28 Friday Aug 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
This is my God, and I will praise Him
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
There is no higher attitude that this for the human spirit: where God alone is the all-sufficient object of delight. it is the very anticipation of heaven itself and of all its worship.
A.H. Drysdale
Early Bible Songs (1890) 50-51
13 Saturday Jun 2015
Posted in Apologetics
When I think or read what strange descriptions the ancients have made of the Middle or Burning Zone, which in regard of its excessive ardors, they judged altogether inhabitable. And how much experience has evinced their ignorance in asserting the healthful temperate and pleasant dwellings that are to be found there.
I cannot but parallel them with the miss-reports [false reports] that carnal man through blindness of mind or depravity of heart have taken up and spread abroad concerning the ways of religion [Christianity] and holiness, rendering them to the world less tolerable then the scorching of the most torrid zone, and more dreadful than a howling desert: such which require austerity and admit no latitude; such which by continual conflicts make watery cheeks and bleeding hearts and what not which may serve as a flaming sword to deter any from entering upon the confines of a holy life.
But, is it not a matter of wonder, that experience — which puts an end to all contradictions that rise up against it, and stops the mouths of gainsayers, should not silence those unjust calumnies that have long cast upon religion by such men who speak evil of those things which they know not? Can there be anything more unreasonably charged upon [Christianity] than that which is contrary to the experience of believers?
Honey may as well cease to be sweet, because the sick man says it is bitter, as the paths of holiness to be pleasant, because carnal men [non-Christians] affirm them to be irksome and difficult; and the sun may be as well accused of darkness, because dim and purblind eyes can see little or nothing of the light.
Let them be asked who have sequestered themselves from the vanities of the world that they might enjoy God and themselves better, whether they have lacked that satisfaction which they expected? Or have missed what they have left? Of have cause to complain of what they endure?
And they will tell such questioners that they have not left their delights; but exchanged them: That religion is joyful, though not dissolute; that it has songs, though not frolics; that a good conscience can feast it always, though not lawless; that they can do what is decent, expedient, or lawful, though not what is sinful.
How vain then are the cavils with which worldliness, like malicious Elymasses [Acts 13:6-8] pervert the straight ways of God. And, how causeless are the scorns which they pour forth upon those that walk in them? Will they not at length, like the drivel of those that spit against the wind, return upon their own faces? Or like arrows shot up against the sun, fall upon those that undertake such vain attempts?
Lord,
though many will not believe what others have seen and testify,
yet let me not ever disavow what thou hast been please to let me see and know:
But let me always confidently say with David,
I have seen an end of all perfection,
but thy commandments are exceedingly broad.
15 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in 1 Corinthians, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Obedience, Paul Baynes, Puritan
Tags
Biblical Counseling, Brief Directions Unto a Godly Life, Constancy, Delight, Diligence, Duty, Obedience, Paul Bayne, Paul Baynes, Puritan, Sloth
You will find the previous chapter here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/paul-baynes-brief-directions-unto-a-godly-life-chapter-six/
CHAPTER SEVEN: HEART ATTITUDES AND OBEDIENCE
Having shown what we must avoid, let us now consider what we must seek[1].
Obedience must not be merely a matter of behavior. Those who obey without the right attitude of the heart will find themselves unsettled and discouraged, their zeal cool; their heart straying; their obedience a toil and burden.
Duty and Delight
First, right obedience requires both knowledge of the duty – what we are to do – and delight in the duty[2].
Secondly, practice of that which we know; which is that living by faith, are laboring to keep a good conscience, so often commended on to us in Scripture.
For the first, we must understand by “knowledge.” It is an enlightening of the mind to understand the will of God about good and evil. It also entails a spirit wisdom, to apply and referr the same to the well ordering of our particular action. We must not rest seeing the truth only, but approve and follow it; knowing what is fit to counsel and guide us. The best must see the need to grow in obedience; the least must not be discouraged. This knowledge must not be weighed and esteemed of us as a common thing and of no value, but loved – otherwise no fruit will follow.
