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On December 18, 2023 By In Culture

Pope Francis and the Sexual Revolution

The pontiff’s opening words on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in 2013 noted:

“My hope is that this journey of the Church that we begin today…be fruitful for the evangelization of this beautiful city.”

What has this evangelization wrought in a decade but decadence and a concrete movement toward old-fashioned modernism! The audacious hierarchy of Rome brought all the fruits you would expect of a fallen man playing the role of vicar of Christ on earth. The man who came to power to strengthen human bonds is now eagerly dissolving the very fabric of society established in Eden.

Romanism will enter into the most challenging chapter of its history with a declining population (even in South America, the home of Francis) and a growing apathy to traditional forms. The Catholic Charismatics was an attempt to preserve the Church amid a changing demographic in the 60’s, but now what will become of a Church that claims dogmatic authority led by a pope playing out his socialist and progressive schemes before an ever-changing society? There is no certainty this transition is the last among a wildly revolutionary play on sexual ethics. The Church that prided itself in theological stability and coherence through centuries is now plagued by its own ecclesiology.

Conservative bodies need to be prepared to absorb this hungry generation of Roman Catholics who have observed dogma and tradition faithfully after Vatican II but now will look to find refuge somewhere where creational norms of sexuality have not evolved with time.

I believe the conservative Protestant tradition–especially among the Reformed and Lutheran–must be prepared to educate a massively illiterate Catholic population. Only the Bible and the vast Reformational tradition can provide that security; only the Scriptures can be the source of evangelization.

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On December 18, 2023 By In Culture

The Pastor’s First Duty

Pastors have a fundamental responsibility to shepherd within before they can shepherd without. While the negative world provides us plenty of opportunities to uphold truth, if those propensities and proclamations are not shaped by the garden of the Church first, the opinion pieces will fail to get a hearing. They will only draw the untrained and uncivil pugilist to your corner, who eventually may swallow the young clergy. Therefore, that percentage dynamic should be heavily weighed in favor of the immediate parish concerns (I Pet. 4:17).

While much of theological and pastoral output can benefit the outside community, the minister’s primary goal is to meet the needs of his people. He is a local shepherd, accountable to a local body (Heb. 13:17), connected to a local people.

We are experiencing a monumental decline in pastoral candidates in mainline traditions and a slight decline in more conservative bodies like the Missouri Synod Lutheran.* While there are sociological demands for modern pastors to confront every conceivable moral issue, the minister represents God to his visible assembly, whom he addresses from the pulpit and to whom he administers the elements of bread and wine. His particular dispositions must be used accordingly; his gifts need to be activated rather than re-creating him after the image of some publicly acclaimed character.

While there is tangible evidence of institutional dereliction among seminaries, there is still a more significant fault among those who have demands of pastors that do not place them first at the feet of their congregants before the feet of outside inquiries.

Of course, every pastor has a public face, but his local image shapes that public image. To reverse that dynamic is to create influencers rather than shepherds. The decline of candidates stems from expectations that ministers must embody nearly renaissance gifts, and no man can endure that level of pressure for sustained periods of time.

Too much pastoral theology in our day, put the Table and Pulpit secondary, and the political halls and podcasts as primary. But ministers are heavenly professionals tending to the first garden of God before moving into the land and world.

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On December 13, 2023 By In Culture

Recipes and readings for Advent (3)

One of our members at Emmanuel in London, Lucie Brear, has compiled a fantastic collection of recipes and suggested Scripture readings for advent. If you want to discover a traditional English way to prepare for Christmas, then just read on! I’ll post them here one week at a time. Here’s the third:

A Reformed Christmas – The Butter Letters

Given that we have just celebrated its 500th anniversary, it’s festively fitting that we explore the impact of the Reformation on Christmas, along with a traditional Advent recipe that is closely linked to this period.

It may surprise some to learn that the Reformation had a profound influence on the way we celebrate Christmas, in more ways than we might expect. Read on to discover how Luther and the Reformers shaped the Christmas traditions that many of us hold dear.

