Clarifying the Gospel

Gospel 101 from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.

HT: Ed Stetzer

Easter Eggs: Pagan? Commercial? Demonic?

Are Easter eggs and hunts “too commercial,” and do they obscure the meaning of Easter?  Why should the church sponsor something that has pagan origins? Could we be playing into Satan’s hands?

Listen to this 7-minute interview in which this topic is discussed right here with the Audio Acrobat media player, or download it through iTunes or RSS at Inside Sojourn podcast.

HT: Sojourn Church

The Character of Your Marriage is Built in 10,000 Little Moments

Paul Tripp- What he has learned through marriage from Crossway on Vimeo.

HT: Vitamin Z

Chronology of Holy Week From Scripture

Justin Taylor is going to be posting the chronology of the events of Holy Week from the four gospels.  I would commend working your way towards the cross and the empty tomb this week to prepare for this upcoming Easter Sunday.  Here's a sample from his post for today: 

On Monday morning Jesus and the Twelve leave Bethany to return to Jerusalem, and along the way Jesus curses the fig tree.

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!”- Matthew 21:18-19

And the fig tree withered at once.

Click here for help journeying to the cross this week.

HT: Justin Taylor

John Piper vs. the Emergent Church

Why do we need John Piper in the church today?  This video demonstrates the answer perfectly.  Because he's willing to do what so many today are not.  That is, he's willing to put Christ above all else (i.e., relationships, feelings, political correctness, politics, status), he's willing to call out false teachers by name, and he does it all for the glory of Christ (so much so that he's willing to take a leave of absence because he senses a need for a "reality check from the Holy Spirit.").  He and his ministry are a tremendous gift to the church in our day. 

HT: Think Christian

Update From Matt Chandler

Voice Raps Dug Down Deep

Pastor and moonlighting hip-hop artist Curtis Allen (a.k.a. Voice ... I've always wanted to say that) has created a hip-hop, musical interpretation of the heart of Joshua Harris' new book Dug Down Deep. The result is the song "Whatever it Takes."  I'm reading the book now myself and plan to write a review very soon, but in short, this is an excellent book for new believers and mature Christians alike.  We all need a reminder of why it's important to know what we believe and why - Dug Down Deep provides that reminder in an interesting and thoughtful way.  Read Reviews of the Book • Order Online • Read the First Chapter

HT: Joshua Harris

Miracle? Nope, It's Just Basketball

Great shot? Absolutely. Miracle? Not even close. In sports we often hear references to athletes as warriors and their deeds described, when triumphant, as supernatural in nature.  However these prowess athletic feats fall far short of the standard by which actual miracles are defined.  So why has this language become common in our sports arenas?  I think it's an indication that sports and athletes have clearly become idols in the modern age, but I also think this is a product of living in a time when most of us don't experience true miracles - thus the word has lost it's meaning.

What is a miracle?  Is it something that is difficult to believe?  Is it something that defies (or seems too) a natural law?  Is it something that flies in the face of logical reasoning?  Is it a flash of "magic," here one moment and gone the next?

C.S. Lewis describes miracle thus:

"I use the word Miracle to mean an interference with Nature by supernatural power." 

The Gospel is a Command

By Charles Spurgeon

It is not optional to men to accept or refuse it at pleasure. "Now God commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). He also commands them to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15).

To refuse to believe is to incur great sin (John 16:8).

There is a death penalty attached to disobedience (Mark 16:16).

It is so put:

1. To secure the honor of God. It is not the offer of an equal to an equal, but of the great God to a condemned sinner. 
2. To embolden the proclaimer of it. The minister now speaks boldly with his Master's authority.
3. To remind man of his obligations. Repentance and faith are natural duties from which the gospel does not exonerate a man, although it blesses him by bestowing them upon him.
4. To encourage the humble seeker. He must be at full liberty to believe in Jesus, since he is commanded to do so and threatened if he does not do so.
5. To suggest to men the urgent duty of seeing to their soul's welfare. Suicide, whether of the body or of the soul, is always a great crime. To neglect the great salvation is a grave offense.

The gospel is set forth as a feast, to which men are bound to come under penalty of the King's displeasure (Matt. 22:1-7).

The prodigal was right in returning to his father; and if he was right in doing so, so would each one of us be in doing the same.

