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Aaron Armstrong —  May 3, 2013 — Leave a comment

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.

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Best day ever

Aaron Armstrong —  May 2, 2013 — 2 Comments
hannah-funny-face

Our sweet Hannah (age 3)

We were sitting around the table starting our family devotions; the day’s lesson was to show how David’s bringing the Ark to Jerusalem points forward to Jesus. We were barely getting started reading Leviticus 16:1-9, when our middle daughter, Hannah, piped up:

Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. He takes away our sins and gives us his goodness.

That’s one of the many things I love about the gospel. It’s a message filled with so much depth that you can spend a lifetime plumbing its depths, but so simple a 3-year-old can tell it.

Parents, if you’re wondering if God is doing anything through your constant training of your children, take heart: seeds are being sown. Keep sowing, keep watering, keep praying. Trust that God will give them growth.

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Aaron Armstrong —  May 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

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.

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I Am a Church Member by Thom S. Rainer

Aaron Armstrong —  May 1, 2013 — 23 Comments

church-member-rainer

Why do some people make a big deal about church membership—is it all that important? Does it really make a difference whether I sign a piece of paper or not? Do I get some sort of added perk?

These are the kinds of questions I’ve heard (and sometimes asked) whenever the subject of church membership has come up. Why do we ask them? I suspect it’s because most of us don’t understand the purpose and value of membership.

Then I read I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference by Thom Rainer. As president of LifeWay Christian Resources and having served as a pastor, Rainer understands that a healthy church equals healthy church members. This new book offers and explains six commitments of church membership:

  1. I Will Be a Functioning Church Member
  2. I Will Be a Unifying Church Member
  3. I Will Not Let the Church Be About My Preferences and Desires
  4. I Will Pray for My Church Leaders
  5. I Will Lead My Family to Be Healthy Church Members
  6. I Will Treasure Church Membership as a Gift

The strength of this book will be immediately clear to its readers: Rainer is direct, confrontational of wrong attitudes, but extremely pastoral in his approach. He doesn’t take any of his points and shame the reader into some form of begrudging submission. Instead, he challenges us to examine ourselves as we read and commit to being true members of our local churches.

Take, for example, his approach to service. Often we have to cajole people into serving. We have multiple announcements about a particular gap—usually in kid’s ministry—where the need is clearly laid out.

Then, the next week, it’s laid out again. And again.

And again.

You get the idea.

Why does this kind of culture exist, where we have to repeatedly ask—and sometimes come close to beg—people to serve in what they consider their church home?

It’s because we don’t understand that a healthy church member is a functional one. “We who are church members are all supposed to function in the church,” he writes. “The concept of an inactive church member is an oxymoron. Biblically, no such church member really exists” (16).

One of the ongoing questions you should ask yourself and God in prayer is: “How can I best serve my church?” You should never ask yourself if you should be serving your church.

In every chapter, even the most active member will likely find something that stirs us to question how we view our roles in the church—are we building up or tearing down? Are we making church about “me” or are we striving to count others above ourselves, putting their needs and preferences ahead of our own? Do we see membership as a gift—and are we teaching our families to value it?

These are important questions and Rainer handles each one exceptionally well.

One thing you won’t find in I Am a Church Member? An appeal to any particular form of church governance. This is important because the relationship of membership to organizational structure (congregational vs elder-led) always needs to put a back seat to the essentials of what membership means. One can easily get so caught up in debates over what form of governance is “better” that we miss the point that structure is help to members’ growth in Christlikeness, not a hindrance.

Although extremely valuable for individual reading, I Am a Church Member is best read in the context of a small group discussion. The questions at the end of each chapter are thoughtful and open-ended enough that you can actually engage in some meaningful dialogue in a group context. Regardless of your role in the church, this is a book you want to read and engage with. If read carefully, it will stretch you in how you view church membership, and you’ll come out the other side better for it.

Title: I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference
Author: Thom S. Rainer
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group

Buy it at: Amazon

Courtesy of B&H and Shelton Interactive, today I’m giving away two copies of I Am a Church Member by Thom Rainer. To enter, leave a comment and tell me why church membership matters to you and how this book might contribute to the culture of your church.

