// October 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
// October 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Life
Many Conservative Christians have demonized Halloween as a holiday venerating satanic worship and pagan superstition. The typical response of Christian fundamentalists (I consider myself one, as long as that means being passionate about the “fundamentals” of the faith) to questionable elements of culture has been to demonize and separate themselves from lost people (because sin is like a virus you can catch if you get near it), to retreat from the city to the suburbs or the country, find a good piece of land, put up barbed wire, load their guns, get some canned goods, and hunker down for Armageddon. Many churches try to find a compromise by repackaging Halloween in ways that are palatable to the people in the church, e.g. Harvest Festivals, Fall Celebrations, Costume parties, etc. In regard to engaging culture, I believe this is the grid we should use:
Here is a great article on Halloween that looks at the holiday through this Gospel lens, asking: Can this be redeemed for Jesus? The Gospel gives us freedom to act out of conscience, not forcing legalism onto others on issues that the bible is silent or unclear on, but not ignorantly engaging aspects of culture that might be harmful. It’s about being thoughtful in our cultural engagement.
Gimme Some Sugar, Baby…
The holy, hellish, hodgepodge history of Halloween
By Pastor James Harleman, Mars Hill Church
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
// October 17th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
“The Christ on Campus Initiative (CCI) is a ministry created for the purpose of preparing and circulating literature for college and university students, addressing an array of important intellectual and practical issues from an evangelical Christian perspective. This initiative is made possible by generous support from the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL) and the MAC Foundation (Fort Collins, CO). The editorial team, led by D.A. Carson, commissions top evangelical scholars to oversee the creation and distribution of a variety of resources for university students. The goal of these resources is that they be intellectually rigorous, culturally relevant, persuasive in argument and faithful to historic, evangelical Christianity.” – from the Gospel Coalition
“Themelios is an international evangelical theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. It was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008.” – from the Gospel Coalition
Volume 33, Issue 2 – September 2008 HTML Version iPaper Version PDF Version Volume 33, Issue 1 – May 2008 HTML Version iPaper Version PDF Version// October 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
The Holy Spirit delivered this package to my doorstep last night…
a tear ran down my cheek as I opened it.
[polldaddy poll=1001263]
// October 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
In traditional European parks, an “avenue” is a straight path neatly flanked on both sides by rows of trees, which leads to a landscape, dwelling or architectural feature in the center. Stemming from the French verb venir (“to come”), the word avenue emphasizes “arrival” at a specific destination within the park. These avenues reflected the centrality of a particular feature in the landscape, and also served as plumb-lines around which the rest of the park/garden was organized. In a general sense, an avenue is defined as a means of access or approach (e.g. avenues of research, of thought, of wealth).
The Spiritual Disciplines are the avenues of Grace that God has provided to guide us to the Cross of Jesus Christ, the perfect revelation of God’s glorious transforming grace, where all of the power and beauty of the Christian life is centered and sourced. A deep, abiding, and growing relationship with Christ is the primary goal of the Christian life, and the source from which all fruit – love of neighbor, discipleship, mercy, justice, etc. – emanates. Saints of the faith have widely practiced these disciplines for centuries, though many perceive that they have been forgotten and solely preserved in monastic communities. But in fact, the early church fathers, the Puritan writers, and Jesus Christ Himself left us a rich heritage of theology to draw from, and we would be wise to consider their teaching in light of our own spiritual growth.
It is exceedingly important to emphasize that the Spiritual Disciplines are pathways to the Cross. There has been a contemporary resurgence in the popularity of disciplines and exercises as means of spiritual growth and formation. Unfortunately, many teachings on the subject have strayed far from biblical truth into realms of eastern mysticism and New-Age teaching. For the sake of being relevant to post-modern culture and trends toward contemplative spirituality, some have made the destination something other than Jesus, or twisted the pathway out of alignment with sound doctrine and biblical teaching. In order to stay true to the Gospel, the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints (Jude 1:3), we must use the Bible’s teaching on these disciplines as a plumb-line, a true north, to which all practice must be aligned. In the book “A Quest for Godliness,” J.I Packer writes,
“The traveller through the Bible landscape misses his way as soon as he loses sight of the hill called Calvary.”
Every spiritual discipline – from prayer to meditation to worship – must point us to the Cross, since the message of our redemption, ransom, victory, and freedom in Christ is the central identity of every Christ-follower, to be on display in every aspect of life, embedded in every practice and pursuit.
