New Year's Questions

Here is a great list of questions from Donald Whitney to ask yourself as you enter 2011. Questions like these are simple but can be really useful to help focus our often cluttered minds, reveal blind spots in our life, and hear from the Lord on what He would have us do to grow spiritually and be in His will.

The first 10 are:

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

Read the whole list here.

A Good Time to Hit REFRESH

The end of the year and beginning of a new year is oftentimes where we naturally think about what to change in the patterns, routines, and commitments in our lives as the calendar changes over. If you are in that place, or should be, I found this blog post had some useful nuggets. I liked his idea of this being a time to REFRESH. Read and apply some of these that you connect with.

I have already taken the suggestion to listen to this sermon by John Piper titled Running with the Witnesses. I downloaded this to my iPhone for one of my runs this week and was convicted, challenged, and encouraged by it. Highly recommended! I'd love to hear how it impacts those who listen to it. Takeaway line for me: "Does it Help Me Run?"

Wexford Carol...This is Beautiful

Thanks to Between Two Worlds blog for highlighting this beautiful carol performed by Allison Krauss, who sings like an angel.

The 12th century Wexford Carol:

Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray,
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born

The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town
But mark right well what came to pass
From every door repelled, alas
As was foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble ox’s stall

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God’s angel did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
Arise and go, the angels said
To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you’ll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus, born

With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went the babe to find
And as God’s angel had foretold
They did our Saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side a virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of Life
Who came on earth to end all strife

There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where Jesus lay
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah lay
They humbly cast them at his feet
With gifts of gold and incense sweet.

This is Classic...Should Anyone Ask

Who is Christmas for?

I found this article by Matt Redmond very thought-provoking, and just sent it to my parents and brother in the hope the Lord would use it to help them ponder the meaning of Christmas in a different way than before. Here is an excerpt:

Jesus came for those who look in the mirror and see ugliness. Jesus came for daughters whose fathers never told them they were beautiful. Christmas is for those who go to “wing night” alone. Christmas is for those whose lives have been wrecked by cancer, and the thought of another Christmas seems like an impossible dream. Christmas is for those who would be nothing but lonely if not for social media. Christmas is for those whose marriages have careened against the retaining wall and are threatening to flip over the edge. Christmas is for the son whose father keeps giving him hunting gear when he wants art materials. Christmas is for smokers who cannot quit even in the face of a death sentence. Christmas is for prostitutes, adulterers, and porn stars who long for love in every wrong place. Christmas is for college students who are sitting in the midst of the family and already cannot wait to get out for another drink. Christmas is for those who traffic in failed dreams. Christmas is for those who have squandered the family name and fortune—they want “home” but cannot imagine a gracious reception. Christmas is for parents watching their children’s marriage fall into disarray.

Christmas is really about the gospel of grace for sinners. Because of all that Christ has done on the cross, the manger becomes the most hopeful place in a universe darkened with hopelessness. In the irony of all ironies, Christmas is for those who will find it the hardest to enjoy. It really is for those who hate it most.

Christmas and Sharing Christ

We have been discussing in class the last several weeks that Gospel-changed people will be a witness to the world of the life-changing power of the Gospel, in large part by speaking the gospel to others or intentionally getting them in a position to hear it. This article by Ed Stetzer (who preached at Johnson Ferry last January) highlights that Christmas might be a great time to connect others to the Gospel. There is still time to invite someone to church or send them an encouraging email or article about the message of Christmas. Here is the closing of the article:

Although many of the items surrounding Christmas are not explicitly Christian most represent an open door through which the wise gospel messenger can walk. Opportunity is knocking … loudly. Seize the opportunity while people are receptive and while attention is on the birth of Christ. No matter where you serve, what the age group is around you, or whether people consider themselves to be religious or not, there are some – quite a few, really – who are ready at this time of year to hear about the Christ we celebrate.

Taking Action

Here are notes from Sunday's lesson. I thought it might be useful to keep these brief action words in front of us as we seek to be a good witness to the person and work of Christ and speak the Gospel to those whom the Lord has places in our lives. These points were drawn from the excellent book, Marks of the Messenger, by J. Mack Stiles.

1. Body Check
- Head/heart check -is the gospel prominent on our hearts and minds during the day
- Gut check - are we willing to be bold in the face of our fears of sharing the Gospel
- feet check - are we prepared to move out and speak the Gospel truth

2. Pray
- for those specific names who don't know Christ - regularly!
- to be more attuned to Holy Spirit -led opportunities to share
- pray with others directly if opportunity

3. Plan -think ahead for future occasions where you may be able to share faith

4. Think
- Study others to discern what are the issues and obstacles non -believers in our lives are dealing with that are genuine objections to faith (defeater beliefs)
Resource: The Reason for God by Tim Keller, book and DVD

5. Prepare
- Practice the "Gospel in a minute"; gospel on our hearts ready to share
- God , Man , Christ, Response
Resources:
2 Ways to Live - see link on this class blog
What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert

6. Get started
- have lunch with others
- intentionally find ways to spend time with non-believers; go to or host neighborhood parties, pool; join rec sports leagues
- be bold in conversation
- ask questions like - "What are spiritual interests?" "What is faith background"?

7. Gather
- plan events and invite others to attend
- small group Bible Study
- neutral site or in home
- invite to church

8. Serve
- the community around us; where we live, work, and play
- redemptive life of service points to a God who redeems
- should expect this to cost something
- e.g. meals for neighbors, watching kids so couple can get away, assistance with yard work, volunteer in community -PTA, homeowners, rec league sports

9. Speak
- seize moment -ready to turn conversation to Christ ; open a door in that direction
- expose our faith to others when opportunity
- use questions
- Resources:
Tactics by Greg Koukl
Marks of the Messenger by Mack Stiles
The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever
Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman


10. Pursue
-don't give up; be persistent -keep praying!
-Think, If God could save me, why not others we are praying for!

11. Invite
- a response to commit to a relationship with the living Christ
- some may be just waiting for someone to share how to do this

Bonhoeffer, Advent, and Waiting

We are doing our best to observe the Advent calendar in our home this Christmas. One of the themes of Advent is the sense of waiting on the Lord in anticipation of his coming to rescue us, both in his incarnation on Christmas, and then again at His second coming. I came across these words penned by German pastor/theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer while he was imprisoned in Nazi Germany in his last years for conspiring with others against Adolf Hitler. He had only recently been engaged to his fiancee before being sent to prison. Good words to ponder on the theme of waiting, sometimes amidst trouble and suffering....

Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is the art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespectful hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them. Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting -- that is, of hopefully doing without -- will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment.

And again from prison in 1943, written in a letter to his fiancee:

Be brave, my dearest Maria, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide. We shall both experience a few dark hours -- why should we disguise that from each other? We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity. We are being subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to understand. And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger.

Amen!

Incidentally, I highly recommend this recent biography of Bonhoeffer. This was one of the best books I read this past year and one of my favorite biographies I have read, period.

Reading the Bible in 2011

For each of the last several years I have made it a goal to read through the whole Bible and have benefited greatly from doing this. I recommend that everyone be in the Word on a consistent basis at some level in 2011. If this is a goal you are considering, (and I pray that many of you are) you may wish to read the following blog posts with some excellent thoughts to consider on Bible reading.

Here is Matthew Hoskinson's six-part series on Bible reading:

1. Reading the Bible in 2011
2. Dangers Within
3. Sitting Down
4. Reading
5. Plans
6. Final Thoughts

Advent Devotionals

Here are some links to some free devotional material for Advent that might be useful for you and your family. These can provide a "track to run on" in helping your family focus on the coming of Jesus Christ amidst all of the busyness of the season. Enjoy!

Park Street Church Advent

Mark D. Roberts

Christ the King Advent Devotionals

Thoughts on being grateful

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I found this short article really spoke to me about the struggle I have being grateful for what I have been given, for the things that now seem "normal". Perhaps on Thanksgiving day it will speak to you to. Here's an excerpt:

Russell Moore:

“If I hear the word ‘Daddy’ again, I’m going to scream!”

I heard myself saying those words. And, in my defense, it was loud around here. I was trying to work on something, and all I could hear were feet pounding down the stairs with four boys competing with one another to tell me one thing after another. I just wanted five minutes of silence.

My vocal chords were still vibrating when an image hit my brain. It was the picture of me, on my face, praying for children. The house was certainly quiet then. And in those years of infertility and miscarriage and seemingly unanswered prayers, I would have given anything to hear steps on that staircase. I feared I would never hear the word “Daddy,” ever, directed to me. Come to think of it, I even wrote a book about the Christian cry of “Abba, Father.”

And now I was annoyed. Why? It wasn’t that I’d changed my mind about the blessing of children. It was that my family had become “normal” to me. In the absence of children, the blessing was forefront on my mind. But in their presence, they’d become expected, part of what I expected from my day-to-day existence. And that’s what’s so dangerous.

Gratitude is spiritual warfare. I’m convinced my turn of imagination that day was conviction of sin, a personal uprooting of my own idolatry by the Spirit of Christ. What I need to fear most is what seems normal to me.

Read the rest.

Daddy Christmas Tips

Here's a challenge to all the dads to be intentional with your family this Christmas.

Mark Driscoll:

1. Dad needs a plan for the holidays to ensure his family is loved and memories are made. Dad, what’s your plan?
2. Dad needs to ensure his family is giving generously during the holidays. Dad, who in need is your family going to adopt, bless, and serve?
3. Dad needs to carve out time for sacred events and experiences to build family traditions that are fun and point to Jesus. Dad, is you calendar ready for December?
4. Dad needs to not let the stress of the holidays, including money, cause him to be grumpy with Mom or the kids. Dad, how’s your joy?
5. Dad needs to make memories and not just give gifts. Dad, what special memories can you make this holiday season?
6. Dad needs to manage the extended family and friends during the holidays. Dad, who or what do you need to say “no” to?
7. Dad needs to schedule a big Christmas date with his daughter(s). Dad, what’s your big plan for the fancy Daddy-daughter date?
8. Dad needs to schedule guy time with his son(s). Dad, what are you and your son(s) going to do that is active, outdoors, and fun?
9. Dad needs to help get the house decorated. Dad, are you really a big help to Mom with getting things ready?
10. Dad needs to ensure there are some holiday smells and sounds. Dad, is Christmas music on the iPod, is the tree up, can you smell cookies and cider?

C.S. Lewis quote

Here is the C.S. Lewis quote I referred to in class this morning.

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. "
- C. S. Lewis, from the The Weight of Glory

November 7 Class

On Sunday November 7 we will discuss Session 4 in the Gospel in Life study. Here is the description:

"SESSION 4: COMMUNITY – THE CONTEXT FOR CHANGE
In Session 4 we see that the church is “a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). It is a new humanity, a new community of people under the Lordship of Christ. We need to create a great community because that is, according to Jesus in John 17, a crucial way to show the world that we are truly followers of Christ. In fact, we see that we will not know God, change deeply, or win the world apart from community."

Read the Home Study on pp. 56-72 in preparation for class. Hope to see everyone there!

Christians and Halloween

I found this blog post thought-provoking - I'm wondering what the class thinks after reading. Reply in the comments if you have a perspective.

Here is a brief section from the article that includes a question:

So I went to two or three others houses, got basically the same story. The dark houses where the Christians live. They were all at church having a harvest festival.

Why? Why would a Christian choose not to be at home on the night that 82 children walk up to your front door? What on earth would possess a Christian not to want to be there?

Read the whole post here.

October 31 Class: New Room #336

Just a reminder we will meet in our new room this Sunday, #336 right down the hall from our previous room.

We will plan to continue our lesson on Idolatry -see the description on the October 24 post below.

Hope to see everyone there!

October 24 Class

On Sunday October 24 we will discuss Session 3 in the Gospel in Life study. Here is the description from the publisher:

SESSION 3: IDOLATRY – THE SIN BENEATH THE SIN

In Session 3 we look at idolatry. Nothing is to be more fundamental than God to our hearts—to our happiness, meaning in life, and identity. We see, however, that we easily create idols. An idol is anything besides Jesus Christ that we feel we must have to be happy, anything that is more important to our heart than God, anything that is enslaving our heart through inordinate desires. To remove idols we need to make Christ our over-mastering positive passion.

This session continues to help us examine the condition of our hearts that the good news of the Gospel transforms into a new creation.

The exercises on pages 43-44 of your Study Guide are particularly good and I recommend everyone giving this some reflection.

