Subvergent

My Prayer to Open the Wisconsin State Senate

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:29:00 +0000

Last week I was honored with an invitation from Senator Van Wangaard (R-21st District) to open the Wisconsin State Senate session in prayer, which I did yesterday. Below is the text of my prayer, and the link for viewing the Senate proceedings, including my prayer, is here (about a 1.5 minutes in).

God, our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, we thank you for your gracious hand that works ceaselessly to bring about the preservation of truth, justice, and peace—all things that this room represents.

Today, God, we recall what Scripture says:

            Unless the LORD builds the house,
            those who build it labor in vain.
            Unless the LORD watches over the city,
            the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1)

And you have also told us that to whom much has been given, much shall be required (Luke 12:48).

We look at our state and nation’s past and see that indeed we have been given much, and because you are a God who speaks the truth, we know also that much is required of us as champions of truth, justice, and peace.

So today, God, we ask that you would forgive us where we have failed to act in the interests of others and have instead chosen selfishly.

Lord, where we have lived faithfully and tasted success, would you grant us humility.

God, where we have scratched the surface of progress, would you encourage us and help us press forward.

To all those whom you have entrusted leadership today, give them a vision for what you desire our state and nation to become, and then, Father, the wisdom and fortitude to see it through.

I pray for the Senate, for the Assembly, who are tasked to look the greatest challenges we as human beings can face squarely in the eyes and do something about them.

As a state, we have not solved all the social problems of our time, such as racism, and drug sales, and drug use, and abuse, and violence. And this is because none of us is capable of solving the fundamental problems of sin: human greed, and pride, and selfishness. If we are to address such horrific problems, we need you to give us your insight, your compassion, and certainly your strength.

And, God, would you begin with us. Start the process of uprooting greed and pride and selfishness within us.

God, today, remind us that you have shown us what is good because you have shown us yourself, in Holy Scripture and in the person of your Son. Having seen what is good, you have also shown us what is required of us:

To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.

For all of us, we pray that you would make from the great mash-up of personalities and opinions and experiences that we call the state of Wisconsin, a humble people, seeking your will for our lives and for our great state and nation.

Help us, in these halls, to work as never before to strengthen our families, to solidify a moral foundation for our children.

In other words, O God, make our desire to serve you, and as we serve you we trust that you will lead us in service to others.

All of this we pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When The Bible's Math Doesn't Add Up

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Week one into the Read the Bible 2012 campaign and I got a great question from a congregant about Bible math. No, it's not the end-times math that treats the Bible like the periodic table.
The question is actually about an apparent conflict between Genesis 12 and Stephen's speech in Acts 7, and, secondarily, about the different translations between the NIV and ESV.

Here's how it played out.

The question:

Question for you regarding the ESV/NIV translations on something in Genesis 11 & 12 (yep.... read a few verses ahead...). In the NIV 12:1 reads: "The LORD had said to Abram...." and the ESV reads: "Now the LORD said to Abram..." (they did have a note "Or had said... so grammar allows for this reading"). I think I noticed this because I have been studying Abraham's call, life, obedience, disobedience, etc. Everything I've learned states that Genesis 11:31-32 took place AFTER God's call to Abram probably while he was still living in Mesopotamia.

When I looked at the ESV notes, they seemed to be presenting a different picture of this order and gave ages of Terah and Abram to resolve what Stephen stated in Acts 7:4: "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you...'".

I realize in the big picture .... Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!! ..... that this is not a huge thing, but want to handle God's Word correctly.

Here was my reply:

Thanks for the email. I’m not sure why the translators chose “said” instead of “had said” since they use “had said” in other places all over the Old Testament. I don’t think, though, that they are trying to change the way we read the timeline.

The “had said” vs. “said” is not the issue most closely associated with the presumed conflict between Genesis and Acts. After all, said and had said can easily be the same thing. For example, if I say, “Jim said, ‘Let’s go the movies.’” that could mean that (hypothetically) Jim and I are on the phone talking about where to go, and Melissa is next to me wondering what Jim’s suggestion is. I say “Jim said...” In this case, “said” is virtually real-time.

However, imagine that Jim, Melissa and I made a plan on Monday to do something on Friday. On Tuesday, Jim told me “Let’s go to the movies.” On Thursday, Melissa asks me what we’re doing with Jim on Friday, and I say, “Jim said, ‘Let’s go to the movies.’” That isn’t real-time. You told me something in the more distant past, that I am conveying to Melissa in real-time. Now, I could have said, “Jim HAD said, ‘Let’s go to the movies.’” but it’s not necessary.

I think the bigger point of conflict between Acts 7 and Gen 11 & 12 is in 12:4 (ESV and NIV), “Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.”

Given that Terah was 205 when he died (Genesis 11:32) and 70 when he “became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran” (Genesis 11:26), there seems to be a mathematical conflict between Genesis and Acts. If Terah was 70 when he had his sons and Abram was 75 when he left, then that’s only 145 years. Yet Terah died at 205. What gives?

The math only becomes a conflict, however, if you assume that Abram, Nahor, and Haran are triplets, which is not necessary, nor likely. The better interpretation is that “became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran” is idiomatic, and means that Terah became a father for the first time at age 70.

Some might say that Abram being listed first would indicate he was the first-born, which would still lead to a mathematical conflict. But that is not a necessary or accurate assumption to make. The same language is used in Genesis 5 to talk about Noah becoming “the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Yet, in chapter 9, Ham is clearly identified as the youngest son, even though he is listed second in Genesis 5.

This interpretation, which is perfectly reasonable, means there is no conflict between Genesis 12 and Acts 7.

Hope this helps!

Can I Really Trust the Bible?

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:34:00 +0000

The church I pastor, Grace Church in Racine, WI, has begun our Read the Bible 2012 campaign, and I thought it might be helpful to provide you with some thoughts about the trustworthiness of Scripture, specifically the New Testament.

