The Heresy of Perfectionism

R.C. Sproul:

An ancient heresy of the distinction between two types of Christians, carnal and Spirit-filled, is the heresy of perfectionism. Perfectionism teaches that there is a class of Christians who achieve moral perfection in this life. To be sure, credit is given to the Holy Spirit as the agent who brings total victory over sin to the Christian. But there is a kind of elitism in perfectionism, a feeling that those who have achieved perfection are somehow greater than other Christians. The “perfect” ones do not officially—take credit for their state, but smugness and pride have a way of creeping in.

Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson Discuss Homosexuality

Trevin shares some insights on Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson’s discussion of homosexuality (and Bell’s unsurprising support of same sex marriage). Here’s the video for context:

What is puzzling to me is why Rob takes such a strong stance on fidelity and monogamy when so many in our culture celebrate sex before marriage, adultery, and all sorts of non-monogamous relationships. If the job of the church is to affirm the world as it is,then wouldn’t we have to affirm promiscuity too? It’s not a big jump from Rob’s comments on accepting homosexuality to accepting promiscuity.

Should we interpret a Bible verse figuratively or literally?

David Roach:

It depends on context. A person’s soul is in peril if he thinks Jesus was using poetic exaggeration when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). On the other hand, a Bible reader might maim himself unnecessarily if he fails to recognize the hyperbole in Jesus’ statement that we should cut off our hands and gouge out our eyes to avoid sin (Matthew 5:29-30). Like all people who have ever spoken or written, biblical authors use different styles of communication at different times.

God is Creatively Creative

Derek Rishmawy:

Most believers in God, if they’ve given our world more than a cursory glance, must come to the conclusion that we serve a creative God. The Maker of heaven and earth filled it with everything from aphids to the Aurora Borealis. Canvas after canvas is filled with the glory of our God’s infinitely fecund imagination. What we don’t often give thought to is the creative way in which God is creative. Let me rephrase that: God is not simply creative as to his works, but also in the way that he works.

New blogger interview series

Joey Cochran is doing a new interview series talking to bloggers about why they do what they do, and he kicked it off by talking to me.

Sit like a normal person, Will Riker!

Warning, this may ruin Star Trek: The Next Generation for you. Once you’ve seen this, you can never un-see it:

That man is a confident sitter.

Get Mark for $5 at Ligonier.org

The ePub edition of Mark, from R.C. Sproul’s St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series, is on sale in today’s $5 Friday sale at Ligonier.org. Also on sale:

• What’s so Great About the Doctrines of Grace? by Richard Phillips (ePub)
• a gift certificate for the Ligonier store
• The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven Lawson (hardcover)

$5 Friday ends tonight at 11:59:59 Eastern.

Sneering at Parents, Hiding Behind “Science” — The Emergency Contraception Controversy

Albert Mohler:

Looking for evidence that our society is losing its mind? Just look at the controversy over so-called “emergency contraceptives” and a federal judge’s effort to make these drugs available, over the counter, to girls of any age.

Words from a Gay Student to his Classmates at Moody Bible Institute

Barnabas Piper:

Kendell Tanner is a Senior at Moody Bible Institute. I met him earlier this year at an event I spoke at, and he reached out to me a few days later asking if we could grab coffee. In the months since then we’ve gotten a chance to connect and get to know each other. He has opened up to me about some hard things in his life. One of those is that Kendell is a gay man seeking to honor God with his life. Walking this road is a challenge, and doing so at Moody is unique and presents challenges of its own. Kendell recently wrote the following article for the MBI student newspaper, The Standard to share some his experience with the student body. It was a courageous and significant thing for him to do. I am honored to be Kendell’s friend and hope these words will be an encouragement and challenge.

The Top Mistakes I Make in Preaching

Julian Freeman:

Maybe it’s because I’m naturally a pessimist, but the most natural way for me to figure out how I can grow as a preacher is to identify what mistakes I most commonly make and try to work on improving those, by God’s grace. For the purpose of self-evaluation and ‘fanning into flame’ the preaching gift that I have, I decided to list out the mistakes I most often make in sermon preparation and delivery.

I imagine that I’m probably not the only preacher who makes some of these mistakes with regularity, so I thought I’d share them here in case my list ends up helping any of you brothers who are working on preaching evaluation / improvement as well.

What Rabbit Are You Chasing?

