Posts by Jim Elliff (Page 6)
Miss Hockingfield’s Waterloo
James, the youth: Why is Christ not beautiful to some people? Brockton, the older, and wiser: Because without eyes they cannot see. James: You mean such people are incapable of knowing Christ’s beauty? Brockton: Incapable because they are without desire; without desire because they are incapable. Miss Hockingfield’s story explains. It was “Art Museum Day” at Bussby Elementary, and Miss Hockingfield was ecstatic. She was a lover of beauty, an aficionado of all things lovely. It was on this day…
Elders’ Meetings that Do Something
Elders’ meetings should not be an exercise in futility. Rather, to be effective for the church and interesting for the elders, some thought must be put into your time together. Some suggestions: 1. Plan for meeting together more often and for a longer period of time. We find meeting for at least three hours weekly is about right. For us now, we meet from 5:30-8:30 a.m.Even then we find that we want more time. In fact, for quite…
The Heart of Family Reformation
When our children were younger we began the day with the hymn we are currently memorizing. When Laura was five, she sang for all of us the second verse of “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord” by the Yale president of the late 1700s, Timothy Dwight. With a determined look, she sang out, I love Thy church, O God. Her walls before Thee stand. Dear as the apple of Thine eye, And gravy on Thy hand. My boys collapsed on the…
Busy Unlike Jesus
We fail to remember the walking that Christ and the apostles did. In our frenzied lives, failing to remember that these men walked every place they went may fix in us a very wrong view of Christian ministry, Jesus and his followers had time to process, to meditate, to ponder with brothers, to detoxify after encounters with lies and demons and countering authorities. Not only did the walks give them the space and time they needed, it also strengthened them…
A Spinning Fox: A Letter From Jim
Dear CCW family, Please read the poem. It isn’t what you have ever been called perhaps — “a spinning fox.” But it may describe you at times. Demons are real and they are spirits that have the nature of their father, Satan. Like that father, they are riled by righteousness. They cannot help this; and, they will never reform. Like their father they wish to destroy you in every way they can. Jesus called Satan “a liar and a murderer”…
William Cowper’s Mother
William Cowper (pronounced as Cooper) was born in 1731. He was a close friend of John Newton (Amazing Grace), and lived next door. Cowper was considered by many to be the greatest literary figure in England during in his lifetime. Like Newton, he was a poet (God Moves in a Mysterious Way; There is a Fountain Filled with Blood). William lost his mother at six years of age. After her death it appears that he did not live at home…
How and When Will All Israel Be Saved? : A Letter From Jim
Dear CCW Family, Israel has been on the minds of most of us these days. It seems appropriate to revisit an article I wrote 10 years ago addressing the phrase, “And so, all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26). Here is the way I see this: How and When Will All Israel Be Saved? This phrase has often stymied students of the New Testament, and has been a verse with many interpretations. I offer mine. To adamantly conclude that I…
Moses and Elijah at the Ascension?
Is it possible that the two men in white apparel standing beside the apostles at the ascension of Christ (Acts 1:9-11) were Moses and Elijah? “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do…
The Anger of Another: A Letter from Jim
Dear CCW family, Hear the story of a person troubled by the anger of a friend: Sitting outside on the front stoop, the warmth of the sun cloaked my chilled frame. The house conditioned my bones all morning like a drafty stone Reformation chapel. In all my concentration, I hadn’t reckoned with the cold until that moment. I was now fixed to the warm concrete step with a sweet heaviness that tiredness, an uninvited argument, and a surprising and sudden…
Believing What Christ Believes
If we claim to be Christ’s followers, we must, at the very minimum, believe what he believed when he spoke on earth. Jesus believed in . . . God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Heaven and hellHis pre-existence with the Father AngelsSatan and demonsScripture, which “cannot be broken”A future resurrection of the bodyThe creation of man and womanNoah and the floodThe destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah Lot and the judgment on Lot’s wife The exodus from EgyptMoses’ leadership of…
The Way We Look: A Letter From Jim
Dear CCW family, It is an exercise in self-abnegation for me to show my driver’s license or passport, and I have to do it quite often. I am still hoping for somebody to say, “Wait, this doesn’t look like you!” When comedic author Erma Bombeck handed her passport over for renewal, the man glanced at the photo and said: “Any person who looks like this is too sick to travel.” Paul had this to say about the way we look:…
Consider the Change
The transformation in true Christianity is supernatural and profound. Not everyone who professes to be a Christian has experienced it. But without such a change, there is no authentic Christian life or true hope. Consider that the change is From death to lifeFrom blindness to sightFrom slavery to freedomFrom rebellion to submissionFrom darkness to lightFrom dead spirit to new birthFrom self love to sacrificial loveFrom religious externalism to inner motivationFrom the lordship of our flesh to the lordship of Christ…
The Elderly Mr. Phipp
James, the youth: Is affection necessary for true spirituality? I mean, can’t a man be Christian, yet cold as a stone emotionally? Mr. Brockton: Affection cannot be separated from true religion. James: But are we to strain to be affectionate toward God when it is not natural? Brockton: We are to strain to know God, and that is enough. Mr. Phipp will make my point for me. Hear his story: When the elderly Mr. Phipp lost his wife, he cried…
Silencing Deceiving Teachers
Polybius the historian was not fond of the people on the island of Crete. He stated that they loved money so much “that they are the only people in the world among whom no stigma attaches to any sort of gain whatever.” They were also liars. In fact, to “cretanize” was to deceive. Epimenides said, “The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!” This is quoted by Paul in Titus. Remember this when the people in your part of the…
Vain Salvation: A Letter From Jim
Dear CCW family, A well-loved Christian conference speaker once posed this question to me after his message: “Is there any sin in trusting God?” Strange question, isn’t it? The answer has to be, “No.” I know that. You know that. The man who posed the question knew it also. He only wanted to emphasize that the best action all the time, regardless of the circumstance we might be in, is to trust God. But . . . is that what…
Pastors and Salary
It is very likely, despite the admonition to the Ephesians to support their pastors, that the New Testament church elders covered their needs principally through other means as they led house churches. Surely, as Paul appointed elders in nascent churches, he did not arrange a salary package along with the assignment. Only a few hundred years later, as church life was institutionalized, did churches with buildings and larger memberships have enough funds to give salaries to some of their pastors…