Whirlwind of a Week

It has now been a week since the tornado came by our house and went on to hit Union University so severely. Most readers of this blog have probably already seen the coverage. If you are looking for information or are wanting to keep up the three key sites are:
Union’s homepage- http://www.uu.edu/
The Official Recovery site- http://www.uurecovery.com/
Tim Ellsworth’s Blog- http://www.timellsworth.com/

Also Brian Denker recently took some great photos of the damage and he has a link to more photos. Here is one from Brian of the dorm room where my wife lived when we first met until we married 16 years ago this last week.

I personally have received many, many emails, calls from friends from many places expressing concern and prayers. The outpouring of support has been amazing and I have been very proud of the response of our students as they have been interviewed by various media outlets. I have already heard from various people about how the care of the community and the testimony of students has impacted lost family members, opening conversations with some who were previously closed to any discussion of the gospel. God is most certainly at work. He is advancing His kingdom and working things together for the God of His people.

The doctrine of providence is especially important and helpful in times like this. It does not answer all our questions, but it gives us a basis for perseverance. We are not governed by chance. We are not at the mercy of the whims of uncontrolled events. All things are in God’s hands, and, therefore, there is hope and meaning.

Disasters in life are more common than people typically want to admit- really only we in the developed West have the convenience of being susceptible to thinking otherwise. In this tornado we did not meet an anomaly. Rather we saw a stark reminder of the reality of a fallen world. We must not say, “This was unusual. The rest of life will roll along just fine.” That is sometimes the answer of pop psychology, and it is hollow. Rather the scriptures would teach us to say, “This is the sort of thing that happens in a fallen world.” It is a reminder that all things are not yet as they should be. It is a reminder that we are fallen and in need of redemption. It should cause us to long for the day when all things will be made right, when the curse is removed. It should cause us to read with more empathetic appreciation Paul’s words in Romans 16:20- “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Christian hope is not the flimsy idea that suffering will not usually come, but is the sturdy recognition of the inevitability of suffering in this life (2 Tim 3:12) coupled with the knowledge that God will eventually destroy evil and make all things right. It is this truth which has always inspired the saints (1 Cor 15:58; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 2 Tim 1;12).

Our God Reigns!

Reformation Day 2007

It is Reformation Day once again! There is much to celebrate and remember on this day commemorating the recovery of the gospel. This year I want to highlight two related points that I don’t think are thought of enough in connection with the Reformation. They are: suffering and missions.

The Reformation had a missionary impulse from the beginning. As people understood the gospel for the first time they instinctively sought ways to take this gospel to their neighbors and other countries around them. As they went with the gospel, then, many of these individuals were killed for their allegiance to this gospel. Through the years many have criticized the Reformation for not being missionary enough because there were no mission ‘boards’ and little was done outside of Europe. However, this criticism of people who gave their lives for the gospel by people who suffer little for the gospel rings hollow. Europe it self was a dangerous mission field in the 16th century, and Calvin did support the first mission endeavor to the Americas. I have written elsewhere on Calvin’s missionary concern and a recent significant book has detailed Luther’s concern for missions.

At this time preaching the gospel of grace almost certainly brought persecution. So, I want to post here a hymn Luther wrote in response to the first martyrs for the evangelical cause. The background of the hymn is given by cyberhymnal:

On June 23, 1523, two young Augustinian monks, Heinrich Voes and Johann Esch, from Antwerp, had been, after examination by the Cologne Inquisitor, Jacob von Hogstraten, and at the instigation of the Louvain professors, condemned to death and burnt at the stake in Brussels. On receipt of the news of this first martyrdom for the Evangelical cause Luther’s spirit was fired, and he wrote this spirited narrative, ending with the prophetic words [translated by Richard Massie, 1854]:
Summer is even at our door,
The winter now hath vanished,
The tender flowerets spring once more,
And He, Who winter banished,
Will send a happy Summer.

Here is the hymn:

Flung to the heedless winds,
Or on the waters cast,
The martyrs’ ashes, watched,
Shall gathered be at last.

And from that scattered dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed,
Of witnesses for God.

The Father hath received,
Their latest living breath,
And vain is Satan’s boast,
Of victory in their death.

Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And, trumpet tongued, proclaim,
To many a wakening land,
The one availing Name.

[Words: Martin Luther, 1523 (Ein neues Lied wir heben an); translated from German to English by John A. Messenger.]

May we be so faithful with this glorious gospel.

The Virtue of Grieving in The Last Battle

In the church we often are unsure of how to handle grief. To grieve- whether the death of a loved one or the loss of a job or dream- is sometimes thought to demonstrate a lack of faith or an unwillingness to submit to God’s ways. If God is good and He has allowed this, then why do you want something different? Do you not believe that God’s ways are best? If you are grieving a death, do you not believe in the resurrection?

Of course our grief can involve rebellion against God, fostering anger at God for not doing as we willed. And our grief can be connected to a failure to trust that God is good and His ways are best. However, not all grief is so tainted. There is a rightness to grief, and those who would eliminate it all together fail to embrace our humanity and to face squarely that things are not the way they are supposed to be. Jesus wept and groaned inwardly at the results of sin (John 11:33, 35-36, 38).

