-05-19T07:19:00.004+01:00

You can keep up with events at this year's General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland online. Mandatory reading ought to be the text of the new Moderator's address - David Meredith speaks, as only he could - on the impossible topic of 'The Exciting Church'. Brilliant stuff.

Been to Birmingham

2010-05-16T00:00:00.006+01:00

The statue is of R.W. Dale, who was minister of Carrs Lane Church, in Birmingham city centre from 1854-1895. Dale's history is summarised on the website of the church here, although I suspect that it is somehow doctored to suit the liberal ethos of the church today. Dale was an evangelical preacher whose writings are still appreciated, but I understand that the ethos of the church is quite different today. I was preaching there this past week, as the city centre church is the venue for the Birmingham Spring Convention, a ministry of Birmingham City Mission.

I had an impression that Birmingham was an iconic sixties city - dull, grey and concrete - but it is very beautiful. There has been a lot of inner city regeneration, and I really enjoyed my walk round the canal and city centre.

However, what was more exciting was the number in the congregation - some 250 to 300 people each night, from different local churches, gathering together to hear the Word of God preached. There is nothing quite like that, and it is such a privilege to proclaim the Gospel to a people hungry for the Word. Regeneration of a city centre is important, but regeneration of a human life is more important still. May God bless his word in the cities, towns and villages of the United Kingdom in our days!

Trials of Theology

2010-05-04T08:30:00.005+01:00

Just been dipping into this new book from Christian Focus on 'The Trials of Theology'. I wish it had been available before I started studying theology. The first part of it contains wisdom from the past - from Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon, Warfield, Bonhoeffer and C.S. Lewis. The second contains wisdom from the present as scholars outline the pitfalls and the difficulties in the pursuit of various disciplines - D. A. Carson (Biblical Studies); Carl Trueman (Church History); Gerald Bray (Systematic Theology); Dennis Hollinger (Christian Ethics); and John Woodhouse (Seminary life).

The purpose is not to discourage but to prepare and to direct. Carl, for example, reckons that for many people, church history must surely be the most innocent and easiest subject in theological study - all it requires is to know dates and timelines, after all. Yet those who write church history constantly face the temptations to whiten their heroes, with the result that they become hagiographical in reporting the personalities of the past, or idealist in its presentation. Other writers caution in similar ways. Above all, as we are reminded in the foreword, it is all too possible to study theology for its own sake and forget that in it all Jesus continues to ask 'Do you love me?' (on which point, try and get a hold of Ted Donnelly's closing sermon from this year's Banner of Truth Conference, and read Carl Trueman's excellent piece in Themelios about not studying theology!)

He's my King!

2010-05-01T12:08:00.001+01:00

Of every tribe

2010-04-29T01:11:00.003+01:00

I am writing this from Leicester. Now the country’s first white minority city, Leicester has become home to a wide variety of cultures, languages and ethnic religions. Last week there was a riot between two ethnic groups; I witnessed nothing of the kind.

What I have witnessed actually takes my breath away as I think about it. I have had two duties to perform in this city. The first was to preach in Melbourne Hall, a city church founded by the great F.B.Meyer in 1878. Two years ago I had the privilege of preaching at the 130th anniversary service of this church, and this week the opportunity to occupy its magnificent pulpit again.

Melbourne Hall was designed with a distinctive shape: it was designed to look like a lantern, representing the gospel light which was to shine from its pulpit. It has a beautiful interior, a wide spacious pulpit, a distinctive board with the ten commandments on the rear wall, and an inscription over one of the main exit doors saying ‘The Mission Field Starts Here’. It is a reminder that leaving church is to step into service and into kingdom work.

What it also has is a magnificently ethnically mixed congregation. I greeted Indians and Africans, Sikhs and Muslims, all meeting together under the sound of the Christian Gospel and loving it. I met with elderly, well-dressed couples, and with young, radical, ear-pierced Christians (interestingly, the sermon included a reference to an intriguing biblical provision which included an ear being pierced).

There was multi-cultural diversity in Melbourne Hall. It is one of the few places where I have preached of which that is true. I have preached in large churches in the Southern States of America where few black faces were in the congregation, and no white faces among the catering staff or the groundsmen. But there is something quite moving about ministering to the family of God in a context where that family is ethnically diverse and yet one in Christ Jesus.

We hear much these days about equality and diversity. There is no place on earth where the two should exist harmoniously like the church. It could not have been easy for the early New Testament church to cope with the evident influx of Gentile Christians; a special Assembly had to be called to discuss the ‘problem’, and the tensions as a predominantly Jewish church expanded to embrace an increasing Gentile harvest of believers are everywhere on the pages of the New Testament.

Yet Paul hit the nail on the head when he wrote to the Greek-speaking churches of Galatian and said that ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’. Ethnic, social and even sexual distinctions vanish in the new humanity which is the church. God’s new Israel is distinguished by being ‘in Christ’, not by their ethnic background or cultural distinctiveness.

The same was true in my second responsibility in Leicester – to speak at the Banner of Truth Ministers’ Conference [Gary Brady is blogging the Conference over at Heavenly Worldliness] . It is daunting to speak to three hundred pastors, especially when one knows that any of the men present could deal with the topic much more skilfully than oneself. The speakers this year have been a diverse lot – two Scots, one Welshman, an Irishman and an American.

But riveting as the (other) speakers were, it was also moving to see pastors from all over the world at the conference, all united in their love for the Reformed faith, and all united in lifting their hearts and voices in the worship and praise of Christ. It was humbling to hear reports from men connected with Christian work in different countries in the African continent, to hear of pastors envious of ministers who have six books to read and study, and to hear of students so keen to learn theology that they will spend their last money on the entrance exam for a theological training course.

My colleague, O. Palmer Robertson, reminded us that the new Christendom will not be centred on the Northern hemisphere, but on the Southern – the church of the future will be centred on South America, Africa and parts of Asia. While we, in our arrogantly secular Westernised society, have successfully put God out of public and private space, the church is flourishing around the world.

Way back in the depths of history, Abraham was called to be a means of blessing to the whole world. Jesus claimed that they would come from all points of the compass to sit and share in his kingdom. And John saw Heaven populated by citizens of every tribe, members of every nation and speakers of every language.

I shall remember Leicester for these lessons in diversity. Under our different colours of skin and badges of culture, we are all the same. Paul used that very argument when he preached in the learned surroundings of Athens: ‘God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth’. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘God commands all people everywhere to repent’.

The needs of our heart are the same, however ethnically diverse we may be in our practice and in our society. That is why we desperately need God’s new society. It is, after all, a microscopic view of the eternal glory, the ultimate creation, in which God will be worshipped and served with many voices. It is an enormous privilege for a boy from Manor Park to be caught up in such a wonderful enterprise.

A Conversion

2010-04-16T08:42:00.004+01:00

One of the big projects in which our men were involved since I moved to Point Free Church was the conversion of a redundant barn into a library and office area. Almost all of this work was done voluntarily over a period of six months - and the pictures speak for themselves. Many thanks for the new workspace, guys!

Ted Donnelly Sermons

2010-04-12T18:18:00.003+01:00

We had a wonderful communion weekend in Point where our main preacher was Ted Donnelly of Northern Ireland. He and his wife Lorna were with us from Friday to Monday. Ted's preaching was exceptionally good, and is worth listening to - you can hear the sermons at http://www.sermon.net/pointfreechurch.

Communion weekend

2010-03-23T17:54:00.003Z

I had a wonderful time of preaching and fellowship at the communion services in Greyfriars and Stratherrick Free Church in Inverness. My colleague, Dr Malcolm Maclean was inducted as pastor there last year; his blogs are well worth reading, and can be accessed here.

EuCRC - Day 3

2010-03-18T18:10:00.004Z

After devotions led by Rev William Traub, we had an excellent lecture from Rev David Meredith of Smithton on 'Can Conservative Churches Grow?', based largely on Acts 11-13 and the transition in Acts from the Jerusalem church to the Antioch church. In spite of the tradition and experience of Jerusalem, it was the church in Antioch that became the channel of blessing to the Gentiles. The hand of God was on them, but it was not apart from their own strategy, which included grass-roots evangelism, leaders who led, teaching with quality, and unity and partnership. It was vintage Meredith - stimulating, thought-provoking, common-sense application of biblical principles.

Most of the rest of the day was taken up with presentations; Rev Ivan Bespalov, Jos Colign and Dr Clay Quaterman spoke on church and theological education in the Ukraine, Laszlo Fazekas spoke about the Reformed Church in Slovakia, Manuel Lopez on Spain, and Eric Kayayan on France; Eric is ministering currently to French speaking South Africans in South Africa, but with an evident burden for his motherland.

Michael Mulder gave an interesting presentation on 'Kerygma and diaconia as twins in the proclamation of the Gospel: examples from Dutch churches'. He showed a video which introduced some Dutch projects where proclamation and service go hand in hand. Sometimes diaconal work can be viewed as merely a 'social gospel'; sometimes it can be viewed merely as bait to get people hooked on the gospel.

However, he suggested that kerygma, the gospel poclamation, is formed by words of love; diaconal ministry is the organisation of deeds of love, twins from the same mother. The examples of new church work in Holland are examples of churches where the gospel is proclaimed in words, but shown in deeds. Both are necessary.

It has been an exciting and stimulating conference. I am due to preach tonight on 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 'treasure in jars of clay', and will be leaving thereafter for Inverness, where I am preaching this coming weekend at communion services.

What have I learned this week? That my church needs every other Reformed church; that we need to be looking out and not looking in; that we must take leadership and evangelism seriously; that the same problems we face are faced everywhere; that we must take the cities seriously. I am ministering in a very remote, rural part of Europe. But if I take a passion for the cities of Europe, a burden for prayer, and a zeal for evangelism back home with me, perhaps we can play our small part in the work of evangelising our continent.

EuCRC - Day 2

2010-03-17T22:36:00.007Z

We had the first full day of the conference today, which began with devotions, led by David Bergmark of Sweden. There were then a couple of presentations - Rev David Miller of Cobham (my brother-in-law) presented a compilation of church planting work by European members of the ICRC, and Rev Wolter Rose spoke of the developments in theological education throughout Europe. A conference is due to be held from 22-24 March 2011 in Holland to discuss this matter further.

Richard Pratt also concentrated on theological education in his second plenary discussion. He highlighted the challenges that face us in the delivery of theological education today: the generational challenge of young people who are streets ahead of their teachers in the use of modern technology, and are growing up in a multi-ethnic society; the economic challenge that makes theological education too expensive for many people, the ethnic challenge posed by immigration, and the ecclesiastical challenge of churches which are diminishing in size, but require their leaders to be trained.
In the delivery of theological education, however, we have tended to follow traditional methods developed in the 11th century, where the teacher reads his lecture from a manuscript at the front of a group of students. To change the lecture methodology often appears to threaten the institution. We continue to charge high costs, to overlook ethnic needs and to maintain traditional colleges.

Drawing on Titus 1:1-5, Richard highlighted that for Paul, what mattered was not the obtaining of a high degree, but that leaders be ‘above reproach’, be exemplary in their families, their social life and their faithfulness to the word.

In the light of this, it is important that we emphasise training, but that the training be affordable and accessible, in order that we properly train men for the situations they will face. How do we train soldiers for war? We simulate war, so that the first bombs that explode beside them on the battlefield are not the first bombs they hear. theological education needs to be ‘edu-taining’, using modern technology, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, inexpensive and scalable. It was a very stimulating and thought-provoking lecture. After lunch there was a plenary dialogue between Rev David Robertson, Dundee, and Dr Stefan Paas of the Netherlands. They spoke of the theological and practical challenges of church-planting in modern Europe. I enjoyed listening to both men, and especially appreciated David’s distinction between being ‘t-shirt’ Reformed - in which we simply wear a t-shirt advertising ourselves as being 5-point Calvinists - and being ‘backbone’ Reformed, in which we get the theology and Bible preaching absolutely right, and don’t worry too much about the ‘skin’ and appearance of our church life.