Below are common questions people have regarding the veracity of the New Testament writings. This list is not exhaustive by any means, but does address some of the basic questions and even objections people have about the New Testament. Following each question is a brief answer reflecting the common beliefs of scholars, Christian and non. You will also find a list of resources for further study. Happy reading!

1) What about the number of copying errors in the New Testament manuscripts? Doesn’t the number of errors suggest that the documents are less than trustworthy?

There are more than 200,000 “variants,” or differences among existing manuscripts. This number may appear high at first, but understanding what constitutes a variant actually downplays their significance. For example, if a word is misspelled in 2,000 manuscripts it is counted as 2,000 variants.

Additionally, many variants deal with the sequence of words in a given phrase or sentence. A scribe—a person who copied a manuscript—may write the words out of sequence by accident. This may sound like a major mistake, but when one understands that the language of the New Testament writings, Greek, is not an “inflected” language, the importance of these variations diminishes. English is an inflected language, meaning that the order of words in a sentence plays a significant role in its meaning. For example, it is one thing to say, “People eat meat from animals,” and another thing entirely to say that “Animals eat meat from people.” In Greek, however, one word functions as the object of the sentence no matter where it falls in the sequence. So the meaning of a sentence isn’t distorted by words being out of sequence. Most of the variations in New Testament manuscripts are differences in sequence and spelling, and have little to no impact on the meaning of a passage.

2) How did the early church decide which books would be considered authoritative?

The early church considered three criteria when deciding if a book was considered authoritative. First, it had to be authored by an apostle, someone who was an eyewitness to Jesus’ life and ministry (Matthew, John, Peter, etc.), or someone who was a close friend or student of an apostle (Mark and Luke).

Second, the document had to be consistent with the “rule of faith,” or the basic message of Christianity that had become normative within the church at large.

Third, the document needed to be one that was in use by the church in a wide geographical range. In other words, the book had to be one that fueled not only a local expression of the faith, but was one that was already operating as authoritative in many places.

3) Why were some books, like the Gospel of Thomas, left out and others included?

First, it is inaccurate to believe that the collection of scriptures we call the Bible was decided in a series of votes more akin to politics than careful study and practical faith. Consider the words of the late Bruce Metzger, a preeminent New Testament historian and translator. When the canon was decided,

It merely ratified what the general sensitivity of the church had already decided. The canon is a list of authoritative books more than it is an authoritative list of books.

For somebody now to say that the canon emerged only after councils and synods made these pronouncements would be like saying, “Let’s get several academies of musicians to make a pronouncement that the music of Bach and Beethoven is wonderful.”

Second, there are many who believe that certain ancient writings, like the Gospel of Thomas, were left out of the Bible because they didn’t paint Jesus in the most flattering light. This is not historically accurate, however. Other gospels, like the Gospel of Judas, were written no earlier than the second century and as late as the sixth—hundreds of years following the death of Christ. These gospels, despite their names, give very little information that would help identify authorship.

These other writings also do not seem to match up with the teachings of Jesus and the general Christian ethic espoused in the writings in the New Testament. For example, the Gospel of Thomas, which is not a book in the New Testament, contains many of the sayings of Jesus that are recorded in other gospels. But it also contains statements of Jesus that undermine the value of women[1] and promote pantheism, the belief God is in all matter and all matter contains God. This is clearly not the same Jesus we see in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Resources for Further Study

F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988).

Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987).

Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995).

“The Documentary Evidence” chapter in Lee Strobel’s, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998).

[1] The Gospel of Thomas quotes Jesus this way: “Women are not worthy of life,” and “I shall lead her in order to make her a male, so that she too may become a living spirit.” Surely, this is not the same counter-cultural Jesus we see rescuing a prostitute from her accusers and spending time with the woman at the well despite her "less than human" standing among her 1^st century culture.

Other Good 3:16s

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:12:00 +0000

John 3:16 is probably the most famous passage in the Bible, and certainly the New Testament. And it is a gospel-goldmine:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Doesn't get much better than that!

But there are some other quality 3:16s throughout the New Testament. In fact, half of the books that qualify (they actually have a 3:16) has a gem in the 3:16 position. The number 3:16 is like the quarterback of the team of verses in the New Testament.

Here are the noteworthy 3:16s:

1 John 3:16 - My personal favorite: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Luke 3:16 - John answered them all saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Acts 3:16 - By faith in the name of Jesus, this [crippled beggar] whom you seen and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

1 Corinthians 3:16 - Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

2 Corinthians 3:16 - But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Ephesians 3:16 - I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 - Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

1 Timothy 3:16 - Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

James 3:16 - For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Revelation 3:16 - So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

You Never Marry The Right Person

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:24:00 +0000

While reading through Tim and Kathy Keller's The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God, I was struck by one subheading in chapter one, "The Secret of Marriage."

You Never Marry the Right Person

Previously in chapter one, the Kellers effectively make the point that the stumbling block to marriage for many people today is not just a fear of commitment but a deeper desire to be alone and unchanged. The conclusion, the authors say, is that modern people avoid monogamy and deep commitment because they have an overly idealized picture of what a marriage partner is: "A woman who is a novelist/astronaut with a background in fashion modeling, or the equivalent in a man."

Then comes the subheading, "You Never Marry the Right Person." Here are some excerpts from this section that I found particularly enlightening, especially as I prepare to preach on Ephesians 5:2-33 this weekend.

The moment you marry someone, you and your spouse begin to change in profound ways, and you can't know ahead of time what those changes will be. So you don't know, you can't know, who your spouse will actually be in the future until you get there....

Over the years you will go through seasons in which you have to learn to love a person who you didn't marry, who is something of a stranger. You will have to make changes that you don't want to make, and so will your spouse. The journey may eventually take you into a strong, tender, joyful marriage. But it is not because you married the perfectly compatible person. That person doesn't exist.

Once we read it stated so plainly, those of us who are married--and take it seriously--immediately understand the logic. Every marriage is constantly in flux because the two people are constantly changing. As well, and most significantly, every husband and wife are profoundly broken by sin. Therefore, when a husband stands before his wife, and a wife stands before her husband, they are very likely to be so twisted up by the roaring tornado of sin, that they are hardly recognizable to each other.

