a mighty fortress

in honor of the 490th anniversary of the beginning of the reformation, i give you the words of a hymn by one of the greatest reformers, martin luther.

i encourage you to read these words carefully and thoughtfully with the realization of the facts of yesterdays post about martin luther and in light of the fact that he wrote these words as a man excommunicated from what the world knew as "the church" and a marked man under penalty of death.

our god is indeed a mighty fortress...may we all have the humility to take refuge inside his walls.

A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;His rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure,One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,His kingdom is forever.

christianity and october 31st

this will not be a post railing against the evil's of halloween and trick-or-treating. my son, too young to go door to door, will nonetheless be a "smashing" pumpkin for his first halloween. (yes, that was intentional...)

rather, i wanted to take this chance to again remind us about our heritage as christians, particularly protestant christians. if october 31st doesnt remind you of more than ghosts and goblins, then let this be the last year that is the case, and the first of a lifetime of writing "reformation day" on our calanders every october 31st.

[aside from this article, i also recommend a very short but informative book that every christian should own and read:
the reformation: how a monk and a mallet changed the world by stephen j. nichols]

from jim elliff's website- christian communications online

It was October 31st, 1517 in Wittenburg, Germany.
Martin grasped a hammer and a long piece of paper
coveredwith his writing. He walked out into
the street and straight overto the castle church door.
It was here that community messageswere often posted.

Martin nailed his 95 points of discussion on the door. He
onlywanted to lay out his newly discovered views of the
Bible to other church leaders in the Medieval Catholic church.
He thought he was free to do so even though his thoughts were
radical. After all, he was an Augustinian monk and a professor
of theology.

Martin called himself a “stinking bag of maggots,” and certainly
did not dream of being a leader in a revolution of thinking
in Germany and across Europe that shaped history in a
powerful way. But God had determined something far bigger
than the monk Martin Luther expected when he penned
those 95 Theses.

Without his knowledge someone printed his words on the
newly invented Gutenburg press, distributing it all over
Germany.
Within a very few days, Martin found that he was the
subject of everyone’s thoughts. In the cathedrals and great
stone castles of his homeland, the pubs and peasant’s
cottageseveryone was talking about the views of Luther.
Withouta signal to announce it, the Protestant Reformation
hadbegun.


Just what was the Protestant Reformation all about? What did
Luther and others protest?

The protesters were seeing something new about how a
personis accepted by God that is, new to them. They protested
that the church had been teaching the wrong view about the most
important issue of life. They discovered that the Bible says we
are not accepted on the basis of our religious deeds, or even
our good deeds along with our faith, but that we are accepted
before a holy God only through faith in Christ.

“Through faith alone in Christ alone” began to be heard all
over Europe. The people must transfer their confidence for
salvation in the church’s religious traditions to Christ alone.
The reformers wanted the people to return to the Bible’s plain
teaching on how to be a true Christian.
Because heaven andhell were at stake, the passions rose very high.
Many would be persecuted and some even killed for this truth.

But through it all, tens of thousands of people were converted to
Christ andwere assured of heaven.

We have been feeling the effects of the Protestant Reformation
ever since. Many of our churches have their historical roots in
the Reformation. Returning to the Bible as the source of understanding
about how we are to relate to God has shaped nations.
Perhaps no other religious period since the coming of Christ
has been so influential as this one.

But many people, and even many churches, have forgotten the
great lessons that were made so clear beginning on October 31, 1517.

What difference can this mean to you nearly 500 years
later?
This passage from the Bible is a good place to start. It describes
God’s way to understand salvation:
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
andthat not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

Through these 500 years since the Protestant Reformation,
andthroughout time, men and women, youth and children have
come to Christ in this simple way through faith alone in
Christ alone. Placing our full confidence in Christ’s perfect life
and sacrificial death for sinful people is the only way to God.

It is not that good works are not important they are a result of
true faith in every believer’s life. But those works cannot save.
Salvation is a gift of grace, not a reward for trying to be good.


Like Martin Luther, you may come by faith alone to Christ
alone even now, all these years later. In fact, this is the very
way the first New Testament believers came to Him!


Copyright © 2002 Jim Elliff
Permission granted to copy in full
for non-profit use, including all
copyright information. Other uses require
written permission.
print out as many as you want for free here!

when heroes point you to christ

i began my short biographical series a few weeks ago with the words
"these men have been some of the most influential men i have never met."

john piper (who i wrote about here and here in the series) was at southern seminary this week.
(photos by timmy brister and andrew lindsey)


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as one person described it, "a gospel bomb detonates at southern seminary"

he goes on to write:

Last week I mentioned reading George Whitefield’s
biography. I mentioned how, just before he died,
people were begging him to preach the gospel.
However, I failed to mention that this was not a
rare occurrence in Whitefield’s life. Often the people
who heard him preach begged for more. Begged.
And, when I think about that, my thought is usually,
“Did this really happen? Did people actually beg to hear
him preach again? It seems a bit far-fetched and fanatical.”
And as I sat today under the preaching of John Piper in
chapel, I thought to myself, “It’s not so far-fetched…not
so fanatical.” I knew that if he would have rattled on for
hours I would have sat there and soaked it all up.

i couldn't agree more.

but it wasn't more "piper" i (or, im sure the author of the above) wanted, it was more of the glory of christ that he showed from scripture.

i greatly encourage you to listen to thursday's message here (tuesday's is available as well)

after the message on thursday, i sat in a state of wonder, awe, and humility at the glory and goodness of god.

because i sat for awhile, i was the last person to leave, so i was able to chat with dr. piper for a brief minute or two. i found him to be incredibly and authentically humble, warm, and inviting.

and shorter than i had thought.

in my own life, i am often wary of "man" worship, thinking more of the man than his message and the god who he represents.

however, it was refreshing to find that after i heard piper preach, that though i was blown away by his passion, his presentation, and his command with the scriptures, i walked away with a greater love for god and the wonder of the gospel.

on thursady i met john piper, but more importantly i grew closer to the one true god.

martin luther

"Unless I am convinced by Scripture and
plain reason - I do not accept the authority
of the popes and councils, for they have
contradicted each other - my conscience
is captive to the Word of God. I cannot
and I will not recant anything for to go
against conscience is neither right nor
safe. God help me. Amen."
-martin luther
from the hall of church history:

Martin Luther dealt the symbolic blow that began the
Reformation when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses
to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That document
contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of
indulgences by church officials. But Luther himself
saw the Reformation as something far more important
than a revolt against ecclesiastical abuses. He believed it
was a fight for the gospel.

