We made it! A whole year of reading Richard Sibbes, a 17th century Puritan who lived in England. When I started to read Richard Sibbes for this undertaking, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. The way he used English was quite foreign! I had actually not read him before when I began, which made this pretty interesting. I had no preconceived ideas or biases for or against him. After reading his work for a full year, I came away with a few reflections.
- Richard Sibbes was Gospel-centered before it was a 21st century publishing buzz word.
A mere 100 years removed from Luther and we can see the far-reaching effects of the Reformation. Sibbes wrote quite openly of his opposition to papists and the papacy. Catholics and their Pope received strong condemnation and at times pity from Sibbes. Given his laser focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this is not surprising. There are no works based answers given by the heavenly doctor. Moralism did not carry the day with this man. His chief concern was the glory of God shown through his grace in saving sinners, and shepherding folks into relationship with him. 400 years before the evangelical publishing industry keyed in on Gospel-centered, Richard Sibbes was showing how it was done. What is different is with Sibbes this was who he was. These were the core convictions that dominated his life. That may be true today, but cynically I believe many are writing books to make money, not because they have anything worth reading. - Richard Sibbes was a pastor.
His shepherd heart is evident in his writing. He encourages, exhorts, pleads, and woos his readers to be reconciled to God. The Bruised Reed is a shining example of his care for the people that made up his congregations. People like you and I. They worried about their relationship with God, whether they truly were saved, and how they could know God more fully. Through his writing and preaching Sibbes sought to instruct, convict, and encourage people in following Jesus Christ. Not only that, but he was after another type of person that is not unique to 21st century America. Those who claimed Christ but lived like they did not know him. Sibbes did not let false professors off the hook. He drove the point home repeatedly that mere mental assent was not sufficient for eternal salvation. Salvation was by grace through faith, but it was not opposed to effort. His efforts to speak to both crowds evidence his pastoral heart. Many pastors would do well to observe the example he set. - There is nothing new under the sun.
We have many of the same problems now as then. There were no unfamiliar subjects that Sibbes covered. You could modernize the language, remove his name from the document, and what he would be indistinguishable with respect to time and place. His words carry equal weight today. This is because the fundamental problem of sin is no different. We are still sinners who have rebelled against our Creator and are in need of his intervention on our behalf to be reconciled. We still have desperately wicked and deceitful hearts that need the power of the Spirit and the instruction of the word. From the fall until now our problems have not changed, they’ve only put on different clothing. - History and tradition are comforting.
We protestants, especially Baptists, have made a sport of removing all vestiges of history and tradition from our faith. In our zeal to distance ourselves from Rome we have discarded many things in a “guilt-by-association” manner. We have lost much of the history of our faith which transcends denominational lines. Sibbes was an Anglican. Should we not read him because he had to wear the surplice? (Robes) I don’t want to get too far off the rails into my own ranting, unrelated in some ways to this. So, let me ask this: How much have we lost because we have been unwilling or incapable of redeeming that which is good and discarding that which is not? Use your minds and quit being unwitting and unthinking reactionaries. Study your family history in the Church and redeem and recover those things that are good. People are converting to Catholicism because of the sense of history Rome has. This is a grave mistake as they exchange the truth of the Gospel for a lie just for a sense of history and tradition. Help yourself and others, study your church history and redeem what is good and discard the errors of Rome and others.
I hope this will not be the end of your reading of Richard Sibbes. I hope that this has empowered you to seek out other great minds from the Church’s past and read them. Recency does not mean superiority. Certainly there are aspects to interpretation and Biblical studies that have advanced. However, let us not discredit the Spirit of Christ in brothers and sisters who came before us. Take up and read Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the greatest American theologian. Take up and read John Calvin, an incredible mind for biblical exegesis. Explore Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic philosopher, and think about who we are and why we’re here. Read Augustine. Read John Owen. Read Germans and Britons, Dutch and French, Africans and South Americans. The Spirit of Christ is not constrained to people who look and think just like you.
And this year, Read John Newton.
