Monthly Archives: January 2012

“Inspiration Sells, But Only Jesus Transforms”



A post from Resurgence, adopted by a post from Jared Wilson.

Excerpt:

There is a pastor whose Twitter feed I occasionally read, but I shouldn’t, because it absolutely drives me nuts. A large portion of my reaction is tied to my own issues, I’m sure, but I see in his broadcasts an almost pathological intention not to mention Jesus. …

We ministers of the gospel — and Christians at large — can fumble this commission in three main ways:

1. We speak in vague spiritual generalities. Love. Hope. Peace. Joy. Harmony. Blessings. All disembodied from the specific atoning work of the incarnate Jesus and exalted Lord. It all sounds nice. It’s all very inspirational. And it’s rubbish. He himself is our peace. He himself is love. He himself is life. He does not make life better. He is life. Any pastor who talks about the virtues of faith, hope, and love, with Jesus as some implied tangential source, is not feeding his flock well.

Continue Reading at Resurgence


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Read Related:
- The Beneficial God: Modern Christianity and Its Ubiquitous Psychological Slope
- Gospel Idolatry
- How To Lose The Gospel
- Guest Q&A: Losing Faith in Guilt
- The Incidental Christian: How We Make God Who We Want
- Sugar-Driven Gospel


Music Review: Give Us Rest – David Crowder Band


Give Us Rest
By David Crowder Band

Summary:
David Crowder Band, the cutting edge of Christian worship bands in the last decade, offer up their sixth and final album. It’s a virtuoso effort of bells, chimes, whistles, banjos, techno, and choir-pumped glory, with their most Christ-centered focus and ambitious musicality. It’s an unforgettable experience.

Review:
No one does it quite like the David Crowder Band. Not only have they been light years ahead of the Contemporary Christian scene (which is mostly light years behind), but they’re often outpacing their secular counterparts. While most Christian bands have an equivalent in the mainstream — Third Day is Pearl Jam, Tree63 is U2, Group 1 Crew is Black Eyed Peas, Switchfoot is Switchfoot — there’s really no close match to DCB. While they may be made of many derivative parts, David Crowder’s signature country twang and the aggressive, experimental musicianship is more than a copy-paste quilt of genres. He’s really in an artistic league of his own.

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Question: Spiritually Immature, Or Sick?

brianli asked:
Hey there, I’ve been following your blog as well as your tumblr for a while now and I just wanted to pass on some encouragement as well a ask a question that has been on my mind recently. I’ve heard the term “spiritual maturity” or even simply “oh I have/haven’t been doing well spiritually” and I was just wondering, what constitutes or defines whether someone is spiritually mature or whether they’re doing well spiritually? It’s gotta be more than an emotional thing, right?

I’m digging the idea of the Christian faith being susceptible to spiritual allergies, as if some days we can feel congested (I missed my QT) or we can’t stop sneezing (I cursed out my grandmother). But I don’t think spiritual maturity has anything to do with the strange claim of “I haven’t been doing well spiritually.”

So a little theology lesson: James 1, 1 Corinthians 3, 13, and Hebrews 5 all mention the actual definition of a legit mature Christian. You’ll notice that emotions don’t have much to do it with it, if at all. James talks about how we consider our trials, the Greek work hegeomai, which means to reason out or carefully deduce. Paul talks about infants drinking spiritual milk because they are still in love with the world, and later in 1 Corinthians 13, the famous love chapter, Paul says to put childish ways behind you. Hebrews 5 says spiritual solid food helps us to discern between good and evil.

There are other passages about maturity, but they all have one thing in common: they are more about the attitudes of our heart than what we say, do, or feel. And from the position of our heart comes the saying, the doing, the feeling. Christian maturity is a growing process of habits, obedience, experiences, biblical learning, accountability, and church involvement that accumulate over time and tough seasons, which result in a continually changed heart. Think of the four seeds, the Parable of the Sower, and while some say the seeds represent different types of people, it could also be the stages of one person’s spiritual journey.

When someone says, “I’m not doing well spiritually,” I understand what they mean — they haven’t been reading their Bible lately, they’re not connecting in worship service, they watched Jersey Shore and liked it — but that’s usually a cop-out for lukewarmness.

