“A Life of Gospel Peace: A Biography of Jeremiah Burroughs” by Phillip L. Simpson

Book Details:
  • Author: Phillip L. Simpson
  • Category: Biography
  • Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books (2011)
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Page Count: 336
  • ISBN#: 1601781229
  • List Price: $30.00
  • Rating: Highly Recommended

Review:
In recent years the English Puritans have been making a comeback. Pastors and theological students, in America and elsewhere, have been looking to their writings for inspiration and guidance. Names like John Owen, Richard Baxter, Thomas Goodwin, Richard Sibbes, John Bunyan, Samuel Rutherford,and Matthew Henry are exceedingly well known. Their books adorn my bookshelves and the shelves of many of today’s church leaders. What’s more, their appeal bridges both the Calvinism-Arminianism and the charismatic-cessationist gaps. Preachers of all stripes benefit from the wisdom of these men of years past.

Many of the Puritans have had a long history of well-written biographies. But some of the Puritans are known today by little more than their writings. One such Puritan preacher is Jeremiah Burroughs. His name may be familiar to some–he is perhaps best known for his attempts to encourage a unity of spirit in the Puritan party between the Presbyterian-leaning majority and the Congregationalists and other non-conformists. He was a preacher extraordinaire in his time and was invited to be one of the few Congregationalists admitted to the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which gave us the well-known and widely respected Westminster Confession of Faith. But in the centuries after Jeremiah Burroughs’ ministry, no full-length biography of the man had ever been written.

That misfortune has been remedied through the efforts of Phillip L. Simpson, an avid researcher of all things Jeremiah Burroughs and webmaster of the Jeremiah Burroughs Homepage website. His recently published work, A Life of Gospel Peace: A Biography of Jeremiah Burroughs (Reformation Heritage, 2011), makes a fine contribution to the study of the English Puritans in general, even as it introduces us to the largely forgotten man, Jeremiah Burroughs.

We don’t know an awful lot about Burroughs, we don’t know when he was married and what exactly his home life was like. But everything we do know about him is pieced together admirably by Simpson. We follow Burroughs from his childhood home to his days as a college student at Cambridge, influenced by Puritanism and traveling far and wide to sit at the feet of well-known Puritan preachers such as John Cotton, John Wilson and John Rogers. Burroughs’ closest friends at that time are also well-known Puritans in their own right: Thomas Goodwin, William Bridge, and Sydrach Simpson. Burroughs was also influenced by the well-known Thomas Hooker during his time at Cambridge.

From there, Burroughs took teaching and preaching posts which eventually got him in trouble with the Anglican authorities of the day. His opportunities to preach became severely limited and he eventually took refuge in Holland. There he was involved in a Congregationalist church and had many opportunities to preach. But when the tides of religious freedom turned, and the English Civil War saw the Puritan parliament squaring off against the Anglican monarchy, Burroughs took the opportunity to return to his beloved England.

He soon was preaching at three different churches a week, and being asked to preach before parliament. And then his services were required in the Westminster Assembly. He worked tirelessly, preaching and teaching, and turning his lectures into a number of important and widely read books. Then at the age of 47, the humble and widely respected minister died.

As Simpson details the life of Jeremiah Burroughs, he adds all the fascinating details such as Burroughs’ thoughts on church government and eschatology, his run-ins with Anglican authorities and harsh critics, his escapades in Holland, and the inner workings of the Westminster Assembly. And as Simpson walks us through Burrough’s life chronologically, he pauses to discuss the sermons and books that were written by Burroughs at each step in his life. Simpson’s expertise shines through as he summarizes and excerpts Burroughs’ works, and it seems that he must have read them all.

In reading this biography, then, you also sample many of Burrough’s writings, which are often excerpted at some length. Burroughs proves to be focused on God’s glory and has a warm style that majors on God’s grace and the glories of Christ:

In all your conversation with God, have an eye to Christ; look unto God, the infinite, glorious First Being of all things, but do it through Christ, the Mediator…. Then God is rendered sweet and amiable, lovely to the soul, like a friend that the soul can be familiar with, when He is looked upon through Jesus Christ. (pg. 151)

God the Father is infinitely satisfied in Christ. Surely if Christ is an object sufficient for the satisfaction of the Father, much more, then, is He an object sufficient for the satisfaction of any soul. (pg. 206)

Pastors and church leaders will benefit from Burroughs’ life and example–his emphasis on prayer and the manner of his dealings with various church controversies and personal criticisms. They will also benefit the excepts shared from Burroughs’ Irenicum to the Lovers of Truth and Peace, which was my favorite section of this book. In this book, Burroughs aimed to encourage the church of his day to desist from ugly divisions and to instead work for peace. Simpson points out that Richard Baxter once said, “I entreat those that would escape the sin of schism, to read the foresaid treatises of peacemakers [including] Jeremy Burroughs’s Irenicum” (pg. 255). With my background in strict fundamentalism, I found his thoughts on this subject most pertinent, and I can’t help but share a few of these excerpts with my readers.