Luther even stated that he would have happily yielded every
point of dispute to the Pope, if only the Pope had affirmed the
gospel. And at the heart of the gospel, in Luther's estimation,
was the doctrine of justification by faith—the teaching that
Christ's own righteousness is imputed to those who believe,
and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God.

That doctrine, often called the Material Principle of the
Reformation, is what the apostle Paul taught as well:
"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness" (Rom. 4:5).
---------------------------------------------------------------

martin luther is probably my favorite of all of the men in history after the time of christ.
if you do not know his story, then i encourage you to. if you are a christian you *should* know his story. if you are not catholic, you *need* to know his story.

martin luther did not intend to alter the state of history or religion, but alter it he did.
convinced that many deeds done in the name of christ by the pope and the catholic church were
actually contrary to scripture, he did what, in his day, was unthinkable. he challenged the word of the religious authorities, and his actions sent shock waves throughout the religious, social, and political world.

i do not have the time or space to go into as much detail as i would like, but i will implore you to, if nothing else, spend two hours of your time watching this movie, which does a marvelous job of putting luther's life into a movie. you can purchase or rent it most anywhere.

luther's sermons and writings continue to have profound influences. his most popular work,"the bondage of the will" is widely known as one of the great works of the reformation, and is a standard recommendation even today. his hymn "a mighty fortress is our god" is sung each week by churches all over the world.

luther's bravery is what i appreciate about him the most. his actions resulted in his being kicked out of the church, though while corrupt had great social ramifications, and even his life being called for by religious and political leaders.

there are several aspects of luther's theology where i disagree, but for his love of the gospel, his love for scripture, and his honest intent of purity in the church, i regard him as a hero.

i recommend these resources to familiarize yourself with martin luther:

1.) the 2003 film, "luther"
i saw this in the theatre and bought it as soon as it came out on dvd. very historically
accurate and an entertaining and well done film. (aside from the "attractiveness"
of the actor portraying luther"!)

2.) martin luther: a guided tour of his life and thought- stephen j. nichols
an excellent introduction to luther and a very easy read.

3.) the bondage of the will
from amazon.com
Acknowledged by theologians as one of the great masterpieces
of the Reformation, Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will was also
Luther’s favorite work. Luther responds to Desiderius Erasmus’
Diatribe on Free Will with the bluntness, genius, sarcasm, and
spirituality that were as much a part of his writing as they were
of his colorful personality. Luther writes lucidly on the themes of
man’s inability and God’s ability, man’s depravity and God’s
sovereignty. The crucial issue for Luther concerned what ability
free will has, and to what degree it is subject to God’s sovereignty.
Luther’s doctrine of salvation pivoted on this key issue. Is man able
to save himself, or is his salvation completely a work of divine grace?
This work will long remain among the great theological classics of
Christian history. Bondage of the Will was first published in 1525,
eight years after Luther penned his Ninety-Five Theses

4.) martin luther's basic theological writings (2nd ed.)
product description from c.b.d.:
Now in a new edition, with additional texts and a companion CD-ROM,
Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings provides a rich and judicious
selection of signal texts from, arguably, the most influential reformer of the
Christian tradition. With his most important writings represented here, this
volume takes the reader straight to Luther the man, to his controversial
insights, to his strongest convictions about God and Scripture and the life
of the church, and most valuably to his theology, which still offers an exciting
encounter with the meaning of Jesus Christ for each age. The second edition
also includes a CD-ROM with the fully searchable texts, links to other resources,
a short biography of Luther, a research paper guide, and a glossary.

john calvin

We see that our whole salvation
and all its parts are comprehended
in Christ. We should therefore take
care not to derive the least portion
of it from anywhere else. If we seek
salvation, we are taught by the very
name of Jesus that it is "of him". If we
seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they
will be found in his anointing. If we seek
strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity,
in his conception; if gentleness, it appears
in his birth. For by his birth he was made
like us in all respects that he might learn to feel our pain. If we seek
redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation;
if remission of the curse, in his cross; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if
purification, in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into
[the grave]; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness
of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance
of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection,
if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom;
if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him
to judge.
In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let
us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.
-john calvin

from calvin college's website

Born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France, Jean Calvin was raised
in a staunch Roman Catholic family. The local bishop employed
Calvin's father as an administrator in the town's cathedral. The
father, in turn, wanted John to become a priest. Because of close
ties with the bishop and his noble family, John's playmates and
classmates in Noyon (and later in Paris) were aristocratic and
culturally influential in his early life.

At the age of 14 Calvin went to Paris to study at the College
de Marche in preparation for university study. His studies
consisted of seven subjects: grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.

... [w]hile in Paris he changed his name to its Latin form,
Ioannis Calvinus, which in French became Jean Calvin.
During this time, Calvin's education was paid for in part
by income from a couple of small parishes. So although the
new theological teachings of individuals like Luther and
Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples were spreading throughout Paris,
Calvin was closely tied to the Roman Church.

However, by 1527 Calvin had developed friendships with
individuals who were reform-minded. These contacts set
the stage for Calvin's eventual switch to the Reformed faith.
Also, at this time Calvin's father advised him to study law
rather than theology.

By 1528 Calvin moved to Orleans to study civil law. The
following years found Calvin studying in various places and
under various scholars, as he received a humanist education.
By 1532 Calvin finished his law studies and also published his
first book, a commentary on De Clementia by the Roman
philosopher, Seneca. The following year Calvin fled Paris because
of contacts with individuals who through lectures and writings
opposed the Roman Catholic Church. It is thought that in 1533
Calvin experienced the sudden and unexpected conversion that
he writes about in his foreword to his commentary on the Psalms.

