This is a wonderful thought from Edmund Clowney. In a nutshell: Before Christ, God revealed His will directly, in the form of specific directions. Through Christ, he reveals the guiding principles of His will, so that we can know make decisions based on our knowledge of His nature.

I was reminded, reading this, of 1 Corinthians 2:15-16.

1 Corinthians 2:15-16

15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (ESV)

And now, from Clowney (emphasis added):

There are times when we may wish that one of the old “divers manners” of revelation were still in effect. The Urim and Thummin, for example, were consulted by the priest to secure “yes” or “no” answers from God (Ex. 28:30; I Sam. 28:6). Would you be tempted to trade in the New Testament for the priest’s ephod and to find your “yes” and “no” in miraculous stones rather than in Christ? In the agony of a harsh decision you might wish that this could be done. The Urim and Thummin gave infallible answers from God. One knew that success or ruin would follow a given course of action.

Could any guidance be better than that? Certainly. The guidance of Urim-Thummin was like a father’s guidance of a small child. “Yes, Tim, you may go.” “No, you must not do that.”

The will of the father is perfectly clear, yet it may not be at all understood. It is good for a child to obey even when he does not understand. It is better for him to obey because he does understand. He must do the first to be ready for the second. The mature son understands what his father desires of him; he understands the mind of his father and his obedience is shaped by that understanding…

Knowing the will of the Lord in the fellowship of Jesus Christ is not a technique to provide a substitute for the Urim-Thummin in securing infallible on-the-spot decisions from God. The Lord has not promised to give this, and what he does give you is far better. In his Word he reveals the principles of his will—indeed, he reveals himself. Through his Spirit he quickens your understanding of his will and your living fellowship with himself.

Edmund P. Clowney, Called to the Ministry, pp. 70-71.

Men-of-War: Life in Nelson’s Navy
by Patrick O’Brian.
W. W. Norton, 95 pages.
ISBN 0393326608 (paperback – reviewed – perhaps out of print),
0393038580 (hardcover)

Patrick O’Brian brings to us a short (only 95 pages) account of the British Navy c1800, the time of the great Lord Nelson.

It was a hard time to be a sailor. O’Brian points out that the food was “usually so bad that when they could catch them, the men often ate rats, or millers as they were called in the service, because of their dusty coats as they got into the flour and dried peas.” And trust me, that’s not the grossest part he mentions…

Still, the brutal, primitive reality of the time is easily overshadowed by the romance and the heroism. And it is to this sensibility that O’Brian appeals. He gives a brief overview of the types of ships used in Nelson’s navy, and a description of the crucial armaments they would carry. He walks us through the various members of the ships’ crews, and follows the career progress of a hypothetical young midshipman as he climbs the ranks all the way to Admiral.

Finally, he concludes with a look at life at sea, including combat. As an added bonus, there is a short chapter included of various sea-songs of the era.

O’Brian’s work is a wonderful companion to the abundant literature romanticizing the era. Ever since Frederick Marryat, arguably the first novelist of the Age of Sail, countless authors have set their heroes on the wooden planks of the great “rated” ships of the line. From C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower (you may have seen the A&E series of films) to O’Brian’s own Aubrey-Maturin series of novels (filmed as Russell Crowe’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), naval fiction has been and remains immensely popular. Supplementary books like this one give good background to the reader, and extend the adventure into history.

When You Pray: Making the Lord’s Prayer Your Own
by Philip Graham Ryken.
P&R Publishing, 206 pages.
ISBN 1596380527

Prayer is one of the most basic elements of the Christian life, and one of the most neglected. One of the difficulties we face is that we do not feel as though we know how to pray.

The Lord himself, however taught us just how to pray. In Matthew 6 and in Luke 11, Jesus taught his apostles (and us) a model for prayer that is remarkable for its combination of both simplicity and depth.

Phil Ryken, senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, walks through each part of the Lord’s Prayer in great detail.

He begins by examining the first part of the Matthew passage, before the Lord’s Prayer even begins, to show us how not to pray like hypocrites. Observes Ryken,

The problem with these hypocrites was not what they did, but why they did it… Are you a hypocrite? One way to tell is to compare the amount of time you spend in private prayer to the amount of time you spend in public prayer.

He then illustrates Christ’s next example of bad prayer in a chapter wonderfully titled “How to Pray Like an Orphan.” Ryken’s premise is that pagans, both ancient and modern, pray like orphans – not knowing the love of the Father, or the confidence that He will hear them or provide for them.

