A Boomer in the Pew

Clarifying the Bible - Mitch Maher

I just finished Mitch Maher's Clarifying the Bible.  Clarifying the Bible is a 1 hour and 45 minute DVD (complete with workbook) where Mitch Maher takes the viewers on a complete tour of the Bible from 30,000 feet.

In less than 2 hours you will have a general understanding of the Bible, its 66 books, and a great understanding of God's road map from Genesis to Revelation.

Mitch is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and his heart for the Lord is clear and present.

This series would make an excellent study for a small group, a family Bible study, or as he mentions on his website, a seminar for your whole church.

If you, or someone you know, is just starting a serious study of God's holy word, this would provide an excellent foundation to begin the journey.

I give it a hearty thumbs up!

PS  I am getting no remuneration for this endorsement.  I found it valuable and wanted to share it with you, my readers.

Look! How Great is the Love of the Father

Look at the joy on this child's face!

In seeking to understand the depths of my relationship to God as Father, this photograph is a fair representation of my desired destination.

Complete joy.  No regard for anything in the past, present, or future.  Complete abandonment in the love of my Father.

In my last post on Sinclair Ferguson's, "Children of the Living God", describing the scene in the parable of the prodigal son, I see the father in the scene running full bore to welcome the son back to the family.  At the moment of their embrace, looking through the eyes of the son, the son's transgressions cloud his view of the father's love.

He can only see his unworthiness.  He can only see himself slopping in the mud with the hogs.  He can only see whatever God awful sins he committed in the past years as he squandered his inheritance.  He can't, because of his self focus, see the love of the Father fully.

We (I) need to understand, fully, the depths of Christ's sacrifice.  We (I) need to understand the relationship that God desires to have with us as sons.  We (I) need to accept God's forgiveness and equally important, forgive ourselves.

We (I) need to seek to find the joy that exists in this child's face.  We (I) need to understand what it means to be "sons of God". 

1 John 3:1:

"Look!  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!"

Can you see it?

Spoiled Rich Kid, Squanders Wealth, Nearly Dies, but is Welcomed back by His Father!

"Tending Children at the Orphanage in Haarlem" c 1663, by Jan de Bray.

This is the fifth post in my study of Sinclair Ferguson's text "Children of the Living God".

Buy this book from Amazon.

In this chapter, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson turns his attention to the doctrine of adoption.  If you recall, my desire to more fully understand this particular doctrine is what caused me to sidetrack from my study of Dr. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.

Dr. Ferguson shares that in the Hebrew Canon, "sonship" was a dual process.  There was the actual creation (birth) but secondly there was a legal aspect as well.  A son was recognized, by a definite act of the father.  In this case, the father would take the newborn son and place him on the knee.  This was a statement to all that this was the man's son.  A clear and legal recognition of the son, by the father,  to the world.

The New Testament shares the same understanding in regard to our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.  We are born, as sons of God, through the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration.   Secondly, and immediately, we are also brought into the family of God by a decisive, legal act on God's part - adoption.

It is also helpful to understand the Roman concept of adoption, as the New Testament was written while the Jewish nation was under the grips of Rome.  Here, Dr. Ferguson is quoting Professor Francis Lyall on the subject of Roman adoption:

"The profound truth of Roman adoption was that the adoptee was taken out of his previous state and was placed in a new relationship of son to his new father, his new paterfamilias [head of household].  All his old debts are cancelled, and in effect the adoptee started a new life as part of his new family.  From that time on the paterfamilias had the same control over his new "child" as he had over his natural offspring.  He owned all the property and acquisitions of the adoptee, controlled his personal relationships, and had right of discipline.  On the other hand the father was liable for the actions of the adoptee, and each owned the other reciprocal duties of support and maintenance."

Understanding these early views of adoption are important so that we can understand the context in which the scriptures were written.

Please join me as I continue to explore the doctrine of adoption with Dr. Sinclair Ferguson...

Is Everyone Born a Child of God?

"Daniel with the Book of Life" c 1511, by Michelangelo Buonarroti.  Fresco from the Sistine Chapel.  Daniel Chapter 12

This is the fourth post in my study of Sinclair Ferguson's text "Children of the Living God".

