Choose Your Companions Well

“He who walks with wise men will be wise,

But the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Proverbs 13:20

Who you hang with matters!

Spend time with fools, and it will surely bring you trouble. “The companion of fools will suffer harm.” Sometimes the harm may be ‘guilt by association’ and its attendant damage to your reputation. Other times the more tangible repercussions of your friends’ actions will slosh over upon you (your reckless friend crashes your car, for instance). And, worst of all (and I think probably what Solomon has primarily in mind), “the companion of fools” will often find their very foolishness rubbing off on him.

On the other hand, spending time with the wise has a rubbing off effect as well! “He who walks with wise men will be wise”! Solid, wise, God-fearing companions will have a good effect on what we think and how we live.

For better or for worse, says Solomon, our companions will rub off on us! So choose your companions well!

And let me say (influenced by Iain Murray’s The Undercover Revolution*) that surely this rubbing off principle applies, not only to our physical companions, but also to what we might call our virtual companions – those people whose company we may regularly place ourselves via television, movies, social media, song, magazines, radio, books, and video games.

If you regularly watch a particular television program, for instance – the men and women behind the content of that show become, in some ways, your companions. Their worldviews (and potentially agendas), passed on through the medium of that show, are washing regularly over your mind and heart. And, like water washing regularly over a piece of ground, these worldviews are bound to have an effect. If the ideas conveyed are wholesome and godly, then the effect will be a good one … shaping the clay of your heart more into conformity to God’s wisdom. But if their worldviews are unhealthy and foolish (for instance, in the belittling of certain people, or in how they portray gender roles, or sexuality, or the use of money), then you open yourself up to the eroding effect of the thinking of these, your chosen companions. Because the norms of those with whom you spend a good deal of time will tend to become your own.

The same could also be said of the kinds of authors you read, the people you follow most closely on social media, the song-writers whose lyrics and videos you admire, and even the creators of the games that you play.

And so … What if we determined to choose wise virtual companions – people who fear God, and whose worldviews and agendas therefore align with a biblical worldview? What if we read books written by the wise, and listened to podcasts created by the wise, and so on? What if we set aside our regular virtual ‘hanging out’ with people of faulty worldviews, and began to be the virtual companions of a much more God-fearing set of people? How would it affect us? Answer: “He who walks with wise men will be wise.”

This is not to say that you can’t learn anything from unbelievers, nor enjoy some of their art, or humor, or creativity. But it is to say that people of foolish worldviews shouldn’t be our companions; they shouldn’t be those with whom we walk; we shouldn’t make them our close friends – not even virtually. We shouldn’t spend a great deal of time imbibing the worldviews of those who don’t fear the Lord. And we should spend lots of time being rubbed off upon by the wise!

So choose your companions well!

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*Murray points out how, through the medium of novels, ungodly authors in the past had a devastating influence on the culture that read them, and how we need always to beware such infiltration of our minds and hearts. Having learned from him how ungodly people can influence us through their creative works, I apply that lesson in this article.

Some Helpful Books

Some books are best read straight through, in fairly decent-sized chunks, and without a great deal of starting and stopping … so that you can keep the train of thought, or the flow of the story, straight in your mind. Other books, however, while they can be read fairly quickly, can also serve you quite well by taking up regular residence on your nightstand, or beside your recliner, or wherever it is that you tend to go in the quiet moments … and by being dipped into and mulled over, here and there, in smaller or larger chunks, over the course of many months or years. And, with the reminder that the Bible must always be the first and foremost book in our lives, I encourage you to read the spiritually edifying variety of both sorts of books!

In the space below, allow me to recommend a handful of books that fall into the latter category – the kind you might keep nearby your bed, or beside your favorite chair, or wherever you do your reading … so as to dip into them at various times. Each of them would be of certain benefit to you.

The Valley of Vision. A collection of Puritan prayers (gathered under various topical headings) which, although not divinely inspired, will read something like a collection of psalms. Use them for meditation, and to prompt your own prayer life. Available in paperback or leather bound.

The Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Written in beautiful, poetic prose, Rutherford’s letters are devotionally warm, pastorally helpful, and will encourage you to want to know more of Rutherford’s Savior. Charles Spurgeon called these letters “the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men.” You might begin with the abridged version.

Spurgeon’s sermons. Charles Spurgeon was called “the prince of preachers” for a reason! And generations have benefitted from the hundreds of his sermons that have been preserved. Warm, straightforward, and consistently making “a bee-line to the cross,” his sermons make for some of the best reading that any Christian could do. One readily available volume (of 28 sermons) is CH Spurgeon’s Forgotten Early Sermons.

Operation World. If you want to pray for the spread of the gospel among the nations, this book is a wonderful resource. Containing important information, statistics, and prayer requests for each nation of the earth, this book has the potential to draw out your mind and heart in pray for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

May God grant you fruitful reading!

Reformation Resources

October 31st, 1517.

Mallet in hand, a German monk and university professor named Martin Luther walked to the Wittenberg church door, nailed to it ninety-five points for debate, and opened the floodgates upon a growing tide of gospel truth that gushed out as the Protestant Reformation. And now, going on five hundred years later, we have great cause to be thankful to God for the recovery of the Bible and its gospel of grace! And we have reason to familiarize ourselves with the people, the events, and the truths contended for in the Protestant Reformation.