Inward and Outward Obedience
We must seek to walk worthy of the Lord and please in all things. Colossians 1:10. Our walk must conform both inward and outward.
Inward, when as in resolution of our minds and desires and purpose of our hearts, we are prepared and ready to work, and are employed in any good service to God or our brothers. Psalm 119:10; Acts 11:12. We stir our resolution often, or it will be lost through forgetfulness, sloth, careless negligence; or else overwhelmed by sorrow, fear or some similar passion. We will be dulled and made blunt in us through lightness and vanity. Then we are unfit to honor God in any service.
Outward, when in our lives we express and declare the same, by endeavoring at least to please God in one commandment as well as in another. Acts 9:3.[3]
How We Must Obey
First, uprightness: We must obey with a single and true heart. We must love, desire, and do all things because God commands us, and that for God’s glory Deuteronomy 18:13, Ephesians 6:14, John 1:47; 1 Corinthians 10:31. Many actions otherwise fervent enough, for lack of sincerity, are but froth (as were the hot enterprises of Jehu against idolaters).
Such insincere actions – even if approved by others – prove one to be a hypocrite. For many are the holes and the dens of our hearts, and many ways we can deceive ourselves and others also by false pretenses and good actions.
Yet we must labor, knowing that our best actions are mixed with corruption. Yet even then we must seek the joy of unmixed devotion and obedience.
Second diligence. We must be ready to take all occasions and opportunities to the doing of some good, and to shun idleness and being unprofitable. 2 Peter 1:5.
Third, constancy: We must nourish all good desires and holy endeavors, so that our latter years be better than the former. Thus, we will finish our course with joy.
By diligence and constancy, great matters are brought to pass. Where is sloth and inconstancy, not even the most godly will find sweet fruit in their lives.
Fourth, humility and meekness: All our duties must be practiced, if we will follow Christ. Matthew 11:29. These two are not particular virtues, which sometimes all they may have use, but such fruits of the Spirit necessarily required in all actions, so that at no time humbleness of mind and meekness of spirit may be wanting. And therefore they are ofttimes in the Scriptures sat down together, as Ephesians 4:2, Colossians 3:2.
It is evident that the life of the believer is a continual proceeding and departing from evil; endeavoring after duties; a settled course in repentance; and a constant walking with God. Not an idle, uncertain stumbling upon some good actions, while a large part of one’s life is neglected and not looked after. But some may say here, we have a desire to do these things, but we want power and ability. Whereunto I answer that the best desire is vain except we have with that assurance of God’s favor and help to faith; for faith overcomes all lets [hindrances]. 1 John 5:4. Here we see that God who has saved us from the greater danger of hell, will also save us from the lesser danger of being overcome by our corrupt lusts.
We are not Yet Perfect, So That God Will Receive All the Glory
Objection: And if any say that, St. Paul himself did not find power to overcome the body of sin?
Answer:
The holy apostle did not overcome all rebellion of the old man, to the NT might always have the mark of his unworthiness and sin remaining in him. Thereby remember, that it was only of mercy that he was pardoned, and the grace of God that kept him from falling away. And that for both these causes he might be abased and humble under so great grace as he had received. And last of all, that he might from time to time find sweetness still in the forgiveness of his sins.
But although he was not perfect as an angel, yet was not he carried out his lusts into gross iniquities, for God’s grace is sufficient for him; and so shall it be for us, if we do as often earnestly desire it. For every Christian in his measure may look for the same grace that Paul had, and the strength to follow in duties which seem so difficult and impossible to us.
Which is not so to be understood, as if every godly Christian does feel or obtain this (or that might discourage many), but to show what God’s children may confidently look for, and how their estate may be bettered, and their spiritual liberty increased. For many good people do not know what their heavenly father has provided for them, but only receive so much light as whereby they see the way to his kingdom according to the knowledge they have of his will. Thereafter they declare and show it forth in their lives; but nothing as they might, or some others do.
[1] The original of this work in many places shows poor editing. The introductory paragraphs to this section have been among the most confused. While keeping the substance, I have rewritten the text in places.