Mark Altrogge:

What are you pursuing in life? At the end of your life when you’ve achieved everything you set out to achieve, what will you have? What are you giving your life to?

I recently came across this illustration that challenged me to think about what I’m pursuing.

Ian and Larissa: One Year Later

Tony Reinke:

It’s been one year since we released this video, very simply titled: “The Story of Ian and Larissa.” The response was (and continues to be) stunning — over 1.5 million plays online from viewers around the world. But such impressive numbers only faintly echo the measure of grace in the lives of Ian and Larissa Murphy. And to mark the one-year anniversary of the video release, we wanted to reconnect with them for a quick update through this written interview.

9 Things You Should Know About Pornography and the Brain

Joe Carter:

“Because the human brain is the biological anchor of our psychological experience, it is helpful to understand how it operates.” says William M. Struthers, associate professor of psychology at Wheaton College. “Knowing how it is wired together and where it is sensitive can help us understand why pornography affects people the way it does.” Here are 9 things you should know about pornography affects the brain.

Great savings at Westminster Bookstore

Westminster Books has a couple of terrific sales going on right now:

One of my favorite little books by Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something, is on sale for $6.50 or $5.50 each when you buy five or more. Jon Nielson’s newly released Bible Study: A Student’s Guide is also on sale for $6.00 or $5 each when you buy five or more.

An Urgent Message from Crossway’s President

Lane Dennis:

As you may have heard, a flood recently swept through Crossway’s headquarters. About two feet of water poured into our 32 first-floor offices due to unrelenting rains. The damage was extensive and repairs and rebuilding will take five or six months. You can see the damage here in this video.

More important, however, is the impact this could have on major ministry projects that we have planned.

As a not-for-profit ministry, Crossway is not only committed to publishing the ESV Bible and gospel-centered content, but also to providing God’s Word to hundreds of thousands of people overseas, either free or at a substantially reduced cost. Because of the recent flood, however, some of these international ministry efforts are now at risk.

eBook deals for Mother’s Day

Crossway’s put a number of books of their books on sale for Mother’s Day:

• Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson—$5.99 (US only)
• Comforts from Romans: Celebrating the Gospel One Day at a Time by Elyse Fitzpatrick—$3.99 (US only)
• Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother by Caroline Mahaney—$3.99 (US only)
• Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes—$4.99 (US only)
• Through His Eyes: God’s Perspective on Women in the Bible by Jerram Barrs—$5.99 (US only)

These discounts end May 13, so act quickly.

How to Preach a Text When You Don’t Know What It Means

Michael Patton:

…when you’re preaching, what do you do when you come to a passage of Scripture and you are unsure about what it means? Let’s be honest—this happens quite often. You are preaching through a book of the Bible, and you come to a place where the commentaries do not agree, there seem to be multiple legitimate options concerning its interpretation, and you are left scratching your head. You don’t want to be dishonest and just choose an option. And you don’t want to deliver a drawn-out sermon on what different denominations teach.

When Carl Henry Trash-Talked with Karl Barth

Interesting conversation between John Starke, Greg Thornbury and Collin Hansen:

When can mother relax?

Kim Shay:

I was thinking recently how much of a picture that is to my parenting adult children. When my son was lying there coughing, I couldn’t stop it.  All I could do was wait to see if I was needed. That is a lot like parenting an older teen and young adult. We have to do a lot of waiting and listening.

When my children were little, it seemed so much more straightforward. I prayed for wisdom to know what to say; now, I pray for wisdom to know when to be quiet. That is one of the hardest things I have learned as my kids have grown up: knowing when to be quiet. It can be quite crucial. The wrong word can make a mess of things, and a word not offered can do the same thing.

How Older Members Brighten the Future of the Church

Thabiti Anyabwile:

I wonder if others observe a phenomenon I think I see in many churches: people clustering with others in their generation? The 20-somethings spend their time with other 20-somethings talking about 20-something concerns. The young families hang out with other young families, hosting play dates and trading parenting tips. It seems to me that 60-somethings tend to flock together with other 60-somethings. There are notable exceptions, of course. There are those older men and women who become pillars in the church by investing in younger men and women. And there are the younger persons who seek to serve young families or older members. But by and large, people seem to spend the bulk of their spiritual energy and time with other people in the same stage of life.

Would You Go to Prison For Your Stance on Homosexuality?

