Christian Music?

Okay, I have been driven to write this post because of what is going on in our house and the recent posts of 1) a friend, and 2) an acquaintance.

We have become tired of the “contemporary Christian music” that is played on the local radio station. It is fluff and family friendly and all that other blah. Most of it doesn’t seem to line up with the real Christianity that I read about in the Bible or live every day. Where is the suffering? Where is joy in Christ despite the crush of sin and oppression?

We have attempted to survive by turning off the radio and listening to good music with deep Christian themes from the likes of Derek Webb, Sara Groves, and Sandra McCracken. But I have noticed that the current iTunes playlist has more Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Hootie and the Blowfish, and the Wallflowers than Christian music.

So here are my questions: 1) where did the good Christian music go? 2) Which decade of secular music was better, 70s, 80s, or 90s? 3) Do you think I am a bad Christian because I actually stepped outside the box and have listened to secular music? 4) Why do most Christian radio stations play fluff instead of deep lyrics grounded in the Bible and theology?

I know that more than two people read this blog (the three of you know who you are), so I would love answers in the comments.

I mean, come on.

Okay, I am totally naive, know next to nothing about the financial crisis, and don't know who I am going to vote for, only who I am NOT going to vote for. It would seem then, that I shouldn't post anything here about what I don't know, right? It would seem. But, Doug Wilson makes so much sense, and I laugh out loud. How else can we survive these days if we can't laugh out loud?

When you are doing something crazy, and it causes problems, then stop it. If you are doing something big crazy, and it causes bigger problems, this should not be taken as an argument for doing something even bigger crazy. What is the way out of this mysterious crisis? Well stop doing what causes it. Or, to use the biblical word for it, we need a dose of repentance.

The bubble has burst, as every financial bubble in the history of the world has always done, and yet, somehow, all the cheerleaders of the bubblefication have not lost their credibility. They are still on the teevee, cheerleading for the latest rescue of the previous rescue of the first rescue. And someone like Ron Paul, who has been shown to be in the right about all this foolishness, talks sense for a few minutes. But everyone knows that that is not realistic. I mean, come on.

It reminds me of poor Jeremiah in Egypt. Everything he said about what idolatry would do to Israel came true, in agonizing detail. Every prediction, every denunciation, every tear -- every last one of them was shown to be, you know, true. And yet, once they were down in Egypt, up pop some wise johnnies who clearly saw that all this had happened because they hadn't worshipped the Queen of Heaven enough. Huh.

(HT: Douglas Wilson)

Finally on Flickr

Click here.

That which is to be, already has been

I realize that there is a lot more going on in Ecclesiastes than meets the eye. Is there one writer or two? Is it Solomon or not?

Yet, there are nuggets of truth in Ecclesiastes that are beyond profound and require serious thought. So many of the arguments of our day wrestle around the doctrine of God's sovereignty. I have believed in God's absolute sovereignty for years now, and while I still wrestle with the ramifications of that belief, I find it very comforting.

Here is a nugget from Ecclesiastes that is worth our time pondering:

Ecclesiastes 3:14-15: I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

Homeschooling seems to be working...

Friction in Marriage Hinders Prayers

1Pet. 3:7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

This verse is not saying something mystical about how your prayers are hindered; rather, it is eminently practical. For, it is hard to sit down at breakfast when you are angry with your wife and say thanksgiving to the God of the Universe for the food. And the kids are not naive enough to miss that dad is having a hard time praying when he is angry at mom.

The Stakes are Far Higher Than We Think

One of my pastors visited a couple in the hospital this last weekend whose adult son had been involved in a heavy equipment accident. Apparently a hydraulic hose broke and sprayed the man with hydraulic fluid that promptly caught fire, burning over 80% of his body. A co-worker pulled him from the flaming cab. His 15-year old daughter watched the entire incident and heard her father's screams of agony as his skin burned.

The pain is so intense, that the doctors have put him in an induced coma. His parents, who are believers, have temporarily moved from another state so that they can be near their son.

Recent surgery cut off the skin from his chest and grafted on skin from a cadaver. The prayer is that it will graft in an not get infected.

If you have read this far, I pray that you feel two things: 1) sorrow and pain for this man and his family that leads you to intercede for him in weeping prayer; and 2) a dawning recognition that if this kind of pain and suffering can happen on earth, how much more will the terror and anguish be in hell for those who do not repent?

Matt. 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Legal Fathers Chase Them There

Gracious fathers lead their sons through the minefield of sin. Indulgent fathers watch their sons wander off into the minefield. Legal fathers chase them there.

Read the whole post.

I can't let the day slip away...

...without acknowledging that it is the first day of my favorite season...



Autumn

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

What caption should be here?

Plus Nothing

The reason for this is that all men are separated from God because of their true moral guilt. God exists, God has a character, God is a holy God; and when men sin (and we must acknowledge we have sinned not only by mistake but by intention), they have true moral guilt before the God who exists. That guilt is not just the modern concept of guilt-feelings, a psychological guilty feeling in man. It is a true moral guilt before the infinite-personal, holy God. Only the finished, substitutionary work of Christ upon the cross as the Lamb of God--in history, space, and time--is enough to remove this. Our true guilt, that brazen heaven which stands between us and God, can be removed only upon the basis of the finished work of Christ plus nothing on our part. The Bible's whole emphasis is that there must be no humanistic note added at any point in the accepting of the gospel. It is the infinite value of the finished work of Christ, the second person of the Trinity, upon the cross plus nothing that is the sole basis for the removal of our guilt. When we thus come, believing God, the Bible says we are declared justified by God, the guilt is gone, and we are returned to fellowship with God--the very thing for which we were created in the first place.

Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, p. 3-4.

From 35 minutes to 17 minutes

Woohoo! My commute just went from 35 minutes each way to 17 minutes each way. The I-35W bridge is finished and I drove over it this morning! I am sure that thousands of people drove over it before I did, including one Tom Steller, who drove over it when it opened at 5 AM. Nuts!



Read Piper on the bridge opening.

True for All Men Everywhere

The first point that we must make is that it is impossible even to begin living the Christian life, or to know anything of true spirituality, before one is a Christian. And the only way to become a Christian is neither by trying to live some sort of a Christian life nor by hoping for some sort of religious experience, but rather by accepting Christ as Savior. No matter how complicated, educated, or sophisticated we may be, or how simple we may be, we must all come the same way, insofar as becoming a Christian is concerned. As the kings of the earth and the mighty of the earth are born in exactly the same way, physically, as the simplest man, so the most intellectual person must become a Christian in exactly the same way as the simplest person. This is true for all men everywhere, through all space and all time. There are no exceptions. Jesus said a totally exclusive word: "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, p. 3.

Available Now: Is Christianity Good for the World?

Here.

BibleArc.com

I just received an email from a fellow student at The Bethlehem Institute:

Hey friends,

I wanted to let you all know that BibleArc.com has been updated. There are quite a few changes, the highlights being the ESV is now available, the learn section is totally redone with the videos we shot, and it is a bit faster.

In Jesus,
Andy

Arcing is the Bible study method that John Piper uses when he studies the Bible and a tool that is taught at TBI. If you don't already know how to arc, I suggest that you check out Andy's site. This website is the best arcing tool in existence.

If you watch the videos in the Arcing 101 section, you can see yours truly describe some logical relationships. Woohoo.

That'll do something to your little leftist narrative.

