Sunday, January 31, 2010
Piper on order of regeneration and faith
John Piper talks in this video excerpt about the order in which new birth (regeneration) and faith come. John Murray writes about this in great detail (as well as other elements in the chain from regeneration up to glorification in his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. This may seem unimportant, but it seems to me that understanding what the Bible says about how someone get's saved is perhaps one of the most important things to understand in the universe.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Centrality of the Gospel
Great paper by Tim Keller--classic Keller really--the stuff echoes through everything he says, writes or does.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Mini Books on Big Topics
From CCEF, these mini books are supposed to be good. I haven't checked them out yet, but Mark Dever commends them in an interview with David Powlison.
David Powlison on Bob Newhart "Stop It!" Sketch
We watched the video embedded in this blog at our men's retreat last year with Norris Williams. Good to be reminded of the humor, the memories of the retreat, and the truth that David Powlison shares here.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Piper: The Gospel in 3.5 Minutes
Plan, Event, Achievement, Free Offer, Application, To Bring Us to God
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mark Dever Interviews Donald Whitney
So now I want to move to Kentucky to take a couple of classes from Donald Whitney. Extremely practical advice regarding the spiritual disciplines in this interview. He's written a few books too. The next one I want to get is Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. In the interview, he talks about infusing joy back into spiritual disciplines in a way I actually believe would work. Specifically, he talks about praying through scripture as a way to keep prayer fresh. The point? We generally pray the same words about the same things and get bored. He points out that we will generally be praying about the same things (about 8 categories--ie family, future, un-believers, etc); but, if we use the same words all the time, it will grow stale easily. Praying through scripture is his remedy.
Dever Interview with Kevin DeYoung
This is a great interview of Kevin De Young. He wrote a few really good books. I've read one of them (Just Do Something) and found it very practical and refreshingly biblical. It have to admit that I was somewhat surprised to find that he holds the pedobaptist position, but even in holding it he defends it well (though not convincingly enough to dissuade me).
At one point in the interview, Mark Dever reads a blurb (start at 50:34-52:13) from one of his books (Why We Love the Church...) that is really insightful regarding criticisms (start at 49:15 regarding church criticism in general) often put forth against organized religion.Excellent stuff.
The interview covers polity, the emergent church and specifically a critique of Brian McLaren and other interesting tid bits.
At one point in the interview, Mark Dever reads a blurb (start at 50:34-52:13) from one of his books (Why We Love the Church...) that is really insightful regarding criticisms (start at 49:15 regarding church criticism in general) often put forth against organized religion.Excellent stuff.
The interview covers polity, the emergent church and specifically a critique of Brian McLaren and other interesting tid bits.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Because of Haiti--a second listen
Piper's NPR interview following the Tsunami is just as appropriate today as it was in 2005 in light of the tragedy in Haiti.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Going to prison makes you a theologian
In an earlier post I mentioned Piper going to Angola Prison in Louisiana and how his account of it was helpful. I listened to the message he passionately preached there, as well as the Q&A with inmates after the message. These guys know their bibles--and probably BECAUSE they are in prison. And as always, Piper is seemingly at his best when he is preaching in a specific milieu. He also shares with the men about some of the struggles he personally has as a pastor dealing with suffering of people he knows--like the funeral of a suicide for someone who did not know Jesus.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Sound Advice for Marriage/Conflict
Tim Keller, in an excellent seminar with his wife Kathy on marriage said this, which I thought was applicable not only to marriage, but whenever someone comes to you with a complaint:
Your first response ought to be “I didn’t realize that. I didn’t understand that. Please tell me more.” It’s probably more important to communicate love than it is to communicate content. And very often when a person comes to you and says “I’ve got a problem…” …at least this very often happens—you start to say, “Well, here’s the reason for that…” and you start to explain. Never answer a feeling with a fact. Never answer a feeling with a fact. Answer a feeling with a feeling. And very often when a person comes and is complaining, they really aren’t that interested in the content, they’re looking for love. And that’s where you have to learn to communicate love in a way that the person understands.
