Download handouts from five weeks of lectures on John Calvin and his Institutes of the Christian Religion!

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

This may be so basic that I should feel like an idiot for bringing it up, but we Christians should probably pray before we write blog posts. Or write comments on the blog posts of others. Or write pretty much anything that other people will see. And I mean really pray. Not “just” the kind of prayerful attitude that we’re supposed to have “without ceasing.” But we should probably stop what we’re doing, go into the closet, close our eyes, fold our hands, and make a clean break from whatever it is we’re doing (at least briefly).

I say this because I know I need to do this. When I read blogs that make me angry, and make me want to comment, it’s the easiest thing in the world for me to react in the wrong way. Sometimes I shouldn’t say what I say. Sometimes I’m wrong. Sometimes I’m right, but I’m just a jerk. Prayer might help me to be more right. But prayer will probably help me to cool off, to be gentler or more loving, to be less arrogant, or to realize that maybe I don’t need to say anything at all. And that would be a better testimony to the truth and beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Don’t criticize your preacher too much. He has a hard job.

Preaching is very personal. The preacher is vulnerable within the Community of God. He is weekly under the microscope, scrutinized by God and his people. You probably have no idea what that does to the dynamics of his personal and family life.

The preacher must call to attention that very thing which threatens the core of his own autonomy as a sinful creature—it’s sort of like diving on a grenade to save your friends. Except that it’s really by throwing yourself on the Gospel Grenade that you’re saved, so the preacher’s really chucking them out there into the crowd—and not everyone is going to appreciate that way of salvation, that’s for sure.

The preacher can be tempted to preach for personal gain (i.e., flattering compliments or money). Or, conversely, the preacher can be tempted to coldly disregard any input received from the hearers—constructive or otherwise—in the name of “telling it like it is, whether they like it or not.” In my estimation, it’s nigh impossible to actually preach from selfless love, and to be sensitive to the true needs of the hearers (which they might like to communicate frequently through criticism).

Remember that next time you talk to your preacher after the Sunday sermon.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. [1 Thessalonians 5.1-11]

“The day of the Lord” (5.2) is a strong theme in Scripture. Paul has much to say about this Day in his letters to the Thessalonians, the Day when Jesus Christ will return at the end of history to judge the living and the dead. The Greek word parousia (coming or presence) occurs six times in these two short letters with reference to the Second Coming, which is a quarter of the total usages in the New Testament.

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The 35th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America was in Memphis last week. The Assembly discussed and approved the recommendations of the Study Committee on Federal Vision. The Study Committee had been formed at the 34th Assembly in Atlanta

to study the soteriology of the Federal Vision, New Perspective, and Auburn Avenue Theologies which are causing confusion among our churches. Further, to determine whether these viewpoints and formulations are in conformity with the system of doctrine taught in the Westminster Standards, whether they are hostile to or strike at the vitals of religion, and to present a declaration or statement regarding the issues raised by these viewpoints in light of our Confessional Standards (M34GA, 34-57, III, pp. 229-30).

You can download the PDF of their report here.

After the vote to approve the recommendations, Dr. Peter Leithart (a PCA minister in the Pacific Northwest Presbytery) wrote several entries on his website in order to clarify for others his beliefs on certain issues addressed by the Report. I must say, I’m not really sure whether I’m smart enough to be able to disagree with him in any meaningful way. This is a brief email conversation between him and me after I read this post of his on the benefits of baptism. (He was kind enough to grant permission to post this discussion.)

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