A nice postcard

A friend in Germany sent me the above postcard at the end of last year. He had been in Switzerland and had found my commentayr on Proverbs among some other purchases. The book has a new cover these days and is in its second edition. I believe EP are committed to keeping the Welwyn seriees in print. it's good to be found in the company of Ryle, Spring, etc. Thanks Stefan.

Aber 2015 Last Session

Our final plenary session at Aber featured Paul Gamston preaching on Luke 13. He sought to apply the principles of the passage to those of us at the conference and hearing him there or online (as I had had to be with one of my sons in A & E following the football - he's alright). It was especially good to hear a clear gospel appeal, something that has not been so prominent as in the past, perhaps.

It has been a good conference on the whole. I have not attended any of the extra time or prime time sessions or prayer meetings or anything like that but I did get to the three afternoon seminars - David Meredith on contemporary evangelism, Phil Hill on backsliding and (best attended of the three) Paul David Tripp on relationships. The first two included helpful discussion.

Of course, it is also good to meet various folk. I might have mentioned our meeting up with three other couples, most of whom had been contemporaries with me at University. There was also a family celebration one lunch time with a large number of relatives most of whom have been at the conference. We had lunch today too with a former assistant at Childs Hill and his family and this afternoon I had coffee with a Facebook friend keen to meet face to face.

So a great week. The EMW Youtube Channel seems a little erratic at present but some of the messages are up and running and presumably they will all be eventually (as are the 2014 ones).

Weekly Proverb 09

(We missed one last week but at least we'r nice adn early this time)
A man who wants no friends is seeking selfish ends; from all sound judgement he descends 18:1 An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgement.
It is sometimes surprising where the rub of Scripture will expose a raw nerve. I must confess to feeling more convicted in the face of this verse than many other more obvious ones. There is some difficulty in translating the first part of it but the NIV is probably right.
Here is a character we have not really met in these pages before, although we may well have come across him in life or find the tendency in ourselves. He 'separates himself' or is 'unfriendly'. He 'seeks according to his desire' or 'pursues selfish ends'. When he states an opinion it is as likely that he does it to create attention as it is that he says it because he believes it. Selfishness drives him. Such a man 'meddles' (a rare word) 'with all wisdom' - he defies all sound judgement. We want to avoid such a person. He is the very opposite of the friend who sticks closer than a brother (24).
We must ask ourselves whether we are also unfriendly in some of our attitudes. How much of what we say and do is a matter merely of selfishness? I can remember childhood acts of unfriendliness that shame me now – telling a nosy little boy to go away (I still remember his sad face); acting unpleasantly towards boys who were rather better spoken than the rest of us; actually hurting a girl guilty of the same 'crime'. Unfriendliness is a sin to repent of.

Weekly Proverb 08

Friends love always, Brothers are for bad days 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity

George VI’s 1942 Christmas radio broadcast referred to a former US President telling 'of a boy who was carrying an even smaller child up a hill. Asked whether the burden was not too much, the boy answered ‘It’s not a burden, it’s my brother!’'
A 1969 hit by the Hollies is based on the story.

So on we go, his welfare is my concern.
No burden is he to bear; we’ll get there,
But I know he would not encumber me.
He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother.
If I’m laden at all, I’m laden with sadness
That everyone’s heart isn’t filled with the gladness of love for one another.

Like 12:26, 14:20, 16:28, 17:9, 18:24, 27:6, 9, 10 this proverb is on friendship. A man born blind when asked what he thought the sun was like replied ‘Like friendship’. True friends are there not only in good times but also in bad. Brothers are especially good for adversity. Great biblical examples - Ruth and Naomi, David and Jonathan - have adversity in the background. Joseph showed undying love to his brothers despite all they did to him.
The Bible presents Jesus as a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Mt 11:19) who calls believers friends not servants (Jn 15:13-15), and is not ashamed to call them brothers (He 2:11-13, etc). Whoever does the Father's will is his brother and sister and mother (Mt 12:50). Gill notes how the Jews saw the verse as referring to Messiah. They saw it as showing 'that the Messiah, being God, would by his incarnation become a brother to men'.
Christ’s friendship is a favourite theme in evangelical hymns. Albert Midlane’s children's hymn begins

There’s a Friend for little children
Above the bright blue sky,
A Friend who never changes,
Whose love will never die;
Our earthly friends may fail us,
And change with changing years,
This Friend is always worthy
Of that dear Name he bears.

Think too of ‘Oh, the best friend to have is Jesus’ (Peter Bilhorn); ‘Friend of sinners, Lord of glory’ (C Newman Hall); ‘Friendship with Jesus’ (J C Ludgate); ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus’ (Joseph Scriven). James G Small (‘I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend!’) speaks of him as

So kind and true and tender,
So wise a Counsellor and Guide,
So mighty a Defender!

And Newton wrote

Poor, weak and worthless though I am
I have a rich almighty Friend;
Jesus, the Saviour, is his name;
He freely loves, and without end.

Things seen 01

It was a Friday evening in Notting Hill. I was having a coffee and gazing through the window at the passers by hurrying home or to wherever they needed to go.

A young woman was stood outside with the cutest little black Labrador puppy on a thin black leather lead. Some people passed, two women and a man pushing a one year old in a buggy. As soon as the child saw the puppy he was enchanted. So they stopped for everyone to pat the dog and chat. It jumped up on the man's legs. I began to think that maybe they all knew each other, it seemed so friendly, but I don't think they did. Another young woman then joined in patting the dog. The whole scene must have gone on for about two minutes before it was time to part.

A friendly encounter between strangers on a busy London street. It's a manifestation of what some of us like to call the common grace of God. Here it focused on the innocence of childhood, the attractiveness of God's creatures and the essential friendliness that still lurks just below the surface in most.