May 7th, 2008 Jeff
Damian and Norman over at Christians in Context posted a guest post by me (Jeff) after I won a great new book in a recent drawing they held. I won The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson. Looks to be a great book and from what I’m told highly accessible and full of practical helps.
Here’s what they let me say as a promo for their blog/site (read it here or there ):
Last week, after arriving home from a discouraging day attempting to tutor disinterested public high school students, I received an email from Damian saying I had won a book from Christians in Context. I won something? Me? I haven’t won anything since … a GameBoy in middle school. Wow, that was almost two decades ago. Where is that gadget anyway?…
Back to the story … there I was in the middle of my context, thinking about how I’d won a book that links me, a Christian, to the text of God’s Word. Thank you guys for the great gift, and reminding me again of the value of good theology to fuel daily life. (And at that moment it suddenly dawned on me that while tutoring that day, in response to one of the girl’s questions she has provided an open door for explaining the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ. Christ was there in that context.)
About a month ago I stumbled across Christians in Context via a link from the Parchment and Pen blog and theological word of the day . The first post had me hooked, and I’ve had Norman and Damian fired up in my RSS feed reader ever since. A recent post by Damian on John Owen and mortification of sin not only resonated with me personally (read: convicted me), but also helped me to see the great need to be reading good theology and applying it to my life.
The whole idea of being a Christian in one’s context seems to be gaining traction these days. It is almost funny to think of how "contextualization" is a buzz word in the church today, while the Bible [and Jesus] simply calls it "obedience" (Matt. 28:18-20). Some Christians may not like the former word (and I think that is probably just as well, as it’s a bit technical even for leaders), but I think we can all relate to the latter.
Obedience, like love, and motivated by it, involves values and evaluation. We each live in a unique context, a culture that demands our time and resources and often allegiance. And rather than think we can (or even should) escape our culture, we are called to evaluate all things, bringing every thought captive to the mind of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) and live as sojourners in the tension between two worlds (Phil. 3:17-21). Loving God and loving people as Christ brings His redemption is our happy tension. While we dare not change the unchanging Gospel of Christ, we can seek to change ourselves (1 Cor. 9:22-23), and doing so involves agonizing strain and labor and discipline (vv. 24-27). As the Church, being Christians in Context is not easy, but in a two-second-vapor-of-a-life (James 4:14) we live in that happy tension.
Thanks again guys for reminding us why and how to live in this happy tension — as sojourners in our context, reflecting Christ.
Because of Jesus who is The Image of God,
Jeff
Posted in Blog, Books, Reading, missional | 3 Comments »
March 27th, 2008 Jeff
A couple weeks ago in our Theology Colloquium class we discussed Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). I was on the ad hoc panel for asking questions of the three making defense of their doctrinal statements. It is a somewhat nerve-racking experience for those giving defense, and all in the room need humility, especially those asking questions. Afterward we are able to amend and revise our written doctrinal statements (after they are graded and returned to us). I see this time as part of the process of helping us “land” doctrinally and leading to convictions about the most essential things, more than mere opinions.
Near the end of our Q&A time another panel member asked a question to the effect, “What does an unbeliever need to know to be saved?” (In contrast to our detailed and structured doctrinal statements. Obviously a person need not exhaustively and logically think through all of these points in order to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)
One of the students gave the short response, “They have to like Jesus.” That may seem like (and is) an insufficient answer. A whole lot of people “like Jesus.” In fact, I would say that many people want Jesus but don’t want God, in that they want a Jesus after their own liking. Thus they don’t want their Creator at all. (The question could be restated: What must a person believe about Jesus in order to be saved?)
A little bit of argument (constructive and helpful) ensued and during the break I had a discussion with my fellow classmate about his response. Knowing my fellow student as well as the rapid-fire nature of our questions and how their heads might have been spinning at the moment, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but ask him to think it through. We were talking previous to that question about affections and how the inner desires of the heart are changed so that Jesus becomes compellingly beautiful. So, when sharing the Gospel we realize there is a change that is not merely cognitive. His answer related to the fact that we cannot simply present bare facts as if there are neutral. A person will be awakened by the beauty of Jesus, but as I contend, it is not apart from knowledge about Christ. Knowledge and belief are good friends, and serve one another. Knowing about God has always served to lead me to worshiping Him…
“To love God we must know him. God would not be honored by groundless love. In fact, there is no such thing. If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. If love does not come from knowing God, there is no point in calling it love for God. There may be some vague attraction in our heart or some unfocused gratitude in our souls, but if they do not arise from knowing God, they are not love for God.”
