Creation, Election, and Worship

Working on a paper on a biblical theology of worship, I was struct by the link between Genesis 1:26-27, the analogy of the potter and clay in the prophets and Romans 9, and the praise of the elders in Revelation 4:11.

"In creation, God is seen to be a God of action and initiative. Passivity is not found in the opening account. He acts. He takes initiative. God leads in the creation of the world—and of man. Revelation 4:11, at the end of the story, provides explicit teaching regarding an implicit consequence of God as creator—namely God is to be praise. “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Note the reason God is to be praised. God created all things. The Creator-God thus owns and rules over all things. Isaiah and Jeremiah and then Paul in Romans 9 each build on this reality, using the examples of the potter and clay to teach on the electing rule of God. The clay is rightly shown to be dependent, given purpose and design by the potter. The potter has free will to do with the clay as he chooses—like Rev. 4:11 which ends “by your will they exist and were created. Genesis 1:26-27 is the initial establishment of this reality of ownership and rule on the part of God (the potter) over man (the clay)."

The Confused Rollings of Second Causes

"It is impossible to be submissive and religiously patient if ye stay your thoughts down among the confused rollings and wheels of second causes, as O the place! O the time! O if this had been, this had not followed! O the linking of this accident with this time and place! Look up to the master motion and the first wheel."

--Samuel Rutherford in The Loveliness of Christ

Creed and Conduct

"Mere orthodoxy is not enough; Christians must live out their creed. The gospel of the crucified Messiah must transform not only our beliefs but our behavior."

"Faithful Christian leaders must make the connections between creed and conduct, between the cross and how to live. And they must exemplify this union in their own lives."

--D.A. Carson, Chapter 4 of The Cross and Christian Ministry

Balance

"Paul tells us that if Christ is not the whole of our message, then we are not balanced at all."

--Fred G. Zaspel in 'An Analysis of 1 Corinthians 2:1-5'

Forget About Wallets: 'What's in your ship?'

I find myself returning to this quote more than my life of ease might suggest is necessary. May we be diligently doing the hard work of filling our ships with weighty ballast while the seas of life are calm!

"Pain and loss are bitter providences. Who has lived long in this world of woe without weeping, sometimes until the head throbs and there are no more tears to lubricate the convulsing of our amputated love? But O, the folly of trying to lighten the ship of suffering by throwing God's governance overboard. The very thing the tilting ship needs in the storm is the ballast of God's good sovereignty, not the unburdening of deep and precious truth. What makes the crush of calamity sufferable is not that God shares our shock, but that his bitter providences are laden with the bounty of love."

--John Piper

Evangelism--A Convicting Thought

"There shouldn't be people you know who don't know the gospel."

I am challenged in my verbal witness every time I think of this.

Seeing Christ As Compensation For All These Days of Suspense

"Only pray for strength to be given to me from within and from without, that I may not only speak, but also may be willing, and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but also may be found to be one." --IGNATIUS.

"Eighty-and-six years have I served Him and He never did me any wrong ; how then can I blaspheme my King, my Saviour." --POLYCARP.

"My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake ; why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one ? --JOHN HUSS.

"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." --LATIMER.

"The pain will soon be over, and oh the sweetness of the welcome above! I cannot imagine the Saviour's welcome. Oh, that will compensate for all these days of suspense!" --LIZZIE ATAVATER.

"We rejoice that we are made partakers of the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory shall be revealed, we may rejoice also with exceeding joy." --W. G. PEAT.

"Many will say, Why did she go ? wasted life. Darling, No.
Trust God does His very best and never makes mistakes." --MAY NATHAN.

--from the opening page of the first chapter in Lost Letters and Further Records of Martyred Missionaries of the China Inland Mission, 26.