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On December 13, 2023 By In Culture

Authority in the Church? Upholding Ecclesiastical Office in an age of Tumult

The idea of office has fallen on hard times in North America. The fact that many Christians probably don’t know what I am referring to when I speak of “office” is an indication that I am at least running down the right trail with this criticism of modern day Christianity. This term refers to the office of an elder or a deacon in the church and more loosely to the office of every believer. If you hold to a 3/4 office view of authority in the church, then it refers the office of an elder or a deacon or a pastor or a theologian/seminary professor. I won’t get too much into that debate here.

I want to demonstrate here how this “idea of office” is a Biblical idea. It is my purpose to show how Christians must uphold their own office as believer, but also the various authority structures that Christ has ordained for His Church: at minimum the office of elder and deacon that we find in I Timothy 3.

As I launch into this topic, you should know that some of my work here is based on an old dead Dutch theologian (some of the best theology), Rev. K. Sietsma. He put out his book “the Idea of Office” already in the Pre-WW II Netherlands. The copy that I have is a book that has been translated out of the Dutch by Henry Vander Goot. It was published in 1985 by Paideia Press in Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada. There are some points that I disagree with in the book, but that is not the purpose of this essay. If I quote Sietsma, I will add the page number. That being said, find a copy if you can and try to read it. It is a short book.

The Officers of the Church:

The exact terminology of “office” is found primarily in Acts 1:20, which reads: “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and ‘Let another take his office.’” This is referring to the work of the Apostles to find a 12th apostle, following the death of Judas for his sin of betraying Jesus. The word that is translated as “office” here comes from the Greek word “ἐπισκοπή/episkope.” It is most literally translated as “oversight” and refers to the “overseers” of the church in passages like Acts 20:28 and I Tim 3:1. You will notice that the ESV translates it as “the office of overseer” in its translation of I Tim. 3:1.

Acts 1:20 quotes from Psalm 109:8, which uses the Hebrew word “פְּקֻדָּה” to refer to “office,” a word that can also refer to “oversight” or “overseer” in the Old Testament. For example, in Numbers 4:16, Eleazar the son of Aaron is given oversight over the whole tabernacle and all that is in it. In II Kings 11:18, the priest appoints watchmen over the house of the Lord. In I Chronicles 24:3, King David with the help of Zadok appoints men to certain duties in their service. In I Chronicles 26:30, 1700 men are given oversight over Israel for all the work of the Lord and the service of the king. In II Chron. 24:11, we see these appointees referred to as officers. So if we use the language of the Old Testament, one might regard elders as officers, overseers, watchmen, who with the aid of deacons (servants) govern the church. When we see the language of these men being appointed, that might shine some light on the work of Titus (Titus 1:5) and the apostolic pattern (Acts 14:23).

Louis Berkhof brings out an interesting nuance that frequent mention is made of elders, but also bishops, to refer to a similar class of officers. While elders were not initially teachers, eventually this becomes attached to their office (Eph. 4:11, I Tim. 5:17, II Tim. 2:2). It appears in I Tim 5:17 that as time went on, some elders are given the task of rule and others the task of teaching. As an aside, the term ‘elder’ seems to emphasize age, and the term ‘bishop’ seems to stress oversight [Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine (Grande Rapids, Eerdmans, 1938), p. 158].

This is a very brief summary from one specific angle. There are many other word studies that we could do on authority in the church. But for the sake of time, I will continue. As we expand outward to look at the whole body of Biblical evidence on this, clearly then we see an idea of ordained office in both the Old and New Testaments. Certain men serve as “officers” in the Church – whether that be the deacons or elders or any of the names that are associated with “office” in the New Testament, like the Apostles or Timothy, Tychicus, Titus, etc.

The “Idea of Office”:

An office, like the “office of overseer” in I Timothy 3:1, is clearly a reality in the New Testament. There are positions of authority that are held in the church.

500: Authority in the Church? Upholding Ecclesiastical Office in an age of Tumult

There are a couple principles that we must lay out as we develop the idea of office. First, God is the complete and absolute sovereign of all the universe. The logical conclusion of this axiomatic statement is that all human authority is then limited. It is delegated, not transferred. This is why even the civil authority is described in Scripture as “a minister of God” (Rom. 13:4).

Sietsma puts it this way:

“two elements in the idea of office come to the forefront: (1) the idea that man is charged with responsibility, though granted a certain relative independence vis-a-vis God; and (2) the idea that the essence of office depends on the divine mandate.”

Rev. K. Sietsma, The Idea of Office (Jordan Station, Paideia Press, 1985), p. 24.