For the next three years, Calvin lived in various places outside
of France under various names. He studied on his own, preached,
and began work on his first edition of the Institutes—an instant best
seller.

By 1536 Calvin had disengaged himself from the Roman Catholic
Church and made plans to permanently leave France and go to
Strasbourg. However, war had broken out between Francis I and
Charles V, so Calvin decided to make a one-night detour to Geneva.

But Calvin's fame in Geneva preceded him. Farel, a local reformer,
invited him to stay in Geneva and threatened him with God's anger
if he did not. Thus began a long, difficult, yet ultimately fruitful
relationship with that city.

He began as a lecturer and preacher, but by 1538 was asked to
leave because of theological conflicts. He went to Strasbourg until
1541. His stay there as a pastor to French refugees was so peaceful
and happy that when in 1541 the Council of Geneva requested that he
return to Geneva, he was emotionally torn. He wanted to stay in
Strasbourg but felt a responsibility to return to Geneva. He did so and
remained in Geneva until his death May 27, 1564.
Those years were filled with lecturing, preaching, and the writing of
commentaries, treatises, and various editions of the Institutes of the
Christian Religion.

to many, john calvin is known by name and reputation. what that reputation is, depends on the person. to be sure, calvin's name carries with it a lot of baggage.

i will insert here my disclaimer that i do not agree with everything calvin did or taught. i do not agree with his views on baptism, or the role of the church in government. calvin was a man of much controversy in his own day, as he is in ours.

so why do i list him as a great influence?

well, mostly because his ideas and teachings have been greatly influential. calvin was wrong in some areas, but where he was right he was powerfully correct.

his commentaries on almost every book of the bible are still best seller's, as he was an excellent exegete of god's word. his systematic theology, institutes of the christian religion, is still considered a standard work of theology.

the so called "five points of calvinism", subject of much controversy, are actually a misnomer. calvin had been dead some fifty years before, at the synod of dort, the "five points" were formulated as orthodox teaching of the christian church to combat the remonstrance of the followers of jacobus arminius, whose ideas were declared by the church to be heretical.

so often, much venom is spewed at calvin's name based on an ignorance of history. while calvin was by no means perfect, the church owes a great debt to the life and ministry of this man.

i recommend the following: (click on titles for links)

1. his 22 volume commentaries on the bible are expensive, but are well worth the read when studying scripture.
   from the publisher:
   A towering figure in the Reformation and prolific scholar
   and theologian, John Calvin authored not only his famous
   Institutes of the Christian Religion, but commentaries on
   twenty-four books of the Old Testament and all of the New
   Testament except for 2 and 3 John and Revelation. These
   classic commentaries continue to be valued exegetical reference
   works for pastors and serious students of the Bible today.
   
2. institutes of the christian religion (abridged version)
   from the publisher:
   John Calvin's Institutes has established itself as
   "one of the most important theological works ever written,"
   writes Tony Lane. This abridged edition of the Institutes
   provides a readable and inexpensive sampler of Calvin's
   greatest work. Lane has condensed the 1559 edition, retaining
   the heart of Calvin's teaching on all his major themes. Hilary
   Osborne has put Henry Beveridge's translation "in simpler and
   more modern English." The result is "a selection from the Institutes
   which is manageable for the average modern reader, in terms of
   length and of intelligibility." Lane reminds us that Calvin designed
   the Institutes "to be a practical book .... He re- quires of all doctrine
   that it be scriptural and that it be useful for Christian living.
   " Specific topics discussed include: (1) The knowledge of God
   the Creator (2) The knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ
   (3) The way of obtaining the Grace of Christ (4) Outward means
   by which God helps us
   

jonathan edwards

They who truly come to God
for mercy, come as beggars,
and not as creditors:
they come for mere mercy,
for sovereign grace, and not
for anything that is due.
- jonathan edwards



from monergism.com

(b. Oct. 5, 1703, East Windsor, Conn. —d.
March 22, 1758, Princeton, N.J.),
"greatest theologian and philosopher of British
American Puritanism, stimulator of the religious
revival known as the "Great Awakening," and one of
the forerunners of the age of Protestant missionary
expansion in the 19th century.

"The greatest philosopher-theologian yet to grace the
American scene" (Perry Miller). After a precocious
childhood (before he was thirteen he had a good knowledge
of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and was writing papers on philosophy)
he entered Yale in 1716. It appears that it was during his
time at college that he "began to have a new kind of
apprehensions and ideas of Christ, and the work of redemption,
and the glorious way of salvation by him."

After a short pastorate in New York, he was appointed a
tutor at Yale. In 1724 he became pastor of the church at
Northampton, Massachusetts, a colleague of his
grandfather Samuel Stoddard until the latter's death in 1729.

Under the influence of Edwards's powerful preaching,
the Great Awakening occurred in 1734-35, and a
geographically more extensive revival in 1740-41.
Edwards became a firm friend of George Whitefield,
then itinerating in America.

After various differences with prominent families
in his congregation, and a prolonged controversy
over the question of the admission of the unconverted
to the Lord's Supper, [edwards wanted to have believer's
only take the supper-stephen]he was dismissed as pastor in
1750 (though, curiously, still preached until a suitable replacement
could be found) and became, in 1751, pastor of the church in the
frontier town of Stockbridge, and a missionary to the Indians.

He was elected president of Princeton in 1757, but was reluctant
to accept because of his desire to continue writing. Finally yielding
to pressure, he was inaugurated in February 1758. One month later
he died of the effects of a smallpox injection...