This is nicely pictured in The Last Battleas Narnia is finally destroyed. Having seen the final destruction of Narnia and then being called further into a beautiful new land, Peter is surprised to find that Lucy is crying. He says, “What, Lucy! You’re not crying? With Aslan ahead, and all of us here?” Lucy, who always “gets it” more than the others, replies, “Don’t try to stop me, Peter. I am sure Aslan would not. I am sure it is not wrong to mourn for Narnia. Think of all that lies dead and frozen behind that door.” Eventually Tirian weighs in saying, “The ladies do well to weep. See I do so myself. I have seen my mother’s death. … It were no virtue, but great discourtesy, if we did not mourn.”

Here is significant pastoral wisdom. Scripture tells us not to grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13). It does not forbid grieving but instructs us on the manner of our grieving. Not to grieve over the death of a loved one would be inhuman and unnatural. It would be “a great discourtesy.” To stand beside a friend, a church member, who has just seen some cherished dream slip away and fail to share in his grief is indeed “a great discourtesy.” Such stoicism does not communicate so much faith as it does lack of care. After Jesus weeps at the tomb of Lazarus, the crowd says, “See how He loved him” (John 11:35-36).

Scripture tells us to mourn with those who mourn (Rom 12:15). We are to share in the grief of others and honestly face our own, not to hide behind platitudes. In fact the glorious promises of the gospel tend to be seen most magnificently through the veil of tears. So in the face of loss or grief, mourn and cling to the blessed hope.

Carson’s Review of Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God

As I am catching up on some projects and reading, I just read Don Carson’s 10 page review of N. T. Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God. I recommend the review to you. It is good reading for pastors. Dealing with the reality of suffering and evil in the world is a perennial pastoral task (I would recommend Carson’s own book How Long O Lord on this). Carson summarizes the book chapter by chapter noting strengths. Then he turns to critique. The critiques get to the heart of many troublesome issues arising today.

For example Carson challenges Wright’s portrayal of God as “having” to work in certain ways to ‘fix’ the world, and the emerging overly psychologized picture of God needing to “release himself from the burden of always having to be angry with a world gone wrong” (Wright’s words). Carson also challenges the regular description of God’s plan as “daring and risky” involving “so much ambiguity.”

There is much here- more than I can summarize now- so I encourage you to print off the review and take time to read it. It is helpful discussion for keeping our thinking rooted biblically in an age of increasing theological confusion.

Beeke on True Shepherding

My posts have been infrequent this last week and will probably be so this week as well with the conference coming this weekend. I have a backlog of book reviews which I will hope to get rolling next week.

In the meantime, let me recommend Joel Beeke’s excellent brief article in the most recent Tabletalk. Justin Taylor recently noted that this month’s Tabletalk articles were available online, and I was caught by Beeke’s title, “True Shepherding.” Beeke speaks powerfully on the role of the pastor in shepherding the flock- a topic often discussed here.

Here are a few quotes:

“don’t regard grieving people as an interruption…
Grieving, hurting people are what ministry is all about. We must not think of our churches and our parishioners in terms of numbers or cases; rather, we should think of our churches as hospitals where the wounded and grieving come to us, seeking our biblical guidance and loving care”

“If we do not shepherd them in their sorrows, we are hirelings, not shepherds, and should repent of our indifference.”

This is a great two page piece. I encourage you to read (and print to keep for the future!) the whole thing.

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, review

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God , ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor
(Crossway, 2006), pb. 256 pp.

I have not read this book all the way through, but I am very impressed with it so far. I think this will be a very useful resource for dealing with suffering and for helping, pastoring those who are suffering.

The book, as many of you will know, grew out of the 2005 Desiring God National Conference. I was taken with the introduction written by Justin Taylor. He stresses the point that this is not a book of abstracts ideas, but is a book of applied theology. This book is not the final word on suffering (as if there could be such a thing!), and it does not claim to be. I liked how Taylor presented the authors as “fellow pilgrims on the journey … friends who are taking the time to write to you about what God has taught them concerning his mysterious sovereignty in the midst of pain and suffering” (11). Overall, as I have dipped into various essays, the book stresses the importance of a confidence in the sovereign control of God over all things in helping us to persevere through pain and suffering. At the same time, various people also remind us that a good theology does not remove the pain. There is the temptation to think that if we have our doctrine arranged correctly, suffering will not hurt so much. The authors make it clear that this is not their claim. In fact, they remind us, to suggest that right theology will minimize suffering is to err considerably and to fail to love others by teaching them error. The sovereignty of God is not a talisman to ward off suffering, but is an anchor to stabilize us as we go through suffering. This is imminently helpful and practical material for us pastors.

The table of contents is viewable at Amazon, so I will not bother with listing the contributors and essay titles. One essay that I especially appreciated was Stephen Saint’s “Sovereignty, Suffering, and the Work of Missions.” It read to me primarily like a personal account of how God has used suffering in his life. He first indicts us by pointing out what we consider suffering here in the US as compared to what many in other parts of the world consider suffering. This alone is a worthwhile reminder. It deals a lot with how we expend so much effort to avoid suffering. Of course we need not pursue pain, but his point is well taken. He goes on then to point out that “sufferers want to be ministered to by people who have suffered.” Our efforts to insulate ourselves essentially cut us off from ministering to people. I was impacted by this essay, his experience with his father, his daughter and his Waodoni friend moved me. I have found myself reflecting much on this essay at various levels, even beyond what Saint himself was aiming at I think.

So, this is a great resource which I recommend fully. I appreciate again what Taylor said in his introduction:

Our prayer is not that this book would make the bestseller list or receive acclaim or praise. Rather, our prayer is that God would direct the right readers- in accordance with his sovereign purposes- to its pages, and that he would change all of us so that we might experience more grace and hope.

Amen! And I think this book has been well prepared to achieve just this end.