A friend of mine from years gone by, gave a sermon recently to pastors who had gathered to learn how to preach better. The sermon was excellent, but this clip struck me a worth posting.

Click here for the short clip:

doug-odonnell

View the whole thing here:

http://www.simeonworkshops.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=92&Itemid=147

Today’s Spurgeon reading came at a perfect time as I’ve found myself dwelling, perhaps a bit too much, on certain mysteries lately.

From September 5: (This is from the edited modern language version. If you are a traditionalist, replace all You’s with Thee’s and call it good).

Some things in nature remain a mystery even to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has boundaries beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone.

…

Why am I so curious to know the reason for my Lord’s providences, the motive of His actions, the design of His visitations? Will I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist or hold the universe in my palm? Yet these are as a drop in a bucket compared with the Lord my God.

…

Do not let me strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and that should be enough for me.

…

The simplest act of obedience to Him is better than the profoundest knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to You and ask You to put far from me a love for the tree of knowledge that would keep me from the tree of life.

Read the whole thing here.

It made me think of a J.I. Packer quote that I always to try keep in mind when I’m learnin’ about theology and theologizin’.

As I often tell my students, theology is for doxology and devotion—that is, the praise of God and the practice of godliness. Theology is at its healthiest when it is consciously under the eye of the God of whom it speaks, and when it is singing to his glory.

Motte Brown said it all very well over at Boundless. Guys need guys.

If you ever have to associate with other people, this post is worth reading.

In short:

Persons ready to take offence, either lack the charity which should cover offences; or the wisdom duly to weigh human frailty; or lastly are gross though close hypocrites, as Christ our Lord teaches (Matt. 7: 1-3).

Read the whole thing here.

HT:Route 5:9

Last Friday night I watched Into the Wild, a movie based on John Krakauer’s book.

I have not read the book although I’ve been aware of it and the story it tells for years. I may pick it up this week and read it… or I may not.

I have my opinion about the tragic story of this kid who rebels against everything this world has to offer and ends up paying the ultimate price.

The movie was directed by the Patriot Sean Penn and the music was done by Patriot-in-Training Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam).

Sean Penn: “Bush is evil”
Eddie Vedder: “Yeah, and dumb.”
Sean: “He lied.”
Eddie: “Yeah, big dumb liar.”
Bruce Springsteen: “Hey, what about me? I matter! I’m relevant.”

With Penn as a director, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the movie stressed themes that glorify anti-establishmentism (is that a word?), irresponsibility, and the inability to participate in meaningful human relationships (with one exception, the relationships that were lauded were those between the main character and some hippies, the main character and another couple of drop-outs, and the main character and a convict).

There were some redeeming values in the movie, but let’s move on. If you are interested, every thought I could possibly have about the movie has been addressed on the web as has every opposing thought. Go to it. That is not what I want to concentrate on.

I will say this. I liked the movie a lot. It was also one of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen.

Onto the music.

While watching, I was drawn to the music that Vedder did for the movie. Instant gratification is a wonderful thing and 2-3 minutes after deciding I liked it (at 1230am), it was downloaded and I was listening.

I was met with this:

“On bended knee is no way to be free
Lifting up an empty cup, I ask silently
All my destinations will accept the one that’s me
So I can breathe… ”

— and —

“Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite, forever orbiting
I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed”

This is so beautiful, man. Just live and let live, brother. Yeah.

These words pierced my heart, for many reasons.

10-15 years ago, these lyrics would have gripped me (and my friends) as we sat around drinking (and worse).
As we lambasted religion and everything connected to it.
As we ridiculed ministries like Focus on the Family (for different, more naive, reasons than those for which I ridicule Focus today).
As we preached about societal expectations and non-conformity.
As we threw out deep thoughts like “just let people be” and “what’s so bad about feeling good”.

Now the words (mine and the lyrics to these songs) just seem quaint; shallow and ambiguous because it’s much easier to be vague than exact. It’s much easier to believe in everything than it is to believe in something.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m glad lyrics like this are out there. I’m happy this ear pudding is out there, because angst-filled teens and 20-somethings (Yes, Eddie, I said teens and 20-somethings) need something to grab ahold of when they are holed-up in their rooms after school. It’s just great that they have this deep, poetic, drivel when they really need it.

It makes me sad.

The thing is… angst-ridden teens and idealistic 20-somethings, generally, after working themselves to exhuastion trying to “find themselves” or to just “be free” simply end up with more angst or depression. They end up being screwed up 30 and 40-somethings. Or like the kid in this movie, they end up dead.

I’m not using the word ’sad’ lightly here.

As I listened to these words, my eyes filled with tears. I thought of how lost so may are and of how many lost people (Sean, Eddie?) are leading them further away from any semblance of truth. I thought of how blessed I am and of the love that is showered daily, and undeservingly, upon me. Why me?

I realized that I was there. I was where the kid in the movie was or at least where the throngs who identify deeply with lyrics and themes like this are.

I realized how far I’ve come from that world; that world of unbelief that accepts everything and loves nothing. Today, through the Grace of God, when I now think of “freedom” or “rules”, I think of Psalm 119:45.

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

We have such liberty in Christ and he condescends so far to give it to us.

“Lord, you are giving me everything! And all you ask is this??”

It’s a freedom that, to me, is palpable. I can feel it. I feel it physically when I wake up in the morning or when I’m frightened; or when Christ helps me win the latest in what will be a long line of struggles with doubt and unbelief. Call me a loon, but even the air feels different to me now. And it feels the same sitting here at my kitchen table as it would in the wilds of Alaska.

