Ideas Have Consequences and Words Do Too

Joe Carter:

When you stop to consider the differences between such phrases as “methods of procreation” and “reproductive technology” it begins to become clear why social conservatives are losing ground in the fight to preserve the concept of human dignity. Any attempt to argue that embryonic human life is deserving of a particular moral status is undercut when we are using such phrases as ‘blastocysts produced by the technological advances of in vitro fertilization.” The language of the factory and of human dignity is as incompatible as would be the interchangeability of machine and life. Such degradation of language only leads to linguistic confusion and muddy thinking.

We are, of course, aware of the inherent power—particularly the political power—of words. For decades, both sides of the culture war over have abortion have attempted to ensure that their preferred terms— pro-life, abortion rights, etc.—seep into the media’s vernacular. While they are certainly overvalued, these words still retain their political usefulness as the struggle over their usages attest. But we cannot stop there. The preservation of human dignity requires us to fight for the hearts and souls of our fellow man and in order to do so, we must first reclaim the linguistic high ground. As the Southern conservative Richard Weaver famously expressed, ideas have consequences. If we are to have a significant impact on our culture we would do well to recognize that words have consequences too.

This is why it is always very important when having a discussion about abortion with someone who is pro-choice to have them articulate for you exactly what abortion is and does. They won't want to name it. Does this not demonstrate a problem?

(HT: Jill Stanek)

A Discussion About Musical Preferences

Over at the Boundless blog there is an interesting conversation going on about musical preferences, styles, and what constitutes "good" music. Ted Slater's blog post initiated the discussion. He writes:

I had a conversation with someone earlier this week who was condemning the music of today's Christian artists because it's "loud" and "rhythmic" and "extreme." Such music, because it may provoke a physical response, he dismissed as "sexual." His judgment reminded me of Michal, King David's wife, who mocked her husband for the "vulgar" way he was "leaping and dancing before the LORD." God's judgment against her? Barrenness.

I'm learning not to be so quick to write something off as ungodly simply because it's not my preference. After all, the Lord's ways are not like my ways. And where Scripture doesn't express a clear judgment, perhaps I should be slow to express mine. At least in the realm of music.

Read the rest and check out the comments.

If you want to read my take on some of these issues you might want to read this series I did a few months back in reference to the book, "Can We Rock The Gospel?".

Getting Ready for the Pump & Run

In 11 days, when we are back in Iowa visiting family, I am going to participate in a race called, The Pump & Run. In this race you bench press your weight as many times as you can and then run a 5K (women bench 70% of their weight).

I did this race 5 years ago and had a great time. I worked hard at my training and did relatively well. This year I want to beat my marks from 5 years ago. This is proving to be quite a daunting challenge, but I am almost there.

Things I am learning:

1. I am not 18 anymore.

2. Running at 5,000 ft here in Albuquerque is tough. I never seem to get in shape. (Since the race will be at about 500 feet, this should prove to be a blessing).

3. My body needs more rest that I want to admit.

4. Having good shoes is a must, especially when you are old, crusty and brittle like me.

5. I hate spending $100 on good shoes. Necessary evil.

6. I am way more prone to injury than I used to be.

7. I have a hard time admitting that I can't do things like I used to when I was 18.

8. Running a fast 5K basically is an exercise in how much pain you can tolerate. I hate pain.

9. I find myself wondering where the point is in my life when it won't matter how hard I train, you can't keep up with former standards. I can't admit that I am there yet.

10. Seeing a theme of me needing to admit things to myself? Yeah, me too. Working at getting over it.

11. I am thankful that God gives the sustaining ability to do anything physical at all, let alone exercise.

12. The reality that I am not 18 anymore is a good reminder that one day I'll be (God willing) 73 and wishing I could go back to the physical abilities of being 33.

13. One day, physical degradation will not be a concern. I long for and look forward to that day.

Civility and Tolerance

"The right to believe anything is freedom of conscience; but the idea that anything anyone believes is right is just plain nonsense. Civility means I engage with them persuasively, but civility does not mean a false tolerance where anything goes."

- Os Guinness, The Case for Civility

(HT: STR.org)

How To Start And Orphan Ministry In Your Church

Dan Cruver highlight a very helpful article from Saddleback Church on starting local church orphan ministries. Check it out.

After we made our proposal here at the church where I work, many of you asked me how we went about it. If any of you out there are still interested in pursuing this at your local church just let me know if there is any way I can help. The above link would be a great place to start as well.

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Religion Saves And Nine Other Misconceptions

Mark Driscoll's new book, Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions, is now avaliable for order.

To see the sermons that this book was based on, and download a free chapter, click here.

I listened to most of these and found them to be very profitable.

Books For You To Read This Summer

Colin Hansen recommends some books for you to read this summer. I think his choices look great.

Abortion and Ultrasound

Abraham Piper:

Stats show that most women who see their unborn baby won’t abort.

Project Ultrasound is doing something about it.

Check them out.

Anger and Parenting

Mark Altrogge writes:

A dad once told me, “I get angry with my kids so they know I’m serious. It’s good for them to be afraid of me, at least a little bit.”

So often we resort to anger as a way to get people to do what we want. Parents yell at their kids to try to get them to obey. Bosses intimidate employees to motivate them. Husbands speak harshly to their wives to try to change them.

But God’s Word says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1.19-20).

