debtor to grace

This Blog is Moving

2010-10-15T13:43:00.002-04:00

Friends,

I am (finally) moving my blog from Blogger to WordPress. This switch means that:

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10/10 Sermon Notes

2010-10-12T09:38:00.002-04:00

The Glory of God

Objective Reality: His Works

Notes available as a pdf.

Introduction

A friend of mine asked me this week what I preached on for my first sermon as pastor. I smiled and said, “God.” He chuckled and said, “That’s good; start simple,” and I replied, “Yeah.” Now what he meant by that was that I began with something basic or, better, fundamental to the Christian faith, rather than something complex and controversial. Better to start with God than something thornier, e.g., the sovereignty of God and the free will of man, the fate of those who have never heard the gospel.

Nevertheless, something about his comment--and my initial response to his comment--struck me as troublesome. Why would I ever consider the subject of God to be simple? Perhaps it’s because I grew up learning about him. A little child can comprehend the concept of God, right? If she couldn’t, we wouldn’t spend so much valuable energy teaching her about God. Perhaps, then, we think that, since a child can understand something about God, then we must know all there is to know about him. I mean, sure, we’re going to keep growing. But it’s not like there’s more to the Bible that is going to be written. Once you’ve read it through a couple of times, you’ve basically got the point, right? Now that we’ve got this much figured out, we can move on to other things.

But can we? We probably wouldn’t verbalize such a thing, that we have God figured out. But practically that is how we live, as if God were a fairly simple subject matter that we pretty well understand—certainly more than the average person on the street. And there is no better way we reveal how little we think of God than how little we talk directly to him or about him. (Illustration of Michigan football for me.) If we really understood who God is and what he is like—if we understood his glory—it would transform our lives.

That’s why we’re taking four weeks to study this subject, the Glory of God. We learned last week that God’s glory begins with his massiveness/weightiness/heaviness inherent in his nature. We may describe his nature in terms of his his oneness (there is none like him), his threeness (he is three), and his character (what he is like).

Transition: All this would be unknown to us had God not revealed his glory to us. So this week we want to discuss the displays of God’s glory. God is intent on glorifying himself in everything.

Body

1. Visible Displays.

1.1 Throughout Scripture God displays something of his magnificent worth visually, usually to emphasize his presence with his people. We’ll look at three separate displays of God’s glory in the OT. I want you to look for two things as we read these texts: notice how the glory of God displays itself and how people who see it respond.

1.2 Displays of God’s glory during the Exodus

1.2.1 Exodus 16.10 – And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

1.2.2 Exodus 24.15-18 – Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.

1.2.3 Exodus 34.5-8 – Moses said, “Please show me your glory” (33.18). He wanted a visible demonstration of the glory of God. ¹⁹And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²²and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen” (33.19-23). ⁵The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” ⁸And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. (34.5-8).

1.2.4 Exodus 40.34-35 – Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

1.2.4.1 Similar events at the opening of the Temple: 2 Chronicles 7.1-3 – As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

1.3 Display of God’s glory to Isaiah. Isaiah 6.1-5 – In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

1.4 Display of God’s glory to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 1.26-28 – Above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness all around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

1.5 Argumentation: It is as if God takes a slice of time and space to display visually something of his glory. And when he does, it manifests itself in clouds and smoke and brightness and fire! In this sense we can refer to the glory of God as “the rainbow-like display of God’s manifold perfections.”

1.6 Application: Some want God to prove himself by showing up right here, right now. They reason, “If God appeared to people back in the Bible, I have a right to see him, too. He owes me that much!” This fails to consider that appearances like these were hundreds of years apart from one another and that many people in the Bible never saw visions like these. This line of thinking ends up betraying our own arrogance. A God like this—one whose very appearance forces us to our faces—is not one that can be manipulated or cornered into obedience. He owes us nothing; the fact that a God this great would show himself at all is an act of grace.

Transition: A second category emerges that is closely related to his visual displays.

2. His Creation.

2.1 Why a separate category?

2.1.1 The visible displays of his glory we just talked about were direct pointers, indicating what God is in himself, such that Moses, an Israelite, Isaiah, or Ezekiel could point to one of those displays and say truly, “There is God,” or “I saw the Lord.”

2.1.2 This category is similar in that we’re talking about a display of God’s glory that is visible (i.e., we can see creation). But it is quite different in that we cannot point to the creation and say truly, “There is God.”

2.1.3 In other words, the first point describes God’s visible displays of what he is like, while this point describes God’s visible displays of what he can do. It’s the difference between essence and activity.

2.1.4 What I’m describing is the difference between Christian theism and pantheism (the idea that all is God).

2.1.5 Illustration: We often sing, “In the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.” But what do we mean? Is the wind that rustles the grass God? No. When we say that he speaks to me everywhere, does that mean that the chirping birds and crashing waves are the voice of God? No. To say Yes would be pantheist. (Frankly because of the possible error of interpretation, it may be best not to sing this stanza!) What (I think) the hymnwriter meant was that the works of God in creation testify to the Person who created it. The creation is not the Creator, but teaches us about him and leads us to him.

2.2 Biblical evidence

2.2.1 Isaiah 6.3 – And one called to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

2.2.2 Psalm 19.1 – The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2.2.3 Psalm 97.6 – The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

2.2.4 Isaiah 43.6-7 – “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

2.2.5 But isn’t that a reference only to the people of God? Cp. Ex 9.16 – [The Lord said to Pharaoh,] “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

2.2.6 Romans 1.18-20 – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (For a helpful list of attributes of God that can be known through creation, cf. Doran, Johnson, and Eckman, For the Sake of His Name [Allen Park, MI: SGI, 2002], 201.)

2.3 Application: God is showing us something about himself through everything that he has made, from the vast expanse of stars that we see on a clear, moonless night, to the person sitting next to you on the bus, who herself is made in the image of God. His intention is for us to look around us—to look at all that he has made—and to learn truth about himself, indeed, to see his glory!

Transition: If all we had were visual displays, however, we would be left to our own interpretation as to what God really is like.

3. Verbal Displays

3.1 Scriptural Basis

3.1.1 Exodus 33.18-19 – Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, ‘The Lord.’”

3.1.2 Exodus 33.5-6 – The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”

3.1.3 After the Decalogue was given: Deuteronomy 5.24 – Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the first. This day we have seen God speak with man and man still live.

3.2 Argumentation: “Even unfallen Adam needed to hear God’s direct speech that supplemented and interpreted God’s revelation in nature. He didn’t need to figure everything out for himself; in many cases that would have taken a long time or indeed been impossible for the finite mind. So, as God’s faithful covenant servant, Adam accepted this help gratefully. He accepted God’s interpretation of the world until he made the tragic decision to accept Satan’s interpretation instead. But after the fall, at least two other reasons for special divine speech entered the picture. One was man’s need of a saving promise, a promise that could never be deduced from natural revelation alone. The other reason was to correct our sinful misinterpretations of natural revelation. Romans 1:21-32 shows what people do with natural revelation when left with no other word from God. They repress it, disobey it, exchange it for a lie, disvalue it, and honor those who rebel against it. Thus, God has given us Scripture, or “special revelation,” both to supplement natural revelation (by adding to it the message of salvation) and to correct our misuses of natural revelation. As Calvin said, the Christian should look at nature with the ‘spectacles of Scripture.’ If even unfallen Adam needed to interpret the world according to God’s verbal utterance, how much more do we!” (Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God [Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1994], 22-23).

Transition: As spectacular and gracious as the displays of his glory visibly, through creation, and through his words, none compares to the display of his glory that we read about in 2 Corinthians 4.6.

4. Personal Display.

4.1 In Christ.

4.1.1 2 Corinthians 4.6 – For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You don’t know the glory of God apart from Christ. Jesus is the climactic display of the glory of God (cp. Heb 1.3).

4.1.2 Predicted: Isaiah 40.5 – And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

4.1.3 Incarnation: John 1.14 – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

4.1.4 Earthly ministry: John 2.11 – This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. But not merely in his acts of kindness for the poor and socially outcast.

4.1.5 Crucifixion of Christ: John 13.31-32 – When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” John 17.1 – When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (cp. Philippians 2.5-11).

4.1.6 Why is it crucial for God’s glory to be displayed through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ? Because it is the means by which he is glorifying himself through a host of people who are in Christ.

4.2 In us through the gospel.

4.2.1 Romans 9.23 – to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy.

4.2.2 Ephesians 1.6, 12, 14 – to the praise of his glorious grace. Today’s choir anthem (“To the Praise of His Glorious Grace”) wasn’t just another nice truth to line up with all the other biblical truths you’ve learned. It is the point of the gospel—to take a people who should display God’s glory through his eternal and just condemnation of us and make us a people who display God’s glorious grace.

Conclusion

Illustration of the Mayflower Pilgrims writing back to England. So I would say with Job, Behold, these are but the outskirts [i.e., fringes, borders] of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? (26.14).

From one end of Scripture to another—from one end of time to the other—God is determined to make his glory known. Hk 2.14 – For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. You will glorify God forever; you exist for his glory, and God will not fail to get glory from your existence forever.

10/3 Sermon Notes

2010-10-12T09:34:00.003-04:00

The Glory of God

Objective Reality: His Nature

Notes available as a pdf.

Introduction

Please turn to the first page of the Christian Bible, to the first chapter of the first book, a book entitled Genesis. For those of you unfamiliar with the Christian Bible, you might expect that the first book/segment of the Scriptures would be all about beginnings. And you would be right; thus the name Genesis. I’d like to begin this morning’s talk with the first four words of the Bible: In the beginning God. Now the rest of the sentence tells us what this God did in the beginning, but I stop our reading here to offer a simple observation: the author does not begin by explaining who this God is or even by defending that he exists. He merely asserts, In the beginning God.

For us who are Christians, this is no surprise. But for those of you who question the existence of God or who have come this morning seeking answers about the God of the Bible, this may seem unscientific or arrogant or obscurantist. “Don’t simply tell me that he did this, that, or the other without some proof or reasoning or empirical data to support your claim.” But if you keep reading the Scriptures beyond the first four words, you’ll find that the book—not just Genesis, but the entire Bible—is the progressive unfolding of this God. You may be familiar with stories here and there: Noah and the ark, David and Goliath, Daniel and the lion’s den. But in reality the Bible is one story with one plotline and one main Character. The other stories point to the great Story, and the other characters direct our attention to the real Actor. The Bible is all about God.

In fact, not only is the Bible all about God, but everything that exists is all about God. Turn please to the second half of the Christian Scriptures, to the New Testament letter to the Romans, chapter 11 (pg. 764). At the end of a long, complex argument, the apostle Paul breaks forth in doxology: ³³Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ³⁴“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” ³⁵“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” ³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Everything is from him, everything exists through him, and ultimately everything will go back to him—thus the glory is his forever. Everything exists for the glory of God. It is the supreme reality of life. And if you regard the glory of God to be practically irrelevant to your life, you will never understand your life at all.

So then what must we do? We need to go back and study the glory of God. We could spend the rest of our lives seeking to understand his glory. In fact we should! What I’d like to do over the next four Sundays, however, is devote our attention as a congregation to the subject The Glory of God.

So let’s start right here with that word glory. Glory is not something that starts with us and goes to him; it is first and foremost something that is inherent in God himself. The meaning of dbk = heavy (as in fat [Eli in 1 Sa 4.18], riches [Abram in Ge 13.2], or the liver [Ex 29.13]). Thus we could say for starters that the glory of God refers to his weightiness, his massiveness, his heaviness.

Transition: What makes God weighty? What is it about his nature that makes him massive? This morning I’d like to explore three qualities of God that make him heavy.

Body

1. Oneness. His uniqueness.

1.1 Proven through creation.

1.1.1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1.1).

1.1.2 The God of the Bible is not a local deity; he asserts his authority over the entire universe. He created, and there is no one like him.

1.2 Proven through the exodus (p. 41).

1.2.1 [The Lord said to Moses,] “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’” (Exo 6.6-7)

1.2.2 [The Lord said to Moses,] “Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Exo 7.4-5).

1.2.3 The first plague: water to blood (Exo 7.17).

1.2.4 The second plague: frogs (Exo 8.10).

1.2.5 The third plague: gnats (Exo 8.18-19).

1.2.6 The fourth plague: flies (Exo 8.21b-22).

1.2.7 The seventh plague: hail (Exo 9.14-16, 29).

1.2.8 The eighth plague: locusts (Exo 10.1-2).

1.2.9 The tenth plague: death of the firstborn (Exo 12.12).

1.2.10 The exodus itself. [The Lord said to Moses,] I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord” (Exo 14.4). Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses (Exo 14.30-31). And so they sang, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exo 15.11).

1.3 Proven through the prophet Isaiah (p. 485).

1.3.1 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust (Isa 40.12-15).

1.3.2 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? . . . Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness (Isa 40.18, 21-23).

1.3.3 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing (Isa 40.25-26).

1.3.4 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols (Isa 42.8).

1.4 The fundamental meaning of God’s glory = his uniqueness.

Transition: At this point the God of which I am speaking sounds little different from the God of the Jew or the Muslim. This is precisely where the Scriptures inform us more about the One True God—and where the distinctions begin to emerge.

2. Threeness. His Triunity.

2.1 The Son.

2.1.1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb 1.1-3, p. 804).

o radiance = lit. brightness, either active (inherent) or passive (reflected).

o Because of the phrase in v. 3b, it’s best to take it as passive: Christ perfectly reflects the glory of God the Father.

2.1.2 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed (Jn 17.5).

2.2 The Spirit.

2.2.1 And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Gen 1.2).

2.2.2 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? (Isa 40.13).

2.2.3 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3.18).

o Edwards, Unpublished Essay on the Trinity.

3. Character. His perfections.

3.1 Expressed in his name.

3.1.1 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you’” (Ex 3.14, p. 39).

3.1.2 Yahweh, the covenant name of God: he is independent and immutable.

3.2 Expressed in his attributes.

3.2.1 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exo 33.18-19, p. 62).

3.2.2 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped (Exo 33.5-8).

Conclusion/Preparation for Communion

How then may we come to this table? How may we commune with the Unique, Triune, Impeccable God? We who have sinned! We who continue to fall short of his glory! Where does our confidence come from, that we might approach God at this table and not be among those guilty whom the Lord will by no means clear? Our confidence comes in Christ alone. He has lived the life we could not live, he has died the death we deserve, he lives again to intercede for us, so that we may enjoy fellowship with the One True God.

A Scholarly Dialogue: The Book of Isaiah in Jewish and Christian Tradition

2010-09-30T09:38:00.003-04:00

If you're looking for something to do tonight, you might want to head to Trinity Baptist Church (map) for a conversation tonight concerning the book of Isaiah as understood by Jews and Christians. Two scholars will be flown in for the event:

Dr. Richard Averbeck, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages and Director of the PhD Program in Theological Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL.

Dr. Adolfo Roitman, Lizbeth and George Krupp Curator of the Dead Sea ScrollsandDirector of the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

The event begins at 8:00 p.m. and costs $10 per person at the door ($5 for students).

Ezra Resource Available Online

2010-08-20T06:46:00.002-04:00

A few days ago, I was discussing an online review of Phil Brown's Hope Amidst Ruin, and a friend mentioned that he benefited greatly from it in preparation for a sermon on the book. He went on to tell me that Brown's book--his doctoral thesis--is available in its entirety online. You can access it here.

If you're curious, the review that prompted our conversation was written by Jim Hamilton, Associate Professor of Biblical Theology at the Southern Baptist Seminary. Hamilton calls it "the best literary and theological analysis of Ezra available." Since his initial review Hamilton has posted his "notes on what Brown says about plot, point of view, and characterization. Excellent stuff, and the description of Ezra’s theology is even better."

The book is also available for purchase.

Execution of Afghanistan Aid Workers

2010-08-10T09:59:00.004-04:00

In case you hadn't heard, ten Christian aid workers were executed by the Taliban late last week. A friend of mine knew two of the victims. He said that the group had taken all appropriate precautions, but were nevertheless intercepted by the Taliban. You can read more about the tragedy here.

May the Gospel advance in the Afghan people.

A Missionary's Perspective on Immigration

2010-08-04T13:03:00.003-04:00

One of our missionaries, David H., is on furlough in the States this summer and observes the following:

A little time in some churches has given me the impression that some Christians are allowing their feelings and positions on a variety of significant national issues to be forged by conservative TV and radio personalities, rather than the Scriptures.

As a prime example David points to the issue of illegal immigration. After pointing out the missiological opportunities the American church has to reach these people, he concludes:

Instead of seeing this issue as an opportunity to reach lost people, we are forming and fueling strong negative feelings against immigrants by spending more time listening to unregenerate radio personalities than meeting actual people from all over the world, praying for them, and telling them about Jesus.

Shame on us.

Read the whole article here.

"What Can You Do? What?"

2010-07-25T08:06:00.003-04:00

Dan Olinger, one of our elders at Heritage, is leading an eight-week mission trip for college students to East Africa. Yesterday's blog post in part described a slum near Nairobi and, more importantly, provokes Christians to think how we serve people living there.

It’s hard to describe in words what the conditions are like. The surfaces are all dirt; there is no paving, tile, or concrete. There is no electricity or running water. The surfaces of the homes and narrow “sidewalks” are uneven and filled with haphazard trenches, which run with raw sewage and water runoff from cleaning. The stench is astonishing. The homes are occasionally concrete block or mud but more often corrugated metal, wood slats, or just open. There’s rarely enough room to walk two abreast through the alleys. Chickens and dogs wander freely. Occasionally footing is pretty tricky; at one point the only bridge across a wide trench running with sewage is a truck bumper, for which we are grateful. In one alley we pass a table covered with large and relatively aged fish heads, adding to the olfactory complexity of the experience. Children are everywhere, sitting, playing, staring.

