In Light of the Gospel

Colin Marshall and Tony Payne have written a great book on church ministry titled, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift that Changes Everything. The basic premise of the book is that structures, although often helpful, do not grow the church or ministry. We need to be “growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ.” It is a shift from programs to relationships.

The book was published at the end of 2009, but now WTSBooks has the paperback version for 50% off (at $7.49). You can get the paperback here, read some sample pages, and download a discussion guide (or the hardcover here for $14.99). Mark Dever had this to say about the book:

“What Col and Tony have described here is exactly what I’ve been trying to do in my own life and in our congregation for years. According to this book, Christians are to be disciple-making disciples and pastors are to be trainers. Superb! This book sets out a crucial shift that is needed in the mindset of many pastors. The authors have carefully listened to the Bible. And they’ve worked on this book. The result is a book that is well-written and well-illustrated, but even more, a book that is full of biblical wisdom and practical advice. This is the best book I’ve read on the nature of church ministry.”

Oh Alan Jacobs…the Wheaton College English prof who provides helpful cultural analysis is at it again on a new website called “Big Questions Online.” It’s an interesting collection of articles and issues covering science, religion, markets, and morals. Jacobs article is the title of this post: “Steve Jobs: Shaman and Sorcerer.” It is an examination of how the Apple vs. PC conflict was once like the Catholic vs. Protestant conflict, but Jobs has pushed into some serious magic now with the iPad. The conclusion:

To turn back the cultural clock, as it were, to take a set of technologies that Apple had already deployed in the iPhone and improve them, repackage and repurpose them in a way that functions with near-absolute smoothness: this is the goal of the iPad. It’s a device meant to mediate the web flawlessly, and to do so — and this is perhaps the most important thing — not primarily by altering what you see or hear but rather by giving you manual control. On the iPad you make things happen by moving your hands around, like a wizard, except you don’t need either a mouse or a wand. You don’t even need those funky gloves that Tom Cruise wore in Minority Report. You touch the Internet: you stroke it, swipe it, pinch it. And it responds precisely to your will. And only Apple can give you that.

The Apple-DOS wars may have been like religion-as-doctrine, but this isn’t: this calls for more archaic imagery, for a picture of religion as “a vast reservoir of magical power.” Apple seems to be the only company playing this game. It has positioned itself as the sole technological conduit for that reservoir. If you don’t believe me, pay attention on your next visit to Diagon Alley: it’s Ollivander’s for wands, Flourish & Blotts for books, the Apple Store for Internet devices. Simple as that.

Read the whole article. If you like this article, you might like Shaming The Devil: Essays In Truthtelling and A Visit to Vanity Fair: Moral Essays on the Present Age, which contains a brilliant essay on magic and Harry Potter.

Kevin DeYoung provides a helpful quote from Gilbert Meilaender:

Christians can, therefore, adopt and recommend no single attitude toward possessions. When they attempt to understand their lives within the world of biblical narrative, they are caught in the double movement of enjoyment and renunciation.

Neither half of the movement, taken by itself, is the Christian way of life. Trust is the Christian way of life.

In order to trust, renunciation is necessary, lest we immerse ourselves entirely in the things we possess, trying to grasp and keep what we need to be secure. In order to trust, enjoyment is necessary, lest renunciation become a principled rejection of the creation through which God draws our hearts to himself.

Indeed, affirmation must, I think, have the final word. Principled renunciation is more dangerous than principled enjoyment because created goods are channels through which the divine glory strikes us, and those who love and delight in any good thing may yet learn to love god. The heart may be drawn from image to Reality. But to renounce all enjoyment of created things—to delight in nothing—must either be only one part of a movement that, we trust, will end in enjoyment, or it must be hell. (“The Problem of Possessions” in The Preferential Option for the Poor, 85-86)

My friend Tim Russell pointed me to a fascinating article in the New York Times by Judith Shulevitz titled, “Creating Sabbath Peace Amid the Noise.” Shulevitz writes:

But what if you wanted to revive something like the Sabbath today? What if you coveted some of that sweetness and slowness and went looking for ways to get it? What would you do? Would you commit yourself to the Sabbath’s rituals and laws? Would you transform yourself into an Orthodox Jew or latter-day Puritan? How much would you be willing to change?