Catch that? Anger won’t produce righteousness - in our children or anyone else. Anger will often produce something else, though - the fear of man. Oh, our children may obey us out of fear. But our anger will produce little Pharisees, who obey on the outside but not from the heart*.

God doesn’t use anger to produce his righteousness in us. His wrath doesn’t move those in hell to love him. God imputes to us Christ’s righteousness, then moves us to obey out of gratitude. We love because he first loved us, not because he first intimidated us.

I think a needed qualification is that our kids need to understand that we should be angry about the things that make God angry. How this anger is manifest is another issue and is probably more of what Mark is touching on in the above post.

Some Good Questions About Our Church Music

Matt Osgood:

For example - do we sing about the cross and resurrection because it means 'I am saved' or because it represents God's victory over the power of evil? Do we sing about God's faithfulness because it means 'you will never let me down' or because it means that God will fulfill every promise he has made in Scripture? Do we sing 'You are amazing' or 'You amaze me'? Is it all about God? Or is it about God in terms of what he means to us?

I'm not suggesting, of course, that we never sing 'I' or 'me' in our songs - a quick look through the Psalms reveals that many of them are intensely personal, so that is clearly an appropriate mode of expression to God - my question is one of balance and priority. If we removed every reference to ourselves from our songs, would there still be substantive content left? If someone who'd never been to church before came and listened to a typical set of worship songs, who would they learn more about? You or God? Let's remember: the earth revolves around the sun.

Read the whole thing.

Book Giveaway Winners!

Last week we ran a giveway for Bruce Ware's "Big Truths for Young Hearts". I asked for some of your funniest parenting stories. I would pick three winners from all the submissions to receive a free copy of his great new book for teaching kids the essential elements of our faith. Here are the three winning stories:

Gelaine Jensen writes:

A few months ago I was with the kids at the Doctor’s office, when a man with an eye patch walked by... Oliver (then 2 years old) gasped, “A pirate!” Then at the Balloon Fiesta, we were walking and, again, Oliver pointed at a man with long hair and a long beard, and said “Look! It’s Chewbacca.”

I have been trying to teach him to tell me what he thinks first.

Reegz writes:

While grocery shopping a few years back the cashier asked my 4 year-old-son Jace if he could spell his name. He proceeded to spell it perfectly and she challenged him then to spell his brothers name (Levi). She said it like this, "Well, I bet you can't spell your brothers name."

He replied matter-of-factly, "E-V-I-L!"

Oh, to have captured the look on the cashiers face as I corrected Jace and assured her of the mistake. Priceless!

Jeff Slater writes:

Emmett, my oldest, was three, and had just been potty trained. His grandmother arrived to take him to my softball game down the street. Before leaving, he was told to go potty. When he came out of the bathroom, his mother asked him, "Emmett, why is your head wet?" And Emmett replied, "I pee'd on my head." My wife and her mother looked at each other in disbelief. "No, it's not possible!" grandma said. My wife said, "You'd better smell it." And sure enough, Emmett had pee'd on his head.

Here is mine, written by my wife Kim:

Taylor and I were in the car together by ourselves when all of the sudden he asks, "Mom, do you think you need to rethink your life?".

Where does this kid get these things? When I asked where he got that question, he just said, "I thought it up by myself." (actually sounds like some great advertising to me:). After laughing, I admitted that that was a very deep question. He pushed a little more, "Do you think you can answer it?"

Hmmm. It actually lead to a great discussion about how Zach and I have tried to be very intentional in how we live so that we are in line with Scripture, the gospel, and live in such a way that is pleasing to God. I was able to share how I can get too busy though and then not have as much time for what is truly the most important (God, family, etc).

Great discussion all inspired by my inquisitive, deep thinking 6 year old!

Thanks to all those who participated!

If You Don't Follow The NBA, You Won't Think This Is Funny...

But if you do, I bet you'll be laughing pretty hard. I did.



(HT: Jer)

"What I Really Wanted Was A Dad"

Sobering quote here for parents from a recent article on Michael Jackson:

"Eight years ago, Michael arrived in Britain to address the Oxford Union wearing a surgical face mask, but his speech was informed by good sense and personal experience. "I come before you not as an icon of pop," he said, "but as a representative of a generation that no longer knows what it is to be children. What I really wanted was a dad. I wanted a father who showed me love, and my father never did that. He seemed intent on making us a commercial success. But what I really wanted was a dad."

Click here to read the whole article. Or, perhaps you should just go play with your kids (if you have them).

The Effect Of Seeing God's Mission

"When we grasp that the whole Bible constitutes the coherent revelation of the mission of God, when we see this as the key that unlocks the driving purposefulness of the whole grand narrative, then we find our whole worldview impacted by this vision. As has been well documented, every human worldview is an outworking of some narrative. We live out of the story or stories we believe to be true, the story or stories that "tell it like it is," we think. So what does it mean to live out of this story? Here is The Story, the grand universal narrative that stretches from creation to new creation, and accounts for everything in between. This is The Story that tells us where we have come from, how we got to be here, who we are, why the world is in the mess it is, how it can be (and has been) changed, and where we are ultimately going. And the whole story is predicated on the reality of this God and the mission of this God. He is the originator of the story, the teller of the story, the prime actor in the story, the planner and guide of the story's plot, the meaning of the story and its ultimate completion. He is the beginning, end, and center. It is the story of the mission of God, of this God and no other.

