Tag: Unity

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

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

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.

Martin Luther King Jr. Speaks from a Birmingham Jail

~ Bob Hayton ~ 8 Comments

This Martin Luther King Day, I thought it would be appropriate to offer an excerpt from John Piper’s new book on race that I have been reading. The book is entitled, Bloodlines: Race, Cross and the Christian (Crossway, 2011).

In the introduction to the book, Piper quotes from Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” because this letter “provides a window on the mid-twentieth century world of black Americans.” For those of us who didn’t live through the 1960s and the Civil Rights movement, this excerpt should help us better appreciate the significance of MLK day. I also hope it serves to make us all the more aware of the deceitful sin of racism and ever more resolved to root it out of our lives and our families, communities, and churches.

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On Tuesday, April 16, King was shown a copy of the Birmingham News, which contained a letter from eight Christian and Jewish clergyman of Alabama (all white), criticizing King for his demonstration. In response, King wrote what has come to be called “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and which one biographer described as “the most eloquent and learned expression of the goals and philosophy of the nonviolent movement ever written.”

We need to hear the power and insight with which King spoke to my generation in the sixties–enraging thousands and inspiring thousands. The white clergy had all said he should be more patient, wait, and not demonstrate. He wrote:

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society;

…when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she’s told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people;

…when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging sings reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “Nigger,” your middle name becomes “Boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”;

…when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”–then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”

To the charge that he was an extremist, he responded like this:

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”? Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”? Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”?

Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God”? And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “Thus this nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” So the question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremist we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?

And finally he delivered a powerful call to the church, which rings as true today as it did in 1963:

There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society…. But the judgment of God is upon the church [today] as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century.

That is Martin Luther King’s prophetic voice ringing out of the Birmingham jail in 1963. [pg. 25-27]

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For more on John Piper’s book watch the book trailer, the full 18 minute documentary video, or view the links below. To read King’s entire “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” click here for the letter in .pdf format.

You can pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Christianbook.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or direct from Crossway.

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

“The End of the Law: Mosaic Covenant in Pauline Theology” by Jason C. Meyer

~ Bob Hayton ~ 7 Comments

Book Details:
  • Author: Jason C. Meyer
  • Category: Theology
  • Publisher: Broadman & Holman Academic (2009)
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Page Count: 352
  • ISBN#: 9780805448429
  • List Price: $19.99
  • Rating: Highly Recommended

Review:
The nature of how the Mosaic Law relates to the Gospel and the new covenant is a perennially problematic question. Luther and Calvin wrestled over this, and we continue to wrestle over this down to today. Jason C. Meyer picks up his pen to try and tackle this problem in his book The End of the Law: Mosaic Covenant in Pauline Theology, as part of the New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology from Broadman and Holman.

With such an enormous topic, it is doubtful that Meyer will please everyone. And while I found much that was excellent in his book, there were moments where I thought he didn’t handle something well enough and times where I wished he would have dealt with a topic that he passed over. But I can’t fault Meyer for not tackling head-on, an important question. He does an able job dealing with this question and his book was truly a joy to read.

Meyer’s book presents the problem of how the Mosaic covenant is handled in Paul and then focuses on the old/new antithesis in Paul as the solution to this problem. He studies Paul’s epistles to see how Paul himself presents the old vs. the new, and particularly how he talks of the covenant. From this a few key passages are identified and discussed in detail: 2 Corinthians 3-4, Galatians 3-4, and Romans 9-11. Then after dealing with Paul’s theology of the old and new, Meyer goes to the Old Testament himself to see if he can harmonize Paul with the Old Testament’s own description of the Mosaic covenant, in its own terms.

Meyer’s conclusions are that Paul sees a difference between the Old covenant and New Covenant in eschatological terms. The old was ineffectual and is proven so by the presence of the new covenant in the here and now. With the dawn of the new age, the old covenant is seen for how ineffectual it was. The new covenant has the power to create lasting change through the presence of the Spirit in far greater measure than in the old.

Along the way, Meyer offers a masterful analysis of the texts he covers and models a careful, yet thoroughly evangelical approach to Scripture, which focuses on the authorial intent and canonical form of the text. My primary issue with his exegesis is in his making too much of Romans 11 and failing to deal adequately with the fact that in the new covenant we still have those who are visible members but not actual partakers of the covenant. I also wish he would deal more explicitly with the question of Israel and the Church: does the old/new antithesis in Paul imply that the church should be seen as the new and fuller expression of believing Israel? I suspect Meyer would say yes, but he doesn’t come right out and address this.

