Mark Dever interviewed by Ed Stetzer at Whiteboard church growth conference

Part 1
Stetzer to Dever:”….this is not your normal crowd. I told a friend…..you kind of stuck out here like Joel Osteen at John MacAurther’s Shepherds conference, but just the other direction.”

Very gracious and interesting interview.
Part 2

Where lies our treasure…..

John Piper speaking eloquently, powerfully and clearly, with powerful conviction, on stewardship, on discipleship, on the role of money/possessions in the life of a disciple of Christ.

On a far less profound note, perhaps I need, after having viewed this video, to reflect a bit on my perspective of what I recently defined as word-count eisegesis. Maybe I need to eat some of my words.

Perhaps the saddest gift………

If any spiritual gift or capacity is capable of producing righteous grief and sadness (and maybe anger?), perhaps it is that of discernment.  Is there truth to this statement? Does this make sense?  What happens when discernment is not tempered with grace?

• 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 (English Standard Version)
  but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
• Philippians 1:9 (English Standard Version)
  And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

Good Blogging

Cerulean Sanctum

Something akin to that ‘foot steps in the sand’ thing?

I have more than once read and heard well-intentioned pastoral words of encouragement for the spiritually destitute go very much like this:

“Even when you may, at times, feel abandoned by God, when bad things are happening to you, when your spiritual disciplines of prayer and reading the Bible does not seem to ‘work’, He is/was none-the-less always there for you. You may not know it, acknowledge it, or be thankful for it, but when you finally reach the top of that pinnacle, when you surmount that life struggle, He was behind you all along, like a father watching his small child struggling up a flight of stairs, waiting to encourage you and catch you if/when you fall.”

What, if anything, is wrong with this perspective on suffering experienced by disciples of Christ? Is this a biblical perspective of how a disciple of Christ is to view the role and purpose of suffering in one’s life? Is this a biblically correct perspective of God’s influence and purpose in respect to the trials in our lives? Does it diminish the role of suffering? Is there room for real faith to be found therein? Is there perhaps, without intent, an issue of misplaced focus in the aforementioned paraphrase?

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• Romans 8:15-18(NAS)
  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

• Hebrews 12:5
  And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
  “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
  and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

• 1 Peter 4:12-16(NIV)
  Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

• 1 Peter 1:3-9 (ESV)
  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

• 2 Corinthians 12:10
  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Blogging ‘lite’ - Law ‘lite’

I may be very sparse (for me) in the length, perhaps one-hundred words or so, of my posts in the foreseeable future. I think that I will sometimes post questions, mostly rhetorical in nature and with minimal (for me) contextual framing.  Here is an example:

I have heard many times that we are to give Jesus “our best”, often within the context on a sermon on tithing. I remember watching/listening to a sermon on the TV by a nationally known and influential preacher at the begining of the year.  The message was that, in 2008, we need to be more faithful in tithing, we need to be sure to witness to others on a regular basis, and we need to be more faithful in attending church, perhaps with the inferred promise that we will be blessed by our obedience in the new year, financially and otherwise.  This preachers intent was noble and the things he called us to do are, in an of themselves, praiseworthy, but may sometimes the preaching and exhorting to give Jesus “our best” be an unintended invitation to a performance-driven legalism lite?  On the other hand, at what point do we begin to tread the dangerous ground of antinomianism?

Expecting a Paucity of Posts

I probably will not be posting much in the next little while for various reasons.  What posting I do engage in will be more of a sharing of content found elsewhere.  Perhaps in a couple of weeks I may engage this blogging thing again. 

 

Thinking my thoughts, but articulating them much more clearly….AKA my shortest post ever..

Theology and Steak

“If you really understand Reformed theology…….”

A quote from Joshua Harris, senior pastor of Covenant Life Church found at Conservative Reformed Mafia :

“If you really understand Reformed theology, we should all just sit around shaking our heads going, ‘It’s unbelievable. Why would God choose any of us?’ You are so amazed by grace, you’re not picking a fight with anyone - you’re just crying tears of amazement that should lead to a heart for lost people, that God does indeed save, when he doesn’t have to save anybody.”

Bruised reeds and black dogs

I have had this old dog since I was a young child. He has often followed me, sometimes at a distance, sometimes not. I believe it may be from the same litter as Churchill’s dog. Mine, like his, is coal black. I think of it as a big, black Lab, not really a snarling, junkyard dog.

Sometimes, when I would wake up in the morning and look out the bedroom window, I would see him sitting there, looking back at me, quiet and still. Other mornings, he would be nowhere in sight. It is not as if I liked this dog, but sometimes, against my better judgment, I would find myself feeding it, encouraging it. There was one occasion, quite a number of years ago, that I really got tired of this old dog, and I threatened it with a pistol. It eventually ran away for a while and would just stare at me from a distance. I could see him watching me, but he seemed too wary to approach.

I know where this black dog comes from, and I know what kept him around. None of that is a mystery to me. I know the dark, complicated circumstances that birthed this animal. I know that old dog as well as I know myself. As much as this dog has hounded my steps in times past, I cannot help but sometimes think this dog as an old, troubled, and wounded friend. He has helped me see things perhaps from a perspective hidden to others who have not had such a companion.

He more or less keeps his space, now, and I keep mine. I believe he still waits outside the door for me should I need to draw on him for some dark insight, but I do not expect to ever again experience the need for such.

John 11:35
Hebrews 4:15
Psalm 103:14
Isaiah 53:10-11
Isaiah 51:11-12
Isaiah 42:3
Romans 8:18