Justification by Faith

It was good to be over in Cranford, West London, on Saturday night for a meeting where John Benton spoke very helpfully on the subject of justification by faith (the meaningm the grounds and the instrument - faith). The meeting was organised by my good friend and former assistant, Robin Asgher and pastor friends among the Teugu speakers of London. The bonus was some very nice Siouth Indian food to follow. It is hoped that further such meetings will be possible.

Fraternal Week Again

As I have mentioned before on this blog I attend two quite different fraternals and they often end up in the same week (Monday and Wednesday). That is what happened this week. Last Monday it was the fairly traditional Westminster Fellowship at Westminster Baptist Church. This time John Benton was speaking to us on this thorny subject of pastoral abuse in churches. As ever, John was very helpful. About 20 of us were there. Then last Wednesday five of us met to go for a walk on Hampstead Heath. We meet at Hampstead Heath Station, walk to Kenwood for a coffee (kindly paid for by Aaron this time) and then on to Gospel Oak Station where we part. So no formality, just chatting about what we wish with whom we wish. It works well, though it would be nice to see more along.

Five Books read in July 2023

Benjamin Beddome has been a theme recently as he often is. Firstly, there has been the new biography from Stephen Pickles published by the James Bourne Society. This is a large volume partly due to the extensive quotation and partly due to the inclusion of material on several other figures (Ryland, Hervey, Newton, etc). Very interesting. I also read two volumes of Beddome sermon as mentioned (Volumes 4 and 6 of the short discourses series, actually Volume 5 too). Then there was the biography of Michael Toogood which I re-read recently in its final form. This book ought to be much more widely known. I also read John Benton's little book Resilient, which is a commentary on 2 Timothy growing out of a life time of pastoral service. Quite helpful.

Day Off Week 27 2023

I more or less followed the pattern of last week, starting with a long walk, ending with some TV and including perusing another art book (Warhol this time who I prefer to Klee) and buying some cheese to write about on my cheese blog. I also read most of John Benton's helpful book on resilience based on 2 Timothy. I also took a trip down to Trafalgar Square to see the new exhibition of photographs taken by Paul McCartney in late 1963 and in 1964. It is all done very well and  fascinating to spend time looking at. I also bought the paperback version of the accompanying book. These days one often turns ones photos into a little film and McCartney's stab at his colour ones from his Miami ones in colour is there to see. Perhaps it was a little pretentious to say he directed the film. Perhasp it's a joke, of course.

The photograph exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery and is called Eyes of the Storm. See here.

Aber Conference 2019

The EMW conference in Aberystwyth is a highlight in the year that we usually highlight. I was unable to do that this last week owing to the computer problem. I did want to note it, however. I normally get time before and/or after the conference which helps me cope with such a busy week. Things have been different this year (I was at a conference in London the week before, for example, and I did not arrive until the Monday) and so I was very selective in what I attended.

I only physically attended the morning sessions. These were taken by Ian Parry who spoke on Galatians. Quite Kelleresque, he preached very well and mostly helpfully. I am not sure why he wanted to say that the law does not help to sanctify us. We didn't learn anything about Ian himself and I'm not sure if that is good or bad. There was a little banter about London Seminary - not initiated by Ian. Perhaps any publicity is good publicity.

I also listened to most of the evening sessions at home (we stayed with our son and his family in the manse). I missed Conrad Mbewe on the Sunday but heard him on the Monday night. He has a fairly unique style with no illustrations and a focus on the cross. Vaughan Roberts, John Benton and Andy Pitt did well in their different ways. Lyndsay Brown is always enjoyable to listen even if you have heard the anecdotes many times before.

I didn't get to any seminars. One of my sons went to Vaughan Roberts one on gender and found it very helpful. I did get along to the missionary exhibition and wish I could have spent longer there. Not sure what to think of the bookstall. It was a sunny week but the rain on the Friday put paid to the traditional sports matches. David N Jones next year.

The videos are all available on Youtube.

Banner Conference 2019 Session 10 John Benton

Good stuff again from John Benton on the final morning in 2 Corinthians 4. You can find the video here.

Corrie Ten Boom
To me, a little story of a bird - a woodpecker - has helped in understanding this. A woodpecker pecked the trunk of a tree, like they do. At that very moment lightning struck the tree and destroyed it, and the woodpecker flew away saying, ‘I didn’t know that there was so much power in my beak.’ I ask you, do you have the Holy Spirit, or does the Holy Spirit have you?