Many of Edwards' important works were collected into a two-volume
set, available as a reprint from [Banner of Truth]. Yale University is now publishing Edwards' works and many are available. Some shorter works
are available from various publishers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

i was first introduced to jonathan edwards in my junior year of high school
when we read "sinner's in the hands of an angry god". it did not make much
of an impact to my 16 year old heart or mind.


through the years as i was reading more and was involved in more
disciplined study, edwards' name would come up in various places.
but when i began reading books and listening to sermons by john piper,
i took an interest in edwards himself.

almost ten years exactly from the time i first read "sinners in the hands of
an angry god", i took a class in seminary on edwards himself: his life, his
thought, his writings, and his ministry.

it was by far the most difficult reading i have ever done.

scholars who are antagonistic to edwards' religion nevertheless widely
recognize his intellectual might. yale university (hardly a hotbed of christianity)
has a department devoted entirely to the study and preservation of his works.

but what i did gain from reading works as "religious affections",
freedom of the will", "a history of the work of redemption" and many,
many sermons was well worth the effort.

edwards proves that one can be an intellectual and still have a rigorous faith.

if all you know of jonathan edwards is his sermon "sinners in the hands...", then you
owe it to yourself to know more. because out of context, it is nearly impossible to "get"
that sermon that was life changing for so many. read what john piper says of him in a
pastors conference address:

Most of us don't know the real Jonathan Edwards. We all
remember the high school English classes or American
History classes. The text books had a little section on
"The Puritans" or on "The Great Awakening."

And what did we read?

Well, my oldest son is in the 9th grade now and his American
History text book has one paragraph on the Great Awakening,
which begins with the sentence that goes something like this:

"The Great Awakening was a brief period of intense religious feeling
in the 1730's and '40's which caused many churches to split."

And for many text books, Edwards is no more than a gloomy
troubler of the churches in those days of Awakening fervor. So
what we get as a sample of latter-day Puritanism is an excerpt
from his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."...

And so the kids are given the impression that Edwards was a
gloomy, sullen, morose, perhaps pathological misanthrope who
fell into grotesque religious speech the way some people fall into
obscenity.

But no high school kid is ever asked to wrestle with what Edwards
was wrestling with as a pastor. When you read "Sinners in the Hands
of an Angry God" (which you can do in the Banner of Truth two-
volume collection of his works), you see quickly that Edwards was not
falling into this kind of language by accident. He was laboring as a pastor
to communicate a reality that he saw in Scripture and that he believed
was infinitely important to his people.

And before any of us, especially us pastors, sniffs at Edwards'
imagery, we had better think long and hard what our own method
is for helping our people feel the weight of the reality of Revelation 19:15.
Edwards stands before this text with awe. He virtually gapes at what he
sees here. John writes in this verse,
"He [Christ] will tread the wine press of the fierceness
of the wrath of God the Almighty."

Listen to Edwards' comment in this sermon,

The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said,
"the wrath of God," the words would have implied that
which is infinitely dreadful:
but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God! The fierceness of
Jehovah! O how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or
conceive what such expressions carry in them?

What high school student is ever asked to come to grips with what
really is at issue here? If the Bible is true, and if it says that someday
Christ will tread his enemies like a winepress with anger that is fierce
and almighty, and if you are a pastor charged with applying Biblical
truth to your people so that they will flee the wrath to come, then what
would your language be? What would you say to make people feel the
reality of texts like these?

Edwards labored over language and over images and
metaphors because he was so stunned and awed at the
realities he saw in the Bible. Did you
hear that one line in the quote I just read:

"Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them?"

Edwards believed that it was impossible to exaggerate the horror of
the reality of hell.

High school teachers would do well to ask their students the really
probing question, "Why is it that Jonathan Edwards struggled to find
images for wrath and hell that shock and frighten, while contemporary
preachers try to find abstractions and circumlocutions that move away
from concrete, touchable Biblical pictures of unquenchable fire and
undying worms and gnashing of teeth?"

If our students were posed with this simple, historical question,
my guess is that some of the brighter ones would answer:

"Because Jonathan Edwards really believed in hell,
but most preachers today don't."

But no one has asked us to take Edwards seriously, and so most of
us don't know him. Most of us don't know that he knew his heaven
even better than his hell, and that his vision of glory was just as
appealing as his vision of judgment was repulsive.

Most of us don't know that he is considered now by secular and
evangelical historians alike to be the greatest Protestant thinker
America has ever produced. Scarcely has anything more insightful
been written on the problem of God's sovereignty and
man's accountability than his book, The Freedom of the Will.

Most of us don't know that he was not only God's kindling for
the Great Awakening, but also its most penetrating analyst and critic.
His book called the Religious Affections lays bare the soul with such
relentless care and Biblical honesty that, two hundred years later,
it still breaks the heart of the sensitive reader.

Most of us don't know that Edwards was driven by a great longing
to see the missionary task of the church completed. Who knows
whether Edwards has been more influential in his theological efforts
on the freedom of the will and the nature of true virtue and original
sin and the history of redemption, or whether he has been more
influential because of his great missionary zeal and his writing
The Life of David Brainerd.

Does any of us know what an incredible thing it is that this
man, who was a small-town pastor for 23 years in a church of
600 people, a missionary to Indians for 7 years, who reared
11 faithful children, who worked without the help of electric light,
or word-processors or quick correspondence, or even sufficient
paper to write on, who lived only until he was 54, and who
died with a library of 300 books – that this man led one of the
greatest awakenings of modern times, wrote theological books that
have ministered for 200 years and did more for the modern
missionary movement than anyone of his generation?
...

Mark Noll, who teaches history at Wheaton and has thought
much about the work of Edwards, describes the tragedy like this:

Since Edwards, American evangelicals have not
thought about life from the ground up as Christians because
their entire culture has ceased to do so. Edwards's piety
continued on in the revivalist tradition, his theology continued
on in academic Calvinism, but there were no successors to his
God-entranced world-view or his profoundly theological
philosophy. The disappearance of Edwards's perspective
in American Christian history has been a tragedy.
(Quoted in "Jonathan Edwards, Moral Philosophy,
and the Secularization of American Christian Thought,"
Reformed Journal (February 1983):26.
------------------------------------------------------------------

i now include my disclaimer from previous "biographical" sketches about not agreeing
with everything any mere man writes or teaches, but that scripture is my sole authority....



the language in edwards writings is a bit difficult for the modern reader (along the lines
of a work by shakespeare), but the benefits of laboring through it can be life changing.

edwards most notable works are:(click for links)

1. The Religious Affections
2. The Freedom of the Will
3. The End for Which God Created the World
   (this edition includes a helpful introduction by john piper)
   

these, along with many other writings and several sermons have been collected into
two volumes that represent a large part of edwards works. they can be found here.



john piper and justin taylor have edited a book of collected essays on the life of edwards that serves as an excellent introduction. it is titled " a god entranced vision of all things" (found here)

if nothing else, read the whole of piper's talk on edwards (here), his life, and ministry. if you really listen, you might be compelled to begin your own study into the writings of this man who loved his god with all of his mind...

r.c. sproul

after i had posted on spurgeon, my wife pointed out that i had not mentioned anything about r.c. sproul in these posts about pastors and authors who have had a large influence on me.

as usual, she sees the obvious that i am in too big of a hurry to notice.

i have since gone back, being the poster child for o.c.d. that i am, and added sproul to my original post entitled "names and faces". but here, i will elaborate on him and his ministry. (though it will be out of order, he should come after piper, but i cant change the order of posts already up)

..........................................

