The Prod and the Crook - David H. Lauten

 


I spent many Saturdays growing up in Texas helping a friend on their family ranch. Among my memories is the use of the prod and the crook. The electric prod sends a small shock which stimulates bovine movement. A gentle twist of the crook around the neck of a sheep ensures retrieval success.

Each instrument has its place. Each tool is suited for a particular use. To move a stubborn or scared cow, or retrieve a strayed sheep, the prod and the crook have their place. Other tactics are less effective.  

Years ago, I turned in my chaps and the care for cattle and sheep for the well-being of God’s dear flock. As many tools have been crafted in animal husbandry, God has also forged tools that his flock may be forfeited in the faith.

The glory of the gospel is that sinners are saved by Christ alone;by God’s rich grace through the instrument of faith alone - all apart from human works. As new creation united to Jesus, we long to grow in a true and living knowledge of our God. 

Prayer, the reading and faithful preaching of the Word, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the leading tools God has given to build us up in the faith. These are designed to confirm our trust in Christ, help us flee from sin and become more like Jesus in our character.

Other tools than the prod and the crook can be used with cows and sheep. But they are less effective. The means to grow in grace are also effective. They are given by God who promises to use them for his glory and good in our lives. Prayer, the Word of God and the Sacraments are tried and true tools that we may know Jesus and become increasingly conformed to his image.

Why resort to other, lesser tools, to do the job? Novelty, popularity and pragmatism may underly the departure from these God-given means of grace. We depart from the God’s good and gracious methods at our own spiritual peril. We have a confidence that God will use the means of grace he has ordained. Let us make much of prayer, the Word and the sacraments!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Make Our Worship Spaces Presbyterian Again by Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Image
We’ve all heard the jokes about Presbyterian’s being anti-fun, the so-called frozen chosen. The seen, but not heard denomination. The post you are about to read is going to sound like it came from the official spokesman of the “Presbyterians against anything nice” coalition. Maybe it’s true, maybe I am the grumpiest Presbyterian alive, but my goal here today is not to get hits or cause trouble. Rabble rousers are boring people. Men who seek out controversy don’t have enough to do and they aren’t really seeking to win converts to their position. They just like to see the fight.  At the end of the day I’m really a harmless little fuzzball who just wants Presbyterians to be Presbyterians, Baptists to be Baptists, and Anglicans to be Anglicans. Good fences make good neighbors. If you know where the other person stands it makes it easier to know where you stand. The topic I’d like to get into today is about the meeting space. Some call it the “sanctuary”, others the “preaching hall”, ...
Read more

What Does the ARP Confess About the Civil Government? by Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Image
A common problem in our conservative Presbyterian circles is that some members of the PCA believe they not only invented American presbyterianism, but that they and the OPC are the only actual members of the party. One way their aloofness shows itself is through an unwillingness to recognize that not all of us descend from the 1729 Adopting Act nor gauge our history through Francis Makemie or the Philadelphia Assembly of 1789. When Makemie established the first presbytery in the American colonies in 1709 some of us were still in Scotland, both in and out of the revolution settlement CoS. Ebenezer Erskine was a spry twenty-nine years old and Alexander Moncrieff was fourteen. The years 1782 and 1803 are relevant to our history in ways the other dates are not. We are not overly concerned with what the mainliners were up to in those days. We’ve been blessedly free from that mess for two hundred twenty plus years. The reason why I bring that up is because the folks who think they hung the m...
Read more

Ralph Erskine and Mental Images by Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Image
  One of the most common exceptions taken in the ARP (and the PCA  et al ) by newly ordained men and those taking transfer exams in presbytery is without a doubt a certain clause in the explanation to Westminster Larger Catechism #109. This mainly concerns the prohibition against making mental images of the Godhead, especially the Second Person, in accordance with the catechism’s teaching on the Second Commandment. I will post the question below: Q. 109.  What sins are forbidden in the second commandment? A. The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever; all worshiping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of the...
Read more