HT: The Resurgence

10 Ideas for Living the Gospel in Your Home

In Philippians 3:8-9, Paul proclaims the centrality of the gospel—the cross—to life.

I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ …

If the gospel is central—to the point that all else is rubbish—it also must be central in my marriage, my home. Practically, here’s what that may look like as I shift my family’s culture.

1. Repent. A family that practices repentance keeps “short accounts” with each other, apologizing quickly and sincerely. The point of apologizing to my kids even when they’re in trouble isn’t at all to distract them from their sin. They need to grow up with my willing confession as the norm, to give them the knowledge that Mom requires a Savior as much as they do. An awareness of the log in my eye—even when my children or spouse are the offenders—is biblically commanded (Matthew 7:1-5).

2. Forgive. Deliberately ask for forgiveness, and then humbly and verbally extend forgiveness: “I want you to know that I completely forgive you, and that I believe God forgives you, too.”

I guess it can sound a little hokey when we’re not used to using such language in our homes … but that’s my point. Should it be? Call me an idealist, but I’d like this replication of Christ’s words to become the norm, a chance to apply the gospel to myself and my loved ones daily.

Conflict is an opportunity to glorify God, love others, and become more like Christ. Conflict allows the gospel to be played out in our midst: loving by laying down our lives in the midst of our family members’ sin. Forgiveness rolls out the red carpet for us to witness the gospel again and again with those we love the most.

Read more.

HT: Family Life

St. Patrick: Missional Leader

By Jonathan Dodson

St. Patrick was a Romano-British citizen, kidnapped in Britain at age 16 and served as a slave for 6 years in Wood of Fochoill, Ireland. He later returned to the homeland of his captivity, Ireland, to spread the gospel and plant churches. His mission to Ireland 457-492 began at age 40 after being turned down after his first request to be commissioned as a missionary.  Although I’m sure Patrick enjoyed a good beer, his life was counted for much more than good times and green clovers. Patrick was a man of remarkable faith and mission. In the 5th century, Patrick planted more than 200 churches and won 100,000 people to Christ. How did this happen? Far from contemporary attractional church models, Patrick pioneered mission to the pagan tribes of Ireland through innovative strategy, incarnational ministry, and robust faith in Christ.

Read more.

HT: Jonathan Dodson

My Final Four: Kansas, Syracuse, W. Virginia, & Duke

For the record, I'll be rooting for N. Iowa to take the national title.  It could happen!  Go Panthers!  Click on image above so you can actually read my picks.  And I know, three #1s in the Final Four, really going out on a limb right?  But before you get on my case, take a look, I've got Butler, St. Mary's, and BYU in the Sweet 16 and I would have put UNI in there too if they hadn't gotten robbed in the seeding (we deserved a 6 seed).  I also was very close to choosing Baylor over Duke, but doing so would have messed with my theory that only one conference can get two teams in the Final Four.  Let the madness begin!

Matt Chandler Update: MRI/ Treatment Plan

HT: Dwell Deep

Proverbs: A Mini Guide to Life By Tim Keller

In my regular, daily Bible reading over the past year I read through Proverbs 3, a passage I've studied and preached through many times. But during this reading, I realized that in verses 3 through 12 we have all the themes of the rest of the book, and therefore a kind of mini-guide to faithful living. There are five things that comprise a wise, godly life. They function both as means to becoming wise and godly as well as signs that you are growing into such a life:

1. Put your heart's deepest trust in God and his grace. Every day remind yourself of his unconditioned, covenantal love for you. Do not instead put your hopes in idols or in your own performance.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart (Prov 3:3-5a)

5 Things Christians Can Learn From Muslims

By Carl Medearis

Much of my attitude over the years towards the Muslims I’ve met has been – let’s see how much I can teach you in the shortest amount of time possible. Only in the last few years have I been open to learning things from them. I’ve come to believe that it’s in the place of wide-eyed, open-hearted discussion that they will, in fact, learn the most from me anyway. The more open I am to them (honestly open), the more they will be open to hear what I’m saying and thus learn from me. It’s human nature 101.

So with that in mind, here are five things that all of us can learn from a Muslim. There are many more, of course, but these are the first five that come to mind.

1. Pro-family. I remember one of the first times I spoke with an Arab Muslim friend about how we send our kids off to college in other states, many times 1000 miles or more away from our home. We do it because we want to “teach them to grow up and be independent.” My friend was horrified. “Why would you do such a thing to your kid,” he said. “Don’t you love them?”