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Book Review: The Meaning of Marriage


The Meaning of Marriage
By Timothy Keller

Summary:
We know marriage is in trouble. Pastors and Christian authors are stepping forward to save the day. Tim Keller, author of the renown The Reason For God, Counterfeit Gods, and Generous Justice, writes an ambitious and straightforward work on biblical marriage. With a gospel-driven, Christ-centered approach, Dr. Keller’s crisp, clear voice is easily accessible and insightful. Along with Dr. Keller’s wife Kathy, they have written a practical, powerful work on the great gift of marriage.

Strengths:
This could have been a cakewalk for Dr. Keller. He could have roundly quoted C.S. Lewis and some well known poems, conjure sound commentary on Ephesians 5, and say some profound things about the duties of a husband and wife. It really would have been that easy for him. Many readers are familiar enough with Dr. Keller to instantly recognize his writing voice and his penchant for classic quoting. It could also have been a call to Christian idealism, a list of you ought to and you should do tacked onto the gospel.

While Dr. Keller does some of these things, I felt his gritty real life experience bleed through the pages. Dr. Keller’s passion is alive in this work; not since Counterfeit Gods have I seen him this personally invested into his subject. This isn’t only from his own thirty-six year marriage but from having been in the trenches with hurting singles, broken marriages, and dying families. He has seen how secular culture and the Hollywood mentality has overwhelmed the thinking of our gullible world. The first chapter alone is a visceral tour of the corruption of marriage and families, with hard statistics and full-on truths. He never waters it down. “I’m tired of listening to sentimental talks on marriage,” he begins. So are we.

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Drive-By Guilting: The Typical Christian Rant

Here’s a simple formula used by young, aggressive, often Reformed Christians with otherwise decent motives when they want to be convicting.

1) Shouldn’t you Christians do more of _____ if we’re real Christians?

2) Here’s why you don’t do it.
- a. In case you think I’m not humble, here’s why I don’t do it.
- b. Here are stats, figures, horror stories, and bad endings if you’re not convinced.

3) So let’s do more of _____ if you want to be a real Christian.
- a. Insert Gospel to gain credibility.
- b. Make sure to say we’re saved by faith and not by works.

4) Go back to Step One if necessary.

You’ll see this everywhere. We’re all guilty of it, and with all sincerity, as am I. Fill that blank with reading Scripture, evangelizing, fasting, abstaining from sex, praying, journaling, not getting a tattoo, homeschooling, not cussing, not listening to secular music, not judging, not criticizing, not whining, not watching sensual movies, and of course, quitting legalistic, cold-hearted religion.

These all may or may not be good things. But this surgical formula is like trying to do an organ transplant without having the new organ. It’s diagnosis without treatment. It can be a cowardly technique of guilt-driven manipulation to move a crowd by mob mentality. The choir loves it because it’s “standing up for your beliefs,” so this enslaving morality is preached to the choir for that rabble-rousing reaction.

This doesn’t set anyone free. It just adds chains to the Bible.

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Quote: Die

“Die to yourself. That’s what Christianity is all about. Die and find a life beyond your wildest imagination. Die to the idea that you’ve lived a basically righteous life. Die to the selfish focus on what your sins say about you. You die. And become connected to eternity, immortality, and omnipotence. Though still bound by the flesh, you become one with God, you become lost in God.”

– Unka Glen

Loophole In Theology: Your True Story

I don’t mean to be short with anyone, but I am just damned exhausted of emotionally-kidnapped people looking for a loophole in theology to justify their five second sin. What do you think I’ll say? That I’m going to pray for your pagan sex affair and encourage you into adultery, into your masochistic cycle of abuse, and you satisfying your flesh-blinded desires? Should I stroke your ego and coddle your anger and pamper your selfishness and protect your precious feelings so you can come crying later about the very thing you already knew would uppercut your soul?

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Quote: Confident


Christians, many of us are living lives of disregard and consequently having little impact. Despite our big buildings and our big budgets and our big publishing empires and our big voting blocs and our big events and our big numbers, we are living in such a way to be disregarded. We are making lots of noise … inside our inconsequential bubble.

We cannot afford to go quietly. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Because we are being remade in the image of God’s Son, we may be as confident as Christ is supreme.

–Jared Wilson

Book Review: Why Jesus?


Why Jesus?
By Ravi Zacharias

For the giveaway of this book, click here.

