Oct 22, 2009

Interview with Keller on Counterfeit Gods

A recent interview with Tim Keller in Christianity Today about his highly anticipated book that has rocked the blogosphere, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters.

I have read the interview. It gives a very good preview of the book which centered on these questions:
How should Christians think of money, sex, and power?
What makes these three so enticing and difficult to control?
Do Christians have blind spots when it comes to false gods?
How does someone identify their idols?
How do we get rid of idols?
Is it necessary to suffer disappointment before seeing that idols don’t satisfy?

It might take a while for the book to reach Australia. It is currently in the top 200 of all books at Amazon.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can download the Introduction Chapter from the Westminster Bookstore here.

HT: Justin Taylor

Oct 18, 2009

The Positives, Negatives, and Neutrals

Mark Driscoll offers a leadership advice on installing a leadership team in the church that lasts. He puts people in three categories, then recommended the right action for each:
Positives are people who do gospel things in gospel ways for gospel reasons.

Negatives are people who do ungospel things in ungospel ways for ungospel reasons.

Neutrals are followers who are easily influenced.

Read the rest of his posting here.

What he wrote reminded me of management writer Jim Collins' oft-quoted mantra: Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus before even starting the engine.

Serving A Different Order

We serve a different order, the Reign of Christ, which he sets up in contrast to the prevailing way of life in the social order as supported by the fallen powers. To the old order there must be enmity; according to James 4:4, to be a friend of the fallen order is to be an enemy of God. We are to follow the Lordship of Christ who judges the world and conquers it . . . By faith we live in Christ’s victory, yet we must continue to struggle

(Stephen C. Mott, Biblical Ethics and Social Change, p. 18).

Calling, Career, and God's Glory

Justin Taylor had a posting on Piper's pre-pastorate years and his calling to move from serving as a seminary professor to a church minister. Here is the highlight, which I think is key in helping all of us, clergy or otherwise, to make career-related decisions or even any major decision in our lives.
One of the ways God has said to me “Move Piper,” is this: when I read Philippians 1:19-26, there is in me a tremendous longing. Last October it became an irresistible longing to be an instrument in God’s hands to fulfill these goals in a local church.

At this point in my life I say, and I believe God is saying to me, “The potential, Piper, for magnifying me is greater now in the pastorate than in the professorship.” That’s why the move. When I become a pastor, I am going to have one all-encompassing goal, a very simple goal, that in nothing I might be ashamed but that in everything I might magnify Christ whether by life or by death.

If we believe that, as Wolterstorff wrote in his book Until Justice and Peace Embrace, "A career turned toward this world with God behind one’s back is not inferior to a career turned toward God", then it does not matter what career choice we take in this life as long as its major activities in that career are not evil. The key question for us then (as Piper showed above) is which career magnifies God in a greater way. If our career is a means to response to the larger-than-life call of God then we should prayerfully deliberate on the career that will make God's glory be manifested in its brightest spark through our temporary life.

Oct 14, 2009

World-Formative Christianity

The saints are responsible for the structure of the social world in which they find themselves. The structure is not simply part of the order of nature; to the contrary, it is the result of human decision, and be concerted effort it can be altered. Indeed, it should be altered, for it is a fallen structure (p. 3).

I have suggested that the emergence of original Calvinism represented a fundamental alteration in Christian sensibility, from the vision and practice of turning away from the social world in order to seek closer union with God to the vision and practice of working to reform the social world in obedience to God (p. 11).

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Until Justice and Peace Embrace (Eerdmans, 1983)

Seeing Glory, Experiencing Joy

Our family bible study group recently started the expository bible study on the epistle of 1 John. Here is my take on the first four verses.

Our Christian faith can only be genuine if we experience the joy that results from seeing God's glory in Christ
1 John 1:1-4

I was intrigue to read John used a different word (theaomai) in the phrase "we looked upon" (1 John 1:1), which is distinct from the word (horao) used in the phrase "we have seen", precisely in the same verse? Why didn't he use horao for the fourth time? What is so special about theaomai?

