The New America
No more partisanship?

Congress is back in session. They had the privilege of seeing Tea Parties in their districts and were away from Washington were the Obama Administration released what are being called the “torture memos”. With all the talk of pulling the nation back together, little has been seen of good old fashioned Tip O’Neill/Ronald Reagan working together to accomplish what the nation needs. Polarization is still on the rise. I thought our new President was looking ahead and bringing unity where partisanship reigned?

Witness the Senate and Congressional elections in MN and NY respectively. The “victory” margins are razor thin. Yet, the election moves out of the ballot box and into court rooms. I am not making un-American accusations toward those who are appealing voter decisions where there are serious questions of voter fraud and disenfranchisement of voters in an inconsistent manner in one jurisdiction. Interestingly, in MN the winners call the loser a sore-loser when it was that party’s Presidential nominee who sought the aid of courts in his quest to be President. Litigation following close elections is only indicative of the unwillingness to set aside partisan differences and move forward.

Our President is attempting to change the policy of discourse outside the country. He was apologetic in Europe and in the southern Americas he listened to anti-American screeds and shook hands with a sworn enemy of the USA for the world to see. Our President said this was what the electorate voted for…more dialog with those who have heretofore hated us. He has certainly succeeded in having world leaders, friends and foes, like him, but whether that will translate into better relationships abroad is still an open question. What happened with the Iranians and North Koreans does not bode well for success. Biden said Obama would be tested. There is one place Delaware Joe has been spot on.

Unfortunately, all the overseas angst and friendship to American haters has not helped. While he is right, there was discussion on the campaign trail of talking to enemies, I don’t think voters…for or against BO…believed he would be quite so apologetic for what others say the USA stands for without being more forthright and affirming in what “we” say we represent. He is, possibly unintendedly, giving photo ops and positive reinforcement to American haters who pummel the USA. And, without taking any steps to defend the country he represents. That does not help the division at home.

Millions are upset with a US President who sits quietly by while his and their country is bashed by the likes of Daniel Ortega. Who readily admits the shortcomings of the USA but fails to defend the USA. Who bows to Saudi kings, shares a warm handshake with tinpot dictators and generally takes the position that what happened in the past was not on his watch. So if you do not like it, don’t blame me, blame the country’s misguided policies by lesser lights than me. And, by the way, things will be different now that I am in charge. [Smile].

Obama is insufferable about his ability to change things. He proposes massive spending and deficits, expanding programs where government has failed to previously tread, yet promising to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term [Note to BO: No one is guaranteed a second term.]. Add to this is overseas machinations and the hint yesterday that he may permit prosecution of the authors of the “torture memos”. So, there is a looking forward for the man…forward to bigger government programs. That leads to division. But, there is a dwelling on the past too…policies of predecessors to bash and people of the same forerunners to prosecute. This too leads to division. Seems like partisanship still reigns supreme in the new America. Has it been one hundred days yet? When does the healing begin?

Dare to be Daniel
How to Draw the Line

When the Babylonians took the best and brightest of Judah back to Babylon, it was not so they would be disgruntled captives or slaves. They decided to assimilate them into Babylonian culture by giving them an thoroughly liberal Chaldean University education. Kind of like what the dominant culture in this country does to our youngsters when they leave their homes and head off to State U. Daniel and his buddies were going to be indoctrinated into the ways of the Chaldeans.

These Judeans were uprooted from their homes, taught about things Babylonian, had their names changed and were given a new diet…the king’s food and drink. Note what Daniel and his buds DO NOT do. They do not organize protests walking around with placards saying “Hey, hey, ho, ho, I won’t go”. They do not boycott classes saying “we don’t want to b taught your junk”. They do not go on a hunger strike until they get the food they want. They did not refuse to be called by their new Babylonian names because it was an “insult to their native heritage”. There was not demand that they be granted the universal human rights inherent to all men. To be what they want.

No these 21st century tactics were not evident in Daniel. He accepted what was happening, but drew the line, with God’s grace, at eating the king’s food. He proposes in his heart to not define himself. He goes along with the whole assimilation project except the eating part. Why? Theories abound. Sure the food was not kosher but how about the vegetables he did eat, we cannot know they were either. Also, refusal to drink the wine was not associated with ceremonial cleanliness. The point is, Daniel took his first stand for his God in what seemed to be an insignificant matter. Faithfulness begins with the seeming insignificant matters. But, it begins…early in living life for our God. We must begin establishing a difference between ourselves and the world early on in our Christian walk so that we do not become so entangled that there is no difference between “us” and “them”.

