Wednesday, July 27, 2011

"In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously."

John Stott died today and, praise God, he is now in the fullness of the eternal presence of God. I read a 2004 article written about him in the NY Times and was impacted by this quote:

"There's been a lot of twaddle written recently about the supposed opposition between faith and reason. To read Stott is to see someone practicing "thoughtful allegiance" to scripture. For him, Christianity means probing the mysteries of Christ. He is always exploring paradoxes. Jesus teaches humility, so why does he talk about himself so much? What does it mean to gain power through weakness, or freedom through obedience? In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously." David Brooks

So true: Jesus as God and man, the Trinity as three and one, predestination and human choice, etc.

Charles Spurgeon embraced those biblical paradoxes. He once said, "Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other." Speaking of predestination and human responsibility, he said: "These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring."

You can't consistently preach hot sermons from a lukewarm life.