Books Read In February

A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden

A great intro to Jonathan Edwards, his life, work, ministry and writings. Marsden has a fuller biography of Edwards (Johnathan Edwards – A Life; 640 pages) but tghlyhis at 152 pages, will wet your appetite to pursue further reading of this remarkable man and theolgian.

Marsden’s writing style is easy and flowing and so wonderful for just getting immersed into the story. Highly recommended.

Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John And The praying Imagination by Eugene Petersen

I have to say that I expected more from this book. We used this as our recent men’s book club group which meets at 7am at a local cafe for breakfast. I learnt that 7am may be too early to read this book. Eugene is obviously a master with language but at times he left me in a wake of his poetic language and imagery. It was hard to follow – and when revelation is hard to follow, and the commentary commenting ON revelation is tough to follow then we are struggling.

If you are steeped in english literature, poetry and some philosophy then you might enjoy this, but otherwise I would not recommend this book.

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry by John Piper

This is really a great little book. For me this is like a personal treatise to ministers from someone who cares (that is how it reads). You can sense the passion and heart-felt conviction of Piper leap from the page as he writes on topic after topic exhorting those in the ministry to stop being ‘professional’ and start to be men of God – called ministers to the gospel of Christ and to the glorification of God. Professionalism is killing the church. Piper opens the book with “the mentality of professionalism is not the mentality of the prophet. The more professional we are the more spiritual death we leave in our wake.” Piper writes one of the best chapters on prayer I have ever read – convicting, powerful and challenging. It is a rare writer who can write such a chapter and still leave you wanting to go and pray and develop a deeper prayer life. Each chapter is short enough that this might be an excellent devotional book. Highly recommended.

The Message Of Ephesians by John Stott

Our Adult Education program this past 7 weeks have been in Ephesians. We have had four groups meeting each week to discuss and work through a chapter of Epheisans. It has been a real blessing and a wonderful book to study. Stott’s commentary is really outstanding. It is understandable but also very thorough. Most of all, it is filled with spiritual insight and great exegesis.

I would highly recommend this commentary as both a scholarly work for preparing sermons and talks but also for devotional reading. That is the gift Stott has – reaching the scholarly level and yet readable for the layman.

God’s Passion For His Glory by John Piper

This book works on two levels. Firstly, it gives us an introduction to the life, work, passion and theology of Edwards by one of his biggest fans and advocates, John Piper. Secondly it provides us the text of Edwards great work - The End for Which God Created the World.

This is a delightful book, with much information and snippets of gold about Edwards. Highly recommended.

The Unwavering of Resolve by Steven Lawson

This is a great little book on the 70 Resolutions which Edwards began to write during his first, brief, pastorate in New York in 1722. The book examines Edward’s and the topics of holiness and spiritual disciplines from the perspective of the resolutions. Highly recommended.

The Fall of Brian McLaren

I have followed McLaren, and read his early books, for a number of years as he headed, whether intentionally or not, the ‘Emergent’ movement. I have been very concerned at the steady decline in McLaren’s orthodoxy over the years. One of the more conservative Evangelical ‘supporters’ of McLaren has been Scott McKnight of Jesus Creed. Not anymore. McKnight reviews McLaren’s new book, which has finally pushed McKnight over the edge. McLaren, I fear, is a visual example of what is happening to the Emergent movement – it has slipped out of biblical, historic Christianity. I always felt that while the initial momentum of the emerging church – to ask questions and challenge how the church does things – was not a bad thing, the questioning continued, to the point of even questioning the fundamentals of the faith – which was simply wrong. It appears the emerging movement forgot to stop questioning and start  to build a biblical theology. The Church is a non-negotiable MUST of  Christianity. To criticize or question the church is fine, even helpful at times. But then, you MUST quit complaining, agree your theology based on the historic faith and climb back into the boat. It is theologically impossible to leave the church – it is the body  of Christ on the earth. McLaren is an example of one who has not climbed back into the boat – and quite simply he is drowning. And it appears his new book shows this clearly and while I have not read McLaren’s new book McKnight has and he ends his  review with:

Unfortunately, this book lacks the “generosity” of genuine orthodoxy and, frankly, I find little space in it for orthodoxy itself. Orthodoxy for too many today means little more than the absence of denying what’s in the creeds. But a robust orthodoxy means that orthodoxy itself is the lens through which we see theology. One thing about this book is clear: Orthodoxy is not central.

Alas, A New Kind of Christianity shows us that Brian, though he is now thinking more systemically, has fallen for an old school of thought. I read this book carefully, and I found nothing new. It may be new for Brian, but it’s a rehash of ideas that grew into fruition with Adolf von Harnack and now find iterations in folks like Harvey Cox and Marcus Borg. For me, Brian’s new kind of Christianity is quite old. And the problem is that it’s not old enough.