The article is specifically Christian because it engages a broad range of religious choices, but it is a cultural evaluation of our current situation in this technologically crazy world.

Mike Pohlman @ TGC Blog:

We are excited to announce another feature at The Gospel Coalition that we believe will help advance the gospel around the world. And it has everything to do with the local church. Introducing The Gospel Coalition Church Directory.

The idea is to have churches that believe in the centrality of the gospel for ministry “sign up” so that people can more easily find and get involved in these churches. That’s it, but that’s everything because we believe the gospel is best learned and lived out in the context of the local church.

To learn more and get your church on the map, go here.

The New Republic has assembled some old clips on its website with video footage of personalities like J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, Isaiah Berlin, Sigmund Freud, Aldous Huxley, Michel Foucault, Jean Paul Sartre, Walker Percy, Eudora Welty, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, and several more.  Fascinating.

Kevin DeYoung recently spoke at the recent Next 2010 conference on “The Church,” and C. J. Mahaney provided the list of suggestions from DeYoung on how to make a difference in your local church

• Find a good local church.
• Get involved.
• Become a member.
• Stay there as long as you can.
• Put away thoughts of a revolution for a while.
• Join the plodding visionaries.
• Go to church this Sunday and worship in Spirit and truth.
• Be patient with your leaders.
• Rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed.
• Bear with those who hurt you.
• Give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Say “hi” to the teenager that no one notices.
• Welcome the old ladies with the blue hair and the young men with tattoos.
• Volunteer for the nursery.
• Attend the congregational meeting.
• Bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everybody else.
• Invite a friend.
• Take a new couple out for coffee.
• Give to the Christmas offering.
• Sing like you mean it.
• Be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet for you.
• Enjoy the Sundays that “click.”
• Pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t.
• And in all of this, do not despise the days and weeks and years of small things (Zechariah 4:8–10).

You can listen to the message at the resource page for Next2010: thisisnext.org. Kevin is the co-author of Why We Love the Church.

Do you ever wonder why and when certain communion practices begin? If you have never participated in or witnessed a communion service where the minister puts the bread directly into the mouth, this might not make a lot of sense, but there are some traditions that practice this form of communion.

Peter Leithart has a fascinating article titled “Ritual Magic and Reformation,” where he examines how the Reformers assaulted the concept of magic that under-girded much of Medieval liturgy, and in his opinion, went too far with its strong separation of “physical” and “spiritual” realities, and by doing so, “disenchanted” the world. He argues that we need to regain a sense of the “magic of names.”

The article is worth reading, but I want to point out something he says in the midst of the article during his discussion of the superstitious practices surrounding the Mass. He points out that Keith Thomas, in his classic book Religion and the Decline of Magic, documents stories of “how the Host was profanely employed to put out fires, to cure swine fever, to fertilise the fields and to encourage bees to make honey.” This was so much the case that people would steal the wafer used in the mass and use it in other superstitious ways.

Protestants attacked not only the supposed “miracle of transubstantiation,” but they also attacked the superstitious uses of the elements of communion. This is so much the case that Leithart explains, “The first edition of the Prayer Book instructed ministers to place the Eucharistic bread directly in the mouth of the communicant to prevent it from being carried away and abused in ‘superstitious and wicked’ ways.”

Wow…one of the Protestant communion practices, placing the bread directly in the mouth of the communicant, something still common in many Anglican traditions, was initially used to keep communicates from saving it for superstitious reasons.

Peter Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King’s College in New York City, and he is author of numerous books, usually in the area of apologetics and philosophy such as Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley and Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensees to mention only two. Kreeft has a website that covers his writings, audio, and books. The audio section includes lectures from Kreeft on topics such as moral virtue, literature, apologetics, philosophy and various other areas. Several lectures examine the philosophy and theology of C. S. Lewis.

