What About Me and My Weeds?

Posted on July 11, 2023 by RC

Jesus’ message about the one with the log in his eye trying to help the one with the speck in his eye isn’t just about measuring different sized irritants in our eyes or different sized sins in our hearts. Its message isn’t simply, “Be sure to rebuke only those who are less godly than you are.” Rather it reminds us of the importance of giving our attention to our own weaknesses before we worry about the supposed weaknesses we see in others.

CS Lewis made a similar point in his Screwtape Letters. Therein he had Screwtape, the senior demon encourage Wormwood, the junior demon to encourage his “patient” to cultivate an amorphous and powerless love for distant abstractions while disdaining a love for his annoying neighbor in the pew beside him. We do the same with sin. We find it so much easier to raise up our moral outrage against people and sins that are far from us. It’s a rather handy distraction from ourselves and the sins that are in us. Angry Greta can hate with the heat of a thousand suns those nameless capitalists that are fiddling while Gaia burns, and in so doing pay no attention to the large sinner footprint she is laying down on her way to eternal warming. Shame on her.

We should not be surprised when unbelievers do this. But aiming close, we find we have much the same problem. I too find it easy to rage against the sins of people I’ve never met, and in so doing construct a delusion that they are worse than I am. The good news, on the other hand, is that there is so much more I can do about my own sins and failures than I can do about geo-politics in Hong Kong, or internal intrigue in the Kremlin, however brutal things may be. Whether it is a log or a splinter, by looking into that mirror which is the Word of God, I can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, take it out. Not so I can then give my attention to the sins of others, but that I can turn my attention to the other sins of mine. There isn’t one mere speck, nor one mere log in there. There’s enough stacked wood for a New England winter in my eye.

When you and I determine to debate over the relative merits of him, whomever he may be, whichever side I may take, we have both taken ourselves out of the one arena where we can do the most good- worrying about our own sins. Yes, of course there’s a time and a place to warn of wolves, to mark the divisive man. That time, however, isn’t in the midst of our battle with our own wolves, nor when we are being the divisive man. Let us pick up the prophet’s mantle, and prophesy against our own failures. And God will have mercy.

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What is biblical theology?

Posted on July 10, 2023 by RC

Given that our theology ought to stem from God’s revelation of Himself in His Word, one might expect that biblical theology is simply sound theology, theology that matches the Bible. While sound theology is biblical, the adjective “biblical” here has a different purpose, to describe a particular way of practicing theology. It stands in contrast with systematic theology. The two approaches are equally important and equally valuable, each informing the other.

Systematic theology takes all that the Bible teaches on a given subject and seeks to understand it in relationship to every other subject. It seeks to ensure that what we say about the person of Christ melds together with what we say about His work, what His work tells us about the sacraments, what the sacraments tell us about the church. It takes the content of the Bible and arranges it in an orderly fashion.

Biblical theology, on the other hand, recognizes the importance of letting the Bible not only say what it says, but to say it the way it says it. It acknowledges that the Bible doesn’t begin where our systematics books begin, explaining the doctrine of revelation. Instead it begins with the true story of how He made the world. Biblical theology leaves the elements of story in place and sees the value in those elements.

There is a beautiful illustration of this distinction in CS Lewis (who, of course, has countless beautiful illustrations in his writings) and his Narnia tale, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There, Eustace Scrubb, (and he almost deserved the name), representing the prissiness of modernism, meets Ramandu, a retired star. Eustace points out that in our world stars are great balls of burning gas. Ramandu replies to this effect, “They may be made of burning gas, but such is not what they are.” Reducing a star down to its atomic make-up doesn’t get us closer to understanding stars, but farther away.

Biblical theology pushes against the weakness of systematics that can sometimes descend into abstract Aristotelian notions. When we are so busy parsing the meaning of expiation and propitiation that we miss that our heavenly Father loves us, we’re doing something wrong. Of course it is possible to err in the other direction, to allow literary flights of fancy to lead us outside the safe harbor of orthodoxy.

Which is why they are both necessary. Systematic theology is the beautiful fence God has built to keep us safe. Outside the fence is heterodoxy and worse, heresy. Biblical theology, however, is the grass inside the fence. The fence lets us know the grass is safe. What we should be eating, however, is the grass, not the fence. If your study of systematics doesn’t drive you to doxology, to tears, to worship you have turned God into an object under your microscope. If your embrace of biblical theology leads you into wild speculation, you have untethered your imagination from sound doctrine and are eating the deadly grass outside the fence.

