Maximising Potential

I recently bought a copy of Rochefoucald's Maxims in translation. Lucid and witty, though often cynical, many of them bear repeating. At random I give you

• We give away nothing so liberally as advice (110)
• It is more easy to be wise for others than for ourselves (132)
• What we find least often in a love affair is love itself( 402)

From an earlier age, Marcus Aurelius's Stoic Meditations also contain good things.

• If it is not the right thing to do, never do it; if it is not the truth, do not say it.
• Keep your impulses in hand.
• (Or, leaving out his conclusion) death, Alexander of Macedon's end differed no whit from his stable boy's ....

In a more directly Christian line, Spurgeon's Salt Cellars take homely sayings, such as Soft words win hard hearts or Take no more on your back than you can carry and adds spiritual comment. Spurgeon himself can be eminently quotable. He who is not godly every day is not godly any day or Men may fast from bread that they may gorge themselves on pride.

Then there are the Puritans such as Thomas Watson; Grace is Christ's portrait drawn on the soul or It is good to find out our sins, lest they find us out.

The perfect repository of such wisdom is the Book of Proverbs which is full of divine wisdom in proverbial form drawn from many ancient sources. What can match proverbs such as

• The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

• One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

• There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (10:22, 13:7, 14:12)?

J W Alexander of Princeton was one who wrote down maxims. In his Thoughts on Preaching he encourages the framing of them. He defmes a maxim as a general principle of conduct expressed in a concise, portable, applicable manner. A maxim is a nascent proverb. He encourages the framing of a new maxim every day. By way of example he tells of how as a young man he noticed how some things seemed too much trouble. He framed the maxim

Never avoid doing anything because of the short bodily trouble it may occasion.

'It has saved me a world of useless regrets', he declares. He did not want to turn us all into proverb makers. As he says, coming up with one that will last is usually a once in a life time experience at best. Rather, he urges learning from experience and making best use of what we may learn by framing our own maxims. When 1 first read his advice I decided to have a go. I left off after a short while but every now and again I return to the habit. Here are some personal maxims that have helped me. May be they will help you. More importantly, maybe, they will stir you to come up with some of your own.

•  Children: You can always spare two minutes for a child.
• Never shout at a child - they won't understand.
• Early rising: Get up early every day, that's the godly way.
• Guidance: Guidance is easy if you don't care where you're going.
• Organisation: An hour's relaxation and an hour's work is better than three hours of trying to do both.

• A day without a plan, is something they should ban.
• Rise and retire the same time every day, for creatures of habit it's easier that way.
• Prayer: If you know how long you stayed, you probably haven't prayed.
• The easiest thing to squeeze out of a busy life is prayer.
• Prayer letters: Read them and pray there and then, you might not get the chance again.

• Television: Hours hard at work are hours well spent, hours with the TV you'll have to repent.
• Switch on the telly - inevitab-l-y
• General: Trying to regain lost ground by back-pedalling is an impossible task.
• In the time it takes to let a thing go roimd your head a dozen times, you could have done it.

• The pursuit of pleasure leads nowhere.
• Summer's as long as Winter.
• January started well, February's when I fell.
• What you find easy, others find hard. What you find hard, may come easy to them.
• Self-consciousness destroys, God-consciousness transforms.

• If the television has killed the art of conversation so the telephone has killed the art of letter writing.
• Pious hopes do no good to anyone.
• Always take note of criticism, there's often some truth in it.
• Our calling is to encourage not to humble. God will do the humbling.
• A maxim a day can maximise your way.
• Dreaming up wise maxims won't make you wise!

Silent Upon a Peak in Darrien

Nearly twenty years have passed since that time but the memory is still vivid. I was a student at university. We had a very helpful Christian Union and a feature of CU life was the annual 'Banner Book Offer' when Banner of Truth books were made available to us at generously discounted prices. In my second year I took as full advantage of the offer as I was able.

I well remember carrying my parcel of treasures up to my room and lying down on the green candlewick bedspread (this was the seventies!) with the first fat volume four inches above my face and starting to read. It was Berkhof's famous Systematic Theology (the 1976 reprint with a red dust jacket). I knew what systematic theology was about, but this was the first tune I had opened one intending to read it. I turned, of course, to the beginning. I leafed through the fascinating contents table and started to read. Berkhof begins with the existence and knowability of God. Mind blowing. By the time I came to the being and attributes of God, I was reeling. What amazing stuff!