A simple search using KJV's Strong Number which is available online tells me that the word 'theaomai' (which for untrained ear sounds like Siomay) actually means: "to behold, look upon, view attentively, contemplate (often used of public shows)". The word 'theater' is derived from this word. When we go to theater to watch orchestra, opera, broadway show, we put extra energy to pay attention to the show (not only because we pay $65 to get B reserve seating but because we want to enjoy the special performance).

Interestingly, and certainly not coincidentally, John used the same word in his gospel (John 1:14): "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have SEEN his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth". Or we BEHELD his glory. Or we LOOKED UPON his glory.

There is something about beholding or viewing with intensity the glory of Christ that takes a profound effect in the viewer.

What is the effect of seeing or beholding the glory of God in Christ? JOY. "And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete" He wrote 'our' joy and I think that's more accurate than 'your' joy, meaning it's the joy experienced by John and other apostles from beholding Christ the word who became flesh.

Seeing the glory of Christ, beholding His glory gives John joy as he fellowships with Christ. Or to put it differently, his fellowship with Christ brings him joy because he beholds Christ, view attentively the manifestation of his glory.

John wrote his epistle that so that his joy may be complete, because he wants us to experience the same thing, that is for us to fellowship with Christ with joy by beholding His glory. The glory that is now preserved in the Scripture. Today we see the glory by hearing the Word of Life from the Scripture read, meditated upon, chewed on, preached, etc.

How easy it is for me to lose the joy of living in Christ or reading His word or serving God because I lose the awareness of His glory and instead become preoccupied with my own glory. Personal devotion, ministry, and relationships with others become monotonous routines because we lose sight of Christ's beauty, holiness, and majesty.

When John wrote 'we looked upon', the theater he referred to was probably the transfiguration of Christ that Peter, James, and John saw with lots of anticipation in Mark 9. That glimpse of Christ's glory must have changed his life, giving him a inside-out, life-transforming joy that sustained him to stay at the foot of the cross when others have abandoned Christ.

The life-transforming effects of beholding God's glory is a key theme in the NT:
- 1 John 1:1 and 1 John 1:4 suggests that it results in joy
- John 1:14 and 1:16 suggests it results in receiving 'grace upon grace'
- 2 Cor 3:18 suggests it results in our becoming transformed 'from glory to glory'

What are we to do then? APPLICATION? Here is a couple points that fits me personally:

1. We who profess we are Christians, have we really seen/beheld the glory of God? That is have we been met Christ personally, awe-struck by His holiness, captivated by His beauty, and overwhelmed by His majesty that sin loses its power within us and the world no longer appeals to us? Have you experienced the joy of salvation that does not give us fire insurance from hell, but re-orients the sources of joy in our hearts from anything but Christ to Christ alone?

2. Have do we grow in faith joyfully, from grace to grace and from glory to glory? How do we help others to grow in faith? How should I preach? How should church programs be developed? The answers to all these questions is: By focusing on God's glory in Christ.

I won't grow in faith by reading about God (theology). Atheists love it too.
And so is the Devil.

I won't grow in faith by obeying ten commandments or the sermon of the mount.
That makes me a religious snob, a Pharisee.

The church won't grow in faith through sophisticated programs, uplifting music, heartwarming fellowship, or inspirational sermons (e.g., health-and-wealth preaching or moralistic preaching that convicts people and sentenced them into guilt).

I will grow, you will grow, the church will grow if we focus on seeing the glory of God manifested in Jesus Christ, namely in the person and work of Christ, in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, or put simply in the GOSPEL.

Let us continue to drink from the Gospel which was maintained by the apostles through their writing (1 John 1:4) to experience the life-transforming joy of the Lord that strengthens us.

In Christ Alone

One of my favorite YouTube videos that never fails to preach to my soul:

No one! No one!