I have been on a serious quest, in the past six months, to get to know my heavenly Father and to, furthermore, understand what his words are to me in the Bible.

I have come to the realization that, in many ways, I had no idea what God would have me know of him.  To be frank, until recently, I have never studied a chapter of the Bible clear through.  I spent many years in churches listening to many sermons but I have never been exposed to expository teaching where you simply read and seek to understand the Bible and what it is saying to us.

Without mincing words, I am a little upset with myself.  About 2% of that upset is with those who were placed by God to shepherd over me.  How is it that, at 51 years of age, I have been exposed to so little of the riches in this Great Text?  The fault is mine!  I had the Book in my hands all the time.  I intend to fix this problem with all my diligence.

Dr. Sinclair Ferguson has made it clear that, for us, God's story is about making us sons and daughters.  Put another way, God wants us to be his children.  Children of God! 

This is a remarkable fact.  But, this fact only considers this great truth from our point of view.  What does this whole thing look like from God's vantage point?  If we were to look through the eyes of Christ and the Holy Spirit, what would we see concerning our sonship?

There seems to be a cultural belief that we are all children of God.  Is it possible that this isn't true?  If some, through their sins and disbelief,  will spend eternity in hell, are they then also now children of God?

Dr. Sinclair Ferguson is now, in his second chapter of "Children of the Living God", going to explore the "new birth" and how it pertains to those who are called by God, his children.

Please join me...

"Children of the Living God" - Sinclair Ferguson (Chapter 1c)

"Christ Healing the Blind Man" by Eustache Le Sueur.

This is my third post in my study of Sinclair Ferguson's text "Children of the Living God".

In the first part of this chapter Ferguson wants us to understand that our identity, or self-image, as a son of God, is, to the understanding believer, life-transforming.  He further points out that this relationship is central in all of the New Testament.

Ferguson then, in the middle section of the chapter, takes us on a journey through the Hebrew Canon pointing out, once again, that God created us to be sons.  However, he points out, the Fall of Man put a large detour in the complete fulfillment of that blessed relationship.

In this next post, we will conclude the first chapter of "Children of the Living God' where Dr. Sinclair Ferguson shows us that God continues to unfold his love for us in the process of restoration.  God's full and complete plan is to restore us to full and complete sonship!

Please join me...

"Children of the Living God" - Sinclair Ferguson (Chapter 1b)

"The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise" c 1791 by American Benjamin West.  From the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. 

To the well-informed, this painting depicts a great stirring of God's heart perhaps second only to Christ's death on the cross.

Man, created as the son of God, made in the image and likeness of God, took of the forbidden fruit in direct opposition to God's single command.

In this painting we see Adam in obvious internal pain, Eve seems to be afraid and seeking Adam's protection while the Archangel Michael casts them from Eden with God's flaming sword coming down from the heavens.  Here too, we also see the serpent slithering away as nature's imputation is represented by the eagle swooping against a helpless bird and a lion attacking a horse.  This son, will surely now die.

This is my second post in the study of Sinclair Ferguson's "Children of the Living God".

Adam (mankind), the day he was cast out of Paradise, lost his sonship.  God created Adam as a son.  A son of the living God.  A son in the Father's image and likeness.  A son with a perfect eternal body, living in a perfect eternal creation.  If you can fathom this, Adam walked and talked with God, his Father, on a daily basis.  There was perfect relationship.  A Father and a son.

Sinclair Ferguson, in the concluding paragraphs of this first chapter asks a most important question:

"How important is sonship in biblical teaching?  We can express its centrality abruptly but truly by saying: Our sonship to God is the apex of creation and the goal of redemption."

Sonship is everything to God!

Lets chew on this together as we continue in Sinclair Ferguson's first chapter...

"Children of the Living God" by Sinclair B. Ferguson

This will be the landing page for my studies of "Children of the Living God" by Sinclair B. Ferguson.

The Children of God (Chapter 1a) - Learning to be a son of God

The Children of God (Chapter 1b) - More of our sonship.

The Children of God (Chapter 1c) - Sonship is everything!

The Children of God (Chapter 2) - Is everyone a child of God?

The Children of God (Chapter 2b) - Look!  How great is the love of the Father!