This month of October (whose final day marks the 500th anniversary of Luther's opening of the floodgates) would be a good time to take up such a project of familiarization. So, I've compiled a list of resources that could help you do so. Some of them are longer, others more brief. Some are basic, others more detailed. A few are audio or video resources, though most are written. Some are for children, others for adults. Some are free, and others will be worth paying for. You won't get to them all, but you would be blessed to take up one, or two, or more of them ... and get to know our rich Christian heritage in the month leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

Books marked with an asterisk (*) are available to borrow in the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church library.  

The links for paper-copy books are to Amazon.  Please note that you can get many of these books from Grace Books for even better prices (and free shipping on orders over $50)!  If you order from Grace Books, however, please note that (since Grace is in PA) you will not be charged sales tax (unless you live in PA!), and you will therefore need to report these purchases to your home state, and pay the appropriate sales tax to your home state.  The same is true if you purchase from other online outlets that do not collect sales tax for your home state (including Amazon if it does not colelct sales tax for your state).

Introduction to the Reformation

The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation, Michael Reeves

*The Reformation: a Soundbite History, Andrew Cook

Theology of the Reformers, Timothy George

The Reformation: A Handbook, T.M. Lindsay

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The Five Solas 

(listed from the most basic to the most detailed)

Website: The Five Solas of the Reformation, James M. Boice

Teaching Curriculum: These truths alone: Why the Reformation Solas are essential for our faith today, Jason Helopoulos (free copies available at PRBC)

*The Case for Traditional Protestantism: The Solas of the Reformation, Terry Johnson

The Five Solas book series

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Biographies of the Reformers

Free Daily Readings/Podcast: Here We Stand: A 31-Day Journey with the Heroes of the Reformation, Desiring God (this looks excellent!)

*Meet Martin Luther: A Sketch of the Reformer's Life, Anthony Selvaggio

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Roland Bainton

Free MP3: Martin Luther: Lessons from His Life and Labor, John Piper

Free E-Book: Martin Luther: Lessons from His Life and Labor, John Piper

Video Documentary: Luther: The Life and Legacy of the German Reformer

The Life of John Calvin, W.J. Grier

Free MP3: The Divine Majesty of the Word: John Calvin and His Preaching, John Piper

Free E-Book: John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God, John Piper

Free E-Book: Portrait of Calvin, T.H.L. Parker

William Farel (Bitesize Biographies), Jason Zuidema

Ulrich Zwingli (Bitesize Biographies), William Boekestein

John Knox (Bitesize Biographies), John J. Murray

Video Documentary: Knox: The Life and Legacy of Scotland's Controversial Reformer

Five English Reformers, J.C. Ryle

Free MP3: Always Singing One Note--A Vernacular Bible: Why William Tyndale Lived and Died, John Piper

Hugh Latimer: The Foremost Preacher of the English Reformation, Richard Hannula

*Reformation Women, Rebecca VanDoodewaard

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Writings of the Reformers

Website: The Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther

The Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther (edited by Stephen Nichols)

Free PDF: The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther

Free PDF: Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, Martin Luther

The Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin

Truth for All Time: A Brief Outline of the Christian Faith, John Calvin

*A Little Book on the Christian Life, John Calvin

History of the Reformation in Scotland, John Knox

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For Kids

Intro: Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation Church, Brandon and Mindy Withrow

*Bio: Martin Luther (Christian Biographies for Young Readers), Simonetta Carr

*Bio: John Calvin (Christian Biographies for Young Readers), Simonetta Carr

*Bio: John Knox (Christian Biographies for Young Readers), Simonetta Carr

Why a New Hymnal?

If the Lord is willing, Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church will be transitioning to a new hymnal in the next few days. I am excited to begin using Hymns of Grace! And I thought it might be profitable, in this space, to offer some reasons why.

First I should note that we aren’t changing hymnals just for the sake of change. In other words, we didn’t first decide that we needed a new hymnal, and then go shopping, as it were, to find one we liked. What happened, rather, was the opposite. Scott (our deacon for musical worship) and I came across three new hymnal projects that really caught our attention, and which (by their quality) posed to us the possibility of a change. Hymns of Grace was one of the three, and the one we felt was the best fit for us. So it was not a desire for change that brought us to a new hymnal, but the quality of these new hymnals that brought us to a desire to change!

And here are three reasons why I am excited to begin using Hymns of Grace.

1. Selection. The hymnal has an excellent selection of theologically sound hymns, old and new. And the theology is important! God’s people often learn a good deal of their theology from the songs they sing! So we are thrilled that Hymns of Grace is chocked full with solid, singable theology! It also helps that the hymnal has a good balance of the great classics, alongside many newer selections as well! We are living in a kind of hymn-writing renaissance right now, with many wonderfully solid new hymns being written which, like Watts and Wesley, will (I believe) stand the test of time. We’ve been blessed to learn many of them already, and will be blessed to learn even more by means of the new hymnal! And it is a great boon to have these modern classics, along with so many older ones as well, all under one cover!

2. Music. Speaking of those excellent newer hymns, while we have been singing many of them from a projection screen already, it will be good to now have the music to go along with them, for those who are able to make use of it.

3. Take-Home Format. It is a great blessing (maybe the greatest of all, in my book) that all of this solid, singable theology is now available in a format that our people can take home with them, for use in personal and family devotions. We can’t do that with the songs on the screen, but we can with a hymnal! And so we are making a copy available to each PRBC household. And, as our folks make at-home use of them, this will surely add richness to our Sunday singing, introduce families to wonderful theology, and enrich private and family devotional times all with one resource!

