Christ is deeper still

Honesty: death to performance coming to Nashville

2009-11-16T13:43:00.001-06:00

Check it out here.

Gospel metaphor

2009-11-16T09:36:00.001-06:00

No analogy is perfectly aligned with its reality. But there are telling parallels here with the gospel.

Spiritual pride

2009-11-14T16:08:00.002-06:00

"There is no sin so much like the devil as this for secrecy and subtlety and appearing in a great many shapes undiscerned and unsuspected, even appearing as an angel of light. It takes occasion to arise from everything, it perverts and abuses everything, even the exercises of real grace and real humility. It is a sin that has, as it were, many lives. If you kill it, it will live still. If you suppress it in one shape, it rises in another. If you think it is all gone, it is there still. Like the coats of an onion, if you pull one form of it off, there is another underneath. We need therefore to have the greatest watch imaginable over our hearts and to cry most earnestly to the great Searcher of hearts for his help. He that trusts his own heart is a fool."

Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the New England Revival, page 155, edited slightly.

Louisville Boot Camp

2009-11-13T09:03:00.002-06:00

The Acts 29 Boot Camp in Louisville left me with these thoughts:

1. God continues to stir up a new generation of gospel men. It is so wonderful to watch this, I almost don't want to breathe lest I disturb it. For one who has seen long seasons of unstirred and confused men, the present work of God is unspeakably precious. May it intensify more and more.

2. Acts 29 is maturing and winning broader favor. I see no ego-games going on. I see gifted men submitting to Christ and honoring one another. May we stay there, low before the Lord, where we could perhaps be entrusted with an ever-increasing stewardship of blessing.

3. My hope for Nashville in particular is that, over the next ten years, we will plant so many Acts 29 churches that we reach a threshold where our whole city senses that something has changed, that the gospel has come to town with newness of life.

For this, I give myself in prayer and effort. And I welcome more co-laborers.

A revival-ready social environment

2009-11-09T10:48:00.004-06:00

"At such a day as this, God especially calls his people to the exercise of extraordinary meekness and mutual forbearance. Christ appears, as it were, coming in his kingdom, which calls for great moderation in our behavior toward all men: “Let your moderation be known to all; the Lord is at hand” (Phil 4:5). The awe of the Divine Majesty, that appears present or approaching, should dispose us to this moderation and deter us from the contrary. For us to be judging one another and behaving with fierceness and bitterness toward one another, when he who is the Searcher of all hearts, to whom we must all give an account, appears so remarkably present, is exceedingly unsuitable. Our business at such a time at this should be at home, searching and condemning ourselves and taking heed to our own behavior. If there is glorious prosperity for the church of God approaching, those who are the most meek will have the largest share in it."

Jonathan Edwards, Works, I:421.

Dr. Bruce Ware at Immanuel Church

2009-11-02T20:20:00.003-06:00

Dr. Bruce Ware, Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, will preach at Immanuel Church this Sunday, November 8th, at 10:30 AM. We welcome you to come hear Dr. Ware.

The Great Disturbance

2009-10-31T09:57:00.004-05:00

"Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying 'Repent,' intended that the whole life of believers should be repentance." Martin Luther, Thesis 1

According to Schaff, History of the Christian Church, VII:160, Luther was attacking the medieval notion of sacramental penitence. That kind of "repentance" could be limited to isolated outward acts, leaving the rest of our lives safe from the mega-upheaval of true repentance. Luther contended that real repentance opens us up to endless personal change, leaving nothing about us untouched.

When Luther posted his Theses, he undermined self-reinforcing Christianity, which is no Christianity, and he launched a new era of self-challenging Christianity, which is the power of the gospel.

In Karl Barth's commentary on Romans, he entitles his section on Romans 12-15 "The Great Disturbance." The whole world needs gospel disturbance. Nashville needs it. I need it.

Bring it on.

Temptation

2009-10-30T11:03:00.003-05:00

A voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17

"There are many other voices speaking -- loudly: "Prove you're worth something." "Prove you have any contribution to make." "Do something relevant." . . . These are the voices Jesus heard right after he heard, "You are my beloved." Another voice said, "Prove you are the beloved. Do something. Change these stones into bread. Be sure you're famous. Jump from the temple, and you will be known. Grab some power so you have real influence." . . . Jesus said, "No, I don't have to prove anything. I am already the beloved."

Henri Nouwen, Leadership Magazine, Spring 1995.

There is more than one way to be strong. We can be strong with the dark energy of anxiety, because we need approval, or we can be strong with the bright energy of assurance, because we are already approved.

