Malachi: His Name will be Great!

"For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts. (Mal 1:11)

Faith without works is dead. And works without faith is an abomination says Yahweh of hosts through the prophet Malachi. To His glory and by His grace, I recently completed seven expositions through this heart-searching prophet:

The Delight of Sovereign Love (Mal 1:1-15)

Closing the Door on Hidden Hypocrisy (Mal 1:6-14)

The Ministers We Need (Mal 2:1-9)

Divorcing God (Mal 2:10-16)

God the Just and the Justifier (Mal 2:17-3:5)

Repent unto Joy (Mal 3:6-12)

Looking through Future Righteousness (Mal 3:13-4:6)

His tenacious directness condemned, convicted, and consoled as my sight was lifted from earth-bound myopia to the eternal expanse of God’s glory. God has kindly preserved Malachi in the canon of His Word, so that His people might neither forget Him nor His glorious purposes in the banality of perfunctory religion. Malachi’s prophesy calls-out to the Church of Christ,"coram Deo!".

Baldwin summarized Malachi in this way:

Malachi’s remarkable ethical thrust has lost none of its cutting edge through the passing of time. His teaching, both negative and positive, strikes at the heart of nominal, easy-going Christianity as it did at that of Judaism (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 218).

Malachi was blood-earnest against the active apathy of his day and it is our prayer that Yahweh of hosts, for Whom he prophesied, may cause His Church to simmer with the same blood-earnestness today.

The Reviving of Religion

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed (1 Cor 5:6-7).

From One Hundred Talks to Theological Students by A.H. Strong, in the entry entitled, "Church Discipline":

I remember reading about an old Scotchman who told another, 'We have had a great revival of religion in our church.' 'How many were brought in?' asked the other. 'Oh!' was the reply, 'we did not get any in, but we got a lot of them out.' The best evidence of revival-spirit in any church is the disposition to exclude members who will not walk in the way of the Lord.

This exclusion is absolutely necessary for the sake of those who are living true Christian lives. It is a terrible thing for young people to know that well-to-do and influential members hardly ever come to the Lord's Supper, and are rarely in attendance upon public worship. These young people cannot see such examples without being influenced by them. We need to watch over our membership, and to give them from time to time such tender admonitions as shall prevent their straying away.

... It is my firm conviction that our churches must be smaller if they would be larger.

Ordinances: Marks of a True Church

Program note: Our deepest apologies for the neglect of this blog, turns out that pastoring and parenting can inhibit prostrate calvinism on-line. Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor 11:23-26).

We have been struck afresh by the glory of the Church in the re-reading of Dever's outline of Biblical ecclesiology in A Theology for the Church. So, we thought it prudent to share some of Dr. Dever's gems with you.

In his discussion on the ordinances of the Church, namely baptism and the Lord's Supper, he observes how their observance is not minor, but serves to distinguish Christians from the world:

When a church practices baptism and the Lord's Supper, it obeys Christ's teaching and example. In so doing, it portrays Christ's death and resurrection, the testimony of every believer's own spiritual rebirth, as well as the church's collective hope for the final resurrection. These two practices, in short, proclaim the gospel...

Conversely, a church fails to obey Christ's command when it neglects either of these two signs. Such failure removes that church from a submission to the larger teaching of Scripture. And it separates a congregation from the apostolic and universal practice of Christ's followers. Scripture acts as a counterweight against anyone - whether congregation or person - who decides to be a Christian and yet neglects baptism or the Lord's Supper. This neglect, or denial, separates those who truly follow Christ. While neither baptism or the Lord's Supper is salvific, a deliberate neglect of either puts a question mark on any profession of faith. In this sense, baptism and the Lord's Supper act as the marks of a true church. They are the outward signs, or visible boundaries, that distinguish a particular people from the world.

- A Theology for the Church, pp. 783-84 (emphasis added).

We are struck at how often the programs of the contemporary church are tenaciously protected while the "programs" (read, ordinances) the Lord Himself has given us are subtly defiled through apathy. Our separation from the world in Christ is a spiritual reality to be sure, but we are commanded to give it regular visibility in our congregations through the practice of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Not the "optional extra," the center of our life together is proclaiming His death until He comes by word and sign.

Who's the Arrogant Preacher?

Desiring God's national conference, With Calvin in the Theater of God, is underway. Doug Wilson's contribution, The Sacred Script in the Theater of God, has proved to be especially insightful.

