Here, Men, Have Some Pain…

John Piper has been preaching a series on marriage and has been covering the role of the husband in a sermon titled Lionhearted and Lamblike: The Christian Husband as Head, Part 2.

I’ve been following along with the various video excerpts posted on the Desiring God blog, and it’s been pretty brutal. I must admit, painfully, that it has convicted me on multiple counts.

So here you go, men. Watch them, and share in my pain:

• Part 1:
  • How should a man spiritually provide for his family?
  • How should a man physically provide for his family?
• Part 2: How should a man spiritually protect his family?
• Part 3: Why is a daughter’s modesty a dad’s responsibility?
• Part 4: Why is initiating reconciliation always the responsibility of a husband and father?
• Part 5: How should a man physically protect his wife and family

(Updated 3/30 to add Part 5.)

Some Resources on Reprobation

As part of Phil Johnson’s series at Pulpit Magazine, Why I Am a Calvinist (Part 5), the following question has come up in the comments: If some are elected to salvation, are others elected to damnation?

Specifically, one commenter, Jerry M, has asked the question this way: “As a 4 point Calvinist I am thoroughly comfortable with monergistic language in reference to salvation – but does monergism apply to damnation?”

While I do not intend to answer the question directly in this post, I will point the interested reader to some resources available in this discussion:

• Curt Daniel’s History and Theology of Calvinism, linked from part 3 of Phil’s series as a Microsoft Word document, contains a series of chapters on this very subject:
  • Chapter 47, The Doctrine of Reprobation
  • Chapter 48, The Hardening of the Reprobate
  • Chapter 49, The Destiny of the Reprobate
  • Chapter 50, The Relation of Election and Reprobation
• The audio of the source lectures for Daniel’s work are also available, including parts 47, 48, 49, and 50, corresponding to the above chapters.
• Desiring God contains an essay titled What does Piper mean when he says he’s a seven-point Calvinist? which discusses, among other things, John Piper’s view of “double predestination” (as this is sometimes called)
• R. C. Sproul’s book on election, Chosen by God, contains a chapter titled Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: Is Predestination Double?

I hope this collection of resources will be of some help to those examining this question.

Radical Amputation

In his book, How to Help People Change, Jay Adams uses the term “radical amputation” to describe what Jesus taught in passages such as Matthew 5:29-30:

Matthew 5:29-30

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (ESV)

The basic point of the teaching is this: take radical measures to safeguard against sin. And given that the stakes are so high, we ought to be willing to do anything to avoid eternal punishment.

As John Piper writes in What Jesus Demands of the World:

The point is not that inward desires can be controlled by external maiming. The point is how enormous the stakes are. They are so great, we must do what we have to do to defeat the bondage of sinful desire. It is astonishing how many people deal with their sin casually. Jesus demands otherwise.

Our desire to deal with sin must be so strong that “radical amputation” is not out of the question. Whether we are amputating ourselves from the desires of the flesh, or amputating ourselves from our worldly riches, like the rich young man of Matthew 19:16-26, we ought to be so willing to follow Christ that we will give up anything that draws us toward sin and away from Him.

Don’t misunderstand – it is not sinful to have two eyes, two hands, or even money and possessions. These things are sinful when they prevent us from following Him.

So how are we doing? Are we taking extreme measures to purge sin from our life? Are we radically amputating the temptations of flesh and worldliness?

Random Thoughts – 03/26/2007

• Must Read: Phil Johnson on Epistemological Humility, followed by Spurgeon (of course) on the same subject
• John Piper talks about the place of application in preaching
• Phil Ryken shares a quote (sort of) from Martin Lloyd-Jones about the importance of not only the content of the two greatest commandments, but their order
• Phil Johnson is now on part 5 of his series about why he’s a Calvinist. Part 3 had some very good book recommendations, as well.
• Matt’s Idea Blog has an intriguing post about how to read a lot of books in a short period of time (I haven’t tried his method yet, but I vaguely remember “SQ3R” from high school) (HT: The Evangelical Outpost)
• When it was announced that Tony Dungy was getting an award from a family group that opposes same-sex marriage, a lot of people were worried that it would look like he agrees with their position on that issue. Well, everybody can stop worrying. (HT: Sharper Iron)
• Irish Calvinist gives us something to think about next time we’re about to wish someone good luck.
• And finally, may I simply say haha.

Like Father, Like Son…

Yep, I sit around reading VeggieTales, too…