Many men are of such spirits as they love to be altogether busied about their brethren’s differences. Their discourses, their pens, and all their ways are about these, and that not to heal them but rather to widen them. (pg. 257)

We must profess truth when the truths are necessary to salvation, and when my forbearance in them may endanger the salvation of any. [Yet he criticized the] rigidness of the judgments of some… who think all differences in religion that cannot be quelled by argument must be quelled by violence. (pg. 260)

If I must err, considering what our condition is here in this world, I will rather err by too much gentleness and mildness than by too much rigor and severity. (pg. 261)

Shall every jealous, suspicious conceit, every little difference, be enough to separate us, and that almost irreconcilably? Have we the Spirit of Christ in us? Is the same mind in us that was in Jesus Christ? (pg. 261)

Let us account those [to be] brethren in whom we see godliness, and carry ourselves towards them accordingly, even though they will not so account us. Let us not be too ready to cut off association with our brethren. (pg. 262)

Oh, that God would set the beauty and glory of peace, friendship, and love before us! That this precious pearl, union, might be highly valued by us! Let us all study peace, seek peace, follow peace, pursue peace, and the God of peace be with us. (pg. 263)

Simpson reflects on Burroughs’ death and legacy as follows:

Burroughs once said that peace was dearer to him than his own life. Time has shown that, though he did not live long, his cry for peace among brothers in Christ continues to resonate to this day. What could be more needful in this age than to adopt his attitude of graciously submitting to whatever circumstance our heavenly Father brings us? (pg. 295)

Surely such a man is worth getting to know. And you will find no better book to become acquainted with Jeremiah Burroughs than Phillip Simpson’s excellent biography. I highly recommend it.

Author Info:
Phillip L. Simpson and his wife, Sara, live in Huntington, WV, along with their two children, Zack and Molly. Phillip developed and maintains the Jeremiah Burroughs Homepage website, a site dedicated to collecting resources by and about Jeremiah Burroughs. He is a lay teacher and member of Crew Church in Huntington. Simpson graduated from Marshall University and Eastern Kentucky University, and is employed as an occupational therapist, helping people with dizziness and balance disorders. He also serves on the West Virginia Board of Occupational Therapy.

Where to Buy:
  • Christianbook.com
  • Amazon
  • Reformation Heritage Books

Related Media:
  • Author interview about this book
  • Author’s website

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Reformation Heritage Books for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Mining the Archives: Once Saved, Always Saved?!?!


From time to time, I’ll be mining the archives around here. I’m digging up Bob’s best posts from the past. I’m hoping these reruns will still serve my readers.

Today’s post was originally published February 11, 2006.

 


 

Today’s popular evangelical maxim “once saved, always saved” while based in the Biblical truth of justification by faith alone has morphed into a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card for far too many. The church’s duty to make disciples of all nations has been downgraded to an optional extra. The gospel call to repent and believe has become a plea for sinners to assent to the facts of the gospel, pray a prayer, and join the cool Christian club called churchianity. Gone are the stern warnings to “watch and pray” and “endure to the end”. Gone are the bold exhortations to “make your calling and election sure” and “be diligent to be found in [Christ] without spot or blemish”. In their place are the warm assurances “since you confessed you are saved” and “since eternal life is a free gift, God cannot take it back”, and the friendly reminders “everybody makes mistakes” and “don’t sweat: remember, we’re under grace!” The old doctrine that saints must diligently make a personal effort to persevere in faith has been overshadowed by the new doctrine that saints can live just like anyone else in the world and as long as they once assented to gospel truths they are most certainly bound for heaven.

