Just for Fun: Last Rites

A bus on a busy street struck a Catholic man. He was lying near death on the sidewalk as a crowd gathered.

“A priest. Somebody get me a priest!” the man gasped.

Long seconds dragged on but no one stepped out of the crowd. A policeman checked the crowd and finally yelled, “A PRIEST, PLEASE! Isn’t there a priest in this crowd to give this man his last rites?”

Finally, out of the crowd stepped a little old Jewish man in his 80s.

“Mr. Policeman,” said the man, “I’m not a priest. I’m not even a Christian. But for 50 years now, I’m living behind the Catholic Church on Second Avenue, and every night I’m overhearing their services. I can recall a lot of it, and maybe I can be of some comfort to this poor man.”

The policeman agreed, and cleared the crowd so the man could get through to where the injured man lay.

The old Jewish man knelt down, leaned over the man and said in a solemn voice:

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“B-4 … I-19 … N-38 … G-54 … O-72…”

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(HT: D Browning)

Praising the Great Shepherd for a Good Shepherd

Guest post by Joe Tyrpak.

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My dad was 41 years old, my mom 39. I was eight years old, and for some reason we were moving to Pennsylvania. Decades later I discovered the horrors that my parents had endured that year and the meeting that led us to move.

Trying to “stop the bleeding” from what we had endured in a difficult church situation, my dad sought personal counsel from an experienced out-of-state pastor who, in God’s timing, was preaching in the area. Pastor E. R. Jordan was the short, bald “Pastor Emeritus” of Calvary Baptist Church in Lansdale, PA (only later did I come to learn how influential this little man was—training of hundreds of pastors, planting of dozens of churches, and shepherding of thousands of believers).

When E. R. and my dad met in private, E. R. said in his characteristically direct way, “You’re gonna kill your wife and family if you stay here. Come to Pennsylvania. The church I pastor has lots of people. You could sit in the back row for a couple years, regularly meet with one of our Biblical counselors on staff, and allow your family some time to heal.”

My dad followed his counsel. We moved to PA and went to Calvary Baptist Church for almost six years (until a job change forced us to move). During those 5+ years, we were faithfully taught the Bible several times a week, I was baptized, and two of my sisters met their husbands at church and were married in the auditorium. My parents were also regularly shepherded by Larry Thornton, a seminary prof and assistant pastor at Calvary, who taught them how to think Biblically and help them get back on their feet.

Although I was only starting my teen years when we left PA, I have several distinct memories of “Chief” (the name that all the “preacher boys” called E. R.):

• He was a phenomenal preacher, unusually gifted in powerful, confrontational exhortation. I remember that he would regularly preach on Wednesday nights in the summer. Even though I was a little boy, his preaching was personally engaging, encouraging and VERY convicting. It was under his preaching that I have the first recollections of God’s Spirit powerfully working in my heart through the public proclamation of the Bible.
• He never forgot God’s grace in saving “a wretch like him.” During my years at Calvary, E. R. gave his personal testimony of conversion a couple times (sometimes in church, sometimes in elementary school chapel). Every time he recounted God’s grace to him personally, he was moved to tears to think that God would love a sinner like him. If you’re interested in his testimony, you can read it in his autobiography, Chief, from BJUPress or you can order program #2720 from Pacific Garden Mission’s Unshackled radio drama ($7 for a cd).
• He oozed with passion for personal evangelism. His evangelistic heartbeat seemed evident in every word he spoke.
• He was a tender shepherd. Although he was fierce in the pulpit, he was personally warm. And, even though he pastored thousands of people, he always had the time to talk with me, a little ten-year-old punk, when I would pass his office, meet him in the school hallways, or greet him at the church door. I’ll never forget his soft, raspy, grandfatherly voice.
• He always ended his prayers with a long “Aaaaaaaa-men.” It would last at least 5 or 6 seconds. I remember imitating this “trademark” hundreds of times as a kid.

When I woke up this morning to my brother-in-law’s email reporting to our family that “Chief” had died, I started crying, and cried for almost 20 minutes. I told my wife that it was a “good cry.” It was because God is so amazingly gracious. He loved a dirty street boy like Bob, saved him, and transformed him into a caring pastor that compassionately shepherded my equally-needy family during the darkest tragedy of our lives. And God used him to stabilize, sanctify, and heal our family, and change the whole course of our family’s life.

When I’m finally in heaven, I will never stop praising God for shepherding me and my family, and I’ll never stop thanking “Chief” for his Christlike selfless attention to poor and needy sheep like us.

It’s my pleasure to dedicate my metrical rendering of Psalm 23, The Lord’s My Shepherd, to “Chief,” one of the most faithful undershepherds I’ve ever known.

Psalm 23—The Lord’s My Shepherd

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Ryle on the Self-Forgetful Spirit of John the Baptist

Aware of my own ambition and self-love, I’m convicted and challenged by this good word from one of my favorite dead men, J. C. Ryle:

“The greatest saints of God in every age of the Church have always been men of John the Baptist’s spirit. In gifts, and knowledge, and general character they have often differed widely. But in on e respect they have always been alike;—they have been ‘clothed with humility.’ (1 Pet 5:5) They have not sought their own honour. They have thought little of themselves. They have been ever willing to decrease if Christ might only increase, to be nothing if Christ might be all.” (J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, III, 44)

New Hymn: Salvation’s Cup

Molly Ijames (welcome to CWM!) and I have produced a new hymn focusing on the various cups in the Scriptures—the cup Christ faced in Gethsemane, the cup of soul-satisfying salvation, the cup of the Lord’s Table, and the cup we’ll enjoy with Christ in His coming Kingdom. We believe it will point worshipers Christ-ward. Please give it a look and listen!

