Salt, Light, and Social Justice

In the context of Matthew 5:10–12, it is clear that in vv13–16 the Lord having made us to be (not commanding us to become) salt and light means NOT that we should be Christian enough to make a societal difference, but that we should be Christian enough to be persecuted by society. 

Love for neighbor, the power of God, and His pleasure to give revival by the Spirit's use of gospel preaching all agree to form in us a desire to see and participate in societal change. But let us be compelled by appropriate Scripture, and seek it by His means. 

I had been meaning to write this for a while, but finally had time today and was prompted by the following video. It contains helpful historical truth, and near the end identifies a problem with social gospel that it has in common with reconstructionism and liberation theology (each of which misuse this Scripture text):

The Body of Christ Needs Divine Strength for What's Coming

Just saw in a local social media group, "the body of Christ will need divine strength for what's coming." That's true. 

We also need divine strength just to repent from our sins. Or to believe the gospel and be justified in Christ. Or to worship in spirit and truth every Lord's Day together, or every day in our homes. Or to be content with nothing. Or to be content with an abundance. 

And that's just special/saving grace stuff. We need divine strength to use our minds, to breathe, even just for our atoms to hold together. 

When the Christian (and the church) begins to live his whole life as a continual dependence upon divine strength, he will be prepared for those prospects that arise that more intensely make us to feel the need for divine strength.  

2019.06.04 Timeless Tuesday - Letters of Samuel Rutherford, pp150-166

On these "Timeless Tuesdays," we are reading through the full Banner of Truth edition of Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Today, we covered pp150-166, with the following scribbled notes:

And the following choice quotes:

from p154 on the grief of failing to be weaned from this world by our trials

from p154 on how Christ is better than the rest of heaven itself

from p161 on the blessedness of the trials that fit us for glory 

from p162 on how finding Christ Himself sweeter is itself a reward of infinite value for our trials

from p163 on regret over not having made better use of opportunities to preach

2019.05.07 Timeless Tuesday - Letters of Samuel Rutherford, pp128-150

On these "Timeless Tuesdays," we are reading through the full Banner of Truth edition of Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Today, we covered pp128-150, with the following scribbled notes:

And my favorite quote from this section was this one on looking forward to glory

2019.04.30 Timeless Tuesday - Letters of Samuel Rutherford, pp108-128

I've picked this one back up after a long hiatus. Rather than do a write-up each day, which discourages my posting, I'll just throw in a snap of whatever I've scribbled about the section, along with one of my favorite quote from the day.

On these "Timeless Tuesdays," we are reading through the full Banner of Truth edition of Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Today, we covered pp108-128, with the following scribbled notes:

And this gem from p127 was my second-favorite quote, but my first (from p128) was providentially quoted by Greenville Seminary today on social media. Here, SR is writing to a noblewoman who is being severely persecuted for faithfulness to Christ in His church: