R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 503

A New Faculty Member at Reformation Bible College: Dr. Aaron C. Denlinger

For the Christian, every season is a season of thanksgiving—slowly but steadily the awareness grows: "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11.36 NKJV). At Reformation Bible College, we are thanking the Lord God for many things: for another semester in which we have experienced His faithfulness and kindness; for the dedicated leadership at Ligonier, and for our board of directors; for our gracious donors and supporters; for our adventurous RBC students and their parents; for the kingdom-minded labors of our faculty and staff.

In light of the last mentioned cause for thanksgiving, Reformation Bible College is pleased to announce our latest faculty hire: Dr. Aaron C. Denlinger. Aaron will join our faculty as Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, starting in August 2013. He and his wife Louise have two daughters, Kaitrin and their newborn Geneva Ruth, as well as a "much loved dog named Oakley." Aaron earned his MAT from Westminster Seminary California ('04) and his PhD in Divinity from the University of Aberdeen ('09), where he now serves as Teaching Fellow in Church History. He is the editor of a forthcoming volume titled Reformed Orthodoxy in Scotland: Essays on Scottish Theology c1570-c1750; the author of Omnes in Adam ex pacto Dei, a study in early modern Reformed thought on the covenant of works and original sin; and currently serves as Secretary to the Society for Reformation Studies. We are grateful for the passion Aaron has to draw out the theological riches from the history of the church, and are excited about how his gifts will be used to the benefit of our own academic community.

Join us in giving thanks to God for this abundant provision, and in praying that God will use Dr. Denlinger and all of us at Reformation Bible College to train up a new generation of God-fearing, Christ-exalting, fruit-bearing servants—Christians grounded in the Word of God, who will shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.
Psalm 92.1-2 (NKJV)

This post was originally published on the Reformation Bible College blog.

What is a Christian's Responsibility to Government?

The New Testament gives us some broad principles on how we are supposed to respond to government. For example, Romans 13 elaborates on the origin and institution of government as something that God ordains.

The great theologian Augustine said that government is a necessary evil, that it is necessary because of evil. And most theologians in the history of the church have said that human evil is the reason even corrupt government is better than no government at all. The function of government is to restrain evil and to maintain, uphold, and protect the sanctity of life and of property. Given this function, the Christian understands that government is ordained of God, and so Christians, first of all, are called to respect whatever it is that God institutes and ordains.

For God's sake we are called to be model citizens. —R.C. Sproul

For God's sake we are called to be model citizens. We are told to bend over backwards to honor the king or be obedient to the civil magistrates. That doesn't mean a slavish obedience to the civil magistrates. There are occasions on which Christians not only may but must disobey the civil magistrates. Anytime a civil government requires a Christian to do what God forbids or forbids them to do what God commands, then the person must disobey. But our basic posture toward government, according to the New Testament, is to be submissive and obedient citizens of the state. We are also given the duty of praying for earthly governments that they may fulfill the tasks God has given to them.

We have another responsibility, and this is the one that sometimes brings us into controversial areas. I personally believe in a separation of spheres of authority between the church and state. I think it is a marvelous structure in the United States of America that does not allow for the state to rule the church or the church to rule the state. Historically that meant that the church was answerable to God and the state was answerable to God. Separation of church and state assumed a division of labor; the church has its job, and the state has its job. The church is not to maintain a standing army, and the state is not to do evangelism or to administer the sacraments. Nevertheless, they are both regarded as being under God.

Every human government is accountable to God... —R.C. Sproul

Unfortunately, in today's culture separation of church and state means separation of state and God, as if the state and the government were answerable to no one but themselves--as if the government didn't have to respond to God. But God monitors governments; God raises them up and brings them down. Every human government is accountable to God and is accountable to maintain its affairs with justice and with righteousness. When the government is no longer acting justly and no longer protecting life--sanctioning abortions, for example--then it is the task of the church to be the prophetic voice, to call the state to task and tell the state to repent and do what God commands it to do.

Taken from Now, That's a Good Question! ©1996 by R.C. Sproul. Used by permission of Tyndale. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. ©1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cyber Monday: Discounts Up To 70%

To further help you grow in your knowledge of God and His holiness, this Cyber Monday we are offering additional discounts off our already discounted prices on select resources.

Be quick as our sale prices—some items discounted by up to 70%—are only vaild until 11:59 p.m. EST or while stocks last. Here are several of our sale items:

Foundations of Grace (Hardback) by Steven Lawson: $28.00 $16.80
Pillars of Grace (Hardback) by Steven Lawson: $28.00 $16.80
A Puritan Theology (Hardback) by Joel Beeke & Mark Jones: $60.00 $36.00
The Reformation Study Bible (Genuine Leather Black): $69.99 $38.00
The Reformation Study Bible (Black Leather-Like): $59.99 $30.00
MP3 Teaching Series Collection (MP3 DVD, 1,500 Messages): $700.00 $210.00

Browse all our Cyber Monday sale items.

