The tragedy is that American Christianity has so closely allied itself with the government of the day that the transcendent Gospel has become submerged in the world’s values.
–David Alan Black, The Jesus Paradigm by pg. 66
Quoted in TC’s review of the book.
I hate politics. (That’s not Black’s point though.)
Making matters simpler for the enemy is the fact that in these days of “happy talk,” pastors, biblically illiterate parishioners, and thousands of churches that are theology-free zones, are virtual modern Marcionites. Marcion was a second century heretic who (to oversimplify a bit) embraced the “good” Redeemer God of the New Testament but rejected the (presumably) wrathful Creator God of the Old. Any discomfort with the God of the Old Testament smacks of Marcion’s heresy. To view the God in the Old Testament as different from the God of the New Testament is to expose how little we understand either.
–Jim Andrews, Polishing God’s Monuments, pg. 97
Without elaborating, sometimes when I hear people say certain things, I feel like saying, “Have you read the Old Testament?”
We’ve lost the fear of God. We’ve lost the fact that God is jealous and hates sin. I see this more than ever when reading through Numbers and Leviticus. He wouldn’t let any little tiny thing defile them and couldn’t be in the presence of anything or anyone who was unclean. And when we don’t understand that, we don’t really know God and we can’t more fully appreciate his grace and love. We talk about his grace and love all the time, but by doing that to the exclusion of other aspects of God’s character we can’t appreciate them as much as we could. We’re really missing out on enjoying God and more importantly glorifying him even more. Am I right?
This is one thing I love about the Puritans. They had that balance. And there are certainly a lot of Christians now who do too. For me this is the value of reading the Old Testament, using Psalms as a model for prayer, worship, praise etc. Spending ample time confessing when praying and when noticing things throughout the day (and asking God to point them out) etc.
I wonder if many people are afraid to fear God.
Here is the most concise quote I’ve seen on Augustine’s idea of seeking and doing God’s will and it can be distilled down to this:
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). Augustine said, “Love God and do as you please.” Because if you’re really loving God, you want to do what pleases him.
–Randy Alcorn on Facebook
John MacArthur spoke a very good sermon on it. Here is a quote:
You say, “But…but…but…but what about me?” Are you ready for this? Hum, if you’re saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, suffering, and saying thanks, you know what God’s will is? Whatever you want. You like that? Do whatever you want. Go do whatever you want. You say, “You’re kidding.” No, I’m not kidding…No, I…you say, “What do you mean? How can…I can’t just go do what I want.” Yes, you can, because if that’s how you’re living, guess who’s in charge of your wants?…
But you really have to hear or read the whole thing to really know what he’s getting at. This quote is near the end of the sermon.
It’s pretty well impossible to sing your own praises and stay in key.
The challenge is not merely to pursue righteousness, but to prefer righteousness.
Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.
–Oswald Chambers
I believe we can strive to be righteous and holy as we are commanded but we more importantly need to pray that God will change our disposition so that it will come naturally.
1 Peter 1:15-16
But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
[I]f you are going to act like a prophet today and call people out, you had better be sure your own house is in order.
–Dave Black, Sunday January 10, 8:04 AM
D.A. Carson on theological education:
…as you study, you may suddenly without even realizing it shift from desiring to be to be mastered by the Word to desiring to be masters of the Word.
This is from an interview that can be found on Justin Taylor’s blog. The quote is at about the 15:30 mark.
Scripture isn’t hard to understand, it’s hard to accept.
I like this because when it comes to basic doctrine many of us want to try to change an interpretation of Scripture so that it’s more acceptable to us, especially us in the West with our sense of democracy and fairness. Some even go so far as to explain away miracles because they just don’t seem possible.
I like to think that as time as gone on I’ve grown to embrace what Scripture says and embrace paradoxes (apparent contradictions) even if it doesn’t seem fair or reasonable to me and my logic.