Flee to Christ

Loved this quote I came across today, especially in light of our current class discussions on the "Three Ways to Live". Here it is:

I have taken my good deeds and bad deeds and thrown them together in a heap and fled from them both to Christ, and in him I have peace. —David Dickson



HT: Challies

Signs of Spiritual Growth

In light of our recent lesson on growing in godliness, I thought these were good words for reflection from JC Ryle (as posted on Kevin DeYoung's blog post). I'll include Kevin's post in its entirety:

J.C. Ryle:
The man whose soul is “growing” takes more interest in spiritual
things every year. He does not neglect his duty in the world. He discharges
faithfully, diligently, and conscientiously every relation of life, whether at
home or abroad. But the things he loves best are spiritual things. The ways, and
fashions, and amusements, and recreations of the world have a continually
decreasing place in his heart. He does not condemn them as downright sinful, nor
say that those who have anything to do with them are going to hell. He only
feels that they have a constantly diminishing hold on his own affections, and
gradually seem smaller and more trifling in his eyes. Spiritual companions,
spiritual occupations, spiritual conversation, appear of ever-increasing value
to him. Would any one know if he is growing in grace? Then let him look within
for increasing spirituality of taste. (Holiness, 107)

"So I ask myself: Do I love Jesus a little more this year and football a
little bit less? Do I love the word more and the world less? Do I love to long
for spiritual things more and entertainment, politics, and hobbies less? Are the
things that truly taste best tasting better to me?"

The Gospel and Orphan Care

Here is good followup reading after hearing Bryant's sermon last week on the Church's call to care for orphans. These words are penned by Russell Moore, whom Bryant quoted at the beginning and end of his sermon. Honest words here that do not sugarcoat or romanticize this calling that is catching a wave in Christendom today.

"Right now, there is a crisis of fatherlessness all around the world.
Chances are, in your community, the foster care system is bulging with children,
moving from home to home to home, with no rootedness or permanence in sight.
Right now, as you read this, children are “aging out” of orphanages around the
world. Many of them will spiral downward into the hopelessness of drug
addiction, prostitution, or suicide. Children in the Third World are languishing
in group-homes, because both parents have died from disease or have been
slaughtered in war. The curse is afoot, and it leaves orphans in its wake.

Not every Christian is called to adopt or to foster children. And not
every family is equipped to serve every possible scenario of special needs that
come along with particular children. Orphan care isn’t easy. Families who care
for the least of these must count the cost, and be willing to offer up whatever
sacrifice is needed to carry through with their commitments to the children who
enter into their lives.

But, while not all of us are called to adopt, the Christian Scriptures
tell us that all of us are called to care “widows and orphans in their distress”
(Jas. 1:27). All of us are to be conformed to the mission of our Father God, a
mission that includes justice for the fatherless (Exod. 22:22; Deut. 10:18; Ps.
10:18; Prov. 23:10-11; Isa. 1:17; Jer. 7:6; Zech. 7:10). As we are conformed to
the image of Christ, we share with him his welcoming of the oppressed, the
abandoned, the marginalized; we recognize his face in the “least of these,” his
little brother and sisters (Matt. 25:40).

The followers of Jesus should fill in the gap left by a contemporary
Western consumer culture that extends even to the conception and adoption of
children. Who better than those who have been welcomed by Christ to care for the
most feared and least sought after of the world’s orphans? After all, who are
we, as those who are the invited to Jesus’ wedding feast? We are “the poor and
the crippled and the blind and the lame” (Lk. 14:21). Since that is the case,
Jesus tells us, we are to model the same kind of risk-taking, unconditional love
(Lk. 14:12), the kind that casts out fear.

Yes, orphan care can be risky. Justice for the fatherless will sap far more
from us than just the time it takes to advocate. These kids need to be reared,
to be taught, to be hugged, to be heard. Children who have been traumatized
often need more than we ever expect to give. It is easier to ignore those cries.
But love of any kind is risky.

The Gospel means it’s worth it to love, even to the point of shedding your
own blood. After all, that’s what made a family for ex-orphans like us."

Read the whole article here.

Here are some other recent articles that journal this current awakening among evangelical Christians:

Wall Street Journal

Christianity Today

Sunday Oct 10

This Sunday we will discuss Session 2 from the Gospel in Life study. Here is the description of the session from the website (italics mine):

Session 2: Heart Three Ways To Live

"In Session 2 we look at the parable of the two lost sons in Luke 15. We conclude that there are three ways to relate to God—irreligion, religion, and the gospel. The irreligious don’t repent at all. The religious only repent of sins. But Christians repent of both their sins and the reasons for their righteousness. The gospel is something entirely different from religion and irreligion. Only the gospel has the power to transform our hearts."

You are encouraged to read and think through the ideas presented in the Home Study on pages 14-30 of your Study Guide in advance of class. We think you will find the reading very thought provoking.

Hope to see you all in class!

Making Prayer a Priority

Below are some great words I needed to hear again posted on the DG blog from John Piper's classic book, Desiring God. These are near the end of the chapter on prayer. This book influenced my understanding of God and my relationship to him more than anything I have ever read outside the Bible. If you have not read the book, I encourage you to do so.

DG blog:

Here’s the challenge John Piper issues as he closes his chapter on prayer (chapter 6) in Desiring God:

[O]ne of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned.

But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it.

Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need midcourse corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer—for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy. (Desiring God, 2003 edition, pages 182–183)

I addition to Piper's book, two of the best books I've read on prayer I highly recommend are:
A Praying Life, by Paul Miller
Approaching God, by Steve Brown

SBS Class - New Study Starts Sunday Sep 26

Pursuing Godliness class: we will begin Session 1 of a new study this Sunday September 26, Gospel in Life-Grace Changes Everything, developed by Tim Keller. We will be using a study guide that can be obtained in class for $6.00. If you know of anyone looking for a new class or who would be interested in going through this study, now would be a good time to invite them.

From the opening words of the study guide:

"Gospel in Life is an eight-session course on the gospel and how to live it out in all of life, first in our hearts, then in community, and ultimately out into the world.

Session 1: City The World That Is

In Session 1 we learn that we are not just to seek prosperity and peace in the city where we live, but we are to seek prosperity and peace for the city, as well. We see the reasons that cities were created, how they have fallen under sin, and how we can be a part of redeeming them—how we are a part of God’s story to redeem and restore the whole world for his glory."

While no preparation is needed before Sunday's class, it would be useful to read in advance a passage from Jeremiah, Ch.29, verses 4-14.

Hope to see you all in class!