If you have an interest in further study of biblical theology, but want to study with trustworthy guides, let me commend to you Geerhardus Vos, T. Desmond Alexander, and my friend Dr. Michael Morales.

If you have a question you’d like me to try to tackle, feel free to email me at hellorcjr@gmail.com.

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Eyes to See

Posted on July 7, 2023 by RC


It was my habit — my sophomoric habit — to proudly argue from my ignorance that we ought always to consider last things last. That is, recognizing the great difficulty in grasping the meaning of the end times and the final book of God’s Word, I thought discretion the better part of valor, and I suggested formerly that we can wait to figure out what the end means until after we have mastered all the other important stuff, like the stuff I was interested in and with which I felt reasonably competent.

I was awakened from my eschatological slumbers, however, not by finally finding a crystal clear exposition of the issues but by simply seeing the title of the book. If God revealed truths about Jesus to John, and John, by the power of the Spirit, is revealing those same truths to the church, it is not humility but arrogance that suggests, “Let’s set this aside for another time.” Jesus is revealed in the book of Revelation. His kingdom is revealed in the book of Revelation. And that is something we are called to see, even as we are called to seek.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples that they were called to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. How, though, would they know when they had found it? What would their eyes see when they beheld it?

When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the One, Jesus sent back this message: “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matt. 11:4–5). Are we to look for signs and wonders in order to recognize the kingdom?

In another instance, the disciples sought to keep children away from Jesus. They reasoned that He was far too busy for such a distraction. Jesus, however, had a surprising response: “They were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:13–14). Should we, then, be looking for the kingdom where we find children? Do we recognize its borders by the youth of its citizens?

In a third instance, after Jesus had been crucified, after He had been raised from the dead, and just as He was about to ascend to His throne, the disciples asked whether the kingdom would now come. Jesus replied that they would not be told the day and the hour, but that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth after the Spirit came in power. Should we, then, look for the kingdom where tongues of fire descend or where the gospel has discipled the nations?

The gospel did, even in the first century, go forth as Jesus predicted in Acts 1. Many were brought into the kingdom. When the Christian faith arrived at Thessalonica, the angry crowd described our missionaries as “men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). From humble beginnings, we see in the book of Acts the gospel changing the world. Is that, then, where we find the kingdom — where believers have unbelievers shaking in their boots?

It was not long after Jesus’ ascension, however, that a counteroffensive was launched on two competing fronts. First, the Jewish authorities kicked the faithful out of the temple and out of the synagogues. Second, the Roman Empire turned on Christians, persecuting them fiercely and putting them to death. It was in this context that John wrote what he saw. He showed the people of God the better country for which they longed. He showed them the kingdom they were seeking. Revelation reveals Jesus not in His humility, not in His tender care of the broken, not in the agony of His passion, and not in the joy of His resurrection. What the book of Revelation reveals is Jesus as our King, the Jesus who reigns. This is what is revealed — the King ruling over His kingdom.

Because we are soft, we think we are likewise being “persecuted.” Hollywood makes fun of us. Academia mocks us. And Washington turns a deaf ear to our concerns. We tear our clothes, throw dust in the air, and weep bitterly because we cannot see the kingdom, because we are weak and despised.

The same Spirit, however, who revealed the truth to John is revealing the same truth to us. He is giving us eyes to see. Our Lord reigns. He reigns in heaven, and from there goes forth into battle with principalities and powers. He reigns also, however, on earth — not just in our hearts and not just in our churches. No, Jesus reigns wher’er the sun doth its successive journeys run. All authority in heaven and earth has been given unto Him. Wherever there is a there, there you will find the kingdom of God. Last things first — Jesus is Lord.

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, Biblical theology, church, eschatology, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, persecution, politics, RC Sproul JR, sovereignty | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ears to Hear

Posted on July 6, 2023 by RC

My father and I had a few rituals. One we practiced whenever he was about to speak at a conference. I typically sat in the front row, right beside him. As he would rise to get behind the pulpit I’d whisper three words to him, “Tell the truth.” No one, of course, would accuse my father of being a coward. He earned multiple Purple Hearts from multiple campaigns in defense of biblical fidelity. All of us, however, are not immune from the desire to be liked. I didn’t doubt him. I just wanted to encourage him to tell it straight.

