Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
Greetings, fellow Sinners and Saints of God,
I first made this post way back when the anime discussion was going on. I decided to post what I wrote even though it's way after the fact. There are two things following where I might be a man alone.
Thankfully, I have no idea what anime is. I am not about to spend any time dealing with things that just plain don't matter in the eternal scheme of things.
List of several things I no longer involve myself in.
1. I Don't Do Boycotts:
A Christian family member came down a little hard on me about the dog food I bought at Target, saying, "I would not enter any Target store for any reason."
I answered, "That's an interesting position. Want to hear my take?"
I take the opposite position. I think the trans clothing and CEO's commitment to the cause will likely bring additional people to the store who may have boycotted it for not having such things. Anyway, in most places, Christians wouldn't be seen in; Jesus would make a beeline for them. Got it? It's in the Bible.
2. I Don't Do Endless Genealogies -- Oops, I mean Eschatologies.
I no longer involve myself in the endless discussions of eschatology. The weirdest thing about it to me is that many participants in the debate are there mainly to express their own opinions and wisdom. Come on, come on, everyone. We don't know how it's going to all workout. And you don't know either.
~~~~~~~~~~
Now for a little bit on the Apostle's insufficiency for the ministry.
2 Corinthians 3:4–6 -- Sufficient for Ministry. I don't recall just now who the author of what follows was.
Vance Havner, beloved preacher, pastor, and evangelist during my early years of ministry, recalls the beginning of his itinerant ministry:
Here I was, about to begin a full-time traveling ministry which meant sleeping in a different bed every week, changing food and climate, always getting adjusted and never getting adjusted—and utterly exhausted before I started! Any adviser would have called it sheerest folly. I felt more like quitting instead of undertaking a most demanding work which many strong men have tried and been unable to continue. If ever there was a chance to prove that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness and that when we are weak, we are strong, this was it. The Lord had the strength and I had the weakness so we teamed up! It is an unbeatable combination.
And it was, as all who heard his inimitable, soul-searching messages will attest. In relation to what the Apostle Paul says about sufficiency for ministry in the brief text before us, Vance Havner’s words serve as a cheerful invitation to apply the apostle’s wisdom to our lives and ministries.
Frankly, Paul was confident about power and effectiveness in his ministry because, as he had just said, the Corinthians were “a letter from Christ” written by “the Spirit of the living God” (v. 3). With such living, breathing letters he had every reason to be confident, and so Paul summarizes, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God” (v. 4). Because his confidence is “through Christ” and not through any power of his own, and because his confidence is “toward God,” it focuses on nothing earthly as its source or end. Paul was supremely God-confident. And Paul confidently fought for the gospel and advised his gospel partners to be “not frightened in anything by your opponents … a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation” (Philippians 1:28).
Paul’S PERSONAL INSUFFICIENCY (v. 5a)
Confidence, however, is one thing; claims of self-sufficiency are quite another. So Paul was quick to renounce any measure of self-sufficiency, saying, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us” (v. 5a). Paul was quite sincere. As Calvin emphasized, “this disclaiming of all merit is not … pretended modesty, but he says what he really feels from the heart.” Thus with a fine irony Paul asserts that his confidence was rooted in his personal inadequacy—there was no self-generated capacity in him adequate to do ministry.
By emphasizing his insufficiency, Paul is consciously alluding to Moses’ insistence of his inadequacy when God called him to lead Israel. His demurral and God’s response were as follows:
But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”
Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet
I first made this post way back when the anime discussion was going on. I decided to post what I wrote even though it's way after the fact. There are two things following where I might be a man alone.
Thankfully, I have no idea what anime is. I am not about to spend any time dealing with things that just plain don't matter in the eternal scheme of things.
List of several things I no longer involve myself in.
1. I Don't Do Boycotts:
A Christian family member came down a little hard on me about the dog food I bought at Target, saying, "I would not enter any Target store for any reason."
I answered, "That's an interesting position. Want to hear my take?"
I take the opposite position. I think the trans clothing and CEO's commitment to the cause will likely bring additional people to the store who may have boycotted it for not having such things. Anyway, in most places, Christians wouldn't be seen in; Jesus would make a beeline for them. Got it? It's in the Bible.
2. I Don't Do Endless Genealogies -- Oops, I mean Eschatologies.
I no longer involve myself in the endless discussions of eschatology. The weirdest thing about it to me is that many participants in the debate are there mainly to express their own opinions and wisdom. Come on, come on, everyone. We don't know how it's going to all workout. And you don't know either.
~~~~~~~~~~
Now for a little bit on the Apostle's insufficiency for the ministry.
2 Corinthians 3:4–6 -- Sufficient for Ministry. I don't recall just now who the author of what follows was.
Vance Havner, beloved preacher, pastor, and evangelist during my early years of ministry, recalls the beginning of his itinerant ministry:
Here I was, about to begin a full-time traveling ministry which meant sleeping in a different bed every week, changing food and climate, always getting adjusted and never getting adjusted—and utterly exhausted before I started! Any adviser would have called it sheerest folly. I felt more like quitting instead of undertaking a most demanding work which many strong men have tried and been unable to continue. If ever there was a chance to prove that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness and that when we are weak, we are strong, this was it. The Lord had the strength and I had the weakness so we teamed up! It is an unbeatable combination.
And it was, as all who heard his inimitable, soul-searching messages will attest. In relation to what the Apostle Paul says about sufficiency for ministry in the brief text before us, Vance Havner’s words serve as a cheerful invitation to apply the apostle’s wisdom to our lives and ministries.
Frankly, Paul was confident about power and effectiveness in his ministry because, as he had just said, the Corinthians were “a letter from Christ” written by “the Spirit of the living God” (v. 3). With such living, breathing letters he had every reason to be confident, and so Paul summarizes, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God” (v. 4). Because his confidence is “through Christ” and not through any power of his own, and because his confidence is “toward God,” it focuses on nothing earthly as its source or end. Paul was supremely God-confident. And Paul confidently fought for the gospel and advised his gospel partners to be “not frightened in anything by your opponents … a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation” (Philippians 1:28).
Paul’S PERSONAL INSUFFICIENCY (v. 5a)
Confidence, however, is one thing; claims of self-sufficiency are quite another. So Paul was quick to renounce any measure of self-sufficiency, saying, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us” (v. 5a). Paul was quite sincere. As Calvin emphasized, “this disclaiming of all merit is not … pretended modesty, but he says what he really feels from the heart.” Thus with a fine irony Paul asserts that his confidence was rooted in his personal inadequacy—there was no self-generated capacity in him adequate to do ministry.
By emphasizing his insufficiency, Paul is consciously alluding to Moses’ insistence of his inadequacy when God called him to lead Israel. His demurral and God’s response were as follows:
But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”
Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet
