J.I. Packer - Interviewed by Carl Trueman

60 - Sermons on Exodus (25:1-9)

(The sixtieth in a series of sermons on Exodus, preached April 22, 2012.)

Exodus 25:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, 5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.[1]

We have arrived at the last major section of Exodus and it concerns the construction of a large, mobile tent. The Tabernacle is a tent – a very fancy tent, mind you – and its contents are constructed with a valuable assortment of materials – but a tent nonetheless. Much of the next 16 chapters focus on this tent. Of all the things we could do on a Lord’s Day, why should we talk about a tent?

There are many reasons why this tent deserves your attention, but here is just one: The Tabernacle preaches – and its preaching takes us to the heart of the Christian message. The Tabernacle preaches – God with us in Jesus Christ!

The Tabernacle is a two point sermon. First, it preaches how God chooses to dwell with his people, a major story line of the Bible. In Exodus 24 we discovered that blood must be shed, “the blood of the covenant.” Sin is atoned for, God’s wrath turned away, sins forgiven, God and man reconciled by sacrifice.

Openly and boldly, so everyone can see, crosses hang from our necks, stand atop our buildings, and adorn our cemeteries. Go to the remotest part of the world, find a person who knows nothing about Christianity, transport him to America, and in no time he’ll figure out that Christianity and the cross are inseparable.

The cross is such a strange symbol. We execute murderers by hanging, electrocution, or lethal injection. I’ve been to most of your homes, and none of you decorate your walls with pictures of electric chairs, nooses or hypodermic needles. But many of you, like the Wingards, have crosses, brutal tools of the executioner, designed to torture before killing. Before Christianity, crosses repelled; people loathed them. Out of sight and out of mind, that’s where crosses belonged before Jesus came.

But on a cross the blood of the covenant was shed. Christ’s blood was poured out, the righteous for the unrighteous, that we might be reconciled to God. Bearing our shame and sin and guilt, he made atonement for our sin. Because of him we prize the cross.

The Tabernacle preaches – God is with us in Jesus Christ! The God who atoned for your sins dwells in your midst.

Exodus 24:15 tells us that “cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days.” (Exodus 24:15-16) The cloud, the visible display of God’s glory, rests on Mt. Sinai. What does ‘God’s glory’ mean? “God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.”[2] As God inscribes his law on tablets of stone and reveals his plans for the Tabernacle, his glory covers the mountain.

But Israel won’t remain at the mountain. The nation moves on, and the Lord moves with them. The glory that covers Sinai will soon cover the Tabernacle. Look at verse 8: “let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”

The Tabernacle preaches – God with Israel!

Wherever Israel goes, the Lord is with them. The Tabernacle is the portable palace of Israel’s king; he will travel with them. Israel moves from place to place, and the tent is set up and taken down. Of course, God is high and lifted up, his glory fills the heavens – he is omnipresent - fully present everywhere. Still, he chooses to live with Israel in a special way, in a Tabernacle. God is with Israel as the nation travels rugged roads and wilderness paths. Forbidding terrain and formidable enemies do not matter – the Lord will not leave his people. Grumbling, frightened, failing people, the Lord refuses to forsake them. Discipline them, yes. Forsake them, no. The Tabernacle – it preaches – God with us!

Later in Israel’s history, the Temple will replace the Tabernacle – God’s glory will rest on the Temple and the Temple will preach the same message – God with us in Jesus Christ!

But Tabernacle and Temple are impermanent structures; they will pass away. Still, each is designed to prepare Israel for Jesus, who is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his nature.”[3] God with us in Jesus Christ!

The Tabernacle preaches Jesus! You know that from your New Testaments. John 1:14 reads, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The verse could read, “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.” Or, “the word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Greek word for “dwelt” can be translated either way. God was present with in the Tabernacle. That’s what the Tabernacle preaches – God with us! And God is with us forever in Jesus Christ.

Our Savior is no fair weather friend. He sees better than we do the ugliness of our sin, yet his devotion to us remains constant. We fail him, but he stays true. We tarnish the reputation of his name, but he never disowns us. Our enemies do not frighten him. He refuses to leave us broken and without hope.