It's no wonder then that Paul says in Ephesians 5:31-32:

'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery...

Happy Birthday, C. S. Lewis

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:29:00 +0000

Today (November 29) is the birthday of C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). In honor of the poet, writer, theologian, and apologist, I want to point you to a short post by Fred Sanders on Lewis's birthday in 2010. Here's to "the professor of English who just wanted to be left alone with his books and his handful of bookish friends." Thanks be to God for exploding "Jack" Lewis's worldview, and thanks be to God for using Jack to explode ours.

It’s remarkable how much good C. S. Lewis accomplished through his writing. He has been a constant point of reference for a certain type of Christian academic, and his influence is hardly fading in our time. Part of the Lewis magic is that he wrote in so many genres: If you have a taste for Lewis, you can always be reading something by him without wearying of it. Too much Narnia? Switch to the apologetics. Not buying the argumentative style? Check out the imaginative fiction like The Great Divorce or Pilgrim’s Regress. There are poems, science fiction, occasional essays, literary binges, spiritual counsel, and a great mass of letters.

Read the rest of Lewis's birthday post by Fred Sanders .

Pascal's Encounter: 23 November In The Year Of Grace 1654

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:55:00 +0000

On this day, November 23, in 1654, French mathematician Blaise Pascal had a dramatic encounter with God. Though raised in the height of the Enlightenment, he was able to say, "The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know at all"—a statement that proved to be both a vital critique of rationalism and the starting point for a defense of the Christian faith that still influences people today. He wrote of his intense spiritual experience, and sewed it into the liner of his coat. It wasn't until after his death that people discovered his beautifully frenzied inscription.

Here is The Memorial:

The year of grace 1654
Monday, 23 November, feast of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr, and of others in the Martyrology.
Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, Martyr and others.
From about half past ten in the evening until half past midnight.

FIRE
'God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,' not of philosophers and scholars.
Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
God of Jesus Christ.
My God and your God.
'Thy God shall be my God.
The world forgotten, and everything except God.
He can only be found by the ways taught in the Gospels.
Greatness of the human soul.
'O righteous Father, the world had not known thee, but I have known thee.'
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
I have cut myself off from him.
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.
'My God wilt thou forsake me?'
Let me not be cut off from him for ever!
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
I have cut myself off from him, shunned him, denied him, crucified him.
Let me never be cut off from him!
He can only be kept by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Sweet and total renunciation.
Total submission to Jesus Christ and my director.
Everlasting joy in return for one day's effort on earth.
I will not forget thy word. Amen.

Don't Waste Your Exclamation Points

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:09:00 +0000

My friend Jared Wilson offers this helpful post about making sure pastors and church leaders direct their energy (exclamation points) toward the the things that matter most. Here's an excerpt, but I encourage you to read the whole post here.

Pastor, our people don't usually get excited about what we tell them to be excited about. Have you figured that out yet? Instead, they get excited about what they see actually excites us.

This means we ought to steward our exclamation points wisely. If you're one of those rah-rah guys firing on all emotional cylinders for everything from bake sales and the book table to baptisms and baby dedications, you create an equality between minutiae and missional milestones that can be disorienting, and ultimately dulling. But more directly, just remember that if everything is exciting, nothing is.

The Surprising Power Of A Three-Letter Word

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:22:00 +0000

To my surprise, I’ve discovered that one of the most encouraging words in the New Testament is the word but. Especially in Paul’s writings, encountering the word but very often leads to some of the most remarkable, gospel-filled statements to be found in Scripture. Here are just a few examples offered for your encouragement today.

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, BUT the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:15 - For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, BUT you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

2 Corinthians 1:9 – We had received the sentence of death. BUT that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 – We are afflicted in every way, BUT not crushed; perplexed, BUT not driven to despair; persecuted, BUT not forsaken; struck down, BUT not destroyed.

Ephesians 2:3-5 – All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. BUT because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Titus 3:3-5 – For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. BUT when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

When Paul says but, many times it’s followed by the best news we can imagine.

D. A. Carson On What It Means That Christ Dwells In Our Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0000

The church I pastor is going through Ephesians together to close out the year. This Sunday I am preaching on Ephesians 3:14-21, the second of Paul's great prayers for the church in this epistle (the first is found in Ephesians 1:15-23). In my study, I came across D. A. Carson's take on the passage in his wonderful volume A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers.

I found Carson's thoughts on the phrase "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:17) particularly interesting.

Why does Paul say that the purpose of his prayer is that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith? Isn't he already doing that?

It helps to recognize that the verb here rendered "to dwell" is a strong one. Paul's hope is that Christ will truly take up his residence in the hearts of believers, as they trust him (that's what "through faith" means) so as to make their hearts his home.

The picture becomes clearer if we think of an analogy. Picture a couple carefully marshaling enough resources to put together a down payment. They buy their house, recognizing full well that it needs a fair bit of work. They can't stand the black and silver wallpaper in the master bedroom. There are mounds of trash in the basement. The kitchen was designed for the convenience of the plumber, not the cook....But still, it is the young couple's first home, and they are grateful.

The months slip past, then the years. The black and silver wallpaper has been replaced with tasteful patterns. The couple has remodeled their kitchen, doing much of the work themselves....Twenty-five years after the purchase, the husband one day remarks to his wife, "You know, I really like it here. This place suits us."

When Christ by his Spirit takes up residence within us, he finds the moral equivalent of mounds of trash, black and silver wallpaper, and a leaking roof. He sets about turning this residence into a place appropriate for him, a home in which he is comfortable. There will be a lot of cleaning to do, quite a few repairs, and some much needed expansion. But his aim is clear: he wants to take up residence in our hearts, as we exercise faith in him....

Paul asks that God may so strengthen us by his power in our inner being that Christ may genuinely take up residence within us, transforming us into a house that pervasively reflects his own character.

Church: How Involved Do I Have To Be?

