Alan Hardy’s Blog

It’s amazing what you find in the bargain bin at Koorong. It was there that I scooped a hardcover copy of Marcus Loane’s Oxford and the Evangelical Succession - a set of five biographies, including Whitfield and Newton. Not a great sacrifice for five dollars - a highly recommended read.

Also on Koorong’s rubbish rack for $10 was The Doctrine of Justification by James Buchanan. Widely read that I am (not), I’d never heard of him. After a flick through the forward it looked worth the punt.

It turns out to be quite a treasure. Thus far in my reading, Buchanan is detailing the evangelical instruction contained in the Old Testament. His bit on the Psalms had me captivated and I reproduce it here at some length for your benefit.

Concerning the Book of Psalms, he wrote, “It may be safely affirmed, that every point in the Gospel doctrine of Justification is there brought out by anticipation, and strikingly exhibited in connection with the faith and worship of Old Testament believers.

• There is the same confession of sin : “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Ps 14:1);
• There is the same conviction of guilt and demerit : “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, 0 Lord, who shall stand?” (Ps 130:4,7);
• There is the same fear of God’s righteous judgment : “Visit me not in Thy wrath, chasten me not in Thy hot displeasure (Ps 6:1);
• There is the same sense of inevitable condemnation on the ground of God’s Law: “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no flesh living be justified” (Ps 143:2);
• There is the same earnest cry for undeserved mercy : “Have mercy upon me O Lord, according to Thy loving-kindness; according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions” (Ps 51:1);
• There is the same faith in His revealed character as the just God and the Saviour : “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in the way” (Ps 25:8);
• There is the same hope of pardon, resting on a propitiation; for “with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption (Ps 130:7);
• There is the same pleading of God’s name, or the glory of all His perfections : “For thy name’s sake, 0 Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great” (Ps 25:11);
• There is the same joy and peace in believing; for “blessed is the people that know the joyful sound : they shall walk, 0 Lord, in the light of Thy countenance ; in thy name shall they rejoice all the day” (Ps 89:15-16);
• There is the same trust in God and the faithfulness of His promises : “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever ; with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations; for mercy shall be built up for ever, Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens” (Ps 89:1-2);
• There is the same trust in the Saviour of sinners : “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way ; blessed are all they that put their trust in Him” (Ps 2:12);
• There is the same confidence in another righteousness than their own: “Behold, 0 God, our shield, and look on the face of Thine Anointed” (Ps 84:9);
• There is the same patient, persevering, hopeful waiting upon God : “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him ; He only is my rock and my salvation : He is my defence ; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us” (Ps 62:5-8).”

Source: James Buchanan. The Doctrine of Justification: An Outline of Its History in the Church and of Its Exposition from Scripture. Solid Ground, Birmingham (USA) 2006. Pp 42-44. Reformatting to bullets mine.

” … Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit–the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.” 2 Kings 10:28-29

Chapters 9 and 10 of II Kings describe how Jehu didn’t mess around in establishing his throne. But although he was zealous to rid Israel of the worship of Baal, Jehu didn’t challenge other established forms of idolatry.

It may be important to note here that Baal was a Philistine deity, whereas the worship of the golden calves was established by Jeroboam, one of Israel’s kings.

Does this help us to understand our own attitude to idolatry? Are we selective in what we root out? More specifically, are we less likely to clean the scene of idolatry which has its origins at home or is ‘part of the way we do things around here’? If this is true then is it because our culture blinds us (ie we don’t see it as idolatry) or is it just more difficult to let go because it is more tightly woven in to our daily practices?

“Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” Matt 24:28

Tasker’s commentary on Matthew (IVP, 1978) suggests a couple of interpretations for this verse.

First, we can understand it based on the more immediate context in the passage of Christ’s return. Thus, according to Tasker, “when the world will become rotten with evil, the Son of Man and His angels will come to execute the divine judgement”. In this interpretation Christ and His cohort are understood to be the vultures.

A second interpretation is that it may refer to the fall of Jerusalem, foreshadowed in v22. Hence, the passing of the Old with the New Covenant meant that the rotting corpse of Judaism would naturally attract the eagles of Rome, depicted on the standards carried by the Roman armies.

A third option is that the passage conveys a general meaning that, when life passes from something, vultures take liberty with what remains. Perhaps it can describe how the working of sin in us, in concert with the powers who are eager to co-operate, is both to expedite death and to prey on that which is under its power. Their operation is so insidious that they will utilise anything to bring on this process, including the good things God has shared with us.

Luther describes this corruption of gifts in the Heidelberg Disputation. In thesis 24 he accounts that “man misuses the best in the worst manner”. The best which Luther speaks of is the law, which is “not of itself evil, nor … to be evaded”. However, once our confidence in the Cross is weakened, the law, intended to be a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, becomes a tool for corruption.

Romans 2:15 describes how the law, which is written in the hearts of all men, alternately accuses and defends them. The law accuses us, becoming a mainspring of guilt, and we respond either through the Cross or by defending ourselves in self-justifying thoughts and works.

The work of the Cross is to free us from accusation and unite us to God through Christ. When we turn to self-reliance, and not to Christ, in our response to accusation then our faith becomes lifeless and the vultures gather for more.

We all like encouragement, don’t we, whether it comes in the form of some affirming circumstances or as someone coming alongside, building us up with some fortifying phrase.

This one from Hebrews 12:5-6 is probably not what we would like to hear. It refers to the word of encouragement that addresses you as sons, which is “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

I guess it shows once again: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8)

“He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need” Eph 4:28

At the outset this verse seems to be answering a ‘how do I live as a human being’ type of question. We can see a face value meaning readily enough: don’t steal, work at something useful, and in so doing have something to give to others; that in this way we can live as responsible members of society. It’s the beginnings of a Christian work ethic, of sorts.