—John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, p. 76.
Later on, in a smaller group, we got to a discussion of the role of the affections in seeing the compelling beauty of Christ. That is a key phrase in John Piper’s (and my) theology (see 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 for the biblical context). The following quote relates to our experience of Christ as the fountain of our joy, and not merely the basis and example for our renewed moralistic behavior.
“The reason I use the phrase ‘compellingly beautiful’ is to stress two things. One is that loving God is not a mere decision. You cannot merely decide to love classical music or country western music, much less God. The music must become compelling. If you don’t love it, something must change inside you. That change makes it possible for the mind to experience the music with a compelling sense of its attractiveness. So it is with God. You do not merely decide to love him. Something changes inside you, and as a result he becomes compellingly attractive. His glory—his beauty—compels your admiration and delight.
The other thing I am emphasizing in the phrase ‘compellingly beautiful’ is that love for God is not essentially behavior but affection—not deeds but delight. God’s glory becomes our supreme pleasure. We begin to prefer above all else to know him and see him and be with him and be like him. There are several important reasons for believing that love for God is most essentially an experience of the affections, not behavior.”
—John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, pp. 77-78.
If we love God something else will happen, living for Him.
One of my students at Cornerstone SOM in Corvallis gave a summary and response to those paragraphs in a recent assignment:
“The first [reason we must see God as 'compellingly beautiful'] is to realize that love for God isn’t some hypothetical decision that you do just cause you do it. It isn’t simply a decision you make. In order for us to love God, we must be attracted to Him. And if we aren’t, something has to change. Once this change occurs, we experience the second reason He emphasizes that we see God as compellingly beautiful: He is our desire. We are in love with Him, and we don’t obey His laws and walk in His light just because it is the right thing to, but because we take delight in living with Him. This is such a pivotal point in a believer’s life. It is this reality, the desire and affection for our God, which makes Christianity more than just a religion. It gives richness, fervency, and meaning behind what we do… not to mention motivation. Out of our affection for Him, our behavior will change. It is automatic, and we need not be concerned with that. We are commanded to love God.”
I noted to her that our behavior may not be “automatic” as in passive, but rather as a response and participation. It will naturally flow from a regenerate person who sees God as all, as compellingly beautiful in Christ. As we love God, our character will transform and we will be living for Him. (Simple, but not easy!)
Posted in Blog, God-centered, Gospel, Jesus, Multnomah Seminary, Theology | No Comments »
March 1st, 2008 Jeff
“Christianity alone among the world religions claims that God became uniquely and fully human in Jesus Christ and therefore knows firsthand despair, rejection, loneliness, poverty, bereavement, torture, and imprisonment. On the cross he went beyond even the worst human suffering and experienced cosmic rejection and pain that exceeds ours as infinitely as his knowledge and power exceeds ours. In his death, God suffers in love, identifying with the abandoned and godforsaken. Why did he do it? The Bible says that Jesus came on a rescue mission for creation. He had to pay for our sins so that someday he can end evil and suffering without ending us.”
- Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 30.
[HT: Of First Importance]
As I think through Theodicy, I see (by analogy) a stool with four legs:
- God’s Omnipotence,
- His Omniscience,
- His Love & Goodness, and
- His entering into His creation to suffer with us.
I’ve found that many who attempt to give a Christian reason why a good and sovereign God would allow suffering either limit God’s omniscience, limit His ability, while wanting to uphold His goodness. Each of those three must be upheld, but a fourth point must also must be added to the mix, for God is not some distant deity. While transcendent and separate from His creation, He has come near, and remains imminent, working, sustaining, loving. In the incarnation God became a Man, revealing Himself to us in the best possible way. And He suffered with us. (Wow!)
In a cohesive theodicy, all four categories are important, as God has revealed Himself as infinitely able, all-wise and knowing, abounding in love and goodness, and possessing an unrivaled humility that brought Him into this world in the Son. Each of this attributes speak of God’s infinite beauty and value, for He is worth more than we can ever imaging. And since He is glorious, and we are His, what does that make us?