Now such an understanding of the mission of God as the very heartbeat of all reality, all creation, all history and all that yet lies head of us generates a distinctive worldview that is radically and transformingly God-centered. And my experience in wrestling with the massive contours of this Bible-sculpted, God-centered, mission-driven vision of reality, has been to find that it turn inside out and upside down some of the common ways in which we are accustomed to ask. This worldview, constituted by putting the mission of God at the very center of all existence, is disturbingly subversive and it uncomfortably relativizes one's own place in the great scheme of things. It is certainly a very healthy corrective to the egocentric obsession of much Western culture - including, sadly, even Western Christian culture. It constantly forces us to open our eyes to the big picture, rather than shelter in the cosy narcissism of our own small worlds."

- Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, p.533

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Descent Into Credit Card Hell

Tim Challies highlights a helpful article on why you don't want to use credit cards. We have been 6 years without them now and feeling better than ever. Forsake the kindergarten of instant gratification and live out the wise way of planning, patience and hard-work.

If you are not down with Dave Ramsey yet, check it before you wreck it. (Yeah, I just said that.)

Something Is Afoot...

Russell Moore:

“Something is afoot among Christian families and churches of virtually every kind,” Moore said. “God is calling the people of Christ to see the face of Jesus in the faces of orphans in North America and around the world. Southern Baptists have affirmed our belief in the authority of Scripture, and the Bible tells us pure religion is defined by care for the fatherless.

“We’ve been defined by our commitment to evangelism, and there is no greater field as `white unto harvest’ right now as children in orphanages, group homes, and the foster care system, children who don’t know a parent’s love and who don’t know the name of Jesus. When Satan wars against children, we should be the ones who have compassion on them, even as Jesus did and does…

“My prayer is that twenty years from now there are thousands of Southern Baptist pastors, missionaries, and church leaders (my comment: and all Christians in general) who started their lives as orphans, now preaching the gospel of God their Father.”

Read the whole thing.

(HT: The ABBA Fund)

Summary of Piper/Wright Debate on Justification

T-Wax posts a helpful PDF chart summarizing the different views on justification held by John Piper and N.T. Wright. I'm sure like many of you, I haven't had the time to dive into all the nuances of this debate but still want to be informed. I think this short document could serve that end and also prove helpful for those who might be wondering what all the hype is about.

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A Big Change on the Horizon for the Nielsens

Most of you know that I live in Albuquerque, NM. I love the ABQ. Great people, great weather (understatement), great school for our kids, and I work for a great church.

I love the Church. I believe in the Church. I long to see God’s people mobilized to pursue the call to love and serve for the glory of God and the joy of all peoples. In March, we were approached by some dear friends, Scott and Carrie Sterner, about potentially starting a new gospel community in Madison, WI. By faith, we believe that this is what God has for us.

So...

At the end of May, 2010, (11 months from now) my family and I will be moving to Madison, WI to plant a church with the Sterners. We are very excited for this new phase in our life. From what we have learned, spiritually speaking, Madison is a challenging city, but we know that God desires for his gospel to go to those places that are most dark. We go with a sober confidence in Him going before us.

It’s ironic that I have found myself saying the following quite a bit in the past: “I’ll never be a church planter, seems like the hardest job in the world.” But then again, when I was first approached about moving to New Mexico to take the job I currently have, I said, “It would take God parting the Red Sea of our lives to get us to move to New Mexico.” Well, he did just that and it looks like He is doing it again. In the last few months, I have had numerous confirming experiences that seem to point to the fact that we are called to this, so we move forward by faith.

We have much planning and praying ahead of us in the next year and beyond.

How can you help?

• Know anyone who loves Jesus in Madison, WI? We would love to connect with them.
• Pray for us. For... the glory of God to spread in Madison, the right leaders, the maintenance of relationships, the money we need, the endurance we need, the stability of our families.
• Have church planting experience? I would love to hear from you. Advice, what not to do, what to do, what you have learned along the way, etc. (zachnielsen7ATgmailDOTcom)
• Keep buying all your Amazon.com products through my blog. All you have to do is go to this site and then click on any of the 125x125 banner ads in the top right and then just search for whatever you want. That’s it. You can buy almost anything now on Amazon. Would you be willing to check their price first by clicking through my site? It would be a huge help to support our church planting effort. Up until now we have been using these proceeds to support our adoption and the adoption fund at our church. This will change soon since our adoption has been paid for and our adoption fund at DSC is well off the ground now. We are already beginning to brainstorm creative ways to generate income and the Amazon Associate program is one of those ways.
• If you feel called to write a phat check that would be cool too. We have a total of nine kids between the two families, so we are trusting God for his provision through his people. Right now we are planning to be bi-vocational for a season, but we will need additional support as well.

I’m sure there will be many more posts in the future discussing what is going through my head as it pertains to church planting so this will probably just be the first in a long line of reflections upon this topic. Thanks to all of you who keep takin’ your Vitamin Z!

John Piper: A Public Apology and Why He Doesn't Watch TV or Go To Movies Very Often

John Piper repents of being "useless and unhelpful" in his response to a question that was asked of him at the Advance09 conference. It's great when leaders who are constantly in the spotlight can own up to their sin and name it. This is very refreshing for me to read. Our churches need more of this kind of frank, honest, and real confession. I don't know about you, but I want to be in a community that says, "Hey, I'm a mess and so you are you. Let's go to the cross together."

After he repents of how he said what he did, he addresses the question with he deems to be a much more satisfactory answer about why he doesn't own a TV and rarely goes to movies.