I wish I was merely exaggerating the situation. But when a nationally well known evangelical leader like Charles Stanley seriously believes and teaches that people who actually stop believing in Christ and walk out on God are still eternally secure, I can hardly be accused of overstating my case. In the article linked to above he claims, “The Bible clearly teaches that God’s love for His people is of such magnitude that even those who walk away from the faith have not the slightest chance of slipping from His hand.” He goes on to only deal with Eph. 2:4-9 and 1 Cor. 1:21, while adding in a good portion of reasoning and illustrations. In his book Eternal Security: Can You Be Sure? he makes the startling claim that salvation can be compared to receiving a tattoo. Even if moments later, you regret receiving the tattoo, it cannot change the fact that you have it! (pg. 80)

The Grace Evangelical Society exists to perpetuate such ideas. In other specters of evangelicalism, easy believism is represented by a 1-2-3-repeat-after-me approach to evangelism. A very large segment of independent fundamental Baptists (represented by literally thousands of churches and tens [if not hundreds] of thousands of members) emphasizes this approach to such excess that staggeringly huge numbers of salvations and baptisms are reported each year–which if really true, would make the Great Awakening look like a picnic. People are converted in five minutes or less–even through a rolled-down window during the duration of a stop light! One church has boasted of a million souls saved in the past 25 years, and yet less than 500 attend on any given Sunday.

Today no view seems criticized as much as Lordship Salvation or the Calvinistic doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. These views are very similar, if not synonymous and both share a strong critique. Charges of “works-salvation” or “perfectionism” are thrown mercilessly at these misunderstood views.

So how did we come to such a time and situation as this? It seems that in a mix of zeal and evangelistic fervor, popular Christianity began to move away from its confessional roots in the late 1800s. American individualism probably worsened the situation, as Sola Scriptura became the license for anyone and everyone to disregard centuries of theological formulations and church teaching and come up with a myriad of homespun theories. The lasting impact of Charles G. Finney, who rejected substitutionary atonement among other orthodox doctrines, also contributed to what became popular American revivalism. Today, people have hardly heard of many of the great Reformation confessions like the Westminster Confession or the Synod of Dort, and yet they are quick to find a proof text for a host of contradictory Biblical teachings.

Yet a misunderstanding of perseverance is not limited to Arminians and non-Calvinists today, either. Doug Wilson says it well in a recent post on Heb. 3:7-19:

Apostasy is a real sin, committed by real people. This is something that Arminians get, and that most Calvinists do not get. None of the elect can every [sic] be taken out of God’s electing and sovereign decree. This is something that Calvinists get, and that Arminians do not get. Arminians can read Romans 8 through 11 and not see the absolute sovereignty of God, which is something that never ceases to astonish me. But lest we Calvinists get on a high horse, Arminians can read though Hebrews and can see real apostasy there. There are few things more exegetically embarrassing than to hear a Calvinist talk about how the warnings are hypothetical, like “keep off the grass” signs in the middle of the Sahara. There are many things that can be said to this, but the most compelling of them is that the warnings invariably deny that they are anything like hypothetical….The sin warned against here is that of evil unbelief, pure and simple. Not only is it unbelief, it is unbelief resulting in apostasy — departure from the living God, falling away from the living God. The sin is spoken of in the sternest possible way — rebellion, hardened hearts, evil heart of unbelief, and a departure from God…..This book [Hebrews] is about the sin of apostasy. Can a Christian fall away? Yes. Can someone who is truly regenerate, elect of God, an eternal Christian, fall away? No, clearly not.

Before I go on to defend the Biblical (I believe) doctrine of perseverance, let me provide here a brief excerpt from John Piper’s book The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace

A few years ago I spoke to a high school student body on how to fight lust. One of my points was called, “Ponder the eternal danger of lust.” I quoted the words of Jesus–that it’s better to go to heaven with one eye than to hell with two–and said to the students that their eternal destiny was at stake in what they did with their eyes and with the thoughts of their imagination….After my message…one of the students…asked, “Are you saying then that a person can lose his salvation?”…This is exactly the same response I got a few years ago when I confronted a man about the adultery he was living in….I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, “You know, Jesus says that if you don’t fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell”….As a professing Christian he looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, “You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?”…So I have learned again and again from firsthand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings. I believe this view of the Christian life is comforting thousands who are on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13)….The main concern of this book is to show that the battle against sin is a battle against unbelief. Or: the fight for purity is a fight for faith in future grace. The great error that I am trying to explode is the error that says, “Faith in God is one thing and the fight for holiness is another thing….The battle for obedience is optional because only faith is necessary for final salvation.” (pg. 330-331 and 333)