Loving a holy God is beyond our
moral power.
The only kind of God we can love by
our sinful nature is an unholy god,
an idol made by our own hands.
Unless we are born of the Spirit of God,
unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts,
unless He stoops in His grace to change
our hearts, we will not love Him . . .
To love a holy God requires grace, grace
strong enough to pierce our hardened hearts
and awaken our moribound souls."
- R.C. Sproul


from ligonier ministries

Dr. Robert Charles Sproul was born in 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries, which started as the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, more than thirty years ago. In an effort to respond more effectively to the growing demand for Dr. Sproul’s teachings and Ligonier’s other educational resources, the general offices were moved to Orlando, Florida, in 1984, and the ministry was renamed “Ligonier Ministries.”

Dr. R.C. Sproul is featured daily on Renewing Your Mind, an international radio broadcast that has aired for more than ten years with an estimated two million people tuning in every week on more than 235 radio outlets in the United States and throughout more than 40 countries. In addition, he can be seen daily on DirecTV.

Dr. Sproul is a respected teacher, theologian, and pastor. He is currently serving as the director of Serve International, and as senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel (http://www.saintandrewschapel.org/) in Sanford, Florida. Dr. Sproul is ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.

In addition, Dr. Sproul was the general editor of The Reformation Study Bible, which was also known as The New Geneva Study Bible, and he is the executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. As a prolific author he has written more than 60 books and scores of articles for national evangelical publications. Dr. Sproul has produced more than 300 lecture series and has recorded more than 80 video series on subjects such as the history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, and Christian living. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which affirmed the traditional view of biblical inerrancy, and he wrote a commentary on that document titled Explaining Inerrancy.

Dr. Sproul holds degrees from Westminster College, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and the Free University of Amsterdam, and he has had a distinguished academic teaching career at various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, and Jackson, Mississippi, and Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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it is odd indeed that i would have left r.c. sproul out of my original post. after all, i have nearly ten of his books on my bookshelves at home!

sproul has a gift of communication. he is able to write books on complex, or at least greatly misunderstood topics and making them easily digestible. he also is able to write on topics that are so well known they seem to have lost their punch, and leaves his readers clamoring for more.

again, (you knew it was coming), i do not agree with everything sproul writes or teaches. (as a baptist, i obviously disagree with his views on infant baptism).

but through reading authors like sproul who so obviously want to be faithful to scripture in all that they do, seeing where i think they depart from scripture keeps me from idolizing men, and it also keeps me from simply believing everything someone i respect says, just because "they" said it. it also keeps me humble, lest i get to the place where i believe i cannot be wrong about anything.

that being said, i do believe that the large majority of what sproul writes and teaches is purely biblical, and the books that i offer as recommendations i do so without hesitation.

these books by sproul are very easy to read, understand, and apply, and i encourage everyone who doesnt have them to buy them, borrow them, or check them out from a library, you will be better for it. (click titles for links)

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1) the holiness of god
sproul's most famous work, and a blessing to the church.
to properly worship god and know who god is,
we have to understand his holiness - biblically.
sproul does a masterful job in communicating the importance
of this, and you cant help put finish the book changed.

from the publisher:
Revised in 1997, The Holiness of God has sold almost
200,000 copies since it was first released in the 1980s.
An instant classic on the awesome nature of God,
this new paperback edition (of the 1997 revision)
will keep ministering to people for many years to come.

.
2) five things every christian needs to grow
from the publisher:
In Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow, acclaimed theologian
Dr. R.C. Sproul guides his readers through the basic training of Christianity
and reveals the five most vital fundamentals of the Christian faith:
Prayer, Worship, Service, Study, and Stewardship. [only 96 pages in
small hardcover book very worthwhile read for new or longtime chrisians]

.
3) saved from what?
imagine, while you are witnessing, that the lost person tells you
"i dont need saving!"
how would you respond? what exactly are we saved "from"?
in order to fully appreciate our salvation, and to fully praise god
for what he has done,we need a proper understanding of what
we are saved "from". a very insightful and beneficial book that
informs our worship as well as our evangelism.
[also another short hardcover book]

.
4) chosen by god
if you have ever wondered what the bible means in the many passages
when it uses words like "predestined" "elect", or "foreknown", then you
owe it to yourself to read this book. sproul lets the bible speak for itself
on this controversial, often misunderstood and largely misrepresented truth
of scripture.

charles haddon spurgeon

"On Christ, and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God." - c.h. spurgeon

excerpts from biographical "sketch"at
christian biography resources

Charles Haddon Spurgeon:
English Baptist;
born at Kelvedon (40 miles northeast of London), Essex, [England], June 19, 1834;
died at Mentone (13 miles northeast of Nice),
France, January 31, 1892.

In 1851 he became usher in a school at Cambridge, and entered
the lay preachers' association in connection with the Baptist church
meeting in St. Andrews Street, Cambridge. Forced by circumstance
he preached unprepared his first sermon in a cottage at Teversham
near Cambridge, at the age of sixteen.

His gifts were recognized at once and his fame spread.
He preached in chapels, cottages, or in the open air in
as many as thirteen stations in the villages surrounding
Cambridge, and this after his school duties for the day were
past. In 1852 he became pastor of the small Baptist church at
Waterbeach, and in 1854, after preaching, three months on
probation[ trial period], he was called to the pastorate of the
New Park Street Church, Southwark, London.
Only 100 persons attended his first service; but before the end of
the year the chapel had to be enlarged...