In the incarnation, God comes among us, journeys with us, subjects himself to the knocks and bruises of our fallen world, sharing hardship with us. God with us – Immanuel – that’s what we celebrate in our Christmas confession, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Jesus is our Immanuel - God with us! He is the cornerstone of God’s New Covenant Temple, and when our faith rests in Christ, we become stones, fit together into a spiritual temple, that offers to God the sacrifice of praise.[4]

The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon Sinai; it later rests on the Tabernacle and Temple, and it now rests upon you, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter reassures a suffering church, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:14).

Cuban poet Armando Valladares spent twenty-two years in prison, and was a fierce opponent of Fidel Castro. He came to faith in Jesus Christ through the witness of men on their way to execution. He writes, "Those cries of the executed patriots -  'Long live Christ the King! Down with Communism!' had wakened me to a new life . . . The cries became such a potent and stirring symbol that by 1963 the men condemned to death were gagged before being carried down to be shot. The jailers feared those shouts."[5]

The witness of suffering believers, upon whom rest "the Spirit of glory and of God."

The Tabernacle preaches. It proclaims God with us in Jesus Christ. And, next it proclaims God’s holiness.

The Tabernacle is a place of worship, and even though God is in the midst of Israel, Israel must keep its distance, too. They must access him only in the way he chooses.

Look again at verses 8 and 9: “let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” Precisely, carefully, obediently, Israel must follow God’s instructions, building the Tabernacle according to the plans he reveals to Moses on Sinai, and with the materials he specifies.

In later weeks we will discover that people enter the outer courtyard of the Tabernacle only by sacrifice. Priests go further into the temple, into the Holy Place, with its table, lampstand, and altar of incense. Only the High Priest enters the Most Holy Place, the throne room of the heavenly King. There in the Most Holy Place was the Ark of the Covenant, the King’s footstool.

The Tabernacle preaches God’s holiness, and prepares us for the coming of the great High Priest Jesus Christ, who by his blood sacrifice secures our eternal redemption and fellowship with God.[6]

The Lord lists the materials to be used in the tabernacle construction and for the priests’

clothing: precious metals – gold, silver and bronze; costly dyed fabrics; animal skins; wood; oil and spices; and precious stones. Everything must be assembled according to the divine pattern.

New Covenant worship differs from Old Covenant worship in many ways, but in one way they are identical – we must worship God only according to the way he commands us in his word. It’s not for us to decide how we may approach him. This is called the regulative principle of worship – worship must be regulated by the word of God. The word is the standard that governs worship, not our tastes or preferences or thoughts about what’s useful or not.

The Tabernacle preaches both God’s presence with his people and his holiness.

Let’s talk now about the funding of this Tabernacle project. : “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution.’” (Exodus 25:1-2).

Sometimes we talk about giving to the church. But what we really do is what Israel did – we give to God.[7] “[T]ake for me a contribution.”

We give to God in response to his grace. God delivered Israel from Pharaoh’s oppressive hand. At Passover, a night of heartbreak for Pharaoh and all his people, the Lord moved in the hearts of grieving Egyptians to give the Israelites gold and silver and clothing.[8] Now Israel will return a portion of what was given them to the Lord for the construction of his Tabernacle.

We, too, are moved to give by the Lord’s grace. One of the purposes of 2 Corinthians is to encourage the church in Corinth to contribute to a collection for suffering Christians in Jerusalem. How does he move them? By pointing to Christ: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Do you know God’s grace in Christ? Then give.

Give and give from the heart. “From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me” (Exodus 25:2). In other places, the law placed Israel under an obligation to give. They must tithe (or give ten percent) of their produce. For example, one tithe was commanded to support the temple work in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12:17). Paying one’s tithe was not an option.

But offerings for the Tabernacle were given as hearts were moved – freely, spontaneously, and joyfully.

The offering Paul planned to collect in Corinth for Jerusalem’s suffering church was this same kind of offering. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians (9:6-7).

In our congregation we receive tithes week by week to carry on the church’s work. But there are additional opportunities to give beyond our ordinary obligations – to our missionaries through Faith Promise, to our school, and, through our Deacons’ Offering, to those who have crushing financial burdens. Won’t your give freely?

In Corinth, Paul had close at hand an example of cheerful giving. Much of that generous gift came from a most unlikely place – it came from Macedonia, poor churches in northern Greece. He tells the church at Corinth: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.” (2 Corinthians 8:1-4) How many of us can say we beg for an opportunity to give? These Macedonian Christians should inspire us! They lived in poverty, but out of their poverty they gave generously and magnificently.