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning;
no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,
for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,
for God's seed abides in him,
and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

(1 John 3:6,8-9, ESV)

Oct 6, 2009

How Not to Preach Legalism

Often in their well meaning efforts to apply the biblical principles, preachers draw applications which lead people into legalism. Legalistic or moralistic preaching is rampant everywhere, people do things in obedience to God out of guilt (and not of Christ-centered conviction). How to avoid this trap? Here is a helpful tip from Haddon Robinson from Preaching Today magazine. The four little scenarios help illustrate what he meant:

Scenario 1:
Suppose, for example, that someone preaches on the principle of modesty. Should a Christian dress with modesty? The answer is yes. But how do you apply that? One preacher may say, "Well, any skirt that's above the knee is immodest." So, he ends up with a church full of knee-length people. In that church, one application of a principle has assumed all the force of the principle itself. That is the essence of legalism: giving to a specific application the force of the principle.
Scenario 2:
I have a friend who keeps a journal, and it works for him. But when he preaches about it, he makes it sound as though Christians who are not journaling can't be growing. Whenever you say, "If you're not doing this particular act, then you're not following this principle," that's legalism.
The Problem
How, then, can you preach for practical application if every time you say, "This is how to apply this truth," you run the risk of promoting legalism? Let me answer with a couple of examples.
Scenario 3:
When my father was in his eighties, he came to live with us. After a while he grew senile, and his behavior became such that we could no longer keep him in our home. Because his erratic behavior endangered himself and our children, we had to put him in a nursing home. It cost me half my salary each month to keep him there. For eight years, until he died, I visited my dad almost every day. In eight years I never left that rest home without feeling somewhat guilty about his being there. I would have preferred to have had him in our home, but we could not care for him properly.

A few years later, my mother-in-law, who was dying of cancer, came to live with us in our home in Denver. It was a tough period in our marriage. I was trying to get settled as president of Denver Seminary. My wife, Bonnie, was up with her mother day and night. She somehow changed her mother's soiled bed six or seven times a day. For eighteen months, Bonnie took care of her in our home. When Mrs. Vick died, we had no regrets. We knew Bonnie had done everything she could to make her last months comfortable.

How should Christians care for their aging parents? Do you keep them in your home or do you place them in a nursing facility? There is no single Christian answer. It depends on your situation, your children, your resources, and your parents.

There is, though, a single guiding principle: we must honor our parents and act in love toward them. To make a Christian decision, you can't start with a selfish premise; you start by asking what is best for everyone involved. How you apply that principle in a given situation depends on a complex set of variables.
The Solution:
The way to avoid the trap of legalism, then, is to distinguish clearly between the biblical principle and its specific applications. One way to do this in preaching is to illustrate a principle with two or three varying examples, not just one, so you don't equate the principle with one particular way of applying it.
Scenario 4:
When our children were young, I lived under the idea that if we didn't have daily devotions with our children—a family altar—somehow we were failing God. The problem was, family devotions worked for other people, but although we tried all kinds of approaches, they never worked for us. Our children sat still for them on the outside but ran away from them on the inside. Yet we kept at them because I felt that a family altar was at the heart of a Christian family.

Then I realized that family devotions wasn't the principle but the application of a principle. The principle was that I needed to bring up my children to know and love God. I had mistakenly been giving to our family devotions the same imperative that belonged to the principle behind it.

We then came up with a different approach, one that worked for us. Our two children left for school at different times. Each morning before Vicki left, I would pray with her about the day, about what was coming up. A little later, Torrey and one of his friends came into my study, and we'd sit and pray for five minutes about what their day held.

That may not sound as satisfying in a sermon as saying we had devotions as a family at the breakfast table every morning, but for us it was an effective way to honor the principle. A preacher must make a clear distinction between the principle and its applications.