Both of these points are important to understand in all the spheres of authority, whether we are considering the office of the civil magistrate, the office of overseer in the church, the office of father, or the office believer (self-government). If the essence of office depends on divine mandate, then a father’s authority over his children does not lie in himself, the authority of an overseer in the church does not lie in himself, but in the decree of the Lord. And that means that he too is a man under authority (Matt. 8:9). His authority is a limited and delegated authority.

This is why historically when the Reformers spoke of ecclesiastical authority they never simply spoke of an internal call (from the Lord), but also an external call (from His Church). If a man feels that he is called by the Lord and presses himself forward into the office of elder or deacon, that does not mean that he is indeed called. We only have his word, which can be nebulous. There is neither accountability or transparency. Timothy also had to live by the standard for elders and deacons (I Tim. 3). While Paul does commend Timothy for his track-record of life (II Tim. 3), yet Paul also appeals to the external laying on of hands (II Tim. 1:6-7). As we see in Acts 6, the selection of deacons involves a process of the Apostles and the congregation working together to call qualified men. Sietsma writes again:

“… it should not be the case that someone accepts a call because he feels capable of the office. Rather, having been called by the congregation and as such by God, the person chosen accepts the office in spiritual obedience, expecting that the Lord will increase his ability not by any miraculous strokes, but according to his faithful promise.”

Rev. K. Sietsma, The Idea of Office (Jordan Station, Paideia Press, 1985), p. 42-43

Is any one elder or pastor or deacon a servant of the congregation or of the body of elders or elders and deacons together? Primarily each one stands subject the one who has authority over all: this means that the primary act of service is to Christ. Sietsma points out that office has an administrative character in that the office-bearers of the church are called to administer the rule of Christ into the congregation. They do so by administering His Word, His sacraments, His loving and gracious discipline within the church of Christ.

This then stands in opposition to ecclesiastical anarchy, the idea that a man’s authority in the home, the state, or the church, is derived from the “will of the people”, an idea which came via the French Revolution. Sietsma writes again: “… the idea of office is destroyed as it is transformed into the idea of the mandate of the masses.” (p. 40) It also stands in opposition to the belief that a man’s authority resides in himself, his charisma, or powerful presence. Rather, any office, but especially office in the church, is subject to the glorious reign of Christ, rests in the mandate of Christ, and is limited by the rule of Christ. His yoke is easy and burden light.

On one hand, we must contend against this democratic and anti-authoritarian age which denies office all-together, or bases it entirely on a social contract (ie the will of the people). On the other hand, we must contend against those officers of the church (or state or family) who claim authority that belongs only to God (authoritarianism), when each one is called to an office to be a minister of God. It is clear that God does indeed want His church to be ruled, for there to be overseers in the church, watchmen in His house.

Why Does it Matter?

We live in a godless, anti-authoritarian, egalitarian age. In response to the spirit of the age, we see a rising authoritarianism in our civil governments. It is easy for the spirit of the age to creep into the Church. Egalitarianism is an idea that seeks to pursue complete social equality through anti-authoritarian measures. This egalitarianism can take on the form of modern day spirituality which avoids the clear command of Christ for a mystical sense of unity and oneness with the divine. The only way this egalitarianism can be achieved is by dismantling ecclesiastical government as well as other forms of government like that of the family. But as we see clearly in the Scriptures, we do not promote “office” or “authority” in the church simply because we want to or because we have an inflated sense of self-importance, but because Christ has called us too, because Christ has determined that this is one of the tools by which He will preserve and increase His holy Church. His intentions for His one, holy, catholic, church, will militate against all the false and anti-God philosophies of the modern age that raise themselves up against the knowledge of the living God and His rule in the Church (II Cor. 10:1-6).

Christ the Office-bearer:

It is important to recognize that Christ is the primary office-bearer. It is central that we uphold the inherently Biblical truth that Christ is the sole Head of His Church (Eph. 1:22, 5:23, Col. 1:18). In our Lord’s baptism in the Jordan River, the Father declared His Son to be that office bearer as He was anointed for that task by John the Baptist (Lk 3:21-22). This means that the officers of the church do not rule by their own authority. They rule by an authority that has been delegated to them. An authority that has been delegated by Jesus Christ Himself. He gives the officers of the church His Word and Spirit by which to oversee God’s people and to be watchmen in the House of the Lord.

