A few years ago a team of sociologists visited Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church. They were conducting a study of churches that were involved in mercy ministry. When they were finished, they gave us a chance to read over their report before they published it, in case we noticed any mistakes. The report was very well done, but there was one sentence I told them I could not agree with. Basically it said something like this: “Tenth is deeply committed to teaching and preaching biblical doctrine; however, it also has a heart for mercy ministry.” I told them, “Look, all you have to do is change one word in that sentence and I’ll be satisfied. Take the word ‘however’ and change it to ‘therefore’: ‘Tenth is deeply committed to teaching and preaching biblical doctrine; therefore, it also has a heart for mercy ministry’.” Happily, the researchers were willing to make the change.Far from being hindered by theology, the ministry of mercy is furthered by theology, properly understood.

Reformation21

Of all the Puritan there may be none better known today than the last great voice of the puritan movement, Jonathan Edwards. Rather than my writing much I want to point to other writings and sermons. There are numerous resources that can be found, but I only want to list a few:

Desiring God Conference on Edwards (Piper had done so much to draw attention to the thoughts of Edwards, but I would draw great attention to the video by Ian Murray).

Ian Murray’s biography of Edwards

John Piper’s biography of Edwards

The Works of Jonathan Edwards

Some of his works can be read online

Edwards dedicated his life to exalting Christ. He saw difficult days and controversies, including times of depression, but also saw great revival in The Great Awakening. He left a legacy through his mission work to the indians. His children and grandchildren went on to become college presidents and influential citizens, and greatest many became citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Murray states in his address at the Desiring God Conference:

If you take eternity out of Jonathan Edwards life you could read it as a story of little success. What a disappointment. It said when he died most of the American papers only gave him one sentence, many of his books were not read. He left a great church for a tiny church in the corner of New England. Was it a failure? No. Edwards says, “I acted against all influence of worldly instrest because I greatly feared to offend God.” In other words he was living for eternity.

Murray goes on to state what Edwards would warn as the greatest danger facing the church today, pride. Ian Murray then went on to state the dangers of pride and sum up Edwards life:

“Pride is the greatest of all temptations and the most subtle…Ministers can idolize congregations, congregations can idolize ministers. Pride in any form destroys, mares the work of God. The scripture says, cease from man…Whatseoever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God…all is given that we might be humbled and that God would be all in all.

Justin Taylor had an interesting link on his site today:

Sally Morgenthaler, author of the influential book Worship Evangelism, has now concluded: “For all the money, time, and effort we’ve spent on cultural relevance—and that includes culturally relevant worship—it seems we came through the last 15 years with a significant net loss in churchgoers, proliferation of megachurches and all.”

Meet the Puritans offers little in the way of biography for Ralph Robinson. He was ordained at the age of 29 and was arrested 8 years later for his ministry and imprisoned. The brief biography states that he was held in the Tower of London during this imprisonment.

Though he returned to pastor St. Mary Woolnoth, ne hever recovered fully from the effects of imprisonment.

He died at the age of 41. We are only left with one published work, Christ All and In All. It examines the sufficiency of Christ and our own insufficiency apart from Him. For Robinson, he lived a short live, but he gave up what was insufficient, his life, for the only thing that is sufficient, Christ. Christ is worth our all. Few would choose to live only 41 years, but better to live a short time with Christ as our priority and focus than to live a long life focused on that which is insufficient, self or the here and now. I am struck by how many of the Puritans had a relatively short ministry, but left a profound mark upon other’s lives. This can only be done by viewing Christ rightly and living fully for him. I was also reminded to be prayerful for my own life and other ministers.  His biography concludes:

Robinson was a dedicated preacher, a faithful husband, and a devoted father.

He was a man who had his priorities in order, Christ’s first, so he gave himself to the church.  Husband next, so he loved his wife as Christ loves the church.  Father third, and so he ordered his home well and with love.