..., in 1856, Spurgeon preached at the Surrey Gardens music-hall
to congregations which numbered 10,000 people; and at twenty-two
he was the most popular preacher of his day.

In 1861 the Metropolitan Temple [Tabernacle], seating 6,000,
was opened and there he ministered until his death, retaining
his popularity and power as a preacher to the end.

i just recently finished a biography of spurgeon by arnold dallimore, which i heartily recommend. if it is possible to be incredibly encouraged and discouraged at the same time, that would be my state as i finished the book. this one man accomplished more by the time he was thirty years old than most people do their entire life. he was a man of great character and integrity. he loved and treasured the bible, and loved its message. spurgeon was a man who preached the gospel unendingly, and he was often brought to tears while in the pulpit while pleading for sinners to come to christ.

known in his day, and still called by many "the prince of preachers", spurgeon's abilities as a preacher were known literally all over the world.

not only a preacher, but spurgeon also founded and ran a pastor's college and an orphanage, and also founded and edited the monthly publication " the sword and the trowel". it has also been documented that spurgeon hand wrote over 500 letters a week during his ministry (not only by hand, but with a pen that needed to be dipped in ink every few words!).

if the sheer volume of his work load doesn't leave an impression, consider this. for most of his adult life spurgeon was often times rendered incapacitated by gout and arthritis, as well as numerous other illness and spent days and sometimes weeks at a time in bed, unable to move because of intense pain.

thousands of spurgeon's sermons remain and can easily be purchased, as well as many of his other writings.

*insert disclaimer from previous sketches' about human fallibility*

spurgeon was a man of unwavering conviction and commitment, and endured daily public criticism for most of his adult life. still, he never wavered, and never compromised the gospel of christ for the approvel of men who did.

if you want to be encouraged and challenged in a way that leaves you wanting to love the gospel as much as possible, i present to you, charles spurgeon.
______________________________________________________________
there are literally thousands of printed works by spurgeon, so the list is by no means exhaustive. that being said, i recommend these to you to learn about and from this amazing servant of god: (click titles for links)

spurgeon: a new biography
a very good introduction to spurgeon. it hits the high points of spurgeon's life without losing the intimacy of a good biography. information gathered largely from spurgeon's own autobiography as well as his contemporaries. i devoured this in a week of "spare time" increments.

morning and evening
a collection of short, one page devotions for every day of the year. one for morning and one for evening each day.

the best of charles spurgeon
i won't be redundant (the title says it all), though "best" is subjective.
one can get a good taste of spurgeon in this volume, which updates

the language a bit from the 19th century british of spurgeon's day.

a treasurey of david
spurgeons magnum opus. a thorough discussion of every verse of every psalm.

sermons of charles spurgeon
for those who can't get enough, for under $50 you can have five volumes (over 4,000 pages) of sermons complete with date and location preached.

j.i. packer

"Our business is to present the Christian faith
clothed in modern terms, not to propagate
modern thought clothed in Christian terms.
Confusion here is fatal " - j.i. packer

from the faculty page of regent college:

What do J. I. Packer, Billy Graham and Richard John Neuhaus have in common?

Each was recently named by TIME magazine as among the 25 most influential evangelicals in America.

Dr. Packer, the Board of Governors’ Professor
of Theology at Regent College, was hailed by TIME as “a doctrinal Solomon” among Protestants. “Mediating debates on everything from a particular Bible translation to the acceptability of free-flowing Pentecostal spirituality, Packer helps unify a community [evangelicalism] that could easily fall victim to its internal tensions.”

Knowing God, Dr. Packer’s seminal 1973 work, was
lauded as a book which articulated shared beliefs for members of diverse
denominations; the TIME profile quotes Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington as saying, “conservative Methodists and Presbyterians and Baptists could all look to [Knowing God] and say, ‘This sums it all up for us.’”

In a similar tribute to Dr. Packer almost ten years
ago, American theologian Mark Noll wrote in Christianity Today that, “Packer’s ability to address immensely important subjects in crisp, succinct sentences is one of the reasons why, both as an author and speaker, he has played such an important role among American evangelicals for four decades.”

.

.

i first remember hearing about j.i. packer while browsing through some books at (yet another) conference while in college. i saw a copy of knowing god and saw the many endorsements by a lot of people whose names i recognized. a while later, i was able to get a copy for free and started reading through it.

i was impressed by the simplicity of the writing, yet moved by the profundity of the content. Since that time i have taught through many sections of this book, and i have given away many copies. besides the bible, i would probably go so far as to say this book is the one "must have" for any christian. i say must "have" because it is not enough to read it once. you will want it at your disposal to refer back to time and time again.

my second year of seminary i was required to read packer's book a quest for godliness for my "spiritual disciplines" class. i think i may have underlined three fourths of the entire book. page after page was filled with golden nuggets. i strained to retain all that i was reading, worried that i wouldn't remember it all. i have never read a book, other than scripture, that i so immediately wanted to change my life, attitude, and actions.

again, i will state my disclaimer that there are some things that packer has said, written or taught that i disagree with, but on the whole, the lord has used him in a mighty way in the lives of many to articulate the truth of scripture in a way that is understandable and motivating.

i recommend the following books from j.i. packer: (click titles for links)

• knowing god
  as stated above, one of the best books you could ever read. written in a very accesible manner, packer walks his readers through basic christian doctrine in a manner that is warm and welcoming, without sacrificing content or quality.
  
• a quest for godliness
  "Dr. Packer has blended theology, biography, history, and practical exhortation in a book that is a delight to read. But even more, the book speaks to our contemporary church situation and causes us to search our hearts and examine our ministries. Whether you are just getting acquainted with the Puritans or are a long-time friend, A Quest for Godliness will instruct and inspire you. Here is solid spiritual food that contributes to maturity." --Warren W. Wiersbe
  
• evangelism and the sovereignty of god
  putting another nail in the coffin of the argument that belief in the sovereignty of god in salvation is incompatible with a drive and desire for evangelism, dr. packer unpacks in this very small paperback book how god's sovereignty and our responsibility to evangelize are not at odds, and go hand in hand.

john piper

.
.

from desiringgod.org

.
.