This is constantly repeated in the Belgic Confession, for example, as the Reformed churches sought to respond faithfully to the Word of God. Christ is the eternal King (Art. 27). Jesus Christ is the only universal bishop and the only head of the church (art 31). The office-bearers of the church must not go on to command that which Jesus Christ has not ordained (Art. 32). They have authority, but it is not transferred or absolute authority, it is delegated by Jesus.

Louis Berkhof summarizes this concept in his summary of Christian doctrine:

“Christ is the Head of the Church and the source of all its authority, Matt. 23:10; John 13:13; I Cor. 12:5; Eph. 1:20-23; 4:11, 12; 5:23, 24. He rules the Church, not by force, but by His Word and Spirit. All human officers in the Church are clothed with the authority of Christ and must submit to the control of His Word.”

Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine (Grande Rapids, Eerdmans, 1938), p. 157.

The Office of Believer:

If we look at the themes of Scripture as they culminate in Christ you will see that the Scriptures present Him as our final prophet, priest and king, ordained to that office. When we are united to Him as believers, we find ourselves united to Him in that office (Rev. 1:6). We are a kingdom of priests, serving Him in this world (Rev. 1:6). This is what the Reformers referred to as “the priesthood of all believers.” There is an objective anointing to office in the baptism of a believer within the context of the church. Historically, many Reformed Christians have taught their baptized children to confess at the youngest of ages:

“… by faith I am a member of Christ and so I share in his anointing. I am anointed to confess his name, to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a free conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for eternity.”

Heidelberg Catechism, LD 12, Q&A 32, https://threeforms.org/heidelberg-catechism/.

The “priesthood of all believers” or the “prophethood of all believers” or the “kingship of all believers” must be understood within the rule of Scripture (regulei Scripturae). This doctrine does not negate the command of Christ that His church be ruled by overseers and watchmen, by elders and deacons, that men like Titus and Timothy and Tychichus should be sent out to order the churches and to teach them to live in obedience to Christ. The “priesthood of all believers” is expressed in Berea when Paul praises “those noble Bereans” who tested what he taught with the Scriptures and then fell on their knees and worshipped Christ (Acts 17:10-15). It is expressed in the prayers and praise of the saints throughout the Book of Revelation. It is expressed in our acts of holy service to Christ and to one another as we find Paul call for in the first letter to Corinth. The overseers and watchmen are put in place to equip the saints for these acts of service (Eph. 4:11-12), to teach principles from the Word of God, to make the priesthood of believers more effective through godly leadership, a mighty army of men and women, boys and girls, following after the Son of God as He goes forth to war.

It is in this office of believer that the congregation is expected to choose for themselves 7 deacons in Acts 6. But they have been given a divine standard to chose men according to particular criteria (Acts 6:3, I Tim 3). God also permitted the people to choose for themselves a king in I Samuel 9, and we find in I Samuel 26, that David recognizes that Saul was not simply anointed by the people, but by the Lord.

A Final Word of Encouragement:

This is a final word for the Church to consider these issues as matters of highest importance. There is an increased flattening of the Christian faith to an individualized piety. This individualized piety wipes out the church as Christ has instituted it in this world. He intended it for the glory of God and for the sake of growing men in maturity. And for that reason our Lord instituted offices in the church – for our good and for His glory.

There is a growing level of disrespect for the ordination of a man to the office of overseer and watchman in the church – for ecclesiastical office. This is seen in the last couple of years in the arrest of various pastors in Canada (ie Rev. James Coates and Rev. Tim Stephens) and the fines imposed on other pastors for continuing in the ministry of the Word and sacraments, for acting as overseers and watchmen in the Church of Jesus Christ. Those arrests only revealed a much deeper and systematic problem across the nation, a problem that arises from both the pew and pulpit.

What we need is men who know their God, who know their Bible, who love His people, and who do their duty. This sense of duty can only arise from a deep understanding of office, and a clear understanding of the commands of Christ, both in the pew and in the pulpit, but especially among those who have been called to serve Christ and His Church as elders and deacons.