I had been a Christian about six years and most of the stuff I had received was of a good standard but I had never had anything like this. I had never thought about my faith in a systematic way and had never really thought about God's nature and attributes As I read through Berkhof I recognised what he had written as truth but it was presented in a way I had ever encountered. John Keats wrote a sonnet called 'On first looking into Chapman's Homer' comparing his experiences reading Homer for the first time with discovering a new planet or the Pacific Ocean. Homer was on my shelf by this time. lt rarely excited me. But as for Berkhof, that is another story. I had learned what Spurgeon said, that, 'The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead.' 'The name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father' is for the child of God. 'The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention.' 

I remember going on to discover the same teaching in The Living God by Dick France and Jim Packer's best seller Knowing God. (I remember cringing with embarrassment on one occasion on hearing our CU President describe France's book. to his face. as 'The poor man's Knowing God'!). The virtue of both books was their popular approach. The same was true of the series of sermons that the CU's executive committee agreed to organise the following year on that very subject. Perhaps my best find in all of this was question four in the superlative Westminster Shorter Catechism (another wonderful discovery from this period). In response to the question 'What is God?' it reads:

God As a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

Apart from everything else, this is a wonderfully constructed sentence. In just 18 words it says 22 things about God. The words 'infinite, eternal and unchangeable' apply not just to God's being but also to each of the six attributes 'wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth'. It does not say everything that might be said about God's nature and attributes but it says a great deal in short compass and is well worth remembering. Charles Hodge thought it 'Probably the best definition of God ever penned by man'.

The subject of God's nature and attributes has continued to fascinate and stir me down the years. I remember being particularly amazed by successive realisations of the greatness of God's knowledge, for example. Firstly, it was the realisation that God knows himself. Simple soul as I am, it has taken me these near 40 years to even get an inkling of who or what I am, yet the Omniscient God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, knows himself. Then later, it was the realisation that God knows not only all that has happened and that will happen but also all that could have happened in the past or might happen in the future. We sometimes ask 'What if ...?' The Lord knows the answer to all those questions. That staggers me.

In more recent years the discovery of the writings Charnock and Bavinck have been a great help. They can make Berkhof seem quite straightforward. Meanwhile, my own miserable attempt at a preaching series on God's nature and attributes has helped me see how difficult it is to teach such the subject in a profitable way. The great problem, it seems to me, is that it is one thing to know about God but quite another to know God. In Packer's phrase 'A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of

knowledge about him'. It is one thing to believe that God is Spirit but quite another to walk always by faith and not hanker after some visible sign of his presence. It is one thing to believe God is holy but quite another to hate sin and flee from it in order to walk with him. It is easy to say you believe God is sovereign but not so easy to keep looking to him when everything seems to be going wrong. As with every doctrine, the question is not whether we can provide orthodox answers in front of others but

whether we truly believe in our hearts the truths revealed in Scripture. Am I convinced about the immensity of God, his presence in every place? Do I truly believe he is all wise? Am I convinced he is love, one who is slow to anger and abounding in mercy? And then how much is that reflected in my life? Are my head beliefs really making a difference to the way I live?

Discovering a continent is an exciting business but what counts is what happens when the ship lands. What use is going to be made of this abundant provision? From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Spurgeon once spoke of the doctrine of God both expanding and humbling the mind. One feels the mind has been greatly expanded but has it been sufficiently humbled? We need both.

Corruption in High Places

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine in 1998

With the change of government last year it was tempting to think that political corruption and sleaze was a thing of the past but it has been very much with us so far in 1998. In Britain, nationally and locally, in America, in Japan and elsewhere charges of misdealing and infidelity abound. Even Martin Bell the anti-sleaze candidate has not escaped accusations of financial irregularity.