Note: Sale runs through 11:59 p.m. EST November 26. Items purchased are not available for re-sale. Internet orders only. Only valid on product format displayed. While supplies last.

Cyber Monday Preview: Discounts Up To 70%

To further help you grow in your knowledge of God and His holiness, this Cyber Monday we are offering additional discounts off our already discounted prices on select resources.

Our final sale prices—some items discounted by up to 70%—will be revealed tonight at 12:01 a.m. EST, but here is a sneak preview of three items:

Foundations of Grace (Hardback) by Steven Lawson: $28.00 $16.80
Pillars of Grace (Hardback) by Steven Lawson: $28.00 $16.80
A Puritan Theology (Hardback) by Joel Beeke & Mark Jones: $60.00 $36.00

Preview all our Cyber Monday sale items and shop online from 12:01 a.m. EST when we reveal our special 24 hour prices.

Note: Sale will run from 12:01 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday November 26. Items purchased are not available for re-sale. Internet orders only. Only valid on product format displayed. While supplies last.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Shannon

It was always my contention, living with a special needs daughter who could be called home at any time, that it was not her health issues that determined when should go, but my spiritual health issues. When each seizure forced me to face her fragility, when each morning I checked first to see if she were breathing before trying to wake her, I comforted myself with this thought- God will not call Shannon home until Shannon is through with me. It was apparent rather early on in her life that she had a peculiar calling, that she was less the child I needed to teach, and more the child that needed to teach me. I was the student, she the master.

My mistake was in thinking that her being done with me and her home going would coincide. She is gone, but she is not done with me. She is still teaching me in her absence. She is teaching me how to deal with pain. Shannon's seizures were not demure affairs. She fell to the ground. Her legs shook violently. Her upper body jerked back and forth. Her breathing became noisy and labored, and fruitless as her skin would begin to turn blue from lack of oxygen. It might last thirty seconds. It might last ten minutes. When it ended, however, it ended always the same- with deep, unshakable sleep. Immediately after being terrorized by her own body being utterly out of her control, immediately after the electrical waves in her brain became a violent thunderstorm, immediately after not being able to breath, she did not look to me for an explanation. She didn't look in panic for a place of stability and sanity. Wherever she was, she just slept.

My home was convulsed nearly a year ago when my bride, the love of my life, went on to her reward. It was convulsed again six weeks ago when Shannon went on to join her. And I can't sleep. For months the routine of caring for my wife was my sanity. For the months after she was gone, the habits of caring for my daughter were my sanity. Now they are both gone. And I have lessons to learn.

For Denise I could be grateful that she went on to a better world, that she would no longer suffer. For Shannon, ironically, I'm not so sure. Oh I am quite confident she is in the arms of her Lord. I'm certain she will have no more seizures. But the thing is, Shannon never felt the weight of her weaknesses. And Shannon had a faith that saw through the veil. She lived on earth as if it were heaven. She was so full of love, joyful, peaceful, so filled with patience and kindness, so good, so faithful, so gentle and so self-controlled that she bloomed, bore fruit in God's own garden. When she woke up able to walk and speak, when she woke to feel our Lord's hand on her head, it was no great change for her. She always felt His hand upon her. She always beheld His glory. The gap for Shannon between earth and heaven was just one small, unsteady step.

Which is just the lesson I need to learn. Neither my wife nor my daughter, though they are now a higher order of being, having been glorified, are far from me. My Lord is not with them in some distant dimension. Instead I am there with them, seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). I have been lifted up by His grace. Because He is with me, I make my bed not in Sheol, but in paradise. For wherever He is, there is my treasure. I will lay down and rest, for so He gives His beloved sleep (Psalm 127). And Shannon watches, to see if I breathe, as we both look forward to that day when I finally wake.

I pray you will take the time to watch the sermon I was blessed to preach at Shannon's memorial service. My hope was to preach the grace of God in her life, and the grace of God through her in my life

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Shannon was originally published at RCSproulJr.com

$5 Black Friday: 25 Items on Sale

Need to find some great gifts with a limited budget? Check out our third annual $5 Black Friday sale with 25 items on sale for only $5. We've included select CDs, DVDs, audio and video downloads, eBooks, hardcover and paperback books, and even a gift voucher.

Be quick, sale ends 11:59 p.m. Friday EST.

View today's $5 Black Friday sale items.

Note: Items purchased are not available for re-sale. Internet orders only. Only valid on product format displayed. While supplies last.

Worship as a Body

Here's an excerpt from Worship as a Body, Bob Kauflin's contribution to the November issue of Tabletalk.

The psalmist declares, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord!'" (Ps. 122:1; emphasis mine). Worldly distractions, bad theology, or indwelling sin can cause us to lose sight of why we should be glad about meeting together on the Lord's Day. We might even start to think private devotions are an adequate substitute for, if not superior to, gathering with the church.

