A La Carte (June 20)
Good morning and happy Monday!
It’s Monday which means there is a new batch of Kindle deals from Crossway; you’ll also find the complete Narnia series at a massive discount.
(Yesterday on the blog: A Lover of the Lord Lives There!)
Did Paul Ever See Jesus During Our Lord’s Earthly Ministry?
How interesting! “Although most New Testament scholars simply assume that Paul had never seen Jesus prior to Paul’s Damascus Road experience, Stanley Porter raises the fascinating possibility that Paul and Jesus had indeed crossed paths before Paul’s conversion.”
Come, He Needs Nothing From You
I really appreciate this reminder that God doesn’t need anything from us.
Productivity Without Burnout
How does a productive pastor keep himself from burning out? Here are some lessons from John Gill, most of which apply to more than just pastors.
Nine Reasons People Aren’t Singing in Worship
It’s probably worth considering if any of these apply to your church.
How should a believer respond to false accusations?
“Recently, believers have made much of high profile Christian leaders falling into sin. Articles have been written, comments have been tweeted, sound-bytes have been reported upon. Most of these have rightfully focused on the devastating impact on the victims and the harm caused to the church at large. But at the same time we need to also remember that there is another type of victim as well.”
You can’t call your leaders to be accountable and side-step it yourself
“But for all the talk of leaders being unwilling to be held accountable – and certainly such leaders exist – this is hardly an issue unique to pastors and elders. An unwillingness to be held accountable seems to be a hallmark of many church members too.”
Flashback: Are You Content To Carry the Pins?
They had a lesser calling but still a noble calling. God expected they would embrace it wholeheartedly and carry it out skillfully.
We make a grave mistake when we let ourselves think that ill temper is merely a trifling weakness. It is a disfiguring blemish. —J.R. Miller
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A La Carte (August 2)
With a whole new version of Logos Bible Software coming soon, Logos is hosting a Logos 10 farewell sale with deep discounts available. Separate from this, you can get a Michael Horton book for free and several others at slashed prices. See also the Monthly Sale and the sale on Baker commentaries.
Over at Westminster Books, meanwhile, you’ll find the ultra-popular Every Moment Holy books at a steep discount.
Continue to check in day by day for new Kindle deals. I added an especially extensive list yesterday.
Book Brief: Reckless Christianity by Holly Pivec & Douglas Geivett takes a deep dive into the absurd, destructive, and often heretical teaching of Bethel Church and its leader Bill Johnson. It overlaps the equally destructive New Apostolic Reformation. The authors went to great lengths to prove their concerns with extensive footnotes.Greg Koukl makes the case that the accepted meaning of “faith” has shifted so much that it’s time for Christians to begin using alternatives. And whether you agree with him or not, it’s worth reading his reasoning. “‘Gay’ will never, ever again mean cheerful, merry, or brightly colored as it once did. Now ‘gay’ means only one thing: homosexual. ‘Happy’ gay is gone for good. Something similar has happened to the word ‘faith.’”
In this case, the suffering may not be your own, but that of someone near and dear. “As long as you live in a world impacted by sin and suffering, you’ll never be short of moments that challenge your understanding of God’s goodness and sovereignty. Each one will give you an opportunity to either allow your observations and emotions to begin redefining who You believe Him to be or to anchor You deeper into His unchanging character.”
I recently reviewed Ligonier Ministries’ new book, A Field Guide on Gender and Sexuality. This timely resource offers biblical answers to questions people are asking about sex and identity. The aim is to help Christians stand firm in their convictions, navigate relationships with compassion, and proclaim the hope of the gospel. And now, Canadians can save on shipping when ordering this book and others through Reformed Book Services. (Sponsored)
We all want a Bible translation that’s accurate, but how would you define accuracy? This article explains some of what can or should be bound up in the term.
Esther Liu writes about the little glimmers of God’s goodness that can make such a difference in our times of sorrow.
John Piper considers whether a Christian who owns a construction company should help build a casino. Behind that question are many others that may be relevant to a greater number of us. “I should start where I’m going to end — namely, by saying that this is the kind of question that has enough layers of ambiguity that I should not be dogmatic but admit that good Christians believing the same Bible may come to different conclusions. There are just so many aspects to take into consideration.”
“Everything short of hell is mercy. This one truth should change the way we view our hardships and frustrations, no matter how terrible they may be. If we, as sinners, are not facing the wrath of the infinitely Holy God at this moment, our life is better than we deserve. That is true for every Christian and non-Christian alive right now.”
…the rest God promises and the rest we enjoy comes amid the battle, not outside of it, during the race, not only after we have resigned. It is a rest that comes amid the turmoil, that flows when circumstances are dire, that rises up when hearts sink low.
Home…points to the fact that the Lord is our refuge. We find the shalom we seek in him. Your house is not your haven; Christ is.
—Gloria Furman -
The Great Man and the Local Church
There is a way of telling history that focuses on the impact of the few great figures that rise up in any generation. This “great man theory” says that history can best be understood when we focus on the dominant figures of the time. History, it says, turns on the actions, decisions, obsessions, and natural abilities of the few and the extraordinary—the Luthers, the Napoleons, the Lincolns, the Churchills. Understand them, and you understand the world as it was and the world as it has become.
I think Christians sometimes understand the church through a similar grid. We assume that the few figures who rise in prominence at any time are the key to understanding the church as a whole—that they in some way represent the Christian faith at that time. Hence if we tell the story of the church in the early twenty-first century, we may tell it through the lives and ministries of Sproul, Packer, MacArthur, Stott, and Piper. We assume that if we understand them, we have gained a representative understanding of Christians and ministries during their time. Understand them, we think, and you’re understanding all of us.