Banner Conference 2019 Session 5 John Benton

The third session on the Tuesday has been John Benton on the Spirit from heaven. See video here. John is retired from pastoral ministry but works with pastors through the Pastors Academy in London. Two good quotations he gave

George Whitefield (in his Journals)

Could the trees of a certain wood near Stonehouse speak, they would tell what sweet communion I and some dear souls enjoyed with the ever-blessed God there. Sometimes, as I have been walking, my soul would make such sallies that I thought it would go out of the body. At other times I would be so overpowered with a sense of God’s infinite majesty, that I would be constrained to throw myself prostrate on the ground, and offer my soul as a blank in His hands, to write on it what He pleased. 

Milton Vincent ("A Gospel Primer for Christians")

The gospel is so foolish (according to my natural wisdom,1 Cor 1:21), so scandalous (according to my conscience, 1 Cor 1:23), and so incredible (according to my timid heart, 1 John 3:19), that it is a daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should. There is simply no other way to compete with the forebodings of my conscience, the condemnings of my heart, and the lies of the world and the Devil (2 Cor 4:4) than to overwhelm such things with daily rehearsings of the gospel.

Carey Conference 2018 First Evening

It is good to be here in Swanwick, Derbyshire once again. We have had three strong papers to start us off. Dr Matthew Bingham gave us an excellent historical paper outlining in this first session why it was that the early Reformers were so wedded to the idea of paedobaptism and the idea of a national church. Paedobaptism was accepted nearly universally before the Reformation and the state idea of the church was widely accepted by most. The idea that England was a new Israel was a third element driving pre- and post-Reformation theology. What drove the Particular Baptists, it was suggested was not simply their reading of the Bible, which says nothing of infant baptism, but also their realisation that the idea of an internal and external covenant was an untenable position. The paper was very helpful.

We then had Ray Evans on leading a believer's church, looking at most obviously at Acts 2 and then less obviously at Acts 6. He added three other useful points - settling for either/or when it should be both/and (including reference to the way time is a tyrant); a diagram on the pastor as prophet, priest and king like and something on consulting members plus something on staff and members. See this page here for a very interesting insight.

We also had John Benton, like Ray a Carey stalwart, on freedom in the church, looking at Romans 14:1-15:13. After summarising the situation Paul is speaking of, he pointed out the six principles there (the Lordship of Christ, the way of love, the priority of the Spirit, the example of Christ, the necessity of writing and the goal of praise) and made these applications - Paul gives principles not a formula, we must avoid both legalism and licence, we must preach on self-denial and judgement and the importance of relationships, etc.

John Owen Centre Conference 2017 Day 2 at the Pastors' Academy

had another good day today. I think the figures are more like 40 than 50 so a little down on previous years. Perhaps the title is a little vague and with all in house speakers people make less effort. Another possible theory is that people are planning to go to Reformation commemmoration events. Anyway, Stephen Clark kicked off on ethics. This is a fairly well trodden subject but it was good to air it again. Reluctantly Stephen disagreed with Professor John Murray's notoriously conservative position, preferringa  hierarchical approach. I think this is right but it was interesting how in discussion that position did seem to unravel, at least a little.

John Benton took the other two sessions, looking at Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob and Esau. Here the approach was more pastoral adn designed to be encouraing, which both messages were.

At the end of the conference Garry Williams revealed that the JOC will from now on be known as The Pastors' Academy.

Carey Conference Day 2 Final Session

We were free after lunch on day two, reconvening at 4.30 pm for a traditional question and answer session with all the main speakers, including Linda Alcock who has been taking the women through Titus in the alternative sessions for them. Many of the questions were directed to Leonardo de Chirico but everyone contributed including John Benton who had not spoken at that point.