Essential Jonathan Edwards…

Next Tuesday I am due to give a 60 min lecture on the Life and Theology of Jonathan Edwards. I have been reading a ton of Edward’s, and books on Edward’s. I still feel utterly under prepared – there is so much material that it is impossible to cover everything. This set, The Essential Edwards is a great resource. This is the ideal way to get introduced to Edward’s work, thinking and theology.

Bringing People Up To the Bible

I do love Martin Lloyd-Jones. Here is an interesting point he made in a talk in 1961.

While I do not hold his high devotion to the Authorized Version (I think Bible Translations are far superior today than in 1960′s – i.e. ESV, NRSV, HCSB & NET), I love his point, which I made bold in the text below:

I suppose that the most popular of all the proposals at the present moment is to have a new translation of the Bible… The argument is that people are not reading the Bible any longer because they do not understand its language – particularly the archaic terms – what does your modern man… know about justification, sanctification, and all these Biblical terms? And so we are told the one thing that is necessary is to have a translation that Tom, Dick and Harry will understand…Look at it like this. Take this argument that the modern man does not understand such terms as ‘justification’, ‘sanctification’, and so on. I want to ask a question: When did the ordinary man ever understand those terms? … Consider the colliers to whom John Wesley and George Whitfield used to preach in the 18^th century. Did they understand them? They had not even been to a day school, an elementary school. They could not read, they could not write…Yet we are told, [the Bible]  must be put in such simple terms and language that anybody taking it up and reading it is going to understand all about it. My friends, this is nothing but sheer nonsense! What we must do is to educate the masses of the people up to the Bible, not bring the Bible down to their level.

Is ‘Every Member Ministry’ Biblical?

Very interesting post by R Scott Clark. Here is a snipet:

It is universally assumed among contemporary evangelicals that Scripture teaches what is widely known as “every member ministry.” I understand how folk come to that conclusion and, over the years, I’ve been on both sides of this question. I’m back where I started. I don’t see it. If I can be brutally honest when I embraced the “every member ministry” model during my pastorate in Kansas City it was because we were a small church and we didn’t seem to be growing and, in response to the tremendous internal and external pressure felt by most pastors to “grow the church” I adopted a series of “new measures.” I became a predestinarian evangelical. I fiddled with the Regulative Principle and I made friends with the so-called “church growth” movement and I let those things color my biblical exegesis.

Check out the provocative and thought-provoking post HERE

Lenten Reading

I do not know what your Lenten reading will be this year. I am using a program that I did last year which I found so helpful.

It’s a series of readings from the Church Fathers. It is not a book but a resource put together and made available on the internet in PDF format.

Quite simply each day you  read the assigned writing which should take 10-15 minutes. By day 40, you will have read 10 different Church Fathers. The first reading is the Didache.

I think it’s an awesome lenten discipline and a GREAT introduction to the Church Fathers. Fortunately I have been able to put it on my Kindle, which makes it portable. Any way, I recommend it to you if you have not started a specific lenten reading program.

Find it HERE

John Donne on Forgiveness

John Donne preached a sermon on the first Sunday of Lent to King James I. I was especially convicted of his prayer – sinnes which I have so laboured to hide from the world, as that now they are hid from mine own conscience, and mine own memory… . WOW!! Here is an extract (in old english):

FORGIVE me O Lord, O Lord forgive me my sinnes, the sinnes of my youth, and my present sinnes, the sinne that my Parents cast upon me, Originall sinne, and the sinnes that I cast upon my children, in an ill example ; Actuall sinnes, sinnes which are manifest to all the world, and sinnes which I have so laboured to hide from the world, as that now they are hid from mine own conscience, and mine own memory ; Forgive me my crying sins, and my whispering sins, sins of uncharitable hate, and sinnes of unchaste love, sinnes against Thee and Thee, against thy Power O Almighty Father, against thy Wisedome, O glorious Sonne, against thy Goodnesse, O blessed Spirit of God ; and sinnes against Him and Him, against Superiours and Equals,and Inferiours; and sinnes against Me and Me, against mine own soul, and against my body, which I have loved better than my soul ; Forgive me O Lord, Lord in the merits of thy Christ and my Jesus, thine Anointed, and my Saviour ; Forgive me my sinnes, all my sinnes, and I will put Christ to no more cost, nor thee to more trouble, for any reprobation or malediction that lay upon me, otherwise then as a sinner. I ask but an application, not an extention of that Benediction, Blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiven ; Let me be but so blessed, and I shall envy no mans Blessednesse: say thou to my sad soul, Sonne be of good comfort, thy sinnes are forgiven thee.

Should Christian Ministers Opt Out Of Social Security Tax?