KIbera is allegedly the largest slum in Africa. (Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, fights it for first place.) The thing that’s really hard to fathom is that people generally live here voluntarily. These and other major slums of the world--in Mexico City, Cairo, Shanghai--are the products of urbanization, mass migrations of people from rural areas into the cities to find work. Living decently in the cities is much more expensive than in the country, of course, so workers squat in these dense areas, not designed for human populations, free of sanitation and thus overwhelmingly dangerous to life and health. Many of the residents put on nice clothes every weekday and go to work in offices in the city; if you saw them on the sidewalk, you’d have no idea they live in the slum. They make a good wage and send the extra money back to their families in the country. It all seems so unnecessary.

Where do you start in ministering to these people? Do you open clinics, trying to hold back the cholera and dysentery and mortal dehydration, knowing from the beginning that you will be overwhelmed by the waves of human suffering? Do you install toilets? Connected to what sewer system? Do you want to make living here more comfortable, thereby encouraging a larger influx, which will just overwhelm whatever system you can cram into these few acres? Do you just preach the gospel, hoping to get them into the family of God seconds before the dysentery gets them? Can you minister for months, years in the midst of this place and not, like Jesus, be moved with compassion, moved to act in powerful and effective ways to alleviate their suffering?

What can you do? What?

It’s wrenching.

Read the whole thing here.

Oracles for Today

2010-07-22T08:59:00.002-04:00

I read the oracles of Isaiah 13ff. this morning and was wondering why there are no words from the Lord like these today. Certainly the nations of the earth are no less violent or unjust. Does our age—or, for that matter, the ages from the close of the OT canon until now—not need a specific word from the Lord about the destinies of individual nations? It seems that this could even become a criticism of the OT, of the Scriptures, of the Lord himself. “If there were a God,” a skeptic may ask, “and if the Bible were his book, whence the revelation today? Why are there no contemporary oracles against, say, North Korea, Morocco, Iran, Liberia, or the United States?”

I am persuaded, though, that this criticism arises from a heart that believes God is obligated to speak in every age the same way as he did in a previous one. If we ask about such oracles in our day, we must wonder too about the lack of similar words before the time of the OT prophets. And yet the presence of God—more specifically, the word of God—in that era is unquestionable. The forms may change, but the activity of God does not.

Actually this criticism should be turned on its head. Far from contributing evidence to the Scripture’s lack of integrity, OT oracles prove that when God speaks—even when he speaks words of judgment—his words are full of grace. He is not obligated to communicate to Moab, Damascus, or Assyria. Yet he opens his mouth, as it were, and communicates truth so that people will turn from their sin and look in faith to him. And in precisely this way there is no difference between the specific oracles to the nations of old and the general call of faith and repentance to our contemporary age. All these words are words of his grace, meant to awaken sinners to the living God: the aroma of life to life for those who believe, but the aroma of death to death for those who will not.

Hope for Alyssa

2010-06-08T08:27:00.003-04:00

Here's a great way to buy some good music and support a worthy cause.

Over the past three months Jon and I have been working hard on a fundraiser for our friends, Josh and Alyssa Stolvoort. Alyssa has been bravely battling brain cancer since November 2008 and has gone through three surgeries, chemo, radiation, and many types of therapy.

I have recorded a CD of songs that are filled with HOPE. These songs are close to the hearts of Josh and Alyssa as well our own. The Stolvoorts live in HOPE every day despite Alyssa's medical condition because they have the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

We want to share this HOPE with everyone we know, so we are making the CD's available for purchase online. All proceeds from sales will be given to Josh and Alyssa towards Alyssa's medical expenses. We greatly appreciate any contribution that you can make to this special cause.

Thank you so much,

Jon & Kelly Hubbard

The songs featured on the CD will be familiar to most of you. Here's a list of the tracks:

Introductory word from Alyssa
In Christ Alone
O Great God
Complete in Thee
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Give Me Jesus
I Will Glory in My Redeemer
Mercies Anew
Speak, O Lord
The Gospel Song
O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

The song texts are rich, and the arrangements are beautifully simple: a single female vocal accompanied by piano. You can listen online to samples of tracks 4 and 8. The CD costs just $12 plus shipping and handling.

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Place an order here.

Read Alyssa's story here.

Olinger Reviews My Book

2010-05-21T13:48:00.003-04:00

Dan Olinger, one of Heritage's elders and the Chairperson of the Division of Bible at BJU, reviewed my book today for our church's blog. Dan has read my book more times than anyone else ever will, myself included. He was a reader on my dissertation committee and then served as editor for publication. I think he's read it nine times!

You can read Dan's review here.

Moving to NYC?

2010-04-11T12:28:00.003-04:00

I shared with the Heritage congregation today how the Lord has been directing in the lives of my family. Below is the text of what I read (more or less).

-----

Thank you for your prayers and concern for my health. It’s been six weeks now since I had surgery to remove a liter of fluid from my heart. Every week I feel a little bit better, so much so that right now I feel as well as I have in two years. God has been most merciful to me and my family.

When I went into surgery, Kimberly and I walked up to the hospital with our arms around one another’s waists. I told her that I had a strong sense that this was not my time, that I would survive surgery, survive this whole incident, that it wasn’t time for me to go. I had been hesitant to tell her that because, of course, I could have been wrong! To my surprise Kimberly said the same thing to me. As a matter of fact, we had a stronger sense that this was not my time than when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. Of course, we confessed that we didn’t know the future and that, if this were my time, God would be doing what was good and right. Nevertheless that sense remained.

I think I can tell you why, humanly speaking, the Spirit had given us this sense. It is becoming increasingly likely that the Lord is preparing to uproot my family from Heritage and plant us in another congregation. We sensed that this was not the time because we believe God still has glory to get from our little lives.

This whole process started over a year ago when I had lunch with Mark Dever in D.C. He told me about this church, and that got the ball rolling. After securing Danny’s permission last March, I began to correspond with the search committee. That led to a first visit for Kimberly and me back in September, then a second in November and a third in January. Later this morning, the church will have a congregational meeting during which they will announce their intention to call for a vote re: my candidacy. It looks like our whole family will make one last trip (the first for the girls) on the weekend of April 25. Then the church will vote May 16. As you can tell, this is not a “done deal” yet, but we thought it wise to announce this today with the other church.

Let me tell you a little bit about the church where I am candidating. It is the First Baptist Church of New York City. It is one of the oldest congregations in the country, actually a bit older than our country at almost 250 years old. The first pastor served during the American War for Independence as George Washington’s chaplain. The church’s building is located in Manhattan on the Upper West Side at the corner of 79^th and Broadway, two blocks from the American Museum of Natural History, three blocks from Central Park, and about twenty blocks from the Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle, and the Met. There is a subway stop literally at the front steps of the building. The building itself has a capacity roughly equivalent to our sanctuary, but there are currently only about 120 members of the church. God has graciously preserved this congregation’s fidelity to Scriptures and desire to see Christ honored. We view it as an awesome opportunity to revitalize an urban ministry

The most unusual thing about this process has been the potential for a double transition, with both Eric and me moving on. Neither of us planned this. Frankly, the process with NYC has moved very deliberately, so much so that the elders have been preparing for this announcement this since the Elder Retreat in September. We all thought that today would have come a while back. (Of course, given my health issues, we can see why God kept the process moving slowly.) We can really say nothing more than that the timing was the Lord’s. Christ is the head of the Church, and it appears that he intends for Heritage to endure two pastoral transitions at once.

[Note: This actually points to an uncommon work of grace in our church, namely, the relatively long pastoral tenures that God has blessed us with. Danny has been here 18 years, Sandy for 13, and Warren forever. That is unusual—a gift from the Lord. Some churches always have a pastoral opening, but that (thankfully!) hasn’t been the case here.]

The most difficult thing about this has been the prospect of moving on from Heritage. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here almost a decade now. And even though we’re not leaving yet, it appears that by the end of the summer God will have repositioned us. Over the past year Kimberly and I have shared many tears at the thought of leaving Heritage. You have welcomed us into your lives. You have borne with me as I learned to serve as a pastor, first as Pastor of YYAD, then as PMV. And most significantly you cared for me and my family through the darkest moments of our relatively brief lives. Heritage is much more to us than a building or an order of worship or great preaching. Heritage has been our home; you have been our family. We love you.

I would do well to implement this chart

2010-03-26T11:22:00.002-04:00

How to tackle your inbox:

HT: Lifehacker

Pushing Kids to Do What We Do Not

2010-03-25T16:38:00.002-04:00

Here's a convicting post for parents, a fictional first-person narrative in which a dad impresses upon his daughter the need to memorize Scripture. Her need, that is.

Read the Introduction to "Assurance of Salvation"

2010-03-23T16:15:00.002-04:00

To give you a taste of my new book, Assurance of Salvation: Implications of a New Testament Theology of Hope, here are the first three paragraphs from the introduction:

For millennia, thinking people have wrangled with the problem of human existence. The primary areas of discussion concern humanity's origin (summarized in the question, "Where did we come from?"), purpose ("Why are we here?"), and destiny ("What happens after death?"). Philosophers of every culture, language, and era have applied their minds to solve these fundamental riddles of life. This unending search for satisfying answers should not surprise Christians, since God has told them that "he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Ec 3:11, ESV). So the greatest human thinkers continue to apply their finite minds to the task of understanding the eternal that God has set in their hearts.

Fortunately for the Christian, God has answered these and many other questions through His revelation of Himself in Scripture. From the first pages of the Bible, the believer learns that the origin of humanity is God Himself: "God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness'" (Ge 1:26, ESV). Scripture also teaches the believer what the purpose of his existence is: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Co 10:31, ESV; cf. Co 1:16; Re 4:11). Scripture asserts, however, that humanity cannot fulfill its purpose because of its sin (Ro 3:23). What one does with the problem of sin, the Bible teaches, determines his destiny. If one goes on in his sin, he will face death, but if he turns from his sin, he will enjoy eternal life (Ro 6:23). John the Apostle summarizes the two possible destinies for all people: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (Jo 3:36, ESV).

Since Christians have God's Word on these matters, one might conclude that there would follow a strong sense of confidence concerning humanity's origin, purpose, and destiny. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, especially in the matter of human destiny. That is not to say all believers are in full agreement on the other two issues. Concerning human origin, professing believers hold a variety of views. Nevertheless all agree in principle that life begins with God. Concerning the purpose of humanity, few Christians would disagree with the truth that the purpose of life is to glorify God. Scores of Christians, however, lack assurance regarding the third issue, the matter of their own destiny. They might agree with the biblical truths concerning Christ's efficacious atonement for the sins of His people and His justifying work for those who believe. But on the heels of these truths follows a nagging sense of doubt. "These things are true, but are they true for me? Am I completely sure that my destiny is an eternity with God?" In other words, the difficulty for these people lies not in the area of objective truth, but in the area of subjective assurance of the objective truth. This lack of assurance gives birth to years of doubt and spiritual affliction for many believers.

You can continue reading the introduction online. The following pdfs are available:

Hope to see you at tomorrow's signing!

PCRT Returns to Greenville

2010-03-22T13:47:00.003-04:00

The Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology returns to Greenville next month. Last year's gathering was a tremendous blessing, and this year should prove to be another wonderful time of instruction, fellowship, and worship.

This year's slate of speakers includes:

Joel Beeke, President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI. He has authored many books and recently spoke at commencement for Geneva Reformed Seminary in Greenville.
Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, CA. He is editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation, a bi-monthly magazine.
Cornel Venema, President and Professor of Doctrinal Studies at Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Dyer, IN.
J. Ligon Duncan, Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS, and a native of Greenville.
Rick Phillips, Senior Minister of the host church, Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Greenville.

This year's topic is These Last Days: A Christian View of History. From the brochure:

How do we biblically understand our time as the final age of world history and what does it mean to our faith? This is the question that will be taken up by our 39th meeting of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. Reformed Christians have often shunned the field of eschatology, surrendering end times doctrine to more popular (but less biblical) schemes. But eschatology is important! Paul describes the fulfillment of history as "our blessed hope" (Titus 2:13), a hope made real to us now through our faith. It was their Christian doctrine of history that thrilled the first Christian disciples: they realized that with the coming of the "last days" they had entered into the reign of the eschatological kingdom that dawned with the coming of Christ. Our faith will likewise be strengthened by a biblical view of eschatology and a right understanding of what it means to live in "this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4) by means of the "powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:5).

The conference begins Friday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m. and runs through the day Saturday. It concludes with the Sunday worship services at Second Presbyterian Church. The cost is $125; registering with a group of 5 or more lowers the price to $95.

You can register online here.

More Book Signing Info

2010-03-22T10:48:00.002-04:00

A few things I've learned about Wednesday's book signing:

As you know, the signing itself will be over lunch, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
The book will be available at a 30% discount. That brings the price to $16.07 plus tax.
That price is good all day Wednesday at the BJU Campus Store. It opens at 8:30 a.m. and after the 7:00 p.m. service on campus.

In addition to BJU Press and Amazon, you can order copies online through the Campus Store. I'm not sure you can get the discounted price on Wednesday through the website, but it's probably worth a try.

Book Signing on Wednesday

2010-03-21T07:30:00.004-04:00

I'll be signing copies of my new book, Assurance of Salvation: Implications of a New Testament Theology of Hope, at the BJU Campus Store (map | #10 on campus map). I'll be there this Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. I think there will be a discount on the day of the signing. Hope you can stop by and say Hello.

Can't make it to the signing? You can order a copy online (BJU Press | Amazon).

The Campus Store has created a FaceBook event. You can RSVP here.

Considerations for Suffering People

2010-03-19T10:05:00.003-04:00

Ed Welch, author, counselor, and CCEF faculty member, posted a very helpful article entitled, "More Things Not to Say to Those Who are Suffering." If you are interested in knowing how to serve suffering friends and church members with your deeds and words, I recommend that you give attention to his comments. (Frankly I would commend any of Welch's writings to you.)

I would like to draw attention to one point of disagreement. My quibble is not with Welch, per se, as you will see. I simply want to encourage sufferers to consider how they endure hardship.

Welch describes how, over the years, he has heard from many sufferers. Through those conversations he developed a list of helpful and unhelpful things that sufferers had heard from would-be comforters. Then he writes:

Here is something that I have heard a number of times on the “Not Helpful” list. I have heard it often enough that it deserves to become part of our body of pastoral wisdom.
“If you need anything, please call me—anytime.”

Suffers are usually gracious and give us a lot of slack for thoughtless remarks, so I was surprised when this became a theme. Those who mentioned it didn’t say that the comment was meaningless to them, though it was. They said that it was actually unhelpful. Why? I usually don’t ask that question, but I can piece together some of the answers.

If “comforters” knew anything about real hardship, they would know that sufferers usually don’t know what they want or need.
If comforters knew anything about the sufferer, they would know what the sufferer wants or needs.
If comforters really knew the sufferer, they would know that he or she would never make the call. Never.

The comment is the equivalent of “ta ta, see you later,” “luv ya, call me sometime,” or some other mindless goodbye. The speaker is not giving any real thought to the comforter’s needs and circumstances, and the suffering person knows it.

So don’t say “If you need anything, please call me—anytime.” to anyone. Let’s put it to rest and never let it appear on another “Not Helpful” list.

I mildly disagree with the frequent objection to the comment, "If you need me, call me--anytime." When I was going through chemotherapy and radiation, I heard it countless times. And sure it may seem the equivalent of "a mindless goodbye." But it seems at least a step better than that. The comforter could simply end what to him/her is already an awkward conversation by actually verbalizing, "Well, bye," and then walking out. Thankfully that never happened to me. But if it did, I wouldn't put that on the same level as "If you need me, call." The latter is at least an attempt to serve or care; the former is not.

Furthermore I think the sufferer needs to be careful about thinking things like, "if they knew hardship they wouldn't ask" or "if they knew me, they wouldn't ask."

Re: hardship, the sufferer must recognize that God is just as sovereign over the other person's relative non-suffering as God is over his/her own suffering. Is it really that person's fault for not knowing hardship like the sufferer does? Does the sufferer even know whether the comforter has experienced hardship? And that perhaps, when the comforter was suffering, he/she had a list of ways that people could help? In short, the sufferer needs to be careful not to assume the position of judge.
Re: relationship, the sufferer must recognize that friendship is a two-way street. Saying "if the comforter knew anything about me" presumes that the other person is the only one responsible for a relationship. That raises a couple of different thoughts. (a) Assuming a larger church like mine, is it really reasonable for the sufferer to expect that everyone would know him/her? The sufferer recognizes that he/she cannot know everyone else, so why should he/she suppose that others know him/her very well? (b) Assuming a smaller church in which everyone is recognizable, the sufferer must consider whether he/she has invested at all in the comforter's life. Again, relationships are a two-way street. They may not know me, but do I really know them? And would--or should--my limited knowledge of them keep me from caring for them?

To sum up, the sufferer needs to recognize that depravity did not depart with the onset of hardship. We are still as prone to self-centered living as in times of comparative ease. Consider God's response to Job. The friends certainly were out of line, chapter 42 unquestionably demonstrates. But Job, the sufferer, didn't suffer sinlessly. Comforters certainly need to take care what they say; to that end Welch's article is tremendous. I would simply encourage sufferers to appreciate even mindless words and view them as tokens of God's favor to give friends who are (if nothing else) well-intentioned.