Some days, the seriousness of life makes me want to cry. At those times, and others, of course, a little laugh-out-loud satire is pleasant.

But in the meantime, we must not overlook the fact that she [Sarah Palin] presents an absolutely devastating challenge to the feminist narrative for women, and there are no mights involved. Here is a woman who (for the sake of principle) has refused to sacrifice those things which feminists insist (in principle) must be sacrificed so that women can reach their "full potential." As a result of refusing the central dogma of their feminism, she might well become the first woman president. That'll do something to your little leftist narrative. Feminism has never been about advancing the cause of women. This reveals, as few other things could, that it has been about advancing the cause of commie women.

Granting that Sarah Palin does not look like June Cleaver, she looks a lot less like Hillary or Gloria Steinem. And, despite the differences, I can imagine Sarah and June having a very pleasant lunch together. If she tried to take Hillary or Gloria out shopping (for motorcyles, say) and a spot of lunch afterwards, all I can envision is stoney silences and a lot of glaring . . . and not from Sarah, who would be chatting happily. Sarah Palin ruffles the hair of some conservatives, but they can always comb it again. Doug Phillips will be all right in a couple days. In contrast, when it comes to the vampirism of the feminist left, let's just call her Buffy. They won't be all right in a couple of days.

For the whole Douglas Wilson blog post, which is quite lengthy, click here.

Honest Enough to See the Logical Conclusion

You have to read this. Justin Taylor provides the closing paragraphs to an article by a feminist liberal woman named Camille Paglia. This woman has unashamedly admitted the logical end result of her worldview. The following is a quote to shock you:

But the pro-life position, whether or not it is based on religious orthodoxy, is more ethically highly evolved than my own tenet of unconstrained access to abortion on demand. My argument (as in my first book, "Sexual Personae,") has always been that nature has a master plan pushing every species toward procreation and that it is our right and even obligation as rational human beings to defy nature's fascism. Nature herself is a mass murderer, making casual, cruel experiments and condemning 10,000 to die so that one more fit will live and thrive.

Hence I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the powerless by the powerful. Liberals for the most part have shrunk from facing the ethical consequences of their embrace of abortion, which results in the annihilation of concrete individuals and not just clumps of insensate tissue. The state in my view has no authority whatever to intervene in the biological processes of any woman's body, which nature has implanted there before birth and hence before that woman's entrance into society and citizenship.

Read Justin's article here.

Read the whole article here.

Word Clouds For Fun

wordle.net

Tower Lights

The moon between our Two Towers -- without a tripod.

I'm Supposed to do Something in Worship?

"Most denominations have done studies in worship and may even review it frequently; they have also produced books that set forth their worship and their hymns. This is as it should be, of course. But all worshippers need to discover for themselves what worship is all about and how to improve it, and this must come from the Bible itself. After all, our worship of God must continue to develop throughout life" (Allen P. Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory, p. 63n2, emphasis mine).

It's Half-Past Twelve Somewhere

Acedia [uh-see-dee-uh] Laziness or indifference in religious matters.

A significant part of Norris' agenda is to distinguish acedia from depression: two intersecting sets that have some features in common but differ in significant ways. Here, she suggests, "an informed understanding of sin" helps. [S]he is concerned that the church long ago began to define sin primarily in terms of acts rather than something like Evagrius' "thoughts," which are part of the human condition and which we must identify before they become harmful actions and stifle the work of grace in our lives. Put more simply, Norris' "most basic definition of sin" is "to comprehend that something is wrong, and choose to do it anyway." The danger of a sin like acedia is that it can become "mortal"--that is, it can prevent God's grace from transforming our lives: "When we are convinced that we are beyond the reach of grace, acedia has done its work."

We urgently need such reminders amid the "restless boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair" of contemporary life, particularly in the context of a marriage such as the one that unfolds in this book. In a society where acedia results in relationships that are recycled more often than aluminum cans, Norris insists that what is most likely to maintain a marriage is not giddy romance, but discipline, martyrdom, and obedience (which, at its etymological root, refers to hearing): "The very nature of marriage means saying yes before you know what it will cost. You may say the 'I do' of the wedding ritual in all sincerity, but it is the testing of that vow over time that makes you married."

This post references the book review by Dennis Okholm. [I have no idea what the title of the review or this post means.] The book being reviewed is Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris.

I Need to Explain That Last Quote

I need to explain that last quote, not necessarily for my two readers, but for myself. Why, indeed, would I post such a quote with all of its two-bit philosophical ramblings? Well, because if you read the entire book, you would get a feel for the person eliciting the quote. And the person who elicited the quote is a complex person who ultimately does what is right regardless of his desire to live. He is what I would call a hero. Yet, he is a flawed hero.

While it is common in most hero stories that the hero must stand against the face of evil, it is also common that the hero be a fractured character, a troubled man who fuzzes the line occasionally to bring about the greater good. Is this concept not central to the recent summer blockbuster The Dark Knight?

Corwin of Amber had just chased down a thief who had murdered a woman and taken her bracelets and rings. Corwin dispatched the murderer, retrieved the stolen items and then buried the woman. Once finished he thought the quote. In my mind his actions were simply retribution for Melkin’s evil deeds. Especially in a medieval setting, were his actions not appropriate?

For me, with years of reading hero stories under my belt, there is something right about the lone hero who fights evil and rides away alone into the sunset, the hero who sheds blood in order to keep blood from being shed. We love this man, don’t we? His story is everywhere. He has been played by Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Matt Damon. He is the lone cowboy, standing against the rustlers, shooting them dead, and then riding into the sunset. He is Aragorn as a Ranger, doing what is right, but in the shadows, protecting the weak with brutal, efficient violence.

I realize that all of the above really doesn’t matter to anyone reading this, unless they have read the chronicles of Corwin of Amber. But, there is one sentence in my previous quote-post that makes me think of a biblical character who also had a lot of blood on his hands. “Until that time, I shall not wash my hands nor let them hang useless.” I can picture King David saying this as he looked forward to the building of the temple and peace in Israel, riding out to battle with his Mighty Men.

Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten thousands! There was blood on David’s hands, to be sure. David avenged more than one evil deed. David wanted to usher in the new kingdom of peace, but was kept from it. David wanted to build the temple. He dreamed of it, he designed it, and he gathered the materials for it. Yet, God did not let him build it because he had blood on his hands.

David was a man after God’s own heart. David wrote ballads and played the harp. David was a lover. And David killed people. David was a hero who was necessary for the kingdom of Israel. God rewarded him by promising that his son would sit on the throne forever. Yet, he was not allowed to build the temple.

I don’t know if he fully knew all that would happen when his reign was over; maybe he did. Even still, he still did what was necessary for the kingdom. “Until that time, I shall not wash my hands nor let them hang useless.”

I Shall Not Wash My Hands Nor Let Them Hang Useless

"I replaced her rings, her bracelets, her combs, before I closed the grave, and that was Lorraine. All that she had ever been or wanted to be had come to this, and that is the whole story of how we met and how we parted, Lorraine and I, in the land called Lorraine, and it is like onto my life, I guess, for a Prince of Amber is part and party to all the rottenness that is in the world, which is why whenever I do speak of my conscience, something else within me must answer, "Ha!" In the mirrors of the many judgments, my hands are the color of blood. I am a part of the evil which exists to oppose other evils. I destroy Melkins when I find them, and on that Great Day of which prophets speak but in which they do not truly believe, on that day when the world is completely cleansed of evil, then I, too, will go down into darkness, swallowing curses. Perhaps even sooner than that, I now judge. But whatever . . . Until that time, I shall not wash my hands nor let them hang useless." - Corwin of Amber (The Guns of Avalon, The Chronicles of Amber, Vol. 1, pg 208-209).