With that I want to conclude with a quote that is attributed to St. Boniface:

“Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf.  Instead, let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ’s flock.  Let us preach the whole of God’s plan to the powerful and the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season, as St. Gregory writes in his book of Pastoral Instruction.“

Boniface, Ep. 78: MGH, Epistolae, 3, 352, 354; from Liturgy of the Hours According to the Roman Rite (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co. 1975).

Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash

This is the second article in a series on the Church. I posted the first as “The Church is our Mother” on October 16. The second article was initially posted here on Substack:

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On December 9, 2023 By In Culture

The Same Stories, Again and Again

Photo courtesy pexels.com

We all are characters in the story God wrote from creation. Every day of our lives was written in a book before the first one began (Psa. 139:16), and when the Lord judges us, he will do so on the basis of what is written in our life story (Rev. 20:12). Yahweh is the Author, and we are the characters on the stage. This is one of the reasons human beings discover themselves and find strength and wisdom and are so powerfully moved by stories, whether written or acted before us.

Stories have been the means by which human societies have communicated values and virtue since the ancient world. You may immediately think of Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey, but stories began long before either of those masterpieces. What are cave drawings but pictorial stories which memorialize great battles, hunts, and deeds? My office includes many volumes of theology and philosophy, including a large section on ethics. But truth, goodness, and beauty, including values, virtue, and wisdom, are more powerfully and memorably communicated in the books on the shelves which contain great literature, both history and fiction.

I reread great books and stories every year because they are the works that have proven to be the ones that teach and reinforce the lessons that I need. John MacArthur once expressed consternation at why anyone would ever choose to reread a book. I cannot understand why anyone would ever willingly read a book he knows he would never wish to reread. The difference is explained by why and how a person reads. You could be adequately nourished even if you never tasted the same food twice in your life, but a diet without repetition is a life without tradition and culture.

One of the many reasons we ought to reread great stories is because our lives include many of the same scenes and chapters over and over. You have noticed how great stories reappear in the Scriptures multiple times. Liberal scholars claim this is because these episodes are fictional and mythological, the repetition proves they are there for artistic effect and not as a matter of historical record, never seeming to realize that life is a collection of repetition and that the same events and experiences play out again and again in their own lives and on the pages of human history.

Every week, throughout each year, over many centuries, and now millennia, the Church has done the same things again and again. God calls, cleanses, consecrates, communes, and then commissions his people. The Church confesses her sins, celebrates the Father’s forgiveness, concurs with the revelation of the Word, communes in the Spirit, and continues victoriously to live and die by faith as salt, light, and leaven in the world. Our lives consist not in new things each day but in the same things, over and over. Birth and death. Marriage and funerals. Feasting and fasting. Celebration and sorrow. Triumph and trials. But unlike the pagans who saw life as a cycle, Christians recognize forward momentum in every recurrence. We are not spinning in place but moving along a trajectory toward glory. History is teleological; it has a purpose, a goal, and a glorious end.

One day I will close my favorite books for the last time. There will be a final trip to Mordor and then to the Grey Havens, a last battle against the White Witch, a last step through the door into Aslan’s country. We will not forever travel with Ransom through the heavens to visit distant worlds. Odysseus will return home and stay there, and Christian will pass through the river never to face danger and devils again. Each time I finish one of the great books, I wonder if that will be the last time I get to read it. Do not waste your reading. Life is too short to read much of what passes for literature today.

In a similar way, one day there will be a last Lord’s Day, but of course, it will be only the beginning of the true Lord’s Day, the eternal one, the day we were made for and toward which we have been traveling all along. Do not waste your Sundays. Do not underestimate the value of every occasion of worship in this present world. Yes, we are doing all of the same things again, but it is not meaningless repetition. We are revisiting the great story, the true story, the gospel of God’s Son and our salvation.

The Christ story is the one all other stories are telling us about. Every cave drawing and every Greek epic is a Christ story. Every story in the history of the world is true or false insofar as it reflects, anticipates, and echoes the Creator’s story of the redemption of this world. So enjoy the story once again, as long as you live. Fill your days by meditating on that story of redemption. Come and adore the Author of life and Perfecter of our faith.

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On December 5, 2023 By In Culture, Family and Children

Why We Hate Advent!

No one likes to long for things. No one likes to wait. We are consumerist beings expecting everything to be hand-delivered not one second too late; preferably, one second earlier. It’s for these and other reasons that we hate Advent! It’s perhaps for this reason also that we join together Advent and Christmas conceptually. We don’t grasp what Schmemann called the “bright sadness” of this Season, so we rather incorporate it with a happier season.

