Sayers on Work Worth Doing

'The habit of thinking about work as something one does to make money is so ingrained in us that we can scarcely imagine what a revolutionary change it would be to think about it instead in terms of the work done. To do so would mean taking the attitude of mind we reserve for our unpaid work – our hobbies, our leisure interests, the things we make and do for pleasure – and making that the standard of all our judgments about things and people.

'We should ask . . .

• of an enterprise, not “will it pay?” but “is it good?”; 
• of a man, not “what does he make?” but “what is his work worth?”; 
• of goods, not “Can we induce people to buy them?” but “are they useful things well made?”; 
• of employment, not “how much a week?” but “will it exercise my faculties to the utmost?”' 

--Dorothy Sayers in "Why Work" [formatting mine]

Sayers on Consumption and Production

"A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep
production going is a society founded on trash and waste, and such a society is a house
built upon sand."  --Dorothy Sayers in her excellent article "Why Work"

Suffering and Semninary

A reoccurring thought in seminary: My professors cannot talk about suffering enough.

Thank you Brian Vickers for teaching me this by talking of and praying about suffering so well and so often.

A Puritan Understanding of the Church

"If the covenant conception is one pointer to the Puritan definition of the church, the other is the concern for visible sainthood."

--Horton Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 27

The Preached Word . . . Over Time

What would happen if the Word of God was rightly preached in markedly nominal churches? I can imagine three things happening over time: 

1. many Christians would grow quickly and the church would thus be strengthened
2. many would leave because of the change that followed this new emphasis or because they dislike truth
3. many would be saved

This truth is one I am happy to review and meditate on--for it appears increasingly glorious to me in this season. May I be found faithful to the Word over time, over the long haul.

"O watch over me, that I may watch over them"

May all minister of the gospel and shepherds of Christ’s church learn to echo Orton when he prays: “O my soul! thy account is great: it is high time that it be got into better order. Lord, I hope thou knowest, I am desirous of approving myself a faithful servant of Thee and of souls. O watch over me, that I may watch over them; and then all will be well” (Charles Bridges The Christian Ministry 349).

Language in Preaching

Vivid language in preaching is its own kind of illustration.

HT: Jim Hamilton's Sermons

Faithfulness in Pastoral Labor

In pastoral ministry, faithfulness and obedience aren't merely immediate, existing only in the here and now. They are long term. A category is needed for faithfulness and for obedience over time. For example, the righteous and justified use of corrective church discipline may not be the way of faithfulness now, especially if there is not a culture of formative discipline and discipleship. Excommunicating non-attenders may need to happen, but wisdom may say wait. Long term faithfulness looks like patiently establishing a culture of discipleship and then pursuing corrective discipline as needed.

Such wisdom requires both a clear vision of ministry and this category of 'delayed' faithfulness and obedience.

"Father, I need a long term, big picture view of faithfulness and obedience in pastoral ministry. Give me wisdom, I am lacking. Amen."

Staff Meetings at CHBC

In the spring of 2008, I had the privelege of interning at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. The follow post was written in the latter part of that year. Since perspective is helpful and many will never enjoy one of these meetings, I post it now--at long last--to serve you as you consider your own church's staff meetings.
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CHBC Staff Meeting

• The pastoral staff sit at the table. Interns create an outer circle around them, generally just listening in.
• The weekly meetings usually run just over 2 hours.

(1) Mark hands out his junk mail which might be of interest. Some gems, lots of trash.

(2) A prayer focus is given (linked to the focus for the next Sunday gather).
(3) Passage to be preached the next Sunday is read aloud.
(4) The staff prays through the passage and one page from the member directory.
(5) The calendar for the next month plus is gone through week by week so all are on the same page and fully informed.
(6) Each staff member presents their printed agendas for the week to come and any items to raise.
(7) All are asked about lunch plans and stragglers are paired up.
(8) The staff meeting is closed in prayer.

The Indicative/Imperative Relationship and the Old Testament's If/Then Statements: An Impasse? -- Part 1

I am in the middle of a 9 week overview series on the book of Deuteronomy. The significant structure, declarative nature, and theological depth of the book make it a favorite to study and a real joy to teach. But it also provides a few challenges to the Christian reader. The conditional 'if/then' statements are one such challenge. In their positive form, they basically follow this pattern: 'If you obey, then you will receive....'

The indicative/imperative relationship provides a useful paradigm for understanding God's relationship to his people and for his people's relationship to Himself.

In the NT, this relationship is often explicit in the text and always implicit in the literary and/or theological context. In Paul, the relationship can be seen within the structure of whole epistles (Romans [1-11/12-16] and Ephesians [1-3/4-6]) and within countless single sentences. Of the latter, Galatians 5:1 is a clear example.
--Indicative: "For freedom Christ has set us free;"
--Imperative: "stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

Oftentimes the NT authors use 'therefore' to clearly mark the imperative as a subordinate inference of the indicative. Whether or not such a marker is present, the relationship is always "indicative; therefore, imperative." It is never "imperative; therefore, indicative." Theologically, the relationship is always "You are accepted by God in Christ; therefore, obey" and never "You obey; therefore, you are accepted by God."

But what about the OT? Does this indicative/imperative relationship require the Christian gospel for its indicative truths? Is it thus necessarily unique to the NT? Or do the OT authors use other indicative truths to ground their imperatives? If so, are the indicative truths always implicitly redemptive? That is, does the OT always follow this same indicative/imperative relationship implicitly, if not explicitly?

