Herman Bavinck on the essence of the Christian religion

Over the past few years, I've been making my way slowly but surely through the first volume - "Prolegomena" - of Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics. The work is not exactly light reading, but it pays great dividends on time and effort spent grappling with it. Bavinck was obviously an extraordinary thinker (his familiarity with the philosophical and theological literature up to his time is just mind-boggling), and reading him, even if not understanding everything, cannot but enlarge one's own thoughts about the things of God.

Here is one quote that I like, that well expresses Bavinck's comprehensive understanding of the Christian faith:

"And the essence of the Christian religion consists in the reality that the creation of the Father, ruined by sin, is restored in the death of the Son of God and re-created by the grace of the Holy Spirit into a kingdom of God" (pg. 112).

Or in other words, according to the Editor's Introduction, the "fundamental theme that shapes Bavinck's entire theology is the trinitarian idea that grace restores nature" (pg. 18). Much to think about.

Family devotions

At the risk of appearing self-serving, I'm going to write about our family devotions. I say it might appear self-serving, because like any spiritual discipline in the Christian life, beginning or maintaining family devotions can be a real challenge and my writing of our family's practice could easily be interpreted as drawing attention to how pious or faithful we are. However, my goal is to encourage families who might read this to start, or continue, having times of family worship.

There is no verse or passage in the Bible that prescribes exactly what a family ought to do for devotions. The Scriptural basis for family devotions is clear (namely, the responsibility of parents, especially fathers, to bring their children up "in the discipline and instruction of the Lord"; see Eph. 6:4; Deut. 6:4-7), but God has not given us detailed instructions on how to order them. So, our family's practice is not an example for all to copy. However, what we have done has worked well and has been a blessing for us.

Normally, we have devotions twice a day (exceptions are Sundays, when we don't do devotions at all, and anytime we don't have time for them). In the morning, we go over one catechism question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Then, we read a passage from the Old Testament. If the passage is one that contains material not appropriate for young ears, I skip it (for example, we did not read the Song of Solomon for family devotions!). Our practice has been to start at Genesis and read through the entire Old Testament, one passage at a time. Yes, some passages, like genealogies and the Levitical laws, don't make the greatest devotional material. However,  it's important to see things in perspective. Over the course of years, we'll have read through the entire Bible together as a family. And that's worth a few weeks here and there of slogging through the tougher sections of Scripture.

We then talk about the passage, a time in which the children often have more questions than there's time to answer - though the questions are sometimes only marginally, or not all, related to the actual passage! Next, we sing a hymn from the Trinity Hymnal. In the morning we sing the same hymn for about a month at a time, in order to learn it. I will pray after singing, and that ends our morning devotions.

In the evening, the format is basically the same but with a few minor differences. Instead of a catechism question, we recite some list of Bible books, usually the books of the New Testament. It's amazing how adept little minds are at memorizing! Then we read a New Testament passage (again, gradually working through the entire NT), discuss it, sing, and pray. In the evenings, we work our way through the Trinity Hymnal, singing one hymn each evening. So, we are learning the hymnbook as well as the Bible.

Now, I realize this may be daunting for some. After all, I'm a pastor and I've been trained to teach the Bible! But, I think any motivated father (or mother, as the case may be) can lead family devotions well. A person doesn't have to preach a sermon - just talk about one or two key thoughts in the passage. Maybe there'll be no comments on the passage. What's crucial is some regular time in which the family's attention is given to the Word and prayer.

Being consistent in this is a challenge. Our lives are busy and interruptions are legion. The kids may be acting up, or complaining about having to have devotions. And often I just plain don't feel like taking the trouble to get started. But I'm convinced that the habit of family devotions, no matter how spotty they may be at times, is a means God uses to richly bless a family. Will family devotions guarantee my child will come to saving faith in Jesus Christ? Of course not. There is no method or technique or practice that guarantees to bring about what only the Holy Spirit can accomplish. But family devotions are a way of instilling the Word of God into our children's, and our own, hearts and minds. And God, who is faithful to his covenant promises, and gracious and good, can and will use them to bring our children to understand, and believe in, the love and grace he has for us in Christ.

What prompted me to write this was, in fact, our family devotions this morning. We read from 1 Samuel how barren Hannah prayed to the Lord, asking him for a son and promising him that if he answered her prayer, she would "give him to the LORD all the days of his life" (1 Samuel 1:11). He did answer her prayer, and Hannah fulfilled her promise: she gave her son Samuel to the priest Eli to be in the service of the Lord all his days.

As Christians, our children belong to the Lord. What better way for us to give them to Christ than to lead them regularly, in the home as well as in church, to the Word of God that bears witness to the life-giving Savior?

Our new church sign

Not really, but an amusing thought.

Sunday night recap

Today was another long and full Lord's Day. It was our first Sunday to get all five kids ready for church without any outside help, since my mom flew back home on Friday. Thanks to Robyn, the morning went smoothly and we had five little bodies buckled up and ready to ride to church with time to spare. My job is rather easy on Sunday mornings: get myself ready. As for Robyn, she has six people to get ready.

I had a full slate at church today. First, I led the morning Sunday School class on Genesis. Today we looked at the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve. I was struck again by how deceptively simple the first few chapters of Genesis are. The stories (by "story" I don't mean fiction; I believe they are historical accounts) are plain enough for a child to understand, but so profound as to provide matter for the deepest of theological reflection. One verse that strikes me in particular is 3:1, in which the serpent utters his very first words, asking Eve: "Did God actually say,...?" Isn't that always the starting point for Satan's deception, to tempt us to doubt the veracity of God's Word?

