The "One Anothers" of the New Testament

* Be at peace with one another. Mk. 9:50

* Wash one another's feet. Jn. 13:14

* Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Jn. 13:34

* Love one another with brotherly affection. Rom. 12:10

* Outdo one another in showing honor. Rom. 12:10

* Live in harmony with one another. Rom. 12:16

* Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Rom. 15:7

* Greet one another with a holy kiss. Rom 16:16, 2 Cor. 13:12

* Wait for one another. 1 Cor. 11:33

* Comfort one another, agree with one another. 2 Co. 13:11

* Through love serve one another. Gal. 5:13

* Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6:2

* Bear with one another in love. Eph. 4:2

* Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Eph. 4:32

* Address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Eph. 5:19

* Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph. 5:21

* Do not lie to one another. Col. 3:9

* Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. Col. 3:13

* Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Col. 3:16

* Encourage one another. 1 Th. 4:18 , Heb. 10:25

* Encourage one another and build one another up. 1 Th. 5:11

* Always seek to do good to one another. 1 Th. 5:15

* Exhort one another every day. Heb. 3:13

* Stir up one another to love and good works. Heb. 10:24

* Do not speak evil against one another. Jas. 4:11

* Do not grumble against one another. Jas. 5:9

* Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Jas. 5:16

* Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. 1 Pe. 1:22

* Keep loving one another earnestly. 1 Pe. 4:8

* Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Pe. 4:9

* Serve one another. 1 Pe. 4:10

* Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. 1 Pe. 5:5

* Greet one another with the kiss of love. 1 Pe. 5:14

* Love one another. 1 Jn. 3:11, 1 Jn. 3:23, 1 Jn. 4:7, 1 Jn. 4:12, 2 Jn. 1:5 

(Source)

Loving Your Neighborhood

Tim Chester:

Tim Keller identifies the following characteristics of a missional church.[1] I’ve found them very helpful in encouraging groups to recognise what it means to engage with their neighbourhoods in a missional way.

A ‘missional’ small group is not necessarily one which is doing some kind of specific ‘evangelism’ programme (though that is to be recommended). Rather:

1.      If its members love and talk positively about the city and neighborhood.

2.      If they speak in language that is not filled with pious tribal or technical terms and phrases, nor disdainful and embattled language.

3.      If in their Bible study they apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture.

4.      If they are obviously interested in and engaged with the literature and art and thought of the surrounding culture and can discuss it both appreciatively and yet critically.

5.      If they exhibit deep concern for the poor and generosity with their money and purity and respect with regard to opposite sex, and show humility toward people of other races and cultures.

6.      If they do not bash other Christians and churches.

Then seekers and non-believing people from the city (a) will be invited and (b) will come and will stay as they explore spiritual issues. If these marks are not there it will only be able to include believers or traditional, ‘Christianized’ people.

Reflection 1. How does your community measure up against these criteria? 2. If we find ourselves changing the language we use when unbelievers are present then we should probably change it all the time. Think about how you might talk about evangelism when unbelievers are present. 3. Tim Keller says the members of a missional community ‘love and talk positively about the city and neighborhood’. List ten things you love about your neighborhood.

[1] From Tim Keller, ‘The Missional Church’, June 2001.

NARAL’s Daughters — The Abortion Rights Crowd is Concerned

Al Mohler:

Nancy Keenan is worried. The current president of NARAL, Keenan detects a loss of fervor in support of abortion rights among younger women, and she talked openly to Newsweek about her concern. Are we witnessing a major shift of momentum on the issue of abortion?

Read the rest.  

Grant Hill - A Profile

Here is a great article about Phoenix Suns forward, Grant Hill.  He has endured many trials in his career and it is very interesting to read how he has handled it all.  This would be a great read for a parent to walk through with their child.  From the article:

It's rare to find an NBA player who can reinvent himself midstream, who can go from superstar to role player during what are supposed to be the prime years. Even beyond that, Hill's story is amazing for both the timing of his comeback and the time he's invested to play at such a high level at his age.

Read the rest.  

Seinfeld Edited Into a Drama

(HT: Abraham Piper)

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Ives The Band - Colonel Maxwell (Live)

Botched Abortion in Italy

Jill Stanek:

...the Telegraph carries an extended story, but here it is in a nutshell, from Sky News:

A baby boy who was left to die after a botched abortion has survived for two days.

The 22-week-old fetus later died in intensive care in the city of Rossano in southern Italy.

The baby's mother opted for a termination after scans suggested the child might be disabled.

The procedure was carried out at the Rossano Calabro hospital on Saturday but 20 hours after the operation the hospital chaplain was praying to the baby when he discovered it was still alive.

Father Antonio Martello informed doctors who immediately transferred the child to a specialist neo-natal unit at a neighbouring hospital where he died on Monday.

Italian police are investigating if there is a case for homicide or abandonment because according to Italian law, doctors have a legal obligation to preserve the life of the baby after it survives an abortion.

The Italian government is also considering an investigation into the conduct of the hospital staff....

And what was the baby's disability? According to Catholic.net:

Prenatal scans had shown two malformations in the boy, in his palate and lip.

Cleft lip and palate.

Wayne Grudem on Politics and the Christian

Sticky Teams

Christians in Context reviews Larry Osborne's, Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page.  They write:

Sticky Teams has been the most imminently practical book about church leadership I have read this year, hands down. For those of you unfamiliar with Larry Osborne, do you know who John C. Maxwell is? The guy who wrote The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and like a bazillion other books on leadership (no really, I checked Amazon, that number's right)? Well Larry Osborne is the John C. Maxwell of church leadership.

