Never Say Never

My youngest child is about to graduate from high school, which means that pretty soon I’ll have four semi-adult kids. My kids have taught me lots of things, and many of those lessons might be more important than this one, but this is the one I feel like writing about today. So what is it I’ve learned? I’ve learned that that it’s usually best never to say “That would never happen in this family!”

This is advice that I don’t always follow. Just last week I found myself wondering out loud about what kind of a home grows a child of a certain age who still thinks that a certain childish tactic will get them what they want. Of course, behind my remark was the assumption that this sort of thing would never happen in my home. And, you know, I’m pretty sure I never did have a child try that particular trick, probably because they knew by that age that it wouldn’t work for them. Nevertheless, it was exactly the sort of thing that an honest parent could never be completely sure that at least one of their own child would never try, so I really should have kept my mouth shut on the grounds that my remark assumed things I couldn’t be sure of, never mind that it was just plain mean-spirited and gossipy.  But most of all, my remark showed a fair bit of pride. Ironic, wasn’t it?  If rearing four children to adulthood can teach me anything, it ought to be humility.

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On Preparing for Suffering and Evil from D. A. Carson

You still have some tedious spring chores begging for your attention, don’t you? See, I knew it, and that’s why I’m providing notes for yet another of Don Carson’s lectures. These notes are for the first half of his two-lecture series On Being Prepared for Suffering and Evil. Download it to your iPod and away you go! Listen as you work, and before you know it you will be a little wiser and your house or yard will be a little tidier. It’s a win-win deal, right?

 

If you’ve been reading here long, you know how important I think developing your theology of suffering and evil is. Why? So that when tragedy strikes you—and it will—you don’t suffer a crisis of faith along with all your other suffering. You don’t want your first bit of deep suffering to cause you to develop a suborthodox view of God or give up on God altogether, do you? [I’ve written a little more on why having a theology of suffering is important here: Getting Your Theology on Track.]

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If you live long enough, you will suffer. How do we think about these things?

Questions about suffering and evil are asked by the Bible itself. It’s important not to enter this topic thinking we have all the tough questions and the Bible is simplistic. Examples of tough questions about suffering and evil in the Bible: Habakkuk, Job, Psalms, Elijah, etc.

There are five pillars from Biblical theology on which any serious Christian thinking in this domain must be built. 

1. Insights from the beginning of the Bible’s story line: Creation and fall.
   
   This is God’s world, and when he made it he made the world good. Everything evil, dark, repulsive in it comes from Genesis 3. The Fall is revolt against the God who made us, sustains us, and who will be our judge. It is important to think through the significance of this.  
   
   The sin most offensive to God is idolatry—the degodding of God, the vertical dimension of sin. All the horizontal dimensions of sin come from the anarchy that results from the degodding of God—from us wanting to be God.
   
   In the Bible, in all sin, God is always the most offended party. For example, when David sinned, he confessed, “Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight.” What makes sin so vile is that it is against God.
   
   All the entailments of disaster, suffering, etc., spring from God’s pronouncement, “Thus far shall you go, and no more.” Unless you see this, you have not even begun to think in a Christian way about suffering and evil. When we face death, from a Christian perspective, it is the inevitable result of our rebellion. We are all under the sentence of perishing; we are all guilty.
   
   Summary: It’s a damned world, and justly so.
   

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Sunday's Hymn: William Cowper

I’ll feature hymns by William Cowper for at least a couple more weeks, since the words of the hymns mean so much more while the circumstances of his life are fresh in my mind.  If you’ve missed the pieces about his life that I’ve posted here, you’ll find them at the references link below this post.

My Song Shall Bless the Lord of All

My song shall bless the Lord of all,
My praise shall climb to His abode;
Thee, Savior, by that name I call,
The great Supreme, the mighty God.

Without beginning, or decline,
Object of faith, and not of sense;
Eternal ages saw Him shine,
He shines eternal ages hence.

As much, when in the manger laid,
Almighty Ruler of the sky;
As when the six days’ works He made,
Filled all the morning-stars with joy.

Of all the crowns Jehovah bears,
Salvation is His dearest claim;
That gracious sound well-pleased He hears,
And owns Emmanuel for His name.