Again, notice how Daniel draws the line. He requested not to eat the food and asked for a test. He made no demands. He was not seeking to be a spokesperson, champion for the good guys or a martyr for the cause of God. No, he took his stand with modesty and humility. After all, this was about his God not him. His resolve was about God’s holiness and glory. He wanted to be personally obedient not to be a hero. His desire was that his God would be glorified. Daniel was not the focal point of Daniel’s obedience. At an early stage and age of his captivity, Daniel established that he would live for his God in captivity. By beginning with obedience in little things, the stage was set for obedience later in bigger things.

We receive two wonderful life lessons from Daniel in this line drawing. Always take the first opportunity to show yourself to be a committed Christian. It is not always an easy thing, but you can be assured that it will never be easier to stand for Christ. If you refuse the first time to stand for Him, it is no easier the second. The world will be relentless in, as JB Phillips paraphrases Rom 12:1, 2, in “squeezing you into its mold.” Satan knows he cannot have God’s children, so he works overtime in neutralizing God’s own. Your flesh wants you to stand for you, not Christ. The sooner a Christian shows resolve for his God, the better able he is to glorify God with his obedience throughout his/her life.

Second, as we know from reading Scripture and observing the lives of Christians we know, trials and tribulations are constant companions. They help to gage our progress as a Christ follower. We want to see them as deviations and estrangements from the Christian life rather than part of what God uses to build character and strength in us. But that is not the case. James, Paul and Peter all agree that we should treat trials and tests of our faith as “maturity makers”. Sinclair Ferguson calls them “important and connected punctuation marks in the biography of grace His is writing in our lives”. So, there is no little test of our obedience to Christ. God uses what seems to be a minor matter to build up His faithful servants preparing us for bigger trials in which we can glorify Him.

Faithful Christians draw the line and stand for their Lord and Savior early and often in their Christian walk. Little trials, big trials, they are all treated as opportunities to grow in grace and serve God. They do so not to be applauded for their obedience but as a witness to their God. It is obedience to their God for the glory of their God alone.

Good Friday 2009
The Ultimate Sacrifice

Today is the Friday Christians call good. Why? Because today the ultimate sacrifice was given. Jesus Christ died on the cross. Yesterday, I posted on sacrifice or lack thereof in human terms. The sacrifice we commemorate today is unthinkable in human terms. He Who was very God and very Man died on the cross. Your Creator became your Substitute, Redeemer, Propitiation, the Sacrifice required to take away your sin and His wrath. He was the Price Paid to purchase you from slavery to sin. And yet, the world refuses to acknowledge this ultimate sacrifice.

Who needs a bloody sacrifice? Surely we are more sophisticated that that! What is wrong with the world can be cured with more education, more jobs, more cash, more programs to help the disadvantaged, more of anything but Jesus. Superstition can not help us, but human progress through science and technology can. Science will eventually solve all the so-called “mysteries” of life. Belief in a Savior other than man is a crutch for the weak. Not only is the foregoing the party line of the world, the world goes to great length to put out all manner of drivel to disprove Jesus, His life, death and resurrection.

Recently, one The ExChange dudes, Willie Mo, responded to whether he had considered what the crucifixion of Jesus Christ means to him in the following manner: “I saw on the Discovery Channel that crucifixion was impossible.” I bet that was news to the Roman Empire and the thousands they crucified! Why is it that there is a full court press every Easter season to disparage the death and resurrection of Christ? It is the absolute No. #1 threat to secular humanism. And for Christians, without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to Paul, we are helpless, hopeless and foolish, to be pitied above all men.

Christian, be of good cheer. Fear not. Science will not figure it all out, it will only discern what God reveals to science. And, He has already revealed His plan for the salvation of man. There is no better man-made or devised plan for man to be discovered by man. Last year at Oxford, Dr. Gary Habernas made a compelling presentation on why the resurrection happened. He has also made his case to skeptics who have always held that the resurrection was a “spiritual event”, that is it occurred in the hearts and minds of believers. Guess what, they admitted there was truth to the actual physical death and resurrection of Christ! Hallelujah…the world has been won for Jesus Christ!