Thoughts on Growing in Godliness

Blogger Dane Ortlund compiles here some thoughtful answers from church leaders to the question, What's the Key to Healthy Christian Growth in Godliness?

Helpful reading in light of our class mission and purpose!




HT: Justin Taylor

Moore on God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck

Some provocative thoughts here from Russell Moore on the Glenn Beck event at the Lincoln Memorial. Here is the intro:

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And it is a scandal.

Read the whole article here.

Jesus, the Real Man

Here's a good one, especially for all you parents who have teens. While this is directed to the boys, it would be interesting to see what our girls think of boys in the categories described by Mark Driscoll in this article. As is typical with Driscoll, he is very direct, sarcastic at times, very funny, but I believe overall pretty right on in his points here. Read the whole article. A sampling:

Paul says a man is "the image and glory of God" (1 Cor. 11:7). He is to reflect the truth, goodness, love, and mercy of Jesus, his God and Savior. He is the glory of God.

I have no hope in guys. But I still have hope for the guys because they are the glory of God. God wants his glory to shine through men. God wants his kingdom to be made visible through them. God wants them be his sons. God wants them to follow, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the example of Jesus.

I don't care if you buy a truck or play some video games or rock out on your guitar. But the problem is when those are prevalent, predominant, and preeminent in your life. Some of you guys would argue and say, "It's not a sin." No, but sometimes it's just dumb. You got fired because you were up trying to get to the next level and become a guild leader. That's dumb. You work one part-time job so you can play more guitar or Frisbee golf. That's dumb. You spend all your money on a new car or truck, or toys, or gear, or clothes, or gambling, or fantasy football. Dumb. Some of you say, "Well, it's not a sin." Neither is eating your lawnmower. It's just dumb. There are a lot of things that Christian guys do that aren't evil, they're just dumb and childish.

Men, you are to be creators and cultivators. God is a creator and a cultivator and you were made to image him. Create a family and cultivate your wife and children. Create a ministry and cultivate other people. Create a business and cultivate it. Be a giver, not a taker, a producer and not just a consumer. Stop looking for the path of least resistance and start running down the path of greatest glory to God and good to others because that's what Jesus, the real man, did.

The Gospel: A-Z, not the ABC's

Below is a post I did several months ago. I am re-posting in light of our focus on the Gospel and my comments a few weeks ago when we introduced our class series on the Gospel this Fall. He states well here the need in the church today to apply the Gospel to all of life.

Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (and grandson of Billy Graham), has written a new book, Surprised By Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels , which uses the book of Jonah to illustrate God's amazing grace. Here is a great excerpt from the book that illustrates how our view of the Gospel's impact to our lives is often limited to only a past tense experience, or something only non-believers need to hear, and not integral to how we live each and every day:

He writes:

I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must
believe in order to be saved, but after they believe it, they advance to deeper
theological waters. Jonah helped me realize that the gospel isn’t the first step
in a stairway of truths but more like the hub in a wheel of truth. As Tim Keller
explains it, the gospel isn’t simply the ABCs of Christianity, but the
A-through-Z. The gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel
that keeps Christians going every day. Once God rescues sinners, his plan isn’t
to steer them beyond the gospel but to move them more deeply into it. After all,
the only antidote to sin is the gospel—and since Christians remain sinners even
after they’re converted, the gospel must be the medicine a Christian takes every
day. Since we never leave off sinning, we can never leave the gospel.

This idea that the gospel is just as much for Christians as for non-Christians may
seem like a new idea to many, but, in fact, it is really a very old idea. In his
letter to the Christians of Colossae, the apostle Paul quickly portrays the
gospel as the instrument of all continued growth and spiritual progress for
believers after conversion: “All over the world,” he writes, “this gospel is
bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you
heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Col. 1:6 NIV).

After meditating on Paul’s words here, a friend once told me that all our problems in
life stem from our failure to apply the gospel. This means we can’t really move
forward unless we learn more thoroughly the gospel’s content and how to apply it
to all of life. Real change does not and cannot come independently of the
gospel, which is the good news that even though we’re more defective and lost
than we ever imagined, we can be more accepted and loved than we ever dared
hope, because Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again for sinners like you and
me. God intends this reality to mold and shape us at every point in every way.
It should define the way we think, feel, and live.

Martin Luther often employed the phrase simul Justus et peccator to describe his condition as a Christian. It means “simultaneously justified and sinful.” He understood that while he’d already been saved (through justification) from sin’s penalty, he was in daily need of salvation from sin’s power. And since the gospel is the “power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1:16), he knew that even for the most saintly of saints the gospel is wholly relevant and vitally necessary—day in and day out.
This means that heralded preachers need the gospel just as much as hardened
pagans. (16-17)

The Centrality of the Gospel

In class last Sunday I quoted much of a resolution that was passed by delegates to the recent SBC convention in June, calling for our churches to place emphasis on the centrality of the Gospel in all that we teach and practice. Here is a very helpful version of the resolution along with Scripture references supporting each section. This is a very well-written document that I highly recommend reading. We'll have opportunity to flesh this out in our Fall class time as we will be focusing on applying the Gospel to all of life.

Plodding Visionaries

The Lord willing, we plan to revisit the idea of godliness in class on August 8. Sometimes it can be frustrating in that we don't see the progress in our spiritual growth we'd hoped or expected in our journey as a Christian. I found this idea of a "plodding visionary", a phrase coined and described here by Kevin DeYoung, very useful in thinking about our lifetime walk with God and our desire for our churches and ourselves to be more like Christ:

It is easy to blast the church for all her failures. It is harder to live in the church day after day, year after year, with all of the ho hum, hum drum, and to slowly and consistently make a difference.

What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. We need to ask the right questions, we need to have the right expectations, and we need to establish the right vision.…

Here is my burden for our generation: along with all of the necessary pleas we have to be earnest and intense and radical and sold out. With all of that, I just also want to wave the banner from Zechariah 4:10, “Do not despise the days of small things.” That is what I mean by being plodding visionaries.

If you are a visionary, you don’t have your head in the sand. You are going somewhere. You are looking out. You are moving in a direction. But you are a plodder. One foot in front of the other.

Many of us are attracted to a Tasmanian Devil kind of Christianity…splattering, spinning around. You get fired up—praise God for that—and you spin out like the Tasmanian Devil ready to conquer the world for Christ and you blow up into a tree somewhere.

We need plodding visionaries.