Posting Quotes

I have seen it written (I just can't remember where - maybe here or here) that posting quotes from books you are reading without providing your own commentary is bad blog etiquette. However, from the numbers of comments this blog receives (the squirrel story has more comments than the rest of the site put together) I don't think I am running too big of a risk.

Why am I writing this? See the next post.

My Best Squirrel Story Ever

On Friday night, Wendy and I and two friends were driving through Elliot Park neighborhood in Minneapolis. We saw something moving across the road. I slowed down and looked carefully. A plastic cup, similar to a frappucino cup was moving across the road, pushed by a squirrel. Then we realized that the squirrel had its head stuck in the bubble lid.

It had to be hot in the cup, since it was about 85 degrees outside. The squirrel couldn't see very well, because the cup was still coated with whip cream and coffee or whatever was in the cup. I wonder if squirrels have bad breath. I bet he was wishing he had brushed his teeth that morning.

Jenny jumped out with her iPhone and took a picture. I was trying to figure out if I could save the squirrel without touching it or getting bit by it. It was moving slow enough that catching it was no problem, but they have sharp claws and it was still skittish. If I stepped on its tail and pulled the lid at the same time I might be able to save it, but it might whip around and bite me or something.

My flash decision was to simply grab the cup and yank as hard as I could, hoping the cup and lid would all come off at the same time. Without additional thought, I reached down, grabbed the cup and yanked. Squirrels are very light. There was almost no resistance at all. The squirrel went flying in the direction of my pull, but the cup stayed in my hand.

Then I realized that the cup stayed in my hand, but not the lid! By this time, the squirrel was bounding across the road and under the nearest car, clear plastic lid still stuck around its neck. It couldn't run that well, but it could now see and breath. At least I gave it a small chance to live when before it had none.

I have no idea what has happened to the squirrel. It may be able to eat, if it finds something, but I doubt that it can climb trees. It is probably easy prey for bigger urban dwellers.

Moral of the story: Don't litter! Be Green! If you don't it hurts the animals!

(Tongue firmly planted in cheek.)

Numa! Numa!

I know that this has been seen over 18,000,000 times (as of right now), but it is still hilarious - and catchy too.

Piper on Abortion

(HT: The Bethlehem Institute)

Worship?

I stumbled upon a church website near my home town the other day. Here is how they described their worship:

At Journey we believe that connecting with our Savior through corporate worship is essential to our spiritual walk. We strive to provide a themed service that revolves around the scripture presented each week; incorporating drama, movie clips, contemporary worship, secular songs and symbols - all to communicate the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was also pointed to a quote from John Owen by a guest blogger on Justin Taylor's blog:

It is an innate acknowledged principle that the soul of man will not keep up cheerfully unto the worship of God unless it has a discovery of a beauty and comeliness in it. Hence, when men had lost all spiritual sense and savor of the things of God, to supply the want that was in their own souls, they invented outwardly pompous and gorgeous ways of worship, in images, paintings, pictures, and I know not what carnal ornaments; which they have called "The beauties of holiness!" [Ps. 110:3]. Thus much, however, was discovered therein, that the mind of man must see a beauty, a desirableness in the things of God's worship, or it will not delight in it; aversation will prevail. Let, then, the soul labor to acquaint itself with the spiritual beauty of obedience, of communion with God, and of all duties of immediate approach to him, that it may be rifled with delight in them. (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, John Owen, eds. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, pg. 269-270)

Sallow and Scrawny

Wendy and I (especially Wendy) are challenged by how to feed a family of six in a healthy way. In light of our desire to feed our family well and of the Olympics and the sallow and scrawny look of many of the athletes, I thought the following comments from Douglas Wilson quite appropriate.

One last comment. Suppose someone were to ask why I appear to be so against "healthy eating." First, I have no objection to faithful stewardship when it comes to food, and I do not believe that all foods are equal when it comes to a healthy diet. A steady diet of deep fat fried Twinkies is probably not the way to go. If your doctor tells you to knock off the coffee, Ho Ho's and cigars for breakfast, then go ahead and listen to him. But this is a spiritual issue only in terms of stewardship and general wisdom. It is not a case of spiritual defilement. People who react to an offered Dorito the way a rabbi would respond to a slice of pork roast are sinning. And secondly, as a practical observation, some of the sickliest people I know got that way through an obsessive interest in what they call healthy eating, but which obviously isn't. If they were to show up at Melzar's exam after ten days, he would slap them back on the Babylonian diet so fast it wouldn't be funny.

Daniel and his friends were willing to put it to the test. Let's take three groups of kids, and let's look closely at what they eat for ten days. One group watches television constantly, one hand on the remote and the other in a bag of Cheetos. The second group is languishing on a diet of tofu and rice. The last group is fed on what we might call a common sense American mom suburban diet -- Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, PB&J's for lunch, a couple of cookies after school, and a well-rounded dinner (meat, potatoes, veggies), with a little ice cream for dessert. On the eleventh day, let's have them all run around the block.

I'll put my kids up against your tofu and rice eating kids any day.

(HT: Douglas Wilson)

Loose Threads

One of the things that makes a story a good story is when all the loose threads are tied up in the end. A story that weaves an intricate tapestry but leaves many threads untied at the end is not satisfying. When all loose ends are tied up and everything is accounted for, then the tapestry (or the story) is that much more beautiful and satisfying.

If one considers all of history -- redemption history -- a story, then it seems reasonable to hope that all the threads of human history will be tied up nicely a the end. I believe that God, as the premier storyteller, will make sure that all the loose ends are tied up. In other words, the reason for cancer, wars, car accidents, theft, betrayal, tsunamis, hurricanes, plane crashes, crib death, drugs, and a million other sufferings will be beautifully explained and satisfying by the time we read the last page.

To live this life believing in anything else would lead me, at least, to despair.

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:8-11)

The Centripetal Force on our Planet

I have been reading The Brothers Karamazov, and was struck by a sentence. Ivan, the atheist brother, is talking with Alyosha, the hero of the story who is a monk. He says, “The centripetal force on our planet is still fearfullly strong, Alyosha.” He is speaking in the context of his love for life despite “logic” which tells him there is no order to the universe. It is after this discourse that Ivan launches into the two most famous chapters of the book, “Rebellion” and “The Grand Inquisitor,” where he argues against God.

In my mind, one of the main jobs of the preacher is to counter-act the “centripetal force of this planet” by proclaiming a Jesus that has a stronger pull. If people don’t see a Jesus that has a greater pull on their wants, their desires, their souls, then the force of this world will ultimately draw them into the center. As I drove in to the office this morning my longing was to see Jesus more clearly, to delve into his words and actions and better understand him. I want to sit at the feet of Jesus and wrestle with both the tough and the tender, to see how his turns of a phrase, how his quotations of the OT and how his insight speaks clearly to me in a world of iPhones and skyscrapers and high gas prices. I want the gravitational pull of the son to overcome the centripetal force of this world!