But, we should hesitate to view the passage in isolation. It’s important first to understand Paul’s purpose in writing to the Ephesians and where the text is coming from in terms of its purpose, flow and content.

In the broadest view, Ephesians is concerned with “the eternal purposes of God, which He is fulfilling through His Son Jesus Christ, and working out in and through the Church” .

And Paul urges us to comprehend the breadth of these things, before he speaks to us about our manner of life and how we should behave. Consider his prayers in 1:18 (“that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” etc) and 3:18 (that you “may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”).

There are a number of threads of thought which Paul keeps restating and these form a basis to understand the verse we have before us:

1. God’s purpose is to bring all things in heaven and earth under the headship of Christ. The church, as Christ’s body is swooped up in this grand task
2. The idea of us being God’s possession. Being His possession, we are called to be his workers.
3. God enables us to the task he has called us to. We are His workmanship and he is bringing us into conformity with what He is like.

Read on: Christians & Work

This is an excerpt from a recent study on decision making.

The human faculty for decision making is the will. In the words of Jonathan Edwards, the will is “that by which the mind chooses any thing.” The will is the mind deciding. When a decision is to be made the will is determined “by that motive, which, as it stands in view of the mind, is the strongest”. Thus, according to Edwards, decisions are made on the basis of the strongest influence.

It follows that the goal of a man who wants to make good decisions should be to acquire, as it were, the right store of strongest influences. Another way to put this is that such a man should seek wisdom and experience which will guide him properly in his decisions.

This helps us to better understand why Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

It also becomes clearer how God, through His sovereign control over all things, arranges the experience of those He loves so that the strongest influences in us are shaped in a way that will direct future decisions according to His will. In this way He directs our paths, causing various acts of our will to be irresistible, whether they relate to matters of salvation or otherwise.

The ways of God are intriguing.

Read On: Decision Making
See also: Decision Making and the Thinking Christian

If I say that we are prone to error then I am only describing man. Heresy is a type of error which needs to be dealt with in the church. This was no less a challenge in the first century than today.

Last October I delivered a sermon on Colossians 2 and have since developed it in longer form to get my head around the ideas a bit more.

Read it here: Heresy in Colosse

I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats - Ps 66: 15

A casual reading of this verse suggests that someone is offering animals from their herd up to God. But there is a message here which is more threatening to our sense of self-reliance. Here is something which sprang from a discussion in one of our evening Bible readings.

Grazing businesses are keenly concerned about the bloodlines of their herds and a key to this is the careful selection of breeding stock. In this process the choice of male animals is crucial. In that a herd of hundreds of cows will be serviced by as few as a dozen bulls one can understand how bull selection can be the most powerful method of improvement of a herd.

The offering of bulls and rams was thus done at great sacrifice for the owner of a herd and especially when we consider that it was always the best that was offered up to God. This relates something more than willingness to give up a piece of what one has, but rather a radical confidence where one surrenders their very means of livelihood; a turning from reliance on natural principles and on to God Himself.

What makes this type of faith credible? It is not the faith of a fool, who leaps into the dark without knowledge of who it is that will catch him. Rather it is a faith like that of Abraham, who took up the dagger to his son because he knew from his past dealings that God would provide a sacrifice; who “made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country … for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:9-10).

Modern economies are based on the trading of resources and services. Men deal in this setting confident of their ability to control it, yet both the resources and the ability to render services are created by God, and therefore rightly belong to him anyway. The idea that these things belong to us and that we give a little back in appreciation is flawed. Our proper manner in these things is to respect Christ’s ownership and command over creation and to be warmed by the confidence that this makes him able to complete his promise that if we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:33).

“… I reserve seven thousand in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18

This passage intrigues me. Elijah has just destroyed the pagan spiritual powerhouse of his day. He is then threatened by Jezebel, the battle-axe wife of King Ahab, has an abrupt turn-about in courage and runs for his life. During his pity-party that follows he moans to God in v14 that he is the only prophet left. God’s answer is that there is not one left, but seven thousand.

It begs the questions - who were these seven thousand and why were they not known to Elijah? Perhaps it is more pointed to ask if they were hidden or whether Elijah just failed to see them. Did the seven thousand belong to a different expression to Elijah, or perhaps to many different expressions?

Pointing the finger back at us, does this image reflect the diversity within Christ’s family? Are we so sectarian in our views that we think that we are the only ones left? Do we in our bigotry fail to see that it is God who reserves his own? Christ’s body is not the visible church but the invisible.

“The kingdom of God is within you”, Jesus says in Luke 17:20. The comment was in response to a question on when the kingdom would come, but Christ quickly turns the discussion to more stinging issues.

He was talking to the Pharisees who thought that observance of the Law qualified them as God’s subjects. The kingdom to them was an outward thing, based on legal compliance, visible as an earthly empire. It was a doing thing.

Christ knew the weakness of men and this example of the Pharisees is there to cast the spotlight on all of us. The Pharisees displayed the characteristic flaw that they had been given something precious, then allowed its goodness to be eaten away as they tried to possess something with it that could only be reached by faith. The Law is not to be evaded, says Luther, “but without the theology of the cross man misuses the best in the worst manner”.

In this framework we become weary of grace and look outwardly for the kingdom, in works and culture, saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is’ (v21). We even allow our twisted theology to suggest that these works can stand in the place of Christ Himself, saying ‘there He is’ or ‘here He is’.

The nub of the matter is reached at verse 33: “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it”. Any kingdom requires a king. Whereas earthly kings might be admired from a distance, and their favour enjoyed while keeping a little control for ourselves, Christ is no such king. The king within you requires ownership of you.