HT: Andy Naselli

Announcing My First Book: Assurance of Salvation

2010-03-17T18:24:00.002-04:00

I am pleased to announce my first published work, Assurance of Salvation: Implications of a New Testament Theology of Hope.

From the back cover:

How may believers be sure of their salvation?

For centuries, this question has troubled Christians in both the pew and the pulpit. Some believers live for years under a cloud of doubts. Others minister to professing Christians who have complete assurance of salvation but show little fruit of it.

Among theologians, debates rage especially over two general questions: what may Christians be sure of regarding their salvation, and what should make them sure of it? May they be sure of final salvation now, or is assurance possible only about their present state? Should they look only to the promises of God to gain their assurance, or should they also examine their own lives?

To sort through the debate, Matthew Hoskinson begins by exploring historical views of assurance and the major schools of thought among orthodox Protestants today. Then he details what each part of the New Testament teaches about hope, measuring today's positions accordingly. Along the way, he discusses topics such as Lordship Salvation, Reformed and Wesleyan theology, the Second Coming of Christ, and whether assurance is a necessary part of saving faith. The result will clarify how to have--and how to teach how to have--what Hebrews 6:11 calls "the full assurance of hope unto the end."

Over the next few days, I'll post some excerpts from the book, where to purchase it, and (for you who live in Upstate SC) book signing information.

Heritage's New Logo

2010-03-14T19:59:00.002-04:00

Here's what it looks like:

And here's why we did it.

Cancer Journal (10.03.13): Why I Should Have Died . . . Again

2010-03-13T19:31:00.002-05:00

Reflection
Last night we celebrated our middle daughter's turning five years old. Actually her birthday was at the end of February, over two weeks ago. We had originally planned her party for the Friday following her birthday, but we had to cancel. The night of the party, I was in ICU.

Trouble began the second week of February. I began feeling miserable: fever, chills, headaches. Thinking it was just the cold or a flu, I went to my oncologist the day after Valentine's. He prescribed an antibiotic, but it did little to help.

Heritage's Church Planting Conference was the next week. I felt well enough to attend most of the sessions, but it was obvious that I was still quite sick. I went back to see my oncologist the last day of the conference, the 24th, our daughter's birthday. He was puzzled that I was still not well. So he ordered a CT scan of my chest as a precaution, to verify that my cancer hadn't returned. I thought this was a bit unnecessary, since my symptoms were not the same as those that accompanied my cancer. But my doctor hasn't been wrong yet, and I wasn't about to question him.

The next day I went for my CT scan. I felt so miserable that merely sitting in the waiting area was nearly unbearable. I had brought A. W. Pink's The Attributes of God, but had difficulty concentrating. I just wanted to lie down somewhere and sleep.

That night Kimberly and I planned to take our girls out for dinner. The last night of the Church Planting Conference had preempted our family's birthday celebration. We were just about to leave when my phone rang. It was my doctor's office. I quickly deduced that my lab results had come back, but I did not expect to hear my doctor's voice on the other end. (That's not normally a good sign.) He explained that I had fluid on my heart, an unexpected development to be sure. At first he thought I might need to go to the hospital immediately, but after talking with the cardiologist, he determined that I could wait for the morning. But if I had any issues, I was to go to the emergency room right away.

Kimberly and I hugged and cried for some time. A new flood of concern swept over us. Was this related to the cancer? Was this a relapse? Or did I have some kind of heart disease? None of the answers were particularly satisfying.

In God's gracious providence, we have a friend from church, Jeff, who is a physician's assistant for a thoracic surgeon. I gave him a call to ask his opinion. He patiently explained the various methods of draining fluid from the pericardium and graciously offered any help he could.

After a relatively good night's sleep (all things considered), we awoke Friday the 26th, took the kids to school and babysitters, and headed to the cardiologist. My appointment was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. After a brief EKG, the doctor advised an echocardiogram--an ultrasound of the heart. It was after noon by the time the technician completed the echo. When the cardiologist returned, he advised, "The fluid needs to come out, and I think it needs to come out right away." Surprised that I hadn't been fainting, he expressed concern that waiting for Monday or Tuesday would increase the risk that I would begin to pass out.

The cardiologist then explained the two ways of removing the fluid, essentially needle or surgery. The former method he could perform right there in his office. But it would be only a temporary solution; I would have to do it again if the fluid collected again. Surgery was more radical, but it offered a long-term solution. (Jeff had already reviewed these options with us, so we were prepared.) Given my medical history, the doctor advised surgery and we quickly agreed. He asked if I had a preferred surgeon, and I said, "Whoever Jeff works for." The cardiologist knew Jeff and his surgeon, so the wheels were set in motion.

What happened over the next hour is largely fuzzy to me. This much I know: surgeries typically occur in the wee hours of the morning and surgical teams are finished by the early afternoon. Now it was already after one o'clock on a Friday afternoon. How quickly could a surgical team be ready? As someone told me that day, it could be midnight before surgery began.

As Providence would have it, I was under general anesthesia by 3:00 p.m.--and it would have been sooner if there hadn't been a breakdown in communication with the receptionist at the hospital. Like I said, exactly how this happened is a mystery to me. I have a hunch, though, that Jeff pulled a few strings and called in a few favors to get me in.

I awoke some time that evening in ICU. I remember seeing Kimberly and the cardiologist. The latter informed us that the surgeon drained a liter of fluid from my heart. "That much fluid," he said, "was life-threatening." I was in and out for the next few hours, but I distinctly remember Kimberly's next ICU visit. With her were Danny and Kristen Brooks (my pastor and his wife) with Jeff. I don't remember much of what we talked about, but I remember that Danny laid his hands on me and prayed. As I recall, it was the only time I cried that weekend. But cry I did. I think what had happened--especially the proximity of death and the mercy of God--became reality somewhere deep within.

Thankfully I was moved from ICU by noon the next day. That meant Kimberly could stay with me, unhindered by the ICU's visitation guidelines: twenty minutes every two hours. Other friends stopped by to see me. Danny came again with his oldest son Luke. A friend of Kimberly's brought her lunch and chatted for a few minutes. One gentleman, a newcomer to Heritage who lives close to Spartanburg Regional, took it upon himself to rescue us from hospital food. He would pop in, take our order, and come back an hour later with dinner for everyone. We received phone calls, text messages. tweets, and Facebook messages (from many of you!) who shared your love, your concern, your prayers. And it meant the world to us.

While I was recovering in the hospital, our concern focused on the cause of the fluid build-up. The surgeon not only removed the liter of fluid, but also took a piece of the pericardium itself. While he was in there, he snagged a lymph node as well, again a precaution to ensure that the cancer hadn't returned. We waited for the pathology report to come back. It wasn't until Tuesday, the day I was discharged, that we heard the good news: no sign of cancer. And we rejoiced.

Whence then the fluid? Monday afternoon my radiation oncologist, who had been informed of my situation only earlier that day, stopped in to see me. She was almost apologetic. Not at all that she had committed malpractice. But she reminded me that this is one of the risks of radiating the upper register: fluid on the heart. It occurs in less than one percent of such patients--my oncologist hadn't seen it before--but it can happen. And apparently I am one of the less than one percent. Furthermore she explained that what the surgeon did was precisely the right solution, even though there hadn't been time for the surgeon to consult with her. What the surgeon did, she went on, will keep this problem from ever recurring. God be praised!

I am now in the midst of a six-week recovery period. I have a two-inch vertical cut at the base of my sternum that is healing and a less-than-half-inch "stab wound" about an inch southeast of the cut. The possibility of herniating that area means I cannot lift anything more than ten pounds during this period. I'm also finishing up a two-week stretch of not driving. (Good thing I live three doors down from the church!) Most importantly I am supposed to get rest. I can't say I've done a great job of that the last ten days, but I'm learning that my body will stop me if it must.

This whole episode has prompted me to ask Why. Not Why in the sense of "why do I have to suffer?" But Why in the sense of "why aren't I already dead?" Cancer would have killed me before the calendar struck 2009. And in 2010 as the fluid swelled around my heart, every time I breathed in it forced my right ventricle to close almost completely. Had the fluid not been discovered, I would have run in my first 5K just eight days after the surgery. What then? Could my heart have survived that?

The answer to that question is, as one infamously put it, "above my pay-grade." Who knows the myriad purposes God fulfills in a single action? But I do know this: God has allowed me to live. No, God has commanded me to live. I am alive because he is willing it to be so right now. And that means I have the joy and opportunity of glorifying him as long as he gives me breath. May his command to live be accompanied by his grace to follow.

Rejoicing
Because, though sufferings may fill our lives, we're confident we're heirs with Christ--and so we cry, "Abba, Father." How wonderful the Father's love for us!

Because the Church Planting Conference prepared us for surgery--and so much more.

Because God positioned my friend Jeff to serve me and my family--literally to save my life.

Because God gave Jeff, a Buckeye, the grace not to inscribe "OSU" on my chest.

Because the surgeon did what the radiation oncologist would have advised.

Because my friend Brad, as soon as he heard I was going into surgery, immediately drove out to Spartanburg to sit with Kimberly while I was under the knife. Even though he had spent much of the previous day in a hospital in Atlanta to care for a member of his church.

Because my oncologist had been wondering why I haven't bounced back from chemo. He expected me to be back to my usual self (strength, stamina, energy) by now. But the fluid on the heart clarified the matter for him. His hope: that I will feel like myself again after this period of recovering.

Because our middle daughter patiently waited for two weeks to celebrate her fifth birthday. And God graciously satisfied her with a great party, great friends, and great gifts.

Request
That I would finish well. I have as clear a sense as ever that God has left me here--commanded me to be here--on purpose. How I finish is more important than how I start.

That my doctors would see the glory of Christ. I had an incredible opportunity to share the gospel with my oncologist in December. Oh God, open his heart to believe your word!

Letters Along the Way by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge

2010-03-12T12:18:00.003-05:00

I reviewed Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life by D. A. Carson and John Woodbridge for the Heritage Bible Church blog today.

My conclusion:

Believers–especially those preparing for or serving in pastoral ministry–will find Letters Along the Way to be an enjoyable way to eavesdrop on a pastoral mentoring relationship and hear the counsel of the godly.

Included with the review is a topical index (pdf) I put together for the book. To find out why Letters needed such an index, you can read my review here.

-----

Purchase the book here.

The Gospel Coalition has made a pdf of the book available for free here.

"I Agree with Most of What He Wrote"

2010-03-06T07:42:00.003-05:00

Responding to what he describes as Kevin Bauder's "cannon ball in the fundamentalist pool," David Doran offers his assessment of the current state of affairs. Doran, the pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church and president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary (both in Allen Park, MI), affirms, "I agree with most of what he wrote. I would imagine that most of what we agree on is recognizable to those who are familiar with this blog."

Rather than delineate areas of agreement, for brevity's sake Doran hones in on one disagreement: "I believe that this discussion is too complicated to make that assertion [i.e., that conservative evangelicals are not new evangelicals] at this point." Doran offers two reasons for his assessment:

It is not very clear what constitutes conservative evangelicalism.
It is not really clear how we are defining new evangelicalism.

Doran concludes this way:

Dr. Bauder is certainly correct in reminding us that these men are not our enemies. We may not agree with one another on important issues, but these disagreements are between brothers. Some disagreements, though, can adversely affect fellowship even among brothers.

As with Bauder's article, Doran writes with gravitas, grace, and accuracy. I highly commend the whole thing to you (here).

"Historic, Mainstream Fundamentalism Has More in Common with Conservative Evangelicals Than It Does with Many who Wear the Fundamentalist Label"

2010-03-05T19:16:00.003-05:00

In today's "In the Nick of Time," Kevin Bauder articulates an understanding of conservative evangelicals that one rarely hears from a fundamentalist leader. Dr. Bauder is the president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. Despite the controversy that he will most certainly face for this article, I am grateful to hear someone of his stature say what so many in my generation have been thinking--and with far more gravitas, grace, and accuracy than my peers and I possess.

Here are the concluding four paragraphs:

Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.

If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith. We attack indirectly the thing that we hold most dear, namely, the gospel itself, for that is what they are defending. We should not wish these brothers to falter or to grow feeble, but rather to flourish. We must do nothing to weaken their hand in the face of the enemies of the gospel.

If we believe that we must respond to conservative evangelicalism, then let us begin by addressing the areas in which they have exposed our weakness. Let us refocus our attention upon the exaltation of God. Let us exalt, apply, and defend the gospel in all its fullness. If we were more like what we ought to be, perhaps we would feel less threatened by those whose exploits attract the attention of our followers.

Whatever our differences, I thank God for John Piper. I thank God for Mark Dever. I thank God for John MacArthur. I thank God for D. A. Carson. I thank God for a coalition of Christian leaders who have directed our focus to the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God. May their defense of the biblical faith prosper.

Read the whole thing here.

Free Public Domain Audiobooks

2010-03-05T10:33:00.002-05:00

Love audiobooks?

Here's a website that you'll want to bookmark, appropriately titled Books Should Be Free.

From its self-description:

BooksShouldBeFree makes the world's public domain audio books available for browsing in a visual and entertaining way. . . . BooksShouldBeFree provides a primarily visual browsing experience so you don't have to read tedious amounts to find listenting materials. . . . All audio books on BooksShouldBeFree.com are in the public domain. This means that no one holds a copyright on these books and therefore anyone including BooksShouldBeFree.com is free to distribute them.

Genres include children's, mystery, history, literature, philosophy, poetry, and religion. Start browsing here.

HT: LifeHacker.

Questions to Ask When the Doctor Says, "Cancer"

2010-02-19T16:26:00.003-05:00

A forty-year-old pastor's wife in Illinois, Kate Sunday, was recently diagnosed with advanced thymoma. She writes that her husband has offered her sound counsel about what questions one should ask when the doctor says, "It's cancer." He identifies three: who, what, and how.

Who are you, Lord?
What do you want to teach us about Yourself?
How do you want to use us for Your glory?

Read more here.

HT: Justin Taylor.

-----

If you are dealing with cancer, you may find my Cancer Journal to be helpful as you fight to see God glorified through your sickness..

99 Balloons

2010-02-06T20:58:00.000-05:00

Powerful.

HT: Stuff Christians Like

The Pastor's Day Off

2010-01-26T09:14:00.004-05:00

How can a pastor spend his day off? A friend of mine who pastors in a large city and whose wife works a full-time job recently posed that question to me. Here's what I told him:

Read. I'm talking pleasure reading here. I read the Harry Potter series last year and loved it. I'm reading Larry Bird and Magic Johnson's book, When the Game was Ours, right now. The last book I finished was Malcolm Gladwell's latest, What the Dog Saw. Find something you like to read and enjoy.
Explore. OK, so I'm talking like a suburbanite right now, but there have got to be places in the city that you haven't seen/explored yet. I'm not a big museum person, but I don't know if I'd be able to live in ___ and not be exposed to some of those places. Then again, you might want to wait for Saturdays to do that with your wife--totally understandable. But maybe there are other places you want to explore.
Eat. Not, like, incessantly. I'm thinking of meeting your wife for her lunch break. Not sure what her situation is, but maybe you could pack a lunch and take it to her workroom during her break. Even if it's only half an hour, it'll be worth it.
Visit. See if there are other pastors who take the same day off as well. Schedule a coffee with them and pray for one another--no church business allowed!
Catch up. Don't feel guilty for reading a backlog of RSS feeds from the week. I'm constantly behind in that area. Use some of your day off to play catch-up.
Exercise. Find something you enjoy doing and do it.
Write. Journal about anything and everything: what happened over the weekend, the date you and your wife went on, a memory from when you were a kid. Write, write, write. One day your kids will thank you that you did.

What would you add to the list?

A Pilgrim's Prayer

2010-01-20T11:37:00.001-05:00

LORD OF THE CLOUD AND FIRE,
I am a stranger, with a stranger's indifference;
My hands hold a pilgrim's staff,
My march is Zionward,
My eyes are toward the coming of the Lord,
My heart is in thy hands without reserve.

From "Journeying On," in The Valley of Vision.

Luther on Assurance

2009-12-01T10:58:00.003-05:00

Looking for grounds to be confident in your standing before God today? Hear the words of Martin Luther:

Since God has taken my salvation out of my hands and into his, making it depend on his choice and not mine, and has promised to save me, not by my own work and exertion but by his grace and mercy, I am assured and certain both that he is faithful and will not lie to me, and also that he is too great and powerful for any demons or any adversaries to be able to break him or to snatch me from him.

The Bondage of the Will, vol. 33 in Luther's Works (ed. Jaroslav Pelikan), p. 289.

Let the Nations Be Glad

2009-11-19T16:17:00.004-05:00

I enjoyed lunch today with a guy whose family has started attending Heritage this fall. He is 28 years old and a native-born Korean. (Yes, he's the real thing, unlike yours truly.) He and his wife moved from South Korea to work on a Master's degree in Educational Leadership from Bob Jones University.

We spent most of the first hour talking about his upbringing, how he came to Christ, and so forth. A number of comments piqued my interest: his overwhelming sense of conviction as a 17-year-old, his recognition of the joy in other Christian teenagers that prompted him to attend their church, and an older friend who confronted him two years later about his need to repent of his good deeds and trust solely in Christ.