After coffee, Jurjen Ten Brinke of the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands spoke of his church planting work in the north of Amsterdam. In a city where everything is multi-ethnic, and with a theology that promises Heaven will be multi-ethnic, church planting must be multi-ethnic. His work has seen a church grow from nothing to about 140 with a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. He was not reticent about the difficulties - over baptism, the gifts of the Spirit, the millennium, church government. However, his passion was to have a church in which the best thing that could happen would be a meeting with Christ. His report was inspiring and stimulating.

This evening we attended a service of worship in Buccleuch Free Church, Edinburgh, where the minister, Rev Alex MacDonald, preached on John 4:1-29. He began by saying that the important task of European evangelism was cross-cultural mission, and showed how Jesus was the perfect example of this in his engagement with the woman - how he became involved with her, roused her curiosity, touched her conscience and answered her questions. We must do the same. The Edinburgh psalm-singers gave a stimulating and a moving rendition of several of the psalms. It was a fitting note of worship on which to end a most enjoyable and informative day.

EuCRC

2010-03-16T22:47:00.002Z

This week I am attending the European Conference of Reformed Churches as a representative of our home Presbytery. I am also due to preach the closing sermon of the conference. There are about 70 delegates at the Conference, representing Reformed Churches in Sweden, the Ukraine, Holland, Romania, Scotland, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Russia, Lithuania, Ireland, Croatia, Serbia, Switzerland - with some delegates from South Africa and India for good measure! There seems to be a good rapport between the delegates, and the first session this evening was a sobering reminder that European culture needs the gospel.

Tonight's speaker was Richard Pratt of Third Millennium Ministries. Richard reminded us of our situation in Europe - the disintegration of Christian culture, the changing demography and trends where huge changes are taking place through immigration and the growth of families of other religioins, and the decline within the churches. Our responses have been typically mixed, Dr Pratt suggested: we have been tempted to fatalism, believing simply that God has not chosen to bless us, tempted to arrogance, believing that the reason for our lack of blessing is that we are doing things right, and tempted to retreat, to circle the wagons and form an enclave, which, by its very nature, will disappear.

Our response has to draw on the examples of Christ and the apostles. Drawing on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Dr Pratt spoke about the obstacles to the gospel, beginning with the obstacle of personal freedom. The American Declaration of Independence says that we have inalienable rights, including the right to pursue happiness. Not according to Paul, who said that although he was free he opted, like Christ, to be a servant to all. It is an obstacle to our evangelism that we are not prepared to be inconvenienced or to die for Christ.

Second, there is the obstacle of an inappropriate message. Paul became like a Gentile to the Gentiles and like a Jew to the Jews. The prostitute and the Muslim need the same gospel, but they need to hear different things from us. The prostitute knows he is depraved. The Muslim thinks he is accepted. The same gospel demands flexibility from us if we are to stay rooted. The oak falls in the tornado, but the pine tree stays rooted because it can bend. We too must adapt or perish.

Third, there is the obstacle of losing the vision. Paul was clear - he wanted to win some, to save any. Numbers mattered to him. We need to recover the servant attitude of Jesus, the appropriate way of delivering the message, and the unwavering vision, so that we will go out with the gospel to draw those outside into the banquet.

There was a short question time afterward (which is where the photo comes from), and devotions led by Rev Philip Coster of Belgium.

By Grace Alone

2010-03-16T21:45:00.003Z

Sinclair Ferguson's new book By Grace Alone is a wonderful exploration of the theme of God's grace to sinners. It grew out of meditations on a marvellous hymn by Emmanuel Sibomana. Information on the book can be found on the Ligonier website here. The hymn on which it is based is as follows:

O how the grace of God

amazes me!

It loosed me from my bonds

and set me free!

What made it happen so?

His own will, this much I know,

set me, as now I show,

at liberty.

My God has chosen me,

though one of nought,

To sit beside my King

In heaven's court.

Hear what my Lord has done,

O, the love that made him run

To meet his erring son!

This has God wrought.

Not for my righteousness

For I have none,

But, for his mercy's sake,

Jesus, God's Son,

Suffered on Calvary's tree -

Crucified with thieves was he -

Great was his grace to me,

His wayward one.

And when I think of how,

At Calvary,

He bore sin's penalty

instead of me.

Amazed, I wonder why

He, the sinless One, should die,

for one so vile as I;

My Saviour he!

Now all my heart's desire

Is to abide

In him, my Saviour dear,

In him to hide.

my shield and buckler he,

Covering and protecting me;

From Satan's darts I'll be

Safe at his side.

Lord Jesus, hear my prayer,

your grace impart;

When evil thoughts arise

Through Satan's art,

O, drive them all away

And do you, from day to day

Keep me beneath your sway

King of my heart.

Come now, the whole of me,

Eyes, ears and voice,

Join me, creation all,

With joyful noise;

Praise him who broke the chain

Holding me in sin's domain

And set me free again!

Sing and rejoice!

New book on the Free Church Fathers

2010-03-13T20:25:00.002Z

Prof Sandy Finlayson of Westminster Theological Seminary has published a new book on the formative leaders of the Free Church of Scotland. Unity and Diversity has been published by Christian Focus Publications. It gives biographical studies of men like Thomas Chalmers, William Cunningham, Andrew Bonar and John Kennedy - men who adorned Scotland's ecclesiastical history in the nineteenth century. Beautifully finished and illustrated, this book will be an invaluable resource for any study of the period. I hope many of our own young people will read it and be inspired by the example of the men who were so influential in the first sixty years of the Free Church's existence. They were not without their flaws, but in those days, there were theological and spiritual giants in the land!

Teaching in London

2010-03-11T15:46:00.002Z

This week I am teaching a course on Scripture at the John Owen Centre in London as part of the ThM programme of Westminster Theological Seminary. The Centre is housed at London Theological Seminary in Finchley, where Robert Strivens is Principal. The Director of the Centre is Garry Williams. Our student group represents England, Scotland, Wales and Holland. It's a great pleasure to be here, and to have fellowship with these men in the stimulating context of a theological college.

Bob Letham on the Westminster Assembly

2010-03-08T20:49:00.003Z

Anything by Bob Letham is worth reading, and his latest book on The Westminster Assembly is a masterpiece. Published as part of a series on 'The Westminster Assembly and the Reformed Faith', the full title of this work is The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context, and it does exactly what it says on the cover.

Bob is concerned that a great deal of work on the Assembly and its theology has either ignored the historical context in which the Assembly met, or else been guilty of anachronism by reading back into the documents something that they never intended to say. Both in scholarly and popular works, such misreadings abound.

The author here is much more concerned to let the Assembly speak for itself through its principal documents, as well as through the minutes of each session (we eagerly await the published version of Chad Van Dixhoorn's research into the minutes of the Assembly).

This book is in three parts: the historical context, the theological context and the theology of the Assembly. The historical context is a disturbing read for a Scotsman: it highlights, over and over again, that the Assembly was an English gathering; the Scots divines who were present were not commissioners, and their names do not appear in the minutes of proceedings. That is not to say that they had no influence; but we read too much into the evidence if we pretend that the Assembly was more than it actually was. (There is a redeeming illustration from northwest Scotland on page 47!).

It is a sobering thing to be reminded that 'the Westminster Assembly failed to achieve in its own land the purpose for which it had been established' (p42); and yet its genius lay in what it did achieve - 'the widest measure of agreement possible, within acceptable limits of doctrine and practice' (p117). The result was no failure; the Assembly produced a series of theological documents that still command respect and attention. We may disagree with some of the formulations, but we cannot ignore them.

Bob Letham not only guides us with skill through the historical context; he also corrects some of the inaccuracies of Warfield's assessment - the view, for example, that the Assembly's discussion of the Thirty-Nine Articles was a pastime to occupy the Assembly before its real work could start (p37; cf Warfield's Westminster Assembly and its Work, pp34-5)! On the contrary, suggests Letham - this was an important preparation for the later discussion of doctrine.

Bob also reminds us that the Assembly did not (and could not, any more than can we) operate in a vacuum; the theology of the Assembly - as Warfield himself was at pains to point out - drew from a wide corpus of Reformed literature, especially the Irish articles of 1615 and the Thirty-Nine Articles themselves. Why the Thirty-Nine Articles differ in form and substance from Westminster's pronouncements is, again, a matter of historical context; this is one of the interesting contributions of Bob's work.

The longest section of the book is on the theology of the Assembly, with some interesting perspectives, followed by discussions of the main theological topics: Scripture, the Trinity, God's freedom, humanity and sin, Christ and covenant, the order of salvation, law and liberty, church and sacraments and the last things.

Interspersed with discussion of these important foci of theology are the excursuses throughout the book - more detailed examination of questions such as the development of the doctrine of the imputation of Adam's sin from Calvin to Westminster (206-23), debates on justification (250-64) and the Reformed doctrine of Baptism to 1643 (333-9). These are very important, if exacting, discussions of issues within historical theology.

For any serious study of the Westminster Assembly and its productions, formulations and discussions, this book is a must. It is a treat to read, and will repay careful study. It is a reliable guide through one of the landmark gatherings of our (English) heritage; I hope it will also prove a stimulus for serious commitment to the theology of Westminster.

Visit to Seoul (6)

2010-02-25T12:26:00.011Z

Well, my visit to South Korea is almost at an end. It's been a fascinating first experience of a new continent, with its rich diversity, vibrancy and colour. This is a highly developed nation, with a strong economy - and churches everywhere. If I have been a small help in strengthening those pastors who share my passion for confessional, doctrinal exposition and Word-based worship, then it will have been a worthwhile journey.

Today - the first day of (heavy) rain I've seen here, Changwon took me to visit the campus of his denominational theological school, Chongshin Seminary. The next Semester is starting next week, so the place was deserted, but it was lovely to visit the beautiful campus site. Here is Changwon in a Hebrew classroom (parallels with John L Mackay come to mind, but I'll refrain.....)

The pioneers of this Seminary were men who trained in the United States - one in Princeton before 1929, and one with Gresham Machen in Westminster Seminary after the split. Between them they took Berkhof's Systematic Theology to Korea, and made it their textbook; they also produced commentaries on the books of the Bible. The work has flourished and grown; this year some 1300 students study here.

We also visit the Memorial to the Korean martyrs, a moving and enduring legacy to all those who were put to death, often very cruelly, for confessing Jesus. The words of Stephen - 'do not lay this sin to their charge' - and of the Church Father Tertullian - 'the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church - are written inside the building. One of the first to shed his blood for Christ in Korea was a missionary from Wales, Robert Jeremiah Thomas, put to death in 1866, aged 27. This is a wonderful way to mark the legacy of the past in this nation; it left me wondering why we could not have a Scottish National Memorial to the Covenanting Martyrs of our own past.

Finally, a dinner with members of the KIRP Committee and their wives. Their kindness and hospitality have been overwhelming. They continue to pastor their churches, translate Puritan literature into Korean, preach and teach. They are a real inspiration. May God continue to bless them. They highly value all their connections with Reformed pastors in the UK and the USA. They deserve our prayers and our encouragement; and we would do well to emulate their zeal and devotion to Jesus.