What will motivate us to greater giving? One motivation is the example of those Christians, who, like the Macedonians, have few possessions but give extravagantly. I and, to be sure, many of you learned to tithe from the example of men and women who cultivated the discipline of tithing during the great depression.

Unfortunately, some of us give grudgingly. Putting tithes and offerings in the collection place is an act of duty, done with all the joy of forking over money to the IRS. This won’t do.

Generously, freely, and cheerfully follow in the footsteps of those Macedonian Christians. When you do, you offer more than your money to God, you offer yourself. Never far from my mind are Jesus’ words: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:33).

John Currid tells the story of the woman who received a large and unexpected inheritance. She immediately gave a tenth of it to advance her church’s work. She kept a journal. After her death, readers of her journal found this entry on the day she received her inheritance: “Quick, quick, before my heart gets hard!”[9]

May the Lord move our hearts to give – cheerfully, freely and generously! For the words remain true as the day Jesus spoke them: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

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[1] All Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 2002), 593. I am indedbted to Dr. Fred Rice for pointing this passage out to me in an unpublished paper.

[3] Hebrews 1:3

[4] 1 Peter 2:4-5, Hebrews 13:5

[5] Edmund P. Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter (IVP: 1988), 192.

[6] Hebrews 9:11-12, 25-26.

[7] Ryken, 802.

[8] Exodus 12:33-36

[9] John D. Currid, Exodus, vol. 2 (Evangelical Press, 2001), 150.

59 - Sermons on Exodus (24:9-18)

(The fifty-ninth in a series of sermons on Exodus, preached April 15, 2012.)

Exodus 24:9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.[1]

For as long as I remember I’ve been a reader. As an infant and toddler, my parents put me in their laps and read to me. Because of them, I read before I went to school. Because of them, I count books as my second most valuable possession. In a moment, I’ll talk about what I count most valuable.

About my books. Our home Tennessee had a screened-in porch and was my favorite place to read. Although I never traveled outside the South until my junior year of college, I went around the world many times, in my imagination, as I read on my front porch. A great book fires the imagination.

During my senior year in high school, one of my favorite authors, William F. Buckley, Jr. came to speak in Murfreesboro, which was about 70 miles from my home. My parents let me take the car to hear him. He spoke, I took notes, and I returned home. After listening to his lecture, I knew more about the William F. Buckley, Jr., but I didn’t know him.

One of the pleasures of growing older has been the opportunity to meet authors, to share meals with them, to have unhurried conversation around the table, to ask questions, and to listen. A meal may be ordinary, but nothing binds people closer and builds friendships more than sharing a meal together. That’s why my books are my second most valuable possession. My kitchen table is the first. Around it friendships are established, cultivated, and deepened.

We grieve the breakdown of families, churches, and communities. There are many causes. One, I’m sure, is the little time we spend eating and drinking together.

There’s no substitute for table fellowship. Meals bring people together, build friendships and forge unity. That’s why verse 11 stands out: “And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.”

Several weeks have passed since we looked at the first half of Exodus 24. The chapter records a worship service. By blood sacrifice, God establishes a covenant with his people (Exodus 24:3-8). The covenant is ratified and the Lord gathers on his holy mountain “Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 24:9)  –and these men experience the goal of salvation – meeting with God at his table. On the Lord’s mountain they share together a foretaste of heaven – feasting in the presence of God.

God loves his people, and establishes a banqueting table for them. Hear Isaiah’s prophecy: “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever.” (Isaiah 25:6-8) What a great Easter text! Death vanquished and God’s resurrected people gathered to a feast, to a personal relationship with the Great King.

Our Savior talks of that feast when he said, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). Jew and Gentile together, one people, gathered to a feast, to a personal relationship with the Great King.

Look again at the text. Verse 10: “they saw the God of Israel,” and verse 11: “they beheld God, and ate and drank.”

What exactly did they see? Verses 10-11 tell us: “they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.” Perhaps they were kneeling or lying face down on the pavement, which would be the posture of humility and respect they should offer to their sovereign.

That’s a strange world to us - bowing and kneeling before a sovereign. Our presidential candidates work hard to prove that they’re one of us, chatting over beer and sausages, throwing the football around, one of the boys.

In the ancient world, as in some places today, to be in the presence of king is frightening – his word a matter of life and death. Deference, submission, and respect governed the relationship between kings and people. Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years. A succession of England’s prime ministers came and went during her reign. Only one, Benjamin Disraeli, was granted the honor of sitting in her presence.

