“Marriage brings out the worst in both husbands and wives. They must choose whether to stay in that school of character or to drop out. The Bible made divorce difficult because one does not learn much by quitting a challenging school.
The only way to make monogamy work is to value love above pleasure, to pursue holiness and humility rather than power and self-fulfilment, to find grace to repent rather than condemn, to learn sacrifice and patience in place of indulgence and gratification.”
Vishal Mangalwadi, ‘The Book That Made Your World’
“Christians are called to serve others, to go the second mile, to suffer injustice without demanding their rights, knowing they have an assured status before God, and that he will vindicate them at last.”
Ed Clowney on 1 Peter 2:11-17
“So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence and admiration of God, and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation, to all that sincerely obey the Gospel.”
The proper response to the doctrine of divine election, from The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter III, Article VIII
“It is possible to know the truth but not embrace the truth, to quote the truth but not to submit to the truth, to hold the truth and yet assault the truth”
Dale Ralph Davis
“Even faithful preachers who desire to proclaim and make known God’s truth know there are times when they seem more concerned with whether God’s people will be impressed with them, like them, congratulate and dote over them.”
Dale Ralph Davis

The beautiful aroma of Christ

My final words to students as a UCCF Staffworker: shared at St Andrews CU, 1st May 2012

2 Corinthians 2: 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.

4 thoughts:

1. Christ is beautiful. Why does Paul use the sense of smell, v14-15? Because the gospel doesnʼt concern only the realm of head knowledge. The gospel is something you sense, experience, and feel. We behold, we experience, that Christ is beautiful. When we donʼt feel this, it can sometimes be down to circumstance, and tough times are promised; but sometimes itʼs simply because we think about ourselves too much. Luther once defined sin as man curved in on himself; our natural disposition is to think only of No. 1. The gospel, however, uncurves us to see Christ. So we need to force ourselves daily to think less of ourselves and more of Jesus, and behold his beauty.

2. God through us will share the aroma of Christ with others. Verse 14 presumably means that we somehow embody that aroma - we smell as beautiful as Christ! What within us will cause us to smell so sweet? Our unity with other believers, our moral distinctiveness, our proclamation of Christ. Although the latter may not appear to do so, for:

3. People either love him or hate him. Look at v16 - Jesus is divisive! And there is no such thing as neutrality regarding Jesus. If friends respond with indifference, that is hatred. Yet if there is interest, be patient; what often starts just with a sniff leads to a love of the aroma. The stakes are high though. It is death or life (v16). Who is equal to such a task? None of us. But all of us. We are not responsible for peopleʼs reactions, but all of us are responsible to:

4. Speak to people about the serious message of the gospel. Never give up on beholding the beauty of Christ every day: forgetting self, caring for each other, loving your mates, being involved in their lives; and never stop talking about the beauty of Christ.

“‘You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,’ said Aslan. ‘And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth.’”
CS Lewis, Prince Caspian

better than facebook

“We must fix the eye of the soul ;

fix our meditation upon the glory of God

and the excellency of Christ.

A moving, rolling eye sees nothing.

We must set some time apart

to fix our meditations upon

the excellent things of the gospel”.

- Richard Sibbes, Glorious Freedom

How to get rid of pride

The true cure for self-righteousness is self-knowledge.  Once let the eyes of our understanding be opened by the Spirit, and we shall talk no more of our own goodness.  Once let us see what there is in our own hearts, and what the holy God requires, and self-conceit will die.  We shall lay our hand on our mouths, and cry with the leper, ‘Unclean, unclean’ (Lev 13:45).

- JC Ryle, on Luke 18:9-14

Luther on works

O, it is a living, busy, active thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing things incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done this, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are.

- Martin Luther (from the preface to his commentary on Romans)

What church is really like

We are all constantly teaching and learning, forgiving and being forgive, representing Christ to man when we intercede, and man to Christ when others intercede for us. The sacrifice of selfish privacy which is daily demanded of us is daily repaid a hundredfold in the true growth of personality which the Body encourages. Those who are members of one another become as diverse as the hand and the ear. That is why the worldlings are so monotonously alike compared with the almost fantastic variety of the saints. Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality.

CS Lewis, ‘The Weight of Glory’

As if for the last time…

Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time. Do everything, as if you did it for the last time. Say everything, as if you said it for the last time. Read every chapter in the Bible, as if you did not know whether you would be allowed to read it again. Pray every prayer, as if you felt it might be your last opportunity. Hear every sermon, as if you were hearing once and forever. This is the way to be found ready. This is the way to turn Christ’s second appearing to good account. This is the way to put on the armour of light.

JC Ryle

“This is a danger inherent in professional ministry: ministers and other Christian leaders can come to look down on laypeople. Here we are reminded, however, that God honours those who realise that their ministry does not commend them before God or make them superior; rather, we are all the objects of his grace and mercy.”
Darrell Bock, on the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14)

Perspective

The Bible gives a full list of large reasons to be thankful. God is thanked for his deliverance (Psalm 35:18), for loving us and being faithful (Psalm 52:9, 107:8), for safe arrival after a long, arduous journey (Acts 28:15), for other believers and for the testimony of their faith (Romans 1:8), for the gift of salvation that enables one not to sin (Romans 6:17), for delivering us from our tendency to sin (Romans 7:25), for the spiritual gift of being able to address God (1 Corinthians 14:18), for resurrection hope (1 Corinthians 15:57), for testimony, deliverance and victory in the midst of persecution (2 Corinthians 2:14), for the support of a colleague in ministry (2 Corinthians 8:16), for other believers (Philippians 1:3, Colossians 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:3, Philemon 4), for those who respond to God’s Word (1 Thessalonians 2:13), for being able to serve others for God (1 Timothy 1:12) and for his attributes (Revelation 4:9). Those are just some of the options for thanksgiving.

Notice that this list includes not one item having to do with things, with possessions. The occasions for gratitude all have to do with relationships or circumstances in relationship to others. Colossians 3:15 says to “be thankful”. That is what the foreigner was [in Luke 17:16]. That is what disciples are to be. Remember thank-yous, especially to our good, gracious and great God - and let the sun shine in.

Darrell Bock, on Luke 17:11-19

why are we so unhappy?

Why are we so unhappy in the West, when we have so much?

Maybe it is because success and meaning are being defined in the wrong places by the wrong things. Life’s real blessings are not valued and appreciated, while things that cannot really bless are assigned value and worth they do not really possess. Often our families and friends and, more important, the God of life, are underappreciated, taken advantage of, or ignored - not necessarily to their detriment, but always to ours. 

- Darrell Bock, on Luke 17:11-19