But what brought me unusual joy was the reason he came to the States. "I was reading a book," he said, "by a very good author: John Piper." "Oh," I said, "which book?" I expected Desiring God or The Pleasures of God or Don't Waste Your Life.

His reply: Let the Nations Be Glad. "It was this book," he affirmed, "that taught me that my life is all about worship--and that I should give my life to teach others to worship this great God."

Behold our Sovereign! He used a pastor in Minnesota to write a book in the late 1990s that would subsequently be translated into Korean so that he might move a twenty-something Christian (with his expectant wife and young daughter) to South Carolina so that he might join our congregation and be sent out to establish a Christian school in yet another corner of the world--all for the sake of his name.

Who is like our God?

Pray for Turkey

2009-11-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

One of our missionaries sent us the following e-mail from “Pastor Carlos” in Turkey. Read below and pray.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I’m writing this update to ask you for some URGENT prayer. As you know my Apologetics book of about 800 pages is being published; it answers Islamic objections from a well-known Muslim writer against the Bible.

Today a National TV channel (HaberTürk) called me to ask me to appear at a live TV debate program this Friday November 20th at 8:00pm local time [1pm eastern standard time]. The program is about the reliability of the New Testament, and will last 2 hours. I will be debating with an Islamic Scholar and a journalist.

Many times in these types of programs awkward and uncomfortable questions may be brought up. So please pray for wisdom and the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to give good answers and an effective witness. I can’t emphasize enough what an important witnessing tool this program will be because it will reach to millions of living rooms.

This will also be an opportunity to advertise the book which is a solid document on the reliability of the Bible. Don’t forget that many souls are looking for Jesus in Turkey but they don’t know if they can trust in His words.

Please pray as well that this won’t have an adverse effect for obtaining my work permit which is being processed right now after our application last month.

I would appreciate it if you could forward this letter to any prayer partners or prayer chains that you may have. Thank you in advance.

Chapell on Becoming Merely Reflective in Worship

2009-11-13T06:07:00.004-05:00

I've been reading Bryan Chapell's newest book Christ Centered Worship this week, much to my delight. Chapell is one of my favorite authors. Holiness by Grace prompted a radical, sanctifying paradigm shift in my understanding. So when I saw he'd written on worship, I was thrilled.

His first few chapters trace the liturgical histories of Rome, Luther, Calvin, and Westminster. In his chapter "Westminster's Story," he points out that the divines emphasized the role of the spoken Word. "The goal of most Reformers was to renew the church through understanding of and faithfulness to the Scriptures" (66). This approach has spread through the English-speaking Protestant world--and for good reason. Nevertheless, Chapell identifies that there are pros and cons to this approach:

The consequences of making worship primarily about knowledge are both positive and negative in post-Reformation Protestantism. On the positive side, believers are consistently urged to worship in spirit and in truth. Ideally, they are led to heart engagement with their God not by sentiment nor by superstition, but by right understanding of his Word. Such worship protects the church from error and the believer from idolatry.

The negative impact of turning the sanctuary into the lecture hall is training believers to become merely reflective about the gospel in worship and tempting them to believe that right worship is simply about right thought. As a consequence, the worship focus becomes study, accumulating doctrinal knowledge, evaluating the Sermon, and critiquing the doctrinally imprecise. Congregational participation, mutual encouragement, heart engagement, expressions of grief for sin, and joyous thanksgiving may increasingly seem superfluous, or even demeaning. Celebration is dismissed as "charismatic," awe is lost, and sacrament is reduced to remembrance instead of encounter with the presence of the risen Lord. As another has written, even the praise can become more about "exhortation to thanksgiving than giving thanks." When this happens, then those whose hearts yearn to respond to God in all the ways his Word describes (and all the ways he has made us to worship) will seek him elsewhere--including those places where truth has been sacrificed to experience (67).

Chapell's analysis is thought-provoking, particularly as we prepare for corporate worship this Sunday. Will we worship only in truth?

Free Audio of John Piper's Desiring God

2009-11-01T07:39:00.001-05:00

This month christianaudio is offering John Piper's Desiring God for free. From their announcement:

Desiring God by John Piper is the free audiobook download for November; one of the best-selling and most popular titles ever published by christianaudio!

Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering classic, newly revised and expanded, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn't truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he unveils stunning, life impacting truths you saw in the Bible but never dared to believe.

Desiring God Ministries was founded in 1994 by Pastor John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. Desiring God exists to say that God's ultimate goal is to glorify himself. Everything they do aims to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. Learn how they accomplish that and how you can join in the mission at www.desiringgod.org.

christianaudio is truly thankful for the ministry of Desiring God and appreciative of Waterbrook-Multnomah for allowing us to offer this book. The Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group is committed to creating products that both intensify and satisfy the elemental thirst for a deeper relationship with God.

Make sure you select the Download Format and enter the coupon code NOV2009.

Related: In connection with this deal christianaudio is offering all of their John Piper titles for $4.95 each until November 21.

Free Audio of Luther's "Here I Stand"

2009-10-26T15:00:00.001-04:00

To celebrate Reformation Day (this Saturday), The Listener’s Bible is giving away a free mp3 download of Martin Luther’s “Here I Stand” narrated by Max McLean. From Andy Naselli:

Jenni and I just listened to Martin Luther’s Here I Stand this morning to begin our celebration of Reformation Day later this week. It’s a simple 24-minute recording by Max McLean, and it’s moving. After we heard Luther’s famous words again, we both remarked, “That was awesome!”

You can download it for free through Sunday, November 1.

Related: Max McLean’s audio recording of the ESV is worth your consideration. You can choose either the New Testament (audio CD | MP3 download) or the whole Bible (audio CD | MP3 CD | MP3 download). Other titles to consider: The Valley of Vision, Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Through the Fellowship for the Performing Arts, Mark also has theatrical presentations of Mark’s Gospel and C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters.

Olinger on The Shack

2009-10-23T13:18:00.003-04:00

Dan Olinger, one of Heritage's elders, reviews The Shack at the Heritage blog.

Note: Each Friday we post a book review written by one of Heritage's elders or church planters for our congregation. To date we've posted the following:

The Night of Weeping by Horatius Bonar (review by Dennis McKinsey),
A Proverbs-Driven Life by Andrew Selvaggio (review by Jonathan Matias),
The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander (review by Todd Davis).

"The tree of life may thrive, while the tree of life is languishing"

2009-10-19T09:30:00.006-04:00

Charles Bridges:

Studious habits are attended with ensnaring temptations. The tree of knowledge may thrive, while the tree of life is languishing. Every enlargement of intellectual knowledge has a natural tendency to self-exaltation. The habit of study must be guarded, lest it should become an unsanctified indulgence; craving to be fed at the expense of conscience or propriety; employed in speculative enquiries, rather than in holy and practical knowledge; preoccupying the time that belongs to immediate duties; or interfering with other avocations of equal or greater moment [importance]. A sound judgment and a spiritual mind must be exercised, in directing these studies to the main end of the Ministry. Let none of them intrench upon those hours, that should be devoted to our study of the Bible, or our preparation for the pulpit. And wheresoever we find our inclination too much attached to any particular human science [knowledge], let us set a guard upon ourselves, lest it rob us of Divine studies, and our best improvement. A Minister should remember, that himself with all his studies is consecrated to the service of the sanctuary. Let every thing be done therefore with a view to one great end; and let us pursue every part of science with a design to gain better qualifications thereby for our sacred work (The Christian Ministry, 49).

BibleWorks Seminar at Heritage

2009-10-12T16:07:00.001-04:00

Heritage will host a two-part, one-day seminar on BibleWorks.

What is BibleWorks? From the BibleWorks website:

BibleWorks 8 is the premier original languages Bible software program for Biblical exegesis and research. It comes with Greek, Hebrew, and Septuagint Bibles for your computer, as well as translations in English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and more! For over sixteen years, BibleWorks has satisfied Bible software users around the world.

When is the Seminar? Saturday, November 7. The day will begin with a workshop for beginner-to-intermediate users (9:00 a.m. until noon), followed by a workshop for advanced users (1:00-4:00 p.m.). You may sign up for either or both workshops.

Beginner to Intermediate (9:00 a.m. until noon). Go from ground zero to knowing everything you need to know for daily BibleWorks use in just three hours. Special focus on tools aiding exegesis, especially quick and accurate searching. Includes fun activities like the BibleWorks radio show!

Advanced (1:00-4:00 p.m.). Review your intermediate BibleWorks knowledge and then learn what all those other buttons do, including the Advanced Graphical Search Engine. Presenter will include time for questions and remain for more, so come prepared!

Presenter. Mark Ward is at the dissertation stage in a New Testament Interpretation Ph.D. at Bob Jones Seminary; he is also a Bible Curriculum Author at BJU Press. Mark has taught BibleWorks and Logos at seminaries, conferences, churches, and his own living room. All his seminars include a brief philosophy of technology, the opportunity to install a simple electronic filing system he designed, and as much personal consultation as possible.

Cost. Attend one workshop for $30 or both for $45.

Student discount: Current students may attend both workshops for $15 each.

Heritage discount: Heritage members should inquire about a special discount for them.

Registration. Information about registration is forthcoming.

Attention Logos Users: Similar workshops for Logos are scheduled for Saturday, January 23. Save the date!

What Letterman Can Teach Us about the Gospel

2009-10-05T10:27:00.003-04:00

Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Seminary, has a thought-provoking post about late-night entertainer, David Letterman. Last week Letterman admitted to having multiple inordinate relationships with women staffers from the Late Show. He came forward because, allegedly, a blackmailer threatened to release the information publicly and thereby damage his personal and professional lives.

So what can we learn about the gospel from Letterman's situation? Here's a snippet from Moore:

Let’s remember the gospel, and learn from Dave Letterman how scary blackmail can be. As the accusations come at us, let’s acknowledge the truth of the satanic claims. Let’s find ourselves in Jesus. And let’s point to a bloody cross and an empty tomb where those accusations were verified and crucified.

Moore's piece is available at the Gospel Coalition blog.

The Heritage Bible Church Blog

2009-09-21T11:31:00.002-04:00

Our church is now blogging. You can find it here. Besides receiving it through your RSS feed, you may subscribe to it via e-mail. Note the box at the top of the right-hand column.

Choosing Thomas

2009-09-18T15:43:00.002-04:00

This is worth ten minutes of your time. Just make sure you've got the Kleenex handy.

I can't help but wonder whether, under a public insurance plan, couples would have the option not to terminate such a pregnancy.

HT: I can't remember.

North Korean Woman Executed for Distributing Bibles

2009-07-25T22:25:00.004-04:00

A thirty-three year old North Korean woman was executed for distributing Bibles and allegedly spying for South Korea and the United States, according to a variety of sources. In related news, the North Korean government last month warned the Voice of the Martyrs about its attempts to spread the gospel in the Hermit Kingdom. The Christian Post has both stories.

More information on persecution in North Korea is available on the VOM website. They also have a few resources for more in-depth study.

Dispatches from the Front

2009-07-14T09:19:00.004-04:00

A couple of months ago, our congregation had the privilege of seeing the premiere of Dispatches from the Front: Islands on the Edge. Since Abraham Piper is giving away five free copies this week, I thought I'd put in a plug.

Produced by Frontline Missions, Islands on the Edge is the first of a series of DVDs that show believers in the West how the gospel is advancing in closed nations. Frontline's director is a member of our church who is passionate about partnering with believers in nations where there is little gospel witness. The Dispatches series is one way that Frontline hopes to spread awareness of the awfulness of sin and the grace of God in these places. Each episode is a kind of video journal that documents the director's travels. It serves as a powerful motivation to pray for these nations and gives great cause to rejoice in the power of the gospel.

After watching the trailer, you can order a copy of Islands on the Edge. Or you can try to win a free copy from Abraham.

UPDATE: Frontline Missions has asked Brannon McAllister to join them on a trip to Albania to help produce the next Dispatches from the Front DVD. You can send financial support to Emmanuel Bible Church.

Where the Truly Regenerate Agree When They Disagree

2009-07-06T21:16:00.003-04:00

I've just begun Henry Scudder's The Christian's Daily Walk and was struck by a section in "The Epistle to the Reader" by John Davenport. Apparently, some of Scudder's detractors opposed the stringent directions found in this book. Davenport cites their objection ("But many of God's children attain not to this strictness, yet are saved"), then replies,

It is true; though all God's children travel to one country, yet not with equal speed; they all shoot at one mark, yet not with the same dexterity. some difference there is in the outward action, none in their inward intention; some inequalities there are in the event, none in the affection. In degrees there is some disparity, none in truth and uprightness.

He then lists five areas in which "all that are regenerate are alike strict."

They have but one path or way wherein they all walk (Is 35.8).
They have but one rule to guide them in that way which they all follow (Ga 6.15-16).
All their eyes are upon this rule, so as they are not willingly ignorant of any truth (2 Pe 3.5).
They all desire and endeavor to obey every truth (Lk 1.9), not only to walk in all the commandments of God without reproof before men (He 13.19), but also in all things to live honestly and uprightly before God (Ge 17.1).
If they fall by temptation (Ga 6.1), yet they are in pain till they be set right again. . . . They are so far from perverting the right ways of God (Ac 13.10) that they will justify God in condemning themselves and subscribe to the righteousness of his word, praying that their ways might be directed to keep his statutes (Ps 119.5).

(Quotations from Henry Scudder, The Christian's Daily Walk [Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle, 1984], 19-20.)

The nature of our age certainly highlights the varying degrees of strictness among God's people. Our ability to communicate with anyone around the world gives us access to a dizzying array of guidelines by which Christians are to live. Even in our own congregations, we may be surprised at what one allows for himself or what another refuses for herself. Given that situation, these five statements are helpful guides (a) to reveal whether we are indulging our liberty without respect to the word, (b) to reveal whether we are creating human standards by which to prove ourselves righteous, and (c) to deal generously with other believers who may (and will!) disagree with us on any given matter.

May these five marks be present in our lives so as to demonstrate the genuineness of our profession to be Christ's people.

The Role of the Church in Youth Discipleship

2009-07-04T16:05:00.003-04:00

That trampled mass of red, white, and blue underneath King James (the basketball player, not the 1611) is what remains of the Detroit Pistons. As a lifelong fan of the team, I watched in stunned amazement as the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off a six-game sweep. Nothing left but the crying. And the finger-pointing.

As one might assume, the blame quickly landed on the coach, Flip Saunders, and calls for his dismissal were heard even before the final buzzer sounded. After all, isn’t he the one that is primarily responsible for the success of this team? And if the team didn’t succeed, shouldn’t he be fired? If you ask their star player, Chauncey Billups, the answer is No. According to an AP report, Billups said, “I don’t think it was all his fault. Players not playing great, had a lot to do with it.” Just because one person is primarily responsible does not mean that no one else is.

My previous article asserted that parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of their children. From Deuteronomy 6 to Ephesians 6, this has been the plan. An exception clearly exists for children of unbelieving parents, since an unregenerate person cannot disciple a child of God. But in most of our congregations, that accounts for a minority of our churches’ youth. The believing parents of our congregations must take an active role in “tell[ing] the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord” (Ps. 78:4, ESV).

Two questions immediately surface when one considers the parents’ responsibility. On one hand, if parents are thus responsible, is the church absolved? Perhaps it would be satisfactory for pastors merely to exhort parents to disciple the next generation. And if the youth turn out bad, then the parents are to blame. On the other hand, if parents are thus responsible, is the church expendable? Perhaps parents would best be served, not by having their children participate in the discipleship avenues of the church, but by keeping all proactive discipleship in the family and (as one article puts it) letting family time trump church time.

The answer to both of these questions is No. The church is neither absolved nor expendable. Instead, God’s design is for the church to have an active role in instructing the coming generations. While parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of their children, the church has a secondary—but no less necessary—role in that task.

A key text that must drive our thinking is Ephesians 4:7-16. At the time of his ascension, Christ “gave gifts to men” (v. 8). Paul identifies these gifts not in the way that we typically think of spiritual gifts, that is, as gracious endowments for particular acts of service. Other passages affirm that truth, but in this passage the apostle identifies the gifts as people: “apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers” (v. 11). Their job is “to equip the saints for the work of the ministry” (v. 12a). That task of equipping includes many aspects: leading them to give to God by the entirety of their lives the glory due His name, training them in the Word and sound doctrine, teaching them to take advantage of every opportunity to testify to the gospel of Christ for the ongoing spread of His fame—and the list goes on and on. One aspect that is patently in view is discipling people to become disciple-makers within the body. Notice how the saints not only are the ones who work the ministry (v. 12a), but they are the ones who receive the benefits of that ministry (vv. 12b-14). By thus discipling one another (“speaking the truth in love” to one another, v. 15a), the body causes the body to grow (v. 16).

Two conclusions emerge from this passage. First, pastors have a responsibility to equip parents to be effective disciple-makers at home. As parents, they have been charged with the primary role of shepherding their children into mature believers. As saints, they have been placed under the caring oversight of shepherds who are seeking their growth in Christ. The opportunity that pastors have to shape the next generation, therefore, is great. Seizing that opportunity requires careful thought, but the fruit of that labor will last a lifetime. Second, the church—and by that I mean the people of the church—has a responsibility to everyone else in the congregation. The dozens of “one another” passages testifies to our obligation (e.g., Jn 13:34; Ro 12:16; 15:7; etc.). God expects believers to live out our union with Christ in the context of other people (our “neighbors,” Lk 10:29-37). And this opportunity to disciple one another transcends generational lines. Not only are parents to disciple their children (Ep 6:1-4); the older are to mentor the younger (Ti 2:1-8). All adults in the congregation, then, ought to sense some measure of responsibility toward the coming generations.

