Pastor’s Blog

According to a BBC story, Stephen Hawking, the noted British physicist, has declared in his most recent book, that there is no need to invoke God to get the universe going. How then did it come into being? According to Hawking:

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing…Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”

Huh?

Steven Hawking is a bright man, no doubt about it. But if this statement is smart, I’m not sure I want to see dumb.

“The universe can and will create itself from nothing….” Say that over a few times to yourself and think about it.

(posted 9/3/10)

In our services we often recite together one of the ancient creeds of the church, usually the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed. Occasionally we will go through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and more rarely, we will use a section of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Why do we do this? What function do these creeds have in the order of worship? Do we say them merely because we have always said them? Not at all. These creeds perform several important uses in our service.

Worship—In them we worship God by declaring his person and works. Psalm 145:4-5 says, One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. When we say in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God,” we are meditating on and declaring the majesty of our Lord. When we say in the Apostles’ Creed, “The third day he rose again from the dead,” we are declaring the mighty acts of God. A significant part of worship involves “magnifying God.” That does not mean to make him bigger; it means to recognize how big and great he is. Reciting the creeds is one way we do that.

Teaching—In them we teach and remind each other of the great doctrines of our faith. How many of our children have had to sit down and consciously memorize the Apostles’ Creed? Not very many of them. Most of them know it because they have heard it so often in church. With virtually no effort, they have memorized a brief statement of the foundational truths of Christianity. How valuable it is for our children to hear these truths week after week! And as adults who know the creeds, how often does a particular statement jump out at us, ministering God’s grace to us in some need we have or some difficulty we are in. You may be struggling with guilt, perhaps. But then, as we are going through the Apostles’ Creed, you find yourself saying, “I believe in…the forgiveness of sins.” And you have to stop and ask yourself, “Do I really believe in the forgiveness of sins? If I don’t, why am I saying this? And if I do (and I do), then I need to preach to my own conscience that Jesus paid for my sins and my heavenly Father loves and accepts me.” In that way a point of doctrine becomes a great blessing to your soul.

Witness—In them we declare to the world what it is we are about. Granted, we say the creeds in our service, not out on the streets. Even so, when a visitor comes in, believer or unbeliever, they hear in the creeds a statement of what we believe. They hear us say together, “These are the truths we hold to. These are the truths that unite us. This is where we stand.” Speaking of the streets, the creeds remind us of what is important when we talk to people about Christ or religious matters. Most unbelievers want to major on the minors (cf. John 4:19-20). The creeds keep us on track; they give us a mental outline of the important truths, the things that are “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

As valuable as they are, the creeds can lose their value to us if we mumble through them mindlessly. This wandering of our thoughts is a danger inherent in their frequent use. We can say them with our lips, but our hearts (and minds) are far from them. Do not rob yourself of their benefit in this way! Be intentional when you say them. Say each statement thoughtfully, recognizing the beauty of its truth, uttering it as the conviction of your heart, giving thanks to God for it.

(posted April 30, 2010)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

(posted 4/2/10)

I enjoyed this post from Tim Challies on doctrine and expository preaching.

Along the same lines, here’s a quotation of Mark Dever from his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (p. 40):

“It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that sound, expositional preaching is often the fountainhead of growth in a church. Let a good expositional ministry be established and watch what happens. Forget what the experts say. Watch hungry people have their lives transformed as the living God speaks to them through the power of His Word.”

(posted 2/25/10)

Today marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, Picardy, France. As a young man he studied theology and law. Calvin lived in several places, notably Strasbourg (where he married Idelette de Bure) and Basel, but he is best known for his work in Geneva, after being persuaded by William Farel to come minister in that city. He resided in Geneva twice, having fled the city after controversy arose over communion but later returning.

Calvin’s preaching, teaching, and writing provided a major impetus to the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s. Men such as John Knox of Scotland came to Geneva, sat under his ministry, and returned home to spread the reformation in their own lands. Calvin also sent more than 100 reformed missionaries to his home country of France. Through correspondence he influenced political leaders as well as ecclesiastical leaders in the Reformation.

His most influential writings, still published today, are his Institutes of the Christian Religion—a systematic theology with a strong emphasis on the Christian life—and his Commentaries on the Scriptures. Calvin’s commentaries, with their close grammatical, historical, and theological interpretation of the text of Scripture, set the course for commentaries up to the present day,.

Perhaps Calvin is best known today for the theological system that bears his name—Calvinism—a system associated with predestination. We should note that Calvin did not have an obsession with predestination. He preached it and defended it, as he did the other doctrines of Scripture, as it arose in his consecutive preaching of books of the Bible. The “Five Points of Calvinism”—a summary of the Reformed understanding of salvation—were formulated well after Calvin’s time (though he would have agreed with them). Calvin loved the doctrine of predestination as he did the other truths of Scripture, as any Christian should. His preaching was as broad (and narrow) as the Bible itself.

In the 1550’s Calvin’s health began to fail. He spent his remaining time revising and enlarging his Institutes, publishing the final version in 1559. It was immediately reprinted and translated throughout Europe. He became ill in early 1564 and preached his final sermon on February 6 of that year. He died on May 27, 1564. Thousands came to see his body, forcing the Geneva Council to bury him in an unmarked grave. In the 19th century a stone was placed by a grave traditionally thought to be Calvin’s.

Though we most often think of him as a theologian (and he was, par excellence), Calvin saw himself as a pastor who loved his Lord and tried to preach, teach, and live the Gospel as best he could. What would he think of the various conferences, seminars, and commemorations taking place this year to remember his life? I think he would be astounded that 500 years after his birth people would know who he was, let alone still be reading and referring to his writings.

In God’s grace and providence, he gave John Calvin a ministry that would influence not only the church, but arguably western civilization, for the next half-millennium. That influence has not yet run its course! On his 500th birthday we do not give gifts to John Calvin. We recognize that he himself was a gift, and we thank God for him.

(posted 7/10/09)