So now I pack my case. That is to say, I try to squeeze into it everything I have been given. At dinner tonight I was asked if I had bought gifts for my elders. That, apparently, is a Korean custom. I hadn't - it's not a Scottish custom I told them. I was tempted to say that my safe return would be a gift enough.

Thanks for reading these posts.

Visit to Seoul (5)

2010-02-23T05:32:00.003Z

After the first couple of days of Korean food, my digestive system took a bit of a battering. But, as you can see, I was ready for lunch today in one of Korea's porridge restaurants. I'm even managing with chopsticks.

Here are a couple of photos from the KIRP Conference - the Korean Institute for Reformed Preaching. About two hundred pastors and lay people are in attendance from in and around Seoul. They have a real passion for the Reformed faith. I have been asked to speak about the Reformed Confession and the Ministry of the Gospel; yesterday I spoke on the glory of the ministry and related it to the Confession's teaching on election, covenant, the Holy Spirit and assurance. Today I spoke on the foundation of the ministry and spoke on the Confession on Scripture; tomorrow I hope to speak on the practice of ministry and will speak on the Confession's teaching on worship, the Sabbath, the church and the sacraments. I also have three evening sermons at the Conference - these are on 'Saved by Grace', 'Justified by Grace' and 'Kept by Grace'.

Changwon has been interpreting for me. His task is much more difficult than mine. But he is an excellent interpreter - according to others who speak English! So far I have met four Korean brethren who have been to Scotland - three of these have studied at the Free Church College. The world is not so big after all.

It is good to have such sweet fellowship with brothers in Christ. They are not all pastoring Mega-churches - some are ministering to twenty; others have planted churches and have seen modest growth. But there is a deep appreciation of Reformed and Puritan theology, and it is at this point that we are on common ground.

Changwon's mellifluous, sonorous bass voice is a joy to listen to any time. Here he is encouraging the Conference Psalm from the front, with a familiar Scottish melody:

Visit to Seoul (4)

2010-02-21T13:39:00.006Z

Saturday was spent doing some sightseeing round Seoul; Sunday was preaching. Seoul is rich in history and tradition, and Changwon's daughter, Jiheh, took me to visit the old palace buildings and garden in Seoul, where the National Folk Museum is also situated. It was a very interesting day.

Yesterday I preached twice in Samyang Presbyterian Church. Changwon interpreted for me; there were about 60 people at the 9am service - they were mostly Sunday School teachers who were occupied with their classes for the main service - and about 500 at the main service at 11am. There is a very competent and powerful choir in the church, who were a joy to hear.

In the afternoon I had a 2pm service at ChangKwang Presbyterian Church. The pastor is Rev B.K. Lee, who is President of the Seminary I visited on Thursday. There were about 1000 people in this church building, and my interpreter was Chris Kim, who is completing a doctorate in the UK. The denomination - Covenant Presbyterian Church - was started with Dr Lee and three members, and has now grown to 120 churches throughout Korea, as well as churches established in other countries.

The service was simple - three singings and a prayer, and then I preached. They value the preaching of the Word above everything else. One of the deacons of the church, in his broken English, gave me the best definition of Calvinism, when I asked about the growth of the churches - 'God start, God do, God finish'. Can't say better than that.

I was glad to end the day in Changwon's home. They are a delightful family, and we were reminiscing about how we meet in the Free Church College 25 years ago. What a busy man he is; among other things, translating and publishing the Banner of Truth regularly in Korean, lecturing on Puritan Theology at Chongshin Seminary, as well as pastoring a large church.

But he humbled me by telling me tonight that he couldn't understand how God led him to Scotland to spend his Summers doing supply in such far-flung congregations as Snizort, Rogart and Scourie. He believes it was to help his English so that he could go to Myanmar (Burma) to set up a theological seminary for Burmese Christians. He was delighting in the providence of God that had prepared him for the ministry he now has throughout Asia.

The attached piece of video says it all: walking along one of the busiest streets of Seoul on Saturday afternoon just to record the crowds, I saw a man preaching and holding up a cross. He is right at the end of the clip. I don't know who he was, but he was a symbol of all that Changwon and his fellow-pastors are doing in this teeming Asian metropolis that is twice as populated as Scotland: raising high the cross so that their people will continue to hear of Jesus.

Psalm Singing from Korea - real Seoul music!

2010-02-20T01:21:00.002Z

Visit to Seoul (3)

2010-02-19T13:36:00.006Z

My body still hasn't got used to the time difference between the UK and South Korea, so I was awake very early today and couldn't get back to sleep. The result was that I got a lot of reading and preparation done before breakfast, but it left me tired later on.

This morning I had a rare treat. My friends Changwon and Joon Bum have worked to translate portions of the Psalter into Korean. Now they are going to have a recording made of some of the selections of the Psalms, which are being sung by the Seoul Motet Choir under the directorship of Chee-yong Park. The choir is a large, professional, entirely Christian choir, which gives performances all over the place.

I was fortunate enough to be in Seoul while the recording was being made at the Yaksoo Presbyterian Church. The recording is being made over three days, and today was the final day. Joon Bum arranged for Changwon and I to sit in for an hour or so while the choir sang - and they were brilliant. I can't wait for the CD to appear.

Then it was time for lunch, which we had in the restaurant at the Seoul Tower in Namsan Park. At 275 metres high, it rivals some of the world's tall towers, and offers a spectacular 365-degree panorama of Seoul.

After the tower we stopped at Namsangol, a display village showing traditional buildings. Fortuitously, a young couple who are about to be married appeared for photographs in traditional costume. It all added to the authenticity of the place. After a traditional Korean meal (complete with chopsticks and seated on the floor and 'poison fish' on the menu - for which the chef needs a special licence to cook the delicacy or the fish lives up to its name) I had a short rest before going to Samyang Presbyterian Church, where Changwon is pastor. They had their Friday Prayer Meeting, which was unlike any Prayer Meeting format I have known. After interviewing me informally, the whole congregation, simultaneously and audibly, prayed together. It was a very moving thing - all these prayers, fervently and passionately going to God at the same time. I felt it was holy ground.

The praying stopped after half an hour, equally dramatically, and after a cup of green tea in Changwon's study it was time to retire for the night. Not that the city itself has any sign of sleeping. This is a place which needs little sleep, and the night-life is endless. Yet tonight, dotted over the dark cityscape are myriads of red neon crosses on church steeples, all testifying to the remarkable power of the gospel in this Asian continent.

It was a man from Scotland - John Ross of Fearn - who translated the Bible into Korean without ever having been here. He was a missionary in China where he met Korean immigrants, and he translated the Bible for them. Since then missionaries did come to Korea, but the Bible was here before them. A remarkable series of revivals and providences - not least the troubles in North Korea - led to a high proportion of Christians in Seoul. This city boasts the largest church in the world, the largest Pentecostal Church in the world, and the largest Presbyterian church in the world.

The seeds of secularism have been sown, and changes will come. But for the moment I would be very content to have congregations the size of some of the Korean churches. Perhaps if we had actual prayer meetings, like the Koreans have, we would have churches like the Koreans have too.

Visit to Seoul (2)

2010-02-18T07:42:00.006Z

Today as you can see there was a slight covering of snow in the morning, and the temperature was low all day. However, the sun was out, so the snow disappeared.

Today was a visit to Covenant Theological Seminary in KwangJoo city, near Seoul. I was the commencement speaker at their graduation ceremony. The Seminary is supported by one of the smaller Presbyterian denominations in Korea, and is a bastion of Reformed doctrine. The president, 87 year old Dr ByoungKyu Lee, disappears to the mountains twice a year for a week at a time just to pray. He is a real inspiration. My interpreter, Dr Youngyup Cho, is in his seventies, and a former associate of J. Gresham Machen and of Carl Macintyre. He has written a book against the 'Seeker Sensitive' model of Rick Warren, with the subtitle 'A Best Seller for Corrupting the Churches'. Both Dr Lee and Dr Cho escaped from North Korea during difficult times there.

I didn't expect to meet anyone I knew, but one of the first students I spoke to was Hong-Chang Cho, known and loved by everyone in Dowanvale, where he spent a year on voluntary work placement. He is now a first-year student in the Seminary. It was also a pleasure to renew fellowship with Joon-Bum Kim, who studied at the Free Church College from 1997-2000, and has just completed a PhD on the Sabbath with Joey Pipa at Greenville Seminary.
I spoke on 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 'why we do not give up'. It was great to be part of the life of the Seminary for such an important day. See if you can spot me in the photograph!

And finally - a panoramic view of the lights of Seoul on a cold winter's night.

Visit to Seoul (1)

2010-02-17T12:42:00.005Z

Well, after a smooth nine hour flight from Amsterdam I touched down in Asia - something Paul wanted to do but never managed. Flying into the island airport of Incheon, about an hour's drive from Seoul, you could tell it was winter - the ground was very white, and the temperature in the city was -3. What a bustling, busy city it is. My friend Changwon Shu, who studied with me at the Free Church College in the 1980s, met me at the airport and took me to my hotel.

I have a busy programme of services, but in spite of my tiredness I really enjoyed being with Young Bok Kim this evening at his church - Sungshil Presbyterian Church. I had sent a manuscript of my sermon to him, to facilitate his translation of it. There must have been about 400 people there for a midweek meeting - and the singing was just brilliant.

I was humbled and thrilled to be on the other side of the world preaching the same gospel that I preach each week to my own small flock. The church of Christ is truly international - and what a lot we could learn from the Korean church about faithfulness, self-giving and support for the Christian ministry.

Tonight, however, I'm exhausted - in-depth analysis will have to wait!

Scottish Reformed Conference

2010-02-15T14:07:00.002Z

If you are free on Saturday 8th May, make sure you mark the Scottish Reformed Conference in your diary. I was there a couple of years back, and regretted that - with the conference being on a Saturday - I hadn't been able to attend previously. This year's speakers are Dale Ralph Davis and Kenneth Stewart. Check the details on their website here.

Sunday, rugby and the atonement

2010-02-05T08:41:00.002Z

Here is a fascinating interview with Euan Murray which appeared in yesterday's Guardian. It just shows that a stand for the Lord's Day is a much more powerful Christian witness than the compromise of many other professional Christians.

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/feb/04/six-nations-scotland-euan-murray-interview

Moldova Fundraiser

2010-01-29T00:21:00.003Z

Support the Lewis Blythswood trip to Moldova online:

http://www.justgiving.com/DMack

Westminster Assembly Project

2010-01-29T00:11:00.004Z

The Westminster Assembly Project
and Reformation Heritage Books

The Westminster Assembly Project, best known for the edition of Assembly minutes and papers to be published by Oxford University Press, has now entered an extensive publishing agreement with Reformation Heritage Books.

John Bower has joined historian Chad Van Dixhoorn in launching three new series of books by the Westminster Assembly, and one series of new and classic studies on the Assembly, all being published by Reformation Heritage Books. It is hoped that both texts and studies will stimulate further research in the Assembly and the religious dimension of English civil war politics. Certainly future publications on British post-Reformation theology and Puritanism will be enriched by these publications, briefly described here.

Principal Documents of the Westminster Assembly. This series will produce the six chief works authored by the Assembly for covenanted uniformity of religion in England: the Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, Shorter Catechism, Directory for Public Worship, Directory for Church Government, and The Psalter. Each volume will contain a historical introduction, a critical text, and multi-column comparisons of original manuscripts and early editions. The inaugural volume, The Larger Catechism, has been prepared by John Bower and scheduled for a launch in March 2010.

