These are some of the Scriptures you are encouraged to give your attention to this Advent. A sturdy printed copy is available to you when we gather tomorrow.
Sunday, November 30: Genesis 3:1-20 – Seed of Eve
Monday, December 1: Genesis 22:1-18 – Only Beloved Son and Sacrifice
Tuesday, December 2: Genesis 48:15-16; 49:8-10 – Lion of Judah
Wednesday, December 3: Numbers 23:18-24; 24:3-9, 15-19 – Star of Jacob
Thursday, December 4: Deuteronomy 18:14-22 – A Prophet Like Moses
Friday, December 5: 2 Samuel 7:1-17 – Son of David
Saturday, December 6: Psalm 2 – Messiah: Son of God and King
Sunday, December 7: Psalm 16 and Job 19:23-27 – Holy One and Resurrected Redeemer
Monday, December 8: Psalm 22 – The One Forsaken By God
Tuesday, December 9: Psalm 72 – Royal Son, Deliverer of the Afflicted
Wednesday, December 10: Psalm 110 – Priest and Lord at God’s Right Hand
Thursday, December 11: Isaiah 7:14; 9:1-7 – Immanuel, Mighty God and Prince of Peace
Friday, December 12: Isaiah 11:1-10 – The Branch from Jesse’s Root
Saturday, December 13: Isaiah 42:1-10 – Covenant and Light of the Nations
Sunday, December 14: Isaiah 49:1-7; 50:4-11 – Servant of Kings, Sustainer of the Weary
Monday, December 15: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 – Suffering Servant and Lamb of God
Tuesday, December 16: Jeremiah 23:1-6; 33:14-19 – Righteous Branch
Wednesday, December 17: Ezekiel 34:1-31 – The Good Shepherd
Thursday, December 18: Daniel 7:9-14 and Micah 5:2-5a – The Son of Man and Ruler
From Bethlehem
Friday, December 19: Zechariah 9:9-10; 12:10-13:1 – King on a Donkey and Pierced
Firstborn
Saturday, December 20: Malachi 3:1-4; 4:1-6 Covenant Messenger and Sun of Righteousness

Sunday, December 21: Luke 1:5-38 – Son of the Most High
Monday, December 22: Luke 1:39-80 – The Tender Mercy of God
Tuesday, December 23: Matthew 1:18-25 – Savior From Sin
Wednesday, December 24: John 1:1-14 – World Made Flesh
Thursday, December 25: Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12 – The Birth of Jesus

As You Head into Thanksgiving... 2 quotes

What stands between you and joy in Christ this Thanksgiving? What circumstances will the enemy seek to seize to hold before you as the very reasonable reasons why you cannot rest in Jesus and find joy?

My morning readings brought to mind at least two possibilities that I need to deal with in light of the gospel of free grace: self-pity and despair over sin...

Self-Pity:
“Feeling sorry for yourself is one of the strongest, most addictive narcotics known to man. It feels so good to feel so bad. Self-pity arises so easily, seems so plausible, and proves so hard to shake off.” - David Powlison

Discouragement from sin:
“Their being discouraged by their sins will cost them many a prayer, many a tear, and many a groan; and that because their discouragements under sin flow from ignorance and unbelief. It springs from their ignorance of the richness, freeness, fullness, and everlastingness of God’s love; and from their ignorance of the power, glory, sufficiency, and efficacy of the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ; and from their ignorance of the worth, glory, fullness, largeness, and completeness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and from their ignorance of that real, close, spiritual, glorious, and inseparable union that is between Christ and their precious souls.

Ah! Did precious souls know and believe the truth of these things as they should, they would not sit down dejected and overwhelmed under the sense and operation of sin. God never gave a believer a new heart that it should always lie a-bleeding, and that it should always be rent and torn in pieces with discouragements.”

- Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices

The Holy Spirit Helping us Enjoy Christ & His Salvation

That faithful Spirit who begins the good work, effectually carries it on, and completes it. Presently He leads him to the cross of Jesus—unveils to his eye of glimmering faith a suffering, wounded, bleeding, dying Savior—and yet a Savior with outstretched arms! That Savior speaks—oh, did ever music sound so melodious?—

“All this I do for you—this cross for you—these sufferings for you—this blood for you—these stretched-out arms for you. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest—Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out—Look unto me, and be you saved—only believe.

Are you lost?
I can save you.
Are you guilty?
I can cleanse you.
Are you poor?
I can enrich you.
Are you low sunk?
I can raise you.
Are you naked?
I can clothe you.
Have you nothing to bring with you—no price, no money, no goodness, no merit?
I can and will take you to me, just as you are, poor, naked, penniless, worthless;
for such I came to seek, such I came to call, for such I came to die.”

