HeadTheology

From The Prologue

“Then Jesus tells it to us straight up.  He comes to rip and tear families apart because He is bringing not peace but a sword, not unity but division (Matthew 10:35;  Luke 12:49,52).  He was not on vacation in Palestine but on a mission of violence that would end violently.” (13)

From Chapter 1: “King of Fools”

“The big question that looms in my mind is this: If it’s God’s love that wins, then what kind of love wins?” (27)

“There is an inherent, settled antipathy between God’s Kingdom and the kingdom of the world.” (29)

“What we need to make clear with our bumper stickers and culture-current writings is that the move that wins is a holy love.  The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness” (30)

“Our accomdation to our culture’s insistence on a half-truth puts us in danger of declawing and domesticating the mighty King, whose presence made deamons scream and death flee in shame.” (31)

“His coming was not to be marked by peace and tranquility – He came to impose a test of absolute allegiance.  He forced people into a divisive crisis of choice (Matthew 10:34-39).” (31)

I have just finished reading Timothy Stoner’s book The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith.  I had never heard of the book before and upon seeing the title it initially does not give the impression like it is sound for the soul for two reasons: first, I thought that it might be about how Jesus toked it up (I have seen articles on this); and secondly, being a good Southern Baptist Calvinist who likes his faith thoroughly reformed and neat the word ’scandalous’ did not sit with me well.  But as the cliche goes, “You cannot judge a book by it’s cover”.  And I would have done just that if Trevin Wax had not written such a positive review of the book.

I certainly do not agree with everything in the book.  For instance I would never say that Jesus was a revolutionary like Che or Castro (I would not say he is like George Washington either).  Also, I have a little trouble agreeing that unbelievers can serve God through their art (174).  But taken as a whole I would heartily recommend this book to everyone.  It is very readable and winsome.

Here are the 3 top reasons I like it:

1.  He gives a good explanation of who God is as a joyous, vengeful, righteous, merciful, jealous, and patient King who wants to share his joy with you while demanding that you bow down and worship him.

2.  He gently takes the emerging church to task (especially Rob Bell) by validating their concerns but noting that many times their cure is worse than the disease itself.

3.  He gently takes the fundamentalists to task by giving a solid defense of the arts as a legitimate Christian occupation and that “Apparently for Jesus – no works, no heaven” (156).

I hope soon to post a few of my favorite quotes from the book.

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“A godly man bears God’s name and image; godliness is Godlikeness.  It is one thing to profess God, another thing to resemble him.” -32

“God’s power makes him mighty; his mercy makes him lovely; but his holiness makes him glorious.  The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of his nature and his abhorrence of sin.  A godly man bears some kind of analogy with God in this.” -32

“The godly set themselves against evil, both in purpose and in practice.  They are fearful of that which looks like sin.” -33

“Many pretend to love Christ as a Saviour but hate him as he is the Holy One.” -34

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“As faith enlivens, so love sweetens every duty.” -30

“A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in his presence; he loves God and therefore takes comfort in nothing without him.” -30

“Let us test our godliness by this touch-stone: Do we love God?  Is he our treasure and centre?  Can we, with David, call God our ‘joy’, yes, our ‘exceeding joy’?  Do we delight in drawing near to him, and ‘come before his presence with singing’?  Do we love him for his beauty more than his jewels?  Do we love him when he seems not to love us?” -31

“Many court him, but few love him.  People are for the most part eaten up with self-love; they love their ease, their worldly profit, their lusts, but they do not have a drop of love to God.” -31

These are quotes from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“Faith enlivens the grace; not a grace stirs up till faith sets it working.” -28

“When I believe God’s love to me, this makes me weep that I should sin against so good a God.” -28

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“True knowledge brings a man out of love with himself.  The more he knows, the more he blushes at his own ignorance.” -23

“Though God requires knowledge of God more than burnt offerings, (Hos. 6:6), yet it is a knowledge accompanied by obedience.  True knowledge not only improves a Christian’s sight, but improves his pace.” -24

“Knowledge which is not applied will only light a man to hell.  It would be better to live a savage than to die an infidel under the gospel.” -26

“Saving knowledge is not by speculation, but by inspiration.” -27

I hope within the next couple of weeks to post my favorite quotes from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture by each characteristic of a Godly man.  I am about half way through the book now and highly recommend it.