God plans for the church to have a significant role in the lives of its young people. While not primarily responsible, one cannot deny that each assembly bears a corporate responsibility to the next generation—secondary, to be sure, but no less necessary. What difference does this make in the church’s practice? Some implications for church leaders and parents follow.

Implications for Church Leadership: The Church is Not Absolved.

(1) Church leaders must put philosophy ahead of practice. Far too many churches are merely satisfied that they have a children’s program. It may include good elements—Sunday school, Frontline clubs, VBS, a week at a Christian camp—but the critical philosophical question hasn’t been seriously answered: “Why are we doing this?” If the underlying reasons for our children’s ministries are no more than that they are a longstanding tradition (“We’ve always done such-and-such”), they are a break for the parents (“It keeps the kids busy”), or their curriculum has a sharp appearance (“The visuals are dazzling”), then we ought to admit that our practice does not have much to stand on. We must take the time to write down and implement a biblically-saturated philosophy for reaching the next generation. In the end, that might mean that some elements remain. But we cannot be afraid to pull the trigger on something that is philosophically vacuous. If it doesn’t square with a biblically-saturated philosophy of ministry, it should be lopped off.

(2) Pastors should work to connect all aspects of youth discipleship to one another, grounding it in the church’s philosophy. The list of activities that fall under the category of children’s ministries can be lengthy, even for a smaller congregation. Too often, those activities are dictated by the weekly calendar (i.e., “We need something Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night”) rather than by a solid philosophy of youth discipleship. The result is a potpourri of programs that have neither synchronic nor diachronic integration with the others. By synchronic, I mean that the programs for one particular age are not integrated. A third grader has one series going on in Sunday school, another one (or two) in children’s church, and yet one more during a midweek club. By diachronic, I mean that the programs do not connect from one age level to the next as a child grows. The result is an approach that is choppy rather than seamless, overlapping rather than contiguous, fragmentary rather than thorough. Instead, we should work towards having all aspects of youth discipleship connected, not only to our core philosophy, but also to one another, so that everything would be integrated. This process may take years of thought and labor, but its rewards will be far-reaching.

Some churches may wish to consider doing what my church did years ago when we expanded one assistant pastor’s oversight. No longer would there be a Youth Pastor who oversees the teenagers alone; we replaced that position with a Pastor of Youth and Young Adults whose responsibility stretches from nursery through college. While I still invest roughly two-thirds of my time in the Senior High students, I oversee all aspects of youth and young adult discipleship. Having one person responsible to the elders for coordinating all those pieces has simplified the process of integrating them into a cohesive whole.

(3) Pastors ought to address parenting early and often. One of my professors opened his freshman Bible class every fall by stating the same two assumptions: “I assume that you know nothing, and I assume that you can learn anything.” This mindset ought to govern pastors as they look into the happy faces of new parents. Surely they know more than nothing. But shepherds cannot assume that parents have even a rudimentary understanding of what the Bible says concerning parenthood, love, authority, discipline, and so forth. And because we live in an age when—thanks to the internet—anyone can read anyone’s thoughts on anything, we must be even more intentional in communicating a Christocentric approach to parenting for the glory of God. This might include offering parenting classes on Tuesday nights or intentionally partnering empty-nesters with young parents in mentoring relationships. But at the very least, pastors ought to give regular consideration to how to make direct application to parents in the preaching of the Word.

(4) Pastors must give parents the tools they need to disciple their children. It is not enough for shepherds to exhort their flocks to parent for the glory of God. We should find every possible way to supplement the instruction on Sunday with practical helps for Monday through Saturday. This was an important factor when the curriculum development team from my church was selecting our Sunday school curriculum. Our children take home summaries of this week’s lesson with follow-up ideas for parents to use during the week—all on the back of their coloring sheet. Another way we try to do this is through our weekly catechism handout that we call “A Heritage of Truth." The questions and answers are provided by Kids4Truth. We then offer a hymn that corresponds to that week’s truth, a biblical study for families to do together, and some discussion questions. Our goal is to promote the intentional theological education of our children; our prayer is that God will so use it to that end.

(5) Youth pastors ought to seek to turn the hearts of teenagers to their parents. It is tempting for men in my position to try to replace a teenager’s parents. A young person’s burgeoning independence, frequent disagreements with his or her parents, and spontaneous respect for a younger adult may give the Adversary an opportunity in the heart of a youth pastor who desperately wants to be liked, appreciated, and heard. This insidious combination results in a youth pastor either trying to be more for a teenager than God intends him to be (at best), or seeking to become God for that young person (at worst). What youth pastors must understand and communicate is that the same God who commanded, “Honor your father and mother” (Ex 20:12), is the God who sovereignly ordained the parent(s) that each teenager has. The young people in my youth group have imperfect parents who make sinful choices, do not understand God perfectly, and need to be shepherded. And the same is true of their youth pastor! But long after they graduate and move on, their relationship with their parents will continue on—in God’s providence, just as He planned. So I must devote the time I have with them now to shepherding teenagers and their parents, turning the hearts of the former to the latter—and directing the hearts of both to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

Implications for Parents: The Church is Not Expendable.

(1) Submit to your leaders. God has done such an extraordinary work by uniting diverse families into one body that the angels stand in awe at His variegated wisdom (Ep 3:10). By His design we are united together by His Spirit (Ep 4:3) under the authority of elders who are qualified to serve (1 Ti 3:1-7) and who exercise oversight of the flock (1 Pe 5:1-3). This is why the author of Hebrews exhorts us, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (13:17a). All of us are called to bend the knee to our God-given authorities as a glad reflection of our submission to our Great Sovereign. This means hearing our pastors’ Word-filled exhortations with regard to our families—and then heeding them. When an elder confronts us fathers concerning one of our children, we must pay close attention, since he is carrying out the shepherding ministry of the Good Shepherd Himself. The primacy of my role in the discipleship of my children does not liberate me to make the church a disposable appendage to my family. God has called the church to be actively engaged in the life of my family, and vice versa. I fail to fulfill my role as a disciple-making father if I abandon the church which Christ purchased with his own blood (Ac 20:28).

(2) Seek accountability. Parents should not merely wait for their leaders to pursue them. We ought to seek out relationships within the church that will enable us to carry out our God-given responsibilities. Younger parents ought to identify older parents whom they respect, and older parents should go after younger parents. Spend generous amounts of time together. Walk through life together. Build a mentoring relationship. Christ has united you both to Himself, so you are united to one another. Live out that union with transparency, humility, and gratitude for the mercy that we all rely on every minute.

(3) Practice your ecclesiology. If the church is a group of people who are united by their common confession of faith in Christ, then those people ought to be a priority for your family. One empty-nester recently told me that he and his wife had to make the hard decision to keep their children from participating in a soccer league after they had been in it for years. The reason: at a certain age Sunday practices and games became mandatory. They recognized that they had an opportunity to teach their children a valuable, lifelong lesson: the people of God are a priority to us because they are a priority to God.

God has designed the roles of parents and the church to complement one another as they work together for the next generation. May He so work by His grace that our children might “set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments” (Ps 78:6).

Related:

Youth Discipleship (intro)
The Centrality of God in Youth Discipleship (part 1)
The Hope of the Gospel in Youth Discipleship (part 2)
The Primacy of Parents in Youth Discipleship (part 3)

Note: The related sermon from HPBC's 2009 "Don't Waste Your Summer" Conference is available here.

The Primacy of Parents in Youth Discipleship

2009-07-02T11:24:00.002-04:00

Note: The following article was written in 2007, long before personal details about South Carolina's governor were made known.

Moving from Michigan to South Carolina demanded adjustments on many levels for me. Kroger and Farmer Jack were replaced with Bi-Lo and Publix. City names like Troy and Sterling Heights gave way to towns like Pickens and Pumpkintown. When people asked, “How are you?” they actually expected and desired an answer. And it took me quite some time to figure out why these South Carolinians kept talking about USC and the Tigers. Why would sportswriters be so concerned about Southern Cal and my beloved baseball team?

One of the more unexpected adjustments was the political process on the state level. In Michigan, the governor’s relationship with the state house and senate more or less corresponds to the Federal system. Not so in South Carolina. While both states have a governor, a house, and a senate, the power is much more centralized in the governor’s chair in Michigan. As one might expect from the first state to secede from the Union, South Carolina has traditionally decentralized the power so that, in many ways, the state house and senate have more power distributed among their members than the governor himself has. Our current governor, Mark Sanford, ran on a platform to continue the work of a previous governor, Carroll Campbell, who made great strides in wresting certain powers from the state house and senate and centralizing them in his office. Now in his second term, Sanford is realizing just how difficult this task is.

Sanford’s stated purpose for centralizing power is simple: accountability. As South Carolina’s government currently operates, Sanford believes the responsibility falls to so many different people (all the representatives, all the senators, the governor, the cabinet, etc.) that no single person is held accountable whenever problems arise. If everyone is responsible, no one is responsible. Without a clear articulation of responsibilities, everyone can assume that someone else is taking care of things. Regardless of what one thinks of his politics, Sanford makes an important point. If someone does not have a clear understanding of his responsibilities, then he or she will refuse to be held accountable for failing to meet them.

When the topic shifts to discipling the coming generations, the need clearly to articulate responsibilities becomes far more significant than how a state operates. No longer are we merely dealing with the (admittedly necessary) administration of a state’s economic and political resources. Now we are dealing with the weighty matter of teaching our children in such a way that they “set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments” (Ps. 78:7, ESV). Who is ultimately responsible for the discipleship of the church’s young people? How one answers that question will determine in many ways the direction that a church takes in discipling the next generation—and who is held accountable when that responsibility is not discharged well.

Scripture affirms two key truths that must drive the way families and churches disciple the next generation. Errors emerge when one truth is distorted and emphasized to the neglect of the other. But seeking to maintain both emphases is imperative if we are to carry out God’s ministry God’s way.

Parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of their children. From Deuteronomy 6 to Ephesians 6, the Bible makes it clear: fathers and mothers must own up to the responsibility of rearing God-saturated children. Moses commanded Israel to “teach [God’s words] diligently to [their] children.” And lest the community should think that all of the adults were primarily responsible for teaching all of the children, Moses added, “Talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:7). While there was a general community obligation to the next generation, Moses indisputably laid the primary responsibility on the adults in the home, namely, the parents. Paul expresses it similarly in Ephesians 6. The apostle admonishes parents to “bring [their children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (v. 4). He directs the command specifically to the fathers, not because mothers are relieved of the duty, but because the fathers are the “heads of households on whom the ultimate responsibility for supervision rests” (D. Edmund Hiebert, Ephesians, 108). If there were a time that Paul could have placed the primary responsibility on local churches for the discipleship of the next generation, it would have been in this great letter on the church. But the apostle affirms the teaching of Moses: parents—and especially fathers—are primarily responsible.

God did not give these commands in academic vacuums. Significantly, the commands of Moses and Paul both grow out of key statements of theology. Moses begins with that great affirmation known as the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). There is none like Yahweh. His holiness means that he transcends the created order. And yet he is the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God of his people—truly “our God.” His uniqueness (who he is) and his covenant (what he has done) demand a response, one that Christ would call the first and greatest command: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart” (Deut. 6:5-6). From that kind of love for God, itself springing from God’s love for them, parents are exhorted to disciple their children.

The apostle likewise writes his letter in such a way that the reader would have to close his eyes to miss Paul’s structure. Of the forty-one imperatives in this short six-chapter work, all but one occur in chapters four through six. The apostle’s point is to emphasize the indicatives of the gospel (who God is and what he has done for us in Christ) before ticking off the imperatives of the gospel (how we must then live). J. Gresham Machen made the point this way in distinguishing between Christianity and liberalism: “Liberalism is altogether in the imperative mood, while Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative; liberalism appeals to man’s will, while Christianity announces, first, a gracious act of God” (Christianity and Liberalism, 47). The imperative to “bring [our children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (6:4) rests on three chapters of God’s work in our behalf. And if we are properly to understand the command, we must trace it back to the individual statements of the first three chapters. While that particular study is beyond the scope of this article, the point is this: we are powerless to carry out the imperatives of the gospel so long as we do not intentionally connect them back to the indicatives on which they rest.

The character of God and the promises of God in Christ demand that parents take their responsibility for the next generation seriously. The call of the Great Commission—“disciple the nations” (Mt. 28:19)—must not be limited to the regions beyond. It begins at home. I have no greater opportunity—nor any greater responsibility—to cultivate a follower of Christ than in my own home with my own children. As a parent, I must meditate on the greatness and goodness of God, give great attention to my responsibility in light of his character and works, and then structure my family’s existence around him. As a pastor, I must proclaim the greatness and goodness of God, confront parents with their responsibility to their children early and often, and then structure our youth discipleship in a way that communicates the primacy of their responsibility.

The implications of this line of thinking are far-reaching. (1) If parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of the next generation, then having a youth pastor is unnecessary. Many churches assume that the second pastoral staff member to be added to the payroll of a growing church ought to be the “youth and music guy.” There is in this assumption the tacit belief that, if the next generation is to turn out right, the church must have an individual who is devoted full-time to students. Certainly this can be helpful in accomplishing the church’s vision. (After all, do I not serve as a youth pastor?) Whenever someone is paid to give himself full-time to a particular segment of the congregation, that group should grow under his care. But that is just as true for senior citizens as it is for seniors in high school. The position of youth pastor may be helpful, but it is not necessary for the discipleship of the coming generation. Having parents who are committed to glory of God is.

(2) If parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of the next generation and a church chooses to have a youth pastor, than that man ought to view his primary ministry as complementing what the parents are (or ought to be) doing in the home. I appreciate the way that the elders at my church altered the definition of my job. Originally, they sought a youth pastor who would be “responsible for maintaining an effective youth ministry for the parents of Heritage Bible Church and their teens that reflects the character of God.” There are some strong points to that definition. But over time—and long before I started in this position—they reconsidered the scriptural emphases, changed the title of the job to Pastor of Youth and Young Adults, and reworded the definition of the job to say that he is “responsible to assist families in the discipling of youth and young adults to the end that they might grow up into Christ, worship God, and enjoy him forever.” This means that we must work to know the parents, help them own their responsibility to their children, cast a vision for them as to how to disciple the next generation, and walk through life with them—and their teenagers—to show them how the Word translates into everyday life.

(3) If parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of the next generation, then those who direct church-wide youth discipleship should factor the role of parents into their calendar. When churches schedule teen activities every Saturday night, we remove them from the ones who are primarily responsible for their discipleship—and often on the only free night on a family’s calendar. I am not advocating the wholesale removal of youth group activities; I am arguing that leaders must evaluate the busyness of school schedules and extracurricular activities in the light of the parents’ responsibility when they set their monthly calendar of youth activities.

(4) If parents are primarily responsible for the discipleship of the next generation, then parents must be the first ones to staff all children’s discipleship initiatives. Our church has the blessing of being in the same community as a large Christian university. Besides the students who grow up in our church and attend college there, there are two or three hundred students who regular worship with us. It would be very easy for us to staff all of our children’s ministries with these willing volunteers alone. But that would be philosophically aberrant. While we are glad for them to serve—and a number of them do serve as assistants—we want to apply the primacy of the parental role in every way possible. Consequently, if we do not have enough parental volunteers to lead and staff a ministry initiative, we must make the difficult choice to cut that ministry.

So does this all mean that the church now operates at the whim of parents? Are church gatherings mere fixin’s on the smorgasbord of life, from which families may take a little of this and a little of that? This is the conclusion of some. (See the recent article in Leadership and this piece from Al Mohler’s blog.) But that is to deny the second Scriptural emphasis, one that the next article in this series will address.

One last question that is sure to arise: what about those children and teenagers who do not have believing parents? There is much to say about our stewardship of them. For now, let it suffice to say what is most readily apparent. Clearly in these scenarios, the church will and must take on a more critical role in their discipleship. We cannot exhort the parents to disciple their children when they themselves are not followers of Christ. So it is wise intentionally to surround these children with other stable families, encourage believing families to incorporate them into their lives, and help build strong peer-to-peer and mentor-to-child relationships. This should not fall on one person (a bus captain, for example), but should be the shared responsibility of many families. But this also demands that we not segregate unbelieving children from believing children. The church’s responsibility to these children is great.

For a large number of our children—the majority in most congregations—this is not the most important issue. What is far more important is that we stress to the parents in our churches that the primary weight of responsibility to disciple their children falls on them. Those of us who serve in leadership capacities must communicate their obligation to every kind of family in our church: from the empty-nesters with grandchildren on the way to the overjoyed parents of a newborn first child. With the responsibilities clearly delineated, the people of the church can begin discipling the next generation for the glory of God.

Note: The related sermon at HPBC's 2009 "Don't Waste Your Summer" Conference is available here.

The Hope of the Gospel in Youth Discipleship

2009-06-30T09:25:00.005-04:00

One needs only turn to the local Christian radio or television station to recognize that the church is not preaching a single theme. From the gospel of financial prosperity to the gospel of self-esteem, professing believers—and the world around us—endure a cacophony of Christian-sounding messages that are devoid of any genuinely good news precisely because they lead a person to turn to himself or herself as savior.