Just one moment, please. While it may be factual that Jesus rose from the dead, the skeptics still choose not to believe. They do not want to believe regardless of the facts. And, is that not the real issue…unbelief? Folks just do not want to believe in the ultimate sacrifice. So, our loss of the desire to sacrifice personally so we can be what we want to be, is also translated into the loss of wanting to believe in the ultimate sacrifice. Why? Because it will not leave us as we are if we believe. We will be changed by it and that terrifies those who are comfortable in their sin and guilt. So, the world continues to choose not to believe in the ultimate sacrifice.

Living in the World
The Loss of Sacrifice

Waiting for a flight recently I sat next to a fellow who was bemoaning the lack of sacrifice in out society today. He told of his grandmother coming to the USA from Italy as a 16 year old and never seeing her mother and family again. She was seeking a better life at a high price. And, as a result of her willingness to leave kin and hearth, 80 years later her grandson now has a better life. It started me thinking about personal sacrifice, or the lack thereof, today.

It seems that is what is behind the government trying to “bail out” all manner of companies from financial collapse. No one wants to take the pain that is incumbent from failed policies and foolish decisions. As individuals, we have lost the definition of sacrifice in out culture. No one wants to sacrifice anything at anytime for any reason. Period.

The AIG dustup over bonuses magnifies this proposition. While many of the bonuses were based on contractual relationships, the contracts could be modified. Those due the bonuses could have refused them. For many that would not even be a sacrifice. But, for those who were dependent on the bonus for the lion’s share of their compensation, refusing it would be a sacrifice. While there has been a give back because of the backlash, such is not sacrifice because it was not the intent of those receiving the bonuses to sacrifice. They were forced to do so by the government and an angry public.

It is not just from corporate America where the “no sacrifice” mantra comes emanates. I have remarked many times that compared to the rest of the world, all Americans are “wealthy”. Two million people are born, live and die on the streets of Kolkata, India. Imagine that, living you whole life outside any shelter. These are not “homeless” they are “never homed”. In this country we consume far more resources than our population warrants. Yet we grouse when the price of fuel for our automobiles goes up. That is a “sacrifice” we do not wish to make. We want cheap gas! You see, even our sense of sacrifice, what it is, is warped.

Imagine that Italian grandmother leaving all she knew for that which she had no idea what it would turn out to be. Imagine you or me giving up our home and family to go to a place unknown to us to try and make a better life for those to follow us. For many years, we have lived with the idea that we would make circumstances better for our children and grandchildren. Instead, today we are saddling the future generations with back breaking debt because we do not want to have our nice, cozy lifestyle changed or modified in any way. Instead of sacrificing for the future, we want those to come to sacrifice for us. Come to think about it, there is not a loss of sacrifice. We have converted self-sacrifice into shifted sacrifice.

History
The Rainbow Tour…Then and Now?

In 1947, Eva Perón conducted her Rainbow Tour of Europe. It resulted from an invitation to Juan Perón by Francisco Franco to visit Spain. The defeat of fascism in Europe had isolated Spain, and Spain was not part of the various reconstruction plans paid for by the US to rebuild Europe. Argentina was one of the few countries who maintained cordial diplomatic relations with Spain. So, it was a natural for the Generalissimo to invite the Argentinean leader to Spain.

However, all the reasons for Franco to invite Perón were also reasons not to go. Argentina had taken its place in the UN and improved relations with the US after the war. The mood in Buenos Aires was not to set back Argentina’s new place in the world. However, Argentina made a loan to Spain a year prior so that the Spaniards could purchase grain and beef from the Argentineans. As a compromise, it was decided that Eva should go to Europe, not just Spain, so that the world could see the woman who was unifying the poor and workers of Argentina. So, the Rainbow Tour was launched.

Eva meet with many European leaders starting with Franco. She was well received in Spain, receiving from Franco the highest award the government could grant to a non-Spaniard. She also handed out 100 peso notes to every poor child she met on her journey. She was hailed as a champion for the poor, the oppressed and the worker. She met with the Holy Father at the Vatican where she received an award for her husband and a rosary from the Pope. In France she went to Versailles and meet with de Gaulle. While in France things began to sour. She was advised that she would not be permitted to stay at Buckingham Palace. Citing exhaustion, she then canceled her trip to the UK. In Switzerland she was subjected to thrown stones and tomatoes. And, it was widely circulated that she was only in Europe to deposit funds in a Swiss bank account. Shortly after the Swiss incidents, she headed home.