The fifth commandment calls on us not only to honour our parents but implies respect to the powers that be in church and state. When succeeding commands are read in this light we see that they oblige those in authority not to take advantage of their position as a means to financial gain, sexual conquest or acts of violence. Further, they are obliged to be honest in all their dealings and flee covetousness. Yet it is clear from the history of every age that many do not. How should Christians react when accusations against those in power are flying?

Bear in mind that you do not know everything

Most of what we know of misdemeanours in high places has come out when the leaders in question are no longer in office. Such acts are committed in comparative secrecy and it is usually later that they come to general attention. The violence of an Amin, the financial duplicity of a Lloyd-George, the adulteries of a Kennedy, the dishonesty of many otherwise laudable men are things more widely known now than they were at the time. A few are found out while still in office, as were Nixon and Reagan, but not always. Before we leap to blame one man and hold up another as a paragon of virtue we do well to remember our ignorance. Just as The sins of some men are obvious reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; so the sins of others trail behind them.

Refuse to believe everything you read

Similarly, just as some are able to give the appearance of probity though quite immoral so we must recognise that not every piece of mud thrown necessarily sticks. There are many with vested interests in dragging a leader down and there are many whose lust for fame and fortune makes them willing to confirm or deny as required. Further, newspapers are notoriously unreliable. With one eye on the sales figures, the other on the deadline, they hastily throw together articles that can be wildly inaccurate. If you have ever read an article in a newspaper on something you know anything about, you will have no doubt winced at the inaccuracies. Practically every day conscientious newspapers print corrections to previous articles. Not every mistake is rectified. ‘Believe nothing you hear and only half you read’ overstates the case but is worth remembering.

Remember that power corrupts, so do not be surprised at abuses

It was Lord Acton who observed that ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Because of human depravity this is almost inevitable. Democracy recognises this and purposely seeks to limit opportunities for abuses of power, yet they do and will occur. We ought not to be surprised.

How should we react when those in power are guilty of theft, immorality, violence, dishonesty or greed?

Opinion seems polarised. On one hand some say, provided it does not interfere directly with their public role, it does not matter. But it is surely naïve to suppose that a man who goes back on his marriage vows or who is less than honest when declaring his financial interests is unlikely to be corrupted in other ways. Why should we suppose his life can be neatly divided into public and private with no cross-fertilisation?

Then there is the idea that every man found guilty of adultery, dishonesty or greed be immediately removed from office. This is equally naïve. It makes ‘You shall not get caught’ the great commandment and unrealistically excludes from public office all but the most circumspect.

Rather, should we not say that where serious sin is evident that should be made known and where there is no credible repentance voters should be alerted to the man’s unreliability. The rule of saints is a wonderful dream but meanwhile we have to accept that most state leaders have been and are very much men with feet of clay. Some graciousness from political opponents would also go a long way to encouraging leaders to public repentance.

Remember why we are to respect the authorities that exist

t is important to remember that we must respect the authorities that exist not because they are morally superior but because they have been established by God. They are God’s servants. You remember how mortified Paul was once when he realised he had spoken out at the High Priest. Why? Not because the High Priest was godly but because it is a sin to speak evil against a leader of your people. There must be respect for the office even when we find it difficult to respect the individual. This does not mean that corruption should be ignored but it does mean to say that the office carries its own authority. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men says Peter. Show proper respect for everyone he adds.

Remember the chief thing to pray in regard to the powers that be

In 1 Timothy 2 Christians are told to pray for those in authority chiefly that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Sometimes that may involve praying in unexpected ways. When the USSR invaded Afghanistan some years ago, most of the democratic world was dismayed. However, it was clear to many Christians that in God’s providence opportunities were thus opened up for gospel advance. Or to take another example. The dictator Papa Doc Duvalier was basically bad news for the people of Haiti. However, that wicked man had some sympathy towards evangelical Christianity and opened up opportunities for the godly for which they were thankful. The point is that the Bible does not encourage us to pray, ‘Lord our head of state is an adulterer. Remove him.’ Rather it is the gospel that should be our focus. Pray for its advance.

Look to yourself and beware of contamination

When we read of the sins of others and the accusations that are levelled against them there is a danger. Ephesians 5:12 says it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. Reading such details can corrupt in and of itself and can also tempt us to think that we can do the same. But that is foolish. Rather, we should look to ourselves and plead with God that we will not fall into such sins.

