Blogging Theologically

Theology for real life

Weekend reading (4/22)

by

Luther is now available!

Big news: Luther, the latest documentary from the team behind Through the Eyes of Spurgeon, is now available. Check it out on demand or purchase a Blu-ray or DVD edition.

How Brainy Women Benefit the Church

Hannah Anderson:

It’s taken me years, but I finally understand that nothing about my womanhood is at odds with my mind. If anything, being female lends me a unique perspective that my male intellectual counterparts lack. My parenting, too, has shifted with these concerns in mind. A few weeks ago, I observed as my ten-year-old son took a battery of achievement and IQ testing. When the proctor finally met with me, he confirmed that, yes, just like his mother, my son will probably always analyze everything. I couldn’t help but wonder how his experience of his own intelligence will be different from mine. Will his giftedness open doors for him in ways it hadn’t for me as a girl? Will I be tempted to parent him differently than I parent my daughter, who also excels academically?

It was an abomination

In other news, water is wet.

Why I Use “We” More Often Than “You” When Preaching

Marty Duren:

I need correction and admonition as much as any brother or sister in Christ. My role as a pastor does not make me less in need of instruction, but more.

My choice of words when preaching either reveals this awareness or reveals my lack of that same. If, as the old saying goes, the ground is level at the foot of the cross, I should not seek an acclivity from which to preach down on the gathered crowd.

One Very Good Reason to Study Church History

Tim Challies:

When you became a Christian, the history of Christianity became yours. You became a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and gained its past in all its glory and shame. The early church is your early church. The Church Fathers are your church fathers. The Reformation is your Reformation. The rise of Evangelicalism is your rise of Evangelicalism. On a less positive note, the religious wars and persecutions are yours, as are the advocacy of slavery and the apathy toward abuse within the church. You are right to feel pride over the church’s accomplishments as she has stood fast in the face of trial and error, carrying out the Great Commission given to her. You are right to make these accomplishments known and to attempt to ensure there are many more like them. Likewise, you are right to feel sorrow and even shame over the church’s transgressions and to work equally hard to ensure she never succumbs to such sins again.

Our Minds Are Like Baking Stone

Erik Raymond:

I often think about that baking stone when I consider our pursuit of sanctification. Our minds are to be like baking stones seasoned by the promises of God in the Bible. The daily exposure to the Scriptures should seep into everything we do. Throughout our days, we are to retain the flavor of who God is, what he has done, and what he has promised.

The Covenant of Candy

David Murray:

My greatest passion in life is to teach profound biblical truth simply; to take the deepest theological doctrines and explain them in a way that a child could understand. That’s what constantly motivates and shapes my preaching and teaching. It probably adds about 2-3 hours of work to every sermon I preach as I struggle mightily to simplify, simplify, simplify.

Three questions I really hope will be answered in the new creation

A favorite from the archives:

Y’know, one of the things I’m looking forward to about the new creation is the opportunity to ask a whole lot of questions. And I don’t mean that in the “When I get to heaven, I’m gonna have a word with Jesus” way, either, because while that’s cute and all… no.

Seriously though, I have a ton of questions I would love to have answers to eventually. They’re not questions which affect my faith all that much. They’re the curiosity ones about events in history, the background of certain books of the Bible, and how Jesus really feels about King James Only-ism… (Kidding. I’m pretty sure I already know that last one.) But of those, there are three that, at this moment anyway, I’d love to have an answer to eventually.

Links I like (4/20)

by

What Your Biology Teacher Didn’t Tell You About Charles Darwin

Phil Moore:

Charles Darwin is a great British hero. That’s hardly surprising, since he was one of the most influential thinkers of the past 200 years. I happened to live opposite Darwin’s former lodgings when I was a student at Cambridge University, so I looked out each morning on a blue plaque hailing him as one of the greatest Britons who ever lived. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve that commemorative plaque, but I should point out that he wasn’t a British hero but a British villain. You don’t need to be a Bible-thumping evangelical to question whether Darwin’s thinking deserves to be given a bit more thought.

Whatever your views on origins and evolution, we can hopefully all agree that, at present, we give far too much honor to the British thinker who justified genocide.

Don’t Be Afraid to Preach

Craig Thompson:

Don’t be afraid to preach just like you were called to preach. I practice expository preaching. I preach through books and large sections of the Bible and work to cover all of the material in each section. But occasionally, God gives me sermons that do not fit the general rule. There are times when God shows up in a single verse or even just a few words.