The Muslim way is to keep your kids as close to home for as long of time as possible. They go to the University closest to home. When they graduate, they get a job in the same city and they begin building their own house – on top of dad and mom’s.

Muslim families are not perfect. Not by any stretch. They are still people, men and women, with passions and selfishness that tear them apart just like here in the West. But you will never see divorce lawyers advertising their services on TV. My kids who grew up in Lebanon, never had a single friend from a broken family – now, here in the States, many of their friends are kids of single parents.

Pro-family values are the norm in the Muslim world. Abortion happens, but is socially taboo. The words “same-sex marriage” are not even thought of, let alone heard. James Dobson would be a hero there.

We can learn a lot about family values from our Muslim friends.

Read more.

HT: Why Do You Fear Me

Is Boredom a Sin?

Science has shown you can die of boredom, literally, but is it a sin?  One definition of boredom describes it as "an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in the opportunities surrounding them."  Using this definition, I would say boredom is definitely a sin.  We should never be in a state of lacking activity, but should always be praying and giving thanks to the God who created us (1 Thess. 5:16-18); and we should certainly not be uninterested in the opportunities that God has provided for us (Hebrews 13:5).  What do you say, "Is boredom a sin?"

Christianity: Religion, Relationship, or News?

I suppose it's established that we can now add PC/Mac commercial parodies to the list of stuff that Christians like. Why? I have no idea. To me they they lack creativity, but they do have one unintended benefit - they represent perfectly, as is the case in the video below, the history of the modern Church. On the one side, you have "Christians," who are so focused on being good people that they, in their moral strivings, they end up seeking to become their own savior. On the other side you have today's "Christ Follower," who, in between taking sips of their venti-sized iced mochas and checking their email, are all about developing their relationship with their pocket-sized pal Jesus.

Christianity isn't fully represented either of these extremes, although the Bible unquestionably includes elements of each within its storyline.  Christianity is more accurately described, as John Piper has mentioned, as primarily news:  

"Christianity is not first and foremost a religion. It is first and foremost news. It's news.  

It's like we're in a war, in a concentration camp, and suddenly you're hearing on the smuggled-in radio that the troops of deliverance have landed in helicopters five miles away. They're conquering everything in their path and they're just about to get to the gate and open the doors. And having lived all your life in this concentration camp, you're now going to be set free.  

Be Killing Sin or Sin Will Be Killing You

Dr. John Piper preached on Romans 8:13 at Mars Hill Church in Seattle last weekend. Check out Piper's message here.

HT: Mars Hill Church

Some Good Reasons to Blog?

David Swanson, on his blog Signs of Life, has asked the question, "Why blog?"  It's a question I have been wrestling with for a while now.  I've been wondering if blogging is a good use of my time, not just as someone with a family and who is about 5 years late for a much needed visit to my local gym or running trail, but also as a Christian.  Actually it's a question that has been on my mind ever since I read these comments by Rob Bell in Relevant magazine: 

“When the followers of Jesus can think of nothing better to do with their time than to pick apart and shred to pieces the work of other followers of Jesus who are trying to do something about the world, that’s tragic . . . When a Christian can find nothing better to do with their time in the face of this much pain and heartbreak, you start realizing some Christians need to be saved. . . You have to be totally disconnected from the pain of the world to think that blogging is somehow a redemptive use of your time. I guess I have some strong feelings about that.”

Of course I don't agree with everything Rob Bell has to say (honestly I can't think of anyone I agree with completely, that would be spooky), but I wonder if he isn't on to something when it comes to blogging.  It is largely an individualistic activity, involving a good amount of self-promotion, and most pastors, especially those in the young, restless, and reformed crowd (of which I belong) do it (blog) because it's the cool thing to do.  Blogging, like they way we talk or dress, is part of the culture of the young church.  Within that context, blogging is cool and thus a valued activity.  But is it a worthwhile activity and, if so, does it, as Bell contends, require a disconnection "from the pain of the world" in order to arrive at such a conclusion?  I honestly don't know.

Gospel in Life

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The website launching Tim Keller's newest DVD-based curriculum is now live and filled to the brim with excellent resources.  You can check it out at gospelinlife.com.