Writings of the Westminster Divines. The aim of this series is to provide scholarly editions of texts by Westminster Assembly members and commissioners. Volumes will include previously unpublished manuscripts as well as republications of rare editions. Carefully determined editorial standards will be used to ensure an authoritative product that is accessible to modern readers, while remaining reliable for students and scholars.

Westminster Assembly Facsimiles. With this new series, Reformation Heritage Books and the Westminster Assembly Project are providing electronic and print access to publications by Assembly members in their original form. Free PDF downloads will be made available through the Westminster Assembly Project website. The same text can be purchased for your collection in paperback and hard cover from Reformation Heritage Books.

Studies of the Westminster Assembly. Complementing the primary source material in the other series, the Assembly studies will provide access to classic studies that have not been reprinted and to new studies, providing some of the best existing research on the Assembly and its members.

For more information on the Westminster Assembly Project, visit www.westminsterassembly.org. Information on Reformation Heritage Books can be found at www.heritagebooks.org and www.heritagebooktalk.org.

Lost Generation

2010-01-27T19:09:00.000Z

This is rather clever:

Jerusalem

2010-01-23T16:50:00.002Z

'Jerusalem is the city of the great King' saith the Lord (Matthew 5:35).

Where is Jerusalem? Where the eye overflows with tears of mourning after God; where the knee and the heart are bowed at the throne of grace; where the hands of faith are lifted to the cross, and lips of sincerity utter their prayers and praise - there is Jerusalem.

Jerusalem! O it is good to be within thy walls, to sit together as fellow-citizens, according to the privilege of the new birth; to sing together in the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord in the midst of us; to speak often one with another upon faith's bright prospects that lie before us, to number up our joys with whihc the 'stranger intermeddleth not' or to place ourselves at the windows towards the east, and breathe the morning air of everlasting day, and refresh ourselves with thoughts of the blissful futurity that awaits us. 'O Jerusalem, if I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning!'

F.W. Krummacher, Elijah the Tishbite, London, 1837, p111

Heidelberg Catechism (3)

2010-01-23T11:47:00.002Z

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 3

Question 6. Did God create human being evil and damaged?

No, on the contrary, God created human being good and in God’s own image, that is, in genuine righteousness and holiness, so that we might truly know God our creator, love God wholeheartedly, and live with God in eternal blessedness, in order to praise and glorify God.

Question 7. From where, then, does this corrupt nature of human beings come?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. Through this our nature became so corrupted that we are all conceived and born in sin.

Question 8. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and are prone to do all evil?

Yes, unless we are born again through God’s Spirit.

These questions remind us that sin was not part of the original creation - it came in subsequently. God's intention for man was that he would, as his own image, respond to him in praise and worship, enjoying his blessing and righteous fellowship. Instead, Adam and Eve's sin infected and affected all their descendants. The starting point of the biblical doctrine of man is that originally he was good but subsequently became sinful. The starting point of our experience of being human is that originally we are corrupt in every aspect of our being, and have to be made good - re-made good - by the regenerating act of God's Holy Spirit.

Scott Clark on Circumcision and Baptism

2010-01-22T19:45:00.002Z

Having preached on Circumcision and Baptism at our Prayer Meeting last night, I was intrigued that Scott Clark had been writing on the same subject. His excellent post is here, and well worth browsing.

A great epitaph

2010-01-21T16:17:00.003Z

While browsing the old gravestones in the Ui Cemetery this morning, I was taken with the inscription on a stone to the memory of a Donald Macdonald who had been a GP in the Isle of Lewis in the second half of the nineteenth century. I just loved the last part of the epitaph:

“During upwards of 20 years he devoted his splendid abilities with conspicuous energy and rare unselfishness to ministering to the poor people of his native parish; Generous and loyal in all the relationships of life he valued truth and the approval of his own conscience above earthly gain or the praise of his fellow-men; He left to his family the priceless inheritance of an honourable name, and to his widow her pride in sharing it.”

What a legacy!

The Music of Opportunity

2010-01-15T10:31:00.000Z

Everyone needs to watch this:

Heidelberg Catechism (2)

2010-01-14T23:25:00.002Z

Heidelberg Catechism – Lord’s Day 2

Question 3. How do you learn of your misery?

From the law of God

Question 4. What does the law of God require of us?

Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22:37-40: “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Question 5. Can you do all this perfectly?

No, for I am by nature prone to hate God and my neighbour.

In order to derive comfort from the Gospel, we need to know our true condition. The remedy will only be a remedy for the diseased. The Gospel is a remedy for us as those who are diseased by sin. The law, which is a transcript of God's holy nature, shows us how unlike God we are, how prone we are to do the very thing he requires, and how impossible it is for us consequently to know the blessing of fellowship with him on earth or eternity with him in Heaven.

Our guilt is great, and it requires a solution that is equal to, and greater than, the effect of sin on our heart, mind and will.

Grace in the wilderness

2010-01-14T23:21:00.000Z

Bruce Waltke on Genesis 16: "Hagar is the only woman in the ancient Near Eastern literature called by name by a deity, and she is the only person in the Old Testament who confers a name upon God" (Genesis, p256).

New Edition of Pilgrim's Progress

2010-01-05T23:22:00.003Z

This new edition of Bunyan's classic work, the first part of Pilgrim's Progress, is a real treat. Published by Crossway, it has been typeset and illustrated beautifully - a joy to handle and to read. If you have never read it before, then this edition would be a great place to start. If you have, then it will repay another reading. As Derek Thomas states in the opening page, 'in taking up this volume you will find pastoral insights from a pastor of souls to help you discover the biblical way of salvation and aid you i the journey home'. Jim Packer adds, 'If any smoothing of Bunyn's seventeenth century language plus new coloured pictures can set Pilgrim's Progress aglow in the hearts of today's young readers, this lovely book will surely do it.' For young and old alike, this edition is a must. Available from Amazon's UK site here.

2010-01-03T13:44:00.001Z

Heidelberg Catechism (1)

2010-01-03T09:05:00.000Z

Lord’s Day 1

Question 1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I belong, both body and soul and in life and in death, not to myself, but to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who has totally paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and completely liberated me from the power of the devil, and who takes care of me so well that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, everything must work together for my salvation. Besides this, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready to live for him from now on.

Question 2.How many things must you know that you may life and die in this blissful comfort?

Three things: first, the magnitude of my sin and wretchedness. Second, how I am released from all my sins and misery. Third, how I am to be grateful to God for such redemption.

This is a wonderful opening from the Heidelberg Catechism. It reminds us that we can have no comfort in life and no hope in death apart from knowing that Christ is ours and that we are his. If we know this, then we know that absolutely everything that God permits in the universe serves the cause of our redemption. Having this assurance we willingly yield our lives to Christ.

There are three things that feed into this assurance: a knowledge of our guilt before God, the grace we have received from God and our gratitude to God.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thoughts on the Nativity Story

2009-12-27T17:25:00.002Z

Everyone thinks they know the story of Jesus’ birth. A pregnant woman has to make a long journey on a donkey to Bethlehem, where, because of the crowd, she has to give birth to her son in a stable. He is a perfect baby – doesn’t even cry, and is visited by shepherds who have seen angels, and by three kings who have followed a star. Etched in the collective memory of a carol-singing generation is the nativity scene – the holy family, surrounded by sheep and shepherds, oxen and kings, all seraphic, heavenly and beautiful.

That, of course, is the highly romanticised and sanitised version. The reality is quite different. For one thing, there is no mention in the Bible of how Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem – they may have hitched a lift in a cart. Nor do we have any indication of where Jesus was born – the Bible does not even mention the word ‘stable’ (except once in the Book of Ezekiel in the seventeenth century prose of the Authorised Version). Perhaps when Jesus said that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head he was referring to his birth as much as to his later life.

Nor does the Bible tell us that the wise men were kings, or that there were three of them. Nor does it tell us that they visited Jesus in the non-mentioned ‘stable’. The Bible simply says that the magi came from the east – an interesting contrast with the close of the Gospel narrative when the message of Jesus is sent out to the east – and that they came to the ‘house’, not the stable, where the young child was.

Nor should we think that Jesus was anything other than an ordinary baby boy, whose birth caused Mary the kind of pain that made Joseph glad he wasn’t a woman, and the demands of whose infancy exhausted his mother. The idea that away in a manger the little Lord Jesus made no crying, or that Mary was ‘that mother mild’ does justice neither to the ordinariness of his childhood nor the emotional trauma of her motherhood.

Nor – as Professor John Murray reminded us a long time ago – should we imagine that being the mother of the Lord required of Mary that she should remain a virgin. That would have made her a wretch; indeed, argued the good Professor, our high estimation of Mary demands that we regard her as fulfilling all the obligations of a loving and dutiful wife to Joseph after the birth of her first son.

So, in the actual words of the shepherds, ‘let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened’. That something remarkable happened is beyond question, but one would never have known it had one stumbled across the scene. A young mother, nursing her new son amid the squalor and dust of the earth, with a young man – whom one would presume to be the father – looking on. No angels. No halos. No heavenly music in the background. Nothing but the sounds of people and the smells of animals (or vice versa).

It takes more than the facts to convey the truth, of course. Heavenly announcements have taken place away from here – in Joseph’s dream, in Mary’s waking hours, in shepherds’ fields – to interpret the facts for us. The baby existed before he existed in time; the mother gave birth without any human paternity; the young man is still as much a virgin as the young mother. The child breathes and cries as any child does; but in this supernatural event a genuine miracle has taken place. It is not, as C.S. Lewis would have put it, that the laws of nature have been suspended; it is that God has fed new events into these laws. Miraculous wine intoxicates, miraculous conception leads to ordinary birth. The laws of nature domesticate the new events, and a child is born who is a divine person. The Son of man is no man’s son.

Joseph is told that the baby Mary will bear will be conceived in her by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that he should be called Jesus, the Saviour. Mary is told that his name is greater even than the name Jesus – he will be called the Son of the Most High, and that he will serve himself heir of an endless, everlasting kingdom. The shepherds are told that there is born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

This person, who never asked us to celebrate his birth at any particular time of the year, was born to die. The cross of Calvary always casts its shadow over the manger of Bethlehem. Light shone over Bethlehem’s fields at night time when Jesus was born, contrasting with the darkness that eclipsed the earth during the day when he died. God had prepared a human body for his Son; in a future day his Son would give up that body as a sacrifice to the Father, through the power of the same Spirit who conceived it.

It is, I suppose one of the reasons we need four Gospels. Matthew will record the story from the perspective of Joseph, Luke from the perspective of Mary. Mark will tell the Gospel without any reference to the birth at all – that is not the important thing. John will begin his Gospel beyond the beginning, and remind us that when the beginning of all things occurred, the Person who has now become a baby was already in existence.

So, if there is such a thing as the Christmas story, let’s make sure it’s the correct story. And, having established the correct version, let’s do three things. Let’s worship the Christ-child. That’s what men did at the beginning of the story and women did at the end. That’s what generations of Christians have been doing down through the years. ‘At his feet we humbly fall’.

Let’s confess the Person for who he is – the Son of God become the son of Mary, one Person forever, but with two distinct natures. He is not a mixture of the human and the divine, not a hybrid being, but a divine Person who will live, walk, suffer and die as a man among men.

And let’s appreciate the reason why he came. The unassumed is the unhealed – if he did not take human nature he could not redeem human nature or liberate it from its bondage to decay. There was no compulsion on the part of God to redeem us at all, but having opted to be gracious, this is how it had to be. For our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich.

How to re-tell a classic story

2009-12-15T09:50:00.001Z

This is a tremendous and timely piece of writing from Paul Helm over at Reformation 21.

