Today’s Quote – Hardening (Piper)

John Piper, Contending for Our All:

One great hindrance to holiness of the Word is that we are prone to preach and write without pressing into the things we say and making them real to our own souls.  Over the years words begin to come easy, and we find we can speak mysteries without standing in awe; we can speak of purity without feeling pure; we can speak of zeal without spiritual passion; we can speak of sin without sorrow; we can speak of heaven without eagerness.  And the result is an increasing hardening of the spiritual life.

Book Review: Why We’re Not Emergent

Title:  Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)

Authors:  Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Publisher:  Moody Publishers, 2008; 256 pp. $14.99

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

Just when I thought, “do we really need another book on the emergent church?” I visited another church recently.

It’s not an emergent church.  But it’s also not a healthy church.

A 75-minute worship service, and there were no Scripture readings and no public prayers (save for a 30-second benedictory prayer at the end of the service).

Again, the church I attended is not emergent, and I’m quite certain that is not leaning towards emergent philosophy.  But the church is symptomatic of the poor condition of many churches on the American scene.  And for that reason this book is needed.

This book is needed as information about the extreme movements within the church, but as a warning against the subtle shifts that take place on the way to heresy.

While there may be books that are more technical and precise on this topic (Carson’s Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church comes to mind), few will be more accessible and readable for the average reader.

Written in two different styles (DeYoung is a pastor, Kluck a writer who has written for publications like ESPN:  the Magazine) and alternating chapters, they together address the multiple divergences of the emergent church:  a denial of Scriptural authority, an embracing of Jesus that denies the centrality of the cross (call this the “culture-transforming Jesus” as opposed to the “sin-defeating Jesus”), a concern for social issues devoid of gospel proclamation (at least as the good news has been traditionally understood by the orthodox church), a denial of God’s wrath and the reality of hell, and an unwillingness to state, “thus says the Lord…” on any substantive issues.

What motivated them to write this book?  Kluck answers:

As a Christian man, specifically a husband and father, I need truth.  I need to worship a God who makes demands on my character, with consequences.  I need to know that Christianity is about more than me just “reaching my untapped potential” or “finding the God inside me.”  I need to know that I worship a Christ who died, bodily, and rose from the dead.  Literally.  I need to know that decisions can (and should) be made based on Scripture and not just experience.  These things that give me peace in a world of maybe. [p. 28]

Not every community will have churches that openly acknowledge that they are emergent.  But every church will feel the tug and seduction of emergent “success.”  And every church member will feel the pressure of condescending sneers from people who mistake gracious dogmatism over theological essentials for so-called intolerance.  The question is not whether we will feel the pressure of the warmed-up and leftover liberalism of the emergent movement.  The question is how well we will stand against these untruths.

This book, which I highly recommend, will help you to stand well.

Book Review: Splitting Heirs

Title:  Splitting Heirs:  Giving Your Money and Things to Your Children Without Ruining Their Lives

Author:  Ron Blue

Publisher:  Northfield Publishing, 2008; 224 pp. $14.99

Recommendation (4-star scale): 

You may have more money to leave to your heirs than you think.

And leaving them less than they may think is equitable is probably better for them than they think.

This is the basic message of Ron Blue’s book that addresses the topic of what to do with your money at the time of your death.  Actually, that’s not completely accurate — Blue advocates being proactive with making decisions about the resources you will leave behind before you die.

With great care, he walks readers through the kinds of decisions they will have to make with their resources, what the various tax implications are for each of those decisions, how to make decisions that care for their families (and don’t ruin them with too much wealth too suddenly) and glorify God, and how to communicate those decisions to and with the family members.

The book is clearly and well-written and is a quick read, but is also very helpful — because many people are reticent to address issues relating to their own deaths (they no more want to draft wills than they want to think about their own funeral services).  And this book graciously addresses important financial considerations for all believers, but particularly those in the latter half of life (the over-40 crowd).  If you find yourself in that group, this book is for you.

Sunday Leftovers (6/28/09)

It is human nature to break promises.  Governments make and break promises.  Advertisers and politicians make and break promises.  Employers and employees, preachers and church members, parents and children, husbands and wives, and friends and relatives all make promises to each other which often are broken.  Some are made with the best of intentions, and some are made in order to deceive and exploit.  But all of us find ourselves both making and receiving promises that, for whatever reason, do not materialize.  [John MacArthur, Ephesians]

And that is why the promises of God are so important and significant — for in a world of promise-breakers [I have a large file folder bursting with void and worthless warranties to give testimony to the above statement], He is the only promise keeper.  He alone maintains every promise and covenant He has ever made.

So when He declares that He accepts the judgment of Christ on the cross as satisfactory payment for those who trust in Christ and when He states that the sin of those who believe in Christ is transferred to Christ, and that likewise the righteousness of Christ is accounted to those sinners who believe in the only Son of God, then His declaration is true and trustworthy.

His statement is enough.  When He says (Eph. 1:3-14) that —

• He chose us
• He chose us to be holy and blameless
• He predestined us to adoption as His sons
• He redeemed us through the blood of Christ
• He forgave us through the blood of Christ
• Out of His kindness and love He revealed His will to us
• We have become His inheritance
• He is working all things together according to His will and plan,

then that is enough.  His word is sure.