I continue to be encouraged and humbled by the words of Thomas Watson.  I have read his The Doctrine of Repentance and The Great Gain of Godliness and have always finished a page written by Thomas Watson desiring more of God and the holiness without which I will not see the Lord.

Check the book out at Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore.  (Cheaper than Amazon.com)

I’ve read four Puritan Paperbacks in my life and intend to read them all before my life is done Lord willing since they are such inspirations to holiness and having an abiding joy in God. So far The Doctrine of Repentance, by Thomas Watson, has to be my favorite, or maybe it convictingly spoke to me when I needed it at a time in my life. Nevertheless, whenever someone wants me to recommend a book to them this is usually one of the first ones I mention. Not only is it an easy read (at least much easier than reading John Owen) but the content is pure gold. I can’t see why Christians would want to feed their life with all of the fluff that overflows most Christian bookstores when they can have something so nourishing as The Doctrine of Repentance. This book goes well with Owen’s The Mortification of Sin since there can be no mortification of sin without repentance. Here are my favorite quotes from The Doctrine of Repentance.

“It is better to go with difficulty to heaven than with ease to hell” (8)

“A woman may as well expect to have a child without pangs as one can have repentance without sorrow. He that can believe without doubting, suspect his faith; and he that can repent without sorrowing, suspect his repentance.” (19)

“We are to find as much bitterness in weeping for sin as ever we found sweetness in committing it.” (24)

“The Christian has arrived as a sufficient measure of sorrow when the love of sin is purged out.” (24)

“The more bitterness we taste in sin, the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ.” (27)

(more…)

I’ve picked up The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter again partially because I finished another Puritan Paperback (if you don’t know what I am talking about check them out here) and because I am going to start leading a Community Group at my church this fall. I am about a third through it and all I can say is Baxter provides such a warmth and warning to those who would dare lead in the church at all. The warmth comes from a God centeredness, in statements like,

“As you may render him more service, so you may do him more disservice than others. The nearer men stand to God, the greater dishonor hath he by their miscarriages; and more will they be imputed by foolish men to God himself.” (78)

and the warning to live holy lives because people are watching all the more,

“Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine, and lest you lay such stumbling-blocks before the blind, as may be the occasion of their ruin, lest you unsay with your lives, what you say with your tongues; and be the greatest hinderers of the success of your own labours.” (63)

I hope in the future to post my favorite quotes from The Reformed Pastor as I did from the The Mortification of Sin.

I finally finished The Mortification of Sin by John Owen for the second time. I must say that it is a book that gets much richer the second time around. I can’t say though that of all the Puritans I have read it transformed my Christian walk like J. I. Packer’s, The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson holds that place. Nonetheless, The Mortification of Sin is a superb book well worth its arduous read and worth apply to one’s Christian sojourn.

One of the things that I wish more book reviews had in them were more quotes from the book. I know that pulling quotes out of context can be deadly but I’d rather those of you who have not read the book get the highlights from Owen himself. I want you to taste this work itself to inspire you to read it, not to tell you what it tastes like. So without further ado, here are my favorite quotes from The Mortification of Sin.

“the vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depend on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.” (p.24)

“Be killing sin, or it will be killing you” (p.26)

“When sin lets us alone, we may let it alone: but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be the most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times, in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion.” (p.28)

“[Sin] is modest, as it were, in its first motions and proposals; but having once got footing in the heart by them, it constantly makes good its ground, and presseth on to some degrees in the same kind.” (p.31)

“Not to be daily mortifying sin is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace and love of God, who hath furnished us with a principle of doing it.” (p.32)

“Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness, who walks not over the neck of his lusts.” (p.34) (more…)