In other words, they are affirming their traditional identity as Lutherans. Below is Mollie Ziegler Hemingway’s brief report from the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod convention:

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) elected as its new president the leader of the church’s World Relief and Human Care division. Matthew Harrison received 54 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Gerald Kieschnick, who received 45 percent of the vote in his third re-election attempt.The 2.3-million member LCMS is holding its triennial convention in Houston, where over 1,200 delegates are electing new officers and debating whether to restructure the synod.

While the conservative denomination does not face conflict over many hot-button cultural issues, the election of Harrison represents a shift from the Kieschnick administration’s support of evangelical programs and style to a more traditional Lutheran identity. While 54 percent – 50 votes more than the 593 votes needed to win – was not a huge mandate numerically, Harrison was elected on the first ballot at a convention that saw most issues narrowly won after lengthy debate.

“I realize this is a tumultuous change in the life of our synod,” Harrison said in his acceptance speech immediately after the vote. He asked delegates for forgiveness and prayers as he prepares to lead the synod through a new restructuring that streamlines operations at the national headquarters.

The Kieschnick administration, which served for the past nine years, encouraged congregations to adopt praise teams, coffee house worship and small group ministries. It had also overseen the cancellation of Issues, Etc., the synod’s only nationally syndicated broadcast ministry. Harrison’s first post-election interview was with the program, which re-launched outside the denominational structure.

Harrison, leader of the LCMS mercy arm and possessing multiple degrees from the denomination’s Concordia Theological Seminary, was also the preferred candidate of those in the church body that favor a return to traditional Lutheran identity of liturgical preaching, hymns that teach doctrine, and the placement of ordained missionaries overseas.

“There was a great deal of division on the direction things were going. Harrison has an opportunity, in a pastoral way, to bring back unity in [the LCMS] so that we can have stronger service in missions and outreach of the gospel,” said delegate Jeffrey Horn from Garrett, Indiana.

Harrison’s 643 votes yielded the largest margin of victory in a synodical presidential election since 1998.

Good for the LCMS!

While preaching through 1 Thessalonians, I preached a sermon on Paul’s doctrine of Christian imitation. Paul explains, “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia” (1 Thess. 1:6-7). Paul also uses this concept of imitation in response to the problem of “idleness” (being unruly or disorderly) in Thessalonica (in 2 Thess. 3). It became evident that this is a prominent part of Paul’s view of the Christian life, but you seldom hear anything about the importance of imitating others in the faith.

I was sitting in a class at RTS on the Epistles of John with D. A. Carson back in 2002 (I think), and Carson started talking about the importance of this notion of imitation. The way he described it left an impression on me, and according to Justin Taylor (who provides the reference below) Carson addresses this issue in his new little book From the Resurrection to His Return: Living Faithfully in the Last Days (Christian Focus). Carson asks, “Do you ever say to a young Christian, ‘Do you want to know what Christianity is like? Watch me!’ If you never do, you are unbiblical.”  Carson then tells this story:

As a chemistry undergraduate at McGill University, with another chap I started a Bible study for unbelievers. That fellow was godly but very quiet and a bit withdrawn.

I had the mouth, I fear, so by default it fell on me to lead the study. The two of us did not want to be outnumbered, so initially
we invited only three people, hoping that not more than two would come. Unfortunately, the first night all three showed up, so we were outnumbered from the beginning.

By week five we had sixteen people attending, and still only the initial two of us were Christians. I soon found myself out of my depth in trying to work through John’s Gospel with this nest of students. On many occasions the participants asked questions I had no idea how to answer.

But in the grace of God there was a graduate student on campus called Dave Ward. He had been converted quite spectacularly as a young man. He was, I suppose, what you might call a rough jewel. He was slapdash, in your face, with no tact and little polish, but he was aggressively evangelistic, powerful in his apologetics, and winningly bold. He allowed people like me to bring people to him every once in a while so that he could answer their questions. Get them there and Dave would sort them out!