Abortion is About God

A new curriculum will be available August 2008 from The Bethlehem Institute

Title: Abortion Is About God: Reframing a Moral Issue

Short Description: "Abortion Is About God: Reframing a Moral Issue" is a six-week Sunday School curriculum advancing the truth that the deepest evil of abortion is that it defies God¹s supremacy over life in the womb. The course will aim to provide a biblical and theological foundation for the pro-life cause. Moreover, the course will aim to bring a God-centered perspective to bear on this contested issue. In addition to asserting that abortion is fundamentally an offense to the glory of the Creator, the curriculum will celebrate the sovereignty of God over all of life, will lift up the good gifts of children and parenthood, and will proclaim the mercy freely offered to all through the gospel. Students will gain a deeper understanding of this issue by closely examining key biblical passages, answering provocative questions, and considering sermons and writings from the ministry of John Piper. It is our prayer that this course would be used by God to awaken the church afresh to the horror of abortion as a belittling of the glory of God and an assault on those made in His image.

About the curriculum: New TBI Curriculum - Abortion Is About God

Annotated Table of Contents: CURRICULUM: Abortion is About God - TOC

Evolution and Entropy

Sunday morning, on our way to church, we drove down Highway 96 and I contemplated the median. The curbed median had been landscaped, with trees and flowers and shrubbery and barkdust. The flowers were in bloom, reds, purples, yellows and oranges. And weeds. The weeds were clearly moving in on the flowers and attempting to assert their control over the median.

A few more hundred feet down the road and a right turn on to Highway 10. We were passing an older military base that had been shut down years before, I suppose during the Clinton era. The driveway and parking lot were cracked and broken, with weeds growing up there, too. The windows were dirty and broken. Open holes in glass staring back at me. The brick walls of the building looked worn out and in need of a cleaning.

What struck me is how normal it is for things like medians and old buildings to go from pristine and beautiful to cracked, broken down, and old. And it doesn’t take very long for this to happen either. If we leave something in a box for twenty years, there is no guarantee that it will work just right when we pull it back out again.

If it is so normal for all things around us to move from order to chaos, or from good shape to worse shape, why would we imagine that one or two cell organisms would eventually become human beings? Does adding a million years to the process help?

Help me, O Lord!

The first eleven verses of Psalm 74 are a cry out to the Lord for help. The “enemy” of the Lord, the Lord’s “foes” are destroying the meeting places of God. They are breaking down the carved wood, they are setting the sanctuary on fire. In the beginning of this psalm, Asaph sees this as God’s anger toward his people. He attributes the suffering of God’s people at the hand of the Lord’s enemies as the Lord’s anger at his people, “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?” This is a pleading cry, not an angry accusation. Asaph understands that God is ultimately sovereign over the enemies.

There is an interesting word at the beginning of verse 12. In the ESV and NASB the word is “Yet.” In the Hebrew it is a waw used in a concessive manner. Despite the fact that God is angry toward us, nevertheless, “God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.”

This is an intriguing response to the situation that the people of God were in. Asaph and the people of God are suffering. They are being put down by God’s foes and enemies. They are crying out to God for help, for defense, for deliverance. Yet in the midst of this horror, Asaph recognizes, remembers, believes, holds-on to the fact that God is making salvation or working salvation from ancient times in the land. God is doing something bigger in the midst of the terror. God is working salvation in the land, despite the fact that everyone is at a loss. God is doing something deeper than what Asaph and people see. He is working salvation.

Asaph then spends several verses (13-17) extolling the sovereignty of God over the earth, clearly describing again the power of God over all things, which is the basis of his belief in verse 12. Then, from v. 18 to the end of the psalm Asaph returns to his pleas for salvation from God. Verses 12-17 are the ground for Asaph’s pleas to God for deliverance both in the beginning and in the end of the Psalm. Without that middle section, Asaph has no real basis for crying out to God. It is the fact that God is sovereign over everything - the sea, the sea monsters, the springs and brooks, the day, the night, the stars, the sun, the boundaries of the earth and its seasons - that enables Asaph to confidently cry out to the Lord for help.

O that I would believe and trust in the sovereignty of God the way that Asaph did. O that I would cry out to my God, my king who is ancient of days, with the sheer confidence in his sovereignty for his deliverance of me from my troubles.

O Lord, Do Not Delay!

There are some big decisions going on in our lives right now: what job should we move towards (there are several options), should we visit Kentucky in April, what will our future be, am I called to teach in a college or preach in a church or how do I do both, and can I get Wendy a new camera? Some of these are big, and some are small, but all of them feel weighty when we are trying to live for the Lord and be holy with our lives. TBI needs about $2M in the next month or so to construct out the building we have been given and launch a bigger vision. That is big. Is it inappropriate to ask the Lord to be quick with his decisions?

Psalm 70 speaks to this. Verse 1 says, “Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!" Now, one might argue that David is speaking about deliverance from his enemies. That is true, yet do we not all have enemies of one form or another? (See comments in the last post.) What was the biggest difficulty in David’s life that he cried out to God about? It was his enemies. David cried out about his front burner issues, and I think that we should also cry out to God about our front burner issues. Just because we are not being sought by enemies “who desire our hurt” (Ps 70:2), does not mean that we can not cry out to God about our financial woes, our career woes, our family woes. We can and should cry out to God in all these things.

And, if we take David as our example, we can also beg God to be quick about it. It is not necessarily disrespectful to God to ask him to hurry, as long as our heart is not angry or presumptuous. Instead, like David, we should be poor and needy. David wrote, “But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (Ps 70:5).

Enemies and Life Struggles

After I finished thinking about God hearing us, I thought about other things in the Bible that could be comparable. Specifically I thought about how David wrote Psalms about getting relief from his enemies. If stars (see previous entry) can be compared to people, then certainly enemies can be compared to various life struggles and battles. In other words, the stress of getting a project at work completed is no less mundane than protection for enemies seeking our life. Not that enemies are mundane, but David’s work week and our work week are similar in that we both trudge off to do battle with something.

Then I read Psalm 55 in my quiet time after I got to work. “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, because of the noise of my enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, an din anger they bear a grudge against me” (Ps 55:1-3).

We can bring our mundane troubles with curriculum or networks or people or studies to God in the same way as David cried out to God about his enemies. This is really basic, but this morning it seemed very profound to me.

Stars and Prayer

I have been stressed at work lately, and this morning as I drove in I attempted to pray. As I looked at the masses of people in cars around me, I wondered how could God possibly hear me. Why would he hear me? I am so small, so insignificant in relation to the rest of the world and all that is going on. There are seven million people in the greater Twin Cities area. There are six plus billion people in the world. There are governments, presidents, ambassadors, rebels, and corporate CEOs. How and why could or would he possibly listen to me as I drive in to work on I-35W in Minneapolis, MN?

Then a text from Isaiah 40 came to mind. "To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these [stars]? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing" (Isa 40:25-26).

There are hundreds of millions of galaxies in our universe and there are likely hundreds of millions of universes. That means there are billions of stars. Stars that all have a name. Stars that all emit light in various ranges of the spectrum. Stars that emit various radio and magnetic and electric and light waves that create a symphony to those that have ears to hear and eyes to see. Who has those eyes to see and ears to hear? Who knows them all by name?

The God of the Bible. And if he knows all those stars, who have names and are not missing, then I can be confident he hears my prayers.

Father God, please strengthen my faith in you today. Grant me eyes to see and ears to hear your wondrous works. Amen.

John 10:1-21

Click below to listen to a recent lesson I taught on John 10:1-21. There has been a lot of problems with audio lately, as the first ten minutes of this teaching did not get recorded. The audio picks up ten minutes in, after a review of John 9:1-5, at 9:6.