The book makes for a fascinating read, and will be appreciated by lay students as well as pastors and scholars. Knowledge of exegesis and theology will help in being able to appreciate the book more, however. Meyer writes with clarity and has a knack for boiling down complex issues and explaining what other more technical writers are saying. He interacts with the voluminous literature on the topic well, and maintains a thoroughly evangelical approach throughout. This is a refreshing read and I highly recommend it.

Author Info:
Jason C. Meyer is associate professor of New Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Previously he was assistant professor of religion (New Testament and Greek) at Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana. He holds degrees from Oklahoma Wesleyan University (B.S.) and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M. Div., Ph. D.).

Where to Buy:
  • Christianbook.com
  • Amazon
  • Broadman & Holman

Related Media:
  • Book Preview

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Broadman and Holman Publishing Group for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Kevin Bauder’s Eight Characteristics of Hyper-Fundamentalism

~ Bob Hayton ~ 72 Comments

A new book forthcoming from Zondervan includes a chapter from Dr. Kevin Bauder of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis. I won’t talk about the book other than to mention its title, and that it is worth getting! The book is Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism, edited by Collin Hansen and Andrew Naselli.

I’m still only about half-way through a galley copy of this book, but my eyes lit up when I came across Bauder’s characteristics of hyper-fundamentalism. I think he has captured lightning in a bottle with this list of descriptors, since for a very long time I’ve struggled to pinpoint the cross-over line from reasonable fundamentalism to fundamentalism run wild.

I just have to share Bauder’s eight characteristics of hyper-fundamentalism with you, but I strongly encourage you to get the book and read his entire essay. This quotation is from a pre-published version of the book so it may diverge in part from the final published product.

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First, hyper-fundamentalists often understand fundamentalism in terms of loyalty to an organization, movement, or even leader. They equate the defense of the faith with the prosperity of their organization or its leader. Someone who criticizes or contradicts it is subjected to censure or separation.

Second, hyper-fundamentalists sometimes adopt a militant stance regarding some extrabiblical or even antibiblical teaching. [He sites KJV-onlyism as an example.] …When individuals become militant over such nonbiblical teachings, they cross the line into hyper-fundamentalism.

Third, hyper-fundamentlists understand separation in terms of guilt by association. To associate with someone who holds any error constitutes an endorsement of that error….

Fourth, hyper-fundamentalists are marked by an inability to receive criticism. For them, questioning implies weakness or compromise. Any criticism — especially if it is offered publicly — constitutes an attack….

A fifth characteristic of hyper-fundamentalism is anti-intellectualism. Some hyper-fundamentalists view education as detrimental to spiritual well-being…. Colleges, when they exist, are strictly for the purpose of practical training.

Sixth, hyper-fundamentalists sometimes turn nonessentials into tests of fundamentalism. For example, some hyper-fundamentalists assume that only Baptists should be recognized as fundamentalists…. One’s fundamentalist standing may be judged by such criteria as hair length, musical preferences, and whether one allows women to wear trousers.

Seventh, hyper-fundamentalists occasionally treat militant political involvement as a criterion for fundamentalist standing. During the 1960s and 1970s, anticommunism was a definitive factor for some fundamentalists. Its place has now been taken by antiabortion and antihomosexual activism. Most fundamentalists do agree about these issues, but hyper-fundamentalists make militant activism a necessary obligation of the Christian faith.

Eight and last, hyper-fundamentalists sometimes hold a double standard for personal ethics. They see themselves engaged in an ecclesiastical war, and they reason that some things are permissible in a warfare that would not be permissible in ordinary life. They may employ name-calling, half-truths, and innuendo as legitimate weapons. They may excuse broken promises and political backstabbing.

Hyper-fundamentalism takes many forms, including some that I have not listed. Nevertheless, these are the forms that are most frequently encountered. When a version of fundamentalism bears one or more of these marks, it should be viewed as hyper-fundamentalist…

Hyper-fundamentalism is not fundamentalism. It is as a parasite on the fundamentalist movement. For many years it was simply a nuisance, largely ignored by mainstream fundamentalists. Ignoring the problem, however, permitted it to grow. While statistics are not available, hyper-fundamentalists now constitute a significant percentage of self-identified fundamentalists, perhaps even a majority. They have become the noisiest and often the most visible representatives of fundamentalism. They may be the only version of fundamentalism that many people ever see.

–Excerpted from Kevin Bauder’s chapter on Fundamentalism, in Four Views of the Spectrum of Evangelicalism (Zondervan, 2011).

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Let me know what you think. Doesn’t Bauder nail it with this description? I think so.

Greg Locke, Fundamentalism and the “Baptist” Label

~ Bob Hayton ~ 42 Comments

Recently, Pastor Greg Locke, a well known speaker among both Independent Fundamental Baptists and some Southern Baptist churches, announced that he is removing “Baptist” from the name of his church. Instead their initials GVBC will now stand for Global Vision Bible Church.