What We Gained When We Lost Our Hymnals

Tim Challies:

A few weeks ago I wrote an article titled What We Lost When We Lost Our Hymnals and was rather surprised to see 300,000 people stop by to read it! I meant to point out that there are consequences in shifting from one medium to another—in this case, shifting from hymnals to PowerPoint projection. (I use “PowerPoint” to stand in for all forms of projection.) It is true of every new technology that it brings benefits and drawbacks. Neither hymnals nor PowerPoint are exempt from the rule.

Fighting Racism for My Ethiopian Daughter

Johnny Grimes:

When Courtney and I adopted Penelope from Ethiopia in 2012, we knew we would face questions about our multiracial family. We also knew she would face the questions and challenges of being a brown girl in a white family.

What we didn’t expect was to face these questions and challenges at the age of 5.

Proof That I Shouldn’t Trust Myself

Matt Rogers:

Changing seasons and changing moods go hand in hand. You wake up one morning to an unseasonably warm day, and all is right in the world. You hear the birds chirping, see the blooms emerging on the trees, and bask in the glow of the sun.

The beauty of the world is matched by the spring in your steps and the hope that floods you soul. Life’s not all that bad, right?

Stop Calling Hebrews 11 The “Hall of Faith”

Jeff Medders:

It’s plain to see the connections. Hall of Fame, ah, Hall of Faith. But a Christian-spin-cycle on a cultural shrine and a low-hanging play on words isn’t always helpful to understanding the Kingdom of Christ. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who take the seat at the end of the table, and the ones who aren’t always yelling shotgun in the parking lot of the world.

A Hall of Fame riff toward a Hall of Faith doesn’t compute with the ways of our meek Messiah. It smells clever but is undercooked in its meaning.

Earth Day, religious devotion and creation care

A favorite from the archives:

As a child, I was heavily exposed to the fear of global warming and acid rain. But it didn’t really change my life that much. Nor did it really seem to change the habits of anyone else I knew, either. But I did slowly see it starting to change how people wanted to present themselves. Though there was little overt pressure, people seemed to want to appear to be environmentally conscious, even if they didn’t really care all that much.

Because thinking about something is just as good as doing it, right?

Links I like (4/13)

by

A Time to Weep

Rebecca Stark:

Have you considered why Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died (John 11:1-44)? Before he left for Bethany with his disciples, Jesus told them he was going there to awaken Lazarus, who, he said, “had fallen asleep.” We know, then, that he planned to raise Lazarus. Jesus knew Lazarus’s death would be temporary—at least this time around. As Jesus wept, he knew that in minutes, Lazarus, his sisters, and all those who loved them would see the glory of God, and they would all be rejoicing like never before. But still, when Jesus saw Mary, Lazarus’s sister weeping, and others weeping with her, he was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled,” and he wept, too.

The Messy Blessing of Multi-Gen Groups

Jeremy Wilson:

I am no expert in multi-generational small groups (or anything really), but I believe our churches could benefit greatly from them. Our church recently reformatted our small group ministry: off-campus, in homes, and with less emphasis on life stage divisions. The move off campus was a big enough step, we didn’t think we could go whole hog on the multi-gen front at the same time. But here is why I think they’re a better approach to biblical community than age/life stage groups.

The Navy Captain Who Said No to the Dream

Jason Cook interviews Voresa Booker, a retired Navy captain who served for more than 30 years.

Man-Made Coverings

Liz Wann:

Performance-based mentality asks the question, “How am I doing?” without a view of the free gift of grace in Christ. It’s present when we feel like we need to measure up to something or somebody in our minds or “out there” in social media, in church, or at work. It is present when we feel like we have to put on something, be someone else, cover up who we really are, or how we’re really doing on the inside. “How am I doing?” is a healthy question in and of itself, coupled with healthy self-assessment and self-awareness. But the question goes horribly wrong when we are more aware of ourselves (how well or not so well we are doing) than the grace of Christ.

Pandering to Millennials?

Thomas Kidd:

Should churches change for the sake of the rising generation? This is a perennial debate. At the Juicy Ecumenism blog, my friend Mark Tooley has given some historical perspective on why changing theology to suit the perceived preferences of the younger generation is always a bad idea. While the church should never “pander” to anyone, however, the church does have a responsibility to “cater” to those who might be making decisions about faith and the church. Such lifelong decisions are most often made in one’s late teens and early adulthood, sometime in the transition between high school, college/career, and (where applicable) marriage and parenting. Reaching and retaining that rising generation is a constant challenge to churches. Many churches have died because they failed to meet the test.

Reaching the rising generation involves three main factors. Liberalizing one’s theology is not one of them – in fact, point #1 is the opposite strategy.