This is amazing:

Flynt is giving new meaning to being a college senior. After all, he’s a grandfather and a card-carrying member of AARP. He’s eight years older than his coach and has two kids older than any of his teammates.

College football at 59!

Justin Taylor had a post about adoption that pointed to Shaohannah’s Hope. I watched this video and it reminded me of a thought I had while on my roof cleaning out the gutters Monday (ah my random thought life). While adoptions is a wonderful thing, it is also a reminder that so is having our own children. Sometimes adoption may make what we are doing more intentional, caring for this child, teaching them the things of God, giving of ourselves, etc., but we who have unadopted children need to be intentional as well. Did we have children to glorify God? Are we raising them to the glory of God? No matter under what circumstance you had children, this is the goal. It is so difficult in the midst of daily whiningvand fussing to forget and just try to make it through another day, but God has given us our children as a gift, for our good and pleasure, but ultimately for His glory. It is easy to forget this simple truth, we have a responsibility to bring Him glory in our parenting.
There appear to be 3 attitudes parents fall into:

1. Shepherds: Rearing children for God’s Glory.
2. Wardens: Ready to give up or trying to maintain peace, but with no real joy.
3. Golden Calf Herders: Love their children to the point that they become idols.

I will write about each in the following days.

Conflict is something we will all face, but many of us would rather avoid. C.J. Mahaney has written a helpful and must read article on the subject of conflict, instructing on why and how we must face it.

Friends, there is a relational conflict in your immediate future, just as there is in mine. Let’s prepare now for this temptation and purpose to apply the wisdom of James 4:1-2 in the midst of quarrels and fights. For conflict is more serious than we think, it’s simpler to understand than we think, and because of the Savior, it’s easier to resolve than we think.

All of these were taken with a camera phone, so the quality is poor. The first picture is a sign hanging in the bathroom at the fair in Madison County. I just could not pass that one up. The other two pictures are of teenagers from our church working in the Dairy Bar at the State Fair yesterday. It was a long day, but I had a lot of fun working with these teens serving ice cream. I was proud of them and how hard they worked.

There is a downside to working at the Dairy Bar, you may miss something exciting going on in the Midway! One example to top off this fair edition, if a picture is worth a thousand words, the words of this article conjure up thousands of pictures in my head.

Nothing says romance like an elephant ear, deep fried everything, the smell of animals, and a midway aisle! Yee-Haw. What it does not mention was that the bride threw a bouquet of corn after the reception in the livestock barn. I am joking, I know nothing more of this than the article.

Having money or wealth is not a bad thing, loving money or wealth is. This is a trap for all, because not everyone has money, but you don’t have to have money to love it. Posessions and money can be viewed rightly, if they are seen as a blessing from God and to be used for His glory. Thomas Gouge demonstrated this during his life. He was known for his generosity and charity throughout his ministry and one of his greatest contributions was his sermon on charity. At the age of 57 he was removed from his pulpit for nonconformity and spent his latter years in “evangelism and acts of charity.”

He was known for his faithful attendance of the sick and his generosity to the poor, distributing alms among them once a week. He provided hemp and flax for the unemployed to spin, and even sold their products for them!…Gouge lost many possessions to London’s Great Fire, but he bore the loss with patience and humility. He had a large estate from his father, which he used to help the poos. After giving portionsof the estate to his children, he was left with and income of 150 pounds per year (roughly $40,000 per year by today’s standards). Of that amount, he gave two-thirds to charity and lived on 50 pounds (around $13,000 per year by today’s standards).

Again, having wealth is not bad but can be good, the love of money is what is wrong. Many of us are richer than we realize. We have more money than we need to supply our needs. Even many who have debt and do not feel financial freedom, have this debt because of extra wants and not basic needs. Some may think they do not struggle with the issue of wealth because they don’t have much, but seated deep within the love of money drives them. Learn from Thomas Gouge that our riches are increased by giving.

Lauren turned 6 on Monday!

Kara and Lauren started school today! This is Kara’s first year to go all day, 1st grade, and Lauren started Kindergarten.