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Aaron Armstrong —  May 1, 2013 — Leave a comment

Preparing College Students for Graduation

Kevin DeYoung:

This is finals week at Michigan State University. Soon students will be heading home for the summer, starting summer internships, or enrolling in summer classes. Other students will travel overseas for short-term missions, work at a camp, or get ready for a summer project filled with training and ministry opportunities. And then there are the students leaving school for good. Over the next few weeks thousands of Christian students will graduate from college and start the rest of their lives.

Will they be ready?

Mike Leake puts out an interesting request:

I’ve decided to begin a project that I have been dreaming about for a few years now. In order to move along in this project I need your help.

Pastors, laypeople, anyone…

If you had the opportunity to send a letter to a Christian hero of the past what would you write?

We Are a Deeply Needy People

Tim Brister:

We are a profoundly needy people. One of the ways we discover the extent of our need is through Christ’s provision of so many gifts of His Spirit. It is true that all we have and all we need is in Christ. But how is the abundant provision of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection appropriated to every believer? Jesus meets us where we are, with our specific needs, through the ministry of His Spirit among His people as gifts (abilities) are exercised for the service of the saints. What we discover when the gifts are exercised is nothing less than Christ Himself working through His body to accomplish His purposes in the world.

NIV Application Commentary sale for the Kindle

Zondervan’s got a huge sale on their NIV Application Commentary collection going on right now (Lord willing it’ll still be on when this post goes live). The following are $4.99 each:

Old Testament:

New Testament:

HT: Z

No Greater Love Has Anyone Than This. But This Other Thing Comes Pretty Close.

Jared Wilson shares a gross, but at the same time beautiful story:

Our oldest was up most of the night last night throwing up. She was not running a fever, so we are praying today it’s more something she ate than a bug of some kind. Becky stayed up with her, continually cleaning and emptying the receptacle kept by the bedside when sprinting to the toilet was a bridge too far. It’s a special thing, cleaning up somebody’s vomit.

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3 tools for learning the original languages

Aaron Armstrong —  April 30, 2013 — 3 Comments

Bible_Greek

Listening to D.A. Carson talk about how he threatens to throttle his students who use phrases like, “the Greek says…” in their sermons during a lunchtime Q and A at TGC got me thinking:

It’s probably a really good idea to learn biblical Greek and Hebrew at some point.

While there are a lot of great tools out there for doing word studies and whatnot, there’s a lot that we can miss if we don’t have an understanding of how sentences are constructed, verb tenses and so forth.

So how do we get started, especially if we might find a seminary level course a bit overkill for our purposes?

Here are three tools I’ve found and am considering trying out:

1. BibleMesh. BibleMesh’s mission is to “return the biblical languages to the life and ministry of the church.” They want Greek and Hebrew to be accessible to everyone in the church, something their web-based learning system seems to do quite well. Greek First Steps course runs $39 and covers the following:

The Greek First Steps course is suitable for beginners and provides the essential information that the new student needs to start reading Greek, including the alphabet, pronunciation, and getting started with learning Greek vocabulary.

This course is also included in the cost of Greek Reading 1 (which costs $525). The way they’ve structured their courses is to have you learn by reading the Bible itself, and they provide lots of resources to help you learn how to pronounce things properly. Go to biblemesh.com to learn more.

2. Greek for the Rest of Us: Using Greek Tools without Mastering Biblical Greek. This is a book by William D. Mounce and one I’ve got sitting on my bookshelf right now. The goal of the book is essentially a crash-course in the basics of biblical Greek.

You don’t have to be a Greek student to understand biblical Greek. If you’d love to learn Greek so you can study your Bible better, but you can’t spare two years for college or seminary courses, then Greek for the Rest of Us is for you. Developed by renowned Greek teacher William Mounce, this revolutionary crash-course on ‘baby Greek’ will acquaint you with the essentials of the language and deepen your understanding of God’s Word. You’ll gain a sound knowledge of basic Greek, and you’ll learn how to use tools that will add muscle to your Bible studies. In six sections, Greek for the Rest of Us will help you:

  • Recite the Greek alphabet
  • Read and pronounce Greek words
  • Learn the Greek noun and verbal system
  • Conduct Greek word studies
  • Decipher why translations are different
  • Read better commentaries

Greek for the Rest of Us broadens your knowledge still further with an appendix on biblical Hebrew.