Mike Leake:

Could I never again preach what God says about homosexuality and still be faithful in preaching the gospel of Christ? I mean is it really something worth going to prison for—sacrificing my cherished freedom, life with my family, further gospel ministry? I see nothing about a stance on homosexuality in 1 Corinthians 15. I know that I could never say, “Homosexuality is not a sin” but could I simply say nothing?

Setting Gospel Grassfires

Darryl Dash:

There’s no question that ministry in Canada is a challenge. According to Bill Hogg, National Missiologist with C2C Network, that’s not a surprise. “Canada is further down the track in terms of liminality, the marginalization of religious ideas and religious institutions,” he says. “Canada prizes social pluralism and religious pluralism, which is obviously a challenge as you seek to proclaim Jesus.”

The Best Book

Joe Thorn:

Throughout my early twenties I poured over the pages of Systematic Theology. Berkhof, Dabney, Hodge, and Shedd were my friends. Professors, really. In my mid-to-late twenties it was mostly the Puritans: Owen, Watson, Sibbes, Brooks, and Bunyan were like pastors to me. My college dorm room was a kind of library for others to use instead of heading across campus. None of this was wrong. What was wrong is that at some point along the way my hunger for God’s word was replaced with a hunger for mere knowledge. I longed for truths more than the truth. It didn’t take long for the word of God to become something I used to simply footnote what I was reading in other books. I didn’t even notice this was happening. I thought I was good. Thankfully, at some point my fiancé (now my lovely wife) softly reminded me, “Joe, you know the Bible is the best book.”

Your church is too small

Sam Freney on his recent experience at a Hillsong conference:

Somewhere along the line, therefore, there seems to be a disconnect between the way that various ministries of the church operate, and the church package as a whole. Behind the scenes—or at least out of the spotlight—Hillsong seems to contain plenty of faithful, enthusiastic Christians who want to see Jesus glorified in what they do, and who give Scriptural thought to what they do. But the church experience, whether at the conference or on a Sunday morning, is one that results in de-emphasizing not only the way God has told us he speaks to us, but what God has told us he has done for us.

The Abortion of Abortion

Justin Buzzard:

The first Christians engaged extensively with the abortion culture of their day.

One of the earliest Christian references to abortion is found in the Didache. It represents the first Christian statement opposing abortion. A late 1st century or early 2nd century document, the Didache is essentially a code of Christian community life complete with instructions on morality, worship, ritual, and politics. In a section expounding the commandment,“Love your neighbor as yourself,” the Didache lists a series of “thou shalt not” statements, including prohibitions against murder, adultery, illicit sex, theft, and practicing magic.

Proud vs. Broken People

Nathan Batzig:

Most of the Christian books, sermons and theological material that my father gave me as a boy failed to catch my attention; but, for some reason, I’ve never forgotten Nancy Demoss’ chart contrasting proud/broken people. I need this more today as a husband, father, pastor and friend than when I was young.

What is Hesed?

R.C. Sproul, Jr:

There may be no more significant Old Testament description of how God relates to His people than this Hebrew word hesed. I argue that the best translation of this term would be “loyal love.” God loves His people genuinely, immutably, loyally. Both the love and the loyalty are, of course, tightly bound together. That is, just as one cannot love capriciously so one cannot be loyal without love. God is for His people, and will never cease to be for them.

Open-Air Preaching and the Missional Church

Joshua Elsom:

The combining of the words ‘open-air’ with the word ‘preaching’ is likely to elicit a wide range of images and opinions in the mind of the person reading them. For some they bring to mind the great evangelists of the explosive revivals of the eighteenth century — Wesley, Whitefield, Tennent, and Edwards; or the prophets of the Old and New Testaments — Jeremiah, Isaiah, Peter, and Paul. While for others, these words conjure up negative images of angry street heralds, with sandwich boards strung over their shoulders, thundering down threatenings of heaven upon all who would wander unawares into their field of preaching. Whatever one happens to think about, few typically associate the practice of preaching in the public square with the missional church movement. Because the missional church places such a high priority on practicing evangelism in the context of ongoing discipleship — on mission and in community — the thought of preaching to strangers who are dissociated from church or discipling relationships may seem at first to be counterintuitive.  It should not be.

How technology made me a better Christian

David Murray:

There’s way too much Christian negativity surrounding technology. All we seem to think and read about are the dangers and difficulties of the digital revolution.

But how about some balance? How about recognizing and appreciating the amazing technological gifts that God has blessed our generation with?

