A La Carte (November 23)
May the God of love and peace be with you today.
(Yesterday on the blog: Helpful Things You Can Say to Grieving Parents)
Do We Really Want Everything That Technology Can Give Us?
Gene Veith asks, “Do we want technology that overrides our agency as human beings? That babysits us? That keeps us in line? My sense is that we want technology that extends what we can do. Not technology that imposes itself upon us, or that creates conditions that we have to submit to, or that goes against the grain of our humanness.”
WHAT-A-WING!
Here’s a neat new video from the John 10:10 Project.
Eikon Fall 2021
CBMW has released a new edition of their journal Eikon. There are lots of good articles and reviews to read.
Does Mathematics = Western Imperialism?
Here, from Nancy Pearcy, is one of those articles from Eikon. She looks at the charge that math is a form of Western imperialism.
Practicing
Just on time for Thanksgiving, Susan Lafferty reflects on gratitude. (See also Thankfulness Is God’s Will for You by Jonathan Landry Cruse.)
It’s Too Loud in Here
“Is it just my elderly thirtysomething ears, or is popular music significantly louder than it used to be? Even coffee shop music seems able to drown our my thinking nowadays, much less the thunderous synth beats that assault me while shopping or eating. Movie soundtracks feel turned up to 100. And it’s not just music. People seem louder than before.” Quite right!
Flashback: A Simple But Life-Changing Realization
You may not see your sin so completely and utterly vanquished that it never raises its ugly head again. But you can see massive, unbelievable success against that sin.
When you do relationships through the love of God, you learn over and over again that love has a lot less to do with feelings and a lot more to do with forgiveness. —Jared C. Wilson
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A La Carte (November 7)
Over the past couple of days I made the very long journey to Fiji where a friend has invited me to minister alongside him at a conference for pastors. Though I’m awfully tired, I’m also glad to be here and thankful for the opportunity. I’d appreciate your prayers that we’d minister faithfully and encourage well.
Today’s Kindle deals include the weekly collection from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: 7 Beautiful Things)
Yelling from the Sidelines
“There are ministers that are in the trenches: preaching, teaching, discipling, counseling, and serving Jesus in the church. And there are those who want to be called ministers, but merely criticize from the sidelines, while always yelling: ‘Reformation! Reformation!’”
Should I Charge Other Christians for My Expertise?
I appreciate John Piper’s handling of this question about whether Christians should allow themselves to be “used” when they have a particularly in-demand skill.
In the End, There Are Yellow Tulips
Madelyn has a lovely piece of writing here. “It was one of the hardest days of my life, but it didn’t offer time to sit and really process the pain I felt and the loss I’d been dealt. There were things to do and people depending on me to do them. I’d put on the dress, the lipstick, and taken an ibuprofen to help ease the headache you get after crying too hard for too long.”
You are the horse: low-bar evangelism strategy
This article grabs a metaphor from show jumping of all places and uses it to discuss evangelism.
Andrew Thorburn is Lawyering Up: I Think That’s the Right Move
Stephen McAlpine tells why he thinks Andrew Thorburn is doing the right thing as he lawyers up and I think I’m inclined to agree. At least, I’m not sure I could say he’s doing the wrong thing. “Essendon’s CEO-for-a-day Andrew Thorburn has engaged with lawyers and is reserving the right to sue the Essendon Football Club.”
How to Glorify God with Professional Accomplishment
“Most Christians are not called to full-time ministry, but each of us is still under the obligation to glorify God in whatever we do. So what do you do when you have personal success in your vocation? How can you glorify God with any professional accomplishment you might have?”
Flashback: Saved By the Quivering Of an Eye-Lid
F.B. Meyer used to tell a story that, while it sounds perhaps just a little far-fetched, makes a great point. He would use it when appealing to unbelievers to repent of their sin and believe the gospel…In many homes the sorrow over the living is greater far than that for the dead who have passed to sweet rest. —J.R. Miller
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Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I enjoy reading a good biography as much as anyone, but was perhaps a bit skeptical about a book that, instead of focusing on an individual’s life and accomplishments, instead describes his spiritual and intellectual formation. Yet what could have been a mite dry was actually very compelling.
It may be helpful context to state that I do not know Tim Keller personally and have neither met him nor corresponded with him. I also don’t think I’ve heard him preach more than once or twice. My exposure to him is really only through the three or four of his books that I have read. While I know a good number of people who consider him a major influence on their faith or ministry, I am not among them. I say all that because it means that I was reading about someone who is mostly a stranger, though one I’ve sometimes admired from afar and sometimes had concerns about.
Collin Hansen knows Keller well and came to know him far better in preparing this book. He shares the book’s purpose in the opening pages.Unlike a traditional biography, this book tells Keller’s story from the perspective of his influences, more than his influence. Spend any time around Keller and you’ll learn that he doesn’t enjoy talking about himself. But he does enjoy talking—about what he’s reading, what he’s learning, what he’s seeing.
The story of Tim Keller is the story of his spiritual and intellectual influences—from the woman who taught him how to read the Bible, to the professor who taught him to preach Jesus from every text, to the sociologist who taught him to see beneath society’s surface. … This is the story of the people, the books, the lectures, and ultimately the God who formed Timothy James Keller.And so it begins with his childhood and a father who was quite withdrawn and a mother who, though she loved her children, was extremely controlling. She led her family to an Evangelical Congregational church which “emphasized human effort in maintaining salvation and achieving sinless perfection. Both at home and in church, Tim Keller learned this second form of legalism—that of the fundamentalist variety. By the time Tim was leaving home to attend college, he didn’t just know about Martin Luther; he could personally relate to Luther, who had been afflicted with a pathologically overscrupulous conscience that expected perfection from himself in seeking to live up to his standards and potential.”
