Making the Most of Mondays

Peter Mead offers some helpful counsel on how preachers can make the most of Mondays. Read his thoughts here.

Relevance in Preaching

Thoughts from John Piper on relevance in preaching:

As a preacher, I think a lot about relevance. Why should anyone listen to what I have to say? Why should anybody care? Relevance is an ambiguous word. It might mean that a sermon is relevant if it feels to the listeners that it will make a significant difference in their lives. Or it might mean that a sermon is relevant if it will make a significant difference in their lives whether they feel it or not.

That second kind of relevance is what guides my sermons and my writing. In other words, I want to say things that are really significant for your life whether you know they are or not. My way of doing that is to stay as close as I can to what God says is important in his word, not what we think is important apart from God's word.

--Taken from Finally Alive by John Piper

White Horse Inn on Justification

On this edition of the White Horse Inn, the hosts interact once again with polls taken at a Christian convention, this time relating to the doctrine of justification. Why is this doctrine so central, and how is it related to the gospel of Christ?

The Heart of Christianity (June 28, 2009 broadcast)

President Obama's New Pastor (updated)

The White House is saying that the Time Magazine story (reported below) is not true and that the Obamas continue to look for a church.

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Justin Taylor just posted news about the Obama's new pastor, Lieut. Carey Cash, a Southern Baptist who leads the services at Camp David.

Phillip Jensen Classic Sermon Collection (MP3)

Matthias Media is making some of Phillip Jensen's classic sermons and talks available in MP3 format. Unfortunately, they are not free. But if you have $38 to spend, Jensen is certainly worth listening to and learning from - and you've got to love his Australian accent!

In Celebration of God's Wondrous Mercy

The Joyous Song of Mercy
M. Justin Wainscott © 2008

Naked in our sin and shame,

Like Adam, let us hide;

How we fear Mt. Sinai’s flame.

Oh! will it e’er subside?

Frightful, guilty, here we stand,

The dread too much to bear;

The holy law’s strict demands

Have caused us this despair.

Does any hope now remain,

And where can it be found?

Is there not some sweet refrain,

In which God’s grace abounds?

There is! There is! Mercy sings,

And oh! its joyous song.

Hear the gracious news it brings;

Its voice is loud and strong.

It speaks about the sinless One,

Who came and took our place;

God the Father’s only Son,

Who purchased saving grace.

Jesus Christ, his precious name,

Oh! let it now resound;

He, our Savior, bore our shame,

And wore our guilty crown.

This is why the Son was sent,

And followed Calv’ry’s path;

To receive our punishment,

And bear the Father’s wrath.

Christ has quenched Mt. Sinai’s flame;

Its dreaded curse he bore.

He’s removed our guilt and shame,

They’re gone forevermore!

We’ve been pardoned by his blood,

In Christ we’re justified;

Mercy flowing like a flood,

Hath justice satisfied.

Let us no more naked hide,

Or fear the law’s demands;

Jesus suffered, bled, and died,

That we might righteous stand.

Clothed with Jesus’ righteousness,

Adorned in him alone;

All his merits we possess,

As if they were our own.

God condemned his only Son

That we’d be counted free;

‘Tis love to ne’er be outdone

And grace beyond degree!

Fifteen Reasons We Need the New Birth

While most of the reasons listed below are plucked directly from the Bible (and therefore in language that is familiar to us), seeing them all piled together and thinking over the sheer gravity of what is entailed by these truths should cause us to do exactly what Piper wants us to do - to leap for joy!

From John Piper's new book, Finally Alive.

The aim in this list is to give us an accurate diagnosis of our disease so that when God applies the remedy at great cost to himself, we will leap for joy and give him some measure of the glory he deserves. We will not sing with authentic amazement the words "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me," unless we know the nature of our "wretchedness."

1) Apart from the new birth, we are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-2).

2) Apart from the new birth, we are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).

3) Apart from the new birth, we love darkness and hate the light (John 3:19-20).

4) Apart from the new birth, our hearts are hard like stone (Ezek. 36:26; Eph. 4:18).

5) Apart from the new birth, we are unable to submit to God or please God (Rom. 8:7-8).

6) Apart from the new birth, we are unable to accept the gospel (Eph. 4:18; 1 Cor. 2:14).

7) Apart from the new birth, we are unable to come to Christ or embrace him as Lord (John 6:44, 65; 1 Cor. 12:3).

8) Apart from the new birth, we are slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17).

9) Apart from the new birth, we are slaves of Satan (Eph. 2:1-2; 2 Tim. 2:24-26).

10) Apart from the new birth, no good thing dwells in us (Rom. 7:18).

11) Without the new birth, we won't have saving faith, but only unbelief (John 1:11-13; 1 John 5:1; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 1:29; 1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 1:3).

12) Without the new birth, we won't have justification, but only condemnation (Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:17; Phil. 3:9).

13) Without the new birth, we won't be the children of God, but the children of the devil (1 John 3:9-10).

14) Without the new birth, we won't bear the fruit of love by the Holy Spirit but only the fruit of death (Rom. 6:20-21; 7:4-6; 15:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; Gal. 5:6; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2; 1 John 3:14).

15) Without the new birth, we won't have eternal joy in fellowship with God, but only eternal misery with the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41; John 3:3; Rom. 6:23; Rev. 2:11; 20:15).

Hope of Heaven

Divine Breathings
Augustus Toplady, 1837

I groan from sin to be set free,
From self to be released;
Oh, take me, take me unto Thee,
My everlasting rest!

Come, O my Savior, come away,
Into my soul descend;
No longer from Thy creature stay,
My author, and my end!

The bliss Thou hast for me prepared,
No longer be delayed;
Come, my exceeding great reward,
For whom I first was made.

