I am at that stage of life when I don't like to count how many years ago things happened because of how old they make me feel. The sole exception is the anniversary that I am enjoying today—10 years since God saved me.
On June 8, 1995, after 21 years in gospel-preaching churches and 16 years in Christian schools, my spiritual game came to an end by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Ironically perhaps, I was saved during staff training at a camp where I was preparing to serve as a teen camp counselor. That fact alone is not as ironic as the additional memory that Mike Manor preached that evening a sermon, not about what a wicked sinner in need of repentance I was, but about "Being a Servant" from Colossians. I look back to that counter-intuitive confluence of events as my first introduction to the doctrines of divine initiative and sovereignty in salvation that would later pervade my theology as I studied Scripture.
When I think now of the fear of man and pride that kept me from acknowledging my need for so long, I both laugh at my delusion and cringe at the seductiveness of such thinking. I fear for many who may be similarly self-deceived.
One of my most treasured memories from that summer is remembering how God worked in so many of my old and new friends' lives. God saved two other counselors that summer (that I know of), and He has graciously allowed me to stay in contact with them over the years. I've been constantly encouraged as I've seen their spiritual growth and how they have invested their lives in Romanian missions and leadership in children's ministry.
Most things that I remember from a decade ago (or even less) make me feel very old. Thinking about being a Christian for just ten years and seeing every day how much further I have to go makes me feel quite young. Too young. But I'll still give thanks for His grace.
May God be praised.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
One String Banjo? A Piper Book Review (part 1)
I know of only one book that I would recommend for the foreword alone: Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. The foreword, "For Single Men and Women (and the Rest of Us)" is an absolute must-read for every single person in their 20s and beyond. Actually, that sells it short. It is also an absolute must-read for every member of the body of Christ who ministers to, yea, interacts with, any single person in their 20s or beyond. More on that perhaps in part 2, since this is an awful way to start a review for another book.
That other book is Sex And The Supremacy Of Christ, which will be released on June 13th (more info from Crossway). SATSO Christ does not have a foreword, but it does have an introduction and a couple pages of blurbs. And based on those two elements alone, I wholeheartedly offer my recommendation. From these pages alone it becomes evident that SATSO Christ is not essentially about sex, but about the theology of progressive sanctification defined and applied to one of the primary battlefields in believers' lives.
It should come as no surprise that the second book I've endorsed for its front matter alone is also edited by Piper, this time in conjunction with Justin Taylor of Desiring God Ministries. As in all of Piper's writings that I have read, SATSO Christ establishes from the beginning that the believer's santification does not hinge on cleverly crafted strategies like accountability or journaling, but on the recognition that we can find no pleasure in heaven or on earth greater than what we find when we value Christ supremely. When we exchange submission to His power and glory for earthly pleasures, we exchange that which is most valuable for a demonic lie. Piper explains this truth in the first two chapters. Although he only briefly alludes to Philippians 3, I find no other chapter in Scripture that so concisely reflects these truths that he explains.
I have heard and read individuals accuse Piper of being a one-string banjo. Apparently, some grow weary of hearing that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. So is he a one-string banjo? Well, I don't know much about banjos, but when it comes to expositing biblical teaching about the Christian life, I'm convinced that Piper's string is pretty important. A "Christian life banjo" without the string of the supremacy of Christ would create some (and in my experience, has created many) hollow-sounding chords. It seems to me that what Piper is doing is installing this same string into a wide assortment of banjos with the result that a long-neglected element of the gospel is being renewed in our hearts and minds. Through books like Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, these truths are infiltrating every aspect of our minds so that the influence of the flesh is gradually being defeated.
On that note, I'll need to wrap things up for tonight. Lord willing, part 2 will follow later this week. In it, I'll try to hit the high points of this collection of essays written by many of the evangelicals who are most effectively challenging my generation towards spiritual maturity and ministry. I also intend to offer some points of criticism and personal reflection.