Concordance Makers

2009-12-14T09:41:00.005Z

Alexander Cruden (1699-1770) was the author of Cruden’s Concordance. In this age of electronic Bibles and easily searchable texts it is all to easy to forget those who provided the tools by which we became familiar with the Holy Book.

The purpose of concordances, was to enable us to locate any place in the Bible where a particular word was used. Thus one could look up the word ‘king’ or ‘covenant’ and have all its occurrences listed. The most well-known concordance was by Alexander Cruden, who compiled his listing single-handedly and published it in 1737. It has been in print ever since.

Cruden was born in Aberdeen in 1699 and was a graduate of Marishcal College. His intention to apply for ordination to the ministry of the Church of Scotland was interrupted by frequent mental breakdowns. Julia Keay, in a recent biography of Cruden, says that ‘at the age of twenty, shortly before he was due to be ordained, Alexander’s attention wandered, he looked up from his books, he saw a girl, and he fell in love’.

Keay proceeds to analyse Cruden’s torment carefully, but sees the circumstances which led away from ordination to be fortuitous, for it was these which led to the publication of the concordance. Cruden presented it to Queen Caroline in 1737, having been appointed bookseller to her two years earlier.

The compiling of the concordance was regarded by Cruden as a singular act of devotion to Christ; his preface states that his great aim was ‘to render the study of the holy Scriptures more easy to all Christians, whether private Christians or ministers of the Gospel who make the Scripture the standard of their preaching’. Presenting it to the queen was a great moment, the culmination of twelve years of intense reading and writing now published in 1200 pages, although the death of the queen seventeen days later ensured that he was to receive no financial remuneration in the short term.

Another well known concordance was by Robert Young. Young’s concordance was also the work of a Scot, although of more recent vintage. Robert Young was born in Haddington in 1822, and became a printer and bookseller. He joined the Free Church in 1843 and served on its Indian mission.

An accomplished linguist, Young translated the Scriptures ‘literally and idiomatically’. His ‘Analytical Concordance to the Holy Bible’ is a tremendous achievement. As Young explains in the preface to the first edition, ‘every word in the English Bible is cast into proper alphabetical order, these are then arranged under their respective original [i.e. Hebrew and Greek] words, all in their own proper alphabetical order’.

Young claims that his work was an improvement on Cruden. Some of Cruden’s word definitions, he argued, betrayed his religious views rather than focusing on the literal meaning of the words themselves. He claims that he has included one hundred and eighteen thousand references not found in Cruden. He also claims that by analyzing the Greek and Hebrew roots of words he is able to do what Cruden could not: he can ‘distinguish things that differ’.

So, for example, while Cruden might simply list all the occurrences of the word ‘desire’ in the English Bible, Young analyses the word and discovers that ‘desire’ is used to translate sixteen different words in the original languages of Scripture.Published in 1879, and containing well over 300,000 citations, Young’s concordance has served the Bible-studying public well.

Possibly the doyen of concordances, however, is James Strong’s ‘Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible’, first published in 1890. Strong was an American contemporary of Young (they were born in the same year), and became Professor of Exegetical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary. A first class linguist with strong Methodist roots, Strong became a leader of Drew Seminary for the last three decades of his life.

Strong’s concordance was not a solo effort; he collaborated with many others in its production. His aim, however, was radically new: it was to list every word in the King James Bible in its context, then refer the user to the Hebrew or Greek root from which the word came. He did this by a series of numbers beside each citation; to use Strong means looking up a word, noting the number, and referring to the Hebrew and Greek dictionaries where the number corresponds to the root original.

It was a simple idea, but hugely significant, so that the preface of the first edition of the concordance could justly say that ‘no preceding work of the kind has been taken as a basis for the present one: it is entirely independent of them all’. Its influence is seen in the fact that modern lexica and dictionaries still enumerate words according to Strong’s usage.

We may have moved into electronic text-finders, but the fact that these pioneer works of a past era are still in print is itself a token to their lasting value and their contribution to biblical studies. The labour expended on them is a challenge to us in at least three areas.

First, it challenges us to remember the importance of the words of Scripture. Divine inspiration extends to the word-choices, the word-groups and the word-roots used in the writing of the Hebrew and the Greek. That’s what Jesus meant when he said that the smallest letter of the Hebrew Old Testament would survive the dissolution of the universe, simply because it is the Word of God.

Second, it challenges us to remember that words make sense only in their context. The use of the word ‘sincere’ in Philippians 1 may differ from its usage in 1 Peter 2, for example. Context and usage determine meaning.

Third, it challenges us to appreciate the shoulders on which we dwarves stand. From the twisted fates of Alexander Cruden to the missionary and linguistic skills of Robert Young to the labours of James Strong – we are constantly building on the past. And it is often to the labours of the past that we justifiably turn when we want to know where that elusive word is to be found – and what it means once we find it.

Winter in Lewis

2009-12-12T13:31:00.003Z

Just to dispel the myth that winters in Lewis are endless dark days of horizontal rain and freezing snow, this was the view from my front window today.

The Manhattan Declaration

2009-12-09T13:32:00.004Z

Can Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics be co-belligerent in defence of moral issues like marriage and the sanctity of life? This is an issue that has come into the purview of some of our American brethren as a result of a document known as the Manhattan Declaration. To read the Document, click here. To read why the following leading evangelicals did not sign the Declaration, click on their names: Alistair Begg, RC Sproul, John Macarthur, Michael Horton, Ligon Duncan

Our national shame

2009-11-25T11:23:00.001Z

According to the Christian Institute’s website, 29-year old Abby Johnson has recently resigned as director of an abortion clinic. The Planned Parenthood centre in Bryan, Texas has suddenly become the subject of widespread news reporting as a result.

Ms Johnson’s resignation, might have gone unnoticed, except for the fact that she left the clinic to join the anti-abortion group Coalition for Life, which has a centre close to her former workplace, and regularly holds vigils of prayer outside her former offices. Such a marked turnaround is rare, and has ignited fresh debate on the ethics and morality of abortion.

One of eight abortion workers to have left the industry in the past two months, Ms Johnson’s change of heart came about by watching an ultrasound of an abortion being carried out. ‘I can’t do this anymore’ was her response.

The report of this incident appeared on the web just as research was published to show that more abortions are being carried out in Britain than any other country in Europe. That’s right – we are now the abortion capital of Europe, with almost 220,000 abortions carried out in Britain in 2007, more than the combined total of Germany and Spain in the same period.

And as if that were not bad enough, our country also topped the number of abortion carried out among girls under twenty years of age. While the government spends millions of pounds on its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, abortion statistics continue to rise. Something is not right somewhere.

Other, related, research is not any more encouraging. According to the University of London, more women are delaying pregnancy until their 30s and 40s, and nine out of ten women who discover that they are carrying a child with Down’s Syndrome opt for an abortion. Last year, that meant that an average of three children with Down’s Syndrome were aborted every day. And these are only the official figures – Down’s research groups question whether the incidence of abortion is that low.

The statistics make appalling and depressing reading. They reflect a society living in a moral vacuum, spiraling out of control. If this is where evolution has brought us, then we are evolving downwards. Of all the creatures in God’s animate creation, man is the most dignified – yet we are the only creatures who readily legislate for the killing of our offspring.

I realize that there are many reasons why I should not speak to this debate. After all, I have never had a child, and nor will I ever carry one. What right do I have to speak to women about what they should do with their bodies?

Nothing is as simple as it appears, of course. This is not a debate about us, even if it often becomes that. This is a debate about others – about the most vulnerable others, about the unborn others, about the others who are dependent upon us for health, wealth and happiness. It is about the silent holocaust of an unseen multitude who cannot speak for themselves, and whose lives are as precious in God’s sight as our own.

For the past generation, since abortion was legalized in the United Kingdom, we have been adept at disguising truth with statistics and jargon. We prefer to talk about the termination of pregnancy than the killing of an unborn child. I believe in the termination of pregnancy. I believe that pregnancy should terminate in birth and in life. I don’t believe that pregnancy should go on forever; but neither do I believe that the right to control its end belongs absolutely to us.

Yet the disguising of the facts continues – this is a foetus, a potential child, not really a human being. But that is not a logic we apply at any other stage of life. A child is only a potential adult, and I am a potential geriatric. But the dignity of my human life, and the value of my existence is not measured in terms of what I may yet become, but by what I have been since the moment of my conception.

And, as with all cases of ethics and morality, there are always the issues that have the potential to cloud the truth – the pregnancy being a result of rape, the discovery of some condition or syndrome, the life situation of the mother. But do we really think it is better to kill the child for someone else’s sin, or because the child does not match our expectations, or because we think the mother cannot cope? Is the second wrong justified by the first?

If we are not prepared to evaluate all human life, from conception to death, as being sacred and precious, then we have truly become worse than animals. Our morality has disintegrated the moment we arrogate to ourselves the right to determine who shall be exterminated at our convenience.

The story of Abby Johnson is a brave one, one that strips bare the art of the abortionist and reminds us of its barbarism, its cruelty and its brutality. But braver still are the myriad stories posted on the internet of mothers who went through with ‘the procedure’ and are carrying the emotional and physical scars of having aborted a baby under pressure from family or from medical professionals. In the debate about abortion, these are the statistics that are rarely told.

Remembering the Fallen?

2009-11-17T11:51:00.003Z

The older I get, the more I appreciate the deep significance of Remembrance Day services. Growing up in the Free Church in Stornoway in the 60s and 70s, such services were not the staple of our diet – they happened in other churches, and we were trained to be deeply suspicious of everything that went on in churches other than our own.

But it has been my privilege over the past ten years or so regularly to conduct a short service of worship on Remembrance Sunday at local war memorials. I abhor the pietism that refuses to hold such services on a Sunday; our men fought and died in the trenches of Europe every day of the week, and it is only fitting that we should employ the context of worship to give thanks for their sacrifice. If a wake can be justified on a Sabbath evening, a service of remembrance can be justified on a Sabbath morning.

In the business of war, at least, those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat it, and nothing is more eloquent than the names of those who left our villages all these years ago never to return. It is an insult to their memory, their bravery and their self-giving to think there is some virtue in not acknowledging their bravery and their service for a cause more noble than life itself.

How ironic, therefore, that the BBC should broadcast its first instalment of ‘A History of Scotland’ on Remembrance Day. Neil Oliver, who presented the programme, made no attempt to disguise his contempt for our Covenanting forebears and their religious fundamentalism. At least the BBC is being consistent. All our problems as a nation, apparently, are down to our religion.

The signing of the National Covenant in 1638 was one of the defining moments of our Scottish history. It was a national pledge of devotion to God, a recognition that there is a sovereign greater than the greatest parliaments of our land. In its historical context, it was undergirded by both political and religious considerations, and precipitated civil war throughout the kingdom.

But the religious dimension is not unimportant. The attempt to force a Prayer Book on the Presbyterian Church in Scotland showed how half-baked the Reformation had been south of the border. Scotland was different; Scotland recognized the important principle of the priesthood of all believers, however much Presbyterianism has managed to create its own hierarchies and control freaks. The democratization of Scotland owes no small debt to the idea, birthed in the church, that in Christ all social distinctions are dissolved, and the church is a community of equals.