So then, those are a few reasons I’m excited for the days ahead, and for this new opportunity in the life of our church. Pray for us in this transition, and check out Hymns of Grace for yourself.

Hymns of Grace from The Master's Seminary on Vimeo.

Godly Examples

Wednesday night, in our introduction to the book of 2 Timothy, we thought about the need for endurance; the call to keep going, putting one foot in front of the other, in the ministry that God has given each of us to do. And we said that one of the resources for such endurance is the power of godly examples. “You followed my … perseverance” Paul said to Timothy (3:10) – now keep following it (3:14)! And so we talked about finding examples of godly endurance which we might follow; and I mentioned, fairly briefly, that one source of such godly examples of endurance is to read the stories of the saints of old. With that suggestion in mind, then, here are a few such good reads (the first three of which are available on the PRBC Resource Rack ):

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson, D.A. Carson. Here is one of the most heartening books I have ever read. It’s the re-telling, as the title indicates, of the life of an ordinary pastor – a Canadian man whose ministry was never great or glamorous, who actually faced a good bit of disappointment, who eventually had to become bi-vocational, but who just kept preaching and teaching, discipling and evangelizing, visiting and praying, year after year after year. And in the end (and indeed, beyond his own life) the fruit proved marvelous. Not least is that his son, who wrote the book (sprinkled throughout with his father’s own journal entries), is perhaps the foremost New Testament scholar of our time.

Filling up the Afflictions of Christ, John Piper. This is the story of three men – William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton who (like Paul in 2 Timothy) suffered greatly in order to disseminate the gospel among those in darkness. But they kept going! And Piper tells their stories, briefly and marvelously, in this little book! It make for a good three-Lord’s-Day’s afternoon readings. (Piper’s bios of these men can also be read or listened to online at desiringgod.org).

Captain Allen Gardiner of Patagonia, Jesse Page. Here’s the story of a man who was not a preacher (but a ship captain!), but who labored, and labored, and labored for the gospel in spite of much difficulty. His death will sadden you, but his perseverance will inspire you. And the fruit of it was tremendous!

Singing in the Fire, Faith Cook. Cook employs her excellent writing skills to tell 14 brief stories of men and women (and one little girl) who suffered in various ways, but who kept going with and for Christ, “singing in the fire.” These brief re-tellings would work wonderfully for two weeks of nightly reading!

God Took Me By the Hand, Jerry Bridges. I just came across this title in an excellent review, by Geoff Thomas, in The Banner of Truth Magazine. It is now on my reading list! In it, the late Jerry Bridges, one of the excellent soul-physicians of our time, tells the story of his hardscrabble beginnings, growing up with health issues and exceedingly poor … and how God ‘took him by the hand,’ called him to Himself, and blessed his work of Bible teaching over many long years of ministry. What made me want to read the book, though, is Bridges’ statement that, over the course of his ministry, he experienced 25 years of definite blessing, 15 years of pain, and 16 years that “were neither particularly painful nor blessed.” That intrigues me! I want to know how he kept going through the painful years … and, especially, how he kept putting one foot in front of the other through 16 years of the mundane! I suspect you’d be helped by finding out, too!

So then … Paul instructed Timothy to continue in “perseverance” …  “knowing from whom [he had] learned” it (2 Tim 3:10-14). And now you know a few more people from whom you can learn it, too.

A Plea for the Place of Words

Expounding insights gleaned, largely, from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death

With both feet, we as a society have crossed the cultural border from an epoch of words and into an era of pictures (both still and moving). I get it. For I, too, am a child of my culture in many ways. There are many evenings when, for instance, rather than read to my children, I’d much rather just sit down in front of a screen and watch something together. It’s just easier that way. Listening requires more mental effort than watching; reading necessitates even more effort; and reading aloud still more. Plus, I understand that watching something on a screen (which almost always involves listening, too) engages an additional sense in ways that are often truly engaging, and sometimes helpful.

Further, I realize that even still imagery captures the eye much more rapidly than words – which is why books have artwork on their covers, and why we are now attaching such to our online sermons, and why pictures on Facebook seem to always generate a great many more ‘likes’ than plain text. Sight seems to be the dominant sense of modern mankind. And there are surely ways in which we should (within reason) make use of that tendency.

I understand all these things, and do not decry pictures and film, as such. And yet I do believe that, in our cultural evolution from words to images, we are in the process of losing some things quite precious. Most modern Americans, I dare say, read very little. And what they do read is often quite brief (and sometimes inane). And, if they do not attend church, it may have been years since many of our neighbors ever sat and concentrated on someone speaking for 30-60 minutes solid (if they’ve ever done so). And these are great losses, it seems to me.

For one thing, the hard work of reading or listening (as opposed to watching) is good for the mind. Forcing yourself to concentrate on a 45 minute speech, or on several consecutive chapters of a book, is good for us. Watching a movie or TV show, on the other hand, is often inactive. Ideas are merely thrown at us, rather than us having to mine them out of carefully crafted words. And thus, watching often doesn’t have the capacity for sharpening our minds the way focusing on words does. And it’s a dangerous thing, it seems to me, that we are raising a generation of children who do not know how to concentrate. Much of this problem, I am convinced, is because they are being raised with constantly moving pictures rather than with words that make them think.