Knowing God as Father has two tremendous implications for the life of prayer. First, it means that you can keep it simple; second, it means that God will give you what you need almost before you ask… In the whole history of the world, God has never once been surprised during a prayer meeting.

After this introduction, Ryken spends the bulk of the book walking through each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, meditating on the full meaning and implications of each one. It is easy to see that he has spent much time not only praying the Lord’s Prayer, but also praying about the Lord’s Prayer.

This is not an instruction manual for prayer. Instead, it is a reflection on the wonderful glorious prayer that Christ himself has given us. The purpose of the book is not primarily to teach us how to pray like the Lord did, but to use His prayer more effectively. Read this book, and you will never pray the Lord’s Prayer casually again.

Christians in Context: from orthodoxy to orthopraxy.: Sola Amor, or “Love” Alone: An Emerging Gospel:

When we decide that God is “more loving” than any other quality, we are engaging in a-Biblical, speculative theology. Despite its popularity in the postmodern church (and in sympathetic churches), speculative theology is precisely that: speculation. Due to its dependence on the fallible and wavering human mind, it is dangerous, leading us to contrived, false images of God. God as only love is one such contrived perception. The attributes and character of God are revealed to us through Scripture, and that which humans concoct about His character is powerless to affect what truly is.

Randy Stinson, president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, has been running a great series on how he “uses the game of baseball in the lives of his two sons to build Christian character and cultivate biblical masculinity.”

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I’m not at all a sports fan, so you know this must be good if I’m enjoying it!

Mark Coppenger writes on the jealousy of God, in the context of Oprah’s problem with it.

So, then, how could you feel comfortable with a jealous God? Well, a little more theology could help. When you learn that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good, then you realize that the Lord cannot be afflicted with insecurity, suspicion and selfishness — factors that poison human jealousy. It’s quite plain that something nobler is at work in the case of God, to whom all honor is obviously due. His jealousy is a matter of righteous indignation.

Read more.

“That henceforth we should not serve sin.” – Romans 6:6

Christian, what hast thou to do with sin? Hath it not cost thee enough already? Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire? What! when thou hast already been between the jaws of the lion, wilt thou step a second time into his den? Hast thou not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all thy veins once, and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand upon the cockatrice’s den a second time? Oh, be not so mad! so foolish! Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure? Didst thou find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to thine old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delight thee. But inasmuch as sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but deluded thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler- be free, and let the remembrance of thy ancient bondage forbid thee to enter the net again! It is contrary to the designs of eternal love, which all have an eye to thy purity and holiness; therefore run not counter to the purposes of thy Lord. Another thought should restrain thee from sin. Christians can never sin cheaply; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders prayer, brings darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf and bondman of sin. There is yet a higher argument: each time you “serve sin” you have “Crucified the Lord afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Can you bear that thought? Oh! if you have fallen into any special sin during this day, it may be my Master has sent this admonition this evening, to bring you back before you have backslidden very far. Turn thee to Jesus anew; he has not forgotten his love to thee; his grace is still the same. With weeping and repentance, come thou to his footstool, and thou shalt be once more received into his heart; thou shalt be set upon a rock again, and thy goings shall be established.

- Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, May 30 Evening

Thanks to Doulos.

From Christianity Today:

After modeling a seeker-sensitive approach to church growth for three decades, Willow Creek Community Church now plans to gear its weekend services toward mature believers seeking to grow in their faith.

The change comes on the heels of an ongoing four-year research effort first made public late last summer in Reveal: Where Are You?, a book coauthored by executive pastor Greg Hawkins. Hawkins said during an annual student ministries conference in April that Willow Creek would also replace its midweek services with classes on theology and the Bible.

Encouraging, but…

Greg Pritchard, author of Willow Creek Seeker Services, told CT the church “sporadically has recognized it was not teaching a robust enough biblical theology and needed to turn the ship around.

“It is a huge shift,” Pritchard said of the church’s planned changes to its services. “But they’re still using the same marketing methodology. Willow appears to be selecting a new target audience with new felt needs, but it is still a target audience. Can they change? Yes, but it will take more than just shifting their target audience.”

Read the full article.

I was reading an interview with David Pratt, author of The Impossible Takes Longer: The 1,000 Wisest Things Ever Said by Nobel Prize Laureates, and he mentions two favorite quotes of his…

Quote #1:

I started collecting quotations by Nobel Prize Winners after reading Winston Churchill’s saying “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”

Quote #2:

But I suppose one of my very favorites is by the French writer Anatole France, “I have always preferred the folly of the passions to the wisdom of indifference.”

So which do you think Pratt would prefer – a passionate fanatic, or an indifferent subject-changer?