Would We Recognize a Good Shepherd if We Saw One?

Emerging or Emergent?

This is the best and shortest description of what it means to be emerging vs. emergent that I know of. If you care about the church, and recognize that there is a rift between traditional church and many so-called post-moderns, then this is a helpful read.

Would the Real Emerger Please Stand Up?

(HT: Reclaiming the Mind Ministries)

I and the Father are One

I had the privilege of preaching at Oakridge Community Church in Stillwater, MN last Sunday. Here is the audio for the sermon titled I and the Father are One.

Please note that the last three minutes of the sermon were lost. As it is now, it ends okay, but the final concluding thought and prayer were not recorded for some reason.

UPDATE: The file has been fixed and the entire sermon is now available.

Take the Puritan Reading Challenge

I read about this from Justin Taylor's blog, Between Two Worlds, and I thought it was definitely worth reproducing here. To find the main Puritan Reading Challenge click on the button below.



Happy Reading!

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

A Frightening Warning from C.S. Lewis

In the third book of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy, That Hideous Strength (Collier, 1986, p. 353), Lewis describes the mindset of the chief villain. It is frighteningly real and shows deep understanding of human nature:

The last scene of Dr. Faustus where the man raves and implores on the edge of Hell is, perhaps, stage fire. The last moments before damnation are not often so dramatic. Often the man knows with perfect clarity that some still possible action of his own will could yet save him. But he cannot make this knowledge real to himself. Some tiny habitual sensuality, some resentment too trivial to waste on a blue-bottle, the indulgence of some fatal lethargy, seems to him at that moment more important than the choice between total joy and total destruction. With eyes wide open, seeing that the endless terror is just about to begin and yet (for the moment) unable to feel terrified, he watches passively, not moving a finger for his own rescue, while the last links with joy and reason are severed, and drowsily sees the trap close upon his soul. So full of sleep are they at the time when they leave the right way.

It should be our prayer that we never succumb to the habitual sensuality, resentment, or fatal lethargy that might keep us from the saving grace of the cross. May we feel the terror of being separated from the One who has the power to cast both body and soul into Hell.

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Jason had the pleasure of worshiping with Riverside Church this morning and providing the message. Click to listen to the sermon on Galatians 3:10-14.

For Unto Us a Child is Born

As Christmas approaches, the Bible has struck me in a new way when talking about Jesus. Christmas has always been an amazing time to think about how a baby in a manger is both God and man, and how that baby would grow up to live a sinless life and die a sin-filled death in order to make atonement for people who rejected him. He is most assuredly our savior. But, this Christmas, the Bible brought out another view of Jesus that I had only scarcely seen before.

Mostly because of Hebrew language courses, I have spent more time in the Old Testament this year than I usually do. It is amazing. For instance, in Deuteronomy, the LORD speaks to Moses and says, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Deut 18:18). Now, fast forward to the Gospel of John. The priests and Levites were curious about John the baptizer and asked him, “Are you the Prophet?” (John 1:21). The priests and Levites knew their Old Testament. They were waiting for the Prophet the LORD had told Moses would come. At that point it had been 400 years since the last word of the Old Testament had been written, yet the Jews were still wondering who the Prophet might be. Here is the kicker: Jesus said, “I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment” (John 12:49). Jesus claimed to be the Prophet the Jews were waiting for.

When Jacob blessed his twelve sons in the first book of the Bible, he gave Judah a special blessing. He said, “Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him” (Gen 49:9). At the end of time, as described in the last book of the Bible, John, the beloved disciple, stood before the great throne and wept because no one was worthy to open the scroll sealed with seven seals. An elder said to him, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Rev 5:5). Jacob’s blessing has been waiting for a long time for consummation.

Isaiah, in his famous chapter about the coming Messiah, wrote, “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa 53:11). Key in on a few words: he shall see and be satisfied. What does that mean? How will the coming Messiah be satisfied out of the anguish of his soul? Can satisfaction come from anguish? The rest of the verse shows this satisfaction is in the context of bearing their iniquities. I think the writer to the Hebrews picks up on this, when he writes “for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). Somehow, when Jesus looked before him toward the cross there was joy, dare I say satisfaction, in knowing what he would accomplish, namely, bearing our iniquities.

Again, Isaiah writes, “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted” (Isa 52:13). Paul declares the fulfillment of this prophesy when he writes, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).

One final example, I think that good Jews during the day of Jesus knew their Old Testaments well. Therefore when the angel came to Mary his words must have been stunning: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:30-33). Do you see how the angel’s words to Mary echo the prophesies of Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah? These were not throwaway words for Mary. They were jaw dropping words that had an immediate impact, “The Messiah will be my child? How can this be?”

The Abell family prayer for you this Christmas is that you would be in awe of the baby Jesus, for he is the culmination and fulfillment of the Old Testament. Merry Christmas!

Ephesians 6:5-9

I had the pleasure of preaching to the Bethlehem Career Adults today. The sermon is available here.

Four Funerals in Ten Weeks

Between July 14 and September 26, we attended four funerals. The first funeral was for Wendy’s dad, killed by an incredibly rare form of cancer. The second funeral was for the mother of Wendy’s friend Heather who was also killed by cancer. Both of these adults were in their sixties and died entirely too young from a disheartening enemy that relentlessly pursued them. The third funeral was for a young man, 24 years old, who had committed suicide. The fourth funeral was for a full-term infant who died in her mother’s womb two days before the due date, apparently by strangulation from the umbilical cord.

It is no small thing to see this much death in so short a period. These four deaths spanned the spectrum of age, from the very youngest to the gray headed. The forms of death were heartbreaking: cancer, suicide, and unfortunate accident. What can be said to the spouse (of either couple) whose marriage was ended just shy of their fortieth anniversary? What do you say to the mother and father whose brilliant but depressed son completely lost hope? What do you say to the expectant mother whose baby isn’t moving any more, yet still has to give birth? What do you say to the baby’s father as he carries – by himself – the coffin out of the funeral/worship service into the waiting hearse?

This summer God displayed to Wendy and me, in a unique way, that God is the giver of life. And even more distinctly that he is the taker. Job, upon hearing that all ten of his children were killed in a horrendous wind storm worshiped, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:20). Job attributed what to him was a natural disaster to God. God had taken away his children. Not the wind, not bad construction, not fate, but God.

Some of you might be incensed at what I am writing and say that God didn’t kill Job’s kids, Satan did. Yes, but I am still ultimately saying that God killed Job’s children. However, I am only repeating to you what Job said. He said, “The LORD has taken away.” What else could that mean, but that God killed Job’s children? Now, before you throw this newsletter away, read v21, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” That is an astonishing sentence. That sentence should rock your world and change your understanding of God forever. God is not a pansy God who is not in complete control of all things. God, who created all things through Christ and for Christ, will do whatever is necessary to display his glory the brightest and give his children the greatest joy – even unto death.

Do you believe in Job’s God?

I watched Abraham Piper carry his baby down the aisle, after having worshiped with him for the last hour. With tears rolling down my face, I asked myself, what would my reaction be if Wendy or one of the kids or both were in a coffin? Would I be angry with God? Would I walk away from my faith? Would my faith deepen? Would I be able to say, with Abraham Piper, Jesus does all things well?