When I wrote the book on the church I read nine books that called for a revolution. Every other day it seems like I read of a new manifesto. We may need to just simplify a little: Get on the right road and keep going.

Our generation in particular is prone to radicalism without follow-through. We want to change the world and we have never changed a diaper. You want to make a difference for Christ? Here is where you can start: this Sunday, volunteer for the nursery. Say, “Here I am, pastor. What can I do to serve?”

Great Thoughts on Daily Prayer

Considering our recent study of the Lord's Prayer, here is a really useful post by Tim Keller offering ideas of how to incorporate prayer, meditation, and Bible Reading into our everyday life.

Lots of good wisdom from a seasoned pastor here. Read the whole article.

Family Worship

Many of us desire to have meaningful family worship times together in our homes, but struggle in this area. I know I do. I found this post from the Resurgence blog by Tim Smith helpful in this regard:

1. Keep it short

I would recommend 15-30 minutes, as a general rule. If things are going well, you can always keep the conversation going, but the goal should be brevity. If you make a discussion too long, it will become tedious and can actually turn your kids away from God. This time should be an overflow of all the Scripture, prayer, and discussion going on in the rest of your lives—not the only place where it happens.

2. Read

Most importantly, family worship is a time for Scripture. Make sure to read small chunks, maybe only a verse or two, at a time and then unpack it together. You can go through a book of the Bible, pick a verse that applies to the day’s events, or choose something topical. The important thing here is connecting Scripture to life in a way that your kids can understand. For younger kids, the The Jesus Storybook Bible is pretty hard to beat.

3. Pray

Everyone should pray together. Thank God for what he has done and how he has provided. Take requests. Pray for each other. Pray for your city and specific lost people in your lives. Remember that you are building a rhythm, which is just as important as any specific prayer.

4. Sing

It doesn’t matter if you can play an instrument or your voice curdles milk—we should all sing songs to God. Scripture is full of song, and our families should be as well. Truth be told, you are probably more of the problem with this than your kids. Young kids naturally sing all the time without any self-consciousness. Get over your hang-ups and desire for perfection and just sing together. My girls and I are making family songbooks as a creative project, and they’re stoked.

5. Keep it regular

The sum is greater than the parts. You will have off days. You will miss days. You may even question your call to ministry. Whatever happens, just keep at it and God will make you equal to the task.

6. Older kids set the example

If your oldest kid is not engaged, your younger ones will follow. Challenge your oldest children to set the example for their siblings. Give them a bit of ownership and a role in how you structure these times, and it will be a huge help.

7. Limit TV

I’m not saying kill television completely, but there is no doubt in my mind that excessive TV rots the attention span. If your kids, or you for that matter, can’t pay attention to anything for more than two minutes, then think about what other entertainment might be captivating your senses.

HT: Take Your Vitamin Z

Daily Checklist

I thought this was a useful little blog post. Surely we can all work more than a few of these into our day. From the 9Marks blog (italics mine):

See how many of these things you have already completed (or can still do later today)...

1. Have you read your Bible and prayed?

2. Have you given God thanks for something?

3. Have you encouraged someone?

4. Have you considered your sin? (and have you repented of it?)

5. Have you told the gospel to anyone?

6. Have you given God praise for his character?

7. Can you think of a way to serve someone you love?

8. Can you write someone a (brief) note/email that might help them through a struggle?

9. Can you protect your eyes and heart from lusting on your way home?

10. Can you remind yourself of the gospel? (it is never a bad time to recount this glorious truth!)

Please don't make this a list for the super-spiritual (if you did a lot of these things) or the spiritually poor (if you didn't do any of these things). Why not simply pick one or two new ones and incorporate them into your day tomorrow?

Matthew Henry on the Lord's Prayer

There is a great online resource available on prayer, the complete text of Matthew Henry's classic book Method for Prayer. Here is the link to Chapter 7 which covers the Lord's Prayer. You may wish to add this to your devotional reading as we continue our study of the Lord's Prayer in class. The unique aspect of Henry's book is that it teaches us to use the Scriptures as the foundation of our prayers. Check it out.

Church: Like a Business......or a Family?

Here's a very clear articulation by Mark Driscoll on what has to happen for a church to really function as a healthy body.....

The Lord's Prayer: 3 Strands

As we continue to study and apply the Lord's Prayer, this article by David Powlison, Praying Beyond the Sick List, is very useful. Here is a summary of the article included on the Between Two Worlds blog (one I encourage you to visit frequently) that highlights three strands of Biblical prayer, woven together in the Lord's Prayer:

"In this article David Powlison identifies three emphases of biblical prayer:

1. circumstantial prayers
2. wisdom prayers
3. kingdom prayers

He explains:

1. Sometimes we ask God to change our circumstances—heal the sick, give us daily bread, protect us from suffering and evildoers, make our political leaders just, convert our friends and family, make our work and ministries prosper, provide us with a spouse, quiet this dangerous storm, send us rain, give us a child.
2. Sometimes we ask God to change us—deepen our faith, teach us to love each other, forgive our sins, make us wise where we tend to be foolish, help us know You better, give us understanding of Scripture, teach us how to encourage others.
3. Sometimes we ask God to change everything by revealing Himself more fully on the stage of real life, magnifying the degree to which His glory and rule are obvious—Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, be exalted above the heavens, let Your glory be over all of the earth, let Your glory fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, come Lord Jesus.

The Lord’s Prayer, he points out, contains all three, tightly interwoven.

The Lord’s kingdom (#3) involves the destruction of our sins (#2) and our sufferings (#1). His reign causes a flourishing of love’s perfect wisdom and a wealth of situational blessing. Prayers for God to change my circumstances and to change me are, in their inner logic, requests that He reveal His glory and mercy on the stage of this world.

I especially appreciate his emphasis that these strands are mutually reinforcing, so that if one gets neglected it hurts the other two as well.

When any of these three strands of prayer gets detached from the other two, prayer tends to go sour.

If you just pray for better circumstances, then God becomes the errand boy (usually somewhat disappointing) who exists to give you your shopping list of desires and pleasures—no sanctifying purposes, no higher glory. Prayer becomes gimme, gimme, gimme.

If you only pray for personal change, then it tends to reveal an obsession with moral self improvement, a self-absorbed spirituality detached from engaging with other people and the tasks of life. Where is the longing for Christ’s kingdom to right all wrongs, not just to alleviate my sins so I don’t feel bad about myself? Prayer pursues self-centered, morally-strenuous asceticism, with little evidence of real love, trust, or joy.