To put it frankly, how does one handle the common 'if/then' sentences, especially in the Torah? Aren't these conditional sentences antithetical to the indicative/imperative relationship patterned in the NT?

To answer these question, I'd like to use Deuteronomy as my test case. In posts to follow, focus will be given to the general stipulations of chapters 5-11 and to the conditional (if/then) formulas repeated throughout Deuteronomy.

So thankful for His righteousness . . .

"I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it." --J. Gresham Machen

Ordination at Kenwood

I had the privilege of being ordained yesterday at Kenwood Baptist Church. Jim Hamilton preached from Acts 20 before the elders and others laid hands and Mike Thompson prayed for Suemi and I.

Jim Hamilton's sermon deserves the ear of every gospel minister and every would-be gospel minster. It was a robust challenge rooted in gospel realities and adorned with rhetorical beauty. As such, it was typical of the sermons by Jim which God has used to establish my marriage and ministry these last few years.

Jim ended by reading this poem which he wrote for the occasion, titled "Commission You Do We This Day."

There is, my friend, no higher call
Than this we send you on with all
Our hearts, our souls, our minds we join
Both to rejoice and also mourn

The moving on of these so dear,
You've loved and served us so well here
That this sweet sadness deepens now
As though the grief is right somehow

We'd love to see your children born
Watch them grow and sing and learn;
And old together we might grow,
But there's a deeper joy we'll know

As you answer the call and go,
Our joy and grief together show
That there's a love worth more than life,
A truth that merits sacrifice,

So join we how the ranks of those
Whose love in leaving deeper grows
Commission you do we this day
Giving God the thanks and praise.

Tone Matters in the Engagement of Beliefs

When confronted with an alternate position, one's tone in engagement should be less ‘How can they believe this?’ and more ‘How did they come to believe this?’


In The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, I think Noll missteps with his tone a handful of times. Perhaps he is seeking to provoke evangelicals to think even as he tips his hand on issues like creationism and politics.

When an evangelical mind like Noll asks me 'How can you believe this?' about doctrine I hold, I certainly am compelled to ask 'How did I come to believe this?' of myself. And for this I'm grateful.

Jim Elliot in a Letter to His Brother Bob

"Sometimes one is conscious of spiritual life only because he is still struggling to maintain it, not at all because he is purposefully living it."

--Jim Elliot

Knowing Theism and Knowing God

"He cannot define theism, but he knows God."

--Jim Elliot of his father

The Value of a Physically Present Community in Learning

"Despite good intentions, it is almost always easier to misconstrue the arguments of others if they are not present." --Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, p. 20.

Eschatological Reservation and Romans 6

"By using this imagery of a transfer of realms, or 'dominion,' with its association of power and rulership, Paul makes clear that the new status enjoyed by the believer (justification) brings with it a new influence and power that both has led and must lead to a new way of life (sanctification).

"This 'must' is very important. For, as decisive and final as is this transfer into a new realm, it would be a bad misinterpretation of Paul to think that the believer is thereby removed from all contact or influence with the old realm of sin. While belonging to a new realm, the believer brings with him into it many of the impulses, habits, and tendencies of the old life, a constant threat to putting into actual practice the realities of our new realm status. It is this 'eschatological reservation'--the fact that not until the resurrection and transformation of the body will the believer be severed from all contact with the old Adamic dominion--that explains the 'indicative/imperative' combinations that are so characteristic of these chapters: 'sin will not rule over you'/'do not let sin reign' (6:13-14); 'you are not in the flesh'/'do not live according to the flesh' (8:9, 12)."

--Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 352.

Brief Review of Runge's A Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament

I posted my review on Amazon this morning and thought I'd add it here. It is of Runge's excellent work on Greek discourse. I recommend it to you.

His website is a resource in itself.

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TThough the book covers a fair bit of ground, its take-home value for me is two fold.

First, the opening chapter provides a set of controlling principles for discourse study. These are excellent for their simplicity. They include: "choice implies meaning," distinguishing "semantic meaning versus pragmatic effect," understanding "default versus marked framework," and recognizing "prominence and contrast." Chapter one will provide any student of Greek with basic linguistic wisdom. It is unusual for its depth and simplicity--a must read.

Second, Runge organizes the markedness of words used to connect propositions. His grasp of discourse is evident when he comes to presenting the data. These connecting words are assigned characteristics rather than placed in lists (explicitly in contrast to Wallace on this front). Each connecting word (8 total plus asyndeton) is considered in terms of continuity, discontinuity, correlation, forward-pointing, and additional semantic constraints. Runge compiles this in simple chart form as he moves along. This is gold for evaluating discourse and provides insight when tracing the argument of the author.

Both of the above strengths are found in Part 1, which Runge aptly calls 'Foundations.' The more rigorous student will continue to discover an accessible resource as Runge builds from here in the remainder of the book. I highly recommend his work.

The Minister and His GNT

"The chief reason why preachers do not get and do not keep up a fair and needful knowledge of the Greek New Testament is nothing less than carelessness, and even laziness in many cases. They can get along somehow without it, and so let it pass or let it drop."

-AT Robertson in The Minister and His Greek New Testament, chapter 1.

Coffee and the KJV

Another story:

A guest comes into Java and asks Suemi if they make smoothies. They explain that they do not like coffee at all . . .

Wanting to put the guest at ease, she replies: "We are not respecters of persons." Suemi did not even try to explain herself.


I love my wife.