The Plowman

Well, we finally worked our way through the Delectable Mountains, and the story of Little-Faith. Moving on to the next section, I have selected to post a much shorter passage, one that my class will be able to work through in a single Sunday.
The proximity of these two short passages resting side by side is evidence of the fact that pitfalls in the Christian journey can be disguised behind plesantries (flattery), or have no disguises at all (atheist). As followers of Christ we must be prepared for the kisses of the enemy (Proverbs 27:6) as well as his blows.

This beautiful hymn amazes me because it comes, lyrics and tune, out of the 20th century. It reads and sounds like it should come from the Puritan era.
Kate Barclay Wilkinson, the author of “May the Mind of Christ My Savior”, was born in 1859, in Wooland Bank, Timperley, Cheshire, England. A member of the Church of England, she was involved in a ministry to girls and young women in west London. It was cited in some of the biographies that I read that her husband was an engineer. It should be instructive to us all of how a woman of an obviously high social standing spent her talents for the Kingdom of God. The words to her hymn, as well as the example of her selfless life, should cause us too to seek to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-8). Kate Barclay Wilkinson died on December 28, 1928, in Kensington, London, England.
Arthur Cyril Barham-Gould, composed the hymn tune ST. LEONARDS. He was born in England in 1891 and educated at Ridley Hall at Cambridge. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1927. He served from that time at various churches until his death. He died on February 14, 1953, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.
Both of these figures being servants of God in the Church of England; would that that church were filled with such servants even today.

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

Many posts over the Christian blogosphere, probably more than any of us realize, have been devoted to this won’t-go-away controversy concerning the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board. I have grown weary of all of the logical arguments, all of the rational positions, all of the speculations of intent, good will, bad will, etc., from either perspective. What I want to see is more posts like the samples I have excerpted below. To borrow from the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, in this matter, let’s have an eye towards the “great objects” of God’s Kingdom (Article XIV: Cooperation)

Art Rogers at 12 Witnesses, commenting on the book Eating the Elephant by Thom Rainer and Chuck Lawless.

Pastor Wade Burleson at Grace and Truth to You

For those of you who enjoy the rich, full, Scriptural content of those old hymns, here are a couple of sites dedicated to solid lyrics. This first site uses the old lyrics of days (many) gone by, and either “modernizes” the tune or creates a new one. The other site is thoroughly modern, creating brand new church music. It all depends on what you are use to, but I think most will find the music available at these two sites profitable.

This link gets you to Bob Kauflin’s Blog. The music resources are found in the right margin. CD’s and music books are available for purchase, as well as other resources. Kauflin’s blog is very good too if you are involved in leading music in worship, no matter what style of music your church has.

Indelible Grace Music has a good many freely downloadable files of sheet music, piano scores, sample audio files, and great articles. CD’s of the performed music are also available for sale here. Go to the “Resources” block in the left margin. If you are a Mac user, this site is NOT Safari-frendly. Use Firefox instead.

This lesson was intended for last Sunday, but since we got winter-stormed out, it will be tackled this next Sunday. All of the other posts and calendar items intended for last Sunday will all be handled next Sunday also. We did actually have Sunday morning service. The turnout was light, but for those who came it was well worth the price of admission. You ought to go over to Bulldogs and Piggies and listen to the audio of Pastor Rod’s message entitled A Godly Perspective on Stuff from Matthew 6.
In working our way through John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we come to that part dealing with Christian and Hopeful arriving at the Delectable Mountains, shortly followed by their encounter with Ignorance and Little-Faith. Concerning this last character, a very short piece of the exchange between Hopeful and Christian caught my attention:

Our discussion will center primarily around our attitudes in our Christian walk; how we view our and our brothers’ standing in Christ:

• Don’t despise a brother who has fallen, looking on him as somehow weaker or less spiritual than you are, because he is not. We should seek to hold up and restore, not to glory over another’s fall into sin.
  Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Galatians 6:1
• Don’t be arrogant and think that it could never happen to you.
  Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12
• Realize and understand that the God who saves us is also the God who sustains us and keeps us. It is not in our power to bring about our own salvation, and it is not in our own power to preserve ourselves, either.
  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
• Realize that anything we are or ever hope to be is not because of our own efforts, but God’s
  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10
• Lastly, we should realize that even though salvation, from first to last is of God, and even though we are told the believer is secure, we are commanded to work, to strive, to examine and test concerning our salvation.
  Philippians 2:12, Luke 13:24, 2 Corinthians 3:15

Just a quick post. For those of you who love the old traditional hymns, I have found two wonderful resources. The first one is The Center for Chruch Music. A few weeks ago I stumbled across the other great site supporting traditional hymndoy. It is A 21st Century Puritanism

(The text to our lesson coming up Sunday is posted on the class calendar, just to the right in the margin, on today’s date.)
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This trio of scenes show us another accurate picture and often painful truth of the life of the child of God as a “Pilgrim” passing through this world on his way to heaven. How often have you experienced sin and misery fresh on the heels of a time of spiritual refreshing, and all of that followed by guilt, shame, and despair of ever being done with your besetting sins?