You can read this whole piece here. Here is a snippet:

I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

A Landmark In Computer Entertainment?

Kind of cool, right? Yet it seems the isolation that this will continue to breed has to be problematic.

(HT: Brad Andrews)

Why Mark Driscoll Shouldn't Bug Ya

iMonk has an interesting reflection called, "Why Mark Driscoll Shouldn't Bug Ya". He starts with this:

It became painfully/strangely/humorously obvious at this week’s SBC meeting that a lot of people are worried about Mark Driscoll.

I’d like to suggest a brief program to calm you people down before you hurt yourselves, or worse, start a preaching series on cursing preachers who link sex toys on their sermon pages.

Read the rest for his reasons.

Personally, I feel a bit weird perpetuating the continual discussion of Mark on blogs. People, we need to get over it. Mark is a very uniquely gifted guy with a huge calling and is a sinner just like the rest of us. At times I feel like all the discussion on blogs about Mark is just a Christian version of celebrity gossip. Not good.

I do feel as though iMonk's post has some transferible concepts that are probably wise to reflect upon. That is why I post it.

Can Your PC Do This?

Mac is really the only option. This video is a graphic demonstration of why.

(HT: Drew Blom)

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A Tragedy In Eastern Iowa

Last year tornadoes ripped through the small community of Parkersburg, IA, destroying much of the town. Today another tragedy struck as the head football coach, Ed Thomas, was shot and killed by a former student as he was overseeing the weight training of some of his players.

This story hits close to home for me since this community is only a few miles from where I grew up in Cedar Falls, IA. My high school was in the same conference as the one Coach Thomas coached in and so I spent much time competing against many of his former players.

One of his former players, Aaron Kampman, who currently plays for the Green Bay Packers, just released this statement:

Coach Thomas was very special to me and many other young men from the Aplington-Parkersburg communities. His legacy for many will be identified with his tremendous success as a football coach. However, I believe his largest legacy comes not in how many football games he won or lost but in the fact that he was a committed follower of Jesus Christ. He lived his life trying to exemplify this faith and convey those values to those under his influence. His faith in Christ pervaded everything that he did and that is why in the midst of the heartache we all feel there is comfort in knowing he is with his Savior.

You can read more about this very sad story here.

Below is a video that was made by a local TV station profiling the events leading up to the first game played by his team after the destruction of the tornado.

Be Sure To Let Your Kid Watch "Man Vs. Wild"

My son Taylor loves to watch "Man vs. Wild" on Discovery Channel. Usually we try and limit his TV watching, but in light of this story I think I might let him watch this one as much as he wants!

A parents worst nightmare with a happy ending! Unbelievable.

How Far Does Your Gospel Reach?

Justin Taylor:

Tim Challies posts a guest article by Pastor John Bell of New City Baptist Church in the heart of Toronto, who has an active evangelistic ministry within Toronto’s gay village. He explains how he starts conversations in a gay coffee shop and shares the gospel. I encourage you to read it.

Here's the conclusion:

I do all this because I love the LGBT community. They are a community comprised of individual eternal souls. Sadly, they are culture that has almost no contact with biblical Christianity in any form. How many drag queens can count a born again Christian amongst their friends? Very few, to our shame.

I’m the pastor of a new church plant in downtown Toronto and it is my earnest prayer that God would use our people to impact this spiritually needy community. I pray for the day when transvestites can walk through our church doors and be greeted with genuinely warm smiles and Christian love. But before that day is likely to happen, they will need a Christian friend whom they have grown to trust; a person they know would never invite them to a place where they are going to be hurt or embarrassed publicly; a place where everyone is on level ground before the cross of Christ because all are sinners; a place where no one person’s sin is made out to be more repugnant than another’s; a place where all sinners can sit under the uncompromised preaching of holy Scripture and hear of the world’s only Savior and salvation in his name alone.

I pray that we would be more deliberate in this regard; that as God’s sovereign grace works through his faithful witness, the church, we would see more gay men and women come to Christ.

I would strongly recommend you reading this whole post. There is much for us to learn from his testimony and example.

A Good Warning About Gossip

Chris Brauns:

There for a while I was on a kick lately of eating chocolate toffee almond nuggets: creamy and sweet.

Unfortunately, when I ate those choice chocolates, I hadn’t seen the last of them. After they have tasted great, they show up just above my belt. As good as they are, they are not worth the calories. When I eat a chocolate, I give it a free pass to head for my stomach and out into my body.

That says, Proverbs is how gossip is.

“The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts (Proverbs 18:8).”

So, important is this Proverb, that it is repeated verbatim later in Proverbs 26:22.

Bits of gossip are like chocolate nuggets: smooth and creamy, they melt in your mouth: it tastes good to be in the loop; it is sweet to hear someone else notice the same weaknesses in another that have frustrated you; it feels spiritual to ask for prayer – - gossip and grumbling and complaining are a tempting treat.

But, remember this. As sweet as those gossip nuggets may taste, snacking on them is not the end. Words of gossip accumulate on our spiritual waistlines. They shape the inmost part of our being. Gossip muddies our windshields so that everything looks dirty.

The next time you are tempted to take the tinfoil off a piece of gossip and pop it in your mouth. Think again. Words of gossip go down to our innermost being.