Applying Calvin's understanding of God's Word and preaching to our day, Wilson makes a perceptive observation:

A minister should ascend into the pulpit in order to declare what would have been true had he never been born. He is there to preach what was written in the Word before all ages and is utterly disconnected from his personal dreams, hopes and aspirations. He is there as a herald. As an ambassador.

It is quite striking that when a man today stands up in the pulpit and opens the Bible and says something like "Thus says the Lord" or "These are the very words of God" or "Hear O Israel, Behold your God!" and declares from the Word, what is he accused of being? Arrogant! Because he thinks that he doesn't matter. He’s arrogant because he thinks he doesn’t matter.

And if a guy gets up there on a stool and a cardigan sweater and chats with the people and tells stories about himself for the entire length of the sermon… 10 minutes or so. Sermonettes for Christianettes. He’s talking about himself all day long, he’s "transparent."

A minister is not up there to develop a relationship with everybody individually, he is not the Holy Spirit. He is there as a herald, as an ambassador. He is there to declare something that is outside of his control. What God has revealed to us in the Bible is the message; that’s the script. He’s not up there to preach Himself, but rather to be a servant who preaches Jesus Christ, the crucified Lord (2 Cor 4:5).

More of the Same

...let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb 10:24-25)

Why does the Church do what it does on the Lord's Day gathering (i.e., Sunday morning corporate worship)? Because that's what it has always done. Just ask Justin...

On the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a given city or rural district. The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then when the reader ceases, the president [pastor] in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things. Next we all rise together and send up prayers.

When we cease from our prayer, bread is presented and wine and water. The president in the same manner sends up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people sing out their assent, saying the 'Amen.' A distribution and participation of the elements for which thanks have been given is made to each person, and to those who are not present they are sent by the deacons.

Those who have means and are willing, each according to his own choice, gives what he wills, and what is collected is deposited with the president. He provides for the orphans and widows, those who are in need on account of sickness or some other cause, those who are in bonds, strangers who are sojourning, and in a word he becomes the protector of all who are in need.

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead.

For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.

- First Apology, 67.

HT: Pulpit Mag

So, as we look toward the next Lord's Day, we hope, not for ingenuity or creativity, but more of the same.

What Not to Do with Theological Truth

Your testimonies are righteous forever;
Give me understanding that I may live (Ps 119:144)

The old Baptist theologian, J.L. Dagg, begins his Manual of Theology by setting out the purpose of theological synthesis and study:

The study of religious truth ought to be undertaken and prosecuted from a sense of duty, and with a view to the improvement of the heart. When learned, it ought not to be laid on the shelf, as an object of speculation; but it should be deposited deep in the heart, where its sanctifying power ought to be felt. To study theology, for the purpose of gratifying curiosity, or preparing for a profession, is an abuse and profanation of what ought to be regarded as most holy.

Today, Lee Irons has helpfully identified the deceitful and antithetical tendency in many Christians and ministers, who pursue theological perfection, as opposed to maturity in Christ. Irons has noted that pursuit of theological perfection:

• Gives us the feeling that we are addressing spiritual realities, when we are really just analyzing them.
  
  
• Causes us to think that our life is dependent upon intellectual synthesis rather than walking in His grace.
  
  
• Promotes spiritual pride, rather than the awe of a worm before His glorious God (cf. Rom 11:33-36)
  
  
• Causes disunity and division, rather than unity centered upon the Gospel.
  
  The Problems of Theological Perfectionism
  
  HT: JT

Understanding is for life.

Get a Bible with all the Words!

He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD (Deut 8:3).

If it is the Word of God, then every word matters! Since learning Hebrew (and Aramaic) and Greek is unrealistic for everyone, it is imperative that one studies the most accurately rendered translation. Here is some helpful and provocative counsel on Bible translations from our friend, John Piper... get one with all the words!



HT: DG

While we at TPC would commend the NASB for its textual basis and its consistent application of formal equivalence in translation, the ESV and NKJV are also helpful translations.

For a helpful survey and review of the plethora of English translations, see the accessible and thorough treatment by Dr. Thomas, How to Choose a Bible Version.

For a good critique and overview of the current debates on dynamic equivalence and reader-response theories in Bible translation see Leland Ryken's The Word of God in English.