Holy Island?

We’ve been away on holiday for the past week, so I’m back to the blog now. We spent a most enjoyable holiday in Northumberland and were glad to be able to attend the church in Wooler – where we were staying. One memorable afternoon was spent on Holy Island. The first picture is of Lindisfarne Castle. This loses some of its charm when one realises that the original 16^th century castle was partly built from the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory, seen in the second picture. The castle was then redesigned by Sir Edwyn Lutyens in the early twentieth century as a holiday home! In a way this was fitting. Holy Island is a misnomer; it is now Tourist Island – hundreds of people walking back and forth and round and about. It is doubtless more peaceful at high tide when no-one can get over the causeway, and perhaps in the winter time. Still it seems a fitting symbol of our times: holiness giving way to pleasure and leisure.

Musical theology?

I was intrigued by these two quotations. The first comes from the first volume of Dr Lloyd-Jones on the Sermon on the Mount; the second from an address by Ernest Kevan at Keswick from the book of Galatians.

‘The relation of any particular injunction to the whole life of the soul is the relationship, I think, of the artist to the particular rules and laws that govern what he is doing. Take, for example, the realm of music. A man may play a piece of great music quite accurately; he may make no mistakes at all. And yet it may be true to say of him that he did not really play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. He played the notes correctly, but it was not the Sonata. What was he doing? He was mechanically striking the right notes, but missing the soul and the real interpretation. He wasn’t doing what Beethoven intended and meant. That, I think, is the relationship between the whole and the parts. The artist, the true artist, is always correct. Even the greatest artist cannot afford to neglect rules and regulations. But that is not what makes him the great artist. It is this something extra, the expression; it is the spirit, it is the life, it is “the whole” that he is able to convey. There it seems to me is the relationship of the particular to the general in the Sermon on the Mount. You cannot divorce, you cannot separate them. The Christian, while he puts his emphasis upon the spirit, is also concerned about the letter. But he is not concerned only about the letter, and he must never consider the letter apart from the spirit.’

‘It cannot be said too often that law-keeping can never be the means of sanctification, but it will certainly be the result… The new life of the believer, expressed in a new and active obedience, is itself freedom. “For freedom did Christ set us free.” “Oh how I love Thy law,” cries the Christian. Love now binds him in a manner that legalism never could; but this “bondage” is liberty itself. Love obligates him to an obedience to the will of God from which he has no desire to be released, and this is perfect freedom. As the liberty of a railway train is that it should keep to the track, and to jump the rails would bring nothing but disaster, so the believer, constrained by the love of God will run in the way of his commandments (Psalm 119:32). The Christian now does as he likes, but he has such a new and powerful set of likes that he is held to his Lord and Master in mightier ways than ever he had been held in his slavery to sin. His spiritual freedom is such as the musician experiences when the scales and exercises have become easy, and work has turned to play. The rules are lost in the delight of musical satisfaction.’

After the laying of the foundation stone for the Metropolitan Tabernacle Spurgeon preached a sermon in which he took up the illustration of building and applied it in various ways. I was struck by the following paragraph:

‘Now, there are some of us, brethren and sisters, who are engaged in a very quiet way amongst us. You never hear much about them – it is not often that they can go about to bring in stones, and they cannot polish them – as for judging whether the stone is good or not, that they could not do. They have but very little judgment, indeed, but they are such kind creatures. They exhibit a spirit of meekness, so that if there is a little disagreement they always step in and make it all right. If some brother is a little harsh, there is some kind word just ready. What shall I say these are doing? Why, they are not hewing the stones, or blasting in a quarry, or building or polishing, but they are mixing the mortar, and what a useful part of the work that is! There are many mortar-mixers in this Church. It would have been well, years ago, if there had been still more; and I do attribute much of the quietness and calmness and love of the Church to the fact that we have some excellent mortar-mixers, who, when any little unpleasantness occurs, begin mixing the mortar again. If we cannot do one thing, it is well if we can do another.’

The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards

This is a superb book and I only wish it had been published fifty years earlier than it was; I’m sure it would have helped me enormously. There are twenty-eight chapters, and these can be divided roughly into three sections, though the author himself does not do so. After an introductory chapter, the next six are about subject-matter, starting with God-Centredness. This is followed by The Preaching of Judgment, Sovereignty and responsibility, The concept of Seeking, Christ-Centredness and The Preaching of Heaven. After this come what might be called aspects of the sermon, beginning with Introductions and on through a subject like Imagery to The Use of Scripture. There are eight of these. The third section of eleven chapters is more about application, beginning with Different Categories of Hearers, concluding with Delivery. There are then two final chapters, both very important and enlightening, The Spirit of God, and Jonathan Edwards Today. A great deal of this is extremely practical and taking careful note of what the author brings to our attention, and applying it thoughtfully should make a great deal of difference to the way we preach. Few, very few, will not feel that Edwards has a great deal to teach us and that following what we have here will not improve our preaching considerably. There are other important aspects of Edwards’ ministry that are brought before us, for example, his recognition that Arminianism is essentially deistic, and his recognition of the periodicity of seasons of awakening. The last chapter has some criticisms of Edwards, particularly his failure as a pastor – too much time in the study, not enough in the homes of his people. There is much food for thought, for debate – and for reform. I would urge all ministers of the gospel, especially those in their early days, to read this volume.

John Stott - one of three mighty men of God

I see that John Stott died two days ago, on Wednesday the 27th. Last year I wrote a review for Evangelical Times of Roger Steer's book on Stott entitled Inside Story. I am putting it here as a tribute to a man of God.