Ear ticklers don’t tell it straight. They give their audience not what they need to hear, but what they want to hear. We ought to look down our noses at those who tickle our ears. Too often, however, we don’t. We find it easy to rebuke those who tickle the ears of others. At the same time we insist on having our own ears tickled. We miss it, in part, because the message we want to hear isn’t the same as others want to hear. Sometimes, in fact, our ears are tickled when we’re listening to someone rebuking ear ticklers.

Just as much as ear ticklers need to be rebuked, those seeking to have their ears tickled need to be rebuked. One stand-up comic helped me gain a better perspective when he said, “You’re not stuck in traffic. You are traffic.” You can’t have one without the other. Buyers find sellers and sellers find buyers, and when the “product” isn’t so good, they both have blame to share.

The test to determine when I am under the sway of an ear tickler is a pretty simple one- do I come away thinking, “Boy, those xxxxx’s really need to change, to get it together.” Or am I tempted to conclude, “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men, the ones being rebuked by this message.” When these things happen I’m in the wrong audience. I’m reading someone else’s mail. If, on the other hand, my response is, “Boy, I really need to repent and work on this failure of mine, or, “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner” then I am listening to the right man. Then I am under the care of an under-shepherd and not a hireling.

The message isn’t the issue. The audience is. One can be a faithful shepherd when speaking words of peace and comfort. One can be a hireling when thundering against sin. The repentant are to be given the message of peace and comfort, the unrepentant the thundering against sin. Any audience, however, will get the messages they tend to praise. Encourage then those who step on your toes. Flee from those who heal the wounds of sin lightly. Ask not to be tickled, but to be convicted. May God give us all ears to hear.

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Sacred Marriage, 7th Commandment; Why The Supremes Are Wrong

Posted on July 5, 2023 by RC

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Compromising Positions

Posted on July 4, 2023 by RC

It is surely possible for different people to share the same goals, but to employ different strategies. What I am increasingly seeing, however, is how easy it is for strategies and goals to meld together. We all want, I trust, to grow in grace and wisdom, to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We can all agree also, I trust, that careful study of theology can be used as a means to that end, a strategy if you will. What if, however, the strategy and the goal get so entwined that we end up measuring our spiritual maturity not by the standard of godliness, but by the standard of our libraries?

I first noticed this shift in the pro-life movement. Everyone, presumably, wants the babies to be protected. Along the way some have adopted what might be called an incrementalist strategy- we work on stopping the most heinous abortions, and eventually move on to the “exceptions.” For a time that meant pro-lifers were encouraged to support both legislation and candidates that allowed for these exceptions. What totally flummoxed me, however, was in 2000, when the National Right to Life Committee not only encouraged us to vote for George W. Bush, but bestowed on him the title “Pro-Life.” This for a man who expressly, straightforwardly affirmed his conviction that the federal government ought to protect the “right” of doctors and mothers to murder babies conceived in the process of rape or incest. This is the “pro-life” candidate that evangelicals and pro-lifers voted for in droves.

More recently we have seen whole swaths of the “pro-life” movement embracing and laboring for informed consent laws, waiting periods, and clinic regulations- all bits of legislation that conclude, after every hurdle has been jumped- “and then you can kill the baby.” After forty years of this “strategy” we have sunk to crafting, lobbying for and electing officials in support of legislation on how, when and where babies can be murdered. We have confused our strategy and our goal. This, even after Roe is no more.

All of which tells us how important goals are, and how dangerous strategies can be. My goal with respect to me is that I would become a more godly man, that I would more faithfully obey the law and more joyfully embrace the grace of God. On the life issue the goal isn’t to limit the availability of abortions, nor reduce the number of circumstances in which they might take place. The goal isn’t even that the sanctity of life would be more widely recognized, nor that more babies would be saved. The goal is that God would be honored, in the faithfulness of His people, and in the protecting of His image bearers. Life is not sacred. God is sacred.

We need to learn what Joshua learned outside the walls of Jericho- we don’t seek to enlist God on our side. Instead we seek to serve Him, the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts. Our calling is to fidelity. He will bring the victory. May we go forth into this battle, as with every battle, not following our strategies, but following the Ark of the Covenant- His law, His grace, His presence. And the walls will come tumbling down.

