a comfortable society

As a general rule, the theologia gloriae (theology of glory) will drive out the theologia crucis (theology of the cross) every time in a comfortable society. We will often observe that this is particularly true in America, where optimism and positive thinking reign side by side.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 43–44

Tozer for Tuesday

I believe, and I could be wrong here but I do not think I am, that God’s people are hungry for the real spiritual food. They have had it with artificial light and hard, stale bread and odorless incense. They have had it with the cheap imitations imported from the world; they long for the reality of God’s presence among them.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 135

To God be the Glory

363 To God Be the Glory

1 To God be the glory - great things He hath done!
   So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
   Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
   And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Refrain:
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice!
   Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
   O come to the Father, through Jesus, the Son,
   and give Him the glory - great things He hath done.

2 O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood!
   To ev'ry believer the promise of God;
   The vilest offender who truly believes,
   That moment from Jesus a pardon receives. [Refrain]

3 Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
   And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
   But purer and higher and greater will be
   Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see. [Refrain]
                         Fanny Crosby
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
I was very surprised to see that this standard Crosby hymn only occurs in about 230 hymnals. I was also surprised to see that I hadn't posted it yet. Apparently it doesn't occur in any of the three Methodist hymnals I own! I grew up singing it, so I'm not sure where I learned it, unless it was in a hymnal/songbook my parents owned—or maybe in a Sunday School songbook.
</idle musing>

The centrality of the passion in the early church

The portions of the four Gospels dealing with the life and teachings of Jesus were divided into short, discrete units (pericopes) suitable for reading and exposition in the context of worship in the early church. Once the Last Supper begins, however, the method changes. The portions describing the arrest, trial, suffering, and execution of Jesus are quite unlike the rest of the Gospels. These sequences are staged as long dramatic narratives, differing noticeably from the division of the earlier material into brief pericopes. The passion stories take up one-fourth to one-third of the total length of the four Gospels, and biblical interpreters generally agree that the material was shaped by the church’s oral traditions prior to being put into written form, in a way that forever indicates the surpassing importance of the suffering of Christ for the life of the earliest Christian communities.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 42

Praise the Savior, Ye Who Know Him

362 Praise the Savior, Ye Who Know Him

1 Praise the Savior, ye who know Him!
   Who can tell how much we owe Him?
   Gladly let us render to Him
   all we are and have.

2 Jesus is the name that charms us;
   He for conflict fits and arms us;
   nothing moves and nothing harms us
   while we trust in Him.

3 Trust in Him, ye saints, forever;
   He is faithful, changing never;
   neither force nor guile can sever
   those He loves from Him.

4 Keep us, Lord, O keep us cleaving
   to Thyself, and still believing,
   till the hour of our receiving
   promised joys with Thee.
                         Thomas Kelly
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Hymnary.org adds a fifth verse:

5 Then we shall be where we would be,
   then we shall be what we should be;
   things that are not now, nor could be,
   soon shall be our own.

</idle musing>

I Will Praise Him!

359 I Will Praise Him!

1 When I saw the cleansing fountain,
   Open wide for all my sin,
   I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing
   When He said, Wilt thou be clean?

Chorus:
   I will praise Him! I will praise Him!
   Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
   Give Him glory, all ye people,
   For His blood can wash away each stain.

2 Tho' the way seems straight and narrow,
   All I claimed was swept away;
   My ambitions, plans, and wishes,
   At my feet in ashes lay. (Chorus)

3 Then God’s fire upon the altar
   Of my heart was set aflame;
   I shall never cease to praise Him,
   Glory, glory to His name! (Chorus)

4 Blessed be the name of Jesus!
   I’m so glad He took me in;
   He’s forgiven my transgressions,
   He has cleansed my heart from sin. (Chorus)

5 Glory, glory to the Father!
   Glory, glory to the Son!
   Glory, glory to the Spirit!
   Glory to the Three in One! (Chorus)
                         Hymns for the Family of God
                         Margaret J. Harris

O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth

344 O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth

1 O could I speak the matchless worth,
   O could I sound the glories forth
   Which in my Savior shine,
   I'd soar and touch the heavenly strings,
   And vie with Gabriel while he sings
   In notes almost divine,
   In notes almost divine.

2 I'd sing the precious blood He spilt,
   My ransom from the dreadful guilt
   Of sin and wrath divine!
   I'd sing His glorious righteousness,
   In which all perfect heavenly dress
   My soul shall ever shine,
   My soul shall ever shine.