“Lord, I believe,” exclaims the poor convinced soul, “Help You mine unbelief.”
You are just the Savior that I want.

--Octavious Winslow

Rest Beside The Weary Road

... because Advent starts sunday I'm struggling not to fast forward through T'giving (see I even abbreviated the word!). I need, over the next few days to practice what a stanza from "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" exhorts... rest and listen to the angels sing of the Savior who comes to save us, again and again.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!

Expulsive Power

Yesterday I didn't mention the phrase... during the illustration about the oak that only sheds dead leaves when Spring buds push them out.. but I could have:

The Expulsive Power of a New Affection... a sermon by Thomas Chalmers is here

From Colossians 3 Sinclair Ferguson offers 5 things the Spirit will help us do to put sin to death (mortification)

1.) Recognise sin for what it is (Col.3:5,8,11)
2.) Bring your sin into the light of God's presence (Col 3:6)
3.) Recall the shame of past sin (Col 3:7)
4.) Remember that you are united to Christ (Col.3:1-4 and 9-10)
5.) Prayerfully seek the fruit of the Spirit (Col 3:12-17)


Even under certain circumstances (when we've fallen) we must even dare to say:
I can never be more justified than I am at this very moment--even with these thoughts and desires--for I am still trusting in Christ, and by His grace these sins will be put to death.

Justification is Complete; Sanctification is in process

JC Ryle on Growth in Grace... also describing the difference between justification and sanctification:

When I speak of growth in grace, I do not for a moment mean that a believer’s interest in Christ can grow. I do not mean that he can grow in safety, acceptance with God or security. I do not mean that he can ever be more justified, more pardoned, more forgiven, more at peace with God, than he is the first moment that he believes. I hold firmly that the justification of a believer is a finished, perfect and complete work and that the weakest saint, though he may not know and feel it, is as completely justified as the strongest. I hold firmly that our election, calling and standing in Christ admit of no degrees, increase or diminishing. If anyone dreams that by growth in grace I mean growth in justification, he is utterly wide of the mark and utterly mistaken about the whole point I am considering. I would go to the stake, God helping me, for the glorious truth, that in the matter of justification before God every believer is complete in Christ (Col. 2:10). Nothing can be added to his justification from the moment he believes, and nothing taken away.

When I speak of growth in grace, I only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigor and power of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer’s heart. I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage and the like may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble, and may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life. When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this—that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual–mindedness more marked. He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart. He manifests more of it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to faith and from grace to grace. I leave it to others to describe such a man’s condition by any words they please. For myself I think the truest and best account of him is this—he is growing in grace.

Quotes from the study

A legalistically faultless life lived without fellowship with God would be hollow. But a flawed life which struggles to maintain communion with God is still pleasing to Him and may be full of vital spirituality. --Richard Lovelace, Renewal

Mortification makes stronger our grasp of our justification and sonship, since only as we see more of the magnitude of our sin can we see more the magnitude of His grace. On the other hand, looking at our justification makes mortification deeper, since only as our conscience is infused with grace can we have the security to acknowledge the full extent of our sin.
--Tim Keller

If I may speak my own experience, I find that to keep my eye simply on Christ, as my peace and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling. . . . It seems easier to deny Self in a thousand instances of outward conduct, than in it ceaseless endeavors to act as a principle of righteousness and power.

-- John Newton

The Love of Christ

I think I've referenced this before... but Sinclair Ferguson gave a talk called Our Holiness: Abiding in the love of Christ where he basically says... you can't become holy (which includes mortification) without abiding in Jesus' love (aspiration). What kind of love do we abide in? Multi-dimensional love... but what arrested me was this one:

This is a “love of complacency” (term coined by John Owen). The Atonement is the stepping-stone and foundation of every other blessing. God delights in those who have been atoned. Because of the Cross we are now objects of His pleasure and satisfaction. John Owen says, “The love of Christ is a love of complacency.” This love and delight flows in more love and joy (Zeph. 3:14-17, John 15:11). [Owen defines “complacency” as the delight and joy displayed by one fully satisfied in the object he has fixed his love upon (See Communion with God, 1:25).]

Jesus promises, “My joy will be in you.” Once our sins are atoned, there is a love in Jesus’ heart that overflows in sheer delight over us. Bathe in this truth! We are prone to beat ourselves into the dust over our remaining sinfulness rather than abide in Jesus’ love. Remember, Jesus’ love towards us is a love of complacency.

You can download or hear the sermon here and read the sermon notes here

This is from Richard Lovelace's marvelous little book, Renewal.