If we only pray for the sweeping invasion of the kingdom, then prayers tend towards irrelevance and overgeneralization, failing to work out how the actual kingdom rights real wrongs, wipes away real tears, and removes real sins. Such prayers pursue a God who never touches ground until the last day.

May God help us to have prayers that weave together all three."

SBC Convention: The GCR Debate

Blogger Trevin Wax has an excellent summary of the differing viewpoints around the primary issue that will be addressed at the upcoming SBC convention in Orlando, the recommendation of the GCR Task Force. Here is the summary of areas addressed in the final proposal:

1. Getting the Mission Right
2. Making Our Values Transparent
3. Celebrating and Empowering Great Commission Giving
4. Reaching North America
5. Reaching Unreached and Underserved People Groups within North America
6. Promoting the Cooperative Program and Elevating Stewardship
7. The Call of the Nations and the SBC Allocation Budget

From Wax's blog post:

It’s easy to be confused about the recommendations of the Great Commission Task Force. Through state papers, blogs and websites, the conversation about the future of the Southern Baptist Convention has been going on at a furious pace.

Whenever two points of view become overly politicized, the rhetoric heats up. Hype can eventually obscure reality, leading to misunderstandings and miscommunication on the part of both camps. GCR supporters have sometimes spoken as if this resolution will be the spark of a worldwide revival which will send renewal through the SBC. GCR detractors have sometimes spoken as if these resolutions would end the SBC as we know it and destroy all our cooperative efforts.

In this article, I wish to cut through the hype by briefly summarizing the final GCR proposal and the contending viewpoints, providing clarity regarding these recommendations.

Read the whole article here.

Dads: Leadership and Family Vacations

For all the Dads who are taking your families on a vacation this summer, I encourage you to read this helpful article by C.J. Mahaney, entitled Leadership + and Family Vacations. A brief excerpt will illustrate the point of the article:

"Here’s what I’ve learned. The difference between forgettable vacations
and unforgettable vacations is not the location or attractions. Nope. The
difference between forgettable and unforgettable vacations is the father’s
attitude and leadership. This makes all the difference.

Family vacations provide a unique opportunity each year for fathers to
create memories their children will never forget. Memories that will last a
lifetime. Memories that will be recreated by your children with your
grandchildren. Memories that will outlive a father. But in order to create
these memories, a father must be diligent to serve and lead during
a vacation. How a father views his role on a vacation will make all the difference
in the vacation."

Read the whole thing.

Day in and Day Out

Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (and grandson of Billy Graham), has written a new book, Surprised By Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels , which uses the book of Jonah to illustrate God's amazing grace. Here is a great excerpt from the book that illustrates how our view of the Gospel's impact to our lives is often limited to only to a past tense experience, or something only non-believers need to hear, and not integral to how we live each and every day:

He writes:

I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must
believe in order to be saved, but after they believe it, they advance to deeper
theological waters. Jonah helped me realize that the gospel isn’t the first step
in a stairway of truths but more like the hub in a wheel of truth. As Tim Keller
explains it, the gospel isn’t simply the ABCs of Christianity, but the
A-through-Z. The gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel
that keeps Christians going every day. Once God rescues sinners, his plan isn’t
to steer them beyond the gospel but to move them more deeply into it. After all,
the only antidote to sin is the gospel—and since Christians remain sinners even
after they’re converted, the gospel must be the medicine a Christian takes every
day. Since we never leave off sinning, we can never leave the gospel.

This idea that the gospel is just as much for Christians as for non-Christians may
seem like a new idea to many, but, in fact, it is really a very old idea. In his
letter to the Christians of Colossae, the apostle Paul quickly portrays the
gospel as the instrument of all continued growth and spiritual progress for
believers after conversion: “All over the world,” he writes, “this gospel is
bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you
heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Col. 1:6 NIV).

After meditating on Paul’s words here, a friend once told me that all our problems in
life stem from our failure to apply the gospel. This means we can’t really move
forward unless we learn more thoroughly the gospel’s content and how to apply it
to all of life. Real change does not and cannot come independently of the
gospel, which is the good news that even though we’re more defective and lost
than we ever imagined, we can be more accepted and loved than we ever dared
hope, because Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again for sinners like you and
me. God intends this reality to mold and shape us at every point in every way.
It should define the way we think, feel, and live.

Martin Luther often employed the phrase simul Justus et peccator to describe his condition as a Christian. It means “simultaneously justified and sinful.” He understood that while he’d already been saved (through justification) from sin’s penalty, he was in daily need of salvation from sin’s power. And since the gospel is the “power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1:16), he knew that even for the most saintly of saints the gospel is wholly relevant and vitally necessary—day in and day out.
This means that heralded preachers need the gospel just as much as hardened
pagans. (16-17)

Great Bible Study Tool

The Between Two Worlds blog highlights here an excellent tool developed by 9Marks Ministries to use to when reading a biblical text, to draw out the main points of the passage you are reading:

"The application grid is a helpful tool from 9Marks that can serve pastors preparing sermons, as well as all of us when reading biblical texts. The grid has you examine how the main point of a passage applies to six areas:

1. Unique salvation-historical. Does the main point address a text that thrusts forward the unfolding plot of redemption in history?
2. Individual Non-Christian. Does the main point have implications for the unbeliever’s thinking, behavior, or motivations?
3. Public. Does the main point have implications for how we conduct ourselves in the public squares of commerce, politics, justice, etc . . . ?
4. Christological. Does the main point have implications for how we think about Christ Himself?
5. Individual Christian. Does the main point have implications for my own persona discipleship to Christ?
6. Local church. Does the main point have implications for how we conduct ourselves as an assembled congregation or in our corporate life together?

To print out a blank grid in PDF, click on the image below. Following the blank grid, there’s one filled out from an overview of 2 Samuel."

Reaching the Next Generation

I'm re-posting this from last October, as I think it very relevant given our current class topic on discipling teens.