Richard Foster, in his classic book, “Celebration of Discipline,” likens the spiritual disciplines to a narrow ridge with a sheer drop-off on either side: there is the abyss of trust in works on one side and the abyss of faith without deeds on the other. On the ridge there is a path, the disciplines of the spiritual life. We must always remember that the path does not produce change; it only places us where the change can occur. We are not competent to run our own lives until we realize that we are not competent to run our own lives (Tim Keller). There is a road in life that appears to be a dead end, called the End of Yourself. It is at times a dark road, filled with fear and questioning, yet it is there at the end of the road, that we meet Jesus. What is seemingly a dead end is in fact the road to life (Jn 14:6; Mt 11:28,29). The key to the Christian life is to stay on this road, the End of Yourself, following Jesus, giving up your map for his map (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 2:20; Mt 16:24,25) for it is there that we most clearly see our sin and only there we experience the grace of God. (For more on the Christian life as allegory, see John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”).
Jesus practiced the spiritual disciplines. He spent entire nights with God without sleeping, went off alone into the dessert to fast and seek communion with God, took off early in the morning to be alone with God, memorized scripture, prayed all the time, served, evangelized, meditated on God’s word, etc… throughout his ministry. Jesus was a missionary sent into a particular place and time to do the will of the Father, and he was blessed with the Holy Spirit to do ministry. The spiritual disciplines were the means by which Jesus received God’s empowering and persevering grace by the Spirit to do His work on the Cross. After his resurrection, Jesus commissioned his disciples to continue in his wake, he said “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Jesus is calling us to not only continue his mission, but also to imitate his life. This is an invitation for us to cultivate the kind of life in which God can bring change, to train ourselves in the disciplines for growing in the likeness of Christ. As we grow up into this identity by His grace, God transforms us into “sent” and “sending” people, enabling us to guide others down these pathways.
In Celebration of Discipline, Foster also uses the metaphor of a field to illustrate the purpose of disciplines. A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain. This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines–they are a way of sowing to the Spirit. The spiritual disciplines are, “a means of receiving God’s grace. …[They] allow us to place ourselves before God so he can transform us.” The task for us, then is to cultivate our daily lives into fertile ground in which God can bring growth and change. This is what the spiritual disciplines are all about.
If we approach them incorrectly, the spiritual disciplines meant to bring life may become laws that lead to death. In the book, “A God Entranced Vision of All Things,” Donald Whitney writes: “Apart from faith and the right motives when practicing them, the disciplines can be dead works. The purpose for practicing the spiritual disciplines is not to see how many chapters of the Bible we can read or how long we can pray, nor is it found in anything else that can be counted or measured.” Legalism has a nasty way of creeping in and turning the means of these practices into ends in themselves. How do we avoid that danger? Constantly remember the purpose of the spiritual disciplines. Listen to Jesus. Ask God to point out where you have begun to pursue the disciplines rather than Him, and He will make it known to you. The Holy Spirit, as Jesus said, will guide us in all truth. Remember that change is God’s work, not yours. Again, Foster’s words are helpful: The spiritual disciplines are, “a means of receiving God’s grace. …[They] allow us to place ourselves before God so he can transform us.”
Your practice of spiritual disciplines will require an alteration of life-as-usual. You will approach your life with these two questions:
1) What am I currently not doing that, if I were doing, would open myself up more to God’s work of grace in my life?
2) What am I currently doing that, if eliminated, would open myself up more to God’s work of grace in my life?
1) The gospels are full of examples of Jesus both teaching and practicing disciplines. Read through John and make a note of the examples you find.
2) Richard Foster said, “Superficiality is the curse of our age.” John Ortberg said that our greatest enemy in the spiritual life is Hurry. How are hurry (busy-ness) and superficiality related? Are you under the curse of superficiality?
1. Give thanks to God for the truth that his salvation affects all parts of life.
2. Ask God to show you ways in which you resist or simply neglect the spiritual disciplines and ask him to awaken a deeper desire for them.
3. Pray that you will begin to see more and more ways in which the gospel liberates you from living your life and doing your work the way everyone else does. Pray that God will enable you to approach life as a disciple, a steward, and a servant, pursuing spiritual growth and maturity by His grace and for His glory rather than your own.
”The Wanderer” by Caspar David Friedrich
// October 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
I love the scene in Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon’s character says this to the snobbish MIT graduate who has more degrees than Fahrenheit:
“You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.”
For any lay leader who is zealous for the Gospel and in need of biblical teaching, there are a ton of incredible resources out there for free theological training, you just have to dig a little bit. Click on the links below and enjoy the teaching. I’m currently going through a 16-part course from Reformed Theological Seminary with Dr. Tim Keller and the late Dr. Edmund Clowney on Christ-Centered Exposition, titled Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World. Covenant Seminary has some great stuff, including some biographical teaching on the life of Francis Schaeffer which I highly recommend. God be glorified….