I know, I know, for many pastors, John C. Maxwell is the John C. Maxwell of church leadership. I can barely get through a meeting with my pastor without him referring to "the law of the lid". But in Sticky Teams, Osborne has written out of the wealth of his ministry experience to bring us what only time may show to be the definitive work on church leadership.

This is not a theological treatise on the spiritual elements of leadership. Rather, this is a ground level book that deals with all the interpersonal conflicts and miscommunication within a church. It may bother a few readers that only the occasional Bible verse is quoted, but Osborne is not addressing the doctrinal issues that sometimes divide a church. Instead, he is addressing the petty, the selfish, and the interpersonal issues—unmet or uncommunicated expectations, power shifts, undefined roles.

Read the rest.

Meltdown in Higher Ed.?

Seth Godin:

For 400 years, higher education in the US has been on a roll. From Harvard asking Galileo to be a guest professor in the 1600s to millions tuning in to watch a team of unpaid athletes play another team of unpaid athletes in some college sporting event, the amount of time and money and prestige in the college world has been climbing.

I'm afraid that's about to crash and burn. Here's how I'm looking at it.

Here are his reasons:

1. Most colleges are organized to give an average education to average students.

2. College has gotten expensive far faster than wages have gone up.

3. The definition of 'best' is under siege.

4. The correlation between a typical college degree and success is suspect.

5. Accreditation isn't the solution, it's the problem.

Click over to read his explanations.  

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God' Pursuit of Us is Gloriously Relentless

Ray Ortlund:

The Lord appointed a great fish.  Jonah 1:17
The Lord God appointed a plant.  Jonah 4:6
God appointed a worm.  Jonah 4:7
God appointed a scorching east wind.  Jonah 4:8
The Lord has more ways of confronting me than I have ways of evading him.

Dunk of the Day

This is crazy.



(HT: Chris)

Myron Rolle and his Commitment to Football

NFL Fanhouse.com:

On Saturday, the Tennessee Titans drafted Florida State safety Myron Rolle in the sixth round of the NFL Draft with the 207th overall pick.

Rolle, whom you previously knew as the Rhodes Scholar who spent his past season in Oxford studying for a graduate degree in medical anthropology, graduated in 2 1/2 years from Florida State, where he played safety for three years. Then he chose to skip his senior year to take advantage of the Rhodes Scholarship, an honor that only 32 men and women garner every year.

You've probably heard of a few of the alums from the Rhodes, guys like President Bill Clinton and former NBA great Bill Bradley.

What you may have heard and brushed off was this: Multiple NFL teams, scouts and executives questioned Rolle's commitment to football because he made this decision.

Why?

Read the rest.  

They Are Not All The Same

Stephen Prothero, writing for The Boston Globe, has a great post concerning that frequently heard claim, "All religions are basically the same."

At least since the first petals of the counterculture bloomed across Europe and the United States in the 1960s, it has been fashionable to affirm that all religions are beautiful and all are true. This claim, which reaches back to “All Religions Are One” (1795) by the English poet, printmaker, and prophet William Blake, is as odd as it is intriguing. No one argues that different economic systems or political regimes are one and the same. Capitalism and socialism are so self-evidently at odds that their differences hardly bear mentioning. The same goes for democracy and monarchy. Yet scholars continue to claim that religious rivals such as Hinduism and Islam, Judaism and Christianity are, by some miracle of the imagination, both essentially the same and basically good.

This view resounds in the echo chamber of popular culture, not least on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and in Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestseller, “Eat Pray Love,” where the world’s religions are described as rivers emptying into the ocean of God. Karen Armstrong, author of “A History of God,” has made a career out of emphasizing the commonalities of religion while eliding their differences. Even the Dalai Lama, who should know better, has gotten into the act, claiming that “all major religious traditions carry basically the same message.”

Of course, those who claim that the world’s religions are different paths up the same mountain do not deny the undeniable fact that they differ in some particulars. Obviously, Christians do not go on pilgrimage to Mecca, and Muslims do not practice baptism. Religious paths do diverge in dogma, rites, and institutions. To claim that all religions are basically the same, therefore, is not to deny the differences between a Buddhist who believes in no god, a Jew who believes in one God, and a Hindu who believes in many gods. It is to deny that those differences matter, however. From this perspective, whether God has a body (yes, say Mormons; no, say Muslims) or whether human beings have souls (yes, say Hindus; no, say Buddhists) is of no account because, as Hindu teacher Swami Sivananda writes, “The fundamentals or essentials of all religions are the same. There is difference only in the nonessentials.”

This is a lovely sentiment but it is untrue, disrespectful, and dangerous.

Read the rest.  

We Need Gospel Movements, Not Just Better Churches

Darryl Dash:

I pastor in Toronto, and I have my hands full just trying to stay ahead of the challenges in my own church. But no matter how well my particular church does, it will never be able to have the kind of impact that's needed on the entire city. Toronto doesn't need one or even a dozen churches to do well. It needs all kinds of churches from all kinds of movements to revitalize existing churches and to start new ones. This means we need to be working together a lot more than we would if we're focused only on our own churches or our own movements

We all need to learn from others. We're used to learning from big and successful churches in other countries. It's much more effective to learn from good churches in our own contexts. That means that I can probably learn more about effective ministry in my city from other churches in my city, and places like it. The resources I need may not be found within my own movement, but within churches that belong to other movements.

Read the rest.

