Our local TheoForum fellas missed our meeting this morning, so we’ll plan to meet this coming Friday and the Friday immediately following it.  We’ll leave the reading assignment where it was: read up to the Introduction and we’ll pick up reading there together this coming Friday.

I’m also looking forward to hearing Evan May do our Preach It Forum very soon.  We were scheduled to hear Evan give a message on Covenant Theology on the Saturday that we all fled from Gustav.  We hope to get that into the Saturday 9am very soon so stay tuned for that announcement.

Good to be back home.

I can’t think of anyone who writes more helpfully and insightfully to this topic today than David Powlison.  Here is an article that spun out from three original articles Powlison put up on the Boundless blog.  Given Powlison’s recurring chorus in the attached article I plan - and would encourage you - to go read the original articles.

We’re still in Jackson [drafted September 1].

“It takes no courage to sign up as a Protestant. To live by the truths of historic Protestantism, however, is an entirely different matter. That takes courage in today’s context.”

Why? Wells answers:

“The truths of historic Protestantism are sometimes no more welcome in evangelicalism than they are in the outside culture.”

from The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Eerdmans, 2008) by David Wells.

HT: Ref 21, Ligon Duncan

I’m posting this from the Comfort Suites in Jackson, MS.  We’ve been here since Saturday evening.  Late Saturday night the realization came as I told my wife, ” ‘Lig’s’ church is here … in Jackson!’ “  Lig, as in Ligon Duncan that is.  The hardest part for me, in thinking about going, was that I knew it would be a dressed up church and all I packed were shorts, no show socks, sneakers and assorted t-shirts.  I knew they’d consider the fact that some of their under-dressed visitors might be evacuees (which they did) and that they wouldn’t look at me funny (which they didn’t).  My friends, Pete and Carrie Schefferstein came as well, in fact I rode in the back of the church van - sitting on an electronics equipment case.

I was thoroughly enriched by the experience.  The meeting began with a time of reverent reflection as a musical prelude and introit were played by a wonderfully skilled organist.  We then stood to sing Holy Holy Holy.  There was no lead vocal.  Just Dr. Duncan inviting us to stand and singing with us.  No transitional chord progressions between verses, everything clearly pointed to the primary instrument of biblical corporate worship, namely, the human voice.  After a prayer of adoration and invocation we sat to hear a reading of Isaiah 6:1-13 with a few comments from Dr. Derek Thomas.  The doxology was sung next, followed by a pastoral welcome and time of prayer.  We then sang In Christ Alone - which I was a tad bit proud to know by heart.  Tithes and offerings and a beautiful choral anthem called Who At My Door is Standing? immediately preceded a prayer of illumination, the reading of Psalm 99, and the sermon by Ligon Duncan entitled, “He Answered, Forgave, and Avenged.”

The message was wonderful.  The opening line was “God ought to be worshipped because He is holy.”  Broadly considered, one of the things that struck me as I left was how clear everything was.  The morning prayer hearkened back to Isaiah 6 (read earlier).  The sermon pointed back to this as well as to the hymn.  Another thing that was strange but in a way very attractive was a little asterisk on the order of service indicating that during The Welcome the ushers may “seat latecomers”.  This gave me a sense that these people have a very high respect for God’s Word.  When it is being read, when God is being addressed in prayer, etc., you don’t have people stepping over you trying to get to their seats having shown up 20 minutes late for the meeting.

I was the only person, other than some under 10 yr olds, in shorts and sneakers.  Dr. Duncan didn’t seem to care about my attire when we met at the end.  He was extremely kind and hospitable, offering to serve and help in any way and listing specific ways he had in mind.  If we stay in Jackson through Wednesday night, we probably will plan to take him up on a free meal with his congregation on the grounds.  And if we ever evacuate here again, this will be our default church to visit.  Next time I’ll bring some slacks and a tie.

Our bedtime memory verse review had us Mason boys going over Ephesians 4:29.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

And speaking of fitting the occasion, just before going to bed I found this article from our friends at Desiring God, so I couldn’t resist drafting this little post.  It is excellent and puts its finger on something I think we as men need very much: the practice of speaking the truth in love - of admonishing, encouraging, commending, and rebuking each other in ways that sharpen, deepen and edify one another.