A cheerful confidence I feel,
My well-placed hopes with joy I see;
My bosom glows with heav’nly zeal
To worship Him Who died for me.

As man, He pities my complaint,
His pow’r and truth are all divine;
He will not fail, He cannot faint,
Salvation’s sure, and must be mine.

——Listen 

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Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Wonderful Grace of Jesus at Above the Clouds
• Lord’s Day at Hiraeth
• Arise, My Soul, Arise at TulipGirl
• Hymn 10, S. M. from The Psalms & Hymns of Isaac Watts at The Thirsty Theologian. (Welcome back, David.)
• Safely Through Another Week at Challies.com
  
• I Would Be True at IMD 2.0.
• At Thy Feet, O Christ We Lay at John Dekker’s Journal
• Like A River Glorious at The Happy Wonderer
• Give Me A New, A Perfect Heart at Seasonings of the Heart
• Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness at joythruChrist
• The Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Easter at Magic Statistics

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Saturday's Old Photo

These are Carl and Avas Carlson, relatives of my father, who ran a little Brethren in Christ Mission on the southside of Chicago. This photo is from the the early 1960s, and it’s one of those little photo cards that missionaries give out.

 

On the back of the photo this is stamped in red ink:

 

BRETHREN IN CHRIST MISSION
6033 S. Halsted St. - Went. 7122
CHICAGO 1, ILLINOIS
CARL J. CARLSON, Pastor 
SUNDAY SERVICES 9:45, 11, 7, AND 8
WEDNESDAY SERVICE 8:00 P.M
YOU ARE WELCOME !  

 
I remember Avas as a pale, quiet, unenergetic woman. That’s how she was during the three years that my family lived in the Chicago area and we attended church at the mission. According to my mother, there were quite a few days that Avas couldn’t get out of bed because she wasn’t feeling well. 

A few years after this photo was taken, Carl died. What did Avas do? She started her second life. She began playing her harp again and went all over giving concerts until she was well into her eighties and maybe her nineties. No more days in bed for her.

You might think from those details that was unhappy with Carl, but I don’t think so. I think she was unhappy with life in a dark and dingy flat above a storefront mission in a very rough area of Chicago.

Avas didn’t die until 2001 when she was 107 years old. 

Questioning the Queries Again

Pickled eggs are still way out in front as the most frequent subject of search queries that lead people to this site. There are many searches for just plain pickled eggs, more specific searches for easy pickled eggs from pickle juice, a couple of searches for love pickled eggs (pickled egg fans, I suppose), and one search from a pickled egg fanatic: pickled eggs that’s all I eat. One can only hope that’s hyperbole.

 

The last time I listed my top search queries, chicken related searches were the second most common. This time, however, chicken searches have dropped right off the chart and have been replaced by diva searches. Not just diva alone, but diva and scripture, as in several for scripture reference for diva and one for What does DIVA stand for scriptural?.  I don’t have a clue what those are about, but it must be something. What do the initials DIVA stand for? I thought perhaps it was a referrance to a word in the original languages, but I’m coming up blank there, too. Any ideas?

 

And while I’m asking questions, why did the chicken drop off the chart?

Update on Sunday, May 6, 2007 at 3:31PM by rebecca

Brandon found the source of the DIVA and scripture queries.  See for yourself.  It comes from a book by Michelle McKinney Hammond called The DIVA principle:  Secrets to Divine Inspiration for Victorious Attitude.

From the book blurb:

Divine Inspiration for a Victorious Attitude…

In her newest offering, bestselling author Michelle McKinney Hammond serves up all the details on how to get and keep a victorious attitude that will set readers apart and give them their own unique style.

With her tell–it–like–it–is approach, Michelle helps women explore the beauty and power of their inner self with expert tips on how to…

• get their act together—emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically
• be the queen of their domain
• make a man sit up and take notice

Drawing examples from some of the Bible’s great divas such as Deborah, and translating them into everyday practical principles for living, Michelle shows readers how to excel in every area of life whether young or old, single or married by mastering the art of diva–tude!

Whoo boy!  Now there’s a book I won’t be reading. 

What are the special privileges of the visible church?