Further, the rapid replacement of words with pictures means that we, of necessity, cannot handle many topics with an appropriate level of depth and/or sophistication. Pictures (moving and still) work well with the telling of stories, and sometimes the conveying of feelings. But they don’t work so well with outlining theological doctrines, and worldview beliefs, and political positions, and so on. For these we need words … often in large quantities. And, in a culture that is no longer apt to consume words in large quantities, is it any surprise that most Americans get their theology, their worldview, and their politics from brief soundbites, rather than with significant depth of research, thought, and understanding?

Finally, the waning epoch of words in our land will be a disaster spiritually, I am afraid. Because God has given us His truth (even the part of it that is story) not in pictures, but in words. And in a culture that incessantly prefers pictures to words, where will that leave us in a generation or two? Not in a good place, I am afraid. The Bible will lie more and more neglected. And so will preaching and good Christian books. Because we want images more than words; media players more than monologues; infographics more than essays; performers more than prophets.

Prior to the Protestant Reformation, the Bible was kept locked in Latin, the tongue of the scholars (with translation into the common peoples’ languages forbidden). Meanwhile the church gave the people pictures (statues, relics, paintings, etc.) in place of words. And, while these visual media lacked ability to communicate the whole truth about God (as stated above), they were (and still are) quite proficient at serving as stand-ins for Him; at becoming idols, in other words. And, although not precisely in the same way, pictures often stand between men and God today, too … wooing us away from the written word, more rapidly exciting our affections, but unable to provide us the same level of food for thought or meat for the soul.

And so I am making a plea for the place of words in your life. I’m not suggesting you never watch a movie (we have some in our church library!), or that you never turn on the television, or that you close your Instagram account. But what I am saying is that you will be much the poorer – spiritually, mentally, and in terms of your understanding of the world – if you adopt film, and television, and YouTube, and social media imagery as your primary source of mental intake.

So ask yourself: When is the last time I read a book all the way through? Or, even more so, when is the last time I read a Christian book all the way through? And how many movies have I watched in that same span of time? And further, do I have the attention span to focus on more than just a few verses of the Bible at a time? God has chosen to communicate to us in words … but is my mental lifestyle conducive to receiving His truth in the way He has chosen to disseminate it?

***

For more on the cultural shift from words to pictures, see Neil Postman’s seminal work Amusing Ourselves to Death, to which I owe most of the thinking above.

Don't Waste Your Vacation

Several years back, John Piper wrote a wonderful little book entitled Don’t Waste Your Life (highly recommended!). And then, I suppose because there are so many aspects of this life that we ought not waste, both Piper and others have spun off that title, urging readers: ‘Don’t Waste Your Cancer’, ‘Don’t Waste Your Sports’, ‘Don’t Waste Your _______.’ Well, allow me to fill in one of those blanks, at the outset of this summer season, by urging you not to waste your vacation.

Vacation is a wonderful privilege we have in this modern, western world. It is a blessing that many of us are able to get away from the grind of work, and shopping, and laundry, and the lawnmower for a handful of days … and just relax. But I know from experience that there is a relaxation in which I am resting in God; and there is also a relaxation (sadly) in which mostly rest from Him – forgetting about Him, to the shriveling of my soul. And the latter is dangerous!

Not that vacation has to be a mission trip, or an intensive Bible study sabbatical (although it could be, sometimes). But even while we rest, let us make sure that we are resting in God and with God, instead of taking a break from Him, even while we break from all the other stuff of everyday life!

How can we do so? A few brief suggestions:

Bring along a good Christian book. Maybe something you’ve been wanting to read, or on a subject you’ve been wanting to consider. Maybe a collection of Spurgeon’s sermons, which are wonderfully readable and warm. Maybe, if you’re like me, a warm and devotional Christian biography would be just what the doctor ordered. But whatever it is, bring along a book or two that will feed your soul, and don’t waste your vacation.

Suggested resources:

 Don’t Waste Your Life (Piper)

 Discipling (Dever)

 The Gospel for Real Life (Bridges)

 The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (Spurgeon)

 Amy Carmichael (Murray)

 Also, for further reading suggestions, see Tim Challies’ post (which inspired this article) “What Type of Vacation Reader Are You?”

Listen while you drive. We live in an era in which hearing the word of God (and other good Christian material) is easier than ever. So while you’re burning up the highway, plug in your audio Bible app, or a few sermons, or a solid Christian book on CD, or a handful of Christian biographical messages. Listen while you drive (or fly), and don’t waste your vacation.

Suggested resources:

 YouVersion (Bible app available on Android and iPhone)

 Sermons by Kenneth Stewart, Sinclair Ferguson, John MacArthur, and Alistair Begg

 The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God (book and audio CD)

 Biographical Messages by Michael Haykin, Nick Needham, and William Hughes

Attend a solid gospel church. Our time away ought never be a vacation from the Lord’s house, and the Lord’s word, and the Lord’s people. So do a little research in advance, find a solid church, and make your way there on Sunday morning. Listen as intently as you would at your home church. And linger, too. Meet a few people … so that you are reminded of the breadth of God’s gospel plan, and the richness of God’s family. Find a church when you’re out of town, and don’t waste your vacation.

How to find a church:

 9marks.org/church-search/

 churches.thegospelcoalition.org/

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The fourth commandment doesn’t go on vacation when we do! And neither does it consist only of attending Sunday service … but of a whole day set apart from our normal toils and diversions (Isaiah 58:13-14), and to the Lord. And so, while the other days of vacation may be filled with theme parks, golf outings, restaurants, ballgames, and the like … let your Sundays, even on vacation, be quiet days of rest, worship, reading, prayer, quiet walks in God’s creation, and family times that enable you to exhale rather than exhaust. So “remember the sabbath day,” even while you are away, and don’t waste your vacation.