That other book is Sex And The Supremacy Of Christ, which will be released on June 13th (more info from Crossway). SATSO Christ does not have a foreword, but it does have an introduction and a couple pages of blurbs. And based on those two elements alone, I wholeheartedly offer my recommendation. From these pages alone it becomes evident that SATSO Christ is not essentially about sex, but about the theology of progressive sanctification defined and applied to one of the primary battlefields in believers' lives.
It should come as no surprise that the second book I've endorsed for its front matter alone is also edited by Piper, this time in conjunction with Justin Taylor of Desiring God Ministries. As in all of Piper's writings that I have read, SATSO Christ establishes from the beginning that the believer's santification does not hinge on cleverly crafted strategies like accountability or journaling, but on the recognition that we can find no pleasure in heaven or on earth greater than what we find when we value Christ supremely. When we exchange submission to His power and glory for earthly pleasures, we exchange that which is most valuable for a demonic lie. Piper explains this truth in the first two chapters. Although he only briefly alludes to Philippians 3, I find no other chapter in Scripture that so concisely reflects these truths that he explains.
I have heard and read individuals accuse Piper of being a one-string banjo. Apparently, some grow weary of hearing that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. So is he a one-string banjo? Well, I don't know much about banjos, but when it comes to expositing biblical teaching about the Christian life, I'm convinced that Piper's string is pretty important. A "Christian life banjo" without the string of the supremacy of Christ would create some (and in my experience, has created many) hollow-sounding chords. It seems to me that what Piper is doing is installing this same string into a wide assortment of banjos with the result that a long-neglected element of the gospel is being renewed in our hearts and minds. Through books like Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, these truths are infiltrating every aspect of our minds so that the influence of the flesh is gradually being defeated.
On that note, I'll need to wrap things up for tonight. Lord willing, part 2 will follow later this week. In it, I'll try to hit the high points of this collection of essays written by many of the evangelicals who are most effectively challenging my generation towards spiritual maturity and ministry. I also intend to offer some points of criticism and personal reflection.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Southeastern Seminary Bloggers?
We're behind the curve. I don't have the skills to pull off something like that 8th Wonder for us at SEBTS, but we can at least start a blogroll. Post here and we'll kick things off.
The Finney Exposé: A Fundamentalist Weighs In
I'm convinced that fundamentalists will demonstrate their relevance through statements like this rather than through continued protestations that their demise has been exaggerated. May Kevin Bauder's tribe increase.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Another Anti-Baseball Rant (brief)
I can't believe they didn't blame it on the weather. It's so much easier to take shots at Divine providence (weather) than at human depravity (steroids).
Saturday, June 04, 2005
IT is here
IT came last night. IT will stay until sometime in October, when the last throes of hurricane season melt into the Atlantic. That IT came so late is both a surprise and a blessing. Usually, IT infiltrates this coastal plain in the early parts of May, sometimes even in April. And once IT comes, IT stays. IT's oppression never relents, not even for a day.
You sad, deluded friends in the Midwest think you know about IT. I used to think that, too. Until I moved here. You anticipate afternoon storms that bring relief, and you think your experience is universal. I scoff at such folly. Thunderstorms here feed IT like electricity on King Kong.
You Floridians think you know about ITtoo, but the pleasant coastal breezes blow not here. Only the folks in Louisiana, D.C., and the rain forests of South America have anything to say to me about IT.
You may think of densely suspended particles of dihydrogen monoxide as merely a banal chemical compound. Here, we think of IT as a oppressing force—not a living, breathing creature—but an ominous, invasive, silent killer that sucks life and breath from all creatures.
If this blog dies, you'll know what slew it.
You sad, deluded friends in the Midwest think you know about IT. I used to think that, too. Until I moved here. You anticipate afternoon storms that bring relief, and you think your experience is universal. I scoff at such folly. Thunderstorms here feed IT like electricity on King Kong.
You Floridians think you know about ITtoo, but the pleasant coastal breezes blow not here. Only the folks in Louisiana, D.C., and the rain forests of South America have anything to say to me about IT.
You may think of densely suspended particles of dihydrogen monoxide as merely a banal chemical compound. Here, we think of IT as a oppressing force—not a living, breathing creature—but an ominous, invasive, silent killer that sucks life and breath from all creatures.