The visible church hath the privilege of being under God’s special care and government;[1] of being protected and preserved in all ages, not withstanding the opposition of all enemies;[2] and of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of salvation,[3] and offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it in the ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in him shall be saved,[4] and excluding none that will come unto him.[5]

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Purposes of Christ's Death: Hebrews 9:15

This is another reposting from a series of posts examining the statements of purpose that scripture gives us regarding the death of Christ. You can find the other posts from this series by clicking on the purposes of Christ’s death label at the end of this post.

Next up in our list of purpose statements is the one in Hebrews 9:15:

For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were {committed} under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (NASB)

This verse is similar to the text we looked at in the post on Galatians 3:13-14, and I considered grouping the two texts together, but since I think there are a couple of new things added here, I decided this text is worthy of it’s own post.

So what is the purpose statement in this verse? When we see the phrase “For this reason,” we automatically think this must be pointing out a purpose statement. However, there is a real possibility that this phrase is looking backward rather than forward, showing the connection between this verse and the one before it. If so, then “for this reason” means “because of this” instead of “for this purpose,” and it is saying that because of the death of Christ mentioned in the previous verse, Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. The ESV translates to show the connection this way.

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

But even if we don’t take “for this reason” to be a purpose statement, there is still a purpose statement here: so that…those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Christ is the mediator of a new covenant through His death, so that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

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Belated Yet Again

Yesterday was Youngest Daughter’s birthday, so I’m wishing her blog birthday greetings. True to form, they are belated greetings, although I was not so negligent in real life. Real life just got away from me yesterday, and the blog was neglected, but the girl wasn’t.

 

Here she is at four. She had just discovered the game of Candy Land. Every day, right after her nap, she would carefully set up her Candy Land game on the chest she’s sitting on in the photo. Then as soon as her father walked in the door after his day’s work, she would rope him into a game. How could he say no? If you’ve ever played Candy Land, though, you know how much he’d have preferred to do anything else.

 

Recently I had a conversation about coddled kids whose parents have never let them lose at anything, so they have skewed expectations for how things ought to go for them in life. In our house, teaching the child to lose at games was their father’s job. Here’s a little word of free advice to dads who want to follow his example: When you pick a game to use to teach your little one the skill of losing, choose checkers, or Chinese checkers, or Jenga, or pick-up sticks.  Never, ever, choose Candy Land.  At least if you want to keep your sanity.

 

So here are belated twenty-third birthday greeting to Youngest Daughter, the sweet little girl who drove her dad crazy with her Candy Land game.

Appetizers All Around

This month’s recipe roundup will be held at Hiraeth.  Kim says,

… in May we’re calling for easy, delicious (and possibly impressive) appetizers. (The best appetizers are easy, delicious, AND impressive, right?)

Here are a few of the details, but you should read the whole spiel:

• Date of Appetizer Round Up:  Wednesday, May 16
• Deadline for entries:  For inclusion in the first draft of the round up, have your recipe in to Kim before 8AM CDT May 16.  However, entries are accepted throughout the day until the final draft at 8PM CDT May 16.
• Recipe eligibility:  Any recipe that fits the appetizer category is eligible—old post, new post, someone else’s post.  Even unbloggers can enter!
• How you can help:  First, spread the word of the round up to the readers of your blog, and then make sure to contribute a recipe when the time comes.  And finally, you might consider offering to host a future recipe round up.
  

Isn’t this fun?

The Ironies of the Cross from D. A. Carson

Do you have some boring spring cleaning or yard work to do? Download a good sermon, like The Ironies of the Cross from D. A. Carson, and listen while you work. Don’t worry that you can’t take notes, because I’ve already done that for you and posted them right here. And don’t think that you can skip the sermon because you’ve read my notes. The sermon has so much more, not the least of which is Don Carson’s dramatic reading of the scripture.

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The text of this sermon is Matthew 27: 27-50.

The use of irony in narrative is a way of telling us what’s important in a story. In this account, Matthew gives us four ironies in the story of the cross.

The Four Ironies of the Cross

1. The man who is mocked as king is king. (verses 27-31)
   
   

   • The ironic statement in scripture:

     And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

     
     
   • How this statement is ironic: Those mocking think it’s false, but Matthew and his readers know that Jesus really is king, but a different sort of king with a different sort of kingdom. See Matthew 20:20ff, which includes this statement from Jesus:

     You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

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