Another week in my life: Day 7

Saturday is my day off. Today we went on a mystery trip to Minehead, Somerset. Had a good time wandering on the beach, clambering on rocks, eating ice cream etc. Read some more of Paul Davies' The Goldilocks Enigma when on coach & train. The chapter on multiverse theory made my head spin. Part of the return journey was by steam train. The pics below were taken on the trip. Yesterday night I received Philip Eveson's interview answers. Hope to edit and post the interview on Monday. You won't want to miss it. This is the last in the current series of blog diary entries.

Another week in my life: Day 4

We have our Prayer Meeting/Bible Study on a Wednesday evening. Tonight we'll be looking at 3 John, which completes a trilogy of studies on John's three letters. The format is discussional, but I still do some prep, studying the letter with the aid of commentaries by John Stott (Tyndale IVP) and David Jackman (Bible Speaks Today IVP). Stott is really outstanding, giving concise and accurate and thought-provoking comment. But before I get down to business, my wife and I have to give Rebecca's hamster, Oliver its daily dose of antibiotics. The poor thing seemed like it was at death's door last Wednesday so we took it to the vet. He has a "wet tail" infection that is potentially fatal. But he has been responding well to treatment. Trying to get him to take his medicine is a bit tricky. We have to feed it to him through a plastic syringe and he wriggles and squirms like crazy while we are trying to dose him up. Ah well, "a righteous man careth for his beast."

That done I work on an outline for the Bible Study, structured around the three people John mentions in his letter, Gaius, Diotrephes and Demetrius. Jot down a series of questions that will hopefully help us engage with the text and its message for us. This takes me more or less until 12.30. This morning an Ebenezer deacon has been doing door-to-door work with evangelist Tim Serjeant. I phoned to see how they got on and was encouraged that they had some promising conversations with people in the West Lavington area. Door-to-door evangelism is a long-term venture and we've been at it for over a year now. One or two people we've contacted have just started to attended services. After phone call, I do some paperwork before lunch.

It's my daughter's school sport's day today so I head off to watch her compete in various events. Running, skipping, discus, javelin, ball dribbling, long jump etc. She did pretty well, coming first or second several times. She may well have won in her group. Get home at 3.30pm. More paper work and some preparation for this evening. Pick up my son from an after-school cricket match. Rush evening meal - fish and chips, and then attend a briefing at Beccy's school regarding a residential school trip in July. Get back and do a bit more prep for Bible study and then head off at just gone 7pm.

Some helpful discussion in the Bible study with an emphasis on supporting mission and avoiding "Diotrephes syndrome" by cultivating the mind of Christ (Philippians 2). Good time of prayer. Home at 9.45pm. July's Evangelical Times has arrived including my article on The Spirit and the Word in preaching. If you don't get ET and would like to see it (as a Word doc.), drop me an e-mail.

Another week in my life: Day 3

We have two children, Jonathan & Rebecca. Jonathan is coming toward the end of his second year of Secondary School. Rebecca is in her last year of Primary School. Today she went to Secondary School for an "Induction Day" where she met her form tutor and attended some lessons. Before the kids set off at 8.00am, we had a time of family worship. I read Psalms 132 & 133 and prayed.

I start my working day with a time of prayer. The longer I go on in ministry the more I realise how entirely dependent we are upon the Lord. "Facing a task unfinished that drives us to our knees." Read another chapter of John Frame's The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. He adopts a perspectival approach to theology, looking at things from a normative, situational and existential perspective. The norm for theology is Scripture. We do theology in a given situation, using the tools of language and logic. Today's chapter was on The Existential Perspective - The Qualifications of the Theologian. Very thought provoking. Theologians must be personally engaged in their work. Detachment is both impossible and undesirable because all we know we know as individual persons. Theology is personal because it is an attempt to apply the truth of God's self-revelation to people. The knowledge of God is not merely cerebral, it is heart-knowledge. Frame makes the important point that the theologian's character will have an impact on his work. Love, honesty and humility will ensure that the theologian will deal fairly with those with whom he disagrees. Then comes an extended discussion of the place of reason, experience, emotion, the will, skills and intuition in the work of the theologian. Good stuff.

