Worth Your Time 1.27.12
Grace and Truth Beyond the Elephant Room from Trevin Wax
So when we engage in conflict, let’s make sure it is out of love for the truth, love for Jesus, love for one another, and love for the people we shepherd. Sometimes we may even stand against a brother on a certain issue, but even when we take an adversarial stance, it ought always to be for the good of that brother and the glory of King Jesus.
Parents, Beware: Proverbs Are Not Promises from Desiring God
Far too many of us who (rightly) renounce the so-called “prosperity gospel” (wrongly) coddle our own little version of it as we focus on our families.
Just How Family-Centered Is the Bible? from The Gospel Coalition
While the family cannot be so important that it invades the space in our heart that only God should occupy, we see that even from Creation, God designed marriage and family to result in a maturing society. Zechariah, however, warns us not to make family the ultimate thing. He turned it into a false god, leaving no room for the truth of the real God.
Write This Down: Note-Taking Strategies for Academic Success from The Art of Manliness
I’ve provided a primer on note-taking strategies, many of which I personally used during my academic career. A lot of this is fairly basic stuff–there are no “secrets” to note-taking success. But hopefully a few of these tips will help you start taking notes more effectively.
Worth Your Time 1.26.12
The State of the Union and the State of the Pulpit from Erik Raymond
If you are a pastor, keep preaching. And keep expecting people to listen. But, please, please, please, could you make sure that the sermon is actually in you before you give it? Make sure it moves you. Have convictions, be persuasive, get after it. What a shame it would be if the president was more thoughtful, diligent, and committed in his presentation to the people of the country than we are to our congregations before God?
Women in Ministry and 1 Timothy 2:12 from Denny Burk
1 Timothy 2:12 is the most debated verse in the intra-evangelical debate about women in ministry, and its interpretation has been highly contested over the last 20 to 30 years. That is why it was not small matter when the translators decided to revise their rendering of this text in the 2011 edition of the NIV.
Open Letter to T.D. Jakes from Brandon Smith
I love and affirm you as a brother in Christ. There will be many people who parse your words from today and still doubt you. Sadly, people believe that you a) owe them an explanation satisfactory only to them, and b) that you’re probably still a heretic even though they can’t name a theological reason why. I don’t agree hardly at all with your methodology or even sometimes your exegesis, but I know this – you are the real deal and I can learn a lot about loving Jesus and loving others from you.
T.D. Jakes, The Trinity, and Truth from Ed Stetzer
Jakes has explicitly said he moved away from a non-trinitiarian position to a Trinitarian one as he studied the scriptures. You might want more, and I would have loved to hear several other theological issues addressed. Regardless, to be fair, you have to at least acknowledge a shift on views of the Trinity– and that is a move in the right direction.
Constantine’s Cross and our Misapplication
I’ve been reading Leonard Verduin’s book, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren for my Baptist Heritage class at Southwestern this semester. In it, I came across a very startling and sobering reminder.
The author writes of Constantine, and his “vision” of a cross in the clouds along with the words “in hoc signo vinces” (in this sign conquer), which led him to declare Christianity as the official religion of Rome, paint crosses on his soldiers’ shields, and attempt to return Rome to her former glory. Verduin writes,
This was to read a new and totally strange meaning into the “Cross.” Is the Cross of Christ then a thing whereby emperors’ ambitions are realized? A device that sees the political aspirations of a power-hungry ruler through to victory? Surely Constantine had grasped little or nothing of the ideas set forth in the Cross of Christ!
And yet Constantine’s misapplication of the cross is ours as well. How many have gone to Christ in effort to receive their selfish desires, their narcissistic ambitions, their grabs for power?
How many times have I?
How much ink has been spilled and sermons written that teach that Jesus is “for us,” that his desire is to “increase us,” and “make much of us?” Isn’t this the message that we long to hear?
We are all children of Constantine.
So many are willing to take only as much Jesus and Christianity as needed to gain what they truly desire – which usually includes some sort of financial blessings, physical blessings, and selfish gain.
But at the cross, we’re called to give all of that up for the sake of Christ.
The Cross is not the guarantee of our pursuits, but the declaration that Christ has conquered sin, shame, hell, and death. We don’t conquer by this sign. We surrender to the reality that by that sign, we have been conquered. We cease our attempts to make much of ourselves and fall on our faces and worship, and bring glory to the One who so rightly deserves it.
Worth Your Time 1.25.12
You Might Be Killing Your Ministry (And Not Even Know It) from Aaron Armstrong
There is nothing that kills effective ministry faster than pride (even if that ministry seems to be thriving on the outside).
Know Your Evangelicals: Francis Schaeffer from Joe Carter
Schaeffer was one of the most influential figures in American evangelicalism in the period between World War II and the mid-1980s.
The Humanity of Christ Matters from Russell Moore
Why is it so hard for us to imagine Jesus vomiting?
Why I Resigned From The Gospel Coalition from James MacDonald
I have very different views on how to relate to the broader church and how the gospel must impact every relationship. I don’t want my minor role on the Council to hinder their work as a whole or to give the impression they agree with all God has called me to do.
