Saturday, October 31, 2009

Bunyan Preached the Gospel to Himself!

As I've preached through Ephesians, on a number of occasions I've encouraged people to "preach the gospel to yourself".  Years ago I struggled with debilitating doubt and still struggling with pride.  I still struggle with both pride and discouragement.  I have found that the gospel is the remedy for these and many other ailments.  Bunyan experienced an extended time of wondering if he had committed an unpardonable sin and "feeling hopelessly damned."  His remedy was to preach to himself the gospel of God's free, justifying grace.
"One day as I was passing into the field ... this sentence fell upon my soul.  Thy righteousness is in heaven.  And methought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before Him.  I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, "The same yesterday, today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8.  Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed.  I was loosed from my afflictions and irons."

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Bunyan's Perspective on Affliction

I've been teaching through Psalm 119 and the last few sections have had a lot to say about affliction.  In "The Hidden Smile of God", Piper confronts those who say God has no part in or plan for evil done to us.  He quotes Bunyan:
"It is not what enemies will, nor what they are resolved upon, but what God will, and what God appoints, that shall be done... And as not enemy can bring suffering upon a man when the will of God is otherwise, so no man can save himself out of their hands when God will deliver him up for his glory... We shall or shall not suffer; even as it pleaseth Him... God has appointed who shall suffer.  Suffering comes not by chance or by the will of man, but by the will and appointment of God."
I seem to have an easier time resting in God's sovereignty over suffering when the suffering is the result of 'natural' causes rather than the result of another person's actions.  I pray that God will give me the kind of faith Bunyan had in his prison cell.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Pastoring a Suffering Church

I've been reading "Pilgrim's Progress", one version for myself and another to my kids.  I also read 1 Peter 4 this morning.  I'm also a pastor.  Those three things came together and made this passage from Piper's "The Hidden Smile of God" quite sobering.  In 1684, Bunyan wrote a book, "Seasonable Counsel, or Advice to Sufferers" for his congregation.  This was just before a time in the history of England when over 300 Puritans were hanged and more than 800 were transported to Barbados.  Hundreds more were fined, flogged or imprisoned.
"The need for this "seasonable counsel" was not theoretical.  Some of his parishioners had already been imprisoned with him.  The threat was so real again that Bunyan deeded over all his possessions to his wife Elizabeth in the expectation that he might be imprisoned and made to pay fines that would take all his possessions.  It was no exaggeration when Bunyan wrote, "Our days indeed have been days of trouble, especially since the discovery of the Popish plot, for then we began to fear cutting of throats, of being burned in our beds, and of seeing our children dashed to pieces before our faces.""
I've tried to imagine what it would be like to look out from the pulpit at a congregation with these kinds of concerns.  I've tried to imagine the worry and fear they would be battling.  I know I preach to worrisome, fearful people on a weekly basis, but the situation Bunyan faced makes mine feel like a walk in the park.