Your first response ought to be “I didn’t realize that. I didn’t understand that. Please tell me more.” It’s probably more important to communicate love than it is to communicate content. And very often when a person comes to you and says “I’ve got a problem…” …at least this very often happens—you start to say, “Well, here’s the reason for that…” and you start to explain. Never answer a feeling with a fact. Never answer a feeling with a fact. Answer a feeling with a feeling. And very often when a person comes and is complaining, they really aren’t that interested in the content, they’re looking for love. And that’s where you have to learn to communicate love in a way that the person understands.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
JI Packer Quotes
I've been reading this book by Packer called Keep in Step with the Spirit. It is high time I shared a quote or two from the dozens I've been marking in the margins...
"What the Corinthians had to realize, and what some today may need to relearn, is that, as the Puritan John Owen put it, there can be gifts without graces; that is, one may be capable of performances that benefit others spiritually and yet be a stranger oneself to the Spirit-wrought inner transformation that true knowledge of God brings. The manifestation of the Spirit in charismatic performance is not the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit in Christlike character (see Gal. 5:22–23), and there may be much of the former with little or none of the latter. You can have many gifts and few graces; you can even have genuine gifts and no genuine graces at all, as did Balaam, Saul, and Judas." (p. 31)
"My argument is that any mind-set which treats the Spirit’s gifts (ability and willingness to run around and do things) as more important than his fruit (Christlike character in personal life) is spiritually wrongheaded and needs correcting." (p 33)
"The Christian who thus walks in the Spirit will keep discovering that nothing in his life is as good as it should be; that he has never fought as hard as he might have done against the clogging restraints and contrary pulls of his own inbred perversity; that there is an element of motivational sin, at least, in his best works; that his daily living is streaked with defilements, so that he has to depend every moment on God’s pardoning mercy in Christ, or he would be lost; and that he needs to keep asking, in the light of his own felt weakness and inconstancy of heart, that the Spirit will energize him to the end to maintain the inward struggle." (p. 37)
"Jesus Christ is what he is to believers (divine-human Savior, Lord, mediator, shepherd, advocate, prophet, priest, king, atoning sacrifice, life, hope, and so forth), irrespective of how much or how little of this multiple relationship they have with him is clear to their minds. An apostolic theologian like Paul, for instance, had it all far clearer in his mind than did the penitent thief of Luke 23:39–43; yet Jesus’s saving ministry was as rich to the one as to the other, and we may be sure that at this very moment the two of them, the apostle and the bandit, are together before the throne, their differences in theological expertise on earth making no difference whatsoever to their enjoyment of Christ in heaven." (p. 42)
Page 49 is too long to quote, but offers a rather fundamental three-fold definition of the role of the Spirit.
"If no regular, identifiable spiritual benefit for others or ourselves results from what we do, we should not think of our capacity to do it as a spiritual gift." (p 85)
"It seems however that the activist spirit has infected us all. When, for instance, we think of the pastor's role and choose men to minister in our churches, we habitually rate skills above sanctity and dynamism above devotion, as if we did not know that power in ministry stems from the man behind the ministry rather than from the particular things he can do." (p 98)
"Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged." (p 104)
"Sanctification is not usually a comfortable process, and inner ease is not to be expected while it goes on." (p 117)
"Remember also that holiness is the precondition of usefulness to God: 2 Timothy 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." (p 120)
"What the Corinthians had to realize, and what some today may need to relearn, is that, as the Puritan John Owen put it, there can be gifts without graces; that is, one may be capable of performances that benefit others spiritually and yet be a stranger oneself to the Spirit-wrought inner transformation that true knowledge of God brings. The manifestation of the Spirit in charismatic performance is not the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit in Christlike character (see Gal. 5:22–23), and there may be much of the former with little or none of the latter. You can have many gifts and few graces; you can even have genuine gifts and no genuine graces at all, as did Balaam, Saul, and Judas." (p. 31)
"My argument is that any mind-set which treats the Spirit’s gifts (ability and willingness to run around and do things) as more important than his fruit (Christlike character in personal life) is spiritually wrongheaded and needs correcting." (p 33)
"The Christian who thus walks in the Spirit will keep discovering that nothing in his life is as good as it should be; that he has never fought as hard as he might have done against the clogging restraints and contrary pulls of his own inbred perversity; that there is an element of motivational sin, at least, in his best works; that his daily living is streaked with defilements, so that he has to depend every moment on God’s pardoning mercy in Christ, or he would be lost; and that he needs to keep asking, in the light of his own felt weakness and inconstancy of heart, that the Spirit will energize him to the end to maintain the inward struggle." (p. 37)
"Jesus Christ is what he is to believers (divine-human Savior, Lord, mediator, shepherd, advocate, prophet, priest, king, atoning sacrifice, life, hope, and so forth), irrespective of how much or how little of this multiple relationship they have with him is clear to their minds. An apostolic theologian like Paul, for instance, had it all far clearer in his mind than did the penitent thief of Luke 23:39–43; yet Jesus’s saving ministry was as rich to the one as to the other, and we may be sure that at this very moment the two of them, the apostle and the bandit, are together before the throne, their differences in theological expertise on earth making no difference whatsoever to their enjoyment of Christ in heaven." (p. 42)
Page 49 is too long to quote, but offers a rather fundamental three-fold definition of the role of the Spirit.