Kevin DeYoung is fast becoming one of my favorite bloggers to read regularly. I urge everyone to read his latest series of blog posts on "Reaching the Next Generation" (i.e. our youth). Here's a sampling from the post entitled Reaching the Next Generation: Hold Them With Holiness :

"One of our problems is that we have no done a good job of modeling Christian faith in the home and connecting our youth with other mature Christian adults in the church. One youth leader has commented that how often our young people “attended youth events (including Sunday school and discipleship groups) was not a good predictor of which teens would and which would not grow toward Christian adulthood.” Instead, “almost without exception, those young people who are growing in their faith as adults were teenagers who fit into one of two categories: either (1) they came from families where Christian growth was modeled in at least one of their parents, or (2) they had developed such significant connections with adults within the church that it had become an extended family for them.” Likewise, sociologist Christian Smith argues that though most teenagers and parents don’t realize it, “a lot of research in the sociology of religion suggests that the most important social influence in shaping young people’s religious lives is the religious life modeled and taught to them by their parents.”

The take home from all this is pretty straight forward. The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians. Granted, good parents still have wayward children and faithful mentors don’t always get through to their pupils. But in the church as a whole, the promise of 2 Peter 1 is as true as ever. If we are holy, we will be fruitful. Personal connections with growing Christians is what the next generation needs more than ever."

I am thankful for posts like this that remind me of the call God has for my life as a father, and that call me to repent for living forgetful of this truth so often.

Followup on MTD

Last week I mentioned the idea of "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism", which describes the type of faith found in the life of a normal teenager in America today, based on the research done by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton and documented in their book, Soul Searching: The Religious And Spiritual Lives Of American Teenagers.

See this article, On “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” as U.S. Teenagers’ Actual, Tacit, De Facto Religious Faith for a very good summary article of the book's primary findings.

Facebook and Privacy...things to Consider

Related to our discussion last week on social media's impact to us and to our children, Ed Stetzer, who recently preached at Johnson Ferry in January, and a very tech-savvy guy, has this to say about Facebook:

"I live a public life through Twitter, the blog and my Facebook public page, but I also think it's important to have the freedom to limit what I share. Facebook no longer agrees and, since it is their system, I deleted my personal page yesterday. My friend Bill Kinnon is out as well. Read his thoughts here.

Facebook has decided that I cannot stay on, connect with a couple hundred friends, and interact without being listed for all to see. For what it is worth, if I were you, I would have concerns about the continual erosion of privacy that Facebook represents. Simply put, Facebook is increasingly unconcerned about privacy. Again, as Wired magazine explained, Facebook has gone rogue."

To read more about his concerns, check out the whole article here.

Moralism (Religion) vs the Gospel

As a followup to our discussion in class this morning about the moralistic approach to faith observed in our young people (and us old folks, too!) see the summary below put together by Tim Keller, one of my favorite communicators of what it means to live in light of the Gospel as a follower of Christ. Spend a few minutes reading , then meditating on these statements comparing "religion" vs. the Gospel. I find his approach here to be very fresh and insightful. I highly recommend Keller's book The Prodigal God which really fleshes out some of this material.

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

Millennial Generation

Interesting article here from USA Today on the spiritual beliefs of today's 18-29 year old young adults, or "Millennials". Read in advance of our upcoming lessons on discipling our teens. Wonder what our teens will be called when they hit 18? Any ideas? And will they be characterized by the same traits mentioned in this article? Let us pray for our children and be faithful in discipleship and in encouraging one another as we journey together.

489 years ago today

Some significant church history, as recounted at the Desiring God blog - may our consciences be "captive to the Word of God"!:

"On April 17th, 1521, Martin Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms under the charge of heresy. A pile of his own writings was set before him, many written in critique of the Roman Catholic Church, and he was asked to either defend or revoke them.

Luther was uncertain about how to respond, so he asked for more time. It was granted. He would appear before the Diet again the next day.

Luther's differences with the Church of Rome had been the result of his own careful study of Scripture. He had read things in the Bible that were at odds with many of the doctrines and practices of the Church in his day, and his conscience under God had become burdened to speak about them.

So he wrote. He originally intended his writing to help return the Church to a more biblical form of Christianity, not cause a split. But few heard him that way. Instead, for most, at least among the religious and political leaders, his cries sounded more like the ringings of rebellion.

On April 18th, when Luther reappeared before the Diet to give his response, his examiner, Johann Eck, restated the question (with some prologue):

Martin, how can you assume that you are the only one to understand the sense of Scripture? Would you put your judgment above that of so many famous men and claim that you know more than they all?

You have no right to call into question the most holy orthodox faith, instituted by Christ the perfect law-giver, proclaimed throughout the world by the apostles, sealed by the red blood of the martyrs, confirmed by the sacred councils, defined by the Church in which all our fathers believed until death and gave to us as an inheritance, and which now we are forbidden by the pope and the emperor to discuss lest there be no end of debate.

I ask you, Martin—answer candidly and without horns—do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors which they contain?

Luther had his response:

Since then Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.

(Quotations from Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton. Paragraphing added.)

* * *

For more on the outcome of the Diet of Worms, see the Wikipedia article.

For more on Luther's life and labors, see John Piper's biographical message on him or buy the book."

Atonement Follow-up

A few weeks ago in class we discussed how some in our day are promoting a diminished (or even antagonistic) view of Christ's atonement for us on the Cross, virtually dismissing the idea of Christ's penal substitutionary atonement. For more on this, read this good article by Mark Dever in Christianity Today.

Also, below are good words by Kevin DeYoung addressing the same issue. Note the reference to Leviticus, which we are reading now in class.

Tony Jones wrote today about "Why Jesus Died." Here's his conclusion, which grieves me deeply:

Some people today may find it compelling that some Great Cosmic Transaction took place on that day 1,980 years ago, that God's wrath burned against his son instead of against me. I find that version of atonement theory neither intellectually compelling, spiritually compelling, nor in keeping with the biblical narrative.

Instead, Jesus death offers life because in Christianity, and in Christianity alone, the God and Creator of the universe deigned to become human, to be tempted, to reach out to those who had been de-humanized and restore their humanity, and ultimately to die in solidarity with every one of us. Yes, he was a sacrifice. Yes, he was "sinless." But thank God, Jesus was also human.

The hope he offers is that, by dying on that cross, the eternal Trinity became forever bound to my humanity. The God of the universe identified with me, and I have the opportunity to identify with him.

Today, and every day, I hang with him on that cross.

What can we say in response to this?

Leviticus 16:20-22 "And when he has made an end of atonement for the Holy Place and the tend of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness."