The heart which is illuminated by the Holy Spirit's application of truth* is progressively set free from its bondage to sin and error. "You will know the truth," Jesus said, "and the truth* will set you free" John 8:32 NIV). As our hearts, the subconscious root of our personality, are increasingly filled with light, our minds are freed to discover and affirm truth, our wills are freed to obey God, and our emotions are released to feel about all things as God feels about them.

We should note that the immediate goal of illuminated faith is not works or spiritual achievement. Instead, it is fellowship with God, leading to fellowship with other believers.

* my flesh (RP) has such a legalist mindset that i've only ever thought of "truth" as primarily telling me how not to sin... thinking about aspiration & dwelling on the promises of God & resting in His revealed truth about His love towards us... helps me to see how the Holy Spirit applying truth can sound like:
"Rob, believe the gospel here. Don't you see you don't have to scramble to get whatever it is you are chasing (approval, reputation, comfort, etc). In fact, it won't satisfy. Rest in Jesus."

This sheds a whole new light on Jesus' words: The truth can set you free.

Do it, Lord.

Abba, Father

Abba.... this is indeed a very short word, but it includes everything. Not the lips,
but the feelings are speaking here, as though one were to say: “Even
though I am surrounded by anxieties and seem to be deserted and
banished from Thy presence, nevertheless I am a child of God on account
of Christ; I am beloved on account of the Beloved.” Therefore the term
“abba,” when spoken meaningfully in the heart, is an eloquence that
Demosthenes, Cicero, and the most eloquent men there have ever been in
the world cannot attain. For this is a matter that is expressed, not in words
but in sighs, which are not articulated in all the words of all the orators;
for they are too deep for words. --Martin Luther

Draw near the flame of Christ's love

John Murray
"The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and therefore as the Spirit of love He captivates our hearts by the love of God and of Christ to us. In the diffusion of that love there flows also love to one another. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11). The biblical ethic knows no fulfillment [sic] of its demands other than that produced by the constraint and claim of God's redeeming love (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15; Galatians 2:20). Our love is always ignited by the flame of Christ's love. And it is the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad in our hearts the igniting flame of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The love that is ignited is the fruit of the Spirit."

--found in Chapell page 155

The WHY is the HOW

Amazing...

As we try to explain to people how God can help them overcome entangling sins, we must help them see that the why is the how. Engaging in spiritual warfare because of a compelling love for God is how we secure victory over sin. A love for God made vital and vigorous by sensing deeply his compassion toward us is the primary means that enables believers to resisit Satan.

--Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace, page 153 and TK:

I believe the classical Reformed view—that on the one hand, sanctification is not by ‘works’ but by a continuous re-orienting ourselves to our justification. So sanctification is not moralistic. Yet it takes enormous effort (so it is not quietistic.)

When we feed on,
remember,
and live in accordance with our justification,
it mortifies our idols
and fills us with an inner joy and desire to please and resemble our Lord through obedience.
But the feeding on, remembering, and living in accordance—takes all our effort.

--timothy j. keller

I feel like all the heavies are weighing in on the themes of Romans 8 and the deep work of the Spirit to empower Mortification Through Joy... here's Jack:

"Where can you taste the joys of obeying unless He bids you do something
for which His bidding is the only reason?"
(C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, Chapter 9)

"A perfect man would never act from sense of duty; he'd always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs can do the journey on their own."

(C.S. Lewis, Letters - 18 July 1957)

Set Our Hearts At Liberty

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit into ev'ry troubled breast;
let us all in Thee inherit, let us find the promised rest:
take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith as its Beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

--Charles Wesley hymn "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" found in Bryan Chapell's Holiness by Grace p.150

Is conversion sudden or gradual?  If by 'conversion' is really meant regeneration, the answer can only be 'sudden', for if words have meaning, 'birth' is a sudden and dramatic crisis.  Of course, there are months of preparation before birth.  Of course, too, there are years of growth after birth, but birth itself is an almost instantaneous experience.  So it is with the new birth.  There may be months in which the Holy Spirit begins to convince a man of his sin and turn his thoughts to Christ as the Saviour of sinners.  There may be months in which a man feels himself drawn by the magnetism of Christ.  There will also be years of development in the Christian life after the new birth.  'As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby' (1 Pet. 2:2).  The New Testament speaks of a growth in knowledge and holiness, in faith and love.  A Christian's progress is likened to the gradual development of a child into maturity.  But the months of pre-natal preparation and the years of post-natal growth must not be allowed to disguise the suddenness of birth itself.  Further, what growth is to birth, sanctification is to justification.  Justification, like birth, is sudden.  Sanctification, like growth, is gradual.  Justification is a legal metaphor and indicates the judge's sentence when he pronounces the sinner righteous.  The trial may take some time, and when it is over the justified sinner will take a lifetime to manifest in character the righteousness he has been accorded in standing, but the judge's sentence of justification is pronounced in a matter of seconds.  God's initial work in the soul then, whether we call it regeneration or justification, the experience of a new birth or the reception of a new status, is sudden.  It cannot be anything else.
-- John Stott