[2] Note: By delight in obedience we must not read constant cheerfulness, or else we accuse the Lord. Going to the cross was not cheerful in itself. Rather it was a delight in doing Father’s will, however painful and cheerless the task.
[3][3] Obedience must be universal – we cannot pick and choose what we will obey.
06 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in Biblical Counseling, David Clarkson, Puritan
Tags
Biblical Counseling, Daniel 4:29–33, David Clarkson, Delight, Fear of man, Gratitude, Hosea 2:5–9, Matthew 5:10-12, Precious Remedies for Satan's Devices, Puritan, Romans 1:21–23, Self-Examination, thankfulness, Thomas Brooks, zeal
10. Delight: Delight is the heart of one in rapturous worship – it is a transcendent joy. And thus, the object which brings on delight is that which is our God. For some it may be comfort, or pleasure, or control, or entertainment, or sex, or drugs, or music, or power, or adulation of others, or success, or food.
When you sit and think, What would give me the greatest delight? That which comes to your mind is your God.
This is not a speculative venture: look carefully, run through member and think of moments of delight: does God ever come into your heart as the object of delight? What delight tempts you first and most? You do delight in your God.
On this point, the counsel of Thomas Brooks is most astute. If you delight in anything other than God, consider:
Look on sin with that eye [with] which within a few hours we shall see it. Ah, souls! when you shall lie upon a dying bed, and stand before a judgment-seat, sin shall be unmasked, and its dress and robes shall then be taken off, and then it shall appear more vile, filthy, and terrible than hell itself; then, that which formerly appeared most sweet will appear most bitter, and that which appeared most beautiful will appear most ugly, and that which appeared most delightful will then appear most dreadful to the soul.1 Ah, the shame, the pain, the gall, the bitterness, the horror, the hell that the sight of sin, when its dress is taken off, will raise in poor souls! Sin will surely prove evil and bitter to the soul when its robes are taken off. A man may have the stone who feels no fit of it. Conscience will work at last, though for the present one may feel no fit of accusation. Laban shewed himself at parting. Sin will be bitterness in the latter end, when it shall appear to the soul in its own filthy nature. The devil deals with men as the panther doth with beasts; he hides his deformed head till his sweet scent hath drawn them into his danger. Till we have sinned, Satan is a parasite; when we have sinned, he is a tyrant. O souls! the day is at hand when the devil will pull off the paint and garnish that he hath put upon sin, and present that monster, sin, in such a monstrous shape to your souls, that will cause your thoughts to be troubled, your countenance to be changed, the joints of your loins to be loosed, and your knees to be dashed one against another, and your hearts to be so terrified, that you will be ready, with Ahithophel and Judas, to strangle and hang your bodies on earth, and your souls in hell, if the Lord hath not more mercy on you than he had on them. Oh! therefore, look upon sin now as you must look upon it to all eternity, and as God, conscience, and Satan will present it to you another day!
Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 17.
That in which you delight is your God. Pray that you God be no idol and thus be the tyrant to accuse you at the Judgment.
11. Zeal: Where do you place your effort? Are you lukewarm toward God? Are you weak in meditation and prayer but zealous at “self-improvement”? Are you careless in love, forgiveness, patience, and yet zealous for your own reputation? Zeal is a mark of worship. The one who knows & loves God, that one is zealous for God. You will be zealous in the cause of something.
Do not ask this question abstractly, but consider it factually. Look at your life – take the last year. Where and when have you expended zeal? That object which pulled forth your zeal is your God.
12. Gratitude, thankfulness: For what, to what, to whom are you most painfully thankful? Where does your gratitude aim – for thankfulness will always find out one’s true God.
Consider this passage in Hosea: the children of Israel were thankful to Baal for their plenty – and not to the Lord. Thus, the Lord charges them with idolatry on the basis of their gratitude:
5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’ 8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Hosea 2:5–9 (ESV)
God strips Nebuchadnezzar of his sanity when he thanked himself:
29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.
Daniel 4:29–33 (ESV)
In Romans 1 Paul says that those who were not thankful to God are turned over idolatry:
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1:21–23 (ESV)
Who or what do you truly believe has given you good? To whom are you thankful? There is your God.