Think about whether there is someone you could speak encouragement to today.  Perhaps sometime this next week you might ask a friend for insight/observations of your life - things he sees that he’s excited about, areas in which he might be praying for you or concerned about you.

Let’s not be eager to rebuke or belligerent.  Let’s not be shallow either.  Let’s talk in ways that build each other up and impart grace.

Over this past year or so I’ve had the opportunity to do yard work while learning about the Puritans.  Dr. Packer gives many lectures on various aspects of their life and doctrine and I can remember places in my yard and while blowing leaves out of my gutters where I wanted to just stop and let the provocation of these men’s lives have its full effect.

Two of the best books I’ve read in the past couple of years have been Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture and Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed.  Sibbes’ classic is without doubt one of the most sweetly convicting books I’ve ever read.  His manner, his meekness and his affectionate pastoral heart made the book simply magnetic.  I told a friend that I had the thought while reading that book, “Why do I read so many contemporary books?”  Why don’t I spend much more time reading these old books, written by men whose Christlike example and passion for the gospel was forged in suffering and vindicated, at times, in fire.  That’s no metaphor.

Enter Dr. Joel Beeke, President and Professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.  His Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary is in Reformation and Post-Reformation Theology.  I’ve conscripted him, unawares, to sell you on the value of reading Puritan literature and biography.

After you read this, if you live in the New Orleans area, consider joining us for our TheoForum study through John Piper’s book The Hidden Smile of God.  This study will take us into the life of Puritan, John Bunyan, as well as two other exemplary men from church history.

This morning our TheoForum class took an exam on section 3 from Grudem’s Systematic Theology, which dealt with The Doctrine of Man.  When it was all over one of the guys said that he was surprised at how ‘ready’ he was for being tested on this material.  I asked the other guys if they felt the same way, “Did you guys find that when looking at the test questions you felt encouraged that you’d retained more than you realized?”  All heads were nodding yes.  For any of you local Pivot guys who haven’t joined TheoForum there’s a good rubber-meets-the-road reason to link up with what’s happening.  We really are learning, not just reading and waking up at stupid early hours every other Friday.  So, on to the tests…

There were two teams.  A few guys were no shows.  I won’t mention their names here, now.

Team Tucker - Todd Tucker, Randy Albert, Sylvester Tumusiime, and Garrett Ryan

Team Missios - Nick Missios, Evan May, Chris Roberts, Steve Roberts (honorary student)

First, in review of chapter 21 (The Creation of Man), the teams had to work together to give descriptions for each of the four successive stages of a biblical theology of the image of God in man.  Then they had to mention and briefly describe two particular ways in which our likeness to God is expressed.  They talked about, respectively, moral judgment, authority, and creativity.

We then moved on to chapter 22 (Man as Male and Female) where the men had to list 3 categories in which the creation of man as male and female mirrors the intra-Trinitarian relationship.  There both teams shared the concepts of harmony/oneness, equality in personhood, distinction in roles and authority.  Following this, someone stepped forward from each team to briefly describe the egalitarian position.  Both men represented this view clearly and concisely.  Both team nailed the meaning of the Greek word kephale and that question closed out chapter 22.

Chapter 23 (The Essential Nature of Man) found a room full of guys flipping through their Bibles to identify whether a particular verse was most often cited by dichotomists or trichotomists.  We then asked for for a dichotomist response to the classic trichotomist prooftext 1 Thess 5:23.  Guys are encouraged on questions like this to pool knowledge and write bullet phrases to help them along as they orally respond to the essay question.  Both men handled this question well.  Next a quick True/False question about Paul’s use of the term “spirit” and then a review of Grudem’s list of ‘tendencies’ often associated with various strands of trichotomist teaching.

