Holiness--currently un-hip.

Francis Chan talked in his message at Desiring God's THINK conference about the connection that James speaks of between our righteousness and our prayers being answered. This article draws that out more. And excerpt:

When is the last time we took a verse like Ephesians 5:4–“Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving”–when is the last time we took a verse like this and even began to try to apply this to our conversation, our joking, our movies, our you tube clips, our t.v. and commercial intake? The fact of the matter is if you read through the New Testament epistles you will find very few explicit commands that tell us to evangelize and very few explicit commands that tell us to take care of the poor in our communities, but there are dozens and dozens of verses in the New Testament that enjoin us, in one way or another, to be holy as God is holy (e.g., 1 Peter 1:13-16).

Another false gospel exemplified.

Extreme Gospel Makeover

Under Authority: The Bad with the Good

Please give the Scripture authority over you in the areas that you don't want to hear because of you don't how will he ever heal you? [...] What's going to happen when your heart is broken and you feel like a failure (condemnation) and the bible says "when our hearts condemn us he is greater than our hearts"? How can God come in and give you hope and give you love unless you give the bible the authority over you to give you the good things? If you don't let God have authority over you to tell you the bad things, how will he ever heal you? -Tim Keller

Good point. If we can't trust him with the "bad" things, it diminishes our ability to trust him with the good things. Trust and obedience in what is hard makes trusting the great and precious promises plausible.  If we reject his authority over us, we will eventually reject his benevolence upon us.

Kevin DeYoung on being an ordinary Christian.

"In the grand scheme of things, most of us are going to be more of an Ampliatus (Rom. 16:8) or Phlegon (v. 14) than an apostle Paul. And maybe that’s why so many Christians are getting tired of the church. We haven’t learned how to be part of the crowd. We haven’t learned to be ordinary. Our jobs are often mundane. Our devotional times often seem like a waste. Church services are often forgettable. That’s life. We drive to the same places, go through the same routines with the kids, buy the same groceries at the store, and share a bed with the same person every night. Church is often the same too — same doctrines, same basic order of worship, same preacher, same people. But in all the smallness and sameness, God works..."

Two Chapters that Go Great Together

On a fluke that I won't try to explain here, I ended up listening to Luke 16 and Luke 24 back to back. Try it, paying attention to the themes of resurrection, and Moses and the Prophets.

A Needed Corrective to My Achellies Heel

This is an important observation. I think it is safe to say that the gospel-centered movement has as it's main "prefect" Pastor Tim Keller. And while I really doubt that he is liable to make the error described in said article above, it is entirely possible for those of us who see (rightly) the value of gospel-centeredness to forget the vary things that this article talks about. Namely, don't forget the God of the gospel we are excited about nor forget about his work in those who are not necessarily gospel-centric in the sense that we understand that term. They still love the gospel and the God of it. Don't overlook that. [Last phrases to be said in front of mirror.]

Flying Car for the Gospel

What does this have to do with the gospel?
Well, it could be used for missions.
And it will be.

Poem from Newton

From DG:

Prayer Answered by Crosses
By John Newton
I asked the Lord that I might grow 

In faith and love and every grace, 

Might more of his salvation know, 

And seek more earnestly his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray; 

And he, I trust, has answered prayer; 

But it has been in such a way 

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that, in some favoured hour, 

At once he’d answer my request, 

And by his love’s constraining power 

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel 

The hidden evils of my heart, 

And let the angry powers of hell 

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with his own had he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe, 

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this? I trembling cried; 

Wilt thou pursue this worm to death? 

This is the way, the Lord replied
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I now employ 

From self and pride to set thee free,
And break they schemes of earthly joy, 

That thou may’st seek thy all in me.

Erik Raymond

So I ran across his blog today and so far I like what I see. Below in an excerpt from one post that really resonates with why I even post anything here on Gospel Media Tour.

The pastor still shows God’s requirement (law) and exposes our shortcomings (sin). However, instead of bidding the Christian to look inward for righteousness, the pastor lovingly and faithfully raises his brother or sister’s eyes to Christ and what he has done for us.
Don’t get me wrong. I am NOT saying that pastors should not preach the commands of Scripture. I am not even saying that Christians should not feel guilty when they sin. But what I am saying is that when we experience this guilt we are not to look inward for our righteousness but outward. The guilt is not a dark cloud of despair that we sit under until we outrun it through our good works and obedience, instead guilt over sin is to be a divinely dispatched chauffeur that drives us to the cross where we see the culmination of Jesus’ obedience for us.

Imperative vs Indicative

"The challenge, often times, is to make certain the indicative (what Christ has done) before unloading (or confusing) the imperative (what we must do)." -Erik Raymond

I need to find somewhere that unpacks that more, but it is such a crucial distinction.

UPDATE: Thanks to RP for his comment below, which I bring up here to provide the link to more on this idea.