The underlying characteristic of all sin is unbelief. Pride is the driving force behind all unbelief. In essence, every sinful word, deed, or thought is a result of the reversal of the Creator-creature relationship. Our pride deceives us into thinking that we are sufficient in and of ourselves to meet our needs or fulfill our purposes. Therefore, our pride is unbelief in God’s Word to us that tells us that we are nothing apart from him, not to mention, that without him we would have never existed.

Pride, however, can show its face in ways that may not be as identifiable. In his Table Talk, The 16th century German Reformer Martin Luther shows how pride can make its way into the pulpit, but warns that God will soon cast that person out. “Scripture requires humble hearts,” Luther says, “that hold God’s Word in honor, love, and worth (281).” When the preacher addresses his congregation by means of the proclamation of the Word in a contrary manner, Luther declares, “[T]he Holy Spirit resists the proud, and will not dwell with them.” Notice Luther’s subtle way of using a scriptural truth to set the stage for his argument. He links the preaching of the Word with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and as a result, both Scripture and the Holy Spirit are interested exclusively in a preacher with a humble and lowly heart. Therefore, any preacher who enters the pulpit with a proud heart not only contradicts the Word of God, but will not be used by the Holy Spirit.

Luther goes on to say, “Therefore, every proud spirit is a heretic, not in act and deed, yet before God.” You can always count on Luther not to sugarcoat anything. It’s not just that a person is wrong for being prideful; the offense is much worse than that. Luther decries that man as a heretic, which entails that pride must be heresy. A simple definition of heresy is a doctrine or teaching that contradicts the fundamental tenets of Christian orthodoxy. So then why would Luther ascribe such a harsh claim to a person who has erred in a way as common and universal as pride? I believe that it is due to the fact that Luther realizes that in one’s prideful state, he or she denounces God as God, thereby elevating his or herself to the place of the Creator. Pride says we don’t need God. Pride says that we are sufficient in and of ourselves. In essence, though we may not think it necessarily, in our pride, we make ourselves God. Pride looks God in the face and says, “Thanks for offer, but I can do it on my own.” This indeed is heresy. And what worse of a place to be in this frame of mind than when preaching the Word of God to his people?

Clearly Luther is drawing from texts such as James 4:6 and Proverbs 3:34 which state that God opposes the proud, but honors the humble. Luther continues to speak towards those seeking a pastorate as he observes, “But it is a hard matter for one who has some particular gift and quality above another, not to be haughty, proud, and presumptuous, and not to contemn others.” Therefore, God uses suffering, trials, and tribulations to keep them humble. Luther cites the example of Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a biblical illustration of one who was extremely gifted, but was made to remember his weakness and helplessness before the Lord. Likewise, today’s preachers, both young and old, must be careful not to become the embodiment of heresy in the Lord’s eyes. We are often all too sure of ourselves, and quickly forget that it is the gracious endowment of the Holy Spirit who enables us to be God’s instruments for his glory.

When we step behind a pulpit or a lectern, or in a Sunday school class or before a small group in our living room with our chests puffed out as if all of those under the sound of our voice have been greatly blessed to sit under our teaching, it is then that we are most opposed by God. The Holy Spirit will not have it. For we are heretics, worthy of eternal fire and everlasting condemnation. Let us not fall into this great heresy. We are of no value apart from the anointing of the Holy Spirit. May we strive to be more humble that his grace may abound to us more and more in order that through the service of our God-given gifts, the Spirit may bless our ministries and use us for bringing lost sheep from darkness into the Lord’s marvelous light.

I’m finding myself posting more and more quotes, but I can’t help it. I am constantly reading a wide variety of books and in each one, I stumble upon all kinds of good stuff that I want to share with others. This one stems from meditating a lot on prayer lately. In addition, our last Caregroup Leaders’ Meeting was centered on prayer, so it has been a continual topic on my mind. This selection is from John Calvin’s (very) small version of his Institutes of the Christian Religion called Truth for All Time. I love how he vividly shows our ignorance when we fail to seek the Lord in prayer. Our failure to pray betrays everything we know and believe about God. It’s not just that we lack discipline, but rather that in our actions we foolishly regard what is most valuable as not worth our time and effort. How heartbreaking of a reality. May it not be so.

To know that God is the Lord, to know that he invites us to ask him for what we need, and yet not to call on him and pray to him, is like knowing of a treasure hidden in the earth and, through indifference, to leave it there, without taking the trouble to dig it up (88).

