Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Ryken on Prayer and God's Sovereignty

"Imagine for a moment that God is not sovereign in grace, but that salvation ultimately depends on the sinner's own choice. How then should we pray? Do we say, 'Dear Lord, I realize that there may not be much that you can do about this, but if there is, please help my friend somehow to become a Christian'? Of course, no one actually prays this way: the very idea is absurd. But what makes it so absurd is that, deep down, every Christian believes in the sovereignty of God's grace. When we pray for sinners to be converted, therefore, we ask God to do something for them that we know they are utterly incapable of doing for themselves. We ask God to invade their minds, change their hearts, and bend their wills so that they will come to him in faith and repentance. In short, in our intercession we depend on God to save them."

Philip Ryken

What is a True Calvinist?

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Ryken on Legalism

"Christianity is not a performance-based religion. Those who are saved by grace also live by grace, and their growth in grace is due to the gracious work of God's Spirit. This is what preserves Calvinism from legalism. If someone who claims to be a Calvinist turns out to be a legalist, he or she must not understand the doctrines of grace very well after all, because the true Calvinist is overwhelmed by God's mercy for sinners. A graceless Calvinist is thoroughly repugnant to the gospel, for unless the pursuit of holiness is motivated by an ever-deepening love for God and his grace, it quickly becomes joyless and fruitless."

Philip Ryken

What is a True Calvinist?

Ryken on Self-Righteousness

"Those who are confident about their own righteousness are not justified…Unless you consider yourself the worst of sinners – knowing the sinful attitudes of your heart are as dishonoring to a perfectly holy God as any sins can be – you are still learning what it means to be a Christian, because genuine Christians are firmly convinced of the wretchedness of their sin."

Philip Ryken

1 Timothy

Helpful Quotes from a Study of Galatians

Last night I led our congregational Bible study which is working its way through the book of Galatians. Our text was Galatians 4:8-11, and as I prepared for it, I came across a number of helpful quotes from people far wiser than me. I thought I'd share some of them with you here:

Philip Ryken: “A Christian simply is someone who knows God – not someone who knows about God, as if Christianity were some sort of philosophy, but someone who has a relationship with God. In the Bible, the knowledge of God is always personal. It involves an intimate encounter with God the Father, through the Spirit of his Son. Christianity is not a matter of what we know; it is a matter of whom we know.” 

John Calvin : “Paul reminds the Galatians whence they had derived the knowledge of God. He affirms that they did not obtain it by their own exertions, by the acuteness or industry of their own minds, but because, when they were at the farthest possible remove from thinking of him, God visited them in mercy.  What is said of the Galatians may be extended to all; for in all are fulfilled the words of Isaiah, ‘I am sought by them that asked not for me: I am found by them that sought me not.’ (Isaiah 65:1)”

Martin Luther: “Therefore, as many as trust to their own strength and righteousness, do serve a god, but such a god as they themselves have devised, and not the true God. For the true God speaketh thus: No righteousness, wisdom, nor religion, pleaseth Me, but that only whereby the Father is glorified through the Son.”

A Word for Preachers...Phillip Ryken on Reformation and Proclamation

"There has never been an authentic revival or a true reformation in the church that did not begin with the sound preaching of God’s Word. The Word of God is oxygen for the fire of revival. There can be no reformation without proclamation. This was true is Josiah’s day, when the rediscovery of the Law reformed the temple. It was true in Ezra’s day, when the Law was explained and the people of Jerusalem cried aloud for mercy. It was true in Peter’s day, when Christ was preached and thousands were baptized unto salvation….If we desire reformation in our own churches, we must pray for our ministers, because reformation comes through proclamation."

Phillip Ryken

Congratulations to Wheaton College and to Dr. Philip Ryken

This past Sunday, Dr. Philip Ryken, the Senior Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, announced that he had accepted the position as the President of Wheaton College. Dr. Ryken was preceeded in the historic church’s pulpit by such notable pastors as Donald Gray Barnhouse and James Montgomery Boice.

I have been blesed greatly by the ministry of Dr. Ryken, hearing him at conferences, listening to his sermons via podcast, and reading his books. As I watched the webcast of Dr. Ryken’s announcement, I was further impressed by a number of things which clearly helped make him the wonderful pastor he has been at Tenth:

1) The way he tenderly cares for the flock that has been entrusted to his care. The love that he has for the members of Tenth was evident in the words he spoke and the way he spoke them. He made it clear that leaving them would be a hard experience, “so hard because it has been so good.” The mutual love and sorrow reminded me of Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20.

2) The fact that he appropriately values his family was evident in a number of ways:

• His wife’s input was clearly a part of the decision he made
• His took steps to guard his children from being overwhelmed by a whirlwind of questions from those in the church
• One of the few prayer requests he made was for his family and the issues that they would have to deal with in their time transition

3) Even with these two priorities (his family and his church), Dr. Ryken made it clear that a kingdom perspective is required. This was apparent in his opening words which were a reminder to the congregation that the session had asked him to issue: “One of the things we’ve really tried to teach and to model as a congrgation…is to, with joy, to give up what we have for the wider work of the kingdom of God.” It was also apparent in the family prayer that he shared: “We are open to God severing every earthly tie of affection, as long as he will preserve that tie of affection with himself, and that we will go where Jesus calls us to go.”

May God bless Dr. Ryken, his family, and Tenth Church during this time of transition.