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:47:00 +0000

When you invite God into your life through faith in Christ, he always grows within you a desire to be a part of the church. Always. Once that happens, the question changes from "Do I have to be involved in a church?" to "How involved do I have to be in my church?"

The answer, I think, is when you can honestly say you have corporate responsibility and personal accountability.

Corporate Responsibility

If you're married you probably can remember the first time it really sank in that you were actually married to a person. I remember leaving work one evening right after Melissa and I got married. On the way home I whipped into the Taco Bell drive-thru for a little dinner. While I was sitting in line waiting to order, I had a stunning revelation. "I can't do this anymore." I wasn't talking about marriage; I was talking about grabbing dinner on my own without consulting with my wife. I was not on my own any more, and I wasn't so sure I liked it. I called Melissa and told her the realization I'd just had. "Aww...that's so sweet, honey. Hey, can you get me a Baja Gordita?"

What I realized is that my life wasn't just about me anymore. I didn’t have the freedom to eat when I wanted where I wanted. The minute I said, "I do," I was no longer an individual. I was a part of something much bigger than just me, and was responsible for the health of that something. I am responsible to my family, and I think it's supposed to be similar in our relationship with the church.

Are you involved to the point of seeing the needs of the whole body as more important than your own? Are you willing to lay down your agenda about the song selections and whether you call the ministry Life Groups or Small Groups if those matters aren't affecting the overall health of the church? Do you consider yourself as a representative of the church when you are out and about Monday through Saturday? Do you trust that God has appointed your elders and leaders for the benefit of the church?

These are all questions that diagnose your corporate responsibility to the church. But there's also personal accountability.

Personal Accountability

If you get the whole corporate responsibility piece, the question is do you really see yourself as part of the family?

Here’s the deal with family. Growing up in a family means you have people who live in uncomfortably close proximity to you and know all the stuff in the junk drawer of your life. Your family sees your mistakes, and what’s worse, they point them out to you often, and what’s worse than that is they remember them...FOREVER!

Regardless of how they present it to you or confront you with it, many times your family is showing you things about yourself that are true. You can be selfish. You really can be a jerk. You really can respond in anger more than you do in gentleness.

The things your family points out are often true, and it’s no different with God’s family. Truth-telling in God’s family always goes like this: You are a greater sinner than you thought AND Jesus is a greater Savior than you thought.

· Yes you are rebellious, BUT Christ has captured with love.

· Yes you are arrogant, BUT Christ has given you the thing you could never earn and certainly didn’t deserve.

· Yes you were dead in sins BUT you have been made alive in Christ.

Do you have people in your life who lovingly but firmly call out sin in you? I don’t mean nit-picky preferences or opinions. I mean do you have someone in your life who knows their Bible so well and knows you so well that they can tell when those two things aren’t matching up? And are they reminding you of the vastness of God's grace and transforming power?

Are you that person for someone else? If you don’t have someone in your life who speaks biblical truth firmly and lovingly into your life, and if you aren't speaking into someone else's, you aren’t living like part of the family, you’re living like a visitor, a hired hand, a passerby.

How involved is involved enough? The Jeopardy answer is "Are you corporately responsible and personally accountable within the church?"

It's Been Too Long

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:44:00 +0000

Obviously, I've taken a break from the blog over the last few months. Part of that was intentional; I wanted to focus on making sure my family transitions well to our new city and church. I also wanted to give my best to really engaging in my new role as lead pastor of Grace Church.

I just didn't plan for it to take this long to get back in the saddle. But, here I am again.

By way of an update, you should know that things are going very well on the ministry front here in Racine. God is really doing a work among us and the best word to describe the feel around here is momentum. And that is good. Seems to me that's where we always want to be. I don't want to "arrive." I want to always be caught up on the momentum of the Spirit. I want the same for Grace.

On the home front, the truth is it's still a tough adjustment. We left such a great community of friends in St. Louis that it's hard not to have separation anxiety. We've come to realize that while Grace Church has felt like home since day 1, Racine doesn't quite feel like home yet. It doesn't help that we're still relying on Google Maps just about every time we get in the car, but at least there's that big lake due east to help us get a general orientation.

If you're the praying type, I ask that you continue to pray for us, that we will rapidly adjust to our new environs, and that winter won't kill us : ) And pray too that we will come to very quickly not only call this place home, but quickly develop a deeper love for this city, the people in it, and the work to be done here.

Testing a Pastor's Courage: Preaching the Funeral of a Non-Christian

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Today, I have the providential, challenging, and, frankly, awkward opportunity to preach the funeral of a friend who, as far as I can tell, lived her life without accepting the salvation offered in Christ. My aim is to be reverent, respectful, and bold in a brief, but clear proclamation of the gospel of Jesus. I am encouraged by the thoughts of Russell Moore on this matter today.

I think the funerals of unbelievers represent a test for pastoral courage. Some ministers are tempted to become family chaplains in the funeral home just as in the wedding chapel, prattling on about Aunt Flossie walking on streets of gold when everyone knows Aunt Flossie was a militant atheist.

Courage doesn’t mean announcing the arrival of the deceased in hell. You don’t know that. I once heard an impressive sermon about how the thief on the cross’s family probably all died never knowing that he was redeemed. One simply doesn’t know the kind of plea for mercy that may be prayed out, perhaps even in the nanosecond before death.
Still, the funeral of an unbeliever ought to be a somber affair. The minister ought not to speculate on the destiny of the deceased (except in very rare and exceptional circumstances) but ought to proclaim the reality of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He ought to speak of the certainty of death, of the quickness of life, and of the horror of the judgment seat. And then he ought to offer Christ to every hearer, clearly explaining how to know Jesus.
In some ways, a Christian pastor is fulfilling the very essence of his calling when he preaches an unbeliever’s funeral. He is remembering in thanksgiving a life of one made in the image of God. He is there to interpret the reality that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).

An Update On My Ministry Future

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Melissa and I are excited to share with you where God is leading us in the next stages of our life and ministry together.