The Europeans were critical of her form fitting dresses, big hairdos and extravagant lifestyle. Yet, during the tour she appeared on the cover of Time under the title “Eva Perón: Between two worlds, an Argentine rainbow”. Even that was a downer, however, since this was the first print story to mention her out of wedlock birth. For that mistake, Time was banned in Argentina for some months. The Rainbow Tour, its reasons and outcomes, was popularized by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber in the musical Evita. Evita was a heroine in her own country but the rest of the world came to see her as more flash than substance, a cult figure who was a rags to riches success story but who was a celebrity rather than a serious political figure.

Fast forward to the now concluded “Charm Tour” of President Obama. He is an extremely popular figure in Europe, a rock star type. He drew big crowds everywhere. The press is gushing over his tour. But, what was accomplished? He wanted Europe to climb on the stimulus bandwagon. They did not. He wanted more commitment to the war on terror [oops! That is non PC talk.] and for combat troops in Afghanistan. They did not. Apologists for the president say he started a “process” and there were no firm goals to be accomplished on the “Charm Tour”. He went to listen to Europe and apologize for US behavior over the last eight years. However, this process seems to be based on the same premise as the domestic economic recovery…undo what Bush did, or Bush bashing as Bush II supporters call it.

Is BO more flash than substance? He has had a meteoric rise on the public stage, another kind of rags to riches story. Does he have any answers to the world wide financial problem? Yes, spend, which the Europeans saw as no answer. Obama did not push the Europeans on any issue, and maybe that is why he is so popular. Instead, he admitted the prior administrations missteps and arrogance, chummed up to the G-20 leaders, lobbied for more support for whatever we now call the fight for survival against Islamic jihadists, stopped in Turkey and paid a surprise visit to Iraq where he praised the troops for a job well done [A war he opposed from the beginning]. Fortunately, he had no rocks or vegetables hurled at him…those were reserved for London Bobbies and the RBS. Is he more a celebrity than serious political figure? Hard to say, but leadership surely is more than cavorting around Europe being contrite about what the US has stood for and done and giving an I pod to the Queen with his speeches loaded on it. Celebrities have charm; leaders have firm policies and the determination, resolve and commitment to see them through. We will see.

Dare to be Daniel
How to view History

Those of you who were churched as young people remember this little ditty:

Dare to be Daniel
Dare to Stand Alone
Dare to Have a Purpose Firm
Dare to Make it Known

Daniel lived in a pagan culture not his own for 70 years. He lived in unwavering and uncompromising faithfulness to God. He is a good example for us today. Much of western culture is hostile to the Christian faith. Daniel and the lessons learned from the living of his life are timeless and appropriate for us today. Christians today must be willing to “stand alone”, have a “firm purpose” and let that purpose to be “made known” to all.

Right off the bat in Daniel, the context of all that happens to Daniel is set forth. The tone of all that happens to Daniel is revealed in the first two verses of the first chapter:

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And he Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand…

A timeless lesson is revealed to the reader. There is a spiritual answer to every historical event. God is in control of all things! There are no renegade molecules or acts in the universe. God gave over His own people to the Babylonians. Nothing [no thing] occurs outside the sovereign will of God. Man is at work in history; God is in control of history.

God was not surprised when Judah fell. He arranged it! It was predicted in His Word, even the carrying away of the young men [Is 39:6, 7]. The curse for disobedience by the House of Israel was prophesized by Moses long before fulfillment [Deut. 28: 45-52]. Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of God as did Manassas before him [2 Chron 36:5; 2 Kings 24:3,4]. God is faithful to His Word ALWAYS. The consequences to man are of no concern. Man had been forewarned. No matter how much we try, we cannot blame God for what He has promised.

Oh, the sovereignty of God is an unpopular topic to modern man. As, a result we think we are creating reality instead of living in the face of reality. Even, those who are faithful followers of God, have difficulty swallowing God’s sovereignty. Witness the prophet Habakkuk. He was one who was apprised of God’s plans, and he did not like it. In like manner to 21st century Christians lamenting the state of the church and/or the USA, Habakkuk cried out to God for justice. How long O Lord until justice comes?

God’s answer comes in Hab. 1:5-11. Babylon would overrun Judah thus ending Judah’s violence and faithlessness. Imagine the thoughts of Habakkuk. The Babylonians, they are a nasty, wicked and ruthless people! God, the cure is greater than the disease. God, how can you use such ungodly people to chastise Your own? Yes, even the OT saints have trouble with the sovereignty of God over history. They, as we, want it done their way even though they full well knew His will as set forth in Scripture.

Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great Welsh preacher, spoke to the concerns of men in a rapidly disintegrating world during WW II. In his commentary on Habakkuk lays out four principles for the Christian to understand about God and History:
1] History is under God’s control: Every nation on earth is under God’s
control…Things are not what they appear to be. It seemed to be the astute military power of the Chaldeans that brought them into ascendancy. But it was not so at all, for God had raised them up. God is the lord of history…We must never lose sight of this crucial fact.
2] History follows a divine plan: The events of history are not accidental, though they may appear so to us. They follow God’s plan. There is a purpose in history, and what is now happening in this twentieth century is not accidental.
3] History follows a divine timetable: God says: I am going to do something in your days…not before or after or but precisely when He wanted it to happen.
4] History is bound up with the divine Kingdom: The key to the history of the world is the Kingdom of God…Let us not, therefore, be stumbled when we see surprising things happening in the world. Rather, let us ask: “What is the relevance of this event to the Kingdom of God?” Or, if strange things are happening to you personally, don’t complain, but say, “What is God teaching me through this? What is there in me that needs to be corrected? Where have I gone wrong and why is God allowing these things?”…WE should therefore judge every event in the light of God’s great, eternal and glorious presence.

It was this understanding of history that marks Daniel’s time in Babylonian captivity and measures his responses to various trials in Babylon. He did not know why he was a captive, but he understood that his God was still in control. There was a divine purpose for all that had happened. Pastor/theologian Sinclair Ferguson summarizes how Daniel could live for 70 years in Babylon: The principles that governed Daniel’s life –grace, faith, Scripture, prayer, fellowship, obedience, hope—provide the answer. Daniel knew he was not the master of his fate, the captain of his ship. He was not where he necessarily wanted to be. But, he accepted God’s sovereignty over all things which allowed him to sing the Lord’s song and be His witness as an exile in a foreign land.

This has tremendous practical import to us today. When matters seem to be “going to hell in a hand basket” as one of my old law partners used to say, take heart, God is still in control, His will will be done. In this era of prosperity, seemingly endless progress and the appearance of man having control over all things, we panic when matters seem to get out of our control. We fail to realize that they were always out of our control. Take a cue from Daniel. Understand that history is in God’s control, following a divine plan, happening when He wills it and that all is for a divine purpose. We too can live in difficult times with the principles of grace, faith, Scripture, prayer, fellowship, obedience and hope singing God’s song in a strange and hostile land. Christian in 2009…dare to be Daniel!

PBC
Another season begins

The Pittsburgh Baseball Club…the Pirates…begin play for keeps next Monday at St. Louis against the Cardinals. Spring training is a wonderful time. Every hitter has the potential to hit over .300 and every pitcher the potential to win 15 or more games. Such is the exuberance of training in the sunshine of Florida or Arizona. But, now it is time for a healthy dose of realism. Returning north to the cool of spring also helps to cool down overheated expectations.

The fact is that the Pirates return the same players that lead them to a 95 loss season. In fact, over the past 4 years the PBC has averaged 95 losses a year. So, how can any sane fan believe they will be winners. It will take an additional 15 wins just to have the current edition break even. Last year they had the worst ERA for starting and relief pitchers in the National League. And, they have virtually the same staff. So, if the old saying rings true, “offense sells tickets but pitching wins games”, there is not much reason for optimism. There is no offense to bring in the folks and no pitching to put the Buccos on the winning path.

The Pirates are facing a major league record 17 straight losing seasons. Unfortunately, that seems much more plausible than a winning record in the 2009 season. I have been a Pirate fan all my life. From the O’Brien twins in the fifties; to the unbflievable 1960s team that won the Series on Maz’s bottom of the 9th homer; to the two championships of the 70s, 1971 starring the Great One and 1979 with the “We are Family” of Pops Stargell; to the present years of mediocrity broken only by the early 90s teams of Van Slyke, Bonilla and a drug free Bonds, I have hung with the PBC.

I would start each year watching and rooting for the Bucs until they were out of it…usually by Decoration Day! My dear Susan wondered why I wasted my time and frustrated myself on such a bunch of losers. So, beginning last year, I decided I would not watch them until they proved they could win through May. Needless to say, I saw no contests last year. Likewise, I will only read about them until they can prove they can win this year. Only then will I give of my time. I should get a lot done this spring!