Keller enrolled as a religion major in Bucknell University where he fell under the influence of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and soon professed faith in Christ. His connection with InterVarsity would develop within him a zeal for evangelism and a method for reading and understanding Scripture. In this timeframe he would also be exposed to the ministries of John Stott, Elisabeth Elliot, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and others, all of whom would shape him in different ways. Even more importantly, he would come to know Kathy Kristy who would not only become his wife, but also his most formative intellectual and spiritual influence, for when “you’re writing about Tim Keller, you’re really writing about Tim and Kathy, a marriage between intellectual equals who met in seminary over shared commitment to ministry and love for literature, along with serious devotion to theology.”
The book goes on to tell of the influence of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, of R.C. Sproul and his Ligonier Valley Study Center, and of Francis Schaeffer and L’Abri. It tells of Keller’s time at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the professors there, and his discovery of the writings of Jonathan Edwards. Then it advances to his first pastorate in Hopewell, Virginia and to his time as a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, pausing to tell, at length, of the impact of Edmund Clowney. And, then, finally it comes New York City, Redeemer Church, Redeemer City-to-City, and Keller’s many books, along with the people living and dead who played essential roles in helping him develop his strategy for reaching cities for Christ.
Throughout the book, Hansen shows Keller as a man whose foremost gifting is not as an original thinker but as an analyzer and synthesizer who reads deeply and widely, pulling together insights from a host of others. “Having one hero would be derivative; having one hundred heroes means you’ve drunk deeply by scouring the world for the purest wells. This God-given ability to integrate disparate sources and then share insights with others has been observed by just about anyone who has known Keller, going back to his college days. He’s the guide to the gurus. You get their best conclusions, with Keller’s unique twist.” And hence the great conclusion at the end of it all is that if you appreciate Tim Keller the best thing you can do is focus less on him and more on the people who taught and influenced him.
After I finished the book I surveyed its endorsements and thought Sinclair Ferguson’s was especially on-point: “Here is the story of a man possessed of unusual native gifts of analysis and synthesis, of the home and family life that has shaped him, of people both long dead and contemporary whose insights he has taken hold of in the interests of communicating the gospel, and also of the twists and turns of God’s providence in his life. These pages may well have been titled Becoming Tim Keller. That ‘becoming’ has been neither a quick nor an easy road. But Collin Hansen’s account of it will be as challenging to readers as it is instructive.”
Ferguson says it just right. Whether you have been influenced by Keller or not, whether you admire him or not, I believe you will enjoy this account of his life framed around his intellectual and spiritual development. Told through the pen of an especially talented a writer, it is a fascinating and compelling narrative. It may just get you thinking about who has formed you and compel you to praise God for the people, the preachers, the books, and the organizations that have made you who you are.
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A La Carte (December 15)
May the Lord bless and keep you today.
One Day (Far Side of Our Sorrow)
There is a lot of sweet hope in this song. “Hallelujah, there’s a far side of our sorrow / Hallelujah, there’s a hope beyond the grave / Today we mourn / But one day we won’t / So stand and sing the songs today / And grieve but not without hope.”
Wise Men Still Seek Jesus & How to Be Like Them
“However, if you’re not sure that the little baby in the manger is truly the King of the World, I invite you to do as the wise men did, go out and search for him. He is not hiding, and he is not lost.”
Opening the doors
This is another sweet reflection by Andrée Seu Peterson.
WATCH KEITH & KRISTYN GETTY’S IRISH CHRISTMAS CONCERT FREE
Join Ireland’s own Keith & Kristyn Getty for a one-night-only livestream of Sing! An Irish Christmas—live from the Museum of the Bible! Gather your family and sing the songs of Christmas together again through soaring melodies and foot-stomping Irish-American renditions of your favorite Christmas hymns. RSVP today and receive a FREE digital download of our keepsake hymnal and program book featuring new songs from the Gettys, devotional material and advent readings, and more! (Sponsored Link)
Confess with Your Mouth Jesus Is Lord
It’s worth asking: Is it quite right to speak about making Jesus your Lord and Savior?
Are There Differences between Christ’s Humanity and Ours?
There are deep waters to swim in here. “What kind of human nature did Christ assume in the incarnation? Was it the nature of Adam before the fall, a sinless nature but with the potential to disobey God and fall into sin? Or did he take a fallen nature, like Adam and his successors after the fall, with an in-built bias to sin? Or was it a nature preserved from sin and its associated contamination, and, if so, how could he still be one with us?”
Sin, Sorrow, and Joy of Christmas
“The lights glow softly, the Christmas music plays, and wondrous thoughts of the birth of our Savior fill our minds. What a blessing it is for the believer who still finds childlike joy at this time of year. Being ‘grown-up’ is a bit over-rated because being ‘grown-up,’ according to the world, usually entails a constant stiff upper lip and a cynical heart.”
Flashback: Moroni From the Realms of Glory
…you’ve got to be careful what you share online. What looks good at a glance may harbor some deep concerns.If parents were half as diligent in praying for their children’s conversion as they are in keeping them from bad company, their children would turn out far better than they do. —J.C. Ryle