When God provides more money we often think, “This is a blessing.” Yes, but it would be just as scriptural to say, “This is a test.” Abundance isn’t God’s provision for me to live in luxury. God entrusts me with his money not to build my kingdom on earth, but to build his kingdom in heaven. “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (2 Cor 9:11)
–Randy Alcorn via Facebook
A fellow home coffee roaster roasts coffee for an African woman who is a missionary in this country and owns a coffee shop. She said that when missionaries from the U.S. go to Africa they pray for safety and health. When African missionaries come here their main concern is to not get sucked into materialism. This is a big concern for them. Since we live in it we aren’t nearly as aware of just how insidious it really is.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 TNIV
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Proverbs 30:8-9 TNIV
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say,
‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Philippians 4:11-13 TNIV
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
I like these quotes:
[T]here doesn’t seem to be anything objectionable in principle about scientific knowledge informing our interpretations of Scripture. The problem arises, however, when scientific knowledge is given ‘veto power’ over our best historical-grammatical interpretations of Scripture, forcing us to accept very contrived readings of the text.
As a follower of Christ, I don’t want to hold any lower a view of Scripture than he did. So if I’m ever faced with a choice between what Scripture appears to tell me and what science appears to tell me, I will always err on the side of Scripture in the absence of any more satisfying resolution.
You can find them in this excellent post: Scripture or Science?
Does Scripture indicate that we’ll learn in Heaven? Consider Ephesians 2:6-7: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace.” “Show” means “to reveal.” “In the coming ages” indicates this will be an ongoing revelation, in which we learn more and more about God’s grace.
–Randy Alcorn via Facebook
I had never heard of this idea before. If this is true, it’s another indication that heaven won’t be something static. Seeing God face to face for eternity will certainly be enough but to know that we have things to do and things to learn makes it all the more appealing.
Learning about God and the Bible here is fantastic by itself but to have continuing perfect revelation (that everyone agrees with!) straight from God for eternity is unfathomable.
What do you think? This interpretation seems to hinge on the plural “ages”. Certainly not of primary importance but interesting in developing the hope for heaven.
There is a real sense in which the book of Ecclesiastes, then and now, is pre-evangelism. It disrupts the comfortable existence of people who are thinking that they are moving toward a meaningful and satisfying existence outside of Christ. The writer says, “I have been there; I have done that. I did it better and to a higher degree. I rose higher, I massed more, I built more than you will ever dream of doing, and I found it to be nothing more than a chasing after wind. It is all ultimately meaningless; trust me.” He says the meaning is in God, but he does not know how to explain that further. We do, because Christ has become man. Christ has become flesh, and we can turn people away from the vain pursuits that will lead them ultimately to depression and despair and say, “There is real meaning, but it is not going to be down that pathway.”
–Dr. V. Philips Long, Psalms & Wisdom Literature, Covenant Theological Seminary
Do not forget that the Bible is not for our information but for our transformation.
–David Garland, Interview at BROADCAST DEPTH Blog
As much as I’m tired of the hoopla surrounding Calvin, I liked these first two quotes.
I’m not up for a debate right now but wanted to post these. I will say that regarding the third quote, I realize there is some room for leeway and some people believe in an older earth not necessarily just because of science (I hope). You can still comment if you’d like but I won’t be able to respond to this post.
——
‘Lamenting that many churches today have lost confidence in the truthfulness and authority of the Bible, Julius Kim, associate professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary in California, called Christians to heed Calvin’s voice.
“In many of our churches the Bible has been functionally rejected in place of what we could gain from some sort of rational exercise on the one hand or some sort of emotional experience on the other,” Kim said at the national conference, hosted by Desiring God Ministries, on Friday.
“We need to hear Calvin’s voice once again calling us back to the Scriptures as our only source of truth and life,” he emphasized.’
Evangelicals Urged to Heed Calvin’s Voice
——
So long as your mind entertains any misgivings as to the certainty of the word, its authority will be weak and dubious, or rather it will have no authority at all. Nor is it sufficient to believe that God is true, and cannot lie or deceive, unless you feel firmly persuaded that every word which proceeds form him is sacred, inviolable truth.
–John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008) 359 (3.2.6).
HT: Michael Metts
——
Question: Why would any Christian want to take man’s fallible dating methods and use them to impose an idea on the infallible Word of God? Christians who accept billions of years are in essence saying that man’s word is infallible, but God’s Word is fallible!