Lateral Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the science or art of interpretation. It is from a Greek word meaning to interpret, explain, translate or bridge a gap. Hermes (equivalent to Mercury) was supposed to be the messenger of the gods and the deity of writing, arts and sciences. It can be defined as

The science of interpreting an author's language or Principles, laws and methods of interpretation. Hermeneutics can apply to any sort of literature but it especially refers to the Bible, God’s inspired Word.

Lateral thinking is not, as some wags would have it, thinking whilst lying on one side! The word does come from the Latin word for side but the idea here is of coming at a subject sideways, ie from an unusual angle. Much favoured by Dr Edward de Bono and others in recent times, the idea is of solving problems by means of unorthodox or apparently illogical approaches.

So what about lateral hermeneutics? There is certainly plenty of unorthodox hermeneutics going on. As when people come up with a doctrine first and then try to find something in the Bible to support it. Whether they do this unconsciously or on purpose, it surely will not do. Yet plenty of it goes on. Then there are those who begin with Scripture but quickly disregard the plain meaning of the words in context and come up with their unique interpretation. When so called Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that what Jesus meant when he spoke to the thief on the cross was not I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise but Today I say to you, you will be with me in Paradise that is not lateral hermeneutics but straightforward Scripture twisting. As for obscurantists who want to forget grammar and find hidden meanings by adding up the numerical equivalents of the original letters, they are hardly worth taking time to refute.

But may be there is something here. In the late William Hendriksen’s helpful commentary on Romans, under his comments on Romans 5 you will find a poem he has written based on the chapter. This is certainly not the usual method employed for elucidating the text by scholarly Reformed commentators. Hendriksen feels obliged to justify himself a little. In order to do so, he mentions a number of more unusual but defencible approaches to getting at the meaning of a text. It may be that some of these could be a help to us in understanding the Scriptures better. He mentions,

1. Acting the passage out. What is in mind is not an elaborate production but simply acting out, alone or with others, events depicted in a certain passage. The moment you consider where characters stood or what was the look on their faces you have begun to consider questions often overlooked in more conventional readings of a text. This method also highlights exactly how actions were performed. With these things in mind think of Ehud slaying Eglon or Jesus washing the disciple’s feet or Paul handing over the Gentile churches' gift to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.

2. Illustrating the passage. However limited your artistic skills you may nevertheless find valuable insight into certain passages of Scripture by means of attempting to draw or model things referred to. I defy anyone to have a real grasp of the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple without means of some sort of visual aid. The device has similarities with the one above but extends to passages where there is little action or that involve non human creatures. The images in Revelation and some Old Testament prophecies are not easily represented but in merely trying to draw them one notices elements easily missed when simply reading the text.

On a different level someone told me recently of an illustration in a children’s magazine of Jeremiah being hoisted out of the cistern somehow clean shaven! Surely not. Similar realisations await anyone who tries to portray Joseph at the various stages of his sojourn in Egypt. Or more significantly, picture in your mind Titus the Greek in his toga meeting the long robed and bearded Jews of Jerusalem who so opposed the reception of the Gentiles into the church.

These methods are not necessarily appropriate for other uses and we may have difficulties in some cases. Certainly we must be careful about any representation of the Lord. His portrayal in paintings and drama does much harm.

3. Engaging in a debate about the passage. Often where there is disagreement on a passage it forces us to take a fresh look at it. This can open our eyes to things that have remained hidden. Sometimes this happens in the midst of argument. There is the obvious danger here of finding support for a position where it clearly does not exist but at other times it can prove a genuine means of insight.

4. Writing a poem based on the passage. Similar insights would be gained from any re-working of a passage in written form, such as in order to provide a unified or simplified account. Such work sometimes involves consulting parallel passages, an important hermeneutical device in its own right.

5. One other method that Hendriksen does not mention but of which he makes use is the diagrammatic presentation of a verse or passage. In his commentaries he often draws attention to chiastic parallelism by means of little ‘X’ shaped diagrams. Similarly his Bible Survey gives a helpful spiral diagram illustrating the encircling route of the judgments in Amos 1 and 2. More Than Conquerors has a useful diagram illustrating the vision of Revelation 4 and 5. Such devices are in some ways the fruit of other hermeneutical methods but are worth mentioning here. If you cannot make sense of a passage try putting it down in diagram form.