Pastor, Don’t Waste Your Exclamation Points

Jared Wilson:

Pastor, our people don’t usually get excited about what we tell them to be excited about. Have you figured that out yet? Instead, they get excited about what they see actually excites us.

What I would lose without the resurrection?

A favorite from the archives:

It still blows my mind that eleven Easters ago, I didn’t believe this—and more importantly, I didn’t care. That last Easter, I had, in fact, started reading the Bible. But it was in my quest to make fun of Christians for what we believe, not out of any sense of longing or desire to know Christ. What would happen if I told that younger Aaron that just a few weeks from then, he would believe what he sought to mock? What would he do if he learned that all his self-righteousness was worthless?

Honestly, probably that younger me would have laughed.

Weekend reading (4/08)

by

A Closer Look at Christians Who Don’t Go to Church

This is fascinating.

What is Biblical Preaching?

Jason Allen:

Evangelical ministers generally agree that preaching is God’s appointed means to proclaim the gospel and instruct the church. Yet, within evangelicalism, precisely how one is to preach the Bible remains a contested topic—and one with huge ramifications.

Though I sometimes wrestle with what text to preach, I never wrestle with how to preach it. I determined long ago for every sermon to be an expository one. For me, biblical preaching is expository preaching, and expository preaching is biblical preaching. Let me explain why.

How Stephen Baldwin’s Thief on the Cross Reached Millions

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra:

Using the language of “fearing God” implies he was familiar with the Torah, which is liberally sprinkled with that phrase. Therefore, “it’s a safe assumption he would have been Jewish, so let’s assume he had a traditional Jewish upbringing,” Smith said. “For some reason he pushed against that, and gave himself to a life of crime. It must have been aggravated or even violent burglary for him to have been condemned to death.”

Smith put on a “fictional front-end” and told the story in first person.

5 Lessons from Fallen Pastors 

Eric Geiger:

Pastors and ministry leaders are not above character implosion and wandering from the Lord. In time, their wandering manifests in a variety of self-destructive and disqualifying behaviors. In the last several years, I have thought a lot about “fallen pastors.” My role at LifeWay provides a painful view of the fallout. As pastors are removed from ministry, the implications on churches and families are far-reaching. Here are five lessons from a season of fallen pastors, a season that has, at times, felt epidemic.

Brother, I Wish I Would Have Known

Russell L. Meek:

“Brother, I wish I would have known.” That’s what one of my closest friends said to me when I confided—years later—that the entire time we were in seminary together I was abusing prescription pain pills.

Why our churches need more gray hair

Denny Burk:

Churches desperately need their older men to exemplify being sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Churches need an army of laymen who believe well, love well, and suffer well. And churches need them because these older men are the pace-setters for the rest of the church. It is not an accident that Paul begins with the older men. He begins with them because he intends for the old guys to be leading out in these things in the church and in their homes.

Why aren’t unknown pastors headlining Christian conferences?

A favorite from the archives (and one that makes me happy for the upcoming SBC pastor’s conference in Phoenix):

Christian conference season is in full swing once again, which means there’s inevitably going to be a flood of blog posts and tweets from various corners of the Interwebs about this or that event. Some folks will be live-blogging. Others will be live-tweeting. And some will be lamenting the fact that there aren’t any “ordinary” pastors headlining anything.

I’ve wondered about this for a while. We’re all equal in Christ, after all. Those who are more obscure in their ministry have as much to say (sometimes even more) than those who are extremely well known. So why do our conferences seem to focus primarily on the latter group? What’s the deal?

Weekend reading (3/11)

by

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Sermon

Marty Duren:

This post is not concerned with things outside the pastor’s control: people having coughing fits that go on for several minutes, children (or adults) making repeated restroom visits, Sister Sue clipping her fingernails, or someone snoring. We are considering only things the pastor/preacher might do to ruin a perfectly good sermon.

Is Your Platform Worth Your Life?

Davis Lacey:

Christians, how can we be vigilant to guard against selfish ambition in our lives and ministries? How can we be sure that the priority of our platform is to champion the gospel, not ourselves? A comprehensive solution to the issue of self-promotion within the church is beyond the scope of this article. That being said, our answer to a single question goes a long way to illumine the true motivation which drives our platforms.

“Is this platform worth my life?”

3 Reasons Your Youth Leader Needs Seminary Training

Cameron Cole:

An excellent way to lock down solid youth pastors for at least four to five years is to encourage them to enroll in a part-time distance program while working full-time at the church. Allow them some time during work hours to study and travel to the seminary campus for intensives. Contribute to their tuition. Some schools match church contributions with scholarships.

Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry

Next week sees the release of a new book by Brian Dembowczyk on how the gospel shapes our kids, churches, communities and beyond. Make sure to get a copy for everyone on your team.

The Wonder of Sunday Morning

Trevin Wax:

Every Sunday, a deacon unlocks the door, an usher picks up a stack of bulletins, a pastor kneels in the study, and they wait. Soon, the parking lot fills, and people from all walks of life stream into the building for weekly worship.

They are not paid to be here. They are not forced to be here. Yet they come and serve in beautiful ways.

On Malachi and Religious Ritualism

Russell Meek:

God’s people have been committing this trifecta of sins for quite a long time. It’s these sins that the prophets of the Old Testament preached against before the exile and again after it. And it is these sins for which Jesus in the New Testament castigated the Pharisees. They misunderstood what it meant to have a right relationship with God. As a result, they trusted in their adherence to religious acts to secure a relationship with God, all the while despising him by ignoring the “the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23).

When should we use harsh language?

A favorite from the archives:

When writing on how we can be more thoughtful literary evangelists, I made the comment that fiery rhetoric and angry polemics don’t win people, but genuine love and compassion just might. This is something I’ve increasingly been convicted about in recent years: my use of unnecessarily inflammatory, harsh or hostile language, particularly as I think back on ways I’ve spoken in the past that have been utterly foolish.

But this doesn’t mean there aren’t times to use harsh language. In fact, there are times when the only proper response is to be extremely harsh. (Granted these are rare, but they still exist.) So… how do we know when we should and when we shouldn’t? Here are four principles that I believe help us determine whether or not it is appropriate to use harsh language.

Links I like (3/07)

by

How To Move to Weekly Communion

J.A. Medders:

Now, after writing on why we switched, I’ve received a lot of emails from folks saying how their church decided to switch after reading my post. Wonderful. And then the other emails asking, “How can we gain support from other leaders? How should we present it to the church? Any issues you’ve seen?” Great questions. So, let’s go into the logistics of such a move.

When God Says “No”

MaryLynn Johnson:

Disappointment often reveals what captures our affections. Even though the disappointment is not always wrong, it does give us a gauge that shows us where we have invested our hope. Lamenting through our discontentment forces us to carry those desires back to God — even if just to question why he hasn’t given these things to us. It sheds light on the idols we have created in our lives. Through the grief, we dig up our biggest frustrations and unleash our rawest emotions. Grief graciously draws us in to wrestle with God in every wound and disappointment.

What is Biblical Preaching?

Jason Allen:

Though I sometimes wrestle with what text to preach, I never wrestle with how to preach it. I determined long ago for every sermon to be an expository one. For me, biblical preaching is expository preaching, and expository preaching is biblical preaching. Let me explain why.

Heaven Is Not Boring

JD Greear:

Many people have a secret fear about heaven: It sounds boring to them—like an eternal choir practice, where we prance about in diapers, playing a harp and listening to Morgan Freeman read the dictionary all day. And to some people, that sounds more like hell than heaven.

What I’m Learning After Losing My Daughter to Drugs

Jon Cyrus:

My dark journey began with a phone call. The voice was calm, but the words hit like an avalanche, throwing me into a state of shock and despair. My oldest daughter was dead. Her five-year struggle with drug addiction, one that had robbed her of so much, had taken her life.

The news took my breath away.

A Small Church in a Mega-Church World

Joshua Jenkins:

There are times when pastors and members of small churches can feel discouraged when they look at their numbers. The people of God long to see their churches full of souls who are being saved and shepherded. It is tempting to look online at your favorite preacher’s church and see scores of people who pour into his church’s services. Our culture is consumed with results and numbers as a way of validation. There are many small time pastors who are faithful to preach the gospel and in a moment of despair ask, “Why are our pews empty? Does God not bless faithful preaching?”

The most important lesson I learned from Jerry Bridges

A favorite from the archives:

It was the summer of 2009, and I was on the way to England to meet with some of my colleagues in the UK office of the charity I work for. And I was excited: I had never been to England (beyond a brief stop in Heathrow the year prior). My father is a British citizen, having immigrated to Canada when he was a child. Beyond the work aspect, this trip was an opportunity for me to get in touch with my roots.

But it also came at a pretty tumultuous time in my life. A few months prior to leaving, we’d lost a baby to a miscarriage, and I nearly lost Emily in the process, as well (severe complications). We were experiencing major financial strain, we were dealing with some relational tension with extended family, and I was completely overwhelmed with my work schedule. There were many days when I wished I could just sleep for 100 hours.

The podcast

Latest book review

What I read in May

The Gospel Project