So just a few suggestions – not to make your vacation a spiritual boot camp, but to help you rest in a way that is profitable, rather than soul-numbing. Put them into practice this summer, and don’t waste your vacation.

More Reading Ideas for Those Who Aren’t (Yet) Big Readers

Last week I suggested that Christian reading is a habit worth your taking up … and that, even if you aren’t yet an avid reader, there is a way in. Particularly, I listed three Christian magazines that would start you with more bites-sized reading portions, and provide you both spiritual meat\ and stimulus to read further.

This week (although I think books and magazines will be more significant for you) I want to point those of you who are prone to read on your devices to some Christian blogs that will do the same. So have a look at my descriptions, and then add one or more of these sites to your blog feed, or subscribe by email, or bookmark them, or just check in on them periodically. You will be helped in your walk with the Lord.

challies.com. This is the blog of Christian blogger extraordinaire, Tim Challies. Monday through Saturday, he always posts an article that will help you think through some life or biblical issue in a Christian fashion. Each day he also posts a daily ‘A La Carte’ in which he links to other interesting articles from around the web … so that, not only does Challies post good content himself, but he will introduce you to other good content from around the web.

desiringgod.org/articles. Lots of great articles every week on subjects moral, theological, social, and so on … some by John Piper, others by other capable Christian writers.

albertmohler.com/articles. Albert Mohler is perhaps the leading Christian statesman of our day – and has a key eye, and a gifted pen, for voicing the Christian worldview as it relates to so many of the hot-button issues of our day – politics, ethics, societal crises, and so on. If you want to know how to think about the news Christianly, Mohler is your guy. His articles are less frequent and more lengthy than the other blogs I mention, but they will help you think deeply. You can also listen to his daily podcast The Briefing at albertmohler.com/the-briefing or subscribe in iTunes.

So again, just a few ideas to get you going. We all need stimulus to think biblically, and God has provided numerous good teachers in our day, whose work is more accessible than ever. Let’s take advantage!

Some Reading Ideas for Those Who Aren’t (Yet) Big Readers

One of my delights as a pastor is to see our little library log book filling up with names, and with good book titles which have been checked out by the names in question. We are blessed, in our land and language, not only with unprecedented access to the Bible, but also with unprecedented access to good Christian books intended to help us understand the Bible, apply it to our lives, and think Christianly. And so let me urge you, if you are not doing so already, to make use of your church library. 

But it occurred to me that, for those who aren’t (yet) big readers, that there are some other resources available that might get you going as well. And I want to list a few of them for you, this week and next. Today I mention three magazines that I think you will find stimulating. Next week we’ll look at some blogs. But first the magazines:

Table Talk. This monthly magazine, put out by Ligonier Ministries, is a treasure of brief and helpful articles … usually all centered around a central theme for the month. The magazine also contains a daily Bible reading plan, to help you stay on track in the word, too. And so, if you gave it a half an hour, a couple days a week, you could read through the magazine in a month, be introduced to some of the most able Bible teachers of our time, and be greatly encouraged in your faith, and in your reading habit. This would be my highest recommendation in the magazine category. $23/yr. Available in paper and digital formats. Order at ligonier.org/tabletalk.

Free Grace Broadcaster. This free, no frills quarterly magazine contains 8-10 articles from great Christian teachers of the past, and each issue is centered on a particular biblical theme – heaven, marriage, evangelism, etc. If you sought to read just an article a week, maybe on your Sunday afternoon, you’d read the whole magazine in less than the allotted quarter (and might find yourself wishing for more)! FREE. Available in paper and digital formats. Subscribe and/or download at chapellibrary.org/broadcaster.

Studies in the Scriptures. This magazine of biblical study articles (something like sermons/Bible studies on paper) was published monthly by a man called Arthur Pink for 31 years in the first half of the 20th century. In recent years, Chapel Library in Pensacola has made the magazine live again by reprinting the final 21 years of magazines, and making them available to modern readers. Order or download a few months’ worth, read an article or two a week, and you will find a good deal of biblical meat for your soul. FREE. Available in paper and digital formats. Download or order copies at chapellibrary.org/studies.

Just a few ideas of solid meat that is available to you, and that might get you started on a habit that will bless your soul for a lifetime – Christian reading.

Cheaper in Dozens: Bulk Discounts on Good Books

Do you value good books?  Does your church sometimes purchase lots of them in bulk?  Or might you want to do so for handing out evangelistically?  Allow me to make you aware of an online bookstore, begun by a friend of mine named Jim Holmes, called Cheaper in Dozens. 

Jim's commitment is to sell only quality Christian literature (from publishers like Banner, Evangelical Press, Reformation Heritage, Shepherds Press, etc.) with free shipping ... and (here's where the site could be really beneficial) there are added discounts when you buy a dozen or more (thus the name)! So the site could be especially helpful if you're buying in bulk.

The books are sold at 10% off retail, but the discounts go up to:

20% if you buy 12

25% if you buy 25

30% if you buy 50

40% if you buy 100

I receive Jim's periodic email newsletter, in which he shares helpful ideas about how to get folks reading, along with special offers on particular books. If you are a reader, or a pastor who wants your church family to read, or to get good resources into their hands for doing so ... you might sign up for the newsletter by going to the website (cheaperindozens.com) and entering your email address in the light grey connection bar near the bottom of the page.