Yet in His most remarkable grace, He also provides us the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit as a further guarantee of all the rich treasures of grace that will come in the future.  The Spirit, then, becomes an inward testimony to the outward reality of God’s acceptance of Christ for our salvation.

What a great salvation we have in Christ, indeed.

Today’s Quote – Suffering (Mahaney)

C. J. Mahaney, Humility:  True Greatness:

Those who know true joy in the midst of suffering are those who recognize that, in this life, our suffering is never as great or as serious as our sins.  As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “How far less [are] the greatest afflictions that we meet with in this world…than we have deserved.”

Today’s Quote – Graduation (Hendricks)

Howard Hendricks (answering the question, “Do you have any words of wisdom for our graduates?”):

Don’t believe your press reports.  It bothers me that many students go out and are successful, which is the beginning of their failure.  They believe that it’s them, when it’s not.  This is why I would say to someone, ‘Use all the resources God has given you, just don’t trust in them.’  John 15;5 says, ‘Without me, you can do nothing.’  He’ll use your education, your giftedness, He’ll use your experience, your training…but in the final analysis, He’s the one who’s going to do it.

If I had to boil it down, I’d say, ‘Lie low and exalt grace.’  Because you can’t promote yourself and Him at the same time.  You are going to have to decide who is the center of attraction to you and your ministry.

Making short-term missions more effective

In a recent series of articles on Desiring God, the question of how to make short-term mission trips valuable and effective for both church and missionary was addressed.

In one article, John Piper affirmed his church’s commitment to short-term trips:

I said in a previous question that everybody should want to do short-term missions. One of the reasons for that is that we’re a global church, and seeing the way the church functions outside of your own culture is enriching, broadening, strengthening, and deepening, and it gives you a bigger picture of God.

So one of the functions of short-term missions is all of those things: more of God, learning to trust him more, learning how he works in another culture, learning what missionary life is like, taking some risks yourself. All those things are good for us.

Secondly we want it to be good for missions. So part of the strategy is to make sure that missionaries want you to come before you go. That would be a part of it.

For ease of reading, I’ve compiled the series into one Word document.

Today’s Quote – Heaven (Baxter)

Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest:

He that makes not God his chief good and ultimate end, is in heart a pagan and a vile idolater.

Let me ask, then, dost thou truly account it thy chief happiness to enjoy the Lord in glory, or dost thou not? Canst thou say, “The Lord is my portion? Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee?”

If thou be an heir of rest, it is thus with thee. Though the flesh will be pleading for its own delights, and the world will be creeping into thine affections, yet in thy ordinary, settled, prevailing judgment and affections, thou preferrest God before all things in the world. Thou makest him the very end of thy desires and endeavors.

The very reason why thou hearest, and prayest, and desirest to live on earth, is chiefly this, that thou mayest seek the Lord, and make sure of thy rest. Though thou dost not seek it so zealously as thou shouldst, yet it hath the chief of thy desires and endeavors, so that nothing else is desired or preferred before it.

Thou wilt think no labor or suffering too great to obtain it. And though the flesh may sometimes shrink, yet thou art resolved and ready to go through all. Thy esteem for it will also be so high, and thy affection to it so great, that thou wouldst not exchange thy title to it, and hopes of it, for any worldly good whatsoever. If God should set before thee an eternity of earthly pleasure on the one hand, and the saints’ rest on the other, and bid thee take thy choice, thou wouldst refuse the world and choose this rest.

Sunday Leftovers (6/7/09)

After a sweet morning of worship in the renovated sanctuary, two ideas continue to roll around in my mind — the cruciality of entrusting the gospel to others (discipleship) and the means of suffering to accomplish discipleship.

As was said Sunday, too often we tend to think of discipleship as the responsibility of someone else, while Paul indicated that it was the privileged responsibility of Timothy — and by extension, us.  This act of discipleship then implies two needs:  we need a relationship and we need a message.  And both those needs are not dependent upon programs.  We don’t need a formalized church structure to give us permission to do discipleship (and an obligation to do it only at certain times on certain days).  We just need a relationship with someone and a desire to help them grow in their walk with Christ so that we often initiate spiritual discussion with them — both formally and informally.

Of course that also means we have to have something to tell them.  We do well to take a cue from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (1:28; NASB)

In those few words he tells them —

• the message — Christ
• the audience — every believer
• the method — instruction
• the manner — with wisdom and discernment
• the goal — maturity

Now when we disciple people (which begins and centers on the gospel), suffering may also accompany that process.  This is a reality:

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim. 3:12; NASB)

And it is also a gifted privilege:

“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” (Phil. 1:29; NASB)

We rarely dare to look on suffering and persecution as a gift.  It is.  The sovereign Master who ordains and orders all things kindly brings all manner of difficulties not only for our own maturity, but also for the progress of the gospel:

Suffering is not only a result of trying to penetrate unreached peoples, but a means of penetrating them.  Five verses before Matthew 24:14, Jesus said, ‘They will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name’ (v. 9 NASB).  This is the price of missions and it is going to be paid. [John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals.]

