John Newton

Wise counsel for anyone bummed by an apparent lack of spiritual growth

Tony Reinke John Newton

John Newton, Letters of John Newton (Banner of Truth: 1869/2007), page 380:

I have no doubt you think others better than yourself: thus far you are conformed to the Scripture rule (Philippians 2:3 [“in humility count others more significant than yourselves”]). You should not therefore be displeased with yourself on that account. I shall not contradict you. But some of those you deem so were planted in the Lord’s garden many years before you. Why then should you complain that you are not so tall, nor your branches so wide, nor your root so deep, in two years’ growth, as others who have been growing twenty or thirty years? Should a little sapling, just springing up from an acorn ask, “Why am not I as large as the stoutest oak in the wood?” You would know how to answer it. …

Do not let Satan impose a false humility upon you. Depend upon it, there is more of self and self-righteousness in these complaints than we are usually aware of. It is better to be thankful for what you have received than impatient because you have no more. If you can make yourself better, do it by all means; but if you cannot, wait simply the Lord’s time, at the Lord’s feet. If your heart is upright, you have only to attend to the means and precepts of grace [private prayer and Scripture study].

The Lord must do the rest, and He will, otherwise it can never be done. Try to be thankful; it is both a utile [useful] and a dulce [pleasant]. You cannot be too humble, or think too little of yourself; but these views need not break your peace. You are to be strong, and to rejoice, not in yourself, but in Jesus Christ the Lord, and in the power of his might. One view of the brazen serpent will do you more good than pouring over your own wounds for a month [Numbers 21:4–9, John 3:14–15].

I Am Not What I Once Was

Tony Reinke John Newton

John Newton:

I am not what I ought to be. Ah, how imperfect and deficient!

I am not what I wish to be. I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good!

I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection.

Yet, though I am not what I ought to be,
nor what I wish to be,
nor what I hope to be,
I can truly say, I am not what I once was;
a slave to sin and Satan;
and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge,
‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’

And check out this excellent church video made by the folks at Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas:

HT: T-Wax

Reading Newton’s Mail

Tony Reinke John Newton

Last year I was a little surprised, and much encouraged, by the response to my blog posts featuring John Newton (1725–1807). I’ve since put more thought into how to expand these posts which led to a plan that should work out nicely. The plan is to publish these meditations each week on CJ’s blog, under the series title: “Reading Newton’s Mail.” Last Friday I published a brief intro to the series. Today I posted the first installment: “Aiming High, Missing Low, Aiming High Again,” highlighting Newton’s thoughts on the spiritual disciplines, both in our ambitious pursuit of them and in responding to personal failures. In all likelihood I will continue to post brief excerpts from Newton here on Miscellanies, but the meditations will now appear each Friday on Cheap Seats. Should be fun. Thanks for reading!

Calvinism

Tony Reinke Calvinism, John Calvin, John Newton

John Newton (Works 6:151):

I remember that, three or four years ago, I mentioned some part of the gospel truth to a gentleman who called on me here, and he answered, “If it is a truth, you are indebted for it to Calvin.” As well might he have said, because Calvin had seen the sun, and has mentioned it in his writings, we build our knowledge of its light and influence upon his testimony.

How to NOT Listen to Sermons

Tony Reinke John Newton, Preaching

John Newton penned a brilliant letter on how to profit from sermons [Works, 1:224–225]. First, Newton explains how one should listen to sermons:

As a hearer, you have a right to try all doctrines by the word of God; and it is your duty so to do. Faithful ministers will remind you of this: they will not wish to hold you in an implicit and blind obedience to what they say, upon their own authority, nor desire that you should follow them farther than they have the Scripture for their warrant. They would not be lords over your conscience, but helpers of your joy. Prize this Gospel liberty, which sets you free from the doctrines and commandments of men; but do not abuse it to the purposes of pride and self.

Then Newton explains how not to listen to sermons:

There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence. To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them; a bar at which few escape censure, from judges at once so severe and inconsistent.

Excellent balance.

Young, Restless, Reformed, and Humbled

Tony Reinke Humble Calvinism, Humble orthodoxy, Humility, John Newton

It’s too easy to get puffed up, and not puffed up in a post-Thanksgiving way, but in a doctrinal way as those who pride themselves in the doctrines of grace (ie Calvinists, aka young restless reformed rascals). Those of us that believe in total depravity tend to forget that this doctrine paints a dark portrait of ourselves. And those of us that pray to the Sovereign God of the universe and who orchestrated all of history, tend to get distracted easily in our prayers by passing butterflies of whimsical thoughts.

We Calvinists have much to be humbled about.

John Newton (1725–1807) was no stranger to controversy, but he didn’t stir it up either. In fact Newton served as a peacemaker in the Calvinist vs Arminian debates of his time. This excerpt from one of his letters is worthy of a careful read.

Dear Sir,

To be enabled to form a clear, consistent, and comprehensive judgment of the truths revealed in the Scripture, is a great privilege; but they who possess it are exposed to the temptation of thinking too highly of themselves, and too meanly of others, especially of those who not only refuse to adopt their sentiments, but venture to oppose them.

We see few controversial writings, however excellent in other respects, but are tinctured with this spirit of self-superiority; and they who are not called to this service, if they are attentive to what passes in their hearts, may feel it working within them, upon a thousand occasions; though, so far as it prevails, it brings forcibly home to ourselves the charge of ignorance and inconsistence, which we are so ready to fix upon our opponents.

I know nothing, as a means, more likely to correct this evil, than a serious consideration of the amazing difference between our acquired judgment, and our actual experience; or, in other words, how little influence our knowledge and judgment have upon our own conduct. This may confirm to us the truth and propriety of the Apostle’s observation, “If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” [1 Cor. 8:2].

Not that we are bound to be insensible that the Lord has taught us what we were once ignorant of; nor is it possible that we should be so; but because, if we estimate our knowledge by its effects, and value it no farther than it is experimental and operative, we shall find it so faint and feeble as hardly to deserve the name. …

John Newton had the gift of deflating the heads that knowledge puffed up.

So how can young restless reformed rascal (like me) find humility? It’s a two-step process. First, look at the depth of your theological convictions. Thank God for that–it’s a gift. Second, compare those convictions with the shallow daily decisions that are made totally uninfluenced by them. And if that doesn’t work, look at how easily you are tempted to fear, to anxiety, to anger, and to idolatry, and then ask if those responses jibe with the God of Calvin’s Institutes.

May God grant us fresh eyes to see the chasm that separates our reformed convictions and our daily practices. This will work humility into our orthodoxy.