Hastening forward to chapter 24 (Sin), men were asked for a one sentence definition of sin.  Both were very well written.  Then with closed Bibles they had to write down two classic passages related to some aspect of the doctrine of sin.  Portions from Romans 5, 6 and Psalm 51 were cited.  Another Greek word memory question, followed by Grudem and Berkhof’s response (multiple choice) to the person fearing he/she has committed the unpardonable sin, listing the two categories of sin featured in Roman Catholic doctrine, and an oral essay response to the Christian who claims that he hasn’t sinned in a month.  That wrapped up 24.

The last chapter covered was chapter 25 (The Covenants Between God and Man).  There was a True/False question on the distinction between the Covenant of Grace and other covenants.  Then they had to identify the name of the covenant that is not between God and man but among the members of the Trinity.

Finally for extra points they could list 2 proponents and 2 opponents of complementarianism.  And lastly they could add two points for each member of their team that completed the reading assignment.

Team Tucker: 98 A

Team Missios:  104 A+

Good work fellas.

Two weeks from today we meet again to start our first biographical study.

A final update from Kim Arthur who serves with the BCM at Tulane.

1. Goals:

To show the love of Christ to students, parents and Residence Life/Orientation staff in a practical way (Including, by helping new students and parents feel more at east).

To make connections with parents/students, as well as staff, as the Lord presents opportunities (not forcing them of course or we might not get invited to help again ).

To let them know primarily about Praise and Play out on the Quad at 10 a.m. the next morning (free brunch, short time of prayer and devotion and followed by inflatable obstacle course competitions and ultimate frisbee- a good connecting point- you are the main advertisement- and please feel free to join us for this too leaders/volunteers!), and Common Ground worship gathering that Tuesday at the BCM House (7:30 free jambalaya and at 8:30 first CG gathering ever and intro to local churches (ministers/leaders- please come if you can and be prepared to give a 3-4 minute this is who I am, who we are and how to check out church :)).

—– we don’t want to overwhelm stressed and emotional students and parents with information overload so we figured that simply making a connection and pointing them to the next thing would be best so that at those two connection events they can get to know your ministries better

2. Details:

I have us signed up for the morning move-in but if volunteers were having a good time and wanted to stay and help for the afternoon, that would be fine too.

My staff is meeting at the BCM House (7111 Freret St) at 7:30 to start getting drinks and whatnot together. Please have your volunteers be at the BCM House by 7:45-8:00 a.m.. This is earlier than previously communicated to you.  (Volunteers have to either wear the student organization shirt they are volunteering with or the official move-in shirts). Once you get to the building you can pick up a shirt and a map and head over to the two buildings we are designated to help at (Butler and Monroe). We will have drinks and snacks to also pass out so if someone has a health issue or just needs a break, they can help with that. The morning shift will be over around 11:30, and volunteers wanting to stay for the afternoon too will be finished around 2 p.m.

If at all possible, please join up with the BCM folks and help us advance Christ’s cause on the campus!

The Mason boys reviewed this question from the Westminster once again last night:  What is adoption?  The boys respond with an almost 400 yr old answer which has its roots much further back - into the sacred Scriptures themselves.  “Adoption is the act of God’s free grace by which we become His sons, with all the rights and privileges of being His.”

Dr. Russell Moore conveys a poignant contrast between broken and fallen fatherhood and the beauty of the gospel which brings us not only into judicial right-standing with the Judge but into full-fledged sonship through which we may cry “Abba, Father”.  It’s beyond question one of the most beautiful doctrines in the entire Bible.

Speaking of which, let me pass along one more recommendation on this topic.  One of the most affecting chapters in Packer’s classic Knowing God was his chapter on ‘Sons of God’.  If memory serves I believe it was the longest chapter in the book.  Wonderful stuff.  If you haven’t read it I’d put it on the “read soon” list.

A few weeks ago we, Lakeview worship team members, had the privilege of attending the Sovereign Grace WorshipGOD 2008 Conference.  It was outstanding.

Go here to download main session sermons.

One of the men I was most looking forward to hearing was David Powlison.  I’ve heard him speak on a handful of occasions and invariably come away affected by his wise handling of Scripture.  True to form his message, Enduring Hardship with the Psalmist, was richly insightful.  He uses language well - helpful word pictures, creative and clarifying ways of presenting familiar truths.

In this interview Powlison is asked important questions about Scripture and personal application.