Oklahombres

(Second Part: Of Man’s Redemption—Questions 12-85)

83. What is the Office of the Keys?

• The Preaching of the Holy Gospel and Church Discipline; by which two things the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers.

84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the Preaching of the Holy Gospel?

• In this way: that according to the command of Christ, it is proclaimed and openly witnessed to believers, one and all, that as often as they accept with true faith the promise of the Gospel, all their sins are really forgiven them of God for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, to all unbelievers and hypocrites, that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them, so long as they are not converted; according to which witness of the Gospel, will be the judgment of God both in this life and in that which is to come.

85. How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Church Discipline?

• In this way: that according to the command of Christ, if any under the Christian name show themselves unsound either in doctrine or life, and after repeated brotherly admonition refuse to turn from their errors of evil ways, they are complained of to the church or to its proper officers, and, if they neglect to hear them also, are by them excluded from the Holy Sacraments and the Christian communion, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ; and if they promise and show real amendment, they are again received as members of Christ and His Church.

n his Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem occasionally offers a personal comment relating to the current evangelical state in America. In his chapter on conversion, after showing from Scripture and logic that faith and repentance are inseparable, Grudem gives this analysis:

“When we realize that genuine saving faith must be accompanied by genuine repentance of sin, it helps us to understand why some preaching of the gospel has such inadequate results today. If there is no mention of the need of repentance, sometimes the gospel message becomes only, “Believe in Jesus Christ and be saved” without any mention of repentance at all. But this watered-down version of the gospel does not ask for a wholehearted commitment to Christ—commitment to Christ, if genuine, must include a commitment to turn from sin. Preaching the need for faith without repentance is preaching only half of the gospel. It will result in many people being deceived, thinking that they have heard the Christian gospel and tried it, but nothing has happened. They might even say something like, “I accepted Christ as Savior over and over again and it never worked.” Yet they never really did receive Christ as Their Savior, for he comes to us in his majesty and invites us to receive him as he is—the one who deserves to be, and demands to be, absolute Lord of our lives as well.”
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), pp. 716-717.

This also may help explain why only 8 million of our 16 million Southern Baptists can be found in church on any given Sunday, or why so many of our young people abandon church forever between their freshman and sophomore years in college.

his may turn out to be an all-lily month for  my Friday Floral pics. I nearly waited too long for this weeks gem, but I knew I had a very narrow window on the Lycoris last week, and decided to push it back till this week. The Crinum lily, Crinum sp. is made up of a number of species that readily interbreed. This promiscuous behavior makes identifying parentage very difficult, often impossible. The one Crinum we have, C. ‘Ellen Bosanquet’, is no exception. It was hybridized in Florida in the 1920’s by a plant breeder, Louis Bosanquet, which he named in honor of his wife, Ellen. To this day nobody is sure of the parentage, and to date no one has been able to recreate this hybrid with any known combination of species and/or varieties. Wow! Mystery in the front yard!

And don’t you just love the way the buds in this first shot are lined up in the queue? Unfortunately, the down side is that the spent blooms don’t fall off by themselves, and increasingly take away from what was a beautiful beginning. A good gardener will go around and snip out the spent blooms every day. Yeah, right. Notice in the second shot the stubs below the main bloom. This cluster is nearly spent.

More closely related to amaryllis than lily, all in the genus Crinum are tough, pest-resistant plants. They are usually listed as hardy to zone 7, which makes them technically half a zone shy of the Tulsa area. We have never had a hint of trouble here, and these bulbs are planted well away from the house, so they are not benefiting from winter house heat. Back in the seventies the USDA realigned the hardiness zones and I think there is a bit of confusion in the nursery trade; some growers using the old charts, some the new. That’s how I explain it. The foliage is a rosette tropical-like floppiness, reaching about two foot high. The flower stalks stand almost a foot taller.

Rain is forecast for this weekend, so if you can get out in it, do so. See you in church on Sunday.

(Third Part: Of Thankfulness—Questions 86-129)

86. Since then we are redeemed from our misery by grace through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we do good works?

• Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, renews us also by His Holy Spirit after His own image, that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His blessing, and that He may be glorified through us; then also, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by the fruits thereof, and by our godly walk may win others also to Christ.

87. Can they then be saved who do not turn to God from their unthankful, impenitent life?

• By no means: for, as the Scripture saith, no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous man, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or any such like, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

uite a few of the blooms I have featured on Fridays recently have been called “lily” but have not been true lilies. Well, today you get the real deal. There are about 90 species in the genus Lilium, probably the most famous among them being the Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum. They typically show up as attractive potted plants around the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. The pure-white blossoms symbolize the spotless Lamb of God as no other can. A native of Japan, it naturally blooms around November. It has to be artifically “forced” to bloom at Easter.