It is impossible for me to predict how I would answer those questions. I am not facing those situations now. Someday I will face something similar. Right now, I believe God will give me the grace to face whatever situation will someday occur. It will not be easy. It will be brutally hard, and will shake my faith to the core. Lord willing, he will bring me through with faith intact.

When we try to contemplate a God who gives and takes away, we must remember that this very same God gave his only son for a people who had utterly abandoned him. This God willingly sent his son to his death, but more than that, he crushed his own son so that his justice would be fulfilled and we might go free. Isaiah wrote about this very thing:

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:4-6).

The rest of this story is contained in the reaction of those closest to the four deceased. All four families worshiped. Wendy’s mom worshiped. Heather and her family worshiped. The parents of Luke worshiped. Abraham and Molly worshiped. They all worshiped the God who gives and who takes away. I know they have questioned and struggled and wept and were angry. So did Job. But none of them faltered. They are sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10).

Job’s God is enough.

The Prosperity Gospel

John Piper on the prosperity gospel.



(HT: Joe Rigney)

Apparently the Lion is not the king of the jungle anymore...

Be careful, some background language...




(HT: Mom)

Teaching at Living Water Community Church

In February, 2007, Pastor Tom Steller and I had the opportunity to fly to my hometown of Vancouver, WA, and teach a weekend seminar on the Bible study method called "arcing." The following two links are for audio from that session. The first audio is where I taught through the arc for 1 Samuel 12:19-25. I had recently preached on this same passage before a bunch of seminary students, and now had the opportunity to preach through it to a church congregation learning to study their Bibles. I hope you can tell the difference between the two! Click here to listen to the first sermon.

Arcing 1 Samuel 12:19-25

This second audio is from the very last session of the weekend. I was to close out the weekend by teaching through the arc of Romans 11:33-36. It was a sober and wonderful moment. Unfortunately, the last ten minutes of the audio were lost! The whole weekend was supposed to have been videotaped and yet nothing turned out except for about seven hours of poor audio. This is the very last twenty minutes.

Arcing Romans 11:33-36

This passage is so profound and deep; I wish my exposition of Paul's wonder at the depth and riches of God's wisdom and knowledge had survived technology!

My First Sermon...

Clicking on the link below will play the very first sermon that I ever preached to a congregation. I had taught in Sunday school situations for over five years, but had never preached. Various circumstances, including our decision to leave Vancouver, WA for seminary, led to this opportunity. On June 6, 2004, I preached this sermon to a total of about 650 people spread across three services. I believe this audio is from the second service. If you listen to John Piper often, you will recognize much from this sermon.

Quest for Joy

Despite my inexperience, it is my prayer and hope that my passion for the Glory of God is apparent.

What Everyone Needs to Know About Stem Cells

From Chuck Colson's Breakpoint:

In October, surgeons removed 500ccs of bone marrow from Carron’s left hip. The cells were cultivated, and four hours later, 30 million stem cells were injected into the right side of Carron’s heart.

Read the result: "Your Own Stem Cells Work!"

Calvinist Resurgence

Mark Dever (and others!) have noticed a resurgence in the Doctrines of Grace (or Calvinism), especially among younger Evangelicals. In an effort to analyze this movement, Dever posted 10 blog entries detailing where all these Calvinists have come from. The following is a lengthy quote from his tenth post:

My point in this already too-long entry is not how much Arminianism changed, but how incomplete their labors were. They said God hadn’t predestined and elected the way most earlier Protestant theologians understood Scripture to teach, but they didn’t say God couldn’t. In a nominally Christian culture, Arminianism may appear to be a satisfying explanation of the problem of evil—“God’s good; it’s our fault”. But as the acids of modernity have eaten away at more and more of the Bible’s teachings and even presuppositions about God, that answer is proving woefully insufficient to more radical critics. It appears merely like moving the wrinkle in the carpet. A backslidden United Methodist may be satisfied with such teaching, but a Deist, a Buddhist or an atheist would have no reasons to be. A. C. Grayling, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and their like will not for a moment be satisfied with someone saying “Well, God could have made this world without suffering, but in order to be loved with dignity by free beings, He decided He must allow such sin and suffering as we experience.”

Really? Then hang being loved with dignity! Forget the whole experiment! It costs too much! Furthermore, what kind of God NEEDS to be worshipped? What kind of deity is this?!

And it’s this line of questioning that I think has quietly, deeply, perhaps subtly been re-shaping the field into one in which the half-measures of Arminianism are not even beginning to be satisfying. They are attractive to fewer and fewer people. Their adherents average age will grow even as their numbers shrink. They will be recruited mainly from the churched, and perhaps even those who’ve nurtured grievances against God, for allowing this or that to happen.

Reformed theology, on the other hand, teaches about a god who is GOD. The kind of objections that seem to motivate Arminianism are disallowed by the very presuppositions Calvinism understands the Bible to teach about God. This God is sovereign and exercises His sovereignty. This God is centered on Himself. And this God is understood to be morally good in being so Self-centered. In fact, it would be evil, wrong, deceptive for Him to be centered on anything other than His own glory. There is no apology about this.

I highly suggest you read all ten posts. Here are links:

Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 10 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 9 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 8 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 7 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 6 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 5 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 4 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 3 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 2 of 10
Where'd all these Calvinists come from? 1 of 10

Wayward Children

Every parent's fear is to have a rebellious, wayward child. Sometimes, despite the best effort at raising a child for Christ, they rebel.

Abraham Piper was such a child. By the grace of God he has since returned and wrote this piece of advice for parents with wayward children.

Read 12 Ways to Love your Wayward Child at the DG blog.

My Kids are Bored...

I remember my years in elementary school. All that I longed to do was go outside and play. Once I learned to ride a bike, we went all over the county (literally) and caught frogs and snakes and generally had a great time from sunup to sundown.

My kids, however, would rather stay inside and play. We guard the TV and greatly minimize viewing times. But while kids play Barbies or Star Wars or Legos, we can't seem to get them outside.

Read this article by Jerram Barrs with me and help me see what we can do...

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

A Bedtime "Ditty"

For those of you with children, we think you will appreciate this "ditty."



(HT: Between Two Worlds)

For I am Not Ashamed...Wendy's Dad Goes Home

Wendy's father passed away on July 5, and our family life has been dominated by this event for the last three weeks. If you have experienced death before, you know how it brings issues of mortality to the forefront of our minds. It sweeps away the clutter surrounding death and the desensitization that we feel after watching death repeatedly on TV or in movies. Death is no longer something that simply happens on the screen, but it is real and painful and final and has consequences.

About a week before Steve died I had the opportunity to read scripture with him over the phone. He was dying of cancer, and our prayer was that Christ would sustain his faith through this process. My wife had flown out to be with him and her mother. I read to him from Philippians 1:20-21. “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This was our prayer and Steve’s eager expectation too. He did not want to look at his life and be ashamed. When I read this passage to him, I did so with the intent that his faith be sustained until the end so that Christ would be honored in his body—either in his life or in his death, and that he would not be ashamed by his own actions.

This passage in Philippians reminded me of Romans 1:16-17, which says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” Now in light of our Christian commitment to take the gospel to our neighbors and co-workers and family and friends, it is imperative that we, along with Paul, not be ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ’s sinless life, his death, and his resurrection, opening a way that through faith we might live.

There is something very interesting connecting these two passages. They are connected because of the word “ashamed.” If I am a Christian who wants to share Christ with my neighbors and co-workers I can not be ashamed of the Gospel. Nor do I, at the end of my life, want to be ashamed by the way in which I had lived. Instead, I want to be like Paul and declare that it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that Christ will have been seen as glorious in my life. So there you have it. We should not be ashamed of the Gospel, so that when we are at the end of our life, we will not be ashamed of our conduct.