"The ministry of preaching is the
central labor of my life. My prayer
is that through that ministry and
everything else I do the great glory
of our God and Savior Jesus Christ
would be magnified as more and more
people come to live out the obedience
of faith more and more deeply."
- john piper

John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem
Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew
up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at
Wheaton College, where he first sensed God's call
to enter the ministry. He went on to earn degrees
from Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.) and the
University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years
he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in
St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call
to serve as pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author
of more than 20 books and his preaching and teaching
is featured on the daily radio program Desiring God.
He and wife Noel have four sons, one daughter, and
an increasing number of grandchildren.

i first encountered john piper at a conference for college students in january of 1999. he was giving a talk on "how to glorify god while you are suffering".
this was of particular interest to me, as i was twenty years old and two weeks away from having back surgery. i had traveled 12 hours on a bus while lying in the floor because sitting was too painful.
dr.piper took the podium and began, but after a few minutes, i had to leave and walk out into the concourse of the arena which was hosting over 12,000 college students.
as i laid down on the concrete, seeking relief from the burning sensation radiating down my back and legs, i listened to this man preach with such bold authority about glorifying god in the midst of suffering.
as his voice boomed down those corridors, my immediate reaction was one of frustration and offense. how could this man speak so vividly about god's glory being my sole desire when i was in such pain? didnt he understand that there might be people with real pains and troubles who needed to hear a message of god's healing and promises to deliver us from pain and discomfort? isnt that what god does? doesnt he exists to meet my needs and wishes?

i distinctly remember these words careening through the stadium and through the empty concourse where i was laying
"do you retain your joy [in christ]- while you are suffering?"

it wasn't so much of an open ended question, but rather an indictment on the conscience.

who wants to say no to that? who would dare say yes?

and so began my journey into the ministry of john piper. as i wanted to learn more about why this man was so concerned about the "glory of god above all things", i found myself searching the scriptures to see if what this man was saying was true. either he was a lunatic, or i had greatly misunderstood my worth and my purpose.
i discovered that it was the latter.

i will insert here my disclaimer from my last post that i do not agree with every single thing john piper says or does. but where i disagree, i still see his desire to be faithful to scripture.

i do agree with the large majority of what he has said and taught, because the content of his teachings is saturated with bible; and not just bible verses (anyone can take verses out of context to support their views), but good bible exposition that is faithful to the overall message of scripture.

through john piper's ministry, the lord has helped me be a better reader of scripture, and to know him better, as well as see my self more accurately in light of his holiness. piper's ministry statement is "god is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him". i pray that my life would be a testimony to satisfaction in him.

i recommend the following books from piper:(click titles for link to purchase)

*The Dangerous Duty of Delight (Multnomah, 2001).
an excellent introduction to piper. if you have never read anything by him, start here. in this very small book (96 pages, small hardcover), piper lays out in concise form what he describes in great detail in "desiring god")

* Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist(Multnomah, 3rd edition, 2003).
-piper's magnum opus

*Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions (Baker, 2nd Edition 2003).
flying in the face of critics who suggest calvinists do not evangelize, this book is widely regarded as one of the best books in recent years on the importance of missions and evangelism. used in seminaries across the nation in evangelism classes

*Don’t Waste Your Life (Crossway, 2003).
ideally, this would be required reading for every high school senior, college graduate, 30 year old, and grandparent. a refreshing vision for not trivializing our life by having goals that will all fade away.

When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy(Crossway, 2004).
a wonderful and necessary book for those of us (all of us??) who find ourselves unable to keep an unquenched desire for god. called by one respected author "a gift to the church".

names and faces

dr. john piper, author
and pastor of bethlehem
baptist church
in minneapolis, minnesota.
known primarily for his book
"desiring god",
dr. piper champions the
glory of god in all things with
his mission statement
"god is more glorified in
us, when we are most
satisfied in him."
.
.


. dr. r.c. sproul, is the senior minister
of teaching and preaching at saint andrew's
chapel in sanford, florida. sproul is also the
founder and chairman of ligoneir ministries
and author of over 60 books. he has also served
on the faculty of respected seminaries and colleges
teaching such courses as systematic theology, philosophy,
and apologetics.

.


j.i. packer, author and
board of governors' professor
of theology at regent college
in vancouver, british columbia.
though anglican, his writings
have profoundly influenced many
in wider evangelical circles.
.
.



charles haddon spurgeon, baptist pastor
of 19th century england. known as the
"prince of preachers"

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.
.
.
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jonathan edwards,
18th century american pastor
in the puritan tradition.
considered by many to be
"the greatest theological mind
america has ever produced"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
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john calvin, french reformer in the 16th century.
largely misrepresented and misunderstood, the protestant
church owes a large debt to the man and his writings.

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.
.

.
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martin luther,
augustinian
monk turned
pastor who turned
the world upside
down religiously
and politically in
the 16th century. is
credited with
beginning the
"reformation".





- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
.
.
these men have been some of the most influential people i have never met.

their writings have helped shape and strengthen, as well as reshape and tear down my ideas and convictions.
while i would never (i pray) put any mere man or his writings on the same level as scripture, they have helped me think through and understand scripture better.

i do not agree with everything any of these man have said or written, but i am thankful for how the lord has used them to help me know and understand him better.

they are great teachers, and i recommend them to you.

i plan on writing briefly on each of these men in hopes that you may learn about them and from them first hand.

"don't waste your cancer"

i ordinarily don't like to cut and paste things on here, but i just recieved this from john piper's website www.desiringgod.org

piper was diagnosed with cancer right after christmas, and he wrote the following 2 nights ago, before having prostate surgery.

don't just read this... marinate in it. may we all take such a god cenetered view of all the opportunities that arise in our lives, whether it be cancer or suddenly recieving wealth or fame.

-stephen
___________________________________________________

I write this on the eve of prostate surgery. I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.

1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.