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A Missions Disconnect

Crossway Blog:

As the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting continues, check out this excerpt from Ed Stetzer’s chapter entitled Toward a Missional Convention in Southern Baptist Identity:

Many churches will go to great lengths and tremendous expense to involve members in “missional” activities far from home, yet fail to fully engage their own neighborhood. Perhaps one of the contributing factors to this seeming inconsistency is the ability for us to behave “missionally” for a short period of time in a “far country” where co-workers and neighbors can’t see us. In these short-term/long-distance mission events, we are able to experience the passion of missional living without really becoming incarnational to our own context.

This approach to missional work is perhaps the unfortunate outcome of a separation between missions and evangelism in popular thinking among Southern Baptists and other evangelicals. To many, missions is something done “elsewhere” by “someone.” Thus, some churches that are “far-thinking” and “far-reaching” in terms of international missions are failing to reach the people in the shadows of their steeples. North America is not viewed as a mission field. In fact, many believe it to be a “reached” field only in need of an evangelism strategy, not a true missional engagement.

What is needed is not merely an understanding of missiological thinking, but a commitment to missional thinking. While missiology concerns itself with study about missions and its methodologies, missional thinking focuses on doing missions in every geographical location. Such thinking is needed if the SBC is to remain faithful in its calling to serve churches by equipping them to impact their surrounding communities.

Southern Baptist Identity, pp. 186

Content With Mediocrity

Some Christians want enough of Christ to be identified with him but not enough to be seriously inconvenienced; they genuinely cling to basic Christian orthodoxy but do not want to engage in serious Bible study; they value moral probity, especially of the public sort, but do not engage in war against inner corruptions; they fret over the quality of the preachers sermon but do not worry much over the quality of their own prayer life. Such Christians are content with mediocrity.

- D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers

(HT: Big Mike)

Book Giveaway! Bruce Ware's "Big Truths For Young Hearts"

Next Monday, I will be giving away three copies (thanks Crossway!) of Bruce Ware's new systematic theology for kids, "Big Truths for Young Hearts".

I just got my copy in the mail today and it looks really strong. Each chapter ends with a memory verse and some questions for further reflection. My kids (oldest being almost 7) are probably a bit too young for this, but it looks like this book (depending on the ability of your kids, of course) would probably be accessible for 5th graders on up. In my initial flip through it also seemed like it will also be a great exercise in learning for parents as well! It's great when we can learn right alongside our kids.

Here is how you can win:

Email me (zachnielsen7ATgmailDOTcom) with what you consider to be one of your funniest parenting stories. I'll pick three winners next Monday and announce the winners along with their stories in a blog post.

Aaron Ivey - New Record To Check Out

I've heard this is a record you might want to check out. My good friend and former band mate, Emily Ward, sings BGVs on a few tracks.

Aaron is the music leader at Austin Stone church in Austin, TX. They have a great ministry and always put out great music. Chris Tomlin used to be the music leader there before he left to start the new church with Louie Giglio.

We might be using the first track at DSC in the new few weeks.

Unity At The Cross

Pastor J.D. -

One of our church planting center partners, a black guy named Raphael, just said one of the coolest things I've heard in a while... speaking of the Advance conference, he said: "At first I felt strange in that there weren't that many black guys in the room, but when Mark Driscoll started talking about idolatry in the pastor's life, we all turned the same color. First pink with embarrassment, and then red with blood of Jesus."

Sin and salvation tend to make us realize we're all one race, saved by the same Savior. No black, white, Jew, Greek, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, male or female. Just sinners and Jesus.

We Need To Fight Against This

Building on the modern devotion to the individual, modern Christianity in practice defined the entire purpose of the church in terms of the individual over and above the glory of God and the benefit of the community of people. As a result, the modern church in its various forms defined the church as a place where individual spiritual needs are met. What developed was a view of individual Christians as consumers with felt needs and the church as the dispenser of religious good and services.

- Mark Driscoll, Vintage Church, p. 52

Ponder This One...

From John Piper's twitter:

"Don't pursue joy, pursue obedience" is like saying, "Don't pursue apples, pursue fruit."

Fairness

Speaking of justice and mercy...

I found this short movie from Rob Bell to be greatly encouraging.

As a stand alone piece of work, I love what he did here. I don't recommend Rob's books, but I'll recommend this video.

(HT: Mark Wolter)

No Room For Error

I love to mountain bike, but this is ridiculous.


(HT: Matt)

Pondering Justice and Mercy

I have had some interactions lately where the topic of justice and mercy has been at the fore. I have found myself saying numerous times that it's interesting to reflect on the fact that we always want justice for someone else who has committed evil, but we never want justice for ourselves when we commit evil.

How often when observing, or being hurt by the sin of someone else we think to ourselves (similar to James and John), "Git 'em God!! Rain down your fire of judgment on them! Do it quick and make it severe!"

When was the last time you pursued this type of justice for yourself? When was the last time, when contemplating your own sin you said to God, "Kill me now! May your righteous judgment be put on full display in relation to my evil heart! I deserve it! Bring it now!"

I never have. Have you?

This might tell us something about our selfishness. May God's mercy towards us lead us to readily extend it to others.

Oh. My.

Please tell me this is a joke... Sadly, I think it's not.


(HT: Michael Kelley)

Stereotype Youth Group

Oh the memories of church youth group. This made me laugh today: The 11 people every youth group needs. He pretty much has this dead on.

Had A Great Gig With A Unique Experience

Last Thursday I had one of the best experiences yet playing jazz. It was at Scalo where they have a real piano (it's not that great, but almost any piano is better than playing a keyboard) and it's a great vibe for a jazz gig. I also was joined by two of Albuquerque's finest players, Colin Deuble on bass and Arnoldo Acosta on drums. I felt great and our three sets went by really fast which is always a sign that you are having a good time.