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Should Christians celebrate Independence Day?

Posted on July 3, 2023 by RC

Though it is an important question I’m not here seeking to answer whether the American Revolution was justified, or if it fell afoul of the command in Romans 13 that we submit to governing authorities. Rather I’m asking a couple more subtle questions. First, if patriotism ever proper for a believer and second, is it proper in our nation that is so radically in rebellion against the living God.

As is so often the case, how we define our terms ultimately answers our question. Can a Christian, while recognizing an overarching loyalty to the kingdom of God, acknowledge God’s grace in blessing his place of origin? Of course. Who would ever say otherwise? Can a Christian proclaim absolute fealty to a fallen nation? Of course not. The answer is somewhere in the middle. I feel a sense of loyalty to my country, and a gratitude for God having placed me here. I also feel a sense of loyalty to the homes of my ancestors, Ireland and Scotland and gratitude to God for the grace He has shown those nations over the centuries. None of which, however, is worthy to be compared to my loyalty to and gratitude for being brought into Christ’s kingdom by His blood shed for me. My people are the citizens of His kingdom.

Should we, however, be grateful to be American when America, as a nation, has turned its back on God’s good gifts of liberty and on God Himself? Again, defining our terms answers our question. Can a Christian, while acknowledging that our nation has never been close to perfect, was built by generations of faithful Christians seeking to live out their faith, and so give thanks? Can a Christian acknowledge that, however weakly we may have lived up to our ideals, ours is a nation founded on godly ideals of liberty? Of course we can. Can a Christian, however, hoot and holler about how wonderful our nation is when abortion remains legal in every state, perverts parade in our streets, when we are the world’s leading producer and consumer of pornography? Of course not. Pretending that this nation is what it once was is sheer folly and a failure to honor the Lord.

Christians are called, at all times, to repent for our failures, both individual and corporate, and to give thanks for His grace, both individual and corporate. As citizens of these United States, looking back over our history, we have more to be thankful for than any other nation. Looking over our current cultural landscape, however, we may well have more to repent for than any other nation. I suggest we, on Independence Day, acknowledge our dependence on His grace, that we give thanks and repent with equal vigor. I suggest we no longer rebel against Him who reigns and instead seek His blessing. I suggest that as we sing Stars and Stripes forever that we rest in His scars and stripes forever. God bless the USA.

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Broken Churches

Posted on June 30, 2023 by RC


Broken homes are created by broken people. Before we can offer the balm of Gilead to those living in broken homes, we need to be perfectly clear how they got that way. For all the pressures assaulting the family, for all the allure of the world, and for all the temptations of the Devil, it is the flesh, our own sin natures, that destroy our homes. We are so self-deluded, however, that we have lost sight of how self-destructive we are. We think we are but victims, when the hard truth is that we are villains.

Our homes are in shambles because our lives are in shambles. We don’t, of course, do this on purpose. No one gleefully plans to destroy his own home. No man, when he begins to allow his eye to wander, determines that he wants to destroy not only his own life but the lives of his wife and children as well. No one self-consciously drops a bomb on his own house when he starts looking at the pictures on the internet. What we do instead is determine that God is a liar.

He tells us, after all, not only what we are supposed to do and supposed not to do; He also tells us the fruits of our actions. He tells us that as we love our wives and children, we will rejoice with them at the table, our children arrayed like olive plants (Ps. 128). He also tells us that the unfaithful man hates himself, that our sins will find us out, and that when we sow the wind, we will assuredly reap the whirlwind. God tells us, shows us the very pathway toward blessing and joy, and we proudly blaze our own trails. Then, we wonder how we came to be broken and bloodied after falling off a cliff.

Our homes, however, can only begin to heal of their brokenness as we come to accept and understand our own brokenness. When we face up to the reality of our sin, when we confess the kind of people we are, God in His goodness draws near. He does, after all, give grace to the humble. That grace will not likely come in the form of the eradication of all our temptations. It may come, however, in helping us to see them for what they are — invitations to death.

They might also take a whole different form. When we recognize our own brokenness, we in turn know that we can’t trust ourselves. When left to ourselves we will choose for ourselves, and, in so doing, choose foolishly. This is why God has ordained the church to call us to faithfulness. Through the right preaching of the Word, we are reminded of His wisdom. Through the right exercise of the sacraments, we not only remember our brokenness but His faithfulness. We not only look back to our Husband dying for us at Calvary, His body broken and His blood spilled, but we look forward to the marriage feast of the Lamb. We enter into eternity and taste that He is good.