In the morning, I preached on the account of the mother of James and John asking Jesus to give her sons the two highest positions in the kingdom. I thought it went better than last week, but who knows, really? One point I made, an insight gleaned from A.B. Bruce's The Training of the Twelve, is that Jesus is the only king who obtained his throne by first becoming a servant. He didn't inherit it, he didn't win it with power, or charm, or cunning, but he acquired the greatest throne of all by becoming the lowliest servant of all.

At the evening service, my message was on Romans 6:15-23. In Christ, we are slaves to righteousness, but this slavery is really the essence of true human freedom. In the middle of the sermon, I almost lost my train of thought when I saw my poor wife trying, with one arm, to drag Moriah out of the church for a spanking while with the other arm cradling Monica. I was very tempted to stop the sermon and walk down the aisle to help out, but thankfully Robyn managed to leave the sanctuary without my assistance.

A little while ago, as I held Monica at home, she smiled at me. No one else saw it though, and Robyn is skeptical that it was real. But I think I know a smile when I see one, so I'm sticking with my story.  

Instant Coffee

At the grocery store today there was a table set up besides Starbucks at which it appeared a worker was giving out coffee samples. Naturally attracted to a free coffee giveaway, I walked over there instinctively, like a moth drawn to the light. But more than a sample tasting, it was the Starbucks' "Via Taste Challenge." "Via" is their new instant coffee, and the challenge was to see if I could tell the difference between the instant coffee and the regular brewed coffee. I am proud to say that, with just one sip of each, I immediately identified the instant. But, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In my experience, instant coffee has always been awful, awful stuff. When I lived in Japan people would often offer it to me, assuming this "gaijin" would prefer his Western "coffee" over their own Asian tea. I actually preferred the tea, or water, or nothing at all. But instant coffee technology must have improved since then - the Via was decent. If there were no other viable caffeinated options, I'd drink it.

The Christian Ministry, by Charles Bridges

The full title is, "The Christian Ministry, with An Inquiry into the Causes of its Inefficiency." I bought this book about six years ago, started reading it, then neglected it, started it again at the beginning - reading in fits and starts - and finally just finished it today. Here are some of my thoughts on it.

As a minister constantly learning "on the job," I find books on the ministry and preaching to be extremely helpful. I learned Hebrew, Greek, and theology at seminary, but relatively little on how to be a pastor and preacher (though I believe that seminary training - or something equivalent to it - is vital to faithful and fruitful gospel ministry). I learned much more about the ins and outs of day to day pastoral work from simply observing the pastors I had, and from serving in two different churches as a ministerial intern. The best supplement to those experiences are books such as this one.

The Christian Ministry was written by an 19th-century Anglican minister, Charles Bridges. His style strikes modern ears as old-fashioned and sometimes a bit stilted (part of the reason why it took me a while to read). Also, the context in which Bridges ministered, England in the early 1800's, is obviously much different from 21st-century America. The reader must "translate" some of what he writes into his own familiar setting.

However, the strength of The Christian Ministry is that Bridges concentrates on the very fundamental principles that define and shape the character and work of the gospel ministry. These principles are Scriptural, and so as true today as they were at that time, and as they were in the days of the New Testament. He addresses virtually every aspect of the ministry, always focusing on the truly important matters: the nature of the call, the life and character of the pastor, the work of preaching, the need for faith and prayer, and so on. Here is a typically simple but needful reminder: "Who will deny, that - had he been a more spiritual Christian - he would probably have been a more useful Minister?" (pg. 164). I consider this work to be a sort of touchstone by which to evaluate and compare all other writings about the ministry. It well deserves its classic status.

As one who served as a minister himself, Bridges had a realistic view of pastoring. He writes of the struggles of ministry, as well as the joys. With regard to the struggles, I was struck by his list of the main sources of adversity in the ministry: the professing church, the world, the power of Satan, and ourselves. We often hear of the "unholy trinity" we face as Christians, the world, the flesh, and the devil. But Bridges, writing as a pastor to pastors, includes - and first, no less - "the professing church" as a source of "severe and sometimes overwhelming trials"! Thankfully, serving the church is also a privilege and a joy. But certainly the church itself is often a cause for grief for the pastor. Bridges helps the minister to see this unpleasant truth in the light of the greater call to ministry, with encouraging results.

One observation I found helpful was the reminder that one of the chief "comforts and encouragements" of ministry is the great privilege of laboring in the Word of God. In this connection Bridges quotes Proverbs 11:25, "he that watereth is watered also himself." How true that is.

I also found particularly challenging Bridges' observation that one of the "causes of the want of success in the Christian ministry" is a basic lack of faith. He writes, "All our failures may be ultimately traced to a defect of faith. We ask but for little, we expect but little, we are satisfied with little; and therefore we gain and do but little" (pg. 173). That hit home when I first read it. It is too easy for me as a pastor to simply "go through the motions" of my work and fail to look to God for his blessing on the ministry of his Word.

Somewhere (I couldn't find the page) in the book, Bridges quotes another as saying, in effect, that the ministry demands more than any man can possibly bring to it. Reading this book convicted me of this truth, but at the same time encouraged me to carry on in the work. If I, by the grace of God, grow at all as a minister of the gospel, others will grow in their knowledge of Christ. And that makes it all worth it.

Moriah and stroller

Here is our little Moriah, enjoying a quiet stroll in the park a couple of days ago.

This is the way I like to think of her, rather than the crying child who woke me up five times last night. Or the screaming child later that morning.

She looks so peaceful here. I like this version of Moriah.

(picture by Gran)