John Mayer's Take on Twitter

He writes:

Last week in Los Angeles I participated in a live Q&A as part of an ASCAP expo on songwriting. When the topic of Twitter came up, I explained my waning interest in it being part of my daily life. By no means do I think it's over as a medium altogether, but I do think that the days of "Twitter: The Breakthrough" have passed, as has been and will continue to be the case for every online social network. It's reached it's cruising altitude, so to speak. Patterns and templates are emerging. The Twitter-bred syntax isn't really doing it for me anymore.


And call me crazy, but I don't think it's the healthiest thing in the world to read scads of mentions/@replies and effectively open the floodgate of other people's approval/disapproval. Finding out in 140 characters what a stranger has to say about you is like a mathematical equation without an established value of 'x'. Who are you, stranger? What do you stand for? What do you like, and if it's not me, then what does move you? What DO you look up to? Once I find that out, I'll know how disappointed I should be.

This is where Tumblr comes in. It's the future of social networking if your image of the future features intelligent discourse. I love reading other Tumblr users replies, because they're thoughtful by virtue of the fact that if they're not, they'll bring the intellectual property value of their own blog down, and that's a commodity on Tumblr.


This post is an experiment in itself. If you want to communicate with me, open a Tumblr account, follow me, repost my blog and then add to it. I'll follow you back. Agree or disagree, lionize or demonize, but for God's sake, be original. You'll have all the room in the world to do it now.

What is Tumblr?  Should I use it?

Three Main Steps to Starting Family Worship

James Grant has a very helpful post on starting family worship.

A Jumpshot From Half Court?

Most guys have to heave the ball from this distance. Not Lebron. Crazy.

Some Times It's Just Not Your Day

Kamara goal called back @ Yahoo! Video

Hymns II from Page CXVI

Some of you might want to check out this new release of hymn arrangements from Page CXVI.

Should Abortion Be Illegal?

STR Blog:

Last week, I debated a women's studies professor at California State University San Marcos on the topic, "Should Abortion Be Illegal?" I’ve posted all seven parts of the debate on our student site, STR Place.

States seek new ways to restrict abortions

Interesting story here from USA today. 

What We Would Have Missed

Another iPad Review

Tim Challies lends his voice to the chorus of iPad reviews.

A Great Question For Prosperity Preachers

John Piper:

Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” His disciples were astonished, as many in the “prosperity” movement should be. So Jesus went on to raise their astonishment even higher by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” They responded in disbelief: “Then who can be saved?” Jesus says, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:23-27).

This means that their astonishment was warranted. A camel can’t go through the eye of a needle. This is not a metaphor for something requiring great effort or humble sacrifice. It can’t be done. We know this because Jesus said, Impossible! That was his word, not ours. “With man it is impossible.” The point is that the heart-change required is something man can’t do for himself. God must do it—“. . . but [it is] not [impossible] with God.”

We can’t make ourselves stop treasuring money above Christ. But God can. That is good news. And that should be part of the message that prosperity preachers herald before they entice people to become more camel-like. Why would a preacher want to preach a gospel that encourages the desire to be rich and thus confirms people in their natural unfitness for the kingdom of God?

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Thinking About J-Knapp on Larry King

Trevin Wax:

After viewing Friday night’s Larry King Live with Jennifer Knapp, pastor Bob Botsford, and Ted Haggard, I was struck with the question:

Why is it that whenever a proponent of Christianity’s historical view of sexuality goes head to head with an advocate for gay rights, the traditional Christian almost always loses the argument?

Read the transcript from Friday’s roundtable discussion here. Watch as the traditionalist pastor seeks to be loving and gentle, and yet still gets pelted with the pejorative term “judgmental.” Why is this so?

I’m convinced that we continue to lose the argument about homosexuality and Christianity because the traditionalist almost always makes his case within a conversation that has been framed by the opposing viewpoint. The Christian doesn’t lose the argument at the micro-level. The argument is lost from the beginning because of how the discussion is framed.

I only know Jennifer Knapp through her music. (Kansas is one of the best albums in Christian music, as far as I’m concerned.) I do not want the rest of this post (or the comments) to focus on her particular story. Instead, I want to analyze the Larry King appearance as a launching pad from which we can think clearly about how we might re-frame this discussion in ways that benefit the traditionalist position.

Read the rest of this very helpful post. 

Ten Reasons To Under-Program a Church

Jared Wilson:

I'm a big fan of the "simple church" concept, but I have experienced just how daunting a task it can be to under-program my church. We are inundated constantly with opportunities for activity from other churches (which we don't want to turn down lest we appear uncooperative and standoffish), advertised "movements" local and national (which are good at getting people excited), and "good ideas" from our own community (which we are reluctant to deny lest we break someone's heart). But what all this so often amounts to is a church that is merely busy, and busy does not always equal diligent or successful.

Here, then, are 10 reasons to under-program a church...

Read the rest.

Praying for Boldness, Not Deliverance

Michael Kelley:

It’s striking to me how much of my prayer life is spent praying to get me out of uncomfortable situations. Whether at work, at church, financially, in health – I spend much time petitioning the Lord to change my circumstances. To make them more favorable. More profitable. More… comfortable, I guess.

Read the rest.

These Boys Can Play

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Should I Buy An iPad?

Funny flow chart here.  Click the image to see larger:

(HT: DashHouse)

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A Little "Pick Me Up" As You Head Into The Weekend

Q&A with Ray Ortlund and Sam Storms

Ryan Kelly:

Videos of the panel discussions for Clarus ‘09 – “The Convergence of Doctrine and Delight” — (Sam Storms and Ray Ortlund) are now on Youtube. Below are the links broken down by category and specific questions, 3-8 minutes each.