Alternatively, just go to the website and browse around, like them on Facebook.

Enjoy!

Book Recommendations

Now and again I have used this space to offer some recommended reading. And today I do so again. But before I list the books, can I also just urge upon you the practice of reading, period? I know we are a visual culture, with easy access to videos of every kind. A family of five could conceivably spend an hour in the same house, watching five different videos, on five different devices, in five different rooms. But much of what we watch will be frothy.  And almost all of our watching is passive – meaning that, even if we are watching something helpful, film does a lot of the thinking for us. But books require us to engage our minds more intently (since they are not accompanied with moving pictures). Books require some imagination. And serious books will take the time to delve deeply into issues in ways that film often can or will not. So, while my mind is drawn to moving pictures as much as the next guy (and while there are films and videos well worth watching), I want to discipline myself to put my eyes, more often, on the written page … and I urge you to do the same.

Buy good books. Borrow good books. And, if you're local, make use of our church library that is getting better by the year. “Bring … the books” as Paul said it! Below are a few recommended offerings (some of which I have recommended before, but which bear repeating at the present time):

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. This book is a modern-day classic, reminding us of just how wholly other God really is – and the effect that otherness has when men and women encounter God for who He really is. Written in a contemporary style, Sproul (Sproul’s God, really) will challenge your vision of God without challenging your perseverance with drab prose. Highly recommended, especially as a follow up to our recent sermons on Exodus 33-34.

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Postman’s book, written for the TV generation (but all the more applicable in our world of multiplied screens), explores the way in which the format of our media affects our ability to assimilate the ideas, facts, and news that it communicates. How, for instance, has the advent of the television, with its short segments and soundbites, impacted what sort of thoroughness we expect from our politicians? A thought-provoking question in the middle of this election season, I’d say!

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield. I wrote a full article about Butterfield’s book last September, but let me remind you again that it has been one of the most gripping books I have read in a long time – for its display of the power of God in the gospel; for the way in which it demonstrates the effectiveness of a persistent and loving gospel witness; and for the reality that conversion, when a person gets ‘the real thing,’ can sometimes be like “a train wreck” – but one, to borrow from Sproul’s book above, that ends in peace.

Human Nature in its Fourfold State by Thomas Boston. This book is the magnum opus of my historical hero, who walks his reader through the story of redemption by focusing on the journey of mankind from his state of innocence in the garden, to his state of corruption after the fall, to his state of re-creation by the gospel, and finally to his final state of either glory or damnation. It is a long book by today’s standards, and written in the language of the 18th century … but Boston will both challenge and help you with his ready command of the scriptures, and his Christ-like ability to demonstrate God’s truth with illustrations from daily life. One of the classic theological volumes ever written in the English language, it would be a great read form someone wanting to really dig in and think high thoughts about God and His gospel!

And one more word on Boston’s book … to convince you that you really can and should read much more than many of us often do. Reaching to 450-plus pages in its modern reprint, the Fourfold State was yet one of the most read books by the common Christian folk of 18th century Scotland – not just pastors, but farmers, shepherds, and so on! So you can do this!

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

Several days ago ... and I almost never have the wherewithal or interest to pull this off ... I devoured nearly an entire book in a single day. It was Rosaria Butterfield's The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, and I highly recommend it.

Carl Trueman's words of recommendation hit the spot for me:

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I do not agree with everything she says; but I did learn from everything she wrote. It deserves the widest possible readership.

Indeed, I was moved and challenged and refreshed and compelled by this book like I haven't been in a long time. It is the personal memoir of a woman who was a highly successful lesbian professor of English … and whose life, in her mid-thirties, was utterly altered by what she calls a train wreck conversion.

The lessons are many – one of the most powerful being how she was slowly led to Christ and his cross by the patient friendship of a local pastor and his wife who opened their homes, listened, loved, and accepted who Rosaria was, without condoning their new friend’s lifestyle.

She also makes no bones about the fact that she wasn’t looking for Jesus, didn’t make an easy and quick ‘decision for Jesus,’ and was only won over by the sovereign, electing grace of God that overcame her in spite of herself and her sin. And she seems quite content – even glad – to confess that it happened that way! God gets the credit!

Some of what she says is edgy, maybe even stinging. Perhaps it needn’t be quite so much that way in every case. But sometimes we who are tempted to cocoon in our Christian culture circles need to hear, plain and simple, how outsiders view us (and some of the flaws that this outsider-turned-insider can still see).

One of the amazing things about the book – perhaps especially noticeable because I read it almost all the way through in a single day – was how the beginning of the book and the end of the book really seemed like they were written about (and almost like they were written by) two different people. And, in the most profound sense, they were! I’m no literary scholar, but Butterfield’s later accounts of her life as a pastor’s wife and adoptive homeschool mom read so very differently from her descriptions of her English professor days at the beginning of the book – and not just in content, but in the very feel of the words! But such is the change that Christ brings. We cannot tell our old stories in the same way that we rehearse the new.

In closing, here is one quote that I found particularly challenging (though it has not so much to do with the narrative of Butterfield’s conversion, but rather the convictions that she now holds as a Christian) Speaking of her Reformed Presbyterian denomination's commitment to biblically simple corporate worship, Butterfield writes:

In an RP church, you will get no show, no comedian pastors, no rock bands, no videos, no interpretive dancing. Either Jesus comes to worship with us and the Holy Spirit fuels and fills us and God is honored or we have, simply, painfully, nothing at all.

