The Gospel and The Kingdom

Quotes from the Na Conf:  Adrian Warnock has collected a list of quotes from the Na Conference.  (HT: Challies)

Greatest American Novel:  Joe has posted concerning the Great American Novels and his commitment for this summer.  One of the things that we as preachers fail to utilize is the rich illustrative material in the classics.

 Interesting New Blog:  I found this blog over the weekend.  I thought it was pretty interesting.  Actually, much to my wife’s dismay, I spent a couple of hours on it last night.

Adoption and Suffering:  Just as I was getting ready to post this entry, Dr. Moore posted this article concerning his sons fifth birthdays and the subjects of adoption and suffering.  It is a great post and well worth the read.

Today is the first day of my postings as I blog through the Baptist Catechism on Mondays.  Again, I will state that this is primarily for me, but I trust that it will be of some benefit for you as well.  Also, I want to mention again that the text that I will be using can be found here.  So…….here we go!

Question:  Who is the first and chiefest being?
Answer:  God is the first and chiefest being?  (Isaiah 44:6; 48:12; Psalm 97:9)

There are many other good catechisms that I can think of….The Shorter Catechism, The Catechism for Boys and Girls.  There are a few good ones out there.  But the question upon which the Baptist Catechism begins is but the highest of subjects to be discussed.  Granted, it is most excellent to know that our duty is to "glorify God and enjoy Him for ever."  However, when one begins with God, one has set himself or herself a sure foundation. 

The answer to the question, "who is the first and chiefest being?" asserts many things….of which a few I will comment on.  First, this answer asserts that God is chief in existence.  For Him to be the chiefest of beings means that He does in fact exist and is not, after all, a figment of an imagination. He is not the creation of any man, but He Himself is the Creator of all creation.  Nothing existed before Him, for He is more than infinite, He is eternal.  In other words, in Him there is no beginning, He simply was, is, and always will be.  Everything on this earth will pass away, God will still be here. 

Second, this answer asserts that God is indeed chief among many.  This is especially evident in the story of Abraham.  Abram was called out of the land of Ur to follow and worship One God.  Today, some follow Buddha, some Mohammed, some Oprah, but God is the first and chiefest being and there is none above Him.  He is above all.  Indeed, they will all pass away and be found incomplete in the end.  God, who has revealed Himself in His Word, is One.  "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One."  He is the only One, He is the chiefest One who can bring us into His presence and deliver us from our sin.

Third, this answer asserts that God is indeed chief among priority. This is merely the logical conclusion of this answer.  If the Lord our God is One and He is the only One, then, for those who have trusted in Christ, He must be chiefest in priority in our lives.  It is not enough to merely proclaim that He is the first and chiefest being.  Our lives must reflect this message that we proclaim.

Who is the first and chiefest being?  God is the first and chiefest being!

Father, we confess that you are chiefest in all your attributes.  You and you alone are worthy and deserving of all honor, glory, and praise.  We ask for forgiveness of our grotesque sins when we offend the chiefest of benigs.  When we offend your honor and your name.  May we, by Your grace, live a life that proclaims the chiefest news.  It is in the matchless name of Jesus Christ we pray…..Amen.

Happy Memorial Day:  Today we are remembering those who have given their life and served in our military.  Both of my Grandfather’s have served this country in some capacity, but I have both of them with me today, by God’s grace.  Joe, has posted concerning his father….

The Blogger’s Influence:  Tom Ascol over at the Founder’s blog has linked to this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that has quoted his blog.  It is an interesting article about the influence of bloggers today. 

I have been looking for something to systematically blog through, now that summer is here and I can start special projects.  So I have decided to blog through the one hundred fourteen questions of the Baptist Catechism.  There are a few places that you can find the text, if you want.  I would suggest that you use this one from Founders that my former professor Dr. Jim Scott Orrick has set to music.  His album The Baptist Catechism Set to Music is available here.  The text that Founders uses, which Dr. Orrick has also used, is found in Dr. Tom J. Nettles’ book Teaching Truth, Training Hearts and it is available here. 

I will be blogging, systematically, through this catechism starting Monday and I will address one question each Monday.  I am using this catechism because this is the catechism that I use with my family (I only have one child that can actually repeat the answers right now, but we all listen to Dr. Orrick’s CD). 

Let me offer you this quote of C.H. Spurgeon by Dr. Nettles on page 53 of his book.  This pretty much sums it all up:

In matters of doctrine you will find orthodox congregations frequently changed to heterodoxy in the course of thirty or forty years, and that is because, too often, there has been no catechising of the children in the essential doctrines of the Gospel.  For my part, I am more and more persuaded that the study of a good Scriptural catechism is of infinite value to our children….Even if the youngsters do not understand all of the questions and answers….yet, abiding in their memories, it will be infinite service when the time of understanding comes, to have known these very excellent, wise and judicious definitions of the things of God…. It will be a blessing to them - the greatest of all blessing….a blessing in life and death, in time and eternity, the best of blessings God Himself can give. 

This systematic "commentary," if you will, on this catechism is intended more for me and my family.  I pray that you too will receive the best of blessings from God Himself - growing in the grace and knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Happy catechising…….

I always, for the most part, read more than one book at a time.  I do not know why this is.  It is just a habit that I have formed over the last six years or so.  For the last week, I have only been reading Mark Dever’s The Deliberate Church.  Last night, at the behest of my brother, I started reading George Barna’s Revolution.  Now, before I comment and quote, let me first inform you that while I read more than one book at a time, I usually try not to evaluate one upon the other.  I believe that each book should rightly receive its own evaluation.  However, these two books come from entirely different ends of the spectrum, or at least from my unfinished perspective.