Here’s some new pictures of Wyatt. He’s almost 6 months old! I can’t believe it. They’ve gone by so fast, but also very slow. It was a hard and long semester for Kim and I as we both sustained full-time work schedules along with not sacrificing our time with Wyatt. I still feel like I’m catching up on sleep, not just because of Wyatt, but also from the late nights trying to catch up on homework and teaching responsibilities. Thanks for all of your prayers. He’s a very happy baby and is becoming more expressive and fun every day. Ched Spellman over at Says Simpleton is my unofficial blog accountability partner. He slapped me around for putting almost ten pictures up on my last post dedicated to Wyatt, so I’ve toned it down for this one. But, we’ll see how he does since he and Leigh had their first child, Hope Elisabeth, yesterday.

He likes to listen to me play guitar. He watches and smiles . . . and tries to kick my Martin.

Wyatt is getting to where he likes sitting in his Bumbo chair more and more. Like I told Kim, he's always been a baby in denial. He doesn't like laying down, being cradled, or other typical baby stuff. He wants to be a big boy.

We got him a pool last week that came with a canopy to help protect him from the hot Texas sun. He loved his first experience in the water. He wore himself out and slept like the rest of the day. Now it's time to head to the beach!

First Father's Day! It was a pretty neat feeling.

The Whole Marsh Family on Father's Day. We had a great day together. Gifts (Wyatt tried to help me unrap them by eating the wrapping paper), Church, BBQ, Nap, Coffee, and Ice Cream!

Alister McGrath closed out his A Brief History of Heaven with this quote from John Donne. It needs no exposition. I pray that it captures your heart for God as it did mine and ignites a spark in your soul to cultivate a hope for heaven because of whom it is that we will see face to face . . . and live:

No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen him, I shall never die (184).

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on “sojourners,” “pilgrims,” or “journey” as a motif for the Christian life. For those of you who do not have a long history following my blog, this subject is supposed to be the defining element of “Joy in the Journey” and it was the motivation for me starting a blog at all. I wanted to flesh this concept out and let my blog be a way of commending this way of viewing the Christian life to you. If you want to read more about how I’ve taught the “sojourner” theme from Scripture, click here to visit a table of contents of sorts for more posts on this topic.

In addition, I also try to post excerpts from sources other than the Bible that speak in favor of the “Christian pilgrim” worldview. That’s what this post is about. This passage is from a book called Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Recovering a Christian Practice by Daniel Treier. “Theological Interpretation” is the name more or less both for a movement and an activity regarding how to explain the Bible theologically. It is in large part a response to an approach to Scripture that held great influence on the doctrine of Scripture and hermeneutics after the Enlightenment and into the 20th century. This method of Bible study treated the analysis of the scriptures more so as a science; one that in many cases ended up denying the historical reliability of the Bible as well as silencing its ability to develop Christian doctrine. “Theological Interpretation” is still hard to define as can be seen in Treier’s book which never really gives a clear definition for the term. Nevertheless, a summary of what is meant in the title can be explained as the theological practice where “Christians read the Bible as Scripture, authoritative as God’s Word for faith and life; thus, to interpret Scripture [is] to encounter God (13).” It offers a “churchly reading of the Bible” (14). This will seem obvious to the everyday laymen, but in the academy, conservative evangelical scholarship that is done for the sake of church has not always been the dominant influence in the world of theology.

That being said, I found it very interesting that on the final page of Treier’s book that he linked the recovery of theological interpretation with the sojourner theme in order to help illustrate how one uses and interprets the Bible for doing theology. Prior to this portion, Treier is using the idea of “maps” and “lenses” as metaphors for how Scripture is seen through the service of theological interpretation. I won’t go into full detail about how he fleshed out these metaphors because I want to place the emphasis on his linkage of it with “journey” in the passage below. Essentially what he is saying is that just as the Christian life is one of a constant journey to reach our heavenly destination, so also theological interpretation is a journey where we are ever striving to reach that end where the dim mirror of this world will pass away and we will see God face to face and know him fully even as we have all this time been fully known (1 Cor 14:12).

Treier writes,

Speaking of maps complements the metaphor of lenses by reminding us that we are not merely spectators when it comes to Scripture, pointing us to the journey motif that is so important for understanding the church’s spiritual life. Theological interpretation of Scripture, in the end, is an essential practice in the Christian pilgrimage of seeking to know God. It is that pursuit by which we endeavor to know where we are going and to catch a glimpse of what it will be like to arrive at our destination (205).