We have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. 1 Thessalonians 2:4

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1

What is true of Him

2009-10-28T11:34:00.004-05:00

God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7

"We must think of suffering in a new way, we must face everything in a new way. And the way in which we face it all is by reminding ourselves that the Holy Spirit is in us. There is the future, there is the high calling, there is the persecution, there is the opposition, there is the enemy. I see it all. I must admit also that I am weak, that I lack the necessary powers and propensities. But instead of stopping there . . . I say, "But the Spirit of God is in me. God has given me his Holy Spirit." . . . What matters . . . is not what is true of us but what is true of Him."

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, page 100.

What if Nashville went in for therapy - and found that the counselor was Jesus?

2009-10-27T10:06:00.002-05:00

Nashville: I’m tired. Really tired. Especially tired of failing and then covering it up with a smile.

Jesus: “I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.”

Nashville: I can’t see that. And it’s not just me. The whole world is a mess. What about 9/11? What about all the horrible things that keep happening?

Jesus: “I form light and I create darkness. I make well-being and I create calamity. I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

Nashville: That scares me. I don’t want one God over all. I want many spiritual paths, all okay. That leaves me in control.

Jesus: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other.”

Nashville: So let’s say you are God. Let’s say you even love me. But why? You know all my secrets. Why do you love me?

Jesus: “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

Nashville: If I open my heart to you, don’t I risk ending up a fool? What if you fail, like everything else in my life?

Jesus: “By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.”

Nashville: And if I refuse?

Jesus: “There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.”

Nashville: And if I say yes?

Jesus: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Nashville: But I’m so sinful.

Jesus: “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

Nashville: But I’m so weak, so very weak.

Jesus: “A bruised reed I will not break, and a faintly burning wick I will not quench. I will lead the blind in a way they do not know, in paths they have not known I will guide them. I do not forsake them.”

HT: Isaiah the prophet

Much difference?

2009-10-25T18:37:00.002-05:00

Fred Sanders reflects on the death of Paul Tillich -- liberal theologian, serial adulterer -- here. Sanders recounts:

After his death, [Tillich's wife Hannah] returns home and opens his locked drawers. “All the girls’ photos fell out, letters and poems, passionate appeal and disgust. Beside the drawers, which were supposed to contain his spiritual harvest, the books he had written and the unpublished manuscripts all lay in unprotected confusion. I was tempted to place between the sacred pages of his highly esteemed lifework those obscene signs of the real life . . . ."

If there could be placed between the sacred pages of our theological lifework the obscene signs of the real life, would there be much difference between Paul Tillich and us, really?

"Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." 2 Timothy 2:19

Your love shames him

2009-10-24T13:26:00.003-05:00

"There is nothing so contrary to the nature of the devil as love, for he is a spirit who is full of malice. . . . The devil understands many things, but there is nothing that he would make such bungling work at as imitating the true, divine, holy, humble love of a true saint."

Jonathan Edwards, The Glory and Honor of God, edited by Michael D. McMullen, page 314.

What can be a greater honor than this?

2009-10-23T11:01:00.003-05:00

"How great an honor will it be to a person to have God at the day of judgment owning a person, declaring before all men, angels and devils that that person is before his all-seeing eyes and that he stands innocent and perfect in his sight, clothed with perfect righteousness and entitled to everlasting glory and blessedness. How honorable will this render them in the eyes of all that vast assembly that will be together at the day of judgment. That will be an infinitely greater honor than any man or any angel declaring that they judge him upright and sincere and that eternal life belongs to him. What can be a greater honor than this -- to be owned by the great King and Lord of all things?"

Jonathan Edwards, The Glory and Honor of God, edited by Michael D. McMullen, page 61.

The way of simplicity

2009-10-17T11:37:00.002-05:00

"If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers himself to 'babes' and hides himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to him. We must strip down to essentials, and they will be found to be blessedly few. We must put away all effort to impress and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond."

A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, page 18.

Let me go forward

2009-10-16T14:49:00.003-05:00

"I pray, O God, that I may know thee, that I may love thee, so that I may rejoice in thee. And if I cannot do this to the full in this life, at least let me go forward from day to day until that joy comes to fullness."

Anselm, Proslogion, LCC edition, page 92.

A broadly human conception of matured piety

2009-10-15T14:09:00.002-05:00

"Soon after I entered the ministry I was called upon to visit the senior elder of my church, who had been taken sick unto death. He had been a noble and stately figure among us, a certain old-world grace and courtesy reflecting the strength and dignity of his soul. He had been a great friend of his Master, and he had done his Master's work in a great way. I saw him two or three days before he died, when it was known that the end might come at any time, and I found he was enjoying Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers'! I must have made some remark about it, and he replied very simply that he had always been fond of Pickwick, and that he would not be ashamed, when the Master came, to be found deep in the enjoyment of such innocent humor. I do not know what helpful ministry I brought to him, but I know that he gave to me a broadly human conception of matured piety, which all along the way has enriched my conception of the fruits of the Holy Spirit."

