Dads, Show Them His Glory

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

As I was reflecting on the life of Augustine these words took on a little different shape for me.  I have always read these words as if Paul is saying, “don’t be a jerk to your kids, but instead bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  As if Paul is saying here, “Be nice to your kids and make sure you tell them about Jesus”.  I still think that is a good part of what Paul is saying.  I think he is speaking of tender nurturing and discipline and admonition in the lives of our children. 

But there is another side to this that I notice in Augustine’s life.  You can access over five million words of Augustine’s online.  If you perused over them less than .01 percent of these words would have been dedicated to his earthly father. 

In his biography on Augustine, John Piper hypothesizes that Augustine’s silence towards his father is owed to his fatherly neglect.  As Augustine once lamented that his father, “his father, "took no trouble at all to see how I was growing in your sight [O God] or whether I was chaste or not. He cared only that I should have a fertile tongue."  And so Piper believes that, “the profound disappointment in his father’s care for him silence Augustine’s tongue concerning his father for the rest of his life”.  (47)

One way to provoke your children to anger is to rip them off by bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the world.  Teaching little Billy—even though mostly inadvertently--that the greatest part of his identity and efforts should be at becoming a top-athlete, brilliant student, fine politician, or shrewd money-manager may eventually provoke him to anger.  Perhaps he will not even know what to call it, but he will look back on your fathering and there will be an aching void that cries out for answers; why didn’t you show me there was more, dad?

Dads, your little boy (and girl) is crying out to you “Show me His glory”.  Everything else will be but a mere trifle.  Enjoy sports, enjoy learning, enjoy spiders and bugs and mud and monster trucks, but enjoy them unto the glory of God.  As Augustine later discovered:

But what do I love when I love my God? . . . Not the sweet melody of harmony and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. It is not these that I love when I love my God. And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace; but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self, when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that never dies away; when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind; when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating; when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God.

Yes, grace ultimately triumphed in the life of Augustine.  God was not going to sit idly by and allow a passive, misdirected, unengaged father to eternally ruin one of his sheep.  Grace triumphed in spite of Augustine’s father.  And I pray that grace triumphs in the life of my children in spite of my own failings as a dad.  But I also pray that grace triumphs through my efforts of bringing up my children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 

I pray that the Lord will continue to raise up fathers all across the world that care more about the breadth of their children’s love for Jesus rather than they do the fatness of their children’s wallet. 

I pray that the Lord raises up fathers whose everyday talk with their children is an overflowing of grace and joy in the abundance of all that Jesus has purchased instead of the bickering, whining, and despair of dads still dreaming about the national championship that almost was 15 years ago. 

I pray that the Lord raises up dads that realize their greatest victory and greatest ministry will be children that love the Lord and not job promotions, social statuses, or worldly security—even when those things are “Christianized” and called ministry.

I pray that the Lord will raise daddy’s all over the world off their couches and into their children’s lives.  I pray that these fathers refuse to think that showing up is enough to give them a trophy and that they stop delegating their child’s instruction to mommy, and start being intentional and passionate about daily living/sharing the gospel with their children. 

I pray that the Lord makes me one of those daddy’s. 

Simple Discipleship and Preaching Advice

I still remember a good chunk of advice that one of my professors in college gave me.  Dr. Pelletier (not the skater) was a man that taught me a great deal about ministry.  Perhaps one of the most profound things he taught me was about family devotions.  I was single at the time but engaged to my wife Nikki.  I was freaking out about how to lead this woman. 

The weight of Ephesians 5 was pressing hard on me; what does it mean to wash her in the water of the word?  What does it mean to lead a family?  I had never really seen family devotions modeled and had no idea what it meant to lead my spouse the way that Jesus would—much less how to lead the children that God would bless us with a few years later.

Dr. Pelletier’s advice to me was simple yet profound.  With eyes filled with wisdom that came from years of experience he calmly reassured me and said, “Love Jesus and share that with her”. 

That’s it.  No magical formula.  Love Jesus and share it. 

Ten years later I am still chewing on that advice and trying to live it out.  In fact as I am reading through Augustine this morning I see not only how grounded in history Dr. Pelletier’s advice was but also how far reaching it is.  Turns out this isn’t just good advice for marriage but also for ministry.  Consider this from Augustine:

“I go to feed myself so that I can give you to eat.  I am the servant, the bringer of food, not the master of the house.  I lay out before you that from which I also draw my life.” 

Kind of reminds me of John Owen’s, “If the Word does not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.”  All the great preachers (that can truly be called great because they point us so well to the source of all delight) seem to have one thing in common—their preaching, teaching, ministering, etc. is but an overflow of their private devotion and single-minded love for Jesus. 

This is why the advice to one ministerial candidate is so powerful:

“I’m not interested to know if you can set the Thames on fire.  What I want to know is this: If I picked you up by the scruff of the neck and dropped you into the Thames, would it sizzle?”

I am responsible for shepherding people and discipling them to disciple others. This really makes it simple.  Love Jesus then share it.  Of course it’s taken me ten years and I’m still chewing on exactly what that means and how to love Jesus more and how to effectively share it…but the foundation it built remains firm. 

I’m convinced that any sort of ministerial training, preaching practicum’s, books on ministry, resources on marriage, seminar’s, etc., are only distractions and given to self-bloating if they are not grounded in this simple truth—“Love Jesus then share it”. 

