August 9, 2009 Sermon Afterthoughts – 2 Peter 1:10-21

One of my great joys in preaching is the dynamic interaction I have with the congregation after the service. Your interested questions, thoughtful insights and loving critiques only help me to pastor you better from the pulpit. So I will try to pass along some of those insights in this blog for the good of the whole congregation.

After “The True Message” a visiting pastor from another denomination asked where he could learn more about John Calvin and his thought (I alluded to Calvin several times in my sermon). Just for a little background, John Calvin (1509-1564) was a French lawyer turned theologian who conducted most of his preaching, writing and reforming ministry in Geneva, Switzerland. Contrary to many caricatures, his emphasis was not on the doctrine of predestination. In fact, it occupies a rather small part of his theological writings and did not make it into his Institutes of the Christian Religion until later revisions. Calvin’s main emphasis was on the believer’s union with Christ as the ultimate explanation to all questions of life and salvation (how does God save, what motivates and enables the Christian, how does one become holy, how are we blessed, how do we pray, etc)

The Institutes are about 1500 pages (Calvin called them “a brief work”!) but they have a good index (also available on-line through CCEL) and should be in everyone’s library as a resource on practically every theological topic.  Anyway, back to the question about how to learn more about Calvin. The minister who asked me this question was only beginning to read the Institutes so he wanted to ramp up more quickly. My suggestion to him and to anyone would be a little book and a modern biography. The little book is called The Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life. This is a small edited version of Book 3 of the Institutes. It is very readable, even devotional, as much of Calvin’s writing is to most people’s surprise. Modern biographies include those by Robert Godfrey, John Piper, Robert Reymond and T.H.L. Parker (a bit older). The little book and a modern biography reveal a much maligned father of the faith who was a passionate preacher, global evangelist, tender hearted pastor, pioneering economist, social reformer, political innovationist, husband, father and suffering Christian man.

Other books alluded to in my sermon included:

· F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable (Good answer to those who ask, “How can we trust the Bible when it has been copied so many times through history?”);

· James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith (Good layman’s guide to doctrine of inerrancy);

· William M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen (Intriguing reference book on geographical, social and political background to Acts); and

· Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology (I was working against this book which is the fountainhead of “Deconstruction,” the postmodern idea that truth is impossible to know especially through the written word).