This week’s pic is of a near relative of the Easter lily, the Formosa lily, Lilium formosanum, a native of, you guessed it, Taiwan. It was introduced to the west in the late nineteenth century. If all you saw was the bloom, you might think it to be that of an Easter lily, except that the trumpet is a bit longer. This is no mere potted plant, however; no escapee from the parlor, growing outside for the summer. This is the giraffe, the giant redwood, of the genus Lilium, in some cases reaching six or seven feet in height. Click on the picture and notice the foliage in the back ground. That is a six-foot holly hedge. Talk about back of the flower border; this one is made for it. In fact because the plant in bloom is so tall it really needs a fence  to grow up against for support in windy areas. Have you ever known Oklahoma not to be windy? It’s kind of like asking “Is the Pope Catholic?” I’m saying stake it to something if you don’t want to be sad.

Only requiring the afore mentioned support, the Formosa lily is very easy to grow, readily started from seed. If you start the seed early enough in the spring, it usually blooms the first season, an uncommon feat for most perennials. In fact, Formosa lily can become quite a nuisance if you don’t cut and remove the quite attractive seed pods before they split open in the fall, scattering the many seeds everywhere you don’t want them to sprout. In just one year the front of your flower border will look just like the back. Blooming a few weeks in July and August, the Formosa lily is a joy to see. Its Easter lily semblance always reminds me of our Savior.

I had to include this shot my wife took of our Don Juan climbing rose. She has fond memories of her grandparents back yard where the same variety of rambling climber engulfed their tool shed. Her grandfather was a avid fisherman, and from time to time he would bury a few fish skeletons at the base of his roses for fertilizer. They were magnificent. When it comes to care, roses are just the opposite of the Formosa lily. They need a fair amount of spraying to keep the bugs and fungi at bay, but it is well worth the trouble.

We had a much-welcomed shower Monday night, into Tuesday, so we will be spending our Saturday out mowing and weed-eating. Hopefully there will be time to enjoy the landscape some too, and rejoice in God’s creation. You get out and enjoy it too, and give thanks. See you Sunday at church.

(Third Part: Of Thankfulness—Questions 86-129)

88. In how many things does true repentance or conversion consist?

• In two things: the dying of the old man, and the quickening of the new.

89. What is the dying of the old man?

• Heartfelt sorrow for sin; causing us to hate and turn from it always more and more.

90. What is the quickening of the new man?

• Heartfelt joy in God; causing us to take delight in living according to the will of God in all good works.

91. But what are good works?

• Those only which are done from true faith, according to the Law of God, for His glory; and not such as rest on our own opinion, or the commandments of men.

he hymn Man of Sorrows is atypical of the majority of hymns coming out of that period in American history defined as “revivalism,” that period making up the last half of the 19th century, and confined roughly to the northeastern part of the country. Man of Sorrows is so Christ centered. The Reformers and the Puritans put together couldn’t do much better. The hymn, tune and all, was written by Philip Bliss around 1875. It was one of the last hymns he wrote before he and his wife were tragically killed in a train accident caused by a bridge collapse in December of 1876. He was only 38 years old at the time of his death. I am not typically a huge fan of hymnody from this period, but Man of Sorrows is a bright exception.

In a discussion we were having the other day, my wife mentioned one of the lines of Man of Sorrows. Later that night I woke up and was unable to get back to sleep for a while, and the one line of verse was there in my thoughts. Soon I was singing in my head the whole hymn, which started me marveling at the fact that every line was quite scriptural. This is despite the fact that each line is simple and short and the rhyme pattern is uncomplicated. A few days later I copied the whole hymn and began to write down the Scripture references you see linked beside each line below, which only took me about fifteen minutes. There may be better references to some of these lines, but these were simply the first ones that came to mind. Click on the reference links below and the passage will pop up in a small window. You don’t even have to leave this post to view the Bible passages.

…psallam spiritu, psallam et mente. (1 Cor. 14:15)

Man of Sorrows! what a name (Isaiah 53:3)
For the Son of God, who came (Matthew 16:16)
Ruined sinners to reclaim: (Ephesians 2:12)
Hallelujah! what a Saviour! (Revelation 19:1)

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, (Matthew 27:39-44)
In my place condemned he stood, (1 Peter 3:18)
Sealed my pardon with his blood: (1 Peter 1:18-19)
Hallelujah! what a Saviour! (Revelation 19:1)

Guilty, vile, and helpless, we; (Romans 3:10-20; James 3:6; Matthew 9:36)
Spotless Lamb of God was he; (Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19)
Full atonement! can it be? (Hebrews 9:26)
Hallelujah! what a Saviour! (Revelation 19:1)

Lifted up was he to die, (John 3:14)
“It is finished!” was his cry: (John 19:30)
Now in heav’n exalted high: (Ephesians 1:20-22)
Hallelujah! what a Saviour! (Revelation 19:1)

When he comes, our glorious King, (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 10)
All his ransomed home to bring, (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
Then anew this song we’ll sing: (Revelation 5:9)
Hallelujah! what a Saviour! (Revelation 19:1)

have never seen rain like this in August. Most years in Oklahoma you need a stick of dynamite to dig a hole in the ground when August rolls around. It has always been a bitter-sweet affair: wishing the drought and humid heat would go away, but realizing that means autumn, and then winter is just around the bend. Not my favorite season, whine-ter. I know that there is still one more week left in this month, but except for a couple of days at the beginning, this has been one of the most pleasant Augusts I can remember.