But we usually don’t hate Advent intentionally; we hate it emotionally–almost like a visceral reaction. We hate it because words like “longing,” “waiting,” “expecting,” “hoping” don’t find a comfortable home in our hearts or vocabulary.

So, I propose we begin the process of un-hating Advent. But we can’t simply un-hate something we have long hated. It takes time to undo our habits. We must try to see Advent for what it really is; a season of practice. It’s a season to warm up our vocal cords for the joys of the world, to strengthen our faith for the adoration of Christ, the Son of the living God.

Few of us treasure the practice time, rehearsal, the conductor’s corrections to our singing, the coach’s repetitive exercises before the big game. Ultimately, we hate Advent because we don’t like to practice.

Sometimes, however, the solution to stop hating something is to reframe the way you think about that something. Imagine you sit under a tedious professor who reads from his notes with no modulation in his voice. To make matters worse, he rarely if ever looks up to engage your eyes, but buries himself in his manuscript. While the material is wonderful, you long for that intimate connection between the content and the character. The next class comes along and suddenly you have an engaging lecturer who is interested in connecting with you. He will add a couple of funny lines to ensure you are awake. Those professors almost always make a greater emotional impact than the tedious lecturer.

Advent is like longing with an engaging professor who not only enjoys teaching but looks up to you and seeks to connect with your eyes and heart. If adventing (waiting) was only a process of listening without engaging, it would be a duty without pleasure. But Advent is being guided by someone who looks into the eyes of affliction and who speaks from experience.
So, yes, it’s about perspective. To Advent is to wait actively, to long hopefully, and to engage the dynamic prophets who prophesy and proclaim Messiah Jesus.

If we begin to see Advent as an engaging practice for Christmas, suddenly our distaste for the season before Christmas will decrease and our longing will be more meaningful. Perhaps we won’t hate Advent after all. We will long together with the prophets and those first-century saints who practiced well and embraced Christmas with sounding joy.

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On December 4, 2023 By In Culture

Recipes and readings for Advent (4)

One of our members at Emmanuel in London, Lucie Brear, has compiled a fantastic collection of recipes and suggested Scripture readings for advent. If you want to discover a traditional English way to prepare for Christmas, then just read on! I’ll post them here one week at a time. Here’s the fourth:

Christopsomo (Christ’s bread)

The baking of Christopsomo (literally, “Christ’s Bread”, in Greek Χριστόψωμο, pronounced hree-STOHP-soh-moh) is a sacred tradition in many Greek Orthodox homes. On Christmas Eve, traditional recipes for plain or sweet spiced bread are prepared with great care and using only the highest quality ingredients.

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On December 2, 2023 By In Culture

The Lord of Creation Has Come

Photo courtesy pexels.com

The Son of God became Man in order to redeem and elevate men so that we might become the sons of God. Many Christians think of the Incarnation only as a solution to a problem, a means of addressing and rectifying sin. But there is a larger context to the first Advent than just correction of a problem. The God-Man came to bring creation to its intended fullness and glory.

Yahweh made Man as his image in creation and gave him dominion over it. But that dominion was lost by means of transgression. The image was marred by sin. The lord of creation rebelled against the Creator, and creation turned against its lord. Now thorns and thistles grow from the ground instead of grain, and the animals once named by Adam flee in fear or turn with bared teeth against his sons. Adam was given authority to rule the world and power to command its obedience. But he lost the power to exercise that authority so that now his heirs cower in terror as the wind and waves batter their boat rather than rising to order the water gods to knock it off and behave.

The problem Christ came to address was not merely that you or I sometimes do bad things or fail to do the good things that we ought. He came to rescue the created universe, to redeem a world in bondage, to repair and restore the temple of God’s glory. Adam forfeited his power and position to grasp a greater, forbidden power, but the Serpent’s promise proved to be a lie. The world descended into chaos as the covenant of life and creation was broken and its curse fell upon us all. Men sought order by looking for a new lord who could master and control the madness. Demons of fire, earth, air, and water were reinvented as gods who could bring order to one’s life and blessing to one’s labor, for a price. Men worshiped creatures rather than the Creator and lost the blessings of communion, liberty, and glory they were made to enjoy.