Of course, both private and corporate worship are vital to our relationship with God. But there are reasons the writer of Hebrews admonishes us not to follow "the habit of some" by neglecting to meet together (Heb. 10:25). Here are eight of them...

Continue reading the eight reasons in Worship as a Body online or get the Tabletalk app and read it on your iPad for free.

Thanksgiving: A Lifestyle, Not A Holiday

It is a sure sign that we are sinners that we tend to be more concerned about what we do than what we are. That is, our guilt or peace oftentimes is the fruit of our own judgment of how often we commit a known sin, less often grounded in what we think and how we feel. I may hate my brother, but if I can keep myself from killing him, well, how bad could I be?

In Romans 1 Paul is setting about the business of explaining the universal guilt of men before God. There he answers the telling question, what about the innocent native in Africa who knows nothing of Christ by affirming that all men everywhere both know who God is, and reject that knowledge. Before we have done anything we stand guilty, if only because our eyes tell us there is a God and our hearts hate that truth. Paul then, however, in describing the universal sinful condition of all men outside of Christ adds this condemnation- neither were they grateful.

If it is true that all men exist, were made to glorify God, our gratitude failure is not simply a failure of manners, akin to forgetting to write a thank-you card for a gift. Instead it is like adultery, like murder, like cosmic rebellion. How so? Well, a failure to be grateful is grounded in the conviction that we are due better than what we have been given. We are all born with an expectation of a certain level of comfort, a certain level of fulfillment, a certain level of pleasure. When these exceed our expectations we believe all is right with the world. We have received our due. When they fall below our expectations, however, we grumble, we complain, we howl. We scratch our heads thinking something is wrong with the universe.

Something is wrong with the universe- us. The lost are, well, lost. They have not been changed. They do not have the Holy Spirit. They are on their own. But we complain just like them. We have the same set of expectations, and so mimic their grumbling. We, because we are worldly, look at the world and our place in it just like the world.

Gratitude, however, isn't the fruit of happiness, but its root. When we give thanks, when we look at the world and our place in it realistically, remembering what we are due in ourselves, what we have, and all that we have been promised in Christ, we are astonished, overwhelmed. And therefore overjoyed.

I have with me four daughters who love me, and their Lord. I have three sons who love me, and their Lord. I have friends who love me, and their Lord. I have work that I love, that serves the Lord. I have a church where our Lord and His Word are preached. Most important of all, I am beloved of the Father. How could I ever even begin to think "It isn't enough"? And, when I fail, my Father forgives me, His Spirit works in me, and I get better. Saint, thanksgiving isn't a holiday to be observed, but a lifestyle to be practiced. Give thanks. And when you are done, do it again.

Soli Deo Gloria

Here's an excerpt from Soli Deo Gloria, John Piper's contribution to the November issue of Tabletalk.

We use the phrase glory of God so often that it tends to lose its biblical force. But this glory, like the sun, is no less blazing— and no less beneficial—because people ignore it. Yet, God hates to be ignored. "Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!" (Ps. 50:22). So let's focus again on the glory of God. What is God's glory, and how important is it?

Continue reading Soli Deo Gloria online or get the Tabletalk app and read it on your iPad for free.

 

God in Our Midst — 99¢ eBook Sale

For a limited time Reformation Trust is making select titles even more accessible as we lower their eBook price to 99¢. Today, until November 29 2012, we are offering you one of our latest titles: God in Our Midst by Daniel Hyde. Depending on your preferred eReader, the Ligonier Store offers both an ePub version and a Kindle ready MOBI version.

Have you ever wondered if it is worth your time reading and studying God's instructions for the tabernacle found in the Old Testament? Daniel Hyde says it is and shows in God in Our Midst that the tabernacle narratives have much to teach us about God Himself, about sin, about redemption in Christ, and about how we are to live for God today. Furthermore, Hyde shows that these passages reveal Christ.

"...any serious Christian will also benefit from this book. It will not only open up previously undiscovered parts of the Bible, it will show you the wonderful unity of the Scriptures from start to finish. Above all, it will inspire you to seek communion with God through Jesus Christ, Immanuel, 'God with us.'"

—Dr. David P. Murray
Professor of Old Testamentand practical theology
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary,
Grand Rapids, Michigan

"Saturated with sound exegesis, helpful insights, pointed application, and warm devotion, God in Our Midst helps us to see in the tabernacle not merely pieces of furniture or sets of curtains, but Christ Himself, in the beauty of His holiness and the peace of His pardoning grace. This book will drive pastors from the study to the pulpit, and parishioners from study to worship."

—Rev. Brian Vos
Pastor, Trinity United Reformed Church
Caledonia, Michigan

God in Our Midst is currently on sale for 99¢ as both an ePub and a Kindle ready MOBI. Offer expires November 29, 2012.