"If no regular, identifiable spiritual benefit for others or ourselves results from what we do, we should not think of our capacity to do it as a spiritual gift." (p 85)
"It seems however that the activist spirit has infected us all. When, for instance, we think of the pastor's role and choose men to minister in our churches, we habitually rate skills above sanctity and dynamism above devotion, as if we did not know that power in ministry stems from the man behind the ministry rather than from the particular things he can do." (p 98)
"Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged." (p 104)
"Sanctification is not usually a comfortable process, and inner ease is not to be expected while it goes on." (p 117)
"Remember also that holiness is the precondition of usefulness to God: 2 Timothy 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." (p 120)
Suffering and Hope
In this message by John Piper at The Village Church, you hear JP preaching on what he is perhaps most passionate about: suffering, sovereignty and the hope of the cross. It was as if I were listening afresh to his sermons on Romans 9 six or so years ago when these truths clobbered and healed me. I felt a little clobbered and a lot healed because of these words.
In a nutshell, Matt Chandler, the pastor of the Village Church in Dallas, TX was diagnosed recently with really bad brain cancer. This message was preached a few days after surgery to remove a tumor, and a few days before radiation and chemotherapy for Matt. Like Piper's interview years ago at NPR about where is God when a Tsunami strikes, he handles this very well.
In a nutshell, Matt Chandler, the pastor of the Village Church in Dallas, TX was diagnosed recently with really bad brain cancer. This message was preached a few days after surgery to remove a tumor, and a few days before radiation and chemotherapy for Matt. Like Piper's interview years ago at NPR about where is God when a Tsunami strikes, he handles this very well.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Gospel-Centered Friendship
I've had some thoughts lately about friendship based on a sermon I mentioned in a previous post. I've been thinking about it more and this blog article by John Piper mingles the idea of friendship (or at least relationship) with forgiveness--another topic that Keller deals with quite well. But I'll post about that topic more later.
One of the questions that I have (and it is a genuine curiosity, not an indictment): In the movement of churches to small groups (which I advocate), is there a degree to which we are fooling ourselves if we aren't aiming for gospel-centered friendships? I mean, aren't there bound to be people in our groups who would be a poor choice for friends as Proverbs describes? And if so, what do we do with it? How do we find and foster friendships that line up with what we see in proverbs while at the same time being in small groups with the intent to grow, and hold one another accountable, and the many other things that we hope that small groups will do?
One of the questions that I have (and it is a genuine curiosity, not an indictment): In the movement of churches to small groups (which I advocate), is there a degree to which we are fooling ourselves if we aren't aiming for gospel-centered friendships? I mean, aren't there bound to be people in our groups who would be a poor choice for friends as Proverbs describes? And if so, what do we do with it? How do we find and foster friendships that line up with what we see in proverbs while at the same time being in small groups with the intent to grow, and hold one another accountable, and the many other things that we hope that small groups will do?
Monday, December 28, 2009
Accountability- A 14 letter word
In CJ Mahaney's book on Humility he talks about accountability and how getting friends close to you to search out and mortify your sin. A very practical guide for pastors, (and with a little tweaking, for anyone) on evaluating how we are doing in some key areas on a regular basis is this guide found at Desiring God.