Isaiah 53:4-6 "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Hebrews 2:14-17 "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

Praise God that he sent his Son not just to share in our weaknesses, but to bear our iniquities. Praise God that the Suffering Servant was not just wounded for our identification, but for our transgressions. Praise God that the Son of Man came not just be a restoration of our humanity, but a ransom for our sin. Praise God that our perfect Brother shared not just in our humanity, but shared in our humanity that he might become a high priest in the service of God, a high priest who offered himself once for all as our eternal redemption. Because without the shedding of blood Jesus could have still been human, but without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin."

Praying for Our Teens and the People of Matamoros

Below is a short video that gives an overview of the type work our young people will do on their trip to Mexico and also shows the Gateway facility where they will stay. Take note of the discussion of the needs of the people of Matamoros which can help us to pray specifically for God to work through our kids to meet these needs and for the Gospel to change lives!

Matamoros, Mexico - Edge Short-Term Mission Trips from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo.

In Christ Alone

IMHO, the song "In Christ Alone" by Getty and Townend is one of the best modern-era hymns because of its clear proclaiming of what was accomplished for us by the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. See this beautiful vocal and piano version of this song, and the lyrics below.




In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled when strivings cease!
My Comforter my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This Gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied -For every sin on Him was laid:
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till he returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

It Really Happened

"If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead."
— Timothy Keller (The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

Here are a good set of posts by Michael Patton summarizing the primary "internal" and "external" evidence for the resurrection.

internal evidence - within the biblical texts themselves:

• Honesty
• Irrelevant Details
• Harmony
• Public Extraordinary Claims
• Lack of Motivation for Fabrication

external evidence - support from outside the biblical texts:

• Preservation of the Documents
• Archeology
• Extra-biblical Attestation
• Survival in a Hostile Environment

HT: Between Two Worlds

God's Love on Good Friday

Kevin DeYoung:
(Bold italics mine)

"If we try to rescue the love of God by diminishing the wrath of God we will end up diminishing the very love we were trying to rescue. The cross demonstrates the love of God not because it speaks to our great worth, but because, in electing grace, it turns away God’s just wrath.

If God simply kept us from being estranged and delivered us from possible peril, then we would surely feel something of God’s mercy. But the Bible demands that we imagine a different scenario, leading a richer experience of God’s love Calvin explains:

Suppose [a man] learns, as Scripture teaches, that he was estranged from God through sin, is an heir of wrath, subject to the curse of eternal death, excluded from all hope of salvation, beyond every blessing of God, the slave of Satan, captive under the yoke of sin, destined finally for a dreadful destruction and already involved in it; and that at this point Christ interceded as his advocate, took upon himself and suffered the punishment that, from God’s righteous judgment, threatened all sinners; that he purged with his blood those evils which had rendered sinners hateful to God; that by this expiation he made satisfaction and sacrifice duly to God the Father; that as intercessor he has appeased God’s wrath; that on this foundation rests the peace of God with men; that by this bond his benevolence is maintained toward them. Will the man not then be even more moved by all these things which so vividly portray the greatness of the calamity from which he has been rescued? (Inst. II.xvi.2)

Divine mercy without divine wrath is meaningless. We have been rescued from much, forgiven for everything, and saved unto infinitely more than we deserve. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

That's my King!......Always a Good Listen

Some of you may have seen this before.....watch and listen through to the end. I know... kind of ironic given some of my comments re: "The Passion of the Christ" yesterday in class!

Great Prayer to Begin Holy Week

From Scotty Smith's blog:

A Prayer About the Very Reason Jesus Came

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” John 12:27-32

Dear Lord Jesus, it’s Monday of Holy Week and my heart is profoundly comforted as I reflect on how profoundly troubled your heart was, as the events of that week began to unfold. There was no doubt in your mind why you came into Jerusalem riding the foal of a donkey, but there was unparalleled conflict in your heart… and understandably so.

At the end of the week you would willingly take the holy wrath of Judgment Day for all who will trust in you—being made sin for us that in you we might become the very righteousness of God. At the end of the week, your “bruised heel” would secure the ultimate crushing and “driving out” of the “prince of this world”—Satan himself. At the end of the week, you would pay the supreme price that alone guarantees the redemption of men and women from every single nation, tribe, people and language—a number as great as the stars in the sky, the sand of the beaches, and the dust of the earth…

For this very reason you came from eternity into time and space… for this very reason you emptied yourself of your glory by taking the form of a servant-man—the Lord’s Servant… for this very reason the Father spoke thunderous words from heaven for our benefit… for this very reason you became obedient—even obedient to death on the cross. Understandably so, your heart was troubled, greatly troubled.

As the events of our week now unfold, grant us grace to survey the wonders of your cross, Lord Jesus, with greater awe and gratitude than ever. In an hour when many in our culture are marginalizing and minimizing, denying or dismissing your cross, may our boasting in your cross grow by all-time exponential proportions. So very Amen, we pray, in the beauty and bounty of your most glorious name.

The Room

You may have read this in the past as one of those viral emails that everyone forwarded on to their friends. Read it before class this week as we will discuss "A Way to Be Good Again". This refers to the atonement and is the title of a chapter I just read in Joshua Harris's new book, Dug Down Deep. You can read about the origin of The Room here.

The Room by Joshua Harris

In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features save for the one wall covered with small index-card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endlessly in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I Have Liked." I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one.
And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn't match.
A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching. A file named "Friends" was next to one marked "Friends I Have Betrayed."
The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. "Books I Have Read," "Lies I Have Told," "Comfort I Have Given," "Jokes I Have Laughed At." Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: "Things I've Yelled at My Brothers." Others I couldn't laugh at: "Things I Have Done in My Anger," "Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents." I never ceased to be surprised by the contents. Often there were many more cards than I expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped.
I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived. Could it be possible that I had the time in my 20 years to write each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature.
When I pulled out the file marked "Songs I Have Listened To," I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn't found the end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of music, but more by the vast amount of time I knew that file represented.
When I came to a file marked "Lustful Thoughts," I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded.
An almost animal rage broke on me. One thought dominated my mind: "No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!" In an insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn't matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards. But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it
Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. And then I saw it. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With." The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.
And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key.
But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him. No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus.
I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn't bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one?
Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn't anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn't say a word. He just cried with me.
Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card.
"No!" I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was "No, no," as I pulled the card from Him. His name shouldn't be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, so alive. The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood.
He gently took the card back. He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don't think I'll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side. He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, "It is finished."
I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.

By Joshua Harris. Originally published in New Attitude Magazine. Copyright New Attitude, 1995.