Even in conservative circles, the dissonance is great. Our churches may not have fallen for the likes of Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyer, but the signs of a shift in our preaching is ubiquitous. In our efforts to hedge our people from the evils of the world around us, too many of us have fallen into the trap of preaching a set of moral codes that may themselves be on the right track, but are not clearly connected to the person and work of Christ. As Jay Adams argues in Preaching with Purpose, “If you preach a sermon that would be acceptable to the member of a Jewish synagogue or to a Unitarian congregation, there is something radically wrong with it” (147).

What is it that makes the Christian message unique? Not the existence of One True God. Muslims accept this. Not the doctrine of the Trinity, for every good Romanist acknowledges one God who exists eternally in three Persons. Not even a kind of morality that is clearly different from our surrounding culture. One can hear this in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The uniqueness of the Christian message is the person and work of Christ—the message of the gospel—received by faith alone. It is God the Son becoming man, living in perfect obedience to God’s laws, earning righteousness for his people, dying the death that we rebels deserved, rising from the dead, ever interceding for his people. If we fail to preach the gospel clearly and repeatedly, then we are failing to communicate the one thing that makes our message unique. Or, to put it another way, any message that fails to preach Christ is not a Christian message.

In principle, no believer would contend with these statements. The problem may not be one’s adherence to the principle so much as one’s application in practice. To quote Shakespeare, “There’s the rub.” Most of us would define gospel preaching in purely evangelistic terms. We conduct attractional events to bring unbelievers to our property. We host a week of meetings for the purpose of spreading the gospel to the lost. We knock on doors, pass out tracts, and invite people to visit our services. In the end, our great hope is that some who do not know Christ will come savingly to believe in him under the faithful proclamation of God’s Word. This is gospel preaching, the very means by which God is pleased “to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21, ESV).

But gospel preaching is not only for the lost. And here is where our problem arises. We are happy to proclaim the gospel clearly, authoritatively, and passionately to unbelievers—and well we should. But our preaching to the people of God is often woefully devoid of the hope of the gospel: the person and work of Christ.

Let me illustrate. A few months ago, I was watching a Christian television station that broadcast a rally for teenagers. I assume that the event was for believers because of the nature of the message. The preacher, a charismatic man in every sense of that term, sought to instill in these young people the importance of maintaining their virginity until marriage—an exhortation that is unquestionably biblical and appropriate. The title of his message, however, was indicative of his philosophy of sanctification: “Keep Your Underwear On.” He thundered forth the necessity of sexual purity, generously packing his address with a number of practical suggestions, the title of his message being his most repeated one. While I grant that I did not hear every word of his sermon, I listened long enough to understand Christian living from his perspective. His method for encouraging Christian young people to pursue holiness was entirely imperatival.

Now I am not suggesting that preaching in our circles is as shallow—let alone crude—as this. But there is an unsettling parallel. Far too many proclaim the gospel to unbelievers, but when it comes to urging our people to holiness, we cease preaching the person and work of Christ and rely wholly on imperatives. “You must love God. You must trust God. You must fear God. You must show mercy. You must forgive. You must not commit adultery.” And on and on it goes. And at those times when Christ is mentioned, he is identified only as our Chief Example, the One whose pattern we must follow. “You must love God like Christ did. You must forgive as Christ did.” True, Christ is our Example (1 Pet. 2:21). But that’s not all he is. Was that not the dividing line between the true gospel and the social gospel at the turn of the twentieth century? Was that not the concern raised by conservative contemporaries of Charles Sheldon when he penned In His Steps? And yet, a century later, Sheldon’s work is commended by professedly conservative evangelicals as a helpful exhortation to personal holiness. Is this not evidence of the downgrade of our gospel preaching to believers?

The gospel is as relevant for believers as it is for unbelievers. It is “the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1:16), not merely for conversion. The apostle uses an umbrella term that encompasses every part of God’s redemptive work: past (regeneration and conversion), present (perseverance and preservation), and future (final redemption and glorification). Consequently, preachers must demonstrate the practicality of the gospel in every part of God’s salvific activity, including our ongoing sanctification.

One may wonder how the gospel is practically relevant for believers growing in holiness. This is a fair question, but it also reveals the very disconnect this article is seeking to address. The gospel is practically relevant for our sanctification in that the person and work of Christ applied by the Spirit to the believer is the grounds and hope of his or her growth in Christlikeness. Jesus’ life of full conformity to God’s moral will earned him the righteousness that has been imputed to us by faith (Rom. 5:1, 12-19). Jesus’ death on the cross fully satisfied divine wrath that otherwise was destined to fall on us all (Rom. 1:18; 3:21-26). Our union with Christ guarantees that all the benefits Jesus earned belong to those who savingly believe in him (Eph. 1:3-14). Therefore, Jesus is not merely my Example, but my Substitute, both in his life and in his death. God accepts me because of Jesus, not because of my performance. God welcomes me into his presence because Jesus was sinless, not because I am. My relationship is so secure that God considers me as already perfect (Heb. 10:14) and glorified (Rom. 8:30), though practically I am neither. And it is on this ground that the Spirit empowers me to become what I already am in Christ.

To put it another way, the indicative of who I am in Christ is the only grounds on which the imperative of what I am to be may rest. The NT epistolary authors often follow a stylistic pattern that demonstrates this point. Notice the following statistical analysis of the verbs within the main divisions of Romans, Ephesians, and Hebrews.

Each of these books divides clearly into two parts, often referred to as the doctrine and the application or the explanation and the exhortation. The analysis above highlights two key points. First, the use of the imperative drastically increases in the second section of each book. Before the author affirms the obligations of the gospel, he communicates clearly what is already true of God’s children because of the person and work of Christ. This alone should remedy any imperatival preaching that is devoid of the indicative of the gospel.

Second, notice that the use of the indicative stays relatively the same throughout a book. The use of the indicative is not inversely proportional with the use of the imperative. That means that when the NT apostolic authors were writing, they did not cease to communicate the truths of who the readers are in Christ, even when they were commanding them with the things they were to do because of their standing.

Our preaching to believers must follow this pattern of Scripture. We must begin, end, and fill our messages with the hope of the gospel. God’s children should not walk away from our sermons asking, “Where was Christ? We sang of him, but we did not hear of him.” Failing to proclaim the good news to God’s children so robs them of the very power that is at work to sanctify them.

Teenagers do not need to hear one more gospel-less message on how they are to live. They need to hear of a Savior who has lived and died in their place. Christian young people already know what they are supposed to do. What they are ignorant of is “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe” to transform us into the image of Christ. May our gracious God “strengthen [his church] according to the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ” so that he might receive “glory forevermore through Jesus Christ” (Rom. 16:25-27).

Related:

Youth Discipleship (intro to this series)
The Centrality of God in Youth Discipleship (Part 1 in this series)

Note: The related sermon preached at HPBC's 2009 "Don't Waste Your Summer" Conference is available here.

The Centrality of God in Youth Discipleship

2009-06-29T07:22:00.004-04:00

The recent New York Times article, “Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers,” has stirred up a great deal of conversation among fundamentalists and evangelicals alike. While the article focused on broader evangelicalism, many fundamentalists are wrestling with the same phenomenon. Upon graduation from high school, far too many teenagers follow the call of the wild, drift away from the church, and (in some cases) repudiate their faith in Christ.

There is a sense in which this development should not be surprising at all. Since World War II, youth ministry in the United States has taken on a life of its own. Parachurch organizations were founded to focus on evangelizing and serving teenagers. Pastoral positions were created for the sole purpose of meeting the needs of high school students. And the Christian school movement has deluded some parents into thinking that their children’s academic environment will inevitably produce a disciple of Christ.

Such things as these are not inherently evil. But their proliferation over the last half-century has unwittingly taught our children a destructive notion: the church exists for them. For the first eighteen years of their lives, we tailor an unending succession of programs and events to cater to them. We entice them to come to church activities by telling them what they will get out of it. We create competitions based on spiritual sorts of things—Bible memory, sword drills, even personal devotional time—hoping that somehow God’s Word might lodge in their hearts. None of these things is inherently sinful, but taken together they give young people the impression that the church revolves around them. Even the phrase youth ministry implicitly teaches them to view themselves fundamentally as the objects of service.

Once teenagers graduate from high school, however, they are suddenly confronted with a church that no longer revolves around them. We explain to these young adults that God expects them to serve others and not themselves. But for years our example has taught them that the church exists for them. So when the church stops meeting their perceived needs—when the church stops existing for them—they have no reason to stick around.

Our discussion must transcend simply answering the question, How do we get them to stay? If that is all we do, then we may think that the solution is either to remake the rest of the church so that it would continue to exist for them (a strategy that surely is being tried in various quarters) or simply to create more service opportunities at increasingly younger ages. But neither of these strategies addresses the heart of the matter, for both are horizontal answers to an essentially vertical question. The problem is not primarily the loss of recent high school graduates. The drop-off between high school and young adulthood is symptomatic of a much bigger issue: a failure to teach the centrality of God in all things and to demonstrate the centrality of God in our youth discipleship. Nothing exists for them—or for us, for that matter. All of life is all about God.

For believers the thought of the centrality of God in everything almost goes without saying. The Scriptures teem with passages that speak of God as the source and the end of all things. “There is one God, the Father,” Paul writes, “from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor. 8:6, ESV). Christ is the one “for whom and by whom all things exist” (Heb. 2:10; cf. Col. 1:16). Since all things are “from him and through him and to him,” God is the only one worthy of eternal glory (Rom. 11:36). Addressing the centrality of God in any matter seems virtually unnecessary since this truth is self-evident.

But far too often believers fail to live with God’s centrality in mind. Though God’s glory in all things is quite obvious, our finite and fallen minds often seek to shut God out of our thinking so that we can go about our lives in our own way, for our own purposes. Why else would the apostle need to exhort us, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31)?

Therefore, the greatest need that our teenagers have is not a new program, a new enticement, or a new competition. Neither they nor we need a better activity than the last one or another list of dos and don’ts to govern our lives. Their greatest need—and ours—is to see God in all his glory. If our children and teenagers would see, know, and love this great God, everything else would fall into place.

Isaiah exemplifies this dynamic (Isa. 6). What brought about his willingness to be God’s ambassador (v. 8)? It was his vision of the greatness of God (vv. 1-4), a vision that brought about a genuine brokenness and humility over his own sin (v. 5) and the tender word of forgiveness from a God who is as good as he is great (vv. 6-7). We cannot make our teenagers willing to serve others. We cannot atone for their sins. We cannot force them to contrite admission of their own sin. But we can expose them to the glory of God. And we must.

Exposing children and teenagers to the glory of God sounds good and right, but it requires much more than merely implementing a new program. The glory of God is not something that we can simply add to our task lists; it is a wholly different paradigm through which we view everything. And if we ourselves are not seeing his glory in all things, can we reasonably expect the coming generations to do anything but follow our lead?

So where do we begin? We begin by following the example of Moses, on our knees begging God, “Show me your glory!” (Exo. 33:18). We begin by searching the written Word so that we might see the incarnate Word, in whose face we see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Cor. 4:6). We begin by exegeting life—every circumstance, every conversation, every relationship—to examine what this great Sovereign is seeking to demonstrate about himself (Ps. 115:3). In short, we must become people who are consumed, not with ministry and events, but with God and his glory. Whatever else we do in youth discipleship—or anywhere else in the church—must flow from that.

Renewing our commitment to seeing and speaking of the glory of God in all of life may not alter the direction of teenagers who insist on going their own way after high school. Discipleship is not a mathematical formula that requires only the right input in order to churn out a lifelong follower of Jesus. And no church will have a perfect track record of success. So recovering the centrality of God in our lives and in our churches is not a new strategy that we should try for a little while to see if it works. The glory of God is not a means to the end of discipleship success. The glory of God is not a means to any end; it is the end. All of life is out of him, all of life now exists through him, and all of life will return to him as the object of eternal glory. And every teenager who sits in our churches will glorify God forever—either in their salvation or their condemnation. Therefore, we must confront our young people with the reality, centrality, and glory of God early and often so that they might find him to be the sole object of their hearts’ affection. May God be pleased to use us in his gracious work of saving young people for his eternal glory.

Note: I preached a sermon based on this article for Hampton Park Baptist Church's 2009 Youth Conference, "Don't Waste Your Summer." The audio is available online.

Youth Discipleship

2009-06-27T21:35:00.004-04:00

A couple of years ago I was asked to write a series of articles on youth discipleship for SharperIron. Since SI updated their site this month, those articles have been (temporarily?) removed. A number of people have asked me for these, so I'll re-post them over the next week.

In the meantime, let me point you to the series of sermons that shifted my paradigm on the matter. My pastor, Dan Brooks, and my predecessor, Dan Cruver, preached a four-part series on Discipling the Coming Generations in 2002. I am indebted to them for laying the theological and philosophical foundation for God-centered youth discipleship in my heart and mind.

Brooks: That the Generation to Come Might Know (Ps 78)
Brooks: Arrows of the Kingdom (Ps 127)
Cruver: From One Generation to Another (Ps 145)
Cruver: Discipleship: Why God-Centered (Is 42.8)

On Sanford's Confession

2009-06-25T15:13:00.004-04:00

Like many other South Carolinians, I was stunned by the news yesterday that Gov. Mark Sanford had been involved in an adulterous relationship for the past year. I've liked Sanford since the first time I heard him on the radio, doing an interview ahead of the 2002 SC Republican Gubernatorial primary. I voted for him three times that year (the primary, the run-off, and the general election), and then voted for him again in 2006. While I thought the possibility of a 2012 race for the White House had slim chances (too many in-state fights with Republicans, rated one of America's worst governors by Time, not charismatic enough, etc.), I nevertheless appreciated his emerging national voice on a variety of issues.

Yesterday, that voice was silenced. His private choices over the past year make his public stance irrelevant at best, laughable at worst. Besides losing national influence, Sanford already had great difficulty leading his own state--his own party, even. Those problems will only grow. Frankly, I wonder whether Sanford should simply resign his position now and focus on the counseling and reconciliation that he says he wants. What better way to demonstrate the genuineness of his repentance than to walk away from his powerful position in order to restore the marriage he has broken.

But this post is not about Mark Sanford. It's about you and me. As stunned as we are (and should be) by this news, it ought to serve as a sobering reminder of our own depravity. Here are some lessons that I'm pondering today in the wake of this news:

1. We must acknowledge that our biggest problem is not "out there." It is "in here." So much of the Christian's battle against lust is directed against the "out there." We install internet filters. We block television stations. We avoid magazine covers. The list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, these are necessary steps in applying the gospel in the nasty here-and-now. But Jesus said that the problem is not what comes in from the outside. What defiles a person is what comes out of the heart. So my biggest problem is not "out there." It's not Hollywood, the internet, or cable TV. My biggest problem is within. And so is yours. If you live in that reality, it will humble you into realizing that you're a greater sinner than you would have ever believed, it will put your battle with sin "out there" in right perspective, and it will free you to extend grace to others who have sinned beyond your expectations.

2. We must measure ourselves against the right standard. Conservatives can be absolutely ruthless in identifying other people's sins. I was not blown away last night when I turned on Fox News and watched Karl Rove explain that Sanford's sin was not as bad as Eliot Spitzer's or Barney Frank's--both of whom are (surprise!) Democrats. Of course this isn't merely a problem for conservatives; it's a problem as wide as humanity. We tend to view our sin in comparison to others and thereby justify ourselves. But the standard is not others' behavior or even our own personal code of ethics. The standard is God's inflexible law. And until you find yourself crumble beneath its weight, you will not find the gospel to be the only antidote.

3. We must guard ourselves in our friendships--and especially in our counselees. Apparently the relationship between Sanford and his mistress began with seemingly innocent e-mails exchanged between the two, some of which included Sanford's counsel to her concerning a difficult marriage. Pastors, take note! Whenever we are called on to give counsel, especially marital counsel, to a woman, we must recognize the danger of our hearts becoming intertwined with theirs. This doesn't mean that a pastor should never counsel a lady, but pastors must be very careful in that context and should make sure that they are being held accountable for those conversations, whether they occur in private or over the internet.

A broader point of application: we must be careful as to our virtual friendships. Social networking sites like Facebook are wonderful means of communicating with people we haven't seen in years. But because of our sinful hearts, they can also be used of the adversary to cultivate unhealthy relationships from that which was initially innocuous.

4. We must seek accountability. No one is above committing the kind of sin to which Sanford admitted yesterday. Not you. Not me. If we shut ourselves off from others, sin will deceive us all the more easily. Consider these words from Hebrews: "Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called, 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (3.13). The process is stated in reverse: first sin deceives, then it hardens. We combat that by speaking (and being spoken to) every single day. Accountability, of course, is not fool-proof; if a person is committing adultery, certainly he/she would be willing to lie about it. But intentional accountability is one means that God gives us to help fight sin.

5. We must be sobered by how our sin affects others. "No one sins on an island." "You can choose your sin, but you cannot choose the consequences of your sin." Just cliches, right? Wrong. Tell that to Jenny Sanford and the four Sanford boys. Part of sin's deception is to tell us that we can sin and get away with it, that we can sin and no one else will be hurt. A little laziness. A little carelessness. A little fun. In the end, a lot of heartache--and not just for you.

6. We must repent of putting our hope in people. Whether you are conservative, liberal, or somewhere in between, we all tend to expect way too much out of politicians. Listen to the words that we use at our political conventions: "change," "hope," "believe," "redemption." You'd think it was a mid-twentieth-century evangelistic crusade.

(And for those who might think I'm merely referring to Obama's "Change You Can Believe In," allow me to remind you of Ron Paul's slogan, "Hope for America." Hope for America? Really?)