Summer plus rain always means one thing around this writer’s lodging: rainlilies, Zephyranthes sp. We have seven species/varieties here, but there are dozens more, ranging from pure white to peach and deep pink. This week’s pic. is of one of our smaller rainlilies, the fairy lily, Zephyranthes candida. The rush-like foliage tends to burn a bit on the tips by this time of year, but I think it is from a rust (fungus) rather than from heat/moisture stress. The fairy lily usually doesn’t bloom until late July or early August in this area, but continues until late into the fall. My wife took this picture early in the week after it rained. Yes, that is why they, as a group, are called rainlilies. The day after a rain they send out a battalion of blossoms, lasting only a day or two, and yes, you can trick them into blooming by watering them the day before you plan to have guests over for dinner.

If you know your Latin and Roman mythology, you will know that Zephyr was the god of the west wind, thus a zephyr is a gentle westerly breeze. The slightest wisp of wind will send these delicate blooms dancing. The species name, candida refers to color, namely white.

All of these semi-tropical bulbs can be grown here in Oklahoma, but not much further north. Most of them are native to South Texas and Mexico. They are super easy to grow, and some spread more quickly than others, needing to be dug and separated from time to time. A good way to meet new neighbors is to share some as you get acquainted across the back-yard fence. They are much more appealing than sharing huge zucchini.

Get out and enjoy God’s creation this weekend. See you Sunday as we meet to worship and adore Him.

(Third Part: Of Thankfulness—Questions 86-129)

92. What is the Law of God?

• God spake all these words, saying:
  First Commandment: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
  Second Commandment: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
  Third Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
  Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
  Fifth Commandment: Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
  Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
  Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
  Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.
  Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
  Tenth Commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

93. How are these commandments divided?

• Into two tables: the first of which teaches us, in four commandments, what duties we owe to God; the second, in six, what duties we owe to our neighbor.

94. What does God require in the first commandment?

• That, on peril of my soul’s salvation, I avoid and flee all idolatry, sorcery, enchantments, invocation of saints or of other creatures; and that I rightly acknowledge the only true God, trust in Him alone, with all humility and patience expect all good from Him only, and love, fear and honor Him with my whole heart; so as rather to renounce all creatures than do the least thing against His will.

95. What is idolatry?

• It is instead of the one true God who has revealed Himself in His Word, or along with the same, to conceive or have something else on which to place our trust.

reamy-white clouds of Autumn clematis have emerged atop many road-side trees in the last few days. They look nice out there, but I wouldn’t want them climbing my trees. They don’t do any real damage, but they look best from a distance, in somebody else’s trees.

In keeping with the lily motif, here are a couple more of our rain lily varieties. I couldn’t decide which one to pick for this week’s photo, so I decided to show you both. First pink, with Zephyranthes ‘Grandjax’, a hybrid between the heirloom standard Z. grandiflora, and another hybrid Z. ‘Ajax’. Starting with one bulb a dozen years ago, this pink beauty is now a solid bed two feet deep and fifteen feet long. It primarily multiplies by way of bulb offsets, but a few seedlings show up in odd places. I have dug them up only a few times to re-space the bulbs. The foliage is flat and thick, and the three-inch diameter flowers rise only slightly higher. And yes, they are like all rain lilies, in that they bloom like gangbusters just after a summer shower. I was only able to find these two blooms in the border on Tuesday since it hasn’t rained in almost a week.

This next little darling is one of my favorites, Zephyranthes reginae, Valles yellow rain lily. Purchased about the same time as ‘Grandjax’, this yellow rain lily has been much slower to multiply. This is mostly due to the fact that it multiplies from seed, not bulb divisions. Any time I see the seed capsules about to burst open atop the old flower stalk, I break them open and scatter the seed in open ground and scratch the dirt a bit. After the same passage of time, I have a clump about one foot by two. The foliage is tubular and far more sparse than ‘Grandjax’. The mass effect of this clump is not quite as appealing as the other, but I just love the dainty light-yellow blossom which are only slightly smaller than their pink cousin. The bulbs need to be planted beneath a carpet of some kind of low-growing ground cover to improve the appearance, but we haven’t found anything suitable. Any suggestions?

Have a good weekend. Get out and enjoy the last month of summer. As the days slowly begin to cool down, it becomes a bit more fun to be out in the yard, and there are plenty of projects out there. Don’t forget to be thankful to God. See you in Church on Sunday.