If you've followed the blog you might recall that I resigned my position at The Journey in February with no concrete idea of what God was calling us to do or where to go. I knew I wanted to teach, preach and write. I also knew I wanted to do pastoral counseling and be an influencing voice to churches regarding ministry vision and strategy.

About four months ago I was contacted by Grace Church in Racine, Wisconsin to see if I might be interested in their lead pastor position. After lots (and lots) of interviews, prayer, phone calls, emails, Skype sessions, and an extended visit to Racine by the whole family, I was invited to preach at Grace on July 10th.

We have prayed and prayed about this job search, and specifically, the opportunity at Grace Church. It has been so encouraging to receive phone calls, texts, and emails about the prayers from wonderful friends and family on our behalf. We are blessed and grateful for the counsel of trusted friends and prayer partners, and have the utmost respect for the prayerful, intentional search process conducted at Grace. People don't typically describe a job search as a blessing, but in our case, it truly has been. We were so warmly welcomed by people at Grace who opened their home to us and showered our family with genuine kindness. We are encouraged by the many stories of what God had done in them personally, and appreciate the joyful anticipation of what God will continue to do in and through this church.

So, I have accepted the call to become the lead pastor at Grace, beginning sometime over the next few weeks. I am excited to start a new phase of ministry, and am eager to step into a job that allows me to use my best gifts for the encouragement and building up of the church.

With the excitement of this new ministry opportunity comes the sadness over leaving St. Louis. This is has been my home for eight years, and Melissa has been here for 14 years. We met, married, started new careers, welcomed three children, bought our first (and second) home...we did our "growing up" here! We have been truly blessed with many faithful friends and it is hard to leave them, at least in terms of physical proximity and daily ministry. It has been our privilege and joy to serve in this wonderful community, to celebrate, pray, mourn, laugh, and serve with these brothers and sisters in Christ. It is bittersweet, leaving a home, neighborhood, and neighbors we love.

We take solace, though, in the knowledge that if it was easy to leave St. Louis, we would not have been doing real ministry here. It's hard to leave because it's been good to live here, and it's been good to live here because we've been serving God and following his lead.

He's still leading, and we're still following. Next stop: Racine, Wisconsin.

Jesus, The True And Better

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:58:00 +0000

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

(This is often attributed to Tim Keller, but I think at least some version of it originated with Keller's mentor, Ed Clowney).

Why We Neglect Reading Our Bibles

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Here is a helpful post from Crossway's blog, which draws from Stephen Nichols's Welcome to the Story:

Let’s face it. Most of us have dry spells when our devotions get back-burnered. Usually busyness is to blame. We’re busy with college classes, we’re trying to advance our career, we’re working on our marriage, we have little kids, and so on. But in addition to busyness, there are other culprits that get in between us and Scripture.

The scriptural letdown. We always read about people having tremendously emotional experiences reading Scripture, but we never seem to get there. That gets discouraging, and we give up.
The intellectual letdown. We don’t always understand Scripture. We read it again and again, and still don’t get it. This discouragement can also lead to neglect.
The spiritual letdown. We fail to see any kind of spiritual transformation that you feel is supposed to be a natural result of a daily quiet time. So we wonder if it’s worth continuing.

So how do we respond? Where do we begin?

First, read Scripture. There is no substitute.
Only what is appropriate or manageable for you. You don’t need to tackle the Bible in a year if you’re going to flame out in Leviticus. There are a multitude of reading plans to try as you seek out the right fit. A great one is the “camping out” approach. Pick a book of the Bible you would enjoying spending time in and devote a few weeks or a month to it. Read through the whole book first to get a big picture, then go back and dive in to smaller sections.
Memorize some key verses, pray about what you’re reading, and apply it to your life.
With any reading plan you choose, be sure to pay attention to the big picture of Scripture. Make connections between what you’re reading and the overarching theme of redemption. Think about whole books or units, rather than simply chapters and verses. Understanding the historical and cultural context of the Bible will help us catch points that we would otherwise miss as readers of the technological age.
Finally, be sure to slow down take deep breaths, and pay close attention to the life-giving words that you are reading.

Want to learn more? Check out Welcome to the Story.

Praying Scripture To God

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:13:00 +0000

My prayer life has been revived over the last few years by the beautiful practice of praying Scripture back to God. Instead of simply thanking God for his goodness (nothing wrong with simply saying that), I've found it helpful to pray passages like these:

How majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens! - Psalm 8:1

Great and marvelous are your works. Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear you, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you. - Revelation 15:3-4

Highly descriptive passages like these serve to remind me that God gave me Scripture so that I could learn his ways and characteristics, and that he did this so that I'd recognize him when he speaks and acts. In that sense, not only do these prayers of adoration make for poetic and inspiring meditations, but they also serve as foundations for my day. God IS these things. He IS marvelous and he DOES marvelous things. He really IS holy.

I've been aided in my prayers by a wonderful resource from Ken Boa called Handbook to Prayer: Praying Scripture Back To God. I appreciate Boa's rationale for praying Scripture to God:

Loving God completely is a growth process that involves the personal elements of communication and response. By listening to the Holy Spirit in the words of Scripture and speaking to the Lord in our thoughts and prayers, we move in the direction of knowing Him better. The better we know Him, the more we will love Him, and the more we love Him, the greater our willingness to respond to Him in trust and obedience.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Turns 270

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Image from The Resurgence

On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered a sermon drawing from just one verse, Deuteronomy 32:35: "Their foot shall slide in due time." Though Edwards had already delivered the sermon once to his own congregation at Northampton a month earlier, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" will forever be remembered for the unique spiritual impact the sermon made on its hearers that July day in Enfield, Connecticut.

One eyewitness described the Enfield audience as so moved by Edwards's sermon that many "moaned, shrieked, and cried out for salvation," even as Edwards was preaching. Indeed, the message was so powerful, the presence of the Holy Spirit so evident, and the response of people so overwhelming that Edwards was unable to finish delivering the sermon.