Removing the word “Baptist” from the church name is not an uncommon move. The argument is that removing the name makes the church more accessible to some who would shy away from the Baptist label.

In Locke’s case, it means more than dumping the baggage that the title Baptist holds. Instead, he views it as a departure from the IFB movement as a whole. I wonder how much of this is in part due to the recent 20/20 expose on the IFB movement? Perhaps other pastors and churches need to think through this issue themselves. Understandably, this has caused some shockwaves and Locke’s Facebook page was all abuzz with comments good and bad.

I wanted to share his reasoning for removing the name Baptist, and then ask others to chime in on your thoughts related to this. Personally, I’m a deacon at a Baptistic church, that doesn’t have the word Baptist in our name. Yet I’m not necessarily ashamed of it either. That being said, I do think that “being all things to all men” can definitely include modifying the church name (to some extent). And I’m a Christian more than a Baptist anyway.

Here’s the excerpt from Locke in a letter written for his church, explaining the change:

Here is a list of reasons that I feel this is a very important move:

1. Because of our geographic location (Nashville) 95% of any Baptist church is automatically associated with the SBC. While I have many friends in the Convention, we are not affiliated as a church. I preach in some of the greatest Southern Baptist churches in the country but I believe GV should remain Independent in our structure and governance.

2. The IFB “movement” as a whole is totally out of control and I do not personally wish to be identified with it any longer. Legally, our church will still be Global Vision Baptist Inc., Practically, I am worlds away from where I was even 5 years ago and I cannot in good conscience give my full support to a movement that has become nothing more than a mini controlling denomination. I understand that every “camp” of churches has it’s own issues, but I am unwilling to have GVBC submitted to the dictates of a legalistic mindset of man-made regulations. I preach in dozens of IFB churches, but we desire to be truly Independent, even in our identity.

3. The type of families/people we are reaching could care less about such an issue. I have come to realize that people’s lives are so much more important that the name a church has on the sign. We are the church and if we are not healthy as a body it doesn’t matter what the sign says. So many of our people are brand new Christians or are healing from an experience in the same type of church we are distancing ourselves from.

4. Because of our strong emphasis on Powerful Preaching, the term BIBLE would be much more in line with our DNA and overall vision. People say that to remove “Baptist” will take away our identity. Exactly! I want our identity to be nothing but the Word of God. We didn’t start a church so people “like us” would show up. I want a church that is solely built upon the radical principles of the Book. If people know that there is a place like that, they will flock to it. However, if they merely think we are the same kind of church they grew up in, then we won’t even get them in the door. I don’t want our church identity sabotaged by a loyalty to denomination, movement, camp or tradition. I want all my allegiance to God’s Word.

5. Personally, I’m a very hard guy to put in a box. I feel like I have not been true to who God made me to be and it has caused me much frustration. If I were to start the church over again tomorrow, this would be something I would do from the very beginning. God has done so much in my heart these last few years. But overall, I have allowed this constant “identity crises” to become such a focus that it has greatly affected my judgment and my family. I say “NO MORE”. How foolish I have been to seek so much of man’s approval. I am at a point in my life and ministry that if I can’t be who God made me at GVBC, then I must go somewhere that God can use me without the restraints of others that have nothing to do with our church. However, I know this is where God has placed me and I am positive that this is His leading. I’m not dying on the hill of being “Baptist”. But I will gladly lay down my life for the truth of the BIBLE.

We are going to remain as fundamentally sound as we have ever been. We are not changing Bibles or compromising truth. We will continue to keep a red-hot pulpit and build our congregation on expository preaching, soul-winning and world missions. I am grateful for my IFB heritage, but it will not be my future. If others interpret this as an attack on IFB churches, then they have clearly read between the lines. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind”. This is not easy, but I know for us it is right. I love you all. Now, let’s change the sign and reach this town for Christ.

[SOURCE …link now not working…]

What do you think? I for one, commend a man who doesn’t walk a party line but is willing to follow God’s leading and stand on his own two feet. I also predict the reaction to this may just prove once and for all that the IFB movement is in fact, a de-facto denomination. Reactions such as this one by Pastor Gary Click, indicate that to remove the name and distance oneself from the IFB movement is taken (by the supposedly “non-movement”) as “separation”, with the result that the true IFBs will then respond in kind.

For more on Greg Locke, you can read an interview that Re:Fundamentals did with him back in 2009. Please, let me know what you think about this. For the record, I don’t necessarily endorse bailing from the IFB movement as the solution for everyone and every church. But it’s hard to argue that the label is falling on hard times.