Questions on Worship

• How does the average Christian pursue worship in spirit and truth? Part 1
• How does the average Christian pursue worship in spirit and truth? Part 2
• How does the average Christian pursue worship in spirit and truth? Part 3

Questions on Miraculous Gifts

• If we believe in the continuation of all spiritual gifts, should we pursue them?
• Tell us about being a “charismatic Calvinist.”
• Further thoughts on pursuing miraculous gifts…

Questions on Election and Predestination

• If God has already chosen who will be saved, why witness and pray?
• How did you begin to understand election?
• Does “foreknowledge” mean God looked into the future to see what we would do?
• What does it mean that God wants all people to come to repentance? Part 1
• What does it mean that God wants all people to come to repentance? Part 2

Questions on Various Issues of Ministry and the Church

• What are some encouraging things you see God doing in the church?
• What are some not-so-encouraging trends you see in the church?
• What is Biblical Theology?
• How can a pastor capture the power of the Bible’s metaphors without being unnecessarily crude?
• How should we give assurance to our children?

If you missed the plenary sessions (or want to re-listen), the audio to this, as well as the previous year’s conference weekends, is on the DSC/Clarus website.

Just a reminder, there will be two different panel discussions with Wayne Grudem and Randy Alcorn at this year’s Clarus conference weekend — Saturday, May 1, 1:30 PM and 8:15 PM. If you haven’t purchased tickets, do so soon!

Update on Matt Chandler

No Litmus Test? Really?

My questions for Mr. Obama:

1. Why is the abortion decision "difficult"?

2. If you want someone who is in favor of women's rights, do the preborn females in the womb have any rights? Who will protect them?

3. Who is going to protect the "bodily integrity" of the preborn baby from the abortionist's vacuum?

Iceland Volcano Photos

See the rest here. 

J-Knapp on Larry King

Denny Burk:

The singer will appear on “Larry King Live” tonight along with Clay Aiken, Ted Haggard and others. Here’s Mark Moring’s report on one of CT’s blogs:


Jennifer Knapp, a former Christian music star who recently revealed that she is in a lesbian relationship, will be the featured guest on Larry King Live on Friday, April 23. The CNN show airs at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific.


The one-time Grammy nominee and multiple Dove Award winner walked away from music in 2003, but has been making a comeback in recent months, doing a number of tour dates and gearing up to release her new album, Letting Go, in May.


Knapp will be joined on Larry King Live by Clay Aiken (a singer who came out two years ago), Pastor Bob Botsford (an evangelical pastor who wants Knapp to repent of her lifestyle), and disgraced preacher Ted Haggard. Knapp is speaking openly and honestly about her lifestyle, while also maintaining that she clings to the Christian faith. Should be a fascinating conversation.

More Wisdom for Email

Seth Godin:

1. Change your settings so that email from you has a name, your name, not a blank or some unusual characters, in the from field. (ask a geek or IT person for help if you don't know how).
2. Change your settings so that the bottom of every email includes a signature (often called a sig) that includes your name and your organization.
3. Change your settings so that when you reply to a note, the note you're replying to is included below what you write (this is called quoting).
4. Don't hit reply all. Just don't. Okay, you can, but read this first.
5. You can't recall an email you didn't mean to send. Some software makes you think you can, but you can't. Not reliably.
6. Email lives forever, is easy to spread and can easily show up in discovery for a lawsuit.
7. Please don't ask me to save a tree by not printing your email. It doesn't work, it just annoys the trees.
8. Send yourself some email at a friend's computer. Read it. Are the fonts too big or too small? Does it look like a standard email? If it doesn't look like a standard, does this deviation help you or hurt you? Sometimes, fitting in makes sense, no?

And a bonus tip from Cory Doctorow, who gets more email than you and me combined: When you go on vacation, set up an autoreply that says, "I'm on vacation until x/x/2010. When I get back, I'm going to delete all the email that arrived while I was gone, so if this note is important, please send it to me again after that date."

Between Hyper-Calvinism and Pragmatism

“… in our churches a leader’s charisma, communal willingness to serve, ministry gifts found and honed in the entire congregation, and good organization to make the best use of them, must all combine for true renewal.  Neither the most powerful preaching nor the most exuberant display of spiritual manifestations will build up the local church without the organization wisdom that sets goals and devises means to ends.  The preaching pastors who have left behind them the most virile and mature churches have been those whose pulpit work was linked with good organizing, done by others if not by themselves.  Check it out: you will find that it is so” 

- J.I. Packer, A Passion for Faithfulness: Wisdom From the Book of Nehemiah (Packer, J. I. Living Insights Bible Study.), 89-90

Timmy Brister comments:

To my Reformed friends, do not substitute the spirit of pragmatism for the spirit of hyper-Calvinism.  Do not feel dirty or guilty for prayerfully coming up with ambitious goals, carefully structuring for gospel growth, and developing systems and processes within the organization of the church that will result in better stewardship of God’s blessings and the Great Commission entrusted to us.  Don’t let those sold to pragmatism be the only ones who write books and articles about the practical life of the church.  Rather, be like Nehemiah who brought a God-centered vision to a God-wrought burden for a God-sized task to be carried out by a God-dependent people.

There will always be those who, on the one hand reject the use of means, and on the other hand make the means become the end.  However, for those who believe that good methodology flows from good theology, best practices ought to be implemented by those who care deepest about God’s Word.  After all, when we look in the mirror, we are reminded that it is the effectual doer that is blessed in what he does (James 1:25).  The kind of work on the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah’s leadership was very spiritual, though handing bricks made not have felt like it.  The same is true today for those who, because of their love for the church and the gospel, are strategically planning and working to see that the matters of first importance entrusted to us are addressed in such a way that we display the excellencies of the God who calls us to a ministry of excellence.