Learning to be a son of God

What emotions do this photograph bring to your mind? 

To me, it represents a deep and long sought after longing. 

My father, and his father before him, and perhaps a significant percentage of the fathers in that era, seemed incapable of expressing their love to their sons.

If you have been a reader of this blog for any period of time, you will have learned that a significant part of my drive, in becoming a successful businessman, was looking for the attention and the approval of my father.  I wanted my father's blessing.  I wanted to hear, "Well done, son!"

My father is gone now.  I hold no ill will towards him.  In fact, I am deeply saddened that his same desire was never found.  I distinctly remember my grandfather, visiting a new home that my wife and I had purchased about 15 years ago, saying right in front of my father, "Well...at least someone in this family had made something of themselves". 

That was a complement to me, but I am sure that my father,  perhaps 58 years old or so at the time, was stricken to the heart with that comment from his father.  My father was never able to share his thoughts and desires with me.  Unfortunately, I wasn't mature enough to understand.  I was busy being focused on my own drives, desires and pains.

I say all this because I believe God when he said that he made man in his image.  I believe that God has placed, in the hearts of sons, a longing for the blessings of their fathers.

As a 51 year old man, I now understand that my father and his father before him, never found this blessing. With God's help, I intend to make certain that my sons do not live without this precious gift.

So now, with my father gone, I intend to learn what it means to be a child of God.  What would God have me know about him as my Father.  What does it mean to be adopted into the Family of God?  What privileges does having a King as my Father bring?  How should I act as a King's son?  How do I spend time with my Heavenly Father, and let him teach me?  How can the above photograph represent God, my heavenly Father, and me?

Join me as I seek answers to these questions in Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson's,  Children of the Living God...

What does it mean to be a Son of God?

This is my son, Joshua David Porter.  I am also greatly blessed with a step-son, Jerome Benton Brunnemer (recently married to Jessica). 

As I look at this photograph and think about my sons, there exists an eternally deep love, a great longing and desire for the best of father/son relationships, a glad willingness to lay down my life for them if ever need be.  I desire them to learn from my mistakes, I desire for them to find the narrow path and plug their ears to the siren's song of this contemporary world.  I desire for them great happiness, wonderful families and all the best that God would have for them. 

These desires are deep and rooted in the core of my being.  As I have deep love for my sons, so my heavenly Father must harbor deep desires of love for me as His son.

Joshua is flesh of my flesh.  Jerome, although not my flesh, was chosen.  Adopted if you will.  When I made the decision years ago to seek the hand of Jerome's mother in marriage, I also made a conscious decision to bring Jerome into my life and love him as my own son.  This was a decision.  Many contend that this decision, this choice to love, is perhaps the most precious of all.  After all, God has adopted me as His son.  I was not born into the chosen family of God (Israel).  I was adopted into the family through Christ.

As I have been working my way through Dr. Wayne Grudem's textbook on Systematic Theology, and recently finished my study on Adoption, Wayne said something that struck a chord with me.  He said that adoption was perhaps the most precious of God's gifts to us, perhaps even more than or equal to salvation.  I decided that I did not understand this comment and perhaps I was risking, by moving forward, a very important lesson.  Therefore, as I mentioned in a previous post, I have backed up the bus and am going to park in the doctrine of adoption for a while.

To help me in my quest for deeper understanding of this doctrine, I have chosen Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson's book, Children of the Living God.

I learned about this text from C.J. Mahaney's message at the Resolved Conference, entitled "God as Father". 

C.J. Mahaney's message is a powerful one and I highly recommend that you find an hour to give it a listen and wonder in God's gift to us as His Children.

Preface - "A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections" by Jonathan Edwards

On July 17th, a group of Christian Bloggers will begin reading together, and sharing thoughts on-line, Jonathan Edward's "A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections".

I have ordered the book from Amazon. But while I am awaiting its arrival, I have started reading the text on-line at Yale University's "Works of Jonathan Edwards Online".

While trying to decide if I was going to make the commitment to read this demanding text, I wanted first to have a basic understanding of the intent and context of the text.

Following, you will find my notes on the preface of Jonathan Edward's, "A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections".

Please read on...