Our political lingo is laced with theological (soteriological!) terms. Add to that the reality that we're always looking for a savior, someone to come and bail us out of our troubles. Consequently we rest our hopes in the Next Rising Star rather than the Sovereign Christ. And for that we must all repent.

7. We must look away to Christ. He is our Savior, our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, and will some day be our eternal reward. Look within and despair; look away and rejoice. Jesus, Jesus only, is our hope.

Minnick on the FBF

2009-06-22T11:43:00.002-04:00

Dr. Mark Minnick, pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church, preached a sermon last night on the recent FBF controversy. The audio is available on the church's website. I am listening to it right now. I'm sure there will be lots of discussion to come!

A Great Father's Day

2009-06-21T22:20:00.003-04:00

For many reasons:

1. I got a new Tigers hat.

2. I got some beautiful artwork from the girls.

3. I got a Jeep.

Yeah, it was a great day!

On Marriage Vows: Traditional or Custom-Made?

2009-06-20T11:00:00.003-04:00

Weddings have certainly been on my mind, having attended three in the last three weeks. So it was with great interest that I read this article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. David Lapp discusses the decreasing use of traditional vows in favor of custom-made (or, as the case may be, custom-ordered) ones. For Lapp the issue arose when his pastor refused to allow him and his fiancee to write their own. "My sensibilities were offended. 'Don't you know this is our wedding?"

Eventually the author came around to his pastor's view, arguing for the traditional vows on the basis of the institution of marriage itself:

When one enters marriage, one steps into an institution bigger than oneself: It includes another person, the community and future children. Acts of this magnitude warrant precise and time-tested words. And as my pastor said: "A church acts like family: We share in the couple's vows as we witness the vows being made, as we pray for them, support them, and even keep them accountable to those vows during difficult times."

Lapp ends his article by citing Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a quotation which, incidentally, is also referenced in John Piper's This Momentary Marriage): "It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love." He concludes:

In the traditional vows, the institution -- marriage -- makes and forms the couple; the vows set out what marriage is and what it requires. In today's write-your-own or instant-download vows, the couple picks and chooses the promises they make to each other -- they make their own definition. The more casual attitudes toward the vows are probably a symptom of our more casual attitude toward marriage.

The author's arguments may not be finally convincing. But his cautions are worth your consideration, whether you are planning your own wedding or officiating another's.

Ann Arbor and Warren: A Tale of Two Economies

2009-05-26T08:37:00.002-04:00

As many of you know, in 2003-04 Kimberly and I were making plans to plant a church out of Heritage in Ann Arbor, MI. Three family units were planning to move with us from SC, but in God's providence that plan never materialized. All three of those families eventually moved to the Midwest (Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois), and we are still here in the South.

My interest in all things Ann Arbor was piqued this morning by an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Ann Arbor and Warren: A Tale of Two Economies." It is no secret that the Michigan economy has been battered due to the downfall of two of the Big Three automotive companies. This article, however, shows that all is not lost in the state. "Michigan's economic future rests on making the state look more like Ann Arbor," the writer asserts, "and less like Warren, 50 miles to the northeast, where factory buildings and warehouses built on the riches of the Big Three auto makers bear signs saying they are 'priced to sell.'"

What intrigued me about the article is not just the Ann Arbor side of this equation. I grew up in Troy, a northwest Detroit suburb, but my home church and its accompanying Christian high school were in Warren. Those who are from the area originally and those who still call southeast Michigan home may find this piece to be of interest.

Note: Every once in a while, I am asked whether Ann Arbor is a possible destination for us. The answer is, I don't know. I haven't given the city much serious consideration since I went on pastoral staff at Heritage. Sure, sending me to Ann Arbor would be like throwing Br'er Rabbit into the briar patch. ("Oh, please, do anything! Just don't send me there!") But the reality is, Ann Arbor is a gospel-poor town. I praise God for the churches that are faithfully preaching the gospel there, but the needs are great. Whether God would send me there, I do not know. But I long for God to raise up strong, college-town, gospel-preaching, Christ-exalting churches (like this one up the road in East Lansing near Michigan State University). If he should choose to use me to that end, I would be thrilled. Whether this is in our future or not, however, I pray that he would raise up many others for this work in his kingdom.

Ken Bartholomew

2009-05-23T16:24:00.006-04:00

In my testimony about God's mercy in cancer, I mentioned that about six weeks before my diagnosis, my friend Ken Bartholomew passed away. Ken, his wife Ruth, and their three children joined the teens and me on multiple mission trips to Manitoba, and they always so graciously opened their home for our after-mission-trip parties to reflect on God's goodness and look at everyone else's pictures. They served in whatever way they could: helping little kids with their daily craft, listening and offering comfort to our teens as they served the children, and teaching novices (like me!) how to fish. Ken was in the boat when I caught my first fish--a 24-inch walleye.

You might be wondering how the two of us fit into one little boat. (See it in the background?) Actually, there were three of us in the boat. Warren Ironstand, the pastor whose church and Native American reserve we were assisting, was also there with us. (Good thing, too. Had he not been there, I would have had to throw the fish back. Then again, Pastor Warren said I could pass for native.) Anyway, he was no small guy either. So yeah, it was a crowded boat.

But even that reminds me of God's work of grace in Ken's heart. About a year before he passed away, maybe a little more, he came up to me very burdened that his weight was not glorifying to God. Though he struggled with it most of his adult life, he told me that he resolved to grow in his personal discipline--and he invited, no, insisted on my holding him accountable for it. Over the next few months, we talked about the matter multiple times. He was so excited when he was able to button his sportcoat and had lost fifty pounds. God's grace wrought transparency, humility, and discipline into this brother.

God gifted Ken with a beautiful tenor voice, and he faithfully employed it to serve God's people wherever he was sent. He had an unusual ability to connect with those who loved mid-twentieth-century music as well as those who favored more contemporary pieces. He served our congregation by singing, not only during corporate worship services, but frequently for funerals. That, of course, required setting aside his regular work in order to testify of the grace of Christ to the bereaved. I loved Ken for that ministry.

Thanks to the work of some of his friends, Ken's voice will still be heard. Though as far as I know he never recorded a CD in a studio, some of his recordings from various settings (e.g., corporate worship, funerals, various programs) still exists. These friends, who operate a studio here in Greenville, took it upon themselves to clean up these recordings, add instrumentation, and publish a twenty-song CD of Ken's work. This was a surprise to his wife, and the proceeds (apart from covering the bare minimum of production costs) will go to her.

I encourage you to drop the $15 necessary to add this CD to your collection. I think you'll find it to be an edifying reminder of God's grace to us. (We've already used the title track, "Finally Home," in funeral services, at the request of grieving family members.) Some will appreciate the older songs more, others the newer ones. That's just what Ken would have wanted--a focus not on the older or the newer, but on the Christ whom he loved.

Three Conferences in Two Weeks

2009-04-19T13:20:00.001-04:00

This weekend began a stretch of conferences for me:

PCRT in Greenville (the past two days)
The Gospel Coalition in Chicago (Tuesday through Thursday this week)
Children Desiring God in Minneapolis (Thursday through Saturday next week)

If you're planning to be at one of these, please let me know. I'd love to touch base with you!

Redeemer Bible Church, Brighton, CO

2009-04-14T10:56:00.003-04:00

Heritage's latest church planter, Todd Davis, is blogging. He and his family have been in Brighton, Colorado for a month now. You can keep up with him here.

Packer on Penal Substitution

2009-04-11T19:21:00.003-04:00

I'm reading In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement as part of my Easter meditation. It is a collection of articles by J. I. Packer and Mark Dever defending the substitutionary nature of Christ's cross-work.

Here's a nugget for you to ponder and exult in as you prepare for corporate worship tomorrow:

The word "penal" . . . is there, not to prompt theoretical puzzlement about the transferring of guilt, but to articulate the insight of believers who, as they look at Calvary in the light of the New Testament, are constrained to say, "Jesus was bearing the judgment I deserved (and deserve), the penalty for my sins, the punishment due to me"--"he loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). How it was possible for him to bear their penalty they do not claim to know, any more than they know how it was possible for him to be made man; but that he bore it is the certainty on which all their hopes rest (84).

May God give us grace to continue resting our hopes on the completed work of his Son!

Colbert and Ehrmann on Christ

2009-04-11T13:30:00.003-04:00

Satirist Stephen Colbert had theologian Bart Ehrmann on The Colbert Report Thursday to discuss Ehrmann's view that traditional Christian thinking about Christ is (and for most of church history has been) erroneous. Colbert's replies are vintage:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Bart Ehrman

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

HT: BW3

The Glory of God: Objective Reality

2009-04-07T21:49:00.004-04:00

Danny gave me consecutive opportunities to preach at Heritage, once this past Sunday evening and again this coming Sunday evening. My sermons are on the glory of God. And no, they are not exhaustive--even though one of our elders jokingly asked me if they would be.

Both the audio and my notes from the first sermon (The Glory of God: Objective Reality) are now available.

Dr. Oz on Stem Cell Research

2009-04-07T08:36:00.003-04:00

Even the most casual Oprah watcher knows Dr. Mehmet Oz, the doctor she turns to most often to discuss medical/health-related issues. Last week, Dr. Oz appeared with Oprah and Michael J. Fox to talk about the possibilities of stem cells. His conclusion is enlightening: adult stem cells--not embryonic ones--hold the potential for curing Parkinson's.

Two things stand out to me: (1) that the debate over embryonic stem cell research is not a matter of medicine but politics; and (2) that doctors may find a cure for Parkinson's within the decade. The former reminds me that we must not think it right to destroy one life in order to save another. The latter reminds me that God in his common grace may yet provide a way to preserve the lives of those who are currently suffering with Parkinson's. As a survivor of one disease that (until recently) was considered fatal, I join the many who wish that day to come soon.

HT: World.

Help GSP Airport Attract Lower Fares

2009-04-02T09:10:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine who works in operations at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport passed along this survey the other day and asked that I share it with anyone who would benefit from lower fares at GSP. He told me last night that the results may have great bearing on GSP's future plans. So if you live in the Upstate or travel frequently to the Upstate, please take a three or four minutes to respond.

Cancer Journal (09.03.27): Cancer-Free Party

2009-03-27T14:21:00.004-04:00

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: . . .
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3.1, 4).

Well, friends, it's time to party!

It looks like I am in the clear ("cancer-free," "in remission," take your pick), at least for now. I am on an every-three-month checkup schedule for the next two years. But the doctors are very pleased with where I am. So let's celebrate!

From Kimberly's Facebook invitation:

For all our family and friends who have prayed for us, cried with us, and ministered to us in innumerable ways - please come to our open house and give God the glory for what HE has done! Since not everyone is on facebook, spread the word! Hope to see you there. :-)

The party will be at our house on Friday, April 3, from 5pm-8pm. It's an open house, so just drop by whenever you can. If you have a Facebook account and are planning to come, please mark "Attending" on the Event page. If you don't have a Facebook account and are planning to come, please post a comment on this blog post. Doing one or the other will help us in our planning.

Your prayers, cards, and love over the past nine months have been an incredible gift to me and my family. And the gift of your presence is the only one that I'd like at my party. Just wanted to make that clear. =)

Hear this, O [friends];
stop and consider the wondrous works of God (Job 37.14).

The Gospel is the Power of God for Sanctification

2009-03-25T10:14:00.003-04:00

A friend/accountability partner of mine sent me an e-mail yesterday that was of such encouragement to me, I asked if I could post it here for your edification. This is a tremendous, practical summary of how the gospel is at work to transform us in the midst of our temptation. It is only lightly edited.

I had a breakthrough last night and today, while meditating on the gospel, the resurrection, and Romans 6 ("Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace").

I know that Jesus Christ overcame the power of sin and death. I know that He forgave my sin and counted His righteousness to my account. But He also overcame sin for me right now, in 2009. In Christ, I am free to present my being to God rather than to sin.

My breakthrough is this: In the midst of temptation, I usually believe that sin is the most powerful thing, that it can't be overcome, that I have to give in, that I have no power against it (so often I do give in, feeling I have no real power to overcome it). But this is not the case. Jesus overcame the power of sin in me, in 2009. And Christ is in me. The reality is that with the Spirit in me, I have the power to say no to temptation and sin. I really can and will overcome temptation because God dwells in me and because I'm under grace.

I know that I hate sin, that I don't want it, that I want Christ. I know I'm forgiven and counted righteous. But the power of God being in me to overcome sin just hit me this morning. So, this is my work - in the midst of temptation - to believe that the power in me is greater than my sin or the Devil, that I don't have to give in. I can walk away from sin because of God.

It goes like this: I Corinthians 15 - "O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." My being "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" is dependent on the victory Christ has won for me in the resurrection over sin. He has won the victory - I just have to believe that He has won it - and then don't budge when temptation comes, because it has no more victory over me.

Sin lost in Christ - once and for all. What a glorious truth. I must "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" and "be saved," especially in the midst of temptation. This is the hope of the gospel.

Thanks for preaching the gospel to me!

PCRT Greenville Pre-Registration

2009-03-24T08:56:00.003-04:00

PCRT Greenville is coming soon! The pre-registration for this conference on the doctrine of justification ends Tuesday, April 7. The conference will be held April 17-19 at Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Greenville. This year's speakers include Steven Lawson (pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, AL), Jerry Bridges (prolific author), Derek Thomas (minister of teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS), and Rick Phillips (senior minister of the host church).

Registration is $125, but groups of five or more may register for $95. Lawson will conduct the pre-conference on the life and legacy of John Calvin. Those who register for the pre-conference ($35) qualify for the discounted rate for the rest of the conference ($95).

If you are from Heritage and interested in attending as a group, please let me know. Simply post a comment with your name and contact information. (Since I moderate all comments, your information will not be made public. After I receive your comment, I will delete it.) Let me know if you wish to attend the pre-conference, too. I'll then register us as a group. Please contact me by Friday, April 3.

WSJ: Church Planting is the Newest Missionary Field

2009-03-20T08:25:00.003-04:00

Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard and frequent commentator on Fox News, has written a piece for today's Wall Street Journal on a most unusual topic: church planting. As an orthodox Anglican whose church left the Episcopal Church in 2005, Barnes was challenged to help plant a church in Alexandria, VA. He recounts his experience in this article.

Why do young pastors desire to plant churches? "Planting and then leading a new church is an ideal option." One Anglican minister who desired to serve a theologically conservative congregation opined, "In order to do that, you had to go out and do it yourself."

What We Shall Be

2009-03-18T10:49:00.002-04:00

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,
we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven.
-1 Corinthians 15.49

What a glorious hope!

Marks of a Good Listener

2009-02-21T23:05:00.002-05:00

Here's something most of us could use some work on: how to grow in our love for one another by becoming a better listener. Gavin offers these twenty marks.

HT: Challies.

Environmentalism and Christian Stewardship - Update

2009-02-19T11:06:00.003-05:00

There has been a change to the program announced here a few weeks ago. The change was prompted by the sudden passing of Dr. Hilton Terrell, the primary speaker for the conference. The following is from Amanda Smith, the course coordinator:

The course has been reorganized due to the home-going of the primary speaker. It will now be held all in one day (April 1st) from 10:30 a.m.-- 3:00 p.m. Dr. Timothy Terrell will be giving 3 lectures discussing environmentalism and Christianity. We are looking forward to having our minds sharpened!

Cancer Journal (09.02.17): By the Numbers

2009-02-16T20:45:00.007-05:00

2 . . .
Health-related issues I thought I had when 2008 began: my vision and my cough

2 . . .
Months (Jan-Feb 08) before my vision was corrected
(Thank you, Drs. Bogart and Brown)

10 . . .
Months (Sept 07-June 08) that my cough went unexplained

12 . . .
The maximum number of months I would have lived had my cancer not been found

5 . . .
Doctors who cared for my body through this process
(Thank you, Drs. Fleming, Abreu, Nguyen, Curran, and Curtis)

18 . . .
Elders who laid their hands on me and prayed for my healing
(Thank you, Danny, Eric, Sandy, Warren, John V., Mike, Loyd, Dan, Sam, John S., Joel, John G., Gary, Tom, Brian, Lee, Rich, and Dick)

12 . . .
Injections of Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine -- my chemo cocktail

3 . . .
Injections of Neupogen

11 . . .
Injections of Neulasta

472 . . .
Miles I drove (alone!) the day after a chemo treatment to join my family on vacation

0 . . .
Scruples it took to do that

17 . . .
Radiation treatments

2,755 . . .
Total miles that I traveled for health purposes since January 2008

$60,657.51 . . .
Total amount in benefits that Blue Cross has paid for me since July 1, 2008

40+ . . .
Meals provided by members of Heritage Bible Church and other friends

114 . . .
Cards, letters, and get-well wishes I received

50? . . .
Estimated number of people who wore LiveStrong bracelets for me

2 . . .
People who ran a LiveStrong race for me
(Thank you, Heather and Sebastian)

521 . . .
Members of the Facebook group, "Praying for the Hoskinsons"
(Thanks to all of you)

1 . . .
Wife who carried our family on her back for nearly a year
(Thank you, Kimberly, for fulfilling your promise to love me in sickness and in health. All my heart is yours alone.)

0 . . .
Treatments remaining
(My last radiation was today.)

Praise be to God!

The Legend of Speedo Guy

2009-02-13T11:17:00.002-05:00

I was already laughing out loud while watching this. But the twist at the end of the story caught me completely off-guard.