Then I wrote up a report of the London Theological Seminary End of Year Service. I've already done a couple of blog posts on this here and here. But I was asked to produce a 400 word account for the Protestant Truth Magazine. I work part-time for the Protestant Truth Society, which mostly involves taking meetings, preaching and writing.

After lunch visit a church member who has been unwell. She is suffering from bad arthritis and is getting over a bout of bronchitis. She is in a lot of pain. But I find her refusing to complain and rejoicing in God's goodness to her. I has the privilege of baptising this lady a few years ago. This afternoon she spoke of how the Lord have her remarkable freedom from pain on the day of her baptism. I read Psalm 90 and prayed before leaving. I felt humbled and challenged by the grace of God at work in the life of this elderly sister in Christ.

Back home in time for the children to get home from school. Beccy enjoyed her day at "Big School". Read another chapter of Frame. He applies his three perspectives to Method in Apologetics. Phone rings. A consignment of chairs is about to be delivered to the chapel. Can I be there by 4pm? I grab a book and go. As I leave my son asks why do I have a book in my hand. I explain that with a book waiting time is not wasted time. The lorry arrives at 4.30! But in that half hour I was able to get through some of The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies (Penguin, 2007). It's a fascinating book which asks, "Why is the universe just right for life?" The section I read while waiting for the lorry suggested that the chances of the universe being right for life is the statistical equivalent of tossing a coin and getting heads 400 times in a row. Does Davies therefore postulate the existence of a Creator God? I'll have to wait for the chapter on "Intelligent and not so Intelligent Design". Judging from his earlier work, God and the New Physics, Davies does believe in some kind of deity, but his god is not the Lord God of the Bible.

Another week in my life: Day 2

I can't stand admin stuff, but paperwork has been mounting up in the study so I had a good sort out this morning. Also rearranged library to make shelf space Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics. The four volumes look so cool and alluring sandwiched between the works of Richard Sibbes and Jonathan Edwards. Read a chapter of John Frame's The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 'The Situational Perspective - History, Science and Philosophy as Tools of Theology'. I'm enjoying the book, although some of the more philosophical stuff has been a bit of a challenge. Frame always bends over backwards to be fair minded, which is nice. But his arguments sometimes lack clarity and bite.

After lunch, led Christianity Explored at Ebenezer, West Lavington. We're using the DVD version and we've got to Week 5. Short discussional Bible study on Mark 10:17-22, the rich young ruler. Then watched the film in which Rico Tice explained that salvation is by grace alone. A very clear presentation, which led to some more discussion. I pray that every member of the group is beginning to understand that Christianity is about grace, what God has done for us in Christ, not works.

Read some of Spurgeon's Commenting and Commentaries, published with his Lectures to my students by the Banner of Truth Trust. It is well known that Spurgeon did not engage in systematic expository preaching. He preferred to preach one off textual sermons rather than give a series on a Bible book or theme. He gives his reasons for this in the lecture, On the Choice of a Text.

"I have a lively, or rather deadly, recollection of a certain series of discourses on the Hebrews, which made a deep impression on my mind of the most undesirable kind. I wised frequently that the Hebrews had kept the epistle to themselves, for it sadly bored one poor Gentile lad." (p. 106).

He also cites the example of Joseph Caryl, who commenced a gargantuan series on Job with eight hundred hearers and ended up with only eight. Having devoured Lloyd-Jones on Romans and Ephesians in my formative years as a Christian, I disagree with the Spurgeon's estimate of expository preaching. God has given us a Bible comprised of Books, not odd texts. Preaching should reflect the form as well as the content of biblical revelation. But few preachers possess the gifts of "the Doctor". He might have been able to keep thousands enthralled for the thirteen years he spent on Romans (he retired before concluding the series). That does not mean that we could get away with preaching verse by verse through Bible books. At the moment I'm preaching on John on Sunday mornings and 1 Peter in the evenings at Penknap Providence Church.

