Taking a Break from Blogging

Well, this may come as a disappointment to all 5 of you readers out there, but I’m not going to keep up on this blog for a while. I don’t have a plan to resume any time soon. Other ministry items are pulling me different directions. And as far as this being a means of edification to the church (and Church), I don’t think it’s the best use of time. And there are some other folks whom I find much more edifying that I’d suggest you read too!

Here’s 2 of my favorites:
Justin Taylor
Desiring God

Too Good (and Simple) to Be True

For as much thought we give to the Christian life, and the complexity in which we tend to see as we look at our lives entangled, Jesus’ “key to success” (=joy, fruitfulness, peace, relationship with the Father) is quite simple: “Abide in me and let my words abide in you.”

That’s it! If it feels like your life is fruitless, pointless, hopelessly confused, here’s your cure, “Abide in Him.” How? By meditating on His words and commands, and do them.

Read John 15 again. It’ll do your spirit good.

Free AudioBook: Hannah Coulter

This month’s free book from Christian Audio is Hannah Coulter, a Christian romance novel.

Read this great post from Russell Moore (one of my old seminary profs) on why Christians should read great Christian fiction, and trash anything less than the best.

Work and Vocation to the Glory of God

A great snippet from John Piper for everyone who has a job. HT: JT

Pastor John from 1988:

I have in mind at least five things—five ways to make God known through your secular job and all of them are important. When one of them is missing, the witness to the truth of Christ suffers.

1. The excellence of the products or services you render in your job shows the excellence and greatness of God.

2. The standards of integrity you follow at your job show the integrity and holiness of God.

3. The love you show to people in your job shows the love of God.

4. The stewardship of the money you make from your job shows the value of God compared to other things.

5. The verbal testimony you give to the reality of Christ shows the doorway to all these things in your life and their possibility in the lives of others.

Erasing Hell, Love Wins, and beauty

THIS is a great review and insight into the spiritual battle in our day. Rob Bell wrote Love Wins, in which he puts forth a Christianity without a doctrine of hell (or a doctrine of hell that says there isn’t one). Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle respond with Erasing Hell. Trevin’s review should provoke some thinking on your part. Maybe a point for point refutation isn’t at all what’s needed. Maybe that’s deficient. Don’t get him wrong, Chan’s book is great. He raises a different question about apologetics and Christian testimony than Chan is trying to address. Here’s an excerpt:

Chan and Sprinkle have put forth a historically orthodox understanding of hell, demonstrating the biblical foundation for their views. But Bell challenges this understanding by seeking to appeal to a more beautiful vision of God. The tragedy of Love Wins is that the character of God as described by Bell isn’t, in the final instance, much more than a glorified vision of 21st century man.

The problem with the responses to Love Wins is that, while we are experts at critiquing Bell’s vision of God, we aren’t stepping up with a more compelling portrait of God’s magnificence. We are scribbling down our thoughts under Bell’s chalk drawing instead of taking up the paint brush and creating something that reflects the beauty of biblical truth.

We can write 50-page criticisms of The Shack. Meanwhile, men and women like William Young continue to craft great stories. We grasp the issues, but others grasp the medium.

Beyond that, we often appear pedantic in the grasping of these important issues. In the study of the communication arts, there is a part of the brain known as Brocha’s Area which acts like the gateway to whether people actually listen. Surprising or intriguing Brocha is one way to get that door to open – something that art in its many variations is capable of doing.

Erasing Hell is functional, but not beautiful. From a functional point of view, I recommend it. But I think we need to be pushed on the beautiful side of this equation as well. The gospel shouldn’t shut down our imagination, but rather fuel it and direct it toward the beauty that is inherent to the truth. We need more than analysis; we need artistry.

I’ve heard N. D. Wilson’s Notes from a Tilt-a-whirl gives it a go: beauty, wonder, and apologtetics all rolled up in one.

You, Christian, are Chosen as His Choice Vessels

In Ps 60:7-8, David says the tribes of Israel are “mine”, “mine”, “my helmet”, “my scepter”. But the foreign nations, his enemies are “his washbasin”, a place to “cast my shoe”, a place he triumphs over.

All who are in Christ are the true Israel. That’s you who believe in Jesus. You are his chosen instrument. Your value is that he has bestowed his glory and strength on you by making you His and using you for His good purposes and plans. You are useful to Him, specifically for His plans to conquer all His enemies (which goes beyond mere physical enemies to sin and death itself). Go conquer! God in the strength of His might! Let that purpose consume your thoughts and desires.

“With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.” Ps 60:12

And that through His people as we just read!

2 Great Posts about God the Father

Read these 2 posts by Mikey Anderson. They’re short. They’re packed full of God’s glory.

16 Things that being a new dad has taught me about God

4 Things I’ve learned about God through my baby who was born blind

HT: the Resurgence

Money and the Christian: What Really Counts

Having just finished up a brief financial series, this article struck me as very timely, and VERY biblically wise.

Excerpt:

Rather than debating between “radical” living for God and the dangers of “poverty theology,” we learn from 1 Timothy 6 that contentment and generosity should be our emphasis in light of the gospel.

God has already provided all that we will ever need (Rom. 8:32). He cares for grass (Matt. 6:28-30) and birds (Matt. 10:29), so we can be content with or without stuff. God has been infinitely generous with us in Christ so, rich or poor, we can be joyfully generous in a way that makes our neighbors scratch their heads and say, “Who are these people?”

Generosity is not a poverty theology. Contentment with thankfulness is not a prosperity theology. The gospel motivates us to be generous and gives us ultimate contentment.

On the opposite side, the Gospel also teaches (and motivates) us deny worldly lusts, including the lure and temptation of riches.

Read the whole thing HERE.
HT: JT

Beholding is Becoming

This is an excerpt from a letter by John Piper. I have had the same experience as John, discovering the wonderful, transforming truth the Scriptures proclaim: we’re transformed by beholding Christ. That’s how sanctification happens. If the Christian life is a building, this is surely the cornerstone. It’s a hard, frustrating, impossible road to try to live the Christian life any other way.

Click HERE to read the whole thing.

The most important text on my emergent frogishness became 2 Corinthians 3:18 —

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.

This was one of the greatest secrets I ever discovered: Beholding is becoming.

Introspection must give way to amazement at glory. When it does, becoming happens. If there is any key to maturity it is that. Behold your God in Jesus Christ. Then you will make progress from tadpole to frog. That was a great discovery.

Seeing is Believing is Obeying

In our “in-house seminary” we’re studying through the Gospel of John this summer. I think John would agree with this statement about obedience and the Christian life:

“Seeing is Believing is Obeying”.

Does that seem too audacious? Read John 1-12–especially chapter 3–thinking about the question of how does “believing” in / on Jesus relate to “obeying” Him (and thus the Father). There is an unbreakable connection between having spiritual eyes (=spiritual life) to see the light of the glory of Jesus, and being drawn into that light like a moth to a flame. Then, rather than being consumed, we are transformed by it into its likeness.

Said another way, more John-ishly:
Seeing the light of the glory of Jesus is an essential and necessary component for walking in the light. Those who see the light, come to the light, and they walk in the light. Those who do not walk in the light walk in darkness. Those who walk without the light walk in darkness. To worship in spirit and truth, walk in the light.