Salvation’s Cup (Text by Chris Anderson; Tune by Molly Ijames)

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God Gives Grace Like a Mother’s Milk

God’s gifts are not given independently of Him, but through intimate union with Him. In other words, God gives grace like a mother’s milk.  His grace doesn’t function outside of Himself—as though a box of wisdom could be shipped to us—but rather flows directly from Him. He doesn’t send us a package containing joy or hope or love; we get His gifts only by being united to Him. He gives wisdom as we latch on to Him, comfort as we latch on to Him, virtues as we latch on Him. There is no saving, sustaining, or sanctifying grace apart from intimate fellowship with our Savior. So don’t just seek godliness; seek God, and thereby obtain godliness. To speak in precious human terms—with reverence—God doesn’t feed us via a bottle, but holds us closely, to His breast.

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On 500,000 Hits at MTC

While I was out of town, MTC passed the “half a million hits” mark. When I made my first post back on February 2, 2006 I never imagined that it would be so fun, so personally edifying, and such a source of fellowship with likeminded believers. Much of what I’ve posted here has been just for kicks—funny stuff. Some posts have been quite controversial, though not for the sake of controversy, as much as I know my heart. Most of it’s been pretty temporary: the shelf-life for the average blog post is less than two days. But by God’s grace, there’s some lasting fruit from MTC—friendships, ministry discussions, and perhaps most significantly, hymns (which were first posted here, but now reside at ChurchWorksMedia.com). It’s been a blessing…most of the time.

I praise the Lord for the opportunity. I’m not at all certain that MTC will be around long enough to pass the 1,000,000 hits mark, but it’s been a pleasure heretofore! Thank you, friends, for reading!

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” Psalm 115:1

The Christian and Fox News

I preached Sunday on a biblical response to prophecy and current events—a message Joe assigned the more provocative title “How Should the Christian Respond to Fox News.” I’m hopeful that it will provide encouragement and perspective to Christians whose awareness of current events can easily morph into obsession and distraction, myself included.

“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Important: Jesus is NOT Nicer than the Father

There’s a common misunderstanding that is really nothing short of heresy: the idea that Jesus is somehow nicer than “the God of the Old Testament.” I’m not sure where the idea comes from—perhaps a misunderstanding of passages like John 1:17. But I’ve heard it from church members, and I recently read hints of it from no less a scholar than Philip Yancey. In his book The Jesus I Never Knew (which I’m enjoying, by the way), he suggests that Jesus is somehow kinder and gentler than the God of the OT:

“In short, Jesus moved the emphasis from God’s holiness (exclusive) to God’s mercy (inclusive)” (p. 155). [In a footnote just before this sentence, Yancey quotes Dorothy Sayers as she contrasts the attitude of Jesus toward women with that of "His prophets before Him" (p. 154). What a strange notion!]

“As Shusaku Endo sees it, Jesus brought the message of mother-love to balance the father-love of the Old Testament” (p. 158).

Jesus certainly didn’t minimize the exclusive holiness of God. He lived a perfect life to fulfill it, then died a penal death to satisfy it! He is merciful, to be sure, but His is a sanctifying mercy…as always.

There are scores of problems with the idea that Jesus is the “good cop” and the Father/OT God the “bad cop.” Here are a few that come to mind:

1. First, Jesus IS the God of the Old Testament. Evidence of this abounds. For example, John 12:41 says that when Isaiah saw the thrice-holy Jehovah lifted up, he was seeing the Son of God. To contrast Jesus with “the God of the OT” reveals a ghastly Christology.

2. Jesus reveals the Father. One of my favorite themes of the New Testament (and one of the most oft neglected, I believe) is the teaching that Jesus came to earth to reveal to us the unseen God (John 1:18; Hebrews 1:1-3). (I’ve written on that grand theme in the 2nd verse of this hymn.) As Christ tells Thomas in John 14:7, to see Him is to see the Father. If you want to know what “the God of the OT” is like, look at Jesus.

3. God has always been nice. Infinitely nice. Omninice. Thus, when asked to uniquely reveal Himself to Moses, here’s what He said:

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Ex 34:6-7).

He’s always been merciful, as the first half of that statement makes clear. And He’s always been holy, as the second half makes clear. And that won’t change. He won’t change (Malachi 3:6).

4. Jesus isn’t as passive as people think. Those who think of “the OT God” as a God of judgment and Jesus as a God of undiluted mercy need to spend some time in the book of Revelation, which has far more blood than any OT book!

5. The three members of the Trinity are indivisible in their attributes. None is more anything than the others. Each—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is perfect.

There are more reasons (share them!), and the ones I’ve listed could probably be expressed and illustrated more clearly. But the bottom line is this: The idea that Jesus is in any way different from “the God of the OT” is bogus. Dangerously so. Don’t believe it.

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Note: While I obviously take exception with the statements I quoted from Philip Yancey, I’m not suggesting that he’s guilty of all I’m addressing here. Not at all. We just need to be careful how we speak of Christ.

2009 MACP Sessions Available Online

Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary (one of my favorite institutions) hosts the Mid-America Conference on Preaching (one of my favorite conferences) each fall. It’s only 3 hours away from my home. It’s not expensive. I have a ton of friends up there. The content is always top shelf. Yet, I rarely am able to attend, for one reason or another.

Thankfully, MP3’s and PDF’s of the general sessions and workshops are already available online. The theme of the conference was “Gospel-Driven Separation.” I look forward to hearing them!

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Another resource on the topic which may be of interest is an article I wrote for the OBF Visitor and have since posted here, also entitled “Gospel-Driven Separation.”