The suitability, of course, of such approaches will vary from passage to passage. It is unlikely that earth shattering new doctrines will be discovered by such means but it may be a help to us in entering into the spirit of a passage. By such means we may well gain new insights that would have been denied us by more conventional methods. When forced to think of questions that would never have been faced otherwise new understandings can sometimes be found even of familiar passages.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine

Four Sermons on Lot’s Wife

‘Halted, faulted, salted’. It is not entirely clear when and where the three point tradition describing the story of Lot’s wife began. The story of Lot’s wife in Genesis 19 and especially the reference made to it in Luke 17:32, has long been a favourite with preachers down the years.

Four notable preachers who addressed the subject, and whose sermons are still in print today, are considered below.

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)

In May 1735 the great Jonathan Edwards preached two sermons declaring that ‘we ought not to look back when we are fleeing out of Sodom.’ He gives eight reasons not to look back. First, reasons to do with Sodom’s nature—it was full of filthiness and abominations and appointed to destruction. Then there is the destruction itself, which is exceedingly dreadful, a destruction that was utter—Sodom was consumed whole and entire; universal—none that stayed would escape; everlasting and swift and sudden too. Finally, he reminds us that there is nothing in Sodom worth looking back to and how messengers sent by God warn us to make haste in our flight from Sodom and not look behind. By way of application, he says that the destruction of which we are in danger is

• infinitely more dreadful than the destruction of literal Sodom from which Lot fled
• not only greater than Sodom’s temporal destruction but greater than the eternal destruction of Sodom’s inhabitants

Further,

• Multitudes, while looking back, have been suddenly overtaken and seized by the storm of wrath
• If you look back, and live long after it, there is great danger that you will never get further.
• The only way to seek salvation is to press forward with all your might and still to look and press forward, never to stand still or slacken your pace
• It may well stir you up to flee for your lives and not look behind you when you consider how many have lately fled to the mountains, while you yet remain in Sodom.

He adds that,

• Backsliding after such a time as this will have a vastly greater tendency to seal one’s damnation than at another time. The greater means we have, the louder calls and greater advantages we are under, the more dangerous backsliding is, the greater its tendency to exacerbate guilt, provoke God and harden the heart.
• It may be that a great part of the wicked world are today in the situation Sodom was when Lot fled from it. Some outward, temporal destruction hangs over it
• To enforce this warning against looking back, he pleads with his hearers to consider how very prone to it our hearts are. We have backsliding hearts.

Robert Murray M‘Cheyne (1813–1843)

In the 1830s the saintly Robert Murray M‘Cheyne preached on Genesis 19:26, but having in mind Luke 17:32. He draws out the fact that ‘many souls who have been awakened to flee from wrath, look behind, and are lost.’

He gives three examples of people wakened up to flee - those under terror of natural conscience or influenced by friends who flee or are laid hold of by God and made to flee. In each case, he asserts, if such turn back, like Lot’s wife, they will be lost.

Under his first head he makes the point that being awakened by mere natural conscience is very different to being awakened by God’s Spirit. Such people are not really near the kingdom. Even in cases of genuine awakening there is a threefold danger to beware of - despairing of being saved, presuming one is saved, or failing to make every effort to be saved. Lot’s wife reminds us that being awakened is not the same as being saved. God is under no obligation to save you just because you have begun to flee. It is too easy to lose our fears and go back to the old ways and neglect the Bible and prayer. Don’t look back! If you do, you may well never be awakened again.

C. H. Spurgeon (1834–1892)

Preaching in 1879, C. H. Spurgeon declared that this passage in Luke teaches that love for the world is death.

If you cling to sin you must perish, no matter who you are. Jesus teaches us to hold the world with a loose hand, always ready to leave it all. Hearts glued to the world, he warns, will perish with it. Separation is the only way of escape. Either flee from the world or perish with it.

The things to remember about Lot’s wife are that she was Lot’s wife, that she went some way to being saved but was not saved in the end and perished, and that her doom was terrible.