It will not do to say that God only uses our cancer but does not design it. What God permits, he permits for a reason. And that reason is his design. If God foresees molecular developments becoming cancer, he can stop it or not. If he does not, he has a purpose. Since he is infinitely wise, it is right to call this purpose a design. Satan is real and causes many pleasures and pains. But he is not ultimate. So when he strikes Job with boils (Job 2:7), Job attributes it ultimately to God (2:10) and the inspired writer agrees: “They . . . comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). If you don’t believe your cancer is designed for you by God, you will waste it.

2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel” (Numbers 23:23). “The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
The design of God in your cancer is not to train you in the rationalistic, human calculation of odds. The world gets comfort from their odds. Not Christians. Some count their chariots (percentages of survival) and some count their horses (side effects of treatment), but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7). God’s design is clear from 2 Corinthians 1:9, “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” The aim of God in your cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him.


4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
We will all die, if Jesus postpones his return. Not to think about what it will be like to leave this life and meet God is folly. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning [a funeral] than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” How can you lay it to heart if you won’t think about it? Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Numbering your days means thinking about how few there are and that they will end. How will you get a heart of wisdom if you refuse to think about this? What a waste, if we do not think about death.


5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 3:8; 1:21).


6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
It is not wrong to know about cancer. Ignorance is not a virtue. But the lure to know more and more and the lack of zeal to know God more and more is symptomatic of unbelief. Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God. It is meant to put feeling and force behind the command, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). It is meant to waken us to the truth of Daniel 11:32, “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” It is meant to make unshakable, indestructible oak trees out of us: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:2). What a waste of cancer if we read day and night about cancer and not about God.


7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
When Epaphroditus brought the gifts to Paul sent by the Philippian church he became ill and almost died. Paul tells the Philippians, “He has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill” (Philippians 2:26-27). What an amazing response! It does not say they were distressed that he was ill, but that he was distressed because they heard he was ill. That is the kind of heart God is aiming to create with cancer: a deeply affectionate, caring heart for people. Don’t waste your cancer by retreating into yourself.


8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
Paul used this phrase in relation to those whose loved ones had died: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). There is a grief at death. Even for the believer who dies, there is temporary loss—loss of body, and loss of loved ones here, and loss of earthly ministry. But the grief is different—it is permeated with hope. “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Don’t waste your cancer grieving as those who don’t have this hope.


9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
Are your besetting sins as attractive as they were before you had cancer? If so you are wasting your cancer. Cancer is designed to destroy the appetite for sin. Pride, greed, lust, hatred, unforgiveness, impatience, laziness, procrastination—all these are the adversaries that cancer is meant to attack. Don’t just think of battling against cancer. Also think of battling with cancer. All these things are worse enemies than cancer. Don’t waste the power of cancer to crush these foes. Let the presence of eternity make the sins of time look as futile as they really are. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25).


10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
Christians are never anywhere by divine accident. There are reasons for why we wind up where we do. Consider what Jesus said about painful, unplanned circumstances: “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21:12 -13). So it is with cancer. This will be an opportunity to bear witness. Christ is infinitely worthy. Here is a golden opportunity to show that he is worth more than life. Don’t waste it.

Remember you are not left alone. You will have the help you need. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
Pastor John

from www.desiringgod.org

before we get to part IV...

before i write the fourth installment of my incessant babbling, i wanted to encourage you to go to this link.

it is a talk john piper gave in 1988 on jonathan edwards at a pastors conference. i am taking a class this fall entitled "jonathan edwards" where we will be studying his life and writings. it is a shame that more people aren't familiar with this giant in american history. if you think you know who he is because you have read "sinner's in the hands of an angry god", then you know only an out of context caricature. do yourself a favor and read this article about this brilliant man. and perhaps you too, will long for a man of his stature to rise up again in our country.

some excerpts:

Most of us don't know the real Jonathan Edwards. We all remember the high
school English classes or American History classes. The text books had a little
section on "The Puritans" or on "The Great Awakening." And what did we read?
Well, my oldest son is in the 9th grade now and his American History text book
has one paragraph on the Great Awakening, which begins with the sentence that
goes something like this: "The Great Awakening was a brief period of intense
religious feeling in the 1730's and '40's which caused many churches to
split."
And for many text books, Edwards is no more than a gloomy troubler of
the churches in those days of Awakening fervor. So what we get as a sample of
latter-day Puritanism is an excerpt from his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God." Perhaps one like this,

The God that holds you over the pit of
hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire,
abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire;
he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is
of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousands times
more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in
ours.

And so the kids are given the impression that Edwards was a gloomy, sullen,
morose, perhaps pathological misanthrope who fell into grotesque religious
speech the way some people fall into obscenity

But no one has asked us to take Edwards seriously, and so most of us don't
know him.
Most of us don't know that he knew his heaven even better than his
hell, and that his vision of glory was just as appealing as his vision of
judgment was repulsive.
Most of us don't know that he is considered now by
secular and evangelical historians alike to be the greatest Protestant thinker
America has ever produced. Scarcely has anything more insightful been written on
the problem of God's sovereignty and man's accountability than his book, The
Freedom of the Will.
Most of us don't know that he was not only God's
kindling for the Great Awakening, but also its most penetrating analyst and
critic. His book called the Religious Affections lays bare the soul with such
relentless care and Biblical honesty that, two hundred years later, it still
breaks the heart of the sensitive reader.
Most of us don't know that Edwards
was driven by a great longing to see the missionary task of the church
completed. Who knows whether Edwards has been more influential in his
theological efforts on the freedom of the will and the nature of true virtue and
original sin and the history of redemption, or whether he has been more
influential because of his great missionary zeal and his writing the Life of
David Brainerd.
Does any of us know what an incredible thing it is that this
man, who was a small-town pastor for 23 years in a church of 600 people, a
missionary to Indians for 7 years, who reared 11 faithful children, who worked
without the help of electric light, or word-processors or quick correspondence,
or even sufficient paper to write on, who lived only until he was 54, and who
died with a library of 300 books – that this man led one of the greatest
awakenings of modern times, wrote theological books that have ministered for 200
years and did more for the modern missionary movement than anyone of his
generation?

do yourself a huge favor and read this complete talk. it will only take a few minutes, but the effects can last a lifetime.

click here