Learn more or buy it at: Amazon.

3. Basics of Biblical Greek. This learning pack by Mounce contains “everything you need to learn the original language of the New Testament, no matter if you are already enrolled in a class or learning on your own.” It includes:

  • Basics of Biblical Greek Video Lectures, featuring 36 video lessons accompanying the passages in the textbook.
  • Basics of Biblical Greek Workbook, with study exercises and passages for translation practice.
  • Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Cards, including 1,000 vocabulary flashcards for studying.
  • Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Audio, to help with correct pronunciation and ordered according to the textbook.
  • Biblical Greek Laminated Sheet, for a quick reference guide to common language questions.

Learn more or buy it at: Amazon or Westminster Books.

These are just a few of the options I’ve found so far, besides taking a seminary-level course (which may be the best option for some).

Are you interested in learning the original languages, or are you doing it right now? What tools have you found helpful?

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Aaron Armstrong —  April 30, 2013 — Leave a comment

Taking It All In

Joe Thorn:

In our day of fast-paced ingestion and digestion we don’t leave ourselves much time for contemplation. For thinking. For taking it all in. We are often too busy taking photos of an event or scene to really see it, capturing images before (or in place of) capturing memories. I fear this translates into our interaction with Scripture and the Christian faith. We get the beats, but miss the melody and arrangement of the gospel song. And if we are not willing to slow down and take a long look we will continue to merely gain the smallest glimpse of what God wants us to have a God-sized vision of.

Playing It Safe?

Darryl Dash:

For the past couple of years, I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus’ famous parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). It’s been one of those passages I can’t get out of my mind.

Here’s the parable: a man goes on a journey. Before leaving, he entrusts his property to three servants. Each one gets a lot: one gets five talents, possibly worth some three million dollars. A second gets two talents, probably worth just over a million dollars. A third servant gets a paltry (!) half a million dollars or so. When the master returns, he holds them accountable for how they’ve invested what he left with them. Two servants doubled the money and are rewarded; the one who received the least amount of money only preserved the capital and receives a strongly worded rebuke.

It’s not hard to see what the story means. Jesus has left and has entrusted his followers with resources. He will return and hold us accountable for what we’ve done with what he’s left us. Six lessons:

Getting Through a Preaching Slump

Thabiti Anyabwile:

I don’t know that I’ve ever heard preachers talk about their “slumps.” Maybe I’m the only one who feels he has been in one. Or, maybe there are some things we don’t talk about at polite preacher dinner parties. I don’t know, but it sure seems like it would be healthy for preachers to admit that sometimes we’re “off our game.” I don’t mean we preach one dud. I mean we’ve now had a series of lackluster at bats. In fact, not only have the sermons been sub-par, our hearts haven’t been feeling what we’ve been preaching. We know the words, hear them, believe them (usually), but we’re not moved by it.

And Sunday keeps coming. What to do?

Can a Dying Church Find Life?

Thom Rainer:

In an blogpost earlier this week, I presented the findings of my “autopsy” on a church that just closed its doors and died. I knew the church well because I had been their consultant ten years earlier. The only surprise I found was that the church kept its door open five years longer than I had anticipated.

The post generated much interest. Indeed it is still buzzing today. Many church leaders and laypersons saw early warning signs in the post that related to their own churches. Many are concerned. Many want to know if there is any hope.

The title of this post has a bit of irony. If a church is dying, it cannot then by definition find life.

Pursue Justice or Extend Grace in Sexual Harassment?

Amanda Edmondson:

Several years ago I was in a work situation where men often said sexual, inappropriate things to me and about me. One coworker even went as far as to grab me and then made it a big deal when I asked him not to and pushed him away. It was jolting, and there was no amount of education or discipleship that prepared me to deal with sexual harassment.

I knew it was wrong the whole time it was happening. As a Christian, I felt the tension of how to respond to the sexual harassment: do I pursue justice or extend grace?

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Want to grow in your faith? Share it!

Aaron Armstrong —  April 29, 2013 — 2 Comments

word-balloons

Sharing your faith with loved ones isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do sometimes, but it’s something we all are called to do. Recently, I mentioned that the small groups in our church have been going through a witnessing workshop intended to give us practical guidance and a biblical foundation for personal evangelism.