Worth Your Time 1.24.12
My Take: Why the Abortion Issue Won’t Go Away by Dr. Al Mohler
After recently addressing a large secular assembly on issues of moral controversy, I turned and faced a woman who urgently wanted to ask me a question: “Why won’t the abortion issue just go away?”
I knew exactly what she was asking. I often meet abortion rights advocates who honestly thought that the national controversy over abortion would simply melt away within a few years of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.
A Pattern for Prayer, Courtesy of O.S. Hawkins from SBCVoices
Baptist pastor, financial administrator, and author of over 20 books, O.S. Hawkins, does what Bounds forgets to do. In his very practical, helpful book, “The Pastor’s Primer,” Hawkins disciples his reader in private prayer by sharing a model from his own life.
Last week the Obama administration shocked and disappointed many church-affiliated institutions by announcing they will be forced to cover free birth control for employees in their medical insurance plans. According to the Washington Post, workplace health plans will be required to cover all forms of contraception approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ranging from the pill to implantable devices to sterilization. Also covered is the morning-after pill, which is considered by many pro-life groups to be the equivalent of an abortion drug.
My Take: Why Christians are Criticizing my Christian Marriage and Sex Book by Mark Driscoll
We knew before we wrote the book that we’d catch a lot of flak, especially on the chapters dealing with sex. We also knew the criticism would come from every direction, as some people would think we went too far and others would think we didn’t go far enough.
But we wrote it anyway. Why? Simply put, we want to help marriages — and single people aspiring to marry — and we wanted to do so in a way that is practical, biblical and applicable to the reality of today’s culture.
My review of his book can be read here.
Worth Your Time 1.23.12
A Review of T.D. Jakes’ Code Orange Revival Sermon from BetterThanSacrifice.org
Jakes’ teaching is deadly to those who are enticed by it. They trust in God to fix the problems of this life, to keep them from trial and tribulation. And should He not accede to their arrogant expectation, their faith is shipwrecked, because it was founded not upon the sure and certain promises of God’s word in Christ as recorded in the Scriptures, but upon the false words of a self-proclaimed prophet.
President Obama’s Indifference on the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade from Denny Burk
The President says he wants “our daughters [to] have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons.” Who could disagree with that statement? I agree with it totally. The problem is that President Obama does not really mean it. At the same time he calls us to protect our daughters’ rights, President Obama praises the decision that has led to the legal killing of at least 25 million of our unborn daughters. Clearly he does not want to protect the rights of all of our daughters, but only some of them. How can he not see the moral absurdity of his own words?
Why Am I Grateful for C.J. Mahaney’s Ministry? from Practical Shepherding
have been and continue to be very troubled by how so many people are quick to dismiss so much of C.J’s fruitful ministry on the basis of accusations of which many have no first hand insight to the validity of them. With this post, I still intend to stay away from the debates and write only on that which I have experienced with him, first hand. Namely, the pivotal and unique impact C.J. Mahaney has personally had on me and my ministry as a pastor.
Maybe Calvinism isn’t the Problem from SBCVoices
I think the number one issue facing us today is the number of members we have in our church that are not saved, because we have made it too easy… Many will say to Jesus “Lord, Lord” but will not enter the Heaven. Maybe we are far too concerned about ‘predestination’ or ‘election’ and not worried about the people who “made a choice” yet will spend eternity weeping.
You just caught your child in porn. What are you to do? from Counseling Solutions
Let’s say a dad came to see you for advice about his teenage son. He tells you his son has been sneaking out of bed late at night looking at porn on the computer. He’s put filters in place but his son seems to be able to get around them. How might you start advising this father?
Worth Your Time 1.20.12
Please accept my apologies for not posting yesterday. I underwent a procedure to remove kidney stones and was a bit loopy due to the pain medication. But without further ado, here are the articles that I think are worth your time.
Seminary: Life or Death? from DesiringGod.org
In this series of posts on “How to Stay Christian at Seminary,” we’re hoping, under God, to do precisely that — help keep you Christian.
Making Necessary Distinctions: The Call to Discernment from The White Horse Inn
Sometimes we treat contemporary controversies as if we were the first to encounter them. Unaware of the discussions and debates that forged Christian consensus in the past, we often treat controversies as if we were the first to encounter them. Starting from scratch, we often end up with our own lopsided confusion of things that ought to be distinguished and separation of things that ought to be held together.
Shepherd the Flock That is Among You from The Gospel-Driven Church
I have heard more than a few times that a preacher ought to preach for the crowd he wants. There’s a grain of truth in that but it’s mostly balderdash. Preach to the crowd you have. They’re the ones who are there, listening.
And, I seem to have struck a nerve with several people with my article a few days ago on Joel Osteen, Oprah, Mitt Romney, and the Importance of Pastoral Education
David, Goliath, and the Gospel
Matt Chandler explains the difference between a moralistic interpretation and a gospel-centered interpretation of the story of David and Goliath.
For more on The Gospel Project, click here.