Something a bit unique happened during the second and third set. Some people got up and started dancing. Usually when this happens at a gig, it's a person who is drunk out of their mind and making a fool of themselves, but these folks were different. When they started, I thought it was just the usual, so I didn't pay much attention, but after a bit it was clear that these guys really knew what they were doing, like straight off the set of Dancing with the Stars kind of moves. It got to the point where people in the restaurant were watching them and actually applauding them. This didn't bother me, as it actually helped our trio bring our playing up to the next level so that these two couples could do their thing.

It was a really fun night. Below are some tracks you can download if you are a jazz fan. I thought they turned out pretty well.

Now's The Time (I think this one was our best performance over all, but they all had their moments)
Beautiful Love
Stella By Starlight
Nostalgia in Times Square
Fee Fi Fo Fum
The Old Country

An 80's Classic, Creative Choir Work

Thoughts and Questions for Parents on Father’s Day

iMonk asks some good questions of parents around Father's day and then provides some commentary. Here are the questions:

1. Why so much freedom, money, cars, privacy, free time, video games and electronic devices?

2. Do your teenagers clearly see the deepest values in your life, and understand how those values will affect their life? Or do your teenagers see your values as movable and of little real influence in the kind of person you are?

3. Have you assessed the effects of your own decisions about money, prosperity, freedom, etc. on your child, or have you bought into the lie that kids are just resilient through anything?

4. Do you believe that you are going to tell your teenager what it means to be a normal teenager or an adult? Just where did you pick up that idea?

5. Have you assessed what the wired world means for raising a teenager?

6. What are you doing/being that creates any desire in your children to be a responsible, Christian adult? Particular a disciple of Jesus seeking the Kingdom of God and its righteousness above all else?

7. Are you ready to let God be God and let yourself off the hook?

Click here to read his commentary.

I don't think I agree with everything in his commentary, but this is coming from a guy who whose oldest kid is 6, so what do I know? There are some prophetic zingers though that need to be read and heeded.

Brian Regan on Going to the Doctor

Tim Challies posted some Brian Regan links today. It reminded me of one of my favorites:

Arguing Like Ants

“If we begin to get a glimpse of the vast glory of God, we will realize that many of our conflicts are like two ants arguing about which is taller while standing in front of Mount Everest.

“We quibble over some infinitesimal difference of opinion while the vastness of Almighty God soars into the heavens.

“We need to stop looking at one another relative to ourselves, or, better yet, stop looking in the mirror. And we need to turn our eyes to the loveliness of Christ in his Word.”

- Chris Brauns, Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds

(HT: T-Wax)

Be Thrifty

Kevin DeYoung has an interesting post about why being "thrifty" is not a hindrance to the economy. In these challenged economic times we hear often that we just need to go out and spend money, but drawing from an article in The Weekly Standard he says, "Go ahead and be thrifty, the country will be ok."

An Example of Gospel Intentionality

Drew Goodmanson:

Recently, in our missional community we have had two families begin the process of searching for a home. Both were considering a location farther away from the community where they could get more home for the money. In our gospel intentional way we asked them what were the motivations behind this. If we are called to be a community on mission with the gospel at the center of everything we do, wouldn’t our decision of where we live profoundly be impacted by this? If we are gospel intentional we make decisions with what is best in mind for our witness, our faith and God’s glory. What motivates us to move outside the city to buy a bigger home? Comfort? Investment? Safety? If the answer isn’t calling than ultimately this decision is not being made with the gospel at the core. The good news of who God is tells us our comfort, value and protection reside in Him not in our home. We ultimately need to get down to the heart issues of what motivates people in all our decisions, because if we are not walking in line with the gospel we are worshiping something other than God.

These two families have begun to re-consider what they want to prioritize. They recognize that if they moved 20 minutes away it would impact their ability to be gospel intentional. Certainly, if God was calling them to move and their motivation was the gospel at the center, we would embrace this and help them move but our missional community doesn’t see this as the case. These people have been willing to submit this decision and heed the counsel of the community because of the gospel intentionality they desire. (Note: This is not gospel ‘intensity’ these conversations are not heavy-handed or us trying to make decisions for them.) All of us seek to expose our lives to each other and the community around us so that when any decision or circumstance is brought up we examine it through the idea of God’s calling on our life to live as a redemptive people who are servants of our great King. To the world this may sound crazy but to us it is a beautiful mess of sinners celebrating a life under the reign of a God who loves us and has adopted us as His.

We are calling our community to process this in how they dress, where they live, what activities they participate in and how we interact. It is all of life. For us this is Gospel Intentionality.

(HT: Jonathan Dodson)

Golf = Boring, Add Basketball Announcers = Very Exciting

(HT: Jer)

A Powerful Illustration of the Gospel

Mark Driscoll writes to his friend Mary:

A friend of mine had been married to a woman he dearly loved for many years. Yet they were never as close and intimate as he desired, and he could not figure out why. It was because his wife was, like you, was filled with shame. She had been molested as a girl, raped as a young woman, and promiscuous throughout much of her teen years. She even cheated on her husband during their engagement and did not share these shameful, dark secrets with him. After many years, she finally told her husband who she truly was, what she had truly done, and what had been truly done to her.