While I know there’s some folks reading this who might find the idea of a “witnessing workshop” silly, we should recognize that we need the help. According to LIfeWay Research, while the majority of us agree that sharing our faith is important, few of us do so on a regular basis (if at all).

This despite the majority of people surveyed saying they felt comfortable sharing their faith effectively. 

So what’s the deal? What’s with the disconnect here?

I think it’s because we’ve forgotten something really important:

If you want to grow in your faith, you’ve got to share it.

That’s something we’ve been reminded of as we continue down the road to completing our witnessing workshop and encouraging our small group members to engage with the course’s assignments. And I’ll be honest, we were kind of terrified of doing a lot of it.

But doing it has been a real opportunity to see how God’s been at work through the program so far, both in our role as facilitators and as participants. Here are a couple of quick examples:

One of our first assignments was to ask three people we know what they believe about the afterlife.

Not counter it, not correct it—just ask and listen.

We received some impressive feedback from almost everyone we asked (only one had an answer that amounted to “I dunno”). One of our family members actually provided a two page email in response to the question—giving not only his opinion of the afterlife, but outlining his entire worldview!

And although there was so much that he said that would make you want to cry if I shared it, there was much that we could affirm as true—truths that we would be able to redirect to Jesus.

Another way we’ve seen God at work through it is in our small group members, who, after an initial rough patch with getting started, have started to realize that engaging people in spiritual conversations isn’t terribly difficult. Most people are quite happy to tell you what they believe about practically anything—and by listening, we gain an opportunity to be heard as well.

But none of this would happen if we weren’t all striving to be intentional about sharing our faith.

Our church leaders want to see relational evangelism normalized in the lifestyle of the congregation. All of us still have a long way to go, but those who are embracing the opportunities God provides are seeing their own faith grow.

What are some of the obstacles preventing you from sharing your faith?

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Aaron Armstrong —  April 29, 2013 — Leave a comment

A Father’s Love

Tullian Tchividjian:

When I was 16, my parents kicked me out of the house. They had tried everything. Nothing worked. And it got to the point where my lifestyle had become so disruptive to the rest of the household, that they were left with no choice but to painfully say, “We love you but you can’t continue to live this way and live under our roof.”

Kindle deals for the Christian reader

Here are a number of new(er) great deals for the Kindle:

And in case you missed them, here are a number of deals I shared this past weekend:

Church Identity: How Your Church Must Not Be Unique

Eric Geiger:

In our individualized culture, we (church leaders included) often want an identity that is highly unique, one that is just for us, one that shows no one else is quite like us. But we must be careful. Our doctrine must not be unique. The foundation of our faith is something we have received. It is not something that we develop, create, or improve. It is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Longing to teach something or say something that no one else has ever said will inevitably lead to bad theology.

The Tuning Fork of the Soul

Tony Reinke:

Successful Christian living is very much about steadiness and consistency, about firm resolve and steadfast endurance. There’s more to the Christian life, but these remain certain marks of God’s Spirit at work. And yet we feel the circumstances of life trying to swing us from despair to delight. When circumstances grow dark and we take our eyes off the Savior, we lose our balance and swing toward despair. When life seems to be going well and we take our eyes off Christ, we swing towards blissful God-forgetfulness certain to end in sorrow.

A Commitment to Holiness and Humility

Daniel Darling:

I had the privilege of interviewing Rev. Samuel Rodriquez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Rodriquez is a well-known speaker who represents the growing Hispanic evangelical population. I asked him about a recent honor he received.

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What is the best safe-guard against false teaching?

Aaron Armstrong —  April 28, 2013 — 1 Comment

holding-bible-lr

What is the best safe-guard against false teaching? Beyond all doubt the regular study of the word of God, with prayer for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Bible was given to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Psalm. 119:105.) The man who reads it aright will never be allowed greatly to err. It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear. They would have us believe that “they are not learned, and do not pretend to have decided opinions.” The plain truth is that they are lazy and idle about reading the Bible, and do not like the trouble of thinking for themselves. Nothing supplies false prophets with followers so much as spiritual sloth under a cloak of humility.

J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew

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