The National Covenant is an important milestone in the principle of spiritual independence, woven into so much subsequent Scottish history. The Scottish people would not allow an earthly monarch to dictate the terms on which the church would be governed. Their covenant – their ‘contract with God’ as Neil Oliver put it – was a national commitment to the rule of Christ in his church through the Bible – ‘we believe with our hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm, before God and the whole world, that this only is the true Christian faith and religion, pleasing God, and bringing salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel; and is received, believed, and defended by many and sundry notable kirks and realms, but chiefly by the kirk of Scotland…’

Based on biblical covenants between Israel and God, the National Covenant was not, and is not, in any sense, politically correct. It affirms the commitment of Scotland to a religion grounded on the Bible and embraced by the Church. That is nothing if not the logical outworking of the Reformation; Calvin’s doctrine of the church, for example, is that outside of it there is no ordinary possibility of salvation; if God is our Father, the church is our Mother, and we ought to revere her as such.

The BBC may dismiss all this as ‘extremism, fundamentalism and madness’, and Neil Oliver may intone his delight that ‘Once this was God’s country; it’s not any more’, but perhaps the issues at stake are higher than we realize. After all, hundreds of ordinary Scots were willing to give their lives throughout the seventeenth century in defence of the principles embodied within the National Covenant.

The Killing Times following this commitment were among the bloodiest Scotland has ever seen. Ministers who refused to submit to an imposed liturgy in worship conducted their services in the open air and could be put to death without any trial.

Yet Scotland’s Covenanting history is all but forgotten. Do our young people today know of Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLoughlin, tied to stakes and drowned in the Solway Firth for their loyalty to the principles of the Covenant? Or of John Brown of Priesthill in Ayrshire, shot by Graham of Claverhouse in front of his wife and children simply for being a Bible believing Presbyterian?

The National Covenant was followed by the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant some five years later. Of it, Burns wrote:

The Solemn League and Covenant
Cost Scotland blood — cost Scotland tears;
But it seal'd Freedom's sacred cause—
If thou'rt slave, indulge thy sneers.

Today’s Scotland is self-evidently not in slavery. For that reason, it is right to honour our glorious fallen who, for our tomorrow, gave their today. But there is another liberty woven into our history – the liberty of a church and a nation to honour God through the principles of his Word. In our honouring of the dead of the past, and what they secured for us, let us not dismiss the Covenanters as extremists who should have known better. For some of us, they are our heroes too.

2009-11-14T17:10:00.001Z

The Theology of John Calvin

2009-11-13T10:02:00.003Z

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This lecture on John Calvin was delivered in Stornoway on 11 November 2009 as a Presbytery event to commemorate the birth of John Calvin. By a happy coincidence, two Korean pastors, Chang Won Shu (who studied at the Free Church College with me) and Young Bok Kim, members of the Kyoungi Presbytery in Seoul, South Korea, with whom the Western Isles Presbytery is twinned, were present on the occasion.

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Death of Colin Peckham

2009-11-10T18:56:00.002Z

I received my copy of Adventures of Faith: Colin Peckham's story just yesterday, and made it my bedtime reading last night. Colin and Mary defined the work of the Faith Mission in the latter part of the twentieth century, and it was our privilege to have them visit us at our home.

It was with a sense of shock, therefore, that I learned today of Colin's sudden death yesterday. Having served his generation by the will of God, he has fallen asleep in Jesus. May God bless his life's work, and continue to uphold his family.

One of Heaven's Jewels

2009-11-06T07:06:00.004Z

The nineteenth century was a remarkable period in the life of the Scottish Presbyterian churches. Marked by divisions and ecclesiastical adjustments, it threw up some of the brightest and best preachers of the gospel. A period of social and political change, as well as a period of great industrial advance, it was also a period of religious revival; in many ways it was the best of times, even if in other ways it was the worst of times.

One of the great luminaries of the Highland evangelical pulpit was Archie Cook, whose biography has just been published by Norman Campbell, local BBC journalist. One of Heaven’s Jewels: Rev Archibald Cook of Daviot and the (Free) North Church, Inverness tells the remarkable story of a remarkable Scottish minister.

Archie Cook was born in Arran in 1788. Hardly known today as a centre of vibrant evangelicalism, it was not always so in Arran: from the beginning of the nineteenth century it was the theatre of some remarkable works of God. Many young people became Christians, and Archie Cook and his brother Finlay, himself to become equally notable in the history of the church in Scotland (and not least in Lewis, where he ministered for a time in Ness), were among these.

The separatist movement, a kind of lay revolt against compromise in the wider denomination, was evident in Arran at the time, as it was to raise its head in the northern Highlands at a later period. The Cooks were in sympathy with the leaders of the movement, but needed the imprimatur of the Church authorities in order to prosecute their divinity studies. Such tensions began early in Archie Cook’s life and marked virtually the whole of his ministry.

Norman’s biography of Cook is not just the story of its subject. He has meticulously researched the other influences on Cook’s life, such as the preaching of John Love in Glasgow, under whose ministry he sat as a student. It is an interesting phenomena that divinity students learn as much from the churches they attend as from the Colleges they attend – more, perhaps at times – and, as Norman points out ‘Love’s own influence on the rising generation of Highland-born evangelical divinity students was to be significant’ (p43).

The blend of expository ministry, experiential piety and missionary zeal which characterized Love made a great impact on Cook. In a later chapter on the influences of Love’s preaching on Cook, Norman suggests that it was not only in matter but in style that Cook emulated his mentor, developing a ‘searching’ kind of ministry (p210). In this sense, for both Love and Cook, the Bible was not just a book to be read, but a book to be read by.

From 1822-37, Cook ministered in the Berriedale mission in Caithness. From the beginning of the century it had been a seed-bed of Calvinistic piety. Preaching in both Gaelic and English, Cook’s felicitous and searching sermons impacted the population, while at the same time angered the landowners. These were the pre-Disruption days, in which Church and State clashed over the question of the Church’s spiritual independence. Vilified in print and hated by proprietors, Cook nevertheless exercised a faithful and fruitful ministry which ended with his translation to the North Church in Inverness.

This story is one of the core elements of the biography, and Norman has given us a treat in his account of the origin of one of the prime Free Church congregations in the Highlands – the Free North Church Inverness. Originally the result of a split with the East Church, the North Church erected a building which still stands on Chapel Street (and is used by the Pentecostal Church). In these days, of course, the congregation belonged to the Established Church, but joined the Free Church in 1843, and worshipped in the original building for half a century before the construction of the present Free North building on the banks of the River Ness.

Here again was an instance of a highly significant church coming into existence as the result of personal disagreements over the settlement of a minister. His ministry in the new congregation from 1837-44 was birthed in controversy and overshadowed by it. Yet Cook himself was to cite the formation of the Free North congregation as an example of good coming out of evil, an example of God’s sovereignty over human mischief. ‘…who can tell what may be in the secret purpose concerning it’ he said of the mission church planned by another Inverness congregation in 1863 (p81); and in all church movements the same is true.

There is a salutary lesson here for all readers of Scottish church history, from the Reformation to the present, who can so easily despair of the ease with which Christians split from each other, and choose to worship and work apart. As Cook testified, God may have a secret purpose in it all; and while our default position ought to be unity, Providence may well ordain such unity to be enjoyed in diversity rather than in organizational harmony.

Cook, always approached by other Highland congregations to serve as their pastor, accepted a call to Daviot in 1844. A non-intrusion case in Daviot (‘the main non-Intrusion case in the Highlands during the Ten Years Conflict’ according to Norman – p105) was one of the main causes of the Disruption. The Free Church of Scotland was only one year old when Cook was called to a pastorate which had been torn apart by the conflicting interests of landowners, church members and separatists.

Yet Cook was also entering into an area of the Highlands which had been remarkably blessed with a long succession of evangelical influences, and his arrival ‘consolidated that evangelical impulse’ (p115). As well as recording some of the main incidents during the Daviot years, Norman devotes a lot of space to related matters: separatist controversies, Union negotiations, the ‘lost friendship’ between Cook and Jonathan Anderson of Glasgow, the tradition of communion seasons and Cook’s role in them.

One of the most illuminating chapters is the discussion of Archie Cook’s style and method of preaching (chapter 12). By his own admission Norman is here working with slender apparatus, but his analysis is as enlightening as it is informative. Cook’s theological emphases, his use of imagery, his treatment of assurance and the gospel offer – these are issues discussed still, and they are still the stuff of evangelical preaching.

Cook’s death in 1865 removed from the Scottish church a preacher of personal piety and faithful biblical application. There is a famine in the land of such preachers today. Norman’s warm blend of academic research and theological insight makes the telling of Archie Cook’s story more than a biography: it is a call to remember our heritage and to awaken to our need. Cook is one of the heroes of our past, and Norman is to be congratulated on producing such a fine biography.

One of the best lines in the whole work, in which Norman is emphasizing the stories that lingered long in Caithness after Cook’s ministry there, is this one: ‘One old lady once expressed approval of a young minister … ‘just because he coughed like Archie Cook’ (p64). That’s the danger with heroes – sometimes it is enough to cough like them. But that can never be enough; the church’s need is not men who will ape the distinctives of those whom they admire, but will, like the heroes themselves, be single-minded in their passion for God’s glory and the proclamation of his word.

One of Heaven’s Jewels is self-published and is priced at £19.99 (278pp), is attractively bound and beautifully illustrated, and is sold in aid of Bethesda Home and Hospice. It is available at the Baltic Bookshop, Stornoway, Borders Inverness, the Free Church bookshop, the FP Bookroom, and Harris Christian Bookshop. It can be ordered online from the Bethesda Hospice website at http://shop.bethesdahospice.co.uk.

The Triune God - Larger Catechism (3)

2009-11-06T07:04:00.001Z

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What is the chief end of man?

2009-10-29T11:47:00.001Z

One of the most coveted church prizes of my youth was the Bible that was the reward for repeating the whole of the Shorter Catechism at a single sitting. That meant a straight run through all 107 questions and answers which make up one of the most important and fundamental documents produced out of the Westminster Assembly of Divines which met in London in the seventeenth century.

I still remember the day when passed that particular rubicon. I have to confess that I stumbled slightly at one or two of the Catechism answers, but I had a gracious examiner. Even for a precocious budding theologian like myself it was quite a challenge; the words and concepts of the Catechism are hardly the stuff of everyday speech. A young man’s mind can struggle to remember the benefits which in this life flow from justification, adoption and sanctification, or what is required and forbidden in all the commandments.

Yet in many ways I have learned little beyond the theological content of the Catechism. As BB Warfield put it, Shorter Catechism boys tend to grow into Shorter Catechism men, and the habit of committing to memory, as we did in Sunday School and in some school classes too, the questions and answers of the Catechism, bears its own unique fruit. Theological ideas are still lodged in my brain, ideas which are the stuff of my faith and the language of my preaching.

Of course, it was not the Shorter Catechism we should have been learning, but the Larger. In many ways it was a stroke of genius for the Westminster Assembly, called by Parliament to address issues of uniformity of faith and practice throughout the land, to produce two books of questions and answers for instruction in the faith. The Larger Catechism was meant to be the standard; the Shorter a concession.

But as one writer at the time put it, it is difficult to serve up both meat and milk in the same dish; and while the Larger Catechism (the meat) discusses aspects of doctrine more fully and gives greater emphasis to the concept of the church, the Shorter (the milk) gives basic instruction in the main theological emphases of the Reformed faith.

I have always been intrigued at what the Westminster Divines considered necessary to include in such a manual of basic theological instruction. The structure of the Catechisms are similar: first, questions on what we believe, second, questions expounding the ten commandments, and third, questions expounding the Lord’s Prayer.

A third of the Shorter Catechism, in other words, ranges over the foundational teachings of the Bible – what we believe about God, about creation, about man and the fall, about God’s provision of a Redeemer, about what it means to be saved, and what we believe about the future. Another third expounds our duty before God. This, the Catechism says, is ‘summarily comprehended’ (that is one phrase I never forgot) in the ten commandments, so each commandment is dissected as to its meaning, its requirements and its prohibitions. Finally, there is an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer, since prayer is the chief evidence of an effective response to God’s revelation; having heard God speak, we then speak to him.