—
I hope to read Keller’s book this year. His wisdom, insights love for God are compelling, and even if he ends up being only half as engaging in writing than when speaking, the book will be well worth its price.
Posted in Blog, Books, Quotes, Reading, Theodicy, Theology | 3 Comments »
December 5th, 2007 Jeff
This past summer I read a short little book by Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? It was a quick, good read, and I highly recommend the book.
Recently, permission was given to New Attitude to post the first chapter of the book, free to read and download (PDF). Find it here.
Much of Dever’s ministry is emphasizing and developing nine marks of healthy churches.
I have grown in my understanding, appreciation and devotion to the local church. God had to tear down my pride, humble me by painful circumstances and bring confusion before allowing me to see the light of the beauty of His Bride, the Church, and her geographical representative, the local church assembly. I want to see her become better.
Posted in Blog, Books, Ekklesia, Reading | No Comments »
November 10th, 2007 Jeff
My favorite author John Piper has come out with a new theological and exegetic book, The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright. In it he, among other things, champions the biblical doctrine of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer on the basis of faith in Jesus. He deals primarily with the Bible in responded to the Bishop of Durham Tom (N.T.) Wright, a champion of the “New Perspective on Paul” position. I look forward to reading parts of the book soon (as a reference), since some of the parts are not as germane to my studies and daily battles as others.
Best part? The book is now available online for free, as a PDF here. (In print for $10 from DG for a limited time, and elsewhere for a bit more.)
Some advice from Desiring God (Piper’s teaching ministry and theological aides) on reading this new book:
- Look at the table of contents. This will give you an overall picture of the book and a familiarity with it if you need to reference it in the future.
- Read the introduction. Here you’ll see what’s at stake in the book. This will prove especially helpful for those who’ve never heard of Wright.
- Read chapter 11, entitled “That in Him We Might Become the Righteousness of God.” This chapter is Piper’s effort “to give biblical foundation to the doctrine of the imputation of God’s righteousness in Christ through faith alone, now and for eternity.” If you only read one section of the book, make it this chapter and the short concluding chapter that follows.
- Browse the appendices to see if anything grabs your interest. These weren’t written to interact with Wright specifically, but they’re included “to give…wider understanding of justification and related exegetical issues.”
Those interested in some reviews can check these out:
Also, one may want to listen to some of short interviews segments with Piper related to the book (each is very short and helpful, with a transcript):
Posted in Blog, Books, Gospel, Justification, Reading, Theology | No Comments »
November 2nd, 2007 Jeff
Well, I’d rather we all get some genuine affections for GOD in our hearts and minds! Do you desire your Creator above all else?
Christian Audio’s free audiobook download for November is Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections.
Description: Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the central figure in New England’s first Great Awakening, offers here his most detailed description of the signs–true and false–of revival, while highlighting the role truly balanced emotions play within the Christian life. He takes a long, hard look at the evidence of true conversion–the fruit that comes from living like Christ. It is not enough to do “Christian” things–for without an authentic, selfless service motivated by the Holy Spirit, our works are empty.
Use the coupon code NOV2007 and the book is free to download.
Read (okay, listen to) good books!
Posted in Blog, Books, God-centered, Listening, Reading, Theology | No Comments »
October 3rd, 2007 Jeff
Monday night I arrive home from class to find a box awaiting me. It was books the books I bought from the DesiringGod special $5/book sale back in late June. I was among 11,000 orders than day (they normally get about 100 daily), so I understand the delay. It was worth the wait.
(And by the way, a disclaimer: I looked at the box of books and then to Kari and said, “You are worth more than all my books; I’m not opening these tonight. I’d rather be with you.” We were able to catch up from our days and the books waited until today to be sorted out.)
Now the books of John Piper take up almost two feet on one shelf:
In the midst of my other studies and teaching commitments reading through each of these will take some time — and enjoying the God-exalting, Christ-magnifying, Bible-saturated truths will take eternity to explore. Thank God we can know Him!
The first one up for my consumption: God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself. (Amen!)
Posted in Blog, Books, God-centered, Reading, Theology | No Comments »