Read it again, slowly. Then read it a third time, plugging the name of your church into the first sentence, along with whatever ambiance, aesthetics, experience, or tradition you have come to believe necessary for you to 'really worship.' And then ask if you could still leave the second sentence as-is.

Is meeting with the Triune God enough for us? And, when we gather, do we really expect to meet with Him, or just with a set of people and norms that have become comfortable to us? And, if it’s the latter, have we really gotten what Rosaria Butterfield got when God shook her life to its core, and rebuilt it all over again?  Perhaps God might grant us a train wreck of our own.  

'Or ... nothing at all'

In an RP [Reformed Presbyterian] church, you will get no show, no comedian pastors, no rock bands, no videos, no interpretive dancing.  Either Jesus comes to worship with us and the Holy Spirit fuels and fills us and God is honored or we have, simply, painfully, nothing at all.

Rosaria Butterfield

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

Read it again, slowly.  Then read it a third time and plug your church name into the first sentence, along with whatever ambiance, aesthetics, traditions, or experience you have come to believe necessary for you to 'really worship.'  And then ask if you can still leave the second sentence as-is.

May God give us more pastors, elders, and congregations with the heartbeat of Mrs. Butterfield and the Reformed Presbyterians. 

Leaving off in the Middle

One of the delights of our family’s Lord’s Day evenings (and other evenings as well) is to spend time reading to our children. And one of the sources of greatest joy and blessing has been in reading bits and pieces from a series of books called Building on the Rock, developed by Diana Kleyn and Joel Beeke. Each of the five books contains between two and three dozen brief anecdotes (some real-life, and others fiction) that reinforce scriptural truth and remind us of how God is at work in all sorts of everyday circumstances.

So this past Sunday evening we found ourselves reading the brief account of a little girl who, while awaiting her train in a railway station, spotted a particularly fierce looking man in the corner. He was a convict, in police custody, and being transported to the location where he would serve a twenty-year prison term. And the lass felt sorry for him, and ventured to speak a very brief word to him about Jesus – but with no forthcoming sign that the man had any place in his heart for her kind words. And then the train arrived, and the girl and her father boarded one railcar, and the prisoner another, and she never saw the man again.

And I paused the story at this point, and made like this was the conclusion of the story. And, of course, the children – understanding both the nature of story-telling, and the nature of their teasing dad – knew that I was just pulling their legs. Stories don’t end in the middle like that! And so, of course, there must be more – more about what happened to the man, and more about how the little girl’s tiny witness made a difference in his life. No! Her departure simply could not be the end of the story!

Except that it suddenly occurred to me that … well … from the little girl’s (earthly) perspective, this was the end of the story. She boarded her train and never had any idea if perhaps the small seed she’d planted had found any little crevice in that poor man’s hard heart. And I reflected on that fact with the kids. Because this is so often the way our own stories unfold. We speak a word for Jesus here, or serve someone in His name there … and then the train leaves, or the flight lands, or the children leave the Bible club, or the homeless person shuffles off into the sunset, or the neighbors move away … and we never know what God did with our attempt to sow the good seed. It’s like stopping a good story before the ending!

Real life doesn’t always unfold quite as neatly or quickly as the stories, even in a non-fiction book – which are written down at a distance of years, by an outside observer who knows how everything turned out, and who is going to tell you all you want to know in just a few more pages or paragraphs. More often than not, when it comes to the various real-life stories in which we find ourselves as characters, the book seems to close before we ever find out how God worked the ending. It’s not that the various stories have no ending, but simply that our Father doesn’t always choose to tell us what it is! And we have to be okay with that. We have to be content to await the great day when (perhaps) our heavenly Father will complete many of the stories which, in this life, He chose not to read us all the way to the end.

And, if you’re wondering what happened to the prisoner after the little girl went on her way … well, you’ll either have to buy the book, or just allow my strategic leaving off in the middle to help you learn the lesson that I’m aiming to teach in this article! Be content to sow the gospel seed … and trust that God will bring in His harvest, even if you are not chosen to be there at the reaping.

Recommended Reading

As a pastor, one of my hopes is to see my people reading more. More Bible, of course, should always be paramount. But there are other books which help us flesh out and understand and apply the Bible to our own lives – and these can be quite helpful, too. Let me mention just a few fairly brief reads that you might consider picking up from a bookstore or online, and having a look. All but the last are available at cvbbs.com.

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson. Carson is one of the leading New Testament scholars of our day, and a brilliant academic. But this down-to-earth little book is not an effort in great New Testament scholarship, but a recounting of how the author’s dad – not a leading scholar or brilliant academic, but an ordinary pastor – put the principles of the New Testament into practice as an averagely gifted pastor serving all his life in small churches. Even if you are not a pastor, your heart will be encouraged by the story of this man who was. And you’ll probably get a little more insight into what a pastor’s life is like, and be helped to pray for your own. 

Amy Carmichael: Beauty for Ashes by Iain Murray. Everything that Iain Murray writes is well worth whatever time and money you will spend on it. This book (which I am currently reading) is no exception. Murray’s easy style, coupled with the life of one of the most remarkable Christian women of the 20th century, makes for an encouraging read. I’m finding myself challenged already by Amy’s disciplined life of service to Christ and to the at-risk children of India whom she so loved.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit by Charles Spurgeon. If you enjoy sitting down and reading sermons (and you probably should!), there is no better collection than those of Charles Spurgeon, the greatest English language preacher of the 19th century. Simple yet profound, Christ-centered, and marvelously illustrated … you cannot but be blessed by delving into the preaching of Spurgeon. The sermons are available in 63 large volumes. Just pick up one volume and work your way through it on Sunday evenings. You’ll be blessed.