Overcoming Preaching Dilemmas

Arie Boven, at Redeemer City to City, has a helpful post for pastors, based on a dissertation published in the 1970s by Sidney Greidanus, highlighting six dilemmas pastors face while crafting their sermons: (1) relevance vs. truth, (2) objective vs. subjective, (3) explication vs. application, (4) believer vs. unbeliever, (5) head vs. heart, and (6) private vs. public.  Here's a excerpt from Boven's post: 

1. Overcoming the relevance-truth divide

The motive of proponents of the exemplary approach was a concern for relevance, while the motive of proponents of the redemptive historical-approach was a concern for sola Scriptura, the desire to preach the Word of God and that only. The objections raised by the exemplary side to redemptive-historical preaching is that it tends to lack relevance. The redemptive-historical side objected that, in his laudable attempt to be relevant, the exemplary preacher tends to be more about the man in the book and the man in the pew than about Christ.  

To overcome the divide, Greidanus asserts that historical texts are texts. Sermons must seek their point of departure not in the man in the pew nor in the history of redemption but in the historical text. One cannot detail the meaning of a particular text until one has listened attentively to that text. Because the exemplary method views the biblical stories as recorded to illustrate and depict concretely certain timeless "truths" that must be believed or certain timeless "ethics" which must be lived, it does not really need a preaching text form the Bible. But the redemptive-historical approach is liable to similar consequences in that it seeks to reach the facts behind the text to the detriment of the preaching-text. The text becomes a window through which to view the panorama of the upholding redemptive history. The text itself is no longer taken seriously.   

Read more.

HT: Redeemer City to City

Next Olympic Sport: Snowboard-Basketball?

The Connection Between God's Word and Regeneration

Archibald Alexander, the Puritan Reformer, writes, in his essay A Practical View of Regeneration, that: 

As God the Holy Spirit is the Author of regeneration; so the instrument employed is the Word of God. This is as clearly taught in Scripture as that God is the author or efficient cause. God is able to work without means, but both in the worlds of nature and grace it has pleased him to employ appropriate means for the accomplishment of his own ends.

Passion/ Purity Blog

Josh Harris, John Freeman, Paul Tripp and Dave White will be addressing various topics related to sex and sexuality in our culture on March 5-7 at the 2010 Urban Ministry Conference hosted by Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. The conference team is also hosting a blog called Passion/PurityHarvest USA leading up to the conference that features pastors from Tenth Pres and staff from addressing various topics related to sex and sexuality in our culture.

HT: Josh Harris

Gospel Powered Sanctification

A road map for getting the gospel from your head into your life 

If you’ve ever wondered how to really connect the good news you believe (the gospel) to the way you think and the way you live, Mike Bullmore provides a road map. For a full treatment of this topic (The Functional Centrality of the Gospel) listen to this message given at New Attitude 2006.  Below Mike Bullmore gives an overview of how the gospel powers our sanctification: 

Imagine three concentric circles.

In the center is the gospel itself, perhaps best represented by the words of 1 Corinthians 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 of the priority given to this message in his preaching and writing (cf. 1 Corinthians 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.

Which introduces the 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” (1 Timothy 1:10-11). These gospel truths bring the gospel to bear on areas of lived experience, particularly in the mind. They are useful in the renewing of 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 particularly rich in these gospel truths. Let me give three examples. 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 it is a powerful implication of the gospel—a “gospel truth”—and it will go a long way in renewing the thinking of a person who understands this truth so that their thinking conforms to the glorious gospel.

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. 

Read more.

HT: NEXT

9th Ward Field of Dreams: Changing Lives By Doing Something

In the summer of 2007, 22 years old and fresh on his requested assignment to a New Orleans school, Bordainick became the youngest high school athletic director in Louisiana's history. As if it weren't enough for him to tackle the job of a more seasoned instructor in some of the most difficult teaching circumstances imaginable (2007/2008 marked the first return to George Washington Carver High School after Katrina, and classes continue to be taught in trailers), he quickly identified the need for a new football field and track. With almost equal quickness, he set out to build it. Calling his project "The 9th Ward Field of Dreams," Bordainick has spearheaded the effort to raise the $1,847,568 needed for the facilities. And thanks to donations from individuals, local businesses, and corporations such as Nike, he's almost halfway there.  Read more. 

HT: the99percent