Read the rest.

"That is Your Joy?!?"

Accountability is Useless Unless...

Refine Us:

What I have discovered is accountability is useless. 

Accountability is only as valuable as the transparency you and I offer in the context of that accountability.

We have a unique ability as humans to fool each other. It is easy for me to fake you out. It is easy for you to lie to my face. It is easy to pretend like your marriage is better than it really is. It is easy to offer just enough accountability to make yourself look spiritual. At the same time that partial accountability can be so dangerous because you are not only fooling me, you are fooling yourself.

The truth is you and I can meet every Wednesday and I can lie to you. The truth is that you can have several circles of accountability and unless you are 100% transparent in at least one of those circles, implosion is on the horizon.

I am not saying you should be 100% transparent with everyone, but I am saying you should be 100% transparent with someone. I have two people in my life that if I am asked a question I give 100% of the truth; I withhold nothing. I know if I am struggling or need to confess something, or am in a dark place, I can share that with these two people.

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my life, my marriage and my ministry is I substituted accountability for transparency. Accountability without transparency is useless. It is easier in the short term to offer accountability and it seems more spiritual?but you experience more of the grace and mercy and love of Christ when you offer transparency.

In fact, when you are willing to offer transparency, you will find you don't need to be held accountable.

Read the rest.  

Earth Day is a Good Thing For Christians

Anthony Hokema:

…so not only was man commanded to rule nature, but also to serve in it and to care for it. “If human beings had been commanded only to rule over the earth, this command might easily have been misconstrued as an open invitation to irresponsible exploitation of the earth’s resources. But the injunction to work and take care of the Garden of Eden implies that we are to serve and preserve the earth as well as to rule over it.” (Created in God’s Image)

We should value what God values.  Clearly in Genesis God approves of and loves his creation.  We should celebrate Earth Day not because society says we should, but rather because God says it is good to celebrate all that he has made.  His creation will be on display for eternity.  It is not something that "will burn" as we move on to greater things.  It will be remade for his glory (Rev. 21) and we should rejoice that God has given us such an amazing world to inhabit for all eternity.

(HT: Erik Raymond)

Reflections on The Young, Restless, and Reformed by Mike Horton

Mike Horton reflects on The Young, Restless, and Reformed in a recent post at The White Horse Inn blog.  He asks some great questions and there is much to consider in terms of how movements are shaped and endure over time, what it mean to be "Reformed", and the scope and boundaries of "unity".  Here is one quote I found interesting:

So I’ve wondered about a new term that we can use for the “young, restless, and Reformed” movement: “Evangelical Calvinism.”  Why not?  It’s the sort of term that can encompass J. I. Packer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John MacArthur, John Piper, and R. C. Sproul.  Reformed Christians should swell with excitement when brothers and sisters embrace the doctrines of grace and “evangelical Calvinism” distinguishes us from evangelical Arminianism.

I’m suggesting this not just out of a concern to protect the distinctives that I believe are essential to Reformed Christianity, but also out of a concern for the ongoing vitality of the movement toward the doctrines of grace.  Right now, it seems to me, this movement is being threatened by the movement mentality that characterizes evangelicalism more broadly.  The very lack of a doctrine of the church lies at the heart of this.  There are “evangelical Calvinists” from other traditions who realize this.  For example, my friend Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church has a strong Baptist ecclesiology.  In comparison with mainstream evangelicalism, it isn’t “weak” in the least, although it’s also not Reformed.  He hasn’t settled for a movement-oriented evangelical ecclesiology, but bases his ministry in the local church.  In other words, for him, the hallway isn’t a substitute for the Baptist room.

I love Dr. Horton and have benefited greatly from his ministry but I would submit that this term would not be helpful simply because the word "Calvinism" carries why too much baggage.  I would be willing to bet big money that if you asked the average church goer what Calvinism was all about they would respond with either "no idea" or would rattle of a list of caricatures or misconceptions (no evangelism, God is the author of sin, prayer doesn't matter, etc) based on second hand information that was never checked against Scripture.  In our context here in Albuquerque, Calvinism is oftentimes equated with a four letter word.  At our church, we aim to not even use the word if we can manage it, but when it comes time to teach Ephesians 1 you can be certain that we'll not dance around the issue but teach what is actually there without having to use the word "Calvinism". 

I'm not sure what a better term would be and am not totally convinced that a term needs to be formulated at all but certainly Dr. Horton raises some issues that we should be reflecting upon as we move forward. 

Why Membership Matters

Different churches practice membership in different ways. But whatever form it takes, it’s essential to know who belongs and who doesn’t. Who’s accountable to whom? That might sound exclusionist, but it’s meant to be clarifying. If Christians are supposed to be different from the world, and if the church is meant to be a group of Christians committed to each other for the glory of God, it’s essential that we know who “we” are. The members of the church are supposed to care for each other and pray for each other. How can they do that if they don’t know who “each other” are? The leaders of the church are supposed to care for the church. How can they do that if they don’t know who “the church” is?

- Mike McKinley, Church Planting Is for Wimps: How God Uses Messed-up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things (Ixmarks) pp 57-58

Great DJ

This song never fails to produce an immediate dance party in our home. You can get it here.

When Conservative Denominations Decline

Anthony Bradley:

If your denomination is 25-years-old or older, it is has likely peaked and plateaued in terms of numbers and influence—unless you are from a Pentecostal or Charismatic tradition. The pace of social change is faster in our era than ever before and denominations cannot keep up. As denominations grow they become slow, more bureaucratic, less creative, and less innovative. Denominations increasingly become centered on preserving their institutions while ignoring needed reforms to address social change. As such, the generation that initially grew the denomination becomes the primary target audience. As that population ages and become culturally leveraged, so follows the denomination they helped to grow.