But Spurgeon's ministry was not altogether devoid of consecutive biblical ministry. As well as his sermon, he would read through Bible Books and then comment on the reading during the service. He commends this practice of "commenting" on Scripture in the second chapter of Commenting and Commentaries, saying,

"Nowadays since expository preaching is not so common as it ought to be, there is the more necessity for our commenting during the time of our reading of the Scriptures. Since topical preaching, hortatory preaching, experimental preaching an d so on - all exceedingly useful in their own way - have almost pushed proper expository preaching out of place, there is the more need that we should, when we read passages of Holy Writ, habitually give running comments upon them." (p. 681).

So, the great textual preacher was a systematic expositor after all. He just separated preaching from expository commenting. Why not join the two and have expository preaching in the mold of the Reformers, Puritans and (bearing in mind our limitations) Lloyd-Jones?

In the evening I attended the local Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Church prayer meeting at Atworth Chapel, Wiltshire. Most FIEC churches in our area were represented. Reports were given detailing encouragements and challenges faced by fellowships large and small, followed by prayer. Got home at 10.30pm.

Another week in my life: Day 1

Last year, I turned the blog into a kind of online diary. Some readers, (well at least two) said that they found the exercise helpful, so I thought that I might have another stab at it. Here goes.

After breakfast, prayer and meditation on sermon notes for an hour. Then family worship (I read Psalms 124-127 and prayed). Put Sunday roast (pork) in the oven and leave for church. This morning I preached to Ebenezer Baptist Church on John 7:53-8:11. I didn't really want to say too much on matters of textual criticism, as it was more of an evangelistic message. But felt I had to mention something. We use the New King James version, but if people were following in the NIV, the verses would have been missing or bracketed off as disputed. Pretending that these issues do not exist plays into the hands of conspiracy theorists who claim that the church is not open about textual differences. Leon Morris and Don Carson argue pretty strongly that the verses do not belong in John's Gospel. William Hendricksen suggests that on balance they are authentic, but he is not dogmatic. I'm not entirely sure about the passage. The case against its inclusion seems pretty strong. But all seem to agree that the incident really happened and that we can learn something from it. Anyway, my main points were: 1. A dilemma for Jesus - should the woman taken in adultery be stoned? 2. How Jesus resolved the dilemma - 'Let him who is without sin cast the first stone'. 3. Jesus' words to the woman, 'Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more'. I emphasised that we should be careful about judging others - Matthew 7:1ff. Jesus had the right to condemn the adulterous woman but he did not because he came to save not condemn sinners (John 3:17). Although there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1), those who are forgiven are told to go and sin no more.

Paul Oliver, pastor of Bradford-on-Avon Baptist Church and I did a pulpit swap this evening, with him preaching at Ebenezer. Pulpit swaps are a good way of encouraging fellowship between churches. They also give you a sense of the challenges and encouragements that fellow pastors are facing in the congregations they serve. I spoke on Luke 7:36-50. 1. The parable of the two debtors. 2. The principle: those who have been forgiven much will love much. 3 The practice: love for Christ means costly self-giving service 4. The promise: your sins are forgiven, go in peace. Should you wish, you can listen here or download here.

On getting home we had a time of family worship before putting the children to bed. On Sunday evenings we are using Take Care in the Bath by Jim Cromarty, an excellent series of thought provoking stories. Today's installment led to a discussion of how we know that Christianity is the true faith. I read Psalms 127 & 128 and we prayed around.

Read a bit of William Hague's enjoyable William Wilberforce biog. Only two chapters to go. Not too heavy, good for Sunday night reading. Anything more substantial at the end of a Lord's Day would break my brain. Off to bed after own devotions feeling pleasantly tired.