There is no true life without the death called mortification, and there is no true life
without the discipline called aspiration. It is while we put to death the deeds of the
body that we shall live (verse 13); it is while we set our minds on the things of the
Spirit that we find life and peace (verse 6). So the Holy Spirit subdues the flesh as
we mortify it in His power, and as we set our minds upon the things of the Spirit.”

--John Stott, Men Made New, p. 92

O God the Holy Spirit

... this is from Valley of Vision, entitled "The Spirit's Work"

Move, I pray Thee, upon my disordered heart;
Take away the infirmities of unruly desires
and hateful lusts;
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief...

Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;

Through Thee may I daily learn more of
His love,
His grace,
His compassion,
His faithfulness,
His beauty

O Holy Spirit, write it on my heart.


(you can Read the whole prayer here)

“The cost for the recipient of God’s grace is nothing - and no price could be higher for arrogant people to pay.”

- Dan Allender

2 quotes hiatt gave me

knowing that we're doing mortification through joy on sunday, chris hiatt was reading John Owen and gave me these two quotes:

Now, in every promise there are three things to be considered: (1) The
faithfulness of the Father, who gives it; (2) The grace of the Son, which is the
matter of it; (3) The power and efficacy of the Holy Ghost, which puts the
promise in execution. And all these are engaged for the preservation of such
persons from the hour of temptation.


Fly to Christ, in a peculiar manner, as he was tempted, and beg
of him to give you succor in this “needful time of trouble.”

I'm not going to preach his sermon...

... but I am going to use his title.

Y'day i bought a Tim Keller sermon entitled "Mortification Through Joy"

I haven't listened to it yet... but the title alone has encapsulated for me what I was beginning to trying to get across at the end of last week's sermon... and what will be the entire focus of this week's sermon.

Mortification Through Aspiration just isn't "catchy" enough... but Mortification (Killing of Sin) through Joy (Delighting in Christ's salvation) is memorable and so now I've credited TK for that phrase.

written 1000 years ago...

I'm continuing to think about what Romans 8 says about mortification and aspiration...
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153) :

"Therefore, my advice to you, friends, is to turn aside from troubled and anxious reflection on your own progress, and escape to the easier paths of remembering the good things God has done. In this way, instead of becoming upset by thinking about yourself, you will find relief by turning your attention to God.... Sorrow for sin is, indeed, a necessary thing, but it should not prevail all the time. On the contrary, it is necessary that happier recollections of God's generosity should counterbalance it, lest the heart should become hardened through too much sadness and so perish through despair."

Christianity Explored

Here is a link to some FAQ about Christianity Explored... who is it for? what happens at a meeting? etc.
Put details about Christianity explore HERE and link

Spurgeon morning june 28 is what I read in sermon @ Holy Spirit helping us look away from self @ toward Jesus

Richard Lovelace in Dynamics of Spiritual Life

"We should make a deliberate effort at the outset of every day to recognize the person of the Holy Spirit, to move into the light concerning His presence in our consciousness and to open up our minds and to share all our thoughts and plans . . . . we should look to Him as teacher, guide, sanctifier, giver of assurance concerning our sonship and standing before God, helper in prayer . . ."

What the Spirit ASPIRES to persuade us of....

“There is therefore now no condemnation” … what important words they are! The words remind us of our position
now as Christians … There are many who misunderstand this. They seem to think of the Christian as a man who, if
he confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, is forgiven. At that moment he is not under condemnation. But then
if he should sin again he is back once more under condemnation. Then he repents and confesses his sin again,
and asks for pardon, and he is cleansed once more. So to them the Christian is a man who is constantly passing
from one state to the other; back and forth; condemned, not condemned. Now that, according to the Apostle,
is a wholly mistaken notion, and a complete failure to understand the position. The Christian is a man who can
never be condemned; he can never come into a state of condemnation again. “No condemnation” … that is the
meaning of this word “no”. It means “never” …

--- Dr. MLJ

Turkey Bowl '08 is 8 days away!!

not tomorrow...
but a WEEK from tomorrow...