Read the rest as he interacts with some ideas from John Frame and Mark Driscoll.

Seen This Yet?

Kownacki leaps over the catcher @ Yahoo! Video

Technology Helps Us Numb The Pain

Carl Trueman:

Above all, the iPhone phenomenon speaks of the need to be continually occupied with texts, tweets and whatever.  The obsession with texting and these other phenomena is indicative of the general noise we need to generate to keep ourselves occupied.   One of those things which calls to mind Pascal: the measure of true human being is the ability to sit alone in silence in a room.   Were we to do that, in our fallen state we would have no choice but to face our own mortality, the ultimate hopeless futility of our existence without God.

Have a nice day.

Read the rest.

Uh... I am trying to get a job at the Apple Store in Madison right now.  I probably won't be quoting Dr. Carl concerning the iPhone anytime soon.  :)

Amazing Video For A Great Cause

(HT: Matthew Westerholm)

Six Ways Fathers Pursue Christ in their Fatherhood

Scott Thomas:

1.  Fathers Pursuing Christ see their children as a blessing from God
2.  Fathers Pursuing Christ understand that their children are born with a bent toward evil
3.  Fathers Pursuing Christ believe the Gospel is the Good News for Children
4.  Fathers Pursuing Christ train their children to honor and obey
5.  Fathers Pursuing Christ practice and demonstrate submission (Ephesians 5:19-21)
6.  Fathers Pursuing Christ love their wives (Ephesians 5:25 ff)

Click over to read his explanation of each point.  

Bible Interpretation In a Nutshell

A very helpful post for all those who take the Bible seriously here by Michael Patton.

The Greatest Need in the Adoption Movement Today

Jason Kovacs:

I believe the greatest need in the adoption movement today is a greater emphasis on caring for those families and children who have been adopted or fostered from hard places. I, along with a growing number of other adoption/foster professionals, feel that too many families are adopting and fostering without the support they need pre- and post. Many of the children that are being adopted and fostered come from difficult places and they enter their new family with deep needs. Love is not enough. They need special care and they need it not only from their family but from their church community. Love is not enough. Providing them a family is not enough. They need a family and a community that will understand their pain and story and be willing to enter into it and be used of God to bring healing.

While more and more churches are calling their people to step out in faith to adopt and foster there is just as much need for them to call their people to count the cost and to provide the care they need when the child is home. 

Read the rest.  

Stevens' Retirement is Pro-Life Opportunity Lost

You might think that in light of the previous post this post would be contradictory.  Clearly not.  We fight against and speak against the structures of injustice that are prevalent in our society but ultimately our hope is not in them to save or redeem.  Only the Gospel can do that. 

Pro-Life News:

With Stevens’ retirement, President Barack Obama has another seat to fill and yet another opportunity to stall the conservative shift of the High Court.

It marks another missed opportunity to replace a justice who supports abortion with one that will recognize legal rights for all human persons, born and unborn.

The pro-life community would love for the High Court to recognize and enforce the right to life of all persons stated clearly in our Declaration of Independence.

We long for the day that the rights of the unborn will not be subject to the retirement plans of justices with life terms or the politics surrounding the nominating and confirming a new justice.

But even if the Court refused to acknowledge rights for the unborn by outlawing abortion, it could at least return the issue of abortion back to the states where it belongs. Before Roe, abortion was a state crime. And 46 states had laws on the books protecting children from the abortionist’s knife.

The nomination of Supreme Court justices remains a major presidential power. While Gerald Ford served as president for just over two years, his Supreme Court nominee was none other than John Paul Stevens, whose 34-year tenure on the Court will finally end this June.

Too bad he’ll likely be replaced by another, younger judge who will also be unwilling to recognize the promise of the Declaration for our youngest brothers and sisters.

The Message of the Gospel is Not "Behave!"

Jared Wilson is getting a lot of love on this here blog lately but rightly so since his posts have been so great in the last few days.  Read his post from today called "The Message of the Gospel is Not "Behave!""

It's a good read for all those who watch FoxNews every night and are tempted to think the Kingdom of God will be ushered in through political conservatism. 

Should we forget politics all together?  Surely not, but it needs to be kept in it's proper place of emphasis which may be much farther down the ladder of priorities than we think. 

All that to say, it's not an either/or question but a matter of emaphis, priority, and where hope lies.

What Has Been Going On In My Life Recently

My wife sums it up rather well here on our family blog:

Even though I haven't specifically been praying these verses, this is what our hearts have been crying out the last couple of months. We have been praying for funding, a place to live in Madison, and the sale of our home. Specifically, I was praying that our home would sell outright in a conventional way and that we would lose as little money as possible. But, Zach and I have been reminding ourselves and each other, that God is faithful EVEN if this doesn't happen. We need to trust and praise Him when our prayers are answered differently or unexpectantly. We want our hearts to be drawn to Him, and not just His gifts! He is what is worthy, not just what He does for us. He, Himself is the treasure!

So, the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Yes, God has been faithful and yes, He has been good. Here is the gist of what has been happening. We went to Madison almost 2 weeks ago. God provided a place for us to rent at the very last minute of our trip. We will be downsizing to a little house with great character and in a perfect location. We even met the family who currently lives there and will be moving just up the street. While in Madison, we were going back and forth with a possible verbal deal on our house in ABQ that just didn't seem to be working out.