Respite: Times of refreshing are wonderful. They often times give us a foretaste of heaven. Christian and Hopeful have just recently left the company of Mr. By-Ends and his companions, and have successfully crossed over the narrow plain called Lucre without incident. They have been on the road some time and need a rest and some refreshment. Their way comes up to and follows along the bank of a river. The picture painted here is one of bathing in a flowing river, and eating and drinking by its banks, and being refreshed. What every pilgrim on a long, dusty road longs to find is clean, cold, running water to cool his sweaty brow and sore feet; to quench his dry, parched throat, and to hear the soothing sound of gently running water. In the Old Testament the river is quite often used to symbolize blessing, peace, plenty and prosperity (Psalm 1, Psalm 65, and Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22:1,2)
We must always be careful during these times. The tendency is to be not so careful, to let our guard down. We get use to ease, and then expect it. That is when, if we are not careful, it is so easy to seek alternatives to the proper path when, all of a sudden it becomes difficult again.

By-Path Meadow: The detour seems so slight, the harm seems not at all; so we ease a little out of the path. At first it looks as good as the other, but as we find in this episode, the farther our pilgrims go on this side path, the farther it diverges from the true path. What seems better at first turns out to be much worse in the end, so much so that they wind up having to turn back. The return trip proves to be more difficult that when the path was first taken. Oh how this is so like the sin we entangle ourselves in: getting in is much easier than getting out.

Giant Despair: The largest part of our lesson will deal with this character, Giant Despair and his Doubting Castle. The believer, after falling into sin, often beats himself up, despairs of forgiveness, doubts his salvation, wishes himself dead. What a vivid picture this chapter paints of the torment we inflict upon ourselves. Notice also that the key called Promise was present all the time; Christian simply forgot he had it. What is that key? It is the word of God assuring us of our salvation. Remember, these words are not just anyone’s words, but God Himself assuring us. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:28,29), and So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:16), and Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) and many, many others besides. We should never forget that salvation from first to last is of God: And I am sure of this, that he who began ha good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

Biography of the Author and Composer

John Newton was born on July 24, 1725, in London, England. Newton is most noted for the hymn, Amazing Grace, but the hymn that we are looking at this week is equally powerful in the message that it conveys. Amazing Grace speaks of the wonder and amazement that Newton had for the gracious hand of God on his life. There is a good article at Christianity Today’s website that details the numerous “dangers, toils, and snares” that God graciously brought him through, preserving his life, and then saving him. Newton was raised by his mother in a Nonconformist, Congregationalist church, but when he turned his life to the full-time preaching ministry, he entered service under the Anglican church. He began his first pastorate at the little village of Olney, near Cambridge, England,. His work for the next fifteen years (1764-1779) was a most fruitful and influential ministry in that very poor district of England. After concluding his ministry at Olney, Newton spent the remaining twenty-eight years of his life as pastor of the influential St. Mary Wollnoth Church in London.
Not unlike the words to the hymn Amazing Grace, the words to the hymn One There Is Above All Others centers around saving grace, and the loving, self-sacrificing nature of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ toward undeserving, ungrateful sinners such as ourselves. This is a theme that remained near to Newton to the end of his life. Shortly before his death a spokesman for the church suggested that he consider retirement because of failing health, eyesight and memory. Newton replied, ““What, shall the old Africa blasphemer stop while he can still speak?” On another occasion before his death he is quoted as proclaiming with a loud voice during a message, ““My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!”
In the days of John Newton there was a dirth of good, sound hymns for church singing among English-speaking people. Newton, while serving at Olny parish, with the aid of his close friend William Cowper, produced what has come to be known as the Olney Hymnal. Newton contributed to the project by writing 280 hymns, while Cowper contributed 68.
John Newton Died on December 21, 1807, in London, England.

Albert Heinrich, the composer of the tune GODESBERG, was born on July 8, 1604, in Lobenstein, Saxony (Germany). While John Newton lived eighty-two years, Heinrich lived only a brief fourty-seven. The course of Heinrich’s life was also very different from Newton’s. From accountsunts, Albert Heinrich avoided much of the debauchery associated with that of the life of the young Newton. Albert Heinrich studied composition with his cousin Heinrich Schütz at Dresden in the early 1620’s. While he attended the University of Leipzig, studying law for three years, his musical activities were encouraged by Johann Hermann Schein. In 1631 he became cathedral organist at Königsberg. Albert Heinrich composed hundreds of songs which were fine examples of the German Baroque style of his day.
Albert Heinrich died on October 6, 1651, in Königsberg, Germany.

Material Sources:
101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.
http://www.joyfulheart.com/misc/newton.htm
Christianity Today
The Cyber Hymnal
Encyclopaedia Britannica

This Weeks Sunday-School Hymn

Words: John Newton, 1779
Tune: GODESBERG, by Heinrich Albert, 1643