He notes that rebellion is as much seen in the breach of what appears to be a little command as it is in the violation of a great precept. The fall itself came about when one piece of forbidden fruit was eaten. So here a woman died for just a look! We ought to take care over little things. There is life in a look and there can be death in a look too. Faith, he says, may be as well exhibited by not looking as by looking.

Faith is a look at Christ but it is also not looking at the things which are behind. There are plenty of people who call themselves Christians but who are immersed in the world as much as any worldly person. This is not how it should be. What a thing - to be slain by justice on the verge of mercy, to be the victim of eternal wrath on the brink of salvation!

Towards the end he says that a person who walks with God and imitates him gets to be a great character like Abraham. If he walks with a holy man like Abraham and imitates him he may rise to be a good character, though weak, like Lot. If someone walks with a character like Lot and only copies him, the result is failure, as was Lot’s wife. He uses a picture more familiar in his own day than ours - that of a boy copying handwriting. If he copies the top line, he writes an Abraham-line but if he then only copies the second line, he writes a Lot-line, far short of the first. If he then copies the third line, the Lot-line, the result will be a poor affair indeed. That is Lot’s wife.

J. C. Ryle (1816–1900)

In Holiness, first published in 1877, Ryle makes three points - the religious privileges Lot’s wife enjoyed; the particular sin she committed; the judgement God inflicted on her. Firstly, his burden is to show that mere possession of religious privilege cannot save you. Under the second head he says that though it was a little thing the look revealed the true character of Lot’s wife - it revealed her disobedience, proud unbelief and secret love of the world. He gives five examples of people who start well in religion but then it all comes to nothing.

• Children from religious families who start well but end ill.
• Married people who do well in religion but as their children begin to grow, they fall away. 
• Young women who seem to love decided religion until they are 20 or 21 but then lose all!
• Church members once zealous, earnest professors but who are now torpid, formal and cold.
• Clergy who work hard in their calling a few years but grow lazy, loving this present world. ‘Beware of a half-hearted religion!’ is his warning.

The third head talks of a fearful and hopeless end. He urges all to settle firmly in their minds

• That the same Bible that teaches that God in mercy and compassion sent Christ to die for sinners teaches that God hates sin and must, from his very nature, punish all who cling to sin or refuse the salvation he provides.
• The Bible gives proof upon proof that God will punish the hardened and unbelieving and will be avenged on his enemies, as well as showing mercy to penitents.
• The Lord Jesus Christ himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of Hell.

The comforting ideas that the Bible gives us of Heaven are at an end the moment we deny the reality or eternity of Hell. He closes with searching questions prompted by the text - Are you careless about Christ’s second coming? Lukewarm and cold in your Christianity? Halting between two opinions and disposed to go back to the world? Secretly cherishing some besetting sin? Trifling with little sins? Resting on religious privileges? Trusting to your religious knowledge? Making some profession of religion yet clinging to the world? Trusting that you will have a deathbed repentance? The last question is about belonging to an evangelical church. Many do belong to such a church, he says,

… and, alas, go no further! They hear the truth Sunday after Sunday - and remain as hard as the nether millstone. Sermon after sermon sounds in their ears. Month after month they are invited to repent, to believe, to come to Christ and to be saved. Year after year passes away - and they are not changed. They keep their seat under the teaching of a favourite minister, and they also keep their favourite sins. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, ‘Take heed! Remember Lot’s wife.’

[The sermons are The Folly of looking back in fleeing out of Sodom in Edwards’ Works Vol. 2; ‘Lot’s Wife’ in M‘Cheyne’s ‘Additional Remains’; ‘Remember Lot’s Wife’ in Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Vol. 25, #1491; ‘A Woman to be Remembered’ in Ryle’s Holiness.]

This article appeared in the Banner of Truth Magazine

That's worth thinking about! Subjects for Christian Meditation

This is the article in Evangelical Times back in July 2021

From time to time you hear of people commending the benefits of meditation. Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Novak Djokovich – they all say they find it a tremendous help. Are they to be followed? Is it something Christians should engage in?