Calvin @ 500
Preacher for the Ages

July 10, 2009, will be the 500th birthday of John Calvin. No one has had more influence on the church in the last 500 years. And, it is not waning. Did you notice that the 3rd of the 10 ideas Time says is changing the world today is the “new Calvinism”? John Calvin was one interested in education. He entered the university at 14 to study theology. He received a classical education that included Latin, logic and philosophy. He studied law at the University of Orléans and Greek at the University of Bourges. He was a humanist scholar his first book being a secular treatment of Seneca the Younger’s De Clementia. Before he became the pastor at St. Pierre’s in Geneva he became Professor of Sacred Scripture at the university there. He believed in education and the necessity of an educated pastorate.

He was a prolific writer and Biblical commentator. His Institutes still stand today as the most concise and informative explanation of the Biblical basis of the Reformed faith. Yet, by far his greatest influence was as a preacher of the Word of God. He was an expositional preacher moving verse by verse through books of the Bible. He preached without notes or manuscript and as a result we only have around 1500 of the over 4000 sermons he preached at Geneva and Strasbourg. He did not believe that preaching was a human invention but an accommodation by God to sinful man who could not hear directly the voice of God Himself without their destruction.

By preaching in an expositional manner, there could be no escaping difficult doctrines or avoiding difficult passages in God’s Word. Thus, the hearers received the whole counsel of God. The leading Calvin biographer T.H.L. Parker says this about Calvin’s methodology:

Sunday after Sunday, day after day, Calvin climbed up the steps into the pulpit. There he patiently led his congregation verse by verse through book after book of the Bible…In his mature years, Calvin preached on a NT book on Sunday mornings and afternoons [although for a period on the Psalms in the afternoon] and on an OT book on weekday mornings.

Through his thorough Biblical preaching and the Institutes, Calvin became the architect of Reformation theology and practice.

Calvin became the preacher for the ages. His preaching was fashioned by belief in the authority of Scripture. He truly believed Scripture was verbum Dei, the Word of God. In the Institutes he penned:

Their [ministers] whole task is limited to the ministry of God’s Word; their whole wisdom to the knowledge of His Word; their whole eloquence, to its proclamation.

Reformed scholar J.H. Merle D’Aubigné said this about Calvin’s relation of preaching to God’s Word:

In Calvin’s view, everything that had not for its foundation the Word of God was futile and ephemeral boast; and the man who did not lean on Scripture ought to b deprived of his title of honor.

Parker says that Calvin never entered the pulpit with his own dreams or fancies to relay to the congregation. Instead:

For Calvin the message of Scripture is sovereign, sovereign over the congregation and sovereign over the preacher. His humility is shown by submitting to this authority.

What a refreshing departure from what passes as preaching today. This is a far cry from meeting the “felt needs” of the pampered, unchallenged, self-centered congregations of today. The story is told that when Calvin returned from his exile from Geneva three years later, he picked up preaching on the next verse after that last verses he preached on three years earlier! He did not return with “lessons learned” from his interregnum, for himself or the Genevans. No, he returned to preaching God’s Word, verse by verse, precept by precept, book by book of Scripture.

Preaching, above all other things, was Calvin’s priority. For Calvin, it was the centerpiece of worship and a mark of the true church of God. Calvin lead to the removing of the communion table from the center to the pulpit and the Bible thereon being central to corporate worship. Calvin had a very high view of preaching based on three premises: a high view of God; a high view of God’s Word and an accurate view of man. Calvin believed:

Preaching is the living voice of God in His Church [Commentary Pentateuch of Moses]; God begets and multiplies his church only by means of His Word…It is by the preaching of the grace of God alone that the church is kept from perishing [Commentary The Psalms] and the subject to be taught was the Word of God…best done by the steady and methodical exposition, book after book [Commentary Ephesians].

As you contemplate Calvin’s influence in the world and church, which will be discussed at length over the next months, keep in mind his view of preaching God’s Word as what he believed his primary call in his life was. He believed he was God’s oracle, proclaiming His Word to be applied by the Holy Spirit to the lives of hearers to effect change in their minds, hearts and behavior. May there be raised up a new generation of Bible expositors in the contemporary church who proclaim the whole counsel of God that changes lives through the application of God’s Word by and through the Holy Spirit. That would be a fitting tribute to John Calvin, the Preacher for the Ages.