Then, when we got home from Madison, our van's transmission went out and we realized that the real estate contract we had turned down while we were in Madison, may be the best we could expect so we reopened negotiations. After working hard at trusting, talking to friends in real estate, and some sleepless nights, we accepted the real estate contract. We end up losing more than we expected but it will in some ways be gradual (a monthly loss), with some up front (realtor fees) and a little at the end (difference in purchase price and what we owe). It will be for 2 years, until the family buying our house obtains their own financing. It feels so nice to have it completed and we are thankful that we don't have to show the house anymore :). We close April 30 so we are now in full packing mode. We will live with a dear family here who graciously agreed to take in our whole, chaotic family :)

We also found a great deal on a van, a '01 Honda Odyssey with pretty high mileage but that has been extremely well cared for. The kids were so excited to drive around in it yesterday and it feels like a huge upgrade compared to our previous van. Zach and I used to say our dream car was a Honda Odyssey with stow and go seats and we realized that about 8 years later that is now what we have :)

God has blessed us so abundantly through relationships. So many people have offered to help (and have helped) us through watching the kids, giving advice on cars and real estate, inviting us into their homes even when this causes great upheaval, taking in our dog for a month (Molly, our dog, is staying with another family), and offering help in packing and moving. We are very rich indeed!

Sheep To Be Slaughtered

Romans 8:36:
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
How do you regard sheep to be slaughtered?

Dave Dorr:

If you were ever to go to a meat processing plant, you would see live animals being led to the slaughter house and you couldn’t help but cringe.  And that is how Paul says he is regarded by others.

People saw his tribulations and they thought, “Surely this man must be stricken by God.  Nobody would suffer like that if God really loved them.”

But that is Paul’s argument; although great tribulation has befallen him and his companions, it is not proof that they are separated from the love of God.  On the contrary, their suffering serves them in their endeavor to spread the gospel.  Their suffering is how God positions them to do the work that God called them to do.

And Paul is in good company.  How did people regard Jesus?  They cringed.  “Surely he must be cursed by God.”  “Nobody is highly regarded by God if he is hanged on a tree (cross).”  But unlike Paul, Jesus really was stricken by God.  The love of God really did abandon him on the cross.

But Jesus’ suffering positioned him to pour the love of God out on undeserving sinners.  He lost the love of God so that we could gain it.

So if you ever think that people look at your life lived for Jesus and cringe, then you are in very good company.

Read the rest.  

In Case You Missed This Last Night...

This is one of the best I have ever seen. Wait to watch it on the reply.

Bonhoeffer on Confession

He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, not withstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners! (p. 110)

In confession a man breaks through to certainty.  Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience.  But a brother is sinful as we are.  He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin.  Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to the holy God? We must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution. And is not the reason perhaps for our countless relapses and the feebleness of our Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness?  Self-forgiveness can never lead to a breach with sin.

Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves, but with the living God?  God gives us this certainty through our brother.  Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception.  A man who confesses his sin in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. As long as I am by myself in the confession of my sins everything remains in the dark, but in the presence of a brother the sin has to be brought into the light.  Buts since the sin must come to light some time, it is better that it happens today between me and my brother, rather than on the last day in the piercing light of the final judgment. It is a mercy that we can confess our sins  to a brother. Such grace spares us the terrors of the last judgment. (pp. 115-16)

In confession the break-through to community takes place.  Sin demands to have a man by himself.  It withdraws him from the community.  The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation.  Sin wants to remain unknown.  It shuns the light.  In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person.  This can happen even in the midst of a pious community…

The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder.  Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother.  He is no longer alone with his evil for he has cast off his sin in confession and handed it over to God… Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God in the cross of Jesus Christ. (pp. 112-13)

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Clarus 10

If you are in the Southwest you'll probably want to come check out this conference at Desert Springs Church.

CLARUS ‘10

Speakers: Wayne Grudem and Randy Alcorn

Theme: “Between Heaven and Earth”

Topics: Suffering, Business, Government, Money, and Heaven

Dates: Apr 30 – May 2, 2010

Location: Desert Springs Church, Albuquerque, NM

Cost: $15

Schedule

Tickets

Contact

Previous Years Audio

Book Giveaway Winners!

The three winners of Paul Tripp's, What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage are:

Becky Marshall

Robert Ward

Greg Mazunik

Stay tuned for a new book giveaway from Crossway next month!

Desiring Redemption From Circumstances More Than Desiring The Redeemer

In light of my current situation this post from Drew Buell was a GREAT reminder for me:

If you’ve ever been in what feels like a desperate situation, you know that questions like these can make you feel as though the walls are closing in around you. You begin to theorize and strategize and to frantically search for any means of escape or redemption.

These feelings aren’t limited to financial situations, they can be equally true of the mother struggling with a disobedient child who only wants him to obey, or of the pastor struggling with a critical church member who only wants to have a church business meeting without any fights, or of the business owner who only wants to see the economy turn around so that he can stay in business. What they all have in common is the passionate desire for some kind of redemption from difficult circumstances.

What I’ve come to realize is that the great danger in these moments is not that God will not deliver me, but rather that I begin to desire redemption from my circumstances more than I desire the Redeemer.

Read the rest.  

BTW - we just sold our house yesterday.  Praise God. 

Don't Be A Christian Idiot at the Restaurant

Jared Wilson:

So before the T4G conference last week I posted something about dudes not watching porn in their hotel rooms, and it got a lot of traction. Now I wonder if someone should have posted something about not being idiots at restaurants and cafes, because while I was in Louisville I kept hearing horror stories. One waitress told us that one party she waited on left her a $7 tip on an $80 bill but also left one of those fake million-dollar-bill gospel tracts. Another got "Way of the Master"ed while she served a table. She was in tears relating this to another pastor, who ministered to her more gently. I abominate whoever left the fake money tract. The lines for service were long last week, so there was a lot of sighing and eye rolling and short temperedness from Christians who forgot they were there to serve.