// October 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
// October 6th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
We just finished our study of The Biblical Man. It’s purpose was to tackle the major areas of Christian praxis: where we put theological truth into practice. Belief into action. God’s truth transforms every aspect of life into an opportunity to worship and glorify Him: Singleness, Purity, Marriage, Fatherhood, Work, Finances, Suffering, etc. The Gospel enables us to live as counter-cultural missionaries with renewed minds and hearts, thinking and acting in light of His kingdom values. We studied topically through the Wisdom Literature: Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Job. We started with theological ground notes (What is a Biblical Worldview?, The Heart, The Fear of the Lord, and Counter-Cultural Living), went on to address various areas of life where praxis happens, and sprinkled the study with tools for legacy-building: life inventory, principles/priorities, reverse-engineering, and getting a day away to plan your run with Jesus. The framing vision was “Theology + Doxology = Biography.” You get to know who God is, you worship Him, and as result you are gradually transformed into His likeness.
The overarching theme of the study we’ve been in since 2007 is “Discipleship: Right Belief, Right Action, Right Affection.” Graphically, this is what it looks like:
DEO GLORIA CURRICULUM
Here are some quotes/links that relate to this three-fold discipleship approach:
“The Bible requires not only that we speak truly about God (orthodoxy) and obey Him (orthopraxy), but that we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. …Doctrine is never…an end in itself. The purpose of doctrine is to teach us to love God aright. Obedience is never an end in itself. Obedience is always the overflow of a heart that finds its satisfaction in God rather than idols. In some senses, orthopathy is even more fundamental than orthodoxy and orthopraxy.” – Kevin Bauder
“To balance orthodoxy (right beliefs) and orthopathy (right affections) and orthopraxy (right actions). . . these are the three movements of the healthy, growing spiritual life. This balanced path of growth-changing the mind and heart in order to change the outward actions-keeps us from the deadly trap of self-deception in which we believe, but do not grow, in Christ.” – Bruce Demarest
http://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/article_living_stevens.html
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/2007/11/06/the-full-monty-of-discipleship/
The third and final part of our curriculum will deal with Orthopathy: Right Affection. The title of the study will be “The Life of a Disciple: Avenues of Grace” and the subject will be an introduction of the spiritual disciplines. The content will be based on two books:
Donald Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (link to Amazon)
Richard Foster’s book A Celebration of Discipline (link to Amazon)
Jesus practiced spiritual disciplines: he spent entire nights with God without sleeping, went off alone to the desert to fast and seek communion with God, took off early in the morning to be alone with God, prayed all the time, served, evangelized, meditated on God’s word, etc… If we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, we must have lives marked by discipline. In the spiritual disciplines, God has provided avenues of grace designed to help us grow in godliness, the means by which we come to Him and grow in Him. As Christians, we are to spend our lives treading well-worn paths to the cross, and the spiritual disciplines are the trailheads to these paths. Faithful Christians have engaged them for hundreds of years, only recently has their value been rediscovered as a crucial aspect of discipleship.
I have organized the disciplines into three categories: Inward, Outward, and Forward Disciplines.
The Inward disciplines draw us closer to knowing Christ,
The Outward disciplines are an expression of our following Christ,
The Forward disciplines represent means of glorifying Christ by continuing on his mission.
I believe that each inward discipline is naturally connected to a corresponding outward and forward discipline. As such, each Deo Gloria meeting will consist of a discussion of one or two of the inward disciplines, and the assignment for each accountability group will be to discuss its associated outward and forward disciplines, and to personally practice them.
THE LIFE OF A DISCIPLE – SCHEDULE
// October 6th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
This is a fantastic resource on the topic of Suffering.
| Date | Series | Title | Speaker | Passage | Links |
| 10/04/2008 | Making Sense of Suffering (2008 Church Conference) | Making Sense of Suffering – Session 1 | D. A. Carson | Selected Scriptures | Listen · Download (18MB) |
| 10/04/2008 | Making Sense of Suffering (2008 Church Conference) | Making Sense of Suffering – Session 2 | D. A. Carson | Selected Scriptures | Listen · Download (14MB) |
| 10/04/2008 | Making Sense of Suffering (2008 Church Conference) | Making Sense of Suffering – Session 3 | D. A. Carson | Selected Scriptures | Listen · Download (16MB) |
| 10/05/2008 | Making Sense of Suffering (2008 Church Conference) | Gospel Reflections on Trials and Tribulations | D. A. Carson | Selected Scriptures | Listen · Download (13MB) |
| 10/04/2008 | Making Sense of Suffering (2008 Church Conference) | Preaching and Biblical Theology (Pastor’s Session) | D. A. Carson | Selected Scriptures | Listen · Download (17MB) |
// October 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
At Text & Context in February 2008, Mark Driscoll sat down with Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae.
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This is the first song off of Lecrae’s new album Rebel in stores September 30. Buy it from Amazon.com
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