I recently linked to How Technology Made me a Better Mom, and I thought, “Why don’t Christians write pieces like this?” Then, “Why don’t I write a piece like this?” So here goes with “How technology made me a better Christian.”

In the War over Christianity, Orthodoxy is Winning

Mary Eberstadt:

Once upon a time, schism was the stuff of doctrinal issues — disputes over the sacraments, or grace vs. good works, or the theological like. Not anymore. The Falls Church dispute concerned something that neither Martin Luther nor John Calvin could have seen coming: sex. In particular, it was the elevation in 2003 of an openly gay bishop that was the last straw in what Falls Church traditionalists and others like them believe to be a rewriting of the Judeo-Christian rule book. So they broke away to become the Falls Church Anglicans, and they lost their real estate in the process.

But their objections are being heard ’round the religious world, not just in the global Anglican community but also the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and other mainline Protestant churches. The sexual revolution has accomplished what even the fractious Reformation could not. It has divided Protestantism so deeply that traditionalist Anglicans now have more in common with traditionalist Lutherans or even Roman Catholics, say, than with the reformers in their own denominations. And as the proliferation of stricter Anglican churches of Africa go to show, this traditionalism has gone global.

Let’s take a trip back in time to see the top ten posts in April:

1. God’s Love Compels Us: a free #TGC13 eBook (April 2013)
2. God Won’t Give You More Than You Can Handle (July 2009)
3. On bombs and Boston (April 2013)
4. Where Is Jesus In The Old Testament? (June 2011)
5. God helps those who help themselves (July 2009)
6. John Piper on Mark Driscoll & John MacArthur (May 2009)
7. Don Carson: The Biblical Basis for Missions #TGC13 (April 2013)
8. 5 books on a subject you’re probably scared to look at (April 2013)
9. Kindle deals for the Christian reader (April 2013)
10. Hope for timid evangelists (April 2013)

And just for fun, here’s the next ten:

1. Preaching and Pragmatism (July 2011)
2. Church Buildings: They’re actually useful! (December 2009)
3. Ministry Idolatry (January 2011)
4. David Platt: Why the Great Commission is Great #TGC13 (April 2013)
5. Crucifying Morality by R W Glenn (April 2013)
6. Charles Haddon Spurgeon: What is Humility? (February 2010)
7. John Piper: The heart of God in the call to proclaim #TGC13 (April 2013)
8. 20 Things God Does When He Saves You (February 2011)
9. A much-needed kick in the teeth (April 2013)
10. How will you respond to the Gosnell trial? (April 2013)

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of these posts, I hope you’ll take a few minutes today to check them out.

Dear Mr. President

Gretchen R:

Mr. President, we are at opposing sides.  I did not vote for you, but I heard you many times talk about how we needed to come together.  Like it or not, you are my leader, and I try.  I hold your office in high esteem, and I am called to pray for whoever holds that office.  I try to raise my children to at least see the other side and seek to understand it.  I believe in education, not indoctrination.  Always seek to walk in another’s shoes.  I don’t believe that you need to agree with someone’s point of view to have compassion for that person.

New Wave Complementarianism: A Question and a Concern

Kevin DeYoung:

I’ve watched with great interest over the past few weeks as a constellation of blog posts have come out calling for a fresh complementarianism. The articles seem to be advocating for a third way between complementarianism and egalitarianism, or at least for an awareness that traditional complementarians have many weaknesses and egalitarians are asking a lot of good questions. The message often has an apologetic edge: we are complementarians, but not the ones you’re used to.

Thabiti’s also got a great article on this subject that you should read.

The Emperor is not Naked

Carl Trueman:

After a depressing afternoon hearing about the upfront speaker-fee schedules of men with well-paying day jobs, along with the need to pay for their personal assistants/wives/whatever to travel with them when away from home for a couple of nights, it was good to go back home, feel appropriately dirtied by it all and then think about the Psalms.  If I ruled the world (a most unlikely prospect, I admit) I would make sure that no man with a fee schedule or a minimum attendance requirement ever spoke in any church or Christian gathering anywhere; only those who never raise the issue of ‘How much?’ or “How many?’ (distinctly un-Pauline concerns, I would suggest) are worth listening to.  There are well-known men like that.  But not as many as there should be.  The Emperor is not naked but actually has clothes: tailor made silk suits from Savile Row.

