Archives for 2009

This week we had one new visitor in our afternoon service. We also had a blessed day in the Lord as we considered his provisions for our unworthiness.

The Source of a Reprobate Religious Mind (Rm 3.5-8)

Paul concludes his argument with the Religious man as he imagines the final objections of his Jewish opponent. Paul asserts that all men, Jews and Gentiles are alike under the judgement of God. The Religious man objects that this makes his religion pointless, that surely God will still keep his promises in spite of the unbelief of ’some’ and finally that if God’s righteousness is magnified by man’s sin, surely God would be unjust to condemn man’s sin. In fact, the objector should say, we might as well sin the more, in order to make God look better. Paul strenuously dismisses these arguments as unworthy of any consideration. The Religious man stands subject to judgement as every other man.

Pilgrim’s Progress (2): At the House Beautiful

The family of believers arrive at the House Beautiful, Bunyan’s image of the local church where they gain assurance of salvation, catechising of the young, the dangers of marrying unbelievers, the healing of evil influences (by a medicine called ‘ex carne et sanguine Christi‘), and several lessons for future meditation.

He is Unclean (Lev 13) [Communion: Leviticus]

In Lev 13, we find the first chapter of laws concerning leprosy. Our message gives some of the mundane organizational details of the chapter, then distinguishes what sort of diseases are in view in Lev 13-14. As most have come to believe, the ‘leprosy’ of these chapters could not have been what we know of today as leprosy. The diseases were less serious, and in some ways a bit more puzzling to us, considering the severe response of banishment from the community (Lev 13.45-46). As we close the message, we attempt to see the point: man in his uncleanness and sin is banished from the presence of God, but our sin-bearer, the one who heals our diseases, rips open the veil covering the Holy of holies, giving us the right of access to God.

Just two messages today. We had our annual business meeting in the afternoon service time. As always, we had a good spirit among our people with a blessed time of reviewing the past year and our hopes and plans for the coming year.

The Faithfulness of God (Rm 3.3-4) – Romans Series

The foundation of the Gospel is the doctrine of condemnation as developed in Romans 1 and 2. Paul shows that all men, Jew and Gentile, pagan and moral, infidel and religious, all men are under the judgement of God. Our message today deals with the second typical Jewish objection that Paul raises and answers in Rm 3. This objection minimizes Jewish sin and insists that God ‘owes’ the Jews because of his covenant obligations. The assumption was that God might punish a man for his sins, but since he is a Jew and he is in the covenant, he will ultimately be saved. (Many so-called Christians make similar assumptions today.) Paul thoroughly demolishes this objection, using Ps 51.4 in particular to show that God is faithful and righteous in judgement as well as in blessing.

Great Heart Guides Christiana (Pilgrim’s Progress)

In this section, the man Great-heart begins to serve as an escort for Christiana and her company on the pilgrim pathway. The chapter begins with a fairly complicated discussion of the particular righteousness from Christ that is imputed to sinners in salvation, that is, the righteousness of his obedience to the Law. The chapter retraces Christian’s footsteps up the Hill of Difficulty to the cross and then on to the gates of the House Beautiful. Along the way, the company learns the same lessons Christian learned, but in new ways and with new perspectives. Great-heart dispatches a new enemy, Mr. Grim Bloody-man, who would bar their entrance into the House Beautiful as the chapter closes.

I am updating you from a most wonderful place, my home town in Alberta. I began the day in our pulpit in Victoria, rushed through a few last minute errands at home, then boarded a plane for my favorite place on earth: home. The town isn’t much to look at, perhaps, but to me, it is what home means.

The trip is a quick one to help my parents with some business matters. Being able to travel out on a Sunday evening like this is one of the benefits of our compressed schedule with our afternoon instead of an evening service.

Here are our summaries:

The Advantage of the Jew (Rm 3.1-2) – Romans Series

We resume our Romans series with the first objection of the Jew to the message of the gospel. The gospel is necessary for all men, for all men are under condemnation for their sins, including religious men. In Romans 2, Paul’s argument specifically points to the Jews. The Jews are God’s chosen people, but in order for them to benefit from their religion, they must see that it first points to their need of redemption from sin. They, like the Gentiles, are subject to the judgement of God.

The Jew objects at this argument. Paul employs a rhetorical style called diatribe as he imagines an opponent arguing with him: What good is being a Jew then? (Implied: we might as well give it all up and indulge in sin – see Rm 3.8.) Paul counters: there are many advantages and the first is the oracles of God, i.e., the written revelation of God found in the Bible. This is a great trust and a great benefit, but only if one is willing to stop arguing with God and accept his verdict on your sinful condition.

The Interpreter’s House

Christiana and Mercy arrive to a loving welcome in the House of the Interpreter, where they are taught many lessons from Bunyan’s homely examples. It seems that the Interpreter represents the Holy Spirit who instructs believers in the way of wisdom. The Spirit also washes, sanctifies and prepares the pilgrim for the journey. All believers would do well to halt at Interpreter’s house and gain wisdom for the way.

The Violent Christian (Gal 5.24) Galatians Series

This message has been percolating since before Christmas, but was delayed by our snowstorms.

We are talking about the fruit of the Spirit passage in Galatians. Part of the passage that is often ignored is Gal 5.24, a verse that reveals the human means in the sanctification process: crucifying the flesh. We couple that passage with Mt 11.12, to show that both Jesus and Paul talk in a particularly graphic way about the kind of vigour necessary for a fruitful spiritual life. You cultivate the ground of your heart by a particularly violent process. We attempt to highlight how violent that process is by looking closely at the vocabulary employed.

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Wherever you are, I trust you had a good day in the LORD’s house. We had a great day, although we had a number out sick and one flying back from Holland. One of our fellows returned from the "injured list" however, he had been out for some weeks with a surgery, but he was looking good today. It was great to see him back.