This year at the Calvin 21 conference I ran into Rev. Bart Elshout, translator of Brakel’s Christian’s Reasonable Service. He’s good people. I asked his thoughts on the great theme running through á Brakel and received two memorable answers: “Christ is so lovely, that believers come back to him a thousand times.” Speaking on our perspective of God in faith and prayer, “we are always going out of our way to beg God to be gracious. On the contrary, says á Brakel, God goes out of his way to prove he is gracious to us.”

Speaking to regeneration, Bavinck said that hope characterizes the Christian life. He then thunders down the line rounding up Pelagians. Á Brakel picks up where Bavinck leaves off: hope has certainty, a special perspective and usefulness for everyday life.

Hope is a propensity, á Brakel writes, a principle character given by the Spirit in regeneration. Hope is improved by experience. When it comes to contradictions, roadblocks, hurdles, and the drudgery of the mundane hope is no worse for the wear. God foreknows we need hope and gives it as freely as wisdom (James 1:5, 12). There are many spiritual benefits for exercising hope (against taking the attitude of unbelief and worry) but how are the believer’s goals certain if the ‘means’ are obscure?

Á Brakel says hope gains certainty and confidence in God’s promises of eternal life, salvation (temporal deliverance), and future benefits as represented in scripture. Some ministers might add to the promises a new car, home, happy marriage, and other stuff to the list which materially would solidify God’s salvation. Á Brakel might ask, with scripture, how can anything else compare with the true knowledge of God and his eternal glory (Psalm 73)? Compare anything in life next to experiencing the certainty of salvation and you discover the logic of faith to be correct, God to be true. Á Brakel believes that hope attains the right way of communion with God: “the result of hope is holy industry.”*

There are many examples of faith overcoming all odds, but hope often seems to be a missing element from the stories. Joseph was enslaved and imprisoned in ancient Egypt. The Apostles returned to Galilee not knowing what to expect. Rev. Elshout was locked in a basement for five years translating á Brakel. Faith touches reason, but hope is included as well, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).

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* This is not to disparage prayer for daily needs. Brakel’s treatment of prayer is very generous. Here Brakel confines his view of hope in direct relation to God’s glory in revealing himself and providing eternal salvation.

Reformation Heritage Books is offering an additional $10 off a 4 volume set of Wilhelmus á Brakel’s The Christian’s Reasonable Service which is good only through tomorrow. Simply enter this cupon code: Brakel2009 in the checkout field online, or mention it if ordering by phone. The last day for the discount is Saturday, August 15, 2009.

One of the faster ways to gain a full perspective on patience is being a parent. If one were to reflect on a time in childhood when denied a toy, a treat, or play it could rekindle a frumpy feeling. But as a parent one is fully aware of the value of patience when doling out toys and sweets. A good round of experience and reflection in this area, especially when dealing with impatient children is, ‘Wow. I wish I could have been more patient when I was three.’ And for good reason.

Á Brakel sees patience as one of the most gracious of all Christian dispositions: it is the most childlike. Through the spiritual gift of patience, one has meekness, willingness, self-denial, belief (true faith), hope, and love to God. Patience is near the most perfect language in all our conversation with the Lord. Non-believer’s cannot truly be patient (as a gift from God) to endure all things but can only resolve to endure, be stoic, and cross the fingers that all will be well.  Not so with the believer.

The believer’s patience is grounded in the promises of God. For one, the believer knows that affliction is temporary and will curiously work out for the good (2 Cor. 1:4; 7:6, 1 Pet. 3:4). For another, a Christian’s suffering is sure to pass leaving confidence that there will be good spiritual fruit, particularly in their relationship with the Lord (Heb. 12:11; Ps. 119:75).The proof is not so much in the pudding as it is in the eating.

Patience, says á Brakel, is the best evidence one has of genuine faith, both to themselves and to their neighbor. “Consider that the way to heaven is the way of affliction, and that we cannot walk upon this way except by way of patience.”

Wilhelmus á Brakel’s (1635-1711) pastoral theology is warm and deserving of its title, The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Á Brakel’s understated style and manner of writing is thoughtful, practical, and highly adaptable for ministers looking to convey real truth without fancy tricks or bling. To prove it Reformation Heritage Books is having a special offer: Receive an additional $10 off the 4 volume set of Brakel’s Reasonable Service from now until August 15, 2009. Simply enter this coupon code Brakel2009 in the RHB shopping cart, or mention this post if ordering by phone. Á Brakel may be obscure to some readers today, but his devotional style and confident pastoral treatment of the Christian inner-life has an unbeatable shelf-life.

Down is Not Out

Self-denial is the Christian’s most active, most visible demonstration of faith. It comes more or less naturally, says á Brakel, from love to God and contentment in the knowledge and experience of His will. Perhaps there is no better interpretation of James 2:18, the thorniest verse in the NT, than a long steady life of self-denial. Self-denial is a grace given by God; it forms the will in the new life of the believer. God gives this grace according to sanctification. Self-denial is a high human virtue but it is not natural, that is to say, it is not necessarily a universal. There can be occasional acts of self-denial, but only the regenerate believer has this grace as a genuine disposition. Self-denial is not a random act of kindness that is able to outweigh a lifetime of selfishness.

Aesthetics or Ascetics?

Self-denial has a checkered past. Many early Christians took self-denial as an austere life in extreme conditions, though many famous Greek philosophers did similar things.* The believer, with a new love for God, finds something superior in the will of God above all else they could ever desire.** The objective is not simply to deprive one’s self of basic needs, or repress desire altogether; the object is God’s glory and the welfare of our neighbors. God’s glory, His real presence and communion in the renewed heart is simply incomparable with the beauties of the world. And putting the welfare of one’s neighbor first is golden link between Old and New Testament religion which can’t be beat. There are many benefits to self-denial ranging from debt-management to time management, allof which add to personal freedom. But there is nothing greater than experiencing real communion with God.

Above all, says á Brakel, God rewards such service to an infinite degree. “If we renounce our honor, He will give grace and glory (Psa. 84:12). If we deny possessions, the Lord will be our abundant gold… He will not permit all that we relinquish out of love for Him and for His Name to be unrequited. “He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:39).

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* For example: Pythagoras lived in a cave for a year just to think about math.

** Á Brakel does not clearly elaborate on what he means by “the will of God” but he is referring to God’s holiness, justice (summarized in the Decalogue) providence, or ‘secret will’ and belief in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. See James Ussher’s Body of Divinity on God’s will as a possible source for á Brakel’s treatment.

If trapped on a deserted island, Dr. Joel Beeke said of all the books he would take, next to the Bible, is á Brakel’s Christians Reasonable Service . Á Brakel is all pastoral. Why not Calvin’s Institiutes ? All too often Calvin’s analysis is interrupted by those ‘barking dogs’ and obscure heretics so that it’s difficult to be fully edified. And if Dr. Beeke, or yourself, were trapped on a deserted island you would definitely want to read what á Brakel has to say about divine contentment.

Satisfy my Soul

Contentment, says á Brakel, is not in the having of stuff; it comes from fulfilled desire. It has a wide and far reaching spectrum in experience and satisfaction. Some need to climb Everest while others are just as happy to golf. Yet contentment is rarely found in the fulfillment of long term or short term goals (there are always more). Conversely it’s not produced from restraint or refraining from desire –that’s merely suppression. Contentment is a disposition of the soul; the intellect, will, and affections together resting in quiet confidence, joyfully and with gratitude (in present circumstances), trusting that the Lord will cause the present and the future to turn out to their advantage.

Every Little Action

A believer’s desires should exclude evil, tend to those that are good and focuses enjoyment on the good itself. All too often original/actual sin clouds the judgment and pushes self-fulfillment beyond attainable means tending to depression. And believers have a unique emotional experience of this. In the course of sanctification, believers find contentment in the world difficult as their desires gravitate toward communion with God –something that can never be satisfied in this life.

Finding contentment is difficult but not impossible. Á Brakel’s recipe is to examine one’s circumstances either as good or something to be delivered from, looking to God for grace, mercy and peace. The foundation of contentment is God’s will, revealed in Jesus Christ which saves from the false idea of blind fate. This requires strong faith and prayer. Above all circumstances light and heavy, following after the perfect example of Christ (Matt. 26:39; John 6:38), “the love toward God’s good pleasure has the upper hand.”