3 I'd sing the characters He bears,
   And all the forms of love He wears,
   Exalted on His throne.
   In loftiest songs of sweetest praise,
   I would to everlasting days
   Make all His glories known,
   Make all His glories known.

4 Soon, the delightful day will come
   When my dear Lord will bring me home,
   And I shall see His face;
   Then with my Savior, Brother, Friend,
   A blest eternity I’ll spend,
   Triumphant in His grace,
   Triumphant in His grace.
                         Samuel Medley
                         Hymns for the Family of God

The importance of the incarnation

The incarnation is the other essential pole of the Christian confession. God’s own self is totally, unreservedly, unconditionally invested in the self-offering “even to death on a cross” of the man Jesus. If God is not truly incarnate in Jesus as he accomplishes his work on the cross, then nothing has really happened from God’s side and we are thrown back on ourselves. If there is no incarnation of the Godhead in Jesus’ sacrifice, then there is no salvation apart from what human nature can contribute.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 32

Come, Christians, Join to Sing

342 Come, Christians, Join to Sing

1. Come, Christians, join to sing
   Alleluia! Amen!
   Loud praise to Christ our King;
   Alleluia! Amen!
   Let all, with heart and voice,
   Before His throne rejoice;
   Praise is His gracious choice:
   Alleluia! Amen!

2. Come, lift your hearts on high;
   Alleluia! Amen!
   Let praises fill the sky;
   Alleluia! Amen!
   He is our guide and friend;
   To us He'll condescend;
   His love shall never end:
   Alleluia! Amen!

3. Praise yet our Christ again;
   Alleluia! Amen!
   Life shall not end the strain;
   Alleluia! Amen!
   On heaven's blissful shore
   His goodness we'll adore,
   Singing forevermore,
   "Alleluia! Amen!"
                         Christian Henry Bateman
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Why the weak church?

The drift away from the Bible has weakened the church. Many people are ready to believe but have been intimidated into thinking that no educated person with any pretense to cultural sophistication could actually take the testimony of the Bible seriously. The one antidote to this is a robust exposition of the apostolic gospel.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 30

We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer

334 We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer

1. We praise You, O God, our Redeemer, Creator,
   In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
   We lay it before You, we kneel and adore You,
   We bless Your holy name, glad praises we sing.

2. We worship You, God of our fathers, we bless You;
   Thro' life's storm and tempest our Guide You have been.
   When perils o'er-take us You will not forsake us,
   And with Your help, O Lord, our battles we win.

3. With voices united our praises we offer,
   And gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.
   With You, Lord, beside us, Your strong arm will guide us.
   To You, our great Redeemer, forever be praise.
                         Julia C. Cory
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn, only occurring in abour 175 hymnals. Cyberhymnal notes that she later added a fourth verse for Christmas:

Thy love Thou didst show us, Thine only Son sending,
   Who came as a babe and whose bed was a stall,
   His blest life He gave us and then died to save us;
   We praise Thee, O Lord, for Thy gift to us all.

</idle musing>

Jesus of History?

The key to Jesus is now, as it has always been, his crucifixion and resurrection. Nothing whatever is known from first-century extrabiblical sources about Jesus as a historical figure. The New Testament is the only witness we have. Any modern reconstruction of the “historical Jesus,” therefore, is certain to be a product of the cultural environment that produced it, whereas the Jesus proclaimed as Lord in the New Testament comes closer than any other figure known to human history to being universal, transcending time and historical location, belonging to all cultures and all people everywhere and forever.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 29

Psalm 92 (hymn version)

330 It Is Good to Sing Thy Praises

1 It is good to sing Your praises
   and to thank You, O Most High,
   showing forth Your lovingkindness
   when the morning lights the sky.
   It is good when night is falling,
   of Your faithfulness to tell,
   while with sweet, melodious praises
   songs of adoration swell.

2 You have filled our hearts with gladness
   at the works Your hands have wrought;
   You have made our lives victorious;
   great Your works and deep Your thought.
   You, O LORD, on high exalted,
   reign forevermore in might;
   all Your enemies shall perish,
   sin be banished from Your sight.

3 But the good shall live before You,
   planted in Your dwelling place,
   fruitful trees and ever verdant,
   nourished by Your boundless grace.
   In His goodness to the righteous,
   God His righteousness displays;
   God, my Rock, my Strength and Refuge,
   just and true are all Your ways.
                         Psalm 92
                         Hymns for the Family of God