Though accountability can be done poorly and for the wrong reasons, and feel quite plastic to boot, it is, nonetheless, biblical and necessary for our growth.
One thing to note: there is a big difference between what often happens in accountability groups and what genuine accountability is. This is worth discussing at more length which I will perhaps do later. For now, it is enough to say that what often happens is a catharsis with no real remedy. Men or women share their junk and mistakenly believe that the healing comes in the sharing--the venting of the stuff. But that is merely like lifting the hood on the car, pointing at the broken fan belt, having others acknowledge the brokenness of the belt, saying together that it shouldn't be that way and then closing the hood and doing nothing more after that. While sharing our junk is hard work, the real hard work comes in extracting the sin, not in merely identifying it.
Though accountability can be done poorly and for the wrong reasons, and feel quite plastic to boot, it is, nonetheless, biblical and necessary for our growth.
One thing to note: there is a big difference between what often happens in accountability groups and what genuine accountability is. This is worth discussing at more length which I will perhaps do later. For now, it is enough to say that what often happens is a catharsis with no real remedy. Men or women share their junk and mistakenly believe that the healing comes in the sharing--the venting of the stuff. But that is merely like lifting the hood on the car, pointing at the broken fan belt, having others acknowledge the brokenness of the belt, saying together that it shouldn't be that way and then closing the hood and doing nothing more after that. While sharing our junk is hard work, the real hard work comes in extracting the sin, not in merely identifying it.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Snap out of it
This short post by Jon Bloom over at DG was what God used to snap me out of a little pity party I was throwing yesterday. It reiterated what my pastor preached this last weekend too.
For Fun: little "g" gospel: Grizzlies
The Montana Grizzlies are going to the Division 1 AA National Championship. I went to grad school there. Loved it then. Still love it. For a few more days you can watch the replay of two amazing teams playing awesome football in zero degrees, snow, and a winter storm warning...and it went down to the wire. Great game. Go Griz.
Friday, December 11, 2009
God's Pleasure in Us
John Piper wrote in an article about how God delights in his people. For those who read or watch Joel Osteen (and like or believe him) this may not seem like a big deal (though it really should). But Piper is fairly famous for trampling over such man-centered views of God in favor of God-centered views. In this article, he writes:
Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the fact that there are not two Gods--a distant objective one, and a personal one--but rather, there is one God who is both pleased and displeased.
As an accountant, I reconcile numbers. I have less success reconciling this. Perhaps this is like the trintity, or the hypostatic union, or the origin of evil--we just don't get to know. Or is it?
Must give more thought here.
God looks upon his children through the lens of Christ’s imputed righteousness. That means two things: One is that God counts us perfect in Christ. The other is that he can still see us becoming in practice what we are positionally in Christ. The lens of imputation secures our invincible right standing with God. It also warrants God’s delight in our imperfect delight in him. That is, even though we are counted perfectly righteous in Christ, God can still see our actual sinning and the fruit of the Spirit in our life. That is why he can be delighted in us to greater or lesser degrees. We know this because he both reckons us as perfectly righteous (Romans 4:4-6) and disciplines us for sin in our life (1 Corinthians 11:32). Therefore, God’s delight in our delight in him varies in proportion to the affections of our heart, but is possible only because God imputes to us Christ’s perfect righteousness.This one still stumps me. It feels like the objective,"distant" God is pleased with me positionally. But the personal God who really knows what I am like is not so pleased. Yes he loves me, but does he like me?
Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the fact that there are not two Gods--a distant objective one, and a personal one--but rather, there is one God who is both pleased and displeased.
As an accountant, I reconcile numbers. I have less success reconciling this. Perhaps this is like the trintity, or the hypostatic union, or the origin of evil--we just don't get to know. Or is it?
Must give more thought here.
Dever on Post-Civil War Church History
This presentation by Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. on the history of the church in America since the Civil War is really excellent. He talks about the rise of liberalism in the church (and how it should not be confused with the liberalism of politics), and the dance that ensued up through the present to bring about neo-orthodoxy, evalgelicalism, para-churches, and the pitfalls along the way. If you've ever wondered why there are different denominations, this will help you immensely...and it won't bother you any more--unless you a part of the wrong one!
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