Moses and his companions know protocol. They know that no man can see the Lord’s face and live (Exodus 33:20). But by grace - by divine invitation – they gather before Israel’s holy God. The blood of the covenant has atoned for their sins. “[T]hey saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.”

Which way were the men looking? Up or down? It is possible that in this vision these men looked down. Bowing before the Lord they see the sapphire pavement beneath the Lord.

However, it is possible, too, that these men look up – not down, but up. They see the pavement of heaven from beneath, stretching across the sky, each tile a stunning blue. Above the pavement is the throne, and seated upon it is the pre-incarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity.

That’s who Ezekiel saw when he said:

“And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.” (Ezekiel 1:26-28) Ezekiel sees the preincarnate Christ.

And Isaiah sees God, the pre-incarnate Christ, too: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple . . . And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1,5) How do we know that Isaiah saw Jesus? Because Jesus tells us he did: “Isaiah saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41). He saw Jesus’ glory as the exalted king (Isaiah 6), and he saw Jesus’ glory as the Suffering Servant whose death would atone for the sins of God’s people (Isaiah 52:13-53:12).

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the elders of Israel behold the glory of Jesus, and the Lord raises their heads and lifts them up - they feast in his presence.

And this same Jesus was crucified for your sins, raised for your justification, and reigning for your salvation – this same Jesus comes to feast with you. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” Jesus announces. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Do you have that personal fellowship with him? When the Lord’s Table is set before you, do you feed on him in your heart by faith? Do you fellowship with him in prayer?

Jesus comes to the door not as a beggar, not one of the homeless, but as the king of Kings and lord of Lords. Open the door, and fellowship with him.

Moses and his friends eat and drink on the mountain of the Lord. At some point, the worship service on the mountain ends and the feast is over. Moses and his company descend from the mountain.

But the Lord commands Moses to come back up the mountain. Look at verse 12. The Lord invites Moses: “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” Moses makes his way back up the mountain, this time he goes with Joshua.

What are these tables of stone? There are two of them, containing the text of the Ten Commandments, inscribed by the finger of God (Deuteronomy 4:31, Exodus 31:18). Weeks later, when Moses comes down from the mountain, he discovers the people dancing to an idol, and, in his anger, he smashes the tablets on the ground, shattering them in pieces (Exodus 32:18). The Lord directs Moses to cut two more tablets, and on them the Ten Commandments were written (Exodus 3:1, 27-28).

Why two tablets? In biblical times, when two kings made a treaty, two copies were made – one for each king. The kings would go their separate ways, taking a copy of the covenant with them, perhaps depositing it in the temple of their gods.

In the Bible, God is present with his people, and he is present among them as a God who speaks. The Lord defines the terms of the covenant – its stipulations, its blessings, and its curses. No negotiations. He speaks, and his people must obey.

The two tablets of the covenant are placed, first, in the Tabernacle and, later, in the Temple. God does not leave Israel and go his separate way. He dwells in the midst of them, and leads them by his word. Biblical religion is word-based. God governs his people by his word. Those who have been reconciled to God by sacrifice, and who eat and drink at his table are men and women who submit themselves to the authority of his word – and they submit themselves gladly.

On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus ate bread and drank wine with his disciples. In the conversation that followed, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Those who eat and drink with the Lord must keep his commandments.

What about you – you who have been washed by Jesus’ blood and gather at his table – is it your desire to keep his commandments? When temptation begs you to follow the crowd, to rely on your instincts, do you resist and say, “I will be led by God’s word. My character will be defined by obedience to the word of the Lord.”

The Lord is in our midst. He speaks by his written word. Listen to him!

Now let’s think for a moment about Joshua.

When Moses ascends the mountain to fetch the tablets, he takes Joshua as his assistant (Exodus 24:13). Joshua will succeed Moses as Israel’s leader. A leader must always think about his successor, and prepare him for the day when he will lead. No one is indispensable. Every leader, no matter how great, must one day step aside. Moses prepares Joshua to lead.

Moses also makes plans for the care of his people in his absence. “And he said to the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.’” (Exodus 24:14) The elders must shepherd God’s people with care, making sure that in Moses’ absence they don’t scatter, either returning to Egypt or moving on toward the Promised Land without him. They must remain together until Moses returns.