The historian Adrian Hastings described John Stott as ‘one of the most influential figures in the Christian world’ and ‘the recognized senior theologian and thinker of world evangelicalism’, and in 2005 Time magazine named him as among the 100 most influential people in the world. In this book Roger Steer has provided a popular and extremely readable biography. John Stott, of course, is still alive, approaching his ninetieth birthday next year, and a new book of his has just appeared. so there is more biography yet to come! Nevertheless, many will be glad to read the story so far.

Inside Story is popular in style, very well-written and full of interest as well as touches of humour. The fact that there are 31 chapters in under 300 pages indicates that chapters are short and can be read easily at one sitting. The Contents pages have a useful timeline giving important dates to which you can easily refer as you proceed. The author gains a sense of immediacy by using direct speech: John said, ‘This,’ he said, ‘That,’ but on occasions this left me wondering how the rest of the conversation went! In reading the story of John Stott we are also learning a great deal about the history of evangelicalism over the last 80 years.

The overwhelming impression one is left with is that the consuming passion of John Stott is the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else can explain his complete dedication and prodigious labours. From the time of his conversion not long before his seventeenth birthday right up to the present, his love for Jesus Christ and his faithful service for him are a consistent testimony to the life-changing and life-directing power of the gospel of Christ. Granted that he had exceptional abilities and a privileged start in life and recognizing that very few could ever live and serve quite as he has done, that life is nonetheless a constant inspiration and challenge and this is by far the most important value of this book.

Those who cannot remember back before the 60’s are likely to be surprised at the rather superficial understanding of conversion amongst evangelicals in earlier days, and probably even more surprised at the elitism of ‘Bash’, whose success was nonetheless remarkable and highly significant. The chapter on Stott’s disagreement with Dr Lloyd-Jones in 1966 really needs some background as it has to be understood in the light of the ecumenism of that period and in view of the turn of evangelical Anglicans ‘out of the ghetto’ and into a new commitment to the Church of England which took place at Keele the next year, and was already being prepared for. I do not think the issues underlying that disagreement have disappeared and the way things are going in the Church of England at present they may yet prove to be very important. Other controversial areas are Stott’s insistence that social action is ‘part of evangelism’ and his equivocation over eternal punishment or eventual annihilation. Mention needs to be made of these, for they are serious matters, but they must not be allowed to obscure the overwhelmingly positive contribution he has made to world evangelicalism.

John Stott belongs to the Church of England – indeed he must be almost unique in that All Souls, Langham Place in London, has been his church throughout his life – but a great deal of his ministry has been both inter-denominational and international. The range of his ministries and the extent of his worldwide travel are breath-taking, and he has been a major influence in the lives of many others who are now Christian leaders around the world. His numerous books are referred to and listed; some have brief résumés, Issues Facing Christians Today and The Cross of Christ for example, two of his most significant. In future days his influence and legacy will be better able to be evaluated, but there can be no doubt that it has been immense.

However, the book is entitled Inside Story, and it is the portrait of Stott himself, built up from those who worked with him and knew him well, which is so fascinating. In him there is a rare combination of natural ability and grace, of humility and conviction, and of discipline and forbearance. One of his great strengths is that his mind controls his emotions, but it is a mind that seeks always to be submissive to his Lord speaking through Scripture. It would not, I think, be unfair to describe him as quintessentially English, but it is the best qualities of the English, softened and moulded by grace, that have made him so remarkably effective. For over fifty years his secretary was Frances Whitehead; this must be something of a record, and his work surely owes an incalculable debt to her ability and diligence. She also must know this bachelor better than anyone else, so what she says about him counts more than that of any other: ‘He is what he professes. He wants to please God and that’s all he cares about – doing God’s will, living for his glory, being faithful.’

The funeral of Geoff Richardson

Yesterday my wife and I went to the village of Ingleton in North Yorkshire for the funeral of Geoff Richardson, a deacon at Ingleton Evangelical Church who died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 47. As we walked along the street towards the parish church of St Mary we understood why this church building was being used instead of his home church. Ahead of us was a line of people obviously going to the funeral too. Arriving with more than 20 minutes to spare we found every seat already taken. We turned into a room immediately under the tower, but there were no vacant seats there either and we prepared to sit on some tables at the back when some younger people kindly vacated their seats for us. I suppose there were some 60 people sitting and standing in that room with the doors open into the nave.
The service was moving, appropriate, both solemn and joyful, conducted by the pastor Jim Day. The main address was by the retired pastor, John Mollitt, who knew Geoff in his unconverted days, and saw the wonderful transformation which Christ brought about in his life and his growth in grace and Christian service. His thoughtful words, spoken clearly and with conviction, skilfully linked Geoff's life with four phrases from the writings of the apostle Paul: without Christ; in Christ; for Christ; and with Christ. The gospel was clearly and powerfully presented. Geoff himself was first brought to consider his need by the funeral of his grandmother. Who can tell what seeds were sown as his life and death were remembered yesterday?

One Master

My attention has been turned again to a verse which I have found to be important and helpful to me, Romans 14: 4: ‘Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.’ Early on in the pastorate I became conscious of other ministers who expected me to do this or that – or not to do this or that, and to join in with this or that – or not to join in with this or that. I felt a pressure, sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle. The same sort of pressure, of course, can be experienced by all Christians, from sources both within and without the local church. It is very valuable to have wise and trusted friends whose advice can be sought; and I believe we can learn from many others, both Christian and unbelievers. But in the last analysis we have one Master, Jesus Christ, and we stand or fall to him and to no other. This is part of the freedom of a Christian; we should value it highly.