When we scratch below the surface, we find that the sort of meditation advocated is of the eastern Buddhist or Hindu sort. It usually advocates emptying the mind rather than filling it.

Christian meditation eschews mental passivity and calls on us to actively exert our mental energy.

A biographer said of the 19th-century Princeton professor Archibald Alexander: ‘From our earliest recollections, he had been accustomed to sit and muse in the evening twilight, often prolonging these hours far beyond the time when lights are usually demanded. These moments, though solemn, appeared to be pleasurable. In these he pursued his most fruitful trains of thought.

‘As he grew older, this sort of exercise was more frequent and protracted; and in no instance did it seem to merge into anything like slumber. It was a period to be gratefully remembered, as one of singular peace.’

Meditation of that sort is not always easy but it should be frequent and focused. Adequate time must be set aside for it. It is encouraged in Scripture: Psalm 119:15 speaks of meditating on God’s precepts and considering his ways; Philippians 4:8 encourages us with the words, ‘Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely… think about such things.’

Principles

One Christian writer suggests a method for meditating along the following lines.

1. Focus your attention on the inescapable presence of God, his intimate nearness. Issues of time and place are secondary, though important. The rule is to do whatever is most conducive to concentration.

2. Peruse: read, repeat, write out, etc. (if it is Scripture). We do not want simply to learn things, but to get these things to take hold of us.

3. Engage your imagination; use your senses. Reflect deeply on the truth, brood over it, absorb it, and soak in it as you turn it over in your mind.

4. Pray, personalise, praise, practice. Meditation must always lead to adoration and celebration. Further, commit yourself to acting in line with your meditation.

Pictures

Speaking on meditation, Spurgeon says it is not enough to gather grapes, we need to tread them out so that the juice is preserved and used to make good wine.

He likens it to a wrestler putting embrocation on his body to warm himself up for the match. It is also like a cow ruminating as it passes food through all four stomachs – we must slowly meditate on God’s Word and on similar matters.

Puritan William Bates said that our meditations are like eggs which need to be kept warm in the nest: ‘If the bird leaves her nest for a long space, the eggs chill and are not fit for production’, whereas ‘holiness and comfort to our souls’ will be the result of regular time with God.

At the beginning, meditation is like trying to build a fire from wet wood. He encourages us to persevere ‘till the flame doth so ascend’.

Subjects

Another Puritan, George Swinnock, lists subjects for meditation. He includes the nature or attributes of God, the states and offices of Christ, the three-fold (better four-fold) state of man, the four last things, the vanity of the creature, the sinfulness of sin, the love and fullness of the blessed Saviour, and the divine word and works.

‘Out of these’, he says, ‘we may choose sometimes one thing, sometimes another to be the particular subject of our thoughts.’

God’s nature and attributes

But how do I begin to meditate on God? First, you have to know what he is like, something found in Scripture and experienced in life.

A good catechism will be a big help. In the Shorter Catechism, Question 4 asks, ‘What is God?’ and gives an eleven-part answer: ‘God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.’

If you learned that answer you could very profitably spend time thinking about God’s nature and attributes for a good while. Alternatively you could meditate on Psalm 145 or another suitable Scripture.

The states of Christ

We ought to think about Christ, of course. If we do not discipline our thoughts, we will think only vague thoughts. We must discipline ourselves to think of Christ as he is described in Scripture.

One way to do that is to think about what theologians call his states, including Christ’s humiliation and then Christ’s exaltation.

The two states can themselves be divided up to some extent. Humiliation includes his actual incarnation as he is conceived in Mary’s womb, is born, matures, serves, and ultimately gives his life on the cross.

Christ’s exaltation begins with his resurrection from the tomb. Six weeks later he ascends back to heaven from where he pours out the Holy Spirit. He now sits at God’s right hand and intercedes for his people. From there he will one day come to earth again in glory.

Picture a pair of staircases: on one side steps descend to the grave, on the other they rise again to the point where Christ has the name above every name.

The offices of Christ

Christ holds the threefold office as Prophet, Priest, and King. First described by the church father Eusebius, it was more fully developed by Calvin during the Reformation.

The doctrine states that Christ performed three functions (offices) during his earthly ministry – those of Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:14-22), Priest (Psalm 110:1-4), and King (Psalm 2).