When I was ordained a Priest I discovered that I would now be responsible for paying my FICA Tax. Up to the point of ordination – when I was the youth minister, the church paid half of the 14% tax. Now, as a Priest, I was responsible for the whole 14%. It turns out, however, that I could apply to opt out of this tax completely (which would then mean I was not eligible for social security payments / retirement payments etc). Here is a great response from a minister about whether we should opt out…

READ IT HERE

Wives Submit to your husbands – Why Do Conservatives Misrepresent this teaching?

The Daily Telegraph reports a vicar in the UK (a conservative Evangelical) who has preached a sermon which has outraged some in his congregation (apparently – this is from the reporters perspective. He is reported as saying that “Wives must submit to their husbands in everything in recognition of the fact that husbands are the head of the family as Christ is head of the church.” He goes on to say “This is the way God has ordered their relationships with each other and Christian marriage cannot function well without it.”

If THIS IS what he said, then he is absolutely wrong – and his women parishioners SHOULD be outraged. As a conservative evangelical (reformed) christian I get SO frustrated when preachers misrepresent the headship theology. A wife IS to submit to her husband – but that husband must be dying for his wife day by day. Wives submit to your husbands – husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church. THE TWO COMMANDS GO TOGETHER. Why, why do preachers NEVER mention the husbands responsibility to love his wife as christ loved the church. And if a husband is NOT doing this (and thus sinning and disobeying God) why does he demand his wife submit. And if a husband IS loving his wife as CHrist loved the church then his wife will almost certainly HAPPILY and WILLINGLY submit to him.

More Snow Pictures In South Carolina

More snow pictures – kids playing in back yard!!

Snow In South Carolina

Some pictures from my back and front porch – amazing!!

Church Of England Synod Affirms ACNA

I think this was as far as the CofE could go on this synod with ACNA. To affirm their desire to remain in the Anglican Communion. I think it’s a huge step and a set back for Katherine Schori who was actively lobbying in England. Of course the CofE is a master of fudging -and while I think this is great step, the next logical step would be to formally acknowledge ACNA in 2011. The yeargap, I think, is important. My hunch is that the CofE need to see if ACNA can hold together and get established. It would not be a good think for ACNA to be formally recognized only for it to disintegrate over the coming months.

On any rating, the overwhelming affirmation by the Synod of the Church of England to recognize the fledging Anglican Church of North America province is a small but significant step, a wedge under the door of both the Church of England and the World Wide Anglican Communion.

David Virtue (read it all here)

A Biblical Theology of Sleep?

Check out C J Mahaney’s talk on this HERE

How Should A Congregation Treat Their Pastor?

Benjamin Keach’s paper, The Glory of a True Church (1600′s), lists 7 duties of Church-Members to their Pastors …

1. ‘Tis the Duty of every Member to pray for their Pastor and Teachers (for which he then lists 6 motives: Ministers Work is great; The Opposition is not small which is made against them; God’s loud Call is for the Saint’s continual Prayers and Supplications for them; Their Weaknesses and Temptations are many; The Increase and Edification of the Church depends upon the Success of their Ministry; If they fall or miscarry, God is greatly dishonoured, and his Ways and People reproached)
2. They ought to shew a reverential Estimation of them
3. ‘Tis their Duty to submit themselves unto them, that is, in all their Exhortations, good Counsels and Reproofs
4. It is their Duty to take care to vindicate them from the unjust Charges of evil Men, or Tongue of Infamy, and not to take up a Reproach against them by report, nor to grieve their Spirits, or weaken their Hands
5. ‘Tis the Duty of Members to go to them when under Trouble or Temptations
6. It is their Duty to provide a comfortable Maintenance for them and their Families, suitable to their State and Condition
7. It is their Duty to adhere to them, and abide by them in all their Trials and Persecutions for the Word

More on Prayer…

• “When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do.”   A C Dixon

“Oh, how we need to wake up to how much “nothing” we spend our time doing. Apart from prayer, all our scurrying about, all our talking, all our study amounts to nothing. For most of us the voice of self-reliance is ten times louder than the bell that tolls for the hours of prayer.”  John Piper

Conviction About Prayer

I have just read John Piper’s exhortation that we should NOT look at the habit of praying and meditating on scripture for 2 hours daily and think it impossible to do in our culture. Prayer in the foundation, source and sustainer of ALL that we are and do and yet it is the first thing that we neglect in the busyness of life and ministry. No wonder the church lacks power when we pray for a mere 10 15, 30 mins a day. Instead of prayer being our ‘air’ which we need to breathe constantly, it has become a healthy snack which we make sure we take, but in moderation.

I will quote some of the Piper chapter later.

