A jealous God

"[Y]ou shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Exodus 34:14).

Charles Spurgeon addresses Christians:

The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom I now speak, is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he not choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he not buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think you are your own, or that you belong to this world.

He loved you with such a love that he could not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than that you should perish; he stripped himself to nakedness that he might clothe you with beauty; he bowed his face to shame and spitting that he might lift you up to honour and glory, and he cannot endure that you should love the world, and the things of the world.

Be careful, Christians, you that are married to Christ; remember, you are married to a jealous husband.

"Reflections on the Church in Great Britain"

Unless he was aiming for a British sense of sarcasm, it appears Mark Driscoll recently took the British to task for their lack of celebrity pastors: "Let's just say this: right now, name for me the one young, good Bible teacher that is known across Great Britain. You don't have one – that's the problem. There are a bunch of cowards who aren't telling the truth."

On the plus side, I guess Northern Ireland pastors are aite in Driscoll's book.

Anyway, D.A. Carson responds (with a good measure of wit, to boot) to his good friend in a post titled "Reflections on the Church in Great Britain."

While we're on the topic, Carson's article "Observations of a Friend" (1995) on the Anglican Communion is likewise helpful to read. Although it should be noted there have been significant developments within Anglicanism since the article was published (e.g. GAFCON, St. John's Vancouver aka J.I. Packer's church leaving the Anglican Church of Canada).

It should also be said there are several fine British pastors and teachers in the United States. I'm thinking of men like Alistair Begg, Sinclair Ferguson, Liam Goligher, Mark Johnston, Robert Norris, Derek Thomas, and Carl Trueman. By the way, one of my favorite 9Marks interviews features Norris.