John Henry Jowett, The Preacher: His Life and Work, page 204.

HT: Dr. Ray Van Neste

He took it lovingly

2009-10-15T12:45:00.003-05:00

"And the legendary 'Rabbi' Duncan concentrated it all into a single unforgettable sentence, in a famous outburst to one of his classes: 'D'ye know what Calvary was? what? what? what?' Then, with tears on his face -- 'It was damnation; and he took it lovingly.'"

J. I. Packer, In My Place Condemned He Stood, page 95.

My endlessly recurrent temptation

2009-10-15T10:18:00.002-05:00

"This is my endlessly recurrent temptation: to go down to that Sea (I think St. John of the Cross called God a sea) and there neither dive nor swim nor float, but only dabble and splash."

C. S. Lewis, "A Slip of the Tongue," in The Weight of Glory, page 187.

Philippians 3:7

2009-10-14T17:28:00.003-05:00

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Philippians 3:7

"Notice now that he does not only say, But what was gain to me I later saw as indifferent, as unimportant -- no: as loss. To repent . . . does not mean to be liberalized, to become indifferent to what we formerly were, to the former objects of our devotion and the former conduct of our lives, but to be horrified by it all. . . . Recognition not of some imperfection but precisely of the guiltiness, perversity, and reprobateness of his glorious Pharisaism, irreproachable and upright as it was en sarki (in the flesh), recognition of the indictment not on his wickedness but on his goodness -- that is what came upon him dia ton Christon (for the sake of Christ), that was the meaning that Christ's work had for his attitude to these things."

Karl Barth, Epistle to the Philippians, page 97.

HT: Dane Ortlund.

If the invisible God could be seen . . .

2009-10-14T11:31:00.002-05:00

"If the invisible God could be seen, he would look like Jesus."

I. H. Marshall, "Jesus Christ," in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, page 601.

The humility of enthusiasm

2009-10-14T08:34:00.003-05:00

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Mark Driscoll articulates the most important leadership lesson of all here. It is so obvious, so biblical, so often disregarded.

Every church's leadership culture must have the boldness in Christ to look people straight in the eye and say forthrightly, "Hey, c'mon guys. This is for the Lord. Let's go for it!" Enthusiasm reaches for high standards, excellence, accomplishment. Enthusiasm demands of itself the best for the sake of a higher call. Enthusiasm crucifies the too-easily-wounded, silken Self for the sake of Christ. Enthusiasm cheerfully refuses to be held hostage by negative people. Another word for this kind of leadership is humility.

Self-focused leaders worry too much about offending people. Christ-focused leaders risk offense for his sake. Some people will be unable to join in the enthusiasm. Let them go. Let the joy of the Lord triumph. This happy reverence is your strength.

The Browning Version

2009-10-13T11:04:00.002-05:00

Last evening I watched The Browning Version, the 1951 British film about a sour school teacher married to a bitter woman together producing a distasteful life. But there is redemption at the end. He stands up and says, "I am sorry."

"I am sorry." Honest words. Humiliating words. Rare words. When uttered sincerely, taking responsibility for the offense, powerful words. Healing words. Reconciling words.

"If your brother repents, forgive him" (Luke 17:3).

Almost helpless and fainting

2009-10-12T15:18:00.003-05:00

George Whitefield's feats of perseverance drew this observation from an eyewitness: ". . . the man whose powers of voice and action had appeared to evince an extraordinary vigor would be found half an hour afterwards, extended on two or three chairs, almost helpless and fainting."

No preacher is made of steel.

Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, I:486.

John 7:37-38

2009-10-11T14:20:00.003-05:00

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:37-38

"The fulfillment of . . . the promise could be testified by thousands of living Christians in the present day. They would say, if their evidence could be collected, that when they came to Christ by faith they found in him more than they expected. They have tasted peace and hope and comfort since they first believed, which, with all their doubts and fears, they would not exchange for anything in this world. They have found grace according to their need and strength according to their days. In themselves and their own hearts they have often been disappointed, but they have never been disappointed in Christ."

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John 1:1 through John 10:9, page 472.

Spiritually invigorating

2009-10-10T11:08:00.004-05:00

". . . one of the best things that could happen to many believers would be for them to be led to give away, all at one time, a substantial part of their savings. That is, they should give a substantial part of their capital. Why? Because there is something about giving away a sizable percentage of one’s money – and, of course, the amount would vary entirely from one individual to another – that is spiritually invigorating. And there is seldom a case in which a large gift does not throw the Christian back on the Lord and increase the feeling that he is all-wonderful and that he is more than able to care for the one who trusts him. I have seen this happen in many instances. And I have never known a true Christian to be sorry for even the most sacrificial giving afterward."

James Montgomery Boice, Philippians, page 290.