Afterwords -- the power of God
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."(Romans 1:16-17)
June 3, 2023
Dear friends,
We are enjoying our summer weather here, which has only recently arrived! The photo above is of the bridge and water garden at the Hahn Horticulture Garden, a beautiful place to visit on the Virginia Tech campus. The koi especially seemed delighted to see us. At our home in nearby Prices Fork, we've relished the evening breezes as we sit on our porch, along with the catbirds flitting about, singing their chirpy songs, and then chiding us with their rusty-gate call. Also, this past week I've sighted a Baltimore oriole, a red-shouldered hawk (overhead), and heard a great-horned owl one night near our house. As I write this, I'm listening to Michael O'Brien's song, "All Things Bright and Beautiful". This world has much sorrow and brokenness, but God gives us glimpses of his glory, and of the world to come.
JESUS, BUT NOT PAUL? In my daily Bible reading I've finished Proverbs and have begun reading the Epistle to the Romans. Something I've heard from people throughout my years of ministry is this sentiment: "I like Jesus, but I'm not so sure about Paul." They seem to have doubts about his good influence upon Christianity. In their eyes, they say, he's too rabbinical, patriarchal, overly logical, legalistic, left-brained, a woman-hater, or things like that. One problem with this is, we know nothing about Jesus apart from apostolic witness, which includes Paul. In fact, this young rabbi-turned-apostle writes the earliest texts we have regarding the atoning death and bodily resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:1-11; Gal 1:1-3; AD 49--56). The bottom line is that God, not us (with all our various opinions), chooses his own instruments, whether prophets or apostles.
APOSTOLIC INTRO. The book of Romans is an explanation of the gospel in depth (1:16-17). The two paragraphs that precede this give introduction to Paul's apostolic role. First, Paul's apostolic calling (and authority) is part and parcel of God's work of redemption in history (1:1-7). His calling is in continuity with the OT prophets, with God's historical work of raising up Jesus from the line of David, with the resurrection of Jesus, with the work of God's Spirit, and in the gospel proclamation among the nations until Christ's return. Paul's role as an apostle is in continuity with God's redeeming work. This work is unitary, that is, all aspects of this history are by God's choice, from creation to consummation. And Paul is embedded in that.
HIS SERVICE. But Paul does not leave the matter there. He is not heavy-handed about his authority, but is a loving servant toward God's people (1:8-15). He prays, he labors, he visits, he travels, he encourages, he writes (this epistle, for example), he knows people by name, and he eagerly preaches the good news about Jesus. Paul never bandies about his apostolic authority, often referring to himself only as Christ's bondservant. He's a true servant leader. If you have any question as to the cost of Paul's service on behalf of the church, just read 2 Corinthians chapter 11, or the book of Acts. I found the introduction to the book of Romans to be a wonderful view of both the authority and the loving service of this Christlike apostle of Christ.
SOME RANDOM THINGS.
-- “If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider ‘not spiritual work,’ I can best serve others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave, when in truth it is the interesting and exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” (Amy Carmichael) Carmichael's writings about the beauty of everyday faithfulness, especially in caring for children, were profoundly encouraging to this mother as she raised her own kids.
-- "A central theme in Psalm 119 is the relationship of the Word (Law) of God to the human condition. The law is portrayed as the only pathway to human fulfillment. Psalm 119 offers the portal to reality through which one may rightly meditate on the relation between truth and goodness, faith and practice, calling and vocation." (Dean Bork) Read more from Dean's blog here.
-- Longtime friend and fellow retired pastor, Neil Damgaard, considers the question, are independent evangelical churches -- which happen to practice believers' baptism -- to be considered to be Baptist churches? Listen to "Are We Baptists?"
-- On hymn tunes. In our country we commonly associate particular tunes to specific hymns. For example, most American hymnals have "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" set to the tune known as "Hampton". This beautiful version, sung by Chelsea Moon, uses the Scottish folk melody, "O Waly, Waly". BTW, heres's a survey of various tunes used for "When I Survey."
-- For two years (2020--2021) I posted a Bible reading guide following the M'Cheyne reading plan. I've started to put my notes together into document form (PDF), arranged by book of the Bible. I just uploaded the notes on the book of Exodus, which you can download from here. And here are the notes for reading Genesis.
IN OTHER NEWS.
-- Welcome to Prideville: "The practical result of a city based on the principles of polyamory is an unsustainable and unhealthy collection of selfish, immature adults united in the vain pursuit of personal fulfillment through hedonism." Read "Welcome to Prideville."
-- Gender Ideology’s Shaky Twin Pillars: A Washington Post essay provides a case study in the substitution of dogma for biology. (Gender reassignment "treatment" of minors by the medical establishment is child abuse.)
-- Making sense of Ukraine: "What Ukraine means for world politics is that the seemingly stable post–Cold War settlement in Europe was in fact a truce." (George Weigel, on what the Russian war on Ukraine this past year has revealed.)
-- Just an historical detail: what pens did Gen. MacArthur use to sign the documents of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II?
FINAL QUOTE. "There can hardly be goodness in a man if he is not angered by sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way." (C. H. Spurgeon, on Psalm 45:7)
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.