If this blog dies, you'll know what slew it.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Good Reasons for Me to Stop Being a Church History Dunderhead
The Value of Learning History
. . . God ordains that events happen and that they get recorded as history so that we will learn them and become wiser and more insightful about the present for the sake of Christ and his church. Never stop learning history. Gain some knowledge every day. And let us give our children one of the best protections against the folly of the future, namely, a knowledge of the past.
Coincidence? I Think Not!
Has anyone else noticed the stunning resemblance between Mark Felt, the Watergate whistle-blower, and the line drawing illustration of Digory's magician uncle in The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis' prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Why Blog? (Part 2)
I started blogging in earnest in March. I'm not sure that my reasons when I started are the same as they are today. I see three main benefits to my blogging:
1. Blogging disciplines me to read. It has made me more serious about study. My TV sports viewing has declined noticeably in the past three months.
2. Blogging disciplines me to think. The fact that I'm forcing myself to put something together for publication on a near-daily basis demands that I constantly have my antennae tuned to find connections and analogies between events or ideas if I'm going to write anything that resembles a lucid thought. Occasionally, I succeed.
3. Blogging disciplines me to write. People like Luther, Calvin, and Spurgeon would have had far less impact had they not written. Now by my age, Calvin had already written the Institutes. This blog is a step or a million below the Institutes, but it is a first step.
You'll notice that all my benefits to my blogging are self-centered. I can make no promise whatsoever that the readers will experience any benefits of their own.
Then there are also a couple reasons not to blog:
1. Blogging isn't doing. Talking incessantly about ideas is a sorry substitute for acting on those ideas. Phil Johnson shared some great commentary on this point yesterday.
2. Some blogging is a form of teaching. And teachers have a solemn and terrible responsibility. "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment" (James 3:1 NASB).
3. To this point I have uncovered precious little evidence that women find blogging attractive.
Hugh Hewitt argues in his book, Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World, that leaders ought to be blogging. You can hear more extensive comments from Hewitt in this brief audio interview. So if I'm doing it, many more of you should be.
End of series. Finally finished one.
1. Blogging disciplines me to read. It has made me more serious about study. My TV sports viewing has declined noticeably in the past three months.
2. Blogging disciplines me to think. The fact that I'm forcing myself to put something together for publication on a near-daily basis demands that I constantly have my antennae tuned to find connections and analogies between events or ideas if I'm going to write anything that resembles a lucid thought. Occasionally, I succeed.
3. Blogging disciplines me to write. People like Luther, Calvin, and Spurgeon would have had far less impact had they not written. Now by my age, Calvin had already written the Institutes. This blog is a step or a million below the Institutes, but it is a first step.
You'll notice that all my benefits to my blogging are self-centered. I can make no promise whatsoever that the readers will experience any benefits of their own.
Then there are also a couple reasons not to blog:
1. Blogging isn't doing. Talking incessantly about ideas is a sorry substitute for acting on those ideas. Phil Johnson shared some great commentary on this point yesterday.
2. Some blogging is a form of teaching. And teachers have a solemn and terrible responsibility. "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment" (James 3:1 NASB).
3. To this point I have uncovered precious little evidence that women find blogging attractive.
Hugh Hewitt argues in his book, Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World, that leaders ought to be blogging. You can hear more extensive comments from Hewitt in this brief audio interview. So if I'm doing it, many more of you should be.
End of series. Finally finished one.
Good News for Orange Guys Everywhere
For all who wore black for a month after he left ESPN Radio, Tony Kornheiser is back on the radio at 980 WTEM in Washington. Listen live on the web. I realize this isn't new, but it's new to me.
Mr. Tony is the only sportstalk host you'll ever hear who will make you smarter, or at least not make you dumber. Charles Krauthammer is apparently a fan. That's good enough for me.
Mr. Tony is the only sportstalk host you'll ever hear who will make you smarter, or at least not make you dumber. Charles Krauthammer is apparently a fan. That's good enough for me.
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