"Sinners," arguably the most famous sermon ever preached on American soil, is Edwards's exposition on the nature of God's wrath and mercy, the fallen nature of human beings, and the necessity of faith in Christ's atoning work on the cross if one is to escape hell. One of the most memorable quotes in the sermon captures the essence of the entire work:

"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."

Edwards outlines ten points that, when coupled with his vivid descriptions of hell and the fate that awaits unbelievers (whom Edwards calls the Wicked), deliver an urgent call to his hearers to repent of sin and throw themselves at the feet of a merciful God by professing faith in Christ and receiving forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Here are the ten points as Edwards delivered them:

God may cast wicked men into hell at any given moment.

The Wicked deserve to be cast into hell.

The Wicked, at this moment, suffer under God's condemnation to hell.

The Wicked, on earth - at this very moment - suffer the torments of hell. The Wicked must not think, simply because they are not physically in hell, that God (in Whose hand the Wicked now reside) is not - at this very moment - as angry with them as He is with those miserable creatures He is now tormenting in hell, and who - at this very moment - do feel and bear the fierceness of His wrath.

At any moment God shall permit him, Satan stands ready to fall upon the Wicked and seize them as his own.

If it were not for God's restraints, there are, in the souls of wicked men, hellish principles reigning which, presently, would kindle and flame out into hellfire.

Simply because there are not visible means of death before them, at any given moment, the Wicked should not, therefore, feel secure.

Simply because it is natural to care for oneself or to think that others may care for them, men should not think themselves safe from God's wrath.

All that wicked men may do to save themselves from Hell's pains shall afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ.

God has never promised to save us from hell, except for those contained in Christ through the covenant of Grace.

The content of Edwards's message is bold, at times poetic, and assuredly intended to strike fear into any unbelievers within earshot of his voice. Delivered today, such a message would probably be eschewed by young, neo-reformed, missional preachers, which is a reasonable choice. There is, at least overtly, no gospel presentation in "Sinners." In fact, the great hymn writer and contemporary of Edwards, Isaac Watts, commented that "Sinners" was:

"A most terrible [terrifying] sermon, which should have had a word of Gospel at the end of it, though I think ‘tis all true.”

Edwards scholar George Marsden, defends "Sinners" as-is by suggesting that the hearers of Edwards's day, Christian or not, already understood at least the concept of God's loving atonement for those "in Christ." If that is true, then Edwards was surely preaching to drive home the approaching reality of God's judgment. More than that, it is reasonable to suggest that Edwards was blowing the whistle on those who think that they, maybe even they alone, will escape the eternal judgment of God, which for those not in Christ, includes the awful wrath of God.

Below are some interesting links related to "Sinners."

Here is the full text of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Here is an audio recording of Mark Dever preaching "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to the congregation of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. C.

Here are several audio excerpts of Billy Graham preaching an adapted "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" during the Los Angeles Crusade of 1949. Graham is on record saying that the Los Angeles Crusade "forever changed the face of my ministry and my life."

Cultivating A Life Of Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Does this scenario sounds familiar?

You’re going to pray. You close your eyes.

Fifteen seconds in, out of nowhere, tomorrow’s to-do list pops up and you’re off on a tangent. You catch yourself about ten seconds into the tangent, and by sheer force of the will, you get back to business.

Before you know it, it has happened again. Now you’re definitely not praying, but doing a confused mix of worrying and problem solving.

Then comes the guilt. “What is wrong with me? I can’t even sit down and pray for five minutes with out getting off track. Something is definitely wrong with me. I bet my pastor doesn't have this problem. I am the worst pray-er in the world. Is 'pray-er' even a word? What do you call someone who prays? What the heck am I even talking about? I’m just going to go to bed.”

Most of us can identify with this scenario because most of us struggle with effective prayer. I think there are two culprits that lead us astray in our prayer lives.

We don't believe our prayers matter to God

Prayer challenges us theologically: the question we just can’t get around is this: Does prayer accomplish anything?

According to Jesus, prayer does matter.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

But how does prayer work? Since God is going to work out his purposes however he wants, it seems that our prayers wouldn’t affect God’s plans at all.

Here is one of the mysterious components of prayer. Our prayer actually does matter, because in his mysterious, but sovereign wisdom and power, God has chosen to use our prayers to accomplish his will.

In other words, a Christian’s prayers are useful and powerful because God has chosen to infuse them with power and use them to accomplish his purposes. We can trust that in prayer we have fellowship with God, and that fellowship is a time of growth, of learning his will as we ask, seek, and knock at the door of God’s heart.

We don’t know when to pray

People who have healthy prayer lives often describe receiving “promptings” from God, or “burdens” to pray. Don’t be scared off by the “spiritual” language. Think of times when someone pops into your mind, seemingly out of nowhere. This is kind of what Christians mean when they say they’ve received a prompting to pray. Similarly, we all understand burdens. Burdens are the things that weigh heavily on us, things that keep us up at night.

So the problem isn’t that we don’t get promptings and don’t have burdens. The problem is that we don’t see these as promptings to pray and burdens to pray about.

For example, when someone pops into our mind we generally ignore it. On a good day, we will email, text, or call that person to let them know we’re thinking about them. While there is nothing wrong with these, few of us see these as opportunities to pray for that person.

It’s the same with our burdens. Our minds are preoccupied with a conflict with our spouse, or we have a bill that needs to be paid. Instead of seeing a burden to pray about, we see a problem to solve or a status update for Facebook. A healthy prayer life includes recognizing when God is drawing us into prayer.

Here are three things I think can help us cultivate a more effective prayer life.

1) Create space for prayer

You can’t create intimacy with God; you have to make room for it. Set aside a designated time for prayer. The Gospels tell us that Jesus liked to pray in the morning. Maybe that time will work for you. Get up early and dedicate that time for prayer. Start small. Start by giving five minutes to the Lord. Once you get a handle on that, move up to ten, twenty, and so on.

2) Don’t make praying the focus of your prayer

Many of us sit down to pray, and our primary thought is: “I am now praying. Praying is good.” But focusing on the fact that you are praying is like trying to drive while looking at the windshield instead of through the windshield. In prayer, don’t focus on the conversation you’re having, focus on the person with whom you’re having it.