That means that

Being a Christian should mean that our trajectory is toward need, regardless of danger and discomfort and stress.  In other words, Christians characteristically will make life choices that involve putting themselves and their families at temporal risk while enjoying eternal security.  ‘Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing…having nothing, yet possessing everything.’ [John Piper, The Roots of Endurance.]

So as we venture on in the ministry of discipleship — training and equipping others with the Word of life, let us also expect and find satisfaction in corresponding suffering — both a result of and a means to sharing and living the gospel.

Today’s Quote – Christ (Bunyan)

John Bunyan, All Loves Excelling:

He that would know the love of Christ in several degrees of it, must begin at his person, for in him dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Nay, more; in him ‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Col. 2:3).  In him, that is, in his person:  For, for the godhead of Christ, and our nature to be united in one person, is the highest mystery, and the first appearance of the love of Christ by himself, to the world (1 Tim. 3:16).  Here I say, lie hid the treasures of wisdom, and here, to the world, springs forth the riches of his love (John 1:14).

Today’s Quote – Christ’s Authority (Elliott)

Elizabeth Elliott:

Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His lordship.

Sunday Leftovers (5/31/09)

The mystery revealed by God is the gospel and its effects.

The mystery that was not known in the Old Testament and has now been revealed by the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the prophets.

Specifically, this mystery is the working of the gospel to include the Gentiles into the plan of salvation, according to the will of God.  And this mystery is accomplished by the person of Christ.

Christ is the means by which the Jews, God’s chosen people, and Gentiles alike are saved.  No one is saved apart from Christ.  That truth is familiar and acceptable to a great many people.

What is not realized so readily with this truth is that not only is Christ the means by which salvation is accomplished, but He is also the goal of that salvation.  That’s why Paul says that all things are summed up in Christ (Eph. 1:10).  Jesus Christ is both the source and object of salvation.  Life and salvation are summed up in the person of Christ.

He is all.  He is the One to whom all of heaven and all of earth and all of time have been pointing.  He will be the eternal preoccupation of all men (as an object of love for those in heaven and the object of hated submission for those in hell) and is worthy now of our consuming passions.

It is because Christ is all that John MacArthur has written that “Our Sufficiency [is] in Christ.”  It is because Christ is all that A. W. Tozer wrote a generation ago:

There must be somewhere a fixed center against which everything else is measured, where the law of relativity does not enter and we can say “IS” and make no allowances. Such a center is God. When God would make His Name known to mankind, He could find no better word than “I AM”. . . . Everyone and everything else measures from that fixed point. “I am that I am,” says God, “I change not.”

As the sailor locates his position on the sea by “shooting” the sun, so we may get our moral bearings by looking at God. We must begin with God. We are right when and only when we stand in a right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so long as we stand in any other position.

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image. . . . It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as he is. As we go on to know Him better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just what He is.

In contemporary times, perhaps few have spoken as articulately as John Piper in commending Christ to us as the full object of our affections.  So it is that he notes, “Believing in Jesus means coming to him for the quenching of our soul’s thirst.  Faith in Christ is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.”

The disparity between Paul’s call and our compliance is not in theology — we don’t disagree with the text that Christ is all — but in practice.  We just are prone to not give Him the daily recognition of His worth.  Why?

Isn’t this simply because our thoughts and affections are tuned to a different channel?  Our minds are accustomed to other entertainment and aren’t in shape for the faith-work of reflecting on Christ.  That may be why most of us live at low spiritual tide, powerless and joyless in our religion.

But if we we were in love with Christ, so that we couldn’t wait to see him again — and if we were in the spiritual habit of gazing on him and marveling at him — then our lives before God would be sweeter to us.  Day by day our spirits would grow stronger.  We would more faithfully represent Christ to the world.  Strange as it sounds, death would begin to sound inviting to us, as the final release from everything that distracts us from the sight of our Lord.

It really is no mystery.  The purpose of God in salvation is to bring us to Christ — to love and affection and adoration and joy and delight in Christ — by the death and resurrection of Christ.

Today’s Quote – Forgiveness of Self (Challies)

Tim Challies, The Spiritual Discipline of Discernment:

It must be noted that while Scripture does not explicitly forbid self-forgiveness, it also does not require or endorse it.  It seems, then, that we do not need to forgive ourselves, nor should we make this our practice.  If we struggle with guilt or shame, forgiving ourselves may be a temporary salve, but it cannot bring the peace and healing we seek.  We can only have true peace, lasting peace, by accepting God’s forgiveness and allowing him to remove the guilt of our transgression.  This must be an act of God rather than an act of self, because true forgiveness will be found only in the very source of forgiveness.

Today’s Quote – Forgiveness (Piper)

John Piper, Battling Unbelief:

…one powerful way of overcoming bitterness and revenge is to have faith in the promise that God will settle accounts with our offenders so that we don’t have to.

Today’s Quote – Theology (Challies)

Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment:

Richard Phillips writes, “Theology bores today’s Christians, which is another way of saying we are bored with God himself.