Do you notice the nuance of difference in the object of our shame in these two verses? In Romans, Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel. In Philippians, he does not want to be ashamed of himself. There is a slightly different Greek word used in the Romans text from the word used in Philippians. The word used in Romans has a meaning of being ashamed of something outside yourself. Hence, Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel is outside himself.
Jesus used this same word in Mark 8:38 when he said, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” If we are ashamed of Jesus, who is outside us, he will also be ashamed – same word – of us when he comes in glory.

Here is an example from the life of Steve Geil. He lived a life that was NOT ashamed of the Gospel. Once, Steve and I stood in a fast-food line near a soldier recently returned from Iraq. Within moments Steve was talking Gospel to this man. Steve was not ashamed of the Gospel, even with total strangers in a public place. Here is another example. In the late seventies, early eighties, Steve ran a bus ministry for his church. On Saturdays, he would go to a neighborhood and start knocking on doors. He explained who he was and asked if he could take these people’s children to church the next day. If the people agreed, Steve would pick up their children the next morning in the church bus. Every Sunday he brought a gaggle of kids to church. All because Steve was not ashamed of the Gospel.

The second nuance of the word ashamed in Philippians has to do with being ashamed of something we are or something we do. Paul is sitting in jail and does not know whether he is going to live or die. He is writing to the Philippians and explaining to them in the first chapter how it is a good thing he is in prison because it is serving to advance the gospel. He does not really know whether he will make it out of prison alive. Paul writes, “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” Here Paul does not want to be ashamed by something he does or something he is. He is concerned that Christ might NOT be honored in his life. But notice what the object of Paul’s potential shame is: it is himself. He does not want to be ashamed of his own behavior in regard to honoring Christ. Instead, he both expects—eagerly—and hopes that Christ will be honored in both his life and his death.

Whereas in Romans, Paul is not ashamed of something external, the gospel, here he does not want to be ashamed of something internal, his behavior. The same Greek word used in Philippians is used by John in 1 John 1:28. “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” John is exhorting his church to abide in Christ, so that they won’t be ashamed for their behavior if they don’t abide in him. Do you see the difference in the object of shame?

Here is another example from the life of my father-in-law. He died in his bed, while his wife gently wiped his faith with a cool cloth. His last words in this life were, “That feels good. Thank you, Jesus.” And then he stopped breathing. His last words in this life honored Christ. His prayer, our prayer was answered in that whether in life or in death, Christ was honored in his body. But there is more. I don’t know how many people attended the funeral, maybe 250? During the time of reflection, when people stood up to say some last words, there was a recurring theme. “I am here because Steve Geil knocked on my door and took my kids to Sunday school.” “I am here because when I told Steve I couldn’t come to church because I had to roof my house, he got out of his car and helped me finish the job so that I would not have an excuse. I came to church.” “I am a Christian because Steve Geil was not ashamed of the gospel.” “I am here because Steve Geil told me about Jesus.”

I believe that when Steve crossed over from this life to the life to come, his eager expectation and hope became a reality. In both his life and his death he was not ashamed, because he had lived a life and died a death that brought glory to Jesus Christ.

God is Sovereign...Down to the Details

On Wednesday afternoon, August 1, 2007, at approximately 6:05 PM, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed. It was also my first day of full-time work at Bethlehem Baptist Church after a 21-year career in civil engineering. I put in a full day, and due to some emails, I left later than I would have normally. I had told Wendy I would be home at 6:00 PM, but noticed the clock in the car was 5:52 PM when I drove out the parking lot. I navigated the downtown traffic and merged onto I-35W. I called Wendy to tell her I would be late as I crossed the bridge. I looked at the clock, 6:00 PM. I drove home, had dinner with my wife and kids, and did not know of the tragedy that happened moments behind me until around 8:30 PM that evening.

How can we not believe in a sovereign God who causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on both the just and the unjust? He knows the numbers of hairs on our heads and a sparrow doesn't fall apart from him. He ordains fish to swallow wayward prophets and worms to eat the roots of shade bearing plants. He stores snow and controls whirlwinds. He keeps bushes from burning and brings empires down with plagues. God is an awesome God.

The number one question that I should ask is why did the bridge not fall while I was on it? I am a sinner just like everyone else on the bridge. This is, as Jesus says in Luke 13:1-5, a warning call for repentance. O my Lord, I repent. Thank you for sparing my life and giving me a few more days. Please, in your sovereignty, cause them to be glorifying to you.

Please read what my pastor wrote about the bridge collapse. It is worth your time. You can read it here.

Schreiner on Galatians

I had the amazing privilege of learning from Dr. Tom Schreiner this past week. I took a modular class on Galatians where we spent 9 months translating, diagramming and arcing our way through the Greek text. Then last week, for four hours a day for five days, Dr. Schreiner walked through the text with us and discussed every detail. It was such a joy.

Dr. Schreiner is currently working on a commentary on Galatians for a new commentary series to be published by Zondervan. The genius of this commentary series is that each commentary will be based on arcing or tracing the argument.

Not only was Dr. Schreiner brilliant, but he exuded Christian character. He was kind and polite, humble and happy. Our whole family picked him up at the airport and he genuinely seemed interested in talking with my kids. He has been a hero of mine since I taught through his Romans commentary at Brush Prairie Baptist Church about seven years ago.

Toward a Fuller Gospel

The most devastating news for a sinner is that Jesus rose from the dead. This news is devastating because it means that Jesus really is God, he really does reign over the universe, and he really will deal with sinners by sending them to hell. People deny this truth in two distinct ways. First, they deny this truth through apathy. They just don’t care. Especially in the opulent West, where our highest values are comfort and security, the idea that Jesus has risen from the dead simply doesn’t matter. It is much easier to lock the doors at night, and go shopping in the morning. There is little time to worry about a man rising from the dead 2,000 years ago, when work needs to get done, lawns need to be mowed, and vacations need to be paid for. Second, the truth about Jesus is denied through outright derision. This can be seen in the current media frenzy over the atheistic elite. Richard Dawkins has published a book on The God Delusion, lashing out at Christianity, and Sam Harris has written an angry Letter to a Christian Nation, sharply stating reasons why religious types are stupid and dangerous. Clearly, for either of these two types of people, coming to the realization that Jesus did, indeed, rise from the dead would be devastating. Frankly, the truth that Jesus is risen from the dead is not—by itself—good news.

There is another man for whom this news would have been devastating. Saul of Tarsus described himself as “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless” (Phil 3:5-6). While Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris would be just as disturbed by Saul as the Christians were, Saul clearly fell into their camp in that he held Christians in derision. For Saul, Christians were a nasty Jewish sect that was twisting the truth of Scripture. They claimed that the Messiah had not only come, but had been crucified by Roman soldiers. The idea that the Messiah could be crucified was ludicrous to Saul. Jesus was not the Messiah, and he did not rise from the dead.

Knowing Paul’s conversion experience, however, begs the question, was Paul devastated when he finally learned that Jesus had risen from the dead? Acts 22:6-8 states, “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’” This news had to be devastating to Paul. For example, the account in Acts 9 says that Paul went into the city “and for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” What was he thinking? Was he crushed? Was his life as a Pharisee flashing before his eyes? Did he fear the wrath of the risen Messiah? Or, was there more to his conversation with Jesus than written here?