In the Old Testament, people were set apart to these offices by being anointed with oil. Messiah means ‘anointed one’ and is readily associated with the threefold office.

While the office of king is most frequently connected with the Messiah, the role of Jesus as Priest (involving intercession before God) is also prominent in the New Testament. It is most fully explained in Hebrews chapters 7–10. The Shorter Catechism would again be a great help for meditation on this theme.

The fourfold state of man

We should meditate on God. We should meditate on Christ. We should also meditate on ourselves. There is a danger here of being introspective and self-centred, but there are ways of thinking about ourselves (self-examination if you like) which are both God-honouring and profitable.

We can think of man’s states in various ways. In his book Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, the Scottish Puritan Thomas Boston writes of the state of innocence; the state of nature (where he delineates the sinfulness, misery, and inability of humanity); the state of grace; and the state of glory. To put it simply, there is before the Fall; after the Fall; after regeneration; and after glorification.

The four last things

What is in mind here is the last four things concerning mankind: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. We are talking about the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife. These things are often commended as a collective topic for pious meditation.

St Philip Neri apparently said, ‘Beginners in religion ought to exercise themselves principally in meditation on the Four Last Things.’ Traditionally, sermons on the four Sundays of Advent would be on this subject. The Puritans liked to write on the subject. The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven by Robert Bolton appeared in 1639 and Four Last Things – Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell by William Bates in 1691.

In 1683 John Bunyan published a poem, One thing is needful or Serious meditations upon the Four Last Things. The four last things have also become a common theme for artists and writers.

The vanity of the creature

In a 17th century treatise on this subject, the Anglican bishop Edward Reynolds focused on Ecclesiastes 1:14 and wrote of the need for a right perspective on life and the insufficiency of earthly things to satisfy the soul.

He highlighted the vast disproportion between the soul and the creature – indeed the relative vanity of our creaturely nature. He discusses how the creature can be kept in its place and how to deal with vexations.

John Newton once wrote a poem beginning Honey though the bee prepares, an envenomed sting he wears; he points out that such things are a result of the Fall. However, these things can work for our good if we are willing to look to the Redeemer, as they help us to set our hearts on heaven where nothing is vain. These are the sorts of meditation we have in mind here.

The sinfulness of sin

Whenever we think of sin we need to be careful. We are like dry wood that can catch fire in a moment. If we are not careful, thoughts of sin will quickly turn to sins and that will be no advantage to us at all. In certain laboratories they keep strains of different diseases like smallpox, Ebola, or anthrax. You can just imagine the extreme precautions taken when these strains are handled by scientists.

We must proceed in a similar way when we think of sin. Several Puritans wrote on the sinfulness of sin. Jeremiah Burroughs’s book The Evil of Evils is an example. By way of example, in one chapter he reminds us that all sin’s promises are delusions and cannot be the object of a rational creature. Nothing that is good, he says, should be ventured for sin or made serviceable to sin.

To make sin the chief good is a great mistake and all time spent in sin is time lost. There is never a need to debate whether to do it or not.

There is ample material like that to help us meditate on the subject of sin.

The love and fullness of the blessed Saviour

The love of Christ is a central element of Christian belief and theology – both Christ’s love for his people and the love of his people for him and to others. These are distinct Christian teachings.

The theme of love is the key element in John’s writings; the well-known words of John 3:16 are typical of the apostle.

He also writes of the Good Shepherd in John 10, and love is a theme in the Upper Room discourses (John 13–17).

The love of Christ is also a motif in Paul’s letters, Ephesians being a prime example. Many Christians have written on the love of Christ – it merits careful meditation.

The divine Word and works

Most Christians are perhaps familiar with the idea of meditating on God’s Word, but we should meditate on his works also.

In Psalm 145:5 for example, David says, I will meditate on your wonderful works. We can meditate on God’s ways directly. Think about your hand or your eye or about water and its properties. Or we can meditate on Scriptures such as the closing chapters of Job, the lions in Daniel, the great fish in Jonah, or the various animals in Proverbs 30.

These are examples of subjects on which to meditate. No doubt there are others, but these will keep us busy for a while.