So it was that one night I brought two from my Bible study down to Dave. He bulldozed his way around the room, as he always did. He gave us instant coffee then, turning to the first student, asked, ‘Why have you come?’ The student replied, ‘Well, you know, I think that university is a great time for finding out about different points of view, including different religions. So I’ve been reading some material on Buddhism, I’ve got a Hindu friend I want to question, and I should also study some Islam. When this Bible study started I thought I’d get to know a little more about Christianity—that’s why I’ve come.’

Dave looked at him for a few moments and then said, ‘Sorry, but I don’t have time for you.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ said the student.

‘Look,’ Dave replied, ‘I’ll loan you some books on world religions; I can show you how I understand Christianity to fit into all this, and why I think biblical Christianity is true—but you’re just playing around. You’re a dilettante. You don’t really care about these things; you’re just goofing off. I’m a graduate student myself, and I don’t have time—I do not have the hours at my disposal to engage in endless discussions with people who are just playing around.’

He turned to the second student: ‘Why did you come?’

‘I come from a home that you people call liberal,’ he said. ‘We go to the United Church and we don’t believe in things like the literal resurrection of Jesus—I mean, give me a break. The deity of Christ, that’s a bit much. But my home is a good home. My parents love my sister and me, we are a really close family, we worship God, we do good in the community. What do you think you’ve got that we don’t have?’

For what seemed like two or three minutes, Dave looked at him.

Then he said, ‘Watch me.’

As it happened, this student’s name was also Dave. This Dave said, ‘I beg your pardon?’

Dave Ward repeated what he had just said, and then expanded: ‘Watch me. I’ve got an extra bed; move in with me, be my guest—I’ll pay for the food. You go to your classes, do whatever you have to do, but watch me. You watch me when I get up, when I interact with people, what I say, what moves me, what I live for, what I want in life. You watch me for the rest of the semester, and then you tell me at the end of it whether or not there’s a difference.’

Carson continues:

You who are older should be looking out for younger people and saying in effect, ‘Watch me.’

Come—I’ll show you how to have family devotions.

Come—I’ll show you how to do Bible study.

Come on—let me take you through some of the fundamentals of the faith.

Come—I’ll show you how to pray.

Let me show you how to be a Christian husband and father, or wife and mother.

At a certain point in life, that older mentor should be saying other things, such as: Let me show you how to die. Watch me.

Monergism is offering D. A. Carson’s new book The God Who Is There for 65% off until Friday. That means it is only $6! The book is only 240 pages and it functions as a basic introduction to the Christian faith. Here is the description from the publisher:

It can no longer be assumed that most people–or even most Christians–have a basic understanding of the Bible. Many don’t know the difference between the Old and New Testament, and even the more well-known biblical figures are often misunderstood. It is getting harder to talk about Jesus accurately and compellingly because listeners have no proper context with which to understand God’s story of redemption.

You can read the preface and chapter 1 online. Here is the table of contents:

1. The God Who Made Everything
2. The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels
3. The God Who Writes His Own Agreements
4. The God Who Legislates
5. The God Who Reigns
6. The God Who Is Unfathomably Wise
7. The God Who Becomes a Human Being
8. The God Who Grants New Birth
9. The God Who Loves
10. The God Who Dies—and Lives Again
11. The God Who Declares the Guilty Just
12. The God Who Gathers and Transforms His People
13. The God Who Is Very Angry
14. The God Who Triumphs

Tim Keller says:

“Don Carson’s The God Who Is There is a unique and important volume in many ways. It is neither a traditional systematic theology nor a Bible survey. It unpacks the whole Biblical storyline through the lens of God’s character and actions. As a ministry tool, it can be used for evangelism, since it so thoroughly lays out the doctrine of God, as Paul does on Mars Hill in Acts 17. And yet it also does what the catechisms of the Reformation churches did: give Christians a grounding in basic biblical beliefs and behavior. By all means, get this book!”

[HT: Alex Chediak]

Over at Redeemer City to City, Tim Keller provides some helpful thoughts on daily prayer. He begins by explaining, “There are three kinds of prayer I try to find time for every day – meditation (or contemplation), petition, and repentance. I concentrate on the first two every morning and do the last one in the evening.” Read the whole post.