Proverbs for Christian Blogging: Be Slow to Speak

Mike Leake:

The internet is not very conducive to obeying this command. When something goes viral it can be very tempting to be one of the voices in the crowd. If something is trending on Twitter all I have to do is write an article and put a # sign in there and immediately my blog will get an upswing in traffic.

Furthermore, there is a constant stream of vast amounts of material—most of it needing rebuked. Some things actually need a response. Most things only make us think that they need a response.

In the midst of all the noise God says to the Christian blogger, “let every [blogger] be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow and anger…”

An Open Letter To All Those Who Call Me An Intolerant Bigot

Stephen Altrogge:

It’s been a pretty big brouhaha (I’ve always loved that word) lately, hasn’t it? First, NBA player Jason Collins openly admits that he is gay. Then, ESPN analyst Chris Broussard raises questions about the rightness/wrongness of being gay. Then all fury erupted. Now, Christians, and anyone else who questions the morality of homosexuality, are being accused of “intolerance”, “bigotry”, “closed-mindedness”, and other similar things.

And I get it, I really do. It takes a lot of courage for a professional athlete to admit that he is a homosexual. And then us hoity-toity Christians swoop in, raining on everyone’s parade. If I wasn’t a Christian, I’d probably be mad too. Christians are always ruining everyone’s party, or so it seems.

But see, here’s the thing: the reality is, you probably shouldn’t be calling me a bigot, you should be calling Jesus a bigot.

God wins

Ever since Jen McManus was first diagnosed with a malignant tumor, she’s been fighting—fighting against cancer, and fighting for hope. However, far from being rooted in the vagueness of wishful thinking, Jen’s hope is anchored in the certainty of Christ’s love. “Cancer has made death more real—and the gospel more real,” she says. “I’m joyful because of the gospel and because of the story God is telling through my life.”

Jesus didn’t die for taxes

Martin Bashir shares the gospel with Bill O’Reilly:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

HT: JT

Get Foundations of Grace for $5 at Ligonier.org

Foundations of Grace by Steven Lawson (ePub) is on sale in today’s $5 Friday sale at Ligonier.org. Also on sale:

• B. B. Warfield: Essays on His Life and Thought by Gary L. W. Johnson (paperback)
• a gift certificate for the Ligonier store
• Robert Lewis Dabney: A Southern Presbyterian Life by Dr. Sean Michael Lucas (hardcover)

$5 Friday ends tonight at 11:59:59 Eastern.

4 Sermon Types to Avoid

Derek W. Thomas:

Alec Motyer has written: “An expository ministry is the proper response to a God-breathed Scripture… Central to it all is that concern which the word ‘exposition’ itself enshrines: a display of what is there.”

There are a variety of sermon types that fail to “display what is there.”

Why Bad Writing is Almost Always Mistaken for Good Writing.

Nicholas McDonald:

Bad writing is naturally mistaken for good writing. That’s because unlike good writing, bad writing hoards attention. Bad writing brags of the writer’s knowledge, skill, and creativity. Bad writers mistake obtuseness for creativity, and essential clarity for “profundity”.

Eat it… Or Love It?

Michael Kelley:

What if I came to the table one evening and did not say to the kids, “Eat your fish.” What if instead my command was this: “Enjoy your fish.” That would be a different kettle of, well, fish.

This is a command they cannot complete, no matter how badly they want to. They could will themselves to eat they fish; they cannot will their love of it. In fact, in order for them to be obedient to this command from their father, they need something internal to change. They need more than mere will power; they need new taste buds.

And therein we see, once again, why the message of the Bible is not primarily “obey God.”

Free audio book: A Passion for God

This month’s free book from ChristianAudio is A Passion for God by Lyle Dorsett, a biography of A.W. Tozer.

May We Use Commentaries Written by Women?

Jared Wilson:

I love John Piper, as I assume has been evident over the years, but I found his answer to this question lacking at best and unhelpful at most. To some extent, he was directed to go to the biblical outline of gender roles by the phrasing of the question itself. But I think a better answer would be simply to step back, redirect, and consider the nature of a book. Any book. Any kind of book. Written by any author. Period. Female authors and male authors. Even Christian authors and non-Christian authors.

There is only one authoritative book. Every other book we can learn from and draw from and consider, testing all things its author teaches and clinging to whatever truth shakes out, even using what we see true in it in our life and ministry and public sermons.