Belief in perseverance does not negate the great truth that faith alone justifies and secures our eternal salvation. Rather it affirms with Martin Luther, “We are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.” Our works prove the sincerity of our faith, and are in this sense necessary. This is why so many passages teach that God will actually judge all mankind by their works. Without exception, Rom. 2:6-11 states: “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immorality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.” The reason this does not teach works salvation is that when we come to God in faith (as a result of his work of regeneration in our hearts–John 1:13 and 1 Jn. 5:1, and his gifts of faith–Acts 3:16, 15:9, 18:27, 1 Pet. 1:21, Phil. 1:29, Eph. 1:19-20, 2 Pet. 1:1 and repentance–Acts 5:31, 11:18, 2 Tim. 2:25) he begins a good work in us (Phil. 1:6) and will be the One to complete it. He will produce good works in us as a testimony of the genuineness of our faith–Eph. 2:10, Phil. 2:13, 1 Cor. 15:10, 1 Thess. 5:23-24, Jude 24, Tit. 2:14.

In other words, true regeneration produces true fruit. This is Jesus’ teaching in Matt. 7:18-19 “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” In the parable of the sower, the only soil which produced fruit was the good soil. Even thought the rocky soil produced plants which looked healthier than the fruitful plants, they bore no fruit and withered away. Jesus said this represents those “who receive [the word] with joy…but…have no root: they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” The clear teaching of the parable is that transient faith does not save. Only the faith that bears fruit saves.

In understanding perseverance, it is important to recognize the difference between justification and glorification. Justification is the legal pronouncement of “not guilty” which happens immediately upon our faith and is based on Christ’s substitutionary atonement. This pronouncement is a voice from heaven, so to speak, concerning our hearts. The testimony from earth (our lifestyle) does not unfalteringly reflect this. Sanctification is a slow and gradual process of the out-working of our faith and the living out of our justification. Glorification is the point when we are gloriously transformed into Christ’s image immediately after our death. At this point salvation is final. Up until then, since we cannot enter heaven’s throne-room and hear the irreversible verdict of “not guilty” applied to us, we must trust in sanctification to prove the genuineness of our faith. The term “salvation” is most often used in Scripture to refer to our glorification and only sparingly used to refer to justification. So when we see the English words “whoever believes will be saved” it usually is teaching that whoever believes will one day ultimately be saved/glorified. The Greek tense used for “believe” most often (99% or more of the time) in such statements is the present tense which directly conveys a continual action. Literally, it is often stated, “the believing one will be saved”. If we walk away from faith and cease believing we prove to not be a “believing one”.

Perseverance is required of believers. It is our duty. But the flip side of this is the teaching that God will preserve His elect (John 10:26-30, 1 Pet. 1:5, etc.). So all of the elect–all the truly regenerate among professing believers–will persevere and it will be by God’s grace. Most reading this post already understand that God will preserve the elect, so I will not labor to prove that assertion. But what follows will conclude this post by providing a defense of my assertion that the Bible requires us (professing believers) to persevere.

The Bible speaks of our need to “examine” ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5) and to diligently “make our calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10). We cannot assume that since we believed in the past or made some profession of faith, we are absolutely and inviolably secure eternally. We must make room for the Scriptural potential that our faith could be insincere or not genuine. Luke 8:13 again, speaks of those who “believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away”. Even Paul leaves it open that he might even still yet become a “castaway” (same Greek word for apostate) in 1 Cor. 9:27.

Heb. 3:12-14 (along with other warning passages in Hebrews) is emphatically clear that we might ultimately fall away, and so thus we need to daily exhort one another to continue in belief. Paul calls this the “good fight of faith” in 1 Tim. 6:12 and exhorts Timothy to “take hold of the eternal life” (6:12) and to “hold faith” (1:19), because some had already “made shipwreck of their faith” (1:20), and some have “abandoned their former faith” (5:12), and others have “swerved from the faith” (6:21). This is why he exhorts Timothy to “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (4:16) This is why so often Paul and other Scriptural authors do not boldly assure their readers of their personal sharing in Christ, rather they hold out before them their duty to persevere. See all the conditional statements in the following verses: Col. 1:23–“if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast,…”; 1 Cor. 15:2–“by which [the gospel] you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain”; Heb. 3:6–“and we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope”; Heb. 3:14–“we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end”; John 8:31–“if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples”; Mark 13:13–“the one who endures to the end will be saved”; 2 Tim. 2:12–“if we endure, we will also reign with him”; Rom. 8:13–“if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”; Gal. 6:9–“in due season we will reap [eternal life (see 6:8)], if we do not give up”; Heb. 12:14–“holiness without which no one will see the Lord”; James 2:26 (with 14)–“faith apart from works is dead” and “can that faith save him?”