Thou all our works in us hast wrought,
Our good is all divine;
The praise of every virtuous thought,
And righteous work is Thine.

'Tis not of him that wills or runs,
That labors or desires;
In answer to my Savior's groans,
Thy love my breast inspires.

The meritorious cause I see,
That precious blood divine;
And I, since Jesus died for me,
Shall live forever Thine.

Significant Baptist Figures

If you are interested in learning about some of the significant voices in Baptist history, I would highly recommend the book that Timothy George and David Dockery edited, Theologians of the Baptist Tradition.

Mark Noll said of this work, "Baptists should read this book to gain a better sense of who they are, others to discover an underappreciated contribution to Christianity's theological heritage."

More Reflections from the SBC

Michael Spencer offers his thoughts about what took place at the Southern Baptist Convention. Read them here.

How To Read the Bible

From Stephen Nichols and Eric Brandt in Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age.

Seven suggestions for how we should read the Bible:

1) Reverently. Remembering the Bible is the word of God, the revelation of the Creator and Redeemer, means above all reading the Bible reverently.

2) Prayerfully. We have the Spirit to guide us into truth.

3) Collectively. Reading the Bible solely or merely as an individual plays into the notions of modernism. Reading the Bible collectively is a good antidote to such privatized, individual reading....Reading the Bible collectively also puts us in the historical and global community, which means that the Bible is not our individual possession.

4) Humbly. It's helpful to read the Bible humbly, to be careful not to equate our interpretations of the text with the text itself. The Bible is innerant, in other words, but our interpretations are not.

5) Carefully. We also need to read the Bible carefully, which is to say there is a place for hermeneutics and rules of interpretation....Reading the Bible carefully also entails reading the Bible canonically. In previous ages of the church, this was referred to as the "analogy of faith," which amounted to reaidng particular texts of the Bible in light of the whole Bible.

6) Christologically. The Bible is ultimately the story of Christ. All of it points to or away from him, like spokes from the hub of the wheel. All of the Bible eventually finds its end, its design, its purpose in Christ....It's not too much of a stretch to say that we understand a text fully when we connect it to Christ and his mission.

7) Obediently. Reading and interpreting are first-order activities that lead to the second-order activity of obedience and practice (James 2:22-27). Reading and interpreting the Bible is actually the easy part, compared to taking the Bible seriously enough to act upon it.

Seven Reflections from the SBC

Aaron Menikoff offers seven reflections from the Southern Baptist Convention at the 9Marks blog. You can read them here. They are refreshingly encouraging.

Thankful for Southern Baptist Controversy

It is difficult to think about the current state of the Southern Baptist Convention without the word controversy coming to mind. For good or ill, it is part of what defines us. But sometimes, controversy can produce a good and desired effect. Such was the case with the conservative resurgence and the discussions over the Bible that took place within our denomination during the last few decades. I am reminded of what B.B. Warfield said in the midst of his own controversy over the authority of Scripture: "But fierce controversies can rage only where strong convictions burn."

I, for one, am thankful for the strong convictions that burned in the hearts of men and women who stood for truth (sometimes having to stand alone). We are all the better for it, and we should be grateful for the fierce controversy that they endured. Though they did not desire it or choose it (or even enjoy it), they were willing to face the difficulty of those days because their convictions about the truthfulness and accuracy of God's Word were strong and courageous.

Let us pray that God would raise up a new generation of courageous leaders - men and women not eager or desirous of controversy but men and women whose convictions burn strongly enough to endure it if the appropriate need arises.

Approaching the Scriptures with Reverence and Humility

I am thoroughly enjoying Stephen Nichols and Eric Brandt's new book, Ancient Word, Changing Worlds: The Doctrine of Scripture in a Modern Age. It is an excellent overview and discussion of "The Battle for the Bible" that raged throughout the twentieth century, as well as a strong defense for the authority of God's Word as inspired and innerant. They give specific attention to three words (and the arguments over those words): inspiration, innerancy, and interpretation. Two chapters are devoted to each word - the first providing a theological and historical overview of the significance of each word and what it implies and the second giving space for the actual words written by some of the major figures involved on both sides (called "In Their Own Words").

The following is a quote from the book, which is itself an excerpt from E.J. Young, who taught Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, in his 1957 work, Thy Word is Truth. It is a reminder to us that we should approach the Scriptures with both reverence and humility:

When therefore we meet difficulties in the Bible let us reserve judgment. If any explanation is not at hand, let us freely acknowledge that we do not know all things, that we do not know the solution. Rather than hastily proclaim the presence of error is it not the part of wisdom to acknowledge our ignorance?

Young is not calling for an anti-intellectual and blind acceptance of the Bible; nor does he mean we should refrain from engaging in serious biblical scholarship. But he does mean that we should be humble enough to recognize that we may not know all the answers (which, of course, is not to say that there isn't an answer...just that we do not know what it is). To do otherwise would seem to be both irreverent and arrogant. Seems like wise counsel to me!

New Publications on Baptists

There are several new books on or about Baptists that have recently been published, a few of them I'd like to highlight here.

• The first is a history of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary by Greg Wills that tells the story of the seminary's 150 year history, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1859-2009).

• The second is a book edited by David Dockery (with contributions from Al Mohler, Timothy George, Russell Moore, Ed Stetzer, and other leaders within the SBC) and is titled Southern Baptist Identity: An Evangelical Denomination Faces the Future. Justin Taylor recently interviewed Dockery regarding this new work, which can be read here.
  

• The third is a new biography of James Boyce by Tom Nettles (the most recent in P&R's American Reformed Biographies series), James Petigru Boyce: A Southern Baptist Statesmen.

• And then there are the collections of writings from both James Petigru Boyce and Basil Manley, Sr. & Basil Manley, Jr.