In Alfred Plummer’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, I read this and thought I would share it with you:
“To those who believe that Jesus Christ was what He claimed to be, that is, to those who believe in the Incarnation, there is no difficulty about miracles. They are the natural works of a supernatural Person. If He was not supernatural, then difficulty arises. But in that case we tear up the New Testament, and the history of the Christian Church becomes inexplicable.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said this about prayer in a sermon on John 17:
“Our whole idea of prayer is false. We think of prayer only as guidance and requests. Now if you were to put that into practice in human relationships you would regard it as insulting. No, the thing the saint wants to know above everything else is that all is well between his soul and the Father. There is nothing the saint delights in more than to know God as his Father. He likes to maintain the contact and communion, to assure his heart before God and in the presence of God. The saint is in this difficult world, there are temptations from the outside and the whole world is against us, and the saint is tried – sometimes he almost despairs. So he goes to God immediately, not to ask this or that but just to make certain that all is well there, that the contact is unbroken and perfect, that he can assure his heart and know that all is well.”
This quote was found in The Assurance of Our Salvation (Studies in John 17): Exploring the Depth of Jesus’ Prayer for His Own
which is a collection of Lloyd-Jones’ sermons on John 17.
Jesus tells us that we are to approach God in a childlike way. What is more childlike than to look to our father to assure us that everything will be OK?
Life as a flawed human in a flawed world is often difficult. But, for the Christian, we have the assurance that God will see us through to the end. I don’t think it is possible to over emphasize what Paul tells us in Philippians:
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6, CSB)
We have been told this, but we have a patient Father who is willing to tell us over and over again that he is with us and all will be well.
In the introduction of David Berlinski’s book entitled, The Devil’s Delusion, he writes the following:
“We know better than we did what we do not know and have not grasped. We do not know how the universe began. We do not know why it is there. Charles Darwin talked speculatively of life emerging from a “warm little pond.” The pond is gone. We have little idea how life emerged, and cannot with assurance say that it did. We cannot reconcile our understanding of the human mind with any trivial theory about the manner in which the brain functions. Beyond the trivial, we have no other theories. We can say nothing of interest about the human soul. We do not know what impels us to right conduct or where the form of the good is found.”
It would be good to keep in mind that Mr. Berlinski introduces himself as a secular Jew and not someone who embraces a religion as a part of his life.
The point I take away from this is that while Science has done a lot to help us better understand the world in which we live, it is limited to observing how the universe works.
I am grateful for the advances that have been made that increase the comfort of our existence. But, science is limited to observations of what is. Science is also limited in what it can say in response to the four important questions that man needs to answer. Ravi Zacharias was the first person I heard list these four:
Berlinski goes on to write:
“No scientific theory touches on the mysteries that the religious tradition addresses. A man asking why his days are short and full of suffering is not disposed to turn to algebraic quantum field theory for the answer. The answers that prominent scientific figures have offered are remarkable in their shallowness. The hypothesis that we are nothing more than cosmic accidents has been widely accepted by the scientific community. Figures as diverse as Bertrand Russell, Jacques Monod, Steven Weinberg, and Richard Dawkins have said it is so. It is an article of their faith, one advanced with the confidence of men convinced that nature has equipped them to face realities the rest of us cannot bear to contemplate. There is not the slightest reason to think this so.”
Speaking about religious teaching he concludes:
“I do not know whether any of this is true. I am certain that the scientific community does not know that it is false.
This morning, I have been reading The Creeds of Christendom by Philip Schaff. I liked how he eulogized the Apostles Creed in this paragraph. About this creed, Schaff writes:
It is by far the best popular summary of the Christian faith ever made within so brief a space. It still surpasses all later symbols for catechetical and liturgical purposes, especially as a profession of candidates for baptism and church membership. It is not a logical statement of abstract doctrines, but a profession of living facts and saving truths. It is a liturgical poem and an act of worship. Like the Lord’s Prayer, it loses none of its charm and effect by frequent use, although, by vain and thoughtless repetition, it may be made a martyr and an empty form of words. It is intelligible and edifying to a child, and fresh and rich to the profoundest Christian scholar, who, as he advances in age, delights to go back to primitive foundations and first principles. It has the fragrance of antiquity and the inestimable weight of universal consent. It is a bond of union between all ages and sections of Christendom. It can never be superseded for popular use in church and school.
Some protestant denominations have incorporated the Apostles’ Creed into their liturgy. As a result, many of my readers are likly to have memorized this creed as children.
Having grown up in anti-liturgical Baptist churches, I was not exposed to The Apostles’ Creed until I was an adult. It is a shame since, as Schaff points out, it is an excellent summary of the facts on which the Christian faith is based.
One of my New Year’s resolutions will be to memorize this creed. If you would like to join me in this, here is an English translation of the creed (via Wikipedia)
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