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1Cor. 15:3). He was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification (Rom. 4:25). This means more than merely that Jesus was crucified so that my sins could be forgiven and I could go to heaven when I die. It means more, not less, than a promise of personal salvation. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:17). God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them (2Cor. 5:19). For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:20-21).

We know these passages and dozens like them, but we often read them narrowly, only in the context of personal salvation. We behold the glories of Christ’s Incarnation and saving work as if through a keyhole. We describe the doctrine of the kingdom and of new creation as would those chained inside a cave, watching shadows on a wall, never realizing the larger reality that surrounds us. The problem is not that what we are saying about the gospel and Christ’s work is wrong. In most cases it is right and good and true. But it is often incomplete, a story of personal relationship, individual salvation, exclusive grace without the greater creational, covenantal, and cosmological context.

Christ is Immanuel, God in the flesh, divine glory united to humanity, but he is also Man united to God, the beginning of resurrection and new creation, the reconciliation of heaven and earth, Man as God made him to be, invested with authority, exercising power, in righteousness and holiness, to bring creation to its intended glory. When we see Jesus, we see God, but we also see Man, true man, the Last Adam, the head of the human race. The Creator made men to be lords of creation, and Jesus is Lord over all lords and King over all kings. Men were made as the image of God, and Christ is the exact image of his glory (Heb. 1:3). Men were made for life with God, to glorify and enjoy him forever (WSC 1), and our destiny from creation is attained by union with Jesus Christ in whom we become partakers of the divine nature (2Pet. 1:4).

The Church’s celebration of Advent is larger and fuller than merely western society’s celebration of Christmas. There is more to be seen than a baby in a manger or an elf on the shelf. The Creator has come into creation. The Redeemer has descended in compassion. The King has come in triumph and brings everlasting glory in his train. O come, let us adore him!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love,
and wonders of His love,
and wonders, wonders of His love.

“Joy To the World! The Lord is Come!” Isaac Watts (1719)

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On December 1, 2023 By In Church, Culture, Postmillenialism, Theology, Wisdom

Pastoral Leadership in an Age of Wokeness

This is a guest post by Rich Lusk, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, AL.

Are woke pastors committing vocational suicide? Is it enough to not be woke? Or must a pastor be explicitly anti-woke in order to remain faithful?

I admit upfront I know absolutely nothing first hand about the Scott Sauls case and therefore anything I say here is strictly speculative. The charges brought against Sauls that he has been abusive and manipulative are very interesting because Sauls would definitely have been considered at the forefront of the so-called winsomeness crowd that is constantly arguing for civility and a “third way,” that is, some kind of rapprochement with progressivism, even though he is within a conservative denomination. Now, maybe Sauls has been abusive and manipulative and neglectful. Maybe he has been a tyrannical leader. Sometimes men become the very thing they most rail against; sometimes we fall into the sins we say we are most opposed to. Maybe Sauls was a hypocrite in this way, calling others to be civil in public while being very uncivil behind closed doors. Again, I don’t know. The only knowledge I have of the situation comes from second and third hand reports in articles relying on anonymous sources – and we all know how anonymous sources can be.

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On December 1, 2023 By In Culture, Family and Children

Recipes and readings for Advent (1)

One of our members at Emmanuel in London, Lucie Brear, has compiled a fantastic collection of recipes and suggested Scripture readings for advent. If you want to discover a traditional English way to prepare for Christmas, then just read on! I’ll post them here one week at a time. Here’s the first:

Stir Up Sunday

The first Sunday before advent, which this year fell on November 26th, is traditionally known as Stir Up Sunday, when families gather together to mix and steam the Christmas pudding.

The term comes from the opening words of the collect for the day in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer:

“Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Christmas pudding would traditionally contain 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples. Practically, stirring the mixture is hard work, so as many family members as possible join in the task. The pudding mixture is stirred from East to West in honour of the Magi (three wise men) who visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. The customary garnish of holly represents the crown of thorns.

Most recipes for Christmas pudding require it to be cooked well in advance of Christmas and then reheated on Christmas day – but even though Stir Up Sunday has passed, there’s still plenty of time to prepare your pudding. You may even want to follow this traditional Victorian recipe, made with shredded beef suet.

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