The back story is that Barna shows that these "revolutionaries" are not typically associated with a local church.  Indeed, the very reason that they are a revolutionary is that they are dissatisfied with the local church and opt for a more biblical "First Century Christianity," according to Barna.  Compare these quotes….

Barna says this, so far:

Know this: just as the prophets of old were unwelcome in their own hometown, so are the Revolutionaries looked at askance by even their closest friends and family members.  The skepticism of those who lead conventional spiritual lives is a palpable reminder that growth always comes with a price tag.

Be forewarned: just as Jesus Christ, the ultimate lover of humanity, was scorned, misunderstood, persecuted, and eventually murdered for His extreme love, goodness, compassion, humility, wisdom, and grace, so are Revolutionaries abused by a culture that is itself in crisis.  The mere presence of Revolutionaries makes the American citizen - yes, even the typical churchgoer - uncomfortable.  It is not uncommon for Revolutionaries to meet with rejection - verbal, intellectual, relational, or experiential - simply because of their determination to honor the God they love. 

Now, I am not so sure that this is characteristic of biblical Christianity.  Now, before I am stoned, let me explain myself.  I agree, whole-heartedly, that we are to be like Christ, in all areas of life.  We are to be compassionate, humble, wise in the Cross, displayers of grace and mercy.  I believe that we should serve our neighbor and in so doing, serve our God.  I agree that our whole life is to be a spiritual act of service to God.

Where I disagree is that if we are doing this, or attempting to do this, apart from a local church, then we are not being biblical about our service.  Christ intended for us to be servants, but as a part of His Church whom He has entrusted with His gospel! 

For anyone with a copy of Dever’s The Deliberate Church, I would refer you to chapter 4 "Taking in New Members."  This is where Dever explains the demand and reasoning for church membership.  There are numerous quotes that I could insert from Dever’s book here….but I will not. 

Very rarely do I "rant" on this blog.  I try to refrain.  But maybe one reason that we have a bunch of people dissatisfied with local church activity is that too much of our culture and not enough of the gospel is ingrained.  Those may sound like harsh words but let me further explain them.  The very idea of "getting along with others in the context of church," is to experience grace and forgiveness as God has shown us.  It is also to display God’s glory through the covenants as we, the local  church, covenant together for the purpose of displaying God’s glory. 

Barna would say, thus far, again I am not through the book, that Jesus was a revolutionary.  He was.  We are called to be.  But I don’t think Jesus would commission us apart from His Church whom He entrusted with His good news.  These "revolutionaries," in my opinion, need to re-evaluate their true reasoning for separation from the Church.  If there is not a "good enough one," serve to His glory to make it that way or, if determined by God, start one that does glorify Him……but do not serve apart from the Church; do not live your own life without "organized religion." 

I will end this rant for now.  I must even be fair and say that my opinion might change in the years to come.  I would be the first to admit that.  But anything that negates the role and function of God’s church, I think, is not what God would intend His children to do.

In preparation for reading Jonathan Edwards in the month of June (per my reading rotation), I began reading portions of the introductory material by John Piper in God’s Passion for His Glory.  At one part, Piper quotes, at length, ,C.S. Lewis on why we should read old books.  This resounds with my heart and my passion in reading old books.  As Mark Dever has said, they are my friends and I must only open them up for them to speak to me.

I know this is a rather lengthy quote, but I think it is needed……  C.S. Lewis writes:

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read by only professionals, and that the amateur should contend himself with the modern books…..This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology…Now this seems to me topsy-turvy.  Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books.  But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old….It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.  If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. ….We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century…lies where we have never suspected it…..None of us can fully escape this blindness….The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.

OK, I am going to try the podpress thing again. I tried this on another directory and did not have a problem - at all. Now, I am having problems getting some audio files to play through podpress. I do not understand.

So here is my sermon from this past Sunday. We are re-entering our study in the book of Acts, so I preached an overview sermon of the first eight chapters. For those who subscribe to my feed, if the link is broken or the song does not load, my apologies. I thought I would give it one last shot before ditching it and going to something else.

“Liberal” Self-Defense: Dr. Al Mohler has a wonderful post on a unique development at Chicago Theological Seminary in conjunction with the United Church of Christ.

Hideous News: Watch this. Where do I begin?

Now that things have settled a bit, as far as the Spring semester being over and everything, I am back in to Dever’s The Deliberate Church.  I have been pecking away at it, but unable to devote much time to it in recent days.  So now I am back at it, with a joyful heart.  It truly is a wonderful book.  I will save anything else for my review of the book - which will be hard to write and keep to a minimum.  I am contemplating a two or three part post, but then I am loosing the intention of my reviews.  We will see as time goes on through the rest of the reading of this book.

For now, I want to leave you with the following quote which I agree with whole-heartedly.  It is concerning the role of the Pastor in the planning of worship services.  The spectrum is wide in churches today.  We have Pastor’s who have to have their hand in every little thing and then we have Pastor’s who could seem to care less about what takes place before their appointed time to ascend into the pulpit.  Here is what Dever has to say….

Everything teaches, whether you intend it to our not.  The songs teach people doctrine and proper affections for God.  Your prayers (or lack of them) teach people how to pray themselves.  The kinds of prayers you pray (or don’t pray) teach people about the important differences between prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.  The way you administer the ordinances teaches people about their meaning, and even the very meaning of the Gospel.  Your preaching teaches people how to study and use the Bible appropriately.  Everything from the call to worship to the benediction counts as teaching.  Teaching is everything. 

What a paragraph!  I wonder if we as Pastor’s neglect our role in the planning of worship services to bring the most glory to God our Savior through Jesus Christ, His Son?  Teaching is everything and we must always teach!