AMEN.

Top 10 Party Schools

*Playboy's 2010 Top 10 Party Schools:*

1. University of Texas at Austin
2. West Virginia University
3. University of Wisconsin-Madison
4. University of Miami
5. East Carolina University
6. Arizona State University
7. Rollins College
8. University of California-Santa Barbara
9. Plymouth State University
10. University of Iowa 

I would be interested to hear about categories they use in attempting to quantify this.  Most people passed out in the street?  Most people urinating in undesignated areas?  Beer sales? I am excited to be planting a church in the #3 city on the list. 

When I was a kid we lived four blocks from the University of Northern Iowa with college housing all around us.  I can quite vividly remember the numerous times my Dad would go outside at 2am to scold some poor college kid for using our yard as a urinal. 

I few years ago my Dad started wearing a mouthpiece at night to protect his teeth from grinding.  One night be awoke to the sound of drunk college kids screaming at each other next door.  He sprung out of bed, marched outside in his robe, and began his usual scolding of the poor inebriated undergrad.  He was halfway into he lecture when the college kid said, "Uh Lynn, I am having a hard time understanding you."  My Dad quickly took note of the fact that he failed to remove the geriatric appliance from his mouth before commencing with the tongue lashing.  Classic moment. 

I'm probably destined to be that guy. 

Carl Trueman Continues To Stir The Pot

I need to think about this some more but I do like what he says about splitting and planting:

OK, it's been some years since I've beaten this drum, but this really did highlight for me once again the manifold problems and shortcomings of the megaconference with the megapastors phenomenon.  Such are inspiring and encouraging shots in the arm for those working hard in struggling churches; but the pastor of a church with, say, 1000 or more people has almost nothing of any practical usefulness to say to the session at a church like mine vis a vi day-to-day shepherding.  It's a just a different scale of operation, when you cannot know all your people by name, and have a team and a budget to keep everything running.

This is not a criticism; there is no `biblical' norm for church size (though I do think, as a rule of thumb, if the pastor can't remember every member's name, it might be time to think of splitting and planting); but it is to say that pastors of very large churches are actually of inversely proportional use to the wider church simply because the world in which they live is not the world in which the vast majority of pastors, elders, deacons, members and adherents exist; and the specific questions big church pastors, and solutions they can offer, are often of an entirely different order.  So here's an appeal: let's organise some big conferences where all the speakers are pastoring churches of three hundred people or less.    It may well be that the lectures and Q and As prove less inspirational but far more useful to normal churches and pastors in ordinary circumstances.

Of course, nobody may attend; but that's a different problematic story...

Read the rest.  

A New Chapter for Francis Chan

Catalyst Space:

Last Tuesday I had the honor of interviewing Francis Chan at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA.  I was asked to wait to post this video until today because of the sensitive nature of what Francis shared...

After 16 years of serving as senior pastor for Cornerstone Church Francis is sensing the Lord leading him in a different direction.  Despite not having complete clarity on what this means or exactly what is next Francis is stepping out in faith, something he has done for so much of his life.  He announced this decision to the church yesterday no doubt solidifying the start of a huge transition for both the Chan family AND the Cornerstone Church family.  The beauty of this announcement is that it comes in unified peace and hopeful harmony.

When I asked Francis, "what's going on with you right now, what are you learning," I had no idea that he would share all of this...needless to say the remaining questions I had prepared were thrown out the window as Francis spoke from his heart and offered a vulnerable glimpse into his own personal journey...

"I would be a hypocrite if I didn't go..."

Francis Chan is stepping out in faith... from Catalyst on Vimeo.


Francis Chan - "Fun Five" from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Men, Are You "Using" Your Wife For Ministry Ends?

Jared Wilson:

I am hearing more and more of husbands who are not tending well to their wives' hearts. This occurs in the form of "using" their wives for ministry ends and business ends and family ends.

Some church planters and pastors will wield their wives like instruments in building the ministry or furthering the cause.

Some husbands will use up their wives for the cause of a "well-run family" or a "well-ordered home."

Gentlemen, are you doing this? Are you spending your wife to gain a ministry? That is marital suicide. Your primary ministry is to your wife.

Are you spending your wife to gain your children? That is a lose-lose enterprise, because you will lose your wife's heart and still not gain your children's (because they will see how you treat their mama).

The best thing you can do for your ministry and your kids is love your wife gently, tenderly, honorably, affectionately, wisely, romantically, and -- above all - Christly.

A Community of Confession

This morning I had the opportunity to preach in church.  My text was John 3:19-21.  It assumes that The Church should be a community that confesses sin to one another.  Sin lives in the dark but we are people of the light.  We have to bring our sin into the light to be what God calls us to be has his people.  I hope you take a listen and that it encourages you. 

Prosperity Gospel in Africa

Desiring God Blog:

Here’s a gripping article from Christianity Today which highlights the explosive growth of prosperity teaching in Africa. An excerpt:

…prosperity-tinged Pentecostalism is growing faster not just than other strands of Christianity, but than all religious groups, including Islam. Of Africa's 890 million people, 147 million are now "renewalists" (a term that includes both Pentecostals and charismatics), according to a 2006 Pew Forum on Religion and Public life study. They make up more than a fourth of Nigeria's population, more than a third of South Africa's, and a whopping 56 percent of Kenya's.

All the more reason why we want to support an important partner in their work to bring solid, biblical, God-exalting theology to South Africa.