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. This is not a Christian book, but is immensely helpful to Christians nonetheless. Postman gives incredible insight into how the media through which we receive information greatly affect the way we take in, think about, and apply that information. The television, for instance, has greatly affected our present-day capacities for listening comprehension; which, in turn, greatly (and adversely) affects how deeply we are able to think about important subjects. Compare the depth of modern political debates with those of Lincoln and Douglas, says Postman. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Written in the era when TV was the primary multimedia device, Postman’s insights are all the more valuable in our era of multiplying media access. I highly recommend it as a good look in the mirror of your own technology habits … and what effect they have on the way you think. 

So there you have just a few books that might be encouraging to you. Pick one of them up (or some other volume of good theology or church history), and you will be blessed by becoming a reader.

A couple of resources for missionary prayer

We thought about prayer last night at PRBC - specifically Paul's plea that we pray for the missionaries (2 Thessalonians 3.1-2).  Toward the end, I mentioned two specific resources that might be of great help to God's people in doing so.  Check them out for yourself:

Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation

by Jason Mandryk

The HeartCry Missionary Society Magazine

Available for free ... in paper or electronic format

"The books"

This past Sunday I preached on Paul’s desire, even at the end of his life, that his friend Timothy might bring him his books (2 Timothy 4.13); that he might learn, and study, and grow, and expand his soul all the way to the end. And I said that Paul, in this way, is a model Christian. We ought all to have a thirst to continuing growing all our days. And, thus, we ought all to have a craving, like the apostle, for “the books” – most of all for the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments; but also for other Christian books that either help us to understand or apply the inspired writings of the Scriptures. And so, to help you gather your own little library, let me list a few of “the books” that I think might be a blessing to your souls. Space doesn’t permit me to give descriptions of them, but have a look at some of them at Amazon.com and you can learn more. A handful of them are also available in our church library!

Theology
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell
Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem and Elliot Grudem
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
Human Nature in its Fourfold State by Thomas Boston
The Westminster Shorter Catechism

Bible Commentaries
The ESV Study Bible
Matthew Henry’s Commentaries

Church History and Biography
Sketches in Church History by S.M. Houghton
Fair Sunshine by Jock Purves
The Crown and Covenant Series by Douglas Bond
Singing in the Fire by Faith Cook
Out of the Depths by John Newton
Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
The Autobiography of John G. Paton

Christian Growth
The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges
The Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

Devotional
The Letters of Samuel Rutherford (or the abridged version)
The Crook in the Lot by Thomas Boston
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes

For Preachers
Preaching and Preachers by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson
2 volume Biography of Martyn Lloyd Jones by Iain Murray (vol 1, vol 2)

Etc.
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
Family Worship by Terry Johnson
Revival by Brian Edwards
Operation World by Jason Mandryk
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Happy – and helpful! – reading!

Gullible

“The naive believes everything,

But the sensible man considers his steps.”

Proverbs 14.15

We have recently begun a series of sermons in the book of Jude – that fantastic little epistle which warns so strongly against false teachers, and urges its readers to “contend earnestly for the faith.” And one of the things Jude points out is that the false teachers against whom he is writing have “crept in unnoticed.”

In other words, false teachers don’t generally walk into the church wearing a badge on their lapels with the word heretic inscribed in italics under their names! They creep in. They may unfold their heresies only in bits and pieces, here and there … such that people often inhale them quite calmly, like cigarette smoke, without realizing the long term destruction that is being slowly but surely wrought upon them. And so it seems to me that, implicit in Jude’s warning against false teachers is not only that we must “contend … for the faith” (and, thus, against their errors) when false teachers arise; but also that we must be alert to the fact that they are creeping in in the first place! We must not let them sneak into the sheepfold right under our noses without us ever smelling a rat! We must not be like the “naive” man who “believes everything” (Proverbs 14.15).

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, we must not be drowsy when it comes to assessing that which we are being taught – whether in our own congregation, or over the internet, or on radio and TV, or in books! Some of it is quite helpful and accurate. Much of it is pure froth – fairly harmless, but not really all that helpful either. And some of it is outright dangerous. But I wonder how many church-goers actually see the danger? Do our antennas go up when preachers preach a gospel that says little or nothing about our sin? Do we sense that something is wrong when men (and women) teach us about heaven, or hell, or the last days, or how to have relationship with Jesus based on their own visions and experiences, rather than on what is printed in the Book? Could we piece through the Jehovah’s Witnesses' Watchtower and see in it the signs of false teaching? Or does it go right on the coffee table next to our family Bible? Do we trust someone’s teaching simply because it’s on the radio or television, or do we do a little research to find out exactly what they believe (and how they live!)? Same thing with Christian music artists – from whom many people get an entirely disproportionate amount of their theology. Do we believe what they sing simply because the local Christian radio station chose to play their song? Or do we compare what we hear with scripture?

I am not suggesting we be alarmist. But what I would say is that, if false teachers had an inroad in Jude’s day … how much more in our own, what with all the additional media they have through which to communicate their message! And so we must be on the alert. We must not be naïve, but test everything against the plain teaching of the Bible.

“The naive believes everything,

But the sensible man considers his steps.”