I don’t know if catechetical instruction is recommended by today’s educationalists, but, even if it were, I doubt that this is the kind of catechism we would write for today’s young people. It is no longer fashionable, even in some evangelical circles, to believe that the ten commandments is the rule of our lives, and such detailed exposition of the Decalogue would be dismissed as mere legalism.

More basic still is the fact that much modern evangelicalism has become deliberately anti-intellectual. The God channel is full of programmes that use Christianity to promote either the feel-good factor or the miracle factor. Few productions help us to gird up the loins of our mind, to think through doctrine, or to delve deep into the faith of our fathers.

And the change reveals itself in other ways too. To be an effective church in the modern day, one has to be involved in schemes and programmes and mercy ministries of different kinds. To be sure, the people of God are well placed to help those whose lives are broken in this fallen world, and nothing is more tragic if somehow there is a barrier between the message of the Church and the very people Christ came to save.

Yet if we reach out at the expense of dumbing down the message, or think we have done it all when we have helped people out of their personal mess, we are much mistaken. Faith has to feed upon truth; and the reality is that nothing will make Christians stronger in their faith, and more ready to engage in mercy ministries, than to drink in the doctrine of God’s Word. Nothing will teach us our need, or show us God’s provision, or teach us to live, quite like theology. It’s a fatal simplicism to prefer Jesus to theology. There is no knowing the Eternal Word apart from the written Word.

An interesting thing happens when Paul is in prison, reflecting on his final life moments and anticipating the glories of Heaven. He counsels Timothy to bring him his books. He doesn’t want a moment to be wasted. He knows the truth of preparing for death through knowing his truth. Maybe Charles Hodge went too far when he said that a knowledge of Greek grammar is the best preparation for death – but the thought is the same. How can we die well unless we know our Bibles, and know the God of the Bible well?

I hope that is the legacy of all my Shorter Catechism learning – that it will help me to live well, to preach well, and to die well. Its insights and teachings challenge the shallow, vacuous evangelicalism of our modern age, and its expositions of the law remind us of the importance of the ten commandments for modern society.

Above all, it brings us back to ultimate meaning and personal fulfillment right at the outset, as it asks that question that few ask now: ‘What is the chief end of man?’ What is the purpose and meaning of our lives? What are we all for? What is it that ought to drive us and motivate us and thrill us and inspire us day by day and moment by moment? What on earth is my life about?

The Catechism’s answer is brilliant. Man’s chief purpose, in the twenty-first century as in every century, is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. We may re-interpret that, or dismiss it, or ignore it – but when all is said and done, that still remains the most illuminating statement about the nature of human life anywhere written outside of the Bible.

What did the cross achieve?

2009-10-18T20:45:00.000+01:00

A sermon on Daniel 9:24

No More Sea

2009-10-18T16:31:00.002+01:00

Apart from my student days in Glasgow, I have always lived in proximity to the sea. Growing up in Stornoway, the harbour was always a place of interest and activity, much more accessible than it is now. One could stand at the very edge of the pier, even as the ferry was docking. One could watch trawlers discharge their shoals of herring. One could wander underneath the arches of the piers and watch the constant activity around them. I cannot now experience the sights and sounds of the sea without recalling moments like these.

Our first manse was situated at the head of Loch Snizort, a sea loch whose appearance changed with the daily tides, so that the view out our window was never the same two days running. And from its elevated position in Lighthill, our manse in Back always viewed the sea, and our story became interwoven with a communal history of sea-tragedies and of fishing tales.

But our current manse is right on the water’s edge, and the drama of the seascape is quite breathtaking. These past few days have seen storms and calms, gales and sun, waves pounding the Braighe wall one moment, and lapping the shore the next.

My experience of the sea has often made me reflect on an interesting element in John’s view of Heaven – there is ‘no more sea’. Banished to a Mediterranean island, for John, I suppose, the sea was more enemy than friend, the waves and the breakers a constant reminder of the storms which were pummeling the Christian church at the time. Roman persecution led to John’s banishment; whatever the sights and sounds of the sea meant for him, they were not the sights and sounds of friendship, but of hostility and of enmity. All the more reason, therefore, for him to be thankful for the missing element of Heaven.

Without turning this column into a sermon, it is worth reflecting on the fact that the new creation which John saw – while echoing much of the first – nonetheless has this radical difference. In Genesis, God separated the seas from the dry land, but in Revelation there is no more sea. What was it that made the absence of the sea an attractive feature of Heaven?

I suppose, first, there was the fact that the sea was such a powerful symbol of separation. Banishment to Patmos meant separation from other believers whom John missed, and with whom he would have loved to spend his closing days in this world. Access to them was impossible; the lot of the Beloved Disciple was to end his days in isolated banishment.

All the more reason for him to be glad of a day to come in which the symbols of separation were absent, and of a place where there would be no separation. The songs of exile would be sung no more, and home, for John at least, meant no element of isolation from loved ones.

I suppose, too, there was the fact that the sea was such a dangerous place. The people of God had been covenant a land, and they were people of the land. Ships brought enemies to them, not friends. Even in the Book of Revelation, which arose out of John’s banishment, the Beast arises out of the sea; the dark element of John’s apocalyptic writing symbolizes the worst of political and religious antichristian power.

John’s answer to this is a future without the danger of the sea, a city whose gates are open day and night, because there is no threat and no danger. Life here, as John discovered to his cost, can be cruel; but a better home is awaiting John, free from all threat, and safe from all harm.

I suppose there was also the fact that the sea symbolized all the restlessness of human life and sorrow. One of the great Old Testament writers described the life of faith in terms of a seascape – God commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves …They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble…

Rarely does the sea allow a smooth passage – waves, by their very nature, rise and fall, and carry us up and down. There is always restlessness on the sea; it cannot be quiet. But, as the sea has often taught us, yesterday’s storm can become today’s calm; and John’s vision is of a stormless Heaven, where the sorrows and the disquiet of human life is transformed into a haven of rest.

And I guess the sea was for John as mysterious as it is for us – a vast underworld of life and death, whose depths defy our knowledge and understanding. The ancient psalmist registered that when he said of God that his feet were in the seas, and in the deep waters. Nothing was more mysterious to John than why God should have left him, in advancing age, to live, and die, alone on a Mediterranean island.

But he anticipated a day when mysteries would melt in the beatific vision, in the knowledge and experience of the immediate presence of God. One thing I cannot envisage here is a life without sea. But the absence of the ocean is what endears me to Heaven.

In Remembrance of me

2009-10-18T16:26:00.001+01:00

Sermon on 1 Corinthians 11:24 - 'This do in remembrance of me'

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The death of his saInts

2009-10-16T20:19:00.000+01:00

I was at the funeral today of a well known Church of Scotland elder in Lewis. I had stood by his bedside in hospital just last week. That day he knew Christ Was with him; now we know he is with Christ. A verse which was quoted several times at his funeral was Paul's great motto: 'for me to live is Christ and to die is gain'. It was altogether appropriate and apt. What a way to live; what a way to die. There is no greater triumph than to have spent life in the service of Christ and to leave it for his nearer presence.

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The secret of Jotham's strength

2009-10-11T17:16:00.001+01:00

One of the benefits of having children studying and working in Glasgow is the opportunity to spend time with them, and accompany them to Dowanvale Free Church. Today we heard an outstanding sermon by Rev Kenneth Stewart on the words of 2 Chronicles 27:6 - 'So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God'. Be sure to listen to it when it appears on the Downvale site here.

Sabbath evening reflections

2009-10-04T23:30:00.000+01:00

I enjoyed preaching the word today - preached on David praying in response to God's covenant promise (2 Samuel 7) and on Daniel praying in response to God's word in Jeremiah (Daniel 9). I was also aware of the fact that communion services were on in Back today, in my former congregation, and a bit of me really missed being there.

However, then I realise how glorious God's word is - it is the heart of all our work in the kingdom. The church does not depend on us, and God does not depend on us. his Word will not return to him void, and it will bear its own fruit in God's time.

What happened at the cross?

2009-10-04T20:54:00.001+01:00

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David's response to God's promises

2009-10-04T14:58:00.001+01:00

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On the loss of a best friend

2009-10-03T10:22:00.002+01:00

Some years ago I read that one is not free until one’s children leave home and until one’s dog dies. Well, suddenly it seems, I find myself at exactly that point in my life. The children – or a significant number of them anyway – have left home, and last week the dog died.

I am not ashamed to say that I cried on both occasions. I know that we bring up our children to leave us; we anticipate the day when they will go it alone and we train them for it. But the resulting change in the dynamics of family life is quite radical. I used to shout about not getting near my computer for the queue of children planning to use it; now it’s free all the time.

And as if that was not bad enough, we lost our dog last week too. We had got her when the children were young, as you do, and she had grown up with us. In many ways she was every bit as demanding as them – her needs also affected our family routines, and holidays required shipping her off to granny’s for a fortnight.

She was an excellent pet – one of a litter of eight purebred cocker spaniels. Black as the ace of spades, I bought a white dog collar for her when she was young. It was an easy way to identify the manse pet. I ditched it when I realized it was impossible to keep clean – she could easily find ways to get it dirty.

I doubt that the congregation ever knew how much I told the dog about them. I reckoned that confidentiality was not a problem, so she heard her fair share of pastoral issues. She would slink into the study and flop down on the floor while I was musing – often out loud – about theological conundrums. I doubt that there was a more Calvinistically articulate animal in Lewis.

I was always amazed by her instincts. If I happened to be away from home she would be fine until the day I was due to return. She would be restless, pacing the floor, anticipating the moment when I would appear and she would jump up on me with gusto and enthusiasm. She always knew when it was 5pm, which is when she would get her main meal, except on Sundays. She knew then that she would get lunch leftovers. I doubt that there was a more legalistic animal in Lewis either.

But the lifespan of a family pet is about the same as the family’s being together – just when the children are of an age to leave home, the dog is also ready to go. She had taken ill in Summer – nothing to do with an anticipated move to Point – and last week took another of her doggy strokes. The kindest thing was to let her go.

But it is not easy to do. A week later and I still find myself looking for her, expecting her to run in to the study, or to remind me when it is feeding time, or to be in her basket when I get home. She was a big part of our family dynamic, and I am not embarrassed to say that I will miss her.

There is a verse in the Bible that says that ‘a righteous man regards the life of his beast’. We used to hear stories of the coal miners who were converted in the Welsh revival treating their donkeys much better when they (the miners!) became Christians. I recall one man, now a Church of Scotland minister, telling us that it was his dog who most noticed it when he was converted.

One reason for this, of course, is that although we are distinct from the animals, we have an affinity with them. We came from the hand of the same Creator, who invested man with the authority to name the different species and creatures. Although, as the Bible says, there was not among the animals a helper fit for man, there was a unique balance in the created order built on the relation between man and the animal kingdom.

Jesus drew many illustrations from the relation of man and animals – he spoke about a shepherd looking for a lost sheep, a man lifting his animal out of a pit on the Sabbath day, and a hen guarding her chickens. The animal world has much to tell us about dependence, instinct and companionship. Everything that has breath is to praise the Lord.

I am in no hurry to replace our dog (no offers please). She was a wonderful, faithful pet all the years that she was with us. We will cherish her memory, notwithstanding that she was only an animal. To us she is irreplaceable, and there is a grieving process that one goes through when the constant companion of almost thirteen years is gone.