Westminster Bookstore recently moved, and during the move they asked each staff member to select five of their favorite books to go on sale at 45% off during the move. The sale ends when they resume shipping, which is supposed to be tomorrow (July 14th). Below are a few samples of the sale. I categorized them and put the sale price in parenthesis. Most links provide sample pages and other resources.

History and Theology

• Scott Oliphint, ed., Justified in Christ ($10.44)
• J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism ($8.25)
• Wright, Ferguson, and Ware, Baptism: Three Views ($8.80)
• Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity ($8.24)
• Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4 Vols ($98.99)

Biblical Theology

• Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation ($16.49)
• Greg Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission ($16.50)
• Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology ($20.35)
• Stephen Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty ($13.20)

Christian Growth and Ministry

• Tim Keller, The Prodigal God ($10.97)
• Dave Harvey, When Sinners Say “I Do” ($7.67)
• Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart ($7.67)
• Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands ($9.34)
• Tim Keller, The Reason for God ($8.80)
• Paul Miller, A Praying Life ($8.24)
• Tim Witmer, The Shepherd Leader ($9.89)
• Edward Fisher, Marrow of Modern Divinity ($16.49)
• Michael Emlet, Cross Talk ($8.79)
• Harvie Conn, Evangelism ($6.04)

Children’s Books

• Starr Meade, Grandpa’s Box ($7.69)
• Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible ($9.34)
• The Big Picture Story Bible ($13.74)
• Susan Hunt, Big Truths for Little Kids ($9.34)

Biblical theology is a specific type of way to study the Bible from the perspective of redemptive history. It is an attempt to look at how God revealed himself to humanity at different stages of redemption: at creation, at the fall, during the time of Noah, Abraham and the patriarchs, and on throughout the Old Testament into the New Testament.

Since Geerhardus Vos wrote his classic work Biblical Theology, evangelicals have continued to realize the importance of the discipline. In fact, we have numerous books out now that are good introductions to the task of Biblical theology, and Michael Lawrence has added a helpful resource with his book Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry.

Lawrence means two things by biblical theology. First, he means sound theology, theology that is biblical. Second, he means what is properly called biblical theology: the whole story of the whole Bible. Usually the first definition is closer to what we call systematic theology, and for that reason, Lawrence devotes two chapters to the integration to biblical theology and systematic theology.

The book is divided into three sections. Section 1 examines the tools that are needed to interpret the Bible, which includes exegetical tools, Biblical theological tools, and systematic theological tools. Section 2 provides examples of the task of biblical theology under the title, “The Stories to be Told.” Here Lawrence looks at Creation, Fall, Love, Sacrifice, and Promise. Section 3 concludes the book with “Putting It Together For the Church,” examining some case studies of preaching and teaching and how it applies to the local church.

Lawrence has provided a helpful resource for those who are unfamiliar with the task of biblical theology, as well as a helpful guide to interpreting the Bible in general. For example, the first section not only introduces you to biblical theology by examining covenants, epochs, prophecy, typology, and continuity, but it also introduces you to the basic grammatical-historical method by explaining literary forms and genres.

For those who have been working at biblical theology for a while, this would be a helpful resource to have on your shelf. It provides a quick summary of some of the major points, and Lawrence provides helpful references to other important works. I think the book is most helpful for its ability to provide this summary. In this book, Lawrence is not moving the discussion forward in terms of the interaction of BT & ST (from the discussions of Warfield, Vos, Murray, Gaffin, Kline, etc., see Lee Irons), or in terms of the homiletic significance of biblical theology (as in the hermeneutic being the homiletic).

When I first saw the book, I thought Lawrence was going in this direction, but that would have been a completely different book, and I am glad he wrote this one first! His goal is to introduce BT and encourage pastors to take it seriously in the life of the church. He also seeks to defend ST from the various attacks of the postmodern-evangelical-emergent world, and he does a fine job at that. As it is, this book should be considered a significant contribution to summarizing the project of Biblical Theology. I cannot think of another book that combines all these aspects (biblical theology, systematic theology, preaching, ministry, church, etc.) into one volume in the concise way Lawrence does.

