From Mad Men season five, episode eight “Lady Lazarus”
Lady Lazarus: What Could Have Been
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Bridges: Only Preaching the Gospel Leads to Holiness
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The sovereignty and freeness of grace are the principles of laborious activity, not the allowance of Anitnomian ease. Thus the doctrines of the Gospel not only explain the nature and obligation, but are themselves the principles – nay the only principles – of holiness. We must live every moment by faith, and as we live, we shall love – overcome the world – crucify sin – delight in the service of God. No mere precepts will extirpate the natural love of sin, or infuse this new bias in the heart. The doctrine of faith alone effects this mighty change, by exhibiting Christ as the source of life, and detailing all the exercises of holy practice, flowing from that life…
It is the promise, and not the precept; it is encouragement, and exaction; it is grace, and not nature, which consecrates a course of moral beauty and blessing, and convinces the believer, that, whether grace is to be exercised or duty discharged, he is eminently ‘God’s workmanship,’ the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Charles Bridges The Christian Ministry (265-66) emphasis original
Friday Photo Round Up
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This gallery contains 14 photos.
Here are some images from around the webs that I’ve found and enjoyed. I hope you’ll like them too.
Quote: Calvin on the Miserable Life
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Calvin: Indeed, this life, however crammed with infinite miseries it may be, is still rightly to be counted among those blessings of God which are not to be spurned.
How Does Sarah, Submissive Obedience, and Fear Fit?
Have you ever done this? A wife wants counseling on dealing with a frustration she has with her husband. I Peter 3 brings God’s truth to godly wives (dealing with unbelieving husbands), encouraging them to trust God by submitting, adorning their hearts with righteous beauty, and to act as Sarah’s spiritual daughters. I’ve often thought of Sarah as a fantastic example of this, what with Abraham’s penchant for dropping her off in various royal harems (cf. Genesis 12 and 20). It turns out, most commentators see it this way too: Sarah shows remarkable faith and fearlessness in the face of Abraham’s abdicating husbandry.
But as we’re preaching through the Abraham toledot in our Lord’s Day sermons, I was struck by the fact that Genesis 18 is the only place Sarah refers to Abraham as her “lord” (Hebrew: adon, Greek: kurios). What is more, Peter exhorts godly wives to “not fear anything that is frightening” (I Peter 3:6). Sure enough, the only time we’re ever told Sarah feared something is also in Genesis 18. The links are striking, and even Proverbs 3 comes into play. The following chart helps to lay it out (ESV and LXX below):
| Genesis 18:12, 15 | I Peter 3:6 | Proverbs 3:25 |
| So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord (κύρίος μου) is old, shall I have pleasure?” | as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord (κύριον). | |
| But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid (ἐφοβἡθη). | do good and do not fear anything that is frightening (μὴ φοβούμεναι μηδεμίαν πτόησιν). | Do not be afraid of sudden terror (οὐ φοβἡθησῃ πτόησιν) or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes |
New Song: Varúð
Sigur Rós has a new album – Valtari – coming out May 29th. Paste has links to some recently released tracks off the upcoming record, and here’s the newest: Varúð.
Also, here’s another new(-ish) release,
Geerhardus Vos on Two Spheres
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“Man belongs to two spheres. And Scripture not only teaches that these two spheres are distinct, it also teaches what estimate of relative importance ought to be placed upon them. Heaven is the primordial, earth the secondary creation. In heaven are the supreme realities; what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things. Because the relation between the two spheres is positive, and not negative, not mutually repulsive, heavenly-mindedness can never give rise to neglect of the duties pertaining to the present life. It is the ordinance and will of God, that not apart from, but on the basis of, and in contact with, the earthly sphere man shall work out his heavenly destiny.”
Connections, if any, to two kingdoms?
(HT: @AaronRedeemed)
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Harvard Business Review: Is Your Smartphone Making You Less Productive?
I’ve talked about how a (pre-)smartphone can make you more productive. Here’s the counterpoint.
Art Can Glorify God Because of the Goodness of Creation
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Art can glorify God because of the intrinsic good of creation, not because it has some transformative, redemptive power to usher in spiritual redemption… Poorly written novels — no matter how pious and edifying the behavior of the characters — are not good in themselves and are therefore not really edifying.
@WhiteHorseInn
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Like Abraham, Drive Away the Buzzards
Dear Zion,
In our sermon series on “The Gospel According to Abraham,” we’ve been introduced to the Covenant of Grace. We saw how God furthered His Covenant of Grace with Abraham in Genesis 15, cutting the animals in half and passing through that valley of death to ratify His promise to Abraham and his offspring. But did you notice the seemingly insignificant detail in Genesis 15:11? “And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.” Now why would God include this little tidbit of Abram trying to scare off some buzzards? Is it just to fill in some of the details of the story? Or, is God’s Word so rich and intricate, that even this easily overlooked verse can teach us more of God’s ways? Continue reading
Brian J. Lund 