We all know that we need something else. And so many are searching for something else. But the answer isn’t to turn inward or drop out, abandoning everything and everyone including those who love you, no matter how imperfectly. Like the reviews of Into the Wild, the thoughts on what we are looking for are endless, so I’ll defer.

“Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee? ” Augustine

With the kids out of school, my morning devotional/study/prayer time has been affected dramatically, so I was highly convicted this morning when I read this.

“I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’; ‘Thou shalt early hear my voice.’ Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God-to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.”
—Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Tomorrow’s another day, eh?

I didn’t get a chance to discuss my last point in the Men’s Bible Study last week, so I’ll cover it here. As you move through James 1 and the first half of 2, there is a sense of progression with James showing what the Christian life should be (amidst their faith being tested) and what it should not be (likely addressing the sins of the church dispersed). Then you hit James 2:14 and he gets to the point.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

then James answers his question in verse 17.

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Though the discussions tend to center around the seeming contradiction with Paul’s writings in Romans, it takes us away from what James is doing. He is knocking people upside the head with bat, a big bat! Your proclaim Christ, but the works are not there, your faith is dead, it will not save you! He then goes on to compare that faith to the faith of demons!

While I certainly don’t advocate spiritual fruit inspection among everyone, as I would be the first to fail, we should not be afraid to preach, teach and exhort with the hard truths of Scripture. Namely here, that if your faith is not bearing fruit, the heart is not being changed, you are unmoved by your brothers and sisters struggles, check your faith man! Especially in the relatively worry-free United States where as John Piper says, “it is easy to fake it”.

What is the hope in this exhortation? I think James shows us his heart in the last two verses of the book.

“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19, 20)

James wants them brought back, which is always the hope in the disciplines whether teaching, preaching or rebuking.

For…

”All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)

That is what I see through my barely-sanctified eyes anyway, but I am open to correction.

I’ve about finished reading through the Pentateuch again and it has changed how I pray for my family. This probably is not a new thing for anybody, but I have much to learn! Moses regularly prayed for God to be merciful and forgive the sins of the Israelite’s. I had never prayed for God to forgive the sins of my wife and children before, but seeing Moses, remembering Job’s intercession for his children (Job 1:5) and reading Ezekiel 22:30 “stand in the gap” verse has led to me doing this almost daily (certainly not for lack of time needed to repent of my own sins).

How about you? Besides praying for your family, do you ask God for mercy and forgiveness on the behalf of your wife and children?

“Eschatology determines ethics.” So said Dr. Hafemann almost everyday in Greek 101 at Wheaton College. And he’s right. What a man believes about what the future holds will shape the way he lives in the present. With that said, N.T. Wright has been getting a lot of press recently with his book Surprised by Hope, a slimmed down version of his larger book, The Resurrection of the Son of God. While I haven’t seen this new book yet, I do have a copy of Resurrection, and I’m not very comfortable with all that I’ve seen in it. Therefore, I was very interested to read this review by my former professor at SBTS, Dr. Schreiner. Dr. Schreiner does an excellent job highlighting the good and bad in the book and I believe he hits a couple things perfectly.

First, I often wonder as I’m reading N.T. Wright just whom he is attacking. Schreiner helpfully points out that the main errant theological targeted population in this book is very small, almost nonexistent. Almost no one today would say that in heaven we will not have physical bodies. Secondly, I think Schreiner does a good job of pointing out that Wright’s emphasis on the continuity between this world and the world to come is over played. Yes the Bible speaks of a basic continuity between this world and the next, but it also speaks of a radical discontinuity the to me seems to undermine his almost radical social program. Here are a few highlights to whet the appetite.  

As noted above, Wright often emphasizes that our work in this world is important. Christians ought not to think that their work in politics, economics, business, art, and so forth is insignificant. There has been a kind of pietism that has denigrated such work. Still, it isn’t clear that forgiving third world debt is a moral obligation on the same level as abolishing slavery. Wright too confidently dismisses all who disagree with him on this matter, sweeping away any objections with rhetorical statements. Moral claims in the public sphere must be advanced by careful reasoning, and Wright does not provide arguments to support his conclusions. Perhaps in the future he will tackle the matter with reasoned public discourse instead of dicta from above.

Wright commends evangelism as part of our work as believers, but he clearly emphasizes being engaged in the political sphere. Surely Wright has his emphases backwards here. The Scriptures teach that only those who believe in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins will enjoy the new creation. Isn’t the most important thing for human beings, therefore, to gain acceptance into this new creation? Aren’t there great artists and gifted politicians who have improved our life in this world (for which we are all thankful), and yet who will not be part of the new creation because they have rejected the gospel? Moreover, while Wright correctly affirms that everything done in this world matters, there is also discontinuity between this world and the next. The curse of Genesis 3 will not be lifted until Jesus comes again. Our work in this world is provisional and always touched by the curse. The invention of the car solved a pollution problem in the streets caused by horses, but no one foresaw that it would cause pollution problems of its own.

Reading an article on N.T. Wright and the New Perspective by Mark Seifrid called: The Narrative of Scripture and Justification by Faith: A Fresh Response to N. T. Wright. In the introductory comments, Mark points out that in order to stay true to the truth, we must constantly be restating the truth in ever fresher/truer ways. I found these two sentences intriguing:

Like Alice-through-the-Looking-Glass, we must run fast if we only wish to stay in place. Or, as the author of Hebrews enjoins us, we must here and now give the closest attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.