WTSBooks is offering the book for 40% off (which makes it only $10.19). You can see it here, as well as some sample pages. Kevin Boling interviewed Michael Lawrence about his book here.

From the Gospel Coalition Blog:

We are excited to announce The Gospel Coalition 2011 National Conference. Under the banner “They Testify About Me: Preaching Jesus and the Gospel From the Old Testament,” the April 12-14 event at Chicago’s McCormick Place will feature 50 of today’s most trusted Christian leaders. Here’s a brief overview of the conference:

Many pastors and Bible teachers hunger to handle the Old Testament with more confidence—in the same way that New Testament writers handle it, in a way that understands how and why the New Testament writers treat the Old Testament as they do, and so arrive at Jesus and the Gospel. We might have begun by working through a number of New Testament passages where the Old is quoted, but we decided to start at the other end.

This way we may hope to model how a selection of Old Testament texts might be taught or preached—all in the hope of better learning how to teach and preach the whole counsel of God, how to become workers who do not need to be ashamed as we handle the Word of truth.

Watch D.A. Carson and Tim Keller talk about the 2011 National Conference:

Grace Communion International has several video interviews with various scholars and ministers under the title of “You’re Included.” Most of the interviews are about 30 minutes long, and include scholars such as George Hunsinger, Alan Torrance, Trevor Hart, and others. Many of the interviews focus on the gospel, Scripture and the nature of God, particularly a Trinitarian perspective. The one that caught my attention was the interview with Gordon Fee on the Book of Revelation and Principles for Understanding Scripture. You can watch the video here. For a one-page list, go here.

For a few months, Resurgence has been posting video interviews with Michael Horton. You can see links to the various videos here. Be sure to check out the video on “Why You Can’t ‘Be’ the Gospel.” This is a wise word about the importance of getting the gospel right.

But there is another important emphasis tn the interview. Horton discusses why many evangelicals would agree on doctrinal issues and the importance of Christ, but the ultimate question is this: “What plays on Sundays?” Is it Christ crucified, or is it all about you and me? I find this a helpful was to look at the issue. For years the church was gauged not just by its confessional stance but its worship practice. We cannot divorce our worship from our theology.

At The Gospel Coalition website, D. A. Carson has a lecture on “How to Preach Books of the Bible.” You can download it here. After listening to it, I found that John Botkin had posted Carson’s 12 points. I have reposted them below:

1. Read and re-read and re-read and re-read and re-read the book.
2. Start the process early.
3. Eschew the division of head and heart.
4. Early on attain sufficient grasp of the book as a whole so you can succinctly state (a) what the book is about, (b) what it contributes to the canon that overlaps with other books in the canon, and (c) what distinctive things this book brings to the canon.
5. At roughly the same time (as #4), determine the breakup of the book.
6. Start working on individual sermon preparation
7. Each sermon must simultaneously stand alone and constitute a part of the series.
8. Recognize the contributions of whole-Bible biblical theology and a book biblical theology (use something like Scobie or House)
9. Recognize that special study and focus may be necessary for certain books.
10. Try to make you sermon material reflect the genre that you’re preaching from.
11. Remember the sermon is not an exercise in artistic creation.
12. Keep revising, praying, preparing so that you are mastered by the text.

The Church Executive has an interview with Tullian Tchividijian regarding the recent conflict at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL: ‘”HIGH NOON’ at Coral Ridge: Dissidents challenge the leadership of a new pastor.” Tullian recounts some of the struggles and victories of grace in the recent conflict. One of the positive outcomes of the situation was Tullian’s recent book on Jonah. He explains:

Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels started out as a series of sermons I preached right in the middle of the dissent. It proved to be a functional lifeline for me, not because of things I learned about Jonah (everything we learn about Jonah we learn by way of negative example), but because of things I learned about God’s amazing, sustaining, pursuing grace.

You can view some sample pages of the book here.