He spoke in the evening on the psychology of Samson for leaders. John, who has recently retired from pastoral ministry to work with the John Owen centre helping pastors in ministry, has a new book out (Lion's honey), just a hundred pages long, it is described as follows

"John Benton brings his wide pastoral experience to bear on the realities of Christian leadership as many experience it: “Our own sins always leave scars on us. These can go deep. There are also the bruises that come from being on the wrong end of other peoples’ sins. No one has a perfect past or a perfect upbringing. So Christian leaders can be damaged goods. Furthermore, each of us, no matter how ‘regular’ we may a

ppear outwardly, has his own weaknesses.… On his worst days, a Christian leader might actually be frightened of himself and what he is capable of, apart from God’s grace. Here we are called to be a blessing to the church but we could so easily be the opposite.… It is my hope that this short study of the life of Samson as a defective Christian leader will enable others to be honest, and to understand themselves and to persevere in fruitful ministry.”

I did hear most of what he had to say and found it convicting and yet encouraging. I did not take, notes, as I was busy with my grandson Ezra, who is herewith his mam and dad (Gwilym is with Nain in London).

New Appointment at The John Owen Centre

Garry Williams Director The John Owen Centre London Seminary writes

I am delighted to be able to tell you that the John Owen Centre has appointed John Benton, of Chertsey Street Baptist Church in Guildford and Managing Editor of Evangelicals Now, to a new role providing pastoral support for pastors.

John’s ministry will broaden the ways in which London Seminary seeks to provide life-long help for pastors through the John Owen Centre, complementing our existing theological work.

As I meet with pastors on our Study Projects to help them with their theological work, I am struck by how often our conversation turns to the ups and downs of ministry. Many are thriving, but my sense is that more are struggling, and a significant minority are in serious difficulty and on the brink of leaving the ministry - a fact confirmed by the sad attrition rate for pastors. I frequently find myself thinking ‘Wouldn’t it be good if we had an experienced pastor available to sit down to spend time talking this through properly, offering biblical counsel and sharing the wisdom that he has gained during a long ministry'. This is the role that John will fill. As we have met with John it has been exciting to hear him speak about his vision for the role, his deep understanding of the challenges that pastors face, and the ways in which he has already been used by the Lord to help and encourage younger men in ministry.

John will begin the work in January 2017. He will be available to meet with pastors 1:1 to provide them with counsel, support and encouragement. His work will not involve mediation, and it is intended to complement and encourage rather than to bypass existing pastoral support structures. If you are a pastor and would like to arrange to meet with John when he starts, please contact us (johnowen@londonseminary.org). I will write later with further information on John’s availability to teach groups of pastors on topics relating to the challenges of ministry.

10 boys names starting with J and ending with N

I was trying to remember someone's name - was it Justin or Julian. Turns out it was Jason. A lot of boy's names begin with J and end with N, it seems. Here are ten

1. John
2. Justin
3. Julian
4. Jason
5. Jordan
6. Jonathan
7. Jaden
8. Jefferson
9. Jackson

10. Jocelyn

Carey Ministers Conference 2014

The Carey Conference brochure for January 2014 is now out (double click pic). See here.

New Testament Answers to Job

These New Testament answers to Job are suggested in John Benton's book PC World

 

Job 14:14 If someone dies, will they live again? ...
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

Job 23:3 If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!
John 14:9 Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”?

Job 9:33 If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together,
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

Christians in a PC World

Christians in a PC World by John Benton is not the story of a bunch of deacons going to a computer outlet but an appraisal of and warning about the politically correct world that western believers find themselves in today. An EP book it is 185 pages long and has 11 chapters.

The first chapter looks at atheism, the grandmother, and the second chapter, at post-modernism, the mother of political correctness. Chapter 3 looks at pc itself and helpfully talks about equality (existential, legal and political) and (I liked these distinctions)equality of outset, opportunity and outcome. As elsewhere in the book, this is correlated with biblical material.

Chapter 4 looks at the baleful effects of pc on justice, debate, tolerance and attitudes to the west and to the church and then says some helpful things by way of response to political correctness. Chapter 5 looks at Therapy culture, the engine of political correctness.

Chapters 6-9 look at specific areas where pc has had the biggest impact - the gay agenda, multi-culturalism, pluralism and feminism.  Chapter 10 reviews the books The Shack and Love Wins which Benton shows to be inadequate and heretical responses to the issues raised. The final chapter looks at tolerance as understood by secularists and Christians today.

This is a well researched, relevant and helpful book that is well thought out and biblical in approach. My one minor complaint is that the blocks of Scripture quoted, sometime at length, might have been better to be more integrated into the text. Several books secular and Christian are helpfully highlighted throughout for further reading. More here.