But when all is said and done, the friendship is not between equals. To be sure, as the Good Book says, at one level ‘a man has no preeminence above a beast … All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again’. But at another level, there is a radical difference – the spirit of the beast goes downward, while the spirit of man goes upward. My late dog was not made in God’s image, and is not accountable for a life lived on animal instinct; I was made in God’s image, and am accountable for the deeds done in the body.

I shall miss the dog terribly. Man’s best friend and all that – totally loyal, never answered back, just allowed me to be myself with her. But life goes on, into new chapters and next installments. And I can’t wait for the children’s next holiday at home with us.

The Imitation of the Covenant of Works

2009-09-28T10:52:00.003+01:00

Bavinck has a very interest thought in his discussion of God's response to sin in Genesis 3. Referring to the judgement of God on the serpent, in which there will be enmity at the most basic level between the animal and the human kingdoms, Bavinck says, 'With this power [ie with the power of evil through the serpent] humanity had made a covenant and for its sake broken the covenant with God' (Reformed Dogmatics 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, p199).

One of the characteristics of the devil in Scripture is that of imitation - that is clearly seen in the Book of Revelation, where, for example, Satan seals his followers in imitation of Christ sealing his own people. But I had never thought of the first temptation as an imitation of the covenant of works. God had promised life on condition of obedience to his word, but the devil usurps God's prerogative, and promises a new quality of life on condition of obedience to his word, as he moves from questioning the truthfulness of what God had said, to stating baldly 'you will not surely die'.

God had graciously covenanted with man to establish and confirm him in life on the successful completion of his probation in the garden, but man listened instead to the imitation covenant, which promised deification on condition of disobedience to God. The covenant of life became, to use the words of Isaiah 28:18, a covenant with death.

The devil is a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies (John 8:44). The nature of his first deception was to subvert God's provision in language borrowed from God himself. In a sense, he does so still.

Jesus - approved, raised and exalted

2009-09-27T20:58:00.002+01:00

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In the Care of the Good Shepherd

2009-09-24T16:58:00.002+01:00

This is my new book, just published, and now available from Day One Publications.

In this devotional treatment of Psalm 23, Dr Iain D. Campbell describes the onset of spiritual life in Christians, their varied progress as followers of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and their final destiny in his presence for ever. By tracing the metaphor of shepherding throughout the Old and New Testaments, the author makes insightful use of this rich imagery as it describes the work of Christ as the Companion, Leader, Provider and Protector of his people. The book is written by one who functions as an under-shepherd of the Saviour and who is aware of the spiritual needs and desires of his flock, and this experience is very much to the fore throughout the work. Further the activities of Jesus are described in such a straightforward devotional manner that make the book a joy to read. It is a book suitable for the heart as well as for the mind.
Rev. Dr. Malcolm Maclean, Minister of Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland

Iain D. Campbell’s exposition of the Psalm 23 is masterful, both exegetically and pastorally. Reminiscent of the late Douglas MacMillan’s work on this psalm, Dr. Campbell’s adds significantly to our appreciation of the psalm, indeed under his guidance we are led to behold new vistas of greener pastures and still waters. Sure-footed, expository genius of a rare kind.
Derek Thomas, John E. Richards Professor of Theology, RTS (Jackson); Minister of Teaching, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson Mississippi; Editorial Director, Reformation21.org

Only Believe

2009-09-20T20:10:00.000+01:00

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Altogether Lovely

2009-09-20T14:19:00.001+01:00

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New Banner of Truth blog

2009-09-19T13:10:00.001+01:00

There are some excellent articles on the new Banner of Truth blog. Check it out here.

2009-09-18T12:25:00.002+01:00

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Years of our Lives

2009-09-14T10:45:00.002+01:00

I am not one for magazine reading, but having arrived rather early at Glasgow Airport last week to meet my wife off the Stornoway flight I decided to kill time with a latte and a quarterly publication entitled ‘Intelligent Life’.

I did wonder how intelligent it was to spend so much on a journal with an inevitably short lifespan. It’s not as if intelligent life finds its way into my study; if it does it doesn’t usually stay there for very long. However, the choice at airport newsstands is between celebrity glossies at affordable prices, or decent magazines which can be rather pricey. If I am going to part with my money, I would rather it be on something that might make me think rather than the mind-numbing nonsense of celebrity gazing.

As it happened, the magazine I picked up is one that I might actually keep. From the outset its articles were thought-provoking and stimulating, not least the follow-up correspondence on a feature in an earlier edition on the most significant year in history.

Maybe you have read it – it is possible that I am the last aficionado of intelligent life in Lewis, and that you have all eagerly scooped up the first editions of the magazine. But in case you missed it, the public, led by journalist Andrew Marr, were canvassed for their views on the most important year ever.

The winner was 1439 – the year of the printing press. Second was 5BC, the supposed year of Jesus’ birth, and third was 1953 – the year of the discovery of DNA. The year Gutenberg’s machine churned out its first printed A4 parchment, paving the way for the development of mass communication, was considered to be the singularly most significant year in all of human history. The religious significance of the year Jesus was born was not lost on 22% of those who gave their opinion, but it was less important, apparently, than the invention of the printing press.

Perhaps this says more about the readership of Intelligent Life than it does about history; and all such assessments are extremely subjective and personal. There is no objective criterion by which we can measure the importance of any given year. In addition, of course, we all have our important years; they may not have shaken the world, but they represent highly significant moments in our own personal histories, and they have made us the people we are today.

As a latecomer to intelligent life (interpret that as you will), I missed out on the opportunity to cast my vote in the poll. But what to choose? My predilection would be for a biblical year, or a year on the religious calendar of Christianity. Both are full of epochal moments. The timeline of the Bible for example is woven around key points: the redemption of Israel from Egypt (probably 1445 BC), the birth of Jesus (5BC?), the death of Jesus (AD30?), the conversion of Saul (AD33) and the Gentile mission (AD50?).

Thereafter the history of Christianity is replete with significant years and moments: the early church councils, for example, at Nicea (325), at Constantinople (359) and at Chalcedon (451) were highly significant in the development and defining of Christian doctrine. For the ongoing development of the church’s orthodoxy, the birth of Augustine in 354 was also significant, as also in later years were the births of Thomas Aquinas in 1225, Martin Luther in 1483, and John Calvin in 1509.

Any one of these could be a contender for the most important year ever. There have been events which have changed the course of history; there are men and women who have been the catalyst for great events, and there have been great events which have defined and shaped the lives of men and women.

The whole attempt to identify a year which, more than any other, was epochal and world-changing set me thinking. First, is such a quest possible? We are the product of many twists and turns of the past. We realize that our histories – global and personal – could not have been anything other than what they were; and that they are the aggregate of significant milestones in the past. It’s an interesting, but ultimately impossible quest.

Secondly, however, there is the sheer importance of history. I am afraid we are losing our sense of the historical. Social networking sites like Facebook indulge us in the moment – we think everyone is interested just in present reality, in what we are doing this minute. But our eyes need to be opened to the grandeur of the past, as it unfolds before us. Where would we be without 1439? Or 5BC? Or 1509? Where would I be without 1963?

Maybe the popularity of the local history paper ‘Back in the Day’ is a sign that we do appreciate our past. Television programmes like ‘Who do you think you are?’ have popularized the science of genealogy, with its glimpses into personal history and the importance of recovering what has gone before. Perhaps the proliferation of local historical societies and their publications has reminded us that if we do not archive our history, it may be lost on us forever.

After all, we all have roots, and it is our folly to ignore them. We build on the past, recognizing the importance of history’s turning-points. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s jibe that there is no history, only biography, is only partially true. Lives shape events, but events shape lives too.

Thirdly, the whole enterprise awoke me to the value of a single human life in the wide stream of historical development. So 1439 came out top, as the year of the movable type. But there would have been no printing press had Johannes Gutenberg’s father not re-married, and had he not himself been forced to develop his ideas against the backdrop of bad financial decisions that all but ruined him. Big doors turn on very small hinges.

I could have saved money at Glasgow Airport’s newsstand. I could have bought something about gadgets I will never use or cars I will never drive. But anything that makes me think deeply and seriously is a good investment. I might just pursue intelligent life from now on, reflecting on the fact that without 1439 it is true that there might be no newsstand at Glasgow Airport at all.

This article first appeared in the Stornoway Gazette, in the author's column, Viewpoint.

The Power of the Blood

2009-09-13T21:28:00.002+01:00

[this recording loses about 5 minutes at the end of the original sermon]

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This man receives sinners

2009-09-13T15:17:00.001+01:00

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Studies in Genesis

2009-09-11T11:11:00.003+01:00

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THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD

2009-09-10T16:43:00.003+01:00

I have begun to read and to use this new book by Richard C Gamble: The Whole Counsel of God Volume 1: God's Mighty Acts in the Old Testament. Published by P&R, it promises to be an excellent resource.

What I like about it most is that it does what all the best preaching and theology has done down through the years: it blends biblical theology and systematic theology, recognising the way in which these twin disciplines not only cohere, but are mutually dependent. We get our theology from the Bible, but we need to interpret the Bible in its own light, that is, in the light of our theology.

Far from being circular, and therefore irrational, this is the most rational and biblical way to approach God's self-disclosure. Just one quotation on methodology: '...proper Old Testament theology must be written by someone who believes the Bible and stands firmly within the faith tradition that the text exposes. Furthermore, a faithful Old Testament theology will be written by someone who understands that its message points to the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ. Yet, Old Testament theology as a discipline is separate from New Testament theology' (p141).

The Larger Catechism (1)

2009-09-08T20:10:00.002+01:00

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Ted Donnelly on the Ten Commandments

2009-09-06T22:26:00.002+01:00

I have been working my way through a series of 22 sermons by Ted Donnelly from 1998/99 on the ten commandments. It's great stuff - highly recommended.

God's law has always been undermined by the unbelieving world; now, however, the main attack on it is coming from within evangelicalism. Without the law, however, we cannot understand the gospel: it is the law that shows us our sin, drives us to Christ and then gives us a desire and an ability to keep it in Christ. Ralph Erskine said it best:

When once the fiery law of God
Has chased me to the gospel-road;
Then back unto the holy law
Most kindly gospel-grace will draw.

When by the law to grace I’m schooled;
Grace by the law will have me ruled;
Hence, if I don’t the law obey,
I cannot keep the gospel way.

When I the gospel-news believe,
Obedience to the law I give;
And that both in its federal dress
And as a rule of holiness.

The link to the first sermon in Ted's series is
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=82409736240

The Two Builders

2009-09-06T22:20:00.003+01:00

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The Thorn in the Flesh (2)

2009-09-06T16:52:00.002+01:00

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'An orgy of exhibitionism'

2009-09-03T10:03:00.002+01:00

I found this Daily Mail article by Theo Paphitis, chairman of Ryman Stationers, very thought provoking. He argues that business managers should ban access to Facebook in the workplace, but his reflections on social networking sites as encouraging 'a binge of shallow introspection' are worth considering.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1210564/THEO-PAPHITIS-Why-ALL-bosses-I-did-ban-staff-Facebook.html

Four Voices in a Greek Prison

2009-08-30T21:09:00.000+01:00

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The Thorn in the Flesh (1)

2009-08-30T16:07:00.002+01:00

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Charge to a new minister

2009-08-29T01:22:00.002+01:00

This item on the website of Westminster Seminary is a magnificent statement from Prof John Murray as he addresses Wayne F. Brauning at his ordination and installation as pastor of the Fifth Reformed Presbyterian Church, Phila., PA on October 13, 1960.