The great man theory has generally fallen out of favor among historians for a good number of reasons, among them that it’s too simplistic and that it’s difficult (or even impossible) to prove. That’s not to deny, of course, that some people have an outsized impact on any generation. It’s simply to deny that history revolves around the few rather than the many. And it’s to deny that the church depends on the few rather than the many.
We are thankful for preachers of extraordinary ability—the kind who step up to the podiums at the major Christian conferences or whose voice goes out over the airwaves. We are grateful for their ministries and grateful for all the ways we have benefited from their words. But at the same time, we know that the cause of the gospel would grind to a halt if it were not for 10,000 preachers of average ability—the kind who step up to pulpits in living rooms, school gymnasiums, and little churches far out into the countryside. Take away any one of those great men and the church would carry on unhindered; take away those ten thousand unknown men and the result would be catastrophic.
Similarly, we are thankful for those Christians of extraordinary wealth whose grand acts of generosity can make such a difference to churches and ministries. We enjoy reading about those individuals, families, or trusts who have made it their goal to give away vast amounts of wealth to the best of all causes. But if those families were to disappear or spend their last dollar, the church would survive just fine. However, if we were to take away the faithful giving of the ten thousands upon ten thousands who bring little more than their two copper coins, the ministry of the local church would be harshly hindered.
The most crucial work of ministry has little to do with “out there” in the wider Christian world and everything to do with “in here” in the local church.Share
We are thankful for the experts in marriage and parenting and a host of other important issues, experts who teach courses and lead seminars before great crowds. But most of us have had our marriages and parenting transformed far more by the examples before us each week in the local church. If the experts were to close down their seminars and shut down their conferences, the church would grieve for a moment, and then press on. But if the ordinary believers in your church and mine were to stop mentoring the people they see each and every Sunday, the church would be devastated. The most crucial work of ministry has little to do with “out there” in the wider Christian world and everything to do with “in here” in the local church. It has little to do with the few and the famous and far more to do with the many and the unknown.
It is good to thank God for those few men and few women who have been granted high podiums and wide ministries, and who have made their mark on so many of us. We truly thank the Lord for them. But they are not the story of what God is accomplishing in this world. The true story happens when the church gathers as God’s local community here and there, near and far, week by week. It’s in these little communities that God carries out the best of his purposes and in them that we see the strength of his hand. -
Daddy, I Need You
I have been building an ongoing relationship with a person who adheres to a very different religion than my own. He is as committed to his faith as I am to mine and is as eager to speak to me as I am to him. It makes for some engaging and enjoyable conversation. I recently asked him what hope he has beyond the grave, what certainty he can have about life after death. “As you venture off into what comes beyond what we see and know, what confidence do you have of a warm welcome?”
His answer was that he has very little confidence. He is doing his best to live by the tenets of his faith, to be a good and moral and upright person. He worships when he is meant to worship, prays when he is meant to pray, and gives when he is meant to give. He is aware that he sometimes falls short, but responds to his transgressions and shortcomings by redoubling his efforts. He is all-in and doing all he can. But while he seems to be doing everything right, he still has no confidence when it comes to whatever happens after death. Why?
The answer does not lie in his own efforts or in the clarity of the instructions given in his scriptures. Rather, the answer lies in the character of the god he worships. His god, though said to be very powerful, is not known to be patient or kind. Though said to demand the highest of moral standards, he is not known to be completely consistent in his judgments. He can be harsh, he can be arbitrary, he can vary his standards. Though he is the being who created humanity, he does not reveal himself as compassionate toward them. And for those reasons his followers live their lives relating to a god who shows little love, little tenderness, little compassion. They are always uncertain about his posture toward them, always guessing at the nature of his relationship toward them. And them, at the end, they head toward death uncertain about whether they will go to eternal life or eternal death, to glory or judgment.
As I walked away from our most recent conversation, I found myself reflecting on the sheer wonder of compassion. Aren’t you thankful that our God is compassionate toward us? Aren’t you thankful that God promises he is close to the brokenhearted and that he saves those who are crushed in spirit? Aren’t you thankful that he promises he will not break a bruised reed and that he will not snuff out a smoldering wick? Aren’t you thankful that just as a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him? It is this fatherly heart of God that is especially relatable and therefore especially precious.
When Abby went off to college I wanted to assure her that I would continue to care about her and care for her. I told her what I will also tell her sister when she heads off this fall: “You only ever need to say ‘Daddy, I need you,’ and I will be on my way. By the time you finish your sentence you’ll hear the front door slam and the car engine start and the tires screech. I’ll be on my way to you.” Because that’s what it is to be a father—to respond to our children when they cry out for us. Surely no good father would hear his daughter cry out in hunger and give her a rock or hear his son cry out in anguish and hand him a snake. Surely no concerned father would hear his child cry for help and turn his back. And the best of human fathers, of course, is but the palest imitation of our heavenly Father.
Our God draws very close to us in our sorrows—the sorrow of pain, the sorrow of loss, the sorrow of betrayal, the sorrow of loneliness, the sorrow of facing our own sinfulness and fallibility. And, of course, the sorrow of facing our own mortality. Our God is most present just when he is most needed—ever ready and ever eager to offer his sweet comfort. His compassion—his wondrous fatherly compassion—draws him near to us when we so desperately need his help.