Church discipline, however, is another grace from God’s hand that helps us not to break our own homes. The elders of the church are called to speak into our broken homes, to call unfaithful husbands to repentance, to admonish straying wives to return home. They are to remind the whole congregation that those who practice these things will by no means inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5). They are to exercise the power of the keys.

Sadly, too often churches fail families here. They cover wounds lightly and leave the broken broken because they will not discipline where they must. They fear men, whether in the form of a loss of reputation or of civil repercussions. Too often, those called to shepherd the flock prove to be mere hirelings who look away when wolves break up and destroy homes. Being “nice” is so much easier than being first responders when homes become broken. It’s safer to run away from the problem than to run to it.

Our calling, however, is to set aside our worries and to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He is the true Shepherd. He guards the door to the kingdom. And we are called to fulfill His orders, no matter the cost. Little girls are looking to us, men, to rescue them from unfaithful daddies. Little boys are learning that men run when times get tough, first by watching their unfaithful daddies, then by watching their unfaithful elders. Husbands are left with no one and no way to correct wayward wives. And wives have no men to look after them. All because the church is broken. Repent, and seek His kingdom, His righteousness.

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, church, communion, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, preaching, RC Sproul JR | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Expunged

Posted on June 29, 2023 by RC

I received a notice in the mail that, despite being from our local government, was most welcome. The local court let me know that my previous conviction of felony OWI has been expunged. As far as the state of Indiana is concerned, my grievous sin never happened. It was cause to celebrate and so we did. This change, however positive, doesn’t make a huge difference in my day-to-day life. When I apply for a job I click a different box than I used to. I do not have a felony conviction that has not been expunged. That said, any potential employer with the sense to do a simple google search will find plenty of webpages announcing my guilt, some even celebrating it.

There are myriad ways to remember someone’s sin. My critics, taking a cue from that accuser, Old Nick, delight to rub my face in it. Their bitterness is its own reward. Many of my friends take a different tack, looking at me with what might graciously be called pity. They take no pleasure in my sin, but look at it as if it was the end of my life, and usefulness for the kingdom. When our paths cross they look away, like I’m the Elephant Man.

Then there are those who genuinely care for me, who walked with me through this valley. They didn’t excuse my sin but nevertheless felt no shame to be with me. This group I call friends. It was a wise man who first said, “Your friends are not those who stand with you on the mountaintop but those who stoop with you in the deepest valleys.” No mere human, not a single soul, exhibited this spirit more fully, more tenderly and beautifully, than my beloved wife Lisa.

How I look back on it is another matter. It remains an occasion for shame to me, a scarlet letter. It is a constant reminder that even those who have been redeemed, like Gomer, are not immune from grievous sin. I too am tempted to look back on that night as the end of my usefulness for the kingdom. I also remember it, however, as a time when God poured out His grace on me.

First, He spared my life, the life of our boys and the lives of others on the road. Given the scope of my sin, this is no small grace. Second, He ripped from my hands several idols that were harming me and my relationship with Him. Third, He welcomed me to a whole other level of authenticity, as my façade came crashing down along with my platform. Fourth, He showed me who my friends are. My father, a walking testimony to our heavenly Father’s hesed, or “loyal love” used to encourage me with this pithy principle, “We stick with the stuck.” Finally, and most important, He forgave me. He removed my sin as far from me as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

While I am thankful that the state of Indiana and the God of heaven and earth have both forgotten my sin, I am committed to not forget. Not because the shame has any value, but because the gratitude does. May my joy in His grace never be expunged.

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, Devil's Arsenal, friends, friendship, grace, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul, RC Sproul JR, repentance, scandal | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sacred Marriage, 6th Commandment; Banned Books & More

Posted on June 28, 2023 by RC

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in 10 Commandments, abortion, Biblical Doctrines, Biblical theology, Books, Devil's Arsenal, ethics, grace, Jesus Changes Everything, Lisa Sproul, Month of Sundays, Nostalgia, politics, RC Sproul JR, Sacred Marriage, That 70s Kid, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Sacred Marriage, 6th Commandment; Banned Books & More