Reflections Of An Octogenarian
Notes on John Stott’s lecture Reflections of an Octogenarian, q.v..
A conviction about priorities
Stott recommends one day a month of solitude.
A conviction about people
- How can you continue to love people who do not immediately appear to be lovable? Stott recommends Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor.
- Acts 20:28 — “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” He purchased these people with his own blood.
- The only way to persevere in care is to “remember who they are, and how precious they are in the sight of God.” All three persons of the Trinity are dedicated to their welfare.
- How small is our labor in comparison with Christ’s labor for his church?
A conviction about relevance
- “the task of christian communicator, which is not to make Jesus Christ relevant but to demonstrate his relevance to the modern world.”
- “in this simple, maybe rather elementary . . . diagram, evangelicals are biblical but not contemporary, liberals are contemporary but not biblical, and almost nobody is building bridges.”
- “we have to struggle to be as relevant as we are biblical”
A conviction about study
- “In our busy lives, study is usually the first thing to be dropped.”
- Lloyd-Jones: “you will always find that the men whom God has used signally have been those who have studied most, known their scriptures best, and given time to preparation.”
- Stott recommends one hour of study per day, one 4-hour session every week, one day every month, and one reading week every year.
- We have to study on both sides of the divide… students of scripture, but we need also to be students of the modern world.
A conviction about obedience
- John 14:21 — Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
- Jesus will reveal himself to his lovers; his lovers are proved not by their words but by their obedience.
- “The test of love is obedience, and the reward of love is the self-manifestation of Christ.”
A conviction about humility
- “insidious temptation to pride”
- “humility is not a synonym for hypocrisy; humility is a synonym for honesty”
- Michael Ramsey, ”Sermons addressed to young men on the eve of their ordination”
- “thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow”
- “take care about the confession of your sins”
- “be ready to accept humiliations, they can hurt terribly but they help you to be humble . . . these are opportunities to be a little nearer to our humble and crucified Lord”
- “do not worry about status; there is only one status that our Lord bids us be concerned with, and that is the status of proximity to himself.”
- “use your sense of humor; laugh about things. laugh at the absurdities of life; laugh about yourself and about your own absurdity . . . you have to be serious of course, but never be solemn, because if you are solemn about anything, there is a danger of your becoming solemn about yourself”
- “it is at the foot of the cross that humility finally grows”
Galatians 6:14 — But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Adoption
You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. “Father” is the Christian name for God.
J. I. Packer, Knowing God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993; p. 201.
The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
The ideal woman
“I think [Ruth] is a picture of the ideal woman in the Old Testament. Four things characterize the ideal woman. Faith in God that goes beyond and sees beyond the present bitter experiences with God. Freedom, secondly, from securities and comforts of home and family and this life. Third, courage to venture into the unknown and into the strange. And fourth, radical commitment in the relationships that God has appointed.” — John Piper
God moves in a mysterious way
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.— William Cowper
This great poem also serves as a hymn; see the music at the Cyber Hymnal.
All God's providences are good
“God’s providence is sometimes very, very hard. . . Even though the providence of God is sometimes very hard, in all his works he is purposing your happiness and your good.” — John Piper
Whether sweet or bitter, God’s providences are always good.
Mine
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!'” — Abraham Kuyper
The Marrow Controversy
My notes on Sinclair Ferguson’s lectures on the marrow controversy.
The full text of Fisher’s book The Marrow of Modern Divinity, including Boston’s notes, is available online.
Antinomianism and legalism were surface issues. The book itself was a surface issue — Boston claimed surface only. The gospel and grace were at stake.
- marrow controversy opens question of nature of grace and offer of gospel
- opens rlsp between saving faith and assurance (Ferguson will not speak much on this)
- it opens answer of grace of gospel to legalism
- it opens answer of grace of God to antinomianism
These men were confusing the fruit of grace with qualifications for grace, turning the free grace of god in the gospel upon its head and distorting the message of the glorious grace of God.
Four errors written in to the position that the marrow men opposed, into which our reformed theology so readily slips.
- Christ was being separated from his benefits in the preaching of the gospel. Rather, the benefits of the gospel were being separated from Christ. Adopted a wrong starting place in thinking of the gospel: “To whom belong the benefits of the work of Christ?” But then concluded that we must offer the benefits only to the elect. Then we offer the gospel only to those who seem to show some sign of belonging to the elect.
But Christ himself in all his fullness and sufficiency to save all who come to him may be offered to all, even though the benefits be received only by those who believe. There is a savior, and in his death and resurrection he is sufficient to save all who come to him by faith.
This was the same error that Arminians fell into — “there is no well-meant offer”. Throughout scripture, Christ himself is offered to all men. We will never discover his benefits until we find him as savior and lord, clothed with the benefits of the gospel to all who receive him. He is magnified and glorified in the gospel.
Aside: this reminds me of Murray’s comments on union with Christ in Redemption Accomplished and Applied.
- Conditional offer of the gospel.
Conviction, faith, repentance, forsaking sin. These are fruit of conversion and grace. Only these enable us to forsake sin.
Forsaking sin cannot be a condition of hearing the offer of Christ. Conviction is not a condition men must meet, but is a means God powerfully uses in various ways and to various degrees.
Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress — burden should be released at beginning of pilgrimage. Cross is right in front of us. We may cast ourselves upon it immediately.
We do not preach conviction as the warrant of faith. We must offer Jesus in all his sufficiency as the warrant of faith.
- God’s sovereign free grace became diminished, because God became conditional. God’s election and atonement and redemption is unconditional. Also, it is not the case that Jesus persuaded an unwilling Father to save us.