Summary:
“I have no doubt that many might well be offended by the challenges I have made to other beliefs in this book. I must expect that and will make every effort to defend my approach. Some might even consider the tone of this book too strong or harsh. That is not my intent. But it is hard not to get passionate when you read the bizarre twists of truth offered by proponents of the New Spirituality. I have been fairly blunt because I want readers to be brutally honest with themselves.” (230)

Dr. Ravi Zacharias indeed writes a searing, incisive work on the New Age movement that has invaded every facet of Western American thinking. Taking to task two well known proponents, Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, there are no minced words as Dr. Ravi utterly upturns many of the preposterous assertions given by nebulous, exploitative, “Oneness” religion endorsed by the two celebrities. We also find that such strange religion has been endorsed by us, an unwitting generation fooled by foolish claims.

Strengths:
I was almost taken aback by the force of Dr. Ravi’s barbs against the New Spirituality. Had I not known that Dr. Ravi is one of the world’s most compassionate evangelists today, I may have mistaken some of his writing as aggression. But I sense his urgency: he is fighting for the truth, as many of us today live in a blind fog of capitulation to relativism. Dr. Ravi’s no-nonsense clarity by itself will knock most readers out of their reverie, quickly exposing how many strange lies we have believed.

Continue reading →

Question: He’s Been Weird Lately

Anonymous asked:
I am currently in a relationship with my boyfriend whos parents are both pastors. He has been the greatest that I could ever ask for. But I don’t think that our relationship is bringing the glory to God that He deserves. Our relationship seems to be for different reasons. Im not sure what to do in this situation because I do love him and letting him go is something that would be very difficult for me. Recently he has been giving me signals of finding me annoying and he ignores me. I’m just hurt.

I really appreciate you reaching out to someone to get wisdom on this, because no doubt this is way more difficult than simply just “tell him about it.”

Is it though? The simple stuff can be true sometimes. As extremely difficult as it is — I can’t remove the sting of that — you still need to tell him what you told me. Ask him how he feels about what you’re feeling. You may be surprised at the results of just being straight up.

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Elephant Room 2 – Live Coverage



Trevin Wax of The Gospel Coalition and Mark Driscoll’s staff on his homepage are covering the Elephant Room discussion today.

The discussion between Mark Driscoll and T.D. Jakes finally got around to discussing the Trinity and modalism.

I’ll be buying the DVD set to review.

My review of the first Elephant Room session is here.


Question: My Stubborn Unbelieving Friend

adjustaccordingly asked:
I have a friend who says he’s going to “get right with God” after 21 (for obvious reasons). I told him he could die tomorrow, but he says he’s willing to take that risk. What advice do you have on how to get him to reconsider?

He’s not really saying he’ll get right with God later. What he’s saying is, “This is my cover for you to stop hooking me up with Jesus. He’s nice and all but no thanks.”

Your major temptation here will be to find a magic bullet, some argument or tactical missile or spiritual uppercut, to convince your friend into loving Jesus. It’s like trying to hook him up with a girl that he doesn’t really find attractive. What you find wonderful and majestic and all-consuming, he finds trite, cliche, and otherworldly.

You’d think that the offer of eternal life and grace and mercy and forgiveness for his sin plus the joy and purpose and power of life given by the Creator God would be a good sell, but for many people the shallow pleasures on this earthly plane look better. You know, the Bible talks about those in darkness. Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4). They themselves suppress the truth (Romans 1:18). Satan has even kidnapped the unsuspecting (2 Timothy 2:26), the Greek word here literally meaning like a sheep carried off by a freaking hawk.

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Quote: Impossible


“Do you know how much you’re loved? Surely you don’t. The negative ways you see yourself would be impossible in the light of that love. The fear you feel over your sins would be impossible in the light of that love. While you were sinning, God sought you, bought you, and called you by your name. His love for you is beyond religion, rules, or rituals. Take your eyes off of your sin, and look into the face of pure love.”

Unka Glen

Porn Addiction, Part Four: I’m Ready To Cut It Off

An ongoing discussion about victory over sexual addiction.

The introduction here.

Part One, excuses and myths, here.

Part Two, the science, here.

Part Three, the soul, here.

Part Three and a half, the soul, here.

Part Four: I’m Ready To Cut It Off. Here.

Part Five: Quitting Isn’t Enough. Here.

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So you’re ready to quit porn. You’re tired of the bleary-eyed, bloodshot, guilt-choked, late-night excursions, tired of the excuses and rationalizations and filthy mental loops, tired of feeling disgusted with yourself at church and with your mom and after a retreat and anywhere near children. You’re done.