I'm so glad that Michigan fans are much more civilized than Duke fans.

The Lord's Plow

2009-02-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

Samuel Rutherford:

If the Lord's plow make furrows in my soul,
it is because he purposeth a crop.

HT: Bob Carver.

Cheering for the Other Team

2009-02-11T09:44:00.002-05:00

Here's an inspiring story about a football coach who asked half of his team's fans to cheer for the other team--a team composed of inmates of a maximum security prison many of whose parents had disowned them. After the game, one of the players on the other team prayed, "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank you, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

HT: Josh.

Mahaney on Phelps

2009-02-09T21:57:00.003-05:00

Once again, C. J. Mahaney offers tremendous, gospel-driven insight on the world of sports. As he did with his article on Bill Belichick after the Patriots lost last year's Super Bowl, C. J. now addresses the sad revelation of uber-Olympian Michael Phelps and his apparent drug use.

Here's a taste of what he wrote:

This is what I find so striking: A man whose chest has been covered with gold medals, has achieved international fame, showered with awards, and blessed with an incomprehensible amount of money, still feels compelled to press his face to a bong.

Mahaney's conclusions will lead you to humility--and the cross.

Younger Women and Motherhood

2009-02-05T09:09:00.003-05:00

For years the trend has been for women to wait longer to have children. That era may be coming to a close. Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics. It reports the first decline in the average age of first-time mothers since data have been recorded. Highlighting this trend is twenty-two-year-old Candace Parker, last year's MVP and Rookie of the Year in the WNBA, who announced last month that she and her husband are expecting. Shellenbarger reports:

Ms. Parker's parents were in their 30s when she was born, and "I kind of missed out" on shooting hoops with her dad and other shared play, she says. She wants her children to have the benefit of young parents.

The whole article is available online.

Cardboard Testimonies

2009-02-04T14:37:00.003-05:00

I don't know much about the church, but this video is powerful.

HT: PariCom and Matias.

Facebook, Advertising, and Your Info

2009-02-03T09:19:00.004-05:00

According to the (London) Telegraph, Facebook is moving forward with plans to take the information you've put on their site and transform it into "one of the world's largest research databases" for marketers.

HT: Challies.

On Confessions and Unity

2009-02-03T07:43:00.003-05:00

Michael Horton:

Whatever the differences between the churches of the Reformation, the strength and vitality of a Lutheran church committed to its Book of Concord, an Anglican church that lives out its faith and practice from the riches of the Thirty-Nine Articles and its Book of Common Prayer, a Reformed or Presbyterian church shaped by the Three Forms and Westminster Standards, and Baptists who interpret their mission in the light of the London/Philadelphia Confession are a stronger witness for the common truths that bind evangelicals than all of the statements of faith that the evangelical movement seems perpetually to generate.

To be sure, as we dig more deeply into the Scriptures and our confessional identity, we become more aware of the distinctives of a particular tradition; but if we resist the temptation to indulge the narcissism of a party spirit, we may also discover that we understand and appreciate the truths that we all confess together and there discover a genuine openness to each other as "evangelical," even if not altogether satisfied to be called "evangelicals." Traditionalism is as mindless as perpetual innovation. When confessional convictions become reduced to slogans, knee-jerk reactions, and narrow-minded loyalty to a heritage, that tradition has already become dangerously moribund. However, a rediscovery of the truths that others have discovered before us provides resources that help us to make real contributions instead of settling for a generic and shallow consensus. Those who have themselves become fully persuaded that covenant children should be baptized should be eager to come together with brothers and sisters who disagree and in the process, with their Bibles open, come more fully to realize their shared love for the authority of God's Word. And where we do agree together, our common witness can only be stronger, more unified, and more profound.

From "More Confessional and More Open?" Modern Reformation 17.7 (Nov/Dec 2008): 60.

Related article: Michael Horton, "To Be or Not To Be: The Uneasy Relationship between Reformed Christianity and American Evangelicalism," Modern Reformation 17.7 (Nov/Dec 2008): 18-21.

Environmentalism and Christian Stewardship

2009-02-02T20:10:00.003-05:00

Greenville Classical Academy is hosting a special mini-course called "Environmentalism and Christian Stewardship: Thinking Green as a Christian." The following is from a promotional brochure.

Purpose. Ideas on the environment have become a powerful force in politics, the economy and our culture. We hear phrases like "energy independence," "carbon footprint," and "think green" used almost daily. At the creation of the world, God instructed man to "tend and keep" the earth. How does this command apply? Is drilling in ANWR poor Christian stewardship? Should we be concerned about global warming? Is energy independence a worthy goal? What is the role of government in resolving environmental issues? How does evolution relate to environmentalism? What limits should the Christian have on his efforts to "tend and keep" the earth? These questions and more will be considered during this seminar. Join us as we seek to transform our students into discerning followers of Jesus Christ.

Speakers. Dr. Timothy Terrell earned a Ph.D. in economics from Auburn University and has taught at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC since 2000. His dissertation and some subsequent writing has focused on environmental regulation. Dr. Terrell writes extensively on economics and public policy, and has lectured internationally on economics and ethics. He is the father of three children.

Dr. Hilton Terrell has been practicing medicine and teaching in Florence, SC for over twenty years as Associate Professor of Family Medicine in a medical residency program. He holds an M.D. degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He is board certified in Family Medicine. For nine years he edited the Journal of Biblical Ethics in Medicine. As part of his residency teaching he has directed the residency curriculum in environmental medicine. At present, he is president-elect of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. In 2007-08 he tried his hand teaching high school biology and found it to be one of the most challenging things he has done.

Description. Designed for 7th-12th grade students, the course will cover a variety of environmental topics such as global warming, energy, pollution, evolution and creationism. Students who attend the full three-day series of lectures and complete all required out-of-class assignments will receive a grade and a certificate of completion.

Auditors. Adult students and auditors are welcome. Auditors will not be required to do take-home assignments and will not receive a grade or certificate. If your child is in 6th grade but would still like to attend, auditing the course is recommended.

Dates and Times. The lectures will take place on three Thursdays next month: March 5, 19, & 26. The schedule includes three lectures and Q&A sessions each day beginning at 11 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m.

Location. The lectures will be held at Greenville Classical Academy, which meets at the facilities for Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church (map).

Cost. Tuition for the entire series of lectures is $35 per student (for grade or for audit) with a $50 maximum per family.

Registration. The registration form is available online and may be mailed to Greenville Classical Academy, 2519 Woodruff Road, Simpsonville, SC 29681. The registration deadline is February 20, and space is limited.

The Ad that is Too Controversial for the Super Bowl

2009-01-31T15:29:00.003-05:00

Perhaps a commercial featuring a talking baby who spits up on himself? Perhaps a commercial promoting drunken behavior? Perhaps a commercial featuring a female race-car driver's suggestive antics?

No, no, and no.

How about a commercial that is positive, pro-life, (arguably) pro-Obama? Now, that's too strong for television, especially in at a time when the economic downturn has left Super Bowl ad slots empty until the day before the game.

Read more here.

Piper on Obama on Abortion

2009-01-30T10:30:00.002-05:00

Here's a clip from a recent Piper sermon.

HT: DG.

On Grace

2009-01-30T09:37:00.002-05:00

Matthew Henry:

Grace teaches us, in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and, in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live.

Joel Belz Coming to Greenville

2009-01-26T19:33:00.001-05:00

Joel Belz, founder and editor of World Magazine, is coming to Greenville. He will be the commencement speaker for the first graduating class of Greenville Classical Academy. Graduation will be Thursday, June 4 at 7pm at Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church.

Pat Forde on Tim Tebow

2009-01-24T20:21:00.003-05:00

Here's a great article on Tim Tebow, the Florida Gators quarterback who won the BCS National Championship last week. It documents his efforts to get the gospel out as much as possible, whether on a missions trip to the Philippines or at a local prison.

HT: Challies.

Related: Randy Alcorn writes about the faith of Tebow, Detroit Lions kicker Jason Hanson, and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner.

Reflections on Death

2009-01-10T16:48:00.004-05:00

Danny asked me to preach Sunday, December 28, as part of the evening worship service. I took as my text Genesis 5, but traveled back to Genesis 2-3 before ending in Romans 5. The title of my message is "Reflections on Death," and is available here.

Side note: A friend sent me a copy of D. A. Carson's How Long, O Lord? early in my cancer treatment. I read it over the course of my chemotherapy with great benefit. If you can do only one or the other, I'd recommend you forgo my sermon and read that book. It is the kind of paradigm-shaping work that will ground your faith when suffering strikes close to you.

This American Life: Switched at Birth

2009-01-10T16:23:00.003-05:00

Here's an interesting episode of Chicago Public Radio's weekly program, This American Life. It deals with the story of two girls who were switched at birth, but didn't find out until they were in their 40's--even though one of the moms knew all along. The story is intriguing enough as it is, but readers of this blog will find it even more interesting because one of the dads was an evangelical pastor. Particularly thought-provoking is the discussion of God's sovereignty (was this situation God's will or not?) and forgiveness.

HT: Josh Harris.

God's Unwearied Kindness

2009-01-10T07:39:00.003-05:00

Calvin:

What great occasion [God] gives us to contemplate his mercy when he often pursues miserable sinners with unwearied kindness, until he shatters their wickedness by imparting benefits and by recalling them with more than fatherly kindness!

Institutes, I.v.7.

How God Receives Glory from Sinful Beings

2009-01-02T07:42:00.003-05:00

Calvin:

What is more consonant with faith than to recognize that we are naked of all virtue, in order to be clothed by God? That we are empty of all good, to be filled by him? That we are slaves of sin, to be freed by him? Blind, to be illumined by him? Lame, to be made straight by him? Weak, to be sustained by him? To take away from us all occasion for glorying, that he alone may stand forth gloriously and we glory in him [cf. I Cor. 1:31; II Cor. 10:17]? When we say these and like things our adversaries interrupt and complain that in this way we shall subvert some blind light of nature, imaginary preparations, free will, and works that merit eternal salvation, even with their supererogations. For they cannot bear that the whole praise and glory of all goodness, virtue, righteousness, and wisdom should rest with God. But we do not read of anyone being blamed for drinking too deeply of the fountain of living water [John 4:14].

From Institutes, "Prefatory Address," sec. 2.

Cancer Journal (08.12.31): And Then There Were None

2008-12-31T22:15:00.002-05:00

Reflection
Today would have been chemo #13. Thankfully I needed only twelve.

Praise be to our God!

A little update on my progress. My doctor sent me to a radiation oncologist who advised me on the matter. While radiation is typically for patients who have had a large tumor or a single, super-enlarged lymph node, she recommended radiation in my situation because of the significant size of the numerous enlarged lymph nodes in my chest. She outlined the benefits, risks, and proposed schedule that I would face, and then left Kimberly and me to make the decision, assuring me that choosing not to have radiation would still be reasonable.

As with any treatment, there are unknowns. But going ahead with radiation changes the odds (humanly speaking) of a relapse from roughly one-in-three to one-in-ten. That was significant enough for Kimberly and me to go ahead with both doctors' recommendation.

We're convinced that the work of these two doctors is in direct answer to many prayers offered on my behalf, that God would grant wisdom to those providing medical care for me. I was reminded in Nehemiah 4 this morning that there is no conflict between human responsibility and divine sovereignty. Even as Nehemiah commanded the workers to rally to a place of battle, he affirmed that it would be God who fought for them. Even as the Jews worked to thwart their enemies' assault, they ultimately recognized that it was God who frustrated their plan. Even as the laborers built the wall, Nehemiah acknowledged that it was God who prospered their work. So we look at the work of my doctors and nurses--their diligent, intentional labor on my behalf--and recognize that it has been God who has given wisdom and brought healing.

Praise be to our God!

One other item. At my last treatment, after everything was completed and I prepared to leave the office, I asked my nurse a question for which I've wanted an answer for a while: if my cancer hadn't been found, how long would it have taken for it to take my life? She replied, "A year, at the most," explaining further that Hodgkins, while curable, is a very fast-moving cancer. I asked, "Is that one year from my diagnosis at Stage IIB in late June?" She shook her head. "No," she said. "It would have been a lot quicker."

That is a sobering thought. With every day that passes, it becomes more of a reality that I am living on borrowed time. If I had lived fifty years ago, I might already be gone. If God hadn't prospered the work of my medical team, my life may already be over.

But the reality is, I was already living on borrowed time. Born a sinner, I deserved not a single day, not a single breath. Every day has been an act of God's free grace, twenty-four more hours that I did not and could not merit. But then Christ broke in to reveal his gospel, common grace became saving grace, and God has been at work to fill my borrowed time with praise to his glory.

So I rejoice tonight, not merely in the extended time that God has granted, but also in the work of the Spirit to recognize his mercy. To live more days without an awareness of his glory would be to add condemnation to condemnation. But to enjoy longer life in view of God's mercy is in itself a gift of his mercy.

Praise be to God!

Rejoicing
Because he promised, "The flame shall not hurt you; I only design your dross to consume and your gold to refine."

Because the T4G guys were willing to put the hymn-singing from this year's conference on CD. Thank you! It has been food for my soul and the source of much tear-filled rejoicing.

Because of great friends whose humility, transparency, and desire for God inspire me to love Christ more.

Because of the two men who showed up Monday to clear the leaves and trim the bushes at my house. You were the hands and feet of my Savior to my family.

Because of time spent with my parents this past weekend. The older I get, the more I realize what a gift from God they are to me.

Request
That God would use my cancer to glorify himself, both in the salvation of unbelievers and in the preparation of his people for whatever suffering he has ordained.

That God would grant me humility as he continues his great work of sanctification.

That God would bless my family with rest and joy in Christ.

Unseen Persecution

2008-12-31T10:17:00.003-05:00

Peter Anders:

"We are praying for you."

This was said to me by a Russian pastor to whom I had just secretly delivered Bibles in a city called Leningrad in what was the Soviet Union, locked behind an "Iron Curtain." We had spent the morning drinking coffee in the basement of his church, discussing the oppressive political realities of seeking to faithfully serve Jesus Christ in his country at that time. When I sought to encourage him by reporting that Christians in the West are praying for him, he earnestly responded with this statement. I was compelled to ask him what he meant--how could it be that a church living under the daily hardships of persecution is so concerned about us who enjoy life in relative freedom? His answer became the occasion for much personal reflection over the years: "We clearly see the ways our common Enemy persecutes us through the atheistic communist propaganda and practices of our government; our Enemy persecutes you just as ruthlessly, except you don't see it."

From Modern Reformation 17.5 (Sept/Oct 2008), p. 37.

The U.S. to Disintegrate in 2010?

2008-12-29T18:21:00.001-05:00

So says one Russian professor.

Merry Christmas from the Hoskinsons!

2008-12-25T16:47:00.003-05:00

Christmas 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Christmas none of us could have predicted what path our sovereign and good God would lead us through in 2008. We certainly wouldn’t have chosen it, but neither would we trade one moment of it for anything in the world.

As you probably know, I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in June. Following the doctor’s orders, I underwent twelve chemo treatments (my last one was yesterday!) and am planning on three-and-a-half weeks of radiation in late January/early February. My most recent scan showed that the cancer is either dead or gone. Praise the Lord!

More significant to us, however, is what Christ has done in our hearts through this process. Cancer may have been a surprise to us, but it was no surprise to our Lord. Furthermore, it was his divine intention to bring cancer to me in order to display his greatness and goodness to us. We have experienced depths of God’s love that we wouldn’t have known apart from cancer. We have seen wonders of God’s glory that we would have missed otherwise. We have learned to pray sincerely, “Lord, as long as you are glorified, bring whatever you deem best.” And we have been carried along on waves of God’s unending grace. It has been “grace on top of grace” (John 1.16).

There’s been a whole lot more to 2008 than my battle with cancer. Angelica started K5 at Greenville Classical Academy—and loves it! Raeanna (3) and Liviya (2) are enjoying extra morning times with Mommy, excited about music class, and being adorable, carefree preschoolers. Kimberly has been truly amazing. You’d think taking care of three children ages five and under would be enough. But add to that a thirty-one-year-old cancer patient, and you’ve got a busy life! If you know her at all, though, you won’t be surprised to hear me tell you that she has handled this with steady confidence in God and increasing delight in her Savior. That’s not at all to say that this has been easy; it is to say that God has been more than enough.

In all our light affliction, we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Neither we nor you know what 2009 will bring. But know this: whatever God does in your life next year, he will do it to magnify the worth of his Son in your eyes. And that is worth whatever pain we must endure.

Merry Christmas!

Matthew, Kimberly, and the girls

Piper on Cancer and Priorities

2008-12-21T18:42:00.001-05:00

Among other things John Piper says on his fortieth wedding anniversary is this gem:

"Once you've had cancer, you don't put things off the same."

"If you believe in heaven and hell, how much do you have to hate a person not to proselytize?"

2008-12-18T19:08:00.003-05:00

What do atheists think about Christians who do not evangelize them? Penn Fraser Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) surely doesn't speak for all the rest. But here's part of his response to a gentleman who kindly approached him and handed him a copy of the New Testament.

"I don't respect people who don't proselytize. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, and you think, 'Well, it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward,' . . . how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?"

HT: Darryl Dash and Josh.

The Meaning of Christmas

2008-12-15T16:22:00.002-05:00

Here's a great, short video to pass along to anyone who doesn't know Christ.

HT: Josh.

Gentlemen, Stay Out of the Doghouse

2008-12-15T14:27:00.001-05:00

Beware of the Doghouse