Ditch The Distinction Between ‘Objective’ Bible reading and ‘Devotional’ Bible Reading

From Don Carson:

Fight with every fiber of your being the common disjunction between “objective study” of Scripture and “devotional reading” of Scripture, between “critical reading” of the Bible and “devotional reading” of the Bible. The place where this tension usually first becomes a problem is at seminary. Students enter with the habit of reading the Bible “devotionally” (as they see it). They enjoy reading the Bible, they feel warm and reverent as they do so, they encounter God through its pages, some have memorized many verses and some chapters, and so forth.

Seminary soon teaches them the rudiments of Greek and Hebrew, principles of exegesis, hermeneutical reflection, something about textual variants, distinctions grounded in different literary genres, and more. In consequence, students learn to read the Bible “critically” or “objectively” for their assignments, but still want to read the Bible “devotionally” in their quiet times. Every year a handful of students end up at the door of assorted lecturers and professors asking how to handle this tension. They find themselves trying to have their devotions, only to be harassed by intruding thoughts about textual variants. How should one keep such polarized forms of reading the Bible apart? This polarization, this disjunction, kept unchecked, may then characterize or even harass the biblical scholar for the rest of his or her life. That scholar may try to write a commentary on, say, Galatians, where at least part of the aim is to master the text, while preserving time for daily devotional readying.

My response, forcefully put, is to resist this disjunction, to eschew it, to do everything in your power to destroy it. Scripture remains Scripture, it is still the Word of God before which (as Isaiah reminds us) we are to tremble, the very words we are to revere, treasure, digest, meditate on, and hide in our hearts (minds?), whether we are reading the Bible at 5:30 AM at the start of a day, or preparing an assignment for an exegesis class at 10:00 PM. If we try to keep apart these alleged two ways of reading, then we will be irritated and troubled when our “devotions” are interrupted by a sudden stray reflection about a textual variant or the precise force of a Greek genitive; alternatively, we may be taken off guard when we are supposed to be preparing a paper or a sermon and suddenly find ourselves distracted by a glimpse of God’s greatness that is supposed to be reserved for our “devotions.” So when you read “devotionally,” keep your mind engaged; when you read “critically” (i.e., with more diligent and focused study, deploying a panoply of “tools”), never, ever, forget whose Word this is. The aim is never to become a master of the Word, but to be mastered by it.

Do You Disagree with this….

“We are not justified by faith by believing in justification by faith. We are justified by faith by believing in the gospel itself – in other words, that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead”.

This quote is from N.T Wright. The latest issue of Tabletalk magazine has an article whereby R.C Sproul objects to this statement. Now, I have not read the article. I do not follow EVERYTHING N.T Wright teaches. I regard myself primarily in the reformed tradition theologically. But we need to stop this witch hunt against NT Wright. He does not have perfect theology. None of us do. There is MUCH in NT Wright’s works which have been a valuable addition to the body of Christ. There has been much written in objection to Wright’s views in Justification. But it seems that there is an attempt to turn Wright into a heretic. Something which he is definitely not.

A good post on this can be found HERE

Books Read in January

Second in this series of crime novel based in the Tudor period. Again, lawyer Matthew Shardlake is sent to investigate a mystery by the powerful Thomas Cromwell. However this time the results of his mission may determine whether Cromwell remains Chancellor or is toppled from power. A really entertaining read and highly recommended.

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A new series from Philippa Gregory. This time, the novel is set pre-Tudor – in the times of the war between York and Lancaster Houses as they fight for the throne of England. Gregory bases the novel in much fact although her reading of what actually happened, especially to the princes in the tower, is conjecture.  This is the first of a series of novels which will follow. This was really hugely enjoyable to read.

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The Hole In Our Gospel. What Does God Expect of Us? Written by the CEO of World Vision. Here he challenges us to be both believers and doers of the word – to be active in the world showing the gospel through our money, and involvement with those in need. Much of the book revolves around his personal testimony in how God called him to World Vision.

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Gospel Powered Parenting by William Farley. Godly parenting is about modeling the gospel in the home with the goal of leading your child to Christ. See my review HERE.

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A published poet has been commissioned to create an Anthology of Poetry. He must write the introduction to the anthology. This book revolves around his inability to finish the introduction. He is procrastinating. And the author illustrates his procrastination and his wondering attention so well. There will be a section of wonderful dialogue as he explains the benefits or progress of some aspect of poetry when all of a sudden he writes “I think the dog needs a wash.”

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Second book by young and Kluck. Why We Love The Church is a useful defense of the traditional model of Church (and by traditional I mean – regular services, in a building, with programs etc.) (see larger review HERE)

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In this study of the atonement, Cole examines why there was the need for the atonement, the effects of Christ’s death and the aftermath of living post-atonement. In all of this, Cole’s underlying point is that atonement (should) bring us shalom – peace. There is no shalom with God without sacrifice. Peace is made through the blood of the cross. And ultimately the goal is God’s glory. Why did God create? Why salvation history? Why the Cross? Why a new heaven and a new earth? So that we might glorify God.