Let’s ask: How serious are you about this?

Do you really understand that running back to porn to solve your angst or fill your boredom or release your tension is no longer a viable option? That you must absolutely, unequivocally, once-and-for-all never look back to porn? That’s scary for some people. Like cutting off a limb or moving halfway around the world. But if you’re ready to quit, there can be no room for thinking it’s optional. As of quitting, your are dead to porn and alive to Christ.

This is where addicts get stuck. In the back of every self-deceived mind, buried deep under religious behavior and emotional promises, is still the root of the problem: self-worship. We desperately wrestle for control over our options. We maintain a tenuous connection to what destroys us because we cannot — will not — imagine life without it. We hate enduring the pain of withdrawal. We love too much the ten second pleasure of a visual buffet even if it costs our sanity.

Short-term thinking, however, always short-circuits the human life. When you cannot let go of what controls you, you have become less human, not more.

If you’re not serious about this, don’t waste time finding out how to quit porn. I’ve wasted a lot of other peoples’ time in the same way. I knew all the right methods, techniques, reasons, and theology to quit porn in my own strength. They didn’t work. I had to make a final, final, final decision. Long-lasting change did not happen until I grew serious about my true identity in Jesus Christ. If you don’t care about that, there’s no point in quitting anyway.

So first get serious about quitting before you find out how to quit. And know that you can’t merely quit from porn, but move to and by the grace of God.

You must also know, as I’ve said many times, that effort is not legalism. The journey of grace in Christ will require some sandpaper sculpting, crazy chiseling, painful spiritual surgery, and yanking out every fiber of deeply rooted filth through the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s not easy, and you can’t just pray it away or “think harder” about the Gospel. You wouldn’t do less than that, but it’s concurrent with your striving. The Gospel says it is finished, but do everything to stand. Know God’s promise, but make every effort for holiness. Know the Kingdom of God has already come for you, but make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Apostle Paul already had the prize of Christ, but says, “I beat my body to make it my slave.” Of course we rest in what Jesus has done, but a truth faith is a faith that works.

If you’re serious, let’s get started. This will be quite long so please read it in spurts or when you’re in that right mood.

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The Warfare of Discouragement

One day you’re smooth-cruising through the halls, high-fiving random strangers and yourself and soaking in the standing ovation, and the next minute you’re in the valley of a fresh oozing wound inflicted by the ugly, brutal weapon of words. You’re playing the endless loop of that three-second sentence, a fishing knife scooping out your guts, forcing your chin down like it weighs the size of the world. At any moment, in any place, discouragement can uppercut your soul and keep you down way past ten.

The occupational hazard of ministry, a wise pastor once said, is discouragement. That’s true for all of us. It’s unavoidable. It’s a fog that seeps into all our work, our words, our interaction, even the taste of food and the vibrancy of colors. There’s really no dancing around it, so we must deal with it.

At the center of this fog are truths and lies that fight for our sanity, and that war will be brought to the battleground of our emotions. We must, kicking and screaming, bring that fight up to the doorstep of our mind and in light of God’s Word. Regardless of how we feel, there’s a truth that exists. We press into it, or don’t. Press in.

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Quote: Rocked


“The gospel was drilled into me by the dry ranks of seminary. I learned it in a scholarly, theological, and academic setting. Part of that broke me, in a bad way. Because I embraced it logically.

But the Gospel is not logical. Smart bloggers who steep their minds in rich toxic theology forget about humanity, the struggle, the sweat, blood, tears, Jesus. It’s become a weapon, blunt force trauma or sniper rifle. I’m no better.

I just want grace, and to preach it with joy. To know I am loved, and that there is nothing better than to love Jesus. Loosened by love. Sharpened by discipline. Rocked by grace. It’s not logical. The cross assaults me better than doctrine ever could.”

The Church Guy Who Doesn’t Live In The Real World

We all know the “church guy who doesn’t live in the real world,” the hyper-spiritual, hyper-critical, Bible-verse-for-everything, gasping-at-anything church guy. To him, all people are monotypes, all actions are cautious, and all behaviors are condemnable. I’d like to say there’s more complexity or nuance here, but many times there isn’t.

Churchgoers are really good at calling “wolf” on being hated. “It’s persecution, man, they hate me because I got Jesus.” But maybe it’s not your beliefs and values and conservative leanings. Maybe they just don’t like you because you’re a socially inept weirdo that doesn’t know a thing about the real world.

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