13. Where do you spend your efforts? Take a measure of your time. Take out a calendar and mark off your days and hours. What receives your industry? For whom do you work?
Let us think more deeply and peer into the heart: When you do the work, whom do you seek to please? You may quickly say God, but is that so?
When you work diligently and no one thanks you – or even worse, you must suffer some pain for your efforts, have you been cheated? Are you angry? Your reward from God is safe and cannot be lost merely because a man or woman treats you poorly. Indeed, it is often the opposite for the believer (Matt. 5:10-12).
If you are dark and angry, then you have not worked for God but for human approval? You have seen your god.
(Adapted from David Clarkson’s sermon, “Soul Idolatry Excludes Men Out of Heaven”).
Part One can be found here:
https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/thirteen-diagnostic-tests-for-soul-idolatry-1/
Part Two can be found here:
https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/thirteen-diagnostic-tests-for-soul-idolatry-2/
Part Three can be found here:
https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/thirteen-diagnostic-tests-for-soul-idolatry-3/
23 Sunday Sep 2012
Posted in Ecclesiastes
Comparison of Solomon’s Work with Eden:
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Ecclesiastes 2:1 (ESV) 1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” |
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But behold, this also was vanity. |
Genesis 4:2 (ESV) 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. |
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Ecclesiastes 2:2 (ESV) 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” |
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Ecclesiastes 2:3 (ESV) 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. |
First wine: Genesis 9:21 |
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Ecclesiastes 2:4 (ESV) 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. |
Genesis 2:8 (ESV) 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. First “house”: in the ark: Gen. 6:14 First vineyard: Gen. 9:20 |
Fredricks:
His ordered gardens may have been relaxing, but even then they were a visual metaphor in the ancient world for the control a king had over his entire kingdom. Furthermore, with terminology reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, Qoheleth describes his achievements as those of one who took seriously God’s primary commission of earth’s management (Gen. 1:26-28). As Verheij notes, common words to both the End account and Eccelsiastes 2:4-6 include ‘plant’, ‘garden’, ‘trees of all fruits’, ‘to water’, ‘to sprout’, ‘to make or do.’ Just as the Edenic passage is the first manifestation of human sovereignty over and earthly domain, Solomon’s activities are a description of an aggressive management of an economic and political enterprise. Another Solomonic tradition, 1 Kings 4:33 at those the Genesis account of humanity’s primary commission where, in addition to being extolled specifically for his botanical knowledge, it is said, “he spoke of trees, a cattle, a fowl, of creepers and fish”, all in Hebrew terminology that in Genesis 1:26, 29. Furthermore, id., as a garden, was not a place for idle pleasure; it was a place of work and responsibility, even before the Fall (Fredricks, Ecclesiastes, 93).
Solomon’s Temple also harkened back to Eden:
1 Kings 6:33–36 (ESV):
33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.
Philip Ryken comments:
Can choose five you think of the place of lush vegetation that was guarded by angels?
The design of Solomon’s Temple referenced the Garden of Eden, which meant that it’s doors symbolized the very gates of paradise. The garden where our first parents lived contained “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). So the trees incite Solomon’s Temple naturally remind us of our ancestral home, as every tree and flower should. But, in this case, there are also angels in the architecture, which establishes a stronger connection with the garden to be eaten. When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden for their sin and eating the forbidden fruit, he placed cherubim East of Eden “to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). Whereas formerly the Garden of Eden was a place to go in and meet with God, now Angels barred the way, preventing the man and the woman from reentering paradise.
So when people came to the door of Solomon’s Temple and saw the cherubim amidst the flowers and the trees, they were coming to the gates of paradise (Ryken, King Solomon, 99).