The account of Paul’s conversion in Acts 26 gives us a fuller answer. When recounting the story before Agrippa, Paul shared more of Jesus’ words from the light, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

The gospel suddenly has a much fuller meaning. The majority of what Jesus said is the explanation of his purpose for sending Paul to the Gentiles, but the last sentence has particular importance. There are two key points: that they—Gentiles—may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ. This is the heart of the gospel. It is not enough to say that Jesus has risen from the dead and is the reigning King of the Universe. That truth, by itself, is not good news. The good news is that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead brings forgiveness from sins and a way for sinners to be sanctified by faith in Christ. This is the good news. The gospel, in its fullest sense is the good news, the great news, that sinners can be forgiven, and moreover, sanctified, or made holy before the King of the Universe. Paul was not devastated on the Damascus Road, he was recreated into a new creation who no longer persecuted Christians but poured out his life for the creation of Christians. Paul clearly got all of Jesus’ message when he wrote to the Galatians, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Carson on the Transformed Life

D. A. Carson writes (Still Sovereign, Baker, 259):

One must not conclude…that new covenant believers are anywhere promised moral and spiritual perfection this side of the new heaven and the new earth. Nevertheless, both the Old Testament prophecies regarding the new covenant and the age of the Spirit, and the New Testament claims regarding their fulfillment, lead us to expect transformed lives. Indeed, it is precisely this unequivocal expectation that authorizes Paul to set up the tension we have already noted: the exhortations to live up to what we are in Christ are predicated on the assumption that what we are in Christ necessarily brings transformation, so that moral failure is theologically shocking, however pragmatically realistic it may be. Indeed, it might be argued that this accounts for some of the tension in 1 John….It is worth recalling John’s insistence that believers do sin, and people who claim they do not are liars, self-deluded, and guilty of charging God with falsehood (1 John 1:6-10). At the same time, he repeatedly insists that sinning is not done among Christians. Various explanations have been advanced, but the most obvious is still the best: although both our experience and our location between the “already” and the “not yet” teach us that we do sin and we will sin, yet every single instance of sin is shocking, inexcusable, forbidden, appalling, out of line with what we are as Christians.

Just Showed Up For My Own Life

Our church hosts what they call “First Friday Films,” which happens (usually) on the first Friday of every month. A documentary film with a global message is typically shown and then discussed from a Christian standpoint. This gives people who attend the opportunity to see things outside their bubble and then discuss global issues within a gospel context.

Tonight (obviously not a first Friday) John Gyovai, president of MediaServe International, a non-profit ministry birthed at Bethlehem, hosted a Nomad Show movie based on Sara Groves’ trips to Louisiana and Rwanda. "Just Showed Up For My Own Life" documents her trip to Louisiana (for Katrina relief efforts), and her trip to Rwanda. Both of these experiences expanded her learning about the world and to allowed her to be impacted by the horror of the genocide that took place there in 1994. The trip to Rwanda also connected Sara with Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission.

Wendy and I have been fans of Sara Groves for years and own all of her CDs. Sara, who lives in Minneapolis was at the screening and spent time answering questions. Our kids were able to talk with her and get her autograph. Her last album, which found its culmination in these trips was titled, “Add to the Beauty.” Her point is that as Christians, we should be adding to the beauty in this world as we are salt and light.

Our goal tonight was not simply to promote another musician to the kids, but for them to see that whatever we do in life, it should have a gospel purpose. This life is not about us, it is about God, and if that means delivering a tour bus full of diapers to a church in Louisiana or traveling with Gary Haugen of IJM to Rwanda, then to God be the glory. Or, if it means picking up your family and moving to the mid-west to learn the Word of God in order to fulfill a calling to preach, then to God be the glory.

Again, we are thankful for the opportunities that God has given us here in Minneapolis, often through Bethlehem, to open our kids’ eyes to more than the Disneyland of America has to offer.

Affections: How Important Are They?

Have you ever noticed that the Bible commands you to feel something? Here are some texts: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Rom 12:11). “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul?” (Deut 10:12). “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut 6:4, 5). “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Phil 4:4).

In addition to commanding affections (an eighteenth century word for emotion), the Bible also expects Christians to have a certain kind of emotion: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Pet 1:8).

The conclusion that Jonathan Edwards drew from these (and many other) verses is “true religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.” Edwards wrote a 377 page book arguing for this conclusion. Well, actually, he spent about 40 pages arguing for this proposition, and then spent 337 pages describing what holy affections are and what they are not. I have spent the last four months immersed in this book and I believe Edwards is right. This book has shattered my paradigms about Christianity, and is causing me to look at my walk and my faith in a new light. Don’t worry, I am not going off the deep end anytime soon, but understanding the role of both the head and the heart in Christianity has become critical in regard to assurance, the fight of faith, and the importance of deep heartfelt worship.

Since I have never been outside the U.S., I can say little about the thinking or mind-set of other cultures, but I am familiar with the culture I am immersed in. Our culture breathes air that says, “men are rational and women are emotional.” Or, worse, that “Christianity is a rational religion only, and we can never trust our feelings. After all, feelings lie, so we must not trust them. We can definitely not trust our feelings when it comes to religion.” Stop for a moment and think about some of the churches you have attended. Have you ever argued or been taught that love is a verb?

Now, love certainly has its verbal aspects; we are to love our neighbor as our self. Nevertheless, when it comes to God, is love only a verb, or is it part verb and part state of being? What about joy? Yes, we are to rejoice, but what do we do when Peter declares we rejoice with joy?

The point of this discussion is that when we examine our faith and our Christian walk, we need to examine the state of our affections. For Christians, affections are not necessarily charismatic outward signs. We don’t have to raise our hands and cry and be overcome during worship. But we must feel something! If we do not feel anything, we are at the best disobedient, and at the worst not even Christian. Peter’s statement is present tense: “though you do not now see him, you [do now presently] love him and you [presently] believe in him and you [presently] rejoice with inexpressible joy.” This is how, in great part, our Christian lives should be.

I beg you to chase this idea down. Summer is a good time to read. Pick up Religious Affections and read it for yourself. Here are some quotes from Edwards: “God has given to mankind affections…. And yet how common is it among mankind, that their affections are much more exercised and engaged in other matters…which concern men’s worldly interest, their outward delights, their honor and reputation, and their natural relations…. How they can sit and hear of the infinite height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, of his giving his infinitely dear Son, to be offered up a sacrifice for the sins of men, and of the unparalleled love of the innocent, holy and tender Lamb of God, manifested in his dying agonies, his bloody sweat, his loud and bitter cries, and bleeding heart, and all this for enemies, to redeem them from deserved, eternal burnings, and to bring to unspeakable and everlasting joy and glory; and yet be cold, and heavy and insensible and regardless! Where are the exercises of our affections proper if not here? …. How great cause have we therefore to be humbled to the dust, that we are no more affected!” (Edwards, Religious Affections, Yale, 122-124.)

Priorities?

"If the affections of the soul are not supremely fixed on God, and if our dominant desire and primary goal is not to possess God's favor and to promote His glory, then we are traitors in revolt against our lawful Sovereign....Whether we are the slaves of avarice, sensuality, amusement, sloth, or the devotees of ambition, taste, or fashion, we alike estrange ourselves from the dominion of our rightful Sovereign."

---William Wilberforce

(HT: Breakpoint)