Scripture never gives us assurance of salvation based on our profession of faith (in a past time and place), rather it declares the objective reality of Christ’s work and the subjective reality of the Spirit’s work in our lives as the grounds for assurance. (And the stress in 1 John is on our subjective experience of characteristic obedience.) 1 John 2:3 states ” And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” 1 John 2:19 also gives us the key to understanding this truth. It helps us to interpret what happened when we see someone who seemed to have genuine faith fall away. It declares, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” In other words, we should not conclude like some Arminians that all professing believers who fall away have in fact lost their salvation. Rather we should conclude that they were only professing but not possessing faith. Paul teaches this same truth when he declares belief could be in vain (1 Cor. 15:2) or could be only temporary (see 1 Thess. 3:5). Jesus also clearly taught both the reality of professors being proven to not possess faith in the scary passage of Matt. 7:21-23, and the need to persevere in Luke 21:34-36 among other places.

To sum up the teaching of perseverance, let us quote 2 passages. 2 Thess. 2:13b “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Heb. 6:12b “be…imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Both of these passages teach that ultimate, final salvation (inheriting the promises) come to those who both believe and persevere (are sanctified/have patience).

But should this teaching result in our condemning large segments of evangelicalism and condemning many we know? Are we to judge them as not being true possessors since we may doubt their perseverance? No! Emphatically, no! Remember, justification is a heavenly sentence. We do not know, here on earth, what that sentence is. We can judge based on their fruits, but we also must be aware of the motes and beams in our own eyes. We should judge ourselves first and others much later. We can have confidence and hope in our sovereign God that there are evidences of grace in all who profess salvation. But then again, we know Biblically that this is most likely not the case. So rather than condemn one another, we should seek to edify one another and encourage them to press on, and to continue in belief (Heb. 3:2-14 and Gal. 6:1-9).

Before I close, we must revisit that popular maxim, “once saved, always saved.” If “saved” is viewed as glorification, I do not disagree at all with that statement. Nor would I if “saved” is viewed as justification. But once again, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of justification is in your works (James 2). So even with the truth of once justified, always justified in view, we must never assume we have been justified if we have no good works to point to as Spirit-wrought proof.

In conclusion, brothers and sisters, I say with the apostle John “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” (2 John 1:8) And remember that although Jude warns us to “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (v. 21) he also assures us “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…” (v. 24). So do not lose heart. Trust in God’s great promises, and fight the good fight of faith. Above all, do not presume that you have arrived and are outside the bounds of Scripture’s warnings. Rather, “be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” (2 Pet. 1:10)

For a more succinct treatment of this topic, I refer you to an earlier post where I reproduce a helpful outline on Heb. 3:2-14. Also, for a Biblical look at how important mutual edification of believers is, see my post on 1 Thessalonians. And for more resources concerning this topic, check out some articles and sermons by John Piper listed here on the issue of future grace, or just read his book referenced above. (You can get a copy at the following retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Christianbook.com & Amazon.com.)

For further thoughts on this topic check out posts in my Perseverance category. You may also want to look at my explanation of the five points of Calvinism here. Also, if you want, you can read all 65 comments on the original post.

Milestones, Markers and More

Recently my blog passed a few significant milestones. I thought I’d take the opportunity to reminisce a little and also mention a few upcoming plans.

Two posts ago, on August 25th, I posted my 1,000th blog post. And my most recent post, on Aug. 31st was my 100th book or media review. We’re up to over 6,800 comments and close to 500 blog subscribers. I want to thank everyone who’s followed my blog and helped keep it alive this long. We’re closing in on 6 years this Fall.

Along the way, I’ve started a few other ventures. A couple have passed by the wayside, but KJVOnlyDebate.com is still going strong (although I don’t post as much as I’d like to there anymore). I contribute at Re-Fundamentals.org still, and occasionally you’ll find a post of mine on other blogs.

I also started CrossFocusedReviews.com with my friend Shaun Tabatt. Alright, I’ll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag. Shaun and I will be launching a book related podcast this month. Stay tuned for more details on that.

Speaking of books, SharperIron.org has asked me to be their book review editor, and so I hope to help them start publishing book reviews more often. More details to come on that announcement too. If you follow Sharper Iron, let me know as I’ll want to see if I can get you to do some book reviews for them.

I enjoy the blogging and the book reviewing, but I know this isn’t what makes me special or important. Jesus Christ shed his blood for me, and that’s all I could ever ask for. I need his grace each and every day just like you. Thanks for following my blog, I trust it is a blessing to some of you and at least somewhat entertaining for others.