The truth devastated her husband, who would have never married her had he known of her infidelity during their engagement and possibly would have walked away from her as damaged goods had he only known about the many times she was molested as a young girl, raped as a young woman, and promiscuous in her teens. At this point she feared that her husband would leave her and want nothing to do with her. Then he did the unthinkable: he left their home, and she did not know where he was going or if he would ever return.

Because he knew the gospel of Jesus Christ, though, he went to the store and purchased for her a new, clean white nightgown. He returned home and asked her to undress in front of him and clothe herself in white, which she did. He then said that he had chosen to see her not by what she had done or by what had been done to her, but instead solely by what Jesus had done for her to forgive her sin and cleanse her filth. He embraced her and prayed for her, and she wept tears that purified her soul as her sin was scorned by the love of Jesus and her husband, who was filled with the Spirit of God. This is what God the Father intends for you, his daughter. Because of Jesus, your husband will view you that way soon, as he learns to see you not by what you have done or what has been done to you, but rather solely by what Jesus has done for you. As an act of worship, I ask you to remember the expiating work of Jesus every time you wear white.

- Mark Driscoll, Death By Love, p. 157, 158

Motivation for Obedience

John Stott in an appendix with the title, “Reflections of an Octogenarian, 27 April 2001”:

. . . Let me share with you a conviction about obedience. John 14:21 is one of my favorite verses. Here are the words of Jesus: “Whoever has my commandments and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

The verse ends with a particularly precious promise: “I will show myself to him (or her)”, or “I will manifest myself to him.” Is this just what we are longing for, namely a clearer vision of Christ? . . .

But this promise of Jesus is conditional. He reveals himself only to his lovers. And who are his lovers? Not those who make loud protestations of love, and then go out like Peter to deny him. Not those who sing rather sentimental songs “Jesus, I love you.” (It is all right to sing them too, but they do not prove anything.) No, those who truly love the Lord Jesus are those who obey his commandments.

To sum up, the test of love is obedience, and the reward of love is a self-manifestation of Christ.

- John Stott , The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor

(HT: Chris Brauns)

Pompous Accuracy That Touches No One

Ray VanNeste:

Since college I have appreciated the writings of Larry Crabb. Today I read a note from a friend in which he included an excerpt from Crabb’s book, Inside Out. I have pasted in below a smaller portion of the excerpt where Crabb makes the point that exposition alone is not enough for our pastoral work. This is one of the chief concerns of this blog. We must be involved in the oversight of souls not just proclamation. Proclamation is crucial but it is supposed to be wed with real, personal involvement with our people.

Perhaps it is time to screw up our courage and attack the sacred cow: we must admit that simply knowing the contents of the Bible is not a sure route to spiritual growth. There is an awful assumption in evangelical circles that if we can just get the Word of God into people’s heads, then the Spirit of God will apply it to their hearts. That assumption is awful, not because the Spirit never does what the assumption supposes, but because it has excused pastors and leaders from the responsibility to tangle with people’s lives. Many remain safely hidden behind pulpits, hopelessly out of touch with the struggles of their congregations, proclaiming the Scriptures with a pompous accuracy that touches no one.

May God give us the grace to move boldly, graciously, with the Gospel into the lives of our people. Anything less fails to be pastoral ministry.

Buy Some Great Photos - Support Adoption

My friends Jason and Shawnda Kovacs are trying to raise money to adopt a child from Uganda. If you want to help towards that end, check out some of Jason's photographs that he is selling for a great price. Click here to see all the photos available for purchase.

Images of Iranian Protests

Here is a slideshow of some powerful images from the election protests in Iran. The international press has been shut out so Twitter and Flickr images are some of the only ways to document what is happening. Some of the images are graphic, so use discretion.

Responding to Mistakes with Gospel Faith

Michael Kelley writes a helpful post about how to preach to yourself with gospel truth when you make mistakes. He writes:

I made a mistake at work this week. And by mistake, I don’t mean “Oops. I accidentally embezzled thousands of dollars.” Nothing sinful, just a mistake. But whenever you make a mistake, there are consequences.

Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody fails. But I spent alot of time thinking today about how you respond to mistakes from a perspective of faith. Here are a few reflections on how the gospel can influence your perspective the next time you find yourself trying to recover from a mistake.

1. When you make a mistake, you make an error in judgment or a moment of forgetfulness. The gospel reminds you that your self-worth is not tied to your ability to perform perfectly.

2. When you make a mistake, you are tempted to hide, blame, or ignore. The gospel gives you the confidence you need to own up to it and accept responsibility.

3. When you make a mistake, you start to focus on yourself, thinking that the whole world is looking at you. The gospel reminds you that you are not the center of the universe – Jesus Christ is.

4. When you make a mistake, you find yourself wanting to do anything you can to avoid the potential of failure. The gospel encourages you to take risks instead of burying your talents in the dirt.

5. When you are around someone who has made a mistake, you can easily slip into judgment in order to make yourself feel better. The gospel reminds you that you have the responsibility to fulfill the law of Christ by bearing another’s burden.

6. When you make a mistake, you look for ways to redeem yourself in the eyes of your bosses and peers. The gospel reminds you that you have nothing to prove to anyone since Christ has proven Himself on your behalf.

7. When you make a mistake, you become afraid. Afraid of what people think, afraid of doing something wrong, afraid of the consequences. The gospel drives out fear with perfect love.

Z Music - Nostalgia In Times Square

This is one of my favorite jazz pieces, Nostalgia In Times Square, by Charles Mingus. This is the first video from a series I will run from a recital we did at our church in March called, "For The Joy of Music and the Glory of God".