27 Friday Jul 2012
Posted in Biblical Counseling, John Owen, Puritan
Tags
Biblical Counseling, Church Discipline, Delight, Desire, Father, Fellowship, John Owen, Judges, love, Of Communion With the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Philo, Puritan, temptation
Finally, a failure to receive the love of the Father will cause us to lose great conciliation. But a receipt of the Father’s love will be the most profound joy one’s life:
This will be exceeding effectual to endear thy soul unto God, to cause thee to delight in him, and to make thy abode with him. Many saints have no greater burden in their lives, than that their hearts do not come clearly and fully up, constantly to delight and rejoice in God, — that there is still an indisposedness of spirit unto close walking with him. What is at the bottom of this distemper? Is it not their unskilfulness in or neglect of this duty, even of holding communion with the Father in love? So much as we see of the love of God, so much shall we delight in him, and no more.
Every other discovery of God, without this, will but make the soul fly from Him; but if the heart be once much taken up with this the eminency of the Father’s love, it cannot choose but be overpowered, conquered, and endeared unto him. This, if anything, will work upon us to make our abode with him. If the love of a father will not make a child delight in him, what will? Put, then, this to the venture: exercise your thoughts upon this very thing, the eternal, free, and fruitful love of the Father, and see if your hearts be not wrought upon to delight in him. I dare boldly say, believers will find it as thriving a course as ever they pitched on in their lives. Sit down a little at the fountain, and you will quickly have a farther discovery of the sweetness of the streams. You who have run from him, will not be able, after a while, to keep at a distance for a moment.
We must understand that the receipt of such love is a powerful, indeed the most significant element in turning from sin. To rightly understand sin in a biblical context, we must understand that sin is a matter of deceit:
James explains that we sin when we are “lured and enticed” (James 1:14). The first word is quite strong: There is a Greek word which means to drag or pull something, such as when Peter drew a sword (John 18:10). James uses an uncommon intensive form of that word. However, the word also has an element of trickery in the connotation. In the LXX (the Greek translation of the OT), the word is used to explain what happened to people who were tricked into leaving their city: The people of one a city falsely believed that they were prevailing against an attacking army. As the army retreated before them, the people of the city were drawn out – only to fall prey to the remainder of the attacking army flooding into the undefended city:
29 So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah. 30 And the people of Israel went up against the people of Benjamin on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the people of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city. And as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the people of Benjamin said, “They are routed before us, as at the first.” But the people of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar, and the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place from Maareh-geba. 34 And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was hard, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. 35 And the LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the people of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day. All these were men who drew the sword. 36 So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. Judges 20:29–36 (ESV)
What a profound picture of temptation and city: The temptation promises such great good: For the Benjaminites, victory appeared before them. But the apparent victory was offered only to secure their death.
The second word in James’ description of temptation (James 1:14) means to “lure by use of bait”. The word was used by the Jewish philosopher Philo in his essay, “Every Good Man is Free” (also known by the title, “A Treatise to Prove that Every Virtuous Man is Also Free”:
For if it is driven to and fro by appetite, or if it is attracted by pleasure, or turned out of the way by fear, or contracted by grief, or tortured by want, it then makes itself a slave, and makes him who possesses such a soul the slave of ten thousand masters.
Philo of Alexandria and Charles Duke Yonge, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 697. Peter also uses the word twice:
They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 2 Peter 2:14 (ESV)
For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 2 Peter 2:18 (ESV)
Sin baits the hook with promise – but only as a deception. Proverbs 5 & 7, speaking of the adulterous offer show that while she looks beautiful, “in the end is she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword” (Prov. 5:4). That she not merely seduces but even compels, “With much seductive speech she persuades him, with her smooth speech she compels him” (Prov. 7:21).
Now consider further: The real deception here lies not in the object but in one’s own heart. James writes that one is “lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14). The deception does not lie in the object, but in one’s own heart. Demonstrating that a particular object of desire is based upon deception – while appropriate – will never be sufficient: the desire which gives rise to the deception still remain in place. Only the desire for something greater – indeed something true – will be sufficient to keep one off from the deception.
It is here the love of the Father in the Son protects us from deception and sin: Were one to delight in the love of the Father, there would be no room for temptation.