No conditionality in the fellowship of the trinity; no covenant within the trinity that “I will save them if you die for them”. So-called “covenant of redemption”. The father himself loved the world and gave his son for them. Jesus’s death is not the reason God loves us. He loved us first.
His love is wholly without condition. His grace is wholly free. Pharisees preached conditional salvation. Jesus invited those without to come to him unconditionally. It is not even an unconditional election that works through a conditional grace.
- It changes the character of pastoral ministry.
We know the pattern of grace, the ordo salutis. We have mastered the pattern of grace, but not been mastered by grace itself, so grace will not flow from us to others. Our ministry will be conditional!
Owen – knowledge of truth who have never been mastered by the power of the truth.
Does our love for orthodoxy prevent us from preaching unconditional grace, whether to unbelievers or to anguished believers? Are we more like the prodigal son’s father or brother?
Scottish Presbytery showed greater kindness to Arminianism, which proved to be a halfway house to full-blown legalism, than to those who reveled in the wonder of free grace. It was already going down the road to legalism.
Legalism is not an academic problem. It is a constant and prominent pastoral issue. It is “one of the most subtle and all-pervasive influences that can ever twist a man’s soul away from the gospel of Jesus Christ.” It is “the ultimate pastoral problem of all”, addressing the very lie about God that underlies Satan’s first temptation and our bondage to sin.
False idea of “covenant of works”, that God is restrictive and legalist. Even first covenant was a gracious covenant. Legalism is not the response to antinomianism/easy-believism. God’s glorious and free grace is.
Home maps
A history of the places I have lived.
I was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Three weeks after I was born my family moved to Dover, Delaware, where the first of my four younger siblings was born.
From Delaware we moved to Connecticut, where my Dad had a lengthy train ride to work; West Virginia; and Richmond, Virginia.
We spent three years in Edmond, Oklahoma. Dad worked in Oklahoma City, where we also went to church (in a building that used to be an airplane hangar). While we lived there, Edmond was the site of one of the first post office shootings, and also suffered from a direct tornado hit. We were unaffected by both, though some people in our church were affected by each. In Edmond, I went to public school through second grade, and then began home school. I remember the space shuttle Challenger disaster, and I remember an early morning trip to the park with Dad to watch Halley’s comet.
From Edmond we moved to Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. Dad commuted to work in New Brunswick, and we went to church in Edison. We lived there only nine months; I was the only member of our family to have a birthday in New Jersey. I remember watching the unveiling of the restored Statue of Liberty while we lived in New Jersey.
We spent three years in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Life in Goldsboro was very laid back and fun, at least for a boy of age 10-12 living in a large, old house.
Growing up, the place we lived the longest was Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, which was close enough to the Hershey’s chocolate factories that we could occasionally smell chocolate in the air, if the wind was just right. Our church moved from a fire hall in Hummelstown to a rented space above a 7-Eleven store, then to the Harrisburg Youth for Christ building (a large warehouse), and finally to a hotel (they now meet in a school).
I lived in Hummelstown for about six years before going to school at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, where I met my wife. My family continued to live in Hummelstown for another eight years after I left for college. Despite living so close, I never actually visited Hersheypark until just after I graduated from college.
My wife and I were married soon after graduation, and moved to an apartment in Durham, North Carolina (we lived in Durham although we were served by the Chapel Hill post office; in the preceding link our apartment complex is a little bit farther down Farrington Rd. than the marker indicates).
After a year in North Carolina, we bought a house in Apex, where we lived from 2001 to early 2006. We chose Apex because it is close to our church. We were able to walk to church when the weather was nice!
In early 2006 we sold our home in Apex and moved to Holly Springs.
I gotta have my orange juice. 
Accomplishing goals
leave a comment »
Here are some things that have proved helpful to me in accomplishing goals and getting things done:
Don’t put it off. In general, if a task won’t take too long and there’s no reason I can’t do it right now, I find it best to do it as soon as I become aware of the need, or as soon as I finish my current task. The longer I put something off the less likely I am to do it at all.
For spiritual disciplines, treat each reminder as a providential prompting by the Holy Spirit. For family and personal devotions, it can be tempting to suppress a reminder. If I haven’t been faithful recently, it is easy to think that it would be too much effort to get started again. Or I may be aware that I won’t be able to do it for the next several days — is it worth it to do it today? Or if I am tired, what’s the harm in putting it off until tomorrow, just this once?
But if I see any reminder as a prompting from God, that puts things in a different light. I have an opportunity ”right now” to choose whether to respond in obedience and faithfulness to God’s prompting, or to suppress God’s conviction and pursue my own comfort. Framing the question as a matter of immediate obedience and faithfulness is helpful to me, and has helped me countless times to press on despite how I may feel. This then helps in cultivating a habit, and over the long haul a greater delight in pursuing God.
Take advantage of existing habits. Try to attach new goals to existing habits so that you can use that as an advantage in forming habits for your new goal. To use mundane examples, I have had success in associating my asthma medication (which at times I struggle to remember to take) with brushing my teeth (which is an ingrained habit). I have had great success in associating flossing (which I have never been able to maintain for more than a few weeks) with shaving (which I do at an interval similar to what I want for flossing). By keeping my medicine near my toothbrush and my floss with my razor, I’ve been able to achieve greater success with these new goals.
Use a helpful goal tracking system. I’ve been using BlotMarks for some time now to track important ongoing goals such as spiritual disciplines, exercise, household maintenance and other responsibilities. Other tools might work well for you. BlotMarks has been helpful to me for several reasons: I have immediate feedback and reminder for how lax I have been with a particular goal; checking things off is satisfying and rewarding; and I can share my goals with others for accountability purposes.
Written by Scott Moonen
September 11, 2006 at 8:48 am
Posted in Commentary
Tagged with goal, goals, planning, productivity