This is the crux of the issue. When Christians have agreed with the world that they can accept man’s fallible dating methods to interpret God’s Word, they have agreed with the world that the Bible can’t be trusted. They have essentially sent out the message that man, by himself, independent of revelation, can determine truth and impose this on God’s Word. Once this ‘door’ has been opened regarding Genesis, ultimately it can happen with the rest of the Bible.
We often hear of athletes praising God after their victories. It’s become so common (not that it’s a bad thing) that it has become cliche. It makes one wonder how many of them are genuine.
I remember quite a few years ago, in a losing locker room interview, a Christian praising God for the hope that he has and that football isn’t the most important thing in his life even though a big loss is tough.
So I came across this recent example and thought I’d pass it along.
Michigan State’s Cousins: Jesus isn’t changing
Monday, Sep 21, 2009
By Staff
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (BP)–Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a costly interception on the Spartans’ final offensive play of the game that sealed a 33-30 win for Notre Dame Sept. 19.
After the game, while answering questions from the media, Cousins testified to his faith in Jesus Christ.
“There’s nothing I can do about it except learn from it and keep my head up,” Cousins said. “I’ve got faith. Football’s not my foundation, it’s not my identity. My faith is in Jesus Christ, and he’s not changing any time soon.”
A holy passion is a passion inflamed by a godly motive. To pursue the knowledge of God to further our understanding of Him and deepen our love for Him is to embark on a quest that delights Him. Jesus encouraged such a pursuit (John 8:31-32). Jesus linked knowledge not with power but with freedom. Knowing the truth is the most liberating power in the world. Not the power to dominate; not the power to impress: These are not the powers we seek. But the power to set free–to give true liberty–is tied to a knowledge of the truth.
–by R.C. Sproul, Developing a Passion for God at Ligonier Ministries blog
If you don’t already, remember to pray for God to give you the grace to experience this passion more and more. I can vouch for it.
Worship (falling down above etc…) is one of the most ‘useful’ things any person or angel could possibly do. It is an enjoyment of Him beyond any normal action. A person who truly worships, will do right actions. A person who does ‘right’ actions without worship is probably involved in ‘vain works.’
Matthew 4:10
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ”
Hebrews 1:6
And when he brought his firstborn Son into the world, God said, “Let all of God’s angels worship him.”
It has been the presumption of some, and especially of youths who profess to have dedicated themselves to this study but who have hardly gone further in evangelical studies than the reading of three or four volumes, to behave as if they alone were experts, and to consider that they are deserving of a glorious reputation among the great scholars. Such arrogance! Better it would be if such Suffenuses did not also go on to despise those who are truly endowed with the wisdom that they so foolishly boast of having attained to (emphasis mine).
–John Owen, Theologoumena, Book VI, Ch. 1, p. 1. / Biblical Theology, 591.
From: Thomas Goodwin
Also see if you dare:
A Warning from Owen to Students at Meet the Puritans
Matthew stands as a continual reminder that being a “New Testament Christian” is not enough. The Hebrew Bible remains the Word of God for the churches. Our appreciation of the message and significance of Jesus, of God’s standards and desires for God’s people and God’s world, and of our place in the larger plan of God are all enhanced as we continue in Matthew’s tradition of anchoring the New Testament message (and our churches) in the earlier oracles of God. Matthew reminds us that the New Testament has value as the revelation that stands in continuity with the Old Testament, not as its replacement.
David deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament, 290
This is one of the great paradoxes of suffering. Those who don’t suffer much think suffering should keep people from God, while many who suffer a great deal turn to God, not from him.
–Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
Unfortunately and fortunately I know the latter from experience and find it impossible to explain to non-Christian friends and family. People always want to ‘fix’ me, despite my constant researching and gaining knowledge on my conditions beyond what they have, because they can’t understand that there is unexplainable suffering in the world.
I feel like I have the opportunity to know God more than those who don’t suffer chronically. But I admit I envy those who do without the extreme suffering part although we all obviously suffer a great deal at various time in our lives. This is humbling because I’m sure that I wouldn’t have gotten as close to Him without it.
HT: Challies.com – review of this book
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