If disputes arise – and they always will because wherever there are people there is conflict – Aaron and Hur will adjudicate and render the authoritative verdict. Now we know that Aaron proves to be a very poor leader (Exodus 32:1ff.) After Moses has been gone many weeks, the people demand that Aaron make an idol. Instead of holding firmly to the commandments of God, Aaron surrenders to the will of the people. The duty of God’s leaders, first of all, is obedience to God’s revealed will. Aaron will abandon his duty to the Lord and his will – but that comes later.

Right now we see Moses working to care for his people. They can’t be left without a shepherd.

Moses and Joshua then proceed up the mountain where they will spend six days together. “Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days.” (Exodus 24:15-16) The cloud, the visible display of God’s glory, rests on Mt. Sinai. What does “God’s glory” mean? One writer defines it, “God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.”[2] God inscribes his law on tablets of stone, and his glory covers the mountain.

Moses experiences even more of God’s glorious fellowship. We’re told that “on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24:16-18)

On the seventh day Moses advances further up the mountain – further into the midst of the cloud – further into God’s presence where the Lord unfolds his plans regarding his tabernacle. His glory will soon rest there. Is it any wonder that the Book of Deuteronomy ends with these words: And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” (Deuteronomy 34:10).

Moses was a mighty man, but only a man. His work was not to glorify himself, but to glorify another prophet who would come after him. Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers — it is to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15). And so Moses proclaimed Jesus Christ, who is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). He is the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2, KJV), and “he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). In his written word is revealed everything necessary for your salvation.

I began this sermon telling you about my two prized possession – my books and kitchen table. God’s table and book are here now. By faith we behold the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In Christ, we gather at God’s table. In Christ, a book, the word of God, transforms us. Book and table, God’s precious gifts to you!

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[1] All Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 2002), 593. I am indedbted to Dr. Fred Rice for pointing this passage out to me in an unpublished paper.

May Book Club - Augustine's "The City of God"

My book club's next meeting is Monday, May 28, at 6:00 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church. We will discuss Augustine's The City of God, a book that has significantly influenced western Christianity, philosophy and civilization. If you're interested in discussing, please join us.

Perhaps the The City of God's best known passage comes from the conclusion of Book 14: "Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earth by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord . . . The one [city] delights in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers; the other says to its God, ‘I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.’"

If you are interested in discussing the book, please join us. We will read these sections (and thanks to Dr. Andrew Hoffecker for helping me narrow down the readings):

Book I: chapters 1-3, 7-9, 14-16, 19-21, 32-36
Book II: 1-4, 7, 21-22, 29
Book IV: 1-4, 9-12, 27, 28
Book VI: 1-2, 8
Book VIII: 1-14
Book IX: 1-6
Book X: 1-23, 6, 7
Book XI: 1-13, 16, 22-23
Book XII: 1-10, 22-24
Book XIV: 1-6, 11-14, 26-28
Book XV: 1-14, 17-21
Book XVI: 1, 7-10, 41-43
Book XVII: 1-3, 14-16, 23, 24
Book XVIII: 2, 8, 9, 22-25, 37-43, 46, 53, 54
Book XIX: 1, 11-28
Book XX: 1, 2, 30
Book XXI: 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 23
Book XXII: 1, 5, 8, 22, 24-30

Even if you read only the selections from Books 1,14, and 19, I think you would still enjoy and benefit from the conversation.

Congratulations to Fred Rice!

Congratulations to Dr. Fred Rice, who last weekend won his 11th USA Powerlifting Masters National Championship (60-69 age group).

School and Sports

Richard A. Riesen is a veteran Christian school principal and leader. I just completed his School and Sports: A Christian Critique, a brief and thoughtful evaluation of the relationship between sports, character formation and Christian schooling.

". . . all such [athletic programs proper to Christian schools] must operate within an understanding that academic work and spiritual concerns are primary, where the place of sports is continually evaluated in relation to the school's underlying purposes, as given, usually, in its mission statement. If those purposes include physical training, that too should be specified - physical education classes only? intramural sports? outdoor recreation? interscholastic athletics? - and the reasons for which one, or all four, or some combination, forged in deliberation and articulated for the common good. If theory and practice do not line up, a conversation between board and administration and whoever else is principally concerned must sort that out." (122-123)

The Rescue of Roger Locher

Happy 21st Birthday, Tom!

Happy 21th Birthday, Tom! You've moved on and found bigger fish to catch. We're proud of you! Sell, sell, sell!

Happy 7th Birthday, Jem and Scout!