Okay, enough about me and my blog. Back to regularly scheduled programming, I promise!

Elyse Fitzpatrick on Parenting & the False Notion that Our Kids’ Salvation Depends on Us

Another insightful excerpt from the new book, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson:

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Works righteousness is a deadly and false variation of godly obedience. Godly obedience is motivated by love for God and trust in his gracious plan and power. Works righteousness is motivated by unbelief; it is a reliance on our abilities and a desire to control outcomes. Works righteousness eventuates in penance: I’ll make it up to you by redoubling my efforts tomorrow! rather than repentance: Lord forgive me for my sin today. Thank you that you love me in spite of all my failures. In parenting, works righteousness will cause us to be both fearful and demanding. When we see our failures, we will be overcome with fear: I really blew it with my kids today. I’m so afraid that I’m going to ruin them! When we see their failures, we’ll be overly demanding: I’ve already told you what I want you to do. Didn’t you hear me? I must have told you fifty times in the last five minutes. I’m sick to death of your terrible attitude. You need to listen to me and do what I say without any complaints or grunts or eye rolls. Just do it! It’s obvious how both responses feed off each other in a never-ending cycle of anger and despair and penance.

Works righteousness obliterates the sweet comforts of grace because it cuts us off from God, who alone is the giver of grace. It cuts us off because he absolutely insists on being our sole Savior. This is his claim: “I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior” (Isa. 43:11; see also 45:21). We are not nor can we be the saviors of our children. He is the Savior. When we forget this, our parenting will be pockmarked by fear, severity, and exhaustion.

On the other hand, when we rest in his gracious work we will experience the comforts he has provided for us. He delights in being worshiped as the One who “richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). He loves flooding our consciences with the peace that comes from knowing our sins are forgiven and our standing before him is completely secure. When we’re quietly resting in grace, we’ll have grace to give our children, too. When we’re freed from the ultimate responsibility of being their savior, we’ll find our parenting burden becoming easy and light. [excerpted from pg. 55 of Give them Grace, published by Crossway Books]

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I can’t help but adding a side-note here. Most IFBx preachers I know pastor their church by this same false notion that the salvation of their flock depends on them. They encourage parents to be harsh with their kids as being the only way to win them ultimately to the Lord. All the while, God’s grace sits untapped in the corner and the legalism factory churns along with everybody working overtime….

You can pick up a copy of this important book on parenting (and the Gospel of God’s grace) at the following retailers: , Monergism Books, Christianbook.com, Amazon.com, and direct from Crossway Books.

Quotes to Note 30: Pastors as True Shepherds or Mere “Mutton Farmers”

Recently, I’ve been reading some forums that have been lamenting poor leadership in certain IFBx circles. Some have shared painful testimonies about years of harsh treatment by parents and teachers who ostensibly cared about the children’s welfare, but ultimately just rejected them (literally throwing them out, and disowning them completely) when it became clear that they weren’t keeping in step with the brand of fundamentalism these pastors and church leaders advocated.

Then I stumbled across this quote in studying for my Men’s Bible Study lesson on Mark 6:31-44 where Jesus looks on the crowds with compassion and considers that: “they were like sheep without a shepherd.” I almost started weeping when I read these words about what a true shepherd should be. Praise Jesus he is not like some of the “shepherds” I’ve known…

Most contemporary listeners are unfamiliar with the job description of a shepherd. Lena Woltering has pointed out that a shepherd “is needed only when there are no fences. He is someone who stays with his sheep at all cost, guiding, protecting, and walking with them through the fields. He’s not just a person who raises sheep.” They lead sheep to food and water and are ever mindful of the sheep’s condition (Gen. 33:13). They gather lambs that cannot keep up in their arms (Isa. 40:11). They seek out lost sheep, and when they find them, they carry them back to the fold on their sholders (Luke 15:5). They guard against predators and thieves. It is a dirty and hard job. Woltering castigates those bishops who regard themselves as “tenders of the flock” and brands them as little more than “mutton farmers.” “They build fence after fence after fence, keeping the flock within sight so they don’t have to dirty their feet plodding along the open fields.” They turn the difficult role of shepherd into a position of rank and superiority and sequester themselves from the sheep. Ezekiel’s castigation of the self-indulgent and irresponsible shepherds in his day (Ezek. 34) is no less applicable today to those who want to dominate and crush others rather than feed them. — David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary, pg. 258-259 [quotes from Woltering were cited in Salt of the Earth 15 (July/August, 1995), 34]