Turkey Bowl 2008

There will be two games going simutaneously:
1.) A co-ed game for boys and girls 7th grade and below
2.) A male only (bring on the lawsuits!) game for grade 8 up to retirees

Immediately after the 10:45 service
Somewhere on the campus of Oak Hall

Christianity Explored

here is a one-minute overview of the course we're running in january 2009

"To worship God, know His truth, meet His people, serve His kingdom and honor His Son... these are the new desires we receive when we are born from above...
... these aspirations are not perfect... they ebb & flow.

At times we lament and grieve their weakness.

But however far short we confess ourselves to have fallen from what we ought to be, we are NOT what we once were." --Sinclair Ferguson

James Boice:
What does God the Holy Spirit do internally in Christians to lead them?

1.) He renews our minds
2.) He stirs our hearts
3.) He directs our wills

"The activity of the disciple is the evidence of the Spirit's activity, and the activity of the Spirit is the cause of the disciple's activity.". --john murray

Romans 8 is a dear dear old friend. The kind you go to when you need:
-- your heart warmed
-- your mind expanded
-- your future told
-- your suffering put in perspective
-- etc.

These next two Sundays I plan to look at Our Partnership With God's Spirit using Romans 8 as our text. Pray for me as I write, please.

"The trial of your faith."- 1 Peter 1:7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and itis likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers,
and
lightnings are her illuminators.
When a calm reigns on thesea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; foron a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howlingforth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so
brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky;
no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience.

You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and
you
would
never have known
God's strength
had you not been supported amid the water-floods.

Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.
Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities. --spurgeon, morning november 12

worth memorizing...

When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul. --Psalm 94:19

It is good to reflect on these principles at this time:
From Jn Stott commentary on romans:
Romans 13:1-7  Our relationship to the state: conscience citizenship.

     In Romans 12 Paul has developed our four basic Christian relationships, namely to God (1-2), to ourselves (3-8), to one another (9-16) and to our enemies (17-21). In Romans 13 he develops three more - to the state (conscientious citizenship, 1-7), to the law (neighbour-love as its fulfilment, 8-10), and to the day of the Lord’s return (living in the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’, (11-14).
(I will post more on this later)

Preaching On The Holy Spirit

I'm going to do a mini-series on "God, The Holy Spirit" over the next 3 sundays... Keeping in Step with The Spirit by JI Packer is a tremendous resource

(page 59)
"The truth of the Trinity is a New Testament revelation... But should anyone think that according to Scripture God was unipersonal during the Old Testament period and only became tripersonal when Jesus was born, he would be wrong. What is in question here is not the mode of God's being from eternity, but the manner of its revelation in history. I am not saying that the third person of the Godhead did not exist or was not active in Old Testament times; the New Testament writers assure us that He did and was. I am only saying that His distinct personhood is not expressed by the Old Testament writers; though God's triunity is an eternal fact, only through Christ was it made known." --JI Packer

--from Justin Taylor

No matter who you voted for--or whether you voted at all--it's important to remember that, as President, Barack Obama will have God-given authority to govern us, and that we should view him as a servant of God (Rom. 13:1, 4) to whom we should be subject (Rom. 13:1, 5; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).

• We are to pray for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
• We are to thank God for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
• We are to respect Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7).
• We are to honor Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:17).

(Author: John Piper)

How does the Bible instruct us to pray for "all who are in high positions"? It says,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:1-4).

A few observations:

1. Giving thanks "for kings" is hard when they are evil.

And, as Calvin said on this passage, "All the magistrates of that time were sworn enemies of Christ." This shows us that anarchy is a horrible alternative to almost any ruler.

We should give thanks for rulers because "non-rule" would unleash on us utterly unbridled evil with no recourse whatever.

Again Calvin: "Unless they restrained the boldness of wicked men, the whole world would be full of robberies and murders." The better we understand the seething evil of the human heart that is ready to break out where there is no restraint, the more thankful we will be for government.

2. The effect we pray for is "that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly, and dignified in every way."

Dignified means "serious and reverent," not stuffy. I suspect what Paul means is not that we can't live godly and serious lives during times of anarchy. We can. I suspect he means that peaceful and quiet lives, which are the opposite of anarchy, are often wasted in ungodly and frivolous actions.

So he is praying for a government that would give peace and quiet (not anarchy), and that Christians would not fritter away their peaceful lives with the world, but would be radically godly and serious about the lost condition of the world and how to change it.

3. Using our peace for radical godliness and serious action will lead to more effective evangelism and world missions.

This last observation is confirmed by the hoped-for outcome Paul mentions. Paul says that the reason God delights in such peaceful, Godward, serious action is that he "desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

More people will be saved if our government restrains the horrors of anarchy, and if Christians use this peace not to waste their lives on endless entertainment, but seriously give their lives to making God known.