Sunday's Hymn: O Christ, Our Hope, Our Heart's Desire

O Christ, our hope, our heart’s desire,
Redemption’s only spring!
Creator of the world art thou,
Its Saviour and its King.

How vast the mercy and the love
Which laid our sins on thee,
And led thee to a cruel death,
To set thy people free.

But now the bands of death are burst,
The ransom has been paid;
And thou art on thy Father’s throne,
In glorious robes arrayed.

O Christ, be thou our lasting joy,
Our ever great reward!
Our only glory may it be
To glory in the Lord.

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• O How I Love Jesus at The Happy Wonderer

Selected Reading, February 13, 2020

 

I think you should check out these pieces this weekend.

Creeds

“The Profession of Truth”: Part 1 and Part 2
This two-part series looks at the purposes of the 1677 Baptist Confession as explained by those who crafted it. The first purpose was to express the Baptist’s agreement with other dissenting churches, namely, the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. Secondly, the framers wished to clarify the Baptist’s distinctiveness from these other churches. And third, they wanted to disciple their church members.

The applications drawn in these two pieces are especially useful for contemporary churches working on revising or rewriting their statement of faith.

Scripture

The Inspiration of Scripture
I know I link to the SimplyPut podcast a lot, but they have some excellent short essays on various theological terms. If you’re not already checking them out weekly, you should start.

History

Daniel De Superville – Bringing Comfort to a Pilgrim Church
I’ve been interested in the Huguenots since I learned a little bit about them in elementary school. This is the story of a faithful Huguenot pastor.

Friendship

Church Small Talk Was More Important Than I Thought
I’m an introvert, and I’ve sometimes found small talk annoying. But now I miss it. There are people I used to see and greet every week that I haven’t seen or greeted for nearly a year, and I miss them. I recently caught up with one long time peripheral (but not unimportant) friend in the grocery store and it was wonderful. 

Theological Term of the Week: Spiritual Gift

spiritual gift
An ability given to a believer by God to equip them to serve in the church. 

• From Scripture:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… (Ephesians 4:11-12 ESV)

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. [4] For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, [5] so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. [6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8] the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8 ESV) 

• From  Keeping in Step with the Spirit by J. I. Packer:

Nowhere does Paul or any other New Testament writer define a spiritual gift for us, but Paul’s assertion that the use of gifts edifies (“builds up,” 1 Corinthians 143-5, 12, 26, see also 17; Ephesians 4:12, 16) shows what his idea of a gift was. For Paul, it is only through Christ, in Christ, by learning Christ and responding to Christ that anyone is ever edified. Our latter-day secular use of this word is far wider and looser than Paul’s; for him, edification is precisely a matter of growing in the depth and fullness of one’s understanding of Christ and all else in relation to him and in the quality of one’s personal relationship with him, and it is not anything else. So spiritual gifts must be defined in terms of Christ, as actualized powers of expressing, celebrating, displaying and so communicating Christ in one way or another, either by word or by deed. They would not be edifying otherwise. 

Learn more:

1. Blue Letter Bible: What Are Spiritual Gifts?
2. Simply Put Podcast: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
3. GotQuestions.org: What are the different spiritual gifts the Bible mentions?
4. Vern Poythress: What Are Spiritual Gifts? (pdf)
5. Fred Zaspel: Spiritual Gifts
6. Bob Deffinbaugh: Spiritual Gifts (audio series)

Related terms:  

• cessationism
• continuationism

Filed under Ecclesiology

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