Carey 2010 5

The second paper of the morning was from John Benton entitled "Going soft on sin?" He had four points

1. The calamity of going soft on sin

He spoke of the biblical understanding as deviation, culpability, rebellion, debt, deviation, etc. It is Satanic
and is the central problem. He took us to Genesis 3 to flesh things out. Hell, of course, shows the seriousness of sin as does the remedy - Christ's death on the cross

2. The causes of going soft on sin ere he sketched some of the way that sin has been redefined in our society. People speak of alienation, break down of relationships, etc, not sin. Victimhood is common. Ecology is emphasised over morality. Over the last 50 years we have moved, he contended, from a moral culture to an emotional one. he had some striking statistics on the how newspapers now speak so often of self esteem, etc. 3. Consequences of going soft on sin.

There is confusion about sin, compromise of the gospel and the emptying of the churches. He spoke about the new perspective which emphasises Lord rather than Saviour, righteousness as a technical term not a moral one, belonging rather than anything moral. Justification re-interpreted in relational terms and what ever the argument for it is from early Judaism it is suspiciously like modern culture.

There were also quotes from M Watts on why the English stopped going to church, which was liberalism. What liberalism began is now being carried on by others. 4. The cure from going soft on sin Our lives must be holy, our theology must hold to creation and fall, our preaching must declare the Law (not just for conviction but also for holiness), churches need to be holy and how we must pray.

Carey 2010

The programme for the Carey Conference 2010 is just out.

Greg Beale
The relation of Christology to the Writing of Scripture in John's Apocalypse
The doctrine of inerrancy has been under attack on both sides of the Atlantic. In particular, some deny that Scripture itself contains the following logical deduction: God is inerrant in his
character, and therefore his oral word is inerrant, and thus so also his written word is inerrant But in Revelation we see Christ as one who is unswervingly faithful and true and so is his oral word. Likewise, John is commanded to "write" down God's and Christ's oral word because it is "faithful and true." In taking us through this theme in Revelation, Dr Beale will focus on how the
OT in Revelation illuminates this topic.
The Temple and the Church's Mission
God's people throughout redemptive history have been part of God's invisible and expanding temple. This theme points us towards the goal of history in the new heavens and earth. What You Revere You Resemble, Either of Ruin or Restoration
Dr Beale will show from Isaiah 6:9-13 that we become like what we worship.

Conrad Mbewe
Christian Joy
Joy in service
Perseverance and Progress in the Life of Adoniram Judson

Kees van Kralingen
The Church and the Word: Lessons from the Church in Ephesus
Today the nature and practice of the church is subject of considerable debate. At the same time, the authority, meaning and ministry of the Word of God are questioned. These are not two isolated problems but they affect each other in vital ways. The history of the church in Ephesus challenges and encourages us to apply the biblical doctrine of the church as the body of Christ which has been entrusted with the ministry of His own infallible Word.

John Benton
Softening up on sin?
A look at the Biblical doctrine of sin in the light of modern challenges to its seriousness.

Women’s Track:
Ann Benton
Supporting marriages
Supporting the parents of teenagers

Programme

Tuesday 5th 1.00 Lunch (if pre-booked) 2.30 Kees van Kralingen The Church and the Word 4.00 Tea 4.30 Greg Beale The relation of Christology to the Writing of Scripture 6.30 Evening Meal 8.00 Conrad Mbewe Christian Joy
Wednesday 6th 7.45 Prayer 8.30 Breakfast 9.30 Greg Beale The Temple and the Church's Mission 11.00 Coffee 11. 30 John Benton Softening up on Sin? (Women’s Track: Ann Benton Supporting Marriages) 1.00 Lunch 2.30 Free Time 4.00 Tea 4.30 Prayer & Share 6.30 Evening Meal 8.00 Conrad Mbewe Joy in Service
Thursday 7th 7.45 Prayer 8.30 Breakfast 9.30 Greg Beale What you revere, you resemble 11.00 Coffee 11.30 Q&A with Beale & Mbewe (Women’s Track: Ann Benton Supporting Parents of Teenagers) 1.00 Lunch 2.30 Conrad Mbewe Perseverance and Progress in the Life of Adoniram Judson 4.0 Tea and depart

Why two Sunday services?

Alan D picked up on this here. Thanks Alan.