3) Don't give up

Finally, If you’re praying and your mind wanders, don’t give up. Don’t ignore the thoughts that come in. Many of us assume that the “pop-in” thoughts are distractions, but what if these are the things God wanted us to sit down and pray about in the first place. Instead of giving up, offer even your distracted thoughts to God in prayer.

Hopefully these tools can help you cultivate a healthier prayer life.

Why Our Bodies Matter

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:13:00 +0000

My friend Matthew Anderson is one of the brightest, most insightful thinkers I know. Having worshiped and worked with him the past few years, I have come to value his thoughtfulness on any manner of topics, all of which turn out to be way more important to a fuller understanding of the gospel than I thought when our conversation began.

I am excited that others will get a glimpse of Matt's mind and heart in his new book Earthen Vessels: Breathing New Life Into A Broken Faith (Bethany House, 2011). You can read the first two chapters online.

Having conversed with Matt during his manuscript phases, I know that this is an important book, and frankly one that addressed a topic I hadn't thought a whole lot about. Apparently, lots of other evangelicals haven't thought much about it either because there is precious little written on this subject.

I guess we were all waiting for Matt's skilled hand to pen it.

Here is a list of endorsements for Earthen Vessels from Justin Taylor's blog.

“What does Christianity have to say about the body? Much more than you might think. Matthew Lee Anderson—one of evangelicalism’s brightest young writers—is a serious student of God’s Word and God’s world, and in this book he patiently and insightfully explores a theology of the body from numerous angles. Rightly seeing the body as a gift from God for our good and his glory, Anderson insightfully shows us what a biblical worldview has to say about the body in relationship to community, pleasure, sex, sexuality, tattoos, death, prayer, and the church. Anderson’s arguments deserve careful consideration. I suspect that many of us will think differently—and more biblically—about the body as a result of this very fine work.”
Justin Taylor, Managing Editor, ESV Study Bible; blogger, “Between Two Worlds“

“We evangelicals don’t think we care about the body, but we really, really do. And Matthew Anderson—one of the brightest lights in the evangelical world—helps us care, ponder, think and pray more wisely as we give our bodies as a living sacrifice to Christ.” Mark Galli, Senior Managing Editor, Christianity Today

“I love to think. I love to be challenged. Mission accomplished in reading Earthen Vessels. In it, Matthew Anderson takes on prevailing cultural assumptions about the human body that have been uncritically adopted into the church of Jesus Christ. This book is for the church who is in the world. It is a truth-balm for a broken culture addicted to body image. Be challenged to forsake your “quasi-gnosticism” and embrace the divine dignity of your body so that you can worship well.” Darrin Patrick, Lead Pastor at The Journey and author of Church Planter

“Matthew Lee Anderson makes an important contribution to the evangelical dialogue about the importance and role of the human body that is both scholarly and accessible. Too often evangelical discourse on this subject has been either defensive or simply followed cultural trends. Anderson is both robustly Christian and willing to listen when other traditions may have something to contribute. Christians will learn from this book that the body is important, but that we are not just computers made out of meat.” John Mark Reynolds (Ph.D.), Director of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University

“Ours is a befuddling age. We’re “friends” with people we’ve never met, we read books that have nomaterial substance, and we store precious material in something rather ominously termed “the cloud.”Physicality is out; incorporeality is in. Earthen Vessels is a needed contribution in such a time. Thetext is at once an elegant meditation on the body, a fresh study of Scripture, and a celebration of thewestern tradition. Here is philosophical theology that will foster debate, critical thought, and praise of the Savior whose physical sacrifice won our salvation.” Owen Strachan, Instructor of Christian Theology and Church History, Boyce College

“Earthen Vessels is a turning point in the evangelical conversation about the meaning of bodies. If you didn’t even know such a conversation was going on, you are lucky to have Matthew Anderson introducing you to it. If you’ve already been listening in and are as confused as the rest of us, you’ll appreciate the way this book sorts things out, settles accounts, debunks myths, digs for sources, raises neglected issues, and points out the way forward. On nearly every page you can find two virtues rarely combined: surprising new insights and good old common sense. Here is good counsel (solid, soulful, scriptural) about how to be humans, in bodies, under the gospel.” Fred Sanders, Associate Professor of Theology, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

Tattoos, cremation, abortion, gay sex, yoga, online church: No subject is off limits in Matthew Anderson’s provocative book on the body. Anderson challenges us to deepen our understanding of what it means to be embodied. When it comes to body matters, the body matters. Though few will agree with all of Anderson’s diagnosis and prescription, all who read this book will be challenged to consider how our views of the body line up with (or depart from) Scripture and Christian theology. This is a highly ambitious project that deserves careful consideration. Trevin Wax, author of Counterfeit Gospels and Holy Subversion

“As one of evangelicalism’s most insightful young intellectuals, Matthew Anderson is the ideal thinker for inspiring and developing a “theology of the body.” Earthen Vessels is a splendid theological analysis of the issues that we face in attempting to live as incarnational beings in a technocratic culture. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to think more clearly about the importance of embodiment and the Christian faith.” Joe Carter, Web Editor, First Things

Nearly every strand of theology from postmodern to feminist to Catholic has a robust theology of the body—all except evangelicalism. Matt’s new book works toward remedying this problem by restarting the conversation about how Christians talk about this fleshly creation into which Jesus himself was incarnated.

John Dyer, Director of Web Development at Dallas Theological Seminary
and author of From the Garden to the City

Called To Leave Your Job To Work At Church?

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +0000

A common story these days is the business man, with his organizational prowess and proven track record of growing and leading a team to health, who leaves all that behind to pour himself into the church. Now that's the kind of story to celebrate, right? After all, these people are usually taking significant pay cuts to work for the church. That's gotta be good.

I'm not convinced.

There seems to be a growing trend among churches--mostly, but not exclusively, large and very large churches--to hire highly skilled executives to "run" their church. I understand this on one level. If God has entrusted to a church lots of property, people, and finances, then the church is responsible to find gifted people to serve in high-level administrative roles. MBA's welcome!

But in some cases I've seen, churches hire executives without considering two crucial things:

Does the person have the heart of a pastor?

What are the ramifications of removing the person from their mission field and sphere of influence?

A person with a responsibility as large as "running" a church should have not only the business chops to steward all the stuff, but a pastor's heart to shepherd all the sheep. I know lots of folks who are skilled administrators and who are great shepherds of one, two, maybe three or four sheep. However, pastor with large responsibilities at the highest level of church leadership had better be not just a sheep person, but a flock person.

Secondly, what happens if influential, committed Christians leave their sphere of influence in the business world in order to work at a church? Is someone going to fill the void? Are missionaries being removed from the field before their work is done? Is it always something to celebrate when a business person converts to the pastorate? Are churches diverting people from a calling within their unique sphere of influence, thus deepening the sacred/secular divide?

Don't get me wrong. I love it when good pastors lead the church, whether they lead through their preaching or singing or counseling or administrating. I just want all those preachers and singers and counselors and administrators to have pastors hearts, and to be certain that God has called them away from a position of influence.

Doctrine Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:34:00 +0000

This is a good teaser for why doctrine matters. From Desiring God:

One step before the details of what you believe is the question of why it matters. Simply put, what you believe matters because it's what tells you how to live—and something is always telling everyone. Kevin Vanhoozer explains:

One's life is moving in one direction or another, taking one kind of shape or another. As Pascal remarked: "Our nature consists in movement. Absolute rest is death." To the extent that we are always following some direction or other, our very lives are "indoctrinated." The only question is whether the doctrine that informs one's life is governed by the Christian gospel or by some other story, some other script (The Drama of Doctrine, [Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005], 105).

In particular for the Christian, doctrine is not mere guidance, but perpetual conformity. Vanhoozer again:

The purpose of doctrine is to conform us to the truth, and we conform to the truth by bearing true witness to what God has done and is doing in Christ through the Spirit. We bear true witness by speaking, and embodying, the truth in love. To embody the truth of the gospel is to live in such a way that one's word and deeds are testimonies to the love and knowledge of God that were made manifest "in Christ" (397).

Princeton, Inerrancy, and the Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Here's an interesting post from Justin Taylor regarding Carl Trueman's paper considering the origins of the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture and the foundations of what we know as Princeton theology. I've been thinking about this recently as I've considered B. B. Warfield's thoughts on Scripture and higher and lesser forms of revelation. I agree with Trueman on his conclusion that the Princetonians, including Warfield, were not the originators of the doctrine of inerrancy, nor were they simply products of enlightenment thinking.

If the Princetonians are to be seen as innovators, it cannot be in terms of their articulation of the concept of inerrant autographs or in their concern for verbal inspiration and the connection of this to notions of truth. On these points, they stand within an established tradition of Christian discourse which goes back beyond the Reformation to the early church.

However, I do think that Warfield (and others) did focus on establishing the case for inerrancy, and so doing, undercut the value, power, and function of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. I think the tendency in reformed circles toward either functional or outright cessationism is in many ways born directly out of Warfield's rigorous defense of the inerrancy of Scripture. An unfortunate byproduct of an important stance for orthodoxy in the late 19th century.

St. Augustine On The Origin Of Evil

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:19:00 +0000

If God created everything and evil exists, doesn't it stand to reason that God created evil?

In his masterwork, Confessions, Augustine addresses the problem of evil by rethinking the essence of evil in the first place.

One way to approach evil is evidenced in the question that opens this blog post. The argument goes like this:

God created all things.
Evil is a thing.
Therefore, God created evil.

If the logic of points one and two are tenable, then the conclusion of point three is unavoidable, and if point three is true, then life, and certainly Christianity, seems rather pointless. In this scenario, God is, frankly, a jerk, and any discussion of his goodness is undermined by the mere fact that he created evil.

But Augustine saw that the way to understand the problem of evil does not begin with the question of where does evil come from, but a more fundamental question: What is evil?

The argument above presupposes that evil is a "thing." But Augustine posed a different second premise than the one above. Augustine proposed that evil in not a "thing" in the sense that it was created--like trees, or planets, or skin cells. For Augustine, if evil is not a thing it does not need creating.

Augustine reasoned through the problem of the origin of evil this way:

All things created by God are good.
Evil is not good.
Therefore, evil was not created by God.

He also made the following proposition:

God created everything.
God did not create evil.
Therefore, evil is not a thing.

So What Is Evil?

To Augustine, anything that had what he called "being" was good. God as the ground of being is perfectly good, and everything he brings into being is also good.

So when Augustine posed the question "Where is evil then, and whence, and how crept it in hither? What is its root, and what its seed? Or hath it no being?" His answer was: "Evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name 'evil.'" (From Confessions, VII).

Augustine reasoned that evil is the privation of goodness: Since all things were made with goodness, evil must be the privation of goodness. He wrote, "All which is corrupted is deprived of good." In other words, the minimizing of goodness is what's called evil.

But the question remains: How did evil come about? Simply, evil is the result of willfully turning from that which is good, namely the Ultimate Good, who is God. Choices deprived of good, i.e., turning from God, is how evil crept into the world and in us. Evil is not a thing; it is a choice

Great Lenten Hymns: Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)?

noreply@blogger.com (Joel A. Lindsey) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Categorized as an African-American spiritual rather than a hymn, “Were You There (When they Crucified My Lord)?” is believed to have first been sung in the southern Appalachians in the mid-19th century.

American slaves related to the crucifixion because it was, like their own circumstances, an event of unconscionable injustice. Musicologist and jazz historian Consuela Lee has commented on the use of the word “tree” in the song, rather than cross.

“Jesus of Nazareth was lynched. The slaves knew what that was.”

Attributed to no specific author, the lyrics are remarkable for their unadorned treatment of Christ's death and resurrection. The song takes us through the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus, and delivers us triumphantly to the empty tomb.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?