Grace and peace to you!

I scoured the Internet yesterday, as I usually do, and found some links I thought you’d enjoy. Here they are…
(Yesterday on the blog: Grownups Aren’t Afraid of Shadows)
An Interview with Paul on What’s Wrong with Us
Justin Taylor looks to Romans 1 to put together an interview with the Apostle Paul.
God Saves to Make Much of Himself — Doesn’t That Lessen His Love?
John Piper: “God’s love for you, which makes much of you for his glory, is a greater love for you than if he ended by making much of you. If he just made much of you as your greatest treasure rather than him as your greatest treasure, if he did everything he could do to help you feel like a treasure rather than helping you feel like he’s the greatest treasure, he would not love you so much.”
Does John’s Last Supper Chronology Differ from the Other Gospels?
So why does John’s chronology of the Last Supper differ from the accounts of the other gospels? This article answers.
Persistence in Unanswered Prayer
Prayer is a great privilege of the Christian, yet it also “presents some of the greatest challenges for the believer, especially the challenge of many seemingly unanswered prayers. Thus faithful Christians often wonder, Why isn’t God answering me? Why does it seem like my prayers are hitting the ceiling and bouncing back down to me? Is there a sin in my life that I am unaware of and could that be the reason God is withholding an answer?”
Growing Up To Be Mom
“Little hands on mighty hips, my seven-year-old face-offed with her teacher. The innocent question, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ torched the classroom. It seems out of the entire class only my daughter thought the response, ‘I want to be a Mom,’ worth defending. Like a ninja warrior.”
To Do: Look Up and Rejoice!
I really enjoyed this one from TGC Australia: “As I drove down my street, I was surprised to see a bunch of what looked like pre-schoolers—kids aged around 3 to 4—lying on the ground, looking up at a tree on the nature strip outside my house. I very carefully pulled into my driveway, turned my car off and jumped out, blurting out ‘is everything ok?’ rather loudly.”
Flashback: We Always Glean Among the Sheaves
In our most difficult times, God gives us abundant promises to claim, abundant mercy to appeal for, abundant grace to sustain us. His Word is full of hope, full of light, full of life.

Do you complain of a hard heart? The sight of a broken Christ will break your heart, or nothing will. —William Bridge

It has been a long time since I shared an “Ask Me Anything” article—which is to say, since I publicly answered a selection of the questions that have come my way in the past while. But here, at long last, is my attempt to remedy this.

Can a believer take communion at another Bible-believing church besides his own.
Generally, yes. But there are two important matters to consider: your convictions and the church’s convictions.
Before I explain what I mean, though, I’m glad that the question assumes two factors that I regard as important. The first is that this communion is being celebrated in the context of a local church rather than a camp, conference, or other kind of gathering that is something less than the local church. The second is that this is a Bible-believing church, which I take to mean a true rather than a false church. These are both important because Christians have long held that the Lord’s Supper is properly celebrated in the local church and that the right administration of the sacraments (or ordinances) is a mark of a true and healthy church.
As for participating as a guest in a church that is not your own, different Christians will have different convictions. Before visiting another another church it would be good to sharpen your own convictions on the matter. The majority of Christians regard it as acceptable, though there are some who do not. Personally, I will participate at a church I am visiting but would not at a camp, conference, small group, or other context that is not the gathering of the local church.
The second consideration is the practice of the church you are visiting. Most churches are glad to welcome guests, though there are some who will not and others who will only do so if you have first spoken to the elders to give them confidence that you are a believer (e.g. some churches in the Dutch Reformed tradition). Hopefully the church you are visiting “fences” the table by clearly explaining who is invited to participate and who is not. They may say “all believers are invited” or “all baptized believers are invited” or “all baptized believers who are members of a gospel-preaching church are invited.” Listen carefully and you will probably hear whether you can participate or why, out of respect for their position you should not.
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I hold to the egalitarian position on gender roles. Could you please recommend a irenic complementarian book I could read?
Certainly. I am glad that you are willing to consider the alternative position and that you’d like to hear the strongest possible case for it. There’s really no better way to sharpen (or modify) your beliefs.
I might turn first to Kevin DeYoung’s Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction. This is how he explains his goal for it: “Our church has a book nook in the corner of our main lobby. I have often wished for a book there that explained the Bible’s teaching about men and women in the church in a way that the interested layperson could understand and in a size that he or she could read in a few hours. I have wished for a book that would argue its case without being argumentative; a book I could give to other pastors wrestling with this issue; and a book pastors could give to their elders, deacons, and trustees that they would actually read; a book that displays exegetical integrity with minimal technical jargon; a book weightier than a pamphlet but lighter than a doorstop.”
As a follow-up I would encourage you to read Embracing Complementarianism by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher which focuses on how to work out complementarianism in the life and worship of the local church. They do a great job of showing how the doctrine can and should be worked out in practice.
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I am just getting acquainted with you and your writing, and noticed you said that Jesus is your Savior. I stumbled on that, because, I don’t understand why you didn’t say he is your Lord and Savior. It seems to me this is an extremely crucial point.
I would respond that there is a difference between denying the Lordship of Jesus and simply not stating it each time. If you look over the way the New Testament uses “Lord” and “Savior” you will find that it sometimes uses one, sometimes uses the other, and sometimes uses both. Here’s the evidence from the epistles and Revelation:

You’ll need to scroll a bit to read them all, but you’ll see the writers affirming Christ as Savior and Lord, but only sometimes (rarely, actually) joining the two. So my assumption when it comes to other believers would be that they affirm that Jesus is Lord even when they don’t explicitly state it. And, indeed, I very much affirm that Jesus is my Savior and my Lord.
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Can you suggest a book on eschatology for a study group for men?
I was recently struck by Paul’s words to the church in Thessalonica. At the end of chapter 4 he briefly describes the last days and the resurrection of the dead, then says, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” It is more than a little sad that eschatology tends to discourage more than encourage. And so perhaps the place to begin in order to be encouraged by these matters is with a book like Dayton Hartman’s Jesus Wins. His burden is to understand eschatology as a doctrine meant to help us live for the Lord right now. He also wants to foster unity among believers by focusing on what the various positions hold in common. It is just a short book and no more than an introduction to a vast topic, but it is useful in shaping the purpose and direction of our studies of the end times.
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What is your perspective on Lent?
I have written about this at some length so will direct you to that article. But in summary:

Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to observe Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, or any other holy day. And nowhere are we forbidden. So Lent (and even Easter) is a matter of Christian freedom.
Those who do mark it and those who do not should both be cautious against disparaging others or afflicting their conscience.
There is no blessing conferred by Lent that is not available through the ordinary means of grace God has established. (This may well be the most important point to understand so you can be sure you aren’t unintentionally communicating the opposite.)
Those who mark Lent are reaching outside the Reformed tradition and borrowing elements of other Christian traditions.
To quote R. Scott Clark, “The history of the church tells us that the road to spiritual bondage is paved with good intentions.” Hence we should be aware of potential negative consequences of marking what the Bible does not instruct us to.

I concluded this way: “To those who plan to observe Lent, I wish you well and trust you’ll benefit from a time you’ve chosen to make special between you and the Lord. To those who plan not to observe Lent, I wish you well also and trust you’ll benefit equally from the so-ordinary, so-wonderful means of grace that are available to all of us all the time.”
I’d encourage you to read and consider it all.

I want to remind you that all of the quote graphics I share day-by-day are available to download for free at SquareQuotes. Download them and use them as you see fit!

Today’s Kindle deals include several excellent books on marriage.
(Yesterday on the blog: One String to the Bow)
Why the Reformation Still Matters, Another Example
Jeff provides evidence that the Reformation still really matters.
Complete Series of Dr. W Robert Godfrey on the End of Christendom
I have really been enjoying this series of lectures by Robert Godfrey in which he discusses the end of Christendom (and makes so many Dutch jokes).
Does Rahab Show Us That It’s Sometimes Okay to Lie?
Does the Old Testament story of Rahab tell us that it’s sometimes okay to lie? I am inclined to agree with this author’s perspective.
Time to Bring Out the Fruit
“Every culture, in spite of the fall, retains elements of the image of God. For those with eyes to see, these positive elements of a culture quietly point to the wisdom, beauty, and goodness of God, a remnant witness which can’t help but spill out even in cultures that have been cut off from the truth for centuries.”
Loving Those That the Woke Leaves Broke
This article asks whether we are prepared to love and serve those whom modern ideology has harmed. “While the culture war continues to rage, I would like to very briefly ask my brothers and sisters in Christ to poke our heads above the fray of headlines and to consider the years ahead and how they might impact our actions today.”
Unless Providentially Hindered
Sometimes we are providentially hindered from gathering with God’s people. Far more often, though, we skip for other reasons.
Flashback: Maybe We Need Less Math and More History
We need church historians because we need church history. Few things are more important to the life and health of Christianity than a sound knowledge of our shared past.

The more the soul is conformed to Christ, the more confident it will be of its interest in Christ. —Thomas Brooks