Oct 5, 2009

Gospel Truth and Gospel Conduct

A sound and helpful advice from Mike Bulmore entitled "Shepherding Your People to Think and Live in Line with the Truth of the Gospel"
A local church is healthy to the degree that: (1) its pastor-teachers are able to accurately, effectively, and broadly bring the gospel to bear in the real lives of their people; and (2) its people have a deep personal understanding of and appreciation for the gospel, so as to be able to live in the good of the gospel daily. I call this the functional centrality of the gospel.

Critical to achieving this aim is making clear the connections between the gospel and its doctrinal and behavioral implications. We could call these connections “gospel truths” and “gospel conduct” respectively.

Imagine three concentric circles. In the center is the gospel itself, perhaps best represented by the words of 1Cor 15:3 – “Christ died for our sins.” This simple phrase speaks of the reality of our sin, the necessity of divine punishment, and the wonderful provision of salvation from divine wrath by God in Christ. Paul speaks of this “good news” as the matter of “first importance”, and we know well the priority he gives this message in his preaching and writing (cf. 1Cor 2:1-4). Hence, its centrality. But in order for it to have a functional centrality it must be connected to areas where people live their lives.

This brings us to our second circle, gospel truths. These are specific, concrete doctrinal implications of the gospel; or, as Paul puts it, “doctrine that conforms to (i.e., takes its shape from) the glorious gospel” (1Tim 1:10-11). These gospel truths bring the gospel to bear particularly on the mind; they are useful in renewing the mind so that our thinking is more and more shaped by the truth of the gospel.

As we might expect, the book of Romans is especially saturated with these gospel truths. Let me give three examples:

(1) In Romans 5:1 Paul states, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice the logic of the verse. Something follows from the essential truth of the gospel. Our having peace with God is not the gospel itself, but is a powerful implication of the gospel—a “gospel truth”. And understanding this gospel truth is part of conforming one’s thinking to the glorious Gospel.

(2) In Romans 8:1 we read, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Again, notice the argument. Paul is not here presenting the gospel itself but something that is true “now” because of the gospel. But the implication is stunning! When fully comprehended by a believer it will revolutionize their mental world and the gospel will function powerfully for them.

(3) Romans 8:32 is a favorite. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things.” Notice those words “also” and “along with him.” They speak of something that grows out of the gospel. When people see the connection between the truth of the gospel itself (“He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all”) and this gospel truth concerning God’s gracious provision of all that we need for our sanctification (cf. vv. 28-29), the gospel will function for the strengthening of their daily trust in God’s provision.

But not only is the gospel to shape our thinking, there are massive behavioral implications of the gospel as well. The gospel is not only to renew our minds, but to inform our conduct too. The Scriptures provide many examples of this gospel informed living. In Gal 2:14 Paul rebukes Peter for conduct that was “not in line with the truth of the Gospel” and in Phil 1:27 he urges believers to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.” In other words, one of the ways the gospel must function is by informing specific behaviors. Thus, we should read our Bibles with an eye toward detecting these connections. So, for example, when Paul appeals to the Corinthians to “flee from sexual immorality” he explicitly bases his appeal on the gospel—“you are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1Cor 6:18-20). When he urges forgiveness he explicitly references the gospel as both motivation and model (Eph 4:32). When he tells husbands to love their wives he does so by linking his exhortation directly to the gospel (Eph 5:25). When he calls the Corinthians to an ongoing generosity he explicitly reminds them of God’s generosity in the gospel (2Cor 8:7,9; 9:12-13, 15). Many more examples could be given. Ultimately, all Christian behavior should flow out of the gospel; while working hard to avoid triteness, connections should be made to every area of life.

One of the greatest challenges and most important tasks of the pastor-teacher is to clearly show these connections so that people can specifically and intelligently bring the gospel to bear on both their thinking and conduct. Thus the gospel becomes functionally central to the individual Christian and to the local church.

Tim Keller's Counterfeit Gods

Tim Keller's latest book, Counterfeit Gods, is almost here. I can't wait to secure a copy and read it. The introduction chapter is very good. Vintage Keller. You can read it here.