J. Gresham Machen: Finding His Purpose

Renewing Your Mind

Ligonier Ministries

Religion & Spirituality, Reformed, Study, Jesus, Preaching, Christianity, Scripture, Spirit, Bible, Holy, Theology, Christian, God, Teaching

4.8 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you ever been unsure of what to do with your life? J. Gresham Machen knew this struggle all too well. Today, Stephen Nichols shows how Machen’s early years prepared him for his calling to defend the Christian faith.

For your donation of any amount, request J. Gresham Machen’s classic book, Christianity and Liberalism. You’ll also receive Stephen Nichols’ teaching series on DVD, plus lifetime digital access to the messages and study guide: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3976/donate

Live outside the U.S. and Canada? You can get Christianity and Liberalism as an ebook, plus lifetime digital access to the teaching series and study guide, for a donation of any amount: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global

Meet Today’s Teacher:

Stephen Nichols is president of Reformation Bible College, chief academic officer for Ligonier Ministries, and a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow. He is host of the podcasts 5 Minutes in Church History and Open Book.

Meet the Host:

Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.

Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Machen himself, at the end of his life, he wrote an autobiographical piece that was published in a journal.
0:07.1	And in that piece, he has a line that he says, up until that time, I was playing games.
0:13.4	What he meant was he still hadn't landed on his purpose for his life.
0:24.8	Music on his purpose for his life. The Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to
0:31.5	enjoy him forever. But how we glorify God, what our vocation and calling in life will be, is different for all of us.
0:39.6	Did you struggle with that?
0:41.2	Perhaps you're still struggling with it.
0:43.4	Well, on this Tuesday edition of renewing your mind, you'll hear how the great 20th century figure, J. Gresson Machen, also struggled with this.
0:52.5	I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I'm glad you're with us today, as we spend a week learning about
0:57.4	Machen and the bold stand he took for truth.
1:01.2	Over the next two days, Stephen Nichols will give an overview of Maiton's life.
1:05.9	Here he is to discuss those early years.
1:11.6	What I want to do in this episode is give you an overview of Machen's life, paying attention
1:17.6	especially to some of those early and formative years, those early decades in his life,
1:23.6	that sort of give us that foundation. So when you think of Maiton's life, he was born in 1881.
1:31.8	He dies in 1937.
1:36.0	Only lived for one day in that year of 1937.
1:40.8	He dies on New Year's Day, 1937.
1:44.7	As we look at his life, we can divide it into four sections.
1:50.8	One is those early years of the foundation.
1:57.0	And so this is 1881 up until the time in which he goes into Princeton, and that's 1902.
2:07.8	So then he's at Princeton.
	...

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