Lessons from Augustine’s Mother

“But you sent down your help from above and rescued my soul from the depths of this darkness because my mother, your faithful servant, wept to you for me, shedding more tears for my spiritual death than other mothers shed for the bodily death of a son.  For in her faith and in the spirit which she had from you she looked on me as dead.  You heard her and did not despise the tears which streamed down and watered the earth in every place where she bowed her head in prayer…”

--From Augustine’s Confessions. 

This is an encouragement to not give up for those the Lord has set upon your heart.  May we weep for our beloved unbelievers in the way that Augustine’s mother wept for him. 

The Trinitarian Controversy ed. by William Rusch Review

Author: ed. William G. Rusch

Pages: 182pgs

Publisher: Fortress Press

Price: 18.00 or Used for 3.00

Genre: Church History/Theology

Quick Summary:

The Trinity is one of the most difficult doctrines (if not THE most difficult doctrine) to understand in all of Christendom. Issues related to the Godhead dominated early Christian discussion. The Trinitarian Controversy is a volume in the Sources of Early Christian Though series. In this series original sources are brought to light to discuss certain theological issues. In this particular volume the reader gets to hear from Arius, Alexander of Alexandria, Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and a fair amount of Creeds, Letters, and Canons.

What I Liked:

It is always fun to read the original sources—though undoubtedly some is lost in translation. This series is a great idea, and probably a very difficult task. The introduction to the issue and bibliography is also helpful for further study. I read through this for a church history class and it was somewhat helpful to understand the issues surrounding the Trinitarian debates of the first centuries.

What I Disliked:

This is a pretty difficult read. Reading things from the first five centuries of Christendom is often a difficult task. The Trinity is hard enough to understand; trying to moderately grasp the Trinity and also understand the mind of early Christian thinkers is a difficult task. It’s fun, but it’s tough. But this book is not meant for light study.

Should You Buy It?

If you are a seminary student or studying the Trinity in depth this is a great resource. If you are just casually interested in Trinitarian debates there are probably better places to go to get a summary of early Christian thought.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 02/12

Ever heard of Rob Bell? What about NOOMA? Greg Gilbert reviews Bell's NOOMA videos. On the heels of Gilbert's review C.J. Mahaney gives us sound advice (based on Gilbert's excellent job) on reviewing things as well as protecting the gospel with humility. Man, I love C.J. Mahaney; but more than that I love his Jesus. You really need to read anything written by C.J., including his recent appeal.

Brian Thornton is continuing his discussion on the calling of God. Today he clearly and concisely shows that only the elect receive three callings of God. Disagree? Agree? Check it out.

Stephen Altrogge gives 7 Questions to Ask Your Friends. One of my favorite questions, of the 7, is this one: "Have you diligently pursued your wife/husband this week?"

John MacArthur attempts to teach us on the "unfathomable and yet unmistakable doctrine" of the Trinity, read it here.

Trevin Wax has a really good consideration on Evangelicalism's Blast from the Past.

Randy Alcorn considers the Longing for God and Joy of Augustine.

You've got to check this out (HT: Micah)

The Mystery of Providence Chapter 2

Now that Flavel has convinced us of the providential care of God, he will now attempt to show us the "most remarkable performances of Providence." This chapter mainly concerns itself with the providential care of God in our birth and upbringing. He gives three of these remarkable performances of Providence:

1. In our formation and protection in the womb.
2. The place and time of our birth
3. The designation of the stock and family out of which we should spring and rise

Flavel does a wonderful job in this chapter of helping us appreciate all of those things that we take for granted. Even such natural things as eye sight, walking, hearing, etc. that we take for granted, Flavel helps us see that they are indeed blessings. "If you have low thoughts of this mercy, ask the blind, the deaf, the lame and the dumb, the value and worth of those mercies, and they will tell you."

Wherever you are, whatever parents you have had, whatever lot you have been given is yours by the providence of God. Are you born in the luxuries of America (which Flavel said was "savegery" in his day)? You could have been born in a bush tribe of Africa, not knowing where your next meal would come from. Do you have eye sight? You could have easily been prevented from reading this very statement. All of these are mercies given to us by the gracious providence of God.

Discussion:

As I read through this chapter I wondered how it would be received by those that are not as blessed as I. How would a starving child in Africa receive a copy of Flavel's work? Even if he had to have it read to him. What then would be his view of providence? Could he look at his situation and bless God that it were not worse? Could the deaf man read this with joy? What do you think?

On page 46, Flavel notes that we could have just as well have been miscarried. In that discussion he says this, "Had this been your case...supposing your salvation, yet you had been unservicable to God in the world..." This causes me to ask a question. What was the Puritan view of infancy? Did they believe that an infant that died was granted salvation? Did it depend upon their parents? Why does Flavel say, "supposing your salvation" (Of course the you is referring to a miscarried baby)?

Stories Flavel Uses:

Who is Galeacius?
Augustine and Monica

Augustine and Monica

In John Flavel's Mystery of Providence he makes mention of Augustine and Monica (p.54). If our readers are familiar with Augustine they will probably also be familiar with his mother Monica. She was a strong Christian woman that continuously pleaded with the Lord for the soul of her son. Much can be read about his conversion and many attribute that in part to his mother's intercession. One such poet, Charles Tennyson Turner (Lord Alfred Tennyson's elder brother), has captured this sentiment:


Copied From Collected Sonnets, Old and New By Charles Tennyson Turner, James Spedding