14 Saturday Jul 2012
Tags
Delight, John Owen, love, Love, Obedience, Of Communion With the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Puritan, The Father, Trinity
Finally, Owen notes the ways in which the love of the Father to us and us to the Father are similar and the ways in which they differ.
The love of each is similar in that it is a love of rest and contentment (Owen uses the word “complacency”, which has since changed its meaning in an important manner). Thus, the love of for his people is noted in Zephaniah 3:17:
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
While David speaks of his love toward God:
Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. Psalm 116:7 (ESV)
Moreover, the love of the Father for us and our love for the Father exist only in Christ. The Father choses us in the beloved (Eph. 1:3-4). We have access to the Father’s love only in Christ (John 14:6).
The mutual love of God and the saints agrees in this, — that the way of communicating the issues and fruits of these loves is only in Christ. The Father communicates no issue of his love unto us but through Christ; and we make no return of love unto him but through Christ. He is the treasury wherein the Father disposeth all the riches of his grace, taken from the bottomless mine of his eternal love; and he is the priest into whose hand we put all the offerings that we return unto the Father. Thence he is first, and by way of eminency, said to love the Son; not only as his eternal Son, — as he was the delight of his soul before the foundation of the world, Proverbs 8:30, — but also as our mediator, and the means of conveying his love to us, Matthew 3:17; John 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 15:9, 17:24. And we are said through him to believe in and to have access to God.
Yet our love differs from the Father’s. The Father loves us out of his bounty, it is “a descending love”. His love is an electing love – he chooses without compulsion “according to his purpose” (Eph. 1:9 & 11). We love him out of “duty”. Since duty may sound distinct to and contrary to love, consider Owen’s further explication:
Our love unto God is a love of duty, the love of a child. His love descends upon us in bounty and fruitfulness; our love ascends unto him in duty and thankfulness. He adds to us by his love; we nothing to him by ours. Our goodness extends not unto him. Though our love be fixed on him immediately, yet no fruit of our love reacheth him immediately; though he requires our love, he is not benefited by it, Job 35:5-8, Romans 11:35, Job 22:2,3. It is indeed made up of these four things: —
1. Rest;
2. Delight;
3. Reverence;
4. Obedience.
By these do we hold communion with the Father in his love. Hence God calls that love which is due to him as a father, “honor,”Malachi 1:6, “If I be a father, where is mine honor?” It is a deserved act of duty.
14 Saturday Jul 2012
Tags
Delight, John Owen, love, Obedience, Of Communion With the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Puritan, The Father, Trinity
To explain the matter with some precision, Owen notes the nature of love and explains that love or fear of God hinges upon whether one knows God as a Judge or Father:
Generally, love is an affection of union and nearness, with complacency therein. So long as the Father is looked on under any other apprehension, but only as acting love upon the soul, it breeds in the soul a dread and aversation. (Joshua 22:5, 23:11; Nehemiah 1:5.) Hence the flying and hiding of sinners, in the Scriptures. But when he who is the Father is considered as a father, acting love on the soul, thine (Psalm 18:1, 31:23, 97:10, 116:1; 1 Corinthians 2:9; James 1:12; Isaiah 56:6; Matthew 22:37; Romans 8:28) raises it to love again. This is, in faith, the ground of all acceptable obedience, Deuteronomy 5:10; Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 10:12, 11:1,13, 13:3.
Owen then notes the matter of love and delight in obedience. When one considers this matter, it demonstrates how wrong headedness of much discussion of Lordship and grace or free grace and obedience. Owen explains that love toward the Father and delighting to do his will are not severable, but coherent aspects of the whole:
It begins in the love of God, and ends in our love to him. That is it which the eternal love of God aims at in us, and works us up unto. It is true, our universal obedience falls within the compass of our communion with God; but that is with him as God, our blessed sovereign, lawgiver, and rewarder: as he is the Father, our Father in Christ, as revealed unto us to be love, above and contrary to all the expectations of the natural man; so it is in love that we have this intercourse with him. Nor do I intend only that love which is as the life and form of all moral obedience; but a peculiar delight and acquiescing in the Father, revealed effectually as love unto the soul.
As David writes:
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8 (ESV)
