Instead of Complaining…

From a letter by John Newton on May 31, 1775:

“My experience is made up of enigmas, but the sum and solution of all is, that I am a vile creature, but I have a good Lord.  He has chosen me; and I through his rich grace have chosen him.  I trust there is an engagement between him and my soul, which shall never be broken, because he has undertaken for both parts, that he will never forsake me, and that I shall never forsake him.”

“Oh, I like those royal, sovereign words “I will” and “You shall.”  How sweetly are they suited to the sense and long experience he has given me of my own weakness, and the power and subtlety of Satan.  If my conflicts terminate in victory, it must be owing to his arm, and for his own name’s sake, for I in myself have neither strength nor plea.  If I were not so poor, so sick, so foolish, the power, skill, riches, wisdom, and mercy of my Physician, Shepherd, and Savior would not be so signally illustrated in my own case.”

“Upon this account, instead of complaining, we may glory in our infirmities.  Oh, it is pleasant to be deeply indebted to him, to find him, and own him, all in all: ‘Our Husband, Shepherd, Brother, Friend / Our Guide, and Guard, our Way, and End!’”

The Works of John Newton, VI, page 275-276.

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The Lord’s Supper and Assurance

The Lord’s Supper is a holy sacrament that Jesus gave to his church to help strengthen us in the Christian faith.  If you’re a Christian who is weak, weary, full of doubts, and in need of God’s love and grace, don’t avoid the table – go to it with repentant faith.  Thomas Brooks put it this way.

“[Assurance] was the principle end of Christ’s institution of the sacrament of the Supper that he might assure them of his love, and that he might seal up to them the forgiveness of their sins, the acceptance of their persons, and the salvation of their souls (Matt. 26:27-28).  The nature of a seal is to make things sure and firm among men; so the Supper of the Lord is Christ’s broad seal, it is Christ’s privy-seal, whereby he seals and assures his people that they are happy here, that they shall be more happy hereafter, that they are everlastingly beloved of God, that his heart is set upon them, that their names are written in the book of life, that there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness, and that nothing shall be able to separate them from him who is their light, their crown, their all in all.”

“In this sacrament Christ comes forth and shows his love, his heart…his blood, that his children may no longer say, ‘Does the Lord Jesus love us?  Does he delight in us?’ but that they may say with the spouse, ‘I am my beloved’s and his desire is towards me’ (Songs 7:10).”

Thomas Brooks, Heaven on Earth, 27.

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The Painful Practice of Piety

 

 

Here’s #924 of Pascal’s Pensees followed by fascinating comments from Peter Kreeft. 

Pascal:

“It is true that there is something painful in beginning to practice piety, but this pain does not arise from the beginnings of piety within us, but from the impiety that is still there….  We only suffer in so far as our natural vice resists supernatural grace, but it would be very wrong to impute this violence to God, who draws us to him, instead of attributing it to the world which holds us back.  It is like a child snatched by its mother from the arms of robbers….  The cruellest war that God can wage on men in this life is to leave them without the war he came to bring.  ‘I came not to send peace but a sword,’ he said.  …Before his coming the world lived in false peace.”

Kreeft:

“The paints of piety are like the withdrawal symptoms when an addict goes clean and sober.  God does not cause pain; sin causes pain.  But the juxtaposition of God and sin also causes pain.”

“The surgeon who does not cut out the cancer is not kind but cruel.  The God of mere kindness whom we long for, the Grandfather God who leaves us alone to enjoy ourselves rather than the Father God who constantly interrupts us and interferes with our lives is really not kind but cruel.  (He is also non-existent!)  The ‘cruel’ God of the Bible is a God of battles.  He fights a spiritual war for us against the demons of sin in us.  This God is not cruel but kind, as kind as he can possibly be.  The sword he comes to us with (Mt. 10:34) is a surgeon’s scalpel, and this Surgeon’s hands are covered with his own blood.”

Peter Kreeft, Christianity for Modern Pagans (San Fransisco: Ignatius Press, 1993), 332-333.

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Characteristics of Jesus’ Parables

As I’ve said here before, Klyne Snodgrass’ Stories With Intent is an outstanding resource on Jesus’ parables.  One section I appreciate is the introduction – specifically where Snodgrass talks about the general characteristics of Jesus’ parables.  I’ll give the headings below; to get the helpful commentary of these headings, you’ll have to get the book!

1) Jesus’ parables are first of all brief, even terse.

2) Parables are marked by simplicity and symmetry.

3) Jesus’ parables focus mostly on humans (they mirror the commonness of first-century Palestinian human life).

4) The parables are fictional descriptions taken from everyday life, but they do not necessarily portray everyday events.

5) Parables are engaging; they were told to create interest, and various schemes are used to draw hearers in and compel dealing with the issues at hand.

6) Since they frequently seek to reorient thought and behavior, in keeping with Jesus’ teaching elsewhere parables often contain elements of reversal.

7) With their intent to bring about response and elements like reversal, the crucial matter of parables is usually at the end.

8) Parables are told into a context.  Unlike Aesop’s fables, Jesus’ parables are not general stories with universal truths.

9) Jesus’ parables are theocentric (and have everything to do with God’s Kingdom).

10) Parables frequently allude to OT texts.

11) Most parables appear in larger collections of parables.

These points – and Snodgrass’ discussion of them – can be found on pages 17-22 of Stories With Intent.

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No Inherent Stock of Goodness

Between the years 1768 and 1779 John Newton wrote several letters to a friend of his who was also a pastor.  Apparently, his friend was skeptical about the doctrines of grace (aka Calvinism) and tended towards the mystical writers of his day.  Newton, in a loving way, explained why he himself believed these doctrines and stayed away from mysticism.  Here’s one part from one of the early letters in this correspondence.  (Note: I’ve edited it very slightly).

“…The longer I live, the more I am constrained to adopt that system which ascribes all power and glory to the grace of God and leaves nothing to the creature but sin, weakness, and shame.  Everyone must speak for themselves; and for my own part, I cannot ascribe my present hopes to my having cherished and improved an inward something within me, which Mr. [William] Law speaks of.  But, on the contrary, I know I have often resisted the motions and warnings of God’s Spirit, and if he had not saved me with a high hand, and in defiance of myself, I would surely have been lost.”

“Nay, to this hour I feel an evil principle within me, tempting me to depart from the living God.  I have no inherent stock of goodness upon which I can hope to hold out hereafter, but stand in need of a continual supply, and emphatically understand our Lord’s words, ‘Without me you can do nothing.’  For I find I am not sufficient of myself so much as to think a good thought.”

“…I believe…in a word, that Christ is the all in all in a sinner’s salvation; that we have no righteousness in the sight of God but in his name, no power but so far as we are ingrafted into him by faith, as branches deriving sap and influence from the true vine (John 15:1, Isaiah 45:24, 1 Cor. 1:30).  Upon these principles I find that I cannot have satisfaction or comfort in the mystical writings, notwithstanding they may say many excellent things occasionally – things which may be very useful when understood in a gospel sense (p. 205-7).

This series of letters is found in volume 6 of The Works of John Newton.

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