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal

In Session, a collaborative album by blues greats Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
$1.99

Hammertime Ambush

I hope this sweeps the nation. If I am ever present for a Hammertime ambush I will be forced to join in, even without Hammer pants. Yeah, I can do the running man. Deal with it.



(HT: Denny Burk)

Parenting and Suffering

"You need to get used to this reality. Once you become a parent, for the rest of your life, you'll never be happier than your unhappiest child, because your heart is tied to your kids. That is a way of learning the gospel because before you have kids you don't really know what it means that God suffers for your sins. He has to. He has to suffer for your sins, because when you have children you suffer for their sins. Your heart is tied up to them."

- Tim Keller, quoted from this Q and A session at The Gospel Coalition

Happy People Sing

"We have already seen that in 1537 one of the four foundations for the reform of the Church was congregational singing. . . . We have seen in effect that Calvin placed singing at the heart of his theology of the Church. The reason is not far to seek. To put it with the utmost simplicity: The Church is the place where the Gospel is preached; Gospel is good news; good news makes people happy; happy people sing. But then, too, unhappy people may sing to cheer themselves up."

T. H. L. Parker, John Calvin, page 87.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Culture Is Crumbling Around Us In The Form of Text Messages

Seth Ward highlights a crazy report about the national winner of the competition to see who is the fastest texter. He writes:

Sometimes I read the news in TOTAL awe. I shall bold the parts that are extra special. It just makes my skin aggregate.

NEW YORK – The nation's newest texting champion has a message for parents across the land — although they might not want to hear it.

"Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! It pays off," 15-year-old Kate Moore said Tuesday after winning the LG U.S. National Texting Championship.

After all, she said: "Your kid could win money and publicity and a phone." For the Des Moines, Iowa, teenager, her 14,000 texts-per-month habit reaped its own rewards, landing her the competition prize of $50,000 just eight months after she got her first cell phone.

Moore, with a speedy and accurate performance, beat out 20 other finalists from around the country over two days of challenges such as texting blindfolded and texting while maneuvering through a moving obstacle course.

In the final showdown, she outtexted 14-year-old Morgan Dynda, of Savannah, Ga. Both girls had to text three lengthy phrases without making any mistakes on the required abbreviations, capitalization or punctuation. (Seth insert: I believe the phrase was, "like totally! :-) Like,,, did you see the way he just dissed me totals?!?!?! He trted me like I was total preggers with a fat baby!!?!?!? LOL.) Moore squeaked through by a few seconds on the tiebreaking text, getting the best two out of three. As she anxiously waited for confirmation of her win, tears streamed down her face.

The teen dismisses the idea that she focuses too much on virtual communications, saying that while she has sometimes had her phone taken away from her in school, she keeps good grades, performs in school plays and socializes with friends — in person — on the weekends.

In between, she finds time to send about 400 to 470 texts a day. Among her uses of the text messages? Studying for exams with friends, (BS!!!) which she says is better done by text because she can look back at the messages to review.

The finalists, all 22 or younger, were among 250,000 people who tried to get spots in the competition. Some won their spots at the Manhattan finals by being the fastest people to text responses to televised ads.

It's the third year for the texting competition, sponsored by LG Electronics Inc.'s mobile-phones division. But it's the first time that it was held at a flashy sound stage with an illuminated platform and surrounded by TV cameras. LG, based in Seoul, South Korea, is considering using the footage in a televised special of some kind.

Twenty-year-old Jackie Boyd, who came in fifth in the competition, said she usually prefers text messages to phone calls because they get through faster and they're more private — leaving her unworried about other people listening in.
"You can get more of what you really truly want to say" across with texting, said the Syracuse University psychology major. "Especially if it's an argument, you don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing.
"And if you don't want to respond, you can always say, 'Oh, I didn't get your text.'"

Suing Because The Baby Should Have Been Killed, But Lived Instead

Our depravity knows no bounds. This makes me so sad. First Things reports:

An Oregon couple is suing because a test missed that the child had Down syndrome, which had they known, would have resulted in their child’s abortion. From the story:

In the months before their daughter was born in 2007, Deborah and Ariel Levy worried the baby might have Down syndrome. They say a doctor at the Legacy Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine assured them that a sample of tissue taken from the placenta early in the pregnancy ruled out the developmental disability, despite the results of later testing that showed the fetus might have it. But within days of the birth of their daughter, the Southwest Portland couple learned the baby did have Down syndrome. Had they known, they say, they would have terminated the pregnancy. Now they’re suing in Multnomah County Circuit Court, seeking more than $14 million to cover the costs of raising her and providing education, medical care, and speech and physical therapy for their daughter, who turned 2 this month. The suit also seeks money to cover her life-long living expenses.

This is not the same thing as when a physician’s negligence injures a fetus. Seeking to have the injury causer bear the cost of caring for the child after he or she is born is a legitimate subject of litigation. But the doctor in this case didn’t injure anyone.

These “wrongful birth” lawsuits are pernicious and support the new eugenics project upon which society has embarked. Eugenic abortion may be legal, but as a matter of public policy, doctors should not be punished simply because a baby was born.

Can you imagine trying to explain this to your child when they were older? (Granted a person with Downs might not understand, but still...)

"Yeah, we wanted you dead, but since the doctor screwed up, we sued those people for all they had because you are such a burden to us."